The portal opened with a soft hiss.

Luxinna and Cytortia walked through the glowing portal, their face warped with emotion. Cytortia broke down crying. The trip had been hard for the group’s financial strength.

“That is one long journey,” Luxinna stretched.

Behind them, Scathach oversaw her worst nightmare.

“This is yours,” Rem handed the Core to Marley. He nodded at twenty-four groaning haphazard bodies. “Give those clowns a stricter training. Their behavior and response on that train are pathetic.”

Marley glanced at his bleeding men in distaste. Today, he had to bow his head to the victim and apologize. It was humiliating, but given the harm those idiots cause, it warranted. Even Bruno — known for his crudeness — couldn’t help but vented his frustration on those undisciplined idiots the moment he witnesses the injury on the elderly. Bruno might not show it, but he had a soft spot on hurting those who couldn’t defend themselves. It was one thing to fight a guy holding who knew what he was going into — hurting grandpa was another story.

“Boss, it hurt,” the man groaned from the bullet wound.

“Sure, it hurt,” Bruno scowled, holding his messily dressed shoulder. “You won’t die, so man up!”

Marley handed Rem a plate of metal.

“This is a communicator.”

“How secure is it?” Rem asked.

“Secure enough,” Marley walked into the portal. “Don’t mind informing me if something interesting comes. You can contact me in Grand Empire, kid.”

“The name is Dream,” Rem gave him a codename.

“Well,” Marley said, walking through the portal. “Let hope we never met soon, Dream.”

The portal shrank into nothingness.

And with it, the new adventure began.

...

Within the Western Continent, the Grand Empire was without a doubt the largest faction. In terms of raw power, even the united force of the elves of Northland could barely resist it. With a strict social hierarchy, advance bureaucratic army and massive military, this Empire ruled more territories than any other nations in Phantasia.

Perhaps only the Tengen Alliance in the East could compete with this massive juggernaut. However, the recent uprising staged Tai Hua Tianshang, and political scheming by LinLey crippled the Alliance so severely the position as the number one faction in Phantasia fell to Grand Empire by default.

Note the gods as an exception because we didn’t qualify man-children.

Once upon the time, Millian was a part of the Grand Empire. However, it won an unfortunate reward of being near one of the Seven Forbidden Zone; the Desolate Swamp of Smu’ag.

Each Forbidden Zone was a world assimilated by Phantasia but so infested by monster and hazards that even the gods couldn’t conquer it. Being a neighbor to such area caused Millain to suffer a multiple incursion from monsters immigrating from Smu’ag, forcing the Grand Empire to abandon Millain two decades ago.

Seeing the opportunities, the adventurers — mercenaries tasked with fulfilling request and mission — colonized the area. Despite initial ineptitude and corruption, the band of misfit created a stable nation known as Millian.

As a gathering place for adventurers, aiming to explore Smu’ag, Millian was the central marketplace for many Forbidden Zone’s rare and exotic good. Its disassociation from the empire and promised of free beginning attracted many craftsmen and scholar wishing for freedom toward this place.

This repaid growth caused a faction to be interested in Millian as a money pit.

The faction’s name — Emma Enterprise.

...

Millian’s market was a soup of cultures. The teashop would be a prominent example — eastern-style wooden hut with paper window and ornate door. Another was the bazaar wrapped in hot red cloth, selling magical accessories right out of Arabian stories.

A young woman with crimson hair sat outside this teashop. She was beautiful. Her face was exquisite and noble. Her golden eyes were alluring, intelligent, and that perfect nose couldn’t be replicated no matter how much plastic surgery had advanced. She curiously gazed at the pub made with white bricks and auburn tiled roof originating right from a high fantasy hamlet.

Something was about to get interesting.

The pub’s door next burst open as a shabby-looking man got thrown out. A burly figure with bulging muscle walked out of the door. Several lanky minions flowed out behind him, rubbing their hand with glee.

The sprawling man tried to rise, but a kick from the larger man beat him back to the street.

The larger man’s mouth lifted into a condescending smile.

“Hey little guy,” The grinning man taunted. “I think I saw something interesting in that bag. Why don’t you show it to me again? Come on!”

The smaller man tried to scamper away, but the two goons block his path.

“S-Stop it,” he begged, but one minion ripped the pouch from his belt and poured the content into his hand.

There were five glittering gems, sparkling like the surface of the water.

The rule was plain — the loser is thieves; the winner is king.

