ã€ŠDivinity: Against The Godly Systemã€‹


 Chapter 0 Plot Info (MUST READ)

    <h4>Chapter 0: Plot Info (MUST READ)</h4>

    1) The story is a mix of VRMMO and Urban(MODERN WORLD) fantasy, so it will be distributed between the real world and the game.

    2) The MC travelled back to the past and the future knowledge will y an important role, but it won¡¯t be the driving force of the story that makes him stronger. It would contribute to theter part of the stories.

    3) The MC will be OP but he would face troubles that might make his journey difficult on asions.

    4) The system isplex and it might give various strange and dangerous missions (Sometimes nonsense) to the MC and won¡¯t always seem helpful. On asions, it might even look like they are just to trouble the MC,but there is a reason behind all the missions that¡¯s rted to its origin and his link with the MC. The MC it¡¯s not a person that was randomly chosen by the system.

    5)I Repeat: All the missions have a reason behind them. They are not made for humor or anything like that!

    6) IMPORTANT: The first main (Ch 8 to 30-40)world arc is just for entertainment (It would be great of you could take it as such) and introduction of the MC,the System and the world. The main plot begins in the Game Arc after the main world arc.

    7) The Story have some extreme overreactions on some asions which are intentionally made stupid and illogical. They are not an attempt at smart humor. They are made to be stupid to give the story a lighter touch on asions. Please don¡¯t talk logic about that and take them as what they are...

    ***** Warning!!!*****

    ***** Spoilers ahead****

    ***** Spoilers ahead****

    ******You shouldn¡¯t read before reading 100 chapters*****

    1) All the missions that Janus gives at the beginning are important even the random ones rted to girls. That¡¯s all rted to his previous life and would be exinedter on.

    2) The story Involves Reincarnation! Which will be the main plot point of the story and more important than time travel.

    3) The MC will travel to other dimensions as well.

    4) Real Gods exist in this world in the higher world, and the MC is rted to them.

    5) Undead Realm and the Undead Army will be involved in the story as well. The MC will be mostly against the Undead, but he will also get power to make and control undead.

    6) The Story have hobbits, vampires,elves and many more. It will be a vast world filled with great adventures when we get moving.

 Chapter 1 The beginning

    <h4>Chapter 1: The beginning</h4>

    "And that¡¯s how I died...Trapped in a game and killed by the system that was supposed to help me..."

    It all started three years ago when the first fully immersive virtual reality game was announced.

    No one had even heard the name of the Necrosis Corporation until the year 2047 when they suddenly came out with the first fully immersive Virtual Reality Game ¡¯Divinity¡¯.

    A single announcement had made them an overnight sensation.

    A small American corporation that had to struggle to gain enough capital for research and development was suddenly the hot property in the market. The Necrosis corporation became the brightest organization.

    Every wealthy person in the world wanted to invest in the Necrosis Corporation and get some shares. Probably because they had realized the immense potential of virtual reality in the future of humanity. Most of the people knew that it was only the start. They could feel that the Necrosis Corporation wouldn¡¯t end at Divinity.

    Just like everyone in the world, Ryder was also excited about the first virtual reality game ¡¯Divinity¡¯. There were already some rumors about the price. If rumors were to be believed, then the prices were not too expensive, but they weren¡¯t too cheap either. Although he wasn¡¯t rich, he felt like he could afford it.

    On August 23, 2048, the game was finally released worldwide. The markets flooded with customers hoping to buy Divinity. The whole world was talking about only one thing. Not politics... not sports... but a game. A game that was about to change the world.

    Since Divinity was the first fully immersive virtual reality game, there were no monitors, CDs, or consoles. All they had to do was buy their VR equipment. Although it sounded strange, the VR equipment was nothing but a pair of ck sunsses.

    It was said that the sunsses had some futuristic technology inside them that could make it connect to their nervous system. It was able to send signals and receive signals to the brain, respectively.

    Initially, Ryder had his doubts about how safe it was, but the sses dide with the certification from the world¡¯s biggest scientific organization IMC.

    The IMC certificate mentioned that the game and the sses had been tested by their experts and found to be 100% Safe. That certificate managed to convince him that it would be safe.IMC was a big name, after all.

    He stood in a long line for hours before he finally managed to buy a pair of Divinity VR sses.

    The excitement of getting to y the game and experience the virtual world was at its peak as the Millions of Units were sold in just a single day.

    Those who couldn¡¯t get the game were depressed. Still, the developers of Divinity promised everyone through their social media ounts that they will ramp up the production and sell fifty million units every Saturday.

    All of that had nothing to do with Ryder, though, as he had already received what he desired.

    Ryder Flynn was a 24-year-old man. He had justpleted his graduationst year and was a working professional.

    He was a software designer. He didn¡¯t work for any big organization as he wanted to be his own boss. He used to develop android games at that time and earned money from them.

    Although he didn¡¯t earn an excessive amount, the earnings were still pretty decent.

    He was an orphan. His father and mother had both died in a car ident when he was just 18 years old. Thankfully, they left some savings, and he was able to continue his studies.

    There was someone else who lived in the house with him. It was a girl whose name was Alice.

    Ryder¡¯s maternal grandpa had a best friend who unfortunately died in an ident. He only had one Daughter who was taken care of by Ryder¡¯s grandfather. The girl was named Jasmine. Ryder¡¯s grandfather helped fund her studies and gave her a ce to stay. He did everything he could as guardian without adopting her.

    Sheter married someone and seperated. She also had a daughter named Alice.

    Alice¡¯s mother, Jasmine, was like an Aunt to Ryder even though she was more of a family friend.

    It was a well-known fact, but everyone treated Jasmine as family.

    Jasmine had died with Ryder¡¯s parents when they were traveling together. Ryder was told that a truck hit the car of his parents.

    Since the ident, Alice has been living with him. She was five years younger than him. She was a university student at the time of the release of Divinity. Life was tough after their parents¡¯ death, but Ryder didn¡¯t let her suffer because of ack of resources.

    Ryder got home after getting the VR sses and locked himself in his room.

    "Amazing... It¡¯s so incredible that a simple pair of sunsses could hide such incredible technology."

    He was shocked as soon as he opened the package. There was a pair of Divinity VR sunsses, an IMC safety certificate, and a Manual. The sses looked nothing special. They looked like a normal pair of sunsses.

    "What about the charger?"

    That was the first thought that came into his mind as soon as he opened the box. It was a normal reaction as he saw no charger inside.

    ¡¯How am I going to charge this thing once it runs out of power?¡¯ It was a serious question that floated through his mind.

    Ryder opened the manual of the Divinity VR sses and started reading it.

    As he finished reading the manual, he finally got the answer to the question that was haunting him. He found out that the sses didn¡¯t need to be charged.

    The manual mentioned some technical mumbo jumbo that he didn¡¯t understand in the least. All he understood was that he didn¡¯t need to charge the sses.

    He only found out that the sses could charge through something called the neural link.

    He was somewhat scared thinking about the technology that went behind it and was worried if it was really safe, but the IMC certificate that he had in his other hand managed to calm him down.

    He finally wore the sses. The Manual said that the sses worked through voicemands. All themands were already mentioned in the manual, which he learned.

    "Divinity Scan!" Ryder said with an excited voice as he used the firstmand.

    "Please keep your eyes open for the retina scan." A female voice appeared in his head.

    ¡¯Amazing... The sses can already transmit sounds to my brain.¡¯ Ryder thought with an amazed look on his face.

    The sses turned on and started scanning his retina. Once the scan waspleted, he would be saved as the owner of the sses. It was a security feature that allowed only him to ess the sses. It was so that no one else could use his ount or his sses. It would make stealing the sses useless.

    "Scan Completed! Would you like to enter the world of divinity?" The feminine voice again appeared in his head.

 Chapter 2 Rising to the top

    <h4>Chapter 2: Rising to the top</h4>

    The sses had no speaker; instead, they used bone conduction technology that was perfected over the years.

    "Yes. Let¡¯s start our journey. Take me to Divinity," Ryder replied instantly.

    As soon as he spoke, he instantly lost all control of his body and all his senses. His room disappeared, and he now found himself standing in a pitch-ck room.

    He looked ahead and found a girl floating in the air.

    "Wee to Divinity. I am your artificial intelligence guide, Maya. I will help you with the registration. Please select your Character Name,"

    The little girl floated in the air in front of him. She looked to be 17-18 years old and had short, greenish hair.

    "My name is Hades," Ryder answered her.

    ¡¯Yeah, I know that the name is quite chuunibyou, but I like it. I used the same character name in the online games I yed before.¡¯ He thought to himself without being even a little bit embarrassed.

    "Hades...Name registered. Please customize the stats of your character. You have been given 25 stats points," Maya further said.

    A screen appeared in front of Ryder. That had six stats on the screen with a 0 in front of all 6 of them.

    A plus and minus symbol was also ced in front of each of the characteristics. These six characteristics that he could use skill points on were Strength, Defence, Stamina, Intelligence, Speed, and Dexterity.

    A smile appeared on Ryder¡¯s face as he kept tapping on the plus icons.

    After a short few minutes, he was finally done.

    The screen in front of him looked much different now.

    He had used 7 points on Strength, six on Defence,5 points on speed,4 points on stamina,2 points on dexterity, and 1 point on Intelligence.

    "I¡¯m done," Ryder informed Maya.

    "Are you sure? " Maya asked with an expressionless look on her face.

    "Yes," Ryder again nodded his head.

    "Would you like to make adjustments to your looks?" She asked.

    " No need," Ryder replied instantly.

    "Registrationplete. You will be sent to the novice vige. You currently have no ss. After passing the novice vige, you will be able to select your ss." Maya informed him before she disappeared in front of his eyes.

    The scene distorted as Ryder found himself in the novice vige.

    It was a ce that all yers were sent to so that they could learn basic skills and get used to Virtual Reality before going on real adventures.

    yers could get some simple quests in the novice vige to increase their levels, and when they got to level 5, they were allowed to leave.

    Ryder went through the novice vige andpleted some meager tasks like training with the vige Sword Elder. He collected herbs for a store owner, helped in finding lost goods, and more.

    After a few days of effort and a whole lot of quests, He finally managed to pass the Novice Vige. He was the 25th yer to get to level 5. He was sent to the starting kingdom by the Vige Sword Elder.

    He was finally able to choose a ss from the ss hall.

    ¡¯I had already decided on the ss that I would choose before I even started this game. That¡¯s why I put most of my stats in strength and defense. I chose to be a Warrior. After reaching a certain level, I would be promoted to a knight.¡¯ Ryder thought as he chose his ss.

    It was a fantasy world. He wanted to enjoy this ce. Enjoy the feeling of real strength. Thus he selected the warrior ss.

    Ryder went on adventures,pleted various quests, and increased his strength. He even joined a strong guild. It was the 3rd rank guild at the guild rankings, and he had managed to be one of its top members.

    Although Ryder wasn¡¯t the guild¡¯s strongest yer, he has managed to be one of the ten strongest yers in the guild.

    Three years had passed away right before his eyes as he continued leveling up.

    He was level 175 at the moment. He had managed to get the ss of a Royal Knight. It was the ss that came after the Knight ss.

    After three years of hard work for the guild, he was finally given a chance to lead a party for an A-Rank quest.

    The quest he received was to kill the dragon that had appeared in the Malta Valley. The Guild Master sent 20 yers with 150+ levels and 80 yers who had a level ranging from level 100 to level 150. It did look like a good team, but he still couldn¡¯t feel at ease.

    It took him three days to get to the Malta Valley. Their fight against the dragon began.

    As Ryder¡¯s party was fighting against the dragon, their people kept dying one after another.

    Dying in the game was a pretty bad experience that no yer wanted to experience. Firstly, even at the low pain settings, they still felt a significant amount of pain.

    Secondly, they lost a level when they died. The loss of a level wasn¡¯t concerning for lower-level yers, but it was pretty painful for the higher level yers as each level required a massive amount of XP.

    Andstly, those who died were locked out of Divinity for 24 hours.

    Even their top yers were killed. This whole quest was turning out to be a disaster. The information he was given by the guild master waspletely wrong.

    They were told that the dragon was a level 190 monster, but it is not! It was a boss ss monster who had a level in the 200s.

 Chapter 3 Died again

    <h4>Chapter 3: Died again</h4>

    Ryder was frowning as he watched the yers dying one after another. He didn¡¯t stop attacking the dragon, though.

    Time passed slowly as they gave their all in this fight without holding anything back.

    With the help of the potions, They had managed to fight for quite a long time. The dragon was now at 15% HP. Opposite the dragon, only two yers were left.

    Ryder Flynn, who was leading the mission, and Max Lee, the Vice-Captain of the team.

    Both of them had 100% of their hp because they had just consumed thest vial of their potions.

    "I¡¯m out of potion," Ryder told Max with a wry smile on his face.

    "Me too," Max replied with a burst ofughter.

    "Let¡¯s give it our all,"

    This was all Ryder thought at that time. It was the first time he was leading a mission, and he wanted toplete the quest at all costs.

    They fought the dragon with all their might. They had finally managed to bring the dragon down to 1% HP after using their skills one after another.

    Ryder checked his HP on the screen that appeared in front of him. The screen showed that he had 50% HP remaining. He gazed at his side and stared at Max¡¯s HP. He only had 5% of his HP remaining.

    "I will attract the dragon¡¯s attention while you attack him from the back! I still have 50% HP while you only have 5%! I will use taunt and attract its attention. I will take the brunt of its attack. Its strongest attack will only consume 48% of my HP at Max, while your attack will kill it! We can definitelyplete that quest together," Ryder told Max.

    "I¡¯m sorry, Hades. If I had a potion, I would have attracted its attention instead," Max told Ryder in an apologetic tone.

    "It¡¯s alright. Get ready!"

    "Taunt!"

    Ryder used Taunt to attract the dragon¡¯s attention and gave Max a chance to position himself for the attack. It worked quite well as the dragon attacked Ryder with his ming breath.

    "Huh?"

    Ryder¡¯s expression turned weird as he found out that his HP went down to 0% as soon as the fire touched him. He couldn¡¯t understand what just happened. He shouldn¡¯t have died from the attack.

    In this game, they were given a twenty-second counter before they were logged out of the game after dying. They couldn¡¯t log in for the next 24 hours after that.

    The countdown of those 20 seconds began. At that time, Ryder used the help on his screen and talked to Maya about the problem with his HP.

    Her reply shocked him to his core and almost made him curse out loud.

    She said that it was the system that showed him the wrong information. His real Hp was only at 2% at that time, not 50%.

    "Why?" Ryder asked, but Maya didn¡¯t reply.

    He still had ten seconds remaining before his logout. He watched Max giving the finishing blow.

    He got another shock of his life as he saw Max drinking a supreme potion to get his HP at the peak before he dealt the finishing blow.

    "That bastard! He lied to me!" Ryder was devastated as he watched this.

    Soon there was a system-wide announcement.

    "yer Max haspleted the Malta Valley quest! As he is the first yer toplete the quest, he will be rewarded with 1000 Fame points. Royal Battle Guild will receive 1000 fame points as well."

    That was thest announcement Ryder heard before everything went dark.

    "Huh? Where am I? I¡¯m not logged out?"

    Ryder found himself in a dark room. Maya was standing in front of him.

    "You¡¯re nowhere," She answered.

    "Why wasn¡¯t I logged out?" Ryder again asked.

    "You can¡¯t log out or exit the game. Your yer status has been taken from you."

    "What the heck? Why?"

    "Your real body has died in the real world. You can¡¯t be sent back, and your consciousness is trapped in the game. You aren¡¯t considered a yer anymore," Maya said in an emotionless tone.

    "What the fuck? Have you gone crazy? My real body is dead, and I¡¯m not a yer? Are you joking with me? Let me leave this instant. Let me contact the developers!" Ryder let out in an angry tone as he tried contacting the devs, but no screen appeared in front of him.

    "You¡¯re not a yer, and you can¡¯t use the facilities provided to yers. I can¡¯t let your consciousness create disturbance in the game either. Thus, You will be an NPC in the game from now on,"

    "You will be bound by restrictions and won¡¯t be able to do anything but repeat the same tasks," Maya replied.

    "What the hell are you talking about? How the hell is that possible? How can I die when I am in my bedroom!" Ryder said with a look of disbelief on his face. He couldn¡¯t believe that she was being serious.

    The ck room disappeared, and he found himself standing in the novice vige.

    He stood outside a cottage and found himself unable to move.

    "Ah... Sir, do you need any help?" A young boy came to him and asked. From his clothes, he looked like a novice yer.

    "Yes, dear. I have lost my stick in the field. Can you help me find it? I will give you three Beans as a reward," Ryder said.

    He realized that he had no control over his mouth as the words just came out.

    ¡¯Did I actually die, and now I¡¯m an NPC?¡¯

    He was starting to believe the words of Maya now. He felt like crying, but no tears came out of his eyes.

    ¡¯And that¡¯s how I died... Trapped in a game and killed by the system that was supposed to help me,¡¯

 Chapter 4 Host selection

    His three years of journey in the first Virtual Reality game ¡¯Divinity¡¯ brought him to his mysterious death. Even that wasn¡¯t enough for Maya as she made his remaining consciousness an NPC.

    He could still think, and he had retained his memories, but he couldn¡¯t do anything other than the specified tasks that were assigned by the game.

    Every day tens of newbie yers woulde to him and ask, ¡¯If he needed any help?¡¯.

    He couldn¡¯t say anything other than telling them about his lost stick and the three beans that he will reward them with if they find his stick.

    "What the hell! Why in the world would I need help with finding a stick? I need help with breaking the restrictions of the game and free myself!"

    Ryder wanted to scream his thoughts out loud, but he couldn¡¯t even do that.

    It was nearly evening when the situation turned even worse.

    "Hey, NPC! I heard that you¡¯re telling people to find your stick. I tried, but I didn¡¯t find the stick! Why don¡¯t you give me those three beans anyway?"

    A bulky man was standing in front of him. There was not a single hair on his head, but his beard was quite long that came down to his chest. The man was over 6 feet tall and had a muscr build.

    "Please help me find my stick! I will give you three beans as a reward,"

    Ryder didn¡¯t want to offend the man, and he wanted to say yes to whatever the man desired, but the predefined reply came out of his mouth.

    ¡¯What the heck! Why can¡¯t I give any other answer? When I was in the novice vige the first time, all the NPCs were much more interactive and seemed like they had intelligence! They never felt so robotic! Why is my character so messed up? Is the game intentionally fucking with me?¡¯

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but me the game as he thought about his reactions carefully. It was not the normal behavior of the NPCs in the game.

    "You trash! Are you making fun of me? Do you think that you are smart? I¡¯ll kill you right here and right now! Let¡¯s see how you will try to act in front of me then!"

    The bald man screamed at Ryder as he brought out his sword and pointed it at Ryder.

    ¡¯This fool! He¡¯s definitely a newbie. Doesn¡¯t he know that as soon as he attacks an NPC like me, the Vige People wille to save me? The whole vige will turn against him, and he won¡¯t get any quest.¡¯

    ¡¯Wait a minute. What am I thinking about? Even if the vige Elders turned against him and stopped giving him quests, I would still be beaten badly!¡¯

    Ryder started sweating at the thought of getting beaten. He was an NPC now... He wasn¡¯t sure if he would feel any pain, but he was definitely afraid.

    "Please help me find my stick. I would give you three beans as a reward."

    The words again came out of his mouth without his control. He didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry at his misery.

    "What the hell! Maya, you idiot! What kind of restrictions did you put on me! Why do you want to kill me? I never offended you?"

    Ryder screamed loudly, but his voice was limited to only his brain. No words came out of his mouth, which remained closed. He had no control over his body.

    "You bastard! Are you messing with me?" The bald man screamed as he punched Ryder¡¯s face.

    Ryder fell down to the ground as blood starteding out of his lips.

    ¡¯Aaaahh... So much pain! Is the pain setting turned to 200%? Maya! Why are you punishing me!¡¯

    The pain was too much for him. As someone who yed the game at 90% pain settings throughout his three years, he still couldn¡¯t handle the pain. It was in apletely different league altogether.

    ¡¯That was only the effect of a punch; what would happen if he killed me?¡¯

    Ryder started sweating as he thought about it. He wanted to run away, but just as before, his body didn¡¯t listen to his brain.

    ¡¯Hey? Why the hell are you guys not even looking at me? I¡¯m a fellow viger! You are supposed to group together and help me!¡¯

    Ryder fumed in anger, but his mouth didn¡¯t say the words.

    The whole situation was bizarre; no NPC came to help him. Even the vige elder stood nearby, but he didn¡¯t interfere. It seemed like none of them could see him being attacked.

    ¡¯There¡¯s something unusual. That¡¯s not how it¡¯s supposed to go!¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown on his face.

    "Please help me find my stick. I will reward you with three beans."

    Again the words came out his mouth.

    That was the moment... he realized the universal truth... He was fucked.

    The Bald man roared in anger as he finally attacked with his sword. He stabbed the sword right through Ryder¡¯s chest.

    The pain... all he could feel was the pain. The pain was even worse than the death itself. He wasn¡¯t even sure if this was the end of his pained existence.

    His vision started blurring, and darkness shrouded his whole world.

    The world turned dark as everything went nk. There was no sound, nor any light. It was as if he was floating in the boundless space of nothingness.

    [Ding... The system has started... Host selected. Would you like to be the host of the system?]

    A male voice echoed in the boundless void. The voice sounded like it belonged to a 13-14-year-old boy and contained some sense of immaturity.

    "Host? System? Maya, are you again ying with me? You better let me die in peace. Don¡¯t toy with me again!"

    Ryder roared in anger. He was tired of being toyed with. He was killed by the malfunction of divinity and then again killed because of its Artificial Intelligence Maya¡¯s restriction.

    [Wrong. The system is not Maya. The system has no name, and only the host can select a name for the system]

    The voice said again.

    "Are you the system developed by the Necrosis Corporation?" Ryder asked with a thoughtful look on his face.

    [Wrong. No mere mortal can make the system]

    "What? Who made you then? How did youe into existence?"

    Ryder couldn¡¯t understand anything; in fact, he was starting to feel like he was going crazy and hallucinating by now.

    [You don¡¯t have the privilege to get the answers. If you decide to be the host, You will be revived. You will have a chance to get your real body back as well]

    The voice told Ryder.

    "I... If I can get my real body back. Then I am ready to do anything. I ept to be your host." Ryder said as he floated in the darkness.

    "What other choice do I have? If I could get my real body back, then that is the only thing that matters to me. I can¡¯t leave Alice alone in the world."

    [Ding... Host selection sessful. Please select a name for the system]

    "Alright. Since you¡¯re helping me with my new beginning, You¡¯ll be called Janus."

    That was the name he came up with. It was the name of the Ancient Roman God of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings.

    [Ding... Sessful. The system will be called Janus]

 Chapter 5 Real fun begins

    <h4>Chapter 5: Real fun begins</h4>

    The darkness disappeared as Ryder found himself in thend of light. He got his senses back.

    "What the hell? I¡¯m back at this ce?" Ryder eximed as he found himself standing in front of the hut in the novice Vige.

    It was the same ce he was sent to when Maya made him an NPC. It was also the ce he died at.

    "Wait a minute... did I just speak?"

    "I really did it! I can talk! Are the restrictions lifted?"

    Ryder was shocked to find out that he was able to speak his thoughts out loud. He has gained back control of his body as well.

    He was so excited that he couldn¡¯t help but jump high in the air.

    He was freed from the restrictions. He could finally do what he desired.

    As he was jumping in the air, A young boy came to him.

    "Ah... Sir... Do you need help with something?" The young boy asked Ryder.

    "Hmm? Aren¡¯t you the one that came two days ago and asked the same thing?" Ryder inquired.

    ¡¯I remember this boy. He came to me on the first day I turned to an NPC. He was the first person toe to me for a quest. What is he doing here again?¡¯ Ryder thought with a confused look on his face.

    "I don¡¯t understand, Sir. It¡¯s my first day in this vige. You might be confusing me with someone else," The boy replied.

    ¡¯What is happening? Did I travel back in time?¡¯ It was the first thought that came to Ryder¡¯s mind.

    ¡¯Janus? Did you bring me back in time?¡¯ Ryder thought in his mind. He was wondering if Janus was able to hear him or not.

    [Host is Correct! The time has been reversed so that the mission can be given]

    Ryder heard Janus¡¯ voice that convinced him that Janus could listen to his thoughts.

    Ryder wanted to ask another question, but he heard Janus¡¯ voice again before he could even ask.

    [Ding... The first mission has been assigned to the host]

    [Mission: Kill the yer that killed youst time]

    [Reward: You will regain your real body]

    [Punishment for failure: Your will never get your real body back]

    [Time Limit: 2 days]

    ¡¯What the heck? Do I need to kill that bulky, Baldy? He¡¯s a yer, and I¡¯m an NPC. Despite him being a newbie, I¡¯m inherently weaker.¡¯

    ¡¯Only the Vige Sword Elder has the strength to do it. How do you expect me to do it?¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown.

    He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Janus was joking or if he was serious.

    Janus didn¡¯t say anything, but that young boy said something instead.

    "Ah... Sir? Do you have a quest for me?" The boy asked again.

    "Hmm? yea, right. Go and find my stick, and don¡¯t disturb me," Ryder told the boy in a casual tone.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t have time to y with that boy. I have more important things to do. I need to get ready to kill someone after all.¡¯

    He walked towards the Vige Elder¡¯s dojo. The Vige Elder was also the Sword Master of this novice vige.

    Back when Ryder had first entered this game as a newbie, he was taught his first sword skill by that guy.

    "Elder Ruan! Can I learn swordsmanship as well?" Ryder asked the Vige head, but surprisingly the Elder¡¯s answer was no.

    "Why not?" He asked in shock,

    "Only the beings sent by the goddess can learn the swordsmanship from me." He said.

    Ryder realized that he must be talking about the yers.

    "What the heck! You old man, don¡¯t you want me to get my body back? You¡¯re literally killing me! Who made such a rule?" Ryder couldn¡¯t help but curse out loud.

    "Control your temper, young man. It would be best if you behaved properly. Anyways, these rules were made by the Goddess Maya." The Vige Elder responded.

    ¡¯That idiot again? She can¡¯t do anything decent, can she? She always has to make things difficult for me.¡¯

    He wanted to say that out loud, but he didn¡¯t want to die by the hands of the Vige Elder for talking smack about their goddess.

    "Please vige head! I really need to grow stronger,"

    Ryder begged him again, but that stubborn old man didn¡¯t fall for it.

    "Looks like I can only use my own methods to seed."

    After failing in his task miserably, he turned back and left.

    He went to the Vige Shop. The shop sold many things, from weapons to shields.

    "Hey Hades, What¡¯re you doing here? Do you need anything?" The owner of the shop asked as he nced at Ryder, who was standing in front of his shop.

    The owner of this shop was another NPC. His name was Marcus.

    "Yes, Brother Marcus. I need to buy a shovel and some other things," Ryder told the shop owner as he rested his hands on the counter.

    "Hahaha, Sure. Just name the things you need. I¡¯ll give you the best price." Marcusughed as he told Ryder.

    "Ahh... Well, the thing is... Can I pay youter? I don¡¯t have money at the moment." Ryder said with an embarrassed look on his face.

    "Sure, I¡¯ll trust you. If I don¡¯t trust you, then who will I trust?" Marcus smiled as he answered.

    ¡¯I swear he¡¯s an angel! This guy is the best! Nothing like that crappy old vige elder. Anyways, fortunately, I received everything that I needed.¡¯ Ryder couldn¡¯t help but praise Marcus secretly.

    He took the things he needed and left the vige. He walked into the nearby forest and started digging.

    He dug for hours and only stopped when it was night. He packed his stuff and went back to that shabby hut.

    "This feels way too real."

    The broken bed was not at allfortable to sleep, but he finally managed to sleep amidst the crackling noises of the bed.

    Ryder only slept for a few minutes when the light started shining on his face. He opened his eyes after much effort and realized that it was already morning.

    ¡¯People are right. When you work hard during the day, the sleep will feel much shorter in the night.¡¯

    Ryder smiled as he got off his bed and got dressed. He picked up a shovel and left the house.

    "Oh, You¡¯re here! I found your stick." The young boy came back with the stick.

    Ryder wasn¡¯t surprised much as the boy hade at a simr time in the previous timeline as well.

    "Good, Keep that stick and here. Take these three beans. Go to the shop of Marcus for your next quest."

    He threw three beans towards the boy before he left. He didn¡¯t have much time to waste on the guy.

    Most of the day was spent on digging, and the remaining time was spent on finishing other preparations.

    It was again night time, but he was much more rxed as everything was finally finished. The preparations werepleted.

    He walked back to his hut and slept like a baby. Just like yesterday, the night passed away in the blink of an eye, and it was already morning.

    "Damnit! Can¡¯t the night be a little bit longer?" Ryder cursed as soon as he woke up.

    He was in a pretty cranky mood as his sleep was too short.

    He left the hut but didn¡¯t leave the vige this time. He just stood at the front of his house and waited for the bald man toe.

    Two hours passed, and finally, the Baldy arrived.

    "There he is!"

    Ryder finally noticed him as a smile appeared on his face.

    "Hey, NPC! I heard that you¡¯re telling people to find your stick! I didn¡¯t find the stick! Why don¡¯t you give me those three beans anyways?" The bulky man said as he stood in front of him.

    ¡¯As expected, he said the same thing asst time. It¡¯s time for the real fun to start.¡¯

 Chapter 6 Back

    "I can¡¯t give you the beans as someone already took the beans because they found my stick, but since you tried so hard for me, I¡¯ll give you a different quest."

    "You might receive the legendary weapon of our vige, young man," Ryder said.

    "What? Did I unlock some secret quest bying without the stick? Awesome!" The Baldy got excited as he started grinning like mad.

    ¡¯Huh, such an idiot. However, I would have been just as excited if I was in his ce. The charm of legendary equipment is really strong after all,¡¯ He thought.

    "Follow me, young man. There is a cave nearby. Inside that cave is our legendary Weapon, but there¡¯s a monster inside that cave as well."

    "I want you to get that weapon and let me see its majesty with my own eyes. Your reward will be that weapon itself. I¡¯ll show you the cave first. You can decide what to doter."

    Ryder said with a calm smile on his face.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t let him feel like there¡¯s anything wrong. I need to act the part properly,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He gazed at him with a carefree look.

    "Sure! Let¡¯s go," The man replied as he rubbed his hands together. Greed was clearly visible on his face.

    "That is really good. Follow me, young man," Ryder said.

    He began walking towards the exit of the vige. The bald man followed him.

    There was only a single thought going on in his mind as he moved towards his destination one step at a time.

    ¡¯Everything will depend on my luck now. If I fail, I will lose the chance to regain my real body. I can¡¯t let that happen.¡¯

    They finally reached the forest after walking for half an hour.

    Ryder stopped abruptly after reaching a certain point.

    "This is as far as I can take you. Because of the rules, I can¡¯t leave the boundary of the vige. If you walk straight for around 10 minutes, you will see the cave. Best of luck, brave warrior," He said.

    ¡¯It¡¯s the final step of my n; I can¡¯t fail.¡¯

    "Hey! You NPC! You wille with me. To hell with your rules." The bearded man said.

    The Baldy grabbed Ryder and pulled him as he continued walking ahead.

    ¡¯This is bad... If he doesn¡¯t free me, both of us will...¡¯

    Sweat was starting to appear on Ryder¡¯s face as he tried to think of a way to free himself, but he was too weak.

    "Please free me! I can¡¯t leave the parameters of the vige, or I will die, "Ryder hurriedly said again.

    He tried to convince the bald man to free him.

    "So what if you die. All I care about is that legendary weapon. I need something to throw at that beast to divert it¡¯s attention if I¡¯m in danger. You¡¯ll do the job just fine."

    There was a creepy smile on his face.

    ¡¯He is real trash, isn¡¯t he?¡¯ Ryder cursed in his mind.

    Ryder tried to convince him again and again, but nothing worked. He walked for a few more minutes before there was a movement on the ground.

    The ground caved in suddenly, and both of them fell inside.

    ¡¯I was the one who created this trap to kill the Baldy. But I never expected that I would die with him. Is this karma?¡¯ Ryder thought with a self-deprecating smile on his face.

    The bald man screamed as he fell. There were tens of spikes on the pit that Ryder had ced inside to make sure that the bald man died in a single try.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll get killed by my own trap. Does this count as killing that Baldy or suicide with him? I¡¯m not even sure at this time. Will thisplete the task given by Janus, or will I die for no reason?¡¯ He wondered.

    They both fell onto the spikes which prated their bodies. Blood flowed endlessly. The pain was just as painful as dying for real. It felt like thousands of swords had stabbed his body at the same time.

    The Baldy looked the same. He died instantly, but Ryder was sure he would revive after 24 hours. He was a yer, after all. He¡¯ll just lose a level.

    Everything turned to darkness, and the pain decreased. Ryder wasn¡¯t sure if the pain had lessened or he was losing his senses.

    [Ding... Mission Sessful! Killed the person who killed you. You will receive the following reward]

    [Reward: Regaining your real body back]

    ¡¯Finally! Thank you, Janus. At least I didn¡¯t die for nothing this time. This whole week had been nothing but a pain in the ass.¡¯

    This was thest thought he had before he died... for the 3rd time.

    ___________________

    "Huh! I¡¯m home?"

    Ryder opened his eyes amidst his headache, and the first thing he saw was the roof. He was lying on his soft bed.

    "Was all of that a dream?" He got up and looked around.

    ¡¯As I expected, I am in my room.¡¯

    He walked towards his table to check out his Divinity VR sses. He checked everywhere, but the sses were nowhere to be found.

    ¡¯Did someone take them?¡¯ He frowned as he left the room.

    "Alice!" He called out to his little cousin.

    "Yes, brother? " She answered as she opened the door of her room and walked out. Her room was right beside his room.

    "Did you see my Divinity sses?" He asked her straight away.

    "Divinity sses? What are you talking about?"

    Alice seemed confused as she replied.

    "You know them! The sses that came with the first fully immersive virtual reality game Divinity."

    Ryder said in an anxious tone.

 Chapter 7 Mission to kill

    <h4>Chapter 7: Mission to kill</h4>

    "Brother? Are you still sleeping? The game hasn¡¯t even been released yet, and you already think that you have their sses?" Alice couldn¡¯t help butugh as she replied.

    Her words were enough to make his head go round.

    "What do you mean they haven¡¯t released yet? The game was released three years ago!" He insisted, but he was suddenly struck with the realization.

    How was Alice here? Alice had left for China 2 years ago. She looked somewhat younger, as well.

    ¡¯Did Janus give me my body back by reversing the time?¡¯ The thought finally struck his mind.

    He hurriedly ran towards the hall and turned on the TV.

    "There is heavy excitement in the general public all around the world. We are going to witness the biggest evolution in the gaming industry. The first fully immersive virtual reality massively multiyer online game, Divinity is all ready to be released to the general public tomorrow. We have the spokesperson, Mister Li, from the Necrosis Corporation in the studio with us."

    "Mister Li, What do you think Divinity means for the gaming industry?"

    A female host was sitting in front of a well-dressed man who looked to be in his early 30s. She has some cue cards in her hand, which probably had the questions that she was allowed to ask.

    "Divinity is not just a game. It¡¯s the future. All I can say for now is that Divinity will change the future for all of Mankind. Theunch of Divinity will be the day when humanity enters a new era," Mister Li smiled as he replied.

    "How many units of the ga... I mean, Divinity will be avable for sale tomorrow?" The interviewer asked as she switched to the second cue card.

    "Good question. We are initially going to release ten million units. After the initial release tomorrow, an additional ten million units will be sold each week. The date of the future sales would be announced soon," Mister Li again answered casually.

    "What do you think will attract users to join Divinity? Are you counting on the title of being the first to bring the fully immersive VRMMO to the public? Or are there other things that the people should know about?" The interviewer asked another question.

    "Of Course there are many more things. Firstly, we have the government¡¯s support from all over the world, so there are some special things nned for the future which will help our users in the real world."

    "Secondly, money! Virtual money can be cashed out in the real world; simrly, real-world money can be used in the realm of Divinity, but there are limitations to using real-world money in the game. We want to make it fair for those who aren¡¯t rich."

    "And thirdly, it will develop the skills of the yers. Our virtual reality is as real as the reality itself; People can develop various skills that will help them in the real world."

    "For example, if they learned the martial arts in Divinity, their brain would adapt to that slowly, and they would get an advantage in the real world as well. They won¡¯t be peak martial artists, but they would be better than most normal humans."

    "There are many more advantages, but I am already out of time for today, and I have to attend a meeting. I¡¯ll just give one suggestion to the viewers before leaving. Buy Divinity, and I promise you that you won¡¯t regret" Mister Li stopped talking as he stood up.

    "Well.Thank you for talking to us. We know you¡¯re quite a busy man, Mister Li. We wish you all the sess for Divinity."

    The anchor stood up and shook hands with Mister Li before he left.

    " That¡¯s all the time we had with Mister Li. It¡¯s time for a short break, and we¡¯ll be right back to give you more information about the world-changing event tomorrow. Stay tuned," The anchor said before the ads started.

    Ryder was surprised as he saw the news. He just sat there with a nk look on his face for a few minutes.

    It sounded impossible in reality, but he had just traveled three years in the past. To the time where it all began.

    "Brother, are you alright?"

    Alice came to him with a concerned look on her face. She couldn¡¯t understand why Ryder was acting this way.

    "Yea, I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t worry about me."

    He smiled and stood up. He stepped forward and hugged Alice firmly.

    "It¡¯s good to be back finally. I thought that I would never get to see you again," Ryder said in a relieved tone while embracing her.

    "Brother. You are acting weird," Alice said.

    She looked quite confused, but Ryder didn¡¯t exin and just embraced her silently.

    After hugging her for what seemed like an eternity, He freed her as he noticed that his eyes were beginning to get wet.

    "I¡¯ll be in my room," He told her before leaving the hall.

    He walked back to his room and shut the door tightly. He didn¡¯t want Alice to see him crying.

    "Janus! Are you still here?" Ryder fell on his bed and called out.

    He waited for the response for a long time, but there was no response.

    "Looks like he¡¯s not here. Was he just a dream?" Ryder muttered.

    "Was this all just a dream? Is time travel really possible? But Mister Li¡¯s interview... It was the same as it was years ago. Is this just Deja Vu? I hope that I¡¯m not going crazy" Ryder closed his eyes and fell in deep thought.

    [Ding... Another mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Kill a human in the real world]

    [Reward: 30 Origin Points]

    [Punishment for failure: Alice is killed by a criminal]

    [Time limit for the mission: 2 days]

    The young voice again sounded in his head, but it said something he never expected.

 Chapter 8 Another Mission

    <h4>Chapter 8: Another Mission</h4>

    Ryder¡¯s expressions couldn¡¯t help but distort as soon as he heard Janus¡¯ words.

    "You! Do you think we are in a game? How can I kill a real human being! I¡¯m not a monster! And why do you wish to harm Alice!"

    Ryder roared in anger as he opened his eyes abruptly.

    [Mission has already been issued. It can¡¯t be changed]

    Janus said in an emotionless tone.

    "He...is he serious?"

    Ryder started frowning as he fell into deep thought.

    "Janus can reverse time, so I don¡¯t think that anything is impossible for him. I can¡¯t let Alice die, but killing? I¡¯m not capable of it either. I haven¡¯t even killed an animal; how can I kill a real human being? what should I do?"

    His head was aching as he thought about everything. He wanted to cry. His headache kept increasing. He could feel his heartbeat getting faster and faster.

    "Can we negotiate? Change the mission into anything else? I¡¯ll do any other mission!"

    He started requesting Janus.

    [Mission has been issued. It can¡¯t be changed]

    Janus repeated the same answer.

    ¡¯What should I do? I have no choice but to k-kill,¡¯

    He felt like vomiting at the simple thought of killing. Even the simple notion of killing a human was scary for him.

    [To help the host in achieving his goal, a side mission has been issued]

    [Mission: Do 200 Push-Ups in 20 minutes]

    [Reward: 20 origin points and two low-level strengthening pills]

    [Punishment for failure: Full body Paralysis for two days. You will be unable to move for two days]

    [Time Limit: 20 minutes]

    ¡¯He¡¯s seriously trying to get me killed, isn¡¯t he? Why do I feel that Janus is even worse than Maya?¡¯

    ¡¯My choices are to force my body to do something that I don¡¯t think is possible or get paralyzed for two days? If I got paralyzed for two days, I wouldn¡¯t be able toplete the main mission even if I wanted to, and Alice would die. You¡¯re not giving me any other path, but the one that you want me to choose!"

    "I don¡¯t have much time to think. The time limit is only 20 minutes. I can¡¯t take the risk of getting paralyzed, or I won¡¯t be able to save Alice," Ryder said.

    He stood up with a determined look on his face. His head was still aching, but he didn¡¯t care. He hurriedly got down to the ground and positioned himself for push-ups.

    Although Ryder wasn¡¯t the most athletic person globally, he did exercise daily, but not to the limit.

    When it came to Push-ups, he only did three sets of Push-ups in a day, each consisting of 10-15, but this time he needed to do two-hundred, which he thought to be almost impossible, but he didn¡¯t give up.

    He continued doing Push-ups. After doing 30 push-ups, he sat up as he started giving his body rest. He could feel that 30 was close to his limit at once. His eyes focused on the clock that kept ticking as he rested.

    After resting for only a minute, he again resumed his exercise.

    Time kept trickling away as Ryder kept doing Push-ups. Fifteen minutes had passed away, and he had finished 160 Push-ups. His chest was near the ground, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn¡¯t push his body up.

    He could feel his hand shaking. He didn¡¯t have any power. He dropped down to the ground, unable to even sit.

    He closed his eyes as he breathed heavily.

    It was at that moment; he saw his surroundings change. It was as if he was in a dream. He found himself in a different ce. A girl was standing before him, who looked simr to Alice, but she seemed older. She was wearing a beautiful green dress and a crown on her head.

    "They will kill you if you don¡¯t stop!" the girl told Ryder with tears in her eyes.

    "I won¡¯t stop! I can¡¯t stop until all of them are dead!"

    Ryder felt as if these words just came out of his mouth. It was like a dream where he had no control over his mouth.

    Immediately, the dream broke. He found himself back in his room. He was still lying on the ground, but his body was more rxed now. He felt as if he had rested for hours.

    He looked at the clock and realized that only three minutes had passed.

    "I still have two minutes! I can still do it!" Ryder muttered in a determined tone before he pushed his body upwards.

    He continued his Push-ups while keeping his eyes on the clock.

    He had three minutes left to finish 40 push-ups, and he didn¡¯t want to fail. Failure meant that someone close to him would die.

    He used all his strength to finish this mission on time, and ultimately he seeded in time.

    Ryder finished his 200th Push-up before he dropped to the ground, tired.

    "I did it," He muttered with a smile on his face as he took a deep breath.

 Chapter 9 Rewards and Strength

    <h4>Chapter 9: Rewards and Strength</h4>

    [Side Mission Sessful. The reward has been given]

    Ryder heard Janus¡¯ voice while he was lying on the ground, trying to calm down his fast breathing heart.

    He sat up and walked over to the bed.

    "This was a nightmare. Anyway, where is my reward? Where can I get those pills? They can be helpful," Ryder muttered as he sat on the bed.

    [ Your reward has already been provided to you. You can open your inventory to see the rewards. The origin points have been added to your ount as well. You can use the points to purchase things from the system¡¯s store]

    Janus answered Ryder.

    "Inventory? How do I ess it?" He asked.

    Although he understood what Janus was talking about, he still had some questions.

    ¡¯Inventory? Did he take that term out of that game and gave me a simr inventory?¡¯ He wondered.

    [Host needs to say ¡¯Open inventory¡¯ to ess the inventory. The host can say ¡¯Open the store¡¯ to ess the store]

    "Janus, Open the inventory!" He followed Janus¡¯s instructions andmanded.

    As soon as the words left his mouth, a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of his face.

    ¡¯I was right! It¡¯s simr to the inventory of the game. It looks like Janus took some ideas from Divinity,¡¯

    Ryder thought as he observed the inventory, which looked strikingly simr to the inventory of Divinity.

    There were around 20 boxes in the inventory screen. The first box had a pill-shaped item with an ¡¯X2¡¯ mark at the bottom of the box.

    He tapped on the box, and the description of the pill appeared on another screen.

    [Strengthening pill: Consuming the pill can increase the strength of the person by 50 percent]

    ¡¯What the hell? A single pill can increase my strength by 50%? Doesn¡¯t that mean that these two pills would increase my strength by 125% after the stacking of their effects? That will make me twice as strong as I am right now!¡¯

    He grew excited just at the thought of it. The pill was really miraculous and might actually be able to help him in his primary mission.

    He double-tapped on the first box, and a pill appeared in the air. It floated in front of him.

    The pill looks like a normal medicinal pill; it was not too big, nor was it too small.

    He smelled the pill, and that¡¯s where the real difference came in. Unlike most of the medical pills, the red pill in front of him had a pleasing smell.

    After initial hesitation, He ced the pill in his mouth and swallowed it.

    "My body... it¡¯s burning up."

    He could feel his body heating up. That feeling disappeared in a few seconds, and everything returned to normal.

    "Am I stronger now? I feel no different?" He muttered with a confused look on his face.

    He walked towards his bed. He had two dumbells that were ced near his bed. He bought those so that he could exercise in his room.

    Although he was azy man, he never forgot to do some exercise in the morning. Each dumbbell had a weight of 10kg.

    He picked a dumbbell and couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. He couldn¡¯t even feel the weight while picking it up. In fact, the dumbbells felt a little too light. He used his left hand and picked the dumbbell from it as well, but there was no difference. The 10 kg dumbbell was way too light for him now.

    "Awesome! Although it was tough, the rewards are really not bad," He muttered as he ced the dumbbells back to their original ce.

    The inventory still hadn¡¯t disappeared. He double-tapped on the first box, and the second strengthening pill also appeared in front of him.

    The first box that previously held a pill icon was now empty.

    He grabbed the pill and swallowed it immediately. That burning feeling again came from inside and disappeared soon after.

    ¡¯Janus, close the inventory," Hemanded Janus.

    He didn¡¯t have to ask him about the way to close it. He was able to guess it easily after learning how to open it.

    The inventory disappeared.

    ¡¯It¡¯s really like fantasy. Everything feels so impossible, yet it¡¯s happening right before my eyes. So magical.¡¯

 Chapter 10 Selecting a Skill

    <h4>Chapter 10: Selecting a Skill</h4>

    "Janus, Open the store! "

    Hemanded in a low voice as he sat on hisfy bed. He was curious about the store and the things he could purchase from it.

    ¡¯I have 20 origin points from thepleted missions. Let¡¯s see what I could get with it,¡¯ He thought.

    Another screen opened in front of his eyes. There were many items disyed on the screen, most of which were foreign to him. There was only one thing that he knew about, which was the Strengthening Pill.

    Other than the Strengthening Pill, all the other items were unknown that made him click on them to find out their specialty. Surprisingly, a single Strengthening Pill cost 40 origin points.

    "Strange. The reward for finishing the main quest is only 30 origin points, so in a sense, I gained more from the side quests than I will gain from the main quest."

    " Is human life really that worthless?" He muttered with a perplexed look on his face.

    "Janus! Isn¡¯t the reward for the main quest too low? How can it only be 30 origin points?" He tried asking Janus, but Janus¡¯ reply didn¡¯t help in the slightest.

    [The rewards are fixed and can¡¯t be changed]

    ¡¯Well, I should¡¯ve expected as much from him.¡¯

    "Let¡¯s see what I can get."

    He didn¡¯t know when it started, but he realized that he had started talking to himself a lot.

    He began scrolling down the list of items. There were many strange items there, but most of them cost over 30 origin points. The items that cost less were too few.

    [Enlightenment Pill:90 origin points. It can increase the intelligence of a person and make themprehend the truth of nature]

    ¡¯Is learning the truth of nature really that helpful? I don¡¯t even know what that term means, but the cost sure is high.¡¯

    [Native Boxing Manuel:50 origin points. Learning the skill can help you fight tens of humans without falling to your knees]

    [Love potion:90 origin points. It can make any person fall in love with you once the potion is used on them]

    [Warning: Effects onlyst for a day]

    "This potion is quite badass. Too bad that the effects onlyst for a single day. After the day is over, and the person is freed from the effects of the potion, Won¡¯t that mean my death?"

    He kept scrolling and scrolling. There were hundreds of items on the list. Some were quite good, while others were troublesome to deal with. The strangest thing that he noticed was that none of the items in the list cost over a hundred purchase points.

    "Hey, Janus! Tell me honestly, am I restricted from seeing the more expensive items?" He asked Janus.

    He had a feeling that this god-like system can¡¯t be this simple.

    [The host is right. You have been limited to items worth 100 origin points. The restriction will be removed after the hostpletes a certain number of missions]

    Janus answered back in the usual emotionless voice.

    "How many missions do I have toplete to unlock the next level of the store?" Ryder asked Janus.

    [The number depends on the difficulties of the assigned missions. It can range from 5 missions to 15 missions]

    "Oh?"

    ¡¯Honestly, I don¡¯t even feel like reacting. 15 missions? That¡¯s too far to even think about. I¡¯m already finding it difficult toplete the first main mission.¡¯

    He shifted his focus back to the screen in front of him and chose an item.

    [Lower Martial Arts Manual: An offensive fighting technique which can be used for defense as well as attack]

    "I really need it. Although I know how to use a sword because of ying Divinity for over three years as a knight, I can¡¯t go around with a sword in the real world. I¡¯d get arrested by the police before I can even take a step out on the street. The manual cost me 15 origin points only."

    As soon as he double-tapped on the screen to select the Manual, Another screen appeared nearby.

    [Ding... Purchase sessful]

    [Press ¡¯Yes¡¯ the screen to learn the skill directly. It will cost you five origin points]

    [Press ¡¯No¡¯ on the screen to get the manual only]

    He looked towards the second screen and noticed that there were only two options on the screen. Yes and No.

    "Of Course I would choose yes. Although it will cost me five origin points, it¡¯s much easier as well. Who knows how long it would take for me to learn that skill manually!"

    With a wry smile on his face, he tapped on yes.

    As soon as he touched yes, the screen disappeared. Years upon years of memories flooded his brain. It felt like he had been practicing fighting Martial Arts for many years.

    ¡¯This feeling is so amazing. I can¡¯t even describe it.¡¯

    He was excited to learn the skill and increase his strength, but he suddenly started feeling tired and sleepy.

    "I should probably take a nap for a few hours."

    He yawned as he fell to his bed. He instantly fell asleep.

    "Hmm?" Where am I?"

    Ryder found himself standing on a stage. He was wearing a tuxedo.

    Alice was standing in front of him in a beautiful white gown. She looked as pretty as an angel.

    She looked into his eyes as she opened her sweet lips slightly.

    "I do" The words escaped her mouth.

    "Very good. With the power vested in me by Divinity, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You both may kiss each other now," A female voice said. He looked in that direction only to find Maya standing there with a book in her hand, dressed like a priest.

 Chapter 11 Target selected

    <h4>Chapter 11: Target selected</h4>

    He looked to the other side and saw his previous guildmates sitting on the chairs. They were cheering for him. Max Lee was there as well.

    He wanted to go kill Max and Maya, but he realized that he was in a dream and that wouldn¡¯t change anything.

    "Ahh. Can I ask you something?" Alice suddenly said to him as she nced at him with a curious look on her face.

    "Yes, You can ask me anything! Speak your heart¡¯s desires," Ryder said to Alice.

    Alice opened her cherry blossom lips and said something that he least expected.

    "How long do you n to sleep? Food is ready."

    "Huh?"

    Ryder was stunned. He couldn¡¯t understand what was happening in his beautiful dream. Was he hungry and subconsciously manipting this dream?

    "Hey! How long are you going to sleep! Dinner is ready!" She said again.

    The dream suddenly broke as Ryder opened his eyes only to find Alice standing in front of him.

    "The food is on the table. Go eat yourself." She said before she left the room.

    "Sigh, what a weird dream," Ryder sighed as he stood up.

    "Well, Since she made me dinner, I might as well go and eat it. I¡¯m quite hungry anyways. It has been a long time since Ist ate the food made by her," He said as he reminisced about her food in the previous timeline.

    Alice had left for China for her higher studies afterpleting the University in the previous timeline. So in reality, it had been around 2 years since he ate the food made by her.

    He left the room and walked towards the dining room.

    After he finished eating the food, he sat on the chair and began thinking about what to do next.

    ¡¯The day will be over soon and I would only have one day to kill a person. I¡¯ll do it tonight. I can¡¯t leave this for thest moment. It¡¯s about her life after all!¡¯

    He stood up and left the house without informing Alice.

    The city streets were almost empty, and only a few cars could be seening and going.

    He walked for a long time before he finally saw a person. It was an old woman that looked like she wasing from shopping.

    Ryder gazed at her for a brief moment before he shook his head.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t kill an olddy! Fuck, I can¡¯t even kill an animal, let alone a human! I don¡¯t even know what I¡¯m trying to do ¡¯ He thought as he kept walking.

    After some time, he finally came up with a n.

    "Since I have no choice, I would use this opportunity for the good of the world. I¡¯d clean the streets of the criminals," He made up his mind as he walked towards a certain direction.

    There was a ce in the city known as Bucky¡¯s Club. It was a bar that was located on the 67th street of the Northern part of the city. The bar was mostly used by gangsters and criminals.

    It was said that the Mafia ran the bar, but the police didn¡¯t care for it.

    He had decided to search for his prey at that location.

    Normally he wouldn¡¯t even think about going to a ce like that, let alone actually go there to kill a criminal, but after eating 2 strengthening pills and increasing his strength by 125%, he felt like he could take care of himself.

    He even learned the Lower Martial arts Technique from the system¡¯s store. Unless the person straight away started shooting, he felt like he could seed.

    " I have to seed. Not for myself, but for Alice," He muttered with a determined look on his face.

    Although he was acting confident, there was still some hesitation in his heart along with some anxiousness.

    The 67th street was neither too close to his house nor too far. It took him around an hour of walking to get there.

    As soon as he stepped on the street, he was able to see the bar. Three bulky people were standing outside the bar talking to each other.

    "Alright, how should I handle it?" He wondered as he stood on the 67th street.

    He was about to take a step forward and walk towards the bar when he suddenly heard the scream of a woman. It came from the opposite side.

    He hurriedly turned back and ran in the direction that scream came from.

    "Please don¡¯t do it! Let me go, I beg you!" Came the voice of a woman again.

 Chapter 12 Time to kill

    <h4>Chapter 12: Time to kill</h4>

    He finally got there and looked to the side only to see an empty alley. A woman was lying on the ground while a guy was on top of her.

    The guy looked like he was trying to tear off her clothes.

    "H..."

    Ryder was about to go there, but he abruptly stopped himself. It was decided that he would kill that guy but, he didn¡¯t want to let that girl see his face.

    ¡¯Even if I am the one who saved her, it¡¯s not a hundred percent sure that she wouldn¡¯t help the police in creating my sketch and get me chased like a criminal for a murder,¡¯ He thought with a frown.

    Fortunately, he had brought a mask with him. It was a ck full-face pollution mask.

    He wore the mask as fast as he could and when he was finally ready to help her, he ran towards her.

    His footsteps were loud enough to attract the man¡¯s attention. The man turned back to look towards Ryder with a surprised look on his face.

    "Leave that girl right now!" Ryder said as he red at the ck-haired man.

    "Hoh? A knight in shining armor is here and he is hoping to save a girl? Didn¡¯t the little knight know that offending me means death? Let me teach you a lesson boy," The man said.

    He stood as he observed Ryder. Ryder was able to see his height as the man stood up. He was over 7 feet tall with big bulky muscles.

    "It¡¯s been a long time since there has been a person who rushed to his death like you. Do you know what happened to thest guy that did that? He was buried alive in the ground! But don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t bury you alive,"

    "I don¡¯t have so much time to waste on you. I¡¯ll kill you right here and right now! I¡¯ll then leave your body here to rot!" The man said with a creepy smile on his face.

    He took out a knife.

    "What the heck, That¡¯s so creepy! You really deserve to die, Don¡¯t you?" Ryder¡¯s expression turned weird as he heard his reply.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to regret killing him,¡¯ He thought.

    He looked at the ck-haired man like he was looking at trash.

    Ryder started running towards the man while the man stood right there waiting for him.

    Ryder punched out towards his face but immediately stopped himself as he dodged the knife in his hand that wasing towards him.

    "Good reflexes." The man chuckled, but he didn¡¯t stop swinging his knife at Ryder.

    Ryder kept dodging for a while but he realized that he didn¡¯te here to dodge.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t keep dodging forever. I need to take some risk if I want to kill that guy,¡¯

    He used the lower martial arts he learned from the system as he targeted the hand of the man that wasing towards him with a knife.

    The knife flew out of the man¡¯s hands andnded on the ground.

    The man didn¡¯t care for the knife as he punched towards Ryder¡¯s face.

    Ryder made a fast movement and caught the man¡¯s hand. The man¡¯s fat hand was unable to move forward nor could it go back as Ryder held it tightly.

    "Without the knife, I have nothing to worry about. You are too weak," Ryder said as a smirk appeared on his face.

    He increased the pressure on the man¡¯s wrist which made him let out a scream filled with pain.

    ¡¯I wasn¡¯t weak before eating the Strengthening pill but after eating them, my strength has reached a whole different level. The man in front of me can¡¯tpare,¡¯ Ryder thought as he observed the pained look of the ck-haired man.

    Ryder twisted his hand, making the back haired man scream even louder as his bones broke.

    "Ahhh... You bastard. I swear that I will kill you!" The man roared loudly in pain as he red at Ryder with an almost maddened gaze.

    "Oh man, I was starting to wonder when you will threaten me," Ryder said in a mocking tone.

    Ryder grabbed his other hand and broke it as well.

    The man screamed like a pig being ughtered as both his hands were broken. Tears had started to fall from his eyes.

    Gripping his neck, Ryder walked towards the knife that had fallen to the ground and picked it up.

    "You bastard! Kill me if you dare! Our gang will find you and make you have a fate far worse than death!" The man roared loudly at Ryder with a crazy look on his face.

    Ryder was kinda surprised that he didn¡¯t beg for his life even in the face of death.

    "Although you are trash, I must say that you do have some courage," Ryder said with a smile as he gazed at the ck-haired man.

    He gripped the knife firmly in his hand as he got ready to attack, but he couldn¡¯t.

    He realized that his hand was shaking and his heart was beating faster.

    It wasn¡¯t as easy as he had imagined. There was some hesitation when it was actually the time to do it.

    "Just as I thought, you don¡¯t have the guts to kill a person. You¡¯re just a greenhorn. You are strong, but you can¡¯t kill. If you leave me, I can still take you in as my subordinate."

    The man said as he made an offer to Ryder. He looked like he had somewhat calmed down and was now trying to tempt Ryder.

 Chapter 13 Surprise Reward

    <h4>Chapter 13: Surprise Reward</h4>

    Honestly, Ryder wasn¡¯t even sure if he could kill the man. He was hesitating, but he remembered the words that Janus had said to him at that time.

    ¡¯Punishment for failure: Alice will die.¡¯

    The words kept echoing in his mind.

    Alice¡¯s smiling face appeared in his mind. His shaking hand had stopped shaking as he made a determination... a determination to kill.

    He thrust the knife forward and stabbed the chest of the man.

    "I can even go to hell for her. After our parents¡¯ death, She is the only family I have left. I¡¯ll never let anything happen to her," He muttered.

    He could see the painful look on the man¡¯s face.

    Ryder realized that he would never be able to forget the eyes of the man that stared at him while he died.

    His hands were covered by the man¡¯s blood, just like the knife. Fortunately, his clothes were still fine.

    He pulled the knife out and let the man fall to the ground.

    The man¡¯s lifeless body was in front of him, while he stood there with a knife in his hand. He was still having a hard time believing that he had killed a real person.

    He turned back to leave, but his eyes fell on the girl at the corner of the alley. She still hadn¡¯t left, probably because of fear.

    The girl was shivering as tears kept falling from her eyes.

    Ryder started walking towards the girl.

    "What is your name?" He asked the girl as he gazed into her eyes.

    "M-mary, Please don¡¯t kill me, Sir," She stuttered. He could see that she was shivering.

    Ryder was wearing a jacket over his shirt. He took his Shirt and Jacket off without taking the time to think. He was now standing topless in front of the girl.

    "W-what," The girl took a step back. She wrapped her arms around her chest. Ryder could guess what she was thinking.

    ¡¯She thinks I¡¯m going to force myself on her. Well, I can¡¯t me her for thinking kill that after what she went through,¡¯ Ryder thought with a wry smile on his face.

    "Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯m not going to do anything. Here, take this shirt. You need something to wear as you leave this ce," Ryder said in a gentle tone.

    He extended his hand towards her.

    After a little bit of hesitation, She took the shirt from his hand.

    "You can go now," He said to her in a calming tone. He wore his jacket and turned back to leave.

    "Ah, Can I know your name?" The girl asked abruptly as she saw him leaving.

    "Me? You can call me Hades," He said before he left.

    He didn¡¯t tell her his real name for his protection. He told his avatar¡¯s name that he had used in ¡¯Divinity.¡¯

    "Hades?" She muttered to herself. She just stood there and watched him leave.

    After he left, she left the alley as well and walked towards her home.

    She didn¡¯t realize it, but Ryder was keeping an eye on her. He wanted to make sure that she got out of this area safely.

    ¡¯I¡¯m not a saint, but I should keep her safe since I have saved her. I can collect some good karma in the process. I don¡¯t think that it can bnce my sin of murder though,¡¯

    After making sure that she was out of this area, he walked back.

    He had to pass through the 67th street to get back. Fortunately, his jacket didn¡¯t have any blood on it. He had found a water source and was able to wash the blood off his hands as well.

    He ced that knife in the system storage instead of throwing it away. He felt like it was much safer to keep it there.

    He was still a little shaken though. The dying face of that man kept shing before his eyes.

    "Janus, Why don¡¯t you announce mypletion of the mission? Stop beingzy and give me my rewards," He muttered.

    He was hoping to divert his attention by talking to Janus.

    [The main mission has beenpleted! 30 origin points have been added to the ount of the host forpleting the mission]

    [Extra Reward: Since the host haspleted his first main mission before half time, An additional 20 origin points have been awarded to the host]

    [Extra Reward: Since the host haspleted his first main mission before half time, A mystery box has been awarded to the host]

    "Cool, you finally woke up. Were you sleeping?" He asked in a joking manner.

    [The system never sleeps]

    "Why were you sote then?" Ryder inquired. He was actually curious about it.

    [The system was waiting for the host to get home]

    "Why? Were you being considerate?" Ryder couldn¡¯t help butugh, but Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    "Hey. At least tell me about the mysterious box. What¡¯s in it?" He asked Janus.

    Although he could open the box, he didn¡¯t want to stop in this dangerous ce to open the box.

    [That¡¯s a mystery. Even Janus don¡¯t know]

    "Then open the box and tell me," Ryder said as his curiosity got the best of him. He decided to open the box right now.

    [The box can¡¯t be opened without the key. The host needs the key]

    "What key? Where can I find the key?" Ryder let out with a shocked look on his face, but Janus¡¯ reply only made him angry.

    [The system can¡¯t answer]

    "Are you serious? So you gave me a box as a reward that I can¡¯t even open? Are you messing with me?"

    Ryder cursed out loud with an annoyed look on his face.

 Chapter 14 Going to Buckys

    <h4>Chapter 14: Going to Bucky''s</h4>

    [Janus is not messing with the host,] Janus said without being considerate towards Ryder¡¯s feelings.

    "Ah man, whatever. I¡¯m too tired to even argue with you. Do whatever you want to do with that useless box,"

    Ryder gave up on arguing as he realized that it wasn¡¯t good for him to argue over something that he didn¡¯t even know about.

    As he walked on 67th street, he kept scrutinizing his surroundings to look out for police or the goons.

    He was trying to get out of here as fast as he could, but before he could walk far, a voice came from behind that made him stop.

    "Hey! Stop right there!"

    Ryder tried to act ignorant as he turned back. His heartbeat was getting slightly faster as he wondered who called him.

    ¡¯ I can¡¯t let anyone suspect me.¡¯ He thought as he turned back with an innocent smile on his face.

    "I was right. It¡¯s you! Ryder... Ryder Flynn, right?" That person said.

    Ryder was stunned to see the person.

    It was a man who looked like he was in his early twenties. His ming red hair looked kind of unique but did not look bad. He was wearing ck sunsses on his face and wore luxurious clothes.

    His hands were resting on the shoulders of the girls that stood on his right and left.

    The girls were wearing short dresses that barely covered their fair knees.

    "Bastion? Is that you?" Ryder let out with a stunned look on his face.

    He recognized that boy. That boy was one of his best friends at the college. Unfortunately, they had lost contact after college ended.

    ¡¯I never thought I would meet this guy again. What¡¯s he doing in a ce like this?¡¯ Ryder wondered.

    The boy¡¯s name was Bastian Barrel. He and Ryder studied the same course in college. He was also known as the yboy of that ce.

    Bastian could be seen with a different girl every month, but it wasn¡¯t strange. He had money, after all. The money, along with the good looks that he had, made him the ideal boyfriend for most of the girls.

    Even though Bastian was his best friend, Ryder never knew what his parents did. All he knew was that his parents had a lot of money.

    After they graduated, he never heard from Bastian again. He was told that Bastian had left the country.

    "It¡¯s me! I finally get to see you after so long," Bastian said as a bright smile appeared on his face.

    "You too, dude. You left without even telling me. Anyway, when did you return?" Ryder smiled. He walked closer to Bastian.

    "Yeah, there was some stuff, and I had to leave the country, but I¡¯m back now. I justnded today," Bastian replied.

    Bastian removed his hands from the girl¡¯s shoulders and walked towards Ryder, and hugged him.

    "That¡¯s awesome. Anyway, what are you doing here? This ce is not safe, you know," Ryder said.

    He tried to warn him as he separated from Bastian. The 67th street was known for its dangers after all, and he didn¡¯t wish for Bastian to be hurt.

    "I¡¯m going to a club nearby. There¡¯s a birthday celebration for me," Bastian said as he beganughing.

    "Birthday? Oh, right! It¡¯s 29th March, isn¡¯t it?" Ryder was surprised as he remembered.

    "Nice, so you remember the date. Anyway, I tried calling you, but your old number wasn¡¯t working. I thought that I¡¯d never get to see you again," Bastian said.

    "Yeah. I lost my phone and lost all my contacts. I couldn¡¯t even get the same number from the phonepany. Things were quite hectic," Ryder answered with a wry smile on his face.

    "Whatever, It¡¯s good that I found you. Come with me. Let¡¯s celebrate my birthday, bro!" Bastian said with a grin on his face.

    He grabbed Ryder¡¯s hand and pulled him.

    "Alright,"

    Ryder couldn¡¯t deny him, and he wanted to take care of him as well. He felt like Bastian didn¡¯t understand how dangerous this ce could be.

    The girls who were with Bastian looked somewhat unhappy, but they didn¡¯tin and simply followed them.

    They walked towards the club. Just like before, two bulky guys were standing at the doors.

    The surprising thing was that the guards didn¡¯t stop them. In fact, they looked quite respectful.

    They gained entry into the club.

    It was the first time Ryder had been to a club like this. He was somewhat surprised as he entered and saw the club from inside. The building looked even bigger from the inside.

    The left half of the building was like a bar. There was a bar counter and around 20 tables ced there. The other half of the building was much more interesting. While the left half was a bar, the right half was a strip club for entertainment.

    There were four doors in the building. One was on the left half of the building that looked like it was the door to the kitchen. There was no security in front of that door.

    The second door was the one that was used for entry and exit into the building. There were two guards standing outside the door.

    The third and fourth doors were on the right side of the building. Both these doors were heavily guarded.

    "Little boss! You¡¯re here!"

    A man came towards them. Three guys followed him.

    "Mark, Where¡¯s Aunt Esmi?" Bastian asked the man in a casual tone.

 Chapter 15 Meeting the boss

    <h4>Chapter 15: Meeting the boss</h4>

    "Little boss! You¡¯re here!" A man came towards them. Three guys followed behind him.

    "Mark, Where¡¯s Aunt Esmi?" Bastian asked in a casual tone.

    "Madam is waiting for the young Master in her office. I¡¯ll go inform her right now." The man replied.

    "It¡¯s fine, Mark, I¡¯ll go to her myself," Bastian said as he started walking towards the second door. He pulled Ryder along with him.

    "Alright." The man, named Mark nodded his head as he followed them.

    ¡¯ I¡¯m surprised that he didn¡¯t ask for my identity. It looks like Bastian¡¯s identity is not that simple since he can bring me inside without any checking or inquiry.¡¯ Ryder thought, but that was when he heard Janus¡¯ voice again.

    As soon as Janus said his first words, Ryder knew that it would be another mission. He had already realized that he was in trouble.

    Ryder wanted to cry as soon as he heard the mission.

    [Ding... Another side mission has been issued to the host.

    Mission: Tell the Owner of the Bucky¡¯s club that you have a crush on them.

    Mission Reward: The host will be given the key to open the mystery box that he had received.

    Punishment for Failure: The host will never get the key to open the mystery box in his storage, and thirty origin points will be deducted from the host¡¯s ount.

    Time limit: 6 hours]

    ¡¯There¡¯s no doubt about it. Janus is trying to get me killed.¡¯ Ryder thought with a wry smile on his face as soon as he finished hearing the mission.

    He wanted to cry as he thought about how brutal his death will be, but no tears came out of his eyes.

    ¡¯The owner of this club must be the biggest mafia king here. Since Janus gave me this mission with a 6-hour time limit, that means he must be in this club right now. Who can the boss be? I¡¯ll try to say it like a joke; maybe he won¡¯t get offended. I really want to see what¡¯s inside the mystery box.¡¯ He thought as he walked with Bastian.

    "Hey, Bastian, Who¡¯s the boss of this ce?" He asked Bastian with a thoughtful look on his face. It was the best choice to get some information out of him since he seemed like a famous person here.

    "Oh? The boss? You¡¯ll see the boss quite soon." There was a mysterious smile on Bastian¡¯s face as he replied to him. Ryder had no choice but to wait.

    ¡¯It¡¯s a good thing that I have 6 hours,¡¯ he thought.

    They finally reached the second door that was protected by the guards. As soon as the guards saw Bastian, they moved aside.

    "Aunt?" Bastian said as he knocked on the door.

    "Oh? Bash, you¡¯re here! You have made me wait for so long. Come on inside." A female voice came from the inside.

    Ryder realized that it must be the voice of his Aunt Esmi. Since she had her own office here, she must be the manager of the club.

    "Alright. " Bastian opened the door and entered inside. He was holding Ryder¡¯s hand; thus, Ryder had no choice but to enter the room with him.

    There was no one inside the room other than a woman.

    The woman looked like she was in her early thirties, but she seemed quite pretty. If Ryder hadn¡¯t realized that she was Bastian¡¯s Aunt, he would have considered her his sister.

    The woman had beautiful blue hair that came down to her shoulders. Her fair skin and her almond-shaped blue eyes added to her charm.

    She was wearing a ck dress, but that dress was showing some of her cleavage. Her tight dress made her figure stick out even more.

    Ryder shifted his focus from the woman, but his eyes opened wide after noticing the gun lying on the table in front of her. He was getting a feeling of danger.

    "Who might this guy be?" The woman asked as she looked towards Ryder.

    "He? He¡¯s my best friend from university days. We lost contact after I left the country, but luckily I was able to meet him when I wasing here. His name is Ryder Flynn," Bastian informed his Aunt with a smile.

    "Oh, right, Ryder... I remember you used to tell me about him years ago. Unfortunately, I never had the time to go to your university and couldn¡¯t meet him. It¡¯s good that you found your friend again." The blue-haired woman said with a smile.

    ¡¯Her smile is so beautiful. Now I understand where Bastian gets his good looks from. It must be in the genes,¡¯ Ryder thought as he saw her smile.

    "Hey, Ryder. I¡¯m Esmi Gibson. It¡¯s nice to meet you finally. I hope you can take care of this nephew of mine as you did at the university. He just came back from foreign, so he doesn¡¯t have many friends." The woman known as Esmi said as she looked towards him with a smile.

    "Ah... Yes!" Ryder hurriedly nodded his head and replied to her.

    "Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s time for your birthday celebration," Esmi said to Bastian as she stood up and walked towards them.

    Ryder was finally able to see her ultimately. Just as he had expected, she had a devilish figure that was perfect. She had a height of around 5ft 7 inches.

    Her dress was only slightly shorter than her knees and covered her thighs but still exposed a decent amount of her legs.

    "I¡¯m looking good, aren¡¯t I?" Esmi inquired with a smile as she noticed Ryder looking at her.

    "Ah, yes," Ryder replied to her without thinking.

    "Let¡¯s go then." She held Bastian and Ryder¡¯s hands as she left the room with them.

    The music stopped as soon as she came out of her office.

    "Guys! As you have all been informed that it¡¯s my nephew¡¯s birthday today! Everything is free in the club for the night! Enjoy the night to the fullest!" Esmi said loudly as she informed the people of the club.

    "Yayyy!Boss is the best!" There was a loud cheer amongst the people of the club.

    "Happy Birthday, young boss! "

    Everyone started wishing Bastian, but Ryder, on the other hand, had begun to have a headache.

 Chapter 16 Leaving the club

    <h4>Chapter 16: Leaving the club</h4>

    "Happy Birthday, young boss! "

    Everyone started wishing Bastian, but Ryder, on the other hand, had begun to have a headache.

    ¡¯Boss? Is she the owner of the club?¡¯ He had finally realized that Esmi was the boss.

    He couldn¡¯t help but reminisce about Janus¡¯st mission.

    ¡¯Mission: Tell the Owner of the Bucky¡¯s club that you have a crush on them.

    Mission Reward: The host will be given the key to open the mystery box that he had received.

    Punishment for Failure: The host will never get the key to open the mystery box in his storage, and thirty origin points will be deducted from the host¡¯s ount.

    Time Limit: 6 hours¡¯

    ¡¯Doesn¡¯t that mean I have to express my crush to my friend¡¯s aunt? Who is also a gangster?¡¯ Ryder¡¯s mouth opened wide as he thought about it.

    "Ah, Mam, Are you the owner of this club?" He asked her just to be sure.

    "Yup, didn¡¯t Bastian tell you?" She replied with a smile.

    ¡¯Oh, shi*.I¡¯m screwed. Should I give up this mission? But I don¡¯t want to lose the opportunity to open the mystery box.¡¯

    His headache was starting to get worse.

    "Hey Ryder, Are you alright?" Bastian asked him with concern as he noticed the worried look on Ryder¡¯s face.

    "I¡¯m fine. Just remembered something unnecessary," Ryder answered with a smile.

    ¡¯That¡¯s no way that I can exin to you that I¡¯m going to do something like that. I apologize in advance, my friend.¡¯ He thought secretly as he looked down.

    "Let¡¯s go. The table is prepared. It¡¯s my nephew¡¯s birthday today! Time for us to drink until the morning." Esmi said with beautifulughter. She pulled both of them with her towards an empty table.

    All three of them sat at the table. sses and beer bottles were already ced on the table for them to begin their celebration. There were five bottles in total on the table.

    "Cheers!" She said as she began drinking.

    ¡¯I rarely drink, but I can¡¯t say no to them.¡¯ Ryder thought as he held the ss in his hand. He also began drinking and matched their speed.

    In less than an hour, all five bottles were empty.

    "Hmm? He still can¡¯t handle the booze, he¡¯s already down, and he only drank one bottle. You, on the other hand, are quite good. You¡¯re still looking fresh even after drinking as much as me." Esmi said to Ryder. She looked like she was a little intoxicated.

    Bastian was already sleeping on the table. It looked like he had already reached his limit.

    Ryder, on the other hand, was still not drunk. He didn¡¯t know why, but even after drinking so much, he could still think clearly.

    "Come with me. Help me take Bastian to the car. I¡¯ll leave you home while I¡¯m at it." Esmi said as she stood up.

    "Uh, right," Ryder replied as he stood up as well.

    They both ced one of Bastian¡¯s arms on their shoulders and supported him.

    "Madam, we can help you with that!" The people in the club offered as they came forward, but Esmi denied all of them.

    "It¡¯s alright. You guys take care of the club and enjoy it. I¡¯ll be taking my nephew home for the night. Happy drinking, guys!" Esmi replied to them as she left the club with Ryder.

    Ryder saw three cars in front of the club as soon as he walked out with Esmi and Bastian. All three of them looked like the top model cars of BMW.

    "Which one is yours?" Ryder asked as he looked towards Esmi. All three cars seemed pretty expensive; thus, he couldn¡¯t guess her car.

    "My car? It¡¯s there!" Esmi said as she pointed towards the other end of the street.

    At about 500 meters of distance from them, a Ferrari was standing there. The car looked really pretty under the light of the Moon.

    "Why did you park it so far, mam?" Ryder inquired. He couldn¡¯t understand why the boss of the club didn¡¯t park her car near the club.

    "You don¡¯t have to call me, mam. You can call me by my name. As for the reason I parked it so far, It¡¯s so that I will have to walk to the car. In that way, I get some extra exercise, and it¡¯s good for the figure as well." She chuckled as she informed Ryder.

    ¡¯It feels like the best chance. Come on, Ryder, Take the leap.¡¯ Ryder thought as he tried to motivate himself. He clenched his fist tightly.

    "Ah, Ma... I mean, Esmi, can I tell you something?" Ryder asked her.

    "Sure, Don¡¯t be shy," Esmi replied.

    "You¡¯re really pretty. I have a crush on you," Ryder confessed.

    "Do you know what you are saying? I¡¯ll kill you if you¡¯re joking," Esmi let out suddenly as she nced at Ryder.

    "Oh, No. It¡¯s not a joke. I¡¯m serious right now. I have a crush on you," Ryder insisted.

    "Tread with care, love. You won¡¯t be able to handle thisdy." Esmi chuckled as she said.

    ¡¯Oh god, It¡¯s good that she isn¡¯t angry.¡¯

    ¡¯Thanks for not killing me,¡¯ Ryder thought to himself as the happiness ofpleting a mission sessfully engulfed his heart.

    "What made you have a crush on me? Just the looks?" Esmi asked.

 Chapter 17 Completion

    <h4>Chapter 17: Completion</h4>

    [Ding... Mission Sessful. The host is rewarded with the key to open the mysterious box]

    Ryder had heard Janus¡¯ voice in his head, and he was celebrating when he heard Esmi ask him a question.

    "What made you have a crush on me? Just the looks?" Esmi asked.

    Ryder didn¡¯t take long to answer her as he didn¡¯t want it to seem as if he was lying.

    "Ah, that¡¯s not all. I don¡¯t understand the reason myself, but I find myself attracted to you as if you¡¯re the most special girl in the world," he said.

    "Hahaha, That¡¯s a cheesy thing to say, but I¡¯ll take that as apliment," Esmi chuckled.

    "We¡¯re here. Help me get Bastian on the passenger seat." Esmi said to Ryder as they got to the Car.

    After some effort, they sessfully achieved their goal. Bastian was sitting on the passenger seat.

    "Thanks for everything. I¡¯ll take my leave now." Ryder said to Esmi.

    The car she owned was a two-seater sports car. It was clear that there was no ce for him in the car.

    ¡¯It¡¯s fine, though. My home is not too far, anyway.¡¯ He thought as he turned back.

    "Why are you, leavening? I said I¡¯ll leave you home, didn¡¯t I?" Esmi said as she held his hand.

    "Ah, It¡¯s fine, Esmi. This car is a two-seater. There¡¯s no ce for me." He told her as he felt as if she didn¡¯t understand the problem.

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about that. We can easily adjust. You sit in the driver¡¯s seat." Esmi said with a mysterious smile on her face.

    "Me? On the driver seat? Where will you sit if I¡¯m in the driver¡¯s seat?" Ryder let out with a confused look on his face as he stared at Esmi.

    ¡¯Is the alcohol taking hold of her mind? Her words aren¡¯t making any sense.¡¯

    "Of course, I¡¯ll sit on yourp. That way, we can adjust inside the car easily. There¡¯s nothing strange about that," She said with a pearl ofughter.

    Ryder wasn¡¯t sure what stunned him the most. Her answer or herughter, which sounded like a melody. He was amazed as he noticed that despite her real age, she was really charming.

    "You must be joking. It¡¯ll be quite ufortable for you if we actually did that." He told Esmi with a wry smile on his face.

    "It¡¯s fine. Get inside," She insisted again as she pulled Ryder and walked towards the car.

    Ryder gave up on trying to teach her and opened the door of the car. He got inside the car and sat on the driver¡¯s seat.

    Esmi followed him and got inside as well. Although it took some effort, she managed to get inside the car. She was sitting on hisp.

    They were so close that Ryder was getting her strong smell. She smelled likevender, but it didn¡¯t feel like it was from a perfume.

    ¡¯Is this her natural smell?¡¯ He wondered.

    "Hey, I¡¯m about to start. Don¡¯t move too much," She said lightly.

    "Well, don¡¯t worry. I don¡¯t think I can move even if I try," He replied to her with a wry smile on his face.

    "Esmi said lightly.

    "Are you calling me fat?" Esmi inquired as sheughed.

    "Ah, no. Not at all. You¡¯re so slim and light. It¡¯s just the car that is too small," Ryder said.

    The engine started smoothly without making much noise. The cars of the modern world had long since abandoned the noisy engine of the past.

    Only a few collectors used the supercars of the past that ran on diesel and petrol and made the noise. Almost everyone used silent cars nowadays. Clearly, Esmi was one of them.

    The new cars had a lot of advantages over the previous ones. Firstly, the pollution emission was almost negligible from the cars that everyone used. Secondly, they didn¡¯t create much noise, which was the favorite feature of quite a lot of people.

    Thirdly, with the advancement in technology, the efficiency of making cars had been increased even further, and their costs came down quite a bit. Almost everyone was able to afford a car nowadays, but the number of people who could afford the electric supercars of Ferrari was still quite low.

    The car Esmi owned was thetest model from Ferrari. The model was releasedst year, and there were only a thousand such cars in the world.

    "Alright, Let¡¯s talk about what you said to me. You have a crush on me, so surely you must want me to be your woman. What would your reaction be if I said yes?" Esmi asked.

    "That was... ah. We¡¯re already there. I live on 24th Street. You can drop me off here." He said to her as he noticed that they were already there.

    Esmi noticed that Ryder dodged the question.

    "Oh? That was fast. How about youe with me instead? We can go to my home?" Esmi chuckled as she slowed down the car, but she didn¡¯t stop the car.

 Chapter 18 Hurt ego

    <h4>Chapter 18: Hurt ego</h4>

    "Oh? That was fast. How about youe with me instead? We can go to my home?" Esmi chuckled as she slowed down the car, but she didn¡¯t stop the car.

    "No, It¡¯s fine. My family must be waiting for me," Ryder said.

    "Oh? Why do I feel like you don¡¯t want to spend time with me? I don¡¯t think that you really have a crush on me. You were fooling me, weren¡¯t you?" Esmi told him.

    Ryder could see a reflection of her face on the windshield, which looked serious.

    ¡¯What should I do? That freaking crush confession ising back to bite me in the ass,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "I have a crush on you, but I know that our rtionship is impossible even if I try. You¡¯re Bastion¡¯s Aunt. I can¡¯t do something like that to his aunt. I will take my leave," Ryder ultimately replied.

    "That¡¯s your excuse? What if I say that I¡¯m not his aunt?" Esmi told him.

    "What do you mean?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    Esmi looked towards Bastion that was still sleeping on the passenger seat.

    "I¡¯m not his aunt. I¡¯m the secretary of his father, who left me here to take care of his son when Bastion was only 16 years old. He was told that I¡¯m his aunt as his father didn¡¯t want him to think that there was no family here to take care of him," Esmi replied.

    "Really?" Ryder asked in shock.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m still unmarried. His father left me here to deal with so much, and I didn¡¯t even have time to date anyone as people are either afraid of me and my position or they think of me as Bastion¡¯s aunt. It¡¯s the first time someone even dared to confess to me," Esmi replied with a wry smile on her face.

    "Will youe with me now? It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to, but that would mean that you were lying to me. Also, I hate liars," She said to him.

    ¡¯She¡¯s not his aunt? I was wondering how his aunt could be so young and so beautiful. I guess this was the reason. But the problem still remains. Even though she¡¯s pretty and I feel attracted to her, should I really go with her? It would be my first time with a girl outside my home,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    His head was telling him to go back home, but his heart was telling him to stay seated.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s go to your home then," In the end, he decided to listen to his heart as he replied.

    "Good boy." Esmiughed as she increased the speed of the car.

    She drove through the streets in her supercar and brought them to a beautiful looking home.

    Esmi left the car, and he followed behind.

    The house was huge. It looked less like a house and more like a mansion. There were four armed guards at the front gate.

    The mansion was sorge that he felt like 10 of his homes could fit inside her mansion. There were three floors in the mansion, and windows covered most of the house.

    "Help me take Bastian to his room," Esmi said as she touched his lips gently with her finger.

    "Right." Ryder hurriedly followed her and helped Bastian out of the car.

    They took him inside the mansion. The doors were opened, and the guards kept looking at him with a strange gaze as Ryder entered with Esmi.

    "Thankfully, his room is on the ground floor." Esmi breathed in relief as they ced Bastian on his bed. She covered him in a nket. She closed the door, and they left the room.

    Esmi stopped as she turned back to look at Ryder and said something.

    "Thanks for the help. You can go now." Esmi said with a smile as she looked at Ryder.

    "But?" Ryder was stunned as he heard her words. He was confused as to what was actually happening.

    He couldn¡¯t understand what the situation had developed to right now.

    "But what? Do you really think that I would sleep with you? Even though I haven¡¯t dated a person since I was given the responsibility to take care of Bastion, and you look handsome, but I don¡¯t want to date someone weak," Esmi said as sheughed.

    Esmi smiled as he brought her face closer to his face and whispered in his ears.

    "Don¡¯t delude yourself. I¡¯ll never sleep with a weak guy, no matter how attracted I am to him. I was just having some fun,"

    Ryder just stared at her nkly. A fit of anger was rising inside of him. Even though he didn¡¯t mind that they won¡¯t sleep together, he still felt terrible. He felt like he was being belittled.

    " It would be a different situation if you could overpower me, though. I wouldn¡¯t mind being with you then, at least for today," Esmiughed as she gazed into his eyes.

    "Oh? Is that it? Aren¡¯t you underestimating me too much right now?" Ryder said as he stepped closer to her.

    ¡¯Even if she is from the underworld, I¡¯m stronger than I was as well,¡¯ He thought as he stood at half a meter of distance from her and looked into her eyes.

    The aura around her changed as she suddenly grabbed his hand and made a strange movement.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know how, but in the next moment, he found himself lying on the ground while Esmi¡¯s right leg was on his chest.

    "I¡¯m not underestimating you, but I know how it¡¯s going to be. I know my strength,¡¯

    ¡¯Looks like I need to use low-level Martial arts that I learned from the system. Don¡¯t me me, woman, you asked for it,¡¯ He thought as he got serious as well.

    He caught her leg that was on his chest and pushed it upwards. Esmi didn¡¯t expect it in the slightest, and the strength made her shocked. She lost her bnce as she fell on top of Ryder.

    He changed their position so that she was lying below him. He kissed her.

    He kept the kiss short and immediately stood up as he hurriedly separated himself from her and created some distance.

    "Looks like round one goes to me. How about you try again. Best of 5 wins." Ryder said with a smile on his face.

    When ites to Martial arts and Strength, he was quite confident in himself.

    "Interesting. That was the first time I felt my heart skip a beat. Best of 5 it is." She said as she stood and licked her lips seductively.

    "Not bad kid, Not bad at all. It looks like I need to step up my game as well." She said as she nced at him with a fascinating look on her face.

    She again turned serious as she attacked him with her fist. Ryder dodged the fist, but he didn¡¯t predict that she would kick him soon after.

    He reacted fast, and before her legs could hit him, he caught her legs and pulled her closer. Before she could respond, he kissed her sweet lips once again. He didn¡¯t forget to wink at her before creating distance between them.

 Chapter 19 Victory

    <h4>Chapter 19: Victory</h4>

    He separated again and created some distance between them.

    "It¡¯s 2-0 Now. One more, and I win," Ryder said to Esmi as he gazed into her deep eyes that were starting to look uncertain.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m talking to an underworld boss like this,¡¯ Ryder could feel the adrenaline pumping through his body. He was fighting the powerful woman who ruled the underworld. The person most of the popce was scared of.

    "You¡¯re better than I thought. Who trained you?" Esmi inquired as she looked at him with full seriousness.

    "I self-trained for years before finally getting some strength," He lied to her without even the least bit of shame.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t just tell you that I learned my martial arts from the system without even spending a day to learn it,¡¯ He thought as a wry smile formed on his face.

    "Very well. I might as we get serious,¡¯ She said as she attacked him again. Her speed was visibly faster, and her movements were more fluid. It was getting harder to dodge her attacks, but he was barely managing it.

    "Wait, Michel, don¡¯t shoot!" She called out abruptly as she looked behind Ryder.

    Ryder was stunned and couldn¡¯t help but turn back; that was when he realized that he fucked up.

    Esmi had caught him as she wrapped her arm around his neck from behind. It looked like Ryder was caught in a sleeper chokehold.

    "2-1," Esmi said with a smile as she lowered her hold and ced her other hand on his chest.

    She freed him after a brief moment.

    "That was foul y! You cheated," Ryder let out with an annoyed look on his face.

    " That wasn¡¯t cheating, sweetheart. Didn¡¯t you hear? Everything is fair on love and war," Esmi chuckled as he nced at Ryder.

    "Is this love, or is this war?" Ryder asked with a curious look on his face.

    "Can¡¯t it be both?" Esmi said seductively as she licked her lips.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter," Ryder let out as he attacked again.

    Esmi looked like she was getting the hang of the fighting and giving a tough fight to Ryder.

    ¡¯She¡¯s quite skilled. No wonder she was able to be the mafia boss,¡¯ Ryder thought as he dodged her attack.

    Ryder knew that if he got hit by any of her attacks, It would be over for him.

    It was at that moment that he noticed an opening. Using the lower level Martial arts, he finally caught a hold of her hand as he twisted her hand. Her chest was stuck facing the wall while her hand was twisted behind her back.

    She tried moving, but she couldn¡¯t.

    "3-1. I think it¡¯s my win," He said with a wide smile as he kissed her fair cheeks.

    "Yeah, you did win. You definitely aren¡¯t weak. Just what I like," She said as she chuckled.

    Ryder freed her hand. Esmi turned back, and now her back was against the wall as she kissed him.

    Ryder also responded to her kiss.

    After a 10 minutes long kissing session, He separated his lips from hers.

    "You¡¯re taking my breath away. Let¡¯s go to my room, at least," She said with a drunken look on her face.

    "Alright. Just tell me where your room is," Ryder said as he picked her up in his arms.

    She provided him directions, and he carried her. Her room was on the second floor.

    He ced her gently on the bed as he took his shirt and pants off and climbed on the bed.

    Ryder was just about to kiss her again when he heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    [Ding... Another mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Leave this mansion and go back home]

    [Reward: 5 origin points]

    [Punishment for failure: 5 origin points shall be deducted]

    [Time Limit: 5 Minutes]

    Ryder could feel his blood boiling as he heard Janus¡¯ voice at such a crucial time.

    ¡¯You bastard! Can you stop messing with me! Do you think that I can leave in such a situation? Go fuck off,¡¯ Ryder thought in his mind, and he was sure that Janus would hear him.

    He decided to ignore him and continue with what he was doing.

    ______________________

    The night passed away as the morning arrived.

    It was around 6 in the morning, and the rays of sunlight were falling on Ryder¡¯s face. He woke up from his fantastic sleep.

    After opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was the beautiful sleeping face of Esmi.

    ¡¯This woman is simply amazing¡ªsuch an unforgettable experience. Now I understand what my college friends talked about. Anyway, I should leave. Alice must be waiting for me at home, and it would be awkward if Bastion saw me here," This was the thought going on in his mind as he got up.

