Intermission 1

The man in a pale-blue baseball uniform, off the cap, was walking to the door of the inn room. Closing a pocket-size book, he touched the runic holder. It detected the temporary owner of the room and pivoted into the inside. Like a fingerprint security system.

Squeaking in the curve volume graph, the door taunted the candle through a low vibration while introduced a person behind.

Another candle cup was on her hand. Due to a crystal orb shortage because of the infection, they couldn't ignite the light runes today, the whole inn blacked out, preserved limited resource for something more essential.

"Evana...you don't have disguise?" Lraden said while checking out to the corridor. She was alone.

"What with that pickup line? Besides, there are three of us here. The kingdom had thrust the matter of visitors, no room was rented today. There is an expensive room serving for you upstairs."

A young grown-up elf stood there with an appearance of half-truth.

Every reality had a varied degree of age period, and a 70 years old elf was tied to 20 years old human in this reality. Only knowledge and experience not matched but the trend of thinking was basic timeless fashion.

Curiously, the woman wasn't Evana. She supposed to be shorter and had a small chest. Yet, this woman had a bombshell body with a long braided hair of timber-silver shade. Also taller, almost within Lraden's sight.

This was her original self as Lraden claimed. Evana the other day was in makeup of sort.

"No? Anyway, here some outfits." She pushed the heap to Lraden. "They were my late father's, hopefully, it matched your physique. We purchase others for you tomorrow. Still awake? How about a grape juice before bed?"

He titled backward while induced both hands, the clothing stack docked flatly on the book's face. "I appreciate your over-responsibility kindness. Nothing I could offer concerning the prevailing state of my biding. Gratitude once again."

"Don't mind. I achieved what most people would do. I think."

""

"Ula?"

"Ah... I would do booze sometime in the future."

"Oh-ho. Sorry if I crashed your business. Night."

"Good night too, milady." Lraden leaned his body to cover the opening when Evana glimpsed what he was actually doing in the room.

"I'm not that old... I intend... It's you people who have a short age...sorry."

Although elf had long age than a normal human, she was still actually young. Evana 70 years old. And Lraden 32 years old.

In the outside view, Evana was older than him. Nevertheless, if a wisdom battle proposed, Lraden implied higher as he was more mature and experience as an adult added by his forced marriage. This meant Lraden couldn't consider communicating with Evana as if she was grandmother or mother. Her act and behavior transpired precisely between 25 - 17. Saying her {milady} had a deep meaning that Evana wasn't able to grasp up all. As proof, she apologized for calling Lraden live short. This was a real act since elven concern about elders.

"Don't worry, alright?" Lraden replied in a fatherly tone. In fact, she had two daughters in Science Reality.

"Let's pray we could attain who summoned you here."

Expecting she left with the light of the candle, the man watched her until she joined into mischief of darkness. He fastened the slat door afterward, threw the apparels onto the desk beside one giant book.

The room was undecorated with bed and a few basic things such as a candle, shelf, and drawer. Nothing overspent furniture for a cheap niche. Though, there was a pricey light rune inside a glass box that didn't have source energy to on.

"Haah..." He fondled a good plethora of wind from the dark city scenery through the window before back off.

Behind him, he fished a chair from the desk and shifted the blanket off the bed. There were tens of rune slabs spreading on top, each one never had a double. Between them, several former books were already opened, asserted with sketches of runic symbols, and their origin explanations. Their compatibilities and enemies. Their amount of energies and outputs. Their systems and triggers. Very detailed per rune. So critical for a rune knowledge.

One more major thing to mention. All opened-pages had a small printed of white runic letters with a red background. Without translation, it was obvious these runes were a breaking law.

He relaxed facing to them and bustled duplicating the slab's reading to his small notebook as it was shooting against time, appended his own description in English. Put the notebook's page on the top rune, then painted with the runic pen. The ink dried faster with bright colorful black, rune image yielded up.

He didn't recognize this world language but strangely, this city spoke almost English sounded despite the texts resembled what made an appearance in an ancient pyramid. Lraden barely delivered out the rich accent like how he listened in some kind ancient mummy movie. A golden accent for a better picture. This gave illusion, the world had a better linguistic system then his old world.

