“We’re under attack?!”

Jin was walking hurriedly down the halls of the Silver Nest.

“I knew that this would happen sooner or later. Who’s attacking us?”

He asked a soldier.

“The Four Pillars!”

“How large are their forces?”

“That’s…”

“Hurry up and speak.”

“There’s one enemy, sir.”

Jin halted in his steps and looked at the soldier in confusion.

“What did you say?”

“There’s only one enemy.”

Jin grabbed the soldier by his collar.

“Are you fucking with me? There’s just one enemy and you can’t handle it yourself? The country is on complete lockdown so it isn’t someone from the outside. Are you telling me that there’s someone on the Pillars side who would attack…”

Jin’s eyes widen and he slowly released the soldier’s collar.

“There is someone. With how quiet she’s been, I’ve completely forgotten about her.”

He broke out in a sprint with a serious look on his face. He quickly reached the door and was about to push it open.

*Boom!*

The door exploded, causing him to swiftly retreat. He looked in front of him and was surprised to see that what had destroyed the door and the wall was a fighter jet.

“Just what the hell?”

He ran outside and halted his steps and looked on in shock.

“Just….Just what the hell happened?!”

Jin shouted.

Destruction and chaos, those words perfectly described what he was seeing. The buildings were collapsing, aircrafts were falling out of the sky and crashing into the earth, and the screams of the people mixed with the sounds of explosions creating a sickening melody.

“How could Natasa do all this by herself in a short amount of time?”

Nico and the other Silver Crow members came running up to Jin.

“It’s possible with her Inborn Ability.”

Jin didn’t say anymore and ran towards the city. The rest of Silver Crow followed behind him.

“Listen, Natasa Kingsley has an inborn ability called Thousand Beast Incarnate. This ability grants her the ability to possess the powers and traits of 1000 beasts. Not alone that, this power evolves as she grows allowing her beast abilities to constantly reach the next level. In other words, Natasa Kingsley has the power of a thousand beast but those beasts aren’t fixed. You could fight her tomorrow and she’ll have a different thousand abilities than she did before.”

“Wait, then doesn’t that mean she actually have an infinity amount of abilities instead of a thousand?!”

Chrome asked. Jin nodded with a solemn expression.

“If we’re talking about potential and the nature of her ability alone she’s destined to become one of the world’s strongest beings.”

The Silver Crow members all had solemn looks on their faces.

“However, that’s if she lives to see that day. Also in the face of true strength, it doesn’t matter what kind of power you have, you will lose.”

Jin accelerated and left the others in the dust.

“I’ll make that clear to her today.”

*************

Downtown, Newgate City. Natasa was walking down the street while dragging a burning and wrecked android.

“I heard that this place was filled with combat bots to protect it but I can’t believe that this is all they amount to.”

She flung the android to the side like it was garbage.

“Or could it be that I got way stronger?”

“I’ll say that it’s the latter.”

She turned around and saw Jin behind her. He rushed at her without saying another word. She leaped back and narrowly avoided a punch to the face. She then released some long claws and used them to block a short sword Jin pulled from behind him. She bent her back and avoided a kick to her chin but was grabbed by the collar and pulled towards him. She lifted her arm and allowed it to get stabbed by the sword to prevent getting stabbed in the neck. Her other arm suddenly grew spikes, which she used to stab at Jin’s stomach. Jin released the short sword leaped back.

“You went straight for the kill huh? I see that you have no problem killing a child.”

“Age doesn’t matter, a monster is a monster regardlessly.”

Natasa laughed and her arm that was stabbed harden like iron. She flexed her muscles and the blade in her arm snapped into two.

“You’re right about that.”

Her legs doubled in size and she pounced towards Jin with incredible force. Jin moved towards her with a similar speed and kicked her in the chest and propelled her back. He then chased after her with gray lightning dancing in his palm. He thrust his palm forward and the lightning took the shape of a serpent and attacked Natasa. She saw the attack, twisted her body and landed on the side of a building before kicking off it with enough force to destroy it. She opened her mouth as wide as she could and drew the lightning into her mouth with shocking suction power. She continued her momentum after swallowing the lightning and headed towards Jin.

“You damn beast!”

Jin charged towards her with black flames dancing around him.

“Just die already!”

“Not as long as that bitch lives!”

*BAM!*

An intense clash between two of the highest-ranking members of the Newgate Country erupted in the capital that day.

“What did you say?!”

Technological City, Elon. A loud shout came from Gear’s office. He was on a video call with fellow Pillar Bastian Brant.

“I said Natasa snuck off to attack the capital.”

