Chapter 6

Change, is it worth it?

Zero shook himself awake from his momentary surprise and stormed towards Zeraph, peeved at him. He was the cause of the barrier's downfall and the one who had his parent's Krustallos. The thought of having something that didn't belong to Zeraph made him angry, mostly because it brought an unwanted memory he had forgotten.

It was like seeing his mother's Soul all over again, especially in the hand of someone who shouldn't have it in the first place. The Eternal Soul gave off the same familiar feeling he had of his birth mother. The mere feelings gave him flashbacks of what had happened at the hospital and with his brother.

"Zero?" Agnis replied, making her way towards his back as she sat. "Are you okay?" She asked with concern. Something was bothering Zero's mind, and she knew that what just transpired in front of them was the reason why.

Zero didn't answer; he went straight toward Zeraph without stopping. His emotions were simmering to the point where it was spilling over, his body was tense, and he glared towards Zeraph as if he was going to burn him alive right there and then.

Even Zeraph could feel the strong emotions rolling out of Zero's body. His hand unconsciously reached over towards his sword, resting his arm on it. He flicked his hair back and stared straight at Zero without flinching. Zeraph wasn't the type to be scared or intimidated by Zero's deadly glare but challenged it instead.

"Zeraph," Zero replied coldly, his body giving off a slight blood lust aimed towards Zeraph. His tail swished, annoyed as it thumped against the ground. Even his claws dug into the soil, causing a deep indent. He wasn't just scraping against it but completely rooting out the flowers and plants under his claws without thinking. "Why do you have my mother's soul?"

"Mother's soul?" Zeraph asked, confused. He tilted his head, looked at the Krustallos, and back at him. The thought didn't register in his mind, and he was confused at what Zero had just said. "It's just a powerful gem I found underneath the castle."

Zero scoffed at Seraph's answer, then he growled. "That is the Eternal Soul. The stone made from my dragon parent's Soul."

Then it hit Zeraph as the answer finally dawned on him. His gaze softened as he looked at the stone. He flipped it a couple more times, letting it slip in between his fingers. "That's why I saw those dragons a while ago." He thoughtfully examined the stone as he raised it up into the air, letting the sunlight hit the stone as it sparkled. "You know that never happened until now."

Zero wasn't sure if Zeraph was lying, hiding something from him, playing dumb, or didn't know what it was. His mind was in turmoil; he wanted to snatch the stone out of Seraph's hand and keep it safe. But the dragon instinct in him was screaming to take the stone now and destroy Zeraph for stealing something so precious.

There was an inner battle in Zero's mind that he had to check constantly. His human half was trying to quell the anger in the dragon's mind. It wasn't easy, especially because of the flicker of emotions that seemed ready to burst any minute. Words like thief, murder, and even egg breaker kept flashing in his mind; he had to zone out the raging thoughts until he could finally control his emotions.

The strain on his mind was complex. Instead, it gave him a slight headache. Luckily, his human mind dominated most of his thoughts, pushing back the dragon side.

"You still haven't answered my question." Zero was getting impatient at Zeraph, the dragon's emotions were still leaking out of his tone of voice. "Why do you have my parent's Krustallos?"

"Do you want to know?" Zeraph's lips turned upwards, enjoying every moment of Zero's annoyance.

"Yes!" Zero's voice went up an octave, bringing attention to everyone else. Quite a few people were staring at them, wondering what they were talking about.

Zeraph walked over towards Zero, jumped onto his side, and scaled up towards Zero's head. He made himself comfortable as he sat on Zero's head as if it was his rightful spot.

This annoyed Zero. He shook his head to throw Zeraph off, but Zeraph smacked him once to stop him. Then, alarmed at Zeraph's rude action, he was ready to do a splendid head throw, but Zeraph spoke, stopping him.

"We should find a place to talk," said Zeraph. He casually crossed his leg, not even phased by Zero's wild head movement. "We don't want everyone listening in."

"Fine," Zero replied, wondering again if he should throw Zeraph off. He decided not to and thought about getting him later on. "You need to tell me everything."