"Did World Blueprint give me something...? No. I have no ownership." Lraden was thinking if this result was because his existence was erased. Then, how could he live here with zero World Value? "Something else?"

In any case, he had to study as much as he could since these runes were stolen ― borrowed ― from a museum in this city.

Turning into autopilot, his mind recalled how he ended here for safer reasoning, traveled back to that place. The candle quietly lit a baseball bat that drifted to the wall. Inside the fire, there was a reddish form of burning dust.

It had brightened in a faint bluish fire liquid. Danced and then was wiped out.

"N-N-No." He flicked the stylish lighter again. "Waltreeeeennn! A-Are you t-there?"

Reworked again, his hand was quivering at an unspeakable rate. The lighter slipped off his hand, it dropped somewhere in the unseen shadow. What was wrong with this place?

It was gloomy. Not a slightly light could appear here except the lighter a while ago. Not even his floating body noticeable. Quiet. No attendance of living. No noise. No wind. Nothing. Only his breath.

The heat from his body poked his sensitive eyeballs as he strained to see a thing. His head was jammed with inaudible monotone audio, he accumulated a thousand delusions unwillingly. Growing intensely through his nerves, it chipped his facade and strained his patience beyond the limit, began tearing down his brain to toes.

"Lraden..." He punched his head. "Damn!" He remembered still his name, so he wasn't crazy.

Gawking back at his mobile phone, his sweaty thumb hopped on the beeping keypads as the surrounding silence morphed into shrieks of unknown. Voice. Not one but many and many in uncounted sentences. Obscure yet eerie.

The old man. The husky woman. The lusty child. The laugh of a baby. Angry bulldozer. Ice glitch. Cut-blazing of car. Bloody pen. Shark tornado.

Each voice had an uncomfortable personality.

"Done! Stop it!" His own voice crackled, his nails gritted down to the throat's base. Unbuttoned his lower coat, he tossed the tie aside. No sound of dropping. The tie magically melted away.

There was no hot or cold here. Everything wasted from his own blood rage.

His lungs fluttered inside the smelly shirt, his breathing pattern stretched and scattered nowhere. The voices were still unclear. Yet they hyped. It felt like a century of them. Million. Billion. And still accelerated up.

"Haaaaaaaaah!" He rocked his body, wishing he could strike some novelty. He comprehended this wasn't real. But his brain barked back at him, violated him to stimulate his senses. The silences could destroy his eardrums. Why did he keep listening to this? Loud and mad?

He had to hear something other than his own voice. Music. Yeah. He could do that.

Swiped through apps, he searched some in the music player. "What?"

The screen displayed oblivion of playable files.

"How it could be?" He opened his schedule app. It dissolved. "Why?"

Little by little, pictures, history web browsers, the icons, the contact numbers, and information on the mobile phone decreased as the battery level plummeted to one percent.

"No no no."

And then a pattern of pink blueprint consumed the phone from his hand in split-second like when he erased an existence. The only sympathizer he had in this world was abundant darkness encompassing him. An infinity space inside a locked box. That he would never escape.

{As human hate to live in Broken Worldline and so the others.}

He remembered some words. His tie and phone disappeared, preferred to jump into Real Worldline. The reason until now they stayed here because they had a connection to his existence.

"It's over..."

Bit by bit, the forgotten voices knocked everything he could do to maintain his sanity. He didn't sure the benefit of retaining his mental state anymore.

He hated the world. More than anything. Bribes, wars, human traffics, robbers, yakuza, prisoners, scrappers... The world had become a shitty home thanks to humanity's justice.

That what Lraden believed.

He even despised to death the concept of {world} itself. No. He scorned to exist. It was better if he born into a bird and climbed to the broad sky without care about the world. Maybe grew as wheat and turned as fodder was quicker to end the suffering. He didn't have to annoy himself about the next day.

Even so, he had to pierce through this stupid game known as {Life}. So many beliefs and pride. Choices and ways. Rules and backdoors. And even more of groups and religions. Just the internet littered with ads and artificial charities.

Why he was bound to serve a lifetime script prepared by the director, his father. Education, trauma accidents, love story, hobby, likes and unlikes, shoes he had to wear, charisma style, his food choices...even the shape of his smile was nicely fabricate.

Ever since he was sailed into this world, he wasn't alive. No. He already dead at that time.

