Since Sean had already escaped, and Gregory was still suffering from mana exhaustion, he was incapable of tracing the location of the teleport. This left the group able to relax for the first time in a long time, since who they believed to be their primary opponent had been defeated to a degree. His abilities were also deactivated, since he had to leave the area and didn’t want to risk being found by magical traces. He knew that whoever had the power to destroy such a vast area would likely be able to also track him if he were to teleport while keeping such a massive amount of magic in use through controlling people.

After Sean was defeated and left, Hadley came into the palace that had been being used by Sean. Seeing this man enter the palace, the group did not know how to react. Reaching their level, they could feel that he was strong and was giving off insane amounts of energy. They could also tell that after their battle with Sean, they would not be able to handle whoever this person was right now. Not only was Gregory incapable of his most powerful spells, but the rest of the group as well were currently in a rough situation in regards to their energy levels after a fight against a melee specialist on the level of Sean. Considering the energy this person gave off, they were obviously stronger than Sean and probably on a higher level than Gregory overall.

With caution, they stared at him before Elise spoke up. “What is your intention here?” He replied calmly, looking around the place as if determining their abilities through the combat. “I am here to assume control of the human realm. I doubt any of you would, or rather could, take it. I also come from Earth, as I assume at least one of you does as well.” He nodded toward Jessica, and made the indication that he understood she was likely not from their original party considering that she was very obviously not a natural blooded beastkin.

They were impressed by his deduction, and knew that he didn’t suspect Gregory due to him being probably more draconic and beastly looking at the moment than a lizard beastkin. It was quite the easy assumption to make, some lizard beastkin looked very draconic in nature, and since Gregory did not currently have his wings on display, he could easily be mistaken for one. If he had his wings on display, it would almost be more unbelievable that he was originally a human, as the dragons were capable of great and powerful magic, magic that could likely transform them enough to give them a human-like appearance. Though, this was not what Hadley assumed. He had discovered, quite by accident, that dragons could perform semi-shapeshifting to assume very human-like forms when they so desired. Of course, their pride normally prevented it, but perhaps this one was different was his opinion.

The whole group knew that Hadley was correct in assuming that none of them would want that position, and it was also likely true that none of them could adequately take that position. Even if they did want to, humans would oppose a non-pure human taking over the position of their king or leader. Since there had been a deep seated and long-held hatred for non-humans, they would need to start with eliminating discrimination against non-humans before anything could change. This wasn’t to say a non-human would become the leader of the humans, but it was at least possible that there would not be a hatred of them anymore if they found a leader that would not actively hate others.

“Very well, you may take the leadership if you believe you can protect the human race, and promise to not discriminate against the non-humans.” Hadley gently smiled, as if there was no way he would do this in the first place. “Why would I discriminate against non-humans? Even though I am a full human from Earth, most of us do not believe it is right to discriminate. It does still happen, but many do their best to try being civil to their fellow person. We are all people, and it is better to view it this way than to view it as human or non-human. That is the philosophy I hope to bring with me in leadership.”

Gregory was impressed, and nodded when Elise looked back at him. Even though he was still unable to perform any actual spells, he could tell through mana that Hadley was telling what he believed to be the truth. Considering the power he possessed, he doubted that anybody could truly oppose Hadley’s desires. Even more since the humans were now free from Sean’s control for the first time since he took over humanity on this planet, he believed that it was possible for things to change. A person from Earth in control meant that there could be social reform, even if the technology would not work in a place with mana and magic like this place had.

Elise responded to Hadley’s claim since it seemed that Gregory seemed to believe what he had said. “Alright, if you promise that, then we will let you claim leadership, but you mustn’t attack other kingdoms without reason and do your best to maintain peace with others.” As this was Hadley’s goal anyway, he looked at the group quite happily. “I agree to the terms wholeheartedly. I even offer a god promise that I will not go back on my word.” At this, Elise and the rest left, having certainty that this person would be a good person to have lead humanity on this planet. Having reached the rank of god themselves, they knew what that meant. It was a promise that would revert them to their basest level, and would remove all their skills. Even if he once grew strong, he would likely not have anything left to grow strong with if he were to break the god promise.

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After they had all left, Hadley let out a sigh. It was nerve wracking for him to be in front of a group such as that. Even though he had power, he had never truly fought an enemy that was his ‘equal’ so to speak. He did know that they were exhausted, but he still dared not upset them as he could tell that they were much more experienced at combat than he was. Raw power meant nothing when you didn’t know how to use it effectively, or would just use it to perform basic techniques. He may have had some high-level classes, but that did not make him an expert combatant. Even Sean, a person who used his unique class excessively to grow in strength, still had to fight to grow in power. He had the advantage in being able to kill people whom he had grew in power, or use a large group to hunt excessively powerful creatures, but he still chose to fight and learn how to fight effectively so that he believed nobody could really oppose him one on one.

The opposite was true for Hadley. His unique class permitted him to grow stronger by consuming creatures. He was definitely not the strongest in any individual form of combat, but he had consumed many stat points, classes, and much experience. This made him strong beyond reason, but it also made him complacent and untrained in combat. He knew that even the group that had just barely managed to force Sean to escape would likely be capable of taking him on alone, just because he had only basic spells, and did not train with them against anything that could really challenge him. In fact, it could be said that he only consumed creatures that could not challenge him and his level of power. While the same wouldn’t be effective for any other person, being able to consume experience permitted him to grow stronger quickly even if he killed weaker creatures.

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Meanwhile, Sean was hiding as far away as he could. He had taken the offer to enter the realm of the gods. Even though he was quite prideful, and disliked the thought that he had been defeated by people whom he believed to be below him, he would not be willing to suffer death. It was a place that basically made him totally immortal, as he could not be killed by anybody that belonged there, and he would be protected if people came to kill him without a reason that occurred after he took the offer to come there. Unless they could fight off the virtual army of high-gods, he would be totally safe. His ability may not give him as much power here as it did over the humans whom had been basically worshipping him previously, but he was still much stronger than the low tier of gods who were forced to merge planets and keep them going when they brought themselves to the bring of self-destruction. Of course, that was only true of magical worlds. Planets like Earth were exempt from the same sort of self-destruction that would facilitate the required merging of planets. Another reason that non-magical planets are generally picked, is that the people are usually less biased against what would have originally caused the destruction.

He learned now though, that his previous ways would have likely doomed the planet to death, and he would have died with it if he had done such a thing. So, in some ways, he had to be grateful to Gregory and the party with him for stopping him. If they hadn’t, he would have basically killed himself, and there would be no way for him to blame others about that. Still, he did not like the fact that he was forced to run by others, and would do his best to get revenge once he grew enough in power to be above them.

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Gregory and the party with him on the other hand had left the human capital as quickly as possible, and found an out of the way place to make camp. A good rest was about the only thing that could cure their exhaustion, and they needed that badly. The night transpired uneventfully, but of course marked the day that everything would really change again. A day that their ancestors had told them about when they could tell that humanity was driving themselves to extinction. The planet started shaking, as a gap was created where planet earth would be transformed to create a new ‘continent’ on this planet. Gregory on the other hand got a notification telling him about what was happening.

‘The world Earth is fully required now for the upkeep of this planet. The transition is beginning. Please do your best to assist and prevent the other people from Earth being overcome by the dangers of this planet that may be awaiting them. You have 30 minutes to get there, you and your group may teleport there if you so desire.’