The Vermillion Tyrant, as per his usual modus operandi, had landed somewhere near the South of Marche, the region right above Abruzzo. From there, he had, unsurprisingly, made a flaming path of burnt corpses and rescued every town he had found, making them march toward L’Aquila and then toward St. Peter.

“Oh, I fought desperately against this huge Demonic Bloody Wolf at the Hound realm in L’Aquila. It was the strongest monster in the region, apparently, and I had to breakthrough mid battle to slaughter it! Luis, my subordinate, had to sacrifice himself to give me enough time to…”

Everyone listened with rapt attention. The Vermillion Tyrant was an excellent narrator, conveying all the feelings of despair, rage and anticipation he and his men had felt during the battle.

“So, I told Luis he couldn’t distract the monster for more than ten seconds and I needed at least two minutes to stabilize my cultivation base and fight again! That monster was at the Peak of the Hound Realm. But see, when you get the ‘Tyrant’ title it means that your effective fighting potential is much higher than your current cultivation level. Look at Jacob, the famous Blade Tyrant! I bet he could kill an Oriole realm monster if he tried!”

There were at least a hundred people who instantly turned toward Jacob, who wasn’t a fan of unexpected attentions.

“He’s the one who killed me in my past life!” the Vermillion Tyrant said right after.

Jacob widened his eyes and the rest of the crowd simply whispered, confused.

“Oh! Jacob didn’t tell you? Ah! Well, since I’m here, he can’t keep it a secret anymore. I might as well tell you, people. We are so strong because we come from the future. We died and reincarnated! I mean, I didn’t simply ‘die’, but I got killed by your one and only Blady Tyrant!”

Hektor charisma was such that someone had to refrain from clapping to Jacob’s title, or cheer for what mattered.

The Vermillion Tyrant was so beautiful and charismatic that people could barely move his eyes away from him; getting angry because of this ‘secret’ was impossible at the moment.

“And, oh, what a mighty battle it was! I shall recount how I, one of the greatest warriors of Earth, got bested by he Blade Tyrant! To this day I shudder thinking about the Relic that split my heart in two, both literally and metaphorically!” Hektor launched in a roaring laugther, while patting the first men and women he could find on the shoulders.

“Come, come! I’ll show you people just what a great guy has been leading you! I hear that no one died since he got here! Ah! That’s some leadership!”

The fact that one of his most hated enemies was singing his prayers didn’t please Jacob in the slightest. On the contrary, he felt like choking the man to death. He was so angry, just so angry.

And, as luck usually proved elusive to Jacob, something else happened.

Helena emerged from the crowd and the Vermillion Tyrant stopped dead in its tracks.

“OH-MY-GOD! JACOB! IS THIS HELENA?”

Oh, for Christ’s sake.

Jacob started running toward the man, hoping he could plunge a blade down his throat to shut him up.

“WOW! JACOB, SHE IS GORGEOUS!”

Helena seemed to seize at those words, uncomprehending. Not everyone in St. Peter had met yet the Vermillion Tyrant.

“Oh, milady, I’m so pleased to meet Jacob’s companion,” Hektor smiled with fervor.

“Companion?” Helena frowned.

“OH NO! JACOB!”

Said Jacob finally reached the man and literally jumped on him, tackling him to the ground.

“CAN YOU SHUT UP?!” Jacob shouted in his ear.

“DOES SHE KNOW?” Hektor looked at a slight understanding in Helena’s eyes and immediately pieced everything together. “MY GOD, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TRAGEDY!”

Jacob simply put his hand on the man’s mouth, hoping he would take the subtle hint to stop talking. It was one thing to oust him in front of St. Peter’s inhabitants, and then a whole other thing to speak about certain private feelings in front of everyone else.

“Hektor, I swear to God, if you don’t come with me, right fucking now, I will shatter my goddamn Soul, jump two realm and tear your apart too.”

Jacob slowly got up, releasing the man’s mouth.

“Oh my, you have gotten your hands on the Sixth Tier Forbidden Techniques? When? Oh, Jacob, you have to share them with me!”

The man was so enthusiastic that it was hard for most people to get even the slightest tiny bit of anger toward him.

“I swear, Hektor, I swear if you don’t fucking come with me,” Jacob’s veins were popping on his forehead.

Hektor’s crystalline laughter came right after and the man crossed his arm’s with Jacob’s, having to hunch a bit for the difference in height, and then pointed in a random direction.

“Let’s go, to the house!”

Jacob saw people from St. Peter smile from the ‘extra’ antics of the man and smile.

Oh God, they smiled the same way people had smiled in their past life.

They loved him.

He was just so beautiful, so perfect, so bold and courageous. He wasn’t petty and always remembered names of others, putting them in front of himself.

If he hadn’t doomed humanity himself with his great ambition, he would have been the prototypical hero everyone aspired to be.

He was a tale of ancient times, of magic and marvels. He looked like the most handsome and ruled like the most courageous warrior.

He was the Vermillion Tyrant.