уАКFalse HeroуАЛ


 Chapter 1 - 1: Death And Rebirth

    The knife pierced through my heart.

    Yes, it was the final moment of my life. I didn''t dodge this knife, I had it coming. No one can run from the crime they committed.

    But if I had a chance to do it over, I would still repeat the same thing, I have no regret over what I did.

    But, but maybe...maybe I would have protected her, from those terrible things that happened to her. I wish I could have protected her. Maybe, I do have regret after all. But it doesn''t matter now, I can''t change the past, I can''t change anything that happened to her and I can''t change things I did to others.

    I am dead, most probably. But why does my body feel wet? But it''s warm, why does dying feel so peaceful. I can lie here for eternity.

    "Hello....hello" I heard a voice.

    Shut up, I don''t want to wake up, I don''t want to wake up from this peaceful sleep.

    "Hellooooooooooooooooo....Hellooooooooooooooooooooooo". the voice kept ongoing.

    So persistent. This is torture, maybe this is what hell feels like, I am in hell.

    "I know you are awake, wake upppppppppppppppppppppp" the loud voice continued.

    "Shut up, don''t you see I am trying to sleep. I just died and I can''t even stay at peace for a proper minute. What kind of place is this? Is this hell? Whose cruel idea was it, to make hell like this." I exclaimed in frustration.

    "You finally woke up!!!. No, this isn''t hell nor heaven, It''s my own dimension." The voice replied. It was a female voice, but I don''t remember it being a feminine voice at first, was it always a feminine voice?

    The source of the voice was sitting on a branch of a cherry blossom tree. She was a young girl with long rose pink hair with pinkish-red eyes.

    Wait бн..she is just a loli and on top of that, she looks like a character from one of the anime I have seen. Am I inside an anime?

    "What are you staring at? maybe are you enchanted by my looks. "She continued with a sneer on her face.

    "Hell no, why would I be interested in a loli?"

    "Bold of you to say that after wanting me to look like this."

    "wanting me to look like this?" I repeated.

    "I am a demigod; I don''t have a real body. I look like what you imagine me to look like. But you imagined me to look like loli, you do have some dirty imagination."

    she said as her liped curled up to form a mocking smile.

    "No, I am not a pedophile. I am not interested in loli. It was just from random anime I saw, maybe I imagined you to look like a character from that anime." i said defending any misunderstanding directed towards me, "Anyways you do have one beautiful dimension" I said as i looked around.

    Yes, it was a beautiful dimension. I was sitting in a lake. It wasn''t deep, it was shallow enough for a person to sit. Sitting in this water felt comfortable. It''s warm and calming. And right beside the lake, there is a forest of cherry blossom trees forest.

    And on the other side, there was a range of mountains those icy mountains had fog covering their tips, the mountains looked like they kept going forever in the skies.

    "Thank you, but this is also one of your imagination. My dimension changes its appearance to whatever your most ideal place looks like and indeed your imagination for most ideal places is beautiful.

    But don''t mistake it for being an illusion, even though me and my dimension changes to how you want it to look like, my current body and this place both are real."

    Is this my most ideal place?.

    "Anyways Why am I here? Wasn''t I supposed to be dead?" I asked.

    "Yes, you did die and got through the cycle of reincarnation. any moment now, you will be born in the new world. A world that is different from yours. Usually, you get reincarnated into a new world without memories of the past world. But I, as a demigod have some power, I can reincarnate a soul with memories of it''s past life. "she replied.

    "Do a person like me really deserve to be reincarnated?"

    "That''s something you yourself can answer. You cant find the answer anywhere other than yourself. Your second life is going to begin now. You won''t be able to remember anything from your old life until a certain age but you will have basic information about your past world and your maturity will be still intact. give yourself another chance at life and show me what kind of life you will lead. I think it''s time for your birth. We will meet again after some time, till then enjoy your new life and live a happy life. Oh, by the way, my name is Arianrhod, remember it.".

    Huh? It''s dark. Where did that world disappear to? Something is pushing me what is it?.

    "It''s a healthy baby boy, congratulations." It''s the voice of a woman and a language I don''t recognize.

    I tried to open my eyes, it''s too bright.....

    "My son, he is handsome. Just like his dad" It was a voice of a man, I couldn''t understand what was he saying.

    Till now my eyes were used to this light.

    A beautiful woman was the first thing I saw after opening my eyes. She was a woman with black hair with a faint shade of purple in it and she had a set of purple indigo eyes, it was mystically beautiful set of eyes.

    I

    think I have been born into a new world as the demigod stated and this woman must be my mom, I can''t remember my mother from the past life, I think as demigod said, I have forgotten memories of my past life.

    Beside my mom was a man with white hair and blue eyes, and a gentle face, damn this guy is handsome, he must be my dad.

    I can''t wait to check out my facial features that i have inherited from these two, I should have killer looks.

    "What are you thinking about little kid?. Look dear he is looking at me!!!, I think he loves me right after being born." Mom said something I didn''t understand.

    "You sure are energetic for someone who just gave birth and this little boy loves his dad more right?." Dad picked me up and said something in a sweet tone. I wish I could record their voice. Adults do talk to kids in a funny tone.

    "He is smiling. Look dear, look, he is smiling. My life is fulfilled, I don''t want to see anything anymore." Mom exclaimed in joy.

    "This smile, I might cry out of happiness."

    Oye Oye why is my dad crying now?

    "That''s unusual, kids usually cry after birth. But it doesn''t matter, the kid is smiling and responsive" this was the voice of another woman. Maybe she helped mom with delivery.

    She was a very old woman with white hair and crooked posture, she had a really kind face.

    "Give me the baby, let me check if the baby is healthy or not. Till then replenish your body with mana and take a good rest. It was a difficult delivery, but you did well." said The old lady.

    "But I want to play with my baby more, I don''t want to sleep" For some reason mom expression turned in to sadder one while saying this.... what did she just say?

    "It''s okay, you need to sleep now. You can play with baby later all you want." Dad said this to mom while patting her head.

    This looks like a loving family, I don''t remember anything about myself but for some reason, this makes me happy.

    I think it doesn''t matter what happened in my past life, that''s something I can''t remember now.. Maybe I should just focus on my current life and live the best way I can.

 Chapter 2 - 2: The Fated Seal

    It''s been two weeks since I was born. My parents decided to name me Grey. My mom''s name is Alice and my dad''s name is Ranulf. This household consists of three people other than me, my mom, dad, and the lady that helped with the delivery.

    I thought she was an old lady of the village that helps with the delivery, but that isn''t the case and she certainly doesn''t look like my mom or dad, so she can''t be my grandmother. My mom and dad call her Ms. Lozen.

    she has this type of majestic aura around that can put anyone in awe. Apparently, she can use magic, no I think everyone can use magic in this world. I first sensed weird energy flowing through me when I was placed in Ms. Lozen''s hands.

    As a 2 weeks old baby, I can''t move much. But, whenever dad took me to the garden of the house, I was able to get a proper look at the house. It''s quite a big house, with a huge lawn at the back of the house.

    Some youngsters do visit this house from time to time, maybe Ms. Lozen is a teacher. There is also a library in this house, I want to read some books to get a better understanding of this world.

    This is a loving family. They all play with me, but it gets kind of awkward cause I don''t know how to react. But, I try to go along with it.

    Thanks to a lot of people trying to speak with me, I am capable of understanding the words of this world. I still don''t understand most of the things they say. But I do understand some words like " Mom", "dad" and "grandma".

    Yes, the old lady tries to make me say "grandma" from time to time. It is sweet when she tries to make me say, Grandma. She sometimes read books while keeping me in her lap, I don''t understand anything written in it though.

    Currently, I am with my dad, it''s my dad''s turn to take care of me. He is quite young maybe near 25 years I guess. He is taking me somewhere currently, maybe garden. No, it''s not the usual time that he takes me to the garden.

    "Today ill take you to show something interesting." He said. I didn''t understand what he said though.

    "Hello Ms. Lozen, Good morning. Good morning kids." Dad said something to Lozen''s grandma and her students which looked greeting of a sort. They were in an area that had various targets, a circular ring, and various other things. Maybe, it''s a training area for students.

    Students greeted back too.

    "Good morning, Ranulf. Oh good morning Little grey, Grandma was just missing you." Lozen grandma took me from dad''s hand. It''s comfortable in grandma Lozen''s hand, it feels kind of refreshing.

    "Okay, let''s start with the classes. King has decided to give special classes to the special bunch from various age groups to train for the future of the kingdom. You guys are assigned to me and there are also other students assigned to other professors. I hope you guys learn various things and become a great warrior, that will fight side by side with the summoned warrior." said Grandma Lozen

    One of the students raised her hand " Professor, what is the requirement to become a warrior to fight side by side of hero?"

    "That''s a good question, there are sometimes chosen ones are granted seal by gods, seal mostly appears in the form of marking in the body. Types of marking totally depend on person to person or bloodline they inherit, for some its sword, polearm, lion, and other things. It varies from person to person.

    People who possess seal marking are qualified to be in the hero''s team. All of the people with seal marking that I know of are monsters, they have a class of themselves, they are a real powerhouse.

    Of course, it''s not important for you to join the hero''s team, there are also various different professions." Said Grandma Lozen. I guess she said something serious, all students have a serious expression on their faces, some even look motivated.

    One of the students raised his hand " Do you have any seal marking on your body? Professor?."

    "I do" Grandma Lozen raised her hand, and a marking shaped as owl appeared on her hand. Was it always there? No, I don''t think so. "This is the first marking I got, it''s quite a common seal. The marking of the owl represents knowledge. For me, it provides with the power of illusion. Knowledge can be an illusion and the illusion created by knowledge are the most terrifying one."

    I stretched out of my hand to show grandma that I want to touch that marking, "Do you want to touch this seal little grey?" She showed me her hand "Grey look at this owl seal, it means freedom and your grandma wants you to live a happy life, that is free of others.".

    This owl marking is amazing, I tried touching the marking in her hand.

    Ouch, my head hurts.

    The one with a never-ending appetite for knowledge shall be granted with the seal of Minerva.

    An endless well of knowledge.

    A never-ending peak of Wisdom.

    With proper knowledge, it can take shape of anything. Such is the power of Minerva.

    (Ms. Lozen''s Pov)

    This owl seal of mine is the first seal, I got in my life. I didn''t have any dream to become a hero''s party member or walking the path of becoming powerful. I was just an ordinary daughter of a noble family, who''s life was already determined right after her birth. Come to think of it, I got seal marking at a very young age and it was an opportunity for me to live my life freely. I thought walking the path of becoming powerful, becoming a hero''s party member, and serving my kingdom will get me freedom. I did get freedom, but I committed various sins along the way. This seal of the owl represents the beginning of my freedom and a life of sin.

    I don''t want my grey to live the same life as me. I will teach him the responsibilities that come with freedom. I will teach the grey the true meaning of freedom.

    As I was showing my owl seal marking to my students, little grey looked like he wanted to look at my marking."Do you want to this seal, Little grey?"

    I gave my hand in his little hands. He looked happy, That melts my heart.

    "Grey look at this owl seal, it means freedom and your grandma wants you to live a happy life, that is free of others."

    He stretched his hand out to touch the seal.

    Something is wrong. My hand, the seal-

    "Ms. Lozen- Ms. Lozen.... Ms. Lozen" It was ranulf''s voice.

    "Ms. Lozen, what happened? Grey is crying."

    Huh, did I zoned off? What happened right now? Oh, Grey is crying.

    It felt like a seal was resonating with mine.

    Waitбн..it can''t be. I have to check.

    I took a Grey''s hand in my hand.

    There was an owl marking. It was different than any other owl marking I have ever seen in my life, no, a marking I have only seen once. A seal marking same as that man, I wished I would never see this seal marking again. Why does my grandson have this seal marking? I have to hide this from church and royalty.

    "Ranulf, take grey inside. I have something to talk about during lunch"

    "Okay, Ms. Lozen"

 Chapter 3 - 3: The Demons Of Past.

    Chapter 3-1

    (this time I will try to write in third person perspective)

    It was time for lunch. As usual, Ranulf and Ms. Lozen were having lunch together while Grey was being taken care of by a maid. But this time there was an air of seriousness around the table. After the training ground incident, Ranulf has been waiting for Ms. Lozen to speak about the incident. But now looking at the serious expression on Ms. Lozen''s face his concern grew More.

    "As Grey''s father I should let you know" Finally Ms. Lozen spoke. "I will cut the chase and say it directly." Her expression got more serious so did Ranulf''s concern. "Your son got his seal marking, that too in very early age.".

    "Huh? That doesn''t make sense, how is that bad news-"

    "Who said it was bad news"

    "But your expression-"

    "What expression?" Her expression was changed with a bright smile like it was always there on her face.

    "Don''t scare me like that maste- ah Ms. Lozen."

    "I heard you. Makes me happy, why did u stop calling me master? It''s already been a long while since that incident."

    Ranulf didn''t reply with anything. Watching the atmosphere grow awkward. Alice decided to interrupt.

    "It doesn''t matter if he has seal marking or not, he was born special. He will be my kid, he doesn''t have to be a knight, warrior, or hero''s party member, he can live a peaceful life and I will still be proud of him. I hope he lives peaceful life away from all of this." said Alice.

    Both, Ms. Lozen and Alice smiled in agreement.

    "You are right, he doesn''t have to feel responsible for this world. He can live however he wants. He can choose whatever path he wants." Agreed Ms. Lozen

    Later that evening, Ms. Lozen was standing over the balcony staring at the distant sunset. Lot was running through her mind but her main concern was the seal marking that appeared over the hand of Grey. It was the same seal marking she have seen in the past once. On the hands of the person or maybe monster would be a good word to describe that being.

    "Enjoying the view?" it was Alice.

    "Watching over such a view gives me peace of mind to sort out my thoughts." Said Ms. Lozen.

    "What a beautiful sunset it is," said Alice as she stood beside Ms. Lozen to watch over the sunset.

    They stood there for a min without saying anything just enjoying the view.

    "Ms. Lozen, you didn''t say Ranulf whole truth, did you?"

    After hearing what Alice just said Ms. Lozen chuckled "I can''t hide anything from you Alice, That''s right I haven''t told him the full truth"

    "The marking on greys hand, I have never seen a marking like that. If you are deliberately hiding it from Ranulf, it must be something really important and you probably have good reason to hide it. So, I won''t ask anything further. After all, you are one of the wisest people I know." said Alice. Ms. Lozen looked at Alice with astonishment.

    It was hard for Ms. Lozen to figure out when Alice is speaking the truth and when she is lying. From the moment Ms. Lozen met Alice, she always thought that Alice''s personality is a facade. That makes her really terrifying.

    Looking up the sky, Ms. Lozen closed her eyes and said "I am just a coward."

    Alice didn''t react to her sentence, cause even Alice knows every person has their regrets and no one can run from them.

    Chapter 3-2

    It''s been three years since then, Grey is three years old now. In these three years, he got used to this world. He learned the language of this world just by listening to others, he sneaks into the library from time to time to learn various subjects. He started learning to read from grandma (Ms. Lozen) at the age of 2.

    As of now, he is running from imminent danger.

    "This is the end of the line Grey"

    "We don''t have to do this, there might be a better way out of this...бнmother"

    "Kid, this has to be done, and now shut up and drink this" as Alice finally caught Grey, he tried to run away from her. but he was trying to outrun one of the strongest of her generation, he didn''t have much luck with running away. As she caught him, she picked him up by the back of his shirt.

    "Put me down mother, let''s negotiate"

    "Are you in a position to negotiate? You make me run behind you every day and why is a three-year-old kid like you so fast and agile, maybe the blood of my lineage kicking in. Now I understand what my mother felt while she was making me drink this, I am sorry mom for every time I made you run behind me" Alice was regretting the time where she made her mother run behind her like grey is doing to her now.

    "You should be a sorry mother, Troubling mom is not a good thing"

    Whack!

    Alice smacked him in the head.

    "Ouch, mom that hurtбн..It''s not good to hit a three-year-old" He said the following line in the most apathetic way possible.

    "At least try to sound hurt, now drink this, or I will ban you from learning anything from Ms. Lozen ever again"

    Nowadays Grey is interested in learning about this world from Ms. Lozen and he can''t afford to get banned from doing so.

    "Mother, I don''t think that''s necessary ill drink this as per your wish." He gave in.

    "That''s good boy, now drink this".

    She made him drink the red color fluid with a shade of violet in it within a single gulp.

    "Ew, disgusting"

    "Yeah, it is pretty bad tasting, but you have to drink this juice to grow a healthy kid"

    Her mother lied to him about the juice and Grey knew about it.

    ''I have done research about the fluid she makes me drink, It''s not a juice. Its blood of snake-like species. The name of this snake is nag, it''s usually about 10 to 17 feet long. It is said that the forest and green vegetation around their habitat dries up because of the venomous mana they release.

    Normally it is fatal for a normal human being to drink the blood of a nag. But, It is necessary for the kids of the Ormr family blood to drink the blood of nag to stable their venomous attribute and also avoid any phycological instability.

    The family lineage my mom belongs to is the Ormr family. The Ormr family is known for their venomous aura and also for having attributes of both mage and warrior. The strength of this family has a level of its own and my mom is one of the strongest mage warriors of her generation and arguably strongest in her family.''

    It was time for lunch and as usual, Ranulf entered the dining room to have lunch with the family, And the first thing he saw upon entering the dining room was, his wife lifting his son by the back of his shirt. He went ahead and sat on the dining table like it wasn''t anything unusual and it was a normal day for him. The cat and mouse chase between mom and son is a usual sight in this house.

    Ranulf looked at grey and asked.

    "How much did you last before getting caught?"

    "30 seconds," replied Grey.

    "A new record, I think last time it was 24 seconds. You are growing fast grey," said Ranulf by patting Grey''s head.

    "I know right, This time I have outdone myself," said Grey with a smug face.

    "Your mother is pretty fast and lasting 30 seconds without getting is a pretty admirable thing, I am proud of you son," he said as he took grey from Alice and lifted him up. It was time for bonding between father and son.

    "Whoever spoils my kid will get a punch in the face, did you understand it, father of my son?" It was a threat that came with the crackling sound of the fist.

    "Son, you shouldn''t trouble your mom and drink the juice properly. You are a good boy right." It was a complete 360 degrees from a spoiling father to a responsible father.

    "How scared are you of mom?" Grey kept his hand on Ranulf''s shoulder like he was consoling someone.

    "Very"

    "It''s quite understandable actually, I totally understand why" A three-year-old was comforting his own dad.

    "Did I hear you guys say something?"

    "Nothing," said both unanimously.

 Chapter 4 - 4: The Bespectacled Beauty.

    4-1

    Grey has been reading books for a year from the library now. Grey still remembered the first time he entered the library alone at the age of 2. From the 2-year-old perspective, the library was bigger than it already was.

    Near the entrance door of the library, there was a small counter, when grey approached that counter, there was a young girl sitting on the chair, she had a petite figure with medium-length dark blue hair and she had a pair of glasses around her eyes. Because of the small baby Body of the Grey, she couldn''t notice him.

    Grey tried to knock on the desk, so she could notice him. she heard the knock, but there was no one there. No, it was more like grey was too small to be visible from the other side of the desk. She got up and went around the desk to check, there was a small kid of two years old standing there. She crouched down and asked Grey.

    "Do you need anything little sir?"

    "Are you the owner of this library?" He already knew she wasn''t.

    The sight of a little kid trying to speak his best was too cute for her to handle. For some reason whenever adults see babies speaking to them, they started speaking like a baby too and the librarian started speaking in a baby tone and said: " No, I work for Ms. Lozen".

    She got up, went behind the counter, and brought lots of sweet things to eat.

    "Do you want this? You can have it" She had 2 jars full of sweets and she gave me one and said, "you can eat it later. Don''t eat all at once, okay.".

    "Thank you Miss librarian, I will eat it properly" Again the sight of a little Grey thanking her was too cute for her. '' This kid is cute, I want to adopt him!!!!!!!!'' was what she thought.

    "You can have other jars too, and my name is Sylphy." she introduced herself.

    "Ummmmбн..Big sister Sylphy, I have a request." It was the final blow to Sylphy''s heart. Now, no matter what Grey asks she will agree to it.

    "What is it grey?" Hearing the word big sister made her reach the seventh heaven and there was no stopping to her smile.

    "Can you teach me, how to read and write?" asked Grey and Grey already knew, what her answer will be, It was quite obvious and her answer was "Yes, Of course".

    4-2

    Now a year later to the present, Sylphy has long realized that she was tricked by a two-year-old. Her heart grew colder after realizing this fact. Grey wasn''t a normal kid, his way of talking and behavior wasn''t childlike and Sylphy always found it weird.

    But, spending hours of each day with Grey for a year made it feel more and more normal, and sometimes Sylphy even forgets that Grey is just a little kid. Sylphy has to spend more years as a disciple of Ms. Lozen to become a full-fledged mage and in return, she takes care of her library and it also helps her in learning about the field of magic.

    "Ummmmm....Big sister Sylphy."

    "No, I am busy right now so I can''t do it" She rejected him even before he could say anything.

    "But, I didn''t even ask anything yet. How did you know I wanted something."

    "you call me big sister whenever you need something, anyways do you have any questions?"

    "In this book, it''s written that complex magic or skills can be learned only by getting Seal marking. But getting a seal marking is very rare, so very rare people can perform complex magic or skill?"

    "Yes, Most people can perform normal elemental magic but even in that only people with the proper elemental attribute can perform the magic of their respective element properly, the Mostly elemental attribute is determined by bloodline and sometimes by other factors.

    In the terms of complex magic or skill, not many people can perform complex magic For example, My skill to see the nature of mana or aura and I can remember every aura around me, I can remember the structure of any magic and my seal marking can make me learn anything in faster pace"

    She is lifted her sleeve up to show her seal marking. Showing someone your seal marking was the sign of trust, cause knowing someone''s seal marking means that you also know their weakness. So most people avoid revealing their seal marking.

    It was owl shaped just like Grey''s but yet very different, Grey has learned how to read and write at a faster pace than usual and he realized he could finish reading and understanding books at a faster pace.

    Looking at her owl seal marking, he thought ''It''s similar to mine, maybe that could explain why my learning capability is so high.''

    "But this last year I have met you, whose learning capability is on par with me. Over that, you are a three-year-old kid with no seal marking, that makes me happy that there is someone better than me at a drastically different level, that kind of makes me feel normal." Being bullied by her peers for being better than them at studying made her feel alone, she wanted to feel normal, and being with Grey, she feels normal.

    "Actually about that..." Grey stretched his hand to show to Sylphy. It was plain white skin, There appeared a seal marking similar to her but there was an owl with a crown and as that seal marking showed up in Grey''s hand, it started resonating with Sylphy''s seal.

    "Grey you...It''s my first time witnessing such a young person with seal marking" more like a kid with seal marking." That explains your fast learning capability." she said in a lower tone.

    Looking at the seal, Sylphy couldn''t help but be curious. Grey knew what Sylphy wanted.

    "I''ll let you observe me and my seal marking every day, but you have to teach me about your seal marking since our seal marking is similar in nature."

    Sylphy was already drowning in her curiosity. She nodded her head rapidly and said "Yes, yes."

    "At least hide you curio-" As Grey was completing his sentence, He heard footsteps that he recognized very well. It was the footstep of a monster or at least that is what Grey calls her.

    Grey turned towards Sylphy and said "I''ll hide behind the bookshelf. tell her that grey already left the library, okay?" and he ran behind the bookshelf to hide.

    The sound of the library door opening was heard and with that came the voice of a little girl of 5 years of age asking " Is he here? Big sister Sylphy.". She was a small girl of 5 years old with long black hair with blue eyes. The hair was reaching down till her knees and she was a beautiful polite kid with a mannerly tone and behavior.

    "No, he is not here. He already left the library." Replied Sylphy as Grey wanted her to reply. But, her actions were opposite to what she was saying, Her fingers were pointing towards where grey was hiding.

    "Oh, he already left, That''s unfortunate," Said The 5-year-old girl as she walked out of the Door. As soon as Grey heard her walking out of the library, He came out "Thank you Sylphy, You can be nice from time to tim-"

    "Greyyyyy, I thought you weren''t in the library." The 5-year-old was standing behind him and caught Grey.

    "Oh, I just came in. It''s weird, I didn''t see you coming in," he said an obvious lie with a straight face.

    "Liar, now come with me to train and this time give me a good fight." Grey was getting dragged away from the library by the 5-year-old girl. As he was getting dragged he gave Slyphy one last look that said '' I will have my revenge ''.

    This 5-year-old girl''s name was Eira Hoffmann, Grey''s cousin. She is the Granddaughter of Grey''s Grandfathers brother. Grey has met his Grandfather''s brother many times.

    Well, you can hear the rest of the story from the victim.

    ''One day my grand uncle came with her granddaughter, she was a 5-year-old girl. Apparently, she wanted to train under my dad. It was weird because I think my dad''s reputation is not good with the family. Mainly because he married a girl of a rival nation and also there is a list of things my father is hated for in his family.

    But I can see why she wanted to train under my dad, my dad is very good with his swordsmanship. My dad agreed to teach her and it''s been many weeks since she is staying over for training. Also, it''s been weeks since my life has become a living hell.. Every day she drags me to train with her, Who thought it was a good idea to train a three-year-old???????.''

 Chapter 5 - 5 : Family.

    5-1

    "I see you both are energetic today," Said Ranulf after looking at the Grey being dragged by Eira.

    "I hope I have a good training session under your guidance, master." Said Eira with a slight bow. She is a girl with good manners and elegant behavior, but Grey believes otherwise. The only thing he sees her as is a Fight freak.

    She went toward the sword stand and picked up a Sword. She kept looking at the sword before saying " Master, I want to learn how to use Great Sword.".

    "Are you sure?" Asked Ranulf. A great sword is considered a Weapon of brutes and no technique and over that, a girl using a great is more frowned upon.

    "Yes, I want to learn great sword just as elegantly as you ."

    "fine, I will teach you the basics of a great sword. Any great sword over the stand is heavy for you, so I have prepared weapons for you guys." He had a range of all types of basic weapons but smaller in size so that kids could handle them.

    Ranulf picked a great sword but very smaller in size, which could be considered a normal sword in an adult''s hand, and gave it Eira "This should help with your training now."

    Ranulf turned toward Grey who was sitting with his butt on the ground and asked "What weapon will you prefer."

    " Since Eira is learning Greatsword, ill learn Great sword too," said Grey with a non-intersted tone.

    "Okay here take it." Ranulf gave another tiny Greatsword to Grey.

    But it was too heavy for grey, where Eira was able to pick up the tiny great sword with ease. Grey was barely picking it up.

    "First we will do basics." Ranulf took a pause before saying the following sentence " Swing your great sword 100 times.". That statement hit Grey like a truck.

    "What??? What???????? 100 times????? This greatsword????? I would like to change my weapon, I want to use Bow, sword, or something else."

    "Even for bow, you need to learn how to pull the string. Pulling the string needs incredible strength and even for a sword, you need the best physical shape to properly master it."

    It was checkmate for grey.

    "Fine, ill do it"

    Grey doesn''t want to live a life of a warrior, mage, or anything else that has a risk of harm. He just wants to live his life normally. His plan is to learn few tricks and become a farmer, chef, and any other profession that has the least possibility of getting hurt. So, this type of training doesn''t interest him at all. Ranulf knew his lack of interest in becoming strong and that''s why he didn''t force him.

    4-2

    "99...бн.100" Grey was finished with a swinging sword. He tried to speak as he was gasping for air.

    "I am tired, Give me the vitality pill" Vitality pill is a pill that is very useful to restore vitality after intense training. But, overuse of it may lead to getting stress accumulated and so overuse is not recommended.

    "You can have 15 min rest, then we will spar." Said Eira with an elegant and beautiful smile.

    ''Don''t get deceived by that smile, she will just beat the shit out of me'' Thought Grey, Ofcourse grey was exaggerating, Eira only spars with him till he gives up.

    After 15 min resting Grey got in the sparring ring and Eira was standing there with her great sword.

    "I will stop the spar whenever I feel like someone won or some get knocked down, do you guys understand?"

    "Yes, father" "Yes master," said both simultaneously.

    "Okay then now begin the spar."

    Grey was barely lifting his great sword whereas Eira was becoming more comfortable with her Greatsword.

    Eira closed the distance between them she didn''t use any footwork, because she didn''t know any footwork. She closed the distance by running towards him.

    In this world, every Seal Marking is different in nature, The seal of Minerva that Grey was mostly mysterious in nature. But Grey one of the abilities that grey found was increased observation and the constant flood of information in his brain. For normal human beings to take action subconsciously takes a lot of practice, for grey it comes naturally.

    Right now, his brain was reacting to Eira running towards him. The stance she took before stopping in front of him, she was preparing for the right swing.

    "Dodge back," said his instincts, before he could realize it, he was already dodging her sword. He jumped backward barely missing the sword swing. Grey landed on the ground and as soon as his leg rushed forward, he dashed forward toward Eira abandoning his greatsword in the process his instincts were ready to end it with the fist. The inertia of the Greatsword swing going right was hard to manage even for Eira.

    But there was one thing Grey realized in between his instinctual counterattack, that his main objective was not to win. The more he wins, the more he will have to spar with Eira and he doesn''t want to get stronger or fight with anybody in this world. His only objective is to live a peaceful life. As grey was going for the hit, he hesitated for a moment which gave Eira an opening to react and land a kick. Grey went flying and landed on the ground, he acted like he was hurt and he couldn''t further continue.

    Eira came running towards him " I am sorry, I didn''t mean to kick you so hard"

    ''Huh, did I do overdo my acting? No, I think this much acting is fine. I think she will be happy after winning now.'' As grey turned to look at her, he saw something he didn''t expect.

    Eira had tears in her eyes "I am sorry really, I didn''t mean to hurt you", She was crying.

    ''I overdid my acting'' He felt bad for acting hurt more than he was.

    "No, I am fine. Look I can jump and it didn''t hurt at all." Said Grey with a smile.

    "Really?" asked Eira wiping her tears.

    "Yes" at first grey thought Eira was a Brutish girl who only acted elegantly in appearance. But today he realized, she is really a feminine girl who just happens to love learning great sword and swordsmanship.

    Ranulf having battle experience knew that grey was okay and he already noticed his exceptional instincts. But he also noticed his least interest in fighting and getting stronger. He wasn''t disappointed or angry at Grey, Ranulf wants grey to choose his own path and if grey wants to live a peaceful life, Ranulf will try his very best to give Grey a peaceful life and Ranulf want grey to live his life outside of all danger of this world.

    "Okay, Eira you win You guys will have to practice your swings and increase your strength if you want to master Greatsword. From tomorrow your exercise will get more vigorous."

    "Yes, I will do my best master." Said Eira with a big nod.

    5-3

    It was time for dinner, Usually, everyone including Eira and Slyphy has dinner together.

    The usual chatter was going around the table, the usual topics, and the usual laugh. Anong those topics, the topic of the room changed to ''future''.

    "I want to be the best great sword user just like my uncle," Said Eira, By uncle she meant Ranulf. She calls him uncle normally when they are not training.

    "I am not that great, With your talent, you will be the best," replied Ranulf.

    "Uncle, I have seen you fighting, You are the best." Said Eira.

    "Huh?, You have seen dad fighting? Not fair" asked Grey.

    Ranulf scratched his head and said " I just happened to fight some bandit in front of Eira"

    "He was like a hero back then, that time I decided. I want to fight like an uncle. Also, I am not very compatible with mana like uncle, but I can still be powerful without being much compatible with mana just like an uncle."

    "I want to see dad fighting too." Said Grey with a pouty face.

    "Okay, if you promise to be a good boy. I will have a spar with your dad. How does that sound?" said Alice.

    "Uncle will win because he is strongest." Said Eira with a smug face.

    "Mom will win, she is the strongest." Said Grey.

    "Okay it''s on now, lets make a bet. If uncle wins, you will marry me and do everything I say your whole life." Eira was confident in Ranulf.

    "Fine, if mom wins you will have to do everything I say your whole life and I am not going marry you"

    "Enough both of you." Both of them got bonked in the head by Ms. Lozen, who just came to the dining table to eat dinner. "Eat your food first"

    After dinner, everyone sat for a while at the table to talk about their day.

    Eira asked Grey " What do you want to do when you get big?".

    "Me? I will go around the world, visit different countries. Meet different types of people of different languages, races, and species and also eat all kinds of foods." Grey didn''t want any part in being a warrior or becoming strong. The more book he read about this world in the library with Sylphy and the words he heard about the world by Sylphy, made him want to go around the world to those places.

    After hearing Grey''s dream from him, It was quite a shock for everyone. In this world, every kid wants to become a warrior or strong. Becoming a hero''s part member, the warrior is the most common dream for kids in this world. But it was a kind of relief for Ms. Lozen, Ranulf, and Alice. Because they didn''t want Grey to risk his life and every parent would want their kid to have a peaceful life.

    "You don''t want to become warrior, knight, hunter, mage, or hero party member?" asked Ms. Lozen.

    "No, Why would I want to become knight, hunter warrior, mage, or hero party member when this world is so beautiful. It would be a waste to train and become strong instead of exploring this world." The words that came out of grey''s mouth hit everyone at the table, especially the experienced three at the table who have battle experience.

    Ms. Lozen, Ranulf, and Alice were thinking the same thing. They wished that someone told these words to them when they were kids which came out of Grey''s mouth, they would have taken a different path. They would have fewer regrets, they wouldn''t have has so many blood on their hands.

    "I- I hope your dreams come true," said Sylphy.

    "What do you want to do in future, big sister Sylphy?" asked Grey.

    "Me???? I- I want to go around the world too. Meet many types of people, races, and species and eat all types of flood." Said Sylphy Nervously.

    "We will go together, I will protect you along the way." Said Grey with a huge smile.

    "I will go too," said Eira "Who will protect you, if you protect Big sister Sylphy? I will come too so that I can protect you."

    "Mom will come too, if I don''t come who will make sure that you guys are eating healthy." Said Alice with a big smile just like grey, They look a lot like when they smile.

    "Dad will be pretty lonely without you bring me too with you guys"

    "Wait, Grey aren''t you forgetting your grandma?" asked Ms. Lozen.

    "No, I will take grandma with me too."

    "Yes, I will fly you guys over huge mountains and sea." Said Ms. Lozen rubbing her nose.

    This life that Grey got was like a dream for him, the time he spends with everyone is very precious to him. He never want this to end.. He doesn''t have memories of his past life, but in his heart, he feels like this was always his home, among these people.

 Chapter 6 - 6: Snake That Learned To Use Its Venom.

    6-1

    It was morning, Four year old grey woke up because of the tickly sensation of Eira''s hair getting in his nose. He brushed her hair away from his face, she was holding him tightly while sleeping. He didn''t feel weird about it, it wasn''t sexual in anyways for him. Maybe because he was just a kid and he didn''t experience puberty yet, he didn''t feel anything about sleeping with Eira.

    He kept staring at the ceiling while thinking about this. He looked towards the window, the sky was starting to get blue. But it was still too soon to be awake. But he couldn''t sleep, there was one thing he couldn''t get his mind off.

    ''When I think about it, dad looked worried when left home yesterday morning. He wasn''t home till dinner too. I hope nothing bad happened.''.

    He tried to change his sleeping position and tried to sleep closing his eyes, at the end, he decided to wake up. He got up by placing Eira''s hand aside and gave her a pillow to hold on to instead.

    He got up and walked around the huge mansion and as he expected no one was awake, except for some maid.

    "Young master, you are awake early." Said one of the maids, her name is Sofia. Sofia is the maid assigned to take care of Grey and she took care of him most after her mother.

    "Good morning, Aunt Sofia" Greeted Grey, It''s unusual for a maid to be referred to as a family. At first, Sofia tried to stop Grey from calling her aunt but he didn''t stop and Ms. Lozen seems to not mind it. Being called aunt by Grey always makes Sofia''s day better.

    "Good morning, young master. Young Master, you should brush your teeth, ill bring you Sweet milk."

    "Okay, I will be sitting on the garden bench after brushing my teeth"

    Grey went ahead and brushed his teeth and then sat on the garden bench. He was looking at the sky which was still dark but it was getting bluer and bluer, the time for dawn was near. The weather was cool and the birds were also waking up and the grass was wet. It was calming to sit on the bench.

    "Here young master" She gave him the milk.

    "Aunt Sofia, you can have seat too" Grey offered Sofia a seat.

    He drank up the milk and kept the glass on the table.

    "Aunt Sofia" Called grey, he pointed towards his head while bowing his head, like a puppy who wants to get pets and yes he wanted to get patted on the head. He loved when someone patted his head. Sofia also knew he loved to get patted on the head. She always finds it cute when Grey asks to be patted.

    She made him lie down on her lap and started patting her head. He was in heaven, his eyes were getting heavier and he was going into slumber again. but then the following words came out of Sofia''s mouth " By the way, young master. Mrs. Alice is training currently.". Those words were enough to bring him out of his slumber.

    "Seriously?"

    "Yes"

    Grey always wanted to see his mom fight and this was his chance. He has always heard that her mom is one of the greatest mage warriors from a great family. But, he never saw her fight and he thought she stopped training. But, now it makes sense to him that his mom trains in the Cearly morning, it''s his first time waking up so soon.

    "Okay ill be back aunt Sofia," said Grey while running towards the Training room.

    6-2

    Grey stopped right in front of the training room. He opened the door without making any sounds and hid behind training equipment, when he peaked his head to look for his mom, his mother was standing on sparring ground and spinning a lance very rapidly in her hand. The sparring ground was quite big and it had an open sky above.

    "I see a peeping cat here," said Alice, Alice already noticed Grey''s presence.

    "Hehe," said peeping eyes revealing behind the training equipment.

    "You woke up very early... worried about your dad?." asked Alice.

    Grey stood up from behind gym equipment, that''s when he realized the actual pressure coming from her mom spinning her lance.

    ''The pressure, How fast is she spinning that lance'' thought who was barely standing from the pressure.

    "Oh sorry, I am really sorry my kid, are you hurt?" said Alice, she genuinely forgot the weight of the lance she was spinning and the pressure it created while spinning.

    After checking that his Son is okay, she asked "Do you need anything son? Worried about your dad? Don''t worry he just went for a business he will be back."

    The lance in her hand changed into transparent snake-like mana which had the color of violet-indigo, and the snake went back into her body.

    Grey had a curious expression on his face, Alice replied to satisfy Grey''s curiosity before even Grey asked the question "That is the power of my seal marking" she showed her hand and there appeared a seal marking which is in the shape of a snake wrapped around a stick. Her seal marking was shining in the shade of Violet-Indigo, so were her eyes.

    Alice had long black hair with a shade of violet and Bright Voilet-indigo eyes with a mole under her right eye. Her eyes are her most mesmerizing feature and the beauty of it was known throughout the kingdom. She had a majestic aura which made it hard for people to hold a conversation with her. Grey inherited those bright Voilet-indigo bright eyes along with the mole under his right eye from his mom. most of the facial feature of Grey was same as his mom, except for his hair. which was white just like his dad.

    "I can summon a snake in my hand which can change to any type of polearm type weapons like the lance you saw earlier and the reason I was spinning that lance was to strengthen my hands, it''s an exercise done by lance users." Said Alice.

    "So mom your main type of weapon is lance?" asked Grey.

    "Yes, and any type of weapon that has the shape like a lance, my snake can take shape of it, it can even be a spear. This seal marking, you can also inherit. If you are fit for this seal marking you can inherit it. But I am not the one who decides, if you are capable for the seal or not, the seal itself will decide it." Said Alice.

    "Does anyone else has this type of seal?" asked Grey while holding his mom''s hand to take a closer look at the seal.

    Alice crouched down to let Grey take a closer look at her seal marking and said "No one I know of, I think I am the only one with this type of seal marking. I am sure you already know, not everyone can get a seal marking, it''s a very rare existence. The fact that you got a seal marking as a three-month-year-old kid is rarer." Alice got up to a standing position and summoned a small snake in a mana-like form which turned into a small lance and said " Enough talk, want to train with me?"

    Those words made Grey eyes bright with excitement.

    "Yes!!! Yes!!!!" In Alice''s preceptive Grey was looking like a puppy who was happy.

    Alice handed him the small lance she created and said " Okay fight me".

    Grey took the lance, he had a serious expression on his face which shocked even Alice, before this Grey has never shown interest in fighting or training. But for Grey his mom shined the brightest, he looks up to her and was even interested in learning how to fight from her, anything is related to his mom is interesting and cool for Grey.

    He took a stance that he saw in a book and he tried to mimic the stance that Mrs. Lozen''s students take while sparing.

    "Someone is serious." Alice took a fighting stance too but she was going to fight barehanded "come at me.".

    Grey closed the distance with a dash, the move he was going for was obvious, he was going for left swing aiming for her leg. It looked cool in Grey''s mind but Alice just dodged it with a simple jump. Grey''s back was wide for attack and Alice poked Grey''s back with an index finger while releasing a little bit of killing intent.

    Grey felt a shiver in his back, his neck became sweety. He experienced fear of losing his life. Alice''s intention was to make Grey feel a sense of danger and to sharpen his reflex. Grey turned his back quickly facing Alice in a defensive position pointing his lance towards Alice.

    ''Did I put too much killing intent? No that was just small enough to give a small jump scare that''s it.'' Thought Alice, and she was right. The killing intent she put into her index finger poke was just enough to give a small jump scare. But a person''s strength and people they have killed can be read by their killing intent but it can''t be done by anyone and it takes a lot of experience and training.

    "Grey are you okay? What happened?" asked Alice.

    "Ye иC yes, it just felt like if I didn''t defend myself I would lose my life." Said Grey.

    ''This kid sensed nature of my killing intent? What kind of monstrous sensory power is that?'' thought Alice.

    "Do you want to continue Grey?" asked Alice, to which Grey replied "yes" with changing defensive stance to the offensive one.

    Grey charged again this time he went for right swing aiming for the right leg which Alice dodged without any efforts, but grey didn''t give her time to retake her position and turned around in mid-air and swung his lance with his body while holding the end of the lance, which swung right past stomach barely missing her. Alice dodged backward, Grey quickly regained his feet on the ground and dashed frontwards with much greater speed. Grey was going for thrust which Alice dodged again, this went for a good half n hour with each attack faster than the other and the speed of Grey attack was just getting faster and faster and it was taking more and more effort for Alice to dodge his attacks, then Alice finally decided to wrap it up by just not dodging and grabbing the lance to stop Grey''s attack.

    "This is enough for today. You are so adept at fighting, why aren''t you interested in training or fighting?" asked Alice.

    After Alice stopped the fight Grey realized how tired he was, It felt like something wore off from his body which was preventing him from getting tired.

    "I didn''t think of this a fight, it was like I was playing with you, mama," said Grey with a big smile and then lied down on the ground, he was tired,

    Alice picked him up from the ground "I''ll take you to your room and go have a bath, then we will have something to eat.".

    During the spar with Grey, Alice was already shocked by his reflexes but she found out more interesting than that, During the fight, his speed and strength went on to increase throughout the fight.

    This was common in people''s Ormr blood and Alice can use that power too, It''s a power where People of the Ormr family can increase their speed and strength to a tremendous extent with venomous aura in their blood but a person needs to use their mana to do that.

    This was a power Ormr family was well known for, it was like a cheat code. They can reach up to tremendous power and speed by using this power. But Alice found out that Grey was using that power without realizing it during their spar and he was doing it without using mana and his mana core isn''t even developed yet.

    He was able to use the venomous aura in his blood to increase his strength and speed without any use of mana.

 Chapter 7 - 7: Hide And Seek

    It was noon and Ranulf was not yet home.

    Grey was at his usual place spending time with Sylphy in the library.

    "Sylphy, why is hero summoned in this world?" asked Grey suddenly.

    "I don''t know much about it since I am young too, but from what I have heard and read, Kingdown Summons them to defend Kingdoms from various threats. So, to fight him off this world need hero''s of another world."

    "Are heroes that strong? From what I have heard, hero''s that arrive in this world are mostly teenagers of the same age group, and the world they come from is a very peaceful world where they don''t need to fight or be strong to survive. How are they strong than people of our world who train most of their life from a very young age?" Asked Grey. Grey vaguely remembered that world because he also used to lived there before he got reincarnated here.

    "Yeah, I had the same question too for a while. when I asked Ms. Lozen she said, Hero is given the blessing of gods, they can learn things like magic and swordplay very quickly. The more they kill monsters or even kill people the stronger they get. The hero who shows an intention to kill people are eliminated as soon as possible before they get strong." Said Sylphy.

    ''This sounds an awful lot like system. If I had to guess I think it''s most probably a system or something similar to a system. I hope I don''t encounter any hero they can be pretty troublesome beings. In this world I have no intention of getting stronger, I want to live a peaceful life and I want to explore this fantasy world with Sylphy'' This was Grey''s thought after hearing what Sylphy said and his line of thought wasn''t far off.

    "Btw Sylphy, you are a 10-year-old girl. Do you have a boyfriend?" asked Grey with a smug face.

    "Boy- boy boyfrienddddddd????? Who would have boyfriend?????" Sylphy''s face was red, Grey enjoyed her nervous breakdown.

    ''God damn it, I wish I was some year older. I would have married her.''

    "Now now, don''t lie." Said Grey further teasing her.

    "Don''t tease meee."

    While Grey was teasing Syply, Eira came into the library and said "Grey, Uncle is back."

    Grey was waiting for his dad, so he rushed to the main hall room with Eira. When he arrived at the hall his dad was standing and talking with his Mother. Ms. Lozen was seated, they were discussing something.

    "Dad, where were you?" asked Grey.

    "Dad had some work to attend to, did you miss your dad?" said Ranulf and he lied. In truth, he rushed to his friend''s house, his friend''s village was attacked. Everyone in the village was killed without exception, it was a blood bath. The ground of the village was filled with blood. It looked like someone deliberately made the scene more gruesome than it already was, the blood of the human that was killed was spread like someone painted the whole village red.

    While Ranulf arrived at the house, he was met with a village filled with blood, the walls and the ground was painted red with blood. He checked his friend''s house, hoping they survived. But, that wasn''t the case. As soon as he entered the house. He saw the dead body of his friend his wife, their throat was cut in half, their blood was on the floor. Some of the blood was dried up, they were killed a while ago. Looking at the corpse of his old friend, Ranulf couldn''t stop tears from gathering inside his eyes. He was furious at the fact that someone killed his friend in such a cruel manner.

    But he didn''t let rage take over his mind, the weird thing he noticed was the cut in the throat was too clean. Ranulf''s friend had a daughter who wasn''t anywhere to be seen, as Ranulf was searching for His friend''s daughter he heard a sound under the bed, and when he lifted the bed. He saw a small two-year girl with big eyes, as soon as he saw Ranulf tears started coming from her big eyes, she was scared. As soon as she was someone Ranulf face she couldn''t hold back her tears. She have seen Ranulf with her dad before this and she knew that she was safe now after she saw him.

    Ranulf took that little girl with him, she didn''t talk at all on the journey and she barely showed any expression on her face. Which concerned Ranulf, it was a very traumatic experience for her.

    Ranulf arrived at home with the girl and Ranulf was searching for a house that could adopt this little girl when he was discussing that with Alice and Ms. Lozen.

    Now to the present, Grey felt something was wrong when looked at his dad. As he was going to say something, Grey saw big red eyes peeking behind his dad''s legs, A little girl. As soon as he saw that little girl, he felt like she was afraid and something was making him sad about her. He approached her and introduced himself.

    "Hello, I am Grey, what about you?".

    She walked with her little feet and stopped right in front of Grey before saying "Hello, My name is Emila" she had a shiny set of Grey eyes that melted Grey''s heart but more than that Grey felt a sense of belonging from her. she also had brown hair.

    Grey looked up to confirm something but her mother was quick and replied even before he could ask the question "Yes, her name is Emilia", it was because of her baby tongue that she couldn''t even pronounce her name properly.

    Ranulf crouched down to pat Emilia''s head and said " We are waiting for her uncle to take her home with him, she will stay there until her parents come back from the trip.". Ranulf lied, her parents were dead, but he couldn''t tell Emilia the truth, telling a kid that her parents are dead who doesn''t even know what death means is a harsh thing to do.

    Emilia held Grey''s hand and looked up to him with a big smile, which further melted Grey''s heart. Ranulf found it weird because she didn''t even talk to him the whole journey back to his home and now she is a very different person while being Grey.

    "Dad ill take her to the garden to play with her," said Grey.

    "Okay, just take care of you and her." Said Ranulf.

    Grey piggybacked Emilia and went to the garden and Eira ran behind them "Wait for me too.".

    7-2

    "Big brother caught you." Grey was hiding in bushes "Oh no I got caught.". They were playing hide n seek and they were playing hide n seek for a while.

    Grey got out of the bushes and patted Emilia''s head "Good girl, big brother is proud of you".

    "You never treat me like that. You know you can pat me like that too." Eira was sulky looking at all Grey''s affection was showered on to Emilia.

    "Is that so? Fine, I will give you head pat too" said grey but when he turned to look toward Emilia and she had a disappointed face and it felt like she wanted to say something.

    "What happened, Emilia? Do you need something?"

    Emilia grabbed onto Grey''s T-shirt and finally gathered the courage to say "No, Big brother can only give a head pat to Emilia and no one else." In a very soft voice.

    Eira felt like something very sad happened to Emilia and she didn''t argue further and just "Fine, you can get his head pats, only for today, okay?"

    "You can be nice from time to time." Said grey.

    Grey was punched by Eira "What do you mean by time to time".

    "Now it''s your time to hide, this time ill be the seeker. Eira, you hide too".

    Emilia was hesitant to hide and Grey noticed that from the time they started playing hide n seek.

    "Don''t worry Emilia, Big brother will always come to find you no matter what" Grey had a big smile, for Emilia it was a reassuring face, and for Emilia, she felt like Grey would find her no matter where she hides, no matter where she will go he will find her without fail.

    "Please come find me, big brother, Emilia will wait for you."

    Grey gave a small smack in her head, no it was more like a small tap "If you don''t hide well, you will lose".

    "Even If grey fails to come to find, Big sister Eira is hiding with you. Big sister Eira will never let you alone." Said Eira and it made Emilia more Reassured Emilia grabbed Eira''s hand and said: "Let''s go big sister Eira, let''s hide".

    "You guys can hide but ill come and find both of you, no matter where you go." The bond that was created between these three was a precious one and one Grey never wanted to lose.

    "49...50, Okay read or not here I come.." Grey started searching for both of them, he had a rough idea of where Emilia was hiding but he didn''t know where Eira was hiding.

 Chapter 8 - 8: A New Member.

    It was time, Emilia''s uncle arrived to take her home. But Grey couldn''t shake off the feeling when he looked towards Emilia, his mind and heart couldn''t let go of Emilia. The more he thought about it -the more he wanted to not let her go.

    8-1

    "How is the food Emilia?" Asked Alice. But she didn''t get anything like a reply, Emilia was still afraid and wasn''t ready to talk with anyone.

    "Emilia, how is the food? Do you need something else?" Asked Grey.

    "It''s very tasty, Emilia doesn''t need anything else," Said Emilia with a lower tone but it was still full of life.

    Looking at Her wife Alice that just got ignored, Ranulf consoled his wife by keeping his on on her shoulder "it''s fine, I was ignored the whole way home by her." With a face that was pitying her.

    Over lunch, everyone was having the usual conversation about different random stuff and the lunch came to end. After a while it was time for Emilia to go with her, his uncle was still talking with Ranulf and Alice. Eira, Grey, and Emilia had sad looks on their face, they were all quiet they didn''t want to speak anything. Emilia was sitting beside her uncle and her uncle didn''t look like a bad person to Grey, so he thought it was better for Emilia to go with her uncle.

    ''She will be happy with her uncle''s family and he doesn''t seem like a bad person either. He made sure several times if Emilia was okay or not and he genuinely worried for Emilia'' this was Grey''s line of thought and it was true, Emilia''s uncle was genuinely worried about her.

    "Okay, Ranulf I should get going." Emilia''s uncle stood up but he stood there for a while in silence, he had a lot to say but he couldn''t find the words.

    He was frustrated and he finally broke his silence "whatever you did was a very noble thing. I wish I could have saved my brother; I can''t forgive the person who did this for him. He was the kindest person I knew, Ranulf. My brother never wanted to harm anyone, he had a wife and kid. All he wanted was to watch her daughter grow. He used to always talk about my dream, he always wanted to be the first customer when I open my restaurant.

    I felt like the happiest when he used to praise my food. Why did someone have to kill him, why? Why? Why? why? why? why? why? It is so frustrating Ranulf, why I am so weak, why am I such a useless pathetic piece of shit" Said Emilia''s uncle, tears were flowing through his eyes, he was angry and sad. His brother was killed in a cruel way and he couldn''t do anything about him all he wanted to do now was avenge the death of his brother.

    After hearing What Emilia''s uncle just said, Grey felt a chill down his spine, what grey witnessed today, he won''t be able to forget Emilia''s uncle''s face, the face he made while speaking those words, the face filled with rage and sorrow. Grey won''t be able to forget it ever

    "Don''t think about revenge James, we don''t even know who did this and leave this to knights and I heard a hero''s team is assigned for this, let them do the job. Your brother wouldn''t want you to take revenge for him. I was at the same party as him, your safety was always most important for him. If you want to do something, take care of his kid for him." Said Ranulf, James was the name of Emilia''s uncle.

    "But-"

    "There is no but, take care off the kid. Don''t forget it."

    Alice patted James''s head. For Alice, James was like a little brother. Alice, Ranulf, and James''s brother were on the same team for years. They all shared a great close bond. There were times where the Whole team used to go to the James brothers'' house, where His brother would always brag about his brother cooking, and for Alice, James was like a little brother. She would always gift him expensive cooking utensils and ingredients, which would always get Alice and James in trouble with James''s brother.

    After James calmed down, Alice gave James a small smack in the head "Oye, Kid next time you think about revenge, I''ll kick your ass and no one will be able to stop me. Because иC"

    "-You are the strongest" James continued what Alice started, it was a thing between Alice and James. James knew his big sister was strongest.

    "Okay, now then you have calmed down. You were recruited for a big restaurant in a neighboring kingdom, right? When are u starting your job there?" asked Alice.

    "From next month"

    "Fine, work hard there and about one more thing -."

    Grey couldn''t keep his silence anymore "Dad I want to ask you something" Alice was interrupted by Grey and what Grey wanted to say was the same thing as what Alice was going to say.

    "What is it, Grey?"

    Grey was still hesitant, he couldn''t put it into words "Can we let Emilia stay at our house, ill take care of her. Like my own sister and ill play with her every day, ill protect her, ill never let her be sad. I am not asking to let her stay for a while, I am asking about forever. Basically, what I mean to say is.... Can we adopt her?" Grey didn''t break eye contact while speaking to his dad.

    Everyone was shocked after hearing what grey just said, everyone knew grey wasn''t a normal kid but no one expected him to say something like this. It made Alice and Ranulf proud but things weren''t as simple as adopting her. It wasn''t them to decide, it was up to James and their family.

    "Grey, son it''s not up to us for it to decide." Said Ranulf but even James wanted to take care of Emilia, she was the kid of his dear comrade. So, Even Ranulf spoke up "James, Grey might be a kid but I agree with what he says, Even I want to adopt Emilia and ill keep her as my own daughter. No, ill love her more than ill love my daughter.

    It might be selfish of me but I want to best future for the kid of my friend and my comrade. I''ll let you take care of her but for that, I want you to promise me one thing. You would have to settle down first. pursue your dream and let us take care of Emilia.".

    "Father and son, that''s what I was going to ask James, You guys stole my line and a chance to look cool, that''s not fair" Alice was sulky.

    "Hahaha" James let out a laugh, "You guys are really like a family, I would be happy if Emilia got adopted in a family like this"

    Grey and Alice couldn''t contain their happiness " Yay" They both Grabbed Emilia''s one hand each and started a weird dance and the best thing was even Emilia was happy. They both got a smack from Ranulf " Stop it, you are scaring Emilia." To which Grey disapproved " Look at her face, she is happy too. How is she scared?".

    Emilia hugged Grey and Eira, then after letting them go. Emilia looked up to them before a big smiled appeared on her face "Hehe, I get to be with big sister and big brother." That smile melted both Grey and Eira''s heart.

    "Big sister will play with you every day, big sister will be the best big sister." To which grey said, " Just don''t take her to your brutish training.". Eira turned towards Grey and covered her smug smile with her hand, said" No, you are my only partner for training and sparring, that spot will never be replaced."

    " I want no such spot."

    Everyone was happy and their family got bigger today.

 Chapter 9 - 9: Migrating Birds

    "Brother, look a rabbit. Can I pet it?"

    "Yes go ahead, you don''t have to ask me before doing it." 6-year-old Emilia slowly approached the rabbit, before she could grab it, it ran away. Emilia''s heart couldn''t handle the rejection.

    "Brother" her face was red, her eyes were filled with tears ready to flow out any second.

    "Don''t look at me like that." The look that Emilia was giving was hard to resist. "But, brother the rabbit-".

    Grey let out a sigh "Hold on a second, ill bring that rabbit back.". Grey jumped on one of the trees and moved deep inside the woods by jumping from one tree to another.

    "Grey, be careful in the woods." It was Ranulf, They were in the forest near their house to pickup some fruits and it was a picnic for them. Even Ms. Lozen joined them on a picnic, including Slyphy and Eira. Eira was just back from her house a few days ago.

    "isn''t he a little fast for an 8-year-old," Said Ms. Lozen, "Yeah, and he seem to activate our bloodline''s power without any usage of mana. I don''t know how he does that. After years of experience, I was able to just minimize the usage of mana to activate the venomous aura in my blood. I am happy, he has this kind of power, it makes up for his small mana core." Said Alice.

    "It doesn''t matter if his mana core is big or small, he doesn''t seem to be interested in getting stronger." Said Ranulf, Ranulf had no regret while saying this, it was just a simple fact for him and he was ready to protect his kid as long as he is alive, so he doesn''t care what his son does as long as his son is happy.

    "Hehe, jokes on you. He trains with me every morning and he actually focuses while sparring with me. But, when I think about it, it''s pretty obvious why he only focuses when sparring with me. Because-" Alice got close to Ranulf''s face her face had a smug smile.

    ''Huh, what''s with that face, it pisses me off. Seriously what''s with that face, What a great smug face, it''s like she is queen of this world.'' Thought Ranulf. "Because?" asked Ranulf, he knew if he didn''t ask because, she will keep bothering him until he asks.

    " Becauseeeee, I am his favorite" She folded both of her arms like she was satisfied with herself.

    ''Seriously, what''s with that satisfied posture'' thought Ranulf, Ranulf now wanted to get back at her. "Jokes on you, my daughter''s favorite is me." Emilia now was their own, daughter. They treat her like their own daughter.

    "Yeah right, keep lying to yourself." They continued the fight.

    Grey was back from the woods "Emilia, look I caught the rabbit." Grey gently gave the rabbit to Emilia''s hands. "If you treat rabbit gently, he won''t run.".

    Emilia looked at the rabbit In her hand, her eyes were shining like a star "Thank you brother, hehe". Grey let out a small laugh, "Just feed him some carrot we collected from earlier and leave him back into the forest, before we go back home, I''ll go check up on Sylphy and Eira."

    "Okay brother."

    Grey especially ignored both of his parents fighting cause if he got close to them, they will ask him who is his favorite was and he wanted to avoid that situation. So he went away as sneakily as he could.

    Grey spotted standing under a tree looking at something on the branch, Grey called out to her "Syl-" but he was interrupted "Sushhhhh", Sylphy kept finger at Grey''s lips to shush him.

    "Look at that bird, isn''t it beautiful" Said Sylphy in a whispering tone. "They are a species that migrates from kingdom to kingdom depending upon the season. There can be many of those here in the forest, this is their migrating spot currently.". they were a beautiful bluebird with white ends.

    "You are envious of them aren''t you?" asked Grey. Sylphy let out a soft laugh and said "Yeah I can''t deny that.". after a brief pause Sylphy continued "They live a life that I dream, these birds have seen so many things that I am missing, kind of makes me envious.".

    "If you want to do it, just work towards it. Your situation might not be that simple but don''t lose hope. You want to join the hero''s party so that you could support your family, right? And if you become a hero''s part member you can get to go from place to place. I have heard they get to visit many places. Next hero''s summoning ritual is between 7 to 9 years, just work hard towards it and train under Ms. Lozen so you can become the strongest mage." Said Grey.

    "Hearing that from you makes me feel good, but I have heard the hero that is summoned are the strongest existence and the way they learn things fast is monstrous, the current hero''s in our kingdom are the strongest existence, but with their strength, they might be even arrogant."

    "No, that not entirely correct." Said Ms. Lozen she overheard their conversation. Ms. Lozen let out a small chuckle, it was as if she was remembering a past memory "the hero''s who have come face to face with Alice and the heroes who have seen true power of Alice have become humble, In the face of true absolute power they have realised that the power they have is nothing. I have seen Alice teach Heros and other humans what absolute fear is like. Your mom was a scary figure and one who enjoyed fighting, she changed after Grey was born."

    "Mom was that scary? I didn''t know she was like that in past, she always jokes around and has a smile on her face. It''s hard to imagine like that." Said Grey while looking at his mom who was still fighting with his dad.

    "No, that part of her is still the same, she used to joke around a lot in past too and there was always a smile on her face. Like she was taking nothing seriously. But I have seen her many phases, I will tell you about her stories some other time."

    "Oh, its nearly time of sunset." Said Sylphy looking at the sky.

    "Oh you are right, I didn''t even realize how fast that the time passed so quickly;y." Said Ms. Lozen, "Ranulf, Alice, and Emilia let''s go it''s nearly time for sunset. Grey pick Eira up.". Eira was asleep under the tree and that to for a while.

    "Eira, wake up, let''s go." Said Grey, Grey tried to wake her up by shaking her.

    "It''s already time," Eira sat up and stretched both of her hands "Hwahhhhhh" Eira let out a yawn. "Grey pick me up on your back till our house, I don''t want to walk."

    "No, I am not going to do that, walk yourself." Said Grey.

    "You are going off tomorrow without taking me with you for traveling, so now carry me till the house." Said Eira while sulking her face.

    Grey let out a sigh "Fine, Get on my back".

    Everyone was walking on the path leading to the entrance of the mansion "The sky is beautiful, isn''t it Grey?" Said Eira who was at the back of the Grey. "Yes it is, it is very beautiful.".

    This was the end of their little picnic, tomorrow was the day where Grey and Alice were going out to two months journey and it was the time where Grey''s life will change forever.

 Chapter 10 - 10: The Good Bye

    "Is everything there in the wagon?" Asked Alice who was loading up the wagons with their luggage.

    "Yes, I think this is pretty much it." Said Ranulf.

    Alice and Grey were off on a month''s journey to Amon village which was located in Nahum forest, the purpose of this journey was to train grey''s body to handle his venomous aura of Ormr linage.

    ''Train my body sounds a lot intense but all I have is to take bath in the blood of a panb, By the way, Panb is also a snake-like naag. They are higher naag who are old and matured, them turning from naag to panb depends on various factor. I have to take bath in the blood of this snake thrice in an interval of a week after that I would have to stay in that village to rest, maybe there are some side effects of that bath.''

    "Brother come back fast, okay." It was Emilia, she had a sad face.

    "Don''t worry, your brother is only going for two months." Grey placed his hands on Emilia''s head to reassure her.

    "You make it sound like so less time. Who will I spar with if you go away and I have been sparring with you for the last 5 years and you never took it seriously? When I was little I thought I was always winning but as I was growing up, it was pretty obvious that you were just pretending to lose. If you come back and don''t spare with me seriously I will-" Eira didn''t complete her words, maybe her incomplete sentence was a threat to Grey and he took that threat.

    ''Scary, scary, like really scary. If I don''t give my all next time she might actually murder and when did she find out that I was pretending to lose all this time.''

    "Fine, next time I fight with you. You will lose." Said Grey.

    "Yes, you better give your all next time." There was a big smile on Eira''s face. '' She is happy suddenly'' thought Grey.

    Grey felt a tap on his shoulder, it was Sylphy, she was holding a big bag which she was barely lifting. She handed that bag to grey ''Huh? What in this bag? Heavy''.

    "What''s in this bag? It''s heavy" asked Grey.

    "It''s a bag filled with books that you can read on your journey, I picked these books for you. Hope you like it. Take good care of those, those are my favorite books." Sylphy was giving Grey her favorite books.

    "I''ll take good care of it." Grey was happy.

    "Okay are you ready Grey?" asked Alice.

    "Yes mom"

    "Okay then we will be setting off." Said Alice while sitting inside the Wagon and Waved everyone goodbye.

    "Bye everyone, bye dad. Bye Grandma, bye Eira, Emili, Bye Sylphy." Grey waved everyone bye.

    "Wait, take this." It was Ranulf who stopped them he handed me something, It was a sword "It''s a special sword that was given by my dad and now I give it to you. Imprint your blood in it and it will recognize you as its master. This sword will take shape as you grow and it will become your most ideal weapon as you need it to be. It will eventually be useless to you if you inherit my power to make any weapon through the ice but this sword holds a deep meaning for me and it did for my dad too. It''s your turn to give this sword a meaning." Said Ranulf while looking at the sword.

    "It''s a beautiful looking sword, am I even worthy for it?"

    "It''s up to you whether you are worthy or not, it''s up to how you interpret it."

    "ill take good care of it." Said Grey. While happily accepting the sword.

    "Have this too, it''s nothing much. But this is a crystal if you use it you can send a message to me but it will disappear after one use. If you miss me send a message to me through it." Said Ms. Lozen.

    "I will let you know about my journey through this crystal. But I will be confused when to use this because it will disappear after one use." Said grey while keeping this crystal in the wagon and finally got into the wagon and waved everyone final goodbye.

    The wagon set off for the journey, the wheel moved out of the gate. Grey turned around to see the big mansion and his family standing at the gate.

    ''It is like a dream for me. I might have lived a life before this, but that feels like a distant vague memory for me. Maybe this is my first life. Whatever it is, I am truly happy.''

    10 иC 2

    It''s been a couple of days since they set off for the journey.

    ''Aunt Sofia drives the wagon and handles the horse, the hunting is done by mom and aunt Sofia together, cooking is mainly handled by Sofia because mom is very bad at cooking. Sometimes we spend the night camping and other times in various inns. Ah yes, there were also times when we were attacked by bandits, but they were massacred by mom. I stayed inside during this attack and mostly I hear their scream, I hope my mom is holding back on them though. No, not really I wish I could have seen them getting beaten'' Grey had a sadistic smile while thinking about it.

    "By the aunt Sofia, you are strong and you can cook, you are mostly perfect. You could have become imperial maid, why did you choose to become the maid of Ms. Lozen?" asked grey curious.

    "Because I owe my life to Ms. Lozen. My village was raided by bandits, most of the adults were killed, our belonging was taken. Women-" Sofia paused and corrected herself "The bad guys took children and sold them as slaves, Ms. Lozen freed all children and demanded the imperial to track down all the kids and hunt down all the human trafficking places."

    "Oh, I am sorry." Said Grey, he couldn''t even look at Sofia''s eyes.

    "You are a nice kid." Said Sofia, she sometimes can''t believe that Grey is just an 8-year-old kid," You don''t ask questions when I mention difficult things like human trafficking and kids getting sold, you don''t ask why bandit would do that, don''t you have any questions?"

    "After reading many books with Sylphy about various subjects, I have a vague idea what you mean and also it would be insensitive if I ask you this question." Said Grey.

    "I am proud that you are my young master," said Sofia.

    It was later that night, They stopped at an inn to take a night''s rest. Grey was sleeping, he was tired of the journey. Alice was sitting at the table near the window and was lost in her thoughts.

    There was a knock at the door and followed by a knock came a voice "Mrs. Alice it''s me.". It was the voice of Sofia.

    "Come in."

    "Mam, sorry to disturb you while you were resting." Said Sofia.

    "No, I wasn''t resting and you don''t have to be so formal, you know." Said Alice she pointed towards the chair beside her "Come here, sit down.".

    Sofia sat down "Mrs. Alice, there is movement in Santor nations army. I fear that might interrupt our journey."

    "Don''t worry, their movement has nothing to do with us, they won''t cause us trouble." Said Alice while looking at the moon, she remembered something "Oh, that''s right", Alice took out something from the bottom of the table, it was a bottle of wine and pointed her finger towards the tray of close kept at the corner of the room, Alice bought those tray of glass and asked, "Should I pour it for you miss?".

    "No, give it to me." Said Alice, Sophia handed her the tray. Alice took two glasses and poured wine in them and handed one glass to Sofia.

    "But Mrs. I can''t I have a responsibility to protect the young master."

    "It''s fine fine, one glass won''t hurt."

    "But miss-"

    "Just drink it."

    They both started drank the glass while talking about the various topics. after all, they were of the same age and were more like friends.

    "I must say, Grey is handling the traveling surprisingly well," said Alice.

    "He is a good kid, Mrs. Alice. If I ever have a son I would like my son to be like Grey. No, I would like to serve Master Grey, rest of my life." Said Sofia.

    "That is reassuring, Grey is in safe hands then,"

    They both slept and the night went by and the next day arrived. They continued their journey and day after day kept passing by until a month passed.. They were at the entrance of Nahum forest and finally, they were near the destination of the journey.

 Chapter 11 - 11- An Injured Girl

    11-1

    ''we just entered the mouth of Nahum forest, from here it''s an hour-long journey to the Amon village approximately. The wagon got a little bit cooler as soon as we entered the forest, it''s a little bit comforting.''

    Grey was looking out of the window as the wagon was passing by the forest, it was quite a beautiful forest. As he was looking out of the window he saw a pair of birds on the tree.

    ''What a beautiful bird.'' Thought grey admiring the creature.

    After a while, he saw a monkey-like creature carrying her baby.

    ''What a Cute mother and kid pair...beautiful.''

    And after sometimes he saw a some cat like creature going somewhere in a hoard.

    ''What a cute creatureбн..beautiful.''

    And a majestic tree.

    ''What a majestic tree....beautiful.''

    And an injured girl.

    ''What an injured girl...beautiful....Huh, an injured girl????????''

    "Aunt Sofia stop the Wagon." Said Grey in a hurry, Sofia immediately stopped the wagon.

    "What happened grey?" asked Alice.

    "There is an injured girl lying down there in the forest." Said Grey while getting off the Wagon and running towards the girl.

    It was a girl of around Grey''s age. Alice crouched down near the girl and picked her up "She looks injured but it''s nothing serious, glad we found her." Said Alice, while taking her to the wagon.

    "She looks alone, so we should probably take her to the village and then ask her about her parents after once she wakes up." Continued Alice.

    "How did she get here?" asked Grey.

    "Who knows, gotta ask her once she wakes up." Replied Alice, Alice made a cut in her thumb by biting it and fed the blood that came out of her finger to the injured girl.

    After looking at the puzzled expression in Grey''s face, Alice answered "Oh, are you curious about this? , it''s for healing her wound. Our blood has healing properties. But that doesn''t mean we can feed anyone our blood raw, you first need to control our blood''s venomous aura and after having full control at it, you will also unlock the healing potential of it."

    ''How overpowered is Ormr family''s blood, '' thought Grey.

    "Let''s take her ti the Amon village and further investigate." They started moving towards the village.

    3-2

    They were at the entrance of the village after a long month''s journey, they were welcomed by a couple standing at the entrance of the village.

    "Welcome to the Amon village, Ms. Alice," said the young man named Kian Amon, He was an handsome young man who was head of the Amon village along with his wife, Tess Amon.

    "Hello Kain and Tess, Before anything, I want you guys urgently to take this girl in to a proper care, we found her injured in the forest. I did heal her wounds but take care of her while she wakes up." Said Alice.

    "She doesn''t belong to our village, how did this kid get into that forest alone." Said Kain, he continued "Let''s take her inside immediately"

    After a while, they were finally sitting in Kain''s house, after relocating the girl into proper care under village medic.

    "So I was saying, you guys finally took on the village chief role." Said, Alice.

    "Yes Alice, It''s such a pain to take care of the whole village." Said Tess while making an exaggerated sigh sound.

    "You should have considered that before marrying me, Marrying me meant, you had to run the village as per the tradition." Said Kian.

    "Now now, well it was worth all the pain if it meant that I get to marry you and spend my life with you," said Tess while holding on to Kain''s arms.

    Kain''s face got beat red with embarrassment "Wh- What are you saying in front of our Guest?????" Kain started freaking out.

    "Well you guys still are lovey-dovey as you guys used to be and you still haven''t gotten tired of Teasing Kain, But it''s kind of cute." Said Alice.

    ''What an interesting couple, I have never seen a dude get this red.'' Thought Grey.

    "Hello, My name is Grey Hoffmann. I will be in your guys care in the coming weeks." Said Grey with a small bow.

    "What a well-mannered kid. He kind of reminds me of Mr. Ranulf." Said Kain. Tess crouched down and patted Grey''s head and said " He has features of both of you, most of his facial feature is just like you Ms. Alice, He has your signature purple- indigo eyes and the beauty mark under right eye. I always thought you would look handsome as a guy and he looks just like you. I cant wait to see what kind of handsome man you will grow into."

    ''Ah, she fangirling over my mom, how am I supposed to react?'' thought Grey.

    "You thought it too? Even I thought Ms. Alice would be handsome as a guy." Said Kian with an excited tone.

    ''Not you too. Ah, he is also fanboying over my mom. Well, they aren''t wrong my mom is very pretty. Now that I think about even I am curious how handsome she will be as a guy. Well I just got to look in the mirror, hehe.'' There grew Grey''s pride over his look.

    "Anyways you guys should take a rest, you guys have been through a long journey. We can catch on later, we have made some lunch, eat it up and take some rest, and Ms. Knight you should take some rest and have lunch too." Said Tess, by knight she meant Sofia. Well she cant be mistaken for a knight as she carries a sword and is always beside Grey and Alice on guard for their safety.

    "You honor me by calling me knight, but I am just a maid. It won''t be appropriate of me to have lunch and rest before my master. Ill stand guard outside." Said Sofia.

    "Sofia, like you just said. You are a maid and it''s fine let''s have rest. How many times do I have to tell you that you are my friend, come to have lunch with us." Said Alice.

    "If you say so." Agreed Sofia.

    They had lunch and had good rest for a good day.

 Chapter 12 - 12: Blood Of The Snake.

    12-1

    It was the next day since they arrived at Amon village, Grey was sitting beside the injured girl after waking first thing in the morning.

    ''She hasn''t woken up for quite a while, is she okay? ....but she sure looks peaceful while sleeping, maybe she has been through a lot. She looks about my age, some people do have it bad.''

    He was pealing pears for him to eat while sitting in a chair right beside the bed.

    "Today is the day to take bath in panb blood." Said Grey out loud to himself and took a bite off a piece of pears "A panb blood." Said Grey again while letting out a sigh. Grey face grossed while imagining it "I hope it''s not as bad as I am imagining it to be.".

    Grey ate a whole pear and took out another pear, and peeled it off then he cut it into even-sized pieces. He was looking at the girl while taking a bite off another piece of pears.

    "Give me some too"

    "Ah sure." Grey extended the tray full of pieces of pears to the injured girl for her to take one.

    "Thanksбн Did you cut these? You are good with knives, they are properly even shaped pears." said The injured Girl while looking at Grey.

    "That''s the first thing you say after waking up after days. Usually, people who wake up after being unconscious for days be like "Where am I, what is this place?" or they start panicking, they don''t exactly ask for pears or compliment other people''s knife skills after waking up." Said Grey while taking another bite of pears in his hand.

    "You say that, but you are awfully chill about this situation, the girl you saved after finding her injured in your house woke up. Aren''t you supposed to show a little bit of happiness" said the Injured girl while taking a bite off the pears.

    "Why would I do that? And I wasn''t the one that saved you, it was my mom. Looking at your face, I think you pretty much understand your situation."

    "Yeah, you found me injured in the forest and took me to your house to treat my injury. But, Even though they weren''t life-threatening injuries. They were pretty bad injuries, how did it get heal like it was never there. You must be filthy rich to give me such an expensive medical treatment." Said the girl while chewing on to pear.

    "Ah, you are on the spot for most of the things, but this is not my house. I am a guest here too. Even though I am filthy rich, noбн. calling myself rich would be wrong cause it''s my mom and dad''s money. But we didn''t use our money to heal your injury, your wounds were healed by my mothers blood."

    "Your mother''s blood?"

    "Yes, my mother''s blood. But you know you are pretty disgusting. At least brush your teeth, you have been unconscious for a day. Brush your teeth before eating anything."

    "Ah, you are right, where is the bathroom?" asked the girl.

    "There is one right there in this room. I''ll bring some help, it might be difficult for you in the bathroom.". The girl tried to stand up, after getting off the bed.

    "Here, grab on my shoulders?" said Grey, while offering his shoulder to lean on to. The girl grabbed onto the Grey''s shoulder and asked "Aren''t you gentlemen?" teasing him.

    "Thank you for that." Said grey, he continued "Ah that''s right, I didn''t introduce myself. My name is Grey Hoffmann.".

    "My name is Rai"

    "That doesn''t seem like a local name or did you just make this name up?" asked Grey.

    "That''s rude you know, it''s a name from my homeland. why would I lie about my name and especially to my prince who saved my life." Said Rai with a sneer.

    Grey instantly turned red, he quickly gained his composure "Ahemбн..Like I said it wasn''t me who saved your life", he tried to act cool.

    "Now now, don''t hide your embarrassment." Said Rai with a smug smile.

    "I am not embarrassed"

    "Liar."

    13-2.

    It was evening and it was time for Grey''s first bath. Well, he was already sitting inside the pot filled with Panb blood.

    Before Grey entered the pot filled with blood, there were fumes coming out of the blood. The pot was big enough for Grey to fit.

    ''Ouchбнthis hurts, Noбн.it is hurting like hell. Why is the blood of panb violet in color? and why are my veins turning purple? and why is Panb blood making my skin burn?бн.ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch''

    "Grey you can cry if it''s hurting." Said Alice, she was sitting beside the pot. As a kid, she also went through the same process and she knew, how much it hurts.

    "Noбн.. I am fine." Said Grey while suppressing his scream of pain.

    "Everyone who has gone through this process has criedбн..its okay for you to cry." Said Alice while patting Grey''s head.

    Grey couldn''t hold in much longerбн..he held on to his Mom''s hand and the tears started flowing through his cheeks. He couldn''t hold onto the pain much longer.

    "Thereбнthere, good boy. Just a little longer." Said Alice while holding on to his son''s hand. Grey felt a little bit relieved by his mother''s side.

    13-3

    "Ah, it''s finally done," said Grey after completing his first bath.

    "There are two more baths like that thing, and why were my veins turning purple during that process, ugh it was so freaky." Said Grey, remembering the bath made him cringe again.

    While Grey was thinking about this, his stomach made a growling sound "I am hungry."

    "That street food shops in this village sure looked tasty," Grey said to himself. Grey got up from his bed and went to his mom.

    "Mom can I go eat street food in the village?" asked Grey to his Mom who was in a conversation with Tess.

    "Sure, here have this money and take Rai with you." Said Alice while tossing a pouch full of money. Grey caught that pouch and said "Thanks mom.".

    Grey went to Rai''s room and knocked on her door "can I come in?"

    "sure." Came voice from inside.

    "Do you want something?" asked Rai.

    "Nothing. Oh, oh by the way. Why did you lie to my mom, that you don''t remember that where did you come from and that you don''t remember your mom and dad? It''s an obvious lie."

    "..." Rai didn''t say anything and tried to break eye contact with Grey.

    "it''s fine if you don''t want to say. Maybe it''s something you can''t talk about. But how are you planning to survive alone from here on?"

    "I''ll find a job in this village and then think about the future later. But my main goal is to become a hero''s party member."

    "Ah, you want to become a hero''s party member." Said Grey.

    "why you don''t want to? I think it''s every kid''s dream," asked Rai as she tilted her head.

    "Not mine."

    There was a brief pause between them "You know, even I am not interested in becoming hero''s party member, but it''s something I have to do, as a mission." Said Rai breaking the silence.

    "sound rough." Grey didn''t ask any further questions as he thought it wasn''t his place to pry any further.

    "Oh I forgot, let''s go outside. We will eat something together," said Grey.

    "Is that an invitation to a date? " Asked Rai teasing Grey.

    "Shut up, we are just going out to eat. So are you coming?"

    "Yes, ill gladly take the offer." Said Rai with a smile.. Looking at her smile, "Pretty" thought Grey.

 Chapter 13 - 13: A Date?

    13-1

    "When I think about it, we are still practically strangers." Said Rai while walking with Grey on the streets.

    "Yeah, we are practically strangers," answered Grey.

    There was a stall of food, it had food that smelled and looked like Fried chicken. Looking at those mouth-watering food, Grey''s stomach started growling loudly.

    "Hey Rai, let''s eat those," asked Grey.

    "Sure."

    Grey stood near the stall, there was a kid frying the fried chicken on the back. But kids working in this world weren''t out of normal. Kids working in family businesses were legal in this world.

    "Can I get two plates?"

    On the food stall, there was a kind-looking old man, "Sure, wait a second. We are just taking out a fresh batch."

    "Okay no, problem." Replied Grey.

    The old man placed freshly fried chicken, two pieces on each plate "Do you kids want the spicy sauce."

    "Ah sure." Grey turned towards rai to ask does she want it or not, but she gave an answer before he could answer "Yes, I want it too."

    The old man topped the fried chicken with the sauce and handed it to both of them.

    "Here you go, kid."

    Grey tasted it and it instantly hit his tongue that how delicious it was.

    "Delicious," said Grey out loud.

    After hearing the compliment, The old man let out a laugh "That was made by my Grandkid. He is a good kid, if you ever meet him in the future, be sure to get along with him.". The old man thought that Grey and Rai was local resident and they didn''t clear his misunderstanding.

    "Ah, sure."

    After finishing up the fried chicken

    They went on to try many different things after finally settling down on a chair near the fountain.

    "It was some delicious food." Said Rai looking at the sky.

    Grey also looked at the sky, the night sky was beautiful. He didn''t have the memory of his old life, he wasn''t sure that he even lived a life before the current one. Looking at the three moons in the sky made him kind of assured that he lived a life before this one, cause he was sure that in his old life there was always one moon in the sky.

    In this world stars resonated with each other and so did the three moons, like they are talking to each other. It felt like they were sharing energy or mass with each other. There was always a stream of energy that appeared between stars from time to time, making it feel like they were sort of resonating. People believed that it''s the stars deciding the fate of humans and these stream of lines meaning that the fate of the human changed because of their actions.

    Because of this Resonation between stars and moons, the night sky was always lively. It gave a feeling that you are never alone under the night sky.

    "Hey Grey, did night sky was always this lively? Was there always three moons?" Asked Rai. The question made Grey look at Rai with slight shock and curiosity ''Maybe she is from the same place that I came from'' thought Grey. But he realized the girl sitting beside her was very beautiful. She had dark purple straight long hair, with red eyes.

    ''The reflection of the starry sky in her eyes is beautiful.''

    While he was looking at her, she looked back at him, catching him looking at her.

    "Did I catch someone? You can appreciate my beauty. You know what, you have special permission from me to look at me whenever you want. It''s a special treatment for my prince who saved me." Said Rai.

    "Thanks for that. But like I said to you before it wasn''t me who saved you, it was my mom."

    Grey got up from his seat and dusted off his pants.

    "Anyways, lets get back home."

    "Sure." Replied Rai.

    "By the way, are you sure you want to get adobted by some family in this village?" asked Grey walking back to the home.

    "I want to work and live alone, but this guy won''t let me do it. But it makes sense, I am still a kid." Said Rai, there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

    "You know what, ill come back for you. When I get 12. I have decided that at age of 12, I will set out on a journey around the world. I want you to join me."

    "Sure, going around the world is part of my mission too, so why not. Lets go around the world someday."

    As they were talking, they didn''t realize that they were at the entrance of the door.

    "Time went by fast," said Grey.

    "Yes it did" replied Rai in response.

    13-2

    Five days went by quickly, in those five days grey took one more bath and today it was his final blood bath of Panb snake.

    "Finally I am done." Said Grey, he turned to face Alice and asked "Do we have to stay here a week more, my bath is already done."

    "It will take a week for your body to stabilize, Till then you can spend time with your new friends that you made here."

    "Okay, but-" Grey thought back to his so called friends he met here,

    ''From the time I got here, I got to know new people. One of those is Rai, she is pretty entertaining. Then I met two more other kids, one of them was the cook of the fried chicken shop. I got to know him later, His name is Elrich. he is a pretty cool dude too. The other one is a kid named Rudi, he is the son of one of the Friends of Kian. He has this weird obsession with heroes, he has this collection of books about heroes that was summoned from another world, and of course, he wants to become the hero of justice and in conclusion, I would prefer staying away from Rudi.''

    "Fine ill head out and play with them." Said Grey, but he didn''t have any intention to play with them.

    After a while, Grey was in Rai''s room.

    "What are you doing Rai?" said Grey who was lying in her bed. Rai was sitting in the bench, as she was reading a book. She turned the page before answering "I was researching about something, But there aren''t many books in the library of this village that are helpful.".

    "What information are you searching upon?" asked Grey.

    "I want to know about heart stones, but there isn''t much to go on."

    "Ah, you are talking about those two stones that are mentioned in the story of world twins?" said Grey.

    "Yes, but everywhere they are mentioned is too vague and there is no conclusion to their story." Said Rai with a troubled expression.

    The story of world twin is a story that was told from generation to generation among people, but the story eventually stopped spreading and no one knows where the story started from and if the story was even real. But the story of world twins has a major role in Grey''s future life and the story of world twin is a story that will be explored in the future.

    "I am sure you know this, but the origin of this story is believed to be from Amon village and specifically it was first heard by Hero Amon, well he is considered as devil outside this village though, how about we go to temple of this village, we will ask temple maiden about more information." Said Grey.

    Rai was quiet for a while like she was considering something or maybe she was just processing the information "Fine, let''s go to the temple, she might know something."

    "I''ll ask Aunt Sofia to accompany us."

 Chapter 14 - 14: The City That Fell.

    Grey was on his way to the Amon village temple along with Sofia and Rai

    "Aunt Sofia why is there a such difference in two interpretations of history? Here people consider Amon a god and outside of this village people consider him an evil being, why is that so?" asked Grey.

    "Because In history Amon really was a hero and a person of Vampire race at that too. He had helped humanity over and over again. He didn''t side with any kingdom and helped all kingdoms and races in crisis. People worshiped him, made temples of him. Vampire race people were considered an ally of human beings." Said Sofia before she could finish her further explanation Grey Interrupted her with a question.

    "Was vampires deceiving humans all along?"

    "No no, your imagination is running wild. The grave of vampires always have a dark aura leaking from them, even though it''s called dark aura but It''s actually pretty warm when it''s enveloped around you. The human who worships vampires were enveloped with this dark aura, this aura was said to bring human good health and fortune. But, the reputation of vampires was damaged after the incident in Gefall city. In this incident, all the humans turned into monsters and the reason for that was never discovered. So the people naturally blamed the dark aura that was coming out of the grave of the vampire that people of Gefall town worshipped."

    Grey tilted his head to ask the question "Doesn''t this village also have a temple with the grave of vampire Amon? "

    "Yes young master, but all kingdoms have agreed upon to not touch this village. Except for the Santor nation, many of their people were killed by the human of Gefall city that was turned into a monster. They were against this unified decision by all the nation, but they had to agree to it, to maintain the peace and also they can''t make the enemy of other natio-" as she was going to speak next words a certain piece of information came across her mind. The information about the movement of Santor nation army.

    This realization made Sofia freeze in a place for a moment.

    *Bong- Bong* it was a sound of an Evacuation bell that rang continuously throughout the village.

    "Why did they sound evacuation bell?" asked Rai in a loud voice so that her voice could be heard among the sound of the bell.

    "I am not sure, but if I have to say. My guess would be Santor army is here." Said Sofia, she always had a gentle expression on her face, looking at her serious expression for the first time it was clear to Grey that this was a real disaster.

    The Santor army was standing outside the forest and it would be the first time that Grey will experience war and a major change in Grey''s life.. The time where Grey will experience the horror of war.

 Chapter 15 - 15: Sinner.

    15-1

    "Amon, are you a god or demon?" asked Alice, but there was no one around her. She was sitting in the mountain alone staring at the distant Amon village talking to herself.

    "When I look at it from afar it looks more like a town than a village. Well, it started as a small village when it was founded by Amon, it grew bigger as time passed by but the people of Amon village refused to call it anything other than a village. Well even if it is bigger. they are still close community like a village."

    "Every person I see in this village is enveloped by dark aura radiated by Amon''s grave. Should I worship Amon too? It seems warm being around that tomb." Said Alice as she chuckled to herself "like ill ever do it, I am not built for any religion."

    As she was talking to herself, she sensed an aura coming from inside the forest

    ''A bunch of people in the mountain, no this amount of people...бн..''

    "An army?" asked Alice to herself.

    Alice disappeared from the mountain in an instant. As Tess was walking in the hallway, Alice suddenly appeared behind her. It scared Tess before she was going to attack Alice in self-defense. But, Alice spoke up "It''s me, there seems to be an emergency. An army is coming from the north."

    "An army?" Asked Tess, she further asked, " how much is their number?".

    "Around 10,000." Said Alice.

    "10,000 soldiers!?, why would they bring such a large number of soldiers to a small village." Said Tess, with fear in her voice. Her hands were shaking. 10,000 wasn''t a small number and if their village were to fight it, they would disappear without a trace.

    "What should we do Alice, we will disappear without a trace, if we were to fight it." Tess''s voice was shaking and so was her whole body.

    *Slap* Alice slapped Tess in her face.

    "You are the leader of this village along with Kian. If you act like this, what would happen to your people. Don''t lose your calm and take a decision faster, every second is important."

    The slap calmed Tess down and woke her up to do what''s important.

    "It was foolish of me to let fear overwhelm me, thanks for waking me up. First, we have to evacuate everyone who is incapable to fight, including kids, and gather everyone who is capable of fighting. I''ll go sound the evacuation bell and let Kain know about the emergency." Said Tess.

    "Good, ill go meet up with Grey and put on my battle armor." Said Alice, even though she said battle armor she had no battle armor, the only thing she had was a scarf.

    "Alice, are you going to fight? It''s not even your village. You don''t have to fight."

    "it''s my duty as a member of Ormr linage to protect this village, I can''t abandon a village that has saved my Ormr family member''s life." Said Alice while placing her hand on Tess''s shoulder.

    15- 2

    The sound of the bell was heard all around the village, everyone who cant fight gathered in the village temple, and everyone who could fight gathered in front of their leader Kain.

    Grey, Rai, and Sofia were hurrying towards the village temple, as they were climbing the stair for the mountain leading towards the temple, a figure appeared in front of them. It was Grey''s mom, Alice.

    "Mrs. Alice, is everything okay?" asked Sofia.

    "Yes, it is. I want you to take care of Grey, Rai, and other kids in the temple."

    " As you wish mam." Said Sofia with a slight bow.

    "Mom, what happened.?" Asked Grey who was curious about everything.

    "Ah there are some bad guys outside the village, Mom will have to defeat them." Said Alice, with a cheerful smile. It was a smile of a mother.

    "Bad guys? By the seriousness of the situation, I don''t think they are a bunch of bandits. The only other possibility is an army or hoard of monsters. I hope it''s a monster, cause dealing with humans is more troublesome. But only thought that an army will attack this village is stupid, they won''t gain anything from attacking this village. Unless its other motive like revengeбн..revengeбн..revenge." Grey muttered the word revenge again and again a couple of times until his eyes widened and he muttered two words " Santor nation army.".

    Alice was shocked for a second but then she remembered, her kid was never normal.

    "Yes, Santor army." Said Alice like she was confirming what Grey said.

    "But still, even for revenge it doesn''t make sense. I think their main objective is to attack another nation and they are most likely attacking the Nation of Amay. The nation is ruled by your brother and my uncle, mom. They are just attacking this village because it''s on their way and also I think they have something to gain from attacking this village. They won''t take such a rash decision, they definitely have something to gain from this attack" said Grey.

    "That, most likely the case. But I don''t think there is any powerful weapon in this village. Unless I don''t know about it. Anyways I have to go, Grey, take care of yourself and protect everyone."

    "Yes, mom I will protect everyone." Said Grey with a big nod. Grey turned to face Rai, who was looking at him with a smirk.

    "What? do you have something to say?"

    "Mama''s boy," said Rai with a chuckle

    "Shut up!."

    15-3

    "General, what we are about to do, is it the right thing to do? " Asked Brigadier Till. They were given an order from the king to attack the nation of Amy, but they were assigned an army of only 10,000 which was nowhere enough to fight the nation of Amay.

    "I don''t know if it''s the right thing to do, but we will be sinners after killing all those innocent people." Said, General.

    "Why are we ordered to massacre that village when all the nation agreed not to do so, there are so many things we are kept dark about," asked Brigadier Till.

    "Brigadier Till, do not question the order of the king or there will be consequences. The only thing we can do is trust the king and his order." Said General Werner, who had an intimidating aura of a general.

    "Yes sir, the mistake won''t happen again." Said Till earnestly.

    "Did you gather our soldiers?" asked General Werner.

    "Yes sir."

    "Good, let''s go to them."

    General walked on the main ground his 5,000 soldiers were standing there waiting for their general to speak.

    "Today, I gathered you all to speak about something." Said General Werner, he continued "We will march tomorrow to attack the nation of Amay, but before that, we are ordered to massacre the village of Amon." He took a brief pause and then continued "What we are going to do is not a heroic deed, we are going to kill people who have done nothing wrong, just because they might turn monsters in the future."

    General raised his voice "Listen, my soldiers, what we are going to do is a cowardly act. So never think of yourself as a hero." General took a deep sigh look at the sky and said "Forgive me, my soldiers."

    "There is nothing to forgive about, general. We will follow our general even in hell" Said every soldier in unison.

    To the preset, Right before the army was going to enter the Nahun forest.

    "You will be guarding the other side of the village so no escapes, and also take 100 soldiers with you. Go ahead of us now and take a different route, so you won''t be noticed." Said Prince Dirk, who is the crown prince of Santor nation.

    "But prince, I have to stay here for my army. A general can''t leave his army. " Argued General Werner, " Are you questioning my authority? Disobeying royalty''s order is punishable by death for him and his family. Did you forget that?" said Prince.

    There was no law like that, but it was an indirect threat to the general. He had to back down and obey his order.

    "Yes, prince understood."

    ''Prince has changed since he has come in the influence of church'' thought General Werner, and his thought was right.

    Their marching army consisted of 10,000 soldiers, where 5000 soldiers were under the order of general Werner and others were under the order of another general, who was part of the church.

    The battlefield was ready, it was time for a one-sided battle.. But not one-sided in a way you would think.

 Chapter 16 - 16: A One Sided War.

    16-1

    "are kids ready?" asked Prince Dirk, who was mounted on his horse.

    "Yes sir." Replied the priest. The priest wore white armor that looked like a priest''s outfit.

    "good, we will finally summon our true master. Move everything according to the plan. Kill every single of those villagers, we need to gather that dark aura''s. Don''t let a single one of them alive."

    "As you wish prince." Said The priest with a bow, he is also the general in charge of 5000 soldiers present on the battlefield.

    The priest general walked between the army of his soldier and turned around before saying " We will kill every single of them, to protect our future. This deed will not be forgotten and you will be heroes for eternity." loudly to his soldiers

    Every soldier said "Yes" in unison voice.

    "Now march behind me to slaughter every single of them." Said priest while giving a signal to brigadier Till to march with him, with his 4,900 soldiers.

    All 9,900 soldiers were marching towards the village and the other 100 were blocking any exit and every villager who lost hope and tried to run were slaughtered.

    16-2

    "You both should go escort everyone who gathered in the temple and make sure they escape successfully." Said Alice as she turned her head around towards Tess and Kain.

    "But, we can''t leave the battlefield." Said Kain, he continued "I will stand beside my brother to fight with them till the end, I can''t leave them." looking at the villager who was gathered and ready to fight.

    "Don''t worry, I am here to fight with them and besides, I sensed some of the soldiers on the escape route. They already have slaughtered many of your people who tried to run. Go, take care of those soldiers. I''ll take care of the rest of them here." Said Alice, there was a coldness in her eyes. There was no hint of regret of the villager that had died in her eyes.

    Looking at her eyes, Kain couldn''t decide what was scarier, the fact that she is talking about people dying without any change in her expression or the fact that she is talking about taking on a whole army, like its walk in the park.

    Looking at the expression on Kain''s face, Alice Chuckled "I know what you are thinking, I can''t waste any time on useless emotions. There is a battle in front of me, I can''t let my mind wander around." Said Alice, she continued "You know the old saying "There is nothing absolute in this world, a man without any mana can kill a person with the 1000 years worth of it." And the history has proven this saying to be true."

    "You are right, forgive me for doubting you." Said Kain with a bow. Kain turned around to look toward the 100 villagers who were ready to fight with their life on the line. But in truth they all know they cant come out of this alive, they are just buying time for their loved ones to escape.

    "We heard what Lady Alice said, and we agree to it. Make sure my grandson escapes successfully." Said an Old man, standing among 100 men and women of the village.

    "We leave our loved ones to you, village leader Kain and Tess." Said, everyone.

    "In truth, I don''t want to leave you guys alone. Why did it come to this?" there was a sadness in his voice. Kain loved his life with the people of the village and he didn''t want it to end. He wanted everyone to be happy in his village.

    "Kain" it was the voice of Tess, she held Kain''s hand " We will make sure everyone escapes successfully, that is our mission." Said Tess.

    "Here they come." Said Alice, there was a fog of dust coming from the north and they were finally here.

    The Santor Army was Here.

    16 иC 3

    Alice was standing in front of 100 villagers and opposing them were standing 100 soldiers of Santor nation.

    "We will give you a fair chance to repent your sin, cause our God teaches us to give everyone a fair chance. this our 100 soldiers and you are 100 in number. If you manage to beat them we will leave you guys alone. Our God is merciful one, he even gives sinners like you a fair chance." Said the Priest who was mounted on a horse.

    Alice chuckled " Merciful my ass. 100 well-armored soldiers with years of training against 100 villagers with no armor and weapons. Are you sure, what your god is teaching you is fairness? "

    "What an arrogant woman." Said priest, he turned his horse around to walk back to the rest of his army and said " Kill all of them quickly."

    Alice started walking towards them " You guys stay put, ill handle them.".

    Alice proceeded to move towards the 100 enemies in front of her. She summoned a white snake in her hand which turned into a sphere, her white cape flapped in the direction of the wind and so was her long black hair, it was blowing in the direction of the wind.

    "My cape will only get in my way while fighting." Said Alice, she took off her cape which turned into a small piece of cloth that she wrapped around her neck like a scarf.

    She wore a black t-shirt and some lightweight armor of light gray color.

    "I will fight you alone, we have our honor. Now come at me." Said one of the soldiers as he stepped in front to fight her.

    *Splash* A stroke of blood was drawn on the ground, the blood of the headless soldier poured out of his neck. He was decapitated. The scene sent a chill on everyone''s spine.

    It happened so quickly, no one could make out what happened.

    "I don''t care about your damn honor, everyone come at me together. Don''t waste any more of my time." Said as she pointed her bloody spear towards the soldiers she continued "Fine if you guys aren''t gonna attack. I''ll be the one attacking now.".

    Alice crouched down to gather movement for her jump, and she jumped higher in the air and landed in the middle of soldiers. Everyone around her was cut down in an instant by her polearm.

    The sudden unpredictable attack caused panic between soldiers. They started shooting random magical spells at her. She dodged every of their attack while cutting down her enemies. In an instant, her armor was painted with blood. There were limbs and dead bodies of the enemies scattered around her.

    Eventually, all of the soldiers were dead, leaving one soldier alone. He was barely holding on to his weapon, the terror he witnessed got into his mind. His hands were shaking and he was barely able to stand on his foot.

    "I am giving you the option to give up and I will spare you. Promise me you will not take part in this war and I will spare your life." Said Alice to the lone soldier standing in front of her.

    "I ca иC I can''t do that."The soldier knew he can''t do that. He can''t run from the war. There will be major consequences if he does.

    He grabbed his weapon tightly and took a firm fighting stance. He had a facial expression of a person who was ready to die.

    "I see, that is your answer." Said Alice, she instant appear behind the soldiers. He was cut down in an instant, she tried to give him as quick death as she could.

    She looked at the motionless body of the soldier and muttered to herself " I am really no hero. I am not a person who can be a hero."

    100 soldiers were wiped out that too by just one person. There was a brief silence on the battlefield.

    Alice turned around to face the priest "I defeated your 100 soldiers, now as per your promise. Leave this village alone."

    "I иC I never promised something like that." Said the priest shamelessly.

    Alice chuckled to herself " I see, now you are playing like that."

    Priest spread both of his hands and said "Even if I promised something like that, it doesn''t make any difference. We have the numbers advantage and history is written by the winner. The only truth that goes out of here is our truth and the truth told by sinners have no significance in the face of our god"

    Hahahahaha

    Alice laughed to her heart content before saying "It might be true you have the numbers advantage. No, I can even say, you have the absolute numbers advantage."

    Her voice changed into a serious tone "But at the end what matters is strength.".

    The priest felt a sudden surge of pressure behind her, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He couldn''t move his body. No, it was more like, he didn''t dare to move his body.

    Alice was standing behind him, he didn''t know when she got behind him. For him, she was just standing in front of him a moment ago.

    "Can your soldier match my strength?" asked Alice, as she raised her hand and she tightened her hand to make a fist.

    "What the hell is that?" shouted one of the soldiers.

    "Can we win, oye can we win.?" said another soldier there was despair in his voice.

    Every soldier felt the same fear while looking toward the direction of the sky. Directly above Alice, the sky was filled with thousands of snakes, who were lining and taking the form of thousands of spears.

    "Let me see if your soldier can survive this." She loosened her first and moved her hand down. The thousands of snake spears started moving towards the soldiers.

    Some tried to run, some tried to hide behind the shield, some defended themselves with defensive spells, some even tried to destroy the spear with a counter-attack spell. But everything failed. Nothing could stop, the spears that moved towards.

    Soldiers were penetrated by spears falling from the sky, some died in an instant. Some got stabbed leaving a fatal injury. All the soldiers died in an instant, leaving only the priest and prince alone on the battlefield. The battlefield that was filled with 9900 soldiers, were just filled with 9900 corpses now. All soldiers died, some penetrated by spears and others died poisoning of the spear.

    "You know why I left you and prince alive?" asked Alice to the priest, but she got no reply from The Preist. The priest was shaken to the core,hr was mentally scarred more like he went mentally retarded.

    Alice chuckled to herself "Did I go overboard?" she tried to control her laugh "I should control my laugh. It''s not good to laugh at some who went mentally disabled."

    She covered her mouth, to stop herself from laughing.

    "But, this guy got so scared himself to madness."

    The priest was mumbling something. Alice crouched down to properly hear what he was saying.

    "O GOD.....O MY DEVINE LORD....ARE YOU WATCHING MEбн.I am here god." He was drooling from the mouth.

    Alice finally burst into laughter she couldn''t hold back her laughter anymore.

    "There was a time where I used to play the hero. but after all, it was the right decision, with this personality I can never be a hero." Said Alice while wiping her tears from the laughter

    Villagers started celebrating their victory. They won the battle they never thought they could.

    Alice turned towards the prince, who was trying to run away with his horse.

    "Trying to run away, are we?"

    Alice summoned a blunt lance in her hand threw it on the prince who was running away. He fell off the horse after the Lance hit his back.

    Alice instantly appeared in front of the prince.

    "Don''t come closer to me, leave me alone. How much money do you need? My father can give you any amount." It was a desperate attempt by the prince.

    "Money? I have enough of that. Just answer some of my questions and I can let you live." Alice pointed her index finger.

    "First question, why were you trying to attack Amay kingdom?" Alice waited for a minute for him to answer her question but she was met with silence.

    She continued "Fine, the second question. Why did you attack this village and what do you have to gain from this?" She was again met with silence.

    "You are not making this easy for me. Fine, I will have to use force now to make you speak. First ill break your finger." Said Alice as she stepped forward.

    "Don''t come closer to me." Prince dirk folded his hand to show the backside of his fist where there was a seal marking. It was a seal marking that had a shape that looked like a hand-tied down by a chain.

    "I didn''t want to use this"

    His seal marking was shinning.

    He spoke in a loud voice "I order my slaves to burn your life force and kill this woman for me." From the carriage behind the prince burst open.

    Revealing five kids. Their eyes were blood red and had sharp teeth. They had a look at the insane beast and their veins were popping out which was also red in color.

    "Vampire?" asked Alice.

    Alice''s eyes widened "My mana it''s gone. No, more like I can''t use it anymore."

    Prince Dirk, who was on the ground behind the kids stood up.

    "I have a special Seal marking, I can make anyone my slave. The only requirement is for them to trust me as their own. I can order my slave to do anything, it is also possible for me to draw out their true potential by my power, but for only a few minutes cause it burns their life force away. The funny thing is I let the church experiment on them and I am glad I let them. I recently found out Vampires can suppress anyone''s mana around them and maximize their potential to the maximum. but its drains their life force away and once they start using this power they can''t stop it. I think that''s why vampires never preferred to use it and that''s what lead to their downfall."

    Prince raised his hand above and chanted " Now I will summon my master by offering life force and - " before he could finish his sentence, he was impaled with a knife on his face.

    "Shut up brat." Said Alice after she threw the knife. She thought she stopped his summoning.

    Before Alice could pay any attention to vampire kids, the ground shook. The dark aura around them got denser and it started concentrating in one area.

    "This auraбн." Alice remembered the aura she felt.

    "I see, that''s what the prince was up to." Chuckled Alice as she covered her face with her right hand.

    The Dark Aura materialized and took shape of a body.

    "It''s been a while since I am back in this world. " it was a feminine voice and it was an enchanting voice enough to make any man and woman fall in love with her.

    "Are you the one that summoned me?" asked the voice to Alice.

    "No, it was the guy over there." Pointed Alice towards the corpse of the Prince.

    "Yikes, who did that to him?"

    "Me."

    "Oooo"

    Alice looked towards the dark aura that turned into a beautiful woman "So, what are your plans demon?" asked Alice.

    Yes, she was a demon. A demon was summoned who was sealed by Hero Amon.

    "I''ll first feed the life force of those five little vampires and wait for my body to get stabilized." Said The demon.

    "That''s one simple plan. but, like I will let you do that." Said Alice while pointed the sword she picked up from the corpse of the soldier.

    "Ooh, you are a brave human. Since when did humans get so brave ? was I sealed for too long.? Fine I shall play with you a little. Even though I am not even at the fraction of my power but it''s enough to defeat you. That being said, will you be fine though? I mean your mana is sealed by those little vampires there."

    "I can say the same, even though I can''t use my mana but my powers are enough to defeat you."

    Both women were unto some trash talk.

    "Okay fine show me your power, there must be some power backing up your pride." Said Demoness.

    Alice knew her power currently is not enough to defeat this demoness in front of her, especially when her mana is sealed away. But she had to stall the demon for the 100 villagers behind her to run away.

    Alice looked behind to face the villagers and said "Runaway, this is not the opponent you can fight."

    "But lady Alice- " argued one of the villagers, but before he could finish his sentence. He was interrupted by Alice.

    "No, you guys have to run away. I can''t fight and protect you guys at the same time."

    They couldn''t argue with that and agreed to run away.

    One of the villagers in her teens turned around and said "You are our hero, Hero Alice...:

    Alice smiled and muttered to herself in low voice "A hero?".

    Alice took a fighting stance and she was prepared for the battle.

 Chapter 17 - 17: The Hand That I Will Never Let Go Of.

    17 иC 1

    (Grey''s POV)

    "Everybody stay close, we will follow this route until we are out to safe distance." Said Kain.

    Everyone was instructed to travel through the Forest without making any sound, so everyone is navigating through the forest without making any sounds.

    I was getting the feeling that I was forgetting something for a while, now I just remembered what I was forgetting.

    The sword that was given to me by my dad and the crystal that grandma gave me. Dad will kill me if he got to know that I forgot the sword he gave me, it was precious belonging after all.

    I heard a voice behind me "Young master are you all right." it was Aunt Sofia.

    "Yes, I am fine."

    From the moment we set off for the escape, I have this lingering uneasy feeling.

    "Aunt Sofia, will mom be alright?"

    "Yes she will be, after all, she is insanely strong. There are only a few opponents who can give her actual threat." Said Aunt Sofia with a reassuring smile. She was wearing light armor.

    "That''s reassuring."

    "Don''t worry Grey, we will join your mom after we make sure the escape route is safe." It was Till, I am not sure what I should call her, Aunt Till? No that doesn''t feel right, Mrs. Till? No that doesn''t feel right too.

    She suddenly stopped in her tracks. She looked towards her husband Kain, who standing on the top of one of the trees, to scout the area better. They nodded at each other simultaneously.

    "Everyone, don''t move and stay together, Mrs. Sofia you handle the right side, Till you stay in position and handle that side, and ill handle the right side. Do not let anyone in." Said Kain.

    They formed a triangle-like formation and the villagers in the center. I think their objective is to protect any incoming threat from all sides.

    "We are surrounded." Said Till.

    From inside the forest from all directions many people appeared, they were suited by armor, it looks like we are surrounded by soldiers.

    One of the soldiers rushed forward to attack but was instantly cut down by Sofia. She didn''t hesitate to cut him down.

    The soldier''s gut was slashed from between revealing his intestines. His body was draining out of the blood and his body was getting paler and paler.

    Why there is so much blood?

    That man is dead?

    A person got killed just now, A person. I felt nauseous, I held my mouth but couldn''t hold the vomit in. My body feels weaker, my head is dizzy.

    "Young master, you can close your eyes. You don''t have to look at it." Said Sofia, while slashing another soldier.

    "No, I am fine." I can''t look away. I have to get used to blood, I wanted to get used to blood and gore. I have this feeling this is not the last time I will have to witness bloodshed.

    One after another corpses were piling up, The three were doing a good job of defending the villager. The field around me was getting more and more bloody, the smell in the air was making me nauseous.

    But I can''t look away.

    I can''t look away.

    "You don''t have to force yourself, Grey." Said Rai, she held my hands interlocking her finger with mine.

    She is strong, she is not shaken up by this bloodshed. I admire her for that.

    But, as I saw her hands were also are shaking. She is trying her best too, just like me. I guess I admire her more now.

    17- 2

    The escape route was getting more and more secure. The trio of Tess, Sofia, and Kain were doing a great job of defending the villagers.

    "I thought you would get rusty, Kain." Said Tess teasingly

    "I train every day but are you sure you aren''t getting rusty." Replied Kain while Parrying the sword of the opponent and countering with a punch.

    "Yes, I am planning on getting rusty, because my husband will protect me." Replied Tess.

    "Gwah!" Kain was taken on by surprise. The sword slashed through his arms, his limb went flying away detaching from his body. The blood started pouring out of his arms, He tried to hold back his scream for pain.

    Kain stepped back to regain his posture.

    Tess quickly noticed the arms of the Kain that flew off. Before she could react, Kain stopped her "Don''t..... stay at your position. I am fine."

    Kain Made a fireball in his hand and tried to burn off his bleeding to stop the bleeding. He bit his lips to stop himself from screaming.

    The soldier slashed that his hand was standing in front of Kain, he was wearing armor different from the rest of the soldiers. He was General Werner.

    "I will handle him, go after rest two." Ordered general Werner to his remaining soldiers.

    Kain took a good look at his new opponent. He instantly knew this guy was strong, it was going to be even more of a trouble to fight this man with one hand for Kain.

    Kain focused on his opponents'' swordplay and parried it with his sword step by step. But this process was getting more and more exhausting for him.

    He was out of breath, to create some distance between them. He shot out fireball and took a step back. Werner had no option but to counter the fireball spell with his water magic.

    Werner created a small shield out of the water to absorb the fireball. Kain took the chance and dashed forward to end the fight, he was aiming for the abdomen that was unguarded. But Werner quickly regained his posture and parried Kain''s slash. They kept crossing swords for few moments and there was a new cut each time in Kain''s body, the cuts kept getting more deeper and deeper. Losing one hand meant most of his body was left unguarded, he focused on guarding his vital parts.

    It was getting difficult for only Tess and Sofia to stop the soldiers and defend the villagers at once and so it happened, A polearm was thrown aiming at Grey. Grey dodged the polearm, but it went through the old lady behind the Grey. The old lady lost her life in an instant.

    "Young master, get behind me." Shouted Sofia.

    Grey didn''t know what to do, there were villagers getting killed around him. Grey grabbed Rai''s hand and got behind Sofia.

    Kain heard the voice of Tess, "Just hang on, I am done with the soldiers here. I will join you."

    But it was getting bad for Kain.

    ''This is bad, I can keep on much longer. I have to finish this now, or it will get worse for me.''

    Kain threw his sword away and said "I am gonna end this right here and right now, I can''t keep this going on.... Try to stop this." . he stretched his palm and gathered mana in his hand to perform a spell. The fire in his hand grew bigger and denser. He shot this fireball towards General. General made one more water shield thicker than the last one, to defend himself. But before fireball could come in contact with General shield, it started shining brightly. It was a blinding spell, the ball kept shining, blocking the general''s visual of the surrounding.

    It was a fake spell, Kain rushed forward to end it. Kain thrust his sword aiming for General''s heart. He successfully thrust his sword inside general....but.

    "Gwah!" Kain felt the pressure of something penetrating inside his stomach. He felt extreme heat from his guts. Kain fell to the ground, he was stabbed in the stomach. He looked towards the general, he missed his heart. There was a sword inside the shoulder of the general, but Kain missed the heart. General was truly blinded, but General instincts told him to attack even after being blind.

    Kain lied on the ground struggling for breath, there was blood coming out his mouth.

    Tess finished the last soldier and turned around to look towards Kain, who was stabbed in the guts by the general. Looking at this Rage shot through her veins.

    She rushed forward with her Swords, "How dare you!" she shouted, Her eyes had furious look in them.

    She slashed General''s arms, cutting off his limb. General didn''t step back even after his arm was cut off, He was fighting like he was prepared to die. She continued her attack and aimed for his abdomen but before she could react General penetrated his sword inside Tess''s heart.

    Tess fell to the ground in an instant. Blood was pouring out of her mouth, but she wasn''t conscious. She was no longer alive....

    Kain, saw her wife falling down. There was blood coming out her mouth.

    "Tess?"

    "Hey! Tess"

    "Tess reply to me!!"

    Kain shouted at Tess''s body but he got no reply.

    "Tess!? Wake up, Tess!!? I know you love to tease me. Wake up and say this is a joke, right?." Kain dragged his body towards Tess.

    He felt his consciousness fading away. He dragged his body to grab and stretched his hands to reach out to Tess. He held on to Tess''s hand.

    "I guess this is it for us." Said Kain. The remaining bit of consciousness faded away from his body. Kain was dead.

    Their lifeless body was lying on the ground but their hand was held together tightly.

    General was bleeding from his guts, Tess was successful in slashing his guts. His condition was bad. There was a sword sticking out of his shoulder, he was bleeding from the guts and he lost his hand. He forced out the sword from his shoulder and sat under the tree, leaning his shoulder on the tree. He waited under the tree with a sword in one hand for his death.

    Under the tree, he saw the angel of death. At least that''s what general thought. Upon closer look it wasn''t an angel, it was a kid. The kid had furious look on his face. The kid didn''t emit any kind of dark aura, so the general didn''t feel any need to harm the kid. General Werner''s mission was to kill everyone with a dark aura, it was a mission that tainted his soul. He didn''t intend to harm anyone who doesn''t have a dark aura around them.

    Rage was fuming through the kid''s eyes.

    "Why did you kill them both?" asked the kid, the kid was Grey. Grey didn''t raise his voice, but his voice had a chilling sensation to it.

    "I asked why did you kill them both?" Shouted Grey, pointing his sword towards General.

    "It was my mission." Said General in a lower voice.

    "What mission? What is that supposed to be? The people of this village never did anything wrong to you guys. They lived here peacefully. You demons killed them, based on assumption that their dark aura might turn them into monsters..... Who are the monsters here? You guys or them?" Roared Grey loudly. He didn''t get any reply from the General.

    "Coward answer me!!!!" shouted Grey.

    Being met with General''s silence, Grey dashed forward to stab the sword in General''s heart. General Raised his sword, Grey didn''t care if he died in the process. He wanted to kill the general.

    The sword penetrated through General, but the hand General raised wasn''t to attack Grey, General let go of his sword. General kept his hand on Grey''s head and muttered " I am sorry, kid." With his last breath. Blood poured out of General''s mouth and he died in an instant leaving Grey stunned.

    "I am sorry?" repeated Grey.

    "Sorry? What do you mean by sorry? Aren''t you supposed to be a bad guy? Why did you make such a face while dying? You didn''t hesitate two kill Kain and Tess, your people killed so many people. What do you mean by sorry? Answer me!? Answer me! Answer me! Answer me!!!!!."

    Grey grabbed the dead General''s collar " Why did you look like that while dying, what are you a good guy or bad guy?" asked Grey, and of course he got no answer.

    Sofia stood there stunned, " Young master, I couldn''t protect you. I couldn''t protect your innocence." Said Sofia to herself. There were no soldiers left.

    The only people who were left were Rai, Grey, and Few villagers. Most of them being kids. Others were dead, including Tess, Kain, and General Werner.

    None of them wanted this, but fate had a different plan for them.

    17-3

    Sofia stood there watched Grey, she felt helpless. As she took a step forward to approach Grey. She felt an immense aura, she have never felt in her life. She looked back to find a little girl standing on the top of the tree.

    The aura she released sent a chill in the spine of everyone present there. Grey looked at the vampire girl''s eyes, Grey didn''t feel fear. He looked at those red glowing eyes of the vampire, the vampire girl looked back at him.

    She pointed her finger towards Grey "You are divine, come with me...alive.". her words had no emotions, it was just like she was relaying the order.

    Sofia stood in front of Grey "You won''t-" before she could finish her sentence. The vampire girl jumped from the tree and landed on the ground.

    She started walking towards Grey, as she was walking she raised her hand and stretched her palm. The atmosphere around her began to change. In her palm dark aura materialized and took a shape of a sphere and it began to get bigger and bigger.

    "Grandma!?" shouted one of the kids.

    Grey turned his head to check the source of the sound. It was an old lady who got collapsed. More villagers began to collapse and most of them felt weak.

    "What are you doing?" shouted Sofia. But she was met with silence in return.

    "Grey get behind m-" Sofia felt a heavy pressure on the back of her head. Sofia collapsed, above her body was a standing vampire girl who knocked her off.

    The vampire girl pointed her hand towards Sofia, two giant hands made of flames formed behind her appeared. The vampire attacked with both of her Hands of flames, but before it could reach Sofia. She heard a voice.

    "Stop, I will go with you. Leave her alone." Said Grey, his voice was calm.

    "Understood." The girl stopped her attack and drew back her hand of flames.

    "And stop taking the dark aura, from this people. They will die if it''s taken from them." Said Grey.

    "I can''t do that, it''s an order." The vampire girl''s voice had a monotone.

    Grey pulled out his knife and pointed at his own throat. Forcing a little bit of knife in his skin, to let out a drop of blood "Apparently your order is to bring me alive, if you don''t stop now. I will stab this knife in my throat.". The look that Grey''s eyes had said he was serious.

    The vampire girl paused for a moment, she stood there silently without saying anything. After a brief moment of silence, she spoke "Understood, I will stop drawing out the aura from this people."

    Grey walked towards the vampire girl, as he walked he turned around to face Rai "Rai, take care of Aunt Sofia. She is fine just knocked out. Take care of her, till she wakes up."

    "Gre-" Rai stopped, she was struggling with putting it into words, but she finally formed the right words in her mind, and spoke, "Grey, take care and don''t dieбн.. come back alive."

    "I will," replied Grey.

    They both headed inside the forest. The vampire girl offered a grey piggyback ride but he refused, as they were traveling through the forest "Vampire, where are you taking me?" asked Grey.

    The vampire''s eyebrows squinted together to form a frown on her face "Nameбн..my name is Aetna.".

    ''It was the first time I saw an expression on her face, maybe she didn''t like me calling her vampire''

    Aetna had silver-colored long hair with a set of silver eyes and pale skin.

 Chapter 18 - 18: Demon Who Was A Mother Once.

    18-1

    Alice stood there in front of her was a demoness, she was taking in a dark aura and also absorbing the life force of 5 vampire kids besides her to manifest herself.

    "Human, before we fight I would like to introduce myself." Said demoness, she continued " My name is Ami, Sister Of Hero Amon. I think that''s what you humans call him."

    "My name is Alice. There is nothing much special going on about me." Said Alice, Alice continued "You are sister of Amon? But you are demon. Wait a minute, I got it, never mind. Most probably you both are kid of vampire and a demon." Said Alice.

    "Yeah my mom was a demoness and my dad was a vampire. They had a twins, those twins are me and amon. But Amon inherited mostly dads Vampiric side with little demonic side of my mom and I inherited mostly demonic side with little vampiric side." Said Ami the demoness.

    "Its more interesting thinking that Amon sealed her own sister." Said Alice.

    "Yeah, I am still mad at him for sealing her own sister." Said Ami.

    "Anyways, nice talk we had. Now lets get back to business." Said Alice while taking fighting stance. In her hand was a polearm she picked from a soldier. She couldn''t summon her own snake polearm, because her mana was sealed away.

    "Before that" demoness Ami turned towards two kid and commanded them "You male vampire, go after those humans that ran away, collect their dark aura and bring it to me." She pointed her finger toward one of the girl vampires and continued " You go inside the forest, I sense some humans with dark aura there. Bring me their dark aura and there seems to be human with divinity inside him, bring him over to me. Bring him over alive, it is very intresting that human with divinity exists.."

    The girl didn''t have any expression on her face, it was like she was a puppet "Ah you wont know how to sense divinity. There will be something different about that person from the rest of others." Said Demoness Ami. That Girl Vampire was Aetna. (The one vampire that appeared in the last chapter.)

    The vampire girl started running towards to where Grey was, Alice tried to follow her to stop the girl but, "You are not going anywhere." Ami suddenly appeared in front of Alice and kicked her in the stomach.

    Alice got up and dashd towards Ami, and stopped right before her to thrust her polearm towards Ami. But Ami dodged it, Ami Summoned her long sword " This is my partner, but right now me and my partner are not at our full glory tho." Said Ami as she swung her Long sword toward Alice aiming for her Adomen. Alice parried that attack with her polearm and counter attacked with back of the polearm.

    Ami dodged that attack by stepping back. Ami Created a violet-colored fire ball in her hand and shot It toward Alice. Alice barely dodged that by jumping to the side. Upon contact with the ground, the fire exploded, leaving a hole in the ground. Alice was backed down by the impact of the explosion.

    "Ami, I think I can''t let you gain you full power. I have to admit, it will be difficult to defeat you in your full power, I am not confident that I can defeat you with all my limbs intact . But even I am not in my full power. Even in your full power, you can''t beat me." Said Alice with a smirk.

    "Intresting, very intresting human. I like your personality. You are a freak just like me, we could have been friends. What do you say, we can still stop fighting. Be my friend human. No, be my friend, Alice." Said Demoness Ami.

    "Thanks, that''s an honour. But I cant do that." Said Alice as she dashed forwards to attack Ami.

    Unlike Grey, who can use his venomous aura to boast his ability without any help of mana, Alice and other Ormr family cant do that. But Alice can still use her venomous aura without any help of mana to boast her Abilities, but not to its fullest potential. Ami enhanced her physical ability through her venomous aura.

    Alice dashed forward now more faster than before, fast to a extent that Demon Ami didn''t see her coming until she was in front of her.

    Alice Swung her Polearm, slashing demoness Ami.

    "Ugh" demoness Ami felt pain in long time. But before Ami could recover, Alice continued her attack with hitting the back of her polearm in Ami''s face.

    Ami flew away from impact. Ami tried to get back to her feet before she could touch the ground but in mid air Alice followed her and Swinged her polearm hitting on Ami''s abdomen. Ami crashed on the ground, Alice threw the sharp side of her polearm at Ami. But this time Ami dodged it by rolling away. Alice landed on the ground and collected her polearm back. But she didn''t let her eyes of Ami. Ami stretched her hand to cast a wide fire spell, the purple fire was casted toward Alice. Alice dodged it by backing off.

    Ami got up, she was heavily injured " Alice, you are strong. Now is more reason to not let you live. You will biggest obstacle in my path with your mana back. I will give you last chance, be my friend Alice. We can rule this world together."

    "Thanks for the offer, Ami. But cant do that. I have a kid, who thinks of me, as a hero. I am not much of a hero honestly, but I cant disappoint my son." Said Alice.

    Demoness smiled and said " I see. Then after this fight. As your honour, when I conquer this world. I will not touch you kid and I will make sure he stays happy. For honour of our new friendship."

    "Ami, you are not that bad. I have a proposal, stop and give up on conquering the world. I will let you live." Said Alice, pointing her polearm towards Emi.

    "I cant do that, I have a mission. I have to avenge my son and fulfil my promise to my son." Said Emi, Both woman knew that they wouldn''t agree to each others proposal. But deep down they still wanted to try the other possibility. Ami''s son was killed by humans, but that''s story of different time. A story that will be told in future about Emi, the story about her past and her promise to her son.

    "Human. No, Aliceбн..do you think we would have been friend on some other circumstances?" asked Demoness Ami.

    "Yes, I would have loved to be friends." Said Alice.

    "That''s good to know. Now shall we continue" said Ami as she pointed her long sword towards Alice.

    "Sure."

    Alice and Ami both disappeared from the spot and clashed their weapons. After couple of exchanges between their weapon. Alice was able to out speed Ami in close combat. Leaving several injuries on Ami''s body.

    Being realized that she won''t be able to beat Alice in close combat. Ami tried to create some distance between them by stepping back. But it was getting difficult for her to create distance between her and Alice. The more she got back, the more Alice closed the distance between them.

    Alice closed her distance and managed to deal some injuries to Ami. She raised her weapon to finish It one last slash.

    As she moved forward with her slash, Ami was ready to block it or at least that''s what Alice thought. Ami let go of her sword and Stretched her palm facing towards Alice''s abdomen.

    Alice slashed Ami''s shoulder with her weapon. Ami shoulder was split in half but she was successful in reaching her hand till Alice''s stomach. By sacrificing her shoulder, Ami was successful with her plan.

    *Boom*

    Explosion was created between Alice''s abdomen and Ami''s hand. Both got were blown away explosion.

    It was a magic spell that had enormous explosive properties but using it was impractical. In this spell, an explosion can be triggered by preparing to cast a huge fireball and compressing it to its smallest point by creating pressure around its surface and then releasing it by letting go of the pressure on the surface. By this process, an explosion can be triggered but this method is fatal most of the time it ends with the caster dying on the spot.

    A huge crater was created, After dust was settled. It revealed Ami and Alice, both lying down on the ground. Ami''s shoulder was split in half and her other hand was completely destroyed. Alice condition was no good either, right side was completely gone. Revealing her flesh and there were major injuries all over her body.

    They both were not getting up. The three vampire kids were wiped out from the explosion, they were dead.

    Ami didn''t have any source to regenerate her body with, dying this time mean real death. Last time she was sealed away by her brother because her brother couldn''t bring himself to kill her. But this time she is unsealed, it was real her and dying this time will mean real death.

    Alice got up and so did Ami, they both were severely injured.

    "Get down already, you human are fragile beings. You already are bleeding a lot from abdomen, your left side of the abdomen is totally messed. Stop fighting already, you will die." Said Ami, barely standing up.

    "I could say the same, your hand is gone and other hand is barely functioning." Replied Alice, she continued "Here I come."

    Alice started running towards Ami, now faster than her usual speed. Ami was barely being able to keep up with her.

    Ami fire formed all around her. This fire turned into birds that were aimed towards Alice. Hundreds of flaming birds were shot towards Alice, Alice kept closing the distance between them and dodged those birds simultaneously. Upon contact with ground each bird let out a huge explosion.

    The ground was filled with small and huge holes.

    "I will probably die, even if one of those birds hit me." Said Alice.

    ''demon is a strong existence, if I demon has a ill intent toward human it always gets bloody. I have vitinessed the chaos that comes when demons decides to wage war against human. I cant let this woman alive from her, cause she might trigger to start another war between human and demons.''

    Alice stopped and jumped backward, so did Ami. They both took a deep breath.

    "I am no hero, Ami. But today, I guess I may have to make sacrifice to stop you. To protect my sons future." Said Alice.

    "That''s something I respect." Said Ami.

    Alice eyes were glowing purple, she dashed towards. The ground behind cracked as she dashed forward. She summoned her snake polearm in her hand and got in the position to thrust it right into Ami.

    Ami eyes were glowing orange, she gathered all the mana in her hand to perform. She thrusted her fist forward, her palm was aimed towards Alice''s heart. She gathered tremendous mana in her hand, fire gathered around her and it was all concentrated in her hand. That mana turned into flames

    The flames in her hand took shape of a sword, the heat emitted by the flames was enough to melt the ground.

    Alice gathered all her strength and thrust her polearm aiming right into Ami, So did Ami. The Fire sword shot from Ami''s hand went through Alice. Alice polearm thrusted into Ami. A hole was created in Ami''s body, she fell right to the ground.

    ''Is this the end? I am going to die like this? When I didn''t even achieve my revenge? No, I cant die. I don''t want to die, I don''t want to die....i don''t want to die.... I don''t want to dieбн..'' thought Ami, her concious got more and more blurry.

    As her consciousness was fading away she thought ''I am sorry, I could keep your promise..'' Tears flowed from the eye of Ami, as last of her concious faded away.

 Chapter 19 - 19: The Origin Of The False Hero.

    19-1

    Alice heavily injured, stood in front of Ami.

    "You died crying, huh? sleep well, my friend." Said Alice, Alice grabbed her stomach. Her hands got bloody.

    There was a hole in her stomach.

    "This does not look good." Said Alice, she coughed blood.

    Being not able to stand up anymore she sat down.

    "I guess this is it for me too, I wish I could see Grey at least once." Muttered Alice to herself. It was getting more and more hard for her to talk.

    The blood kept flowing out of her, "It''s getting cold." She said. She lied down "I am tired, I want to take a nap.". Alice closed her eyes, her life flashed in front of her.

    ''I was born into the royal family. Now that I look back, I was a brat. From the moment I was born, I was considering and treated specially by others. I idolized my big brother, wanted to become like him a hero. He was a hero, that was loved by everyone. I wanted to be like him, a hero. I tried, to become a hero. But I realized, the act of hero was not for everyone. Every human is created differently, their soul too. But I kept lying to myself, that I could become a hero. I tried and tried until she died, my friend. From that day I promised, I will stay true to myself and I gave up on being a hero. I kept drowning in my guilt until a prince saved me and later we had a kid. A beautiful kid, My Grey was that kid. I loved him, more than everything. I wanted Grey to look at me, I wanted to be his hero. I was glad the kid loved me back more than anything, I wanted to cherish the look in his eyes whenever he looked at me. The way he idolized me and I wanted to never disappoint him. I wanted to spend more time with my son...бн I don''t want to die so soon...бн.. I want to watch him grow...I wanted to see him fall in loveбн..I wanted to give him advice about loveбн..I wanted to cheer him, whenever he was down...бн. I wanted to see, what path my son would choose in his life...бн.. I wanted to spend more time with my son....this is unfair...I wanted to hear him call me mom one last time.'' Tears flowed down her eyes.

    "Mom??!" It was a voice, Alice wanted to hear once last time.

    "Mom?? Mom??? Mom wake up?" Shouted Grey.

    Alice opened her eyes slowly, to see Grey''s face. "Grey" she called out slowly.

    "Yes, mom I am here." Said Grey, Grey looked at Alice''s injury "Mom the blood иC "

    Alice raised her, to touch Grey''s cheeks. She kept her hand in Grey''s cheek. "Mom, don''t move. I will get you help.". Grey got up, but Alice grabbed his hand "No, don''t I am fine. I will be fine after a little nap."

    "Listen to what mom has to say." Said Alice, Grey stopped. Alice continued "Mom Is going to the gods, mom will be back. Till then promise mom that you will take care of yourself."

    "Liar!" shouted Grey, the tears kept flowing from his cheeks. His face was a mess "You know such lies won''t work on me." he said, his voice broke.

    "Hehe." Alice chuckled "It didn''t work, I have one smark kid." She took a brief pause and continued "Mom will not be in your future. But don''t be afraid, Mom will always look upon. I will always love you, mom will be always proud of you and I was always proud of you." Alice raised her hand and wiped Grey''s tears off " I am sorry, I can''t spar with you anymore. If you feel like it, you can master the ways of Polearm. But whatever you do, mom will always be proud of you."

    "Please don''t say things like that, Grey''s voice cracked.

    The last strength she had, she used it all to sit up and grabbed Grey into a hug "Grey, remember this, from the moment you were born, now and even in futureбн..Mom will alwaysбн..always love you."

    The last of the life in her went away. Alice died in the arms of his son, "Mom!? Mom!?"

    "Mom wake up...бнmom....mom." Grey Chin trembled as he tried to say anything, the tears kept falling. He wiped his face every few seconds but it was replaced with new tears. Grey sat there holding his mom''s lifeless body, his sobs were silent. He sat there silently for a while.

    A seal marking was formed on Grey, same as her mother on Grey''s back. Maybe it was his fate, to wield the same snake as her mother.

    19-2

    Upon reaching the goal that her master has given her, She brought the boy. But when she reached there, she was met with a destroyed battlefield. Her master was dead, there was no longer anything controlling her mind.

    "Ugh." She grabbed her head. The pain she felt in her head was uncontrollable. She was first controlled by Priest, then prince dirk, and then the demoness. But right now she was not under anyone''s control, she was free. But being free came with a price, she no longer knew what is reality.

    Grabbing her head she shouted. She was running out of time, burning her life force away gave her immense strength but she could live for very little time after burning life force away. Once the life force starts burning away it doesn''t stop.

    Fire enveloped her, two hands of fire were formed around her. These hands attacked everything that came in its path, it was out of her control and berserk.

    Grey noticed the new disturbance around him. When looked at that girl, he remembered. his expression became furious

    "It''s you guys'' fault. You guys attacked this place when there was a treaty to not attack this place. You guys killed all these people, you guys killed my mom." Grey shouted. But his screams weren''t reaching till Aetna.

    Grey''s eyes started glowing purple, the aura around him became dense.

    "Don''t act like you are suffering, after doing all this." But he was again ignored, more like his voice wasn''t reaching Aetna.

    Grey''s subconsciously increased his physical strength by his Venomous aura, his hands started collecting mana, the mana reacted with his newly formed snake-shaped seal marking. This mana took shape of a snake, which turned into the shape of a lance.

    Grey dashed forwards with his lance, but one of the fire hands grabbed Grey''s left hand. The fire burned Grey''s hand, which made a sound of sizzled meat. The second fire hand grabbed the left side of his face, the fire hand''s thumb was inserted inside Grey''s left eye.

    *Ahhhhhh* Grey felt tremendous pain in his left eye.

    Grey bit his lips to stop himself from screaming and kept moving forward. He swung his lance to destroy both fire hands.

    Grey''s left hand was totally burned off and so did his eye. His eyes were burned till inside, his eyeball was crushed. He was no longer able to see from his left eye, his left hand was barely functioning. But, still, he kept moving forwards.

    He dashed near Aetna and swung his lance, hitting Aetna''s chest. She was knocked back, she rolled twice in the ground before crashing into the ground. She had no longer intention or will to fight anymore. She didn''t know what was real anymore, she didn''t know anything.

    "It hurts...бнit hurts....it hurts." Kept repeating Aetna holding her head.

    Grey tapped his lance in the ground, the snake opened its mouth to reveal a blade. The lance was turned into a spear.

    Grey walked forward with the spear, his intention was clear. To kill Aetna. As he kept walking forward, a certain person flashed in his mind.

    "I am sorry, kid." The words of general Werner before he died. Grey eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks.

    He got to his knees "Am I going to kill an innocent girl? What is wrong with me? I can''t do that. But what am I supposed to do? Why is this happening? Why did everyone die? Why did that villagers have to die? Why did Tess and Kain have to die? Why that soldier look like that before he died? Why did he say sorry? Why did he feel bad when he didn''t even hesitate to kill Kain and Tess? Why did my mom have to die? It doesn''t make sense.....nothing makes sense."

    No tears came from his eyes, his voice was broken. But remembering all the time spent with his mom, all the time he made his mom run behind him to make him medicine, All the time he made fun of his mom for not being able to cook, all the time he sparred with his mom, all the time his mom thought him how to fight.....Grey was a kid who always wanted his mom''s attention, everything he did was to make his mom proud.

    After remembering all these things, Grey eyes teared up "What am I supposed to do, mom?" tears flowed down from his cheeks. He collapsed to his knees.

    "That''s right, I will become a hero." He said Suddenly.

    "I need power, I have to become more powerful. Only if I had more power, I would have stopped things like this from happening. That''s right I will become powerful and more powerful and more powerful and more powerful and more powerful иC" He kept repeating the same thing until he felt a warm embrace.

    "Huh?"

    The person who embraced him stroked Grey''s head gently. The person spoke, "Everything will be fine." Softly.

    It was a familiar voice for Grey, the voice of The vampire girl, Aetna. But this time her voice wasn''t emotionless, it had a warmth to it.

    "Everything will be fine." But this time her voice broke. She held Grey more tightly, Grey felt a comforting warmth from her. They were like that for a while, until grey heard her sobs, which grew louder and turned into loud crying.

    She cried like a baby loudly, Grey hugged her back. Her cries were loud and somehow Grey didn''t feel lonely because of that.

    A bond was formed, that connected this soul. The dark aura swirled around them and poured into them, among this dark aura there was also an Orange aura that seeped into both of them with the dark aura. The dark aura was from the villagers that died and had nowhere to go and the Orange aura is from the demoness. This aura helped in forming a contract, a contract that combines two souls to exist as one. This contract has many requirements to trigger and one of them is the presence of a lot of wild energy that belongs to no one.

    The contract was sealed between Aetna and Grey. This contract will help Aetna to survive, which was not possible for her because she burned most of her life force. Aetna''s soul from now on will only survive on the support of Grey''s soul. A bond that they will share for the rest of their life.

    "I was trying to kill her, huh?" Grey muttered to himself.

    After a while Aetna passed out in Grey''s arm, Grey checked her to see that she was asleep.

    Grey spent a while on that battlefield. After some time, Grey came back with dirt on his hand. He was wearing a white scarf around his neck. He picked up still asleep Aetna to give piggyback and Left the place heading towards Rai and Sofia with Aetna in her back.

    As grey walked away from the battlefield, the wind blew behind him. Grey wanted to turn back on more time but he thought it would be good if he didn''t. behind him was a lonely battlefield, where soil blew away from two graves. Those were graves of two friends who met each other as enemies and found a friend in each other, those were Grave of Alice and Ami. The question of why Grey chose to burry both of them side by side? Maybe because he felt lonely looking at Ami''s body. Maybe he felt like it was his mom''s last wish to do so. In end, he just did what his heart said.

    {Author: Even though Mc has sworn to be a hero, he will not act hero-like. His actions will not be hero-like. Of course, he won''t be evil either.

    If I had to say it, he won''t be good or bad, he will just be realistic. You will get the glimpse of his character in the first chapter of Volume 2}

 Chapter 20 - Epilogue

    "Helloooooooooooooooooo...бнHellooooooooooooo" I heard a voice, it was a similar voice. This scenario it is giving me a sense of Dижjид vu.

    The state I was in was comfortable, there was a liquid around me and it was comfortable. I do have an idea of where I am at. I am back to that place.

    "I know you are awakeбн..wake uppppppppppppppp." The voice continued.

    I slowly opened my eyes before that annoying loli continues to shout in my ears.

    "I see, you are as annoying as always," I said while lying down. I opened my eyes and my eyes were met with her face. It was the face of the demigod I met before getting reincarnated. It was the face of Arianrhod. But it was too close.

    I continued " Maybe, you gods don''t feel anything about this. But you being so close to my face, is.... kind of embarrassing. Would you mind getting it away?"

    She got her face closer to mine "Oya Oya, I see someone is embarrassed." She paused for a second and then got more close to my ears and whispered " Just so you can know, I was human once too.".

    My face got red.

    I pushed her face away and cleared my throat before speaking "Ahem, we meet again. So you were right that we will meet again.". I looked around was sitting in that lake again, it was the same as I remember. The same forest of cherry blossom trees on one side and on the other side icy mountains with never-ending tops.

    "Yes, why would I not meet you again. I saw your life up till now, it was..... unfortunate. The thing that happened." She paused for a brief moment and continued "do you hate me for what happened?" she asked.

    "No, I don''t. things that happened to you have nothing to do with you. You are a demigod and If I had to guess, most probably you don''t have the power to write someone''s fate. And most probably me reincarnating here has nothing to do with you, so I have no reason to hate you." I replied.

    She was shocked for a moment "I was right, you are very interesting after all. Really interesting. The fact that you got to make a contract with a vampire, makes you, even more interesting. You are right I don''t have the power to write someone''s fate, no one has the power to write your fate.

    Not even god, he just created a system that allows us demigods, demons, vampires, humans, many other races, creatures, and things to exist at once place. He never wrote anyone''s fate and he doesn''t interfere with anything as long as there is balance in his universe.

    He doesn''t care about the poor or rich, he doesn''t care about war and other things like that. He is just like a pre-programmed machine who only exists to maintain the balance of the universe and I think it''s better this way."

    The information that I got right now was interesting, it changed my perception of the universe. But it was enough to send a chill down my spine.

    "I had a different perception of God, I never thought it would be like this. Things you said are kinda frightening, but more than frighting I am relieved." I replied.

    "I know right." She folded her arms and continued to ask " So what will you do now?".

    But before I could answer her, she interrupted me and said " Before you could say anything, I will give you information. The church of Iris is heading this way and as you already know they are against the existence of demons and vampires. They are the reason most vampires and Demons are dead. Somebody tipped them off and now they are heading this way. I suggest you leave the village as soon as possible. They will kill everyone that radiates dark aura."

    I am glad, I got this information. I will have to leave the village as soon as possible with the remaining villagers. But there are only a few survivors and all of them are kids around my age. There are 12 of us, the rest of all villagers are dead.

    "I am glad you told me this," I said.

    "Are you going to take those kids with you?" She asked.

    I nodded twice as an affirmative. She continued "I am going to warn you, most of them won''t survive. The chance of their survival is very less. They were exposed to the dark aura from their birth and this aura eventually mixed with their mana. This dark aura was like a vital organ for them, it was part of them. Now as they lost most of it, they cannot survive anymore. They will die eventually, some in few years and some might even die tomorrow." She paused and then asked, "Are you still going to take them with you?"

    I replied, "I can''t abandon them, I will take them with you."

    "Fine, ill tell you about a possibility. A possibility where there is a chance of them surviving. Head towards Goldberg city, there is a fruit named Amrit. That fruit is blessed with a rich amount of condensed mana, consuming it may give them the chance of surviving and they would have to consume it regularly until their body is stable. But, those fruit comes at a really high price though."

    "Is that so? Fine, I will head there." I said.

    "I will tell you this ahead of time, there is no saving for those kids. only two of them will survive out of all those kids. So, helping them might break you as a person." she warned

    I didn''t give any reply and sat there silently, I didn''t know what to say.

    "Okay, I was so useful to you. Now now, at least give me a reward. Even small praise will suffice. " she said mockingly.

    I was just getting a good impression of her, she didn''t have to ruin it.

    "Wow, you are such a great god. You should have your own church. Wowwwww." I said as emotionlessly as I could make it sound.

    "At least try more." She then continued "Oh, it seems. That your time is up, now then. We will meet later. We will meet again for sure." She said.

    and she suddenly said "I saw that you want to become a hero, do you think your soul can become a hero? can you defy the nature of your soul?" before I could even process what she said

    The world vanished.

    Grey and the remaining kids of the villager left the village including Rai and Aetna. They walked forward leaving the village with no one to live in it behind, it was a lonely village.

    Grey looked back once more, it was windy. Grey''s white scarf fluttered in wind, that was a scarf of his mother.

    "Where are we going?" Asked Rai.

    Grey paused for a second to take a good look at the village, so did everyone. Some of the kids were crying, this village was their home, they were born in. this village was their everything, they never thought they would have to leave it like this.

    And Grey never thought his life would turn out like this. Everything he witnessed broke something in him and out of this born something in him, a strong desire to become a hero.

    Grey finally answered Rai''s question as he walked forward " We are going to Goldberg''s city."

    Everybody walked by, leaving something behind. This was the beginning of the story of grey, The story of a false hero.

    -----------------------------------------End of False Genesis arc-------------------------------------

 Chapter 21 - 20 : The Present After The Past.

    Purple sparks of lightning surrounded Rai. She stabbed her sword into the ground, and continued to shout "Electric shockkkkkk".

    The goblins around her were met with this purple electric current, frying them in an instant.

    "You know you can use your electric power without shouting "electric shockkkkkk", right?" asked Grey, as a hoard of goblins were approaching him. Grey''s eyes glowed purple, as he sprinted toward the hoard of the hobgoblin.

    Before the hobgoblins in the frontline of the hoard could react, they were cut down before they could even realize their fate.

    Icy mist formed around Grey, this mist condensed to form a throwing knife on Grey''s hand. Grey Took aim, before throwing this knife towards a hobgoblin that was rushing towards Aetna.

    "Thanks," said Aetna. Aetna stretched both of her palms towards the hobgoblins right in front of her and shouted "Magical Flame thrower." As a burst flames shot out of her, burning the hobgoblin in front of her.

    She tried her best to shout, but her nervousness got the best of her and the voice that came out was a sweet and slightly inaudible " Magical flame throwerrrr.".

    "That''s a great name Aetna, it really looked cool." Said Grey as he gave Aetna a thumbs up. In reality, more than cool he found her attempt to shout a name before the attack as cute.

    "Wow, that''s some difference in treatment." Said Rai, with a sarcastic tone.

    *Boom Boom Boom*

    It was a series of blasts that was coming from another side of the forest.

    "Ah, he is working hard as usual." Said Grey. The source of the noise was Rudi, he was one of the surviving kids from the village.

    Rudi raised his hand and then dropped it, with this hobgoblin felt an invincible wall crashing on them. One after another hobgoblins got squished by this wall. This invincible wall was Rudi''s power. This power was to bind down air to form a wall, he can freely control this wall to crush his opponent under it.

    "There are more ahead." Said Ulrich as he kept his hands on the ground. He is also one of the people who survived the village attack. His power was to speak with nature and control the vegetation around him.

    "Roger." Said Grey, "You guys stay here, Rai follow me.".

    He moved through the forest swiftly at an incredible, Grey speed was one of the fastest among the bunch. The reason why he is one of the fastest rather than ''The'' fastest is because of the existence of Rai.

    Electricity sparkled around Rai as she suddenly disappeared from her place, she followed behind Grey closely and at one point they were moving through the forest at the same speed, side by side.

    "This commission was set out because these hobgoblins seemed to have killed many humans and raided many villages for food and we are getting a good amount of money to kill these hobgoblins. So I want to ask you a question...бн. Are you doing this for money or to save people?" asked Rai.

    "A bit of both, we need money to buy Amrit fruit and also to cover our expenses, as we are barely covering our expenses. But... I am also doing this to stop any more casualties among the hands of the goblins." Said Grey, as they both traveled through the forest.

    "We are killing hobgoblin''s family too, so what do you feel about that?" asked Rai.

    "It is sad, but we can''t do anything about that. This species of hobgoblins has evolved as a threat to human, rather than normal goblins who hunt their own food this hobgoblin species tend to kill human and raid their belongings as a means or survival. So in this situation, it''s kill or get killed." Said Grey.

    Rai didn''t ask any further, but this time Grey was the one asking the question "So, why are you asking these questions?".

    "Because I like to observe you, I want to know what kind of person you are. All the part of you."

    "Is that so? We have been together for three years hasn''t this been enough time to know each other?" asked Grey.

    "No, I want to know you more and more." Said Rai, But her tone was sarcastic as usual.

    "Ah, that''s some intense feeling. You can confess your crush on me, I am all ears for you anytime."

    Rai stopped in her tracks, so did Grey.

    "We are here." Said Rai.

    They were near the hobgoblin base.

    They slaughtered one after another hobgoblin, the number of hobgoblins kept getting fewer and fewer.

    Grey thrust his polearm into one of the hobgoblins that rushed at him, as he walked forward. He was met with four hobgoblins, one of them was a bigger goblin that was protecting two smaller hobgoblins.

    Besides these goblins, there was also one bigger goblin, but this goblin was shaking as if it was in fear. This goblin also looked like it was trying to protect those two smaller goblins.

    ''A hobgoblin family?'' thought Grey, Grey already came across many hobgoblin families, with kids included. He slaughtered them all without any hesitation.

    (Grey''s Pov)

    A hobgoblin Family?

    The big-looking goblins are most likely the parents of the smaller-looking Goblin, I stepped forward as made the blade of polearm ready. My intention was clear, to kill Hobgoblins in front of me.

    This is for the best, I have to kill every Hobgoblin. Even if they are innocent, I can''t let any further human casualties more.

    The bigger female-looking hobgoblin jumped with a sharp stone in her hand, aiming at me.

    *Slash*

    Grey swung his polearm in one clean strike and the body of the Female Hobgoblin was cut in half. The green liquid flowed out of the dead goblins which flowed towards the tip of the leg of a small goblin.

    One of the small goblins roared at the sight of his dead mother and dashed toward to only get killed.

    The thing that was strange was that another bigger Hobgoblin hasn''t attacked me yet, this hobgoblin is the species that doesn''t let go of a grudge and but yet this hobgoblin didn''t even take a step to take revenge on me as I slaughtered his partner and kid, let alone protect them.

    Looking at the shaking feet of the bigger Goblin it was apparent, it was afraid.

    "Seems like you are an exception, unlike your race you aren''t you aren''t hot-blooded," I said out loud, I stepped forward to end the life of that goblin.

    "Huh," I said out loud, the situation in front of me was a weird one. Not only that this Goblin didn''t attack me as I killed his partner and kid, it''s currently running away from me. Well, I guess I will leave that hobgoblin, I didn''t pursue that goblin any further.

    After a while, I was done with taking care of all the goblins here.

    "Are you done at your side?" I asked Rai.

    "Yes, just got done with it." She replied.

    We walked out of base without saying anything as we made sure that all hobgoblins were dead. This silence was maintained between me and Rai for a while until I chose to spoke up "I got your hand dirty today.".

    It was true, I did get her hand dirty. It was my plan to take on this commission, no one was ready to take on this commission because of the nature of this commission. The hardest part was killing off Kid Hobgoblins and the faces of this kid will haunt me for a while.

    "No, you didn''t. it was our joint decision to take this commission and besides like you said if we didn''t kill these hobgoblins off there would have been more casualties in the future. This was the case of kill or be killed." Said Raid, as she got closer to me.

    I stepped closer to her as we walked together " If you say so." I said, she suddenly grabbed my hand. Our fingers were interlocked we walked holding on to each other''s hands.

    "We can stop doing this if you ever feel uncomfortable." Said Rai, This was a thing Rai suddenly asked me to do. Whenever she stepped closer to me it was like she was saying to hold her hands.

    "I will let you know if I ever feel uncomfortable," I replied.

    Ah, about the village incident? It''s been three years since then.

 Chapter 22 - 21: God Of Abyss

    21-1

    I was at the Adventure guild to collect the money after completing the commission.

    "Grey, today is the release of the book by the summoned warrior, I feel like buying it. can I buy it?" asked Rudi.

    "You can, your portion of the money only belongs to you. You don''t have to ask me before using it." I replied. "So, which summoned warrior book is it?" I asked.

    "The newer ones, the one who just got summoned during the last summon." Replied Rudi, he had a frowned expression. So, I naturally asked "What?".

    To which he replied "They are not called summoned "warrior" they are summoned "Heroes" ."

    "But I prefer calling them warriors. Calling them heroes doesn''t fit right with me." I said. It was true, I always felt uncomfortable calling summoned heroes as heroes.

    As I was saying this, the receptionist came with the money.

    "Okay, your commission has been cross-verified, It indeed has been completed. Here is your money." Said the receptionist.

    You might be thinking the receptionist is a beautiful female, with a sweet voice and elegant posture. I thought the same too when I first arrived in this city. but as I entered the adventure to register myself. I was met with a man with a macho build and a deep manly voice and also with anything but elegant posture.

    His name is Mark, he is a middle-aged man. But I have to admit, he is quite handsome.

    "This is some big reward, so when are you going to treat me with some food." Asked Mark.

    "In your dreams old man, the amount of food you eat is enough to feed a small family," I replied.

    "Don''t, be so cold and stop calling me old man. I am not that old; I am just thirty-year-old and I even look so young." Said, Mark.

    "Who gave you this wrong idea?" I asked with a sneer.

    "Ow ow ow ow" My left cheek was being pulled by the hands of the Mark.

    "Don''t disrespect your elders." Said, Mark.

    "Fine, I will not disrespect you. Leave my cheek alone." I exclaimed. Mark lets go of my cheeks.

    before he could say anything I said "Do you imagine the disappointment on the face of people who come to the adventure guild counter in the hopes that they will be greeted by a beauty and all they get is you." as I let out an exaggerated sigh.

    "Ow ow ow ow ow" This time both of my cheeks were getting pulled.

    Mark stopped pulling my cheeks and said " Oh, by the way. Your aunt wants you to come by to have dinner yesterday. Bring everybody tomorrow to my house for dinner.". By aunt he meant his wife, I call her aunt.

    "Fine, I will bring everybody," I replied

    After collecting the money, we left the Adventure guild and went to the book store to buy a new copy of the adventure of the summoned warrior. Each summoned warrior has their own book, I don''t know who started this trend of releasing the book. But it''s a good source of income for them.

    We bought the book and were heading towards our house. We met Mark again, he just got off his shift from the adventure guild.

    As we were walking together and having our usual conversation.

    "You bought the new version of the book." Asked Mark.

    To which, Rudi replied with "yes.".

    Then went on to ask the question, which he shouldn''t have "Why do you love the summoned hero''s so much?"

    Shit.... this old man had to ask this question, I am not mentally ready for this. I gave Mark an annoyed glance.

