A few hours earlier….

Shiina Yul, Jack’s diminutive red-skinned sponsor, sat on a deep-velvet recliner that was created for someone three times her petite frame, holding a glass of a purplish-white liquid in one hand and a chicken drumstick in the other. On her lap lay an extra large tub of fried chicken, filled to the brim, and four empty buckets were scattered across the lustrous white carpeting.

She intently watched Jack’s movements on a hologram that was projected in the air, as he finished the last Diamond-Back wolf

The shadows in the room suddenly started behaving erratically, and the next second a vague figure cloaked in shadows was standing beside her.

“Impressive foresight, Ma’am,” Zephyr spoke in his thin, wispy voice, tone and pitch remaining consistent throughout.

“You are too attuned to the Dao of Bloodshed, Zephyr. It is both your greatest strength and your greatest weakness,” Shiina chidingly swiped a drumstick at Zepyhr, like a mother lecturing a naive child.

“I still stand by my words, Ma’am. His aura is too soft, too weak, to survive in our world,” Zephyr calmly evaded the drumstick, his shadows dispersing and reforming a small distance away.

“But,” he added, “I do have a question.”

“Mhm.., one second,” Shiina dropped the rest of the drumstick, along with the bone, in her mouth, her razor sharp teeth grinding it to dust within one second.

“Why did you lie to him? The system requires you to tell the truth to all sponsee’s,” Zephyr asked, tilting his obscured head sideways as if he couldn’t fathom the answer.

“Paragons do not lie, Zephyr. Also, this bird tastes quite good,” Shiina nonchalantly asked, as she took a sip of the liquid she held in her right hand.

“But-,” Zephyr moved to interject, but Shiina cut him off.

“Then should I have told him? And lose the last bit of pride as a paragon I have left? How do you explain the destruction of three entire realms to a mortal who has never set foot outside his planet, Zephyr? How do you explain to a race that dreams to one day touch the stars, you already destroyed them? How is the third realm down to a measly seventy three planets, and the galaxies they see are just an Empryean’s Illusions? That very soon, the seal will be broken and they will come to destroy us, and what little remains of the three realms? That we are simply out of time, and the reward they get for surviving is just the conscription to an even greater war? Do you want me to tell him that?" Shiina asked, with anger rising in her voice. The void around the area had solidified, and Zephyr’s shadows were struggling under the pressure.

“I apologize, Ma’am,” Zephyr pleaded, and the pressure receded the next instant.

“Remember, Zephyr,” Shiina said, with a bright smile on her face as she picked up another drumstick from her bucket. “Paragons do not lie. I told him the truth, it just happened to be slightly outdated. By a billion years.”

“Understood, Ma’am,” Zephyr nodded, and then they both turned their attention towards Jack’s struggle for survival.

“Get me another glass,” She snorted angrily, and Zephyr took that opportunity to vanish into the shadows before another wave of pressure tore him and his shadows apart.

Hours passed and to Shiina’s left, empty chicken buckets continued to accumulate. Zephyr had resupplied her within another glass of Spirit Wine, and stood at her side.

Shiina watched with worried eyes, as Jack came under fire by a squad of hob-goblin archers. They were faster, smarter and far more coordinated than the average goblin, moving in groups and prioritizing easy targets. She watched as Jack dipped, ducked, and weaved through the forest, much like a human watching their favorite reality tv show with bated breath, struggling his hardest to survive. She watched as Jack took non-fatal hits from the hobgoblin archers, going through her chicken drumsticks at increasingly greater speeds, and soon it was beyond the scope of the human eye’s detection. If she were not a mighty paragon, one could perhaps describe her as nervous.

“No, damn it!” She yelped angrily as Jack was impaled by a Twilight Boar, chucking her wine glass again. But this time Zephyr was there in time to pluck it calmly from the air, placing it back on the tray he carried in his other hand.

She watched as Jack, in a burst of adrenaline, slew the twilight boar, and cheered knowing that the system would heal him.

The smile quickly faded though, when she realized through the tracking mark she had placed on him that Jack had fallen into the territory of a boss monster. She was tempted to crush the puny insect, but knew that the retribution the system would bring down upon her was not a price she could pay. Only Empyreans were qualified to negotiate with the system, them and only them.

“It is regrettable,” Zephyr calmly replied, as if this was the expected outcome. He closed his eyes, not interested in watching the gruesome death of a man who had fought with valor. Zephyr had acknowledged Jack, be it only so in his death.

Shiina watched on with bated breath as Jack ran for his life, watched on with dismay as Jack was smashed into the mountain’s base, and yet again surprised when he crawled towards the small hole in the cave, towards salvation.

“Ha! See that, you little murderhobo. He’s gonna make it,” Shiina clapped her petite hands together in delight, and Zephyr opened his eyes with some surprise.

“He broke through Titan Fear? Humm…..” Zephyr replied, seemingly lost in thought.

Jack fell inside the cavern, much to the dismay of the Titan, who roared in anger and charged towards the mountain.

Shiina, who was about to burst into a hearty laugh, suddenly turned unprecedentedly serious. The next second she threw up a mouthful of red blood, her eyes going wide in unprecedented horror- falling from the recliner and onto the floor, frozen.

Zephyr’s eyes went wide with shock, and a torrent of immense bloodlust was released over the area. He had already casted fifteen protective skills in barely any time, engulfing the room in complete blackness- Standing over Shiina protectively.

“Zephyr… I’m fine. My… tracking mark… was broken. Do not…. let anyone…know,” was all Shiina could manage to say, before she fainted.

Zephyr checked her vitals, her meridians, and her bloodstream for poisoning- only to reach the conclusion that Shiina was fine, just drained.

Cold sweat drenched Zephyr’s back, unable to fathom what kind of ability was required to make a paragon faint just from the miniscule link left by a tracking mark.

Shadows engulfed both himself and Shiina, and the next instant they disappeared without a trace.