"Don't worry; I will." Zeraph patted Zero's head. "Let's go to the rear, away from prying eyes."

Zero glanced around him and noticed that quite several people were watching them. He didn't realize that he, Zeraph, and Agnis had become the center of attention, making him uncomfortable. Having so many eyes set on him made his feet shuffle forward quickly, as he wanted to get out as quickly as possible. But, unfortunately, he forgot that the army surrounded him in the heat of the moment.

"Let's go." Zero turned around, walking past the soldiers that opened up a path for them to walk through. General Liam rode over on a horse towards Zero. He stopped and glanced up at Zero.

"Zero!" General Liam called out to him as he steadied his horse. "Can you explain what just happened?"

Zero eyes furrowed, unable to figure out how to explain everything. He needed to understand more variables, especially Belial, the fallen angel, and the Eternal Stone. He knew he would give half-baked answers to General Liam because he didn't want to tell everything. Sometimes certain secrets were best kept to oneself, especially in Zero's case.

"Well, for starters, Belial is a fallen angel," Zero replied, knowing full well that General Liam would ask such a question. Instead, he told him first before he could ask.

"I suspected as much, but why did he come to you?"

"He wanted to leave me a message saying that the Demon Prince will be waking up in 4 years and 156 days."

"4 years and 156 days?!" General Liam shouted, shocked at how soon the Demon Prince will awaken. His voice went up an octave that slightly cracked. "So soon?!"

"Yes."

General Liam fidgeted, his face darkened, and his hand tightened around the reins as he thought deeply about what Zero had just said. "This is grave news. For the Demon Prince to be awakened is considered a major event. We must quickly retrieve the Holy artifact and return to the Queen."

"Just out of curiosity, who exactly is the Demon Prince?" Zero asked. He had just heard about the Demon Prince today. There were snippets of the Demon Prince in Lilith's memories and other OMs, but that was it. He knew that the Demon Prince had put a curse on his people, killed off the older generation, and was now attempting to harvest all of his brethren's souls once again.

"You don't know?" General Liam was taken aback by Zero's words. He expected that he would know about the Demon Prince because Belial talked about it to Zero.

"I don't know much. Honestly, information about the Demon Prince is so rare that it's difficult to find." Unfortunately, this was the truth; there wasn't anything about the Demon Prince in the Draconis Library or the Legend about how he disappeared.

General Liam nodded, understanding why Zero didn't know much about the Demon Prince. "The six great Heroes of the Fire Continent are so widely known because of their contribution in sending the Demon Prince back to oblivion."

"Wait, six of them pushed the Demon Prince back?" Zero was surprised that the six of them had such power to send back the Demon Prince. The last that he remembered was that Lilith had changed into a demon. "I thought Lilith was dead by then."

"Only Drake was the last Hero who stood up against the Demon Prince in the final battle. In his last moments, he sealed the Demon Prince with the cost of his life."

"What happened to the other heroes?"

General Liam became saddened by the memory of the Legend. He sighed and began telling the story. "As we all recently discovered, Lilith had turned into a demon a while back and was slain. Samuel, Lilith's husband, vanished. No trace of his whereabouts is known; even the Queen does not know where her father had gone. Some say that he went to search for a way to bring his wife back, others stated that he died at the hand of one of the Demon Prince's Generals. While Cello, the troll, died when he slew the last known black hydra that rampaged in the war against the Demon Prince."

Zero listened intently, the story of the heroism of these heroes so far didn't come out as happy as he had thought they would be. There was quite a bit of a dark side to the story that he had just now heard about.

"Connor, the dwarf, was assassinated in his sleep on the last day of the war against the Demon Prince. Finally, Lulu, the poor Soul." General Liam shook his head, making Zero feel like something terrible had happened to Lulu. "She has been spirited away, stolen by the Demon Prince to spawn his wretched kind." He shivered.

Zero started with gaping jaws; he felt like the happy ending of heroes he usually heard about was all just a lie. He thought at least the majority of them lived happily ever after, but instead, he was rewarded with doom and gloom. Hearing about Lulu's horrible fate made him cringe; he felt it might've been best not to know about the bad endings of the heroes.

