“Hey Kaiser, how are you doing?”

“Lord Celdora? I didn’t expect to see you here.” Kaiser was surprised. He was currently gathering the last of his army before marching toward Canaan, the City of Firmament Spires.

Canaan could be said to be one of the strangest wonders in the world, along with Avant-Heim. It consisted of a cluster of ten gigantic towers reaching up to the sky of Oros through many levels of cloud, each as large as a few miles in diameter. No one really remembered how these towers appeared in the first place. Some said it was the result of hundreds of years of construction by the first dragons. Yet there was no trace or records of such thing happening. Others said the Gods themselves gave it to the dragons. Alas no one really knew what exactly took place and no one really cared about it. Right now they had other things on their plates to worry about: Kaiser.

While Celdora has decided to not participate in this war between Kaiser and the dragon council, he still dropped by times from times, mostly to check what his daughter has been up to. The poor old dragon dad seemed to have lost his position to Kaiser as she always went here to play and even learn how to fight from Kaiser and Malick even though her father was a both a dragon lord and a hero. All those dreams he had imagined when Syralth was first born, how he would teach her how to use her power, to tell her stories of the world outside….they were all gone…

“Eh…nothing! Just…hanging around!”

“Really? I noticed that you have been coming by a lot more. Especially whenever Syralth comes here…Could it be…?” Kaiser found out his intention.

Dragon lord Celdora started to panic. If words got out that he was actually stalking his daughter he would lose all the respects he built after all those years, especially from his wife.

“You want to be one of my subjects too?”

“…Ehm…not really…I mean…I am still deciding so before I take my decision I just want to…you know, see how things go around here….Things like that!”

“I see! Then go ahead! Feel free to visit anytime! Ha ha ha!”

“Yeah…sure!”

“So how have you been these days?” asked Kaiser.

“Actually very good! You know I have had these headaches for the past ten years but ever since the last few days, I feel strangely vigorous! No more headaches and those weird dreams!” Celdora laughed, satisfied.

“Weird dreams?”

“Yeah! I just kept hearing a weird voice in my dream without really knowing what it was saying or who said it. But never mind that! I didn’t come here to talk about my health. How about you show me around with your new army now in place?”

“Hum…sure!”

Kaiser was shocked when he heard about Celdora’s past condition. It just may happen that he too was afflicted with the same thing which started coincidentally when the dragon lord was cured. The timing was just too perfect. It was ever since he took that crown from Celdora.

* * *

“The final match will be between the clans Quin and Wen! The two contestants, Viviana and Enti, please step forward onto the arena!”

The big game was finally here. The leader of the winning clan would become the next Beast King and would lead the people against the invasion of Malatas. After the fight with Ponpon, Viviana was confident that Yggdrasil was her best chance to not just secure a place for Maxime and his people but also to come closer to the demon she saw at Caelum. He definitely knew something about her sister as he confused Viviana with Shana. The two looked very similar, black hair with two pointy cat ears and a black tail but Viviana’s body was a bit more mature.

However, she should not ignore the opponent right in front of her. Seeing how he defeated Sara in just a second, it would be too arrogant to think that she has won, even with the Yggdrasil’s help. From first glance and what Enti has demonstrated in his last fight, his key abilities depended on his light speed attack which surprised any foe. To counter that you either had to be able to follow his movements or being able to defend an attack from all directions at the same time.

“BEGIN!”

Immediately Enti started with the same attack he used to knock out Sara: seemingly teleporting to Viviana’s location, he threw the first strike. Even with her cat eyes, Viviana had trouble to fully follow him and even if she could, her reflexes were not good enough. With a single uppercut, Enti blasted the girl onto the air. With that kind of force he put in his punch, it would knock out everyone by now.

But not Viviana, or at least not in her current state.

“” she shouted.

From below the ground Enti was standing on, a huge green plant with a crimson mouth opened up and trapped Enti inside. The werewolf didn’t understand how Viviana was still conscious after taking a direct hit from him. But that was because he failed to notice one thing has changed in the girl’s appearance: she had a red flower on her head. That flower, which seemed like an accessory, was actually a parasitic plant that Yggdrasil has planted on Viviana. The flower absorbed her mana to sustain its growth and in return it infused a substance into her body, allowing her to ignore the feeling of pain temporarily. Of course she still suffered damage but thanks to this flower, her regenerative ability has increased a lot.

