Shaper stood in one of his secret rooms inside the palace. Not even his cult was aware of their existence. Nonetheless, with the current king’s Talent, keeping anything secret in the city wasn’t easy. His vines eavesdropped on every conversation and by the law, it was illegal to remove them from any property. Shaper’s cult invented several workarounds, allowing them to stay out of the king’s radar. Shaper didn’t much care if the king found his rooms as the vines could only pick sounds. The king must have some awareness of the location of his vines as well but he’d never investigated those rooms that Shaper had left exposed in one way or another. The ones that were important were kept sealed away with no way in anyway.

This room didn’t even have anything valuable in it. Its true value lay in its location.

Its glassless window opened onto the main thoroughfare that led to the main gate, which, at that moment, was being destroyed by a gigantic ape.

Every instinct told Shaper to kill the monster but the vision was vehemently clear on his next move. The giant ape must take over the city before Shaper was allowed to kill it.

They are coming to the Capital, Magnalius said, appearing as an old man next to Shaper.

Who?

Keynes Kid and Vivena Sael, Magnalius replied.

That’s … another deviation from the vision, Shaper muttered. The first one was the chaos debuff, then [Chaos Aura] and now this. According to the vision, Keynes Kid and Vivena Sael were meant to leave the Capital and return to Geneva. Their presence here was putting Shaper’s plan in jeopardy. Talk them out of this.

Mangalius’s white form sharply looked at Shaper, disbelief thick in their bond.

Forget it, Magnalius replied. I will not reveal myself to those brats. Find someone else to do your biddings. Magnalius began immediately fading away. Shaper stopped him. Being in the Grand stage gave Shaper more privileges when it came to his spiritual companion. It was mostly because Magnalius was quite strong on his own and Shaper was responsible for Magnalius’s actions.

Damn, you’re insufferable, Magnalius complained. I hate doing your work.

You have no choice, Shaper told him, his voice like steel. And if your attitude won’t change, I will erase you. Now that the System is online, I won’t stand your antics any longer.

Magnalius stood quiet for a moment, his emotions barely a whisper and they were conflicted as if part of Shaper’s spiritual companion wanted to vanish. Shaper and Magnalius had been together for millennia and they coped with the passage of time differently. In theory, the spiritual companions were meant to be immune to the passage of time as they were only shards of ascenders’ spirits that had greater connection to the System.

What do you want me to do? Magnalius asked eventually, his mental voice dry like sand.

Stop them in whatever way you seem fit, short of endangering their lives. I need time. The ape must reach the palace. Meanwhile, I will take care of the king.

***

Keynes and Vivena reached the gate. It was smashed to pieces as if a bomb exploded in front of it. A few stray monsters died to Vivena’s angry swings as Keynes investigated the extent of destruction. She hadn’t spoken to Keynes since they engaged the monsters.

Twice Keynes had tried small talk but he was bad at it and he’d gotten only a stink eye from her. At least she didn’t threaten him any longer. Also, the fact that she hadn’t used the serum so far made Keynes wonder. Did she still have it? Keynes didn’t know what happened after he’d entered the labyrinth but Vivena being outside of the city by herself was telling.

They followed the path of destruction, it went straight toward the palace in the centre of the city. The giant ape’s goal was to reach the palace and create something called the dominion that would give monsters extra buffs. What was the point of this mechanism, Keynes didn’t know, but it had to be stopped regardless.

Speaking of the era, Keynes checked on one of the dozens of the System notifications that asked for his attention. He didn’t read any since he’d caused the outbreak.

Current Weekly Rank: 102 Points: 75 Kills:

o Level 1: 34 (34 points)

o Level 2: 6 (24 points)

o Level 3: 1 (9 points), [1 Alpha kill]

Other Points: 8 (Alpha effect)

Keynes froze reading through that. He was only ranked 102nd in the world after all this effort? Well, clearly, other places were hit too.

I wonder what is Vivena’s rank. She’s killed way more monsters than I have.

He looked up the ranking and right at the top, ranked 8th, was Vivena with 317 points. Keynes balled his fists. He didn’t expect her to be that far ahead. He needed—

Suddenly, Keynes felt an uneasiness. It gnawed at him, filling him with dark premonition. What was going on? Keynes looked around, seeing empty, devastated buildings and streets. There were no people or monsters in this part of the city.

The giant ape was closer to the city centre and its horde closely followed it, the people who lived here had fled before that.

The feeling intensified…

Alice, what’s going on? Keynes asked, knowing well that Alice wasn’t going to answer him. His heart rate began to spike and he trembled from fear. But he didn’t know what he feared…

A faint, white silhouette appeared in between two buildings, in a narrow alley. It possessed no features and Keynes could swear that this thing was the source of the ominous premonition.

Leave, it said directly into Keynes’s head. Leave the city or you will die. It emphasised the last word with such vehemence that something stirred inside Keynes. Something…

Alice?

It was no Alice…

Warning: Chaos Magic detected!

Power unlike … wait a second. It felt exactly like his [Chaos Aura].

Another silhouette emerged, this one, stepped out of Keynes’s body, which made him shiver with terror.

The silhouette was humanoid and its outline was dark. Everything else was a chaos of colours without any scheme or sense.

“Finally,” the apparition of chaos said. “Being semi-dormant sucks.” Although it didn’t have a face, Keynes genuinely could sense the apparition’s wicked smile.

Keynes’s mind reeled from the overload of information.

Warning: Chaos debuff’s status changed to dormant!

“Get a grip, human. What would my brethren say if they knew I inhabited a wuss?” The apparition turned to its white counterpart. “Hello, little spirit. Have you lost your master?”