It was the unchallenged rule everyone accepted. The authority would turn a blind eye to any crime involving the strong. Phantasia was such a place.

Then a royal and melodious voice resounded.

“It calls Water Stone of Ptah.”

Everyone turned toward the red-hair lady sipping her tea. The woman continued to behave coolly despite all the starring, but secretly she felt elated. Her golden eyes scarcely contained the enthusiasm of being basked in the limelight.

“The stone is the crystallization of water and Mana,” she continued to explain, ignoring the dangling man’s silent plea for help. “It forms near the area with running water and dense mana. Research suggests that it took at least a hundred years to crystallize naturally. The stone will degrade a few years after fully forming, making it even more precious. Each gem is an excellent catalyst for water Alchemy, suppressant for fire-related art, several cultivation techniques absorb the stone to raise the practitioner Stats.”

The dangling man’s heart sank. It was bad enough that his lucky find had caught attention of the mass, but this woman had to make it worse by narrating the treasure’s properties. If that woman kept talking, he would surely die.

“I believe the current market price for that stone is around nine-million credit,” the woman winked.

The dangling man sulked as the crowd eyed in the stones with greed.

“It is mine,” the larger man yelled, tossing the dangling man aside.

“Get the stones!” One woman on the market yelled at her guard. “I want that stone for my fire-golem.”

“Nine million will be mine!” The mob charged to the large man for the stone.

The bruise and battered man crawled from the stampede like a dying toad. He was barely holding back tears. All his treasures were gone. That stone worth forty-five million. He could have lived free for a year and retired with that kind of wealth.

Then a high-heel landed in front of him.

“Hey little guy,” the damned red-hair loud-mouth leaned over, smiling like a devil. “You look somewhat sad. I can help you get the stone back, you know, but I will need something to encourage me.”

The man cried.

“How much do you need?” He answered the devil bitterly.

“Nah,” the girl smugly checked her fingernail. “Your way of asking is too crude. I’m about to put myself in danger to help here. At least address me properly.”

The man gritted his teeth in bitter frustration.

“Oh, noble lady,” the man forced out these words. “How much do you want for lending aid to this lowly and worthless person, great one?”

The red hair demoness smiled as her ego rose a peg.

“Four out of the five stones will be enough,” she clapped her hand as the fighting for the stone raged. “Cheap, don’t you think?”

Cheap my ass, the man thought. That thirty-six million credit right there.

But the man forced smiled and nodded.

“Yes, the young lady can have everything, but please help this poor me,” he replied. His heart clenched with hatred.

The lady smiled. She popped her knuckle. Black devil horn emerged from her head. From her tail bone, an elastic black tail appeared, fully revealing herself as a demon race. 

The battered man stared. Hateful as the girl was, he had to admit that she was alluring to the point the sky would bleed. Her body was perfect, curvaceous and well-toned. And her chest rivaled a watermelon which became a killing combo with her waist.

Then she moved.

She identified the first gem held by a woman with an eyepatch. One right hook won her the prize.

She spotted another mage trying to flee with two of the stone, and she leaped toward him. The mage saw the red demoness coming at him and raised a water barrier. Grinning like a maniac, the lady in red brought her fire-cladded foot smash down on the shield. The strength, speed and raw destructive heat broke the defense in one attack. The mage looked at the golden-eyed demon in fear.

“B-rank,” he recognized her aura. No other explanation was plausible, but the man refused to believe his luck.

To become a B-rank, a person needed the least power-level of 3000. Given that Increasing a power-level after C-rank was noticeably harder, most people didn’t break into B-rank in their life. The massive hoarding of resources and training guideline common in Phantasia further reduced the number of B-rankers. But even average noble only become B-rank at around twenty-five.

The girl in front of him couldn’t be over fifteen.

“Stone please?” the girl smiled.

“H-here,” the mage tossed the stone and ran.

The girl smiled and charged into the crowd. The chaos and greed turned the street into a mass melee. Fight and chaos broke all over the place, but that image of utter carnage only filled the girl with glee. She rushed into the brawl. Anyone blocking her met a fist in the face. The girl’s golden eyes flashed as she leaped up and kicked another man in the face, sending up a cloud of dust where he landed.

Finally, she approached her last target, the large man who started it all.

The large man was having a miserable time protecting the stone. He already lost two in a sneak attack and was now under assault from three adventurers who rushed at him like hyenas. Earlier in the fight, both his minions had tried to backstab him for the stones. He gritted his teeth. How the hell did this disaster exploded in his face?

