Life returned momentarily to Yugo’s eyes when the red screen popped up in front of them. This pleased Apocaly who nudged Yugo playfully.

“Did you get a love letter from the creators?” Apocaly jokingly said with a smile.

“No. We need to protect a toy. Do you know where north is?” Yugo replied curtly.

Apocaly nodded and returned to the ring, enveloping Yugo in his aura and making them take to the sky. They flew to where giant trees took the place of skyscrapers and flying monsters of all shapes and sizes populated the sky. After killing a few monsters and safely reaching the ground, Yugo felt something was off about the area. Looking around, they saw that the street they landed on was empty. There were no monsters roaming, not even the flying ones chased them to the ground. What was even stranger was the lack of corpses.

“Apocaly, don’t leave the ring until I tell you.” Yugo said with a faint shaking in their voice. “I don’t want to waste time saving you.”

Apocaly’s ring squeezed Yugo’s finger tightly as a way to communicate the god’s anger but quickly loosened its grip because it knew why Yugo was being so mean. It too had felt the nasty energy in the deserted area. Yugo began scoping the place when they discovered a colossal plant in the center of a giant roundabout. This plant was similar to a Venus Flytrap but its teeth were huge and looked to be made of actual bone, its stalk was as thick as a tree trunk and acid poured out of its mouth, corroding the concrete floor.

Yugo quickly hid behind a nearby car and observed the monster. Although it wasn’t the source of the unpleasant energy, it was the first monster they saw on the ground. The monster didn’t move from its zone but roots could be seen extending throughout the streets with smaller versions of it at the ends. A scaly bird monster with metal claws and four thick wings swooped down to attack one of the mini plants. Before the bird could get close to its prey, acid was being fired at it from all directions. It fell to the ground with holes all over its body and it twitched uncontrollably until the plant monsters bit its head off and proceeded to eat the bird, dissolving it inside their mouths in minutes.

“Don’t look Yugo. Just focus on the objective. Where do we have to go now?” Apocaly asked hastily.

It knew that Yugo was in an unstable and unpredictable state. Yugo opened the objective screen and checked the direction.

“It east from us now. It should be close by for it to have changed.” Yugo replied, covering their ears with their shaking hands. “Please, let’s hurry.”

Apocaly once again made Yugo fly in the designated direction, staying out of sight and sticking close to the ground. They quickly reached the location where the toy was but like the roundabout, there was a giant plant monster in the vicinity.

“Listen close, there are probably many roots around, let me control your body for a bit longer. All you need to do is think about your little toy. I will do the killing myself so your hands aren’t dirtied.” Apocaly ordered.

“Okay. Just don’t kill people, please.” Yugo sheepishly replied.

“What happened to not seeing them as people anymore? You know what, don’t answer.”

Apocaly’s aura reached Yugo’s soul and their eyes became white. Claws made of energy formed at Yugo’s fingers and wings sprouted from their back.

Divine Command Lv. 2

A skill where a god can possess their ring bearer for a limited time, making their actual body immune and granting access to the bearer’s skills. As long as the two are in sync, the skills used during the possession are empowered.

Apocaly dashed through the street, the monster detected him right away and began its acid assault. Rain of potent acid fell wherever Apocaly passed. Yugo focused on the objective screen, to see if the location changed while Apocaly cut away at the small plants and used its aura to destroy the flying acid.

“The toy is in the giant plant, we need to get inside it somehow.” Yugo communicated with Apocaly mentally.

“Good, it gives me an excuse to slice it to pieces. Watch my glorious moves, slave.”

Apocaly flew directly at the plant, dodging the incoming acid and destroying anything in the way. Once he reached the base of the stalk, he began clawing at it but it barely did anything, the stalk was rapidly healing.

“Yugo, I hope your body can handle this.” Apocaly said aloud as his aura concentrated around Yugo’s mouth and jaw and giant teeth formed.

Yugo’s body looked a lot more like a dragon now, a dragon made of golden holy energy. Apocaly bit away at the stalk and clawed like a wild beast. The plant’s regeneration couldn’t keep up with the assault and eventually a hole big enough for Apocaly to enter was created. He quickly flew in before it closed once again.