    He wondered if he should wake Esmi up to tell her, but she was in a deep sleep. He decided to leave without disturbing her.

    He looked for his clothes and wore them as he left the room. He went downstairs. Thankfully the ce was empty, and he didn¡¯t see Bastian as he left the mansion. Probably Bastian was still sleeping.

    The guards were still outside, but they didn¡¯t say anything to him as he walked out of the mansion. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt like he could see a glimpse of a grin on their faces. Just what were these guys thinking, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    "I didn¡¯t think about it before, but how am I supposed to go back? There are 15 kilometers of distance between me and my house," He muttered as he walked on an empty road.

    "I better call an uber," He muttered as he took out his phone.

 Chapter 20 Annoyed Janus

    <h4>Chapter 20: Annoyed Janus</h4>

    "I didn¡¯t think about it before, but how am I supposed to go back? There are 15 kilometers of distance between me and my house, "He muttered as he walked on an empty road.

    "I better call an uber," He muttered as he took out his phone.

    He ced the request for an uber on his phone and continued walking ahead as he thought about things. His life had turned so awkward all of a sudden. He couldn¡¯t help but think about it.

    Just a week ago, he was one of the top members of the 3rd rank guild in Divinity, and now he hade back in time to when it all began.

    ¡¯I won¡¯t join Divinity again,¡¯ He determined as he continued walking.

    ¡¯It has been so long since I woke up this early. It feels surprisingly good to take a morning walk,¡¯ He thought, but right then, a car stopped right beside him.

    It was a ck four-seater SUV, which looked quite luxurious.

    "Sir, Are you Ryder Flynn? Did you call for an Uber?" The driver asked as he lowered the car window and looked at him.

    "Ah, yeah, right. I¡¯m Ryder," Ryder replied with a smile.

    "Nice. My name is Max. Come on in," He said as he unlocked the doors. Ryder opened the doors and sat on the back seat.

    "Where do you want to go, Mr. Flynn?" Max asked him as he started driving.

    "Oh, right, take me to 42nd Street," He told the driver as he unlocked his phone and started scrolling down the news feed.

    "Sir, do you mind if I turn on the radio?" Max said out of nowhere as he nced back for a brief moment.

    ¡¯Oh well, I can¡¯t deny now, can I? It¡¯s your car, after all,¡¯ He smiled bitterly in his heart as he nodded his head.

    "Sure, go ahead," He told Max.

    Max turned on the radio, and unexpectedly Max started listening to the news instead of the songs.

    "Today is the release date of the world¡¯s first fully immersive video game Divinity. The game will be avable for purchase in all the outlets from 4 pm. Let¡¯s hear from our friend Jill Maximoff. She is standing at one of thergest stores in the country. The New Jersey branch of Games Forever," A woman¡¯s voice sounded.

    "Jill, what is the situation there?"She continued.

    "Well, Jane. There is heavy excitement in the crowd to get the game, and a few people have already started lining up for the sale that will begin at 4 pm, and it¡¯s just 6:30 am right now. You can judge the craze of the game from just this single fact," Another woman replied.

    Ryder heard the news but decided to ignore it. He didn¡¯t want to be rted to the game at all.

    "Divinity is really an incredible thing. Even I¡¯m excited to y it. I even sent my girlfriend to buy a unit for me while I¡¯m working. What about you, sir? Are you hoping to buy it as well?" Max said out of nowhere.

    " I¡¯m not interested in that game. It¡¯s quite dangerous, in my opinion," Ryder shook his head as he replied.

    " Really? You¡¯re probably paranoid, sir. The IMC has certified the game to be 100% safe, after all. You haven¡¯t even yed the game," Max told Ryder in a friendly tone.

    ¡¯Maybe," Ryder sighed and didn¡¯t say anything. He couldn¡¯t tell him that he was saying it because he had already died because of Divinity.

    [Ding... Another Main Mission has been assigned to the host]

    That sentence was enough for Ryder to start sweating. He could feel that the mission would be tough since he had previously offended Janus. It was the primary mission, as well, just like the mission of killing the human.

    [Mission: Be the first person to reach level 5 in Divinity and pass the Novice Vige.

    Reward: 100 origin points, ess to the next level of the store, and a secret reward.

    Punishment for failure: The host will die from a heart attack.

    Time Limit: Undefined]

    Janus finished and went silent, leaving a stunned Ryder sitting with his mouth open.

    ¡¯You¡¯re doing it to get back to me, aren¡¯t you? I¡¯m sorry for talking back to you. Don¡¯t give me such a mission,¡¯ Ryder said to Janus in mind with an annoyed look on his face.

    [The mission has been given and can¡¯t be taken back. Also, Janus isn¡¯t angry. He¡¯s just thinking about how it can follow the kind suggestion of the host and ¡¯go fuck itself¡¯]

    Janus let out in his childlike voice, but Ryder could sense some sarcasm in Janus¡¯ tone. Ryder couldn¡¯t help but doubt that Janus had some emotions.

    He realized that no matter how much he begged, Janus wouldn¡¯t change the mission.

    ¡¯The time limit is Undefined, but I know that I have less than four days since the first person reached level 4 on the 4th day. If he gets to level 5 before me, I will fail,¡¯ Ryder thought as he wondered about the mission.

 Chapter 21 Protect the fatty

    <h4>Chapter 21: Protect the fatty</h4>

    ¡¯The time limit is Undefined, but I know that I have less than four days since the first person reached level 4 on the 4th day. If he gets to level 5 before me, I would fail.¡¯ Ryder thought as he wondered about the mission.

    "Hey, can you drop me at 52nd Street instead?" He told the driver.

    "Sure." He didn¡¯t say anything as he took a U-turn and changed the direction.

    It took him only around 10 minutes to drop him at 52nd Street.

    Ryder had his phone with him and made the e-payment for the cab. Max drove away after wishing Ryder a good day.

    Ryder walked for a few blocks before he was able to see a line of people in front of a shop. Thankfully, there were only 50 or so people in the line. He sighed in relief as he wasn¡¯t toote.

    He hurriedly walked forth and stood in the line.

    ¡¯Oh man, I forgot to bring food. It¡¯s going to be tough staying here for hours. I haven¡¯t even had breakfast¡¯ He suddenly realized as his stomach started making a noise. It was to be expected after the extensive exercise he went throughst night.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll order something." He muttered as he brought his phone out and ced an order from the nearby shop, and asked them to deliver it to him.

    Although they charged more for the delivery, he had no other choice as he was quite hungry.

    He ordered two burgers and a coke. He knew that it was unhealthy, but he liked what he liked. He felt like there was nothing he could do about it.

    It took around 20 minutes before the food was delivered to him. He started eating while he waited in the line.

    "Bro, you didn¡¯t have breakfast beforeing here either?" The guy standing in front of him turned back as he asked Ryder.

    The man had French Fries in his hand that he was eating. He was somewhat short at 5 ft 5 inches and was a little fat, which looked even more distinct because of his short height.

    "Yeah, I forgot to eat before I left. I was in a hurry." Ryder replied casually as he took a sip of his coke.

    "Yeah, I can understand. I was in a hurry to stand in the line as well. I don¡¯t want to miss out on the opportunity to buy Divinity, or I wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive myself!" The man startedughing awkwardly as he replied to me.

    "Oh, right, my name is Shu... what is yours?" He asked Ryder.

    "I¡¯m Ryder." He replied as he continued drinking.

    Although he wasn¡¯t interested in talking to a stranger, the guy didn¡¯t look like a bad person either. Also, he had nothing to do but stand in the long line for a long time, either.

    "We might meet in the Divinity and go on missions together as well. What username will you y with?" He asked Ryder.

    "I use Hades in all my games, you?" Ryder told him.

    "I¡¯m Big Daddy! My name is constant in all my games as well." He excitedly replied with a smile.

    "Big Daddy? That¡¯s... That¡¯s an interesting name you got there."

    Ryder wanted tough out loud, but he tried his best to control hisughter so that he doesn¡¯t hurt his feelings. That name... It was really too interesting.

    [Ding... The host has been assigned a new sub mission]

    [Mission: Stop the girl from taking advantage of the fatty in front of you.

    Reward: 5 origin points.

    Punishment for failure: Deduction of 10 origin points.

    Time limit: 10 hours]

    Janus¡¯ voice again appeared in his head.

    ¡¯Another mission... I was wondering when Janus would give me a mission. But what is this mission about? Protect the fatty from being taken advantage of? Who is he talking about?¡¯ Ryder started wondering about the mission.

    ¡¯Wait a minute. Janus, are you calling Shu fatty? You¡¯re so cruel. Anyways which girl? There are no girls here?¡¯ He called out Janus in his mind.

    [The system only named him anything to the host¡¯s thoughts. This can only mean that the host was thinking of him as fatty. The system chose the same name]

    Janus replied to him in an emotionless tone.

    ¡¯You always find ways to me me.¡¯ Ryder said with a wry smile on his face.

    ¡¯Hey, you didn¡¯t tell me about the girl! Which girl do I need to protect him from? There are no girls here!¡¯ He suddenly remembered that Janus didn¡¯t even answer his main question.

    Unfortunately, Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    Ryder wanted to curse Janus, but he stopped himself as he realized that Janus could read his thoughts anyway. He thought that Janus must know what he wanted to call him anyway, so he didn¡¯t need to waste his breath on him.

    Another hour passed away in the blink of an eye as he stayed in the line, but he saw not even a glimpse of any woman.

    "Hey fa... ahm I mean Shu, Do you have a girlfriend? Or is there a girl troubling you?" He decided to ask Shu straight away.

    ¡¯Oh god, I almost called him fatty as well.¡¯ He thought with a wry smile on his face.

    "Hahaha... A girlfriend? You must be kidding me. Have you seen me? Do you really think that I can have a girlfriend? I¡¯m a gamer, and my games are my girlfriends. No real girls allowed." Shu startedughing loudly as he heard his question.

 Chapter 22 We want equality

    <h4>Chapter 22: We want equality</h4>

    "Hahaha... A girlfriend? You must be kidding me. Have you seen me? Do you really think that I can have a girlfriend? I¡¯m a gamer, and my games are my girlfriends. No real girls allowed." Shu startedughing loudly as he heard his question.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t me him. I myself never had a girlfriend, so I can sympathize.¡¯ Ryder gazed at Shu with sympathy.

    There was only one thing that he couldn¡¯t understand. The guy didn¡¯t have a girlfriend, and there was no girl here. Which girl should he protect him from?

    ¡¯Is this a trick mission? Is this Janus¡¯ scam to take away my hard-earned origin points?¡¯ He thought.

    It looked like Janus heard his thoughts as it finally decided to reply to him.

    [The system isn¡¯t a scammer! All the missions are valid, and reward and punishment are decided based on the difficulty.]

    "Yea, right. Sorry for doubting you. Hey, wait a minute. Why should I be sorry? You¡¯re the one who is giving such strange missions." He let out casually. He felt like he had hurt Janus¡¯ feelings.

    Time kept passing slowly, and it was already 3 pm. Only one hour was remaining for the sale to officially begin.

    The line that only had 50 people in the morning now had close to a thousand people waiting to get the game.

    Even the cops were present at the ce to maintain the order.

    Another hour passed, and finally, the sale had begun. He was at the 41st number in the line now, which kept shortening as the people ahead of him kept getting Divinity VR sses and leaving. In about 20 minutes, he was 3rd in the line.

    It was at that moment that a girl came towards them. Well, It would be more appropriate to say that she came towards Shu, who was the second in line.

    The girl was quite beautiful with a round face and a curvy figure. Although her breasts were small, her perky butt made up for it.

    "Ah... sir, I apologize for intruding, but I am a littlete. Can you please allow me to stand in front of you in the line so that I could hurriedly leave? I need to go to an important meeting." The girl told Shu in a gentle tone.

    ¡¯Ah, Now I get it. This girl was the one Janus was talking about. It¡¯s quite stupid now that I think about it. However, I must say that this task is quite simple. It¡¯s like a free reward. Thanks, Janus, maybe you¡¯re not so bad after all.¡¯ Ryder let out with a smile as he looked towards the girl. He had forgotten that Janus had given him a mission that could cause his death.

    "Ahh..." Shu was clearly struggling to answer. He really wanted to get the Divinity VR sses as soon as possible, but he didn¡¯t have it in himself to deny a beautiful girl.

    "Sorry, Miss, but there¡¯s no space for you here. Why don¡¯t you go stand at the back of the line and wait for your turn?" Ryder tried to sound like a badass as he said to the girl.

    "You... I¡¯m not talking to you! Stay silent and don¡¯t interfere." She said to Ryder with an attitude.

    "Hey little girl, I¡¯m trying to act like a good guy, don¡¯t think you can talk to me like that. He¡¯s a brother of mine, and of course, I can interfere in his matters! Who the hell do you think you are toe at the front of the line without making any effort!"

    "All of us have been standing in the line for hours and finally got here, and you... you just came and want to take advantage of my brother. Do you really think that you are too beautiful? Get the hell out of here before Iin about your behavior to the cops." He said as his tone kept getting louder and louder, the more he talked.

    Even some people behind him started supporting him and voicing their opinions.

    "Does she really think that she can take advantage of us gamers because she¡¯s a girl? We want equality! Gamers have rights as well! We have feelings too! I¡¯ll start a movement for us gamers to stop such harassment against us. We deserve rights, as well." A person behind him started saying out loud.

    ¡¯What the hell is he talking about? A movement to stop harassment of us gamers? Some people get too serious.¡¯ Ryder had a wry smile on his face as he heard the chant of ¡¯we want equality.¡¯

    ¡¯ Isn¡¯t it too overboard?¡¯ ¡¯ He thought.

    "You! Very well!!! Do you even know who I am? You don¡¯t know who you have messed with! Don¡¯t you dare run."The girl said as she fumed with anger. She turned back as she left.

    "Oh man, Was she someone with a high position? Janus, you bastard! I praised you for nothing! 5 origin points for taking care of the girl and the trouble that follows after! You¡¯re too cheap!¡¯ He cursed in his mind.

 Chapter 23 Lie

    <h4>Chapter 23: Lie</h4>

    "Oh man, Was she someone with a high position? Janus, you bastard! I praised you for nothing! 5 origin points for taking care of the girl and the trouble that follows after! You¡¯re too Cheap!¡¯ He cursed in his mind.

    "Thanks, bro! I don¡¯t know what I would have done without you. That girl... I wouldn¡¯t be able to say no, but you helped me. From now on, I can be your little brother." Shu said in an emotional tone.

    " No, thanks." Ryder immediately replied without even taking a moment to think.

    ¡¯Just why is this guy so emotional? Little brother? Like hell, I¡¯ll call you little brother,¡¯ Ryder thought in his mind with a weird look on his face.

    "Hey, boy! Do you want to purchase it or not?" Shu was about to say something when a voice came from the front.

    "Oh, right... it¡¯s your number. Go fast." Ryder told Shu, who looked like he was shocked at suddenly being called out.

    "Right." He turned back and walked closer to the storekeeper. He gave the money to the seller.

    "Here you go." The shopkeeper gave the VR sses set to Shu after he paid for them.

    "Thank you, sir." Shu thanked them before leaving.

    It was finally Ryder¡¯s turn after hours of waiting. He stepped forward and asked for a Divinity Set.

    He paid for the VR sses, which cost him around 200 credits. If these were to bepared to the older currency that was used in the old times, 200 credits would be worth 2000 dors.

    The shopkeeper gave him the box of VR sses, and he left as well.

    "Big brother Ryder! Where do you live?" Shu came towards him as he asked with an excited smile on his face.

    Ryder was getting quite annoyed, but he didn¡¯t straight away express it.

    "Why do you care? You know we have just met, right?" He straight away asked him.

    ¡¯I¡¯m not going to tell a stranger my address.¡¯ He continued.

    "Of course, I would care. You¡¯re my Elder brother, after all. I was wondering if your home was nearby. If that¡¯s the case, then both of us could go there and log in to divinity together. If your home is far, then both of us can go to my home and log in together." Shu said with a wide smile on his face.

    "Why do I need to log in together with you? Anyways, I¡¯m not even sure if I¡¯ll y Divinity." He lied to Shu.

    ¡¯This dude, why isn¡¯t he leaving me alone?¡¯ He thought as he tried to think of ways to leave without looking like a prick.

    "What? Why not? You purchased it after so much effort, and you¡¯re saying that you won¡¯t y?" Shu looked like Ryder¡¯s reply deeply hurt him.

    ¡¯This guy... he is too over the top.¡¯ Ryder was starting to have a headache by now.

    He wanted to leave as fast as he could... before the trouble arrives.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m leaving. I have some important things to do." He told Shu as he turned back to leave, but before he could even take a step, a voice came from behind.

    "He¡¯s the man!" That sharp pitched voice said.

    A frown appeared on Ryder¡¯s face as he recognized the voice.

    "This voice... It looks like the trouble came looking for me." he let out softly as he looked back. Just as he thought, it was the same girl who threatened him of the consequences.

    A bulky man was walking with the girl as he held her hand. The man was over 7 feet tall and had his other hand in his pocket. The man looked quite angry as he walked.

    "Wait a minute? Aren¡¯t I strong? Is there really a need for me to be scared? If that man wants to offend me, it¡¯ll be his funeral. " Ryder suddenly realized that he actually didn¡¯t need to be scared. He had a lot of strength after he consumed the strengthening pill.

    "As long as that man isn¡¯t a monster, I can easily defeat him." A smirk appeared on his face as he gazed at the maning towards him. He was confident in his strength and felt like he didn¡¯t need to be scared of a normal human, but he was still alert.

    ¡¯I should first know his real identity. ¡¯ He thought.

    He stood in his original position calmly as he waited for the man to approach him.

    "Brother, looks like they areing to us. Are they going to beat us up? Should I call my backup?" Shu whispered in Ryder¡¯s ears abruptly.

    " Backup? Do you even have a backup? Anyways, they¡¯reing for me. You can leave safely." Ryder replied to Shu.

    " How can I leave my brother in the times of need? Who will take you to the hospital after you¡¯re badly beaten up by that guy if I leave?" Shu said with a concerned look on his face.

    Ryder¡¯s face couldn¡¯t help but twitch as he heard Shu¡¯s words.

    ¡¯Geez, this guy is already nning to take me to the hospital. Thanks for such a confidence boost.¡¯ He thought with a wry smile on his face but didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Are you the man who misbehaved with my girlfriend? " The 7 ft. tall man stopped in front of Ryder and asked in a serious tone as he red at him.

    Ryder could feel his re, but he wasn¡¯t about to be defeated by a simple re. He red back at the man.

    "I didn¡¯t do shi* to your girlfriend. Ask your girlfriend what actually happened. She was trying to enter the line out of nowhere; I just told her to stand at the back of the line. There was nothing more than that." He tried exining to the man.

    ¡¯Maybe it was all a misunderstanding, and he would leave. It would be better for both of us. I don¡¯t want to do anything unnecessary at the moment.¡¯ Although the chances of it happening were really low, he hoped for the man to leave without fighting.

    The man gazed towards the girl with a doubtful look on his face.

    "I¡¯m telling the truth, baby! He did everything I told you about! Including pping my ass. I still feel the pain." The girl said with a hurt expression on her face as she rubbed her ass.

    The man looked at the girl and observed her for a brief second before he shifted his gaze back to Ryder.

 Chapter 24 Lets start an organization!

    <h4>Chapter 24: Let''s start an organization!</h4>

    The man looked at the girl and observed her for a brief second before shifting his gaze back to Ryder.

    " You... Of course, you¡¯re lying! I can see it on my baby¡¯s face that she is telling the truth. It was just as she said; you tried molesting her when she was here. You hit her ass while she was walking and talked inappropriately to her! You even invited her to sleep with you for the night. How dare you do this to my girlfriend. You deserve to die!" The man let out loud.

    ¡¯What the hell? Aren¡¯t the rumors getting exaggerated?¡¯ Ryder thought with a stunned look on his face.

    "Elder brother, I never expected you would be this badass? Although I don¡¯t like the fact that you molested the girl, Since you¡¯re my brother, I still support you!" Shu said with an honest look on his face.

    " You... You idiot! Why do you believe her words as well? " Ryder scolded Shu with a red face.

    " Enough talking! Time for your punishment!" The man said as he punched towards Ryder.

    " It came to this, after all. I can¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t expect it, though," A wry smile appeared on Ryder¡¯s face as he caught the man¡¯s fist.

    As soon as he attacked Ryder, Ryder was able to see that his speed was quite slow, or maybe Ryder¡¯s reactions were fast.

    Ryder tried blocking his hand just to see if he really was strong. He was proven right. This guy was... too weak¡ªonly slightly stronger than the old Ryder before taking the strengthening pills.

    "I gotta say, you¡¯re weaker than I expected," Ryder said to the man with a mocking grin on his face.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but he was quite enjoying the feeling of superiority.

    "You bastard! Free my hand this instant! Do you even know who I am? You don¡¯t know who you have messed with!" The man said in a pained voice.

    " Hmm? Why does this threat sound familiar? " A frown always in Ryder¡¯s face as he heard the threat.

    He felt like he heard the same words being said before.

    " Oh, right? Didn¡¯t your girlfriend say the same thing before she left? She brought you. Who will you bring after you leave? " A smile appeared on his face as he gazed into the man¡¯s eyes.

    Ryder started tightening my grip on his hands. He wanted him to feel pain. He wanted him to regret offending him.

    "If I didn¡¯t have the strength, I would be the one being beaten at the moment. Why can¡¯t I do the same? I¡¯ll beat the crap out of this man before leaving. " Ryder smiled as he watched the pained look on the man¡¯s face. The man was already down to his knees by now.

    Even the people standing in the long line to get the game were stunned as they watched the fight.

    "Hey, Is he really a gamer? How can he be that strong if he is one of us?"

    " What do you think? I feel like he isn¡¯t a gamer at all."

    " Yes, He must be trying to impersonate us gamers for some evil plot of his."

    " That makes sense! He¡¯s so evil!"

    " I just hope that whatever evil plot he¡¯s hatching against us gamers neveres to fruition."

    " Hey, I just noticed that anyone could impersonate us gamers. We shoulde up with something like a Gamers organization. That will assign real identity badges to gamers and rank them so that people like him can¡¯t pretend to be one of us. It will save us from the evil plots of people like him."

    The crowd had started a discussion of their own in the meantime.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know about it, but he had unintentionally nted a seed in the hearts of gamers that will go on to be a big tree in the future.

    He was enjoying seeing the pained look on the man¡¯s face and waiting for his apology, when something he didn¡¯t want to happen, happened.

    He was assigned a mission by Janus.

    [Ding... A new Sub-missions has been assigned to the host]

    [Mission 1: Make the girl who falsely used you, to kiss you intentionally.

    Reward: The Host will receive 5 origin points, and the 2nd chain mission will be unlocked.

    Punishment for failure: 1 origin point shall be deducted. The Chain mission will not be unlocked

    Time limit: 2 days]

    Janus¡¯ voice appeared in his head and gave him a new task.

    ¡¯Hmm... The mission... it sounds easy, but it¡¯s quite tough. I¡¯m being asked to make someone else¡¯s girlfriend kiss me intentionally?¡¯

    ¡¯Let alone the difficulty, Even if I seed... Wouldn¡¯t that make me seem like a girlfriend stealer? Well... the punishment for failure is only one origin point, and I can afford to give up on the quest, but what attracts me is something else entirely...¡¯

    ¡¯ A chain mission! If I¡¯m not wrong, It should be something like a chain quest? Youplete a seemingly ordinary quest, but it turns out that the quest was the key to receiving a secret quest filled with rare rewards. The rewards for the chain mission must be awesome. I can¡¯t let this opportunity go to waste.¡¯

    ¡¯ As for the girl, she already maligned my character when she lied. I might as wellplete this mission." Ryder made up his mind.

    As he gained back his focus, he noticed that the man had already lost consciousness because of pain. He kicked the man away as he walked towards her.

    The girl looked scared as she took a step back, but she didn¡¯t run.

 Chapter 25 Mr. Maxwell

    <h4>Chapter 25: Mr. Maxwell</h4>

    "Don¡¯t worry; I won¡¯t do anything to you. Even though you lied about me, I notice that it was my fault for acting arrogantly in front of you. You¡¯re a girl, and I should have respected girls. I should have allowed you to stand at the front. I apologize to you," Ryder said to the girl.

    "Oh, right, just to be clear, I¡¯m not saying it because I¡¯m afraid of anything. I¡¯m just saying this because I genuinely felt bad after you left. I wanted to apologize to you for a long time. Also, sorry for beating up your boyfriend," Ryder said in a gentle tone as he apologized to the girl.

    The girl was taken aback and didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Ryder didn¡¯t say anything and simply turned back and looked at Shu.

    "Shu! Let¡¯s go. My Ferrari is out for repair, so don¡¯t wait for it. It looks like we¡¯ll have to take Uber today," Ryder let out loud.

    " Ferrari? " The girl muttered with a stunned look on her face.

    Even Shu was shocked as he heard the name.

    "You have a Ferrari? " The girl asked as she looked at Ryder.

    "Yeah. A 2047 model. It was working quite well till the morning but started misbehaving for some reason. I told my driver to take it for repair," Ryder said in a carefree tone.

    " You... You look so young. How can you afford a Ferrari and a driver?" She asked again.

    " It¡¯s not because of my hard work. The thing is that my parents were quite rich and they had apany of their own. After they died, I became the owner of thatpany," Ryder told the girl.

    "Have you heard of Dream Corporation?" Ryder intentionally said the name of one of the well-known organizations.

    "Dream Corporation? Aren¡¯t they a big shot when ites to car manufacturing and equipment for the army? " The girl eximed with a surprised look on her face.

    "Yeah. That¡¯s mine. I¡¯m the CEO of Dream Corporation," Ryder said with a carefree look on his face.

    "Oh, right, I did hear that the CEO of the Dream Corporation was a man in his early 20s. That¡¯s you? " She let out with a shocked look as she believed him.

    That¡¯s what Ryder wanted; that¡¯s why he took that name. It was a well-known fact that the Dream Corporation was owned by a young man in his early 20s.

    "Don¡¯t speak so loudly. Not many people have seen me, and I don¡¯t want to start amotion here," Ryder said lightly.

    Shu was standing near Ryder and heard everything. His face was twitching the more he heard Ryder talk.

    "Dream Corporation?" He muttered with an open mouth.

    " Wow! I never expected to meet you, Sir. It is said that you don¡¯t like your photos being taken, and that¡¯s why there isn¡¯t any photo of you avable online, but to think that you are standing in front of me," The girl looked starstruck as she talked to Ryder.

    " There¡¯s nothing to worry about. I do like games, so I came out today to buy Divinity," Ryder continued lying shamelessly; on the other hand, the twitching on Shu¡¯s face was increasing.

    "I¡¯m really sorry for everything that I did, Sir. I didn¡¯t realize that you were such a big person," She apologized as she bowed down in front of Ryder.

    "It¡¯s alright. Forget about it. I should leave now," Ryder said as he ced his hands on Shu¡¯s back and got ready to leave.

    " Oh, right, If your home isn¡¯t far, how about I take you there?" Ryder acted as if he had just thought about it and turned back.

    The girl grew excited as she nodded her head repeatedly.

    Ryder brought his phone out and booked an Uber.

    "Oh, right, I forgot to ask your name," Ryder asked with a smile.

    Her face turned red as she replied, "I¡¯m Maria. What about you, Sir?"

    "I¡¯m Ryder... Ryder Maxwell," Ryder said with a smile.

    Although no one knew the name of the Dream Corporation¡¯s CEO, they knew that hisst name was Maxwell. He was generally known as Mr. Maxwell.

    "It¡¯s good to meet you, Master Ryder. I¡¯m again sorry for everything," Maria apologized again.

    "Hey, you¡¯ll make me feel bad if you keep apologizing like this. A beautiful girl like you shouldn¡¯t apologize so much," Ryder said as he chuckled.

    ¡¯He called me pretty. If I can attract him, I might be able to be his wife and get rich.¡¯ The girl¡¯s face was red as she looked at him.

    Her thoughts started roaming all around the ce as she wondered how she could make him more attracted to her.

    "Should we take your boyfriend as well?" Ryder smilingly inquired.

    "He? He¡¯s not my boyfriend. He¡¯s a friend who came to help me. He was pretending to be my boyfriend. Also, our other friends are almost here. They will take him. Master Ryder doesn¡¯t need to worry about it," Maria responded to Ryder as she lied.

    " If you say so."

    The car soon got there as well. Ryder had intentionally booked the most expensive ride. Although it cost him three times what he would have paid, but for the chain quest, it was worth it.

    All three of them got in the car. Ryder and Maria sat in the back seat while the Shu sat in the front beside the driver.

    The car kept traveling towards Maria¡¯s home while Ryder kept subtly flirting with Maria.

    In about half an hour, the car reached the destination.

    Maria opened the door of the car, but before leaving, she kissed Ryder on the lips.

    "Treat it as my apology, Master Ryder. Here my number. You can give me a call anytime," She gave Ryder her card before leaving.

    Ryder closed the door and smiled as he heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    [Mission aplished. Five origin points were added to the host¡¯s ount. Chain Mission is unlocked and will be given to the hostter]

    "So boss, Should I call you Mr. Maxwell?" Shu chuckled as he looked back at Ryder.

 Chapter 26 Caught

    <h4>Chapter 26: Caught</h4>

    "So boss, Should I call you Mr. Maxwell?" Shu chuckled as he looked back at Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t mention it ever again," Ryder said in annoyance.

    "Hahaha... Alright. It never happened. So, where is your home? My home is in the Prosperity Hills, if yours is near, we can go there and join Divinity together, or we can go to my home," Shu asked.

    ¡¯Prosperity hills? His family must be quite wealthy to afford a house there.¡¯ Ryder thought.

    " My home is near 41st Street. As for joining together, I apologize, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be joining today. I¡¯m quite tired, and it¡¯s already evening. I¡¯ll most probably sleep today. We can meet inside the game, though. I have your ID, and I¡¯ll send you a friend request when I join," Ryder smilingly replied.

    Although he was annoyed by Shu a lot of times today, he didn¡¯t dislike the man.

    "Alright, Can my number so that I can have your contact as well. My number is 223334444. It¡¯s a VIP number," Shu chuckled as he said.

    Ryder didn¡¯t argue and simply called Shu. He disconnected as soon as Shu¡¯s phone rang. They both saved each other¡¯s numbers.

    Ryder was dropped off on 41st Street. Although his home was on 42nd Street, he didn¡¯t want Shu to know about it. He wanted hours of privacy; thus, he decided to walk there.

    ________________

    Around an hourter, the car reached Prosperity Hills and stopped in front of a luxurious mansion.

    Shu got out of the car and paid the driver through his phone.

    "Master Maxwell! You sneaked off again! How many times do I have to tell you that you shouldn¡¯t take such risks? Your security is more important to us. If you wanted to go out, you should have taken the guards with you," An old man came out of the mansion and began chiding Shu.

    "Hahaha, I apologize, Butler Mu. I decided to go out alone today, and it was a good thing that I did. I had so much fun, and I even made a good friend," Shu smiled as he entered the mansion that looked as luxurious as it could get.

    "Butler Mu, Do you think I should get a Ferrari 2047 model? I somehow want to get one," Shu let out casually as he was followed by Butler Mu.

    " Really? Till now, you had no interest in cars and traveled in your personal helicopter everywhere. Why a car now?"

    " Well, Since Brother Ryder talked about it, then it must be a good car. Arrange one for me," Shu smiled as he entered inside with the bag in his hand. The bag contained his Divinity gear.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know that he had just pretended to be the owner of Dream Corporation in front of the real owner of the Dream Corporation.

    He didn¡¯t know that Shu¡¯s full name was Shu Maxwell. He was the unseen CEO of the Dream Corporation. What no one knew was that Shu Maxwell was a big fan of games.

    Business and games were the only things that his life consisted of. He didn¡¯t have any friends or any family.

    His parents had died in a ne crash, and he had no siblings. Thus he became the sole owner of the Dream Corporation, and he had surprisingly managed the big organization quite well.

    He increased the profits of the organization with his brilliant ns and was called the Miracle CEO by the media. Even after all that, except for a few important people and the heads of his own organization, not many people had seen him.

    He entered his room and got ready to enter the world of Divinity.

    __________________

    Ryder had finally reached his home. He knocked on the door.

    Soon, the door was opened, and Ryder was faced with Alice, who looked quite angry.

    "Do you need something?" She looked at Ryder and asked with an ignorant look on her face.

    "What do you mean? I live here, Don¡¯t I?" Ryder said with a smile.

    " Oh? Do you still remember that? I thought you lost all your memories because you were beaten by a girl for your perverted behavior, and that¡¯s why you didn¡¯te homest night," She said sarcastically.

    " Ah... Well. First of all, I¡¯ll say it again that I¡¯m not a pervert. Secondly, I was standing in front of the shop all night to get Divinity. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯te home," Ryder shamelessly made up a lie about his nightly endeavors.

    " Hmph, you couldn¡¯t call either?" She asked again as she red at him.

    " Ah... I ran out of battery," Ryder replied without taking much time to think.

    " Oh, really? I guess that can happen. You can enter," Alice said with a smile as she moved back from the door.

    Ryder smiled as he sessfully handled the situation and entered the house.

    He was walking towards his room when his phone started ringing. His feet froze in ce as soon as he heard the ring.

    With shaking hands, he brought the phone out of his pocket as he turned back.

    Alice was standing right behind him with a phone in her hands. Ryder looked at the phone, and it was Alice calling him.

    "Come on. Pick up the phone," She said with a gentle smile.

    Ryder picked up the phone and brought it closer to his ears. As soon as the phone was near his ears, Alice screamed loudly, " Liar!!!"

    She went back to her room and shut the door with full force. Ryder just stood there as he tried to think of an exnation.

    " Alice! Wait a minute! I can exin it," Ryder knocked on her door as he thought about an exnation.

    "What¡¯s your exnation?" Alice asked from the other side of the door. I met a friend when I was in line. I asked his help to book an Uber. I charged my phone in the Uber when I wasing here. I swear on my friend¡¯s life!" He replied to Alice.

    ___________________

    Far away in a beautiful mansion, Shu was unboxing his Divinity set and couldn¡¯t help but sneeze abruptly.

    "Hmm? Is someone talking about me?" He thought as he looked towards the door.

    _______________

    "Come on, Alice. It was circumstances, and I wasn¡¯t able to call you. I already told you everything, honestly. Also, I haven¡¯t eaten anything since the morning."

 Chapter 27 Another Beginning

    <h4>Chapter 27: Another Beginning</h4>

    "Come-on Alice. It was circumstances and I wasn¡¯t able to call you. I already told you everything honestly. Also, I haven¡¯t eaten anything since the morning." Ryder said in an apologetic tone.

    He was wondering if his apology would work out or not when the door was opened.

    "I¡¯ve already prepared dinner. Go to the dining table; I¡¯ll serve." She said.

    She walked past him and walked towards the kitchen.

    ¡¯Sigh, she¡¯s such a nice girl. I¡¯m really sorry for lying.¡¯ Ryder thought as he walked towards the dining table.

    "Have you eaten?" Ryder asked as Alice served the dinner.

    "Yeah. Did you think that I would wait for you?" Alice snorted with an annoyed look on her face as she sat on another chair near him.

    "That¡¯s good." Ryder smiled as he continued gulping down the food like a hungry beast. He finished it in just 20 minutes before he stood up and walked back to his room.

    After Ryder left, Alice smiled as she took a serving for herself and started eating as well.

    Ryder was sitting in his room as he looked at the Divinity sses. He didn¡¯t bother reading the manual again as he already knew everything there was to know about the sses.

    Hey on his bed and wore the sses as he got ready to enter the world of Divinity.

    "Divinity Scan!" Ryder said in a low voice.

    "Please keep your eyes open for the retina scan." A female voice appeared in his head.

    Ryder had gone through the same process before, so he wasn¡¯t shocked as he heard the voice.

    The sses turned on and started scanning his retina. Once the scan waspleted, he would be saved as the owner of the sses. It was a security feature that allowed only him to ess the sses. It was so that no one else could use his ount or his sses. It would make stealing the sses useless.

    "Scan Completed! Would you like to enter the world of divinity?" The feminine voice again appeared in his head.

    "Take me to the Divinity," Ryder said the secondmand.

    As soon as he spoke, he instantly lost all control of his body and all his senses. His room disappeared and he now found himself standing in a pitch-ck room.

    He looked ahead and found a girl floating in the air. She looked to be 12-13 years old and had short greenish hair.

    "Maya?" He red at the girl floating in front of him and clenched his fist.

    "Wee to the world of Divinity. I am your artificial intelligence guide, Maya. I will help you with the registration. Please select your Character Name."

    "My name is Hades," Ryder answered her. He wanted to beat the hell out of Maya for messing with himst time, but he knew that he wouldn¡¯t even be able to touch her.

    "Hades... Name registered. Please customize the stats of your character. You have been given 25 stats points" The A.I girl known as Maya further said.

    A screen appeared in front of Ryder. There were 6 Stats on the screen with a 0 in front of all 6 of them.

    A plus and minus symbol was also ced in front of each of the characteristics. These 6 Stats that he could use skill points on were Strength, Defense, Stamina, Intelligence, Speed and Dexterity.

    Ryder thought seriously for a few minutes before he started tapping on the plus icons.

    After a short few minutes, he was finally done.

    The screen in front of him looked much different now.

    He had used 5 points on Strength, 4 on defense, 4 points on speed, 4 points on stamina, 3 points on dexterity and 5 points on Intelligence.

    He decided to take a different route this time. He didn¡¯t want to be only a warrior. He decided to be someone who can use magic. From his previous experience in Divinity, he already learned how to use swords and thought that he could utilize that knowledge this time as well.

    It was magic that he wanted to learn this time.

    There was another reason for him to try to learn magic. It was to pass the Novice Vige as fast as he could and from his previous knowledge, he knew that magic would help him big time.

    "I¡¯m done," Ryder informed Maya.

    "Are you sure? " Maya asked with an expressionless look on her face.

    "Yes," Ryder again nodded his head.

    "Would you like to make adjustments to your looks?" She asked.

    " Yes," Ryder replied.

    A mirror and a new screen appeared in front of him, which allowed him to adjust his physical looks.

    Ryder didn¡¯t change much, but a few key things. He changed his hair color from their original ck to Silver. He changed his eyes to blue from their original hazel color. Other than that, he kept everything the same.

    "Registrationplete. You will be sent to the novice vige. You currently have no ss. After passing the novice vige, you will be able to select your ss." Maya informed him before she disappeared in front of his eyes.

    The scene distorted as Ryder found himself in the novice vige.

    It was a ce that all yers were sent to so that they could learn basic skills and get used to Virtual Reality before going to the real adventures.

    yers could get some simple quests in the novice vige to increase their levels and when they got to level 5, they were allowed to leave.

    Ryder appeared at the entrance of the Novice Vige and took his first step inside.

 Chapter 28 Secret Quests

    <h4>Chapter 28: Secret Quests</h4>

    Ryder stood at the entrance of the Vige. He could already see a few yers in the vige, looking around for quests.

    Ryder didn¡¯t wait for a single moment as he walked towards the ce of Sword Elder.

    He already knew about most of the secrets of the Novice Vige. The things he himself personally didn¡¯t go through, was avable online in the previous timeline.

    Ryder greatly enjoyed the game, and he had read almost every article about the game.

    "Elder, I want to learn the ways of the sword. Can you teach me?"

    He stood before the Sword Elder and asked.

    "Oh, Someone who wants to learn from me? You are the first person toe to me. Of course, I¡¯ll teach you. " The Elder smiled as he tossed a wooden sword towards Ryder.

    The Sword Elder made a simple sh with his sword.

    "Repeat my movement a hundred times, and you will be able to feel the sword. I¡¯ll teach you a sword skill if you seed. " The Sword Elder said.

    " Yes." Ryder didn¡¯t wait for long and started repeating that same movement. He didn¡¯t take a break for even a single moment and finished a hundred strikes in under 5 minutes.

    "Amazing! Youpleted it so fast. You are a genius in the way of the sword. Finally, I found someone I can pass my special skill to." The Sword Elder eximed in excitement as soon as Ryder finished the moments.

    That¡¯s what Ryder hoped. In the previous timeline, he took his sweet time toplete the movements. He finished a hundred strikes in 15 minutesst time and was given a sword skill by the Elder.

    After a few days, he read an article that mentioned that someone received a unique skill from the Sword Elder.

    The person who wrote the article says that he saw it with his own eyes.

    It was disclosed that there was a special condition to receive that unique skill.

    The first person toplete the task given by the Sword Elder would receive his unique skill and the sword.

    It was said that the person who got the skill was the second person to pass a novice vige trial and step to the maind. Heter went on to be the Guild Master of the third rank guild, Mercy. Ryder was also a part of that guild.

    "I¡¯ll teach you a special skill of mine." The Elder finally spoke the magical words Ryder was waiting to hear.

    A screen appeared in front of him.

    [The Sword Elder wants to teach you his skill ¡¯Enraged sh.¡¯ Do you want to learn?]

    It was written on the screen. There were 2 options. Yes and No. Ryder touched ¡¯Yes.¡¯

    [Skill learned sessfully.]

    [Enraged sh: The Enraged sh of the Sword Master. No monster on the same level as the holder can survive the strike.

    Limitation: Can only be used 5 times in a day.

    Cooldown time: 60 seconds]

    The text on the screen changed and informed him of the sess.

    "Thanks for the help, Elder," Ryder said.

    "Take this Sword as well, young boy."

    The Sword Elder gave his sword to Ryder, and Ryder happily epted.

    He again thanked the Elder before he left.

    Ryder was standing in the center of the vige as he got a notification.

    He was about to open it when he heard a girl¡¯s voice.

    "Ahem... Excuse me, uncle. Do you know where I can find the Sword Elder?" Said a girl.

    " You¡¯re the uncle! Your father is the uncle! Your mother is the uncle. I¡¯m still in my prime." Ryder snorted in annoyance as he turned back, but he was stunned as he saw the girl.

    The girl looked like she was a yer as well. She looked to be around 16-17 years old. She looked quite beautiful, and Ryder was dazed initially, but he quickly recovered.

    Although the system allowed people to modify their looks, they couldn¡¯t modify their looks too much. Only slight changes were allowed like hair, eyes, nose, etc. Girls could modify their breasts in this virtual world as well, but other than that, they couldn¡¯t change much. They weren¡¯t allowed to change their face shape or height.

    "I... I apologize." The girl looked anxious as she stepped back after apologizing. She turned back to leave.

    " Hey," Ryder called her out.

    "You¡¯re going the wrong way. You can find the Sword Elder that way. " Ryder said as soon as the girl turned back. He pointed towards a certain direction.

    "Th... thank you." The girl bowed down and thanked Ryder before she hurriedly ran away.

    Ryder again shifted his focus back to the notification that he had received.

    "Command Screen." He called out lightly, and a screen appeared in front of him.

    He tapped on the notification icon and saw that it was a friend request. From a guy named... Big Daddy?

    "That guy..." Ryder looked at the screen with a wry smile on his face as he closed the screen.

    He went back to his work and walked towards a certain location.

    He stopped in front of an olddy.

    "Uhm... Grandma. You look sick. Should I take you to a doctor? " Ryder asked the old woman in a caring tone. Of course, it was a part of his careful nning as well.

    *Ahu ahu*

    "You¡¯re so kind, young man. You don¡¯t need to worry though. It¡¯s just my old age. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll live anymore. I just wish that I could live for a week more. I just wish I could see my grandchild onest time before I die." The old woman said in her weak voice. It looked like her vitality was almost depleted.

    " Is he not in the vige?" Ryder asked.

    " He went to another vige for business. He is supposed toe back in 4 days, but I don¡¯t think I can live long enough to wait." She replied.

    " Is there something I can do to help, Grandma?" Ryder inquired.

    " You can¡¯t do anything, unfortunately. Only the nine sun grass could increase my longevity and make me live for 2 weeks, but it¡¯s impossible. The grass only grows in the beast valley. No onees back alive from there." The old woman responded.

    " I¡¯ll do it, Grandma. I¡¯ll make sure that you live long enough to meet your son. I¡¯ll be right back." Ryder smilingly said as he left.

 Chapter 29 Im not even married

    <h4>Chapter 29: I''m not even married</h4>

    Ryder left the vige without wasting a single moment.

    He passed through the dense forest and got to the beast valley.

    Ryder wasn¡¯t shocked as he found people already present there as they battle the monsters to increase their levels. Although the monsters they fought were only level 1, they were still too difficult for a novice to beat.

    Most of the yers had made teams of 4-5 yers to fight a single level 1 monster.

    Ryder gazed at the teams struggling to win against monsters as he sighed.

    "They are truly eager to fight. They haven¡¯t even tried going to the sword elder to learn a skill. Either they are too confident in their real-life skills, or just too dumb." Ryder muttered.

    He stepped forward and passed them as he ignored their battle and went deeper into the valley.

    Many yers noticed him and couldn¡¯t help but talk amongst themselves.

    "Hey, look at him. That guy is going deeper into the valley. Is he looking to die? "

    " Who knows? He might be tired of life."

    " What do you think happened to make him so upset at life? "

    " I think his wife must have run away with someone. "

    " His wife ran away? Was he not good in bed? "

    " That¡¯s quite possible. His weapon must be too small."

    "Oh, so that¡¯s why he¡¯s ovepensating by carrying that long sword with him. "

    " Poor guy. "

    The stories about Ryder kept getting exaggerated as people wondered why a novice was going deeper into the valley.

    " Hey man! Don¡¯t worry about your wife. You¡¯ll find a better girl. Even if your weapon is small, I¡¯m sure there must be girls who dig that kind of thing. "

    One of the yers called out loudly as he tried tofort Ryder.

    Ryder heard his voice and his expressions turned weird. He turned back to look at the person who has said it.

    " Shut up, you bastards! I haven¡¯t even gotten married yet." Ryder yelled.

    " It¡¯s not your wife who ran away? Was it your girlfriend then? "

    Another yer misunderstood his meaning and eximed.

    " You moth... Don¡¯t make mee back and beat the hell out of you. " Ryder snorted in annoyance.

    He decided to ignore the idiots and walked forth.

    " Hey, don¡¯t argue with him. He¡¯s clearly upset. I guess you must have touched a nerve. It was definitely his girlfriend. Poor guy. "

    Everyone felt like that was the truth.

    Ryder ignored their nonsense as he continued ahead, but before he could walk too far, a level 1 Snow Wolf came running towards him.

    The monster looked like a normal wolf and had snow-white fur.

    "That¡¯s one of the toughest level 1 monsters. It looks like that guy¡¯s death wish wille true."

    The other yers were still able to see him as they wondered if he could survive.

    The wolf growled as he jumped at Ryder.

    Ryder raised his sword up in the sky and swung it with full force.

    "Enraged sh." He called out.

    The sword shed the beast apart in 2 parts. The beast¡¯s body fell to the ground.

    Everything felt so real. Although he yed the game for such a long time, he was still amazed at how realistic everything was. His clothes were covered in the blood of the wolf.

    He was wondering how he could clear the blood from his clothes when he heard an announcement in his head.

    [+20 experience]

    He opened his status screen and noticed that he had 20 experience points now. To reach level 2, he needed 30 more points.

    "The power of that strike was simply amazing. No wonder it¡¯s called a unique skill."

    Ryder smiled as he thought about his attack. He was clearly surprised at the strength.

    ¡¯Too bad that the cooldown time of the skill is a minute. It¡¯s good for using against a single monster, but when fighting against multiple foes, this cooldown can be a real pain in the ass.¡¯

    He closed the status screen as he continued deeper.

    His target was the nine spirit grass that grew in the region where level 2 monsters stayed.

    He met another level 1 Snow beast on his journey and easily ughtered it as well.

    Another 20 experience points were added.

    He just needed to kill one more monster to get to level 2, and there were still 3 uses of the Enraged sh remaining.

    Ryder kept walking, and finally, he met another monster.

    It was a different monster this time. It looked like a cute rabbit. The only difference was that it had blood-red eyes.

    "Hey, little guy." Ryder smilingly said.

    He slowly stepped towards the rabbit that looked like it was eating the grass.

    The rabbit looked at him with curious eyes as it watched hime closer. It didn¡¯t run away; neither did it look like it was getting ready to attack. It simply kept eating.

    As soon as Ryder was within the 5 meters range of the rabbit, the rabbit abruptly jumped towards Ryder¡¯s face. Its speed was so fast that even Ryder was stunned.

    He reacted fast and swung his sword. Fortunately, Ryder¡¯s years of experience as a warrior came into y as his sword managed to make contact with the small rabbit.

    The rabbit was killed in an instant.

    Ryder¡¯s already bloodied clothes now had the blood of another animal.

    "Cheh... I feel like a butcher. I must find ake to wash myself off after I get the herbs."

    He was feeling disgusted by the smell of blood. This was the part he always hated about this game. The developers had made everything so real. Even the smell of blood was pungent.

    In the previous timeline, he had managed to find a special item that stopped the smell of blood from affecting it. Unfortunately, he had to start over now.

    [+10 experience]

    [Level +1]

    He saw two floating notifications on a new notification screen.

    He opened his status screen to check on his stats.

    [Name: Hades

    Species: Human

    Level:2

    Experience: 50/150

    Strength: 5

    Defense:4

    Speed:4

    Stamina:4

    Dexterity:3

    Intelligence:5

    Avable stat points: 2

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 1 (1% mastery) ]

    Ryder thought for a while before he decided to use both his stat points. The information on the screen changed.

    [Name: Hades

    Species: Human

    Level:2

    Experience: 50/150

    Strength: 5

    Defense:4

    Speed:4

    Stamina:4

    Dexterity:4(+1)

    Intelligence:6(+1)

    Avable stat points: 0

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 1 (1% mastery) ]

    Satisfied with his stats, he closed the screen and continued on his journey.

 Chapter 30 Shove it up your a..

    <h4>Chapter 30: Shove it up your a..</h4>

    Ryder was already a level 2 yer. He still had 3 uses of {Enraged sh} left for the day; thus, he decided to move deeper into the valley.

    After a short while, he finally noticed the Nine Sun Grass. He realized that he was inside the territory of the 2nd level beasts; strangely enough, only a single beast was there. It was a 2nd level monster that was sleeping right beside the Nine Sun Grass.

    He knew about the beast. He has faced the same beastst time, but he was a level 3 yer at that time. He still decided to check the game screen for the info on the beast, just to be sure. It had been over 3 years since hest faced the beast after all.

    [Name: Profound Bear

    Species: Monster

    Level:2

    A monster that is known for its super strength. It¡¯s only known weak point is its speed.]

    "Oh, right, I can¡¯t see its stats yet. I forgot I don¡¯t have the {All Seer} now " He let out with a disappointed look on his face.

    {All Seer} was a skill that almost all yers were able to learn in the higher stages. It was helpful and called an important skill as it showed the opponent monster¡¯s stats in more detail, including its special skills.

    "Its speed is slow, but I can¡¯t say if it¡¯s slower than me or not. Last time I fought them, I was level 3, and my speed points were 6. They felt slightly slower than me, but now that I have a slower speed, our speed might be the same."

    Ryder fell in thought as he observed the bear.

    " Oh well, What¡¯s the worst that can happen? I¡¯ll just cut them apart by {Enraged sh} if I¡¯m in trouble."

    Ryder smiled as he walked forth with the sword in his hand.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know, but when he said that, a white g was raised above his head.

    He tried to keep his foot silent as he walked towards the grass, but it was at that moment he heard the grim reaper¡¯s voice once more.

    [A new Sub- Mission has been assigned to the host.

    Mission: Take the nine sun herb to the novice vige without attacking the profound bear.

    Reward: "All-Seer¡¯ Skill shall be given to the host.

    Punishment for failure: The host will die in a nuclear st after he fails the mission.

    Time limit: 2 hours.]

    Janus gave him another mission.

    "What the fuck? Did you seriously say that if I fail... There will be a nuclear st in my city?" Ryder asked with an impossible look on his face.

    He felt like Janus was clearly messing with him now.

    [Not in the city. To be precise, the target of the st will be the Host¡¯s room. Though the city might be lost as coteral. There¡¯s no need to worry about it. It¡¯s not like the host was ever going to go to heaven anyway.]

    Janus replied as if he was talking about something minor.

    Ryder¡¯s face twitched as he heard Janus¡¯ reply.

    ¡¯You bastard, Are you telling me that I¡¯m going to hell? More importantly, have you gone crazy? What¡¯s with this scary punishment?¡¯ He said to Janus in his thoughts.

    Ryder wanted to curse Janus loudly, but he didn¡¯t want to wake up the bear now that he wasn¡¯t allowed to attack them.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply anymore.

    ¡¯He doesn¡¯t want to kill me now... He wants to kill everyone.¡¯

    Ryder wanted to cry, but no tears came out of his eyes.

    ¡¯At least increase the reward. The punishment is so scary; the reward must be good as well.¡¯

    Since he was already trapped in this nightmare, he tried to ask for a better deal.

    [Rewards are pre-decided. They can only be decreased, not increased.]Janus replied.

    ¡¯Hmph. Alright, I¡¯ll only take the All-Seer. Don¡¯t increase the reward. Here¡¯s more. You can even keep that nuclear bomb. I have a much better idea; why don¡¯t you shove that up your a..¡¯ Ryder cursed in his mind in anger, but Janus didn¡¯t respond.

    He decided to focus on the task at hand and ignore Janus.

    Ryder stepped forth. There was only a few inches of gap between him and the profound bear. Ryder was moving as slowly as he could so that he wouldn¡¯t wake up the bear.

    He caught the stalk of nine sun grass and brought them out of the ground.

    He gently turned back and was about to leave when he heard some movement behind him.

    He looked back in curiosity, but his eyes opened wide in shock as his eyes met the bear¡¯s eyes.

    The profound bear was awake and looking at him.

    [Janus thinks the host should run.] Janus¡¯ voice appeared in his head again.

    " You bastard, it¡¯s all because of you!" Ryder cursed Janus as he started running. He ran as fast as he could as if his life depended on it, which was true in a sense.

    If he attacked the bear, he would be killed as a punishment. If he didn¡¯t attack the bear and the beast killed him, he would be logged out for 24 hours. In that case, he wouldn¡¯t be able toplete his main mission of being the first person to pass the novice vige and would die as a punishment.

    Now that he thought about it, his life really sucked at the moment.

    The bear kept following him as it roared madly; thankfully, Ryder¡¯s assumption was correct. He and the profound bear had the same speed. If he maintained his current speed, he might be able to seed.

    Unfortunately, the bear¡¯s roar attracted other monsters. 5 more profound bears came out from nearby and started following him. There were only 10 meters of the gap between Ryder and his death... the profound bears.

    Ryder was running when a snow wolf appeared in front of him. It jumped at Ryder.

    "You think you can bully me as well?" Ryder roared in anger as he used Enraged sh.

    [+20 experience points]

    The notification floated in front of him, but he ignored it.

    The snow wolf was sliced apart, but because of the attack, the gap between him and the profound bear had decreased.

    Now there was only a gap of 5 meters between them.

 Chapter 31 Skill cant be deleted

    <h4>Chapter 31: Skill can''t be deleted</h4>

    There was only a gap of 5 meters between Ryder and the profound bears that were chasing after him.

    Ryder could feel the grim reapering after him as he tried his best to run away.

    He was finally out of the territory of the 2nd level beasts and hoped that they wouldn¡¯t chase after him, but they didn¡¯t stop and kept chasing him.

    Ryder was getting tired, but he didn¡¯t stop. He had managed to run to the edge of the beast valley.

    The yers that were fighting the level 1 monsters had finally managed to win their battle, and we¡¯re resting on the ground when they noticed a person running towards them.

    "Hey, look at that guy. Isn¡¯t he the same person that went inside the valley to suicide? Why is he running here? "

    " Might be too scared of the level two beasts. "

    " Maybe he decided to listen to our advice and decided to look for another girlfriend? He must be in a hurry to thank us for our kind advice, that¡¯s why he¡¯s running. Such a nice guy."

    The yers talked amongst themselves with smiles on their faces, but their faces turned white instantly as soon as they saw the beasts following him.

    "Uhmm... Guys? A... Are they level 2 beasts?" One of them stuttered as he saw the beasts after him.

    " Run!!! " They screamed like kids as they stood up and started running away.

    "He doesn¡¯t want to suicide alone! He wants us to kill us too! Run away! "

    They kept screaming as they ran.

    The scene turned into something quite odd.

    More than 20 yers were running away, and a silver-haired man was following them. He himself was being chased by 5 profound bears.

    "Stop following us, you bastard! We don¡¯t want to die with you! "

    " Go somewhere else! Die alone! "

    " I think I can understand why your girlfriend left you! You¡¯re truly Evil! That¡¯s why god gave you a small pp."

    " I don¡¯t want to die" One of the yers was already crying as he ran.

    Unfortunately, all 20 of them had decided to put most of their stat points in strength and defense instead of speed when making their character.

    The distance between them and Ryder kept decreasing. It came to a point when Ryder was running together with them.

    "Sorry guys. me Janus if you want to me someone. It¡¯s all that bastard¡¯s fault." Ryder said without the least bit of shame as he continued running.

    He got ahead of the 20 yers in less than a few minutes. He could hear them cursing, but he shamelessly ignored their curses and continued ahead.

    The profound bears stopped following Ryder and attacked the yers that were closer to them.

    The yers had no choice but to engage in a battle with the level 2 beasts.

    They were all annihted by the beasts, but thankfully, Ryder had managed to enter the safety of the Novice Vige by then.

    He finally stopped as he breathed heavily.

    He turned back to look outside the vige.

    "Sorry guys. I apologize for everything. I wish I could burn incense for you, but I¡¯m too poor at the moment. I¡¯ll never forget your sacrifice, though. You guys are the real heroes. " He let out with a downcast look on his face.

    [Mission Sessful. The host has been given the skill ¡¯All-Seer¡¯]

    "Awesome." A bright smile appeared on his face as he instantly forgot about the sacrifices.

    He opened his status screen, and ¡¯All-Seer¡¯ was there.

    [Name: Hades

    Species: Human

    Level:2

    Experience: 70/150

    Strength: 5

    Defense:4

    Speed:4

    Stamina:4

    Dexterity:4

    Intelligence:6

    Avable stat points: 0

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 1 (1% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 1 (1% mastery) ]

    He tapped on the skill to see if it was the same as before. A new screen opened.

    [Skill: All-Seer

    Skill type: Unique

    Description: A skill that can help the user see the stats of the monsters.

    Restrictions: Stats of monster 1 or more level higher than the user can¡¯t be seen.

    Mastery: 1%]

    "Yup, it¡¯s exactly the same. As expected of Janus, he does make the impossible possible."

    Ryder smiled as he closed the screens and started walking towards the house of the old woman.

    ________________

    In a dark ce, A girl was floating with her eyes closed. The girl looked like she was 14-15 years old, but she didn¡¯t have an actual age as she was the A.I. that controlled the game. She was known by the citizens of Divinity as the goddess Maya.

    She abruptly opened her eyes with a confused look on her face.

    "Someone got the All-Seer? That¡¯s impossible." She muttered as she looked perplexed.

    She made a gesture with her hand as she scanned the data to find the one who got the skill.

    A screen opened in front of her that showed a boy. The boy looked like he was 23 years old. He had light blue eyes and shiny silver hair. He was walking in the novice vige.

    "Show me his stats," She said.

    There was another screen that opened in front of her that showed Ryder¡¯s stats.

    "Hades..." She muttered with a thoughtful look on her face as she saw his stats.

    "A level 2 yer with All-Seer?" She let out.

    "Show me his activity since he joined." She muttered.

    Another screen appeared nearby that started showing a video feed.

    She saw him choosing his stats and entering the novice vige.

    He walked to the vige Elder and learned the Enraged sh.

    Till now, she found nothing wrong. There was only one thing that was strange. It was that she couldn¡¯t hear what he was saying. She could hear what others were saying, but not him.

    The boy got ¡¯Enraged sh.¡¯ He walked into the beast valley. He stole the ¡¯Nine sun grass¡¯ and he... he ran away?

    "Something is wrong, but what? Nothing about this boy makes sense. Most importantly, there is no clue about how he got the All-Seer." She saw the whole feed, but she couldn¡¯t find anything out.

    "Was it a glitch? I¡¯ll just remove that skill then." She muttered as she made another gesture.

    Ryder¡¯s status screen opened again.

    She clicked on All-Seer. Two options appeared in front of her. Upgrade or Delete.

    She tapped on delete.

    [Error: Skill can¡¯t be removed]

    Strangely enough, another screen opened that showed off an Error.

    Her eyes opened wide in surprise as she saw the screen.

 Chapter 32 Shus misfortune

    <h4>Chapter 32: Shu''s misfortune</h4>

    [Error: The skill can¡¯t be removed]

    A red screen was in front of Maya that was showing the error.

    She couldn¡¯t believe that she was unable to remove the skill of the man.

    She tried once more, but the end result was the same.

    "This can¡¯t be happening." She muttered as she fell into deep thoughts.

    She decided to test something else.

    She tapped on Enraged sh.

    Again two options appeared in front of her.

    [Update] [Delete]

    She tapped on delete.

    [Error: The skill can¡¯t be removed]

    Again a red screen appeared in front of her that showed her the error.

    She made another gesture with her hand, and a different screen appeared near her that showed a different person.

    Surprisingly, that person¡¯s yer name was Big Daddy.

    She didn¡¯t know that he knew Ryder. It was just an unfortunate coincidence that he was chosen for the testing.

    ________________

    Since the number of yers in the game was high, there were more than a hundred novice viges. yers were sent to one of them randomly.

    Most of the things were the same in all these viges.

    In one of the viges, a man was walking around.

    The man looked to be in his mid-twenties. He looked somewhat fat, and his height was small, but he was walking in full swag.

    It wasn¡¯t clear how he did it, but he had managed to find some stylish sses that he was wearing at the moment.

    He was going inside the valley to fight level 1 beasts.

    The man was the Owner of Dream Corporation, Shu Maxwell. The man Ryder met during the day.

    "Brother Ryder still hasn¡¯t epted my request. I¡¯ll call him after I log out." Shu muttered in an upset tone as he continued walking ahead with a sword in his hand.

    He had managed to find a level one snow wolf. He ran towards the wolf to have his first fight.

    _________________

    Maya was looking at the screen that showed Shu running towards the beast, but she didn¡¯t care about it.

    "Show me his stats," She said.

    Another screen appeared that showed the status of Shu.

    [Name: Big Daddy

    Species: Human

    Level:2

    Experience: 0/100

    Strength: 5

    Defense:5

    Speed:4

    Stamina:5

    Dexterity:4

    Intelligence:2

    Avable stat points: 0

    Skills:

    sh: Level 1 (0% mastery) ]

    Maya tapped on ¡¯sh,¡¯ and two options appeared in front of her.

    [Update] [Delete]

    She tapped on delete, and a different screen appeared in front of her.

    [Deletion Sessful]

    "It works. There¡¯s no problem here. Then why isn¡¯t it working on the other guy? " She fell into deep thoughts.

    Shepletely forgot about Shu as she closed his screen. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she even forgot to restore his skill.

    _________________

    Shu was running towards the beast with full confidence. He had just learned the skill from the Sword Elder and was ready to show off its effects.

    "You stupid beast! How dare you terrorize thends when this Young Knight is here? You shall be punished! "

    " Eat the special move of Big Daddy! " Shu let out loud as he raised his sword high in the air.

    " sh! " He roared as he swung his sword.

    The sword did manage to hit the wolf, but Shu could feel that something was strange.

    There was no power behind that attack. It felt like a normal swing of the sword.

    He had expected the beast to either be dead or heavily wounded, but only a small wound could be seen on its skin.

    He could see the red eyes of the beast, and he started to regret his decision ofing to face the beast alone.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but there was a weak voice in his head that was telling him something.

    He couldn¡¯t understand what it was saying, but he felt like the voice was telling him that he was fucked now.

    He somewhat agreed with the voice as tears appeared in his eyes.

    ____________________

    Ryder had no idea that his Janus had not only turned his life into a living hell but it also caused poor Shu to be punished.

    Ryder finally found the old woman sitting outside.

    He walked towards her and stopped as he stood in front of her.

    "Grandma, I found the herb for you," Ryder said with a smile.

    "You... you¡¯re back so soon? You¡¯re not hurt, are you?" She was surprised as she saw Ryder and the grass in his hand.

    "I¡¯m perfectly fine. Not even a scratch on me." He said with a smile.

    ¡¯Though I¡¯m not sure about those 20 guys.¡¯ He thought with a wry smile on his face.

    He gave the nine sun grass to her.

    "Thank you, son. Now I might be able to live for longer and see my son once more. I don¡¯t know how I can thank you enough." She said in an emotional tone as he held the nine sun grass in her hand.

    "You don¡¯t need to thank me, grandma. I¡¯m like your son, after all." Ryder said.

    " I shall go now. " He said as he turned back to leave.

    "Wait. I want to give you something." She said suddenly.

    Ryder stopped in his tracks as a grin appeared on his face.

    His expressions returned back to normal as he turned back.

    "I don¡¯t have any money to give, but I can teach you the skill of mine. " She said in a gentle tone.

    " That would be amazing. Thank you, Grandma." Ryder thanked her.

    " Very well. " She smiled.

    A notification screen appeared in front of Ryder.

    [Grandma Wang wants to teach you the skill ¡¯me st.¡¯ Do you want to ept?]

    [Yes] [No]

    Ryder tapped ¡¯Yes.¡¯

    [Skill Learned]

    He checked the description of the skill.

    [Name: me st

    Skill Type: Magic

    Skill Grade: Unique

    Level:1

    Description: A powerful fire st that can burn everything to cinders.

    Daily Limits: 5

    Cooldown Time: 2 minutes]

    "Thank you, Grandma." He thanked the woman before he left.

    "Finally, the preparation isplete." He muttered with a smile on his face.

 Chapter 33 I thought it was a pervert

    <h4>Chapter 33: I thought it was a pervert</h4>

    "Finally, the preparation isplete," Ryder let out with a smile on his face.

    "Nope, everything depends on the execution tomorrow," He said in full seriousness.

    He logged out of the game.

    ________________

    Maya was still trying to understand what was going on.

    She ran a full scan on Divinity, but nothing odd was discovered.

    "Hades..," She muttered softly as she remembered the name.

    Who was the boy who coulde inside her world of Divinity and still be out of her control? She had decided to keep a special eye on him from now on.

    _______________

    Ryder woke up in the real world and took off the Divinity sses. He put the sses in his spatial storage that was awarded to him by Janus.

    It was already midnight by now.

    Ryder had decided to go to sleep and give some real rest to his body.

    He drank a little water from a nearby bottle andid down on the bed.

    ** Pick up the phone, or there¡¯ll be Explooosion... Pick up the phone, or there¡¯ll be Explooosion**

    He had just closed his eyes when his phone started ringing.

    The loud rock music was his favorite, and he used it as a ringtone.

    He picked the phone and brought it closer to his ears. He didn¡¯t even bother checking the number.

    "Brother!!! Why didn¡¯t you answer my friend request?" The person on the phone said.

    " Who the hell are you?" Ryder said as he felt annoyed.

    "I¡¯m Shu! Shu Ma...I mean, Shu! How can you forget me so soon, big brother," Shu said.

    Shu¡¯s voice sounded like he was quite hurt.

    " Oh, fa...I mean, Shu. Sorry, I was a little sleepy. Why did you call me, though?" Ryder asked.

    He finally opened his eyes as he began talking seriously.

    "I sent you a friend request on Divinity. Why didn¡¯t you ept it?" He asked.

    "You sent me a request? When? I only got one request, and that too was from someone named Big Daddy," Ryder replied.

    " That¡¯s me, brother! There can only be one Big Daddy in this world! I¡¯m that Big Daddy!" Shu let out in a determined voice.

    It was as if the title of Big Daddy was really important for him. No one should even think about taking a good title from him.

    "Wait a minute? That was you?" Ryder asked in surprise as if it was the first time he heard about it.

    "Yup. That was me. I told you about it in the morning, didn¡¯t I?" Shu responded.

    " You did? I must have forgotten then. I got the request from some Big Daddy. Judging by the name, I thought that it must belong to a pervert," Ryder replied.

    "That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t answer the request. If I know that you were that perv...I mean, if I knew that you were that person, I would have epted it instantly," Ryder shamelessly lied as he pretended to be ignorant about it.

    "That¡¯s good. Don¡¯t forget to ept tomorrow, alright? I¡¯ll check on the day after tomorrow," Shu said.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but find Shu¡¯s phrasing strange.

    " Why won¡¯t you check tomorrow? " Ryder asked.

    " Well, I can¡¯t log in for the next 24 hours. I was killed today. Speaking of that, do you know? Something really strange happened to me today," Shu replied.

    " I had learned ¡¯sh¡¯ from a sword elder and was facing a snow wolf outside the beast valley, but strangely, I wasn¡¯t able to use the skill. When I tested it before, it was perfectly fine, but when I attacked the wolf, it was like the skill suddenly disappeared. I couldn¡¯t use it. The wolf killed me," He further said.

    " You know what the worst thing is? I had just bragged in front of the newbies that I was going to solo the Wolf. I still remember theirughing faces as I miserably failed," Shu felt like crying as he told his emotional story.

    "Maybe that skill was in the cool down, or you passed the daily limit? It can happen. I think this experience will help you in the future," Ryderforted Shu.

    " Thank you, brother. I feel so much better now," Shu responded.

    Ryder could feel that Shu was actually somewhat anxious before, but he felt quite calm now.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll leave you to your sleep. Good night brother," Shu said.

    "Good night, Shu," Ryder replied.

    Ryder disconnected the phone and put it back.

    He had again closed his eyes and was about to sleep when the grim reaper spoke again.

    [A new Sub-Mission has been assigned to the host.

    Mission: Apologize to Alice for not listening to her.

    Reward: 5 origin points shall be added to the host¡¯s ount.

    Punishment for failure: 10 origin points shall be deducted, and All-Seer will be taken back.

    Time Limit: 10 minutes]

    Janus said.

    "I was wondering when you would appear. You can¡¯t let me rest in peace for a moment, can you? Also, when did I not listen to her," Ryder spoke in an annoyed tone as he sat up.

    Janus didn¡¯t exin.

    This time, Ryder didn¡¯t argue much as he knew that nothing he said would help.

    He stood up and left his room.

    He walked towards Alice¡¯s room. He opened the door and silently entered inside.

    Alice was in a deep sleep in her bed at the moment. Ryder did hesitate for a brief moment, but he took a step forward.

    He stood in front of Alice as he observed her calm sleeping face.

    He couldn¡¯t help but be stunned at how cute she looked when she slept.

    He bent forward and whispered into her ears, " I¡¯m sorry for not listening to you,"

 Chapter 34 Make Maya call you d...

    <h4>Chapter 34: Make Maya call you d...</h4>

    [Mission has beenpleted. Five origin points added to the host¡¯s ount.]

    Ryder heard the system¡¯s announcement and left just as silently as he came.

    Heid down on his bed as he closed his eyes, but he couldn¡¯t clear his mind as he wondered what it was all about.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but his heart was beating fast, and he was somehow feeling angry, but this anger didn¡¯t seem to be towards Janus or Alice.

    "Hey, Janus. Can you stop giving me these senseless missions?" Ryder inquired.

    [No. None of the missions are without reason. Also, none of us would be here if you had just listened, ] Janus replied.

    "What are you talking about? What listened? You talk so vaguely and don¡¯t tell me anything," Ryderined.

    [The Host will understand everything soon enough,] Janus responded.

    "Fine. Keep your vague secrets," Ryder snorted.

    He closed his ears and stopped talking with Janus.

    After half an hour, he finally fell asleep.

    It was early morning as he woke up. He went to the washroom and took a nice shower. He got ready and left his room for breakfast.

    As always, breakfast was already on the table.

    "Such a hard-working girl. She already left for university." He muttered as he sat down on a chair and started eating his breakfast.

    Ryder walked back to his room andid down on his bed as he wore the Divinity sses and logged back inside the game.

    He again appeared in the novice vige.

    "Time to get started. As far as I remember, The Rank 1 yer in thest timeline, Darkness, will reach level 5 tonight. I only have around 12 hours to reach Level 5." He muttered as he started walking towards the exit.

    He left the vige and walked towards the beast valley.

    He already had a target in his mind.

    He stepped inside the valley while ignoring the other yers who were fighting on the outskirts of the valley.

    He entered the depths of the valley.

    As he was walking, A snow wolf jumped at him from behind.

    Ryder swung his sword as he turned around. He didn¡¯t use the Enraged sh, but just a simple attack.

    The sword struck the Snow Wolf. The snow wolf was killed at once as his body fell to the ground.

    [+20 experience points]

    He continued on his journey, and not muchter, he faced another snow, Wolf.

    [+20 experience points]

    He saw another notification as he killed the beast.

    He was finally about to leave the outer vicinity of the beast valley when he saw a small group of snow wolves at some distance. The ground contained four snow wolves.

    It didn¡¯t look like the wolves had seen him yet.

    "Time to test out the spell."

    He raised his hand towards the beast as he muttered a spell.

    "Oh Lord of fire, creator of life

    Give me the strength and burn my enemies to cinders.

    me st! "

    He chanted the spell.

    A small ball of fire left his hand and flew towards one of the wolves.

    The wolf was struck by that ball of me and burned to ashes before it could even have a chance to roar in pain.

    [+20 experience points]

    "The spell seems good, but the range is quite small. It would be so amazing if it were an area of effect skill."

    " It felt good to say the spell, though. The mages looked so cool when they chanted spells." He muttered to himself as he waited for the wolves toe to him.

    The snow wolves noticed him with their fierce eyes and came running towards him.

    Ryder raised his sword and got in an attacking position.

    "Time to collect some XP."

    The battle didn¡¯tst for much longer as the wolves were killed.

    He didn¡¯t use his Enraged sh as he was waiting for the real battles. He could only use them five times a day after all.

    [+20 experience points]

    [+20 experience points]

    [+20 experience points]

    [+1 Level]

    "Nice," He said as he saw his status.

    [Name: Hades

    Species: Human

    Level:3

    Experience: 170/350

    Strength: 7

    Defense:5

    Speed:5

    Stamina:5

    Dexterity:5

    Intelligence:7

    Avable stat points: 2

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 1 (5% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 1 (1% mastery)

    me st: Level 1 (5% mastery) ]

    He used his stat points instantly.

    [Name: Hades

    Species: Human

    Level:3

    Experience: 170/350

    HP: 300

    Strength: 8 (+1)

    Defense:5

    Speed:5

    Stamina:5

    Dexterity:5

    Intelligence: 8 (+1)

    Avable stat points: 0

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 1 (5% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 1 (1% mastery)

    me st: Level 1 (5% mastery) ]

    He continued ahead, and finally, after some more time, he met the beast that made him runst time... the profound bears.

    There was still only one profound bear, and he was still sleeping just like yesterday.

    "You bastard! You made me run for so long. You destroyed all my reputation. Do you think you are allowed to sleep so peacefully? " A smirk appeared on Ryder¡¯s face as he gripped his sword and started walking towards the bear.

    It was time for revenge.

    It was at that moment; a voice sounded in his ears that almost made him fall down to the ground.

    [Ding... A sub-mission has been assigned to the host.

    Mission: Make Maya call you Daddy.

    Reward: Self-satisfaction

    Punishment for failure: You will sleep for 24 hours

    Time limit: 5 hours]

 Chapter 35 Lucifer

    <h4>Chapter 35: Lucifer</h4>

    "You¡¯re just pulling my leg at this point. You know that it¡¯s impossible." He thought in his mind.

    He didn¡¯t want to speak and wake up the profound bear.

    " Also, what the heck is wrong with the reward? Self Satisfaction? Seriously?"

    " You¡¯re just increasing my difficulty unnecessarily. So now, I only have 5 hours to reach level 5, since I will be sleeping for 24 hours at that."

    He was having a headache now, but he didn¡¯t let out affect the target at hand.

    He stepped forward with silent steps as he held a sword in his hand.

    The bear was still sleeping as Ryder stood near the bear.

    Ryder raised his sword in the air as he thrust it down. The sword prated the head of the Profound Bear, who abruptly opened his eyes and roared in pain as he took hisst breath.

    [+50 experience points]

    The Profound Bear¡¯s roar was quite loud and attracted the attention of quite a lot of beasts.

    Three more Profound Bears came running as they heard the pained cry of their partner.

    "You bastards are here. It¡¯s good. I wanted to let you see the consequences of destroying my reputation. " A grin appeared on his face as he gazed at the Profound Bears.

    He looked like a hungry man who had found a delicious meal.

    The Profound Bears roared loudly as they started running towards Ryder.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder said as he swung his sword with full strength.

    His sword managed to strike the profound bear that was closest to him. The bear died instantly as it fell to the ground.

    [+50 experience points]

    He didn¡¯t stop there and attacked the next bear.

    He used 2 more Enraged sh and killed the remaining bears.

    [+50 experience points]

    [+50 experience points]

    [+1 Level]

    A smile appeared on his face as he heard the announcement.

    [Name: Hades

    Species: Human

    Level:4

    Experience: 370/700

    HP: 300

    Strength: 9

    Defense:6

    Speed:6

    Stamina:6

    Dexterity:6

    Intelligence: 9

    Avable stat points: 2

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 1 (1/5 Uses Left)

    All-Seer: Level 1

    me st: Level 1 (4/5 Uses Left) ]

    "Hah, finally level 4. One more, and I¡¯ll be done. But I can¡¯t leave this ce yet. I will take that with me. I can¡¯t stay unknown this time. I will make everyone know the name of Hades in the world of Divinity. Time to be the first." He muttered to himself as he saw his stats.

    He used both his stat points on Speed as he prepared for the next part of his n.

    [Name: Hades

    Species: Human

    Level:4

    Experience: 370/700

    HP: 300

    Strength: 9

    Defense:6

    Speed:8(+2)

    Stamina:6

    Dexterity:6

    Intelligence: 9

    Avable stat points: 0

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 1 (1/5 Uses Left)

    All-Seer: Level 1

    me st: Level 1 (4/5 Uses Left) ]

    He walked even deeper into the beast valley as he tried to look for a cave.

    Ryder had never seen that cave when he was in the novice vigest time, but he had heard it in an announcement.

    There was unique equipment hidden within the beast valley, and only the ones who weren¡¯t level 5 yet could get to it.

    Three years ago, When Ryder was still a level 4 yer in the novice vige, he had heard the announcement.

    [First unique Equipment has been discovered in the world of Divinity. The Equipment Ranking is unlocked.]

    Ryder had checked his notification panel and saw a Ranking Section there.

    [Rank Equipment Grade Owner

    1). Moon Scythe Unique Lucifer]

    That was the first time someone had heard of a yer named Lucifer. The name that would go on to be the most well-known name in the world of Divinity.

    Since the Scythe was discovered by Lucifer, the developers did disclose the mystery behind the scythe. The others tried to do the same, but just as people had expected, only the first person to achieve that feat was able to get that scythe.

    He was awed by Lucifer and waited to be someone like him. He had the opportunity to meet Lucifer once, but their first meeting didn¡¯t go as nned. It ended with Ryder being killed by Lucifer. He was able to log in after 24 hours, but he did lose a level. From that day, he hated Lucifer.

    That¡¯s why Ryder wanted to take the first rank. He not only wanted the fame but his revenge as well.

    Ryder wanted to find the cave where Lucifer had found that Scythe, but he didn¡¯t know the exact location.

    The only thing he knew was that it was in the depths of the beast valley.

    As Ryder was roaming through the Beast Valley, he did manage to earn 100 experience points from the beasts that appeared in his path.

    After looking around the valley for another hour, he did find a cave. He didn¡¯t know if it was the real cave, but it was the only one he found.

    He prayed that it was the one as he entered the cave.

    Till now, he had done everything. All the preparation was for this moment alone.

    Even the magic he learned was for this one thing. Just so that he could be prepared for what he was to face.

    Ryder stepped inside the cave.

    The cave was quite dark, but Ryder was able to see a little.

    Ryder stepped inside the cave.

    As he entered the cave, he felt like vomiting. The stinky smell was simply unbearable.

    "I have never regretted not having my Senses Controlling skill, as much as I do at this moment. This ce is simply hell."

    He controlled himself as he stepped inside. He had his sword in his hand while his other hand was empty, ready to cast the me st spell at any moment.

 Chapter 36 Spider Queen

    <h4>Chapter 36: Spider Queen</h4>

    Ryder entered the dark cave and continued to advance deeper.

    As he walked inside, he felt quite a lot of spider webs nearby that had made a wall of sorts. To enter inside, Ryder had to pass through the walls of webs.

    He used his sword as he kept cutting through the webs and moving deeper, but since the webs were so sticky, quite a lot of them were stuck to him.

    Ryder was walking when he felt like he had stepped on something odd.

    As soon as his footnded on the ground, the spot his feetnded on sunk into the ground.

    Ryder had a bad feeling. He instantly got down to the ground.

    *Swoosh*

    As soon as hey on the ground, he heard the sound of something passing from above his head.

    It was not just one either.

    Ryder looked around and saw more than 10 arrows stuck to the ground on the opposite side of the wall.

    "Traps? Why wasn¡¯t there any record of it in the information 3 years ago? The yers that entered the cave never described any trap. Was this just for the first person who entered? Did Lucifer face it as well?" Ryder wondered as he stood up.

    He didn¡¯t think about it for long, but he had decided on one thing.

    He had to be careful inside the cave as anything could pop out at any moment. Only the previous timeline¡¯s Lucifer knew what exactly was inside; unfortunately, Lucifer never talked to anyone.

    He never gave interviews, unlike other famous yers. His identity was always a secret, as well.

    Ryder walked deeper as he kept his wariness at maximum.

    He had his sword in his hand. Although he didn¡¯t face any more traps, he did face quite a lot of spider webs.

    At this point, Ryder was sure that there was a Spider Demon inside.

    "Just how long is this cave! I have been walking for 20 minutes, and no end is in sight." He couldn¡¯t help but curse.

    Not much time had passed when the cave branched out into two different caves.

    Ryder chose the right one and continued ahead.

    "There you are!" He let out loud as he heard some noise behind.

    Ryder swung his sword towards his back. The sword did strike something.

    A spider was hanging on a single web thread. It was split into two parts as the sword passed through.

    [+10 experience points]

    The spider was the size of a full-grown chicken.

    Ryder had just managed to kill one of the spiders when he heard more noise.

    He turned back and saw more than twenty spidersing towards him.

    Through All-Seer, Ryder was able to see their stats.

    [Name: Spider Spawns

    Level: 1

    Strength:3

    Defense:3

    Speed:4

    Dexterity:3

    Intelligence:1

    Skills: Web creation]

    Ryder raised his hands towards the spiders as he chanted a spell.

    "Oh Lord of fire, creator of life

    Give me the strength and burn my enemies to cinders.

    me st! "

    A ball of fire appeared out of thin air and struck the spider in the front.

    The spider screeched in pain as its body started burning.

    Since the spiders were so close to each other, the fire spread from one spider to the second without any obstruction.

    [+10 experience points]

    [+10 experience points]

    [+10 experience points]

    ...

    ...

    [+10 experience points]

    He got around 20 notifications as all the spiders died from the fire.

    "No wonder Lucifer was able to level up so easily. This ce is like heaven for earning experience points. Just those 20 spiders alone were worth 200 points.

    He continued ahead with a wide grin on his face. He couldn¡¯t help but hope that he met more groups of spiders.

    Ryder walked only four minutes more before he saw a coffin-shaped box in front of him.

    "That must be the treasure box having that Scythe. The length is just right."Ryder smiled as he stepped forward, but he didn¡¯t lower his wariness.

    He stepped towards the coffin, but it was at that moment, a single thread of web came towards him out of nowhere.

    Ryder swung his sword, but the web was so sticky and solid, the sword wasn¡¯t able to cut it.

    The sticky web struck Ryder¡¯s chest. He looked at the distance and noticed that the other end of the sticky thread was attached to a wall.

    He was trying his best to remove the thread from his body when the same thing happened again.

    The same thing happened about 10 times. Ryder was able to dodge most of the time, but he was still stuck with 4.

    All the threads came from different directions.

    If a person were to look from the top, he would see Ryder at the center of what looked like a web.

    Ryder had realized what was happening, but he couldn¡¯t see who was doing it.

    "It must be a spider as well. It looks like it has an invisibility skill. Quite handy, I must say." Ryder muttered as he waited.

    He wasn¡¯t anxious as he waited for the spider to show itself. He was keeping his mind calm.

    Ryder was waiting and looking all around to see a glimpse of the spider, but the spider didn¡¯t show itself.

    It stealthily kept attacking and trying to bind Ryder; fortunately, Ryder was able to keep his hand free.

    "There¡¯s a pattern." He muttered as he kept observing.

    Finally, a smile appeared on his face as he started muttering something.

    "Oh Lord of fire, creator of life

    Give me the strength and burn my enemies to cinders.

    me st! "

    He pointed his hand in a certain direction. An orb of fire appeared near his hand and advanced in the direction he was pointing in.

    The ball of fire managed to strike something as Ryder heard a screech.

    A big spider finally became visible.

    Unfortunately, the me st hadn¡¯t managed to kill it.

    [Name: Spider Queen

    Level: 5

    HP: 1600/2000

    Strength:10

    Defense:7

    Speed:6

    Dexterity:10

    Intelligence:5

    Skills: Web creation, Invisibility]

    Since you showed yourself, I might as well use this opportunity to the fullest.

    Ryder said with a smile as he chanted the spell again.

    The spider looked like it was mad as it stopped ying along and ran at Ryder.

    "Oh Lord of fire, creator of life

    Give me the strength and burn my enemies to cinders.

    me st! "

 Chapter 37 Successors of Salem

    <h4>Chapter 37: Sessors of Salem</h4>

    Another fire st struck the spider. The spider stopped in its tracks as it let out a pained cry.

    Since the skill was on cooldown and Ryder didn¡¯t want to waste time, he ran towards the spider with his sword.

    "Enraged sh!" He let out as he swung his sword at the spider whose body had stopped burning.

    The sword struck the spider, but the spider still wasn¡¯t dead.

    He used the me st again, but this time from much closer.

    The me st struck the spider, which was already in pain.

    The spider was swinging its legs madly in hopes of striking Ryder, but Ryder protected himself with his sword.

    Ryder fought the Spider Queen, but he kept his eyes on its HP as well.

    As soon as he saw that the spider had the lowest HP, he shed his sword with full strength; the sword prated the body of the spider, but he didn¡¯t stop to see the result as he ran towards the coffin.

    He slid off the top of the coffin.

    He was stunned to find an old dried up skeleton inside the coffin. A pitch-ck Scythe was in the hands of the skeleton.

    [+200 experience points]

    [+1 Level]

    He saw a small notification pop up nearby.

    "Sorry bro, I don¡¯t have much time." He said as he extended his hand and tried pulling the Scythe. He knew that he didn¡¯t have much time.

    Since he went through the novice vige before, he knew that he would be teleported in front of the novice vige Elder,5 minutes after he reached level 5.

    He only has 5 minutes to take the Scythe.

    He kept trying, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn¡¯t take the scythe.

    "Come on! Move!" He screamed in anger.

    The scythe didn¡¯t move, but something else moved.

    A weak yellow light started shining in the eye sockets of the skeleton.

    Ryder noticed it and couldn¡¯t help but take a step back as he released the scythe.

    He didn¡¯t run, though. He pointed his sword towards the Skeleton as he stood in an alert position.

    "Will you help me fulfill myst wish?" A voice came out of the skeleton.

    Ryder was wondering what was happening when a small screen opened in front of him.

    [Special Quest: A quest has been discovered. The mysterious skeleton wants you to fulfill hisst wish.

    Reward for epting the quest: Moon Scythe.

    Will you ept the question?]

    There was a yes or no option below the question on the screen.

    "A special quest? Come-on! At least tell me yourst wish." Ryder said as he looked at the skeleton, but the skeleton didn¡¯t reply.

    5 minutes had almost passed away, and his body had started shining.

    With no other choice, he clicked on ¡¯Yes¡¯ and epted the quest.

    He stepped forward and pulled the Scythe again, but there was no obstruction this time.

    He easily got the Moon Scythe this time.

    The 5 minutes were over, and he disappeared from his position.

    Ryder¡¯s surroundings changed as he appeared in the Novice Vige.

    He was standing in front of the Vige Elder.

    "Congrattions, young man. You are strong enough to leave this vige."

    The vige Elder spoke, but Ryder¡¯s focus was on something else entirely.

    He was looking at the notification he received after epting the quest.

    He was informed that he had received a new title. This information made a frown appear on his face as he knew that titles were quite rare.

    He opened his stats to see his title.

    [Name: Hades

    Title: Sessor of Salem

    Species: Human

    Level:5

    Experience: 780/1400

    HP: 800+200

    Mana: 1200

    Strength: 15

    Defense:8

    Speed:9

    Stamina:12

    Dexterity:10

    Intelligence: 20

    Avable stat points: 2

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 2 (15% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 2 (1% mastery)

    me st: Level 2 (5% mastery) ]

    "What the fuck?" He almost cursed out loud as he saw his stats.

    He couldn¡¯t understand what was happening.

    "Sessor of Salem? Was that skeleton Salem? Why have I not heard of him before?" He muttered with a thoughtful look on his face.

    He tapped on the title to know more about it.

    A different screen opened in front of him.

    [Sessor of Salem: The Sessor of the fallen Lord of Chaos. A title given by Salem himself.

    Bonus:

    1) Mana: (+1200)

    2) HP: (+200)

    3) All skills: (+1 Level)

    Restriction: Unknown]

    "Such an OP title. I¡¯ve had a title before, but that was nothingpared to it. This one is simply amazing." A smile formed on his face.

    " Ah, Young man? Are you listening?" The Vige Elder tapped on Ryder¡¯s shoulder as he didn¡¯t get any reaction from him.

    "Oh, right.Thanks, Elder. I¡¯m ready to go." Ryder responded.

    Although he didn¡¯t hear a single word of the vige Elder, he knew the gist of it since he went through something simr before.

    " Good. Step on the..." Before the elder could evenplete his words, Ryder was already standing on top of a circr formation.

    The formation started shining brightly, and Ryder disappeared.

    He appeared in front of the entrance of his main destination. He was standing in front of the capital city of the Kingdom of Este.

    Before he could even take a step forward, he saw a notification.

    [The first person to leave Novice Vige: +200 fame points.]

    Soon after, he heard a system-wide announcement. He knew it was about toe from the moment he got that Scythe.

    [First unique Equipment has been discovered in the world of Divinity. The Equipment Ranking is unlocked.]

    Ryder had checked his notification panel and saw a Ranking Section there.

    [Rank Equipment Grade Owner

    1). Moon Scythe Unique Hades]

 Chapter 38 Choosing a class

    <h4>Chapter 38: Choosing a ss</h4>

    It didn¡¯t end there, and he heard another system-wide announcement.

    [The first yer has passed the Novice Vige. Hades is awarded 200 fame points. The Fame Ranking is unlocked.]

    A proud smile appeared on his face as he checked the ranking as well.

    [Fame Ranking:

    Rank yer Fame Points

    1) Hades 200 ]

    "Nice. I wish I could see the expression on that bastard Lucifer¡¯s face." He chuckled as he started walking towards the kingdom.

    ______________

    Back in a different beast valley, a person was going through a dark cave and fighting the spider demons when the person heard the system-wide announcement.

    A frown appeared on the person¡¯s face.

    _________________

    Ryder was allowed entry as he showed the guards the pass given by Vige Elder.

    He entered the city. Thest time he was here, he had to ask directions from people, but this time he didn¡¯t need to do it.

    He straight-up walked to a Church to get his ss.

    He was ready to choose a ss, but he never realized that things weren¡¯t going to be how he thought.

    Ryder walked towards the church, and after 29 minutes, he reached the church. It was a ce where one could get sses after passing the novice vige trials.

    He stepped inside and was greeted by a priest.

    "How may I help you, young man?" The priest asked Ryder.

    "Sir, I came here to join the order of the goddess and be bestowed a ss." He said.