However, even he rejected the world, he never recused himself.

Notwithstanding his father trained him from ever since he could spread his eyes, or how the evilness surrounded him, or those people who taught him but nothing more than a tool of profit, he didn't give up, waiting a day he would ramp through this invisible wall.

Day by day, he forced the justice only to himself. He surprised he was talented in such a skill. Most people would already break.

Earned it, it was confirmed as president of America State, and to control the world with the leadership he struggled. He destroyed his father in his own game.

Only to discover, being a president was also turn out to be a puppet. A contract he had to fulfill after sat on the chair. He trapped, unable to run away after chose a wrong path.

He lost hope as a gift of pictures and poisons stalked him under the couch from his father's counter-attack, the day to the final politician contest came near.

Yes. He realized about political facade before he became a president.

And then one day when he deathly looked at the ceiling as his daughters asked him to play outside... there at doorstep, Waltren Eragle was standing in a fabulous tailcoat. The man introduced Lraden World Blueprint that crushed all his dreams and hopes that the world could offer was nothing more than parody, with a single answer...

World Vision.

He saw an authentic truth behind a locked box, a string of puppet that linking between characters. He saw what he attempted to achieve was self-destruction.

Power? Did bribing also the same?

Rich? Did stealing counted as well?

How about climbing a once-in-lifetime dream? So broken.

That wasn't power. It took single unconfirmed news and he was dragged to stand in front of the filled judge. The courtroom. Became rich? His money robbed by law enforcement. Dream? It was over.

Enemies were few in number if compared to the rest of the population on the Earth. Yet, their mastermind had carefully crafted a mystery big plan that changing one or two pieces would never come true. It was always returned benefit back to the mastermind.

Even people identified who rob the bank at the city the other day, the event continued to happen as they promised to reduce crime one day.

The world stayed alive not because of the age and movement of the galaxy. It was Worldline. A will of existence that balanced precisely and hardly expected despite having a truth.

If mankind was all good or all evil, the world would end. In other words...

"Variety of Life."

The world wasn't so bad if he escaped from the actor role of his father's real-life insane movie.

He sheared tears as gradually the time misled him.

It was too late. He let a tool to fix reality disappeared from his hand. Maybe he considered himself as lucky to witness such power. It had on him one day.

As soon as Lraden stopped thinking, a bolt of pink lightning emerged like the very supernova, burst and pushed him to end of the universe, his body rotated and span faster than a wheel of a computer.

Only for a short moment, the whole globe was lit up. Lraden witnessed everything. The nightmare that waiting here was no end.

Bang!

A very loud bump made Lraden woke up from deep reasoning, his eyes slipped toward the door; the sound was coming from the outside hallway. He finished the act of bringing fire back to his wiped candle.

There were about five more runes to go. He would be fine if he returned all before the generator ― what Lraden called crystal orb ― brought light to the city.

He transferred the blanket to the bed, hauled the chair to the desk with a book of Rune Art History on it, and closed his notebook to hide the forbidden runes been found. Only later he unlocked the door.

His eyes stooped as he crouched to her level. A small child was laid to the floor. Her face definitely bumped into the carpet. The candle cup was tumbled over.

"There is a fitter bed than a solid floor." Lraden elevated her up from under her arms.

Her head about to cry went up.

With quick banter, Lraden seized the candle cup and wriggled his forefinger at the side. The red and orange flame suddenly kindled long thin string with green and glossy purple wrapped inside and outside. It built a showy flame that underwent hues through heavily based purple.

The girl hunted the fire to the ceiling, her eyes neglected one or two drops of tears. "Ooh..."

Observing her few seconds, Lraden plucked off his fingers, the flame shortened.

"It's late night and you're not in bed yet? Is there a song I could aid with? Or may I tell you a happy story of A Tale of Iceriot Tower I read a while ago?"

The girl searched for something on her both hands.

A black cat followed her from the back, induced to the girl's leg. Nothing was interesting more than its blueish oval eyes. Lraden got a feeling this cat born with runes, therefore hybrid. As to its potential, he was still searching that rune symbols in its eyes. Combination of letter {u} inside {O} per eye.

The girl heaved a flower to him with both hands after blew the dust away.