The answer came as a red-hair-girl with horns and tail booting one of his assailants so hard he crashed into a bazaar looted to the point nothing remained. A spin kick from the red-hair-girl sent another person smashing miserably on the prior victims. The third got thrown into a decorative tree after a knockout punch.

The larger man stared at the grinning demoness.

“This is all your fault,” the large pointed his sword at the demon girl. “Are you satisfied, you demon!?”

“Eh, it is you who started the fight, isn’t it,” the demon girl pulled out her tongue cheekily. “I only speed it along. Now hand me the stone, uncle, or I will give you a panda-eye.”

“Die you, bitch!” The man threw a first.

“Hey, uncle, are you serious?” the girl chided, dodging the blow that shattered the ground next to her. “You could have hurt someone with this, you know.”

“Shut up,” the uncle said. “Sword and fist don’t have eyes! In this world, strength made the rule!”

The demoness smiled. Finally, the large man admitted it. She was waiting for that admission.

The girl slid through it and threw a flaming punch at the man’s face. The flames and the forces behind the blow gruesomely burnt off his left eye. Three tiny stones dropped to the ground as the larger man fell and started rolling in pain.

“My eyes,” he screamed, clutching his burnt face, crying. “You burnt my eye.”

“Sword and fist don’t have eyes,” The girl replied, turning the word she back at him, as she collected the stones. “You only have yourself to blame for being pathetically weak!”

The man gritted his teeth and fainted. The girl was right. He said the word himself. But did that alone worth his eye? He couldn’t help but felt bitter about this injustice.

The girl gathered the stone, took a deep breath and shouted down the street for everyone to hear.

“Here the stone! The deal is done, OK!” She threw one stone across the sky. Everyone who heard her declaration watched the object worth nine millions credit few across the air. Greed and bloodlust shimmered over their face. There was no doubt. Whoever got that stone would be damned beyond redemption.

The gem landed in front of its original bruise and battered holder. The man glanced at the stones and at the crowd rushing at him like packs of hyenas. In the distance, the girl waved at him cheekily; her horn and tails faded to nothingness.

“No!” he grabbed his last stone and ran away from the crowd who chased after him with blood and greed.

As for the demon girl, she slinked away. No one seemed to notice her anymore. It was as if they didn’t even know she existed.

…

At the edge of Millian, Rem narrated the mission statement. The wind blew among the fellow Horizon Dawn members.

“Okay, folks,” Rem announced. “Our mission today is to find the Duchess of the Craft, Ebony Solarmaria. And then there is the hidden princess?”

“One question,” Luxinna raised her hand. “Where?”

Suddenly, Scathach, in her honey badger mode, tensed up. She looked to her right, and her eyes widened in disbelief. What she saw sent multiple questions flashing through her brain, which answered immediately. The fifteen-year-old mystery was finally unfolded. She needed to admit this: Satholia deserved the title of omniscience.

“Kiddos, I believe we have an answer,” Scathach grimaced and started talking to her right. “So that is why she faked her death instead of asking for asylum? Because you got the eye.”

Everyone looked toward the direction Scathach was talking.

To their baffling surprise, the red-hair girl stood there, curiously sifting through the gang. She didn’t bother finding a place to hide or come up with an excuse. She stared at them with her golden eyes and a curious grin.

“And look what the space gate brought?” The girl mused. “So, what brings you here, Ms. Scathach? I believe no one knows Ma made it out of the Continent alive. Not even you.”

“Damn,” Scathach face-palmed and growled. “I almost mistook you for your mother. That chest must be genetic. But seriously, what brought you out here in the open? Do you realize how many people want you dead?”

“They can try,” The girl replied. “Assuming the aloof and uncaring warrior maid is bothering to tell the Demonic Continent’s imperial family that I am alive. No, you won’t do it. The favor from Ma would outweigh anything they could offer. Nope, you are going to ally with us. I mean, we are the greatest forger in the entire world.”

Cytortia nudged at Scathach.

“Okay, who is she?” The goddess said. “I feel we got left out of this conversion.”

“Ditto,” Luxinna agreed.

“The Hidden Princess must find,” Scathach groaned. “But I would never have guessed that your boss would send me to recruit the princess of time bombs.”

“Sorry, Ms. Scathach but let me introduce myself,” The girl mischievously flashed a smiled.

Rem and Lux instinctively knew the smile was anything but trustworthy.

“Hello, my name is Melody Majesty Aztellic Solarmaria. The rightful heir to the throne of Demonic continent.”