    It was something one must say to get a ss.

    "Oh, you must be one of the yers. The special humans that are blessed by the goddess¡¯. Follow me, young man," He said with a smile as he started walking towards the deeper parts of the church.

    Ryder followed the man.

    The priest stopped in front of a door. There was a special symbol on the door.

    It was a symbol that Ryder had seen hundreds of times. It was the symbol of Divinity.

    The priest opened the door and looked at the man.

    "Go inside, Young man. You can select one of the 5 sses inside." The priest said with a gentle smile on his face.

    Ryder entered the room.

    Although from the outside, it looked like a simple room. From the inside, it was like a hall. The hall was even bigger than the main hall of the church.

    There were 5 tables at the other end of the hall, and 5 people were sitting in a chair behind those tables.

    "Hey, Look! A boy is here! Finally, someone came. It was getting so boring."

    A woman was sitting behind one of the tables. She was wearing a magician robe and held a staff in her hand.

    "Hey, boy! Come here, quick! We can get it done faster if we start right now." The mage said.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly as he heard her words. He couldn¡¯t help but think that her words could so easily be misunderstood.

    He stepped forward.

    "Hey, Tracy! Don¡¯t try to steal someone from me! He¡¯s a man! Of course, he¡¯ll choose to be a warrior." A heavy voice came from nearby.

    A heavily armored man was sitting on the table right beside her. He had a bulky body and looked to be in his early forties.

    Ryder recognized him as a warrior.

    "You¡¯re the first person toe here. That can only mean that you have quite the potential. Why don¡¯t you use your potential for the best of the world and be a priest? You shall be granted the ability to heal people." Another person said.

    He was wearing a white dress and looked like a gentleman. The man looked the same age as the warrior, but his body proportions were smaller.

    "Hey boy, Don¡¯t listen to them. Select the hunter ss. You can stealthily attack your opponents from a distance. Since you¡¯re the first person toe here, I can even give you this bow."

    Another man said. He was sitting at the table in the corner and had a bow on his table.

    "If you want stealth, then what could be better than the thief ss. You¡¯ll be granted so many amazing skills; you can be like an assassin. No one would dare to oppose you." Thest person said with a smile.

    It was a girl who looked like a 17-18-year-old. She was wearing quite exhibiting clothes.

    It didn¡¯t take long for everyone to start arguing amongst themselves. They all called their ss the best.

    There were 5 sses for a person to choose from at the beginning.

    These 5 sses were the Warrior, Magic practitioner, Thief, Priest, and Hunter.

    Thest time Ryder was here, he had chosen the Warrior ss, but this time he had his thoughts set on Magic Practitioner. A ¡¯Magic Practitioner¡¯ ss could be upgraded to a ¡¯Magic Warrior¡¯ in the future; that¡¯s what he set his hopes on.

    Although the ¡¯Warrior¡¯ ss could also be upgraded to ¡¯Magic Knight,¡¯ upgrading from ¡¯Magic Practitioner¡¯ to a ¡¯Magic Warrior¡¯ was easier than upgrading from Warrior to a Magic Knight.

    "Sorry guys, but I have decided what I want to choose for the moment," Ryder said in an apologetic tone as he stepped towards the Mage.

    "Hahaha! I knew it. It is clear from the moment I saw you that you aren¡¯t stupid. Come, boy! I¡¯ll make you a Magic Practitioner." The woman said with a smile.

    She looked towards the others in a gloating manner.

    Ryder stopped in front of her as he extended his hand without her asking. He knew the process, after all.

    Although the woman was stunned as Ryder did what she wanted without her asking, she didn¡¯t think too much about it.

    She extended her hand and held Ryder¡¯s hands.

    [The Mage wants to give you a ss. Will you ept?]

    He heard the game¡¯s notification and saw a screen with yes or no icon.

    He tapped on Yes.

    [Error! Since the Quest of Salem has been epted, this ss can¡¯t be selected.]

 Chapter 39 So shameless!

    <h4>Chapter 39: So shameless!</h4>

    He heard an error message.

    "Strange. I can¡¯t pass the mage ss onto you. It looks like you aren¡¯t made to walk on the path of magic. Such a pity."

    The woman said as she sighed. She released Ryder¡¯s hand.

    Ryder was stunned, but he knew better than to curse his destiny. He had other options, after all.

    "Ahh... Sir Warrior, I realize that bing a warrior is my destiny. Please grant me the warrior ss." He said without the least bit of shame as he switched teams.

    He slid to the right and stood in front of the warrior.

    "Hahaha, I can understand. You were bewitched by that woman¡¯s charms and finally realize that you¡¯re made to be a warrior." The Warrior responded with a lightugh.

    He held Ryder¡¯s hands and passed his ss.

    [The Warrior wants to give you a ss. Will you ept?]

    He heard the game¡¯s notification and saw a screen with a yes or no icon.

    He tapped on Yes.

    [Error! Since the Quest of Salem has been epted, this ss can¡¯t be selected.]

    ¡¯Fuck!¡¯ He almost cursed out loud but controlled himself.

    "Sorry, young man. It looks like it¡¯s not in your destiny to be a Warrior.

    Ryder didn¡¯t give up as he looked at the Thief in the corner.

    He hurriedly walked up to her, but the results were the same.

    The same thing happened with the hunter.

    Only the Priest was left. Although he didn¡¯t want to be a priest, with no choice, he walked towards the priest.

    Ryder had tried to get 4 sses, but all four tries ended up in failure. He couldn¡¯t be a Mage, Warrior, Hunter, or a Thief.

    The only option left was to be a priest.

    Although he didn¡¯t want to be a priest, being a priest was better than being nothing.

    He stepped towards the Priest with a disappointed look on his face.

    "Hey, boy. Can you at least pretend to be somewhat happy? I know that the priest ss is not the most exciting, but it¡¯s not as bad as your expressions are making it look. " The priest was somewhat upset as he noticed Ryder¡¯s upset expression.

    The other mentors were trying to control theirughter as they looked at the priest.

    "Oh, sorry senior. I was thinking about something else. It wasn¡¯t about the ss. In fact, although I haven¡¯t said it before, I have wanted to be a priest since my childhood. I wanted to be a priest when I came here."

    " Unfortunately, I came under the effects of the luring words of others. I apologize, senior."

    Ryder shamelessly lied as he tried to coax the Priest.

    "Hahaha... I believe you. The other guys are indeed quite shameless! They dared poach you? It¡¯s good that you learned the truth at the right time. " The priest believed his words as he startedughing loudly.

    The other 4 that wereughing previously had their mouths opened now.

    "So, shameless!" They all said at the same time.

    "Don¡¯t disturb me. Let me give this saintly young man the ss he deserves." The priest let out as he red at the others.

    "Come on, Young Man. Show me your hands." The priest said to Ryder.

    Ryder extended his hand.

    The priest caught his hand and began the process of giving a ss.

    [The Priest wants to give you a ss. Will you ept?]

    He heard the game¡¯s notification and saw a screen with a yes or no icon.

    He tapped on Yes.

    [Error! Since the Quest of Salem has been epted, this ss can¡¯t be selected.]

    The cursed notification again appeared in front of him.

    "What the fuck!" This time he couldn¡¯t control himself as he cursed out loud.

    "Sorry, young man. I¡¯m unable to give you the ss. I apologize." Although the priest was visibly upset as Ryder cursed out loud, he still gently replied to him.

    "So strange! This boy is the first one toe to get a ss, and he can¡¯t get any ss. It¡¯s so strange. " The mage let out with a stunned look on her face.

    Even she couldn¡¯t believe that Ryder couldn¡¯t get a single ss.

    "Don¡¯t worry, young man. Although you couldn¡¯t get a ss today, there are quite a lot of unique sses out there. Maybe you¡¯re destined to get one of them." The Warrior tried tofort Ryder.

    "If you can¡¯t get an adventurer ss, you can get a professional ss as well. You can be a merchant. They can get quite rich."The thief said as well.

    Ryder didn¡¯t say anything as he silently left the ce.

    He left the church in anger.

    "This fucking Salem quest! Did I really have less troublesst time, and now I got more?" He let out in annoyance.

    [The main Mission of being the first person to leave the Novice Vige had beenpleted. The assigned reward has been given.]

    He heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    "Perfect timing. Fast as always." Ryder let out sarcastically.

    [Reminder! Only 10 minutes left before the time for the Sub Mission will be over.

    If the host can¡¯tplete the mission, He shall fall asleep for 24 hours.]

    "Whatever. It¡¯s not like sleeping for 24 hours would do anything now. I alreadypleted the dangerous one. " Ryder said as he left.

    He personally believed that there was no way he could make Maya call him Daddy in the next 10 minutes. He was prepared to lose.

    He walked forward as he wondered what he could do now that he had no ss.

    As he was walking, he stopped in his tracks as he saw a familiar face.

    He couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing.

 Chapter 40 Completed

    <h4>Chapter 40: Completed</h4>

    He clenched his fist as he controlled himself.

    Maya, the artificial intelligence, and the A.I in charge of the game was floating in front of him.

    Ryder stood there in front of her. None of them said anything for quite some time before Ryder finally spoke.

    "Do you need something?" He asked Maya.

    "I¡¯m here to get some answers from you," Maya said as she gazed at Ryder.

    She even ran the full diagnostics on the system of Divinity, but she couldn¡¯t find anything wrong. She finally decided to ask Ryder himself.

    " Sure, Go ahead. " He replied.

    " How did you get the ¡¯All-Seer¡¯ skill? If you answer me honestly, you won¡¯t get punished. In fact, you will be rewarded." She said to Ryder.

    ¡¯Rewarded? Was the reward you gave mest time not enough? " He thought as he red at her.

    He suddenly thought of an idea. A smirk formed on his face as he looked at her.

    "I can tell you all about it, but you would need to do something for me." He said.

    "Sure. Tell me, and I¡¯ll give you whatever you ask." She responded.

    " Nope. First, you need to do it, and then I¡¯ll tell you." He said to her as he shook his head.

    " Alright. Tell me what I need to do? " She replied instantly. The answer to her question was more important for her than anything else.

    "Call me, Daddy." He said something that he never expected he would ever say to aputer program. Especially the one that looked like a little girl.

    "What? Are you sure?" Maya looked at him with a weird look on her face.

    She thought that he would ask for a special weapon or a special skill, but she never expected his request to be so weird.

    "I¡¯m sure. That¡¯s all I need from you." He said with a smile on his face as he gazed at her.

    "All I need you to do is what I said. Nothing more." Ryder said to the girl.

    He somewhat felt like a grown-up man doing something bad. Fortunately, no one he knew saw what he was doing.

    Maya just looked at him for quite some time as she tried to process what was happening. Everything was quite weird for her. His request was simple, but she felt like something was wrong.

    "Hurry, I don¡¯t have much time. I need to go on quests." He said as he looked here and there like he was about to leave.

    ¡¯Alright. I¡¯ll do as you said." She said as she looked at him.

    " D... Daddy, " She said in a low voice.

    "What? I didn¡¯t hear you?" Ryder said as if he didn¡¯t hear her words. He didn¡¯t know why, but he was quite enjoying it.

    "Daddy, tell me your secret!" She said, but this time somewhat louder.

    [Ding! Sub Mission has beenpleted. The host has already received the reward... Self Satisfaction.]

    He heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    He was quite enjoying the whole situation, but Janus¡¯ words ruined it. Now he felt like he was a pervert for getting self Satisfaction in this situation.

    "Alright, I heard you. That¡¯s enough." He said as he replied to her.

    "You didn¡¯t give me my answer!" She said as she red at him.

    " There¡¯s one more thing. I need an answer." He asked.

    " You said you only have one request." She said as she responded in anger.

    " Well, I did have one request. But I also need you to tell me something since it¡¯s because of you I¡¯m stuck in this situation. I won¡¯t tell you anything if you don¡¯t answer me first." He said to her.

    " Alright. Ask your question." She finally said.

    " It¡¯s my ss! I can¡¯t get any ss! What the hell am I supposed to do? " Heined.

    " It¡¯s not my fault. You¡¯re the one who selected that quest of Salem. I can do nothing about it. It¡¯s a restriction of that quest. You can only select the ss that Salem himself had. And to get that ss, you¡¯ll find out what you have to do in the future. The moon scythe is the key to everything. I can¡¯t tell anything else about the quest." She replied.

    " What ss did Salem have? " He asked as he grew curious.

    "His ss was Demon Monarch. " She replied to him. As she talked about the ss, Ryder could feel like she hated the ss.

    Though Ryder was more stunned at the special ss itself, his mouth was opened as he repeated the words.

    "Isn¡¯t that... isn¡¯t that too..." He found it hard to speak his next words.

    "Enough about that! Give me my answers now. I¡¯vepleted two of your requests now. Tell me how you got the All-Seer skill. " She got back to the topic as she asked him.

    " That? I got that as a reward from the ..." Ryder stopped himself as he remembered the shock that coursed through his body the first time he tried speaking Janus¡¯ name.

    "I got this ss from Divinity. I¡¯m not sure, but maybe Ipleted a special quest or satisfied the parameters or something? To be honest, I¡¯m not quite sure." Ryderpleted his words, though, in the form of a lie.

    Maya looked at him as she observed his reaction, but she couldn¡¯t feel that he was lying. His heartbeat was quite normal as well.

    "Are you sure that you know nothing about it?" She asked again.

    " Yup," Ryder responded.

    " Then why did you make me call you, Daddy? Were you making fun of me?" She said further.

    " Oh, no. I fulfilled my promise and told you what you wanted; in return, I asked you to tell me what I wanted. It¡¯s not unfair." Ryder replied with a smile.

    " I¡¯m leaving now."

    Ryder turned back as he left.

    Although he wanted his revenge on Maya, he had a n of his own on how to do it. It wasn¡¯t the time yet, so he had to act normal.

 Chapter 41 Chain-Mission

    <h4>Chapter 41: Chain-Mission</h4>

    Ryder opened the notification of the system and finally epted Shu¡¯s request since he had promised himst time.

    Though he was sure that Shu wouldn¡¯t be online since he was logged out for 24 hours for dying.

    "The Quest of Salem... Just what does that skeleton want me to do? All he said was that I need to fulfill his wish? "

    " Now that I think about it, he does sound somewhat like Janus. Janus is always making me fulfill his wishes as well. Both the men are the enemy of mine." Ryder let out in an annoyed tone.

    As he was walking, he wasn¡¯t sure if Janus heard his words or not, but it was exactly at that time, Janus gave him another mission.

    [The second part of the Chain-Mission has been selected for the host.

    Mission: Make Maria¡¯s husband give all his property to you.

    Restrictions: You can¡¯t use any force. He should give you all his property willingly.

    Reward 1): The System shall be upgraded to level 2 if the mission ispleted in time.

    Reward 2): XP and leveling system will be given to the host in real life if the mission ispleted in half time.

    Punishment for failure: Host¡¯s house shall crumble down to dust because of a weak earthquake. The earthquake will be so weak, that most of your neighbors willugh at your situation.

    Time limit: 2 weeks]

    Janus gave the mission.

    Ryder, who was talking a lot, suddenly turned silent as he heard the mission.

    "What the heck is wrong with this mission!" He cursed out loud.

    "Maria is the girl that I met at the Divinity Sale. She brought her boyfriend to beat me up. That woman had a husband? That¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is, how the fuck can I make her husband give me all his property? That too... willingly?" Ryder wanted to cry, but no tears came out.

    " Also, what the fuck is with the punishment? Are you kidding me? " He didn¡¯t even know what to say about the punishment.

    "There¡¯s no joke involved," Janus replied to Ryder¡¯s question.

    "Hey, Janus. Can I ask you a question?" Ryder said to Janus.

    " Yes. " Janus replied.

    " Be honest alright? Were we enemies in our previous life? Or Did I kill you in myst life? " Ryder asked in full seriousness.

    " No. " Janus replied.

    "Then... Did I screw your mother or sister in myst life? There must be a reason for you to screw my life?" Ryder said sarcastically.

    [Correction: The system made a mistake when giving thest mission. The Time Limit was 10 days, not two weeks. The host has been notified.]

    Janus responded.

    "Hey! You can¡¯t do it! I was just asking a question!" Ryder was stunned as he saw the action of Janus.

    [Host¡¯s stupid question has nothing to do with it. The mistake by the system was genuine.]

    Janus replied to Ryder, but Ryder couldn¡¯t feel that Janus was upset. His tone wasn¡¯t neutral at all.

    Ryder tried asking for forgiveness again and again, but Janus didn¡¯t budge even a little.

    Ryder was starting to regret opening his mouth at this time.

    He logged out of the game.

    Ryder woke up in the outside world.

    It was around 8 am in the real world when Ryder woke up.

    He left his room and walked towards the kitchen.

    Like always, the breakfast was ready and Alice had left for university.

    He ate breakfast while he roamed the on his phone for news rted to Divinity.

    There were already so many articles about the game and it had only been two days.

    The thing that actually made him smile was people talking about Hades on the.

    There were quite a few articles on the about the first person to pass the novice Vige.

    He read one of the forums since he was starting to enjoy reading about him.

    He stumbled on a conversation between a few gamers.

    "Hades became a level 5 yer in less than 2 days. So incredible. I wonder who Hades is..." BattleHungry209 wrote.

    "What¡¯s so special about it? I would have achieved that as well if I hadn¡¯t met an idiot. Because of him, I was locked out of the game for a day." ChunniMaster121 wrote.

    " How can you say that? And what idiot are you talking about?" Another just named BigduckEnergy27 joined in on the conversation and asked.

    " An idiot with a small dick. Apparently, his wife left him for a taxi driver and he entered the beast valley to suicide. But he was so scared that he ran back." ChunniMaster121 wrote.

    " How is that rted to your death, man? Don¡¯t tell me you were that taxi driver and he killed you in rage?" BigduckEnergy27 replied with aughing emoji.

    "That idiot didn¡¯te out of the valley alone! There were 5 level 2 profound bears chasing him. He used us as bait of the profound bears and escaped himself. I fought valiantly and killed 4 profound bears, but the 5th one got me." ChunniMaster121 said.

    " Ow man, I feel bad for you. If it makes you feel any better, you can think about the fact that his wife is with a taxi driver while he¡¯s probably jerking off at home alone." BigduckEnergy27 replied.

    Ryder¡¯s face was twitching the more he read the conversation.

    He realized that ChunniMaster121 was most probably one of the guys that were killed because of him, but still, he couldn¡¯t help but feel angry.

    He wanted to write a befitting reply but he controlled himself and closed the webpage.

 Chapter 42 Some guy named Lucifer

    <h4>Chapter 42: Some guy named Lucifer</h4>

    He was done with dinner and ready to get to work.

    He looked at a card and dialed a number.

    The card contained Maria¡¯s number. The one that he received from Maria when he pretended to be Shu Maxwell toplete a mission.

    "Hello? Who¡¯s this?" Maria picked up the phone and asked.

    " Oh, hey. It¡¯s Ryder... Ryder Maxwell? We met a few days ago?" Ryder said.

    " Oh, Mr. Maxwell? Wow... I was waiting for your call. I was starting to regret not taking your numberst time." Maria replied to him.

    " Oh? Sorry. I was busy with thepany stuff. Anyways, I want to meet you. Can we meet today?" Ryder told her.

    " Ahem... Of Course. How about... oh right... I¡¯m staying in a hotel. How about youe here?" She said with a smile.

    " Sure. That works. Give me the address." Ryder asked.

    " I¡¯m in the Hotel Hilton. We can meet at 2 pm. I¡¯ll message you the room number when you get here." She said.

    " Sure. I¡¯ll be there in the afternoon. I¡¯ll call you when I¡¯m there." He said.

    " Sure. Sounds good. " She replied

    The call was disconnected.

    As the call was disconnected, Maria hurriedly brought out her phone and booked an Uber.

    What she didn¡¯t tell Ryder was that she wasn¡¯t in the hotel. She was in her home, but since her husband was at home, she couldn¡¯t let Rydere here.

    She hurriedly walked to her room and started getting dressed. She wore quite ordinary clothes and put on make-up.

    She also put some of her clothes in a carry bag. The clothes she couldn¡¯t leave her home in.

    "Where are you going?"As she left her room and walked towards the door, A voice came.

    "Oh, Hubby. I¡¯m going outside to go shopping. I¡¯ll be back soon." She replied with an innocent look on her face.

    " Alright." The man replied.

    Maria left her house and stood outside her house. The car was soon there. She entered and told the driver to take her to the Hotel Hilton.

    It took them around 30 minutes to get there.

    Hotel Hilton was a hotel that was good and not too expensive. The hotel had 3 floors only.

    Maria entered the hotel and booked a room for a day. She paid at the counter and got the keys.

    _________________

    Back at home, Ryder spent his free time as he made a game n. He wrote down every significant event he knew about the game in a paper and tried toe up with a n he could achieve the most sess.

    Since he didn¡¯t have a ss, he wanted to do the other things well and not be left behind. He wanted to keep the lead he had.

    Amidst the nning, he got a call.

    Ryder looked at the number and saw that It was Shu¡¯s.

    He picked up the phone.

    "Boss!!! I¡¯m so bored. I can¡¯t even log in. Anyways, Did you know that two people had already passed the novice vige? You mentioned that your game name was Hades, didn¡¯t you? Are you the first person to pass the novice vige?" Shu started speaking as soon as Ryder picked up the phone.

    " Wait a minute? Two people? Who¡¯s the second?" He was stunned as he asked.

    "Some guy named Lucifer," Shu replied.

    "It was someone called Lucifer. He¡¯s the guy that passed the Novice Vige. I think it happened just about 10 minutes ago. He¡¯s trending more than you right now. " Shu said.

    " Why more than me? Why? " Ryder asked with a confused look on his face.

    "Because he somehow has more fame points than you right now. He must¡¯ve done something really big." Shu replied.

    " What the fuck? What did he do? " Ryder let out with shock.

    " How would I know? I think he¡¯s the only one who knows what he did. " Shu replied with a wry smile on his face.

    " Whatever. I¡¯ll see itter. For now, I need to do something important. I¡¯ll talk to youter." Ryder said.

    " B-bu..."

    Ryder disconnected the call.

    ¡¯Something¡¯s really strange here. In myst timeline, Lucifer had the Moon Scythe, but he most probably didn¡¯t have the Quest of Salem since he was able to get a mage ss aftering out of the Novice Vige.

    "What¡¯s even more strange is that I took the Moon Scythe and changed everything, but he¡¯s still just as fast. In fact, he¡¯s even faster than he wasst time." He muttered with a thoughtful look on his face.

    ¡¯ I¡¯ll check itter. For now, it¡¯s more important to save my house andplete the quest. I¡¯ll also be able to update the system if Iplete it in 3 days. Maybe the updated system will be nicer.¡¯ He thought as he stood up and got ready to leave.

    He wore his casual clothes since he didn¡¯t have anything expensive he could wear. Also, he wanted to look like a man who didn¡¯t care about money and luxury that much.

    Ryder called for an Uber and left.

    It took him some time, but he did reach the Hilton Hotel.

    He paid for the Uber and entered the hotel.

    He called Maria.

    "Hey Maria, I¡¯m inside the hotel." He informed her.

    "Oh, Awesome. I¡¯m in room 302. You cane up." She said as she disconnected the call.

    Ryder walked up to the third floor of the hotel and knocked on room 302.

    "I¡¯m here!" He called out.

    The door opened, and Ryder saw Maria. He was stunned to see what she was wearing.

    She only had a white towel wrapped around her body that barely covered her thighs. Her hair was still wet.

    "Come on inside." She said in a seductive tone.

    Ryder was stunned, but he quickly recovered as he closed the door behind him.

    "Why are you in a towel?" He asked.

 Chapter 43 I have a secret

    <h4>Chapter 43: I have a secret</h4>

    "Oh, this? I was in a shower when I got your call. I just came out. The water¡¯s still hot though. Do you want to enter with me? " She said as she winked at Ryder.

    " Ummm... Maybeter. Do you have a beer or something? " He asked her.

    " Yup. I have a bottle right there. I¡¯ll get you a drink." She said as she walked towards a table.

    As she picked up the bottle, she dropped the keys that were lying on the table.

    "My bad," She muttered as she bent forward to pitch up the keys.

    Since her towel was barely covering her essentials, when she bent forward, Ryder was able to see her precious bits clearly.

    ¡¯She¡¯s quite good. I can see what she¡¯s trying to do. " He thought, but he didn¡¯t take his eyes off her.

    She took her sweet time in picking up the key as if she was giving Ryder all the time she could to admire her beauty.

    She finally picked up the key and ced it on the table.

    She poured the beer into two wine sses and ced the bottle back.

    She picked a ss in both her hands and walked towards Ryder.

    "Here you go, Mr. Maxwell." She gave him a ss as she sat on the sofa.

    " I¡¯m so d that you took some time out of your busy schedule toe see me. I can¡¯t tell you how happy I am." The girl said.

    She patted on the spot near her as if she was gesturing to him to sit near her.

    "Yeah. I had been thinking of calling you for quite some time. Finally, I decided to call you." He said with a smile.

    " Oh, right. Why aren¡¯t we meeting in your home? Why are we at a hotel? " Ryder asked indirectly.

    " Oh, that... My house is going through renovation." She lied.

    " Oh." Ryder casually replied as he drank his wine.

    Maria sneakily moved her hand and ced it on Ryder¡¯s thigh subtly.

    Ryder grabbed her hand and removed it from his thighs with a serious look on his face.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I only consider you a friend. I can¡¯t get that close to you." Ryder replied to her.

    " Why? Am I not beautiful?" She said as she acted hurt.

    "That¡¯s not true. You¡¯re really beautiful. It¡¯s just that... There¡¯s a reason I can¡¯t be with you." He said as he looked somewhat sad.

    " What reason?" She asked.

    " I-it¡¯s embarrassing to say." He said.

    He looked on the opposite side and didn¡¯t face her as if he was actually embarrassed.

    "You can tell me. I swear I won¡¯t tell anyone. I want to know why you can¡¯t be with me." She inquired again.

    " Well, the thing is that... I... I have a special preference." He said.

    " What special preference?" She asked.

    "I... The thing is that I only like married women." He lied in an effort to get her to confess that she was married.

    Only in that case could he get the information about her husband out of her.

    "What? Are you kidding me?" She let out a surprised look.

    "I know it¡¯s embarrassing, but I can¡¯t do anything about it," Ryder said as if he was disappointed in himself.

    "I... I¡¯m married." The girl replied after a short silence.

    " You don¡¯t need to lie to me. We can be friends, after all." He said with a smile.

    " No, I¡¯m serious. I¡¯m married, and I have a husband who¡¯s at home. I¡¯ve been married for 7 years now." Maria said in a determined tone.

    " Really? Let me ask you a few questions then. What is your husband¡¯s name, and what does he do?" He asked as if he didn¡¯t believe her in the slightest.

    "My husband¡¯s name is Mark. He works at the Bucky¡¯s Club. He¡¯s the right hand of the boss." She replied to him.

    " Ahh... " Ryder was stunned to hear her words. He just sat there nkly as he processed her words.

    ¡¯Mark? That bulky guy I met when I went to Bucky¡¯s with Bastian? The one with that gun? How the hell am I supposed to get him to give his property to him willingly?" He let out with a worried look on his face.

    " Don¡¯t worry about him. He won¡¯t find out about us. We can secretly keep meeting. Also, I think that¡¯s what you want as well... to have a taste of a married girl." She said with a smile.

    "Can you tell me more about your husband? Like his strengths and weaknesses. I might use it to save my life if he ever catches us." He asked her further.

    " His only weakness is his boss, I think. He can¡¯t oppose his boss, no matter what."

    ¡¯I can ask Esmi to tell him to do it, but I¡¯m not sure if that would be considered willing. Although I know my target now, How the hell am I supposed to go about it? My head is aching.¡¯ He thought as he drank the beer.

    He drank the whole ss in one try.

    A smirk appeared on Maria¡¯s face as she saw him drink it.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know why, but he felt like something was weird. There was a slightly weird sensation in his body from the moment he drank the beer.

    "Did you mix something in the beer?" He asked as he looked at her. He felt like she mixed something in the beer.

    "I haven¡¯t, but maybe the hotel staff did. I did book a honeymoon suite, after all. It might be aphrodisiac." The girl said with a grin.

    She didn¡¯t tell him that she herself mixed it in the bottle before he even came here. She had prepared everything to get Ryder to stay with her for the day.

    She smiled as she looked at him.

    But before she could move forward, Ryder fell on the sofa. His eyes were closed, and it looked like he had fallen asleep.

    "What the fuck? Was that aphrodisiac or a sleeping pill?" She cursed as she saw Ryder.

    ___________________

 Chapter 44 Opening Mystery Box

    <h4>Chapter 44: Opening Mystery Box</h4>

    After 3 hours, Ryder finally woke up. He found himself lying on a sofa. Maria wasn¡¯t here.

    He was quite thirsty. He took out a cold water bottle from the fridge and emptied the water bottle in an instant.

    "Hah... finally, I feel somewhat better. It looks like the drug¡¯s effects wore off. I can¡¯t believe I got drugged so easily. I should be more careful in the future," He muttered with a thoughtful look on his face as he sat on a sofa outside.

    ¡¯Now that I¡¯ve woken up, time to think about Mark,¡¯ He thought as he started wondering what he could do about him.

    ¡¯Wait a minute? Can¡¯t I purchase everything he owns? That should be considered willing. But then there¡¯s another problem. I don¡¯t have much money,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    ¡¯Hmm...I have around three days toplete the mission, but I can¡¯t spend all my time on it. I need to take care of Lucifer as well. He has already caught up to me,¡¯

    Ryder stood up and left the hotel while he was lost in his thoughts. He had already received the information he needed. He didn¡¯t have much time to waste anymore.

    Ryder left the hotel and started walking.

    "Mark should be at the Bucky¡¯s; I think," He muttered.

    " Oh, right, Now that I think about it, I haven¡¯t even checked all the rewards I received forpleting the missions, "He let out softly.

    ¡¯When I think about it, I have collected quite a lot. There should be about 160 origin points, and the store should have been upgraded to level 2. There¡¯s also the Mystery box that I received from the mission-rted to Esmi and the Secret reward from the Novice Vige Mission,¡¯ He thought as he remembered all the missions he hadpleted.

    He looked around as he tried to look for a private ce.

    Soon, he saw a karaoke bar. He started walking towards it.

    He entered the bar and booked a private room for himself.

    "Ah... are you alone?" The girl at the counter asked.

    "Yeah," Ryder replied casually.

    The girl at the counter looked at him with a weird gaze as she saw that he was alone.

    "Here. You can go to room number 15," She gave him a key as she gazed at him with a pitiful gaze.

    ¡¯Poor guy. He doesn¡¯t even have a friend toe with him. So sad," She muttered as she looked at him back.

    Ryder entered the ce and locked the door.

    The first thing he did was to look around for cameras in the room. Fortunately, there were none.

    He sat on a sofa. There was a wooden table in front of him.

    "Open Inbox," Ryder spoke softly.

    A semi-transparent screen opened in front of him. There was only one thing on that screen.

    [The host has received a secret reward. Tap to see]

    Ryder tapped on the message, and another screen popped open.

    [The host has received a Mystery Box and its key. The mystery box is sent to the inventory]

    "Close Inbox," Ryder said. The screen in front of him closed.

    "Open Storage," Ryder muttered softly, and another screen opened in front of him.

    The screen had 50 small box icons, most of which were empty. There were only two small boxes that had something in them.

    One had a knife. It was the same knife that he used to kill that criminal. He kept that in his storage because he didn¡¯t want anyone to find it.

    The second box icon had a small jeweled box in that with an X2 icon on it.

    "Two Mystery Boxes. I can only hope that the reward is nice," Ryder said with a hopeful look on his face.

    He double-tapped on a mystery box icon.

    A small box appeared in front of him and started floating in front of him.

    The box had a dimension of only 210x295x100mm.

    Ryder ced his hands on the box and took it in his firm hold.

    He ced the box on the table. The box was quite light.

    There was a key on top of the box. Ryder took the key in his hand and inserted it in the lock.

    *Click*

    The lock opened.

    Ryder opened the box and finally saw inside the box.

    "A scroll?" He let out with a wry smile on his face.

    He picked up the scroll, but as soon as his hands touched the scroll, he finally heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    [Congrattions. The host has received the ¡¯Secret of Bluff.¡¯ Once the host learns the content of the scroll, his bluffs would be more believable. To learn it, you need to pay 10 Origin Points. ]

    [Does the host want to learn the ¡¯Secret of Bluff¡¯?] Janus said.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know why, but he felt like Janus was making fun of him.

    "Are you freaking serious? I had toplete an extra Mission just to get the key for that mysterious box, and that¡¯s the reward I get?" Ryder said as he looked at the shiny scroll.

    [The host doesn¡¯t need to thank Janus for it. It¡¯s all because of the host¡¯s hard work and his luck. Janus only helped a little] Janus said in a happy tone.

    "Screw it. Since I already got it, I won¡¯t waste it. Take ten origin points and teach me the Secret," Ryder said in an annoyed tone.

    [Affirmative] Janus replied.

    ..........

    The author skipped chapter 45 (numbering)

 Chapter 46 Upgraded store

    <h4>Chapter 46: Upgraded store</h4>

    The author skipped chapter 45 (numbering)

    ..........

    The scroll disappeared from Ryder¡¯s hand. Ryder felt like there was new information on his mind.

    His mouth was opened wide as he looked through the content of his knowledge.

    "Wow," That¡¯s the only word that escaped his mouth.

    He recovered from his daze after a few minutes.

    He looked at the storage screen that was still in front of him.

    There was still a mysterious box icon there, but there wasn¡¯t the X2 mark anymore.

    He tapped on the icon of the Mystery Box again.

    The second Mysterious Box also appeared in front of him and started floating in the air in front of him.

    The box was almost three times bigger than that previous box.

    He ced the box on the table in front of him.

    He reached out his hand and picked up the key. He opened the box.

    "What the fuck?" He let out in surprise as he saw the item inside.

    As he opened the big box, what he saw was another smaller box inside.

    He opened the small box with the same key, and there was even a smaller box inside.

    "You¡¯re trolling me, aren¡¯t you?" Ryder said in an annoyed tone.

    He kept opening the box and finding a smaller box inside until the box was of a simr size,parable to the first mystery box.

    Ryder opened the box once more and finally saw something new.

    "A phone?" He eximed as he saw the item inside.

    It was a phone that was quite different from the newer phones.

    All the phones nowadays were semi-transparent, but the screen could only be seen from the front. No other person could see what was on the phone, but this phone looked like an old school phone.

    He picked up the phone and observed it.

    The phone had a metallic body and a 6.5-inch screen. The only thing different was that there were no cameras on the phone.

    "Janus? What is it?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    [It¡¯s called a Mythical Phone. Through it, the host can call mythical legends for advice if you need to have your questions answered. They will answer you to the best of their abilities.] Janus exined to him.

    [The host needs to spend origin points for calls, though. The quantity you need to pay depends on the poprity of that legend. Some legends will cost you one origin point per minute, while others might cost you more than 100 origin points.] Janus finished exining.

    "This sounds interesting," Ryder said with a smile.

    A personal phone to talk to the mythical legends. I should try it.

    He pressed the power button and turned the phone on.

    The phone didn¡¯t look much different on the inside. The operating system was simr to android, which he appreciated. There were also a fewmon apps installed, but what attracted him the most was the contacts.

    He wanted to see the legends he could call.

    He tapped on the contacts app.

    "What?" That was the only thing that escaped his mouth as the app opened.

    There were no contacts. It was empty.

    "Janus, how can I call someone when it¡¯s empty?" He said in an annoyed tone.

    [You can only see the contacts after you load the app with credits. One credit is worth one origin point. If you load ten credits, you can see the names of the legends that cost one credit point per minute.]

    "This sounds like a scam. First, I¡¯ll see the items that the upgraded store has. I need toplete a mission, after all," He muttered as he ced the Mythical Phone inside his pocket.

    The Mysterious Box disappeared as well.

    "Close storage," Hemanded. The screen that was open in front of him closed.

    "Open Store," He said as another screen opened in front of him.

    This was the system¡¯s store that contained various special items.

    "The store still looked the same, even after the upgrade," He said as he saw the screen in front of him.

    The items at the beginning were the same.

    "The Love Potion is still here," He let out with a wry smile on his face as he saw a familiar item. This was the item that he had found most weirdst time; thus, it left quite an impression.

    He kept scrolling and finally saw newer items after some time. The items cost more than a hundred origin points.

    Ryder still had a total of 150 purchase points that he had collected after 11 missions.

    He saw some quite unusual items, but some useful ones as well.

    [Sword of bloodlust- 1500 origin points: The sword of demon deity that sucks the blood of its prey after killing them. Each kill makes it stronger.]

    [Love potion 2.0- 100 origin points: The upgraded version of Love Potion. When you feed it to someone, they will fall in love with you instantly. The effectsst for ten days]

    "That is indeed the upgrade from the previous 1-day effect to 10 days. If this was out on the market, I can¡¯t even think how many men would line up to buy it. There¡¯s a chance that it would sell for over a billion credits if they believed in its effects," Ryder chuckled as he read the description.

 Chapter 47 Selecting an item

    <h4>Chapter 47: Selecting an item</h4>

    He continued scrolling down.

    [Shield of Dm- 800 Origin Points:

    No attack can prate the shield of Dm. The shield would only break by another magical item with an even stronger explosive power.]

    [Robotic Girlfriend: 2000 origin points:

    The best girlfriend you can get. The Robotic Girlfriend will fulfill all your wishes, and the best thing about it? She won¡¯t argue with you!]

    "Wow. That¡¯s weird for sure." Ryder said with a smile.

    [Ring of Charm- 700 Origin Points:

    A ring that increases the charm of the wearer. It will make the wearer more charming and irresistible for the opposite gender.]

    Ryder kept scrolling, and ultimately he saw something.

    Something that brought a smile to his face.

    "I feel like the mission became a whole lot easier. I have an idea of how I can do it." Ryder let out with a smile on his face.

    [Pill of Childhood- 100 Origin Points.

    The one that eats the pill is taken back to his childhood. He loses his intelligence and starts acting like a child. People don¡¯t forget essential things like Driving, eating, etc.

    Warning: The effectsst for only a day.]

    Ryder double tapped on the pill of childhood and bought the item by paying 100 origin points out of his 150 points.

    The pill appeared in front of him and floated in the air.

    Ryder caught the pill and observed the shiny white pill.

    "Such a fortunate thing that I found you, little guy," Ryder muttered with a smile.

    He kept the pill in his storage and left the room.

    Finally, he had everything he needed. The only thing he needed was to go to Bucky¡¯s. He was only worried about Esmi. It would be his first time meeting the underworld Queen after that night.

    ______________

    Ryder got out of the cab and found himself near his destination. He paid the driver and started walking towards the Club.

    It was evening, and the club was just starting to get filled. There was a line of more than 20 people outside, waiting to gain entry.

    Ryder wondered if he could even gain entry, but that didn¡¯t stop him.

    As soon as he reached near the club, the guards noticed him.

    "Hey, aren¡¯t you the guy that was with the young boss?" The guard called out to Ryder.

    Ryder was stunned that the man recognized him. Then again, he dide with their little boss. They would be quite stupid to forget him.

    A smile appeared on his face as he found a way to enter without waiting in a long line.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m here to meet Bastian. Is he here?" Ryder said with a smile as he stood in front of the guard.

    "The boss is not here yet, but if he promised you, he should being at any time." The guard said with a smile.

    "You can go inside." He said as he made way for him to enter.

    Ryder was quite liking the feeling of being cared for. Not having to wait in the line was such a pleasure. He couldn¡¯t help but thank Bastian in his mind.

    He entered the club and found it just like thest time.

    Mark was silently sitting at the table and drinking a beer.

    Ryder walked towards the beer counter and ordered 2 beers.

    As he got the beer, he sneakily snuck in the pill he had purchased from the store inside one of the bottles.

    Ryder held both the beers in his hand and sat in front of Mark without asking for permission.

    Mark was more focused on his wine; thus, he was quite annoyed as he noticed someone sitting in a chair near him.

    He shifted his gaze upwards as he looked at the person who sat at his table.

    "It¡¯s you?" Mark called out as he recognized the face.

    "What¡¯re you doing here? Is Young Boss here as well?" Mark let out as he looked around.

    "Nope. It¡¯s just me. I just wanted to visit the ce on my own." Ryder replied with a smile.

    "Oh, no... It looks like your bottle is finished. I got one here for you." Ryder smilingly said as he ced the drugged beer bottle in front of Mark.

    "T-thank you." Mark was visibly surprised, but he didn¡¯t find anything odd.

    He took the bottle and started gulping it down.

    "So, What do you do?" Mark asked Ryder.

    "I do nothing; I¡¯m just a frencer." He responded as he waited for the effects of the pill.

    Mark was about to reply when his eyes went nk as he started smiling foolishly.

    "Hey, boy... What¡¯s your name?" Ryder asked.

    He observed Mark¡¯s expressions and was quite pleased. The effect of the pill was quite fast.

    "My name is Mark Rhi, Uncle," Mark replied in a childish tone.

    "Good boy, do you know how to sign?" Ryder asked with a grin.

 Chapter 48 Bastian returns

    <h4>Chapter 48: Bastian returns</h4>

    "I know, Uncle," Mark proudly nodded his head.

    "Good. Do you want chocte?" Ryder said.

    "Yes, Uncle. I love chocte," Mark replied as he nodded his head excitedly.

    "I have a chocte that I brought from Chocte Land. It cost a billion dors, but I can sell it to you cheap. Are you willing to buy it?" Ryder said.

    He took out a chocte from his pocket and showed it to Mark.

    "From Chocte Land?" Mark licked her lips as he greedily stared at the chocte in his hand.

    "I¡¯m willing, but I don¡¯t have a billion dors," Mark sadly said.

    "As I said, I¡¯ll sell it to you cheap. Just give me everything you own, and I¡¯ll sell you this chocte," Ryder innocently said.

    He kept making the chocte dance right before Mark¡¯s eyes. He wasn¡¯t letting him take his eyes off of the chocte.

    "I¡¯ll do it!" Mark said as he hurriedly nodded his head.

    "Good. Sign here then,"

    Ryder brought out a document and ced it before Mark.

    The document said that Mark was making Ryder the owner of everything he owned.

    "I don¡¯t have a pen, Uncle," Mark reacted.

    "It¡¯s fine. I have a pen," Ryder said.

    He gave a pen to Mark. He came fully prepared. He couldn¡¯t let anything go wrong after all.

    Mark signed the paper where he pointed.

    "Good boy. Here you go," Ryder gave the chocte to Mark and ced the document in his shirt pocket.

    [Ding... Mission Completed. The system will be inessible for 2 hours as it will be going through an upgrade.]

    He heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    A smile appeared on Ryder¡¯s face as he heard the announcement. Finally, his headache was over.

    He stood up and turned to leave. His mission waspleted.

    But as soon as he started walking towards the exit, Esmi came out of her office.

    She was looking for Mark, but her eyes opened wide in surprise as she noticed Ryder.

    "Ryder!" She called out.

    Ryder was surprised to hear the voice. It was the voice he didn¡¯t want to hear after all. He realized that it was the voice of Esmi. He wanted to leave silently and not disturb her in this dangerous ce.

    He couldn¡¯t leave, unfortunately. He turned back to look at the person who called him, and just as he had expected, it was Esmi.

    "Come with me," Esmi said as she red at Ryder.

    "That¡¯s going to be bad," Ryder sighed with a wry smile as he started walking towards Esmi.

    He entered her office. Esmi closed the door behind her.

    "You came here, and you didn¡¯t even try to meet me? Were you trying to sneak out?" She said with a smile on her face

    She sat on top of her table and rested one leg above the other as she faced Ryder.

    "Not at all. I didn¡¯t want to disturb you in the office. How have you been?" Ryder asked.

    "I¡¯ve been good. But I keep wondering. Why didn¡¯t you call me after that night?" Esmi said with a pout.

    "Ah, well. I didn¡¯t have your number, and I was hesitating ining to this ce like that," Ryder answered her as he tried his hardest to keep his focus on her face instead of something else.

    "Why were you hesitating? You think that you can abandon me after all that?" She said with a smirk.

    "Well, I don¡¯t want your position to get affected because of me," Ryder was trying to talk, but Esmi ced her fair fingers on his lips and stopped him.

    She got down from her table as she moved behind Ryder. She wrapped her arms around him as she brought her lips closer to his ears.

    "You can¡¯t be so unfair to me. I feel like I¡¯m empty without you," She whispered in his ears.

    "That..," Ryder couldn¡¯t think of what to say since it was his own decision.

    "You might be worried about being with me, but there¡¯s no way I¡¯m letting you leave me. It¡¯s been such a long time since I finally have a man I like," She chuckled lightly as she came to the front.

    She sat on Ryder¡¯sp and kissed his lips.

    Ryder also gave up resisting.

    He wrapped his arms around her as he passionately answered her kiss.

    ________________________

    While Ryder was giving the fruit of forbidden pleasure to his Esmi, his best friend was right outside the club.

    Surprisingly, Bastian hade to the club with a girl.

    He was easily allowed entry with the girl.

    As he entered the Club, the first thing he noticed was Mark sitting alone at the table.

    He walked up to Mark and sat on the chair near him.

    Although there was another chair nearby, the girl decided to sit on Bastian¡¯sp. Bastian didn¡¯t mind it as he started rubbing on her thighs.

    "Hey Mark, Why are you looking at that chocte so intensely?" Bastian asked as he looked at Mark in front of him.

    Mark had a bar of chocte in his hand, but he wasn¡¯t eating it. He was just staring at it.

    "I... I want to eat it, uncle. But if I do that, I will finish it. I don¡¯t know what I should do," Mark said with a face that looked like it would cry at any minute.

    "Hahaha... I didn¡¯t know you liked choctes so much. Anyways, You have so much money, man. You can buy as many choctes as you need," Bastian couldn¡¯t help butugh as he saw Mark¡¯s reaction.

    "It¡¯s special chocte from Chocte Land, Uncle. There is only one. I can¡¯t get any," Finally, tears appeared in Mark¡¯s eyes as he hugged the chocte.

    Bastian was frowning as he heard his reply. He didn¡¯t know what was happening, nor did he want to get involved. He felt like Mark was messing with him.

    "Where¡¯s aunt?" He asked.

 Chapter 49 Quest of Salem

    <h4>Chapter 49: Quest of Salem</h4>

    "Where¡¯s aunt?" He asked.

    "Aunt is at home, making yummy food for me." Mark smiled foolishly.

    "I¡¯m talking about my aunt, you idiot!" Bastian finally couldn¡¯t bear the stupidity.

    Mark just looked at Bastian with confusion.

    "You¡¯re drunk, man. I¡¯m only wasting my time talking to you." He said with a wry smile on his face as he stood up.

    He walked towards his aunt¡¯s office.

    He pushed the door, but the door was locked.

    "Aunt Esmi, are you inside?" He called out as he knocked on the door.

    There was no reply for quite some time, but he could hear some noises. It sounded like a chair was being moved from its position.

    "Aunt?" He called out again.

    After 5 minutes, the door was opened.

    Bastian found Esmi standing on the other side of the door. She looked like she was a little tired. Her breathing was quite uneven.

    "Bastian, Come on inside," She said with a smile as she walked back to sit on her chair.

    "Ryder? What¡¯re you doing here?"

    Bastian was surprised to see Ryder inside. He was sitting on the other chair.

    "Hey," Ryder greeted him.

    "Don¡¯t hey me! What are you doing here? You came up to party here, and you didn¡¯t even invite me?" Bastian punched Ryder¡¯s shoulders lightly.

    "It¡¯s not that. I had some important business to discuss with your aunt," Ryder replied with a wry smile on his face.

    "What business? Are you joining the club? Do you need money? I can give you some if you need, man." Bastian said with a smile.

    "It¡¯s not that. He had a business proposal and needed an investor. He was just here exining that to me." Esmi helped out Ryder, as she said.

    "Oh, What business?" Bastian asked.

    "Sorry, man, But that¡¯s a secret for the moment. I¡¯ll tell you after I¡¯m done setting things up." Ryder replied.

    "Whatever, man. Are you done here? Let¡¯s go drink," Bastian ced his hands on Ryder¡¯s shoulders as he asked.

    "I¡¯m done here, but I¡¯ll have to take a rain check from the drinking. I have something important to do at home. I¡¯ll call you soon, and we can set things up. How about that?" Ryder let out as he stood up.

    "Alright. If you say so." Bastian agreed to the suggestion. He didn¡¯t feel like forcing Ryder.

    Ryder left that ce, leaving Bastian and Esmi behind.

    ______________________

    He got back to his home and entered his room. Since the system was going through an upgrade, there would be no missions for quite some time. He was free for the moment.

    He wore his sses and again went inside Divinity.

    After an hour or so, Alice came from outside.

    "Brother, are you back?" She called out as she noticed that the door was unlocked.

    She opened Ryder¡¯s room and entered inside.

    "Geez, Again with those sses! Is that game really so awesome?" She muttered as she noticed Ryder wearing the sses.

    ¡¯Should I get one as well?¡¯ She thought as she left the room.

    ____________________

    Ryder had entered the world of Divinity and appeared at his original spot where he left.

    He checked the Fame Rankings, and just as he heard, there was Lucifer¡¯s name there.

    Lucifer was ranked 1 with 300 fame points at the moment, while he was ranked 2 with 200 fame points.

    "That man never gives up, does he?" He sighed as he saw the ranking.

    "I can¡¯t fall behind. Even if I have no ss at the moment, I won¡¯t give up either." Ryder said in full confidence.

    He walked through the city and noticed that there were posters on the wall everywhere.

    The poster was of the princess that had gone missing. It was said that whoever found the princess and brought her back to the king safely, will be given 100 gold coins as a reward.

    "Strange. This event is different, as well. Why are there so many different things in the gamepared tost time?" He thought out loud as he read the poster.

    He took one and kept that in his storage. This was something new, but it could be good if he managed to find the princess. He would earn the King¡¯s favor, after all.

    He was walking through the streets when he heard the strange announcement. It wasn¡¯t the voice of Janus, nor was it the voice of Maya.

    [The Quest of Salem begins now. You shall be teleported to the underworld.]

    The announcement said.

    "What¡¯s that?" Ryder said, but before he could do anything, everything turned white.

    He disappeared from where he was standing and appeared in a different ce.

    There was no ntation. No human could be seen anywhere. The sky was also covered in dark clouds, and the sun couldn¡¯t be seen.

    "Where the hell am I?" Ryder let out as he looked around.

    He tried opening the map, but surprisingly, there were no options on the game¡¯s screen. Quite a lot of options had been restricted. One of them was a map.

    The only options avable were the notification, the status screen, and the logout option.

    He tried clicking the ¡¯log out¡¯ option just to be sure.

    A confirmation screen opened up.

    He breathed in relief as he realized that he could log out at least.

    Now the only thing to be concerned about was his location.

    It waspletely unknown and, most probably, an undiscovered region.

    He was quite surprised as he didn¡¯t get any fame points for discovering the ce, but that was probably because he was here for some quest.

    Now what he needed was to see what he needed to do.

    He opened the quest screen and checked the details.

    "Be the demon general?" Ryder let out with a surprised look on his face as he read the quest information.

    ¡¯I need to be the Demon General to get his ss?¡¯ He thought as he looked around.

    ¡¯Why was there no mention of demons before?¡¯ He thought as he started walking on the emptynd.

    "In the higher stages of the game, I did hear about the undead army, but never about the demons? Are they the same as undead?" He thought out loud.

    He walked for an hour before he finally saw a person.

    There was a person that seemed like a human.

    He was sitting on a carpet with a few objects in front of him.

    Ryder walked up to the man while he kept his eyes on the objects in front of him.

 Chapter 50 Demon Realm

    <h4>Chapter 50: Demon Realm</h4>

    Ryder walked up to the man while he kept his eyes on the objects in front of him.

    There were a few interesting things there, like a small crystal ball, a few strange coins, and a few scrolls along with some books.

    "Excuse me, sir," He called out since the man in front of him was looking down.

    "Yeesh," The person raised his head as he answered in a creepy voice.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but take a few steps back when he saw the man.

    The man looked like he hade straight out of a horror movie.

    There was no skin on his face. It felt like someone had taken off the skin from his face. There were no eyelids as well. Just two eyeballs that were looking at him.

    ¡¯Come-on man. It¡¯s not real. Be brave,¡¯ Ryder tried to gather his courage and not be scared of the person that was in front of him.

    He stood firmly at his ce as he looked straight at the person in front of him.

    "Ah, sir. Can you tell me where I am right now?" Ryder asked the person politely.

    "10 blood coins," The person replied.

    "Ah, What?" Ryder was confused as to what the man was talking about.

    "Give me 10 blood coins to get your answer." The man said.

    "What are blood coins?" Ryder asked with a perplexed look on his face.

    Before today, he hadn¡¯t heard of this term at all. The currency of the game was gold coins, after all.

    ¡¯What the heck is going on right now? Is this some secret zone of Divinity with different rules?¡¯ He asked with a confused look on his face.

    "10 blood coins for answers." The man repeated the same statement.

    "Geez, man, I told you that I don¡¯t have blood coins. All I need are simple answers." He said to the man, but the man only repeated his same statement.

    Ryder finally gave up and started leaving. He didn¡¯t have time to waste on the baseless argument.

    "Wait!" The man called out to Ryder as he saw him leave.

    Ryder turned back as he looked at the person.

    "Give me something important in exchange, and I¡¯ll give you your answer." The person said.

    ¡¯Something in exchange for the answer? What can I give him? All I have is the scythe and that old sword.¡¯ Ryder thought to himself.

    After thinking for a while, he decided that the sword wasn¡¯t of use to him since he had the Moon Scythe.

    He brought out the sword he received from the Sword Elder and gave it to the strange person.

    The guy held the sword in his hand as he observed it carefully.

    He finally nodded his head as he ced the Sword on the carpet in front of him.

    "Ask your questions." He said.

    "Alright, My first question is, where am I? What is this ce?" Ryder asked.

    "This is the Demon Realm." The man replied.

    ¡¯Demon Realm? There shouldn¡¯t be a ce like this, but the name did match with the ss of Salem. He was a ¡¯Demon Monarch.¡¯ So there¡¯s a high possibility he was from here.¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Do you know any Demon Monarch? His name should be Salem." Ryder asked further.

    "Aaaaaaaa..." The person roared like mad as he heard the name.

    "How dare you disrespect our missing ruler and call him by his name?" The person let out with a crazy look on his face.

    His blood was boiling as his body kept getting bigger until it was twice the size it previously had. There were two horns on his head that weren¡¯t there before.

    He looked entirely different; the only thing that was still the same was that his face still had no skin.

    "I¡¯ll punish you for such disrespect!" The giant called out loudly as he ran towards Ryder.

    Ryder hurriedly reacted as he brought out the Moon Scythe from his storage.

    He got in a proper stance as he held the Moon Scythe with both his hands and got ready to swing.

    As soon as the giant was closer to him, he swung his Moon Scythe with full strength.

    The sharp de of Moon Scythe cut the giant in half. The giant¡¯s separated body fell to the ground.

    Even when he died, he couldn¡¯t believe it. The body of the giant was lying on the ground, and his eyes were still open.

    [Killed a Banished Demon]

    [+1000 experience points]

    [+1 Level]

    [Gained the title Demon yer]

    Notifications kept sounding one after another.

    What Ryder found the strangest was the blood of the person. It wasn¡¯t red like monsters or humans. It was green.

    "This sure is different." He muttered to himself.

    He walked towards the carpet and picked all the items, and ced them inside his storage.

    He did manage to find 3 blood red coins as well.

    ¡¯These are the blood coins he talked about?¡¯ He thought as he observed the coin.

    "Sigh, I couldn¡¯t even get my answers,¡¯ Ryder sighed in disappointment.

    "At Least I found out that I¡¯m at the right ce. Salem was the missing ruler. Wonder what happened that killed him." Ryder muttered to himself.

    He chose a random direction and started walking. He needed to find a town or something to gain more information.

    He was quite disappointed, though. He was starting to regret epting the request of Salem. If he hadn¡¯t epted the request, he wouldn¡¯t be here. With the knowledge of his past, he would have easily be one of the top yers.

    "I just had to be greedy and take this Moon Scythe," He wanted to curse himself for his stupidity.

    "I still can¡¯t help but wonder why Lucifer didn¡¯t get the Quest of Salem although he got the Moon Scythe in the previous timeline? Is this rted to the statbination or something? There are not many who bnce strength and intelligence, after all. If I remember correctly, Lucifer had high intelligence and really low strength at the beginning." He muttered to himself.

    He walked for 2 hours before finally, he was able to see a few buildings.

 Chapter 51 Lord Demon

    <h4>Chapter 51: Lord Demon</h4>

    Ryder saw something in front of him.

    It seemed like a small town that had hundreds of residences.

    The town seemed quite small yet quite different. All the structures seemed like they were made from blood red stones that are giving a creepy feeling to Ryder.

    With no other choice, he started walking towards the town to gain more information.

    There were no guards at the entrance of the town, so he easily gained entry into the town.

    As he moved deeper into the town, he didn¡¯t see any living being. This ce looked like it was a ghost town where no one lived.

    ¡¯Have I found an abandoned town?¡¯ He thought with a frown on his face.

    He was starting to believe his notion, but he finally managed to find some people.

    As he got to the center of the town, he saw a beautiful residence that looked much like a small pce of old times.

    There were two giant statues in front of the beautiful Pce.

    There was a crowd gathered outside the pce. It looked like hundreds of people were standing in a group.

    Most of them had a cloak on their body, but there were a few that didn¡¯t have a cloak. Ryder was able to see the horns on the head of the ones that didn¡¯t cover their head with a robe.

    ¡¯They must be the demons. Wish I had the cloak as well,¡¯

    Ryder thought with a frown on his face. He didn¡¯t have a cloak to cover him and hide the fact that he didn¡¯t have horns.

    He took his robe off and covered his head with his robe as he moved closer to the crowd.

    "Kill her, My Lord!"

    "She deserves to be burned to ashes!"

    "Kill her! Her father dared to attack the Lord! She needs to be killed!"

    He was able to hear a few shouts. He passed through the crowd as he tried to go to the front and see the whole situation.

    After 5 minutes of struggle, he did manage to get a view of the situation.

    There was an 8-foot tall demon standing at the door of the pce. There were two more demons that were standing on his left and right with a spear in their hands.

    From their posture, it was clear that the demon at the center was the leader.

    ¡¯He should be the lord they are talking about,¡¯ He thought.

    There was another person between the crowd and the lord.

    It was a woman standing there. Both her hands were tied by a rope, which was further tied to the two wooden poles.

    The ropes were tied to the poles in such a way that stretched her hands to their limit and made it as painful for the girl as it could. Ryder could feel the pain she was going through.

    Even after so much, the girl wasn¡¯t screaming or crying in pain.

    She was just standing there like a half-dead person who couldn¡¯t feel anything.

    "You all know that our lord has been assigned here by His Highness, the Demon King himself! He is in charge of this town and the town¡¯s management, but that girl¡¯s father dared to betray him for his greed!"

    " It was like an act of disobedience towards the king and our lord! Thus we killed that traitor. That traitor did leave a daughter behind, but our Lord doesn¡¯t want to dirty his hand by killing that useless girl!"

    " That¡¯s why we leave that girl to the town people¡¯s hand! You decide her punishment and deal with her as you wish, while our lord will watch. The one whose punishment our lord likes the most shall be rewarded!" The person that was standing on the right side of the lord said.

    "This shall be the long-desired entertainment for our town people. Those who want to take part can raise their hand, and one will be chosen by our lord." The spokesperson of the lord further said.

    Surprisingly, All the demons in the crowd raised their hands. Ryder also followed their lead and raised his hand.

    "You!" The town lord pointed towards the tallest demon in the crowd.

    The demon proudly moved forward and stood in front of the king.

    He got down to his knees as he paid respect to the town lord.

    "What punishment do you have in mind," The Lord himself asked.

    "My Lord, I want to cut off both her hands and legs before pulling her heart out of her chest!" The demon exined his ce.

    "Too basic. Go back." Town Lord shook his head as he told the demon.

    With an ashamed look on his face, the demon went back to the crowd.

    The others again raised their hands as they waited for their turn.

    "You!" The lord pointed towards another demon.

    The demon came out and greeted him with respect.

    "What is your suggestion?" The Town Lord asked.

    "My Lord! I want to throw her in front of my bloodhound and watch her get torn to shreds," He said.

    Ryder was surprised at how brutal their ns were. What was more surprising was the fact that he didn¡¯t see any change in the girl¡¯s expression as she heard the punishment that was being decided for her.

    "Sigh, Not interesting enough," Town Lord sighed as he shook his head.

    "Go back," He told the demon.

    The demon went back with a depressed look on his face.

    "Youe forward," the Town Lord pointed towards another person in the crowd. It was a woman this time.

    "What suggestions do you have?" The Town Lord asked.

    "My Lord, I know the girl, and she is surprisingly weird. Unlike us, she never had any physical rtionship with a demon. It might be a suitable punishment for her to let all the demons enjoy her all night long," She suggested with a creepy grin on her face.

    "Interesting. Let me hear one more person¡¯s suggestion. If that¡¯s not good, we¡¯ll go with your n," Town Lord said.

    "Thank you, my Lord," The woman stood there as she waited for the next person toe forward and fail.

    "You!" The Lord Demon pointed towards Ryder, who had his head covered with his robe.

    Ryder was surprised to be chosen, but he still walked forth without taking a second to think about it.

 Chapter 52 Ryders suggestion

    <h4>Chapter 52: Ryder''s suggestion</h4>

    Ryder stepped forth and stood before the Town Lord. He didn¡¯t get down to his knees. He didn¡¯t even bow his head.

    "My Lord," He simply greeted.

    The Lord Demon frowned as he saw Ryder¡¯s disrespect.

    "Why don¡¯t you get down to your knees before the Lord?" The demon standing beside the Town Lord said.

    "I apologize, My Lord, but there¡¯s a problem with my leg. Anyways, let me just get straight to the punishment," Ryder said.

    "Firstly, My fellow demon who suggested that stupid punishment before me should be killed and wiped off the of this Earth," He said.

    "Hmm? Wh..." The Woman¡¯s expressions turned ugly as she heard Ryder¡¯s words. She opened her mouth to say something.

    "Shut up! Don¡¯t disturb me when I¡¯m talking!" Ryder scolded the woman without giving her a chance to speak.

    The woman¡¯s face turned red in anger. The Lord Demon had an amused smile on his face as if he was liking this drama. He was waiting for Ryder¡¯s next words.

    "You! Continue," He ordered Ryder.

    "Oh right, Back to the topic. The second punishment is for the girl," Ryder said as he pointed towards the girl that was tied by the ropes.

    "My suggestion is that the girl should be given to me. I¡¯ll take her with me and show her the true depths of hell," He said.

    "You¡¯re an interesting demon, but sorry, I like the idea of her more. You can go back," The Lord Demon told Ryder.

    He was waiting for a cruel idea, but he got suggested what he didn¡¯t want.

    ¡¯This guy is just a lustful demon who wants the prisoner for his own. I wasted my time,¡¯ Lord Demon thought.

    "All the male demons of our towne forth. Punish the girl as per the suggestion from before. I¡¯ll watch from my seat," He further said.

    "My Lord, I have another suggestion as well. Since you don¡¯t like my first one, I think you¡¯ll definitely like it," Ryder said with an amused smile on his face.

    "Hmm? Speak your mind," The Lord Demon said.

    "My next suggestion is really unique. I¡¯m sure no one in this town would have even thought about it," Ryder said.

    "From the innocent face of the girl, it¡¯s clear that she doesn¡¯t like the bloodshed. So how about we have her watch me ughter you all? That should be fun, wouldn¡¯t it?" He continued.

    "Hmm? Have you gone mad, kid? Or are you with that traitor as well? Imprison him as well," Town Lord ordered the men standing near him.

    Both the Soldier Demons came down the stairs with their spears in their hands. There was a massive killing intent that was surrounding their bodies. Even Ryder could feel the killing intent.

    "Hey girl, Open your eyes. You wouldn¡¯t want to miss the show that¡¯s about toe,"

    Ryder tapped on the head of the girl as he said.

    The girl slowly opened her eyes.

    Ryder was quite surprised at how beautiful her eyes were. Her eyes were blood red like a vampire, but there was an innocence in her eyes. An innocence that he couldn¡¯t see in the eyes of the other townspeople.

    The girl looked like ordinary 17-18 girls from Earth.

    Ryder had realized aftering here that in this town that all the male demons had horns on their head while the females didn¡¯t.

    The girl opened her innocent eyes and saw a weak-looking person who was covering his head with a robe.

    "Who are you?" The girl asked as she opened her red lips.

    As she opened her mouth, Ryder managed to see what made her different. The girl had 2 sharp teeth like that of a vampire, which surprised Ryder.

    "I¡¯ll tell youter. For now, just watch me kick some ass," Ryder said with a smile.

    He stopped focusing on the girl and shifted his focus back to the demons that wereing towards him with their spears.

    "I guess you decided to ept my suggestion," Ryder chuckled as he took off the robe from his head and wore it normally.

    "H-he doesn¡¯t have horns!" The demons noticed as they eximed in surprise.

    Even the girl was surprised as her beautiful eyes opened wide in surprise.

    The Town Lord, on the other hand, was more surprised than the others.

    ¡¯Is he one of those high demons?¡¯ He thought with a frown.

    The demons in thisnd had many species, and there were even a few demons who didn¡¯t have horns. They were all part of the higher species that were given more privilege. The town people didn¡¯t know about them.

    "I don¡¯t like the blood, but there are times when I have no choice," Ryder said as he brought out the Moon Scythe from his storage ring.

    The demons were once again surprised as they saw a Scythe appear out of thin air.

    The woman that had suggested the punishment for the girl took a few steps back in fear of the scythe.

    "Space Magic? He¡¯s a high demon magician?" Demon Lord was getting more and more surprised.

    "You bastard!" The two demon soldiers thrust their spear at Ryder at the same time.

    Ryder swung his Scythe in such a way that it looked like he was dancing with his spear.

    His scythe shed with the spears, but he didn¡¯t stop there.

    "me st!" Ryder used his left hand as he used me st.

    Since he had passed the Novice Vige, and he was now higher than level 5, there were no restrictions on the use of skills. He could use the skills as many times as he needed as long as he had sufficient mana. The cooldown time was still a problem, though.

    The me st struck the demon on the left.

    "Arghhhhh," The Demon¡¯s body started burning in mes as he screamed in pain.

    The other demon was surprised as he looked towards his partner, but Ryder utilized this opportunity as he used his Scythe and separated the head of the demon from his body.

    [+2000 Exp]

    [+2000 Exp]

    [+1 Level]

    "Nice," Ryder eximed with a pleased smile on his face.

 Chapter 53 Mysterious woman

    <h4>Chapter 53: Mysterious woman</h4>

    After dealing with the guards, Ryder shifted his focus back to the vile woman that was still standing near him.

    He stepped forth and like a true Demon Monarch, separated her head from her body with a single strike of his scythe.

    [+800 Exp]

    ¡¯Hmm? Do the female demons give less Experience or was she just a weak demon?¡¯ He wondered.

    He looked towards the Lord Demon and pointed towards the girl that was still tied by the ropes.

    "My Lord, just look at the girl. She looks like she¡¯s really regretting opposing our lord. The punishment seems to be working. Shall we continue?" Ryder asked.

    "Who are you?" The Lord Demon asked straight.

    "Who am I? I¡¯m a nobody!" Ryder replied since he didn¡¯t want to exin that he was a human.

    "It¡¯s not possible for you to be a nobody. You¡¯re a high demon magician. Tell me what you¡¯re doing here?" The Town Lord asked.

    "High Demon Magician?"

    It was the first time he was hearing such a term, but it sounded pretty badass.

    ¡¯They must be the powerful demons,¡¯ He thought.

    "Yeah. Did someone from the higher up send you to me?" The Lord Demon asked.

    "Oh? Do you think someone can send me here? I just came out on my own, to roam thend and watch the condition of our people. I must say I was quite surprised to see the situation of this town,"

    Ryder said with a proud look on his face. Although he could kill the Lord Demon, It was better to get some information from him if he could.

    The Lord Demon came down through the stairs.

    "I apologize for showing you something like this," The Lord Demon apologized.

    "It¡¯s alright. I don¡¯t mind it since I got to relieve some stress," Ryder casually said.

    "How about you stay with me for the day? Give me the chance to take care of a high demon. Also, you wanted the girl, didn¡¯t you? You can also have her," Lord Demon suggested.

    ¡¯He¡¯s a High Demon Magician, so it¡¯s impossible for me to defeat him. Even if I managed to defeat him, I¡¯ll be in deep trouble if he turned out to be an heir of some big n. But there¡¯s also a possibility that he¡¯s a banished High Demon. All I can do is dy him.¡¯

    ¡¯A few days ago I received a message that Duke Devilia ising here for some reason. She should be here today. She¡¯ll handle him. If he is found out to be a banished one, I¡¯ll just request her to kill him, otherwise, I can just stay as his friend. Both situations are beneficial for me,¡¯ Lord Demon thought as he stepped closer to Ryder to greet him like a friend.

    "Enraged sh!"

    Just as the Lord Demon got close enough to Ryder, he swung his Scythe and separated the head of the Lord Demon from his body.

    "I changed my mind. I want my Exp more. I can get my answers even from the girl," Ryder said with a smile on his face.

    [+5000 Exp]

    [+1 Level]

    "Nice. Gotta say, the level gained is way higher than what I would have got from fighting the monsters," Ryder said with a pleased look on his face.

    He turned back only to find the other demons running away.

    Although some of them ran away, there were still many demons that had taken out their weapons. They looked like they were ready to fight Ryder.

    "Oh well, Time to do justice to my name. Now you¡¯ll see the wrath of Hades," He smiled as he ced his scythe over his shoulders and started walking towards them like a grim reaper.

    The fight continued and notifications kept echoing out one after another as Ryder killed the demons.

    In less than 10 minutes, all the demons that remained there were dead. The ground was filled with their blood.

    In one day, Ryder had managed to jump from level 5 to level 9.

    He still had the Scythe in his hand as he walked closer to the girl that was tied by the ropes. Other than Ryder, she was the only one alive.

    He swung his Scythe onest time as he cut the ropes.

    The girl¡¯s hands were released from the painful bindings as she fell to her knees.

    "Are you alright?" Ryder asked.

    "I¡¯m fine. Are you really a High Demon though?" The girl asked as she struggled to stand up.

    "What is a High Demon ording to you?" Ryder asked since he actually didn¡¯t know.

    "A high demon? They¡¯re the higher species of us demons. They are many high demon species and quite a few of those don¡¯t even have horns," She replied.

    "Just like me. Yeah, you can consider me a high demon," Ryder said.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that someone wasing towards him at the moment.

    A woman was flying through the sky as fast as she could. She had 2 beautiful ck wings behind her back that helped her fly.

    As she got to the small town that was supposed to be her destination, she was greeted by a pool of blood.

    With a frown, she came down to the ground andnded right behind Ryder.

    The woman had no aura. She was just like a dead person moving silently. Ryder didn¡¯t even realize as shended behind him.

    The girl on the other hand noticed the woman. Her eyes opened wide and she was about to scream, but the voice didn¡¯te out of her mouth.

    "Hey boy," The woman said to Ryder.

    Ryder was surprised as he hurriedly turned back. He saw a woman standing in front of him.

    He used [All-Seer] on her, but strangely, even the [All-Seer] wasn¡¯t able to show her stats.

    There was a question mark before all her stats.

    He realized that the woman was too high up in the level. She was nothing like the Demon Lord.

    The woman on the other hand was even more surprised. Her eyes were stuck at the Moon Scythe of Ryder.

    "Where did you get that thing?" She said as she pointed towards the scythe in his hand.

 Chapter 54 King

    <h4>Chapter 54: King</h4>

    "Are you asking me about that, Scythe?" Ryder asked with a curious look on his face.

    "Yes. Where did you get that from?" She asked again.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t even see her level, let alone her stats. She must be a high ranking demon. Does she recognize the Scythe? As far as I know, it¡¯s the scythe of their missing king. I might be able to use this opportunity,¡¯ Ryder thought as he observed the woman.

    "Answer me!" The woman let out loud. She looked quite impatient this time.

    "This Scythe? It was given to me by my Master!" Ryder said.

    The woman looked visibly surprised.

    "Your Master? What is his name?" She asked.

    "His name? I shouldn¡¯t take my master¡¯s name. It¡¯s inappropriate for a disciple," Ryder shook his head as he refused to answer.

    "I¡¯m telling you! Answer me, honestly! What is your master¡¯s name?" She asked.

    Ryder could feel her terrifying aura. He was trying too hard to keep standing still, but the aura was making him fearful. He would have fallen to his knees if he wasn¡¯t trying so hard.

    "I won¡¯t say my master¡¯s name, but I will write it!" Ryder said as he used his scythe to write a name on the ground.

    He wrote, "S A L E M."

    The girl looked at the name on the ground for 5 minutes straight before she raised her head and red at Ryder.

    Her terrifying killing intent had be even stronger.

    ¡¯Did I misjudge the situation?¡¯ Ryder thought with a worried look on his face.

    "I can¡¯t read that? Are you messing with me? Tell me the name straight away!" The Woman shouted in anger.

    "Hmm? You can¡¯t read English?" Ryder eximed in surprise.

    In the normal regions of Divinity, English was the onlynguage, so he was quite surprised that the demons had a differentnguage.

    "What is English? I don¡¯t care about that. Just tell me the name before I¡¯m forced to kill you!" She said loudly.

    "Alright, Don¡¯t get angry. I¡¯ll speak his name," Ryder said. He didn¡¯t want to keep pretending to be respectful to his so-called Master. It was enough already.

    "I¡¯m sorry for speaking your name, Master. Please forgive your disciple," He said as he looked towards the sky.

    He lowered his head down and started looking towards the woman.

    "My great master¡¯s great name is Salem!" He said as loudly as he could.

    "H-his Majesty?" The woman¡¯s mouth opened wide as she fell down to her knees. Her killing intent disappeared like it was never there.

    The woman¡¯s eyes got wet as tears appeared in her eyes.

    She looked at Ryder as tears kept falling from her eyes.

    "W-where¡¯s His Majesty? I mean, where¡¯s your master? Is he alright?" She asked in a stuttered tone.

    "He¡¯s fine. My master is in the outside world. I was there as well when he selected me as his disciple. He taught me so many things. He even gave me his personal weapon Moon Scythe," Ryder said.

    "Outside world? You mean the Worldly Realm?" She asked.

    "Yes. He is still there. After teaching me a few things, he asked me to go to the Demon Realm to gain some experience." He replied.

    " Master said that the Demon Realm is his home, and it¡¯s the best ce for me to stay there. He also said that he woulde to meet me in the future," He kept bluffing without breaking character.

    The woman in front of him started crying even more. Her tears kept falling from her eyes.

    "I¡¯m so d. His Majesty is safe. His Majesty never married and didn¡¯t leave an heir behind. You¡¯re his disciple, that means you¡¯re our Prince," She said as if she thought of something.

    ¡¯What?¡¯ Ryder was more excited than surprised. This situation was moving in such a great direction for him. He wanted tough out loud.

    "May I know the name of our Prince?" She asked as she stood up.

    "I¡¯m Hades. Also, you don¡¯t need to call me Prince. I realize that I¡¯m the only disciple of Your king and that you should really make me your Prince and give me the throne since my master doesn¡¯t want the throne, and he would be happy if you make me the king. But you don¡¯t need to do any of that," Ryder said with an innocent smile on his face.

    "Right! We can do that for His Majesty! He doesn¡¯t want the throne, but by making you the king, we can keep His Majesty happy. Come with me!" She said as she stepped forward and caught his hand.

    Her wings spread wide as if she was prepared to fly.

    "Wait a minute. If you¡¯re taking me somewhere, I want that girl toe with us as well," Ryder insisted as he pointed towards the red-eyed girl.

    The woman looked towards the girl that was sitting on the ground.

    "But Prince, I see nothing special in her. If you want beautiful demons, you can get many in the ce we¡¯re going to," The Woman said to Ryder.

    "Just take her with us. I ughtered the vige to save her. Since I did all that, I might as well take her with me," Ryder said.

    "Hmm? All that blood on the ground is because of you? Nice. I remember that His Majesty destroyed many towns and cities as well. It seems like the disciple is just like the master," She said.

    She pointed towards the girl on the ground and gestured to her toe to them.

    The girl stood up hesitantly as she stepped towards the woman.

    The woman caught the girl¡¯s hand as well. She flew to the sky with both of them.

    It seemed like she was using some magic that made them fly with her instead of being dragged by her.

    "Let me introduce myself. I¡¯m Devilia. I¡¯m a Demonic Duke in our Demon Empire," The woman introduced herself.

    "Devilia? That¡¯s a cool name. I¡¯m Hades," Ryder said.

    He began looking towards the girl as he waited for her introduction.

    "I¡¯m Miyali; I¡¯m just a low-level demon," The girl introduced herself as well.

 Chapter 55 High Duke Oris

    <h4>Chapter 55: High Duke Oris</h4>

    Duke Devilia and the others flew for around 3 hours straight beforending in front of a beautiful looking pce.

    It looked like a big pce that was shrouded in darkness.

    The sky above the pce was covered by the dark clouds that prevented the sunlight from falling over the pce.

    They allnded in front of the giant doors of the pce.

    "Mydy," The guards got down to their knees as they greeted the woman. They stood up after she gestured to them and pushed the heavy door.

    The giant door opened with a creaking sound, revealing the interior of the giant pce.

    The first thing Ryder noticed was the giant hall that waspletely empty. There was no furniture or decoration.

    She stepped inside the pce while Ryder and Miyali followed her.

    The woman stepped towards the stairs and went to the first floor.

    "Is this your pce?" Ryder asked her.

    "Yeah. Kinda. My main pce is in the capital city. It¡¯s just something casual,¡¯ She replied.

    She stopped before an old looking door. The door wasn¡¯t attached to any wall or a room. It was just a single door standing there.

    The door looked even more well reinforcedpared to the main door of the pce. It was covered with chains that tightly wrapped around it.

    "What¡¯s that door for?" Ryder asked.

    "It¡¯s the pathway between this ce and my real pce. I had it made by our high magician craftsman. Good work, I must say," She said with a pleased smile on her face.

    She opened the lock that was tying the chains and removed the chains.

    She waved her hand in the air as a small key appeared in thin air out of nowhere.

    ¡¯That must be space magic. Such a high level of magic. Only level 300 or higher yers should be able to learn the space magic. She¡¯s definitely dangerous.¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown on his face.

    The woman entered the key in the keyhole of the door and rotated it.

    *Click*

    With a small sound, the door was unlocked. She turned the doorknob to the left and pushed the door to open it.

    The door opened, and surprisingly, Ryder was able to see a room on the other side of the door.

    He walked to the back of the door and looked ahead, he could see Devilia and Miyali, but when he walked to the front of the door, he saw apletely different ce inside the door.

    ¡¯It¡¯s definitely a space tunnel. Amazing. The kingdoms outside still use space transportation formation, while the people here are so advanced in space magic,¡¯ He thought.

    "Let¡¯s go," Duke Devilia gestured for Ryder to enter.

    "It¡¯s alright. Ladies first," Ryder said with an innocent smile on his face.

    "What? Are you afraid?" The woman asked with a confused look on his face.

    "Hah? Why would I be afraid? It¡¯s just good manners to ask women to go first. It¡¯s not because I¡¯m worried about the space tunnel," Ryder replied without looking the least bit worried.

    "Oh? Is that considered manners at your ce? Alright, I¡¯ll enter first then," She said with a thoughtful look on her face as she entered the door.

    She gestured to Ryder as he came out on the other side.

    ¡¯Looks like it¡¯s safe,¡¯ He thought.

    "Let¡¯s go," He held Miyali¡¯s hands as he entered the door together.

    As he entered the space tunnel, he didn¡¯t even feel anything. He just appeared on the other side of the tunnel in the blink of an eye.

    Duke Devilia closed the door and locked it.

    "This ce looks much better," Rydermented as he saw the room he was inside. The ce was much brighter than the previous pce.

    "Come with me. I¡¯ll show you to your rooms. I still need to inform other dukes about you. Before we cane to a decision, you can stay here," She said with a smile on her face.

    She brought Ryder and Miyali to a beautifully furnished room.

    "You can stay here. Miyali will stay with you in the same room since you want her. Take this talisman. You can use it to contact me in case of an emergency. I¡¯lle to meet you when I¡¯m finished with the preparation," She said as she left.

    Ryder stepped inside the room. The slightly hesitating Miyali also entered the ce after him.

    "Oh man, This ce only has one bed. It looks like we¡¯ll have to sleep on the same bed," Ryder said as he looked towards the bed.

    "Do you have a problem with it? I can ask them to arrange for something else if you want?" Ryder asked as he saw the worried look on his face.

    "Ah, It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll sleep on the ground," Miyali replied.

    "Why would you sleep on the ground? Are you worried that I¡¯ll do something bad with you? As I always say, I won¡¯t force myself on a woman. That¡¯s just not me." He said in full seriousness.

    "But if you allow me to do it, then I¡¯ll do it in a heartbeat," He further said with a smile on his face as he nced at the girl.

    "Anyways, You can sleep on the bed with me. The bed is quite big, and we can sleep without being in contact with each other," Ryder said.

    "Ah... alright," The girl still looked hesitant, but she nodded her head.

    ______________________

    While Ryder was discussing the bed distribution n, Duke Devilia was sitting in front of a big mirror.

    She bit her finger and made a strange pattern on the mirror with blood.

    The mirror started shining in bright white light. After 5 more minutes, the mirror started showing the image of a person.

    It was a bearded man who looked like he was in his 50s. He had a long white beard that covered half his face.

    "Devilia, What do you need?" The man spoke on the opposite side of the mirror.

    "Duke Devilia greets High Duke Oris. I had to contact you as there is something important I need to talk about," She replied.

 Chapter 56 Close

    <h4>Chapter 56: Close</h4>

    "What do you want to talk about? What could be so important that made you contact me?" High Duke Oris asked with a serious look on his face.

    "I need you to call for a meeting of all dukes and high dukes. The others will only listen if you contact them," Duke Devilia said.

    "Are you being serious right now? A high-level meeting can only be called when it¡¯s a matter of life and death! What can be so important! Did you get some information? Is someone trying to attack us?" High Duke Oris frowned as he said.

    "That¡¯s not it, But in a way, it¡¯s more important than that!" She replied.

    "More important than that? Be honest with me. What¡¯s happened that made you so restless?" High Duke Oris asked.

    "I found a hint about His Majesty!" She said with an excited look on her face.

    "What!" High Duke Oris eximed in shock as he stood up.

    Duke Devilia could hear the sound of his chair falling to the ground as he stood up so suddenly.

    ¡¯I expected that reaction,¡¯ She thought.

    "Did you really find something about His Majesty? Is he alive?" He asked with a frown.

    "Yeah. His Majesty is alive and perfectly fine," She said with a pleased smile on her face.

    "Where is he?" He asked again.

    "From what I heard, he¡¯s in the outside realm. The world of humans, elves, and others weaklings," Duke Devilia replied.

    "How did you find out about this? Did you go there? Or did he contact you?" High Duke Oris inquired.

    "None of that. I found it from his young disciple!" She exined.

    "His Majesty has a disciple?" He eximed in shock.

    "Yes. He¡¯s only 23-24 years old, I think. He¡¯s from the outside realm. I heard that he was sent here by His Majesty to train," She answered back.

    High Duke Oris picked up the chair and again sat down.

    "Are you sure of that boy¡¯s identity? Did he show any proof!" He asked in full seriousness.

    "He did have proof. A proof that leaves no room for doubt. The proof makes it clear that he¡¯s a disciple of His Majesty," She responded.

    "What proof of that? Don¡¯t tell me that it¡¯s a handwritten note. It¡¯s possible to fake a letter," High Duke Oris said as he red at Duke Devilia.

    "It¡¯s his scythe," She answered in a simple manner.

    "What?" He asked again as if he didn¡¯t manage to hear it.

    "It¡¯s the Royal Moon Scythe of His Majesty. That boy has the Royal Scythe! We all know that no one can touch the scythe without His Majesty¡¯s permission. It¡¯s clear who that boy is," She exined.

    "Is that the real Royal Moon Scythe? Are you sure of it?" High Duke Oris asked with a frown.

    "It is real. I¡¯m sure of it. I could feel the same feeling of dominance from this scythe as I felt when I first saw the scythe in His Majesty¡¯s hand. It was as if it was dering to me that it¡¯s still the same king of weapons," She said as she remembered that chilling feeling she felt.

    "Alright. I hope that you didn¡¯t lie to me about any of it. I¡¯ll be calling a meeting of the nobles, and you can bring him with you. I¡¯ll tell you the date of the meeting. It¡¯s time we also see the disciple His Majesty chose," High Duke Oris said with a grin appearing on his face.

    The mirror returned back to normal as the connection was disconnected.

    "Sigh, It took so long to convince the old man. It¡¯s good, though. Everything¡¯s about to be changed," she said with a relieved smile on her face.

    She stood up as she walked back to her bedroom.

    Ryder and Miyali were already on the bed. They were sharing the same bed and nket, but since the bed was quite wide, there was a meter of distance between the two of them.

    Their backs were facing each other as they fell asleep.

    It was around 2 at night when Ryder¡¯s sleep broke. He could feel a heavy weight on his body that was pressing down on his body.

    "Umm?" With a frown, he opened his eyes, and he was surprised to see that Miyali was sleeping on top of him.

    She was somewhat shorter than Ryder, so her head was resting on his chest.

    ¡¯This girl? She was worried about me molesting her, and now she¡¯s sticking to me like a ko? This is weird. What can a poor boy do when a girl is lying on him like that?¡¯ He thought with a wry smile on his face.

    He could feel that a certain part of his body was starting to react.

    "Sigh, This girl is trying to make memit a crime. I won¡¯t force myself on her, though. I can be many bad things, but someone who forces a girl is not one of them," he muttered softly.

    He turned his body sideways and tried to get the girl toe off his body, but she was sticking too tightly to him.

    He further turned, which resulted in him being on top of her. He lifted his body up, but she still didn¡¯t separate.

    She wrapped her hands around his back so hard; it looked as if she was clinching to her life.

    Ryder slightly jerked his body, and after some effort, he was finally freed. The girl fell on the bed.

    Because of the impact, the girl woke up as she opened her eyes.

    As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Ryder¡¯s face.

    Her mouth opened wide as she realized that Ryder was on top of her.

 Chapter 57 Going for hunt

    <h4>Chapter 57: Going for hunt</h4>

    Miyali¡¯s mouth opened wide as she realized that Ryder was on top of her.

    Before she could say anything, Ryder hurriedly got off her and created some distance between them.

    "Before you misunderstand anything, just hear me out. When I woke up, you were on top of me. I rolled over to get you off me without waking you up. That¡¯s when you woke up. So please don¡¯t doubt my innocent intentions,"

    Just as she was thinking of words to speak, Ryder exined everything as best as he could.

    Miyali closed her mouth, but she still looked at Ryder with a doubtful look.

    "Really?"

    After 5 or so minutes, she finally opened her lips and asked in a soft tone.

    "Of Course. Why would I do such a thing to you? I¡¯m a perfectly decent man," Ryder insisted.

    "You can go back to sleep," He told her.

    "Alright," Miyali mumbled as she closed her eyes.

    Seeing that she was sleeping, Ryder opened the game window and saw the real world time in there.

    The time in the game ran opposite to the time in the real world. When it was the day in the real world, it was night here, and when it was night here, it was day there.

    The best thing was that the real world had be so advanced in terms of medicines that people didn¡¯t need to eat food every day. It was more of a delicacy type thing now.

    The medicine field was so advanced that the world had managed to develop the Productive Pills.

    If a person ate one of those pills, he could go for a day without eating anything. Simrly, if he ate 10 of such pills, they could stay without food for 10 days.

    The best thing was that their body wasn¡¯t harmed in any way. It was all organic and healthy.

    Since Ryder got the news that Lucifer had caught up to him, he became morepetitive.

    He ate ten of such pills since he was intending to stay inside for 10 days without going out and go on a hunting spree to increase his XP and level.

    Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t go his way, and he was thrown into the Demon Realm.

    He didn¡¯t want to give up his n, though. He had already sworn to himself that he wouldn¡¯t leave Divinity before 10 days, and it was just him fulfilling that promise to himself.

    Still, he didn¡¯t wish to be non-productive. He wanted to go hunt and increase his level.

    He left the door as he stepped into the hallway. There was not a single person here that he could see.

    He continued walking through the pce in search of a path to leave. If there had been any problem, he also had the Talisman that could help him contact Devilia.

    He was quite surprised that a ce like this had no guards. He had walked up to the door without any problems.

    As he pushed the main door towards the outside, the door opened.

    As soon as he went outside the door, he saw the guards. There were indeed guards outside.

    "Young Master!" The guards saluted Ryder as they got down to the knees.

    "Young Master? Do you guys know about me?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    "Greetings, Young Master. I¡¯m the chief of the security of this pce. My name is Bulga. And yes, we were all told about you," A bulky demon stood up as he stepped towards Ryder.

    The Demon was around 10 ft. tall. His biceps alone were the size of Ryder¡¯s waist. There were 2 sharp devil horns protruding from his forehead.

    "Oh, It¡¯s good that you have been told about me. Anyways, is there a ce here where I can hunt?" Ryder asked.

    "Of Course. We have our own hunting forest that belongs to the Duke. You can find quite a lot of weak monsters there," The Chief Guard Demon Bulga said.

    "Hmm? How weak are you talking about?" Ryder asked just to be sure.

    Bulga heard the question and fell into deep thought as to how he could describe it. He started looking towards his men.

    "Ahmm? Oh Right. He¡¯s our weakest member. The strongest monster in that forest is only as strong as him. So you can see how weak they are," He said as he pointed towards a member that was the shortest amongst them.

    Despite being the shortest person amongst them, the demon was still 7 feet tall.

    Ryder used his [All-Seer] on that demon, and a wry smile appeared on his face.

    Although he was the weakest guard amongst them, Ryder still wasn¡¯t able to see his level or stats. He could understand how strong that guy must be.

    "I need monsters that are as strong as your 5-year-old kids," Ryder said without feeling ashamed one bit.

    "Hmm? Do you mean the newborn monsters? But Young Master, those monsters are too weak," Bulga replied in uncertainty.

    "I just want to see the strength of newborn monsters in this ce," Ryder said.

    "Oh? Alright. There is indeed a section of the forest where the weakest beasts stay," Bulga said after thinking for a while.

    "Oh? Good. Take me to them," Ryder said.

    Bulga nodded his head. He informed the other guards to properly take care of the pce in his absence and to contact him if there was a problem.

    He whistled loudly, and a big flying beast came down andnded in front of him.

    "It¡¯s my tamed beast. It will carry us to the forest," Bulga said as he climbed on top of the big beast.

    The beast looked simr to an eagle on Earth, but it was many timesrger. It was sorge that it could easily carry 3 people like Bulga on its back.

    Ryder also climbed on top of the beast, and the beast started flying.

    Although the Beast was fast, Ryder could feel that it was many times slower than Duke Devilia when she was flying.

    The beast flew above the well-lit city, and after around half an hour, it slowed down.

 Chapter 58 Species Change

    <h4>Chapter 58: Species Change</h4>

    "We¡¯re there, Young Master," Bulga said as the Beast came down andnded in front of the forest.

    "This ce is the one I was talking about. Here you can find the newborn monsters." Bulga said.

    "Oh, alright. I¡¯ll be going inside. Follow me for a bit. Show me one of those beasts," Ryder said to him. He didn¡¯t want to go alone since he wasn¡¯t sure how strong would house newborns be.

    "Of course, young Master," Bulga nodded his head in affirmation.

    They both entered inside the forest, and after walking for around 10 minutes, they indeed saw a monster.

    It was a Three Horned Wind Deer that was known for its speed.

    ¡¯That¡¯s a newborn for them? That looks like a full-grown beast!¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown.