    "Because the summoned heroes are the best. They have saved humanity over and over, every time I think about them, I am filled with this aspiration to be like them. Like even their power is so cool. the fact that they are so powerful just within few months of getting summoned is also very cool and the fact that they save every human being without fail is so cool." Said Rudi without taking a break.

    Then even mark realized the reason behind my annoyed Glance.

    "You know it''s not true that they save every human being," I said.

    "Why do you think so?" asked Rudi.

    "That''s just a lie told to increase the sales for their book. It''s easy to fool kids with this type of lies." I replied.

    "Oh." Rudi didn''t argue any further, his face saddened a bit. I don''t blame him, at the end of the day he is just a 10-year-old kid.

    "By the way, how was the commission?" asked Mark.

    "It was an easy one," I replied.

    "If you keep up like this, you guys will become B rank hunters in no time." Said, Mark.

    "You think so?" I asked. Being a hunter is not my goal, it is just my means to earn money and it serves as good training to become strong.

    "Okay, ill meet kids tomorrow over dinner." Said Mark as he waved bye. He stopped because his house was the first to arrive.

    As we were walking back home, Rudi still was kind of sad. We walked our way back quietly until Rudi spoke up.

    "Grey.... I think I am going to be a hero and save everyone." With a bright smile.

    I smiled back "I am rooting for you.".

    Rudi was one of the surviving kids from the village, after the incident, we moved to Goldberg city as Demigod told us to.

    The Amrit food was damn expensive. So, to earn the means of money, we joined the Adventure guild, so that we could afford it. About, how Adventure guild accepted us? A kind woman helped us.

    We struggled a lot; I was optimistic that I could save everyone. But I was wrong. I couldn''t be more wrong; the reality was harsh.

    21 иC 2

    It didn''t want to die.

    In the face of death, the creature didn''t want to die.

    The reaper drew its blade, to take the life of his kind, his family, and his beloved kid. But this helpless creature couldn''t do anything, the creature watched in fear as the reaper killed one after another of its kind.

    The creature was helpless, as his partner was killed right in front of him. The creature was helpless, as his son was killed right in front of him.

    As fear crept into the creature''s mind, it abandoned his daughter and ran away.

    The creature didn''t look back and kept running and running without looking back. He thought he might die if he ever looked back.

    The creature kept running until he wasn''t able, being drained out of energy because of endless hours of running. The creature collapsed.

    Tears flowed from the eyes of the creature, it felt pathetic. He felt hate towards the reaper, he felt despair that he can''t do anything to the reaper, he thought he wasn''t powerful enough to do so.

    The creature wanted power, to be powerful. He wanted to make reaper the same feeling of helplessness that he felt.

    Creature hated the reaper...

    After running endlessly the creature was tired, it collapsed.

    He closed his eyes to see a dream, A dream that was unlike others.

    The creature was in a plain filled with white flowers, the bed of white flowers stretched as far as the creature''s vision could go.

    In contrast to the ground, the sky was pitch black.

    On a closer look, the creature realized. the sky wasn''t black, there was no sky.

    There was nothing above him, a nothingness.

    An abyss...бн.

    The creature admired the beauty of the abyss. But, the more he admired me, the more it felt scared of it.

    Under the abyss, there was no one else other than the creature.

    There was a constant static noise throughout the abyss, the creature felt a frighting chill under the presence of this noise.

    "Do you seek revenge?" A voice was heard by the creature.

    Upon confirming the source of the voice, the creature was met with a being. The being had nothing in terms of the body, yet it felt like it was everywhere.

    The being had no eyes, but it felt like it had eyes everywhere.

    It had no hand, but it felt like everything was on that palm of his hand.

    The creature thought he saw abyss earlies, but the creature realized the presence of being is the void itself.

    "I shall grant your wish." Said the being.

    In the presence of being, no creature was allowed to speak, and nor can anyone.

    The being was the god of the abyss, Tartarus...бн...and the creature was the hobgoblin.

 Chapter 23 - 22: The Past Three Years.

    22-1

    The aftermath of the village attack led to many deaths, including my mom''s.

    I have decided to move towards Goldberg city. The plan is to register into the adventure guild and buy Amrit out of the money that we earn.

    And we couldn''t waste any more time as church was going to arrive at the village anytime. if I take demigods words to the heart.

    My left eye was burnt to crisp, I am blind from one eye and my left hand is also very seriously burnt. Rai did my medication for now. But going further I have to manage my life with one eye.

    I faked my death by burning a corpse of a kid that was around my age, I made a grave for that kid and wrote my name over the Grave. This world doesn''t have the means to identify a dead body if it''s burnt to crisp, they don''t have anything like a DNA test. So faking my death should be easy.

    But still, it''s easy for Grandma Lozen to figure out that it''s not my body. she can read the mana reading of that body and figure out that it''s not my body. for that, I have sent a message to grandma through the crystal that she gave me before I set out for the journey to the Amon Village.

    The message I sent through crystal was "Grandma, mom is dead..... and I will be dead for a while too. Take care of everyone thereбн.... I will be back someday, but till then, it will be secret between Grandma and me."

    It took us 26 days to reach Goldberg city.

    I regained my eyes backбн.. The weird thing is it''s regenerated back. I don''t know how, but for now, if I had to guess, then my best guess would be because of the contract with Aetna.

    My regenerated eye is the same as the old one, but if I take a closer look. It''s a little bit different, it has a hint of silver and orange in it.

    Upon arrival, we wasted no time in registering into the adventure guild. but they denied taking such a young kid into the adventure guild. So, we had to live someday off hunting, but the time was ticking. I didn''t know the severity of the limited time we had until it happened...

    Out of 14 Surviving kids from the village, the first kid diedбн.

    Due to the instability of energy in him, his mana core collapsed on its own and became a black hole of some sort. I didn''t want to give up on that kid and told him not to do so.

    I forced him to live on without noticing the agony he was in, he committed suicide. He chose death to avoid the pain he was in.

    I failed....

    After a kind old lady noticed us and decided to let us live in her house for few days, her house was huge and she lived alone there. The old lady later told us to live for how long we want.

    She helped us join the adventure guild. apparently, her late husband was a big hunter in past. So she helped us join the adventure guild through her connection.

    At first, it was hard. but later we got to know various adventurers. We worked hard, did various commissions tirelessly to buy Amrit, and gave it to the kids of the village.

    It is supposed to help to stabilize the energy in them and prevent the core from collapsing on its own. But Amrit fruit needed continuous consumption in regular internal.

    But even that wasn''t enough, one after another kids kept dying. I couldn''t do anything about it, the only thing I could do was to end their suffering, in their most painful moment. I didn''t want any of them to commit suicide anymore.

    I failed againбн.

    I kept failing.... Again ...and again бн. again бн.and againбн...

    And at last, only 3 kids are remaining now, two of them have their energy stabilized and one is still in threat of dying.

    22-2

    "Grey, did you bring the sweet I made?" asked Ulrich, he is a guy with Orange wavy hair with yellow eyes.

    He usually doesn''t prefer to talk much. He has a thing for making food and he is quite good at it, Like a professional level good at it. I might have married him if he were a girl. Okay, that might be going too far.

    "Yes, I did," I replied, as I showed him the bag in which sweets were there.

    We were in front of Mark''s house and as soon as we entered inside, we were greeted by Aunt Bruna. She is the wife of Mark.

    "Hello, kids." She greeted us.

    "Hello, Aunt Bruna." I greeted Back and so did everyone else.

    "That''s rude you know." Said, Mark.

    "How is that rude?" Asked Aetna.

    "You guys only show respect to my wife. What about me? I am your elder too."

    "Tch, unfortunately," I said with an irritated expression.

    "Ow ow ow ow ow." My cheeks were being pulled.

    "Respect you elder!" exclaimed Mark.

    "Okay, cut it out you two. The dinner is ready, get inside everyone, and let''s eat it while it''s hot." Said Aunt Bruna as she interrupted my cheeks getting pulled.

    We got inside and sat around the dinner table, the aroma of the food was enough to instantly stir up my appetite. I was looking forward to this dinner the whole day, so I haven''t eaten much to increase my appetite.

    I looked at the four kids beside me and those monsters were as hungry as me. Aetna and Rudi were drooling, well I can''t judge them. I am drooling myself.

    We sat down and without wasting any more time started devouring the food.

    After a while, Aunt Bruna asked "How is your health, Annie?."

    To which she replied, "I am very healthy." With a bright smile. Annie is a nine-year-old girl, she is the last surviving kid of the village including Rudi and Ulrich. She has Yellow hair with a shiny yellow set of eyes, which even look golden when seen from a certain distance.

    She can be mistaken for royalty just because of her looks.

    "She will be fine. after all, I am taking care of her." Said Aetna with a warm smile.

    "Yes, Aetna takes very good care of her every day. She is a good big sister." Said Old lady Julia, she is the old lady we are staying with. If I had to say, she is a person with a warm personality and I personally call her ''Grandma Julia'' and so does everyone else in the house.

    "By the way, how is the chicken I made?" asked Aunt Bruna. She knew I had a thing for fried chicken and so did Aetna and Annie.

    "Delicious." Replied Aetna, Annie, and me simultaneously, as our mouth was stuffed with chicken. We looked like squirrels whose mouths is stuffed with peanuts.

    Aunt Bruna let out a chuckle "You guys really do love fried chicken.".

    "More than anything," I said.

    "More than blood," Aetna said, even though she never had a drop of blood. A vampire, she doesn''t have much urge to drink blood.

    "Chicken is the only thing that I might not want to share with anyone," said Annie.

    "Yes, I understand that feeling." Agreed Aetna.

    After a while, we were done with the dinner.. It was a delicious dinner and a dinner that was worth staying hungry the whole day.

 Chapter 24 - 23: The Dinner Party.

    "Are you going on a commission tomorrow?" asked Rudi to Mark.

    "Yes, this time I have to go." Replied Mark.

    "Oh, it''s rare for you to go on a commission," I said, it was unusual for Mark to go on a commission. He is the type of guy who is just happy with his income out of the receptionist job in the Adventure Guild.

    "The commission this time is a different one. People who participated in this commission were never to be heard of again." Said Mark,

    he continued " The information was that there is a very rare grade monster, so the mana core out of it is probably a rarer grade one. Upon receiving this information many adventurers set out to hunt this monster, but they never returned back. So Adventure guild is setting out higher rank hunter to hunt this monster."

    Mark had a troubled expression so I naturally asked " So, why do you look so worried?"

    "Because.... There isn''t much information to go on, we even don''t know the type of monster it is. We don''t know the type of species it is and neither what grade of monster it might be classified as."

    Ulrich asked, "Will you be okay?".

    It''s rare for Ulrich to show concern about anyone and it''s rarer for him to speak.

    "Worry not, at my young days I was a pretty good hunter." Said Mark with a thumbs up and a smile in such a way that it showed all his sparkly teeth.

    I let out a mocking chuckle, "So you do admit that you are an old man now?".

    "Do you want me to pull your cheeks?" asked Mark threateningly. He was making a hand gesture that kind of looked like a pinch.

    I covered both of my cheeks as I said "No!".

    "Sssshhhh" It was Annie hushing us.

    I looked beside her to find Grandma Julia sleeping in a sitting position. She really does love to sleep or maybe she is just getting old.

    After all, she is 96 years old as of now. She lived alone most of her life after her husband''s death, they had a son of their own but he died as a hunter.

    Grandma Julia hates hunters, she sometimes asks me to stop my work as a hunter. But then I explained my situation to her, the whole situation. She understood that we are not working as hunters just because we want, we needed a source of income for us.

    I went to pick up Grandma Julia because she might catch back pain If she sleeps in a sitting position like that.

    "What are you doing?" asked Mark.

    "I am picking her up, she might catch back pain. I will take her to the bed." I replied.

    "Oh okay, then ill pick her up. Let her sleep in my house today, we have extra room." Said, Mark.

    "No wait, don''t let her sleep. She has yet to take her medication." Said Ulrich. " She has to take medication every day after dinner." Said Ulrich as he took out the bag of her medication.

    Ulrich Nudged her gently "Grandma, wake up." He said.

    She opened her eyes up but she was still kind of sleepy " Grandma open your mouth." Said Ulrich. He fed her medicine as she opened her mouth.

    "Here take a sip." Rai made her drink water from the glass.

    "Grandma, sleep in our house today, You might be tired." Said Mark, as he guided her to the spare bedroom.

    "Thank you, young man." Said Grandma Julia.

    "You guys really take very good care of her." Said Aunt Bruna. She continued " She is getting really old and there is no one to take care of her. So it''s really kind of you guys to take care of her."

    "No, she is the one who is giving us space to live in. Without her we don''t know what we would have done, she is a really kind woman." I Said.

    "By the way, I heard you got a commission request to escort a person." Asked Aunt Bruna.

    "Yes, she is a daughter of the noble family of Werner noble family. The commission is to escort her on her first time hunting monster.

    I applied for that commission just because it paid well but I didn''t know that I would be selected. I am confused, but I''ll go anyways because that commission pays really well." I replied.

    "Good luck!!!. She might fall for you, you never know." Said Aunt Bruna as she poked her elbow teasing me.

    "Yes marrying her would mean a lot of money," I replied, I let out an evil laugh.

    "You have one cynical thinking, not a bad kid." Said Aunt Bruna, She had an evil smile. " I want my son to marry a rich girl too, we will be swimming in money.".

    Aunt Bruna might have the same kind of thinking like me, Maybe that''s the reason we get together well.

    I felt something grab onto my arms, I turned around to look at it. It was Annie, she was holding onto me.

    "Grey, if I get rich when I get big. Will you marry me?" Asked Annie as she tilted her head.

    "Why do you think so?" I asked.

    "Because you just that you like a rich girl." She said.

    "Don''t worry about that. You don''t need to get rich, I will marry you anyways." I replied as I patted her head. I lied, of course, she is just attached to me as a kid. She will find someone good as she grows up.

    A big joyful smile formed on her face "Hehe, that makes me happy. I will be looking forward to it."

    To be clear, I don''t have a thing for rich girls. I am plenty rich myself, I have a lot of money left by my mom and my dad is rich too. I am not being a rich spoiled brat but both of my uncles are a goddamn king of their nation.

    So yes, I don''t have a thing for rich girls.. But I do have my type, maybe.

 Chapter 25 - 24: The Sworn Revenge.

    After spending some time in Mark''s house, we all left the house leaving Grandma Julia behind. She is asleep in the spare bedroom of Mark''s house.

    We were walking away, heading towards our house. The night sky was as lively as always, The night sky where stars and three moons resonated with each other.

    It looked as beautiful as always.

    I was carrying Annie on my back. She was asleep on my back still holding on to me tightly. She was one of those people whose muscle memory is good, such people don''t let go of things even when they are asleep.

    While we were walking together,

    Ulrich suddenly asked "Grey, we haven''t forgotten have we?".

    I instantly knew what he was talking about and the answer to the question was " No, I don''t think I ever will. "

    Rudi''s expression turned furious, as he said " Even after 100 years, I will never forget it. I will never forget what those bastards did."

    "I have my score to settle with the church of Iris, so I will join you guys in destroying them from the roots." Said Rai.

    I stopped in my tracks and said " We are just busy at the moment, but once we stabilize the mana core of Annie successfully. I will get those bastards who were behind the attack in the village."

    I took a brief pause before speaking again " I will find those rats, even from hell. I will never forget the death of my mother."

    Various unpleasant memories flooded through my brain, I never forgot about that incident. After I am done with stabilizing Annie''s core, I have various people to kill.

    My blood boiled thinking about the incident all over again.

    I wonder what kind of expression my face has right now...

    I resumed walking, before saying "I will settle my score with Santor nation and the Iris church."

    "huh, what are you guys talking about?" asked Annie, who just woke up.

    "Nothing special," I replied, hope she didn''t notice what we were talking about. I don''t want her to drag her into all this mess.

    She took my word and went back to sleep.

    I looked beside Aetna and she looked like she wanted to say something. I tilted my head letting her know that she can speak her mind.

    "I will join you too, Grey." Said Aetna.

    "Yes, we are partners anyways. Wherever I go, you have to come with me. We can''t stay away from each other for a long time because of the contract between us." I replied.

    I came to know about the existence of the contract between me and Aetna because of the demigod and also because of the seal marking of the Minerva.

    One of the powers of the seal of Minerva is to provide me with information, and that especially applies to the power I possess.

    Like for example, I have the power to increase my physical strength and speed through venomous aura in my body. So the seal of Minerva provides me with information about my venomous aura, detailed information that I don''t know about.

    Through the seal of Minerva, I found out that my venomous aura has more powers, one of them is that the opponent in my field of vision will suffer a paralytic effect. This power basically puts them in a state of paralysis, where it causes instability in their physical strength and also their mana.

    For the seal of Minerva, the contract is sort of power too. So I have all the information about the contract I have with Aetna. The contract was made as a means for Aetna to survive and this contract benefits both of us.

    I lost my eye, so through this contract, I was able to get my eye back. But if I lose my eye one more time, I won''t get my eye back.

    As the contract was made all the energy that existed in the surrounding gathered on to us, because of that I was exposed to the heavy amount of dark aura and also Demoness Ami''s energy.

    About how do I know her name? Because it seems her will has seeped into me. But I am shutting her off as of now, I never made direct contact with her will that exists in me.

    But because of the seal of Minerva, I know that her will exists inside me.

    24-2

    It was the next day and I had to go to escort my commission.

    I was informed to gather at the Adventure guild and meet up with the other five hunters who were assigned this commission as well.

    It sucks...

    I hate joint commissions. It''s not as fun as people think it to be, I always have to deal with teammates who are hard to handle.

    Of all the joint Commission I did,

    There Is always one guy who tries to assert domination about how good he is and for some reason he always tries to prove that he alpha among the group.

    We are not in the jungle, so It''s not necessary to go out of your way to prove that you are an alpha among the group.

    Then there is always a girl, who is the girlfriend of the alphaбн.

    Let me tell you that this girl is the most annoying, I can handle the alpha guy once but this girlfriend of the alpha is the one that gets on my nerves.

    This girl always thinks that she is the most beautiful girl in the city and if her ego is big enough she might also think that she is the most beautiful girl in the nation.

    And there is always this two Mother f***ers who discuss in the background that how beautiful the girl is, the dialogue between them that always goes like,

    "Oh, this is miss. Xyz and his boyfriend alpha."

    And the next guy will always say

    "Yes, it''s miss. Xyz, the cities number one beauty."

    And then they will go on to treat her like that she is the queen of everything and they must worship her.

    And let''s not talk about that one loser guy who tries to be the right hand of the Alpha.

    I hope this time I get a team with members that are not clichиж characters.

    I don''t want the Alpha ...бн And I don''t want Alpha''s girlfriend ..... and I don''t want to see that two mother fu**** that talk about how beautiful Alpha''s girlfriend is.

    I am not paid enough to deal with those people.

 Chapter 26 - 25: A New Toy?

    I waited for a while in the adventure guild for my teammates to arrive.

    The thing I am curious about is, why there is a team assigned just for escorting a girl for her first hunting session.

    As I was thinking, I was pushed aside by someone.

    "Can''t you see where you are going, you ruined my expensive shoes." Said the person who pushed me.

    I am confused about my current situation, This guy who is standing in front of me pushed me and then he goes on to blame me for pushing him.

    I have been standing here for fifteen minutes and this guy walked into me. Still, he has the audacity to say that I pushed him.

    Wait I know this situation....

    I ignored the guy, I didn''t want to get in a fight.

    He continued, as he closed the distance between us while walking slowly "That is why I hate commoners like you. Now, how will you pay for my shoes?"

    "Hate is a strong word... but never mind and your shoes aren''t even dirty," I said.

    I finally understood the situation, this annoying guy is the Alpha. If the alpha is here then the Alpha''s girlfriend should be here too.

    "Why are you asking him to pay, Frank? Even if he worked his entire life, he won''t be able to pay for this shoe his entire life." Said a female voice.

    Ah, the Alpha''s girlfriend is also here and why is she spouting such a clichиж line.

    And apparently, the guy''s name is Frank.

    I stood there silently cause I didn''t know what to say. But the thing I said about how I didn''t want to fight, I take that back. I want to break some face today.

    "Oh, isn''t that Lili. The number beauty of Goldberg city and the daughter of Jung family." Said one guy in the background, lets just name him idiot A.

    "With him is the Frank the son of the Horn family. What are they doing here?" Said another as a reply to Idiot A. Let''s name the second guy idiot B.

    "I heard the got commission as a hunter to escort the daughter of Gerver noble family, what are they doing there fighting with a commoner?." Said Idiot A.

    "He is courting his death, Frank is a B rank hunter in a such a young age. He will kill that guy." Said Idiot B.

    I like how they naturally assumed that I am a commoner and also the fact that how they can''t see that the only person fighting with me is this guy who''s name is apparently Frank.

    And of course, the background clichиж character is also here.

    Now only the Alpha''s aka Frank''s right-hand guy is remaining.

    "Frank, you don''t need to fight this trash. I will take care of him." Said a guy who was standing behind Frank.

    Of course, Frank''s right-hand guy came with him.

    This is a clichиж setup that I hate the most.

    I opened my mouth to ask " So you are my five teammates assigned with me for the Escort commission?".

    I didn''t have any intention to go any further with the fight, so I changed the topic.

    Don''t get me wrong, usually, in this type of situation, I don''t think even for a second before throwing my hand but this time I am kind of desperate and I need money from the commission.

    "You are ignoring me!? You will pay for it." Frank''s right-hand guy shouted.

    This guy doesn''t need to be so dramatic.

    He rushed forward to attack me, but before he could touch me.

    A voice was heard " Stop right there.".

    The source of the voice was Old looking man, he wore a butler outfit. Even though I said he was old, but he wasn''t that old.

    Maybe near fifty years old, but he looked considerably really fit.

    The guy who was going to attack me stopped, he was lucky. I already was deciding in my mind about which of his bone to break.

    The man in the black butler outfit and white hair spoke " You hunters have been gathered here to escort Miss. Agata to her first Hunting section, I will be joining commission as well. This commission is a week-long and you will be paid on daily basis and If needed the commission might get extended."

    Lucky me, this means a lot of money. With this amount of money, I might be able to buy higher-grade Amrit fruit. I hope this will save Annie, I really do.....

    24-2

    After that, we were taken to the mansion of the Werner family. The entrance of the mansion was huge, as we passed the entrance a huge building stood in front of us. The architecture of the mansion was glorious on its own.

    It kind of reminded me of the mansion I used to live in as a kid, it''s kind of giving me a nostalgic feeling.

    As I was appreciating the architecture, I heard an unpleasant voice behind me.

    "That''s what I like to see, commoner, losing their reality when they have met a slight fraction of our richness." This was Lily, Alpha''s Girlfriend aka Frank.

    I chuckled to myself.

    "What are you laughing at?" she asked.

    "Are you sure you want to know?" I said with a sneer.

    She didn''t say anything in reply, but I continued "I just remembered that you are the daughter of the Jung family, last time I was heard about the Jung family was years ago. I heard you guys are fallen noble family and I also heard that you guys aren''t even considered noble at this point."

    I took a brief pause before saying " So I just found it funny, how you are mocking me for being a commoner and you yourself are nothing more than a commoner."

    Her face instantly got red.

    She tried to speak containing her anger "Youбн.. Youбн. I will not forget you, I will get you beat up by Frank after we are done with this commission."

    The way she tried to speak while containing her anger was cute.

    "Threatening with your boyfriend''s name isn''t going to work, he isn''t that scary or strong. If I had to say, he is more of a clown." I said while placing my finger on my chin to look like I am saying something serious.

    "He is not my boyfriend!" she exclaimed.

    I thought this commission would be boring, but I think I just found out a good time pass for myself.. I will tease her throughout the commission, this is going to be interesting.

 Chapter 27 - 26: Look Alike

    " My name is Agata Werner, I will be in your care for a week." Said the girl standing in front of us with an elegant bow.

    So this is the daughter of the Werner family, I must say she is more refined and elegant than I imagined her to be.

    Everyone in my team was in awe when met with Agata Werner in person, well they did have all the reason to be in Awe.

    As no one was introducing themselves, I took it upon myself to introduce myself.

    "Hello, Miss. Agata, My name is Grey. I will try with the best of my ability to not disappoint you." I said, But when I thought about what I said, I realized that it was kind of cringe.

    For some reason, Agata was looking at me with a very observant look.

    "What happened Miss. Agata, is there any problem?" Asked the Butler.

    "No, It''s just that I feel like I have seen master Grey somewhere before." Said Agata, her face looked like she was trying to pinpoint where she had seen me.

    This is not good, I was thinking about all the time I met noble families of any sort while staying in my old mansion.

    I am sure we have never met before today.

    It will be pretty bad if she finds out who I am.

    "I think I have a pretty common face, It can be easily mistaken for anyone," I said.

    "Actually white hair and purple eyes are not so common traits. I realized your facial features are pretty unique when I take a good look at your face." Said Lili as brought her face closer to mine as if she was reading my face.

    Lili''s facial expression changed as if she realized something, " Oh my apologies Miss. Agata, I haven''t introduced myself.".

    Lili''s lowered her head for a slight bow and spoke " My name is Lili, the daughter of the Jung family. It would be my honor to make acquaintance with you."

    "No, the pleasure is mine." Replied Agata, with an elegant smile.

    Introducing each other in the noble family is a kind of pain. Even I had to do it for quite a while, but my mom and dad weren''t that strict about it.

    "That''s why you looked familiar," Said Agata, she looked happy about it "You look just like Mrs. Alice."

    Shit....

    "Mrs. Alice?" I asked, I tried to play dumb.

    "You don''t know Hero Alice?" exclaimed Frank from behind me.

    "I don''t, who is it?" I asked, I will continue to play dumb till hell.

    "That''s why I never associate myself with a commoner like you иC" He paused in between as he realized that he was in the presence of Agata.

    "Ahem." He cleared his throat before turning to face Agata.

    "Hello Miss Agata, it''s been a while since we last met." Said Frank.

    Apparently, they know each other.

    "Yes, it''s been a while, Master Frank." Replied Agata.

    Agata turned to look towards me and started explaining.

    "It''s rare to see someone who doesn''t know Mrs. Alice, But I will explain...

    Mrs. Alice is considered one of the greatest warriors to ever have existed. She was considered the hero of humanity, it''s a great feat considering hero is the title only given to summoned one.

    Every boy and girl in Amay nation has a dream to be like Hero Alice, she is the hero to all of us and she is the hero of mine.

    From the moment I met her as a kid, she shined brightly for me. I look up to her and maybe someday I want to carry on her legacy."

    Her facial expression changed to a pained one "Unfortunately she died three years ago, it was the saddest day for all of humanity. She was loved by everyone, it was the saddest day for me too." Said Agata, She carried a sad smile on her face.

    It felt good hearing someone talk about my mom with so much respect and care.

    "She must have been the best, I am sorry that I didn''t know about her," I said.

    "It''s okay, but I am surprised that there is someone out there who looks just like Hero Alice. If you would have had black hair instead of a white one, you would have looked exactly like her. Maybe, male version of her." Said Agata, she looked really excited while speaking about my mom.

    The butler stepped forward and said " Today you guys have been gathered just for the introduction and for a chance to know each other and Miss. Agata. From tomorrow the real commission will begin."

    I forgot to mention this, but all the participants for the commission were chosen rather young, like around the age of eleven to fifteen.

    I think there is some other additional purpose for the commission.

    "Today you guys can spend time with each other in the training ground and get used to each other''s power." Said Butler,

    He turned around to face Agata and said "Miss, you have been also ordered by master Gerver to participate with them in the training grounds."

    26-2

    Later we were all taken to the training ground. This commission is becoming odder and odder, But it doesn''t matter as I am getting paid heavily.

    I heard a voice from beside me.

    "Lucky for you, Miss. Agata said that you look just like hero Alice. I heard hero Alice was very beautiful." It was Lili''s Voice.

    "So you think that I am beautiful?" I asked.

    "No!" she disagreed strongly, after a second of pause she continued "On a second thought, you are kind of handsome."

    Her face was red and she was trying her best to hide her embarrassment.

    Now that I take a closer look at her feature, she has black long hair which was tied to a high Ponytail with green-colored eyes.

    I nudged my elbow into her as I said "I thought you had a boyfriend.".

    She nudged her elbow back "I never said that I had a boyfriend?".

    "Makes sense, who would take that clown as a boyfriend. What was his name again? yes, Frank!." I said.

    As I was saying this I felt a touch on my shoulder, so I turned around to find out that it was Frank.

    He opened his mouth and said "The white scarf around your neck really suits well with your hair, your sense of style is pretty good. Maybe.... Can you... help me with how to look good with my attire."

    A big smile formed on my face as I said "Sure! I will be glad to help you.".

    As I said that I turned to face Lily and said " That is a great guy. Frank was his name, right?"

    "huh? Just a second ago you were saying he is a clown." Said Lily with a sarcastic tone.

    "Did I?" I asked.

 Chapter 28 - 27: Power Demonstration.

    "You will get on the practice ground and demonstrate your power and power level." Said the Butler.

    By demonstrating power and power level he means that we have to show what kind of element we are most compatible with.

    Fire, Water, Air, and Land are the main four-element people are most compatible with, all other elements are by-products of these elements.

    A person who has a main affinity to the fire element also has a slight affinity to Air and land. But they are unable to perform any type of water magic.

    A person who has the main affinity to water elements also has a slight affinity to Air and Land. But they are unable to perform any type of Fire magic.

    A person who has the main affinity to Air elements also has a slight affinity to Water and Ice. But they are unable to perform any type of Land magic.

    A person who has the main affinity to Land elements also has a slight affinity to Water and ice. But they are unable to perform any type of Air Magic.

    "Okay, ill go first," said Frank''s right-hand guy. Apparently, his name is Phil.

    He stood in the training ground and stretched his palm facing the target dummies.

    The mana from his surrounding gathered in his hand and materialized itself into a fireball, he shot that fireball towards one of the training dummies destroying it.

    So he has compatibility to fire magic, Fire element class Is a pretty offensive class.

    "Any weapon class?" Asked Butler to Phil.

    To which he replied, "No, I am a mage class."

    Mage class means they don''t use any weapon and only focuses on the magic type of attack. Well, fire and Air is the best element for the mage class.

    "Not bad Phil that''s some destructive firepower. It was the right decision to choose you as my right-hand man." Said Frank.

    Wait, Phil Is his actual right-hand man? I was just calling him his right-hand man as a joke.

    "Now I will show that what real power means." Said Frank as he walked towards the training ground, he turned around to face me and said "I will show you the difference between me and you, I will show you your place commoner."

    Well, the last bit was not necessary and I like how he assumes every time that I am a commoner, not like it matters though.

    He walked in the ground and stretched his palm facing the test dummies.

    A bunch of rocks was formed in the palm of his hand. The rocks were small and pointy, it kind of looked like bullets.

    Those rocks shot towards test dummies.

    This rock passed through the body of test dummies leaving many holes in it.

    It doesn''t seem like a big feat but what Frank did was actually impressive. The person with land affinity is known for their slow magical attack, so they mainly focus on being support or tank.

    Due to their slow nature, they are unable to perform effective offensive attacks.

    Being able to perform such high-speed land magic was really impressive.

    "Impressed, aren''t you?" asked Frank looking at me.

    He continued " Now do you know your place? This is the power that you can never come closer to."

    "It is impressiveбн.

    But it can''t do much damage in a real battle. Even though you were able to perform high-speed land magic but this attack won''t do much damage to an opponent in a real battle." I said as I folded my hands.

    "Youuuuu," Frank Shouted.

    "Don''t be so dramatic. I am just speaking the truth." I said, I turned my head around towards Butler and asked "Do you think anything I said was wrong?"

    "To be honest, I think what Master. Grey here is saying is true. In a real battle, this kind of attack will prove to be useless."

    Upon hearing what butler has to say, Frank lost his cool.

    "What qualification do you have to provide me with your opinion." He asked the butler.

    "You are right, I am just a normal butler without any qualification," said Butler.

    "Forgive our butler, if he has offended you in any means." Said Agata with an apologetic slight bow.

    "No, it''s fine. I was the one overreacting." Said Frank Apologetically.

    Wow, that''s some change in the behavior.

    So, he does show respect to people who he thinks are superior to him. But that''s normal for every human being.

    Frank turned towards me and asked:

    "How about you show your power, I want to see what kind of qualification you have."

    I went to the Training ground and stood there.

    I stretched my palm facing it towards the test dummies and performed a simple water ball magic.

    I do have an affinity for water magic.

    I can use ice magic which is considered advanced water magic, so it''s natural that I can use water magic.

    "That''s it?" asked Frank.

    "You were talking so much shit that I thought you were some kind of prodigy or something. so disappointing. With this much power, how can you even protect miss. Agata?" Asked Frank.

    I turned towards him and said calmly " Cause I am warrior class."

    A warrior class means a person who masters the art of any weapon or even makes their body a weapon.

    They rely on magic-less to fight.

    "What kind of weapon do you use?" Asked Butler.

    "I use three types of weapon which are sword, polearm, and Greatsword," I replied.

    "That''s impressive that you master three types of weapon. Doesn''t it get difficult?" Asked Agata.

    "I manage it somehow," I replied.

    "That''s good, even I master great sword. How about you duel with me? Of course, you can decline if you are scared." Said Frank mockingly.

    "Sure, I don''t mind," I replied I said calmly.

 Chapter 29 - 28: Duel.

    28-1

    (Franks POV)

    We both stood on the training ground holding on to our greatsword.

    From the moment I met this guy something annoyed me about him.

    I am the young master of the horns family and from the moment I was born, I was shown respect and fear. Wherever I went everyone treated me treated special and with respect.

    But this guy, Grey... his calmness is irritating.

    I need respect from everyone for them to acknowledge me and I can''t do that without people fearing me.

    Everyone will stay loyal to me and respect me, if I am better than everyone, I need to show everyone their place.

    I need everyone''s respect, Or elseбн.

    I will be left alone againбн..

    I will make this commoner in front of me show me some respect and bow down to me, I need to show him his place.

    I held my great sword with both of my hands and took a ready stance.

    I slowly closed the distance between us and so was he, he carefully walked closer to me.

    My eyes were fixed on his greatsword, I was carefully paying attention to his every little moment.

    His stance was perfect. looking at his stance it was obvious, He was trained well.

    I had a plan to end this duel quickly.

    As there was still some distance between us.

    I used my power to gather rock bullets around me and aimed them at Grey before shooting them towards him.

    He raised his Greatsword to block those rock bullets,

    Yes! All according to the plan!!.

    I dashed behind my rock bullets to close the distance between us.

    He swung his Greatsword and destroyed the rock bullets in just one swing, this was his mistake.

    If he would have blocked those attack he would have a better chance to block my next attack.

    Due to the heavy nature of the Greatsword, it needs a lot of strength and it''s very difficult to perform a quick attack with Greatsword.

    And due to inertia he won''t be able to recover his defensive stance again, he was wide open.

    I swung my sword aiming at him...бн. That''s it I win!!.

    Huh? I felt his Greatsword clashing mine.

    Did he recover from that swing in such a short time?

    No, this is impossible!!

    What kind of strength does this guy have?

    After the clash of our sword, my sword was pushed back due to the pressure created by our sword clashing and so was Grey''s sword.

    I tried to regain my position, quickly.

    Huh?

    His sword wasn''t pushed backward? What kind of strength does this guy have?

    I was wide open and there was nothing I could do. He swung his sword forming a vertical slash, aiming at my shoulder.

    I will lose.....

    After taking this hit it will probably take months to recover.

    I felt a wind pressure over my body but there was no attack followed. I opened my eyes to see his great sword right over my shoulder.

    He didn''t follow up with his attack...

    "Why?" I asked.

    "What why?" he asked back.

    "Why didn''t you finish me off?" I asked, I was confused he should have struck me down.

    "Why would I do that? we are just sparring." He replied.

    Huh? What do you mean by we are just sparring?

    Is this guy mocking me?

    He was walking away from the sparring ring.

    I opened my mouth to stop him " Where are you going? Aren''t you going to mock me? You have won, go ahead and mock me."

    He turned around to face me and said:

    "What''s wrong with youбн.. Why would I mock you? I have no personal enmity against you. I have no reason to mock you."

    He paused for a bit before saying "And besides why would I mock someone who works hard on his swordsmanship. I am not that kind of person."

    "Huh?" I was confused.

    How does he know that I work hard on my swordsmanship?

    He understood my confusion,

    He spoke up as he pointed his finger towards my hands " Those are the hands of a person who works hard. The scar in your hands shows how much hard work you put into your swordsmanship. That''s something I respect"

    The guy in front of me is after all annoying, he is weird and downright repulsive.

    But then why? Why do I feel so happy when I heard the words from his mouth.

    I was respected without trying to show them their place?

    It''s weird.... It''s really weird.... But I feel happy.

    But I lostбн..

    I worked hard every day for hoursбн..

    Even after so much hard work, I lost so easilyбн

    He defeated me like it was nothingбн.

    Was my hard work nothing?

    28-2

    (Grey''s POV)

    After my duel with Frank, idiot A, and idiot B demonstrated their power, and now it''s Lili''s turn to demonstrate her power.

    After my duel with Frank, he has been awfully quiet. He hasn''t passed me any comments for quite a while.

    Maybe he is depressed.

    It was Lily''s turn to demonstrate her power.

    "Watch closely." Said Lily, as she picked up a Spear.

    "I always watch you closely," I replied.

    Her back was facing me so I could only see her neck, which turned beet red in an instant.

    "i-idiot! by watch closely I meant to watch my attack closely." Lily stuttered in embarrassment.

    She took a deep breath before regaining her position as she grabbed her spear tightly.

    Lili aimed her Spear before throwing it toward the test dummies.

    I expected it to stab right through the dummies, but the thing that happened wasn''t what I expected.

    The spear didn''t hit the dummy...

    No, more like it did hit the dummy but it did no damage to the dummy and phased right through it.

    Everyone was confused,

    Looking at our confused face, Lily opened her mouth to ease our confusion.

    "This is my power, the power of the wind. I can change the state of anything from solid to air for few seconds." She continued " That way I was able to pass this spear right through the dummy."

    "Of course this power has limitations As I can only phase things that are the size of this spear and just of few seconds." Said Lili.

    This ability might be very useful in real battles.

    For example in a sword fight, you can''t parry her sword because her sword will pass right through your sword.

    If used properly, she can be the ultimate counter to any defense.

    "That''s such a wonderful ability!!" Said Agata.

    She stepped closer to Lili as she asked " Can you phase yourself?"

    "No, but I think I will be able to do it in the future." Said Lili.

    Lili pulled out her sword from the sheath "Oh by the way, my weapon class is Sword."

    I am guessing that Lili has a seal marking on her body because this type of complicated magic is only possible through seal marking.

    But it''s kind of taboo to talk about your Seal marking openly. A person''s weakness can be figured out just by knowing the nature of the seal marking.

    So it''s best for everyone to hide their seal marking and that may be the reason why she is hiding her seal marking.

    Now I am curious about Agata''s power but it would be rude for me to ask her to demonstrate her power.

    "Can we take a look at your power? You wouldn''t mind right?" Asked Lily.

    Nice going Lily, she asked the question I was curious about.

    "No, it''s not a problem." Said Agata with a graceful smile.

    Agata walked into the Training ground,

    She raised her hand and swung it downwards like a vertical slash.

    But there wasn''t any follow up attack or nothing, nothing happened. But when I took a looked at the dummy it was split in half vertically.

    Before anyone could say anything,

    "Can you do it again?" I asked.

    "Sure!" replied Agata, for some reason she was excited while answering my request.

    She swiped her hand again and another dummy was split in half this time horizontally. But this time I was able to see her attack.

    I used my Seal of Minerva''s power to see her attack which wasn''t visible on the first attack.

    To be clear, her power is Air, and she was using air blades to cut dummies in half.

    Due to the nature of the air, it wasn''t visible to the naked eye.

    Air type might be one frightening element, unlike other element its kind of tricky to counter.

    Most people wouldn''t even know her attack is coming towards them until it''s too late.

    "Air blades?" I said it like a question but it was actually a statement.

    "Yes, Air blades. I have the power of Air and this attack I used is Air blades." Said Agata.

    "So yes this is Air blades." She said it again.

    Why is she saying same thing again.

    Wait, is she bad at explaining things?

    "I don''t want to go against that power" said Idiot A.

    "I can''t help but imagine myself in the place of that dummy. No I really don''t want to fight against her as a opponent." Said Idiot B.

    No shit, even I wouldn''t want to be that dummy.

    "I don''t understand how your power works," said Lily tilting her head in confusion.

    "Ah... I just swipe my hand it creates wind bland." She didn''t break her eye contact with Lily as she said that.

    Yes, I was right, this girl is bad at explaining things.

    "Are you a mage?" I asked.

    To which she replied, "I have decided to just focus on being a mage."

    We all were done demonstrating our power. we were told to spend time together for a while.

    Then we were free to leave after a while.

    Why would they go out of their way to ask us to spend time together?

    I will find the answer to that eventually and it doesn''t matter since I am getting a good amount of money.

    Am I getting greedy?

 Chapter 30 - 29: Racing Heartbeat.

    29-1

    I wake up every day two hours before sunrise to train myself and then continue with the rest of my day.

    And today was no different.

    I woke up early, trained myself for sometimes then ate the breakfast made by Ulrich. Then got ready and left the house for the commission.

    Today is the day we will set out in the forest for real hunting, but most of the hunting will be done by Agata. We are most probably there to support her.

    I walked out of the city gate towards the outermost layer forest.

    The outermost layer of the forest had nearly no monsters or creatures, at least the not hostile one.

    The city regularly dispatches hunters to clear any monster lurking near the outermost layer of the forest, to prevent incidents from happening.

    I stopped right in front of the outermost layer to wait for my teammates,

    When I think about Frank left straight away after we were told to leave, Well I hope he doesn''t cause more trouble for me.

    "Hey, I see you are here early." I heard a certain voice behind me.

    It was the voice of Lily.

    Yes, I arrived here before the assigned time.

    "Your ponytail looks good on you," I said covering my mouth like I was embarrassed.

    "T-That''s the first thing you say!?" stuttered Lily in embarrassment.

    "I thought it would make your heart skip a beat," I said.

    "That was unnecessary!" exclaimed Lily.

    I was tired of standing so I sat under the shade of one of the trees and it was very comforting to sit under the shade of the tree.

    "Ah, by the way where is Frank?" I asked.

    "Why are you asking me that? Why would I know?" said Lily rolling her eyes.

    "I am confused, then why were you acting like his girlfriend yesterday?"

    "Because I was trying to seduce him, I want to marry him," she said.

    She paused for a second before talking " I had a dream to become a great swordsman but when I think about it I have decided to give up on my dream of becoming a great swordsman."

    "You love him?" I asked.

    "No," she replied.

    "Then for his money?" I asked, we were both gazing towards the forest pointlessly as we were talking to each other.

    "Yeah, I need money. You know the situation of the Jung family, right? Frank is from Horn''s family, marrying him would mean a lot of money." said Lili as she wrapped her arms around herself.

    She is marrying him for money? that''s pretty messed up, for Lily and also Frank.

    I changed my sitting position to face her.

    "Here," I said as I stretched my palm facing her.

    "What?" she asked.

    "I mean, place your palm over mine," I said as I waved my hand.

    "Wh-why?" she stuttered as her face got red.

    "Just do it," I said persistently.

    "Fine." She placed her touching mine.

    "Why did you ask me to do this?" she asked, she was avoiding eye contact with me.

    As she placed her palm over mine, I held her hand by interlocking my finger with hers.

    "What are you doing!" she freaked out.

    "Your hand is rough," I said.

    She paused after hearing what I had to say.

    She spoke up "It''s rough because I practice with my sword every day."

    "You love sword don''t you?" I asked.

    "Yes, I do." She replied.

    "Then why would you want to get married? You are just a kid, you don''t have to worry about money and things like that.

    First try to work towards your dream, don''t give up on it. I believe you will be a great swordsman one day,

    First, try chasing your dreams, and then you can marry Frank after that." I said as I held on her hand tighter.

    29-2

    (Lily''s POV)

    "Yeah, I need money. You know the situation of the Jung family, right? Frank is from Horns family, marrying him would mean a lot of money." I said as I wrapped my arms around myself.

    In truth, it wasn''t my plan.

    I was told by my sisters to seduce Frank and get married in his family. No, I was pretty much forced.

    My mom and dad don''t know about this, they are pretty kind people. They would never ask me to do anything like this.

    But my sisters who have lost their luxurious life as a former noble family, still crave the money.

    If I had a choice, I want to pursue mastering my sword. That''s what I want to do.

    Grey changed his seating position to face me.

    "Here." He said as he stretched his palm towards me.

    I was confused so I asked " What?"

    He waved his hand as he said "I mean, place your palm over mine."

    "Wh-Why?" I said.

    Why is he asking me to do this suddenly? Why would he ask a girl to do this?

    "Just do it," He said, he was serious about it.

    Seriously, how he is not getting embarrassed?

    "Fine." I placed my palm over his.

    Huh? His hand is kind of softбн..

    It''s warmбн.

    Wait, why am I feeling his hand up!!!!

    "Why did you ask me to do this?" I asked.

    For some reason I found myself avoiding eye contact. My ears are getting hot, probably my face is red too.

    Wait, why am I getting so self-conscious!??

    He suddenly interlocked his finger with mine.

    Huh!? wasn''t touching hands already very embarrassing that now he is holding on to mine!!!?

    That to his finger is interlocked with mine!!!

    "What are you ding!" I asked, I was freaking out.

    "Your hands are rough." He said.

    His words pierced my heart like a needle.

    "It''s rough because I practice my sword every day," I said, for some reason I wanted to let him know that.

    "You love the sword, don''t you?" he asked.

    I did love swords, I want to get better and better. I want to keep going till I am called the best.

    "Yes, I do," I replied.

    "Then why would you want to get married? You are just a kid, you don''t have to worry about money and things like that.

    First try to work towards your dream, don''t give up on it. I believe you will be a great swordsman one day,

    First, try chasing your dreams, and then you can marry Frank after that." He said as he held my hand tighter.

    I felt comfortable as he held his hand tighter.

    I felt like doubts in my mind getting clearer and clearer. Maybe, I shouldn''t give up after all.

    I want to keep going till I become a great swordsman one day.

    But I wanted to clear one misunderstanding, I opened my mouth to say " I don''t want to marry Frank.".

    For some reason I wanted Grey to know that I didn''t want to marry Frank.

    "Oh, I see." He replied.

    I held his hand back.

    "Your hands are soft." I said I continued "You must be feeling uncomfortable touching my rough skin?"

    Even though I asked this I didn''t want him to say yes to my question.

    I felt like my heart wouldn''t be able to take it.

    "No, I don''t feel uncomfortable. Your hands are rough because of your hard work." He said, he placed his other hand over my cheeks and said "Your hands might be rough, but the rest of your skin is silk soft."

    That''s it, I can''t take it anymore.

    I feel like my heart would jump out of my chest any moment.

    and I don''t want to know how red my face is at this moment, why is this happening!???

    But...

    I don''t want this moment to go away.

 Chapter 31 - 30: First Blood.

    30-1

    After waiting for a while, everyone was gathered at the assigned time near the outermost layer of the forest.

    Before moving inside the forest, we were each assigned a role before entering deep inside the forest.

    The role of Tank was given to Frank, he was assigned to walk in the front of the group.

    The role of the mage was given to Agata and Phil, they were assigned to walk in the center of the group.

    The role of the scout was given to me and Idiot A, I was originally assigned to take on the role of the damage dealer but I instead asked them to give me the role of the scout.

    We will stay ahead of the group and scout are of any incoming monsters.

    Due to my speed and sensory ability, I am very good for the role of scout.

    "Looking forward to work with you, partner." Said Idiot A.

    This dude is surprisingly niceбн..

    Well, he was never rude to me in the first place. Maybe I should stop judging people.

    "Me too," I said.

    The role of Damage dealer was given to idiot B and Lily. They are assigned to walk towards the back of the group.

    I got ahead of the group and scouted the area for any possible monsters.

    This smellбн.

    I followed the trace of the smell and when I reached the source of the smell, I found a dead deer.

    Most of its flesh was eaten away to the point that there were only bones remaining.

    I touched the ground to check the blood spilled in the ground, it was still moist. It''s safe to assume that the deer''s predators are not far away.

    The way the dear body was eaten awayбн.. Only killer bunny devours their prey like this.

    Killer bunny is a creature that looks just like a normal bunny, but behind that innocent-looking creature is a vicious predator.

    Falling for their cuteness will only lead to inevitable doom.

    They aren''t much threat when they are alone, but they usually live in a horde which makes them more of a threat.

    There was more smell of blood coming from the other side of the forest.

    I followed the smell to find the killer bunnies.

    This time in action, they were eating away another deer. This number of bunnies wasn''t much, so I think they will be pretty easy to handle.

    Hiding my presence I moved closer to the bunnies.

    One the killer bunny was a little away from his hoard, I don''t know what this little guy was doing away from his hoard but this is a good chance.

    After I got close to a certain distance, I picked up the bunny without getting noticed by the other bunnies.

    And of course, I closed its mouth shut with my hand so that he doesn''t notify other bunnies.

    Sorry bunny I will have to kidnap you, I will use you to teach Agata how to hunt.

    I moved back to the group as I jumped from one tree to another.

    "There is a hoard of killer bunnies," I said as I stood on the branch of one of the trees holding the bunny that I kidnapped by the neck. The blood of the creature he was eating was still dripping out of his mouth

    "How much is their number?" asked Butler. We were also joined by Butler, he was there to protect Agata in unfortunate situations.

    "Approximately up to twenty bunnies," I said.

    "Okay, you are doing good as a scout." Said Butler praising me. But his voice was as serious as ever.

    "Why did you bring that bunny?" asked Agata as she pointed towards the Bunny.

    "For you to kill," I said.

    "Huh, Kill?" freaked out Agata.

    I jumped down the tree near Agata.

    "Yes, kill." I said, "Now stab this bunny with your sword."

    I wanted her to get used to the blood.

    "But, that bunny looks so harmless." She said with a soft voice. I don''t blame her to feel bad about the bunny, cause this bunny looks pretty innocent,

    I opened bunnies mouth to show her his teeth hidden behind those two cute bunny teeth, what she was a set of sharp teeth that were still red with the blood of the animal he was eating just a moment ago.

    "Miss. Agata you have to stab this bunny in order to get used to the blood." Said Butler.

    "But-"

    "If you can''t do this, you can never become like Mrs. Alice." Said Butler.

    Butler''s words hit her heart like a needle.

    She grabbed the knife in her hand tightly, her hands were still shaking. She took a deep breath before stabbing the bunny right in the gut.

    Bunny let out a loud screech right before dying.

    The blood of the bunny splashed on my face and clothes and it was the same case with Agata.

    This will probably traumatize her for a while, but it''s necessary to survive in this world.

    After that, we found the hoard of the bunny and started hunting them one after another.

    We made Agata kill most of the bunnies and she was hesitating less and less to kill the bunnies each time.

    After a while, we were done with hunting all the bunnies in the hoard.

    I never mentioned this but the monster-type creature drops a crystal as they die and this crystal is called mana crystal, It can be sold for a pretty high price.

    This world doesn''t have anything like electricity, the gadgets in this world run on mana crystal which is found inside the body of these monsters.

    The hobgoblins I killed earlies doesn''t count as a monster since they can reproduce and their existence doesn''t ruin balance for all creature.

    Monsters are an existence that can''t reproduce and they ruin balance for all living creatures because of their destructive nature.

    "You did good Young miss." Said Butler with a serious tone, I guess he was praising her.

    You don''t have to praise someone in such a serious tone.

    "Thank you! Rocky." Said Agata.

    Wait, Rocky who?

    "Rocky?" asked Lily.

    "Rocky is my Butler''s name," replied Agata.

    Kind of a surprise, his face doesn''t match his name.

    "What a lame name," said Frank as he Burst out laughing.

    I am surprised about how insensitive Frank can be.

    "That''s the name I gave myself." Said Butler seriously.

    "What were your parents doing when it was your turn to get a name?" Asked Frank.

    "They both left me when I was very little." Said Butler, tears welled up in his eyes.

    A grown-ass man is crying in front of me, I guess Frank touched his sensitive spot.

    "Oh, my bad... I am sorry." Said Frank apologetically.

    "It''s okay." Said Butler as he wiped his tears,

    he continued " Life is good since the day I was saved by Mr. Gerver from the place I used to live. Its been thirty years since I have been serving the Gerver family now. I truly thank full to them."

    That''s a good backstory,

    but the thing I am most curious about is what kind of environment this man lived in that he thought naming himself rocky would be a good idea.

    "But I have a different name now." Said Butler.

    Oh, even he realized how stupid his name was.

    "I go by Rock now." He said Proudly.

    Ha? That doesn''t change anything!!!

    Why does this guy look so proud after just removing "Y" from his name?

    The serious image I had of this guy is ruined.

 Chapter 32 - 31: Bad News.

    31-1

    "You know a good fried chicken place?" I asked.

    "Yes, it''s near the west part of the city. The fried chicken there tastes really good." Said Phil.

    Talking about chicken makes me hungry.

    "Take me there someday," I said placing my hand on Phil''s shoulder

    "Sure, I don''t mind and it will be a good chance to bond with each other." Said Phil.

    Hearing this from his mouth sounds kind of weird because he was ready to throw hands with me on our first meeting.

    He turned to face Frank.

    "You will join us too, right?" asked Phil to Frank.

    "I don''t eat from the same place as commoners and fried chicken is a commoner''s dish, I only eat meat which was made delicately with an intricate combination of spices made by top chefs." Said Frank as he puffed up with pride.

    "Oh okay. Then it''s only us, Grey." Said Phil.

    "Then I will let you know later, whenever I am free," I said as I and Phil walked together in the forest.

    Frank was walking behind us and the rest of the group was walking ahead of us.

    "If you guys insist so much then I don''t have a choice, I will join you guys too." Said Frank without looking directly at our face and breaking eye contact.

    Why are you acting like a girl and you wanted to come with us after all...

    As we were near the gate of the city after leaving the forest, more and more people were getting visible in my sight.

    Some of them were hunters and others were traders on their cart.

    I saw a bunch of men standing near the gate, they were discussing something. Their conversation was getting more and more audible as I was getting closer to them.

    "Have you heard the news about hunters?" asked one man to another.

    "Yes, you are talking about hunters who were dispatched to fight an unknown monster, right?" the same guy continued "Yes I have heard about them, they got wiped out by that monster. Everyone hunter that was dispatched died."

    At first, the thing they were talking about had nothing to do with me.

    Or so did I thoughtбн

    I kept walking further until a certain piece of information flashed through my mind.

    Mark was sent to a commission as well.

    I turned around immediately to ask men who were discussing this topic.

    "Are you talking about the monster with no information about it?" I asked.

    Please say noбн.

    Please say noбн

    "Yes, the same monster." Said the Man as affirmative.

    It can''t beбн..

    Mark''s face flashed through my mind.

    I rushed towards the city.

    Wiped out? Died? Don''t shit with me.

    That man is still young, he has a kid and wife for god''s sake.

    My thoughts weren''t straight, all I knew was I had to rush. I need to find out if rumors are true.

    I reached Mark''s house.

    I got near to knock on the door.

    But I paused, I was scared...

    I was scared to find out the truthбн.

    Somehow I gathered the courage to knock on the door, but I got no reply

    As I was going to knock once more, I heard a voice from behind me.

    "Oh Grey, what are you doing here?"

    I looked behind to find Mark standing with his wife, I felt relieved.

    "You are sweating like Crazy, are you okay?" asked Mark.

    Usually, he would make jokes about whether I was worried about him or not, But this time Mark didn''t.

    The important thing was, the mark standing in front of me had a leg missing, he was standing with the help of a walking cane.

    I thought asking about it would be insensitive.

    "Go and take a rest, don''t think about anything. I will visit you later." I said as I walked away.

    "Grey, you don''t need to be considerate. I know that you want to know that how this happened."

    He continued "And you deserve to know because you were worried about me.

    He started walking towards his house with help of a walking cane and the support of his wife.

    "Come inside I will tell you everything." He said.

    31-2

    "I am glad you are okay," I said I was currently sitting inside Mark''s house.

    Mark was lying down in his bed.

    His condition was in no way good, most of his injuries were already healed by the healer in the adventure guild.

    But healers only close wounds, they can''t regenerate limbs.

    There are only a few higher-grader healers who can perform feats such as regenerating the whole limb.

    But even doing so takes a long amount of time and it''s a very tiring price that drains an excessive amount of mana.

    getting hold of such high-grade healers is nearly impossible.

    Mark was quiet, he just kept staring at the ceiling pointlessly.

    "All of the hunters that went with me died, I was the only one that survived," said Mark in a broken voice.

    he covered his face with his right hand.

    "They all died one after another, swallowed by the darkness. not even their body remained to show their family."

    I could see tears at the edge of his eyes.

    I didn''t say anything, I thought it would be best if I stayed quiet.

    after a long moment of silence, he spoke again.

    "The monster we faced was not exactly a monster, it was a hobgoblin. But, it was bigger than a normal hobgoblin and far stronger.

    Just being in the presence of that creature was enough to send chills to the core of the soul. I was afraid, for a moment I thought death would be better than being under this presence"

    Mark''s hand was shaking, so was his whole body

    "the helplessness I felt being in that darkness, I don''t want to ever experience that again. Never aga-"

    Mark suddenly covered his mouth with his hand.

    "I feel sick," he said.

    I didn''t want him to remember about it anymore.

    "Take a rest, we can talk later." I said I continued "don''t think much, and remember we are always there for you."

    There were many things to process after hearing what Mark had to say.

    the thing that bothered me most was the mention of...

    hobgoblin......

 Chapter 33 - 32: The One Seeking Vengeance.

    32-1

    "Near the twin waterfall you say?" I asked, I was currently in the adventure guild.

    "Yes, according to Mark''s report the monster was found near the Twin waterfall." Said the Receptionist on the counter.

    "Any other information?" I asked.

    "The monster has a seal marking." She said in an apathetic tone.

    She was busy grinding the edge of her nails into shape with a nail file.

    "And also the information that the monster is Hobgoblin. I never knew Hobgoblin could be so dangerous." She added.

    She blew the dust off her nails and stretched both of her hands to look at her fingers. Maybe she was checking how the shape of her nails turned out to be.

    "Good, near twin waterfall right?" I said as I placed the bag of money on her desk.

    It was the payment for her information.

    She rested her chin on her palm before saying "Kid, are you going to fight it?".

    "Planning to do so," I replied.

    "You will die."

    "You think so?" I asked.

    She chuckled "I won''t stop you." She said,

    She continued "I will give you one additional information, the threat level of the monster is near anywhere from S to A. we can only speculate the threat rank of the monster since most of the information about the monster is still unknown.

    S ranks hunters are getting dispatched tomorrow so do whatever you want to do before tomorrow morning."

    She looked at me with a cheeky smile.

    "Witch," I said.

    I had no particular reason to say it, but I felt like saying it.

    I walked away towards the exit of the adventure guild.

    "Good luck being a hero!!!" she shouted as if she was cheering for me.

    I went away without looking back.

    Her name was Rin.

    32-2

    I would never take a risk as big as fight an A-ranked monster if it''s not S rank monster.

    But this time it''s differentбн.

    According to the report and what Mark said the monster looks just like a hobgoblin. But the power it had was unlike any hobgoblin.

    It even had sealed marking, I didn''t know monsters could have seal markings.

    even thinking about it is terrifying.

    There was a reason that he didn''t kill mark, if that hobgoblin wanted to he could have easily killed Mark.

    It left Mark alive to send a message.

    No, calling it an invitation would be better.

    I think I know what that hobgoblin is, and if my assumption turns out to be true then there is only one thing I need to do.

    I need to take care of that hobgoblin myself.

    I carried my sword on my back, the sword given by my dad.

    Like my dad said, the sword did go from some changes. it was a long sword that emitted light blue radiance when it was given by my dad and after imprinting my blood into it.

    It changed into a one-handed dull sword.

    But somehow I love the feel of this sword. I don''t feel like I am holding a sword, It feels more like an extension of myself when I am using it.

    I walked into the forest heading towards the twin waterfall.

    I swiftly traveled through the forest at a high speed from one tree to another.

    The sky was already dark, it was night.

    I left a note in the house saying that I won''t be back tonight, I didn''t want them to worry.

    And of course, I lied saying that I was over at a friend''s house. A sloppy lie if I was being honest, But I think it will work.

    32-3

    After traveling for a while I was at the Twin waterfall.

    What stood in front of me was a sight of two majestic streams of the waterfall falling into the same pool of water.

    The sound of water pounding over the rock was loud and overlapped any sound nearby.

    The waterfall is split because of the huge rock obstructing a single stream of water and dividing it into two.

    creating a magnificent twin waterfall.

    But it will most probably become one, the pressure of water will eventually push the rock out the way.

    I looked around and found nothing, not even a trace of any creatures nearby, and nor could I sense one.

    It was weirder because I couldn''t sense a single creature around me.

    it felt like all the creatures were staying away from something.

    I focused more on the surroundings to get a good picture of everything around me. I closed my eyes and started feeling mana around me.

    This is one of the powers of the eyes of Minerva, I can sense any form of mana in my proximity.

    Mana exists in everything.

    In the grass under my feet, in the tree around me, in the ground below, and every living and nonliving thing.

    By using this power I can sense every little thing around me by sensing their mana.

    I still couldn''t sense any creature around me.

    I focused more to extend the area I was sensing, there were still no creatures I could sense.

    Huh?

    Why is there not a single trace of mana here?

    There was a place with not a single trace of mana, more like I could sense a presence that was sucking on to mana around it, Like a black hole.

    I went to check on the place where I sensed the presence.

    There I found a creature sitting right in front of meбн

    It was a familiar presenceбн.

    A creature I have seen once before, but it looked different now.

    The creature standing right in front of me was a hobgoblinбн.

    An unusual hobgoblin I knewбн.

    The same hobgoblin that I spared on our first encounter.

    the same hobgoblin that stood by as I slaughtered its kind.

    the same hobgoblin that ran away and now he is standing in front of me...

    but this time there was no fear in his eyes, his eyes had flames of rage burning inside it......

 Chapter 34 - 33: The Pitch Black Plane.

    33-1

    The creature standing right in front of me was a hobgoblinбн.

    An unusual hobgoblin I knewбн.

    The same hobgoblin that I spared on our first encounter.

    the same hobgoblin that stood by as I slaughtered its kind.

    the same hobgoblin that ran away and now he is standing in front of me...

    but this time there was no fear in his eyes, his eyes were burning with rageбн.

    "So, it was you," I said.

    But there was no response in return. The hobgoblin didn''t make any move, it stood there without attacking me.

    "You want revenge for your people and family right?" I asked as I summoned a snake in my hand.

    The snake I summoned glowed purple which then solidified to turn into a polearm. This is the seal marking of the snake which I got after my mom''s death.

    "Let''s get it over with quickly." I said as I took a ready stance grabbing my polearm, "Come and get your revenge.".

    I expected the hobgoblin to attack me any time, but I still wasn''t attacking me.

    But this time the fury in hobgoblins'' face was apparent.

    The goblin glare gave a blazing murderous intent, drool flowed down his clenched jaw which exposed the hobgoblin''s full set of sharp teeth.

    I stepped forward carefully in a defensive position towards the Hobgoblin.

    As I was going to take another step, I saw goblin retreat one step back.

    "Are you trying to run away again?" I asked as I stepped one more step closer.

    It took one more step back.

    was he afraid?

    Fine, ill finish it off.

    I dashed forward to finish it off, I thrust my polearm aiming towards the Hobgoblin.

    My attack connected and went through the Hobgoblin.

    Huh?

    My attack did connect, but the hobgoblin turned into a black mist. The hobgoblin disappeared into thin air.

    I looked around me and found myself surrounded by black mist.

    The more I looked around, the more I realized. I wasn''t surrounded by dark mist, the physical world I was standing on was a different one altogether.

    I was in a different plane from the forest, this was a different reality where everything was pitch black.

    There was only darkness as far as my vision could go.

    33-2

    (Third person POV)

    Upon entering the new dark plan, the first thing Grey wanted to do was sort his thought.

    He took a defensive stance for guarding himself against any possible attack and he tried to think about all the possible reasons for his current situation.

    But it was useless, he lacked information.

    Grey was suddenly met with a surprise as Hobgoblin instantly appeared in front of him.

    (When did he?) thought Grey.

    Before Grey could realize it, he was instinctively blocking an incoming swing from the hobgoblin. Grey staggered back when the hobgoblin smashed his fist right into Grey''s hand.

    But the damage was already done, Grey''s right hand was fractured by the sudden blow.

    The hobgoblin dissolved back to the pitch-black darkness like he was never there before.

    As Grey was trying to regain his defensive position, he was struck with another strike with the foot by the hobgoblin who appeared out of nowhere from the darkness in front of Grey.

    Grey again used his right hand to block the sudden blow. But the force of the kick further damaged the fractured bone of the Grey.

    Upon blocking two of the attacks by the hobgoblin Grey realized that he couldn''t risk blocking another attack.

    (The force of the attack is no joke, I can''t keep tanking attacks from this monster.)

    Grey paused focusing closely on his surrounding.

    (An incoming attack from behind!)

    Grey rolled forward to avoid the incoming attack from behind him. This time he was successful in avoiding the attack.

    Without losing his focus, Grey focused on the next attack.

    (A kick to the left!) with the sync with his thought, Grey dodged down avoiding the attack.

    This series of Dodging and blocking kept on going for a while. Grey was cornered into defense.

    Grey kept getting more and more injured as he kept blocking attacks from the hobgoblin.

    He couldn''t see the opponent he is fighting, his opponent seems to appear out of darkness and disappear back into darkness

    And the dark plane he was standing in seems to throw his sense of distance off.

    Everything around him was pitch black. The sky, the ground, and anywhere his vision could go.

    Ground being pitch black messed up his footwork,

    This darkness made it hard to measure any distance between him and his opponent.

    This feeling of not being able to see anything other than endless darkness made grey feel like he lost his vision.

    An opponent with overwhelming raw strength, a plane that is making Grey lose his sense of reality and the opponent''s power to blend into the darkness of this plane.

    This battle was getting harder and harder on Grey.

 Chapter 35 - 34: The Untold Memories.

    34-1

    After the series of dodging and blocking, The attacked stop.

    Hobgoblin appeared from the dark mist, but this time it didn''t attack. It just stood there.

    *you want to see?*

    A voice rang inside Grey''s mind.

    "So you can speak?" asked Grey to Hobgoblin.

    *You want to see?* asked hobgoblin again.

    "Oh, that''s how it is. you aren''t speaking from your mouth. you are using telepathy" said Grey.

    Without paying any heed to what Grey is saying the Hobgoblin spoke again saying:

    *I will show you.*

    "What are you going to sho-" Before Grey could finish his sentence, Grey realized that the Hobgoblin in front of him disappeared.

    No, to be precise the world in front of him changed.

    He was back in the forest, but there was something different.

    Grey felt a warm embrace, it was a comforting warmth. he found himself in the hand of someone.

    That person held him gently in her arms. Like a mother would hold her child.

    Upon further examination, he found that his body was smaller and his hands were differentбн.

    It wasn''t the hand of humans and neither the body the Grey was in was humans.

    Grey looked towards the person holding him and found out she wasn''t human neither.

    She was a hobgoblin.

    But the way she looked at Grey reminded him of his mother. He felt comfortable, comfortable enough to doze off to sleep.

    ARGH!!!

    Grey felt a crushing pressure in the right side of his chest. Excruciating pain shot up his chest, the blow that was shot towards Grey by hobgoblin was a clean hit.

    Grey was knocked back from the impact, he was back to the pitch-black world from the hands of the female hobgoblin he was in earlier. Grey was also back to his original body.

    Upon experiencing sharp pain while breathing, Grey checked his ribs by touching them.

    His ribs were shattered.

    *You have to see more* said Hobgoblin

    The hobgoblin in front of him again disappeared and so did the pitch-black world.

    And it was again replaced with another.

    He was standing in the forest beside the female hobgoblin who was holding her earlier. But this time the hobgoblin body he was in, was bigger.

    It was still small but bigger than the body of month old baby he was earlies in, the current body had the size of a 5-year-old kid.

    Grey climbed up a tree to pick out a forest. The body that grey was in wasn''t under Grey''s control.

    The tree Grey is climbing now wasn''t his course of action, Grey was only able to see what The body was seeing.

    Grey was only able to see and feel what the body was doing, but he had no control over bodies action.

    The little hobgoblin stretched his hand to reach out for the fruit, The little hobgoblin felt the want to eat fruit.

    Grey felt the same want for the fruit that little Hobgoblin felt.

    At the moment Grey shared the same body with the hobgoblin, so it was natural to feel what the hobgoblin was feeling.

    The fruit was fingertips away, the little hobgoblin stretched his hands more to reach the fruit.

    As he was closer to the fruit, the little hobgoblin fell down the tree.

    Little hobgoblin scraped his knee, the pain that came with that small injury was overwhelming for little Hobgoblin.

    Tears formed around his eyes which flowed down in little steams. The little Hobgoblin cried loudly.

    Grey felt the same pain, the little hobgoblin felt.

    Grey felt a warm hand over his head, it was the hand of a female hobgoblin. The female hobgoblin patted his head with a warm smile, this course of action made little hobgoblin stop crying.

    Grey felt the same warm sensation that the little Hobgoblin felt. It reminded Grey of the time when his mom comforted him when he couldn''t handle the pain from the Pan blood ritual.

    (This female hobgoblin is this body''s mother. These are the memories of the hobgoblin that I am fighting currently.) thought Grey and he was correct. The female hobgoblin was indeed the mother of the little hobgoblins.

    This was the memory of the hobgoblin Grey was fighting with.

    (So that''s what he meant when he said I want to show you.)

    Ugh!

    Grey felt a sudden impact on his face and with a flash of pain Grey found himself on his back. The sudden blow to his face put Grey into a state of shock.

    Memories shown by the hobgoblin to Grey put him in a state of defenselessness. While being shown memories of Hobgoblin, Grey cant move his real body.

    Due to this, Grey had no way to defend himself, let alone know when the next blow was heading his way.

    *You have to see more* said Hobgoblin. With that Grey was again back at seeing Hobgoblins memories.

    This time he was standing in front of a young female Hobgoblin.

    The hobgoblin''s body that Grey was watching memories of, seemed to have gotten old, this time a teenager.

    Grey felt the rise in the heartbeat of the Hobgoblin while being in the presence of the female hobgoblin.

    To hobgoblin the female hobgoblin looked beautiful, the hobgoblin felt like he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the female hobgoblin.

    Grey felt the same love the Hobgoblin felt while watching his memories.

    Grey felt another sharp blow to his stomach and he was snapped back to the pitch-black plane.

    He was again bought back to a defenseless position as he was forced to see another memory of the hobgoblin. This time a different memory.

    This time the hobgoblin was grown into an adult man.

    In his hand, he held his baby that was just given birth into his world by his partner. The same young female hobgoblin that Grey saw in his memories earlier, she was also grown into an adult.

    Watching through the hobgoblin''s eye it felt like to Grey that he was himself was holding the baby.

    The small baby in his hand looked the most cutest thing to hobgoblin, Grey felt the same feeling as the hobgoblin.

    Hobgoblin was happy holding his baby boy in his hand.

    With another blow, Grey was knocked back to Pitch black world.

    And yet again he was bought back to see more memories. Grey was watching memories of hobgoblin one after another and his defenseless real body took one after another heavy blow.

    This sequence of getting knocked into the pitch-black plane and getting sent back to watch memories kept going.

    One after another Grey saw the memories of Hobgoblin.

    The memories of Hobgoblin having a second baby girl, the happiness he felt at that time.

    The memories of his daughter getting sick for the first time and the worries the hobgoblin felt.

    The memories of hobgoblin spending time with his kind, the laughed together and hunted together.

    The memories of them raiding the village, eating humans, and taking all their belonging, this was the memories of them hunting.

    The memories of Hobgoblin teaching his son how to hunt. The way his son tried to copy him made hobgoblin happy.

    One after another Grey saw all the memories of Hobgoblin''s happiness he felt throughout his life.

    Grey saw the happy family he had.

    Grey saw everythingбн.

    And at the end, Grey saw the hobgoblin''s final memoryбн.

    The memory of a reaper invading his happy life. The reaper slaughtered hobgoblins kind one after another.

    The reappear massacred them all mercilessly.

    At last, Grey saw the memory of hobgoblins partner''s blood dripping down from her body. She was slashed down in half by the reaper.

    The hobgoblin saw the love of his life killed mercilessly in front of him.

    The reaper went on to kill their firstborn son. The pride that was his son was slaughtered along with his partner. Following his son, The reaper went on to kill his daughter.

    The hobgoblin''s memories of the happy family shattered right in front of him.

    The memory of the young female hobgoblin, the son and daughter they had together. All the happy memories were shattered in an instant by the hands of the reaper.

    Through Hobgoblin''s memories, Grey saw that he was the reaper that shattered such a beautiful happy family.

    Grey was the one who slaughtered Hobgoblin''s family.

    Grey was the reaper that hobgoblin hated the most.

    Grey was the one that destroyed his happy life....

 Chapter 36 - 35: Blinding Radiance.

    After seeing all the hobgoblin''s memories Grey was back to the pitch-black plane.

    *Did you see?* asked Hobgoblin.

    "Yes, I saw." Grey wore a pained smile on his face.

    *Do you understand?*

    "I thought I did before. But I was wrong." Grey Sighed.

    He continued "But I think I understand now."

    *So you do admit that you are the murderer of my family, you are the sinner.*

    "I do." Replied Grey.

    " I was the one that took everything from you. Your mother, your kind" Grey paused.

    "бн..Your partner бн..you kids... I killed them all" Grey voice broke.

    *Why did you kill them?*

    "I wanted to be a hero, I wanted to save people."

    *Do you regret your actions?* asked Hobgoblin.

    "Yes, I do." Replied Grey, he continued "After watching your memories I think I regret it more. The way you loved your kids, your mom, and your partner, it doesn''t make you guys much different than us humans."

    Hobgoblin stood up and summoned a pitch sword in his hand. The sword was created from the bit of abyss, It was the sword of nothingness.

    *Then let me give their soul peace by your blood.* Said Hobgoblin as he readied his Sword with an intention to kill Grey.

    The hobgoblin headed slowly towards Grey with his sword.

    "I can''t let you do that," said Grey.

    "I can''t let myself get killed right now. I have something I have to do. I need to save everyone, I have to be a hero and I have to take revenge."

    after a small pause, Grey continued.

    "I will kill... I will take life... that''s something I need to do as a hero. I have to make my mom proud, I need to be a hero that she will be proud of"

    Grey pointed his polearm towards the hobgoblin.

    "You say that I have killed your people, you kind. you guys hunt humans, eat them and raid their belongings."

    Grey walked closer to the hobgoblin as he said:

    "Now goblin, I will ask you a question..... do you think humans will sit by and watch their kind get slaughtered?"

    *Shut up!!!* shouted hobgoblin.

    *you killed my kind...my family, that''s the only thing that matters to me!!!!*

    the hobgoblin gripped his sword tight and said:

    *Pay with your blood!!!*

    Grey let out a sigh.

    He threw his polearm away and said "you were kind enough to not finish me off or you just wanted to torture me. whatever it is, I will repay you with the same."

    Grey relaxed his shoulder and arms. lowered his elbow down and in, with his hands up till his face. his chin down covered behind both of his hands.

    The stance that Grey took looked roughly like a boxing stance.

    "I suggest that you hide in your darkness," said Grey.

    Breathless with anger, hobgoblin rushed towards Grey holding his sword.

    Upon reaching a certain distance, the hobgoblin swung his sword aiming at Grey.

    But there was no proper form in it, it was just a plain and predictable strike, which Grey dodged with ease and counter-attacked with a punch on hobgoblin''s face.

    Due to the adrenaline rush, the hobgoblin didn''t feel the pain from the punch.

    but the punch did its damage.

    Due to the shock from the punch, the hobgoblin retreated to the darkness.

    "Demoness..... are you still there?" asked Grey. he was talking to himself or at least that''s how it looked.

    But there was no reply to Grey''s question.

    Grey let out a sigh and said:

    "Fine, if you help me now. I will never block you off again.

    "It''s a deal!!!" said the voice inside Grey with a chuckle. It was the voice of demoness Ami.

    After her death, her will was trapped inside Grey''s body.

    A person''s will is a fragment of their soul and Demoness Ami''s soul fragment resides inside Grey currently.

    Grey was blocking off her will since she entered his body.

    "What help do you need?" she asked.

    "You reside inside my body, so you must know that I possess a fraction of divinity inside me. Help me with how to use that."

    Grey was on guard with his defensive position against any possible attack from Hobgoblin.

    "Sure, I will help you. But only on the condition that you will never block me off again," said Demoness Ami.

    "Yes, I promise." Said Grey assuring Ami.

    "Fine, for now just focus on fighting like you normally do. I will draw out your divinity so that you can use it," said Ami.

    Grey relaxed his shoulder and arms. lowered his elbow down and in, with his hands up till his face. his chin down covered behind both of his hands.

    Grey again got in a boxing stance.

    This time he hoped around his foot frequently while waiting for Hobgoblin''s next attack. Grey was building a rhythm with his footwork to exit any incoming attack swiftly and counter it with his attack.

    Grey was trying to find a rhythm on his footstep and arms. A rhythm to counter any possible incoming attack.

    And then it came, the attack from the Hobgoblin.

    This time from the back. The hobgoblin appeared instantly behind him from the darkness and swung his sword, which Grey easily dodged and countered with a heavy blow to hobgoblins chin.

    In a split second the punch connected, Grey''s hand glowed with Milky white radiance which glowed brighter than anything in the pitch-black plane.

    This radiance drove all the darkness away from the pitch-black plane. Revealing a whole other dimension.

    A dimension with a land filled with a bed of white flowers, the white flowers stretched as far as eyes could go.

    The sky was pitch black, but it was unlike the plane Grey was earlier on. The black in the sky felt like nothing, it felt like Abyss...

    The hobgoblin was knocked away from the impact of the punch.. The hobgoblins crashed on the ground destroying any white flower in the path.

 Chapter 37 - 36: A Cowards Tale.

    36-1

    Grey used his venomous aura to enhance his physical strength. Increasing the power of the uppercut that Grey gave to the Hobgoblin.

    With a massive and overwhelming shock, the hobgoblin was sent flying, crashing to the ground.

    In a desperate attempt, the hobgoblin tried to hide back in the darkness.

    Terror streaked through Hobgoblin. The realization that he can''t hide back in the darkness sent him in a state of panic.

    The hobgoblin was frantic with fear.

    "You can''t run away anymore." Said Grey.

    The hobgoblin got up to his feet and made a desperate attempt to flee away.

    "There is nowhere to run." asserted Grey, "You can''t run away anymore."

    Grey followed up him on his foot, but he didn''t run, he just walked.

    "I am standing right here, injured. If you want revenge, this is your best chance to do so."

    Grey was seriously injured.

    His breath was unstable and it was getting harder for him to breathe due to broken ribs. There were multiple fractures on his right hand.

    His face bled to the point where his clothes were blood-stained from his neck.

    Even hobgoblin realized, that the best chance for him to kill Grey was now. The Hobgoblin stopped running away.

    "And besides, even if you were to die. You would die as a warrior for your family, that would make them proud too." Said Grey.

    "Pick up that sword and fight me," said Grey pointing towards the fallen pitch-black swords.

    Picking up the sword, Hobgoblin stood with the sword to fight Grey.

    There was no stance in the way Hobgoblin stood. It was just a normal way to stand with his sword.

    Grey didn''t hold any weapon, he was going to fight bare hands.

    The hobgoblin closed the distance with a straight forwards rush, The hobgoblin swung the sword which Grey easily dodged and countered with a punch to the abdomen.

    This time Hobgoblin didn''t get knocked away, it tanked the attack and bared the pain by just making a noise that sounded like a grunt.

    The hobgoblin recovered his position and tried to attack by a horizontal slash. Grey also dodged this by jump.

    Even though Grey can swiftly dodge attacks, but in reality, he was struggling with each move. It was getting difficult to move his body due to his injuries.

    He needed to end this fight, cause he was going to lose consciousness due to excess bleeding and pain.

    In the air after jumping, Grey struck with his feet aiming at Hobgoblin.

    This exchange of dodging and attacking went on for a while, where the hobgoblin couldn''t land a single hit and Grey connected several blows dealing heavy damage to the Hobgoblin.

    The hobgoblin stepped back, he was overwhelmed.

    His mind was screaming for him to run away. That''s the only thing that was going on his mind throughout the fight.

    The hobgoblin looked at Grey.

    Hobgoblin was frustrated at his situation. Hobgoblin always knew that he was a coward, but there was never a situation in his life which tested his courage. He always ran away from this fact.

    He wanted to live a peaceful life, without any danger, with safety.

    But this want was taken away from him.

    The situation arrived where his courage was tested, a situation where his kind was attacked.

    But after looking at his kind getting killed one after another, No matter how much they resisted, they were killed.

    He couldn''t bring himself to fight Grey and stood there as his kind was slaughtered.

    As his wife was killed, he couldn''t move his body. He was paralyzed with fear.

    In the end, he ran away leaving his baby girl behind.

    He ran like a coward. But he couldn''t run from the fact that he was a coward.

    More than Grey, he hated himself for leaving his daughter behind and running away.

    That''s why he won''t run away anymore.

    The hobgoblin took a deep breath as he gripped his sword tightly. The hobgoblin decided that this was going to be his final attack.

    With this final attack, he won''t run away anymore.

    With a determined look Hobgoblin looked towards Grey.

    "That look-" Grey whispered to himself with a sense of surprise.

    Grey smiled and said, " Bring it on."

    Grey unsheathed his sword from his back.

    They both dashed towards each other. They intended to end it all with one strike.

    The hobgoblin swung his blade which Grey dodged by stepping backward.

    Grey thirsted his sword forward after dodging the attack.

    With a steady pace, he finally thrust his sword inside Hobgoblin''s chest.

    Ugh!

    This was the sound of the grunt by Grey. Grey looked at his chest to find Hobgoblin''s claw buried in his chest.

    When Grey looked at Hobgoblin''s face, he found a satisfying smile there. A smile satisfied for accomplishing something.

    The hobgoblin finally faced his fear and without running away. He was truly happy and that smile showed it all.

    Blood poured out from the edge of the smile, Hobgoblin coughed out blood.

    The sword was pierced right into his chest. Grey was successful in thrusting his sword.

    The hobgoblin fell, bleeding from his chest.

    The claw wound on Grey''s chest wasn''t that deep for it to be fatal.

    The white flower bed was painted red from Hobgoblin''s blood. As more blood poured out, more flower was getting red.

    The hobgoblin didn''t have any regret, it didn''t run away and he wasn''t a coward in the end.

    Looking at the black sky of the abyss, Hobgoblin thought to himself

    *Did I do good?* asked Hobgoblin, this question was meant for his dead family.

    A voice replied. *You did great.* said the voice.

    The hobgoblin opened his eyes to find the source of the voice, what stood there was his wife. his partner.

    *You are alive?* Asked The hobgoblin.

    To which replied a younger voice *No dad, we are here to take you to another side.*.

    This time it was the voice of his dead son.

    *I see, you guys are here to take me on another side with you guys.* Said Hobgoblin, his eyes teared up.

    *But, I ran away. I ran away leaving you guys, I don''t deserve it.* The hobgoblin voice broke.

    *No, you deserve it. You cried for us and you fought for us. We are proud of you.* Replied His wife.

    *Now dad, come with us.* said the son of Hobgoblin as he stretched his hands towards his dad, those hands were meant for him to grab.

    *But what about my daughter, why she isn''t here?* Asked Hobgoblin, after realizing that his daughter wasn''t there with them.

    To which his wife replied *What are you talking about? She is still alive.*

    *She Is still alive?* asked Hobgoblin in confusion.

    *Yes, the human boy didn''t kill our daughter. She is safe. The human boy took care of her and gave her to a goblin village. They are taking care of her like she is their daughter.*

    Upon receiving the news, hobgoblin smiled as tears fell from his eyes *I see, she is alive... that makes me happy.....that makes me so happy.*

    The hobgoblin, at last, accepted the hand of her wife and son as his soul drifted away with them.

    Before drifting away for good the hobgoblin looked one last time towards Grey and said:

    *For not killing my daughterбн. Thankyou human boy.*

    With this, his soul vanished away and he was dead for good.

    "that was the soul of kid and wifeбн.." Grey muttered to himself. He was shocked, his hand was shaking. There was no strength on his legs, he collapsed.

    The image of the hobgoblin family couldn''t leave his mind.

    As he lied down, he said in low voice " I killed such a happy family... I truly feel like shit."

    The abyssal place he was in disappeared and he was back in the forest.

    He was half-conscious, but couldn''t move an inch of his body. He lied down as he bled heavily.

    Before losing consciousness, he saw a young man walking towards him.

    "You good?" asked the young man.

    Being half-conscious, he couldn''t give a proper reply. At last, he felt the young man picking him up before losing consciousness.

    The young man was the S rank hunter, Eddie.

    Eddie horns, the eldest son of horns family and the big brother of Frank.

 Chapter 38 - 37: "Where Am I?"

    After opening my eyes, my eyes were met with a ceiling that I have not seen before.

    "Where am I," I asked instinctively. It was a clichиж line, it felt like an obvious thing to say in a situation like this.

    A voice replied, "In my house.". It was the voice of Frank.

    He continued to wave his hand in front of my eye like he was checking my vision.

    "Do you remember who I am?" asked Frank.

    Is he checking my memory right after I woke up after being passed out? Isn''t it too clichиж?

    "You are...." I stroked my chin as if I was in deep thought.

    "Who are you?"

    Frank grabbed me "Okay, let''s go get your head checked,"

    I sook his hands off " I am joking, of course, I know you.".

    I narrowed my eyes as if I was trying to pinpoint that where I know him from.

    "Oh that''s right, you are Spank!!!" I said in an excited tone like I finally remembered him.

    "Don''t butcher someone''s name like that." Said Frank, as grabbed me again "Let''s get your head checked."

    As he was pulling me, he saw my burn scars in my left hand.

    the scar extended from my shoulder till wrist, covering most of my left hand.

    "This--" he was hesitant to ask something. I knew what he wanted to ask.

    "Do you want to know about this burn scar?" I asked.

    to which he nodded hesitantly"Yes if you are okay with it."

    "I got this scar because of an incident I was caught in to, because of that even half of my face was burned off," I said.

    "But your face, it''s smooth without any scars," he said.

    "The burn disappeared for an unknown reason leaving no scar behind."

    I got close to his face as I said "But if I circulate my mana into my face, you can slightly see the scar."

    "Why are so close--" he paused before completing his sentence.

    "You are right, I can see slightly see the scars. No, this can''t be called scars. it shining in a shade of orange and yellow."

    He continued "Looking up closer, even your eyes are different colored. your right eye is bright violet-indigo colored and your left eye has a hint of orange and silver in your violet-indigo left eye."

    Later Frank''s expression changed, his face turned instant red.

    "Why are you so close to my face!!!! don''t you have any sense of personal space?!!"

    "You guys seem to get along well." Said A young handsome man who just entered the room.

    "No, you are wrong!!" strongly denied Frank.

    I looked at the young man who just entered the room, I was curious about who he was.

    "Oh pardon my rudeness, I haven''t introduced myself. My name is Eddie Horn''s, the eldest son of the Horn''s family." He said as he stretched his hand for a handshake.

    "No, it wasn''t rude of you," I said as I took the offer for a handshake.

    "My name is Grey." I introduced myself.

    "Your family name? You never told us your family name." Asked Frank furrowing his brow.

    "I don''t have a family name, I am an orphan," I said scratching my head awkwardly.

    I lied. Of course, I can''t let them know that I am a Hoffmann.

    Eddie smacked Frank''s head gently and said:

    "It''s rude to ask someone their family name."

    Eddie turned to face me and said "I hope you don''t mind his rudeness."

    Damn, this guy is nice through and through.

    "Um-" I opened my mouth to say something but I hesitated a bit.

    "Do you want to say something?" asked Eddie.

    "Will it be rude to call you big brother Eddie?" I asked.

    A smile formed on big brother Eddie''s face " Sure, you can!! But big brother will be too long. So you can call me just brother Eddie instead."

    "Our conversation went on so smoothly that I forgot to ask most of the important questions.... who brought me here?" I asked.

    "I did." Replied Brother Eddie, he continued "I was inside the forest with my team. There I found you, lying on the ground. Your condition was pretty bad, So I rushed you to my house."

    So he was the one that saved my life.

    Judging from the fact that he was with his team at that part of the forest means he is one of the S rank hunters that was dispatched by the adventure guild.

    I sat straight on the bed and bowed my head "Thank you for saving my life." I thanked.

    "No, it wasn''t anything big. I can''t leave an injured person alone." Said Brother Eddie.

    He is a good guy. This guy must be the protagonist of some story!!.

    "By the way, how did you get injured this bad?" Asked Frank.

    I can''t say that I was fighting a monster that even A rank hunters couldn''t defeat and won.

    Wait, why should I hide it? there is no reason for me to hide it. I have a plan!.

    "I was hunting a monster. After the fight, I was left in that state, but I was successful." I said.

    I continued before they had a chance to say something "That monster looked awfully like a hobgoblin.".

    "But hobgoblin''s are creatures." Objected Frank.

    "Yes, but that hobgoblin had the strength and power of a monster and it even dropped mana crystal at the end," I said.

    "Frank, can you step out. I want to ask Grey something." Said Brother Eddie.

    Without any objection, Frank left the room.

    "Can you show me the mana crystal?" asked brother Eddie.

    "I was holding it in my hand before passing out," I said.

    "Oh, that mana crystal you were holding on to? It is in this room with your other belongings." Said Brother Eddie as he stood up and walked towards the corner of the room.

    There was a bag, he took out the mana rock.

    "You are talking about his mana crystal?" he asked, as he showed it to me.

    "Yes, this is the one," I confirmed.

    "But, this is a normal rock. There seems to be nothing special about this crystal." He said.

    "This was the crystal I found after defeating that monster," I said.

    "wait for a second, I will pour my mana into it to confirm the grade of this rock." He said as he poured his mana in black mana crystal in his hand.

    His eyes grew bigger in shock "This isбк"

    "Such pure mana, this is an S rank crystal. Unlike its appearance, it''s an S rank crystal." He said.

    "But, the mana inside this crystal feels different. How do I explain itбн.. Like it feels kind of ominous." He said.

    "You think so?" I asked.

    "Defeating an S rank monster is not a small feat. Even though they are ranked S, that doesn''t mean an S rank hunter can defeat it alone. To defeat an S rank monster requires multiple S rank hunters.

    That''s why it''s a big feat." He said.

    "In truth, It was already injured when I found it.." I said.

    "It was already injured?" he asked. He paused as he was pondering over something and said "It does make sense."

    After a brief moment of silence, he asked, " Are you going to take it to the adventure guild to sell it?".

    "About thatбн.. I don''t plan on taking on the credit to defeat that monster." I said Hesitantly.

    "Do you have any reason?" Brother Eddie asked.

    "It will cause a huge uproar If people were to find that a C rank hunter defeated an S rank monster and It was already pretty weakened when I fought it," I said.

    "Then, should I sell It for you? It will sell at a great price." He insisted.

    I bowed my head slightly before saying "I will gladly accept your offer."

    I am in desperate need of money, I need to sell it.

    I need money to save Annie......

 Chapter 39 - 38: Horns Family.

    I was invited to have lunch with the Horn family and I had no reason to decline them.

    So here I am at the dinner table with the Horn family.

    Before starting the dinner, I stood up from the chair and bowed deeply saying.

    "Thank you for saving my life and tending my wounds, I am deeply indebted." I thanked the Horn family.

    "Such a disciplined child. It''s rare to see kids like you these days," said Frank''s grandfather who was sitting at the center of the table.

    "Come on sit down, eat the food while it''s hot." Said Frank''s mom.

    I planted myself back on the chair and started eating the lunch plate that was in front of me.

    "Are your injuries okay now?" asked Frank''s mom.

    "Yes it''s been healing pretty well," I replied chewing down my food.

    "The doctor who checked you up said that you had a set of broken ribs and various broken bones. There was even a claw marking on your shoulder." He pointed his fork towards me and asked "How did that get healed in one day?"

    I knew they would ask questions like this.

    My venomous factor has the power to heal my wounds pretty quickly, but it gets pretty difficult to explain it to others.

    When I woke up my injuries were already healed.

    "I have a healing factor," I replied with a straight face.

    "Healing is a pretty rare power, it was rare to even at my time," Said Frank''s Gand father as he stroked his beard.

    "It''s is still rare power, Grandfather." Added Brother Eddie.

    He turned towards me, "What role do you usually take as a hunter?" asked Brother Eddie as he scooped up his food with a spoon.

    "I usually take up the role of damage dealer or scout," I answered.

    "Not as a healer?" asked Brother Eddie puzzled.

    I scratched my chin with an awkward laugh as I replied "I can''t heal others.". In truth, I can heal other''s but I would need to feed them my blood.

    I continued "I am a warrior class."

    [ Warrior class is a person who masters any kind of weapon as a means to fight rather than using magic.]

    I curiously asked, " What is your class, brother Eddie?"

    "My class? I am a Mage." He replied.

    "Frank is a warrior class too, have you guys spared?" asked Frank''s Grandfather.

    "Yeah once" I replied.

    This is awkward, I don''t want to blatantly say that I won.

    "Really?!!! Who won?" asked Frank''s little sister, whose name was Aria.

    Saying little sister makes it feel like she is a small kid. But in truth, she is the same-year-old as me. Frank is two years older than me.

    "By the way, there was a competition coming up soon, right?" Said Frank pretending he didn''t hear what Aria said.

    changing topic are we?

    "Don''t just change the topic like that!!" exclaimed Aria.

    With a sudden change of expression in her face asked Aira " Don''t tell me you lost?".

    If I had to describe that smile in one word it would be "Malicious Grin".

    Frank turned his head towards the left avoiding eye contact with his sister.

    She burst into laughter "You lost!! That''s new.".

    I feel sad for frank, he is getting bullied by his little sister.

    "Losing or winning doesn''t matter since we are friends," I said.

    To which I got an even exclaimed reaction from Aria "Huh!!? Friends??!!"

    She turned towards his Frank " Big brother you have friends???!!" she asked.

    She continued " I never thought you would have friends since you have such a bad personality. Every time you see someone new you try to assert dominance by bullying them and make them your henchmen. So I thought you would never make a friend in your life." said Aira dramatically as she wiped her fake tears off.

    She gave him a thumbs up "Good for you brother, now you at least have one friend."

    A poor guy here is getting bullied pretty badly by his little sister. I feel pity for him.

    "Brat, are you looking for a fight!?" threatened Frank, as he slammed his right leg over his chair.

    Is he going to throw hands with his sister?? It will be pretty interesting to watch.

    "Whoever disrespects the food will be kicked out of the house." Said Frank''s mother in a cold tone. Everyone on the dinner table felt the immense aura from her.

    The rest of the lunch was eaten silently and not a single word was spoken.

    More like no one dared to speak a word.

    After the lunch was over,

    "Will you take part in this year''s winter festival?" asked Brother Eddie as he wiped off his mouth with a piece of clean cloth.

    "I haven''t thought about it, yet," I replied.

    "You haven''t decided yet?.... then how about we both form a team and take part in this year''s winter festival?" she asked.

    "I haven''t decidedбк" before I could complete my sentence she interrupted me "This year they are giving a chance to take any S rank item from moon glitter shop."

    "I am in!" I said without thinking twice.

    "Damn, I like the speed at which you changed your mind." Said Aria.

    "Are you serious about teaming with me?" I asked.

    "Yes, Since you defeated my brother you must be capable." She replied.

    "If you are fine with it then I don''t have any problem," I replied.

    I am not interested in any other S rank item. The only thing I am interested in is the S rank Amrit.

    The S rank Amrit fruit is pretty rare, it is said to be only seen once every 10 years. But it is pretty expensive so I couldn''t afford it.

    But now I have a chance that I could get it for free. There is no way that I am going to miss it.

    If I get my hands on the fruit, maybe this time... I will be able to save Annie...

    I am not going to lose this competition, even If I had to go all out....

 Chapter 40 - 39: A Warm Welcome.

    39-1

    I was at the Horn''s house for approximately three days and now I was on my way back to my house.

    By the way, by my house, I mean Grandma Julia''s house. Well, we all consider her house like our own house.

    I have been away from the house for two days. Even though I left the letter and later Frank did let them know that I was in his house, I am still kind of worried.

    Most of my worries are focused on Aetna since she is contracted to me. Staying away from me for a long time weakens her state.

    I hope she is okay...

    I was near the entrance of the house, there I found Rai sitting near the entrance, she looked like she was waiting for someone.

    "Waiting for someone?" I asked as I walked towards her.

    She shot a furious glance, with that she stood up and dusted her back as he walked inside the house.

    She ignored me...

    "Did I do something to make you mad?" I asked this time with caution. I felt like I was digging my own grave asking this question.

    "No, you didn''t do anything." She replied with a barely audible tone.

    "Then why are you mad?" I asked.

    "That''s the point. You didn''t do anything." She said this time in a slightly higher voice, she walked towards me as she asked:

    "You went to fight that monster alone, didn''t you?"

    I suddenly found myself avoiding eye contact with her.

    She asked again "I asked did you fight that monster alone?" this time waking more closer to me.

    I still couldn''t give her a proper reply.

    She walked closer, close enough that her face was near mine with maybe an inch distance between our noses.

    "Look into my eyes." She demanded.

    I did what she demanded me to do and looked directly at her without breaking eye contact.

    "Did you fight that monster?" she asked again in a whispering tone that was barely audible.

    "Yes," I replied matching her tone of voice.

    "Why didn''t you asked me for the help?" asked Rai narrowing her eyes.

    This time I looked directly into her with a firm look I replied "That''s something I needed to do alone."

    "What is that supposed to mean." She yelled.

    She looked at me with sharpening eyes, she bought her face even closer than it already was. Our nose was already an inch away and she got it even closer.

    What is planning to do? Any closer than that, we might end up kissing!!

    I closed my eyes.

    So this is how I will have my first kiss, not badбн..

    Bump!

    I felt the pain of something hitting against my head.

    "Ow," I yelped as I fell on the ground. I was headbutted by Rai.

    As I was down on the ground she got over me "This is the final warning, If you ever pull a stunt like that in future... I will kill you. There is no point in being the hero if you lose your life." She said in a cold threatening voice as she grabbed my collar.

    Scary!!!!!

    She got up from me and walked towards the entrance of the house.

    Right before entering the house she stopped, she opened her mouth without looking back and said:

    "If you want the first kiss, you will have to wait for more than that.".

    I will be lying if I said that it didn''t make my heart skip a beat.

    After saying that she walked into the house without looking back. The only thing I could see was her beet-red ears.

    Before this, I have never seen her get this red...

    First time for everything, huh?

    39-1

    It was night, I was currently having dinner with everyone.

    After getting headbutted by Rai, I went inside to find Rudi waiting inside for me.

    The worst part was that he waiting for me with a knife in his hand. Well, I somehow managed to get rid of that knife from his hand as he attempted to murder me with that knife.

    {Author note: Our protagonist here is being dramaticбн Murder is an exaggeration}

    It''s not an exaggeration.

    Then what do you call it, when someone is chasing behind you with a bare knife and intending to stab it inside you?

    It''s called attempted murder.

    Even after taking the knife from him, he was ready to throw hands with me. But I won.

    Well, he did manage to land a punch or two.

    I can understand why they are mad at me.

    But Ulrich, Annie, and Aetna weren''t mad at me. They are angels in my eyes. I thought as I took the first bite from my dinner.

    After taking the first bite, a certain realization hit me. Ulrich is also angry at me.

    He was taking his anger his way...бн the food is damn salty. Damn you, Ulrich!!!.

    "Thank you for the food," I said thanking Ulrich with a sweet smile.

    I ate it somehow, forcing it down my throat.

    After getting finished with the dinner, I sat on the chair. The salty food took a toll on my body.

    "Here." I heard the voice of Ulrich behind me.

    I looked behind to find he was standing with a plate of dessert in his hand.

    I hesitated a bit to take the dessert from his hand.

    "It''s not salty." He said handing me the dessert.

    I took the first bite to find that it was indeed not salty, on contrary, it was pretty tasty.

    "I will make tomorrow''s food double tasty." He said without looking into my eyes.

    He felt guilty to feed me salty food.

    To me, in this instant, Ulrich looked like an angel descended straight from the heavens.

    "Don''t worry. It was my mistake to not let you guys know about me fighting the monster alone." I said apologetically.

    These are good people.

    I am glad to have people worried about me. It makes me truly happy.

    But I sometimes think that, do I even deserve to have people like this around me.

    Did I even deserve to survive that day instead of my mom or various villagers?

    Do I even deserve to live when all those kids from the village died?

    They wanted to live, so do I even deserve in their place?

    Among all the people, why a person like me survived. I am just a person who takes things from everyone.

    I destroyed such a happy family.

    Do I even deserve to live?

 Chapter 41 - 40: We Are A Team.

    40-1

    It''s been three days since the hobgoblin incident and my life was back to normal.

    currently, I am at my commission of escorting Agata with her hunting.

    Adventuring and hunting were banned for three days because of the hobgoblin incident.

    But after the news was out that the hobgoblin was taken care of, the adventuring and hunting resumed like usual.

    The hunting section just got over and we were walking out of the forest.

    "What kind of competition will be held this year at the winter festival?" I asked as we all were walking together.

    Each year different types of competition are held.

    Last year it was a cooking competition and the year before that it was a battle royal, like the last man standing wins, that type of competition.

    "Even I have no idea," replied Idiot A.

    "Yeah even I am pretty much clueless." joined Idiot B.

    You guys are supposed to be characters who fill in the audience with the additional information by talking in the background.

    What use do you guys have if you don''t even fill your character''s role?

    {Author: Main character please don''t break the fourth wall.}

    "It''s rare for you guys to not know something," I said.

    "This time they are being pretty strict. there isn''t even a leak of single information about the competition," said Idiot A.

    "Around this time of the year, I used to earn money by selling information about the competition to people. but this time even I don''t have any information." sighed Idiot B.

    Knowing information about the competition gives people the upper hand over other competitors, so I think it''s natural to not leak information.

    But still, there are times when Duke purposely leaks information about the competition.

    Like last time it was a simple cooking competition.

    So Duke purposely leaked information to increase the quality of cooking in the competition.

    Knowing information beforehand, gave competitors to prepare and thus increasing the quality of cooking.

    {Author note: Winter festival is held by the Duke of the Goldberg city and the competition held in the moon glitter festival is mostly decided by the Duke.

    Fun fact: Duke of Goldberg city is the Father of Agata Gerver.}

    Guessing from the secrecy that has been kept regarding the contest, It will probably be a battle of wits.

    Whatever it is, it sure will be interesting.

    "So are you guys going to take part in the competition?" asked Agata, her question was directed towards all of us.

    To which everyone answered with an affirmative.

    "Oh I see, good luck to all of you!!" she wished us good luck in a cheerful tone.

    "Miss. Agata, you are the daughter of our lord duke. do you know the information about the contest?" asked Phil.

    "Even I have been kept in dark about this competition.... sorry to disappoint you," she replied apologetically.

    "Don''t ask such rude questions to miss. Agata!" Lily gave Phil a sharp rebuke.

    "Are you participating too, Miss Agata?" I asked.

    "Yes I was hoping to participate too," she said, "I hope you guys allow me in your team if there is any team-based competition," she said with an agitated smile.

    I sometimes find myself admiring Agata''s personality.

    "You don''t need to ask Miss. Agata, we are already a team," said Phil with a big smile and a thumbs up.

    "I agree with Phil on that part, we are already a team," said Frank agreeing to what Phil said.

    "Yes, Miss Agata we are already a team," said Idiot A and B simultaneously.

    Lily let out a sigh before saying "I can''t believe that I am agreeing with these losers, but even I feel the same " Joined Lily.

    "Who are you calling loser," roared Frank starting a verbal fight between Frank, Phil, idiot A, Idiot B, and Lily.

    As they were fighting I approached Agata and said "I agree with them, we have been a team since the day we started hunting together." with a cheerful smile.

    As I shifted my attention from them fighting towards Agata''s face.

    I saw a drastic change in her facial expression. Her cheeks changed it''s color to a shade of red as tears welled up in her eyes.

    *Sniff*

    She wiped her tears with one hand but it was replaced with more.

    "Miss. Agata, why are you crying?" I asked as I was panicking.

    "Bastard did you make her cry?" yelled Phil as he jumped over me.

    and one by one all of them stopped their fighting and jumped over me.

    Frank held me in a headlock between his hand, Lily was pulling my cheeks. Idiot A, Idiot B, and Phil were sitting over my back.

    "I didn''t make her cry!!" I exclaimed defending myself against their accusation

    "Then why is she crying?!!" asked everyone in unison.

    Pfft!

    Chuckled Agata softly, her lips curled forming a smile.

    "I was crying because I never had friends before you guys, so listening to you guys made me tear up," she said wiping her residue tears off.

    "Oooooo" everyone said in Unison like they understood something.

    "I think you should get up, Master Grey is suffering down there," said Agata holding off her laughter.

    They got up from me and said "Sorry, Grey it was a misunderstanding." apologizing.

    My eyes turned cold as I said " You guys are dead to me." with an ice-cold voice.

    "Let''s not resort to violence," said Frank as he stepped back.

    I stepped forward crackling my fist.

    Before I could do anything they all ran away with the exception of Lily.

    "Lily I think you should run away too, I am not the type of person who holds back just because he is fighting a woman.

    I am an advocate of true gender equality. I won''t even hesitate to punch a woman if needed."

    With that warning, Lily ran away too.

    and I ran behind them.

    It will be a blood bath once I catch them!!.....

    {Authors note: they are just having fun}

 Chapter 42 - 41: Couple?

    41-1

    It''s been a week since I was done with the commission to escort Agata with her hunting.

    I still couldn''t understand why they hired us to escort her for hunting.

    I mean she is the daughter of the duke, if her father wanted, he could have just made her bodyguard escort her.

    They are strong, they could have done a good job of escorting her themselves.

    They had a strong aura when I saw them with my eyes. You could say. they were elite warriors.

    Due to my eyes of Minerva seal, I can see every type of energy including aura and I can also see someone''s mana core without any problem.

    So, I can pretty much guess how strong someone is, by just looking at them.

    The strongest person I have seen in recent times is Brother Eddie. By just looking at him I could tell that he was strong.

    He was on a level of his own.

    I have not seen any other S rank hunter other than him. so I wonder, are all S rank hunters are as strong as him?

    Well, I have seen stronger...

    With that thought, images of certain people flashed through my mind. It was the image of mom and Demoness Ami.

    *Did you just remember me?* a certain voice rang inside my mind.

    *You thought about me, didn''t you?* the voice continued, it was the voice of Demoness Ami.

    "So, you can read my mind?" I asked lying down on my bed, my eyes were set on the ceiling pointlessly.

    "I pretty much live inside you, so I can easily hear your thoughts." She replied.

    "Yay!!, there goes my privacyбн." I said with a fake cheering excitement.

    I continued "If you can read my mind then you are already aware of my hate for you." I said in a tone that was devoid of any emotions.

    "That''s what I find strange. Ever since my soul is trapped inside your body, I haven''t found any type of hate towards me." She said curiously. She continued " I did sense your hate for the church and Santor nation. But, me... for me I could never sense any kind of hate."

    "Ohбн.." I said as if I was pondering over something.

    She is not wrongбн

    For some reason, I couldn''t bring myself to hate her.

    I found it strange in the beginning. But later I realized my reason for not hating her.

    The reason is pretty simple.

    Why would you hate someone who is already dead?

    She already paid her price, the price of her life. There was no reason for me to hate her.

    But, the church and the Santor nation is a different case, I will hunt them down one by one when the time is right.

    "I can still hear you thought." Said Demoness Ami, "But now I understand your reasoning to not hate me. Aren''t you one noble kid?" She said praising me.

    Well, I am not sure if she praising me or mocking me.

    She heard my thought "I am not mocking you; it was genuine praise." She replied to my thought.

    "So, what do you want from me?" I asked.

    "I don''t need anything from you."

    "Then why are you inside my body??" I asked passive-aggressively.

    "I have no choice, I am trapped inside you." She replied. "I never imagined that I would be trapped inside a human body." She added.

    "is that an unusual thing to happen?" I asked wondering about what she just said.

    "A soul getting trapped in the body of another is rare in itself. It doesn''t happen if soul and body aren''t related." She answered.

    We are related somehow?

    As I was thinking that, I heard a couple of footsteps approaching my room.

    "Grey, are you ready?" asked Aetna who just entered the room was the source of the footstep.

    {Author note: I am changing the spelling from Aethna to Aetna since I recently found out that I was spelling the name wrong.}

    I had a work at adventure guild and I wanted to get more information about the competition.

    So I decided to step out of the house with Aetna.

    "Yes, I am ready," I replied as I got up from my bed.

    We stepped outside and our first stop was adventure guild, so we headed towards the adventure guild.

    My reason for visiting the adventure guild was that I wanted to check if there is any suitable commission that I could take part in.

    "How is your health now?" I asked Aetna.

    "Yes it''s good now, nothing to worry about." She said with a wide smile.

    Her body condition weakened as I was away from her for three days.

    Because of the contract, we are supposed to be in close proximity to each other all the time.

    The world counts my own and Aetna''s existence as a single entity. So, if I stay away from Aetna for a longer period of time, the world will start correcting itself. weakening the existence of Aetna.

    "Sorry about that," I said scratching my cheeks.

    "You don''t need to apologize." She wore an adorable smile on her face.

    "We will go eat fried chicken after we are done with the work at the adventure guild. we will also take Annie with us," I said walking in front of Aetna.

    "yay!!" she cheered up as she grabbed on my arm.

    "You know only a couple would walk like this," I said teasing her.

    "Huh? We are not?" she asked.

    Huh? What is she talking about? does she have a misunderstanding of some sort?

    "What are you talking about?" I exclaimed in embarrassment.

    I quickly regained my composure *Ahem* I cleared my throat as I asked:

    "Do you know what being a couple means?"

    "Yes couple is who eat, sleep and live together," she said with a face that radiated with innocence.

    After hearing her reply, the only thing I could do was sigh.

    It took me quite a while and efforts to make her understand what being couple means and at the end of the explanation, she was left with a rose pink blush on her face.

    She hid her face with both of her hands, "That''s not what I mean." She said peaking between her fingers.

    "I know, I know." I patted her head.

    "Couple..... we are already couple due to contract." She said in a barely audible tone hiding her face with her hands.

    She is cute...бн she is super cute..... gotta protect her... gotta protect her.

    { Author note: During the first arc, The contract was formed as Aetna was in a near-death state due to burning most of her life force. This contract is a soul-binding contract, through which Aetna''s existence will be recognized as the same as Grey''s existence by the universe.

    This contract gave Aetna a chance of survival and the reason why this contract was formed will be explored further in the story.}

 Chapter 43 - 42: An Protective Little Sister.

    42-1

    We were done with the work at the adventure guild.

    As planned, we picked up Annie from the house and went to the fried chicken shop

    It''s actually a restaurant that is well known for its fried chicken, not exactly a fried chicken shop.

    I have tried the fried chicken of this restaurant before with the boys, by boys I mean Phil, Frank, Idiot A, and Idiot B.

    We entered the restaurant to find that it was moderately crowded.

    I am glad it''s not crowded. Being in a crowded area is pretty mentally exhausting.

    "There is a seat open!" said Aetna as she ran excitedly towards the empty four-seated table.

    She sat down in one chair, following her, me and Annie sat opposite to her.

    "What do you want to eat?" I asked as I studied the menu.

    "Fried chicken!" replied Annie swiftly.

    Now that I think about it, why was I even looking at the menu when I have already decided that I will the special fried chicken served here.

    I placed the menu down and ordered three plates of fried chicken.

    "It''s getting cold, I guess that''s natural as winter is getting closer," I said looking out of the window, the weather was getting increasingly colder each day.

    Even today the morning atmosphere was covered with a thick layer of fog.

    Winter is just beginning, so from here on fog will only keep getting denser every morning, and with that, the appearance of winter-type monsters will be a common sight.

    {Author note: Winter-type monsters are monsters that can be only seen throughout the winter.}

    "I love winter!!" Annie was pretty exhilarated about the arrival of the winter season, "It''s warm and cozy to sleep under a thick blanket."

    "Winter night?" I muttered to myself closing my eyes remembering gold old times.

    I love winter too for the same reasons. Sleeping in my own bed tucked inside a thick layered soft and cozy blanket.

    Ah, I miss it....

    "I love dogs!." Said Aetna out of nowhere.

    Huh? Where did that topic come from?

    "Dogs are fine, but cats are better." Argued Annie. She just joined the topic as if it was a natural thing to do so.

    If we are talking about cats and dogs, I think it''s pointless to argue about which one is better since both creatures are pretty likable on their own.

    But....well, I like cats more.

    "Cats can''t be betterбн. Name one thing cats are better at?" counter-argued Aetna.

    "Because cats clean and groom themselves, unlike dogs." Replied Annie shrugging off her shoulders.

    Woah! That was a logical argument, I didn''t expect it.

    "But, the dog keeps you safe, protects your house, and defends you under any threat unlike cats, who will probably just run away." Replied Aetna to Annie''s argument.

    I can''t deny the factuality of that statement. Cats won''t even move a paw if some pointed knife at their owner.

    "Cats are more independent creatures, unlike dogs who need too much attention."

    "Dogs are more loving!"

    "Cats don''t poop anywhere and everywhere!"

    "Dog is more loyal!"

    "Cats are independent creatures, they can survive on their own."

    "Dog show more emotions!!"

    Their argument kept on going for a while, as Annie brought up the most logically correct argument and Aetna brought up the most emotionally correct argument,

    I just spectated their argument from the sidelines, as I rested my face on the palm of my hand.

    "What do you think, Grey?" they asked simultaneously.

    Don''t drag me into this!!!!

    Now that they have asked me, I would have to give the most satisfactory answer for both of them.

    I opened my mouth to say "I love both of the creatures equally and I think owning any of them would make me equally happy.

    Cats are majestic creatures, whereas dogs are pretty playful creatures."

    "Yes, when I think about it dogs are pretty playful creatures." Agreed Annie.

    "Even I have to agree that cats have a pretty majestic aura around them." Aetna also agreed with me.

    I didn''t think it would be this easy, Maybe now they will end their argument.

    "I love spicy food!" said Aetna excitedly again out of nowhere. AGAIN.

    Oi oi, now where did that topic come from.

    "I personally love sweet food." Argued back, Annie.

    Don''t join in a random conversation with her so naturally. It''s so hard to keep track of their conversation.

    "Is that you, Grey?" it was a voice that I was familiar with.

    I looked back facing the source of voice "It''s rare to meet you here, Lily." I said greeting her.

    Holding her hand was a little girl standing beside her.

    She looked like a smaller version of Lily, maybe her little sister?

    As I was looking at her, the little girl opened her mouth "Hello, my name is Ellsa Jung. Nice to meet you." Said the kid with a slight bow.

    A disciplined little kid is always a good sight to see.

    Well, I am a kid tooбн..

    "Now that my introduction is over, who you might be and what kind of relationship do you have with my sister?" The little kid shot daggers at me through her eyes.

    Huh? What with this kid?

    Did I do something to draw her enmity towards me...бн. Scary....scary.

    "What are you talking about---" Freaked out Lily.

    Before any further conversation, I offered them seats at our table. Our table had only four chairs so we had to borrow another one from the other empty table.

    We were all seated at the table.

    "Weather is so nice today!" blurted out Lily. That was one sorry attempt to change the topic.

    "Don''t change the topic big sister!" said Ellsa, she pointed her fingers towards me "Now answer my question! What kind of relationship do you have with my sister?!"

    What''s with this kid? And what''s with the commanding tone?

    Well, I guess it''s my responsibility as an adult to clear her misunderstanding.

    {Author: He is a kid too though...}

    And it seems like Aetna and Annie are also interested to hear my answer, judging from the way they are staring at me so intently.

    I waved my hand like I was shrugging her off "I think you have a misunderstanding. I and Lily are just acquaintances."

    "Acquaintanceбн." Mewled Lily repeating my word.

    "Liar!!" accused Lily.

    I was accused as a liar by this little Girl.

    "No No, I think you just have a misunderstanding," I said to which Lily agreed with a strong nod.

    "Then explain why my big sister got freaked out when she saw you in the restaurant just now? Why did she make sure her hair and face were looking good before approaching you? Why did she take a deep sigh before approaching you like she is trying to mentally prepare herself??? And you want me to believe that you guys are just acquaintan--" apparently that kid had more to say but Lily covered her mouth before she could say anything further.

    "W-W-W-W-WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!!" Her face was red in embarrassment, calling it red would be an understatement, it was all the shade of red I could imagine.

    Lily pointed towards the window and said, "The weather... The weather Is so nice today!!".

    Is she trying to change the topic? If yes then that was a one-sorry attempt to change the topic.

    But she was saved by the waiter who just arrived with our food.

 Chapter 44 - 43: The Art Of Spilling Beans.

    43-1

    For now, we were sharing the fried chicken among five people seated at the table.

    The composition of the table looked like this:

    I was seating on one chair and beside me was seated Ellsa (Lily''s little sister). She insisted on sitting beside me for some reason.

    But it''s getting awkward for me, because of the death glare she directing towards me.

    Opposite to us was Aetna and Lily seated on their chair and Annie was seated beside me on her chair.

    Due to the little girl''s glare next to me, it''s getting harder for me to actually enjoy my fried chicken.

    Couldn''t being able to ignore the glare anymore, I opened my mouth.

    *Ahem* I cleared my throat "You know---- What was your name again? Oh yeah, Ellsa!.", I Purposely reconfirmed her name even though I already know her name. It kind of feels off to call a stranger with their name out of blue.

    I continued "Girls only stare at guys they like.".

    "Or they stare at a human whom they really hate and I hate you!!!" She said without the slightest bit of hesitation.

    Hate? Isn''t hate a little too strong of an emotion for a person you really just met?

    Maybe she is just too overprotective about her big sister.

    Well, I can understand where she is coming from, I would be overprotective of my sister tooбн.

    I wonder how Emilia is doing right nowбн.. I wonder how everyone is doing right nowбн.I want to meet them...

    I want to go back to my familyбн..

    It''s funny how my heart is aching a little bit thinking about it. is it really funny?

    "You must really love your big sister," I said with a genuine smile, to which I got a pretty healthy reply.

    "Y-yeah, of course, I love my sister!" Stuttered Ellsa.

    Maybe she didn''t expect that I would say something like that.

    "Is she your sister?" asked Lily hesitantly. she was asking about Annie and Aetna.

    To which Aetna replied, "No, I am not her sister".

    "Me neither!" added Annie.

    Now that I think about it, I haven''t really properly introduced Aetna and Annie to them.

    "This is Annie and the girl sitting next to you Aetna." I introduced them to Lily and Ellsa.

    I continued "They aren''t my sister, They aren''t my friends either. If I had to describe my relationship with them, I would probably use the word ''family''".

    Aetna and Annie haven''t really had a chance to interact with people much, so this might be their chance to interact and bond with someone.

    "Is that silver hair natural?" asked Lily in admiration of Aetna''s hair.

    "Can I touch it?" asked Lily seeking permission to touch Aetna''s hair.

    "Of course!!!"

    Upon getting permission, Lily stroked her fingers through the silky soft long straight hair of Aetna.

    "I am jealous." Said Lily which sounded more like a compliment.

    "Thank you!!!" Aetna was in the seventh sky upon being complimented.

    Well, they are hitting it off, Good for them.

    I looked towards Annie and Ellsa and they are hitting off pretty well too. Later I was told to exchange seats with Annie.

    Aren''t they getting along.... like..... too well?

    Their conversation took various turns and it got to a point where I have already lost track of what they are talking about.

    It''s been half an hour, that I have been sitting between these chattering girls and yet their conversation seems to have no end.

    It''s been 45 minutes now and their conversation is going pretty strong.

    They would randomly ask me "Right, grey?" and I would agree to whatever they are talking about, without knowing what they are actually talking about.

    Well, I have nothing to do and they are looking like they are having fun, so it doesn''t matter.

    "Oh, Grey is that you?" a voice called out to me from behind and yes, it was a familiar voice.

    But, I don''t want to see this bitch, so ill act like I didn''t hear her.

    The source of voice got even closer to me. closer to my ears she whispered "How cold of you to ignore me."

    I turned around to face the source of voice "Oh Rin! What are you doing here!" I said in a false excited tone.

    She is Rin, the same receptionist that sold me information about hobgoblin.

    She didn''t move her face after whispering in my ears. So, when I turned around to face her our face was pretty close to each other.

    Her being this close to my face didn''t really faze me.

    (Author: these two are types of people who have no sense of personal space or distance. They would feel no shame or embarrassment on getting too close to people''s faces)

    I moved her face away from my hand because I was getting attacked by a death glare from four girls on the table.

    "So you survived!" she exclaimed, her excitement looked like she was doing it on a purpose.

    "Survived?" repeated Annie tilting her head.

    "You don''t know?" asked Rin.

    "Know what?" asked Annie showing obvious curiosity.

    this bitch, purposely made her curious.

    "That Grey was the one that fought the Unknown S rank monster and took care of it," blatantly said Rin. I didn''t react to it much.

    Rin paid close attention to my face, I held myself back in showing any kind of reaction.

    I didn''t want to give away any type of weakness she could exploit in the future.

    if she wants to play mind games then I might as well play along with her.

    Even though I didn''t show any reactions, but there was various kind of reaction over the face of the girls seated on the table.

    The facial expression on Lily and Ellsa clearly said "what kind of bullshit is this girl talking about".

    It was a perfectly normal reaction since no one would believe a C rank hunter would defeat an S rank monster.

    Whereas the facial expression over Aetna and Annie''s faces told a different story.

    They knew that I could pull off something like this.

    They flashed their furious eyes that clearly said "I would kill you.".

    It was also a natural reaction from their perspective.

    it was perfectly natural for them to get angry at me since I did something extremely risky without telling them.

 Chapter 45 - 44: The Art Of Spilling Beans (2)

    "You both look like you don''t believe me. Well, you will believe me after hearing what I have to say," she said resting her chin on the palm of her right hand.

    Her face wore a cheeky "All knowing" smile.

    She pointed her index finger towards me "Do you know his full name?" she asked the question, which was mainly directed towards Lily and Ellsa.

    "Grey?" said Lily, titlting her head in confusion.

    "No, I mean his full name..... do you know his full name," asked Rin, rephrasing the question.

    "He never told me anything about his full name," answered Lily.

    Before speaking any more, Rin drew a chair from another table and sat on it.

    She leaned in closer and covering her mouth with her hand as if she was trying to say a secret. I didn''t make any move or reacted to what she was doing.

    "This will be a secret...бн His real name is Grey Hoffmann." She said in a whispering which wasn''t really a whisper since everyone heard it at the table.

    There was no reaction on the face of Lily and Ellsa. Well, that was expected since not many people in the Amay nation know that my mom (Hero Alice.) married a man from another kingdom and that too a prince of another nation.

    "You surely don''t mean that he belongs to the famous Hoffmann royal family of Frey Kingdom?" asked Ellsa laughing it off as a joke.

    That''s the thing......... it wasn''t a joke.

    "Yeah, the same Hoffmann." She answered, Ellsa and Lily realized she wasn''t joking looking at the facial expression on Rin''s face that clearly implied that she wasn''t joking.

    "I will let you in on another secret, The Grey sitting here is the son of...... Hero Alice." Just like that Rin dropped another bomb.

    I still didn''t react much to her revealing information about me to Ellsa and Lily. I wanted to show her that revealing information about me won''t have much effect on me and it won''t bother me.

    In reality, it did bother me. I didn''t want her to reveal information about me to everyone. Because if the church finds out that I am alive they might also suspect that other villagers are also alive.

    Annie still has a dark aura radiating out of her, if the church finds out about this they will probably kill Annie off.

    As much as I hate to admit it, I can''t do anything against church right now.

    If I react to her revelation right now, she will probably abuse this information and will blackmail me.

    I saw the faces of Lily and Ellsa, they still had the facial expression of "What kind of bullshit is this girl talking about".

    I took a deep sigh and opened my mouth "Yes, I am Grey Hoffmann and I am also the Son of Hero Alice. Is something wrong about it?" I asked with a calm voice..

    "Seriously?" exclaimed Lily as she stood up from her chair.

    Apparently, it was more believable for Lily when I confirmed it with my mouth. Does she trust me that much?

    Whereas on the other side Ellsa is still thinking of it as bullshit.

    "Prove it!!" said Ellsa wanting proof.

    I have many ways to prove it. But I chose a way that would require the least amount of explanation and will satisfy their doubt easily.

    I pointed my finger towards my face and said:

    "This is your proof."

    "How is that proof? That is just your cheeks." asked Ellsa.

    "Not my cheeks, my face. If you have ever seen Hero Alice then my face is enough proof that I am her son. I look mostly like her except my white hair."

    "I have never seen her." Said Ellsa with a blank expression.

    Now, this is difficult...бн..

    It would be easier if I just had a photo of her.

    {Author note: This world does have things like photos, but, taking a photo is pretty expensive and the device that takes a photo is pretty rare and also very expensive. So taking photos is not a thing for common people and even for some rich nobles.

    That device doesn''t exactly take photos, it just prints an image from a person''s memory.}

    "I have a photo of her." Said Rin taking a piece of cloth.

    How prepared was she to expose my identity? I think it''s pretty obvious till now, it was already planned by her.

    I took the photo from her hand and aligned it right beside my face for a better side-by-side comparison.

    "Look," I said.

    "Is this Hero Alice? She is really as beautiful as rumor says it," said Ellsa admiring the photo of my mom.

    I think this little girl is forgetting the whole point of me showing this photo.

    "You are right, you both look similar. You guys have same facial feature... same purple-indigo bright eyes, same Straight nose, same beauty mark(Mole)... you guys look pretty similar." Said Lily comparing my face with my mom''s photo.

    She pointed towards me white scarf and said "Even the scarf is same!!"

    "Yeah, its her scarf." i replied.

    I took a look at the photo...бн Ellsa is not wrong, my mom is really beautiful.

    As I looked at that photo, a sudden cloud of sadness wrapped around my heart.

    I really miss her...

    Mom, are you looking at me from above? I hope she is looking at me.....

    I turned towards Rin "So what do you want anyways?" I asked.

    Before answering my question, "Can I take that fried chicken?" she asked pointing towards the last fried chicken on my plate.

    Well, that was weirdly polite of her.

    "Sure," I said giving the permission.

    She took the bite of the fried chicken and asked "Why do you think that I need something?".

    I poured the sauce on her plate "Try that fried chicken with this sauce, it''s pretty good." I said.

    She tried the fried chicken with the sauce. Closing her eyes, she savored the taste of the fried chicken.

    With a nod, she opened her mouth "Damn, the sauce brings out the flavor of the fried chicken and elevates the experience as a whole."

    "I know right!! This sauce never disappoints me." I said with a satisfied nod.

    "I think you both were talking about something serious just a moment ago." said Aetna interuptong us.

    "Oh right," i said.

    "Yeah, we got distracted for a moment there.." Said Rin clearing her throat.

 Chapter 46 - 45: The Invitation From Celestia.

    "Let''s cut to the chase ----- What is it that you want from me?" I asked.

    I waited till she finished her piece of fried chicken and then decided to ask this question.

    She wiped her hands off using tissue before answering my question.

    "I want to recruit you."

    "Recruit me? For what?" I questioned.

    "To join our organization." She answered, "We are forming an organization to take over the underworld of Amay Kingdom."

    To take over the underworld?

    If I remember correctly, the current ruler of the Amay''s nation underworld is the organization that goes by the name of infernal.

    Big dreams, it''s a big dream to take over the underworld organization of the Amay nation.

    "Thanks for the offer, but I am not planning to join any group." I denied her offer.

    I have different plans. I''ll leave this place as soon as Annie is cured.

    Of course, I am planning to let everyone know that I am alive. I have no reason to hide it anymore once Annie is cured.

    "You are free to deny my offer, but I will make it public that Grey Hoffmann is alive." She said shooting a cheeky smile towards me.

    I let out a sigh.

    I was right, she is trying to blackmail me. I need to tackle this situation somehow and for that, I need more information.

    "Why do you want to even recruit me? There is nothing special I could offer.".

    If I need more information that''s where I should begin my questions from.

    "Nothing special in you?" She chuckled, she continued "It''s not me who wants you to join, It''s my boss. She ordered me to recruit you and she has good eyes for people, so I am sure there is a good reason to recruit you."

    So she is following someone else order. Well, I think it was kind of obvious, like what kind of boss will go around recruiting people herself.

    "Do you think you can overthrow Inferno?" I asked.

    But before she could answer my question, she was interrupted by Annie who had a question of her own.

    "Inferno?" asked Annie.

    To answer her question I opened my mouth saying "Inferno is the name of the organization that is currently ruling the underworld of the Amay nation. actually, they have been the ruling organization for quite a while now."

    "Are they strong?" asked Annie.

    "They are pretty strong that''s why I was wondering how the organization created by you guys will be able to beat inferno," I said as I shifted my attention from Annie to Rin.

    "Yes we can." answered Rin, "Our boss is a capable woman. she has the intelligence to outwit anyone on her path and she is pretty strong when it comes to physical strength. With her lead, we will eventually be the ruling underworld body of the Amay nation."

    Sounds interesting.... really interesting...

    I would like to meet her if I ever have the chance to do so.

    But joining their organization is a different case, I have no plan to do so.

    "I will still have to decline your offer." I declined her offer since I have got all the information I needed for now.

    This time she didn''t answer with anything. She went quiet and her facial expression looked like she was pondering over something.

    After a brief moment of silence, she finally opened her mouth saying:

    "Then how about a bet?"

    "A bet," I asked.

    "Yes, A bet where if you win then you won''t have to join our organization and if I win you will join the organization." She said proposing a bet.

    The bet she proposed is something I will have to accept even if I don''t want to.

    The reason being: "Let me guess, if I don''t accept your bet then you will leak the information about me everywhere." I said out loud.

    "Precisely. if you don''t accept my bet then I will have to tell the world that you are alive."

    I let out a deep sigh before answering "Then I have no choice but to accept the bet."

    With a little pause, I looked at her with a sharp gaze and asked "Do you think you can win?"

    "I will." She replied with a calm voice that had nothing but confidence in it.

    After saying that she stood up from her seat "Then the game is on." she said as she walked away towards the door.

    Right before exiting the restaurant she paused and turned around before saying "Oh right, Celestia----Celestia will be the name of our organization."

    Celestia, huh?

    A nice choice of name. Celestia means from heaven and it''s a perfect name for the organization that is made to overthrow Inferno, which means from hell.

    She turned once more as if she remembered one more thing "And yeah one more thing. She---- my boss said that even if I fail to recruit you now, you will eventually join us by your own free will one day." she said as he finally walked out of the door.

    By my own free will....

    How is she so sure?

    {Author note: Celestia is an organization that is yet to be formed. The leader is still recruiting capable members to join her rank.

    The Celesta will make its move, two years in the future when the final core member will join their ranks.

    Can you guess that member???}

 Chapter 47 - 46: A Line Of Idiots.

    "Please state the name that you want to be registered as in the competition," I asked the person standing in front of me.

    I was working as a desk staff to register all the participants who wished to join the Moon Glitter competition. I was asked for help by Agata since they are short-staffed for the winter festival.

    That''s why I am doing this job as a desk staff and Rai is also helping me too. She Is managing another line of people and registering their names and information.

    "Gordan------- I want to be registered as Gordan in the competition." Replied the young man in front of me.

    I wrote his name down on a paper containing the list of names and other information of all the participating contestants.

    After writing the name, I gripped the handle of the device and pointed it towards the person standing in front of me.

    The device in my hand had a lens on the front end and a clear crystal on the back end of the device.

    The purpose of this device is used to measure the size of a person''s mana core.

    {Author note: The device basically looks like a gun. Imagine an infrared thermometer for better visualization.}

    "May I?" I asked before pointing the device towards the person standing in front of me.

    I need to place this device over their chest to get an accurate measurement of their Mana core''s size, and it gets pretty awkward since I am invading their personal space.

    That''s why I ask everyone for their permission before using this device on them to avoid getting arrested for sexual harassment.

    Invading a stranger''s personal space is not cool, so I make sure to ask their permission.

    {Author: So, you can invade someone''s personal space if you know them?}

    "Sure." Said the young man.

    Upon receiving his permission I placed the device over his chest. The clear crystal changed its color into a shade of dark blue.

    "It''s dark blue," I said to the person and also wrote this information down beside his name.

    Upon receiving the information about his mana core, his face lit up. Well, I guess that''s understandable since dark blue is considered above average.

    The size of a person''s mana is determined by the principle of the color spectrum.

    Violet иC Indigo иC Blue иC Green иC Yellow иC Orange иC Red

    Violet is the smallest and red being the largest.

    "Next," I said calling the next person in the line.

    "Please state the name that you want to be registered as in the competition," I asked the person in front of me.

    "Samantha." Answered the girl in front of me.

    Now comes the most difficult part... which is asking the girl for permission to use the device.

    "Can I ---" before I can ask the permission, she interrupted me by saying:

    "Yes, you can use the device on me." She said like she understood what I was going to ask.

    Who is this girl? An angel?

    I need more people like herбн

    After being done with her, I called the next person in the line.

    "Please state the name that you want to be registered as-----" I said as looked up to the person standing in front of me. "---- ah, it''s you," I said looking at the person in front of me, it was Rudi.

    "What do you mean "Ah, it''s you."!!!"

    "I just meant that it''s you. Never mind that I am writing you real in the register." I said as I wrote his real name on the list.

    "Stay still," I said as I placed the mana core measuring device over his chest.

    The crystal turned to dark blue.

    "What a small fry!!" I laughed off looking at the color of the crystal.

    "Shut up!! Dark blue is pretty good. It is goodбн.. it is goodбн.. it is good----- Grey, it is good right?" said as worry took over his brain.

    I chuckled before answering "I was just messing with you. The size of your mana core is pretty good considering your age."

    "Hehe, thank you!! I am not that great, you know." His facial expression changed drastically to the point where it looked like there was no worry on his face, to begin with.

    "Now, get off my line and don''t waste my time!!"

    After filling in Rudi''s information, I registered more people''s information into the participant list.

    "Please state the name that you want to be registered as----- oh, now it''s you," I said to the person standing in front of the line. It was Phil standing in front of the line.

    I continued "What name do you want to be registered as?" I asked him.

    "People call me----- BLAZE CANON!!" he said covering his one eye and striking a weird-looking pose.

    Who called you that? Seriously, who called you that? And what''s with that pose?

    "Good, I WILL write your name as blaze canon. If you wish to do so." I said as I wrote it down his name as Blaze Canon.

    Yes, I seriously wrote his name as Blaze Canon.

    After being done with him, I registered more people''s names,s and then came Frank''s turn.

    He chose to register himself with his real name.

    As I was going to place the device over his chest, he opened his mouth and said:

    "Please be gentle with me."

    What the---- what did he just say?

    "Are you gay?" I asked.

    "No."

    "Then stand still and don''t say weird things."

    As I was going to place the device over his chest, I opened my mouth and said "Don''t worry, I will be gentle with you." With a wink.

    "Are you gay?" he asked.

    "No." I denied.

    "let''s not say weird things like that again." He said hiding his embarrassment.

    After being done with Frank, I further registered more people.

    In my line, there weren''t many girls since they preferred to be in line for Rai''s desk and it was understandable since Rai is a girl as well.

 Chapter 48 - 47: Fear Of Death.

    {Author note: I will write this chapter in the third-person perspective.}

    "You can''t break the line just like that!!" complained a young man.

    There was a bunch of guys trying to get in the front by breaking the line.

    "Do you even know who you are talking to?" asked one of the boys who was breaking the line, he spoke arrogantly.

    "Stop it! it''s Jakob Werner, he is the son of the duke and with him, it''s Killian Dirksen, the young master of the Dirksen family. Leave them be. you don''t want to mess with them." Warned the friend of the young man who was complaining about them breaking the line.

    After knowing their identity, the young man didn''t raise any objection.

    For the young man, those boys were something he didn''t want to mess with. Especially because he was just a commoner.

    "Good, from next time know your place before opening your mouth." Said Killian Dirksen arrogantly.

    Killian Dirksen was a typical example of a rich brat. Being raised in a rich environment gave him a sense of superiority over others and his slight above-average potential over magic made his superiority complex even worse.

    Frank, Killian, and Jakob are friends because of their similar backgrounds.

    These three are infamous for their actions in the Goldberg city, they are known to go too far for setting examples out of people.

    One time they smacked a guy into a near-death state and the other time they destroyed a shop just because they found the food slightly salty.

    Frank never directly took part in those things, but he never stopped and watched them as they did things on their own.

    There were also times where Frank also took part in those acts with them. For Frank, Killian, and Jakob doing acts like this, setting examples out of people, showing their superiority makes them cool. At least that''s what they think.

    After breaking the line, the group of nine boys led by Killian and Jakob went to the front of the line to register their names.

    "Hey boy, register us." one of the boys called out desk staff who was registering the participant. of course, it was Grey who was registering the participant list.

    A friendly smile formed on Grey''s lips, a smile which showed that he meant no harm.

    "Sorry sir, I would have to tell you guy''s to wait on the back of the line for your turn." Informed Grey politely.

    Having never heard "No" before, the boys thought they haven''t heard Grey properly.

    "What did you just say?" asked Killian, reconfirming if he had heard correctly.

    "I said that you guys will have to wait on the----" Before he could finish the sentence Grey was interrupted by Jakob.

    "Do you know who we are?" asked Jakob, he wasn''t mad he was just amused by the situation.

    Jakob and Killian were sure that Grey didn''t know their identity. Since no one would deny them knowing their identity,

    And they loved to savor the reaction of people once they get know their identity. They love to see their reactions.

    "I think your identity doesn''t have anything to do with this situation." Replied Grey still politely.

    Their amusement quickly turned into a hint of anger after hearing what Grey had to say.

    "I want to see if you still act this arrogant after hearing our identity." Warned Killian.

    Grey leaned further on the table and rested his chin over on the palm of his hand.

    "Enlighten me." Said Grey as he threw a sneer at them.

    One of the guys stepped forward.

    "This is the young master of the Wener family and the son of the duke, His name is Jakob Werner." The boy who stepped forwards introduced Jakob and then he turned towards Killian "This is the young master of the Dirksen family, his name is Killian Dirksen."

    Dirksen is one of the first-grade families of Goldberg city.

    Jakob looked towards the Grey excitedly to savor his facial reaction upon knowing their identity.

    ''Show me that dread. I want to see the fear build up in your eyes. Now show me what kind of facial expression you have to offer.'' Thought Jakob as he turned towards Grey to enjoy his facial reaction.

    But he was met with Grey''s poker face, there was no change in his facial expression. No shock, no fear, no regret, there was no reaction at all.

    In contrast to Grey''s facial expression, The facial expression on the face of those nine boys told a different story.

    "Do you even know who Dirksen family and Werner family is?!!" yelled Jakob. His anger was apparent by the red veins popping out on his forehead.

    "Of course, I know what Werner family is, since our duke is a member of the Werner family, and it should be pretty obvious since I am working for the duke currently. I am one of the working staff for the festival." Replied Grey as he looked directly into Jakob''s eye.

    Grey turned his attention towards Killian as he said "I also know Dirksen family, they are one of the first-tier noble family, right?"

    Grey leaned back on the chair as he asked "But my question remains the same, what does your identity has to do with you breaking the line?".

    With this, it was apparent for the nine boys. Grey looked down on them.

    Their blood boiled knowing the fact that Grey was looking at them like he was looking at a pile of shit.

    "Hahahahahaha" Laughed Killian, "It looks we haven''t set an example for a long time. People seem to forget our fear."

    Killian looked at Grey with a distasteful gaze as he said "This is a good chance, we will set a good example through this bastard.".

    "Grab him." Ordered Jakob.

    At his order, two boys headed towards Grey to hold him down.

    Grey didn''t move from his place, but he looked at them and said " Now now calm down, you don''t need to so work up over nothing and besides----" Grey violet-indigo shone brighter as he gazed at them, "How are you guy''s planning to set an example out of me when you are so-------- weak?".

    The two guys who were heading towards Grey felt a sudden pressure pressing them down. Their instincts screamed to not move an inch and even if they wanted to, they couldn''t.

    The same pressure was felt by the rest of the boys, including Killian and Jakob.

    Grey stood up and walked towards them. He halted right beside Killian as Grey placed his over Killian''s shoulder.

    "I am asking you, how are you going to set an example out of me?" asked Grey, his voice was calm, and his tone was so low that it could be considered as a cold whisper.

    Now that Grey was closer to Killian, Killian felt even more pressure than before. Cold sweat ran down his neck, it was harder for him to breathe with each breath, he felt sick, the food that he ate this afternoon wanted to vomit its way out, his legs were weak which made it harder to stand on his own feet.

    The following experience was something he had never experienced before.

    The fear he was experiencing currently was the fear of death...бн.

    {Author note: I wanted to try this type of writing style, hehe.}

 Chapter 49 - 48: The Deed.

    (Third Person POV)

    "Grey, what are you doing?" asked Agata who just arrived with a tray of juice.

    Grey lifted up his hand from the shoulder of Killian as he proceeded to walk towards Agata.

    The weight pressing down on the nine boys lifted up as Grey walked away, they felt relieved for an instant. But the most at ease was Killian.

    "Nothing important." Replied Grey to Agata, Grey turned around to look towards the rest of the line and called "Next." To the person standing behind the nine boys and was waiting in the line properly.

    "Where do you think you are going!!!" shouted Jakob, He couldn''t accept such humiliation.

    The expression on Grey''s face went back to the friendly smile he had worn earlier and said "As I said, sir. You can''t break the line, you will have to wait just like the others."

    Looking at the sudden change in Grey''s behavior made his resentment for Grey even worse.

    "Who are you?!! What do you think you are?!!" fumed Killian, apparently he had gained his composure back.

    Grey chuckled "Does it even matter?".

    Before the situation could get any further, Agata interrupted saying:

    "Grey is my guest and he is helping us with the winter festival if you have any problem with that then talk to dad."

    {Author note: It should be obvious that Agata and Jakob are brother and sister. Jakob being the little brother.}

    She continued "Even if we are son and daughter of the duke that doesn''t mean we can break the rules. Everyone has to follow the rules regardless of their status.".

    This noble thought of Agata earned the cheers of the crowd.

    It was refreshing for the people of the crowd to see a kid from a big family such as Agata, so the crowd couldn''t help but cheer for Agata.

    The sudden cheer by the crowd took Agata by surprise, she couldn''t hold off her embarrassment.

    "C-calm down, guys." Stuttered Agata, as she tried to stop the crowd cheering for her.

    Grey poked his elbow into her saying "Someone is popular." Teasing her, But it was a finishing blow to Agata''s embarrassment. The fumes coming out of her head were now visible to even Grey''s eye.

    48-2

    (Grey''s POV)

    The line continued as normal and those nine clowns went back to the line and stood there, waiting like everybody else. Maybe the threat from Agata really did its work.

    Well, from now on they will hold grudge against me. I let out a sigh thinking about the pain in the ass I will have to deal with.

    "Next," I said, registering the next person in the line.

    After a while, the line was getting shorter and it was finally Jakob''s turn.

    "Please state the name that you want to be registered as in the competition," I asked.

    "I just ran a background check on you. Your name is Grey and you are a C rank hunter. You are pretty cocky for a C rank hunter, huh?" He said.

    So, he is holding a grudge against me after all.

    "Your name sir?" I asked, without paying any heed to what he was talking about.

    "Don''t mess with us, this is a final warning." He continued, without answering my question.

    I let out a sigh.

    "You were nine guys, yet none of you moved a finger when I stood in front of you guys. Do you think, you can do something against me now? What kind of wishful thinking is that?" I asked with ridicule in my voice.

    I clapped my hand together and said "Oh" as if I remembered something, I continued "You want to set an example out of me right? How about trying to set an example out of me on the moon glitter competition?"

    "Are you challenging us?" he asked.

    "That is my intention. But I can understand if you guys are too scared to accept." I said throwing a sneer at him.

    "We accept!" he replied, "We will set a good example out of you, we will let everyone know what it means to defy us."

    "Looking forward to that."

    After that, I registered him and the rest of the 8 clowns, including Killian. They didn''t even try to hide their enmity towards me.

    I tried my best to hold off my laugh as I registered their name.

    48-3

    I was almost done registering everyone in my line. There seemed to be only two people in my line remaining.

    As I registered the second last person, I called out the last person saying "Next.".

    "Please state the name that you want to be registered as in the competition," I said, as I raised my to face the last person.

    "Tch." I clicked my tongue, looking annoyed.

    "It is considered rude to click your tongue in front of someone." Said the person standing in front of me. But on the contrary to what she was saying, she wasn''t bothered even in the slightest.

    The last person in the line was Rin.

    She continued "At least think about my fragile maiden heart." dramatically.

    "At least try to look bothered," I replied.

    Without any further talk, I got to the point "So what name do you want to be registered as?" I asked.

    "Ummm, let me think." She thought for a second as she placed her finger over her chin. Then she finally opened her mouth, "How about ''Grey''s Girlfriend''?" she asked.

    At least ask me out before naming yourself something like that, I might even say yes.

    "Good, I will write your name down as Rin," I said, as I wrote her name down.

    Like hell, I will be writing down a name like that.

    "Wait, I thought we get to choose our own name?" she asked.

    "Yes, everyone is given the freedom to choose their own name," I replied.

    "Then I want to keep my name as Grey''s girlfriend иC"

    "No."

    "But, I want to-"

    "No."

    "You are no fun at all." She said as she placed her finger over my chest.

    I pulled out the device and placed it over her chest without asking her permission.

    "Mmmh, I don''t hate getting my body treated as a plaything." She said as she let out a moan as I placed the device over her chest.

    Huh? What is this? That was hella erotic.

    I could feel my ears getting hot and something rising down there.

    I need to distract my brain or something might happen today. It''s an emergency, I seriously need to distract myself.

    "Ahem." I cleared my throat as I said "Green, it''s light Green." I was talking about the color that the crystal changed into.

    Her mana core is big... its pretty big.

    I gulped my silva and thought about finally doing the deed tonight, I guess I am finally hitting puberty.

    {Auhtor note: he was talking about masturbating tonight.}

 Chapter 50 - 49: The Duel.

    Chapter 49:

    "Care to join me for a walk?" Rin offered me to join her for a walk.

    I was done with the registration work, so I had no reason to deny it.

    "Will you wait for a second? I will first go check up with Rai and ask Agata if she wants help with anything else," I said as I walked away.

    "Cool I will wait here, you go get your work done," she replied.

    She continued as I walked away "It is rude to make a lady wait, so don''t keep me waiting for long."

    "Roger that," I replied as I walked away towards Rai''s desk.

    Now that I think about it, since when I and Rin are on such good terms.

    We are still practically strangers, I know nothing about her except her name and also the fact that she wants to recruit me to some shady organization.

    "Rai, ill be out for a while. you seem to still have some people over your line, so I will be back till you are done" I informed her.

    "Okay, just come back to pick me up," she said without paying attention to me, she was Focused on registering people in the participant''s list, so she didn''t even bother to look me on the face while talking.

    After that, I cross-checked with Agata that if she wanted help with anything and apparently she didn''t need any help.

    So I was totally free.

    I was back at my table where Rin was waiting for me.

    "Okay, let''s go," I called out to her.

    "That didn''t take long."

    "You were the one that told me to not make a lady wait."

    "Oh so you view me as a lady?." she asked, surprised.

    "Yeah cause that''s what your gender is, there is no deep meaning to it," I said brushing her off, I didn''t want her to get any kind of misconception.

    She started walking ahead of me as she said "Follow me."

    I think I might get kidnapped today.

    "Are you going to kidnap me? you have already given up on winning, So you are going to kidnap me to forcefully join your organization."

    She let out a cheerful chuckle and she spoke "Don''t worry, I won''t kidnap you."

    She slowed down her pace of walking, so she could walk right beside me, "There will be no need to kidnap you since there is no chance that I will be losing."

    She continued "I am good at fighting, I believe that I have one of the finest swordsmanships, and even if it''s battle of wits, I won''t be losing."

    She has confidence in her skill set...

    "We will see about that during the competition next week.", I stopped walking and opened my mouth asking "So anyways, why did you bring me in this dark alleyway."

    I was led into a dark alleyway as I kept following her and now I am standing in this typical-looking gloomy dark alleyway.

    This gloomy dark alley is maybe the result of being hidden from the sun. Even in the dead afternoon, there was no trace of sunlight.

    From the moment I entered this narrow alleyway, there was no person in sight except for the two shady guys who passed us earlier.

    She paused in her tracks before saying "Duel with me.".

    Is she having mood swings? what''s with the sudden urge to fight me?

    "You don''t want to wait for the competition?" I asked.

    "I just feel like fighting now," she answered.

    So it''s a mood swing after all. But whose mood suddenly goes like ''I feel like fighting to the death with someone.''

    She continued "During the duel, you can kill me if you get the chance to do so and I won''t hesitate to kill you either."

    She was serious, she meant the thing she said.

    "Fine, let''s get it over with," I said.

    "I think dying in the hands of beauty like me is not a bad thing either," she said teasing me or mocking me, I wasn''t sure.

    No, no matter how you look at it dying, in general, is a pretty bad thing.

    49-2

    (Third person POV)

    Rin unsheathed her sword and took an offensive stance, pointing his sword directly towards Grey.

    Grey didn''t have a sword on him currently, so he condensed an icicle in his hand to form a sword made up of Ice.

    The icicle sword that Grey condensed was the exact copy of the one-handed sword given to him by his father.

    Grey readied himself gripping his icicle sword tightly.

    "Will that ice sword hold up against my sword? Because it will be pretty embarrassing if it breaks away mid-fight." Asked Rin mockingly as she slowly stepped closer to Grey.

    "Despite its fragile look, it is actually pretty hard. But are you sure you will win? since it will be pretty embarrassing if you die by this icicle sword." Replied Grey also mockingly, as he also stepped closer to Rin.

    With that, there was no conversation between them. They just stood silently, at a certain distance away from each other without making any move.

    In an instant, they dashed towards each other clashing their swords.

    With a fluid motion circular motion, Rin parried Grey''s sword. The circular parry was so smooth that it took time for Grey to even notice that his sword has been parried.

    Being wide open, it gave Rin a chance to swing her sword towards Grey''s abdomen which Grey was barely able to avoid, by rolling backward.

    But Rin still managed to leave a slight cut to Grey''s abdomen, tearing Grey''s cloth.

    "Your reflexes ----- It''s fast." Spoke Rin, "I thought I almost had you with that slash."

    Grey took a deep breath to regain back his composure as he said "Yeah even I thought I was done for."

    Grey again dashed forward and clashed his sword against Rin, but this time on purpose.

    His sword was again parried with a smooth upward motion. Again Grey was parried by Rin without even knowing that his sword was parried and he was left defense less.

    But this time Grey was able to avoid her attack without getting hit by it.

    As Grey stepped back, he was met with another slash from Rin as she dashed forward without giving to create distance between them.

    Every time Grey try to block or parry her attack, almost all of those times Grey found his sword smoothly tackled away from his body.

    The weird sensation of his sword getting fluidly parried away from his body leaving him defenseless less was taking Grey off guard.

 Chapter 51 - 50: Speed Vs Technique.

    "What with your sword style? It feels weird---- No, more than that It feels like I am fighting water. No matter how I slash you or block you, you seem to find your way till me like smooth unwavering water." Spoke Grey.

    He had this urge to speak about the sensation he was feeling right now and the same urge was felt by Rin as she spoke:

    "I could say you the same, what''s with you? The moment I started fighting you, it felt like I was being watched. Every part of my body, my every little movement and action, it felt like everything was being watched. Even as little action as my breathing pattern was being watched by you. To be honest, it feels gross, it feels like I am being violated and no matter what I do to shake off your eyes, but yet somehow I still end up being watched by you."

    She looked directly into Grey''s eyes "And it''s not as simple as being watched by your eyes, it''s something more than that. -----Grey, who are you?"

    Grey dashed forwards and clashed his sword with her "I am Grey Hoffmann and I want to ask the same question, Rin who are you? you are not human, are you?"

    They applied their strength to the sword in the effort to push each other way, Rin was being pushed back by Grey''s strength.

    "I am Rin," Rin spoke up answering Grey''s question.

    "That''s it?" asked Grey.

    Before he could get the answer, Grey''s sword was pushed away by Rin in smooth fluid action and struck Grey in the abdomen with a thrust kick.

    The impact of the kick sent Grey rolling away. Grey quickly stood up as he dusted his clothes off.

    He gripped his sword as he decided to switch from defense to attack.

    Grey''s eyes glowed bright purple-indigo as he used more of his venomous aura to increase his strength and speed.

    With one dash, he was instantly in front of Rin. The sudden increase in speed took Rin off guard.

    Grey quickly slashed his sword, but it was blocked by Rin in the nick of time. Rin managed to parry his attack and counterattack with her slash.

    But Grey''s fast movement was barely able to block that attack.

    This fight was now a battle between speed and fluid style. Both were able to keep up with each other in quick succession, Grey was attacking rapidly with his tremendous speed and Rin was parrying his every attack with flawless fluidity.

    Increasing his speed further, Grey kept attacking in rapid succession and it was getting harder for Rin to keep up with Grey.

    Finally after increasing his speed and using the eyes of Minerva Grey was able to found Rin defenseless wide open.

    With the back of his sword, Grey forced the blunt end into Rin''s abdomen. With the sudden impact to the abdomen Rin was forced to step back.

    She closed her eyes and took a deep inhale, as she gathered her concentration.

    With an exhale, she opened her eyes. Her eyes shined in deep blue color and the ends of her dark blue hair also shined in a light blue shade.

    The aura around gathered and became dense, the mana surrounding was now visible to the naked eye.

    She looked at Grey with her sword pointing towards Grey, the seriousness of her eyes made Grey assume defensive stans.

