“This must be the place, let’s find the entrance to the south.” Said The king reaching a tall wall made of single slabs of raw rock.

As the king committee reached the entrance, they realized there were no guards keeping it.

“I don’t see a gatekeeper, but there is someone watching us.” Said Zafira as everyone nodded in agreement.

Varos moved forward and hailed the gate, “Is someone there? We came to see the one Named Arthas! We were informed he was here and to request an audience through this gate!”

A few moments passed and the gate began to open. A man in a green cloak appears and invites the king committee inside.

“Take a good look at Varos, let’s see how different their camp is to ours.” said the king with a smile.

The commander just gave a small nod.

As they left the horses by a stable, Varos turned to the king, “This looks like a small village with city-like buildings, this is not an army camp…”

“There are children and elderly too…” added Zafira, noticing them in the distance by some kind of training ground and inside the houses. “I don’t understand… Where are all the soldiers?”

The green cloak remained silent and led them through the village. “Arthas!” he finally said toward the training ground, training there, the king and the others could recognize a few faces.

Zafira’s eyes sparkled when she saw Arthas, she smiled and almost couldn’t contain herself. “Arthas!” she shouted happily.

“Behave Zafira, let me talk first, then you can do whatever you want, as long it serves our purpose.”

Therese and Leona were sword training against each other, close by them Attia and Bellica were doing strenuous physical training, and watching them all was Arthas. As he saw the green cloak approaching he nodded and began walking towards the king.

“I imagined it was a matter of time for someone from the plains to come here. But I didn’t think it would be so soon and the king himself.” Said Arthas.

“It’s to show how much we are interested in you.”

“But I’m not interested, not then and not now.”

“Wait!” urged the king, “At least hear me out! I’m willing to give you and everyone you appoint a place amongst the clans, we will create new ones if need be… even a human one for him if you wish! He and whoever you want will be part of the leadership of our plains!”

Arthas chuckled, “There was a time when I’d be moved for such words. But after seeing the reality of the plains and the people there, that no longer is the case. What would they do if a bunch of half breeds suddenly stepped in, by a whim of the esteemed king?”

“The strong must rule, and he shuts down whoever opposes him. It’s that simple.” said the King.

“It’s never that simple. To rule through contempt and fear is not our way, not anymore.”

“That’s why you chose to follow that man? Abandoned our ways? Because he is a leader that does what you want?”

“You purposely forget that we are half-human too. What if he is the more apt to be the leader? What if he’s the more intelligent, wise, and knowledgeable of us all? Doesn't that make him a good leader?”

“But you are beastmen! Lions! To follow a human, that’s…”

“Don’t you see the hypocrisy in your speech? That man is my master, my friend, and my family, to say he is my leader is an understatement. He has given us more than we all can repay in a lifetime, so understand that there is nothing you can say or offer that could change that.”

“There is always a way, I just need to find it. Everybody wants something!”

“It seems our last conversation meant nothing.”

“On the contrary, you opened my eyes to our situation! To the future of the beastmen.”

“Then you should return to the plains and work towards that future. Because It is not here.”

The king nodded, “I understand, you have a strong sense of duty towards him. I respect that. And I don’t wish to stand between that, but I won’t lie either. I don’t like humans but I’d make a concession for him because of you. And from what I’ve seen so far if you decide to come with me, all others will follow, that human as well”.

Arthas smiled to himself, finding that very amusing.

The king found his reaction strange but continued “You don’t believe my words? I tell you, if you come, he will change his speech at the same moment. Don’t think for a second that he’d abandon you as he claims. He’d put his tail between his legs if he had one and give whatever excuses he could think of to go with you. I guarantee it! I know his type very well. So if you fear he will leave, he won’t, and you coming with me you will be able to achieve the greatness you were destined for!”

Arthas raised his eyebrow, “You know the type? You wouldn’t know greatness even if it hit you in the face.” The king frowned, Zafira held a laugh but Varos didn’t even move a muscle.

Arthas looked at Varos, his lack of reactions was odd. It was like Arthas could sense fear from him every time Riou was mentioned, “At least not all of you seem to be blind to it… Varos isn’t it? Tell me, what do you think of your king’s proposal, especially regarding my human master joining your ranks?”

Varos looked at the King.

“Speak Freely, son.”

Varos nodded. “We shouldn’t be involving ourselves with that man, he shouldn’t be allowed in the plains or near our cities… he is a monster that will bring destruction to us all. I say let the humans deal with him.”