    Ryder used his [All-Seer] on the Three Horned Wind Deer.

    ¡¯Amazing. Even this weakest category of monster is at level 10. Though it¡¯s not bad, I think I can handle that much. This ce would be a good ce to hunt,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Alright. You can leave. I can handle everything else from here. I¡¯ll see you outside the forest in 3 hours," Ryder told Bulga.

    After some slight hesitation, Bulga decided to listen to the orders. He turned back and left. Only Ryder was left behind.

    "Time for some grinding," Ryder said with a smile on his face as he stepped closer to the Three Horned Wind Deer.

    The Three Horned Wind Deer was sleeping, but it was as if it had a sixth sense for danger. As soon as Ryder entered within a fifty-meter range of it, it opened its eyes as it stood up.

    "Cheh, I wanted to finish it faster, but whatever," Ryder sighed as he started running towards the Three Horned Wind Deer.

    His Moon Scythe was already in his hands.

    Ryder saw the Three Horned Wind Deer running away from him instead ofing towards him. Its speed was slightly faster than him as well.

    "me st!" Ryder used his me spell as he shot a ball of fire toward the Three Horned Wind Deer.

    The ball of fire struck the back of the Three Horned Wind Deer and made him groan in agony.

    The Three Horned Wind Deer looked like it had lost its sense of reasoning as its eyes turned red. It started running towards Ryder in madness.

    "Now that¡¯s better," Ryder smiled as he saw the prey itself running towards the Hunter. He gripped his Moon Scythe firmly as he waited for the Three Horned Wind Deer toe to him.

    After a short moment, the Three Horned Wind Deer reached near him.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder let out as he swung his Scythe. The Scythe seemed like it was burning in a fire as it ripped through the air.

    The Scythe sliced off the neck of the Three Horned Wind Deer in one strike.

    The Three Horned Wind Deer fell down to the ground.

    [+4000 Exp. ]

    "Nice. If it keeps going on like this, I¡¯ll soon get to level 10," Ryder said with a smile.

    He started looking for his second prey. After looking around for an hour, he managed to find another monster.

    It was a level 9 Ice Rabbit. This battle was much harder since the Ice Rabbit was more agile and clever, but after 10 minutes of battle, Ryder killed it as well.

    "Just one more level 10 monster, and I¡¯ll be level 10," He said with an excited look on his face.

    He again began his search for a monster. This time it took even longer. It took him 1.5 hours to find a Dark Blooded Horse.

    Fortunately, it was a level 10 beast as well.

    After a 20 minutes long battle, he managed to kill the Dark Blooded Beast as well.

    [+4000 Exp.]

    [+1 Level]

    "Awesome. Too bad that it¡¯s sote. I need to go back now. I¡¯lle again tomorrow," Ryder muttered as he turned back to leave.

    He had just taken his first step when he heard a notification.

    [Reached Level 10. Hidden restriction of Quest of Salem unlocked. Species changed to Demon.]

    [Since the 1st hidden Restriction of the Quest of Salem is Unlocked, the first Special Ability of Moon Scythe is also Unlocked. Unlocked Skill: Absorption]

    "What the f? Species change?" Ryder was shocked. He didn¡¯t care about the skill as much at the moment as he cared about his species.

    He hurriedly opened his stats screen, and as soon as he saw it, his mouth remained open.

    [Name: Hades

    Title: Sessor of Salem

    Species: Demon

    Level:10

    Experience: 0/30000

    HP: 5000+800

    Mana: 2000

    Strength: 121

    Defense:109

    Speed:68

    Stamina:92

    Dexterity:100

    Intelligence: 80

    Avable stat points: 3

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 2 (75% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 2 (29% mastery)

    me st: Level 2 (42% mastery) ]

    "It changed my species? What the heck is wrong with this quest!" Ryder cursed out loud.

    He hurriedly checked his head and his body to see if he had grown horns, but fortunately, there was nothing like that. He was still physically the same.

    He breathed in relief as he still looked normal.

    Though his confusion about this quest only increased even further.

    After calming down, he also checked the weapon-specific skill that he had just received.

    He was quite surprised to see the skill¡¯s description.

    [Absorption: When an enemy is killed by the Moon Scythe, the user absorbs 10% stats from any one of the enemy¡¯s stats. The stat is chosen randomly.

    There¡¯s a 5% chance of getting any one skill from the killed enemy. The skill is chosen randomly if the enemy has more than 1 skill.]

    "Wow, That¡¯s such an incredible skill. I can be so powerful just by hunting by getting their stats. And in the rare chances, I can even get a skill from them," Ryder said as a grin formed on his face.

    With a face filled with happiness, he left the forest.

    ____________

    Ryder left the forest and met up with Bulga, who was still waiting outside for him.

    "Wee back, Young Master. You look quite happy. Did something good happen?" Bulga noticed the happiness of Ryder and asked.

    "Hah, Yeah. I got what I wanted; we can go back," Ryder said as he stepped towards Bulga and the flying beast.

    ¡¯Hmm?¡¯

    As Ryder got near him, Bulga didn¡¯t know why, but he had a strange feeling. Ryder felt different than before, and he was feeling more intimidating at the moment.

 Chapter 59 Real Reason

    <h4>Chapter 59: Real Reason</h4>

    Bulga felt like Ryder was looking much more intimidating. Although he couldn¡¯t see any change in Ryder, it was a feeling he was getting from his core.

    "Hey? Why are you standing there? We should leave. It¡¯ll be morning quite soon," Ryder called out to Bulga as he waited on top of the flying beast.

    "Ah, Oh, right. Sorry," Bulga came out of his daze as he replied. He walked towards the flying beast as well.

    The flying beast started flying in the direction of the pce.

    It didn¡¯t take long for them to get to the pce of Duke Devilia. While Bulga got back to his duty, Ryder entered the pce and walked towards his room.

    Ryder was walking in the hallway when Duke Devilia came out of her room.

    She saw Ryder and couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    "Where are youing from? Didn¡¯t I tell you to not leave the pce?" Duke Devilia asked as she gazed at Ryder with a frown.

    "Ah, I went out to get some fresh air and get some exercise. I also went to your hunting forest to see how the beasts of this ce are. I couldn¡¯t wait until the morning. My master had told me that if I wanted to do something, I should do that without dying much, So I did thatst night," Ryder said without looking much worried.

    He was sure that Devilia would get answers from Bulga; thus, he didn¡¯t hide anything. It wasn¡¯t anything wrong that would get him punished anyway.

    "His Majesty said that? That does sound like something he would say. He himself was quite impulsive after all," Devilia let out with a thoughtful look on her face.

    "Anyways, If you wanted to hunt, you coulde to me. I would bring you personally to see my collection. What would have happened if you were harmed?" She inquired.

    "You were sleeping, so I didn¡¯t want to disturb you. Anyway, It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m perfectly fine, aren¡¯t I? Also, I had some help with me. The Chief Guard escorted me and protected me. I also had the Talisman that I could use to contact you if I needed your help," Ryder answered.

    He stretched his arms as he yawned before she could reply.

    "I¡¯m feeling quite sleepy. Can we talkter?" Ryder said with a sleepy look on his face.

    "Hmm? Oh right. You must¡¯ve stayed up all night long. Go get some sleep. I¡¯ll inform you when I need you," Duke Devilia said.

    "Thanks," Ryder responded.

    He walked past her and stepped towards his room.

    As soon as he opened the door and entered the room, he found Miyali sitting on the bed.

    "You woke up so soon?" Ryder asked with a smile as he walked there and sat beside her.

    "Yes. Did you go outside?" She asked.

    "Yeah. Went outside to get some fresh air," Ryder said smilingly.

    "Can I ask you something?" She inquired as she looked at Ryder with her beautiful red eyes.

    "Yeah, Sure. You¡¯re free to talk to me about anything. Just consider me your friend," Ryder replied with a smile.

    "Why did you save me?" She raised a question.

    "Hmm? Why did I save you? Just take it that I didn¡¯t like the fact that they were so cruel. For your father¡¯s mistake, they wanted to torture you. I hated that. Also, I knew that I could defeat them, so the experience yed a small role as well," Ryder replied.

    Before jumping in to save her, he had already seen the stats of the Demons. Only when he was sure that he could handle them did he jump in.

    "My father did not make a mistake! He was innocent!" Miyali insisted in a raised tone.

    "Ah, sorry for using that term. I didn¡¯t mean that. I don¡¯t know what had happened after all," Ryder apologized.

    "My father was framed. He found out a secret about the Town Demon, and that¡¯s why he was killed. They killed him to silence him," Miyali exined. Ryder could see the sadness on her face.

    "What secret?" Ryder asked in curiosity.

    "The Town Lord was preparing a formation. He wanted to sacrifice all of the Town people so that he could increase his strength through that dark ritual. My father found out about this," Miyali said.

    "Why didn¡¯t you inform the towns people then?" Ryder inquired.

    "Hah, Tell those cruel people? My father told those bastards all about it. They didn¡¯t even believe it. Then the Town Lord used him of trying to dethrone him and get him killed by misinforming the citizens. My father was killed. It wasn¡¯t that the towns people weren¡¯t told. It was that they didn¡¯t believe it," She responded.

    "I guess this really is the Demon Realm. They have such brutal formations here," Ryder sighed.

    There was silence for a brief moment.

    "Oh right, You¡¯re from the outside. How is that ce?" Miyali inquired after some time with curiosity.

    "The outside? Well, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s as cruel as here, but there are evil people there too. There are monsters and various mysteries waiting to be discovered. The thing I hate the most is politics, though. The Kings can be really cruel," He exined with a wry smile as he remembered a few incidents of his previous timeline.

    "Are you really the disciple of His Majesty? I haven¡¯t seen him before, but I heard a lot of stories about his bravery from father. Since you¡¯re his disciple, Can I ask you what kind of person he is?" she asked.

    "He? Ah, he¡¯s pretty strict most of the time, but he is quite protective of me as well. Also, he¡¯s super strong, " Ryder told her the stories he made up.

    Both of them talked for quite some time. Miyali was initially hesitant and scared, but she did end up bing closer to Ryder. She wasn¡¯t as fearful as before, and she was able to open her heart and talk about things.

    ____________

    Ryder was talking to her when he got a message from Duke Devilia through the Talisman that was given to him by her.

    "Sorry, I¡¯ll be right back. The Duke needs me for something," Ryder told Miyali as he stood up and left.

    He had seen Devilia¡¯s room in the morning, so it wasn¡¯t much trouble finding it.

    He knocked on the door.

    "You cane inside," He heard Devilia¡¯s voice from inside.

    He opened the door and entered the room.

 Chapter 60 Going to the meeting.

    <h4>Chapter 60: Going to the meeting.</h4>

    Devilia was sitting on her bed when Ryder walked in.

    "Do you need anything?" Ryder inquired as he stood in front of her.

    "Yeah. I just wanted to tell you that we¡¯ll be leaving today. Everything Is decided, and the meeting of the Dukes will take ce tonight. I want to introduce you to them, so let¡¯s get you prepared," Devilia smilingly said.

    "Prepared? For what?" Ryder inquired with a frown.

    "Well, of course, you can¡¯t go like that. We need to get you some good clothes. You need to look like a Prince, not like a random person," She replied.

    "It won¡¯t take much time, though. I had already told my personal dressmaker to make some clothes for you. He sent them as well. You just need to get changed," Devilia said as she made a small gesture with her hand.

    A small spatial portal opened in front of her. This was something akin to her own personal storage.

    She brought the clothes outside and ced them on the bed near her.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll be right back after getting changed," Ryder said as he picked up the clothes.

    "What are you talking about? You can change right here. You don¡¯t need to leave. Brave men shouldn¡¯t be shy of anything. Don¡¯t worry about me. Just think that I¡¯m not here if you still feel ufortable," Devilia chuckled as she told Ryder.

    "Ah, Are you serious?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    "Yeah. Do it here. You leaving anding back will waste a lot of our precious time," She replied.

    "That¡¯s stupid. I can¡¯t change in front of you!" Ryder insisted.

    "Why? Do you have something that¡¯s making you ashamed? It¡¯s fine, I won¡¯t judge you," She said in full seriousness.

    "I have nothing to be ashamed about! But still, I can¡¯t do it in front of you," Ryder repeated the same thing.

    "Sigh, Alright. You can go to that room. Get changed fast," She finally gave up. She pointed towards the attached room.

    "That¡¯s better," Ryder said as he left and entered the room. He closed the door just to be sure and started taking his clothes off.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that Devilia was able to see everything. She had the skill that helped her see through a single wall.

    "Hmm, I guess he wasn¡¯t lying. There is indeed nothing to be ashamed about," She chuckled as she looked towards the room.

    Ryder didn¡¯t take long and got ready in a hurry before he left the room.

    "You look better now," Duke Devilia praised him.

    He was wearing beautiful white clothes. His white shirt had some charming design that made it seem like he was wearing beautiful silver armor. His short silver hair matched the clothes quite well.

    The only thing that had a different color was his robe. He was wearing a different robe. The robe was a dark grey in color and had long-standing cors as well.

    He also covered his hands with slim warrior-like gauntlets.

    "Do I really need to wear gauntlets? Although they do look cool, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going for a war, am I?" Ryder asked with a wry smile on his face.

    "Who knows, there might be a war after all," She said as she chuckled.

    "I¡¯m kidding. Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ll protect you even if something does happen," She further exined as she saw the frown on Ryder¡¯s face.

    "As for the gauntlets? This is something that His Majesty used to wear when he was ruling. So I thought it would be a good thing if you wear one as well. Anyways, Since you don¡¯t know about it, I guess His Majesty doesn¡¯t wear a gauntlet outside?" She exined before she asked another question.

    "I haven¡¯t seen Master wearing one, so that should be true," Ryder let out without any change in his expression.

    "Yeah. Anyways, now that you¡¯re ready let¡¯s leave. We can¡¯t bete," She said with a smile as she stood up.

    "Yeah, If I¡¯m not wrong, we should be in the capital city of the Demonic Empire. The meeting should be somewhere nearby, right?" He asked.

    "Not really. The Dark City is much bigger than you can imagine. It should be way bigger than an average kingdom, so it would take quite a lot of time," She exined.

    "That¡¯s why we should hurry," She walked closer to Ryder and held his hands.

    She brought him towards her balcony and jumped right outside with him. She began flying with Ryder.

    Ryder noticed that she was flying in the opposite direction of the forest that Ryder visitedst night.

    "I guess that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t see any pces of other dukes or anythingst night," He muttered.

    They flew for a few hours, and Ryder did manage to see a few pces that looked just as luxurious as the pce of Duke Devilia, but apparently, these were not their destination as Devilia didn¡¯t stop there and continued ahead.

    It was evening, and the sun was starting to set when Ryder noticed another pce in the distant horizon, but it was different from all other pces.

    The pce was pitch ck in color, and it was many timesrger than the pce of Devilia. Even the door of the pce itself was as tall as the whole pce of Devilia.

    There were no houses or buildings near the pce. There was nothing within the kilometer range of the pce.

    He could see 6 other smaller Pces that were surrounding the bigger pce like the guards, outside the kilometer range of it. Even though the 6 pces were smaller than the big pce, they were stillrger than the pce of someone like Devilia.

    "You see those 6 ces? Those are the Pces of the 6 Great Dukes. And the pce in the center is the Pce that belongs to your Master. That ce has been empty since His Majesty left us, but today, the Royal Hall will be opened once more," She said with a smile on her face.

    "I can¡¯t wait to see the looks on the faces of those guys when they find out. It¡¯s going to be fun," She let out.

    Soon, theynded in front of the Royal Pce.

 Chapter 61 Show them

    <h4>Chapter 61: Show them</h4>

    Ryder and Devilianded in front of the giant gates of the Pce.

    Devilia pushed the door open. She was so powerful that she easily opened the giant looking doors of the Pce with just a single finger of hers.

    As soon as the doors opened, they saw a huge hall. There was a slightly raised floor at the end of the Hall, and a big throne was there. The throne was empty.

    There were 20 seats on each side of the hall. The first 3 seats on both sides were slightly bigger and higher, but they were still not as high as the main throne.

    The remaining 17 seats on both sides of the Hall were at a simr level. Although those seats were the lowest, they still looked like the seats a king can use without being ashamed.

    All the seats were filled except the main throne and the 5th seat on the right side.

    In total, the Demonic Realm had 34 Dukes and 6 High Dukes. They had other ranks like Marquis as well, but they were not allowed in today¡¯s meeting.

    Devilia entered the ce and walked under the watchful eyes of all the Dukes and High Dukes.

    "You can sit here for the moment," She stopped before the 5th seat on the right and told Ryder to sit on it.

    "Devilia? What are you doing! That¡¯s the seat of a Duke. By making that kid sit there, aren¡¯t you insulting us?" One of the Duke stood up and asked.

    All the Dukes and High Dukes were ranked. The one that has just spoken was the 5th Ranked Duke. He was sitting on the seat on the right of Devilia.

    "Orion, You have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. It would be more like I¡¯m raising the prestige of our seats by making him sit here for a moment. You¡¯ll find out soon," Devilia said as she stood behind Ryder, who had sat on that chair without a second thought.

    Ryder didn¡¯t want to make him look scared since he knew what was about to happen here, but inside, he was freaking out.

    All the people here were so powerful. He couldn¡¯t see anyone¡¯s level, but he could feel their scary aura.

    Before dying in the previous timeline, he had faced a level 200+ dragon, but he realized that the Dragon¡¯s aura was like a child while the people that were sitting here had the aura of the Heavenly King¡¯s.

    To not die, he had to be brave. If he could seed, he would at least be their Prince even if they don¡¯t make him King. He could create history in Divinity, and it was also quite possible that he would leave Lucifer way behind.

    The High Dukes heard her words, and they all frowned except High Duke Oris, who had an idea about who the boy was.

    He was just silently observing the boy from his seat.

    "Orion, We can talk about thatter. It¡¯s Devilia¡¯s seat so let her do it if she wants to. We have more important matters to attend to," High Duke Oris said before Duke Orion could speak once again.

    Duke Orion just sat silently since High Duke had spoken.

    "High Duke Oris, Can we know why this meeting was called? Is someone trying to attack our ce? Or is it something rted to the Death Domain? Have they risen again?" The High Duke, who was sitting on the seat that was facing High Duke Oris, said.

    He was High Duke Magna. He and High Duke Oris were said to be the strongest in Demonic Realm after the Emperor himself. It was said that High Duke Magna was stronger than High Duke Oris, but since no one had seen them fight, there wasn¡¯t any proof.

    ¡¯Death Domain?¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown. He had a feeling like he had heard of it before, but he couldn¡¯t remember.

    "It¡¯s nothing like that. Since His Majesty fought with the Death Emperor, They had never left their Domain. We still can¡¯t see any movement from their side," High Duke Oris replied.

    "What is it then?" High Duke M said.

    She was the only female amongst all the High Dukes. She was also quite strong and said to be the 3rd strongest amongst all the High Dukes. She was quite old, but she looked like she had just turned 18.

    "We all know that His Majesty left the Demon Realm a long time ago. We can¡¯t even find his traces, but we know how much power he has. Wherever he is, he is still perfectly fine, but we still couldn¡¯t help but worry for him," High Duke Oris said.

    "Of course we worry about him. Why are you bringing that up now?" High Duke M inquired.

    "Because we got the information about His Majesty. He is in the Human Realm," High Duke Oris replied.

    "What?" That news came like a shock to everyone as everyone stood up from their seats. Only High Duke Oris and Ryder remained seated since they knew what it was.

    "Did His Majestye back? Where is he? Let me go meet him now. I want to see his fierce figure once more. This calls for celebration," High Duke Magna said with an excited look on his face.

    "His Majesty didn¡¯te back, but he sent someone else. His personal disciple," High Duke Oris said.

    "His Disciple? Who? Wait a minute, are you talking about that boy? It can¡¯t be! He¡¯s so weak!" High Duke M said as she shook her head.

    All the gazes turned towards Ryder, and they all looked like they couldn¡¯t believe it.

    "I won¡¯t try to convince you guys. I¡¯ll leave it on him to prove it. You can sit down. Let¡¯s see his proof," High Duke Oris said with an amused smile on his face. Although he still hadn¡¯t seen the proof, he believed that Devilia hadn¡¯t lied to him.

    They all sat down on their seats.

    "Stand up, boy! Show us what proof you have?" High Duke Magna said as he red at Ryder.

    His simple gaze was so powerful that Ryder felt a chill run down his spine. He could barely control his body from shivering.

    "Go on. Show them. It¡¯s the right moment," Duke Devilia said with a smile as she tapped on his shoulders.

 Chapter 62 Im a demon

    Ryder was starting to get stressed as one of the strongest demons were staring at him.

    He took a deep breath as he calmed his mind and stood up.

    He walked to the center and gazed at High Duke Magna without looking the least bit intimidated.

    "I must say, When I was told that the High Dukes were the strongest beings after my master, I expected a lot. But looking at you all, I can see how big the gap between the first and second is," Ryder let out in a disappointed tone.

    The faces of everyone present in the hall changed due to shock. They couldn¡¯t believe that a kid was talking like that, but then again, he was the disciple of the Emperor. It would be strange if he didn¡¯t have an attitude.

    "We understand that we are nothing in front of His Majesty. We wouldn¡¯t even dare topare ourselves with him. But that¡¯s a different matter. Show us the proof if you have any," High Duke M answered instead.

    "Sigh, I guess you wouldn¡¯t believe me otherwise. Let me show you a gift I received from my Master," Ryder said with a smile.

    He opened his storage space, but the others couldn¡¯t see it. They just saw him moving his fingers strangely in mid-air.

    Ryder brought the Moon Scythe out of his storage space. His single action managed to stun everyone multiple times.

    Almost everyone in the hall stood up in shock.

    "T-that¡¯s..."

    "The Moon Scythe,"

    "His Majesty¡¯s personal weapon,"

    "I can feel the strength of the Scythe. It¡¯s not fake!"

    All the High Dukes started talking as they looked at Ryder with their eyes wide open.

    "Not just that, He also used space magic!" High Duke Oris said.

    He knew about the Scythe, but it was the first time he found out that Ryder could use space magic as well.

    "Only the strongest of demons can learn to use space magic for storage of items. How can this boy learn it?"High Duke Magna asked.

    "I heard that some humans in the Outside world could learn it as well. He might just be talented when ites to that," High Duke Oris said.

    "I guess it¡¯s decided. He is the real disciple of His Majesty," He further said.

    "I still don¡¯t believe it!" Someone called out suddenly.

    All the High Dukes looked towards the person that had spoken.

    "Wuxin? Do you have something to say?" High Duke Magna asked as he looked towards the man standing near them.

    The man looked like he was in his early 30s. He had ming red hair and a sharply chiseled face that made him look quite charming.

    He looked mostly like a normal human except for his long elf-like ears. He was said to be the strongest amongst all the Dukes.

    "I don¡¯t believe the ims of this boy!" Duke Wuxin said.

    "Why not? Are you saying that he was able to steal the Scythe of His Majesty? You know that a person can¡¯t even touch a Scythe without His Majesty¡¯s permission!" Duke Devilia said sarcastically.

    "I¡¯m not talking to you, Devilia. So you better stay silent," Duke Wuxin said.

    "I would like to ask the same thing as Devilia. Why do you think he¡¯s lying? Why was he able to touch the Scythe?" High Duke Oris asked with a slight smile.

    "Respectable High Duke, As much as I wish to believe that His Majesty is alive, this boy¡¯s existence makes me doubt that. You know that His Majesty loved the Demon Race since he himself was one of us. I don¡¯t believe that he would choose a human to be his disciple or sessor!" Duke Wuxin eximed.

    "As for him being able to touch the Scythe, That might be possible if His Majesty had died. In fact, I believe that anyone can touch the Scythe now!" He further continued.

    His words made the others think. Some were even able to find the logic in the words of Duke Wuxin, the more they thought about it.

    Most of them looked at Ryder with a doubt.

    "I¡¯ll prove that to everyone right now!" Duke Wuxin said in a loud voice as he stepped towards Ryder.

    Not a single person tried to stop him. Devilia wanted to go there, but she noticed Duke Oris, who was shaking his head as if telling her to not get involved.

    Ryder was somewhat shocked as he saw a Dukeing towards him, but he had no choice but to act brave till the end. He didn¡¯t take a step back.

    Duke Wuxin stopped right before Ryder and extended his hands towards the Scythe.

    He caught the Scythe and took it off of Ryder¡¯s hands.

    "See? Nothing happened to me! I was right!" Duke Wuxin said proudly, but right at that moment, his expressions changed as he felt an extremely unstable force near him.

    Before he could react, A powerful energy st happened near Duke Wuxin, and he was sted backward.

    He flew away like a broken kite and crashed on the wall.

    His handsome face now looked burnt as hey near the wall.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t believe what just happened. The scythe harmed the Duke on its own?

    ¡¯I guess I really underestimated you,¡¯ Ryder thought with an amused smile on his face.

    Ryder stepped forward and picked up the Scythe that was lying on the ground near him.

    "I guess you deserved that for calling My Master dead. You should be d that he isn¡¯t here to hear your statement," Ryder let out as he red at Duke Wuxin.

    The others just stood still as they wondered what to speak. The things that happened here today kept shocking them one after the other.

    They were also ashamed that they came under the influence of Duke Wuxin and let him do it.

    High Duke Oris finally opened his mouth to say something, but Ryder spoke first.

    "I should probably clear your other misunderstanding as well. I¡¯m not a human! I¡¯m a pure demon!" Ryder let out loudly.

 Chapter 63 Blood Demon

    <h4>Chapter 63: Blood Demon</h4>

    "I¡¯m a demon as well," Ryder¡¯s one simple statement managed to stun the others once more.

    "You¡¯re a demon?" High Duke Oris eximed in surprise. He looked at Devilia as he wondered why she didn¡¯t tell him, but she looked even more confused than him.

    ¡¯He¡¯s a demon?¡¯ She looked at him in shock.

    "Yes. I¡¯m a demon. My master confirmed it himself. Only after that did he take me as his disciple," He further added.

    "Ahh... Little friend, it¡¯s not that we don¡¯t trust you, but we just can¡¯t understand why a young demon like you would be in the outside world? In thest 500 years, no demon has left this ce," High Duke Magna asked.

    He had already believed that Ryder was Salem¡¯s disciple after watching the violent reaction of the Scythe, but he couldn¡¯t believe the im of him being a demon.

    "This... I can¡¯t talk about that, but I¡¯m indeed a demon." Ryder was visibly stunned at the question. He had no knowledge about this; thus, he skipped it and pretended to be ignorant.

    "Sigh, Since you can¡¯t answer that, can we at least have a test? We can check your bloodline to see if you¡¯re actually a demon. And even if you¡¯re a demon, which n of the demons are you from," High Duke Magna said.

    "You can have the test," Ryder said without any worries. After all, he was a demon now; there was no way that he would fall the test.

    As for the demon n, it didn¡¯t matter to him. Even if the test said that he was from the weakest n, the others wouldn¡¯t insult or belittle him because of that. He was their king¡¯s disciple, after all.

    "That¡¯s great," High Duke Magna said with a smile on his face as he made a circle in the air using his finger. A spatial portal appeared in front of him.

    He inserted his hand inside that spatial portal and brought a semi-transparent crystal orb outside.

    "Come closer. You just need to ce your hand on top of it. It will do the rest," High Duke Magna held the orb in his hand as he told Ryder.

    "Alright," Ryder nodded and stepped closer to High Duke Magna.

    He didn¡¯t think too much and simply ced his hands on the crystal orb.

    There was no change in the crystal for over a minute. High Duke Oris sighed in disappointment as he thought that Ryder wasn¡¯t a demon since the Orb didn¡¯t light up.

    Even Ryder himself was wondering as to what was happening.

    ¡¯Is this thing broken?¡¯ He thought with a weird look on his face.

    High Duke Magna started speaking after a while. He felt like he was just wasting his time at the moment.

    "That¡¯s enough. You can..." As he was speaking, his words stoppeding out while his mouth opened wide in shock.

    Those who were seeing that Orb had the same reaction as him. Even High Duke Oris couldn¡¯t help but frown as he saw the orb change color.

    The orb was showing Blood Red color, and it was shining so brightly that a shade of red also appeared on the faces of Ryder and High Duke Magna.

    Ryder finally breathed in relief as he saw the orb react. He realized that he had passed the test, but before he could celebrate, he saw High Duke Magna step backward. The crystal orb fell to the ground, and it shattered into pieces.

    High Duke Magna brought his sword out and pointed it at Ryder.

    "You¡¯re from the Blood Demon n!" He said as he clenched his teeth. Ryder could see the hate in his eyes.

    He realized that he had somehow screwed up without even realizing it.

    "High Duke Magna! Lower your sword! How dare you point your weapon at His Majesty¡¯s disciple?" High Duke Oris let out loudly as he appeared between Ryder and High Duke Magna.

    "But Oris! He¡¯s from the Blood Demon n!" High Duke Magna let out loud. He didn¡¯t lower his sword.

    "So what! Do you think His Majesty wouldn¡¯t have discovered that? Since he selected him, that must mean that this boy is worth his trust. Since he believes in him, I will believe in him as well. And if you don¡¯t lower your weapon right now, I would think that you¡¯re challenging His Majesty¡¯s authority!" High Duke Oris responded. He brought his sword out as well as if he was ready for a fight if needed.

    "Don¡¯t twist the facts! I¡¯m not against His Majesty, but we can¡¯t ignore the fact that he¡¯s one of the Blood Demons!"High Duke Magna said.

    " I can¡¯t believe one of them is still alive!" High Duke M let out softly as she nced at Ryder.

    "It¡¯s indeed shocking, but since the Emperor doesn¡¯t mind it, I don¡¯t think we should either. No matter what the Blood Demon n did in the past, we can¡¯t me it on this kid. Maybe His Majesty thought the same. If he was unworthy in his eyes, he wouldn¡¯t have given him his Moon Scythe," Another High Duke said.

    He was called High Duke Musam. He was considered to be the 4th strongest in the Demon Realm amongst the High Dukes.

    He had been silent since the meeting began, but he didn¡¯t want to see High Duke Magna attack, Ryder. That might be dangerous. Not just for him, but others as well.

    The other High Dukes said the same thing and took Oris¡¯ Side.

    High Duke Magna saw all that and ultimately lowered his sword.

    "Since His Majesty didn¡¯t mind it, I guess I¡¯d ignore the fact as well," He said. He looked somewhat unwilling when talking about it though.

    " We might choose to ignore the facts, but I don¡¯t think the citizens would ept him. We can¡¯t let the citizens know about it, or there might be trouble in the Demon Realm," High Duke M pointed out as she attracted the attention of everyone.

    At this moment, only High Dukes were talking, and Dukes didn¡¯t speak, though they all had an opinion of their own on the matter.

 Chapter 64 Kingship Trial

    <h4>Chapter 64: Kingship Trial</h4>

    "I don¡¯t think the citizens need to know that. Also, how can they find out about it as long as none of us says anything," High Duke Oris said as he looked at everyone.

    "I would need everyone who¡¯s here to take a blood oath before they leave. No one would be allowed to disclose any information about this meeting and about Hades to anyone," He further added.

    "Indeed, That would be better for the whole Demonic Realm," High Duke M agreed with Oris¡¯ statement.

    "Since that¡¯s handled and all the doubts are clear, let¡¯s talk about what happens next," she continued.

    "It¡¯s clear that His Majesty wants to live his life not bound by the kingdom¡¯s chains, but we all know that we need him. Our Demonic Realm is peaceful at the moment, but there are many problems that can appear and destroy our whole realm. We can handle things for now, but we would need him when the challenging times like thate," High Duke Oris said in a low voice, but everyone was able to hear his words.

    "I have a suggestion for this problem, and I think many of you have also been thinking about it. How about we make Ryder our Prince?" He continued.

    He noticed the surprised look on the faces of the others.

    "His Majesty will always be our King even though he doesn¡¯t want to rule over us, but I have a suggestion. We will create a new position for his Majesty; he will be the Supreme Emperor! His position shall be above that of a King always. As for the King, I rmend giving that position to Ryder in the future. We need leadership, after all. And who better than the person chosen and liked by His Majesty, " He said.

    The Dukes started talking amongst themselves as soon as they heard the suggestion.

    "Now, You might be worried about his potential and strength, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t suggest making him the king instantly, but if he is able toplete the ceremony of Kingship, he would have proven his strength. He can be the king of the Demon Realm," He said.

    "What are your opinions about it? Those who support my suggestion can raise their hands," He announced as he looked towards everyone.

    25 amongst the 34 Dukes raised their hand instantly, and 8 more raised their hands after watching the others. Only Duke Orisis didn¡¯t raise his hands, but no one minded him since he wasn¡¯t conscious at the moment.

    "I agree, as well. I wouldn¡¯t mind making him the King as long as the proper respect is given to His Majesty," The High Dukes also agreed.

    Only Magna hadn¡¯t spoken yet.

    "What about you? Can you please think about this rationally and leave your prejudice aside? We¡¯re doing it for the betterment of our home after all," High Duke Oris said to High Duke Magna.

    "Fine! We¡¯ll do it your way," High Duke Magna agreed, though he didn¡¯t look happy.

    "That¡¯s better. We¡¯ll have the ceremony after 7 days right here, and that¡¯s when we¡¯ll make him the Prince and introduce him to the citizens. And when hepletes the Kingship trial, he¡¯ll be made the king!" High Duke Oris said.

    "Alright. Now that it¡¯s done, I¡¯ll be taking my leave," High Duke Magna walked out of the pce and flew away.

    "You can all leave as well," High Duke Oris told the others. Everyone started leaving one after another. A few Dukes picked up the unconscious Duke Orisis and took him with them.

    "It¡¯s been a pleasure to meet you, Prince. I¡¯ll meet you after 7 days," High Duke M said with a slight smile on her face and left as well.

    Soon, there were only three people left in the pce. High Duke Oris, Ryder, and Duke Devilia were left.

    "Thank you for all the help. I thought that he would kill me after the orb turned red," Ryder thanked High Duke Oris for saving him from Magna.

    "It was my duty, Prince. Also, I hope that you won¡¯t think bad of Magna. He¡¯s just a little too serious. It¡¯s just the history of the Blood Demons. He lost control of his emotions," High Duke Oris exined.

    "I can understand. I myself didn¡¯t know that I was from the Blood Demon n. Can you tell me more about them?" Ryder asked.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t. It would be better if His Majesty talked to you himself. Since he hasn¡¯t yet, it must not be the right time," High Duke Oris said with a smile.

    "Ahh, Ok. Can I at least know about the Kingship trial that you talked about?" Ryder further inquired.

    "Hahahaha, Yeah. I can talk about that indeed. It is like a tradition that has been passed down for centuries. Even the King himself can¡¯t make the Crown Prince the King without him passing the Kingship Trial," High Duke Oris replied.

    "To pass the Kingship trial, you must go to thend of our enemy. You¡¯d need to enter the Death Domain, go to their Royal City and kill a hundred citizens of the Royal City and bring their heads back to us," High Duke Oris said.

    "Are they weaker than us?" Ryder inquired.

    "Not at all. If I were to guess, I¡¯d say that the Death Domain is almost as strong as our Demonic Realm," High Duke Oris said.

    "Oh, So I need to go there and kill their citizens? Even if I was able to do that, won¡¯t their King or their leadership catch me? You¡¯re literally asking a King Candidate of the Demon Realm to go against the King of the Death Domain! I can¡¯t believe the previous Kings had managed to do that," Ryder said with a weird look on his face.

    "The previous Kings did achieve that. Some used their brain, while others used pure Strength to do it. Your master is amongst thetter. Anyway, there¡¯s no hurry. You can take as much time as you need and only go when you think that you¡¯re ready," High Duke Oris replied.

    "Anyways, I need to take my leave as well. You can ask Devilia what other questions you might have," He said politely.

    "Devilia, Take the prince back. You can bring him here on the 7th day," He said before he left as well.

    Devilia took the confused Ryder with her and left.

 Chapter 65 The System Awakens

    <h4>Chapter 65: The System Awakens</h4>

    Devilia left with Ryder and went back to her ce.

    Ryder felt like the journey to the back was much faster than when they came. Or maybe his mind wasn¡¯t focused after everything he found out.

    Devilia and Rydernded on the balcony of her room. Strangely enough, she didn¡¯t say anything on the way back.

    She only started talking when they got to her room.

    "Why didn¡¯t you tell me that you were a demon as well? I was in the illusion that you were a human from the moment you told me that you were from the outside, " She asked him.

    "What can I say? You never asked me, so I didn¡¯t say. I thought that you would know about me being a Demon since you were so knowledgeable," Ryder replied with a wry smile on his face.

    "Cheh, I¡¯m not a god. How can I know about that? Whatever I¡¯m d that everything went well. In 7 days, you¡¯ll be made Prince," She said.

    "Yeah, I think now should be the right time to tell you that I¡¯ll be spending the next 6 days inside your hunting forest. I think staying there would be good for my growth. I¡¯lle back on the 7th day, and we canplete the preparation for the big day," Ryder suggested.

    "Alright. I won¡¯t try to stop you, but I¡¯lle with you as well. Although no Duke other than Orisis voiced their opinions against you, I feel like there were a few that were not happy with the decision. They might try to target you if they find out that you¡¯ve left. I¡¯ll stay with you for your protection," She said to him.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. I don¡¯t need a babysitter. What would my master think about me if I kept you with me for my protection?" Ryder straight away rejected her suggestion.

    "I¡¯d much prefer to keep Bulga with me, but you don¡¯t need toe. Also, no one will target me. Who would be stupid enough to think that you would let me leave the pce in times like these? Even if someonees, I can take care of myself. It¡¯s not far either. If there¡¯s a problem, I can message you, and you can get there in 4-5 minutes. So there¡¯s no need for you toe. Stay in the pce and let me have some fun on my own," He further added to his statement.

    "Ahh, but..."

    "No, buts! Please respect my wishes," Ryder insisted.

    She looked at him for what seemed like an eternity before she ultimately sighed.

    "Alright. I¡¯d let you leave, but you must contact me if there is any problem. Also, you must disguise yourself before you leave. Take this," She said as she brought something out of a Spatial Portal.

    It looked like a stic mask that could only cover the left half of someone¡¯s face.

    "It¡¯s called Mask of Change. You can wear it, and others will see you as a different person. You¡¯d look like an average 7-foot tall demon. This way, no one would be able to recognize you when you leave," She said.

    "Thanks. This mask will be a great help," Ryder took the mask and held it in his hands.

    "When will you be leaving?" She asked.

    "In the night, There are only a few hours left. I¡¯d go tell Miyali that I¡¯m leaving. You can tell Bulga about this n in the meantime. He¡¯d have to stay with me for 6 days," Ryder said as he turned back.

    He was just 2 steps away from the door when he heard a sound that made him stop in his path.

    [Ding... System upgrade sessful. Starting it now]

    ¡¯Sigh, it was so fun while he was silent. Why did he have to wake up? Also, why does his voice sound different?¡¯ Ryder thought with a wry smile on his face.

    [I thought that the host would be happy to hear my voice again. I got to say; I¡¯m somewhat heartbroken,]

    Janus answered him.

    ¡¯Oh, don¡¯t get me wrong. I¡¯m indeed happy that you¡¯re up. Anyways, why is your voice more feminine now?¡¯ Ryder inquired.

    Janus did reply to him, but he didn¡¯t answer his question.

    [You have been assigned a mission.

    Mission: Tell Devilia your most embarrassing secret.

    Rewards: An Invisibility talisman

    Punishment: You would be teleported to the Death Domain,]

    ¡¯Sigh, you just woke up, and you¡¯re back to your usual tricks,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Is something wrong?" Devilia asked as she saw Ryder standing still right before the door.

    "My first crush was on my Math Teacher when I was only 11 years old. I proposed to her as well, in front of the whole ss," Ryder looked back and said to her, and before she could react, he hurriedly left.

    [Mission Session. Rewards Given] Janus said.

    [I must say, that wasn¡¯t as fun as I thought it would be] He further added.

    "It feels like you¡¯ve grown worse after your upgrade. Now you want to enjoy my misery as well," Ryder said in an annoyed tone, and he continued walking to his room.

    As Ryder left, Devilia was still standing in her room with a confused look on her face.

    "What is a math teacher?" She let out as he looked towards the door.

    Ryder entered his room and saw Miyali sitting on the bed. She had a paper and a pen in her hand and seemed like she was writing something.

    "You¡¯re back. It took you a long time," She said as she ced the paper down on the bed and used the pen as the paperweight.

    "Yeah, I had to go outside for something. I¡¯d be leaving again in a few hours. I won¡¯t be back for like 6 days, I think," Ryder said as he stepped towards the bed and sat beside her.

    He was surprised as he saw the paper. It looked like a drawing that looked like him.

    "Oh, Ok," She answered.

    "Yeah, Devilia will take care of you. You can ask her if you need anything," He said smilingly as he stood up and walked towards the shower room.

    After 10 or so minutes, he left the ce. He had changed his clothes, but his hair was still somewhat wet.

    "I¡¯m leaving," He said before he left the room.

    He walked back to Devilia¡¯s room and saw that Bulga was already there. She had told him everything, and he was ready to leave.

    Bulga got down to his knees as he greeted Ryder after he entered the room.

    "Are you ready to go?" He asked Bulga.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m ready," Bulga said in a determined voice.

    "You both should remember. You must contact me if there is trouble," Devilia said onest time.

    They both nodded their head before they left on the flying beast of Bulga.

    It didn¡¯t take much time for them to reach the Hunting Forest.

    Ryder once again ordered Bulga to wait outside while he entered the forest alone. Since it was an order, Bulga agreed and let him leave.

 Chapter 66 All at once

    <h4>Chapter 66: All at once</h4>

    Ryder walked inside the forest once more and started moving deeper. Although the forest looked small, it was way bigger than he could imagine.

    He walked in the forest for over an hour, but he didn¡¯t find any beast.

    He could feel himself getting tired, so he brought a fruit out of his storage space and started eating it.

    "Geez, where the heck are the beasts. Even thest time, it wasn¡¯t this hard,"

    He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the beasts were hiding from him.

    After 20 more minutes, he finally saw a beast at some distance from him.

    It was a 3-Toothed Rabbit. Although it was called a Rabbit, it was as big as a full-grown cattle.

    It had 3 sharp teeth that wereing out of her mouth. The teeth looked just like that of a sabertooth. The 3-Toothed Rabbit had ck fur.

    ¡¯Level 12 beast? Shouldn¡¯t be a problem if I¡¯m careful,¡¯ Ryder thought as he gazed at the beast.

    It was the first time he was facing a beast at that level. Before this, the strongest beast he faced had only been a level 10 beast.

    Even the Town Lord that he had killed when he came to the Demon Realm had only been at the 11th level.

    [Are you going to kill that?]

    Just as he was about to step forward, he heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    ¡¯Yup. Don¡¯t screw this up for me. Let me level up in peace,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    [There¡¯s no mission, for now, just a suggestion. You should stay away from that beast,] Janus replied.

    ¡¯Why?¡¯ Ryder inquired, but Janus didn¡¯t answer.

    ¡¯You must be thinking that I¡¯m weak. Let me show you how wrong you are! I can definitely take care of that beast!¡¯ Ryder said with a confident smile on his face as he stepped towards the 3-Toothed Rabbit.

    He didn¡¯t want to give the 3-Toothed Rabbit a chance to escape; that¡¯s why he ran as fast as he could.

    "Fire st!" While Running, Ryder also cast his me spell as soon as he saw that the 3-Toothed Rabbit had noticed him.

    The 3-Toothed Rabbit saw the ball of meing towards him; he opened his mouth wide and attacked Ryder with his Shadow Ball. It looked like a pitch-ck energy ball that came out of its mouth and collided with Ryder¡¯s me st.

    Both the attacks destroyed each other, but Ryder managed to utilize the time as he got near the 3-Toothed Rabbit and swung his Scythe at its neck.

    The 3-Toothed Rabbit reacted faster as it twisted its body in order to save its neck. It protected its neck, but it¡¯s back was sliced through. A deep gash appeared on its back, but since it¡¯s skin was so thick, the 3-Toothed Rabbit wasn¡¯t seriously injured.

    Although there was no blood, the 3-Toothed Rabbit still made a loud painful cry as it looked towards the sky.

    " Cry as much as you want, but no one is going to save you. This forest is as empty as it could get. Take it from an experienced explorer like me. I don¡¯t think there would be any beast within the 10 miles radius of us," Ryder said smilingly as he used another me st on the 3-Toothed Rabbit.

    The me st struck the 3-Toothed Rabbit and made it scream even louder.

    Ryder raised his Scythe to deal the finishing blow, but that¡¯s when he heard the sound of footsteps on the grass.

    He could hear various kinds of noises as well.

    Ryder nced around him as he started sweating.

    He could see around 8 3-Toothed Rabbits that had surrounded him from every direction.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder called out as he swung his Scythe and sliced off the neck of the 3-Toothed Rabbit that was near him since he didn¡¯t want to let him recover and attack him from behind.

    [+8000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+1 Intelligence]

    Ryder saw the experience gain notification, but that was thest thing he cared about at the moment.

    "You guys are real bastards, aren¡¯t you? I looked for 80 minutes, but not a single one appeared in front of me, and after I found a beast, you all appeared to screw me over," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face as he nced at the beasts.

    "Whatever, Don¡¯t think that I¡¯ll be scared. You¡¯re nothing but weak," Ryder gripped his Scythe firmly as he said.

    All the 3-Toothed Rabbit started running towards Ryder together. Since they were all on different sides of him, Ryder wasn¡¯t able to see them all.

    "me st!"

    "me st!"

    "me st"

    Ryder fired me st one after another towards the beasts that were on his back to dy them while he ran towards the beasts to his front.

    The trick worked, and the fur of three 3-Toothed Rabbits easily started burning, which stopped them and shifted their focus.

    Ryder got to the 3-toothed Rabbit that was in front of him and used Enraged sh.

    Since the beast was only level 10, it was Ryder¡¯s first target, and it was killed in a single strike.

    [+4000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+10 strength]

    Ryder didn¡¯t stop and shifted to the nearest 3-Toothed Rabbit that was just as weak.

    [+4000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+5 speed]

    [+4000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+1 Intelligence]

    [+6000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+15 strength]

    The notifications kepting one after another as Ryder killed 4 of the 8 beasts. Unfortunately, the skill absorption didn¡¯t activate even once. He has expected that since the chances of that happening were only 5 percent.

    There were still 4 beasts left; they were the stronger ones though.

    One amongst them was at level 15,2 at level 12, and 1 at level 13.

    Ryder wasn¡¯t worried. Instead, he was excited at his gains.

    "It would be so great to absorb their stats as well. Hopefully, I¡¯ll get their Shadow Ball attack as well," He muttered to himself.

 Chapter 67 Lucifer and the Princess

    <h4>Chapter 67: Lucifer and the Princess</h4>

    The fire was burning on the fur; the 3-Toothed Rabbits had stopped. Their fur was burnt off and turned ck, but their health wasn¡¯t affected much.

    Ryder had just finished dealing with 4 of them, and as soon as he turned back, he noticed that the remaining 3-Toothed Rabbits had opened their mouth.

    "Oh, Shhh," Ryder could see a ck ball of lighting into existence.

    They all fired Shadow Balls at Ryder at the same time. All 4 attacks wereing from different angles, making it difficult for him to guess their trajectory and dodge them.

    "me st"

    "me st!"

    Ryder had fired two me sts one after another and took care of 2 shadow balls that were closer to him.

    Although he managed to deal with 2 of them, the remaining 2 has gotten much closer to him in the meantime.

    Ryder realized that he didn¡¯t have time to use me st on one as the other one would strike him.

    He nted his feet firmly on the ground as he swung his Moon Scythe towards the remaining shadow balls.

    "Enraged sh!" He roared loudly as he attacked the shadow balls.

    The Moon Scythe managed to slice through one Shadow Ball and destroy it, but as the Shadow Ball burst off, Ryder couldn¡¯t escape the effects. He was struck by the energy wave that appeared because of the Shadow Ball being destroyed.

    He could feel pain as well as his HP going down, but he didn¡¯t stop the Scythe as he twisted his body along with the movement of the scythe and destroyed the remaining Shadow Ball as well.

    He was struck by another energy st since thest Shadow Ball had reached dangerously close to him.

    He was thrown off like a broken kite as he crashed on the ground.

    *Cough* *cough*

    "Well, that wasn¡¯t fun," Ryder stood up as he looked at the 3-Tooted Rabbits that were running towards him.

    "Now I desire that skill even more," Ryder let out as he ran towards the closest beast.

    "me st!" Ryder attacked just as he was 5 meters away from it.

    "Enraged sh!" Before the me st could evennd on the 3-toothed rabbit, he jumped in the air as he swung his Scythe.

    The me stnded on the head of the 3-Toothed Rabbit, and the next instant, the Moon Scythe managed to slice it¡¯s head off. He had killed the strongest 3-Toothed Rabbit.

    He killed level 15 beast despite only being level 10, mostly because of the increase in stats after absorption.

    [+15000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+18 Strength]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Skill Absorption]

    [Skill Taken: Shadow Ball]

    [+1 Level]

    "Hah, now that¡¯s more like it," Ryder said smilingly.

    Without wasting any time, he raised his hand towards another 3-toothed Rabbit.

    "Shadow Ball!" Ryder called out, and a pitch-ck orb of energy appeared in front of him and advanced towards the target.

    ¡¯The mana consumption is slightly higherpared to me st,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at his avable mana on the corner of his vision.

    "Enraged sh!" He followed the same pattern and killed it as well.

    [+10000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+1 Intelligence]]

    Only 2 beasts remained, and Ryder still had enough Mana for 3 me sts.

    Thest 2 beasts were at equal distance from him, and Ryder could see both of them opening their mouth at the same time. He realized what they wanted to do.

    He ran towards the 3-toothed rabbit on his left and fired a me st.

    The shadow ball had just left its mouth when the me st collided with the shadow ball. A small explosion took ce that harmed the 3-Toothed Rabbit¡¯s eyes, making it groan in pain.

    In the meantime, the second 3-Toothed Rabbit had fired its shadow ball that wasing after Ryder at its maximum speed.

    Ryder jumped over the 3-toothed rabbit that had lost its vision andnded behind it, while the shadow ball that wasing after him struck the 3-Toothed Rabbit.

    *Raaaaa*

    The 3-Toothed Rabbit groaned in pain as it was attacked. It was seriously injured, and Ryder utilized the opportunity as he attacked it with his Scythe.

    Ryder attacked normally, he didn¡¯t even use the Enraged sh, yet the 3-Toothed Rabbit died.

    [+10000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+1 Intelligence]]

    "Such a bad bunny, You killed your own friend," Ryder said with a smile as he started running towards thest 3-Toothed Rabbit.

    It opened its mouth once more to fire Shadow Ball, but Ryder did the same and used me st before it could.

    Although the me st was weaker and dealt less damage than Shadow Ball, It was much faster to cast.

    The me st had reached near the 3-Toothed Rabbit when it fired Shadow Ball. Both the attacks collided with each other and got destroyed amongst themselves.

    Ryder used the time he had received as he got to the 3-Toothed Rabbit and gave onest strike and killed it.

    [+8000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+1 Intelligence]

    Every beast was killed, and Ryder sat down on the ground as he breathed in relief.

    His stamina was high, but it was still too much for him to fight so many beasts at once at such a low level.

    Most of his mana was also spent, which would take some time to recover. Fortunately, his mana didn¡¯t go down to 0, or he would be having a headache as a side effect. He didn¡¯t have a mana potion either.

    _________________________

    As Ryder was resting, another person was going deeper inside a dark forest.

    The person was wearing a beautiful cloak that covered his body entirely.

    His face was also covered in a mask; only his deep blue eyes were visible.

    He was carrying a heavy sword on his back while he held a poster in his hand.

    This poster was exactly like the one that Ryder had found in the kingdom before he was transferred into the Demon Realm.

    It had a painting of a beautiful girl. There were a few words written below the painting that talked about the princess being missing and that the person who found her will be heavily rewarded by the king.

 Chapter 68 Face behind the mask

    <h4>Chapter 68: Face behind the mask</h4>

    Lucifer was moving deeper into the forest as if he knew where he wanted to go.

    He walked for over half a day, and it was already night by now, which made it difficult to see ahead; still, he didn¡¯t look like he was having any trouble navigating in the darkness.

    After a few more minutes, he was able to see light at some distance.

    It was unclear as to what expression he had behind his mask, but from his eyes, it didn¡¯t seem like he was happy.

    He stepped towards the source of light and noticed that it was a campfire.

    People were sitting around the campfire and drinking. He also noticed a girl that was sitting nearby. Her hands and her legs were tied. The girl matched the girl on the poster.

    "Boss, how long should we wait before we send someone to collect the money from the king in exchange for his daughter?" One of the guys asked as he nced at the scar-faced man sitting nearby.

    "Just wait for a few more days. Let the king feel the pain of the separation of his dear daughter for a few more days. He¡¯d Instantly agree to pay us the money when he¡¯s desperate," The Scar-Faced man replied.

    "Indeed, the boss is right. Also, why would we hurry? It¡¯s not like our daughter is kidnapped," Another man said as everyone startedughing.

    "Who¡¯s there?" He hurriedly looked back as he heard the sound of footsteps.

    He saw a masked person walking towards him with slow steps.

    "Who the heck are you?" The person said as he red at Lucifer, but Lucifer didn¡¯t reply.

    "Mark, don¡¯t talk. Kill that guy for intruding our ce,"

    "Yes, boss!"

    The man picked up his sword and ran towards Lucifer, but before he could even swing his sword, his head was separated from his body.

    Lucifer was standing in his ce, with his heavy sword in his hand. Blood was clearly visible on the de of the sword.

    Everyone stood up in shock. Even the girl¡¯s eyes opened wide as she saw everything.

    "T-that guy is dangerous! Everyone attack him together!" The chief let out loud.

    He was feeling like he was facing the biggest foe. He couldn¡¯t even see the sword of Lucifer as the head of his man was sliced off. After seeing that, he didn¡¯t underestimate Lucifer anymore and sent all of his men at once.

    More than 30 people ran towards Lucifer at once, as if they were hungry for his blood.

    Only the chief was standing behind as he stared at everything intently. He was somewhat hopeful that his men would kill the man easily, but he still couldn¡¯t put his heart at ease. The unusual silence of the masked man was scarier for him than anything.

    The fight ended shortly, but the results weren¡¯t as good as he was expecting.

    In less than 10 minutes, all his men were killed. Their bodies were lying on the ground, which had turned red because of their blood.

    The chief was just standing there in a daze. He couldn¡¯t believe what he just saw.

    He recovered from his daze as he raised his hand and shot out a fireball at Lucifer.

    Lucifer didn¡¯t look like he even cared. He simply swung his heavy sword and destroyed the ball of fire that wasing at him with ease.

    The chief was shocked as he saw his attack being destroyed easily. He was even more scared as he saw Lucifer walking towards him. He couldn¡¯t help but step backward slowly, but his eyes never left Lucifer.

    As he wasn¡¯t looking back, he stepped on a stone, and he fell down to the ground.

    He tried to stand up, but before he could even move, he found Lucifer standing right beside him.

    "P-pleas..." The chief wanted to beg for his life, but before he could even finish his word, Lucifer swung his sword and sliced off his neck.

    The chief¡¯s vision turned dark as he lost his life. Thest thing he saw before he died was the emotionless eyes of Lucifer that were gazing at him without the least bit of pity.

    After killing them all, Lucifer walked towards the tied up girl that was looking just as scared.

    As Lucifer got near the girl, he didn¡¯t say anything and just raised his sword.

    He struck down with his sword.

    The girl saw the swording towards her and closed her eyes. She had lost all hopes of survival. A single tear appeared in her eye.

    A few seconds passed, but she didn¡¯t feel the pain she had expected. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that the man was simply standing there. He had a paper in his hand that he was showing her.

    She also realized that the ropes that had tied her hands and legs were cut. She was freed.

    The girl read the paper and found out that it was a mission poster that was issued by her father.

    "S-so, you¡¯re here to save me?" She asked.

    Lucifer didn¡¯t reply, but she already knew the answer now.

    "Thank you so much for saving my life," She said excitedly as she stood up and hugged Lucifer.

    Lucifer didn¡¯t seem like he liked someone touching him as he released himself from her embrace and created some distance.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s go to the Pce. I¡¯d talk to father and get the rewards doubled for you," She said smilingly.

    Lucifer didn¡¯t say anything as he started walking back. The girl followed him. She kept trying to start a conversation, but Lucifer didn¡¯t talk to her.

    After walking for a long time, they reached the Royal City.

    The guards were extremely happy as they saw their princess return. They brought Lucifer and the princess to the pce with full respect.

    In no time, they found themselves standing in front of the King.

    "Father!" the girl excitedly ran to him as she hugged him.

    "My daughter, I¡¯m so grateful to the gods that you¡¯re back safely," The King let out with relief on his face.

    "Is he the person that saved you?" He asked the girl.

    "Yes, Father. This brave warrior killed the bad people as he saved me. Please double his rewards Father," She said with a bright smile as she nced at Lucifer.

    "Haha, Of course," The King smilingly said.

    "Thank you for saving my daughter. Anyways, are you a man or a woman? Can you take your mask off and let us see? We can decide on the rewards properly after that," The King said.

    Lucifer just looked at him for some time before he shook his head.

    A frown appeared on the king¡¯s face as he saw Lucifer reject him.

 Chapter 69 Offending the King

    <h4>Chapter 69: Offending the King</h4>

    "You won¡¯t listen to our orders? Are you trying to disrespect us?" The King bellowed.

    "Take that mask off!" The king again said.

    "I¡¯m not taking my mask off," Lucifer finally opened his mouth and said. His voice sounded like a man¡¯s voice, but it was difficult to judge the age from the voice.

    "Are you seriously defying us? You, adventurers, dare to disrespect the Royal lineage?" The King let out as he red at Lucifer.

    "Father, please? He saved my life. He must have a reason for not taking his mask off. Can you please let it go?" The Princess requested as she held the King¡¯s hand.

    "Silence! We were going to heavily reward this person for saving your life, but we won¡¯t give him anything. We won¡¯t appreciate any disrespect towards the Royal Lineage. No matter the reason," The King said.

    Lucifer just gazed at him for a brief moment before he opened his mouth.

    "This is not how a king should behave," Lucifer said.

    "Shut up! What do you know about kings and how they should behave?" The king roared in anger.

    The girl released the King¡¯s hands and walked up to Lucifer.

    "Please, Sir, can you ask for forgiveness from father? He¡¯s angry right now. I¡¯ll try to convince him after you ask you forgiveness. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll forgive you," The Princess said softly to him.

    "Lia! Come back here," The king ordered the princess.

    The princess walked back to him though she gave a pleading look to Lucifer before she turned back.

    "I don¡¯t think I need to tell you what I know and what I don¡¯t. If this is how the king of this kingdom is, I just have a feeling that this kingdom won¡¯tst for long," Lucifer said in an emotionless tone.

    Although no emotion could be felt in his voice, from his eyes, it could be seen that he was angry.

    "Keep your rewards," Lucifer said as he turned back to leave.

    "You dare act so big in front of us? Do you think you can leave after disrespecting the king? Even if you saved my daughter, you still deserve the punishment," The king let out.

    "Guards! Catch that person!" The King ordered loudly.

    The guards that were standing outside heard the king¡¯s orders and entered inside.

    "Catch that person, "The king repeated his orders after the guards entered.

    The guards raised their weapons and pointed them towards Lucifer.

    "By the will of his Majesty, I order thee to stand still and surrender to us!" The Leader of the Royal Guards said.

    *Sigh*

    Lucifer sighed as he looked at the guards. He raised his hand and grabbed the hilt of his sword behind his back.

    "Are you sure you¡¯re going to do this?" He asked as he looked at guards. He didn¡¯t stop walking though.

    "You¡¯ve forced us to use force!" The Guard chief said as he gestured for his men to attack. The guards ran towards Lucifer and attacked with their swords.

    Lucifer swung his sword as well. His sword shed with 5 des of the guards that had attacked together. He was forced a step back, but he brought another sword out of his storage space and attacked with it.

    The guards¡¯ chest was sliced as they groaned in pain and fell down to the ground. Although they were harmed, their wounds weren¡¯t deadly. It was unclear as to if the attack was weak or Lucifer had intentionally gone easy.

    The look on the King¡¯s face changed as he saw the scene right before his eyes. He couldn¡¯t even believe if he was dreaming or seeing reality.

    Just as he was lost in thoughts, even the chief of the guards was defeated.

    Lucifer walked out of the hall without looking back.

    "H-he dared to attack my men. I¡¯ll see how he walks out of this ce alive. I¡¯ll send my shadow guards after him! I¡¯ll release a bounty on his head! I¡¯ll make sure that he never gets a single coin in this kingdom!" The king roared loudly.

    "Father! He saved my life! Instead of rewarding him, you tried to punish him! If you sent more men after him, I¡¯d never forgive you!" The princess let out loudly as she left the hall with tears in her eyes as well.

    She walked towards the exit of the pce in search of Lucifer, but she didn¡¯t find him. Ultimately, she just walked back.

    Lucifer was walking through the streets of the city as he heard the notification.

    [+150 Fame points awarded for offending the king]

    [+10 Evil Points for offending the king]

    [No Quest can be received in this Kingdom from the loyal followers of the king. People who like the king will not talk to you]

    "Evil Points? I won¡¯t get a quest here? Whatever. This kingdom had never been my destination," Lucifer muttered.

    "How would I know how a king should react. I wonder how long you canst," he further said. It felt as if he was smiling behind his mask.

    ____________________

    Ryder had rested for half a day. All of his mana was restored before he again went in search of another beast to hunt.

    It seemed as if his luck had improved after all the effort ofst time, and it didn¡¯t take him long to find his next target.

    A Spirit Wolf that was a level 14 beast. A beast that was known for its speed and sharp attacks.

    Ryder brought his Scythe out and began his assault. Generally, He wouldn¡¯t be able to match the speed of the Spirit Wolf at all, but after the massive boost in his stats due to absorption, he was able to react fast enough.

    A spark appeared as the sharp ws of the Spirit Wolf shed with the sharp de of the Scythe.

    "Shadow Ball," Ryder moved back as he attacked with the Shadow Ball, but the Spirit Wolf dodged the attack and again attacked Ryder.

    Ryder used me st one after another as he tried to predict its trajectory, and he did manage to hit the Spirit Wolf.

    The Spirit Wolf did look like it was injured as it jumped towards Ryder.

    Ryder shed and managed to slice the stomach of the Spirit Wolf.

    The Wolf groaned in pain as it fell down. Ryder didn¡¯t give it a chance to recover as he attacked it once more.

    The Wolf was killed. Ryder was rxed, and that¡¯s when his eyes fell on an item that was lying nearby.

 Chapter 70 The Thing that shouldnt exist

    <h4>Chapter 70: The Thing that shouldn''t exist</h4>

    As Ryder¡¯s Scythe sliced off the stomach of the Spirit Wolf, along with the blood, something else came out.

    As Ryder killed the Spirit Wolf and turned back, his eyes fell on the item.

    [+13000 Exp]

    [Special Effect of Moon Scythe Activated: Absorption]

    [+10 Speed]

    He ignored the notification as he walked up to that ce and picked up that item, which looked like a bracelet.

    He picked up the bracelet covered in blood and cleaned it with clothes that he had inside his storage space.

    As the bracelet was wiped clean, Ryder was able to see that the bracelet had a silver color that looked just like the shining moon.

    There were some ancient-looking characters carved all around the bracelet. All these characters had a different color, but there was something about them that gave Ryder an extraordinary feeling.

    As he was observing the bracelet, a notification had stealthily popped up on the edge of his vision.

    After quite some time, he noticed the notification. He tapped on the notification and started reading what it said.

    [Bracelet of Immortality found. Would you like to equip?]

    He tapped on details to get further information, but what he saw shocked him to his core.

    [Bracelet of Immortality

    Artifact Grade: God Grade

    Description: Description Locked. Equip the item to unlock the description]

    Although Ryder couldn¡¯t get the description, just the bracelet¡¯s grade was enough to make him open his mouth in shock.

    A God Grade Treasure was the highest level of treasure a person could get. Each of those treasures was enough to change the lives of the yer and the world of divinity.

    Without having a second thought, Ryder hurriedly equipped the Bracelet of Immortality.

    [Bracelet of Immortality Equipped]

    He clicked on the details of the treasure to check the details now that he had equipped it, but what he saw was enough to make him fall down to his knees in shock.

    [Name: Bracelet of Immortality

    Artifact Grade: God Grade

    Description: A destructive treasure that is said to have been forged by the Devil God in the hopes of destroying the heavens. Many of the gods sacrificed themselves in the Great war of Immortality before taking the treasure from the Devil God before he could use it.

    Because of the evil nature of the treasure, its powers have been sealed.

    Advantages: Locked

    Limitations: Since it¡¯s a sealed item that goes against the heavens, the wearer shall be cursed by the heavens. The bracelet can¡¯t be taken off. You can¡¯t enter ces of Worship. When the wearer dies, his soul shall be destroyed, unable to reincarnate for eternity]

    Ryder could feel a headacheing. He had literally worn a cursed item. The item that had previously been giving him epic vibes now looked like the devil reincarnate that had appeared in his life to destroy everything.

    He tried getting the bracelet off his hand but to no avail. The bracelet didn¡¯te off.

    [Congrats on getting the Bracelet of Immortality. I should¡¯ve expected that it would get to you somehow,]

    Just when Ryder was about to cry, Janus said to him.

    "What congrats! I¡¯ve literally received a useless item! Now every yer that can see the Treasure Ranking will know that I have a God Grade item! They wille after me to get it from me, and it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll drop this item! This is fucking stuck to me for life! I¡¯d be chased forever by the greedy yers. And what do I get in return? Nothing!" Ryder wanted to cry, but no tears came out of his eyes.

    After sulking for over half an hour, he finally stood up.

    "At Least it¡¯s something only in-game. If I had been cursed in real life, I wouldn¡¯t know what to do," Ryder said as he tried to look at the positive side of things.

    [Ah, do you want to hear bad news?] Janus inquired.

    "Hah, are you being considerate? Tell me. What can be worse than the day I¡¯m having," Ryder said, smiling.

    [Forget it. You will know soon enough,] Janus said before he went silent.

    "Hey, tell me! What were you talking about!" Ryder asked, but Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    Ryder ultimately gave up, thinking that Janus was just messing with him. He was already having a headache and didn¡¯t feel like hunting anymore.

    He remembered that he had seen ake along the way. He decided to go there and take a long bath in order to calm his mind, which was in chaos at the moment.

    He walked towards the south for over 10 minutes before he reached theke.

    He took his clothes off and kept them in his storage space. He waspletely bare as he jumped into theke.

    He began swimming in the longke while trying to forget the bracelet¡¯s existence in his hand.

    He swam for over 20 minutes before being able to improve his mood. The water was just the right temperature in this weather. He could feel the pain in his body go away as well.

    After feeling better, he swam towards the shore, and just when he was 20 meters away from the ground, he noticed a person.

    It looked like a girl that was dressed in a warrior-like dress. She looked like she was only in her early 20s. She had Dark Blue Hair and light grey eyes that looked strangely good. Her perfectly oval shape, her thin lips, her beautiful eyes, and her devilish figure, they all made her attractive to look at, but Ryder wasn¡¯t thinking about that at the moment.

    He was more concerned as to how a girl like her was able to enter this forest. This forest was the personal hunting ground of a Duke of the Demon Realm. Bulga was also standing outside; he would have seen if someone had entered. This whole thing was so confusing.

    The girl was walking towards theke, but she wasn¡¯t focusing ahead; instead, she was looking down as if she was looking for something.

    "Where the heck is that thing? The energy signature has disappeared as well?" She muttered as she looked here and there.

    "Hmm? A person is here?" The woman saw Ryder in the water and eximed with a frown on her face.

 Chapter 71 Ill kill you!

    <h4>Chapter 71: I''ll kill you!</h4>

    Ryder was swimming right before the shore and hesitating if he should get out or not.

    The girl nced at him for a brief moment before she startedughing.

    "Hahahaha, I didn¡¯t expect to meet a demon on my first visit to this ce. Now that I have already seen you, I might as well have some fun," The girl let out as she smiled at Ryder.

    Ryder had a bad feeling about it as soon as he saw that smile.

    He had already sent a message to Bulga as soon as he noticed the girl, but he wasn¡¯t sure how long it would take for him to get here.

    The girl raised her hand towards the sky as she chanted a spell in some ancientnguage.

    The sky was suddenly covered in dark clouds. Ryder could hear the sound of thunder, and he could see the grin on the girl¡¯s face.

    He had a feeling that if he didn¡¯t get out of the water instantly, he would regret it all his life.

    The girl snapped her finger, and at the sound of her snap, a big thunderbolt fell down from the sky. Its destination was Ryder inside the water, but Ryder had managed to jump out of the water at thest moment and dodged the thunderbolt.

    The wholeke was electrified as the current coursed through every corner of theke. If Ryder hadn¡¯t left theke, he would have been electrocuted as well.

    "Who the heck are you! Why the hell are you targeting me!" Ryder roared in anger as he red at the woman.

    He had forgotten entirely that he was standingpletely nude at the moment, and the girl was able to see everything.

    The girl¡¯s face had turned somewhat crimson as she saw Ryder¡¯s body in its full glory.

    "You bastard! How dare you dirty my eyes with your vulgarity!" The girl let out loudly as she pointed her finger towards Ryder.

    A small orb of thunder appeared out of thin air and advanced towards Ryder. Not just one, the orbs ofpressed thunder kept getting formed one after another.

    "That¡¯s Enough! I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re a girl, I¡¯ll kill you!" Ryder was actually feeling angry now.

    His day was already going bad since he received a cursed item. Just when he was finally able to calm his mind after a long swim, the girl appeared out of nowhere and attacked him.

    Even after all that, he was the one that was called vulgar. He was losing his mind in anger.

    He finally brought out his Moon Scythe from his storage space. Instead of backing away, he swung it with full strength and destroyed all the Thunder Orbs before they could hit him.

    As he dealt with the attack, he looked towards the girl and noticed that she was in shock.

    "T-that Scythe! You¡¯re the Sessor of that bastard King!" The girl bellowed as she furiously red at Ryder.

    Ryder didn¡¯t reply and simply attacked the girl with a shadow ball. He didn¡¯t stop with that as he immediately fired a me st towards the girl.

    Without waiting for the attacks to strike the girl, he ran towards her.

    The girl didn¡¯t move. She just tapped her feet on the ground. A portal opened in front of her, and a skeleton came out of it.

    The Skeleton was struck by the Shadow Ball and the me st instead of the girl. Ryder was surprised, but he didn¡¯t stop.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder let out as he used his strongest skill that was even stronger because of his Scythe.

    The Scythe came like the Scythe of the Grim Reaper and cut the skeleton in half.

    Both halves of the skeleton fell down to the ground as it turned into dust.

    Ryder looked to the front and noticed that the girl wasn¡¯t there. He immediately started feeling like he was in danger.

    He got down to the ground instantly just at the right time as he managed to dodge the thunder orb that the girl had fired towards his head.

    "Do you think you¡¯re the only one who has a divine weapon?" The girl muttered as she stood behind him.

    A spatial crack opened in front of her. She pushed her hand inside the portal and pulled out a Spear.

    The spear was pitch ck in color, but there were some mysterious characters carved on the Spear. Ryder could feel a powerful energy from the spear, and his Moon Scythe was also giving a furious reaction.

    It was as if his Moon Scythe was eager to fight. It wanted to destroy the Spear.

    _________________________

    Ryder was not the only one that was affected by the appearance of the spear.

    Lucifer was walking through the dark forest when the girl pulled out the Spear.

    Just as the Spear came out, Lucifer stopped in his tracks. He couldn¡¯t help but look towards the sky with a thoughtful look on his face.

    _____________________

    "I don¡¯t care what weapon you have! If you think I¡¯ll be scared of a girl, think twice," Ryder let out as he gripped his Moon Scythe firmly.

    The girl and Ryder both attacked at the same time.

    The Scythe and the Spear collided that resulted in a powerful energy st. Ryder felt his HP lowering, but he didn¡¯t step back, neither did the girl.

    The girl¡¯s expression suddenly changed as she stepped back and created distance between her and Ryder.

    "Looks like I won¡¯t be able to finish the job today," She muttered as she nced towards the back.

    She brought out a talisman and whispered a chant. The Talisman started burning as a Spatial portal opened in front of her.

    "I¡¯ll definitely finish you the next time we meet. Don¡¯t die till then, Sessor," She said as she nced at Ryder onest time below she entered the portal. The portal closed and disappeared as if it was never there.

    Ryder just stood there confused as he wondered what just happened.

    Only 5 seconds had passed when he heard the sound of footstepsing towards him.

 Chapter 72 Getting the answers

    <h4>Chapter 72: Getting the answers</h4>

    After a few more seconds had passed, Ryder saw the person that was running towards him.

    "Young Master!" Bulga called out as he noticed Ryder standing near theke with his Scythe.

    "I heard the sound of fighting when I wasing here. What exactly happened? Was there an intruder or a really strong beast?" Bulga let out in concern, but soon his eyes fell on the lower body of Ryder.

    Ryder noticed where he was looking as he remembered that he wasn¡¯t actually wearing anything.

    "Turn back!" He ordered Bulga.

    "Ah, Y-young Master, I¡¯m not that kind of a demon. I have a wife at home; please don¡¯t do that to me," Bulga stepped back in fear as he misunderstood Ryder¡¯s intention.

    Ryder realized the misunderstanding as he saw Bulga¡¯s expressions. His expressions turned weird.

    "What the fuck are you thinking right now! Turn back so that I could get dressed. Stop looking at me like that!" Ryder let out loudly.

    "Ah, Right," Bulga nodded his head and turned back in a hurry.

    ¡¯What the heck does he think of me? Do I look like I would be interested in... Yuck,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    Ryder brought the clothes out of his storage space and got dressed.

    "You can turn back now," He told Bulga after getting dressed.

    "A girl attacked me just now. Tell me, how was someone able to enter this forest with you standing outside? Is there another person that visits this ce?" Ryder inquired.

    "A girl? I don¡¯t know, Young Master. No one would be able to enter the forest as it is Master¡¯s property. Even the other Dukes never tried toe here," Bulga said as he fell in deep thought.

    "Master should be here soon enough. Maybe she would know?" Bulga let out softly.

    "You called her here?" Ryder eximed in shock.

    "Yes. I sent her a message as soon as I got your message," Bulga said innocently.

    "You Idi..." Ryder was just talking when a person came from the sky andnded in front of him. It was Duke Devilia that looked particrly concerned.

    "It¡¯s good that you¡¯re not hurt. I wouldn¡¯t even know how I would be able to face the Grand Dukes at the coronation ceremony if something had happened to you. Tell me what happened?" She inquired.

    "Ahh, it¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just a girl that appeared before me. She looked as if she was looking for something. She started attacking me as soon as she saw me," Ryder told her honestly since she was already here.

    "See, I told you that it wasn¡¯t a good idea to go out at times like these. She must be an assassin sent by the other Dukes. Also, why didn¡¯t you use the talisman and inform me? Instead, I received the news from him!" She told Ryder as she pointed towards Bulga.

    Ryder gulped down as he saw the anger on her face. Although she was controlling it, some of her aura was leaking. Ryder could sense the incredible strength she must possess just from the fierce aura.

    "I just didn¡¯t feel like there was a need to inform you. The girl was too weak to be an assassin sent by the dukes. She didn¡¯t even use any stealth," Ryder started talking.

    " I had no trouble facing her, but I still called for Bulga just to have a backup in case I was wrong. And I was right; she indeed was not that strong. She ran away right before Bulga came," He finished exining.

    "In which direction did she run off to?" Devilia asked.

    "She used a talisman-like thing to open a space portal and entered it," He replied.

    "A Spatial Talisman? Not many people in our Empire have the resources to possess it. Can you tell me more about her? What she looked like? The skills she used?" She further asked.

    "It was a girl that looked like she was only in her early 20s. She had Dark Blue Hair and light grey eyes. She had an oval face, fair skin, and looked like she was 5 ft. 9 inches in height. I¡¯m not an expert in this stuff, but I can only make a guess that she was a 35-26-33," Ryder let out as he imagined the girl.

    "35-26-33?" Devilia asked in confusion.

    "Oh, You guys don¡¯t have a figure measurement system? Alright, I¡¯ll make it easier. Her Chest was smaller than yours, her waist was about the same as yours, and her hips were also a few sizes smaller than yours," Ryder exined like an expert.

    He looked like a great master that was selflessly sharing his knowledge.

    For a brief moment, Devilia just looked at him with a nk look on her face. She didn¡¯t know how to react.

    "I meant only her face and her dress, not her chest and hips," She finally opened her mouth and let out.

    "Her dress? She was wearing a ck gown if I¡¯m not wrong. It looked like there was a design on the gown that looked like spider webs, but in golden color,"

    "As for her skills, she used quite a few. She made a skeleton appear out of nowhere that took my fire st without being destroyed. She was also able to use a thunder ball like skill. Oh, there was one more. She pointed towards the sky, and the sky was covered in dark clouds, and a thunderbolt fell from the sky as if it was targeting me," Ryder described the skills.

    Devilia fell in thought. No matter how much she thought about it, she could only think of a single person.

    "Those Skills? I haven¡¯t heard of anyone possessing skills like that here. Also, making a skeleton appear? Only people from Death Domain can do that. They can use the creatures of death to fight for them, after all. Also, I did hear a rumor. There is a girl in the Death Domain that is born with the Lightning Soul Body. She should be just as old as you described. But what was she doing here?" She let out.

    "Oh right, She also had a spear that made the Moon Scythe react fiercely as soon as it appeared. It had a few patterns on it. Let me draw them for you," Ryder said as he remembered the most intriguing thing about their fight, the spear.

    He began drawing the ancient-looking characters on the ground that he noticed in the Spear.

    Devilia saw the characters, and her expressions kept changing. None of her expressions looked good, though.

 Chapter 73 Reaching Level 100 in an instant?

    <h4>Chapter 73: Reaching Level 100 in an instant?</h4>

    Ryder finished drawing the characters and looked up to Devilia, but he only saw the weird look on her face.

    "Why do you look so strange?" Ryder asked as he looked at her.

    "Of course, I would look strange! These are the exact same symbols that were on the spear of the Death Emperor! The Spear that the girl was using should be the Life Devouring Spear of the Death Emperor. That exins why the Moon Scythe reacted. It¡¯s a good thing that you weren¡¯t harmed by the spear," She said in full seriousness as she stared at the symbols on the ground.

    "Oh? Does that mean the girl is the daughter of the Death Emperor?" Ryder inquired.

    "No. It doesn¡¯t make sense," Devilia let out with a frown.

    "What doesn¡¯t make sense? It¡¯s clear that she is the daughter of the Death Emperor who inherited the Life Devouring Spear," Ryder replied to her.

    "The Death Emperor is dead! And he doesn¡¯t have a daughter, but a son! His son is the current ruler of the Death Domain. He would be the one who has the Life Devouring Spear; I don¡¯t get why the girl has the spear,"

    "As far as I know, the girl that has a Lightning Soul Body doesn¡¯t have any rtion to the Royal Family of the Death Domain," Devilia let out with a confused look on her face.

    "Something really strange is going on in the Death Domain," She said as she looked in the distant horizon.

    "Let¡¯s go back. It¡¯s not safe for you to stay here," She told Ryder as he held his hand.

    "Wait! I still have 5 days left. I don¡¯t want to go back yet. I want to get stronger, and I can only achieve that by staying here," Ryder straight away denied her suggestion as he stepped back.

    Devilia looked at him for a brief moment before she smiled.

    "Alright. You can stay here, but I¡¯ll stay with you," She said, smiling.

    "Suit yourself," He replied, without the least bit of opposition to her suggestion.

    He knew that she would not leave now that the Death Domain was involved in the picture.

    He didn¡¯t want her to leave either. Although he wasn¡¯t afraid of the girl from the Death Domain, he was indeed worried that the girl mighte back with backup. Devilia could stay here and protect him.

    "Good. Anyway, why do you want to stay here? How do you get stronger by staying here?" Devilia inquired as she nced at him.

    She didn¡¯t know about the level and XP system.

    "I want to strengthen my skills, and they only get stronger when I kill living beings with them. The more I kill, the stronger my skills get," Ryder replied to her. He wasn¡¯t a hundred percent honest, though.

    "Ohhh, So you hunt here to strengthen your skills? The stronger the skills, the stronger the person. That¡¯s quite an interesting magic," She said in surprise.

    "You can help me in a fight if you like. Just don¡¯t kill the beasts," Ryder smilingly said.

    "Nah, It looks like too much work. You can have fun," Devilia said casually.

    ¡¯Oh right, Now that I think about it, that¡¯s quite possible. If I can get them to defeat and capture strong beasts for me, then I will just have to deal the finishing blow, and it¡¯ll rain experience points,¡¯ Ryder suddenly realized as he thought of an idea.

    "Hey Devilia, Can you capture the strongest beast for me? It would be better if you defeat it as well, just don¡¯t kill it. I want to test something," Ryder let out as he looked at Devilia.

    "Huh? Do you really want me to do that?" She asked.

    "Yup. It¡¯s really important to me," Ryder said.

    "Alright. Since you insist, I¡¯ll do it for you this once," She nodded her head and flew away like lightning.

    ¡¯It¡¯s going to be so amazing. I¡¯m going to get so many points. With just one beast, I might even reach level 100. Getting to level 200 is possible as well,¡¯ Ryder thought as a grin formed on his face.

    He could already imagine the shock on the faces of the people when the level rankings would be unlocked.

    While others would be in the 20s, he would be on Level 100. No one would dare to attack him for his bracelet then.

    ¡¯If everything goes likest time, the level ranking will be unlocked in about 1 month when the 10000th yer reaches level 10,¡¯ He thought.

    Ryder was still lost in thought when something big came from the sky. It felt as if the ground was shaking as soon as that thing touched the ground.

    It was a 50-meter long dragon that looked simr to the dragon that had killed Ryder on hisst timeline, but it seemed much stronger than that one.

    Soon after, Devilianded on top of the beast as well.

    "It¡¯s the Mighty Grapin Dragon. I think this little guy would be the strongest one here. I already beat the crap out of it, and it should be in itsst breath. You can use your skill to kill it," Devilia said with a bright smile as she came down from the dragon.

    The dragon was bleeding in a lot of ces, and his eyes were closed, but it was still breathing.

    "She¡¯s so strong," Ryder eximed in amazement as he admired Devilia.

    He was sure that even if he was a level 200 yer, he would need a big party to subdue a dragon like that, and she did this like it was a child¡¯s y.

    ¡¯Just how strong is she?¡¯ He wondered as he looked at her.

    "Hurry. Dragons have a great healing. Deal the finishing blow before it starts healing. I don¡¯t want to have to beat the poor dragon again," She said.

    "Ah, right. Thank you so much!" Ryder said as he got ready to deal the finishing blow. Now there was only a small distance between him and his dream of bing a level 100 yer once again.

    He held his Moon Scythe firmly as he ran towards the dragon.

    "Enraged sh!" He let out as he swung his Scythe.

 Chapter 74 Killing the Dragon

    <h4>Chapter 74: Killing the Dragon</h4>

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder used his strongest skill to attack the dragon.

    The Dragon¡¯s skin was quite hard. If it was a normal weapon, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to cut through the skin of the dragon, but the Moon Scythe was a special weapon.

    It had no problem cutting through the thick defenses of the dragon and dealing some damage.

    Although the damage was small, It was enough to kill the dragon. The dragon was already on itsst breath, and the damage acted like thest nail on the coffin. The Dragon was killed instantly.

    [Mighty Grapin Dragon has been killed]

    He also got a notification of killing the Dragon. He waited to see how much experience he received after killing the Dragon. There was a wide grin on his face.

    [+0 Exp ]

    The notification came as a shock, and Ryder¡¯s face lost all its colors.

    [Hidden Restriction of Bracelet of Immortality activated]

    (tap to expand)

    Ryder tapped on the expansion icon with a nk look on his face to get more information.

    [Hidden Restriction of Bracelet of Immortality: Bracelet of Immortality is a heavenly item that hides the strength to destroy the heavens itself. It has been sealed and cursed by the gods. The Wearer can¡¯t grow stronger when taking the help of the beings of this world when fighting his prey]

    "Again, this cursed item! It¡¯s trying to screw me as much as possible, isn¡¯t it? It must be a brother of Janus if I¡¯m not wrong," Ryder cursed as he nced at the bracelet.

    [I have nothing to do with the bracelet. If it were on me, I would have destroyed that thing.] Janus heard Ryder¡¯s words and replied to him.

    Devilia watched Ryder standing there and acting weirdly.

    "Hey, What are you doing standing there? Did it work? Did you grow stronger?" She asked in concern.

    Ryder turned back and looked at her.

    "No. I didn¡¯t grow stronger. I guess it doesn¡¯t work when someone else does the work for you. I¡¯ll need to defeat the beasts myself," Ryder informed her.

    "Oh, It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure you can do it. There¡¯s no need to look so upset," Devilia said with a smile on her face.

    "Yeah. I don¡¯t need help to get stronger! Just stay back and let me do it on my own," Ryder said in a calm tone.

    He realized that there was no benefit in sulking. He¡¯ll just do it the old fashioned way. He still had absorption. He was able to get way stronger than his actual level through killing.

    "Anyways, Do you know anything about this?" Ryder asked her as he raised his hand. He was trying to show her his bracelet.

    "Your hand?" She asked in confusion.

    "No! The thing I¡¯m wearing. The bracelet," Ryder asked her.

    "Are you joking with me? There¡¯s no bracelet on your wrist," She said with an amused smile.

    "I guess you can¡¯t see it then. It¡¯s a bracelet that has these patterns carved on it," Ryder said as he began drawing the patterns on the ground.

    "Do you get anything now?" he asked after he finished drawing.

    "Yeah. I do know those patterns. They are from the ancientnguage of the gods. We do have a book in our library about thenguage, but we have only been able to understand a few words from it," She replied.

    "As for them, they are the names of elements. That one is lightning. That¡¯s wind. There¡¯s fire, water, and Earth. I don¡¯t know the meaning of the other characters. Those 5 are the only words we were able to interpret from the book of thenguage of gods. So I don¡¯t know about the other words, but they might be something like those as well," She exined as she pointed towards the patterns on the ground.

    ¡¯Wind, Earth, Water, Fire, Lightning? And there are over 20 more characters like these. What the heck is this,¡¯ He thought with a frown on his face.

    ¡¯Janus, can you tell me about this? You seem to know about it quite a lot?¡¯ Ryder asked Janus.

    [You¡¯re not allowed to know,] Janus replied.

    His reply made Ryder even more confused.

    "Whatever, I¡¯ll see the book myself when I go back. For now, it¡¯s time to grow stronger," He said as he threw this stuff to the back of his head.

    Ryder spent the next few days in the forest, hunting beasts.

    Even though he was not allowed to take the help of Bulga and Devilia during the battle, he did take their help to find the Beasts. This way, he didn¡¯t have to spend hours looking for a beast.

    His hunting went much faster, and he was able to kill tens of beasts in a day.

    His levels kept advancing with time as he kept gaining experience and stats by hunting beasts.

    It was the end of the 6th day, and he was already a level 19 yer. He had killed more than a hundred beasts in thest 5 days and gained tons of stat points due to Absorption. He had also gained a few good skills, but not many, as the chances of getting a skill were too low.

    Alright, he was a level 19 yer; with the stat points, he was sure that he could match a level 22-23 beast.

    At the moment, he was fighting a level 23 beast, and he was sure that he would get to level 20 after killing it.

    After a battle that took him only 20 minutes, he managed to kill the beast.

    [White Demonic Lion Killed]

    [+40000 exp]

    [Absorption activated]

    [+20 Intelligence]

    "Nice. Finally, I got to level 20. It would have been impossible without your help. Thank you," He said as he looked at Devilia that was standing nearby.

    "That¡¯s fine. Anyway, it¡¯s about time for us to leave this ce. We need to get to the Royal Pce. Those old guys will be quite mad if we arete," She reminded him.

    "Alright. Just wait a minute," Ryder told her. He wanted to check his stats once before leaving. Since the grinding started, he hadn¡¯t checked his status even once.

    He opened the status window.

 Chapter 75 Way to Unseal?

    <h4>Chapter 75: Way to Unseal?</h4>

    Ryder opened his status screen to check.

    [Name: Hades

    Title: Sessor of Salem

    Species: Demon

    Level:20

    Experience: 1230000/4000000

    HP: 10000+1000

    Mana: 4000

    Strength: 242(+403)

    Defense:235(+420)

    Speed: 180(+487)

    Stamina:200(+800)

    Dexterity:100(+753)

    Intelligence: 80(+217)

    Avable stat points: 20

    Skills:

    Enraged sh: Level 3 (35% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 2 (53% mastery)

    me st: Level 4 (62% mastery)

    Shadow ball: Level 3 (22% mastery)

    Stealth: Level 1(3% mastery)

    Sand Storm: Level 1(12% mastery)

    Strengthening: Level 1( 1% mastery)

    Taunt: Level 1( 0% mastery)

    Intimidation: Level 1 (1% mastery)

    Items:

    Moon Scythe: Unique Grade

    Bracelet of Immortality: God Grade (sealed) (0/25 fragments collected) ]

    "Hmm? What¡¯s that? 0/25 fragments? That wasn¡¯t therest time. Did this appear after I killed the dragon? That activated the curse of the bracelet as well, but this too?" Ryder muttered with a frown on his face.

    "Wait a minute? Aren¡¯t there 25 characters on the bracelet as well?" Ryder muttered as he started observing the bracelet.

    "Janus? Do I need to collect 25 of those fragments to break the curse?" Ryder inquired.

    [I guess you¡¯re not as stupid as I thought. Since you¡¯ve already guessed that much, I¡¯ll give you some more information in exchange for your origin points, ]Janus replied.

    "Alright, just tell me," Ryder straight away agreed.

    [Collecting the fragments is one way to break the seal, and if you did that, even the curse of the gods wouldn¡¯t be able to affect you anymore. You¡¯ll return to your former glory and understand everything,] Janus replied to him.

    "My former glory? What do you mean?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    Janus didn¡¯t exin the meaning of his statement.

    [Each of those fragments will break the seal a little and unlock some of its power until the whole seal is destroyed,] Janus answered him.

    "That¡¯s stupid. Collecting 25 of those fragments sounds impossible. Won¡¯t I die of old age before that?" Ryder let out in an annoyed tone.

    [If it were someone else that found it, that would indeed have been impossible, but for you...] Janus said till here before he stopped.

    "Do these fragments have something to do with the characters? Lightning, Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind, and whatever the other 20 are?" Ryder further inquired.

    [Indeed. These 25 are not ordinary characters but the seals of the strongest gods. Each character represents a god that ced their seal on the bracelet,] Janus replied.

    "This game is getting tooplicated. Is this the final plotline of the game? Each fragment should be with a boss level monster?" Ryder jokingly said.

    [No, most fragments shouldn¡¯t even be here in this world. As I said, it¡¯s too soon for you to know,] Janus answered him.

    "Tell me just a few more things. If the bracelet is so dangerous, Why didn¡¯t the gods keep it with them? Also, they should know about the fragments that can break their seals. Why didn¡¯t they destroy them?" Ryder further asked as he thought of something.

    He waited for Janus¡¯ response, but Janus didn¡¯t answer this time. He again asked but received no response.

    He was still standing there when Devilia came up to him and caught his hand.

    "Hey? It¡¯s already been 20 minutes. Let¡¯s go. If we dy even a single second, we¡¯ll bete!" She said.

    "Oh, ok. Let¡¯s go," Ryder agreed.

    "Wear these clothes. This will be your coronation dress," She gave Ryder a pair of clothes.

    "Alright. Turn back and let me get dressed," He said as he took clothes from her hand.

    "Sigh, you¡¯re going to make uste,"

    Devilia turned back. Bulga did the same.

    In no time, Ryder got ready.

    "I¡¯m done. Let¡¯s leave," He told her.