"But," General Liam leaned over, "these are more on the line of rumors. The winner of the war replaced the majority of what I had told you and glorified them by the victors. Only our Queen knows the history of the Heroes of the past, and what I have told you is that she has not refuted it once."

Zero darkened at the thought of what he had just learned. "What exactly was the Demon Prince even trying to accomplish?"

"That is a question we don't completely know, but rumors state he wants to destroy the whole of Noriene for his own selfish reason."

"I see?"

Selfish reason. That was what all humans, living creatures with intellectual minds, and even demons were known for. So the question came down to what the Demon Prince was planning on and why the Drezo Regalias. Did Belial say that their souls could be used to make powerful weapons? He wasn't sure, but he knew he needed to get to the bottom of this, or it would bother him.

"You better be careful, young prince. When the Demon Prince awakens, we will have a war again, but this time it will be for the fight for all our survival."

"That would be quite a battle."

"Yes." General Liam scratched his chin. "Though, I had to wonder, what was that power that pushed away the Fallen Angel?" This time he glanced over toward Zeraph, waiting for an answer.

"It's a one-time special ability that the stone can put out. I don't know much about it, but I suggest that we don't count on it for help." Said Zeraph. He pocketed the stone, so General Liam wouldn't ask to see it or for the others to start eyeing it.

Even Zero felt a bit mad that Zeraph had put it away, but when it disappeared, his mind became a lot clearer. Of course, he had to wonder if the lull of power from the stone was the cause of the majority of his anger, but he wasn't quite sure, nor did he want to test that theory out.

"Ah, I see. So you must've gotten the spell from a powerful wizard."

"Something like that." Zeraph waved his hand, giving him a partial answer.

Zero knew that Zeraph was lying, for a good reason too. The Eternal Stone was a powerful ancient Krustallos that protected the whole Fire Continent. If General Liam had known about this, he probably would have lost his mind or killed Zeraph on the spot for disrupting something so powerful.

Zero wondered if Zeraph had any infamy points that put him on the radar for stealing the Eternal Stone. Players could even hunt him down for it if they knew what it was. But from the looks of it, Zeraph didn't have any assassins or bounty hunters attempting on his life for the past few days.

"That would make sense." General Liam bought Zeraph's half-baked answer.

Zero couldn't help but watch in amusement with their conversation, fully knowing that wasn't the case, to begin with.

"Though, why dragons?" asked General Liam. "I have never heard about there being a Dragon Spell."

Zeraph coughed a couple of times, clearing his throat. Zero wondered what crazy excuse Zeraph would use to cover up his lie. Even Agnis was silently giggling as she watched them converse with one another. She had to cover her lips, so she wouldn't give away that Zeraph was lying.

"Well, I asked for illusion magic to be put in the stone. It was more of a scare tactic on the enemy and covering up the magic's true essence." Zeraph confidently stated. He then patted Zero's head several times as he held onto his horn. "I had this idea from my friend here. Who wouldn't cry out in fear when they see something so powerful, especially a fully grown adult."

"I see." General Liam thought it over, then he brightened at what Zeraph had said. "This is good that the magic you have brought keeps away the Fallen Angel. Without it, we probably would've been dead."

"Yea," Zeraph raised his hand as he slicked back his hair. "Something like that."

Zero lip-twitched, trying not to burst out from saying Zeraph was a horrible liar. He had to keep it all to himself and give him an earful when they were more privately alone.

"Well then, we should get moving."

"Thanks for the information, General." Zero quickly said so that General Laim wouldn't go back and ask Zeraph any more questions.

"No, thank you for such information. We'll continue moving forward for now." General pulled the reins as the horse started to move forward. "We'll need your help again to push through the territories quickly."

Zero knew they would be fine for another 150 miles; the last boss battle added new territories that allowed them to bypass Kilin's territory without too much trouble. After that, the army only needed a little of Zero's help, especially because they were all strong, making traveling much easier. Unfortunately, fighting low-level monsters gave him few experience points; he had to take on even more challenging monsters to level up.

"We'll be fine for another 150 miles," Zero replied; he started to walk towards the back. "If you need me, I'll be at the back."