The other apparition stepped out of the alley and its features began coalescing into a man with features that constantly shifted. It was disorienting, not that Keynes did much staring. His head spun, his body trembled from spiritual exhaustion and titanic effort of birthing this unnatural chaos apparition.

“This realm is off-limit to your kind.”

“Is that so?” the chaos apparition asked with a mock. “I don’t see your omnipotent and omniscience System doing anything about my presence here.”

Keynes groaned, his body spasmed and suddenly pain filled him to the extent he didn’t think was possible.

“Argh, damn it, that human is a wuss. He cannot handle a bit of chaos.” There wasn’t a grain of sympathy in the otherworldly being’s voice. “What a waste.”

“The human is only Level 3. It’s only natural that he’s a weakling.”

Damn it! Keynes screamed in his head. Leave me alone!

Warning: The strain on your Spirit Core is near its breaking limit!

“Sorry, human, but I’m not a pitiable spiritual companion. I don’t need you to be alive…”

Keynes felt a stab of pain, then the chaos apparition roared angrily.

“What are you, spirit?!”

“I’ll demonstrate to you,” the spirit replied.

The fight that ensued was difficult to describe, partly because Keynes was in agony and his eyes remained, for the most part, closed, but mostly because it was otherworldly in every possible way. The two apparitions turned into two plums of smoke, one pure white, the other black with a swirl of many colours, and then, engaged each other. They lost all resemblance to their previous shapes and became a maelstrom of colours.

It was impossible to tell who was winning. The bizarre spectacle made no sense.

Then something changed. Pain in Keynes’s chest started to fade and his bond flared to life.

Alice?

She didn’t reply but she came back and entered the mayhem of colours. The fight, or whatever it was, lasted only a couple of seconds after that and ended with the chaos apparition’s rageful scream.

Master… How do you feel?

The pain and the feeling of premonition were gone but he was still exhausted from the ordeal. So, not that bad.

I’ll live… You’re back. How?

The System didn’t like the chaos magic wreaking havoc uncontrollably. It sent me to help the other spiritual companion seal the chaos apparition away, Alice sounded genuinely happy. It uplifted Keynes.

He checked his debuff status and found the chaos debuff was returned to a semi-dormant state. So, not exactly gone.

Is there no way to get rid of that thing completely? Keynes asked. And what is the chaos apparition anyway? I didn’t think a debuff can become sentient.

Alice reappeared as a palm-sized spirit of a woman and landed on Keynes's lap as he sat down and leaned against a half-demolished wall. He knew he had to go toward the centre to stop the ape, but for the moment, his body refused to listen to him. There seemed to be no one around anyway. Vivena must have gone forward without him. Maybe, that was better.

As it currently stands, you’re too weak to even fight the apparition. We only won because the other spiritual companion made the fight equal and I was able to tip the scale. As for what it is … well, it is a different form of energy that belongs to another realm.

Another realm? That got Keynes curious. Can you tell me more or will the System get in the way?

Alice quieted down for a moment, their bond seemed to faint a tad, then she spoke up.

First of all, the System does not want you to think it is responsible for anything that is happening to you. Secondly, with the System’s restart, and technically, the true beginning for your kind, the System does not think it is safe to burden you or your kind with knowledge such as other realms. But it appreciates your hand in its awakening and lifted my band earlier. Plus, the ones who tried to shut it off completely will be punished.

Keynes didn’t press for more. His mind felt like a wrung cloth. Picturing the System as a thinking entity was giving him a headache, and he already had one from the chaos apparition.

***

Vivena saw Keynes stare at the empty alley. Perhaps, he was checking the System. It wasn’t the best time for that but she felt like she didn’t know him anymore…

Breathe, she thought to herself. At the mere mention of Keynes, she was seeing red. Trying to calm down, Vivena put a distance between them. She’d cleared the area from the monsters, killing every one that crossed her path. She’d actually asked Isako to scout the alleys in search of more points—prey! Not only Keynes didn’t make her think straight, but after finding out that her rank was 8th she couldn’t stop thinking about getting first place. She didn’t see Keynes in the top 100 so she couldn’t tell how he felt about the ranking. Nor do I care! She snapped at herself.

She continued toward the palace, the path was easy to navigate as it involved a trail of destruction.

She froze, hearing the sounds of battle. Humans fought monsters. She glanced at the gigantic ape in the distance. It was still far away from the centre. The Capital was a massive city. A little detour wouldn’t hurt. Besides, she needed these points.

There is a battle, Isako informed her.

I know, she replied, feeling the thrill of the upcoming fight.

Despite the excitement, she didn’t blindly charge in and instead, raised into the air and landed on the roof of a two-story building. The alley opened up to a park, littered with dead bodies of humans and monsters. The sight caused a lump in Vivena’s throat to grow larger and her ire hotter.

The sounds of the battle came from the other end of the park where a group of soldiers fought a river of monsters.

“Something’s not right…” she whispered. “Why are there so many monsters here?”

She got back in the air and raised higher. From three hundred metres above the ground, Vivena saw the answer to her question.

These weren’t the dominion monsters.

They came from the other side of the city. How? Was another gate breached? She wasn’t able to tell. She landed back on the same roof and watched as wave after wave of monsters pushed the defenders deeper into the park.

Aren’t you going to help them? Isako asked, shaking Vivena out of the stupor. With dread, Vivena realised that she didn’t care about them. She’d come here for the points…

What the hell is wrong with me? What’s happening? Why do I think like this? She clutched her head in her hands, terrified at the lack of empathy for those few who fought down there. This is wrong…

Someone’s coming to help them, Isako noted.

Vivena glanced at the park and her eyes widened, finding Haruka and Pandora cut through the monsters with the ease they’d honed in the first Level 3 rift in the world.