Brown thorny stems lengthened, the crown toned in yellow. "Thank you." He embodied the flower's smell that dull and indifferent. "Nice fragrance. I welcome having someone to bring a present all the way here but why at this specific time?"

"Mister's room lights up all night...maybe I will give a sleepy flower."

With the city in duskiness, his room might stand out more often. He noted that when quick-glanced inside. "You're right..." He checked his runic watch that gave by Evana. Five minutes left before the main crystal orb restarted.

"Is it help?"

"Ah... Yes. Surely, it did." Lraden tried to submit a yawn. "I think, I better go to bed now."

"Is it true?" The girl didn't appear to trust him. "If Mister says so."

"Ah, hold on. Who...? ...your name, little child?"

"Um? Rina." She put W on her fingers, wiynel(Victory). Though, the runic letter had a combination of {W} and diagonal line on up left to below right. "And this is Boomie." The cat responded to its name, it looked at Rina instead of Lraden, meowed in a question mark.

"Sorry for catching you. Good night, Rina... And Boomie. Have...a nice dream."

Once they went, he shut the door. He turned toward the candle and pitched the hot flame with his bare hand. Shout in intensity, and then exhausted, the room was swarmed with eclipse.

Crowded in silent and tense.

Just like that time.

After getting blown away, Lraden shook up to his passive mood. He glinted over the source of the spiral galaxy. This was the second time he witnessed the beauty of a blueprint Materialization. A sophisticated art.

Five people were standing on the top of a cold-magenta void platform as several people flicked away, but later slowly drifting closer. His body was the same.

While Lraden in confusing, something sealed his eyes and crawled into his body.

Lraden realized the voices combined into one, gradually became clear.

[W...oju...jhshf...wgnfri...what do you desire most?]

"M...e...? I... I... No idea..." He had trouble talking. "Why should...I care? Maybe...get out of here..."

[Get out of here, huh? Then freedom?]

"W-What...?" Lraden contacted a slimy creature moving closer to his chest. It was hard to confirm totally with his numb senses. "Yeah. Away from this world."

Little by little his body trapped in slug or moist of huge thing, swallowed by something.

Without understanding anything, his body was processed into bones in split second. In his hand, it was some sort of a ring...a golden ring. His vision saw through the bleakness. In his other hand, there was a mask with an expression of a plain. Like an unpainted design, the maker didn't have a clue to color it, left without holes for eyes and mouth.

Fear? Scare? He didn't think about it.

A flame was expanding in his skeleton naked body but it was a bit greyed purple. Like stove with a low volume of a gas tank. His red greyed eyes moving toward the nearest man who holding a baseball bat. He seemed eager to fly toward the circle platform.

[Take his clothes. Hide.]

Lraden killed him without hesitation as something was dead inside of him. Since his ego was pale, he didn't question whether he could trust the voice or not. Neither what he was doing was a matter to him. The only thing he wanted was to get out as soon as possible. The desire burned stimulating and thick proportioned to the size of the flame warmth. His bones that started black cleared into white.

He couldn't feel anything anymore, living through two senses: his sight and his hearing. No. That wasn't true since he could taste the blood that he slew on the man's throat. It was just, something missing.

Covered the man's mouth from a scream, Lraden waited until he stopped squirming. The flame was turned off to prevent the outfit from burning. After slotted himself into the new clothes, he flew toward the platform.

[Use your human form.]

"Right..." Lraden signaled his human body when in reality, it was only the appearance. He used the advantage to escape when Waltren jumped out with everyone on the platform. Then later, ran away and met with Evana on the way, lied about the summoning part to flee from some patrollers.

Even right now, he couldn't feel any emotion. Only his desire freedom raged inside. Perhaps, that what the voice meant. Lately, the voice slowly vanished and realized it wasn't voiced. But a different desire from his own was overtaken his emotion.

He had a purpose. That was it. Freedom. And he couldn't have it until he killed Waltren. Before he could do that, he needed an army to fight against World Blueprint.

The truth was, he didn't care about Waltren anymore. But it revolted against him, the desire for freedom and build an undead army clashed tight then what he was thinking.

"Isn't he searching the next owner?" Lraden traced something. "That will work." Lraden raised the flower toward the sky. He had a perfect smile, but her heart nevertheless strangely filled an emptiness. "Haah..." He sighed from loneliness. "Is this what it meant to be undead?"