“That little!”

He flung an owl figure into the wall and shattered it.

“How did you let this happen?! She’s your responsibility!”

“It’s impossible for me to watch her every move. Besides, I only taught her to fight as you asked, it was you who made her a Pillar. You got blinded by her potential and failed to consider her personality.”

Gear became silent without anything else to say.

“….It’s just as you say. However, as her master, you should at least have some control over her.”

“You’re asking for the impossible, man. There are just some beasts that you can’t tame no matter what. She’s one of those beasts.”

“Wipe that smug look off your face.”

Gear sat down in his chair while rubbing his temple.

“Send word to Isabel, tell her to retrieve the brat before she gets herself killed.”

“Why not send me?”

“Because you’d just make things worse.”

“I can’t deny that.”

Bastian laughed. Gear, on the other hand, was all frowns. This caused Bastian to sigh.

“Listen, Kid. It’s about time you admit it to yourself. You can’t control Natasa. She’s not your pawn to move as you please. She’s a natural-born king even if she’s rough around the edges. Who do you think controls Romix? I’m the army leader but she’s like an idol to our forces. Her simple-minded personality that wants to conquer everything around her is appealing to warriors like myself.”

Gear narrowed his eyes.

“What are you trying to say here, Bastian? Even you want to serve her?”

“Calm down, kid. I’m not betraying you to serve her or anything. I’m just telling the truth. She’s something special. Under the right guidance, she can become a great ruler.”

“If you believe that then why not guide her?”

“Around you stupid?”

Gear’s right eye twitched and Bastian continued.

“I’m a soldier and just that. I’m my best when I’m fighting for someone else. Why do you think I follow you when I’m the strongest person in the country? Someone like me can’t raise a king.”

He paused a bit before continuing.

“Besides, I said it earlier didn’t I? Some beasts can’t be tamed….Then again, all beasts must submit in the face of a bigger beast. In other words, a monster can only be tamed by a bigger monster.”

“Just what the hell are you talking about? There’s no such thing when dealing with her.”

“Hahaha! I guess you’re right.”

Bastian grinned.

“I doubt there’s a bigger monster in this country that could tame her.”

The Red Light District. Momo was sitting at Miko’s bedside. She was reading a book while holding his hand.

“?!”

She flinched when she felt Miko’s hand clasped hers. She stood up and looked at him.

“Miko! Are you awake, Miko?!”

She got no response.

“What’s going on?!”

“Is Miko awake?!”

Luka, Hina, and the others ran into the room when they heard Momo’s shouts.

“He just clasped my hand but…”

Everyone looked at Miko and frowned.

“He isn’t responding huh?”

Sora said.

“It’s been over a month already. We’ve fended off both the Pillars’ and Bloom’s forces in the meantime. How long will this last?”

Tessa said.

“Speaking of which, I heard that Natasa attacked the capital again. What’s that, her fourth time now?”

“The other Pillars keep saving her from getting killed by Jin but she doesn’t learn does she.”

“It’s better them than us. When she attacked us two weeks ago it was hard to handle her. Also, it seems like she’s getting stronger with each attack.”

They all talked about recent events in the war, but Momo kept her eyes on Miko.

(Just what is going on in your mind right now?)

At the same time, Miko was floating in a large body of water.

“………”

He slowly opened his eyes and saw four colorful planets above him, that seemed so close he could reach them if he stretched his hand out. He sat up and saw that he was afloat on a golden ocean that looked like it stretched on forever. The sky was filled with golden stars that were constantly moving. He stood upon the water surface like it was the ground and looked underneath the water. He saw all kinds of mystic creatures swimming freely without a care in the world.

“So I finally made it here, the Invisible World.”

He said.

“But this feels a bit odd. Where’s the Universal Core?”

He started looking around and the world suddenly lit up. Confused, Miko looked up in the sky and saw bright lights shine down from the planets on a single spot. Miko could see something materializing there which caused his eyes to widen.

“Ah, so that’s how it is. I never thought that you’d come here yourself.”

He grinned.

“The Supreme Being, Aniket.”

“Hm?”

At first, Momo was confused, but after a few seconds her eyes widen and her jaw dropped.

“Miko!”

“Huh?”

Everyone looked and saw Miko sitting up.

“Miko!”

They all shouted his name in excitement. Miko smiled and slowly undid the bandages around his eyes, that were slashed before. He undid them and slowly lifted his eyelids and showed a pair of blue slit eyes that sparkled like gems. He looked at everyone who seemed mesmerized by his eyes and spoke.

“So what did I miss?”