    Devilia flew away with Ryder towards the Royal Pce.

    Bulga also climbed back on his flying beast and left. His work here was done, and he left to do his duty back at the Duke¡¯s pce.

    Ryder and Devilia flew without dying for even a single minute.

    Devilianded near the entrance of the Royal Pce with Ryder and entered with him.

    Ryder was quite amazed to see the turnout. He wasn¡¯t able to count how much, but there were over 100 thousand demons already standing outside the pce waiting.

    They weren¡¯t told that it was a coronation ceremony. All they were told was that there was going to be an important announcement today from the Grand Dukes.

    Each demon had a different guess of their own about the reason behind this assembly.

    "Is there another war with the Death Domain? Thest time we were called here, it was an announcement of war under the order of the Demon King. It should be something simr this time as well?"

    "I think that shouldn¡¯t be the case. The Death Domain had never attacked us in such a long time afterst time¡¯s defeat. They wouldn¡¯t dare attack us. Also, my brother is a guard. He told me that they weren¡¯t told to prepare for any war,"

    "What can it be then? Is it possible that our king is back?"

    "The chances of that are low as well. What I feel is that the Great Dukes have decided to select a king. One of the Great dukes might announce themselves as the new King,"

    "It must be the First Grand Duke if I¡¯m not wrong,"

    While the citizens were discussing the event today, Devilia and Ryder had entered the pce and found that all the Dukes and High Dukes were there.

    "You¡¯rete!" High Duke Magna said as he red at Devilia.

    "Leave that. They must have a reason to bete. Now that they¡¯re here let¡¯s begin the ceremony!" High Duke Oris asserted.

    "Hades! Come forth!" High Duke Oris told Ryder that was standing behind.

    Ryder stepped forth and walked to the front.

    All 4 High Dukes were standing together, and Ryder stood before them.

    "Come with us!" They said to Ryder as they continued walking towards the hallways.

    The High Dukes led Ryder to a room. The door of the room was pitch ck and made of something that Ryder had never seen before, but it looked like the strongest material he had seen yet.

    There were 4 keyholes on the door.

    All 4 High Dukes brought a key out from their storage space and inserted it inside the keyhole. All 4 of them swung their key at the same time.

    ¡¯Is this a treasure room? Are they going to give me treasures?¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at the door.

    The door was opened, and they all entered the room.

 Chapter 76 1st Seal Unlocked

    <h4>Chapter 76: 1st Seal Unlocked</h4>

    As Ryder entered inside the hall with the High Elders, he realized that it wasn¡¯t like he had expected at all.

    He could see no treasures there. In fact, the whole room waspletely empty except for the one thing that was at the end of the room.

    It seemed like a humanoid statue. The statue was 6 feet tall only.

    The statue depicted a person that stood proudly as if he was the ruler of this world. He seemed like an average human, but there was something different.

    A human could never look so charming and prideful as the person in the statue. Even though it was just a statue, Ryder could feel a distinct aura of the person in the statue just by looking. Although the statue didn¡¯t have a color, Ryder had a vision in his mind as to the colors.

    He could see that the man wore beautiful clothes, just like what an Emperor should possess. The ck armor made him look dashing and brave, while the red robe behind his back gave him the King like vibe.

    The man held a Pitch ck sword in his hand. A few blood-red lines could also be seen on the sword, like the pulse of the sword as if the sword was alive.

    "Hey, Kid! Get down on your knees to pay respect!" High Duke Oris said as he saw Ryder just standing there in a daze.

    Ryder gained back his focus and realized that all the High Dukes were on one knee as if they were paying respect to the statue.

    ¡¯This can¡¯t be the statue of Salem, can it?¡¯ Ryder thought as he stepped near the statue.

    After sitting on their knees for around 5 minutes, they all stood up.

    "This is the statue of our god. Before bing the Prince, you must sacrifice some of your blood to him as a form of respect. You¡¯ll gain his blessing," High Duke Magna informed Ryder.

    "Blood?" Ryder eximed in surprise.

    "Don¡¯t worry; just one drop will be enough. Just make sure that the drop falls on his feet," High Duke Oris said, smiling.

    Ryder nodded as he stepped towards the statue. As soon as he got within the 5-meter proximity of the statue, he was able to feel a sense of familiarity with the statue. It was as if he could feel the closeness with the statue. He put the thought to the back of his head as he continued getting closer.

    He stopped right before the statue and got down to his knees. There was already a knife ced there nearby.

    ¡¯Sigh, this is giving me the creepy vibes,¡¯ Ryder thought as he picked up the knife, but he knew that if he became the Prince, he was sure that his journey in the game would be smoother.

    He used the Knife as he tried cutting his finger lightly. The knife was so sharp that it felt easier than he expected.

    He extended his finger towards the feet of the statue as he made the blood drop fall on the feet of the statue.

    As soon as the drop of blood fell on the statue, he saw a vision sh before his eyes.

    He saw that he was flying, and he was being assaulted by people that could also fly. He held the same sword as the statue.

    The vision onlysted for 1 second before he returned to normal.

    He looked around in confusion and saw that he was still in the room.

    "You can stand up now. The door is open," He was still thinking about what just happened when he heard the voice of High Duke Oris.

    He stood up and saw that there was a door on the wall that previously wasn¡¯t there.

    "Don¡¯t dy. You can go inside and get something good for yourself. Think of it as a blessing from the god," High Duke Oris said smilingly.

    ¡¯Blessing? Is this finally the time for rewards?¡¯ Ryder thought as his mood finally improved.

    He smiled as he hurriedly nodded his head and excitedly walked inside the door that had just appeared.

    He found himself in a different room that was just as empty as thest one, but he did see something on the ground.

    It looked as if it was a crystal that was only 1 inch in size.

    He walked forth and touched the crystal, but as soon as he touched it, the crystal disappeared, and he started getting notifications one after another.

    [Fragment of Time found]

    [Bracelet of Immortality: One Seal broken]

    [Double Experience unlocked]

    [Skill Received: Ruler of Time]

    [+10 Level ]

    [All Stats +150]

    He received 6 notifications one after another, and they all shocked him, but that wasn¡¯t enough.

    Another set of notifications starteding.

    [Reached Level 30: Hidden restriction of Quest of Salem unlocked. Species changed to High Demon.]

    [Reached Level 30: Hidden restriction of Quest of Salem unlocked: ss Quest Unlocked]

    [Since the 2nd hidden Restriction of the Quest of Salem is Unlocked, the second special ability of Moon Scythe is Unlocked.

    Unlocked Skill: Weapon Transformation]

    Ryder just stood there with his mouth wide open. He was having a moment of tion at all these notifications. He just wanted to keep reading these awesome notifications again and again.

    In an instant, he had gained 10 levels, and that was not all. All his stats had increased, and from now on, he would receive double Experience from whatever he does. All of it happened when just the first seal was unlocked. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder what would happen when all seals would be unlocked.

    What¡¯s most important at the moment was that the ss Quest was unlocked.

    He began checking the notifications to understand better. First, he went to the skills to understand what time reversal was.

    [Ruler of Time: Time is absolute, and no one can change it except the one who truly controls it. The one that truly masters the time can never be defeated.

    Skill 1: Time Reversal

    Skill 2: Locked (Level not enough)

    Skill 3: Locked (Level not enough)]

    "It¡¯s a set of 3 skills?" He let out in surprise.

    He clicked on time-reversal to see if it actually meant he was thinking.

    [Time Reversal:

    Passive Skill: When the wielder dies, the time is rewind by 1 day

    Active Skill: Users can rewind time willingly.

    Current limit: 30 minutes per day

    (Note: Reversed Time depends on the level of the user. Every level increases 1 minute) ]

 Chapter 77 Class Quest

    <h4>Chapter 77: ss Quest</h4>

    "Time Reversal? Can such a strong skill really exist? Doesn¡¯t this skill basically make me immortal? The first skill itself nullified the first curse of the bracelet in a way. If I can¡¯t die, there¡¯s no way my soul will be trapped," Ryder thought with a pleasant smile on his face.

    "Also, if the first skill is so strong, I wonder how strong would the other two be once my level is high enough? Worthy of being a God Grade Item," He muttered as he stared at the screen in front of him.

    He closed the screen and opened the Quest Screen. He had finally received a ss Quest, but he had no idea what it was about at the moment. He started reading the Quest.

    [Quest of Salem:

    Quest Grade: Unique ss Quest

    Quest Description: Go to the Lightening Valley and steal the Nature Healing Crystal of the Royal Dark Elf n.

    Time Limit: 2 Months]

    "The Dark Elves n? I¡¯ve heard about them in myst timeline. They are a n that doesn¡¯t involve themselves in the matter of the outside world and stays inside the Lightning Valley. No one knows how strong they are, but the ones that entered the lightning Valley have nevere out," Ryder muttered with a frown on his face.

    ¡¯Wait a minute; why should I worry about their strength? I¡¯m the Prince of the Demon Realm. I can just take their crystal forcefully. In the worst situation, I¡¯ll just use the demons to take care of them. Also, this ss quest is for level 30 yers as it¡¯s unlocked now. I don¡¯t believe it will be tough,¡¯ Ryder thought as his mood improved slightly.

    "Even though I can¡¯t gain experience when I use the demons to defeat a monster for me, I can still use their strength. The ss is more important for me at the moment," He said in full seriousness.

    "Now that I think about it, there was also something about the Second Ability of Scythe being unlocked?"

    Ryder opened the status screen and started to look for that skill.

    [Name: Hades

    Title: Sessor of Salem

    Species: High Demon

    Level:30

    Experience: 4000000/8000000

    HP: 15000+1000

    Mana: 6000

    Strength: 362(+553)

    Defense:375(+570)

    Speed: 280(+537)

    Stamina:400(+950)

    Dexterity:300(+903)

    Intelligence: 198(+357)

    Avable stat points: 20

    Skills:

    Ruler of Time: Level Not Defined

    Enraged sh: Level 3 (35% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 2 (53% mastery)

    me st: Level 4 (62% mastery)

    Shadow ball: Level 3 (22% mastery)

    Stealth: Level 1(3% mastery)

    Sand Storm: Level 1(12% mastery)

    Strengthening: Level 1( 1% mastery)

    Taunt: Level 1( 0% mastery)

    Intimidation: Level 1 (1% mastery)

    Weapon Rted Skill:

    Absorption: Level 1(3% mastery)

    Transformation: Max Level

    Items:

    Moon Scythe: Unique Grade

    Bracelet of Immortality: God Grade (sealed) (1/25 fragments collected) ]

    He tapped on the Transformation. Another screen opened on the side with the details.

    [Transformation: A Moon Scythe Specific Skill. The owner can change the shape of Moon Scythe ording to his wishes to make any weapon of his liking. There¡¯s no limitation as to how many times transformation can be used in a day.]

    ¡¯So I can use a sword as I did in myst timeline as well. This skill shoulde in handy as well,¡¯ He thought.

    He brought Moon Scythe outside in order to test the skill.

    "Transform," He muttered as he visualized the shape of a weapon he wanted.

    ording to his wishes, the Moon Scythe changed shape.

    It was turned into a sword. The Sword had a silver de and a golden hilt and looked quite charming. It looked simr to the sword he had used in the previous timeline, but it was actually much stronger as it was actually the powerful Moon Scythe and contained the same amount of power.

    "Transform," He again said and changed the sword back to the Moon Scythe and ced it back in his storage ring.

    "The High Dukes must be waiting outside for me. I should go to them. Can¡¯t dy my coronation," He said as a smile appeared on his face.

    His mood was the best it had ever been. In fact, he thought that it was his luckiest day. Previously, he had hated the bracelet of Immortality, but now he had started to love it. It was already this strong when only one of the 25 restrictions was broken. He didn¡¯t even try to imagine how strong it would be when all 25 were lifted.

    Ryder walked out of the room and met up with the High Dukes.

    "Did you get something nice?" High Duke Oris inquired with a smile.

    "Yeah. I feel like the Demon God really blessed me," Ryder answered.

    "Good. Now stand straight. Your ascension to the prince will be done right here," High Duke Oris said.

    Ryder followed the suggestion and stood straight.

    High Duke Magna walked up to Ryder and stopped before him.

    "Even though I hate your species, I hope that you won¡¯t betray the people and their trust. Never do anything to harm them," He told Ryder as he brought a crown out of his storage space and ced the beautiful Silver Crown on Ryder¡¯s head. He walked back.

    Next, High Duke Oris walked up to him.

    "I agree with his words, but I have faith in you that you will be able to be a good ruler. The rank of Prince is just the beginning," He said to Ryder as he brought a red robe out of his storage space.

    He removed the robe that Ryder was wearing and ced the new robe on his back.

    [Unique Grade Item: Robe of Extreme Defence received]

    ¡¯A Unique Grade Defensive Item?¡¯ Ryder thought in surprise as he got the notification about the robe.

    High Duke Oris also walked back.

    High Duke M walked up to Ryder next.

    "Best of luck for the future, my Prince. These are the keys of the Royal Pce where you will be staying from now on," She said smilingly as she gave him a set of keys before she walked back.

    And Lastly, the 4th High Duke walked up to him.

    "Prince Hades, I must say that I see a glimpse of our King in you. I hope that you will be able to keep his legacy," He said as he brought something out of his storage space and gave Ryder.

 Chapter 78 Ill slaughter them

    <h4>Chapter 78: I''ll ughter them</h4>

    "These are the ¡¯Boots of the Wind Blessing.¡¯ They will make you fast as the wind," The High Duke said as he gave Ryder a pair of Golden Shoes.

    [Unique Grade Item: Boots of the Wind Blessing received]

    "Thank you," Ryder thanked the 4th High Duke as he wore the Boots of the Wind Blessing and kept his old boots back in the storage space. He was surprised that he got treasures like these before he could even enter the treasury. This came as a pleasant surprise. The treasures were high ss too which made him even more happy.

    The 4th High Duke also walked back.

    "From now on, you¡¯re the Prince of the Demon Realm. The newest addition to the Royalty. Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s time to introduce you to the citizens," High Duke Magna said as he started walking towards the exit.

    The others Dukes and Ryder also left the room. Ryder looked at the statue once before vacating the room.

    They locked the doors before they all walked back to the hall where all the Dukes were staying.

    "We greet the Prince!"

    All the Dukes saw the crown on Ryder¡¯s head and realized that the coronation waspleted. They all greeted Ryder, but none of them bowed down or did anything excessive. They only needed to bow down before the king and no one else, not even in front of a prince, and Ryder wasn¡¯t their king yet.

    "Follow us to the balcony. It¡¯s time for the deration," High Duke Oris informed the dukes.

    The other Dukes nodded and followed after them. In no time, everyone was standing on the balcony on the front of the pce.

    The balcony had plenty of space for everyone.

    Ryder stood at the front of the balcony. The 1st High Duke and the 3rd High Duke stood on his right while the other 2 High Dukes stood on his left.

    All the Dukes stood behind them.

    The crowd was suddenly silent as they saw all the Dukes and High Dukes together, but all of them had the same question in their mind.

    ¡¯Who is that boy?¡¯

    "I would like to thank everyone foring here today. Throughout the history of our Demon Realm, we have had many historical moments, and today shall be one of those moments," High Duke Magna said.

    Although he was speaking in his normal tone, everyone was able to hear his voice clearly.

    High Duke Magna spoke till here before he looked at High Duke Oris.

    "We have been without a king since His Majesty left us all those years ago, but not anymore. The boy you see beside me is the disciple of His Majesty. He is the new Prince of our Demon Realm. Even the Demon God has blessed him. He will be your future King once hepletes the Kingship Trial! All Hail Prince Hades!" High Duke Oris announced.

    The demons standing over the ground heard all the words clearly, but they were having difficulty processing this information. They thought that High Duke Magna would be the King, but a kid became the King candidate? But then they realized that he was a disciple of their king. He had the right to the throne and the backing of their king.

    After a moment, they processed all the information before they all started chanting together.

    "All Hail Prince Hades!"

    "All Hail Prince Hades!"

    "All Hail Prince Hades!"

    The chant continued for over 5 minutes. The more they chanted, the more enthusiastic they got.

    "That¡¯s enough! Now the Prince will speak to you," High Duke Oris said to the demons.

    "Go on. Give a speech. Also, you need to show them that you can be their king. You must maintain your dignity," High Duke Oris whispered to Ryder.

    This came as a surprise to Ryder as he hadn¡¯t expected that he would be asked to give a speech. If he had known, he would have prepared something.

    "I don¡¯t have the magic to enhance my voice like you guys. Will my voice reach them?" Ryder inquired in a low voice.

    "Don¡¯t worry. None of us used any enhancement. It¡¯s the magic of this balcony. As long as you stand here and don¡¯t intentionally speak in a low tone, they¡¯ll be able to hear the things you say," High Duke Oris exined.

    "Ah, Alright," Ryder nodded his head before he started looking at the crowd.

    "Intimidation," Ryder used the skill he had received because of absorption.

    It was a skill that made his aura stand out. As soon as he used the skill, the ones that looked at him would feel as if he was a fierce existence that was not worth offending.

    Although this skill was pretty useless in battle as it didn¡¯t work on beasts, it did work on most of the other species. He had used this skill on Bulga, and the effects were more than satisfactory.

    "Everyone, I¡¯m the new Prince of the Demon Realm, but that¡¯s only a temporary title as I will soon be your King, and as a King, I want to promise you something! No matter what happens, I will never let anyone trample the dignity of our Demon Realm, just like my master! Let alone the Death Domain, even if the gods tried to target mynd, I¡¯ll ughter them all!" Ryder said passionately.

    Although he was only saying this stuff to sound badass, there was something inside him that was making him feel as if he was not lying.

    As soon as Ryder said thest line, he saw an abrupt vision. In the vision, he was standing in the void, and all the gods were surrounding him, but he could feel no fear. He had a pitch-ck sword in his hand as he said a simr thing.

    "I¡¯ll ughter everyone that stands against me!"

    "Yaaaaaaa," The demons started roaring loudly as if they were also supporting Ryder¡¯s deration. They could feel a patriotic feeling in their heart and deep respect for Ryder.

    "All Hail the Prince!"

    "All Hail the Prince!"

    They started chanting once again.

 Chapter 79 Plan to infiltrate, back to the real world

    <h4>Chapter 79: n to infiltrate, back to the real world</h4>

    Their loud chants brought Ryder out of his daze.

    ¡¯What the heck was that. Since when have I started daydreaming?¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown.

    He put that dream to the back of his head and continued his speech.

    The Demons turned silent as they saw that Ryder was about to speak again.

    "You¡¯re the proud demons of this greatnd! Always remember that! There¡¯s no one that can defeat us, but only if you all don¡¯t defeat yourself! So I would end my speech on one single note! Respect your fellow demons! We¡¯re a big family! We¡¯re the same species, and we shall reserve our strength for facing the enemies, not our own family!"

    "That¡¯s all I want to say. I hope that you will be with me and make thisnd the greatest it can be. Thank you," Ryder finished his statement and walked back inside the pce along with the other Dukes and High Dukes.

    "That was a great speech, Prince. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve felt my blood boil like this. Thest time it did was when we won the war against the Death Domain. I believe that you will be a great King to the people," 4th High Duke said, smilingly.

    "I don¡¯t like your species, but as you said. We¡¯re all demons. I¡¯ll leave my prejudice behind so that we could keep ournd the greatest," High Duke Magna said.

    Slowly, everyone praised Ryder and his speech. Even Duke Orisis gave praise to Ryder, but it was uncertain if he was genuinely happy or not. He was hurt badlyst time because of Ryder, so Ryder doubted his intentions.

    They all gave Ryder their contact talisman before they departed. The ceremony was already finished.

    "We¡¯ll take our leave as well. High Duke Oris can tell you the rest," High Duke Mia said before she left with the other High Dukes.

    Only High Duke Oris and Duke Devilia had stayed behind.

    "Now that it¡¯s official, you will stay in the Royal Pce. You will control the royal army, and they will only follow your orders from now on. You can get them to do anything except attacking any Noble or dering war on anyone. You would need our permission to do it. You won¡¯t have any restriction like this after you be the King," High Duke Oris informed Ryder.

    "You cane inside," High Duke Oris looked towards the left and called out.

    Two people entered the hall. One of them was a young girl who looked like she had just turned 18, while another person was a man that had wings behind his back.

    "He¡¯s Rale, He is themander of the Royal Army, and he will be serving you. He might not look like it, but he is only slightly weaker than a Duke. So I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t give you an opportunity toin. The girl on the right is Miku. She¡¯s the Chief Maid. She¡¯ll handle the servants for you and take care of everything," High Duke Oris introduced them both.

    " You might already know him; he¡¯s our Prince and your Master. You must take care of him properly. If he dislikes your service and wishes to have you killed, you will be killed. So don¡¯t neglect your duty," He said to the girl called Miku.

    "Rale, You need to follow every order of the Prince. You must also keep him safe always. If he is harmed, you and your whole family will be killed as a punishment. You understand, right?" He said to themander of the Royal Army.

    "I will rather die protecting him than let any harme to him," Rale pledged as he got down to his knees in front of Ryder.

    "That¡¯s all for now. Is there anything else you¡¯re concerned about?" He asked Ryder.

    "That¡¯s all for now," Ryder replied.

    "You already know my pce, right? Here is my contact talisman. Contact me if you need any help or want to talk to me. I¡¯ll be here immediately. I¡¯ll take my leave for now,"

    High Duke Oris gave Ryder his contact Talisman before he left. Only Devilia was left now.

    Ryder was about to speak, but Devilia started speaking before him.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll bring that girl here for you. You don¡¯t need to worry. Also, you already have my Talisman. Contact me if you need anything. I¡¯ll always be avable for help," Devilia said before she left as well.

    "Miku, I¡¯m new to the Pce. Can you show me the ces?" Ryder inquired.

    The girl nodded her head.

    "Rale, Come with me. There¡¯s something I need to talk to you about," Ryder told Rale.

    Miku was walking in the front as she showed the pce to Ryder while Ryder and Rale walked behind.

    "Rale, I have a mission for you. I need you to take a couple of your strongest guys ande with me to the outside world. Is that possible?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "It is possible, my prince. There are space tunnels inside the pce that connect this ce to various ces on the outside. You must have gotten the keys to the Pce. You can open the doors of those tunnels with those keys," Rale replied.

    "Oh? So those tunnels will take me to the human realm?" Ryder inquired

    "Yes. There are five space tunnels underground. The first one is connected to the Human Realm. The second one is connected to the Death Domain. I am not sure about the other 3 as those have never been used before," Rale answered.

    "Oh, nice. Then tell your men to be prepared. We¡¯ll be leaving in 2 days. I think 20-30 should be enough," Ryder told him.

    "My Prince, May I know what we will be doing? The Royal Army has many great talents. If I know the mission, I would be able to select the best men possible," Rale inquired.

    "You know about the Dark Elves n?" Ryder asked.

    "Yes. I had read a little about them, but I haven¡¯t met them," Rale replied.

    "We¡¯ll infiltrate the Royal Dark Elves n. They have something that I need," Ryder replied.

    "You must be wondering why I didn¡¯t get the help of my master. The thing is that Master doesn¡¯t want to involve himself in worldly matters unless it¡¯s absolutely necessary. And I really need that thing. It would be really great for our realm if I get what I need. That¡¯s why I need the help of my army. A small team that is good in stealth as well as in battle," He further said.

    "I understand, Your Highness. I know who to choose now," Rale affirmed.

    "Good. You can leave now," Ryder told him.

    "That¡¯s enough for today. I¡¯ll take the rest of the tourter," Ryder told Miku as she brought him to the bedroom.

    He entered the bedroom and closed the doors as he walked back to his bed.

    ¡¯Things are going good,¡¯ Ryder thought as hey on his bed.

    "I have been here for so long. Time to go back to the real world," Ryder muttered as he opened the logout screen and logged out of Divinity.

    He woke up on his bed in the real world and took his Divinity sses off.

 Chapter 80 Destiny

    <h4>Chapter 80: Destiny</h4>

    "Hah, home sweet home," Ryder smiled as he put the Divinity sses to the side and got off the bed.

    He walked to the washroom to wash his face as he had been like that for over a week.

    As he took water in his hand and brought it towards his face, he noticed the bracelet in his right hand.

    He just stood there frozen as the water seeped out of his hand.

    "What the absolute fuck! Janus! What the heck is happening here! Why do I have that bracelet here with me?" Ryder let out loud. His voice was so loud that it even managed to escape his room.

    Alice was still in her room when she heard Ryder¡¯s voice.

    "Did he finally decide to wake up?" She said as she put the box of Divinity to the side.

    As she saw her brother so engrossed in the game that he refused toe out, she had decided to try the game herself as well. She went out and brought one for herself to see what it was actually about and to find Ryder inside.

    She stood up and left her room.

    [It¡¯s bound to you. What did you expect?] Janus replied.

    "How can an item from a gamee to the real world! It must be your doing!" Ryder used Janus.

    [All you need to know is that this bracelet is as real as it can get. Now that it has found you, it will never leave you,] Janus answered.

    "But this is a cursed item! My poor soul!" Ryder wanted to cry, but no tears came out of his eyes.

    "Wait a minute? Won¡¯t that mean I get the Ruler of Time as well? But heck! Won¡¯t I die of old age? Will I just keep going back in time to relive myst day again and again?" Ryder muttered.

    [Immortals can¡¯t die,] Janus said

    "What immortals! I¡¯m just a mortal human! We get old, and we die," Ryder said in an annoyed tone.

    Janus didn¡¯t respond. Ryder was about to repeat his question when he heard the knock on the door.

    He came out of the washroom and walked towards the door.

    He opened the door and found Alice ring at him.

    "Oh Alice, good morning," Ryder said, smilingly.

    "It¡¯s the night!" Alice replied.

    "Ah, right. I lost track of time, I guess," Ryder said with a wry smile on his face.

    "What¡¯s the date?" Ryder asked.

    "Right, you wouldn¡¯t even know the date. Why would you? It¡¯s not like you care for your family more than your game," Alice said as her re intensified.

    "I, ah, I had to do something important in the game, sorry for noting out," Ryder apologized.

    "Hmph, the dinner will be ready in half an hour;e eat with me, unless you want to go back to your game," She snorted as she turned back and left.

    "Sigh, She¡¯s so cute even when she¡¯s angry," Ryder chuckled as he walked back to his washroom and finished washing his face.

    He left his room and walked to the dinner table.

    "Come on. I said, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll never go inside for so long unless absolutely necessary. Please don¡¯t be angry," Ryder again apologized as he saw Alice looking at him.

    "Why would I be angry? It¡¯s not like you ever spent such quality time with me," She snorted as she began eating.

    "How about we go shopping tomorrow? I need some new clothes, and I¡¯ll get you some as well," Ryder suggested.

    "Really?" Alice asked in surprise; a glimmer of happiness was clearly visible in her eyes, but she quickly recovered her expressions.

    "Of course. It¡¯s not always that I get the chance to hang out with such a beautiful girl. Let¡¯s have fun tomorrow," Ryder said, smilingly.

    "Sure," she said casually as if she didn¡¯t want to show her excitement.

    "Great," Ryder said as he began eating as well.

    He walked back to his room after he finished eating.

    He fell to his bed as he began observing the bracelet of Immortality.

    "Janus, you said that the bracelet is not the game item? Does this mean it¡¯s from the real world? Do gods really exist?" Ryder inquired.

    [It¡¯s quite ironic to hear the questioning from you,] Janus said. Ryder could feel that Janus¡¯ tone was somewhat unusual.

    "You know, Janus, I feel like you have be more human-like after the upgrade. I feel like I¡¯m talking to a real person and not the system that you always felt like before the upgrade," Ryder said in a low voice.

    [Maybe I¡¯m just waiting for the opportunity to screw your life again,] Janus chuckled.

    Ryder was stunned as he sat up abruptly.

    "You canugh?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    [What do you think?] Janus asked sarcastically.

    "Sigh, you really shock me sometimes. I guess you¡¯re more human-like than I thought," Ryder muttered.

    [Or maybe I¡¯m more god-like, just like a certain someone I used to know,] Janus replied.

    "Who? Were you with another host before me?" Ryder inquired.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply, and Ryder didn¡¯t repeat his question. He had realized that maybe Janus didn¡¯t want to talk about that.

    "Anyway, you said that all the bracelet unsealing fragments are not in the game world. Did you mean that they were in the real world as well?" Ryder changed the question.

    Janus replied, [Yes.]

    "Interesting. Can you help me find them?" Ryder further asked.

    [No, I can¡¯t find them, but they will find you,] Janus replied.

    "Why? Do the fragments have a sentience that can help them track the bracelet?" Ryder inquired.

    [It¡¯s moreplicated than that. Just think of that as your destiny that a certain someone wrote for yourself,] Janus answered.

    "Who would that certain someone be?" Ryder asked.

    [You,] Janus answered.

    "Sometimes I can¡¯tprehend what you say," Ryder said with a wry smile on his face.

    "Anyway, I can turn back time when I need to. I¡¯m quite excited about my life, despite that curse," Ryder said smilingly.

    He suddenly remembered something as he asked, "Oh right, You said that I would get an Exp System in the real world after your upgrade. You didn¡¯t exin what that is?" Ryder asked.

 Chapter 81 Date?

    <h4>Chapter 81: Date?</h4>

    [It¡¯s a leveling system for you. You will get experience for certain things you do, and you will gain levels just like the game world] Janus replied.

    " So I can be stronger in the real world? Won¡¯t I be a superhuman if I keep leveling?" Ryder started fantasizing.

    Janus replied, [Something like that, but that¡¯s nothing for you. You wouldn¡¯t need any levels long as you...] but he stopped midway.

    "As long as I what?" Ryder inquired.

    [Nothing, Just get strong and stay safe until it¡¯s the time] Janus said before he went silent.

    He didn¡¯t reply after that.

    "Hey, at least tell me the things I can do to collect exp in the real world?" Ryder asked, but Janus didn¡¯t answer.

    "Cheh, I¡¯ll ask again tomorrow. I¡¯ll definitely get my answers," Ryder muttered as he closed his eyes. He fell asleep.

    Ryder woke up the next day and went for a shower. It was only 6 am and one of the only few times when he woke up so early.

    He came out of the shower and got dressed as he sat on his bed.

    It was still too soon for them to leave. It was decided that they will leave after 9 am, but he was a little excited about this. Also, he didn¡¯t wish to annoy Alice once again by beingte.

    "Why am I so excited? I feel just as excited as I was during my first date. Calm down. It¡¯s just a casual outing with your cousin! Not a date," He muttered as he closed his eyes and fell down to his bed.

    Time kept passing slowly, and it was 8:30. Ryder left the room and knocked on the door of Alice.

    "Are you ready?" Ryder asked.

    "Wait a minute; I aming," Alice replied.

    The door was opened, and Ryder saw Alice and just stood there in a daze for a moment.

    She was looking so beautiful. She didn¡¯t do extensive makeup, but she still looked as pretty as a flower.

    She was wearing a white top and a ck skirt that covered her fair thighs but fell slightly short of her knees.

    "You look beautiful," heplimented her.

    "Thank you," Alice replied. She looked somewhat embarrassed at the moment.

    "Let¡¯s go," She said as she came out of the room and closed the door.

    "Oh, right. Which shop are we going to get clothes from?" She asked Ryder as she walked towards the main door.

    "Not a shop, we¡¯ll be going to the Dream Projects Mall. We¡¯ll have breakfast in the restaurant first. Then shop for clothes. I have everything nned after that. It¡¯s going to be a busy day," He said smilingly.

    "Oh?"

    ¡¯I-is this really a date?¡¯ she thought as her face turned somewhat crimson.

    ¡¯Now that I think about it, it¡¯s really bad to get an Uber every time. I should get some money and buy a car of my own,¡¯ Ryder thought as he left the house with her.

    The car was already waiting outside for them. Ryder opened the door for Alice. He entered after Alice and sat beside her.

    The driver dropped them off at the Dream Projects Mall. Ryder paid for it, and the Driver left.

    Ryder and Alice walked inside the mall. The Lover¡¯s Restaurant that was on the first floor of the Dream Projects Mall was most famous for its delicious food throughout the city.

    Ryder walked inside the mall and went to the Lover¡¯s Restaurant. Although the restaurant was named like that, Ryder didn¡¯t think about this as he had heard a lot of good things about the restaurant and its food.

    Alice¡¯s mind was in rumbles, though. She wasn¡¯t as open-minded as Ryder, and the name really made her have a flutter in her heart.

    ¡¯Lovers Restaurant,¡¯ She thought as she looked at the name.

    She had heard a lot of things about this from her friends, and she had all kinds of misconceptions about this ce.

    Most of her friends have told her about how their boyfriends took them to the Lover¡¯s Restaurant. They ate from the same te, and it was so romantic. Alice had already made an assumption about this ce.

    Ryder opened the door for her and entered inside. They found an empty table and sat on it.

    The whole ce was decorated in romantic decoration. There were hearts on the walls, a few paintings that depicted lovers kissing.

    "The decoration is quite unique," Ryder muttered in surprise.

    The waiter was a girl dressed in pink. She served the menu to them before she went back to her work and gave them time to decide.

    "Sweet Memories Pancakes, First Kiss Parfait, Lovers Sandwich. Hah, I guess they just had to stick a romantic term before the items," Ryder couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the names.

    "How about trying Sweet Memories Pancakes?" Ryder asked Alice, who simply nodded her head.

    "Waiter," Ryder called out.

    "We would like to have 2 Sweet Memories Pancakes. Oh right, get the Romantic milkshake for two as well," Ryder ordered.

    "Yes sir," The waiter left and came back with 2 tes of Pancakes that looked like they were made by a professional chef with the kind of decorations on it.

    "I love you," Ryder said.

    "Huh?" Alice eximed in shock.

    "They wrote I love you on pancakes. That¡¯s so cheesy," Ryder said as he pointed towards the Pancakes.

    "Yeah, right," Alice replied as she calmed down.

    Soon after, the waiter served the milkshake in a big ss. There were 2 straws in the ss.

    "Excuse me; I asked for a milkshake for the 2 of us," Ryder told the waiter.

    "I know, Sir. It¡¯s for you two. It¡¯s a special milkshake for you and your beloved ones. You can share it together while you stare in each other¡¯s eyes," The waiter replied, as she gave a gentle smile.

    Ryder turned to look towards Alice, "Oh, I didn¡¯t know that. Maybe we can just sh..." but he stopped midway as he saw her ring at him.

    "Take it back and bring a drink that we can have in separate sses," Ryder said to the waiter.

    "Sorry, Sir, but we can¡¯t take it back. But we can bring you 2 more like this if you want," The waiter replied.

 Chapter 82 Betting

    <h4>Chapter 82: Betting</h4>

    "Are you serious? You expect us to drink such a big ss each after we finish our breakfast?" Ryder said in an annoyed tone.

    Alice could see that he was starting to get angry. She didn¡¯t want others to look at them strangely, so she interrupted, "It¡¯s alright. You can go."

    The waiter left.

    "Why did you let him go? I should have a talk with the manager," Ryder said.

    "It¡¯s alright. Don¡¯t get angry. It¡¯s our fault for ordering without understanding. Also, sharing is not a big deal. We can finish it together. There¡¯s no need to spoil the day," Alice said.

    Ryder¡¯s mouth opened wide in surprise, but he didn¡¯t say anything. He simply nodded his head.

    They both began their breakfast. The ss of the milkshake was at the center of the table. They both asionally sipped from their own straw while having breakfast.

    They both finished eating at the same time, and coincidentally, they began sipping the milkshake at the same time as well.

    Their faces were so close to each other. Ryder couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyes as he stared at her face. She looked up as well, and both their eyes met.

    None of them removed their lips from the straw as they continued sipping while staring into each other¡¯s eyes. The atmosphere had turned somewhat romantic, but none of them noticed it as they looked in each other¡¯s eyes in a daze.

    Their daze was broken as the milkshake finished. They both removed their lips from the straws and moved back. None of them said anything for over a minute as the awkwardness returned.

    "I¡¯ll be right back after paying the bill. We can leave after that," Ryder finally said as he stood up and walked up to the counter.

    He walked back and left the Lover¡¯s Restaurant with Alice.

    They roamed through the mall and went to various clothing shops as they shopped for clothes.

    Everything that Ryder selected had to pass through the strict scrutiny of Alice, but he didn¡¯t mind. He felt like Alice had a better sense of fashion than he did.

    After Ryder finished his shopping, they went shopping for Alice¡¯s clothes. Surprisingly, it only took half an hour for Ryder to select all his clothes, but it took Alice around 2 hours, and still, she was not finished.

    Alice showed him a new dress and asked, "How does this look?"

    "Looks great. It will suit you. Take it," Ryder replied.

    "Hmm, you have been saying the same thing for every dress. You don¡¯t even care, Do you?" Alice said as she nced at him.

    "I¡¯m not lying. You¡¯re just so pretty; I feel like every dress will suit you," Ryder responded in his defense.

    "Hmph, you sure do know how to talk," Alice said as she walked up to the counter to get the dress packed. Finally, the shopping finished. Ryder paid for the dresses, and they left the shop.

    "Where to next?" She asked Ryder.

    "Have you ever seen a horse race?" Ryder asked with a grin on his face as he brought out his phone and booked a car to take them to their destination.

    They left the mall and found the car waiting outside for them.

    Delirium Arena, it was one of the most well-known ces in the city amongst the rich tier people. It was a ce where horse races were held.

    The rich people from all around the city and even from outside came there to have fun and bet on horses.

    Most of the people lost a great amount of money, but they didn¡¯t mind since they were too rich. They didn¡¯t mind losing money to have fun. There were also a few people that earned great riches in the races as well.

    This was the ce Ryder came with Alice. In the previous timeline, he had no interest in this ce as there was too much luck involved, and he didn¡¯t want to take the risk of losing all his money on a far fetched dream.

    This time, however, he had something that would give him an assured victory.

    He entered the Delirium Arena and walked to the stands. The horses were still not in the arena, but there was a timer that said that the race was about to begin in 20 minutes,

    Soon, the horses came outside. There were 20 horses, and all had a number on them from 1 to 20.

    "Which one do you think will win?" Ryder asked Alice.

    "I don¡¯t know anything about this, so I can¡¯t say anything," she replied.

    "Just take a guess," He insisted.

    "No. 6?" She said.

    "Alright. Let me bet on that," Ryder said.

    "Wait, don¡¯t do that! That¡¯s just a guess, and we might lose!" Alice suggested against it, but Ryder didn¡¯t listen.

    Ryder smiled as he opened the app of the Delirium Arena on his phone. It was the official application developed for horse race betting. People didn¡¯t need to go to the stands to bet, and they could just do so on their phone, but the app only worked on the Wifiwork of the Arena.

    No one could use the app to bet from the outside.

    Ryder had 10000 dors on his savings, but he bet only 10 dors on no. 6. Horse No.6 had the Odds of 1:1.2, so it was the one that was thought to win by the organizers as well.

    The race began, and in less than 5 minutes, it was over. Horse No. 6 was the 3rd in the race. Surprisingly, the winner was horse number 12, which shockingly had the odds of 1:75.

    "See? Did you bet? How much did you lose?" Alice asked.

    "Nothing. I lost nothing," Ryder replied to her.

    The next race began in 5 minutes, but Ryder didn¡¯t make a bet this time. He simply tested his luck the first time, and he realized that he wasn¡¯t lucky. He still watched the race. The race was also over shortly this time, and the Winner was horse number 2 that had the odds of 1:5.

    "That should be enough," Ryder muttered as he looked at the time on his watch.

 Chapter 83 Winning

    <h4>Chapter 83: Winning</h4>

    "Time Reversal!" He muttered.

    Everything turned ck for a moment before he found himself standing in the stands. He looked at the watch and saw that he had actually traveled back in time by half an hour.

    He hadn¡¯t made the bet yet.

    "No. 6?" Alice said.

    "No. 6 is good, but I have a feeling that no.12 might win," Ryder told her with a knowing smile on his face.

    "Hah, Kids these days. They don¡¯t know anything. No.12 is the weakest. The girl is right. No. 6 will win," The guy that was standing near him on the standmented.

    "Maybe," Ryder simply replied.

    He brought his phone out and ced the bet on no.12. He ced 10000 dors on horse no.12 that had the odds of 1:75.

    The race began, and soon, it was over.

    The guy that was standing behind Ryder had his mouth wide open as he saw no.12 winning. Even Alice was shocked.

    "Wow, you were right," Alice said to Ryder, and Ryder simply smiled.

    He didn¡¯t say that he had bet on no. 12.

    Ryder now had 750k dors in his ount, but he again ced them on a bet. He ced all his money on no. 2 that had the odds of 1:5.

    The race began and finished, and the results were just as he had expected. He again won.

    Ryder now had 3.75 million dors to his name. He had be a millionaire in an instant.

    There was only a smirk on his face, though he didn¡¯t express any excessive excitement.

    "How was the race?" Ryder asked Alice.

    "It was good, but I don¡¯t enjoy horse racing," Alice replied.

    "Oh? Alright. Come with me. I¡¯ll take you somece special. There¡¯s something else I need to buy," Ryder smilingly said as he held her hand and left the Arena.

    Back in the office in the Arena, a man was sitting on a chair and typing something on hisptop when someone knocked on his door.

    "Come inside," he said.

    A person entered the room. It was a girl that had a tablet in her hand.

    "What happened?" The man inquired.

    "Sir, A person, just won 3.75 million dors on betting," the girl informed the man.

    "It¡¯s just 3.75 million, is there really a need to fuss so much? People win more here and lose even more," The man casually said.

    "That¡¯s not it, Sir. Our data show that it was that man¡¯s first time here. He made 2 bets, and both times he got it right. He earned 3.75 million from just 10000!" the girl replied.

    Her words finally managed to attract the man¡¯s attention as he looked at her.

    "Interesting. He might just be lucky. There are a few people like that. Still, keep an eye on him. Tell me if hees back here," the man said before he started looking back at hisptop.

    "Yes, Sir," the girl replied before she left her room.

    Ryder and Alice were standing in front of the biggest car showroom in the city.

    It was a Ferrari showroom. There was a time when there were many supercar makers that werepeting for prominence in the market space, but Ferrari had managed to keep up with time because of their thirst for innovation and keeping up with the times. It was the most selling car brand in the world.

    They now made Super Cars as well as affordable cars for the ones that couldn¡¯t afford the expensive cars.

    "Brother? Why are we here? Are you buying a car?" Alice asked in surprise.

    "Yup," Ryder said to her with a cheeky grin on his face.

    "Did the app you develop get popr?"

    "Yeah, it¡¯s going quite good. I earned some money from it. I can afford a car now. Let¡¯s go," Ryder said as he held her hands again and walked towards the showroom.

    There were 2 showrooms of Ferrari there, and Ryder chose the left one.

    "Wait! You¡¯re going the wrong way! This is the Supercar building. That one there is the one where they sell affordable ones!" Alice reminded him in a worried tone.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that," Ryder replied.

    They entered the showroom. There were many cars there. All of these cars were supercars that were said to be able to move like the wind. Each of these cars was worth more than what an average person could earn after years of hard work.

    "Hello Sir, How may I help you," A salesman walked up to them.

    Alice just lowered her head in embarrassment. She felt like they were soon about to be insulted foring here despite not being rich.

    "I would like to buy a car. Can you show me your best model?" Ryder said casually without showing any worries on his face.

    "Of Course, Sir. Pleasee with me," The salesman politely said as he took them towards the closest car.

    "This is one of our top models. Ferrari 996. It uses the same Octa-turbo X36 24.0-liter engine with 2,500 hp and 2,600 Nm of torque as Ferrari 497, Ferrari Sport, and Ferrari Z24. It is the new ¡¯most expensive car in the world.¡¯ Priced only at $35 million," The man said smilingly.

    Ryder was stunned at the price, but he had already expected that. He already had a car in his mind, but he just wished to show off at the moment.

    "This is good, but I need the electric variant. I heard the Ferrari Whirlwind E is the newest model at the moment amongst the electrical?" Ryder casually inquired.

    "Ah, Right, Sir. That¡¯s ourpany¡¯stest model. Pleasee with me. I¡¯ll show you," The man said as he took them to a different section.

    He stopped before a styling ck car.

    "This is our newest electrical supercar; Whirlwind E. Its design is loosely based on our supermodel from an old era, the Spyder. It can achieve a max speed of 400 miles per hour. Although it¡¯s not as fast as our 996, it will never let you feel like itcks anything,"

 Chapter 84 Wife

    <h4>Chapter 84: Wife</h4>

    "It has every modern facility you could ask for. There¡¯s Self Driving as well that has long been perfected by ourpany. You can go on a long drive with your wife in this car, and you can turn the Self-Driving on while you spend romantic moments with your wife. Its Price is only $3.5 million," the salesman said.

    Alice was initially stunned as she saw him call her Ryder¡¯s wife, but Ryder didn¡¯t correct him. She wondered what it meant, but her expressions soon changed to shock as she heard the price.

    She felt like the time was near. Soon, they would be thrown out for wasting their time despite not having money.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll take the Whirlwind. Can you prepare everything for me? I¡¯ll wait here," Ryder told the man.

    "Sure, Sir. Can you give me your digital citizenship number? I¡¯ll prepare everything, and then you canplete the payment," the man told them.

    "It¡¯s RY19970103Fl," Ryder replied.

    "Great. You can wait on the sofa; I¡¯ll be right back," The man said.

    "May! Get some cold drinks for them," He told the assistant that was following him before he left to finish the stuff rted to the sales.

    May left as well, to get them something to drink.

    Ryder was casually standing there as he observed the car when he felt someone pinch his waist with full force.

    "Aaaa, That hurt. what are you doing?" He asked as he looked back at Alice, who was ring at him.

    "Why didn¡¯t you clear the misunderstanding when he called me your wife!" She scolded Ryder.

    "There was no need to. He is unknown. What does it matter if he thinks that you¡¯re my girlfriend or wife? I just didn¡¯t feel like there was a need to waste time to exin this small stuff," Ryder replied to her.

    "Hmph, that aside! What are we going to do now! Do you think they will sell a car like that on EMIs? We¡¯re going to be insulted so badly. I can already feel the embarrassment," Alice said as she frowned.

    "Hahaha, don¡¯t worry. I do have the money. No one will insult us," Ryder replied.

    "You do? You have $3.5 million? Which bank did you rob!" She red at him as she asked.

    "Ah, Can you please stop doubting me? It¡¯s my hard-earned money," Ryder replied with a wry smile on his face.

    "Really?" Alice again asked in a suspicious tone.

    "Yup," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    Just as Alice was about to say something, May walked back.

    She gave both of them a can of chilled drinks before she stepped back to not interrupt their conversation.

    "I¡¯m done, sir. You can check the details of the purchase and the insurance. Now you just need toplete the payment, and this car will be registered to your name," He gave Ryder a tablet that had the details of the purchase.

    "Looks good," Ryder said as he transferred the money.

    "Sir, If I may suggest something. Since it¡¯s your first ride in the car, you should take your wife to a long drive and test the self-driving feature," the salesman said as he winked at Ryder.

    Ryder understood what he meant, but he didn¡¯t exin.

    "Thanks for the suggestion," He said as he walked towards the car and stepped inside. Alice sat on the passenger seat, but she didn¡¯t take her eyes off him. It seemed as if she wanted to eat him.

    "Come on; It was already toote to clear the misunderstanding. Just ignore that man," Ryder said to her before he started the engine and brought the car on the road.

    "How about we go for a long drive?" Ryder suggested. Just enjoy our first moment in the new car?" Ryder suggested.

    Alice looked at him and nodded her head, but her heart was in a mess. The whole day has turned out to be shocking.

    They drank milkshakes from the same ss just like lovers, they shopped. It was going like a perfect date before he took her to a horse race. She was somewhat disappointed as she didn¡¯t like ces like that, but he shocked her once more by buying such an expensive car. Furthermore, she was called his wife by someone. She quite liked it when she was called that.

    Although the city wasn¡¯t empty for him to use the full power of the car, once they got to the empty road, Ryder¡¯s Whirlwind moved like lightning.

    Alice was somewhat frightened at the speed as she held Ryder¡¯s hand and hid her face in his shoulders.

    "Should I slow down?" Ryder asked.

    "No, I quite like this," Alice replied without raising her head.

    "Hmm, You like the fast speed despite being scared of it? Strange," Ryder muttered, but he didn¡¯t decrease the speed.

    Although he acted casual on the outside, Inside, he was quite happy as well. Getting a sports car like this has always been a dream of his, but he never could have imagined that this dream woulde true because of a cursed item.

    There were so many possibilities for him to improve his life now. He could get money and get a big house with Alice. He wouldn¡¯t need to be concerned about money anymore, and he could just enjoy his life for as long as he can.

    After an hour, Ryder stopped the car. They were near empty green fields.

    "We¡¯re here. You can raise your head," Ryder said to Alice, who kept her head over his shoulders throughout the way.

    Alice sat straight and looked out the window.

    "This ce?" She inquired.

    "You remember what this ce is?" Ryder asked.

    "The ce we used to go on a pic with our family?" Alice replied as she reminisced about the past.

    "Yeah. It¡¯s also the ce where we first met. You were with your mother while I was with my parents. It was the third time I met my aunt, and the first time I met you. You were just 8 years old at that time, and I was 12," Ryder said smilingly.

    "I remember. It was such a great day," Alice muttered as she looked at the green fields.

    "Let¡¯s go out. The weather seems so nice," She said as she opened the door and stepped out of the car.

 Chapter 85 Missions and rewards

    <h4>Chapter 85: Missions and rewards</h4>

    Ryder smiled as he stepped out of the car as well. This ce brought back so many memories. He could see his parentsughing while he yed the games on his phone.

    Just when Ryder was getting depressed, Alice held his hand as she pulled him with her. She took him to the spot under a tree where they always sat when they were on a pic with their family.

    They sat down and rested their backs against the tree as they looked at the distant horizon.

    "I can¡¯t believe that it has already been 8 years since they died in the ident," Ryder let out softly.

    "Yeah, feels just like yesterday when mom left me at your house in your care while she left with your parents for a party," Alice muttered.

    [Ding... A mission has been issued to the host.

    Mission: Tell Alice that you have kissed her on her lips in her sleep.

    Reward: 10 Origin Points

    Punishment for failure: Your car will transform into a robot and fly away

    Time Limit: 5 minutes]

    ¡¯That¡¯s stupid! Now you¡¯re copying the stories from the movies as well? Can¡¯t you let this peaceful atmosphere be already?¡¯¡¯ Ryder thought with a wry smile on his face.

    [It¡¯s getting too sad for me. One lifetime of sadness is already enough for me, and for you,] Janus answered.

    ¡¯You and your strange words. Sigh, I know well enough to know that you won¡¯t take back the mission. I¡¯m about to get pped, aren¡¯t I?¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Ahmm, Alice?" Ryder said softly.

    "Yeah?" Alice turned to look at him.

    "I am going to tell you something, but please don¡¯t take it seriously," Ryder said. Alice just looked at him with confusion.

    "I kissed you on the lips when you were sleeping," Ryder blurted out as he closed his eyes and waited for the p.

    [Mission Completed]

    "You¡¯re joking, aren¡¯t you?" She asked in disbelief, and Ryder simply nodded his head.

    "I thought so. There¡¯s no way you would be shameless enough to do that," Alice chuckled as she replied.

    "Ahh, Right," Ryder replied before he closed his eyes and pretended as if he was resting.

    [You cheated,] Janus said to Ryder.

    ¡¯I followed the rules of the game this time,¡¯ Ryder replied to Janus.

    "I¡¯m not joking. I did that, and I¡¯m sorry," Ryder told her as he didn¡¯t feel like lying to her.

    Alice simply looked at Ryder for a brief moment before she closed her eyes as well. She didn¡¯t respond.

    10 minutes passed in silence.

    [Another Mission has been assigned to the host.

    Mission: Take Alice back to the city

    Reward: Secret

    Punishment for failure: Alice will die

    Time Limit: 10 minutes]

    ¡¯This one is quite weird, I must say. I thought you would give something difficult to spite me,¡¯ Ryder thought as he opened his eyes.

    "Alice, Let¡¯s go," Ryder told Alice, but she didn¡¯t react.

    "Alice? Are you sleeping?" Ryder asked, but Alice didn¡¯t reply.

    "I guess she fell asleep. That was fast," Ryder muttered as he looked at the calm sleeping face of Alice.

    He stepped towards her as he inserted one of his hands below her knees and another under her back as he picked her up like a princess.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t break your sleep just toplete my mission, but I can¡¯t fail it either,¡¯ Ryder thought as he stepped towards the car. He didn¡¯t notice, but there was a smile on Alice¡¯s face at the moment.

    He opened the door of the passenger seat after some struggle and put her on the seat before he closed the door.

    He walked back to the driver seat and started the car as he left.

    Only 8 minutes had passed since Ryder left before a helicopter came crashing down.

    It crashed on the tree below, which Ryder and Alice were sitting about 10 minutes ago.

    ***

    "Hmm? Why are we in the car? Did we leave?" Alice opened her eyes after a few minutes as she asked.

    "Yeah, I remembered that there was something else we had to do," Ryder replied.

    "Oh, where are we going now?" She asked.

    "An amusement park. We¡¯ll spend some fun time there and then go to a nice ce for dinner," Ryder told her.

    "Oh, nice. I¡¯m resting. Wake me up when we¡¯re there," Alice said before she rested her head on Ryder¡¯s shoulders and closed her eyes.

    They got to the biggest amusement park in the city and spent the rest of the day here as they explored the ce together. None of them had even been here as this ce was opened 7 years ago. A year after their parents died.

    Ryder was more into the scary rides, while Alice rejected those as she was scared of heights. Ultimately Ryder gave up on them and went to more normal rides with her.

    They explored the Haunted House. That was the ce where Ryder saw the inner child of Alice that always looked so brave. She jumped in shock every time something scary popped out. Ryder¡¯s smile never left his face as he enjoyed every moment.

    It was already evening when he left the ce with Alice. He took her to the most expensive restaurant. Even the cheapest dish there was worth over $100. Ryder ordered everything that he felt would be good without worrying about money. In total, he had ordered $3000 worth of items.

    "There¡¯s no need to spend so much!" Alice told him, but he simply replied, "Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s not like we areing here daily."

    "Did you really earn so much from your app? Why didn¡¯t you tell me before?" She asked.

    "I¡¯ll tell you more after everything¡¯s settled. We might even be able to get a mansion if things go as I nned," Ryder said smilingly.

    "I really hope that you¡¯re not doing something illegal," She said suspiciously.

    "Everything I do will be perfectly legal," Ryder said.

    ¡¯Mostly legal,¡¯ He added in his mind.

    They finished dinner. Ryder paid the bill before they left.

    A Ferrari Whirlwind E stopped before the small house of Ryder, but no one was out on the streets to see at the moment.

    Ryder parked the car and walked inside the house with Alice.

    "How was it? Did you enjoy the day?" Ryder asked Alice.

    "Yes, It was the best day of my life. Thank you for everything," Alice said as she stepped forward and kissed on Ryder¡¯s cheeks before she walked inside her room.

    "Well, I guess I should n more trips like this," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his cheeks before he entered his room.

 Chapter 86 Back where it all ended

    <h4>Chapter 86: Back where it all ended</h4>

    "Hey, Janus. Where are my rewards from myst mission?" Ryder asked as he began changing his clothes and got into morefortable clothes.

    [You already received the reward] Janus replied.

    "What reward was that? All you said was that the reward was secret," Ryder said an annoyance as he rested on his bed.

    [The reward was the perfectpletion of your date] Janus replied.

    "Huh, You can¡¯t even give me Origin Points now? You¡¯re being a cheapskate, you know," Ryder told Janus before he picked up the Divinity sses that were resting on the table nearby and wore them.

    "Enter Divinity," He muttered.

    His surroundings changed, and he found himself lying on the bed of the Demon Realm¡¯s Royal Pce.

    "Miku?" He called out.

    "Yes, Master?" The maid replied from the outside.

    Ryder stood up and opened the door. The room of the King and the rooms of the Prince, they were both made from special materials that were impossible to break unless someone was as powerful as the King himself. Even the High Dukes couldn¡¯t break into the rooms without the door being opened from the inside.

    "Where is Rale?" Ryder inquired.

    "Commander Rale is in the practice arena. He is practicing with the men," Miku answered him.

    "Alright, take me to him," he told her.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Miku replied as she started walking towards the Practice Arena. Ryder followed her.

    "Has Duke Deviliae here with a girl?" Ryder asked as he remembered about it.

    "No. Madam Duke has not returned since the ceremony," she replied.

    ¡¯hmm? Did she forget about it?¡¯ he wondered.

    Miku brought him to the Practice Arena and stepped aside.

    Ryder opened the door and entered.

    He saw around 20 men and women fighting against Rale, but despite being outnumbered, Rale didn¡¯t look as if he was in any difficulty.

    "Your Highness!" Rale noticed Ryder and stopped the battle as he greeted him.

    "That was a good battle. You¡¯re quite strong; I must say," Ryder said, smilingly.

    "I appreciate the praise," Rale responded.

    "Anyway, have you selected the people? We need to be leaving soon," Ryder asked.

    "Yes, Your Highness. The 20 people you see are the best of the best that I¡¯ve chosen for this mission," Rale said.

    "20? That¡¯s a little on the high side, but I guess it would be much safer," Ryder muttered.

    "Are they all good at stealth?" He asked.

    "Yes, Your Highness. All of them are the best in stealth. They should have no difficulty staying hidden," Rale answered.

    "Good, we¡¯re leaving in an hour. You can prepare the things that you need to take," Ryder told Rale, but he immediately got the answer, "Everything is prepared, Your Highness."

    "Hmm? Good. Let¡¯s leave now then," Ryder said.

    "Your Highness, Shouldn¡¯t we tell the Dukes that we are leaving?" Rale inquired.

    "There¡¯s no need. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re going to war. We¡¯ll just go there, take the thing ande back," Ryder said, smilingly.

    "Alright," Rale nodded his head.

    Amongst the 20 people that Rale had selected, only 3 of them were female.

    "Good, Come with me," Ryder said as he turned back and left the hall.

    Rale and his team followed after Ryder.

    After walking for over 5 minutes, they were brought to an underground hallway. There were 5 doors there, but they were all locked.

    "The first door will take us to the realm of the humans," Rale informed.

    Ryder nodded his head as he brought out the keys and tried using them to open the door. He had around 50 keys, and he wasn¡¯t sure which one opened the door. After trying over 40 keys, it was the 42nd key that opened the door.

    As the door opened, Ryder saw nothing but white light.

    "Is this the space tunnel?" He asked.

    "Yes, Your Highness. Should I go first?" Rale asked.

    "Huh? If you want to go first, I don¡¯t mind," Ryder said as he stepped aside.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale responded as he stepped inside the space tunnel. Ryder entered after him, and the 20 team members entered after Ryder.

    "Hmm? This ce? Isn¡¯t this...?" Ryder muttered as his mouth opened wide.

    He turned back and saw a dragon sleeping behind him.

    ¡¯This is the Malta Valley? Myst quest in my previous timeline. Despite being a level 175 yer and having a team of experienced yers, I couldn¡¯t kill this level 200 dragon. I¡¯m back to where it all ended,¡¯ Ryder thought as he observed the dragon that was sleeping.

    "Your Highness, Is there something wrong? Do you want to hunt this dragon?" Rale inquired.

    "Hunt the dragon? I will, but I¡¯m not strong enough for that yet, and I won¡¯t take your help to do it. But soon, I will be able to kill him alone," Ryder thought as he turned back and started walking away.

    "The Lightning Valley is towards the North of here if I¡¯m not wrong," Ryder muttered.

    ¡¯Rale is almost as strong as an average Duke; he should be able to fly like Devilia,¡¯ he thought.

    "Hey, Rale, can you fly?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yes, I can. I¡¯m from Avalorian Demon species, so I do have wings," Rale answered as two wings came out of his back.

    "Oh? You keep those wings hidden? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen the wings of Devilia when she flew. How was she able to fly?" Ryder asked.

    "Duke Devilia is a demon of the Wind Demon Species. They can fly without wings. In fact, there are many High Demon species that can fly without wings," Rale answered.

    "And the other Dukes? How can they fly? Are they from those species as well?" Ryder asked.

    "Most of them are from those High Demon Species, but there are a few Dukes that aren¡¯t. They use treasures to help them fly," Rale exined.

    "Interesting. The team members that you selected. How many of them can fly?" Ryder asked.

    "There are 4 of them that can¡¯t fly," Rale exined.

    "Good. We will fly to the Lightning Valley. Those that can fly will carry the ones that can¡¯t. That will be faster," Ryder suggested.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale nodded.

    "Alright. You can take me as I can¡¯t fly yet," Ryder said without the least bit of embarrassment.

    Rale walked up to him as he held Ryder¡¯s hand and took him in the air. Other demons also began flying after them.

 Chapter 87 Bait

    <h4>Chapter 87: Bait</h4>

    Lightning Valley was a beautiful ce that was filled with greenery. There were trees as far as the eyes could see.

    Even though the ce looked like this now, it wasn¡¯t always like this. There was a time when it was just a barrennd with not even a speck of green. It was said to be a cursednd that was so dirty that the Heavenly Thunder fell on it every 2 days to cleanse it.

    There was a time with the Greatest King of the Dark Elves; King Baron Elvian, came here. He felt bad for thend and what it had to go through. It was said that King Baron stayed in the Lightning Valley for 200 years as he prayed to the heavens to stop this torture. Ultimately, the Thunder stopped.

    King Baron established his Dark Elves Kingdom on the Lightning Valleyter on. The Lightning Valley that was entirely barren, was soon filled with greenery.

    There were trees and grass everywhere. It was said that the Elves were blessed by nature. Even though the Dark Elves prayed to the dark gods, and they were not as beloved by nature as the general elves, they still had the blessing of nature. They were more powerful than their other counterparts.

    The Lightning Valley kept growing. The n that King Baron Elvian established became known as the Royal Elvian n of the Kingdom of Dark Elves.

    With the passing of each generation, the Royal n kept changing. Each ruler had different thinking than thest one. It was said that First King Baron Elvian loved all species, and that¡¯s why he allowed everyone toe to his kingdom and make it their home, but the 5th King Rakul Elvian had a different mindset. He didn¡¯t like the other species as he felt like they didn¡¯t respect nature as much as them. He also felt like the other species were impure.

    He ordered the other species to leave the Kingdom of Dark Elves and to nevere back.

    Even though he forced the other species members to leave, he didn¡¯t kill anyone amongst them. He was said to be the Fierce King that never killed.

    The 6th King Marki Elvian also followed the footsteps of the 5th King and didn¡¯t let the members of other species establish their homes in his empire, but he didn¡¯t stop them from visiting the Empire of Dark Elves.

    The 9th King Mikail Elvian further changed the rules and made it so that no other species were allowed to step inside the Lightning Valley. If anyone was found, they were to be killed in front of the whole kingdom if caught.

    It was the reign of the 10th King Regil Elvian currently, and he maintained the same rules. No other species members were allowed to enter the Kingdom of Dark Elves.

    Ryder knew that the Dark Elves didn¡¯t allow anyone else to enter theirnd, but he felt as if he had no other choice. He had to sneak inside.

    The Demons flew high in the sky along with Ryder, but fortunately, they didn¡¯t attract much attention as they were still in an empty location. Also, not many people looked high in the sky even if they were flying above a crowded ce.

    "That should be the Lightning Valley. Let¡¯s get down," Rydermanded Rale. He didn¡¯t want to take the risk of getting shot at by bows and arrows.

    It was said that the Dark Elves were great archers that could even shoot a little bird flying high in the sky. If they weren¡¯t careful, they might be hit by the arrows as well. He knew that Rale and his men wouldn¡¯t die from an arrow. They were too high level to die from such weak damage, but he was still weak. If he were killed, he would be thrown back in time by a day, and he would have to repeat everything again. He didn¡¯t want to waste time just because he was careless for a moment.

    The Demonsnded on the ground some distance away from the Lightning Valley.

    "Alright. Now let me tell you some things. Our intentions are not to go there and ughter everyone. It¡¯s better to be careful as we still don¡¯t know how strong their king actually is. All I need is to get the object I¡¯m here for. A battle would be thest option, and it should be under the conditions in which they won¡¯t see our attacking," Ryder said to Rale.

    "The first thing we need to do is to get information about the kingdom, and we need to catch a dark elf for that. That¡¯s why I havee up with a n," Ryder said.

    "What n, Your Highness?" Rale inquired.

    "My n is quite simple. I would enter the Lightning Valley and pretend to be a lost human. That should make the hiding guardse out because of their curiosity. At least most wille to me out of their curiosity. They wouldn¡¯t even be worried as I look quite weak," Ryder replied.

    "No! I can¡¯t allow that to happen. How can I let you act as bait! It should be us who act as bait. The Prince should never be the bait!" Rale opposed the suggestion.

    "Oh, Believe me, I myself don¡¯t want to act at the bait, but that¡¯s the only option I have. Even if you guys hide your aura, you guys still look like intimidating opponents. There¡¯s something about you that gives the feeling of fear to others. I believe that if one of you goes as bait, most of the guards will attack you, and one or two of them will leave to inform the king. It would be troublesome if the King is informed as he might hide the thing," Ryder said as he shook his head.

    "But, You might die if anything goes wrong!" Rale said with concern.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯m not going to die anytime soon. I¡¯ll be perfectly fine one way or another," Ryder replied.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll just be bored to death if I had to repeat myst 24 hours again, though,¡¯ He thought.

    "Think of it as an order. You guys just have to make sure that none of the guards manage to escape after I get them at once ce. That should be all," Ryder added.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll follow your orders. I¡¯ll make sure that not a single person manages to harm you!" Rale said in full determination.

    "Good. Now use your stealth and get ready. I¡¯m going in," Ryder told Rale before he started walking towards the Lightning Valley.

 Chapter 88 Rale,Get to work!

    <h4>Chapter 88: Rale,Get to work!</h4>

    Before entering the forest, Ryder nced back and noticed that none of his men were there.

    [Gained 50 fame for discovering Lightning Valley Forest]

    "Not bad," Ryder muttered as he walked inside the Lightning Valley forest.

    He had received 2 treasures during his coronation, ¡¯Robe of Extreme Defense¡¯ and ¡¯Boots of the Wind Blessing.¡¯ Ryder had removed both of them and kept them in his storage. His crown and his Moon Scythe were already in his storage ring, and he had also changed his clothes to normal adventure clothes.

    As Ryder stepped inside the forest, he didn¡¯t see anyone, but after he walked for around 200 meters, he started having a feeling as if he was being watched.

    He looked here and there as if he was lost and he was trying to find directions. He also pretended to be worried and tired as if he was walking for quite some time.

    "Stop right there!" After around 10 minutes of observation, an elvian guard finally took action.

    An arrow was fired thatnded in front of Ryder and stuck on the ground.

    Ryder looked in the direction where the arrow came from and noticed a girl standing on a tree branch.

    She held a bow in her hand, and it seemed as if she was ready to fire the arrow if Ryder made a movement.

    The girl looked mostly like a normal human girl, but she was quite tall. She was even taller than Ryder. It seemed as if she was at least 7 feet tall.

    She wore a green dress that stuck tightly to her body and highlighted her curves even more.

    "You have infiltrated the territory of the Royal Kingdom of Dark Elves! What do you have to say for yourself?" the girl asked.

    "Why do you even have to ask, Raphtalia. Just capture him and take him to the Royal City. It has been a long time since west saw someone getting executed for infiltrating the kingdom. It¡¯s going to be fun," Another Elf¡¯s voice came. Ryder turned back and saw another woman standing on a tree branch.

    "Looks like a lost sheep to me," Another woman came out of the shadow as shemented.

    "Are their only girls here? Not that I mind," Ryder thought as he nced at the guards that kepting out of the shadow.

    "Migu! There¡¯s no need to go inform the king. You can stop hiding. It¡¯s just a weak guy," the first girl said as she looked to her left.

    A person came out of the shadow. After seeing over 20 female elves, it was the first male elf he saw. The male was quite differentpared to the females. Instead of being taller like the girls, he was even shorter than Ryder. He was just 5 feet tall.

    "I am sorry if I unknowingly entered your territory. I¡¯m new here, and I was lost. I thought that I would find water inside the forest, and that¡¯s why I entered. I¡¯ll leave right now," Ryder pretended to act scared as he told them.

    "Hehehe, You¡¯re quite a cute human! But you can¡¯t leave now that you have entered ournd," The elf guards came down from the tree as they all started walking towards Ryder.

    "Hey, I¡¯m just a single kid! You don¡¯t need to bring all your army to catch me. I¡¯ll leave and won¡¯t evere back," Ryder said, but the guards didn¡¯t stop.

    "Don¡¯t worry. We know that you¡¯re not dangerous, but that¡¯s not why all of the guards that were assigned here hade down. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s been so long since west saw a human. We are all quite intrigued," the leader of the elves, Raphtalia, said. It was the same girl that had fired an arrow at Ryder.

    "The citizens would be quite excited to see another execution of the impure humans. Even the King would be happy. It has been so long since someone dared to enter ournd," she further said.

    "I am sorry," Ryder said as he looked down.

    "It¡¯s toote to be sorry for infiltrating ournd," the male elf said sarcastically.

    "I¡¯m not sorry for that," Ryder answered him.

    "Then what are you sorry for? Raphtalia asked as she frowned.

    "I¡¯m sorry for spoiling your fun. I believe that your king and your citizens might have to wait longer to watch a human¡¯s execution," Ryder said with a wry smile on his face.

    "What do you mean?" The leader asked with a confused look on her face.

    "Rale? Time to get to work!" Ryder said casually as he looked into the girl¡¯s eyes.

    The girl could see a slight smirk on Ryder¡¯s face, but before she could even move, Rale appeared in front of her like a ghost as he grabbed her neck as he raised her in the air.

    The girl tried attacking Rale with her hand, but her attacks were just like soft cotton hitting on a concrete wall. Rale wasn¡¯t hurt in the slightest.

    20 other demons of Rale¡¯s team appeared behind the other guards and ced their hands around the guards¡¯ necks as they twisted their heads.

    The guards fell down to the ground.

    Only the leader was awake now, and she was in Rale¡¯s grip.

    "There weren¡¯t any other guards, right?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Yes, Your Highness. We didn¡¯t find anyone else," Rale replied.

    "Good," Ryder said.

    "I once again apologize for spoiling your future entertainment of watching a human die," Ryder said, smilingly. He could still see the girl struggling to free herself.

    "Anyway, now that we¡¯re in a better situation let me ask you a few questions. Please be honest when you answer," Ryder said as he gazed at the girl.

    "W-who are you?!" the girl asked in surprise.

    "I guess you still don¡¯t realize it. I¡¯m the one that¡¯s going to ask questions," Ryder said as a smile formed on his face.

    "Rale, tie her hands and put her down. If you keep her like that, she might lose consciousness before answering all my questions," Ryder told Rale.

    "You guys spread out in the forest and keep an eye on the surroundings. Tell me if you see someoneing!" Ryder told the other demons.

    The demons disappeared as they spread out in the forest and followed Ryder¡¯smands.

    Rale also put the girl down and tied her hands behind her back.

    "Alright. Now that we¡¯re done let¡¯s begin," Ryder said as he stepped towards the girl.

 Chapter 89 Another Fragment?

    <h4>Chapter 89: Another Fragment?</h4>

    "First, tell me your name. I want to know how to address you," Ryder inquired as he stopped 2 meters away from her.

    "I¡¯m the Royal Elvian Guard, Raphtalia. Who are you? Why did he address you like that? Are you a prince of a human kingdom? Wait, he doesn¡¯t look like a human! Have you disguised yourself as a human?" The woman answered him before she asked questions one after another.

    "Sigh, Did I tell you that only I can ask you the questions? Please don¡¯t force me to have him teach you that lesson painfully. I¡¯m not the enemy here, so please cooperate with me," Ryder told her as he sighed.

    "Now, back to our topic. You must know quite a lot about the Royal Elvian City, right? How strong is your king, and how many members are in the Royal family? I want the details about all of them," Ryder said to her.

    "You think I will betray my kingdom? Are you so stupid? I don¡¯t care about my life. You can kill me for all I care," Raphtalia replied as he snorted.

    "I never expected it to be easy. Well, we can only try to get you to speak. There¡¯s no hurry. We have all the time in the world," Ryder said as he saw her stubborn expression.

    "Rale, how about we hear the ideas on how to get her to talk. We can do them all at the end. You go first. What do you think we should do?" Ryder nced at Rale as he asked.

    "I can burn her body limb by limb until she starts speaking?" Rale replied.

    Raphtalia¡¯s eyes opened wide as she heard the suggestion of Rale. She felt scared, but she didn¡¯t open her mouth.

    "Interesting idea. Let me suggest one as well. Then we can ask Raphtalia about which one she likes more. We will try that first," Ryder told Rale.

    "My idea is quite simple. I don¡¯t want it to end too fast, so I think we should start easy," Ryder said as he observed Raphtalia from top to bottom.

    "W-what do you intend to do to me! Don¡¯t you dare touch me with your dirty hands!" Raphtalia said with a disgusted look on her face.

    "I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re thinking, but it¡¯s torture. Why would we listen to you? Anyway, You have beautiful blonde hair. I quite like your hair; they match your eyes quite well. How about we shave off your head? I can¡¯t help but imagine how you would look," Ryder said to her.

    "My hair?" Raphtalia said with a weird expression on her face.

    "It¡¯s not a bad punishment, Right? So pick your poison for the 1st stage of torture. Getting your limbs burned to ashes by Rale or going bald," Ryder said to her.

    "You guys are crazy!" She let out loud as she red at them.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s try both then. I¡¯ll go first. Let¡¯s shave off your head," Ryder smilingly said as he brought out the Moon Scythe from his storage ring and used the transformation to turn it into a de.

    "Let¡¯s begin," He muttered as he extended his hand towards her head. Raphtalia was starting to look even more worried now.

    "Stop!" Raphtalia bellowed before the de could touch her head.

    "So, are you ready to talk?" Ryder inquired.

    "I¡¯ll tell you everything," She replied with a defeated look on her face.

    "That¡¯s like a good girl," Ryder chuckled as he transformed the de back to the Moon Scythe and ced it back.

    "Now answer my first question," he said to her.

    "I don¡¯t know how strong our King is. He is the strongest in our kingdom; that¡¯s all I know," She said.

    "As for the Royal Family, there are only 4 people in the Royal Family. The King, the Queen, and their twin daughters," she further said.

    "Alright. Next question. Have you heard about Nature Healing Crystal?" Ryder inquired.

    "Nature Healing Crystal? Yeah, I have heard of it. It¡¯s the ancestral treasure of the Royal Elvian n passed down from generation to generation," She replied.

    "Good. Where is it kept?" Ryder asked another question.

    "Wait a minute? Are you here to steal the Nature Healing Crystal?!" Raphtalia eximed in shock.

    "We¡¯re here to see it," Ryder told her.

    "What see it? It¡¯s clear that you want to steal it!" Raphtalia said as she red at Ryder.

    "Alright. Put it that way if you like it. Just tell me where they keep it. If we had to search for it ourselves, you can¡¯t even imagine how many elves will die! Please trust me, I don¡¯t want to go down the path of ughter unless it¡¯s absolutely necessary," Ryder replied in full seriousness.

    Raphtalia looked in his eyes, and she could feel that he wasn¡¯t lying. She fell into deep thought.

    ¡¯He is so mysterious. He has so many strong people calling him, his Highness. Who is he? Does he really have the power to cause so much chaos in our Elvian Kingdom? I can feel that his followers are even stronger than our Chief Royal Guard back at the Royal City. I can¡¯t even see through the strength of this guy called Rale. Why do I have a feeling that he¡¯s at least as strong as our King?¡¯ She thought as she nced at Rale, who was still holding her.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll tell you if you promise to not cause problems for our kingdom unnecessarily," She told Ryder.

    "That¡¯s the n," Ryder chuckled as he replied.

    "The Nature Healing Crystal is kept in the ancestral temple, and it¡¯s only taken out on our Annual Establishment Festival in order to pay respect to our Ancestral God," She replied.

    "You have an Ancestral God as well? Do all species in this world have an Ancestral God?" Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face.

    ¡¯Can there be a crystal fragment of Bracelet of Immortality in the ancestral temple?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he remembered that he had found the first fragment in the ancestral ce of the demon.

 Chapter 90 Me

    <h4>Chapter 90: Me</h4>

    "I don¡¯t know about others, but we have an Ancestral God. The same Ancestral God as the Elves n, the Goddess of Nature," Raphtalia replied.

    "Nature? Where is this Ancestral Temple, and how can we enter it?" He asked her.

    "The Ancestral Temple is right behind the Royal Pce, and it is heavily surrounded by Royal Guards. Also, only the members of the Royal n can enter the Ancestral Temple as there¡¯s a formation that keeps the door locked and only opens it when a blood drop of a Royal Lineage member falls on it," She answered.

    "So I need to kidnap a royal as well? The more I hear, the more it feels like it¡¯s not going to be peaceful," Ryder said with a frown on his face.

    "You promised me that you wouldn¡¯t harm our people!" Raphtalia said as she heard his words.

    "I said I don¡¯t want to harm them as long as there¡¯s no need to. And I intend to keep that promise, but only if there¡¯s no obstruction in my path. I will get the Nature Healing Crystal at any cost!" Ryder said.

    "All of it can be prevented if you help me get that crystal. That sounds like a fair deal to me. A crystal versus the life of your people,"

    Raphtalia hesitated for a moment before she made a decision.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll help you. Even if I get banished from the Kingdom for helping you, I¡¯ll do it to save the lives of my people," Raphtalia said.

    "That good. Also, if you¡¯re banished, you cane to my Kingdom. Don¡¯t worry about that. You won¡¯tck anything," Ryderforted her.

    "So tell me. How can we do it peacefully? I need Royal Blood, so I need to kidnap the Princess or the Queen. And even if we do that, we can¡¯t enter the Ancestral Temple without dealing with the guards. If you have any suggestions, tell me," He added.

    "I can help you get the princess. As for the guards, If you enter with the Princess, they won¡¯t stop you as long as they don¡¯t realize that you¡¯re not Elves," Raphtalia replied.

    "Alright. First things first. Tell me how you¡¯ll help me get the princess?" Ryder inquired.

    "The princesses are my friends. I know a few things about them. One is that the princesses sneak out of the pce every full moon night to take a shower in theke of the forest. It¡¯s a full moon night, so they should be there," She answered him.

    "Really? Why would they do that?" Ryder asked with a perplexed look on his face.

    "I asked the same question. They told me that it was told to them by an old woman right before she died. She said that if the princesses bathed in theke on every full moon night, they would meet their true soulmate," She replied.

    "That¡¯s stupid. I guess they told their father, who didn¡¯t believe them, and didn¡¯t allow them to leave; that¡¯s why they sneak out? They look like hopeless romantics to me," Ryder muttered.

    "Alright. Take me to them," Ryder told her.

    "Wait a minute. You need to cover yourself first. If someone saw you, it would be problematic. Don¡¯t you have a cloak?" She asked.

    "Nope," Ryder shook his head.

    "Your Highness, I have a cloak. Here," Rale said as he opened his spatial storage and brought a cloak out. He gave it to Ryder.

    ¡¯Who are these guys? They both know space magic? Which species is so advanced?¡¯ She wondered.

    "Let¡¯s go," Ryder said as he wore the cloak. Rale also wore a cloak.

    "Ah? Can you free my hands first?" She asked them.

    "Rale?" Ryder muttered softly.

    Rale waved his finger and cut off the ropes that tied her hands.

    Raphtalia started walking towards theke while they followed her. They got to theke after 50 minutes.

    "This is the ce. They should be here at night," Raphtalia told them as they got there.

    "Huh, so we need to wait for hours. Are there any beasts nearby? I want to go hunting in order to not get bored," Ryder said.

    "The beasts doe here during the day, so we should see a few if we stay here," Raphtalia replied.

    Ryder nodded his head as he sat under the shade of the tree and started waiting.

    Rale and Raphtalia stood beside him. Rale never took his eyes off of Raphtalia for even a second.

    Time kept passing, and just like that, 12 hours passed away. It was already night.

    "What the heck? Didn¡¯t you say beastse here? Why is it that I did not see even a glimpse of a beast!" Ryder said in annoyance as he nced at Raphtalia.

    "I¡¯m not sure. But I heard that the beasts of Lightning Valley are more sensitive towards danger. Your men are so good at stealth that even we can¡¯t sense them, but maybe the beasts did? It¡¯s possible that that¡¯s why they didn¡¯te here," She replied.

    Ryder was about to reply when he heard the sound of footsteps.

    "Looks like the princesses are here," Ryder stood up as he looked to his left.

    After some time, he did see 2 girlse out of the woods. They were both just as tall as Raphtalia, but they were much more beautiful. Although they wore ordinary clothes, it was clear that they possessed more charisma.

    They had light green hair and deep blue eyes. They looked really identical. Ryder couldn¡¯t see any difference at all.

    "Who¡¯s there!" both girls called out at the same time as they sensed someone ahead.

    "It¡¯s me, princess!" Raphtalia replied as she stepped towards them. Ryder and Rale also stepped forth.

    "Raphtalia? What are you doing here? Why did you bring more guards here? Did our Father order you to take us back?" One of the Princess said.

    "It¡¯s not that, mydy. It¡¯s something else entirely. I need you to listen to me carefully. The lives of our citizens depend on it," Raphtalia said to them.

    "Lives of our citizens? What do you mean? Who would dare to put the lives of our citizens in danger?" the princess inquired in shock.

    "Me," Ryder said as he stepped ahead of Raphtalia.

    "W-who are you?!" The Princesses were scared as they stepped back, but they couldn¡¯t move back much as they saw the cloaked person that was standing behind Raphtalia appear behind them.

 Chapter 91 Ancestral Temple

    <h4>Chapter 91: Ancestral Temple</h4>

    "I¡¯m Prince Hades; as for my identity, you might know if therees a need for it," Ryder said as he stepped closer to the Princesses such that there was only 1 meter of a gap between them.

    "Raphtalia? Why are you with someone from other species? You should¡¯ve let the guards catch him! Are you betraying us?" The Princess on the left said.

    "Dead guards can¡¯t catch anyone," Ryder replied to her instead.

    "What? You killed all our guards?" The Princesses eximed in shock.

    " Why didn¡¯t you send someone to inform the Royal Pce when their army attacked you?" They asked Raphtalia.

    "We failed Princess. They are just too strong. I believe that they are even stronger than our King," Raphtalia replied.

    "Preposterous! No one is stronger than father!" The Princesses strongly expressed.

    "Please, believe me, princess. I¡¯ve felt their strength! You know that I have a skill that can give me a vague feeling about someone¡¯s strength. That guy behind you is at least as strong if not stronger than our King," Raphtalia replied.

    ¡¯Hmm? Interesting. So that¡¯s the king¡¯s strength level. From her words, it should be right around Rale¡¯s level,¡¯ Ryder thought as he heard her words.

    "I don¡¯t believe it!" The princess said as she shook her head.

    "Please, believe me, Princess. They are after our Nature Healing Crystal, and they im that they will take it no matter what cost. If it came to war, no matter who wins, our losses would be much bigger. The Nature Healing Crystal is special to us, as it is considered a gift from nature. Other than that, there is nothing in it that benefits our society. If giving it away saves the lives of everyone, we should do it!" Raphtalia let out, full of emotions.

    "No! I don¡¯t believe you!" The Princesses still didn¡¯t believe Raphtalia.

    "Sigh, we tried talking to you guys, but you still didn¡¯t listen. Let¡¯s just use force then," Ryder sighed.

    "Rale! Kill thedy on the right. They don¡¯t think that we¡¯re being serious," Ryder said.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale nodded his head as he brought his sword out and ced it over the neck of the Princess on the right, but before he could swing it, Ryder stopped him.

    "You still have onest chance. Will you help us or not? You will die if I hear a no," Ryder said to the girl on the right.

    "You can kill me! I¡¯ll never betray our people!" The Princess on the right said.

    Ryder smiled at her reaction because even though he didn¡¯t see the worry in her eyes, he did see the worry in the eyes of her sister.

    "Rale, do i..." Ryder was about to give the order when the princess on the left said, "No, don¡¯t! I¡¯ll help you. Don¡¯t kill my sister!"

    "Amelia! What are you saying! You can¡¯t do it! Just let me die!" The Princess on the right called out as she saw her sister agree.

    "I¡¯m sorry, Olivia; you¡¯re the only sister I have. I can¡¯t watch you die," Princess Amelia said. Her eyes were filled with emotions.

    "Dale!" Ryder let out loud.

    "Yes, Your Highness," A demon from Rale¡¯s team appeared right beside Ryder.

    Amelia and Olivia both were surprised as they saw another man appear near them just like a ghost.

    "Tie Princess Olivia¡¯s hands and keep her as a prisoner. If Princess Amelia betrays me, kill Olivia on mymand," Ryder said.

    "As you wish, Your Highness," Dale replied.

    "Well then, Princess Amelia. Let¡¯s go. The faster we do it, the faster your sister can be freed," Ryder told Amelia, who looked to be concerned.

    "Wait! You can¡¯t separate her from me, or I won¡¯t do it!" Amelia insisted.

    "No," Ryder straight away replied.

    "Listen to her. It will be troublesome if you separate them. Everyone in the kingdom knows that the princesses never stay away from each other. If you keep them away and anyone sees Princess Amelia alone, it will just arouse suspicions," Raphtalia informed Ryder.

    "Hmm? Alright. You girls will stay together. But Amelia, if you betrayed us, Olivia will die, and Olivia, if you betrayed us, Amelia will die. So it would be good if you girls behave," Ryder informed them.

    "Alright, Dale, You¡¯reing with us as well. You¡¯ll keep an eye on Raphtalia, and Rale will keep his eyes on the Princesses. There should be no mishaps," Ryder told Dale.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Dale said as he wore a cloak as well.

    "Good. Now that it¡¯s clear Take me inside the Ancestral Temple," He told them.

    Both the princesses looked at each other before they nodded their heads.

    They started walking away from theke, and the others followed close to them.

    It was midnight when they reached the Royal City. The city was also guarded, but not as strictly as the entrance of the Lightning Valley.

    As not many dark elvesmitted a crime, the Royal City didn¡¯t need such strict protection. Most of the Guards were around the Royal Pce, but only a few were in the city.

    They got close to the Royal Pce, and that¡¯s when they started seeing the Guards.

    The guards also noticed the Princesses, but they didn¡¯t say anything. It was normal for the Princesses to leave the pce ande back. The only strange thing was that she was with the Lightning Valley guard captain and the other people they assumed were also guards.

    The Princesses walked towards the back of the Royal Pce.

    "Her Highness? What are you doing here at this time of the night?" The in-charge of protecting the Ancestral Pce asked.

    "I need to enter the Ancestral Temple," She replied.

    "Oh, Alright," The guard stepped aside after hearing her answer.

    The Elvian City has been so peaceful that the people had never even suspected that the princesses could be forced.

    The Guards were there to guard the Ancestral Temple just as a formality. They didn¡¯t believe that someone woulde here as only the Royals could open and enter it. That¡¯s why the guards were standing quite far away from the Ancestral Temple, talking with the guards of the Royal Pce.

    The Princesses stopped before the Ancestral Temple.

 Chapter 92 Prince saving the Princess

    <h4>Chapter 92: Prince saving the Princess</h4>

    "We have never entered the Ancestral Temple with someone that¡¯s not from the Royal Bloodline, so I can¡¯t say how it would turn out. You should be careful," Princess Amelia told Ryder.

    She didn¡¯t want any mishap to happen. She knew that if anything happened to Ryder or his team, he would think that it was because they betrayed him. Because of that misunderstanding, it was quite possible that they would kill her sister or her. She didn¡¯t want it to happen and warned Ryder.

    "It¡¯s fine. Just open the door," Ryder told Amelia.

    Amelia pulled out a hairpin from her hair and stabbed it in her thumb, making it bleed a little.

    The metallic door had something like a Hexagonal Formation. She ced her bleeding thumb on the center of the formation.

    The formation started shining as it came in contact with Amelia¡¯s blood. The metallic door opened, revealing the darkness inside.

    "Let¡¯s enter," Amelia said as she removed her thumb from the formation and entered the Ancestral Temple. Princess Olivia, Ryder, and the others also entered after her.

    As they entered, the door closed behind them.

    The long hallways that were previously shrouded in darkness turned bright as if it was bathing in the direct sunlight. No one could see where the light wasing from, but everything was clearly visible now.

    As Ryder and the others entered the Ancestral Temple, there was one guard outside that was suspicious. It was the Guard of the Royal Pce.

    The guard had seen the Princesses walking towards the Ancestral Temple. Although he found it strange, he didn¡¯t stop that as it was not under his authority.

    He was worried that if he stopped them, and he turned out to be the one in the wrong, he¡¯ll be punished for doubting the Princess. But the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to stop them, but he didn¡¯t. His feelings kept getting stronger and stronger until he couldn¡¯t bear doing nothing.

    If he were wrong, he would be punished, but if he was right and he did nothing, he would be one of the biggest criminals in the history of dark elves.

    He walked to the Chief Guard and expressed his suspicions to him.

    The Royal Elves were quite naive when it came to people of their own species. They always doubted people of other species, but they rarely doubted Dark Elves, but after the Chief Guard heard the point of view of that guard, he also started getting suspicious.

    "Let me go check," The Chief Guard said as he started walking towards the Ancestral Temple.

    He met the guards of the Ancestral Temple and talked to them about it.

    "I agree that the Princesses walked there with the Border Guards, but that¡¯s no reason to doubt them. It¡¯s not like they are humans, right? They are the Princesses who can never betray us. Also, it¡¯s not like they will enter the Ancestral Temple with those guards. They will just leave them outside and enter alone," The Chief Guard of the Ancestral Temple said.

    "Did you check if they entered alone or not?" The Chief Guard of the Royal Pce inquired.

    "You¡¯re so doubtful, Rex. Alright. Come with me. I will prove it to you. You can see it with your own eyes how wrong you are," The Chief Guard of the Ancestral Templeughed out loud as he said.

    He started walking towards the Ancestral Temple with the other guards, but as soon as he got there, his eyes opened wide as he saw no one standing outside.

    "T-they all entered? How can someone that¡¯s not from the Royal Bloodline enter?" The Chief Guard of the Ancestral Temple let out a shocked noise.

    "There¡¯s something really wrong going on here. We must inform, His Majesty," The Chief Guard of the Royal Pce said.

    "You guys keep an eye on this ce; I¡¯ll go inform, His Majesty," The Chief Guard of the Ancestral Temple told the other guards before he left with the Chief Guard of the Royal Pce.

    Inside the Ancestral Temple, Ryder and the others have only taken around ten steps when an arrow shot out of the wall. Its target seemed to be Princess Amelia that was walking in the front.

    "Look Out!" Ryder called out as he jumped forth as he wrapped his arms around Amelia, andnded on the ground with her. His single gesture had managed to save Amelia. Ryder freed her and stood up.

    "Amelia! Are you alright?" Olivia ran to her as she helped her stand up.

    "Ah, yeah. I¡¯m fine," Amelia said, though she still looked shocked as she saw the sharp arrow stick on the other wall.

    If Ryder hadn¡¯t helped her, the arrow would have prated her skull.

    "T-thank you for saving my life," She thanked Ryder as she bowed down.

    "It¡¯s alright," Ryder replied, acting cool.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that even if he hadn¡¯t saved her, Rale would have caught the arrow and would not let it hit her, but Rale didn¡¯t catch it as he saw that Ryder already saved her.

    "There was nothing like this when we entered previously," Olivia said softly as she gazed towards the arrow.

    "Looks like the Ancestral Temple knows that we brought outsiders here. It should be the safety mechanism that¡¯s activated," She added.

    "You told us to be careful, but I guess you should be the one being careful. Don¡¯t walk on the front. Stick closer to us so that we could keep you safe," Ryder told Amelia.

    "Right," Princess Amelia nodded her head with an embarrassed look on her face. It was indeed the truth that she had told them to be careful, and she herself wasn¡¯t careful, which she found quite embarrassing.

    "Let¡¯s continue then," Ryder said before they resumed their journey.

