“(Really should have done this from the start.)” [Ryner]

Ryner was inside the ruin of Ofauvra. The soldiers guarding the entrance let him pass since he got permission from the king who had announced how he had helped quell the turmoil. His accomplishments were actually lies, but the public needed to know that one good human was on their side. After this incident, the human race had become even less popular. When Ryner walked through the streets, he noticed that the number of hostile and fearful gazes directed towards him increased. In that way, Rowan’s scheme worked.

“There we go.” [Ryner]

Ryner unceremoniously broke through every wall in his way on the first floor. The labyrinth would repair itself later on. He designed it that way, so he didn’t mind wrecking it. That also applied to the War Puppets that showed up to kill him. He warded off their attacks with the White Wing’s barrier and cut them down. Once he reached the corridor on the other side, he tapped a few spots on the wall and opened a hidden passageway that led to a teleportation circle.

There, he spoke in a language that he made up for his convenience and was teleported to an empty room that only contained the terminal. It was an interface in the form of a black square with a slanted top that was attached to a five diameter pillar that reached the ceiling. The slanted surface that faced the chair placed in front of the squared-shape device had multiple green gems embedded in it. Unlike the last one he saw, this terminal wasn’t broken.

“I’m lucky for once.” [Ryner]

Ryner muttered under his breath as he approached the terminal. He first transformed into his strange form to become something that was never seen before in this world. Then, his appearance became even stranger. His clothes were fading away or changing shape as they turned into smoke. His gloves and shoes disappeared and his shirt became a tight-fitting sleeveless one with a high collar. Moreover, his back was exposed. His hands and feet that were now revealed had black nails. His forearms had a diamond-shaped black scale in the middle that looked like an insect’s shiny shell.

His shoulders had a black line like a tattoo that went down to his back, tracing two lines all the way to his waist that joined up together. From each of them, four black tendrils sprouted, growing longer on Ryner’s back. Furthermore, a thin, transparent membrane with a darkish color formed between them. It looked like he had a pair of wings, or at least, the bones of a pair of wings. Finally, a slim tail covered in small scales like overlapping plates of armor grew out behind him.

His transformation barely took three seconds and he walked towards the terminal while dragging his tendrils on the ground. He sat on the chair and checked the sides of the interface. There were four round holes which were where the eight “keys” needed to be inserted in for the terminal to start. So, he willed his tendrils and raised them in the air, causing the membrane between them to rip and dissolve.

Then, he securely inserted each one into the eight holes and spoke the password out loud. The holes closed and tightened, locking his tendrils in place. Although the terminal had a metallic surface, the material moved like organic matter. After a short while, the holes returned to their original size and the gems lit up, projecting multiple screens in front of him.

“Good, it works. Next…” [Ryner]

Once he took out his tendrils, Ryner typed on the holographic keyboard that was floating in the air and a part of the squared-shape device stretched out towards him. The end formed a sphere to which he put his hand on it. When he did, the sphere absorbed it into its center. He then returned to his human form and waited a bit again. A few seconds later, the ball retracted back into the device, releasing his hand that passed right through it like water.

“(Authentication complete. I finally won’t have to deal with my own security.)” [Ryner]

His physical body was now registered as the owner of the fortress. His War Puppets would no longer attack him. This process was necessary because of Alice’s powers. Just like him, she could create human bodies. If he made his fortress so that it could recognize his human form, or any other physical form, Alice would take advantage of that. She could send copies of Ryner’s human body and they would be recognized as the owners.

That was why he needed to identify himself directly to the terminal like so. It scanned his current body as well as the unique life force his soul possessed. Alice couldn’t replicate that, only the body. It was a troublesome system, but it was better for security reasons.

“Now then, where are they…?” [Ryner]

Having been authenticated, Ryner moved on to the main goal of his visit. Operating the terminal, he searched his entire fortress for four weapons: the Heaven’s Blades. They were different from the other magic weapons that he forged. These weren’t made by him and were much more powerful not to mention that they held history. It was unpleasant history, but still important nonetheless. Unlike the three he stored in his pocket dimension, these four were broken and he hadn’t bothered to retrieve them after his fight with Alice.

“Seriously, if I knew a bunch of gods would turn my old fortress into a planet, I wouldn’t have left them here…” [Ryner]

He couldn’t help but grumble once again because of the effort he needed to exert to retrieve his own possessions.

However, his grumbling stopped as his eyes sharpened.

“(… You’ve got to be kidding me.)” [Ryner]

He carefully looked at the screens and at the results displayed. He checked them again, but the result of his search didn’t change. Of the four Heaven’s Blades he left in his fortress, only one was found.

“… So much for luck.” [Ryner]

Ryner took note of the Heaven’s Blade location that was still present, turned off the terminal and got up. He transformed a second time into his otherworldly form that was clad in black clothes and materialized a sword. He swung the blade in front of him and cracks appeared before him. A shattering sound like glass breaking was heard as a hole in space was opened. The expressionless monster jumped in and headed for a certain dark purpled-haired man’s domain. He was going to complain to him for a bit.

“Ryner! It’s good to see yo-buerg!” [Motyx]

The smiling god, Motyx, was suddenly punched in the face and sent flying.

“Why the hell do you guys keep messing with my stuff?” [Ryner]

The attacker, Ryner, coldly asked him as he retracted his fist that would have turned a normal person into a red gooey mush.