“This is….!!!!” Enti could feel the danger coming from inside the Venus trap. A viscous liquid was released in the plant’s mouth as it began to engulf him. It was sticking to him, making him unable to move freely to escape. Not just that, his legs were being frozen as the liquid began to solidify. In just under one minute of futile struggle, Enti was immobilized in a transparent statue.

The goal was not to kill him but to take away his movement so Viviana dispelled the plant, leaving Enti frozen in place. But it was too soon. The announcer didn’t proclaim her victory yet and Enti sure didn’t give up.

The transparent liquid began to crack as Enti has freed himself from it. The battle wasn’t over yet. Enti has now learnt that it was wrong of him to underestimate this girl. It would seem he would have to use his weapon instead of just his fist.

The lycanthrope took out a spear and entered a stance where he pointed it at Viviana. A lightning arc sparked from the spear.

“”

Enti charged forward with incredible speed. Several walls of plants rose from the ground to stop him but he pierced through them easily and continued toward the girl. But Viviana would not take it lightly. Holding her staff with her hands, she stomped it on the ground.

“”

The moment the staff touched the ground, it generated a tremor which shattered the terrain, throwing off the soil in all direction. Having lost his sod, Enti leaped to the sky. A lightning strike hit his spear as he dived downward. Unfortunately, that was just what Viviana has intended all along. Enti may have the advantage of speed and reflex but if he didn’t have any footing he could not accelerate to that kind of speed. In addition, he could not dodge while on air, which allowed her to accurately strike him down.

“”

A column of light descended from the sky and blasted the werewolf from behind, bringing him down to the ground creating a large crater.

The audience was watching intensively the crater as the smoke began to fade away. Would Enti stand up for another round or would he stay down and accept his defeat?

And he stood up, pressing his burned body on his spear. It seemed that last attack really wrecked him good, making him unable to stand up properly.

“It…’s not over…yet! I..can …still…fight!” Enti gasped for air.

The result was already decided. Yet looking at the unyielding will of the contestant, the announcer was hesitating to proclaim the winner. But then.

“The match is over! Victory goes to the Quin clan!” chief Gon of clan Wen shouted. “Enti, you have done well but there is no need to risk your life here!”

“I...yield!” the werewolf fell to his knees, accepting the fact that he lost. All his training, has it been for naught? He felt so ashamed for staining his family’s honor, claiming to be Baldo’s descendants, the undefeated Champion and yet he has lost so miserably. What good would it be to continue this shameful life?

Suddenly, someone extended their hand to him.

“You have fought well. Do not feel ashamed for losing! It’s only when you lose that you realize you need to be stronger. I know this myself.” It was Viviana. While she was just a hero apprentice, Viviana has always been proud of her abilities. But after what happened at Caelum, never has she felt so feeble, so helpless as she watched the people she knew and loved being slaughtered in such a gruesome way. She understood that feeling and seeing Enti right now reminded her of that time.

A part of her felt a little unsatisfying. She used a Great Spirit and that wasn’t even through a proper pact to defeat the men and women who only used their own strength through your sweat and blood.

“….For what do you fight for?” asked Enti.

“For peace. For the people I love and care about. For the world!”

“I see…But I have dishonored my family. My life is forfeited. So do what you want with it! “Enti threw his spear to Viviana. “My life is now yours! Cut it down or let me serve you, the decision is yours!” Enti bowed to the girl.

“How can you throw away your life that easily? This is just a stupid contest. What we need to do is to unite against the threat of the elves.”

“The weak obeys the strong. That’s how I have been raised and that's the way I intend to follow for the rest of my life."

“You….Fine! We need as much as warriors anyway!”

“Very well! I, Enti of the Wen, swear to protect you until my last breath!”

* * *

Back to Alastor, the situation didn’t look very merry for the boy. He swore that his strike did connect but instead of the assassin, he was the one being hurt. The wound could be easily healed but until he figured out how to deal with this guy, he must remain careful.

“”

Pulling out a sharp sword from his own shadow, the assassin dashed to Alastor. But his blade was easily caught between Alastor’s fingers.

