“So… do you want to stay here for the night? These demons’ bodies went brittle after you absorbed their souls, so disposing of them would be pretty easy.” Grace began, pacing about the campsite as she spoke. “Sure, the blood and guts are unsightly, but I mean… we’ll only be here for one night, right?”

Noah considered her words closely. As she’d mentioned previously, Haven was no longer safe for him. He knew there were many other cities on the Kissen Fields, but without a map or any way of knowing where anything was, he knew it’d be a while before they found something. Grace assured him that there were no more demons in the forest after having him use what she called ‘Sensory Manipulation’, but he still couldn’t help but wonder what was next.

“I… guess we could stay here.” Noah conceded. “I don’t know the first thing about camping, though.

“It’s alright!” Grace responded, her expression cheery. The golden woman stopped pacing and stood before Noah before continuing.

“Since we don’t have much to do, how about we get to know each other a little better? We’ve been moving since we met, so I think now’s a good time to ‘break the ice’ as they say before we sleep.”

“Sure. I’ve been wanting to get to know you.”

Grace smiled and sat cross-legged on the ground. After motioning Noah to do the same, she began.

“So… what’s this about King of Kissen? I overheard you talk about it with Mizune, and that Cynric jerk brought it up a few times, but I don’t think I’ve heard you say what it means to you.”

Noah narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

“Can’t you… ‘read my soul’ or something? Why ask if you can just get all the answers like that?”

“Sure, I can do that,” Grace admitted, waving a dismissive hand. “But then I wouldn’t need to talk! Besides, mother says reading someone’s soul is rude.”

Mother… Didn’t she say her mother’s name is Genova? I’ve seen that name thrown about in the blue screens a few times. I wonder if–

“I’ll answer that after you answer my question.” Grace blurted, a mischievous grin plastered across her face.

Noah sighed, “Didn’t you say that kind of thing was rude?”

“Yup!” She responded, laughing the word.

Noah couldn’t help but laugh in response. If he was going to be stuck with her for the foreseeable future, he supposed this would be something he’d have to get used to. When the laughter subsided, Noah finally elaborated on his dream.

“When I say ‘King of Kissen’,” Noah began. “I don’t mean some old man in a chair having other people do things for him. A King to me is like the ones I read about in storybooks. Strong men like the founders of the Wolves of Haven. People who work without thank or provocation to protect people from threats far removed from them.”

Motioning to the corpses of the demons around them both, Noah smiled a bit sheepishly before continuing.

“Like this. These demons might’ve ended up in a city and killed someone. Now, they can’t. Sure, they’ll come back during the next Red Rain Eclipse, but by then I’ll probably be much stronger.”

Noah leaned back, observing the starry night sky beyond Grace’s guiding light. The sounds of chirping insects and rustling leaves filled his ears as scents of foliage filled his nostrils. With a satisfied smile, he mused.

“This is kind of ugly, but this is what I mean by being a King. Getting rid of threats before they’re threatening. I want to get rid of the demons for good, and once I’ve done that… I suppose I can move on to some other threat. Silent heroes are my favorite kind. Sure, they might get recognized from time to time, but they still focus on getting things done more than being celebrities.”

As Noah finished talking, he stared up at the sky in silence for a long moment. When he looked down at Grace, he was taken aback by her expression. She looked… pleased. The golden woman leaned forward, the corners of her eyes slowly filling with tears as her soft smile trembled.

“Are you… okay?” Noah inquired, his expression falling slightly.

“I’m fine!” Grace responded a bit too quickly. “It’s just… I think I can understand why my aunt picked you. You’re just like Genova despite the two of you having never met.”

Seeing his opportunity, Noah leaned forward, donning a sly grin.

“In that case… can you tell me a bit about yourself and where you’re from?”

After wiping a few tears that’d managed to fall from her eyes, Grace stood. With a hand, she stopped Noah from joining her before she began pacing the campsite.

“I’m an Angel.” Grace began.

“An Angel’s purpose is to fulfill the needs of their assigned Progenitor. Think of them as assistants to a boss in a company.”

When Noah nodded his understanding, she continued.