    Grey knew whatever was coming, Grey couldn''t take it lightly.

    "It''s coming." Thought Grey. Rin readied her sword as if she was going to attack him at any moment.

    Grey sharpened his posture as he readied his sword, his eyes shone brighter. The aura around him condensed and was now visible to even the naked eye.

    Taking one single deep breath Grey looked at Rin with a piercing gaze.

    They both carefully observed their opponent, without making the mistake of taking each other lightly. They both readied themselves to dash and slash their opponent In front of them.

    But the fight could go any further-----

    "Give me all your money." a man demanded, their fight was interrupted by an uninvited guest.

    "If you don''t want to get hurt, then leave all of your money behind." Said another man who was accompanying him.

    "HUH?" was the word that came out of Grey and Rin.

    Both Grey and Rin realized that this was a sorry attempt of robbery.

    Rin sighed "You know you just interrupted us when the fight was getting good. At least, you could have waited five minutes."

    "Bitch, I don''t have time to wait for your love quarrel to end!" barked robber pointing the knife towards Rin.

    Grey walked towards Rin and stood beside her, Poking her elbow onto her he teased "Love quarrel he says."

    Rin waved her sword around as she said "You don''t see the sword in my hand? and you still dare to threaten us with a knife---- A KNIFE."

    Grey laughed off as he said, "What a mental case, where did you guys hit your head?".

    "I already warned you kids to give all your money, but now I changed my mind." Said one of the robbers, "Restrain both of them, we will sell them off."

    "Yes, boss. We can find many noblemen and ladies to buy them from us. They love to buy young playthings." said the other robber agreeing to what his boss said.

    Grey stroked his chin as if he is thinking about something deeply, "Rin, should I let myself get kidnapped? I want a noblewoman to buy me from them, getting bought by a sugar mommy is not a bad idea after all.".

    There was a lecherous grin on Grey''s face.

    "Instead of getting kidnapped, you can just sell yourself." Suggested Rin.

    "Nice idea." Grey gave thumbs up to Rin.

    "I had enough of your shit." Exclaimed one of the robbers.

    "No, I had enough of your shit. You ruined such a great duel when it was just getting exciting. Give me a reason for why I shouldn''t beat the shit out of you, right here and right now?" asked Rin furiously, the anger in her eyes sent chills into the spine of the robbers.

    Later Grey witnessed Rin beating the absolute living shit out of both of the robbers.

 Chapter 52 - 51: 2-days Training.

    51-1

    (Grey''s POV)

    "About the question, you asked earlier about me not being human, how did you figure it out?" asked Rin, curiously.

    She was done beating the shit out of robbers and later she warned them to run away. Taking her warning they ran for their life.

    I opened my mouth to answer her question "How do I say it, ----Ummm" I thought for a second, finding the right word to describe it.

    "If I had described it, I would say that your energy signature doesn''t feel like human and even your mana core is different from that of a human," I replied, after finding the right way to put it into words.

    "You can read people''s energy signature?" she asked, fascinated.

    Without waiting for my answer she continued "That means you have the owl seal marking?".

    It''s scary that how her guess was on the mark.

    "Yes," I replied as I pulled up the sleeve of my t-shirt revealing my seal marking of Minerva. I don''t mind showing people my seal marking of Minerva since there is not much information about this seal marking that they can abuse.

    "So that is your seal markingбн." Said Rin as she walked up closer to me.

    She took a closer look as she said "I have never seen a marking like this before, neither it is mentioned in books."

    "It is Seal marking of an owl," I replied.

    "It is an owl, but it is different from other seal markings.", she continued " Anyways about your question---- yes I am not human, I am from Siren race. Well, I am half Siren and I don''t know what is my other half."

    That explains her beauty...

    "Oh--- which type?" I asked.

    "Fish type." Replied Rin.

    {Author: There are three two types of Siren Race.

    1) Bird type: this type of Siren race has bodies like humans and wings like birds, some of the bird type Siren even have feet like birds.

    2) Fish type: this type of Siren race has the body and head of a human and in place of the leg they have a fishtail. }

    "Anyways I need to get going." Said Rin as she walked away.

    She turned to face me as she stretched her hands with her palm facing me, "That''s right, I need to let you know something. If you ever face me again-------- I will kill you. If you don''t join our organization and if I find you in the way of our organization-------- I will you. Don''t accept my duel from next time and if you do-------- I will kill you."

    In her palm, shined a symbol. A symbol of sea wave in a shade of light blue color, that was her seal marking.

    It was the seal marking of Thalassa, a marking that usually grants power related to water. But I am not sure about the specifics power of her Seal marking. It''s a pretty rare seal marking.

    But more than that, the way she stated the desire to kill me, she was serious...бн

    "Oh, one more thing." She said, pausing in her track once more. "I have news for you--- Not many people know this, but I will share it with you since you agreed to duel with me. There seem to be special guests participating in the competition."

    "A special guest?" I questioned.

    "Yes, the guest is the member of the royal family --------------Your cousins."

    58-2

    Maybe a vertical hit from the right will work.

    Standing in the backyard, I swung my polearm from right aiming towards the shadow. It was parried by the shadow in the smooth circular motion, leaving polearm away from my body.

    With a single swift strike, the shadow slashed its swords through me.

    "Another failure!" I was frustrated.

    I closed my eyes again and went back to fighting the shadow in front of me, it was the shadow of Rin.

    Its been two days since my duel with Rin, I couldn''t possibly accept the outcome of the duel, I was completely overwhelmed by her. She was able to parry my attack and retaliate with her own counterattack, with a minimal set of movements.

    The most frustrating part was that she wasn''t even serious while facing me. She could have been able to finish me off at any point in the duel if she would have decided to get serious.

    I imagined her shadow with my eyes closed, this time I thrusted my spear straight into her chest, which she was able to evade.

    With 27 exchanged between me and Rin''s shadow, I was still not able to touch her even a single time. At 28th exchange, she was again able to perform her smooth counter attack slashing her sword through me.

    { Author note: Rin''s shadow is actually Grey''s imagination of how Rin would fight against him. If i had to describe it better, i would say that it is a type of shadow fighting where Grey is imagining his opponent in his mind, in this case, the opponent being Rin.}

    Being breathless I gasped for air.

    After taking a short break to catch my breath, I again closed my eyes to fight the shadow.

    But before I could do that, a voice called out to me "You have been going at it for 2 days non stop now. Without taking any break you even ate and slept in the backyard."

    I opened my eyes and looked in the direction of the voice, I saw Mark''s head popping over the balcony.

    "What are you training so hard for, did something happen?" he asked.

    "Nothing, much."

    "Are you preparing for the competition today? No even if you are preparing for the competition, training for 2 days straight is going overboard."

    "Oh right, today is the competition."

    I totally forgot about the competition.

    "And it will start in an hour. So, hurry up! If you reach their early, you will also get the information about what kind of competition will be held."

    It is true, if I reach their early then I might get the information about the competition. But I had something to do before that.

    I walked towards the fence as I asked Mark "Are you coming?"

    "Of course I am coming, I will be cheering you up from the audience."

    For some reason, the words that came out of his mouth brought a smile to my face. I would want my uncle to be like Mark.

    No, Mark is my uncle.... and I am the reason he lost his legs.

    With that thought, my smile retracted back as if it was never there before.

    51-3

    In the outskirt of the forest near the Goldberg city, a girl swung her sword in the air. She has been practicing inside this forest for two days.

    She danced with her sword elegantly, on her face she wore a gentle expression. Her long smooth blue hair fluttered with the cool breeze of the forest.

    If one were to see her, they would describe her sword dance as "Refined" and "Elegant.". But as refined and elegant it was, it was also deadly.

    The thought on the girl''s mind was only a feeling of frustration unlike the gentle expression on her face.

    The name of the girl was Rin. Being thought directly under the king of swords, she held great pride in her swordsmanship.

    And there was no opponent in her life that could overwhelm her, with the only exception being her boss.

    But recently she fought with Grey and the moment she started fighting him, The realization hit her that sword was not Grey''s main weapon of choice.

    The way he held the swords, it was obvious that Grey had mastered different weapons.

    The frustrating part for her was that his opponent wasn''t even adept at using a sword. Yet he was able to stand on par with her and at a certain point, he was able to overwhelm her.

    She was frustrated with the fact that she had been training for years under the guidance of the king of swords, she had been working hard for years and yet she was overwhelmed by a kid who wasn''t even adept with swords.

    {Author note: King of swords is a character that I will introduce in the future and of course as the name suggests, he is arguably the best swordsman.}

 Chapter 53 - 52: Mysterious Encounter.

    I was on my way to the town hall for the competition.

    "Oh, by the way, There was news that there will be members of the royal family participating in the competition." Said Mark as he walked beside me. After losing his leg, he had been using a walking cane to aid him In walking.

    Ah right, my cousins will be there to participate in the competition. I have never met them in person so I don''t know what kind of person they are.

    But I don''t plan on directly revealing my identity to them. Because if I do reveal my identity to them, They will probably view me as a threat.

    In this world, the right to the throne is given to every direct descendant of the royal blood. But this only applies to the first branch of the royal family.

    My mom is the daughter of the previous king so I automatically have the right to the throne and I am one of the princes that can fight for the throne of the Amay nation.

    The same applies to my dad''s side, he is the son of Frey''s kingdom''s previous king, so I naturally have to right for the throne of Frey''s nation.

    The fact that both of my parents belong to the royal families of two different nations, makes me a prince of two-nation.

    So letting my cousins know that I am alive might be a really bad idea, they might really try to kill me or I have read too many novels and I am overthinking. But it''s better safe than sorry.

    "You guys go ahead, I just remembered something. I will be back after being done with it." I said as I walked away towards the opposite direction of the Townhall.

    "Okay, don''t be late," said Rudi as they walked away heading towards the town hall.

    The thing I suddenly remembered was that I need to hide my identity. If my cousins were to see me, it won''t even take them a second for them to figure out that I am a member of the Ormr family.

    How? Because of the famous Ormr family purple-indigo eye color and also the fact that I am spitting image of my mother. That''s why I need to hide my identity but with something that doesn''t attract lots of attraction.

    I reached the market to search for something that would help me hide my identity. As I looked around an Antique shop caught my attention.

    From the outside, it looked like an old run-down shop. The sign of the shop read "Magical Antique Collection." In huge letters, that looked like it would fall off any moment.

    The door creaked as I opened it slowly to enter the shop. The interior of the shop was no different from the exterior, the word gloomy was the best way to describe this shop.

    I looked around to find the person in charge of this shop, but I couldn''t find anyone. But as I went deep into the shop there was a counter at the right-hand corner of the shop where sat an old lady.

    She had wrinkles on her face, with few teeth on her mouth. But the way her eyes were shut and her few missing teeth gave her a sort of smiley gentle face.

    "Grandma," I called out.

    As If answering my call, she opened her eyes slowly. But her small squinted eyes still looked like it was close.

    I think she was sleeping, now I feel bad to wake her up.

    She took a piece of paper and wrote something in it before showing it to me. The thing that she wrote on the piece of paper read "What do you need kid?".

    I guess she can''t talk that''s why she is using paper to communicate. Answering her question I replied "I need something to hide my identity.", I think I said it too bluntly. She would probably think I am doing something shady.

    She again wrote something and this time it read "What kind of shady activity are you performing kid?"

    I chuckled "No Grandma, I am not doing anything shady. I am just avoiding my cousins, that''s why I need to hide my identity."

    "I have something, that you would like." Was the thing that the old lady wrote this time in the paper.

    With that, she walked slowly inside the shop and bought a box full of things. My time was getting wasted here. But I don''t mind, since this old lady has a pretty warm personality.

    She picked out a thing that looked like a pair of sunglasses from the box. She handed me those sunglasses with a note that looked like it stated the use of the glasses.

    The words in the note were "A glasses that help cancel out any fabric material in its view.".

    Wait wait, Grandma what are you handing me!!! It states that I will be able to see people naked once I wear these sunglasses.

    I mean I can understand that these sunglasses will help me kind of cover my face. but, still what kind of pervert will buy this!!!

    She wrote something in her paper which stated "Since you are young, I thought it would help you."

    "No No, what kind of shady stuff are you selling me, grandma!!." To which she laughed it off.

    She handed me various things that were not really useful for hiding my identity. But later she picked out a small glass bottle that contained sapphire-colored liquid.

    With that little bottle, there was a note that stated "A liquid that can change the color of user eyers after using it."

    A liquid that can change the color of my eye!!! Yes, this is the thing I was looking for, it will be perfect to hide my identity.

    "Grandma I want this one." I said as I picked out the bottle of blue liquid "How much is it for?" I asked.

    She raised her hand showing off five fingers.

    "Fifty silver?" I asked. It was a fair prince, actually, it was a little bit cheap.

    She shook her head saying no.

    "Then, five hundred silver?" I asked. To which she again shook her head no.

    I was confused. She then wrote something on the paper and showed it to me.

    "Five silver." Were the words she wrote on the paper.

    "Huh?" I said out loud. Five silver is too cheap, she will go bankrupt if she sells things like this.

    I picked up the bottle as I said "Listen carefully grandma, you cant sell this thing for just 5 silver coins. I have never seen a thing like this before in the market, Most of your product is not available in the market. So, it would sell at a pretty high price. Five silver is just too little for a product like this."

    At first, she listened carefully to what I said then she again wrote something on the paper. "What a kind young man!" was the thing she wrote next on the paper.

    I bought the little bottle of sapphire liquid for fifty silver coins.

    Right before I was leaving the shop, she insisted on seeing my palm. Did she want to read my future or something?

    It was a pretty weird and interesting encounter with this shop.

    Now that I think about it, I have crossed this street a couple of times in the past. Was there always a shop like this at this place?

    I opened the door to leave the store after buying the things I needed.

    *See you next time.*

    "Huh?" I quickly turned around to face the source of the voice that seems to come from inside the shop.

    It was a telepathic voice that spoke directly inside my mind.

    Huh? There is no shop?

    The shop that I was inside just a few seconds ago, was not there behind me anymore. In the place of the shop was another run-down abandoned shop.

    The shop disappeared in thin air?

    Without paying further attention to the now disappeared shop, I rushed to the competition since I was getting late.

    I was able to make it in time, right before the speech of the mayor.

    I looked around to find my crew.

    {Author note: By his crew, he is talking Rai, Aetna, Ulrich, Annie, and Rudi.}

    "Grey, we are here!" called out Aetna from behind me.

    I turned around to look towards her.

    "Grey, why are you wearing sunglasses?"

    Yes, I ended up buying the sunglasses from the old woman...бн...

 Chapter 54 - 53: The Main Character Of This Story.

    On the balcony of the mansion stood Ms. Lozen, It was time for the sunset. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the fleeting color of dusk began to fade away.

    The view of the garden from the balcony was the same as ever.

    But in truth, it was just a sad reflection of what it used to be, it was not the garden it once used to be. The difference was there was no one to play in it.

    Ms. Lozen still misses the time where the garden was filled with the playful joy and laughter of Grey, Eira, and Emilia. So was the house, it was filled with joy and laughter from everyone in it.

    But after Alice''s death everything changed, nothing was the same as it used to be. Everyone walked away towards their own way.

    Eira was training under Ranulf for a while, later she went on her way to pursue more strength.

    Her ideal is to pursue absolute strength so that she can never let a war break out ever in the future.

    Ranulf was in grief for a while due to the loss of his wife and kid. later he decided to move out of the mansion and go back to his home country, The Frey nation. His whereabouts are unknown, no one knows where he is now and what he is up to.

    However, there was a truth that only Ms. Lozen knew, the truth about Grey being alive. But even after knowing the truth, she couldn''t find the whereabouts of Grey.

    Even after four years she still has no idea about Grey''s whereabouts or even the fact that he is alive or not.

    Standing on the balcony she gazed at the gate of the mansion, hoping that one day Grey would show up through those gates.

    As she was standing on the balcony, she felt a sudden presence near her that popped of nowhere. But she knew who it was.

    "What''s with the sudden visit?" asked Ms. Lozen.

    *I can''t even visit my old friend now.* answered the person who suddenly teleported into Ms. Lozen''s room.

    {Author note: By * it means that the person is conversing through telepathy.}

    "Friends? You forgot about me since you became queen of witches."

    *I was busy, okay. Since I am not the queen of witches anymore, I will be visiting you frequently.* said the old lady. The old lady''s name was Hilda, the same old woman that Grey met in the antique store.

    "What happened? Did they kick you out? Or they realized how much of a disappointment you were in the name of the queen." Said Ms. Lozen mockingly as she walked inside the room and sat in the chair.

    Following her, the old woman Hilda also sat in the chair.

    *Kick me? People consider me the greatest queen of witches, only next to demoness Ami. Anyways I came here to give you the news.*

    "News?"

    *Yes, news and an exciting one at that.*

    Ms. Lozen raised an eyebrow as if it had piqued her interest. Ms. Lozen waited for the old lady to open her mouth and reveal the surprise, but even after five seconds, the old lady was still quiet.

    "Stop with the suspense and tell me what it is."

    *At least, let me build up some suspense.* said that old lady which caused Ms. Lozen to shoot a death glare towards her.

    The old lady sighed as she said *Fineeee, I will tell you what it is. I found your grandson, I just met him today.*, said the old lady blatantly.

    "What?"

    * As I said, he is alive. I met him---*

    "He is alive." Said Ms. Lozen in a whispering voice. Her eyes welled with tears, her lips formed a smile.

    Looking at Ms. Lozen''s tears of joy, The old woman Hilda let out a sigh.

    *Here.* Said the old woman as she gathered violet-colored dark aura in her hand and shot it towards the mirror of the wardrobe.

    The ball of dark aura enveloped the mirror and started playing a particular picture

    It was a picture of a young boy entering a shop...

    He was a boy with straight pale white hair, one would compare his hair to snow. Along with his hair, his eyebrows and his long eyelashes also wore the same white pale color.

    His long eyelashes did a great job of enhancing the beauty of his intoxicating Purple-indigo eyes. The mole under his right eye also did a great job of amplifying his already attractive facial features.

    The boy in the picture was Grey.

    "Look it''s Grey!!!." Said Ms. Lozen as her voice broke.

    "He is alive!!."

    *I know.*

    "It''s my Grandson---- He is Grey!!."

    *Yes, He is your grandson.*

    "Look, Hilda, he is Alive!!." Said Ms. Lozen pointing towards the picture of Grey.

    *Yes, He is alive.*

    "He is alive, Hilda ...бн He is alive. I have been... I have been waiting for years, waiting for my grandson." The tears the welled up in Ms. Lozen''s eye started pouring out of her eyes.

    The old lady Hilda stood up from her chair she walked closer to crying, Ms. Lozen.

    *Yes your grandson is alive and he has grown into a handsome little man, you should be proud.* Said old lady Hilda as she patted Ms. Lozen''s head.

    "Yes, he has turned into a handsome young man." Chuckled Ms. Lozen. "I am so happy... My Grandson is alive, Hilda."

    Ms. Lozen kept repeating the same word over and over as her smile grew brighter and brighter.

    *Your Grandson is alive and he has grown into a healthy and strong boy. But there is something I need to tell you.*, Old lady Hilda''s expression became serious.

    Looking at the serious expression on lady Hilda''s face grew Ms. Lozen''s concern.

    *Even though your grandson has grown into a healthy and incredibly strong boy, I can''t say the same about his mental state.*

    The old lady Hilda sat back in her chair as she continued "Your Grandson -----Grey, he had suffered a lot. He had witnessed the horror of wars at a very young age and over that his mom dying in front of me only deteriorated his mental state further.

    To cope with the loss of his mom, the eight-year-old Grey desperately clung to his mom''s legacy, The legacy of Hero Alice.

    The eight-year-old Grey swore that he would be a hero, he would save everyone. That''s why he tried to save each and every one of the surviving villager''s kids. He tried to save them.

    But his reality further crashed, as he saw the kids die in front of him one after another, helplessly. Not being able to endure the pain caused by the instability of energy inside them. Some committed suicide while others begged Grey to kill them.

    He killed his own friends, with his own hands. He had no choice, he didn''t want them to commit suicide.

    Later he started questioning his ideals of being a hero when he discovered that the hobgoblins he killed to save humans had his family too. He started questioning whether it is necessary to destroy something to save something.

    But, you don''t need to worry. Since the things that''s had happened to him and the things that will happen to him will forge the person he is destined to be.*

    The old lady looked at Ms. Lozen with a sharp smile

    *After all he is a person that has a great significance to the story of this world........*

 Chapter 55 - 54: The First Opponent.

    54-1

    The town hall was moderately crowded with the people of Goldberg city who were waiting for the duke''s speech.

    The massive structure that was the town hall had the capacity to hold every Goldberg city''s citizen in case of any disaster. The majestic size of this town hall was one of the largest structures in Golberg city, so much so that it could be seen from any corner of the city.

    I was standing here with my crew waiting for the theme of the competition this year.

    "Why are your eyes blue?" curiously asked Rudi.

    "I replaced it with new ones since I got bored with the last ones."

    "But I liked your old eyes." Said Rudi with an innocent expression that looked like he believed what I said.

    Damn this guy really believed that I replaced my eyes with new ones. Is he that stupid or he just trusts me that much?

    "No idiot, I didn''t replace my eyes. I just changed the color of my eye, since I need to hide my identity." I said giving a gentle chop to his head.

    "Ooooo." He said as if he understood what I said.

    He probably doesn''t even know why I am hiding my identity. But Rudi being an idiot is not a bad thing after all.

    As I was talking with Rudi, someone from the crowd said "The duke is here.".

    I looked towards the stage to find a man getting up on the stage. He was a man tall handsome man who looked like he was in his mid-thirties.

    He had a well-built stature with brown hair and he had a light amount beard on his face. Now that I look at him, I can see where Agata gets her good looks from.

    "Greetings Ladies and gentlemen, I Otto Werner, The duke of the Goldberg City, thank you all for gathering here.

    As of now, the winter festival is around the corner, it''s been a full year since the last time I stood here giving a speech like this.

    As the duke of this city, I am grateful to each and every one of you for contributing to the prosperity of the Goldberg city. To celebrate the hard work of all the citizens, we hold a winter festival each year for everyone to relax and spend a happy time together as a family. A family we are as a city. ---"

    His speech went on for a while about the winter festival and the various achievement of the city over the last year. After five minutes more of the speech, he got on to the topic I was patiently waiting for.

    "As we are done talking about the winter festival, we will talk about the thing that every youngster is waiting for. We will talk about the main attraction of the winter festival ------------The Moon Glitter competition.

    The competition that will be held this year will be --------- One on one duel tournament. But each participant will be assigned a team, it will be a team of five. The team competing against each other will send one fighter at a time to the arena, the team with the least win will be eliminated and the team with the most wins will proceed further in the tournament.

    The information about all the teams and the teams that are matched up against each other will be pinned by the staff on the notice board.

    There is one more piece of news that I am excited to inform you guys about...

    Along with the usual prize of choosing an S rank item from the moon glitter shop, this year there will be an additional prize.

    The current headmaster of the Heka-Maho magic academy is my old friend. He gave me an offer that I couldn''t decline. The offer is that the winner of this year''s competition will get an opportunity to get admitted in the Heka-Maho magical academy."

    The following announcement made the crowd burst into cheers.

    "Heka-Maho?" asked a little boy to his dad.

    "It''s a prestigious magic academy that has given birth to the strongest warrior and mage throughout history." Answered the dad.

    It is true, Heka-Maho academy is one of the most prestigious magic academia. Even the summoned ones attend this magic academy to complete their studies.

    {Author note: Grey is talking about the summoned heroes from another world. He calls them summoned ones instead of summoned heroes due to his own reasoning.}

    This academy is famous for producing strong mages and warriors.

    54-2

    The information about the tournament was finally pinned on the notice board. But without checking it first, I waited for the crowd to disperse in front of the board. I can even wait an hour rather than standing in that suffocating crowd.

    But well, I didn''t have to wait an hour since the crown got smaller after waiting 10 min.

    I entered the now small crowd to check the team I was assigned to. I scanned through the list of names to check which team I was assigned to.

    "There is my name," said Ulrich in a muffled voice, well I have never seen him talk in loud voice. He talks in a voice that is barely audible, but yet it''s somehow not inaudible.

    "Grey, I am alone." Said Rudi with a depressed look.

    "Aren''t we all alone in life?"

    "That''s not what I mean!!! I am alone in the team with a bunch of strangers."

    "Oh no!!, anyways." Without paying further heed to him, I started scanning through the list to find my name.

    After searching through the whole list, I finally found my name. I was in the last team, the team no 16.

    In my team there wasбк

    "Oh Rai, we are on the same team," I said out loud after reading her name on my team.

    Besides her, there was also Agata and idiot A on my team. There was also---

    Eh?

    The name of the fifth member of my team made my face twist into various expressions.

    Lora Ormr----- Ormr? that means she is my cousin that will be participating in the competition.

    It was the worst scenario possible......

    Being in the same team means the risk of her finding out my real identity increasing significantly.

    is she the only Ormr participating this time?

    I looked through the list of names to find any other Ormr, there I found one more Ormr participating.

    Otis Ormr----- He was in Rin''s team along with Lily and Idiot B.

    "Apparently, your friend will be our first opponent." Said Rai as she was looking at another paper that had information about all the team match up.

    "My friend?" I asked as I stood beside her to look at the names of the team we will be fighting against first.

    I realised who she was refering to as my friend when I read Frank''s name among the team we will be fighting against.

    The team I will be fighting against first had some interesting names.

    My first match up of the tournament is against:

    Team 15:

    1)Killian Dirksen.

    2)Jakob Werner.

    3)Frank Horns.

    4)Willi Braun

    5)Melvin Wolfe

 Chapter 56 - 55: Be My Man.

    The tournament was underway, my team is scheduled to fight the last match of today.

    The tournament will span up to three days, among sixteen participating teams the eight winning teams will qualify further to fight on the second day in the quarter-finals, and on the same day also semi-finals will be held.

    The final match will be held among the two teams that have beaten every other team and proceeded to the finals, the finals will be held on the third day.

    Since my team is scheduled for the last fight, I will have to wait until evening for my match. I was sitting in the waiting room that was assigned to each individual team.

    At that moment I heard a sudden loud roar coming from the arena, it was the sound of the crowd bursting into cheers.

    Damn, the crowd is going wild.

    Did they witness something incredible or did some important person show up?

    {Author: He was right, some important person did show up. Those important people are his cousins. The crowd went nuts on the arrival of the prince and princess of their nation.}

    "Aren''t they going wild?" Said Rai.

    "No Shit."

    "Are the crowd cheering for your cousins?"

    "Might be the case."

    Rai, Rudi, Aetna, Annie, and Ulrich know everything about my identity. Since they were there when the attack in the Amon village happened, they have witnessed it and they have been with me.

    I have no need to hide my identity from them. Right now we all are doing our best to save Annie, that is the main reason we are taking part in this competition.

    "Once we are done with saving Annie. What will you do?" asked Rai out of nowhere.

    Answering her sudden question I opened my mouth to say "I will leave Goldberg and go back to my home. Of course, I will take Rudi and Annie with me since Annie is just a kid and Rudi is straight-up stupid."

    "What about Ulrich and Aetna?" she asked.

    "I and Aetna are bound by contract so leaving her alone are out of the question and Ulrich is mature enough to make his own decision. So I will leave it up to him about what he wants to do next."

    "Oh."

    This time I asked the question, "What about you?" I asked.

    "About me? I have a thing I need to find so I will go look for it," she replied.

    "I hope you find the thing you are looking for!" I said, shooting a gentle smile at her.

    For some reason, Rai''s expression changed into a sadder one as I said that.

    I know nothing about Rai''s past, she never talked about her past since the time I found her injured in the forest.

    But I never ask her anything about her past, since it looks like she doesn''t want to talk about it.

    "Sorry for making you guys wait." Said the person who just entered the room with an elegant slight bow. She was Agata Werner.

    Later we were joined by Idiot A, the fourth member of our team.

    {Author: The real name of Idiot A is not Idiot A and the same goes with Idiot B, that''s something Grey calls them. The actual real name of Idiot A and Idiot B is ------------------- that''s a secret :P}

    Four out of five members of our team were gathered in this room, now the only member that was yet to show herself was Lora Ormr, the princess.

    Both Agata and idiot A asked me about the change of my eye color, I lied saying that I wanted to change the way I look.

    After waiting for some time, I heard a couple of footsteps approaching our room. it was three heavy footsteps and one light footstep.

    As footsteps approached closer, the girl arrived in the room. The girl held an exceptionally majestic aura that could put anyone in speechless awe, her silky golden blond hair must have been one of the reasons for her majestic aura.

    Her fair complexion and delicate slender frame gave her a fragile look, so much so that a person can''t help but feel the urge to protect her pure delicate body.

    Her long eyelashes accompanied by her purple-indigo gentle eyes had a calming look to them. Unlike my eyes which are said to have an intoxicating look, her eyes held a gentle calm feel to them.

    So this is the princess and my cousin, her looks definitely live up to the image of a princess. She was followed by three of her royal guards.

    "It''s a pleasure you again, your royal highness." Said Agata with a slight welcoming bow.

    "No need for formalities since we are childhood friends." Said Lora grabbing Agata''s hand.

    Their demeanor towards each other really gave the childhood friend vibe.

    "I have waited for your arrival with great anticipation, I hope there wasn''t any difficulty in your journey." Asked Agata holding both of Lora''s hands.

    "It was my pleasure to finally get the chance to meet my old friend, and there wasn''t much difficulty in my journey."

    Ah, I might go blind today by the elegance these two girls are radiating.

    I, Rai, and Idiot A stood there without introducing ourselves since we didn''t want to interrupt the get-together of these two old friends.

    Lora looked at us and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but before she could say anything she was interrupted by Idiot A,

    "Forgive my inconsiderate behavior of not introducing myself----" said Idiot A and later he went on to introduce himself to Lora.

    Later Rai opened her mouth to introduce herself saying: "My name is Rai, looking forward to working with you as a team."

    The way Rai directly introduced herself without any fancy talk with Lora is what I like about her.

    It was my turn to introduce myselfбн

    To not catch her attention, I need to act like how everyone treats her and not stand out.

    By bowing my head slightly I introduced myself "My name is Grey and it''s my pleasure to make acquaintance with your majesty."

    That was the best fancy talk I could do.

    As I raised my head to look at Lora after introducing myself, I found her gazing intently at me.

    She walked closer to me without breaking the gaze, "I adore your eyes." said Lora out of nowhere.

    She continued "No, Adore might not be the right word. I might have developed a deep affection for your eyes. I feel like I might get lost in your intoxicating eyes."

    Huh? What is this girl talking about? More than that, how can she see my real eyes?

    She got more closer to my face as if she was examining my face "Just like your eyes, even your face is charming."

    Huh?????? Seriously what''s with this girl??

    She closed her eyes and folded her hands together as if she was in deep thought. Then after a few seconds, she broke the silence by grabbing both of my hands and saying:

    "I have made my decision -------------- Be my man."

    Eh?

 Chapter 57 - 56: Brother Vs Sister.

    56-1

    "I have made my decision -------------- Be my man."

    "Pardon?" I asked, confused.

    "HUH???!!!!!!!!!" exclaimed Idiot A and it was a natural reaction.

    Following his reaction, Agata was blank by the sudden turn of events "Wha- what Are you talking about Lora?"

    And Rai''s face looked like her soul left her body.

    Lora held my hand even tighter "I want you to be mine. If you accept my proposal, I will take care of you and you wouldn''t have to worry about even a single penny rest of your life. I will try my best to make you happy and after getting married-----"

    With a shy expression she struggled to say the following sentence "After getting married, we can even ma-make ba-b-babies.".

    It''s a tempting offer, I would have even agreed to it under some other circumstances. But, I would have to deny it with a heavy heart.

    The only problem is---------THE OFFER IS TOO TEMPTING!!!

    "Your majest----" Before I could finish my sentence I was interrupted and I am glad I was interrupted.

    "Forgive my interruption, but it looks like it''s your majesties team''s turn to fight next." Said the fourth royal guard who just entered the room.

    I felt relieved by the sudden distraction caused by the royal guard.

    She turned towards me saying "Please consider my proposal!!"

    I could consider her proposal if not for the fact that I and her are actually cousins. The complicated part is not her being my cousin, the complicated part is we are both tied to royalty.

    56-2:

    (Third person perspective)

    It was the last fight of the day and yet the arena was jam-packed with people in it.

    Every single occupant of the arena patiently waited to watch the princess of their nation in action.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen!! After the fabulous display of power by the youth and the prince of our nation, Now it''s time for the last match of the day!!!!."

    With that announcement of the commentator, the crowd erupted into a loud cheer.

    "Now introducing our first Team, The pride of Goldberg city!!!! Team number 15!!!"

    He had to refer to them as the pride of the city since he was told to sell the image of these five boys by higher-ups.

    They all belonged to the powerful family and their family already had somewhat power over the city, of course, their power was nothing in front of the power that the Werner family held over the city.

    Emerging out of the hallway, the five boys walked into the arena. The crowd cheered them despite their notorious image, only because they belonged to the Goldberg city.

    It was simple logic of supporting your home team even if they had a bad image. Being from the five powerful families of the Goldberg city made the crowd feel that these five boys'' teams represented the Goldberg city itself.

    "Now introducing our next team, the princess of our nation and the princess of our city!!! Team number 16!!"

    The commentator didn''t even bother to introduce Grey, Rai, and Idiot A since they didn''t belong to any powerful family.

    Walking down the hallway, Grey and his team entered the Arena. This time the crowd burst into even loud cheer.

    The whole Arena roared wild into the sight of their princess.

    As per the rule of the competition each team was said to send a written name of a team member that will be participating in the first round.

    And the first member that will be participating in the first round was----

    "The person that will be fighting first round from team number fifteen will be the son of the Werner family, Jakob Werner!!!!"

    The first member chosen to fight first from Team number fifteen was Jakob Werner.

    "The person that will be fighting first round from team number sixteen will be the daughter of the Wener family, Agata Werner!!! Turning it into a fight between brother and sister."

    After the commentator''s announcement both of them walked into the arena.

    "Sister, I wanted to fight that Trash, not you. Will you step back and let that bastard in?" asked Jakob politely.

    "I can''t do that, little brother. Your opponent is me and I would like you to refrain yourself from calling him trash or any other name." Answered Agata in a calm demeanor.

    "Are you taking his side?"

    "Yes, since he is my team member and also my dear friend."

    The unexpected reply from her big sister blew Jakob''s fuse, the fact that his own sister supported a stranger over him pissed off even further.

    Jakob sighed to calm his anger as he took a ready stance saying:

    "Don''t regret this later, sister."

    Even with his bad image, he doesn''t dare to bad-mouth his sister. The only person that was ever able to control Jakob was his big sister, Agata Werner.

    Agata Werner had a side to her that many people didn''t know about, the side that Jakob feared.

    In terms of power, no one knows about the power level of Agata, Even Jakob doesn''t know about the power level of Agata since they never fought with each other. This fight will be their first time going toe to toe against each other.

    The killing was strictly prohibited in this competition and the referee is only allowed to call off the match once he thinks that one party has won the match.

    Players can also object referee''s decision if they think that the referee''s decision is an unfair one. In such cases, the decision will be reevaluated by the higher-ups.

    Unsealthing his duel-wielding dagger he got into a crouching position with his front knee over and both hands on the surface of the ground, this weird stance looked exactly like the stance a runner would take before his race.

    Holding her sword with both hands, Agata took a defensive stance waiting for the referee to start the match.

    The match will start once the referee drops the coin, the sound of the coin hitting the ground signifies the start of the match. It''s an unwritten rule among the spectator to keep dead silence when the coin is dropped.

    The coin was tossed in the air by the referee, after reaching a certain point in the air the coin started to travel back to the earth at terminal velocity.

    Clink!

    With the sound of coin crashing into earth, the match was underway.

 Chapter 58 - 57: Brother Vs Sister (2)

    Clink!

    With the sound of coin crashing into earth, the match was underway.

    Boom!

    A sudden sound of the explosion was heard in the arena, It was the sound of Jakob creating an air explosion under his feet to launch himself towards Agata.

    This magic was known as wind blast, a magic that can create an Air explosion. It is basic level air magic.

    In this case, Jakob used wind blast magic to launch himself, even though it''s a basic level spell it still needs a lot of practice to launch yourself with that spell.

    In the mid-air, Jakob readied both of his daggers in a cross position intending to attack Agata with them.

    Boom!

    Another sound of the explosion was heard and this time it was coming from Agata. She was in mid-air dodging the incoming attack from Jakob.

    She launched herself in mid-air also using an air blast spell to dodge the incoming attack from Jakob. The dust that was caused by the explosion blinded Jakob, limiting his vision.

    But without finishing his blinded brother off, Agata spoke up, "Jakob calm down and focus on the match. The move of launching yourself was good, but it wasn''t fast enough to catch me off guard." said Agata as she landed on the ground.

    Agata waited for Jakob to regain back his vision.

    "Take me seriously, damn it!!" Jakob was blinded by the rage with the fact that his sister didn''t finish him off when she had the chance to do so, rather she waited for him to regain his senses back.

    It made Jakob feel like Agata wasn''t taking him seriously.

    It was true, even though Agata didn''t mean it like that, but she was subconsciously was trying to not get overboard with his brother.

    "I didn''t mean to insult you-" Before she could finish the sentence, she was interrupted by her brother.

    "Shut up!!" Shouted Jakob as another sound of an explosion was heard.

    He launched himself towards Agata using Air Blast.

    To not insult him any further by not taking him seriously, Agata decided to go all out on her brother.

    She raised her sword and swung it in the empty air.

    This sudden move by Agata confused the Audience, But Grey instantly knew what she was trying to do.

    "Wind Blade," Grey said out loud. Wind blade is an invisible air blade, it''s a tricky move to counter since you don''t know where the attack is coming from.

    The Jakob who launched himself towards Agata again crossed his dual dagger to attack Agata.

    "Argh!!" groaned Jakob as he felt crushing pain.

    This pain was caused by a sudden pressure of invisible force hitting its body. With the sudden impact to his chest, he went crashing onto the ground.

    This was the cause of the wind blade of Agata, an invisible blade.

    As the dust settled the audience was met with the sight of collapsed Jakob and on the other side, Agata was standing unscathed.

    It took a second for the audience to process the outcome of the match and nearly no one in the audience knew the reason for Jakob''s defeat.

    According to their perspective, Agata only did the motion of slashing her sword in empty air, and in the next moment, Jakob collapsed to the ground. The unknown nature of the fight''s outcome terrified the audience.

    "What?!!!!!! Jakob is collapsed on the ground!! We don''t know what happened but it looks like the winner of the first round is------- Agata Werner!!!!!!" Announced the commentator.

    Agata ran up to his brother to check if he was okay and so did the healers who were on standby in case of any emergency.

    He didn''t suffer any injury, he just fainted from the sudden trauma to his chest. Later both brother and sister cleared the ring for the next fight.

    "After the amazing and unexpected results of the first match, we will proceed to the next match. According to the rule of the competition, the team that lost round will have to send their participant first and the winning team can decide the member they want to send later."

    The commentator continued "So now, which member you will send team number 15?"

    The member team number decided to send was Killian Dirksen.

    Killian walked into the ring proudly, as he stood in the middle of the rin shooting a fierce look towards Grey.

    Standing in the middle of the ring Killian opened his mouth, "Before team number 16 could decide which member they want to send, I want to make a quick statement." Said Killian Loudly.

    "I Killian Dirksen challenge Grey to come to fight me in this ring."

    Nearly no one knew who Grey was and to answer the confused look on their face Killian opened his mouth "Grey is just a random nobody who dared to cross me, so today I will set an example out of him in this ring."

    "I feel bad for that poor boy. Killian is considered the strong among his age in the city of Goldberg there is no way that a nobody boy can win." Said one of the healers on standby,

    "I don''t feel bad for the boy, since it''s his mistake to cross Killian. The boy should have known his place from the beginning. Anyways we would have to heal that poor anyways." replied his fellow compatriot healer.

    "It''s best for him to not accept the challenge of this duel and send princess Lora in her place since she has the best chance of winning."

    The whole stadium waited for Grey''s reply to the challenge for the duel.

    Grey turned to look at his team as he asked "May I accept this challenge?"

    Grey wanted to ask the permission of his team since this was a team game.

    "No!!!!" replied Idiot A, "Do you understand the meaning of duel, anything is allowed in the duel even killing. Don''t Go!!, I will go and fight him in your place."

    The reply of Idiot A took Grey by surprise, A gentle smile formed around Grey''s lips as he said "You are my friend, but don''t worry I will win."

    At this moment, Grey considered Idiot A his friend since even Idiot A knew that he had no chance against Killian and yet he was ready to fight in the place of Grey.

    "You better win!!" said Idiot B.

    Grey looked at the princess, she replied with "Just don''t get injured and I will stop the fight if anything goes bad."

    Grey finally looked at Rai as if he was asking her opinion, she opened her mouth to say "That guy challenged you in a duel, invitation of duel means fighting to the death. So I want only one outcome of this fight, Grey, Don''t show mercy to him and------------Kill him. Since he dared to challenge you to a duel, I don''t care in what brutal way you kill him, just --------Kill him"

    The cold eyes of Rai pierced through Grey''s soul. She meant it when she said Grey to kill Killian.

    "Planning to do so," replied Grey as he walked into the ring.

 Chapter 59 - 58: Grey Vs Killian (1)

    Grey handed his white scarf to Rai, "Take care of this, I don''t want to get it dirty."

    Walking down the arena Grey spoke up "I accept the duel.", making the whole arena burst into cheers.

    The opinion of the people was along this line:

    "What an insane kid, I thought he wouldn''t accept the duel."

    "Now I kind of want to see this kid win."

    "I can''t help but root for this guy to win."

    "There is no way a no name will be able to beat the son of the Dirksen family."

    "Dirksen is a family of warriors, they are trained right from their childhood. There is no way that guy named Grey is winning."

    The whole arena was divided into two, people who were supporting Grey and people who were supporting Killian.

    It''s in the nature of human''s they can''t help but support the underdog, everyone wants to see the underdog win.

    "I don''t know that if you are aware, but I will let you know since I am not bad of a person after all. An invitation for a duel is a fight to the death, I am sure you didn''t know about it." ridiculed Killian.

    "So?" asked Grey as if he already knew the meaning of the duel.

    "Are you stupid? I am giving a chance to run away."

    "Why would I run away? you were the one that proposed the duel and I am standing here to accept it. Wait! are you regretting your decision now?" asked Grey as he shot a ridiculing sneer at Killian.

    "You little shit!!" Killian''s veins popped out with anger.

    "So now we will begin the match!!! referee, toss the coin!!!."

    With the announcement of the commentator, the referee tossed the coin. But before it could land on the ground, it was caught.

    Before landing on the ground the coin was caught by the person who arrived at the arena. Well, arrive wouldn''t be the right word since Grey and Killian didn''t really know where that person popped out from.

    "Isn''t that John Dirksen?!!!" shouted one of the spectators.

    Yes, the large muscular man who caught the coin was John Dirksen.

    "Do you wish to say something, sir?" asked the Referee. Due to the large muscular body of John Dirksen, any normal human can''t help but feel puny in front of him.

    The referee felt the same feeling of being puny in front of John Dirksen.

    "I want to be Referee," answered John.

    "But sir it would be unfair, for you to be Referee since you are Killian''s father."

    "Don''t worry. I will be fair," answered John with a smile that extended from ear to ear.

    "But sir-"

    "Let him be the referee, he is the head of the Dirksen family. A family is known for their warrior spirit, there wouldn''t a man better than him to be the referee," said Grey interrupting the referee.

    Bursting into loud laughter John spoke, "I like you kid.".

    John''s facial expression turned serious as he spoke the next words "I am sure you kids are aware, but I will state it again. In Duel, everything is allowed even killing someone, so I want to make sure that you both are ready to fight till the death."

    "I am ready" answered Grey.

    Before Killian could answer John spoke up, "Killian know this, I won''t move a finger even if you die in that ring. Do you still want to fight the duel?"

    "Dad, I won''t die. At least not in the hands of this bastard."

    "Son, It''s good that you do not fear your enemy but you should always respect your enemies. A man is respectable only as they respect."

    But it looked like that without taking his father''s word to heart the son choose to ignore it. John sighed on the foolishness of his son as he said:

    "Well then if you both have agreed to this duel, then this duel is official. Take your stance, before I toss the coin."

    Grey stood with feet being shoulder-width apart from each other, leading foot slightly forward, same as the hand he was holding his one-handed sword with. He was relaxed and ''Springy'' on the balls of his feet with his knees slightly bent.

    This stance allowed Grey to keep his center of Gravity low and central so that he could react faster to any movement.

    Jakob tightened his gauntlet as he took an offensive stance, his metal gauntlet has spiked in the place of knuckles and it extended till his elbow so that he can block off sword attacks relatively easily.

    "Here I go," said John, tossing the coin.

    With a calm stance, Grey closed his eyes and waited for the sound of coin crashing to the ground.

    The coin rotated in mid-air as the whole arena was dead silent waiting for the coin to drop.

    Clink!

    Unlike the previous match, there wasn''t any sudden moveent instead there was a calm carefulness between both of the competitor as they approached each other.

    Being three feet apart from each other, Killian made the first move. Covering his body with a Left-hand gauntlet that is extended till his elbow like a handguard, to block off any incoming attack from the left. He threw a punch aiming at the leftmost side of Grey''s rib cage.

    With a single verticle slash, Grey swung his sword aiming at the defenseless gap he had spotted, that gap being Killian''s right shoulder.

    Seeing the flash of mental coming at with high speed, Killian didn''t further his attack rather he choose to dodge the incoming attack from Grey.

    Killian tried to approach with furthermore different combination of attacks, but each time he couldn''t execute it.

    This simple-looking stance of Grey had nearly no flaws in it, prooving it hard for Killian to break it. Being pushed around the corner, Killian decided to use external force to break Grey''s stance. The external force is magic.

    {Author note: Single quotation mark means that it''s character''s current thought}

    ''Bastard! is he purposely luring me in? Well if I can''t break his stance with my fist then I will use magic. With ground magic, I can shake his footing''

    With that thought, Killian took distance from Grey and readied himself to cast the magic.. To perform ground magic a person needs to synchronize his mana signature with that of the ground.

 Chapter 60 - 59: Grey Vs Killian (2)

    This synchronization process usually involves touching the ground with both hands, but with some practice and experience, a person can use earth manipulation magic with any kind of physical contact.

    During the fight, Grey wasn''t going on the offensive and Killian tried to take advantage of this by sneakily performing a mana synchronization with the ground through his legs. It was an excellent move and judgment that could take any opponent off guard.

    ''Being good at defense doesn''t mean shit, once I break your stance its game over. I will beat you to-''

    "Using earth magic, not a bad plan. But ----" said out loud Grey, with a tremendous speed Grey dashed in front of Killian.

    "---Like I will let you do it," said Grey standing close to Killian. Due to mana synchronization, his body couldn''t react in time, and also the fact that Grey out of nowhere dashed in front of him, caught him off guard.

    "What -Argh!" with the kick to the abdomen Killian was sent flying for a second before crashing to the ground.

    Killian was frustrated at the fact that Grey was able to see through his plan like an open book. He was started to feel helpless.

    Down to the ground, Killian''s eyes were met with Grey''s Gaze as he looked down on Killian with a mixed expression of ridicule, disgust, and pity.

    ''Hey!! don''t look at me like that!! Don''t look at me like that, Damn it!!! Don''t look at me with that look like you are looking at an inferior creature that you can finish off any time. Don''t look at me with those eyes!!!''

    Raw anger clouded over Killian''s every other sense, this sole emotion of rage took over his rational judgment.

    {Author: Grey loves to psychologically toy with his opponent, it is a sadistic quirk that Grey has. Along with physical advantage, there is also a thing as a psychological advantage, With enough psychological pressure, a person tends to make more mistakes than usual.}

    Blinded with a sudden outburst of anger, Killian charged at Grey with straightforward movement. Upon reaching a certain distance Killian swung his hand in an upward motion aiming at Grey''s chin.

    "Ouch!" Groaned as the blow connected to Grey''s chin.

    Following the uppercut, Killian proceeded with a series of blows aiming at Grey with each blow connecting to Grey''s body, boasting Killian''s confidence.

    The helplessness he had felt before disappeared as if it was never there before in the first place, that helpless feeling of Killian was changed with the one that held tremendous pride.

    But little did he know that Grey was just playing his part as a punching bag. The logic was simple, to not stand out throughout the match by taking a few hits.

    "I thought you were good for a second, but you were just a disappointment." ridiculed Killian.

    "You this so?" asked Grey as he dusted his shoulder off.

    "You are awfully cocky for a person who just got beaten like shit."

    "Beaten like shit? don''t joke with me, you hit like a girl."

    "You little ---"

    Splash!

    Killian was soaked wet with the incoming water ball magic that was thrown at him by Grey.

    "Don''t be so mad, I threw this water ball at you so you could ---"

    Killian knew exactly what Grey''s next word would be, "Don''t you say it!" threatened Killian.

    "---So you could chill out ;P"

    "You bastard!!!!" shouted Killian as he darted towards Grey.

    The simple set of movements by Killian was an easy task to dodge, Grey just moved out of his way and tripped Killian with his foot.

    John Dirksen stood by as a referee closely observing every move made by both of the participants.

    ''My son seems to do fairly well against this boy, landing a few good hits at him. But then why? what is this feeling? Even after getting hit, the boy is awfully calm. It''s like the whole match is under his control. I hope I am just imagining things, cause there is no warrior more terrifying than the one that can maintain calm in any situation.''

    With that thought John tightened his fist, hoping the best for his son.

    Falling face-first to the ground, Down to the ground, Killian''s eyes were again met with Grey''s Gaze as he looked down on Killian.

    "I said, don''t look at me with those eyes!!!! What do you think you are? how dare you look at me like that. I am Killian Dirksen, I belong to the Dirksen family of warriors, I am a warrior. You are beneath me, don''t ever try to think of yourself above me, you low-life dirty commoner was born to be beneath me!!!"

    "Funny coming from a guy who is ass flat on the ground."

    "You think you are funny? Do you think you are funny?!!! It will be really funny once I send my men to ruin your life. I will target everyone you love. I already know some of the people that are close to you, what was the girl''s name? Yes, Annie!!"

    Upon looking at the slight change in Grey''s expression upon hearing Annie''s name, Killian thought it was a weakness that he could exploit.

    "Yes the same Annie, isn''t she important to you? How would you like it, when I kidnap her and sell her off to a pervert rich man who is interested in young girls. I am sure he would use her body to the fullest."

    Upon hearing the threatening words that were spoken out of Killian''s mouth, Grey didn''t react much.

    He turned his face to calmy look at John Dirksen, yes, John Dirksen. Grey looked John dead in the eyes, Grey wanted to convey the bloodthirst he was feeling right now to John.

    It wasn''t a threatening gaze, It was a gaze that simply made sure that John had heard everything that came out of his son''s mouth.

    "Look at me, when I am talking to you. You --Gwak!"

    With a sudden strike with the foot to his face, came a rush of confusion and dizziness, Killian found the world around him rotating on its own.

    "From this moment, only words you will speak is one I will allow you to,"

 Chapter 61 - 60: Grey Vs Killian(3)

    {Author: It''s a cruel chapter, so I advise my reader to prepare their heart before reading it.}

    "Look at me, when I am talking to you. You --Gwak!"

    With a sudden strike with the foot to his face, came a rush of confusion and dizziness, Killian found the world around him rotating on its own.

    "From this moment, only words you will speak is one I will allow you to,"

    Recovering from the sudden confusion, pointing his finger towards Grey, Killian spoke,

    "I just need to move my finger, to get that girl Annie kidnaped---"

    Snap!!

    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Killian as a shattering bain trashed at Killian''s brain, "MY HAND!! MY HAND!!!" yelped Killian as his arm bone known as humerus was shattered into two, his hand dangled from his arm like an oscillating pendulum.

    "Didn''t I warn you? that you are only allowed to speak the words that I will allow you to speak?"

    Without hearing a word that Grey said, Killian struggled on the ground with agony. Rather than not hearing what Grey said, all his other senses were blocked off from the sheer amount of pain that was transmitting to his brain.

    Every part of his body was dominated by a single emotion, pain!.

    Holding his hand he cried "My hand! my hand! my hand!"

    After a minute, recovering from agony Killian got a better grasp of his situation. But this awareness of reality was again overwhelmed by his immense pride. He dispised Grey for putting him in a situation like this.

    Shooting a vengeful look at Grey, Killian opened his mouth "You! you! you! you! How dare you!? How dare you do a thing like this to me? I am a member of the Dirksen family, do you have any idea how powerful we are? My father will squish for doing a thing like this to me!!! after this match, I will gather all my men and find that girl to rap--- Gwak!!"

    Grey buried his face on the ground by stomping it with his leg.

    The words that were spoken by Killian were far from true. John Dirksen, the father of Killian will never do a thing such as exact revenge against a kid and in this scenario, there was nothing to hold a grudge out of. John was an honorable man who would never do a petty thing such as this.

    In this case, the word that was spoken out of Killian''s mouth disgusted John. He regretted not paying more attention to Killian as he grew up. But John was a great father since he had raised two fine sons before Killian, those sons being Killian''s two older brothers. He had regretted that Killian had turned out like this, unlike his two older brothers.

    Grey''s hands reached down and grabbed Killian by his collar.

    "You-- Gwa!!"

    Before Killian could speak any words Grey drove his fist into Killian''s face.

    "How dare you hit-- Gwa!!"

    Not letting complete his sentence, Grey drove another fist into Killian''s face.

    "Don''t--- Awk!!"

    Grey cluttered his fist into his nose, the dizziness of being hit on the nose blurred his vision.

    But Grey didn''t stop, He continued to rain down fists one after another on Killian''s face. With each punch blood clotted on his face forming bruises of various sizes and colors.

    Grey didn''t use the venom factor to increase his strength, the strength he was raining down his punches was his normal strength.

    With each punch, more bruises swelled upon his face. The non-stop punishment of punches that Killian''s face was facing on the hands of Grey resulted in the various obscene cut''s on his face.

    The sound of Grey hitting his face changed into a sound of "Splat" as more blood spewed out of the cuts that had formed all around his face. With each punch, Grey''s hand got covered with more blood as Killian''s face got more and more bloody.

    A punch that split his lips.

    A fist that broke his nose.

    A blow that split open his eyebrows.

    Another blow that punctured the insides of the mouth.

    The following punch shattered his teeth as it flew away from his mouth.

    One after another Grey kept driving his fist into Killian''s face.

    Grey knew the thing he was doing now was a thing far from what a hero would do. But, he didn''t care about it at all, he was simply furious from the words he had spoken about Annie. Grey would never become a hero at the cost of someone he loves.

    If it comes to it, he will gladly be the source of all evil if it were for the people he loved. Grey was not kind enough that he would let someone walk away who showed vulgar ill intention against people he love.

    Grey does aim to become a hero, but the hero is all he wanted to be he doesn''t plan on becoming a saint. If a person deserves it, he wouldn''t think for a second before killing them off.

    He had been doing it for a while, like the time he had killed Hobgoblin.

    Tears fell down Killian''s eye, as he cried and begged, His voice twitched as he begged "Don''t kill me, Please don''t kill me, I beg you.".

    With a broken voice cried, Killian. Without paying heed to Killian begging, Grey drove his fist into Killian''s jaw, dislocating it.

    With his jaw being dislocated he was unable to talk, but his tears still fell down as he begged for mercy.

    "Dear!! stop him!! our son will die!!" Called out Killian''s mom to her husband John, "Please dear!! stop him!!".

    But without reacting to what her wife has said, John stood as a referee and watched his son getting beaten to death as he clenched his fist.

    "No!! I can''t do that, our son got into this on his own knowing the risk. Our son said things that shouldn''t have been said, he brought this upon himself."

    The only thing John was expecting now was Killian to die quickly, he didn''t want his son to suffer anymore.

    Grey didn''t stop with his one-sided beat down and with each punch, Killian''s consciousness was fading away, his breath was getting lighter.

    "Grey!!!! please don''t kill my son!! I beg you! please leave my son alive, I promise I would discipline this time properly. I should have disciplined him when he was assaulting all the innocent people to near death. I should have disciplined him when he was doing all the wrongdoing!! But give him one more chance, please I beg you!! I will discipline him I promise."

    Killian''s mom was regretting every time she let him get away with all his wrongdoing. Times when he beat an old man to near-death, she thought paying the old man money will shut his mouth up. But now she regretted everything, she begged for one more chance at parenting.

    "Please, don''t kill my son!! I will be a better mom this time!" she begged.

    This plea from the mother finally made Grey stop, he stopped his assault on Killian.

 Chapter 62 - 61: Squishy Mess.

    61-1

    I drove my fist into Killian one after another, with each blow his face became more of a mess.

    My hands were covered with his blood, I could hear the wet and sticky sound of blood as I punched his face each time.

    At first, he begged for me to stop, but now he was barely able to breathe.

    He stopped talking from the movement I punched his jaw, Did I break his jaw?

    Talking about breaking his jaw, I did break his nose. Just look at the mess squishy mess his nose is.

    Talking about squishy mess, His whole face is messed up. How did it get so bad? I just punched him a few times.

    I just started punching him, yet he cried and begged me to stop. If you were going to make face like that then you shouldn''t have threatened me with kidnapping Annie in the first place.

    If you feared death so much then don''t hold so much pride in yourself, if you feared death so much then you should have minded your business.

    Don''t ever threaten my people, if you had feared death so much. People like you take the life of people that are dear to others, like those bastards that attacked the village that day...

    "Please, don''t kill my son!! I will be a better mom this time!"

    Huh? is it his mom?

    I stopped with my punch and looked up towards the source of the voice, Seated in the audience was a woman.

    It''s his mother.

    She is crying...

    I took a deep breath as I stood up and walked out of the ring. The whole audience was awfully quiet, well I don''t blame them since they have witnessed quite a bloody match.

    As I walked towards Rai, she handed me a clean piece of white cloth, "Here wipe the blood off your hand." she said.

    Taking the white cloth I wiped the blood, the cloth that was originally white was now stained red.

    "You didn''t kill him," said Rai.

    "I couldn''t since her mom looked at me like that."

    "You are soft," she said.

    "What? I messed him up inside that ring, a normal person would get chills looking at the way I assaulted him in that ring."

    I wonder what Rai would have done to Killian if she is calling what I did to Killian "soft". I might have made friend''s with a psychopath.

    I looked at Lora as I said "Your highness, I apologize I made you see an ugly side of me."

    "No, not at all. It was rather a natural reaction for someone to get angry if someone they loved were threatened in front of them," said Lora.

    apparently, she had something more to say, "That Girl, Annie. You do not love that girl romantically, right?" asked Lora.

    That''s what her concern is right now? this princess might be more of a psychopath than Rai.

    I just came out of the ring, BLOODY! but that''s the blood of my opponent. I just smacked a guy to near death and this is the reaction of these two girls?

    I looked back at Killian, who was getting picked up by healers. His wounds will probably be healed within weeks. His mom ran up to him, she sure does look worried about him, I mean she is his mom after all.

    For some reason, I couldn''t help but sigh.

    After letting out a deep sigh, I walked away towards the exit of the arena.

    But before leaving I turned to face Lora, "Pardon my rudeness your highness, but I will take my leave."

    "There is nothing to pardon, you must be tired after this match. Take a good rest," she replied as an affectionate smile formed around her lips.

    Damn!! that smile!!. she can capture anyone''s heart with that smile.

    I turned to look at Rai as I said "I will take my leave first.", then I waved idiot A and Agata bye as I left the Arena.

    61-2

    "What are you doing here Annie?" I asked Annie who was waiting for me outside of the Arena.

    "I saw you walking out of the arena, so I waited for you here.", she held my arm with both of her hands before saying "Let''s walk home together."

    A smile formed around my face as I said "sure."

    Walking on the street we talked about various topics. Well, most of the talking was done by Annie. I liked hearing her talk, it never fails to lighten up my mood.

    "Oh, I never told you, did I?" I asked out of nowhere.

    "Never told me what?" she asked, curious.

    "That I have a little sister just like you, her name is Emilia."

    "Grey has Little sister...." she muttered.

    For some reason, she looked sad.

    With a sudden pause in her walking, she looked at me with a death glare as she asked, "Who is cuter? me or your little sister Emilia?"

    I take back the thing I said about her being sad, more than sad she looks like she would murder me anytime.

    "It a bit difficult question---"

    "Anwer it!!!"

    Huh? I have never seen Annie this aggressive before.

    "You both are plenty cute," I replied with the most neutral answer I could possibly come up with, but there was truth in that answer.

    "But--"

    I gently bonked her head saying "When I will leave Goldberg city, I will be taking you with me, you will get to meet my little sister, my dad, my cousin Eira and also my grandmother."

    "I am looking forwards to that!!" she exclaimed, but later her expression changed, pressing her lips together tightly her eyebrows furrowed, with a sadder expression she spoke up "But first I would have to survive, hehe."

    laugh at the end wasn''t a joyful laugh, it was rather a melancholic laugh.

    "You don''t need to worry, your big brother will save you!!"

    "big brother.... YES! big brother Grey will save me!!" she replied cheerfully.

 Chapter 63 - 62: Broken Individuals

    "Thank you, Grey---- Big brother Grey."

    "Thank you for?"

    "You got angry when that guy bad-mouthed me, you fought for me. It made me really happy." she thanked me,

    Apparently, she had more to say as she continued: " After the day I lost my family in that attack I thought I would be alone forever. But I am glad that Big brother Grey is in my life, I am glad that Big sister Rai and Aetna are in my life, I am glad Big brother Ulrich and Rudi are in my life. I am truly happy that you guys work so hard to save me, I am truly happy."

    Annie no longer could maintain eye contact with me, Looking on the ground she spoke, "But I sometimes think that I am a burden on you guys, you guys word so hard for me. The money you guys gather working day and night tirelessly gets spent all on my cure, to buy Amrit fruit. I just exist to make yours all life harder, if only---"

    Tears poured out of her eyes as her chin trembled, struggling to speak her voice broke down as she said "---If only I didn''t exist, everyone''s life would have been easy... if only I didn''t exist, you guys wouldn''t have to carry a burden like me. I hate myself---"

    Before she could say anything more, I embraced her into a warm hug. I gently stroked my hand over her head as I spoke:

    "You care so much about us, don''t you? But Annie, You don''t need to worry about it. You are not a burden for us rather you are the person that relieves us from our burden.

    Have you ever seen happiness over Rudi''s face, whenever you call him a hero? that hero-obsessed idiot, cares a lot about you. But more than that he takes care of you like his own little sister, you are his family.

    You know how cold and cynical Rai is, yet she is so gentle and warm to you. I still can''t believe that the cold monster of a girl could be so kind and warm to someone. But I know the reason why she is so gentle towards you, cause she wants to be a reliable big sister to you. It''s hard for me to believe that Rai is capable of caring about someone, but I can understand why the reason being you are her family.

    It always makes Ulrich''s day, whenever you compliment his cooking. He cherishes the look on your face whenever you eat his cooking. He spoils you like his own little sister by making you various types of dishes, you are his family!.

    And the way Aetna adores you, the childlike innocence of Aetna makes it obvious that how much she treasures you. It''s cute, the way she holds you while sleeping. You both are like an actual sisters.

    We all lost something important to us that day four years ago, we have all been struggling to cope with reality on our own. But, you are like light that is keeping all of us from going insane, so never ever think that you are a burden for us. you are the shining light that we all treasure!"

    I might have said too much, no, I guess it was necessary to say these words. Annie has been too hard on herself, she is just a little kid, yet she has been so hard on herself.

    Since that day four years ago, the day we all lost something important to us, we all are psychologically unstable individuals, we all are broken...

    One of us is a person who only ever thinks about revenge. Under his calm and reserved personality, Ulrich hides immense bloodlust for revenge.

    Then there is Rudi, who only ever thinks about being a hero. After the death of his only family that was his big brother, his only coping mechanism was to become a hero, he desperately holds this delusion of wanting to be a hero.

    I don''t know what caused this cold and cynical personality of Rai, I don''t know about her past, I know nearly nothing about her. I don''t know about what kind of life she led before I found her in the forest that day. For some reason, I feel like she is a similar type of person to me, a pathological liar with a cynical personality.

    Then there is Aetna who doesn''t remember anything about her past. That day after my contract with her, she doesn''t seem to remember anything. Not remembering anything about the past is a scary thing and that''s why she holds on to me to not lose her sense of reality.

    Then there is Annie, who thinks of herself as a burden to us. She hates herself for not being able to help us, she thinks our life would be easier if she wouldn''t have existed. That''s why she--- she had tried to end her own life, I am glad I was able to stop her, I don''t want any more people to commit suicide before me.

    Then there is me, I am a liar, I am cynical, I have an immense blood lust for revenge, I am a guy that holds delusional ideals of beings a hero, I hold onto various things to not lose my sense of reality, there are times when I think about ending my life and I hate myself.

    The six of us that survived that day are fucked up bunch of people.

    We have seen people die in front of us, we couldn''t do anything, we just helplessly watched those kids die in agony as the dark aura collapsed their mana core. Well, I did kill some of them, I didn''t want them to suffer in agony.

    But I am not sure if I would be able to end Annie''s life if she were to suffer in agony.

    No, I will save Annie, I won''t let her suffer. No matter what it takes, I will win the competition and get that S rank Amrit fruit.

    No matter the cost, I will win this competition....

 Chapter 64 - 63: Ever-Growing Harem.

    It was the second day of the competition,

    After winning all the five matches against team number 15, we advanced to the second day of the tournament, where all the top eight teams that have advanced in the quarterfinal will fight against each other to advance into the semi-finals.

    Killian is still recovering under intensive care, he should be fine in a week. But I have heard that he had suffered heavy mental trauma.

    "Have you heard?" asked Idiot A.

    "Heard what?"

    "About you, the nickname people call you by?"

    "People call me by a nickname?"

    "Yes, after your match with Killian people call you by ....." with a little pause he spoke the name "People call you Bleeding Ashen of the Goldberg city"

    "OhбкAh?" I exclaimed.

    "Why do you mean by "Ah?", you know how cool that nickname is? I wish I had a name like that."

    "Well, you can have a name like that. Apparently, you have to just beat the shit out of someone to receive a name like that." I replied.

    What I did to Killian was cruel, it was definitely cruel to brutally beat someone when they are begging you to stop. But the thing that I can''t seem to understand is that no one was afraid of me after that fight, on contrary, they view me as a hero for beating their city''s bully and even gave me a cool nickname.

    They call me a hero for beating Killian brutally, but am I really a hero? Would a hero do a thing like this? Would a hero beat a guy even if they cry and beg to stop?

    But there was also the fact that in truth, I enjoyed beating him.

    More than a hero I might be a monster.....

    Our current match is against team number 13. We have already won 4 out of 4 rounds of this match-up. The only person that was yet to fight was Idiot A.

    "Okay, it''s my turn." Said Idiot A as he walked into the ring, it was finally his turn. He was the last person that will be fighting from our team.

    "Would you mind if I get seated next to you?" asked Lora, who was standing beside me and asking my permission to sit beside me.

    "I don''t mind at all, get seated here," I said as I stood up clearing the seat for her. Well, I didn''t want to catch unnecessary attention seating beside her.

    As I was standing up, she pulled me back to the seat grabbing my hand.

    Holding my arm she spoke up, "Why are you avoiding me? Did I do something to upset you?"

    "No, your majesty, actually it would be bad for your image if someone were to see you with a nobody like me."

    "Don''t worry, no one will say anything, and besides I am just marking my territory since you are my future husband." She said shooting a glance at Rai.

    In turn, Rai with an annoyed look clicked her tongue "Tsk!"

    "Your majesty, I don''t mean to offend you but what is even special in me?"

    I call her "your majesty" not particularly out of respect, I just call her that since calling her Lora would be kind of awkward.

    "Your looks!!" she replied answering my question.

    Wow, I am amazed how she said that with a straight face.

    "Your looks are something I adore, looking at your face I feel like not letting you get in someone else''s hand. I feel like I just want to make you mine, only mine."

    Oh, that''s kind of sweet. But it''s also giving me a yandere vibe, which is kind of------scary.

    {Author note: A yandere is a character, most often female and in anime, who become violently possessive of a love interest.

    Yandere is a basically crazy chick who would do anything for you, even push your grandma up the stairs.}

    "Grey, you seem rather affectionate with the princess, is she a new part of your ever-growing harem?" asked Rai with a devious smile that gave of a frightening feeling.

    What are you up to, woman!

    "Harem?" asked Lora.

    "Yes, harem. Do you have any idea how big Grey''s harem is? Our boy Grey here is really popular among boys and girls alike and also his harem is massive."

    "Massive?" asked Lora as her eyebrows twitched.

    "Yes, to list his harem out, I would start with Aetna, Lily, Frank, Rin, Phil, Annie, Ellsa, Aria, and two hooligans that I see around him, this is the list of his harem."

    Oi oi, who died and made my harem? And why there are boys listed in my harem. I am not gay, No homo!!!.

    "Royal guard, did you write the name of the people that Miss. Rai has listed right now."

    "No, your highness, but I have memorized it!!"

    Lora! What do you need those names for?!! What are you going to do with those people?!

    "I want to ask this question, Grey. Am I in your harem?" asked Rai touching my chest with her index finger.

    "There is no harem! And besides, I love older girls----"

    Well, Rin and Lora are technically older than me, Lora being 14 years old and Rin being 15 years old.

    But that''s not what I mean when I say I love older girls. What I really mean is a girl that is near 19-year-old or something.

    And by 19 years old, I am talking about Sylphy. I wonder how Sylphy is doing right now, she would be 19-year-old right now.

    I want to go back to her; she is the most ideal girl I have ever seen. I might even want to marry her.

    With that thought, I let out a deep sigh.

    "And the winner is---" announced the commentator as the match ended. The result was Idiot A winning the final match.

    With this, we have won the quarter-finals and proceeded to the semi-finals.

    And the team we will be fighting in the semi-finals will be a tricky one.. The opponent facing us in the semi-finals is ---- Ulrich''s and Aetna''s team.

 Chapter 65 - 64: Semi-finals(1)

    "The first person that will be fighting from team number 10 is---- Ulrich!!" announced the commentator.

    Following the commentator''s announcement, Ulrich walked into the ring.

    "The person that will be fighting from team number 16 is ----" the first person that will be fighting from our team was Idiot A.

    {Author note: I will absolutely refuse to give away Idiot A''s name.}

    This match is kind of---, well I hope Idiot A wins.

    With a sharp stance, readying his sword Idiot A spoke up saying, "Let''s have a good match!!."

    To which Ulrich replied with a simple single nod.

    Ulrich''s weapon of choice is a slender and sharply pointed two-edged blade, that looks kind of like a rapier.

    Holding tightly to his rapier Ulrich took a ready defensive stance.

    As I was looking at Ulrich, I noticed something interesting.

    That sly fox, Ulrich was synchronizing his mana signature with the ground. He is planning to start the match with a long-ranged attack to catch Idiot A off guard.

    After making sure both the competitor have taken their stance, the referee tossed the coin. The metallic sound of the coin crashing the ground signified the beginning of the match.

    The sound of the coin was followed by the attack of Ulrich, as three vines emerged beneath the ground behind him.

    On the tip of the vine bloomed flower which shot set of seeds aimed at Idiot A.

    Idiot A tried to defend himself with a wall of water, but will the thickness of his water wall be enough to stop the incoming attack from Ulrich?

    The incoming seed attack was scattered as soon as it came in contact with the water shield. The seed attack of Ulrich was completely blocked off.

    [What the seed attack was stopped?! how did it happen the water wasn''t even that thick?]

    {Author: the lines written between [] means that it is spoken by the commentator.}

    Well, it wouldn''t have been able to stop the attack if the water in the ''water shield'' would have been stationary. but that wasn''t the case with Idiot A''s shield, the water in his ''water shield'' streamed all around his shield rather than staying stationary giving it an effect that would push things outside of the shield if came in contact with it.

    This effect of moving water constantly around his shield scattered the incoming seed of Ulrich''s attack.

    [What will be Ulrich''s next attack to pierce the superb defense of his opponent!!]

    A smile curved on Ulrich''s lips as he watched his attack get deflected by the opponent''s shield. Rather than being a mocking smile, it was a smile that admired the opponent''s defense.

    Without wasting any more time Ulrich dashed towards Idiot A. He persistently kept on attacking Idiot A with his seed attack as he closed the distance between them, to keep idiot A busy while he closed the distance.

    Upon reaching a certain distance, Ulrich halted his seed attack as he switch to a physical attack rather than using a magic attack. Readying his rapier he thrust it into Idiot A water shield to pierce through it.

    [What a beautiful play by Ulrich!!! but will he be able to break his opponent''s defense?]

    "Not so quick!" said Idiot A, as he shot a razor-sharp stream of water towards Ulrich, which Ulrich barely was able to dodge at the last second. This attack was known as ''Water Jet''.

    A water jet is a basic level water type magic attack, where the user shoots a highly concentrated beam of an extremely high-pressure jet of water.

    But he couldn''t completely dodge the attack as the water jet barely grazed his cheek leaving a small cut.

    [What an excellent reaction!!]

    Without furthering his attack, Ulrich retreated with caution.

    "What kind of attack with you direct towards me now?!!" asked Idiot A, which oddly didn''t sound like trash talk, it sounded like raw excitement.

    Inhaling a small breath, Ulrich opened his mouth to speak for the first time during this match, "I am not going to attack." he said in a tone of voice that was barely audible, and yet it was still loud enough to not be inaudible.

    "Eh? Why aren''t you going to attack? are you giving up?"

    "No, because I already won," said Ulrich pointing towards Idiot''s A leg.

    Intertwining between Idiot A''s legs, the vines wrapped around his leg. Gowing bigger the vines wrapped around Idiot A immobilizing him between them.

    Trapped in vines, Idiot A struggled to get out, but his efforts were for naught as Ulrich placed his rapier pointing towards Idiot A''s neck.

    The match was over.....

    "As the opponent can no longer fight!! the winner, Ulrich!!", the referee made the declaration.

    [What a victory!! with an amazing battle sense Ulrich has emerged victories.]

    If you are wondering about how Ulrich won, well he had made his winning move at the very first move of the match as he shot seed. Even though the seed was scattered it did its job by growing vines and entrapping Idiot A in it.

    I did notice it, but it''s against the rule for outsiders to give any kind of information in between the battle.

    Even though Ulrich is not adept with his rapier, since he had never received training in it. But his intelligence makes up for it along with his terrifying battle sense.

    We lost the first match, now we have to at least win three out of four remaining matches to proceed to the semi-finals. We are at a disadvantage since we have to send a member first and Ulrich''s team will get to decide whom they are sending based on the member we are sending.

    The member we are sending second is---, well she insisted on going herself.

    [The member that will be fighting from team number 16 is!-- Our princess Lora!!]

    Yes, the person that will be fighting from our side is Lora and now I want to see who they will send to fight Lora.

    [The member that team number 10 have decided to send against princess Lora is ----]

    Walking towards Lora, she entered the ring. By she I mean---

    [---Is Aetna!!]

 Chapter 66 - 65: Semi-finals(2)

    [The second matchup of the semi-finals, we have the silver-haired beauty who has shown excellent performance in the previous match--- representing Team number ten, Our fan favorite! we have Aetna!!]

    The announcement from the commentator was met with the cheers of the people seated in the arena.

    Damn, she is popular among the audience.

    [And representing team 16, the dignified, the majestic, the refined, Radiance bright enough to outshine everything, the pride of our nation, her majesty, Princess Lora Ormr!!.]

    This time the audience reacted with an even louder cheer following the announcement of the commentator.

    "Seeing that both the fighters are ready, I will toss the coin."

    Both of the girls who were standing opposing each other and didn''t hold any type of weapon since they both belonged to the mage class.

    The coin crashed to the ground with that came the metallic sound of "Clink.".

    But there was no movement among both of the competitors,

    "Greetings Miss. Aetna, you have rather pretty hair!!"

    Princess? Princess? Why are you complimenting your opponent? aren''t you supposed to fight her?

    "Hehe! princess is also really really really pretty"

    Stop with the girl''s talk and FIGHT!.

    "Thank you! would it be rude to ask about what kind of element do you master?"

    "No, not at all, I master in fire element!"

    "Oh, that''s great, I master in fire element too, Let''s have a great match!!"

    With that, Both of the girls went silent for a second as the mana from their core ran through their bodies.

    With the sudden spike of mana in their body, they both opened their eyes, ready to fight.

    The technique they used right now is known as ''Mana spike.'', it''s a very basic level warm-up skill, where the mage runs mana through their body to use magic more efficiently.

    Like physical warm-up helps prepare for physical activity, ''Mana spike'' helps to prepare the body for magic-related activity.

    Their eyes shined brighter as they concentrated the mana in their hand simultaneously,

    They both simultaneously stretched their right hand, with the palm facing each other. The mana gathered in their hand and which in turn condensed into a ball fire.

    It was a basic level fireball spell, but--

    [What?!!!! the fire in their fireball turned red!! Isn''t it an intermediate-level spell!!]

    Yes, the fire in their fireball turned Red, which made the basic level fireball spell an intermediate level spell.

    Based on the color of the fire, the level of the fire spell is decided. Orange is the basic level and blue is the most advanced.

    "Fireball." said both of them simultaneously as they shot the attack against each other.

    Upon contact, both of the fireballs merged as one which in turn led out a blinding crimson radiance, followed by it came heavy noise of the explosion.

    Boom!

    The explosion resulted in a massive cloud of dust, which covered the whole ring which made it difficult for the audience to keep track of both of the fighters.

    Boom!

    Another explosion was heard, which led to another shockwave. Following the second explosion came many other consecutive explosions.

    Boom!

    Boom!

    Boom!

    [I don''t know what''s going on inside that thick cloud of dust, but it looks like both of the fighters are still fighting inside that cloud!!]

    Yes, they were still fighting inside the cloud of dust. Even though I can''t see their physical body, but I can still see their mana core and all the energy that flows inside that ring.

    So I am able to track their movement. Currently, they are quickly throwing ranged attacks at each other and dodging at the same time.

    Well, even their vision is limited, so I think they are guessing the position of their opponent based on the direction of the attack that is thrown towards them.

    After a few exchanges of ranged attacks, the ring became silent. They were no sounds of attack heard and no attacks were thrown at each other.

    The dust settled revealing both of the girls still at their original position as if they never moved from it since the beginning.

    But there was something different,

    "I give up, I have run out of mana!" said Lora raising both of her hands slightly, it was the gesture of surrender.

    but in the contrast to her surrendering, her face held a bright smile.

    "Due to the surrender of her opponent. The winner, Aetna!" declared the referee.

    [Really?!!! Our princess has surrendered!! resulting in the winner being Aetna!!]

    Lora lied, she was nowhere near out of mana. I don''t know the reason for her lying and I am also curious about one more thing, why isn''t she using the venomous factor of her Ormr blood.

    I have not seen even once her using her venomous factor. I have a feeling that there is more to Lora than she shows on the surface. Due to their Ormr blood, they are natural warriors.

    If I had to guess, Lora is most probably warrior mage class.

    Now that we have lost two matches consecutively we have to win the rest three matches to qualify for to finals.

    I heard a cracking sound of a fist, as I turned around towards the source of the sound,

    "Rai? What are you cracking your fingers for?"

    "Going to beat the shit out of princess, since she doesn''t want to take this competition seriously," replied Rai.

    "We will be fugitive on the run if we beat the shit out their princess, or even worse they will catch us and execute us."

    she placed her hand on my shoulder as she said,

    "I can rely on you since you are also the prince of this nation. you will protect me!."

    "No no, I won''t protect you, on the contrary, I will watch you get executed without even blinking my eyes."

    "You hate me that much?"

    I shook my head in denial as I said, "Love might be the right word."

    "Toxic love?" asked Rai, tilting her head.

    I couldn''t but let out a chuckle as I said "Yeah."

 Chapter 67 - 66: 8v1

    66-1

    {Author: I will be skipping Grey and Rai''s match since they won pretty easily, writing it will only bore you guys.

    But don''t worry, I will try my best to write a great fight sequence for finals!!!}

    [What an amazing play by miss. Agata!!!! she is not letting her opponent close any distance between them and with her continuous attacks, she is keeping her opponent at the edge. not being able to see her attack must be really terrifying for her opponent. But I wonder why she has not used her wind blade attack yet?]

    Her opponent was trying his best to dodge her wind blast and also was trying to close the distance between them. But with his each try, he was forced to dodge Agata''s incoming attack making him retreat further back.

    Agata was using her basic level spell efficiently to not drain her mana out, and the pattern of her attack-- it seems like she has a plan.

    Without being able to attack, her opponent was forced to dodge, which in turn was tiring him out. With each dodge, his movements were becoming sloppy.

    He was huffing and puffing as the match furthered on. Agata was not letting him stand in one place as she kept on attacking him with her wind blast forcing him to move.

    His breath became more violent and louder, struggling to breathe his movement became sloppy.

    Finally raising her sword, Agata said "It''s time to end this."

    Slashing her sword in vertical motion in empty space, she ended the match. Before her opponent could realize he was struck with an invisible force, as a crushing pressure radiated through his body.

    With that attack, he was knocked out...

    "Due to knock out, the winner of the fifth match, Agata Werner!" declared the referee.

    [Oh, what a brilliant strategy by miss. Agata, cornering her opponent with continuous attacks and when the time was right, she dealt him with her devastating wind blade. Poor guy wasn''t even able to dodge the attack!!! With the conclusion of this match, Team number 16 has won and will be advancing to the finals!!! what a comeback!! after two consecutive losses, they made their comeback with back with three back-to-back victories!!!]

    With that announcement, the crowd burst into loud cheers.

    "Yay! high five!" I said as I raised both of my hands demanding a high five from Agata.

    She high-fived me saying, "Yay! high five!"

    "Yay!! yay! high five!!" said Rai high fiving Agata, which in turn Agata high fived her back saying "Yay!! high five!!"

    When did they both become so buddy-buddy?

    She went on to give a high five to Idiot A and then Lora, "Yay! high five!!" said Lora high giving Agata back.

    Lora had a childish excitement while high-fiving Agata, it''s kind of cute.

    66-2

    [And the winner of this match, Lily!!! With this win, Team number 1 has finally made its comeback after two consecutive losses!!]

    After my match, I was seated in the arena watching the second semi-finals between team number one which was Rin''s team, and team number 8 which was Rudi''s team.

    Currently, Rudi''s team is in a better position by winning two out of three matches, now they only need to win one match to qualify into finals.

    [The member that will be fighting from team number 8 is, Rudi!!!]

    Rudi walked into the ring as his name was called by the commentator,

    [Fighting him, the member that Team number 1 has sent to fight against Rudi is!! Rin]

    Holding her sword she walked into the ring, before entering the ring she gave me quick glance, It felt like she wanted me to watch her.

    "Before I toss the coin, I want both of the fighters to take their preferred stance.", the referee made sure that have taken their stance before tossing the coin.

    In her hand, Rin held a single-handed saber, the saber had a moderate curve along the length of the blade. The curve of the blade did reduce its thrusting ability though it was still fairly effective, this curve helped increase the slashing and cutting power of the blade. With her saber, she stood sharp.

    Rudi didn''t hold any weapon, holding one would only get in his way since he classifies him in mage class. Using mana spike he ran his mana from his core to the entire body. Taking a deep breath, Rudi focused his attention on his enemy.

    Making sure both parties had taken their stance, Referee tossed the coin.

    With the metallic sound of  "Clink!" as the coin fell on the ground, the match was underway.

    Rin carefully took a step further watching the movement of Rudi closely.  It''s pretty much a definite loss for a mage if they let warrior class too close to them, close-quarter is where warrior class shines the most.

    Rudi quickly gathered his mana in the tip of his palm as he released air magic,

    "Wind Blast!"

    Which she was able to dodge fairly easily but the attack did its job, which was to maintain a distance between Rudi and Rin.

    Without closing any more distance Rin carefully stood in one place as if she was sorting her thoughts and planning her next move.

    But Rudi wasn''t going to let her time to think as he used his ''Wind Barrier''. It was a wide a spread attack, that worked on the principle of concentrating air into one place and shooting it towards the enemy.

    But in Rudi''s case, he was able to do more than just concentrate air in one place. He is able to make walls of air by concentrating them in one place, this wall had great defense and attack capability.

    Of course, he was able to perform such complicated magic with the help of his seal marking.

    Moving out of the way Rin dodged the incoming attack from Rudi, the attack had the power of a speeding truck, and due to the size of the attack, it was visible to naked eyes, unlike other air-type attacks.

    Dodging furthermore attack Rin was looking for an opportunity to close the distance between him and Rudi,

    Rin was waiting for the right moment to attack Rudi, the right moment being Rudi running out of mana.

    And finally, after a minute of dodging the moment came. The moment where Rudi''s attack was getting weaker as he was running out of mana.

    With a slight delay in Rudi''s attack came the chance for Rin to close the distance between them.

    With a quick step, she dashed in front of him, readying her saber to slash Rudi,

    "Got you," said Rudi as a sneer curved up his lips,

    He purposely lured her in. Was Rudi always this smart?

    "Wind barrier!"

    Before she was able to forward with her slash, she felt a heavy pressure pressing against her body. She was hit with a wind barrier at point-blank range.

    With the force of being hit with a wind barrier magic sent her flying off, rolling twice on the ground, but rather than crashing she quickly regained her footsteps.

    She has been trained well, losing your footstep even for seconds can make you lose your life.

    [He was luring her in!!! what a beautiful play by Rudi!!! with the point-blank hit, it doesn''t look good for Rin.]

    Yeah, no shit it doesn''t look good for her.

    She is bleeding heavily from her forehead and it''s not a far-fetched thing to say that she might have cracked some bones.

    With a sharp exhale, Rin spoke up "I will be ending this match now."

    So she finally decided to use her seal marking.

    Her eyes radiated with a bright shade of blue and a hint of yellow in them. Gathering mana in her hand she condensed a ball of water, but the ball of water was big enough to not be able to use as a long-ranged attack.

    But rather than attacking Rudi with that water ball, she aimed it higher in the sky. Upon reaching a certain height the ball of water blasted causing it to fall as small drops of water from the sky throughout the ring.

    "Rain?" said Rudi, confused. But he quickly regained composure as he prepared another Wind barrier attack stretching his hand.

    "Wind Barr--Eek!"

    "Like I will let you." interrupted Rin, as sparkles of electricity enveloped her body.

    Huh? She is an electric type? No, I am sure it''s not. She should be a water type, at least that''s what her mana signature suggests.

    is her electric power is coming from her Seal marking? That''s unusual.

    Before Rudi could fire his wind barrier he was met with a sudden sparkle of electricity, contraction of his muscle due to electric shock shut of his movement.

    Recovering from the shock, Rudi tried to shoot another attack,

    "Wind Barrie--"

    But before he could shoot, he was met with another bolt of shock, paralyzing his movement.

    Limiting the movement of her opponent, Rin slowly walked closer to Rudi to end the match.

 Chapter 68 - 67: Successor?

    67-1

    (Rudi''s POV)

    Move!! my useless body!!!!!

    As the electric current traveled through my body, Paralysing my movement. I begged my body to move.

    Struggling to move, I broke free from the paralysis, and in a desperate attempt, I tried to perform another wind barrier.

    "Wind Barr-- Guh!"

    But I was again stopped as another sparkle of electricity met my body, stunning me.

    Again paralyzed, I tried to move my body.

    A state of panic occurred to me as I saw my opponent walking closer to me.

    I can''t lose!! I have to win!!!

    I can''t let down Annie!!! we will save her!! for that, I have to win!!

    Move!!! you useless piece of shit, move!!

    My opponent was close to me, maybe three steps distance. But it''s okay, my body was getting freed from the paralysis. I will be able to move at any moment!

    Yes finally!! I can move!!

    "Due to definite results, The winner of this match, Rin!" Declared Referee.

    Huh? I didn''t lose yet.

    I didn''t---

    I lost...

    Her saber was near my throat, it was a fair victory.

    The only thought that ran in my mind was how to save Annie now. As reality hit me, along with it came the dispair.

    The S rank Amrit fruit is only one of a kind, without it how are we going to save Annie? The useless me couldn''t win a simple match.

    Goddammit!!

    with that thought, I slammed my fist into the ground.

    67-2

    (Grey''s POV)

    Rin won the match against Rudi, He did his best against her. He did everything he could do.

    I think I figured out what exactly is her Seal marking. When I first saw her seal marking, I thought I saw a symbol of an eel-like creature symbol on her hand that day and I was correct.

    It was the symbol of an electric eel, a creature that hunt''s its prey by shocking it with electricity, the stunned prey gets swallowed by the eel alive.

    Rin seal marking allows her to use electricity without being an electric type. It''s truly interesting that what kind of power can seal marking provide to a mortal.

    {Author: People compatible with electricity are very rare in this world. currently, of all the characters I have introduced, only Rai is the character that can use electricity.

    Rin is not compatible with electricity but she can use it because of the seal marking of Thalassa.}

    Apparently, Rin can''t use electricity freely like Rai, since she needed to first moist her surrounding air to use electricity.

    By first making her surroundings moist by throwing a huge water ball in the sky, she was able to use her electricity freely. But I wasn''t able to see more of her weird sword style that she used against me that day, I wish I could have seen that.

    Now that Rin''s team has won another match, they have won two matches, tieing with Rudi''s team. This last match will be the deciding match of who I will be facing in the finals.

    and the person that is participating in the last round was---

    [Introducing the last member of team number one who will be fighting this round, The one who ended all his matches in one hit, the prince of our nation, the blood of Ormr, and the successor of hero Alice, Otis Ormr!!!!]

    The successor of Alice, huh? interesting...

    I saw this coming long ago, naming someone "Successore of Hero Alice" will only boost their image.

    I did expect the Ormr family, to use my mom''s name to sell images of their kids. I hate politics, but due to being royalty of two nations, I will eventually be dragged into it someday.

    Standing firm with his polearm, Otis stood in the ring waiting for the referee to toss the coin.

    "Now that both of the competitors have taken their stance, I will toss the coin." said the referee as he tossed the coin.

    The sound of the coin hitting the ground was followed by the sudden dash by Otis, with a quick dash he was in front of his opponent.

    Readying his polearm, he prepared an attack from the right. With one strong swing, Otis attacked with a horizontal slash from the right, It was a very quick attack. Even though his opponent knew it was coming, he was still barely able to block it

    But blocking it was of no use. Otis''s polearm clashed with his opponent''s sword, the force at which Otis swung his polearm was more than his opponent has expected.

    Even though his opponent had blocked the attack with his sword, it was not enough the stop the force of polearm that was coming his way.

    With a sudden pressure, he was sent flying off crashing onto the wall of the Arena. Knocking him off.

    Otis defeated the opponent with one move.

    "So this is the power of Ormr blood?" asked one of the spectators behind me, shocked.

    "What a tremendous physical power, it''s so powerful that it feels unfair going against it."

    "How can someone expect to win against this power? There is no doubt that team one is winning this competition."

    [He won the match, Again!!! with just one move!!! one move was all he needed!! will any opponent will be able to draw our prince''s full power?!! But with the conclusion of this match, the winner is Team number one. The finals will be between team number one and team number 16!!!!]

    Apparently, in all his previous matches Otis had defeated all his opponents in a single move. What a show-off.

    More importantly, I will be fighting Rin''s team.....

    Rin looked at me as the winner was announced, on her face she wore a confident smirk. It felt like she was saying that ''she will win the finals and make me join Celestia''.

    I shot a gentle smile towards her, as she looked at me. My smile said ''You can try if you want.''

    "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention?" said Otis calling out to the crowd. The whole crowd went silent, wanting to hear what Otis have to say.

    "I, Otis Ormr, the blood of Ormr bloodline, One of the princes of this nation, stand here to ask you all to be my witness."

    With a little pause, he continued, "My Aunt, and the person that is well known as Hero Alice, died four years ago, she died fighting for our nation!!! she died as a hero!!!!"

    With his following line, the whole crowd cheered, chanting "Long live hero Alice."

    He is doing a great job of firing up the crowd, is he doing it on purpose? No, I think what he is saying is his genuine feelings. But now that crowd is invested in what Otis is saying, they will pay close attention to his words.

    "She took out a whole army!!!! and defeated a demon!!! alone!!!! It will be insanity if someone were to say that they want to be her successor. But I, Otis Ormr, stand here and declare that I will be the successor of the hero Alice."

    This bit seems kind of fake like he is forcing himself to say this.

    "Aunt Alice never had a son, so naturally someone from her family has to carry on her legacy and I as her niece will carry on her legacy. I, as the successor of hero Alice, will protect this nation. I will be the strongest!!! In tomorrow''s match, I will show everyone that I, only I am capable of carrying Hero Alice''s legacy

    Naturally, I will win finals tomorrow, since no one in this tournament is powerful enough to defeat me."

    A bold claim, I like it.

    But I have this feeling that what he said just now was just an act, well I might be wrong.

    I don''t have any problem with him being the successor of my mom, if he is powerful enough, then he deserves to be the successor.

    It''s an Ormr family secret that Hero Alice had a son, that is me. The general public doesn''t know that she had a son, they didn''t even know that she was married to the royalty of Frey nation. Well, even the Ormr family believes that I am dead, so there is that.

    But I am not planning on being dead forever, I will stop hiding and I think I will probably tell everyone the truth that I am alive after a year. When that happens, Otis will view me as an enemy and I am not sure if Lora would still have feelings for me after knowing the truth.

    The future will surely be interesting...

    "He wants to take your place," commented Rai sarcastically. She was sitting beside me.

    "My place?" I asked.

    "As the successor," she answered.

    "oh.... well, I have no interest in titles such as that, cause at the end of the day they are just that --- Fancy titles."

    "Oh, my --- How cool!! when did you become so cool?"

    "Always was."

    "In your dreams."

 Chapter 69 - 68: Finals(1)

    68-1

    "Big brother Grey went like, Bam!! defeating his opponent, He looked so cool!!. Then it was Big sister Rai''s match, she was so amazing, she hadn''t even used elemental power even once. She only won with her sword skills, Isn''t she amazing?!!!" explained Annie about how today''s match went to Grandma Julia, with exaggerated gestures and childish excitement.

    Grandma Julia chuckled as she patted Annie''s head, "I was there to watch the matches and They were amazing!"

    "Right!! Everyone today was so amazing!!" Annie''s eyes sparkled with excitement, she continued to talk about each of our matches with nothing but pure joy.

    In contrast to Annie''s joy, there was a very depressed person sitting beside me at the dinner table.

    "Why so gloomy?" I asked.

    "I lost. Even though I knew that this was the chance we could not let go of, I still lost."

    "There was not much you could do, forget about it," I said patting his back.

    "Exactly, there was not much I could do. We have already seen many of our friends die, helplessly. I wanted to save Annie, no matter what. How useless could I have been? she calls me big brother. But I don''t deserve to be called big brother. "

    With a little pause, he continued, "I dream of becoming a hero that saves everyone."

    "I know that very well," I replied.

    "But, I have done nothing hero like yet. I couldn''t save my people. I couldn''t even end their misery as they begged to be killed, I wasn''t brave enough. In end, it was you who dirtied your hand. I just watched doing nothing." said Rudi as his voice broke apart.

    Rudi was walking about the time when there were fourteen of us, the surviving kids from the village. Later one by one each kid died due to instability in their mana core caused by their dark dura.

    In their ending moments, they begged to be killed. The pain was too much for those kids to bear. So I ended their life for them, it was the most heartbreaking I had to do.

    I still get nightmares of those times...

    "And now, I failed the chance to save Annie. what should I do now, Grey?"

    "It''s simple, You should trust me and Rai to win finals tomorrow. Besides, you are overthinking."

    "But--"

    Before he could say anything, I stuffed a spoon full of food in his mouth.

    "Even if Grey doesn''t win, I will win for sure," said Rai as she stuffed another spoon full of food into Rudi''s mouth. Apparently, she had heard everything me and Rudi were talking about.

    "We are feeding, Rudi? let me join too!!!" said Aetna as she stuffed another spoon full of food in his mouth.

    "Me too!! me too!!" said Annie, excitedly as she stuffed the spoon into Rudi''s mouth.

    With so much food, Rudi''s mouth was stuffed to its fullest.

    "Looking at them, they are so happy. You were worried for nothing," I said as I gave Rudi a gentle chop on his head.

    I turned my head to look at Ulrich who was eating his food quietly, Ulrich was purposely diverting his head to avoid any possible eye contact.

    But with the power of my "Death glare.", he gave in.

    Letting out a sigh, he stuffed his spoon full of food in Rudi''s mouth.

    Grandma Julia chuckled as she said, "Watching you guys reminds me of my son." But before we could say anything she corrected herself, "No, you all are my kids, my son, and daughters. I am truly glad that I got to live with you kids in my last year."

    "Last year? You don''t need to worry about dying so soon, you still have fifty years or so to live," I said.

    68-2

    "You don''t have to personally take me to the arena each time. You have your finals today, rather than wasting time on escorting me to the arena, you should make a plan or something with your team. Look I have my walking cane, I can walk pretty well on my own." insisted Mark.

    "Shut up old man. what will I say to Aunt Bruna if you trip over and fall on your face flat? You should take life easy at this age, It would be ugly if you broke your bone or two at this ---AGE." I sarcastically implemented that he was getting old.

    "Ow ow ow ow!!" my cheeks were getting pulled by mark.

    "Don''t disrespect your elders!!! and besides, I am not that old, I am just thirty years old."

    "You said the same thing last year. I mean I get it, being old might be a real shocker for you. It''s fine, you will learn to accept the reality, eventually." I said as I placed my hand over Mark''s shoulder as if I was consoling him.

    "So, being thirty is your standard for getting old, then you are saying that your Aunt Bruna here is way older since she is a year older me. She is thirty-two years old right now," said Mark as he pointed his finger towards Aunt Bruna who was walking with us.

    The next moment, I and Mark felt a heavy pressure weighing down on us. It was the pressure of Aunt Bruna''s death glare.

    This old man!! he is purposefully dragging me into this.

    I grabbed Mark''s collar as I said, "Old man, You!!! don''t call Aunt Bruna, old!!! Do you dare call such a beautiful wife of yours old? I have never seen her get old over the years, sometimes I wonder if is she is de-aging or something."

    "Oh my, that''s so sweet of you Grey."

    "Thank you, Aunt Bruna. Then I shall take my leave I am getting late for finals," I said as I quickly walked away.

    "Yes let''s go, we are getting late," said Mark as he tried to walk away with me.

    "Wait, dear. where do you think you are going? You think you can walk away by calling me old." said Aunt Bruna threateningly as she grabbed Mark.

    "Ummmm, I am sorry?" said Mark as if trying to check if a simple sorry would work But the devious smile on Aunt Bruna''s face made it clear that it won''t work.

    "Grey!!! take me with you! didn''t you say that you would escort me to the arena!!" yelled Mark as I was walking away quickly. It felt like the last yelp of a dying animal.

    The fate of Mark was unknown after that and I am not sure what Aunt Bruna did to him. But he was a great man and he will always be remembered.

    68-3

    I went to the waiting room where all the team mates were instructed to gather before the match. I was the last one to arrive since everyone was already there.

    After waiting for a while, we were said to walk into the arena as our name was called by the commentator. Apparently, there was an extra commentator today, the extra commentator was duke himself, Otto Werner.

    We were standing in the hallway, waiting for our name to be called.

    As I was waiting, I heard Commentator call the name of Team number one. Followed by that came a wave of loud roar as the whole arena exploded with the cheers of the spectators. I could feel the wall of the hallway tremble from the cheers of the audience.

    "It seems, that there is a lot of people who came to watch the finals," said Lora.

    "Yes, this year''s moon glitter competition has been very popular. Even people outside Goldberg city are excited to see who will win this year''s finals," explained Agata.

    "Of course us. But us winning will be more definite if someone were to move her royal ass and actually do some fighting," commented Rai, sarcastically. Her comment was aimed at Lora.

    "Oh, pardon my rudeness of not going all out last time. But if you insist so much, then I shall go all out in finals. But I am afraid I might take away your spotlight." said Lora as a nerve popped on her head.

    These two girls really love to get on each other''s nerves.

    To not let them argue any further I stood in between them.

    [Then I will go ahead and introduce the second team that will be taking part in the finals. The popularity of this team has skyrocketed since the first day. Now you might be thinking that it''s obvious that this team is popular because they have members such as the duke''s daughter, Agata Werner, and the princess of our nation, Lora Ormr. You might be right but also you are wrong!!. Because in this team we have members who have made name for themselves throughout the competition. This team is popular not because of one or two members, it is popular because the team as a whole is one amazing team. Without further due, I shall introduce the ----]

    It was our turn to walk inside the arena. Walking in the hallway the loud cheer was getting more and closer. exiting the hallways we finally walked into the arena, together.

    [Team number 16!!!!]

 Chapter 70 - 69: Finals(2)

    {Author: It''s a holy chapter, and if you understood this joke then you are a fucking degenerate ;)}

    As our team number was called out, the whole arena burst into raw cheers.

    Well, it looks like our team is as popular as the prince''s team. I mean, it makes sense since the princess is on our team.

    [Do you have anything to say to the competitors, Sir Otis Ormr?] asked the commentator.

    [Yes!, I have been very excited over the fact that how good this year''s competition has turned out to be. It was of best decision to give the new generation spotlight in this year''s competition. The two teams that have reached the finals, the ten competitors. I congratulate them all, and I am exhilarated to see what kind of battle our youngster will show us in the finals. Give it your all and show the brilliance of the next generation to the world!!]

    I couldn''t help but let out a chuckle.

    "What?" asked Idiot A.

    "It''s funny how the duke is more invested in the fight than us," I replied.

    "Yes, dad always turns into a little kid when it comes to things like this," said Agata.

    [Now! we will get right into the first fight without further due.]

    Finally, it was time for the first fight. Before entering the arena, they had asked us about the person we will be sending first to fight from our team.

    [The first person that will be fighting from team number one is Dirk Beck!!!!]

    Don''t ask who is Dirk Beck, since even I have no idea who this guy is. Maybe a filler character or something.

    {Author: Mc please don''t break the fourth wall.}

    [And, the first person that will be fighting from team number sixteen is, the princess, Lora Ormr!!!]

    "Your highness," I called out to Lora as she walked away towards the ring, stopping her.

    "Yes, dear?"

    Eh? dear? nevermind.

    "I have a request to make," I said.

    "Request?" she asked, curious.

    "Please give it your all and win this match," I said with a slight bow asking a favor. I have no problem bowing before someone if it was for saving someone I love.

    I do have a lot of pride, but my pride won''t save Annie. I will have to give my pride up and ask Lora to win this match.

    "You have a good reason to win this match, don''t you? Well, I won''t ask the reason. But I have two requests."

    "Two requests?"

    "If I win this match you will call me by Lora and you will go on a date with me!!" said Lora as she walked away towards the ring.

    "I want both of the fighters to take their preferred stance before I toss the coin," instructed Referee.

    Neither of the fighters was holding any kind of weapon, not because both of them were mages. the reason was---

    [Now you might be thinking that Dirk is a mage, but that''s not the case. He is a type of fighter that boasts his physical strength using mana.]

    Adding to what the commentator said, Duke added [ The technique to boast physical strength using mana is a harsh one, it is very difficult to master and it takes a toll on your body. But the negative effects can be minimized by years of training.], explained the Duke.

    After making sure both of the fighters were ready, the referee tossed the coin. Dirk rushed in a straightforward dash towards Lora as the coin fell down on the ground.

    "Fireball," said Lora, as she fired a basic level fireball towards Dirk, which he was easily able to dodge.

    Upon entering a certain distance, Dirk swung his fist towards Lora. But before he was able to connect his fist, he was met with sudden pressure as a fireball exploded on his chest.

    The impact of the fireball hitting against his body sent Dirk flying off, crashing on the ground.

    [Like we saw yesterday, Lora purposefully lured her enemy in close quarters!!!! Will he gets up after taking this attack?!!]

    Answering to commentator''s question, Duke answered [The physical type fighters fortify their body with mana, so he will get up.]

    Just like Duke said, he got up.

    "I thought of going easy on you princess. But, I will go all out now, so don''t hold any grudge against me," said Dirk as he got up.

    "You are free to go all out!"

    With that, Dirk rushed towards Lora now with even tremendous speed. But Lora didn''t throw any attack rather she waited for him to get in close quarters with her.

    "You should have attacked me with a long-range attack when you had the chance since in close quarters you can''t win against me," said Dirk before striking his foot towards Lora.

    [I have been wondering for a while but I think that Princess is not a mage.] said Duke, suggesting something.

    [What do you mean, Duke?] asked the commentator.

    [By looking at her posture, stance, and many other aspects, I think she shines more in hand-to-hand combat than being a mage.]

    Blocking off the incoming attack with her bare hand, Lora spoke up "What gave you the impression that I am a mage?"

    Her eyes shined bright in the color of Indigo-Violet color. So she is finally using her venomous factor.

    Dirk threw another attack, this being a right uppercut, which Lora dodged. Lora continued to dodge and block many more of his attack with ease.

    And then, Finally, Dirk threw a straightforward punch towards Lora which she dodged and retaliated with her own punch, Connecting the punch to Dirk''s nose.

    The force of the punch traveled to Dirk''s brain, rendering him unconscious.

    The match was over...

    "Due to knockout, the winner, Lora Ormr!" declared the referee.

    [With a sudden unexpected turn of even and sudden unexpected twist!!! the result of the match is apparent!!! the winner of the first match, The princess, Lora Ormr!!!]

    The match resulted in loud cheers by the crowd.

    Walking back to where I was standing, Lora looked at me with a look of expectation.

    "That was amazing, Your high-" before completing the sentence I corrected myself, "That was amazing, Lora."

    Apparently, me calling her by name was too much for her to handle, as a cloud of vapor emitted out of her head, her face being beet red from ear to ear.

    "Than-Thanks, Grey!!! I thought I prepared my heart for you calling me by name, but I was wrong!!. My heart is beating so fast, what I should do?!!!" said Lora, panicking.

    "Should I stop calling you by your name?"

    "No!!! no! please don''t stop!!!" exclaimed Lora.

    She really likes me. I should tell her the truth about me eventually.

    As we won the first match, the opposite team will have to send their player first. Then we can choose our player on the basis of the player they have sent.

    [The person that Team number one has decided to send is *********!!]

    {Author: The first person fighting from Team number one was Idiot B and I will absolutely refuse to give away Idiot A''s and Idiot B''s name : ) }

    [Now, which player will you send Team number 16?!!]

    asked commentator,

    Answering the commentator''s question, Idiot A walked towards the ring. for some reason, he really wanted to fight idiot B and I had no reason to deny him.

    Standing on the opposing side both of the fighters readied their weapons.

    The weapon of choice for idiot A was a dull sword and the weapon of choice for idiot B was a metal club.

    "Now that both the fighters are ready, I will toss the coin." said the referee before tossing the coin.

    With the sound of a coin falling to the ground the match was underway. Both of them dashed forward, clashing their weapon on the center of the ring.

    But the blunt force of a metallic club was more than that of a sword, in a head-to-head clash sword will always get pushed back. The same thing happened to idiot A as his sword was pushed back.

    "The club of yours does have a lot of impact force, but at the end of the day it won''t do much damage," said Idiot A as he stepped back taking some distance.

    "No, my club will do a lot of damage when I knock your head off with my club," replied Idiot B as he dashed even further to not let idiot A getaway.

    "What did you say!!!" raged Idiot A as he stopped stepping back and swung his sword with full force.

    His sword again clashed with Idiot B''s club, but this time -------his sword-----kind of-------flew away...

    That idiot!!! he really thought that he would win in direct battle with his sword against a club.

    [Match has ended--- ended? yes, it has ended, the winner, ----]

    Even the commentator was confused with the result of the match.

    Trying my best to hold my laugher, I said "Wow..... that must have been embarrassing." to Idiot A was walking back to our team.

    "Just kill me!!", Idiot A was pale with embarrassment.

 Chapter 71 - 70: Finals(3)

    [After a weird turn of events in the second match, team number one has won the second match tieing with team number 16!!!. Moving forward, we will head to the third match!!!]

    As we lost the second match, we will have to send a fighter from our side first. This time they will have the advantage to decide their fighter later.

    "Please allow me to fight in this round," requested Agata and we didn''t have any reason to deny it.

    So the fighter that will be fighting in the third round from our team is----

    [It looks like Miss. Agata will herself fight in this round!!!]

    The crowd erupted in loud cheers as they saw Agata walking down the ring.

    [What do you think duke? who will win this match?]

    [My daughter is a skilled fighter, but that doesn''t mean her victory is guaranteed. In this world, there is always someone better than you. But it''s not a bad thing, cause you can always keep aiming higher.]

    [Wise words Indeed!! Oh, it looks like, while we were talking the team number one has already decided the member that will be fighting against Miss. Agata Werner, that person being Lily!!!]

    Said the commentator as he saw Lily walking down to the ring.

    It is a pretty interesting matchup, both wield air-type power and both have a set of power that is difficult to tackle in a real battle.

    "I want both of the Fighters to take their preferred stance before I toss the coin!." instructed the referee.

    In her hand, Agata held a double-edged straight sword. With her sword, she took a sharp stance.

    The weapon of choice for Lily was a slender and sharply pointed two-edged sword, which was also known as a rapier.

    After making sure both of the fighters have taken their preferred stance. The referee tossed the coin and the match was underway.

    "Wind blast!!"

    Agata started the match with a direct attack as she fired a wind blast towards Lily. But that attack was stopped in its track before it could hit Lily.

    "Wind barrier."

    An invisible air wall that works as defensive magic, it has the great defensive capability to stop incoming attacks. But unlike Rudi''s wind barrier, Lily can''t move her wind barrier with free will.

    "Are you planning to tire me out as you did with your last opponent?" asked Lily.

    "Yes, it was worth a shot. But apparently, it won''t work against you so I will have to change my strategy."

    Said Agata as she was preparing her most troublesome attack, The wind blade.

    With a vertical slash, Agata swung her sword in an empty space.

    "Wind blade, a great offensive attack, and the troublesome part are that you can''t see where the attack is coming from," said Lily, stepping aside she dodged the attack, "But, it is pretty easy to predict where the attack is coming from just by looking at where you are throwing the attack from."

    Following that wind blade, Agata threw more consecutive wind blades at Lily which she was easily able to dodge.

    Agata again raised her sword and swung it down in empty space.

    Lily stepped aside to dodge as she spoke up, "As I said, it is easy to predict----huh?", Lily didn''t complete her sentence as she noticed something was wrong.

    "A feint?" murmured Lily, the recent attack by Agata didn''t have any force to it.

    Wind Blade, an invisible blade that is a pretty troublesome move because you can''t see where it coming from. Not being able to see where it comes from is the main reason why it is easier to fake the attack.

    Before she could recover from the confusion, Lily''s instinct screamed at her to dodge the incoming attack. But it was too late to dodge the attack so she choose to block the attack with her wind barrier.

    "Wind Barrier!"

    Lily formed a wind barrier, but the surprise attack by Agata didn''t give her enough time to properly cast the wind barrier. The wind barrier she was using to defend herself from the incoming wind blade was a half-assed one.

    "Shit," said Lily as her wind barrier broke apart by the force of the wind blade. Pressing against her Wind blade knocked her off.

    Crashing on the ground, she was heavily damaged by the wind barrier that hit her body.

    "One more," said Agata, as she swung her sword in empty air once more.

    Barely recovering from the previous attack, Lily blocked the incoming wind blade with a wind barrier. But it was not enough to stop the wind blade as it pierced through her shield. Another heavy pressure of wind blade hitting against her body, Injured Lily even more.

    She must have suffered a cut on the forehead since she is bleeding heavily, covering most of her face with blood. The way she was holding her arm, in the best-case scenario she must have suffered a muscle strain and in the worst-case scenario, she must have suffered shattered her bones.

    The second wind blade was followed by a third one.

    Lily can''t keep blocking the wind blade by her wind barrier, cause she is the one that is taking the damage. She needs to dodge the attack somehow.

    Apparently, the same thing was running in Lily''s mind as she dodged the incoming wind blade by using a Wind blast on the ground below her, Launching herself away.

    Before landing on the ground, she gathered mana on her palm as she cast a wide range of magic,

    "Whirlwind!!"

    Stirring up the air surrounding air, causing them to move rapidly with her being the vertical axis. The whirlwind is a magic spell that drains a lot of mana because it is a wide-ranged magic spell.

    But the whirlwind casted by Lily was not a powerful one, It was just powerful enough to stir up the ring causing a cloud of dust. The cloud of dust was not dense enough to block someone''s vision.

    So why is she purposefully using whirlwind?

    Without paying much heed to Lily''s sudden move, Agata threw another wind blade----- which Lily was able to dodge -----Pretty easily.

    The light cloud of dust over the ring made it easier to track the incoming Wind blades. Due to the cloud of dust, the wind blade was no longer invisible.

    After quickly dodging the attack, Lily dashed towards Agata with her full speed. The facial expression on Lily''s face made it apparent that she was injured, as she was struggling to keep up her top speed.

    As she saw another wind blade coming her way, she rolled away dodging the incoming wind blade. Quickly getting back to her feet, she continued the dash.

    Dodging several wind blades, Lily was finally at close quarters with Agata. Both of them readied their sword as they swung them at each other.

    But there was one thing that Agata had forgotten. The one thing that was crucial for this match----- that thing was Lily''s power.

    As their sword was near impact, rather than clashing, Lily''s sword went right through Agata''s sword, stoping right before Agata''s throat.

    The thing that Agata had forgotten was Lily''s power, the power that allows her to phase things through physical objects. The power that Lily demonstrated when we first met. Agata had forgotten that information in the heat of this battle and it led to her loss.

    The victor of this battle was apparent, the victor being----

    "By obvious results, the winner, Lily Jung!!!"

    [That was an intense fight!!!! for a moment I thought miss. Agata has won the fight but what a turn of events by Lily Jung!!! with an amazing battle, she had turned the tide of this battle and secured the victory. what is your opinion, Sir Duke?]

    [It was truly an amazing battle, in the heat of the battle I forgot to commentate on the match.] said Duke as he laughed.

    [Yes, I can totally understand that!! even I forgot to commentate for a while!]

    It was truly a wonderful fight. Lily is working hard and it feels good that her hard work is bearing fruit for her.

    Lily was injured, she was breathing heavily as she struggled to stand up. Taking two hits from the wind blade must have done its damage.

    Not being able to stand anymore, she collapsed.

    "You did good, Lily," I said to Lily, I was there to hold her before she could collapse.

    "So you noticed that you were struggling to stand up? You really do look at me!"

    "That''s the thing you say when you are struggling to even breathe?" I replied.

    In recent times, I have noticed a change in me. I have grown to like people with a will of a warrior. It doesn''t matter what gender they are, a person who has a will of a warrior is something that I admire.

    People usually admire existence that is far from what they are and it is the same for me.. I admire warriors but I am not a warrior myself.

 Chapter 72 - 71: Finals(4) Rin Vs Rai.

    [After astounding last match between Agata Werner and Lily Jung, Team number one has secured their second win. They just need to win one more match to win the finals!!!! Team number 16 somehow needs to win the next match or they will lose the finals!!!]

    After the last match, Rin''s team is in the lead as they have won two matches and we have won only one. There are two matches remaining, we will have to win both of the matches to win the finals.

    [Now we will head to the second last match of the finals!!!! As team sixteen has lost the last round they will have to send a fighter from their side. So now, Team number sixteen, which fighter you will send out of the two remaining fighters?!!!]

    "Rai, you want to go?" I asked.

    "No"

    "Why?"

    "I want the spotlight after winning the last round."

    Huh? What''s with that reasoning?

    Usually, I wouldn''t mind going first but now I won''t, I won''t agree with such childish reasoning.

    "I don''t want to go either," I said.

    "You want the spotlight?" she asked.

    "No, I don''t want you to have the spotlight."

    "Such childish reasoning"

    "Don''t want to hear that from you."

    We both sighed before simultaneously saying "Stone    Paper      Scissor",

    "Fine, I will let you have the spotlight."

    "Now now, don''t act so almighty, you are going first because you have lost stone paper scissors."

    [Did they decide the person who will be fighting between them by stone paper scissors? Looks like the pressure of losing two rounds consecutively hasn''t affected them.] said the commentator.

    Adding to what the commentator said, Duke spoke up [That''s a healthy mindset that should be seen in all youngsters. Sometimes it''s important to take it easy.]

    [Walking down the ring, From team number sixteen, She has won all of her matches with raw skills without any use of magic. Her refined sword art is a magnificent sight to see!!! Will she be able to secure the victory for her team?!!! Without further a due I will introduce the fourth fighter of team number 16, Rai!!!!]

    Before the referee could ask which fighter team number one are sending from their side, a fighter was already walking from their side.

    It was unexpected, it thought she would wait till the last match to fight against me. The person who was fighting from team number one''s side was----

    [Oh!!! it looks like team number one has already decided the fighter they will be sending against Rai!!! walking down the ring, The member of team number one, she wields one of the rarest elements known to all creatures, the power of lightning!!. With the power of lightning, she also masters a sword art that can parry any attacks!! The member that will be fighting in the fourth round is!!!! The lightning queen!! Rin]

    Lightning queen, Right? amusing...

    Walking down the ring, Rin stood opposing Rai.

    "I have seen previous fights of that girl named Rai, she is pretty good. But I don''t she has any chance of winning against Rin." said one of the audience.

    "Yeah, the other girl literally wields lightning. I don''t think Rai has any chance against her."

    "Well, it was kind of obvious that team number one would win anyway. But I was hoping for at least a good match-up."

    Before tossing the coin, the referee made sure both of the fighters are in their preferred stance as he said, "I want both of the fighters to take their preferred stance before I toss the coin."

    In her hand, Rin held a single-handed saber, the saber had a moderate curve along the length of the blade.

    The weapon was best suited for her sword style, which was to parry her opponent''s attack smoothly and convert it to her own attack.

    In her hand, Rai held a curved, single-edged blade with a circular guard and a long grip. The sword that Rai held was a type of sword that I have never seen before. It was one of her belonging when I found her in the forest that day.

    She has held on to this sword and trained with it every day, even Rai''s sword style was something I have never seen before. It gave me a feeling that Rai is from a distant land, a land that is far far away from here.

    Actually, she wasn''t holding on to the sword, she didn''t even unsheathe her sword from the scabbard. The scabbard that was holding her sword was strapped in a piece of cloth that she wore around her waist.

    "Now that both of the competitors are ready, I will toss the coin." said the referee before tossing the coin.

    After reaching the apex point, the coin started falling down to the earth. With the sound of  "cling," the match was underway.

    Rai carefully closed the distance between her and Rin. She still didn''t unsheathe her sword, rather she held on to the hilt of the unsheathed sword.

    Rin also slowly closed the distance holding on to her sword.

    Carefully placing one foot at a time they moved closer to each other.

    "Why haven''t you unsheathing your sword? are you not taking me seriously?" asked Rin.

    "This is my sword style" replied Rai.

    With a quick step, Rin quickly closed the distance between them and swung her sword aiming at Rai.

    Unsheathing her sword, Rai deflected Rin''s sword with one fine swing.

    "Your reaction time, it''s good. It is on par with Grey''s reaction time."

    After deflecting Rin''s sword, Rai quickly swung her sword clashing with Rin''s sword.

    "You had a fight with Grey?"

    "Yes, sword fight."

    Rai stepped back as she spoke up,

    "Then you must have won the fight."

    "Why do you think that?" asked Rin.

    "Because Grey''s is not trained in using a sword. His main weapon of choice is polearm and greatsword."

    Rai readied her blade as she pointed it towards Rin, "Well then let''s continue our fight."

    They both dashed towards each other as they clashed their swords. Overpowering Rai, Rin pushed Rai back as she deflected her sword.

    Rai took a step back, But she was forced to block another attack by Rin. Parrying Rin''s sword away, Rai buried her elbow into Rin''s abdomen.

    With a sudden hit to the abdomen, Rin was forced to step back and so did Rai. After regaining their composure, both of the fighters again rushed at each other.

    Upon reaching a certain distance Rai swung her sword in a horizontal slash, which Rin was able to block off with a smooth parry, and before Rai knew it her sword was away from her body, leaving her defenseless.

    Taking advantage, Rin thrust her sword aiming straight at Rai which she barely dodged. Actually calling it to dodge would be wrong, What Rai did was change the direction of the thrust by just redirecting it by hitting lightly with her sword.

    The specialty of Rai''s sword art was that she uses a minimal set of movements to fight, which helps her block and attack more efficiently.

    Rin''s fighting style is a troublesome one because she can parry mostly any attack and counter it with her own. But the most suited enemy for this style was Rai''s sword art.

    Due to Rai''s minimal set of movements, she is able to block off Rin''s counterattack even if she gets parried.

    They exchanged forty-one further attacks in which both of them were able to deal small cuts to each other, but it wasn''t any serious damage. They both were evenly matched.

    Rin was able to block any attack with her smooth parries and retaliate with her own fluid counterattack. Rai was able to effectively block and attack with her minimal set of movements.

    Well, I think "Eventually matches" is not the proper way to put it. Even though both of them haven''t dealt any serious blow to each other, they are not evenly matched.

    Constant nonstop exchange of attacks has worn Rin out, mentally and physically. With heavy breaths, she held her sword tightly.

    Whereas Rai''s movement was still calm and collected. She didn''t show any sign of being tired, she was as composed as she was at the beginning of the match.

    Rai''s swordsmanship doesn''t have any unnecessary movements. She moves only when it requires her to attack or defend herself and even then she uses a minimal set of movements to get her job done.

    But with each parry, Rin was getting closer to doing some actual damage to Rai, and eventually, it happened----

    The moment where being close quarters both of them clashed swords and Rin was fluidly able to parry the attack moving Rai''s sword away from her body, making her wide open. With a quick movement, Rin thrust her sword which grazed the side of Rai''s arm.

    Blood poured out of the cut that was formed on Rai''s arm, which streamed down falling down to the ground through her fingertips.

    Rin stepped back to get some distance but taking the advantage of the situation Rin dashed towards Rai throwing another attack.. But Rai was able to block this attack and counter-attack by striking her feet on Rin''s abdomen, pushing her away.

 Chapter 73 - 72: Finals(5) Rin Vs Rai.

    After being kicked, Rin was forced to step away from Rai.

    Rai quickly regained her composure, ignoring her bleeding arm. Dashing forward, Rai closed the distance between her and Rin.

    Holding tight to her sword, Rai prepared for a right horizontal slash. It was an obvious attack, an easy one to predict.

    Even Rin had predicted the incoming attack, raising her sword she prepared to block the attack.

    "Why are hitting me with such predictable attacks? I thought you were better than this," said Rin, disappointed.

    "Sorry to disappoint you."

    Stepping back, Rai again readied her sword for another vertical slash from the right. Rin again raised her sword preparing to block the attack.

    "Like I said, It is easy to predict---"

    In an instant, there was a flash. A flash of sword grazed the side of Rin''s cheek. It was an attack that Rin saw coming and yet she couldn''t stop it. Blood welled up on the cut that was caused by the sword.

    Before she could realize what was happening, Another flash of the sword came in her way. This time it was a horizontal slash that she couldn''t dodge.

    "Guh!"  groaned Rin in pain, as she held her bleeding arm.

    The flash of the sword was the tremendous speed of Rai''s attack. It was at a different speed than that she attacked earlier. The speed at which Rai swung her blade was almost inhumane, it was at a different level than the attacks she was throwing earlier.

    Before Rai could throw any other attack, Rin knocked her away using a water ball. Being knocked off the Rai crashed on the ground.

    "Who thought you to use the sword?" asked Rin.

    "A god," answered Rin.

    "If you don''t want to answer my question, then just say so."

    "You don''t believe me, do you?" laughed Rai.

    This is the first time I am receiving this information.

    A god thought her how to use the sword? interesting.....

    {Author: I will touch more upon gods later on. But gods are important for the further plot.}

    "You are good, you are really good. As frustrating it is to admit it, but I can''t deny the fact that you are better than me at swordsmanship.", with a little chuckle she continued "I can''t win by just relying on the sword, that''s why I am going to use magic."

    Rin''s eye shone brightly in a shade of blue with a hint of yellow in it. She gathered mana in her hand,

    "Water ball."

    She shot a giant water ball in the sky. After reaching a certain height the water ball exploded and fell back on the ring as drops of rain. The little droplets of water fell throughout the ring moistening the surrounding air.

    Rin is using the same move she used against Rudi,

    [Oh, the electric queen is preparing for her final move!!!!!! Rai should stop her before she could paralyze her with electricity.]

    [But why Rai is not moving from her place, she is just standing there and letting her opponent make her move.] questioned Duke.

    [I think it''s too late to stop Rin now, the electric queen will release her spark and paralyze Rai. Rai did put in a great fight, I really thought she was the one that will win this match. But I think this is it!.]

    As Rin stood firm, sparks of electricity enveloped her. Stabbing her sword to the ground, a sudden discharge of electricity was released towards Rai.

    "You should try to dodge this." Said Rin.

    [Yes!!!! This is the lighting attack I was talking about!!! I think this will be the ending move of the match!!! I mean, how Rai is going to win against a lighting attack?]

    Yes, how a mortal would hope to win against lighting?

    In the face of divine lighting, how can a normal person possibly win?

    A normal spark of lighting can''t outshine the brilliance of real thunder...

    In an instant, before the spark of electricity was going to touch Rai''s feet, An blinding radiance shined across the ring.

    With a flash of lightning, Rai appeared in front of Rin in an instant.

    "The electricity of such degree won''t have any effect on me.",

    Her eye shone brightly in the shade of red with a hint of purple lighting leaking out of her eyes, this purple lighting was engulfed around her whole body.

    "Due to obvious results, the winner, Rai!!!" Announced referee.

    [What?!! Huh?!! What?!!! What?!! What happened?!?? One moment Rin was attacking with her lighting attack and the next moment whole ring was covered a blinding radiance, the moment after that Rai has instantly disappeared from her place and was standing in front of Rin with her sword pointing towards her throat?!!!]

    Yes, Rai had won the match. This was just her raw speed, isn''t she terrifying.

    "A monster" would be an accurate way to describe her and her ability. When she wields thunder, it looks like she is one with the thunder. That''s what makes her really dangerous.

    I believe that she is not a normal human. But I have no business knowing what her origin is since I and her will take different paths eventually.

    "You were holding your power back all this time?" asked Rin.

    "Not really, I don''t prefer using my power since it takes a toll on my body," said Rai as she walked away, but before walking out of the ring, she stopped.

    Turning back to face Rin, Rai spoke up, "My power is just flashy, it won''t guarantee me victory. Today after fighting against you I have grown more sure about that fact.", With a little pause, Rai continued, "It was a great fight, I nearly lost against you. It might not be an exaggeration to say that I might have grown to respect you, after.", A smile curved up Rai''s lips as she said that.

    "I want to again fight against you in the future!!" replied Rin.

    "The feeling is the same, let''s fight again."

    Damn, warriors showing respect to each other. The only weird thing is that Rai and Rin are the people that are showing respect to each other.

    Were they capable of showing respect to anyone? Cause I can''t remember a second without Rin giving me a death threat and I can''t remember a second without Rai ridiculing me.

    [After an unexpected turn of events, Team number sixteen have won the fourth match. With this victory, team number sixteen has tied their score to team number one. For a second I thought Team number one would win this year''s competition. But they have made their comeback in the finals!!! So the results of the finals will be decided by the last match!!!]

    With the following announcement, the crowd erupted into loud cheers.

    Adding to what the commentator said, Duke added [This final keeps on getting interesting, it''s been a while since I have been this excited.]

    Now that we have won the second last round, we have tied our score with team number one.

    [Now without further a due, I will introduce the last two fighters who will be fighting in the finals!!!!. From team number one, the one who had finished all his matches in just one hit!!. Now the main question is, will he finish the last match in one hit too? Walking down the ring, From team number one, The highness, the successor of hero Alice!!!! Otis Ormr!!!!]

    The introduction by the commentator resulted in loud roar among the spectators as they cheered.

    As his name was called, Otis triumphantly walked into the ring. Raising his hand he waved at the crowd, which result in even loud cheers than before.

    He sure is loved, I mean he is considered the "successor of hero Alice".

    [From team number sixteen, with his excellent performance throughout the tournament he made his way to the finals!!! In his first match, he secured himself a brutal victory, a victory that made him a hero against common people!!! I am excited to see what kind of fight does this fighter put''s up against the prince. The last member of team number sixteen, he is also known as the Bleeding Ashed on the Goldberg City!!! Grey!!!!]

    It was finally my turn to walk into the ring. I have already summoned a snake polearm before entering the arena since I wanted to fight with my polearm in the last fight.

    Holding on to my polearm, I walked into the ring. I could hear the cheers of the people, are they cheering for me?

    {Author note: till volume three, I have been introducing all the important characters related to the story. But after volume three, the story will take the proper pace and I will start writing the main story. I have many exciting things planned for the future and I also hope that you have been liking the book up until now :)))

    For the hint of the future story: "A boy who will wage war against the gods"

    For this purpose, I have been introducing various characters that will play major roles AND THANKS FOR READING MY BOOK UP UNTIL NOW :))))))}

 Chapter 74 - 73: Finals(6) Grey Vs Otis.

    (Third person Pov)

    as his name was introduced, Grey walked into the ring. Holding his polearm he stood opposing Otis.

    "Didn''t you use a sword in all other matches?" asked Otis.

    "Yes, I did."

    "Then why change your weapon? do you think that fighting me will be that easy, that you can try new weapons while fighting me?" Asked Otis.

    Grey felt a slight pressure weighing down on him. When he looked at Otis''s eyes he found out the source of the pressure,

    ''He is using those eyes on me, is he trying to intimidate me?''

    {Author: The people of Ormr blood can paralyze their opponent for a second just by looking at them. They can also cause instability in their opponent''s mana and put heavy pressure on them by just looking at them. There are very few Ormr bloodline people that can use all three effects at the same time.}

    Otis was trying to put heavy pressure on Grey.

    Doing an arm-stretching exercise, Grey spoke up, "It''s been a while since I have used polearm against someone. So, I thought today is a great day to use it."

    Veins popped on Otis''s forehead, but more than angry he was confused. Confused about the fact that why putting pressure is doing nothing against Grey.

    "You will regret experimenting with new weapons on me." Laughed Otis with a hint of ridicule in it.

    "Before I toss the coin, I want both of the fighters to take their preferred stance," instructed Referee.

    Holding in his hand, Otis held a polearm that consisted of a heavy blade at one end of the long pole. It was a weapon that was best suited for disarming enemies or dealing heavy blows to them, along with that the blade works great in finishing off the enemies.

    Holding tight, Otis took an aggressive stance.

    In his hand, Grey held a polearm. The weapon consisted of a metal pole with a slender double-edged blade at the end of the polearm. Holding firm, Grey took a defensive stance.

    [Both of the fighters have taken their stance, at any moment we will witness the grand finals match of the day!!!]

    "Now that both of the fighters have taken their stance, I will toss the coin," said Referee before tossing the coin.

    Every person in the arena waited for the coin to fall down, their eyes fixed on the coin. Falling down to the ground coin made a "Clink" sound.

    The sound of the coin hitting the ground was followed by the sudden dash by Otis, with a quick dash he was in front of Grey.

    Readying his polearm, he prepared an attack from the right. With one strong swing, Otis attacked with a horizontal slash from the right. It was exact same set of moves that he had used against his previous opponent.

    To stop the incoming attack, Grey blocked it with his polearm. But due to the force of the polearm, he was sent flying. Due to the sudden force, Grey crashed onto the wall of the arena.

    The force at which Grey crashed onto the wall, broke it. The dust due to broken walls scattered across the area where Grey was crashed into.

    [Oh no!!!!! just like that, the match has ended!!!! Otis Ormr has ended the match with one move, once again!!!! I thought at least Bleeding ashed would have survived an attack from the prince, But I was wrong!!! with this one blow, the winner has been decided!!]

    [I don''t think the match is over.] Objected the duke.

    "Due to knock out, the winner, Otis----" before the referee could announce the victor a voice interrupted him.

    "Now now, let''s not be so hasty the match has just started," said Grey as he walked out of the broken wall, dusting his clothes off.

    Besides the dust on his clothes, there wasn''t any visible injury by crashing onto the wall.

    [What?!!!! Grey walked out of the broken wall unscathed!!!! Taking a direct hit didn''t knock him off!!!! This match is getting more and more interesting.] exclaimed commentator.

    [Weren''t you the one that said the match is already decided.] chuckled Duke.

    Looking at the site of Grey walking unscathed put Otis in a state of shock, His shock turned into laughter as he spoke up,

    "Interesting, Truly interesting."

    Pointing his weapon at Grey, He continued "At this very moment, I acknowledge you as my opponent."

    "I am honored." chuckled Grey

    After a brief moment of silence. Both of the fighters rushed at each other, clashing their weapon. being overpowered, Otis was pushed back.

    Trying to create a distance between them, Otis tried to strike his foot aiming at Grey. Dodging the incoming kick, Grey burrowed his elbow inside Otis''s shoulder.

    Being hit on the shoulder forced him to step back.

    Grey didn''t pursue Otis any further and held his ground. After recovering from the hit, Otis dashed further as he readied his polearm for a vertical slash. He had boasted his physical strength even further using his venomous factor

    His polearm clashed with Grey''s, Knocking Grey''s polearm back. Taking advantage, Otis threw another attack at Grey.

    But before he could swing his polearm, Grey caught his polearm and struck him with a kick in the abdomen. Being knocked back, Otis crashed to the ground.

    After crashing on the ground, Otis quickly regained his footstep and threw another attack at Grey. blocking his attack, Grey threw an attack of his own.

    This exchange of blows kept on going for a while.

    Clashing on to each other''s weapons they tried to push each other back. Taking advantage of the close quarters, Otis sneakily gathered mana in his hand.

    Condensing a fireball, Otis shot it at Grey, trying to take him off guard.

    "Fireball!"

    Moving his head away, Grey dodged the incoming fireball, as if he had already known that a fireball was coming at his way.

    ''He shouldn''t have known that I was going to throw a fireball at him, yet he dodged it effortlessly. At this close distance, it is nearly impossible to dodge a fireball, and yet he was able to doge it as if he had already seen it coming.'' was Otis''s line of thought.

    Further exchanging more moves, the match went on for a while with no definite victor emerging among them.

    "You are pretty adept at using a polearm, why did you say that you are new at it?" asked Otis as he stepped back.

    Taking a step back, Grey opened his mouth saying, "I never said that I was new at using polearm."

    Taking a deep sight, Grey continued, "We are fighting for a while, let''s end the match now."

    "Yeah, even I have started to feel a little tired."

    After a little talk, both of them continued their fight. With a prolonged fight, a smile curved up on both of the fighters.

    [Why are they smiling?] asked the commentator, his question was directed towards Duke. But his question was not answered with any reply.

    Turning his head to face duke, he saw Duke smiling, he was thoroughly soaked into the fight. After a while, Duke opened his mouth,

    [You asked, why they are smiling right? the reason is simple. They are truly enjoying the fight, both of the fighters are just living each moment of the fight.

    The part of growing older comes with a lot of responsibility. Fulfilling their personality, a person forgets about what truly makes them happy. The feeling of doing what you love is forgotten as a person grows up.

    Looking at these two fightings had brought back the feeling that I once thought was dead. Even a grown man like me can''t help but feel excited at the sight of these two young men living their life, Giving their all in this one fight.

    I don''t want to look away, I can''t look away..... I am glad that I have hosted a competition like this.]

    Being struck with the blunt side of the polearm, Otis was forced to step back.

    Gripping tight, Grey held his polearm, ''I should end this now.'' thought Grey. Dashing forward Grey swung his polearm,

    ''Rin''s word style fascinates me, I can''t help but stare at Rin whenever she fights with her sword.'' thought Grey as he clashed his polearm with Otis''s polearm.

    ''Isn''t that fluid motion where she knocks enemies'' swords off with a smooth parry really awesome?''

    With a smooth circular motion, Grey swung his polearm.

    Rin who was watching from the side was astonished, as she said "Isn''t it my ----"

    With a smooth circular fluid motion, Grey parried Otis polearm away, leaving him wide open.

    "----my move."

    Taking advantage of Otis being wide open, Grey swung his polearm, stopping his polearm right before Otis''s throat.

    "Due to definite result, the winner of the match, Grey!!!"

    The winner of the match was decided.

    Grey turned his head to look at Rin as he shot a bring smile. The smile didn''t contain any ridicule, it was just a pure warm smile.

    A smile that Rin has seen first time on Grey''s face. Rin didn''t think that he was capable of such expression. It caught her off-guard, a brief warm sensation wrapped around Rin''s heart.

    Shooting a smile back, Rin said "It was a great move!."

    This brief exchange of emotion was their last since Rin left the city immediately after the match. But it was inevitable, the inevitable future where Grey and Rin worked under the same organization as a team.

    In an even more distant future, a future where Rin and Rai worked as a team, a future where they entered a hidden nation and became disciples of A god.

 Chapter 75 - 74: Brothers

    (Otis POV)

    I was four years old when I first met her, my hero.

    She is considered the hero of our nation and also she was said to be the strongest warrior among all the nations. But I simply considered it bullshit.

    I mean, who could be stronger than my father. My father was the strongest person I have seen. A strength that is unmatched by anyone in this kingdom. For me, my father was the strongest person ever.

    But my father always used to say "A person is never truly the strongest, there is always someone better than you. But that''s what makes it more exciting, you can keep aiming higher to get stronger."

    I didn''t understand his words at all, what is fun in knowing that there is someone stronger than you?

    When I first met her, I showed obvious hostility towards her. I even argued that she is not stronger than my dad. But in contrast to my hostility, My dad was really happy to see her. He looked like a little brother who was meeting her big sister after a long time.

    I mean, she is my dad''s big sister.

    I urged them to spar with each other, I wanted to prove that my dad is stronger. Even my dad wanted to spar with her.

    The result of the spar was a devastating loss, but my dad wasn''t disappointed, what I saw was a different sight,

    "Big sister, I improved right?!!!" asked my dad to Aunt Alice, he was excited.

    "Yes, you have!!! where did you learn that move?!! teach me!!" replied Aunt Alice as she patted my dad''s head. My dad looked really really happy, being praised by his big sister made him this happy?

    So this is what having someone stronger to look up to means... I want to look up to someone too.....I want to be happy, just like my dad.....

    I looked toward Aunt Alice as I said, "Aunt, I will be one day as stronger as you!!!"

    Both, my aunt and my dad was shocked by my sudden declaration, But later they both burst into laughter,

    "Isn''t he just like me?" said my dad.

    "I remember you saying the same thing to me when we were little," said Aunt Alice, she turned to look at me as she placed her hand over my little head,  "I am looking forward to that. You will surely become stronger than me, you have the potential in you!!."

    "Yes, I will!!!" I replied, excitedly. The words that came out of her mouth made me really happy.

    "By the way, I have a little son who is just about your age. You and he can compete with each other to see who is the strongest. You both can keep competing with each other, but never fight for real against each other since you both are brothers!." said Aunt Alice.

    "Brother..." I murmured.

    "Good for you!! you have a brother to compete with." said my dad with a big smile on his face.

    "Yes, I have a brother!!"

    After that, Aunt left and went back to her house. I trained each day and waited for the day when I will meet my brother. I can''t wait for the day when I will get to fight against him.

    I was excited to find out what kind of person my brother was. That was the thing I looked forward to each day.

    Until one day, four years later, I entered my dad''s room. I wanted to ask him to practice with me.

    But when I entered the room, he was seated in his bed, his face had a serious expression. An expression I have never seen before on his face.

    "Dad are you okay?" I asked.

    Hearing my voice, he looked up towards me, He opened his mouth to speak, the following words that came out of his mouth were something I wasn''t ready to hear.

    "Otis, My sister," his voice broke as he continued "You Aunt is dead.",

    Tears welled up in his eyes as he continued "My niece, Your Brother, is dead."

    "Huh?" I questioned, I couldn''t comprehend what he was saying. No, I did understand what he said, I just didn''t want to accept it.

    Tears flowed out of my eyes, "Huh, why am I crying? I only met her a few times. Why are tears flowing out of my eyes, when I haven''t even met my brother yet? "

    I tried to wipe my tears off, but it was replaced with more, "Dad, I have met my aunt a few times and I have ever met my brother. But then, why... why am I feeling so sad?" my voice broke apart.

    My dad embraced me in a hug, as he cried louder. Even I couldn''t stop my cries...

    "My hero..."

    After that day, I trained even harder. But, there was nothing to look forward to. Day by day I couldn''t shake off my emptiness.

    I started questioning, what was I training for?

    But now, I fought a boy. A boy who was insanely strong...

    As the fight proceeded, I was more sure that I can''t beat this boy. He was on another level.

    But, instead of feeling sad, I was feeling a different feeling. The feeling of excitement, the same excitement that I have felt that day when I saw Aunt Alice fighting with my dad. the feeling I thought I was never going to feel again.

    The way he uses his polearm, it was as if I was fighting with Aunt Alice herself. If Aunt Alice''s son, my brother would had been alive, he would have been just like him.

    I want to get stronger and fight with this person again!!. I want to treasure this feeling and keep working harder to beat the person standing in front of me.

    The winner was decided, I opened my mouth to speak up "I have lost, it was a great match.".

    I paused for a second to gather the courage to say the following line, "I want to fight again with you!! I will get stronger in the future and I will beat you!!! and--- and please be my--- brother!!"

    It was a weird thing to ask, Now that I think about it. I want to die!!!

    "Sure!! we can be brothers" replied Grey.

    huh? so I have a brother that I can look up to now?

    I couldn''t help as a smile formed on my lips.

    So training hard all this time was not for nothing.....

    74-2

    (Grey''s POV)

    [What a great end to a fantastic final!!!!! I still can''t believe it!! Goodness!!! With consecutive two victories, Team number sixteen have secured their victory in the finals!!! A comeback that I have least expected.]

    The whole arena was going wild with cheers and roars.

    [Sir Duke, do you have anything to say?] asked the Commentator.

    [Yes, I am beyond satisfied with how the tournament turned out to be. It was an excellent tournament, the most entertaining thing I have seen in a while. I have made my decision, we will hold a tournament like this every year!!]

    With the following announcement by the Duke, the crowd erupted into even louder cheers.

    The duke continued, [And I have eyes on some competitor that I want to nurture personally, with proper guidance they will turn into great warriors.]

    Walking back to my team, I spoke up,

    "We have won."

    "Yes, I saw" replied Idiot A.

    "Then why aren''t we celebrating?" I asked,

    "Because I had believed that you would win," replied Rai,

    "Stop lying, you wouldn''t believe me with shit."

    "I wanted to sound cool," admitted Rai.

    "I didn''t celebrate because I have a reserved personality and I would feel weird to celebrate suddenly." Answered Lora.

    That actually makes sense.

    "I have never won anything in my life. I am so used to being the loser that I have forgotten what''s it like to be a winner and now I don''t know how to react," said Idiot A, His explanation makes me feel bad about him.

    I placed my hand on his shoulder as I spoke up, "I feel you friend."

    On another side, Agata raised both of his hands as she demanded "Yay high five!!."

    I gave her a high five back saying, "Yay, High five!!". At least someone among us is celebrating.

    "My brother asked you to be his brother right?" asked Lora.

    "Yes."

    "Please don''t feel weird about it, my brother had lost his brother in past. Well, they never met. But he looked forward to meeting him, but when he found out that he was dead, it broke him. I am glad that he had found the person he was looking for. I don''t know if it''s fate or coincidence that he had considered you as his brother"

    Funny coincidence, the brother that he had thought was dead and the new brother he had made is the same person.

    "Well one way or another, he would have become your brother anyways, since you will become my husband in the future," she said, throwing a wink at me.

    Women, Don''t decide my marriage without asking me first.

 Chapter 76 - 75: Moon Glitter Shop.

    After winning the finals, the next day, our team was called to collect our prizes from the moon glitter shop.

    Moon glitter shop is just an extension of the adventure guild. Basically, the moon glitter shop works under the adventure guild. The artifact, rare herbs, mana core of monster, and various different things that are collected by the adventure guild are sold in the moon glitter shop.

    Of course, the adventure guild of the whole Amay nation is a single company.

    The moon glitter shop was situated right beside the adventure guild. Upon first look, one might say that the structure of the moon glitter shop looked like an offspring structure of an adventure guild.

    As we reached the gates of the moon glitter shop. We were greeted and were escorted inside. The first thing we saw was a huge hall that kind of looked like a waiting room. Few people were seated in the waiting hall.

    Some were reading a catalog, it was most probably a catalog for a list of things that are available in the shop.

    Near the counter, there was a receptionist waiting for us.

    "Your majesty, it''s an honor to have you have in our shop." said the receptionist lady as she kneeled downed in front of Lora.

    "Oh, please don''t, I am just one of the princesses of the nation, not the queen. So there is no need to kneel before me,"

    "It''s also an honor to have warriors like you all in our shop, we formally greet you in our shop." said the receptionist as she turned to face us.

    "And, it''s nice to meet you, miss. Agata." greeted the receptionist.

    "It''s nice to meet you too," said Agata as she greeted her back.

    We were later told to follow the receptionist somewhere. Following her, she lead us into an exhibition room, where there were many artifacts on display.

    "This is the room that contains all the S rank artifacts, well there is more room. You guy''s can look through the catalog and see if you like anything. I was told that Duke will come here himself after a while, till then you guys can look around."

    Under the glass casing, the room was filled with many types of different artifacts.

    I have already asked Rai that if she would get Amrit fruit as her prize since there was something that I wanted. At first, she didn''t agree, but later after knowing the thing that I wanted, she agreed.

    I stood beside Lora, she was browsing through the Magecite section,

    "Did you find anything you like?" I asked.

    {Author: Magecite is a mana condensed rock, that has the ability to amplify a mage''s power. But each Magecite has a different level of compatibility with different people. So, it''s important to pick the right Magecite that is compatible with you.}

    "Yes, this Magecite, isn''t it beautiful?" she replied, pointing towards a crimson magecite that had a hint of purple in it.

    The crimson rock displayed a spectral change of color when looked at from different angles. The shade of red was fierier towards the center of the stone. The core of the stone was in the color of Lilac purple.

    From one look anyone could tell that this magecite existed to be used by a fire-type mage.

    "Your majesty, do you want to hold it? to see if this stone is resonating with you are not?" asked the receptionist.

    "Yes, please."

    The receptionist took out the crimson stone and handed it to Lora.

    This is the process to see if a mage is compatible with a given Magecite stone. Different magecite has different reactions on initial contact with the user.

    As the crimson stone was placed in Lora''s hand, the stone illuminated in strong fiery red shade. The aura emitted by the stone closely resembled a blazing fire.

    "Good for you, it seems to resonate with you," I said, shooting a smile at her.

    "Not only that sir, but I have also rarely seen a stone resonate with someone this much. It looked as if this stone was created just for the purpose of being used by your majesty." added the receptionist lady.

    "I like this, I will take this!!." decided Lora.

    So, Lora has decided what she will take. Apparently, Agata and Idiot A have also decided what S rank item they will take.

    The item Agata took was a zephyr flute, Playing it helps a wind user to resonate and understand wind better.

    Idiot A has decided to take some kind of black jacket that apparently has a great armor effect and some other mana amplifying the effect. This jacket was woven by the silk of colossus Araneae, a breed of spider that has crazy strong webs.

    I can''t deny the fact that the jacket is kind of cool.

    "Nice jacket, can I try it on?" I asked.

    "I know right!! sure, you can try it on!!" said Idiot A, excited as he handed me the jacket.

    "How do I look?" I asked as I wore the jacket.

    "You look good!! why don''t you get a jacket like me? we will look cool together."

    I denied him, saying that I had already decided on the artifact that I wanted to get.

    *Grey* a certain voice called out to me. She has been awfully quiet for a long time, but why is calling me now.

    It was the voice of demoness Ami who was residing inside of me.

    ''What?'' i said. Of course, I didn''t say it out loud.

    *I sense my son''s mana from around here.*

    ''You son?''

    *Can you show me the catalog?* she asked.

    Complying with her request, I scanned through a list of things in the catalog. As I reached page five,

    *Yes, this!! so this was here.*

    ''What are you talking about?''

    *Do you see that thing named Afreet liquid? it originally belonged to my son. Since you have already decided the thing you will take, I won''t tell you to buy that liquid. But can you at least let me see that liquid once more?"

    It was a request that I couldn''t deny even if I wanted to. I think I can be reasonable enough to at least have a look at her son''s past belonging.

    I called out to the receptionist and asked her to show me this Afreet Liquid, for some reason I was given a weird looked when I asked her about the Efreet Liquid. The look she gave me was more like a ''That''s new'' look.

    She led me into a room that looked like a storage room,

    "When you asked me about Afreet liquid, I was confused for a second. I have been working here for years and there were times when customers asked me to show this liquid. But they quickly decided to not buy this liquid and I can''t blame them since even I don''t know what this liquid is used for. It is said to be the only artifact that is still in the moon glitter shop since its foundation and it''s been couple hundred years since the foundation of moon glitter shop."

    Walking down the aisle of the storage room, she continued "I belong to the fennec race."

    I couldn''t hide my surprise as I said "Oh,"

    That explains her short height.....

    {Author: Fennec is a race of people that are known for their short height, average male height being five feet and average female height being 4.6 feet. For the most part, they look like a normal human, except for long fox ears and bushy tails. }

    She took off her cap, revealing a set of long ears. I kinda want to see her tail, I really want to see her tail!

    "So, my people have this saying that every object also has a spirit. So in our houses, we don''t keep any type of showpiece like a sword, since it would be rude for the sword to put it in a show case rather than using it. Every object has a will, it wants to be used. It is the responsibility of the user to use it properly."

    Adding to what she said, I opened my mouth, "So you are basically saying that this liquid is waiting to be used for hundreds of years. If I see it like that, I feel bad about the liquid."

    "Exactly. But, I also think that this artifact is very prideful since it refuses to resonate with anyone and it''s been hundreds of years."

    After reaching the end of the aisle, she told me to wait as she searches for the liquid. As I was waiting I was joined by the duke.

    "It''s a great pleasure to meet you, sir duke," I said, Greeting the duke.

    "Such a respectful kid! it''s rare to sight to see!! are you looking for something here?" asked Duke.

    "Yes, Afreet liquid," I answered

    "Afreet liquid?" asked Duke, confused.

    "Sir, it''s an old artifact that has been here since the foundation of this shop and we still haven''t found a person that would want to buy this artifact. " Said the little fox receptionist as she was searching for the liquid.

    "Oh, that''s why I do not know of it."

    "Yes, and we have decided to throw it away with other defective artifacts at the end of this month."

 Chapter 77 - 76: False Grudge.

    "You guys are throwing it away?" I asked.

    "yes," replied the receptionist as she was still searching for the liquid.

    "If you are throwing it away, can you give it to me? of course, I am not asking for it for free, I will pay for it. But I can only afford to pay a ----" before I could complete my sentence,

    "I found it!!" said the receptionist as she picked up the little tube of liquid.

    The little tube had a liquid that was deep blue in color. But it was not simple as just being deep blue, it was as if the liquid was night sky itself.

    "Can I hold it?" I asked. I didn''t have any interest initially, but now it felt as if it was the right thing to hold it.

    My instincts, every body part of my body, it felt as if they wanted me to touch that liquid.

    "Sure." replied the receptionist, handing the tube to me.

    "It''s hot," I said.

    "Are you sure? it was cold when I handed it to you."

    huh? it was cold? why does it keep getting hotter and hotter? with a sudden violent shake, the glass broke apart as the liquid seeped into my skin.

    following that, my leg became weak as I dropped onto my knees. My vision was getting hazy, I struggled to not lose my consciousness.

    But, eventually, my vision blacked out. Rather than blacking out, it was replaced with something else. It was replaced with a set of memories that were not mine.

    The little demon boy was excited as her mother was teaching him magic to hide his horns. apparently, he had a hard time getting along with other mortal creatures due to the horns on his forehead.

    Every time the demon tried to befriend a mortal, they would always run away or throw rocks at him. some church men''s even tried to capture him. They raised their blade to behead him. The little boy didn''t understand, he didn''t understand that why would someone hate him that much? He wonder that did he do something wrong?

    But before they could behead him, he was rescued by his mother. Later she burned the church to the ground. Why did they have to die? why did they want to kill me? why the world is so cruel?

    giving up on this world, the boy shut himself from the world. He lived a life devoid of any connection, he didn''t want to hurt anyone anymore.

    The boy continued to live his life devoid of any relation until he met a human boy. The curious little boy was kind to the demon boy. The demon boy was happy that he had finally gotten someone that he could be his friend.

    Later he found more and more friends, people were less scared of him. he was finally happy.

    that all came to an end as a certain entity decided to kill the little demon''s first human friend. People who were blinded by the faith in that entity, the humans never questioned the actions of the entity killing the human.

    "The almighty ones would never do anything wrong" was their reasoning, even the dead human''s family believed the same. They naturally believed that the entity had killed that human because he had befriended a demon. Just like that the demon boy again lost all of his friends, the worse part was the mortal creature again started looking at him with the look that they are looking at a monster.

    The boy had lost everything again. But this time the things he had lost were much bigger than that of last time, with that came an even bigger emptiness. To fill the emptiness, the demon boy swore revenge against that entity that had killed the human boy.

    Killing those entities was a foolish dream, even the demon boy knew that. But after years of research, he couldn''t find a single way to kill that entity. But his research wasn''t without fruit.

    Traveling to a different land, he met different people. The boy witnessed the life of people and how those entities had impacted their life. The original object of revenge was changed with a new objective. The objective is to free people from the entities.

    With years of research and training, he had found himself in the pinnacle of all creatures. He had become the strongest.

    There was a way, a way to seal that entity. But the mana required for that was an amount that no creature could possibly possess.

    Using all his mana, the demon boy finally managed to seal one entity. the entity that ruled over that nation of Amay.

    But the act of sealing the entity used up all his mana and most of his life force. From the strongest creature, he had become to most fragile creature.

    With a weak body, he had spent most of his life. Until one day, the day that demon boy knew would come.

    Those entities stood in front of him,

    "You were the one that sealed death?" asked one of the entities.

