Arthur brought himself and Chris away from the main road and the chaos unfolding around the Skywall Fortress.

He only stopped when he travelled for a couple miles North-West, stopping at a lush forest of tall and thick Pine Trees.

When they were finally back on the ground, Chris had a bright smile on his face as he looked at ‘Leonis’.

“I still can’t believe it, Arthur! This still feels like a dream!”

The parasite smiled back, “I, too, couldn’t believe it when I saw you in the prison. Yet, here we are… finally reunited.”

“Yes we are, brother! Hahahaha!”

Chris approached him and hugged him, though this time, the hug lasted a lot longer.

“I…I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for you. To think that slimy bitch would dare to-”

“It’s fine, Chris. That’s in the past. What’s important is that we’re both alive.”

Arthur sat down on a small rock and gestured for his childhood friend to do the same.

They had a lot to talk about and now was as good of a time as any. Arthur was curious on how Chris arrived to Astria and the vice-versa was true too.

Chris immediately recounted what happened to him with great details. He mentioned how he was also kidnapped and tortured by Claudia and her men, but he was imprisoned for a year like Arthur. Sensing his adamance, Claudia didn’t let him live for long and simply killed him off.

“Before I knew it, I found myself literally falling from the sky! I was scared shitless, dude! When I blinked, I was in a dark cave of somesort with a lot of black crystals. I teleported again, unintentionally of course, and found myself on top of a colorful floating island!”

Chris clicked his tongue and cursed, “I survived… somehow. I also learnt about the System and the spells I could use, but I got attacked by some people. They claimed that I invaded their lands and wanted to kill me! I tried to teleport, but I couldn’t cross big distances for some reason. Later on, I was caught by people who jumped from a gargantuan flying ship.”

“I noticed that you can’t use your spells properly. Did you read the tooltip?”

“I did! But it’s not as simple as willing it to take effect! I was basically thrown into this without any assistance! Initially, I thought it’s a dream or a simulation. I mean… this System is like a game. Literally! Anyway, you know the rest.”

Christopher rubbed his hands together and grinned, gesturing for Arthur to begin recounting his own travails in this world.

Of course, he obliged and started from the very beginning. When the mysterious named self-proclaimed to be ‘X’ came to that torture chamber and offered a chance, followed by his ‘reincarnation’ in here.

Unlike with Evelyn or anyone else, Arthur didn’t miss any details. He told Chris everything, especially his encounter with the gargoyle, which subsequently led him to start researching and hunting down the Circle of Damnation.

“It’s both sad and relieving, isn’t it?” Asked Chris as he let out a heavy sigh.

“I always forced myself to believe that what happened in our village long ago was just a fabrication of our young minds. To think it’s all real… that a real monster killed everyone.”

“I intend to find it, Chris.”

“For what? Vengeance?”

“Not at all.” Arthur shook his head, a soft smile on his face.

“It’s mostly morbid curiosity. What happened back then was tragic and traumatising, and while the thought of exacting revenge did cross my mind several times, it’s not the main motive behind my efforts. Put simply, having a goal sight gives me purpose and allows me to move forward.”

“I see…”

Chris remembered how Arthur had been prior to his kidnapping. He kept drinking and wallowing in misery and inexplicable sadness. While he might not have been in the right state of mind, that state of his was born out of things he supposedly couldn’t explain to others. Even after many sessions with different therapists, he didn’t change at all.

“Whatever you’re going to do, Arthur, I’m sure as hell going with you. I mean, it’s not like we have a company to worry about, right? A brand new world for us to roam and enjoy! It’s like a fairy-tale.”

“I really don’t know how you’re always so optimistic.”

“Positivity is the key to success and happiness. I act like your counterbalance, here to provide levity and less gloominess.”

“I’m not gloomy.”

“No. You’re a total buzz-kill. You did change a bit, however. For the better, mind you. Also, you’re a parasite… which I still don’t know what the hell that is.”

Arthur proceeded to give some description about his race.

“You’re like a body-hopper. That’s so much better than what I got. Speaking of which, you also don’t know how we got here in the first place, yes?”

“No clue. I’ve read some history books and ancient records, but they weren’t particularly useful. My only guess would be that a God had a hand in this.”

“A God? So there’s more than one? Ooh…” Chris was getting more and more surprised. He didn’t get the chance to get acquainted with Astria or its history.

“Apparently so. One of my theories posits that we’ve crossed to an alternate dimension, completely different from ours. Or, we could be more ridiculous and assume we’re in the afterlife.”

“Why would the afterlife be like this, though? Argh! All this talk is frustrating me! Let’s forget about it.”

Chris dismissively waved his hand and changed the topic,

“Do you have any alcohol? I’m craving some after rotting in that prison. I want some delicious food too.”

Arthur took out what few rations he had in his storage. Much to Chris’ dismay, however, he didn’t have any alcohol.

While munching on some dried meat and stretching his limbs, Chris stared at the red-haired gentleman opposite of him.

“So, any destination in mind?”

“Before that, can you tell me your stats and spells? Give me all the details you can see.”

“Sure.”

While staring at the half-translucent blue window floating in front of him, Christopher described everything from top to bottom.