Arthas got immediately concerned, the king saw his reaction and immediately jumped in.

“Varos? That again? You really got scared by a human trader? I can’t believe this, don’t mind his words Master Arthas, he must be with a human fever or something.”

A gray cloaked woman suddenly appeared close to Arthas, to the complete surprise of the king and his followers. Some of the Lionesses further away even pulled their swords in reflex.

The gray cloak whispered in Arthas' ears, “And the queen?” he asked. The cloaked woman continued and Arthas’ eyes widened for a moment.

“Attia, Bellica!” He called. “Prepare to leave, we are going to the Master's side, we will leave immediately!”

They quickly approached. “But he ordered us to stay… we are not allowed to leave the village.” Plainly said Attia as Bellica nodded agreeing.

A voice came from farther away. “Then we shall go with you.” Therese approached and stood by Arthas while Leona stopped nearby her.

Zafira forced a smile, “Therese you old hag… Why am I not surprised to see you here? And care to tell me, why are you so close to my man?”

Therese smiled faintly, “Your man? So it was your unpleasant scent that lingered… nonetheless, I’m sorry to inform you, but Arthas is my mate.”

Zafira hissed like a cat and was ready to pounce her when the King’s voice stopped her “Enough! Take your conversation elsewhere! You are interrupting us.”

Zafira lowered her head and kept her eyes on Therese that maintained her faint smile.

Arthas shook his head, “I’m sorry king, but this conversation is over, my answer is no and right now I have something much more important to do.”

“What? Nothing is more important than the beastmen! This conversation is far from over.”

“I don’t care about you Oyran. But out of respect for our common ancestry, we will offer you shelter and rest before you depart back to your land. But I’m leaving now.” Said Arthas already walked away. “Watch them and bring me a large orange communication orb,” said Arthas to the Gray Cloak before leaving.

Therese and Leona Followed him under a menacing look of Zafira “This isn’t over Therese!”

The Lioness kept her faint smile “Good to see you too Zafira, have a safe trip back.” she said waving goodbye as Leona held in laughter.

Varos approached his father “We should go, father, we shouldn’t involve ourselves with these people. We are inviting a beast that could swallow the whole plains.”

“Nonsense! Look around you! Look at this place, their weapons, and equipment. This is exactly why we need to bring Arthas to our side… we will stay until he comes back and we will make the most of this experience. Are you listening, Zafira? Do whatever you can to take him to our side.”

She nodded “Gladly.” while her eyes followed Therese walking away.

Away from the king, Arthas receive the org. “Master!? Can you hear me? Is anyone there?”

“Arthas?” Eileen’s voice comes through. “What happened?”

“Queen! Have you returned to the Master's side?”

“No, he was supposed to come back here, to Longart.”

“How was he, the last time you saw him?”

“Very Angry”

“I see… Queen, since you are back in Longart, you should help it prepare. Iris armies are marching against longart. In any case, you should prepare on your side to negotiate with them. If all fails, we will intervene.”

“The army? But Riou took care of them, he said that they wouldn’t attack.”

“That’s strange, but our scouts just gave us the information, the army is marching as we speak, armed and ready for battle!”

“Do you think something happened to him?” asked Eileen, concerned.

“I’m going to Iris, I will find him before anything happens, don’t worry queen!”

A man moves quickly through the streets, covered from head to toe in a cape and hood. He sneaks into an alley and looks around to see if he is being followed.

He slams the wall in anger, “Years of planning and preparation wasted in a single night!” a deep breath to recover his cool.

“That’s what you get for not listening to me, I don’t know what Brahm got on Tullius to get him so worked up but… Ah, just a bit more and Tullius would put me in his inheritance spell. I already had his dog under a blood oath and Tullius didn’t even like his cousin that much, it was just a matter of time for him to choose me.”

He looks around to see if there is no one nearby and takes off the cloak. The manager sighs while leaning on the wall, “He should have let me kill that son of a whore! Another Norseman body wouldn't be a problem to deal with, Brahm or not.”

The manager shakes his head. “But now I will have to start over, lucky me I know exactly to whom Tullius’ assets went, and even more so, I know the person very well. Another greedy son of a bitch, he will be ecstatic when I bring him the news of his newfound fortune.”

The Manager starts to walk towards the street.

“At least this time around there won’t be an assassin competing with my position.” He ponders for a moment, “Doesn’t he have a daughter that has not married yet. Perhaps I could explore that, it would be easy to secure my entry into nobility that way… and when the old man passes away his fortune would naturally be mine.”