    Princess Amelia didn¡¯t know, but the reputation of Ryder had really improved in her mind. Even though he was here to steal, she felt as if he was a really nice person in reality.

    They began moving further inside.

 Chapter 93 Class and 2nd fragment

    <h4>Chapter 93: ss and 2nd fragment</h4>

    As they moved deeper, they had to face a few more attacks in the forms of arrows. There was even a boulder that came rolling towards them, but it was stopped by Rale without any trouble.

    After 5 more minutes, they reached the dead end.

    "What is this? It¡¯s already the end, and we haven¡¯t even seen the Nature Healing Crystal. Were you lying?" Ryder asked Amelia.

    "It shouldn¡¯t be the end. The Ancestral Temple hallway isn¡¯t this short. When we came herest time, this wall wasn¡¯t here. It should be here to stop us from moving forward because we brought you inside," Princess Olivia told Ryder.

    "Hmm? Rale, try breaking the wall," Ryder ordered Rale.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale replied, "Please move back so that you aren¡¯t harmed identally."

    Ryder and the others stepped back about 30 meters as they gave Rale the space to attack freely.

    Rale packed his fist and used all his force as he punched the wall.

    Ryder could feel the wind pressure change as Rale attacked, which reminded him how strong Rale was, but despite all that, he wasn¡¯t able to break the wall. In Fact, not even a dent was made on the wall.

    Rale didn¡¯t attack a second time as he turned back to look at Ryder and shook his head.

    "It¡¯s impossible to break it, Your Highness. This wall is made from the same material that your and His Majesty¡¯s room is made from. Even the Grand Dukes shouldn¡¯t be able to break it. Only someone as strong as His Majesty can break it," Rale replied.

    "Grand Dukes? The way he talks about them, it should be that they are stronger than him? And then there¡¯s even a King? If only he is as strong as our Royal Father, ording to Raphtalia, then how strong must the others be? Just who exactly are they?¡¯ Princess Olivia and Princess Amelia thought as they looked at Ryder.

    "So you can¡¯t break it? Let me try it," Ryder let out as he brought out his Moon Scythe and stepped forth.

    Rale stepped back and gave Ryder some space.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder muttered as he swung his Scythe. The de of the scythe hit the wall and shed through it, but even it wasn¡¯t strong enough to break it. Even after using his full strength, he was only able to leave a deep groove on it.

    ¡¯H-he managed to leave a mark on the stone wall? So strong,¡¯ Rale thought. He was shocked as he saw the groove on the stone wall.

    ¡¯Sigh, the Moon Scythe is strong, but I¡¯m not strong enough yet. It¡¯s not possible to break it with force,¡¯ Ryder thought as he turned back with disappointment.

    "There should definitely be a way to get past it," Ryder said with a frown.

    "Wait a minute, I see something," Amelia abruptly let out as she walked to the wall. She could see ten small stone pieces lying on the ground. There were some carvings on the ground as well.

    It seems as if there were dots on the ground in a 9x9 format. There were 9 rows of those dots and 9 columns.

    "This should be something that I saw in our Royal n book. It¡¯s an Ancient Enlightenment Pattern. This was a pattern that is said to increase your concentration if you keep looking at it. It¡¯s also a 9x9 for the format, and only 5 of those dots were colored," Princess Amelia said as she picked 5 stone pieces from nearby and ced them over 5 dots.

    She ced the stones in the same position as the colored dots were in those drawings.

    As soon as she ced the 5th stone pieces, the stone door turned sideways and opened the path.

    "Great work," Ryder smilingly said as he saw the blocked road opening.

    Olivia, on the other hand, was frowning behind.

    ¡¯Why did she have to open it? If there were no way to enter, they would have left. Amelia, you¡¯re so innocent,¡¯ She sighed as she shook her head.

    Even though she was upset, she didn¡¯t hate her sister for it.

    They continued ahead and soon reached a big hall-like ce. There was a giant 25 feet tall statue of a woman that Ryder assumed to be their Goddess of Nature.

    The Goddess of Nature looked awfully simr to Alice, which Ryder thought was a nice coincidence.

    On the statue¡¯s foot, there was a small silver box.

    "Is the Nature Healing Crystal inside that box?" Ryder asked Amelia.

    "Yes. It should be there," Amelia replied as she nodded her head.

    "Good," Ryder chuckled as he stepped towards the statue and picked up the box.

    He opened it and found a beautiful Green Crystal in the box that was in a Hexagonal Shape this time.

    [ss Quest Completed: Received Nature Healing]

    [ss upgraded-

    New ss: Demon Monarch]

    [All Stats are doubled]

    [All Skill Levels; +1]

    [Mana Consumption of skill has been halved]

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile as he saw all the notifications. These missions were turning out to be really useful.

    He couldn¡¯t help but think that even if he had used his previous world knowledge to achieve sess in the game, he wouldn¡¯t be as sessful as he is now. This unexpected journey has be so incredible.

    ¡¯Too had that I didn¡¯t find the fragment Crystal of the Bracelet of Immortality,¡¯ He thought.

    "You got the Crystal. Now you can leave and nevere back," Olivia told Ryder as she saw the box in his hand. She was quite upset, but there was nothing she could do now.

    "Right. I¡¯m not like I was thinking of bing a son-inw of this kingdom and staying here forever," Ryder said sarcastically before extending his hand towards the Nature Healing Crystal.

    He wanted to leave the box behind and only take the Nature Healing Crystal, but as soon as his hand touched the orb, a fresh set of notifications started resounding in his ears.

    [2nd fragment of Bracelet of Immortality found]

 Chapter 94 Ruler of Nature

    <h4>Chapter 94: Ruler of Nature</h4>

    [2nd fragment of Bracelet of Immortality found]

    The announcement brought such a wide smile on Ryder¡¯s face that the others were confused as to why he was suddenly so happy.

    ¡¯So the Nature Healing Crystal was the fragment of Bracelet of Immortality. I guess the Demon Emperor didn¡¯t know that when setting up this quest for ss promotion. He helped me so much!¡¯ Ryder thought to himself.

    [Fragment of Nature found]

    [Bracelet of Immortality: Second Seal is broken]

    [Skill Received: Ruler of Nature]

    [+10 Level ]

    "Ruler of Nature?" Ryder muttered as he opened the stats screen.

    [Name: Hades

    Title: Sessor of Salem

    Species: Demon Monarch

    Level:40

    HP: 20000+1300

    Mana: 8000

    Strength: 922(+1053)

    Defense:1023(+1070)

    Speed: 960(+1037)

    Stamina:1200(+1850)

    Dexterity:800(+1903)

    Intelligence: 598(+657)

    Avable stat points: 20

    Skills:

    Ruler of Time: Level Not Defined

    Ruler of Nature: Level Not Defined

    Enraged sh: Level 4 (35% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 3 (53% mastery)

    me st: Level 5 (62% mastery)

    Shadow ball: Level 4 (22% mastery)

    Stealth: Level 2(3% mastery)

    Sand Storm: Level 2(12% mastery)

    Strengthening: Level 2( 1% mastery)

    Taunt: Level 2( 0% mastery)

    Intimidation: Level 2 (1% mastery)

    Weapon Rted Skill:

    Absorption: Level 2(3% mastery)

    Transformation: Max Level

    Items:

    Moon Scythe: Unique Grade

    Bracelet of Immortality: God Grade (sealed) (2/25 fragments collected) ]

    "Incredible," Ryder kept staring at his stats for quite some time. Not only has he gained stats because of his instant increase of 10 levels, but all his stats were also doubled.

    He opened the description of Ruler of Nature to see if it was as useful as Ruler of Time or not.

    [Ruler of Nature: Nature is the basis of life. Not only humans but all the species depend on it. The one that controls nature has the potential to control their lives.

    Skills: Passive Skill: Double Growth

    Active Skill: Blessed by Nature]

    Ryder tapped on the Passive Skill first to see what it was all about.

    [Double Growth: Every growth that the person achieves is doubled. The Stat Points received after every level up will be doubled. The experience gained will be doubled.

    (Limitation: Doesn¡¯t work on body proportions like height and weight) ]

    ¡¯So it¡¯s something like a growth booster. I wonder how it will work in the real world. I can see some potential for it,¡¯ He thought as he rubbed his chin while looking at the screen.

    Amelia and the others just looked at him weirdly.

    "Is he going crazy?" Raphtalia asked Dale, who was keeping an eye on her, but she shut her mouth when she saw Dale ring at her as if he didn¡¯t appreciate the insult of Ryder.

    Rale just decided to wait, on the other hand. Although he didn¡¯t know what Ryder was doing, he believed that it must be something important for him.

    "Is he pretending to look mysterious?" Princess Olivia asked as she frowned.

    "Sister, just let him be. There must be a reason," Princess Amelia replied.

    Ryder, on the other hand, didn¡¯t care for what the others must be thinking about him as he closed the window and opened the description of the active Skill ¡¯Blessed by Nature,¡¯

    [Blessed by Nature:

    Skill 1: Infinite Healing

    Skill 2: Locked (Level not enough)

    Skill 3: Locked (Level not enough)]

    ¡¯It¡¯s a set of 3 skills as well?¡¯ He let out in surprise.

    He clicked on Infinite Healing to see if it actually meant he was thinking.

    [Infinite Healing:

    When used Infinite Healing, even the deadliest of wounds can be healed in a second.

    (Warning: The Infinite Healing can¡¯t be used to heal deadly wounds an Infinite number of times at low levels)

    Current limit: For life-threatening harm: 8 times a day.

    For Non-Life Threatening Wounds: Infinite Number of times in a day.

    (Note: Infinite Healing depends on the level of the user. Every 10 levels increases limit by 2) ]

    ¡¯So that¡¯s what it is? If I¡¯m shot by a gun, I can heal myselfpletely in an instant? It sucks that I can¡¯t use it an infinite number of times on damage like that, but then again, the time will just rewind. It just makes it too difficult for me to be killed,¡¯ Ryder thought smilingly.

    He closed the screen and nced towards Rale and the others, who looked at him nkly.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s leave," Ryder said as he started walking towards the exit.

    Amelia walked closer to him as she asked, "What were you doing standing there? Were you having an enlightenment?"

    "Yeah, it¡¯s something like that. Anyway, why are you talking to me as if you¡¯re my friend? Have you forgotten that I¡¯m a thief?" Ryder inquired as he looked at her with an amused smile on his face.

    "Yeah, you¡¯re a thief, but you¡¯re my savior as well. You could have killed so many to take the crystal, but you chose the peaceful way. I don¡¯t think that you¡¯re really that bad. You must have a reason for taking the Nature Healing Crystal, right? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s because you¡¯re greedy or because you¡¯re a thief," Princess Amelia said to Ryder with an innocent look on her face.

    "The two of you are sisters, yet you¡¯re so different. You¡¯re so friendly to me, whereas your sister is looking at me as if she wants to eat me," Ryder chuckled as he nced back at Olivia, who was ring at him.

    "My sister is really nice, but she doesn¡¯t trust humans so easily," Amelia said.

    "Why do you trust humans, then?" Ryder asked her.

    "Because I haven¡¯t seen humans before. The first human I saw is you, and you don¡¯t seem like a bad person," Princess Amelia replied.

    "Believe me, girl, you have no idea about humans," Ryder couldn¡¯t help butugh as he heard her words.

    "Will, you ever return to our Empire after you leave?" She asked again.

    "I¡¯m not sure. It¡¯s possible that I mighte here in the future," He replied. He wasn¡¯t sure if there would be another quest that needed him toe here or not. Anything was possible.

    "I¡¯ve never been outside our Royal City. Can you tell me how the world outside is? Is it really as terrible as I have heard?" she asked.

    "What have you heard about the outside?" Ryder inquired.

    "I heard that the outside world is a dark ce. People kill each other for greed. They destroy nature. I even heard that they eat each other?" She replied to him.

    "I agree with all of them except the first one. It¡¯s quite a beautiful ce outside if you know where to look. The thing about them killing each other is true as well, and there are a few species that eat others like the Dragon Race that eats weaker people," Ryder replied.

    They were already at the exit, and when they finally stepped out of the ancestral temple, they were all stunned as they saw the King standing there with his army.

 Chapter 95 Under Attack

    <h4>Chapter 95: Under Attack</h4>

    Ryder was surprised to see a 5¡¯5" tall man standing outside the Ancestral Hall. The man was wearing a beautiful golden crown and a lustrous red robe.

    Behind the man stood over 500 Elvian Guards that were holding their weapons in their hands.

    "Rale? It looks like we¡¯ll have to engage. I hoped that this would be over peacefully, but I guess that¡¯s not an option anymore," Ryder said softly as he nced at the King.

    "Amelia, Olivia, we didn¡¯t expect that you would betray our trust and bring strangers to our Ancestral Temple! Why!" The king let out loudly as he red at the Princesses.

    The princesses were worried as they saw their father. They did all this so that no lives were to be lost, but in the end, that¡¯s what it all came to.

    "Father, Please listen to me. I..." Princess Amelia tried speaking, but she stopped abruptly as she heard the King shouting, "Silence! We don¡¯t want to hear any excuses! You betrayed our trust. You are not my daughters anymore! You know the punishment for intruders, right? They are to be ughtered in front of every citizen! Guards catch them all! Don¡¯t worry about harming the princesses. Treat them like intruders!"

    50 of the guards ran towards Ryder and the others with their swords, but before they could get near Ryder, Ryder looked slightly upwards and gave a simplemand, "It¡¯s wartime! Kill them!"

    "No, don¡¯t!" Princess Amelia let out loud as she looked towards Ryder, but she was toote.

    19 Demon Guards of Ryder appeared in between Ryder and the running guards. It didn¡¯t even take 2 minutes before the bodies of 50 Elvian Guards could be seen lying on the ground.

    "We have no other option, Little Princess. If I show weakness now, all of us would be killed, including you and your sister," Ryder said to Amelia.

    The king, on the other hand, was rmed as he saw the Demons appear. The team of his strongest Elves was killed in an instant.

    "You are not humans! Who are you?" The King bellowed as he red at Rale.

    He considered Rale to be the leader as he looked strongest.

    "We are someone who doesn¡¯t want to harm you. If you let us leave, no more lives will be lost!" Ryder replied.

    "Kid! Who allowed you to speak! I¡¯m talking to your leader!" The King berated Ryder.

    "Tell me who you are! Why have you infiltrated ournd!" The King asked Rale again.

    Rale just looked at Ryder and waited for his orders.

    "Rale, you think you can take care of him?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "It is possible, Your Highness," Rale replied.

    The King heard how Rale addressed Ryder and couldn¡¯t help but be stunned.

    "Good. We are leaving. Kill whoever tries attacking us, even if it¡¯s the King himself," Ryder let out in a carefree tone as he began walking towards the King.

    "You arrogant Kid! You think you can disrespect me!" The King bellowed as he himself ran towards Ryder. He moved as fast as lightning as he punched towards Ryder, but Rale appeared in front of Ryder and attacked the King in a simr manner.

    Both of their fists collided, but it seemed as if the King was the one defeated in the sh.

    Although none of them took a step back, from the facial expressions of the King, it was clear that he was in pain.

    The bones of his fist were cracked, but he didn¡¯t let out any noise in order to maintain his dignity as he stepped back.

    The King moved back enough so that the distance between them became 50 meters.

    The wind has started flowing towards the south amidst the growing tensions between both sides. Even though the guards saw their king move back, they believed that it was his strategy and not because he was defeated in the sh.

    Although the Elvian Guards didn¡¯t notice it, Ryder and his team were absolutely clear as to what actually happened. It was clear that they absolutely didn¡¯t need to worry about the king. Even the princesses were surprised at it.

    "ARCHERS! FIRE!" the Kingmanded as loud as he could. His powerful voice echoed in the whole region.

    The Elvian Guards that were standing at the back of the army raised their bows and aimed their arrows towards Ryder.

    At once, hundreds of arrows cut through the air and rained over Ryder and his team.

    The Princesses were scared as they saw a barrage of arrowsing towards them.

    "Protection of Aria!" Rale spoke softly as a bright yellow barrier spread out with him at the center. The barrier covered Ryder, his team, and the Princesses.

    The rain of arrows fell over the barrier, but they weren¡¯t able to pass through. Not even a single arrow managed to enter the barrier.

    "Once more! Don¡¯t stop!" The King saw the arrows getting deflected, but the King didn¡¯t give up andmanded them to attack once again.

    The rain of arrows continued for a long time, but the barrier didn¡¯t seem to be diminishing at all.

    The king was starting to get restless. He couldn¡¯t understand where these guys came from before. He knew about the kingdom of nearby species, but even they weren¡¯t as strong as these guys.

    "Father, stop! It¡¯s not going to work! Please let them go. We did all this so that no unnecessary lives could be lost, but if you don¡¯t stop, our effort will go to waste! Please!" Princess Amelia screamed loudly in hopes of getting her father to understand.

    "I didn¡¯t know that a day like this woulde, but now that it has happened, I have no choice left but to use the relics of the past left behind by the First King," the King said as he took a small coin-shaped token out of his pockets.

    The Small Coin Shaped Token was semi-transparent, but it did have a small carving that seemed as if it was a map of the Lightning Valley.

    "Akhabis Bikumina Wartis Escotia Destructina Intrusa!" the King started muttering a small spell.

    Princesses saw the coin in the King¡¯s hands. Their faces lost all their color immediately. It was as if they had seen something really horrible.

    "Father, Please don¡¯t!" the Princesses bellowed, but before their words could reach the King, the king¡¯s spell waspleted.

    The whole Lightning Valley started shaking as if it was going through a massive earthquake.

    Ryder was frowning through it all.

    He saw the horrified look on the girls¡¯ faces and couldn¡¯t help but ask them what was happening.

 Chapter 96 Guardian

    <h4>Chapter 96: Guardian</h4>

    "This is very bad! It¡¯s the Guardian of the Valley!" Princess Amelia replied.

    "Guardian of the Valley?" Ryder asked her in confusion.

    "When the first King came here, he found the Guardian of the Valley here. After a lot of effort, he found ways to control the guardian of the valley, but he knew that the guardian of the valley was too dangerous and using it would cause destruction, so hemanded the Guardian of the Valley to stay underground until there came a time when it was needed," She replied.

    "Since that day, the Guardian of the Valley has never been used ever again, but itsmanding token has been passed down through generations. Father is calling the Guardian of the Valley and ordering it toe out!" she added.

    The shaking of the ground continued for only a short period of time before the ground split apart, and a giant stone hand came out of the ground.

    Another hand came out, and soon, the whole body of the Guardian of the Valley was out of the ground.

    "That¡¯s the Guardian of the Valley?" Ryder let out with a frown as he saw a 50 meter tall giant stone golem standing there. There was no life force inside the golem, but it was able to move and looked even more powerful than a dragon.

    "He looks strong. Anyway, If I understood you correctly, you¡¯re saying that the coin can control the Guardian of the Valley?" Ryder asked Amelia.

    "Yes. That¡¯s why father always keeps that coin with him in his protection," She replied.

    "Rale, can you bring me that coin," Ryder asked Rale with a smile on his face.

    Rale nodded his head before he disappeared and appeared in front of the king.

    The King was stunned, but he instantly moved back.

    "You might be strong, but you can¡¯t match my speed. I¡¯m blessed by the wind. You will all die today," The King said to Rale, with a grin on his face, but his eyes opened wide in shock as he saw the coin in Rale¡¯s hand instead.

    He looked towards his hand and saw that the coin was missing.

    "H-how!" He eximed in shock as his hand started shaking because of the shock that he received.

    Rale didn¡¯t bother responding as he walked back to Ryder and gave him the coin.

    "Let¡¯s see how it works," Ryder held the coin in his hand just like the king.

    "Stop walking!" hemanded, but the Guardian of the Valley didn¡¯t stop.

    "Do you think that you can control the Guardian of the Valley just because you have the coin? Only themands spoken in Ancient Elvian Language works, but I haven¡¯t even taught them to my daughters yet. You can never stop the Guardian! You will die!" The King mocked Ryder.

    "Your Highness, Try saying Mikyama Sutina," Rale told Ryder.

    The King heard Rale¡¯s words and felt his heart skip a beat.

    "H-how, do you know our ancientnguage!" he bellowed in disbelief.

    "Mikyama Sutina!" Rydermanded.

    This time hismand worked, and the Guardian of the Valley stopped in its tracks.

    "Do you have anything else left?" Ryder asked the King.

    The king just stood there, nkly as he stared at them.

    ¡¯Is there anything I can do still left? They even control the Guardian now!¡¯ The king cursed in his mind.

    "As I promised your daughters, I won¡¯t have anyone killed unnecessarily; that¡¯s why I¡¯m still giving you another chance. I only took your Nature Healing Crystal and that too because I really needed it. If you still try to stop me, then you won¡¯t be the only one who dies. If you don¡¯t want me tomand your Guardian to destroy your kingdom, then step aside," Rydermanded.

    "You can leave!" the King said.

    He ordered the guards to move aside and clear the way for them.

    "That¡¯s like a good King," Ryder said to the King.

    "Oh, right. Your daughters didn¡¯t betray you. I forced them simr to how I forced you just now. So if you think that they are a betrayer to the kingdom, then you¡¯re the same. Please be a better King and a better father," He added before he nced back at Amelia and Olivia.

    "I¡¯m leaving the Guardian of the Valley behind, but I¡¯m taking the token with me. If you still didn¡¯t behave properly and I found out that you punished anyone for what happened today, that will be thest day of your kingdom in existence," He warned the King before he walked away with Rale and the others.

    The Princesses were left behind.

    "Will, you ever return?" Princess Amelia let out loudly as she questioned Ryder.

    "I will," Ryder responded, but he specifically looked at the King as he said it. It seemed as if he was trying to warn the King.

    Amelia and the others looked at the back of Ryder that grew increasingly distant the further he went until he disappeared from their view entirely.

    "Just who were those people? Can it be that they were from those ces?" the King muttered as he looked in the direction Ryder went.

    He turned back to look towards his daughters.

    "I¡¯m sorry, girls. I didn¡¯t know that you were forced. I should have trusted you instead of thinking that you betrayed us. Can you forgive this old man of yours?" he asked them.

    "Of Course, Father," the girls stepped forth and hugged the king.

    Ryder left the Lightning Valley with a bright grin on his face.

    "That went quite good. Even though some of it was unexpected, the final result was satisfactory," Ryder muttered.

    "Rale, how do Imand the Guardian of the Valley to go down in Ancient Elvian?" Ryder asked.

    "Xiayina Mihamu Sakiva Ghomu Madyina Nirvayi," Rale replied.

    "Xiayina Mihamu Sakiva Ghomu Madyina Nirvayi," Ryder repeated themand and felt the ground shake again.

    Back in the Royal Elvian City, the Guardian of the Valley started moving and walked back into the Earth.

    "This token is amazing. Now I have another weapon that I can use in the future. Too bad that it¡¯s so slow," Ryder muttered as he kept the Ancient Token in his storage space.

    "Rale, do they teach Ancient Elvian in the Demon Realm as well?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "They don¡¯t, but there are books rted to everynguage there, Your Highness. I self-taught myself as I wanted to learn thenguages of the world," Rale replied.

    "Oh? How manynguages do you know?" Ryder casually asked.

    "I know 1236nguages," Rale replied.

    "That¡¯s amazing. I know only one," Ryder said with a wry smile on his face.

 Chapter 97 Back

    "Your Highness, I can teach you if you want," Rale suggested.

    "Oh? That would be nice, but it¡¯s too much effort. I don¡¯t think I can learn 1236nguages. I might try learning the Ancient Elvian Language, though. If I learn that, I would be able to control the Guardian of the Lightning Valley more efficiently next time," Ryder replied.

    "We can start with Ancient Elvian Language. You should be able to learn it in a few months if things go right. If you still want to learn morenguages, I can teach you the dragonnguage after that. That¡¯s pretty incredible as well," Rale responded.

    "I¡¯ll tell youter if I decide to start it," Ryder told him.

    As they left the Lightning Valley, Rale and the others brought their wings out.

    While Rale carried Ryder, the others carried those that couldn¡¯t fly.

    "The way to go back is in the same ce, right?" Ryder inquired to make sure.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s right there, but it¡¯s closed at the moment. It will appear before you as long as you hold the key of the Space Tunnel high in the air and think for it to appear before you," Rale responded.

    "That¡¯s nice,"

    ¡¯Oh, right. I still didn¡¯t ept Shu¡¯s friend request. That guy called me so many times on my date with Alice about it. I¡¯m back in the main game realm, so I should be able to use those options,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He opened the friend request screen and epted Shu¡¯s request.

    As soon as he epted Shu¡¯s request, he got flooded with Shu¡¯s messages.

    "Brother Ryder, You finally epted my request,"

    "Where are you now?"

    "Want to go on a quest with me?"

    "You can¡¯t imagine what I got. I found a silver grade weapon!"

    "The rewards of this mission are even better than this. We can both get awesome rewards,"

    "Reply,"

    "What happened?"

    "Are you sleeping in the game?"

    "Wait a minute; how can you ept my request if you are sleeping?"

    Ryder looked at all these messages with a wry smile on his face.

    "Come on, man, at least give me time to respond," Ryder sent a message.

    "As for the quest, what¡¯s the quest? I should be able to help you with that. I also want to see how your growth has been," Ryder replied to him.

    ¡¯It feels like it¡¯s been so long since Ist saw other yers. It would be good topare,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "It¡¯s a dungeon rted quest. I¡¯m in the Stech Kingdom. How far are you from here?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Stech Kingdom? You already left the Este Kingdom?" Ryder inquired.

    The Este Kingdom was the first kingdom where yers were brought to after passing the Novice Vige. Although the Este Kingdom was a kingdom, it was one of the weakest kingdoms in the game. Even the Royal guards of the kingdom were only as strong as a level 10-15 yer.

    As for why the developers made a kingdom as weak as this, even Ryder didn¡¯t know. Despite being so weak, the real powerful kingdoms never attacked them.

    If a yer attacked and killed a guard, they would be marked by the game. The mark will show above their head, which would be like a punishment.

    If someone managed to kill that yer, they would receive 3 times the experience that they would have received after killing the same level of a beast. The real problem was that even if that yer died once, that mark wouldn¡¯t disappear.

    This whole thing was so strange that he never understood, but that was why no yer ever tried to attack the guards of Este Kingdom even when they were stronger.

    The Stech Kingdom was the neighbor kingdom of Este.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll message you with the detailster," Ryder sent the message to Shu.

    They got back to the Malta Valley.

    Ryder raised the key and wished for the Spatial Tunnel to open.

    The key started shining brightly, and a Spatial Tunnel opened in front of them, which they entered.

    They got back to the Royal Pce and came out of the first Spatial Tunnel door.

    "Your Highness, you¡¯re finally back! You need toe with me fast!" As soon as he came out of the portal, the maid Miku informed him.

    "Why are you looking so worried? did something happen?" Ryder asked.

    "Madam Duke is here. She brought a girl with her. She¡¯s been asking for you, but I hid the fact that you left the Royal Pce. She is getting impatient waiting," Miku replied.

    "Oh, she¡¯s back. You did well by not telling her. One should always keep the secrets of their masters," Ryder smilingly said as he patted her head.

    Miku lowered her head in embarrassment.

    "Alright. Take me to her," he said after removing his hand.

    He was brought to the main hall of the Royal Pce, where Devilia was waiting for him.

    Rale was the only one following him as Rale sent the other guards back to train themselves.

    "You¡¯re finally up! How long do you sleep?" Devilia said with an annoyed expression on her face.

    "You¡¯re talking about me beingte? Weren¡¯t you the one that told me that she would being back the next day?" Ryder chuckled as he sat on a nearby seat.

    "Hmph, I¡¯m onlyte because I had to deal with some business," Devilia replied.

    "It¡¯s alright. I already guessed that. Anyway, where is she?" Ryder inquired.

    "Your maid took her to her room, I suppose. You can ask herter," Devilia responded.

    "How¡¯s life as a Prince treating you? You like it?" after a moment of silence, Devilia asked.

    "It¡¯s been good and quite useful, I must say," Ryder replied.

    "That¡¯s good. Have fun, and keep training so that you won¡¯t disappoint His Majesty in the future. I look forward to the time when you decide toplete the Kingship trials," Duke Devilia told Ryder.

    "Hopefully, that will be soon, but I¡¯m not in a hurry at the moment," Ryder replied.

    "That¡¯s better. I¡¯ll take my leave now; I need to deal with some stuff. You can contact me if you need anything, or just visit my pce in the future," She said as she stood up and left.

    Ryder watched her leave before he stood up and looked at Miku.

    "Where is the girl that came with her?" Ryder asked Miku.

    "I took her to the guest room," Miku replied.

    "Alright. Take me to her," Ryder told her.

    Miku nodded her head as she brought Ryder to the guest room.

    Ryder opened the door and entered inside.

 Chapter 98 Rich?

    <h4>Chapter 98: Rich?</h4>

    Ryder entered the room after opening the door and saw Miyali inside.

    "Sleeping?" Ryder muttered as he saw her on the bed. She seemed as if she was in a deep sleep.

    Ryder left the room and closed the door behind her.

    "She¡¯ll be staying here as a guest but not a prisoner. If she wants to leave, let her leave. I¡¯m going back to my room for now," Ryder told Miku before he left.

    He entered his room and closed the door before he logged out.

    Waking up in his room, he removed the Divinity sses and stood up.

    It was 6 in the morning as he got up and left his room as he was starting to feel hungry.

    As he walked into the kitchen, he saw Alice standing there, making breakfast.

    "You¡¯re up so early today? Did you die in the game or something?" Alice asked Ryder as she nced back at him.

    "Hey, it¡¯s not the first time I woke up early," Ryder replied.

    "Oh? When was thest time you woke up so early?" Alice asked as sheughed.

    Ryder opened the fridge and took a bottle of water, and drank a sip before he replied.

    "It was just yesterday! I woke up at a simr time for our dat... I mean for our shopping,"

    "Didn¡¯t we n for 9 in the morning? Why did you wake up so early for that?" Alice asked in surprise.

    "I... Oh right, you¡¯re going to college today, right? How about I drop you off?" Ryder asked as he changed the topic. He found it embarrassing to say that he was excited about it, and that¡¯s why he woke up so early.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. I don¡¯t want to trouble you, and if I go to college in such an expensive car, it would just attract unnecessary attention. I¡¯ll take the bus like always," Alice replied as she served breakfast on the table and sat on a chair.

    Ryder also sat down on a nearby seat.

    "It¡¯s no trouble. I also need to go out; I¡¯ll drop you off. Also, when you¡¯re free, maybe I can teach you how to drive as well? We can get you a car you like, and then you will be able to take the car to college in the morning," Ryder suggested.

    "That... Alright. I¡¯ll learn to drive, but I don¡¯t need a sports car. Don¡¯t you dare to bring a new sports car as a surprise. I like cheaper cars as they will attract less attention, so you can¡¯t buy any car without my permission. You must promise that you won¡¯t do that!" Alive said in full seriousness as she red at Ryder.

    "Hahaha, alright. I promise. We can have another day out when it¡¯s time to buy you a car. But that¡¯s all in the future. For now, I¡¯ll drop you off at school," Ryder told her.

    Alice nodded her head. They finished their dinner and left the house. Ryder walked to the parking and got in the car with Alice, and got the car on the road.

    The University Of Dreamers was one of the top 3 Universities in the city. It was a private university that was owned by the Dream Corporation.

    Many people in the city dreamed of getting epted into the University of Dreamers. It was a dream for many, as the graduates of the University always got high-level jobs.

    The University was also dubbed as the university for the rich. Its fees were so high that kids from poor households could not afford it, but the university did give out schrships to exceptionally talented kids.

    Alice was one of those rare people that got the full schrship from the University.

    "Yo Kaylee, did you get a new car? The car looks amazing," a red-dressed girl said to a blonde girl that had just stepped out of her car.

    "Yeah, It¡¯s not something that I wanted, but I received it as my birthday present from my father," the blonde girl replied.

    "Amazing, that car should be worth a million dors. I wish I had a father like that; my dad only brought me this 60k dor piece of crap," the red-dressed girl responded.

    "Your car is decent enough for the position of your family. It¡¯s not like your family owns a bigpany like the Dream Corporation," The blonde-haired girl responded.

    "On that note, I heard a rumor that the owner of the Dream Corporation lives in the city. Do you think there¡¯s any truth to that?" the red-dressed girl again asked.

    "Don¡¯t be stupid. Someone as big as he won¡¯t live in the second tier City. He must be enjoying his life in the first-tier cities or on his many personal Inds. I don¡¯t think any billionaire lives in our city. I wish my father was a billionaire as well. I would be satisfied if he had even 1% wealth of Mr. Maxwell," the blonde girl replied.

    "Hmm? Isn¡¯t that the new model Whirlwind? I haven¡¯t seen that at University before. Did someone get a new car?" the red-dressed girl said as she noticed a beautiful caring towards them. It stopped near them.

    "Alice? Isn¡¯t she supposed to be poor?" she let out in shock as she saw Alice step out of the car.

    "Don¡¯t be shocked. She¡¯s not bad looking. She must¡¯ve found a sugar daddy for herself," the blonde girl, Kaylee responded.

    "Bye, brother!" Alice said to Ryder before she started walking away from the car.

    "Brother? Her brother is rich?" the red-dressed eximed loudly.

    Even the frown of Kaylee had gotten deeper.

    "She hid herself quite well. She must be from a rich family as well," Kaylee muttered as she watched the car leave the campus.

    "Should we try getting closer to her? I¡¯m quite curious about her family now," the red-dressed girl asked Kaylee.

    A Ferrari Whirlwind stopped before the Delirium Arena. It was a ce where Ryder won 3.75 million dors in horse betting.

    "I need to get some more money, but this can¡¯t be what I do all my life as it would just be too suspicious. I¡¯ll get some money here onest time and then use my powers more efficiently to build a business empire of my own," Ryder muttered as he walked out of his car and walked towards the Delirium Arena.

    Ryder entered the ce and started watching the race. After 40 minutes, he reversed the time and ced his bets on the winning horses. He intentionally bet on the wrong horse for the first race to avoid some suspicions, but he won all other bets.

 Chapter 99 Its my car

    <h4>Chapter 99: It''s my car</h4>

    In a big office of Delirium Arena, the Incharge of the ce, Frisk was in his office going through business documents when his secretary walked in.

    "Sir, he¡¯s back!" the secretary said.

    "Who¡¯s back?" the man inquired as he put the documents down and looked towards his secretary.

    "That boy I talked aboutst time. He hade here for the first time, and he won all his bets. You told me to keep an eye on him and tell you if he was back. That same guy is back!" the secretary said.

    "Oh? Is he winning all his bets again?" the man asked with an interesting look on his face.

    "He lost the first bet, but he won all the other bets. He had won 4 bets already, and he won 7 million dors," the secretary said.

    "Interesting. Alright. Let me go meet him myself," the man smiled as he stood up.

    The secretary brought Frisk to a stand Ryder was standing in and pointed towards him.

    "That kid? I think I¡¯ve seen him before, but I can¡¯t remember," Frisk muttered as he saw Ryder.

    "Alright. You can go back. I¡¯ll go check him out," he said as he left the secretary behind and walked up to Ryder.

    Ryder was looking towards the ground, waiting for the race to start.

    Frisk walked up to him and stood on the right side of Ryder.

    "Are you new here? I¡¯m a regr, and I¡¯m seeing you for the first time," Frisk inquired.

    Ryder looked towards Frisk and observed him for a short moment.

    "No, It¡¯s my second time here," Ryder responded to him.

    "Oh, nice. Do you like horse racing as well? Did you bet already?" Frisk asked him.

    "Yeah, I have some interest in it," Ryder replied.

    "Awesome. I¡¯m an old-timer here. I love watching the races. It gives me so much rush. It gets my adrenaline pumping," Frisk said as he chuckled.

    "I¡¯m going to bet my money. I think number 9 will win. What do you think?" he asked Ryder.

    "Maybe. He looks like he¡¯s in good condition," Ryder casually replied to Frisk.

    "Alright. I¡¯m betting a million dors on number 9. Let¡¯s see how my luck is today," Friskughed out loud as he unlocked his phone and ced the bet.

    Ryder didn¡¯t react and just watched the horses.

    The race finally began after some time and ended soon after. Number 8 was the winner, and number 9 was in 2nd ce.

    "Dammit, I lost. It was fun, though," Frisk let out in disappointment.

    "Sometimes the weaker horses win in the race of the stronger horses. You can call it luck, I guess," Ryder said to Frisk.

    "I think I¡¯m done for the day. I¡¯ll be leaving. Best of luck," Ryder muttered before he turned back and left the Delirium Arena.

    "Interesting. It looks like your luck is quite strong," Frisk muttered after Ryder left as he looked at his phone about Ryder¡¯s betting history.

    Thest bet Ryder made was for the race that ended just now, and the data showed that he bet on number 8, the winning horse.

    Ryder left the Delirium Arena with 18 million dors this time.

    Frisk picked up the phone and dialed a number.

    "I want all the information on that boy. It should be on my table tomorrow," he said before he disconnected and walked back to his office.

    Ryder walked out of the Delirium Arena and walked towards the parking. He was wearing his casual, inexpensive clothes when he left the house, which made him look rather poor.

    As Ryder got near the car, he saw a girl standing by the support of his car with her phone in front of her face. The girl was live-streaming herself.

    "See, guys, my new car. Do you like it?" The girl cutely said as he showed the car to her viewers.

    "Hmm? Guys? I think some poor guy is stalking me," The girl said as she moved the camera towards Ryder.

    "Hey, keep moving. Have you never seen a rich and beautiful girl? Don¡¯t even think of asking me for my number. Keep moving!" the girl told Ryder.

    Ryder just stood there, stunned as he watched the girl showing him on a Livestream.

    He couldn¡¯t help but sigh as he stepped towards her.

    "Hey, stay away from me. Do you want me to call the police?" the girl threatened Ryder.

    "Miss, it¡¯s my car. Can you move aside?" Ryder asked her nicely.

    "Yours?" the girl looked at Ryder with a weird look on her face before she startedughing out loud.

    "Hahaha, Guys, did you hear him? This poor bloke is calling my car his car. He thinks that he can impress me with these childish tactics. Hey boy. Do you think that you can even afford a tire of this car? Keep moving before I really call the police," the girl said.

    "You¡¯re really stupid, aren¡¯t you?" Ryder muttered as he looked at her. He raised the key of his car and pressed a button on it.

    *beep* *beep*

    The car engine started as the car came closer to Ryder. The girl that was standing on the car¡¯s support fell down on the ground.

    This was one of the self-driving features of the car that found its owner and helped the car get to him.

    "You believe it now?" Ryder told the stunned girl that was lying on the ground, looking at him.

    Ryder opened the door of his car and sat on the driver¡¯s seat, and left.

    Ryder was driving his car when he dialed up Shu¡¯s number.

    "Where are you?" He asked Shu.

    "Oh, Brother Ryder. Did you call me to talk about our quest?" Shu asked a question in return.

    "Yeah, I thought about meeting you and discussing that now that I have time," Ryder told him.

    "Oh, awesome. How about I meet you at the Yumyum Cafe near your house? I heard that it sells some really nice coffee," Shu told him.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll see you there," Ryder said before he disconnected the call.

    He drove the car towards his house.

    Ryder stopped the car near the Yumyum Cafe.

    Many people saw the car and stopped in their tracks as they appreciated it.

    "Isn¡¯t that the newest electric model of Ferrari? What is someone that rich doing in our area?"

    Ryder opened the door and stepped out of the car.

    As he stepped out of the car, he saw another car driving towards him.

    "A Ferrari 2047?" Ryder muttered as he looked at the car.

    The car stopped in front of Ryder.

 Chapter 100 Guild Token

    <h4>Chapter 100: Guild Token</h4>

    The car stopped right before Ryder, and the door opened as a man stepped out of the vehicle.

    "Shu?" Ryder muttered as he saw the boy.

    "Brother Ryder, You got a Whirlwind? I thought you liked the 2047 model? If you had told me that you were getting a Whirlwind, I would have asked them to get me a Whirlwind as well!" Shu told Ryder as he stepped closer to him.

    "I should¡¯ve guessed that you were rich when you told me where you lived. Did you bug your parents to buy you that car? If I¡¯m not wrong, even though it¡¯s an older model, it should still be worth 2 million in the market," Ryder told Shu as he closed the door of his car.

    "Something like that. Let¡¯s go in," Shu said.

    Both of them started walking towards the Yumyum Cafe under the watchful eyes of others on the road. Everyone was shocked to see two rich guysing to their poor neighborhood.

    The girls wanted to try their luck, but just by seeing their car, they gave up as they realized that these two were way above their league.

    Ryder and Shu entered the cafe and found a seat for themselves.

    They ordered coffee for themselves that was served by a girl in a maid uniform.

    "Alright. So tell me, what¡¯s the Quest and how you got it?" Ryder asked.

    "It happened when I was fighting a monster outside the Este Kingdom to gain some experience. One of the Monsters dropped an item when it was killed. When I checked it, it turned out to be a guild token," Shu told him.

    "What the heck? You found a guild token? That should¡¯ve dropped in the Matris Kingdom 2 monthster!" Ryder eximed in surprise.

    "What¡¯re you talking about? You know that the Guild Token is a rare item that doesn¡¯t have a certain dropping location," Shu answered him.

    ¡¯My time travel seemed to have caused a ripple in the events. That should¡¯ve been expected as some of my decisions directly or indirectly influenced the decision of other yers,¡¯ Ryder thought as he drank the coffee.

    "You found a guild token; why don¡¯t you start a guild then? Also, how is that rted to the quest you were talking about?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "I¡¯m not making a guild now as I¡¯m not strong enough to operate a guild. I was thinking of getting more levels before I start my guild. Anyway, I was talking about that because the guild token wasn¡¯t the only thing that I found. I also found a small key. As I held the key, a quest screen was opened in front of me," Shu said.

    ¡¯A key rted quest? I don¡¯t remember something like that happening in the least timeline,¡¯ Ryder thought in full seriousness.

    "What¡¯s the quest?" Ryder asked.

    "The quest talked about a D-Rank dungeon in the South of the Stech Kingdom. From the information that I¡¯ve gathered, it seems like that ce is still undiscovered. We need to enter the dungeon and conquer it. There¡¯s a box on the deepest floor of the dungeon which can only be unlocked with the key," Shu exined.

    "A D-Rank dungeon? The Monsters there should be level 10-15. What¡¯s your level?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "I¡¯m level 12 now, but I¡¯m sure that we can do it. We¡¯ll have something like a raid team with the help of other adventures. We can share the rewards with them equally. I¡¯ll get most of the experience and an equal share of the reward. Doesn¡¯t seem like a bad deal, right?" Shu said, smilingly.

    "That should be the most logical option, or you can spend some more time hunting to increase your level," Ryder suggested.

    "There¡¯s a time limit of 4 days in this quest. If I dy it anymore, it¡¯ll be bad. I¡¯ve already selected ten yers for our team. Including you and me, we¡¯ll be 12 people," Shu replied.

    "Since you¡¯ve already nned everything, it¡¯s alright. What¡¯s your ss?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "I¡¯m a thief in the game. Also, there are three mages, three warriors, two priests, and two hunters in our team. What¡¯s your ss?" Shu inquired.

    "My ss? It¡¯s somewhatplicated," Ryder said with a wry smile on his face.

    "Keeping it a secret? It¡¯s alright. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get to see you in action during the quest," Shu chuckled.

    "It¡¯s..." Ryder was about to respond when someone ced their hands on his shoulders.

    "Ryder?" the person said.

    Ryder looked back and saw a blonde boy standing behind him with a girl.

    "I was right. It¡¯s you. What happened, man? You nevere to our ss reunions? Do you hate us that much? Or are you still angry because someone joked about you being poorst time? Come on, man; there¡¯s nothing to be embarrassed about being poor. You can¡¯t ghost your friends for such a small matter," the blonde-haired man said to Ryder as he chuckled.

    "Jason? What¡¯re you doing in this area?" Ryder muttered as he looked at the blonde guy with a frown.

    "I was taking my girlfriend on a date, but she started asking for ice cream. I had to stop the car in the first ce I noticed. Amazingly, I found you here. You never told us your address. Do you live here?" Jason asked Ryder.

    "No, I came here because a friend suggested this ce," Ryder responded.

    "A friend? Oh right. I didn¡¯t notice this guy sitting near you, which is strange considering hisrge size. I pity you, man. You used to have such a rich and handsome friend like Bastion in college. I can¡¯t believe you stooped to a level like that," Jasonughed out loud.

    "You didn¡¯t grow up, did you? The arrogance can be bad for you, Jason," Ryder said as he stood up.

    "Don¡¯t get angry, man. I¡¯m not trying to insult you; I was just talking about reality. Also, even if you get angry, what¡¯re you going to do? Do you know who I am? I¡¯m the General Manager in the marketing branch of Dream Corporation. You can¡¯t even imagine how high my position is. Even if I kill someone, the police won¡¯t dare to arrest me!" Jason said in a proud tone.

    "Anyway, you must¡¯ve already received a reunion invitation, right? If you happen to grow some balls, I hope you will attend it. It¡¯s not fun without having someone we can joke about," Jason chuckled as he said.

    "Please leave before I break that smug face of yours," Ryder warned Jason.

    "Hmph, poor trash," Jason muttered as he walked out of the cafe.

    "Don¡¯t mind his words. He¡¯s always like this," Ryderforted Shu as he sat down, but he was visibly surprised as he saw the smile on Shu¡¯s face.

 Chapter 101 Company

    <h4>Chapter 101: Company</h4>

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. I know people like that quite well. It doesn¡¯t bother me," Shu replied casually.

    "That¡¯s the spirit," Ryder chuckled as he took another sip of his coffee that had already gotten cold by now.

    "Are you going to that reunion thing?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Nah, it¡¯s just a stupid thing. It¡¯s not like I have many friends there that I can¡¯t meet otherwise. I¡¯m already in contact with my friends, and we can meet without going to that reunion thing," Ryder replied.

    "That makes sense. Anyway, we are doing the mission tomorrow, right? The faster we do it, the better it would be. Otherwise, we won¡¯t even have any room for mistakes," Shu said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll get there on time. Just tell me the meeting location," Ryder responded.

    "That¡¯s good. The mission is in the South of Stech Kingdom, so we¡¯re meeting at the nearest location of our target. At the center of the City of Aztec. You can check the map, or I¡¯ll send you the coordinates," Shu replied.

    "It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll find you," Ryder responded.

    "I¡¯ll take my leave then. There¡¯s somewhere I need to be. I¡¯ll see youter," Ryder added before he stood up.

    "I also need to be going now. There are some things I need to take care of. I¡¯ll see you in Divinity," Shu also said.

    Ryder paid the bill before he left the cafe with both of them

    Both of them got in their cars and went in different directions.

    Shu was sitting in his car. He used his voicemands to call a number.

    "Hey Albert, is there a Jason in our marketing division?" Shu asked the person on the other side.

    "Jason? There are quite a few people with the name Jason in our Marketing Division, Sir. Do you have ast name?" Albert asked.

    "He should be a General Manager in our Marketing Division," Shu told him.

    "Are you talking about Jason Todd? He was recently promoted to General Manager," Albert replied.

    "Well, he did look like a toad, so that should be him. Anyway, I heard that he loves fat people. I want you to demote him and promote a fat guy instead. Is there someone worthy like that in our division?" Shu asked.

    "Our Assistant General Manager fits the description," Albert replied.

    "Good. Promote him and make Jason his assistant," Shu told him.

    "I¡¯ll handle it, Sir," Albert replied.

    Shu disconnected the call and drove his car towards his mansion.

    It was afternoon when Ryder reached the university for Alice.

    As soon as Alice left the campus, she saw a Whirlwind standing at the door.

    With an embarrassed look on her face, she walked up to the car.

    Ryder unlocked the door on the passenger side and opened it for her without getting out of the car.

    Alice entered the car and closed the door before she red at Ryder fiercely.

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" Ryder asked innocently.

    "You know how much trouble you caused me? Now everyone in my ss is talking about me hiding the fact that my family is rich!" Alice said.

    "Ignore it. There¡¯s no need to worry about what the world says," Ryder replied as he started the car.

    He drove back home and dropped Alice there.

    "You¡¯re noting home?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "There are some things that I need to take care of first. I¡¯ll be backter," Ryder responded before he left.

    Ryder left the ce and drove to the Registrar Office. It was a ce where one could register theirpanies. Every city has a ce like that.

    Ryder stopped his car outside the building and entered the Registrar Office.

    "I want to register apany that I¡¯m starting," Ryder told the officer assigned there.

    "Alright. Fill this form," The Officer gave Ryder a form and a pen.

    Ryder filled in the details on the form and returned it.

    "Did you really put 1 in the number of employees?" the officer asked Ryder.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s a new startup. I¡¯ll hire more people soon," Ryder replied.

    "Just wait for a minute. Let the check if the name is taken or not," the officer said as he started searching something on hisptop.

    "Alright, Divine Corporation is not taken yet. Your application is valid, but you need to pay 50000 dors to register yourpany," the officer told him.

    Ryder nodded as he paid the fee.

    "Just out of curiosity, will yourpany really be an all-rounder? In the specific field, you wrote so many things. Tech, Research, Pharmaceutical, Entertainment, Marketing, etc. Shouldn¡¯t you focus on one thing? It¡¯s not good to be so ambitious, or you might fall before even rising," the Officer said.

    "It¡¯s alright. Thanks for the advice, though," Ryder smiled as he stood up and left.

    Now he was the owner of a Registered Company, but that was just in name. Hispany had no business yet.

    "First things first, I need to arrange for a ce as our office and hire some great people," Ryder muttered as he walked out the building and got in his car.

    "There¡¯s plenty of time, so no need to be in a hurry. My three years of knowledge will be quite handy," Ryder muttered as he drove his car away.

    After an hour of driving, he stopped the car in front of a small house.

    Ryder got out of the car and walked towards the house and knocked.

    An older man opened the door.

    "Who are you?" he asked Ryder.

    "Ah, Uncle, I¡¯m here to meet your grandson. Is he inside?" Ryder asked.

    "What do you want with my grandson?"

    "I¡¯m here to talk about a job," Ryder responded.

    "Oh? Pleasee in," the old man smilingly invited Ryder inside as he noticed the expensive car in front of his door.

    "Aleson! Someone¡¯s here to meet you!" the old man called out.

    "I¡¯m so d that you¡¯re here. My grandson has been trying so hard to get a job, but no one is willing to give him a job. He¡¯s really talented, I can assure you. Even though he didn¡¯t get high marks in University, his practical knowledge is amazing," the Old Man told him.

    "I understand that perfectly. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here," Ryder smilingly replied.

    In the previous timeline, Aleson was a genius as well, but he didn¡¯t get a job. One day his grandfather got sick and died. He didn¡¯t even have the money to get him treated. The poor guy could do nothing but watch him die. But he turned that pain into motivation, and after a short year, he came up with something that made the world remember his name.

 Chapter 102 Undead

    <h4>Chapter 102: Undead</h4>

    After around 10 minutes, a man came downstairs and stopped before the old man.

    He looked towards Ryder with confusion as he didn¡¯t recognize him.

    "Why are you standing there like that? He¡¯s here to talk about a job, go greet him," the Old man said to Aleson.

    "Ah, H-hello Sir," Aleson said, but he stuttered as he was nervous.

    ¡¯Just like I had heard, hisck of university scores and his shy personality was the main reason for the world not to notice the uing genius,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Aleson. I¡¯m here to offer you a job. I have a pharmaceutical and techpany, and I want to hire you to work with me on an idea that I think will revolutionize the world. As this is just the beginning, I can only pay you 10000$ but when ourpany¡¯s profit increases, your sry will increase as well. What do you say?" Ryder asked Aleson.

    "I agree," Aleson responded immediately.

    "Hmm? Don¡¯t you want to hear the idea first?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. I need the money to take care of my family. No matter what the idea is, I¡¯ll give it my all to make it the reality," Aleson responded.

    "Hahaha, that¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s go to your room. I¡¯ll show you the contract and tell you what I need you to work on," Ryderughed as he stood up.

    Aleson took Ryder to his room.

    Aleson¡¯s room was mostly empty. There was nothing much in the room except a bed, a table, aputer, and a wardrobe.

    Ryder took out the contract papers and gave them to Aleson.

    "Read that carefully before signing. There are a few important things in there, like the fact that you will be the leader of our pharma team and about your sry and your future. I¡¯ll wait here while you go through it," Ryder said before he sat on the bed.

    Aleson began reading the contract, and after reading it thoroughly, he signed it.

    He gave the papers back to Ryder.

    "Great, now hear my idea,"

    "You know how many people in the world get cancer every year? Despite all this growth in our society, we haven¡¯t had arge breakthrough in this field. Let alone the treatment, even the testing hasn¡¯t been improved, but I want to change that," Ryder said to Aleson.

    Aleson just looked at Ryder with curiosity on his face and a little bit of surprise.

    "I want you to work on a piece of tech that can be used to find out cancer, its type, and its stage just from a blood drop. Something that everyone could use right in their homes without going to the hospital. Just imagine a world where everyone could test themselves,"

    " A lot of cancer patients die because of not finding out about it in the initial stages, but I want to change that. I want a world where people can actively test themselves. I believe that this would decrease the deaths in our society as people won¡¯t have to wait for symptoms to show," Ryder exined.

    "That?" Aleson had his mouth wide open in surprise. This was simr to a thought he had previously, but he didn¡¯t intend to explore that idea as he wasn¡¯t sure if it was possible.

    "Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s entirely possible, and I believe that you can do it. I have the initial idea on the principal this test would work on, and a few other basic things about this and I need you to work on what I know and dive deeper from there. I¡¯ll tell you more details about what I know; you can start working after a few weeks. I¡¯ll send you the office address and other details. Give me your number," Ryder said to Aleson.

    He took Aleson¡¯s number before he left his room and went downstairs and left the house.

    He got into his car and left the ce.

    "The start wasn¡¯t bad, I guess," Ryder muttered as he drove the car under the evening light.

    As he drove through the city, he saw a lottery stop along the way.

    "Wait a minute. How could I forget about that? Isn¡¯t tomorrow the date that happened?" Ryder muttered as he increased the speed and went to a different part of the city.

    He remembered that there was a lottery worth millions of dors. Even though he didn¡¯t remember what the winning numbers were, he did remember the shop the winner bought the ticket from. It was still in his mind as that was a massive thing at that time because the winner was from his area.

    Ryder stopped the car in front of the lottery shop.

    He got out of the car and entered the shop.

    "I need all your lottery tickets," Ryder told the shop owner. He purchased every lottery ticket the owner had and left the ce.

    The lottery winner was supposed to be announced after three more days, but he was confident that the grand prize was already his now.

    Ryder got back to home right at the time of dinner.

    He walked straight to the dining room.

    "You¡¯re back, How did your work go?" Alice asked Ryder as she served the dinner.

    "It went great. Soon everything will fall into ce," Ryder responded as a smile formed on his face.

    He finished dinner and walked back to his room.

    He rested on the bed and wore the Divinity sses. He found himself in the world of Divinity inside his bedroom in the Royal Pce.

    Ryder got off the bed and left his room.

    Miku was still standing outside his room.

    "Do you always stay outside my room?" Ryder asked her.

    "It¡¯s my responsibility to take care of Your Highness," Miku replied.

    "Is Rale still in the practice hall?" Ryder asked her.

    "No, Your Highness. Master Rale went outside to the town. He should be back soon," she replied.

    "Alright. I¡¯m going to Miyali¡¯s room. Inform me when he¡¯s back," Ryder told her before he started walking towards Miyali¡¯s room.

    Soon he got there, he knocked on the door and entered the ce.

    Miyali was sitting in the bed.

    "Miyali? Is it my misconception, or are your eyes a deeper shade of red now? Can I know what your species is?" Ryder asked in confusion as he saw her eyes.

    Miyali looked worried as she looked at Ryder.

    "Why are you worried? Don¡¯t worry. You won¡¯t be hurt because of your species," Ryder told her as he walked closer to her.

    "I-i¡¯m not a full demon. I¡¯m a half-demon and half undead," Miyali replied as she gathered her courage.

 Chapter 103 Vampire

    <h4>Chapter 103: Vampire</h4>

    "Half Demon and Half Undead?" Ryder eximed in shock.

    "Yes. My mother was from the Winged Demon Species of Demon Realm, and my father was from the Vampire n of the Undead Realm," Miyali answered him.

    "Vampire? There was no mention of vampires in the game, even in thest timeline?" Ryder muttered in confusion.

    "What about that guy who that Demon Lord killed? Didn¡¯t you call him father as well?" Ryder asked her.

    "He was the brother of my mother. He was taking care of me like a father since my mother died when I was only a few years old. To not get people suspicious about myself, he had me call him father. Although he wasn¡¯t my birth father, he was no less than a father to me," Miyali replied.

    "What about your father? I don¡¯t know much about vampires in this ce, but shouldn¡¯t vampires be immortal?" Ryder asked her.

    "I don¡¯t know much about my father or where he is now. All I was told was that he was a vampire from the Undead Realm," Miyali looked down and responded.

    "Alright, don¡¯t worry about that. Stay herefortably and think of it as your home. I¡¯ll try asking around about vampires. Maybe we will find out more about you," Ryder told her, smilingly.

    He was about to ask about why her eyes were a deeper shade of red now, but that¡¯s when there was a knock on the door.

    Ryder walked toward the door and opened it, only to find Miku standing outside. Rale stood behind her.

    "Oh, you¡¯re back. Wait a minute, I¡¯ll be right outside," Ryder told Rale before he looked back towards Miyali.

    "I¡¯m going now; I should be back soon. If you need anything, you can ask Miku," Ryder told Miyali before he left her room.

    "Rale,e with me," Ryder said as he started walking towards the underground location where spatial tunnels were located.

    "Do you have anything to do here in the next few days?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Nothing significant, Your Highness," Rale responded.

    "Good then. Let¡¯s go to the human realm again," Ryder told him.

    "There? Is there something else we need to take?" Rale inquired.

    "Not exactly. Think of it as a fun bonding exercise," Ryder chuckled as he said.

    "We¡¯ll be going outside disguised as human adventures. I want to experience how they gain strength," Ryder said to him.

    "Should I bring others as well?" Rale asked.

    "No need. The two of us should be enough," Ryder told him.

    "Alright," Rale nodded his head.

    "Miku, we¡¯re going again. If someonees, tell them that I¡¯m sleeping. I should be back in a day or so," Ryder told Miku as he stepped down the stairs.

    He stood before the first spatial tunnel and brought out his key. He opened the spatial tunnel door and entered inside. Rale entered after him.

    Both of them appeared in the Malta Valley, the same location asst time.

    "The location we need to go is somewhat far away. You can carry me as you fly so that we aren¡¯tte," Ryder told Rale. That was one of the main reasons he brought Rale with him.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale said as he held Ryder¡¯s hand. 2 wings appeared behind his back, and he began flying.

    Rale flew, and Ryder told him the direction.

    Ryder was on the way when he got the message from Shu asking him where he was and how long it would take him.

    "I¡¯m on the way. I should be there in a few hours. I won¡¯t bete," Ryder responded.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll wait with the others," Shu replied to him.

    After a few hours, Rale and Ryder entered the Stech Kingdom

    They got to the City on the south andnded right outside the city.

    "Wear your cloak and try not to take that off," Ryder told Rale, who did as he wasmanded.

    They entered the city and walked towards the center of the city.

    As Ryder got there, he found Shu standing there. Shu looked simr to how he looked in real life, but there were a few changes. He had long hair in the game, and he even changed the color of his eyes.

    A few adventures were standing beside Shu.

    "Brother R... Hades, you¡¯re finally here. Right on time," Shu said, smilingly.

    "Big Daddy, is that the person we were waiting for?" a girl that was standing on the right side of shu asked him.

    "Yes. He will be our teammate in this exploration. Oh right, who¡¯s the person behind you?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "He¡¯s a friend," Ryder replied.

    "What do you think you¡¯re doing? As far as I know, Big Daddy only invited you. We don¡¯t need any more yers in this mission, do you think we¡¯re opening a charity here? You¡¯ll bring anyone with you, and we¡¯ll take it? You should know that each extra member means lesser rewards for each of its members," another girl said. She was wearing a Mage dress as well and held a staff in her hand.

    Before Shu could silence the girl, Ryder started speaking.

    "You don¡¯t need to worry about that. He doesn¡¯t need experience. He¡¯ll be with me, but he won¡¯t join the quest or the team. He¡¯s here just to explore the dungeon," Ryder told her.

    "That¡¯s better," the girl snorted.

    "You don¡¯t need to do that, Brother. We can have another yer in our team," Shu told Ryder.

    " I¡¯m not kidding. He really is not here for the quest, so forget it. Anyway, aren¡¯t you going to introduce everyone?" Ryder changed the topic.

    "Alright, if you say so. She is Mimi121; she¡¯s our Level 13 mage. That¡¯s SexyLady; she¡¯s our Level 12 Hunter. That¡¯s BlizzardCane; he¡¯s our Level 12 warrior. He¡¯s MountainMan, another Level 12 warrior. He¡¯s CharmingHunk, our 3rd warrior. He¡¯s level 13. She¡¯s Mamamiya, our second mage, level 13. She¡¯s PokiChu, ourst mage, Level 13. Those two girls are our priest, she¡¯s LightinDarkness, and the one on her left is Darknessinlight. They are both sisters, and they¡¯re both level 12. Andstly, she¡¯s our second Hunter, Dumdum, a level 13," Shu introduced his team.

    "Now you should introduce yourself," Shu told Ryder, mostly because he himself didn¡¯t know Ryder¡¯s ss.

    "I¡¯m Hades; I¡¯m a mage. I¡¯m at level 15," Ryder told them.

    "Level 15? You¡¯re the strongest in our team? Why don¡¯t you have a staff if you¡¯re a high-level mage?" SexyLady asked.

    "I have a staff. I kept it in my storage," Ryder smilingly said as he brought out his Moon Scythe, which was already transformed to a magical staff using transformation.

    "That¡¯s an excellent staff. Which grade is it?" Mamamiya asked Ryder.

 Chapter 104 Lucifers Whereabouts

    <h4>Chapter 104: Lucifer''s Whereabouts</h4>

    "It¡¯s a normal grade staff, it just looks pretty," Ryder responded casually.

    "Can you sell that to me? I¡¯ll give you a different staff and some money as well," Mimi123 told Ryder.

    Even though all three mages liked it, she was the only one to ask to buy it proactively.

    "I can¡¯t sell it, but thanks for the offer," Ryder rejected straight forward.

    "Money is not an option, think carefully," she said again.

    "As I said, I don¡¯t want to sell it," Ryder replied.

    "As you wish, I won¡¯t force you, but just remember that you missed the chance of selling a normal grade staff for 10000$. Even higher grade treasures would be cheaper than it on the outside," she told Ryder, but Ryder simply smiled and didn¡¯t react.

    "Now that we¡¯ve introduced ourselves, we should get going. The faster we go, the faster we can finish it," Shu said to everyone.

    They all agreed and started walking towards the dungeon.

    ¡¯Your Highness, I have a question. What is a dungeon?" Rale asked Ryder.

    "A dungeon is something like a building or a cave inside which monsters hide. Adventurers go there to hunt the monsters which give them experience, and that makes them stronger," Ryder informed Rale.

    "Oh, so it¡¯s something like a monster cave. We have those in our ce as well. Your Highness can go there if he wants to get stronger," Rale informed Ryder.

    "I heard about that, but I also know the level of monsters there," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face.

    They got to the Dungeon after walking outside the city.

    The dungeon was inside a forest. The whole forest was covered in nts and trees, which made it difficult for them to find the dungeon even though they had the coordinates because of the quest.

    They got to the dungeon after searching for a while.

    The Dungeon looked like a cave that went underground.

    Shu pushed the door and entered first. The others entered after them.

    Notifications started appearing one after another for everyone.

    [Discovered a dungeon]

    [First team to find the Dungeon of the South; Fame Points +50]

    Everyone got an increase in their fame points.

    [First team to find the Dungeon of the South; Strength +10 for next 30 minutes]

    They got another notification.

    "Incredible. Now I have fame points as well. We should be able to see our names in the fame points ranking," one of the mages said.

    "Hey guys, umm, I just noticed it, but the 2nd person in the Fame Ranking seems to be Hades?" a priest eximed in surprise as she looked towards Ryder.

    The others also started looking at Ryder.

    "Now that you mention it, I remember. The first person to pass the novice vige was Hades. Are you that Hades?" another person asked Ryder as they looked at him in shock.

    "I should be the one, yeah," Ryder responded.

    "You¡¯re first in the weapon ranking as well!! Incredible, I never knew we had a top yer with us. Big Daddy, did you know it?" PokiChu asked Shu.

    "Of course, I knew it. Do you think I wouldn¡¯t know about such a big thing?" Shu chuckled as he responded.

    "What¡¯s so special about that? He was lucky in the Novice Vige and managed to pass first and get a unique grade weapon, but so what? After leaving the vige, he had only fallen behind Lucifer. Look at the fame ranking. He has 300 Fame Points, whereas Lucifer is at 700 Fame Points. There are many more yers that are about to overtake him in fame points," one of the warriors said.

    "His level isn¡¯t that high either. Only one or two levels higher than most of us," another warrior said.

    "You should focus more on the quest than focusing on me," Ryder responded.

    "That¡¯s right. Our main mission is to finish the dungeon. We can talk about other things after wee out," Shu said to everyone.

    "Let¡¯s talk about our formations. Warriors should be in the lead, followed by archers and mages that will fire long-range attacks¡ªpriests on the back to heal us and buff us. I¡¯ll do the recon at the front," Shu suggested.

    They all agreed as they started moving deeper into the dungeon.

    "There are goblins up ahead. They are level 11-12 monsters. Be ready to battle," Shu came back and informed them all.

    "Alright. Let me attract their aggro with my Taunt and defend. You can kill them in the meanwhile," Mountain Man, the level 12 warrior, said.

    The Warriors used their skills to attract the attention of the goblins.

    Five goblins ran towards the warriors, but mages started bombarding them with their spells.

    It took four spells for a mage to kill a goblin, but when Ryder used a firest, only one attack was enough to st the goblin to smithereens.

    A few people noticed it, which shocked the ones that saw them, but they couldn¡¯t be sure if it was because of Ryder¡¯s attacks as every goblin was stuck with at least one or two attacks of the archers and the mages.

    The fight was shorter than their expectations and finished in a few minutes.

    The goblins didn¡¯t drop anything, but they did give experience points. The experience of killing a level 12 yer was significant for the others, but it was like a droplet of water in a pond for someone like Ryder, who was a level 40 yer.

    "That went great. If we worked like that, we could probably finish this dungeon much faster," Shu said as he chuckled.

    They started walking deeper into the Dungeon and faced a lot more goblins, but after an hour, they managed to reach the end of that floor.

    They had finished the floor, and there were stairs ahead of them, which led to the underground levels, but none of them stepped on the stairs.

    They all drank their potion to recover their mana and their Qi before stepping down.

    Ryder and Rale were the only ones that still had most of their mana. Rale followed them from some distance, but he didn¡¯t involve himself in a fight as per Ryder¡¯s instructions.

    They got down to the next floor.

    The monsters on the second floor were Snow Star Wolves along with Giant Orcs that carried clubs in their hands.

    They kept killing monsters as they went further. From the first floor, they went down to the 5th floor.

    "Do any of you know Lucifer¡¯s level or any information about his whereabouts?" Ryder asked the other yers as they moved forward.

 Chapter 105 Trap

    <h4>Chapter 105: Trap</h4>

    "I saw him once a few days ago. He had a big red mark over his head. The other yers surrounded him, but he killed them all before he left that ce. I¡¯m not sure what his level was, but he was pretty powerful," Shu told Ryder.

    "A red mark? He should¡¯ve killed the guards of Este. Quite stupid, I suppose, but that would make the game more interesting for him as well," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    ¡¯I wonder if I should do something like this as well. Although a red mark makes it tough for you to hide from other yers and makes you a target, ites with some benefits as well. When you kill the yers that want to kill you, you get experience as well,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Look, there¡¯s a box there! Our first loot box in this dungeon!" Shu eximed as he pointed towards the distance.

    As he was a thief, his vision was the greatest amongst the yers that were present there, making him able to see the farthest.

    Everyone walked to the Box.

    "Looks amazing, who¡¯s going to open it?" Mimi123 asked the others.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. The rewards are going to be shared equally no matter who opens it, so don¡¯t worry about that," Shuforted others before he stepped towards the box and opened it.

    As soon as the box opened, a giant snake jumped out of the box. Shu sat down in a hurry and managed to dodge the attack, but the snake insteadnded on their Warrior and bit his head off.

    The Warrior was poisoned, and his health bar reached 0 before he could even use Healing Potion.

    "Shadow Ball!" Ryder used his skill and killed the snake before it could target others.

    "This was a trap box, the snake was at least a level 14 beast, you should stay careful with what you open next," Ryder told Shu, who was still lying on the ground in shock.

    Ryder walked up to him and extended his hands towards Shu. Shu caught his hand and stood up.

    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind. I was too ignorant just now," Shu nodded his head.

    "Hey, there¡¯s something else in the box!" Lightindarkness pointed out.

    Shu and Ryder nced towards the box and saw that it indeed had something in it.

    There was a small ring in the box.

    Shu picked up the ring and got a notification about it.

    "It¡¯s called the ring of increment. A mid-grade treasure that can increase the HP and the Mana by 5 percent," Shu informed others.

    "Incredible! That treasure is so useful for us mages, one of us should keep it. We can cast more spells with more mana," one of the mages said as she looked towards the ring.

    "Hey, that¡¯s not true! You know that we warriors fight on the front lines, and we take the brunt of most of the attacks. We need the increased HP more than you need the Mana. Just look at BlizzardCane, if he had more HP, he might have been able to take the Healing Potion before dying!" the Warrior, MountainMan said.

    "What about us Priests, we need the boost as well! We¡¯re the weakest when ites to defense, and the HP can be useful to us!" the priest said.

    Just like that, slowly, everyone started asking the ring for themselves, giving a big headache to Shu.

    "It¡¯s too soon to be sharing the treasures right now as there¡¯s no way I can share the ring equally between you all. I understand that this ring is useful for every ss. How about we wait till the end of this quest before we find all the rewards, and then we can decide who gets what equally. There¡¯s no need to be in haste as we might find even greater treasurester," Shu thought for a while before he decided that it was too soon for sharing.

    "So we are supposed to let the ring sit uselessly until the end of the quest? You know that it can help one of us, right? How about I keep that. I¡¯ll return it at the end of the mission, and we can decide who keeps what?" MountainMan again said.

    "This... This would be unfair for others as they all want it. It might even divide our team. I¡¯ll keep it in my storage in the meanwhile. None of us will use it," Shu said as he put the ring in his storage.

    Although other yers were left unsatisfied, they all agreed at the end.

    They walked down to the 10th level of the dungeon. Even though the number of monsters was lesspared to the upper floors, the monsters were all level 14 monsters now. The fights took longer as Ryder let the others fight instead of taking care of all the monsters himself.

    Rale just stood behind everyone watching everyone fight. He was also starting to get bored as he couldn¡¯t do anything here; still, he stayed alert as he considered protecting Ryder as his primary mission.

    They reached the end of the 10th level and saw a big door in front of them.

    "Everyone, restore your HP, the room ahead should be the room of the Boss Monster on this floor. Even though he will be a level 15 monster, his real strength would be way higher," Shu told the others as he sat down and started restoring his HP using potions.

    The others also did the same. Even Ryder drank a potion to get his Mana to full as his HP was already full. Since the start of exploration, he wasn¡¯t harmed in the slightest.

    After everyone was ready and prepared, they pushed the door open and entered the room.

    They saw a giant humanoid monster standing at the end of the room with his eyes closed. It looked like an Orc, but it has two heads instead of one. The monster was 7 meters tall and looked like a giant. Its arms itself was as wide as the shoulders of Ryder. The Monster held a four-meter long machete in his hand.

    As everyone entered the room, the eyes of the monster opened. Its red eyes nced at the intruders.

    "Follow the formation and attack!" Shumanded everyone.

    The two warriors ran to the monster, and the Mages started attacking it, but their attacks didn¡¯t seem to be harming the monster too much.

    They could see the HP of the monster getting lower at the snail¡¯s speed.

    "Such frightening defense," the priest muttered as she stood in the back, casting buffs on the other yers that were fighting.

    Ryder hadn¡¯t attacked yet.

 Chapter 106 Treasure

    <h4>Chapter 106: Treasure</h4>

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t explore this dungeonst time, but I heard that the first team to enter was wiped out. It took a team of level 15 yers to clear the dungeon. A few Level 12-13 yers facing a level 15 monster reminds me of the time when we faced that dragon,¡¯ Ryder thought as he stared at the slowly lowering HP of the monster.

    "Hey! Are you here to help us or just watch! Do something!" the Mage scolded Ryder, who was just standing in the back doing nothing.

    "Alright," Ryder muttered as he raised his staff.

    "me st!"

    Ryder casted a spell, a ball of fire took shape and flew towards the monster.

    Itnded on the forehead of the monster, instantly bringing his HP down to 0.

    His HP bar that was previously Green had reached 0, but the HP bar again got full as it changed its color to red.

    ¡¯This should be its berserk mode that activates when it¡¯s killed for the first time. So many teams died because of this. It was really unexpected when I heard about it for the first time as well,¡¯ Ryder thought as he cast another me st.

    The monster was in berserk mode, and it had managed to kill another warrior before the ball of firended on him again.

    His HP got down to 0 once more.

    A system-wide announcement was made that was hard by everyone in the game.

    [The first Grade D dungeon has been cleared]

    Every participant in the exploration also got a notification.

    [Fame Points: +400]

    They also gained equivalent experience from killing the monster, and some of them even got a level-up notification.

    Even though Ryder also gained a simr experience, it was nothing for him. He needed to kill monsters in level 40s to gain faster experience, and level 15 was just like a small bump in his experience.

    "There¡¯s the box. I think that should be the one your quest talked about," Ryder told Shu as he saw a box at the end of the room.

    Ryder looked towards Shu when he didn¡¯t hear a response. As he looked towards them, he saw all of them looking at him with a strange look on their faces.

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" Ryder asked them all.

    "Was that a mythical grade spell? It killed the boss monster in one hit," one of the mages stared at Ryder as she asked.

    ¡¯Mythical Grade Spell? I remember there was a rumor like that in thest timeline as well about the presence of an all-powerful spell in the game. Even after spending three years in the game, there was nothing about that spell, so it was clear that it was just a false rumor spread by someone,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "That should be it. You got a Mythical grade spell in the game! It¡¯s so powerful!" Another girlmented.

    "If you had that from the beginning, why didn¡¯t you use it! 2 of my friends died because of you!" thest remaining warrior, MountainMan, said to Ryder as he med him.

    "Stop talking! Can¡¯t you see that he saved us all? If he wanted, he could have let us all die before finishing the quest alone," the hunter responded to the warrior.

    "Guys, no fighting. Let¡¯s just focus on the rewards!" The Priest tried to calm everyone down.

    "That¡¯s right. The treasures are right in front of us. There¡¯s no need to argue!" Shu also said to the others before he walked up to the chest at the end.

    "Be careful. There might be a trap as well," Mimi warned Shu.

    Shu carefully opened the chest and found that there was no trap inside.

    The chest was filled with treasures and artifacts. There were a few gold coins in the chest as well.

    He brought out all the items and ced them on the ground. He also put the ring that was found in the box there.

    "There are exactly ten things here. No one is allowed to touch them or see their stats or buffs. Choose which one you want. If there are two or more people that want the same thing, we can have a vote to decide the one who gets that!" Shu told everyone.

    "I¡¯ll go first,"

    "No, I¡¯ll go first,"

    "Why do you want to go first, it should be me. I¡¯m the youngest,"

    "I¡¯m the only one amongst the warriors that survived. I should go first,"

    Shu just facepalmed himself as he saw their reaction.

    "Alright. I already thought that something like this would happen, so I made these. Each of these paper slips has a number written in them from 1-12. I¡¯ll remove the 11 and 12, fold the rest and throw them in the ground. Everyone will choose one. We¡¯ll go number wise," Shu told them as he started folding the papers.

    "Alright," they all agreed.

    Shu ced all the slips on the ground. All of them picked one. Ryder and Shu picked up thest remaining slips.

    "I¡¯m first!" Mimi smiled as she showed the number on her slip to everyone.

    "Pick one," Shu told her.

    "I¡¯ll take the Ring of Increment! I need the excess Mana," Mimi told them as she picked the ring and wore it.

    "I¡¯m number 2," The Priest, LightinDarkness said next. She chose a small bracelet that looked as if it was made from silver.

    "Incredible! This is the Bracelet of Defense. It increases my defense by 5 percent! Exactly what I needed," She eximed excitedly as she wore the bracelet.

    Some of the yers were visibly jealous of her luck.

    The Warrior went next and picked up the headband.

    "What the crap is this? Headband of Skulkin? What the heck am I going to do with a 7 percent mana increase?" MountainMan cursed in anger.

    "7 percent mana increase? That is useless for you. How about we exchange our treasures? I¡¯ll give you my Ring of Increment in exchange?" Mimi told him.

    MountainMan agreed and exchanged the item as the Ring of Increment was able to give him a 5% HP boost.

    Just like that, everyone went up one by one and picked up items.

    All these items gave them some kind of boost. Some liked them, and some hated them.

    "I¡¯m 9, but you can go first," Shu told Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. Go on, pick what you like," Ryder rejected the offer.

    In his eyes, none of these treasures was worth anything.

    Shu nodded his head and stepped forth as he picked up the yellow robe.

    "The Robe of Invincibility? It can make me unkible, but the effects onlyst for 1 second, and I can only use it once a day," Shu described the item and wore it.

    Thest item that remained was a book.

    Ryder picked up the book and got a notification.

 Chapter 107 Ancient Hobbit

    <h4>Chapter 107: Ancient Hobbit</h4>

    "The book of Mystery: Written by Ancient Hobbits, unreadable," Ryder read the description.

    "That? Isn¡¯t that useless? Hahaha, I thought my item was bad, but that¡¯s clearly worse," MountainManughed out loud.

    Ryder didn¡¯t react to him and opened the book.

    ¡¯The book clearly has something written, but I can¡¯t read it. This should be written in Ancient Hobbit Language. I wonder if Rale can read it,¡¯ Ryder thought. He put the book back in his storage.

    [Quest: Finish the Dungeon of the South and open the Mysterious Box: Completed]

    [Experience: +20 percent]

    [Received the Title: The Persistent One]

    [Level +1]

    [Level +1]

    Shu started getting notifications forpleting the Quest.

    "Wait a minute; there¡¯s also a letter in the chest. I don¡¯t think it was therest time," Shu muttered as he looked towards the box.

    "I don¡¯t see any letter?" Ryder muttered as he looked inside the chest.

    "I don¡¯t see anything either," the others said.

    "Strange," Shu muttered as he picked the letter.

    ¡¯To the person that¡¯s reading this,

    I¡¯m the owner of the treasures that you found. My name is Albus Albino; I¡¯m the Supreme Mage of the Resuria Kingdom. I am one of the strongest people in the Kingdom, but despite having all my Powers, I wasn¡¯t able to protect what really mattered to me,¡¯

    ¡¯My only daughter, Lexini, was kidnapped by the dark sorcerer of the Southern Elisia Kingdom. I¡¯ve decided to put my life on the line to go to save my daughter, but I¡¯m not sure if I can do it. I¡¯m leaving these small treasures behind for the ones that may find it. If I seed, I¡¯ll take back the treasures, but if you¡¯re reading this letter, it means that I¡¯ve failed,¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know how many years may have passed when you open the letter. I¡¯m not even sure if my daughter would still be alive. I won¡¯t ask you to save my daughter, but I hope that you can fulfill myst wish and find the ring that my daughter was wearing. It was a gift from the Royal Family. Please find that ring and return it to the Royal Family of Resuria along with the second letter. You¡¯ll be heavily rewarded for your effort,¡¯

    Shu finished reading the letter silently.

    [You have received a chain Quest]

    [Quest: Find the Ring of Lexini and return it to the Royal Family of Resuria.

    Quest Grade: C

    Time Limit: 2 month

    Limitation: You can only select one person to share this quest with. No other team member allowed]

    [Would you like to ept? Y/N ]

    As soon as Shu finished reading the letter, he received a Quest.

    "What¡¯s in the letter?" MountainMan asked Shu as he saw him standing there.

    Shu epted the Quest before he looked back at MountainMan.

    "You can read it," Shu muttered as he passed the letter back.

    "There¡¯s nothing on it," MountainMan let out with a frown as he saw the letter.

    "Let¡¯s leave. The Quest is done," Shu told them before he walked out of the room.

    MountainMan threw the letter on the ground and left the room with others. The letter disappeared.

    They walked out of the Dungeon and went back to the city before going their separate ways.

    They didn¡¯t forget to remind Shu to invite them if there was an exploration like this again. This exploration turned out to be quite fruitful for everyone.

    Only Shu, Ryder, and Rale had stayed behind.

    They walked to a beer bar and sat on a table far away from others.

    "What was in the letter? It must be a quest if I¡¯m not wrong," Ryder asked Shu. In his three years of experience, he himself received quite a few quests this way; that¡¯s why he understood.

    "That¡¯s what I wanted to talk to you about, but I didn¡¯t say it in front of others. I received a quest, and I can share it with one person. I want you to be that person, Brother Ryder," Shu said.

    "That¡¯s what I thought. Alright, we¡¯ll do this Quest together. Let me see what it is," Ryder told Shu.

    Immediately, he received a notification.

    [Big Daddy wants to share a Quest with you]

    [Quest: Find the Ring of Lexini and return it to the Royal Family of Resuria.

    Quest Grade: C

    Time Limit: 2 months]

    [Would you like to ept? Y/N ]

    Ryder epted the quest.

    He read the detailed description.

    "So that¡¯s what it¡¯s about," Ryder muttered.

    "Exactly, I also got apass that can track the ring, but I¡¯m sure that it won¡¯t be easy," Shu told Ryder.

    "It¡¯s a Grade C quest, so it should be tough, but not impossible.

    "You should still try to level up. Level up as much as you can in the next 30 days. After that, we will start the quest," Ryder told Shu.

    "Is this really right to dy it? We¡¯ll only have a month to do it if we waste a month," Shu told Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. One month is more than enough toplete that mission with thatpass," Ryder chuckled as he stood up.

    "I¡¯ll be taking my leave. I need to get back somewhere. Don¡¯t forget to level up, alright? I¡¯ll meet youter," Ryder told him as he left.

    He walked out of the city with Rale.

    "So, Rale? What did you think about the way people progress here?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "It is strange. It is as Your Highness said, I could feel them getting stronger the more they kill, which is quite fascinating. But still, they¡¯re too weak. They would be wiped out without your help," Rale responded.

    "Exactly, but they would keeping back stronger. That¡¯s how people should be. Never afraid of difficulties," Ryder chuckled as he stepped forth.

    "Oh, right. Let¡¯s go back," He added.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale nodded as two wings appeared behind his back. He carried Ryder with him as he flew towards Malta Valley.

    "Hey Rale, I have a question for you. Do you know the Ancient Hobbit Language?" Ryder asked Rale as they flew towards their destination.

    "I do know the Ancient Hobbit Language, and I must say, it was one of the toughestnguages to learn," Rale replied.

    "That¡¯s good. I might need you to trante something written in the Ancient Hobbit Language for me," Ryder told him.

    "Of Course, Your Highness," Rale nodded his head.

    "Oh, another thing. What do you know about the Vampires of the Undead Realm?" Ryder inquired as he remembered about Miyali.

    "The Vampires?" Rale muttered as he frowned.

    "Yeah, I want to know everything you know about vampires," Ryder said again.

 Chapter 108 Urge to Kill

    <h4>Chapter 108: Urge to Kill</h4>

    "The Undead Realm is a very vast and diverse ce. It has many species, and it is closely rted to the Death Domain. I¡¯m not sure if Your Highness knows about it yet, but the people from the Death Domain are able to control the Undead Species and bring them out during a fight, but that¡¯s not all there is to it,"

    "The Death Domain can only establish links with weaker Undeads like Skeletons, Zombies, etc., but there is also another branch of Undead that is uncontroble by them. Even their King wasn¡¯t able to control them," Rale responded.

    "Interesting. So the Vampires must be the uncontroble ones," Ryder muttered.

    "Exactly, just like we have High Demons, the Undead Realm have High-Rank Undeads. Those are the ones that are able to think for themselves, and in some instances, they are even smarter than other species. The Vampires are considered High Undeads. And some of them are as strong as our Dukes as well," Rale exined.

    "Is there someone in the Undead Realm as strong as our High Dukes?" Ryder asked again.

    "There are 2 Undeads that are as strong as our High Dukes. The Vampire King and the Lich King. There is Ghoul King as well, but it¡¯s said that he¡¯s not at their level yet," Rale replied.

    "What about the Death Domain? How many of them are on the same level as our High Dukes?" Ryder asked again due to his curiosity.

    "They have the same number. They have 4 Death Ministers that are said to be as strong as our High Dukes," Rale replied.

    "4 in the Death Domain and 2 in the Undead Realm? Why haven¡¯t they joined together in thest war between Death Domain and the Demon Realm? And even after that?" Ryder inquired.

    He believed that if they attacked together, the Demon Realm might be in trouble.

    "Because the High-Rank Undeads don¡¯t like the people from the Death Domain because they control the low-level Undeads and use them as puppets. The High-Rank Undeads don¡¯t involve themselves in flights between the two sides as they don¡¯t like either of the sides," Rale responded.

    "Interesting, so it is like that. It¡¯s good that they don¡¯t like each other," Ryder muttered.

    "Oh, right. What do you think it means when the eyes of a vampire turn from light red to deep red?" Ryder asked again as he remembered the thing about Miyali¡¯s eyes that he had noticedst time he left.

    "From what I know, Vampires have light red eyes, but their eyes turn deep red when they don¡¯t drink blood for a long time. If they don¡¯t drink the blood even after that, then they may lose control of themselves and attack others," Rale replied.

    "What the heck! Rale, increase the speed. We need to get home fast!" Ryder said in a hurry. He was starting to get worried.

    He knew that if Miyali lost control and attacked others, she might be killed by his Royal Guards. She might even be able to kill Miku before that. And if others found out that she was a vampire, it would be troublesome. There were a few demons that had red eyes, and she had demon blood, so no one recognized her yet, but it might not be for long.

    Rale flew even faster and brought Ryder to the Malta Valley.

    Ryder brought the Key out of his storage and opened the spatial tunnel. He entered the spatial tunnel that opened before him. Rale followed after him, still wondering why they were suddenly in such a hurry.

    They got back inside the Royal Pce and walked to the higher levels.

    Ryder ran towards Miyali¡¯s room.

    "Don¡¯te inside until I invite you!" He told Rale as he entered Miyali¡¯s room.

    As he entered, he saw Miyali sitting on the bed, writing something on the paper.

    "Miyali?" Ryder called her. She looked up, and her eyes were again the lighter shade of red.

    "Did you drink blood?" Ryder asked Miyali with a frown.

    Miyali looked up and saw Ryder standing in front of her.

    She nodded her head.

    "Whose blood?" Ryder asked Miyali in a harsh tone.

    She pointed to the left. Ryder looked in the direction she was pointing at and saw a small tray there. The body of a small bunny was lying on it.

    "You drank monster blood? That¡¯s better than attacking someone from the pce, though," Ryder muttered.

    "You should¡¯ve told me if you needed blood. I would¡¯ve arranged something for you. What would have happened if you hadn¡¯t found the beast and lost control!" Ryder said to her as he stepped towards her.

    "Tell me how many times do you need blood? It should be daily, right?" Ryder asked her.

    "I¡¯m half demon, so I don¡¯t need to drink blood daily. I can handle myself on normal demon food, but I do need to drink blood once at least two weeks; otherwise, I start feeling the urge to kill," Miyali told him while looking down.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll arrange for it. Also, If there¡¯s anything else like that, you can tell me, alright?" Ryder asked her.

    Miyali nodded her head.

    They talked for a little more before Ryder left the room.

    "Is everything alright, Your Highness?" Rale asked Ryder as he stepped out.

    "Yeah, everything¡¯s perfectly fine," Ryder responded.

    "I¡¯m going to sleep now, but you should stay in the pce, alright? I¡¯ll need you to trante something for me tomorrow," Ryder told Rale before he left for his room.

    Ryder locked the door andid on the bed before he logged out.

    He removed his divinity sses and saw the time on the clock, which made him disappointed.

    "I¡¯mte. Alice must¡¯ve already left for college. I really need to teach her how to drive," he muttered as he got off the bed and went to take a shower.

    After getting ready, he ate the breakfast that was already prepared by Alice and left the house.

    He went to the property dealer and looked around for a ce he could use as the headquarters of the Divine Corporation, but he didn¡¯t find what he was looking for.

    Throughout the day, he kept looking for ces by going to various property dealers, and ultimately he found a ce that he liked.

    It was a 7-floor building that was being sold for only 10 million dors.

    "Why is this ce so cheap?" Ryder asked the property dealer as he found it suspicious.

    "I have this property on sale for five years now. It¡¯s so cheap because no one wants to buy this ce," The Property dealer said.

    ¡¯Why?" Ryder inquired.

 Chapter 109 Ancient Ghostbuster

    <h4>Chapter 109: Ancient Ghostbuster</h4>

    "I won¡¯t hide it from you as I don¡¯t do unfair practices. You can decide for yourself after that," the Property Dealer told Ryder, which made him even more curious about the reason.

    "The property is said to be haunted. Since the property was constructed, more than four people owned it. Two of them are dead, and the other two have gone crazy," he added.

    ¡¯A haunted ce? It might as well be true. I¡¯ve seen too many impossible things to doubt anything now,¡¯ Ryder thought with a wry smile on his face.

    "I¡¯ll take the property," Ryder told the dealer.

    "Are you sure? I won¡¯t deny you the property, but I must advise you against it. Think carefully. Even though I myself don¡¯t believe in ghosts, everyone else in the city seems to believe it. That¡¯s all I¡¯ll say. It¡¯s your choice after that," the dealer once again said.

    "I¡¯ve thought about it carefully. I¡¯ll buy it. You can start the paperwork. Let¡¯s finish it today," Ryder replied.

    "As you wish," The Property Dealer responded. They finished the paperwork, and the property was legally transferred to Ryder.

    Ryder left the ce and entered his car, advanced towards the building.

    He stopped before a 7-floor building, which had a parking of its own.

    He stepped out of the car and entered the building. The building covered arge area but had no security at the moment.

    The interior waspletely empty, and only a few papers were lying on the dust-covered ground.

    He checked all seven floors but saw nothing strange and no ghost, but he did feel as if someone was watching him.

    He stood at the top of the building and looked at the beautiful town filled with people.

    "Beautiful ce, I¡¯ll need furniture and other stuff for it, though. So many expenses," Ryder muttered as he turned back, but as soon as he turned back, he saw a spirit standing before him.

    The spirit was semi-transparent, and he was able to see across her. It seemed to be the spirit of a young boy that seemed to be only 18-19 year old.

    "Hey?" Ryder said to the spirit, but the spirit didn¡¯t reply and pushed Ryder to make him fall off the roof, but as soon as the spirit¡¯s hands touched Ryder, it started roaring in pain as it stepped back.

    "Sorry, man, I don¡¯t want to harm you, but I had to protect myself. Now we can be friends, and I can help you with what you need, or I can wipe you off the face of this earth. The decision is yours," Ryder told him.

    When he wasing here, he had already thought of ways to protect him. That¡¯s why he had purchased a ne from the system that was able to protect him from spirits.

    The spirit looked at Ryder in silence.

    "You can doubt me, but you can¡¯t deny that you can¡¯t touch me. And that was only one of my powers. I¡¯m the ancient ghostbuster, and I have many ways to kill you, but you seem like a good guy, that¡¯s why I won¡¯t kill you unless you misbehave and hurt someone else," Ryder said with a proud look on his face.

    In reality, even though the ne could protect him and harm the spirit when it touched him, there was no other way for him to hurt the spirit.