    "Yes." replied the demon, he wore a proud smile on his face.

    To his reply, the entities burst into laughter,

    "You have only sealed him for a thousand years, that means nothing to us. We are being that has the sole purpose of ruling over all mortal creatures. A mortal struggle is a trivial matter for us. Well, you were a creature brave enough to be able to seal one of us. Even though he was a lesser one, but it''s still a big feat nonetheless. So, acknowledging your bravery we will give you the privilege of the last word and a simple death"

    The demon didn''t have the last word, he was still processing the fact that his life work was just a trivial matter for them. He questioned that ''was my life for nothing?''.

    But as he closed his eyes, accepting his death, he received a certain revelation.

    "I understand now." the demon murmured.

    The demon couldn''t help but laugh, "So my life''s purpose, the journey I have been through, everything, it was all to set the stage for his story. He will carry on my journey and my purpose, he will be the one that will bring the demise of gods."

    "Did this mortal lose his mind? did the fear of dying had made him lose his mind?" questioned another entity.

    Without paying heed to what they are saying, the demon continued, "I know you both are watching this moment."

    As a smile curved up his lips, the demon continued, "Mom, I know you are watching, I am glad I got to talk to you in my last moment. I want you to know that you were the greatest mother I could get. Sorry, sorry for being such a bad son. Thanks!! for being my mom.

    Grey, so your name is Grey. I will be watching your story from above since you are me and I am you."

    Huh? was he talking to me?

    Whose memories was this?

    I could hear the distant sound of someone calling my name, the sound becoming louder with each second.

    "Grey! Grey!!!" called out duke to me,

    "Huh?" I said out loud, confused.

    "You are finally responding. why are you crying, is everything okay?" asked Duke.

    Now that he mentions it, there are tears in my eyes. My cheeks were soaked with tears. But they were not my tears, it was demoness Ami''s tears, I am sure of it.

    "Huh? I am crying?"

    "Are you okay?" asked the receptionist.

    Holding my head, I spoke up,

    "I just remembered blacking out, then the next moment I was seeing memories, but those weren''t my memories. "

    "Must have been the memories of the previous owner of this artifact." suggested the receptionist.

    "Yes, the artifact, I--I didn''t mean to break---" before I could complete my sentence,

    The receptionist spoke up, "You don''t need to worry about it, We were going to throw it anyways."

    "Are you sure, that you are good?" asked Duke once again.

    "I am good, I just was just shocked by the memories, it was---sad."

    Later after collecting the artifact that I wanted, I left the place. I told Rai to go home first, I will be back later.

    I wanted some time alone to process the things I saw.

    Finding a place where there was no one around, I reached the outskirt of the forest right outside Goldberg city.

    I spoke up as I sat under a tree,

    "What was that?" I asked, my question was directed towards the demoness.

    *Those were memories of my son.*

    After knowing that those were her son''s memories, I didn''t ask any further questions. I sat quietly, without saying anything.

    *I always thought that humans had killed my son.....* said demoness Ami.

    She continued, *It was them who killed my son, I have been holding a false grudge all this time.*

    "So are you going to take revenge against those entities?" I asked.

    *No, I am tired of holding a grudge. I don''t care anymore.*

    "I nearly thought, you would ask me to take revenge on behalf of your son or something."

    The following lines that were going to come out of Demoness Ami''s mouth had a weird warmth in it, *Why would I ask something like that? why would I send my son again in that hell? I want you, my son, to have a happy life. You have suffered enough in this life and in past life''s, I want you to live a happy life in this reincarnation.*

    "Your son?" I murmured.

    *As I watched those memories, I realized something about this world. Reincarnation---*, with a little chuckle she continued, *As I was holding grudge against humans. My son---- you have already gone through several reincarnations. As I was stuck in one place, you have already led many lives.*

    I was confused about what Demoness Ami was talking about. But at the same time, I think I did understand what she was talking about.

    *Grey, I was stuck in your body due to my grudge against humans. But I no longer have any grudge--*

    I knew what were her next words were going to be,

    *This is it for me. I hope I get to be your mom again in some other life. Take care of yourself and try to not hold grudge against anyone. Live a happy life!!.*

    Her soul was fading away, I stretched my hand trying to reach out to her as I called,

    "Mom?"

    Why did I call her mom?

    With a little chuckle, *I am happy, really happy, that I got to hear mom from your mouth one last time. I am really happy---*

    Those were her last words as she faded away,

    She was gone...

    After four years, I was truly all alone.

    Looking at the sky, I let out a sigh, "I feel empty......"

 Chapter 78 - 77: Stability

    77-1

    I sat in the forest alone for a while.

    For some reason, I didn''t want to move at all. Sitting under the tree, I gazed at the sky pointlessly.

    Later, as nightfall was approaching, I decided to go back.

    As I was making my way through to woods to the gate of the city. I heard a sudden moment coming from the bushes

    I paused my movement as I focused all my attention on the movement of the bush.

    I wasn''t actually on guard, I just stood there, since I was curious what was in the bush.

    I could see a set of paws stepping out of the bush with its set of paws, it looked at me with its big round golden eyes. It had beautiful black fur.

    "Meow" the feline meowed at me.

    77-2

    The sky had already gotten dark,

    After walking for a while, I was near my house,

    Entering the house, I saw Ulrich. He stared at me for a good second before asking,

    "Is that a cat?"

    "Yes, it is."

    After a little pause, he asked, "can I pet it?"

    "Yes."

    Petting the cat, he looked at me as he said,

    "That''s a good cat."

    After petting the cat he walked away without asking any questions. the guy should learn to be at least somewhat curious.

    Later I entered the dining hall where I saw Aetna seated in a chair, Looking at me her expression became bright.

    "Grey is that a cat?! are we keeping it? where did you find it? is it a girl or boy? does she scratch? Can I hold it? I can hold it, right? but what if I hold it and get attached to it, then later you reveal to me that we are not keeping this cat. That might break my heart--"

    I placed my hand over Aetna''s mouth so that I don''t get bombarded with more questions.

    This was the curiosity I was talking about earlier, but this is too much curiosity!!.

    "Yes we are keeping it ----and yes, she is a girl -----and I am not sure if she scratches or not--- and Yes, you can hold it."

    By the way, if you are wondering about how I found out she is a girl. Let''s not talk about it, let''s not...

    "By the way, how did you find out she was a girl---"

    "The cat told me."

    "The cat spoke?!"

    In truth, I lifted her tail to check if she had balls or not, and she didn''t, so she is a girl.

    77-3

    We were all seated in one room,

    "Did you find the cat in the forest?" asked Annie.

    "Yes, I thought I would keep this cat as my pet."

    "This cat will stay with us!! I will take great care of this cat," said Annie, as a wide smile formed on her face.

    But later her smile disappeared as she said, "But, for that, I will have to survive first."

    With a gentle bonk on her head, spoke up, "Idiot, you will survive. it will work out."

    "Hear take it," said Rai as she handed Annie the Amrit fruit. Patting her head, Rai said, "Eat this and survive!!"

    "You will survive since you still have to play lots and lots of games with big sister Aetna!!" said Aetna.

    "Don''t worry, you will survive, eat more tasty food made by me in the future," said Ulrich.

    It''s kind of reassuring when it comes out of Ulrich''s mouth.

    Honestly, they were all scared. They were just trying to act bravely to cheer Annie up. They have already lost many of their friends.

    Along with cheering Annie, they were also cheering themselves.

    You don''t get used to watching people die. Experience of watching someone die eats you away. Bit by bit you lose your personality.

    Grabbing on the Amrit fruit, Annie took a bite, bit by bit she ate the fruit. Everyone waited for something to happen.

    At times like this, one would expect a dramatic event such as mana bursting out of Annie or some other flashy thing leading up to Annie''s recovery.

    Bur nothing of sort happened, which made everyone seated there confused. with a puzzled look, they all looked at me.

    They looked at me because I was the only one that had the ability to see a person''s mana core and internal energy flow.

    "Is it working?" asked Rudi.

    I stared at Annie, I could see her mana core getting calmer with each second. The instability that was in Annie''s core was disappearing rapidly. The moment I was waiting for years was finally happening.

    With a little gasp of relief, I stared at the ceiling,

    "It worked," I said in a whispering tone. I couldn''t say it loud, since even I didn''t believe it had worked.

    But it had worked, that was the relieving truth.

    "Huh?" questioned everyone, they heard what I said, they just wanted to hear it once more.

    I repeated, this time a little louder, "It worked guys."

    Ulrich stood in front of me as he asked, his chin was trembling, struggling to speak,

    "It---- worked?" he asked.

    "It did, Ulrich."

    "So our hard work has paid off? the--- the years of hard work, it---it has paid off?" asked Ulrich as his voice broke apart, tears poured out of his eyes.

    I placed my hand over his head, as I said "Yes, Ulrich."

    Rudi sat in the chair, maybe his knees were weak, hiding his face under his arms, he spoke up,

    "We finally saved someone, Grey."

    I walked up to Annie, crouching down I looked her in the eyes as I spoke up,

    "See! I told you that you would survive."

    "Hehe, yes, you were right!! brother Grey is always right! Everyone worked so hard for me, for years! Without giving up on me, you all kept working hard for me! Seeing all our friends die, I thought I wouldn''t survive. I myself had given up on myself, but you guys never gave up on me."

    Annie grabbed hold of me as she continued, "Thanks for not giving up on me. You know ----I was really---- really scared of dying. I was scared..."

    As she continued talking, her voice was trembling, struggling to talk she cried,

    "I thought I was a burden for you guys. But, everyone treated me so kindly. I am really happy, that ---that that that!!"

    Hugging me tightly, her loud cries broke apart,

    "I am glad that I have you all in my life."

    The room was filled with the loud cries of Annie.

    Grandma Julia patted Annie, with teary eyes,

    "I never thought, someone would make this old woman cry at this age. I am glad that I have met you all."

    Rin walked near the candle that had kept the room lit,

    "I am blowing off the light."

    Rin was doing her best to not cry. But she was at her limit, she didn''t want anyone else to look at her cry.

    "Please, blow off the light," said Aetna, her face was already a mess due to crying.

    Why do you want the light to be blown off? aren''t you already crying?

    With the light blown, the room was dark.

    I could hear the silent sobs of Rai.

    In the darkness of the room, everyone was crying. But I didn''t seem to be able to cry. I have lost the ability to cry since my mom has died.

    I sometimes wish that I could cry. Even I feel normal emotions that everyone feels. Even I feel happy, sad, disappointed, and every other emotion. I do feel things that make me want to cry.

    I hugged Annie tighter as I closed my eyes.

    Finally after four years... after four years, I have managed to save someone...After all this time, after all these years, I am finally free to go back to my family.

    I will finally be able to leave this place and go back to my home.

    I wonder how everyone is doing over there? will they be happy to see me? I will introduce them to my friends...

    I am finally free!

    {Author: 100K!!!! I have finally hit 100k!!! I am so happy that you guys helped me reach this goal!!

    I started this story since I have thought about this for a long time. Honestly, I didn''t think that anyone would read this book.

    Due to my self-deprecating personality, I thought I will be my only reader.

    But as I kept writing, Many people joined me in this journey, they supported me and left nice comments. Of course, some people did leave, hehe.

    But, there were those who stayed, I am truly thankful for you people!! I am grateful for your support!!!

    I don''t know if my book will get more views in the future. But I am happy to have anyone who is reading my book. You guys are awesome people!!!

    So anyways, Bye bye and keep reading my book if you like it and THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!!!! :))))}

 Chapter 79 - 78: Axolot Wood.

    I was seated in Mark''s house,

    "Congratulations!! so when are you giving me a party?" asked Mark.

    "Party for?"

    "You have won the competition, you will give me a party right?"

    "No, I am not giving your fat ass a party."

    I thought he would pull my cheeks or something, but he walked away and sat in the corner of the room as a dense black cloud of depression hovered over him.

    "I know, I have gotten fat, you don''t need to say it to me. Even the other day, when I was eating my food in peace, my son came to me as he said "Papa you have gotten fat.". What am I supposed to do? I have one leg missing. I can''t move much to exercise!. Being fat was not my choice!!"

    "Ah-- I am kind of --- you know--- I am sorry," I said.

    "Don''t mind him, he gets moody from time to time nowadays," said Aunt Bruna, she continued to kick him as she said, "Get up, you have one leg missing that doesn''t mean that you can eat food for of three people. "Being fat was not my choice", your fat ass made that choice as you kept eating food without any stop."

    Yikes, currently I am watching a grown man getting bullied by his wife.

    Huh? Crying? is he crying?

    "You can call me anything!! but don''t call me that!!" begged Mark.

    "What? I shouldn''t call you fat? or I shouldn''t call you old?"

    "You went ahead and called me that!! you called me that!!" Cried Mark even louder.

    Holding onto Aunt Bruna''s leg he tried to wipe his snot over her clothes,

    "Oi don''t wipe your snot on me! fine, fine I won''t call you that. But don''t wipe your snot on me!!"

    Later both of them settled down,

    "So anyways Grey, why did you come here?" asked Aunt Bruna.

    "Actually about artifact---"

    "Oh, yes, what S rank artifact did you choose?" asked Mark.

    "About that, Aunt Bruna what am I going to say to you, do it without questioning my motive," I said in a serious tone.

    "Yes, I trust you."

    "So then----", I pointed towards Mark as I said, "Hold him down."

    "Roger that," said Aunt Bruna as she walked towards Mark.

    "What are you going to do? what are you both planning? Stay away from me?!" said Mark as he tried to run away.

    But he was caught by Aunt Bruna. Grabbing hold of him, she pinned him down.

    I grabbed Mark''s handicapped leg,

    "Aunt Bruna, shove a cloth or something in his mouth cause it is going to hurt like hell."

    "What are--wuuwjfwydgwihiuhdfsfuihfiujf" Before he could complete the sentence, Aunt Bruna shoved cloth in his mouth.

    She didn''t question my motive since she saw the thing I was holding in my hand.

    I took out a knife as I made a small cut on Mark''s amputated knee. I did that to draw blood out of Mark into the thing I was holding in my head.

    As I fed Mark''s blood to the things, Its roots started spreading out and started penetrating their way through Mark''s legs. With that came an excruciating pain shot up Mark''s legs to his brain.

    I could see the roots crawling under his skin.

    Ugh, that must be really painful!!

    His scream for pain was muffled by the cloth that was stuffed in his mouth. To cope up with the pain, he slammed his hand back and forth on the ground.

    After a minute filled with the movement of roots under his leg''s skin and the muffled scream and struggle of Mark. The process was over the thing had taken its structure.

    "Aunt Bruna, you can take off the cloth from his mouth."

    As the cloth was taken out of his mouth, he was heavily panting for fresh breath, covered with cold sweat, he struggled to speak.

    "Wha----- what were you doing? I thought I was going to---"

    Before he could complete his sentence, his focus shifted to his handicapped leg. The thing was, it was not handicapped anymore.

    In the place of the leg that was once gone, there was another leg. But it was leg made out of wood.

    Recognizing the thing that was attached to his leg, Mark spoke up,

    "isn''t---- Isn''t that--- Axolot wood?", after touching Axolot wood once more to reconfirm, "Grey, where did you get it---"

    Before I could answer his question, he himself realized where did I get it from, "Your S rank artifact, you chose this?"

    "Yes," I replied.

    "But why? why would you do that? why would you use your chance of getting an S rank item on an old man like me?"

    "Huh? why shouldn''t I?" I said.

    Aunt Bruna placed her hand over my shoulder as she said, "That idiot won''t understand if you don''t say it to him directly."

    "Oh, is he that dense?"

    "Very dense, it took him years to realize that I am in love with him."

    "Oh, then I would have to tell him directly.", I shifted my attention to mark, as I said, "Of course, I would give it to you. since the last four years, you took care of me as your own child. It won''t be the farfetched thing to say that I view you as my father figure."

    "Oh...." said Mark as he left the room.

    "Where are you going?" asked Aunt Bruna.

    "Just the other room, I just remembered the work I had to do."

    "Oh okay."

    Later he walked out of the room.

    Aunt Bruna turned to me, in a whispering tone, she spoke up, "Did you see how he was trying his best to not cry."

    "Yes,"

    "I am sure, he went to the other room just to cry," said Aunt Bruna as she let out a laugh.

    "Dad, are you crying?!!" I heard his Son''s voice from the other room.

    "Look!! I told you!!" said Aunt Bruna as she looked at me.

    I couldn''t but help let out a chuckle.

    {Author: Axolot wood is a piece that comes out of Axolot tree. The specialty of this wood is that it attaches itself to a host.  Once attached, the wood takes the form of the host''s disability, regenerating their disabled part.

    In Mark''s case, the wood attached itself to his leg, taking from of his missing leg. At first, it will be a wooden leg. But in a few days, the wooden leg will convert into a human leg as more and more wooden cell gets converted into human cells. Taking an appearance of a human leg.

    The dried-up wood from the Axolot tree, which later attaches itself to an organism and helps the organism with any disability. Of course, the Axolot also has a benefit in this.

    After the death, the creature decomposes back to the soil. The wood uses these nutrients to grow back to a tree. It''s a type of win-win scenario where both of the parties are benefiting from the relationship.}

    "Oh, by the way, he is not supposed to be moving much for two or three days, until the wooden leg turns into a real one," I said as I started walking out.

    "Where are you going?" asked Aunt Bruna.

    "Oh, I have some work to do, so I will take my leave."

    "Oh, I have made fried chicken for lunch today, so why don''t you join us?"

    "The work can wait, let''s eat fried chicken."

    78-2

    After eating lunch at Mark''s house, I went to the outskirt of the forest. There was work that I needed to do.

    Well, calling it ''work'' would be wrong. It was more of an ----umm, experiment? yes! experiment would be the right word for it.

    Besides Mana, there were two different types of energy in my body. I''ll get to the topic of two different types of energy later.

    First, I will talk about my mana core. The thing about my mana core is--- It''s very small.

    It was very small, to begin with, but it kept growing a little bit until the age of eight. The age where I was exposed to the dark aura.

    The dark aura in my body gathered around my mana core, limiting its growth. But that was not a curse, it was a blessing in disguise.

    Even though my mana core was small from the beginning, but the quality of mana in my body was better than a normal human. Due to the dark aura limiting the growth of my mana core, the mana that is gathered in my core is closely concentrated together, causing my core to have a highly condensed amount of mana.

    Aside from Mana, my body also seems to contain two different types of energy, Divinity and Demonic energy. I have absolutely no idea where I got the divinity from, but I apparently possess divinity.

    If I had to guess, I most probably got it from that demi-god, Arianrhod.

    The demonic energy is the residue of Demoness Ami that she left behind in my body.

    Thinking about her makes my heartache...

    The reason I came to this forest was to test both of these powers.

 Chapter 80 - 79: Divine And Demonic Energy.

    For now, I didn''t know how to channel both of the power.

    Stretching my hand, I tried to gather divinity in my palm, but it was without any fruit. Well, I was able to gather divinity, but I didn''t know what to do with it.

    {Author: Divinity is one of the purest forms of energy, along with demonic energy. They both are very intense forms of energy, despite being similar, both of the energy cannot exist side by side.}

    I did the same with the demonic energy, but the result was the same. I didn''t know what to do with it.

    I don''t have much information, for starters I need to gather information.

    Oh, right! I can try to imbue this energy in something and try using it.

    In my palm, I gathered mana to make an ice sword. It was a standard dull one-handed icicle sword.

    "Now I should try infusing divine energy into sword."

    As I tried to infuse the divine energy in the sword, something else happened. The core of the sword shined in a deep blue color.

    "Isn''t that Afreet Liquid?"

    Following Afreet liquid, the divine energy infused itself with the sword. The original dull sword changed into a single-handed double-edged sword.

    The exterior of the sword glowed in dim blue color, whereas the core of the sword glowed fairly bright with deep blue color.

    "This sword does fit the image of the divine."

    This wasn''t the original result that I had expected. The sword itself changed its appearance, was it because of the Afreet liquid.

    Besides the appearance, there was one more thing different about the sword. I was able to imbue mana in the sword.

    So theoretically it should be possible to use divine energy with mana right? Well, I don''t have any reason to not test this theory.

    I gathered mana in my sword as I raised it.

    What I was trying to do was use basic level frost magic. Simple ice magic that freezes everything in its path.

    My aim was to use mana not to fuel the magic, I am using mana as an engine that will use divine energy to cast frost. Well, but I don''t know whether it will succeed or not.

    Raising my sword, I closed my eyes.

    First, infuse mana in the sword...

    Visualize the process of casting frost.....

    Use divine energy as the source to cast the frost spell...

    Visualizing the process, I swung my sword. Following my action, a strong gust of cold wind crashed onto me.

    As I slowly opened my eyes, I was met with an unbelievable sight.

    The patch of forest in front of me which was once a dense crowd of green trees was covered with a thick cold fog. Dried-up leaves that were devoid of any moisture were getting blown away due to the gust of the wind. This was the case of trees that were fifty meters away from me.

    The trees that were in close proximity to me had disintegrated as a whole. What was left in front of me was barren land filled with bits and pieces of disintegrated plants, trees, animals, and everything that came in the way of this attack.

    The damage caused by basic level frost was more than I had expected. Will this even be considered a basic level spell at this point?

    "I did this?" I said out loud.

    What surprised me was the calm nature of the spell. There was nothing flashy. was it due to using divine energy?

    Now I am curious about what would happen if I used demonic energy instead of divine energy.

    The process was similar to that of divine energy. Mana will work as an engine to cast the spell, whereas demonic energy will fuel the spell.

    I raised the sword, this time without closing my eyes since I wanted to witness everything firsthand.

    Withdrawing divine energy, I infused the sword with demonic energy.

    I used the same process of infusing mana in the sword, visualizing the process to cast frost and then using demonic energy as a source to fuel the spell.

    I swung my sword, this time with my eyes open. With a sudden pressure, I was pushed backward. Losing my balance, I tripped, falling to the ground.

    Following my action, everything in my close proximity froze up. Everything that was in the range of fifty meters was frozen up even the air.

    That resulted in the formation of a massive wall of ice that covered up to fifty meters in range.

    Looking at the sight in front of me, I couldn''t help as a smirk formed on my lips.

    I cast the same spell using two different energy and the result was entirely different. The divine energy is calm in nature whereas demonic energy is chaotic in nature.

    But well, the destruction caused by both of the energy was pretty much the same.

    Yikes, now that I look at it again, Didn''t I --- kind of---Fucked up the forest.

    "Sorry mother nature, I didn''t do it on purpose.."

    This should be enough experimenting, for now, I will continue the rest of the experiment tomorrow.

    With that thought, I went back home.

    ----Next day at adventure guild----

    "Did you see the new commission?"

    "No, why"

    "There is apparently a frost monster in the forest."

    Hearing their conversation, I decided to check out the commission notice board.

    Standing in front of the notice board, I browsed through all the commissions, there I found the commission that those guys were talking about.

    **************************************************

    Commission Rank: S - A

    Commission monster: Unkown frost monster.

    Region: Outskirt of Goldberg city.

    Reward: two hundred gold (The reward will increase or decrease according to the level of difficulty.)

    ***************************************************

    Outskirt of Goldberg city..... Unknown frost monster.....

    I think I have connected enough dots to know who this monster is.  Well, they ranked me as between S to A-rank threat.

    Let''s pretend that I never saw this...

    79-2

    The next day, I went on a date with Lora, since I promised her that. Later she and Otis left the Goldberg city and went back to the capital.

    I didn''t reveal my identity to her, since I would meet her in the future.

    Time passed, day by day I did my training. I increased the intensity of my training and also tried various ways of using demonic and divine energy.

    I also trained my swords, greatsword, and polearm. Well, my swordsmanship is still incomplete, so I think I need someone to help me train my swordsmanship.

    We decided to stay in Goldberg city for a while, we were waiting for Annie''s mana core to stabilize. There was one more reason for us to stay.

    The reason is Grandma Julia...

    At first, she was barely able to hear us. Communication with her meant that we would have to talk as loud as possible for her to hear us.

    Later her back and neck pain became severe to the point that it became difficult to walk. We had to carry her everywhere since she was unable to walk herself.

    After some time, she would randomly get angry at us for helping her with anything.

    "Don''t treat me like a burden!!! I can do it myself!!! I have been handling myself all this time, I don''t need young ones to handle me now!!!" she would scream at us saying things like this, as we try to help her.

    It was painful to watch her as she was losing her personality.

    Eventually, one day,

    "Who are you?" she asked. I thought she was joking. In the corner of my heart, I knew what was happening to her, but I didn''t want to accept the reality.

    Eventually, she stopped recognizing us.

    She stopped recognizing our face, she stopped responding to our voice. Whenever I would call out to her, she would respond with,

    "Do you need something, young man?"

    She had stopped calling me Grey.

    She started saying random things, she would randomly sing songs, she started talking to the cat.

    She would come to me and say,

    "You know, I know this kid named Grey, he was a very kind boy, I wonder where he is now. If you find him, please bring him back to me."

    For some reason, I couldn''t open my mouth and say that "I am Grey."

    The reality was, old age was getting her. It was disheartening to see her like this.

    A year passed and eventually, the day came.

    It was a normal day, I woke up early in the morning, even before the sun was out.

    Leaving my room, I found grandma Julia seated in the hall.

    "Good morning, Grandma Julia. You are awake early," I said greeting her. But I got no reply in return.

    After a good second, I spoke again "Grandma Julia, do you need something---"

    Before I could say anything, she interrupted me saying "Young man, I need you to carry me somewhere and take all the kids with us."

 Chapter 81 - 80: Isnt It A Beautiful Sight?

    "Hey young man, will u please carry me to a place? and please call all the kids with us," said Grandma Julia.

    It was a rare thing that Grandma Julia asked something specific, so I followed what she said without much question.

    I woke up everyone else and took them with us.

    I carried Grandma Julia on my back. Standing on the door,

    Aetna asked, "Where do you want to go, Grandma?"

    "Just come with me, I want to show you young ones something."

    "Okay, just guide me to the place that you want to show us, I will carry you there," I said.

    She placed her hand over my head, patting my head she spoke up, "What a kind young man!!"

    "Okay, Grey!! I will carry Grandma!! I want head pats too." said Rudi as he stretched both of his hands.

    "Come here, I will give you a head pat too," said Grandma Julia as she patted his head.

    She is awfully kind today. Does she recognize us now? but she hasn''t called us by our name, so I am not sure.

    There was one more reason I agreed to take her to the place she wanted to show us. She didn''t seem to remember most of her memories, so taking her to this place might help her remember things.

    We started walking through the city, as grandma Julia guided us.

    It was still really early in the morning, the sun was not out yet. In this lonely street that was devoid of people, we walked all alone.

    Grandma Julia would guide us to take left or right, following her guide we walked through the streets.

    Eventually, we reached the adventure guild, which was still lit. The adventuring guild is open throughout the day and night, so it wasn''t a rare sight to see.

    Walking through the empty street, my nose was feasted with the smell of freshly baked bread. I noticed the smell was coming from the bakery that was the only shop open at this time.

    It makes sense since there is a high demand for freshly baked goods early in the morning.

    Since we were hungry, we stopped at the bakery and had something to eat. After being done eating, we continued walking to the destination.

    After walking for a while, we reached the exit of the city. Grandma told us to take a path straight into the forest, exiting the city.

    Walking into the forest for a minute, she told us to stop.

    "It should be here."

    "What are you searching for Grandma?" asked Rai.

    "There was a massive tree around here, I am looking for it."

    "Is it that one?" asked Rai, pointing towards a tree, that was actually massive.

    "Yes!! that one."

    What stood in front of us was a massive tree, unlike any other neighboring tree. It had a red-brown thick trunk.

    But the tree itself was not important. The important thing was the presence of two tombstones under the massive tree.

    "Yes!, this is the place," said Grandma Julia pointing towards the two gravestones.

    Confused, Aetna asked, "These are?"

    "These are graves of my son and my husband," answered Grandma Julia.

    So she remembers her husband and son. That''s a good sign, she might start remembering things.

    After a second, she continued "They both were adventurers, they both died doing what they loved. they both died as an adventurer."

    "Oh..." said Rudi.

    "Doing what you love is important. But a person should always remember that there are loved ones who are waiting for them."

    "What were they like?" I asked.

    "What were they---- It was a long time ago, but I still remember it as clear as day. They both were just idiots who happen to be stronger than normal humans. they thought they were given strength to protect others and that''s what they did after joining the adventure guild."

    After a little pause, she continued,

    "Following his dad''s footsteps, even my son joined the adventure guild. They did protect various people over the years, they were even getting locally popular as heroes. But one day it happened, they both died protecting a village.

    People who are born with power think they are born to protect or rule over everyone else. but none of that matters, you can live in this world however you want. "

    I opened my mouth, "So you hate heroes and rulers?"

    "I don''t think I hate rulers, but I do hate heroes. Heroes are the existence who think that they can save everyone, they live for others, they live to save and protect others. Everything they are built upon is just for other people''s sake.

    A person isn''t responsible for another person, they can choose whatever path they want. They can choose to fight for themselves, they are not responsible to fight for others.

    The moment you chose to walk on the path of being a hero, you will just end up walking the path of inevitable self-destruction."

    The next moment, she placed her hand over my head as she spoke up,

    "Grey..."

    Did she call me by name?

    "You---you remember me?" I asked, shocked.

    "Of course I do, I remember you all. You are all my kids, you all are kids of Grandma Julia!"

    She continued, "Rai be a good girl okay? you tend to pretend that you are strong, but you are just human as others. It''s okay to rely on people and you have five people you can rely on. If anything happens in the future, be sure to rely on them."

    Shifting her attention toward Rudi, "Rudi, looking up to someone is okay, but always remember to be yourself!! I know you are a good and pure kid, I hope you stay the same forever. "

    Looking at Ulrich, "Ulrich, you love cooking right? keep doing what you love. You are quiet but yet passionate, but don''t let negative thoughts take over you. Just keep cooking, do the thing you love!."

    "Aetna, you love Grey, don''t you? You know, you think that you are the only one that relies on him, But that''s not true. If you look closely, you will see that he also relies on you. You both share a bond that goes beyond.

    I have rarely seen Grey smile for real, most of the time it was you who was the reason that he had smiled for real. Never leave him alone okay? and also you are your own person, so don''t think about things too much."

    She looked at Annie as she said, "Annie, you are the smallest of them all. You have lived your life thinking that you are a burden, but now you can live as a light that will shine for all of them. You are still a kid, so leave all the burden on adults, okay? you can just keep being kid okay?"

    Why she is speaking like this?

    I opened my mouth saying, "Why are you speaking like this Grandma, you still have---"

    Before I could complete my sentence she opened her mouth, "Grey--"

    There was warmth in the way she called me.

    "You are strong, okay? stronger than anyone else, but that doesn''t make you responsible for protecting others. You can live your life however you want. You don''t have to be the responsible one.

    I hope that one day you can start smiling, laughing, crying for real. Even though how much you try to put on fake laugh and smile, you can''t hide your pain from this Grandma."

    "Huh?"

    "You have been through a lot, don''t you? You have tried your best for others, you kept working hard for others. But it''s fine, you don''t have to work for others, you don''t have to hide your pain. "

    After a little pause, she asked me, "Will you place me down under the tree?"

    as she wanted, I placed her down under the tree.

    "After the death of my kid and my husband, I have been leading a very lonely life. I am glad that I got to meet you kids. You kid took care of this old woman and I was really really happy. I was happy with you kids."

    "Why are you speaking like ----" asked Ulrich, he wore a pained expression.

    "Don''t worry kid, this old woman is fine. I am just a little tired. I will be lying down here, I want to sleep for a while. Grey, can you lend me your lap."

    Placing her head on my lap, she lied down.

    She turned to face east,

    The sun had started blooming on the horizon, the first rays of the sun stretched through the sky causing the golden color to spread throughout. It was a beautiful sunrise.

    "A beautiful sight, isn''t it? I have truly led a beautiful life."

    "It is indeed beaut--"

    I looked at Grandma Julia who was still looking at the sunrise, but she wasn''t breathing anymore.

    She was gone.....

    "Grandma ?" called out Rai.

    I looked at them as I shook my head. They understood what I meant. They all wore really pained expressions.

    I wonder what kind of expression do I have on my face right now? why am I still not able to cry?

    {Author: Next chapter will last chapter of volume three, Grey will leave Goldberg city after that.}

 Chapter 82 - 81: First Kiss.

    (Lily''s POV)

    I was on my way back from the bladesmith.

    I went there to pick up my new sword since my papa insisted on getting a new sword.

    As I was passing by the adventure guild, someone called out to me.

    "Lily,"

    I instantly recognized the owner of the voice. Turning around to face him, I opened my mouth saying,

    "Oh, Grey!"

    "What are you doing here?" he asked.

    "I was here to pick up a new weapon since papa insisted that I should buy a new sword.".

    My family situation was getting better, we were back to our old noble status.

    "Show me that sword," he said stretching out his hand, he wanted me to hand him the sword. As I handed him the sword, he closely observed the sword.

    As he was checking out my sword, I opened my mouth saying,

    "I am sorry about Grandma Julia. Are you fine?"

    With a bright smile, he replied "I am perfectly fine."

    "oh--- okay."

    I stood there quietly since I didn''t know what else to say.

    After a little pause,

    "You are going away tomorrow right?" I asked. He was leaving Goldberg city forever. There was a lot to say to him, but I wasn''t brave enough to say anything.

    I didn''t want him to go...

    I wanted to stay with him just like this, forever...

    I wanted to tell him how I felt about him...

    "Yes," he answered, "Lily, why don''t we go for a little walk together."

    We aimlessly walked together through the streets. To fill the awkward silence, I said,

    "It doesn''t sit well with me that I am currently walking beside a person who will probably become the king of one of the two kingdoms in the future."

    He let out a chuckle as he said, "Don''t worry, I will accept you as my queen."

    Q- queen!!! How did he know that?

    Panicking, I punched his shoulder gently as I said, "Stop -- Stop messing with me!!!"

    "Now now, don''t make normal conversation erotic."

    At first, I didn''t understand what he meant by that, but after a good second, I realized what he meant.

    "I--- I didn''t mean that!! I didn''t mean ''messing'' like that!!" I exclaimed.

    "Oooooo, I thought you were pure maiden. You have a surprisingly dirty mind, I mean it''s okay to be a pervert, I guess."

    I grabbed his collar as I exclaimed "Please stop mes---" before I could say it, I corrected myself,

    "Please don''t make fun of me!!!!"

    After being settled down, I opened my mouth again, there was something I really wanted to say to him, I want to tell him about my feelings.

    "You are royal, royal men and woman have their harem. Are you going to keep your harem?"

    This is not what I wanted to say!!

    He paused his walk as he asked "Is there a specific reason that you ask this question?"

    Okay, this is a good time to tell him about what I really wanted to say. Calm down my heart.

    I can do it... I can do it.

    I will tell him directly what I feel without any bullshit.

    "You know, How I want a comfortable life, right? I thought wouldn''t it be nice if I get to be with a royal. I would have power and all, so I thought--- being in your harem would be nice. Of course, you don''t have to make me your wife!" I said.

    Ah, I went ahead and said bullshit.

    What did I just say?!!!! this is not what I wanted to say!! Why am I such a coward?!!

    Now he will probably think that I am some kind of golddigger.

    I don''t want anything else other than you!!

    "Liar," he said.

    "Huh?"

    "Coward," he said, as he walked closer to me.

    "Why are you calling me mean things?" I replied as I stepped back.

    "What would you do if I were a commoner?" he asked, looking into my eyes. I found myself avoiding eye contact with him.

    Yes, this is a great chance to confess!!

    "Of course, I would marry you and make you take my family name. Having a handsome guy as my husband would increase my status among royals," I replied as she averted my gaze again.

    I made it even worse!!! I want to say it, but his intense gaze is making it hard for me.

    He took a step closer to me and with each step, I found myself stepping away from him.

    "You are not being honest, are you? do you really care about status or about me?" he asked as he took a step closer to me.

    Being cornered with the tree, I had nowhere else to go. He placed his hand on the tree as he bought his face close to mine.

    Too close!! his close, it''s too close!!!

    I couldn''t help but look at his lips. I wanted him to kiss me, I want him to do things to me.

    Wait!! what am I thinking?!! am I really a pervert?

    No, I am not a pervert. I am fine with doing it as long as it is with him.

    I didn''t reply to him with anything, as I looked away once more.

    "I am ready to dedicate my life to one woman, I don''t care about harem. " he said, he placed his hand under my chin as he raised my head to make me look into his eyes "Why do you think that you deserve to be in my harem?"

    Does he mean that I don''t deserve to be in his harem?

    I mean, he right, there is nothing special about me.....

    after a little pause, he continued," Why would someone take you in a harem? when you are such a great wife material."

    Why does he have to say things like that?!!

    Screw it! I can''t, control myself!

    Being not in control of my mind, I grabbed his collar to pull him closer. Pulling his face closer, I placed my lips over his.

    It was the best moment of my life, I didn''t want it to stop. My heart pounded like crazy, but I didn''t want it to stop.

    His lips were full, soft, and warm, I didn''t want to stop kissing him.

    But I stopped as I pulled myself away, or else I might end up doing more than kissing.

    "Too bad!! I got your first kiss, now you will remember me forever!!" I said, as I quickly walked away. After gaining my senses back, I had realized what I had done and I didn''t want to face him.

    I kept walking without looking back.

    Shit! shit!! shit!! shit!! I kissed him!! I kissed him!!

    It was my first kiss though!!

    I wonder what kind of expression do I have on my face right now? my heart feels like it might burst out of my chest.

    I wonder what kind of expression he has on his face right? with though I felt the urge to look back.

    Giving up on my urge, I looked back.

    He was still standing over there. his hands were over his lips, as his face was---- crimson red.

    Cute!! my heart!! looking back was a mistake!!

 Chapter 83 - 82: End Of Goldberg City Arc.

    "Have you taken everything you need?" asked Mark,

    "Yes, I have taken nearly everything in this giant-ass bag," I replied.

    It was finally time that I am leaving the Goldberg. It was five years ago that I first came to this city. it was a lot of fun knowing a lot of different people.

    I found a grandma...

    A team...

    An uncle...

    An aunt...

    Friends...

    A brother...

    Ahem...My first kiss.

    I am truly grateful for these people and one day I hope we will meet again.

    I turned to face Mark,

    "Oi Oldman, you are old as time itself, so don''t push yourself too hard. You just got a new leg, support your family, and no matter what, do not do the hunter''s job anymore. I will seriously kill you, if you kick the bucket, leaving my aunt and nephew alone."

    "Ow ow ow ow" my cheeks were being pulled.

    "Don''t worry I will make sure to support my family without dying and I am going to leave the hunter''s job to take on the receptionist''s job forever," said Mark pulling my cheek.

    "If you are agreeing with me then why are you pulling my cheeks!!"

    "I wanted to do that one more time." he said as he shot a gentle smile, he continued "I am actually thinking about shifting, I will probably apply for a job in mage academy."

    "Oh! good luck with that!"

    I turned to look towards Aunt Bruna.

    with a teary eye, she hugged me as she said,

    "Find a rich girl to marry okay? with your looks and talents, it will be really easy!"

    "That is the plan!" I said as winked at her, giving her a thumbs up.

    On the other side, everyone else was saying goodbye to their friends, apparently, Aetna and Agata were crying while hugging each other. When did they become such a good friend?

    On the other side Rudi was shaking hands with Phil, huh?? they were friends?

    Me, Annie, Aetna, Rai, Rudi, and Ulrich, all of us stood together as we bowed in front of Mark and Aunt Bruna.

    "Thanks for everything!!" we said together.

    Annie spoke up saying, "Aunt Bruna, your food was really really tasty, I will miss it.". She had already started crying.

    I mean it makes sense, she was very attached to them.

    "Thanks for teaching me how to be ladylike Aunt Bruna!!" said Aetna.

    "Thanks for teaching me how to cook better," said Ulrich.

    "Thanks for getting us admitted into the Adventure guild!" said Rin.

    I opened my mouth to speak, "You see, in an unfortunate incident I had lost my mom, and the rest of them had lost all of their family. In these years, we looked up to you both, you guys thought us things that a parent would teach their kids.

    It was a tough time.

    Thanks!! Uncle Mark and Aunt Bruna!! Thanks for everything!!"

    after a little pause, I added "Thanks for your chicken, Aunt Bruna."

    I looked up to find a gentle smile on Aunt Bruna''s and Mark''s faces as they said "You are always welcome!"

    I later walked up to Phil, shaking his hand I said "Thanks for showing me that chicken place."

    "It was fun, the time we spent together!"

    Now that I remember, I thought he was Frank''s lackey or something. Well, he actually was lol.

    I shook hands with Idiot A and Idiot B and said goodbye. when I first met them I thought that they were background characters or something. Well, they actually were one.

    And Author is still treating them as background characters.

    {Author: Mc stop breaking the fourth wall.}

    I shook hand with Frank as I said, "We will meet again, till then get stronger."

    "Yes!! and I will say the same to you!!" he replied.

    "Thanks for everything brother!" I said with a gentle smile.

    "Asshole!!" said Frank, his eyes was getting teary, trying his best to not cry, he spoke up, "I was trying my best to not cry!!"

    As tears poured out of his eyes, he continued "Thanks for looking at me, thanks. Everybody used to think that I am just an evil bully. You saw something beyond that in me. I am truly thankful!!"

    "You are always welcome!"

    Then I walked towards Lily, she was purposefully avoiding me. Even I found myself avoiding my gaze from her.

    "About yesterday--" I said avoiding eye contact with her.

    "It-it''s fine, you don''t have to mention it!!"

    "But I should give you an answer," I replied.

    "No no, it''s fine you don''t have to give me an answer--" before she could complete I spoke up,

    Looking in her eyes, "It''s actually--- first time for me, I don''t have experience in this things. So---you know--- I don''t know how to react."

    Lily looked at my face, apparently, her face got redder as she panicked. Is she panicking looking at my expression? Huh? what kind of expression do I have right now?

    I handed her something as I said, "You can have it."

    "Isn''t it yours pass to get admitted to Heka-Maho academy?" she asked.

    "You can have it since I can easily get admitted there due to my identity," I said in a whispering tone, placing my finger on my lips. "Besides I will be happy to have you there."

    "Okay!!! just wait for me!! I will get stronger and we will meet again in Heka-Maho academy."

    I turned to face Agata as I said, "You know, you can always call me for the job to escort you anywhere."

    "I surely will be happy to have you as my escort," she replied.

    I stretched my fist towards them as I said "Team.".

    Placing their fist over mine they replied "We will always be a team."

    Standing in front of the city gate, I looked back at the city once more. I don''t know when I will be back in this city since my journey ahead will be a long one.

    But I am sure I will meet the people in it, I will surely meet them somewhere ahead in my journey.

    {Author: He will meet them in the future since all the characters I have introduced have a role to play in the future. An even lesser character like Idiot A and Idiot B will have a role in the future.}

    As we were going to leave the city, I looked back to face them once more,

    I walked towards them as I said,

    "I have never formally introduced myself to you all."

    "We already know you, you are Grey," said Frank.

    "Well I am Grey, but that''s not all."

    "There is more?" questioned Mark.

    "Yes, I will formally introduce myself now.", With a deep breath I opened my mouth,

    "You stand in the presence of, Grey Hoffmann. The Hoffmann and Ormr Blood flows through my veins.

    My father''s name is Ranulf Hoffmann, which makes me the prince of Frey nation and I have an equal right to the throne as all the other princes and princesses of Frey nation.

    My mother''s name is Alice Ormr, which makes me the prince of the Amay nation, The nation we are currently standing on and I have an equal right to the throne as all the other princes and princesses of the Amay nation.

    So you might be standing in the presence of the future king."

    Those were my last words as I left Goldberg city.

    The place I am heading towards is--- Of course, my home. I am heading towards the Amay nation, back to my home, back to my family.

    ------End of Moon Glitter Festival arc-----------

    ------End of Goldberg City Arc-----------

    {Author: It was a longggggg arc.. But next is a smaller one but actually the most important one. }

 Chapter 84 - 83: Hoperui Town.

    We traveled through the Goldberg forest for approximately a week, we had horses this time so traveling was easier this time.

    After a week, we had reached Hoperui. It is a small town near the foot of the Hunsti mountain range.

    After non-stop traveling, we have decided that we will take a break here. It will take at least two weeks to travel through the Hunsti mountain range, so it is the best option to take a day''s rest now.

    The last time I visited this town, it was a pretty rundown town. Safety was the last thing you would expect from this place.

    The sight of rats was more commoner than those of humans. Well, the humans here had life worse than rats.

    Murder, Robbery, Slavery, and various other crimes were normal sight. Basically, this town was a living lawless hell hole.

    The point I am trying to make is that the town that I had seen when I first came here as an eight-year-old is totally different from the town I am standing in right now.

    The street that led up to the town were skillfully made stone-paved roads and the sides were flanked by footpaths and drainage ditches.

    The sides were lined by the beautiful orange maple tree, the trees were not mature yet so it will probably get more beautiful.

    The houses that were lined across the street were apart from each other, giving a sense of privacy. It was a beautiful town.

    But, what the hell happened to this town in five years? were they granted god''s grace or something?

    "Grey, I think we have entered the wrong town," said Rai as she started walking out of the town.

    "Yes, we have definitely entered the wrong town." agreed Rudi as he continued to walk away with her.

    "No no, see that giant sign saying Hoperui. We have definitely come to the right town,"  said Aetna stopping both of them.

    "Then what the hell happened to this town, Grey?" asked Rudi.

    "Huh? why are you asking me? well, if I have to guess, probably some sort of landslide fell upon the old town and they were like "You know what, I had enough of the bad life. we will get clean.". So they built the better town."

    I was not guessing, I was just being sarcastic. There is no way, something like this would happen in real life. Probably something else happened.

    We found a local inn. First, we left our horses in the stable provided by the Inn and then entered the inn.

    "Oh, we have a young customer today!! Welcome!!" said the owner greeting us.

    "Thank you, sir. we would like two-room, for three people each."

    "It would be 6 silver coins, food included." replied the owner.

    I handed him the coin as I leaned towards him to ask,

    "By the way, last time I was here, this town didn''t exactly--I mean, it was a little bit different. So, I was just wondering-- you know--- what happened to this town?"

    My question was met with the loud laughter of the owner,

    "Another curious customer!!"

    "Do people ask this question a lot?"

    "Yes, a lot. To answer your question, actually, four years ago a landslide fell on this town. It destroyed most of the houses, people got homeless because of that. But also in the unfortunate event people thought that they had enough of their shitty old life, they decided to get better. So here we are now."

    huh?

    "Talking about wild guess," said Rudi as he poked his elbow in me.

    No no, there is a limit to how wild a guess can be.

    Later we took lounge on the inn. Among the two rooms, three boys have taken one room and the other has taken by the girls.

    Well, that arrangement is only for the night, for now, anyone can stay over in whatever room they want.

    Rudi had already gone out, apparently, he wanted to explore the town or something. Ulrich has also gone out, but not with Rudi.

    He said that he is going to check out the food of this town. Rai is currently sleeping here really peacefully, so peacefully that I don''t even want to disturb her.

    The peace she was carrying on her sleep was like world peace to me, I would never let anyone disturb it.

    Well, About the thing Annie and Aetna doing right now is,

    "Grey!! let''s go!! I want to check out the town!!" said Annie as shook me.

    "I want to eat something, let''s go find good things to eat in the town," said Aetna.

    "I am actually kind of tired, I want to stay in the room--" before I could complete the sentence, I was shook violently by both of them as they said,

    "Let''s go!!!"

    "Annie, if you wanted to explore the city, should have gone with Rudi and Aetna, if you wanted to eat something, you should have gone with Ulrich."

    As I was speaking I found Aetna looking at my neck intently, I felt like prey that was waiting to be hunted. I am starting to feel unsafe.

    "But I want to go with you!!" said Annie.

    "But---Ouch!"

    As I was speaking, a silver-haired vampire had sunken her teeth into my neck. The vampire was all over me as she drew my blood.

    Pushing Aetna''s head away, I spoke up, "What are you doing Aetna?"

    "No-- I am sorry, I didn''t mean to do it. I just did it in instincts."

    I didn''t say anything in reply, I sat there quietly. After a second, I grabbed her hand as I said,

    "Let''s go get you something to eat."

    "You will come with me, yay!!"

    "Let''s go, Annie," I said as I walked out of our room holding Aetna''s hand.

    "By the way, your blood was kind of sweet--"

    "Let''s--- Let''s not talk about it."

    83-2

    After searching for a while, we found a good restaurant to eat at. Today I found out that, if I keep Aetna hungry for too long, she might start craving for the blood.

    Well, it does makes sense, since she is a vampire. Vampires can survive very well without blood, but if they are starved for too long, they will start craving blood.

    In short, It is a bad idea to keep Aetna hungry, or else she will bite into me to draw blood out of me.

    But, you know what, it actually felt good, the sensation of she bitting into me to draw my blood out.

    {Author: Grey discovers a new fetish.}

    Later on, the food that we had ordered arrived. I wasn''t actually hungry, so I just ordered a cup of tea. I was content with watching Aetna devour all the good.

    If I hadn''t fed her in her time, I would have been in the place of that food. Not exactly my body, she will drink my blood to be precise. Which is actually not a bad thing, I mean it felt good.

    {Author: His fetish is growing stronger.}

    As I was thinking this, a certain sight caught my attention. It was the sight of a little girl entering the restaurant.

    She was a very cute kid with knee-length black hair.

    Walking up to the counter, the kid stretched her hand, trying her best to reach the counter. Finally, as her hand barely reached the counter, she placed a few coins on the counter as she called out,

    "Ummm, sir--- hello, sir--- ah, sir?" she was trying her best to catch the attention of the shop owner, but he is not able to hear her due to her inaudible voice, her short being wasn''t helping her either.

    After trying for a while, she gave up as she started walking out of the restaurant. She seems to be pretty introverted.

    I got up from my chair as I approached her,

    "Hello little miss," I said before she could walk out of the restaurant, crouching down to her height I asked, "Do you need my help to order something?"

    She didn''t answer my question. She stood there as she hesitated to speak. Now that I look at the kid closely, this kid is skin and bones.

    Has she been eating properly? no, it''s pretty obvious looking at the state the kid is in.

    After a good second of silence, I spoke again,

    "What is your name? where are your parents?"

    My other question was again met with no reply. The kid looked kind of afraid to answer my question.

    or was she just uneasy?

    "Little miss, why don''t you join us at our table. I will order something for you to eat," I asked to which she replied with a vigorous nod.

    Luckily my this question wasn''t met with silence. Well, it kind of did, but at least she nodded in agreement. The kid must have been really hungry.

    I will ask question about her parents later, first i will let her eat the food.

 Chapter 85 - 84: Illyas Nyx.

    After I invited that little girl to the table, at first she hesitated to eat food. But apparently, as I tried to feed her from my own hand, she opened her mouth and ate the food.

    It was kind of cute...

    I tried to make her eat food from her own hand, but she seemed not even touch the food unless I feed her the food.

    "Open your mouth," I said as I fed her a spoon full of stew. This spoon particularly had some of the pieces of meat in it.

    I could see her face brighten up as I fed her the meat. She seems to be enjoying the food.

    Now that I think about it, I haven''t asked her if she is vegetarian or not. It was too late to ask her, but I still went ahead and asked the question,

    "It''s too late to ask this question, but you are not vegetarian right?" I asked to which she denied by shaking her head.

    I am starting to believe that this little girl can''t speak. No, I have seen her speaking earlier. Even Annie and Aetna tried to speak to her, she only gave them replies with gestures.

    As I was thinking this I spotted some food on her cheeks.

    "Show me your face," I said to which she obediently showed her face. Taking my handkerchief, I wiped the food off her cheeks.

    "She is like your own kid," said Aetna.

    "You think so?"

    "No, big brother Grey looks more like her big brother, rather than her father," said Annie. Annie takes everything literally.

    Out of nowhere, the little girl opened her mouth as she said, "No, the big brother is more like Nyx"

    She finally spoke, but out of all things, she replied to the most random thing.

    With a bring smile, I asked " who is Nyx?"

    To my question, her eyes light up as she answered, "Nyx is the name of our God, Mom says that one day she will come and end-all of our sufferings and give us a happy life. Mom said that I will never be hungry and everyone will be super happy."

    Is this one of those make-believe stories, where people lie to each other to give them false hope. Sometimes, being delusional is better than facing the reality.

    "So, how am I like Nyx?" I asked.

    "Big brother gave me food!! and big brother fed me food with his own hand, which made Illya really really happy!! So big brother is just like Nyx!!"

    My heart, that''s sweet. It''s okay if I kidnap her and adopt her as my own kid, it''s okay right?!

    {Author: No, that''s a crime.}

    Even though her explanation was all over the place, I understood what she meant. She meant to say that I am just like Nyx because I gave her food and made her happy.

    "So your name is Illya?" asked Annie.

    "Yes, Illya is Illya."

    "Cute!! hey Illya, call me big sister," said Annie, Thrilled.

    "Big sister?" said Illya tilting her head.

    Being called big sister by someone smaller made her really happy, as she was currently on cloud nine.

    Looking at Illya, I think she is around age 6 or 7.

    "Where are your parents Illya?" I asked.

    "Illya, Mummy, and Papa, were going to a place. Some people promised us that they would give us food and a job, so papa and mummy went with them. I was taken separately to the same place, but then they accidentally left me here." explained Illya, which was a broken explanation, to be honest. but she is a little kid. So whatever explanation I am getting is already a lot.

    Basically, she is separated from her parents. For now, I will take her with me since I can''t leave a little kid outside.

    84-2

    Back to the inn, I entered our room,

    In the middle of the room, there was an oak wood bed. The bed was big enough to fit around two adults.

    We only booked two rooms because we are still not grown-up adults, so we decided that we will somehow fit three people in one bedroom.

    But that arrangement won''t work out anymore, because we have one more person that will sleep with us.

    As I entered the room, I found Rai seated on the bed, apparently, she had just woken up. It was obvious by looking at her sleepy eyes.

    Besides Rai, Kuro was still asleep. In case you are wondering who is Kuro, it is the name of my cat. I kept that name randomly, it felt like the right name for her.

    I walked up to Rai, I grabbed her cheeks. Squishing her cheeks between my hand, I looked at her.

    "What? are you going to kiss me?" asked Rai.

    "No, I want you to become a mom."

    "Huh? aren''t you skipping a few steps? Like first we would have to get married, then we will have to do the thing to produce a baby. I mean, marrying is not necessary, we can do it now. please be gentle--"

    Before she could say anything more, I placed my hand over her mouth as I said,

    "Shut up!! too lewd!! That''s not what I meant, what I meant was that you would have to take care of this kid for some days." I said pointing towards Illya who was standing behind holding Annie''s hand.

    "You purposefully mislead me didn''t you?" asked Rai squinting her eyes, letting out a sigh she continued "You purposefully play with my maiden heart, what will you do if I start hating you?"

    "Sorry," I said with the most unapologetic face I could put on, "So you will take care of her, right?"

    "Sure," said Rai as she turned to face Illya, she stretched both of her hands as she called "Come here!! Come to mama!!."

    "Don''t do that, you will just creep the kid out."

    Apparently, Kuro had just woken up, stretching her body once she jumped on my shoulder. Kuro likes to rub her head against my face.

    Patting her head I asked, "Had a good sleep?"

    Kuro replied with a sweet "Meow!", cute.

    Ellya grabbed my hand tightly and hide behind me, "Stop being creepy Rai or you will scare the kid more."

    "Roger!"

    After that I left Illya with Rai and went back to my room, of course, we booked an extra room for Rai and Illya. For now, I will do whatever I can for Illya.

    Will I do this for anyone? No. I am just helping this kid since she is just a kid. Many people had helped me when I was a kid, so it''s obvious that I will do the same.

    ---------Next day----------

    "You see, about two weeks ago, there were a bunch of people migrating. Apparently, they were people of Gefall nation." said the owner of the Inn.

    I was asking him for information about anything related to Illya. The question I presented him earlier was ''was there any large group of people that had passed Hoperui?''

    "Gefall nation? wasn''t it destroyed in past?" I asked,

    "It was destroyed, but some people survived. The nation lost its old glory and the people there became poorer and poorer, they eventually plunged into poverty. Many people extended their hand to help the people of Gefall nation, they gave them jobs and shelter. But there were still a lot of people, so helping everyone was not possible. But people still try to help as much as they can."

    "So you are saying that the people that were migrating two weeks ago were promised food and a job?"

    "Apparently yes, the duke of Chipworth town is planning on helping them. Due to the less population of Chipworth town, they need manpower. That''s why they are migrating people from Gefall nation to provide them jobs."

    "is Duke of Chipworth town a good person?"

    "Yes, he is said to be a very kind person. So there is nothing to worry about."

    So her parents are heading towards Chipworth town, there is one thing good out of the information that I got.

    The one good thing is Chipworth is the neighboring town of my home, so it will be pretty convenient.

    I walked out of the Inn as I said, "Thank you for your service.".

    We have already taken our exit from the inn, I just came back since I needed the information about Illya.

    "Thanks for visiting!! you are always welcome back!!"

    Everyone was already waiting for me outside, on their horse.

    Mounting on the top of my horse, we headed toward the Hunsti mountain range, exiting the Hoperui town.

    Illya was seated in front of me on the Horse, patting her head I opened her mouth, "Don''t worry, I will take you to your parents."

    "So, big brother is Illya''s Nyx?"

    "Yes! big brother is Illya''s Nyx," I replied as I shot a gentle smile towards her.

    She loves to call me her Nyx since I am taking care of her. She had also started calling Rai ''Mama Rai.''. I am sure that Rai made her say it.

    When I first entered their room, I found them sleeping together holding each other. Well, they are at least getting along well.

    {Author: This Arc is a short one, will probably end in 6 more chapters. HOPEFULLY!!}

 Chapter 86 - 85: Farfern Massacre.

    Passing through the Hunsti mountain range, we were currently in the outskirts of the Farfern forest. It actually took us around two and a half weeks to travel through the mountain range.

    It wasn''t as difficult as last time we traveled through the mountain range. There was plenty of food, water and we were able to find better camping spots.

    Most importantly, fighting monsters was relatively easier than last time. After killing the monsters we left the core on the mountain itself, since we didn''t want any extra luggage.

    We weren''t exactly in the Farfern forest yet. After exiting the Hunsti mountain range, we had to travel half a day through the grassland. Traveling through the grassland was by far the most comfortable ride.

    After traveling through the grassland, we had just entered Farfern woodland. I think after approximately around two hours of traveling we will reach the main Farfern Forest.

    The Farfern forest is the home of a tribe known as the Macropus tribe. They share characteristics with a kangaroo, such as a long large powerful tail, well-built muscle. They primarily have greyish fur but they can have different color fur.

    The people of the Macropus tribe consider the Farfern forest, but they never harm travelers passing through the forest. They can sense the intention of people, so if they don''t sense any wrong intention from a person, they will even give hospitality to that person.

    We had reached the outskirts of the Farfern forest. The moment we entered the Farfern forest, I had sensed something weird.

    After five minutes, we spotted a water stream,

    "Okay, let''s stop here to drink water," I said out loud.

    "But Grey, we just took a stop fifteen-minute ago to drink water" objected Rudi.

    "I got thirsty again."

    Everyone got down from their horse, they understood what was happening.

    Gathering water in the palm of my hand I spoke in a whispering tone,

    "We are surrounded,"

    "How many people?" asked Ulrich.

    I splashed the water on my face as if I was washing my face,

    "Ummm--- I think around 46 humans. Half of them are still pretty far away, but they are working pretty organized. Probably not amateurs."

    "I will guard the Annie, Illya, and Horses, you guys go take care of them." insisted Aetna.

    "Good, since we can''t protect and attack at the same time. We will each take one direction, Rudi try to take as many people as possible with ur ranged attack. Ulrich forest is ur strong point so try to capture at least one or two, we would need them for information."

    I turned my attention towards Rai as I said, "You can go wild, just try not to get injured."

    "Roger!"

    "Then, let''s go!" before going away, I turned to face Annie and Illya, "Make sure to close your eyes okay?"

    Walking towards the east of the forest, I gathered mana in my hands to condense icicle daggers. I threw these two daggers towards two trees.

    Following my action, two humans fell from the tree.

    Scarlet liquid spewed out of their skull dripping to the ground below. The two daggers I had thrown were plunged into their skull.

    They died before they could have let out a groan. One of the men had died with a shock on his face. now that I look closely, is his facial muscle twitching?

    --------(Third person perspective)-----------

    The humans that were attacking Grey and the group were bandits who were seeking an opportunity to catch some Macropus tribe people.

    The reason why they were attacking Grey''s group was to capture them and sell them off to some slave market.

    But they soon realized the gravity of the situation, as two of them dropped dead in an instant.

    As Grey was looking at those two dead bodies, one of the humans that was hiding in the tree aimed his crossbow towards Grey.

    Pulling the trigger, the man shot the arrow towards Grey.

    "Got you." whispered the man letting out a smirk.

    But before the arrow could pierce through Grey, Grey caught the arrow with his bare hand. Turning his head around, Grey looked straight towards where the man was hiding.

    Being in a state of panic, the man tried to run away.

    "Going somewhere?"

    Grey had instantly appeared behind him.

    ''When did he---''

    It was the dying thought of the man. With one clean vertical strike, crimson blood scattered across the oak tree.

    Off the tree, the man''s head and the body fell off towards separate directions.

    At that moment, Grey sensed twelve men charging towards his away.

    Running away, he purposefully led them away from the area where Annie, Illya, and Aetna were there.

    As he was a safe distance away from them, Grey halted his run.

    "Can''t run away anymore?" asked one of the bandits that jumped out of the tree, in front of Grey.

    "Yes, I need to catch up my breath."

    "You killed two of our brothers." said another Bandit, landing on the ground.

    "Actually three of your brother."

    "We will torment---- Gwah!!" before the bandit could complete his sentence, his throat was slit open.

    Grey had cut his jugular artery, food pipe, jugular vein, and windpipe in one clean strike. Falling to the ground, the bandit''s motionless body bled to death.

    "I don''t enjoy killing you guys, I will give you all one chance. Please run away."

    Grey putting immense pressure on them, he was basically letting them know that he was an opponent that they can''t fight.

    Normally, Grey wouldn''t have left them alive. For Grey, showing mercy to the person who holds hostility against you is the stupidest thing a person can do.

    Grey would rather dirty his hand than give a person chance to revenge.

    The bandits weren''t stupid, they chose to run away rather than fight Grey.

    As they were running away,

    "You know what, I change my mind, I want to ask you all a question before giving you chance to run away."

    "Is this some kind of joke?" asked one of the bandits, irritated.

    "You will answer my question right?" asked Grey with a bright smile, but on contrary to his smile, he had increased the pressure he was putting on the bandits.

    "Ask-- Ask away whatever you want."

    Grey raised his index finger as he asked, "First and most important thing, I hope you all just committed petty robberies. "

    Confused, The bandit asked, "Why are you asking this question?"

    "I want to get a gist of your crimes."

    "What are you, a god?"

    "No, I am not a god, I just simply aspire to be a hero. It wouldn''t be very hero-like if I leave a person who had committed crimes alive. specifically, crimes such as murder, rape, and ---- Ummm let me think, I think even slavery is a pretty bad crime, so also slavery."

    with a little pause, Grey let out a chuckle "So, I hope you have not committed such crimes."

    One of the bandits quickly responded as he spoke up saying "No!!"

    "Hehe, you are lying," said Grey.

    "No, we haven''t committed crimes other than robbery, please believe us." Pleased Bandits, as cold sweat through the back of their neck.

    "Umm-- I have an idea, if one of you confess his and other''s crime, I will let that person live and kill the rest of them or I will kill all of you."

    "You!!! if you are already planning to kill us, then we will just have to kill you in return. We --- there are eleven of us and you are just one kid."

    Grey summoned the snake polearm in his hand, "Don''t regret this later."

    After one minute of fighting, Grey was in the same place he was originally standing. But the difference was that his clothes were painted with crimson color, there was some residue red liquid on his face too.

    There were five more lifeless bodies on the ground. The original twelve bandits were halved as the remaining six bandits stood on the forest ground.

    Terrified, one of the bandits kneeled down with his head touching the ground, "I - I confess!! I have committed crimes, all of us did. We have committed murder, we have raped and we have sold children off to slavery. I confess!!! Please let me go this once, I will turn my life around and do good. I will atone for my crime, please don''t kill me!!"

    "You rat!!! are you betraying us?!!" exclaimed another bandit.

    "I am not betraying you, I am just begging for forgiveness."

    Grey raised his finger, pointing his finger towards the bandit he spoke up "Then, I will kill you all."

    "But-- but you promised me that you would not kill me if I confessed to my crimes." said the bandit as panic surged through him.

    "Did I say something like that?"

    "You monster!!!", The bandit charged at him. But it was their last struggle as they eventually drew their last breath.

    All of the six remaining bandits were dead. Their lifeless body continued to bleed, which made the surroundings covered with a thick stench of blood.

    "After all, I really don''t like this smell."

 Chapter 87 - 86: Two More To Go.

    Grey had sensed eleven more humans deep inside the forest.

    After making sure that the rest of his group was okay, he headed deep towards the forest where he had sensed the rest of the eleven humans.

    Among eleven humans, ten of them were not particularly strong, but there was one strong human. The mana core and the aura he had sensed from that human were on another level than those of bandits.

    Maintaining his stealth, Grey traveled from one tree to another until he reached the place where all the eleven humans were present.

    From the top of the tree, Grey saw a camp of bandits.

    ''The reason they are camping here is most probably to capture the people of Macropus tribe to sell them or something''

    Grey looked around to find the stronger human that he had sensed, but he wasn''t able to find any. But later he saw a young woman, tied down to the tree.

    The thing was, the stronger human that he sensed earlier is this woman.

    ''This woman... did she purposefully get herself captured? cause there is no way that bandit would be able to capture someone of her level.

    Maybe she has some objective. Well, I will find out myself...''

    Jumping out of the tree, Grey landed in the middle of the camp. This attracted the attention of all the bandits present in the camp except for the ones who were sleeping.

    The blood that was smeared on Grey''s face and his crimson-stained clothes made all the bandit cautious,

    "Who -- who are you?!!"

    Without paying any heed to what bandit had asked, Grey turned his attention towards the tied up woman,

    "Do you have a mission?" asked Grey cutting the chase.

    There was a shock in the young woman''s face, which later disappeared like it was never there. With a straight face, she answered, "Yes, I am currently in one."

    "You got some balls kid---"

    Before the bandit can complete the sentence, Grey looked at him as he said "Shut up, you will only be talking when I let you talk."

    Grey had paralyzed all of the bandit''s movement, using his Ormr bloodline eye. Simultaneously he exerted great pressure that weighed down on them.

    The pressure that Grey puts on his opponent mimics the feeling of painful agitation in the face of danger. in simpler terms, the pressure mimics the feeling of fear.

    The effectiveness of the pressure depends upon the opponent.

    Due to the pressure, the bandits didn''t dare to oppose Grey.

    Grey turned his attention towards the woman, with an awkward smile he said, "Oh, I am sorry, I think I ruined your mission."

    "How so?"

    "I kinda killed some bandits on the way here. well, they tried to capture me, or at least that was their intention."

    "You killed them?" asked Bandit, enraged.

    "Yes, and you guys will join them too," said Grey as he turned his attention towards the rest of the bandit.

    Drawing his blade, Grey proceeded to slaughter each of the bandits with ease. The ones that were sleeping were also woken up, but well they were sent to sleep again, this time to an internal sleep though.

    Wiping the blood off the sword, Grey spoke again "So what was your mission?"

    "I shouldn''t say this to strangers, but since you got involved in this, I will let you know. In short, I suspect these bandits of planning an organized crime, most probably they want to raid Macropus tribe, to capture them and sell them off to slave market."

    "Was there a particular reason for letting yourself get captured?" asked Grey.

    "I just wanted to make sure that they are not part of an organized crime. If not, then I would have disposed of them. But if there are more of them, then I would need a proper plan, to dispose of them efficiently without letting them flee away."

    "Do you think there is a possibility that there is more than one bandit camp?"

    "I believe so."

    Grey felt like she was a pretty upright person, even the way she talked didn''t have any unnecessary talk, she only talked about necessary things and avoided any useless conversation.

    Letting out a sight, Grey opened his mouth,

    "I will help you find other bandit camps since I ruined your plan."

    "How will you do so?" asked the young woman, curious.

    "I have a few tricks."

    Closing his eyes, Grey focused all his attention on sensing his surroundings. Using the power of Minerva, Grey tracked every little source of mana or any other energy near him.

    Around the distance of 100 meters, he could sense six different sources of mana. Those were the mana of his friends.

    Extending his reach to 500 meters, he still couldn''t find anything else other than some random monsters.

    On the distance of 1000 meters, he found two different places where there were multiple sources of mana.

    To be sure, he focused his attention to sense more of his surrounding, his reach was around 2000 meters now. Finally, he extended his reach to 3000 meters, there weren''t any sources of mana that indicated that it could be bandit camp.

    Using Minerva seal''s power, he can see things as black or white. Things that are not mana are just pitch black, different form of energy is seen in different colors. For example, the mana is mostly white with a faint hint of blue in it.

    Opening his eyes, Grey spoke up, "There are around two more camps, each camp having no more than 30 men''s."

    "Huh? you were able to sense them from here?" asked the young woman, shocked.

    The fact that Grey was able to handle multiple bandits effortlessly already had caught her attention, now she was even more curious about Grey.

    "Yes, it''s my power," replied Grey.

    "Owl?"

    The young woman was asking about his seal marking, to which Grey gave an affirmation with a nod.

    Clearing her throat the young woman regained her composure,

    "Ahem, forgive my rudeness, I wouldn''t pry any further. will you help me find the right direction to find the camp?"

    "Then what are you going to do?" Asked Grey.

    "I will dispose of them, but I will be needing your help."

    Letting out a chuckle, Grey spoke up, "You don''t need my help, you can handle them yourself. You want to observe me, don''t you?"

    The young woman''s expression again changed with that of a surprise, A smile curved upon her face as she said "You are correct."

    Raising both of her hands slightly she continued, "but I can assure you that I don''t have any ill intention towards you."

    "I don''t mind going with you, but I will have to inform my group."

    "Sure."

    Grey went back to inform his group, he specifically instructed everyone to camp in the forest itself since it will soon get dark.

    No one was actually worried about Grey since they knew him very well. Well, not everyone, with the exception of---

    "Big brother are you going somewhere?" asked Illya, worried.

    "There is something big brother has to look into, I will be back in around an hour," said Grey.

    "But....", Illya''s gaze was flitting around the forest, not settling in one spot.

    A smile curved up on Grey''s lips as he patted Illya''s head "Don''t worry big brother will be back."

    For Illya, it was a reassuring smile, "Okay!! then I will wait here!!"

    Due to getting separated from her parents, Illya had developed separation anxiety. But, she was ready to trust Grey.

    After informing his group, Grey headed back to where the young woman was waiting.

    "By the way, may I know your name?" asked Grey to the young woman.

    "Oh rude of me, my name is Hina," said Hina sincerely.

    "My name is Grey, nice to make acquaintance with you."

    Pointing towards the southwest side of the first, Grey spoke up "Both of the camps is on that side, we will take one at a time since it''s better to not underestimate the enemy."

    "I am sure you already know, but I will tell you just in case. We will make it quick, showing hesitation while killing them will only waste our time and we can''t let anyone escape away." Instructed Hina.

    "I understand," said Grey.

    Grey found it interesting that how she relays each of her statements like a military command. It made him believe that she has some sort of connection to the military or she belongs to a well-known military family.

    Traveling through the forest they reached the first bandit camp, they cleared that camp with ease. Of course, they were stealthy about it.

    The first camp had around 28 people in it, they were all killed before they could get a chance to even resist.

    After watching Hina fight, Grey was more sure about the fact that Hina was insanely strong, even her sword art had a level of its own.

    Refined sword art, upright demeanor, fine judgment, and the way she drew her sword to kill without any hesitation, these factors made Grey even more sure that she belonged to some military family, If not, then she must be someone important. This was Grey''s line of thought.

    There was one more thing that Hina had noticed, despite no significant change in facial expression, Grey''s body was trembling vigorously, his breath was unsteady.

 Chapter 88 - 87: Hero Or Ruler?

    After taking care of the first camp, they headed to the second camp. There weren''t many bandits in the second camp, their number being only up to twenty-four.

    So taking care of them was relatively easier. Well, it was not like the bandit didn''t put up their fight. They did manage to leave some minor injuries on Grey and Hina, but it was nothing major.

    "Please don''t kill me!!! I was doing this bandit work because I have a kid and wife, I have to feed them!!!" begged the last remaining bandit.

    Watching all his comrade fall, the bandit had lost all his strength in his leg due to fear, he wasn''t able to run away.

    Grey didn''t pay attention to what the bandit was saying, more like he didn''t want to hear it. Walking towards the bandit, he raised his sword,

    "No... Please stay away!!" screamed Bandit, begging Grey to stay away from him.

    Grey''s hand had again started shaking uncontrollably, to the point where he lost the strength to hold the blade. Letting go of his blade, Grey still continued to walk towards the bandit.

    But bandit was relieved since he thought he had been spared,

    "Thank you so much!! I will turn my life ---"

    Stretching his hand, Grey brought his plan near bandit''s face,

    "Divine Frost"

    "Huh?" said Bandit before his body froze to a point where all of his body disintegrated in an instant.

    With a gust of wind, the little flakes of ice drifted across the air. It was time for the sunset, the orangish ray of light fell upon the drifting little ice flakes, giving it a shiny orange glow, it was a beautiful spectacle.

    But in truth, the little ice flakes were the disintegrated remains of the last bandit.

    ''It was terrifying yet beautiful, the sight in front of me was an extremely alluring sight yet an extremely freighting one. The sight of a full-grown human disintegrating into flakes is terrifying, but yet so beautiful. This boy--- who is he exactly?'' Hina was confused about whether to admire to be terrified of the sight in front of her.

    Looking at the still trembling hands of Grey she spoke up, "are you fine?"

    "oh-- yes I am," replied Grey, his facial expression was indifferent to his trembling body.

    "You don''t have to force yourself to draw blood," said Hina.

    To which Grey looked her in eyes, determined, "It is my responsibility."

    "Responsibility?"

    "If I had left them alive, they would have eventually caused more suffering. They would have continued to kill, steal, rape, kidnap children to sell them off to slavery. This is what they do and I don''t have enough patience to let them go expecting that they would change. Mortals can change, but I can''t take the risk of letting them go so they could cause more suffering to others.

    So it is my responsibility to draw blood if necessary, if I can prevent someone to suffer then I will gladly draw blood." said Grey as he walked closer to one of the dead bandits whose eyes were still, gently closing his eyes.

    "They have loved ones too, most probably. Like the last bandit was saying, he said he had kids and a wife, he had loved ones too, you stole him from them. How do you feel about it?" asked Hina, sincerely, she wasn''t objecting to Grey, she was just curious about what answer he would give.

    "They will never know, that I had killed him. But Hypothetically, they did know that I was the one that killed him. I will become the source of all evil for them, but I don''t mind being the source of all evil or dirtying my hand. If it means that I will be preventing future tragedy, I will gladly dirty my hand."

    "That''s one twisted flawed logic,", a smile curved up on Hina''s face as she said, "But I don''t hate that logic, since I am the victim of the same logic."

    For the first time, her expression changed, this time into a vulnerable one "How old are you?"

    "I am thirteen years old currently," answered Grey.

    "It''s hard to believe that you are so young. But I am glad that you are young since I would have fallen for you if you were any older. It''s hard to find a person who thinks just like, I am glad I met you today." said Hina with a tender smile.

    Letting out a chuckle, Grey spoke up "Even I am glad I met you today."

    "What caused you to have a sense of responsibility like this?"

    Scratching his cheeks, with an awkward smile, Grey said "I want to be a hero."

    Listening to what Grey had said, Hina couldn''t help but laugh. No, it was more of a chuckle.

    "What-- what? what is wrong with being a hero?!!" said Grey, panicking. His face had gotten red from ear to ear.

    "Nothing. I just found it cute," said Hina, letting out a chuckle. "But, you not a hero like you seem fitter to be a ruler."

    "Huh? why so?"

    "In my family, there is a saying that, a person who has great determination to hold on to his ideals is best fit to be a ruler."

    Grey remembered that saying from somewhere, his face lit up as he remembered where this saying was from.

    (Grey''s POV)

    As I remembered where I heard it from, I raised my finger as I said,

    "Now I remember! my Grandma used to say that to me, she used to say that it was a Barca family saying."

    Shocked, but later she regained her composure as a smile curved up her lips, "Yes, you have found my identity. Let me introduce myself again, I am Hina Barca. The daughter of Barca military family."

    Well, it makes sense, she is very military-like. Not exactly military-like, she gives more of a general vibe.

    Her Grandad used to be general in the Amay nation army and her dad is the current general of the Amay nation army.

    Barca family holds a great significance in the Amay nation.

    Squinting my eyes together, I spoke up, "Now it makes sense."

    "Huh? why does it make sense? I am not that upright, okay? right?" Hina Blurted out, she had gotten as red as an apple.

    Letting out a chuckle, I spoke up "I don''t know about earlier, but you are currently not very military-like."

    As I pointed it out to her, she quickly regained her composure. The embarrassment on her face was gone as if it was never there before, it was replaced with a serious expression.

    "Why don''t you work under me? I can nurture you into a great leader if you choose to work under me. It will also benefit me since I am in need of a person like you. What do you say? want to join me?"

    "I am honored by the offer but I can''t, I have things that I have to do," I replied.

    "Oh, then it can''t be helped," she said letting out a sigh.

    After a little pause,

    "By the way, are you heading towards Colmoor?" I asked.

    Colmoor is a city right past the Farfern forest, it is the home city for the Barca family. So, it would make sense that she was heading that way.

    "Yes, I am heading that way."

    "Then why don''t you join us, we are also heading that way." I insisted.

    To which agreed she agreed saying ''If you are fine with having me then I don''t have any problem."

    Just like that, I have acquired another travel companion. To be honest, I invited her since there was something I was curious about her.

    I wanted to observe her from up close and I wanted to know her better. There was no particular reason, it was just simple human curiosity.

    Later we walked down to the place where my group has camped, before entering the camp I had made sure that Annie and Illya weren''t present. Since I didn''t want them to see my bloody face and clothes.

    Later as everyone was gathered near the campfire, I introduced my group to Hina.

    Ah, by the way, I never properly introduced how Hina looked like--

    Hina is a pretty good-looking young woman, who might be around the age of nineteen or twenty, With an average height and a slender body. She has neck-length black hair and bright yellow eyes.

    Well, she is not exactly of average height, it might be better to say that she is somewhat on the taller side. But not too tall either.

    When I came back, Illya was already asleep. Apparently, she had started panicking as I wasn''t back even after half an hour. From what I had heard from Rai, her separation anxiety is severe.

    I am glad that Rai was there to comfort her since Illya is weirdly attached to Rai. I came back to find Illya asleep with her head on Rai''s lap.

    Rai has been taking care of Illya pretty well.

 Chapter 89 - 88: Nyx Temple.

    It was the time of night,

    Sleeping was an everyday struggle for me, but it wasn''t an impossible task for me. I somehow manage to drift into sleep, but well usual nightmares always wake me up.

    Today was different, today the not so impossible task of sleeping was looking like an unachievable task.

    Shutting my eyes tight, I struggled to fall asleep,

    "Please don''t kill me"

    "I have a wife and a kid, please spare me."

    "Please------ stay away."

    "Please don''t kill me"

    "I am sorry."

    "I will turn my life around."

    "Please don''t kill me."

    Opening my eyes, I sat up, it was a reflective action. A cold sweat ran down my chin, my body was sweating profusely.

    Inhaling a deep breath I tried to calm myself down, it was an attempt to stop my trembling body.

    "Fuck it," I said as I got up, heading out of the tent.

    I gave up on trying to sleep. staying awake seemed like a better option than hearing those nightmarish voices.

    The forest was dark, the only little illumination was that of three moons and stars. The night sky was lively as ever, the three moons could be seen resonating with each other.

    Well, most of the light was blocked by the trees, giving the forest a pitch-black vibe.

    I walked towards the still dimly lit campfire, I saw that Ulrich was seated beside the campfire. His gaze was pointlessly fixed at the campfire.

    Walking up to him, I sat beside him. I didn''t speak anything, we just sat beside each other maintaining the unspoken silence.

    Ten minutes have passed by, we were seated in the same place,

    "Couldn''t sleep?" asked Ulrich.

    "No."

    "I am glad I have your company."

    "Me too."

    That was the last and only conversation we had all night. Eventually, Ulrich went back to sleep and I was the only one left awake.

    To pass my time, I engaged myself in some training. I did polearm training in particular since I didn''t want to wake anyone up.

    The night passed by and we continued our traveling the next day. Hina had her own horse, so we continued our travel on each of our horses.

    During this time, I got to know Hina better. She seemed to not talk much, most of the time she maintained her silence, avoiding any unnecessary talks.

    Illya has grown more clingy, she prefers to stay close to me all the time. If not with me, she prefers to be with Rai, At night she sleeps beside Rai.

    Watching Rai take care of Illya, With a cheeky smile, I spoke up

    "You will be a great mother."

    "Of your kids?" she asked sincerely.

    It surprises me that how she is able to say inappropriate things with that sincere face.

    "Do you want to make some?"

    "Would love to" she replied.

    Illya was in our presence, her face lit up as she asked,

    "Are you both going to make kids?!"

    Her question was loud enough for everyone to be heard. With that, we started getting weird looks from everyone.

    I could hear the soft chuckle from Hina, she was trying her best to not laugh.

    Ah, this is embarrassing!!

    I could sense an immense aura pressing down on me, the source of that aura was Aetna as she was shooting a death stare at me.

    {Author: From the next arc, Aetna will get more focus.}

    Just like that, A week has passed. No, eight days to be exact.

    We were finally on the outskirts of the Farfern forest, from here it will take approximately 2 hours to reach the city of Colmoor.

    Traveling through the Farfern forest we did encounter some of the Macropus tribe people, they were friendly or didn''t show any kind of hostility towards us, neither did we.

    "Before we go to Colmoor city, why don''t we visit the Nyx temple,"  suggested Hina out of nowhere.

    Hearing the name of Nyx was enough for Illya to be interested in it. No, she was dying to go there.

    "Nyx?! I want to visit the temple of Goddess Nyxx!!"

    Since I had no reason to deny her, I agreed to it. Visiting the temple might be a good change of scenery, so yeah, why not?

    Apparently, Nyx temple was right outside Colmoor city, so we just had to follow the same route to reach the temple.

    After traveling for half an hour, we were able to see a large lone rock formation between the forest. A unique and enormous column of rock stood precipitously from the ground.

    Situated on the top of this enormous rock was the Nyx temple.

    On the foot of the rock, there was a narrow pathway that led into the rock. Entering this narrow pathway, we were met with spiral stairs that led to the top of the rock to the temple.

    There was one thing I was wondering about, is this rock strong enough to hold the weight of the temple?

    On top of that, it was risky to hollow out the rock to build the stairs from inside. Would it just increase the risk of the rock collapsing?

    "The rock is blessed by the previous reincarnation of the Nyx. Previous Nyx apparently was master in rock magic, so she blessed this rock, giving it the strength to hold this temple. This rock is said to possess the strength to hold ten temples like this." explained Hina. I didn''t even have to ask the question before I got the answer.

    "Previous reincarnation of Nyx?" I asked.

    But my question was not answered by Hina, it was Illya who opened her mouth saying, "Mom says that, Whenever people are sad, in trouble and hungry, Goddess Nyx will descend among the people of Amay nation to end their suffering and make them really really happy!!!!"

    Illya''s explanation is broken as ever, but also cute.

    "As the little girl said, every generation Nyx will descend upon mortal to lead them in the right way, at least that''s what her follower says. Well, but the fact of Nyx descending amongst mortals is true, that I can say for sure."

    Our conversations continued, we eventually reached the top. The spiral staircase led us directly towards the insides of the temple, rather than some kind of entrance.

    Now that I think about it, the entrance was the narrow pathway itself.

    What I had expected from the temple was something grand like some fascinating architecture, various scripture, a statue, and some other things. But on contrary, the temple was had nothing in it, it was empty.

    Well, not just empty, it was also wrecked from inside.

    As I was watching the wrecked insides of the temple,

    "Welcome, young ones."  greeted us a person, it was a shaky breathy old voice.

    Turning around, I faced the source of the voice. The source of the voice was an old man, seated on the floor he greeted us.

    He had smokey Grey hair, he had few remaining hairs on his barren head.

    His wrinkly hung cheeks rose up, his thin lips curved up, with a smile he greeted us "It''s been a while since I had a visitor."

    His attention shifted to Hina who had just entered the temple "Oh, little Hina is also here, are they your friend?"

    Apparently, this old man and Hina are already acquainted.

    Wait, No!!! I have forgotten to mention the most important detail. The detail is that the old man''s face was beaten up.

    There were various bruises of various lengths and sizes on his face, his clothes were torn from various places.

    There wasn''t much reaction on Hina''s face as she looked at the bruised-up old man''s face.

    "Churchmen?" she asked the old man.

    "Yes, look how cruelly they have treated me!!"

    This old man was not acting hurt at all, despite all his injuries.

    "Why didn''t you just beat them up? you have the power to do so," said Hina as she sat on the floor.

    Following her action, I sat on the floor beside her. The rest of the group did the same.

    "Because of the Oracle," said Old man.

    "Oracle? did you receive some recently?" but before the old man could answer her question, she turned to face me as she said, "Forgive my rudeness, I haven''t introduced him to you."

    "This is old man Astor, he fulfills the role of the high priest at this temple. Well, he joined the temple at the age of fifty, before that he was a serious gambler. He has the power to receive Oracle, basically, it''s a power to get glimpses of the future. He used that power to gamble and he did win a lot of money. Eventually, people became suspicious, and a bounty was charged against him. Running away from the death, he became the priest at this church."

    Damn, that''s some crazy back story.

    "If you ever need help with gambling just contact me, we will split the winning in half. But well, my power has gotten weaker recently. Not weaker, I just don''t get oracle that often and the oracle I get seems to be a super important oracle. Like the one that shows the fate of the world or something."

    This old man is definitely suspicious, whose idea was to make this old man a high priest?

    "You know, one time I got this super amazing oracle, in which a human was fighting against gods. He seemed super cool, he looked super strong. Must be the protagonist of this world or something, but that was an awesome oracle. It was already insane to watch a human having the power of gods, over that he also commanded the most powerful army, isn''t it cool? it''s cool right?"

    This old man talks a lot....

 Chapter 90 - 89: Wicked Prince?

    "About the oracle...." mentioned Hina, if she didn''t have mentioned it, I don''t how long this old man would have talked about random stuff.

    "Oh yes, the oracle!! Oracle---" said Old man.

    "By Oracle, I mean the one which is related to you getting beaten up," said Hina interrupting him before he goes on another random tangent.,

    "Apparently me getting beaten up will lead to the birth of Nyx." said the old man, blatantly.

    Isn''t it a piece of important information?

    Leaning closer to Hina, I whispered  "Can this old man''s oracle be trusted?"

    "Yes, you have my word for that. I might not trust this old man, but his oracle is a different case."

    I turned my attention towards the old man as I said "Can you please elaborate in detail."

    "The oracle said that rather descending from the heaven, she will rise from beneath the earth. This time she will not lead the people of the Amay nation, she will walk with her companions to follow the Wicked prince in his quest to rebel against the divine."

    "Wicked prince?" I questioned, curious.

    "I don''t know who that is, I just heard his name in my oracle."

    "Did you receive any other oracle?" asked Hina.

    "Yes, I can''t say the details of the oracle, since--" He leaned closer to us, covering his mouth from one side, he whispered, "since it''s top secret."

    "Understood," said Hina.

    "When you go back, let the princess know that he will be joining her rank soon. The stage has been set, everything is in motion. Soon he will declare the holy war, when that happens he will first rely on the princess and her subordinate. Tell her that she will acquire the strongest subordinate, she will be able to achieve her goal." The old man looked quite serious while saying this.

    Cryptic... but well, it doesn''t have anything to do with me.

    "Understood, I will let her know," said Hina.

    "By the way, I heard one more thing----- Ummm---- I don''t --- exactly--- remember what it was, but it said something along the lines of ''After death, A soul shall not perish until a full lunar resonation cycle. A soul could be brought back to life in a time limit of a lunar resonation cycle, that is if enough energy of ten thousand mortal souls is acquired.'', I don''t know what it meant though."

    "Dead can be brought back to life?" questioned Rudi.

    Before he could get his hopes up, I spoke up saying "One full lunar resonation cycle means one month, so a soul can be brought back to life only till one month of death. Over that, you would have to kill ten thousand mortals to channel their energy in reviving the dead."

    "That''s insanity."

    Hina got up from the seated position as she said "Then I will take my leave, I will let her know what you have said."

    "You are going so early? at least spend some time with me, it gets lonely here!."

    "No, I would pass on that. I have work to do." denied Hina, walking out towards the exit.

    Following her, I walked out towards the exit.

    Before walking I turned around to face the old man,  "I will be back here since I want to know more about the demonic energy from you."

    My statement caught the old man in surprise, raising his eyebrows, he laughed "What an interesting kid, you are always welcome!!"

    There was one thing I had noticed about the old man that I didn''t mention. He seemed to be in possession of demonic energy, A tremendous amount of demonic energy at that.

    There is no mistaking it, this old man is from the demon race.

    We left the temple and descended down the spiral stairs.

    As I was mounting over my horse, Aetna opened her mouth asking,

    "Grey, what do you want to know about demonic energy from that elder sir?"

    "Yes, I am also curious. What does demonic energy have to do with the priest?" asked Hina joining Aetna.

    "How about we exchange information? I will tell you the information about the priest and you will let me know something that I want to know. Of course, you can decide the value of my information, before answering my question" I proposed.

    There were things that I wanted to know, but I wanted to make fair trade with Hina.

    "Very well, I will judge the value of your information before answering your question," said Hina agreeing to my proposition.

    Mounting on the horse, we continued our journey towards Colmoor city.

    "So the thing about the priest is, I am not sure if you know about this or not. But he is not human,"

    The priest being not human part caught Hina''s attention, she questioned "Not human?"

    So she didn''t know that he was a person from the demon race. Well, I must give credit to the priest for his great disguise as a human.

    "He is from the demon race."

    "How did you find out?" she asked.

    Without saying anything, I pointed my finger towards my eye.

    "The power of owl?"

    "Yes," I confirmed.

    "All this time, I thought that he was human. This is indeed a great piece of information." she was riding her horse right beside mine, "So, what do you want to know?" she asked.

    "Where do you work? in the army or something else?"

    She didn''t answer my question right away. She took a proper minute to give a reply to my question, she seemed to ponder over something.

    "It was a great piece of information, so it''s fair to answer your question. But I must apologize in advance that I can''t provide detailed information,"

    Waving my hand, I shook it off saying "No no, I just want a gist of it. Not detailed information."

    With a brief pause, she spoke up, "I work---- well, work wouldn''t be a proper term, since the organization hasn''t been formed. My boss--- the princess, she is forming an organization---"

    Before she could complete her sentence, interrupting her, I questioned "Are you talking about the Celestia?"

    She halted her horse, all her attention was focus were shifted on me, the expression of shock on her face was pretty apparent.

    "How---How do you know?"

    "Since, I got the invitation to join Celestia about a year and a half ago"

    "So the princess had invited you too? who invited you?"

    "A girl named Rin invited me, I rejected her. She also said that I will join the Celestia out of my free own will in two years"

    She later regained her composure,

    "Oh, it makes sense, but how did you manage to get Rin off your back. She is a very stubborn girl, she wouldn''t have left you alone till you have agreed to join the Celestia."

    "Yes!!! she was very persistent!! but later I made a bet with her and she lost, so she gave up on me."

    "It''s actually a great idea," said Hina, letting out a chuckle, it was a damn elegant chuckle.

    As we were talking, we had arrived at the gates of Colmoor city. Halting her horse, Hina turned to face us,

    "So, we have arrived. It was a great pleasure to be able to travel with you all.", with a slight bow, "then I shall take my leave, have a safe journey."

    "I hope we meet again!!" said Annie, waving her goodbye.

    "Thanks for taking us to, Nyx temple!!" said Illya, waving her bye.

    Everyone waved her bye.

    Before walking away, she turned around once more to face me,

    "Grey, if you change your mind and want to join the Celestia. You are always welcomed and you can visit me in this city."

    "I will remember that," I said shooting a gentle smile at her.

    We weren''t going to stop at Colmoor city, since the Chipworth town was a sixteen hours travel from the Colmoor city.

    We thought that it would be good to return Illya to her parents as soon as possible since they might be worried about her.

    Passing right through Colmoor city, we entered right back the Farfern forest. The Colmoor was at the heart of the Farfern forest, so it was surrounded by the forest from all sides.

    We traveled up to nine hours until the sky was getting dark. We decided to camp in the forest and leave early morning in the night.

    It was dead at the night, I was seated near the dim flickering flames near the campfire. I have given up on trying to sleep, the voices seem to never stop.

    I was pointlessly gazing at the campfire, thinking about the things that the old man had said. If his oracle is correct, then the world will son engulfed in chaos.

    As much as I would like to say that it has nothing to do with me, I can''t. Being royalty means that I would have to take part in this chaos.

    And what''s the deal with the wicked prince? holy war? and declaring war against God? Declaring war against god is the most stupid thing a mortal can do.

    I don''t know whether they are gods or not, but they are beings that possess a stupid amount of divinity and claims to be the gods.

    Each nation has its own gods, those gods rule over those nations and are generally worshipped by the mortal that resides over those lands.

    But well, there are exceptions, the Amay nation is known as a nation with no god, no god can be born on this land. Then there is Frey nation where the god doesn''t even care about ruling over that nation.

    People of the Frey nation don''t even know whether their gods are alive or dead, since no one has seen them for centuries.

 Chapter 91 - 90: Chipworth Town

    My gaze was fixated on the flickering flames of the campfire, I was thinking about various different things.

    As I was gazing at the campfire, a little girl walked in front of me obstructing my view of the campfire.

    Even with the darkness of the forest, I was clearly able to see the sparkly blue eyes of the little girl.

    "Big brother, what are you doing here?" asked Illya.

    "I couldn''t sleep, so I thought I would sit near the campfire, till I fall asleep."

    "So, I will sit with big brother to keep him company!!"

    Placing my hand over her head, I gently patted her saying "As much as I would love company, but you should sleep. You are a growing girl, you should sleep enough to grow healthier."

    "Big brother sounds like a father."

    I could help but chuckle, "I do?"

    Puffing up her cheeks, "Big brother let me stay with you!!!" said Illya, pouting.

    Giving up, I said "Fine, since you will be going back to your parents tomorrow. I will let you stay awake, but not for long."

    Her previous lit-up face saddened up as she said "tomorrow, big brother and Illya will say goodbye. Where will big brother go?"

    Oh, that''s right!! I never told her that,

    Clearing my throat, I spoke up "Ahem, my house is actually two hours away from the Chipworth town, so I will be able to visit you frequently."

    "Really!!!" she exclaimed, her face lit up with happiness.

    "Shush! everyone is sleeping," I said shushing her,

    She laughed as she said "Shush!" repeating me.

    "When will big brother be sleeping?" she asked,

    "Ummm, when Illya will fall asleep, after that big brother will also fall asleep"

    Squinting her eyes together, she stared at me,

    "Liar!!!!"

    "Eh?"

    "Big brother is a liar!!!"

    "Eh?!!"

    "You won''t sleep, you are lying." said Illya, she grabbed my hand as she dragged me to her tent, "Come with me big brother."

    Dragging me to her camp, she made me sleep beside her. Wrapping her little arms around my head, she started patting my head.

    "My mom used to make me sleep like this," she said.

    She started humming a lullaby, why doesn''t it have any lyrics in it? most probably because she doesn''t remember any.

    I closed my eyes, I might as well try to sleep. But it won''t work since the voice will start anyways.

    "Please... spare ---"

    The voice stopped? the voice disappeared, it was overlapped by the voice of Illya''s humming.

    My eyes were getting heavy as I seeped into a peaceful slumber.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It was morning, I opened my eyes to find out that a tiny set of warm hands was still wrapped around me.

    It was the hands of Illya as she was sleeping beside me, holding me tight.

    I turned my head to the right to find that Aetna was seated beside me,

    "Good morning, Grey."

    Her warm smile was a pleasant sight to see as the first thing in the morning.

    "Good morning, Aetna."

    "You were finally able to sleep."

    "Yes,"

    After a brief pause, she opened her mouth saying "Now I understand."

    "Understand what?"

    "That the secret of making you sleeping is holding you tightly as you sleep."

    A cheeky smile curved up my lips as I asked "Are you sure? you know, a couple do this sort of stuff."

    Hiding her face between her hair, she spoke up,

    "I don''t--- I don''t mind being like a couple with you."

    she tried her best to hide her embarrassment. But it was a failed attempt to hide her rose-colored blush.

    Cute cute cute cute, CUTE!!

    I found myself speechless, couldn''t be able to reply with anything in return.

    At that very moment, Rudi called out to me from outside the tent "Grey, let''s go!! we are getting late."

    "Okay," I replied to him as I picked up sleeping Illya in my arms.

    Later we mounted on the horse, I held Illya in one hand and controlled the horse from another.

    After an hour of travel, she woke up. She turned her little head around to look at me,

    "Good morning, Illya." I greeted her.

    "I wasn''t on a warm comfortable bed?" she asked, confused.

    "No, you were sleeping in my arms. You can sleep more if you want because there is still a little time left to reach the Chipworth city."

    "No!!! I want to spend more time with brother Grey!!!"

    "Okay."

    After a little pause, I asked "Illya, what are your parents like?"

    "Illya''s parents? they are really really hard-working people. Even when there was no food in the house, papa would give me his portion of the food. Mom was a very kind and wonderful person, she thought me how to write.

    She even tells me different kinds of stories about the God Demis. Mom and dad really believe in god Demis, Even Illya believes in God Demis, Illya also believes in Nyx." she said, then she turned to me as she continued,

    "But, Illya believes in big brother Grey more than Illya believes in God Demis and Nyx."

    I couldn''t help as a smile curved my lips,

    "Thanks for believing in me. If your parents are such a wonderful person then we should give you to them as quickly as possible, since they might be worried."

    "Yes!"''

    We traveled through the forest for about three hours, before finally reaching the gates of Chipworth town. We have arrived here just before the sun was about to set.

    Chipworth town was not originally a town, it was a place that was originally owned by the Demis church. But later a young noble decided to make this place a town since he saw potential in this place.

    The potential is that this town is just located near the border between Amay and Frey nation. So it could become a great spot for tourists or travelers to rest and spend time here.

    Well, of course, the young dutch must have more seen more potential than tourism, or else he wouldn''t have taken such a risk.

    We passed through the gates of Chipworth town, which was still under construction. The town itself was under construction, but most of the local residential houses were properly built structures.

    "Would you like this visit our church?" asked the man that have just approached us, he wore a white cassock robe.

    "Not now, since we had just entered the town. We will first find an inn, then we will consider visiting the church." I replied.

    "Young kid like you should devote their life to god, come to the church with us, we will arrange your stay there." Insisted the man in a white robe,

    "No, I would decline your offer," I said, politely.

    "As an adult, I would advise you, kids, to devote yourself to our god. He will take on all of your sufferings, he is the only one that will show you the right way."

    "Okay then, I will come back to you whenever I am looking for the ''right way''," I said as I walked away.

    "What a rude young man!!! surrender yourself to the gods or divine punishment is waiting for you."

    The thing is, I am controlling my anger. But I can''t control everyone else''s anger, specifically Ulrich''s anger.

    I am ignoring that churchman for his own good since if he stands before us anymore, he might get killed.

    But, I guess Ulrich was at his limit,

    "Oi holy bastard, next time you open your mouth, I will cut your tongue off," said Ulrich as he turned around to face the Church guy.

    He was emitting dense killing intent, dense enough to pressure the church guy is backing away.

    Before anything bad happens, I placed my hand over Ulrich''s shoulder as I whispered "Stop it, now is not the good time. We have kid''s with us."

    "I understand," he said as he retracted his killing intent.

    "You insolent child!! you will burn in hell!!! you will face divine punishment, I will purge an evil child like you myself!!! From tomorrow all the evil of this nation will perish once our true master will be born"

    But on the contrary to what he said, he just walked away without doing anything. Might because of the presence of guards, they must be working for the dutch. So the church can''t do whatever they want under the rule of the dutch.

    That''s good to know.

    As we were walking away, I spoke up to Ulrich,

    "I won''t mind if one or two holy men were to disappear tonight, you know what I mean right?"

    "That''s a nice idea, even I wonder what it would be like if one or two holy men were to disappear tonight." agreed Ulrich.

    "We are on the same page today."

    A smile curved on his lips "We always were on the same page."

    "Can''t deny that."

    Church took our loved ones from us, so it''s a not bad idea to at least have a little fun with them before we destroy them.

    But destroying them still seems far-fetched. As much as I would hate to agree to it, we lack the power to do so.

    I need to use status as a prince, to destroy the church from its roots.

 Chapter 92 - 91 Nyxs Promise.

    "Where are the people of the Gefall nation?" asked Rudi to one of the guards.

    "Gefall nation? they are everywhere," he said to which Rudi gave him a puzzled expression.

    He spoke again, "By everywhere, I mean that they have just arrived yesterday and they are functioning as a normal citizen of Chipworth town. So yeah they are all over the Chipworth town, like every other citizen of this town."

    "Makes sense, I am looking for someone is specific, they have migrated here from the Gefall nation. Would you help me look for them?" I asked.

    "Sure I can!! Follow me, I will lead you to the place where all the migrated citizens are staying." said the guard as he insisted to show us the way.

    "Thank you, that will be a great help," I said, following him.

    Later, after five minutes walk, we reached the heart of the town.

    "The duke is aiming to build this town into a city, that''s why he needs those people. Duke will provide them with comfortable houses and jobs, they will help duke to build a city."

    He explained to us, as we were walking on the streets of the town.

    Eventually, we reached the rows and columns of well-built houses. They looked like newly constructed houses.

    "This is the place, where Duke has constructed the place for migrated people to live. People who do not want to work at construction can work as different jobs, they are allowed to do whatever they want as long as they are contributing to the economy."

    "Duke seems like a nobleman."

    "He is!! In truth, he is actually a bastard of the Weber family. he is hated by his half-siblings and stepmother, so he has been given this land that has no worth, to keep him away from the family. I came here with the Duke since I wanted to build a city with him." explained the Guard.

    Damn, that seems like a story straight out of one of those novels.

    "That''s something, I respect."

    Pointing towards the colony of houses, he said "You can ask around, you will find the person you are looking for."

    "Thanks for your help," said Rudi thanking him.

    "No need to thank me, it is my duty."

    The guard also seems like a good guy.

    "Illya, we are here," I said shooting a smile at her.

    "Yes, we are!!"

    Walking down the street, we first met a curly black-haired woman who was walking down the street and she seemed to recognize Illya,

    "Oh, little Illya!! you are here earlier than the other kid!."

    "Aunt Sima!! have you seen my mom and dad?" asked Illya.

    "Yes I have, they were given houses around that side if I remember properly." said the lady as she pointed towards the northeast side of the colony.

    It seems like other kids aren''t here yet, it makes sense since we were traveling quickly.

    Traveling towards the northeast part of the Colony, we approached a house. Knocking on the door, we waited for the person to open the door.

    After waiting for a second, someone opened the door.

    "Hello sir, do you happen to know the parents of this little girl," I said. Beside me stood Illya, holding my hand.

    "Oh, Isn''t it little Illya!!! the kids have arrived?" said the elderly man, his distinct feature was his bald head.

    Yeah, that''s his only distinct feature since there is nothing noticeable about this elderly man.

    "No," I answered, then I went to explain that how I found Illya in Hoperui town.

    "Oh, so that''s what happened." said the elderly man, he continued "Oh, by the way, your mom and dad are just living next door."

    "Thanks for the help!!"

    According to the elderly man''s information,  we approached the next door. Knocking on the door, we waited for someone to open the door.

    After waiting for a good second, we heard footsteps approaching the door, which was followed by someone opening the door,

    "Yes?" asked the person who had opened the door. He was an early middle-aged man, with facial features pretty similar to that of Illya.

    There is no mistaking it, he is the father of Illya.

    His attention turned towards Illya who was standing beside me holding my hand, "Illya?"

    "Papa!!" she said as she hugged his leg.

    Picking her up, "The kids have arrived?"

    "No, Illya got lost. Big brothers, big sisters, and Mama Rai helped me in taking me to papa," said Illya with exaggerated gestures.

    Before he could say anything, I spoke up, "We found her in Hoperui town, we were coming this way anyway so we took her to you.", I specifically interrupted him because I didn''t want him to ask that what''s the deal ''Mama Rai''.

    "Oh!! I see!! I am really grateful to you!! please come inside!" he invited us to his house.

    Entering the house, we walked into the hall. It was a pretty empty house, no, it was an almost empty house. Well, it makes sense since they only arrived here yesterday.

    But there were some religious photos, statues, and some books all around the book. They weren''t much, but they were -----Ummm--- how do I explain this...

    Yes!! they were things that would easily catch one''s attention.

    Book, in particular, had nothing that could catch someone''s attention. But the various statues and religious photos hung on the wall were something that was hard to not notice.

    The person in the portrait was a very tall, muscular handsome man. He had a fair skin complexion, jet black curly hair, and a mild beard.

    Damn! this guy is handsome. who is this guy?

    "Oh, this? this is our god Demis," said Illya''s father as he saw me staring at his picture.

    "He is handsome," I said.

    "Right!! he is the most beautiful thing to exist. I am glad that you could understand the beauty of God Demis." he said patting my shoulder.

    He might be handsome, but you are definitely exaggerating things. Stop acting like a crazy chick!! you are a grown-ass man.

    As we were talking, Illya''s mother walked into the room. She asked the basic question of who we are and why Illya is here and all.

    We had to give her the same explanation as we gave to Illya''s father.

    "Oh, I see. Such a kind kid''s, may God Demis always shower his grace over you kids."

    Why can''t they hold a basic conversation, without mentioning God Demis in every other sentence?

    "Dear, We both were just appreciating that how beautiful god Demis is before you came to this room."

    "Is that so?! say kid, why don''t you join the church, come to church with us today. Tonight we will witness the rebirth of God Demis." insisted Illya''s mother.

    Rebirth of God Demis? huh? what are they doing over there in the church?

    Waving my hand, I said, "As much as I am grateful for the offer, I will have to decline it since I have work to do."

    I turned to face Illya, placing my hand over her head, I gently patted her head,

    "Be a good girl, okay?"

    "yes."

    Kissing her cheeks, Rai spoke up, "Even if he doesn''t visit, I will come and visit you."

    "yes."

    "What happened Illya?" I asked, crouching down to her height.

    "Illya is sad."

    "Don''t worry, big brother will come back to meet you."

    "Illya knows, Illya trusts big brother more than anything. Illya finally found her Nyx, Illya was happy, Illya is----"

    With a second of pause, tears welled up in her eyes,

    "Everyone promise that they will be together, they will be close together, but everyone leaves, everyone changes. Illya is afraid, Illya doesn''t want to be alone."

    "You are such a grown-up," I said.

    "No!! Illya is not grown up!! I want brother Grey to keep treating me like a kid forever."

    Embracing her in my arms, I spoke up "Then, that''s a promise! Brother Grey will always treat you like a kid."

    She held me tightly for a good second, my clothes were getting wet due to her silent tears. But later she let go of me, her silent tears were changed with a smile.

    Walking out of the door, I turned around to face her parents one more time, opening my mouth I said,

    "Please take care of her."

    "Don''t worry, we will take care. Since we are her parents. we know what''s best for her"

    They sound arrogant, but I guess that must be parenting pride? is there a thing like parenting pride?

    I am confused over whether to stay in town for the night or not since I am just twelve hours away from my home.

    I would prefer to reach my home as soon as possible, but there are things that I want to do in this city.

    "Tonight?" asked Ulrich.

    "Yes, tonight. Don''t let anyone else know."

    "Don''t worry it''s our secret."

    We were staying tonight in this town to investigate the church, I want to know whether there is a link between this church and the attack that happened five years ago.

    Most probably there is a link, but more information is always better.

    "Do you know torture techniques?" asked Ulrich, out of nowhere.

    Huh? what this guy is up to?

    "Why? well if I had to say, it depends on the person. For a guy, crushing his balls would be excellent torture." I asked.

    "They wouldn''t simply open their mouth, we would need to torture them, shall we crush their balls?" said Ulrich as a wicked smile curved his lips.

    "Well, we would have to limit the force we are hitting their balls since it might just kill them?"

 Chapter 93 - 92: Lets Do Some Kidnapping.

    (Third person perspective)

    "Illya wear this dress that dad has bought for you, dad will take you to a good place," said Illya''s dad. In his hand, he held a little floor-length mermaid silhouette bright white wedding gown.

    It was small enough to fit Illya.

    Looking at Illya''s puzzled expression, her father opened his mouth to clear her confusion,

    "It is for the welcome of our true master."

    Without any further question, Illya wore the white wedding dress.

    "How do I look?" asked Illya, tilting her head.

    Being in awe, her father was speechless, it took him a good second to find a word to describe how she looked,

    "You truly look like an angel!!! perfect for our masters welcome."

    "Then let''s go." said her mom, grabbing Illya''s hand.

    The place they were taking her was a welcome ceremony.

    92-2

    "There he is."

    "What is a holy man like him is doing here?" Asked Ulrich.

    "I don''t know, maybe holy men have their urges."

    "But won''t that make them ----unholy?"

    From the top of one of the houses, Grey and Ulrich followed the Churchman that they had met earlier today, they followed him till the back alley of an Inn.

    The white-robed church guy was with a woman, a prostitute at that.

    "Why did you bring me here, sweetheart? What do you want to do with a pure man such as me?" unlike his claim to be a ''pure man'', his facial expression was reeking with lecherous intention.

    The seductive woman ran her finger through his chest, getting closer to his ears, she whispered "What do you want to do to me?"

    "I have so many things that I can do to you, just give me the chance."

    Taking a step back, with a bewitching smile on her face, she spoke in an erotic tone,

    "Come here while no one is looking, you can do anything you want."

    The churchman was at his limit, he stepped closer to her, grabbing her hand.

    "That''s it, I am at my---"

    As he was speaking, his vision blurred away. Collapsing to the ground, he was rendered unconscious.

    After confirming that the Churchman has fallen unconscious, Grey jumped from the roof to the ground, in front of the woman.

    Grey''s course of action didn''t make sense to Ulrich. He wondered why would Grey jump down to reveal himself.

    But following Grey''s action, he jumped down anyways.

    Grey looked at the woman, taking out two gold coins, he tossed it for the woman to catch.

    "Good work," said Grey.

    "But, the deal was one gold coin, why are you giving me two?"

    "Excellent work always deserves an extra bonus, "

    The woman couldn''t help but chuckle, "It was great working with you, let me know if you need more help in the future."

    "I will remember that."

    Taking the two coins, the woman walked away. Well, she was stealthy about it since she is playing with her life. Getting caught by the church is no joke, they will use your body to the fullest extent before tossing you away to die.

    Picking up the unconscious churchman''s body, Grey entered the back door of the Inn, the basement door to be specific.

    Walking down the stairs, Ulrich opened his mouth since he was still confused,

    "That woman was working for you?"

    "Yes, I hired that woman to seduce him and to perform a sleeping spell on this man."

    "And why are we entering an Inn''s basement?" asked Ulrich.

    "I contacted the Inn''s owner. I talked to the owner of the Inn, I said that I would be needing a room for sex, and I said it specifically that my girl likes it rough, so she will be making a lot of noise."

    Confused, Ulrich asked, "Why would you say that?", but he realized the answer before Grey could even answer his question.

    But Grey answered his question anyway, "After I said that, the owner suggested the basement, he said that basement was really soundproof. A highly soundproof place is also best for --- ahem, torture."

    Astonished, Ulrich spoke up "You have really thought ahead."

    "You can praise me more."

    "I am not doing that"

    --------------------------------------------------------------------

    After being unconscious for about half an hour, the churchman opened his eyes. After opening his eyes, he was able to see two hazy figures, hazy because his vision was still blurry.

    But after a good minute his vision became clearer, so did the two hazy figures. The two figures were two boys, one had orange wavy hair and another had white straight hair. Well, they were Grey and Ulrich.

    He recognized these two boys since he saw them earlier today.

    "Good morning! no, it''s currently night, so perhaps good night? no, it doesn''t make sense." said Grey, he was contemplating over what to greet a person who is waking up at night.

    "It is not important right now, since this ''holy'' man will soon not be able to differentiate day with night," said Ulrich, placing his hand over Grey''s shoulder

    "Wha-- what are you planning? why did you bring me here?" asked the man cautiously, the man was not really terrified of the boys in front of him.

    But yet he maintained caution of the unknown room he was in.

    Rolling his eyeballs around the room, he scanned the room to find the clue of his exact location. Simultaneously he was brainstorming his way out of his binds that were tying him down to the chair.

    "To have a little chit-chat with you." answered Grey to his earlier question, he continued "Well, to be honest, I want some information from you."

    "You kids, do you know who you are playing with?" asked the man.

    "No, and we don''t care," answered Ulrich.

    The man ran his fingers through the rope he was tied with,

    ''Seems like a normal rope, can be easily burnt'' thought the churchman.

    Raising his index finger, Grey asked "How long are you in the church of Demis? what is your position in the church?"

    The churchman gathered mana in his hand,

    ''This kid''s thought that they would be able to tie me down with normal rope, pathetic. Watch me burn this rope.''

    "I have been in the church of twenty years and I am the bishop of this church!! and I will purge evil like you kids from this world---" declared churchman with pride as flames shot from his hand. enveloping the rope he was tied to in flames.

    With the prideful declaration, he tried to get up from the chair. But the thing was that, contrary to church man''s expectation the rope didn''t burn away.

    His awkward attempt to set himself free failed as his butt was slightly off the chair, but his hands and legs were still tied to the chair.

    Grey sat there for a good second, staring at the churchmen. Grey wanted to mentally torture him with this awkward silence, he wanted the man to rethink the awkward thing he had just attempted.

    After a good second, Grey spoke, "So anyway, that answers my question. Basically, you are in the church long enough to answer my questions."

    "You don''t know how powerful I am, kid. I can kill you this instant if I wanted to."

    "Try it," said Grey, shooting at ridiculing smile at the churchman. "You can''t even break the rope right? well, I understand how powerful you are, that''s why I specifically bought a mana-infused rope to tie you down."

    "Damn you kid!!! what do you think you are? I can''t entertain this stupid prank. if you let me go now, I will overlook this prank now."

    "Let me be clear, this is not a prank. We just want information from you, answer my questions before you start regretting your life''s choice" said Grey,

    Raising his second finger he asked, "Second question, what is the connection between the church and the attack that happened five years ago at Amon village?"

    Grey didn''t beat around the bush as he directly asked the question.

    "Why would a kid like you want to know that?!"

    Grey stepped back, as he called on to Ulrich saying, "Ulrich, do it."

    Walking near the churchmen, in his hand he held tweezer. Grabbing onto Churchmen''s index finger, Ulrich got hold of his index fingernail.

    "Wha-- what are you trying to do?!!" asked the man, his voice has gotten shaky, the previous pride in his voice has disappeared.

    His fear spiked as he realized the gravity of his situation. That''s what Grey wanted to do, he wanted the man to stop viewing them as kids.

    Grey wanted the man to realize that Grey and Ulrich have the power over-current situation.

    "You are in no position to ask questions. From now on you will only open your mouth to answer my question," Grey''s voice had frightening seriousness in it.

    Even though the Church man''s instinct has told him to do not open his mouth, but his pride didn''t let him do that.

    "You Brat--"

    Without hearing what the man has to say, Grey opened his mouth,

    "Ulrich do it.. Don''t pluck it out quickly, do it as slowly as you can."

 Chapter 94 - 93: Divine Fetus.

    "Ulrich do it. Don''t pluck it out quickly, do it as slowly as you can."

    As per Grey''s instruction, Ulrich lifted the tweezer gently. It would be too cruel to call it gently.

    Since the ugly scream of the man was filled in the room. As his nail was being removed slowly and gently, the jaw of the tweezers that was holding his fingernail slowly plucked out his fingernail from his finger.

    Ulrich lifted the tweezer even more, but he had made sure to lift it slowly.

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

    The basement was jammed with the pained cry of the man. A dominating emotion of wrenching pain was thrashing into his brain.

    After slowly pulling half of his nail, Ulrich stopped, leading to half of the nail dangling to his finger.

    "I will repeat the question, what is the connection between the church and the attack that happened five years ago at Amon village?" asked Grey repeating his earlier question.

    "You Brats, Like hell, I will tell information such as----"

    "Ulrich," said Grey.

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

    Ulrich continued to slowly pluck out the nail of his finger with a tweezer. The slow process of his nail getting peeled off sent a brain-numbing pain through the church man''s body.

    The screaming continued until his whole nail was plucked out.

    "Ah, now what?" asked Ulrich, holding the tweezer with the man''s fingernail in it.

    "There are nineteen more fingers, we have a lot of options. Choose any one finger and continue the process, until he opens his mouth," instructed Grey as he took a seat over the chair across the room.

    Grabbing the middle finger of the man, Ulrich placed the jaw of the tweezer holding man''s finger. Slowly but steadily, he pulled his fingernail from his middle finger.

    The air of the basement was filled with the scream of the man. after being done with the middle finger, Grey repeated the question, but the man refused to say anything,

    "You don''t you, who you are messing----"

    "Ulrich" called out Grey, as he made a hand gesture to continue the process.

    one after another, nine of his fingers got naked. The man has strained his throat from non-stop screaming.

    The man looked at the ceiling, his mouth open, drool fell down his mouth to his robe, Eyes swelled due to tears and his whole body reeked of sweat.

    Looking at the ceiling, the man struggled to speak "I can''t---- I can''t take it anymore, I will tell everything. But please --- please--"

    The man stuttered as he broke down into ugly tears,

    "Please-- don''t --- I can''t take it anymore, I promise I will answer all of your questions."

    "Good, now drink this, it will numb your pain," said Grey, as he fed him water, the water had Grey''s blood diluted in it.

    After gulping down the water, the man was ready to say everything. For the man, Grey was like an angel.

    No, perhaps a god. Even though Grey was the one who tortured him, but the man being in good favor with Grey was everything.

    The man had developed Stockholm syndrome, which is a condition where the hostage develops a psychological bond with their kidnapper. Being shown kindness from his own kidnapper made him feel like Grey was the most benevolent existence in this world.

    "I have heard the attack that had happened over Amon village over five years ago. It had happened due to the ''God''s whisper."

    "God''s whisper?" questioned Ulrich.

    "You know the council of gods right?" asked Churchman.

    "Yes, I do."

    {Author: A council that consists of members who are gods in status. The reason for the existence of this council will be revealed in the further story.}

    "The council of gods always appoints a mortal to represent them and that mortal is known as the ''Divine King''. The divine king receives messages from gods which we churchmen call ''God''s whisper''."

    "So what does ''God''s whisper'' has to do with the attack?"

    "The god''s whisper instructed the Divine king to attack the village, even we were confused about the reason of why would a good want village destroyed. But apparently, their target wasn''t the village, it was actually one single person."

    "Who is that person?" asked Grey.

    "I don''t know."

    Ulrich stepped forward with his tweezer, making panic surge through the man.

    "I swear!!, I swear!! I am not lying, please believe me!!! " the man begged.

    "Stop it, Ulrich. He is saying the truth."

    "Thanks!! thanks for believing in me!!!" said the man as he again broke into an ugly cry, But this time it was because he was thankful.

    His mind broke to the point where he had started viewing Grey as his true master.

    "I advice my master to run away from this town,"

    "Huh? master?" asked Grey, confused.

    "Yes, I now have realized, you are my only true master. Please run away from this town, this churchman is summoning someone, someone terrifying."

    "What are you talk---"

    Grey paused, his attention was shifted towards something or someone perhaps. It was a bit of both. Wild energy from the center of the town surged throughout the town.

    Grey quickly turned around towards the center of the town. His eyes grew wider, opening his mouth he struggled to speak,

    "What is that?"

    "What is what?" asked Ulrich.

    Cold sweat had formed around Grey''s neck, his hand had gotten cold.  What Grey had sensed was a monster that was beyond any mortal''s comprehension.

    The condensed form of divine energy came from the center of the town, where the church was located. that being radiated a divine yet immanence form of terrifying energy.

    ''This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, shit! shit! shit! shit! this amount of energy is enough to blow up half of this town with ease. What kind of monster is that?''

    Grey''s thought process was a total mess. Being in a state of panic, he was struggling to keep his thought straight.

    No, only because he was in a panic, he had thought out all the things he should be doing right now.

    Turning to face Ulrich, Grey spoke up,

    "Ulrich don''t ask why, just do what I say. Quickly go back to our group and take them out of this town. Keep running away as far as possible and don''t stop, if we are lucky this monster will not follow you. I will be going to take Illya with me, we need to run away as soon as possible!!"

    "But, Grey---"

    "Ulrich it''s emergency!"

    Grey turned to face the churchman, "What is this thing? what the fuck did the church do?"

    "Master they have summoned a god. No, A god is getting reborn, it will drain every life force in close proximity to get back to its prime state. Master, you need to run away!!"

    Grey severed off his rope, he opened his mouth saying, "This is an order from your master, quickly go back to the duke and inform him about this situation, Get him to evacuate the citizens as soon as possible."

    "If my master wants it, I will follow his order even with my life."

    "Good, now hurry!"

    After relaying the order, Grey quickly disappeared from his spot in an instant. The place he was heading towards was Illya''s house.

    He swiftly traveled from one roof to another with tremendous speed. He was using all of his venomous factors in his speed. If a normal person were to see him now, it would be nearly impossible for them to catch a sight of Grey.

    Within a few seconds, Grey had reached the corner of the city where the colonies were present. Stopping in front of Illya''s house, Grey scanned the house through Minerva''s eyes.

    "Huh? where did they go?"

    He was not able to sense any form of energy in the house. There was no one in the house.

    At that very moment, Grey remembered them mentioning that they will be going to the church.

    In an instant, Grey disappeared from the place he was standing in. This time he was racing towards the church. But the thing was that he was moving towards the source of immense divine energy.

    As he was moving closer, Grey observed something,

    "When I take a good look at the energy. It kind of--- feels like it is some form of a fetus, it appears to be still growing. This being ---- this existence, it is getting more terrifying with each passing second."

    The main concern for Grey was that the divine energy or the monstrous energy that he was sensing was also coming from the center of the town, from the church. the place where Illya is present.

    Due to being sensitive to every type of energy, Grey felt nauseous as he drew closer to the divine fetus.

    The aura that was radiating through the divine fetus resonated with the divine energy inside Grey.

    Standing on the top of the building in front of the church, Grey scanned the church and he found the mana signature of Illya''s dad.

    But the thing was that Grey found his mana signature right beside the divine fetus.

 Chapter 95 - 94: The Hanging Church.

    The church was surrounded by a dense layer of trees, it looked like the forest around the church wasn''t cleared.

    If someone were to visit the church at the day, the church would look like peaceful scenery for them. But on the contrary, the church looked dreary ghostly at night.

    A large, low porch let one into the church building by a doorway and heavy oak door studded with iron.

    As he walked through the porch, Grey found a certain feline. She had wandered in front of him out of nowhere.

    The feline looked at Grey as she voiced out, "Meow!."

    "What are you doing here, Kuro?"

    Kuro is the name of his cat. The feline jumped on his shoulder, as she rubbed her face with his.

    "You want to come with me?"

    "Meow!"

    With the feline walking beside him, Grey headed towards the church.

    Placing his hands on the oak door, Grey pushed the door. He stepped inside the church, passing through the arches.

    ''I stepped inside the church, but little did I know what was waiting for me''

    The inside of the church was pitch black with no source of illumination in it.

    ''the journey I have been through, my motive, my revenge, my ideals, being hero, I as a human being, my existence ------everything was wrong,''

    Gathering mana in his hand, Grey condensed a fireball. But the illumination by that fire was just enough to see a little bit of surrounding.

    With fireball in his hand, Grey-headed towards the place where he was sensing the divine fetus.

    Grey placed each step carefully because for some reason his fireball was not enough to illuminate his entire surrounding.

    As he was proceeding ahead,

    THUD!

    He crashed into something, the light of the fireball reflected from the object back to Grey''s eyes, revealing it to be a bench.

    ''I was wrong''

    After making sure that it was a bench, Grey looked up. What he saw was a pair of legs in the air ---no, Grey took a good look to find that it was a whole body that was hung to the ceiling.

    ''i was wrong''

    Grey brought his fireball closer to the face of the hung body. The fireball illuminated the body''s face revealing it to be a curly-haired woman, the one that Grey saw earlier today on the streets.

    That woman was hung to the ceiling.

    A suicide?

    ''Perhaps I had taken gods too lightly.''

    Being taken back from the sudden revelation, Grey retreated his steps. He didn''t give much thought to the hung lady since there were more important things ahead that concerned him more.

    As he was going to take a step ahead towards the altar, a sudden blinding radiance shined across the room, blinding Grey''s vision.

    Covering his eyes with his hands, Grey struggled to take a good look at his surrounding. But he knew that this blinding radiance was from the divine fetus, it seems to be reacting violently.

    After a good second, the radiance calmed down. Making it possible to take a good look at the surrounding.

    Removing his hands from his eyes, Grey scanned the surrounding.

    What met his sight was carnage beyond any imagination.

    With his eyes wide open, Grey stared at the sight in front of him in horror. His hands had gotten cold or maybe even numb, with terror in his voice, Grey spoke,

    "What is this?"

    The curly-haired woman was not the only hung body tied from the ceiling. She was just one single dangling body among the massive crowd of dangling humans from the ceiling of the church.

    From the entrance of the church up until the altar, the church was filled with a stream of droopy dead bodies.

    Each one of them was tied to the ceiling, there wasn''t much personal space between each body, they were clumped together like penguins in Antarctica.

    Or perhaps they looked like prop roots hanging from the branch of a banyan tree. Around a hundred bodies were hung from the ceiling of the church.

    Grey scanned through the faces of dead bodies there he found the dangling body of the elderly man, He was Illya''s neighbor. The more he looked, the more he was sure that these were the bodies were----

    "These are the people that have migrated from Gefall nation," said Grey with absolute terror.

    With that came a realization, A certain face flashed through Grey''s brain.

    "It can''t be right?"

    He took a step closer to the alter.

    An awkward smile formed across his face, he laughed, it was an awkward laugh too,

    "I am just overthinking, right? it can''t be, It can''t be."

    Grey drew his stepped closer to the divine fetus, but his foot had started getting wobbly. He didn''t want to consider that possibility.

    ''I was naive, I thought god would have no business with us mortals.''

    "I am just overthinking, there is no way it would happen. She is just a kid, there is no way-- no way it would happen right-------Illya?"

    He had reached closer to the Altar, near the divine fetus. At the end of the church, what Grey saw was the worst outcome possible.

    Not being able to stand up anymore, he collapsed to the ground in the kneeling position.

    "I---- I can''t be seeing right? this is a dream, this is a dream. This can''t be Illya. right? right? right?" Grey voice violently shook as he spoke.

    "Right? Illya?" asked Grey to Illya. The person who was hung from the ceiling at the end of the Altar was the Little girl, that called Grey his Nyx.

    The Little hungry girl that Grey had found in the Hoperui town.

    She was hung from the ceiling, she was like a white angel in that white wedding dress of hers. She looked beautiful.

    She was --------Illya.

    "Huh? wha--- what are you doing there Illya?"

    Placing his foot on the ground, Grey stood up, only to fall back on the ground. His feet have gotten wobbly, he struggled to walk.

    "Illya? why is this happening?"

    Dragging his body, Grey tried to reach up to Illya. Managing to reach up to Illya, Grey severed the rope that was tied around her neck. Holding her gently, Grey placed her down.

    "Open your eyes, Illya. Open your eyes for your big brother. Please open your eyes, Illya. I promise I will not let you go this time, please open your eyes for your brother." Grey begged as he tapped his palm of Illya''s cheek.

    "She will not be waking up, she is in eternal peace." said a masculine voice, it was a familiar voice for Grey.

    "She has taken part in the awakening of our true master, she must be in proud eternal sleep." said another feminine voice, it was also a familiar voice.

    Grey looked up to face the source of the voice, it was the voice of her------ mom and dad.

    Grey''s eyes grew wider, opening his mouth he asked "You did this to her?"

    Illya''s father opened his mouth saying, "We did, we made a place for our child in peaceful afterlife."

    "After all we are her parents." Agreed her mom.

    Fury vibrated through his Being, greeting his teeth, Grey spoke up, "You did that to her?" asked Grey again.

    "Yes, It was for our master--"

    "You are kidding right? she is your daughter!"

    "She is our daughter is precisely why that we have taken this decision, she has sacrifice--"

    "Huh? what are you talking about? What bullshit are you speaking?"

    "You are young, but you will soon realize the greatness of our master, God Demis," said Illya''s dad, as he looked at the bright white divine fetus.

    "What the fuck?" Grey was quivering with anger, releasing his clenched fist, his tensed body eased up as he spoke "You both are already far gone. I don''t care, just disappear from my sight."

    "You will eventually understand the greatness of--"

    "Disappear"

    Grey raised his hand, gathering mana in his hand, he condensed icicle daggers.

    "What are you----"

    Grey dropped his hand down, with that the flying dagger pierced through Illya''s dad''s hand. The detached limb went flying away from his body.

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" screaming struggling on the ground with agony her dad held his hand as he cried in pain.

    Followed by the icicle dagger, another dagger pierced through his leg, detaching it.

    Another icicle dagger dropped the sky,  severing his other hand and leg.

    Illya''s dad lay on the ground, limbless. Being limbless, he was motionless. Grey wanted him to die just like that, bleeding from all sides without being able to do anything.

    Grey condensed another four icicle daggers, each severing one of Illya''s mother''s limbs.

    She was given the same fate as her husband. Both husband and wife, lied on the ground limbless as they bled, waiting for their death.

    The divine fetus was growing rapidly, it seemed to draw the soul out of all the dead bodies. Nourishing itself from the energy of all dead bodies, the fetus grew a proper humanoid body.

    It had taken shape of a newly born baby, with a set of hands and legs.

 Chapter 96 - 95: The Hall Of Gods.

    "Illya?" called out Grey as he held on to her body.

    "Please wake up, wake up and call me your Nyx," said Grey in a whispering tone as he embraced Illya in his arms.

    With a realization that he had not shed a single tear, Grey laughed "I can''t even cry, I am just a pathetic big brother. Isn''t it right Illya?"

    Grey sat there for a minute, holding Illya, doing nothing but sitting in silence.

    After a minute, a particular feline walked over to Grey as it proceeded to place its paw gently over Grey''s thigh. As Grey turned his head around to face the feline, he saw that the Kuro was holding a piece of paper in her mouth.

    Kuro brought her head closer to Grey''s hand as if it was giving the piece of paper to Grey.

    Grey took the piece of paper from Kura as he asked "Is it for me?"

    "Meow!!"

    Grey opened the one folded paper, to read the content inside. At first glance, Grey was able to tell that it was a letter, a messy one at that.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Big brother Grey...

    Illya have never written a letter before this, my mom has just thought me how to write, So Illya had thought that Illya would leave a letter for big brother Grey before Illya go far far away.

    Mom and dad are sending Illya somewhere, no, Illya thinks that Illya knows. Illya knows that mom and dad want Illya to die, they want to attain happiness and it would possible with Illya''s death, so Illya would be happy if mom and dad is happy.

    Mom and dad had changed after the church people started talking to them before they were very very kind. Everyone in the town changed after church people had started talking to them.

    It makes Illya sad, Illya doesn''t under adults, they change, change a lot. Illya doesn''t want anyone to change, the adult world is difficult.

    But Illya is not sad, Since Illya had found her Nyx. That Nyx is big brother Grey.

    Big brother Grey had fed Illya with his own hands, it made Illya really really happy. Big brother is super kind, he gave Illya food, shelter, and lots and lots of happiness, big brother is Nyx after all.

    But Illya hopes that big brother never find Illya and this letter since it would make big brother sad. Illya wanted to spend more time with big brother, but Illya thinks that time has been over.

    but if there is next life, Illya would love to be born closer to big brother. Maybe Big brother''s sister or her wife?

    No! Illya thinks it''s still early for Illya!!

    Illya had really enjoyed her time with everyone, Illya wished she could have spent more time. Illya will continue to love everyone.

    and Illya especially loves big brother Grey!

    Enjoy your life okay? and sometimes, maybe even for a second, keep remembering Illya.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Grey held the letter tightly, maybe even too tightly. The letter had gotten wrinkly at this point.

    "I am sorry...." said Grey as his hands had gotten shaky from clenching his fist tightly, or maybe for an entirely different reason.

    "I am sorry---sorry, Big brother doesn---"

    Grey felt like he had caught a lump in his throat, he found himself unable to talk, he was stuttering too much.

    His vision had started getting blurring, not from feeling dizzy. His watery eye made his vision blurry.

    The hot stream of tears flowed out of his eye, he tried to wipe it off. But it was only replaced with a newer one. He tried to wipe off his tears as quickly as they emerged, but it was a futile attempt as an endless stream of tears kept pouring out of his eyes.

    He kept repeating the same line over and over,

    "I am sorry, Illya."

    As Grey was kneeling down to the ground, Kuro jumped over his shoulder. Kuro brought her face closer to Grey''s as she rubbed her face on Grey''s face. Perhaps it was the cat''s way to comfort Grey.

    But it served as the last straw as more tears started flowing out of Grey, his soft sobbing voice had gotten louder. His pained cry was heard all over the church, but there was no one to hear the pained scream except for the divine fetus.

    If one were to hear this soul-crushing cry it would send a chill down their spine.

    After five minutes, Grey picked up Illya as he started walking out of the church. He didn''t want to be in this place, a place where it reeked off delusional dead bodies.

    With the exception of Illya, everyone had died because they believed that they will be serving for a ''Greater good''.

    This incident was the final nail to Grey as he spoke "I will burn everything."

    Before walking out of the Church he turned around to see that the divine fetus had grown into a toddler.

    Placing Illya near the door of the church, Grey walked over inside the church, near the divine fetus.

    As he was walking down the aisle, he sensed and saw the scenery around him change as a condensed form of energy started forming around the church.

    This energy took a humanoid shape as various figures started appearing from all corners of the church. This humanoid form of energy was different from that of the divine fetus. It felt like some sort of projection, perhaps used for communication.

    Using the scarf that was wrapped around his neck, Grey covered his face. He knew the fact that someone was coming over to this church and he didn''t want them to see his face.

    Various figures stood in all corners of the church. No, it would be wrong to call it to church anymore, Grey''s surrounding was changed.

    It was a pure white dimension, the milky white color stretched across the dimension, as far as the eye could see. Among this stretched white dimension, there was little hint of various colors floating around randomly.

    The red stream of color passed through Grey, enveloping him, then later passing on. All the primary color of the rainbow was seen in random streams just floating around in the dimension.

    The only beings that were present in this dimension were the divine fetus and Grey. No, it would be wrong to call it fetus anymore, since it was growing rapidly into a full-grown body.

    Later they were joined by various figures, vague figures.

    One of the vague violet feminine figures spoke, "So he is finally getting free from his seal?"

    "Seems so, his followers seem to be pretty loyal, I thought it would take around a hundred or so years for him to be set free." said one of the red-figure.

    "But it is rather a crude way to awaken himself, this sort of stuff disgusts me, so I will be taking my leave." said one of the golden figures as his figure later disappeared.

    "And I have no interest in your all business, so I will be leaving as well." said another orange figure as his figure disappeared too.

    The black figure laughed off saying, "they really do love a mortal. they are disappointment in the name of gods, so pathetic that they don''t even rule their country."

    "Did they kill off that kid?" asked the blue figure.

    "Yes, they did."  answered a pink figure.

    "But it''s beyond my comprehension that how a fragile girl would lead us to our doom. I mean last time it was that woman named Alice, she was a really strong woman but she would still be no match for us gods." ridiculed the blue figure.

    "My glimpses of the future is never wrong, it showed that this little girl and that woman named Alice would lead us to our doom. Don''t question my power, or perhaps do you not remember the outcome of last time you all ignored my warning?" asked the Pink figure.

    "Yeah, we do,  death got sealed because we ignored your warning that a certain demon boy would seal him."

    Grey heard this conversation silently before opening his mouth,

    "Would you care to repeat what you said?"

    As they heard his voice, the figures or you might as well say ''Gods'', turned their attention towards Grey.

    They didn''t seem to notice him before this. Well, it would make sense since Grey seemed puny in comparison to the height of those figures.

    "What is a human doing here?" asked the red figure.

    "Can a human even step foot in this dimension?" asked the blue figure.

    "No, only human I have seen step in this dimension is that divine king, our servant. Well, he is allowed in this dimension since he possesses divinity."

    "You gods talk a lot, answer the question I asked you earlier," asked Grey as he''s looked at the blue figure with would piercing gaze.

    "Interesting, a human who isn''t even affected by our astral presence, you know our astral presence is enough to kill any mortal. but you seem to not even be slightly affected by our presence and I like your commanding tone. I have taken a liking of you, want to be my disciple? ", pink figure led out a chuckle as she asked this.

    "I don''t give a fuck about being your disciple, repeat the thing that you were talking about seeing the glimpse of the future."

 Chapter 97 - 96: Declaration Of War.

    "Oh, did I do something to anger you, Little mortal?" asked the pink figure, her tone of voice was as if she was dealing with a child.

    It all made sense to Grey...

    The church.....

    the god''s whisper.....

    the divine king.....

    the attack that happened five years ago...

    The attack that had happened today, everything was connected.

    "Why is this human not kneeling in the sight of---"

    cutting off what the blue god was saying, Grey turned towards the pink god,

    "That blue one was saying that little girl and Alice were part of the future that will lead to the doom? explain it to me."

    "I have taken liking that''s why I am will answer your question, or else I would have already removed your head in an instant---"

    "Try it." said Grey as he looked at the Pink, "You are just astral projection, this is not your real body, you can''t do much to me."

    Couldn''t being able to contain her laughter, Pink god burst into laughter, "Interesting, I really have taken a liking to you. I happen to get glimpses of the future, a future that will lead to the doom of us gods. So we eliminate those individuals who are a threat to our existence according to the glimpse of the future.

    Among the bunch of humans that had died, apparently, there was a girl named Illya that would lead us to our doom. So we ordered the divine king to kill her off, the church sacrificed rest of the humans for the awakening of death."

    "Oh, I see."

    Grey was speechless, he had gotten too much information at once. There were too many things to process and he was feeling a load of emotions at once that had led to his speechlessness.

    "So many people had died because they had faith in you all. they thought they would be taking part in the greater good, they gave their life away for you all. Do you all not feel anything about it?" asked Grey.

    "Why would I or any of us feel anything. We are superior beings. We are born to rule over all mortals, mortal is given birth to serve us, that''s how it is." said the pink god blatantly as if it was the most obvious thing.

    Grey couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "What are you laughing for mortal?"

    "No, I just found it funny that you all call urself superior beings, the rightful ruler of mortals and all that bullshit, yet aren''t you all just afraid?

    ''Superior being'' my ass, you all are petty enough to kill ''weak mortals'' just because they might come to bite your ass someday. I mean aren''t you powerful to defend yourself when the day comes?

    Nah, you all are just shitty fucking tyrants, there is nothing ''superior'' about you all."

    In that very instant, Grey felt a jolt that shook him off the ground he was standing upon, nearly tripping him. The jolt was the result of an intense tremor that shook the entire dimension.

    This tremor was accompanied by the laughs of the god, "You are really funny little mortal."

    "A daring one, I see. But such a daring one won''t survive for long."

    "Can I keep him as my slave??! this mortal seems really funny, I will make great use of him." asked the red figure, excitedly. But that excitement felt fake as if he was acting excited to cover up his other emotion.

    "Cmon you don''t need to cover up your anger. Show me your vulnerable side, Don''t be shy and show me your vulnerable side.", as a vile smirk curved up Grey''s lips as he said, "Since I will be the one that will be ending you all."

    Hearing what Grey had to say the gods burst into even louder laughter, "We are immortal, how are you going to kill us? how can you possibly kill us? do you have the power to do so?"

    "Killing god? I would like to test that theory."

    Grey started walking out of dimension as he condensed a ball of divine energy in his hand. Shooting the divine energy, Grey tore the fabric of dimension to return to his original dimension.

    The Divine body that was growing has started regressing, it had regressed back to a fetus and with each passing second, it was getting smaller and smaller. It was happening because the nourishment provided for the reawakening for the death god was not enough.

    The church would need an even bigger sacrifice to reawaken their god.

    Looking at the sight of the death god''s body getting regressed into nothing, the gods started going back as their astral projection started disappearing.

    "Ah, it was boring." said the blue god as he disappeared.

    "Well, I got to see something interesting." said pink god as she disappeared.

    Eventually, all gods disappeared with the exception of a violet figure. She stood behind Grey who was walking out of the dimension.

    "Mortal, are you in Greif?"

    "Gods took things that I loved the most, what do you think?" answered Grey as he paused, "But, no I am not in grief or in anger."

    "Perhaps your facial expression could lie, you try to put on a fake smile or you try to ridicule us for hiding your grief. But the blood pouring out of your hands doesn''t lie."

    The blood pouring out of Grey''s hands was due to him squeezing his hand too tight, it was out of frustration.

    Without saying anything Grey continued to walk away.

    Before disappearing the god spoke "If you ever need help with anything, even with destroying the gods. I am ready to help you since I am the goddess of compassion."

    Grey still didn''t answer anything as he walked out of the dimension. At this point, the divine fetus had disappeared and Grey was back to the church, the church that was filled with hung bodies.

    Walking towards the door, Grey picked up Illya''s body. He condensed mana in his palm as he froze the entire body in solid ice.

    Grey was preserving her body since he will be reviving her soon. He had a plan, a plan to kill the god and use their energy to revive Illya.

    "God surely has the energy of over ten thousand mortal, perfect to revive someone." said Grey out loud, he looked up to the sky as he said "One month...."

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    After that Grey went back to this group. After learning the truth about what happened to Illya and the reason for the attack that happened over five years ago. The group decided to go their separate ways.

    They all needed to process their own thoughts. Rai went her separate way because the involvement of gods reminded her of one particular person. She decided to go back to her mother, the person that will provide her the truth, the truth about the gods. Since her mother is ----- the goddess of thunder.

    Ulrich had decided to go his own separate ways since he wanted to process his thoughts and decide what he wanted to do going further, he need information. Grey instructed him to gather intel of Sentor nation and their involvement. it was a mutual decision between Grey and Ulrich to work separately towards one single goal.

    Rudi had decided to go his own separate way, but his reason was unknown. His last words before going his own separate way were "I need to find my answers."

    Whereas Aetna and Annie decided to follow Grey to wherever he was going. Even if Aetna and Annie wanted to go alone, Grey would have let them go alone. Grey has a plan to take them both to a particular place, his house.

    Grey is going his own separate place, he needs to go his own way to execute his plan and revive Illya. For that, he needs the help of a particular organization.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Back in Colmoor city, Hina had packed her things since she will not be going back home for a long while.

    "Where are you going." asked her dad as she was walking out of the door.

    "There is a place I have to be."

    "When will you be back?" asked her dad.

    "I don''t know, but you don''t have to worry since brother will take on your legacy as a general. I am not cut out to be a general."

    "You are not cut out to be general, but you can always be a knight." said her dad apathetically.

    Hina chuckled at what her dad said, "then I will be taking my leave, " said Hina as she walked away out of the door. Before walking out she turned around once more saying, "Next time we meet, we might meet as an enemy."

    "I won''t show mercy."

    "Neither would i."

    Hina walked out of her huge mansion, walking down the porch she exited the gate. She picked her luggage up to place it in the wagon.

    But she saw someone particular standing beside the wagon, leaning his back on the back of the wagon.

    As he saw that Hina had arrived, He waved his hand greeting her, "Hey hey, we meet again!!"

    "Grey? what are you doing here?" asked Hina, confused.

    A cheeky smile curved up his face, "You were the one that told me to contact you in this city if I wanted to join."

    With a shock, Hina let out a sound of "Oh,", before a smile curved upon her face as she said, "Welcome to the Celestia ."

    ----------------End of Hanging Church Arc---------------------

 Chapter 98 - 97: The Ten Corps Leaders Of Celestia(1)

    {Author: From the end of the first arc, Grey has been putting false airs on to create this playful atmosphere, Rarely letting anyone beyond the curtain of what''s going on through his mind, he masks his grief and sadness around a playful facade.

    I had to mention it just to make sure I and my readers are on the same page lol}

    "Are we packed?" asked the man with a straight mustache, his name was Ortwin. Being a merchant, he helped the church in gathering their resources and drugs.

    The drug is proven to be quite addictive and it is a great substance for brainwashing if consumed at regular intervals. The church used these drugs to brainwash people and this merchant was one of the people that supplied those drugs.

    "Yes." answered her wife, who held a bag in her hand.

    "Good, we are leaving this place as soon as possible." said the merchant, as he grabbed the bag. Opening the bag, he cross-checked the contents "My eyes never get tired of seeing this gold. It was the best decision to make a deal with the church, they do pay some heavy amount of money."

    "But there is no guarantee that they will catch us, there should be no evidence." said his wife.

    They were running out of the city, and also running out of the kingdom, because the duke of Chipworth town has issued a hunt for all the accomplices of the hanging church incident.

    In the incident where around a hundred dead bodies were found in the church, there were no churchmen on the scene. They have fled even before the awakening of the divine fetus, they didn''t wanted their life force getting sucked by the divine fetus.

    As all the different churches of all the different gods are working together, they are hiding among other churches.

    The duke was assisted by the head of the Colmoor city, the Barca family. Since it is the neighboring city of Chipworth town, the possibility of finding evidence and accomplices is high.

    Being cautious, the merchant decided to run away. He couldn''t afford to be caught, he had enough money to run away from the kingdom and live his life in absolute luxury.

    "We can live in another kingdom in peace. With all this money, we can live however we want." said the merchant as he busted into vile laughter.

    Letting out a sigh, his wife said "I wish we could sell more of those drugs.", she proceeded to walk to the hall from the bedroom grabbing the bag.

    "I know right!! we could have made so much more money, those Gefall nation bastards love those drugs." said the merchant as wrapped his hands around his wife''s body.

    "They love those drugs enough to hang themselves." said the wife, snickering under her breath.

    Walking out of the bedroom, they entered the hall. "Dark humor, eh?" asked the merchant appreciating his wife''s humor.

    "Dark humor? I fancy some dark humor too, mind sharing it with me?" asked the certain young man who was seated in the hall.

    The hall was lit with candles, but the candle was placed right beside the cupboard. So the shadow of the cupboard hid the young man''s face.

    The thing was that the young man was an uninvited guest.

    "Who--- who are you?!!!" shouted the merchant, he took a step back cautiously.

    "Oh, me? I am here because I wanted to kidnap you." said the young man with a cheeky smile on his face.

    "Why--- why would you do something like that? I -- I am backed by the Demis church, you don''t want to mess with me."

    The merchant had many enemies from the past, so he thought perhaps mentioning Demis church would scare the person away.

    "You really want to mention them? I mean I am chasing them myself, if they come here themselves then it''s convenient for me. But---- yeah, I would have to kidnap you, since I need to know where the church is hiding."

    The young boy leaned in closer, the light of the candle flashed on his face, revealing his face. The boy had pale skin, white straight hair, and beautiful purple-indigo eyes.

    The boy clapped his hands together, with a wink he said, "You will help me right?"

    The boy was Grey...

    The woman, his wife stepped further as she said "You don''t know who you are messing with, just run away while you can boy."

    The woman threatened Grey, to which Grey turned to face another man who was blocking the door.

    "Oi, White robe, kill this woman, we don''t need her."

    To which the man who was wearing the white robe answered, "As per your wish, master."

    The man raised his blade, as he proceeded to walk towards the woman. The woman stepped back, later she turned away in an attempt to flee away. But the man threw his heavy blade which pierced through her, later stabbing into the wall.

    The blade was stuck to the wall with the woman''s body in between. At first, she struggled to get herself free, but later her body lost strength as her vital organs stopped working.

    The man in a white robe was a former churchman, the one that grey had tortured. His name is Emeric. He swore absolute loyalty to Grey after that incident, his twisted loyalty for Grey goes beyond anything imaginable.

    He would probably kill himself if Grey instructed him to do it.

    Grey got up from his chair as he proceeded to walk towards the door, turning towards Emric he spoke "Capture that man and extract any information you possibly can. You are free to use any method, but I want every information about the drugs. Compile it with the information that you have told me about the church and later give that information to me. Understood?"

    "My master!!! I would not disappoint you!! if you wish to gain the information, then I will retrieve it for you. Leave everything to this lowly servant."

    Emric kneeled as buried his head in the ground in front of Grey. His exaggerated loyal words were accompanied by exaggerated gestures.

    "Very well, then don''t disappoint me," said Grey as he walked away.

    "Ah!!! he is so beautiful!!! with each minute I understand the beauty of master Grey!!!"

    Grey was heading towards a particular that was set to be held today. It has been five days since the church incident and he has twenty-five more days to revive Illya.

    Today was the first official meeting that will signify the foundation of the underworld organization that will be known as Celestia. All members are instructed to gather at this meeting as they will decide the position of each member.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

    Grey was seated in a conference room. he was seated in the corner of the room, not on the round table.

    The round table seats were filled, each occupied by a leader of each corps. There are around ten corps in Celestia with two thousand members in each corps.

    In total, Celestia currently has around twenty thousand members of right now.

    Today was the first official meeting of the Celestia, that was going to be held at the very conference that Grey was seated on. This meeting was only for the leader of ten corps to attend, but for some reason, Grey was invited to this meeting.

    The only person he has met was Hina and Rin, he doesn''t have an acquaintance with any of the other Celestia members.

    There were currently five corp leaders present at the round table.

    Later they were joined by the sixth corp leader, He stepped into the conference room. Due to his buff figure and tall stature he was barely able to pass through the conference room door.

    The man had a thick prominent mane around his neck, over his head he had round ears, and from his back emerged a tail with a hairy tuft. The man was a beast person who bore a close resemblance to a lion.

    The beast-man entered the room, with a loud roar he greeted everyone, "Hello my friends!!!."

    To which everyone greeted him back, with a nod. The beast-man walked up to his chair, pulling his chair back, he got ready to be seated.

    But before he was going to seat, he noticed Grey. Pointing his finger towards Grey, the lion shouted "Are you part of Celestia?"

    Grey replied with a simple "Yes, I am planning to join."

    The lion wrapped his hand around Grey as he said, well it would be better to say that he shouted, "Very well then, you are now part of my Pride!!"

    {A family or pack of lions is called ''Pride''}

    ''Eh? I nearly thought he would ridicule me or something..'' thought Grey.

    With an awkward smile, Grey spoke, "Nice to meet you, I am Grey."

    "Grey? a wonderful name indeed. My name is Kiara Ari. Nice to meet you human." said the lion as he went back to take his seat.

    ''Ari? interesting.''

    the thing that Grey had found interesting was the Ari was a prominent family in Artemis kingdom, which is also known as the beast kingdom.

 Chapter 99 - 98: The Ten Corps Leader Of Celestia(2)

    As Grey was thinking that, the seventh Corps leader joined the round table entering the room. He greeted everyone before taking a seat.

    With pale skin and blond hair, he had long pointy ears. He was an elf.

    Turning his head around, he looked at Grey. Opening his mouth he asked, "Are you new?"

    To which Grey replied with an affirmative, "Yes."

    "Then, stand up and leave this room, you are in the presence of your seniors and this meeting is only for leaders."

    "Ah, I was actually invited to this meeting," said Grey.

    "Understood, then stand up because you are in the presence of your seniors. You will be seated when you have the permission to be seated." said the Elf as he waved his hand up, gesturing Grey to stand up.

    "No, I would prefer to be seated, and besides who decided that you are my senior," said Grey as he didn''t budge from his seat.

    "You are awfully cocky for a rookie," said Elf. A smile curved up his lips as he started exerting immense pressure on Grey. "Seniority is decided by strength and I am stronger than you."

    The elf was using natural energy to assert pressure over Grey.

    There are three types of pressure, first is soul pressure which puts pressure on a person''s soul. The second is physical pressure, as the name suggests it put physical pressure on the person. Then there is emotional pressure, this pressure mimics the feeling of fear when asserted on a person.

    The pressure that the elf was trying to weigh down on Grey was emotional pressure, using the natural energy. Emotional pressure is where Grey shines the most.

    The pressure had no apparent effect on Grey as he remained seated on his chair.

    "Are you a high elf?" asked Grey.

    The elf walked up to Grey, irritated, he said "Stand up."

    But before Grey could open his mouth, Hina entered the room along with Rin. Grey turned his attention towards Hina and Rin.

    Hina went ahead stood beside the center of the table, where the leader of the organization will be seated.

    This was the first time that Rin had seen Grey after years, folding her hands together, she walked up to Grey.

    "What a surprise!, You are here!. Did you finally accept my invitation?" asked Rin as a cheeky smile formed up her face.

    "Don''t give yourself too much importance, it was Hina who recruited me to this organization," said Grey as he stuck his tongue out, mocking Rin.

    "Now now, don''t be shy, just accept that you came here because of me," said Rin as she started pulling Grey''s cheeks. She took a seat beside Grey.

    Grey pulled her cheeks back as he said "No, like hell, I would accept an invitation of a person who blackmailed the shit out of me."

    The elf who was standing in front of Grey felt like a third wheel, to kill his awkwardness he asked "You both seem to be close."

    To his reply, they both instantly replied with "No, he/she is my enemy."

    "Oh, then I shall take my seat." said the elf as he walked back to the seat. Apparently, he had forgotten about his argument with Grey.

    The elf''s name was Evan Green.

    "Are you a corps leader?" asked Grey to Rin.

    To which she replied with "No, I have no post, I just randomly do anything I want."

    "That''s very much like you," commented Grey.

    "What do you mean by that?" asked Rin, squinting her eyes.