He smiles and pulls a dagger, “I should’ve thought of this earlier.” He looks at his reflection on the blade, “But for that plan to work some changes are required.” He then began to cut his long hair with the dagger, turning it into short hair.

He removes a patch on his cheek, revealing a deep scar covered by perfect makeup.

He moved his whole body stretching it, his movements and posture drastically changed after it.

“I still need a new face, a new name but the gift is ready. A big lord’s fortune with no strings attached to it since the Tulip problems were cleaned up, well mostly at least. Knowing the man’s reputation, he will be delighted with the news I’m bringing to him! Haha!”

He looks to a large house on the other side of the street. “I just need to play my cards right from now on, I already wasted years with Tullius, can’t let it happen again now. I need to gain trust quicker and for that, I might need to falsify a better identity, maybe a military rank? Yes, that will do nicely… But one way or another, that fortune and title will be mine!”

Something comes at a high speed activating Max’s time Rune giving the mage the opportunity to block it with an ice wall just in time.

A large bone thorn gets stuck in his barrier. “What is this? A bone? No, this cannot be! The owner of this spell is dead!” He looks over and sees a person in a black cloak and a large staff on its hand. Raising it and forming another of those bones, ready to shoot at him.

“Demeran!? Is that you?” shouted Max.

But another bone was shot and was coming fast at him. With another Barrier, he tried to stop it again.

But the bone thorn went through it like it was nothing and pierced the mage's shoulder, shocking the old man that almost passed out from its intensity.

Max got back on his feet with a hard panting from the pain and shock. “This is just like that time… that means I have only one option!” He raised his good arm up and began conjuring a spell, a large sword began to appear, “Dragon Slay…”

The old mage suddenly feels strange mana invading his body, and then hears loudly from right beside him, “Wake up old man, this is not the time to fall for this kind of tricks!” It was Riou’s voice, loud and clear as if he was standing right there. And as the old mage looked at it, he noticed Riou’s silhouette that was already vanishing.

“Riou!?” shouted the old man searching for him. “What just happened?” Suddenly he realizes that his shoulder is no longer in pain. He looks over and the wound is gone but he was still in the middle of the desert.

“Here… of all places. Why am I here again?”

“And now, I just need to watch as you kill each other,” said Sadon with a smile.

Riou immediately looks back and sees Galan shooting arrows at Max at a very close range, the mage’s time rune saves him and allows him time to block his attacks with an ice wall. But strangely enough, the old man fell to the ground as if he was hit on the shoulder.

Riou rushed to his friend's aid, penetrating the time sphere created by the rune. He sees no wound on the mage’s shoulder despite the mage’s pained expression.

“Max?” said Riou, but the old man didn’t even acknowledge his presence.

The old magus stands, speaking towards Galan that seemed to be struggling with something else now. Looking around him, I was very concerned.

“An illusion? No, it can't be just that...”

And as Max begins casting one of his best spells, Riou realized how deep that effect was. He tries to break the mage out of it.

“Wake up old man, this is not the time to fall for this kind of trick!”

But Max just seemed to feel it momentarily, but his mind was clearly still trapped and wandered away.

Sadon smiled at Riou. “So you have not trapped in that spell-like the others? How did you avoid it? Tell me, and I might spare your life.” said Sadon

Riou watches as Max searches around desperately, “Avoided it? I don’t remember being hit by it. I didn’t even see you casting it.”

“Hahahaha! If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine, I will enjoy giving you an excruciating death, nonetheless!”

Sadon opens his arms and a purple cloud of poisonous mist forms with his mana and it rapidly moves towards Riou, Max, and Galan.

With a quick burst of fire, Riou set the cloud ablaze.

“Impossible! How did you burn that poison? It shouldn’t burn!”

“Everything burns, you just need the right fire.”

“It seems you are indeed an excellent mage, I wonder why the council has never heard of you before. Well, it doesn't matter now, I’ve gathered enough power from all those souls! My body will finally evolve to the last stage, after that, immortality is within my grasp!”

He suddenly stopped, “Of course, to the Council what is due, I will recover the artifact and share it with them once I’m complete.”

His insect-like body continued to transform, it seems that even without the artifact on his hands, it was still undergoing a transformation. More and more it moved from a humanoid shape into a large insect creature. The skin was already a shining carapace, the teeth were sprouting out of the mouth and something seemed to be pressuring the clothes on his back.

He looks at the artifact in his hand and then toward Max and Galan who were still completely immersed in something only they could see. “Come on Max, you should have snapped out of that already! When you wake up we will have a conversation about how to properly alter artifacts' properties!”

