"Not interested."

Fariya dismissively waved her hand at a goblin merchant her group with a not-so-good intentions. But, just when the first one left, a second one, who has an appearance that was almost identical to the first one, tentatively approached the charming succubus.

"I said NOT interested!"

A gust of wind pushed the goblin, making him fall on his buttocks. The merchant was angry but he didn't do anything and just turned around and left, though he didn't forget to glare at the woman.

Arthur was sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed and his index caressing his marriage ring, it seemed obvious that interrupting him will only lead to problems so Fariya took it upon herself to shoo away anyone who got close. Midolf and Radolf had disappeared, while Vyncent and Esco went to their respective personal room.

The black ship was big and could house hundreds of passengers but the captain, which was, surprisingly, a mutated ghoul, only welcome a dozen or so of people aboard his ship.

As for Zaarae and Shen Shen, they were at the front of the deck, looking at the calm black waters, utterly void of waves or the expected monsters.

"Tsk! Maybe I should kill all of them?" Quietly muttered the succubus as she looked at the disgusting and annoying stares she was getting from almost all of the passengers. They were eyeing their group, especially Arthur, who seemed to be the leader. They were wondering about his identity as he had two gorgeous women accompanying him.

Fortunately, no one else made an advance on Fariya, who was like an unbreakable wall, allowing no one to come close to her master.

In the blink of an eye, half a day passed, the grey and gloomy sky turned inky black and it became much harder to navigate the sea so the captain slowed down his ship.

Shen Shen accompanied Fariya inside the ship to sleep, leaving only Arthur and Zaarae. The Parasite Empress sat inches away from him, her eyes glued on his face.

��What do you want?"-Arthur

"Can't I just look?" She replied, a soft smile blossoming on her face.

"…"

Arthur felt a bit uncomfortable to be stared at so intensely but he couldn't tell her to stop. Even if he changed locations, she'll just follow him… it happened back when they were traveling atop the dark cloud so he learned the hard way that he can't avoid this woman.

"You still haven't told me why you're acting like this."

"Hm? Acting like what?"

Arthur glanced at her and said, "Acting so clingy and oddly affectionate."

"Well, Arthur, can't a woman be in love?"

"She certainly can but not like this… not like you."

"It's not because you have never fallen in love at first sight that it can't happen."

She leaned her face closer to his, her lips an inch from his ear.

"I'm so very in love with you but it hurts me that I can't do anything."

Seeing his strange and unreadable expression, the woman giggled and added, "If it were up to me, I would bring you to bed before supper.(Literally means she'll jump at him right now.)"

Arthur looked back at her and solemnly retorted, "Enough."

His stare became colder as he spoke again, "I am grateful for your help, however, this behavior of yours is exactly what makes me unable to trust you."

Zaarae didn't seem bothered as her smile widened, she seductively put a finger under her lower lip and responded,

"What can I do to make you trust me? Tell me, I can do everything." She chuckled and looked at the night sky,

"Do you want to possess me and take my stats and skills? Do you want me to bring you the kraken and make it your pet? Just tell me."

He intently looked at her but no words came out of his lips. After an inordinate amount of time, he asked,

"Did we meet in the past? Or in the future?"

"Oh… we sure did. In the past, to be precise."

She paused for a split second before continuing, "I thought you were aware. Back when I and the others were born, you came and showed us many things. You even named us."

Actually, Arthur was aware that the old him traveled in the past and to many periods, but there were many still-unexplained matters so this revelation came as a bit of a shock to him.

"I did?"

"Yup!" She enthusiastically nodded her head as she remembered the fond memories of the complicated past.

"Bilgart was against your arrival but he didn't interfere. I met you for the first time there then… then you came back to me and I fell for you."

Arthur didn't need to ask anything as the Empress spoke without stopping for almost an hour. She left nothing unsaid, telling him about dangerous secrets and hidden past events, like how she lost her parasitic powers and why it happened.

"Now, do you believe me?"

She smiled as she asked him, her voice containing a bit of anxiety which she couldn't hide.

In response, Arthur sighed and just nodded her head, there was a lot to process so he excused himself right after.

