Some time ago, in the void above the primary plane, Sparta arrived to where Jack was last seen, and was frantically searching for Jack.

At this point in time, Jack allowed the cage to be seen, and appeared before Sparta, the god of swords, who looked exactly like a sword with legs and arms, straight out of a cartoon.

“God of Systems!” Sparta bowed slightly, enough for a greeting and some respect, but not too much.

“What it is?”

“That…”

After some contemplations, Sparta spilled the beans, which was actually his job in the first place.

“Some people have rebelled against the kingdom of Bard. Even many members among the church have betrayed Lord Ares, and although they paid the price through their lives, the damage was still done.”

“I see. So that is why your church members were poisoning the people who entered the kingdom. Alright. How about I make a deal with you? I will save the king, his close aids, not sure what their names were, but it was 2 of them plus that Campbell fellow, and that duke Desmon. One of my follows was participating in the tournament, and is currently in a meeting with those people. I’ll bring them out of the capital safely, but where should I bring them?”

“This!” Sparta’s face brightened as he passed on this message to Ares.

A little while later, an incomprehensible pressure descended upon the area where the cage was. However, Jack was completed unfazed. Not only had he gone though that ‘enlightenment’ but had also met some of strongest figures in exitance itself. A mere Ares was not enough to intimidate him, at least not while he was within the cage.

Ares suddenly appeared in Spart’s place, most likely through some position swapping technique.

Ares had a human form unlike all the other gods he had seen so far. He also had many weapons pilled on his back, and Jack could see 3 empty spots. Through this, Jack understood

Ares looked up at the towering cage, which was not emanating any feeling of pressure, but was in fact giving off a feeling of contained power. A restraining sense of oppression which even stifled him, one of the 9 Supreme gods!

“Thank you for the offer. I am currently lacking human pawns to defeat the enemies, who are about as strong as my forces, at least within the capital itself.”

“Keke. It is only natural to seek allies. Once I break free from this place, I will need someone to take the stage with!” Jack spoke in a rather raspy voice for a god.

Ares understood the underlying message. The existence personally sealed by the strongest Overlord in all of existence, was offering a partnership to him. Why would he not take such an opportunity. After all, all the 9 supreme gods knew that they had all reached a bottleneck in terms of growth.

There was a barrier that was preventing them from going to the next stage of growth, and holding them back at the level of gods. This might be the only opportunity to form a relation with a being that might allow them to breath the limit.

Ares nodded.

“The entire Bard kingdom is supposed to be for my followers. My temples exist everywhere, but most of them do not have enough man-power to hold of the entire assault of RedForce. But I do have one secret location. Just tell your follower to bring everyone East as soon as they exit the capital.”

“I can do that, but I need to dee than to bring them out?”

“Ah! I’ll give you access to Bard for 2 days prime plane time.” Ares agreed without hesitation.

“Well then, to a healthy partnership” Jon said, and Ares nodded back and they reached an agreement. A short-term deal, which might grow into a long-term partnership if it works out.

And that is how they got to the current state of things. Jack had also secretly made SPU go all out on his hunting for CP. Although he wanted to hold back and use the scum of society for his own benefits later on, what more benefits could there be than using the CP to complete a mission for Ares, and come into a partnership with him?

Jack was basically controlling Mason’s every move, and clearing a path for the others to follow. In fact, he was even making use of Tamala to take out enemies of too high of a fighting power for him to realistically take down in one hit.

The levels of the people present lay bare for Jack and Mason to see, and they made their plans of action based on those levels.

[Human- Berserker Tamala Darg] [Lv ??]

[Human- Strategist Wint Seaford] [Lv ??]

[Human- King Alexander Bard] [Lv 10]

[Player- Knight Desmon Bard] [Lv 0]

[Player- Mage Don] [Lv 0]

…

For those who were not players, Jack made the system approximate their fighting power and put them at levels. However, for players themselves, their fighting power, be it however high it may be, they would all start at level 0. In reality, Desmon had ?? level fighting power, while Don had equal fighting power to Alexander.

Mason had some confidence in being able to take down any one from his group is they were in a one on one situation only because of his extremely over-powered magic.

However, there were many ways to avoid this spell of his, which the Lv ?? Hobgoblin did not employ, including basic dodging skills, allowing Mason to kill it.

Anyway, with such a line-up of one extremely powerful Berserker, a much weaker, but still considerably powerful knight, two rather powerful mages, and some extra baggage, namely the king Alexander, And the wise strategist, with a high level for his high intellect, but negligible combat prowess Wint, nothing could stand in their way. Except of course strong individuals nearing the extraordinary realm, or a huge mob of mobs.