No. Before he became undead, his heart was the same tasteless.

Hawking at the flower under a moonlight, attempting to think about the smell. It was good but it didn't affect him, not even slightly. The piece of himself was separately gone, he couldn't bring himself to appreciate.

Grabbed all stolen runic slabs with him, he placed the white plain ― faceless ― mask and wore the golden ring. Immediately, he could feel the missing piece evoked in his chest as he realized how excentric the emotion could produce from the flower. Basically, emotion or satisfaction born every time he wore the ring. Did his heart trap inside of it?

Yet, even he regained a portion of his humanity, his desire remained the same. Freedom. He didn't want anyone to see him as a tool of convenience anymore.

Light rune inside a glass box with framed diamond shape was blinking. Hanging next to the bed, it began to regain energy from the castle. Since King didn't allow anything higher than his homestead, it could be seen from here small glow like a lighthouse.

Lraden leaped off the building, clawed finger bones to the wall, and climbed to the roof. He then ran toward the museum with a sack of runes from past heroes.

* * *

A few days later, Lraden learned he could turn others into an undead slave. So he had been carefully picking the right person to be in his team.

During an investigation about this world, almost a quarter of the community in Aivena City had been infected by plomunic, he couldn't attack people without being cautious. The patrollers started actively walking around with occasionally heavy-guarded armed knights.

So far, Lraden had about four persons who he had turned them into undead slaves. Currently, they walked in the street at multiple locations to monitor minutes about the plomunic. He strolled with Evana to wait for a report.

"Ten!" Evana said, barging open through the store with her original identity as an owner of Almony Inn. The only period Lraden ever saw her in that appearance were several times during the daytime. Most of usual, she pretended to be guest of the inn.

"You again?!" The seller displayed a disgusting posture. "Are you try wiring me thin? Enough with your chalky tittle-tattle."

Lraden stood behind, looking at his runic watch. After that day, he received better clothes to strolling around.

"For a broken bowl? Keep short for ten veiz."

"This is a precious bowl used by Princess Funaji on her 12th birthday. What did you know? Twenty veiz ― no. I'm done. Go away. You bring me a stroke of bad luck."

"Here ten veiz." Evana stepped toward the spoken item.

"Gah! Stop stop! No touching. Huuaaa!" The seller swooshed his bamboo sword. "Damn satisfied. This is really useful."

"I don't believe you buy that useless for fifty veiz and not this crap." Evana rubbed her hurting hand. "Fifteen veiz. Last offer."

Lraden exited afterward. He saw his undead servant looked at him from outside.

One cloaked maid inclined to the wall, checking her colored nails.

"How was it?" Lraden said, putting his hand in the pocket. To build a perfect politician image, his father forbidden him from smoking. Now that he released from the agony, he wished he had one during this time.

"The plomunic is really an undead infection. But since the infection didn't active fully, they not converted to undead yet, although corruption slowly eating up their bodies. I think they are going to turn undead at the same time soon."

Lraden didn't sure how to call it, but based on observation of his power, there were two types of undeads. Strong and weak.

Strong undead like him could turn someone into undead and still maintained their memories and personalities. Thanks to that, he could order the woman to disguise as human and had her work as a maid in the castle to spy the king's insider network.

The weak undead could infect a person too. However, the undead couldn't dominate. Basically, all victims turned to even weaker and couldn't secure their humanities. Thus, mindless walkers.

As for the woman, it was somewhere in between. He resolved to call undead slave because the woman obeyed his command without a second thought.

"How about the king's tendency?"

"There was a message from the Feliner Kingdom arrived secretly two days ago, saying to be careful with all infected people. From how that old man acting, the Feliner Kingdom might already realize the truth behind plomunic."

"My king?" Another reason why he called her undead slave.

"Why you address me like that?"

"Should I call master instead?"

"No. That's not the point." Lraden looked at the time. His next servant was about to finish scouting. When he returned his glance, the woman inspected again her nails. The desire that the woman wished when all her emotions cut because of the undead.

That the biggest thing had been weighted his mind. He was strong not only because of the undead power but also an insane desire toward freedom, exceeded the woman's desire to protect her family. Plus, with this golden ring, he could keep other desires that had been cut. Basically, he could taste food satisfaction like a normal human being.