“The Progenitors exist to ensure that this entire Reality runs smoothly. There are only nine Progenitors, though, and an immeasurable amount of worlds to protect. They may be omnipotent, but they aren’t omniscient. To protect the worlds they can’t see, they choose Incarnations to carry out their will.”

“Which is me?” The words came out like a statement rather than a question, and when Grace nodded, Noah accepted the response.

“My aunt, Unmei, is the Progenitor of Fate. Her job is to ensure the right Incarnations get picked for Incarnations. If we continue with the business analogy, think of her as a recruiter.”

Grace stopped pacing and looked up at the sky, just as Noah had.

“My mother, the Progenitor of Souls, was thus matched with you. I won’t get into the complicated concept of multiverses and quadrants, but basically, there are many of you and me, but just one of her. All of the Grace and Noah teams that exist each fulfill a certain duty for mo–... Genova.” Grace said, correcting herself at the end.

“In some instances, the two of us may have to be warlords. In others, we may be pirates. Hell, in others we may be villains. The Progenitors aren’t necessarily aligned to morality, rather, they prioritize efficacy.”

Noah’s heart sank as he considered the possibility of that final statement. As if to quell his worries, Grace elaborated on her prior statement.

“Thankfully, that isn’t what we’re going to be doing. Since you want to be the King of Kissen, I think you’ll love our mission.”

“What is it?”

Grace sat once again, her face as intense as Noah had ever seen it. He couldn’t help but feel a bit intimidated by the woman as she leaned in, but he did his best to sit straight.

“We need to kill the Officer of the Demiurge known as Chaos.”

Inexplicably, hearing that name disgusted Noah, as though he’d eaten rotten food. As his face twisted, he couldn’t help but notice Grace making a similar expression.

Must be the soul bond thing.

“That… creature is the one responsible for creating the demons. He’s responsible for the Red Rain Eclipse, and Genova is fairly certain he’ll be coming for the both of us as soon as he realizes we’re a threat.”

Startled by the sudden revelation, Noah stood from his seated position.

“Why me? Is it because of my abilities?”

Grace nodded and stood, meeting Noah’s gaze. The golden woman attempted a smile, but the gesture seemed a bit forced. Regardless, she continued.

“That’s where I come in, Noah.” She began.

“As I mentioned, I am an assistant to my mother, Genova. She sent me here for the sole purpose of keeping Chaos from killing you and ensuring that you gain enough strength to kill the Officer.”

With a smug grin that seemed far more authentic, she went on.

“You see, I’m not sure how much of my plea to Genova you heard, but I basically told her that I’d get you to Max Level and… give you even more of a boost once you reach it!”

Noah noticed her expression fall a bit as she said the last part of that statement, but said nothing of it

“...Once all of that happens, you’ll be able to use Soul Absorption and kill Chaos!”

Soul Absorption… That’s how I level up, right?

“If I can absorb Souls,” Noah tried. “Then why can’t I just go after Chaos now? If I absorb his soul, that problem would be solved, right?”

“Yes, and no.” Grace responded, drawing the ‘no’ out a bit too long.

“You could absorb Chaos, but since your Soul is still quite weak, Chaos would consume you entirely. You’d essentially be playing into his plans. That’s why he’d rather kill you while you’re weak.”

“I… see,” Noah responded, a sudden chill falling over him.

“It’s what the Levels are for,” Grace began. “Right now, you’re Level 11. You can absorb anything between Levels 1-21 with minimal effort. Anything above that, though, and you’d either die or have to fight for your life to fully absorb that Soul. If you managed to absorb it, though, you’d get a massive Soul Point boost, though.”

Grace smiled before continuing. “We aren’t at the point where we can take risks like that, though. For now, I say we train your Aura Manipulation. Stats don’t matter if you don’t know how to accurately take advantage of them! Besides, you can only do so much when I’m controlling your aura output.”

Noah briefly considered the possibilities of Aura Manipulation. He could do… well… anything. His entire life, he’d been too weak to realize his dream, but with his new abilities, he had a genuine chance.

It all ends if Chaos finds us, though.

The thought aggravated Noah much more than he imagined it would. Eighteen years stuck at the bottom, unable to truly act on his dream, only for some unseen force to want him dead.

As if I’d let him take this from me.

As Noah saw it, Chaos was always his enemy, even if they hadn’t met face to face.