Riou then glanced at Lord Gilles and Fernand Holden inside the room, and both didn’t seem affected as well, both were watching closely and fearfully the giant insect movements.

Sadon walks forward and through the stone wall as if it was not even there. Breaking it completely as he went after Riou outside.

Riou watched as Sadon walked towards him. “Last chance for a quick death, give me the artifact and I promise not to eat too much of your soul.”

“Tell me about your council members and I will give it back to you.”

Sadon smiled, “Curious, aren’t we, but what possibly would you like to know?”

“Well, by our calculations, there should be 4 of you left, am I right?”

“I suppose I can tell you that much. We have three left… One of our members had an unfortunate fate.”

“Care to tell me their whereabouts too? After all, I’m about to die, aren’t I?”

“Hahaha! Certainly! Let me tell...” suddenly Sadon’s expression changed as he seemed to space out for a moment, quickly returning to speak. “Well, it seems wrong to spill other people's secrets just because mine was exposed.”

“Then you won’t get this back…” Riou began focusing his mana on the artifact, which began to absorb it and crack.

“What are you doing! Stop!” Sadon's clothes ripped on his back revealing big transparent wings, they began to flap wind towards Riou.

Riou noticed that with the wind blowing, a small, glittering substance was also coming with it, and as it fell on his body Riou felt it becoming heavier and heavier and ultimately stopping his mana into the Orb.

“Fool, now you are done. No matter how powerful you think your spells are, your body is still human and your mana is now trapped within it! Not even the mighty Beastmen could free themselves from my Wing Dust!”

Riou sighed and began to laugh.

“What is so funny?”

“I’m just too tired to even bother, it seems. It has been a rough couple of days and my patience levels are really low.” Riou began to dust off the powder that fell upon him casually as if it was just some dirt on his coat.

“What? How can you move?”

“Usually I’d play along to see what else I could dig out of you, maybe even lure a friend of yours out. But today, I really don’t feel like it, all I want is to step on this bug and be done with it... with this damned city.”

Sadon rushed at Riou with his massive insect arms to crush him, “In your dreams that I will allow you to fight back! Die like a good prey you are!”

As he swings down his arms, they are sent flying, ripped from his body with extreme pulling force. Sadon then heard Riou’s voice, his tone was very calm but emotionless. “I’m not unreasonable, surrender and tell me what I want to know and I will let you live.”

Sadon shouted and his arms grew back almost instantly, bigger and more menacing than before. “Preposterous!”

Riou just Sighed and moved his hand a bit, from side to side, and once again the recently regenerated arms were pulled off, with extreme pain and power. Then Riou moved his hand down and did the same movement. Sadon’s legs cracked instantly and were torn away from his body making his torso fall down into the ground.

“Ahhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrgh! What have you done!?” Shouted Sadon in pain, quickly trying to regenerate his limbs.

The arms come out even sharper than before, resembling blades now, the legs became even more insect-like with large muscle and shape designed for explosive power.

“I’m the almighty Sadon, I will not be undone by simple tricks! My limbs can regenerate!” he said as he put his arm to the ground to try to get up. As he tried to use it as leverage to raise himself, the arm was ripped away, making him fall in great pain once again.

“Now… Do insects feel pain when they lose a limb? I don’t remember… oh well, but you sure do.”

Once again he regenerates all his four limbs that came out even more menacing and powerful than before, but Sadon is starting to show signs of fatigue.

“I can regenerate forever!” he shouts

Crack his recently formed members crack, his arms and legs are pulled off again, making him fall to the ground like a useless log.

“Did I say you could stand up?” said Riou walking towards him.

“What kind of spell is this!? How can you use it so effortlessly? Who are you!?”

“I ask the questions here. Who are your friends? Where are they?” At the same moment, Sadon regenerated his limbs but they no longer seemed to be evolving, and they were immediately ripped away by Riou’s spell.

“Arghh!”

“Who are your friends?”

“Urgh! Stop!”

“You can’t control it, can you? You seem to be able to delay it, but regeneration always happens… interesting. And look, you’re no longer evolving either. I wonder what happens when you reach your limit.”

“Stop! Stop!” the limbs are ripped off again. “You fucking… Aaah!”

Riou just kept silent now, piling up insect limbs as they regenerated. He glanced at Gilles and Fernand who watched the scene perplexed. He looked back and saw that Max and Galan were still affected by the strange spell but were not attacking each other anymore.

