With Laura having left the party, Drake was left with only Roland and Lily. It made him feel uneasy about his duel.When he woke up the next morning he noticed a small blue rectangle floating in front of him.[System notification.][You cave satisfied the conditions for title 《lolicon》(I see that your intentions are pure. Sorry for doubting you)You've been granted the following effects:All basic stats +50%Main Beast Soul stats +20%][You have satisfied the conditions for title 《Guardian》(The child is experiencing steady growth under you. Keep up the good work!)You have been granted the following effects:All basic stats +20%Main Beast Soul stats +20%Absorbed Soul Essence +20%]At some point Drake had forgotten all about the titles and their effects. He didn't know how the effects would show, but now that he had recieved the notification it was clear that they had already been granted.Drake immediately went to check his stats[NAME: Drake Brand.SPECIE: Human. SEX: Male.AG

A blade covered in black smoke swung at Drake. A loud clang resounded throughout the plaza as sparks elluminated the surroundings. Still holding Lily close to his chest, Drake slid on the paved ground having been pushed back. The shadow armor wasn't any different. The clash had sent both of them flying in the opposit direction."Wow! You actually deflected that! Pretty impressive!""Bastard…" Drake growled, sending a piercing glare in the armored shadow's way."Now now, no need to look at me like that." The shadow said. "Or maybe that's the appropriate reaction? Well, doesn't really matter.""Wait! Kujo! What are you doing!" The boy in red armor walked toward them but then stopped seeing the shadow armor hold a hand to his head."You're still too green, Charon." The shadow said. "You were sent here to kill him, not to win the duel.""Wha-""Didn't the archbishop already warn you? That guy will be a thorn in our side as long as he's alive. We need to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Drake fell to the ground one half at a time. He didn't feel any pain, he was too exhausted for that, his consciousness slipping in and out.A small window appeared in front of him.[SYSTEM ALERT][You have suffered damage beyond your current capabilities. Due to the nature of the injury the effect of title 《survivor》 has been neutralized.Time until permanent death:00:00:05:58]Well, I guess that's to be expected. Drake thought. I'm bleeding out here. He had been split in half. That was an injury no one should be able to return from. His life had flashed before his eyes so he knew it was the end. In the end he couldn't make it back. But it's alright. There is nothing to worry about right now. All he has to do is relax and let nature do its thing. I wonder if I'll get to meet Peter. He thought as he closed his eyes. Or maybe each dimension has its own afterlife?The thought amused him and he found a bit of peace in that. The timer was counting down and it was slowly running out.

Back in the day I used to be a troublemaker. I would always get into fights and cause all sorts of problems to everyone, but everyone just dismissed it as me being an energetic kid.I was a stark contrast with my older brother. Peter was the quiet and well behaved child. He was good at his studies and had a bright future ahead of him. I always admired Peter, I wanted to be just like him. However I doubted it will ever happen as our personalities were just too different.Peter was four years older than me. That meant we never went to school together. Once he got to high school he started going less often and at some point he stopped going at all. I knew he had some problems but at the time I was just a kid. I didn't know how to approach the subject nor did I know how to pick up on other people's emotions so I just let it be. One day while I was at school a number of older kids approached me. They were asking were my brother was and why he didn't come to school. I so stupidly told the

"What's going on here…?" Roland wondered aloud as he watched from afar. During the ensuing chaos Charon had found an opening to slip away. Seeing the beast in the sky spewing pure white flames the tall guy realized that a disaster had befallen that place. He went to look for Drake thinking they needed to get out of there and fast, but when he followed the boy's scent and arrived at the place he was at last he felt the blood drain from his face as he understood what was going on.There on the ground was the cold corpse of the Beastkin child, slowly disintegrating into small particles of light indicating that her Soul has been forcefully ripped out.Beside her were a pair of legs and a crushed skull. A small distance away was Drake's black sword dipped in a large pool of blood. It was a gruesome scene and Roland realized what had happened in that place. He turned in the direction of the commotion, a dome of blinding light enveloped a large area and forced his eyes shut.He had comple