“Your attacks are so pathetic it hurts. The question is how to hurt you.” Alastor said, staring at the armor suit the assassin wore. The object had the image of a gear on it so it must have been created by the Artificer: it was one of the seven legendary Tempus Machina.

To test out its abilities, Alastor decided to strike again. This time, however, he put much less force into his fist and the result was as he expected. It barely hurt him at all. So what this meant was this suit could convert the force and energy of the attacks it received and send it back to the attacker. The more powerful the attack, the deadlier the revenge would be.

So it reflected physical attacks, what about magic? Alastor summoned the five elemental orbs and shot a series of elementals bullets toward the assassin. Immediately, they were all sucked into the empty socket on his chest. The assassin raised his hand and fired back all Alastor’s bullets.

“”

Absorbing back his attack, Alastor was thinking about several possible strategies. That armor could not possibly absorb everything. It was still a machine and its construction, design, material must have imposed some kind of limit. If he could cast a very powerful spell and tried to overload it but that would certainly break the armor, in which case it wasn’t Alastor’s intention. He recognized its shape: that thing was one of the four keys required to enter Tartarus. He needed to find a way to take it off the assassin without damaging it. If only there was a way to inflict damage to this guy without using magic or physical attack.

Actually Alastor still had something up his sleeves. The power of a demon lord he received a long time ago but didn’t know how to properly use it, or rather he really didn’t want to use it. The price of using that ability was quite painful. This assassin would have to pay a lot later for forcing Alastor to use it.

When we spoke of magic, what first came to mind to most people was elemental magic, essentially used for offensive attack. Aside from that there was healing magic and soul magic including necromancy. However, what most people also forgot was that there were also other schools that barely belonged to the category of magic.

Spirit summoning actually belonged to the school of Oath magic, also known as Pact magic. In some case, Oath magic was also referred as World magic as the effect it had could affect the entire world. Basically an Oath was made between two or multiples parties with each making a promise to the other. As long as the promises were kept, both would receive power that could even defy the very fundamental laws of the universe. In the case of Spirit summoning, the Spirit could never part or betray the summoner as long as the summoner followed their pact. Even mind controlling magic would not work against spirits once they made a pact, no matter how powerful it was. But aside from spirit summoning, Oath magic was still a big mystery to any researcher.

Another school of magic would be Curse. Curses were extremely popular in the past as it was practically impossible to defend against it nor it would be easy to know that you have been cursed. Even better, Curse actually didn’t use mana at all but rather life essence of the user. This allowed it to bypass any mana detection or absorption method that would normally nullify magic.

And among all the demon lords with whom Alastor has made a pact with, one was specialized in curse: Beatrix, the woman of chains and the one who managed all Alastor’s bonds. The bond itself could be viewed as a link which deepened their connection but also a curse. And the bond was just one of the many curses Beatrix wielded.

“” Alastor shouted.

Two black holes opened on the assassin and Alastor’s chests simultaneously. A chain slashed out from Alastor and entered the assassin through the hole. Unlike the white chain Alastor had with Ikarus, this one seemed rusty with a red color. But it wasn’t rust that turned it red.

With the assassin still confusing on what was happening to him, Alastor touched the ground and pulled out a small stone dagger.

“You think that tiny thing could hurt me? Try if you can, brat!” the assassin arrogantly smiled.

“No, not you, but me!”

Alastor took the dagger and plunged it into his thigh. Blood spilled out from the wound as he fell down to the ground.

“ARGHHH” but it wasn’t Alastor who screamed. The moment Alastor stabbed himself, the assassin could feel an intense pain in his leg, as if someone has stabbed him. His leg was bleeding. How could it be possible? Just what has hit him to cause such a wound without him noticing?

“This is for what you did to Morrigan!” Alastor stabbed himself again in his other leg.

“ARGHHHH! YOU BASTARD!” taken by rage, the assassin threw two daggers at Alastor’ shouder. But that would only make things worse. Not just his legs, the assassin could not feel his arms. And the excruciating pain, he was powerless to even do a thing.