“This is all very interesting… but it’s time to get serious, I wonder if you can regenerate if I cut your chest in half.” he looks at Sadon on the ground.

“Enough… enough… stop, any more and I won’t have any life essence left.”

“Then tell me what I want to know! Tell me the names of your friends and their whereabouts. Do that and you will live for a little longer.”

Sadon nodded and he glanced at the house. At that moment Riou noticed everything around him waving and dancing like a mirage dissipating and then forming again.

He sees himself inside a thick old forest, full of large trees everywhere. And around him, he can feel a presence. “I recognize this place… so the spell somehow manages to use the host’s memory after all.”

From behind a tree, a large snake with a tail full of spikes appears, menacingly threatening Riou.

“You? I remember now, you made me run for it once and gave a nasty scar on my leg… I see, this spell somehow can look into our memories, not only that, I can almost feel the pain on my leg from back then, even the feeling from been thrown in this world is coming back. So, that's how it convinces us to attack each other… an interesting spell, it affects us on so many levels, maybe that’s how it bypassed my defensive rune?”

He looks at the snake, slithering into position and preparing to attack.

“Let me guess, this is probably Galan and his bow, well, a snake fits him just right.”

Fernand turned to Gilles as Sadon began to slowly recover himself. “Quickly Lord Gilles! We need a weapon to fight that monster! Let’s go back to your Vault and get something to defend ourselves from that thing!”

“You are Right Holden, go quickly inside!”

Gilles picked the twin fangs from the wall, “that thing clearly overpowers me in magic, but If it gets close enough, I doubt it can withstand this metal!” Ferdinand looked around, searching for something.

“Quickly Holden! That thing will come for us at any moment!” Said Gilles moving to watch from the door.

“Of course! I’m ready!” replied Ferdinand after making sure Gilles was not watching what he was picking up and hiding in his pocket.

Gilles pulls an orange crystal from his shirt pocket and whispers towards it “Bring everyone, my cover house is under attack, get me out of here!”

Riou closed his eyes and let out a mana wave, a sonar to try to locate the real position of everyone.

Within his mind, the wave went on but never felt it return. “What? This can’t be, there should be people around me. Why can’t I sense it?” But as time went on, Riou began feeling more and more detached from that reality and drawn to what he was seeing.

He turned around and found himself inside of a broken temple, a Tormentor looked at him from the corner.

“It’s like I just woke up from a dream-like everything was just a moment, a blink of an eye. No, no, I can’t forget that this is not the present and that’s probably Max over there.”

He closed his eyes and tried to sense the spell, something of this depth should have a deep mana connection to something. but he just couldn't find it.

“How do I stop it if I can’t sense its location?” Riou looked at the snake behind him and the Tormentor in front, both looking at him with intent.

It didn’t take long for the snake to launch its needles. Noticing it, Riou dodged them, not sure which one, if any, were real arrows.

He looks down and sees shadows by his feet that he could swear wasn’t there before, an attack immediately came from it that pierced his leg. Just like a Tormentor would do.

“There was nothing there before! Why are there shadows now? Think... Think, Max’s spells wouldn't attack me from that angle and in such a piercing manner, it’s not like him, his spells are more straightforward and much bigger than that… so this must be an illusion, but damn it hurts just like the real thing!”

Riou looked around searching. “But how? And why am I affected now too? And where is this coming from?” He looks at the temple room he sees. “This is Gilles house, I can’t feel it but the Artifact must still be in my hand. So Sadon must be close by, but is this his doing? I didn’t see him casting it, I didn’t even sense it and I was watching him closely all the time. He couldn’t possibly have done it, he was almost dead.”

Riou dodges as he sees a direct attack coming aimed at his chest. “This was definitely one of Max’s spells. Came in a straight line from the Tormentor and felt much bigger than the tendrils that wicked thing used to do.”

His leg hurts as Riou is forced to move. Another volley of needles comes and forces him to move away from the area quickly which strains his leg even more.

A grave concern came to his mind as another shadow suddenly seemed to appear by where he was standing. It was too close and if an attack came from that… and the moment his mind acknowledged that concern, the attack followed. Riou put his best magical defenses up instantly, from the ground to the ceiling, isolating him from that shadow in an attempt to avoid an attack, knowing all too well its capacity of moving around barriers.

But the tendril just went on, through the barriers and piercing him easily, despite his protections, mana shields, and everything else.