Max Level is far away. I’m only 11, and Grace said the Max is 704! This might take a while… but I need to do it.

“I appreciate the gusto!” Grace blurted, snapping Noah out of his momentary daze. “We could get started tomorrow! For now, though, let’s sleep! I’m beat.”

“Yeah,” Noah agreed, drowsiness taking him. “I agree.”

The two walked to the tree furthest from where they’d previously been talking and leaned on it beside one another. As sleep took him, he considered what possibilities his future held. This Officer of the Demiurge was strong enough to create demons and wanted him dead. When Noah asked for clarification on that point, she’d responded,

“Anyone associated with the Demiurge would want to kill you. You’re an Incarnation. They don’t need a reason.”

Displeased with that answer, he contemplated silently. Sure, the people he’d lived with generally ignored him, but people like Cynric, members of the Upper Echelon… They wanted him dead because Noah represented an obstacle for them. Was it the same with this Chaos?

This was enough to draw a chuckle out of Noah. Another person with power wants him dead?

Get in line.

*****

When Noah awoke, he wasn’t at all surprised to find that little time had actually passed. It was still the dead of night. When he turned to his right, he found Grace leaning on his right shoulder. Upon closer inspection, he was a bit startled to realize that her eyes had been open.

“I might’ve lied a bit,” Grace whispered. “Angels don’t sleep.”

“Then why did you say you were tired?” Noah asked.

“Because I knew you were. If I told you I was going to stay up I assumed you’d be a bit creeped out.”

Noah sighed, but didn’t object. He wouldn’t have found it creepy given their current situation, but he would’ve been a bit uncomfortable to know she’d be watching him. With a smile, Noah stood. He helped the golden woman to her feet before motioning her to follow him.

“Since we’re both up, how about we take a walk? That’s usually what I do when I can’t sleep.”

When Grace nodded, Noah walked further into the forest beyond the campsite, the golden following closely behind them.

The guiding light above them cast a dark shadow below them, the thick evergreen trees shading the dead leaves and pine cones below them. As the two walked about the forest, he was surprised at the lack of larger animals. He’d learned as a child that exotic animals existed only in Sassen, the northern hemisphere of the planet, but the emptiness compared to what he’d read about in old texts was still quite jarring.

“There’s a lot about this world you don’t know about, huh?” Grace mused.

Noah turned to respond and noted her uncharacteristically stoic expression. Taking this into account, he responded in turn.

“I suppose. I’ve always wanted to see more of it, but I was never able to leave Haven. Now that I’m here… well…”

She chuckled a bit, her expression still soft. Grace stopped, looking up at the sky.

“Do you think aunt Unmei and Genova are wrong about you?”

The question surprised Noah considering how enthusiastic she’d been about his chances earlier that night. Rather than answer immediately, he considered her question in earnest. Was he capable? Grace had mentioned that Chaos would want him dead as soon as the Officer knew of him. Hell, just a few hours earlier he’d resigned himself to death at the hands of Cynric. Were these Progenitors right in picking someone like him?

“I don’t know,” Noah responded honestly, his expression falling slightly. “I want to become the King of Kissen, but it’s going to be a hard battle getting there. I’m homeless, broke, and the creator of the demons is going to be after me as soon as he’s aware of me.’

Grace chuckled, her expression still stoic.

“King of Kissen vs. the King of Demons.”

Noah chuckled in turn as he thought about it.

“Do you know why Chaos wants me dead? I know what you said earlier, but… there has to be a better reason.”

“I don’t know,” Grace admitted. “Chaos is a constant threat, but the situation is generally… different. He’s usually far more present, but in this Universe… he’s been silent. It allows us to gain strength, but I fear that we might be playing into his hands.”

As Noah thought about what to say, he inspected Grace. The golden woman looked away from him toward the ground now. She did her best to hide her fear, but this Soul bond they had made it easy to see through the facade. Rather than call her out, he decided he’d take a different approach.

With a confident smile, Noah began.

“Let’s start training!”

When Noah saw her confused expression, he continued.

“You said earlier that stats mean nothing if I don’t have Aura Manipulation fundamentals mastered, right? Let’s get that started! The sooner we get those down, the sooner we can kill Chaos! Once that’s done, we can take a vacation and see the world or… something.”