The Empress looked at him disappearing back, her smile slowly vanishing, and her expression saddening for some reason. Perhaps seeing his lack of affection and coldness, she felt like she didn't belong by his side, at least not in this time period, not with Lucy in his heart.

*******

"Captain! We've spotted three pirates ships!"

An orc wearing average sailor clothes reported to the short and pale-skinned captain, who looked West, where you could three black silhouettes heading towards them.

"Imps?"

"It appears to be so, captain."

The ghoul thought for a moment before saying, "Turn 45 degrees left and increase our speed!"

Mutated ghouls are actually normal ghouls which kept their conscience and are able to think like humans and other intelligent species. They are a higher variation of undead and can be as strong as Lich Kings if they train really hard.

Captain 'Faded Grass' is strong but he, after all, he was still a captain of a traveling ship. At best, he can fight people that accumulated 70 or 80 white stars, which is equivalent to someone at the Immortal Realm. As for the merchants' guards, their only duty is to protect their employer. To not suffer big losses, merchants would just offer a few their goods to the pirates and be done with it. If they attempt to fight, their guards would get injured, basically, it isn't that beneficial.

This was also another reason why Captain Faded Grass wanted to escape the pirate ships rather than take them head-on.

They just departed from the coast yet the imps appeared, it was awfully bold of them and problematic.

"Master, want me to take care of them?"

Fariya glanced at the pirate ships and nonchalantly said. Such a minor threat can be taken care of with just a finger, she was an otherworldly existence in comparison to the captain and the rest and only the Kraken and a few deep-sea kings can threaten her.

"No need."

Arthur looked at the pirate ships, which were only a few hundred meters away and kept getting closer. The goblins merchants and the rest of the passengers were panicking and changing their clothes into less extravagant, some even went to hide inside their rooms.

'It's a good opportunity to test Buo Buo's Telekinesis.'

His body blurred and appeared at the corner of the central deck, facing the incoming pirate ships. Of course, his actions were noticed by the orc guards and the captain.

The parasite raised pointed his palm at the closest ship, which had ugly red imps excitedly jumping on it. They were celebrating before they even obtained the loot as they didn't expect any resistance.

Sadly and unfortunately for them, they weren't aware of the fate that was going to befall on them. Arthur's palm was slightly pushed forward and, at the same moment, an invisible and terrifying force struck the pirate ship.

The sight was no different than an egg being squished into pieces. The ship crumbled almost instantaneously, the imps were crushed to death by the invisible force and fell on the water. In just a few seconds, all that was left were sinking rubbles, the only thing that remained from the pirate ship, which was no way smaller than Fade Grass' ship.

The other two pirate ships hastily tried to turn around but Arthur moved his hand again. The two ships were lifted in the air then crashed into each other before something sharp cleanly cut them along with all the imps. Just like the first one, they fell on the black water and were sucked into the bottomless sea.

Arthur also noticed that the black waters were like a vacuum, first pulling a handful of lucky imps that managed to survive, then absorbed what remained of the black ships.

Seeing this frightening sight, the present passengers, sailors, and even the mutated ghoul were dumbstruck. The undead was soaking with cold sweat as he looked at Arthur's emotionless face, the latter just went back to his initial position and sat back as if nothing happened.

Faded Grass that he had unfathomable individuals aboard his ship, making him dreadful and a bit excited. If he could curry favor with Arthur and co then it would bring him endless benefits but, unfortunately, the moment he walked toward the black-haired man, he was stopped by the succubus.

"I, I would just like to thank sir Arthur for his help."

"Master does not want to be bothered, just go away!"

She coldly dismissed him but the captain just wryly smiled and left. All in all, the safety of their trip was guaranteed as long as he had them here.

'It's pretty strong considering that I only used a bit of it.'

Arthur was thinking about the goblin's enigma ability, which was truly a strong power. He reckoned that, at full power, it can even injure an Exalted God.

As he was thinking about the Telekinesis, Zaarae sat next to him but he didn't pay her any heed. Only when her face was dangerously close did he open his eyes and glare at her.

The Empress ignored his warning as she whispered,

"That Telekinesis of yours is strong but let me gift you something even better."