"Good work," said Lraden. "You can rest for now."

Undead didn't need sleep, eat, and breath as Lraden recalled.

"Ah..." The woman gasped a sudden surprise. "But, how about the current situation?"

He really didn't care about whatever the woman's problem. However, keeping a great state of mind had become a big issue when dealing with underlings. Since the woman had been work for him day and night without pay, he thought to give a reward. Returned her to her family.

"I will swap you with another person for a few days. Have an idea?"

"..." The woman bowed down, thinking a suitable person in the castle. "The king's advisor. He always offered advice about plomunic solution."

"Too perilous." Lraden held the silence. "I need something more out of the picture. Someone out of the palace who not suspicious going in and out."

"There is one more person. The king's goldsmith. When a new accessory is requested, he sent the query to the Aligent Goldsmith store. Several times this year, I saw them talking alone. Now the owner was dead, the shop bestowed to his grandchild, Ainari Aligent. She had a sister that still no awake..."

"Hm." Lraden stared up.

The woman quickly skipped her brief. "Tomorrow she will travel on a school trip."

"You can go now."

"I will take leave." The woman rushed into the crowd, began walking normally afterward.

"At last, I can improve a bit." Evana came here while rotated up a broken bowl. It made by metal ceramic, there was a rune at the outside bottom. Heat rune, Lraden translated.

"Can it hold anything? Or are you going to fix with magic again?"

"Magic can't buy love." Evana hid the bowl to her chest. "This is mine, all. I will never share with anybody."

Ended it there, several minutes later, they went to the blacksmith.

"What is this?" Lraden asked after Evana boasted about it. He passed it back to her.

"A dart knife." Like a throwing knife. "My pupil dropped it."

"Oh. That Siqura on the other day? I don't know you work as a teacher."

"Uno. Since it got dirty, I like to do a bit of correction."

"Wouldn't she get angry for messing with her belonging?"

"A bag of a puppet is for a teacher to mess." Evana raised an uneasy smile.

"Make sure you don't die."

"It's just a little adjustment. Can't you be a little supportive?"

After arriving in the store, Lraden tried sneaking away when Evana called the blacksmith. Lraden stepped back and went outside. The door rang a bell.

"Ula? Forget something?" She saw Lraden going out.

"No. I thought I will wait outside."

"Understand. Shortly, I will be done."

Lraden let the door closed behind by itself, he ambled toward tree when detecting the presence of his servant. The boy dressed like a noble.

Lraden never expected there was a kid in his undead army.

At first, he wanted to possess a man who some kind mafia in this city but very good in hiding his identity, making him a low profile target. Best match for Lraden's group.

However, the man was heavily drunk and slept on his office right on his chair on that day. When Lraden about to transfer the undead infection to him, a boy with aristocrat attire foresaw him coming.

"If you want to kill Dad, please exchange it with me." A shaking vapor shrouded his face, but he continued to step forward as to fight against it.

It didn't matter. Lraden would rid any witness. But probably he looked down too much for a kid, the boy actually accepted the undead power and became one with a desire to protect his noble status.

A strong desire wasn't enough. Having gut and ability to push through was also important to breeding a good undead. Lraden so impressed by strength and knowledge on the flame greater than an expectation of the boy's father, it had been decided right away to take the boy as his right hand.

But...that thought made him worry. Because the boy seemed like nothing more than his old himself. The only difference, the boy didn't argue against his father's ideal image. It irritated Lraden.

"My King."

"Why you call me that again?" Lraden implied a hesitation about whether to ask.

"Should I call Plum Barrel?" The boy saluted to him like an obedient child. "Having received power from greater, is it natural that you are my master?"

King. Why? He had no idea. What kind of undead he was? There was something more than just being undead. Did undead result from some sort of failed occult organization?

"What you have for me today?"

"Yep. Report." The boy held a white folder, five papers were inside.

"This?" Lraden ran his eyes to confirm what he was seeing. The papers were black that had grey blueprint patterns in backgrounds. The same strange looking contract where he had to sign to gain support for becoming president.

"Did the US involved with this?" Lraden stopped. He already witnessed World Blueprint. Perhaps, there was another method to travel between worlds like this hero summoning business.

What more, the text was written in English, Lraden understood every single word.