General Liam nodded and didn't say anything else. Instead, he spurred his horse forward, leaving them alone.

Zero walked a bit fast towards the back, leaving behind the large army until it eventually dwindled to a handful. He kept a good distance, where he could still run up towards them when there was trouble.

Eventually, Zero stopped and slowed, following behind the army. He didn't break away too far because he knew they might need his help later on to challenge the boss, but he didn't stay too close to let others hear their voices.

"Now, explain," Zero replied; he faced the army, walking steadily. Agnis leaned on his neck as she started to wipe down her sword. Zeraph, on the other hand, was sitting on his head, staring out into the distance for any suspicious activity.

"It's simple. I was doing a quest and came upon it."

Zero ground his teeth; Zeraph had a knack for not telling essential information. "That's not very informative. Details."

"As I said, I was doing a quest. It led me underground; I believe it was under the castle. Quite a large complex of unnecessary tunnels if you ask me." Zeraph crossed his arms. "I was stuck downstairs for god knows how long, but eventually popped up in the city library or should I say Draconis Library."

"Wait, you've had the Krustallos since then?!"

"Yes. A lot longer. Moving the Krustallos from the heart of the castle was a pain. You don't know how much trouble I went through to get out of there with it."

"I bet. That's not something you should even be having in your possession." Zero growled; the thought of someone who wasn't a partner or a dragon having a Krustallos irritated him. It made him on edge just thinking about it.

"Finders keepers." Zeraph chuckled with a smug smile, wiggling his eyebrows.

Zero scowled when he heard what Zeraph had said and a deep rumble erupted out of his throat. His dragon emotion started to resurface, peeking through his words. "They're not things to collect." His words were low, close to an angry hiss.

"I never said that they were." Zeraph patted him on the head to calm him down.

"You make it sound like it is!"

"Calm down," Zeraph rolled his eyes as he crossed his hand in front of him. "I'll give it to you when this is all over with anyways." He replied, not caring that it was a potent item.

"You will?" Zero was caught off guard by what Zeraph had said. The dragon's mind was so stunned that his mind went completely blank. Most of the time, other players wouldn't fork over something so valuable, especially something so powerful. So even though there is little that Zero had found out about using Krustallos, it was still worth keeping.

"Yea, why not?"

"Well…." Zero was having difficulty now telling him how crazy he was to give up something powerful at the same time; he was contradicting his thoughts. Having his parent's Krustallos back at its rightful place was what he wanted. This feeling of protectiveness of his parent's Krustallos was strange, but at the same time familiar.

Zero wasn't sure if it was his dragon form resonating with the Krustallos or his own heart and mind telling him a couple of different thoughts. Now that he thinks about it, he isn't sure which anymore.

"Don't worry about it. I know what you're trying to say." Zeraph replied, not caring that he was giving up something powerful. "At the quest's end, I'll hand it to you."

"Really?"

"Yes." Zeraph licked his lips as he sat crossed-legged on Zero's head. "It's a game, Zero. Yes, I would like to get stronger, but my objective in this game isn't just that."

"What else is there?" Zero asked, not wholly getting what he was saying.

"Haven't you ever thought that there was more to this game?" Zeraph asked.

"You don't mean there's more, do you?" Agnis asked. "Like there is something exceptional about this game?"

"Yea, something like that."

Zero thought it over for a moment. He felt for a long time that this game was more than meets the eye. For Angel and his group to spirit away, quite a lot of Seeded players was strange. But, then, the strange occurrences they kept having in real life seemed to coincide with the game, almost as if the game world was slowly merging with reality.

The black dragon incident was entirely out of the ordinary, making him feel like what he had just experienced was all in his head. If it weren't for the others, they would've all brushed it off as a bad dream.

"Lately, I've been feeling that the game is hiding something," said Zeraph.

"Like?" asked Agnis. She wiped her sweat with a soft towel and sheathed the blade.

"I don't know. It's just fascinating." Zeraph's words had a tone of amusement like he was hoping that something like that would happen again.

Agnis raised her eyebrows as she turned towards Zeraph. Her armor clattered as she moved.

