At the Industrial sector of the Sunken Metropolis, within a warehouse adjacent to the North-Eastern port.A man wearing a ceremonial and over-sized black robe with markings on it and a sinister-looking red mask was standing straight with his hands behind back.The mask only hid the upper part of his face, so his wide grin could be seen from a distance away.He had dozens of cultists standing orderly behind him, all of which wore regular black masks and hooded cloaks.“Took you long enough, Signora.”Red Mask Viper was pleased to see the woman arrive. He didn’t prepare any flashy welcome, but his heightened mood was apparent.Although he wasn’t particularly close to Velvet Signora, the two had worked together on several occasions and could be said to be a perfect match.As she wore high heels and walked towards the smirking man, Red Mask Signora, also known as the Collector, clicked her tongue and grumbled,“Couldn’t you have chosen a ‘cleaner’ place? I can’t stand the smell of fish.”
With steady steps and a sullen mood, Zeke headed to his dorm room and retrieved what few belongings were there. He noticed that Alan and Azmer’s things were also gone, which meant they were transferred to other rooms. After one last look at the medium-sized and cozy room, Zeke lowered his head and walked outside. In his dazed state, he accidentally bumped into an unexpected person. The ashen-haired and beautiful granddaughter of Solas, Vanessa, looked back at Zeke with a slightly worried expression. “I’m sorry about what happened.” It was clear that she knew about his ‘indirect’ expulsion. Vanessa usually had a lofty and indifferent face, but that was only a display for strangers. Although Zeke had met her a few times, he noticed a caring heart behind her cold facade. … Vanessa walked by Zeke’s side and accompanied him to the campus, but her presence resulted in quite an awkward atmosphere. “I…I wanted to thank you before.” Zeke, who had a small crush on the girl, averted his g
Volume 3: The Cost of Love As it turned out, Zeke’s indirect expulsion was more beneficial than it was detrimental. He returned to living in the old apartment provided by Edward and spent most of his time either helping Sulong completing requests or training. One month passed in the blink of an eye and there had been no unexpected and life-threatening problems. The mercenary work wasn’t difficult and often involved protected shipments, guarding an individual from the shadows, or retrieving an item from the client’s opposing party. There were no Special or Urgent missions from the System, which was a fortunate thing for Zeke as he felt wary and hesitant about those generous missions, especially after he had been forced to kill the Earthling Ambassador. The Vyrsan Family has been oddly quiet and no more assassins were hired. The Ivory Oak Order remained in hiding and waited for orders from their superior, and the Earthlings had definitively left the Aether Planet. Overall, things we
Frederic, Bibi, Xiao, Maxwell Lepard, Veronica Serpents, and Azmer Lorson, all wore the formal robes of the Ivory Oak Order and orderly stood next to each other. They faced a man with a threatening stature and a busy black beard; The Black Templar. He was a high-ranking member of their organisation and someone in charge of many teams, including theirs. The Black Templar, Lex Eques, swept his cold eyes across his six members, specifically focusing on the blond-haired young man at the right. “Do you know what our organisation’s motto is?” Lex asked with an authoritative tone as he narrowed his eyes. It was clear that he only wanted Azmer to answer. Caught off-guard, the youth momentarily hesitated before responding, “Self-discipline, Wisdom, and Empowerment.” “And what is our purpose?” “That’s…” Azmer couldn’t respond as he fidgeted around, eventually lowering his head. “The Ivory Oak Order is the union of many like-minded parties, however, we do answer to one strong entity. M
Azmer looked at the other team under the Black Templar: There were four of them, all dressed in the standard grey and white cloaks of the Ivory Oak Order.He found it strange that they were ‘forced’ to wear those outfits during an operation as that would reveal their identities, but Veronica argued that they wanted the people to know.“What’s the plan? We cut his slimy limbs?”A man with a donkey-like face, a disturbing smile, and a particularly long tongue that dangled outside like a dog’s, turned to look at the ‘leader’ of this operation.The young girl, Veronica Serpents, motioned for him to remain in hiding as she quietly responded,“We’ll talk to him first. Don’t do anything stupid.”The man with an ugly mug clicked his tongue and spat on the ground, which was a clear sign of mockery.“Can’t believe I’m taking orders from a woman.”“...”Veronica’s eyes turned cold, but she refrained from verbally disputing at such a crucial time and place.All ten of them were stationed around t
“I don’t understand, Zeke. Why are you protecting him?” Veronica stopped a distance from the scythe-wielding youth and motioned to Gastin, who was busy opening the container. “It isn’t a personal vendetta or anything like that.” Responded Zeke as he shrugged, “He hired us to protect him. I didn’t expect you people to appear.” “Yet here we are. So… what now?” A black snake slid from within Veronica’s cloak and wrapped around her neck, its eyes concentrated on Zeke, hissing at him menacingly. “You know, you could just walk away.” Upon hearing him, it wasn’t the cool-headed Veronica who lashed back but the distressed Maxwell, who wasn’t pleased with Frederic’s death. “Do you think we’re afraid of you?” He looked at his teammates, seemingly a bit riled up. “We can take him down.” “There’s not just him.” Muttered the fearful Bibi as he looked over to the side, focusing on Sulong and the Zyth. Gastin was already a strong individual, and they had just seen Sulong incinerate Hanza wit
Pyromancy was the most wide-spread ability amongst the genetically gifted humans. It was also the easiest to defend against, either with the use of a counter ability, proper artifacts, or the right tactic. After all, Pyromancy was just casting fireballs of different sizes or causing fiery explosions.Only when Pyromancy was turned into a special type of fire would it become extremely dangerous. A perfect example was William Lorson’s Ink Fire, which charred the entirety of Zeke’s arm and couldn’t be healed using conventional means.Sulong’s ‘Pyromancy’ was special from the get-go, but his crimson fire was ‘savage’, in contrast to Azmer’s ‘serene’ Origin Fire.Precisely for that reason, Special Agent Elizabeth and the tenacious Zeke jumped out of the way. The former was already wary of the blond youth’s fire and the latter felt a dangerous heat and instinctively dodged, though that could be attributed to the fear born from being subjected to William’s fire.A tall cloaked figure descend
Deep within Black Rock Mountain, in the an outrageously massive cavern riddled with volcanic holes and infested with ferocious lizards, Special Agent Katrina and Jonathan Stellar Link were reaching the end of their arduous ‘journey’.They had killed hundreds of Magma Lizards, and both were finally reaching their physical limits. Even with the help of a System, Jonathan wasn’t an all-powerful, unstoppable human.The System in his possession derived power from misery and anguish. It heavily relied on the user’s mental state, and the worse it was, the stronger he would become.For a man like him, who had been through hell and suffered again and again, it was a suitable System, but that didn’t make it diverse.It was considered a ‘Minor’ System, significantly inferior to the Paths of Extinction System, which was one of the three Divine Scriptures.“It’s there!”Jonathan smashed his hands together and let out an uncontrollable black mist that protected him and blew all the incoming lizards