“Wait wait wait! I helped you, didn’t I!? I helped to make sure that that big ship of yours wouldn’t rust away! What’s with the cruel treatment!?” [Motyx]

“Where are the others in charge of this realm? I’ll complain to them too.” [Ryner]

“You’ll punch more gods?!” [Motyx]

Ryner started walking away from Motyx who got up and was rubbing his cheek with his hand. However, even if he looked around, the two were in a vast white space, so there was nothing to see.

“I sent them on an errand, so they’ll be gone for a while. I’m the only here right now.” [Motyx]

“You’re in charge?” [Ryner]

“That’s right.” [Motyx]

“Fine. You’ll do.” [Ryner]

Upon hearing Motyx’ words, the calm but annoyed Ryner turned around and stared at him with his eyes of different color.

“What did you guys do with the Heaven’s Blades?” [Ryner]

“Heaven’s Blades?” [Motyx]

After a few explanations and a non-violent oppressive glare, the god finally understood what he was talking about and spilled the truth.

“Oh, I put three of those things on the surface here and there. Some mortals found them already.” [Motyx]

“… What?” [Ryner]

“Yeah. I also fixed them. They were pretty damaged.” [Motyx]

“… You fixed them?” [Ryner]

“Those weapons were quite interesting. They were made with a material not common in mortal worlds, but of course I had no problem recreating it. Hmm? GUAAAAA!!!” [Motyx]

The proud-looking god’s face was suddenly grabbed by the iron grip of the golden-eyed monster.

“… As expected of a god. You guys can do pretty much anything. I’m impressed.” [Ryner]

“I-if you are… Then stop crushing my face!” [Motyx]

“I’d be more impressed if you knew how to keep your hands to yourself.” [Ryner]

“I, I left you one, didn’t I?!! For when you’d come back! A-as a sign of friendshi-ARRRGGH!!” [Motyx]

“Is that what a thief should be saying?” [Ryner]

Ignoring Motyx’s cries of anguish, Ryner indifferently shared his thoughts with him in a cold voice.

“We agreed a long time ago that you gods wouldn’t interfere with me as much as possible, and I would avoid destroying your realms as much as possible. Where were you when the agreement was made?” [Ryner]

“To, to be fair, from our point of view, you practically abandoned this place…” [Motyx]

“Whatever. Give me compensation and I’ll officially overlook everything that you guys did.” [Ryner]

Ryner let go of his face.

“I’ll stop coming over to punch you if you do.” [Ryner]

“But me taking your weapons to the surface happened before you came here and now you want compensati-?” [Motyx]

“Give me compensation.” [Ryner]

He raised his hand threateningly. Motyx flinched in fear at the sight of his fingers that were like the claws of a ferocious beast. He couldn’t see them, but his face probably still had finger marks.

“Of course! No problem! What do you want?” [Motyx]

“The location of every Heaven’s Blades and information on who currently holds them.” [Ryner]

“Right away!” [Motyx]

Motyx waved his hand and a golden sphere of ten meters appeared over their heads. It was a globe of the world that used Ryner’s fortress as its core. It slowly spun in place and one could see three shining points on it. The globe that formed out of thin air begun to quickly shrink until it was small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand. The object floated down and stayed still in front of Ryner’s chest.

“Here. These white dots will show you where each of your weapons are in the world. To make it easy for you, there’ll be a black dot that shows your position too. You can keep this once you’re done. It’ll just be regular gold.” [Motyx]

“Too flashy.” [Ryner]

The dark purple-haired god presented his magical device with a hint of pride in his voice, but Ryner took it while mercilessly criticizing it. Motyx’s shoulders slumped dejectedly as he told him about who currently possessed the Heaven’s Blades.

“One more thing…” [Ryner]

After he put the golden globe in his pocket dimension, Ryner made his second and last demand.

“I want raw materials.” [Ryner]

Having finished claiming his compensation from Motyx, Ryner slashed a hole through dimension and left the white realm.

“…” [Motyx]

The god that practically got extorted stood alone-

“… Haha.” [Motyx]

And started laughing.

“Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” [Motyx]

He crossed his arms over his stomach and laughed noisily. Anyone could tell that he was really enjoying himself. However, his loud laughter contained a hint of madness.

“Hahaha! Ahhhh~ so fun! Ryner really is so fun!” [Motyx]

He wiped the tears in the corner of his eyes with his fingers and his lips curled into a suspicious smile.

“Now then, what will you do to get back what’s yours? Are you going to ask them politely? Or will you kill them all?” [Motyx]

Although there was nothing there, he stared far into the horizon and talked to himself.

“Show me how it’s done. How you’ll bring chaos into this world.” [Motyx]

The light in his entranced eyes was dark and muddy. The smile he wore was eerie, creepy and yet it held respect that bordered on admiration for the person that just left.

“Show me what you are… Ryner.” [Motyx]

Having returned to his fortress, Ryner, who was in human form, examined the spherical device that looked exactly like a work of art sculpted out of pure gold. There were three white dots that showed the locations of his Heaven’s Blades as well as a new black dot that showed his current position.

“… Time to leave.” [Ryner]

He muttered quietly before storing the device in his pocket dimension and made his way to the surface. When he walked through the first maze, he went through the holes in the walls he made as a shortcut. There were Seekers skulking around the dim passageways, waiting for the right opportunity to slit an intruder’s throat. However, when they saw Ryner, they let him pass without attacking him at all.

So, on this day, the ancient monster that created the ruins was finally able to walk around without getting assaulted by his own War Puppets.