"You need to give us a better explanation. We can't read minds, you know."

"That's the thing," Zeraph said, a bit excited; he then glanced down toward Agnis. "There's just something special, almost as if two worlds are becoming one. Why are there Seeded Players? What is the Seed Shard's true purpose? And the million dollar question is how is the supernatural side of the world interacting with the game?"

"Magic?" Agnis shrugged her shoulders. "That's the best answer I could give, honestly."

"I don't know. The real magic is different from the fantastical crap you see in movies."

"True. I'm just throwing it out there."

"I know." Zeraph tapped his fingers on his arm while he was thinking about everything. "Do you want to know what kind of quest I got?"

"Does it have to do with the real world?" Zero asked; the way that Zeraph kept going back to the real world and the questions of the game made him ask such a question.

"Yes." Zeraph's words brought a slight chill down Zero's back. "Plus, we're all experiencing a lot of unusual events."

"True, but that could all be in mind," Zero replied, knowing that wasn't the case. He had way too many shares of unusual events even before all of this happened.

"You know just as well as I that's not the case. I was a believer once everything started to click in place. Especially the power we have all gained."

Power. That was something that they all never expected to gain. What was worse was Zero had gained more. Not just seeing the dead, but now to the point of hearing, sensing, and even interacting with them with his power that he never thought was possible. All the Seeded players had some form of supernatural power, and they were rapidly evolving.

Not only that, any quest that had to do with the real world was something that he didn't quite like, especially because reality should be free of fantasy gameplay. It was just too weird, almost mind-bogglingly creepy. Sometimes, he wanted to stop playing the game altogether, but something about the game drew him back in. The supernatural power he gained was possible because of these real-life events that triggered his mind into forming them; that was the only answer he could think of at this moment.

His unquenchable curiosity of why or what's going to happen next kept him coming back, though most of the reason was being forced to play by Angel's group. He didn't quite know their true purpose, but he suspected they were training all the Seeder players to become part of their group to do evil deeds. If he could, he wanted to escape the crazy cult group and enjoy playing freely.

"So, what exactly do you have to do?" Zero asked carefully, wondering what Zeraph had to say.

"Well, the second Seed Shard Quest has started."

"What?!" Agnis shouted; she quickly covered her mouth and glanced around. A couple of people glanced over to see what the commotion was about but quickly returned to what they were doing. She eventually slowly pulled down her hands and gaped at him. "You don't mean 'The Seed Shard Quest.'"

"Yes, it's that," Zeraph reassured her.

"No way." Agnis gasped; she then started to get excited at the thought of the Seed Shard Quest that Zeraph was in the progress of completing. "How did you get a Seed Shard Quest?"

"I'm not quite sure, but I just received one."

"That's so cool."

"I don't know if that's something to say that it's cool," Zero replied. Another Seed Shard Quest meant another wide-scale event. Whatever it was, it required the Eternal Stone, meaning something very powerful would likely come, especially if it meant changing history once again in a short period. With the Eternal Stone's protection loss, the Fire Continent had no defense against high-level monsters. With that being said, what other crazy event would change the face of history? The question now is, was the change worth it, or was it better to leave it as it was? That was something he didn't know.

"True, but I always wanted to try a Seed Shard quest from beginning to end," said Agnis. "At least once."

"I think I'll pass," Zero replied. "There are factors that could spell disaster, and if you fail, things go south."

"Yea." Agnis shoulder slumped. "Still, I'm going to get my Seed Shard Quest or wait." She brightened and looked up towards Zeraph. "Let me join in on your quest!"

"No." Zeraph shook his head; his voice was stern and quick to deny her.

"What?! Why not?" Agnis pouted. "Are you trying to keep everything to yourself?"

"No," snorted Zeraph. "If I could, I would've dragged you guys in to do the quest with me. For now, it's a one-person quest."

"So, how much more do you have to do to complete it?" Zero asked.

"It's going to take a while. However, my best bet is that I'll be finished near the Yami Hikari yearly event they will do in the summer."