“See the world, huh?” Grace chuckled…

…and chuckled… until eventually, it was a full-blown laugh.

Noah joined her, reminded of the moment he shared with Mizune in Old Haven. Unlike then, though, he was fine with laughing wholeheartedly.

“I suppose I’d enjoy that, Noah Hearts. We will ‘see the world’ once Chaos has been defeated.”

Her normal upbeat smile returning, she continued.

“Let’s start with some light Sensory Manipulation training. Once that’s been done, you should sleep. We can find a town tomorrow morning then go out to train tomorrow night.”

Nodding in agreement, Noah followed Grace back to the campsite, finding himself quite eager to begin his training.

*****

After about thirty minutes, Noah was spent. Grace had him dodge rocks and pinecones with his eyes closed. The biggest problem was how hard she threw. At one point, Noah was surprised she’d thrown a pinecone and not a boulder considering the force.

“Your HEALTH was upgraded, you’ll manage!” she’d said in response.

As they reached the hour mark, Noah couldn’t help but feel like dodging objects and getting hit was the only thing keeping him awake. He couldn’t deny the training seemed to be doing… something, but he wasn’t exactly sure what that was until Grace stopped training.

“I’ll admit, your AURA stat isn’t high enough to do anything cool, but you can detect basic aura now!” Grace said.

“What… do you… mean?” Noah asked, his breathing ragged from the hour of training.

“Remember that punch? You were able to see the aura on your fist!”

Noah supposed he did remember that. That orb of light around his fist was strong enough to vaporize the demon it touched. Recalling the memory, he couldn’t help but let out a proud smile.

“And now… You can do that on a macro level!”

With a pant, Noah inquired.

“And how… did dodging rocks teach me that?”

Grace responded with a sheepish grin.

“About that… well… this isn’t a good spot to train, so… I might’ve… stretched the truth about this being ideal training. It is good for Sensory Manipulation, but unless you can perfectly sense aura, this means nothing.”

Scrunching his face in disbelief, Noah began to voice his annoyance before Grace blurted out.

“I’ve never trained someone before! I just didn’t want to disappoint you since you were so eager!”

“For an hour?!” Noah groaned.

“Look… I’ll make it up to you.” Grace began. “I’ll stop controlling your aura output and let you use Sensory Manipulation yourself. Just follow my lead, okay?”

With a sigh, Noah shelved his annoyance and prepared to listen to Grace. The woman stood behind Noah, placing her hands on his shoulders.

“Close your eyes.” She whispered into his ear. “For real, this time.”

“You aren’t going to throw rocks this time, are you?”

“No!” Grace said, a bit too quickly.

Relenting, Noah complied. As his eyes were closed, a small part of him wanted to see another blue orb.

I can find one later, I suppose.

“Focus on the sound of wind blowing around you. The soft rustle of leaves dancing across the atmosphere.”

As Grace described various sounds and sights of the forest, Noah began to recognize what this was.

Guided meditation! It’s the stuff that they made us do in training!

“Grace, this stuff doesn’t–”

“Open your eyes, Noah.”

Noah was taken aback by what he’d seen. Everything around him was so… vivid. He could see the wind as streaks of white whirring about him. Dark green light emanated from the leaves on the ground, mingling with the brown of the earth beneath their feet.

“What is this?”

“Aura,” Grace responded. “Everything in this world is aura. Right now, I told you to focus on a few of the things around you, but if you wanted to, you could sense the aura of more abstract concepts… Moonlight, stars, gravity, matter…”

As the thought of sensing unique aura danced in Noah’s mind, he couldn’t help but point up at the guiding light that’d been following above them. When Noah pointed at it, Grace responded, affirming his silent theory.

“Sunlight given form,” Grace said. “Manipulating the aura you see around you is called ‘World Manipulation’. It’s the most advanced form of Aura Manipulat–”

“CONTROL!” Noah blurted as the realization struck him.

Grace nodded and walked from behind him. The two stood side by side, observing the guiding light together.

“The CONTROL stat dictates how well you can use World Manipulation. I’d imagine if we raise INTELLIGENCE, we could skip the years of training and practice it.”