She winked at him as leaned her face even closer. Arthur was about to jump back but he found himself completely bound. His eye shone with a blue light and time was slowed, however, even after succeeding in doing that, he still couldn't escape the grasp of the invisible power pressing down on him.

In the end, the woman's lips pressed on his cheek for one full second before slowly and reluctantly retracting. Feeling that he was no longer bound, Arthur jumped back like a frightened chicken, his heart beating insanely fast but his expression was completely frosty.

He was about to attack Zaarae but was stopped by the sudden appearance of a row of system notifications.

*[Thought Telekinesis] has evolved into [Psychic Mind]*

*[Psychic Mind] has evolved into [Thought and Effect]*

*Creation Magic has affected [Thought and Effect]*

*[Thought and Effect] is now [Thought and Effect+]*

*You gained a new title: The Empress' Sweetheart

*You gained a new title: Lord of Parasites

*Your stats increased, please check the status window for more details.*

TITLE: MEAT GRINDER / SEEKER OF KNOWLEDGE / ONE WITH THE SWORD / ARK HOLDER / LIVE WITH HONOR, DIE WITH GLORY / BREAKER OF CHAINS / HOLDER OF THE DARK BLADE'S OATH / MAD DESTROYER/PSYCHOPATH/DRAGON RIDER / UNSEEN BOND / ONE STALKED BY THE REAPER / DIVINE HERALD / THE EMPRESS' SWEETHEART / THE LORD OF PARASITES / SLAVE MASTER

Level: ??

Class: Dark ARK Parasite

Realm: Overgod (Formation)

Celestial Body: 26%

-

Strength: 41.9B

Intelligence: 45B

Agility: 48.1B

Wisdom: 33.3B

Vitality: 50.1B

Dexterity: 26.7B

-

Health: 66.6B// Health Regen: 39.7/s

Nether Energy: 14B // Nether Energy Regen: 23m/s(+100%)

Mana: 13.4// Mana Regen: 29.99m/s

Stamina: Infinite /Stamina Regen: ???

-----

Creation: 1000

----

Attack: 39.4 (+35% damage [Dark Flame Ring]) (+20% if Dark Magic is used) (+5% [Warrior's Cry[LvMax](Passive)][+2% from Breaker of Chains Title]

Defense: 48.2B(+25% Damage Reduction) (+5% [Solid [LvMax](passive)] (+10% [Golem's Wall(LvMax)(Passive)]

Magic Defense: 4.2B

Soul Defense: 29m(-29m 'no soul, clone')

---

Enigma abilities : Thought and Effect / [Light Operation/ Righteous Death ] / Sixth sense /

-

Mental Power: 44000

---

Elemental Resistances(+)

Fire: 100%

Darkness: 100%

Wind: 35%

Water: 75%

Earth: 75%

Light/holy: 65%

Shadow: 30(+20%)%

Lightning: 100%

Ice: 30%

Death : 19.9%

Crowd Control : 50%

Life: 19.9%

---

Possessions (472,097)

---

Races:

?Divine Beasts (4)

?Humans (283,054)

?Demons (84,991)

?Beasts (+)(101,529)

?Unique Beasts (2511)

?Mythical beings (1)

****

[Thought and Effect]: An enigma ability that allows the user to control things with their mind. It can deal significant damage to spiritual beings (Ghosts, wraiths, etc..) and deals 5% more damage to material beings and objects. Highly effective against those with lower Mental Power than the user(Arthur MoonStar).

It cannot work against those with the title 'Death's Beckon'. It cannot work against those with the 'Feather Wind' Physique. It cannot work against those with the 'Emerald Soul'.

Can be fused with *Dark Magic* and *Natural Lightning* but the cost will increase from 0 to 500 Mental Power/s. *

*The user (Arthur MoonStar(clone) cannot continue the formation of the Celestial Body. The real host will acquire the Celestial Body when the formation is completed.*

*All increase in stats will be applied to the real host when the clone is called back or dies.*

*Please note that in case of the death of the user (Arthur MoonStar(clone)), the obtained skills, titles, and stats will be automatically transferred to the original within a period of 1-7days. Additionally, the memories of the user (Arthur MoonStar(clone)) will be instantaneously sent to the main host. Any disruption to the System may lead to a problem in the transfer phase, please proceed with caution.*

Arthur had just read this long list of notification only for another louder blue window to appear again, blocking his sight.