    "It means, what it means."

    After a minute the eighth corp leader entered the conference room, Grey turned to look towards the person that walked into the room. It was someone that Grey had recognized.

    "Hello, Brother Eddie, It''s been a while." greeted Grey as he stood up.

    Yes, the eighth Corps leader of the Celestia was Eddie Horns, the big brother of Frank and the person who saved Grey after his fight with Hobgoblin.

    Hearing a familiar voice, Eddie turned towards the source of the voice. "Grey?" asked Eddie with a little surprise. "What are you doing here?" asked Eddie.

    "I am here as a member of Celestia," answered Grey.

    "Oh, that''s surprising,", Eddie had a conflicting expression and Grey knew what exactly was going in his mind.

    "You are worried that I have joined an underworld organization right?" asked Grey bluntly.

    Letting out a sigh, Eddie replied "Yes, it does not place a for a child, you have your life ahead of you, you shouldn''t be here in a place like this. you are a good kid, you have a bright future ahead of you. I don''t know what the princess was thinking while inviting you."

    A gentle smile curved up Grey''s lips as he answered "I don''t have a bright future, I lost the privilege of having a bright future five years ago."

    Even though it was a gentle bright smile, it had extreme sadness in it.

    "Sorry, perhaps I was forcing my point of view over you. But I am really happy to see you here."

    "Me too!!, I never thought you would be the leader of some sort of organization. That kind of cool, not gonna lie."

    Grey''s demeanor changed as if there was no sadness in his face at all.

    Later Eddie went to greet other leaders and Grey got back to his seat beside Rin. Later the ninth and tenth Corps leaders joined the conference room, now the only remaining person was the main leader of the Celestia to appear.

    The ninth corps leader was a female with dark blue wavy hair accompanied by light blue shiny eyes. As she entered the room, Grey looked at her and in an instant he realized

    This woman---- I have definitely seen someone who looks a lot like her1

    With that thought Grey looked at the person who was seated right beside her, Squinting his eyes, Grey stared at her.

    "Why are you staring at me so intently?" asked Rin. But before Grey could answer her question, Rin realized the answer, "Yes she is my sister." said Rin

    "Makes sense, you both look pretty similar on most parts."

    "On most parts?" asked Rin, curious.

    "Yes, the different part is that she is actually beautiful."

    In instant, Rai turned all her attention towards Grey, as she asked "Seriously? you are into older women?"

    "Oi oi don''t make it should like her thirty or something, she is probably around eighteen year old."

    "That makes her woman," argued Rin.

    "Well, that certainly not makes her ''old''"

    Rin regained her composure as she sat back in her seat. She opened her mouth saying, "But stay away from her. She is a narcissistic obsessive person. If she thinks that you are hers, She will probably kidnap you or something.

    She has kidnapped many of her boyfriends in past and all of them broke up with her because she is too obsessive. Well, she didn''t do anything sexual with them. Actually, she didn''t let them do anything sexual to her. She is narcissistic, on the contrary to her obsessive behaviors, she often doesn''t let her boyfriend touch her body, since she believes that they don''t deserve to touch her."

    "Huh? what the --- Why is messed up person like you here?"

    "Because this organization needs messed up person like her, and also messed up person like you and me. We are best suited for the underworld, we could not hesitate to kill someone even if the person is good or not, we are messed up people that''s why we are here," said Rin.

    Listening to her, Grey couldn''t help but chuckle, "Can''t argue with that."

    "But we are messed up people who will stop other messed up ones,"

    After a minute, Hina came and sat beside Grey and Rin.

    "The princess will be joining us very soon."

    "Why do people call her princess?" asked Grey, curious.

    But his question was answered by Rin, as she said "She is the daughter of the Hardy family, the family is also known as the ruling family of Seawoods continent underworld."

    Seawoods is the name of the continent that Grey lives in.

    To Rin''s answer, Grey looked extremely confused "Huh? why would she intent to fight against her own family?"

    The thing was, the Inferno was the organization ruled by the Hardy family and the ruling organization of all of the Seawoods continent underworld. That included all the countries in the Seawoods continent, including Amay and Frey nation.

    Celestia was founded to destroy the Inferno organization from its roots.

    "She has her own reason, but she had told me that she will this reason to you herself. Apparently, it is something that will greatly interest you. She has a great interest in you for some reason. "

    "I see," said Grey as he sank in deep thoughts.

    As they were talking, the person that the entire room was waiting for had arrived. She walked inside the room, in her presence entire room went quiet, as they simultaneously stood in her respect.

    The princess stood in front of her people, the thirteen people that were seated in this room walk beside her to achieve her goal.

    She sat on the chair, as all the eyes of the room were set on her. Opening her mouth she said,

    "Let''s begin the first meeting of Celestia."

    She was the leader of Celestia, the princess.

 Chapter 100 - 99: The Princess.

    "Let''s begin the first meeting of Celestia,"  she said.

    She was a woman with tall stature, hazel-colored eyes, and silver-gold colored hair that extended till the end of her spinal cord. A scar could be seen emerging out of her neck, a scar that was very similar to the one that Grey had in his left hand.

    Being seated in the center of the table. naturally, everyone''s attention was focused on her.  Even if one tried, it''s difficult to ignore her presence.

    And certainly Grey couldn''t ignore her, specifically due to his power of Minerva. Grey saw that her aura was another level, her mana core, and her energy signature everything was at a level of its own.

    This woman... she is strong. Well, it makes sense since she is the leader of this organization.

    Being seated on the chair comfortably, she opened her mouth, "I, Sara Hardy am thankful that you have all gathered here for me."

    With a little pause, she spoke "As for the occasion of the first-ever meeting of Celestia, I want to say only one thing."

    A smile curved up her lips as she said "Let''s play a game"

    Everyone''s face twisted in confusion, so to clear the confusion, Hina opened her mouth asking "What do you mean by game?"

    "As I said, let''s play a game. Of course, your standing in the organization will be decided by the game. Your fellow member will be able to see how capable you are, won''t it be fun?" said Sara as she leaned against the chair.

    "What kind of game do you want to play, Princess?" asked Hina.

    "It is a simple game, we will divide the fourteen people present in this room as two teams and assign one city to each team. The goal is to take over the underworld of that city in seven days and also the winner will be decided by how efficiently a person has done their job."

    Game? I don''t have time for games. There is somewhere I have to be, there are things I have to do.  I don''t really care about my standing in the organization, since at the end of the day I will be just using them.

    After a brief pause, Sara opened her mouth saying "The two cities will be Lenton city and Queens port, and the leader of the two teams will be me and Hina. We both will be presented with a bowl of papers and each paper will have a name, we will take turns to take a paper out of the bowl, to form our team."

    "Very well, I have no problem," said Hina agreeing to the rules.

    A bowl full of written names was kept in between the table, Hina walked near the bowl as she said,

    "Then I will be going first."

    Inserting her hand in the bowl, she picked out a piece of paper. Unfolding the paper, a smile formed on her face as she read the name in the paper that she had picked.

    "What? what? what''s with that smile? who did you get?" asked Sara, as excitement brimmed out of her eyes.

    Eh? is she seriously our leader?

    A smug smile curved up her lips as she said "I got Grey", this was the first time Grey had seen such an expression on Hina''s face.

    Sara bit her lips as she slammed her fist on the table, shouting "Goddamit!!!!"

    Huh? huh? since when did I get so popular?

    Grey walked up to Hina as he stood beside her.

    Turning to face Grey, Sara extended her hand for a handshake "Welcome to Celestia"

    "It''s my honor," said Grey, accepting the handshake.

    "Ah, by the way, are you good with being in Hina''s team? I mean you can change team if you want," said Sara throwing a wink at Grey.

    "Actually, I am quite comfortable being in Hina''s team.", Grey turned to face Hina as he said, "But can you please choose Lenton city, since I have something to do there."

    "Princess, you heard him, we are choosing Linton city."

    "You both seem to have a very close relationship. Now I regret not going to recruit Grey myself," said Sara dramatically as she slammed her fist in the table, this time breaking it.

    Woman!! stop abusing the table!

    "No, we met by chance, but I am glad that I met him," said Hina.

    The thing was that Grey would have declined to take part in this game since he had a thing he had to do and that too was an important thing. He had to visit a city that would play an important role in reviving Illya.

    The name of the City was the Linton city, the same city that Hina choose, so now Grey had no reason to decline taking part in the game.

    Linton city is the home city for one of the prominent churches, the church of Iris. That posses a thing that is important in Grey''s plan to revive Illya and to kill the god of death.

    {Author: Grey''s plan will be revealed bit by bit in this arc}

    One by one they took turns to choose a paper from the bowl and in the end, both the teams ended like:

    Team Hina:

    Grey, Kiara Ari (The Lion), Evan Green(Elf), Ray Aenon(Rin''s sister), Rin Aenon, and Asai Tsuyoshi.

    Team Sara:

    Eddie Horns, Dracy Bloodmoon(Vampire), Robert Trivet(Chimera}, Freya(Human Witch), Arno Dwar (Kelpie), Miles Hoffmann.

    "You guys have six corps leaders that''s unfair!!!'' complained Evan.

    "Well, luck is luck. " Said Dracy brushing him off.

    Dracy Bloodmoon is the tenth Corps leader, and she is also a vampire.

    "Ah, by the way," said Sara to catch everyone''s attention, her facial expression suddenly turned serious as she said "Even though I presented it as a game, this is a serious mission. It is in the best interest of Celestia to capture the Queens port and Lenton city. The Queens port is the major port of the Amay nation, it will be a great source of money if we capture it and the Lenton city is the home for a major church, The Iris church.

    The churches and Inferno are working together, so we need to weaken the church bit by bit if we want to destroy the inferno."

    Sara sat in the chair as she said "This is an important mission, I don''t care about introductions and all. Everyone who is present here is here because of a reason. Complete this mission and failure will not be accepted."

    "Yes princess!" said everyone simultaneously.

    "Oh, I nearly forgot that I will be taking part in the mission as well," said Sara, later she walked up to the mirror as she said to her own reflection "Failure will not be accepted. Damn, I am cool!"

    This woman... can she at least act serious for a full minute?

    Thought Grey as he gave a judgmental gaze to Sara, it wasn''t intentional, he did that subconsciously.

    Kiara started walking out the door as he said "Let''s go!! we have time to waste!", walking beside him was Asai.

    To annoy Evan, Dracy placed her hand on Miles''s shoulder as she said "Too bad, we also a prince in our team."

    She was talking about Miles.

    "Shut up!! this is unfair!!" complained Evan as he greeted his teeth. His veins started popping out of his forehead, it looked like it would burst out anytime.

    Grey quickly tried to walk out of the room, as he wanted no part in this. But he couldn''t as Rin grabbed his hand.

    A wide grin spread across her face as she said "So what? do you know this guy, Grey''s full name?"

    "What is it?" asked Evan.

    "Grey Hoffmann," said Rin looking proud.

    Why are you looking so proud? why are you so proud of my identity?

    "Huh? seriously? damn? are you like serious serious?" asked Evan.

    "Yes, I am dead serious. He is a prince of Frey nation and also the prince of Amay nation," said Rin as she folded her hand.

    Seriously stop looking so proud over my identity!!!.

    Evan turned to face Dracy, walking up to her he got close to her face as he said with a Vile grin "Did you hear that, you vampire girl!"

    "Shut up!--"

    As both of them were arguing in the background, Miles walked up to Grey. He stood in front of Grey and he by no means had a friendly expression. He

    "Are you aiming for the throne?" he asked intimidatingly.

    Grey took a step closer as he looked straight into his eyes, "Haven''t decided yet," he said.

    "I advise you to not go for the throne since it will make you my enemy. I am saying this for your own good," said Miles as he walked out of the room.

    "I will gladly accept you as my enemy."

    In moments like this, Grey makes sure to not give anyone any psychological advantage over Grey. By Grey''s every little body language, he lets his opponent know that he has every psychological advantage over his opponent.

    That is why he never shows any vulnerable emotions such as sadness.

 Chapter 101 - 100: Tormented Eyes.

    "We will divide our team in two, first the team that will move faster to the Lenton city to gather all the information we require and the second team will join the first team after traveling with all the troops. Of course, the first team will have few members," instructed Hina, seated in the same conference room.

    Sara''s team had already left for the Queens port, while Hina''s team was doing strategic meetings before going to Lenton city. Including Hina''s team, even Aetna was seated in the conference room since Grey insisted on her being in the meeting.

    The thing that Hina had said greatly interested Grey as he said, "I want to join the first team. I can move faster, so yes, I will be great for the first team. At least that''s what I believe.

    "Very well, you will be in the first team. Along with you, I will be sending Ray and Rin." said Hina, she turned to face Rin and Ray "Is it okay with you guys?" asked Hina.

    "No problem with me," said Ray, and Rin showed that she didn''t have any problem with it, by nodding as an affirmation.

    "I will also join Grey as well." insisted Aetna.

    Turning towards her, Grey spoke up "Naturally you are coming with me."

    "Do you guys have any problem?" asked Hina to everyone else in the room.

    On the most part, everyone nodded or spoke that they didn''t have any problem and some even appreciated that how great the plan was. Well, I said on the most part, because one particular person had a problem with the plan.

    Evan raised his hand as he said, "I have a problem."

    "State your problem."

    Evan pointed his fingers towards Grey, which was too close to Grey''s face. Perhaps it was Evan''s way of making Grey lose his cool.

    "I don''t understand, why are we giving this guy so much importance. From the time he had entered the room, apparently, everyone is giving him importance. I mean seriously, why are we giving this brat so much importance."

    "If you have complains then state it properly, but refrain yourself from using words such as brat," said Hina.

    "Huh? Why would I not call brat a brat, I mean look at his face. It looks like he was born with a silver spoon. I hate people like him the most, they think that the little rich world they had lived in is everything. They live in delusion, that they had seen everything, they pretend that they know everything. Has a rich brat like him ever lived outside of his fancy mansion? does he know what it''s like outside in the real world?"

    "Evan, I think it''s enough."

    "No! I seriously don''t understand, why princess got a brat like him in this organization, that too as subleader. Has he ever killed anyone in his life? We can tell a lot by just looking at a person''s eye, and I can tell that this guy hasn''t even killed an ant. I can see it in his eyes----"

    Evan paused as he saw Grey''s eyes. The previous gentle warm looking eyes were now gone, it was replaced with intense ferocious eyes.

    It was an eye of a person who has been tormented into insanity, an eye that can inflict great horror into anyone, and the same thing was happening to Evan. A chill was sent down his soul just by looking at Grey''s eyes.

    "This was the eyes you are looking for?" asked Grey. he continued "I wish I was born with a silver spoon since at the end of the day I just wanted a peaceful normal life. But well, I didn''t have such privilege. I would have had such privilege if my mom haven''t had died as I was eight years old. I would have lived a normal life if I hadn''t had witnessed piles and piles of dead bodies, thousands of them.

    I would have been a normal eight-year-old if I hadn''t had killed a man with those little hands. I wouldn''t have had nightmares every day if I didn''t have to kill little kids as they begged me in agony to kill them. You know, the youngest of them was just a five-year-old boy, five years old!!.

    That shit is enough to give me nightmares every night.

    I have killed families, I have killed tons and tons of people. They begged me to not kill them, yet I drew my blade. Even after all that, I was finally able to sleep after years, an angel helped in doing it. She called me big brother Grey and Nyx. I thought I would finally be able to put my nightmarish past behind and live a normal life.

    I decided that I would cherish that little girl, but guess what, I see her hanging to a fucking ceiling!!! you know how did it felt like, everything was crushed in front of me again!! hopeless, I was hopeless!!

    But you are damn right, I am just a brat. A brat who can''t save anyone. I honestly, hate myself. But there is one thing I am sure about, I will revive that girl again, I will do it even if I had to kill a god. I will cross any line, to revive that girl.

    I am not in this organization for some noble reason, I am here because I want to revive my Illya and I want to burn the church and gods. I will take my revenge on church and gods, I will start with church and work my way up to gods.

    I might be insane, but look at my eyes now and try saying that I don''t mean what I say."

    Silence... Everybody stood in silence. Evan''s specifically was speechless, he couldn''t make eye contact with Grey. He didn''t want to look at those tormented eyes.

    The realization that the false face Grey was putting on was just Grey''s coping mechanism or he just didn''t want anyone else to see his real face. Grey''s gentle eyes were just him putting on an act, and Evan''s now realized that well.

    The fact that made him feel more guilty was that the person he was calling brat or kid was the same person who was so good at masking his pain and grief, as a kid that person was able to efficiently do that.

    But even if Evan felt guilty he had no words to speak. Every time he tried to open his mouth, there were no words that came out.

    Even Grey couldn''t look at anyone, he looked at the ground. He felt bad that he had made everyone else feel guilty about a thing that they shouldn''t have even felt guilty about.

    Moreover, he felt awkward that he said everything that was on his mind.

    Aetna walked forward, Grabbing on the Grey''s hand she looked at her. With a gentle smile she said "Hehe, you did good! You know I was going to punch that guy if he wouldn''t have shut up."

    "Aren''t you a thug?" said Grey.

    Grey couldn''t contain his chuckle.

    Hina walked closer to Grey, as she wrapped her arms around him. Taking him into her embrace, she spoke "You have been through a lot."

    She stroked her hands through his hair, "But, from now on you can rely on me."

    The thing was, as Grey was in Hina''s embrace, his face was between her breast, and for Grey, it was the most comfortable place he could be in.

    It was warm and soft...

    Asai Tsuyoshi walked closer to Grey, placing his hand over his head, he spoke "Don''t worry, you have us now. I have no problem becoming your sensei."

    "Sensei? I think I have heard that word somewhere" questioned Grey.

    "In the world from where I came from, sensei means teacher. I am a summoned one actually."

    "And I will protect you since you are part of my pride now."  said the Kiara as he stood with his hands folded, proudly.

    Ray walked out of the room as she said "Then, let''s go, we are getting late."

    Rin, Grey, and Aetna followed her since they are part of the first team that will first go to Lenton city to gather information.

    As Grey was walking out, Evan called out to him "Grey."

    But he didn''t say anything, He paused there for a second, it looked as if he was trying to find the right word to speak.

    He finally opened his mouth saying "I apologize, I went too far. I shouldn''t have spoken such words,"

    Grey nodded once, letting Evan know that he doesn''t hold any grudge against him. Later he walked out of the room joining others.

    They wouldn''t take horses to Lenton city, they will travel by foot. They will probably have to run through the forest for six hours to reach Lenton city quicker.. The rest of the team will reach Lenton city in two days since they will be traveling by normal means.

 Chapter 102 - 101: A Plan.

    Grey and the group were already on their way to the Lenton. They were traveling through the forest swiftly without any rest to reach the city as soon as possible.

    Grey had left Annie in Hina''s care since they knew each other, Hina had no problem and neither did Annie.

    Along with him, he was also carrying a huge bag on his back. The content of the bag was rather sinister, but well maybe using the word ''sinister'' is not right.

    In the bag was the frozen dead body of Illya, now I leave it up to you guys to decide whether it''s sinister or not.

    "I will provide basic information about the Lenton city," said Ray as she was traveling through the forest swiftly.

    Following right behind her, Grey and others closely paid attention to the information that Ray had to provide.

    "First the important information is that the Lenton city has two minor underworld organizations, Kaala and Saphed is the name of this organization. They work under inferno, but they seem to have a conflict with each other. The second major piece of information is that the city is the home for Iris church, one of the important churches in the church union."

    Grey sped up his pace, "So, it is safe to assume that the church and both of the organizations are working together?"

    To his confirmation, Ray said "Yes, it is indeed how it is. Iris church and organizations have close ties, basically, they are butt buddies. That is precisely why we have to work carefully and find a way to deal with the church."

    "Roger!" said Rin.

    "Is the option of killing the people of the church on the table?" asked Grey.

    Ray snickered under her breath, "As much as I would like to consider that option, we have to operate carefully. Apparently, the successor of seven virtues and their master is present there, so any fight would cost us great casualties."

    Halting in the forest, Grey spoke up "Can we pause for a second, I need to discuss a plan,"

    On his call, everyone stopped their movement and focused all their attention on Grey.

    {Author: I am purposefully cutting off the scene in between. Since it would be boring if you guys knew the plan all along.}

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It has been a full day since then.

    At the heart of Lenton City, a man walked into an inn. This particular man was just a low-ranked member of the Kaala organization.

    The reason why this man was at this Inn was that he was told to check the Inn since his boss wasn''t back yet. There was supposed to be a meeting held between the Kaala and Saphed gang.

    As he drew a step closer to the Inn, he realized that Inn was awfully quiet. It was odd since being quiet was the last thing you would expect from this inn.

    Being cautious, he stepped inside the Inn and his sight was met with a dining hall.

    If I had to go into great detail, then it was a dining hall that didn''t have any food in it, nor people who were eating food. Instead of food on the table, there were scattered limbs on and off the table. The crimson liquid was dripping from the table to the ground.

    The walls had scattered red pain in random, it wasn''t a work of art. Well, it might be a work of art for a sinister set of eyes. But for a normal human, the sight that this man was seeing was just chilling.

    From the entrance of the Inn, he was able to see many dead corpses and two particular individuals,

    Apologies, perhaps calling them corpses would be more appropriate. The two corpses were the two bosses of the organization, the organization named Kaala and Saphed.

    "They are pretty dead, at least seems like it from here." said the man, his tone apathetic. He seems to have no reaction over his boss or comrades'' death.

    Along with his comrades, the opposition organization people were also dead.

    "What happened here?"

    The man was curious about what happened to all the people here, but he was not curious enough to step inside the bloody inn. Recently this young man has been reading too many horror novels, he was afraid that some monster might jump him.

    Perhaps he was overthinking, definitely, he was overthinking. But he didn''t want to join the same fate as his fellow comrades so he walked away to let his other comrades know about the thing that happened here.

    The young man''s name is Cowar.

    Well, after this incident both of the organization was headless and was in a pretty vulnerable position.

    The young man, whose name was Cowar told his comrades back at the Kaala organization who was waiting for their boss that he had died and the word also spread in the Saphed organization that their boss has died as well.

    Going back to the scene where the act had happened, it looked everyone had killed each other. There was some survivor found, who confirmed that fight broke out between both of the gang.

    At first, both of the gang was furious, gang war seemed imminent. But certain individuals from the Kaala gang suggested that they should perhaps choose peace. Gang war now would weaken the state of both of the gangs.

    The talk of merging the gang started after a day and they were set to meet at the same inn. The talks of merging two gangs under a new name started spreading out, but for that, they would have to come under the same term.

    Everyone was again gathered at the very same Inn,

    The inn was divided into two parts, the table on the right side was occupied by the Kaala gang and the table on the left side was occupied by the Saphed gang.

    "It couldn''t be helped, I have no grudge against you guys since they were the ones who fought and died on their own."

    The person who was speaking was the daughter of Saphed, she assumed the role of leadership after her father died.

    "The feeling is the same from our side, we don''t hold any enmity on the contrary I think it is in the best interest to merge both of the gangs."

    The person speaking from the Saphed gang was their dead leader''s son.

    "Then we will discuss further terms-----"

    "Can I speak my mind?"

    A certain individual raised his hand interrupting the meeting. It was Cowar.

    "Sure, I don''t mind."

    The person took a deep breath, he paused for a good second, it looked like he was finding the right word to speak. Then after a brief pause, he opened his mouth asking a simple question,

    "How do you guys feel about the drug we sell to general people?"

    His question was particularly directed towards the successor of both of the gangs.

    "I never thought about it" answered the daughter of the Kaala gang, her name was Ebony.

    "Me neither."

    It was disturbing, the ignorance that was present in their answers was highly disturbing for all the gang members. Most of their expression twisted into one of slight disgust whereas others tried their best to hide their facial expression.

    But it was clear for every gang member of both of the organizations that their leaders didn''t know anything that was going on in the real world outside.

    "Are you not aware of the impact of our drug on common people''s life?" asked Cowar. But his question was met with a silence which made it clear for him that they aren''t aware.

    Cowar couldn''t help but grit his teeth,

    "You really aren''t aware of the impact that our drug has on people? The drug that the church supplies us to sell among common people is bad, to say the least. Taking on the advantage of people''s poverty, sadness, and weakness in general, we have ruined their life and these people are the ones you meet in your day-to-day life.

    Knowing what kind of person they are, knowing what kind of hardship they are going through it becomes suffocating to even live after ruining their life. After dealing drugs with these people, it gets difficult to sleep at night.

    And god knows what kind of shady thing the church is doing with these drugs, even little kids are taking them. Little kids!!! I don''t know about anyone else here, but I can''t keep doing this, my conscience won''t let me keep doing this.

    I am sorry, but if we keep doing the same business with the church, I will leave the organization and I am ready to take any punishment."

    After the thing they have heard, everyone seated in the dining hall was silent. No one dared to speak anything until a man stood up from the Saphed gang

    "I will agree with that man, I can''t keep dealing with this drug."

    One by one, the majority of gang members stood up to show that they agree with Cowar in being against selling the drugs.

    Hesitant Ebony opened her mouth saying "But the drug is the major source of our income, how will we even do business without selling drugs?"

    "Yes, I ask the same question. We are businessmen we prioritize money before feeling. The one who is standing up, tell me, how are we gonna make money, if we don''t sell drugs?"

    Asked the son of the Saphed gang, but his question wasn''t answered by the gang members who were standing, it was rather answered by a complete stranger who was seated on the table that was upstairs.

    From above, the young man looked down with his sharp yet gentle purple-indigo eyes, He rested his face on his palm. With an attractive tender smile, he spoke,

    "I have a suggestion, "

 Chapter 103 - 102: House Lenton

    "I have a suggestion." said a particular young man.

    The young man wore an elegant and form-fitting attire, consisting of a purple shirt dress, above the shirt he wore a black and indigo waistcoat. On the bottom, he wore slim black trousers and a pair of black boots.

    The young man''s rich sense of dressing made him seem like a royal. The young man was Grey, beside him sat Ray and Rin while Aetna was eating food across the table

    "Who you might be sir?" asked the son of the Saphed organization, he was overwhelmed by the young man''s dressing sense and he didn''t want to offend anyone powerful.

    "Just a traveler. Sorry, I overheard you conversa---"

    Before Grey could speak any further, Cowar interrupted him saying,

    "I remember where I have seen this young gentleman from!!. He is the son of miss Alice, he is one of our princes," said Cowar proudly. Proud because he recognized the prince first.

    In an instant, without wasting any team everyone kneeled on the ground. As Cowar was still standing, Ebony dragged him into a kneeling position.

    "Our Prince!! please forgive our rudeness, we were foolish to not recognize you!!" said everyone simultaneously.

    With a gentle chuckle, Grey spoke, "It''s fine, there is nothing to forgive. I don''t blame you all to recognize me since my mother''s marriage was secret among the royalties. You shall get up and proceed with your dinner."

    Everyone got up, but they still hesitated to be seated on the chair. They didn''t just want to be seated in front of Grey, without his permission.

    "You have my permission, you can be seated."

    With his permission, everyone sat on the chair.

    "Now that I take a close look at our prince, you do closely look like hero Alice. My prince, you are incredibly charming!"

    A tender smile curved up Grey''s lips, as he said "Thanks! that really my day!!"

    Ebony found that smile very attractive and alluring, she wasn''t able to take her eyes off him.

    The son of the Saphed family, his name was Clay, Clay opened his mouth saying "Prince ---"

    "My name is Grey."

    "Prince Grey, the thing you have heard about drugs was done by my dad, we were just discussing abolishing the trade of drugs from this city. We took care of our dads so that all the evil dies with them, we have promised that we will lead this city into a new era."

    Clay lied, he lied as naturally as he was breathing.

    "That''s noble of you, I would love to support a noble cause. Let''s see, you need a source of money that is not related to drugs or any other morally wrong activity such as extortion, robbing, stealing, and other things. Right?"

    "Yes, Your majesty."

    "Royal knight, what do you say? Can these crimes be pardoned?" asked Grey. By Royal knight, he was referring to Ray.

    "According to the laws of the nation, such crimes cannot be pardoned, it is punishable by death," said Ray, sincerely.

    Hearing the words of Ray put the gang member in a state of panic, kneeling down they begged, "Your majesty, please overlook this crime! we promise that we won''t do it again."

    Grey turned to look at Rai as he asked "What do you think?"

    "Well, as your advisor, I have an idea. It is simple, The prince will overlook this matter, but it will come at a price. The price is to swear absolute loyalty to the prince."

    Without thinking twice, Clay kneeled down saying "I swore my absolute loyalty to the prince!!!" So did everyone else in the Saphed gang.

    But Ebony was still hesitant, as she stood, she was still considering many things.

    "I don''t want blind loyalty, I want my followers to also get benefits from following me and the benefit you all will get is that you will get more money than the church could ever provide, double the amount of it."

    Curious, Ebony asked, "How are we going to do that, your majesty?"

    "We won''t take from the poor, we will take from the rich and also we will provide things that the common people need the most in a considerable price, they will buy from us."

    "Can you elaborate further, your majesty?"

    Grey raised his index finger as he said "First we will open a gambling center but with a twist. We will let everyone in on the thrill of gambling their money, but we will set a limit on how much a person can gamble per month. So that none of our customers go bankrupt yet they visit us every month to spend their money, they will wait every month so that they could gamble again and yet they won''t feel cheated, it''s a win-win situation for everyone."

    Grey raised his second finger as he continued "We will open clothing lines, we will give it a brand name and sell it among the rich. We will sell normal clothes to a stupidly high amount of money and brand it like a thing that only the rich can have."

    "Apologies your majesty, but why would rich buy something so pricey when they can buy it for cheap?" asked Ebony, curious.

    Grey chuckled as he said "You are thinking from a perspective of a commoner, but rich don''t think about things like that. They will buy our clothing line simply because it will be sold as a symbol of status and richness, they will not buy our clothes they will buy our brand name which will be the symbol of richness."

    Ebony couldn''t help but laugh as she said "I was indeed thinking about it from the perspective of a commoner, now that your highness puts it that way, I can''t deny that how amazing the idea is."

    Ebony crouched down before kneeling down to her knees, "Your majesty!! I swear my absolute loyalty to you!!"

    Grey looked at Ebony as he said "I have taken a liking to you, I will give you the leadership of the clothing division."

    He then turned to face Clay as he said "You will be in charge of the gambling center. How does it sound?"

    "No problem here!"

    "No problem here either, your majesty!"

    "Ah, by the way, since we will be starting two businesses that will quite possibly be very successful. naturally, we will catch the attention of various people. We will start having enemies, but I don''t want to entertain any enemies. We need power and of course, it would be politically not right to let people know that you work under the prince."

    "Then how will we operate your majesty?" asked Clay.

    "You will focus more on the business aspect of our plan. The power will be provided by the organization that I know, the Celestia organization. You will be part of the Celestia organization."

    "Celestia organization?" questioned Ebony.

    "They will be here in this city soon, you will see for yourself. We will have to eliminate our enemies and create a ruthless image for ourselves, for that we will obviously have to be ruthless ourselves. We will start with the church, no, I will start with the church. I will eliminate the church from this place since they will be a very big hindrance."

    Everyone''s face twisted in confusion as they heard that Grey would be eliminating the church, it was an impossible task as far as they know. No one with a sane mind ever said that they will be eliminating the church, this fact of course created doubt in the mind of all the people present in the Inn.

    Grey realized the doubt in their eyes. He closed his eyes as he sighed.

    But as he opened his eyes, his eyes had a different expression from before. The air itself around Grey was different from before, a sudden aura of untamed energies burst out of Grey.

    It wasn''t just mana, it was every type of energy he had at his disposal.

    "I can do it," said Grey, his words carried so much weight that every other truth seemed like a lie.

    Being in his presence was suffocating for everyone in the Inn, their body couldn''t stop trembling on their own. Grey later stopped the burst of energies and with their body wasn''t trembling anymore.

    Ebony quickly regained her posture as she said "Your highness, I am ready to gamble everything on your cause. If you want to take on the church I will gladly walk beside you!"

    Clay joined her saying, "Your highness, I too am ready to walk behind you!!"

    "Then from today, you will be called as House Lenton, since you will be representing all of Lenton City. House Lenton will be the subdivision of the Celestia and we will discuss the future of House Lenton tomorrow. But one thing is for sure, you will personally be led by me and I have high hopes for you all."

    "We will not betray your hope, your highness!!"

 Chapter 104 - 103: Unspoken Friendship.

    Grey, Ray, Rin, and Aetna were climbing up the stairs of an abandoned building, it was an old Nyx temple that was later abandoned.

    Calling it abandoned is incorrect since the church executed every priest and everyone related to the temple since they didn''t want any other religion than their own in Lenton City.

    The most chilling thing was that it was done publicly and the normal people cheered as the priests were getting executed. The church labeled anyone who believed in Nyx as evil.

    In those days people had more blind faith in the church, those were the worse times for people in general because of the ongoing war. The war resulted in excessive poverty, so people were emotionally vulnerable and they found religion as their salvation.

    There was something in Rin''s mind, but she was hesitant to ask about it. Not Hesitant, she just didn''t know from where to begin her question.

    At last, she formed a question in her mind, before asking,

    "So what did you both do? I just have bits and pieces of information. How did you make both of the gangs join you?" asked Rin.

    "I don''t know from where I should begin talking.'' answered Grey as he ascended up the stairs.

    "Grey, how did that man know that you were a prince, wasn''t it a secret?" asked Aetna, as she tilted her head in curiosity.

    Grey placed his hand over Aetna''s head, patting her, he said "I gave money to that guy to say that out loud"

    "Ooooo, then the drug speech was also something you told him to say. That speech about the drug sounded exactly like something you would say,"

    "You know me well," said Grey letting out a chuckle.

    "Who else did you give money to?" asked Rin.

    "There was also one other guy from the Saphed gang, the guy who agreed with the other guy''s drug speech. Then there was also the owner of the Inn."

    "You have really thought ahead."

    "No, it wasn''t entirely my plan. It was a plan that I came up with your sister, Ray."

    They continued to ascend up the stairs until Rin decided to halt, With a sharp look in her eyes, she looked at Ray and Grey.

    It didn''t occur to her yet, but just now she realized something.

    "What?" asked Ray.

    "I don''t how it didn''t occur to me yet, it was obvious. From the very start. you both controlled the entire situation to achieve your goal. That also means that you both killed that entire Inn filled with gang members and gave other gang members money to lie about what really happened at the Inn."

    Grey and Ray didn''t reply with anything, they stood there silently. Their silence was an answer in itself.

    Rin turned to Aetna asking, "Don''t you find anything wrong in this?"

    "I don''t, Only thing that is right for me is what Grey does, I will follow Grey on whatever he does. I don''t have the memory of my past, my only truth is Grey, I don''t have anything else other than him."

    Her eyes wide open, Rin realized that there was something wrong with the three-person he was standing in front of.

    Rin sat on the stares as she took a good minute to process everything, before opening her mouth,

    "Sister, when we were little, you always annoyed me. It always annoyed me that you never had any greed, you always gave your things to me without complaining. You were always so kind to everyone, you were a gentle girl. You were so pure that it made me feel like I was a bad girl. But even after all that I admired the person you were.

    And Grey, when I first met you, I saw a tormented set of eyes. But yet there was still weird kindness in your eyes. Knowing your past I always wondered that how a person could look that kind even after all that happened. I really admired that part of you. There might be darkness inside you that I didn''t know about since you did a good job of hiding it. But in general, you had some kindness in you that I really liked to see, as much as I hate to admit it.

    It is sad, really sad to see people''s eyes change. I don''t know what happened to both of you in life, but ---"

    Rin got up as she walked up ahead on the stairs, "Whatever happened to you both, it must have been tough"

    There wasn''t much talk after that, they eventually reached the top of the temple where few people were waiting for them.

    Reaching the top, they walked closer to the people who were waiting for them. The people who were waiting for them were the second team who had arrived late.

    They were all seated on the ground in a circle and their troops have set camp in the forest.

    "So you guys are finally here, it took you guys quite a while to gather the information so it''s better to be worth it," said Evan, he sounded more complaining rather than actually wanting to hear the information.

    He was still awkward about the last time so he still doesn''t know how to act around Grey.

    Placing his hand over Grey''s should Kiara spoke in a cheerful yet loud manner,

    "It''s fine, Gathering information is not a simple job, so don''t beat yourself to it."

    "Yes! You will get better at it over time," said Asai Tsuyoshi as he stroked his chin.

    It was obvious for Grey that they are trying to cheer him up since in their eyes Grey is still a kid.

    Grey sat down with them, so did Rai, Rin, and Aetna.

    Rin opened her mouth as she pointed towards Grey, Ray, and Aetna, "They did more than just information?" said Rin bluntly.

    Kiara''s face lit up as he said "Nothing less expected from my pride!!!" He grabbed Grey, Rin, Rai, and Aetna in his huge arms, "What did you guys do!!?"

    "Yes, what did you guys do?" asked Hina, curious.

    Rin didn''t want to maintain the suspense anymore. Rin still found it highly uncomfortable, the fact that Grey and Ray work together a such a good team made her highly uncomfortable.

    Maybe because of the fact that she thought that Grey and she made the best team together.

    letting out a sigh, Rin spoke up "They have already taken over the underworld of the Lenton city, they even gave it name as House Lenton."

    Everyone seated there was confused, to say the least, their facial expression twisted in various ways before finally, someone spoke up,

    That person being Evan, "They have----- already ------- taken over------ the place?"

    Wow! The guy is so shocked that he had forgotten his ability to speak full sentences.

    Evan walked closer to Grey, Grabbing him Evan asked, "She is joking right?! right?! tell me she is joking?! There is no way! right!? right?! right?!"

    Why is it so hard for him to accept?

    Grey placed his hand over Evan''s shoulder, closing his eyes Grey gave him a nod of pity. Opening his eyes, Grey spoke, "You can believe in whatever you want." said Grey with a great pity in his voice.

    "Huh? what''s with that face?!! Don''t look at me with those eyes! my pride!!", Evan placed both of his hands on the ground "I am done for, the princess will kick me out of the group for being such a useless piece of shit, My junior is doing hundred times better than me. More than that I might not even be able to face myself in the mirror, I am a useless senior."

    This was the start of Evan''s great depression and his inferiority complex became much worse. But he didn''t hate Grey, moreover, he felt like he owed Grey an apology.

    "Please don''t mind him, he just has a severe inferiority complex." said Asai Tsuyoshi, later he raise his leg before kicking Evan''s butt saying "Now get up, Don''t be depressed."

    Poor Guy.

    "It''s really surprising that you all did this job rather quickly. No, it was so quick that there is no way that princess team will be able to win now."

    "Yes, it was only possible because I found such a great partner."

    Ray raised her fist pointing towards him, she was offering a fist bump. Grey accepted the fist bump as he bumped his fist over hers.

    "I found a great partner myself, I am excited to work with you in the future."

    This moment was the birth of a weird friendship between two most random people who would have never become under normal conditions.

    They found mutual respect due to their shared cynical nature and tendency to set humans on fire, they will probably set humans to fire if is needed to achieve their goal.

    {Author: I will explore more of Ray''s character, I will show her obsessive and narcissistic side. I will also explore Aetna''s character since I have planned a great character story for her.

    Rin''s character won''t be explored anytime soon, she will get her next arc around many arcs later when I will introduce Rai back to the story. Rin and Rai will have a story together.

    And of course, Grey will be related in every story, since he is the main character, so yeah. }

 Chapter 105 - 104: The Seven Virtues.

    "So this is the place?" asked Grey as he stood in front of the entrance of a very narrow cave. Narrow enough to fit only one person at a time.

    "Yes, this narrow cave will lead us to the biggest cave system. Bigger than you would imagine, my master."

    Ermic entered the narrow cave, following him Grey stepped into the cave.

    "This cave will lead us to a system, from where we will have to follow a particular route to reach the holy vault of the church."

    Grey and Ermic were heading towards that particular vault since Grey had his suspicion, he had a suspicion that the vault contain particular things that would be helpful for him in riving Illya.

    "Answer a few of my questions."

    "I will answer any of your questions to the best of my ability, my master!!" Ermic tone of speaking was exaggerated as always.

    "What is Demic sacrifice?"

    "It was a major event in history, where God Demic sacrificed himself to save millions of lives from the Demon Abby. The battle seemed to have occurred in this very ground itself, over the church of Iris. Some even say that God Demic will again come back to this world."

    Grey turned to look at Ermic, he asked "Can God be killed?"

    "No, I don''t think that any mortal creature can kill gods" answered Ermic, sincerely.

    "Then doesn''t that make Demic sacrifice story a total bullshit?" asked Grey. Grey raised his finger as he said, "I will enlighten you to what really happened during Demic sacrifice."

    "Please enlighten me, My master!!!!!"

    Without paying any heed to Ermic''s exaggerated manner of speaking, Grey opened his mouth to say,

    "A certain demon boy decided to fight against gods and he started it by sealing Demic in this very ground. Gods have lied about that story since they don''t want mortals to question gods'' superiority. Or maybe they have entirely different reasons to lie, I don''t know."

    Both Grey and Ermic were walking through the cave as Grey was explaining to Ermic about what really happened until one black feline walked in front of Grey.

    With her big round golden eyes, she said "Meow!!"

    "Kuro! what the fuck are you doing in this random cave?"

    Grey crouched down to pick up Kura with both his hand. Bring her face close to his, Grey asked,

    "Why do you keep wandering off to random places?"

    He later placed her down, as he said,

    "Be careful okay? I heard that there are monsters in this cave that eats cat."

    "Meow!!"

    Continuing there walk inside the cave, now with an additional companion. They didn''t talk much for around fifteen minutes until Ermic decided to say something.

    He got closer to Grey, as he whispered,

    "My masters, are you aware that some people are following us for a while now?"

    "Yes, I am aware. They are the people I know, so don''t mind them. They don''t mean any harm."

    The two people who were following Grey were Rin and Aetna they were following Grey because Aetna insisted on ongoing and even Rin was curious and worried about Grey. But they were trying their best to not get noticed by Grey.

    "By the way Ermic, I would have to fight the successor of seven virtues right? what are they like, are they powerful?"

    "Yes mater, they are powerful. Seven virtues are Chasity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, Gratitude, and Humility, these seven virtues are a direct parallel to seven deadly sins. The ones present in the church are successors of seven virtues, they will be the next seven virtues. So the church is nurturing this young one to be next seven virtues and the stronger version of the current ones."

    "Are they all older than me in age?"

    "Yes master, they are older than you, I think around two or three years older than you."

    "Will, we be able to avoid them? like, avoid fighting them?"

    "No, My master. They will present in front of the vault, guarding it, so we will have to fight them to eliminate them."

    "I will eliminate them, you will be on guard to cut off any possibility of guards alerting more guards. Basically, you will not let anyone outside, do you understand?"

    Ermic kneeled on the ground in front of Grey, before saying "Yes, my master."

    Grey turned to look back in the darkness of the cave, he spoke up,

    "Rin and Aetna, you both can do whatever you want, just try not to get hurt, okay? also, you can help them if you want."

    Grey actually instructed three-person that were following him, except for Rin and Aetna there was one person following Grey.

    Picking up Kuro in his arms, Grey disappeared from his spot in an instant. Everyone knew what they had to do, Grey was heading directly towards the vault, whereas, Rin, Aetna, and Ermic will be cutting off any chance of Guards alerting other guards.

    "Tsk," Rin clicked her tongue in frustration, she had thought that her sneaking ability was unnoticeable.

    To comfort her Aetna opened her mouth saying, "Actually, I knew that he knew that we were following him, it is impossible to trail him without getting noticed."

    "Why?

    Aetna placed her finger under her right eye as she said "He actually has this very powerful power from which he can see every energy around him even with his eyes closed."

    "That''s kind of cool power where can I have it?" asked Aetna as she stretched her hands.

    "It is not something that would be sold in a local store," said Aetna sarcastically.

    This was the first time Rin had ever seen Aetna giving a sarcastic reply and it stung Rin in her heart. A gloom covered her face,

    "You bully me."

    "Sorry..."

    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    Traveling through the cave system for a while, Grey was now near the underground vault. Grey walked out of the narrow pathway and found himself in a massive underground cave.

    Massive enough to fit several adventure guild buildings in it. There were many icicle-shaped formations that hung from the cieling and also any icicle-shaped formation that emerged from the ground of the cave, they are stalagmite and stalactite.

    hiding behind the massive icicle structure Grey saw many armed guards, and also in distance far away he saw seven youngsters that we standing in front of the massive door.

    Actually, among them, two were seated while one was standing up and the other four seemed to be fighting among each other, most probably they were sparring among each other. That''s what Grey thought.

    And Grey had no doubt about it, the seven youngsters near the massive door are the successor of seven virtues since from Grey''s eyes he could see that they were monsters among themselves.

    Maintaining his stealth, Grey went past the guards. Near the massive door, he could take a closer look at the successor of seven virtues.

    Among them, there was a girl with angelic white long hair that extended to her lower back, she had snowy white skin, and a set of grey-colored eyes.

    While sparring she drew her blade so elegantly and her pure white hair fluttered with her every graceful movement, it looked like the wings of an angel.

    That girl was the successor of the virtue of chastity.

    The person she was sparring with was a young man who was the virtue of temperance. He had light blue hair with a silvery blue set of eyes, his stature was on the shorter side.

    On the other side, two young men were sparring among themselves. One had black hair and tall stature, he was the virtue of charity. While the other one had light blue silver hair and short stature, he was the virtue of patience and also the twin brother of temperance.

    The two-person who was standing near the massive door and the person who was seated was the virtues of Humility, Diligence, and Gratitude.

    {Author: By the way, even though I said that they are virtues, they are actually successors, not the current virtues.}

    The girl with angelic white hair took a step back, she placed her slender blade in her health. Later she bowed her head in front of her opponent as she said,

    "I, thank you for your guidance in this spar, I am humbled by your strength."

    "No, I am the one that was humbled by your strength, you showed a great display of your power. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to fight with you."

    The amount of respect both of the people showed each other, made Grey wonder whether they were good or evil. It was difficult for Grey to even judge that what kind of person they were.

    But Grey was sure about one thing, if he wanted to enter the vault, he would have to go through this seven successor of virtues. There was no other way since he had no way of sneaking into the vault.

    Whether to face them head-on? or to take them out in secret? This was the question that was going through Grey''s mind.

 Chapter 106 - 105: One Vs Seven

    The black-haired young man with tall stature walked in front of the massive door. Placing his hand over the door, he asked,

    "What''s inside this door?"

    "A holy vault." answered the virtue of diligence without much explanation.

    "What I mean was the contents of this holy vault."

    "Oh, apologize for misreading your question. Even I don''t have much information, but from what I know, there seem to be many rare holy artifacts, and also there seems to be a divine one sleeping inside."

    "So it''s our job to guard this vault for the divine one to have good rest before he wakes up." said the virtue of humility, joining the conversation.

    "Do you all think that we deserve to be the successor of the seven virtues?" asked the virtue of Gratitude.

    The angelic white-haired girl, the virtue charity walked towards the massive door, near where the other six virtue was standing.

    "We can always try out best to follow thei----"

    Her facial expression hardened, she swiftly turned around. Unsheathing her sword she was barely able to block the incoming attack.

    Due to not being able to place her foot on the ground properly, she lost her foot balance. Tripping to the ground, she was knocked back.

    For others, it happened in an instant. Following the sound of,

    Clang!

    The virtue of charity was knocked away, but before crashing into the ground she regained her footstep.

    "It won''t be that easy after all."

    Said the person who attacked the virtue of chastity. The person held a polearm, that consisted of a metal pole with a slender double-edged blade at the end of the polearm.

    The polearm closely resembled the shape of a snake.

    Regaining her footwork, The white-haired virtue of chastity, asked,

    "Why do you attack me, masked one?" there was no trace of anger or caution in her tone, she rather asked him in a peaceful manner.

    And, yes the masked one was Grey himself. He wore a matt black mask with no particular feature in it, except for the two cat-like pointy ears.

    "My goal is to enter the vault, and it doesn''t seem like you will just let walk by in the vault."

    "I don''t understand your reasoning for wanting to go into the vault, but we can''---" before she could complete her sentence, Grey dashed forward with his polearm.

    With a right swing, Grey aimed for her face. But before he could even connect his attack, he was forced to block the incoming boulder of rock.

    Crossing both of his arms, Grey blocked the attack. The impact pushed grey backward, but even after taking a direct hit, he didn''t lose his balance.

    But the direct hit did its damage like cracking Grey''s several bones in the arms.

    The boulder of rock was shot by the virtue of Diligence, he was a mage class. Standing sharp on his feet, he focused all his attention towards shooting any ranged attack when necessary.

    Before Grey regained his composure,

    Clang!

    another attack was thrown at him, this time it was the virtue of charity himself. He had dashed in front of Grey before swinging his greatsword.

    Grey was forced more back, as he blocked another attack, this time it contained more force than that of boulder rock.

    So one the bulk one is a rock type mage, what kind of monster is he? how can someone cast a rock attack so quickly? 1

    Grey turned his attention towards the Virtue of charity, the black-haired one. He was holding his greatsword with all of his attention focused on Grey.

    This one, the sheer force he swung his greatsword gave me the feeling that my wrist would break in half just by blocking it. Is he a physical enhancer type?

    With a dash, Grey clashed his polearm with Chairty''s greatsword. After three exchanges between their weapons, Grey quickly went in for the fourth one, But he was forced to step back, barely evading the incoming projectiles.

    One of those projectiles grazed Grey''s neck and thigh, the cut that was made on the neck was nothing much, it was so shallow that it didn''t even bleed out and it healed back as soon as the cut was made. But another cut on Grey''s thigh was deep, which resulted in an excessive amount of blood being poured out of Grey''s thighs.

    Without stopping, he kept dodging the seemingly endless shower of throwing knives. Dashing away to take a little distance, Grey created an ice wall to block off the endless stream of throwing knives.

    "That ice wall can block my throwing knives?"

    Raising his eyebrows, asked the virtue of Humility. The endless amount of throwing knife was the power of a holy artifact he was wearing, it was a bracelet around his wrist.

    Each knife had an impact enough to create a small crater upon hit. But it didn''t seem to break Grey''s ice wall, even though it looked fragile.

    Grey froze the cut on the thigh to stop the bleeding, before dashing sideways. Upon reaching a certain distance, Grey gathered mana in the palm of his hand to perform a ranged spell.

    Stretching his palm, he pointed it towards the virtues. As he was going to shoot the condensed icicle blade,

    "What the---"

    A certain white-haired girl appeared in front of Grey, it happened so fast that it almost felt like she teleported herself in front of Grey.

    But it was in an instant, it wasn''t a teleportation power, it was just her raw speed.

    Before Grey could even react, a piercing pain ran through his shoulder. Which was followed by a splash of blood that poured out of the shoulder.

    Grey was stabbed in his shoulder with a slender blade, but all Grey could see was an innocent set of eyes looking at him. Not innocent, calling it pure would be correct.

    With a muffled Groan, Grey didn''t pay much heed to his stabbed shoulder as he quickly created a little fireball explosion in his palm to create a distance between him and the white-haired girl, she was the virtue of chastity.

    But as he was knocked back multiple sets of boulders and throwing knives were thrown at his way which made it impossible for Grey to stop at any point. Simultaneously while dodging those ranged attacks Grey froze his stabbed shoulder.

    Without being able to dodge all the attacks there were many cuts and wounds all over his body, but nothing major.

    At a certain point while dodging he was again closer to the virtue of charity, the great sword physical enhancer type.

    "Are you physical enhancer type?" asked Grey as he blocked his incoming attack.

    "Yes, how did you find out?" asked Charity, he seemed to not be bothered by Grey''s question. His main curiosity was how did Grey found it out.

    "As a fellow physical enhancing type, it is not that hard to figure if a person is a physical enhancer or not."

    The Charity swung his great sword in right swing, which Grey dodged since he can''t afford to block his attack. Each block takes a toll on Grey''s wrist.

    "You are a physical enhancer!?" asked Charity surprised.

    In retaliation, Grey boasted his physical strength before swinging his polearm at the charity. They both were pushed back, as their weapon clashed with each other.

    "This should answer your question."

    "Yes, there is no doubt you are a physical enhancer. But it is hard to believe since you are also able to use a rare element, Ice. You are strong I admit it, but perhaps you should give up since we are trained to fight since we are kids.

    You can''t win even if we fought in one on one fight with any of us, we are stronger so you should give up. And also the fact that there are seven of us and there is only one of you"

    Grey dashed forwards, swing his polearm, he said.

    "One versus seven is the indeed unfavorable situation."

    He exchanged a few attacks with Charity before Chastity intervened with her incredible speed. But this time Grey was to evade her even before she was able to close the distance between them in instant.

    Most of Grey''s attention is towards her since she is the most trouble someone among them all. Evading, Grey stepped away and this time he found himself in close-quarter to a short stature blue-haired guy.

    Grey swiftly swung the back of his polearm, clashing with the blue-haired Guy''s short sword. Grey quickly tried to regain his position,

    gah!

    A sudden pressure of blunt trauma passed through Grey''s abdomen, this was because of being hit by the back of the sword in his abdomen.

    But how? thought Grey. The Blue-haired guy was definitely in a different position, there is no way he could recover his position so quickly.

    Was he that fast? No, unlike the white-haired girl, this actually happened in an instant. Some sort of teleportation? No, this is definitely something more than teleportation.

    The blue-haired guy with who I clashed my weapon and the blue-haired guy who inserted the back of his sword in my abdomen is a different person.

    Even though they have similar mana signatures, they definitely different people.

    Taking a step back, Grey glanced over the other blue-haired guy who was standing a little distance away.

    Both of them are twins, so perhaps are they switching places with each other?

 Chapter 107 - 106: Mana King.

    On Grey''s instruction, Ermic, Rin, and Aetna were on the lookout for the intruder and any guard who could possibly alert any other guard.

    They were also doing the job of eliminating the guards, well the task of eliminating the guards was mostly done by Ermic.

    Whereas Rin and Aetna were standing on the exit to block off the escape for the guards and anyone else.

    Rin being seated with her back against the wall of the cave asked "What did you mean by Grey is ''your right''? how do you trust him so much?"

    But Rin''s question was met with awkward silence, Rin looked at Aetna who was awkwardly trying to not look Rin in her eyes.

    After a minute of silence, Aetna answered,

    "You know Rin, I feel like I have done something bad to Grey that I don''t remember of."

    "Something bad? why do you feel like that?"

    Aetna walked closer to Rin before taking a seat right beside Rin. With her back against the wall of the cave, Aetna sat on the ground.

    "I first met Grey around five years ago, I don''t remember my life before that, I don''t remember what lead me to that moment. But it didn''t bother me much, since I felt comfortable with Grey.

    Grey, for some reason always wrapped his left hand around bandages, one day he took his bandage off and that was the first time I saw those scars. It happened in an instant, but various bits of memories flashed through my mind.

    It was bitter memories...

    It was scary...

    Looking at that scar I felt like----- I felt like that scar was the symbol of something cruel I did to Grey. But he still supported me and showed me kindness, from that day Grey started wearing full sleeves clothes, it was his way of hiding his scars from me."

    Aetna turned towards Rin, leaning towards her, she said looking right into her eyes,

    "My first set of memories was being in someone''s embrace, he was crying---- Crying like a little kid, he held me tightly as he shed tears. That was the moment where I decided that I would walk by that person, I would always be by his side, even if it means taking part in evil. I would take part in it since that person------ Grey is my only reality."

    Being taken by the intense conversation she was having with Aetna, Rin looked at Aetna for a good second before asking,

    "That''s some intense love for Grey."

    It was lightning quick, the speed at which Aetna''s face turned into the shade of beet red was lighting quick. A thick cloud of fog emerged out of her head, as she stuttered,

    "No!! no ---- no, it''s not love. You know---- that---- It''s his--- his blood!!, Yes, his blood!!. I love Grey''s blood. not Grey, definitely not Grey."

    "Now now, why don''t you just admit it"

    "Don''t teas----"

    Before Aetna could complete her sentence, her animal instinct suddenly spiked as she assumed a defensive form and so did Rin.

    "This is bad, don''t lose your focus, okay?"

    "Yes!"

    Both of their focus was dead set at the place from where they were sensing an extreme sense of danger. It was from the outer part of the exit.

    With each passing, the source of danger was getting closer.

    Walking out of the shadow of the cave it was an old man with crooked stature and silver-white hair. But there was a thing about the old man that put both Aetna and Rin on edge.

    Well, the thing was obvious, it was the fact that the old man was insanely strong was the thing that put both Aetna and Rin on edge.

    But on the contrary to their caution, the old man wore a gentle expression. Opening his mouth the old man said,

    "Don''t need to be so cautious young woman, this old man just wants to go inside the cave. I mean no harm and especially I wouldn''t harm young ones."

    "That''s the thing--- good sir. we can''t let you do that---- good sir. So perhaps you would just walk away."

    Adding good sir was just Rin''s way of showing respect and not angering the old man since Rin didn''t want to fight this old man,

    ''He is super scary'' is what she thought at the moment.

    Couldn''t be able to hold off his laughter, the old man busted into loud laughter "Good sir!"

    Rin also awkwardly laughed with the old man, since she thought that was the right thing to do so.

    "May I know the reason for you young ones to stop me?"

    "Actually one of my friends has a business inside, so we are standing her guarding and not letting one in or out of this place."

    After hearing the explanation, stroking his chin, the old man went into the deep thoughts, after a brief pause he spoke,

    "How about both of you young ones fight me? if you win, then I will walk away."

    Evan thought Rin was panicked, she was clear about one thing, one thing that she would have to fight this old man and so was Aetna. They both took a sharp stance, Rin with her sword whereas Aetna was ready to strike any ranged mage attack if needed.

    Even though they looked sharp from the outside, they were in a state of utmost panic from the inside.

    Shit shit shit shit!! was Rin''s line of thought.

    "Then here I come!!" announced the old man before dashing in front of Rin in an instant, the old man swung his arm aiming at Rin.

    Cling!

    Old man''s hand clashed with Rin''s sword which made a metallic noise.

    ''What the---- what is this old man''s arm is made of?!'' The old man was just a normal fragile mortal who just happen to have a very thick coating of mana layer protecting him all the time.

    Rin ducked down as a ball of fire came from behind her, crashing on the old man, but the ball of fire just faded away with just one swipe of the old man''s hand.

    ''What the---- why am I fighting overpowered old man?!''

    Rin quickly swung her sword, which was easily blocked by the old man. but this was what Rin was aiming for, as she parried his hand with a swift circular motion, attacking the old man.

    But before her sword could connect the old man, the old man stepped back avoiding her attack. Without giving much chance to the old man, Aetna launched herself towards the old man using a little fire explosion.

    Closing her fist she gathered mana in her hand, in mid-air she reached closer to the old man. Releasing the closed fist, Aetna aimed it at the old man but before she could attack, the old man stepped back more.

    Aetna didn''t continue her attack, she quickly retracted her mana. Landing on the ground, Aetna looked at the old man curiously,

    "It would have definitely would have been bad if i had taken that attack on the point-blank range." said the old man laughing it off, "I didn''t know that a young one like you would have such a high capability for a fire type attack."

    Aetna''s facial expression twisted, she was more confused than before.

    How did he know that I was going to attack him with high-level fire magic? thought Aetna.

    "Okay, we will end it right here!" said Old man as she straightened up his fist. In an instant, the old man dashed towards Rin.

    At a certain distance, the old man swung his fist and Rin was ready to parry his attack, as she swung her sword in counter.

    But before he could take any more step closer, something grabbed his feet stopping his movement. Looking down he saw a hand made out of flame grabbing his leg.

    "Oh?"

    The old man was confused, he looked up to find Rin''s sword had already traveled its distance near his neck, and there was a certain flaming fist that was coming his way.

    "Eh?"

    Rin''s sword connected to his neck and Aetna''s fist was buried right in his cheek.

    Boom!

    An explosion was made due to Aetna''s fire fist, which covered the whole cave with a cloud of dust. After a few seconds, the dust settled revealing the still-standing old man.

    But the difference was that there was a drop of blood coming from his neck and there was bring red marking of the fist on his cheek. Both of the attacks were made barely through his defense.

    Looking at the still-standing old man, Both Rin and Aetna took their defensive stance, but to their surprise, the old man raised both of his hands as he said,

    "I lose!! you both young girls are strong after all, it''s my loss"

    hearing old man''s word, Rin''s and Aetna''s faces twisted in confusion.

    The old man started walking away towards the exit of the cave. But before leaving the tunnel he turned around facing Rin, he asked "You have learned your swordsmanship from the sword king right?"

    "Yes, how did you----"

    "That old man is my old friend, tell him that mana king remembers him."

    It was the last thing that the old man said, before walking out of the cave. Walking out of the cave, The old man looked at the night sky, "I got to see something very interesting today, fighting him would have been the best experience for my seven disciples."

    By him, he was talking about Grey and the seven disciples were the seven successor virtues.

    The old man''s name was Ambros Meier, also known as the mana king.

 Chapter 108 - 107: One Vs Seven(2)

    "Chain bind"

    A chain made out of flames wrapped itself around Grey''s leg, but rather than binding Grey. The user used it as means to swing Grey, making him crash into a cave wall.

    Even though Grey had thought that Chastity was the most annoying virtue to deal with, but his opinion changed as soon as he came in face to face with the virtue of Gratitude, the phoenix flame user.

    She was the most troublesome kind, she was a mage warrior class and the burns caused by her flames were harder to heal.

    The action of Grey crashing into the cave wall was followed by Grey getting buried in the debris of the cave that fell over him.

    "Is he okay?" asked Chastity, she was concerned for her opponent.

    "It was foolish of him to fight us, there is no need to show mercy," said Temperance, who seemed to be rather annoyed,

    The virtue of humility walked closer to where Grey was buried under the pile of debris, "He was a great opponent----"

    As he was walking forwards, a flying sword headed his way. Even though he was able to see the sword coming his way, he was barely able to dodge it.

    A cold sweat ran down his chin, as he for the first time in his life felt the fear of death. The flying icicle sword crashed on the wall of the cave, the impact from it was enough to make that part of the cave collapse on its own.

    With his eyes wide open, the virtue of Humility saw that from the pile of debris the masked person walking out.

    Grey was barely able to walk as there was a throwing knife stuck in his thigh, making it hard for Grey to even move that muscle. His other leg was burnt.  He may have suffered a concussion from the crash onto the wall, he was not that sure.

    He may have also punctured his lung, something was sure wrong with his lung he was not that sure about it either. It felt like someone was stabbing his chest with hundred whenever he took a deep breath, so he had no other choice than to take shorted breathes to ease out the pain.

    A smile curved up his face, as he couldn''t help but laugh,

    "Whenever I get injured, why is it always my chest?"

    Grey closed his fist and wrapped his other hand over his fist. With full force, Grey driver that fist into his chest.

    The seven virtues were confused, as they stood there not knowing what he was doing.

    But as soon his fist hit his chest, he coughed up an excessive amount of blood. After a second as he was done with coughing up the blood, he wiped the blood off his lips as he said,

    "That feels better."

    "I admit that all seven of you have more individual power, but now that you all have demonstrated their power, it''s my turn to show my power."

    Grey raised his palm as he gathered his divine energy in his palm, the aura around him got tenser as he had a dead serious look on his face.

    At the very same moment, every part of Gratitude screamed to block what''s coming her way.

    Her face tightened up as her eyes grew wider. Without wasting a single second, on the top of her lungs, she shouted "Fall back behind me!!!!!"

    "Divine frost."

    In that very instance, a beautiful layer of fog enveloped the cave. The seemingly harmless layer of fog had a white radiance to it, which can make any person want to embrace the radiant fog.

    The same feeling was felt by the temperance as he gazed at the alluring fog that was traveling at his way, at a very high speed.

    But before fog could touch temperance, Gratitude dashed forward. She grabbed Temperance, pushing him back.

    Before fog could reach them, Gratitude casted a firewall spell. A firewall big enough to cover the entire width of the cave, which was around 100 meters.

    It was phenomenon feet, a wall that was created out of the fire that covered the entire width of the cave. But even that firewall was not enough, upon contact, the firewall froze in an instant.

    Gratitude increased the output of her mana, just to keep the firewall keep burning which was getting frozen by just a mere contact with the frost fog. Gratitude fire was a phoenix fire, a fire that is known to never extinguish. But that same fire got frozen up just with contact with the divine frost.

    After a minute of struggle and burning through her mana, she was finally able to stop the frost fog.

    Temperance collapsed on her butt, struggling to catch a breath she spoke,

    "That ----- that thing--- that thing froze my fire?"

    The rest of the virtue was astonished by just looking at the height of the firewall that was frozen solid now.

    Temperance placed both of her hands on the ground as she tried to get up from her place,

    "He------he should be out of mana now, there is no way he is -----"

    Breaking through the ice wall, Grey dashed closer to the Gratitude. Being closer to the ice wall, she had no time to react. No, perhaps her brain was able to comprehend and process the outcome of what was going to happen to her, but her body just couldn''t react in nick of time.

    Grey brought his palm closer to Gratitude,

    "Demonic fireball."

    A violet fireball shot out of Grey''s hand, which moved its way towards Temperance. Before impact, the fireball collapsed on its mass resulting in an explosion that knocked back everyone in its closest radius.

    The person who was closest to the explosion was Gratitude, impact crashed onto her body, knocking her away at a tremendous speed, crashing onto the wall of the cave. She was knocked out in an instant and was on the verge of death.

    What was left of the area was a huge crater and the remaining six virtue who was standing on their feet.

    The virtue of temperance who was in front of everyone was visibly furious,

    "You better hope that she is not dead," said Temperance, no, it was more like a warning or a threat.

    "If you don''t tend to her soon, she might as well be dead."

    "You---" Temperance''s face got ugly as rage consumed his entire facial expression. It was ironic considering that he was the successor of the virtue of temperance.

    "Brother let''s go," he said before bolting towards Grey with his brother, the virtue of Patience.

    Grey also started sprinting towards both of the blue-haired twins.  At a certain distance the twin swung their short swords, one from the left and the other from the right.

    With a condensed icicle sword, Grey easily blocked both of the attacks.

    "Ah, the troublesome twin attack," said Grey as he pushed both of them away. Grabbing the virtue of patience''s hand, Grey kicked him in the abdomen.

    But without backing both of the twins fought with Grey in close quarters.

    The virtue of patience swung his short sword from the front of Grey while the temperance was behind Grey. As Grey readied his sword to block the patience''s attack, he switched places with the twin that was behind Grey.

    They both had caught Grey wide open, using their twin switching power.

    "Truly, you both are truly a troublesome set of twins."

    Each of every vein of his body, his every muscle, his every cell was now loaded with the venomous factor, including his speed and strength, his brain computing power was also enhanced to a tremendous level.

    Able to see the attack that was coming at his way from behind, Grey dashed forward towards the were temperance was standing in rapid movement. The futile attempt to block the incoming attack was not enough, as a devastating crushing punch was met with his chin.

    The blow was enough the send him crashing into the wall, knocking him out.

    "Now, who are you going to switch places with."

    Dashing closer to patience, Grey readied for an attack. Simultaneously raising the wall to stop all the incoming ranged attacks. Striking his feet on his temperance abdomen, he was also knocked out like his twin brother.

    Diligence destroyed the ice wall with his rock boulder revealing that there was no one behind it.

    "Where did he go?"

    "Above you!" his answer was replied by Grey who landed in front of him. "Let''s see how well you do in close quarters."

    Grey summoned a snake polearm, before swinging it, aiming it at the diligence. But before he could connect the attack, charity intertwined blocking Grey''s attack.

    "Ah, it''s you, fine I will deal with you first----"

    Using a smooth circular parry Grey pushed Charity''s great sword away, it was Rin''s move. But rather than attacking charity while he was wide open, Grey dashed closer to diligence before swinging the back of his polearm on the diligence''s face.

    "Or not"

    With Diligence being knocked out, now only three of the virtue remains.

 Chapter 109 - 108: Erotic Fight.

    A high speed of exchange of blows was taking place between Grey and Chastity. For her, it was the first time that someone has gone toe to toe with her in terms of speed.

    A rapid trade of blow where no particular person was emerging victories.

    Chastity quickly stepped back as a sudden rain of throwing knives was coming their way. She had done the job of stalling Grey long enough to be caught in that rain of throwing knife.

    Grey swift rolled away dodging most of the throwing knives, but----

    "Gah!"

    A set of throwing knives pierced its way through Grey''s leg. Groaning from pain, Grey stood up quickly on his feet, since he can''t afford to lower his defense even for a second.

    Taking advantage of Grey''s vulnerable position, Charity swung his greatsword while simultaneously trapping Grey''s leg on the ground below. It was quicksand, a rock-type magic spell that can change the state of the ground below, to trap someone in it.

    As Grey was trapped on the ground through his legs, Charity swung his greatsword in a vertical motion.

    "Got you!

    "Shit!!"

    The ground was covered with the dust of Grey being hit by Charity''s greatsword. the dust made it hard to have any visuals of the ground.

    After a second the dust settled revealing,

    "Just kidding!"

    Grey had caught the blade of the greatsword between the palm of both of his hands. grabbing the hilt of the greatsword, Grey pulled charity closer to him before kicking him on the face.

    Making charity lose the grip of his greatsword. Dashing forward, Grey closed the distance with Charity could regain his senses. Driving his elbow into Charity''s stomach, Grey blasted him away, resulting in him crashing into one of the stalagmites.

    "We are going close quarters, we can''t back down now and we definitely can''t let him do that ice attack. Follow me!!" instructed Chastity as she dashed in close quarters to Grey keeping him busy.

    Grey started sprinting towards Chastity as he readied his polearm, simultaneously Humility summoned two of his throwing dagger in his hand as he dashed in close quarters to Grey.

    "Who are you? and what is your mask made up of? there isn''t even a scratch to it."

    Grey blocked her attack as he said,

    "I know right! I just bought it from streets and I don''t know how is this shit even holding up."

    Grey created an ice wall to defend himself from the throwing knives that was thrown at him from behind,

    "Tsk! how is able to see my attacks?" Humility was getting more and more annoyed as the battle was going on.

    "Sneak attack doesn''t work on me."

    Created a small explosion from the fireball, Grey created distance between him and chastity. His main goal was to take care of humility.

    Emerging from the dust, Grey landed in front of Humility. Humility quickly summoned two throwing knives as he tried to defend himself from Grey''s attack. He was doing a great job of matching Grey''s blow and speed until he eventually cracked, resulting in him getting hit by Grey''s attack knocking him off.

    Grey has defeated six out of seven of the virtues, but he was also on his limits. Grey has been pushing himself physically and mentally, he was on the verge of collapse.

    He had even started considering burning through his life force if it comes to that, but he didn''t know how to use life force, and neither he was a vampire that he could know it inherently.

    "Are you okay?" asked Virtue of Chastity, she was apparently worried about Grey.

    "Should you ---" being out of breath, Grey was gasping for breath. "Should you be -- worried about me? I am your enemy."

    "You haven''t killed them, you purposely avoided killing them."

    "Well yeah, because you all were not trying to kill me as well."

    The virtue of chastity kept her sword back into the health as she said "There is no way that I can win against someone so determined as you."

    Grey got confused for a second, but he later opened his mouth asking "Won''t you get in trouble for doing this?"

    "I will get in trouble, but I am planning on going rogue soon anyways."

    After hearing her explanation, Grey couldn''t help but sigh,

    "Fine, if you say so."

    Turning his back against Chastity, Grey started walking towards the massive door. Grey didn''t really trust her or what she was saying, he was on his guard. But he also knew that it was in his best interest to not fight anymore, since he was at his limit.

    Walking closer to the massive door, Grey touched the door. There wasn''t sort of lock and nor it could be pushed,

    "How do you open this door?" asked Grey.

    "You trust me?" asked Chastity.

    "I don''t,"

    "Then why are you asking me for help?"

    "Since I have no other choice."

    A smile curved up Chastity''s face, a vile smile, "Fine, if you are forcing me that much, I will tell you the way to open this door."

    "No one is forcing you."

    Her smile was turning into a lecherous one with every passing second, "Threaten me, only then I will tell you how to unlock the door."

    This woman ------------ is fucking annoying.

    Grey walked closer to her, grabbing her, Grey got behind her as he simultaneously grabbed her by wrapping his right arm around her waist and placing a knife near her neck to threaten her,

    "Tell me how to open the door or I have ways to make you talk"

    It was a half-assed attempt to threaten her,

    "I ----"

    Being breathless she wasn''t able to talk, she kept repeating the same word over and over again.

    Huh? is she that scared over a fake threat.

    "I want------"

    Chastity grabbed Grey''s right hand which was on her was waist as she gently slide Grey''s hand over the place she felt the most heat.

    Wet----- warm-----why ----did ----she -----place ----my-----hand-----over----there?

    Grey''s mind was on the verge of collapse,

    Her panting was getting stronger and harder, her body had started throbbing and twitching intensively.

    "I want to---"

    She pushed her butt backward over Grey''s ------ ahem!! Backward over Grey''s Buldge, rubbing his arousal with her butt.

    Grey didn''t back away, he just calmly asked,

    "What the fuck are you doing?"

    But without paying to what Grey had said, she continued "Please don''t threaten me, I can''t tell you that!"

    But on the contrary to what she said, she started playing with Grey''s right hand which was over her head, continuing to hold Grey tighter she pushed her butt more tighter over Grey.

    She ----this girl, isn''t she just enjoying this? but what''s, what''s with this situation? Even my mind is started to get blank. What the fuck, I might have already done something with this girl over any other situation. I am starting to get horny---- horny!!! I need to get to the point.

    Grey''s face was already crimson red, as his arousal was already at its peak. The worst part for Grey was that she started making weird noises upon feeling Grey''s arousal through her butt.

    Before things take a worse turn, Grey got to the point,

    "Tell me the way to open the door, "

    "No, please don''t threaten me!! I am ready to become your sex slave!! you can do anything to my body!! please do anything to my body, mess me up!!!"

    Oi oi, this is taking a weird turn.

    "No one asked you to be my sex slave, just tell me the answer to my question."

    Panting heavily, she answered, "Yes master!! you just need to imbue it with pure divine energy, now praise me!!! praise me, master!!"

    Letting go of her, Grey got closer to her, lifting his mask grey Kissed her on the cheek, "Thanks!" he said.

    Being kissed, Chastity''s face turned scarlet, as fumes started emerging from her head.

    "By praising---- I ----- I just meant that---- that you would finger me or something, why----why did you kiss me!!!?"

    "What the fuck, kissing you on the cheeks is more embarrassing to you than kissing you on the cheeks? messed up, you are fucking messed up."

    Pouting her face, she spoke, "You are the one to talk, you didn''t even move an inch when I did those things! you are messed up!"

    "Choose a character, be yandere, tsundere, or a fetish-driven character.",  Grey sighed as he said, "You know what, never mind,"

    Grey started walking closer to the massive door, following him even Chastity started walking with him.

    "Why are you following me?"

    "I am curious about what''s inside."

    "You can follow me, just don''t get in my way and especially don''t do something like that inside."

    "I can''t make promises."

    "I will file complain against you for sexually assaulting me," said Grey, "You know, today I was defiled, how am I going to get married in the future?"

    "That''s something a girl would say," argued Chastity.

    "I am an advocate of gender equality and a guy can also get sexually harassed, If I controlled the kingdom, I would capture any woman who seduces men for sexual harassment without a second thought."

 Chapter 110 - 109: The Black Cubic Box

    "How are you going to imbue the door with raw divine energy?"

    "Just watch, but before that----" Looking behind, Grey was looking for someone in particular. Actually two people in particular.

    "Apologies my master! this lowly servant wasted your precious time." said the person who just appeared in front of Grey.

    "It''s fine, just give me the bag and wait here," said Grey as he took the bag from Ermic''s hand. Turning around Grey saw that Aetna was heading his way, giving a nod to her Grey gathered raw divine in the tip of his finger as he placed his finger over the door.

    For the first minute, nothing really happened but later the divine energy seeped through the lines of the door before enveloping the door in divine energy itself. The door shined in a blinding white radiance before disappearing as a whole.

    "Huh? I thought the door would open or something,"  said Chastity, surprised.

    "You were seriously a guard here?"

    Grey walked inside the massive door, Aetna and Rin followed him behind.

    "Are you okay, Aetna? Are you injured anywhere?"

    "At least be worried about me," said Rin. "Ah, but you should be worried about yourself first. At least stop the bleeding from the leg."

    Rin pointed towards the Grey''s leg, from where blood was pouring out.

    "Ah, you are right."

    Grey just had noticed the bleeding leg, using his magic he froze the wound.

    "Grey, are you hurt anywhere else?" asked Aetna, concerned.

    Placing a hand over her head, Grey spoke "I am fine and I am also glad that you are fine!"

    To catch Grey''s attention Chastity made a sound of clearing her throat and she was successful in doing so as Grey turned his attention towards her.

    After a brief second, she spoke, "I think I owe you an apology, I was too much in the heat. Let''s forget the thing that happened earlier and I wouldn''t want to ruin the relationship that you both have."

    By both, she was talking about Grey and Aetna, she apparently had misunderstood the relationship between Grey and Aetna. Well, there was nothing to misunderstand.

    {Author: Chastity has a condition similar to bipolar disorder and she was feeling the same guilt as a boy feels after masturbating.}

    "No, there is nothing to apologize for. Are you leaving?"

    "Yes, since I have to tend my friends."

    "Fine, before you go----" Grey took off his mask as he revealed his face to chastity, "You can have a look at my face, my identity is the real price for your help."

    A smile curved up Chastity before she said "I will remember your face,"

    After that, Grey, Aetna, and Rin walked inside the door. There was nothing, in particular, that was visible except for blank darkness, Yes! blank darkness would be a great way of describing it.

    After taking a step or two inside, the three of them realized that the door was back and the blank darkness was now totally gone.

    Grey was standing in a massive room, that looked exactly like a library the only difference is that inside the shelf there were various different artifacts of all sorts. Before the entrance into the aisle between two shelves, there was a board.

    "The will of the weapon is to be followed."

    After reading the board, Rin was obviously confused "Will of the weapon?" she questioned.

    But there was no one beside her to answer her question, Grey and Aetna were already far ahead walking between the aisle.

    "Where do you think it is Grey?"

    "I am sensing a cluster of divine energy leaking at the end of the room, so it''s safe to say that it''s coming from there."

    Aetna paused her walking, she looked at Grey before asking, "Grey, do you think that we can defeat that thing?"

    "Yes," answered Grey, "But to be specific, we can only defeat him in premature phase. If he returns back to his power before we kill him, then we are as good as dead."

    "Do you know the process?" asked Aetna, to which  Grey replied as,

    "Vaguely."

    As they were walking through the aisle, nothing in particular caught their eye. Until a certain artifact levitated its way near Aetna.

    "Good for you, Aetna. The artifact chose you."

    "chose me?"

    "Didn''t you read the board earlier that stated, "the will of the weapon will be followed" or something along those lines."

    The artifact that levitated near Aetna was a burgundy-colored pointy hat, a witch hat to be specific.

    as they were talking, they finally reached the end of the room from where Grey was able to sense the leakage of the divine energy. But at the end of the room, there was just another door leading to another room.

    This was just a normal manual door, that opened without any effort.

    Opening the door, they were met with a room filled with the color white. The floor, the ceiling, and the walls, everything was as white as it could get. White to the point that it was disturbing to the eyes.

    And the center of the room, there was a black cubical box that was levitating at the dead center of the room. It also seemed to be rotating in the anti-clockwise direction.

    "Is this----"

    "Yes, this is where the bastard is sealed. Most probably his followers were trying to summon him in another location in the hopes that it would free him from this seal."

    There was a spark of black energy that seeped out of the black cubical box, the black energy seemed to collapse into the white surface between returning back to the box.

    Walking closer to the box, Grey extended the tip of his finger in front of the box. The black energy traveled its way toward Grey, before making contact with his finger.

    Aetna trapped Grey''s hand saying "Don''t do that!!! it might be dangerous!!"

    Even after getting yelled at by Aetna, Grey still extended his other hand near the box which Aetna grabbed quickly as she gave a death glare with a mix of pouty look to Grey.

    "Fine, fine I won''t do it."

    After a second of settling down, Grey asked Aetna a particular question as he summoned a dagger that was dense with demonic energy.

    "Aetna, aren''t you suspicious about how easy it was to infiltrate the church?"

    Aetna thought for a second, before answering, "Now that you mention it, it is kind of suspicious."

    "Not only that, we seem to get all the convenient information at all the right timing. The timing of information was so accurate at times that it almost seemed like it wasn''t a coincidence. Well, of course, it is not a coincidence, since there is definitely someone that''s helping us."

    "Why would someone help us?"

    "I don''t know, but looking at the quality of the information, it is easy to predict that the information is coming from a god.", Grey walked closer to the cube, he looked at the cube saying "It looks like you have made an enemy with your fellow gods."

    Grey raised the dagger, "Aetna, are you ready to take a gamble with me? it might cost our life though."

    Without hesitation, Aetna replied, "I am ready, but what is the gamble is about?"

    "Every creature has a core, right? even humans do. So I was wondering if God does have a core or not." said Grey before stabbing the dagger made out of demonic energy into the black cube.

    Nothing really happened for the first second, but it was just for a second when the sudden spike of energy surged across the room before the violent energy relaxed, gathering at a singular point. The singular point was only for a split second before it exploded, blasting the room into pieces.

    Before the explosion, Aetna quickly grabbed Grey into her embrace shielding him from the explosion. Due to impact, they both were knocked away, into the first room full of shelves.

    The explosion was big enough to knock all the shelves away from the first room. Even though Aetna had shielded Grey from the explosion, Grey quickly grabbed her in mid-air before landing on the ground on his feet.

    "Idiot!! why would you do that?!" exclaimed Grey.

    "I wanted to look cool, hehe"

    "Idiot!" Grey placed here down to see if there were any major injuries and apparently there weren''t any major injuries.

    "Don''t do stupid things like that again, okay?"

    Emerging from below the shelves, Rin appeared. Apparently, she was buried between the shelves due to the explosion.

    "What the fuck happened? what did you both do?"

    "Nothing major, just broke a seal of the god."

    "Holy shit!!"

    "Yes, holy shit, you can call him that."

    Grey turned to face the cube that violently rotated in mid-air, as a dense amount of divine energy surged around it. Eventually, the rotation stop as the cube started calmly radiating that gathered at a singular point.

    The energy first took a shape of a sphere before a transparent body started forming around it.

    "That is the core."

    Grey summoned a polearm in his hand, while Aetna started circulating all her demonic energy through her body rather than using Mana.

    "Then, shall we kill a god."

    {Author: I will end the arc in the next one or two chapters, a maximum of two chapters. I am excited to write the next chapter since he would be reuniting with people in the next arc. But my college is nine to five and it is so much difficult to keep up with writing.. Hopefully, i somehow manage to upload daily.}

 Chapter 111 - 110: The Two Who Killed The God.

    "Then shall we kill a god?"

    Grey summoned a polearm in his hand. The body around the core was getting more and more developed with each passing second.

    The initial black sphere now had a hint of red in it. Even though they were underground the wind was blowing rapidly, as if they were at the top of a mountain.

    The dense divine energy gathered near the core to give the body the shape, the body had started to look humanoid.

    The humanoid transparent body spoke, "Finally!! I am free!! my follower did a great job, you had freed me even before I had expected!!."

    The humanoid body sounded content about his current situation and he had mistaken Grey for his follower.

    But Grey had nothing to say to the god. Taking a stance, Grey gathered all the demonic energy he could inside his lance, concentrating the demonic energy to the point where the violet energy started leaking out of the lance.

    "Aetna, hold him down."

    Aetna closed her eyes, as she visualized the demon energy inside her. The energy that was given to her by demoness Emi.

    "Focus it all on the tip of our finger. Concentrate it at the center point, the energy that is hidden inside me, come forth and help me bind this god!!"

    Opening her eyes, she raised both hands. Following that, a set of giant hands made out of fire busted out of the ground.

    Those set of hands wrapped itself around the god,

    "What are you doing mortal? are you perhaps trying to bind me? with this power, even a weaker version of me won''t get bound."

    The transparent god swiped his hand, the action itself made the firey hands disappear in an instant.

    "Then how about more hands"

    Replacing two hands, more sets of hands emerged out of the ground, wrapping themselves around the god. the god tried to destroy each hand, but more and more hands emerged out of the ground, wrapping themselves around the god.

    Ten''s, no perhaps the number of hands had just gotten under. Each massive hand, bonded the god rendering him motionless. The bring yellow hands made out of flames of various shapes and sizes, the hands the emerged out of every possible direction were holding the god captive.

    "Grey! take your time, I can hold him for longer."

    Grey didn''t quickly reply to what she said, but after a good second Grey opened his eyes as he said,

    "No, this is enough."

    His eyes, in particular, were shining in the shade of bringing purple as the aura around him had gotten denser. But the thing that was catching more attention was the polearm he was holding in his hand.

    The polearm shined even brighten than Grey''s eyes, in the shade of dark purple. The scale around the snake polearm seemed to have gotten thicker as the mouth from which the blade was emerging out had gotten bigger.

    Rin was blocking every falling stalagmite and boulder from the ceiling of the cave, she was doing this to prevent it from falling onto Grey and Aetna.

    "Mortal, what is this game you are playing?!"

    Shouted the angered god, the humiliation of not getting treated properly was angering for the god. He had imagined that his followers would receive him right after he was free.

    But people he thought were his followers were trying to bind him down.

    "Don''t you get it, we are not playing games, we are trying to end you. It''s as simple as that."

    The transparent god tried to free himself by destroying a few fire hands, "Mortal!! know your place!! don''t think highly of yourself."

    But it was all for naught as ---

    "You are not freeing yourself!" said Aetna as she poured more demonic energy into her spell, more hands busted out of grounds, much more than before as it wrapped itself around the god, tying him down even more.

    Grey closed one eye, to take aim from another eye. his aim---- his aim was the core of the god.

    "Oi god, do you what happened after you were sealed?"

    Grey looked at the transparent god whose mouth was shut due to being covered by the hand, he wasn''t able to speak.

    "The others gods were laughing at you, apparently they never considered you a true god. You are the weakest of them all, so weak that you don''t even have the fraction of their power."

    Grey raised his polearm as he took aim. The polearm that was dense with demonic energy, shinned every brighter than before as the aura around it kept getting denser and denser.

    "The point I am trying to make is that you are just too weak to be a god."

    The final words that came out of Grey were finished blow to the transparent God''s anger, as he managed to free his upper body by busting out of it.

    "You mortal!!! who are you calling weak?!!"

    But he was too late in busting out, as a polearm was shot at his way. The polearm traveled through the air towards the core of the god. The violet energy that was leaking out of the polearm made it look like a meteor falling from the sky.

    The force at which the polearm was shot destroyed everything in its close proximity, even Grey was knocked back by the sheer force of it. Even while traveling through the air the shock wave created by the polearm was enough the keep destroying everything in its path.

    The colossus streak of energy made its way to the transparent god''s. The polearm made contact with the body of the half-transparent god, the action of polearm piercing through the body of god created a small explosion in itself.

    The polearm finally reached the core, making the contact with the spherical core, the polearm pushed its way into the core. The god tried to block the polearm with his hand, but his hand was caught by Aetna''s fire hand, as many of them wrapped around god''s half transparent hand.

    "I am not letting you do that."

    "Thi--- this won''t destroy my core. A weapon made out of a mere mortal, will-- will never break my----"

    As the transparent god was saying this, a sound of glass cracking was heard by him. Yes, it was a sound of a crack being formed in the core.

    "Are you sure? well anyways--"

    More cracks were formed on the core as the polearm kept forcing its way into the core. Eventually, it happened,

    "Goodbye, god."

    In an instant, the polearm passed the core, which was followed by any cracks forming on the core, which eventually turned into dust.

    The core broke apart like a powdered glass as it fell from the sky and the god tried his best to catch the falling dust, but it just seeped right through his hand.

    "No!! no! no! no!!, my godhood!! no!! noooo!!"

    The half-transparent body of the god was now no dispersing away like a cloud of smoke in the air. But it didn''t disperse, On the contrary to getting dispersed all the energy including the powdered core gathered in the air at one particular place, forming a ball of radiant pure white energy.

    "This is it!!"

    Said Grey as he got up from the ground.

    "This is what we need, this is---"

    Grey walked closer to the ball of white energy that was levitating in the air. Stretching his hand forward, Grey tried to reach out to the white ball and the levitated white energy ball descended its way towards Grey''s hand.

    The white energy ball floated right above Grey''s hand, Grey looked at it as he said,

    "This is the energy, equivalent to ten thousand mortals."

    Grey closed his fist, the ball of white energy that was inside his fist, seeped into Grey''s body as it traveled inside Grey through his every vein, through his every cell. The white divine energy was moving through Grey''s body as if it was its own body.

    Every time the untamed traveled through a body part, it felt like someone was twisting that part into hundred folds.

    "Gah!!"

    Grey couldn''t help but let out his scream, as he was desperately trying to control the wild untamed energy inside his body.

    "Gah!!!!!"

    Grey was about to pass away, or he just wanted to give up. But he lost his balance as his consciousness was giving up. But he quickly regained his balance and consciousness as a certain face flashed through his mind.

    "For Illya," he whispered as he started concentrating all the wild energy, to keep it in check. The wild energy inside Grey finally calmed down as the pain in his body also stopped.

    But nonetheless, Grey still felt his soul drifting away from his body. He helplessly lose his consciousness as he fell down to the ground.

    After a brief second, at least that''s what it felt like for Grey. Grey was able to open his eyes. Opening his eyes, Grey was met with someone in particular.

    In the colorless world, where even the sky was colorless, a particular set of shiny eyes looked at Grey as he was lying down on the ground.

    "Big brother Grey?" asked the little girl.

 Chapter 112 - 111: Nyx Rebirth.

    In a monotone world, Grey found himself lying down under a gigantic tree. As opened his eyes, he saw the colorless sky, it was particularly a cloudy sky.

    (Grey''s POV)

    I didn''t know the  place I was in, but I was still weirdly calm about my situation. There was no panic inside me as I stared in the sky.

    But this place is sure weird, everything here is monotone, well except for me myself for some reason.

    As I was staring at the sky---

    "Big brother Grey?"

    A particular set of shiny eyes came into my field of vision. Those are the set of eyes, the face and the person that I wanted to see the most, the person that I did all these things for.

    "Illya?" I asked, my mind couldn''t comprehend what was going on and I didn''t know how to react.

    "Yes, big brother Grey."

    "Illya?"

    "Yes, it is me."

    "So, is that you, Illya?" I couldn''t maintain the fluidity of my voice as I spoke. Closing my eyes, I tried to calm myself.

    "Yes--it is ----Illya,"

    I felt a warm drop of liquid falling on my forehead. I opened my eyes to find the face of Illya, tears fell from both of her cheeks, her face was a mess from crying.

    Now that I notice, even sobs are loud enough to be noticed by me. Why didn''t I notice it?

    I got up in a seated position, as I looked at still sobbing Illya.

    "Illya?"

    "Illya is here, Big brother. Illya is here!!!"

    It felt like any wrong word would make my eyes bust into tears, it seemed like the hardest job to hold my tears.

    "Were you waiting for me, Illya?"

    "Illya was looking at big brother Grey, Illya was waiting for big brother."

    She seemed to want to say something more, but she later swallowed her own words. But she look at me and said, "I am sorry..."

    "Huh?" I placed my hand over her head as I asked, "Why sorry?"

    "Since, Illya caused big brother so much trouble. Illya was a bad girl. Illya didn''t know that Illya''s death would cause big brother Grey so much suffering. Illya honestly didn''t want you to come. When Illya saw you in that church crying, Illya felt like living with big brother."

    Tears that were stuck in her eyes started flooding out endlessly as she tried to speak between her sobs. But her cry was still silent, it was as if she was trying her best to not cry.

    "Illya is sorry, Illya has been a very bad girl!."

    It is sometimes hard to believe that she is just a little girl of six years old. I raised my hand, as I got my finger near her forehead.

    I gave a gentle flick on her forehead, "There was nothing that troubled me. It was all fine. You weren''t a bad girl, Illya is a good girl, besides Big brothers are there to handle Troublesome little sisters. I am your big brother, Right?!"

    Her face changed into an expression of a little surprise, but later it turned into a bitter smile which eventually turned into an expression where she no longer could control her tear and her sobs were getting louder.

    She quickly hugged me as her sobs for crying were getting more and more louder. she cried loudly, hugging my chest.

    "I--- I am ---glad that I got to meet Big brother again"

    I patted her head, for her to calm down, and also I wanted to make her feel comfortable. Eventually, her cries got silent, but she still didn''t let go of me.

    "Illya?"

    "Yes, Big brother"

    "Let''s go home."

    "Yes! let''s go home!!"

    With those words, the monotone world started crumbling away. As the world was crumbling away like shattering glass, I starred at the far distance, where I spotted a person standing there.

    She seemed to be a female. She stood showing her back against me.

    Right before the world crumbled away, the female looked back as she smiled at me, it was a motherly smile.

    She had violet-indigo bright eyes and she had the most beautiful face I have ever seen, she was ---

    "Mom?"

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Opening my eyes, I found myself back in the vault. There was a loud trembling and crashing sound that was really unpleasant for my ears.

    As I was regaining back my senses and consciousness the trembling sound seem to have gotten louder and louder.

    I took a look around as I was lying down and I didn''t find anything major happening, except for the whole fucking vault collapsing down!!

    As I was thinking that, a small rock from the ceiling fell on my forehead.

    "Ouch!!"

    "Be careful big brother Grey, this room seems to be collapsing on its own."

    said a girl. The girl had straight pale white hair, her eyebrows and eyelashes seemed to have the same snowy white color. She had purple indigo eyes and there was a mole right under the left side of her lips.

    Basically, she was beautiful.

    But wait---

    "Who are you?!"

    "Oh, it''s me, Illya!! I seem to have gained a new look."

    "Oh, how--- why--- You know what, never mind. We have bigger concerns right now," I said as I stood up.

    "Brother you are bleeding from the forehead," said Illya pointing towards my forehead.

    "Ah, don''t mind that."

    Rin came closer to me, she was panicking in particular. "Grey Grey, the room seems to be collapsing, you have a plan to escape from here right? right?"

    I looked at her with a pitiful look, placing my hand over her shoulder, I said "No, I don''t have any plan. I will tell you straight away, we are fucked and we are going to die here."

    "Huh? what?", Rin grabbed me as she violently shook me. "What do you mean by we are doing here? I am too young to die! I don''t want to die!! I wanted to become a bride!!! I wanted to have two cats and a husband. I can''t die here!!! Grey!! Grey!!!"

    "Sorry to you husband and two cats, they will never find their wife and owner. But you gotta just accept it, this is how life is."

    "No no no, I don''t want to die." she continued to shake me violently.

    Aetna came and tapped me gently as she asked, "I am feeling kind of fatigued, I used too much of my energy. Can I drink your blood or at least have the state of your blood."

    She brought her face closer to my neck, as she brought her sharper teeth out to bury them inside of me. But before she could do that, I pushed her face away saying, "No not my neck. But I can let you have tasted my blood."

    I extended my hand to her, as I showed my finger saying, "You can bite into my finger and have some fresh blood."

    "Grey!!! I don''t want to die!!" Rin was still shaking me violently.

    "Big brother, you are bleeding from the head and Kuro wants to give you something."

    "Huh? Kuro?"

    I looked down to find Kura near my leg, she held something in her mouth.

    "Kuro!! what are you doing here?"

    "Meow!!"

    Kuro brought her face closer as if she was trying to hand that thing to me. I took that thing from her, it seemed to be some kind of capsule.

    I tried to twist that capsule and found that it was openable, so I opened it and inside it, there was a small violet-colored ball. Taking it out from the capsule, I grabbed it in my hand to take a closer look at the capsule. But before I could do that, the small violet ball seeped into my skin.

    What the---- why does everything directly seep into my body.

    The trembling sound was louder than before, I looked up to find that a heavy boulder was heading our way from above. Well, I have no choice other than to use all my energy in making the last ice shield to protect us from this falling room.

    I gathered all the mana in my hand, as I was going to condense an icicle shield. But before I could do that, my whole body glowed and In an instant, I found myself suspended in mid-air, from which I eventually fell down with everyone else.

    By everyone else, I am talking about Rin, Aetna, and Illya.

    I caught Illya, Kuro, and Aetna in mid-air and landed safely on the ground, well Rin fell down face first on the ground.

    "What the hell!! why didn''t you catch me!!"

    "Because you are too heavy."

    "What did you say!!!"

    I took a look around and I was back at the exit of the room. I was in the main cave and I turned around to find that the massive door was still intact.

    Ermic was still guarding the door.

    "Oh, Ermic, ---"

    "My master!!, How did you get here?"

    "I don''t know, I am not sure either. Maybe teleportation of some sort."

    Most probably the violet ball was some sort of teleportation artifact.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In a far distant land, a man was seated on a throne. That man was particularly bored since nothing interesting was happening in recent times. He has been alive for thousands of years, and he seemed to have been getting bored of the current era since according to him there was nothing interesting happening in this era.

    But his boredom was soon to end, as he felt that one of his kind has been killed off. His eyes were first wide open, but later his lips curved into a smile which in turn turned into loud laughter.

    "Truly interesting!!, truly interesting!!! finally, this era is getting interesting!!! who killed my fellow god? another fellow god or perhaps someone else?!"

    His laugh was heard throughout his castle.

    -----------End of Nyx Rebirth arc---------

 Chapter 113 - 112: The World That Is Grey.

    "Ah, it''s been a while."

    "It has surely been a while"

    Said the certain demi goddess, it surely has been a while since I last saw this woman or goddess, whatever you want to call her. Arianrhod was the name of the demigoddess I was seated in front of, the same demi-god that I met after dying.

    I was seated under a cherry maple in her dimension, it looked like the orange leaves were shedding from the tree, maybe it''s autumn season. I don''t know how the season works in this dimension, but it surely was an extremely beautiful sight.

    "Unlike last time, this time you came to my dimension willingly. What happened? Started missing me?"

    She walked up to me, crouching down she looked at me.

    "Actually yes, since it''s not every day that you see a loli demi-god."

    "I missed you too. you seem to have changed so much.  I am talking about both physical and mental changes, physical you have become one heck of eye candy, but the mental changes are ----."

    "You haven''t changed a bit, you are still the loli I know. Well, being loli has its own charm."

    She elegantly tucked the strand of her cherry pink hair behind her ears, as she drew closer to my ears. She whispered,

    "I will let you in on a secret, I was a mortal too once, a human female. So I can put the grace of woman into this loli persona."

    I drew closer to her ear as I whispered, "I can''t deny the grace of ur loli persona."

    She let out a chuckle as she said, "You didn''t even flinch while I got closer to you. You have gotten bigger, you have matured. It''s some changes that I like to see."

    She was closer to my face while talking to me, she didn''t move a single inch as she spoke to me.

    "I haven''t matured, I have just more experience than last time."

    "Experiencing is maturing."

    I laid my head back on the tree as I said in a lower tone, " learning from the experience is maturing, and trust me I haven''t matured at all, I haven''t learned anything------ at all."

    She sat on the ground in front of me, she buried her skirt underneath her kneel so well that I couldn''t even get a single glance of what''s under her skirt.

    Not that I want to look under her skirt.

    "You should give yourself more credit since you are trying your best for everyone. Since at the end of the day that''s all we can do, we can just try our best."

    I couldn''t hide the surprise on my face.

    "You do speak things like a god from time to time sometimes."

    A smile curved upon her face as she said "well since I am technically a demigod,"

    The smile on her face got ever brighter as she said "But I am glad that you find me not very god-like."

    "Huh? Why are you so happy about me finding you not so god-like? do you have bad blood with them or what?"

    Her expression twisted into the one of Denial as she said "nooo---", but her ''no'' didn''t sound very much like a ''no''.

    "But I think that I do have dislike for gods."

    Oi oi, demi godess in my world ''high dislike'' generally means hate.

    As I was thinking that I gave her a bullshit expression.

    She later sighed as she gave in, saying "yes, I do hate them."

    "Aren''t you god yourself?"

    "I am, but it wasn''t really my choice. If I had a choice I would rather not to and I would have preferred staying human."

    A gust of strong wind passed by flipping the goddess''s skirt a little bit, revealing minor details of her undergarment.

    She quickly tucked her skirt down, as she waited for my answer to continue the conversation.

    This loli----- this is her dimension, she is definitely doing it purposefully.

    I didn''t pay any heed to that as I asked, "your choice?"

    She placed her finger over her lips as she winked at me, " this is a secret, but since I trust you so much I will let you in on it."

    She didn''t have to specify the flimsy part where she said ''since I trust you so much.''

    She got closer to me as she said in a whispering tone, " do you know how gods are born or mad or whatever you wanna call it."

    I answer with a simple "no".

    "Gods are actually born by only two methods, first one is that they are chosen or they just need to attend godhood by their own hard work so that they can be chosen worthy of it."

    "What is the ratio of chosen gods to the one who actually earned it."

    "There is no one who earned the godhood yet, so yeah ratio is zero to many."

    Squinting my eyes I looked at her.

    "Then--- you know what, never mind." I took a brief pause before saying " whoever is choosing god is clearly not doing his job right."

    "No shit! I was just a spoiled brat who didn''t do much in life. Yet for some reason I was chosen to be the god, well I did resist the godhood. That''s why I am stuck in this phase where I am neither a god nor a human, just somewhere in between. A semi-god!!!!."

    "You mean demi-god and you look awfully proud of that fact."

    "Ah, by the way, I want to ask you something."

    Her expression while saying this was serious, not much serious but her facial expression was serious enough to know that she was going to say something serious.

    {Author: Sorry for using too many serious in the same sentence.}

    I looked at her, signifying that I was paying attention to what she was going to ask. But she didn''t ask her question right away.

    She got up from her seating position, walked closer to me, she sat beside me. Her shoulder was touching mine, but there was a certain warmth and comfort to her body touching to mine that didn''t feel sexual, it was just comforting.

    "Grey since I have been watching for your fourteen years and I have seen the heavy involvement of gods in your life. what do you think, are gods evil?"

    It was a question that I never expected that I would be asked and it was a question that I didn''t have the answer to right away. But I said what I felt was right.

    "The meaning of god and evil or right and wrong are subjective from person to person, it is different for everyone. Talking about me, for me, gods are evil since ---"

    I took a small pause, before saying, "They are the reason for my mom''s death and I can''t unsee the thing that they did in the church. That''s just evil."

    "Oh... I see.... how are they evil?" she asked with an innocent set of eyes.

    "They have killed many many people, that''s enough reason for being evil."

    "Is killing evil?"

    I got up from my place, as I walked near the shallow lake, "Well, killing particularly is not evil. The purpose of killing dictates that it''s evil or not."

    She followed behind me, step by step, "Killing for revenge, is it evil?"

    "Revenge is bad,"

    "Then is seeking justice bad?" she asked.

    "No," I answered.

    Walking ahead of me, she asked "Killing as the means to save yourself, is it evil?"

    "Self-defense is necessary," I answered.

    "Killing caused by gods is kind of self-defense, they are just trying to eliminate any threat to them. So how are they evil?"

    She turned to look at me and she looked rather curious, so curious that I couldn''t get mad at her.

    "Defending is an act of protecting yourself when attacked, but what gods did was that they attacked the people that they considered a threat and eliminated them."

    She was now walking behind me as she was trying to match my every step with her step in rhythm, "How you as a person are different from god? you killed hobgoblins even before they could attack you, you just killed them since you considered them a threat to humans. How is it any different?"

    After hearing what she asked, I stopped in my tracks. Hearing of what she said, it felt like something had finally clicked in me. It was something that I didn''t seem to understand, but I understand now.

    She collapsed to me as I suddenly stopped.

    "Ouch!" she fell down on the ground.

    "Now I understand, I understand, it has been bothering me for a while now, but now I finally understand. The world is not about good or bad and right or wrong, the world is much bigger than that, a person''s action is led by many reasons and intentions, rather than is good and evil or right and wrong."

    She got up from the ground, as a big smile curved upon her face "That''s right, the world is not about good or bad. The world is not as simple as it is white or black, there is a world beyond that, many people fail to recognize that world. Your dad kept your name Grey for a reason. he wanted you to see the world beyond just black and white, he wanted to look at the world from a better perspective.

    He wanted you to look at the world that has a mixture of white and black colors in it, he wanted you to look at the world that is grey."

 Chapter 114 - 113: Teleportation.

    "Where are you going next?" asked the demigoddess.

    "I am going to Frey nation,"

    "Is there any particular reason?"

    "I want to meet my family, and I want to find the hidden gods of Frey nation."

    Lifting her skirt up, she gracefully walked into the shallow lake.

    "Then our interests are aligned." She paused on the lake, before turning to look at me "I want you to find and meet the curse god,"

    "Why----"

    "And I will give on a hint, that god is being used by a big family of Frey nation.", She waved her hand before saying "Bye!!!!!"

    just like that her dimension disappeared and I was back to my bed.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    While we were fighting at the church, Celestia and House Lenton had already discussed their terms. Apparently, House Lenton agreed to work under Celestia only on the condition that they will be loyal to me.

    If I leave Celestia, they will also leave Celestia.

    I am not planning to hide my identity anymore, so I am right now confused about what I really should do. I can make my identity public and fight for the throne since I would need the power of a nation to fight against gods.

    For now, I should go to Frey nation and check what is the political condition there. But before all that first I will go back home and meet everyone.

    First I will have to find my old man, I don''t how he is doing. I was walking up the stairs, where everyone was waiting for me.

    All the member of the Celestia has gathered here in the abandoned temple to hold the second meeting and declare the winner of the friendly competition we had going on.

    As I ascended up the stairs and went to the top floor, I found all of the members waiting for me as they were seated on the floor.

    Why do they like to be seated on the floor so much? Well, I went ahead and sat with them.

    For some reason, Sara was seated on the center of them all,

    "Now that everyone has gathered here, let''s get to the juicy bit. Our bet was that we will divide ourselves into two teams and try to capture two different places. The result from our side is obvious, we were successful in capturing the underworld organization of the Queens port, we did it in five days. we had to destroy around 30% of their strength before they surrendered before us."

    Sara looked particularly proud of her achievement, she then looked at us as she asked "What about you guys? it''s fine if you didn''t capture it in time, I am here now so we can all capture it together. Even if you lose, don''t worry, your leader is here to always have your back!!"

    "Indeed, as the leader said, there is no need to worry we have your back!!!" agreed Robert, the chimera.

    Dracy chuckled, as she looked at Evan''s with a ridiculing look.

    "It''s fine, even if you didn''t manage to capture Lenton. Evan, you can be my junior and I can teach you how the underworld organization works."

    But Evan didn''t get angry, on the contrary, his facial expression turned into a big smug smile. He placed his hand over my shoulder as he said "Grey, did you hear that how dumb that vampire girl is sounding. She says that ''Even if we didn''t manage to capture the Lenton city.'' can you just hear how funny this shit is."

    I couldn''t hold my laughter, "Indeed it is funny."

    Looking at us laugh, Dracy the tenth corp leader facial color turned beet red from anger. She pointed her finger at us as she said,

    "I swear if any of you ever get demoted from the core member position, I will bully both of you so much!!. I swear on my name, from this day, you both are my enemy!!!!!"

    Hina stood up from her place, she cleared her throat before saying, "Everyone settle down, I will report our result."

    Everyone was so curious about our result that no one dared to speak a word until Hina said the report herself.

    "We completed the task of capturing the underworld organization of Lenton city, around 2 days and we also had to destroy nearly none of their force to capture them. We didn''t capture them, they agreed to work under us, and also they swore their loyalty to Grey."

    There was a brief silence after what Hina said until brother Eddie decided to speak. "That''s nice---- no, that''s actually unbelievable and that''s an incredible feat, and how? ah? I need to process the information again."

    Brother Eddie''s brain seemed to crash whenever he tried to process this information. It took them a good minute but all of them eventually accepted the result.

    Everyone seemed to be joyed about the fact that we managed to capture both of city, everyone except for Miles. He looked rather grim.

    Sara slammed her fist on the ground of the temple as she said "I am a failure as a leader, I was supposed to look cool after this competition. But all my spotlight was taken from me by my subordinates!!"

    But later she quickly regained her composure as a smile was taken over her face, "But I am truly proud of you all and I hope that we world like this even in the future. Does any----"

    "Princess, I have something to say, if you don''t mind." interrupted Miles as Sara was talking.

    "Sure, I don''t"

    "I want to go back to Frey nation." his Grim expression seemed to have gotten more serious.

    "Why?"

    "Depool, the financial capital city of Frey nation. The Depool city seems to be off-balance because of a particular family. The Esser family seems to be in a sudden rise in power and the reason is not discovered, but due to their sudden rise in power, the city seems to be in chaos. Also, the underworld organization of Depool city seems to work rather suspiciously. That is the reason that I want to go back to Frey nation."

    "Oh."

    Sara didn''t answer him right away, she went in deep thought for a good minute before finally opening her mouth saying,

    "Fine, you can go. and If you are weakening the underworld organization of Depool city, we might as well capture it. So, I want you to take Grey with you in this mission and since you both belong Hoffmann family, Grey might be helpful for you in handling the Esser family."

    I expected Miles to have a problem with what Sara said, but on contrary, he agreed to her saying

    "Very well princess,"

    She looked at me as she asked "Are you fine with it?"

    "Yes, I have no problem."

    I really had no problem, since I also wanted to go to Frey nation, so this might work very well for me.

    "By the way, The Esser family, their sudden rise in power is obviously due to involvement of the third party, so don''t focus on Esser family. Focus on finding out the third party that is making Esser family stronger." said Sara, she raised one of her fingers as she said, "If you destroy the third party, the Esser family will automatically come back to where it was."

    Sara--- the princess is genius, it didn''t even take her a second to figure the whole situation and find the optimal path to solve the situation. Well, she is the leader of Celestia for a reason.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The next day, I was walking towards the gate of the city from the place I was staying in. The place I was staying in was actually Ebony''s house.

    {Author: Ebony is the daughter of the Kaala gang, well now it is the ex Kaala gang. she is now the sub-leader of the house Lenton and also the in-charge of clothing lines.}

    I stayed in her house for around a week, these days I showed her the ways for how to make a clothing line work. Well I just know it in theory, I just told her the theory, now she is trying her best to put it into practice.

    Of course, I will oversee the whole process to help both of them as much as I can,  it is my responsibility to lead them since they have sworn their loyalty to me.

    By the way, the thing that Kuro got for me was apparently a teleportation artifact. I asked loli demi god about this and she said that it is a device that is used to teleport packages, not humans. It has no capability to teleport human organisms.

    But for some reason, I was able to teleport myself and others with it. The artifact is situated inside of my right hand, well actually it has dissolved itself in my right hand, becoming part of it.

    So every time I run, divine and demonic aura together in my hand, it activates and teleports me to the place that I am thinking about. From the experiment, I have found out that I can''t go to the place with it which I have never gone to myself.

    But I can teleport to places I have already been once in.

 Chapter 115 - 114: Brothers?

    I walked up to the ------ Well, actually while I was halfway to the gate, I realized that I now have to power to teleport from place to place. So I directly teleported near the gate.

    "Where did you come from? I didn''t see you coming through the gate,"

    said Miles who was standing near the gate waiting for me. He had all his luggage, in his wagon, and apparently, he was only waiting for me before leaving for Depool city.

    "Ah, I was in the forest actually. "

    "That makes sense."

    He looked towards the forest, as he asked "So are you coming with me now or you are joining me later. It''s your choice, but I can ensure you that I won''t let any harm come to you while traveling with me."

    "That assuring, but I actually will leave for Depool city a week later since I have something to attend to."

    "Say, Grey," he said, he pointlessly stared at the forest as he said "You must have been through a lot. I know that for a fact since, I have heard the news about your mom and I don''t know how you are alive, but does uncle knows that you are alive?"

    "Not yet," I stat on the edge of the wagon as I continued "The timing was never right, I was caught up with many things. But now I am free, so I can go and meet my dad."

    "I see, I hope you meet him as soon as possible."

    "Why do you say so?" I asked.

    He came and sat beside on the edge of the wagon as he said " Ever since the news of Aunt Alice and your death, it is like something has died inside of him. I rarely get to see him, but I think he is still holding himself up, due to the presence of that little girl that he had adopted. His adopted daughter really saved him.

    My dad once said this to me,"

    He turned to look at me as he asked "You know how powerful divine king is?"

    "Yes, I have heard that he was born pretty powerful," I answered.

    "Exactly, since he was born powerful, he had no match for him. He had lived a life without knowing what fear is until one day he came across a particular person. Divine king, arguably one of the strongest mortal alive, who do you think thought him the feeling of fear?"

    I got up from the wagon and walked a little bit to the front, before turning back and answering his question, "I don''t know, who it is?"

    "It''s was your dad. even though he is considered the weakest Hoffmann, but his method of fighting and doing things is vastly different from any other. He was known to be ruthless and efficient while completing his mission."

    That''s surprising, I never really heard about dad so much from others, so I nearly didn''t know these facts.

    "I never knew these things about my dad, that''s surprising."

    "Before coming to Lenton city, I went and met him. Apparently, he is going to Chipworth town due to the recent church incident, he was going there to investigate there. You should probably go and meet him."

    "Oh, thanks."

    After a brief pause, I looked at him as I asked "By the way, why are you so helpful and nice to me? if I remember properly, during our first meeting you threatened me."

    "That enmity was only for showing that taking part in the race for the throne will make me your enemy."

    "I see... Then I will be clear with it. I am aiming for the throne and I don''t mind being your enemy. and If you want we can duke it out here, since once people will know that I am alive it will be more complex than now. Right now we can just kill each other and there will be no consequences since I am just a walking ghost.", I looked at him as I asked, "So what do you say, want to end it here?"

    Rather than answering my invitation for the fight, he asked "When someone says something like this, they usually emit aura or something to pressure the other person, aren''t you going to do that?"

    "No, since I don''t want to pressure you into fighting me, I want you to take that decision without any pressure," I answered.

    A smile curved up his face as he said, "That makes sense, but I would prefer to not fight now. We will see what happens in the future and besides if you are the better man to rule the country then you are deserving to be the king. So we will let the future decide the throne."

    He got up from his place, as he walked towards the front of his wagon, before opening the door he turned around as he said, "I will be taking my leave now and I will see you after some time in Depool city, brother."

    Brother? eh?...

    I walked into the room where the three girls were waiting for me with their luggage.

    I told them to pack their luggage since I will be directly teleporting them to my home.

    As I was going to enter the room, I overheard a conversation going on between them.

    "Why do you look different now, Illya?" asked Annie.

    "I have no idea, but I think I am Nyx now."

    "Wasn''t brother Grey your Nyx?"

    "Yes brother Grey is my Nyx, but I am also Nyx."

    "This is confusing.", Annie later asked "by the way, you have changed the way you talk. Before you used to call yourself Illya,"

    "Yes, since Illya is a big girl now----", she quickly corrected herself saying "Ahem-- I am big girl now,"

    In their conversation, Aetna joined saying "But, Illya really looks like Grey now, white hair and also purple eyes, its just like Grey. You look so beautiful!!"

    I entered the room to find Illya hugging Aetna,

    "Thanks!!! Big sister Aetna!!!"

    "Love to see people bonding these days."

    "Oh, Grey! Where have you been? We are already ready."

    said Aetna pointing towards the bag of luggage.

    "I actually went to meet my brother." I looked out of the window to find that it was already dark.

    "It has already gotten dark, so we will leave this place tomorrow."

    "Huh? Don''t you have teleportation? We can just directly teleport there." said Aetna.

    "That''s because---"

    Annie walked closer to Aetna as she whispered in her ears, "It''s not that big brother Grey cant teleport there, he is nervous, so we will give him a nighttime to settle himself."

    Oi oi Annie, I can clearly hear you. Well, she is kind of right. I am kind of nervous to meet my family.

    "Oh, Now I understand!!!."

    Aetna walked closer to me as she held my hand, "Don''t worry you can hold my hand if you are nervous."

    Annie held my other hand as she said "Me too, I will also hold big brother''s hand."

    "Why am I getting treated like a kid?"

    "Cause we love big brother," answered Illya with her extremely innocent eyes.

    "Fair enough."

    "Grey, are you nervous to meet your little sister?" asked Aetna.

    "Little sister?", Illya was suddenly curious about my little sister.

    "Yes, I do have a little sister, her name is Emilia she was a cute little girl when I last met her."

    "Cute...." repeated Illya, she seemed down and her tone was not very cheerful either.

    I placed my hand over her head as I said, "Illya is little sister, you even look like me!! so don''t worry!!"

    "Promise?"

    "Promise promise."

    Annie pulled me towards her as she asked, "What about me? what about me??"

    "Didn''t I promise that I will marry you?"

    "Huh? what are you talking about?!" her face had gotten in a deep shade of red as she tried her best to hide her face. "Wasn''t that something you told me as a joke since I was a kid?"

    Huh? what? this girl was actually aware that I was not serious about it. I may have dug my own grave here.

    But when did the girl get so big? I have been seeing her every day that I didn''t realize that she is blooming into a proper woman, blushing and all. I should control my jokes or else I might end up affecting her heart.

    I placed my finger under my chin as I got closer to her, "Ooooo, I never realized that my Annie is blooming into a proper lady."

    She quickly retracted a step as she panicked "my ---- my Annie?!!!!"

    I take my words back, it is fun to tease her, Really fun to tease her. I might continue to tease her in the future, hehe. I am ready to bear the consequences if necessary.

    "Brother Grey!!!! don''t tease me!!!"

    "Fine fine!!, I won''t tease you."

    {Author: From next chapter I will increase the pace of the story,}

 Chapter 116 - 115: The Untold Story.

    (Ranulf POV)

    {Auhtor: Ranulf is narrating the following lines to someone.}

    "I am sorry to inform you but your son and wife are dead. Your wife--- she died protecting her country from an entire army and in the end, she died fighting one of the most frightening demoness that existed in this world. Your son---- he got caught up in the war."

    What is this man speaking about? does he not know that such jokes are not acceptable? we both are not even close to be on joking terms.

    "You shouldn''t joke about such things, its-----"

    "Sir, we are not joking."

    Huh? what? they are probably mistaken. There is no way---- right?

    Eira held my hand as she got behind me, asking "Uncle Ranulf, they are joking, right? Aunt Alice is really strong, they are lying, right? I mean Grey is weak, but Aunt Alice must surely have protected her. Grey is a good boy, he doesn''t want any part in the war and all. Grey doesn''t even want to fight and he didn''t even want to get stronger. There is no way such a thing would happen to a person like him. There is no way."

    I placed my over Eira''s head to calm her down, her body was trembling pretty badly.

    "I will go there and check myself, ready the wagon."

    "I will join you too, Uncle Ranulf."

    Just like that, we went on a month''s journey towards Amon village. That time I didn''t want to trust what others are saying.

    How could I even trust anyone right now?

    The whole world seemed like a stranger to me. Traveling through the forest, I finally reached Amon village. But as I drew closer to the village, my gut feeling was getting stronger and stronger.

    To be honest, at this point, deep inside I knew the fact that my son and wife were gone, but a part of me really wanted my wife to pop out of nowhere and laugh on my face saying that it was a prank.

    I swear that I won''t get angry, so please tell me that this is a prank, please Alice.

    As I drew closer to the village, there was no mistaking it, at this point even I couldn''t lie to myself that the very ground I am standing at is a battlefield.

    "Please sir, Follow me." said the man.

    Without any question I and Eira followed him to the place, he led us to a certain place. There were various decaying bodies all around the place.

    He eventually stopped near a particular grave. At that point I realized what will be his next words will be and I was able to sense who was lying under that grave.

    But I still wasn''t ready to hear those words...

    Pointing towards the grave he said, "Here is where Miss Alice is resting.", he walked towards another grave as he said, "Here is where Master Grey is resting."

    I couldn''t hear anything after that, there wasn''t anything I couldn''t deny at this point. I couldn''t lie to myself, the bare truth was right in front of me.

    I looked at Eira, she didn''t cry or her cry was louder than anything, I don''t remember what it was. But still to this day, I remember the way she was seated in a kneeling position in front of Grey''s grave.

    No, I think I remember the way she blankly stared at Grey''s tombstone as tears ran down her cheeks, but her expressionless face was really terrifying. The words she spoke out were even more terrifying, well, there was something noble in those words that I can''t deny.

    "I will protect everything that is weak, that is my responsibility. People who even think of ruining someone''s life who doesn''t want anything but peace, I will destroy those people. I will become the queen of my country and correct everything that is evil from this world, I will do it in honor of Grey. I will become the strongest for Grey."

    Maybe those words were her way of coping. Eira who has lived most of her life alone due to her poor affinity for magic. she was happy in being with Grey, that is precisely the reason why she spends most of her time and days in our house with Grey since with Grey she felt like home.

    But now her home was destroyed, she didn''t know what to do, but she didn''t want to end up alone once more in her life. So she desperately bounded herself with an ideal, but that ideal itself will continue to become a curse for her rather than helping her.

    Maybe that day I should have hugged that kid and told her otherwise, maybe I should have done better.

    Maybe I should have gone with Grey and Alice myself, maybe I would have been able to protect my wife and my son.

    "Sorry Grey, I am really sorry for being such a useless papa."

    I came back home to find Emilia asking me various questions but I wasn''t able to provide her with a single proper answer, I was numb. I didn''t know what to say to her.

    Her parents were dead and she started calling me papa, she accepted me as her dad and I as a dad was lying to her that her brother will come back one day. I wasn''t able to say that his brother was dead, how will I able to say such a thing?

    In truth, I was just a coward. But eventually, she got to know that her brother and mother were dead, it was a cruel sight to see her cry like that.

    Years passed by and we got through the pain, we got back to our normal life where we pretended to live a normal life to hide our pain. But I was never able to get rid of my loneliness,

    Sometimes I wish to take my own life so that I could meet Alice and Grey sooner, but I can''t leave my Emilia behind, I will take care of her since I am her dad. I will be the best dad.

    It''s been nearly six years since the death of Alice and Grey and I have been trying to find the real truth of their death. The church was one of my main suspects, so I am keeping eye on them.

    Some days ago I heard the news of the Chipworth town incident, so I came to this town to investigate the incident. It was a horrible incident, to say the least.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I was at the bar and I met this young man with a black mask, he was the informer I hired to get every possible information about the church. But I got drunk and ended up talking to this young man on the roof.

    Apparently, he didn''t want information, he just wanted to hear my life''s story. It was definitely suspicious.  But for some reason, I couldn''t deny the offer. I always wanted to talk to someone about this

    I told him everything about my story, well, it was anyways nothing that can harm me. It was just a story that bottled inside of me.

    "Your son, how was he?" the young man with a black mask asked.

    "He was an innocent little guy. He never wanted to harm anyone, he just wanted to live a normal life. I was honestly surprised to see a kid like him, a kid who doesn''t want to have anything with getting stronger, a kid who just wanted to discover the world and meet various people. Being around him always made you forget what kind of world we lived in.

    He didn''t want to fight, he never tried to fight. Honestly, I thought that he would hate me for giving him the same curse as me, my small mana care. But he never really cared.

    I promised him that I would protect him so that I could let him live his life happily. But I failed.

    If dead are really watching their loved one from afar, then I want my son to know that her sister is living the peaceful life that he always dreamed of, so-----"

    I looked at the glowing night sky, looking above I spoke "So, Grey if you are listening from above, please rest easy and in peace, because your dad is taking care of your little sister."

    The young man in black mast chuckled, he placed his hand over his mask as he looked at the sky with me.

    "That really puts me at ease knowing that Emilia is leaving a peaceful life, A life I couldn''t have. At least Emilia is living that life."

    The young man took his mask off as he kept looking at the sky. The moonlight fell on his face, reflecting on his snowy white hair, his purple-indigo eyes shined along with the moon.

    His lips curved into a gentle smile as he looked at the moon.

    "you have done a good job till now, dad. Mom must be really proud of you and I am proud of you too, Dad!!"

 Chapter 117 - 116: Reunion.

    "Hello dad, it''s been a while!!" I greeted my dad joyfully.

    I was seated on a rooftop with my dad. I disguised myself as an informer since I wanted to give him a surprise.

    I wanted to savor his surprised reaction or his happy look.

    Now now, dad, give me a good reaction!!

    "Boy---"

    "Yes?!"

    "Has anyone told you that--"

    "Has anyone told me what?!!"

    "Has anyone told you that you look awfully like my late son? He would look just like you if he was alive today."

    This old man is drunk... so much for a surprised reaction...

    "Do you have parents? if not, then I can adopt you. would you----"

    I couldn''t help but sigh, as I placed my hand over his shoulder. In an instant, I teleported to twin falls, with him being under the waterfall and I was standing in such a way that no water was splashed on me.

    Then I teleported him back to the rooftop.

    Being teleported back to the rooftop, he gasped for air, "Wha--- what ---- what was that?!!"

    "Just a way to sober you up."

    "What the---" he turned around to face me with anger in his voice, but looking at my face, he paused.

    I crouched down as I looked at him, "Not even recognizing you son? that''s just cruel."

    "Grey?"

    "Yes, dad."

    "But--- but my son--- my wife--- they are--- are dead."

    "I was lucky enough to survive, but mom----- mom wasn''t."

    "You survived?"

    "Yes, I did."

    His voice broke apart, as he looked at me "all this time, you --- you were alive?"

    "Yes, dad"

    "Then, why you didn''t come back? why did you stay hidden all this time? everyone was ---- we were crushed by your death, why didn''t you come back."

    "Sorry."

    "Grey, we were in pain. Why didn''t you come back? where were you there? If you would have come, Eira ---- "

    He got up and grabbed my collar, tears ran down his cheeks as he asked in a broken voice.

    "Grey, do you have any idea of what we have been through? the pain----"

    I couldn''t look at him in the eyes, "I am sorry, dad."

    He let go of my collar as he stepped back, "Grey, your eyes----- what happened to you? why do you have eyes like that? a kid of your age shouldn''t have that look in your eyes."

    I smiled, as I remembered various things that happened over time. Various people that had died in front of me.

    The list is big, they died as I watched them die helplessly. I also have killed many people for various reasons.

    Remembering all those things, I couldn''t help as a pained smile formed across my face, "Things happened, that''s it. It''s just that after mom had died. It was--- it was tough for me. But you don''t have to worry since ---- since I had great friends, so I was happy. there is nothing to--- nothing worry about."

    Huh? why is my voice breaking apart?

    "There is nothing to worry about----"

    before I could speak further more, i was wrapped around a warm embrace between manly arms.

    "Your dead is a selfish asshole, I should be happy that my son is alive. I should be happy that I have gotten my son back, but instead, I spoke only cruel words to you. What kind of dad does that?"

    His little sobs were audible to me, he grabbed me tighter as he hugged me. Well, at one point his grip got even tighter.

    "Dad, are you trying to kill me again?"

    "Oh! Yes, sorry sorry." He let go of me from his embrace.

    After a brief pause, he asked " umm, for where do I begin. oh, right! You mentioned some friends, did you make some friends."

    "Yes, I do actually. I made various friends over the course of six years. I used to travel with them, then there are some friends I made over at my time staying at the Goldberg city. And in fact, I am actually traveling with some, I will introduce you to them tomorrow."

    "That would be nice!!! Are they your friends?"

    "Not exactly, they aren''t my friends. They are my family actually. Among them, there is one girl that I have contact with, as per contract I shouldn''t be away from her for an extended period of time, so I left my sword with her. The very sword you gave to me before I left for the Amon village.

    Since that sword has the essence of me in it."

    He clapped his hands together as he said " so basically, she is your girlfriend?"

    "No!!!! Did you hear a thing I said? It''s a contract, C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T."

    Dad laughed loudly as he pointed at me, "look at your face, it''s red!"

    I couldn''t help but laugh with him. For some reason, both of us found it funny as we laughed. Maybe it was the laugh of relief.

    Later I teleported him to my room since it was cold at night.

    "What was that?!" He asked.

    Being teleported to a different place in an instant really took him off guard.

    "It''s teleportation."

    "That is cool! How did you acquire that power, is it a seal marking?"

    ''No, actually I got it from a random dungeon I found." I said pointing towards my hand.

    "You seem to have been through various adventures, tell me all about it."

    Later we spent most of the night talking about various things. I talked about all the adventures i have been through and I made sure to not mention all the bad parts since it was not worth it.

    Eventually, the night went by the first ray of sun shined through the window.

    "By the way, along the journey, I met three of my cousin. I met Lora and Otis Ormr in a tournament, they didn''t know that I was their cousin. Then I also met Miles Hoffmann, he was the one that told me about your location."

    "You have met Miles? he is a very good kid."

    "Good kid? that dude threatened me in our very first meeting. He was like ''If you go for the throne, then you are my enemy.''"

    Dad busted into loud laughter, as he said "I believe you in that! since his dad told me the same thing when we were little."

    "So it runs in their family?"

    "Exactly."

    As I and dad were talking, I felt three heads peaking outside of the door waiting to be introduced. I looked at them as I said,

    "Come in."

    all three of them walked inside of the room and stood in front of me. I wrapped my arms around all three of them as I held them.

    "Dad, I want to introduce this three to you."

    but dad''s focus was only on one girl, he looked at her curiously.

    "ummm, Grey...."

    without letting him continue, I spoke up, "This girl standing right here is Aetna, she is a vampire and she is very beautiful as you can see. Remember the contract girl I was talking about yesterday? this is her."

    Being called beautiful really put a smile on her face, "Thanks, hehe."

    but dad''s attention was still towards another girl, as tried to ask another question "Grey, why she---"

    Without letting him finish, I introduced Annie to him "This is Annie and she is pretty cute right? don''t you think that she is fit to be my future wife?"

    "Future wife?!! Brother Grey!!! please don''t tease me!!!"

    But dad''s attention was still elsewhere and now I got to the girl that he was curious about.

    "Grey, this girl---"

    I held Illya as I said "This girl right here is my little sister, pretty cute right? I can''t help but adore her and she looks like mom, so there is more reason to adore my little Illya."

    "About that Grey, why does she--- she looks like you, me, and your mom?"

    "Of course she would look like me since she is my little sister and of course she would look like you and mom since she is your daughter."

    "Daughter-- daughter? no, I am pretty sure that I and Alice only had you."

    Illya grabbed my hand as she said "Brother Grey!! stop teasing him and tell him the full story, no I will tell the full story to him myself."

    She turned to look at dad as she said, "Actually, Illya-- I died once about some weeks ago and brother Grey brought me back from the dead. But once I was back, my old body was no longer usable for my soul, so my old body got re-written with new blood and my new body was created. The blood that is running inside of me is the same as brother Grey. That is the reason why I look like big brother Grey and big brother Grey''s dad."

    "Yes, she has our blood running through her so she is automatically my little sister and your daughter."

    He crouched down to look at Illya as he asked "So, i have one more daughter now?"

 Chapter 118 - 117: Its Been A While.

    "So I have one more daughter now?" asked dad. but before I could answer his question, he asked Illya "Can I be your papa?"

    Illya gave him a gentle smile, as she said "Big brother Grey is my brother, so brother''s dad is also my dad, hehe."

    "That''s a logic that I can''t deny." said dad, he scratched his cheeks as he awkwardly said, "Can you call me papa?"

    "Papa."

    Stream of tears fell down his face, as he said "The fact she looks a lot like Alice, it''s----"

    "Are you crying?" I asked with a ridiculing smile.

    "What''s with that smile? how can I not cry?!"

    Later dad looked at Aetna and Annie as he said "I am very thank full for both of you for taking care of my Grey."

    "No no, he was the one that is taking care of us," said Aetna.

    "But he teases us a lot," said Annie as she let out a sigh.

    "Yes, I can''t disagree with that." agreed Aetna.

    "Yes, even I have noticed that he has grown to be a lot like his mom,"

    "Oi oi, why are you all ganging up on me?"

    Later I left dad with the three girls since he wanted to take them out to eat somewhere, I didn''t join them since I wanted to go and meet my little sister. Dad has told me about her location, so first, I will go and meet Emilia.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Do you like this arrangement? my sweet honey angel!"

    Emilia felt a chill on her spine just by hearing those words from the boy who was seated in front of her.

    "hmmm."

    Emilia didn''t even feel like answering him with a proper yes.

    "I very thank full that you accepted my request to go on a date with me. But I know, you only accepted my request because deep down you are also in love with me."

    ''What the----''

    "I just accepted your request since you agreed that you would not bother me once I agree to go with you. But don''t even try to make move on me, my mind is waiting outside this restaurant she will break your legs."

    "I won''t, I won''t"

    Emilia stabbed her with a fork as she played with the plate, her eyes were set outside of the restaurant while doing this. She wasn''t even interested in the least of what was the other guy talking about.

    "You know, my dad just built a large training ground with all sort of equipment in it, want to visit that sometime? if you agree to it, I can even show you that how strong I am. My actual goal is to get stronger than my older brother. My older brother----"

    It was just five minutes into this so-called date and Emilia was already bored of it and also annoyed by the non-stop talking of the boy that was seated in front of me.

    The boy that was seated in front of Emilia was the son of the Moody family, his name was Stephan Moody. The Moody family is considered the family that is out there in the terms of the name and also the wealth that the Moody family possesses is also commendable.

    Stephan Mooy met Emilia just some years ago and he instantly started going behind her trying to make her his own. At first, he thought that by flaunting his money, he can make Emilia his, but that tactics later proved to be inefficient. He found out that Emilia is the daughter of Ranulf Hoffmann and he was a mode tempter in conquering Emilia since he can boast about the fact that he has conquered the Hoffmann family girl throughout his friend circle.

    But no matter how much he tried, nothing proved to be efficient and after annoying Emilia, for years she finally agreed to go on lunch with him, if it means that he will leave her alone.

    But Stephan has a different plan altogether, he has planned to kidnap Emilia if she says no to his proposal today.

    "Ah, By the way, I heard that you once had a brother?"

    "Yes, I did."

    "I heard that he died a weak death. If I am being honest, that just is so pathetic in the name of the Hoffmann family."

    Emilia looked at him with his wide open, as she said in a cold tone "If you ever say something like that, I will kill you."

    "oh- sorry."

    Even though he had said sorry, in truth this was his thought:''What does this bitch thinks she is? even my mom doesn''t raise her voice in front of me.''

    "By the way, do you know that my fire magic spells are at their final stage I think I will be an intermediate-level mage at any time. The power of fireball is strongest among any of our peers and I can just blow up a person''s hand with just a single fireball.

    and My brother is already an intermediate fire mage, and maybe in some ears, he will ascend to the next level. He is so strong that he can blow up this whole place with his spell. In fact, he is eating in this very restaurant I will introduce you to him---"

    For the first time, Emilia was interested in the topic as she said "I also have a bigger sister who is crazy strong, with only of the raw power she can create a landslide in the mountain. She is awesome, to be honest."

    "Oh, you have a sister!! how about we make her meet my bother, I am sure they will get along well and in the future, we can go on a double date."

    Emilia didn''t even take a second to deny him as she said "no need, Big sister Eira only ever thinks about brother Grey."

    "Isn''t that guy dead?"

    "I already told you to talk about my brother with respect."

    Stephan got up from his chair as he said "Why should I treat that weakling with respect?"

    Emilia got up from her place as she continued to walk towards the exit of the restaurant, "That''s enough, I am leaving this place before I may end up killing you."

    But before she could walk outside of the door, she was blocked by two of the guys. "You are going nowhere."

    "I already told you that you are not allowed to leave this restaurant. I was gentle with you, but you seem to not understand, so now I will have to use force."

    "Force?" asked Emilia as she looked behind.

    She dashed behind Stephan, picking the fork from the table she threw it using her air magic stabbing it in Stephans tighs.

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh" Screamed Stephan in agony.

    Emilia couldn''t help but chuckle as she said, "Why are you screaming like a girl? it shouldn''t even be that painful."

    Hearing the noise from the outside, the man rushed into the restaurant from outside.

    "What happened Miss Emilia?" she asked as she rushed towards her.

    "Nothing much Aunt Sofia, just a bunch of people that think they can kidnap me," said Emilia as she looked around to see that she was surrounded by around twelve men.

    "Don''t worry miss, I will protect you!!" said Sofia as she took an offensive stance.

    {Author: By the way, this Sofia is the same maid from the first arc.}

    "What are you doing?" asked a guy who was seated at the table eating his food. He was Peter Moody, Stephan''s big brother.

    "Nothing, big brother. I apologize if I have disturbed you."

    "No, it''s fine. Hand over that maid to me, once you are done capturing them, you can have the little girl."

    "As you wish brother." he said, turning to Emilia he spoke, "Now what should I do with you----"

    "Gah!!!"

    Stephans felt a crushing pain from his skull as if somebody has jumped over his forehead. He collapsed to the ground, the person who fell or stepped on his forehead also collapsed to the ground with him.

    But rather than collapsing like Stephan, the person was seated above Stephans back as Stephan was laid on the ground.

    The person seemed to appear out of thin air above Stephan and fell on him and the rest is the sight that everyone sees. The sight being that the Stephan is collapsed on the ground and above him, the person was seated comfortably.

    The person rubbed his head as he said "Umm, dad did tell me to teleport to this place, so I should be at the right place right?"

    Grey tapped on the shoulder of Stephan to call him, while being still seated on him, Grey asked "Rich looking brat, do you know where Emilia is?"

    "Emilia?! what business do you have with her? she is my girlfriend and future wife."

    Grey took a closer look at his face before saying "Nah, you are lying, and Emilia doesn''t have such a bad taste."

    "The Emilia that you are looking for is me. What business do you have with me?" said Emilia folding her hands together.

    Grey turned around a big smile curved around his lips, "It''s been a while."

    Emilia couldn''t pinpoint it at first since she was little when she saw Grey so she vaguely remembers him. But Sofia''s eyes widened in an instant she saw Grey, with her voice shaking, she opened her mouth, "It---- it can''t be, How---- You are---"

    In a second Emilia''s eyes also widened as she finally realized, "Brother---- Grey?"

 Chapter 119 - 118: Responsibility Of A Brother.

    "Brother---- Grey?"

    Emilia''s eyes were wide open with shock as she took a step back in disbelief.

    Grey was seated on the back of Stephan, Stephan struggled to get up as he said,

    "Grey? your brother? wasn''t that dude dead?" asked Stephan.

    "Huh? who is spreading this rumor? I am very much alive."

    "By the way, who do you think you are, appearing out of nowhere and falling above me?"

    "Ah, yes, sorry about that," said Grey apologizing to Stephan. But on the contrary, Grey face was not apologetic in the least.

    "Are you mocking me?"

    "First, tell me, are you blocking my sister to go out of the restaurant?" said Grey raising his index finger.

    "Because your sister thinks too highly of herself and keeps rejecting my proposal, that''s why I am going to kidnap her and make her mine, by force."

    said Stephan as a vile smile curved up his face.

    Grey turned around towards Emilia to ask "Emilia is that-----"

    But before Grey could complete his sentence, Emilia ran towards Grey as she jumped in his embrace. She held him tightly as he asked,

    "Is that really you brother?"

    "You can smell me if you want and check for yourself that if I smell the same or not."

    She chuckled as she held him even tighter saying "You do smell the same.". But later her chuckle turned into sobs which later became louder and louder to the point where she looked like a baby who was crying.

    "Brother----- brother, I missed you."

    "Eh????? don''t you find me suspicious, I might be someone else in my own disguise."

    "I don''t care, I don''t really care. But, I am sure you are my brother since you smell the same.", Emilia hugged even tighter as she wasn''t ready to leave him from her embrace.

    "At least ask me some question that only your brother would know,"

    "Why? I already accepted that you are alive"

    "ASK ME!"

    "Fine, Ummm----- oh right!, what was the one promise you made to me and sister Eira when we were little?"

    "You still remember that?"

    Eira rubbed her nose against Grey''s chest as she said, "of course, I do."

    "It was a promise that no matter where I am, I would definitely find you and Eira, no matter where you are."

    "Yes!! you are brother Grey!!"

    Stephan banged his hands against the table as he said, "Sorry to interrupt your family reunion, but hand over that---"

    "Ah, sorry, can you wait for a second," said Grey.

    letting go of Emilia, Grey walked towards Sofia.

    "Young master?"

    Without saying anything, Grey hugged her as he said "I wanted to see you, Aunt Sofia. I really wanted to see you."

    "Young Master, you------- how? How are you----- alive?"

    "Because you protected me that day!"

    Sofia hugged him back, tearing up she spoke, "So, i was able to protect you, young master?"

    "Yes, you did protect me."

    "I truly hate to ruin your family reunion, but---", Stephan stretched his hand as he said, "Would you hand both of those bitch. I want the little one and my big brother wants the maid."

    Chewing his food, Peter raised his chicken leg piece before speaking, "Ah, yes, I do want the maid since she has such a nice body. You will hand over both of them, right? you won''t offend us, right? "

    Grey looked at Peter with a furious look as he said "One more word and I will shove the chicken leg piece up your and your brother''s ass."

    Peter couldn''t hold his laugh, he busted into laughter spitting all the food in his mouth on the table, "Looks like a dead guy wants to die once more."

    "Why are saying such a cliche line?"

    Stephan got up and walked towards Grey as he said "I am an intermediate mage that will soon ascend into the next level, what qualification do you to have stand beside me?"

    Grey couldn''t help but laugh as he said "My only qualification is that I am stronger than you."

    "Brother, he talked a lot, we will first cut his tongue off."

    "That''s a great idea."

    Emilia grabbed Grey''s hand, drawing closer to him, she spoke "Brother, can you beat the shit out of both of those guys, so that they won''t even bother me again?"

    "Roger!!"

    A wide smile formed around her face as she said "I always wanted to do this, get people beat up by my brother."

    Squinting his eyes, Grey said "Eh? aren''t you just a villainess."

    Peter raised his hand, as he said "Everybody step back, he is only mine. No one shall interfere."

    He ordered his goons to step back as he drew a step closer to Grey. Stephan being overjoyed, praised his brother "Brother, you are a true noble warrior."

    "There is nothing noble about kidnapping someone,"

    "That''s not kidnapping, that''s just taking what''s ours." said Peter, he stretched his hand as he said, "Everyone step back, or you will get caught up in this."

    Stretching his palm, he aimed it at Grey, gathering mana on the tip of his palm, he condensed a fireball. The fireball barely had any shade of red in it, but if one were to look closely they could see the shade of red in the fireball.

    As the fireball was condensed, "Let''s see how you stop my fireball, your family will have to arrange your funeral once again, after I shoot a hole through you."

    "Yeah, whatever, just shoot the damn fireball."

    "Those cocky words will be your final," said Peter as he shot the fireball towards Grey.

    The fireball traveled through the air towards Grey. Grey stretched his index finger towards the upcoming fireball. Upon contact with his index finger, the fireball froze up to its core, before falling and shattering to the ground.

    Grey brought his index finger close to his mouth, blowing the mist that was coming out of the tip of his index finger.

    Everyone''s face including Peter''s own facial expression twisted into shock as they saw that their supposedly intermediate fireball was frozen up in an instant.

    "What--- what did you? no, it might be just a fluke. There is no way, no way that someone would be able to stop my fireball with the tip of his finger."

    Peter murmured these words to himself since he wasn''t able to accept the reality that was happening in front of him.

    "Let''s try it again," he said to himself as he stretched his palm to gather another set of mana to condense another set of a fireball.

    He shot this fireball towards Grey, only for it to be frozen and shattering to the round.

    "Holy!! he did it again, how --? no, it surely must be a fluke."

    Peter went to shoot another many sets of fireballs, but all of them were frozen up.

    Later he was drained off the mana, he sweating from all the places as he thought ''This guy---- this guy is bad news. Why? why did my stupid brother had to kidnap his little sister?''

    Peter looked at Stephan as he thought ''This fucker!!! I will beat him later in the house, first, I will have to save some face."

    "Would you give up already?" asked Grey.

    "No!! You have questioned the honor of the Moody family, so you will have to pay now!!!" said Peter loudly as he pointed his finger towards Grey.

    He said it out loudly for everyone to hear, he just wanted to create a scenario that will make it justifiable to gang up on Grey.

    "When did I question the honor of your pathetic family?"

    "He spoke Ill of our family, just now!! surround him!!" Ordered Peter to his goons. All his goons including Stephan surrounded Grey, Emilia, and Sofia.

    "Now you will------" Before Peter could say anything further, Grey teleported in front of him in an instant.

    Stepping back Peter tripped on the ground.

    "You know, you speak a lot."

    "Stay away------ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

    A miserable rushed through his intestine and thrashed into his brain. Peter''s vision was blurred out, he closed his eyes shut as he grabbed his balls in pain.

    He wasn''t able to hear anything as he rolled around the ground in anguish. The veins near his abdomen were all messed up as they screamed in pain along with Peter.

    Grabbing his balls, he burrowed his head on the ground as his sound of pain got muffled. Grey walked closer to his Little brother,

    "Stay---- stay away!!!"

    Grey grabbed his head as he drove his knees into Stephan''s nose. This act of driving the knee into his nose broke his nose as well as he got knocked out in an instant.

    As Grey turned back after taking care of both of the brothers, he saw that all of the goons were already down. Emilia and Sofia had already taken care of them.

    A gentle smile curved up Grey''s lips as he said "So you would have kicked their ass even without my help."

    Emilia ran towards Grey and she saying jumped in his embrace "But fighting with my brother is really really fun."

    "How many times are you going to hug me?"

    "As much as I want!!! do you have a problem with it?"

    "No, none at all."

 Chapter 120 - 119: What Is Coming From The North?

    (Grey''s POV)

    "Is that really you Grey?" asked aunt Sofia as we were walking through the streets, I was her about what really happened after she got knocked out that day.

    "It is me! look at the mole under my eye," I said pointing towards the mole under my eyes.

    After that, I told her about everything that had happened that day. The thing about mom dying, then my contract with Aetna, then I also told her the reason that I faked my death.

    "Oh....."

    Hearing what I had to say, Aunt Sofia went silent, she didn''t say anything or even look at me. Throughout the way, she just walked looking down on the street.

    Maybe she was still feeling guilt from that day and she blames herself for the things that had happened to her.

    Emilia grabbed my arm as she walked with me, "By the way, brother."

    "Yes, Emilia?"

    Looking at me she asked, "Do you have a girlfriend or had things like the first kiss n all, it''s not like I am curious, it''s just that I need to know, but yeah not like I want to know."

    Tsundere?

    {Auhtor: who doesn''t know the meaning of tsundere can google it or can just ask me.}

    "No, I don''t have a girlfriend."

    "Oh, niceeeeeeeee"

    huh? why are you so happy?

    Scratting my cheek I said, "But, yeah---- I did have my first kiss, it was----"

    She grabbed my arm tightly as she took a halt in her walking, making me pause too since she was holding my arm. Grabbing my arm she got closer to me as she asked,

    "What?!! what do you mean by the first kiss??!! you mean kiss in the cheeks right, I mean kiss in the cheek doesn''t really count---"

    "Actually, it was a kiss on the lips."

    "What!!", she grabbed my arms even tighter as she got closer to me to ask, "You mean ki-- ki- ki-- kiss, on the lips!!? huh?! what do you mean by that?! who is the girl that you had your first kiss with? is she your girlfriend? you just said that you don''t have a girlfriend right? what kind of relationship do you have with her? is there anything you are hiding with me?"

    what the?! scary scary scary!! my little sister is yandere!! and why is she acting like my wife?

    I cleared my throat as I was choosing my words carefully, "Actually, it was just a one-time kiss, it''s been over a year since I have seen her last. There was no meaning behind that kiss."

    She slightly let go of my hand as she said "Oh okayyyyyy"

    Seriously, why do you look so happy about it?!

    "By the way, You can have a girlfriend and all, it''s not like that it matters to me that who my brother is dating, I was just curious that''s all, okay? There was no extra meaning to it."

    Tsundere again?

    Aunt Sofia couldn''t help but laugh as she said "Believe me when I say it, Young miss has no interest in any boy or girl, she had rarely shown interest in any kind of friendship and love. But do you remember that how she used to cling at you when you both were little?"

    "Yes, I do!! there wasn''t a second where she used to leave me alone."

    "Yes, she was overly attached to you and it looks like she is still overly attached to you."

    I smiled at Emilia as I placed my hand over her head saying, "Then I have no choice other than spoiling her from now on."

    "Yes!! hehe."

    Aunt Sofia took both of us in her embrace as she held us gently, in a motherly tone she said "And I will spoil both you kids. From now on, I will spoil both of you in becoming brats."

    "I am already a brat,"

    "Me too."

    "Ah, that''s right, I want you all to meet some people. They are currently with dad, so I will take you both there."

    I grabbed both of their hand before teleporting them to the restaurant where dad was seated Annie, Aetna, and Illya.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Third person POV)

    "You know, how cute of a baby was Grey when he was little. He used to always talk about a peaceful life and adventuring around the world. But he was also very notorious when it came to taking medicines.

    He used to make his mom run behind him all the time, there was a particular time of the afternoon where both of them are seen running in the house, Grey was the one that was being chased and her mom chasing him."

    "I never thought that brother Grey would be like this as a kid."

    Ranulf laughter loudly as he said "Grey really was a mama''s boy, he was obsessed with his mom, if you want to know anything about him, feel free to ask me. Since he is not here, we shall take advantage of that by revealing all his---"

    "Ahem! dad, revealing all my what?"

    Grey instantly realized that the person who was standing him was----

    "Grey?" called out Ranulf.

    "Yes, dad, now tell me, revealing all my what?"

    As Grey and Ranulf were arguing, Emilia looked at Illya.

    She instantly jumped at Ranulf, grabbing his collar she asked "Old man!! who is that?!! you didn''t tell me that you had another kid with mom?"

    At this point, Grey was also grabbing his collar asked "Dad, what did you say to them about me? you didn''t them about the bed story, right? right?"

    Grey''s question was answered by Aetna as she said "are you talking about the time when you peed on the bed?"

    "You are dead today, old man!!"

    "Giving your dad a death threat is not good."

    Emilia violently shook Ranulf''s collar as she asked "Old man, answer my question!!"

    "My little angel, she is not my--- I mean she is my kid. But--- you know what it''s complicated."

    This time Emilia grabbed Ranulf''s neck as she asked "What complicated?! what else are you hiding from me? what else do you have to tell me? the only thing that is remaining is that you will say I am adopted or something."

    "Ah, I mean, you are kind of adopte---- Gah."

    That day a punch was thrown..... A punch that was thrown from a daughter to his dad.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Grey''s POV)

    "Ouch ouch ouch."

    Emilia was applying to Ranulf''s swollen eye.

    "I am sorry dad, I didn''t know that when you said complicated, it was actually complicated. But it was your fault that you said that I am adopted."

    "But you are adopt----- gah!"

    Another punch was thrown to another eye.

    "Ah, by the way, this is my little sister Emilia" I introduced them to Emilia. I placed my hand over Aetna as I said "This is Aetna, she is ----"

    "you are so beautiful, is that silver hair naturally." said Emilia as walked towards Aetna, Annie, and Illya, "can I touch your hair?!"

    "Sure!!"

    "It is silky soft!!"

    Well, they are getting along well so there is no need to introduce them to each other. I walked towards Aunt Sofia, who was looking at Aetna,

    "She---- she --- she is the same girl from that day."

    "But she doesn''t remember anything, so please don''t say anything that would remind her of her past."

    Aunt Sofia sighed as she said, "Yes, that would be cruel."

    I placed another ice pack over dad another eye, "Emilia has grown to be a good girl."

    "Yes, she has."

    The four girls over there were still talking to each other, "Can I smell your hair? " asked Emilia to Illya.

    "Sure!!"

    Emilie placed Illya''s hair near her nose before saying "She not only looks like brother Grey, she also smells like him."

    "You think so?"

    "Yes!! even I thought that she smelled like Grey."

    Emilia hugged Illya as she rubbed her cheeks against Illya''s cheek saying "I always wanted a little sister!!! I promise I will adore you so much!!"

    They are really getting along well. I took a step closer to them, "By the way---"

    Huh?

    I looked at the north side----

    "I will be back in a second," I said as I stepped outside of the restaurant. I quickly found an alleyway, rushing there, I threw up at the side of the alleyway.

    My hand is shaking vigorously. No, it is not only my hands, my leg, and the rest of the part of my body that is also shaking vigorously.

    It was like, all my body collectively shouting me to run away, especially my eye of Minerva was at its peak. From the north, I was able to see giant hunk energy traveling towards my place.

    As it was drawing closer, all my senses were going haywire. My ears were ringing so loudly that I wasn''t able to hear anything other than static.

    Other people seem to be unaffected by the presence of the ominous energy that was coming in my way, so maybe it was because of the seal of Minerva that I was able to see and sense this thing.. But I sense no hostility from this thing, so it is not coming for me.

 Chapter 121 - 120: The Path Of Despair.

    Throwing up on the side of the alleyway, I couldn''t stop my body from shaking vigorously. Every part of my body was shouting at me to run away, run away from the thing that was coming towards me.

    But since there was no obvious hostility, I stayed at my place as I waited for the thing to draw closer. But as it was getting closer the aura that it was emitting got stronger and stronger, my senses were getting more and more messed up.

    Eventually, I was able to see the thing coming towards my way from the end of the road. It was a wagon, the aura was getting emitted from the wagon.

    Two horses pulled the golden black wagon forward on the middle of the road. There was no mistaking it, this wagon is of some important family.

    "Grey, what are you doing here?" asked Aunt Sofia.

    She came looking for me, most probably because I left so suddenly.

    I turned to look at the wagon as I asked "Aunt Sofia, do you recognize that wagon?"

    "That golden black one?"

    To her question, I gave a nod as an answer.

    "That is Esser family wagon, golden black fancy wagon---- that''s definitely an Esser family wagon."

    "But why so flashy? isn''t that unsafe?"

    "Most high-class families like young master''s family prefer to keep a low profile while traveling since it minimizes any assassination attempt, but that is not the case with Esser family. Keeping a low profile is the last thing you would expect from them, there were many assassination attempts on them but none of them was successful, and all of the time they had made a cruel example out of the assassin."

    I looked at Aunt Sofia as I asked "What makes them so powerful?"

    "I have done research on them, but the source of their power is not yet clear. But they are strong, that is not to be denied."

    as I was talking with Aunt Sofia, I forgot about the fear I was feeling, and eventually, the sense of fear inside of me had disappeared. Eventually, the wagon drew closer.