It made sense. Infinity resources. New lands. Technology oppression. There was a lot his world could do if they brought science weapons into this kind of runic world.

"Did I get tricked by him?" "No way. That's my fault for ending my existence."

His emotion began raising if he was still a pawn even after coming to this world.

The golden ring suddenly shouted a rune symbol. {D}. It drew with a sharp accent to give an illusion of cruel yet qualify influence.

Of course, the boy surprised a bit. They didn't know what rune was that. Let alone Lraden with limited rune knowledge.

The D shape painted in black and radiated a dark violent of the mystery of otherworld description. Like flame released by his undead body.

Right away, the tension accumulated in his chest decreased in the clockwork tick. Rather than dissolved, the high emotion just now was eaten by his undead to create more fuel. Lraden could feel his body getting stronger than before.

The ring didn't give him humanity to make him feel like a human, but to increase his desire so the undead could devour and develop a special ability. His undead power didn't mature yet.

"You really come from the otherworld, aren't you?" Despite calling Lraden a king, the boy calmly used word {you} without fear. "So, is there any useful information about plomunic? I did my best to break into that fool's residence. Haha! I wonder if he realized the letter was missing."

Lraden silently read the contains.

According to the letter exactly, the King of Veizralia commanded a hideous plan to kill all infected people with a fake robbery crime. Probably, after the event of receiving a letter from the Feliner Kingdom. The plan was to make the robbers attacked Aligent Goldsmith and then let them chased by many patrollers.

The robbers ran to the tents where the infected people were collected and treated, forced them to act irrationally due to paranoid, and forced them to use runic amulet that replaced by suicide bomb. A nuclear bomb size hand.

And...

"The plan failed." Lraden read the result.

The cause was a man in a soldier uniform interrupted during the robbery the letter said.

"Green Guy?" Lraden read again. The poster about the person was placed on all city event boards. But the face couldn't be drawn since no one remembered the Green Guy's face well. He thought he might also hero since the wanted man wearing like a soldier from the US.

The longer he read, the tighter his brain from overloaded information. He couldn't accept anything since he was expecting his name appeared somewhere. But instead...

"Evana Colt..."

The name listed in the third paper. Names where the king manipulated these people to do the accident part. The goal of this letter was to create a new plan for discarding plomunic before it was too late. As for why the words stopped at {New Era}. The pen handwork was messy as the king did in trembling.

Was this the reason why they wanted to catch Evana? Fundamentally, the king wanted to kill her in a way that gave profit to the Veizralia Kingdom

"Haha..." Facing the sky, Lraden spread her arms like a bird. "Oh, what an amazing world. Even I'm in another world, it's still full of black ink. Humans are disguise of misery. Full of pretty sweet lies."

"There are these strange marks on their pictures."

"Marks? Hm..."

Circle, cross, and star. Simple pen drawing. Only Evana and his target for tomorrow, Ainari Aligent, were circled small at a slight corner.

Lraden flipped to a page with event details. The closer to the latest date was tomorrow, sabotage for a school trip from Finolist Academy. The plan was to fetch Ainari Aligent during road thieving. Someone had manipulated those people too.

"I thought Aligent's Goldsmith is a royal thing." Lraden held his head. "The king decided to toss her away, hah?"

There was another step under it. With a risky of heroes' interaction, the king planned for himself to request heroes to destroy new arrived ancient ruin opposite of the school trip route. So, the robbers could bring chaos and kidnapped them to their camp while prevented the plan from interrupted by the third party again. How strong those heroes exactly?

At here, the king would ambush their camp with royal knights, saved everyone. In this way, they could make Ainari Aligent went missing during the panic.

Lraden halted after digging too much. Why he should care? He had to assure his freedom, not saving the world. If threats were around, as long as it wasn't him then it was fine. Maybe he should run out of this city, hiding until the heat calmed down.

"Good work." If not, Lraden might enter to conflict of the king's ridiculous plan. It had some sense though. He suspended his plan to turn Ainari into an undead slave.

As he was about to return, he glanced at the blacksmith shop through the front window. If he wanted out of the city, he had to leave Evana. Would they kidnap her after this Ainari girl?

Lraden's footsteps reined before the road.

"My King?" The boy was also about to leave until saw Lraden stood there, looking in one direction. He checked what Lraden observing. "Your wife?"