Blood comes out of his mouth as he is whipped to the side by the tendril. As he hits the ground, the pain overwhelms him, “I can even feel my lungs filling up with blood now, shit, I know this isn’t real but I can’t breathe! That attack came from my own mind, there is no blood, breath goddammit!”

He looked around as the air was leaving him for good and noticed the Tormentor's feet, stretched into the ground and beyond it. Riou smiled at it. “It’s worth a try”, and before he lost consciousness, he cast a spell with all remaining focus he had left “Plane Disjunction!”

Suddenly, Lord Brahm that was down the ground, folds into himself and vanishes from everyone’s sight. The large insectoid man was standing, slowly recovering himself while watching the show.

“What?” said Sadon, confused about what just happened.

Gilles and Fernand that watched him as well, watched from the security of the next room and could not understand how he vanished in thin air.

Sadon moves forward with difficulty to search for him, The council mage powers had been greatly drained. “Where is he! Where is he! How did he escape?”

Riou's voice startled him “I did not escape, it was just a strategic retreat.” and it came from nearby, Sadon turns and finally finds him there, Riou had reappeared.

The strange and unknown lord just dusted off the dirt from his clothes, completely fine and not affected by the strange spell anymore.

"You broke free? But nobody can break free from that spell!"

“Oh no, it's a hard one I must say, but it has its limitations. It almost got me good despite my resistances, I mean, I don’t think I’d die in a dream, but I definitely would become easy prey.” He waved his hand in the air, strangely lighting up very small spheres that were floating around his hand and body.

“As I suspected, this is why I couldn’t find a source nor feel the spell, the mana particles are all spread thinly into the air and there is no connection to one another, fascinating. This way there is no way to trace it back to the source nor prevent it if you are unaware. You will gradually absorb the particles until you got enough to bypass mental defenses and start the illusion. I mean, despite the lack of real attack power, it’s an interesting spell.”

"But even if you managed to discover, you shouldn't be immune to it!"

Riou smirked to Sadon, “Once I switched planes and got into an environment without the spell particles, it was obvious how it worked, it just took a little longer to get on me probably because of my natural defenses.”

“Natural defenses? What kind of monster are you?!”

Riou smiled, “The fact is, that I won't be affected by that anymore. So shall we resume our conversation? I believe you were about to tell me about your friends,” Riou waved and flicked his arm more strongly, and the lighted spheres around him were blown away into the sky.

Max suddenly smiled and looked at Riou “Haha! I did it! I finally broke out of that strange spell! Thanks to your tip Riou, I realized what it was and I managed to break free after a while” Cheered Max. Galan looked around a bit confused. “I was fighting, the headmaster was still alive. What happened?”

Max noticed the pile of limbs nearby and the strange humanoid insect nearby. “Don’t tell me that’s his arms and legs?”

“Yep, That’s Sadon from the council, we are pals now, aren’t we? And since we are such good friends, he said he’d tell us all about his friends, isn’t that right? My new insect friend?”

Sadon swallowed hard and looked towards Gilles and Fernand, after everything that happened he knew he couldn’t match Riou alone. “Help me! If we both join forces we will be able to…”

Fernand pointed a round green sphere at Sadon, argonian runes lit up in the item and a green ray of power hit the council mage in his chest.

“Yes! Yes! The power is overflowing within me!” Said Sadon as his torso elongated and 4 more arms appeared with sharp claws for hands, from his rear, 4 more legs as his abdomen stretched out. He now looked like a complete insect, massive in size, and his power could be felt by everyone there.

Gilles looks at Ferdinand, “What have you done?”

Fernand sighed, “That damn man, he has not a single fiber in his body to involve me so shamefully like this. Such desperation, a man would have taken a lady’s secret to their grave, don’t you agree, my darling Gilles?” Ferdinand’s voice changed and became more feminine. “What? Who are you? You are not Holden!” Gilles stepped away.

“But I am…” Fernand opened his arms, spreading a large quantity of his mana on the environment.

“Step back Max, don’t let his mana touch you… we found our number two, we just need to find the last one now.”

Max nodded and stepped back, creating a sphere of protective shield to prevent foreign mana to get closer to him.

Riou looked at Sadon as he finished his transformation and smiled “Now my ugly friend, you still owe me a name!”

A Sadon quickly replied with a scratchy voice “I’m Sadon, the Devourer of Souls shall now be known as the ever-living!”

“Oh come on… you will be lying on a puddle of your own goo in 20 seconds if you don’t start talking right now!”

As Riou stopped speaking, something distorted the space behind Sadon, and a silver portal began to form.