"You serious? It's going to take that long?" Zero was surprised at how long the quest would take, mainly because the quest took less time to complete. But then again, Zeraph was doing the quest alone, which was already difficult enough.

"Yea, I need to go around the whole Fire Continent to get this quest over with. Unfortunately, though, I have a good feeling that I will end up back at Sky City."

"How are you so sure?"

"Hunch?"

Zero strolled, his tail swiping side-to-side. Zeraph said he would bring back the Eternal Stone when he was done with it. He trusted Zeraph enough to know that he wasn't the type to go back on his words.

"Anything else that we should know?"

"None, right this minute," Zeraph replied.

Off in the distance, Zero saw the crowd suddenly split apart. The buff-looking Troll, Jorge, was making his way through the crowd. If they didn't move fast enough, Jorge would push his way through, paving his path. With just a simple push by Jorge's arms, the soldiers have easily pushed aside, especially the Elven Soldiers, who seem so easy to move around. Their thin-looking armor didn't seem heavy or strong enough to hold back a Troll's strength.

But that wasn't the case. Instead, elven armor was considered one of the lightest armor made in Noriene, and when it came to the ability to hold against attacks, it was considered top-grade armor. In addition, their armor and weapons were enchanted with magic that helped strengthen, protect, and even cast magic to enhance the person who donned the armor.

When Jorge pushed, the eleven soldiers moved like water, splitting away from a moment of contact as they shook their heads toward Jorge with dislike. Trolls and Elves had a long history of heated arguments, hate, and war. Luckily, their dispute was better with the humans, making it look like their squabbles are considered child's play.

"Hey! Watch it, toad foot!" An elven warrior shouted as he snarled at Jorge.

"Shut up, pansies." Jorge snorted at their lame outburst; he shrugged it off as if nothing was

wrong and kept pushing through until he was finally at the edge.

"Hey, watch where you're stepping!" Another howled as he got his foot stepped on.

"Damn, tree huggers." Jorge spat; he adjusted his armor and grumpily walked towards Zero. "I swear, there's one too many of them out here."

Zero watched with amusement at the number of commotions that Jorge could conjure up in a concise amount of time. The number of name-calling and curses were extraordinary, especially hearing so many different names of being called toad foot was quite interesting.

"Hey! Dragon lizard!" Jorge raised his hand in front of him and stopped.

Dragon lizard? Zero couldn't help but stare at him strangely. Agnis snorted into a laugh and held on to the side of his neck, trying not to fall off. Zeraph just stared at Jorge and shook his head.

"I have a name, you know," Zero replied, staring down at Jorge. He didn't like how he was called a Dragon Lizard.

Jorge shifted in his spot and rubbed his hands a couple of times. Then a goofy grin plastered on his face. "My bad. I couldn't remember your name all of a sudden. But, you know, momentary memory loss does happen at times."

"Then you have a serious problem. I suggest you go to the doctor." Zero's words were quicker than his thoughts, making him feel bad for stating things without thinking about what he would say.

Jorge snorted. "You know what I mean. Short-term memory loss. Sheesh." He thumped his chest, shaking at Zero's retort.

"What do you want?" Zero asked a bit too coldly. He realized that whenever he was in his dragon form, he tended to be more rude and sarcastic than in his human form. The thought did cross his mind that his animalistic side took more control of his mind when he was in this form. His patience was much shorter, and the thought of having friends or emotional connections with others was much more distant.

"Calm down, lizard breath." Jorge jokingly replied with his hand up to calm him down. "I came here to congratulate you."

"For?"

"Our little bet, of course."

"Oh, thanks."

"I feel a bit slighted that you forgot."

"Well, that is to be expected when you had a Fallen Angel fall on top of our heads, you know. But, in actuality, he's the one that killed it." Zero honestly didn't like the thought of being marked by Belial; he already was having enough trouble with Demon Prince, the mortal enemy of all Drezo Regalia, and now to have the interest of a Fallen Angel wasn't something he wanted. Trouble continually knocked on his door; it was enough to give him a headache.

"True, but you took down the majority of its health. I'm sure you would've killed it if it wasn't that stupid angel." Jorge grunted; he glanced up at Zero with expectation. "Anyways, let's have some more fun, shall we?"