Without muttering anything, Lraden took off the ring and watched again Evana talking with the blacksmith woman after a horse carriage with five heroes passed by.

"What's going on?" Lraden held his forehead. Even without his humanity, his mind proceeded to a certain decision. "Is this freedom?"

The boy moved beside Lraden. "Hm..." As Lraden thinking about the benefit and reason, the boy concluded if he helped Evana, maybe he could raise his nobility fame since Evana was the owner of popular inn.

Indeed, undead was super selfish.

However, Lraden's undead power was inside the boy's body. He had the portion share of freedom that Lraden desired. Even with that, the boy didn't understand the connection between saving Evana improved his freedom.

But because of this link, the boy couldn't disobey Lraden. It required one mental thought for Lraden to kill the boy, no matter where he was.

Lraden put papers back to the folder and walked toward behind the tree and continued until he reached a place where no one nearby.

"What's the plan?" The boy raised her hand. "Will we going to save your wife?"

"She's not." Lraden burned the papers with his bony hand. His purple flame destroyed the paper faster than just a firelighter. "We're going to talk to them as third party tomorrow."

"Without a say," the boy kneeled to the ground, "My King."

The next day, Lraden with his undead army waiting from far so they could follow the robbers to their camp. But before anything could be discussed, an asteroid invaded the sky in the middle of the operation, blowing away the sunny cloud around with its flame. Passed horizon, the purple flame increased in size, gliding against air toward there.

Lraden suddenly forgot why he was here. Something deleted his memory.

The asteroid was about to hit earth when the whole group of the school trip suddenly disappeared too. The land shook with a loud thug, many noises from wild monsters scammed away.

Lraden tried to recall what happened, the reason began fading away.

There was a girl in red gown merged from the asteroid. A surprise expression located on the white mask, it had a simple design like Lraden's mask.

The fire continued burning her body as she stepped out of the crack site. Bit by bit the bone regained skin and the flame strings behind the skull turned into hair, became a perfect lady with grace appearance. She rinsed her legs toward him.

"Lraden Ademith," said the grace girl. "Why you even here? You suppose to teleport into Second World after turn into The Undead King of Second World."

"Second World?"

"Certainly, your world. With epic games and delicious milk tea. Oh my! Is your memory was taken during Undeadying process? I'm sorry if that happens."

Lraden attempted to see her face behind the shocking-expression mask. He grabbed his mask from his face to compare it.

"Ah, the mask? I thought as someone who been controlled from birth, a plain one would suit your personality. A person without a true self."

Right. Lraden's behavior was shaped by his father. The only he believed was coming from himself when he decided to erase people with World Blueprint. That was why he continued doing it even Waltren warned him about the consequence.

"Already 57?" The girl's intelligence allowed her to count the number of people behind Lraden at thunder speed. Even in her side view, she was able to do that. "Your work absolutely fascinating. My father chose the right person for World Undead."

"World? World Blueprint?" Lraden realized his mistake.

"Ooh?" The girl folded her hand fan in very threatening pressure. "Are you the owner of World Blueprint? Or do you know who?"

Lraden hesitated. When he heard the girl told about why he became undead, his heart conflicted with freedom. Did he been used again? However, Lraden was a perfect image of a politician his father made. That was why he could maintain the same posture and quickly searched a way to gain an advantage.

"I don't know." He kept the secret for the time being. It was a bet that could kill him since there was a lot he didn't know about undead. "But I heard the word somewhere."

The girl glared at him under the mask. He could felt the undead blaze scorched his bone. She was stronger than him. "Anyway, I come here to pick you back to Second World. This world already had a king and queen to handle the conquering part."

"Is that so? I might have made a mistake during the trip." Lraden tried to see if the girl knew about the end of existence place.

"Well," a golden clock blueprint appeared behind her, then one black hole Materialized, "you need the leave the undeads to her."

"Her?"

"Yea...that woman...you will see her and everyone soon." The girl walked into the portal.

Lraden turned around toward his army. "You hear the lady, I will..."

His undead army had a different feel.

"What's wrong, My King?"

Lraden stared at every face. He had a feeling he never met them. "I... I will depart to my own world." He entered inside as the portal closed. "Take care."

In his mind, he regretted not able to say goodbye to...who?