    It passed by us. At first, the person who was seated inside of the wagon was not visible but upon taking a closer look, I saw a woman.

    As I looked at her, she noticed me too. She had bright red flowing silky hair with bright scarlet red eyes. Looking directly into her eyes was a mystifying yet frightening experience.

    Her flowing red hair was more like red from the bottle of red wine rather than being fiery red. The red straight hair was soothing to look at for my eyes.

    That woman was extremely beautiful, but that woman itself was the source of the tremendous aura I was able to feel. Just by looking at her, I could feel my stomach might throw up any moment.

    Looking at her, a question raised in my mind, can a mortal emit this type of tremendous aura? even her looks were in no way normal.

    Eventually, the wagon passed by, but it stopped near a luxurious that is situated in Lenton city. But why are they stopping over at the Lenton city?

    I need to find out why.

    As I was looking towards the Inn, Aunt Sofia quickly turned around as she drew a dagger out of the sheath. With a fine swing, she swung it at the person who just jumped from the roof behind me.

    "Stop it, Aunt Sofia, he is with me."

    Upon hearing my voice, she stopped right before Ermic''s throat. Ermic''s blade was also already out to defend himself.

    He kept his blade back in the sheath as he kneeled before me.

    "My master, my apologies that I had appeared with no further notice."

    "No need for apologies, get up and tell me what happened."

    He got up from his kneeling position, he spoke up "Master the Esser family is in the town and they want to hold a meeting with the House Lenton''s head. Apparently, they have some business with us, so Ebony wanted my master to attend the meeting as the head of House Lenton, well I mean my master is the leader of the house Lenton, so it makes sense."

    "Very well, then. I will attend the meeting. Let''s see what business does Esser family has with us."

    "Then, I will inform them about my master attending the meeting.", he bowed before saying "Then, I shall take my leave."

    With those words, he disappeared from my sight in an instant.

    "Master?" asked Aunt Sofia, she sounded curious.

    "Hehe! you might not believe it, but I am a pretty important person out there.", I pointed a finger toward myself as I asked "Aren''t I cool? right? right? rIght?"

    Aunt Sofia placed her hand over my head as she said "Yes yes, you are cool."

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Dad, I want you to come with me today, I want you to come with me and see for yourself about how what kind of life I lead now."

    I said as I was seated in my room, to be more specific we were seated in Ebony''s residency.

    "I will join you too, but I am confused about various things, so I want to ask you some questions."

    "You can ask all the questions you have after I show you."

    "Fine."

    I turned to look at Aunt Sofia as I said,

    "I also want you to come to Aunt Sofia, I also want you to see that what kind of life I lead now."

    She agreed to it just by giving a nod, later she left the room apparently she had to take care of all the girls and see what they are up to.

    "Grey, you have been training extensively over the years, haven''t you?"

    "How did you find out?"

    He touched my bicep as he said, "There are various things that give away a seasoned warrior, their body, posture, and the way they present themselves and you have all those factors. So, it''s not hard to guess that you have been training extensively over the years.

    But your muscle structure and posture seem to be complex, it does have the essence of mastery in great sword but there seem to be more things that you have mastered with it."

    "You can all that just by a look? well, I did practice a great sword, only the thing you have thought nothing much and also I have practiced polearm since it is my favorite weapon and also mom has though me how to use a polearm" I said as I summoned a snake polearm in my hand.

    Looking at the polearm, dads eye widened as he asked "This is Alice''s---"

    "Yes, i got this after mom---" I didn''t say anything further since I didn''t want to talk about mom''s death, it always stings in my heart. "You know, she was awesome. she was so so awesome."

    I sighed as I looked down, "Dad, I miss mom."

    "Me too, I miss her too."

    A smile curved my lips as I said "Don''t you think that mom would be so proud by just looking at how much strong I have gotten? she would definitely say something like ''Nothing less from my son! we both are the strongest!''"

    Dad chuckled as he said "That something she would say, she would have adored you so much. She used to adore you so much. I remember how selfish she was before you were born but then you were given birth and she adored you more than anything.

    She also loved the fact that you have inherited her facial feature, I wish she was alive right now,"

    "You know dad, I killed a god recently. By killing a god, I was able to revive someone. Maybe, if I will be able to kill a stronger, I may also be able to revive mom."

    Dad looked at me in shock for a second before placing his hand over me as he said "As much as I find that solution tempting, the look in your eyes ------- you are just giving yourself hope right? you are aware that it is not possible right? those are the eyes of despair and I don''t want my son to walk the path of despair."

    I couldn''t help but chuckle as I said "I am already walking the path of despair, and I am not planning to walk away from it. I have planned to be a hero that saves anyone who needs me, that''s the only way I can save myself from falling into despair again.

    It''s too late for me to go back to a normal life."

    "You are all mature now, it is kind of relieving yet sad. But I can''t be a hypocrite and force you to live a normal life since I know the feeling you are talking about. We can''t walk away and live a normal life after witnessing the thing we have witnessed, those things come to haunt us and the best remedy is to walk in the same path that has caused despair in the first place."

    "That is the reason, that i am going to be a-----"

 Chapter 122 - 121: A Deal With A Brat.

    "That is the reason, that I am going to be a ------"

    Before I could speak any further, Ebony entered as she called out to me "young Boss, the meeting has been arranged they are waiting at the inn."

    "Okay, let''s go,"

    I said as I walked out of the room with Ebony, dad followed me too.

    "By the way, Ebony, why do every other meeting be held at the same damn inn."

    "I don''t know boss, but it is kind of annoying since I get hungry by just sitting at the inn''s restaurant."

    I looked at her quickly as I said "I totally understand what you mean!"

    "Their fried chicken is pretty good though."

    "Really? why didn''t you tell me that earlier, we will try it today. Ah, by the way, give me a report on which member of Esser family has come to attend the meeting."

    "Son of the Esser family, he is around 25 years old or something."

    "I see."

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "They are surely making us wait." said a particular man who was in his mid-twenties. Well, he was exactly in his mid-twenty being the age twenty-five.

    His tone was irritated since according to him, he has been waiting for someone that shouldn''t even make him wait in the first place.

    "Calm down, Helm. We were the ones who called them for a meeting without even giving them time, so all we can do is wait patiently."

    said her younger sister, being the more sensible one she didn''t show any sign of irritation which was contrary to his older brother, Helm.

    "We are the Esser family our name should be enough of a reason for them to not make us wait for even a second. They should be the ones who should arrive first, ten minutes before the assigned time, and wait for us."

    "Calm down, Helm." said her younger sister, her name was Kirsa.

    Helm looked at the third person who was seated on the table, she had scarlet red eyes with bright red hair, looking at her Helm said "Grandma would you do something about them if they feel to meet my expectation?"

    "I would do anything for my little Helm!"

    Despite Helm calling her grandma, there was no sign of old age on the woman''s appearance as a whole.

    "If they don''t agree to my deal then----"

    Before Helm could complete his sentence, he noticed that a bunch of people entered the inn and among them, he recognized two people.

    One is Ebony, he recognizes her as the sub-leader of the House Lenton and another person he had recognized was Ranulf Hoffmann.

    "What is he doing --- is he the leader of House Lenton?  if yes, then I would very much like to put a leash on a Hoffmann."

    Eventually Grey and everyone climbed up the stairs. Around the big table, there were around seven seats remaining.

    Grey walked in front of everyone, before taking a seat at the center of the table. The seat is directly opposite Helm''s seat.

    "Kid that seat is reserved for the leader of the organization, take some other seat and let Mr. Hoffmann be seated on that seat."

    Grey placed both of his hands on the table, before resting his chin on the support of his hand. A smirk curved up Grey''s face as he said "Leader? that would be me and also, I am Hoffmann too. I am here since you wanted to hold a meeting with me."

    Helm first stared at Grey for a good second before bursting into a laugh, "Nice jokes kid!! I like you! I like you!!"

    "My pleasure that I have improved your mood since it looked like you stepped on crap or something when I first entered this room."

    Helm didn''t get offended by what Grey said, he wiped his tears from laughter as he said "Okay enough of the jokes, Let your dad sit on the chair since I wanted to talk with the real leader."

    Before Grey could say anything, Ranulf opened his mouth saying "My son is the leader, he formed this organization. I have no relation with the organization."

    Ebony agreed with him saying "That''s right, Grey is our leader, so I don''t want anyone to disrespect my leader in front of me."

    "Interesting." said Helm, a vile smile spread across his face as he said, "I don''t know how this brat got the position of leader, most probably you used your dad''s power but very well, I will entertain you."

    Gray raised his hand and simultaneously he stopped Ebony to take any step closer to Helm. At first, Helm didn''t realize why Grey raised his hand, but as he looked around, he saw that there were many people who stood up from their table ready to draw their blade.

    Raising his hand, Grey said, "It''s nothing, everyone sit down and enjoys your food."

    Upon hearing Grey''s word, everyone sat down as they put their blade back in their sheath. Everyone sat down except for Ermic, he was still standing with his blade out.

    "Ermic, sit down and put your blade away."

    "But, master he disrespected you!!"

    Grey chuckled as he said "He just called me a brat, but the only person who is acting like a brat is ----" Grey didn''t complete his sentence purposefully.

    Ermic laughed as he said, "You are right, I got overworked for nothing."

    "Now sit down and enjoy your food, I heard that the fried chicken is very delicious here. Finish up your food, or else I will disown you."

    "Very well, I will eat this food till my heart is content!!!"

    Grey turned his attention towards Helm as he said "Now let''s get back to the main topic, so what is that you called this meeting for? you aren''t going to waste my time with more useless talk, are you?"

    Helm''s anger was apparent from his facial expression, his veins could be seen popping out of his forehead. Maybe he was speechless that he didn''t want to speak anything, but in his stead, his little sister spoke.

    "Apologies for an ugly show by the Esser family, I deeply apologize."

    Grey waved his hands as he said, "no-no there is no need to apologise,"

    "Without wasting any more of your time, I will get back to the thing that we came here for. We actually wanted to talk about new clothing lines that were in development by the House Lenton. We heard the news about it and I felt like it was an excellent idea, so I wanted to ask if it was possible that Esser would get some share of the business.

    Of course, not for free. We will provide financial and physical support for the company to work since I am deeply in love with the idea and we just want a reasonable share of the company based on the help we are providing."

    Kirsa bowed her head slightly as she said,  "I would be grateful if you would consider this proposition by me"

    Grey''s facial expression showed a hint of shock, before his lips curved into a tender smile, "I am really happy that someone is interested in my idea! and I also love the fact that you are so passionate about this project. I would love to include you in this project but before that can you tell me, what exactly did you like about this project?"

    "Actually, ever since I was little I always wondered how stupid rich people are. I mean they sometimes buy stupidly pricey things just to show the fact that they are rich. But I could also understand it from the rich''s perspective since there is a pleasure owning exotic things that others don''t.

    And I absolutely loved this idea of selling stupidly high-quality clothes and other things at a stupidly high price to rich, I loved the idea of making a brand that would signify richness, I loved this idea from a commoner and rich point of view."

    Grey''s facial showed even more of a shock before a wide smile took over his lips as he said "I would love to work with you! if the shared percent and our deal match up, it will be excellent for our brand to have a person like you!"

    Kirsa clapped her hands together as she said, "Here is my deal, we would provide ----"

    But before Kirsa could complete her sentence, Helm interrupted saying "Here is the deal, you will get to work under the Esser family, but you will have to hand over your brand to us and also hand over your House Lenton to us. We will give you a reasonable share and you will leave the rest to us. We will make the brand successful and you will follow our every order since you will be working under me."

    Grey didn''t get pissed off, he just laughed as he said "Sorry, but I don''t go around handing over my things to others.. I am not much of a charitable guy, to be honest."

 Chapter 123 - 122: Godess Of Curse.

    "Sorry but I don''t go around, handing over my things to others, I am not much of a charitable guy, to be honest."

    Helm couldn''t help but laugh as he said "No, this is not charity, this is handing your things to your superior----"

    "Brother, shut up!!! I never get in your business, so please don''t meddle in mine."

    Kirsa showed obvious anger at her brother since he promised her that he would not meddle with her business.

    Helm stared at Kirsa for a second before saying "Fine, I won''t meddle with your business, but you don''t need to get so mad about it. You are still a kid so you don''t know how this world works when you have the power you can take anything you want. There is no need to negotiate with someone weaker than you. and this guy he is weak-----"

    before he could complete his sentence, the red-haired woman interrupted him saying "Dear Helm, you are mistaking this boy to be weak. He is no means weak, since-----"

    The red-haired woman turned to look at Grey, she looked at Grey with a side of crimson red bright eyes, "Since this boy had killed one of my kind, he is no sense weak."

    Grey felt the instant chill from just looking at her eyes, but what bothered him more was she mentioned that he had killed one of her kind, Grey had killed many races at this point so he wasn''t sure which ''kind'' this woman was talking about.

    "Your kind?!! aren''t they supposed to be the strongest? how did he---"

    "I don''t know, how he managed to kill one of us, but it was the first time in our entire existence that someone had killed one of us."

    Grey''s eyes widened as he realized that what ''kind'' she was talking about. Grey now clearly understood the fact that he was seated in front of a god.

    Grey smiled as he said, "No wonder, I got a fright every time I looked directly in your eyes."

    Helm got up as he said "This is boring, I am going back home ahead. Grandma safely brings Kirsa home after you are done with the business here."

    Helm started walking down the stairs but he paused, looking back he said "You will have over your brand to us by yourself, I promise you that and when you do that, I will first carve the pretty face of yours-----"

    Helm didn''t complete his sentence any further, well, anyone who has a sword pointed towards their throat won''t even be able to speak.

    "I told you to not disrespect my master, you brat," said Ermic as he pointed his sword towards Helm.

    But when Ermic looked back he saw that Grey was gone from his place, and along with Grey, the red-headed woman was also gone.

    When Ermic dashed towards Helm, the redhead woman was going to attack Ermic, but before that could happen Grey touched the red-headed woman''s shoulder and teleported her away far away along with himself.

    Teleporting in mid-air, Grey fell from the air to the water, and above him fell the red-headed woman.

    "Can you get---- adkjbdkbs" Grey''s words weren''t very much audible since his mouth was covered with red-headed woman''s breast.

    "Ah sure,"

    The red-headed woman got up from above Grey, but rather than getting totally up, she was still seated above Grey''s lap.

    "Um, can you properly get------ " Grey felt a weird please down there, he felt that please because of weird movement by Redheaded woman''s hips "Can you please stop moving your hip, well a part of me doesn''t want you to stop. But please stop.".

    "No, I am actually feeling something pocking on my private region, so I am actually----" she started moving her hips around vigorously to check what it is that is pocking her.

    "Don''t!! I am at my limit!"

    "Limit?" questioned the red-headed woman, but her facial expression changed as she realized what it is that is actually poking her and what does Grey mean when he said that he is at his limit.

    "Apologies, I tend to forget that how quickly a human male matures."

    "Then, get up from me!! but well, I kind of don''t want you to, but yeah please get up before I lose my purity."

    {Author: Make up your mind!}

    But rather than getting she pressed her hip more into Grey as she said "Well since I have turned you on and you are at your limit, I can help you relieve it off."

    "No, thank you!!! but yeah I would be grateful if you relieve me off, no, you know what, let''s not do it."

    {Author: Like I said, please make up your mind!! btw I was really tempted to write a sex scene here, I will probably write it in a ''what if'' chapter or something.}

    "Are you sure?"

    "Yes, I am"

    The red-headed woman finally got up from him as she said "It was so pointy through your pants that I thought it was a big dagger or something."

    Clearing his throat, Grey said, "Ahem--- let''s not talk about it."

    There was a brief silence before Grey asked "Do you want to go back since you already know that nothing really happened to Helm, I just teleported you here to calm the situation down."

    "Before that, I would love to talk to you mortal."

    "What do you want to talk about?"

    "Did you really kill a god?" asked the red-headed woman as she sat under a tree. Her body was wet from head to toe, but it didn''t seem to bother her.

    But due to her wet clothes, her undergarments were easily visible through the clothes.

    "How do you know?"

    She brushed her hair back with her finger, as she said "You might have already figured it out, but I am a god and I can tell a lot by just looks."

    "You don''t seem mad about it."

    "I didn''t really like the guy, so I don''t mind him dying and besides I am not really close to any of my fellow gods."

    "What kind of god are you?" asked Grey as he sat down under the tree beside the red-headed woman.

    "What kind of god are you?"

    "I am godess of the curse, I am the weakest god that had ever existed. A god who doesn''t even understand the power that was given to her. Not being able to understand my power, I naturally don''t know how to use it properly."

    Grey looked at the red-headed woman as he asked "Should you be saying this thing to me. I killed one of your kind, even though I used cheap tactics I still killed one of your kind. Are you sure that you want to say this to me?"

    A very elegant smile curved up the red-headed woman''s lips as she said "I don''t really care, I in fact want to be killed."

    "A suicidal god?"

    the red-headed woman chuckled as she said "You can also say that."

    Grey sighed as he said "I can''t kill an innocent,"

    "I am not innocent, I have killed an entire city full of people, the people who had believed. I am far worse than a normal murder. But I don''t really want to die, I was just joking."

    "You sound full of guilt, godess."

    The red-headed godess stood up as she said "Let''s go back."

    Grey got up and he was ready to take her back, but before he could take her back, godess opened her mouth saying "The next time we will talk, we will most probably talk as an enemy. Helm has a bad temperament and he won''t stop until he will destroy you as a whole. So I want you to take care and the next time we meet, treat me as your enemy."

    "Fine," Grey didn''t really say anything more, but before he could teleport her, Grey asked a particular question "What is your name?"

    "Me? I am the godess of the curse, my name is Arae."

    After that Grey teleported her back and when he came back he saw that everybody was quietly eating their food along with Ermic and apparently no blood was spilled and he saw the Helm was not there.

    Helm had already left for his inn since he had no interest in the meeting and he had already planned to leave for his home since he had heard the news that someone is toying with his power back in the Depool city.

    The person who was toying with his grip over Depool city was Miles himself, he had already started making moves on Depool city and here Grey had already annoyed Helm.

    For Helm, the Hoffmann family is truly a pain in the ass and he doesn''t know the fact that there will be more pain waiting for him in the future as he had already crossed paths with two of the Hoffmann''s.

    But before leaving the Lenton city, he had left a letter for his ''Grandmother..".

 Chapter 124 - 123: Kitty.

    "Helm, did he already leave the city?" asked Kirsa, she was just back to her, after making deal with Grey. They came to on a common term on the meeting and the partnership was made successful between Grey and Kirsa.

    The term stated as such, Kirsa will provide with her assistance and financial support for the ten percent share in the company, and that ten percent share is only for Kirsa not for the Esser family.

    To reply to Kirsa''s earlier question godess Arae opened her mouth saying,

    "Yes, apparently he had left a letter, there seems to be some kind of uproar back in our Depool city."

    "Uproar?"

    "Something is causing his grip to weaken on the Depool city so he is going back to check what is exactly happening over there."

    "I see----"

    Before Kirsa could say anything more, Arae said, "There was something more in the letter, he said that he wants me to put a curse on Grey Hoffmann."

    Kirsa''s facial expression hardened up as she said, "How long---- how long does he think that he can do whatever he wants? wasn''t it enough that he had already ruined so many lives, killed so many people? He kills people for his own greed, makes them do things that no human would think of doing, he makes them their slave through your curses --------- I hate the monster that is my brother!."

    There was a brief silence for a while before Kirsa again opened her mouth saying "You have no choice but to follow our orders right? "

    "I can''t say no to any of your''s orders."

    "Fine, then, I will give you an order that is similar to my brothers, my order is that put a curse on Grey but let it be curse like -------- " Kirsa letting out a light sigh before saying "Let him grow a pair of ears and tail, and put the effect of the curse for about a week."

    Arae looked at her for a good second without saying anything.

    Feeling awkward about being stared at Kirsa opened her mouth saying, "What? don''t judge me."

    After staring for a good second Arae opened her mouth saying "Kirsa, you have some weird fetishes---"

    "No no no no no, I am just helping Grey, and well, he is a good looking guy, so I just wondered what he would look like in cat ears and tail---- it''s not a lot to ask for okay. Besides, I am just ordering you to but a harmless curse on Grey since I need to override my brother''s order."

    Arae chuckled as she said "If you say so, I mean I have seen far worse fetishes---"

    "Noooooooo, please stop it!!"

    {Author: The curse of the goddess is herself cursed to follow every order of the Esser family, and no one abuses this power except for Helm Esser. If she receives two simultaneously different orders, she will have to follow the first order and ignore the second. But if two orders are similar then the first order can be overridden, that is how Kirsa is using her order on Arae.}

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It was morning the next day, Illya was sleeping next to Grey, her tiny hands were wrapped around Grey''s head.

    She does this from time to time, well, she does this nearly every day. She sneaks into Grey''s room and sleeps beside him. She loves to sleep beside, in her words she loves to snuggle against Grey.

    Grey doesn''t say anything to her since she is still a little kid and she is her little sister, so it does not matter to him anyways and for some reason, he is also able to sleep well when he sleeps beside her.

    Today was no different, as Illya was sleeping beside Grey as she held on tight to him. But for some reason, she felt like something tickly against her nose, she tried to brush it away, but as she tried to brush it away, but as she touched it, it felt nothing like hair.

    Opening her eyes she tried to touch it again, but the thing twitched as if it had a life of its own. Upon taking a closer look, Illya realized what it was.

    She shook Grey as she tried to wake him up, after shaking him twice Grey woke up as he asked,

    "What happened Illya?"

    But Illya''s reply was something he hadn''t expected and it was kind of random. She said,

    "Brother is a cat."

    Being confused, Grey asked "Huh?"

    "As I said, Big brother is a cat."

    "I am a cat?" asked Grey.

    To which she replied as she pointed towards a mirror. Turning towards the mirror Grey looked at the mirror, looking at the mirror his eyes widened up as he said,

    "Illya, I am a cat...."

    As Grey was looking at the mirror, Ranulf walked in as he said "Grey, you told me to wake you up, so that we can train together. So i am here, let''s train----"

    Upon taking the first look, Ranulf stood there in silence, without saying anything he looked at Grey before turning back and walking away, walking away as if he had seen nothing.

    Grey didn''t pay any heed to his dad as he walked closer to the mirror to take a closer look at himself.

    "How did this happen? did someone curse----- damn you!! curse goddess!!"

    "Brother Grey, can I pet you?"

    "No! I will bite you."

    "Please please, only one time!."

    "No means-----"

    As Grey was saying this, he heard Ranulf saying, "I promise it will be worth it, just come and see."

    That sound was followed by Ranulf walking into the room with Aetna and Annie.

    "I was sleeping, Uncle!!"

    "Just look at it, I promise it''s worth it."

    "What is---"

    Annie turned to look at Grey s she was going to ask something, but she stopped as she saw Grey.

    "Brother Grey you look good, but what kind of hobby is this? and those ears and tail are weirdly realistic."

    Aetna walked closer to Grey, before touching his newly grown ears. She drew her hand closer to the black bushy ear.

    As she touched her hand, the ear twitched as Grey made a muffled "eek!" sound.

    Aetna turned around as she said to Annie in lower, "Annie, those are real."

    "Really?"

    "really."

    Annie walked closer as she touched Grey''s tail, she gently brushed her around Grey''s slender cat tail. But for some reason, Grey couldn''t stop the reflex action of smacking Annie''s head.

    "I am so sorry! I didn''t mean to do that, it just came out naturally."

    Lying down on the ground Annie said "I understand, I mean cats do hate it when someone touches their tail. But getting smacked was worth it, it was so soft tail."

    Ranulf patted Grey''s head as he said "I wish that your mom was here, she would pet you so much. She absolutely loves cats."

    "I also do love cats, but by no means I didn''t want to become one."

    Grey turned around as he said to Kuro who was playing with Grey''s tail "I am not you mama cat, stop playing with my tail."

    "Meow!"

    "Fine, you can play with my tail."

    "How did this happen?" asked Aetna, to which Grey replied,

    "I was cursed,"

    "I kinda don''t want this curse to go away,"

    "Me too."

    "Me too."

    "me too."

    "Meow!!"

    "I am going to punch you all one day, but before that, I have to catch someone."

    By catching someone, he was talking about Arae and Kirsa. Since Arae was the only one who can put a curse like this on Grey.

    Without wasting any time Grey quickly rushed to her Inn, but there was no one in the inn. He inquired and found out that they have already set out for the Depool, the receptionist said that they left in hurry.

    Grey walked out of the Inn as he muttered to himself "in hurry? most probably Miles had started making his move. I should also join them."

    Grey was walking through the street, but as he walked through the street he saw Emilia and Aunt Sofia, apparently, they were shopping for something.

    Grey walked towards them as he asked, "What are you both doing?"

    "Ah, brother Grey! we were actually shopping since the market here is best, we will take back things for everyone,"

    "Are you taking something for grandma Lozen?"

    "Yes."

    "Ah, by the way, when you go back, don''t let Grandma know that I am alive since I want to give her a surprise myself, I will be going to Depool city for now, after I am done there, I will be back."

    Emilia''s face saddened a bit as she asked " Are you going somewhere again?"

    Grey chuckled as he gave a gentle chop on his head "I am just going for some days since big brother has some responsibility and I can teleport to you any time so don''t worry."

    "Okay!! i will wait for big brother!!"

 Chapter 125 - 124: Depool City.

    "Young master, I will be also joining you." insisted Sofia.

    "No, I will be fine by myself."

    "No, I left young master alone once I am not going to leave young master alone again."

    A smile curved up Grey''s face "Don''t worry, nothing can happen to me. since I am strong."

    There was a confident smile on Grey''s face, when he said he was strong he didn''t look hopeful about it, he knew it for a fact that he was strong.

    Looking at this sight of Grey, Sofia couldn''t help but gasp. A smile spread across her face as she said "You are really like miss Alice, when she was young she was exactly like you."

    "Is that so----"

    A wind blew and with it, the cap that Grey was wearing, from Grey''s head the cap fell down on the ground, Revealing two pointy ears.

    "Brother---"

    "Let''s not talk about it."

    "Can I pet you?"

    "I will bite you."

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Grey''s POV)

    I talked with dad about my trip to the Depool city, he didn''t seem to have any problem with it. Apparently, he wants me to live my life free, he won''t restrict me from going anywhere by being overprotective.

    Later i asked him about the whereabouts of Sylphy and Eira apparently Sylphy had gone back to her home and she also seemed to join the heroes part, good for her since it is considered the biggest honor to be in the heroes'' party.

    She is currently staying at the Maver city the neighboring city of Deepool city. Maybe I will go visit her after I am done with the business in the Maver city.

    I have left Annie and Illya back with dad, I teleported them back to Grandma''s house. Including Kuro, she tried to run away somewhere again, but I caught her and teleported her with dad. For some reason, Kuro loves to wander around to random places.

    Aetna joined me on my journey and well I would love to have a company, so it worked fine with me. We are currently using only one horse to travel towards the Depool city.

    We are currently speeding our horse through a man-made path between two wheat fields while traveling we were able to see many settlements of many different races.

    "Aetna are you okay with this speed?" I asked since she seemed to be holding on to me tightly.

    "Yes!!! I am liking the feeling of the wind against my face!!"

    Ah, she is enjoying it. I slightly turned around to look towards Aetna, what I saw was her silver hair fluttering as we were traveling through the field, her silver eyes set on a distant field.

    Sometimes I fail to acknowledge the fact that how beautiful Aetna actually is.

    She caught me staring at her so she asked "What?"

    "No nothing."

    She held on to me even tighter as I could hear her giggle, she seems oddly happy about something.

    By traveling through various cities, we finally were able to reach Depool city after some days.

    "Are we staying over at Inn in the Depool city?" asked Aetna as we were passing through the gates of Depool city.

    "No actually, we will be staying over at my cousin''s house."

    Passing through the massive city gate, I scanned my surrounding, it was a normal city. There seems to be some kind of market right near the gate. I guess that works well, people would buy something before leaving the city and sometimes even when entering the city.

    As I was looking around, I found Miles standing talking to one of the shop owners at the market.

    I walked my horse near him as I called out to him, "Miles, what are you doing here?"

    Upon hearing my voice he turned around, "Oh, Grey it''s you, you finally came. I actually do some investigation, I will tell you the details once we reach home."

    He looked at the shop owner as he said "Let me know if get to know something more."

    "Yes, prince."

    Miles walked ahead as he said, "Follow me, and leave the horse to my servant."

    When I looked back there was already a guy who was waiting for me to descend the horse, I guess this guy is the servant he is talking about.

    As miles said I and Aetna got off the horse as we followed him. He stopped right before the road and before him a wagon stopped and he boarded the wagon, looking back he gestured us to come in as well.

    "Why so fancy? I was fine with following your wagon in the horse."

    "No there are many eyes, well i do want eyes to know that you are alive but it''s not safe to roam around in this city so openly. Besides, don''t forget the fact that you are royal. As much as I hate it, you have equal rights over the throne so I want you to start to act like royal."

    "What do you want me to? wipe ass with fancy clothes each time I am done shitting."

    For a second miles couldn''t control his laughter but he quickly regained his composure.

    "You know, you can laugh freely, no one is pointing a sword at you and telling you to not laugh."

    "I would never laugh at your jokes,"

    "That''s childish."

    Aetna had already passed out over my shoulder she seems to be tired of the journey here.

    "Seems like the journey was tiring."

    "Well, we did rush here since my brother would need me."

    "Brother? we are not brothers we are cousins."

    "That basically makes us brother."

    "It doesn''t"

    As we were talking, we eventually reached the mansion. Getting down from the wagon, i carried Aetna in my arms, I asked Miles to show me my room first so that I can put her down there.

    He ordered his servant to show me the room, following them i entered the room and placed her down on the bed. She opened her eyes slightly but later looking at my face she went back to sleep.

    One thing weird I noticed was that all the servants were staring at me for some reason, actually not exactly staring but they are giving me weird looks.

    "You have the snow-white hair of the Hoffmann family so they seem to be curious about if you are the part of the royal family or not, since they have never seen you before this. They have seen the rest of our cousins but not you so they are curious about your identity."

    As I and Miles were walking through the hallway, we passed through a servant, I looked at him as I said "I am his brother."

    "No! he is my cousin!!"

    "As I said, it''s the same thing"

    Miles stopped by a room as he opened the door.  "No, it''s not."

    "You are my dad''s brother''s son how are you not my brother."

    "That''s what cousin means."

    As we entered the room, "You are vocal today miles."

    The person that said was seated on a chair in the room, in front of him was a work desk he was apparently working with some documents. He had white hair blue eyes, and he had a look very similar to my dad.

    So this is my uncle?

    He looked at me, then he looked at Miles as he asked "So this is the friend you wanted me to meet?"

    "Yes."

    Uncle took a good look at me once again before turning to him to ask "Are you sure he is your friend? I mean aren''t you leaving some important details out."

    "No, I don''t think so."

    Uncle stared at him before asking, "Are you sure, are you double sure?"

    "Yes, I am."

    Uncle sighed as he said, "Then why does he look like us?"

    "Oh that! he would obviously look like us since he is my cousin, he is the son of Uncle Ranulf."

    "Eh?"

    Miles looked proud as he said, "As I said before I didn''t leave any important details out."

    Uncle didn''t pay any heed to him as he looked at me, he got up from his place and he asked "Are you really his son?"

    "Yes."

    "When did he have another ---"

    "No, I am the dead one which was not so dead."

    "Why would Ranulf fake your death?"

    "No, I faked my own death."

    "So you are Grey?"

    "Yes, I am Grey Hoffmann."

    He didn''t say anything more, he hugged me as he said "I am sorry, I am really sorry that uncle wasn''t able to meet you when you were little, uncle is very very sorry. I left my brother alone when he needed me the most, I wish I was there for him. I wish I was there for my nephew, I am sorry."

    "Ah, it''s fine, I don''t really mind, neither would dad since we both understand that you have your family to take care of, so I am sure if you talk to dad he would be happy."

 Chapter 126 - 125: A Snitch?

    "Ah, it''s fine, I don''t really mind, neither would dad since we both understand that you have your family to take care of, so I am sure if you talk to dad he would be happy."

    For some reason Uncle chuckled as he said "That''s something your dad would say, You talk like my brother."

    "That''s first."

    "Why?"

    "Since most of the time, people say that I am very much similar to my mom, in looks and also in nature,"

    "I have known Alice from the time we were young she was quite cynical, she was nothing like a normal kid of her age."

    By the way, I never mentioned this but my uncle''s name is Ronald Hoffmann.

    After a brief second of pause, Uncle asked "By the way, how did you and Miles come on talking terms, since he usually doesn''t get along well with his cousins."

    "Uncle, we are barely on talking terms, he literally threatened me the first time we met."

    "That''s definitely something he would do."

    With irritated look Miles spoke up, "Grey came here to help us about the Esser family situation."

    Uncle had a conflicted look as he said, "How ----"

    "Before you say anything, Don''t count Grey as a kid, he can hold his ground both physically and mentally, so before you say anything does consider the fact that Grey is not a kid."

    Uncle sighed as he said, "But as an uncle, I can''t let my nephew go on dangerous missions. Especially I already can''t face my brother and if send you on a dangerous mission. It will be more difficult for me to face my brother. I mean I don''t have----"

    I couldn''t help but sigh.

    This will be difficult.....

    "Uncle can you wait for a second, I will be back from the toilet."

    "Okay, servant show him the way."

    I walked out of the room, but I didn''t really go to the toilet, there was somewhere in particular that I teleported to.

    After a good minute, I walked back into the room where uncle and Miles were waiting.

    "Oh, Grey you are back----"

    said Uncle as he looked up, but his facial expression turned Grim when he saw the person who was standing on my side.

    "Brother?"

    "Oh you look healthy--------- Ronald, it''s been a while, right?"

    "Brother?" asked Uncle again it seems like it is getting hard for uncle to accept reality. as they were talking Miles gestured to step outside of the room and so did i.

    Walking out of the room he asked, "How did you do that?"

    "Do what?"

    "Uncle Ranulf, how did you bring him here?"

    "Ah that----- that''s a secret."

    "Very well----"

    as Miles was going to say something more, I interrupted him saying.

    "I had a deal with Esser family, back at the Lenton city."

    Miles halted his walk as he looked at me, with a confused look he asked "Deal? and what were they doing at the Lenton city?"

    "According to my sources, they apparently came there to make deal with the House Lenton that would be us, but saying that I made deal with the Esser family would be incorrect since I actually made a personal deal with Esser family''s daughter, Kirsa Esser."

    Miles didn''t say anything for a good second or perhaps a minute, it looked like he was considering some things, but later he opened his mouth saying, "I wouldn''t pry on the details of the deal since it''s none of my business, but have you gotten any gist of what''s the source of their unknown power."

    As he asked that something lit in me, "Oh that! yes, I do know the source of their power."

    "What is it?"

    "It might sound stupid or somewhat unbelievable, but the source of their power is a god."

    Miles halted again as he looked at me, "Can you be elaborate on that."

    "Sure... have you seen the beautiful red-haired woman with them, that''s the god of the curse that''s helping them."

    "a god... aren''t they supposed to be pretty powerful?"

    "Yeah they are, and just by looking at her one could tell that she is pretty powerful."

    "Then, how are going to defeat her?"

    "We don''t have to defeat her, we just have to find the root cause of the instability that is being caused in the Depool city."

    "What do you mean by that?"

    Going through the hallway, I looked at a painting of a wolf "It is obvious that the Esser family as a whole are not involved there are only some members that are involved, we just need to find those involved members and dispose of them if necessary."

    "If we are going that route then we will first meet the underground organization that works in the Depool city."

    After looking at the painting, I continued my walk as I asked "Are they some big shot? the gang the operates under this area."

    "No, they are just third-grade gangs, there are no other gangs in the Depool city so they are doing well since there is no competition and I ignored them for a while, but I can''t ignore them now, since they have crossed the line."

    We were near the exit of the mansion, as I stepped out of the exit I asked "The line? what have they done?"

    "They started selling drugs to little kids, they started making them sell drugs. I don''t know where they are getting these drugs but this drug seems to brainwash people."

    My eyes widened as I realized something, after that, I asked a specific question, "Say, Miles, is there any religious rise in your city recently?"

    "There is, people, seem to be getting religious in this city they have totally devoted their life to Iris church which is not a bad thing since they have someone to believe in now."

    A wagon stopped by, walking near it, I asked "Don''t you find it weird that people have suddenly gotten religious and also at the same time coincidently there is a drug racket going on in your city?"

    Miles face twisted into confusion, as he asked "What do you mean?"

    I boarded the wagon and gestured him to do the same, "I have witnessed the effect of the brainwashing drug first hand, people go crazy over it and they seem to believe in the thing that is told to them, that thing itself becomes their only truth. That drug is circulated by the iris church, they are the one that is running their drug racket. I am sure about that, but I am not sure about why they are doing this."

    "Oh....."

    The wagon started moving forwards as Miles sat there in silence maybe he was processing something. But I didn''t wait for him to process his thoughts as I asked,

    "What are you going to do now?"

    "I have sent some of my troops to capture some of their gang members, they were successful in capturing some. So we will start by interrogating them."

    "Ah, torture----"

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As we were going to the sight, I teleported back to the mansion where Aetna was sleeping and made sure she was sleeping well and beside her, I left a note that told her not to worry, that I have just gone for a walk and I will be back in an hour or two.

    Seriously, the power of teleportation is very helpful.

    After that, I teleported back to Miles and at first, he was shocked by my power, and like all people, he asked me that what kind of power is it. I just said that it was teleportation.

    After reaching the site, we entered a building where we have to climb the stairs to the very top floor, when we reached there, Miles led me into the room where a man was tied down to the chair and another man was tied backwards to the wall.

    The man hung on the wall was butt naked and there were various bruises on the man''s butt. Maybe from the stick or something else happened.

    Just thinking about what they might have done to him if it''s not the bruises of getting hit by a stick in the butt makes my face twist into various expressions. I hope they just wacked his but with a stick since I don''t want another man to suffer things that I am imagining right now.

    Apparently, after interrogating them, we found out that the finance for the drug and the securing of the route was done by the Esser family and the distribution of the drug was done by this low-level gang.

    I grabbed the stick from the hand of Miles''s troops and walked near the man who was tied to the chair, I placed the stick under his chin as I asked, "Who is the Esser, can you be more accurate?"

    "The--- the----the ---the young master, I mean Helm Esser, he provided us with everything even though working with him gets us a generous amount of money but that guy is a monster!!."

    Well that was easy or this guy is just a snitch.

 Chapter 127 - 126 The Room Of Death.

    Actually, there were some of the Miles troops that were missing for a while. Apparently, he has been searching for them, for a while now but there was no fruit to his search.

    They disappeared in thin air and even their family didn''t want to talk about what happened to them.

    But finally, he found the first clue towards finding those troops. This guy told us about a place that can help us find those troops.

    According to his words,

    "Helm bought various types of ominous things from them and took it to a particular place."

    The place he mentioned was an underground basement below one of the shop stalls near the city. Well, he did also say that there are various other ways to access that place, like a sewer system. But apparently, that underground area under the stall will be the fastest route there.

    As we were walking out of the building, Miles said, "We will take the sewer since going through the shop stall will only get us unnecessary attention."

    "That''s right. I will go there, Grey you stay here and wait for me."

    "No, I am coming with you."

    "But I can''t fight and defend you at the same time."

    Hearing what he said, I couldn''t help but sigh as I said, "Don''t worry about and besides you need my power to get there faster."

    "What power?"

    "Ah, that''s a secret."

    "Then don''t mention it, and you are not coming -----"

    As Miles was going to say something, we heard a voice from behind saying, "Do you mind us joining both of you?"

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the underground tunnel, the darkness made it hard to see for the people who were walking through the dark tunnel.

    From the ceiling of the tunnel, the water dropped bit by bit and it was the only sound that was heard across the tunnel.

    Being fed up with the darkness, Miles opened his mouth saying "Can someone perform a fireball spell or something, it is very hard to see where we are stepping on to."

    Renold paused his walk as he said, "We all come from the Hoffmann family, the family is known for ice affinity. Due to that, none of us can perform fire magic."

    Due to him pausing suddenly, Ranulf crashed into him due to not being able to see further, "Idiot!! don''t stop so suddenly. But you are right, none of us has fire affinity."

    Raising his left hand, Grey gathered the mana around him as he condensed a fireball, "I can perform fire magic."

    Miles, Ranulf, and Ronald, all three of the Hoffmann paused in shock. "You can perform fire magic?!"

    "Yes."

    "That''s cool, not going to lie."

    Ronald looked towards Ranulf as he asked, "By the way brother, why were you shocked upon learning Grey can perform, fire magic? he is your son."

    "Don''t ask me that, he has been away from me for nearly six-year I still don''t know what else my son can do. But I am sure he is pretty overpowered like my wife."

    "I can agree to that, but he isn''t as powerful as my son, Miles. I mean no offense but my son is strongest."

    Ranulf looked at Grey as he said, "Grey, fight with Miles right now, we will settle it now. Let''s see who is stronger."

    Ronald said the same to miles, "Miles, don''t lose, I believe in you."

    "I am not fighting anyone, we came here for a mission, Don''t forget it."

    "Ah, yes."

    "Right!"

    Grey was leading the rest of those three since he has the fireball in his hand and also he is the only one that was able to see the faint mana.

    Walking towards the faint aura of mana, Grey led all three of them through the various maze-like tunnel before finally reaching the place.

    Upon reaching the place, Grey stopped as he said, "This is the place.".

    There was a small door in front of them, it wasn''t hidden or anything. It was just there in front of them.

    But the maze-like tunnels made it hard to discover this door.

    Grey stepped forward towards the door, grabbing the handle he opened the door.

    Upon entering the door, Grey entered without being on guard since there was no one inside. He had already sensed that there was no one inside, except for some exception.

    "Be on your guard." Said, Ronald.

    But Grey still proceeded to enter inside saying that, "There is no one inside."

    Ranulf followed Grey as he said, "He has the power to see all kinds of energy, so just trust him."

    Upon taking a step, everyone''s nose was hit with a deep stench. Grey''s face cringed upon being in contact with a shitty stench.

    Covering his nose, Miles spoke "corpse?"

    To his answer, Ronald replied with a nod.

    Grey opened his mouth as he stepped forward, "I only sense one life force here, that too a faint one. Follow me."

    Walking through the black room they were met a narrow aisle. Walking through the aisle they saw various prisoner''s rooms.

    Grey stopped near the first prison cell, it was pitch dark but there was a heavy stench that was coming from inside the room.

    The prison was locked, so Ranulf punch the locked door to break it open. One punch was enough to open the door.

    With a loud sound of Clang!

    The door opened and with that, Grey and everyone else stepped into the cell.

    Grey extended his palm as he created a fireball in his hand, illuminating the room. As the room got illuminated, A gruesome sight was in front of them, it was obvious that it was the source of all the stench that was oozing out of it.

    "What is this-----"

    Even though Miles knew the reality of the situation but upon coming face with it, it was still hard for him to see his troop in this condition.

    "How did it? who---"

    Only broken words came out of his mouth as he tried to speak. He stepped back away from the corpse of his troop.

    The man was hung on the table as both of his hands and legs were tied down to the table. His wrist was cut in half the other half was still attached to his body, the wrist was barely dangling with the body.

    Every part of his body was tortured, even all of his nails were missing, including one eyeball.

    Upon taking along on the corpse Grey was easily able to connect the dots, Grey spoke "Whoever did this surely enjoyed himself to the fullest,"

    "What---- what do you mean?"

    "Isn''t it obvious, this man died in the hands of a monster, a monster that loved torturing people."

    "But why----who..."

    Ronald was enraged but he kept his calm to the best of his ability since he can''t be the one that can lose his shit.

    Grey stepped outside of the prison cell, walking past Ronalf and Ranulf, the cold look in Grey''s eyes gave a chill down both of their spines.

    Grey looked walked past all of the cells as he saw rotting bodies one after another, some were skinned alive while others were burned alive. The person who tortured people here also made a ventilation system just to burn people alive.

    There was a woman whose breast was cut off from his chest. It wasn''t a decaying body, Grey looked at her and made a conclusion that the body must be just some hours old. Her face frozen in terror, she died from the pain.

    "Whoever did this surely doesn''t have a usual sexual preference like woman, he just enjoys torturing people. I think I know who it is, but I can''t jump on conclusions,"

    Ranulf, Ronald caught up with Grey, as they walked behind him.

    Ranulf opened his mouth asking " Grey, aren''t you disgusted by looking at the dead bodies? A usual fourteen-year-old wouldn''t even get closer to these bodies, any normal human would feel disgusted by looking at this sight."

    "I am disgusted, but not in the way that you would think."

    This time Ronald was the one that opened his mouth as he asked, "It''s fine, you don''t need to act tough. You are just a kid, it''s fine."

    Grey smiled to himself as he said "I have seen a fair share of dead bodies, so it doesn''t really matter to me, but yeah, a part of me doesn''t want to see one."

    Ronald paused, as a thought went through his mind ''Even an adult like me can''t stay unhinged when I see a sight like this, but this kid, he was not even fazed when he saw this bodies as if he was used to it, what this kid had to go through?''

    Grey walked for a second before stopping near the cell, he spoke loudly, "Miles there is someone alive here"

    {Author: I am really sorry that I uploaded it late today, I actually had some college work. But thanks for waiting, if you reading this!!}

 Chapter 128 - 127: A Hero?

    "Miles there is someone alive here," said Grey as he stood near the prison cell.

    Through the prison cell, Grey was able to see a person.

    A man was tied down to the chair, he was half alive. The degree of torture done to him was less than others maybe that was the reason why he was still alive.

    But the torture done to him was not small on any level.

    There were bruises on various parts of his body, all those bruises were from blunt trauma. He was beaten several times by a metal pipe. Some of the bruises were so swollen up to the point that the skin of that area of torn apart.

    Some of the fingers were while the fingers that were present on his hands had their nails either missing or broken apart.

    There was a needle still buried in the tip of the man''s finger, there were several more cruel details of the torture that was done to the man.

    Ranulf broke open the cell and with it, Miles rushed to the half-conscious man. "Kelab are you alive?! Kelab respond to me! we can get you help."

    Miles was desperate at this point, he at least wanted one of them alive. Miles untied the rope he was tied onto and upon being untied the man fell down on the ground.

    After shaking him for a bit the man regained a bit of his consciousness.

    Kelab opened his eyes as he looked at Miles, "oh, young master, you finally came here for me."

    A weak smile spread across Miles face as he said, "Good good, you are conscious, just wait here----"

    "Young master, I have something to tell you----"

    Miles interrupted him saying, "We can talk later, we have all the time in the world to talk, first, we will get you help."

    Using the rest of the strength Kelab sat up, "Young master listen to me, the----"

    "Please don''t move and speak, your condition is very bad, let me first get you help, Grey please teleport him!! please----"

    Kelab grabbed him as he said "Young master listen to me, I don''t have much time. I am a dead man, but I need to get this information to you."

    "no no no no, don''t say things like that, I am getting you help, you will survive, you have family right? you will survive, I promise!! so please don''t give up."

    Kelab laughed as he said, "You are very kind young master, but please listen to what I have to say."

    "But--"

    Miles didn''t say any more words since Ronald place his hand over him and shook his head, which meant not to speak a word and let Kelab say things he wants to say.

    "The reason why ended up like it''s my own fault. But I don''t regret about what I did."

    The confusion on Miles''s face was apparent. Kelab continued, "You have always known that my daughter is a cursed child? but I always thought that it was otherwise, she wasn''t cursed, she was just ill, it was a disease that can be treated. I showed her to various healers and doctors but it was of no fruit, they couldn''t help my kid."

    Grey crouched down as he grabbed Kelab''s hand, Grey mildly froze the severed part of his injury and also the parts where he was swollen up pretty badly.

    It was Grey''s attempt to ease his pain and it was helping Kelab a bit as most of his pain was getting eased up.

    Kalen continued "I looked for her cure but there was nothing I couldn''t find, in the end, I couldn''t help my kid. It was heartbreaking as I watched her lose her ability to walk. That little kid tried to not show it on her face, but it was apparent that she was sad about not being able to walk and play outside like a normal kid.

    That little kid is mature for her age, she was smiled for me even after how much in pain she was and so did my wife. They did their best to hide their pain to avoid putting the burden on me.

    I was getting desperate, no matter what, I needed to save my kid, and one day I met this kind woman, she was a red-haired and extremely beautiful woman. She was with Helm, the son of Esser, it was his idea that the woman will put a curse on me and I will take on my daughter''s disease instead of her.

    It was too good to believe, but I still wanted to believe in it, I agreed to it. I already knew that Helm just wanted to trick me, but that red-headed woman was hesitant in doing so, it was obvious from her face that she couldn''t bring herself to do this but somehow Helm''s words were enough to make her do it. It was as if Helm was controlling that woman as if his words were controlling that woman.

    And as just as he said, I got the disease from my daughter, but there was a catch in it there is always a catch. Apparently, the condition of the curse was to kill me along with the disease to get rid of the disease and my daughter still had the disease.

    I have to kill myself to free my daughter from my disease, the disease is spreading rapidly through my body and I have heard that it was spread rapidly through my daughter''s body. So----"

    Kaleb kneeled down and he touched his head to the ground, "So, please, I want you to kill me, the condition of the curse is that I must be killed by someone else, I can''t kill myself, I begged Helm to kill me but in turn, he just tortured me. So please---"

    Kaleb''s voice broke as he spoke, "Please--- please kill me, I know I am asking you to do a cruel thing but please accept my request, I beg of you!"

    Miles stepped back, as he asked "What are you talking about? we can still save you, don''t lose hope. We can surely save you!!! just believe in us!! just give me some time!!"

    "That''s what I don''t have!!! I can''t wait for a second more, my little daughter might be dying there!!! please understand and kill me!!!"

    "There must be, there must be some ----"

    Ranulf and Ronald were still uncertain about what they should do going further since it''s the person''s life they are talking about. They were still questioning what they should really do.

    Among all this, Grey stepped crouched down as he asked "Tell me more about your daughter."

    "My daughter?"

    "Yes," replied Grey with a bright smile.

    A smile spread across the man''s face as he said "My daughter is the cutest little thing, she is super smart and very very brilliant at whatever she does, she makes me really really proud. But sometimes I wonder that how did she got born to a useless person like me? like I am not smart, nor I am particularly good at anything.

    I am sure that she has taken her such attributes from her mother since my wife is very smart."

    Grey laughed as he said, "Seems like you have a great family."

    "Yes, I do!!"

    Grey looked at him as he asked, "Do you want to live?"

    "I do."

    "I am sure that you want to live since you have such a great family."

    "Yes, I want to live and grow old with them."

    At this point, tears started pouring out of Kelab''s eye as he spoke.

    Grey placed his hand over Kelab''s head as he told him with a gentle smile, "You are a great man, I hope the next life and life after that, every life you get blessed with the same loving family. Thank you for existing!"

    Kelab felt a slight stinging pain in his chest and as he looked down he saw a knife pierced into his chest, he felt nor the pain, nor did he realize or notice that he was stabbed, not until he saw the knife inside his chest.

    It was the gentle way, gentle enough that he didn''t feel any pain.

    A smile formed on Kelab''s face as he said, "Thank you and I am sorry that I had to make you do this."

    "That''s the least I could do for you! I want you to know that you are a great dad,"

    Kelab coughed blood, the blood poured out from the edge of his lips but the smile on his face still didn''t disappear, "Thank you kid, no---- thank you, my hero..."

    Those were his last words as he passed away, leaving everyone in silence. Grey was in absolute silence until he whispered "Hero?"

    {Author: Happy new year everyone!! I am glad that you are reading this and I am so happy that I got to present this story to you all!! I am actually an isolated person, not on Instagram or any social media but this, writing makes me connected to people. So thank you for existing all of you!!!}

 Chapter 129 - 128: Not A Hero.

    Kelab died with a smile on his face while leaving everyone else in absolute silence. Grey whispered to himself "Hero?".

    His hands were cold, his mind was numb, eyes fixed at one particular place.

    "Why did you do that!!!?" asked Miles, enraged.

    But his question wasn''t replied with anything, Grey still sat quietly and coldly.

    Miles walked closer to Grey as he grabbed his collar, "Why did you kill him?!!!!"

    But his question was still replied with nothing, Grey didn''t even look at him in the eyes. Miles pushed Greyback as he threw a punch aiming towards him, for Miles he didn''t hold anything back with his punch.

    The punch connected to Grey face, knocking him off, he crashed onto the wall. But before Grey could collapse, Miles dashed in front of him, as he again grabbed his collar pinning him to the wall,

    "Tell me why you killed him?"

    "Because you are weak."

    "Huh?"

    "Didn''t you hear the first time, I said that I killed him because you are too weak to do the job".

    Miles face twisted into one of rage, as he asked "What did you say?"

    Grey clicked his tongue as he spoke "Tsk, do you want me to repeat it?", closing his eyes Grey sighed, "I said that you are weak, you couldn''t even finish him off due to your own weakness, that man was strong, he was ready to die for his daughter, but yet you were too weak to take any decision.

    Talking about weak, I am no different, I couldn''t find a better alternative than killing him. He called me hero," Grey laughed as he continued "Hero, my ass!! I am a useless piece of shit who couldn''t even find a better alternative than killing him. Heroes are supposed to save everyone but yet I couldn''t truly save anyone, not this guy not anyone else, that''s what I have been doing my entire life. I am a shitty person, who can''t do anything, who is truly nothing without his ideals.

    I am calling you useless but there is no one truly useless than me in this room, that''s how it is!!"

    Upon hearing what Grey had to say, Miles couldn''t say anything in return, he tried to find words but he found himself speechless, After a second he finally spoke "Don''t speak ---- don''t speak like you are the victim."

    "I am not speaking like a victim, I am just speaking facts that all it is. and one more thing," Grey grabbed Miles''s hand, the same hand that was holding his collar as he said, "Would you mind getting your hands of me and from next time if you ever lay hands on me, I will kill you."

    It wasn''t a threat, the words Grey spoke were something he meant from the bottom of his heart. Miles let go of him as he stepped back.

    Ranulf and Ronald didn''t interfere, they both were aware their interference will only make the situation worse. They were ready to stop Grey and Miles if the things went haywire but nothing that sort happened.

    But the words were spoken by Grey truly sunk into Miles, Ranulf, and Ronald and it was something they will not forget for years to come.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Later they teleported with all of the bodies one by one and surrendered them to family and of course, Ranulf and Miles had to answer the cruel questions asked by the families of the deceased.

    Grey waited to see the daughter of Kaleb and he saw that she was fine, apparently, the disease went away with his father.

    Grey looked at her from above the roof, a smile curved up in his lips as he looked at her "You saved your daughter, you are truly a great father.".

    Grey later teleported back to the room where Aetna was waiting for him, he looked at her, without saying anything, he slept on the rightmost side of the bed.

    "Grey?"

    "Aetna."

    "Can you -----"

    Grey was hesitating with his words, in truth he wanted to ask her to hold him but what he said was different "Can you---- Aetna can you massage my hair."

    Aetna was confused for a second, but she agreed to it saying "Sure!!! wait for a second, I will go and borrow some oil."

    "No, need, I have oil with me," said Grey as he raised his hand, in his hand, there was a bottle of coconut oil.

    "Huh? ah--- why do you have -- nvm."

    Aetna took the bottle of oil and lifted Grey''s head to place her lap underneath his head.

    "Aetna, your lap, it''s soft."

    Aetna''s face instantly turned beet red as fumes busted off her head, "What ---- what are you talking about?!! don''t say things like that! okay? okay?"

    Grey chuckled as he said, "You are cute."

    "Shut up!!"

    said Aetna as she placed her hand over Grey''s head, she started gently massaging his head. It was a heavenly experience and eventually, Grey''s eyes got heavier making him go to sleep.

    Well, he was not exactly sleeping, it''s just that his consciousness was dragged into a different plane.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Opening his eyes Grey found himself in a different plane. The plane he recognized very well, with just one glance he was able to figure that where he was, even before opening his eyes he could tell that where he was just by the vibe he was getting.

    Opening his eyes, Grey sat up as he looked around, it was the same range of icicle mountains, same wide lake, and same forest of pink maple trees.

    It was as beautiful as always, Grey''s eyes had never grown tired of this place, it was calming for him to be in this dimension.

    "Hello Hello."

    It was a familiar voice, a voice that Grey recognized very well. "Why do I always meet you when I am really down?"

    "Since you need me at a time like this, a mommy like me is the best solution whenever you are feeling down."

    Grey''s expression twisted a little bit as he said "Loli calling herself mommy doesn''t sit really well with me."

    Arianrhod drew closer to Grey as she asked "I can grow a pair of big boobs if you want."

    "You would need a bigger body for that."

    "Well, I can make my body bigger and make it look hotter if that''s what you want."

    Grey stared at Arianrhod for a second before saying "No, I think I am the fan of loli body."

    "Pedo---"

    Before Arianrhod could call Grey a pedophile, he interrupted her saying, "I am not pedophile, it''s just a matter of preference."

    "So you would prefer, you younger girls than an older woman."

    Grey squinted his eyes as he said "I don''t like the way you put it but I do prefer that are around my age, or a little bit older than me, but I have no interest in women nor do I have an interest in very younger girls."

    "But you were looking under my skirt, just the last time we met."

    "No no no, that was just you messing with me."

    There was a little bit of shock in the loli demi goddesses'' face before she said "You figured it out?".

    "No, there was nothing to figure out it was just that obvious, anyways why did you summon me here?"

    "Why? can''t I just summon you because I want to see you?" asked Arianrhod.

    "No, the timing is too convenient, you definitely want something from me, just tell me what it is, and by the way, can I just call you Ari? your name is too long."

    "Ah, Ummm------ I mean, yeah sure!"

    "Then Ari, why did you summon me?"

    Ari walked closer to Grey as she sat beside him, "I saw the things that had happened, it was sad and kind of unfortunate. I feel bad for that man."

    "don''t bore me, with useless emotions."

    "Fine!! you usually respect everyone else''s emotion except for me, I have a heart too!!"

    Grey stared at her without saying anything after a good second stare, Ari gave up as she sighed, "Okay, I will tell you, I just wanted to show you something, the memories of my old friend. You might be hating her currently but before you do anything, I want you to see this set of memories and decide for yourself about what are you going to do in the future."

    "Are you talking about Arae?" asked Grey.

    "Yes, that''s who I am talking about."

    {Author: Arae is the name of the godess of the curse.}

    Grey turned to look at the distant mountain as he said "Fine, show me her memories, I want to see what kind of past does she has, but before you show me, I want you to know that I don''t really hate her, but I believe that I must kill her since she is dangerous, that''s all."

    The shock in Ari''s face was apparent as she said, "I thought you would hate her, but you are-----"

    {Author: I ended it here purposefully}

 Chapter 130 - 129: The Story Of Curse And Blessing.

    "I thought you would hate her enough to be wanting to kill her, well you still want to kill her but like yeah you don''t really hate her."

    Grey looked the Ari as he said, "I don''t hate her, but I highly dislike the thing she has done."

    {Author: Ari is the name of loli demi godess, it''s short for Arianrhod.}

    Aru walked ahead, halting her walk she looked behind gesturing Grey to follow her, and without much question, Grey followed her.

    As they walked forwards, the scenery around them changed,

    "You know, Arae wasn''t originally a god of the curse,-----"

    They were currently in a forest, it was a familiar forest, but it was a little different. It was the Lenton forest, but some things were different.

    As they were walking through the forest, Ari touched Grey''s arm as she teleported him to the top of a tree.

    Since it wasn''t a real dimension, it was just memory, she can teleport to anywhere in that certain plane.

    From the top of the tree, they both saw a red-haired woman, she was apparently cooking something, it was a rabbit she had just hunted.

    "As I was saying, she wasn''t originally a god of the curse, she was the god of blessings."

    Seated on the top of the tree, Grey looked at the red-haired woman as he asked, "Huh? then how did she become the god of curse?"

    "She never really became the god of the curse," said Ari to which Grey looked at her in confusion. To clear his confusion she said, "You will know what I mean when we go through her memories."

    Ari looked at Arae who was cooking rabbit, Ari spoke "She---- Arae is the youngest god, she was chosen randomly to be god. Even though she is the youngest she is still some hundred years old currently."

    Ari teleported Grey and herself beside Arae as she continued to speak, "She has spent most of her life after being god alone, she has been all by herself for hundreds of years, there was no one for her.

    She doesn''t understand her power, she doesn''t know what blessing means. She doesn''t really feel the need for connection with someone else since she hasn''t ever felt of connecting with someone else, so she is fine with being alone."

    As Ari was talking, the scenery changed to many different places, all the memories were her just being alone, sleeping alone, eating alone, Grey didn''t even hear her talk yet.

    They were currently in memory where Arae was seated above a mountain, she was staring at the starry sky and this was the first time Grey heard her say something after visiting her several memories,

    "Blessing? I am the god of blessing. but what is a blessing? who I am? what should I do? I don''t understand."

    As Grey looked at her, he pressed his lips together as his expression turned into a conflicting one. Looking at her Grey asked, "Ari, who made her god?"

    Ari looked at Grey for a good second before a smile curved up her face, "I didn''t expect you to ask that question so soon. She was made a god by the god of gods, you will meet him since he will be the last person you will have to fight in your journey."

    "You are as cryptic as always."

    "It would be boring if I reveal everything now itself," said Ari as she walked ahead towards the edge of the mountain, as she was going to step beyond the edge, the scenery changed.

    They were standing in the forest, in front of them was Arae, she was sleeping. Most of the memories that they jumped to next were of her sleeping, she was rarely seen awake.

    "She is trying to numb herself since she doesn''t want to think about the purpose of her existence and all those complicated things so she found refugee in sleeping. She avoids being awake and being trapped in her own mind, sleeping is the best alternative for her."

    The memory changed and this time she was having a hard time sleeping, well for most memories after that she was having a hard time sleeping.

    "She now can''t even sleep, the only thing that was saving her, even that thing became difficult for her."

    The current memory that Grey was standing in was Arae looking at the distant tree where a family of birds was playing amongst themselves, she used to admire that view but even that became a burden for her now.

    Looking at the distant family of birds in the tree, she questioned, "What should I do?"

    The mama bird left the nest and she flew away somewhere, leaving the baby birds alone, one of the baby birds was on the edge of the nest, on the verge of falling.

    As one of the baby birds was going to fall down from the tree, Arae dashed towards the bird but the distance between her and the bird was quite far away, she wasn''t able to make it in time. The baby bird fell to its death.

    being seated in front of the baby bird, Arae looked at the bird with her eyes wide open. In her mind, she just discovered an idea, the idea to end all her suffering.

    Ari looked at Grey as she said, "Arae who didn''t know the concept of suicide, just discovered that the organism can take its own life if it wishes to do so. Arae for the first time in her life discovered the concept of suicide.

    After this----"

    The memory changed and they were back to the top of the mountain, Arae was standing on the edge of the mountain,

    "After this, she multiple times tried to kill herself, but she also discovered that like all the other organisms she also fears death and she truly doesn''t want to die.

    She tried to kill herself multiple times only to fail each time, she couldn''t bring herself to commit suicide."

    They were back in the forest, in front of them was Arae and with her was a woman, the woman was a middle-aged woman.

    A middle-aged woman whose skin was as paler as it could get, so pale that it looked rather unnatural. She looked tired and weak, her eyes were droopy and she was just skin and bones, she looked like a woman who might die at any moment.

    "Can you---- can you give me water?"

    Arae was holding that woman and as she asked for some water, Arae panicked as she didn''t have any water with her. She got up as she said,

    "Wait ---- wait, I will bring you some water."

    After making that woman wait for a minute she brought her water and made her drink that water.

    "You are a kind woman, and a beauty too, can you stay by my side as I die." asked the middle-aged woman.

    "Die?"

    "Oh, you aren''t aware? there seems to be a disease that is spreading in Nerul city, I caught that disease----"

    The woman''s facial expression saddened as she said, "People have died, my family, people in the city----- people are dying because of this disease."

    Looking at the conflicting expression on Arae, the woman opened her mouth, "can you stay by my side, during my last time."

    "Yes."

    Arae sat beside the woman, holding her hand gently Arae sat with her in silence, Arae didn''t know what to say to that woman.

    She was awkward since she never had any kind of human interaction.

    After a good minute, the woman spoke, "I have a daughter, a little daughter, well she is a teenager now but she will always be my little one. I wonder----- wonder what she will do after I die."

    for some reason, Arae couldn''t help but say that "No, you are not going to die,"

    Even Arae didn''t know why did she say that, but it came out naturally out of her.

    A smile curved upon the woman''s face as she said, "You are kind, thank you." the woman extended her hand as she reached out to touch Arae''s face, "I wish we could have been friends."

    "We ---we are friends, you won''t die, I promise, you won''t----"

    Arae held on to the woman as she said "You won''t die,"

    Arae shined radiantly as her surrounding lit up, the sparkle of radiant light shined around her, enveloping the woman in it.

    After a second the radiant died down,

    "What was that----"

    The woman said as she got up, but before saying anything more she realized the fact that she wasn''t feeling dizzy anymore. Nor did she feel her conscious drifting away.

    "Who are you---" said the woman as she stepped.

    For a second, Arae thought that the woman was afraid of her. waving her hand Arae said "No, I didn''t mean to harm----"

    "Goddess!!! you are godess!!!" exclaimed the woman.

    She bowed her head, touching her head to the ground. "You are godess!! you are godess!!" the woman kept repeating words over and over again.

    Grey and Ari were watching this memory from distance, Ari turned to look at Grey as she said, "This was the first human interaction of Ari and this is what lead to the birth of the godess of the curse."

 Chapter 131 - 130: Story Of Curse And Blessing(2).

    Grey and Ari were now teleported to a different place, in a different memory. Standing on the top of the sky, both of them looked at the distant city below them.

    Even though Grey didn''t find the city to be similar but yet the geographical structure around it was similar to the one around Depool city.

    "Is it Depool city? No, it doesn''t quite look like Deepol city. And especially there wasn''t a mountain of this size beside the Depool city."

    "You are correct, this is not Depool city, this is Nerul City. Even though Nerul city used to be situated at the same place as Depool city, they both are entirely different cities."

    Ari turned around to look at the huge mountain beside the city, "In the current era this mountain is shorter and slimmer, unlike this tall and wider mountain."

    "Then what happened to this city?" asked Grey as he looked down at the city.

    "You will know, but first---" Ari teleported herself and Grey inside the city, right in front of a huge palace.

    The palace was situated at the center of the city, the dome of the palace was huge that it could have been seen from any part of the city.

    Ari teleported Grey to the gate of the palace, "This place?" asked Grey.

    "This is the palace that people of the Nerul city built for her after she saved that woman. Arae went on to save many people eventually saving this doomed city. From the time of her arrival, the city started flourishing and the people started treating her like a godess."

    Ari and Grey walked through the lawn of the palace as they were walking towards the entrance of the palace.

    "She was well-loved by the people, they built a palace for her. They regularly worshiped her," said Ari as she turned to look at the giant statue of Arae that was built in front of the palace.

    She continued to walk towards the door, but rather than opening the door, she directly phased through the door. Following her, Grey also phased through the door.

    "it''s been years since that day she met that woman in the forest, from that day she had been granting various blessings."

    Grey followed her step by step, he chuckled as he said "Her power is too good to be true,"

    "Exactly," said Ari as she entered a room after walking for several minutes, following her Grey also entered the room, as they entered they saw that Arae was seated on the bed as she was looking out of the balcony.

    Ari looked at Arae as she said, "But she herself understood that her power demanded an equal payment for the blessing she provides. But to this day, I am not sure if she knew this fact or not, the question for this answer can only be given by her herself."

    "If it demands payment then how is it different than her power to curse people?" asked Grey.

    "There isn''t any difference between both of her power. Both of her power is a side of the coin, they are one and the same. Her current power to curse people and her power of the past to bless people, both require compensation and it depends upon the wish or curse that is to be granted."

    Grey walked towards the balcony as he asked, "What if the compensation is not given? what will happen then?"

    "The world works on a proper balance and if proper compensation is not given, the will of the world will remember it, it will eventually grow as the time passes by and eventually it will take the compensation by itself, the world will bring its balance back, that''s how the will of the world works. The will of the world doesn''t even bend in front of a real god."

    Upon hearing the mention of a real god, Grey repeated the same word as a whisper to himself, "Real god?".

    Grey was standing on the balcony of the room, the front view of the balcony was the huge mountain.

    as Arae was staring outside the balcony, her expression tensed up as she stood up. Maybe it was her instinct but she sensed the disaster even before it could happen.

    After a good second, Grey looked at Arae who was still standing up and looking around her. "What''s happening?" asked Grey.

    To his reply, Ari replied with "The end of Nerul city."

    With the ground started shaking violently, it happened in an instant and the intensity of the tremor was at max from the time it started. The tremor continued for a good minute and cracks formed around the palace as the ceiling started falling from above.

    Eventually, after five minutes of tremor, the palace broke apart, the palace that was once there was now just piles of debris.

    Grey and Ari weren''t affected by this since they were just watching the memory, the dust settled and their view cleared up.

    Grey and Ari were standing in the air as they looked around, the city that once there was now just a pile of debris. Grey landed on the ground, walking a few steps he stopped in front of a toddler that seemed to be crying, in front of that toddler there was a man that was half crushed under huge debris.

    The toddler grabbed his dad''s hand as he tried to pull him out of it, but it was of no use,

    "Go away!! dad is fine!! you go away and find someone to bring you to mom okay?"

    The toddler tried to speak between his tears, "but papa---"

    The man stretched his hand, reaching to his toddler as he said, "dad is fine, okay. you go ahead, dada will come back after five min, okay? till then go and find your mom."

    Agreeing to what his dad has said the toddler walked with his little feet to find his mom, Grey just stood as he looked at the dying man who was trapped under the debris.

    Grey tried to reach out to the man but his hands went right through him, Grey knew very well that these were just fragments of the past,

    "How about we follow the toddler, we might get something interesting out of it."

    said Ari as she walked right behind the toddler.

    "You already know what''s going to happen so you are just leading me to what you want me to see."

    "That''s pretty much right."

    Grey and Ari walked through to the collapsed city, walking through the street, Grey looked to his right where the woman''s head was smashed like a pulp under a rock.

    Limbs and blood were scattered across, and of course, the dead bodies were also there. Cries of held and dispair could have been heard from everywhere.

    People who cried for help only mentioned one name and the people who cried in dispair only remembered, it was Goddess of blessing, they called for her, but their call was never answered by her.

    In their last moments they died calling out for Arae, but she was nowhere to be seen.

    Ari and Grey didn''t really speak anything with each other, they didn''t know what to say. Grey especially didn''t know what to say after witnessing this horror.

    "She must have dug herself out of debris till now. Right now she is having good look at the compensation she has to pay for all the blessings, it must have been a cruel sight for her"

    As Ari said, Arae has dug herself out of the debris she was trapped in. She was unscathed since she had the durability of a god.

    But the thing was not the same for people around her, she looked around as she witnessed the horrors. She witnessed the death, she heard the screams of people most of them calling out for her while the rest of them were calling out for their family.

    She walked around as she tried to save various people but most of them were dead or the people who were alive were in near-death situations. None of them wanted to die, they all begged Arae to save them but she was powerless to do so.

    She wasn''t able to use her blessings, she tried, but she wasn''t able to do so.

    Wandering around the dead city, she hopelessly looked around for the people to save, but most of them were in critical condition and needed a miracle to save them. But the miracle they were expecting was not able to be performed by Arae.

    eventually, she gave up and kneed down to the ground, she looked at the ground hopelessly. She was in despair, it was the first time for her that she had felt despair.

    She didn''t feel like crying, but she wanted to cry, she started to think about every outcome that would have not led up to this.

    frustrated she screamed, it was the scream of absolute dispair, she needed someone by her side that could save her.

 Chapter 132 - 131: The Letter.

    Her scream died down, but she was motionless, she didn''t want to move, she didn''t want to see more deaths. People who loved her and needed her, she couldn''t save them.

    While this was happening Grey and Ari was still following the toddler. The toddler was still looking for his mom, but she was not to be found.

    In truth his mom was already dead, her body was buried so deep into the pile of debris that she died in an instant.

    Grey''s expression hardened up as he saw that there was no one to help the older, he clenched his fist as he kept following the toddler.

    Looking at Grey''s expression, Ari smiled saying, "Don''t worry, this toddler doesn''t have a bad ending."

    Grey released his clenched fist as he said, "Good to know that."

    "You do know how to keep your calm."

    "I will take that as a compliment,"

    "I mean it as a compliment."

    As they were talking amongst each other, the toddler finally reached the place he was meant to be. The toddler reached where Arae was seated on the ground.

    Her eyes were dead set on the ground, she didn''t look anywhere else nor did she know what was happening around her.

    The toddler approached Arae, standing near Arae the toddler extended his hand reaching out for Arae who was looking down. Placing his hand over Arae, the toddler called, "miss----- habe you seen my mom?"

    upon hearing the toddler''s voice, Arae looked up towards the toddler.

    Looking at the toddler she whispered, "you are alive..."

    Not understanding what Arae was talking about, the toddler tilted his head in confusion.

    "You are alive... You are alive... I am glad... I am glad."

    The goddess shed tears for the first time in her life, looking at the toddler who was alive she was the happiest.

    "Are you sad?"

    Asked the kid, it was the obvious thing to ask for the little kid after watching the goddess break down in tears.

    Arae wiped her tears off as a smile took over her face, "No, I am not sad." Arae looked around as she asked, "You seem to be looking for someone, who are you looking for?"

    "My mom... dad told me to look for her, but dad hasn''t---- hasn''t come back yet."

    It was easy to guess Arae that what might have happened to his mother and father. But even after knowing that face, she smiled as she said, "I will help you look for your mother."

    "Really!?!!" asked the toddler, overjoyed.

    She got up and extended her hands for the toddler, "Really.".

    The toddler grabbed the hand as they started walking towards the exit of the city, Arae purposefully led the kid out of the city.

    Arae picked the kid up as they walked through the streets of a dead city. Ari and Grey were watching them go away, from behind.

    "The Nerul city got destroyed in this disaster and this was not the end, " Ari pointed towards the mountain, as she said "This will soon fall on the city, engulfing the whole city in it. It would get buried as if it never existed before this, but there are few people who do know about this fallen city."

    As she was saying this a smile curved up her face as she said, "Now you are one of those people.".

    Grey didn''t say anything to it, as he was going to say something, he overheard a conversation between the kid and Arae.

    Carrying the kid in her arms, she walked through the city.

    "By the way, what is your name kid?"

    "I am Bryce Esser,"

    "Bryce Esser, that''s a beautiful name, I will treasure you for the rest of my life and I will do anything for you, anything."

    Grey who heard this conversation, whispered the same name, "Esser?".

    Ari stood beside Grey as she said, "Yes, this kid is their ancestor, the Esser family, and the last words spoken by Arae, the sentence about her doing anything for him for the rest of her life. Those words latched back to her as a curse."

    "I see, everything makes sense now."

    Before Grey could realize it, he was already out of the memories and was currently standing in his imaginary dimension. To be specific he was standing in the middle of the shallow lake.

    "So what are you going to do now, Grey?" asked Ari who was standing beside her in the shallow lake.

    "I don''t know, I think I have no other choice other than killing her."

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Please spare me!! please spare me!!! please ---- what have I done to you, please---- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

    The man screamed as a paper roll was inserted in his asshole.

    Hearing the man''s scream, Helm laughed, "What are you shouting for? I just inserted paper not some type of metallic rod."

    Helm condensed his mana in the tip of his finger, this condensed mana turned into small flames, "Now I am really excited about what kind of scream, I will be able to hear from your asshole burning up."

    "No, please don''t---- please don''t, I am sorry about whatever I have done, please spare me."

    Helm slowly brought flame closer to the paper as he said, "You still don''t understand it? I am just doing this to you because I am getting pleasure out of it. Your scream------- it makes me so happy!!!"

    The tied man''s eyes widened, his eyeball shook violently in fear as he heard the words that came out of Helm''s mouth.

    "Please, please--- please, don''t!!!!! please!!!!!"

    "Yes!!! yes!!! shout more!!!" exclaimed Helm in happiness as he brought the flame closer to the paper, but before he could burn it someone interrupted him.

    "Sir, there is an emergency."

    Helm looked behind as he gave a furious look to his henchman that just interrupted his fun. "It better be important, or else, you will take his place."

    "No, no sir! it is important, the young master----- young master has gone missing and just now a letter came."

    "What?!" Helm extended his hand as he said, "Give it to me."

    Unfolding the paper, Helm read the content of the paper, it stated,

    Hey hey, Brat!! it''s me yours truly a business partner. I sent this letter to you because I want to let you know that I have your bratty young brother. I have gotta say he is just like you, A brat and he also shouts like a bitch, especially when I torture him. It is fun, to torture your brother, but please do come to take him away because I might truly break him apart. Just saying!! By the way, I am waiting at the old church.

    Just by reading the contents of the letter, Helm was damn sure about who has written this letter. There was only one person who had the audacity to call him a brat.

    He punched the wall as he screamed "GREYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

    Helm rushed to Arae''s room and said "Grandma!, there is someone bulling me can you take care of him for me,"

    He tried to fake his tears as he said this and it was obvious for Arae but yet she couldn''t deny the order given to her. Those words might seem like a grandson asking his grandmother for help, but the truth was far from it.

    Helm knew about Arae''s curse very well, he has abused that curse over the years. He always acted like a victim to activate that curse and give Arae her order.

    Her current order was to kill Grey.

    Leaving the mansion, Helm left the mansion in hurry with his troops. There were around thirty troops, but Helm was truly confident about the presence of his Grandma, Arae.

    Kirsa followed his brother and Arae from behind, but she did that in secrecy.

    They reached out of the city where the old church was located. Standing outside the church, one of the troops suggested that, "This might be trap sir, we should----"

    "I know you are concerned about me and I appreciate that, but if I hear anything tasteless coming out of your mouth again. I will cut your tongue out."

    The troop kneeled down as he said," Apologize sire."

    Walking towards the entrance of the church they entered the church. It was an abandoned church, well, Grey had a thing for abandoned buildings.

    It was the night time and they carefully walked through the entrance of the church, due to pitch darkness, the fire affinity troops burned their fireball, illuminating the place.

    Walking through the aisle, Helm gestured his troops to surround the church from all sides. But he himself walked freely towards the altar.

    As he extended his hand, he heard a voice, "Careful, you might trip over."

    It was the voice he recognized very well, lighting up the fireball he illuminated the surroundings and with that, the light fell upon the white-haired boy who was seated on the top of pile debris at the end of the altar.

    "Grey..."

    Grey got up from the top of this debris as he walked towards Helm, but his steps were wet. Looking down helm saw blood around Grey''s feet and when he looked at the bottom of the debris he saw a particular young boy who died under that debris.

    Grey turned around to look towards the debris as he said, "Oh right, yikes! sorry about you little brother."

 Chapter 133 - 132: Reality Or Delusion.

    Walking towards Helm, Grey step made a wet sound every time he took a step. Looking down Helm found a pool of blood under Grey''s feet.

    Upon taking a look at the Debris at which Grey was seated earlier, he could see a hand of a body that was buried under the debris. Helm with his eyes wide open, asked "Did---- did you---".

    "Didi what?" asked, Turning around Grey looked towards the debris, "Oh right, yikes! sorry about you little brother."

    Rage shot up through Helm upon realizing the fact that his dead brother was dead. Being enraged, anger consumed his mind, Helm dashed towards Grey without much thought, Helm drew his blade before intending to swing it at Grey.

    A smile curved up Grey''s face as he condensed an icicle sword, imbuing divine energy in it. He dashed towards Helm with that sword.

    They both got closer to each, before swinging the sword at each other. But before they could do that, Arae realized the impending danger that was coming at Helm''s way.

    Grey was going to use divine frost and Arae didn''t have much time to stop Grey, so she used the curse that came first in her mind.

    Arae stretched her hand as his hand glowed violet, along with her Grey''s body glowed violet before he felt a sudden surge of pain throughout his body.

    "Guh!" Grey groaned before being hit by Helm''s sword, but he was able to block it at the last moment.

    Grey was forced to step back, he looked at his hand to find that his icicle sword has disappeared. Grey looked at his palm, then he looked at his body, before saying "My power---"

    He tried to condense mana in his hand, but nothing happened. He tried to gather divine and demonic energy in his hand but nothing happened. He tried to use his seal marking, but nothing happened. Even his seal of Minerva stopped working, he wasn''t able to see signs of energy around him.

    "You got cocky even when you are so weak, I promise that I won''t kill you. I will first kill everyone that is close to you and then you, but I will give the hardest death, you will scream and----"

    "Shut the fuck up, I can fight you even without my power."

    Said Grey as he stretched both of arms sideways, it was a gesture that was pointed towards, the gesture was to Helm to come and fight with Grey.

    Setting his sword ablaze, Helm dashed towards Grey before saying "I will love to see dispair in your face,"

    But before he could reach out for Grey, a certain person kicked him out of his tracks. Standing in front of Grey, Miles spoke "Your opponent is not him, it''s me."

    Being knocked away, Helm quickly regained his steps. Nerve poped on his forehead as he said, "You damn Hoffmanns, always getting in my way!!"

    Without wasting his time in trash talk, Miles dashed towards Helm, creating an icicle sword he swung at him which Helm barely dodged. But before Helm could regain his composure, Miles struck his feet onto Helm''s abdomen, knocking him away.

    Without giving Helm chance to get on his feet, Miles dashed forward as he struck his knee into Helm''s face.

    "Ugh!!!"

    Upon hearing Helm''s groan, Arae extended his hand to use her power of the curse, but before she could do that she was tackled away by Grey, knocking her back.

    She got up from the ground as she looked at the palm of her hands, "It look''s like sealing your power also sealed my power''s back."

    "Then we are on the equal ground it seems."

    They didn''t attack each other, they just stood their ground without saying anything. Before Grey chose to speak, "Are you aware of the things that Miles had done and been doing."

    Arae looked at Grey as she said, "I am aware of everything he does."

    Grey dashed forwards before swinging a right hook aiming at the side of the rib cage, connecting the blow, Grey asked "that makes it worse."

    In pain, Arae stepped back as she realized that she no more has the durability and strength of a god. With her power, her durability and strength also got locked away.

    In an instant Arae dashed towards Grey, she tackled him onto the wall, breaking the wall they crashed on to the room that was on the other side of the wall.

    Arae got up as she said, "I do things for my family as every other mortal does."

    Due to both losing their ability, each of the hits took a great toll on their body. as Grey was getting up, Arae tried to drive her feet onto Grey, but Grey was able to dodge it as he readied his fist, hitting her face.

    "That''s not your family, that just your delusion, that is just your curse."

    Being hit on the face, she stepped back, taking the opportunity, Grey connected another punch to his chin.

    "I don''t know for how long are you going to keep lying to yourself."

    This time without stepping back, Arae swung her fist, but it was of no use as Grey dodged it, by moving his face away. Taking advantage of her being wide open, Grey tackled her onto the wall, again breaking the wall.

    They both were in a new room, the room that was beside the other room. Grey rushed towards her before she could regain her composure, with a straight to her nose, blood scattered across the floor.

    Grey readied his fist for another right hook to the face, but before he could do that Arae ducked down, striking her feet to Grey''s feet, which made him trip and fall to the ground.

    Being on the ground, Arae got over Grey as she rained punches on Grey''s face. a punch from the left made Grey''s forehead bleed, whereas a punch right only made that bleeding worse. The floor got bloodier than before.

    "That''s how I live my life. Being between mortals I realized something---"

    She drow her elbow onto Grey face as she continued, "I realized the fact that every mortal life in some delusion or other, that''s how they survive, that''s how they stay happy."

    Arae grabbed Grey''s collar as she drove another punch onto Grey''s face, "Being in touch with reality, being in touch with things around you only makes you sadder. That''s how life, that''s what reality is, that''s what being in touch reality means."

    Arae grabbed Grey''s collar as she got Grey''s bloody face closer to her, she shouted, "What''s so wrong with living in delusion!!!???? what''s so wrong in choosing to be happy?!!!!"

    A smile curved up on Grey''s bloody face, as he chuckled, "There is nothing wrong in choosing to be happy, but you are mistaking something, godess of blessing. You just don''t want to be sad, you are scared to be sad, you don''t want to experience pain again. You could always give life another chance, don''t bind yourself down."

    Arae''s eyes widened up as she looked at Grey, "God of blessing? how do you?"

    Grey stretched his leg as he grabbed hold of Arae''s right hand into a lock. Arae punched the side of Grey''s chest to free herself but Grey refused to let her go.

    Arae lifted her hand up in an attempt to free herself, she dashed towards the wall in front of her, crashing on the wall, both of them fell on the yard outside of the church.

    Grey coughed up blood on the grass of the yard, before saying, "I saw your memory, that''s how I saw it,"

    "Do you pity me?"

    "No."

    "Good, that''s how it should be. I won''t stop fighting you unless you die, so I expect the same from you."

    "That''s what I intend to do."

    Upon hearing Grey''s word, Arae''s face tensed as she called out, "Liar, you are lying, from the start of the fight you are trying to save me. You are trying to save your ideology, you are trying to be a hero. You say I live in delusion, but you are the same as me you just live in delusion."

    Grey extended his fist as he said, "You are right about that,"

    "Know this, I am an existence beyond saving, the only way to save me is to kill me, that''s the only way you can truly save me."

    Grey and Arae dashed towards each other as they exchanged blows, one after another, they exchanged blows, they fought on equal ground.

    It was pure hand-to-hand combat since both of them lacked the power since their power was sealed away.

    being punched on the stomach, Grey crashed onto the tombstone. Arae jumped towards Grey with the intention of crushing him under her feet.

    But Grey rolled away in time, Grabbing the big chunk of tombstone, Grey swung it across aiming for Arae''s head. But before he could connect, he stopped, he couldn''t bring himself to kill her.

    "Like i said, you want to save me, not kill me."

 Chapter 134 - 133: The Conclusion For Curse And Blessing.

    Grabbing the big chunk of tombstone, Grey swung it across aiming for Arae''s head. But before he could connect, he stopped, he couldn''t bring himself to kill her.

    "As I said, you want to save me, not kill me. You are mistaken, you view me as innocent that is the reason why you are hesitating to kill me. Forget about my past, forget about the things you saw, just remember the person I am now. I am a person who helped a monster, commit acts of utmost evil, which makes me a monster too. "

    Arae took a step towards Grey as she continued, " Kill me and become a hero!"

    Grey let go of the chuck of tombstone, he gasped for breath before saying, "Become a hero? that would just make me feel shitty."

    Arae sighed, she looked at Grey as she said "Then let''s put an end to this."

    "You are right. Now then goddess of the curse, you are in my way, so I will eliminate you." Grey looked at Arae straight in the eyes as he spoke.

    "Good, then let''s finish this up."

    They both dashed towards each other, getting in close quarters to each other. Grey swung his right fist which was blocked by Arae, Grey continued to attack with his left hand which was also blocked by Arae.

    Taking advantage of Grey being wide open, drove her knee inside''s Grey abdomen knocking him away. Rolling back to the ground, Grey grabbed a piece of rock as he got up on his feet.

    Aiming it at Arae, Grey threw the rock at Arae. Which she easily dodged by tilting her head away. But following the rock, Grey dashed further, he connected a blow to her face.

    Following that blow, Grey connected another blow to her abdomen. Groaning she stepped back, but without giving her much chance Grey jumped towards her.

    In mid-air, Grey lifted his feet aiming it at Arae, but she was able to dodge it. Grey''s feet landed on the church''s wall, he again regained momentum to attack her.

    As Grey turned around to attack her, she dived towards Grey, grabbing hold of Grey, she crashed onto the church''s wall.

    But rather than stopping, she continued to sprint further while, grabbing hold of Grey, as she kept crashing Grey''s back onto wall after wall, breaking each wall. Finally, both of them collapsed into one of the benches in the aisle.

    Grey groaned as he struggled to get up, Arae walked closer to Grey, her steps were getting limped. Arae was obviously injured in various places just like Grey.

    Struggling to walk, she got closer to Grey. She picked a plank from the broken bench as she walked towards Grey. stopping close to Grey, she lifted the bench, but before she could hit Grey with it.

    Grey Grabbed a wooden piece, that had a sharp edge and stabbed it in Arae''s leg.

    "Guh!" Groaning Arae stepped back.

    She grabbed hold of the stick as she pulled it out of her tight. The wooden piece was now covered with her blood.

    Grey struggled to get up, as he looked around in the church. There were bodies of troops scattered all around the church. There were Miles troops and Helm''s troops still fighting against each other.

    There were two dead bodies in Grey''s close proximity, one to his right and one to his left. Grey carefully took a step back as his eyes were fixed at Arae, getting closer to the dead body, he got hold of the troop''s sword.

    Arae did the same as she grabbed hold of the sword, "Sword will probably make it easier, we aren''t able to finish each other off with bare hands."

    "Yeah, and dying by the sword would be much easier, with fist it hurts like hell."

    Grey looked at his sword, before turning to face Arae once again, opening his mouth he questioned, "Arae, I mean to ask you something, the hundreds of years you spent alone or few years that you spent with mortals, which one do you prefer?"

    Arae didn''t look towards Grey as she answered, "Even though it ended with pain but I loved the time that I spent with a mortal, it was warm and happy moments."

    She said this with a smile.

    "You really loved them."

    "I did."

    Grey crouched down as he gently closed the dead man''s open eye, as he asked "if you had the chance to redo it all, what would you do differently?"

    "Redo it all?" she muttered, with a second of pause she answered, "I would have ruled over humans, with the power I would have protected them."

    "I see."

    Grey got up as he readied his sword, with a sharp look in his eyes he said, "Godess of Blessing, no, Arae, it was my pleasure that I got to know you."

    "No, the pleasure was mine, Grey," said Arae as she readied her sword.

    With a quick step both of them dashed forward, clashing their sword with each other, they stepped back.

    Quickly Grey dashed forwards as he swung his swing again, Arae raised her sword to defend herself, and their sword clashed Arae''s sword backed up due to impact. But she quickly stepped back to defend herself to keep some distance between.

    After a good second both of them dashed towards each other, in close-quarter both of them swung their sword, but rather than clashing sword with her, Grey ducked down and he thrust his sword forward.

    "Grandma?"

    called out a particular person as the sword pierced right through her heart, Grey was successful in piercing the sword through her heart.

    Her knees became weak as she dropped down to the floor, she sat on the knees as she turned to look towards Kirsa.

    "Kirsa," she called out.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Kirsa followed Arae and Helm to the church, she hide since she had no idea what was happening inside the church. But she was growing impatient, so she entered the church.

    As soon as she entered the church she saw turned to look left, her eyes grew wider as she called out.

    "Grandma?"

    In front of her was Arae on her knees. There was a sword that was pierced through her chest. Arae turned to look at Kirsa as she said,

    "Kirsa."

    Kirsa rushed towards Arae, before Arae could collapse to the ground, Kirsa caught her in her arms.

    As she was holding on to her, Kirsa''s cloth was getting bloodier as Arae''s blood seeped into her cloth. Looking at the blood she asked,

    "Blood? Grandma, why are you bleeding? you---- you are god, right? this is nothing to you, right? get up grandma this is nothing for you."

    But she was wrong, Arae wasn''t able to get up. "Grandma, why ---- why this blood looks real? Grandma -----"

    Before Kirsa could say anything, Arae placed her hand over Kirsa''s cheek as she said, "Kirsa, I am fine, please don''t worry so much, I---"

    Arae couldn''t speak further as she coughed up blood.

    "Liar!!! there is no way you are fine!!", Kirsa turned to look towards Grey, as she asked "What did you do to her!!!!! why did you ---"

    "It is not his fault Kirsa, I was ordered by your brother to kill him, Grey just defended himself. You know, I can''t deny any order by your blood."

    Couldn''t being able to stand up anymore, Grey leaned onto the wall. Struggling, he got seated on the ground, leaning his back against the wall.

    His face twisted into a pained expression as he struggled to sit down, his breath was heavier, his eyes were fixed at Kirsa and Arae.

    "Grandma, your condition----"

    "Kirsa, you are a grown-up and you are my granddaughter, so I am sure you will be just fine without me. I don''t have to sugarcoat the fact that my time is over and you understand that very well."

    Tears poured out of Kirsa''s eyes as she struggled to speak, "No no no no no no, there must be some way, I am sure!! we will find you a doctor just hold on, please don''t give up."

    "Kirsa, to be honest, at one point in my life I stopped loving people Esser family, but I want you to know this, Grandma has always loved you and Grandma will continue to love you. I watched you grow up and I know you are a smart kid."

    "Grandma---" Kirsa said softly under her breath, as she couldn''t control her tears.

    "Grandma was never a god of the curse, I was the god of blessing and as the god of blessing, I want to give my little Kirsa blessing that her business will be successful and no matter what my Kirsa does, she will definitely find happiness in it. Happiness is a vague term but that''s all I want, I want my Little Kirsa to be happy."

    Arae turned to look towards Grey as she said, "You fought me bravely, you tried to save me, I respect that, I also wish that I have met you earlier. I want to give you the blessing that you will achieve the goal that you couldn''t achieve in your last life. even though you forgot the memory of it, but your soul still remembers it, I hope one day you achieve it, Grey."

    Grey didn''t say anything as he looked at her, even though he had a lot to say, but he didn''t want to take the moment between her and Kirsa, so choose to stay quiet.

    Kirsa held Arae tighter as she cried "Grandma!"

    "Can you just hold me like that, Grandma wants to take a little nap."

    Kirsa held her tighter as she said, "Yes.", she held her for a second like that before Arae spoke, "This was my life as a god...."

    those were the last words as she passed away.. For some reason she held a smile before she died, maybe she was finally in touch with reality, whatever the reason may be, but this was the story of Arae, the godess of blessing and this is how her story ended.

 Chapter 135 - 134: End Of The Curse Of Curse God Arc.

    As Arae passed away, the aura around Kirsa and Grey started glowing radiantly as it seeped inside their body.

    Looking around, Grey looked at the radiant aura with awe. Stretching his hand, he tried to reach out for the particle of glowing radiance. The glowing radiance drifted across the air before it landed on Grey''s hand.

    There wasn''t much meaning to this glowing radiance, it was just Arae''s last blessing.

    Grey looked at Arae as he took a deep breath, after a second he realized that his power was back. He could feel his mana, divine, and demonic energy. He was also able to use his seal of Minerva. The fact that his power was back only confirmed one thing for him.

    "So you are gone..." said Grey.

    His injuries were getting healed at a rapid rate due to this venomous factor. The bleeding from his forehead was getting patched on its own.

    After a minute, Kirsa opened her mouth asking, "Grey... where is he?"

    "who?"

    "That bastard, where is he?" there was a certain coldness in her voice.

    Grey raised both of his eyebrows as he answered, "Ah, you are talking about your brother. Well, you wouldn''t have to wait for much."

    Grey raised his hand as he pointed towards the right of him, "There he is."

    Kirsa turned to look towards the right, the direction towards where Grey pointed. There she saw Helm who was beaten into bloody pulp was getting dragged by Miles towards Grey.

    Grabbing his collar, Miles dragged Helm towards Grey. There were some minor injuries on Miles''s body it was nothing much and serious.

    As Miles dragged him closer, Grey chuckled as he asked, "Seems like you had a good time with it."

    Kirsa opened her mouth asking, "How alive is he?"

    Confused, MIles looked at her with a look of confusion before saying, "I am not handing him to you, he has crossed the line. I am going to murder ---"

    "No, that''s not why I asked how alive is he, I want to know if he is alive enough to be tortured to death. Don''t tell me that he is already in a near-death situation."

    "Good."

    Kirsa got up from her place, standing up she walked towards Helm, she grabbed his collar as she shook him awake, "Wake up bastard,"

    After a good second of shaking he regained consciousness, opening his eyes a little by little, he saw Kirsa. Looking at Kirsa''s face, his expression relieved a bit.

    Opening his mouth in a soft tone, he tried to speak, "we won? those damned Hoffmann------ how did we win against them? probably that bitch made it possible, she is really useful at times."

    Kirsa didn''t reply with anything as she just silently heard him talking, Helm spoke again, "Why are you silent, are you worried about your older brother? don''t worry, I am fine. Now pick me up and take me to the home, I will treat you with something, I will cancel your marriage as a reward of eliminating the Hoffmann''s."

    Grey from behind Kirsa as she asked in a cheeky smile, "Are you talking about me?"

    Looking at Grey''s face, Helm''s expression twisted in rage, as he said "You!!!!!"

    "Yes me," said Grey mocking him.

    "How is he---- now is he not dead? what is that bitch doing? where is she? what a useless piece of shit, she can''t even do one ---------AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

    before he could say anything he felt a piercing pain that bolted from his thighs to his entire body. Before he could realize there was a dagger piercing through his flesh, and the person that was holding that dagger was Kirsa.

    groaning Helm asked, "What the fuck are you doing?!!!"

    "Next time, I hear you call our grandma bitch, I am going to slice your tongue out."

    Being breathless, Helm gasped for breath. Later he looked at Kirsa with a sharp look as he asked, "You seem to be getting a daring little sister, did you forget your place? should I make you remember it? who the fuck do you think you are?! don''t forget that I still have more control over that godess that you have. with just my one word she will kill you all."

    Kirsa looked at her with a cold look as she said, "What are you talking about, she is----" Kirsa turned to look towards Arae''s body as she said, " ----she is dead."

    "What--- what are you--" Helm looked at Arae''s body as his eyes widened up, his words broke apart. His world came crashing in front of him.

    "What---- what---- what did you do to her!!!???" asked Helm to Kirsa who was seated in front of him in a crouching position.

    With a plain cold look, Kirsa spoke "What are you talking about? this is your fault, you were the one that pushed her to the edge."

    Helm was at his limit, he was done with his little sister talking back to him. With bloodshot eyes, he looked at her as he tried to jump towards her in an attempt to grab her, but before he could do that. His chin felt tremendous pressure as he went flying aside rather than his initial attempt to jump forward.

    It was Grey who kicked Helm before he could do anything. As Helm was knocked away, he went and crashed in front of Miles.

    Landing in front of Miles, he looked at Miles. fear took over his mind as he remembered his last fight with him, he desperately tried to get up, to get away from Miles. But it was a futile attempt as Miles, kicked in his butt knocking him away towards Kirsa.

    As Helm was passed towards Kirsa, she didn''t have the strength to kick him away, so she did the most logical thing of blasting him away with his magic. After all, she had to continue the game of ''Pass the Helm.''.

    After five minutes of ''pass the Helm'', Helm was left in a bloody pool as his blood was scattered all around the place. Lying down on the ground, he struggled to get up, but he wasn''t able to anymore.

    Landing in front of Grey, he grabbed onto Grey legs. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he cried in desperation, when he opened his mouth, his missing teeth was openly visible,

    Grey looked down at him with a cold look as he had no particular expression on his face, standing on top, he looked down on Helm.

    Helm kept begging for a minute, as he said, "I am sorry for what I have done!! but please spare me---- please."

    Grey sighed as he looked at Kirsa, he walked towards Kirsa and Miles as he said, "I think this should be enough."

    Upon hearing what Grey had said, Helm''s expression relieved as she smiled. It was an ugly smile, with his messed up face he tried his best to smile, his missing teeth made the smile more ugly.

    "Thanks, thank---"

    "This should be enough, you both are free to kill him." Said Grey as he walked away towards Miles and Kirsa. With those words, his relieved expression changed, and so did his smile faded away.

    His facial expression was as if, he had eaten shit. Dragging his body away, he tried to run away saying "I can''t be killed her, I someday gonna be the king of this country. I can''t be killed, I can''t be killed---"

    But he couldn''t run away, standing in front of him were Miles and Kirsa. he looked up with absolute fear towards Miles and Kirsa.

    Miles turned to ask Kirsa, "are you going to do it?"

    "Yes,"

    Miles extended his sword as he handed it to Kirsa, he spoke "Then will you please kill him with this sword, this is my troop''s sword, the one your brother killed. I want you to kill your brother with this sword."

    Kirsa took the sword as she said "Very, well."

    Handing the sword, Miles walked away, he felt like he should give Kirsa alone time.

    Kirsa walked near Helm as she raised her sword, "Any last words?"

    "What-- what are you saying? you aren''t going to kill your own---- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

    Kirsa sliced Helm''s hand off in a clean-cut as she asked again, "Any last words?"

    Helm groaned on the floor, opening his mouth he struggled to speak "Please ----"

    Kirsa swung her sword, in a clean hit she aimed it at the neck. With a beautiful strike, his head was detached from his neck, as blood scattered all across the place.

    Wiping the blood on her face, Kirsa spoke " Your last words were ''please'', pretty polite for someone like you."

    That day in the church, not many troops died, the number of casualties was so less that it was possible to count them in fingers.

    As this was happening a man in a faraway land who was seated on his throne smiled, taking a sip of his wine he spoke,

    "Looks like another one of us is dead,"

    {Author: he is talking about gods.}

 Chapter 136 - 135: Random Party.

    (Grey''s POV)

    After Helm''s death, Miles captured the entirety of Depool city''s underground organization and brought it under the Celestia organization. due to Helm''s death, stability was brought back into the city and the reason for his death was made public.

    The reason for his death was stated as that he was killed by Miles and along with that all of his crimes were also brought into the light. Miles could have chosen to cover up his death but he did this so that the family that has lost their loved ones due to Helm could rest in peace.

    he is truly a righteous idiot.

    I and Kirsa continued our business partnership, it''s been three months since then she took care of production and hiring people, well I also did help her with most of the things.

    Among all these Princes--- I mean Sara has already captured the entirety of Frey nations underworld organization and we have already captured half of Amay nations underworld organization. By the way, I am talking about the underworld organization.

    Recently the inferno''s activity has gotten active against us, so it''s safe to assume that they are planning something to destroy us from roots, or else it doesn''t make sense that they are letting us run freely.

    Ah, well it doesn''t matter to me since this Celestia stuff doesn''t matter to me. I am only one of them because inferno is affiliated with gods or a particular god. I would have to face inferno one day anyways.

    Talking about gods I need to find the god who was the power to predict the future, and then there is God of compassion. These gods probably have a council of some sort, so I should probably get more information about it.

    I was climbing up the stairs as I couldn''t help but sigh, "there are a lot of things going on at once-------ah, I wonder what is Ulrich doing right now."

    Aetna who was walking behind me skipped a step, to walk beside me as she cheerfully spoke, "Yes! even I wonder how is everyone else is doing, I miss them, it was so fun the times we have been together."

    "Don''t worry, we will eventually meet them."

    "Yes! we will meet them for sure in around 6 months."

    Finally after walking the stairs, Grey reached the room he was supposed to be in. As he walked closer to the door, the maid spoke "Young master, everyone is waiting inside."

    "Everyone?" I asked.

    I only remember calling Kirsa, Ermic, Ebony, and Clay to this meeting, I guess that''s who she means by everyone, but well they are following me, rather than waiting inside.

    They were walking behind me because I just teleported them here, to have a meeting with them comfortably.

    I paused for a second because I heard chit-chat from inside and I have already seen the aura of people who are seated inside.

    What the fuck are these people doing here?

    Ermic stepped in front of me as he looked towards the door, drawing his blade out he asked, "Is there any problem my master? I will take care of them."

    What ------ why does this man choose violence in every other thing.

    I didn''t reply to him with anything and due to not receiving any type of confirmation he looked back. Squinting my eyes I asked, "Why do you draw your blade out for every other inconvenience. There is nothing inside, other than----"

    I walked ahead towards the door, opening the door I entered the room. "Other than a bunch of nuisance."

    As I entered the room I saw everyone who was present in the room.

    "Can you pass me some of those snacks? it tastes really good with this wine."

    asked a drunk Evans, who was seated at the conference table with a bottle of wine in his hand and he munched down snack with his other hand.

    "Shut the fuck up, I already shared a lot with you, this is mine. touch it and I will kill you," said Rin as she was protecting her portion of the snack.

    among all this Ray was seated at the edge of the room. For some reason she wasn''t seated at the conference table, she was seated at the edge of the room.

    Alone she sipped on her wine, she seemed to enjoy the wine. Taking a sip she made an "eek" sound. Looks like she caught hiccups.

    I closed my eyes, before asking "What the fuck are you guys doing here?"

    "I invited them," said Grandma Lozen, who was also seated on the conference table.

    {Author: I didn''t write a reunion between Grey and Grandma Lozen since she already knew that he was alive and it would have been boring. By the way, he has been living in his old house for three months now.}

    "Why!?"

    A gentle smile formed across Grandma Lozen''s face as she said, "I wanted to meet your friend."

    "Grandma you are mistaken, these assholes are not my friends."

    I walked closer to them, grabbing Evan''s face I said, "This asshole, threatened me when we met for the first time."

    I got my hand closer to Rin''s forehead, hitting her with a flick I said "This girl threatens to kill me every other day."

    Miles who was seated on the side of the table, I pointed towards him as I said "He is my cousin but yet he threatened me the first time we met. Half of these assholes threatened me when we met for the first time, these guys are not my friend."

    I looked towards Ray who was still peacefully drinking her drink as I said, "Well, she is my friend, she was always nice to me, "I said as I raised both of my hands as I made a heart with it.

    She did the same, making a heart with her finger, she winked at me.

    Rin got up from her table as she grabbed hold of me, "what are you talking about? are you suggesting that we are more than friends?" she said with a cheeky smile.

    "Yes, I did promise you that I would take you as my wife," I said.

    With a surprise on her face, she asked, "You did?"

    Aetna who was standing beside me also asked "You did?!!"

    I got closer to Aetna as I whispered that I am just kidding and messing with drunk Rin. As I was explaining, Evan''s opened his drunk mouth as he said, "You did?! but you promised that you would take me as your wife."

    "Shut up, you are too drunk and I am not gay,"

    I went and took a seat on the conference table, and beside me sat Aetna. Everyone else was already seated around the conference table.

    "Now let''s get back to the business. I invited you all to conduct a meeting on how to further our company---"

    "Grey, do meeting some other time, let''s have fun today." suggested grandma Lozen, she continued "Even look at your business partner they look like even they want to join the party."

    I turned to look at Ebony, Kirsa, and Clay and they genuinely seemed like they wanted to party with each other. I sighed, before saying "Fine, let''s party today."

    As soon as I said that, the rest of them joined the party. Each went with their own group. Miles, Clay, Evans, and Ermic seemed to drink together and talk about random topics. I wonder what Ermic is doing there.

    I stared at them for a good minute and soon realized that all four of them were having a drinking competition with each other. I expect that from Clay and Ermic, but why are Miles and Ermic joining them, aren''t they supposed to be serious types? well, it''s good for them, they are enjoying themselves.

    Aetna was seated beside Ray, Aetna seems to happily talk about something to Ray and I wonder what is the topic of their conversation since they both seem to heavily be involved with the conversation.

    Rin was just teasing Ebony, they seem to talk about their romantic life. I am not interested in that topic, I mean it''s not like I am not interested in romance it''s just that------ it''s complicated for me.

    Kirsa was just seated beside me, she doesn''t prefer to drink so she is seated beside me. After a minute she opened her mouth asking, "Grey, do you have a girlfriend?"

    "No,"

    "Why? you have a good face---- I mean you surely do have one."

    "Well------ it''s complicated. What about you? do you have a boyfriend?"

    "Yes, I do---- but not boyfriend, I have a girlfriend. she is so cute,"

    "she is cute? I want to meet her." I said to which she replied,

    "No, you are too good-looking, I can''t let you meet her."

    I chuckled as I said, "You sound like a guy."

    "Well, but I am interested in both girls and boys, so you are never out of option," she said winking at me.

    I smiled as I said, "Sure, it would be my pleasure if you choose me."

    as I said that she looked away as her face got red, I couldn''t help but laugh. It seems like she is not a flirting type.

    {Author: I will start the next arc from the next chapter, the next arc will be about the magic school selection exam arc.}

 Chapter 137 - 136: To The Magic Academy.

    "Grandma, you are the wise headmaster of Heka Maho academy, aren''t you going to like------- I mean you can directly admit me right? right?! I mean it''s so boring to go through the entrance----"

    "Ow ow ow ow ow" my cheeks were getting pulled my Grandma Lozen, getting my cheeks pulled reminds me of Mark.

    "You cheeky little kid, you would have to go through the entrance exam like everyone else," said Grandma Lozen as she pulled my cheeks.

    Aetna stood beside me as she asked, "But you won the pass to the Heka Maho academy at the competition, you don''t have to take the entrance exam."

    Shit...

    I looked away as I said, "I gave it to a friend since I wanted to see that person in the academy with me."

    "Who did you give it to?" asked Aetna, curious.

    "A friend," I answered by not maintaining eye contact with her.

    Grandma Lozen chuckled as she said, "Be careful Aetna, looks like he is going to make a harem. If you don''t like it, you will have to take him for yourself by force."

    Aetna went a deep thought for a good second, before repeating "By force..."

    She suddenly grabbed one of my arms as she asked "Like this?"

    "Yes, you are doing good!" answered Grandma.

    Squinting my eyes I said, "Grandma please don''t teach her this thing,"

    As I was loading the luggage dad came with Illya, Emiliya, and Annie. Dad has been taking great care of these three, so much so that I think he wanted a daughter rather than a son.

    "Brother Grey are you going?" asked Illya as she held my hand tightly. she started at me with her sparkly eye, waiting for my answer.

    "No no, brother is just going for the academy, I will be back from time to time. Till then you take care of dad, Emilia, and Annie, okay?"

    "Yes, till then you can take care of dad!" said Dad as he placed his hand over Illya''s head.

    "Okay!! but promise that you will be back for Illya from time to time!"

    "yes yes, promise!"

    Annie who was staring at me said "I will be in the academy in two years, just wait for me."

    Emilia joined her by saying "Yes, even I will join the academy in two years."

    "Then, I will wait for you both."

    "When will Illya get the chance to join the academy?" asked Illya, to which I replied with,

    "First Illya needs to get big."

    as I was talking with Illya a question appeared in my mind, I turned to look at Grandma Lozen as I asked, "Grandma, why do I even have to join the academy?"

    Hearing this question, Grandma sighed as she said, "Most of the kids at your age are excited or aiming to join the academy and then become heroes party members, but why aren''t you interested in normal things?"

    "Because I have goals that are different from joining heroes party members, but summoned heroes sure are interesting."

    "Good, since you will have to work with them as a king to protect the peace of this continent."

    as she mentioned that, I looked at her as I asked, "Wait, How did you know that I wanted to become king?"

    A smile formed across Grandma''s face as she said, "Because I am your grandma. By the way, you have to join the academy since you are part of the royal family and it is my duty to make sure that you are joining the academy. I promised your grandpa and grandma about this."

    {Author: By the way, Lozen is not Grey''s biological grandma. Grey just calls her Grandma since he considers her his Grandma.}

    I looked at dad and he just said that "Don''t look at me, I already stepped on my dad''s nerve many times, he will kill me if I don''t provide his grandson with the finest education about magic and everything. When you are at the academy, you will probably meet my dad, please don''t try to be cocky in front of him. He is a dangerous man."

    I looked back at Grandma Lozen as I asked, "Why is dad afraid of his dad so much."

    "Because he is the former king of the Frey nation, he brought back peace between countries, a man like him is scary to meet. You will know when you will meet him." answered grandma.

    Why are these two hyping up by biological grandpa so much?

    Emilia opened her mouth as she said, "Brother, Sister Eira still doesn''t know that you are alive, I just wanted to mention this fact to you."

    "She had already joined Heka Maho academy in the previous year, right? she joined in warrior class right?"

    "Yes," replied Emilia.

    "Grey, after the news of your death, she changed into a completely different person. The news of losing you drive her to train herself day and night to become strong. She trained under me for a while, then she suddenly left and trained in various different places, just to get stronger. She never talked about how she felt throughout the years she just kept training herself.

    Currently, she is strong to the point where even his peers don''t come closer to her. She possesses a strength that even bridges the power gap between a mage and warrior. I am just talking about her raw strength. So please while revealing that you are alive, be careful, since it would collapse her whole reason of getting stronger, treat this topic sensitively."

    I didn''t answer with anything right away, but I eventually replied with a yes.

    I got on the wagon and along with me Aetna and Grandma Lozen also got on the wagon, but I peeked out of the wagon once more as I asked with a big smile, "Is she really that op currently?"

    "Yes, pretty Op," answered Emilia.

    {op- overpowered.}

    "You seem happy that you will meet her soon." said dad to which I replied with "No, I am just happy about the fact that she is op now."

    "By the way, you will meet up with Sylphy soon." said dad out of nowhere as the wagon started moving.

    upon hearing that I once again peaked out of the wagon as I asked "How?!"

    dad waved his hand as he said, "That''s a secret."

    The wagon moved out of the gate and eventually, dad''s voice became audible. I sat back inside the wagon as I asked Aunt Sofia who was riding the wagon, "How much time till we reach there?"

    To which aunt Sofia replied, "In half an hour we will enter the Frey nation and after three days of traveling we will reach there."

    "That''s not so far away," said Aetna.

    "Actually By road, it will take more time, but we will take various different means to reach there faster."

    "Okay!"

    "By the way Grey, are you excited to meet your old crush?" asked Grandma Lozen out of nowhere and this topic caught Aetna''s attention like nothing.

    Her eyes were locked on us and she wasn''t even trying to hide the fact that she was listening closely to the conversation. But as much as I remember I never had any old crush.

    I looked at Grandma Lozen with confusion, looking at my confused face she answered, "I am talking about Sylphy."

    "What are you talking about? I never had a crush on her." I denied it quickly to which Grandma Lozen made a smug face as she said,

    "Now now, don''t need to lie, it was obvious that the kid you had a huge crush on her."

    I looked out of the window, as I answered, "I didn''t have a crush on her, I just really admired the person she was. I don''t know if she is still the same person."

    "She is currently in a heroes party, and she is still the same person he used to be. Just like how you used to admire Sylphy,  Eira used to admire you as a kid, it was obvious from her eyes."

    "She surely would be disappointed knowing that I am not the same person I used to be."

    "People change, Grey, but I am sure that she would be thrilled to see you," said Grandma Lozen.

    As we were talking, we already reached the border of Frey nation and after five minutes we were inside the Frey nation. Just like this, we went on to travel for one and a half-day to reach the place where Heka Maho magic academy was present and for that, we had to go along the stream of Nadi river to reach there.

    We were on board a private boat to reach the Heka Maho magic academy after traveling through the streams of the Nadi River. after half day of traveling through the river, we finally reached our destination and reached the place where we needed to board off the boat.

    The place we boarded off to was Vashi city, this city was the place where Heko Maho magic academy.

 Chapter 138 - 137: Academy Grounds.

    We boarded off the boat on the port of Vashi city. As soon as I got boarded off, we saw someone people waiting for us.

    Taking our luggage we walked towards the person who was waiting for us, "What are you doing here, Professor Blake?"

    asked Grandma Lozen as we broached the man, apparently, his name was blake and even if Grandma hadn''t mentioned that he was a professor, it was very obvious from his peculiar sense of dressing.

    His shirt and pant and even his spectacle, everything was so aligned that it felt like he had glued everything in place. It was certainly interesting to see a person so perfect about his clothes.

    Beside him stood a boy, he looks like around my age and for some reason, he was looking at me from up and down. I couldn''t help but sight, those sets of eyes are of someone who is highly competitive.

    Later his eyes shifted to look at Aetna and his eyes were set on her, so much so that it felt his eyes were glued on her. Being uncomfortable, Aetna stepped behind me and grabbed my hand.

    Upon looking at what Aetna had done, the boy just clicked his tongue as he looked irritated, "Tsk."

    "I actually came here to pick up my son, since he is of age to attend the academy and also I thought that I might as well pick you up, I brought someone to pick your luggage."

    said Professor Blake, as he ordered men around him to pick up our luggage. Upon his order, the men picked up our luggage and loaded it in our wagons.

    While they were loading the luggage, the professor looked at me curiously, so without any wait, I gave my introduction, "Hello sir, forgive my rudeness of not introducing myself. I am Grey Hoffmann, I came here with Grandma Lozem because of me, and " I looked at Aetna as I said, "My friend, here Aetna, both of us are going to join the academy from this year."

    A smile curved upon the professor''s face as he said, "Such a disciplined child!! it is so delightful to meet you and your friend, " the professor looked at the boy who was standing beside him as he said, "This here is my son,"

    The professor patted on his son''s back as she pushed him gently as he said, "Give your introduction to them."

    The boy looked at Grandma Lozen as he said, "My name is John Blake, it is pleasure to meet you wise headmaster Lozen and also ---"

    He turned to look at me and Aetna, for some reason he paused a second, and that pause was definitely intentional. With a brief pause, he said, "Nice to meet you Grey, and -----Aetna. I am looking forward to meeting you more in academy Aetna and Grey, I hope that you get in the academy, but it''s not that easy though."

    This guy.... did I do something to him? why is he shooting such a passive-aggressive statement towards me?

    Eventually, the luggage got loaded up and we got on the wagon, while the professor and his son got boarded on a different wagon behind.

    The wagon moved through the city, as I just looked at the city through the wagon''s window. The city was filled with people, the population density was good, not too much and not too less. The market also seemed to have a good structure.

    We just passed by a market, where I could see various magical equipment and books, there were various other things in general that were loosely related to the academy-related stuff or were related to magic.

    Later after several twists and turns, we traveled through the food market, which was also diversely different. But the main type of food that was popular seemed to be seafood, there were various kinds of seafood and the city also seemed not lacking in the terms of fruits. Well, I guess this place is the point where various goods are ported from place to place, that''s why maybe various goods are cheap here.

    As I was staring out of the window, Grandma Lozen opened her mouth saying, "There is something I need to tell you."

    "What is it, Grandma?" I asked, I didn''t look towards her since I was still engaged in looking out of the window and also since Grandma doesn''t mind these things.

    "There is a saying in the academy that the process of selecting students is frozen in place. Do you know why people say this?" asked Grandma Lozen.

    I didn''t know the reason so I naturally asked, "Why?"

    "Because the process of selection of student is still same from the hundreds of years since the academy had formed. Maybe the selection strategy was perfect or maybe because there is still no better alternative, the selection process never changed and it''s still the same."

    "Is the selection process harsh?" I asked.

    "No, it is just primitive, at least that''s what I feel about it. Putting aside the normal selection, since I know that you will easily clear them, the main concern for me is when they will check the size of your mana core."

    as soon as she mentioned that, it finally clicked, I understand what she was getting at.

    "So due to my small mana core size, they will kick me out?"

    {Author: I mentioned it in very earlier chapters, like before chapter 10. I mentioned the fact that Grey was born with a small mana core just like his dad, but unlike his dead, Grey had a condensed set of mana core due to the demonic energy wrapping around his mana core and condensing the mana in it. Making it a very pure and concentrated form of mana.}

    Grandma Lozen chuckled as she said, "No, they won''t kick you out. But according to the mana core of the person, the person is classified into three classes Warrior class, warrior-mage class and then there is a pure mage class. Each class is given a different unfirom. Put here is a fun fact, even though there is a separate warrior-mage class, the students who the majority became a warrior-mage class are from the pure mage class. But warrior class students always turned to be warrior class."

    I turned to look at Grandma Lozen as I asked, "So I will be warrior class student and also I will be given a uniform of warrior class?"

    "Yes, but you don''t have to worry since students are free to choose any program they want. No student is limited to a single program. The warrior class will only be a title and you will only be considered among those students, it doesn''t mean that you will become a warrior class in the future."

    "I see, what about Aetna?"

    "Ah, Aetna, " Grandma Lozen placed her hand over Aetna as she said, "Aetna is brilliant girl, the three months I trained her. I can tell that she is easily powerful enough to stand in the toe with the students who are senior to her and it goes the same for you, Grey. Aetna''s mana core size will easily place her among the pure mage class, the rarest class in the academy."

    I again looked at the window as I said, "Eira is my senior and also a warrior class right?"

    "Yeah, even she has the small mana core just like you and your dad. But that never stopped her, she is easily the strongest kid among her peers and even if you look at people who are younger and older than her, she is strongest and she is stronger by a big margin. You will know what I am talking about when you see her. Her raw strength is something I have never seen, the only times I have seen raw strength as close to her was when I saw your dad and mom fight, she is on par with their raw strength. Well, I am talking about the time when they were younger."

    Eventually, as we were talking, we reached a massive gate, through which we entered the academy building. The academy was located at the corner of the city, away from the port and the city itself. Entering the gate, I could see many students walking around the campus.

    Before we could go anymore further, I told them to stop the wagon and got off the wagon with Aetna as I said "Grandma, you go ahead, I will go walk around the campus and also register for the entrance test afterward."

    "Okay, take care okay, and you too Aetna."

    "Yes Grandma!" replied Aetna.

    Her wagon eventually left and we walked around the academy pointlessly. Eventually, we reached the place where people seemed to gather, I avoided that place since I had no idea who was there. But I eventually found out about who the crowd was gathered for.

    A boy passed by as he said to his friend, "Let''s go, I heard the princess Lora Ormr and Otis Ormr has come, let''s go check them out. I have heard that princess Lora is really beautiful."

    His friend instantly got excited as he said, "Really? let''s go check her out."

    I purposely avoided going there since I didn''t wanted to catch the attention of others, and it would be complicated if she is still not over me. I hope she is over me, i really hope!

 Chapter 139 - 138: A Friendly Spar.

    "Grey, why are we going the other way? don''t you want to meet your cousin Otis and Lora?"

    "Let''s meet them some other day, we will be in the same academy so we will probably be meeting often."

    "Okay, if you say so."

    Aetna just followed as I walked away from the crowd. Eventually, after walking for five minutes, I got in a safe distance away from the crowd.

    But the place we currently ended up in looks like a sort of ring, not exactly a ring, it looks more like sparring grounds. Fighting in the ring was a familiar face. But without getting noticed I just sat quietly with Aetna to watch the match.

    Standing on the ring, Killian readied his bare hand and stood in an offensive position. It looks like he is not using his metal gaunlet, well if he did, then it will defeat the whole purpose of it being just a spar.

    "Grey is it allowed for someone who is not a student to fight a sparring match on academy grounds, I don''t think it is supposed to be allowed."

    "Yes, you are right, Aetna. It is most probably not allowed, but I guess it won''t matter much since both of the fighters have their consent in the fight and the word will probably not go out and even if it did, I think there is someone to help Killian out."

    I said as I looked towards the group of boys and girls who were standing on the side where Killian was standing, looking at the uniform it''s obvious that they are the students of this academy and most probably my seniors.

    {Author: The uniform of the academy consists of a black shirt and black blazer and pants and for girls, the uniform is the same except for the black skirt. But the shades of black are different for each clothes like for shirt the shade of black is darkest and for the blazer, the shade of black is kind of light.

    There are three types of students, first is the pure mage group, these students have a golden outline throughout the uniform and then there is the mage warrior group, which has a silver outline throughout the uniform. At last, there is the Warrior group, who have a golden purple shade of outline throughout the uniform.}

    Most of the students who were standing on Killian''s side were either pure mage or mage-warrior and the student who Killian was going to fight was a warrior class student.

    "I will show you that we warrior class are not weak. After this fight, I will force you all to acknowledge us as equals." said the warrior class student.

    An awkward mocking smile spread across Killian''s face as he asked, "I am not even a student of this academy yet and I am a year younger than you all. Even if you beat me, there is nothing you can prove, but you can still not beat me. Since you are not capable of doing so."

    "Then, I am going to become the referee of this!! is it fine with everyone?!" said a boy, this boy was not among the group who was standing on Killian''s side. He was seated in the audience and just raised his hand.

    "Isn''t that Dean Meier? from the famous Meier family?!!"

    "Is it?" asked his friend in surprise, as he looked towards the person who was supposed to be Dean Meier and upon a glance, his friend confirmed that "He is Dean Meier!! I didn''t expect to see him here at this time, I thought he was at his training with summoned heroes."

    "Looks like he is done with it and arrived here earlier, but he is even handsome than I imagined him to be that definitely makes me jealous."

    Overhearing the conversation, I couldn''t help but sigh. It''s just funny that how conveniently the author introduced this Dean Meier character by just making random strangers talk about him in the background and generally hyping him up.

    {Author: Oi MC don''t break the fourth wall.}

    There was no one to object to Dean Meier and he easily became the referee of the spar. Well, it looks like no one wants to cross him or he is just important.

    Dean stood in between the ring as he explained the rule, "as I am the overseer of the match, I will explain the rule. The match--- the spar will be between Killian Dirksen and ----- what is it your name gentlemen?"

    The boy opened his mouth as he said, "My name is April."

    "The spar will be between Killian Dirksen and April, it will be just a normal spar and it will go on till I declare one of the combatants as a winner. Is this both okay with you both?"

    Both of the combatants agreed to the rules with a simple nod, but there was someone else who seemed to have a problem with the rule.

    Among the group who was standing on Killian''s side, one of the boys raised his hand as he said, "I object that the fight should go on till one of the combatants openly says that he gives up."

    "No, I can''t do that. Anyone who will get hurt here will be on us and I don''t want anyone to get hurt since this is a normal spar, not a duel." Dead declined straightaway.

    The guy walked into the ring as he said, "Then let''s ask both of the fighters what they have to say about this.". Walking closer to Killian, he placed his hand over his shoulder as he asked, "What do you say about this?"

    "We--- we should make the rule so that till one of the people gives, the fight will not stop," said Killian, but while saying this, he didn''t make any eye contact with Dean and the hesitation was obvious by just his body language and tone of voice.

    The guy looked at April as he asked, "What about you?"

    April looked at the guy who was standing beside Killian furiously as he said, " Win Lange, you are as nosy as always. You instigated the fight and now altering the rule conveniently to make an example out of me. " A smile formed across her face as he said, "But I don''t object with the additional rule, since I won''t give up, even if I have to die in that ring."

    So the guy with the repulsive face --- his name is Win Lange, I see.

    "How heroic, but let ------"

    Before Win could say anything, Dean interrupted him saying, "if both of you don''t have any problem with the additional rule, then I don''t have any problem with it. By the way, are you both mage, why aren''t you carrying any weapon."

    "No, we are going to fight with fist and magic,"

    "Well, I will only fight with fist since I am bad at magic," said April.

    "Fine then, let''s start the match!" said Dean as he waved his hand in a vertical motion, signifying the start of the match.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Third person perspective)

    As the match began, April dashed towards Killian. While Killian stayed in his place before April could get at his close-quarter, Killian shot shards of rock at April.

    Which he was easily able to dodge, but it definitely slowed him down. Taking advantage of this Killian dashed towards April, but ---

    ''Getting close quarters with a warrior class is your greatest mistake.''

    With a sudden quick movement, April prepared for a punch. But as he extended his leg out, he wasn''t able to do it, which halted his movement. When he looked down to see what was limiting his movement, he saw the ground has locked him in place enabling him to move. With force, he broke himself free, breaking the ground.

    But as he was distracted, Killian got closer to him as he was already halfway with connecting his punch to April''s chin. What was worse than, his hand was covered with a knuckle made out of rock.

    Successfully distracting April, Killian was successful in connecting his fist that was covered with rock onto April''s chin. The blow was powerful that April''s consciousness was shaken up with just one clean punch.

    Falling to the ground, April found the word around him dizzy.

    Killian who stood in front of April remembered a similar scenario that happened years ago. That time his opponent who was Grey suffered a punch from Killian, but at that time Killian was so into his ego that he didn''t take the chance of finishing up his opponent when he had the chance.

    But deep down, even Killian knew that he never had the chance to win against Grey. But to this day he wonders if he had taken the chance when Grey was down. This Regret always eats him up.

    Taking his chance Killian drove his knee into April''s nose further making sure that he has knocked out, as he was down Killian got on the top of him as he connected further two more punches and then stopped.

    Killian proceeded to get up as he prepared to walk out of the ring, but before he could he was interrupted by Win who spoke, "Are you going to leave without making him say that he gives up? if I remember correctly he was ready to die in that ring, so kill him if he doesn''t say that I give up."

 Chapter 140 - 139: Fear Of White.

    Killian proceeded to get up as he prepared to walk out of the ring, but before he could he was interrupted by Win who spoke, "Are you going to leave without making him say that he gives up? if I remember correctly he was ready to die in that ring, so kill him if he doesn''t say that I give up."

    Killian who was going to step out of the ring paused, looking at Win he said, "I think it''s enough, I think ---- I think he can''t fight anymore."

    Hearing this, a smile spread across Win''s face as he said "You are naive Killian, this is how you maintain your status. Your enemies should know the price of fighting you and they should know the fear of fighting you."

    Killian looked at April who was standing back up, staring at him Killian thought of the time when Grey beat him.

    The hazy memory of punching rained down on him as he tried to say that he give up, but he couldn''t. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t use his mouth to speak. At a point, he was left with no option other than hoping that he makes it out alive.

    The memory of blood clogged in his nose, extreme urge to cough out blood, and just non-stop pain, he was forced to bear all this while he was not able to say anything. Just three words ''I give up'' was enough for him to stop suffering, but his broken jaw made him unable to speak.

    When he thought that he would die, Grey stopped and he was left alive. But that was just the beginning of his fear. At nights he used to see flashes of getting beaten by Grey while he was powerless to do anything.

    There aren''t many people with white hair, but whenever he saw one, he purposefully avoided those people. Grey eventually left the city, but Killian''s fear for Grey never left him.

    Looking at April trying to stand, he somehow remembered the fight between him and Grey. looking at April his nerves boiled up. His facial expression instantly raged up as he walked quickly towards April who just stood up.

    Walking ahead Killian formed a rod-shaped stone in his hand, getting closer to April, he swung it. But April was able to dodge it by ducking down and connecting a right hook in the chest.

    "Guh!" groaned Killian as he stepped back.

    Being enraged more, he cast a wide range spell. Mana gathered at Killian''s hand along with a cluster of stones formed across Killian which eventually became rock.

    "Stay down!!" screamed Killian as he fired the rocks at April.

    To block the barrage of rocks at him, he blocked the first rock by punching with his bare fist, then second, then third, with each punch his knuckles were getting more and more messed up.

    April swung his fist, punching through the fourth rock, but as he looked up to see the fifth rock.

    "Gah!!!"

    He felt an instant pressure, pressing down against his entire body. The force that he felt pressing down him was so much that he was knocked away eventually crashing to the wall.

    The force that he felt against him was a rock that was bigger than his expectation.

    Crashing to the wall, he collapsed down. Taking advantage of this April got on the top of him, grabbing April''s collar Killian asked "Do you give up?"

    "Never!!"

    Killian swung a punch at his face as he asked again "Do you give up!?"

    "No."

    Killian drove his fist inside his nose as he asked "Do you give up?"

    Punch after another, Killian punched April, but April showed no sign of giving up, and eventually, April was in a half-conscious state. But Killian didn''t stop with his punches, Killian remembered the time where Grey didn''t stop.

    His blood instantly boiled up just by remembering that, Killian didn''t stop with his punches as blood splattered all across the ground, and April''s face was getting more and more messed up.

    "Bastard! who do you think you are?! if you really don''t want to give up I will kill you today!!"

    Killian kept pounding his face with his fists as he screamed "Fine, I will kill you today!!"

    Killian raised his hand, gathering mana in his hand he wrapped rock knuckle around his fist. Grabbing half-unconscious April''s collar, he swung his right fist which was covered with rock knuckle at April, he swung his fist as he said,

    "Please give up, I ----"

    "Killian that''s enough." said a certain boy as he grabbed Killian''s hand before it could reach April''s face.

    The voice that those words belonged to was someone that Killian recognized very well. It was a voice that Killian could never forget.

    Killian instantly stopped, his pupil shook vigorously as he slowly looked behind to the person who grabbed his arms. Upon confirming the identity of the person, his entire body shook uncontrollably.

    Looking at the boy''s face, Killian remembered the nightmarish memories of that day. His body also seemed to recognize the fear that he felt being around the guy that was standing in front of him.

    Somehow Killian was able to speak, "Grey?"

    Yes, the person who was standing in front of him was Grey, Aetna was standing beside Grey.

    "get up from him or he will die."

    As if Grey''s order was Killian''s instincts, Killian got up from April without thinking much. Killian tried to get out of the ring, he didn''t like the feeling of being around Grey.

    He didn''t want to stay even a second more around Grey, he couldn''t look at Grey without getting flashbacks of those days.

    But before Killian would walk out, Win interrupted as he said loudly, "the match is not over, and no one can interrupt it.  Especially people who are not of this academy can not interrupt this match. April hasn''t said that he has given up and ---"

    Win laughed before saying "He was ready to give his pathetic life away, so why not just take it!!"

    Grey turned around as he looked at Win, Grey didn''t have any expression on his face as he said, "I see..."

    "Then get away from the ring before I ----"

    without paying heed to what Win was saying, Grey turned to look at Killian who was walking away as he said "Killia, ----"

    As Grey called him, Killian''s body froze up, Grey continued "You might have a good idea of what it''s like to be in a situation like April, being punched non-stop in the face is not a pleasant experience and you should know it better or -----"

    Grey moved his pupil towards Killian as he asked " ---- or have you forgotten Killian?"

    "N---no."

    "Good! if you understand, then say you ''I Give up'' right now,"

    A conflicted facial expression took over Killian''s face as he said "But---"

    But before Killian could say anything Win interrupted him by saying this to Grey, "Why do you think you are?! you interrupted the fight and now bossing your way around. You seem to not understand how things work around here. Killian is among my people, if you try to boss him around, then I will make your life in this academy a living hell. Now get out of the ring before I make, " Win chuckled as he continued "You think that Killian will agree to what----"

    Ignoring what Win was saying, Grey spoke "Killian, your jaw is still intact right? say ''I give up'' till your jaw is in one piece and you are able to talk."

    Win couldn''t hold his laughter as he asked "Do you think such threat would work----"

    "I---- I  give up!!"

    Killian said before Win could say anything else. In shock, Win looked at Killian. But Killian tried his best to avoid eye contact with Win.

    "Good," said Grey as he proceeded to walk out of the ring towards where April was fallen down. As Grey was walking with showing his back, Win readied a fireball aiming at Grey, firing it towards Grey.

    But before fireball could reach Grey, a ain''t hand made out of fire caught the fireball. The giant hand was coming from Aetna''s side.

    She looked Win furiously, but Grey stopped her saying "Let it be, I am not interested in fighting anyone."

    Grey crouched down to check on April before saying, "he will be fine,"

    "As Killian gave up, The winner of this fight April!!!" announced Dean. He sounded very much excited while announcing this.

    Grey has already caught Dean''s eye, Dean looked at Grey as he wondered ''Who is it? he has signature royal family hair, is he one of the princes? but I don''t think there is a prince named Grey. Whoever it is, he will be an excellent pawn and subordinate. I will have to make him work under me, no matter what.''

    As he was checking on April, he heard a bunch of people talking about it.

    "Isn''t that Grey Hoffmann?!! from Hoffmann family?!!"

    "Yes, it is!!! I never knew that he would come to join this academy."

    "I have a head that he is very powerful,"

    "He is also pretty handsome, that makes me jealous."

    These four following lines were said by four different boys who were seated on the chair at the side of the sparring ring.

    People talking about him didn''t make Grey happy in the slightest since the people who were talking about he were ----

    Looking up Grey squinted his eyes as he looked at Frank, Phil, Idiot A, and Idiot B.. These four were the ones who were talking about him.

 Chapter 141 - 140: Punishment For All.

    (Grey''s POV)

    "Isn''t that Grey Hoffmann?!! from Hoffmann family?!!"

    "Yes, it is!!! I never knew that he would come to join this academy."

    "I have a head that he is very powerful,"

    "He is also pretty handsome, that makes me jealous."

    I heard four different voices of four different boys, they were apparently talking about me. Do I finally get background characters who will talk about me?!!!

    Let me see who these four guys are----

    I looked above to see that who the group of boys was and upon looking at them a questionable expression took over my face.

    So it was just these four hooligans...

    The group of four boys who were talking about me was Frank, Phil, Idiot A, and Idiot B.

    {Author: By the way, I am reintroducing characters from Goldberg Arc.}

    Looking irritated I clicked my tongue, "Tsk! it''s just you guys,"

    "What''s with that irritated face?!! aren''t you happy to see us?! weren''t we brothers?!" exclaimed Frank.

    "Ah, I am to see my three brothers." I said, as I walked towards Idiot A, Idiot B, and Phil. shaking their hands, I asked, "Who else came here?"

    "Agata, Lily, and then various other people," said Idiot B as he looked towards Aetna who was talking to some of her friends from Goldberg city.

    I too looked towards Aetna as I saw that there were various people of Goldberg city here.

    "Can you not ignore me?" asked Frank who was highly getting ignored.

    "Grey have you filled the registration form?" asked Phil.

    "No, not yet,"

    "Okay then, let''s go and fill the form together now."

    "Sure, it would be better if we go together," I said as I gestured for Aetna to come back since we are going away. Waving her friends goodbye she came back.

    We all walked together towards the exit of the sparring room, but before we could leave we were blocked by Win Lange and his group. They were basically blocking our exit. I couldn''t help but sigh at my current situation.

    I know exactly well what will happen next, it''s so obvious that ----

    "Frank, you know I have been in this kind of situation so many times that I can even now predict what will these hooligans say after blocking me."

    Frank let out a chuckle before saying, "It is obvious that they will block us, let''s see, if you get it wrong then I will be your bigger brother."

    "Okay bet!" I said as we walked towards the group that was blocking our way and the leader of that group was obviously Win.

    I looked at Frank as I said, "Now he will first say that ''I have seen a lot of cocky guys like you in the academy, ------'' something along this lines"

    Stop right before the exit, I opened my mouth, "Umm ----- you are kind of blocking my way, would you mind stepping away."

    Win stepped in the center as if he was blocking the exit more as he said, "I have seen a lot of cocky guys like you in the academy, they think that they are special but eventually reality hits them."

    I looked at Frank as I let out a smirk, to which Frank said  "No!!! that''s cheating, this guy is just saying 101 goons line! no, it''s not fair."

    "Shut up, now don''t make excuses little brother."

    "Ah!!!," Frank looked Win as he asked, "Why do you have to be such a low-level villain?"

    "What the fuck did you just call me?!" Win raged up as he raised his hand to hit Frank, but before he could that, Phil grabbed Win''s hand,

    "Don''t hit my brother"

    A boy from their group tried to punch his way, Aiming his punch at Phil, but before he could connect, Idiot A threw his own punch at him stopping him. Eventually, more boys joined in from their side and so did from my side.

    A loose fight was about to break out, Win readied his fireball to attack it at Frank, "Take this you damned boy!!"

    but before it could even touch Frank, Grey caught the fireball, the fireball instantly froze up to the core as soon as it came in contact with Grey''s hand. Grey then proceeded to close his fist shattering the fireball in the process.

    Win walked closer to Grey, raising his hand he was ready to punch Grey. But before he could do that, Grey chuckled at him, as he said "You should probably look behind."

    following that a man from Win''s behind spoke, "What are you all doing? what is happening here?"

    It was professor Blake, seems like someone called him here by looking at the fight that was about to break up.

    "Win Lange! and others, are you all bullying your juniors?!! what is wrong with you all?!" professor Blake was obviously furious and for some reason, he seemed to command a great deal of respect from the students as they all stopped just by being in his presence.

    "But sir----"

    "But what?!! you all are students of this academy and you are trying to bully kids who are trying to enter this academy?! I don''t care about the reputation of our academy and all those things, but this is morally not right, okay!"

    "But sir----"

    Professor Blake didn''t hear a single word from Win as he said, "You all have a choice, whether to address this issue to the headmaster and you all know that how he is intolerable towards any kind of bullying, he will kick you all out. the other option you all have is to pick up neon mushrooms from the forest so that we can use them in our experiment."

    Win looked away from Professor Blake as he said, "You know professor, I can do that for you even if you don''t give me it as punishment."

    professor Blake placed his hand over Win''s head as he said "I know! you are a good boy okay Win, you don''t have to prove anything to anyone, so don''t be a bully okay?"

    "Okay, sir."

    "and all of you too okay?" said Professor Win as he looked towards the rest of Win''s group.

    Professor looked behind me, but what he saw was a sight of me trying to sneak away quietly as the professor''s attention was not towards me.

    "Grey, where are you going?" said professor Blake as he caught me sneaking away.

    Shit...

    "To register, sir. I am getting late to register for entrance, so I shall take my leave sir, good day to you, sir." I said as I tried to walk away.

    following my Aetna also said "Good day, sir."

    Then, Phil, Frank, Idiot A, and Idiot B also tried to quickly walk away as they waved sir bye.

    But before we could go Professor Blake opened his mouth as he said, "I am good with remembering faces and now I remember you all, so none of you can run from the punishment. You all will also have to pick up neon mushrooms once you are selected in this academy. Till then good luck with your entrance selection and I hope you all get selected."

    I looked behind as I said, "Thank you, sir! but can you please rethink our punishment about picking up mushrooms?"

    "No."

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Waiting in line, it was finally our turn to fill the registration form and fill our form one by one. At last, it was my turn to fill out the details.

    Crouching down to the counter, I placed the paper that was provided by the lady that was seated on the counter.

    Before writing my name, I asked the lady at the counter, "When will the selection will start?"

    "Tomorrow morning, it will be normal rounds but the selection will be tough, so I would not recommend you to get your hopes up."

    I gave her a gentle smile as I said, "That''s kind of you!"

    Her pupil widened as she looked at me with her mouth open, maybe even she doesn''t realize that she is making that face.

    I cleared my throat before saying "Umm----- so I will write my name."

    It was pretty awkward that she was staring at me so I had to snap her out. In black space for name, I wrote my name as Grey Hoffmann. before I could write my other details, she interrupted me.

    "I know that you would like to associate with Hoffmann''s, but please state your real name."

    What is this woman talking about?

    I looked at her as I said "Ah, but I am a Hoffmann."

    "No, you are not! please don''t joke around. As for as I remember there is no prince named as Grey."

    This is awkward...

    "But, I am one of the princes. you know what, never mind."

    "I know that it''s the dream of every boy to be prince, but it''s something you are born with. You can''t say that you are just from the royal family."

    For some reason, I found her line kind of funny. I chuckled lightly before looking at her as I asked "Do you know the specialty of the Ormr family? I am talking about their eyes."

    "You are talking about their purple indigo eyes, right? They are pretty beautiful, but I never had a chance to take a closer look at them"

 Chapter 142 - 141: Greatest King.

    "Do you know the specialty of the Ormr family? I am talking about their eyes."

    "You are talking about their purple indigo eyes, right? They are pretty beautiful, but I never had a chance to take a closer look at them"

    I leaned forward toward her, "Then you have the chance now."

    I purposefully made my eyes shine brighter in the shade of purple indigo. Looking at my eyes, she showed obvious signs of being in awe.

    "Let''s just say that I am not from the Hoffmann family, under such cases, I will use the name of my mom''s side After my mom is an Ormr."

    Even though I said that I still proceeded to write my name as Grey Hoffmann, then wrote other basic information. before I was going to walk away from the line after filling in my information.

    The lady on the counter stopped as she said, "You------ you have beautiful eyes, but please refrain yourself from pretending to be of any royal family since it won''t end well."

    I let out a sigh, as I couldn''t help but laugh a little.

    I mean, I do not blame her since the marriage of my mom and dad was secret. Most of their life was secret, so it''s obvious that none of the civilians know about my existence and it''s fine. Well, in some cases it''s better since I can move freely.

    Ah, by the way, on the list I was filling, I saw Ulrich''s name and there were many names that I recognized. But for some reason, I couldn''t see Rudi''s name, maybe I missed it or there is just another list.

    Idiot A came to me, he had a confused look on his face, "Didn''t we win direct admission to this academy, where is ur pass."

    I looked at Aetna before hesitantly saying "I lost it."

    "That''s unfortunate, but it doesn''t matter since you will get selected anyway."

    The selection will be tomorrow and there will be three rounds for the selection in the academy. The only important rounds are the first two and the last, the round is only for grading you into a class. But since I already know what class I will be, it doesn''t matter to me.

    "Let''s go Aetna before we run into someone else," I said as I grabbed Aetna''s hand.

    Even though, she should be used to me holding her hands. She was still taken back by me holding her hand.

    I teleported back to Grandma Lozen''s house and back to my room. I will spend the night here before teleporting there back in the morning.

    Eventually, time passed and it was time for dinner, so as usual, I went to have dinner. Walking down the stairs I went to the dinner table with Aetna.

    As I was walking through the house, I was getting various confused looks from the maids of the house. But for Aunt Sofia it was a usual sight, looking at me she smiled,

    "Young Master, you are back!! Came for the dinner?"

    "Yes, I am pretty hungry."

    "Oh, that''s good, we have prepared the dinner, go and sit on the dinner table, I will serve the dinner."

    I walked ahead, but Aetna stayed to talk with Aunt Sofia,

    "Miss Aetna, how was the academy." Asked Aunt Sofia.

    "It was pretty good, but interaction with people was exhausting." Said Aetna and well, that''s something I relate with.

    "My job as maid involves interaction with people, but I totally can understand how exhausting interacting with people is."

    Damn, they are having some nice conversation, I should have stopped there and talked with them..

    After some minutes, everyone was seated at the dinner table as they were having their food silently.

    "Grey, do you want the throne?"

    It was a question, I knew that he will ask me one day. But I didn''t know that he would ask this question at such a random time. But, well my answer is pretty clear.

    I stabbed the piece of meat with my fork as I answered with a simple "yes".

    Dad stopped chewing his food, all of his attention shifted towards me as he asked "what is your reasoning?"

    "My reasoning? How do I put it------ when I was little, my world was only limited till you, mom, Grandma, Eira, Sylphy, and Emilia. My world was only limited till this very house that we are eating in."

    Pouring the curry over the rice, I continued, "For the kid me, this house ----- my world, I was willing to do anything to protect my world, my family. I was ready to fight anything and everything ----- since I loved you all very much ---- I was happy with you all."

    Suddenly the dining had a heavy atmosphere, all of them looked at me with absolute silence. But dad had a gentle smile on his face, he seemed to look really happy.

    I continued, "but after that day----- that day when mom died, my world changed. I would be lying if I said that revenge was not in my mind for the first few years, every day I thought of ways of killing people who were the reason for Mom''s death.

    It''s not like I have forgotten anything, I will find them to kill them. But the flame of revenge doesn''t burn as brightly as it used to burn. As years passed by, I met people who supported me, they were the people I dearly loved. Well, some died by my own hands."

    I couldn''t help but chuckle after saying that.

    "I met Aetna, Rai, Ulrich, Rudi, and Annie. Suddenly I realized that there were more people that I wanted to protect no matter what. As my life went on in Goldberg city, I met more and more people.

    A Grandma took who us in her house, she provided us with food and shelter. She was an awesome woman. A middle-aged old man named mark, well he absolutely hated when I called old man, an aunt who takes care of us like her own kids. Many good friends, brothers and ----"

    I touched my lips as I remembered my first kiss, I couldn''t help but smile.

    "Even after that I kept meeting more and more people, people who I admire and I want them to be happy and safe. I don''t want them or their loved ones to get hurt. If in case in future something happens to them and I couldn''t be able to do anything, then I will never be able to forgive myself. I am going to sit on the throne and protect my people, I will destroy any god or human or anything that tries to hurt my people. I will build my empire for that."

    After saying that, I took stabbed the meat with my fork. Stuffing it in my mouth, I looked up. Dad hasn''t even eaten a single bite yet.

    Dad looked at me for a good second, before he let out a laugh. Resuming his dinner, he spoke "Part of you is very much like me and Alice, but then there are parts of you which are totally different me and Alice. It''s a good thing, I am glad that you are your own person. I kind of wish that Alice was here to see what kind of person his son has grown up to be.

    I still remember the time, when you used to say that you just wanted to live a peaceful life and didn''t want to learn neither any kind of fighting or neither did you want to join heroes party members."

    Dad took a bite of his food before continuing "You wanted to travel around the world and meet different kinds of people. You did kind of realize that dream when you saw different kind of people and their life. You found a new purpose, you couldn''t overlook the struggle in those people''s life.

    there is a saying that my father used to say, People who see something in this world that others fail to see are the ones that are fit to be the king that will lead everyone. I can''t teach you how to be a king, since I am just a fighter. But my dad is someone that can teach you how to be a king.

    My dad------ the previous king of Frey nation is someone that has brought peace to the ongoing waring nation. The nations were at war with each other for centuries, but he is one of those people, who achieved the current state of peace between nations and he is said to be among the greatest king that Frey nations have ever had.

    I can''t meet him for some reason, but I want you to go and meet him. You don''t have to meet him now, but in one month after you are selected in the academy, go and meet him. He is kind of a harsh person, but with him, you will know what''s it like to be the king. Well, my old man will also be in the seventh sky when he will see that one of his grandsons has come to learn something from him.

    But, yeah he is kind of ---------- you will know when you meet him."

 Chapter 143 - 142: Let Me Hold Your Hands.

    it was the next day, I teleported back to the academy first thing in the morning. I had breakfast with Grandma Lozen since she was pretty busy, so I went to check if she had breakfast or not and then had breakfast with her. Of course, Aetna was with me at that time.

    Now I was back at the place where all the people who had applied for the selection had gathered. The selection process is not anything grand. There are only two rounds and even those rounds are public knowledge, there is nothing secretive about those rounds.

    Along with me, there was only Aetna and me, the reason being that this time slot was only attached to me and Aetna. The rest of the group was allotted the rest of the time slot.

    "Grey, I ----- I am pretty nervous -----I ---- I think I want to drink some blood."

    Oi oi, what is this woman is talking about?

    I looked at Aetna and soon realized that she was damn serious about being nervous and also about wanting to drink some blood. Since her bloody fang is sticking out at the point.

    "Aetna! ---" I placed my hand over her cheek, "Look in my eyes, and calm down your urges."

    Looked at me her pupil suddenly dilated then in an instant it retracted to a smaller size. It was as if she was taking a good look at me. It was as if----- she was looking at her prey.

    "Grey----- it''s not -----looking at you, it is not helping. It''s making it worse, I want ---- I want to drink your blood, Grey!!"

    What? now? There are times where she gets the urge to drink my blood, I don''t know the reason why. But out of all time, she wants to drink my blood now?

    There are many people around us!!

    I sighed before asking, "Would you be fine with the just taste of my blood."

    To which she vigorously shook her head, her ears has gotten red and so did her cheeks. Her breath was heavier than before and her eyes were fixed on me.

    Using my teeth, I made a cut of my index finger, before placing it in her mouth. She grabbed my hand as she started sucking the blood out of my finger.

    Well, she seems to enjoy it...

    Eventually, she looked in my eyes while still sucking the blood out of me and as our eyes met, she got redder than before as a fume of cloud irrupted from her head. She diverted her eyes, but she still kept sucking the blood out of my finger.

    Eventually, she stopped, letting go out of my hand, she whispered in a soft tone, "this will be enough,"

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Aetna''s POV)

    sucking his blood was nothing new for me. It''s not like I do it often. I do it only a few, I try to do it a few times!!!

    But there are times, where I can''t stop my urge for his blood. I mean it''s tasty, Grey''s blood is really tasty. But I only get an urge at the times when I ------- when I think of Grey.

    I---- I always think of Grey, of course!! I always think of Grey. But whenever I get --- perve--- Ahem I mean when I look at Grey with dirty thoughts, I seem to get the urge to drink his blood.

    I am such a pervert!!! no!!! I am not a pervert!! no, but I am kind of a pervert!!! what is wrong with me!

    It''s not like I think about holding hands with him or something, I am not that pervert. But it would be nice if we held hands once in a while.

    Oh no!! I am such a pervert!!! I shouldn''t have dirty thoughts like this, hold--- holding hands! who thinks about things like that!

    There was still a taste of Grey blood in my mouth. I try to drink water after drinking Grey''s blood since i love the taste of it.

    By the way, I never thought about--- K- k-k-k-kissing Grey. Never!! never!!! never!!! I am not that big of a perv----

    as I was thinking that, I couldn''t help but look at Grey''s lips. When I think about it, he did put his index finger in his mouth to make a cut in his finger, before inserting it in my mouth.

    Doesn''t it mean---------------

    "A

    in

    direct

    kiss?"

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Grey''s POV)

    it''s been a minute since she drank my blood. She seems to have some kind of internal conflict among herself, at least that''s what her facial expression is looking like.

    Oh, what? she seems to be getting redder with each passing minute, what is she thinking about. I tried to look away since I don''t want her to be uncomfortable.

    After the next minute, she seemed to calm down. I guess she is not that nervous anymore.

    as I was thinking that, she looked at me. In instant, a huge cloud of fume burst out of her head, as I heard some faint words.

    "An

    in

    direct

    kiss?"

    I looked at her as I asked "An indirect ki----"

    I paused, as I realized what she really meant. Looking away, I didn''t pursue it any further. But she seems to be getting redder, and she looked pretty nervous.

    Is she sick?

    placing my hand over her forehead, "Are you fine, Aetna? do you have a fever?"

    She----- her skin is hot...

    "Aetna! you have a fever! you should have let me----"

    "No no no no!! my body is hot for entirely different reasons. I am totally fine!!!"

    I realized why her body was hot. It was obvious to me, I am not that dense. I am aware of it for a while now, but I am not sure how to go on with our relationship.

    There are various complications, for starters she doesn''t remember her past and it seems like brainwashing. Since she doesn''t remember anything, she naturally got attached to me, it is obviously brainwashing.

    She----- it''s not like----- It''s not like I am making reasons. I am aware of my feelings for her, but---

    I looked at her, she still seemed highly nervous. I slowly took a hold of her hands,----

    She looked at me in shock, averting my eyes, I spoke "What?! I am nervous okay! so please hold my hands."

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    {Aetna''s POV}

    HE HEARD IT!! HE TOTALLY HEARD IT!!!! HE HEARD ME SAYING INDIRECT KISS!!!

    what if he thinks that I am a pervert now!!! NO NO NO NO NO!!!

    I tried to look away and he didn''t pressure it any further. I will try to think about something else!! he will eventually forget about it.

    suddenly Grey got closer to me, placing his hand over my forehead, asked

    "Are you fine, Aetna? do you have a fever?"

    upon placing his hand over my forehead, his expression got serious as he said, "Aetna! you have a fever! you should have let me----"

    "No no no no!! my body is hot for entirely different reasons. I am totally fine!!!"

    after that he didn''t pressure it any further, he stood with me in line for a good minute before suddenly -------

    HE GRABBED MY HAND!!! NO!! he held my hand!!