Now inside, it looked more like a room made out of roots and plant matter than the inside of a plant stalk. Yugo checked again the objective and verified that they were in the right place. They looked around and found two people tied up by vines. One of them looked to be a small child, no older that 10, and the other was a grown adult.

“Be careful, the nasty feeling I’ve been having is stupidly strong right now. Maybe those people can clarify why that is.” Apocaly pondered, moving Yugo’s body toward the people.

When they reached a certain distance, the people woke up and screamed like they were being shocked. Once their screaming stopped,the woman fell unconscious again and the child weakly looked at us, their entire body shaking.

“He...help...” the child muttered while crying.

“Is he the toy?” Apocaly asked Yugo.

“What? No. But he seems to have it with him. See if there’s anything special about him. We also need to save these two, a child shouldn’t have to suffer like this.” Yugo answered.

Yugo stared at the child, looking for an item that could be considered a toy, and saw something that caused them to have a sudden realization. It was a ring. Although simple in design and material, it still oozes the energy of a Ring God. The woman next to the boy woke up and saw them.

“Save him... Please... I can die and be reborn later... But not this boy...” the woman told the pair.

“I’m sorry. Yugo, don’t you dare look.” Apocaly replied and bit its lip.

NEW ACHIEVEMENT!

[Parent’s Betrayal]

You broke an essential promise with your ring bearer.

Possession skills aren’t possible with your ring bearer until trust is regained.

Before Yugo could open their mouth, Apocaly killed the boy in an instant, as a way to show mercy. Yugo couldn’t bare this and forced Apocaly out of their body. The woman didn’t say anything, not because she couldn’t but because she knew that she didn’t have a better solution. Yugo however was very vocal, screaming at Apocaly and crying. They then fell silent and stared at the woman, redirecting their hate at her.

“Stop acting like a baby. You knew a child couldn’t survive in this kind of world.” Apocaly snapped at Yugo while releasing the woman. “Plus, she’s your little toy. That, and the source of the aura we’ve been feeling.”

The woman stayed quiet while looking at Yugo. She then took the ring from the child’s finger and gave it to Yugo.

”Take it. Take it and disappear. I’ll wait fo-”

“Wait for the group you blew up?” Apocaly interrupted, growing his claws to their larger form. “We were watching you all for days. I don’t know what you are but you are not one of us. Yugo, throw that away and let’s go.”

“Apocaly... I... I can’t.” Yugo said, staring blankly at the objective screen.

You are now in possession of the Toy Maker’s Toy.

Keep it with you until the time runs out and you will be greatly rewarded.

“What do you mean you can’t?!” Apocaly bellowed, causing the room to shake and the roots around them to move. “Damn. We’ve been in here for too long. Yugo, don’t be difficult and let me use [Divine Command] again.”

Apocaly went back into his ring and begun using [Divine Command]. However, Yugo didn’t allow it.

“How do I know that you won’t kill another person again? You used my body to do it. This time, we’ll escape through there.” Yugo retorted, pointing upward.

Apocaly and the woman looked up and realized that Yugo wanted to exit through the monster’s mouth. Apocaly became extremely angry at the ridiculous proposal but didn’t open his mouth, instead he grabbed Yugo’s and the woman’s hand and flew.

“Thank you...” Yugo whispered.

Apocaly could barely hear what they said but the message appearing in front of him confirmed his doubts.

Your ring bearer is feeling more trustful toward you.

Apocaly sneaked a smile and placed his aura around the others. When the aura touched the woman, Apocaly felt a sharp pain in his chest but didn’t retract it, instead he sped up and was able to tear through the thin wall and out of the monster’s mouth, its acid dissolving parts of Apocaly’s scales and the other’s clothes and skins.

Now outside, the woman launched a ball of black fire at the plant, burning it intensely until it became a pile of ashes that stayed ablaze. The group fell shortly after because Apocaly suddenly lost all his strength. He was lying on the ground breathing heavily.