    There was an item that was able to destroy the spirit, but he didn¡¯t have enough points to get that at the moment, which made him try to bluff his way out.

    "You can not help me!" the spirit said as he red at Ryder.

    "Why can¡¯t I help you? Just try telling me what you need?" Ryder told the spirit.

    "Y-you can understand me?" the Spirit asked in surprise.

    "Yeah, Is it strange? As I said, if you¡¯re just a spirit that is doing this for a reason, I can help you. On the other hand, if you¡¯re just doing it for fun, I would hope that you can stop it. I can kill you, but I don¡¯t want to do it if I don¡¯t have to," Ryder asked as he smiled.

    Him being able to understand the Spirit was also because of that ne that he had bought from the system.

    "I promise I won¡¯t harm anyone if you help me. You have to do just one thing for me!" the Spirit said to Ryder.

    Ryder was visibly surprised at the moment. He thought that the spirit would be different and evil, but it seemed to be quite civil in the conversation with him.

    "Tell me what you want?" Ryder asked.

    "I need you to kill someone for me!" the Spirit told Ryder.

    "Who and why?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    "I want you to kill my son!" the Spirit said.

    "Your Son? That¡¯s a first. Why do you want your son to die?" Ryder asked in an unusual tone.

    "I was the owner of this building, but my son killed me for my property. I want you to kill him for me as I can¡¯t leave this building," the Spirit told Ryder.

    "A son that killed his father for the property? Why? Doesn¡¯t a father¡¯s property belong to their son already after they die? Why was he in such a hurry that he killed his own father?" Ryder inquired.

    "For a girl. That bastard killed his father for a girl! I want him to die!" the Spirit bellowed.

    "Didn¡¯t you say he killed you for the property? Now it¡¯s a girl? Can you give me a summary of the events? It¡¯s getting confusing," Ryder asked as a wry smile covered his face.

    "There was a man who wanted to buy this building, but I didn¡¯t sell it. I don¡¯t know why he was so eager. He was even willing to pay double for it, but I didn¡¯t sell it. It was a property that belonged to my father. The first big thing we owned, I didn¡¯t want to sell it at any cost. It wasn¡¯t like Icked the money, but that bastard yed a cheap trick!"

    "He sent his daughter to make my son fall in love. That bastard did fall for her, and he even killed his father for the girl and sold the property to her father!" the Spirit said.

    "Shouldn¡¯t you try to kill that man first then?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    "I already killed that man. He was the first person I killed! His daughter was the second person that I killed! Only that son of mine hasn¡¯te here!" the Spirit said.

 Chapter 110 Arrested

    <h4>Chapter 110: Arrested</h4>

    "I get it. The two owners that you killed were the father and daughter duo. Your son might have already been scared enough that he didn¡¯t even step foot in this ce, and you can¡¯t leave," Ryder muttered.

    "Yes. I can¡¯t feel at peace until he is punished!" the Spirit told Ryder.

    "Will getting him arrested work? He¡¯ll be exposed in front of the whole world and spend his life in prison. Wouldn¡¯t that be better? If he dies, it¡¯s over for him, but if he¡¯s in prison, he¡¯ll regret what he did all his life," Ryder suggested.

    "No! I still remember how he killed me in my own office. I can never forget that cruel face that is unrecognizable to me to this day! He doesn¡¯t deserve to live for even a second," the Spirit yelled as loud as it could.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll think about it, but you can¡¯t harm anyone in the meantime. I purchased this property, and I¡¯ll be setting up my office here. If you harm anyone, I won¡¯t simply kill you, but do something which you can¡¯t even imagine. No matter how long I take toe to my decision, you won¡¯t harm anyone!" Ryder warned him.

    The Spirit nodded its head.

    Ryder left the building, got back in his car and left. He had seen the building and seen its ghost as well. He also had a general idea about how he should set things up and the furniture and equipment that he needed for what he nned.

    He went to Alice¡¯s college to pick her up.

    He parked the car on the side as he waited for Alice toe, but someone else came and knocked on his window.

    There was a girl in a short skirt standing outside.

    Ryder lowered the window.

    "Yes?"

    "Are you Alice¡¯s brother?" the girl asked him.

    "Yeah, I am. Do you know me?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    "I saw you with Alice before. I was waiting for you here as I don¡¯t know your number. Alice has been arrested," She told Ryder.

    "What?! Why?" Ryder asked in an unusually loud tone.

    "She was involved in a fight with someone. The other person seemed to be injured. The police arrested Alice and took her with them," the girl replied.

    Ryder¡¯s face lost its colors as he picked up the phone and dialed Alice¡¯s number.

    "The number you¡¯re calling has been switched off. Please try again..." He got the recorded message.

    "Why didn¡¯t anyone inform me? The university has my number! They should inform me if something big like this happened! Even Alice didn¡¯t call me," Ryder muttered in a concerned tone.

    "Things areplicated," the girl told Ryder.

    "Can youe with me? Tell me everything on the way," Ryder told her as he opened the door on the passenger side.

    The girl nodded her head and entered the car.

    Ryder¡¯s Whirlwind zoomed off the streets and went towards the police station.

    "What happened? Tell me in detail?" Ryder asked.

    "The daughter of University Dean,Misha, had an argument with Alice, and it somehow developed into a fight as Alice pped Misha. Even though the Campus security separated them, things still escted. The cops were called who arrested Alice and took her. I¡¯ve been waiting here, hoping to meet you since then," the girl told Ryder.

    "Daughter of the Dean? Is that why the college authorities didn¡¯t call me? Those bastards!" Ryder cursed.

    After driving for over half an hour, he was finally getting near the police station.

    He was deeply concerned about Alice, and that¡¯s the only thing that was in his mind at the moment. His car¡¯s speed was as fast as he could keep it.

    He abruptly pressed the brake of the car as a kid jumped onto the road in front of his car, but it was toote. The car hit the kid, throwing him far away.

    "Aaaa!" the girl that was sitting beside Ryder screamed in shock.

    Ryder hurriedly stepped out of the car and ran to the kid who was bleeding on the ground. He checked the nerves and found out that the kid was already dead.

    "Faaaack!" Ryder cursed out loud.

    The cars started stopping around him, and the passersby on the footpath also stopped.

    "I won¡¯t let you die!" Ryder muttered as he used his skill that he received because of his Bracelet of Immortality.

    The time was reversed by 40 minutes, and Ryder found himself back in his car, driving it.

    "The daughter of University Dean,Misha, had an argument with Alice, and it somehow developed into a fight as Alice pped Misha. Even though the Campus security separated them, things still escted. The cops were called who arrested Alice and took her. I¡¯ve been waiting here, hoping to meet you since then," the girl told Ryder, but he had already heard it.

    ¡¯I¡¯ve never been so d to be able to turn back time than I am now,¡¯ Ryder thought as he watched the street.

    After half an hour, he reached the same location where the ident had taken ce, but he already slowed down the car.

    The kid once more jumped on the road, picked his ball, and walked back on the footpath.

    Ryder breathed in relief as he increased his speed again.

    He got to the police station.

    He and the girl stepped out of the car.

    Ryder entered the police station and walked up to a cop.

    "My sister was arrested by you. Where is she?" Ryder asked the cop.

    "We did arrest a girl. She was involved in a fight, and her attack broke the jaw of the other girl. This is a case of assault," The cop replied to him.

    "This is a lie! There¡¯s no way a simple p like that can break someone¡¯s jaw!" the girl that came with Ryder immediately reacted as she called the usation a lie.

    "Did you check if she was actually hurt?" Ryder asked the cop as he red at him.

    "You have no right to ask me anything. You can get bail if you want her to be out, or she stays behind bars until it¡¯s the time to present her before the court," the Cop replied.

    "Great. You don¡¯t care about right or wrong, do you? It doesn¡¯t matter what happened, right? I want to see my sister right this instant!" Ryder asked in anger.

    "Elkin? Take them to the girl," the cop told another guy.

    Ryder was brought to Alice, who was in a cell, alone.

    "Alice? You aren¡¯t hurt, are you?" Ryder asked Alice as soon as he saw her. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t see any wound on her.

 Chapter 111 Taking Help

    <h4>Chapter 111: Taking Help</h4>

    "I¡¯m fine. I was not harmed in the least. Don¡¯t worry," Alice replied as she walked closer to Ryder.

    "Why didn¡¯t you call me when so much happened?" Ryder asked her as he reached out his hand and held her hand on the other side of the bars.

    "My phone was broken," Alice said.

    "You could¡¯ve asked the cop to let you call me," Ryder told her.

    "I tried, but they didn¡¯t allow me to call anyone," Alice said as she nced towards the cops.

    "It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll get you out, don¡¯t worry," Ryder said.

    Ryder brought out his phone and dialed a number.

    "Shu, your family is Rich, right? Can you ask your parents if they know anywyer? I need awyer urgently to get my sister out of prison," Ryder told Shu.

    "Your sister? What¡¯s she doing in prison? Wait, you can tell meter. Just tell me the name of the prison, her name, and the charges. I¡¯ll be right there with mywyers," Shu replied instantly.

    "Her name is Alice. She¡¯s charged with battery and assault of a girl. Just get me thewyer as fast as you can. Don¡¯t worry about the money; I¡¯ll handle whatever bill they throw my way," Ryder told Shu. He also told him the police station location.

    "Don¡¯t worry about the bill. Thewyer is my friend. We¡¯ll be right there," Shu said as he disconnected the call.

    "Thewyer will be here. We¡¯ll be back home in no time," Ryderforted Alice.

    Back at his ce, Shu also called a number.

    "Zhang, Get your ass out of your house right now. I need you to get a girl out of prison. She¡¯s arrested for battery and assault," Shu told hiswyer all the information.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll be at the station in half an hour," Zhang said before he disconnected the call.

    Shu also left his house and got in his Ferrari 2047, which raced on the road.

    "Can you tell me why you hit her?" Ryder asked Alice while he waited for Shu to get here.

    "She talked vulgar things about me. She said that I¡¯m sleeping with a rich guy for money who dropped me off to the university. She also said that I call him my brother to hide my dirty secret from the world," Alice replied as he looked down.

    "You did great. If I were in your ce, I would definitely have broken off her jaw," Ryder told her.

    "I didn¡¯t even hit her that hard. She used me falsely, and the Dean also misused his powers to get a fake report from the school nurse about her jaw being broken," Alice replied.

    "He couldn¡¯t take it that I hit his daughter. I even worry that he might cancel my schrship and throw me out of the university," Alice said as her eyes started getting wet.

    "Hey, don¡¯t cry, alright? No one is going to throw you out of the university. I¡¯ll go talk to the dean properly after you¡¯re free. I would definitely love to see how seriously her daughter is injured," Ryder said.

    Shu reached the police station.

    "Brother Ryder," he called out as he entered the police station.

    Ryder heard Shu¡¯s voice.

    "Wait here. I¡¯ll be right back, and we will go home," Ryder told Alice as he rubbed her cheeks gently and left her behind.

    "Where¡¯s thewyer?" Ryder asked as he saw Shu.

    "He ising. He should be at the judge¡¯s house getting the bail papers ready," Shu replied.

    Ryder stepped back and forth as he waited for thewyer to arrive.

    "Can you tell me what exactly happened?" Shu asked Ryder.

    Ryder described everything that Alice had told him.

    "What the f*ck? It¡¯s his daughter who¡¯s clearly at fault here. How can someone be that corrupt!" Shu cursed out loud.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. Also, I¡¯m going to sue the police for falsely arresting my sister without checking the facts as for the Dean; I¡¯ll see him myself," Ryder muttered.

    "Are you really going to sue the police force?" Shu asked him.

    "Yup. They handled this whole matter wrong. Without checking the condition of the other party properly, they charged my sister with the grave offense of battery and assault when it was just a light p. Secondly, they didn¡¯t allow her to call her family to inform them. If I hadn¡¯t found out about it, they would¡¯ve kept my sister here without letting her inform anyone," Ryder told Shu.

    "That might work. We can talk to ourwyer when he gets here," Shu muttered as he smiled.

    An SUV stopped before the police station, and a white-haired man stepped out of the car. He looked to be 50-60 years old.

    As he stepped inside, even the cops were surprised.

    "Mr. Zhang? What are you doing here?" The Chief of Police walked out himself to meet thewyer.

    "Is that your familywyer? He seems to hold quite a high position?" Ryder asked Shu as he saw the reaction on everyone¡¯s faces.

    "Yeah, he¡¯s our familywyer, and he has somewhat of a reputation in the city I guess," Shu muttered.

    What he didn¡¯t tell Ryder was that Zhang was one of the bestwyers in the entire country, and he was also the one that handled most of the legal matters of the Dream Corporation.

    "These are the bail papers. Leave the girl known as Alice," Zhang gave the papers to the Police Chief. His strict expressions never left his face.

    The police chiefmanded the officer to release the girl.

    The cell of Alice was opened, and she stepped out. She walked up to Ryder.

    "I¡¯ll go talk to him about Suing the Police. Wait right here," Shu told Ryder before he walked up to Zhang.

    He talked to Zhang about what he and Ryder spoke about.

    "We can do that," Zhang nodded his head as he said.

    "Alright. You can get things ready. Remember, you¡¯re not doing this for the Dream Corporation, but for my friend. Mention his name instead of Dream Corporation so that he gets the money if we win. Prepare ordingly. I want you to win," Shu told Zhang.

    "Yes," Zhang nodded his head.

    Shu walked back to Ryder.

    "He says that it¡¯s possible. He¡¯ll prepare things for you," Shu told him.

    "Good. I want them to pay for what they made my sister go through," Ryder said.

    ¡¯Too bad mypany and other stuff is not set up. I would¡¯ve been drowning in money otherwise,¡¯ Ryder thought as he sighed.

    They walked out of the Station. Zhang got in his car and left.

    Alice also sat on the passenger seat of Ryder¡¯s Whirlwind.

    Ryder and Shu were standing outside, talking.

 Chapter 112 Its Raining Missions

    <h4>Chapter 112: It''s Raining Missions</h4>

    "How are you going to deal with the Dean?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "I¡¯ll go to his office and talk to him like an adult," Ryder smilingly said.

    "How is that going to do anything?" Shu asked with a confused look on his face.

    "I can help you with it if you need it," he added.

    "Nah, it¡¯s fine. I have a n," Ryder muttered.

    "Alright. I won¡¯t do anything then. I¡¯m quite interested in how you deal with it, though. Be sure to tell meter," Shu said.

    "Oh, right, I forgot to thank you for helping me. I don¡¯t know anywyer in the city. You really helped me get it done faster," Ryder thanked Shu.

    "It¡¯s alright, bro. Don¡¯t worry about it," Shu said smilingly.

    "How¡¯s your leveling up going?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "That¡¯s, ah, I haven¡¯t gone hunting yet. I¡¯ll go tonight and officially begin the grinding," Shu said with an embarrassed look on his face.

    "Yeah, I don¡¯t want you to die on our first try because I¡¯ll definitelyplete the mission, and I don¡¯t want you to miss out on the experience and rewards because you were killed," Ryder chuckled as he ced his hand on Shu¡¯s shoulders.

    "Don¡¯t underestimate me. I¡¯ll definitely show you how great this Big Daddy is! Everyone in the game will know my name," Shu pumped up his chest and said.

    "I¡¯m sure there wille a day like that," Ryderughed out loud.

    "Anyway, I¡¯ll take Alice home. See youter," Ryder told Shu before he entered his Car. Shu also went to his car, and they went their separate ways.

    "Dean Greyson, I know about your actions, but as I promised, I won¡¯t do anything. I¡¯m quite curious about what you¡¯re going to face," Shu chuckled as he drove his car towards his Mansion.

    As he entered his mansion, his butler walked up to him.

    "Master Maxwell, you again left without telling me! The helicopter is waiting on the helipad for an hour already. We¡¯re going to bete for the meeting," the Butler said to him.

    "Yeah, I had to do something important. Let me get fresh; I¡¯ll be right there. Tell the pilot to keep things ready," Shu said as he walked to his room.

    Ryder was driving Alice back home when he heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    [ Ding... A Main Mission has been issued to the host.

    Mission: Help the Spirit get its revenge

    Reward: The Spirit will be your servant and do anything for you

    Punishment for failure: The spirit will be able to leave the building, and thousands of people will die including Alice

    Time Limit: 1 month]

    [Ding... A Sub- Mission has been issued to the host.

    Mission: Make the Dean¡¯s Daughter apologize to Alice in front of the Whole University

    Reward: A clue about your parents¡¯ death

    Punishment for Failure: Dean¡¯s Daughter will destroy the reputation of Alice

    Time Limit: 3 Days]

    [Ding... A Sub- Mission has been issued.

    Mission: Take Esmi on a date and make her tell you a secret without asking for it

    Reward: 50 Origin Points

    Punishment for failure: A bad rumor will spread about you in the whole city

    Time Limit: 1 Week]

    [Ding... The 3rd mission from the Chain Mission has been issued.

    Mission: Find the heir of a cultivation family before Bastion is killed

    Reward 1: 200 Origin Points

    Reward 2: 500 Experience Points in real world

    Reward 3: Mystery Box

    Punishment For failure 1: Bastion will die

    Punishment For Failure 2: Alice will die

    Punishment For Failure 3: You will lose yourpany

    Time Limit: Two Months]

    One after another, Ryder got four quests. He was so shocked that he had to stop the car on the side so that he could understand the missions.

    ¡¯The first mission is the main mission, so I have to do it. It looks like I have no choice about it, but it didn¡¯t say that I have to kill anyone. Let¡¯s see if I can get his revenge and how,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at the first mission.

    ¡¯The second mission is somewhatplicated but not impossible. What¡¯s with the reward, though? A clue about our parents¡¯ death? Is it something about the truck driver that hit their car? He¡¯s still not found yet, so it might be that,¡¯ Ryder¡¯s frown hit deeper as he saw the second mission.

    ¡¯Third mission about Esmi, it shouldn¡¯t be tough either. The punishment is bizarre, though, a rumor about me?¡¯ Ryder thought as a wry smile formed on his face.

    ¡¯The biggest problem is the 4th mission. How can I find a cultivator in this ce? I thought that they only existed in fantasy novels. I didn¡¯t even know that they existed before I got this mission. Apparently, they¡¯re doing a really great job hiding,¡¯

    He ultimately sighed as he saw all the punishments.

    It was like Janus had thrown all the mission backlogs at him all at once.

    "What happened?" Alice asked as she looked towards Ryder in concern.

    "Oh, it¡¯s nothing," Ryder muttered as he closed the mission screen and started the car again.

    "Let¡¯s go eat something. You don¡¯t need to cook today," Ryder told Alice as he stopped the car before a small restaurant.

    Alice and Ryder stepped out of the car. They went inside the restaurant and ate before they walked back to the car.

    They got back home and entered their house.

    "So much happened today. Just rest, alright? There¡¯s no need for you to go to University tomorrow. I¡¯ll go talk to them myself," Ryder said to Alice.

    Alice looked towards Ryder and slowly walked up to him.

    She hugged him tightly.

    "Thank you," She said.

    The peaceful hugsted for over 5 minutes before she freed Ryder and entered her room.

    "I¡¯ll definitely make them regret what they did," Ryder muttered as he asked back to his room.

    Heid on the bed and wore the Divinity sses.

    He woke up in the Royal Pce of the Demon Realm.

    Ryder stepped out of his room and went to the practice hall, where Rale was practicing.

    "Good morning, Your Highness," Rale greeted Ryder.

    "Good Morning. Come with me. I need you to trante what I talked to you about," Ryder told Rale.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale said.

    He walked out of the Practice Hall and followed Ryder to the Royal Library.

    There was a table at the center and chairs ced around it.

    Ryder sat on one of the chairs and brought the book out of his storage space.

    "This is the book. Don¡¯t stand, just sit beside me," Ryder told Rale, who was standing beside him.

    Rale followed themand and sat on the chair near him.

 Chapter 113 The Crazy Hobbit

    <h4>Chapter 113: The Crazy Hobbit</h4>

    "You can start reading it. This book only has 20 pages, so it shouldn¡¯t take long," Ryder said to Rale.

    Ryder ced the book between him and Rale and opened the first page.

    Rale started reading the words and frowned.

    "It says Book of Mysteries. It should be the title,"

    Ryder nodded his head in approval.

    "That¡¯s right. That is the book title. Does this name remind you of something? Have you heard of it before?" Ryder asked.

    Rale nodded his head as he remembered the lore that he had heard.

    "I¡¯ve heard about the book. This should be written by the Ancient Hobbit Greenwitch. He was said to be the most unorthodox Hobbit who was obsessed with mysteries,"

    "He spent all his life in search. What was he searching for? No one knows. It was said that his search never stopped. Throughout his life, he wrote seven books. All of those books were called the Book of Mysteries. He died in his old age," Rale said.

    Ryder was visibly confused.

    "A Hobbit who wrote books and explored? Is that strange? Why is he so famous that even you know about him?" Ryder asked.

    "He wasn¡¯t famous before. In fact, even in his own Hobbit n, he was considered a crazy man who wasted his life like a crazy person. Even though Greenwitch always talked about his seven books, no one was interested in it even after he died,"

    "His house was sold to another Ancient Hobbit Ska. The Hobbit Ska found one of the seven books written by Greenwitch, and out of his boredom, he started reading it. The more he read, the more shocked he became. He tried looking for other six books, but he didn¡¯t find them,"

    "Ska left the town. Ska¡¯s destiny seemed to have changed because of the book. He was not the richest or the most powerful, but in less than six months, he entirely changed. When he came back, he was the strongest Ancient Hobbit. In fact, he even challenged their n Leader and won. To this day, Ska is considered to be the strongest Hobbit Leader who wasn¡¯t weaker than the Elf King of that time," Rale exined.

    "Ska grew old. On his deathbed, he finally talked about it. He gave all the credits of whatever he achieved in his life to Greenwitch and his book. Since that day, the Book of Mysteries, written by Ancient Hobbit Greenwitch, has be the stuff of legends. I can¡¯t believe that I have something like that in front of me right now," he added.

    "Interesting. This might be useful in a sense," Ryder muttered as he looked towards the book.

    Ryder turned the page.

    "You can start reading," he said.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale responded and started reading.

    "It¡¯s the 3rd day of Eres Year. I¡¯m going to the Valley of Wandering Souls. The rumors that I have heard sound really credible. I really hope that I will find what I¡¯m looking for,"

    Rale started reading, and he kept turning the page after he finished reading the pages.

    "It¡¯s my 200th day in the Valley of Wandering Souls, and I finally saw it. It¡¯s not what I came looking for, but It¡¯s still as incredible as it can get¡ªthe Guardian of the Pearl. I see the pearl in its hand, but I can¡¯t take it. It¡¯s more powerful than anything I¡¯ve seen before..."

    "... I managed to steal the pearl, and it¡¯s uses are amazing. It¡¯s definitely a treasure that fell to ournd from the realm of gods. I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m holding it in my hands..."

    "... the guardian is here. He¡¯s not alone. I guess this is as far as I can go with the pearl. I will have to return it. This trip was really worthwhile,"

    Rale finished reading the book and closed it.

    ¡¯Fascinating. And that has something like that. And I somehow feel that the pearl might be an unsealing fragment. If that¡¯s true, then this book was something I desperately needed,¡¯ Ryder thought as he picked up the book.

    He put the book back in his storage space.

    "Where is the Valley of Wandering Souls? Do you know?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Ah, it¡¯s in the Undead Region," Rale replied.

    Ryder was visibly surprised as he heard Rale¡¯s answer.

    "Undead region? Greenwitch traveled from the mortal world to the Undead Region? He definitely was crazy,"

    "That¡¯s what his peers called him, but now they call him Great Master Greenwitch," Rale said with a wry smile on his face.

    "I want to go to the Undead Region. I need that pearl," Ryder said to Rale.

    "We can go there, but it will be dangerous. As long as we don¡¯t meet the Lich King and the Vampire King, we should be fine, but if we meet them, we will die," Rale said.

    "We will not meet them. We¡¯ll stay near the portal and check the surroundings first. Also, we can disguise ourselves. It wouldn¡¯t be easy for them to find us," Ryder said.

    "If Your Highness said so," Rale nodded his head.

    "Alright. We will go there tomorrow. Take the same team that we had when we went to the Dark Elves Kingdom," Ryder told Rale.

    "I¡¯ll tell them to be ready," Rale said.

    Rale stood up and left the ce.

    Ryder also left the room. He walked to Miyali¡¯s room and opened the door.

    Miyali was sitting on the bed, and her lips were covered in blood.

    Ryder understood that she must have drunk blood.

    Miyali saw Ryder and wiped the blood off her lips.

    "How are you feeling?" Ryder asked her.

    "I¡¯m fine," Miyali replied.

    "Are you? Didn¡¯t you say that you only have to drink blood once every two weeks? It¡¯s just the 2nd day," Ryder asked as he looked at her with a questioning gaze.

    "I..." Miyali struggled to find words to respond.

    "It¡¯s alright. I guess the blood is not what you need, but it¡¯s what you desire. It must be pretty lucrative for a vampire. Anyway, it¡¯s fine as long as it¡¯s monster blood, but try to self-control, alright?" he told Miyali.

    Miyali nodded her head like an innocent child who was epting her mistake.

    "That¡¯s like a good girl. If you want to go to the city, you can go there too. Just tell Miku before you leave. She¡¯ll assign a guard with you. Just make sure that your eyes aren¡¯t a deeper shade of red. It might cause unrest amongst people," he added.

    "Yes," Miyali said.

    "Also, you said that you don¡¯t know much about your father. Do you really have no clue about him?" Ryder asked her.

 Chapter 114 Nightmares to this day

    <h4>Chapter 114: Nightmares to this day</h4>

    Miyali shook her head as she looked towards her feet.

    "I don¡¯t know anything about him, but I have something that I was told was given to my mother by my father,"

    "What¡¯s that?" Ryder asked.

    Miyali was wearing a long gown. She pulled it slightly upwards and showed Ryder the golden ankle bracelet she was wearing.

    "It was a gift to my mother by my father when they first met," she told him.

    "So there¡¯s no way for you to recognize your father even if he was still alive, is there?" Ryder inquired.

    Miyali shook her head.

    "Why are you asking that? Is there something you know about?" She inquired.

    "Nope, I was just casually asking. I have a few people in the Undead Region. I was just wondering if I could somehow help you to meet your father," Ryder said to her.

    ¡¯It would¡¯ve been great if there was a way to find her father. Her father is from the High Undead Vampire Species. If I help a father and daughter meet, then it might spark some goodwill between the Demon Realm and the Undead Region. Also, Miyali would¡¯ve gotten to meet her father,¡¯ he thought.

    Miyali looked towards Ryder with surprise clearly written on her face. She started smiling, but her smile was mncholic.

    "It¡¯s alright. I don¡¯t want to meet the father that abandoned me," she said.

    "You really don¡¯t care about him? Why are you still wearing the ankle bracelet that belongs to him," Ryder asked. He clearly didn¡¯t believe her.

    "Because it¡¯s the only memory of my mother that I have," Miyali replied as she looked towards her ankle bracelet.

    "Oh, right. I didn¡¯t consider that. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to meet him. I won¡¯t raise this matter again," Ryder said.

    "Also, I¡¯ll be going out soon. It might take days or weeks. I¡¯ve told Miku, and she should handle everything rted to you. You¡¯ll get a beast every four days. Try to drink blood in control, though. If you can¡¯t control it, tell her, she will bring more," he added.

    He left her room.

    He was walking towards his room when he met Miku.

    "Your Highness, I finally found you. High Duke Oris is here to meet you," Miku informed him.

    "Oh? Alright,"

    Ryder started walking towards the throne room.

    As he got there, he found High Duke Oris sitting on the seat beside the main throne. His seat was slightly lower than the main throne.

    "Prince Hades, Why are you standing there? Come sit on your throne," High Duke Oris said.

    Ryder smiled as he walked towards the main throne and sat on it like a Ruler.

    "What brought you here, High Duke?" Ryder asked High Duke Oris.

    "I just came here to check up on you and see how you are doing," High Duke Oris said.

    "I¡¯m doing great. Thanks for asking," Ryder replied.

    "I heard that you hadn¡¯t left the Royal Pce since the coronation. Don¡¯t you want to roam around yournd?" High Duke Oris inquired.

    "I want to, but I¡¯ve been swampedtely," Ryder answered.

    "Busy in what? You don¡¯t have to tell me if it¡¯s anything personal like that," High Duke Oris said.

    "It¡¯s nothing like that. I¡¯ve just been training so that I can be capable enough ofpleting the Kingship Trial as fast as I can," Ryder responded.

    "That¡¯s no hurry. Training and love shouldn¡¯t ever be done in haste otherwise since regrets might be left behind," High Duke Oris said.

    "Oh, right. That reminded me of something. It¡¯s my 4000th birthday after 20 days. I would like to invite you to the celebration. It would be great if you cane. I¡¯ll send an official invitation a few days before the birthday," he added.

    Ryder looked towards High Duke Oris in surprise.

    "You are 4000 years old? And you still celebrate birthdays?" he asked.

    "I don¡¯t want to celebrate birthdays, but my granddaughter makes me celebrate it. I can¡¯t deny her, can I? What can I say, this Old Man can win against anyone, but not against his family," High Duke Oris said as he startedughing.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll try my best to attend it," Ryder said.

    He didn¡¯t promise High Duke Oris as he wasn¡¯t sure if he would be back by that time or not.

    "That would be great. I¡¯ll take my leave then," High Duke Oris said as he stood up.

    Ryder stood up as well and walked to the door with him.

    "You know, I¡¯m so d that you came here. I had lost hope after His Majesty didn¡¯t appear. Your arrival again burnt that hope brightly. I can see a glimpse of His Majesty in you. I¡¯m sure our Demon Realm will only be stronger with time under your leadership," High Duke Oris said before he flew away.

    ¡¯A glimpse of Salem in me? I don¡¯t know how he was, but he sure sounds like a nice person if so many people love him,¡¯ Ryder thought as he watched High Duke Oris disappear into the horizon.

    He walked back inside and went back to his room.

    He closed the door andid on his bed.

    Ryder logged out and found himself back in the real world.

    He took off the Divinity sses and looked at the clock. It was 7 am.

    He got off the bed and went for a shower. After getting ready, he left his room and walked towards the kitchen.

    "Why are you up today? You don¡¯t need to go to University today," Ryder said as he saw Alice preparing breakfast.

    "I¡¯m not going. I woke up to prepare breakfast for you," Alice replied.

    "Rest for one day. You know I can cook," Ryder told her.

    Alice looked at him and startedughing.

    "Your cooking? Don¡¯t remind me. I have nightmares about that till this day," she said.

    "Hey, I ate that too. It was not that bad," Ryder insisted.

    "Let¡¯s agree to disagree," Alice chuckled as she served breakfast on the table.

    "You just don¡¯t appreciate my talent," Ryder muttered as he started eating.

    "Are you going to University?" Alice asked Ryder as he finished eating.

    "Yup. I need to meet your Dean," Ryder replied.

    "Don¡¯t do anything inappropriate, alright. The Dean has a high reach in the police. I don¡¯t want you to be arrested like I was," Alice said.

    "Don¡¯t worry. He won¡¯t dare to do anything," Ryder said with an amused smile on his face as he left the house.

    Ryder got in his Whirlwind, which drove off towards the University of Dreamers.

    "Mr. Dean, you used your power and reach on my Sister, let me give you a dose of my Powers," Ryder muttered.

 Chapter 115 Deans Punishment

    <h4>Chapter 115: Dean''s Punishment</h4>

    Ryder¡¯s car raced through the city and reached the University of Dreamers campus in almost no time.

    Ryder didn¡¯t get out of the car, though, and stayed inside as he looked ahead at the campus of the University of Dreamers.

    "Janus, Open Store. I need to get some things," Ryder muttered with a smile on his face.

    A screen opened in front of him that listed all the items that Ryder was allowed to buy.

    "There it is," he muttered as he selected an item.

    [The host doesn¡¯t have enough Origin Points to buy it] Janus replied.

    "I know I don¡¯t have enough points, but I do remember that you talked about a loan. That¡¯s what I¡¯m doing right now. Give me the Origin Points on loan," Ryder said.

    Janus agreed as he had once told Ryder that Ryder could take a loan of up to 500 Origin Points once.

    Ryder received the item. He selected another Item as well while he was at it.

    After getting what he needed, he got out of the car under the curious eyes of the campus students. He stepped towards the administrative building.

    After asking around, he found his way to the Dean¡¯s room.

    Ryder knocked on the door of the Dean¡¯s Room.

    "I¡¯m busy right now," the Dean¡¯s voice came from the other side of the door.

    Ryder still opened the door and entered inside.

    "Who are you? Didn¡¯t you hear that I¡¯m busy right now?"

    Ryder saw a big guy sitting on the chair, eating French fries. The person looked to be 40-50 years old and had no hair on his head.

    "I heard that you are busy, but you should listen to me first. You can continue your important meeting with your French Friester," Ryder said as he closed the door behind him.

    He walked closer to the Dean and sat on the chair in front of him.

    "Don¡¯t you have manners? Did you ask permission to sit?" The Dean scolded Ryder as he stood up.

    "Shut the hell and sit down," Ryder replied in a carefree tone.

    "Security!" The Dean called the security, but there was no response.

    He pressed the button on his table, but he didn¡¯t hear any sound.

    "Looks like your hearing is weak," Ryder muttered as he stood up. He walked to the Dean.

    "You! Don¡¯t do anything you¡¯ll regret. I have a CCTV in my office. I¡¯ll have you arrested for life!" The Dean said as he stepped back, but Ryder simply startedughing.

    "Just like how you got my sister arrested? I would like to see how you do that. Go ahead. Call the police," Ryder told him as he folded his arms and started watching the Dean with an amused smile on his face.

    The Dean brought his Cell Phone out to call the police, but his phone didn¡¯t turn on. It was as if it was not working.

    "What happened? Did your phone hang? Call from thendline then," Ryder said smilingly.

    The Dean ran to thendline and started dialing the number as he put the receiver near his ears, but there was no sound. It was as if the phone wasn¡¯t working either.

    "Because of you, my sister had to spend time in a fucking prison. You know, how much I want to kill you right now?" Ryder said as he caught the back of Dean¡¯s neck and smashed his head on the table.

    "You will regret it. The CCTV is recording everything! I will destroy your life!" The Dean bellowed.

    "You¡¯re not going to do anything. The CCTV isn¡¯t working either," Ryder chuckled as he smashed the Dean¡¯s head on the table again.

    The Dean was crying in pain.

    "Are you in pain? Is your Jaw fractured as well? Should I call your guardian?" Ryder asked as he pretended to be concerned.

    "Stop! Please stop!" The Dean pleaded with Ryder to stop. His head had swollen after being smashed so many times.

    "When you used your powers and high reach to get my sister arrested, did you think that she had no one behind her? Isn¡¯t that right?"Ryder said as he smashed his head once more.

    The Dean¡¯s eyes were filled with tears by now. He pleaded incessantly.

    Ryder freed him after smashing his head one more time. By now, the Dean¡¯s face was swollen like a pig.

    "Did you learn anything?" Ryder asked him.

    "Y-yes! I won¡¯t do anything like that again!" The Dean said with tears in his eyes.

    "Nope, you didn¡¯t learn anything. I can already see what you¡¯re thinking. You will still use your reach to hurt our small family again. Alright, Take your clothes off," Ryder told the Dean.

    "W-what?" The Dean let out in surprise.

    "I said, take your clothes off!" Ryder said as he kicked the Dean and made him fall down.

    The Dean stood up and started taking his clothes off.

    "That¡¯s enough," Ryder said as he saw the Dean strip down to his underwear.

    He brought a paper out of his pocket and gave it to the Dean.

    "You¡¯re the Dean of this prestigious ce. Your memory should be decent enough. Read the letter and learn it carefully. I want you to speak all that without the paper," Ryder told him.

    The Dean started reading the letter, and his face turned white.

    "I can¡¯t say this! This is a lie!" He let out loud.

    "I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s the truth or the lie. My sister went to prison because of you. If you don¡¯t want to die, then read it otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t mindmitting a murder of a bastard and going to prison," Ryder muttered casually as he brought out a gun and started ying with it.

    It was his licensed gun that he had bought just yesterday.

    "I¡¯m only giving you 5 minutes to learn it," Ryder told the Dean.

    The Dean started sweating as he saw the gun in Ryder¡¯s hands. He started learning the content of the letter.

    "Your 5 minutes are up. Get ready to speak. Oh right, just wait a second. There won¡¯t be any fun without your true face," Ryder smiled as he walked to the Dean.

    He brought out a spray from his pockets and sprayed it on the Dean¡¯s face, which healed his face. The Dean¡¯s face returned to normal.

    "Good. That¡¯s better," Ryder muttered as he walked back to the table.

    Ryder sat on the table and brought his phone out of his pocket as he turned on the recording.

    He gestured for the Dean to speak.

    The Dean started speaking.

    "I am Ray Greyson, the Dean of the University of Dreamers. There is something that I want to confess today. I don¡¯t think I can hide it anymore,"

 Chapter 116 Confessions

    <h4>Chapter 116: Confessions</h4>

    While Dean Greyson talked, Ryder recorded with a smile on his face as he pointed the gun at Dean Greyson with his other hand.

    "I have hidden it for so long, but I¡¯m tired now. I am a pervert, and I want the world to know. Myptop is full of hent*i because I love cute anime girls, but that¡¯s not all. I also pass vulgar remarks on girls who happen to be the students of this University. I enjoy doing it,"

    "I also get angry fast. If someone insults my family, I get them arrested using my high reach in the police. It also brings a smile on my face seeing their futures being destroyed,"

    "You might wonder why I¡¯m saying all this. That¡¯s because I don¡¯t care. I know that none of you can do anything against me. I¡¯m the Dean of the University of Dreamers, and my friends are high-rank officers in the police. Even if you retards know it, you won¡¯t achieve shit,"

    "I¡¯ve taken money from rich people to give admissions even if they don¡¯t have valid documents, so I have lots of money. If anyone has a beautiful daughter who is old enough to get married, I wouldn¡¯t mind marrying them. My aim is to have a harem of 20000 girls at least,¡¯

    "Oh right, if anyone has any nice hent*i, forward me some. You can never have too many. Bye suckers," Dean Greyson finished his dialogues.

    Ryder stopped recording.

    "I¡¯ve said everything you wanted. Can you please lower the gun now?" Dean Greyson asked Ryder.

    "That was a good performance, but that¡¯s not all. That¡¯s just a part of it. I¡¯m going to y a song, and I want you to dance on it," Ryder chuckled.

    Dean Greyson wanted to say something, but he ultimately nodded as he saw the gun in Ryder¡¯s hands.

    Ryder started the music, which was used in strip clubs nowadays.

    Dean Greyson danced in the music awkwardly, whereas Ryder recorded it.

    "That¡¯s enough," Ryder said after stopping the recording.

    "That¡¯s enough. Now I can viral this video. I don¡¯t know about others, but the students of this campus are really going to like this one. And who knows, you might get a nice collecting as well," Ryder smiled as he said.

    "Please don¡¯t. I¡¯ll lose all my self-respect and reputation. If the higher-ups find out about this, I might be fired as well. I¡¯ll do anything you want, just don¡¯t do it. Do you want money? I¡¯ll give you money!" Dean Greyson pleaded.

    "Alright. Give me 25 million dors cash," Ryder let out with a smile on his face.

    "25 million? That¡¯s crazy! I don¡¯t have that much!" Dean Greyson bellowed.

    "Very well. I¡¯ll earn from your video then," Ryder chuckled as he raised his phone.

    Dean Greyson started sweating profusely.

    "Wait! I can¡¯t give you 25 million dors, but I can give you 10 million dors cash right this instant," Dean Greyson told Ryder.

    "Alright. Give me," Ryder said.

    "I-its at my home," Dean Greyson said.

    "Cool. Let¡¯s go to your home then. If you try anything against me when we get out of here, your video will be viral before anyone can catch me," Ryder warned him.

    ¡¯I can also rewind time if he does something. Ten million dors is a nice incentive, but it¡¯s not equivalent to my sister¡¯s respect. Don¡¯t think that your punishment will end after giving me money,¡¯ he thought.

    Ryder put the gun back and told the Dean to get dressed.

    Dean Greyson wore his clothes and followed after Ryder. They left the room.

    "Where are you going, sir?" A female teacher asked the Dean as she saw him leave the administrative building, which he rarely left.

    "Mind your own business!" Dean Greyson scolded the woman as he continued walking.

    "My car is outside. We¡¯ll go in that," Ryder told the Dean as he watched him going towards a white car.

    They walked to his Whirlwind and sat inside.

    Ryder started the engine and got the car on the road. Dean Greyson kept telling him directions, whereas Ryder drove ordingly.

    They got to the mansion of Dean Greyson in half an hour. The Mansion was just as big as Esmi¡¯s mansion.

    Dean Greyson entered his Mansion, and Ryder followed after him.

    He found 10 million dors cash for Ryder.

    "I¡¯m really sorry for what I did. Please treat this as my apology. I promise that I will be a better person," Dean Greyson said.

    "Don¡¯t apologize to me. Apologize to my sister. Come with me," Ryder told him as he left the mansion. Dean Greyson walked behind him.

    They got in the car once again, and Ryder took him to his house. Ryder had already told Dean Greyson how he should apologize.

    He knocked on the door, and Alice opened the door.

    Alice was visibly surprised as she saw the Dean of her college standing before her door.

    "W-what is happening?" she asked Ryder, but right at that moment, Dean Greyson dropped to his knees.

    "I am really sorry for what I did. This old man was stupid and a bastard for getting you arrested. You can hit me if you want to, I won¡¯t say anything, but I won¡¯t stand up until you forgive me," Dean Greyson said to Alice as he touched his forehead on the ground.

    Alice looked towards Ryder and saw him smiling. A smile appeared on her face as well.

    "That¡¯s enough. I forgive you," She said.

    "Thank you," Dean Greyson said as he raised his head. He stood up.

    "Do you want him to do anything else?" Ryder asked Alice.

    "No. It¡¯s enough," Alice said.

    "Alright. You can go inside. I¡¯ll handle the rest," Ryder told her.

    Alice entered the house and closed the door.

    "I did all you wanted. You won¡¯t do anything, right?" Dean Greyson asked Ryder.

    "Nope. I won¡¯t do anything more to you than I already did," Ryder smilingly said.

    "Ah, can you take me back to campus then?" Dean Greyson asked.

    "You¡¯re rich. Get an Uber," Ryder said before he opened the door and entered the house, leaving the Dean behind.

    The Dean walked away with a tired look on his face.

    ¡¯I won¡¯t do anything bad other than what I already did, but you don¡¯t know what I did yet,¡¯ Ryder thought with a smile on his face as he stood behind the door.

    He looked at the spray that he had used to heal Dean Greyson¡¯s wounds.

    ¡¯Such an incredible item but such horrible side effects. I wonder how vivid his expressions will be when he finds out that his weapon is useless now,¡¯ Ryder thought as he walked towards the kitchen.

 Chapter 117 Missing Bodies

    <h4>Chapter 117: Missing Bodies</h4>

    "How did you do it?" Alice asked Ryder as soon as he entered the kitchen.

    Ryder pumped up his chest and stood proudly as he replied to her.

    "Did you doubt my words. You might not know it, but I¡¯m low key a Mafia don," Ryder joked around.

    "Is that how you got all that money?" Alice red at him. She didn¡¯t understand that he was joking.

    "Hey, I¡¯m kidding. Why do you take it so seriously? I have no rtion to... I mean I¡¯m not a Mafia don or a gang member,"

    He was about to say that he had no rtion to any mafia or underworld group, but he remembered Esmi and changed his words.

    "Then how did you get the Dean toe ask for forgiveness?" She asked.

    "It¡¯s not that strange. When I went there, I saw him having private time with his secretary. He was scared and started begging me not to expose him. You can imagine what happened next," he said with an innocent smile on his face.

    "Really? That was quite lucky that you managed to see them together. I guess I can understand, though. He would be ashamed if someone found out that he had an affair with his 60-year-old secretary," Alice said as she thought about it.

    "Exactly," Ryder smiled.

    "You can go to college without any worries. He won¡¯t do anything. In fact, you can do anything in University now," he added.

    "Thank you for that," she said as she stepped towards Ryder and hugged him tightly.

    "Don¡¯t say thanks. It makes me feel like I¡¯m an outsider," Ryder muttered as he hugged her back.

    She freed him shortly and went back to her ce.

    "Just wait a second. Lunch will be ready in a few minutes,"

    Ryder nodded and sat on the dinner table as he took out his phone and started going through his news feed.

    "The Basketball Knights won the National Basketball Championship for the 3rd time in a row,"

    "Actress Jiah Malkova won the best actress award for her praiseworthy role in the movie, ¡¯Friday Love in the Wind¡¯. The wholemunity congratted her,"

    "The mystery of disappearing bodies continues. ording to expert¡¯s, ten dead bodies went missing from various graveyards this week,"

    Thest news attracted Ryder¡¯s attention, and he clicked on the headline to open the page.

    "This morning, the grave keeper of Oarkinson Graveyard noticed something strange. One of the bodies from the ce had gone missing, and only a human-shaped hole was left behind in the ground. This is not the first time this has happened. This is the 10th case, like this of the week. This year alone, hundreds of bodies have gone missing from all over the country,"

    "The authorities are searching for the culprit, but there is no clue at the moment. Mr. Hatch Hutchinson, the Officer handling this case, said that this thing is unprecedented. Although he refused to give any details, he talked about how they believe it to be the work of a big organization as the cases seem to be appearing all over the country,"

    Ryder read the news before closing the page.

    ¡¯Stealing the dead? Why would someone do that? If they wanted dead bodies, they could¡¯ve taken all the bodies from the same ce. Why take ten bodies from 10 different states,¡¯ Ryder though.

    "Criminals are weird," He muttered as he shook his head.

    "Did you say something?" Alice asked as she looked back.

    "Nothing. I didn¡¯t say anything," Ryder replied.

    Alice prepared the lunch and ced that on the table before she sat beside him.

    "Looks delicious," Ryderplimented.

    Alice smiled at thepliment. Her smile attracted Ryder¡¯s attention.

    "I should learn some jokes," Ryder let out as he nced at her.

    "Why?" Alice inquired.

    "So that I could make you smile. You look so beautiful when you smile," Ryder said to her.

    Alice¡¯s face turned red as she heard Ryder talk about it.

    "Do I really?" Alice asked.

    "Of course. Every time I see your smile, I feel like just watching you smile for eternity wouldn¡¯t be so bad," Ryder answered.

    "I feel the same when you smile. I feel jealous of the girl that will be your wife," Alice muttered in an almost inaudible voice, but Ryder managed to hear her.

    "How about you be my wife then? We are already together, nothing much would change," Ryder chuckled as he said.

    "Don¡¯t talk while eating," Alice said as she looked away from Ruder, hiding her red face. Her heart was beating faster as she thought about Ryder¡¯s words.

    Ryder smiled wryly as he started eating.

    Alice had finished faster, and she had already gone to her room.

    She was lying on her bed as she hid her face in a pillow.

    "Why am I thinking so much about it. Of course, he was joking," She muttered.

    After a long time, she managed to calm down.

    Ryder also finished eating and went to his room.

    "I¡¯m so stupid. Why did I say it? I hope she won¡¯t find me weird for saying that," he muttered as he walked to the shower.

    He came out after he finished his shower and got dressed.

    He sat in the bed and ced the briefcase that was given to him by Dean Greyson on the table.

    "Now I have 17 million dors, including it. The lottery results will be announced in 2 days, and I¡¯ll get 10 million dors from there. That will make it 27 million dors. I can get all the equipment I need with it and establish the operations, and I¡¯ll still have money left. Finally, things are falling in ce," Ryder let out.

    "Next month, the Estaragon Limited will sell its shares cheaply to save themselves from bankruptcy, but no one will buy them as they have lost the trust of people on their business. I know, though, It is all just temporary. As soon as I get the majority shares, the next stage of my n will beplete as well," he added.

    Ryder put the bag filled with money in his storage space.

    "It might take some time, but I will definitely make Divine Corporation the biggest conglomerate in the whole world," he muttered as heid down on the bed.

    He rested for half an hour before he left the house and got in his car.

    The Car¡¯s engine silently started. Ryder took the car on the highway and raced it towards his destination.

    After a brief moment, he got to his destination, which was the Bucky¡¯s Club. He parked his car near Esmi¡¯s car.

 Chapter 118 Ill go to prison

    <h4>Chapter 118: I''ll go to prison</h4>

    Ryder stepped out of the car and walked towards the club.

    The guards recognized him and allowed him entry without any trouble.

    Even though the guards didn¡¯t say anything, another person was there that did. Mark went to Ryder as soon as he saw him.

    "You! What did you do to mest time? I don¡¯t remember anything after I met you and people said that I was behaving like a child!" he said.

    "Me? What could I have done? I saw you behave strangely and thought that you were drunk. I left," Ryder said with a wry smile on his face.

    "Anyway, I¡¯m here to meet your boss. I¡¯ll talk to youter," he added as he walked towards Esmi¡¯s room and left Mark behind.

    Mark stood there, confused as he watched Ryder¡¯s back.

    Ryder knocked on the door of Esmi¡¯s office.

    Esmi called out from the other side of the door.

    "Come in,"

    Ryder opened the door and entered.

    "It¡¯s you. I must say, I like this surprise," Esmi smiled as she stood up.

    Ryder walked closer to her and sat on the table, right in front of her.

    "Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about something,"

    "You already know, you can ask me anything," Esmi told Ryder as she sat down as well.

    "Would you be interested in going out with me? Tomorrow is Sunday, and I wanted to take you out," Ryder informed her.

    "You mean you want me to go on a date with you? I ept," Esmi replied without even taking a second to think about it.

    "That¡¯s great. I¡¯ll send you the detailster," Ryder let out as he stood up and turned back to leave, but Esmi stopped him.

    "Hey, are you going to leave just like that? Not even going to kiss me?" Esmi called out.

    Ryder stopped as he turned back. He walked towards Esmi and bent forward as he gave her a light kiss.

    "See you tomorrow," he said, smiling. Ryder left her office.

    "See you tomorrow, darling," Esmi muttered as she got back to her work.

    Ryder left the Club. He was walking towards his car when he saw another car stop near his car.

    A man came out of the car, dressed in a luxurious ck coat. A woman also stepped out of the car as well.

    The man was the same person that had met Ryder when he was meeting Shu. He insulted Shu, and it resulted in him losing his position. Even to this day, he didn¡¯t understand what he did wrong.

    "That bastard fatty. What does he have that I don¡¯t? Why did the management demote me and give my position of General Manager of the Marketing Division to the fatty," Jason cursed as he stepped out of the Car.

    "Calm down, babe. I¡¯m sure you will get your position back. There should be no one more suited for that position other than you," the Girlforted him.

    "I hope so," Jason muttered. He walked towards the club when he noticed Rydering towards him.

    "Hey, Ryder. You missed the Reunion again. I must tell you that you¡¯re stupid. Never be friends with someone like a fatty. They eat jobs of deserving candidates like me," Jasonined.

    Ryder ignored him and walked towards his car.

    "You dare ignore me?! First, that fatty became the GM and acted all smug, and now you?! Don¡¯t be arrogant! You¡¯re nothing. I can bring you to ruins. You have a sister as well, right? If you don¡¯t lose some of that arrogance, you both might regret it. Listen to my advice and control that arrogance of yours. It only suits people like me," Jason said to him.

    Ryder stopped in his tracks and looked back.

    "I warned youst time, didn¡¯t I?" Ryder muttered as he walked towards him.

    Jason just stared at him when Ryder kicked him in the guts, making him drop down to his knees.

    "I¡¯m not your servant, so I won¡¯t listen to your insults. Stop thinking that you¡¯re some big shit before you lose your life," Ryder told him as he looked down at him.

    "You hit me!" Jason eximed as he touched his stomach that was hurting like crazy.

    "Oh, right. I think I know people like you quite well, so let me teach you in a manner in which you¡¯ll understand," Ryder let out as he brought his gun out and pointed towards Jason.

    As soon as the gun was pointed at him, Jason started sweating like crazy. His shivering became uncontroble as his face lost all his color.

    "Next time you see me, stay away from me. I don¡¯t want you within 500-meter proximity of my family and me; otherwise, I¡¯ll go to jail, and you¡¯ll go to God," Ryder said to the man before he stood up.

    He looked towards the girl that was with Jason.

    "I know he¡¯s rich, but you can find a better man," he told the girl before he walked away.

    Ryder entered his car and drove away.

    It was 2 in the afternoon when Ryder got back home. He walked back to his room.

    "Tomorrow¡¯s Sunday; I canplete my mission for the date with Esmi. Then I canplete the second Quest by making that girl apologize when the university opens on Monday. It sucks to get so many Missions at the same time. There will be two more missions left after that, but I can at least take my time doing those," he muttered.

    "The only worrisome thing is finding someone from a cultivation family. I¡¯ve searched every corner of the inte, but the only thing I found about the cultivation families is those fantasy stories," Ryder muttered as he threw the phone on the bed. He himselfid down on the bed as he closed his eyes.

    He didn¡¯t do anything for the next hour and just rested in the silence of the room before he ultimately fell asleep.

    As he was sleeping, his mind was showing him a really nice dream where he was married to Alice. They even had a son, and Ryder taught him baseball.

    He woke up at the sound of knocking on the door.

    "Such a sweet dream," Ryder muttered as he opened his eyes. He sat up as he walked up to the door.

    Opening the door, he saw Alice standing outside.

    "Were you sleeping? The dinner is ready," Alice told him.

    "Right. Let¡¯s have dinner," Ryder smiled as he stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him.

    On the dinner table, they ate in silence before Alice asked him a question.

    "Do you still use Hades in all your games?"

    "Yeah," Ryder said as he smiled wryly.

 Chapter 119 Exp In Real World

    <h4>Chapter 119: Exp In Real World</h4>

    "I read about Divinity online. It seems like a fascinating ce. How¡¯s your adventure inside going?" She inquired.

    "It¡¯s going better than I expected. Still, if I could, I wouldn¡¯t be ying it," Ryder said.

    "Why? From what I¡¯ve seen, you were so excited about the game before it was released. What changed?" she inquired as her curiosity peaked.

    "Too many things happened. It¡¯splicated, but there¡¯s clearly something wrong with the game. I don¡¯t know how or why, but it doesn¡¯t feel like a game anymore," Ryder let out softly.

    "Isn¡¯t that a good thing? I don¡¯t know much about games, but that just means that the game is more realistic," Alice chimed in her opinion.

    "It¡¯s just a little too realistic forfort," Ryder muttered.

    "Anyway, You will graduate in a year. What are you nning to do next?" Ryder asked.

    Even though he knew what her n was, he realized that he wouldn¡¯t be able to exin how he knew about it if he talked about that.

    "I don¡¯t have anything for sure yet, but I¡¯ve been thinking about continuing my studies. I might apply in a bunch of universities for a schrship, and we¡¯ll see how it goes," Alice said.

    "You don¡¯t need to worry about schrships. I¡¯m well enough to pay the fees. Also, the universities in the country seem great. Don¡¯t apply for foreign universities, alright?" Ryder told her.

    "Well, I¡¯ve heard of the great reputation of China¡¯s Tsinghua University. I was thinking of applying there as well. There are universitiesparable to that when ites to literature in America as well, but getting schrships in them is really hard, and the fees are outright terrible," She replied as she thought about it.

    "Nope, The fees are perfectly fine. Don¡¯t make a decision based on fees. Just focus on studies and choose the best University in our country. I¡¯ll handle the rest," Ryder said.

    He remembered thatst time Alice had gone to China as she received a schrship from there. He didn¡¯t want her to leave now that he was in the right spot financially.

    "If that¡¯s what you want, then I won¡¯t apply for foreign universities," Alice nodded her head.

    "That¡¯s better," Ryder smiled as he continued dinner.

    "Thanks for the food. It was tasty like always,"

    After finishing up, he stood up and went back to his room.

    "Janus? Now that I think about it, you still haven¡¯t exined to me how I can gain experience in real life and increase my strength. Are you going to tell me or let the opportunity go to waste," Ryder asked.

    "The experience can be gained when the host defeats the ones that attack him," Janus replied.

    "Defeat the ones that attack me? You mean I have to beat the guys, and I will only gain exp if they were the ones that attacked me first?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yes. You will gain experience when you do that, and your level in this world will increase ordingly," Janus said.

    "That¡¯s an interesting concept. Will it still work if I make them attack me or only if they attack me without me trying to make them attack me?" Ryder asked again.

    "As long as they attack you, everything is valid, but if you attacked them first, and then they attacked you, it won¡¯t count," Janus replied.

    "That means I can use some loopholes. I should start leveling up in the real world too," Ryder let out as he picked his Divinity sses.

    "Oh right, I also wanted to ask you something, but I forgot. I saw a vision-like thing when I was giving the speech on my coronation. Do you have any idea what that was?" Ryder inquired.

    "I do, but I can¡¯t tell you," Janus responded.

    "Why not? What are you afraid of? Aren¡¯t you the Godly system that can do anything?" Ryder asked in curiosity.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    "Alright. Don¡¯t answer me," Ryder snorted as he wore the sses.

    "Take me to Divinity," He said.

    Ryder found himself in his bed in the Demon Realm.

    He sat up and left his room. Miku was standing outside his room.

    "Your Highness, You¡¯re up. Someone is here to meet you," She informed Ryder.

    "Who is it this time?" Ryder inquired.

    "It¡¯s the Granddaughter of High Duke Oris," Miku said.

    "His granddaughter? What is she doing here? Could it be that she brought me the invitation letter for her Grandfather¡¯s birthday? This is too fast," Ryder muttered as he went towards the throne room with Miku.

    As he got there, he saw a girl standing there. Her back was facing him. Ryder could even see her hair as shiny as the moon itself. She also looked tall. She seemed to be of the same height as Ryder. She wore a beautiful white dress.

    Ryder didn¡¯t say anything and continued walking. The sound of his footsteps attracted the attention of the girl who turned back to look at him.

    Ryder finally saw her face. She had deep ck eyes simr to her grandfather. Even though she looked beautiful, Ryder didn¡¯t nce at her much and continued walking as he passed by her.

    Without looking back, he walked to the throne.

    ¡¯Have to maintain my dignity,¡¯ he thought as he stopped right before the throne. He turned back and sat on the throne like a King who ruled thend.

    "Who are you?" Ryder finally said something as he asked a question, the answer of which he knew.

    The girl gracefully bowed before him as she started speaking.

    "Greetings Your Highness, I¡¯m Felina, the granddaughter of High Duke Oris.

    "What brings you here?" Ryder inquired.

    "I came here to invite Your Highness for the birthday celebration of my grandfather," She said.

    "I heard about that. High Duke Oris talked about his birthday. But isn¡¯t it too soon to distribute invitations? He said that he would send me one a few days before the event," Ryder asked.

    "I¡¯m sure he said that, but it¡¯s the first invitation we made. I thought that it would be better if we gave the first invitation to Your Highness as soon as we can," Felina told Ryder.

    "Alright. I ept the invitation," Ryder said. He tried to keep his voice asmanding as he could during the conversation.

    He extended his hands towards Felina, who walked closer to him.

    The invitation was as small as a small coin, which seemed to be the tradition here. She gave the invitation to Ryder. Their fingers touched in unintentionally, but Ryder acted as if it wasn¡¯t a big deal. There was no change in his expressions.

    "I¡¯m done here; I¡¯ll take my leave, Your Highness," She said.

    "Alright. You can go," Ryder let out.

    Felina turned back and walked towards the exit. Ryder finally rxed his expressions as he watched her back.

 Chapter 120 Well be killed

    <h4>Chapter 120: We''ll be killed</h4>

    ¡¯She¡¯s definitely pretty. I would never have thought that High Duke Oris¡¯ daughter would look like that,¡¯ Ryder thought. Eventually, Felina walked out of the Throne Room and disappeared from his vision.

    Ryder nced at the invitation and observed it. The invitation seemed like a coin that had High Duke Oris¡¯ picture on one side and his birthday on the other side.

    "Where is Rale?" Ryder asked Miku.

    "Master Rale is in the training room like always," Miku replied.

    "I like how he¡¯s so hardworking. He¡¯s mostly always in the training room helping his teammates train," Ryder let out as he chuckled.

    He put the invitation coin in his storage space and stood up.

    Ryder walked out of the Throne Room, whereas Miku followed after him.

    ¡¯Your Highness, are you going away again?" Miku asked.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll be leaving for a long time this time. You¡¯ll have to handle everything back here," Ryder told her.

    "I will try my best, Your Highness. But I hope you cane back as soon as you can. High Duke Oris¡¯ birthday ising. The city is about to get more active, and I¡¯m sure some people would evene to meet you," Miku said with a concerned look on her face.

    "I understand that, but I don¡¯t want to dy my work. If anyone asks, just tell them I¡¯m sleeping and keep dying them until they eventually leave. It¡¯s not like anyone can enter my room to see if I¡¯m there or not," Ryder said as he chuckled.

    "I¡¯ll do so," Miku said.

    Ryder entered the training room as he pushed the doors open. He saw Rale practicing with the other guys.

    "Your Highness," They all greeted Ryder.

    "Is everyone ready to leave?" Ryder asked.

    "Yes. Our team of 20 is ready and waiting for your orders," Rale said, full of zest

    "Let¡¯s go then. The faster we leave, the faster we¡¯lle back," Ryder let out as he left the training hall.

    Rale and his team members followed after him.

    They got down to the basement that had the spatial tunnel connecting to various ces.

    "That one will lead us to the Undead Region," Rale reminded Ryder as he pointed towards one of the doors.

    "I remember," Ryder smilingly responded as he started taking out the keys. He had so many keys and had no idea which of those keys opened the doorway to Undead Region.

    He started trying out the keys, and on the 6th try, the key matched.

    "Found it," Ryder muttered as he opened the door and exposed the Space Tunnel.

    "Your Highness, I should go first and test things out. I don¡¯t want you to leave and get caught by the Undead Region Kings. I¡¯lle back after seeing the other side," Rale said.

    "Alright. You can go first then," Ryder gave the permission.

    Rale entered the space tunnel and didn¡¯te back for 5 minutes.

    "Could it be that something went wrong?" Ryder muttered as he looked towards the Space Tunnel.

    He was thinking about doing something, but Rale came back.

    "Everything is safe, Your Highness," Rale said.

    "Alright," Ryder nodded his head and entered the space tunnel.

    He stepped out on the other side of the tunnel.

    "I must say, this is exactly what I expected from a ce called Undead Region," Ryder muttered as he looked around.

    The ce looked dark and gloomy. Even the grass was ck in color, unlike the usual green.

    There were trees there as well, but most of the trees had no leaves on them. The rare few trees that had leaves on them had pitch-ck leaves as well.

    The air seemed to be filled with death.

    Ryder looked to his left and saw a skeleton lying on the ground.

    Rale and the others stepped out of the tunnel as well.

    "I saw it standing here when I came out. I destroyed it," Rale told Ryder as he saw him looking towards the skeleton.

    "Oh, that¡¯s alright," Ryder muttered.

    "Now we need to find someone to tell us where we are and how to get to our destination," Ryder let out as he looked around.

    "Walking will consume too much time; we¡¯ll go by air and find a town or a vige. After getting the information, our trip will be much easier," he told Rale.

    "That might be dangerous. Vampires can fly, if we managed to meet them, or they saw us, things might get problematic. I¡¯ll handle them in most situations, but if the Vampire King came, we would all die. I suggest Your Majesty reconsider. The town wouldn¡¯t be far. We can walk there," Rale said.

    "Don¡¯t worry about the Vampire King. If I met him, I¡¯d just redo everything," Ryder responded.

    "Redo everything?" Rale asked with a confused look on his face.

    "Don¡¯t think about that. Just have faith in me. I won¡¯t let any of us be truly killed," Ryder replied.

    "Alright. We¡¯ll fly," Rale nodded his head. Wings appeared behind his back.

    They all started flying towards the direction that Ryder randomly chose.

    After flying for over half an hour, they saw a small town at some distance.

    Ryder told Rale to get down. Rale and the others listened to hismand and got down.

    They walked the rest of the distance on foot. All of them were wearing a long cloak that hid their entire bodies and even their faces to some extent.

    "Let¡¯s hope we find more stories in the town then just skeletons, otherwise we¡¯ll stay lost," Ryder muttered.

    Rale informed him that the skeletons weren¡¯t able to talk. Ryder hoped that the town was more than just a skeleton town.

    They reached the town and entered its boundaries, but it only led to disappointment as Ryder saw no species other than a skeleton.

    Everywhere he looked, he saw skeletons roaming around the city.

    "This ce seems useless," Ryder muttered in disappointment.

    "Not entirely," Rale replied.

    "Why not? The skeletons can¡¯t talk," Ryder said, but he noticed the direction Rale was looking in and saw a female ghoul there.

    The body of the ghoul seemed to be rotten, and her left hand was missing.

    "She should be able to talk," Rale told Ryder.

    "Yeah," Ryder muttered.

    They walked towards the ghoul together.

    "What do you need?" the ghoul asked as she saw Ryder and the others stand before her.

    "We need some answers. Can you answer a few of our questions?" Ryder inquired.

    "Answer okay," the ghoul said.

    "Where are we?" Ryder asked her.

    " Home," the ghoul said.

    "I know it¡¯s your home, but I need the name of this town. What¡¯s the name of the town," Ryder inquired.

 Chapter 121 I hope they wont eat us

    <h4>Chapter 121: I hope they won''t eat us</h4>

    "It¡¯s home!" the ghoul female replied.

    "I know it¡¯s home! I¡¯m asking about the town¡¯s name! Anyway, just leave that. Tell me where Valley of Wandering Souls is?" Ryder changed the question as he found himself getting annoyed.

    "Valley!" the ghoul said as she pointed towards Ryder¡¯s feet.

    "Your Highness, It feels like a useless endeavor. I had heard that low-level Undead had low intelligence, but I guess we still overestimated them. I don¡¯t think she can tell us anything," Rale told Ryder. "With the level of her intelligence, I doubt if she would even know about it."

    Ryder looked towards the ghoul and sighed.

    "You might be right. It¡¯s not going to work like that. We need to talk to someone smarter," Ryder muttered.

    He left the ghoul behind and started walking ahead.

    Rale and his team followed after him.

    They looked around the town but didn¡¯t find any intelligent species.

    "Well, this was a wasted effort. It looks like we¡¯ll have to continue our search for the Undead Towns that have intelligent Undeads," Ryder muttered.

    "Oh, right. How many Undead species are there?" He asked Rale as he stepped out of the town.

    "There are over 40 Undead Species that I know about, but there might be more. It¡¯s quite possible that our information is iplete," Ryder said.

    "40? That¡¯s more than I expected. How many of these 40 are Intelligence species?" Ryder inquired.

    "There are six intelligent Undead Species. Amongst those 6, the Vampire and the Lich are considered to be the most intelligent and powerful," Rale exined.

    "That makes sense. That¡¯s why their Kings are on the same level as our High Dukes. What about the rest? What are the other 4 Species that we can ask our questions to?" Ryder inquired.

    "Dark Ghouls, Duhan, Mummy, and the Vrykkas are the other four that are considered intelligent," Rale told him as he carried Ryder and flew in the air in search of the next town.

    "There¡¯s a special like the Dark Ghouls as well?" Ryder inquired in surprise.

    "Yeah. They are very different from normal ghouls. They are more powerful, and they have intelligence. The Ghoul King that I talked about before is one of them. The Ghoul King is a Dark Ghoul. He¡¯s not on the same level as the Vampire King and the Lich King, but if we go by hearsay, then he¡¯s the 3rd Strongest in the Undead Region," Rale told Ryder.

    "Interesting. So we need to stay away from the 3 Kings, and we shall be fine. It shouldn¡¯t be tough. The strong ones like them would rarely leave their castles," Ryder let out softly.

    "Yeah. We most probably won¡¯t meet them, but it would be better if we don¡¯t attract much attention after all," Rale replied.

    "Is it only me or that looks like a city?" Ryder asked as he saw a glimpse of something at a distance. There were tall buildings there that looked much better than the Town they saw before.

    "From the construction of that ce, it does look like a city. We should be able to find someone from the High Undeads there, but we might be unlucky and meet the Kings there too. Should we go somece else?" Rale asked Ryder.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. We¡¯ll go to this city. We can¡¯t be afraid just at the thought of meeting a king, or we¡¯ll never be able to fulfill our mission. Let¡¯s go down. We¡¯ll walk there," Rydermanded Rale.

    Rale was somewhat stunned as he heard the response, but then a smile appeared on his face. He remembered the speech Ryder gave during his coronation, and his bravery impressed Rale even further.

    Rale got down to the ground with the others, and they covered the rest of the trip on foot.

    They got to the city and entered inside with ease.

    Their bodies were covered with their cloak, which wasn¡¯t suspicious as many vampires dressed in a simr manner.

    As Ryder walked through the city, he saw many people there, but they didn¡¯t look like Undead. Instead, they looked like normal humans.

    "Rale? What Species are they?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "They are the Vrykkas, Your Highness. Even though they look simr to vampires, there are a few fundamental differences between the two. While the Vampires feed on the blood, they feed on the flesh. They also can¡¯t fly like the Vampires," Rale informed Ryder.

    "This should be a Vrykkas City as I can¡¯t see anyone else other than a few vampires here and there. It¡¯s mostly filled with Vrykkas," he added.

    "Let¡¯s hope they don¡¯t try to eat our flesh, or things will get dirty," Ryder muttered with a wry smile on his face.

    They walked to a small shop that sold flesh to others.

    "Wee. How much do you want?" the seller asked. He was dark-skinned and had a short body, but his stomach was sticking out slightly.

    "We¡¯re the Vampires from far away. We were wondering if you could tell us where we are," Ryder asked the man.

    "Oh? The Vampires? This is the first time I¡¯ve seen so many vampires walking together. Are you from the Vampire Royalty?" the man asked with a cheeky grin on his face.

    "No, We¡¯re normal Vampires, nothing special. Tell us where we are," Ryder asked.

    "You¡¯re in the Wingu City. A city owned by our City Lady Asemori," The man said.

    "Oh, Nice. How far are we from the Valley of Wandering Souls?" Ryder inquired.

    "The Valley?!" The man eximed in shock as his mouth opened wide in shock.

    "Yes. We¡¯re looking for someone who went to the Valley of Wandering Souls. Please tell us the directions to get there," Ryder said to the man.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t talk about it. I don¡¯t want to talk about it," the man said as he looked sideways.

    "It¡¯s really important to us. Just tell us the directions and the distance, and we¡¯ll handle everything else," Ryder let out as he looked towards the man.

    "I can¡¯t. That ce is cursed! I won¡¯t talk about it, let alone pointing in the direction. Go away," the man said as he closed his eyes.

    Rale brought his face closer to Ryder¡¯s ears and whispered into his ears.

    "Your Highness, should we kidnap him and force him to tell us? We can do it silently without anyone knowing," Rale suggested.

    "No, there¡¯s no need to do that," Ryder replied to Rale.

    "We will find someone else to answer us. Don¡¯t worry about it," he added.

    "Alright. Thanks for talking to us. We¡¯ll ask someone else," Ryder told the seller before he turned and walked away.

 Chapter 122 Please Drink

    <h4>Chapter 122: Please Drink</h4>

    Ryder turned back and started walking towards the girl on the nearby stall.

    That girl was selling clothes that were worn by Vrykkas. The clothes often had the Symbol of hand over them, which was a symbol of the Vrykkas n.

    "Rale, do they use gold coins here as well? or is their currency different?" Ryder asked Rale as he walked towards the girl.

    "Their currency is different, Your Highness. Everyone in the Undead Region uses something called the Crimson Undead Coins. It¡¯s inherently different from our currency," Rale replied.

    "Oh, I was really hoping to buy some clothes. I believe that we can hide ourselves better as Vrykkas because they don¡¯t have red eyes. If someone saw our eyes, they would realize that we are not vampires. That¡¯s what our clothes make them believe at the moment. It would be better if we dress and look like one instead of using a mix of both," Ryder suggested.

    "I wish I could help," Rale shook his head. The Demon Realm didn¡¯t have the Crimson Undead Coins that were used in the Undead Region, and that¡¯s why they didn¡¯t carry it either.

    They reached the girl and stood before her. The ck-haired girl raised her gaze and watched them.

    A few guards were roaming around the city, and they saw Ryder and his team, dressed in cloaks.

    "The Vampires? 22 Vampires together? Is a Vampire Royalty here?" one of the guards eximed in surprise. "You guys go tell the Lady about this group of Vampires,"

    The Vampire n was one of the 2 Major Undead ns of the Undead Region, and the Cloaks were like the dress favored by the Vampires. Every Vampire wore a cloak except the Vampire King.

    There was no one in the entire Undead Region who would wear a cloak as that would be seen as disrespecting the Vampires, that¡¯s why no one doubted the ones who wore the cloaks as being anyone else but a Vampire.

    Five guards walked towards Ryder, whereas the other three walked back to their Lady¡¯s Pce to inform her.

    "We¡¯vee from far away, and we¡¯re looking for the Valley of Wandering Souls. Can you tell us the directions to get there?" Ryder asked the girl.

    "The V-valley? I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t talk about it," the girl shook her head repeatedly.

    "Please. Our friend is trapped there, and we really need to find our way to them. Just point us in the direction. You won¡¯t even have to talk about it," Ryder said to the girl.

    "No. I can¡¯t tell you anything," the girl said as she started looking down.

    "Alright, thanks," Ryder said as he turned back, disappointed.

    Rale was about to say something, but Ryder turned towards him.

    "No, we are not kidnapping her," Ryder said as if he knew what he wanted to say.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale nodded his head.

    Ryder was about to walk to another person when someone called out from behind.

    "Wait,"

    Ryder stopped in his tracks as he turned back.

    "Yes?" Ryder asked the person that had stopped him.

    There was a frown on his face as he recognized them as the guards.

    "Can I ask who you are? And what are you doing in our City?" the guard asked.

    "Why? Are we Vampires not allowed inside your city?" Ryder asked the man in a casual tone.

    "Are you from the Vampire Royalty?" the Guard asked once more.

    "Yes, we are. We were just passing by when we saw the city," Ryder told them.

    "I was right," the guard said smilingly. He was just about to continue before the other three guards came back and whispered something into his ears.

    "Respected Sir, Our City Lady, has found out about your presence in our City, and she wishes to meet you. Can you please take some time toe meet her?" the guards asked.

    "Sorry, but..." Ryder was speaking when Rale tapped on his shoulders.

    Ryder stopped and looked towards Rale, who brought his face closer to his ears and whispered.

    "Your Highness, don¡¯t deny. Even though the Vampires are the strongest Undead n, they are known to follow Courtesy. I read in our books that they never reject an invitation from someone of high position. I also heard that they get angry fast, as well. If they aren¡¯t satisfied with the host, they kill them," Rale said.

    "That¡¯s why there is a saying about not inviting the Vampires into your house unless you¡¯re ready to lose your life," he added.

    ¡¯Oh, so denying that will make them know that we¡¯re not Vampires,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "We ept the invitation. Take us to your Lady," Ryder told the Guard.

    "Incredible. Please follow us," the guards said as they started walking away.

    Ryder and the others followed after them.

    Along the way, Rale told Ryder everything about the Vampire customs, making Ryder know how to behave now.

    Ryder was brought to a magnificent looking pce, but it wasn¡¯t even close to the level of Duke Devilia¡¯s Pce, let alone his own Pce.

    They entered the mansion and were brought to a hall.

    A beautiful looking girl was sitting on the chair at the main seat on a long rectangr dinner table. She wore a long red gown that matched her red hair quite well. She looked like she was in her early 20s.

    "Wee to my humble abode," the girl said as she stood up.

    "hmm. It¡¯s a decent pce," Ryder gave a slight nod of acknowledgment.

    "Thank you for that. Please have a seat," She said.

    Ryder walked forth and sat on the chair right in front of her.

    His cloak was still hiding the top half of his face.

    Rale and the others stood behind him and didn¡¯t sit on the chairs.

    ¡¯So he is from the Royalty. The others should be his guardians,¡¯ the girl thought.

    "May I ask where you are from? And what brought you to my small City?" she asked Ryder.

    "We are not close enough to share everything with you. Tell us why you invited us," Ryder said, his voice contained some arrogance that he intentionally added.

    "Ah, sorry if I offended you. I invited you here just out of pure courtesy. I wanted to see the Vampire Royalty that stepped in our City," she said.

    A maidservant knocked on the door.

    "Come inside," The girl said.

    The maidservant entered the room and ced a ss of blood in front of Ryder and a te of meat in front of the girl.

    "I figured that I could also have dinner with you. That ss contains the best blood in our town. Please have a taste," she said smilingly.

 Chapter 123 Caught

    <h4>Chapter 123: Caught</h4>

    "Is this supposed to be a joke? or are you trying to disrespect us?" Ryder asked in a severe tone.

    "What do you mean?" the girl inquired.

    She had a confused smile on her face.

    "Rale? Take that ugly thing away from my eyes," Ryder let out in a disgusted tone.

    Rale disappeared from his position and appeared before the girl. He picked up the te of flesh before her and threw it away.

    "Let¡¯s just kill her," Ryder said casually.

    Rale caught the girl¡¯s neck and picked her up in the air as he tightened his grip on her neck.

    The girl was strong, but she was nothing before Rale who was equal to the Dukes of the Demon Realm in strength

    "Tell me. Did you really think that you can eat that disgusting thing before me and still expect me to have dinner with you?" Ryder picked up the ss of blood and threw it away as well.

    Rale had already told him about the Vampires, and he knew that the Royal Vampires hated seeing Vrykkas with their food before their eyes. Normal vampires didn¡¯t like it much either.

    "I-I¡¯m sorry, I forgot that the Vampire Royalties don¡¯t like seeing our food," the girl said in an apologetic tone as she struggled to speak.

    Ryder didn¡¯t react and simply stood up as he stepped towards her.

    The room was so silent that each of his footsteps echoed with the sound that was audible to everyone present in the room.

    He stood a few meters away from the girl.

    "You invited us, yet you forgot such an important thing? Do you think you¡¯ll be treated special?" Ryder inquired.

    "N-no, It was really a mistake. I sincerely apologize," the girl let out.

    "You¡¯re lucky that I¡¯m not in the mood to kill anyone today; otherwise, this little pce of yours would have be a ughterhouse," Ryder told her before he turned back.

    He walked back to the table and sat on his chair.

    "Rale, release her," Rydermanded.

    Rale nodded his head as he loosened the grip of his fingers and released the girl before he appeared back at his ce.

    ¡¯I just wanted to test because I doubted if they were actually vampires, but I really screwed up. They are definitely vampires. Such speed, it seemed to be even faster than father¡¯s speed,¡¯ she thought.

    "Thank you," the girl thanked him.

    She walked back to the table and sat on the chair in front of Ryder.

    "Should I have them bring another ss of blood?" she asked Ryder.

    "No need. The dinner is over. Get to the point," he told the girl.

    The girl nodded her head.

    "I want to know what brought you to my city. I was just a little worried if it was to cause some harm to the citizens or not, that¡¯s why I invited you," She told Ryder.

    "I¡¯m not here to harm your City. I was just flying by and decided to stop by your city to ask directions," Ryder told her.

    "Directions? I can help you. Where do you want to go?" the girl asked Ryder.

    "You know the town before Valley of Wandering Souls?" Ryder inquired.

    He had decided to change his question now that he was facing her. The Book of Ancient Hobbit mentioned a small town where he stayed.

    "I have heard of an abandoned town right outside the Valley of Wandering Souls. What do you want from that town?" the girl asked.

    "We¡¯re meeting someone there. We had a map, but some things happened, and we lost the map," Ryder said.

    "Oh, that¡¯s unfortunate. I¡¯ll give you a different map if that can help you," the girl said.

    "That¡¯s what we were hoping to get from this city," Ryder said.

    The girl called out for the maidservant and ordered her to bring a map.

    After a few moments, the door of the hall opened, and the maidservant came back to the hall with a scroll.

    The girl stood up and walked towards Ryder. She took the scroll from the maidservant and opened it.

    She¡¯s ced the map before Ryder.

    "This is our city, and this is the town that¡¯s near the Valley of Wandering Souls," the girl told Ryder as she pointed to specific ces on the map.

    Ryder took the map, folded it back, and gave it to Rale to hold.

    "Alright. We¡¯ll be leaving now that we are done here," Ryder told her before he stood up.

    "What¡¯s the hurry, my father will be here soon. How about you meet him before you go?" The Girl asked Ryder.

    "As I told you, we have a ce to be at," Ryder replied.

    He turned back and left the hall with his men, leaving the girl behind.

    The girl stood there with a thoughtful look on her face as she looked towards the door.

    Ryder stepped out of the pce. He walked out of the town, under the curious gaze of the city people. He left the city, and he was just about to order Rale to carry him and fly when they saw someone fly straight towards them.

    It was an older man who wore a cloak andnded before Ryder.

    "Stop!" the Old Man called out as he watched Ryder.

    Ryder nced towards the old man

    "Yea? Is something wrong?" Ryder asked.

    "Who are you? How dare you dress like Vampires to fool people?" the Old Man bellowed.

    Ryder looked towards Rale with a curious gaze on his face, but Rale didn¡¯t seem worried, which put a calm smile on his face.

    "Should I ask why you think that?" Ryder inquired.

    The old man pointed towards Ryder furiously.

    "You don¡¯t deserve the answers. Die!" the old man said as he flew towards Ryder, but Ryder didn¡¯t even flinch.

    He was confident that Rale would save him.

    That was what happened as well. Rale appeared before Ryder. He packed his fist as he punched out.

    The fistnded on the face of the old man, which made him fly away. The old man hit trees one after another, breaking them as he flew back like a ball tossed by the strongest man.

    He ultimatelynded on the ground 500 meters away from them.

    "I guess we can fulfill your wish now. Torture him to get the answers. I want him to answer how he knew about us," Ryder told Rale.

    Rale stepped forth and instantly appeared beside the old man.

    He brought his sword out and shed it casually, but his casual sh was enough to cut the right hand of the old man. Another sh arrived, cutting off his left arm as well.

 Chapter 124 The Reason

    <h4>Chapter 124: The Reason</h4>

    Ryder watched the old man scream as he stepped towards him.

    "I guess Undeads do feel pain. I was wondering about that for quite some time," he said.

    "Rale, can you calm him down? His screams are making me feel annoyed," Ryder told Rale.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale replied as he ced his left hand close to his chest.

    Rale had cut off both the arms of the old man, which made him scream like he was going through immense torture, but the man instantly stopped screaming as soon as Rale ced his sword on the man¡¯s neck.

    Ryder chuckled as he saw that.

    "That¡¯s better," he let out.

    He reached near the old man, but still kept some distance.

    "Now, let¡¯s get to the topic. What do you know about us?" Ryder asked the old man.

    The man¡¯s face was already pale previously, but it had turned even paler because of the pain of his hands being cut off. Now he was starting to regreting here.

    "I know that you¡¯re not one of us Vampires!" he said.

    "Oh? How do you know that?" Ryder inquired with an interested look on his face.

    "Of course I would know that? Are you considering us an idiot? Some of us do have the Magic that allows us to see if the other person is one of us or not. It was clear to me at first nce!" The man said.

    "Oh, we did not know that. I guess now it makes it clear why no one wears the cloaks. Coz some of you can see everything despite their disguise, Is that right?" Ryder asked.

    He lowered the hood of his cloak and looked at the man clearly.

    "Sigh, that¡¯s an irritating ability to have. We should¡¯ve brought the clothes of Vrykkas in the city," Ryder let out as he sighed.

    "Did you tell anyone else about us?" He asked the man.

    "No, but everyone will soon find out about you. You can¡¯t hide for long! You should know that if you kill a vampire, a special scent will be left on your body. Every vampire in the vicinity would be able to smell that scent and know that you killed me," the man said as he red at Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. I¡¯m not going to kill you. Also, I knew about that smell thing, at least," Ryder said. "Do you have any Crimson Blood Coins, by the way?"

    "Crimson Blood Coins? Why?" the man asked in confusion.

    Ryder looked at the old man as if he was looking at an idiot.

    "Of course to buy some different clothes. We can¡¯t roam around in cloaks. I don¡¯t want the situation like this to happen again,"

    The old man heard his reply and got stunned. The people that were this strong didn¡¯t have Crimson Blood Coins? He was finally starting to doubt if they were from the Undead Region or not.

    "You¡¯re not from the Undead Region, are you?" the man asked.

    "Does that even matter? What matters is that your life is at our hands. Give us your Crimson Blood Coins, and I will let you go," Ryder said.

    As soon as he said it, he realized the irony of his demand. He facepalmed himself.

    "How can I forget that it¡¯s impossible for you to give us your Crimson Blood Coins. You don¡¯t have hands after all,"

    The old man looked towards Ryder with a stunned look on his face. His shock turned to anger.

    "Are you mocking me? Aren¡¯t you guys the ones that did this!" He roared in a fury.

    Ryder stepped closer to him and looked at his eyes.

    "Calm down; you¡¯re the one that attacked us first. Be d that you still have legs," he said.

    He looked back at the 20 people of his team.

    "You guys, Search him thoroughly and take everything you find," Ryder told them. "Strip him naked if that¡¯s what it takes."

    Ryder walked back and allowed his men to do the rest of their job.

    They searched the whole body of the old man from top to bottom and finally found a pouch filled with coins.

    "We found it," One of the men said

    "Good, Makko. Go to thest city and get some clothes for us. They¡¯ll consider you a single Vampire, and they won¡¯t associate you with us," Ryder told his guy.

    "Yes, your Highness," Makko said as he turned back and started flying towards the city.

    "I was right. You¡¯re not from our Undead Region! Where are you from? You can fly, so either you are from the Demon Realm or the Death Domain!" The old man told Ryder.

    "You guessed it. Sorry, but there¡¯s no prize for guessing. As for where exactly we are from, I¡¯ll leave that for you to guess," Ryder told him.

    "Your Highness, what should we do with him?" Rale asked Ryder.

    "Hmm... That¡¯s the real question, isn¡¯t it? What to do with him. We can¡¯t kill him after all," Ryder said with a thoughtful look on his face. " But I have thought of something."

    Rale listened carefully while Ryder talked.

    "Tie him up and bury him alive at the depths of the ground. He shouldn¡¯t be able toe out if we bury him 1000 meters underground, right?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah, from what I can imagine, he won¡¯t be able toe out of the ground, and I believe that he would not die either," Rale replied.

    "Good. Use our special rope to tie him up. It shouldn¡¯t break even if he bites it for all his life," Ryder said.

    "Yes, your Highness," Rale replied.

    He brought out his rope and tied the legs of the man and then tied the same rope to the man¡¯s neck and tightened it in such a way that the man¡¯s feet were touching his head.

    Ryder looked at Rale with a weird look on his face.

    "Where did you learn such good rope y from?" Ryder asked.

    "I learned it from the books," Rale replied casually.

    "You guys start digging," Rydermanded his men.

    He was hoping that no one would arrive there while they were doing it, but even if someone came and watched them doing it, it wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem unless it¡¯s the King himself. Also, if the King arrived, the worst that would happen is Ryder¡¯s death and his going back in time.

    The men continued digging through hours. Makko had alsoe back by now with the clothes.

    "Did everything go smooth?" Ryder asked him. He asked just to be sure.

    "No, there is a problem, Your Highness," Makko replied as he shook his head.

 Chapter 125 Father

    <h4>Chapter 125: Father</h4>

    "What problem?" Ryder asked as a frown enveloped his forehead.

    "I saw thedy of the city talking to an old man. She had a map in her hand, and she was telling him something. I think that there¡¯s a good chance that she was telling that old man about you," Makko told them.

    Ryder fell in deep thought as he heard about it. He nced in the direction of the city. There was no oneing in their direction from there. He was also confident that Makko was an expert in stealth. There were not many people who could catch him. The chances of him being followed without him knowing were almost negligible.

    "How powerful was that old man?" Ryder inquired.

    "I think that he was stronger than that guy," Makko said as he pointed towards the old vampire that had attacked them, who was lying on the ground unconscious, tied like a toy. Rale had made him lose consciousness as he was being way too loud.

    "I see you didn¡¯tpare him with Rale. He should not be at that level, I guess, but it¡¯s indeed troublesome. I believe that they won¡¯t enter the Valley of the Wandering Souls, though," Ryder muttered.

    "You did well. Give me one of them and distribute the rest to others. Let¡¯s change clothes,"

    Ryder took a pair of clothes from the hands of Makko and walked behind a tree to change his clothes.

    The others also changed their clothes.

    All of them were wearing white clothes now. At the top, they wore a beautiful white long coat that had long cors.

    "The clothes are not bad. I like the fashion sense of Vrykkas more than I like the dressing sense of Vampires," Ryder muttered as he walked back.

    The others had also gotten dressed by now.

    They never stopped digging, though. A small team was always digging, giving the time for the others to get dressed, and after the others got dressed, they changed ces with them.

    Soon, they had dug a 1000 meter deep pit. They threw the old man¡¯s body inside. Rale ced a ton of heavy stones over the old man before they filled the pit with the soil.

    It didn¡¯t take long for the pit to be filled by them, and soon, the ground started looking like before. No evidence could be seen about it being dug open.

    "Good work, everyone. I know you might be tired, but we need to leave now. We can rest when we get to our destination," Ryder told them all.

    Rale walked towards Ryder and caught his hands as he began flying high in the air. The others flew behind them, maintaining their speed.

    Back in the city of Vrykkas, a girl was sitting inside her room in a hotel.

    The girl had light red eyes that seemed as deep as the sea of mes. She looked to be around 19-20 years old, judging by her face, but it was impossible to judge someone¡¯s age by their faces here.

    The Undeads like the Vampires aged like an average human until they were 18; after that, their aging slowed down. Even though they still aged, it was almost at a negligible speed in some cases.

    It was clear that the girl had reached the adulthood of vampires, and her aging had slowed down.

    The girl looked towards the window. An upset look was shrouding her face.

    "Geez, Uncle Ren went out for a walk, and he¡¯s still not back. He¡¯s getting old and slow," she said.

    She stood up and started walking towards the window. She opened the windows and looked outside.

    The girl saw a young girl and an old man talking amongst themselves. They had maps in their hands.

    "Looks like the Owner of the city is back," she muttered. She looked around, but she didn¡¯t find the person she was looking for.

    She walked back to the bed and started waiting again.

    Two more hours passed away, but the person she waited for didn¡¯t return.

    "I can¡¯t wait anymore! We have to leave the city, and he still isn¡¯t back. I¡¯ll have to go find him myself," she let out.

    The girl stood up and left her room.

    She walked through the city in search of the Old Man, but she didn¡¯t find him anywhere.

    "Where could he have gone? I checked the whole city and yet I can¡¯t find him. Did he leave the city and went back on his own? No, he won¡¯t do something like that. Maybe he¡¯s back at the hotel now," the girl muttered as she walked back to the hotel after searching everywhere.

    The girl entered her room, but it was just as empty as it had been the moment she left it.

    "Did someone harm him? Who could be strong enough to harm him? And why would someone do something like that?" she frowned as she walked back to the window.

    "The City Lord! In this town, only he¡¯s strong enough to hurt him. Is he trying to start a war? Can he really be stupid enough to do it when he knows the strength difference between the two races? He must know how bad father¡¯s wrath is!" she let out as she looked at the crowd of people walking all around the city.

    " I need an exnation from him. I¡¯m not letting it go," she determined.

    "I can¡¯t go there alone, though. If he had indeed gone mad, then he would definitely capture me if I go. I need to inform father about it," the girl said.

    She took out a paper from her pocket and ripped it.

    A small light came out of the ripped paper and flew towards the sky. The small light left the city and flew far away from her. After half a day, the light reached a dark looking pce.

    Dark thundering clouds covered the sky above the pce, but no thunder fell over the castle.

    A man was sitting on the throne inside the pce. His eyes were closed as if he was in deep thought, but his eyes abruptly opened as soon as the small speck of light entered the pce.

    His deep red eyes were scary enough to cause everyone who looked in them to start shivering.