    "What?! I am nervous okay! so please hold my hands." he said as he looked away.

    Cute!!!!! his hand is kind of ------- soft. No, it''s really soft.

    Holding his hands------------ it is really calming me down. It''s not dirty hand-holding, he is just holding my hand because he is nervous.

    The line was keep getting shorted and there were only three people in front of us before it was our turn. The first selection round was taking place in a room and the rest of them had to wait outside.

    My turn is before Grey...

    Eventually, the three people went by and they seemed to come very much disappointed. Some of them even had some bruises, but it was nothing major. I hope they are fine...

    It was my turn to go inside before Grey, he left my hand as he spoke "Good luck Aetna!! and I am waiting for you here, do good!"

    "Yes!!"

    Leaving his hand, I stepped inside the room. Holding his hand had really calmed my nerves down.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    {Grey''s POV}

    Aetna went inside, and after a minute she came out. She had a rather disappointed look on her face. I couldn''t ask her why, since we are not allowed to talk to the kids who had already taken exams.

    As it was my term, I walked towards the room. A man opened the door for me for the room. It was a dimly lit room, well it was also a fairly big room.

    The room seemed like a person sparring room or something, it had a weapon rack and various different things. There was also a ring in the middle of the room.

    "Hello there, Kid. Welcome to my exam."

    It was the voice of the man who was seated in the middle of the room. His sword was the rest of the ground, the scabbard of the sword was still attached to the sword. Most probably he hasn''t used to sword throughout the exam.

    He hands his hand rested on the sword and his head was rested on his hands.

    "The first exam is to have a friendly spar with me, I will be evaluating you on the basis of the spar. No student was even able to get me up from this chair, let alone force me to use my sword. Now! come and show me your best, you have only two minutes and your two minute starts now.. Come and fight me."

 Chapter 144 - 143: Legendary Monster.

    (Third person Point of view)

    "The first exam is to have a friendly spar with me, I will be evaluating you on the basis of the spar. No student was even able to get me up from this chair, let alone force me to use my sword. Now! come and show me your best, you have only two minutes and your two minutes starts now. Come and fight me."

    "Ah----" scratching his head Grey asked, "Ummm, do I get time to pick a weapon from the rack?"

    The man seated in the chair smiled, as he said "You do get some time, but only two minutes, it''s up to you that how you want to use it."

    The man''s name was Brian Brander, he is the senior professor at the Heka-Maho academy, he teaches weapon handling and the courses related to that in this academy.

    He is a master class fighter, one of the people that can stand toe to toe with anyone without much need of magic. Moreover, he is the son of the sword king.

    "So, the timer is still running while we speak?"

    "Yes. I insist that you take action quickly -----"

    In an instant, Brian''s instincts took over his body. Before he could realize he was swinging his hand in a horizontal motion to stop the attack that was coming towards his way.

    Grey appeared in front of him, but before Grey could attack, he was forced to dodge the attack from Brian.

    Grey stepped back as a smile curved up his lips, "I am glad that I dodged that attack. But isn''t that going kind of overboard. This is supposed to be a normal entrance exam after all, but this attack is kind ------of ------fatal."

    Grey said those words as he was looking at the line that was made on the floor. It was a hard floor, yet there was a line carved in the floor.

    "I am sorry, I was---- actually taken off guard.", Brian laughed slightly before saying "there are times when I am taken off guard by students but in this exam, this is the first time."

    Grey raised his hand as he asked, "Does that mean I pass?!!!"

    "Well there is still a minute and four seconds left."

    "I see, -----" Grey dashed forward as he swung his hand, it wasn''t a closed fist. It was rather a straight hand, that he intended to use as a sword. Clashing his hand to Brian''s hand, Grey said "--- then I can''t waste any more time."

    Brian blocked Grey''s hand with his own. This time Brian only focused on defense rather than attacking Grey. A rapid exchange of attack took place between Brian and Grey.

    With each passing second, time was passing by. as there were ten seconds remaining, Grey swung his hand but then he instantly crouched down, with a wing Grey broke one of the legs of the chair, forcing Brian to get up from his chair.

    Brian got up as he was ready to fight more, But Grey didn''t attack anymore. Grey gave a slight bow as he said, "Thanks for your time."

    With a confused expression, Brian asked, "Time?"

    "The two minutes it''s over."

    With a shock, Brian asked, "It''s over?! so soon!"

    "Why do you look so sad? I am the one that''s giving the exam."

    "It was getting fun," said Brian as he sighed.

    "It was certainly very much fun, but I was not able to outperform you even in one move," said Grey as he turned around ready to walk out of the room.

    But before Grey could walk out, Brian stopped him by saying "Then, I will give you five more minutes. Try to outperform me if you can."

    Quickly turning around, Grey asked, "Only if you attack me this time, you only blocked all my attacks last time."

    "You bet!"

    Eventually, five minutes passed by and Grey walked out of the room. But before walking out Grey turned around once more as he asked "How were you aware of the time? there is no timer in this room."

    Brian laughed as he said, "I was counting the seconds and how were you aware of the time?"

    Grey proceeded to walk out of the room as he said "I was counting the seconds."

    Brian sat on the ground as he said, "Truly interesting, he reminds me of one of the students from last year. What her name...... of right! it was Eira! But unlike this guy, she was a pretty serious kid. This guy reminds me of Hero Alice and brother Ranulf------------ huh? eh?"

    Brian''s eye widened, as he realized the identity of Grey. Well, it was purely a guess from Brian''s side, so he was not sure yet.

    As Grey walked out of the room, other students who were waiting saw Grey''s roughed-up look.

    The student who was first in the line looked behind as he asked "Bro, I think I am scared."

    "Is it too late to bail now?"

    "No, my dad will kill me."

    "Next!!" called the man who was waiting by the door. Upon being called next the boy hesitantly walked towards the door. Opening the door, he entered the room.

    Upon taking the first look at the room after entering it, the boy''s eye widened as he asked "What-what happened here?"

    Everything in the room was destroyed, including the weapon stand and the chair that Brian was seated on earlier. Well, the chair was destroyed in pieces as the chair was used as a weapon several times during the five-minute fight between Grey and Brian.

    Brian who was seated on the ground, wiped the sweat from his forehead as he said, "just a friendly spar, I nearly forgot that I was supposed to take the test. But I definitely want that kid to join the academy, my job as a teacher would become fun."

    "What---- what about me? how-----how can I get selected?" asked the kid hesitantly.

    "What is your name kid?"

    "March...."

    "March! you would just have to give your best and try to fight me okay?"

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Grey''s POV)

    "I was getting worried as it was taking you long to come out."

    A bright smile spread across my lips as I said "Aetna! I think I will get selected!"

    Aetna fixed my messed up hair as she said "That''s good to know."

    "You both are as lovey-dovey as always."

    It was a familiar voice, her voice came from behind me. Even though I was very much to see her, I didn''t look behind as I replied.

    "Are you jealous?"

    Rai wrapped her hands around me as she said, "Why would I be jealous? after all, I and Aetna are going to share you and I don''t mind sharing you with her."

    A big smile took over Aetna''s face as she jumped over Rao, tightly wrapping her hands around Rai she said "I missed you!!!"

    "Me too!!!!"

    Ah, between these two''s girl''s reunion, I kind of feel lonely. I stood there awkwardly until they were done hugging each other.

    "Why are you here? weren''t you going to meet your mother?" I asked.

    "Why? are you not happy to see me?"

    With a straight face I looked into her eyes as I said, "I am very much happy to see you, but if I show you even a bit of happiness that I am feeling right now, you will probably tease me for the rest half an hour with that."

    With a smug face, she said, "I wouldn''t do that, so now don''t be shy and show me your happiness."

    "No!! and seriously, did you meet your mother?"

    "No, I will meet her later, and anyways, she will not go anywhere even if I go and meet her after hundred years."

    "Huh? then what were you doing all this time?"

    I didn''t pay much attention to the hundred-year joke. But I didn''t know at that time that it wasn''t a joke, she was dead serious when she said that. The person known as Rai was a more mysterious existence than I originally thought her to be.

    "I was actually, traveling around the country and fighting different legendary monsters. I nearly died several times, but it was worth it."

    "Legendary monsters? what the fuck... but that sounds weirdly cool."

    "Yeah, it was pretty fun. Ah, by the way, I actually met your cousin just before I came to this academy. I actually met her while fighting the serpent of the black wood mountain, she helped me in defeating the monster. She was pretty cool, and she was so fucking op, she beheaded that serpent with raw physical strength, what a monster!! I nearly got the urge to fight your cousin since she was like a legendary monster herself."

    "What the fuck? the serpent of the black wood mountain? ---- there is a lot to process in what you said----------- by the way are you talking about Eira?"

    "Yes!!! that is what her name is!"

    "You really had fun, I guess."

    "Yes, I did."

 Chapter 145 - 144: Step Ahead .

    "By the way, Rai do you still have the pass that you won in the moon glitter festival?" asked Aetna out of nowhere.

    We were heading towards our next entrance exam with Rai. Rai didn''t have any reason to join us since she already had the pass that directly admits her to the academy. But she still came because apparently according to her it would be pretty fun.

    Is Rai that simple-minded? nahhhh, she is an existence that I never properly understood. A mysterious existence---- that''s what she is for me.

    Rai looked at Aetna, as she pulled out her card. She asked, "I do, but why do you ask?"

    "Actually, Grey lost his card, so I was making sure that you have yours. I am glad that you didn''t lose yours," said Aetna as she took the card from Rai''s hand, she took a closer look upon the card.

    A devious smile curved across Rai''s face, clearing her throat she opened her mouth. "Ahem! Aetna, i just met Lily before coming here, I think I saw a card that looks really similar to that we got------"

    Before she could say anything more, I covered Rai''s mouth "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Aetna let''s go we are getting late!!"

    "Oh right!!" she handed the card to Rai as she said, " Let''s go, we are getting late!"

    Ah, it''s relieving that she didn''t hear a thing that Rai said. We continued our walk, "Rai, you were saying something."

    I looked at Rai, through my eyes I said, ''We don''t have enmity Rai, you don''t have to do this.''

    She winked at me before saying "No I was actually saying that I am hungry so let''s get something to eat after both of you are done with your test."

    "Even I am hungry today, hungrier than I usually be. I want to eat something or else I will end up sucking someone''s blood."

    That someone sounds awfully like me.

    Walking closer to me Rai whispered, "How many more people do I have to share you with? well...you are mine."

    After saying that she walked ahead and joined Aetna, leaving me behind in a lot of questions. It''s hard to figure out if she is really interested in me or she is just messing with me.

    After walking for a while, we were at the place where the second test was going to be held. The line was the same, but there were also some new faces, so I guess the time allotted for the people is totally random.

    Well, I and Aetna are allotted in the same time slot for the second round though. But unlike the last round, this time we are gathered on an empty ground. We were told to stand in uniform order and wait for further instruction.

    Before I could realize it, Rai was gone from my side. Well, she does what she wants, so most probably she is doing something totally random.

    "You are all gathered here for the second test, I will call you all in random so please come forward when your name is called. First, these three people come forward as your name is called, March Mahine, Grey Hoffmann, and Walk Raud."

    Ah------ my name is called.

    Before walking ahead I looked at Aetna as I said, "They are probably forming a team and it looks like you and I are in different teams. So take care, okay.".

    Aetna gave me a bright smile as she said "You also take care!"

    After that, I walked ahead along with three other names that were called. Among them I remember one guy, he was standing next to me in the line during the last round.

    We stood in front of the man that called us, we stood side by side as we waited for further instruction. We didn''t have to wait much as he said, "You all three will be in a team and further instructions will be given inside, go along with Professor Mirchi. Further instruction will be given by her."

    As the man told us we followed the young professor who was standing beside her. She led us to a pathway inside the academy. Well, the building that she led us into was different from other buildings it even had a different shape.

    It kind of looked like one giant square, if that makes sense.

    "Hello students, my name is professor Mirchi. I will be showing you the way to your next test. I mean, well I won''t be conducting the test since I don''t think I am qualified enough. I am just new here, I am not even a professor, I am just an intern. But I hope you three do your best and get selected!!"

    She seems pretty nice, well she seems kind of too nice. Well, anyways this profession will probably change her over the years. But I hope she will be still as sweet as she is now.

    "Can you all introduce yourself, I would love to know the three of you!"

    Before I could introduce myself, one of the students opened his mouth as he said "My name is March Mahine and i am from the Mahine family. I have joined this academy in the hopes of one day becoming the heroes party member and also because my older brother also joined this academy so it made sense that I would join this academy."

    "I see that''s nice!"

    Professor looked at the kid that walking beside March as if she was asking him to introduce himself, He opened his mouth as he said, "My name is Walk Raud, I am the son of royal knights. I came to this academy because I wanted to become strong so that I could become a good royal knight one day."

    I opened my mouth as I asked "Royal knight of?"

    "Royal knight of Frey nation."

    Frey nation... I have heard that capable orphans are adopted by various organizations. Each country has its own royal knight, their people are specially trained to become knights. I guess Walk was adopted by the royal knights of Frey nation.

    With a confused expression, Professor Mirchi asked "Son of the royal knights?"

    "Actually I am an orphan so I was adopted by the royal knights of the Frey nation who are in charge of the security of the royal family. They took care of me and the people of royal knights are my family, so it''s natural that I would join what my family does and help them."

    Ah, I was right.

    "That''s pretty nice, and what about you?" asked Professor Mirchi as she looked at me.

    I cleared my throat before saying " I am Grey Hoffmann and it would be obvious that I am the son of the Hoffmann family, you can also say the Royal family. I came here since it is compulsory for all the members of the royal family to attend this academy. Yeah..... that is pretty much it about me."

    As I ended my introduction, all three of them stopped as they looked at me. Professor Mirchi was the first one to open her mouth,

    "I never heard a prince named Grey----"

    Before professor Mirchi could say anything, Walk opened his mouth as he said "Can you refrain yourself from saying that you are from the royal family, i wouldn''t let such things slide away. You can''t lie about being in the royal family."

    He looked pretty serious and offended when said that. March stepped forward, waving both of his hands he said "Let''s not jump in conclusion, he might be saying the truth, like his existence might be a secret or something."

    Damn, this guy guessed it so accurately, terrifying...

    "No!! as a part of the royal knight, the first thing we have to memorize is every member of the royal family. His name is not there."

    I didn''t argue any further, neither I had any interest. There is a reason that my name is not there.

    {Author: the reason why Grey''s existence was secret in both of the royal families and the reason why he lives with Lozen will be revealed in the future. Well in the near future since it would play a major part in the next arc.}

    I walked ahead leaving three of them behind as I said, "You the son of royal knight right? and you are aiming to become a royal knight. So eventually you will come to know about me. I suggest that you learn more about me since I will be your king someday."

    Walk stepped further but before he could take any more step, Professor Mirchi stepped in front of him as she said, "NO fighting!!! if you guys fight, then I will BE FIRED!!!! they will kick me out of this academy!!!"

    "Ah, sorry ----- but I wasn''t going to actually fight. I was actually going towards the place you were taking us."

    said Walk with a serious expression.

    "Then what''s with your expression!!! you look like you want to murder someone!!!"

    "Ah, ----- that------ that''s actually how I look."

    "Oh sorry."

    "It''s okay."

 Chapter 146 - 145: Blind Toad

    (Third person perspective)

    Following professor Mirchi, they were brought to a place. Following the professor, Grey took first right from the narrow passageway and after a ten-second walk, he was met with a door.

    The door was moderately massive, professor pushed the door to open it. Opening the door, the three of them stepped into the room along with the professor.

    It wasn''t actually a room, it was more like a small arena, there was also a seating stand where people can sit and watch the fight that will happen in the arena. But currently, the arena was empty.

    There was no one in the arena, except for one woman. Upon entering the room, Grey''s first looked at that woman rather than looking around the arena.

    Even if Grey tried, he couldn''t ignore that woman, the reason being that the woman was very much similar to a person that Grey knows.

    according to Grey ''the woman had a somewhat sharp look to her, no perhaps call her to look entirely sharp would be wrong. Since she does also have this sly face if that makes sense. Her aura is pretty similar to that of Grandma Lozen.''

    As Grey was looking at her, she looked back and upon being looked at by here. Grey felt a sudden chill down his spine. It was as if, she was able to see the entire part of her. It was as if she was able to see every part of Grey, in front of her, Grey felt like he was laid bare to be seen by her.

    The reason why Grey was able to pinpoint her to be related to Mrs. Lozen was that she had a mana core different from any of the people Grey has seen, it was just like Mrs. Lozen. Through Grey''s eyes, he can see mana core as a concentration of mana held in one place.

    The mana core is never still, it oozes out of the core and then goes back in. The mana in the mana core is like a material that is between a liquid and gaseous state. But the mana core of Mrs. Lozen and the mana core of this woman is different.

    They have a very still mana core. Their mana never leaks out, not even a bit. Their mana core feels like a solid ball, that never moves, not even a bit.

    Professor Mirchi led the three boys towards the center of the small arena, there she stood in front of them, before opening her mouth, "You all three will have to take a test where you have to defeat a monster and retrieve its mana core. The goal of the test is to defeat the monster without much damage to its body, your performance will be evaluated by how efficiently you have defeated the monster."

    She turned around towards the seated woman as she continued, "This is professor Ronia Maeg, she will be evaluating your performance and also ------"

    She again turned to us, with a thumbs up she said with a bring smile "Good look students!!!!"

    After that, she left the room or little arena through the same door that they came in through. As she left, Grey realized an important thing---

    ''Ah, I forgot to ask that from where will the monster come.''

    "As she said, I am Professor Ronia Maeg and I will hold your exam. Let''s not waste any more time and conduct your exam. But try to have some fun, since if you guys will have fun then even I will have fun."

    She raised her hand slightly as she said "then let''s start the exam."

    With her hand raised, she snapped her finger, and following that a door cracked up in front of us. It was a plain wall just a second before but now it has split into two. As the door opened, it revealed a pitch-black pathway, from that pathway a loud ''thud'' was heard, the sound of which echoed around the arena.

    Following that sound, another ''Thud'' sound was heard across the room. It was the sound of a giant footstep approaching the three boys. Eventually, emerging out of shadows and giant leg appeared, following that the entire body came into the light.

    The creature had green slimy skin and his giant pupil was locked onto the three boys. The one unsettling thing about the creature was the croaking sound it made. At the regular rhythmic interval, the creature made a croaking sound, which was one of the creepiest sounds the two boys have heard.

    I only said two boys, because Grey had the experience of fighting against this creature and he was well versed in fighting this creature. The name of the creature was Blind Toad.

    Grey''s facial expression twisted to that of concern, the reason being that even though Grey has fought this creature in the past. There was always a rule that should never be broken while fighting this creature.

    The rule was to maintain absolute silence. Even the Blind Toad didn''t have any eyes, but his hearing ability was truly terrifying. It can hear anything in close proximity.

    The other terrifying thing about this monster is that it attacks anything that it senses. Grey looked at both of the boys before he could gesture both of them to not say a thing.

    Walk stepped forward as he took out his blade, "Let''s end this -----"

    In instant, the frog leaped towards the place from where it had heard the sound. The place was where Walk was standing.

    The other thing that was terrifying about this monster was its speed. At its max speed, the frog is barely visible to the naked eyes.

    Grey''s eyes widened as he said "You idiot!!!"

    Using his venomous factor he increased his speed, Grey dashed towards Walk, before the frog could reach Walk, Grey leaped towards Walk, pushing him out of the way. But Grey couldn''t get himself out of the frog''s way in time.

    Frog crashed onto Grey with a great impact, Grey was knocking him away in the mid-air. But before crashing onto the ground, Grey regained his footstep. He made sure to use soft steps and not make any kind of sound to attract the frog''s attention.

    {HEY, ACTUALLY THE THINGS WRITTEN AFTER THIS ARE OF MY OTHER STORY, BY MISTAKE I POSTED IT HERE AND NOW I AM NOT ABLE TO DELETE IT. It is actually showing me that i can''t delete more than 100 words, SO I AM REALLY REALLY SORRY!!!! IF YOU ARE PAYING EXTRA MONEY FOR THIS, THEN YOU CAN ASK ME FOR A free BONUS CHAPTER AND I WILL PROVIDE YOU ONE. But I am really really sorry!!}

    (third-person perspective)

    "Tsk, It''s you," said Grey irritated.

    Which in turn irritated Lora even more,

    "What do you mean by "it''s you" and don''t click your tongue while looking at me. Don''t you have the basic human courtesy?"

    "I do, but my courtesy is only for humans."

    Lora got up as she said, "Are you suggesting that I am something other than human?"

    A cheeky smile formed on Grey''s lips as he said, "Ah, you are at least smart."

    "Smarter than the ape brain of yours."

    The corner of Grey''s mouth twitched upwards, "you are really funny"

    Lora found this annoyance of Grey very amusing as she continued, "Ooo, I see, you can be annoyed too."

    "do I look annoyed? I am not really annoyed"

    ''Dude should look at his facial expression in the mirror. That gentle yet scary smile, his intense gaze that is making it hard for me to maintain eye contact with him.''

    Grey opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped, as he saw someone walk by. That, someone, had caught all his attention.

    Without saying anything, he just walked away, catching up to the girl that had just walked away.

    "I have barely seen two of you talk to each other, what made you guys hate each other so much?" asked Frank, curious.

    "Nothing happened, he is just a pain in the ass," replied Lora.

    Lora''s attention was towards Grey who was walking away with a girl.

    ''is she our upperclassmen? he sure looks happy with her. His girlfriend? or his crush? well, it''s none of my business.''

    Catching up to the girl,

    "Good morning, Eira senpai." Grey greeted Eira.

    {Author: This story is not set in Japan, but ill be using Japanese terms, so just vibe with it. By the way, if you don''t know, senpai means senior}

    "Good morning Grey, you don''t have to call me senpai, since you never bothered to call me senpai before."

    Eira and Grey have known each other from childhood because their parents are close friends.

    From childhood, Grey was used to calling her by name that''s why Eira was okay with him not calling him senpai.

    But Grey had other reason for calling her senpai, the reason being:

    "Calling you senpai feels kind of erotic."

    "Huh? how is that erotic?!" said Eira, she had gotten beet red from ear to ear.

    "You know, how I love older girls," answered Grey.

    "Then, why did you reject---" before she could complete her sentence,

    Grey interrupted her saying "Let''s not talk about that,"

    With that, the mood became heavy, the air was filled with awkward silence which was suffocating Eira,

    To fill up the awkward silence, Eira opened her mouth,

    "By the--"

    "I am getting late for the class, I will meet you later," said Grey as he walked away.

    Eira stared at Grey''s back as he walked, wondering,

    "Did I do something to make him mad? It''s hard to know if he is mad or not since he rarely changes expression."

    ---------------------------------------------------------------

    "The Venus flytrap is a carnivorous plant native to---"

    As the miss. Agata was taking her class the bell rang signifying that it was break time. She is the science teacher.

    "Then we will continue this later, enjoy your break!" said miss Agata as she walked away from the classroom.

    There are many teachers that are responsible for their job, They make sure that their students had understood everything, taking extended lectures even after the break.

    But miss. Agata was not among those teachers, she doesn''t take her job much seriously. She is the type of person who leaves class even before her student as soon as the bell rings.

    Lora got up from her seat,

    "Do you want something to drink?" asked Lora, her question was directed towards Lili and Lisa.

    "Ah, will you wait for a second, I will join you," said Lili as she was digging through her bag, searching for her coin bag.

    "Ah, there it is," said Lili, apparently she had found her coin bag.

    "Bring me strawberry milk," instructed Lisa.

    "Roger!"

    Turning her attention towards Lora, Lili spoke up "Let''s go---"

    Lora''s attention was somewhere else, she was looking at Grey as he was walking away outside of the class.

    "Ahem," Lili exaggeratedly cleared her throat, she was trying to catch Lora''s attention and she was successful in doing so.

    "Yes--- Yes, let''s go," said Lora as she quickly shifted her attention.

    Walking out of the classroom, they headed towards the wending machine.

    "You know, you were totally staring at Grey. are you interested in that guy? I have never seen you guys talk before."

    A sudden state of panic surged through Lora, as she blurted "No-- no, I wasn''t staring at him! I have no interest in him!"

    "Then why were you staring at him?"

    "Weren''t you able to hear his sigh''s throughout the class? the way he looked depressed made me depressed too, It''s hard to ignore things like this when the person sits right in front of you," said Lora.

    "Oh, makes sense, I nearly thought you were over Ulrich. Any new development between you both over this vacation?"

    "Little to none, we did chat, I got to know him better. But, I don''t think that''s counts as any development between us."

    Lili halted her walk. She looked at Lora, shooting a death stare at her.

    "You are useless."

    "That''s mean!!"

    Lili continued her walk beside Loro. Heading down the stairs they reached the ground floor.

    Taking the first right they walked towards the parking space since the vending machine over the parking space was the least crowded one. Well, most of the time, there is nearly no one around that vending machine.

    Lili entered the coin in the vending machine, she stood there brooding for a good minute.

    "I will get Cofet, what about you?" asked Lora.

    "I will get the same," answered Lili, indecisive.

    With their drink, they walked up to a bench right next to the vending machine. As they got closer, they spotted someone specific who was already seated over there.

    Lora''s expression twisted into a vexed one, she swiftly turned away, she wanted to avoid that person as much as possible.

    Grey wanted some time alone, and there was no better place than the empty seat right beside the vending machine. He also brought his lunch box along with him, in his hand, he held a paper container of strawberry milk.

    He had just opened his lunch box to eat it. Raising the fork, he brought the cutlet closer to his mouth, before he could eat it Lili called out to him,

    "Grey!! what are you doing here? are you finally accepting your life as a loner? Don''t worry, you can call me anytime if you want company."

    Lovering his spoon, Grey turned his attention towards Lili,

    "You know what, I would actually love some company." said Grey, tapping his finger ove the bench, inviting her over to sit beside him.

    "What are you eating? give me some"

    "Ah, sure."

    Lili took the fort from Grey''s hand to take the bite off the cutlet.

    "Delicious! Aunt''s cooking always hits the spot."

    "Fucker, why did you take such a big bite off my cutlet!!"

    An innocent smile curved up Lili''s face, placing her hand over Grey''s shoulder she spoke up "Lets not sweat small details."

 Chapter 147 - 146: Mana Field

    Landing on the ground softly, Grey Grey muffled his groan as he landed on the ground. Holding his injured arm Grey looked around to get a better perspective on the situation.

    Looking at the sword in Walk''s hand, Grey thought ''that guy -------Walk he is holding a sword, so it''s safe to assume that he is a swordsman. I am not that aware of his ability in using magic, so for now I can only bet in his swordsmanship.''

    He shifted his attention towards March, ''He is not using any weapon, so it''s safe to assume that he is a mage. well then----''

    Condensing mana in his hand, Grey shot an icicle shard towards one of the walls. Upon impact, the icicle shattered which in turn attracted the frog''s attention, in a split second the frog jumped towards the place where Grey aimed his icicle shard.

    March cast a basic fireball in his hand, he was trying to aim it at the frog just like Grey did earlier. But the sound of ignition of the fire attracted the frog''s attention.

    The frog turned its huge round eyeballs toward March, even though the sound made by fire was faint, it was enough to be sensed by the frog''s fireball.

    {Author: Even it was blind, the frog''s man organ of sensing surrounding was its eyes. Unlike a human eye, which is used to perceive the surrounding through the reflection of light, the toad perceived its surroundings by the reflection of sound, and the toad''s eyes were the organ that helped it to perceive the sound of the surroundings.}

    As March''s eye met the toad''s eye, a panic occurred in him which made him hastily take a step forward as he prepared to attack the toad with his fireball.

    He shot his fireball which traveled towards the toad, but before it could even hit the toad, the toad jumped away. March''s eyes were fixed at the toad as it dodged the fireball and proceeded to jump from one wall to another then towards March.

    Even though he was able to see the toad coming towards his way, he was frozen in one place, get didn''t know what he is supposed to do. It was as if his brain has stopped working.

    The toad crashed onto the ground, the place from where he heard the earlier sound, but there was no one there.

    Grey had March in his arms, he placed March down as he gestured him to stay quiet.

    Now that the three of them were gathered at the center of the small arena. Grey cast a small icicle shard as he aimed it at one of the walls, away from them.  As the toad jumped away, Grey simultaneously opened his mouth "You both are now most probably familiar with the ability of this toad and also must be aware of the fact that this monster is pretty terrifying, so I will fill you up on other information."

    "I nearly died bro---" March grabbed Grey''s hand as he spoke "Thanks for saving me, you were like my prince charming. I nearly thought I died!!"

    squinting his eyes, Grey looked at March as he asked "Bro, are you gay? I mean it''s fine----"

    "No no no no, I am not ----"

    before he could say anything further, Grey kicked him away as the frog was coming their way. The toad landed between them, as March was kicked away by Grey. He wanted to groan in pain, but he kept his hand over his mouth to not make any noise.

    Before the toad could detect them, Walk threw his sword away to distract the toad. Following the metallic noise of the sword, the toad jumped away, crashing onto the sword.

    The three of them again gathered at the center of the arena, as Grey threw an icicle shard at the different part of the arena to keep distracting the toad.

    "You could have been more gentle with the kick, you know."

    "Well, it''s at least better than toad kicking the fuck out of you."

    With a brief pause, March said "Well, yeah that makes sense.", looking at Walk, March asked, "You threw your sword away, how are you going to fight?"

    "I am well versed in fighting with bare hands."

    Grey looked at Walk as he said "But that''s a frog, not a bear that you are going to fight it with bare hands."

    "Wait ---- who fights bear with their bare hand," asked March with a confused look on his face.

    "That''s not the point -----"

    "By the way, I forgot the mention that there is a timer in this test, so I would recommend that you three should hurry up."

    Grey looked at Professor Ronia with an irritated look as he said " Professor that''s a detail that you should have said earlier!!"

    The two other boys had other concerns, the looked at the professor with a concerned look.

    Toad leaped towards the stand where the professor was seated, before the toad could squash the professor, March closed his eyes quickly as he made a sound "Eek!"

    As his eyes were closed, he heard a loud ''Thud''

    Hesitant, he opened his slowly. He was ready to see the squashed body of the professor, but what he saw was a frog levitating in mid-air.

    Not exactly in mid-air, the frog was over on a semi-blue transparent surface. Looking at the professor who was safe, he softly whispered "Mana field.".

    {Author: Mana field is a high-level spell where users can create an invisible wall to protect themselves or others. The durability of the wall depends on the skill of the user.}

    Grey didn''t have any change in expression, as he was aware of the mana field, from the very second he entered the room.

    The professor who was still seated in her place, placed one leg above another as she gave devious smile. She was amused by the fact that there was no change in Grey''s expression as if he wasn''t bothered by the least about the danger that was about to fall on the professor.

    ''Does he not care about others? or does he already knows about the mana field? even if it''s either of them, it''s truly interesting, Grey....''

    Thought professor Ronia as he looked at Grey.

    Grey looked at March and Walk as he spoke "So anyway, we don''t have much time so just follow my lead. and take this ---"

    Grey condensed icicle sword using mana as he handed it down to Walk.

    "But it would be fragile---"

    "No, my icicle sword can be as good as a real sword, since I reinforced them using my seal marking."

    Grey didn''t whisper this time and that action instantly attracted the toad''s attention. Handing down the icicle sword to walk, Grey walked towards the toad who was about to leap towards Grey.

    "Watch out!!" exclaimed March, as the toad leaped towards Grey.

    Upon certain distance, Grey swung his fist back before swinging it towards the toad. With a great impact, Grey punched the toad knocking it back.

    The rolled once, before getting back to its feet. Grey sprinted towards the toad as he shouted, "March!! attack by back with the best spell you got!!"

    "But---"

    "Just do it!! and Walk you will get one shot, attack the frog when I see you too, make sure that it''s the finishing blow"

    As Grey was sprinting towards the toad, the toad noticed Grey''s footstep. Reacting to Grey''s footstep it leaped forward towards Grey with immense speed.

    As it was going to hit Grey, Grey shouted "March, now!!!"

    March gathered mana in his hand as he was preparing to cast a fire lance. The fire gathered around his hand, taking a shape of lance.

    Aiming it at Grey''s back, March shot the fire lance.

    Grey was sprinting on the centre of the ring as a fire lance was coming at his back and the toad from the front. Both at incredibly high speed.

    Walk looked at Grey as both of it neared Grey while Grey was sprinting forward.

    Walk eyes widened as he saw that both fire lance and toad was about to hit Grey. But as he watched, his face twisted in to a more shocked one as Grey was no where to be seen in the place where he was there before.

    To Walk''s eye it was as if Grey disappeared in an instant.

    Frog was able to sense the fire lance that was coming its way but it was too late ----- to late for the toad to turn away, even if it tried there was no way it could since it was in mid air.

    With the first contact between the fire lance and the toad was followed by a explosion. The toad collapsed to the ground.

    Its skin didn''t have any sign of damage, but the sound of the explosion was enough to make its all other senses go haywire.

    Walk watched this from aside, and in that very instance he heard the voice of Grey as he said, "now!!"

 Chapter 148 - 147: Stronger Than You.

    Walk watched this from aside, and in that very instant he heard the voice of Grey as he said, "now!!"

    After hearing Grey''s voice, Walk''s first instinct was to leap onto the toad with the icicle sword that Grey gave him. Aiming the sword at the toad, Walk trusted the sword into the toad''s skull.

    "Royal art pinpoint!"

    With that one move, the sword was inside the toad skull. Holding on his sword, Walk was on the top of the toad, later he has knocked away due to the death struggle that toad made.

    Walk landed beside March, as the toad fell to the ground.

    Both March and Walk approached the toad, both crouched down as March asked "Is it dead?"

    "I think so----"

    "Yes, it''s very much dead!" it was the voice of Grey, it was as if he appeared beside them in an instant. Crouching down, Grey placed his hand over the toad''s head as he said "Can you believe that this terrifying creature can lie so peacefully. It is looking so harmless now."

    Both Walk and March looked at Grey, for them the more terrifying thing was Grey. Both Walk and March placed their hand over the toad, they didn''t know the reason why. But looking at Grey, they felt like it was the right thing to do.

    "Very well students!!! you three are admitted to the academy" said Professor Ronia as she rested her face on her hand.

    "Huh? just like that?" asked March.

    "Just like that!"

    "But what---- what about the examination of the toad and evaluating our performance and other things like that."

    "It doesn''t matter, according to me you three are selected."

    Looking at Professor Ronia, Grey thought ''She is not very teacher like and also she is very ----- ahem! hot.''

    Well, Grey was not wrong in calling professor Ronia hot, since she had a very enchanting face.  She had black hair and almond-shaped sharp eyes that had a shade of pink in golden eyes. Above the right side of her lips, there is a beauty marking, that enhances her already enchanting look.

    Under her presence, it was natural for anyone to feel inferior, since in front of her beauty, most people would be inferior, Which includes males and females.

    Naturally, she is popular with boys in the academy and she is mostly looked up to by the girls.

    "Okay, then I will see you three in the academy and also be nice to Grey, he is my nephew."

    "Huh?" this questioning sound was made by the three boys simultaneously.

    Looking at the confused face of Grey, she chuckled as she said "I am not your blood aunt ------ I will tell you everything later since this aunt wants to spend some time with his nephew. But now, I have to take more exams, I think I should conduct exams of three or four teams together since it will take too long if I take one team at a time."

    There was only one thing that was going through Grey''s mind, which was the question that ''Is it too late to change academy now?''

    After that, all three of them left the arena through the door they entered through and through the narrow hallway, they were walking towards the exit.

    "Grey------ Ummm, can I ----- can I be your friend?" asked March as he stopped walking, Grey turned around before Grey could answer anything, March opened his mouth as he said "I mean, I don''t want to sound creepy, but I am---- I am really happy. I will let my brother know that I got in, he will be really happy. Thank you, Grey."

    There was a big smile on March''s face, he wasn''t able to control his happiness and his smile. Looking at that Grey chuckled as he said "I didn''t really do anything, there is no need to thank me. It was you and Walk, that defeated the frog."

    Grey walked ahead as he said "and I am no one special, you don''t need to ask to be my friend. You can just be my friend."

    Eventually, they came to the exit, and Grey was going to walk away after saying bye, Walk stopped him this time as he said "I apologize for my behavior earlier."

    "Ah, it''s okay. I will take my leave since there is a friend that would be waiting for me, I will meet you both in the academy."

    With that Grey walked away, to find Aetna.

    Looking at the back of Grey as he walked away, Walk spoke "I hope that he is truly from the royal family."

    "Why?"

    "Did you realize that, if he wanted, he could have defeated the toad just by himself?" asked Walk to March.

    The walk continued "His speed, was definitely greater than that of the frog, he was so fast that I wasn''t even able to keep track of him with my eyes. He was able to punch the frog away with his bare hand and also he was able to take a direct hit from the frog. His strength and speed are not the points I am trying to make, I am trying to say is that he was fully capable of defeating the toad alone. But yet he opened the opportunity for us to defeat the toad, he wanted for us to also pass the test.

    I am not framing him like some kind of saint, but he is definitely the leader I am looking for. My uncle always says that a royal knight should look for a king that they see their ideal world in. I think I see my ideal world in the form of ----- Grey. Perhaps I do want him to be my king, I really hope that he is from the royal family."

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    {Grey''s POV}

    It was time for dinner. This time along with Aetna, I also teleported grandma Lozen, Rai, and an uninvited guest. Actually, I teleported them away before dinner.

    Grandma Lozen was done with her work, so we teleported to the house earlier than the dinner timing.

    I was seated near the fireplace, I was staring blankly at the fire. Staring at it gave me a piece of mind and beside me was Illya, she was asleep on my lap. She just came and slept on my lap, so I patted her head, just like Aunt Sofia does to my hair. It didn''t take her long to sleep.

    Illya is pretty cute...

    Well at least looking at her sleep is giving me peace of mind since all other things about this room are making me burn the room itself.

    "You never told me that my nephew was so handsome!" this was Professor Ronia''s voice, well i am not sure what to call her now.

    Apparently, she is Grandma Lozen''s sister''s daughter and so technically she is my aunt. Well, I do call Grandma Lozen grandma, so I think she is my aunt.

    Grandma Lozen gave a smug laugh before saying "I did tell you that he is more beautiful than you! but you never listened to me!"

    "Well, it was hard to believe it since grandma always calls their grandson beautiful even if how ugly they are so I thought-----"

    "Shut up, before I seal you away with magic."

    "It''s okay Aunt, you don''t need to threaten me, I do agree that he is pretty good-looking." said Professor Ronia or ----- i am still not sure about what to call her.

    Staring blankly at the fire I asked, "By the way, Professor Ronia, do you also have to seal the marking of owl?"

    "yes I do ----- but how did you -----"

    "You also seem to have an owl marking more powerful than that of Grandma Lozen," I said.

    "How------" Professor Ronia turned towards Grandma as she asked, "How did he?"

    "Well he does have an owl marking that is more powerful than yours..." said Grandma Lozen, still pretty smug about it.

    "Huh? what? all three of us have owl marking, so that definitely makes us family. But now it makes sense that he was able to sense my owl marking."

    "I may have powerful owl marking, but -----" I looked back towards Professor Ronia as I said, "But you are more powerful, more power that it could take me many years to reach your level."

    "Oh, my ----- you are making me blush."

    "I am not complimenting you, I am just treating it as a fact. Well, it is a fact that you are strong. It may take me many years to get powerful, but I don''t have many years, I want to get stronger than you as quickly as I could. I need to get strong---- I can''t wait around and waste any more time---- so, Aunt Ronia, would you help me in getting stronger than you? I want you to teach me."

    "I love how direct you are------- I can''t help but remember hero Alice, you are just spitting image of her. Your face and also the way you behave, you are very much like her even to the smallest details. and I don''t mind teaching you, since that''s the least I could do to Hero Alice and brother Ranulf."

    She agreed..... it was obvious that my mom and dad have a good relationship with her.

 Chapter 149 - 148: Three Weeks.

    "I love how direct you are------- I can''t help but remember hero Alice, you are just spitting image of her. Your face and also the way you behave, you are very much like her even to the smallest details. and I don''t mind teaching you, since that''s the least I could do to Hero Alice and brother Ranulf."

    "There are various parts of him that you haven''t seen yet, the parts which make her too similar to Alice," said Dad who was seated on the sofa. he continued "He is as cynical and prideful as her mom, I don''t know if that''s good or bad quality."

    "Hero Alice''s cynical nature was very much attractive. She is the only other person that I have ever looked up to," said Aunt Ronia.

    Looking at her I asked, "Who is the other person that you look up to?"

    "That -----" she slightly shifted her attention toward Grandma Lozen as she said, " That''s a secret."

    It is obvious that she is trying to make it obvious, does she want Grandma Lozen to acknowledge her or something?

    "By the way, I will only train you on one condition."

    "and that is?"

    "I want you to teleport me to places, like the places that you have been. I want to see where you have been, the places, every part of your life. I want to see the struggles and tragedies that you went through, I want to see it all."

    "Why?" I asked.

    "I want to see what kind of life the future king has led up until now."

    The reason was bullshit and there is definitely something more to her reason, but I don''t see any kind of harm in her words. So I guess I can show her, "Fine, but your training better be worth it."

    "You don''t have to worry about that, I know various people that can help you in getting stronger."

    Well as I was conversing with Aunt Ronia, there was something that was really bothering me at that time.

    A particular girl was revealing all my secrets to my family, she ------ this girl is not even embarrassed to say those things.

    I was hearing a burst of loud laughter that was coming from the other side of the room. The other side of the room which consisted of Rai, Emilia, Aetna, Annie, and my dad seem to be laughing about something.

    That something was my secret...

    "Are you serious?!!" asked Emilia as she couldn''t control her laugh.

    "I am serious! I still remember the first time Grey had to shit in the forest, he ------- HE WAS DISGUSTED BY HIS OWN SHIT!!! his face ----- his face!! it was the face of a rich brat who had to take a shit in an open jungle for the first time. It was so funny!"

    "Stop!!! I can''t ---- I can''t my stomach." said dad as he was holding his stomach, he wasn''t able to stop laughing.

    "Well, he did get comfortable with shitting in the forest, more comfortable than any of us. He mastered the art of shitting in open, I was proud of him."

    Dad burst into a burst of louder laughter, he was in tears with laughter.

    "You all seem to get along well," I said as looked at them with a sharp look, well I can''t lie that I did put some murder intent in that look.

    Suddenly everyone quiet down, and Rai was trying to look away from me. "What happened Rai, you can continue. But well ------ but I can''t guarantee that there will not be blood spilled today."

    She looked at me back as she said "Threat accepted!"

    Well nothing else happened that night, Rai kept teasing me for the rest of the time and I teased her back like usual. We had dinner and then slept for the night.

    Rai and Aunt Ronia spent the night in the guest room. Aetna had her own room and Illya prefers to sleep with me. She is still a kid, so I think I can do that at least for her since I don''t want her to miss her parents. I can try to make her not feel lonely.

    Just like that days went by and the time for my academy was growing closer. At this time, I made several decision to grow our brand since it would serve as a good source of money.

    Kirsa looked for the various dealer who was ready to provide us with the material at cheaper prices, together I and Kirsa reviewed the offer of various dealer and in end, we decided to give the contract of supplying the material to the deal at the Queen''s port.

    We bought the abandoned temple of the Nyx and made it the factory that will manufacture the goods. The goods are still in production, but once done, we will head to the next part of the plan. The next part of the plan is to launch the product in the market and gradually we will have to build the name for it.

    On the other part, the gambling center was pretty easy to set up. Apparently, the men at my Lenton house gang were pretty shady enough to procure every kind of thing that is needed to run a gambling center.

    Along with the gambling center, we attached a fancy bar to it. I was very much tempted to add a prostitution center where men and women can pick up whoever they want since gambling, drugs, and hookers are a pretty good combo.

    But well there were many moral obligations so I decided not to.

    For now Gambling center was making a ton of money, along Lenton city was becoming the new capital for every kind of organization. It was normal for a meeting to be held in our gambling center and well, I was able to observe the hierarchy of power form in front of my house.

    If necessary I am willing to naturalize any threat if needed, I will have to maintain balance in Lenton city.

    Being attached to Celestia is helping me in keeping the threat away from Lenton city, it''s like people are avoiding taking on Lenton city. That includes the church, it seems like the church is getting weak.

    How do I know that church is getting weak? because in past they never used to think before starting a war. But now they are very careful in choosing their opponent.

    Celestia was growing in power very rapidly and inferno was also in its move. The blood bath between Celestia and Inferno will be inevitable.

    Recently princess seems to be eying on Zalo. Well, that''s the place which is hardest to bring under our control.

    Zalo is a lawless city, where only one person rules everything, he is known as the king of the way to hell. A cool name right?

    Zalo is an underground city, beyond Zalo there is hell. Hell is home for demons and various other things like vampires and stuff.

    {Author: Hell is not very hell-like, it will be a proper civilization. A civilization where many demonic entities and races live. By the way, the vampire is a demonic race. Not exactly demons, but they are demonic races. It will make sense in a further story.}

    There is only one passageway to hell in the continent of the seaweeds and the city of Zula is situated in the passageway. Due to geographical and various other advantages, no organization or country was ever successful in capturing the city of Zula.

    I will have to go to hell, I have something to do over there, that''s why I need to go through Zula.

    The time that has passed since the time I took the entrance exam was about three weeks, and today was my first day at the academy.

    We were assigned a dormitory to live in, for now, I was given the dormitory with two random guys. But I was free to change the room according to my convenience.

    Aetna and Rai apparently took a room together with Lily and Agata. Apparently, they were given the room of four-person. I haven''t met Lily and Agata yet, so most probably I will meet them later.

    There was actually various small building, the girl''s building was separate, in a place separated from the boys. We were each assigned a wing, the whole building was like one house. We even had a shared hall, training room and there was also a kitchen.

    Currently, I was actually walking to the classroom with Aetna and Rai. As soon as I entered the classroom, I was able to see various new faces. But there were very few faces that I recognized.

    Even though I knew very less people here, most of the people looked at me and some even showed some kind of irritation towards me. Well, what did I do to them?

    I guess there is definitely a hierarchy here and I definitely pissed some people off at higher hierarchy.. But it''s not like I care.

 Chapter 150 - 149: Ever Growing Harem?(2)

    As soon as I entered the classroom, I was able to see various kinds of people. Some were staring at me as if I owe them money or something and others were hiding for me.

    The person that was hiding from me was someone that I wanted to meet for the previous two years. Well, it does make sense that she is hiding from me.

    But----- but what if she is hiding from me because she has found something new. No no no no no no no---- let''s not think that and what''s with my reaction. It doesn''t matter to me, it shouldn''t matter to me, right right?

    I will be a big man and let her know that it''s okay that she had moved on. But what''s with the stingy feeling in my heart.

    For some reason, I found myself not approaching her. With Aetna, I took the seat that was in the center of the classroom. Aetna went to some of her friends, apparently, she was catching up with them.

    Taking a seat on my chair, I let out a sigh.

    But as soon as I took the seat, I felt a touch of a finger from behind me. Looking behind, I saw that it was the finger of a familiar face.

    It was very much like him, without calling me using words he chose to call me with a gesture. Even after calling me, he looked at my face blankly expecting me to say something.

    Instantly a smile took over my face as I said "Ulrich! even you got admission in this academy."

    "Yes."

    Well, he could have chosen to say anything, but he chose just a one-word answer.

    Looking at him, I asked, "How did you communicate with people throughout your journey?"

    "By money and violence."

    "Well, using money and violence is more efficient than using words."

    He looked at me, with a brief pause, he struggled to say something. But he finally decided, to say it "Grey, I am incompetent."

    For some reason, I couldn''t ask him why, rather than that "Me too, Ulrich. From the time we all went our separate ways, I lost more things than I could achieve. So, cheer up, we both are just a bunch of useless pieces of shit."

    Ulrich didn''t say anything to it, he just chuckled softly.

    "Ulrich!! where were you, my little brother! I missed you!" said Rai who just happened to spot Ulrich.

    I looked at her as I asked "Aren''t you both of the same age?"

    "It doesn''t matter, for me he is like a little brother."

    "You are not my sister, you are a bully," said Ulrich under his breath, but it was loud enough to be audible.

    Rai pulled his cheeks as she said "What are you talking about, this big sister is not a bully!!"

    What is she talking about? this is what bullying looks like.

    Leaving them, I went back and sat in my seat. Lying down my head on the desk, I looked towards the person who was seated beside me.

    "Are you avoiding me?"

    "Eek!"

    she was taken by surprise or she just freaked out, well her reaction clears one thing,

    "So you were avoiding me."

    She finally looked towards me as she said, "No---- it''s not ----- it''s not like that."

    "Well ----- I won''t be mad, I will also forget the ----"

    "I said it''s not like that!! I was actually nervous about seeing you again okay!!"

    With a smug look, I asked "Ooooo, I see, I see, you were embarrassed."

    "I wasn''t okay!" denied Lily strongly. "Anyway, how was the journey here? It was the first time I have been on such a long journey and I am sure that I am not the adventurer type."

    "Well, I can relate. Traveling can be very taxing. But I love meeting new people and going new places, it is kind of fun." I said resting my face on my hand.

    "For some reason, the way you say things doesn''t make it very much believable. It is hard to say whether you really mean it or not."

    I chuckled as I said, "Cause I lie from time to time."

    "I am sorry to interrupt, but it''s nice to meet you again." said a person who just walked up to me.

    "Ah, Agata, you know, you don''t need to be so formal."

    "Oh, apologies."

    I looked at her as I squinted my eyes as she apologized. She realized the reason why I looked at her that way, "It is difficult for me to speak informal way since I have been speaking like this my whole life."

    With a smug face, I looked at her as I said "I am very much tempted to see you calling someone fucker."

    Placing a hand over her mouth she said "No! I can''t speak such a foul word."

    "Are you sure? it is a stress reliever to call someone fucker. Don''t you think the same, Lily?" I asked.

    She laughed as she said "Yeah, it is pretty relaxing to call someone fucker or mother fucker or even bitch. But please do that to the person who is irritating you, don''t do it to nice people cause that''s just mean."

    "Yeah, I agree."

    "What are you guys talking about?" asked Frank who was with Phil, idiot A, and Idiot B. as they joined us.

    Lily asked them the same question and they agreed strongly, "It is relieving, I call Frank a bitch or something when he gets on my nerves."

    Later Rai joined the conversation, eventually, everyone was involved in the conversation. I was having conversations with everyone until ----

    "They are here."

    "I heard she is very much beautiful."

    "I mean we already have many beauties in the class. I guess it was the best decision to join the academy."

    This was the conversation between two boys and not going to lie that it was very much like two background characters talking to each other. They have that same old repulsive way of talking and shit ---- seriously author, do your job better!

    {Author: Oi mc don''t break the fourth wall. I am trying okay!}

    Well, I wonder who they are talking about. It was obvious who they were talking about, but let''s just assume that I don''t know who they are talking about, just for the sake of comic timing.

    Fuck comic timing, I gotta find a place to hide from that woman.

    Eventually, both of them entered the classroom. Calling them the blond twins would be appropriate, calling them blond twins was appropriate because they had blond hair. Huh? not funny? too lame?

    Yeah, whatever, but yeah these were the people that caught everyone''s attention. They both were Lora and Otis Ormr------- my two cousins.

    I don''t know if everyone was in awe or they were just nervous or afraid, but no one approached them. As soon as she entered the class, she looked around and in a second she found me.

    She walked towards me, but rather than talking to me, she sat behind me. Following her, Otis came, but unlike her, she actually stopped, and to greet him, I got up.

    Getting up, I greeted him with my arms wide open as I said "Come here, my brother!"

    "Ah, it''s nice to meet you, my brother!"

    Frank who was standing on the side asked "Weren''t you both supposed to be enemies or something? since, the last I remember, you both had a bloody battle."

    "Well, brothers can also be made in war."

    As I was talking to them, I heard a voice from behind me "Hey Grey!, I am not ignoring you okay, I am actually just worried that I might not end up attracting unwanted attention to you. I wanted to cling to you badly, okay!"

    It was the voice of Lora and she is still obsessed with me. I sighed as I thought about future life, it is definitely going to be visible.

    I saw Lily who was sitting on the right of me, she is definitely staring at me. She definitely hears that!

    Aetna who seated ahead of me also heard that and she was also looking at me. It was more scary that she was looking at me by corve of her eyes, rather than looking at me directly. I don''t know why Rai was staring at me, I looked at Rin back as I thought that she is definitely staring at me to make me uncomfortable, cause this woman doesn''t feel things like jealousy.

    I looked towards my further right and I saw Frank staring at me with the same look, wait! why are you staring at me like that! Oi oi oi, let''s not be gay.

    To my right was Ulrich and ------- WHY IS HE STARING ME LIKE THAT?! oi oi don''t look at me like that!

    "Grey! will you come with me? I suspect that teacher has lost her way." it was the voice of Agata.

    At this moment, she looked like a godess to me. She was the godess that led me out of this awkward situation. She is my true friend.

    {I will speed up the story after next chapter, i have a good arc planned next.}

 Chapter 151 - 150: The Two Divison.

    Following Agata, I went outside the classroom. Walking beside her I asked, "Are we going to really search for the teacher?"

    "Yes, She gets lost rather quickly," she answered.

    "You know her?"

    "Yes I do, she was my personal teacher who helped me with the basics of magic. At that time she was a young woman who was just looking for extra money. Her name is Mirchi."

    "Ah, you are talking about professor Mirchi?"

    "You know her?" she asked.

    "She was the one that led me to the place where my entrance exam was held," I answered.

    "I see...." she looked at me as she said "By the way, I have recently observed that you seem to greatly attract two types of people. People who greatly like you and are fond of you, then there are people who have great enmity towards you. Well, the reason is your intense personality. I am rather fond of your personality."

    I smiled as I said "I am fond of your direct and decisive personality. A personality that is a great fit for a profession like ----- Yes! You would make a great general."

    She turned around as she said, "Then I would be your general of your kingdom."

    I laughed as I said "Sure sure."

    "My mom cousin used to say that ''A king should have a friend in his general ''and I suppose we are already good friends, so I am a great fit for that position."

    "Now that I think about it, it would be nice to have a friend in general," I said as I kept walking with her.

    Now that I think about it, we both are walking pointlessly in the passageway. "Aren''t we supposed to search for----"

    as I was going to say something, I saw a young woman with a sweaty forehead, perhaps from panicking too much. She was looking around in sheer anxiety, and also her white coat was oversized for her body. It was kind of cute.

    It was professor Mirchi, I waved my hand to her as I walked towards her.

    "Grey!! and ---- and Agata? what are you both doing here?"

    She was trying her best to hide the fact that she was panicking and also that she was lost.

    "Professor Mirchi, we came to find you. Now come one we will lead you to the class," said Agata.

    "Wait! how do you know that I am your class teacher?"

    Agata looked at Professor Agata as she said "I have my source of information."

    "But --- but!! a student shouldn''t --- anyways would you both please hide the fact that I got lost on my first day as the class teacher. I would ---- I would be fired!!"

    "Sure, I mean, I wouldn''t tell anyone," I said.

    "Really? you both are such a good kids!! I will make sure to treat you both especially in the classroom"

    Oi oi teacher, there are many things that are morally incorrect about it.

    We guided the teacher back to the classroom as we sat back on our specific chairs. Profesor Mirchi entered the class and in an instant, she was like a different personality.

    In contrast to the stiff nervous personality, she looked rather confident and strict now. The white coat she was wearing, was loose yet it made her menacing somehow.

    "Hey kids, I am professor Mirchi and I am assigned as a class teacher for you kids this year. Before anything, I would want to inform you that there is also another class that is also part of your class, which is class 1. But for now, the kids are kept different, but depending on the subject the two classes might merge as one. One of those classes is the practical training classes."

    Clapping her hands together she continued "By the way, you all will be taken to common ground where all you will be merged with the other class. The purpose of taking you all there is to test your mana core size so that we can designate all of you into of the three houses. The three houses are the Warrior, Mage-warrior, and also the pure mage house."

    She proceeded to walk outside as she said, "Now get up and follow me. By the way please maintain a line while following me."

    We got up and followed her in the line. It is impressive how effectively she changed her personality.

    "Grey, I think there will be a cliche scene where a random bad guy would pick on you for no apparent reason. I think this will happen in the common ground," said Frank out of nowhere, as he was walking in front of me.

    "Are you talking about yourself?"

    "Huh? ew no, i am a good guy okay."

    "Frank, don''t you remember our first encounter?" I asked with a straight tone.

    "Umm, let''s not talk about the past."

    Well as we were walking in the line a particular girl was holding on to my shirt as she was walking behind me. It was Lora of course and she wants to say something to me, but she is holding herself back.

    Eventually, she started talking to Aetna and Rai, they were getting along well.

    We reached the ground and saw that there was already one class who was waiting for our class in the common ground. Not exactly in the common ground, it was right in front of a room and the other class was already going in the room one by one and exiting the room with few changes in their uniform.

    I guess they are checking the mana size in the room and altering the new uniform for each student. We were told to enter with one student of another class with each student at a time.

    By the way, the other class is division B, whereas our division is A. But apparently, we are supposed to be a part of the same class and most of our activities would be done together.

    I also spotted, March and Walk in the other class ---- ah there also seems to be Killian over the other class. Waiting in line, each student of both divisions went inside the room one by one and came back.

    Eventually, Frank went inside and came back with a new uniform. The black blazer and shirt now had a silver outline throughout the uniform. The silver outline in the clothes means that Frank is the part of Mage-Warrior class.

    It was next to my turn, so I went inside and along with me there was another guy who was walking rather aggressively. He did try to bump into me, but I simply dodged at as I kept walking ahead, this------ this is definitely the same old bad guy encounter.

    Seated inside was Aunt Ronia, she took a glance at us. As a smile took over her face, she said "Oh, Grey! my dear nephew! and ----- "

    Aunt Ronia looked at the other guy as she asked "Please state your name."

    "I am from the Rench family!! the famous family of scholars and my name is Dick Rench."

    Aunt Ronia slipped a laugh under her breath but she quickly regained her composure as she said "Okay, please sit down."

    This guy''s name is Dick, what a tragedy.

    Aunt Ronia was searching for something on the desk.  She looked around as she said "Where is it? --- I just kept it here."

    "Grey Hoffmann, I heard about you from Win and various other of my people. I suggest that you rather stay away from our way, I have seen many people like you. Cocky guys like you don''t really end well---"

    I looked towards him as I asked "Are you talking to me?"

    "Listen here, you ----- don''t make an enemy out of me or any other families." he sighed as he said, "I think we will have to make an example out of you."

    I couldn''t hold my chuckle as I said "I remember a guy who said the exact same thing, it didn''t really end well for him."

    "Ah ---- I found it," said Aunt Ronia as she picked up the device to measure my mana core size.

    {Author: It was the same device, that was there in the tournament arc.}

    "Okay---" Aunt Ronia pointed the device towards the guy, and later the crystal of the device turned to that of a light shade of yellow. Looking at the crystal, Aunt Ronia spoke "Umm---- it looks like that you are a pure mage, nice nice."

    Later she turned the device towards me and the color changed to that of the light violet, opening her mouth she spoke "It looks like you will be of Warrior class!! just like your dad!!"

    He chuckled in a distasteful way as he said, "Was his dad a weakling too?"

    I don''t know why, it wasn''t like I was mad. But for some reason, my hand moved on my own as i said "Aunt Ronia, close the door."

    Grabbing his collar, I slammed his head on the table. Pinning him on the table, I locked his hand behind his back. Aunt Ronia had already closed the door using her magic.

    "Weakling? I have pinned you against the table and yet you are powerless to do anything. It''s not like I am angry, I just want you to make sure that you will be out of my way in the future."

    I was using the power of Ormr blood to disrupt his mana flow and I was releasing all my aura to pressure him down. I want him to know what it really means to deal with me.. I want him to know that what it''s like to fear me.

 Chapter 152 - 151: Impending Fight.

    "you!!!! What do you think that you are doing?" asked Dick with rage in his voice, but at the same time, he was somewhat confused about his situation.

    Unexpected ---- it was unexpected for Dick that Grey would slam his head against the table.

    His shock later turned into fury as he tried to free himself, but his struggle was of no use.

    "What am I doing? Disciplining you."

    "No except my dad ever tried to discipline me, who do you think you are? --- "

    Looking at Ronia, Dick exclaimed "teacher!! --teacher!!! Get him off me!!! He is doing this in front of you!!!"

    Keeping him pinned against the table, Grey chuckled as he said "Aunt Ronia, do you see anything now?"

    "What are you talking about? I don''t really see anything."

    Gritting his teeth, dick opened his mouth to say, "I see, I see, I will tell my dad about this. You think you can get away with this unfair treatment?"

    "Huh? What are you talking about? I am just letting both of the students solve your own problem. It''s not like I am helping Grey or anything. In this room, you both are free to do anything."

    Ronia was still seated on the chair as she said that.

    Letting go of him, Grey spoke "You heard her, you can come and fight me in this very room. You seemed to have a problem with me, so it makes sense that I solve your problem."

    Grey looked at him as he continued "So, what are you going to do?"

    "Ah, it is indeed is good plan to settle it here!" Said Dick with a smirk on his face.

    Gathering mana on the palm of his hand, Dick looked Grey in the eyes.

    Grey''s eyes shined bright in the shade of indigo purple as an immense aura excluded out of his body.

    Grey stood there for a good minute as he looked at Dick but there wasn''t any moment from Dick.

    Releasing his clenched hand Dick spoke "release the door, I don''t want to fight. But I will never forget it, you weakling ----"

    But rather than finishing his sentence, he walked away.

    Looking at the walking back of Dick, Grey spoke " ah, he will probably not forget it "

    "Well, he did say that he won''t forget it." Said Ronia as she stretched his hand towards Dick.

    A dark matter came out of her hand as it wrapped around Dick. Wrapping around the certain parts of Dick''s uniform.

    Later she aimed it at Grey as she cast another spell on Grey, the dark matter wrapped around Grey.

    Grey walked away out of the room as he said "Thank you for putting up with me, professor Ronia!!''

    As he walked out of the room, the dark matter altered Grey''s uniform. A golden purple outline formed around his uniform as he walked out of the room.

    {Author: By the way, by dark matter, I mean demonic energy.}

    Lora who walked past Grey as he walked out of the room said "It really suits you!"

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Grey''s POV)

    "Huh? warrior class, how? I thought that you would be a pure image, there must be something wrong!" said Phil as we were seated in the cafeteria.

    Well after assigning houses there were many classes held, such alchemy and basics of magic. But there wasn''t anything practical done during those periods it was just a lecture session. Apparently, the lecture will be done only in the first week and then rest of the academic year we will have to self-study everything.

    Teachers are there to guide you, but they will only guide you when you ask them to, they won''t spoon-feed you anything. Students are free to take whatever courses they want and choose to attend how many lectures they want.

    But there will be a yearly test that will be held at the end of our first academic year and during that time we are required to pass all the tests to advance to the next year. During next year we will get to join as heroes part members if we are selected.

    But apparently, students are given an opportunity over the course of this year.

    Now to the current question that Phil asked, "I always had a small core."

    "What? that''s bullshit, does that mean that I am stronger than you?" asked Phil.

    "Yeah---- I mean probably you are stronger than me," I answered as I munched down on my fried chicken.

    Not going to lie, the fried chicken here is on point. It''s crispy from the outside and juicy from the inside, I can taste the spices even till the bones. How much did they marinate this chicken to get this kind of taste?

    Ulrich stood from his seat out of nowhere, taking his plate he walked towards the food counter. Apparently, he had some kind of talk with the girl at the counter, and I don''t know what he said, but the girl at the counter seemed really happy about what he said.

    I am confused about why is that girl at the counter, but well, for now, I will just focus on my chicken. Looking at Ulrich going to the kitchen with the girl as the girl made another guy stand on the counter in his place.

    Ulrich probably went to talk to the chef, he is very passionate about cooking and well he will get along with the chef or something.

    {Author: His chef is correct, the girl standing on the counter is part of the food research group and she is just handling the counter on the behalf of someone. In truth, she was the one that made the fried chicken. Ulrich just went there to talk about how the chef made the fried chicken and upon finding out that the girl made the chicken, Ulrich asked her to show the recipe. That is the reason they both went to the kitchen.}

    "Grey this----- it''s good right?" asked Aetna as both of the cheeks were stuffed with chicken.

    Looking at the stuffed cheeks, I felt the urge to poke her cheeks and I did. But she was least bothered by it as she kept eating her chicken. I kept poking her cheek to get her to notice me, but she was still least bothered by it.

    As I was poking her cheeks, I saw Killian, Win, Dick, and other boys walking together. They looked at me aggressively as they walked past our table and I was least bothered by it.

    "You seem to have made some enemies," said Rai as she took a chicken out of Grey''s plate.

    "You seem to have made some too," I said to, Rai. She seemed to have picked enmity with another group of boys and girls.

    "I actually threw hands with them, I kinda went overboard. But well I did it in the sparring ring so they won''t kick me out of the academy."

    I sighed as I said, "And I thought that I was too soon to make trouble."

    "I didn''t make trouble, I just stood out and they didn''t like it. I don''t usually entertain others'' insecurity. But you Grey are Soft and yet very much cruel, you give hell to your enemy, and yet you show them mercy. You give them trauma but yet give them space to grow, how and why do you do that?" said Rai.

    I kept eating my chicken as I said, " I don''t know what you are talking about."

    I again saw that they were still looking at us. Now that I think about it, Dean Meier and his group are also looking at us.

    I looked back towards them as did the rest of the people seated at the table. Agata has stated across the table spoke "Grey do you want me to dispose of them?"

    I chuckled as I replied "Agata, you are scary and I appreciate your offer. But let''s not do anything until they do something."

    "Right, that would also give us the moral advantage," replied Agata.

    "Just let me know when to throw hands, I am ready for it," said Idiot B.

    "No, don''t throw hands at anyone, I don''t want any of you to get in trouble," I said.

    "Well, if they start it, I will not stand and watch," said Frank.

    They were definitely up to something and it was so obvious that the rest of my group was able to understand it. I wasn''t sure if they were looking for a chance to pick a fight with us or they were waiting for something else. But they were awfully quiet. They didn''t do anything for the rest of the week.

    During this week, i got used to the academy and I didn''t yet attend the class of Aunt Ronia since i wanted to do it with full concentration and after a week, it was the first class of Aunt Ronia.

    The crowd of student that was ready to learn from Aunt Ronia was much bigger than that of any other class.. Perhaps some wanted to learn magic from aunt Ronia or they just came for her looks, but the crowd was big nonetheless.

 Chapter 153 - 152: Magic Thread.

    Due to the large crowd, we were divided into various batches. We were assigned to Aunt Ronia one batch at a time. Apparently, she was one of the greatest researchers in the field of science.

    So her vast knowledge is better than any books provided by the academy. By the way, currently, it was our turn. We all were thirty kids and usually, other teachers tend to take warrior, mage-warrior, and pure mage houses separately. But Aunt Ronia prefers to take it according to the class, rather than taking it according to the houses.

    "I will begin with a question," said Aunt Ronia as she stood in front of the class in the classroom. She sat above the desk as she continued "How do you perform magic?"

    It was a plain question and for answering it one of the girls raised her hand, it was the same girl that Ulrich was talking to during the break time.

    "Magic is performed by the use of mana. A human is born with a man core ------ we not exactly born with, it gets develops in the human body over time. A normal human has their mana core developed around the age of five to ten. It is natural for human beings to gather mana from their surroundings and they usually use this mana to perform magic. But then again, mana is gathered at a certain point, and using that mana a human can perform a spell according to the elemental affinity."

    Aunt Ronia looked at the girl as she said "Very good! you may sit now." she looked back at the class as she continued "What she said is correct, but there is more to magic than we think. There is various factor that affects the casting of our magic. During old times the human in particular used to use chants to perform magic, but then humans evolved and magic became natural to us.

    So natural that we just need to gather mana in the palm of our hand just think about whatever we want to do. But yeah there is various limitations such as that we can''t perform magic out of our certain elemental affinity and we can also not perform complex magic without seal marking."

    She stretched her palm as she said "I am sure that everyone seated here knows how to perform basic magic, or else you wouldn''t have passed the test. Now, while we are at basics I will suggest you guys------ yes suggest you guys not teach, since this is my own research and it''s up to you guys to use it now."

    She casted a small waterfall in her hands as she said "This is how we perform a normal spell, we just gather mana in the palm of our hand, and then the spells are cast. The mana usually travels through the body like water, and that''s how you guys are thought during the basics of magic.

    Well, the technique is correct and very simple to perform, but I will show you all a different way and more efficient way to perform magic."

    Before teaching the way, she looked at us as she said "By the way, this technique is applicable for all the races and after a week or two there will be more people who will come here. They will be from different kingdoms and different races, but they will arrive in a week or two. Now let''s get back to the technique."

    She stretched her hand, again and she casted the water ball. But this time it was a much bigger water ball than last time. The huge water ball was about four times larger than the last spell.

    "I used the same amount of mana for this water, but with a different technique but yet the result is so drastically different."

    If what she is claiming is true that it is fucking amazing. It definitely seems much more powerful than the last version.

    She smiled as she looked at the intrigued eyes of the rest of the class, "The technique is simple, yet it''s difficult."

    "Simple but yet difficult?" questioned one of the students.

    "Yes, the reason that it''s simple is that it required you to only visualize your mana as threads rather than water, it doesn''t require much complex method. But the reason that it''s difficult is that it is harder to master, so much harder to master. I have seen many many students give up on this technique because it is just part of my research and not approved by. But there are students who were able to master it, but it took them too much effort to do it."

    She took a box of thread as she said "Now---- I will hand out one piece of thread to each of you and I want you to imbue ur mana into this thread. Doing that, you will just have to visualize the flow of mana inside the thread. By the way, do the visualizing part with your eyes closed and try to block off all of your other senses and focus only on the thread. After that try to spread mana through your mana in a thread-like pattern rather than making it flow like a water."

    She started walking out of the classroom as she said, "try doing this, and when you are successfully able to do it. you can come to me and I will tell you what to do next. By the way, I don''t care how much time it takes, even a year or ten. Just come to me when you are successfully able to do it. Now then bye kids!"

    Just like that she went away, most of the students tried to do the thing that we were told to do.

    Grabbing onto the thread, I imbued the mana into it and it was very much easy to do it.

    Closing my eyes, this time I tried to travel the mana in the same thread-like strings.

    Clenching my fist, I gathered mana at one spot and concentrated it on thread-like strings.

    Isn''t this very easy to do? I am able to gather mana as a string like ------ as I was thinking that the mana dispersed away. Quickly opening my eyes, I was huffing for fresh air.

    I was breathless.....

    There was sweat gathered at my forehead.

    It is not something that should make me breathless. Why is it so tiring? I wasn''t sure about the reason, but the process was damn hard!

    When I opened my eyes, I noticed that the whole class was empty. Except for Aetna, Lora, Lily and Rai who stayed behind.

    "Should I tell her Aetna?" said Rai, she was enthusiastic while saying this. I wonder what they are talking about.

    "Yes yes! what is the thing about Grey that will shock me to the core? does his marriage fixed with another girl? or does he like guys? or or or ----- do you want to say that he is actually secretly my cousin and that''s why his and my eyes are that similar? and I kind of forgot to ask about why his and my eyes look this similar. Well, I am not that dumb, but I ---- I don''t want to expect reality."

    What the ------ huh? eh? I mean ----- what the----- okay okay, first I will ask the basic question.

    "Where is everyone else? where did they go?"

    Rai pointed outside the window as she said "Look outside the window."

    The sky outside the window was painted in the color of orange ---------- it was evening. How? I just closed my eyes to -------

    "Did the time go so fast?"

    "Most of the students gave up in ten minutes as it was super tiring. But I guess your Ormr blood kicked in as most your tiredness was cured by speedy healing of your blood, that is the reason why Otis and Lora----" Rin turned to look toward Lora, but what she saw was Lora''s blank expression as the light died out of her eyes.

    "Ormr blood? but ---- but I am Ormr? you --- Grey--- how--- I mean it was obvious but still ---" she came closer to me as she grabbed my hand. "Our kid will be damn strong!"

    What? that''s so random thing to say. Don''t you have anything else to say when you know that guy you like is actually your cousin?

    and why doesn''t she feel embarrassed while saying these things?

    She turned to look at Lily as she said "By the way Lily, you knew about this thing right?"

    Lily looked away as she said, "I don''t know what you are talking about."

    "You knew right?!!"

    "I knew but I didn''t want to break your heart by saying that Grey is your cousin since ------ since you like him so much," said Lily.

    "Awwww, that''s so sweet of you and I am aware that you are fond of Grey. But you will have to fight me for him!!"

    Lily looked more away as she said "I am not particularly and my hand is pretty rough from all the training so ----- I am ready to share him, but compete against beautiful girls like you!!!!"

    "Huh? what are you talking about? if I were a boy, I would definitely be all over you," said Rai.

    "Yeah actually," said Lora as she chuckled.

    "I am actually in love with your chin," said Aetna.

    Hearing this, Lily was already red from ear to ear.. It was as if she would faint at any time.

 Chapter 154 - 153: Mage Circle.

    I was breathless.

    It was as if my head was going to burst. I have no energy in my body, and now that I think about it, the sun is kind of coming out. I started meditating at night and it''s fucking dawn now!

    I am nowhere near making a proper thread, there was no progress. I can now see why this process of making mana thread is discouraging for the students and why it took some students years to even make a single mana thread.

    I buried my head inside the pillow as I let out a deep yawn.

    There is at least one upside to this process, I can feel sleepy. I don''t usually sleep a lot at night. Usually, I sleep to one to two hours a night and when I am lucky I might be able to even sleep for three.

    The voices in my head are calmer...

    I feel sleepy...

    "Grey! why did you kill me?"

    "Grey, You were supposed to save us."

    "Grey, Aren''t you a hero?"

    It was the faces of the kids from the village. One of them grabbed my leg, other grabbed onto my collar. Their skin was dry... One of them still hands the rope around their neck, the way that kid killed herself.

    Whereas other kids were still bleeding through their chest and in their chest was the icicle knife that I stabbed them with.

    Hobgoblin ... the general..... the godess of curse..... everyone was there, just the way I killed them.

    Asking different questions .... all of them were asking questions of their own.

    "Grey --- why did you kill my family?"

    "Grey, why didn''t you save me? you knew that I was innocent. Why didn''t you save me, Grey?"

    "Grey, you were the monster ever since you were little, I hope you haven''t forgotten that you have killed the very first man at the very age of eight. That man is me of course."

    "Grey ---- Grey ---- Grey!!!! Grey!!!"

    With a sudden shook, I sat up. I was out of breath, I was covered in a cold sweat. I looked around the room to see that Aetna was seated in front of me.

    "It''s rare for you to wake up late." she ran a piece of cloth through my forehead as she asked, "Had a bad dream, again?"

    "Yes," I said as I took a deep breath. I closed my eyes as I calmed myself down. I was used to it, so it doesn''t take me even ten seconds to calm myself down.

    She held on to my hand as she said "I wish I could help you, but even I don''t know how to deal with traumas. Traumas ----- it doesn''t leave you alone---- it eats you up, slowly."

    I got up from my bed as I said, "Aetna, you know, you are weirdly wise sometimes." I said as I walked up to the bathroom.

    "You think so? hehe"

    "By the way, I think from tomorrow we should sleep in our own dorms rather than teleporting back to the house. You should spend time with your friends."

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I was attending a specific class. There were around ten students who were attending this lecture and I was one of them.

    I am confused about the reason why there were so few students attending this lecture. I would have understood the reason if the professor was bad or something like that. But this professor had a good record like his research is pretty popular and he is mentioned in various books throughout the year.

    There was a major controversy where his wife died but I don''t think it had something to do with students attending his few lectures.

    "Hello, students ---- my name is professor Blake. I teach subjects related to mana and magic, just like professor Ronia. " He clapped his hands together as he said, "You all might be wondering about why there are so fewer students here?"

    "Yes, actually."

    "That''s because ---- I was the reason that my wife died. I and my wife used to research energy known as divine energy. I am not talking about the divine energy used by the church. Their divine energy is stored in their artifacts and they borrow that divine energy to use to cast spells. But even doing that takes a toll on their body.

    The mortal body is not made for divine energy, we can use divine energy since we are spawns of divine and every human has the possibility of divine. At least that''s what I believe. I and my wife were researching how to naturally store divine energy in the mortal body.

    My wife volunteered since it was her lifelong goal to achieve and use divine energy. I just tagged along since I loved her. We knew the risk but she volunteered to store divine energy in her body. At first, everything was fine, she was healthy and it was going well. She was able to use the divine energy, but then the divine energy was destroying her body at a rapid rate.

    In a year she died, and I couldn''t do anything about it. People believe that I killed her and they aren''t wrong since I was part of the experiment."

    There was pin-drop silence in the classroom.

    "Now that you heard everything ---- if you don''t want to be thought by me, you can leave and I won''t blame any of you."

    Well, everyone was still seated in their place. They didn''t leave or I guess they were just awkward about it.

    "Fine--- I will turn around and close my eyes since it will be awkward for you guys to leave in front of me."

    After a minute, professor Blake turned around. Looking at the classroom he smiled, but it was rather a sad smile.

    "I expected everyone to leave, but I guess it''s my lucky day that at least one student stayed."

    He was talking to me and well, everyone else left the class. It was only me who was seated in the classroom.

    "Grey Hoffmann! now that you have stayed. Let''s begin the classes. Tell me what do you want to learn, since you are the only student I can teach you according to your preference ."

    I opened my book of advance magic. Yeah, that was the name of the book.

    "I want to actually learn about the mage circle."

    "Huh? if you wanted to learn that, there is no one better to teach that than professor Mirchi. Even though she is young, she is the best capable to do that."

    I chuckled as I said, "But my dad said that there was no one better than during the time you guys were studying together."

    "Ranulf said that? I mean I was good, but I am not good anymore. Fine ----- I will teach you how to do it and I will tell you the reason why I am not able to do it anymore."

    He stretched his hand as he cast a mage circle. It was blue in color and the pattern in the circle was faded yet it was a proper mage circle.

    "This is a mage circle. Let me correct myself, I am able to do it but before I was used to doing it way better."

    He closed his fist as the mage circle disappeared. "The mage circle is a reflection of one''s soul. The shape and pattern of the circle are different for everyone. The best way to cast this spell is to get in touch with yourself, I am not a philosopher so I can''t really tell you what it means by getting in touch with yourself.

    If I did, I would have been able to cast a better self. But I think no one would be able to give you a definite answer since getting in touch with yourself and yourself can be only done by you yourself."

    I stretched my hand as I gave it a try. Closing my eyes I tried to mimic exact same thing the professor did.

    I can mimic it well by using my seal of Minerva. Closing my eyes I cast a circle as I copied the exact same pattern that the professor did.

    {Things written in bold are memories of someone else.}

    A woman was lying down. There were white lines, perhaps it was veins but the veins don''t shine this brightly.

    I was holding her hands, but it wasn''t really my hand. nor my action was mine owns. But for some reason, my heart was stinging. I was in pain...

    "Hehe, I think the experiment didn''t really end well for me." It was the woman who was in my arms that said this.

    "No please--- please stay awake. I can find --- I can find a cure!!!!"

    I screamed and shouted, but my voice wasn''t reaching her. There was a kid who was standing beside her, he looked a lot like John Blake.

    As I was shouting, the woman grabbed my hand as she said "Please look after John, don''t be a bad parent like me and remember mama loves you both."

    It was as if the woman used the last of her energy in saying that sentence. After saying that neither she talked nor she responded to anything and eventually she -----

    It was as if I snapped back to reality. I was standing in the same classroom and when I looked i was doing able to cast the exact same circle as professor Blake. But I wasn''t able to do something about it, it was of no use to me.

    "Huh? how did you even manage to cast the same mage circle like me?"

 Chapter 155 - 154: My People.

    "Huh? how did you even manage to cast the same mage circle like me?"

    "I actually saw you do it and then I did the exact same thing." I saw as I closed my fist as the mage circle disappeared.

    "That''s actually amazing, that is some scary observation skill. I didn''t even know that this was possible ---- wow."

    I sat down on the chair, as I looked down. The memory I saw kept going through my mind. The worst thing was that I felt the exact same thing that was going through Professor Blake at that time. His pain.... his regret... his hate for himself.

    It was enough to break a man''s heart.

    "I saw your memory... maybe because I copied the exact same pattern of your mage circle. I saw it... the death of your wife------ through your eyes." I couldn''t help but clench my fist as I said "It was though ----- it was though for you."

    He dragged the chair as he took a seat beside me. "You saw? how did you feel?"

    It was a weird question, but I answered the question anyway.

    "I felt sad ------ I was in denial ------ it broke me. There were various things I wanted to do differently, there were various things I wish I could do. I ----" I sighed as I continued to ask "Professor Blake, you hate yourself don''t you?"

    He laughed as he said "I didn''t expect a fifteen-year-old to understand me. By the way, you are fifteen right?"

    "Nearly fifteen will be fifteen next month. But it doesn''t matter, it sometimes takes you years to become or sometimes it takes just one bad day to create a man. For me, I was just right year old when I became that I am today."

    He again chuckled as he said, "This kind of talk is usually good with some booze."

    "I never really drank in my life, but weirdly I kind of agree with you."

    After a minute of silence, he spoke "I loved her---"

    "I am sure, you did. Perhaps you should talk with my dad. He also lost the love of his life, he lost my mom. I think both of you will get along well."

    "I do want to meet with Ranulf. But we both are busy and we don''t have time to travel for days."

    "Ah, well I can arrange that. Even my old man needs to meet his friend."

    He looked at me as he asked "Must be nice for Ranulf that his son loves him."

    "Why? does your son hate you because he thinks that you killed his mother?"

    He sighed and chuckled at the same time before saying "Yeah, he does hate me and I don''t think he is wrong for hating me."

    As both of us were looking at the door, John came in as he said "Dad, it''s time for lunch. Come on, let''s eat."

    As he was walking towards us, I said "I don''t think he hates you. He just misses his mom, that''s it and perhaps one day, he will be able to move on, and perhaps so will you."

    Professor Blake got up as he said "It''s already time for lunch and I wasn''t able to teach you anything."

    "Well, there will be many more lectures in the future."

    A smile formed on his face as he said "You are very much like your dad."

    I couldn''t hold off my laughter as I said "That''s first."

    Confused he asked, "Why?"

    "Since people usually say that I am very much like my mom. To the point that they say that I am spitting image of her."

    "Is that so?"

    John was still waiting, that''s why Professor Blake walked towards the door as he said "I will teach you more about the mage circle next lecture. Just remember that you have to focus on your soul, your circle mage will have its own distinct pattern. I will elaborate on that in some other lecture."

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It was evening and this time I didn''t go to the house---- well I mean, I didn''t teleport to the house. I came to Lenton city. It was the time for the daily report provided by Ebony, Kirsa, Ermic, and Clay.

    Well, Kirsa doesn''t really report me anything. She is not subordinate, she is my partner. We just discuss things if needed. Whereas Ebony reports the progress of the Clothing line, for now, I have told to focus on collecting the information of all the rich families close by.

    The family which has influence and power.

    The job done by Clay is to handle the gambling center and he handles that very well. He normally doesn''t need my help, but I do take reports from him so that I would be able to keep track of where we are going over that business.

    The job done by Ermic is to suppress anyone who is trying to reach power in our area. We don''t want anyone running around and calling themself boss.

    I sat in my office and waited for everyone else to come. I came early and waited for ten minutes before everyone was gathered in the office.

    "How is everything on your side, Ermic?" I asked.

    "It''s going good, there are some problems from the rattle gang but it''s nothing that I can''t handle."

    "Very well."

    When he says that he can handle then I won''t meddle with it anymore. If my subordinates fuck up, i will clean up for them. But I will let them take care of it, I won''t ask them every detail about everything they do.

    I looked at Ebony as she said "I am currently procuring every detail about the powerful family in nearby cities and I am also getting in contact with them."

    "What about you Clay?

    "It''s going good, Grey. It''s going kind of too good, to the point where there is a shortage of place and also a shortage of equipment." He said as he took a piece of paper and handed it down to me. "This is the list of things we will be needed."

    There where the name of some equipment and also he wanted more supply of alcohol. Nearly double of what we were buying before and well, if it''s going well then I will have to increase the money provided to the gambling center.

    "You will provide will all this---- well I mean that I will increase the money I give you and also you are doing a good job. I am looking forward to more of your good work."

    A big smile spread across his face as he tried his best to not smile. He usually maintains this image of a tough guy, but I was able to see a tear two. Or it was just my imagination.

    Ebony opened her mouth as she said "Stop it, Clay, you are smiling like a fucking maiden."

    "Fuck off, let me at least be happy. There are not many times that I am appreciated. Perhaps i will drink booze with my little brother today. I usually don''t allow him to drink much booze but today I will permit him and also drink with him."

    I laughed before saying "Ah, by the way, sorry about that I can''t give you more space to increase the size of the gambling center. But give me some time, I will manage to increase the capacity."

    "Grey ------ Sir, I respect you very much. I mean you are a fourteen-year-old kid, but it''s hard to believe it and even if I say to someone that my boss is fourteen years old, they won''t probably believe it. But believe it when I say it, you are a fucking great man. Ever since you took over us, we haven''t had to fight with anyone, nor we have lost anyone.

    We don''t have to hurt anyone, you dragged us out of our dirty fucking past. in past, all we did was kill each other and take things from people. That''s how we survived, but ever since we met you our life has improved, to say the least." he looked at me as he said, "So please Sir, don''t apologize to us."

    Ebony chuckled as she said "I can''t believe that I am agreeing with this fucking fool, but I think I agree with this fucking fool. I agree with everything he said and please Grey, don''t ever say sorry to us. We are a family ---- Lenton family and you are our leader---- we are family." said Ebony as she looked at Kirsa.

    Perhaps she was implying that Kirsa was also part of the family.

    I would be lying if I said that I wasn''t happy when I heard those words. I think I was kind of too happy. But then there is a fact that I killed their dad and decided to take over them.

    How can I ever forget that? How can I even be happy and think that I am some kind of hero when I am not?

    I opened my mouth as I said "I am overjoyed that I was able to help you guys, but I am not a good guy, but yet I am happy that I was able to do good for you guys and even in the future I will continue to do good for your people. I will continue to do it because you are my people."

    {Author: I am putting everything in place for the arc so that I can write a great arc. I am very excited about it! hope you enjoy it too!}

 Chapter 156 - 155: Pub.

    "Ummm--- why are we here?" I asked Professor Blake.

    We were seated in a pub that was situated in the dept of the Vashi city. It was the kind of place that was not on the street. You would have to like know the place, like some sort of secret meetup place.

    But yeah, it was wierdly crowded. Not exactly crowded ---- it was mildly crowded. Mostly people were minding their business, ----- well it was a peaceful environment.

    "Since you are my only student, why don''t we change the place," he said as he kept his hand on my shoulder.

    "I always wondered, why don''t they fire you? like no students come to you and also they are lenient enough to allow you to teach me in this pub."

    But my question was answered by the bartender "Well, it is king''s order. They can''t fire him even if they want to and they wouldn''t want to fire him since this man has a big legacy. No matter how much like a loser he acts ---- he is not a one. I mean he is a loser, but he is very much useful and this man has too much worth and importance that is the reason why the academy won''t fire him and it''s the king''s order that they can''t take him off the job." pouring the drink on to the class, he slid it towards Professor Blake.

    "By the way, kid. Aren''t you too honest? The professor here has a fragile heart." asked Bartended as he laughed.

    "Well, he is aware of the things I said, so yeah."

    He took out a glass, wiping it with a clean cloth he asked "Do you want something to drink?"

    "Give me something tasty--- don''t give me something particularly strong since I can''t really get drunk."

    "The curse of Ormr blood, eh?" he asked as he poured a red-looking drink. Passing the glass down to me he spoke "This blood of cloud, well it''s not really blood---- it''s just name of the drink. I love the taste of it."

    I looked at the bartender as I took the glass "I appreciate it, man."

    This man is definitely someone important. He is well informed and his presence alone is making everyone well behaved in the pub. But well he has a look----------- retired. But this man was something powerful in the past.

    It''s not business to pry and neither I am interested.

    "Last time you told me professor to focus on who I am and we focused on that in the last lecture. But when I try to focus on being me I still get this very messed up pattern. It''s as if the mage circle is empty yet it''s jumbled with various different lines. How am I supposed to make my own pattern? how am I supposed to know that what am I really?"

    Professor took a sip out of the glass as he said "It''s not really jumbled, it''s you as a person. You fail to recognize it because you still don''t know what you really are. But well, you are still fourteen, at a young age, most youngsters don''t really know what they really are. It gets clearer and clearer as you grow up and experience things.

    But it doesn''t mean that your pattern won''t change. You can understand yourself at a very young age or something drastic would change the pattern of the mage circle. But the output of the mage circle changes from pattern to pattern. If you remember your old self, you can also use your previous mage circle. Remember this, there are various versions of you, and each version will have its own mage circle and its own effect."

    I drank a sip of the blood of cloud as I asked "So what you mean is---- I need to understand what this pattern means?"

    "Not really, you don''t need to understand it. You need to embrace it ----- but part of embracing is to understand oneself. But understanding alone is not enough to make you capable of embracing yourself, you need to face every part of you. Well, the part of achieving a consistent circle is to keep healthy mental health."

    "To keep healthy mental health? ----- eh, that''s hard."

    "I know right."

    After I didn''t really say anything since all my questions were answered. Nor did i practice the mage circle, I didn''t do since I wanted to think in silence.

    There were various things that were going through my mind, for starters my main concern was the rattle gang''s pattern.

    It''s a small gang in Lenton city. Well, they are not really from Lenton city. They are just a group of bandits, a bunch of money-hungry people. They try to attack our goods from time to time but have never been successful.

    But the pattern of their attack is quite frequent, I hope it''s nothing major.

    "Ah, by the way, professor I heard --"

    Before speaking anything more, I stopped. All my attention was caught by three-person who walked into the pub. It was the first time that I have ever seen them, but by the first look I can tell ------ the white hair, it was obvious about who they were.

    But I don''t the specific exactly they are----so I just did the most logical thing, which was to grab Professor''s Blake hat as I said "Give me that hat and if someone asks just tell them that I am your student or something. But don''t tell my name."

    They came and sat on the chair near the counter. All three of them sat side by side and in their presence entire pub was quieter, some even left the pub by tipping their hat to the oldest man among them.

    "It''s fine people, you can have your drink. Just try to enjoy it and don''t mind me." said the oldest man with a white. His silvery-white hair wasn''t because of old age, it was natural white hair just like mine.

    "Your highness, what would you like?" asked the bartender as he looked at two men and the one woman who was seated in front of him.

    "Something light would do," said the oldest man. The bartender looked at the woman and the young man, they simultaneously said the same things "Do the same for us."

    "Dad, you are staying sober to see your grandson right?" said the woman with a smug smile.

    The old man continued to take a sip out of the glass as he said "I don''t know what you are talking about. I just prefer to be sober and the only reason I came here is to see what kind of brat does that useless son of mine has raised."

    "Grandpa, what are you talking about? you nearly smiled when you got the letter from uncle Ranulf after years and when you read that your Grandson ----- what was his name ---- yes Grey was alive, you smiled for a full second. I saw it with my own eyes." said the young man as he pointed towards his eyes.

    The old man just looked at him and it was enough to scare the young man. He quickly looked away as he drank his drink in silence.

    "Why are you scaring him? he is saying the truth." said the woman.

    "Why you are the only one who is not scared of me?'' asked the old man.

    "Because I am your beloved daughter. ---- Ah, by the way, even I am excited to meet the son of my Little Ranulf. I want to see what kind of boy is my nephew."  said the woman.

    "Well, I just came here to see what kind of guy he is and whether he wants the throne or not. I will show him his place and introduce a hierarchy between us. " said the young man.

    They didn''t say anything to him and it was the right thing to do. In a family, especially in a royal family. A hierarchy is an unwritten thing ---- it should be developed or there will be chaos.

    In a fight for the throne, he will try to hold power over me and so will all of my other cousins from both the Ormr and Hoffmann families. That''s the natural thing to do and once everything is set and done, there is one person who is sitting on the throne.

    We are not allowed to hold any kind of enmity towards each other. That''s how the royal family maintains its stability. Usually, the elders don''t involve themselves in the younger one''s business, they only do when it is required.

    "He is the son of Ranulf and Alice, he probably won''t be interested in the throne. They both were the best fit for the throne, but they weren''t interested in the throne. But well you can''t say, Grey might have his own plan."

    The old man didn''t really speak much, but he finally opened his mouth, as he said "Do you what you boys and girls want to do, but don''t spill a single drop of blood or else i will personally execute that person."

    This was the ultimate rule. No killing is allowed in the family.

    By the way, the old man was Thomas Hoffmann, my Grandfather. The woman is Rose Hoffmann, my aunt and the young man is Well Hoffmann, my cousin.

    {Author: By the way the aunt is Hoffmann because the man who married her took the Hoffmann name, it''s a royal thing lol.}

 Chapter 157 - 156: Human : The Enemy Divinity.

    (Thomas Hoffmann POV)

    This is a peaceful era, at least compared to the era of my dad and me, this is indeed a peaceful era.

    Ever since I was a kid, I was used to hearing the news about death. Killing, stealing, fighting, every crime in the book was a normal thing. The country was falling, it was not just up to one country. The root cause of this country was an ongoing war between all the counties.

    War kept people at the edge, it was lawless, everything was lawless. The governing body of the nation was busy with their own war and fight for land and power.

    The rich and royal-like me fought for land and power, while the people who were below us fought for their survival. Everyone like an animal, but i don''t blame them.

    People did what they had to do to survive.

    People fought and fought and fought, they never stopped. As I grew up, I was exposed to seeing dead bodies. No matter how many times I look at a person dead, I never got used to it.

    But my father, the greatest king of all time. Faught and suppressed the wildness inside and outside the nation, single-handedly he showed everyone the light. The light of achieving a peaceful future.

    He was a powerful man and a powerful king, if he wanted he could have won the war. At least that''s what I believe. But winning was never was his goal.

    He used to say "Stand on the top and guide everyone under you towards a happy future. Show them------ show them that top is not the place to be happy. "

    I initially didn''t understand ----- I didn''t understand what he really meant, but then I watched his life.

    He achieved the insanity of making a weak country like Frey nation into one of the strongest countries in the Seawoods continent. A human that convinced gods to leave the continent alone.

    He was the best dad, the best king, and also the best human.

    He had only reason to do all this, the only reason being "I have to be king, I have to fight for the people I love."

    It was stupid to me. how can a person love a whole nation, I didn''t understand it at all. I don''t understand that to this day, I will never be able to understand my dad.

    To achieve the goal of my dad, I became the king and worked on the foundation he laid. The foundation of peace.

    I didn''t have to do much fighting, but there was always tension between nations. There was never a peace treaty signed, it never happened until the marriage of Ranulf.

    I am still not aware of how he fell in love, but he fell in love with a girl that he attended the academy with. She was the princess of the Amay nation.

    Even though there was temporary peace between all of the nation, it was not peace. It was a temporary truce, where each country cooperated with each other since they all saw a peaceful future together.

    Heka-Maho nation was the symbol of that truce, it was constructed in our nation since all of the countries believed in the nation built by my dad.

    There he met Alice and they fell in love. It was an unspeakable thing for royal of two-nation to get married. That single act was enough to make all countries go to war.

    But among all this, Alice suggested an idea. The idea was that they will live separately away from the royal families, they will get stripped of their title as royal and also their marriage will be secret. She loved my son and she was ready to give up her royal title for it and so was my son. But in return, both of the nations will sign an official peace treaty on paper and it will be done among witnesses of other nations.

    It was a brilliant idea and it came out of Alice. That single act of signing the peace treaty between the witness of other nations worked and it was done by all other countries. The peace that was never seen in hundred years came by and it was all achieved by one secret marriage.

    But I didn''t want my grandson will be given by the marriage between my son and Alice to not have royal status. I wanted my son to have the same privilege as the rest of us royals, he is my grandson. He will be royal.

    We signed a pact, a blood pact. The blood pact stated that I will not meet Ranulf, not for the rest of my life. The same was done by the entirety of the Ormr royal family and even my family. We didn''t strip them of their royal status but we made a blood pact that we will never meet them.

    {Author: Blood pacts are a curse that is put by witches, it is done only when the person who is cursed is willing to do it.}

    The peaceful era that I am living in now is because of my dad and the sacrifice of my son. I am grateful for both of them, but I will never be able to thank them.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Grey''s POV)

    After my talk with Professor Blake, I got new insight into the mage circle. My current Mage circle can''t amplify my power that much.

    If I had to put it in number, it isn''t even increasing my power by five percent which is not a lot and it''s not worth taking my time in battle to cast mage circle. It would only waste my precious time during an actual fight.

    You might be wondering why I am researching so much about applying my power when I have divine and demonic energy in my possession. Well, that question would have been valid if I was fighting a normal mortal.

    But I think I can''t beat a real god with the power I have, and I am not powerful enough to face one head-on. The wife of Professor Blake was on something, she had a way to beat gods. I will have to research on her and also about what kind of research she conducting, I will have to do that to find a way to beat gods.

    I was currently seated alone in the cafeteria. All of the other people were attending classes that they were interested in, whereas I was attending Professor Blake''s lecture so I got free rather quickly. So I was the only person that was free currently.

    I am currently going through the book written by Lisa Blake, well she is the deceased wife of Professor Blake. The book''s name is "Human, the enemy of the divine."

    This book touches upon the possibility of humans achieving divinity. In this, she has proposed two theories, one of the theories is that some kind of upper power decides upon who will be the god. She has named the upper power "Choice of the world". The other theory is that the capable mortal with immense strength catches the attention of the "Choice of the world" and they become gods.

    The amazing this is how fucking accurate this woman was. This theory was confirmed by Ari herself, well she is half-god, so I guess she is a trusted source.

    Lisa Blake was a genius, I don''t have any doubt about that.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Third person POV)

    Rose, Thomas, and Well were on the academic premises. Their purpose of this visit was to just look at Grey from far away and go back.

    They heard that Eira was not in the academy so they only came to meet Grey. Well, not exactly meet since they plan to just look at him. It was Thomas''s idea and it was better that they don''t meet him with him until they invite him to the annual family meeting.

    "I missed this place, it is still the same as it used to be," said Well.

    "Ah, Well you just graduated two years ago and I don''t think that it would change that much."

    "Mom!! you don''t have to ruin the vibe for me!!"

    "Ah, sorry!"

    They were heading towards the cafeteria since they heard that Grey was still attending a lecture and he won''t be free. They were planning to be seated in the cafeteria until Grey is free from his lecture.

    Finally arriving at the cafeteria, they took a seat at the chair. Well opened his mouth as he said "Do we have to wait for him and why can''t I meet him? I wanted to show him his place."

    "Shut up! don''t scare him and it''s order from dad, so we can''t meet him."

    "But then how long do we have to---"

    As Well was going to say this, Thomas and Rose simultaneously said "You don''t have to wait that long."

    they turned to look at a particular boy who was seated very far away. He was a boy with white hair and all his attention was on the book he was reading.

    Looking at the boy, Rose spoke "Those snowy white hair-----" she said as she grabbed her braid as she looked at her hair. "It''s the same as me."

    "It''s same as all of us Rose,"

    "I am glad that my nephew has inherited our family hair, it is so pretty!!!" said Rose.

    "So are we now what, do we wait for him to show his face?" asked Well.

    "No, that''s enough. We will now go back." said Thomas as he got up."

    "That''s enough, but we just -----" Well stopped as he looked at the place where the white-haired boy was seated "Grandpa ---- he is gone"

    Thomas looked at the place where the boy was seated to find out that the boy was gone from his place. He was nowhere to be seen in the cafeteria.

    "Where did he----"

    "Are you guys looking for me?" said the particular white-haired boy from behind Well.. There was an innocent yet devious smile on his face, leaning towards Well he asked "I saw that you guys were looking at me, you guys have at least come and said hello since I was getting bored. Right? Aunt and ----" said Grey as he turned to look at Rose, he continued to turn to look at Thomas as he said "Right? Grandpa?"

 Chapter 158 - 157: The Responsibility Of A Father.

    "I saw that you guys were looking at me, you guys have at least come and said hello since I was getting bored. Right? Aunt and ----" said Grey as he turned to look at Rose, he continued to turn to look at Thomas as he said "Right? Grandpa?"

    Grey turned to look back at Well as he said "You are my cousin? it''s nice to meet you, brother."

    All three of them stood speechless for while, it was hard to comprehend for them how did Grey get so closer to them without them even noticing him. Another thing that went through their mind was how did even Grey notice them even though he didn''t even look away from the book.

    The last thing that was going through their mind was how did he even know that they were in the city.

    Rose regained her composure as a smile curled up her lips "You are Alice''s son alright, there is no doubt about that."

    Grey looked at Rose as he said with a gentle smile "Aunt!! you are very much beautiful."

    "Oh my!!! what a good kid!"

    Rose grabbed Grey in her embrace as she said that.

    Later Grey took a seat in front of them as he spoke, "Why did you all come here?"

    Grey was seated on the directly opposite side of the table where Thomas was seated. Thomas finally opened his mouth "You knew that we were here?"

    "Yes," replied Grey.

    "Who told you?" asked Thomas, it was a secret that they were here. There weren''t many people who knew that he was here.

    To answer his question, Grey spoke "I heard."

    "You are pretty well informed." said Well as rested his face on the palm of his hand.

    There was a minute of silence before Thomas spoke again "How is Ranulf?"

    Grey didn''t answer his question right away, his eyes were set on the table far away. Later he looked at Thomas as he scratched his cheek, "How is my father, you ask?"

    Grey looked at Thomas in the eyes as he said "He is ------ he is fine. Well, he did lose his wife and ---- and he thought that he lost his son for nearly seven years. But you know what, he is fine and he was fine. He is a fucking strong man ----- why do you think that he would not be well."

    "Don''t you talk to my grandpa----" Well stood up from his place, but he was interrupted by Rose. She pointed him to sit back down as she said "Let Grey speak, he deserves to say the things he wants to say."

    "I am sorry, Grey," said Rose, she couldn''t look at Grey in his eyes.

    But Grey chuckled as he said "Don''t be sorry, you should never be sorry. You are a great sister. I really meant it, you are a great sister. You sent him a letter every week, those letters really helped him, Aunt. Those letters meant a lot to him and they kept him going, so please don''t be sorry. You are a great sister."

    Grey kept scratching his palm as he wanted to speak more, "You know if I was in his place. I would have gone for revenge, but that------ that man waited. He was there for Emilia, he didn''t abandon Emilia. if you are not aware, Emilia is the name of my little sister. He was there for Emilia to be a fucking great dad.

    Even though the fact of not taking revenge for his wife and son ate him alive every day, he was there----- he was there for Emilia." Grey looked at Thomas as he repeated once more "He was there."

    "I am sorry, kid," said Thomas. It was a shock for Well and Rose since there aren''t many times where Thomas has apologized to someone.

    "Don''t apologize, blood pact was what you made right? Let''s go meet Dad," said Grey as he got from his chair.

    "What are you talking about? Dad and I have made a blood pact, it binds us to not meet Ranulf," said Rose as she stopped Grey.

    Well banged his hand on the table as he spoke, "Please don''t be a brat and sit down, at least try to understand the situation, Sit down!"

    Grey sighed before saying "Are you aware that my dad and Uncle Ronald have already met?"

    This particular sentence spoken by Grey caught Rose''s and Thomas''s attention as they asked simultaneously "How???"

    "It was easy for me to break the curse, now let''s go," said Grey as he stood there waiting for them to follow him.

    "But ---- I don''t believe ----" before Rose could say anything more, Thomas raised his hand slightly gesturing for her to stop talking.

    He got up as he followed Grey and so did the rest of the two.

    All three of them raised their leg to take another step but before they could even realize their other step was near a mansion. They were standing near the mansion, surrounding them was a dense forest and in front of them was a gate and behind that gate was a huge mansion.

    A shock took over their face, and there was also a hint of confusion in their face.

    Grey chuckled as he turned around to look at them, "Teleportation, it is pretty convenient power."

    "Can a human have this kind of power?" asked Well as he looked around in still disbelief.

    "Ah, well I am do aiming to be more powerful than gods, so I guess I need this kind of power." Grey pointed towards the gate as he said "You can go through that gate, I have already lifted your curse, so you should be able to meet him."

    Said Grey as he walked towards the forest. Thomas opened his mouth to ask "Are you not coming?"

    "No, I still have an academy to attend."

    "Very well. But I want you to come to my house later, I will have a talk with you and I don''t need any excuse." Thomas walked away as he said that, but he stopped once more to ask "Why do you want to be the king, Grey."

    Grey turned to look at Thomas, he placed his hand on the chin as if he was in deep thought. After a second of thinking, he answered "Power ----- I want power."

    "I see"

    Grey teleported away. Thomas, Rose, and Well went to meet Ranulf inside the mansion. They were able to meet him since the curse was actually broken.

    {Author: Grey was able to break the curse because the curse was cast with the demonic energy and Grey was able to neutralize the curse using the divine energy.}

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Rather than going to academy, i went back to the Lenton city. The thing about rate gang.... i wanted to settle this once and for all.

    I wanted to settle it in a way where there would be no blood spilled. I don''t why ----- but it was like something was telling me that if i don''t take action now then it will be too late.

    I teleported back to the office, but as i teleported back something felt wrong.

    I stepped out of my office to see that everyone was restless. It was obvious from looking at that face that something has already happened. Without much choice i called a meeting in my office.

    It wasn''t much of a meeting since i was the one who was seated on the chair and rest of them were reporting to me. There was Ermic, Clay and Ebony.

    "My Master, there have been severe casualties on our side. They have been hitting every day now. But that wasn''t the problem, because there were no casualties from our side till yesterday. But yesterday, while we were resupplying alcohol like usual, they attacked us.

    We were severely outnumbered. But to avoid the totally annihilation of my men''s I had to abandon the goods and retreat. But even after that, the casualties were ten men from our side. All of them dead, I was useless to you my master ------ you can take my ---"

    "Ten of our men dead?"

    "Yes, my master."

    I rubbed my eyebrows as I asked "How did they die? tell me their name and tell me the way they died."

    "But master ----"

    "Ermic, don''t make me repeat myself."

    "Yes, master. One of them was a man named James, my subordinate used to call him Jim. I don''t know the reason why they called him Jim, perhaps it was their inside joke. He was a good man and a very hard-working one, he chose to be the one that handles transport since he didn''t like fighting. But in end, he did fight to survive, but he didn''t win"

    He paused after saying this, I opened my mouth as I said "Go on."

    "There was a girl name, Eva-----"

    One by one he told me all the names and the way they died.  I needed to hear that, i didn''t what i would do now, but i am sure about one thing.. The world needs to know the consequences of messing with Grey Hoffmann.

 Chapter 159 - 158: A Sneak Peak Back Story....

    (Third Person POV)

    Grey sat there quietly for a minute before opening my mouth as I said "There is a rat among us. I don''t who that is, but I am sure about it that''s not someone amongst you. " I sat up on the chair as I said "I am going for a walk, give the men proper burial. Hold them a proper funeral, do it with our money and also give me some time, I will handle both the rat and the Rattle gang. I will handle both of them and obviously, I will find out who the rat is."

    Clay still stood there as if he wanted to tell me something. He looked at Grey with a hesitant look but still didn''t say anything.

    Pointing his finger toward Clay, Grey spoke "Tell me, What do you want to say."

    It took Clay by a shock that Grey knew that he wanted to speak. But still, hesitant Clay managed to speak some words "Ummm ----- Grey."

    Before speaking anything else, Clay hardened his expression as he spoke "I was the one that betrayed you guys, I am the rat."

    He said with no hint of doubt on his face. He looked at Grey with a determined look as he continued "Because of me ten of our man died, you can have my head."

    "Hmm" Grey nodded after hearing what Clay had to say. He didn''t speak right away. He sat in the chair as he kept tapping his finger rhythmically on the table.

    Rubbing his nose, Grey spoke "I see, Ermic go and lock him up till my further notice. I will decide his fate later tonight."

    grabbing Clay''s arm Ermic spoke, "Master ---- I don''t if it has any relevance, but I don''t think that he is really a rat."

    Just waving his hand away Grey spoke "Just do what you are said to do.". Grey''s voice was serious yet calm, but it was enough to make Ermic intimidated.

    Without further question, Ermic dragged Clay out of the room, before being dragged out of the room he paused one last time as he said "I am sorry, Grey."

    As of now only Grey and Ebony were in the room. Breaking the silence Grey spoke first "I think it would be obvious for you Ebony, wouldn''t it?"

    "Yeah, he is lying. He is not the rat, he maybe has some condition that''s why he is lying. Maybe his brother is kidnapped by the rattle gang."

    Looking at Ebony, Grey spoke, "Do you remember that Clay has a habit of talking a lot when he is drunk?"

    To Grey''s question, Ebony replied with "Yes, that is why you banned from ever drinking with someone that is not our people."

    "Not that i remember, Clay was going to drink with his brother. He ----"

    Before Grey could say anything Ebony''s eyes widened as she asked "Do ----- do you that ----- that his brother -----"

    She sat down as she grabbed her head. She couldn''t help but chuckle "It''s funny, how much sense it makes that his little brother is the rat. His little brother---- he ----- he was a hot-blooded piece of shit that loved only fight. He was always against you taking over Lenton city."

    She looked at Grey as she said "I was part of their enemy gang so maybe that side of me is speaking. But as an outsider, Grey can you please find out that is he is really the rat. Cause if I do the job, I don''t know what I will do to his brother."

    Grey got up as he spoke, "Gather everyone here in half an hour, we need to serve justice for the family of the people that died."

    Grey scratched his head, he wasn''t sure about what path he should choose now.

    {Author: Hey hey!!! it''s me, Author. I am writing about Grey''s past life that took place on the earth. So I will attach it to this chapter and have a great read. }

    A past life

    Normal... Normal life is what I aim for. I don''t want exciting life, since living an exciting life comes with a risk of sadness. I prefer, well mostly avoid being sad.

    It''s in human nature that everyone wants to be special. They want to be the main character of some sort of story. Some might deny that they don''t want to be special.

    But trust me when I say it, they are lying. Deep down, they want to be special.

    The last time I asked my mom if am I special, she was like "Yes, the moment you were born, you were special."

    I mean, how? how am I special? how was I born special? Like I was born with the same set of limbs as other humans and I have a dick, like every other male in this world.

    I don''t want to be special, I am not a human being that can bear the weight of being special.

    I am just normal in most parts, except for my talent for being overly observant and being overly cynical. Aside from that, I am normal.

    There are times when I must choose whether to catch people''s attention and be in the spotlight or just be normal.

    And the situation I am currently in is one of those times.

    "Give me your money!" demanded my fellow classmate.

    We were not on the school campus. This act of bullying or extortion was happening outside of the school.

    They have been following me outside the school for quite a while. I have noticed a long back that they were following me, but I choose to let them follow me and lead them here.

    My reason for letting them here was to know the reason why they were following me. I had the option of running away, but they are my classmate and they know my identity, so I would have to face them some way or another. So I just choose to face them now.

    Apparently, they needed my money.

    "What are you looking at? you bitch, give me your money," said Killian. He is the son of the Dirksen family, a pretty powerful family in this city.

    "Why do you need money, aren''t you plenty rich? I mean swipe your card or something, your card must have a shit tone of money in it," I said.

    It greatly confused me, why does this rich brat need my money. Well, I already knew the answer, it was just for bullying me. He is just a sadistic fuck.

    "Are you questioning me? you poor bitch, I get more pocket money than your dad''s salary" he retorted.

    "Seriously? then why do you need my money?"

    "You think you are funny?" asked Jakob. He was Killian''s, right-hand man.

    "I--" as I was going to speak, Jakob swung his hand, his palm crashed onto my cheeks with great impact.

    I was slapped, in a public place. The bystander who was walking by paused for a second before continuing his walk like it was not any of his business. There were many other people around who had witnessed the scene of me getting slapped, there were also some of my classmates.

    They stood there as if it was some kind of scene and it was definitely entertaining for them, the scene of me getting slapped and getting beaten the shit out of me was definitely entertaining for them.

    Among the people who were watching the scene of me getting the shit beaten out of me were some of my so-called ''friends''. They stood there as they watched me getting beaten, some were smiling and laughing watching the scene.

    Well, I hope I have seen it wrong. since it would kinda hurt that they are laughing at me getting beaten.

    Ah, it''s humiliating.

    I just got kicked in the stomach, it kind of hurts. For a second I thought I wasn''t able to breathe.

    I can''t pinpoint the reason why am I getting beaten, after brainstorming for a while as I was getting beaten. I finally remembered the reason why I was getting beaten.

    Karen!

    Now that I remember, Karen had recently started flirting with me. I don''t know what made her make move on me, but she started showing signs of being interested in me.

    I don''t blame her, since I am fairly good-looking.

    Ouch!!!

    I just got kicked in the face, the shock of getting kicked in the face is really messing with my thought process. I kind of feel dizzy.

    Yeah, so basically, Karen is the girl that Killian is chasing and he is taking it out on me for flirting with her. I didn''t even flirt with her.

    After beating me for a while, the six of them left. But, oh well, they did make sure to take turns spitting on my face before leaving.

    I honestly would have stabbed them with the knife I am currently carrying, I would have retaliated. But I won''t since it would trouble my mom and dad. My dad works at a company owned by Killian, so if I retaliate, they would probably fire him.

    We are poor, I don''t want my mom and dad to suffer.

    I was still lying down on the ground as I stared at the sky. I kind of felt sad, it was humiliating.

    My body hurts...

    No one will probably talk to me in school from now on...

    And most important of all, it hurt my pride...

    No human being would want to be treated this way and I am just a normal human being after all. But why? why is this happening to me?

    Why living a normal life is so hard? why is this world so twisted? why did they beat me? why did everyone watch as I was getting beaten? why did no one save me? why is this world so bitter?

    I couldn''t help but let out a sigh.

    I should probably consider suicide....

 Chapter 160 - 159: Predictable Men.

    "You are?" asked Grey. He was seated in his office and there was one more seated across the table.

    "I am Ajgar, a member of Henisi tribe." the man spoke, as he was seated on the chair. The way he was seated on the chair with one hand on the back and leg above the table made it very clear that he intended to show no respect to Grey.

    Ajgar chuckled as he spoke, "I never expected the leader of the newly founded Lenton city organization to be a mere kid."

    "And yet you are here to talk business with me, a kid. So state your business since I have other business to attend."

    Ajgar''s expression hardened of second before he relaxed his face. A forced smile took over his face as he said "You sure must be busy. since you have some bodies to bury."

    Grey looked at the Ajgar with a blank expression, the vulnerable expression that Ajgar wanted to see was not present on Grey''s face.

    Grey let out a sigh before asking "Words do travel fast."

    "It does, Kid. You are not aware of how this world works, I am not sure about how you came into the position of the leader of the Lention house organization. But I am not the man to judge."

    "That''s noble of you."

    placing his leg down, Ajgar leaned towards the table as he spoke "What do you say kid, I will provide Lenton House with the necessary protection. Under my protection, no man will be able to touch the Lenton Group. I have heard that you have the mind for business. I will provide you with strength and together we can reach new heights.

    I personally will guide you since you are still a kid, but I am sure that under my guidance you will run the business more smoothly. I can do all that just for ----"

    Ajgar placed his hand over his chin as if he was thinking something. After a second he raised his finger as he said "---- I can do all that just for seventy percent of your business share."

    He looked pretty satisfied with himself. On his mind his thought was something like this ''Even if this kid says no to this offer ---- which he definitely will say no. Then I will threaten to destroy his whole organization by teaming up with the rattle gang. This time he will say yes and beg me to not destroy his organization. When he does that, I will take his entire organization and put him to work under me since I need this kid to run my business. Well, it will be my business in ten minutes.''

    Grey sighed as he said "You see ----- what was your name --- umm, Right! Ajgar. Ajgar---- I quite like you--- I mean men like you generally. You see --- I like men like you because you all are quite predictable."

    "I am predictable? I would like to hear about predictable I am," asked Ajgar. He was amused to hear what Grey has to say.

    "By the way, the answer to your offer is no and I would not accept that offer even for one percent. But I would consider that offer if you choose to work under me. " Grey looked at Ajgar as he said "I only have one partner in business and the rest of the people work under me. That''s how it works."

    Grey leaned back in his chair as he sighed "Now that I have said no, you will probably threaten me. Threaten to destroy my organization, but if you said that that you will be destroyed by the Henisi tribe. I won''t probably buy that bullshit.

    So you will probably say that I would team up with the rattle gang and destroy your organization and it would be a solid threat since they are making quite a trouble for us recently."

    Closing his eyes, Grey rubbed his eyes as he placed his leg above the table. Grey didn''t have to see Ajgar know that he was making a vulnerable shocked expression.

    With a forced laugh, Ajgar spoke as he said "You are aware of the threat that I am going to make so what are you going to----"

    "Ajgar Ajgar ---- that threat won''t work on me Ajgar. Do I look afraid to you? You are simply too weak Ajgar, I can''t be afraid of you or the rattle gang or henisi gang, and even if both of you or ten small times gangs like you band together. That would still not make me afraid. You all are too weak ----"

    Furious, Ajgar reached for the dagger at the back of his bottomwear.

    Grey placed his leg down, leaning towards the table Grey rested his chin on his palm of the hand. With a gentle smile, Grey spoke "I recommend that you keep your dagger away. It won''t end well for you, you are in my territory."

    "Kid I want to see how long you are going to hide behind your -----"

    Before Ajgar could finish his sentence, Ermic came inside the office with a certain person. It was Grey''s order to bring that person before he could run away from the city.

    "So you are Erwin, brother of Clay," asked Grey as he sat across the table. He wasn''t looking at Erwin as he spoke.

    Grey ordered Ermic to bring him here. Erwin was on a run but he couldn''t run away faster. He was caught eventually under half an hour and he was dragged in the office where Grey was seated.

    "why ----- why am I dragged like this here??" asked Erwin.

    "You know why you are here, but before I deal with you-----" Grey turned to look at Ajgar as he said "What was your name ----- yes! Ajgar. You can go and by the way, my answer to your offer is no. Even though it was an amazing offer, I would have to decline it."

    Grey pointed towards the door as he said the above sentence. Enraged, Ajgar''s face got red, it was now apparent that he was very much angry.

    "You will regret this kid!!"

    "Yeah, whatever. Before you go, I would like to tell you that I will be coming tonight to greet the Henisi clan so be prepared. "

    Ajgar got up as he asked, "Are you threatening me?"

    "Not really, I am not threatening you. I am just letting you know so that you could prepare for my arrival beforehand and now you may go."

    "You fourteen-year fucking kid!!! don''t worry we will wait for you."

    Ajgar walked out of the office, his anger was very much apparent. But he knew that he was alone in Grey''s territory there was nothing much he could do.

    "Don''t worry Erwin I just dragged you in my office to tell you that I will be executing your brother. So please collect his head and body by evening. Apparently, he was a rat, but well you know ---- even rats deserve proper burial and he was a good man so I can''t disrespect his dead body. So please conduct a proper funeral for him."

    "huh?" Erwin''s mind went blank as he couldn''t comprehend what Grey told him. With his eyes widened he struggled to put his question in words "I ---- what are you talking about? my brother ----- no no no no no no no no, he is not a rat. Trust me, please trust me! he loves the organization, he talks about the organization alL the time. He he he ----- he believes in you and he trusts you so much that he would even die for you. Please ---- please, he is not the rat. He loves ----- the development is the organization is all he talks about-----"

    "Then why did you betray your brother? he trusted you enough to talk to you with the organization----- " Grey slammed his fist on the table as he asked again "Why the fuck did you betray him, man? ten!!! ten of my people died!!!"

    The only reason Grey didn''t draw his blade was that Erwin was the same age as Grey and he wanted to hear the exact reason why he did that.

    "I am sorry ---- I am sorry! I didn''t know that they would kill people, I swear to god, I didn''t know---- I didn''t know! They just offered me some booze and --- and I was drunk--" Erwin stuttered, he was barely able to speak.

    Eventually, tears flooded out of his eyes as he struggled to speak. "They ---- I was drunk ---- I don''t what they added to the drink, but I couldn''t stop speaking. I swear to god that I don''t speak a lot when I am drunk, but that day for some reason I wasn''t --- wasn''t able to stop speaking. I just told them the route ---- I didn''t know that they would kill --- please! don''t kill my brother!"

    Ebony entered the room with hand-tied Clay, looking at his brother a sense of panic took over him.. Clay turned to look at Grey and he knew that Grey found out that it wasn''t him that was the rat.

 Chapter 161 - 160: The Massacre.

    "Come Clay have a seat."

    Not taking the seat, Clay stood in front of Grey in shock as he said "Grey----- I am sorry. I just wanted to protect my broth---"

    Grey got from his chair as he slid his chair on the side. "Don''t be sorry, you were just protecting your brother. You are a man I trust Clay and it was obvious that you didn''t betray me."

    This time Clay didn''t answer with anything else. He couldn''t look at Grey in the eyes, neither he could look at any of his people.

    "Brother I am sorry---- I didn''t ----- I promise that I didn''t know----"

    Ebony stepped forward as she spoke to Clay "Ten ----- ten of our people died!! they are all dead!!! They all look up to you and are waiting for you to provide justice. Their family ---- they are waiting for----"

    Grey lifted his hand letting Ebony know that she should stop talking. Tapping at the table twice, Grey pointed towards the door as he said "Leave, take your brother with you and leave this city. Go as far from this city as possible because the next time I see you, I will kill you. So get far away from my sight, get out."

    Ebony eyes widened but she didn''t dare utter a word. Clay stood there as tears flowed out of his eyes. Ermic came and opened his binding as Grey gestured him to do it.

    But after a minute, Clay opened his mouth, "I---- I really loved this organization, so much so that i would give my life for it. It was awesome Grey and you will always be my brother. Thanks for sparring my brother, I would never forget this."

    Grey turned around, showing his back to Clay as he said "Ah, it was nice having you here, but you should go now."

    Clay turned to walk towards the door, but before he went out of the office. He remembered the face of all the people that died for him. He couldn''t simply walk away from the organization and take the only chance for justice from them.

    In a slow but determined voice he spoke as he said "I will execute my brother myself, I can''t abandon my people and take the chance of justice from them."

    "Yes, I am ready to accept this punishment," said Erwin with an even more determined look than Clay.

    With a sudden movement, Erwin was slammed onto the wall. As Grey held his sword near his throat. The sharp edge of the sword opened a small cut on Erwin''s throat.

    With a furious look on his look, Grey asked "Do you know what it feels like when there is a sword near your neck? do you know what it feels like that you are going to die? are you taking dying so easily? huh?!!

    With each passing second, do you know what I am feeling like? do you have any fucking idea? ten of my people died!!! my people!! there were my people!! I said that I would protect them, they all fucking believed in me!!!"

    Grey''s hand was shaking vigorously to the point that it sent a chill down on everyone''s spine. Grey''s voice broke as he said "they wanted to go clean, they didn''t want to fight. That''s why they took the job that would be less risky for them, but yet they------"

    Grey didn''t speak any further. He stepped back, walking closer to his chair, he sat down. He tapped his feet vigorously as he rubbed his face.

    "Ebony, Give me the sword, I will execute him."

    Grabbing hold of the sword, he made his brother kneel. Raising his sword, he was ready to chop his brother''s head. But he stopped, he couldn''t do it.

    It was his little brother. He was incapable to do it, but he grabbed his sword tightly as he readied his sword to do it.

    "get out," said Grey slowly.

    "Huh?"

    "Get out, I will do it myself. Go and take a day off or something, I don''t want you to see your brother dying. go away."

    "But Grey-----"

    "GET OUT!"

    Clay walked out of the office, he didn''t look back at his brother neither his brother turned to look towards him. Maybe they choose this way to say each other goodbye. this was this brother''s way to say goodbye to each other.

    "Ebony put a cloth on his head."

    As Grey said Ebony wrapped a cloth around Erwin''s head. Walking closer to him Grey readied his sword, with a single swing of sword Grey severed his windpipe, jugular vein, and carotid artery in a single strike.

    Blood sprayed across the office, coloring it into the color of crimson. Twitching for a while, but his body became lifeless soon enough.

    A little bit of Blood sprayed on Grey''s hair, coloring the white hair in red. Grey didn''t wipe the blood from his hair.

    He walked out of the office as he said "Take the body and give him a proper burial. I will be back."

    Walking through the factory, he stepped down the similar stairs of an abandoned Nyx church. Looking at the three moons, Grey chuckled "The small one, it''s red today. Maybe you will vibe with me since there will be more blood spilled today. Today the number of people I have killed with increased by a significant amount. Funny, isn''t it?"

    Among the three moons, one of them was in the shade of blood-red today.

    Condensing an icicle sword Grey placed it on his backstrap. On the other hand, he summoned the snake polearm as he walked towards the rattle gang hideout.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In a dark underground, sever, group of some men was seated in a circular manner facing each other.

    Taking a peek at his card, one man smiled in a vile manner as he said "I raise, thirty in this round."

    The group of men was playing poker, but the man with the vile smile was beating the entire purpose of poker.

    This sever was the hideout of these men and there were around 100 more men like this who started living here. They live together, where they plan the organized crime. With each other''s support, they survive well.

    In real society, they were weak and powerless to do anything, so they could only survive with each other''s help. Together they are the strongest.

    On the other side, a group of men and women were counting a bunch of money. A woman smiled excitedly as she held money "Scamming that money was very much worth it!!!"

    "Old men and women are very much easy to deceive, it was a great plan, wasn''t it!!"

    She kissed the coin as she said "It was very much an amazing plan, perhaps we should extort some money from her by beating her up!! what do you think?"

    The man laughed as he agreed "I would help if you- you --- would kiss me"

    "Okay, but we will beat that woman up later, okay?" said the woman as she leaned in close to kiss the man.

    "Don''t forget about us!" said the rest of the men and woman who was seated over there.

    "Yes yes, we will go together." said the woman as she leaned closer to the man as she stuck her tongue out, but before she could kiss him she felt something against her tongue.

    "Guh!!"

    With a swing of a lance, a bunch fore pressed against her tongue and lips. The boy who smashed her tongue in raised his lance and rested it back on his shoulder. There was a smudge of blood on his polearm.

    The woman''s tongue got severed as it fell down on the ground. A tooth was stuck against her lips, the rest of her teeth were scattered all across the face. Some even went inside her throat.

    Her mouth was smashed wide open, the tip of her tongue was stuck outside. Well, whatever the part of her tongue was remaining.

    The man who was going to kiss the woman looked at the boy in utter shock. His shock turned into rage as she spoke "What the fuck did -----"

    With a sudden impact, the boy trusted the lance in that man''s mouth. Shoving it straight smashing the back of his mouth. Tearing the flesh, the lance went out of from the back of his neck.

    With a single straight thrust, the boy tore his esophagus apart.

    "Sorry, were you saying something? I am really sorry that I interrupted you." the boy took out the lance as he said, "Now you can speak again, I won''t interrupt again."

    But talking was the last thing that man could do and eventually breathing was also among the list of things the man could not do.

    Apparently, the boy found it very amusing, his smile was wide as he said "Can''t speak, eh?"

    Even though there were many---- many more of the men''s and women present but no one dared to step ahead. They have seen all kinds of evil, but the boy that was standing in front of them was the evilest and cruelest of them all. At least for them.

    "Perhaps I should make the arrangement that none of you can run away," said Grey as the smile on his face didn''t disappear.. He look at all the men and women of the rattle gang as he said that.

 Chapter 162 - 161: The Bloody Tunnel.

    "Why!! why are you running away??!"

    The guy stood who stood in the way was utterly confused by the sudden chaos. All he heard was the dying scream of some people and the people were running from here and there. A loud boom was heard from the two sides of the tunnel and it sturred the panic even more.

    He was still clueless about this panic, he didn''t have any idea of what was really happening.

    "What''s happening?!!!!"

    "Come and join us in fighting the ----"

    A dagger flew by as it stuck in his eyeball, in agony he screamed "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". It was an icicle dagger that was thrown by a particular boy.

    "What do you think you are doing?" asked a man who roughly looked like the leader of the rattle gang according to Grey.

    "Smashing the fuck out of your people, that should be obvious till now," answered Grey as he shrugged his shoulder.

    The calm demeanor of Grey was getting on the man''s nerve. "Fucker!! you think that you can walk alive after entering the area of rattle gang!!!"

    Grey pointed his finger towards the man as he asked "The way you are talking can mean only one thing, you must be the leader of those hooligans." Grey turned towards the man with a gentle smile as he said with a polite bow "I am the leader of Lenton House gang, nice to meet the acquaintance of you."

    "You? the leader of Lenton house, a kid like you?"

    Grey chuckled as he spoke, "I like the way that there is no sense of urgency in you, even after I killed so many of your men.".

    Grey''s expression quickly changed as he sighed "I don''t think you are the one that planned the attack against, you are too dumb to be able to do that."

    fury burned inside the man as he roared "You brat!!!!", with a dash the man swung his club aiming at Grey.

    Grabbing holding of his hand, Grey dashed closer to him.

    "Guh!!!" the man groaned as Grey driver his knee inside his abdomen. before the man could get knocked away, Grey grabbed his hair. With a slight jump, he burrowed his knee inside the man''s nose.

    Still grabbing hold of his hair, Grey looked at his face as he said "You are not only weak but also very much weak, I suppose.".

    As many of the man''s subordinate was rushing towards Grey. Grey tossed the man over them, as he threw three daggers killing three of his subordinate in an instant.

    Eventually, one hour passed by. In the darkness of the sewer tunnel, the head of the rattle gang limped at his feet as he tried his best to run away. Grabbing hold of his nose, he tried to stop the bleeding of his broken nose.

    Step by step the man struggled to walk towards the exit of the tunnel. He kept looking back to check if the white-haired reaper was following.

    Seeing no one following him, he felt relieved but that relief again turned into anxiety as he saw piles of dead bodies smashed with the blunt lance. Some of them were even alive but the man didn''t stop to help them.

    He took every step, his survival was the only thing that mattered to him.

    After walking for five minutes, a big smile formed across the man''s face as he saw the end of the tunnel. Taking the right turn, he would have been able to run away.

    But it was pitch black darkness toward the end of the tunnel. Struggling the man tried to find the exit in the darkness. Among the blackness of the tunnel, he swayed his hand around in the hopes of finding the right path.

    But he couldn''t understand the reason for this pitch-black darkness. Eventually, he was able to come in contact with the wall, but it felt too uneven, with a single touch he could tell that it wasn''t a wall.

    In the darkness, the man struggled to crawl over the wall. "Just a little more!" whispered the man as he struggled to get over the wall.

    Suddenly darkness vanished as a fireball illuminated all of the surroundings, revealing it to be a just piece of rubble.

    "Disappointing isn''t it. Like I said earlier, you are fucking dumb. If there was a chance to die, the rest of your subordinates would have run away. Of course, they aren''t that loyal to you that they would stay for you."

    Grey turned around as he shined his fireball towards a particular sport. There was a man whose leg was severed, he was at his last breath. His eyes were half-open. The man whose leg was severed was waiting for his death as he bled out since Grey just severed his leg off without finishing him off.

    "Look at that poor man, he also that he could run away just like you." Walking closer to the man Grey summoned a snake polearm, this time with a blade. "Look at his eyes, he is just waiting for his death now. Let''s give him his death, shall we," said Grey as he stabbed his blade into man''s chest finally letting him die.

    The leader of the rattle gang was paralyzed in fear, he couldn''t move an inch. He didn''t dare to speak anything in front of Grey.

    Walking closer to him Grey sat down beside him. Grey spoke "You see, I won''t let you live. That I can''t do and can you guess the reason why?"

    Grey waited for some time but he didn''t hear any kind of response from the leader. Grey placed his hand over the man''s shoulder as he smiled "Don''t worry, you can speak. I genuinely want to hear that what do you think."

    "be---- because I kill--- killed ten of your people."

    Grey laughed as he said "right guess!!! I do hate it that you have killed my people and looking at my face you can easily say that I very much enjoyed my revenge. but well, to be honest, I am not really enjoying the act of killing you guys.".

    The leader turned to look in disbelief and hopeless anger. Looking at the leader''s face, Grey spoke "You might be thinking that what kind of bullshit I am spewing. But I am not really enjoying the act of killing you guys, I am just making myself enjoy it."

    For the first time, the leader of the rattle gang willingly asked a question "What----- what is the difference?"

    "What is the difference? by making myself enjoy killing you guys is for keeping me sane. It really gets to you, killing someone really gets to you. So enjoying myself while doing it is my only option remaining, at least it doesn''t make me think about morals and all that stuff. But well ----- it will eventually hit me, after all at the end when everything is silent, the voices in my head speak the loudest."

    Grey got up as he said "I killed every one of you since the news is out there that the rattle gang killed ten of Lenton house people and if I don''t kill you guys then people will think that the Lenton House will become punchable. People would think that they can do anything they want. I don''t want that, I want a proper balance and when tomorrow the news will be heard that the Rattle gang disappeared in one night, people will know that Lenton House will hit back hard if ever messed with."

    The man teared up as he spoke in panic "It ----- it wasn''t us who planned all this, I ----- I swear!!!! it was the son of the Henisi tribe. He ----- he wanted the power over the city, so ---- so he told us to do it!! I swear!!"

    "What is the name of the guy?" asked Grey.

    "Anac!!! his name is Anac!! he lives on the west side of the forest with the people who chose to follow him. He follows different ideals that the Henisi tribe and wants to move out of the forest. He was given a separate land to stop the civil war between the Henisi tribe, but he is still not satisfied so he planned all this!!!"

    Grey couldn''t help but laugh as he said "I thought I would have to torture you to make you open your mouth. But it was easier than that and I don''t have any complaints."

    pointing towards the man, Grey said "You know what, I like you. I have made my decision since you have told me everything -----"

    Grey walked closer to the man as he placed his hand over his shoulder. In an instant, the man was teleported outside, "------i don''t want to kill you since there is no need to kill you now. You are free to go and leave this city. Go somewhere far far away, and what is your name?"

    A huge smile formed across the man''s face as he instantly teared up "My name ---- name is Rocky."

    "Well change that name and also change your identity since I don''t want people to know that I left the leader of the Rattle gang alive. If anyone finds out that you are alive, I would shove a stick up your ass and hoist you like a flag for everyone to see that I have killed you, you get it?"

    "Yes!! yes!!!" the man said as he shook his head vigorously.

    Grey took out a bag of gold coins as he tossed it to the man. "Take this money and go far away and remember that you are dead from now and now go away."

    The man bowed once before running away and leaving the place immediately but before going away, he turned back once more as he said "Thank you!!"

    "Go away before I change my mind."

    "Yes!!!"

 Chapter 163 - 162: The One Who Walked With Me.

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    "Ajgar isn''t here yet?" asked Anac the leader of the Henisi tribe. He was a man with a huge build, huger than anyone from his tribe.

    Standing seven feet tall, he was a giant in the form of a human. Not only tall but he was huge.

    He was seated on a rock. The rock was cleanly carved to look like a throne.

    The place where he was seated was a structure that was made out of wood. The Henisi tribe didn''t believe in a stable house. They changed according to the climate and the era.

    Forest is their home and that is the only house they will stay loyal to. But Anac was the son of the original leader of the Henisi tribe, splitter the tribe in two. He wanted a place in the city for his people and while some people stayed with the original leader, others chose to follow him.

    He patiently waited for his brother to come back home.

    "But big brother Ajgar is still out and he hasn''t come back yet. what should we-----"

    Anac raised his giant hand as he said "We will wait past midnight and he doesn''t come back, we attack the Lenton house.  He is a strong man, even if they attack them. He can at least manage to escape, he is strong enough to do that. If it wasn''t for me, he would have been the strongest in the tribe."

    "But-----" said the woman.

    "let''s just wait and hope that the leader of Lenton House agreed to our terms. Taking over his whole business is a lot to ask for. But we are strong and just like jungle ---- the rule of strong takes apply everywhere.

    We are strong that''s why we will take over his company for him. Killing ten people was just scares him. We won''t spill any more blood."

    The woman who was standing beside Anac was his wife. She was the only one who supported him, she was the one that believed him first. Later more people joined them and believed that they should move ahead from the forest.

    She gently held Anac''s hand as she said "I don''t know why, but I have this constant ancient. It is as if something is going to happen. I----"

    Anac laughed as he grabbed her hand back, "Don''t worry, it''s because of that old woman that you are scared."

    There is this woman in the henisi. She is a former witch. Today when Anac and Ajghar went to her to find their fortune.

    But it wasn''t a trip as usual. The old woman''s said only one thing "Why? at such a young age? they don''t even have their kids. Why does it have to be so young?"

    Anac''s wife tried to get more detail, but all she heard was from the old lady was "Keep these two men locked up in the house. You can''t run away from it, but you can at least prevent it. Don''t go anywhere today and let today''s day pass."

    Anac proceeded to ask "Prevent what?"

    the old woman looked at him as she said "Death. Death is what I am talking about."

    But on the contrary to the old woman''s warning. Both Anac, Ajgar ignored her warning and continued to the day as planned.

    Ajgar went to Grey''s office to make deal with him about the protection and Anac is waiting for him in the forest.

    Looking at the worried face of her wife, Anac asked "Are you worried about today?"

    "As she told, we should ----- we should have just let today pass. I don''t know but------ I am scared Anac."

    Anac looked at his wife as he said "When I left the tribe, everyone was against me. But you stood beside me all this time because you believed in me and that meant a lot to me. Because you believed in me, I also started to believe in my dream of settling in the city. You stood beside me when no one was there.

    So believe in me one more time my wife, because when we will take over on Lenton House, we will be powerful. No one will be able to stop us and the Hensisi tribe will also rule over the city. Even if the Lenton House does not agree, they are not strong enough to defend themselves from us. So don''t think much about it since we had already won this war."

    Anac''s wife looked at him as she sighed before saying "I believe in you -----"

    "Big brother, sorry to interrupt you but---"

    It was one of the members of the Henisi tribe. Stepping inside the ten he spoke. But before he could say anything more, Anac interrupted him as he asked "Did my brother come back?! finally!! I was getting tired of waiting"

    Said Anac as he got from the stone throne. His huge towering body was nearly hitting the ceiling of the tent.

    The man who stood in front of Anac hesitated before saying "No---- it''s not your brother. It is actually the leader of the Lenton House organization or at least that''s what he claims to be."

    Anac''s wife''s face twisted in a slight shock as she asked "How many people?"

    To which the man replied with "Just one----- he came all alone."

    Anac burst into laughter as he said "Alone?? that man must be really brave or suicidal. But anyway  let''s go and meet this man."

    Anac walked closer to the exit of the tent. He had to crouch down to exit the tent since his head would just hit the exit.

    The man lead Anac to the center of the village, where the combat is usually conducted. The clear ground was water regularly to make it suitable to hold sparring season. It is a holy place for the henisi tribe. Such sparring ground is usually made in the center of the village.

    Even though it was a sparring ground. But there was no special characteristic to the ground, it was just normal ground. But a well-mainted ground.

    As Anac walked to the center of the base/village, there was a crowd gathered at the center of village. Looking at the huge stature of Anac people dispersed away to give way for him.

    "You are the leader of the Lenton house? kid, go away the Lenton House is just using you. Just deliver the news that your master has to give and go away!." said one of the men to the boy who was standing on the ground.

    "Ah, well----- I am my own master. I am the leader of the Lenton House." said the boy as he looked at the man.

    Listening to the kid the whole village bursted into laughter. "Kid!!! kid!!! seriously!!! you are funny, so please go away I don''t want to hurt you!."

    The white-haired boy smiled as he said "By the way are you aware that in Henisi tribe. Once you enter the sacred ring with someone else, your life is in your own hand no one can stop me if it tried to kill you."

    The white-haired boy who was Grey looked at the man''s leg as he said that. The man was standing in the sacred ring with Grey.

    "You sure know a lot about the Henisi tribe." said the man mockingly.

    "Yeah, I read it in a book."

    The man looked towards his fellow tribemates as he said "He says that the city people are writing books on us. Aren''t we popular?"

    To the comment, every again busted in a laugh.

    Grey sighed as she spoke, "So anyway, which one of you is the boss---- are your leader or  ------ or like you people call, which one of you is the big brother of the tribe?"

    {Author: Henisi tribe leader is usually referred to as big brother.}

    A giant-looking man raised his fist as he said "That would be me."

    Grey turned to look at the source of the voice and the first that came out of his mouth was "Holy shit you are huge!"

    "And you are little kid---- who sent you here?" asked Anac.

    Looking above Grey answered "Huh? what are you talking about? you killed my ten people so it''s obvious that I should at least give you a visit."

    "We? perhaps you are mistaken about something kid. It was not us who killed your people, it was-----"

    A smirk formed across Grey''s face as he chuckled "Now now, don''t lie. Grandma Julia used to say people who lie usually end up getting their ass bitten by a crow."

    Anac laughed before saying "That''s something interesting I heard today. But we were not related to the attack that happened to your people."

    Grey sighed as tapped his hand on the ground, gesturing Anac to sit beside him. Even though it looked like an innocent normal gesture, for the Henisi tribe inviting someone to the sacred ground is equivalent to challenging them.

    "Come! sit, let''s have some chit-chat," said Grey, inviting Anac to the ground.

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 Chapter 164 - 163: Instinct Or Fear?

    "Come! sit, let''s have some chit-chat," said Grey, inviting Anac to the ground.

    This action of Grey caught the attention of all the tribesmen. Their face twisted in rage as it was the greatest disrespect for their leader.

    "Kid!! are you even aware of what it means to be invited in our sacred ground!!!!" exclaimed a woman.

    Grey looked at her as he said "Yes I am aware like I said I have read the book about you guys."

    "you!!!" the woman exclaimed as she stepped forwards. But she stopped as Anac said "Now now let''s calm down. He is just a kid so he doesn''t know much about our values and tradition."

    Anac stepped his giant foot in the ground as he said "Let''s first hear about what news this kid has brought from his boss."

    Grey laughed as he spoke, "Your people seem pretty mad at me."

    "Well, they just love me. Anyways what business do you have here kid and what message does your boss has for me?"

    Anac sat down with his giant body in front of Grey. Grey without answering Anac''s question Grey spoke "So..... why did you kill my people, I thought the people of Henisi really loved that forest so why the sudden interest in the business of city people?"

    "We didn''t kill your people, but we are interested in working with your boss. We want a better future for ourselves in this city," answered Anac.

    Grey''s expression turned serious. The playful smile that was there on his face before was not to be seen anymore. Along with his serious expression, his tone also got serious as he said "I am the boss of the Lenton House and before I got here I made sure that the rattle gang has seen their last day on the face of this world. I am not really in the mood to play anymore, so let''s get back to business. Well, I have no business with you, I just came here to kill you."

    The words spoken by Grey attracted the fury of the tribe people.

    "You brat!!!"

    People exclaimed various things to Grey as they drew their weapon. Before they could head towards the ground, Anac stopped them by raising his hand.

    Grey spoke again as he said "Good, fewer people involved would be better. I am in no mood for another blood bath so let''s just keep it between you and me."

    "Fine fine, I will entertain you." Anac sighed, he scratched his beard for a second before answering "It''s simple, we want to move ahead and make ourselves a place in the city. It''s as simple as that."

    Grey stood up as he said "I see, then there is nothing to talk more about. By the way, please stop with the lie, I am fully aware that you were the one that tipped the Rattle gang to attack my transportation route. Before coming ---- " Grey raised his finger as he said " ----I paid a small visit to the hideout of Rattle gang. Now the place is filled with corpses. Being afraid of death the leader snitched you out and well even if he didn''t, it was obvious that they weren''t the one that was behind all this."

    Anac looked up towards Grey, this time with a serious tone he asked "You keep denying that there is a boss above you. But let''s assume that you are the boss, so tell me, what is your name?"

    "I am Grey Hoffmann, the prince of Frey and Amay nation and someday I will be the king."

    Anac stood up with his giant body as he said "I will fight you, this will be a great lesson for you and maybe you will start treating your life more preciously and don''t waste it away by taking on an opponent that you can''t fight."

    Anac took a stance on the ground. It wasn''t actually a stance, he stood in the ground casually with no weapon in his hand.

    Grey took a casual stance as well as, "When I stand in front of you, you are really more huge."

    "Aren''t you are going to hold any sort of weapon, kid?" asked Anac.

    Grey smiled as he said, "It would be unfair for you if I held a weapon and you didn''t."

    Anac laughed as he said, "I like you kid, but this attitude won''t work out in real life. Anyways let''s begin shall we ----"

    Anac extended one of his giant arms towards Grey as he stepped towards Grey "Come and give me your best attack."

    Grey stepped towards him as Anac watched Grey''s movement. Grey casually walked closer to Anac, as Grey walked closer to him there was only one thought in Anac''s mind ''This kid----- he is making it too obvious that he will be attacking me from the front. Perhaps I should end it sooner.''

    Being a step away from Anac, Grey swung his fist aiming at the right part of Anac''s chest. ''It''s too obvious, this kid is not even trying to hide -----''

    A sharp pain buzzed through his chest, in an instant, he let out a groan "Guh!!". Along with the pain, the shock of the unexpected made it even more painful for him.

    Perhaps it was the pain or it was the element of unexpected but he wasn''t able to hide the shock and pain from his face.

    Finding himself taking a step back, Anac couldn''t believe that he was not able to block such an obvious attack. ''This kid---- he is fast and ----- strong.''

    Grey took a step back as he said "Don''t look so shocked. I am a man that killed your brother and the entirety of the rattle gang, I am strong ----- I am the son of Alice so it''s natural that I am strong."

    The words that he heard made him forget about the pain that was surging through his chest. "You ---- you killed my brother?"

    Grey''s eyes shined in the brightest shade of purple-indigo, he emitted a dense aura around him. He didn''t release it on purpose, but it was something that was happening naturally to him.

    He looked at Anac, but this action of Grey sent a chill down everyone''s spine present in that place. "Do you think that I would let your brother walk away? Do you think that I would let the person who was involved in the plan of killing my people, I would let him walk away alive. You think you will be able to settle outside in the city at the expense of people and that too my people.

    There is this one unwritten rule of this world. "Blood for blood" have you ever heard about it? If you lay your foundation on bloodshed? Huh? By the way, I take that rule to the extreme, if you spill blood on my side, I will ----"

    Grey enhanced his speed and strength by using his venom factor. With a tremendous speed, he dashed in front of Anac, with a slight jump Grey swung his fist.

    "If you spill blood on my side, I will flood the entire river at your side."

    Anac was barely able to block the attack from Grey. The force of Grey''s punch was something more than he had anticipated, the force of the punch was enough to push Anac back.

    Tripping over Anac fell to the ground. Even though he fell down, his eyes were fixed at Grey. Looking at the cold face of Grey, Anac was sure about one thing........ He was scared of Grey.

    Without giving much chance, Grey dashed towards Anac. He again swung his fist, as he was close to connecting his fist------ A force crashed onto Grey as he was knocked back. Rolling once Grey gained his footwork, There wasn''t much injury on Grey''s body except for the little bleeding from his hand.

    Looking at the thing that happened before her, Anac''s eyes widened in shock. "This ------ it was the power of Anac''s seal marking. The seal marking of craftsman!! He----- he was forced to use it against ----- a kid? not only that, it should have been able to finish that kid off. But ---- that kid---- he is barely scratched."

    Anac''s wife closed her fist, the gut feeling of her knowing that something is going wrong was getting more and more intense. But she was powerless to do anything.

    {Author: Seal marking of craftsman, this seal marking enables users to make things out of earth efficiently and way quicker than normal earth mages. The quality of their weapon is also better than normal earth users.}

    Anac knew that he just tried to kill a kid, but his instincts were getting better for him. His instincts knew that he was scared of Grey.

    A soft laugher was heard by Anac which sent a chill down his spine, Grey spoke as he wipes dust from his face "Not bad, you are getting serious."

    Grey extended his arms wide open in front of the giant as he said "Fight me, and show me how strong you are!"

 Chapter 165 - 164: Birth And Death Of A Leader.

    Grey extended his arms wide open in front of the giant as he said "Your last attack had killing intent to it, not bad."

    "Killing intent?" questioned one of the tribe men. The same question was on everyone''s mind, all their facial expression was stiffened as they were questioning whether Anac really attacked a kid with intent to kill.

    "Why does our leader is the one that is struggling? is this ---- is this some kind of joke?" questioned another tribesman.

    Grey dashed forward as he struck his feet. But before his feet could connect, Anac created a shield blocking the attack.  Along with his shield, Anac quickly dashed forwards to tackle Grey.

    Being in mid-air, Grey didn''t have much choice other than tanking the attack directly.

    Extending his palm towards Anac, Grey shot a fireball. The action was followed by a blast that knocked both Grey and Anac away. It wasn''t an excessive blast. but it was enough to knock both of them away.

    {Auhtor: Fireblast is a spell that is like a fireball spell but the difference is that the fire blast spell has a much greater blast effect. Fireblast can be used in combat according to the circumstances.}

    Before landing on the ground, Grey again condensed a fire blast spell in his blast. Using the force of the blast, Grey shot himself towards Anac.

    Entering through the smoke, Grey struck his fist but it was again blocked by Anac''s shield. The force of this punch broke the stone shield.

    Continuing the attack Grey drove his knee which was blocked by Anac as he said "You are fire mage?"

    Dodging Anac''s attack, Grey spoke "I am not."

    The exchange of attack went on for a minute where Grey and Anac went on the toe to toe in strength. Which was a ridiculous sight for the tribe people to look at.

    From their perspective, it was a little kid and a giant seven feet man going against each other and somehow kid was able to go toe to toe against the giant and even overpower him.

    Stepping back Grey spoke "at first you agreed for this fight because you were apparently entertaining me. But now, let''s get serious shall we. From the next attack, I will try to kill you and I won''t kill you right away. Before killing you, it is my duty to give you enough punishment on behalf of my people. Then when I am done, I will kill you."

    Grey closed his eyes as he froze all his little wounds with ice. This act caught Anac''s attention as he asked "You can also use ice ----- Guh!!"

    An intense pain traveled through the right part of the chest. A crushing pain thrashed on his brain as he was knocked away. It was Grey who drove his fist into Anac''s chest as he was speaking. The speed at which even Anac couldn''t see him coming.

    Grey looked at Anac as he said with cold eyes, there was no hint of emotion in Grey''s eyes "As I said, get serious or you will die without even having good last words. Try your best to survive and I might give you chance to say your last words."

    Anac held his broken rib as he looked in terror at Grey. Before he could realize another impact crashed against his face.

    Recovering from confusion Anac realized that he was kicked in the face. Holding his bleeding nose, he looked at Grey.

    Getting up he got in a defensive position as he summoned a shield in his other hand. While he summoned a club in his other hand.

    Carefully he closed the distance between himself and Grey. "I acknowledge as the leader of the Lenton House. I acknowledge you as strong, stronger than me. I acknowledge that I was the one that ordered the death of your people. I acknowledge that ----"

    He looked at his wife as he said "I acknowledge that I picked enmity with the wrong person. I should have done research on Lenton House."

    Looking at tears on his wife''s face he held his stone club tightly. He lowered his eyebrows in regret before stiffening his expression in seriousness as he said "I acknowledge everything, but I will have to survive today because I have people who believe me and followed me. I will survive because I want to lead them to a future that we all dreamed of together. I will lead them to the future that they saw in me."

    Hearing those words, Grey had a conflicting expression on his face. He sighed as he let go of his clenched fist.

    Looking at the sky Grey let out a deep breath. Grey summoned an icicle great sword in his hand as he said "That''s something I respect."

    In an instant Grey dashed towards Anac, they clashed their weapon. "Now let''s end it"

    Anac''s club broke apart. Grey swung another slash at Anac which he blocked by his shield. Due to his shield being crumbled away he summoned another shield which again broke apart by Grey''s slash.

    One after another Grey kept attacking with his greatsword, each of his attacks was at an incredible speed. Anac screamed "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" as he kept summoning shields after shield to keep up with Grey''s attack.

    He blocked each attack from slash to slash.

    "Big brother is tiring him out, he can----- he can win!!!" shouted one of the tribe mates. These words brought hope to other members as well.

    "He will win!!!"

    "You can do it, big brother!!!"

    "Just a little more big brother you can do it!!!!"

    People cheered for Anac and this newly found hope brought was brought. Looking at all this Anac''s wife couldn''t help but smile.

    Finally, she was able to see a new light of hope, the hope that was fading away earlier was brought back. Cupping her hands together she shouted to cheer him.

    "Please win!!!! please lead us to a bright future!!! please stay with me ---------- "

    thing thing that happened next crushed her hopeful expression as he looked at the ground in terror. She muttered, "----- forever."

    {Author: I am cutting the scene here and continuing it with another major scene, which will be in this same chapter.}

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Grey after being done with the Henisi tribe walked on the stair of the ex abandoned nyx temple which was now his factory. He climbed the stairs, one by one as he recalled all the things that happened today.

    As he walked into the warehouse, walking inside he saw that everyone was waiting inside for him.

    Looking at everyone he asked, "Why are you all gathered here? are we partying today?"

    There was not a spec of blood on Grey''s body since he cleaned all of the blood under the twin waterfall. But his snowy white hair was still wet after taking bath in the waterfall.

    Ermic spoke, "We went and checked the Rattle''s hideout, there was no one there except for just ------ corpses."

    "Oh damn, what happened over there?"

    Ebony didn''t say anything as she kneeled down on one leg as she spoke in a soft tone "You did all this for us. You were angry for us...... you sought justice for us... you fought them alone for us, you did that because you promised that you would never involve us in fighting. I ----- Ebony, from this day and till the day die, I swear by my name that I will have no other leader other than you. I shall have no other king other than you. I will walk behind you even in death since you are my sole leader and I will never acknowledge any other leader. You ----- Grey Hoffmann is my leader and my king!!!"

    Following her everyone else kneeled down as they roared in on voice "Grey Hoffmann is our leader and king!!!! and we will follow him to death!!! We will never acknowledge any other leader since there is no one more suitable and no one who would care about us as you did!! Grey Hoffmann, we are your subject, and please accept us as your first subject!!!"