*TITLE(S) : Against Fate

NAME : Christopher Balrand

RACE : Human

Lv: 8 (11%)

-

Strength : 75

Magic Power: 399

Movement Speed: 75

Magic Power Regeneration: 175

Vitality: 150

Magic Control: 35

Mana: 700

Skills: Warp(Active Lv2) - Teleport(Active Lv1) - Space Fracture(Active Lv2) - Space Control(Passive/Active Lv2) - Mana Control(Passive Lv1) - Magic Amplification(Passive Lv2) - Appraisal(Active Lv5) - Darkness Resistance(Passive Lv1) - Pain Resistance(Passive Lv3) - Disease Resistance(Passive Lv1)

*Warp(Active Lv2): The user can deplete his Mana to open a momentary rift through space and warp into a random location.

The user cannot choose the destination.

The more Mana used, the bigger the distance crossed.

The higher the level of this skill, the more stable the rift will be.

Any object or living being in direct physical contact with the user will be swallowed up by the rift.*

*Teleport(Active Lv1): For a fixed quantity of Mana, the user can teleport short distances (Maximum of 100 meters).

This skill will bypass material obstacles.

This skill will bypass Detection barrier, formation, spells, or techniques.

This skill will not bypass Barriers formed from 3rd-grade Artifacts or higher.*

*Space Control(Passive/Active Lv2):

Passive Effect: Increase the manoeuvrability of the user’s body while mid-air and/or in locations with significant spatial instability.

Active effect: This skill will deplete Mana for each second it is active.

The user will be able to freely control his body and negate gravity or other spatial restrictions.*

*Against Fate(Title): Only those who resisted Fate’s Decree twice or more are eligible to obtain this title.

Effect: Soul is strengthened and unbound from Fate.*

“That’s about it.” Finished Chris while heaved a long breath.

“Your System is a bit different from mine. Other than that, the low numerical value of your Magic Control could be the reason behind your inability to properly use your spells. There’s a couple of strange things, however.”

“Like what?”-Chris

“Upon the acquisition of a skill, at least for me, I generally get a vague or a good understanding of its use. I wouldn’t be completely lost on how to use it. You said you got those skills the moment you got to this world, right? Which means they were there from the beginning. To be precise, they were just added into your System.”

“Yes! That’s the damn issue, though. I seem to have used [Warp] twice consecutively upon coming ‘here’, but that’s about it. I tried to use it in the prison, but it didn’t work.”

“That’s due to the Anti-Magic formation, which restrict any and all use of spells.”

“I tried using it after you came for me, but it still didn’t activate. [Teleport] and [Space Fracture] did work. There must be some kind of clue that the System didn’t show.”

“Yeah, that could happen. The System will usually show you basic stuff. It’s up to the user to figure out how to make full use of a skill or spell.”

“Whatever… I ain’t in a hurry.” Christopher shrugged and quickly grinned, gesturing for Arthur, “So you must’ve ‘possessed’ quite a lot of corpses, right? Come on, tell me what you got! Wait wait… you can possess women too, yeah?”

Arthur rolled his eyes and meekly nodded once, already not liking where this was going.

Chris slapped his thigh and burst out in laughter, “I can’t imagine you masquerading as a woman! Ahahahaha!”

“It’s not funny. I do what I have to do.”

“Still funny! Shit! I’m envious now. You can find a hot woman and look as much as you want!”

“That’s disgusting and inappropriate.”

“I’m not saying you’ll kill one and possess her. I’m just saying that you might have found - or will find- a hot woman dead. Randomly. Furthermore, don’t act like a saint and tell me you haven’t thought about it. How does it work? Do you start acting like one if you possess a female? What about a dog? Do you talk or just bark?”

“This is getting ridiculous...” Arthur pinched his temples and shook his head.

His grumbling notwithstanding, he did indulge all of Chris’ absurd questions until dawn.

As an orange and pink hue was spreading across the darkened canopy, Christopher was finally done with his questions. He was satisfied with all he had learnt.

He sat next to Arthur, his arm around his shoulder and laughing heartily.

“We’re going to have lots of fun, brother! You don’t know how happy I am now.”

Arthur softly smiled, feeling a warm and fuzzy feeling swelling up within him. It had been too long since he felt this relaxed and talked freely.

Christopher was a lively man, always bursting with energy and positivity. He was the only person who stood by him from the beginning, always having his back.

All that effort he had gone through in the Shadow Keep Penitentiary felt more than worth it just for this reunion. It felt surreal to meet Chris in this world, after all that happened. If this was indeed a dream, Arthur genuinely hoped he would never wake up.

“Get some sleep before we depart.”

“Nah! I’m fine. We’re heading to the Devil Doctor, yeah?”

“He’s in the Desert of Peace and Commerce, South of here. If we could find him, we’ll learn more about the gargoyle and the Circle of Damnation as a whole.”

Christopher stood up and spread his arms, “It’s the start of the a new advent-”

Before he could continue, however, he was interrupted by a thunderous sound that came from just behind him.

The Sanguis Barrier immediately appeared, shining brightly as it enveloped the parasite and his friend.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed, his body twitched involuntarily as he felt immense dread.

Inches above the ground, a dark green slit in the air itself manifested. The slit was vertical and more than 10 meters in height, oozing some sort of chilling smoke.

From within the slit, which was widening ever-so-slightly, a thin and bone long arm appeared, literally grabbing the edges of the dimensional slit and pulling the rest of the body outside…