“ *heavy breathing* Oh but it’s not over yet! I will make you wish you were never born!” Alastor was supposed to be paralyzed like the assassin as their wounds were the same. However, the body of a demon lord and a human were like sky and earth. Alastor could regenerate his body with the slime abilities as much as he wanted. The only thing he has to endured was the pain of being stabbed. Unfortunately for the assassin, only pain was transferred through the chain, not any kind of healing.

As the assassin continued to scream in pain and cursed Alastor, the boy continuously stabbed himself, each time a different location.

“This is for all the troubles you made me go through! *Stab*”

After a moment, things were silent. The assassin lied motionless on the ground, dead and Alastor, feeling so much pain his body was beginning to be numb, was technically fine. With his wounds completely healed like before except for the blood soaked cloth filled with stab holes, Alastor walked up to the corpse and took the armor from the dead assassin.

The chain has been dispelled and disappeared. For some reasons, he still didn’t feel satisfied enough. He could have just stopped when the assassin lost consciousness. But this guy hurt Morrigan, and that was a death sentence he brought on himself.

“Ah shit, should have let him alive for interrogation on that fucking Svelt! What about the other four?”

Searching for the other assassins who went in the other direction with the basilisk. He wondered what happened to them.

And here they were. Three of them had their bodies torn apart or half melting from the poisonous smoke. The last one was being held to the ground under the basilisk’s feet, shrieking in fear.

“Oh good boy…..ah I mean girl! You actually keep one alive for me! Come, people are waiting!”

…..

It has been a few hours since Alastor went into the woods and there was no sign of him anywhere. While others were beginning to question whether something misfortunate has happened to the boy, Svelt was smirking in the corner. He has hired the best assassins and even put a S-rank monster in that wood. There was no way Alastor could have survived.

SLAM

“HOWDY!”

It was Alastor’s voice. So he did succeed after all. Those who supported the boy after seeing his performance at the first challenge were relieved, especially Sinclair. Needless to say, Morrigan was more than happy to see her son coming back. But he wasn’t alone. The moment the door opened, people shouted in fear and ran for their lives.

A giant snake-like creature with four foots walked into the palace. How come the guards didn’t stop him?

“Alastor???” unlike the others, the Zagon Empress saw a small figure riding majestically on the creature’s head. His cloth was soaked with blood and almost shred to pieces. It seemed like he has gone through quite an ordeal.

She rushed to his side without a care for the big basilisk. Seeing his mother running toward him, Alastor jumped down from the beast and received a big hug from her.

“Are you alright? How come you have so much blood on you? Call the healers! NOW!” Morrigan shouted as she checked the boy’s body for injuries.

“I am fine, mom! It’s not my blood!” he turned to the nobles hiding behind the throne. “Don’t be afraid! I have tamed this creature. He…I mean she is completely harmless….unless you try to do something to me like a certain someone in this very room.” Alastor proclaimed.

The basilisk started sniffing around one person to another. One minister was so scared when it approached that he pissed himself right off the bat. The others tried to back down slowly to every corner of the room. Fortunately for them, the basilisk wasn’t interested in some old bones or fat. It stopped in front of one person: minister Svelt. It remembered this scent, the one who captured it and put it behind bars before releasing it into those woods.

“He, gentlemen, is the one who wanted me dead.” Alastor pointed at the terrified minister.

“Wh…What are you talking about? I don’t know what you mean…..Please someone get this thing off me!” Svelt cowered in fear.

“I have the proof right in front of you, minister Svelt.”

“You mean this creature? How can it be the proof?”

“No, not her! Do it, Nori!” Alastor called his pet.

The basilisk Nori opened its giant mouth and spitted out a person covered in slimy saliva. Alastor walked to that person and kicked him.

“So tell me! Was minister Svelt the one who hired you bunch of assassins to kill me?”

“Yes yes yes! So please let me go! Don’t put me in there!!!!”

“This…this can’t be!” Svelt shrieked. He decided to run to the door. What a foolish man!

“Guards! Capture him!” Morrigan shouted.

“Nori!”

The basilisk swung its tail on the floor and tripped the idiot minister, making him smashing his pretty face against a pillar, breaking his nose. As he rolled his pain trying to keep the blood from coming out his bleeding nose, he saw what could only be described as the most insidious smile on the face of a small boy.

“So many things to do, so many things to discuss, minister Svelt! But first, let me loosen your tongue just a little bit!”