    Clay kneeled down as he said with a huge smile "You ----- I love you, my king!!! Not in that meaning ----- I just -----  I will never be enough thankful for you!!"

    Beside him was Clay''s brother, Erwin looked down as he said "Thank you for sparing my life, I ---- thank you!"

    Grey never killed Erwin, the one that Grey killed in the office was Ajgar. Grey did that to calm his people. Grey told Erwin to run away but he came back, but apparently, the people of Lenton House were no longer angry at him.

    A new king was born on that day, a new leader was given birth and another leader died that day. A leader that dreamt of moving to the city.

    A leader that had a dream similar to Grey, but his death was written before he could achieve his dream.

    Blocking Grey''s attack, he created shield after shield. But eventually, he ran out of mana to create any shield. That exact moment Grey slashed his chest.

    He died in the arm of his wife.

    Slashing his chest, he collapsed to the ground. Grey walked out of there as he didn''t say anything more and neither he didn''t anything more. He just walked away from there.

    Grey knew the wound was fatal and he wanted to leave him alone so that he can talk to his wife.

    His wife and he talked for a minute before the light died down from his eyes. His last words were "to build a city where we have kids."

    He died with a smile.....

    It was a day when a leader died and another king was born. A king who would change the world..... a king that would wage war against the world... A wicked prince that will wage the war of rebellion against gods.

    (End of Birth of the king arc)

 Chapter 166 - 165: Inter House Competition.

    Seated in the pub, I looked at the professor as I squinted my eyes "Why this pub man?".

    "Huh? What are you talking about? this pub is a relaxing place to study and besides it''s also relaxing for me since my research takes a lot of effort."

    I took a sip out of the blood of the cloud or cloud of the blood---- ah, well I forgot the name. I looked at the professor as I asked "What are you researching?"

    "I am actually trying to upgrade the previous device I made. the device that enhances the mana output of a spell."

    "Oh, that would be a great way to reduce consumption of various mana powered devices."

    "Exactly!!"

    Lying ---- he is lying. I can sense the residue of divine energy from him. I was able to sense it since the day we met. He is still working at what his wife failed at.

    He is still continuing the research of his wife.

    He didn''t try to store divine energy in his body but he has tried to use divine energy. The man is in a poor state----- he takes black moon, a substance that apparently helps you dream things that you want.

    People who want to achieve their delusion take this drug and I guess the professor takes this drug to not let go of his wife. The man is in pain but I am not sure if I am the one that can help him, I don''t think I am that person.

    According to what I have heard, he has started asking around for any volunteer who can give their body for research, Of course in return for money. Many people who are in need of money would willingly accept the offer, but he is still hesitating.

    It''s good that he is hesitating because the day he accepts the offer-------

    "Professor Blake," I said as I took a sip from my drink, I didn''t look towards him.

    "What is it Grey?" he asked.

    "It''s okay to pursue and continue to the dream of your wife. You can do whatever you want, it''s your life. But remember that there is a line that we shouldn''t cross. Your wife knew that fact and that''s why she offered her own body.

    I am saying is that ------ don''t become a monster in the pursuit of your research." I laughed as I said "Eh----- don''t become me, that''s what I am saying.

    as I was done talking, I heard a sigh from the professor as he looked above. "You knew? how long?"

    "From day one."

    "I see, I see---- you are terrifying Grey. I can''t lie about the fact that you are very much terrifying. You know Alice was absolutely terrifying and you are just like her."

    He paused for a second before asking "What----- what am I supposed to do Grey? I am not ---" his voice broke as he continued "I am not sure about what am I supposed to do anymore, I can''t ----- I can''t let go of her."

    I got from my chair as I said "Where is your wife buried?"

    He looked in confusion as he asked "why?"

    "Eh, what are you talking about? tomorrow is her death anniversary ---- I would like to visit one of the greatest researchers that ever lived," I said with a gentle smile.

    His eyes teared up. "Ah----- you are also very much like your dad. My wife---- she --- she is buried in the burial ground of this city."

    "I see," I walked out of the pub as I said, "Then I will meet you there tomorrow in the morning."

    Today I didn''t learn anything from him. But well there isn''t much to learn now since I just focus on sorting out my mage circle. The process is going good and with the help of it I was able to perform spells that I previously couldn''t and the output of spells has also increased.

    Maybe if I master mana thread and mage circle, I will be able to stand a chance against gods. But first, I will have to master both of them with mana before trying it with demonic and divine energy.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It was the lecture after lunch and it was Aunt Ronia''s lecture. She has touched on various topics over the course of the past few lectures and today she was going to teach us ----

    "Good afternoon kids and today we will learn how to increase the level of your spell. For starters, I hope that you all are aware that you can increase the strength of each spell. But sadly it can only be done by training every single spell in your arsenal over and over, not only mindlessly casting the spell but also observing every little aspect while you are casting the spell.

    Little aspects such as how much mana are use supposed to use and at how much interval. Eh --- you will know, just follow me to commons ground and we will see what I am talking about."

    She said as she walked out of the class and she never tells us to follow her. Everyone was confused as she walked out.

    I got up as I looked at my group as I said "Let''s go, we will have to follow her."

    "Huh? then why doesn''t she tell us to just follow her?" asked Lily.

    "You are missing the point, that''s what makes her so damn cool," said Frank and he was overexcited while saying it.

    Yeah, he is a fucking simp.

    "Shut up Frank, don''t give me your bullshit opinion," said Lily as she go up.

    "Bullshit opinion? that''s what half of the academy thinks."

    "I know that she is cool."

    "Eh? then don''t call my opinion bullshit if you think the same. By the Grey, what do you think Professor Ronia?"

    I looked at Frank as I asked "what do I think? I admire Professor Ronia."

    As we were walking out of the classroom. Lora grabbed my hand suddenly stopping me from going outside. Along with her Lily, Aetna and Rai stopped.

    Oi Rai, at least you don''t stop like this. Stop acting like you are interested in me just to make it awkward for me!!!

    "Grey, I am really interested in you," said Rai out of nowhere, winking at me.

    Holy fuck! this woman is reading my mind.

    Lora pulled me closer as she asked "You admire Professor Ronia as a student right? right? right?"

    What the fuck and why does everyone looks like they want to hear the answer as well.  I sighed before saying "I admire her as a nephew and I admire her for the person she is."

    She looked quite satisfied with the answer. letting go of my hand she tried to play calm as she said "Oh I see as a nephew --- nephew, but as a nephew? well, I am satisfied with the answer so that''s the only thing that matters."

    We continued to walk out of the classroom. Idiot A and Idiot B were talking about something.

    "Who do you think will take part in this year''s intern house competition?"

    "Intern house competition sounds so boring. I like the name battle royal to pick the best class among Mage class, Warrior class, and mage- warrior class."

    "Who gives it that name and also that''s not the name that''s the description of the competition. But seriously do you think that anyone from the first year will take part in this competition?"

    "The rules changed last year right. The competition among the first and second years will be held separately and the competition among the third and fourth years will be held separately."

    "Will you take part?"

    "I will, but I don''t know if I will be selected since only a few kids are selected from each class."

    Idiot A and Idiot B are talking about the upcoming competition. It is a pretty popular competition. The scale of this competition is an entirely different level from the moon glitter festival.

    This competition has immense popularity since it involves the fight between classes so various people are involved and invested in it. It generates a lot of money for the academy and by the way, people take this competition way too seriously.

    There is way too much hype and debate around this competition. Each class takes this competition seriously and wants to see their class win.

    People also gamble on competitors and when the list of competitors that will take part is out. People usually go nuts over it and the competitors get instantly popular.

    By the way, I will take part in the competition since I want the world to see me and know me. The selection of the competitors will be tomorrow and it will be held by the head and in charge of the warrior house. I know about him and i have heard that he has a pretty repulsive personality and he is also strict when it comes to this competition.

    Eventually, we reached a common ground. There Aunt Ronia told all the students to repeatedly perform their basic magic spell till their mana runs out. She told us to do this for the next coming month and for every day in her class.

    By the way, there is something else i also heard about the competition.. Apparently, Eira is also taking part in this competition so I will be able to meet her after long and I also have to meet Sylphy, I just don''t get time to do so.

 Chapter 167 - 166: The Radiance Of Divine.

    It was early in the morning. So early that there was still half an hour for the sunrise. I walked outside of my room to the common hall of our dorm.

    As I walked into the hall I saw that Walk was awake.

    {Author: incase you don''t remember Walk is the name of the guy that took the exam with Grey. They live together in the same dorm.}

    "Good morning, you are awake early?"

    "Good morning, I usually train at this time," answered Walk.

    I walked towards the exit as I said "I see, then I will have a training partner. I have something to do outside, once I am done with it I will train along with you."

    Walking out of the dorm I saw that the sky was still dark. But the bird had already begun their sweet melody. It is a soothing sound to hear.

    Closing my eyes I looked at the sky. The cold refreshing air hitting against my skin was truly calming. After a second I continued my walk.

    At first, I thought that I would teleport to the grave but well I guess a morning walk wouldn''t be that bad. Walking through the academy I went through the second-year dorm, some of the lights were on.

    I guess they were waking up early to train.

    I saw a guy jogging past me. "Good morning!" he said and I replied with the same. That guy was a stranger to me but well that was nice of him.

    At a distance, I saw a few people sparring at the common grounds. A professor was teaching a bunch of kids. I mean he wasn''t really teaching sessions, he was just sparring along with them.

    The bald professor that was sparring with the kids was Shawn Meier, the son of sword king.

    {Auhtor: By the way, sword and mana king belongs to the same family, the Meier family.}

    He is the man that is in charge of the warrior house in our academy. He surely has a pretty serious-looking face.

    As I was looking at him, he looked back and for some reason his face got irritated. "Hey kid, you are the son of Ranulf Hoffmann right?"

    "Ah--- yes," I answered. The professor was standing at quite a distance and yet he nearly shouted to ask me that question.

    Even from afar, I could say that the man''s face got even more irritated. He looked at me as he said "You better hope that you are not my student."

    I cupped my hand near my mouth so that he could clearly hear what I wanted to say "Too bad, I think I am your student!! well since I am from warrior class---- so looking forwards to learning a lot from you-- professor."

    I heard him click his tongue as he said "Unlike your dad, you got some mouth."

    I didn''t reply with anything as I walked away as I waved them goodbye and for some reason, every single of them looked annoyed. Well, I clearly don''t know the reason for their annoyance so there is no point in thinking about it.

    After a fifteen-minute walk, I reached the city graveyard. Walking through the gate, I entered the gate. I still don''t know where Lisa Blake is resting, but well I think I will have to look through each grave.

    Looking around the grave I saw someone standing in the grave. it was a familiar guy, I walked towards him and hearing my footsteps he looked surprised.

    "Good morning," I said. The person who was seated there was

    At first, he didn''t reply with anything but then he opened his mouth to ask "Here to visit someone?"

    I crouched down to look at the grave of Lisa Blake as I said "I am here to visit her, Lisa Blake the greatest researcher that lived."

    He looked at me with even more surprise.

    I kept looking at her grave as I said "Healing stone, an invention that saved countless lives in war and also outside the war. The list of her accomplishment is truly great but what I find greatest is that she was able to see things that others couldn''t"

    He looked at me for a second before saying "Yeah--- she was indeed the greatest. What was she for you?"

    "She is nobody for me. I just came here since I admire the things that she wrote in the book, wanted to give her a visit."

    He looked back at the Grave as he said "You are a weird guy."

    "Huh? am I? ---- by the way what was she for you?"

    "She was my blood aunt."

    I looked at him in a little bit of surprise, I looked back at the grave. After a minute he opened his mouth asking "I am just acting like this since I don''t want my aunt to see the ugly side of me. I am visiting my aunt in the place of my mom since she can''t visit her right now. Honestly speaking, I hate you, Grey Hoffmann, you, and that April Mahine. I hate both of you. I hate the warrior class, I hope they just stop trying and let the strong ones like me take care of the rest of the things."

    Hearing the words that came out of him I couldn''t help but chuckle. "Reading the book of Lisa Blake. I got curious and researched more about her and her life. She wouldn''t just risk her body to do research, I mean she can but there had to be some sort of reason for it. When I asked professor Blake, he told me that she has a sister who is in a coma right now. The divinity in her sister''s body is corroding her body, so to save her sister she tried to research the divine.

    Knowing that she is running out of time to save her sister. She used her own body in the research but that resulted in her own death. Even the invention of the healing stone was to preserve her sister''s body." I looked at him as I continue to ask "That sister is your mother right?"

    I got no answer in reply but that silence itself sounded like a yes.

    "I am not aware of how your mother got divinity in her body but yeah-----"

    Before I could say anything more. I heard a voice coming from behind us "Grey ------ and Win, good morning."

    It was professor Blake. Behind him, the sky was getting bluer and bluer, so the sunrise will be soon.

    "Good morning professor," I responded so did Win.

    The professor placed the flower that he brought near the grave. He sat there for a minute in silence, I think it was much more than a minute. But all three of us were there in silence.

    But after some time Professor Blake opened his mouth asking "Why did you want to meet me here, Grey?"

    There was a dry leaf that was falling from the tree. I flew in the air with the calm breeze before landing on my hand. I extended my hand to make it land on my palm.

    I opened my mouth saying "I want your help."

    "My help?"

    "I have something that I want to better use and maybe it would interest you. I think it would be greatly interesting. I will be honest with you professor. I have this ongoing enmity with gods and I think I will square up with one in the future."

    They had this look on this face that clearly said what this guy is talking about.

    "Have you ever seen a god?" I asked.

    "Yes, when I was I visited the Artemis nation. The ruling entity of the nation is a god, well I never got to meet the god but I have seen him. Those are the entities truly different from any mortal." said Professor.

    I continued  "I aim to kill entities like him. Not him in particular but yeah entities that are similar like him if not powerful. I have something that can help me to do it. Like poison kills poison, I have something that can kill gods, or at least that''s what I like to think. Of course, I have no fucking clue of how to use it. That''s why I need your help."

    With a confused look, Professor asked, "I still don''t understand what you need my help with?"

    As the professor was saying that Win spoke "I will take my leave since I don''t have anything more to do." he said as he started walking away

    Extending my hand I said "This is the power that was given to me Ari, my friend. I want your help in understanding how to use it well since that asshole won''t teach me about how to use it, that damn demi-god."

    Gathering the divine energy in my hand. A while ball condensed in my hand, it was still and calm energy. The radiance of this energy was something that was a gorgeous thing to look at.

    The sun had started rising and the sky was in a shade of orange.

    I looked at the professor as I said "It''s sad that I couldn''t meet your wife earlier but I am now here in front of you. I am the answer that your wife was searching for.. I am a human that has divinity inside of him."

 Chapter 168 - A Pilot For A Story.

    {Author: Hello Hello author here!!! I am posting this chapter so that you can tell me how this story is and if you guys like it I will continue the story. Today was a very busy fucking day. In the morning I had an exam then from afternoon to evening I was at the bank for an education loan and boy am I annoyed at that bank since they didn''t shit about my loan.  I was so fucking close to throwing hands at someone in the bank, I swear to god. Even though I am weak as fuck but I was still about to square up with anyone.}

    ''I want to live '' was the first thing Seung Seok thought before waking up.

    He woke up feeling pain all over his body. ''I was dead'' was his first thought with some certainty after waking up. I died, I was betrayed and then tortured to death.''

    But he was alive, he was in a weak state but he still hanging to his life. The will to live he felt was strong, after feeling absolute despair the rage he felt for revenge was enough to fuel to keep him alive in that half-dead state. He kept clinging to life without losing his consciousness.

    ''I have always felt empty my entire life, no matter what I do I never managed to shake this feeling of emptiness. I tried to fill myself with something, sometimes with friends, other times with seeking a partner. But the only time I felt something was right before I died, the feeling of absolute despair, rage, want for revenge but more than anything I felt the will to live.

    But it didn''t matter anyway, cause his life was slipping away again.

    ''second chance I am getting is also slipping away'' was what he was thinking.

    As he was finally in front of the death door his past life flashed before his eyes. As his life was flashing away he thought with stinging pain in his heart ''it doesn''t matter anyway. revenge, what a stupid motivation to live, I am better off dead. Did I live my life for nothing?''.just as he was about to lose consciousness, A sound rang in his head.

    Ding!

    *New mission has been given*

    *would u like to accept it*

    *yes/no*

    ''the fu*km he didn''t say it out loud, but he said it loud in his mind.

    ''This is the system, this is definitely system or I am hallucinating''

    *would you like to accept it?*

    *Warning: host is in critical condition, immediate medical attention is advised*

    It wasn''t much of a choice.

    ''yes''.

    *mission accepted.*

    *Complete the mission.*

    *objective: Escape the fatal condition.*

    ''don''t make it sound so easy, if I could escape this fatal condition I would have already done that, I can''t even open my eyes''.

    ''Now you will tell me a way to survive''.

    *scanning hosts body.*

    *Found a healing attribute.*

    *Hosts lacks necessary information about mana for recovery*

    ''what''s mana''

    *Mana is energy that exists within nature and people, it helps human to bend the law of nature*

    *Host is recommended to use leftover mana to perform healing magic*

    ''how do I use my mana''

    *Close your eyes and focus on your mana flow, system will assist you with healing magic*

    ''wait how do i focu-''

    *starting healing magic, the host is recommended to focus on circulating mana*

    ''wait how-''

    *starting at 1бн.*

    ''no wait-''

    *2бн*

    ''wait wait I don''t even know how to use it''

    *3бн*

    *starting...*

    ''fuck it''

    He tried to focus. Even he didn''t know what to focus at. He suddenly found a thin but warm flow of energy inside him, it was unstable yet warm nonetheless. He tried to circulate it by imagining it going through parts of the body that pained the most.

    *healing has started*

    *body is recovering, avoiding fatal condition*

    *13% wound healing*

    ''it feels warm, pain is going away

    *26%.....33бн.41бн.53%.....60бн.70%....80%...90%....99%*

    Ding!*Fatal injuries healed completely*

    He suddenly felt the impending danger on his life going away.

    He tried to open his eyes. It was a ceiling he didn''t recognize as expected. But the feeling it gave him was the one he recognized well enough, it reeked with the smell of бнdeath.

    As he thought that a sudden flash of memories passed through his mind. The memories of the body he possessed. ''He was beaten to death, same as me''.

    ''his name is Grey Hoffmann, the young master of Hoffmann family'' as he thought this, the memories of the betrayal and hate flashed through him.

    ''He felt the same despair and hate before dying, he was betrayed by his friends''

    As he was thinking this, he heard footsteps approaching. It was of two guards.

    "the beating we gave him last time was fun"

    "but we went overboard, the young master gave us orders not to kill him. I hope he hasn''t died yet"

    "young master is a cruel one, he doesn''t want to kill him, he wants to give him beating till half-dead state in regular interval so that we can break his mind"

    "then we will return him to Hoffman family after he becomes brain dead"

    "This piece of shit is already trash, he can''t even use his magic properly, it would be funny if already trash son of Hoffmann family returns brain dead"

    "I wish I could starve him to death"

    "We can''t do that, young master gave us an order to feed him regularly. so that he doesn''t die"

    As Seok was hearing on their conversation, they opened the door.

    "Take this and eat it and don''t die yet, I haven''t had my fun," he said that with a disgusting grin.

    "you will regret not killing me," grey said with a smile. A cheerful one at that.

    "what''s with that smile? are you mocking me, ill beat the shit out of you" as he was stepping forward to beat grey after saying this other guard stopped him.

    "don''t beat him now, he will die. we can''t let him die yet" he dragged the other guard out of the room and locked the room

    ''as I figured they won''t kill me, even after provocation. it was a risky move. I guess their main motive is to make me brain dead. I won''t get help for a while, I was kidnapped in between my journey to the magic academy. It''s a two-week journey to the magic academy of the capital. I can''t expect any help before 2 weeks and I can''t afford to wait 2 weeks.

    ''now I have to figure a way out of this situation he thought this while eating his food.

    ''First I should explore the system, maybe I can find a means to escape''

    "system can you show my status?"

    *System can do that*

    * Status bar*

    ***********************************************

    Name: Grey Hoffmann/Seung Seok

    Status: Poor health(found injuries in various location, not fatal but treatment is advised

    Attributes: Poison, Ice.

    Abilities: none (list will expand as user discover new abilities or given by system)

    MP: 0/5

    ***********************************************

    ''my past life name and my current body name is shown on the screen,I wonder what does that means''

    ''my attribute is poison and ice, both are overpowered attributes''

    ''at least that how is supposed to be, but this body''s talent is pretty bad. The only thing he can poison is himself and he can only create ice to make popsicle''

    ''poison can be an elixir if used properly, that''s for sure. That''s how system healed my body''

    ''system used my poison attribute to heal my wound, so it is possible to use poison in different ways''

    ''my mana is 0, I know how to gather mana by grey''s past memories.''

    *Host discovered the process of gathering mana*

    *Would the host want to enhance the process? *

    "yes"

    *Host is recommended to start the process, the system will enhance the process*

    Seok started meditating to focus on gathering mana

    ''First I have to gather surrounding mana inside me, then condense it in my core''

    After 5 min of gathering mana a sound rang.

    Ding!

    *users mana core is full*

    *5/5*

    ''That was quick. but it such a pathetic amount of mana capacity, but I have to work with what I have been given''

    ''system was able to heal me with my poison attribute, so I should be able to do the same''

    "system how do I perform healing magic?"

    *Host can''t learn healing magic right now, host needs to level up*

    ''god dammit''

    ''healing is the only thing possible with the power through which I can only poison myself''

    ''no wait, poison is too vague of a term. I should be able to do other things as well''

    "system can I numb my pain using my poison attribute?"

    *It is possible to perform pain-numbing magic*

    Ding!

    *********************************************

    New ability discovered

    Anesthesia spell discovered

    MP cost: 1

    ********************************************

    "perform anesthesia spell"

    * anesthesia spell performed*

    (Numbs any pain for an hour)

    *MP 4/5*

    "I don''t feel pain, the spell worked," Seung said that with a soft laugh.

    ''if I can do this, I should be able to increase my physical abilities with poison magic''

    Ding!

    ****************************************

    New Ability discovered

    Physical boost X 2

    (Heightens Host physical ability for a set period of time)

    MP Cost: 2/min

    ****************************************

    ''This is good, now I have to wait for the right time to escape''

    The next day in the afternoon the guard came at the usual time to deliver the lunch, it was not yet time to torture him. They have to wait one more day. But Seung wasn''t going to wait another day.. They didn''t know the food they were going to deliver was their last one.

 Chapter 169 - 167: The Selection For Competition.

    "I need your help professor, need your help to understand this power. I am in rush but I still need to understand this power."

    I said as a ball of radiant white energy levitated on my hand. That radiant white ball of energy was divine energy.

    Win turned around to look at the ball of energy with curiosity but that was it there was no other reaction to his face. But on the other hand----

    Professor Blake was shocked beyond his core. It was very much apparent by his facial expression. During the first few seconds, his facial expression was blank before gasping, and then his lips formed an awkward yet shaky smile.

    "Is ----- is that ---- it--- it came out of your body right? but---- how? How can it be? Lisa was ----- she ---"

    His sentence was broken and there were many things he wanted to say, but he couldn''t say a single thing.

    "This divine energy comes from my own body rather than borrowing it from some artifact like church people."

    I said as I closed my fist, taking the divine energy back into my body.

    "But ---- how?" asked the professor. Win was already gone from the graveyard and it makes it convenient for me since there is information that I can''t just disclose to others.

    "I can''t tell you the whole detail but this divine energy is because of my connection to a godess, apparently it was always in me but just recently I discovered one way to use it but it takes a toll on my body."

    Professor took a seat on the ground as he sat there for a minute, maybe he was thinking about something. After a minute he opened his mouth again "Lisa ----- if only you were here---- you would have jumped in joy and ------ and ---- and you would have kidnapped this kid or even have adopted him. If only you were here to see this."

    What is this man talking about?

    He pointed his finger towards me as he said in a loud but excited tone "You!!! Grey Hoffmann!!! I wish I could have met you a year earlier but now we can''t change the past but now I will help and by helping you -------- BY HELPING YOU, I WILL HELP MYSELF AND WE WILL FUCKING FIND THE BEST TO USE YOUR POWER AND CURE MY WOMAN''S SISTER!!!!"

    This is the first time I hear him curse and I never heard him talk so loud is he ------ "Are you drunk?"

    "No!!! I am just happy"

    "Ah, that''s understandable."

    "And I have some regrets!"

    "That''s understandable too."

    After talking for a while, Professor walked away from the grave. Before going away, he looked at his wife''s grave and said goodbye. He even said sorry to her grave for going away early since he had some book to read, he wanted to research more since he found a real person that has divine energy.

    I was alone left at the grave, I looked at her grave as I spoke "He is pretty loyal to you and well, he is also mental."

    I looked at the grave a second before sighing as I said "I want to visit more graves that I haven''t visited yet. To be honest, I have never visited the grave of people I have lost, I was never able to bring myself to visit the graves of my people. I have never visited the grave of my mom, she would be very angry at me. Ah... I am a coward."

    I teleported away back to the academy. Not inside my room since I have decided to eat morning breakfast from the canteen.

    As I entered the canteen. There were very few people in the canteen and among those people, only two people were seated at a separate table as they were eating their food.

    Towards the counter, there was Ulrich and that girl he was talking the other day with. The girl is of short size and has medium-sized brown hair.

    Peaking out other hair are a set of brown ears, she also has a bushy tail.

    She is of small size because the fennec race doesn''t really have that much height. But compared to the people of other fennec races, she is most probably tall.

    {Author: Fennec is a race of people that are known for their short height, average male height being five feet and average female height being 4.6 feet. For the most part, they look like a normal human, except for long fox ears and bushy tails.}

    I have seen Ulrich talking this couple of times and for some reason even though I have never heard them talking, I always get the feeling that they are talking about cooking or something related to that.

    I approached them as they were standing near the counter and I wanted to order my food, another wise I would have left them alone.

    I took a step ahead and then decided that ----

    You know what let''s not disturb them since they look like they are having a wonderful conversation and I have never seen Ulrich talk this much before so I think I should leave them both alone. If I go closer to Ulrich, it would be awkward for him.

    I walked towards the exit as I said "Maybe today I will eat Rai''s and Aetna''s bad cooking."

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "All the warrior class members come to the sparring building, not everyone needs to come but only the ones that are interested in taking part in the inter-house competition."

    the above statement was announced to us and now I am on the way to the sparring building. With me, there is Idiot A and Walk, well I don''t know why Walk is with us in the warrior house since from what I could see the size of his mana core is not small at all.

    Eventually, we reached the place where we were called and gathered in this small arena where all the students from the Warriors House of the first two years.

    Standing in the middle of the arena was the bald man who i met earlier today his name is Shawn Meier the son of the sword king.

    "I gathered you all here for the selection of this year''s inter-house competition."

    His words were met with loud cheer but he didn''t seem to entertain the cheers as he continued to speak "The process of selection is a formality we need to do every year since it''s principals rule. But to be honest you all can leave since I have already decided on my team. There are no capable people from the first year so I will be only allowing the people of the second year to join. To be honest I already had decided on the team from a year earlier."

    Hearing his words many students started leaving the arena and so did Idiot A  "There is no arguing with him since he will make my life a living hell for the rest of my academic years if I try to argue with him."

    Saying that he left the place. But Walk was still seated with me.

    After five minutes nearly seventy-five percent of the student left, the once full arena had very few people in it.

    The bald man continued "Last year we won the inter-house competition because of that one girl. Even without the help of his fellow team due to jealousy, she was still able to single-handedly bring victory to us. This year I have made a team that is specially designed to support her in every possible way since she will be the only one that will bring us victory."

    Walk who was seated beside me opened his mouth as he said "She is talking about Eira Hoffmann. Last year her performance was something beyond anyone''s expectation. There was never a year where the warrior class had total domination over other classes. But last year she single-handedly crushed everyone. Her raw strength was something that ------ it was insane.  I never imagined that a person''s raw strength could reach this level. "

    She was the first year when she did that which makes it more amazing. She has gotten stronger according to what I have heard, what happened to her in these years?

    The bald professor made four students stand in the center of the ring and among them, there was also Dean Meier. Well, what he is doing in the warrior class?

    "These are the four students who will take part in the competition, does anyone have any objection?"

    There was no objection from the crowd well except for the-----

    "Sir, I don''t really have an objection. But I do have some advice for you." I said as I raised my hand and this action of mine got attention from others. Too much attention, actually.

    Some even were whispering to me to sit back down, but without paying much heed to them I continued "For starters, these four people you have over there are pretty weak.. Even for support, all three of them are weak. Well, I know that you have your trust in my cousin but seriously this four are the best support you can provide her?"

 Chapter 170 - 168: 2 V 2.

    (Third Person perspective)

    "For starters, these four people you have over there are pretty weak. Even for support, all three of them are weak. Well, I know that you have your trust in my cousin but seriously this four are the best support you can provide her?"

    said Grey which obviously made professor Meier very much furious. It was very much apparent from his facial expression.

    Every nerve of his face was bulging out of his face. But Grey still continued "Sir, you don''t need to get so angry. I am the one that is very much furious. Have someone ever told you that you are pretty biased, I think no one has told you this since you seem pretty proud of your ----- this attitude."

    Grey looked dead in Professor Meier''s eye as he spoke. In his bright purple indigo eyes, there was no fear.

    ''He------ there is no trace of fear in his eyes.'' thought the professor. A forced smile formed across his face he thought ''that''s right, I didn''t show the first year to fear me. I will give them the reason to fear me and especially ----- I want to see fear in this brat''s eye.''

    With a wide smile, the professor looked towards Grey as he spoke "Well, ---- I see, I see. Does anyone has a similar problem as his?"

    He asked as he looked around and there was no one who dared to raise their hand except for ------

    Walk raised his hand as he said "Sir, I have a similar problem and I think I deserve a chance."

    "A chance?" said Professor Meier as he clapped. Looking around he asked, "No one else right?" Rather than a question, it sounded more like a threat.

    "ehhhh, that awfully sounds like a threat," said Grey, not loudly but audible enough to be heard by the professor.

    The smile didn''t wear off the professor''s face as he gestured Grey and Walk to enter the ring,

    "Come on in. Let everyone see how capable both of you are."

    Grey and Walk to the center of the ring. Grey looked towards the professor as he asked "Now what? You desperately want to prove that we are weaker than the students you have picked for the competition right?"

    Grey laughed as he said, "It''s obvious by your face. Well ----". Grey extended both of his hands as if he was embracing someone. It was an open challenge for the professor " ----I am ready to fight anyone."

    The smile on the professor''s face even got wider as he said "Now then, if you guys are so excited then I will give you both a challenge."

    Professor Meier turned to look at the team that he had selected as he said "Dean and Flock Dirksen, you both go and have a little spar with them and if you both lose then Walk and Grey will win the entry among the five students that will take part in the competition."

    He turned to look at Grey as he said "Dean and Flock, you both can get a little rough since a proper winner won''t be decided otherwise."

    With a sharp look in his eyes, Grey asked "Then you won''t have any problem if I get a little rough with them."

    "Sure sure,", The professor raised his hand as he said "Now that both the team is standing away from each other, I will tell the rules. The fight will happen with the wooden weapon and it will be between two teams."

    He pointed toward Dean and Flock as he said "These are the two very capable students that I chose to take part in the inter-house competition. and -----" he pointed towards Grey and Walk as he continued "These two are new students of this year so they don''t know a lot about this academy, but this fight will give them a lot of experience."

    The audience which consisted only of the warrior class was very much salty about this.

    "This two think that they can beat Dean and Flock? I bet that even I can beat both of these kids single-handedly."

    "It looks like the first year doesn''t know their place."

    "Looking at the way the white-haired guy was talking to the professor it looks like he was pampered his whole life. Well, it makes sense since he is a prince."

    "Are you sure that he is a prince since I have never heard of his name before?"

    "Must be some kind of fake who is trying to imitate Eira Hoffmann."

    The audience had a lot to say and none of them had anything good to say. Professor raised his hand to silence the noisy arena as he said "Start!"

    "Grey!! My friend!! today we have to fight, but don''t take it personally okay since the professor has told me to do it. After this fight, I will personally train you and make sure that you enter the inter-house competition next year." said Dean with a friendly smile.

    Without giving much attention to Dean, Grey pointed towards Walk that was holding a wooden sword in his hand as he said "I appreciate everything you said, but your opponent is him."

    Walk held his wooden sword tightly as he said "It would be my pleasure to fight with you."

    "Yeah, mine too." There was no warmth in Dean''s word.

    Grey on the other hand was standing in front of Flock as he held his wooden sword.

    Pointing his wooden sword towards Grey, Flock spoke "You are the same Grey that traumatized my cousin. You animal!!! using cheap tactics you traumatized my brother, that is not the way of a warrior. Today!! I will teach you how a warrior fights."

    Flock was awfully loud when he spoke. It was hard for Grey to figure out whether he speaking like this intentionally or not.

    With a confused look, Grey asked "You cousin? oh right!! you are Dirksen, right? Dirksen the family of warriors, your brother is Killian Dirksen. but ----- I don''t remember traumatizing him."

    Professor Meier spoke, "Now that both of the sides are ready, you are free to start the match."

    Flock''s eyes widened in anger, "You don''t remember? you traumatized my brother and you don''t remember? you beat him to half death state and you ----"

    His other was swallowed back into his throat as he felt sudden but an extreme gush of pain traveled through his face. The sudden impact crashed against his face, knocking him down.

    In shock, Flock held his face as he didn''t know what happened, he could only see his bleeding nose. But as he regained a bit of his sense, he saw that a wooden sword was in front of him which was not his wooden sword.

    Without wasting any more time, Flock grabbed hold of his sword as he tried to stand up.

    The impact that was felt by Flock was because of Grey''s wooden sword that Grey threw at Flock''s face. After throwing the sword, Grey dashed towards Flock before he could get up.

    Flock looked towards Grey as he grabbed hold of his sword. But before he could look, a knee buried into his nose.

    A sharp pain radiated from his nose to his eyes, before thrashing to his brain. The knee that Grey''s struck in his nose was enough to knock Flock out before he could stand up.

    Walk was moving carefully towards Dean and so did Dean. The act of Grey knocking Flock happened so quickly that Dean couldn''t even realize that his partner was out.

    ''I will have to knock this kid quickly so that I can show my move to Grey. I will have to show him how superior I am so that he will join me and I will have the most powerful subordinate. But I can''t just get rough with this kid since I need to maintain a good image in front of the student. I need to play the good guy to be everyone''s favorite.

    Flock will easily handle Grey till I deal with this kid. I hope that he doesn''t get overboard, well even if he does, I will stop him and Grey will be grateful to me.''

    He turned to look at Grey and Flock as he spoke ''Talking about them, why do I hear boos from the audience what happened-------"

    What he saw was a knocked-out flock. The boos were aimed at Grey since the audience that Grey had used cheap tactics to knock out Flock.

    Grey picked flock up as he turned to look at Dean. Picking up the unconscious Flock, Grey threw Flock towards Dean as he said "Walk, Fuck him up!!"

    Dean quickly stepped ahead in a hasty manner to avoid getting hit by the unconscious Flock. Flock fell on the ground behind Dean.

    The distraction caused Dean to look away, but he looked back towards Walk as he realized that this was only a distraction. But it was too late as Walk drove the back his sword inside Dean''s nose.

    The sharp pain caused Dean to step back. Due to being hit on the nose, Dean''s eye got teary.

    Dean quickly regained from the confusion of being hit but it was not quick enough since Walk had his wooden sword in Dean''s neck.. It was the end of the match and the winner were Grey and Walk.

 Chapter 171 - 169: There Is No Place For Honor In War.

    The first starting minute of the match resulted in Grey throwing his sword at Flock''s face while he was talking and Walk driving his sword inside Dean''s face. The match was over as Flock was knocked out and Dean''s neck had Grey''s and Walk''s sword pointed towards it.

    It took a minute for everyone to process the decision and even Professor Meier didn''t announce the decision since he was confused too.

    Grey turned to look at Professor as his sword was still near Dean''s neck. "Aren''t you going to announce the winner?"

    The Professor spoke, "But---- the match is still not over."

    Professor was referring to Flock who was getting conscious again. The winner was clearly decided but yet professor still didn''t announce the winner since he believed that the result might change at the last minute.

    A student from the audience stood up as he yelled "You are a cheater!!!"

    Joining him many students spoke, "You used cheap tactics!!! this is not a winner is decided, there is no honor in this!!!"

    "Winning like this is a shame to warrior class!!! Grey Hoffmann, you cheating scum!!!"

    Grey looked towards the audience who shouting these things. During this distraction, Dean tried to grab hold of Grey''s wooden sword.

    As he was going to get hold of the sword, Grey kicked him in the ass, tripping him off. Being pushed to the ground, Dean tried to quickly get up. He wanted to get some distance between him and Grey.

    But even before he could do that, Grey had already closed the distance between them. grabbing Dean''s hair, Grey drove his knee on his face.

    The hit didn''t knock Dean off, but it was enough to send all his senses on haywire.

    Walk swung his foot on Flock''s face, as Flock was trying to get back on his feet. The sudden impact sent him in a state of shock, where all of his senses were messed up.

    Without continuing the assault, Walk looked at the professor as he spoke "Professor, the winner is already been decided, please don''t make it obvious that you don''t want us to win."

    After a second of silence, the Professor sighed before opening his mouth. "The winner is decided and -----" He pointed towards Grey and Walk as he said "Both of them have won this match fair and square. I wasn''t fair in this match and I apologize for that."

    The announcement of the result caused uproar in the audience. The jealousy clouded over many students as they couldn''t accept the fact that someone younger or someone weaker than them had gotten a place in the inter-house competition. At least the students seated in the arena think that they are stronger than Grey and Walk.

    "There is no way sir!!! they both are cheaters!!"

    "There is no way that these both are capable to compete, There is no honor!!!"

    "These honourless guys are not suitable!!!"

    "Yes!!!"

    "Cheaters!!!"

    "We warriors are built with honor and respect, we can let these two represent us!!!"

    All the students seated in the arena had a lot to say and all of them voiced their dissatisfaction in various ways. Anger among the students caused an uproar among the students.

    Grey didn''t have any particular expression on his face. The uproar became louder and louder until the professor raised his hand to silence all the kids in the arena.

    The students in the arena waited for the professor to say something in their favor, at least that was their expectation.

    "Perhaps you kid have the wrong idea of what honor really means."

    This was the word that came out of the professor and the following sentence quickly caught Grey''s and Walk''s attention.

    "Have any of you been to a real battle? a battle where your life is on the line and one little mistake would be the last one? have any of you been to war? a war where hundreds and thousands of men are killing each other. Have any of you have seen a dying man?"

    There was no response from the crowd. All of the students remained silent as Professor stood in the middle of the arena.

    Professor looked around towards each and every one of the students, but none had an answer which was even close to yes.

    "You see students, in a real battle each and every man fight for their cause or their survival. But in both battle and war, the person requires to win. Winning usually requires us to kill the other man, that''s how it is.

    In a real battle, the other person won''t care about fighting fair. There is only one thing they need to do, they need to win. For that, they will do anything and that''s fair in a real battle. Even in this era of peace, there is always silent war that is kept hidden from the masses. It is not kept hidden, no one just talks about it. "

    Professor looked at his student as he said "I will be straight to you, we warrior class are born weakest of all the classes. We don''t have much mana and forever, we are considered the weakest class.

    Classing us as the weakest class is fair since we actually are weak. But that''s what makes us different, we train day and night, we use everything at our disposal just to win. That''s who we are, that''s what warrior class is, we use everything and anything at our disposal to win."

    Letting out a soft chuckle the professor continued "Hearing you guys speak, I feel like that you students expect the fight between two warriors as a fight between two swords. A warrior fights another warrior and once he loses his sword the warrior accepts his defeat since that''s what honor is. Then both of the warriors smiled at each other before shaking hands with each other and then they promise each other that they would fight each other in the future when they are stronger."

    Professor looked around as he asked, "This is what you expect a real battle to be like?"

    There was silence in the crowd. The students has nothing to say since professor Meier was right on the mark. "Students, life is not like a fantasy novel. In a real battle or war, two guys fight each and they give their all and once you lose it''s over, there is no second chance.

    One of the strongest warrior class I know is an animal. His name is Ranulf Hoffmann, the older brother of the current king. When we were in the academy together, everyone viewed him as the weakest since he was a prince, and yet he was a warrior class.

    He and I were assigned to the same hero team. That time, I and my fellow team members realized one thing------------ The guy was stronger than we believed him to be. He was very much strong, he ------ he was an animal, a beast that was ready to use anything and everything against his enemy to carry out his mission. He was the prime example of the warrior class and I didn''t want to accept that when I was young."

    He took a good look at his student before saying "I want all of you to become like him. Honour made me lose everything but I don''t want the same to happen to you. Use everything in a fight since we are warrior class and that''s what we do. I don''t want to see any of you dead, so please fight everything you have in a battle and survive."

    Grey looked at the professor, the original that Grey had of him changed in an instant. But there was something that Grey noticed in Professor Meier''s eyes.

    It had the same look as his dad and Professor Blake. Grey couldn''t unsee it and it made him wonder ''What do my eyes look like to others.''

    "Then I will take my leave, I will let everyone know about the updated members of warrior house later. For now, Grey, Eira, and Walk are guaranteed members. "

    saying this, Professor Meier walked towards the exit of the sparring building. As he was walking towards the exit there was one thing that was going through his mind. ''There was a news that he was dead, that''s was Eira''s whole motivation that drove her. I still remember the look in her eyes, she was broken by his death. I saw someone who could relate to me, that''s why I trained her like my own daughter. But eventually, I got unworthy to train her since she had reached a whole another level.

    She went to train with my dad for a year and next week she will come back. I don''t know how strong she is now. But I don''t how she will take the news that Grey is still alive. It was her whole motivation, that''s why she had that look in her eyes.

    Speaking of looks-----''

    The professor clicked his tongue ''He was dead and now he is back. I don''t about his strength but he is the son of Alice and Ranulf, both of them had a level of their own. Their only kid, Grey----- for some reason I always feel like he is capable of more than he shows to others.. I cannot read this kid''s face, it makes him truly terrifying.''

 Chapter 172 - 170: Training Arc.

    (Grey''s POV)

    Its been one week since the selection for the intern house competition. The bald professor has been training us quite well.

    He makes us wake up at 4 am in morning. From then he forces us to do various tasks. Those tasks mostly consist of some heavy exercises, like running a lap around the town, doing a set amount of pushups under set time constraints. He usually gives punishment to those who are not able to do the pushups.

    No one actually received the punishment for the first few days since Walk is the son of a royal knight, he is used to this harsh training.  Dean is the nephew of the sword king so he is used to doing heavy exercises and then there is Flock, who is a member of the Dirksen family. Dirksen family is a warrior family so he doesn''t find any problem with keeping up with the exercise and it seems like the professor has been training Flock and Dean for a while.

    But then from the past couple of days, the professor has raised the difficulty of the training and well -------- The three of them are going through some hell. I have somewhat regenerative power, thanks to my Ormr blood. This regenerative power helps me to not get tired and even if I do get tired, it doesn''t last long.

    The morning training has just ended and -----

    "Professor! ---- prof ---- professor!!" panted Flock. His words were broken due to his hasty breath.

    After a few seconds when his breath got stable, he spoke again "Professor, this training it''s killing me!!"

    "This training is for your own good, I want you all to reach beyond your limit. Breaking your limit and reaching for new limits is the only way you can achieve new heights and power. The power of breaking the limit is not easy---"

    For some reason, between his motivational speech----- for some reason, he turned to look at me. "And it''s definitely not as easy as this boy is taking this exercise."

    Dean who was lying on the ground struggled to speak between his pant "Ye ---- yes!! I am dying to get some ---- some air and this guy is breathing calmly as if he didn''t just go through hours of hellish training!! You know ----- you know, you could at least struggle a little bit. Or at least act like you --- you are struggling, it is heartbreaking to see you having your time of the life during the training and I am here fucking dying ------- Ow!!"

    The last "Ow" was due to him getting kicked by the professor. "Maintain some discipline in front of your teacher and ----" He again turned to look at me as he said "This training is easy for you, so I would like to test your limits. Tell me, how long you can run at your top speed?"

    My top speed?

    "The max I have run without stopping was for approximately a day, I could have run more but had to stop for food."

    Raising his eyebrows, he asked, "At your top speed?"

    "Yes at my top speed."

    Running his hand through his forehead, he sighed before speaking "As unbelievable it sounds, but I think I believe you since you weren''t even slightly tired while running a lap through the city. I have been on the same team as your mother and father, your mother was also capable of similar feats, so I think I believe you."

    That''s oddly nice of this bald professor. Maybe I should stop calling him bald professor. Nah! he can''t read my mind anyways.

    He seemed to be struggling in his thought, he spoke again "When was the last time that your entire body was tired."

    "Yesterday," I answered.

    "Doing what?"

    "There is the thing that Aunt --- I mean professor Ronia has thought us. It is named mana thread and I have been practicing it for a while. Practicing it usually makes my whole body tired to the point that I can''t even move a limb, I don''t know why but it''s a really tiring process."

    I think I have reached some progress in developing mana thread, unlike before, now I am able to properly develop something that closely looks like a thread.

    "Man thread? I have heard a lot about it, I think you can''t make a mana thread from a small mana core. I have heard that it''s a process more suitable for a pure mage. But that''s the only thing that I have heard, you can try to do it and you might even be successful in doing it. Well, it works out fine since I needed something that really tired you out. From tomorrow, I will make a new training regiment for you and be prepared since it will break your body."

    He seems to really care about his student, maybe I had the wrong impression of him. Talking about impression, I talked to dad about Professor Meier.

    "Professor Meier," I called.

    "What is it?" he asked.

    "Actually I talked about you to my dad and -----"

    Before I could even complete my sentence, I heard him clicking his tongue. His face was very much irritated. "I don''t want to talk about him and be ready to go through hell since we need to win the competition and Eira will become a day before the competition, some kind of delay happened on her side.

    Also the day after tomorrow, you guys will have to introduce yourself to the public. It is a tradition and it usually boasts the talk of the competition. After introducing yourself to the public, you will have to meet the king, so be prepared for that and Dean please cut your hair, I don''t want you to look like an animal in front of the king. And also ----"

    He turned to look at Walk who was attentively hearing what Professor had to say "You are a good kid, but you don''t need to be so stiff, okay? Make friends out of these three people, get along with them, and if any of the bullies you, you can report to me. I will make their life a living hell."

    That''s some soft spot for Walk, this professor doesn''t even try to hide his favorite.

    "In front of the king, properly introduce yourself. Well, I am not worried about you and Grey since you both know proper royal etiquette, and also Grey is part of the Royal family so he doesn''t need to be so formal to the king."

    But if -----" Professor turned to look at Flock and Dean as he said, "If any of you both act like you own the country in front of the king then I will make sure to bury you there itself."

    Both Flock and Dean try to not get on the bald professor''s nerve. Maybe they are already traumatized by this professor.

    It was it for the day and we all went to our own dormitory. I had some work with Professor Blake and Aunt Ronia since I needed to ask them about mana thread and mage circle.

    I wasn''t able to get hold of Professor Blake, he spends most of his time in the library and I didn''t want to disturb him. He is apparently researching more about divine energy.

    Afterward, I went to meet Aunt Ronia, but she seemed to be going somewhere. She was going to the dark woods forest where the city of the witch is located.

    She is also taking Aetna with her and also Lora. She is taking Aetna since she wanted to train Aetna to get better at using the demonic energy inside her and I am not sure why Lora is taking along with her.

    Lora seemed very apologetic about the fact that she wouldn''t be able to attend my competition. But going to the witch city seemed very important for her.

    Her mother is also a witch, I guess she wants to walk in the footsteps of her mother. It''s good to see that Aetna and Lora are people of their own.

    Later when I entered the dorms, I saw a note stating that "My dead Grey Hoffmann. I,  your wife will be gone for a while. But I will be back, please don''t miss me. If I had the power to teleport I would have teleported to your place and we would have had a great time at night. But once I get back, we will do it since we both are that age.

    I am going out for a while since I am going on a training arc and I want you inside me. Your dear wife, Rai Hoffmann."

    What did I just read? and why the last line was so random? and somebody why is this note so chaotic and random? and what does she mean by Rai Hoffmann?

    A training arc?

    After reading this letter, I have so many questions on my mind.

    I let out a sigh as i said "This girl really loves to mess with me."

 Chapter 173 - 171: Armor Shop.

    Today was the day that I had to introduce myself in front of the public. Every other team has already introduced themselves. It was our turn to introduce ourselves.

    A stage was set where in front of the audience we had to introduce ourselves.

    The purpose of this introduction is mainly to generate the hype for the competition. People usually choose their favorites and it makes them invested in the competition.

    After the surprising victory of Eira and the warrior house, people are more invested in this year''s fight, and apparently, all eyes are set on Eira.

    People usually don''t talk about it but there is also this big betting scene around this competition that makes this competition more popular.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Third person POV)

    "Initially I had a different team planned for this year''s competition but at the last moment, the team was changed. The initial Warrior leaked team is pretty much the same, except for two new members. Even though there are two new members, I think we have a team that is much stronger than the last year." said Professor Meier.

    Everyone''s eyes were set on him as he spoke, they were more interested in his words.

    "Without further ado, I will introduce each and every member. The first member that will be representing the warrior house is from the Dirksen family, Falco Dirksen."

    As his name was called, Falco got on the stage. Standing in front of the people he opened his mouth.

    "My name is Falco Dirksen and ---- and ----- and I hope that I don''t disappoint any of you!!!"

    It was a very awkward introduction and Falco himself knew it very well. Looking at the large crowd his mind went blank and the mere task of introducing himself seemed like an impossible task for him.

    ''I fucked up.... this is so embracing''

    As he stood stiff, one of the audience asked "The Dirksen Family? the warrior family?"

    "Yes--- yes!!!"

    The other person in the crowd asked "Earlier, your cousin Killian Dirksen introduced himself from the Pure mage house, how do you feel about it?"

    "Well ---- well, he is my brother so --- I hope that he does well."

    As he kept on answering more and more questions, he got more and more comfortable with the crowd. Later Professor Meier introduced Dean Meier, he was the crowd favorite and there were so many questions asked to him that Professor Meier skipped a few questions and introduced Walk.

    unlike Flock, Walk wasn''t nervous but he didn''t have much to say and even the crowd didn''t have many questions to ask.

    "Now I will introduce the fourth member of the Warrior house. His name is Grey Hoffmann and he will come up and introduce himself."

    As his name was called, Grey walk up the stage, each and every eye was set on him. There was confusion and curiosity in everyone present in the crowd.

    Standing in the center of the stage, Grey smiled as he looked at the crowd. His smile was tender yet mischievous.

    He didn''t speak right away. Scanning his eyes through the crowd, he waited for a few seconds to make sure that everyone was looking at him.

    "Ahem," he cleared his throat before opening his mouth "My name is Grey Hoffmann."

    After speaking his name, he again stopped. Let out a small chuckle Grey spoke "Yes, I am from the Hoffmann family."

    Pointing his finger at the particular person in the crowd, Grey spoke "You look like you have some questions, go ahead, you can ask me anything."

    "are you from the royal family?"

    "Yes!! I am from the royal family. My dad is Ranulf Hoffmann."

    Another person in the crowd asked "We haven''t heard about you before today. Why haven''t we heard about you?"

    "Eh, it''s complex politics stuff that I don''t want to get into."

    The same person continued to ask "Then, are you aiming to be the king ----"

    Before she could complete her sentence, professor Meier interrupted as he said "Please ask questions only related to the competition."

    Following that, Crowd continued to ask many more questions and Grey answered them one by one. Eventually, professor Meier had to interrupt since there seems to be no end to the questions that were thrown at Grey.

    "Eira Hoffmann is the last member of the warrior house. Due to some issue, she is not available today, so apologies for that."

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Grey''s POV)

    Giving an introduction to the public was a damn hectic process. I was asked so many questions in so little interval that I was not even getting time to breathe.

    Today the format of the competition has been revealed. The format of the competition is weird, to say the least, I don''t know who decided this, but----

    In my hand, I was holding the format of the competition. It is sort of tournament and free for all...

    Confusing right? I will try my best to explain it.

    Initially, there are fifteen people who will take part in the competition. Five from pure mage house, five from mage - warrior class, and then five from the warrior class.

    In the first round, I will have to fight against one pure mage class and one mage-warrior class. Basically, in the first round, one member from each class will fight each other and the winner will move to the final round.

    It will be a three-way battle and then the winner will fight in a five-way battle. The house that is standing last in the five-way battle will be the winner of the competition.

    Kylie Idun from the pure mage class and Dusk Karkoj from the mage warrior class are the two people that I will be fighting tomorrow.

    I am currently at the market, I am actually searching for a blacksmith that will provide me with a good set of light armor.

    After searching for a bit, I was able to find a shop at the dept of the Vashi market. The place at which this shop was located wasn''t exactly easy to find.

    For starters, why does this guy even put a shop where he can''t find a single customer. I don''t think anyone roams in such deep alleyways.

    I somehow still was curious enough to enter the shop. The inside of the shop was for some reason looked exactly that I imagined it to be.

    There were various weapons and armor lying on the shelf with no proper arrangement. Towards the other corner of the shop, there was a woman who was hammering a sheet of metal.

    She was a tan woman with a muscular well-defined body.

    Damn!!! this woman has better muscle than most of the people I have seen.

    Noticing my presence, the woman turned around as she asked "Oh! I am really sorry. Do you need anything?"

    For some reason I expected her to be rude, but she is kind of sweet.

    "I actually needed some light armor." I waved my hand as I said "I will look for the armor on the shelf, you can continue your work."

    With a huge smile, she said, "Realy? that so nice of you!."

    Okay, this woman is sweet.

    On the shelf, there were various weapons and armor. There were various cool things, but there wasn''t any light armor on this shelf.

    After searching for a few minutes I was able to find an armor that I liked. It was black armor, it didn''t exactly look like armor.

    The black set of armor has a chest plate that protected my chest. The rest of the armor covered my waist and thighs. There was also a separate piece of armor that covered my forearm and lower leg.

    I would be lying if I said that I didn''t like the look of the armor. The moment I saw it, I was damn sure that I will buy it no matter what.

    Taking the armor, I went to the woman who was still working near the furnace.

    "I want this, how much is it for?"

    Taking a look at the armor, she said "it would be one silver."

    "One silver?" I said as I took the coin and handed it to the woman.

    "By the way, it''s a nice choice. I was very much proud of it when I made it. I even went out of my way to pain the armor in the color of black since it would look damn cool. Why don''t you try it on now, I really want to see how it would look on you."

    Okay, this woman is also very dedicated to her job.

    I wore the armor and it was a perfect fit on my body. Rather than being shiny, the armor was matt black which made it even cooler.

    "It is better than I imagined it to be!!! I think because it fits well on you!!! especially your white hair goes well with this armor!!"

    As I was talking to the shop woman, a young girl entered the shop. She walked right towards us as she asked "Is my order done?"

 Chapter 174 - 172: Humiliation!

    "Is my order done?"

    she asked. She was a girl with short black hair, hair that was around neck length. Her more noticeable feature was her sharp pointy ears.

    Sharp pointy ears.... she was an elf. According to what I was able to see, she had a huge amount of mana. That only means that she is a high elf.

    "Your order? yes, it''s done. Wait for a second, I will bring it for you." saying this the shop woman went towards the storage room, or at least it looked like some sort of storage room.

    There was a mirror near one of the shelves. Standing in front of the mirror I checked whether the armor looked good on me or not.

    It was pretty good. I liked the fact that it wasn''t bulky and I also liked the fact that it wasn''t much shiny. Overall it was pretty damn good armor.

    "I must say it looks very good." said a feminine voice. The voice belonged to the elf girl that entered the shop earlier.

    "It does right? I will buy it." I casually took part in her conversation.

    "I actually wanted an armor just like this but I wanted a white armor so I asked her to make a custom one for me and also I wanted a breastplate since it would be troublesome for my breast. I would have actually bought this black armor but it didn''t match my body size. I am somewhat smaller than you."

    I turned to look at her. Scanning her from head to toe, I shook my head as I said "Yeah you are smaller than me."

    "aren''t you scared of me?"

    "Huh? why would I be?" I asked.

    "People usually vary of elf''s since people tend to believe that we have too much pride and superiority complex and over that, I am a high elf. In the academy, I am pretty infamous since in my first year I have nearly killed three of my classmates. Well, they did try to bully me but that''s a different thing entirely."

    I chuckled as I looked at her "You didn''t kill them right?"

    "No."

    "Then I have nothing to fear about well even if you had killed them it would still be none of my business and I would have still casually talked to you here."

    Letting out a snicker she said, "You sure are a strange character."

    "you think so?"

    "Yes."

    Before I could realize the girl was already standing pretty close to me. Her shoulder was nearly touching mine.

    "By the way.... are you buying this armor for tomorrow''s fight against me? well buying any kind of armor won''t change the result. I will win tomorrow, I have a score to settle with Eira Hoffmann and his little cousin brother, which is you are in my way, So, this is the plan------"

    Getting closer to my ear she whispered, " The plan is that, tomorrow I will beat you and probably beat you too much since I have to make Eira angry, I want her to go all out against me in the finals and I will use your body for that. So I will have to apologize to you in advance. I have never lost ever in my life and your sister was the first time I ever lost."

    Grabbing my arm she got even closer to me, to the point that I was able to feel her warm breath. "You see, I will have to win or it will hurt my pride really bad. To be honest, it''s not even about pride, I have never been this excited in my life and I don''t want you to ruin it."

    After whispering these things she backed off.

    The place where we were standing was in the corner of the shop surrounded by shelves which made it harder for others to see.

    Kylie Idun.... that''s her name. I have heard that the person I was going to fight was a high elf and she was pretty "Dangerous." at least that''s what people were talking about him. This girl who was standing in front of me is most probably Kylie Idun.

    She knows that I am Grey Hoffmann, when did I get so popular?

    "Ah, sorry about. I had to do it since you didn''t look afraid of me that''s why I had to remind you of who I am. But I quite like you so I might not go rough on you."

    She said with an apologetic look but towards the end of the sentence, her expression turned quite sadistic. Somewhat sadistic but I don''t think that sadistic is the right word for it.

    I looked at her for a good second before stepping closer to her. I was still wearing the armor and both of my hands were in my pocket.

    "How was she ----- Eira, was she strong?" I asked.

    Looking at my eyes she replied "Yes, she was incredibly strong. Of course, she is strong since I lost to her. But I was nowhere near beating her. The frustrating part was that she didn''t even struggle for a second when she fought me."

    "How does she look now? is she beautiful?" I continued to ask as I stepped closer to her.

    "Eh? I have noticed that much but she is beautiful."

    Stepping closer to her I asked, "As beautiful as you?"

    "Huh? huh? me? beautiful? no, I think she ------ she is a different kind of beautiful. But I am beautiful?"

    I stepped even closer, now to the point where I was closer to her face. "I think you are pretty beautiful. By the way, you can go rough all you want ----"

    As I got closer, she stepped back and with each step back, I stepped closer to her. "You think beating me will be that easy?"

    I stepped closer to her as I said "It won''t be easy but I am hoping for a good match so good luck." She stepped back.

    I stepped closer and she stepped back, she couldn''t step more back as her back hit against the wall.

    I chuckled as I asked "Aren''t you supposed to be prideful? why are you stepping back? are you going to let a guy have his way with you?"

    As we were talking, the shop woman came out with a set of white armor. Probably the armor that Kylie ordered.

    I smiled as I stepped back. She still didn''t say anything, she was standing still in that same place. I left that place as I walked towards the shop woman.

    Handing out one silver coin to her, I said "I will have this armor, it is very cool armor."

    Taking the coin she spoke "By the way, if you ever want to customize your armor, come to me. I have great ideas that will look damn cool on you."

    "Sure thing," I said as I walked towards the exit. I didn''t take off the armor since I will be teleporting back anyways.

    As I was going to walk out of the exit, Kylie stood in front of me to block the way. She appeared somewhat furious.

    Grabbing my collar she got damn closer to my face, to the point that I thought that she would kiss me.

    "I will beat you tommorow!!! and I won''t leave you alone even after beating you tommorow, I --- I ---- I!!! I will humiliate you like the way you did to me!! I will push you against the wall!!!"

    Her face was pretty red. I am not sure anymore whether is furious or she is just feeling humiliated.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Kylie''s POV)

    He looked unfazed when I got closer to him, he didn''t look intimidated. But now he looks intimidated, good!! good!! He will be scared of me just like everyone else so before he gets scared of me, I will scare him myself! at least that''s what I thought.

    I have never been so humiliated in my life!!! everyone is scared of me!!! but why is he not scared of me!! No one has ever approached me this way so I didn''t know how to react. I didn''t expect him to approach me this way. I was not prepared for it!!!!

    It''s so humiliating!!! Why did he approach me like that? how dare he get so close to me!!!!! I was pushed against the wall!!!

    I, Kylie Idun was pushed against the wall!!! I ---- I was never treated like this, that''s why I wasn''t prepared!!

    And what does he mean by beautiful? no ---- no one has called me that!! not even my family!! I have black hair!! I shouldn''t be beautiful.

    An elf with black hair shouldn''t be beautiful. First of all, an elf without blond hair shouldn''t exist. I am not beautiful, no---- no one has called me that!!

    I wasn''t prepared okay?!! no one has approached me this way and no one has called me beautiful. He must be blind!! an elf with black hair is never beautiful.

    I will show him!! I will humiliate him back!!

 Chapter 175 - 173: The Three Way Battle.

    (Third person POV)

    The main academy arena was packed with people. People from all around the nation and also from other nations were gathered at one place to witness this year''s inter-house competition.

    The attendance of this year was jam-packed. The event in itself was in high demand, so much so that even the rise in the price of the ticket didn''t affect the sale. Huge names such as Eira Hoffmann, Dean Meier, Killian Dirksen, Flock Dirksen, Otto Ormr, and Win Lange were on the list of the competitors that were taking part from the first and second year.

    Along with the above-mentioned list of names, people also had an eye on one particular individual. There were various stories of him that circulated around, some stories that mentioned him winning the moon glitter festival.

    The story goes as follows "Grey Hoffmann took part in the moon glitter festival of Goldberg city, there he defeated Killian Dirksen and Otto Ormr to win the competition."

    There are many different versions of the stories,

    "Grey and Killian had a legendary battle in which Grey barely won. In end, both shared each other''s respect."

    While another version of the story is "This rumor of Grey Hoffmann is false since there is no he beat Killian Dirksen and Otto Ormr, over that the rumor says that he nearly killed Killian, that''s a lie. I have seen Killian fight. He is one of the strongest people in the first and second year, his strength is on part with Otto and Eira."

    There were also various stories such as "He took on all the disciple of seven virtues alone."

    Most of the stories that were flying around were assumed to be false. People who hated him and people who loved his stories all eyes were set on the arena.

    People who hated him wanted to see him getting beaten at the hand of Kylie Idun and Dusk Karkoj. People who were curious about him were rooting for him.

    "Ding!! ding!!"

    the sound of the bell caught everyone''s attention. The sound of the bell usually means that announces will start speaking. The crowd went pin-drop silent as they waited for the announcer to speak.

    "Thank you, everyone, for your patience, now without further ado, we will start with today''s matches!!!"

    It was a feminine voice. The announcer was transmitting mana through her throat to make her voice heard throughout the huge arena. It was a thing that only Air mages could do.

    This announcement was enough to bring excitement to the crowd.

    "Now, it would be unfair if we do not start this match with a grand match. The following match will be the first match of a three-way battle between each competitor of all three houses."

    She paused before speaking again, "Everyone has their eyes set on the contenders that will be fighting in this match. Let''s start the match!!!"

    Pointing towards the right entrance of the arena she spoke " Introducing first, the pride of the Artemis Kingdom. He is a second-year student who will be representing the mage-warrior class, Dusk Karkoj!!!"

    As his name was called, he walked inside the ring. With white-colored fur, he had long white ears. He was of hops race, they closely resembled rabbits and shared characteristics such as long ears and round rail.

    "Introducing second, she has solidified her name in everyone''s memory during last year''s competition. Her ruthless way of fighting caught everyone''s attention. The finalist that stood against Eira Hoffmann, will she beat everyone to again face Eira in the finals? She is from the second year and will be representing the pure mage house, Kylie Idun!!!"

    As her name was called, she walked into the arena. Even after being a mage, she wore shiny white armor that was in contrast to her hair. But this contrast went well together.

    Along with her, she carried a small staff since this competition allowed staff for mages.

    The crowd cheered for her since she was popular for her ruthlessness in the arena. But the cheer soon died down as they saw another guy walking out of the entrance towards the ring.

    "Introducing the third competitor, he is the guy who is talking of everyone''s conversation. He was not known to the world unless recently, but the stories of his hidden life are everywhere. He is the villain of some stories, while he is the hero of others'' stories. Who exactly is this prince? He is from the first year, he is representing the warrior class. The Bleeding ashen of the Goldberg city!! he is also known as ghost prince!!! Grey Hoffmann!!!"

    He walked towards the center of the arena as his name was called. He was wearing a white t-shirt over which he wore black armor. There was no particular weapon that he was carrying, he walked empty-handed in the arena.

    Turning his head he turned to look at his dad, Emilia, Illya, and Annie. There was also Grandma Lozen who was seated with other professors since she was the wise principal of the academy.

    There were more people in the crowd that knew Grey than Grey himself had realized.

    "The rules of the match will be as followed. It''s a simple rule, the person who stands last will be the one that will enter the final round. The match will begin when the bell is sounded. Good luck to everyone!!! and I will leave this arena since I will only get in your guy''s way!! Again, Good luck!!"

    The announcer left the arena and the person who was left in the arena was the three competitors.

    Dusk took out his daggers as he stood in a ready position. The daggers he held were small, with pointy but blunt edges.

    Kylie ran mana through her body to better process the spell. Whereas Grey got in a ready position as he summoned his icicle sword. It was a slender sword that was suitable for quick close-combat fights.

    "Ding!"

    "Mystic Rain!!!"

    The sound of the bell was followed by the Razor rain spell. Kylie shot a ball of water in the sky which exploded in mid-air, raining back to the ground.

    {Author: Mystic Rain is a spell that rains water droplet which is as heavy as a rock. The impact that is caused by each drop varies from user to user.}

    Condensing an icicle shield, Grey shielded himself from the rain. Whereas Dusk ran through the rain dodging each and every drop with his incredible reflex. Unlike normal rain, the drops of this water were scarce which made it easier to dodge.

    Dusk was able to close the distance between him and Kylie. Using light steps, a wind-type spell, he got close enough to launch an attack.

    "You really are quick on your feet ------"

    Dusk swung his small dagger through Kylie. As he sliced through her, her severed head fell to the ground.

    Landing on his feet, Dusk was stunned "Huh? my dagger is blunt!!! I didn''t mean to kill her!!!!"

    Letting out a chuckle she spoke, "haha, don''t worry you didn''t kill me." it was Kylie herself with her head still attached.

    Dusk quickly looked back at the severed head to find a small pool of water in its place.

    "How?"

    "What do you mean by how ----" Before Kylie could finish her sentence, her instinct kicked in as she looked back.

    "Don''t forget about me," said Grey as he kicked through only to find out that it was just a body made out of water.

    "A cheap shot? it''s cheating! but well you were still not able to catch me. But you can-----"

    again interrupted she saw Grey dashing towards her as he punched his fist through her body. Just to get water splashed in his clothes, it was another body made out of water.

    "Seriously? did you interrupt me again? and another cheap shot? that''s so -----"

    Grey ran his hand through his wet hair as he spoke "You are able to quickly step back as you switch your place with a clone. Looks like something that only a seal marking can do."

    Dusk looked towards Grey as he said "Seal marking? that''s why I couldn''t understand what she was doing."

    Grey chuckled as he said "Yeah, but aren''t you using seal marking like too soon? do you want to show off your power that bad? or are you trying to get back at me for what I did to you yesterday? well, I already told you sorry."

    She raised her hand as she said "Shut up! I only want to win---"

    She was again interrupted as Dusk dashed through her only to hit another clone of hers. The wind that was surrounded Dusk as he used light steps resulted in the water of clones splashing everywhere.

    "Another clone!!!!" shouted dusk, irritated.

    There was one thing going through Grey''s mind, ''Her reflex is monstrous gotta give her that.. Or else it is not that easy to dash back while creating a clone, well she is using seal marking but that is still an incredible feat nonetheless.''

 Chapter 176 - 174: Mystic Lake.

    Commentator 1: As much as I could remember, I don''t think that we have seen this power of Kylie in last year.

    Commentator 2: No, this is definitely something new and even I can''t wrap my head around it. I don''t how Grey and Dusk will manage to counter it.

    Commentator 1: They will have to counter it somehow because they haven''t even touched Kylie yet.

    Neither Grey nor Dusk was able to touch Kylie as she was efficiently switching her place with her exact clone.

    Grey and DusK dashed from opposite sides of her, simultaneously they attacked her only to find that she switched her place with her clone. As they attacked the clone, water splashed all over them.

    {Author: One of her power is basically to quickly switch her form for a split second into the water as a clone is left behind in the original form. According to her will, she repositions herself to a new position.}

    "Water spear!"

    Two water spear was shot in their way, which both of them were barely able to dodge. As Grey rolled away Dusk has already closed the distance between him and Kylie.

    Readying his dagger, he was ready to slash his dagger through her body.

    As he was near her body, he spoke "One more try------ guh!!!"

    A sharp pain radiated through his abdomen. The punch was enough to send him flying away, rolling thrice on the ground he got back on his foot. Rather than dodging, she chose to fight back.

    Commentator 1: She punched back!!!

    Commentator 2: This is what we are talking about!!!!! this was the kylie we were craving to see!!!

    "Enough dodging I guess, I will go on offense now!" she said as she aimed her eyes at Grey.

    Grey quickly turned around to catch the incoming punch towards him. A watery figure that looked roughly like Kylie attacked Grey, but before it could even touch Grey, he caught the punch.

    The water figure turned back to the water.

    Looking at the pool of water below him, Grey spoke "A water clone? this sure is troublesome."

    Commentator 1: I wonder how much strength does those water clones have?

    Grey looked above towards the stand where the commentator was seated as he shouted "They can punch like a grown man!!"

    "Not bad, you have some fast reflex," she said, there was some genuine praise in her voice.

    " and your speed, it''s is indeed very troublesome," she said as a kick slashed through her water body, she was forced to dash back as she switched place with her clone.

    The person who kicked through her was dusk and Kylie was praising Dusk for her speed. "I am barely able to -----"

    Before she could speak, Grey slashed his sword through her only to find that she had already switched place with her clone.

    "It''s not going to work, you can''t overwhelm me with speed. It is------huh?"

    It happened in an instant. She barely blocked the blow with her hand, but the impact caused it to launch away in the air.

    Trying to land safely on the ground, she cushioned her landing with the water. Safely landing on her feet, she held her hand as her face twisted in pain.

    Commentator 2: What was that?!!! It just happened in an instant!!

    Commentator 1: Grey took advantage of her being distracted and attacked her!! a smart move!! that''s why you should never talk in a battle or the enemy might take advantage of you.

    The bone in her right forearm was cracked severely whereas the muscle in her left forearm was torn. But more than the facial expression of pain, there was a sense of shock in her.

    ''I was distracted? did they not see the speed at which Grey appeared before me? in this fast passed battle are people not noticing things like this? even with my full attention, I am not sure I will be able to dodge attacks like those.''

    "Ugh!!!"

    another blunt force traveled through her abdomen. This time it was Dusk who drove his blunt dagger into her abdomen. Following that he connected a reverse kick on her cheek, knocking her away.

    Commentator 1: I think, Dusk''s speed has increased than before!!! the speed at which he was traveling through the arena was barely trackable now he is traveling at even further speed!!

    Commentator 2: Wind cloak, a spell that enhances user speed and the fact that he is from the hops race who are known to be swift on their feet. This combo is a very deadly one!!

    Rather than pursuing to hit her, Dusk dashed towards Grey as Grey did the same. In an instant, they clashed their weapon at high speed.

    Grey clashed his sword with Dusk''s small dagger. After five rapid exchanges, Dusk created a collapsing wind blast in his hand. But before it could even collapse and explode, Grey grabbed Dusk''s hand as he directed it away.

    still grabbing hold of his hand, Grey pulled Dusk towards him as he kicked him on the chest, sending him flying away.

    Commentator 1: Both of them are avoiding Kylie, are they giving her a chance to stand back up?!!

    Commentator 2: Is it sportsmanship or they just don''t see it important enough to finish her off?

    Her expression turned furious, "If you knock me down, then finish me off. Don''t insult me like this.", she spoke this world in a whispering yet chilling tone.

    Grey who heard that, looked at her. Dusk got up back on his feet as he again took a defensive position.

    "Finish me off, but don''t hurt my pride like this..."

    She stretched both of her hands as she muttered "Mirror lake.". A wave of calm water emerged in front of her hand before engulfing all of the arenas with a shallow layer of water that wasn''t even one inch.

    "I thought I would be using this in front of Eira but I guess I will have to go all out in front of both of you."

    Grey instincts kicked as he instinctively covered his body with his hand. A clone that appeared out of the water attacked.

    Even though he instinctively blocked the attack, his reaction was not fast enough to stop him from getting hit.

    A hit connected to his shoulder, following that another clone appeared out of the water that grabbed Grey''s leg, while another clone punched his face.

    While Grey has his handful with many of her clones appearing out of nowhere. Dusk was barely able to dodge all the attacks that were thrown her way. But even his leg was grabbed by one of the clones resulting in him getting attacked.

    catching on of the clones punch, Grey spoke with a blank expression "It is hard to sense them. Well, it''s not that it''s hard to sense them, it''s just that there are too many of them. Seal markings are truly annoying."

    Commentator 1: It doesn''t look like Dusk and Grey will be able to win after this. This is definitely the power of seal marking, winning against it is the most difficult task.

    Commentator 2: Well we don''t know if both of them have seal marking or not.

    Commentator 1: that would certainly make the match exciting.

    Grey dodged incoming water, a spear as he continued to smash his palm through a clone''s body. He used his other hand to block the clone''s spear, before kicking it off.

    Hearing aggressive wet footsteps, Grey turned to look back.

    "Holy--"

    A giant rampaging water elephant crashed on to him, dragging him along to the center of the arena. While Grey''s was stepped upon on every other water animal from the animal kingdom, Dusk was thrown around by the tongue of a water frog.

    Dusk severed Frog''s water tongue, before landing on the ground.

    "This is difficult----" as he said that his eyes shifted towards Grey, an idea came into his mind. "Perhaps I should finish him off before focusing on Kylie."

    Dashing towards Grey, Kylie readied his dagger.

    After being trambled upon several water-made animals, Grey stood up on his feet. He wiped the water off his face as he spoke "Ugh... I think I should perhaps use the seal of Minerva to assist my new spell.", Grey glanced at the Dusk who dashing towards him before turning to look at Kylie who was holding a water made sword.

    Grey sighed as he closed his eyes.

    "Concentrate all of the mana in one place and weave it into a thread... done!" whispered Grey. he continued "Use this mana with my ice magic..."

    As more of the animal was approaching Grey, including many of her clones and weapons. Along with all of this Dusk was ready to attack Grey with his dagger.

    Before any of it could touch Grey, he opened his eyes as he spoke in a soft tone

    "Freeze."

    A gust of cold mist radiated out of Grey. The water animal that was charging towards him was now frozen still, all of the clones couldn''t move since the water in their body was frozen still. The weapon that was traveling at Grey was frozen solid, Grey caught this weapon before smashing it on Dusk''s face.

    Dusk who dashing towards Grey lost his balance due to water under him being frozen suddenly.. Dusk slid towards Grey on ice before getting his face smashed by an icicle lance.

 Chapter 177 - 175: My Pride.

    "Mama, am I ugly?"

    With a little hand, she called out to her mother.

    Before her mother could even answer her question, her dad had already lifted his sleeves. Furiously he asked, "Ugly? huh? who told you that? let me---- "

    "Stop it, dear!", her mother crouched down to the little girl. With a gentle smile, she lifted her and took her in front of a mirror.

    "Look at this little angel, do you think she is ugly?"

    The little girl looked at her own reflection. For her, her black was the main problem in her life. But it wasn''t always black, she was born with blonde hair as any other elf. It was the day that she received that her hair turned black.

    She was happy to show her hair to her friends, only to be ridiculed and then eventually ignored. Various rumors went around about her, "Stay away from that girl she is possessed." "Stay away from this girl she is cursed by bad luck, look at her hair!! it''s the sign of bad luck!!"

    She looked at her reflection in the mirror as she asked "Mama, am I possessed?"

    With a tender smile, her mom answered, "no!"

    "Am I ugly?"

    "No."

    "am I bad luck?"

    "no."

    Her little facial expression stiffened, before getting soft. A tear welled up in her eyes, as the entirety of her cheek became red, "mama.... then why do people call me such mean things?"

    Gently her mom wiped her tears, "My little Kyl, what is your favorite food?"

    "Sweet sweet candy."

    "What is the color of your eyes?"

    "Green."

    Her mom gently patted her head, She chuckled softly as she spoke "You know yourself best right? what do you like and what do you dislike, you know it all the best. Because you are yourself, you can''t change or make someone like you. Such things are not in your hand, It''s bad to change yourself for others. You know yourself the best, so you are your own ally."

    Her dad stood beside her mom, he spoke "I agree with your mom, you know everything about yourself right? so be prideful about yourself and never let anyone speak ill of you. Someday, someone who will understand you will eventually come into your life. Till then you are your only ally, okay?"

    She nodded her "Yes.".

    The words that came out of her mom''s and dad''s mouth was something that shaped her life. She never forgot those words and lived by them. Eventually, those words shaped the person she became.

    In the elf forest, she eventually became infamous for being ruthless and dangerous. No one dared to look at her, people feared to speak about her.

    But in reality, nothing really changed. People still called her bad luck or ugly, but they never said that in her face. But the only thing different was that she carried pride in herself, she never questioned herself and did what she believed in.

    One of the things she believed was the discrimination that happened between high elf and normal elf, for her the cause of this discrimination was their god, the wind god.

    Knowing that her belief would bring danger to her family, she left the place. Her plan was to make a place for her in the outside world so that she could bring her family away from that forest.

    She started her new life in Frey nation, there she joined an academy. But even after all this time, she never did things that would harm her pride. Preserving her pride became the real goal for her.

    This led to her beating up many people, she eventually made many enemies. No matter what, she never bowed her head in front of anyone.

    But even in this new place, nothing really changed for her. In this new place, people spoke things like "She is dangerous.", "she has anger issues", "she is a brat", "cruel.", "Evil.", she just received new names, but the fact that she was all alone never changed. This time she didn''t even have her parents by her side, she was truly all alone.

    But even after all this she never the words of her parents, no matter what, she should be always by her own side. She and her pride is her only ally.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Kylie''s POV)

    This is boring... Even though Grey has good reflexes and Dusk has some good speed, they are not still enough to make me struggle.

    The countless enemies I fought and no one even came close to making me struggle, with the exception of Eira Hoffmann. She didn''t even show signs of any hardship while fighting me, it was as if it was walking in the park for her. She---- she was insanely strong.

    They are nowhere near her level, not Dusk nor Grey. They can''t even beat me, not with this speed, they are not powerful enough. This is really boring fight.

    "And your speed is indeed troublesome." as I completed my sentence I was able to see and sense Dusk coming my way, using my seal marking of aqua I was easily able to dodge it as I switched place with my clone.

    As I was again going to say something, this time Grey slashed his sword. But all of their attacks are too predictable and plain. Grey is slower than Dusk, but his speed is impressive. But it is still not something that can catch me off guard.

    "It is not going to work, you can''t overwhelm me with speed, it is-----"

    This is boring, too predictable--------- huh?

    "Huh?"

    I was barely able to block. He ------ he appeared in an instant, the strength at which I was hit was enough to crack my bone.

    Was he? he wasn''t this fast, neither did he pack this much power ------ was he holding back all this time?

    As I was distracted, Dusk took his chance to attack me. I nearly lost my consciousness, they had the chance to finish me off but they chose to fight each other.

    Do they consider me weak? no no no no, I might be ugly, dangerous, or bad luck, but I am not weak. This is my pride, I won''t let anyone trample on it!!!

    "If you knock me down, then finish me off. Don''t insult me like this."

    Don''t insult me, don''t fuck look down on me!!! No one is my ally, I am my only ally!!!

    "Finish me off, but don''t hurt my pride like this..."

    I thought that I wouldn''t be using this power till the final match, but I am forced to use this power.

    "I thought I would be using this in front of Eira but I guess I will have to go all out in front of both of you."''

    "Mystic lake."

    I enveloped the entire ground with water. Mystic lake is a spell that I can only perform with the help of my seal marking. It helps in casting a large number of water summons in a very short time.

    I will end this match soon enough. But how dare they insult me!! I will show them that I am not weak!!! I am the strongest!!!

    I will beat them and then beat Eira too!!! I will be the strongest, that''s how I will preserve my pride as mama and dad said.

    Grey has been already trambled by my animal summons and Dusk will eventually fall down. Well, he is heading towards Grey, perhaps he wants to finish Grey first before coming for me. It doesn''t matter if they fight against each other or fight together against me, it doesn''t really matter.

    In end, I alone will be on my side. I am alone and there is no one special who will understand me, I have given up on that thing a long time ago.

    By the way, why is Grey standing like that? did he give up? He isn''t even guarding himself while many of my water summons and Dusk are approaching his way. I guess he has given up ------ huh?

    "Freeze," he whispered but it was loud enough to be audible.

    Everything froze up? what happened? who did it? Grey? did Grey do it? But there was no mana spike from him? did he use that less of mana that there was no mana spike?

    {Author: Mana spike is a term that means a spike of mana that suddenly radiates out of the user when using any type of magic. The spell that requires large mana consumption leads to a larger mana spike from the body. Experienced mage tries to hide their mana spike to not be predictable and get ur enemy out of nowhere.}

    Did he have this much mana, to begin with? no no no, there should have been a mana spike. Then he was able to perform this effective magic with very little mana, but how? Not to mention that it is harder to freeze water that is condensed out of magic, is he really a warrior class?

    He lied, he is definitely a pure mage class!!!

 Chapter 178 - 176: A Friendship?

    (Kylie''s POV)

    He lied, he is definitely a pure mage class!!

    With a single swing, he knocked out Dusk. The speed at which Dusk dashed towards Grey caused him to crash on the ground, rolling four times his body moved towards me.

    Readying the water sword that has frozen solid till now, I swung it towards Dusk, finishing him off.

    Commentator 2: What happened?!!! everything froze up!!! how ----- how?!!!!

    Commentator 1: was there any ice typed mage inside the ring?!!!

    Commentator 2: Only person that can perform ice typed spells is Grey!!! but how did he perform a spell of this degree?!!

    Commentator 1: When I thought it was over for him, he froze up the entire water!!!

    Commentator 2: By taking a direct blow from Grey and Kylie on the face, dusk is now eliminated!!! which leads to only Grey and Kylie against each other.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Third person POV)

    Grey turned to look at Kylie who was looking at him rather furiously. Her expression hardened as she readied the frozen sword in her hand.

    "Are you making fun of me by not going all out on me?"

    Grey summoned an icicle blade as he spoke "I am not making fun of you but I would rather avoid showing all of my hands to the world,"

    Kylie chuckled as she said "I see, you consider me not worthy enough to use all of your cards. You consider me weak right?"

    "No, I think you are pretty strong. But I don''t ----"

    Her expression became tenser as she summoned various water summons, but this time the summons was only her clone and all of her water clones were standing next to her. There were around twenty of her clone.

    "Shut up!!! and fight me!!!" she exclaimed as she dashed towards Grey with all of her clones.

    Readying his sword, Grey slashed through on her clone but rather than turning back into the water. The clone again regained its shape, continuing his swing Grey drove his sword through another clone, but there was no damage to the clone. It regained its shape.

    Before a clone could slash its sword through Grey, he caught the sword, freezing the clone and sword at once. Eventually Grey froze up the rest of the clones, now the only remaining person was Kylie herself.

    Commentator 1: Will Kylie be able to beat at least one Hoffmann?!

    Commentator 2: Grey''s ice magic is the worst enemy for Kylie, it was her bad luck that she had to face against an ice magic-user.

    Commentator 1: it is an easy victory for Grey into the finals. He is lucky to be fighting against ice mage and hopefully, he is lucky enough to not face fire mage in the finals well there is also Eira Hoffmann, can he beat Eira?

    Kylie couldn''t help but laugh as she said "Even though I am still standing here, they have already decided that I have lost.", she wiped the water off her face as she spoke, "They don''t even acknowledge your strength, they say that you are ''lucky'', isn''t it funny?"

    Kylie dashed forwards towards Grey, clashing her sword with hers, Kylie continued "That''s what they do, they don''t acknowledge you. As long as they have flaws to look at they will never fucking acknowledge us, they don''t even give you chance to prove them otherwise, they are fucking hypocritical pieces of shit!!!"

    Dodging the incoming swing from a water clone, Grey spoke "do you want to be acknowledged?", in an instant, he froze up the clone.

    She again swung her sword only to be blocked by Grey, "No, no I don''t."

    Grey took a step back as he spoke  "It doesn''t matter to me. In everyone''s mind, there is a favored and non-favored, the fact that I am non-favored is because they project their insecurities as the reason my winning. Rather than directly acknowledging someone people usually link their success or the fact that they are better to things like ''luck'', ''his opponent was too weak.''.

    No matter what you do, people will rarely acknowledge you, that''s how it is and that''s how it will be. I am a hero, I will do everything for my people even if they don''t understand me, but I will still keep doing the thing I am doing, even if I am called several names. I am a hero of my people, being called various types of names won''t affect me."

    "Huh?".

    furious, she asked, "are you calling me names?", she swung her sword again only for it to be shattered by Grey.

    "Just like everyone else ------" anger took over her face as she kept getting redder and redder. She formed another Water sword before swinging it at Grey.

    "Just like Everyone else!!!!!!!!"

    She kept swinging her swords with each of her swings getting blocked by Grey.

    "Just like Everyone else, you are calling me names!!!!"

    Every time her sword kept getting frozen up due to Grey''s ice magic.

    "I am not ugly!!"

    Her sword kept getting weaker and weaker.

    "I am not bad luck!!!"

    The brittle icicle sword broke apart.

    "I am not dangerous!!!!"

    Her breath was getting heavier and heavier.

    "I don''t have anger issues!!!"

    She struggled to speak,

    "I am not cruel or evil!!!"

    She let out a chuckle. Rather than summoning a sword, she used her own fist "I didn''t ask this black hair!!!!" before she could even swing her fist, Grey caught her hand.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Kylie''s POV)

    I don''t want to be alone anymore, it''s getting more and more suffocating.

    Dad, you said that someone special will come into my life that will understand me. But where is that person? I couldn''t help but let out a chuckle.

    I raised my hand to hit him, "I didn''t ask for this black hair!!!!", but before I could even move my hand he caught it.

    I thought he would continue with some follow-up attack since I was wide open, there can''t be a better chance to get me, but he didn''t.

    Why won''t he ----

    The way he held my hand was gentle, there was no force in it.

    He sighed before saying "The thing that I was trying to say is ------ all you can do is to believe in yourself and your capabilities. You are you, you can''t expect anyone to understand you.

    You are the only one that can understand yourself, you are your own ally. You are the only one that knows you the best, so trust yourself and have some pride in it."

    That''s what mama used to say...

    He smiled as he looked at me. His smile----- it was beautiful.

    "Don''t break apart okay? keep going and someday there will be someone who will directly look at you for the person you are and if you get bored of finding that person, you can come and hang around with me. We both have very bad personalities so we can be best of buddies, heck we can even be brothers."

    "..... but I am a girl."

    "Eh? girl and boy can be brothers in arms."

    What is this warmth... I ---

    "Why are you kind to me?" I asked.

    "Eh? I don''t think I am kind to you." He rolled his eyes before saying "Well, to be honest, I see myself in you and I ---- I want to start loving myself again. I am only being kind to you because I want you to know that you don''t need to be hard on yourself. You can be vulnerable, and even if everyone runs away, I will never abandon you and myself, because I see myself in you.

    I can''t abandon myself, I need to keep going."

    This feeling ----- he is looking directly at me. His eyes it''s ------ it''s beautiful.

    I am staring at him and yet I can''t stop looking at his eyes. It''s weird Kylie look away ----- but I can''t stop...

    As I was looking at him, He brought his finger near my forehead before flicking it----- ouch!

    "Ouch!"

    After flicking my forehead, he gave me a soft smile as he said "Don''t overthink okay!!"

    Even though he is saying it to me, I know that he is saying that to himself too. But still --- but still!!! I grabbed his hand as I bit him tightly.

    "Ouch!! you are definitely dangerous!"

    "Shut up!! you are the one the flicked me first and ----"

    Shit!! shit!! shit!! my eyes, it''s getting warm. I can''t contain it anymore, I need to ---- I need to,

    I got up as I spoke, "This is my loss, I couldn''t beat you, Grey Hoffmann."

    I hastily walked away, I didn''t want anyone to see my cry.

    But before walking away, I turned to look at him once more. At this point my eyes have already teared up, how many years has it been since I last cried?

    I smiled as I said "Thank you for looking at me... Grey.", tears flew down my cheeks but the smile I wore was a genuine one.

    I turned around again to continue my walk out of the arena.

    I wanted him to see my vulnerable side.. I wanted to show this side to my one and only friend.

 Chapter 179 - Extra .

    {Author: I was a bit busy today that''s why I couldn''t write today. But till then enjoy this new story I have written, well it is sort of a continuation of the last one. Please enjoy!!! College is fucking annoying.}

    Opening my eyes, I looked at the ceiling.

    Borrowing my hand under the pillow, I was looking for a specific object.

    huh? it''s not here.

    "It should be here" I picked my pillow up to check once more,

    Where did it go? it should have been here.

    After searching for a bit, I found the object I was looking for, I found it under the pillow. Somehow magically it was there all along.

    The object I was looking for was a cellular device, in simpler terms I was looking for my phone.

    I turned on my phone to check what time it was. Well, I guess I have woken up early since there was still five min till the alarm had to go off.

    ''I might as well sleep five minutes more'' with that thought I borrowed my head back into the pillow.

    "No, I can''t sleep! or I will end up missing the bus!"

    The reason I didn''t want to miss the bus wasn''t that I didn''t want to get late for school. I am not upright enough to care about getting late for school.

    I have more important concerns!

    Today is the reopening of my school, after a month of holiday. To sum up my vacation, I slept for a long, finished up my due work, played random games, went on the beach with friends, went on to see various movies with my little brother or my friends, played some more games and other random things.

    In short, my vacation was pretty good.

    Looking at the bruise in my hand, I remembered the only unfortunate day of my vacation. The bruise was the result of an asshole biting my hand.

    I hate that guy!!

    After getting ready for school, I entered the dining room, where I was met with the sight of my little brother chewing on his piece of bread, half asleep.

    Giving a gentle chop to his head I spoke up, "Wake up, dumbass. It would be troublesome if you were to die by choking on that bread."

    "Yes yes, I am awake," said Peter, still drowsy. Yes, his name is Peter.

    After a while, he went to the bathroom and came back. This time he was awake, as awake as he could be.

    "Weren''t you drowsy just a minute ago?" I asked.

    "Yes, I just dumped a giant shit in the bathroom. So I am not drowsy anymore."

    "Huh? What do you being sleepy have to do with you shitting?" I asked, confused. But I quickly retracted my question "You know what, never mind, don''t answer my question, I don''t want to know anymore."

    I just didn''t want to talk about someone''s shit first thing in the morning.

    After eating breakfast, I left the house with my little brother as we waved our mom Bye.

    It was a cold morning. The sun was not properly out yet, so the sky was still fairly dark. The early chirping of birds was a pleasant melody to my ears.

    Well, the internet did a great job of ruining the early chirping of birds for me. I recently found out that, the early morning chirping of birds is not because they are trying to wake you up or something.

    The morning chirping of birds is the sound of a male bird warning other male birds to stay off their real estate and away from their partner. So the chirping sound that we hear every morning is basically "Stay away from my girl or I will kill you.".

    "Sister, do you still like that bus guy?" asked Peter.

    "Yes, I do. Don''t call him bus guy, he is a student at my school."

    "Now I understand," he said.

    "Understand what?"

    "The reason for why you got up early and got ready quickly. It was to board the same bus as that guy, right?"

    Yes, that was my most important reason for waking up early.

    "Yeah, he is a student council president. So he always goes to school early," I said.

    "You should confess to him," he said, out of nowhere.

    "Huh? why -- why would I do a thing like that?" I panicked.

    "If you don''t confess to him now, some other girl might take him from you," said Peter.

    Imagining him with another girl hurt me like someone was stabbing my heart.

    Letting out a sigh, I replied, "Yes, you have a point."

    After walking for a while, we have arrived at the bus stop. From here, I and my brother will have to take different paths since we study in a different school, He is a middle school student.

    Before walking ahead, poking with his elbow he said "Good luck!! sister."

    The reason why he said good luck was because the student council president takes the same bus to the school. We take the bus to the school from the same bus stop.

    Waiting for the bus, I sat at the bus stop. There were still 6 minutes for the bus, but why isn''t he here yet?

    Did he already leave for the school boarding on the bus before this?!! is he late for school?!! did he decide to transfer to a different school? Will I ever be able to see him again?

    Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down.

    I am just overthinking, there is no way that he would transfer school. He won''t, right?

    As I was thinking that, he arrived. He had a tall complexion, taller than anyone of our age. His well-built muscular body gave him an athletic vibe, his back was wide which gave a sense of reliability.

    His perfect jawline, curly hair, and his gentle eyes made my heart go in a wild frenzy. His name was Ulrich.

    "Good morning, Lora." he greeted me as he sat beside me.

    "Go -- Good morning!"

    Did I just stutter? I want to kill myself!!

    "You are early for school," he said.

    "Yes, I thought I should start going to school early!"

    "Oh, I am happy."

    "Happy for?" I questioned.

    "Happy that I would have company, Going school alone gets pretty boring," he said as shot a bright smile towards me.

    I turned my head away, avoiding eye contact with him. for some reason I couldn''t look him in eyes.

    I can''t handle looking him in eyes, my heart can''t handle that...

    After waiting for a while, we boarded the bus. There were many seats on the bus, but he chose to sit beside me. It took me a good second to recover from my nervousness.

    We talked about various different things,

    Our conversation was going great on most parts until he decided to ask,

    "Do you have a boyfriend?"

    At that very moment, all my brain cells had decided that they had done enough work for the day.

    Braindead, I questioned "eh?"

    to answer my "eh?", he repeated the question, "I asked that do you have a boyfriend?"

    "Oh, no-- no, i don''t have a boyfriend," i answered, trying my best to hide my panic.

    "Why do you ask that question" I questioned.

    was he curious about my relationship status? is he interested in me? no, no way he would be.

    "I thought you had a boyfriend because of that love bite in your hand, but at least you should try to hide it," replied Ulrich pointing towards the bruise in my hand.

    Love bite? is he talking about the bruise in my hand?

    "No!!! this isn''t a love bite, I was bitten by a cat " I lied.

    Well technically, I wasn''t lying. Since the person that I was bitten by does look kind of like a cat.

    But why am I thinking about that guy? thinking about him only kills my vibe.

    I hate that guy!!!

    As I was clearing the misunderstanding, the bus had reached its destination, near our school.

    Walking through the gate, we entered the school building. I walked with him through the corridor, where we talked about various topics.

    "Okay, I have work to do at the student council office, so see you at class," he said as he waved me bye.

    "Okay, see you later," I said.

    As much as I wanted to stare at him walking away, I didn''t. what if he catches me looking at him?

    Walking towards my classroom, my brain urged me to at least look back once more.

    Giving up to the urge, I looked back.

    But as I looked back, I crashed into someone.

    "I am really really sorry." I apologized, but well it was me who had fallen down.

    But it was my mistake for crashing onto them.

    I raised my head as I apologized,

    "Oh sorry," said that person apologetically.

    But upon confirming my identity, his apologetic face changed into an irritated one.

    "Tsk, It''s you," he said, looking irritated.

    Why do I have to crash into him first thing in the morning?

    and what''s with the irritated face? I am the one that is more irritated.

    The guy that I crashed into was Grey and I seriously hate the guts of this guy!!!

    {Author: I am writing this novel as a fun project. If you are reading this, please enjoy your read!!!!

    By the way, it will be a short story!! but please enjoy this romance story!!!

    :) }

 Chapter 180 - 177: Grey Is Alive.

    (Third person POV)

    Professor Meier''s eyes were set on the arena. Being restless, he was at the edge of his seat, well he had all the reason to be on the edge of his seat.

    Grey, one of his students was competing in the ring and currently, it looked like he was going to lose the match as he was trambled by many of the water summonses.

    Gripping his seat tighter, Professor Meier whispered, "get up---"

    "Professor!! she has arrived."

    It was the voice of one of his students. "She has? okay, okay..." Professor hastily got up from his seat as he spoke "Watch Grey''s watch closely and let me know how it went, I will go and pick her up."

    Professor Meier was waiting from someone outside of the arena but when it was announced that Grey was going first, he came back to watch the match as he stationed one of his students to wait for that person and let him know when she had arrived.

    Professor walked quickly towards the exit of the arena. As he was walking away, the crowd busted into a sudden roar which made him even more curious about the match.

    As he took some steps, he heard the commentator shout "What happened? did everything freeze up? how ---- how?"

    "was there any ice typed mage inside the ring?!!!"

    "Only person that can perform ice typed spells is Grey!!! but how did he perform a spell of this degree?!!"

    "When I thought it was over for him, he froze up the entire water!"

    "By taking a direct blow from Grey and Kylie on the face, dusk is now eliminated!!! which leads to only Grey and Kylie against each other."

    Hearing the following set of lines from the commentator made Professor furious as he cursed "Goddammit!! how did so many things happen, the second I got up!! But --- but it means Grey had already eliminated Dusk, now he only has to defeat another."

    He walked for five minutes more and at this point, he was out of the arena. While waiting for the person to arrive he whispered "I didn''t know Grey could perform magic at this level. "

    After waiting for a minute more, the person that she was waiting for has arrived.

    A royal-looking dark brown carriage, that''s what she rode in. She was gone for six months, in total isolation she trained with just one thing in mind, revenge. But the idea of revenge in her mind was very different from any other.

    After she learned about his death, Eira Hoffmann went to sleep and the only that remained inside of her was an animal. The first human she killed was at the age of ten, from then on she went on to kill many more.

    The carriage stopped in front of the arena. She stopped directly in front of the arena since her match was set to begin, she couldn''t waste any more time.

    Opening the door of the carriage, she stepped out, "How have you been professor?" she asked.

    Professor Meier looked for any luggage inside the carriage to find out that there was none but there was one more person with her. Seated in the carriage with her was a young woman with dark blue hair and round glasses around her eyes.

    The dark blue hair stepped out of the carriage, Eira stood beside her as she said "This is Sylyphy, she is like my older sister."

    "Hello Professor, it''s nice to meet you," said Sylphy greeting the professor.

    "It''s nice to meet you too."

    "So how have you been professor?" asked Eira.

    "I am good-------- ah, well not very good since I just missed a very great match. The last time I heard the crowd cheer so loudly was during your match." "

    She looked around at the city as she said "That person must be strong then--"

    "He is strong ----- at first I thought that he was just a brat. But the more I spent time with him the more I realized that he was never a brat. By the way, where is your luggage?" asked Professor Meier.

    Eira walked towards the pathway of the arena as she spoke "I visited my dorm before coming here,"

    "I see, you placed it in your room," said Professor.

    "The crowd inside the arena sure seems cheerful inside. Sure seems like a great match," said Sylphy as she looked towards the arena.

    "It seems like the person inside is capable enough to change your opinion, professor."

    All three of them walked on the pathway that lead towards the audience seat of the arena. "He is a lot like your Aunt Alice. At first, I thought that he was just overconfident or he just liked to show off but then I realized that the things that he states are nothing more than facts.

    He is strong and he knows that very well, there is some sadism to his behavior. He loves to play with his opponent. but when it comes to power, he is one hell of a monster. Training him one week was more than enough to know that he is strong."

    Eira turned to look at Sylphy as she chuckled, Sylphy chuckled back as she said "We once knew a person like that. That person is the only person that always held back against Eira and she is still salty about it to this day."

    Eira chuckled as she said, "We trained together when we were kids. We sparred nearly every day for nearly four or five years until ------. Well, he promised me that he will fight me seriously when we meet next time, but I never got that chance."

    Her facial expression was as expressionless as ever.

    But Sylphy on the other hand looked like she was remembering some good old memories as she said "But I think he would still hold back against, even if you guys fought now. He would have still flirted with me, just like when he used to flirt with me. Can you imagine him flirting with me? he used to never miss a chance of messing with me, even when he was a five-year-old kid! I miss him a lot."

    There was a brief silence before Sylphy continued "Well, I don''t he would have fought at all."

    Continuing to what Sylphy said, Eira spoke as they walked together, "He did not enjoy fighting or training, his goal was different entirely. I highly doubt that he would have joined this academy if he was alive, he would have continued his life in peace. He would have been weak, but he would have chosen to live a life without violence that''s how he was as a kid."

    Sylphy smiled as she said "You are right..... if he was alive, fighting you here was the last thing we can expect. But .... to be honest, I loved the person he was, he was the only person that could understand my feeling."

    A seemingly evil grin took over Eira''s face as she said "Even if we fought, I would hand his ass pretty easily." Her expression softened as she said "But perhaps, I might have been somewhat gentle. But only if he was ... Alive"

    Professor Meier didn''t answer with anything. He continued his walk to the audience seat of the stadium. Eira followed him since her match was the second last one, so she decided that she will watch some match before going to the locker room

    They were heading towards the place where Ranulf was seated since Eira and Sylphy wanted to meet him.

    Climbing up the stair, they were near the audience seat where Ranulf was seated.

    "By the way, how many people of warrior house will get selected for the final five-way match? what do you think professor?" asked Eira.

    Climbing the last couple of stairs, Professor Meier spoke "I will be honest, I think only two of our Warrior house members will go to the final. The two-person being you and the person who is fighting right now."

    A curiosity hit Sylphy, to satisfy her curiosity she asked "Is he the reason that the Audience is so lively?"

    "I think so, but I am not sure. But I am sure that he will win this match. I was wrong about his strength in the beginning but as I trained him for a week, I was sure that he is an animal who is capable of fighting toe to toe with you Eira. There is no one else in the competition who can give him trouble."

    After a small pause, he continued "You guys are saying that he didn''t love to fight as a kid and he had no interest in getting stronger. Perhaps in the past, he was a kid that didn''t want any kind of violence, but now he is different.

    I don''t know what happened to him in the past, but he has changed. There is a saying that war changed man, perhaps that''s what changed him. But I never knew that kid in past, but hearing you both that knew his past, I am more sure that the war changed him. It has turned him into a monster."

    Sylphy stopped in her track, her pupil shook rapidly as she asked "What----- who are you talking about?"

 Chapter 181 - 178: Very Much Alive.

    "I think so, but I am not sure. But I am sure that he will win this match. I was wrong about his strength in the beginning but as I trained him for a week, I was sure that he is an animal who is capable of fighting toe to toe with you Eira. There is no one else in the competition who can give him trouble."

    After a small pause, the professor continued "You guys are saying that he didn''t love to fight as a kid and he had no interest in getting stronger. Perhaps in the past, he was a kid that didn''t want any kind of violence, but now he is different.

    I don''t know what happened to him in the past, but he has changed. There is a saying that war changed man, perhaps that''s what changed him. But I never knew that kid in past, but hearing you both that knew his past, I am more sure that the war changed him. But whatever it is, It has turned him into a monster."

    Sylphy stopped in her track, her pupil shook rapidly as she asked "What----- who are you talking about?"

    As Professor was climbing the stair, he continued "I got the letter from my uncle, he is the mana king. He said that Grey defeated seven of his disciples alone, the seven successors of the seven virtues. I haven''t seen him in his full power, but I still can''t wrap my head around the fact that he faced all seven of them and defeated all of them -----"

    Sylphy still stood in the same place, placing her palm on the face, she let out a quick bark of laughter. A shaky slow smile took over her lips, as her eyes were still wide open "Did you just say Grey? what Grey are you talking about? he ----- he is-----"

    Eira has already climbed the stairs, she was standing in the place where all the audience was seated.

    "The winner of this match!!! and the person who will be entering the final five-way match is from Warrior House, Grey Hoffmann!!!"

    This announcement was heard all around the arena. Eira looked at the arena ground as her eyes widened in shock.

    Sylphy who heard the announcement looked up towards Eira, who had a shocked expression on her face.

    Sylphy''s voice broke as she whispered "Grey Hoffmann?"

    "Eira, is ---- is it him?" asked Sylphy. But there was no reply from Eira''s side, her eyes were fixed on the ground.

    Sylphy who still stood in the stairs grabbed hold of the wall. She felt like her leg would give up any anytime, it was as if her leg has lost all its power.

    "Eira!! is it him?!!!" this time Sylphy shouted but she still didn''t get any sort of reply.

    She somehow got up the stairs, as she climbed up the last stair. Sylphy got out of the passage, towards the ground stood a boy, he had white snowy straight hair. Even from afar, one could see that he had pale white skin.

    His feature gave him a delicate look. To one''s eyes, he looked so fragile that one can''t help but feel like protecting him and his delicacy.

    But still couldn''t see his face as he stood facing his back towards them. He gave thumps to someone in the crowd before looking back, towards Illya calling him.

    "It''s him..." whispered Sylphy.

    Those same violet eyes, it was so bright that it was visible from even here. To Sylphy''s eyes, the mole under his eyes was still as pretty as ever.

    He raised his hand to wave at his sister, but -----

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (Grey''s POV)

    As Kylie walked out, I was declared the winner. I thought I would get criticized for winning like this, but apparently, people were happy about this, or at least they seem happy about the outcome.

    I wasn''t getting booed and moreover, I hear many of the people cheer for me. It is very confusing, if I was in the crowd, I would definitely not be satisfied with such an outcome.

    I guess I will have to ask Lily about what really is great about the match that people are cheering for me. I don''t think she will be watching this match since she has a match today too.

    "The winner of this match!!! and the person who will be entering the final five-way match is from Warrior House, Grey Hoffmann!!!"

    Now what? should I leave the ground? or should I wave at the people back? what do people do at times like this?

    Well, I could wave at the people that I know. I looked around to find Phil, Frank, and other guys, they were seated in the audience seat but all of their attention was towards other girls. Assholes at least cheer me, I have won my match.

    As I looked around more, I found Lily walking towards the passageway that lead to the locker room. So she was watching my match? As I looked towards, she looked back as she gave me a thumbs-up before walking away.

    By the way, where is dad and other -----

    "Brother Grey!!!! well done!!!"

    I heard a voice and it was from Illya''s. It was easy to distinguish Illya''s sweet voice from other crowds. I turned around to find, dad, Illya, Emilia, and Annie seated together.

    I raised my hand to wave at them then -----

    at the corner of my eyes, it felt like I saw someone familiar.

    it was her ------- it was them. She still had the most graceful look on her face. I don''t know if she had realized that then or she still doesn''t realize it, but ---

    It''s been seven years, last time I saw her, she had neck-length blue hair. But Dark blue hair was longer now, she still wore glasses and it still suited her as it did in past. She is a proper woman now which makes sense since she is twenty years old now.

    Behind her stood Eira, she looked at me with an angered expression. Did I do something to make her mad? well, I was alive all along and yet never told her, so I guess that could be a pretty valid reason to be mad at her.

    But just like in the past, she still had very long straight black hair. She didn''t tie her hair up, it was open. That''s how I used to like her hair and I even complimented it various times. She was tall but I guess she was just a bit small for me, maybe she would come till my nose.

    Her face ------ it was a face of a warrior, so I guess the rumor about her being strong was not a lie after all and there was no reason for it to be a lie.

    She had a fierce expression on her face as she looked at me and I just looked at her back. I didn''t look away or waved hi to her since it wouldn''t have been appropriate to do it now. I just looked back at her eyes, she was definitely mad at me but I can''t talk her down.

    Rather than talking, I would directly meet her at the five-way battle, where I will settle everything with her like the old days.

    She turned around to walk back towards the passageway, I guess she was going back to the locker room.

    I looked back towards Sylphy, to---- find ---- her----- in ----- tears---------Yikes!

    She looked while crying since she was crying like a kid, but it was still ------------------ bad.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    After the match, I was back in my dorms and the reason I was back in my dorms was -------

    "Dad -----"

    "No no, don''t look at me, you yourself explain to her. I am going out, I am going to meet my dad and my sister, well my sister called me since my dad is too shy to call me himself. So then, bye, till the time I go, take care of Annie, Emilia and Illya"

    Holy fuck, this old man is abandoning me.

    The cute squeaky sobs that were heard in the background were still going on and the source of those sobs was Sylphy herself.

    I crouched down to her, lifting her face, I wiped her tears as I said "Nice to meet you Again Sylphy, I am Grey Hoffmann. Aa... ummmm, do you have a boyfriend now?"

    "Seriously that''s what you say to a person that reunited with after years!!" complained Annie.

    I shrugged her off as I said "What? I am genuinely curious okay? you know, when we were out in the jungle when we were surviving for our life in the jungle, Annie. When we were living for five years in Goldberg, Annie and then when we traveled back and fought for our life together, Annie, what do you think was my main concern?"

    With a confused look, she asked "To protect our life?"

    "No, my main concern was whether Sylphy had a boyfriend or not, so it makes sense that I ask her that question."

    Annie, tapped my shoulder as she said "Brother Grey, you do know that you have a lot on your plate now? umm ---- I am just curious that if you are going to ----- um make -- hare--"

    "no----------no, I don''t have a boyfriend yet."

    Before Annie could say anything more, Sylphy spoke in a whispering tone.

 Chapter 182 - 179: War Talks.

    After giving her five minutes she stopped crying. But as her nose was still runny, I handed her a handkerchief. Awkwardly blowing her nose, she looked at me.

    At this point, the sides of her eyes and cheeks were colored in the reddish shade. Wearing her glasses back, she cleared her throat, "Grey, was where you all this time?"

    I crouched down, leaning my back against the wall I spoke, "Where was I? huh?"

    I scratched my head, it was difficult ----- difficult to explain why was I didn''t come back all this time.

    I sighed before saying "You see, Sylphy ----- I was carrying my responsibility and trying to save and protect the people I love ----" Annie who was seated on my side, I placed my hand overhead as I said " ----- my people. I couldn''t abandon them, neither I could walk away. Well, even if I had the chance to walk away, I guess I would have stayed and saved them since ------"

    Annie grabbed my arm tightly, she looked at me with a bright smile as she said " since brother Grey is my hero and he would never abandon me."

    I wasn''t going to say that and that''s awfully sweet, so I will accept that.

    Illya came and wrapped her arms around my arms as she cheerfully spoke "Big brother Grey is so cool that he brought me back to life, he fought a god-like so so ---- so cool. He defeated the evil god to bring me back to life, isn''t that cool!!"

    Sylphy looked at Illya with a confused look and for a second I was confused about why Sylphy would look confused by looking at Illya. But then when I looked at Illya, it clicked that Sylphy had a proper reason to be confused.

    Illya grabbed me as she rubbed her cheeks against mine, to a stranger''s eye, Illya and I would look pretty much the same. Well, Illya looks like a mini version of mine and also a female version.

    She has the same pale white hair as mine and the same set of purple indigo eyes. But unlike me who had a mole under my eye. she has a mole under the left side of her lips, which is very much cute.

    I grabbed Illya tightly, rubbing my cheek against her, "You are so cute Illya!!!"

    "Hehe, I am cute!!"

    Sylphy asked the question that I was already expecting "Huh? when did Uncle Ranulf and Aunt Alice have another child -------- no no no no, it doesn''t make sense, this kid is very young, so ----- wait!!"

    Her eyes widened as she gasped, she spoke: "Is it -----"

    "No! she is not my kid and how would it be that even be possible, we are going side-tracked Sylphy, ----- by the way, I heard that you joined Heroe''s party, that''s awesome."

    "yes, it is awesome."

    Unlike her wording, she didn''t look pretty happy about it.

    "Do you remember, I used to say that we will travel the world together and Emilia was also in the plan ----"

    Sylphy chuckled as she said "Life had other plans,"

    After a brief pause, I clicked my tongue as I got up, "Okay---" I extended my hand as I said, "Okay, everyone, grab my hand."

    Emilia understood it quickly as she grabbed my hand, so did Annie and Illya. Sylphy looked at me confused, "Just grab my hand"

    After insisting she grab my hand, she placed her hand over my hand.

    I took a deep breath, before saying "Okay, then ---- I will give a brief tour of the places that I have gone to."

    "Huh? what are you talking about ----"

    before she could complete her sentence, she looked around in more confusion as she found that it was not the same room that we were standing in earlier. We were standing in a forest that was situated on mountain terrain.

    Right in front of us was a narrow cave, it was a small cozy cave.

    "This is the place!! this is where we stayed for two weeks!!" said Annie.

    I walked ahead as I said Sylphy to follow me. As I expected, she asked the question "How -----"

    "Teleportation, it is one of my power. I can teleport to the place I had already been in, by the way, I have recently acquired this power, or else I would have already teleported back to the house. Well, I sort of did teleport back to the house, but you weren''t there, and apparently, you were at a place where I haven''t been to. "

    Sylphy opened her mouth to speak "I see----", but she stopped as she saw a beautiful hot pool of water that was situated inside the cave.

    It was weird ----- no weird is not the right word, I guess strange would be a better way to call it. It was strangely beautiful, there was a mysterious shine to this hot pool of water. I never was able to find the reason for this strange, but I guess I didn''t have to think a lot about it, I just need to appreciate the beauty that''s all.

    When I first walked into this cave, looking at this beautiful scene the first that came to my mind was Sylphy. I came here right after ----- watching a kid end his life due to suffering.

    I was helpless, I still don''t know what exactly I am trying to achieve. I act like I know everything, but in reality, I am just scared. I don''t want to lose anyone anymore and I don''t know ------ I don''t know if I will be able to handle losing anyone anymore.

    I sat down near the pond, looking at the pool of shiny water, I spoke to Sylphy, "When I first took a look at this cave, I remembered you Sylphy. Everything was so perfect, wasn''t it?"

    Sylphy took a seat by my side, "It was perfect Grey, the time we spent in that library together, reading through books all day. I had someone that shared the same interest as me, we talked a lot together. It was fun, I was happy ------ I was really happy Grey. The moment I walk out there, everything and everyone was stranger to me.

    I did find friends, a team, lost some friends and team members, Grey -----i ----- I have killed people. it''s ------ it''s a cruel world out there. They say that it''s a huge honor to become a Heroes party member, but in truth, we just walk behind a brainwashed person, who was summoned to this world and was fed the ideal of heroism to the point that it broke them.

    Summoned heroes ----- they ---- they are nothing but tools, tools of nobles, church, and even your Hoffmann and Ormr family."

    So Sylphy has changed, she is not the innocent young girl I knew. I can''t be imagining her killing anyone ----- isn''t it ironic.

    I chuckled, I couldn''t stop my laugh. "We should never have left that Library, we shouldn''t have... I loved to tease you, in truth I had a crush on you. Little me always dreamt of marrying you. I always imagined that we both would roam the world as a married couple, I was naive."

    Emilia softly grabbed my hand, as she sat beside me.

    There was a brief silence before Sylphy cleared her throat awkwardly, "So I was your first crush.", she sighed before asking "Grey, is it too late for us? is it too late for me?"

    "It''s too late for us, ------ it''s too late for me. I have killed too many, innocent, kids, family, couples, dads, sons, brothers, I have deceived people. The people who are loyal to me, the people who consider me their king, they don''t know that I have killed their dad, their leader. I have done too many things, it is haunting."

    Sylphy chuckled as she said, "I see, that''s what Aunt Alice, Uncle Ranulf, and Master Lozen were shielding you from. It all makes sense now. Grey -----"

    I stood up, I guess it is a good time to tell them about it, Standing up, I looked at them. "Sylphy, Annie, Illya, and Emilia, I guess this is a good time to tell this. After all these years, I am prepared now, I just need money now. I will start to move against Church, Inferno, and most possibly gods, the gods who will come in my way.

    I have already wasted a lot of time and I have a lot of enemies to eliminate. From next month I will start to move, there will be a lot of blood spilled, I may end up starting a couple of wars. I am ready and now i will fight, I can''t wait to become king, I need to move. my first opponent is Divine king, I will eliminate his entire army and also him.

    He will eventually come and bite my ass but before that I myself will walk in his door. I am starting a war, Sylphy and I might be considered evil from tommorow, but I promise that I know what I am doing. I am not a hero but I won''t be a villain either."

    Sylphy stood in front of me, "I see, then we both are villains who are trying to do a good thing. Both of our ideals are false, with deceit we have built our trust. Grey, ----- let me in, I will join you too."

    Mom would sure find it funny that the two people who loved peace are talking about starting war together, I guess life made both of us questionable character.

    {I will speed up the story after this arc and I will probably end this arc after two or three chapters.. there will be a year time skip after this arc, and I will get on to the juicy story.}

 Chapter 183 - 180: Five Way Battle(1)

    People seated in the arena had their eyes fixed on a magic device that was placed at the center of the arena ground.

    It was a huge cube that was suspended up in the sky. Each side of the cube, except for the up and bottom side had a plain white surface on it. No one in the arena knew what exactly this magic device does.

    People came to the arena with the expectation of watching the five-way match, but rather than the entrance of each of the final competitors they were introduced to this huge rather cubical magic device.

    Along with the cubical white device in the center of the arena, there was also some sort of white cloth suspended from the roof of the arena at each side of the arena.

    In total there were six of these clothes on each side of the arena.

    "This is the beginning of the five-way match, it is a final match to decide the winner and to also decide the best house. The rule of this match is simple and best, similar to the three-way battle, the last man or house standing will win.

    Now introducing the first competitor, from the pure mage class, he flawlessly defeated all of his opponents in the three-way battle, resulting in one of the shortest matches. Due to his excellent skill of controlling the mana, he has acquired the name of Mana prince,

    Introducing first, from mage class. Tim Meier!!!!!"

    Following the announcement, the cubical magical device lit up, so did the rest of the white clothes. A set of various colors sparked through the device before an image was formed, it was the face of Tim Meier, who was standing in the middle of grassland.

    "Look there is a person inside the cubical magical device!!!!! How did they even put him inside?"

    "seriously? but how?"

    "No idiots, I don''t think so, look at the piece of this huge cloth, it is also showing the same thing. But how would a human fit inside that cloth? I think it is some sort of projection spell, it ----- it''s awesome!!!"

    "Seriously? it just projects memory, doesn''t it? and it''s an advance spell, how did they even manage to do this?"

    People in the arena were amazed yet confused about what exactly is the device doing.

    "Ahem!" the announcer cleared her throat before, "As many of you are confused, this device is an invention of Professor Blake, this device enables us to watch things that are happening right now, and well this device does need a lot of skilled mages to operate and project it but we are willing to do anything for your guy''s entertainment!"

    The new device was well received by the people as there was no stopping of the incoming cheers to die down. After waiting for a few minutes for cheer to die down, the announcer continued,

    "The person who we will be introducing second is from the pure mage class but is also known as the warrior of the mage class. He has received this name due to his superior hand-to-hand combat style despite being from the pure mage class.

    The three-way battle that he fought to enter into this finals showed exactly how he is capable of using everything at his disposal to fight. This match will also be his chance to settle his score with Grey Hoffmann after he loses at the Goldberg city.

    Many didn''t have the chance to witness that match, but the fight between him and Grey was said to be legendary. Will we be able to watch a legendary fight like that again?!!!

    Introducing from the pure mage class, Killian Dirksen!!!"

    A loud cheer erupted around the arena, he was well-loved by the people as he was the underdog of this match. The said-to-be rivalry between him and Grey is the most popular that surfaces around during this competition.

    "Introducing now, she is the only person who has reached the finals from the mage warrior house. In her last match, she was untouchable, literally!! Using her mysterious power, she defeated the second year. Her victory was the most shocking of all!! even at end of her match, none of her competitors were able to find out the nature of her mysterious power.

    Introducing from the mage warrior class, she is also known as the silent wind, Lily Jung!!!"

    There was disappointment among some audience who was seated in the arena. But not the sort of disappointment one would expect,

    "Goddammit!!! we worked so hard on this banner for our queen and she can''t even see it!!!!!!!"

    "I wanted her to look towards me!!! I haven''t been this angry since ----- since"

    "I can''t even look at her face now!!!!"

    As three of the boys sounded their frustration, the fourth one was just staring at the huge cubical magical device, He pointed his finger towards the device as he said "What are you talking about, now we can take a more good look at our queen with the help of this device."

    The four boys were mesmerized as they saw their angel on a big screen.

    "Professor Blake, you are a god!!!!"

    "Now introducing, the fourth competitor, he won by defeating the competitor who was most favored to fight in the finals against Eira Hoffmann. This prince''s way of fighting changes so quickly that it gives his opponent hard time deciding about how exactly strong he is. With his entry there lot to look forward to, his team with his cousin, and his rivalry with Killian.

    The warrior house who can perform Mage house caliber magic!! Introducing, from the warrior class, he is known as Ghost and the Bleeding Aishen of the Goldberg city!!! Grey Hoffmann!!!"

    The crowd was hyped up and just like Killian, he was one of the underdogs of this competition. People cheered as they looked forward to his team with Eira Hoffmann.

    As his face was shown in the big cubical magical device, the cheer died down. People''s eyes were fixed on his face,

    His long white eyes lashes, accompanied with violet- indigo eyes.

    "This magic device is not good for my heart. Is he this beautiful in real life?"

    "Yes, he is in my classroom. he does look like that in real life" Letting out a sigh she spoke, " I never get enough of staring at him during our class."

    "Lucky you!! can we change classes?"

    "No!"

    The screen switched from Grey''s face to a zoom-out that covered the entirety of the field that the competitors were standing in.

    It was wide ------ the ground that the competitors were so big that even a small army could carry out their battle in it.

    "Introducing last, the person that you all were waiting for!!!! she is the winner of the last year''s first and second-year competitions. She is the person that made history by bringing victory to the warrior house for the first time in history!!!

    Even after all the four years were done fighting, people were only talking about her. In front of her immense raw strength, no one was able to stand a chance. It was a one-sided battle, the competition of the last year and the three-way fight that she fought this year again Otto Ormr and Agata Werner was totally a one-sided battle.

    There was no one in this competition who could even bring a fraction of her real strength. Will we be able to see more of her strength today?"

    To the announcer''s question, the crowd roared in sync "No!!!!"

    "Will anyone be able to come even close to beating her?"

    "No!!!!"

    "will we even be able to see her at least struggle for once during her battle?"

    "No!!!!"

    "Now, that a warrior house member is along with her in this five-way who is also her cousin, will we even see any other house winning against this monstrous team?"

    "No!!!!"

    "Introducing from the warrior class, she is also known as a monster of the throne and the cold princess, Eira Hoffmann!!!!"

    The crowd busted in the cheer that was heard all over the Vashi city. No one received this loud of a cheer and even after being the obvious winner in front of the people''s eyes. No one want''s to see her lose, the only thing they want to see is what exactly she is capable of.

    The extent of her strength is what people wanted to see more than anything, for that they are looking forward to the other competitors giving her a hard time.

    Another thing that people were more excited to see was the Hoffmann team in the action, but unlike their belive, there was no ----

    As all the competitors stood in the circle, Grey stood furthest from Eira, they were far enough to the point that they couldn''t even see each other.

    The people that Grey was able to see were Tim Meier and Killian Dirksen. Grey summoned a snake polearm in his hand as looked at Both Killian and Tim.

    Looking at both of them it was obvious for Grey, ''I see, two vs one, eh?"

 Chapter 184 - 181: Five Way Battle (2)

    "Ready set fight!!!"

    A fireball was shot up high in the sky, which meant that it was the beginning of the match.

    "Fireball!!!!"

    "fireball!!!!"

    Commentator 1: Tim didn''t waste a single second!!!!

    Commentator 2: Two simultaneous fireballs, Will Grey be able to dodge this!!!

    Till Meier shot a fireball as soon as the match began. Spiingng his snake polearm, Grey deflected both of the fireballs, as he proceeded to dash towards Till Meier.

    "We are not wasting any time are we?"

    Commentator 2: What a smooth deflection from Grey''s side,

    Till prepared another fireball, "You should probably watch your back, ", he had a smirk on his face.

    Grey''s movement was obstructed as a hand emerged out of hand, grabbing his leg.

    "Well, the wrong direction, I meant to say watch your below!!", Till shot a fireball as Grey was trapped. With a swing of his polearm, Grey deflected the fireball away.

    Commentator 1: It was good teamwork, but both of them would have to do something about Grey''s polearm. With the help of his polearm, he is able to block attacks like it is nothing.

    Grey turned around as he threw his polearm towards Killian who was the cause of his leg being trapped.

    In the process to block the incoming polearm that was thrown at him, Killian created a stone wall. But on contact the stone wall broke apart, not being able to stop the polearm. The polearm went right by Killian barely missing him.

    Commentator 2: Ah, well.... he threw his polearm off himself.

    Commentator 1: Why would he throw his advantage, like that?

    Commentator 2: But that sure was a scary throw, it went right by Killian, breaking the stone wall like it''s glass.

    His breath was hasty, his hand shook vigorously, he looked above to find, Grey rushing towards him which sent him into a deeper state of panic. In a state of panic, his mind went blank.

    "Fire wall!!!"

    A wall of fire emerged in front of Killian, obstructing Grey to reach out for Killian.

    Commentator 1: A mage''s biggest weakness is hand to hand combat and these two mages are working together to not lot Grey near them,

    Commentator 2: what great teamwork.

    "Stay focused dumb ass!!!! We are a team and we will win this thing, Taking him one on one would only waste our energy, if we work together we will be able to finish him off, then we can proceed to concentrate all our energy on Eira. I would rather fight this guy alone and I can win, the same goes for you too, but for now, we have to work together to save our energy.

    So stay focused, and no matter how confident you are, you have to stay focused!!!"

    exclaimed Tim as he kept casting his firewall to block Grey off.

    But Tim was way off the mark about what was going through Killian''s mind. ''What are you talking about? I can''t ------ his face, I can''t stop my hand from trembling. I thought that I got over this fear, but when I come face to face with him ----- it, I can''t stop it!! I am not confident, not confident in the slightest --- Tim you are not aware of -----''

    The firewall disappeared and beyond the firewall, Killian couldn''t see Grey. ''Tim you are not aware of the monster we are fighting now.''

    "Tim look out!!!" shouted Killian.

    responding to Killian, Tim turned around, Grey was already behind him. Grey swung his fist, as Tim was able to react in time, Grey could only graze his cheek. The clumsy movement result in Tim falling on his ass first,

    Commentator 2: It happened, Tim lost his eyes on Grey and now Grey is in close range with Tim.

    Commentator 1: This looks bad for Tim...

    "Fireball!!!!"

    Grey quickly grabbed Tim''s directing his fireball away from himself.

    "Your time to cast a spell is no joke,"

    "Well, I am from the pure mage class. That''s what we do ------- best!!!!"

    Falling on his back, Tim grabbed Grey''s hand, Locking Grey''s arm between his leg, Tim executed a triangle choke to lock only Grey''s arm.

    Commentator 1: A triangle choke?!!!

    Being held into the choke, Grey''s back was wide open. Which Killian tried to use as he dashed towards Grey''s wide back as he concentrated a rock lance in his hand.

    "Do you think that I can''t fight up close? we pure mage class are trained in hand-to-hand combat to deal with your crafty warrior classes."

    Commentator 2: They have got Grey with their teamwork!!!!!

    Being right near Grey''s back, Killian lifted his lance as he shouted, "I am not afraid of you anymore, Grey Hoffmann!!!!!!"

    "I see, that''s good since I always felt bad about going overboard on you."

    The stone lance clashed on the backside of his skull right above his neck. He collapsed on the ground, his skin on the back of his skull was split open.

    But there was a thing, the thing was that the ''he'' whose head is nearly split isn''t Grey, rather it is Tim. Grey lifted Tim, with the arm that Tim has locked between his legs, Tim didn''t let go of Grey even after being lifted. Lifting Tim, Grey turned around using Tim as a shield against the stone lance that Killian swung towards Grey.

    Commentator 1: What?!!!!! Grey turned around at the very last moment!!!!! It was as if he was waiting for Killian to attack!!!!!

    Commentator 2: It was a clean friendly blow ------- it looked pretty bad, the blow was struck to the most delicate part of the head ----

    Commentator 1: I think, Tim should be eliminated and given immediate medical treatment.

    Rushing towards the fallen Tim, "Hey hey, are you good? respond respond!!!" exclaimed Grey.

    "Yes, yes I am good, I am good!"

    "I am so sorry, Tim, I didn''t mean to-----"

    Tim sat up as he exhaled saying, "I know, I know."

    Grey condensed an icicle sword, as he placed it near Tim''s neck, "It looks like there is no damage to the skull, but I am taking this win."

    Killian condensed another rock lance, but before he could, even move, there was an icicle blade near his neck.

    "It''s a fair and square win, " said Grey as both of his hand was holding an icicle sword near Killian''s and Tim''s neck.

    Tim''s raised both of his hands as he sighed saying "Yeah, it is fair and square victory, you had the chance to finish me off, so yeah, it is a fair and square victory. I lose"

    Killian, let go of his rock lance as he spoke "It is my loss too,"

    Commentator 1: Did both of the competitors give up?!!!

    Commentator 2: Well, they did have a sword pointing in front of their neck, it was a technical loss anyways. Rules are rules, but it was a wonderful spirit shown by three of these competitors, they care about each other as a human.

    Commentators 1: Things like this are always a good sight to see.

    on the other side of the ground, a fight was taking place between two of the remaining competitors. It was a fight that was simultaneously taking place as a fight between Grey, Killian, and Tim was taking place.

    "Wind Blast!!!"

    Lily took a step back as she was having a hard time against Eira, she was bleeding heavily while her right arm might have a potential broken bone.

    Her breath was heavy, stabilizing her breath quickly she focused all her attention on Eira who was heading towards her way.

    Couldn''t being able to hold her sword with both of his hands due to her right-hand injury, she opted to use the only left hand. Being on close range, Eira swung her feet, but rather than being the feet went right through Lily''s body.

    Lily swung her sword with her left hand, which Eira blocked off with her Greatsword.

    "Wind blast!!!"

    Lily used another wind blast, but this time she blasted herself away from Eira to gain some distance between them. even though Eira was using a heavy sword, she was still faster in close range than Lily.

    Landing on the ground, she regained her footsteps, but as she lifted her head to look towards Eira, she was ------ gone from the original place she was standing.

    Lily''s instinct kicked in as she turned around to block off Eira''s incoming attack. Comparing Lily''s sword with Eira''s, Eira used an heavy great sword that weighed thirty times the weight of Lily''s sword.

    Lily blocked the incoming swing from Eira with all her strength, which she was able to block for a split second, but the weight of Eira''s sword was more than Lily''s sword could handle.

    Lily lost grip of her sword as it fell down, and before she could, even more, Eira had already placed her sword on Lily''s neck.

    "It was a great fight, there will be more fights in the future, so don''t injure your hand anymore, I want to fight you more in the future."

 Chapter 185 - The Battle Between Hoffmanns

    "It was a great fight, there will be more fights in the future, so don''t injure your hand anymore, I want to fight you more in the future."

    A sharp pain radiated through Lily''s wrist. She held her wrist to find out that she had dislocated her wrist.

    Lily sighed as she said, "I am looking forward to fighting you in the future ----------- I lose."

    Commentator 1: Lily has accepted her loss, with this we have got a definite winner from this year''s competition!!!!!!

    Commentator 2: Hoffmann''s dominating reign will continue!!!

    Commentator 1: Last year it was only Eira Hoffmann, but this year Grey has joined her and they seemed unstoppable. Eira will move to third and fourth-year competition next year but it seems like with the existence of Grey Hoffmann, the Hoffmann and Warrior house domination will continue even next year.

    Commentator 2: Especially considering the fact that Grey fought two of the finest pure mage class and won.

    The Cubical magic device was projecting Grey''s face as the commentator was talking about him. Grey turned around to look at his back, along with the action of his turning back, the projection angle shifted towards, Grey''s back as he turned around.

    Eventually, Eira walked into his field of vision. Without saying anything, Grey walked towards Eira and so did Eira herself.

    As they were about twenty steps away-----

    "Win this, we have got the winner of this match!!!! With an excellent show of their skill, both of them have defeated their opponent to be the winner of this match. Now I will declare the winner of this match!!!!! As they are the last house standing, the winner of this match----"

    Taking a step ahead, Eira grabbed her great sword tightly, with an immense burst of dark blue aura with a hint of blue in it radiated out of her body. The dense aura caused the surrounding grass to blow away as several cracks were formed on the ground.

    Commentator 1: Huh? What is happening?

    Commentator 2: Are they ------- are they going to----

    Walking towards Eira, Grey took a deep breath. A spark of violet-colored energy sparked through his hand, which make it more and more violent, eventually covering the entirety of his body. A purple-indigo radiance radiated out of his eyes.

    The violet-colored spark around his body died down, but the radiance of his eyes was still brightest as ever. He extended his hand as a piece of ice crystallized itself, giving itself a shape of a great sword.

    There was confusion amongst everyone about what exactly is going on, announcer stopped announcing her result since she was informed to not yet announce the result, the reason for which was still unknown.

    Commentator 1: What is going on? I am so confused?!

    Commentator 2: It looks they don''t want to share the first spot.

    Commentator 1: Which means -----

    Commentator 2: Yeah they are going to ----

    Walking towards Eira, Grey readied his greatsword, but in a blink of an eye, Eira was already in front of Grey.

    ''She is fast!''

    Grey quickly lifted his sword to parry her sword in a smooth circular motion. Grey parried the great sword towards the left, the force at which Eira swung her sword caused all the grass to blow away from the left. The impact caused the ground to blow into bits, causing a rupture.

    Commentator 1: what ---- was that speed? I couldn''t follow it.

    Commentator 2: Have we seen her use this much of her strength before? the raw strength ----- it''s -----insane and Grey was able to parry an attack of such degree like it was nothing.

    As Eira''s sword was parried away from her body leaving her defenseless, Grey swung his greatsword only to get blocked by Eira.

    "Are you not planning on holding back?"

    Eira shot a furious look at Grey as she pushed Grey''s Greatsword back, "This part of you ------ it''s same as it used to be."

    On the counter, Grey pushed Eira''s great sword back, getting closer to her face, Grey asked "Now, is it"

    Commentator 1: They are evenly matched?

    Commentator 2: When I saw her fight in last year''s competition, I thought no one of her age would come close to her. But there is someone who is evenly matched to her? that''s ---- it''s hard to believe.

    Commentator 1: For some reason, I think that there is more to see in this battle. None of them both are even close to struggling, it is as if ----- they can do more than they are showing.

    Eira pushed Grey''s great sword away as she proceeded to attack Grey with a forward slash, but even before it could hit him, Grey jumped away.

    Grey landed on the ground filled with tall grass, but before he could even place his foot properly on the ground, Eira had already closed the distance between him and her.

    Grey quickly got into a defensive position as he blocked three of her attack, before blowing himself away from him by using a collapsing fireball.

    Commentator 2: I thought Grey can use ice-type magic?

    Commentator 1: Yes, but then how he is able to use fire type magic, maybe----

    Commentator 2: Do you think that it''s the power of his seal marking?

    Commentator 1: A seal marking that allows users to use magic that polar opposites of each other, it is pretty overpowered!!

    {Author: Collapsing fireball is a spell, that is just like a basic fireball. But rather than distributed firepower like a normal fireball. The collapsing fireball is a fireball that has a hollow core, that causes it to collapse on itself, which results in creating a shock wave. Collapsing fireball doesn''t have much destructive power like other fire spells.}

    Grey was blown away from Eira, which created a distance between her and him. Quickly landing on the ground, Grey locked his eyes on Eira. But this time she didn''t the close distance between herself and Grey.

    "So you can use fire magic, huh? An ice mage can''t use fire-type magic, it is a rule of this world that can''t be broken, unless ------ so you have gained a seal marking?"

    Grey and Eira dashed towards each other, they multiple attacks in a second, "No, I don''t have a seal marking that allows me to use fire magic, instead ----"

    due to repetitive exchange of attacks, Grey''s sword eventually shattered away. before Eira could take advantage of it, Grey kicked her, Eira blocked the kick but she was pushed back due to the force of the kick.

    "Instead I have this big burn scar on my hand, which is a sign of my contract to fire using vampire."

    Eira''s white great sword, shined in a shade of dark blue, gathering mana in her sword she swung her sword in a horizontal slash.

    A layer of ice covered the ground at a speed that was even faster than the blink of an eye. This layer of ice froze over Grey''s leg, trapping him in one place. The fire layer of ice was followed by ice, but unlike the first one, this one contained several huge spikes of ice that froze everything in close proximity.

    Summoning his snake polearm, Grey destroyed each and every spike in quick succession before it could even hit his body.

    Commentator 1: Being able to use spell-like that ------

    Commentator 2: Both of them sure are giving their everything to fight each other. Have we seen her use this type of attack before?

    Commentator 1: No, I don''t think she has.

    Emerging from between the shattered ice, Eira kicked Grey in the abdomen as she said, "That''s Aunt Alice''s polearm -----"

    being knocked back, Grey rolled once in the ground before regaining his footsteps, Eira followed Grey as he was pushed back, so there was no distance between her and Grey. Grey clashed his polearm with Eira as he said "A seal that allows you to imbue magic to your sword and that too pretty high-level magic? It is a perfect seal marking for you."

    {Author: The name of this seal marking is Seal of Frost Blade, it allows her to cast a blade, the white-colored Greatsword that Eira uses and it also allows her to cast high-level ice magic without any difficulty, even though the set of ice magic she can perform is limited, but the strength of each of her spell significantly greater.}

    still holding polearm in one hand, Grey crystalized an icicle great sword in her other hand as he swung that greatsword towards Eira with tremendous force.

    Eira pushed Grey''s polearm away to block the greatsword, the greatsword that Grey swung with one hand clashed with Eira''s sword. Grey''s eyes shined brightest-----

    The force of the clash launched Eira away in the air, the impact was so tremendous that she was launched high up in the air. The shock wave of the attack shattered the ground on which Grey and Eira were standing.

    Commentator 1: What''s with that ------ raw strength? How much power do they need to show until one of them goes down? this match ------ it is on a whole another level than any other match.

    Commentator 2: It''s ------ scary.

 Chapter 186 - Protect The Weak.

    Grey swung ice Greatsword at Eira launching her away. To avoid any major injuries she blocked the attack at the last moment but the impact of the attack was enough to send her flying away.

    Following her, Grey dashed towards the place where she was going to land. Grey leaped to attack Eria before she could land on the ground.

    But even before Grey could attack her, Eria swiftly turned around in mid-air. As Grey was a short distance away from him, she suddenly threw her greatsword towards Grey out of nowhere.

    This sudden action caught Grey off guard, he quickly readied his Greatsword to block the incoming attack.

    In contact, Grey''s greatsword shattered in an instant. But before shattering the sword did the job of blocking Eira''s blade.

    landing on some distance away from where Eira had landed, Eira was successful in creating distance between herself and Grey.

    Grey picked up the called Greatsword of Eira. Lifting the sword, Grey''s expression changed in amazement as he said "this is a fine blade, actually this blade is kind of too fine. Where did you get it?"

    extending her hand towards Grey, Eira spoke "I will be taking that back.", the white blade appeared in her hand as the blade in Grey''s hand disappeared.

    "That is why you threw your blade like it was nothing."

    Grey formed a fireball in his hand as he shot it towards Eira who was rushing at him. Eira didn''t stop her movement as she deflected the incoming fireball, but following the fireball came Grey, using a faster set of movements with the help of polearm, Grey exchanged attacks with Eira. Even though Grey''s polearm didn''t carry as much weight as his greatsword, his movement and speed were much better and faster as compared to his greatsword.

    with the minimal set of movements, Eira blocked each of Grey''s attacks. rather than facing each of Eira''s attacks head-on, Grey opted to dodge the attacks since blocking the attack would only lead to more strain in his hand.

    Grey increased his speed of attacks as they exchanged many attacks in the blink of an eye.

    With her blade, Eira pushed Grey''s polearm back, following it she went in for another attack. As his polearm was pushed back, Grey closed his eye to take a deep breath.

    As Eira was near Grey, he opened his eyes, in an instant he launched several attacks at once. The attacks were at a greater speed than any previous.

    The overwhelming rain of burst of high-speed attack took Eira off guard as three cuts were formed on her body. Two cuts at her arm and another one at her thighs.

    Grey readied himself to launch another set of attacks, but before he could do that a sudden layer of frost wrapped over their surrounding, enveloping Grey in a thin sheet of ice.

    Without wasting any more time, Eira struck her feet inside Grey''s abdomen, knocking him off.

    rolling on the grassland, Grey regained his footsteps.

    he was in a bad spot and before Eira could take advantage of this, Grey threw his snake polar at Eria.

    easily blocking that off, Eira closed the distance between him and Grey.

    "So all this time ------- when we were kid ----- you were always this ------- strong!!!!!"

    -------------------

    (Eira''s POV)

    "I am sorry to inform you but your son and wife are dead. Your wife--- she died protecting her country from an entire army and in the end, she died fighting one of the most frightening demoness that existed in this world. Your son---- he got caught up in the war."

    Those were the words of the royal guard that came to uncle Ranulf, they wanted to talk about something.

    Each of their expression looked grim, but ------- no no no no no no---- huh? Dead? What do they mean by dead?

    Aunt Alice is young and Grey is a kid like me, they are not ------ they are not old!! Only old people die right?

    Grey is probably playing prank with me, I will punch him once he gets back ----- it''s rude to play prank like this.

    "You shouldn''t joke about such things, its-----"

    "Sir, we are not joking."

    I grabbed onto uncle Ranulf''s hand as I said

    "Uncle Ranulf, they are joking, right? Aunt Alice is really strong, they are lying, right? I mean Grey is weak, but Aunt Alice must surely have protected her. Grey is a good boy, he doesn''t want any part in the war and all. Grey doesn''t even want to fight and he didn''t even want to get stronger. There is no way such a thing would happen to a person like him. There is no way."

    Uncle Ranulf gently placed his hand over my head, it was comforting.....

    "I will go there and check myself, ready the wagon."

    "I will join you too, Uncle Ranulf."

    We went to check ourselves, through out the journey I was calm since I know that ----- that only old people die, Grey won''t --------- he won''t.

    I know, it''s all a prank ------ Grey will say it''s prank, he will come back and I will punch him for ---- for ---

    I won''t punch you Grey, so please say it''s a prank okay?

    "Please sir, Follow me."

    Said the person who lead us to a certain place, there were two stones side by side----

    "Here is where Miss Alice is resting."

    My heart ------ it stings ----- my chest hurts ---- I ---- I don''t want to hear anything more.

    The man walked towards another grave,  "Here is where Master Grey is resting."

    My knees gave away in front of the place where ---- this is the place where ----- no no no no no no no

    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

    This is what I wanted to shout, but nothing came out of my mouth.

    My heart ----- it hurts. Grey, it hurts... Please come back.

    I looked around, there were various graves like this. The whole place was filled with graves like this.

    Those were the graves that the bad guys filled ------ but why Grey? He was just a kid like me? He wanted to live quietly right? He didn''t wanted to hurt anyone---- he never wanted to get strong.

    He just wanted to live a quite peaceful life --- then why?

    He was my home ----- along with him I felt normal. I ----- I am born affinity to magic, I was a disappointment for my parents, for my siblings, for people around me.

    Yet he always treated me kindly, along with him I felt accepted.

    He ---- he was my home...

    If---- only if I was there with him ---- I would have protected him.

    I wiped the tears from my cheeks ----- why can''t people like me and Grey live a normal life?

    Why weak people like us can''t live a peaceful life? You strong people can have all this world but why can''t you live us alone?

    Do weak people not deserve a peaceful life? Don''t they deserve to live?

    Why is there no one to protect the weak?

    Why don''t no one protect the weak?

    Why does strong get the weak involved in their fight?

    If not strong then who will protect the weak?

    I looked down at the drop of tear that fell on my palm ----

    That''s right ---- I can become strong. If no one is there, I will be there.

    I will become strong --- and

    "I will protect everything weak, that is my responsibility. People who even think of ruining someone''s life who doesn''t want anything but peace, I will destroy those people. I will become the queen of my country and correct everything evil from this world, I will do it in honor of Grey. I will become the strongest for Grey."

    I lived by those words, I trained and trained and trained and trained ------ when it''s was not enough I tried to find new ways of getting stronger.

    I trained under Uncle Ranulf, but my strength was still not enough. I needed real-life experience, I enrolled in royal nights as a temporary member by using my royal status.

    Under royal knights I got to fight real people, there was never a day where I had to kill anyone until one day when I had to use my blade to end life.

    It was an unpleasant experience, but I had to get used to drawing my blade without hesitation.

    I can''t hesitate to kill, I can''t hesitate for anything until I achieve my goal.

    In my time I spent in royal knights, I got to know a truth ----- a truth that the weak were willing to be used, trampled on by the strong ----- the weak dreamt of getting stronger and they were willing to do anything for that ------ it was a confusing world out there.

    {Author: my laptop is gone for good, it is a sad night for me...... I might cry myself to sleep. God knows when I will be able to buy another laptop, Goddammit!!! No one thought me that being adult usually is equivalent to being broke!!!!}

 Chapter 187 - No Place With Gods.

    (Eira''s POV)

    "So you want to leave the royal knights?" asked the squad leader of my royal knight squad.

    "Yes,"

    "That''s actually------ do you have any particular reason for leaving? did something happen? is anyone in the royal knight bullying you?" he asked, he looked particularly worried.

    "No ---- nothing like that, I just wanted to choose a different path, that''s all," I said.

    His facial loosened as he said "Oh, I see. then I wish you good luck."

    After leaving the royal knights, I trained for some months but I wasn''t at peace of mind. Well, I never had "peace of mind" ------- but after my days at the royal knight, I was more confused about what I really wanted to do.

    The "weak" are willing to be used by the strong and they also tear each other apart like animals. well, I don''t blame them, they have to do it all for survival since without a strong background it''s much harder to achieve a stable life.

    Once you achieve a stable life then you can give a stable life for the generation to come but achieving a stable life is a much harder task.

    At some point in my life, I stopped using words like strong and weak since there is no strong or weak, there are just people with different circumstances. Some are born in a well of family and some or not. People adapt to the circumstances and survive.

    After training for months I went out on a journey, I had nothing particular in mind. I just went from place to place, observed people and their lifestyles. This was a thing that I wanted to do with Grey...

    There was this circumstance where I had to kill a group of bandits ----- I thought I didn''t have it in me, especially after the realization that I had. The group of bandits ------ they weren''t human, they didn''t seem like on to me.

    Everywhere they went, they killed, men, women, children, old and young, they killed everyone that they could get a hand on. Of course, they did opt to torture people first since they needed to take all and everything that a person owned.

    They broke boys and girls, they used them until they were satisfied.

    (Author: Well bandits does have female members, lol)

    I killed all of the bandits, that made me wonder ------- I mean, the killing I did of bandits was totally justified in my head. Their crimes were terrible and I felt no remorse after killing them, but then ----

    Till what level is killing justified? how bad is really bad? killing for purpose is really justified?

    I had to keep going for Grey. I will keep going as proof that he once existed, I will become his existence.

    At the end of the day, I will become the queen of this kingdom. I will make everyone who was involved in the death -------- I will make them pay.

    I trained under the king, I trained under the god. I will keep going till I get at least one step closer to my goal.

    "My human disciple! today is a happy day for me!" he was overjoyed, he was usually very much energetic but this time he looked legitimately happy.

    I didn''t ask why since I know that without even asking why he would still tell me what he really wants to say.

    "Ask why!"

    "Why?"

    "Today I was able to see a vulnerable side to my fellow gods, it was amazing. Today I saw something that made me excited to my core "

    I wasn''t curious about what he was saying, but he looked like he wanted to say something more, so I asked the obvious question "What did you see?"

    "A mortal! a little human ----- he would be around your age, but he was so much interesting. He had his way with words, he showed no fear in front of the gods. Even in front of nearly all the gods, he showed not the shred of fear.

    He promised that he would kill all the gods, can you believe it!!"

    He ----- my master, even after being a god, he had particular hate for gods. "I have no interest in the business of gods, it doesn''t concern me."

    His expression turned serious---- did I offend him.

    He spoke, this time his voice was not that of enthusiasm, he was serious. "Eira------ it concerns you more than you think. It concerns all of you mortals ------ its concerns all of you mortals. It would be a shame if this civilization were to ----- "

    It was the end of the conversation, I didn''t ask him much about the rest.

    I trained under him for months where I learned the update of two gods being killed, master speculates that it was the human boy who did that.

    I was done with my training, it was my time to go back to my academy.

    Before leaving, I bowed before him as I said "Thanks master, these months of training were really helpful for me. Thank you for making me ------- strong."

    He chuckled as he said "You were already strong, kid. All I did was guide you! you had a great spirit, even though that spirit to fight comes a deep vengeance and hate. But that is what makes you mortal special. Tell me Eira, what is it that you dream to do?"

    What do I dream of? it''s the same as his dream, no it''s not the same----- it''s similar to his dream.

    "My dream.... my dream is------ it is to make a world that Grey dreamt of. A world that Grey wanted to live in ------ I want to create such a world."

    A smile curved up his lips.

    He was a man with giant stature, well he wasn''t really a man. He was a god ------- god of blades.

    "I see, that''s a respectful dream. If you ever consider becoming my successor as the god of blades, you can always come back."

    I left the place, I wanted to consider his offer but my place is with humans, I have no place in being a god.

    { Author: I am back, sorry for being away for so long.}

 Chapter 188 - To Give It My All.

    (Eira''s POV)

    Commentator: Grey Hoffmann and Eira Hoffmann----- this match is the reminder of how strong this generation''s royal blood is!!!

    Commentator: In front of the insane strength of Eira Hoffmann, I thought no one would be able to stand a chance, but he is standing and fighting on the toe to toe against her!!

    That''s right. All this time I trained to get stronger, stronger than the previous version of me. I trained for him ----- I trained for you, Grey.

    As I kicked him on the abdomen, he was knocked away. Taking advantage of this, I tried to close the distance, but before I could take any step closer to him, I was forced to block an incoming polearm.

    I was easily able to block off the attack, but it gave him enough time to stand back on his feet.

    I swung my greatsword, and he clashed my greatsword with his icicle greatsword. The force at which each of us swung our sword, created a shock that destroyed the ground we were standing on.

    I thought I was the strongest among my peers, but yet you stand here and clash your blade with me ---- Grey. You ---- I was meant to be strongest and yet you are capable of standing toe to toe against me.

    I circulated my mana through my seal marking. Mana gathered in my greatsword before I swung it towards Grey.

    He jumped from the ground to avoid the first layer of frost that will block his movement.

    I mixed this attack with my normal attack, there should be no way he should be able to track what I am doing.

    He landed back on the pile of ice that was created due to my seal marking. I looked above at his eyes-------- it was beautiful.

    So that is why ----- the owl marking ---- he has an owl marking, maybe his owl marking is of strong grade because he is capable of detecting attacks that are directed with the help of seal marking.

    I was supposed to protect people like you, but the strength you command is enough for protecting yourself.

    "I am sorry Eira"

    He said this was one of the times when he looked serious.

    "Sorry for?" I asked as I swung my greatsword.

    This time I didn''t use any of the mana or seal marking, it was just my sword intent. The ice that was formed due to my attack scattered away in an instant.

    Intent ---- he was able to detect my sword intent because he leaped even further in the air to avoid my attack.

    How many battles have you fought to fight this fluidly? how many battles have you been in to detect intent? you are fighting with me like it''s nothing new? how much stronger enemy have you battled against?

    In mid-air, he readied his greatsword. As he was landing towards me, he lifted his greatsword above his head to prepare for a vertical slash.

    But before he could even land on the ground, I thrusted my sword with only intent. He was in a vulnerable position ------ a direct hit.

    In mid-air, he has knocked away. At tremendous speed, he crashed on the ground. He crashed on a huge rock before rolling on the ground twice or thrice.

    Following up the attack, I dashed before jumping at the place where he had crashed into. I landed between the cloud of dust, but ---- he wasn''t ----- he wasn''t there --

    I quickly turned around, it was a reflex reaction. I did it without even thinking about it, but it was too late.

    He was already behind------- his fist connected to my face. The strength ---- so he was holding back at the beginning of the fight.

    I wiped the blood from my nose, as did he --- he wiped the blood from his face.

    "Do you hate me Eira?"

    "Hate you? no, I don''t"

    He walked towards me and so did i.

    "Do you hate me for what I did?"

    "For what you did? no, I don''t" I walked a step closer as I continued "I can''t hate you. There must be a reason that you were away for so long. I am not reasonable enough to not listen to what you have to say."

    He chuckled as he said "Oh my, so mature! I might fall in love!"

    "Grey, why are you taking this fight so seriously? When we were little, you would prefer giving up or finding an easy way out of a battle instead of actually giving it your all. Did you change during this time?"

    He summoned a snake polearm as he walked closer to me, "That part of me didn''t change yet, I still prefer to not give my all in a fight. Since I don''t find it necessary to go all out when I can end it easily. But before I left ---- I promised to myself that I will fight seriously when I am fighting with you."

    He pointed his polearm towards me as he said "But ------ when are you going to force me to go all out?"

    There was a smirk on his face, the wound on his face healed up.

    I couldn''t help but chuckle, "It''s not like you have forced me to go all out."

    From dead to alive, from weak to strong------- but he was never dead and he was never weak. He never had a reason to fight in beginning, but now he does. You are alive, standing in front of me and maybe you are the answer for all my confusion.

    As you are standing in front of me ----- alive, I will fight you ------i will fight you by leaving all my regrets and confusion behind.

    I gripped my greatsword tighter as I took my aggressive stance. By taking a deep breath I looked at Grey with a sharp look.

    Grey Hoffmann ------ I, Eira Hoffmann will give it my all ------ it''s time ----- it''s time that I use my second seal marking to fight against you ----- The seal marking of force....