[Quest Has Been Issued]

A system notification suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

'Perfect timing,' Gustav said internally as he proceeded to check out the quest.

"Hey, do you mind untying me?"

A voice was heard from behind just as Gustav was checking out the quest.

Gustav turned around to see.

It was Falco who had spoken. He had regained consciousness. 

Gustav slowly walked back towards him after changing his clothes and squatted in front of him.

"You'll have to stay here, the way you are," Gustav said.

"Hey, no fair, I saved you earlier," Falco said while trying to sit up.

It was proving difficult for him since he was tied up. He could only wriggle around like a worm.

"You put me in danger first... If I didn't mention Angy, maybe my eyes wouldn't be intact by now. From the looks of things, you're not in charge," Gustav said while proceeding to stand up.

"Yo, the guy has woken up," E.E approached from the side after seeing the wriggling Falco.

"Yeah, are you ready?" Gustav asked.

"Hmm, " E.E nodded in response, "Are we leaving him here?" He proceeded to ask.

"Yes," Gustav said with an unbothered expression while turning around to start walking forward.

"Hey! Hey! Don't leave me here, hmph! hmph!" Falco shouted out as he struggled to free himself. 

Gustav ignored him and kept walking forward.

Falco turned to stare at E.E with a pleading expression.

E.E smiled wryly and turned around, "I don't want him to rip my head off. You have business with him, not me," 

E.E kept walking forward and caught up with Gustav. 

"Erm, I don't know what you got with him, but is it okay to leave him like that?" E.E asked while walking beside Gustav.

"He'll be fine. He's almost as strong as I am," Gustav replied with a dismissive look.

"Oh, he is? Alright then," E.E decided to overlook it, but he was a little surprised.

'That weak-looking guy is almost as strong as he is?' E.E felt this was why they say never judge a book by its cover.

Falco stared at Gustav and E.Es's back as they got further and further away.

"This is all your fault. Why are you so petty?" Falco shouted out.

"Shut up, you weak idiot, always going soft, ptoi!" Falco still replied himself and spat out. However, his voice sounded quite different.

"Always going hard, and guess what? You lost, and he knocked you out again!" Falco voiced out with a burst of light laughter.

"You little..." 

Step! Step! Step!

"Huh?" Falco heard the footsteps and raised his head to stare at who was approaching.

"Put him on, let me speak to him," 

The person approaching happened to be Gustav.

"Hmm?" Falco wondered what Gustav was playing at, 'I thought he already left, so why did he come back?' Falco wondered.

"Let me speak to him if you want to be freed," Gustav demanded once again and squatted in front of Falco.

"Hmm, alright," Falco said and closed his eyes.

Zwwoooonn!

When next he opened them, they became pitch black.

"You bastard, let's go again! Fight me like a man this time! Cheater!" Falco's alter ego shouted out the moment he gained total control of Falco's body.

"I will not accept such defeat! You'll never defeat me in a fair fight! Cheater! Wimp! Pussy!"

Gustav stared at him and patiently waited for him to finish shouting out all manner of vulgar words before replying.

"Okay," Gustav stated.

"Huh?" Falco's alter ego was confused by Gustav's reply.

"I said okay. I'll fight you fairly," Gustav added.

"What? No cheating this time..." Before Falco's alter ego could complete his statement, Gustav spoke again.

"I'll fight you fairly," Gustav stated while staring into Falco's eyes.

'Such confidence... He would have lost the last time if not for that meddling idiot. Where does this confidence come from?' Falco's alter ego wondered, however in the next second, he scoffed.

"Who are you trying to scare with that confident expression, this time you..." Falco's alter ego was once again interrupted by Gustav.

"I'll fight you again on one condition," Gustav stated.

"What condition is that?" Falco asked with a suspicious look.

Smirk!

A mischievous smirk suddenly appeared on Gustav's face.

------------------------

In a particular part of the ruins, a handsome-looking man in prison wears walked silently across the passageways.

He had long yellow braided hair that reached his lower back and sharp slanted eyes.

His movement was like that of a shadow. One step he took covered several feet.

"There's another battle going on there... Candidates facing one another," He muttered with a confounded look.

"I must find out what is responsible for this. However, taking one of them hostage is not an option... Revealing myself to whoever is responsible won't grant me any gains," He said to himself as he arrived at an intersection.

He placed his back against the wall and turned his face to the right to observe what was happening.

"I must keep observing for now," 

-------------------------

In another part of the ruins, two young girls were conversing with each other.

One with silver and pink colored hair and the other with long white hair.

"Are you saying I attacked Gustav?" The girl with white hair asked with a crestfallen look.