"Like?" Zero didn't quite like where this was going. The definition of fun sounded close to constant warfare. Leveling up was fine with him, but possibly heading into constant trouble wasn't. Jorge seemed like a guy who would head into trouble without any preparations, and he wouldn't be surprised if he died from his stupidity.

Jorge wiggled his eyebrows as a smug smile appeared on his face. "We continue our kill count, of course." He snorted, pleased that he had come up with such an idea. "Let's see how many bosses we can kill until we get back to the City."

"What if I say no?" Zero asked, wondering what Jorge would say. He wanted to know Jorge's reaction, especially because he was a muscle head. Already, he had two thoughts forming in his mind; the first was that Jorge would get angry and challenge him into doing something stupid, or he wouldn't care and leave him alone. His beat was on the first one, and he waited for Jorge's answer.

Jorge stomped, shook his fist at Zero, and grunted a couple of times that sounded close to a snort. For a moment, Zero thought Jorge reminded him of an angry boar, ready to skewer him with his tusk.

"You can't do that," Jorge replied, trying to calm himself down.

"Why not? I have every right to."

"If you do, I'm going to KS all your monsters," Jorge replied as he grinned mischievously. "You won't ever level up in this mission until you say yes."

"Did I just hear him correctly?" Zeraph asked, amused; he shook his head at Jorge as if he had heard something completely foreign. "He's going to go around kissing your monsters? Don't you know how unsanitary that is?" He shuddered just thinking about it. "What stupidity is this?"

Agnis burst out laughing as her clear voice rang outwards. "Oh, my god!" She gasped for a breath of air; her hands were on her stomach as she reeled over, trying not to fall off Zero. "I can't believe I just heard that!"

Jorge's smug smile quickly turned into a frown as his hand became a fist.

"This is priceless!" Agnis slipped up, falling over towards the side. She squealed as her hand flailed around her and grabbed Zero's wings.

Zero jerked in alarm at the harsh tug on his small wings. It sent a jolting pain that made him crumple onto the ground with a loud thud. Jorge jumped back in alarm at the sudden crash while Zeraph held on tightly to Zero's horn. Finally, Agnis could pull herself up before being squashed by his giant body.

"Damn it, Agnis!" Zero yelled angrily. He was on his side. For some reason, he couldn't feel his legs, making this whole experience weird. It was like Agnis pushed a perfect pressure point on his back, making him lose all feeling in his legs. How his wings had some hold over his legs, he didn't understand. All he could do was roll around on the floor with his large body to get back to sitting on his legs. "Watch where you're grabbing!"

"Sorry." Agnis gasped, her face flushed from laughing too hard. "I couldn't help myself."

Zeraph didn't understand why Agnis was laughing so hard. So he asked again, wanting to answer why Agnis was laughing. "What's so funny? Did I miss something here?"

"No," Zero replied. Then, he weakly moved his front legs up under his body while attempting to move his back legs. Now, he looked like a giant cat with both legs tucked underneath.

"Then?" Zeraph let go of Zero's horn and plopped back down.

"KSing isn't the Kissing that you're thinking about."

"I don't get it. They sound the same."

"K S stands for kill stealing from other players. While kissing is a physical kiss with a partner."

"There was such a meaning behind a KSing." Zeraph slowly nodded as he finally understood what Jorge had said.

"It's a game term." Agnis was finally back to herself, wiping away her tears. "I expected you not to know such terms, but that was funny."

"How do you know I wouldn't know?"

"Simple. All your actions and replies are not nerdy terms. They're too clean. I guess that this is the first game you've ever played."

"Well, if you put it like that, then yea."

Zero grumpily got up, still annoyed at the painful pull from Agnis. His wings were sore and felt like it was electrocuted. He couldn't flap it anymore and felt a tingle in his wings. Every time he moved his wing, a short shockwave spread throughout his body and ended up on his toes and fingers, giving it a weird electrical fall. He had to stop it together so he wouldn't trip again.

"Is that the best you can do?" Zero replied, "Ksing will not stop me from ignoring you."