Noah smiled as another thought took hold of him. What else could he learn? Most of the guards in Haven’s castle were able to use light… Light Manipulation as Noah now learned, to fight demons on the Fields. Many of the Wolves of Haven, and Mizune, were able to materialize out of aura. If he increased INTELLIGENCE, how could he apply it in a battle? As Noah saw it, now that he could use aura, he may prioritize it once he’s learned the fundamentals.

“Grace, we should probably find a teacher,” Noah responded, his expression conspiratory. “And tomorrow, we should really search for some–”

DANGER. UNIQUE THREAT APPROACHING.

Both Grace and Noah stopped at the same time as the blue screen flashed before them.

“The System’s range must have been widened from the Sensory Manipulation!” Grace shouted. Before I go back in there and take control of your aura output, ask it to define the threat!”

As Noah voiced his understanding, he spoke aloud.

“System, define the threat!”

ACKNOWLEDGED.

NAME: ABADDON MOON

LEVEL: -FORBIDDEN-

SPECIES: -FORBIDDEN-

TITLE: -FORBIDDEN-

Grace cursed aloud before speaking.

“Forbidden?!”

Feeling her nervousness through their Soul Bond, Noah asked for clarification.

“It means that this threat… might not be a demon…” She turned to him, making no effort to hide her fear. “Noah, ask it for a Statistical Analysis.”

As he did so, Noah’s heart sank. Grace covered her mouth in horror with her left hand, squeezing Noah’s wrist with her right.

HEALTH: -NULL-

AURA: -BOUNDLESS-

STAMINA: -BOUNDLESS-

STRENGTH: -BOUNDLESS-

MANIPULATION: -BOUNDLESS

INTELLIGENCE: -BOUNDLESS-

SOUL: -NULL-

CONTROL: -BOUNDLESS-

He had a decent idea of what ‘BOUNDLESS’ meant, but he’d also come to understand that the statistic came from his position as the Incarnation of Souls. This Abaddon, whoever they were, managed to have all of his stats as BOUNDLESS. Not only that, but—

“NULL?!” Grace shouted, her hand trembling around Noah’s wrist.

“What does that–”

“Noah, we need to move… now!”

As the blue screen vanished, Grace dragged Noah through the forest, dodging through trees at odd angles to ensure they weren’t met by the coming danger. As they ran, Grace continued to curse herself and how they may be caught in a ‘Deviation’. Though he was curious, he knew now wasn’t the time to inquire. Instead, he attempted to think of solutions.

“Grace, can’t I just absorb this Abaddon person’s Soul?”

“He doesn’t have one.” She responded, her tone grave. “The NULL stat tells us as much. There’s… nothing we can do against a Skulker. Nothing but run.”

Before he could ask what a Skulker even was, she shrank down to her miniature size and flew onto Noah’s shoulder. A wave of cold shot across his body as he felt his steps lighten.

Flow Manipulation…

Noah continued to run deeper into the forest, unsure where even to go. As they ran, he was relieved to find light pouring through trees in the distance.

“The exit!” Noah called.

Running as fast as his body would let him, Noah made for the forest’s exit onto the Kissen Fields.

As they made their way out, he was taken aback by where he’d ended up.

Before him lay a path of grass leading to a central well, tall wheat growing in either direction. The scent of fertilizer was familiar to his senses, he scrunched his nose as he ran deeper into the farmland.

Is this… a crop circle?

As he made his way deeper into the crop circle, he felt himself running out of energy. Looking in every direction, he decided to hide before the wheat to catch his breath.

“Noah, take a lot of deep breaths. I’ll focus on gathering aura so we can keep going. This should take me about thirty seconds!”

“Got it!” he responded, kneeling in as guarded a position he could manage. “You think we managed to–”

A cold chill ran up Noah’s spine as a cold hand lay upon his right shoulder. When he turned, a white-haired boy the same as he looked directly at him, his blue eyes boring directly into his green eyes.

“Stand, human.” the boy said.

Noah did so, and he could practically feel Grace shaking. As much as he wanted to join her, he did his best to hide his nerves.

The boy before him was shirtless, save for brown leather sleeves. He wore black capri pants and cheap-looking brown boots similar to a pair he’d owned in his youth.