*To all System users, please maintain a safe distance from the X-TR500 Universe for the foreseeable future. We are currently taking care of the B-32 Virus and advise all players to avoid each other for the time being.*

*To all System users, the Tamtar Galaxy, Milky Way Galaxy, Andromeda Galaxy, Kamstar Galaxy, and the T-99 Supercluster are under quarantine. Any player seen entering or leaving it will be attacked on sight, please be aware.*

*To all System Users, the general System under maintenance and therefore absent tomorrow from 1AM to 1PM*

*********

The day Arthur and co escaped the prison.

The place was chaotic when Habs was sent flying and was injured by Zaarae. Although the injuries weren't that fatal, they still slightly weakened him and, to make matters worse, there seemed to be another invader, one who was much bolder and destructive than Arthur.

This mysterious individual broke in when he was away and brought one prisoner back with him. He attacked any angel that retaliated and didn't hesitate to kill.

The human Warden held his short sword and glared at the black figure, his face ugly to the extreme. He was humiliated after Arthur killed Carpentine but now another person was worsening the situation for him.

"Who are you? What are y-"

His words got stuck in his throat as he saw an unconscious man laying on the invader's shoulder. Surprisingly, it was none other than Edward Ortberg, the serial-killer from earth. The Warden's eyes sharpened as he charged at the enemy, who was wearing a strange black suit made of metal and had many changing numbers all over it.

The unknown invader held a silver spear and swept at it Habs, cracking the space and unleashing a silver burst which clashed with the warden.

…

"You won't be leaving this place!"

Habs spat some blood and looked at the enemy, who was also bleeding from his shoulder and knee. Although Habs knew he was stronger than the enemy, he still couldn't win due to that black suit, which fired laser beams that are only found in the System universe.

"You're a white specter… is this the White Specter Clan's doing? Do you know that you're offending Heaven?"

An illusory white tail enveloped in white flames was swaying from behind the individual. The White Specter's transformation was famous and easily recognizable. He didn't know who this masked person was but it was definitely a specter and not a strong one, at that. Were it not for that technological suit, he would have already won but the fight lasted for more than two hours and he was even injured in the chest.

The silver spear pierced his chest, exactly where Zaarae hit previously.

'If I'm dying here then it's your damn fault!' Cursed Angelina as she looked at Habs and his increasing aura. She had to fight this Warden with Edward on her shoulder and make sure he doesn't die.

She was talking to Claud, who was behind her arrival here and her current unexpected actions. She learned to believe in him and, especially his prophecies, furthermore, his recent one made her come all the way here and break out Edward.

Angelina threw the man's body to the side before swiftly jumping in the air and holding the spear with both hands. A majestic dragon cry reverberated across the area, it was quickly followed by the splitting of the sky and the appearance of an enormous silver dragon. The woman was inside the dragon's mouth, her spear pointing at Habs, who bent his body and coat his sword with sword essence.

He pressed his foot on the shaking ground, shooting at Angelina with lightning speed. His short sword glowed with black light as it was raised toward the heavens, ready to the meet the dragon.

The clash between the two was explosive and pulverized half of the area, even taking a big chunk of the black structure above the prison. In the end, both sides were injured but Habs was much better off, nevertheless, he wasn't able to pursue Angelina, who turned around and hastily fled.

While holding his bleeding arm, Habs shouted at the angels:

"Chase after her and find Edward! NOW!"

…

Ten minutes later, Edward, who was supposed to be unconscious, slowly opened his eyes and checked if there was anyone around. Ever since the beginning, he was just pretending to be comatose and wondering what's happening. Angelina thought she cut his consciousness but not even she was able to control someone with a soul like his, she underestimated him because he was but a fragile mortal.

The man got on his feet and looked at the lush and eerie forest surrounding him.

"Should I just go back? I don't see the point in wandering around."

He let out a sigh and looked downward, noticing a small piece of paper which was totally out of place.