"Are you saying you don't remember?" The silver and pink-haired girl asked in response.

"I only remember... Bits and pieces. Oh my God, I did attack him. He's never going to trust me now," The white-haired girl voiced out as her eyes turned watery.

The girls conversing were obviously Angy and Maltida. Maltida seemed to have regained consciousness but couldn't remember everything that happened when she was mind-controlled.

"It's alright, Gustav knows that you didn't mean it," Angy placed her hand on Maltida's shoulder while comforting her.

Maltida brightened a little after hearing that, but she still felt down knowing that she fought with him. She was worried about Glade at the moment, but she couldn't come up with any way of dealing with that rock existence due to its mind control power.

"What is more important at the moment is, do you remember the location of the place you fell under the creature's mind control?" Angy asked.

"Hmm, yes, I remember the location... And I also remember that It wasn't a person, it was a rock," Maltida said with a look of contemplation.

"A rock?" Angy was surprised by this discovery.

"You must be delusional. I guess that mind control effect is still there," Angy sighed while speaking.

"No, I'm serious, it was truly a rock... It looked strange and has some weird drawings all over it... Glade and I thought it was just a normal rock at first, but the moment it opened its eyes, we figured out how wrong we were. We couldn't resist its voice, it was so compelling, and our bodies would do exactly as the creature instructed," Maltida explained lengthily with a look of fear on her face.

"Calm down... Are you telling me the truth? Did everything you're saying right now truly happen?" Angy asked while holding tighter onto Maltida's shoulders.

"Yes, it wasn't just Glade and I... I remember many others being under its mind control too," Maltida added.

"Then, why did it want Gustav and I?" Angy asked.

"It could see our memories, so it checked for participants with abilities that would be useful for it... It saw your abilities as well as Gustav's from our memories," Maltida paused for a brief moment before continuing, "It wanted to control you due to your speed so you could gather many grand stones for him while it wanted Gustav because..." Maltida paused at this point.

"Because?" Angy asked with a look of urgency as she noticed the look of fear on Maltida's face increasing.

"A strong mixed-breed is needed as a sacrifice as well as a gargantuan amount of grandstones for its freedom... It wants to use Gustav as the sacrifice after noticing that he is the strongest among the participants," Maltida revealed.

Angy stepped backwards twice with a look of fear on her face.

"Sacrifice? That means it wants to kill Gustav?" Her face turned dark as she asked.

"Y... Yes, Gustav will die if he faces the rock being," Maltida voiced out.

Hiss!

Angy's face turned darker after hearing that. She stared at the ground as an aura of rage started to gather around her.

"Lead the way," She demanded while turning around.

"What? You can't go there, you won't be able to do anything. It will make no difference," Maltida said with a dissuasive expression.

Only she and Glade understood the horrors of being mind-controlled by the rock. They were also able to see inside of his mind as he searched their memories, and all she recalled was darkness.

"Did I stutter? Lead the way! There's no way I'm letting him face that thing by himself," Angy voiced out.

"Oh, alright," Maltida answered and started moving. 'Looks like she's sure that Gustav would have figured out the location... I hope he truly has because even with him there, we hardly stand a chance of defeating the rock. If he isn't there, our chances are zero,' Maltida prayed internally.

---------------

In another part of the ruins, two youngsters stood in front of a large hole.

They were like a grain of sand before it.

These two were E.E and Falco.

"Why do we have to pass this place when that bastard is going in from the front?" Falco's alter ego stared at the land after the large hole and voiced out.

The land was thousands of feet ahead. The hole looked uncrossable.

"Stop sulking, man, or are you afraid of falling in?" E.E asked while chuckling.

"Hmph! Afraid of this, don't make me laugh. This is nothing," Falco's alter ego replied while folding his arms with an arrogant expression displayed on his face.

"Alright then, this is all part of the plan so let's do our best to work according to it," E.E said while sinking into the vortex he conjured on the ground.

Swooonn!

He appeared on the other side, thousands of feet away.

"Hmph, show off!" Falco's alter ego voiced out before dashing towards the wall.

"I can perform better," He voiced out while dashing across the wall towards the direction of the other side.

-----------------------

In another part of the ruins, a group of participants with purplish glowing eyes could be seen moving across a passageway.

They were about thirty of them, and when they got to the end of the passageway, they turned left at an intersection heading towards a dead end.

Hiding within the group, a youngster with green hair and pale white skin looked around the place.

'Looks like I was right... Time to end this,' He said internally as they arrived at the dead end.

Zwwwoooonnnn!

A pair of purplish eyes appeared within the hole on the wall.