"Well, you're right." Jorge nodded as he folded his arm in front of him. "I just wanted to say that once to see your reactions, but it seems I got a completely different reaction altogether."

"So, you're going to give up now?" Zero asked, hoping he would say yes. Instead, he got up, shook his whole body, and followed behind the army again.

"Of course not. I need to know who's the best. You or me." Jorge pointed to himself and stuck out his chest.

"Look, I don't care about this contest and all," said Zero. His tail flicked back and forth, annoyed that Jorge wouldn't leave him alone. "Instead, I would like to have as much peaceful time as possible throughout this journey. There are already enough crazy things happening, and adding another burdensome contest is troublesome."

Jorge grumbled when he heard what Zero had said. Then he straightened himself up, clapped his

hand, and smiled. "Don't worry. It would be worth your time. Plus, it's still on. By the end of this journey, we'll see who will have the most kills, especially boss monsters. Now, I'm off to slay some more monsters!" He turned around with a grin on his face. Strutting forward, he didn't look back toward Zero, who gave him a mixed expression.

Zero needed to figure out how to take in all this; Jorge was not to listen to a single word he had said. Even Zeraph gave Zero a pitying look that told him he was an unlucky bastard stuck with a delusional player.

"It happens." Zeraph shrugged his shoulder, then patted Zero, telling him everything would be alright.

"We get one of those types of players in many games. Just ignore him, Zero. He'll get bored fast." Agnis replied, staring after Jorge, amused. "He's not the problem you should worry too much about. Instead, what will you do with the threat that the Fallen Angel Belial stated to you?"

Zero focused on Agnis' question; he mulled it over, trying to figure out what to say. He couldn't do anything against Belial right this moment. All he could do was continue with the quest, plus he needed more information on the Demon Prince and Belial in the first place to do anything.

"Nothing," Zero replied. This was the best answer that he could think of right this moment.

"Seriously? That's a bit problematic."

"Yea, but it's best not to overthink it. It's unnecessary stress that accumulates over time. Best to go with the flow until I find the answer." Zero knew that unnecessary overthinking stressed him, mainly because he sometimes overthought things.

"He has a point. Overthinking it would make you mess up. When you think of the whole situation, best you think it over time."

Agnis sighed, glancing at the two, unsure quite what to say. "If you say so."

"I know so," said Zeraph.

Zero continued to stroll behind the large army, thinking over everything that had happened today. He tried his best not to think too deeply, but there were so many questions that he wished he knew the answer to everything. Eventually, he gave up and enjoyed the nice stroll through the plains.

There were times they saw the army swarm around a large group of monsters that reminded him of the Kilin that they had fought, but they were quickly routed without any trouble. The army didn't even have a third of their people and easily moved through the plains.

Time quickly flew by as Zero, Agnis, and Zeraph talked leisurely about everyday topics, sometimes even bringing up the latest news and about the Academy. What they were doing and studying, Zero especially liked listening to Agnis's concept of magic theories, but he needed to find out if even half of them were possible.

They battled a few more boss monsters and fought a few territory battles. Thankfully, in none of the fights did Zero or the army lose many of their people. Of course, there were some casualties, but the Elven warriors were all pros who were much stronger, faster, and well-coordinated to bring down a high-level monster.

There were times when Zero tanked the boss monster himself as magicians cast heavy magic against the boss monster. They couldn't get too close because some were too poisonous or hot, making the fight difficult. Zero was the only one who could combat the boss monster without getting poisoned or burnt alive.

As they continued, the plains slowly started to turn barren, becoming small rocky hills. The ground even changed from a golden wheat color to ashen gray. Zero saw a volcanic mountain standing proudly alone in the distance. Gray smoke erupted off the top, telling everyone it was an active volcano.

The temperature began to rise slowly, making everyone sweat, but they kept pushing forward. There wasn't even a single grumble from the Elven soldiers, and the players were the only ones that cried out their discomfort.

"We're almost there!" General Liam called out, catching everyone's attention. "This is it! This is where our battle truly starts!"

Everyone nervously gazed off into the distance, for they all felt the dense power of magic the

closer they got to the volcano.