“You’re Abaddon Moon I take it?”

The boy’s face scrunched into one of genuine resentment as he spoke.

“Of course you’d know my name, filthy cultist.”

Cultist?

Abaddon’s eyes narrowed as he inspected Noah’s confused expression.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Truth Seeker.”

The white-haired boy stalked toward Noah until the two were mere inches from one another. Noah looked down to meet Abaddon’s eyes, doing his best not to be intimidated by his intensity.

“Tell me where Marie is and I will grant you the privilege of life, human.”

Who the hell is Mar–

Bam!

Abaddon punched Noah in the chest, the force of the blow knocking Noah to his knees. Noah did his best to stay composed, but he couldn’t.

He vomited.

As he released the contents of his stomach, he panted deeply. His voice hoarse, Noah spoke up.

“I don’t know… Marie! I’m no…Truth Seeker… I’m just… a kid from… Haven!”

Abaddon grabbed him by the hair, crouching to meet him at eye level.

“I do not take kindly to liars, human.”

Bang!

Before Noah could object, Abaddon punched him in his face, the blow knocking Noah into the wheat fields, his feet the only part exposed to the crop circle.

“I observed you from this crop circle, human!” Abaddon shouted, his voice growing louder as he approached Noah. “You spoke to yourself all night! You fought five pathetic demons after having been on the brink of death! I am aware some humans… decently powerful, but that… is asinine!”

Noah tried to formulate a proper response. The only issue was that even he wasn’t entirely sure what his own circumstances were. Would Abaddon understand what an Incarnation of Souls is? Besides, what even was Abaddon? Grace referred to him as a Skulker… was that something he could use to his advantage?

“Noah! I have finished gathering aura! What do you want to do?”

“You’re giving me a choice? I thought you were nervous?”

Grace floated before him, her position strong.

“I deliberated with my mother. While the results of his Statistical Analysis were alarming, they aren’t too worrying for now. Sure, he’s BOUNDLESS, but that is simply a status. We don’t know how strong he is until we fight him!”

Fight him, huh?

The thought excited Noah more than it should’ve, considering how powerful the two attacks he’d faced were. Especially considering how fast Abaddon had appeared beside him…

“If we run,” Noah began. “He’ll just find us again, right?”

Grace nodded before turning toward the approaching Abaddon. When he turned back to Noah, she let out a confident grin.

“We’ll just have to work together! The two of us can beat him!”

With a nod, Noah accepted Grace’s proposition.

Time to put this Incarnation stuff to good use.

Noah stood from the patch of wheat he’d been punched into with minimal effort. Despite how hard those earlier attacks had been, he was surprised with how quickly they’d managed to heal. Chalking it up to the raised HEALTH stat, he decided not to give it too much thought.

“Abaddon Moon” Noah called. The white-haired boy stopped in his tracks, judging Noah.

“I am not your enemy,” he started, wiping the dirt from his robes, “However I am not your punching bag. If you’d like to talk through this…”

Abaddon laughed an obnoxious, haughty laugh before speaking.

“Since when did you have the power to control a conversation, human? Do you know what I am?”

“You’re a Skulker, and I’m the Incarnation of Souls,” Noah responded, his tone severe.

In a flash, Abaddon appeared before Noah, his expression intense.

“You don’t tell good jokes, human.” the white-haired boy growled. “I was content letting you live if you had given me the information I desired,” he began, “But now… I would find difficulty sleeping if I allowed someone aligned with Pestilence the privilege of living on the same planet as I.”

Pestilence? Crap. Should I not have said that? I thought he’d stand down if I said that!

“Step back! He’s about to hit you with something!”

In a quick, aura-laced leap, Noah stepped back. As he did so, he noticed Abaddon had slammed an overhead fist down at the point Noah had been mere moments before. Upon closer inspection, Noah noticed an opaque purple light around his fist.

Aura!

“I refuse to let you live, scum!” Abaddon shouted

As he landed, Grace spoke from beside him.

“This won’t be easy, but I’m fairly certain we can beat him! I still need time to learn how he fights, but once I do I’ll be able to make a plan to defeat him!”

“Got it!” Noah yelled.

Abaddon launched himself at Noah, as Grace shouted.

“Now, jump!”