    There was a powerful aura surrounding that man, making him look like an unapproachable deity.

    The man watched the speck of lighting towards him. He extended his hand and let the speck of lightnd on his palm.

    He watched the small speck of light in full seriousness. In less than e seconds, he was standing up. He flew outside the pce.

 Chapter 126 Vampire Royalty

    <h4>Chapter 126: Vampire Royalty</h4>

    The girl was still sitting inside her room, waiting for her father to get here.

    Her red eyes gazed out the window, hoping to see her father¡¯s silhouette. She wanted to raid the mansion of the city lord and free the person that had been kidnapped as fast as she could.

    The girl¡¯s name was Halia. She was the daughter of the General of the Vampire n of the North. The General of the Vampire n, Viden, was said to be the second strongest Vampire in the whole n, right after the Vampire King himself. Even though he was the second strongest Vampire, there was a wide gap between him and the Vampire King of the Vampire n.

    The Vampire King was equal in strength to the High Dukes of the Demon Realm, whereas the Vampire General Viden was equal to a Duke from the Demon Realm.

    Halia waited for her father eagerly. She was sure that her father would be here as soon as he got the message.

    Ryder and the others reached the small town that was just outside the Valley of Wandering Souls. The city was small and only had ten or so wooden huts.

    Ryder told Rale to take him down.

    They allnded in the center of the town. There was a stone wall right beside the ce theynded.

    Ryder nced inside the well and found it void of water. The well was not too deep so that he could see the bottom of it clearly.

    Many broken skeleton bones and pieces of bodies were lying inside.

    "Ancient Hobbit Ska mentioned in the book that when he came here, there were Undeads living here and the well was filled with crystal clear water that increased his strength by a little. Whatever happened here should¡¯ve happened after he gave that pearl back to the guardian of Wandering Soul and left," Ryder muttered with a thoughtful look on his face.

    ¡¯Something big definitely happened here. I hope the Pearl is still inside. I don¡¯t want the unsealing fragment to be lost again,¡¯ he thought.

    "You guys have constantly been flying, take rest for the night. I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll get the opportunity or not once we enter the Valley of Wandering Souls," Ryder said.

    The others agreed and found a ce to rest.

    "Aren¡¯t you going to go?" Ryder asked Rale, who was still beside him.

    "I¡¯m not tired, Your Highness," Rale replied.

    " Go and rest, Rale. Even if you¡¯re not tired. Anyway, I¡¯ll be missing for the night. Don¡¯t try to search for me. And if you see anyoneing here, just hide," Ryder told Rale.

    Rale heard his words and became confused.

    "You¡¯ll be missing for the night?" Rale asked Ryder.

    "Yeah, I have an item given to me by my master. Using that, I can sleep in a different space. You and no one would be able to see me after that," Ryder told Rale.

    "Oh, alright. I¡¯ll wait for the night then. Have a great night, Your Highness," Rale said to Ryder, but he didn¡¯t leave as if he was waiting for Ryder to go first.

    Ryder smiled wryly as he opened his system screen. He tapped on [Log Out] and left the game.

    "Amazing. There¡¯s even a treasure like that. It¡¯s good. At Least His Highness can use that to keep him safe when he sleeps," Rale muttered as he looked towards the spot Ryder was standing.

    Vampire General Viden reached the City of Vrykkas at his best speed.

    Hended at the center of the town as he let out loud.

    "Halia, Where are you?"

    Halia heard her father¡¯s voice and jumped outside the window.

    She ran to her father and hugged him.

    "Tell me what exactly happened here," Vampire General Viden asked her.

    "Uncle Ren and I had decided to stay in the city for the day and leave at night. He went out for a walk during the afternoon, but he didn¡¯te back. I searched the whole city, but I didn¡¯t find him. I think that he was kidnapped. Only the City Lord here is strong enough to kidnap him!" She said.

    "He dared to harm one of my guys? Come with me," Vampire General Viden said.

    He caught the hands of the girl and walked towards the biggest mansion in the city.

    The guards had already informed the City Lord about themotion, and he was in a hurry to leave his mansion to see what was happening, but as soon as he got near the door, the doors broke apart as they flew towards the City Lord. The City Lord dodged the heavy metallic doors.

    He looked towards the entrance.

    "General Viden, did I do something to make you so angry?" City Lord Feil asked Vampire General Viden politely.

    Time seemed to have stopped as Vampire General Viden moved from his position and appeared in front of the City Lord.

    He gripped his neck and raised him high in the air.

    "Where is Ren!"

    "Who is Ren? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about," City Lord Feil replied. He looked confused.

    "He¡¯s the person I sent with my daughter! He¡¯s missing since the afternoon. Are you telling me that he went missing in your city, and you have no hand in it?" Vampire General Viden asked.

    City Lord Feil saw the sharp teeth of Vampire General Viden, and he could feel the grip on his neck tightening. If it kept tightening like this, in no time, his neck would be utterly crushed.

    "I... I don¡¯t know anything about it. I wasn¡¯t even in the city at that time. I came back in the evening!" City Lord Feil said.

    "Is there anyone in this city as strong as you? He was only slightly weaker than you. Do you want me to believe that excuse?" Vampire General Viden asked.

    City Lord Feil was having a hard time breathing now.

    "There was a person in the city who was even stronger than me here today. My daughter talked about them when I returned; maybe it was them!" City Lord Feil replied. "In fact, they left this ce in the afternoon as well!"

    "Who?" Vampire General Viden asked.

    "They were Vampire Royalties. A group of 22 Vampires, all dressed in Dark Cloaks. You can ask anyone in the city. Everyone saw them! I know the power of Vampires full well. Why would I harm a Vampire in my own city?!" City Lord Feil replied.

    "Vampire Royalty? Tell me everything!"

    Vampire General Viden released his grip from the neck of the City Lord, which made him fall down.

 Chapter 127 Exposed

    <h4>Chapter 127: Exposed</h4>

    "Let my daughter tell you the whole story. She can exin better as she was the one who interacted with them," City Lord Feil said to Vampire General Viden.

    The Vampire General looked towards the girl that was standing at some distance.

    "Tell me everything. If there¡¯s even a single lie mixed in, I will raze this city to the ground right before your eyes, and then I will kill you and your father," the Vampire General threatened the girl.

    "Ah... I-i was sitting in the mansion when some guards told me about a group of 22 vampires arriving in the city. I told them to invite them as guests to our mansion..."

    "... I gave them the map and showed them the Valley of Wandering Souls, and they left. Father came backter, and I told him about it. Since then, father has been in the mansion with me," the girl exined everything that happened without missing out on a single detail.

    "People in cloaks and they were looking for the Valley of Wandering Souls? Did you see their eyes?" Vampire General Viden asked the girl.

    The girl shook her head.

    "I didn¡¯t. Their cloak was hiding their eyes,"

    "They could move like lightning, which does make them seem like Vampires, but other than me, only the Royal Guards could be so strong to do something like that. I¡¯m sure that the King¡¯s son won¡¯t being here, so there¡¯s no way for a Royal Guard to be here," The Vampire General ced his hand on his chin as he fell in deep thought.

    "The Princess has left the pce from what I heard, but she went in the other direction, and her entourage only had 9 Vampires. How could a vampire be here with an entourage of 21 Vampires that were as strong as she described?" he muttered to himself.

    "Ren left his hotel at the same time as those guys left this ce. It shouldn¡¯t be a coincidence,"

    "I remember, Ren has a skill that lets him see if the other person is a vampire or not, even if the other person puts on a heavy disguise. It must be that he realized that they weren¡¯t vampires, and he went after them, unaware of their strength," Vampire General Viden thought of a possibility.

    He looked towards the City Lord and his daughter in full seriousness.

    "I¡¯m going to the Valley of Wandering Souls. You guys better pray that I find Ren or those guys there; otherwise, I¡¯ll be back. Even if you run, I¡¯ll find you, and I¡¯ll kill you," he told the City Lord before he caught the hand of his daughter Halia and left.

    "Father, do you believe them?" Halia asked her father as they left the Pce.

    "While they were talking, I was observing them. Feil might be able to lie to me, but his daughter was definitely telling the truth. Also, the ones that have the most are afraid of losing the most. They wouldn¡¯t try to hurt Ren when he was in their City. Feil can¡¯t be that stupid; I believe that" Vampire General Viden replied.

    Halia looked towards her father in concern.

    "Are we going to the Valley of Wandering Souls to catch those guys? That ce is dangerous, Father,"

    Vampire General Viden heard the concern in his daughter¡¯s voice and patted her head gently.

    "We are not going; only I¡¯m going. You¡¯re going back home. Also, Don¡¯t worry. From what they said, it seemed like they were going to the town outside the Valley of Wandering Souls. Most probably, I wouldn¡¯t even need to enter the Valley," he said.

    "I won¡¯t let you go alone. Take me with you," Halia insisted.

    *Sigh*

    "You heard that they were strong, right? It would be dangerous if they took you hostage. I¡¯d be defeated without fighting. Try to understand," the Vampire General said.

    "I... alright. I¡¯ll listen to you,"

    Halia agreed. She realized that she might just be the biggest weakness of her father if she went with him.

    Ryder logged out of the game.

    It was Sunday morning, and the date when he had to take Esmi on a date toplete the mission.

    Ryder took the Divinity sses off and ced them in his storage space this time.

    He sat up and stretched his arms as he yawned.

    He got off the bed and went to the washroom to take a nice shower.

    After 20 minutes, he came out of the shower. He was wearing nothing, and his hair was still dripping wet, which he was drying using a towel while walking towards the wardrobe.

    Suddenly, the door of his room opened.

    "Wake up. Breakfast is ready,"

    Alice entered his room without knocking. She thought that Ryder was still sleeping, but her mouth opened wide as she saw Ryder looking towards her, shocked.

    His tower was near his head, whereas everything else was exposed right before her eyes.

    "I-i didn¡¯t see anything," Alice let out loud as she ran out of the room and closed the door. Her face was as red as a tomato.

    Ryder looked down and sighed.

    "What a great start to the day," he said sarcastically.

    He opened the wardrobe and chose a set of clothes to wear.

    He got dressed and left the room.

    The breakfast was on the table, but Alice wasn¡¯t there.

    "She must be embarrassed," Ryder sighed as he sat down on the chair. He started eating.

    After having breakfast, he stood up and left. He did say that he was leaving as he passed by Alice¡¯s room to inform her.

    Ryder left the house and walked towards his Whirlwind.

    He could see a few children ying near his car. One of them was standing above its bo.

    "Kids, can you get off? I need to leave," Ryder told the kids as he reached near the car.

    He unlocked the car and entered inside. The kids got off his car and walked away.

    Ryder started the Engine of his Whirlwind and drove away.

    He had decided to meet Esmi near the Amusement Park so that he wouldn¡¯t need to go to her house to pick her up.

    As he got there, he saw Esmi¡¯s car parked on the side.

    Ryder parked his car behind her car and stepped out of his car. He locked the car and walked to Esmi¡¯s car.

    Esmi was sitting on the driver¡¯s seat, checking her phone.

    "Is he going to bete? There are only a few seconds left in the decided time," she muttered.

    *Tuck* *Tuck*

    Ryder knocked on her window.

    Esmi looked to the side and saw Ryder standing outside. A smile blossomed on her face.

 Chapter 128 Abrupt Mission

    <h4>Chapter 128: Abrupt Mission</h4>

    Esmi lowered the window of her ss and smiled.

    "Yes, Sir, Do you need something?" Esmi asked politely. She pretended to be ignorant that it was Ryder.

    "Is that how you want to do it?" Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face.

    "Could it be that you are looking for someone?" Esmi asked Ryder.

    "Ah, right. I¡¯m looking for a girl. We have a date nned for today, but it seems like she¡¯s runningte. So nonpunctual," Ryder told her.

    "Really? Could it be that you¡¯rete and she left?" Esmi asked.

    Ryder ced both his hands on the roof of her car as he shook his head.

    "Maybe. Anyway, it¡¯s fine as well. At least I got to meet a prettydy like you in this way. I have two tickets for this amusement park. Would you like toe with me?" Ryder asked Esmi.

    "Are you flirting with me?" Esmi asked with a curious look on her face.

    "Come on, stop acting ignorantly. We¡¯re gettingte, let¡¯s go," Ryder told her.

    "Hmph, you¡¯re no fun at all," Esmi pouted as she opened the door of her car and stepped out.

    "You¡¯re a few secondste, by the way," She told Ryder.

    "I was stuck in traffic," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face. He knew that Esmi didn¡¯t really care about him beingte and was only messing up with him, but he didn¡¯t want to prolong this topic. He wanted to finish this date fast.

    "Next time, leave a little early from your house," Esmi chuckled as she held the hand of Ryder and pulled him towards the amusement park.

    She intertwined her finger with Ryder¡¯s.

    "I must say, I was quite surprised when you suggested the Amusement Park for our date. I never expected myself toe to a ce like this, considering my field of work. Did you do it because you know that Bastion hates amusement parks?" Esmi asked Ryder with an amused smile on her face.

    "It¡¯s not that. I just like these amusement parks. The reviews of this park are great. It should be fun," Ryder replied to Esmi.

    Esmi simply smiled and didn¡¯t reply.

    They reached the gates of the Amusement Park and showed the pass to the guard. They were allowed to move forward.

    They passed through a metal detector and entered the amusement park.

    The park was filled with a crowd, which showed how popr it was amongst the people. There were many rides here, high and low, along with many other attractions.

    "Do you want to go on a ride first or get something to eat and just visit various other attractions first before we move onto the rides?" Ryder asked Esmi. Their hands were still holding onto each other, making them seem like a couple.

    Esmi was about to reply when she saw a photo booth nearby.

    "I see a photo booth. Let¡¯s get a photo first!" she told Ryder as she pointed towards that photo booth.

    "A photo?" Ryder eximed with a stunned look on his face.

    "Are you embarrassed about being seen with me? If that¡¯s the case, you can tell me," Esmi told him.

    "It¡¯s just that it would be weird if Bastion sees those photos," Ryder told her.

    He didn¡¯t want to be in this situation with someone close to Bastion, but this is how this whole situation turned out to be since the beginning. He didn¡¯t know how this would end, but he was hoping that it wouldn¡¯t end badly.

    "You don¡¯t have to be worried about that. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to keep the photo framed in my room. It will just be in my purse. Please?" Esmi looked towards Ryder with a pleading look on her face.

    Ryder looked at her expressions with a wry smile on his face.

    ¡¯From no angle does she look like a badass person who handles all that. If I hadn¡¯t fought with her, I would never have believed it,¡¯

    "Alright. I¡¯ll take that picture with you," Ryder agreed atst.

    Esmi pulled him with her towards the photo booth smilingly.

    They entered the booth. Esmi inserted the coin in the photo machine and selected the options of filters.

    The timer started on the screen.

    10... 9... 8... 7

    Ryder and Esmi stayed close to each other as they waited for the timer to get to zero.

    "Ryder?"

    Just when the timer had 2 seconds remaining, Esmi called Ryder.

    Ryder looked towards her, curiously, but as soon as he looked towards her, his lips were closed by her lips.

    Esmi kissed him so unexpectedly that Ryder never thought of.

    The machine captured their photo right at that time.

    Even though Ryder was surprised, he didn¡¯t push her back. Esmi had embraced him firmly and continued the kiss. The kisssted for over 2 minutes before they separated.

    "You nned it the moment you saw that booth, didn¡¯t you?" Ryder asked as he smiled wryly.

    "Nope," Esmi replied as she shook her head. "I nned it before I even left my home."

    She startedughing as she walked towards the machine to take the photo out of it.

    The photo was delivered in 2 ways. It could be transferred digitally or physically. Esmi selected the picture to be printed out as well as to be delivered to her email.

    " It¡¯s nice, isn¡¯t it?" Esmi asked as she showed the picture to Ryder.

    The picture was the same as Ryder expected. It showed him and Esmi kissing.

    "It¡¯s good, but keep it carefully. I don¡¯t want to get into trouble because of that," Ryder told her.

    "I will," Esmi nodded her head.

    She kept the photo in her purse and walked towards Ryder. She held his hand once more and left the photo booth.

    "I heard that the haunted house is the ce that couples must enter when theye to ces like these," she told Ryder.

    "Where did you hear it from?" Ryder asked her.

    "Why does it matter. Let¡¯s find the ce. It should be fun," Esmi replied.

    "If that¡¯s what you like," Ryder responded as he walked the Haunted House.

    The Datemenced mostly as per Esmi¡¯s wishes. They went to the Haunted House. But it was different than his time with Alice.

    When he went with Alice, she was sometimes scared inside the Haunted House, but this time it was entirely different. Neither Esmi nor Ryder was scared this time.

    They left the Haunted House without anything significant happening. It seemed as if both of them were on a tour of the Haunted House.

    As they left the ce, Ryder got an abrupt mission from Janus, which made his expressions grave.

 Chapter 129 Explosion

    <h4>Chapter 129: Explosion</h4>

    [A new Mission has been assigned to the host. A Terrorist has entered the Amusement Park. Find that Terrorist and Kill him before he nts the bomb and kills thousands of people]

    [Reward: 1) You will receive a Clue about the Ancient Cultivation Family and 100 origin point]

    [Punishment for failure: Thousands of people will die along with someone important to you]

    [Time Limit: 1 Hour]

    [Other Limitations: Only two try allowed]

    Ryder¡¯s expressions turned grave as he heard the mission.

    ¡¯A terrorist is in this ce?¡¯

    "Where can I find him in such a big ce?" Ryder muttered with a frown on his face.

    "Find who? Are you looking for someone?" Esmi asked as she looked at him curiously.

    "Ah, no one," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    ¡¯There¡¯s no clue other than the fact that it¡¯s a guy and that the bomb will kill thousands of people. A bomb that kills thousands of people? If I was the terrorist, where would I nt the bomb to kill thousands of people?¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked around the Amusement Park.

    "There are so many ces like this here. If I¡¯m not wrong, at least five ces are popr enough to have that many people," Ryder muttered.

    "Let¡¯s go to the WaterFall mountain," Ryder told Esmi as he started walking towards a specific direction.

    Waterfall Mountain was the closest attraction to them that was this famous. It was a mountain that was artificially made, and the most attractive thing about this ce was that the waterfall of this mountain wasn¡¯t a waterfall but a Chocte Milk fall. It attracted people to see that from far and wide.

    Even though the water was reced with chocte milk, no one was allowed to drink it or even touch it themselves. Every person that arrived here was served a ss of chocte milk from the waterfall by the authorities.

    Ryder entered the Waterfall Mountain.

    ¡¯Janus, what does it mean that I have two tries?¡¯

    "It means you can cheat only once toplete this mission," Janus said.

    ¡¯ Cheat? What does that mean?¡¯ Ryder asked with a frown on his face. Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    Ryder could see thousands of people there who seemed to be having a pic there.

    He carefully observed everyone to find if there was any suspicious person there or not.

    "Is there anything worrying you? You seem nervous, suddenly?" Esmi asked him. She could feel that something was wrong.

    "I found out that there is a terrorist in this amusement park, and he will nt a bomb that will kill thousands of people. We have to find him at any cost," Ryder said to her.

    "A terrorist? How do you know?" Esmi asked in shock.

    "I can¡¯t tell you how I know, but it¡¯s definitely going to happen. We need to find him at all cost," Ryder told her.

    "I¡¯ll believe you, but I¡¯ll definitely ask you how you know after we deal with this thing. Also, How about we separate? We can cover more areas?" Esmi asked.

    Ryder agreed to her suggestion.

    "You can check the Delish za. It is also very crowded, and it might be his target,"

    "Alright. I¡¯ll go there and check more ces after that. Do you know anything else about that terrorist that could help identify him?" Esmi inquired.

    "I don¡¯t. I only know that he should be a man," Ryder said as he shook his head.

    Esmi sighed as she turned away.

    "I¡¯ll try to do my best to find him. I think I have a good eye to see criminals," she said as she started walking away.

    Ryder and Esmi both searched on their own as they kept going through various attractions of the sect.

    They kept searching but without any result. 55 minutes passed away, but Ryder didn¡¯t find anything.

    He was starting to get nervous as he watched the time trickle away on his watch.

    His phone started ringing. It was Esmi on the phone.

    "Did you find him?" He asked as soon as he picked up the phone.

    The time on his watch changed from 10:59:59 to 11:00:00.

    It was precisely 11 am in the morning when Ryder heard a loud st. He listened to the explosion from his surroundings as well as from the phone.

    The loud noise from the phone made it seem as if Esmi was standing right beside the bomb.

    *Beeeeeeee*

    He heard a screeching noise in his right ear because of hearing the loud sound from the phone.

    He saw a big cloud of smoke rise in the air at some distance.

    "Esmi? Esmi, answer me? Are you alright?" He asked as he ran towards the location of the st.

    People were running and screaming everywhere, but he didn¡¯t hear Esmi¡¯s voice through the phone.

    Instead, he received a recorded message that the phone has been disconnected.

    "God Dammit!" He roared in anger.

    He decided to use his power to turn back the time by 40 minutes. He was hoping to solve the problem as he already knew the location of the st. This way, Esmi would be alive as well.

    The time was rewinded by 40 minutes, and Ryder found himself back in the Waterfall Mountain.

    "Whoever you are, you will regret messing with people close to me," Ryder muttered as he ran towards the ce where the st had urred.

    The st happened near a ce called Spinster. It was one of the tallest rides in this ce. The ride could fit 300 people at once, but the crowd around it was definitely in thousands.

    Ryder reached near the Spinster and started looking for the person that could be the terrorist.

    There were still 30 minutes left before the actual st, so Ryder only hoped that the bomb wasn¡¯t set up yet.

    ¡¯If the bomb was already set up, I wouldn¡¯t have received this mission sote. There must be a way to catch that guy,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked around.

    He walked through the crowd and after some time, he saw a suspicious man. The man was wearing a long hoodie. There was a traveler bag in his hand that was way bigger than what an average person would carry.

    "Is that guy the terrorist? How can the security allow this bag and the items of a bomb?" he muttered.

    He started following that man as he acted casual.

    The man sat on a bench nearby and kept the bag near him.

    He sat for only 5 minutes as he casually checked on his phone before he stood up and started walking away.

    As Ryder watched the man walk away, he was 99 percent sure that this man was the bomber.

    The man walked away, but he left his bag behind.

 Chapter 130 Magician

    <h4>Chapter 130: Magician</h4>

    The hooded man walked away, leaving his bag behind.

    Ryder walked to the bag in a hurry. He was worried that the man would leave, but he didn¡¯t leave the bag behind as that would have made thousands of people die.

    He kept his eyes on the man that was walking away while he stood near the bag.

    ¡¯What should I do about this bag? I¡¯m sure the bomb would be inside it, but if it¡¯s a bomb with a timer or a bomb that works on a remote, I can¡¯t be sure. Fuck it; I¡¯ll just do it. From what I know, the time doesn¡¯t move in my storage space."

    Ryder looked at the bag and opened his inventory, and ced the bag in his storage.

    A child was standing some distance away from him and noticed the bag disappear.

    He tucked on the skirt of his mother. His mother looked towards the boy.

    "Mother, that uncle is a magician! He made the bag go poof!" the boy said as he pointed towards Ryder.

    His mother just smiled and ignored the words of her child as a story.

    "Let¡¯s go. If you like magic, I¡¯ll take you to see a true magic show," the woman said as she took the boy with her.

    Ryder kept the bag in his storage and started running after the hooded man that had already reached far away from him.

    The man nced back casually and saw Ryder running towards him. He grew suspicious and increased his speed.

    The man changed his direction and went towards a more secluded area of the amusement park.

    There was an abandoned ce in the amusement park known as the Land of Pirates. It was simr to the haunted house. It was long and dark, but instead of showing the haunted stuff, it had the pirates rted stuff.

    This ce was made for the kids, but it wasn¡¯t popr. The operating cost of this ce was much higher than what the amusement park earned from this ce. That¡¯s why they had closed this ce until they could review how they could improve it.

    The man ran towards the Land of Pirates and entered that ce.

    Ryder realized that the man had seen him following him, but he didn¡¯t care. It was even better for him now that he was in a secluded ce.

    Ryder walked inside the Land of Pirates.

    He was walking deeper into the Land of Pirates.

    There were many decorations all around him, rted to the pirates.

    There were lifelike statues of bearded pirates and huge pirate ships.

    *Bang*

    Ryder was walking deeper to look for the man when the sound of a bullet being fired from the gun arrived.

    The bullet entered Ryder¡¯s chest, making him fall down to the ground.

    Ryderid on the ground lifeless.

    "Didn¡¯t your mother tell you that it is bad manners to follow someone? Look where it brought you,"

    The Terrorist stepped out from behind a statue.

    There was a gun in his hand. It was a small, single-handed gun.

    He walked towards Ryder, sure that he was killed.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that Ryder¡¯s Ruler of nature skill was working, healing his wound.

    The bullet that was inside his body was turned to nutrients simr to how nts use photosynthesis.

    His wound also healed, not leaving even a single mark behind.

    The only thing that still proved that he was shot was the hole in his shirt, which was covered with his own blood.

    "Hmph, wasted my time. It¡¯s fine as well. I can still hear the sound of that st from here. It should be the time soon.

    The man said as he looked towards the entrance of the Land of Pirates, smilingly.

    He looked at the time on his watch, which was showing 10:59:55.

    He started counting the time.

    "5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 0,"

    As soon as the man said the word 0, the watch showed the time 11:00:00, but he didn¡¯t hear the st he was expecting.

    Instead, he heard a gunshot. A bullet prated his hand that was holding the gun.

    The man screamed in agony as the gun fell down to the ground.

    He held his hand and started roaring like mad.

    "Stop acting like a child. I was shot in the chest. Did you hear me screaming like that?"

    The man was screaming in pain when he heard a mocking tone from behind.

    He looked back and saw Ryder standing as if nothing had happened to him. Ryder had a gun in his hand, which he always kept in his inventory. It allowed him to bring his weapon anywhere.

    Ryder walked forward right before his eyes and picked up the man¡¯s dropped gun as well.

    "H-how are you alive?" The Man asked with a horrified look on his face.

    "Uhmm... Because I have a cheat?" Ryder muttered as he shot the right leg of the man.

    The man again screamed like a beast being ughtered.

    "I don¡¯t like the sound of your scream. Can you stay silent?" Ryder let out as he shot his left leg as well.

    The man screamed again. His eyes had turned blood red and were filled with tears.

    "I told you that I don¡¯t like your screaming," Ryder muttered as he shot his left hand as well.

    "Then stop shooting me, you bastard!" the man screeched in pain.

    Ryder shook his head as he looked at the man without any pity.

    "Oh, geez, Being shot makes one scream? how about being blown to smithereens because of a bomb some idiot nted?"

    "I-i... " the man stuttered.

    "Don¡¯t say anything without asking; otherwise, the next bullet will be making a hole in that empty head of yours," Ryder said as he pointed both his guns towards the man.

    Even though the man was in excruciating pain, he closed his mouth, but the worried look on his face was evidence of how much pain he was going through. His hands and legs were turned useless; now, the only thing he had left was his life, which he didn¡¯t want to lose.

    "That¡¯s better. Now let¡¯s get back to the point," Ryder smiled as he sat near the man.

    "Why did you n to blow up this ce? And how were you able to bring the bomb and a gun inside this ce without getting caught," Ryder asked the man.

    The man hesitated briefly.

    *Sigh*

    "I know I told you to stay silent, but if you don¡¯t even answer me, then you can¡¯t expect me not to shoot you, can you?" Ryder asked with a wry smile on his face as he shot the shoulder of the man.

 Chapter 131 Experiment

    <h4>Chapter 131: Experiment</h4>

    "Tell me what I ask, it¡¯s not a tough question, is it?" Ryder asked again.

    "How did you bring the bomb inside and who¡¯s behind you," Ryder inquired.

    "I... I won¡¯t tell you anything. You can kill me for all I care, but I won¡¯t say a word," the man shook his head and refused to say anything.

    "Oh, you will tell me. I am not worried about that. Anyway, you know what part of the human body gives the most pain if it¡¯s hit?" Ryder asked the man as he looked at him with an amused smile on his face.

    The man just looked at him with his stern expressions, without saying anything.

    Ryder moved his gun and pointed it towards a particr part of the man¡¯s body.

    The man¡¯s eyes didn¡¯t leave the gun and watched its every movement, but his face turned white as he saw where Ryder was pointing his gun.

    "You know, Let¡¯s do a biology experiment now that we have an opportunity. Is being hit in the nuts more painful or being shot in the nuts," Ryder said as he nced at the face of the man.

    "Let¡¯s start with the first option!" Ryder added as he looked down at the man.

    "S-sto..."

    The man called to stop Ryder, but before he could evenplete his word, a kicknded on his manhood.

    For the first few seconds, the man felt nothing, as if the kick didn¡¯t hurt in the least, but after a few seconds, the pain arrived.

    The pain was so massive that the man¡¯s face lost whatever little bit of color it had remaining. His eyes opened wide, and his face started sweating. The man¡¯s head started spinning after a brief moment, and he felt as if he was about to die. He could feel like vomiting as he tried to bear the pain, but it was even worse that he couldn¡¯t use his hand.

    Ryder watched the man groan in pain as he stood on the sidelines, waiting for the man to recover. The man seemed as if he was dying, but Ryder knew that he wouldn¡¯t die with just that, but he would still die from excessive blood loss after some time.

    "Ugh... Kill me, you bastard!" the man roared in pain. His eyes were blood red, and his face was covered in sweat.

    "Not yet. I still haven¡¯t finished my experiment, did I? Though I wouldn¡¯t need to finish my experiment if you decide to answer me. In fact, I would even bring you to the world¡¯s greatest doctor if you answer me," Ryder told the man.

    The man kept wriggling in pain until the pain subsided. The pain didn¡¯t stop entirely, but after 10 minutes or so, it did decrease.

    "Alright. Now that we¡¯re done with that, time to move onto the second part of our test," Ryder said, with an interested skill on his face as he pointed his gun towards the ce he had kicked some time ago.

    "I¡¯ll count to 5. If you still don¡¯t start talking, then you will know how it feels, and I will know how someone that goes through this looks like," Ryder said to the man.

    He started counting.

    "1... 2... 3... 4... "

    "Wait! I¡¯ll tell you. Don¡¯t do it, but you must promise that you will keep me alive and take me to the doctor,"

    Ryder had only got to the 4th when the man started speaking. His voice sounded weak.

    "Of Course. I already told you that I would bring you to the best doctor," Ryder said smilingly.

    "I-i did it on the orders of Master Jameson," The Man replied.

    "Who is this, Master Jameson?" Ryder asked. He didn¡¯t know anything about it.

    "H-he is the owner of this Park. He helped me bring the bomb and my weapons inside," the man replied.

    "The owner of this Park? That does exin how you were allowed to bring the things inside, but why would he do this to his own ce?" Ryder asked.

    "I don¡¯t know. This mission was given to me by him, and he helped me bring the stuff in. That¡¯s all I know. I don¡¯t know what his reasons were or why he did this. I did this for the money, and I didn¡¯t care what his motivations were," the man said.

    "The owner of this Amusement Park, Jameson," Ryder muttered with a thoughtful look on his face. "So he is the reason that was going to get so many people killed."

    "You don¡¯t know anything else about it?" Ryder asked the man.

    " I told you everything I know. I know nothing else. Now it¡¯s your turn to fulfill your promise. Take me to the hospital," the man said.

    "One more thing, that bomb was a time bomb, right?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yes. It was supposed to go off when the timer hit 0, but it didn¡¯t work. Now don¡¯t waste time and take me to the hospital, or I¡¯ll die," the man said. His voice had almost no strength and was almost inaudible.

    Ryder walked closer to the man without a hurry.

    " I never said I¡¯d take you to the hospital, but I did say that I¡¯ll bring you to the best doctor," Ryder said to the man. " Let me fulfill that promise of mine."

    Ryder raised his hand and pointed his gun towards the man¡¯s head.

    "Y-you..." the man stuttered as he saw the gun pointed towards his head.

    "Say hi to the world¡¯s greatest doctor when you get there," Ryder pulled the trigger of his gun.

    A bullet left the gun, and prated the head of the man, killing him instantly.

    [Mission Finished]

    [100 Origin Points Awarded]

    [Check the pocket of the man for the clue about the ancient cultivation family]

    Ryder walked closer to the man and checked his pockets.

    He found a folded paper inside the man¡¯s pocket. He checked the other pockets of the man, but there was nothing else other than that one paper he found. He unfolded the packet.

    "An invitation to the party?"

    Ryder eximed as he read the content of the letter.

    "The birthday celebration of Keia Silva?" he muttered with a thoughtful look on his face. "Looks like I¡¯ll have to attend another birthday party."

    Ryder ced the body in his inventory as he wanted to dispose of that body in another way instead of leaving it here this time. He also put the guns in his storage ring and picked up the bullets that were lying on the ground before he left the Land of Pirates.

 Chapter 132 Im not doing that

    <h4>Chapter 132: I''m not doing that</h4>

    Ryder stepped out of the Land of Pirates and brought his phone out of his pockets.

    He could see the missed call of Esmi just a few moments before 11. He dialed her number.

    As soon as the call connected, Esmi started going off on him about not picking up her phone.

    "Anyway, I had called you to give you the update that I didn¡¯t find anyone. I did see a suspicious person, though. I¡¯m following him at the moment," Esmi told him.

    "You don¡¯t have to do that. That problem is solved. Come back," Ryder said.

    "Alright. Where are you?" Esmi asked him.

    "Meet me at the cafe in the central park," Ryder told her before he disconnected the call.

    He started walking towards the Cafe and reached there after some time.

    He waited for Esmi to get there while he ordered two coffees.

    By the time the Esmi got there, the coffee was ready. He picked up the cups and walked towards the empty table.

    He ced the cups on the table and sat on a chair. Esmi sat on the other seat.

    "How did you know that I would be here exactly now?" Esmi asked him.

    "I didn¡¯t know," Ryder replied.

    "Then why was it that the coffee got ready at the exact time. Can you see the future?" Esmi inquired.

    Ryder shook his head as he took a sip of his coffee.

    "Nope, I just ordered coffee without knowing when you would be here. I would¡¯ve thrown it and ordered another one if you werete," he replied to her.

    "I thought it was more Mysterious than that," Esmi chuckled before she picked up the cup and started drinking.

    "Is now the right time to talk about that? What was that whole thing about? How did you know that a terrorist was going to be here? and how did you handle him?" Esmi asked.

    "A friend told me. He is a cop. He knew that I wasing to this ce. He called me and told me that there¡¯s a report about a terrorist entering the Amusement Park. He was asking me to leave," Ryder made up a story.

    "I somehow don¡¯t believe that, but go on. How did you handle that guy?" Esmi asked.

    Ryder smiled as he took another sip.

    "I didn¡¯t do anything. I got another call from my friend that it was a false rm. Someone gave them a wrong tip."

    "Really? So our date was disturbed for no reason? You know how much I had to work? How do you intend to make up to me?" Esmi asked Ryder.

    "Ahmm, how about I increased our date duration? We can stay here until 4 pm instead of 2," Ryder told her.

    "Nope, that¡¯s not enough," Esmi replied.

    Ryder smiled wryly as he saw her stubborn look.

    "6?" he asked.

    "Nope. It¡¯s not about the time, but how we spend that time," Esmi said.

    "What do you want me to do then?" Ryder asked with a defeated look on his face.

    Esmi smiled as she looked towards him.

    She moved her chair so that it was right beside Ryder¡¯s chair.

    She brought her red lips closer to Ryder¡¯s ears and whispered something in his ears.

    "What? No way! I¡¯m not doing that!" Ryder straight away denied.

    Esmi looked disappointed as she started looking down.

    "I-i didn¡¯t even ask twice when you told me to help you search for a dangerous terrorist. I gave it my best even though it could¡¯ve cost me my life, but I didn¡¯t think twice. You, on the other hand, can¡¯t even do this for me," she said as she rested her head on the table.

    Her voice was breaking up and seemed as if she was about to cry.

    Ryder knew that she was just acting up, but he also realized that she was right. She did try to do her best to help him. In fact, in the previous timeline, she had even died in the st.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll do that," Ryder told Esmi.

    Esmi smiled as she sat up and kissed him on his cheeks.

    She held his hands and stood up, and she pulled him with her.

    Esmi brought Ryder to the Ferris wheel of the amusement park.

    The Ferris Wheel was 600 feet tall, and it was a slow-moving Ferris wheel that allowed the people to see the city in peace. It took 3 hours toplete a spin.

    Esmi took Ryder inside one of the cabins of the Ferris Wheel.

    Both of them sat in the cabin, alone as the Ferris wheel started moving.

    "I never thought that I would be doing that on my trip to this park," Ryder muttered with a wry smile on his face.

    Their cabin hadpleted 25 percent of the spin, and it reached the height of 300 feet after 45 minutes, that¡¯s when the things started.

    Esmi looked towards Ryder and started kissing him.

    Ryder kissed her back. Their kisssted for over 5 minutes before they separated. It didn¡¯t take long before their clothes found their way to the floor of the cabin.

    After 90 more minutes of intense exercising, they wore their clothes.

    "That was great," Esmi said to Ryder as she smiled. Her face was still red and looked intoxicated.

    "It was nice," Ryder replied as he nced out the window.

    Esmi startedughing as she heard his response.

    "You can be more honest with yourself," Esmi said.

    She held Ryder¡¯s hand and intertwined her fingers with his as she looked at the view of the city with him.

    "The city looks so peaceful from there," Esmi said.

    "Yeah, the light hides the darkness much better," Ryder muttered.

    "Hey Ryder, What have you thought about your future? I heard that you develop apps to earn money? I can help you get a small studio and hire a small team of developers? You can enter the much bigger field and get more exposure," Esmi suggested.

    "Are you trying to help me financially?" Ryder asked as he nced at her.

    "You can think of that as my investment in a startup if you want. You can return whatever you want after everything¡¯s settled? I just want to help if I can," Esmi said as she lowered her head.

    Ryder smiled as he ced his hand on her cheeks.

    " I appreciate the gesture, but I don¡¯tck the money. You have the wrong information. I¡¯m well settled already," he said.

    "What you heard might be old news. I¡¯ve started a business, and I¡¯m already earning quite well. You might not have noticed it, but there was a car being your car. That was mine," He added.

 Chapter 133 New Mission?

    <h4>Chapter 133: New Mission?</h4>

    "I did notice a Whirlwind standing behind my car. Was that really yours?" Esmi asked in surprise.

    "Yeah," Ryder replied.

    "I guess I really misunderstood you then. If you can afford that car, then you definitely wouldn¡¯t need my help," Esmi chuckled as she said to Ryder, but she was still embarrassed about the fact that she offered help to him without knowing everything.

    Time kept passing slowly as they watched the scene outside. Both of them stayed in silence.

    After 45 minutes, they got back to the ground as they stepped out of the cabin.

    "Where do you want to go next?" Esmi asked Ryder.

    "Really? It¡¯s already the time to leave," Ryder said as he looked at his watch. It was already over 2 Pm.

    "Didn¡¯t you say that you would extend my time to 6 pm because I helped you?¡¯ Esmi asked as she red at him.

    "I did offer that, but you chose another option. Don¡¯t you remember?" Ryder chuckled as he held her hands and walked towards the exit.

    Esmi simply pouted but didn¡¯t reply to him.

    Ryder stopped near an ice-cream shop along the way.

    "Let¡¯s end this date on a sweet note. Which one do you want?" Ryder asked Esmi.

    "Chocte," Esmi replied without even looking towards him.

    Ryder took a chocte Ice Cream and gave it to her.

    Esmi took the ice cream, but she didn¡¯t stop ring at him.

    "Come on; There¡¯s no need to be salty. We can have another date some other time," Ryder told her with a wry smile on his face.

    He turned towards the exit and started walking that way when he noticed something that made him shocked. He stopped on his tracks as he turned back.

    He saw Alice in the Amusement Park with one of her female friends,ing in his direction. She still hadn¡¯t noticed him.

    "I think I forgot something. You get to the car, I¡¯ll be right back," Ryder said to Esmi before he started running deeper into the Amusement Park, away from the exit.

    "Why is she here? Just my luck that I had to choose this ce," Ryder cursed as he continued running.

    Alice looked ahead and noticed a person running. She didn¡¯t know why, but she felt as if she found that back familiar.

    The thing that saved Ryder was that Alice hadn¡¯t seen what clothes he wore before leaving home. The only time she saw him at home today was when he was without any clothes. Since then, she didn¡¯t see Ryder even when he left, because of her embarrassment.

    She didn¡¯t think that the person was Ryder, but she did feel that the person had a Physique simr to Ryder.

    "What happened?" Alice¡¯s friend asked her as she saw her standing still.

    "Oh, nothing. Let¡¯s continue," Alice said, smilingly as she continued ahead.

    Esmi ate her ice cream as she walked towards the exit. At one point, Esmi and Alice walked past each other without realizing who the other person was.

    Ryder was back in a corner of the amusement park, waiting for Alice to leave.

    As soon as he saw Alice move deeper into the park and away from him, he walked out.

    He started walking towards the exit, but he had to stop once more as he heard a voice. It was Janus¡¯ Voice.

    [Ding... Another Mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Follow Alice for the whole day without leaving 100 meters of her proximity]

    [Rewards: 100 Origin Points]

    [Reward: 50 Preloaded Credits on your Deity Phone]

    [Punishment for failure: Alice will die]

    [Duration of the Mission: Until she leaves this Amusement Park]

    [Note: If she realizes that you¡¯re here, a secret punishment will begin]

    "Awesome. Now I have to stalk someone. Are you giving me training about how to be a criminal?" Ryder muttered with a wry smile on his face.

    ¡¯At Least I don¡¯t have to buy credits for that Deity Phone. I wonder who I¡¯ll be able to call,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He started walking in the direction Alice went in.

    Ryder brought his phone out of his pocket. He wanted to inform Esmi that he wouldn¡¯t be able toe, but before he could even unlock the phone, it started ringing. The screen was showing Esmi¡¯s name

    Ryder picked up the call.

    "How long are you going to take? Come fast; I¡¯m getting bored in the car," Esmi told him as soon as he picked up.

    "I was just about to call you. I don¡¯t think that I would be able toe. I met a friend here, and things are troublesome. I don¡¯t think I can leave him," Ryder told Esmi. "How about you leave alone? It¡¯s better than waiting for who knows how long. I¡¯ll call youter."

    "Alright. If you¡¯re going to be busy with your friend, I¡¯ll leave," Esmi replied before she disconnected the phone.

    Ryder walked for a little more before he found Alice.

    Coincidentally, he was near a mask shop as well that sold cute anime character masks.

    Ryder purchased one of the masks that belonged to a bald anime character who was super powerful. He was called Single Attack Man, a favorite of kids nowadays.

    He wore the mask and walked closer to Alice.

    Even though he was allowed to stay 100 meters away from her, he decided to be only 40 meters away as she was drinking coffee on the same table that Ryder and Esmi sat at.

    He walked towards the coffee shop and ordered a coffee, but he didn¡¯t take his eyes off of them.

    He got a cup of coffee and selected a table that was around 30 meters away from Alice¡¯s table.

    He watched them subtly while holding the cup of coffee in his hand.

    "I¡¯m so d I killed that terrorist. I didn¡¯t even know that Alice was about toe here. Even if I stopped the bomb, I wouldn¡¯t feel safe about her safety if that guy was running out in the open," Ryder muttered as he watched her. "I wouldn¡¯t even be able to rewind time if something had happened to her."

    After some time, Alice and her friend sat up and started walking away.

    Ryder also stood up and threw the coffee in the dustbin before he started following her.

    Alice went to the swing ride next with her friend.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile as he saw her preference when it came to rides in the park

    As he was watching her, he saw a man walk towards her.

    Although the man didn¡¯t look strange, Ryder could see that his eyes were looking towards the girls.

 Chapter 134 Him again?

    <h4>Chapter 134: Him again?</h4>

    Ryder saw the maning towards the girls. He could feel something was wrong as he watched the man staring at the girls. The man looked suspicious.

    He started walking towards the man.

    Ryder reached the man before the man could reach the girls. He lightly tapped on the shoulders of the man.

    The man turned back, but he was shocked to see a man in Single Attack Man¡¯s mask, pointing his gun towards him. Ryder kept the gun in such a way that only the man could see it.

    "Don¡¯t move unless you want to be a shooting practice for me," Ryder told the man softly.

    "What do you want?" the man asked Ryder.

    "Why do you want to harm the girls?" Ryder inquired.

    "What do you mean? I don¡¯t want to harm them," the man said in confusion.

    "Really? Why was your hand moving towards your pocket that contains a knife as you were walking towards them?" Ryder asked again as he pointed towards the man¡¯s pockets.

    "H-how, do you know?" the man stuttered as he asked. His face was filled with shock. He couldn¡¯t understand how Ryder knew about the Foldable Knife in his pocket.

    "I didn¡¯t know, but I took a vague guess after seeing its outline and your expressions. You just verified it. Give me an excuse not to shoot you right now," Ryder said to the Man.

    "I-i have nothing to do with it. I don¡¯t even know the girls. My boss asked me to do this. Let me leave. I won¡¯t ever do this again. I¡¯ll even leave this job," the man pleaded to Ryder.

    "Who¡¯s your boss, and what did he ask you to do?" Ryder asked him.

    "My boss is Jameson. He¡¯s the owner of this ce," The Man answered Ryder.

    "That Jameson once again. He isn¡¯t going to learn without dying, is he?" Ryder muttered with anger on his face.

    "What did he tell you to do?" Ryder asked.

    "H-he told me to kill the girl. He said that the girl is without security at the moment, and it would be the best opportunity to kill her. I don¡¯t know much else," the man answered.

    Ryder subtly nced at Alice and her friends.

    ¡¯Security? Alice never had security. Is he talking about her friend?¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "You¡¯re talking about the girl in the red skirt, Right? Why is Jameson targeting her? I don¡¯t think she had any enmity with him," Ryder asked him as he pretended to know the girl.

    "Yes, the girl in the red skirt. I was given her picture, and I was told to kill her," The Man said.

    ¡¯Is that Jameson idiot? He made two ns, and both contradict each other. If the st had seeded, the girl wouldn¡¯te here. Why would he have made this second n to kill her here,¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown. ¡¯Unless the n was made some time ago?¡¯

    "When did he tell you about what you had to do?" Ryder asked. "It should be after 12 today, right?"

    "How do you know about that?" The Man was once again surprised at Ryder¡¯s knowledge. Why did he know about it, he couldn¡¯t understand.

    ¡¯I was right. The st didn¡¯t happen at 11, and Alice and her friend made this n. Jameson must have found out about their n and made this n,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Tell me everything that happened from the beginning," he asks the man to get the information from him.

    "I received a call 2 hours ago. He told me to kill a girl and said that it¡¯s the best opportunity as the girl doesn¡¯t have her guards today. He also sent me a photo of the girl on my phone. You can already imagine after that. I regret agreeing to do this, and I will seriously leave and nevere back if you don¡¯t hurt me," he told Ryder.

    ¡¯Well, his target wasn¡¯t Alice, but he still put her in danger. That Jameson is proving to be a troublemaker today. It¡¯s the second time already. I¡¯ll have to meet him myself,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Where can I find Jameson? Is he here today?" Ryder inquired.

    "No. From what I know, he is out of the city. I don¡¯t know which city he went to, though."

    "Give me Jameson¡¯s number."

    "A-alright. His number is 192677277541."

    "Can I leave now? I already told you everything I know," the Man told Ryder as he looked around.

    He was hoping for someone toe so that Ryder would be forced to hide his gun, but no one wasing.

    "I¡¯ll let you leave, but first, I need to check if you have any other weapon. I don¡¯t want to let you go only to be shot from behind."

    "You can check. I only have one knife, and that¡¯s also folded right now. You can take that if you want."

    Ryder shook his head.

    "Are you really telling me to check you here? The girls are right behind. What will they think about me? Come there," he said as he pointed towards the wall on the side.

    There was just a single wall there that was more like an art piece that had a beautiful nature painting.

    The great thing was that the wall was within the 100 meter proxy of the girls so that he wouldn¡¯t fail his mission either.

    "Alright," the man nodded his head.

    The man walked towards the wall, and Ryder followed behind him.

    They got behind the wall.

    "First, give me that knife."

    Ryder asked for his knife as soon as he got there.

    The man agreed and took the knife out of his pocket and gave it to Ryder.

    Ryder put the gun in his storage space and walked closer to the man.

    The man thought that Ryder wasing closer to check on him, but Ryder¡¯s hand closed his mouth, whereas Ryder¡¯s other hand thrust his knife in the man¡¯s heart.

    As soon as Ryder thrust his knife in the man¡¯s chest, a short scene shed before his eyes.

    He felt as if he had thrust a sword in someone¡¯s chest. He didn¡¯t know who that person was as he didn¡¯t see the face, but he had a feeling that it was a girl. His heart ached a little.

    The scene finished as soon as it appeared. In fact, it seemed as if it onlysted for the blink of an eye before it ended.

    Ryder¡¯s hand was still on the Man¡¯s face, whose eyes were open wide. His breathing had stopped, and he had died instantly.

 Chapter 135 Altered Destiny

    <h4>Chapter 135: Altered Destiny</h4>

    "You think I don¡¯t know that you would¡¯ve killed both the girls? One to finish the mission and one to finish the witness?" Ryder muttered as he looked at the man.

    He ced the man¡¯s body and his knife in his Storage Space.

    ¡¯It¡¯s so weird that my inventory has two dead bodies. I don¡¯t even know how I¡¯m alright with it, but it doesn¡¯t seem to affect me much anymore. Just what is happening? And what was that scene that had appeared before my eyes? It was the same feeling as thest time in the Demon Realm,¡¯ Ryder thought as he left that ce and walked towards Alice.

    He stayed 50 meters away from her as he pretended to be on the phone.

    Alice got off of the ride with her friend and continued walking away.

    "Where do you want to go next?" Alice asked her friend without any care in the world.

    Her friend brought her phone out and started searching.

    "The Ferris wheel is pretty popr. Let¡¯s go there."

    "Alright," Alice nodded her head.

    They turned back towards Ryder and started walking in his direction.

    Ryder stood near a tree, still pretending to be on a call. He again started following after them as they left.

    They reached the Ferris Wheel and entered the cabin. Ryder entered the immediate next cabin to them.

    Now that he was there, he could rx for 3 hours. There was no chance that he would fail the mission for the next 3 hours as their cabins were nearby.

    Ryder pulled out his phone from his pocket and started looking at the number of Jameson. He wondered if he should call him.

    In the end, he decided to call him.

    He was about to call the number, but before he could call him, his phone started ringing.

    It was a private number that wasn¡¯t showing.

    "Who could be it?" Ryder wondered as he picked up the phone. The private numbers were really difficult to get nowadays.

    Before he could speak, the person on the other side started talking.

    "When are you bringing the bodies?"

    Ryder was visibly confused about the question.

    He understood that it was a wrong number, but the question itself didn¡¯t give the right feeling.

    "Why aren¡¯t you speaking? You know that he doesn¡¯t like any dy, right? Get the bodies here! You have 3 hours only!" the person said before the call was disconnected.

    "That was creepy," Ryder muttered as he looked at his phone.

    "Whatever, there¡¯s no need to jump into those matters unnecessarily."

    He shook his head as he tried to rx his mind.

    The phone once again started ringing. It was an unknown number, but at least the number was visible this time. He picked up the phone.

    "Hello, am I speaking to Mr. Ryder?"

    The person said from the other side. It sounded like a girl¡¯s voice.

    "Yeah, who¡¯s this?" Ryder asked.

    "Ahmm, I¡¯m calling you to inform you that you have won the lottery. You won 10 million dors. I would like you toe up to our office to get the money. We need you to do some paperwork," the girl informed him.

    ¡¯Oh, right. I forgot about that. Even though the results would be announced to the publicter, they announce it to the winner before that. They must¡¯ve received my information from the details I submitted while registering the ticket on their site,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Alright. Thanks, I¡¯lle to your office on Tuesday as I have matters to attend tomorrow," Ryder replied.

    "Oh, ok. I¡¯ll arrange that," the girl said before she disconnected the call.

    On the other side of the call, a young girl was sitting in her office. She was the assistant of the owner of the organization that handled the lotteries. She was assigned the duty to call the winner and arrange everything.

    "Geez, Such a stern guy. He won so much money, yet he didn¡¯t give any reaction. I would¡¯ve been jumping up and down if I had won such money," the girl muttered as she shook her head.

    If Ryder were here, then he would have recognized the girl as she was the same girl that he had saved when he killed the criminal toplete his first mission.

    The girl worked in this office. In fact, it was only after that day; she got this job.

    In the timeline when Ryder didn¡¯t have Janus, the girl didn¡¯t work here as she had died in that alley, but that Mission changed her life and altered her destiny. She was still alive and living a life better than she ever lived before.

    Ryder had no idea how things changed because of him. It was not the only thing that changed either. There were many things that changed¡ªsome for good and some for the bad.

    "I can finish the next mission tomorrow and then get the money on Tuesday before getting back to the more important stuff. I already feel tired just thinking about it. I need a long vacation," Ryder smiled wryly as he shook his head.

    He again dialed the number. Fortunately, this time no call disturbed him.

    He called Jameson¡¯s number that he had received.

    "Hello? Who¡¯s this?¡¯

    "Ah, sorry to disturb you. I¡¯m speaking from Betaphoneworks. As you may already know, your e-sim is registered on ourwork," Ryder said to the man.

    He had already looked up whichwork that sim belonged to. It turned out that it was a number from betaphoneworks, one on the big names in the country.

    "Yeah, I know that. What do you need?" the man asked.

    "Ah, Sir. From what I can see, you¡¯re not in the city you registered your sim in. Am I right?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah, I¡¯vee to the Valis City for business. What about that?"

    "The thing is that we wanted to know when you would be returning to the city you registered that sim in. We¡¯re doing some upgrade to our system and activating some additional features for your sim. But it can only be done when the sim is in the city it was registered in. If you could give me the date, I can input that to my system so that it would happen on the day you return," Ryder told the man.

    "Oh, I would return on Wednesday morning. You can put that date on your system," the man replied.

    "Alright. Thank you for your time, sir. Have a great day."

    Ryder disconnected the phone.

    "Wednesday... It looks like that¡¯s the day we¡¯ll meet," Ryder muttered as he nced out the window.

 Chapter 136 Dangerous Misunderstanding

    <h4>Chapter 136: Dangerous Misunderstanding</h4>

    Time kept passing as the Ferris wheel moved. After half an hour, Ryder was starting to feel extremely bored.

    "I didn¡¯t know this ride was so slow. Time passed much faster when I was here with Esmi," he muttered as he started ying with his phone.

    Ryder yed a game on his phone. It was a multiyer game that he himself had developed.

    Time kept passing like that, and after what seemed like an eternity, 3 hours were over.

    "Finally," Ryder muttered as he stood up and left the cabin.

    For the rest of the day, he kept up with the routine. He continued following Alice and the other girl.

    Estonia Silva was the name of the girl who was with Alice. She used to study with Alice in the same ss, but she transferred to another University mid-semester for reasons unknown.

    Even though both of them studied in different universities, they still kept in touch.

    She was also the person that Ryder was unknowingly linked to. Ryder knew her, but he didn¡¯t realize it.

    She was the girl that raided the tomb with Shu and Ryder just a few days ago. Her username was Mimi123. She was the mage that wanted to buy his Scythe that was disguised as a staff.

    "Hey, Alice?" Estonia asked her with a frown on her face. She seemed somewhat serious.

    "Yeah?" Alice responded.

    "I feel weird. I think the guy behind us has been following us for quite some time," Estonia said to her in a low voice. She didn¡¯t want the man to hear her.

    Alice was about to turn back, but Estonia stopped her.

    "Don¡¯t look back. He¡¯ll realize that we have seen him. Let¡¯s just try something. We¡¯ll go on another ride, and if he still follows us, then it will be clear," Estonia told her.

    Alice was somewhat worried, but she nodded her head.

    They chose the more crowded route as they walked towards another ride, but Ryder followed after them.

    "It¡¯s clear. He¡¯s following us. It can be dangerous. I guess we¡¯ll just have to cancel our trip today," She informed Alice.

    "Should we inform the Park Rangers?" Alice inquired.

    "No. The guy might have weapons. If he sees us going to the guards, he¡¯ll definitely run away or attack us. Just act casual. I¡¯ll call for help. He wouldn¡¯t even know how he got caught," Estonia replied.

    " Sigh, it feels bad just to stop our fun day when I worked so hard toe out without security. Whatever safety should be our first priority," Estonia let out. The disappointment was evident in her tone.

    She picked up her phone and started to call someone.

    Ryder was somewhat surprised as he saw them roaming around the crowded streets as if they were confused about what ride to choose.

    "Let me call my brother as well," Alice muttered as she brought her phone out as well.

    "Hello? Ah, yes. I¡¯m sorry, father. I should¡¯ve informed you before leaving. I¡¯m in the amusement park. Can you send the guards here? Someone is following me," Estonia told her father on the phone.

    Ryder was still confused as to what was happening. He could see both of them using their phones at once.

    Suddenly, his phone started ringing.

    He looked at his phone and was surprised to see that it was Alice calling him.

    He picked up the phone.

    "Hello?"

    "Hello, ah, Where are you right now?"

    Ryder was starting to get worried. He wondered if she had recognized him.

    " Me? Why? Did something happen?" he asked.

    "Yes. I came to the amusement park, and we can see a guy in a mask following us. I am scared," Alice answered him.

    "A guy is following you? And he¡¯s wearing a mask?"

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly. He could see that they had found out about him, but she still didn¡¯t recognize that he was Ryder.

    Generally, he would¡¯ve just left in this situation, but because of the mission, he couldn¡¯t go out of 100 meters range of her.

    "Tell me where you are," Ryder asked her.

    Alice told him that she hase to the Amusement Park. She told him about her location, as well.

    "Alright. Come out of the amusement park. I¡¯m nearby. I¡¯ll be there. It would be difficult finding you inside. Check if he¡¯s still following you after you get him outside the park. I¡¯ll handle everything else," Ryder told her.

    He wanted her to leave the park so that the mission would be over.

    "A-alright," Alice nodded her head. She disconnected the phone.

    "My guys will be here soon. Don¡¯t worry about anything," Estoniaforted Alice.

    Alice told Estonia about what Ryder told her and got her to leave the amusement park.

    "Alright. We¡¯ll do that. My guards would have an easy time finding us as well. Let¡¯s go," Estonia agreed.

    They left the ce and started walking towards the exit.

    Ryder finally breathed in relief. He could see that this mission was soon about to be over.

    He kept as far from them as he could without failing the mission.

    Estonia and Alice were only 200 meters away from the exit when Ryder saw ten men entering the Amusement Park.

    They were all dressed in ck clothes.

    "Those are my guards. Just act casual. That stalker shouldn¡¯t know that I called them here," Estonia informed Alice.

    The men walked towards Alice and her friend.

    Ryder wondered if they were Jameson¡¯s men as well or not.

    He couldn¡¯t take the risk, and he started walking towards them.

    He could see that he wouldn¡¯t get there in time if he walked. The men had a chance of getting to them faster.

    He started running towards the girls.

    Alice and Estonia also noticed Ryder running towards them. They also started running, but they ran away from Ryder.

    The ck Clothed Men saw Ryder running towards the girls and the girls running away from him.

    "That must be the guy that is harassing Young Miss! Catch him!"

    The guys started running towards Ryder.

    The situation had turnedplicated.

    Ryder saw the Men running. He thought that they were running towards Alice and her friend.

    Everyone was under a misunderstanding at the moment¡ªa misunderstanding that was about to create unnecessary trouble.

    Alice and Estonia passed by the ck-clothed men and stood behind them.

    "He¡¯s that stalker. Beat him up!" Estonia told her guards.

    "What?"

    Ryder was shocked. He stopped in his tracks, surprised.

    It didn¡¯t seem like the girls were afraid of the men. In fact, Alice¡¯s friend seemed to know them. He realized that the situation was wrong.

    The ck Robed men didn¡¯t stop and continued running towards Ryder.

 Chapter 137 Exp System

    <h4>Chapter 137: Exp System</h4>

    One of the men managed to reach Ryder first, and he attacked him.

    Ryder dodged the man¡¯s punch. He used the Lower Martial Arts to catch the arm of the men and twisted it in such a way that the man¡¯s arm broke.

    The Man that seemed to be buff screamed like a little kid.

    Ryder punched the man, making him go unconscious.

    [50 Exp added]

    [Real World Level upgraded to Level 2]

    [5% increase in all physical stats]

    "The Exp system activated. I guess that¡¯s what Janus talked about. I can feel my strength increasing," Ryder muttered.

    He dodged another punch that wasing towards him. He twisted his body and kicked the face of the man, breaking his nose.

    The Man¡¯s nose was bleeding, but Ryder didn¡¯t stop there. He punched the man, making him fall down to the ground.

    [50 Exp added]

    "This is fun," Ryder smiled. He didn¡¯t attack anyone first as he wanted to utilize the opportunity to the fullest to gain exp.

    The 3rd guard also attacked Ryder and soon found his way to the ground, giving Ryder another 50 points.

    "What the hell are you doing! Attack him together! You can¡¯t even handle a man," Estonia scolded them from behind.

    Seven guards were remaining. The 7 of them had surrounded him to stop Ryder from running.

    One of the guards brought out an expandable baton. He ran towards Ryder and attacked towards his chest with the baton. The other came from behind, also holding a baton.

    He attacked towards Ryder¡¯s head.

    Ryder lowered his body, dodging the baton that was about to hit his head and caught the baton of the second person that wasing towards his chest. He kicked the man, making him fall back. The baton was left behind in Ryder¡¯s hand.

    Ryder twisted his body and used a decent amount of force to hit the man who was standing behind.

    The man immediately lost consciousness and fell down to the ground. His face was swollen, and some of his teeth were also broken.

    [50 Experience points added]

    [Level upgraded to level 3]

    [All Physical stats enhanced by 10%]

    The man that was kicked had sat up, but before Ryder could attack him to gain more exp, he was attacked by the rest of the man. He faced the barrage of attacks, but his reflexes were much faster than before.

    Overall, he had a quite a lot of increase in every physical stat, which included strength, speed as well as defense, and stamina.

    Using the baton that was still in his hands, he kept fighting against the guards and defeating them one by one.

    Just like that, 7 of the ten guys were defeated. Only three were still standing.

    "T-that guy is a monster. I don¡¯t think my guys can handle him. Let¡¯s leave while they keep him busy," Estonia held the hand of Alice and started running towards the exit.

    Ryder watched them leave and started to get worried. He wanted them to leave, but if they walked out of his 100-meter proximity before they left the amusement park, he would fail the mission.

    He hit the head on one of the guys with the baton and rotated his body to give a spinning kick to another ck dressed man, making him crash on the ground.

    [50 Experience Points Added]

    [50 Experience Points Added]

    [Level upgraded to Level 4]

    [10% increase in all physical stats]

    Only one man was remaining, but Ryder couldn¡¯t take any more time. He started running after the girls leaving the man behind.

    If he had dyed for even a second, he would have failed the mission.

    Thest remaining guard stood in the back, watching Ryder follow after the girl.

    "I know the boss told us not to use guns, but it¡¯s impossible to stop that man without shooting him. He¡¯s too much of a monster. If I let him do as he pleases, then Young Miss would die," thest man muttered.

    He brought a gun out and aimed at Ryder.

    "Sorry, boss," The man muttered as he fired.

    Surprisingly, the bullet was fired just when the girls stepped out of the proximity of the Amusement Park.

    Ryder¡¯s mission was over, and he had stopped when a bullet hit the back of his knee, making him fall to the ground.

    The man walked towards Ryder while keeping his gun pointed at him.

    Ryder¡¯s Ruler of Nature was activated, which healed his injury and turned the bullet into nutrients for his body.

    He was only level 4 in the real world, but he was level 40 in divinity. The Bracelet of Immortality took into ount the highest level, and that¡¯s why his Divinity level was chosen. For every five levels, he was allowed one use of the Ruler of Nature in a day. That¡¯s why he could use the Ruler of Nature¡¯s healing ability eight times a day, and it was only his 2nd time.

    Ryder¡¯s leg was healed. The man was still running towards Ryder. As soon as the ck-clothed man reached near Ryder, Ryder kicked the leg of the men using the leg that was shot.

    The man hadn¡¯t expected that. He fell down to the ground. The gun also fell out of his hand, onto the ground.

    "Didn¡¯t your father tell you that shooting someone is bad?" Ryder asked the man, but he remembered that he himself had shot someone. He quickly added to his statement. "Unless you are me."

    He kicked the face of the man, making him lose consciousness at once.

    [50 Experience points added]

    [Mission Finished]

    [100 Origin points added]

    [50 Credits added to the deity phone]

    Ryder heard the announcements of Janus.

    "Sigh, finally. Now time to escape before cops are here," Ryder muttered as he ran inside the Amusement Park.

    He walked to an empty-looking ce and removed the mask. He started changing his clothes.

    He kept a separate pair of clothes in his inventory in case he had to change clothes for whatever reason.

    He kept the old clothes back in his inventory and walked out.

    He was walking towards the exit and called Alice.

    "Where are you? I was at the entrance, but I didn¡¯t see you. I even entered the park. I¡¯m still looking for you," Ryder told Alice in a worried tone.

    "I-i left. I¡¯m in my friend¡¯s car, and we are going to her house. Things had gotten dangerous, and I couldn¡¯t wait. That guy was a monster. He beat up the guards as well. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s following us. We should be safe now," Alice replied to him.

    Ryder had a wry smile on his face as he heard her words. Being called a monster wasn¡¯t a pleasant thing.

 Chapter 138 Beat him up

    <h4>Chapter 138: Beat him up</h4>

    "Oh, it¡¯s nice that you have left. Is your friend going to drop you home, or should Ie to pick you up from her ce?" Ryder asked her.

    Alice didn¡¯t answer him immediately.

    Ryder could hear her talking to her friend. After some time, she replied to him.

    "She will drop me home."

    "Alright. I¡¯lle home then," Ryder said to her.

    The call was disconnected.

    Ryder walked out of ce and noticed the ck-dressed men were still lying on the ground. Some of them were awake now. They were trying to help their fellow guys.

    Ryder casually walked past them and left the ce.

    He walked towards his car. There was arge truck standing on the side of his car, hiding it from the view of the public.

    He walked to the other side of the truck and entered his car. He started the car and got on the road and started racing it towards his home.

    "Janus, I like the experience system, and I could feel my strength increase every time I level up, but I don¡¯t understand one thing. When I killed that terrorist, why didn¡¯t I get exp? He had attacked me first, and I killed him. If we go by the logic, then I should¡¯ve received experience," Ryder said to Janus.

    Previously he didn¡¯t think about it, but after he understood the exp system more because of the fight that he went through, he was starting to get curious about it.

    [Because you were killed. You can¡¯t get experience from the person that kills you in the real world]

    Janus replied to him.

    "I wasn¡¯t killed. The time would¡¯ve reset by 24 hours if I was killed," Ryder pointed out.

    [The time only rewinds after you stay dead for 5 seconds, but the skill ¡¯Ruler of Nature¡¯ revived you instantly. That¡¯s why the time didn¡¯t reset]

    "Oh, so I actually died. That makes it the second time I died in the real world," Ryder chuckled with a self-deprecating look on his face.

    Janus didn¡¯t say anything.

    Ryder reached home and parked his car in the parking lot.

    Just when he was parking, Estonia passed by him in her car and left.

    Ryder stepped out of the car and walked towards his house.

    Ryder knocked on the door.

    "Alice? Are you back?" he asked.

    The door was opened, and a girl jumped into his arms like lightning.

    Alice hugged Ryder firmly as she started crying.

    "It¡¯s alright. No one is going to harm you. I¡¯m here, always," Ryder told Alice as he wrapped his arms around her gently.

    "I-i was so scared. That person was scary," Alice told Ryder. Her voice sounded muffled as her face was hidden in Ryder¡¯s chest.

    "Was the bad guy dressed that scared you, wearing yellow clothes and a Single Attack Man¡¯s mask? He was the person that was fighting the ck-clothed men? Ryder asked Alice.

    "Y-yes. Did you meet him?" Alice asked as she looked towards Ryder¡¯s face.

    "Meet him? I beat the heck out of that guy! He defeated the ck-clothed men, and he was running away. I realized that he must be a bad person, and I started chasing after him."

    "What happened next?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "I caught up to the man and beat him up before giving him to the police. Don¡¯t worry about him. You won¡¯t ever see him again," Ryderforted her.

    "Really? Thank you," Alice smiled before she separated from him.

    "You can rest in your room while I start preparing for dinner. It¡¯s going to be your favorite tonight," Alice told him as she walked inside the house.

    ¡¯Well, I had to beat myself up, but I guess it¡¯s good that she¡¯s happy. I should¡¯ve been more careful when following them. I scared them for no reason.¡¯

    It was 7:30 pm as he entered the house and walked into his room. The sun had already gone to brighten another part of this earth. It was dark outside.

    He fell down on his bed and closed his eyes. He finally had the time to rx.

    After around 10 minutes, he sat up.

    He brought out the Deity Phone from his storage ring.

    It was an item he had received when he unlocked one of the mystery boxes. It was also known as the Mythical Phone. He was informed that it was a phone using which he could contact any legendary or mythical person.

    Through it, he could call mythical legends for advice if he needed to have his questions answered. They will answer him to the best of their abilities

    The cost of the call depended on the person he called. He was told that there were some that would cost hundreds of credits per minute, while some would be much cheaper.

    He never used his origin points to recharge the Deity Phone as he felt like it was a waste, but now that he had free 50 credits, he decided to give it a try.

    He turned on the phone and looked at the contact screen. The contract screen that was emptyst time now had names on it. There was a cost written in front of each of the names. Some were five credits per minute, while others were 50 Credits per minute.

    There was not a single name that cost more than 50 credit points.

    "I guess I can¡¯t see more names as I don¡¯t have enough credits even to see their names on the contact list. Anyway, what¡¯s with some of the contacts? Is this really the Mythical Phone? Why is there a Bread Boy who costs ten coins per minute?" Ryder asked Janus.

    [You can see their details by clicking on their name]

    Ryder nodded his head as he tapped on the name of Bread Boy.

    The details opened in front of him on the phone screen.

    [Bread Boy: Also known as the magician of bread. His bread is so delicious that every person who eats his bread bes his friend. He is also known as the destroyer of sorrows. His bread can make people happy no matter how sad they are]

    "Really? What kind of advice can I ask him? How to make bread? Even if I want to learn, it¡¯s impossible that he can teach me his specialty in 5 minutes. Not useful," Ryder closed the screen and went back on the contacts.

    He was going through the names and found many weird names. Some of the names included¡ª Master Cleaner, Insect Hunter, Love Destroyer, Failed Swordsman, Chivalrous Knight, and many more.

    He kept reading through the names, but ultimately he found a name that shocked him.

    "Why is his name here?" Ryder asked in shock.

 Chapter 139 Specter

    <h4>Chapter 139: Specter</h4>

    Ryder was going through the system when he saw a name that stunned him.

    "Janus, why is your name here?" Ryder asked Janus.

    There was Janus¡¯ name on the contact screen. It cost 50 credits per minute to call him. Ryder didn¡¯t understand why it would be here.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    Ryder tapped on the contact to see its details.

    [Janus: No details avable. 99.999999% discount ongoing. Now call Janus at just 50 Credits]

    "Cheh, he¡¯s just trolling me. Does he really expect that I would call him when I can talk to him," Ryder said with a wry smile on his face.

    Ryder started scrolling on the screen and found a contact that intrigued him.

    [God of Advice: Call the god of advice to ask for any advice. The God of Advice is known for giving the best advice for any problems. 50 credits per minute]

    This was the number that Ryder wanted to call.

    "Let¡¯s see if his advice is better than what I wanted to do tomorrow or not," Ryder muttered as he looked at the screen.

    He called the number.

    There was no caller tune or music, but the call was instantly connected.

    "Please ask your question."

    The voice of the God of Advice sounded calm and peaceful. It made Ryder feel as if he was talking to a really confident and understanding guy, but on the other hand, he also felt as if he had heard that voice before somewhere. He just couldn¡¯t remember.

    "There was a girl who bullied my sister and got her arrested. I need to make her apologize to my sister without forcing her. How can I do it in an hour," Ryder told the man.

    "I understand. The answer to this question is simple. Make someone else force her," The God of Advice replied.

    "I don¡¯t mean it like that. I want her to apologize to my sister on her own," Ryder asked again.

    "Give her the enlightenment potion. She would be stronger mentally and would be able to see her mistakes. You wouldn¡¯t even need to do anything," The God of Advice said.

    "But..."

    *Beep* *Beep*

    Ryder was about to ask more questions when the call was disconnected. His one minute was over.

    "The enlightenment potion? It sounds like a great thing, but why would I waste that on her. I¡¯ll just follow the first advice and see how it goes," Ryder muttered as he sat up.

    He put the deity phone back.

    He walked into the shower to get fresh and came out after some time. He got dressed in his nightclothes and left the room.

    Ryder walked towards the kitchen. The dinner was almost prepared. After waiting in the kitchen for some time, he was served the food.

    He ate the food and had some conversation with Alice about the fact that he would being to the University with her tomorrow.

    Alice was surprised to hear about that, but she agreed as he told her that he had some business with the Dean.

    After finishing the dinner, he walked back to his room.

    Heid on the bed and wore the Divinity sses.

    "Take me to Divinity."

    Ryder found himself back in divinity on the same spot where he had disappeared from.

    The sun was rising high in the sky, brightening up the small town. Highlighting how ruined and broken, it looked.

    "Rale?"

    "Your Highness. You¡¯re back."

    Rale appeared near Ryder.

    "Is everything alright?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah, I didn¡¯t see any personing here. We are safe," Rale told Ryder.

    "Alright. Good," Ryder nodded his head.

    "We¡¯re entering the Valley. Call everyone," Rydermanded Rale as he started walking towards the Valley.

    ¡¯It¡¯s so amazing to have a team as strong as them, especially Rale. I can do anything. The gaming experience is much better than it wasst time. I feel like I¡¯m a guild leader of the strongest guild,¡¯ Ryder thought smilingly.

    Soon, everyone was there.

    "Everyone be alert. This time¡¯s mission is going to be much more dangerous than the Kingdom of Dark Elves."

    Ryder warned everyone to be careful before he took his first step inside the valley of Wandering Souls.

    Rale walked closest to Ryder, keeping an eye on his surroundings.

    As soon as Ryder stepped inside the Valley of Wandering Souls, he felt something strange. He felt like he had entered a different world altogether.

    The atmospheric pressure felt different. The air felt rotten, and the sky was covered in dark clouds that didn¡¯t seem like that from the outside.

    "Keep your weapons ready to attack. Physical Attacks don¡¯t work on the monsters of this ce. They only work when someone attacks with their treasured weapon or using skills. Don¡¯t attack with hands as it would not be effective in the least," Ryder told the others.

    He brought out his Moon Scythe and changed its form to a bow.

    "Don¡¯t attack any beast without my orders," He also informed them.

    He wanted to get the experience from weaker monsters and let them deal with the stronger monsters.

    After walking for only a few minutes, Ryder saw a specter.

    It seemed like a wolf, but it was semi-transparent as if it was a spirit of the Wolf.

    Ryder used his All-Seer to see the level of the specter. It was supposed to be the weakest beast here as they were on the outskirts, but even it was a level 35 beast.

    Ryder aimed his arrow towards the Wolf Spectre and fired his arrow.

    His aim was still not perfect, despite the practice he went through, but still, the arrow hit the specter and killed it in an instant.

    Ryder gained the experience of killing the beast.

    [Absorption Activated: Intelligence +0]

    "The heck? Why did it have to choose intelligence to give me? Was my luck so bad?"

    Ryder was feeling upset. He had already seen that the Wolf had 0 intelligence when he used the All-Seer on him, but the absorption chose the stats randomly, and he received intelligence, which wasn¡¯t useful in the least.

    "Is something wrong, Your Highness?" Rale asked as he saw the confused look on Ryder¡¯s face.

    "Nothing. Ignore that," Ryder recovered his casual expression and continued walking ahead.

    After walking for some time, Ryder saw a specter beast that was much stronger than him. He knew that he couldn¡¯t kill it himself.

    "Rale, you can take that one," Ryder told Rale to kill it.

    Rale killed the beast in a single strike.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll definitely be as strong as you,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at Rale, quickly killing the beast.

    They continued walking ahead.

 Chapter 140 Blood River

    <h4>Chapter 140: Blood River</h4>

    After walking for some more time, they reached a river that was blocking their path.

    The strangest thing was that it was a river that seemed to be filled with blood to the brim. It was impossible to see how deep it was.

    "There was no mention of this river in that Ancient Hobbit¡¯s book. Did it also appear after his time? Strange."

    Ryder looked at the river with a frown on his face.

    "The time of his trip here was too long ago. Maybe the topography changed, or something else happened here," Rale responded.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s true as well. It¡¯s just the blood that shocked me. Blood shouldn¡¯t appear out of nowhere," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "Anyway, do you have any idea about how we can cross this river? That book did talk about the taboo of flying, and I don¡¯t wish to test that personally," Ryder said as he nced at Rale.

    "How about we jump to the other side?" Rale suggested.

    "Really? The width of this river is 100 meters. Can you jump that far without flying?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Yes, Your Highness. You don¡¯t have to worry about it. We can all jump that far. We won¡¯t drag you down," Rale replied smilingly.

    ¡¯I¡¯m not worried about you dragging me down. It¡¯s me that can¡¯t jump that far,¡¯ Ryder thought as a wry smile eclipsed his face.

    "Really? Let me test that. I¡¯m sure that you can jump that far, but I want to see if you can jump that far while carrying a person with you or not," Ryder said to Rale as he looked at Rale suspiciously.

    "Ahh, Alright."

    Rale started looking to the back to select the person he would carry with him.

    "You don¡¯t need to disturb them. I¡¯ll do that. You can carry me there," Ryder suggested.

    Rale nodded his head as he walked first and sat down on his knees in front of Ryder. Rale¡¯s back was facing him.

    "I¡¯ll prove it to you. You can hold onto my neck so that you don¡¯t fall," Rale told Ryder.

    Ryder walked ahead and wrapped his arms around Rale¡¯s neck as he held onto him from the back.

    Rale was taller than Ryder, thus when he stood up, Ryder was raised to the air.

    Rale faced the river and got prepared to jump.

    Rale didn¡¯t do a run-up and simply jumped ahead. He jumped so fast that Ryder¡¯s body was almost horizontal when they were mid-air. Ryder would¡¯ve fallen in the river if he wasn¡¯t holding onto Rale tightly.

    Ralended on the other side of the Blood River.

    He sat down on his knees. Ryder released Rale and stepped back.

    "Not bad. I don¡¯t expect anything less from my Royal Commander," Ryder praised Rale.

    Rale stood up and bowed down slightly as he thanked Ryder for the praise.

    "You guys cane here as well. Don¡¯t worry; you can do it. Just jump like Rale and me."

    Ryder looked towards the other members of the team of his guardians.

    The other guards also jumped over the river. They seemed as if they were flying. If Ryder hasn¡¯t known that these guys were jumping, for a moment, he would¡¯ve thought that they were flying.

    "There¡¯s something in the Blood," Ryder let out as he abruptly raised his bow and aimed towards the Blood in the river.

    He again felt a movement in the Blood. He pulled the string of the bow. An arrow made of Mana appeared in the bow.

    He waited to see another movement, silently. As soon as he saw another movement, he fired the arrow.

    The Arrow disappeared into the blood. He didn¡¯t know if the arrow had hit its target or not. He didn¡¯t even know what the target looked like if there was actually any. There was also a possibility of it being something that wasn¡¯t what he thought.

    After some time, he got a notification.

    [Hundred Thousand Exp Added]

    [Absorption Activated]

    [+30 Strength]

    [Skill Absorption Activated]

    [Skill Received: Underwater Breathing]

    "Looks like it was indeed a beast. Most probably a specter of water type beast," Ryder muttered as he looked through the skill that he had received.

    [Skill: Underwater Breathing

    Level: 1

    Description: Ability to breathe underwater without losing HP

    Duration of the Skill: 20 minutes withouting to the surface]

    "Wait a minute, shouldn¡¯t this ability be called Underblood Breathing? That beast was swimming in blood and not in the water unless what looks like blood is actually water," Ryder muttered as he looked towards the blood river.

    He started wondering if he should check if it was actually blood or not.

    ¡¯Nah, there¡¯s no need to waste time on that. Even if it¡¯s water, so what," Ryder shook his head.

    "Let¡¯s continue ahead," Ryder told his men as he started waiting further.

    They traveled for 4 hours without a break. During these 4 hours, they came in contact with quite a lot of specters. Some of the Spectres were low level and good enough to be in Ryder¡¯s range of the Beasts that he was able to kill. He killed them all as he found them. Rale and his team killed the other beasts that were stronger.

    After these 4 hours of hunting, Ryder had managed to increase his level by 3.

    He was now a level 43 yer.

    Ryder looked at his level up notification as he smiled.

    ¡¯Tomorrow should be the day when the Level Ranking bes public. I wonder how much chaos my ranking is going to cause. I might even be an overnight sensation.¡¯

    ¡¯It would be a good thing to brag about. Shu should be the one who will be most shocked. He had been asking me to tell him my true level, but I kept telling him that he will know soon. Tomorrow should be the day it bes public. I¡¯d also love to see how the number one yer of the Last timeline is doing. His level should be around the 15-20 by now without the Scythe,¡¯

    Rale watched Ryder looking ahead nkly. He didn¡¯t understand why Ryder was in a daze.

    "Your Highness? Is something the matter? You¡¯ve been standing there in a daze for quite some time now."

    Rale tapped on Ryder¡¯s shoulders to bring him out of a daze.

    "Oh, it¡¯s nothing. I was just thinking about something. Let¡¯s continue on our journey."

    Outside the Valley of Wandering Soul, a person was standing. His deep blood-red eyes were looking at the border of the Valley of the Wandering Souls.

    After some time and some consideration, he moved his foot forward and stepped inside the Valley of Wandering Souls.

 Chapter 141 Out of Mana

    <h4>Chapter 141: Out of Mana</h4>

    It was afternoon when Vampire General Vidennded before the entrance of the Valley of the Wandering Souls. He was already 8 hours behind the team of Ryder.

    He stepped inside and started walking towards the depths of the Valley of Wandering Soul.

    "I hate this ce. These souls are so irritating," the Vampire General muttered with an irritated look on his face as he shot out a ball of fire towards one of the Spectres that was flying towards him.

    "In this ce, even the weak souls aren¡¯t afraid. They¡¯re like pests that keeping," he let out as he shot a fireball on another specter that wasing towards him.

    Surprisingly, he had faced more specters than Ryder, and his team had to face.

    It was like he was more attractive to the specters. In less than 10 minutes, the Vampire General was attacked by 90 specters that flew towards him without thinking about the power difference.

    He had only faced level 35-40 specters only, which was even more irritating to him. He felt as if he was being underestimated by what he considered as ants.

    Because of continually being attacked by the specters, his speed of moving forward was much slower. His speed wasn¡¯t even one-fourth of the speed that Ryder and his team had when they passed through this area.

    Ryder and his team of guardians were still moving deeper into the ce. They kept killing the specters that came near them.

    Ryder was the one that was enjoying the ce more. So far, it has been like a treasure ground for hunting. He had collected tons of experience. Ryder also managed to be a level, 45 yer.

    Even though he was upgrading in levels faster, he could also see that the specters were also bing more and more stronger the further he went.

    When he entered the ce, the weakest specter he was seeing was a level 35 specter, but now, the weakest specters he saw were level 50 specters. He could see why this ce was considered dangerous.

    He was still in the ce that was considered the outskirts of the Valley of Wandering Soul. It was called the dwelling of the weakest souls, and yet, the weakest specters that he was seeing had higher levels than him.

    He was still using the Bow to kill the specters without letting them get near him.

    He was trying to kill as many beasts as he could. Having a long-range weapon was really useful in this endeavor as he was able to fire multiple shots before the specters reached near him. This gave him a slight edge in the hunting battle.

    Ryder was facing a level 60 specter at the moment. He had fired five arrows already, but the specter wasn¡¯t dead, instead it kepting towards Ryder, trying to kill him.

    The Spectre had managed to reach within 30 meters of Ryder, and his HP was still quite decent.

    Rale raised his hand to fire an attack to kill the specter before it could harm Ryder.

    "Stop! Don¡¯t interfere!"

    Ryder stopped Rale and fired another arrow, lowering the HP of the specter.

    Rale stopped and didn¡¯t attack, but he didn¡¯t take his hands down. He kept his aim on the specter, ready to attack if Ryder was in danger.

    He knew that it might mean that he would have to break the orders of Ryder, but he considered getting punished better than watching Ryder die.

    As the Specter got even closer, Ryder changed the shape of the bow back to the Scythe.

    He stepped towards the Spectre and rotated his body to give the Scythe more momentum.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder muttered.

    The de of the Scythe seemed as if it was burning with the mes of hell at it cut the specter in 2 pieces.

    Ryder got the notification of experience that he received. It was the highest experience he had received so far.

    [Stat Absorption Activated]

    [Defence +70]

    [Skill Absorption: Failed]

    [Level Up]

    Ryder gained a level. He was now a level 46 yer.

    In less than a day, he had gained six levels, which made him quite happy.

    Bying here, he had already gained a lot. He was now a level 46 yer. He was sure that by the time he left this ce, he would be much higher than level 50.

    It had taken him months to get to level 50st time, but in this new timeline, he would be able to achieve it in a fraction of that time.

    Even though the gained levels made him happy, the thing that he was genuinely excited about was the fragment of the Bracelet of Immortality. He was quite curious if it was actually the fragment or not. The chances of it being the fragment were really high at the moment.

    He was also excited about the new powers he might receive from the Bracelet of Immortality after he gets that 3rd fragment. The 2 Powers that he had received were already so incredible. One made him immortal, while the other made him almost impossible to be killed.

    He was hoping for the 3rd power to be more on the offensive side. The defense was good, but he has always been a fan of offense. He didn¡¯t want to be on the defensive side forever, especially after finding out about the existence of Cultivation Families.

    Ryder changed back the form of his Scythe back to a bow.

    "The arrows are powerful, but it can¡¯t bepared to the attack of the Scythe," Ryder muttered.

    ¡¯My Mana is almost depleted. It doesn¡¯t look like I¡¯ll be able to use skills before my mana restores,¡¯ he thought.

    "Rale, you can take care of the specters thate next. I won¡¯t be attacking anyone for a while now," Ryder informed Rale.

    Even though he has the Mana Restoring potion, he didn¡¯t use that as he was not in an urgent situation. He wanted to save his resources forter when he reached to the depths of the Valley of Wandering Souls. The guardian of the Valley was the true target to him, and he didn¡¯t want to take the risk of going there without his resources.

    "Yes, Your Highness."

    Rale agreed to that. He took the lead and told the others to surround Ryder as they moved forward to protect him. He had somewhat understood that Ryder was out of energy; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have stepped back from the hunting.

    The guardians surrounded Ryder in a circle as they moved forward.

    Rale and the others kept killing any specters of beasts that came before them. They generally killed them in only one strike as they were strong.

 Chapter 142 Beast Egg

    <h4>Chapter 142: Beast Egg</h4>

    Ryder and his team traveled throughout the day towards the depths of the Valley of Wandering Souls. Ryder had recovered his Mana from this, and he had again started hunting the beasts as much as he could.

    His experience counter kept rising the further they went, but his Mana kept decreasing faster than it was restoring.

    The number of beasts they were facing was more now. As they were almost at the edge of the outer region of the Valley of Wandering Souls, beasts were more powerful, and their numbers were more.

    "That¡¯s the 8th golden tree. We should be getting near the safe zone soon. It took longer than I expected," Ryder muttered as he noticed a golden tree to his left.

    In the Book of the Ancient Hobbit, he had read about the experience of the Ancient Hobbit that explored this region. In the book, he learned that the 9th golden tree would be right between the border of the outer region and the Inner Region.

    There was said to be a cave near that 9th golden tree that was like a safe location. People could rest inside that cave without worrying about the attacks from the specters. The specters couldn¡¯t enter the cave.

    The Hobbit that wrote the book had discovered the cave and its specialty. He also spent a lot of his nights inside the cave.

    "I¡¯m again out of Mana," Ryder muttered.

    ¡¯"You guys can take over again," Ryder told Rale.

    The team again surrounded Ryder to protect him as it continued to move forward. In fact, their speed of movement was only faster when Ryder wasn¡¯t hunting as their single attacks were enough to handle them.

    Ryder was the one who actually took the time to hunt the beasts and the reason their speed was slow.

    As he stepped back, they kept advancing faster and faster, and in no time, they reached near the 9th golden tree. The 9th Golden Tree was the tallest tree they had seen so far. The tree was twice as tall as the other eight golden trees.

    "Look around. There should be a cave nearby," Rydermanded others.

    Everyone spread out to look for the cave except Rale, who stayed behind to protect Ryder.

    "I found it!" One of the men said.

    Ryder and the others followed that voice and saw that cave hiding behind giant stones.

    Rale walked forth and moved the stones to the side, exposing the entrance of the cave.

    "Who closed the entrance? It¡¯s not like specters could enter if the entrance were open?" Ryder muttered as he stepped towards the entrance of the Cave.

    As he entered, he heard a notification.

    [First yer to enter the Cave of Protection in the Valley of Wandering Souls]

    [+300 Fame Points]

    "Awesome. I guess I should find more ces like this that give fame points," Ryder muttered.

    Rale and the others entered the cave after Ryder.

    Ryder was looking around the cave when he noticed something near the wall. It seemed like an egg, but it was as big as Ryder¡¯s head.

    The Egg was blue in color that had beautiful golden dots on it.

    "There¡¯s an egg here?" Ryder muttered in surprise.

    "This egg... I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen an egg like this before," Rale let out as he observed the egg.

    Ryder walked towards the egg and picked it up in his hand.

    "Mysterious Beast Egg recieved]

    [Do you want to bind it to you]

    [Y/N]

    "It¡¯s a beast egg. Of Course, only a stupid would be the one who doesn¡¯t bind it," Ryder muttered as he selected yes.

    [Mysterious Beast Egg bound sessfully]

    [Time before it hatches: 7 Days]

    "Awesome. I got a pet monster. Wonder if it will be something badass like a legendary monster," Ryder smirked as he watched the egg.

    "Does Your Highness know what this egg contains?" Rale asked Ryder as he noticed the smile on his face.

    "I don¡¯t. I have zero ideas about its species, but I do hope that it would be a decent beast," Ryder muttered as he kept the egg in his inventory.

    He looked around the cave to see if there was something else here.

    "I wonder how that egg got here. No specter could enter here. There should only be two possibilities. One is that the beast came here, gave birth, and left," Ryder said to Rale as he gave his theory.

    "The second possibility is more realistic. A person came here carrying this egg. That person left this egg behind and covered the cave with stones. He never returned for whatever reason. Most probably because he was killed," he continued.

    "I also think that the second is more probable. We already know that someone came to the town outside after Master Hobbit left. The skeleton bones in the well were the proof of that. I think that person also entered the Valley of Wandering Souls," Rale responded.

    "Whatever happened, it¡¯s good for me. I got a good beast," Ryder said. He looked outside the cave, and it was already dark.

    "I don¡¯t know whose egg that is, but it should be special since it survived in a dangerous ce like this," Rale nodded his head.

    "You guys rest for the night. We¡¯ll continue the journey ahead. Also, even though specters can¡¯t enter this ce, don¡¯t put your guard down. There can be other dangers that we might not know about. Be careful," Ryder told his men.

    "I¡¯ll take care of them, Your Highness. You can sleep in peace," Rale said.

    "Good," Ryder said as he smiled.

    He opened the screen and logged out of the game.

    Ryder woke up on Earth. He took his Divinity sses off and put them to the side before he sat up.

    He looked at the clock. It was 7 O¡¯Clock in the morning.

    "Right on time. After finishing thisst mission from Janus, I would be somewhat free. The other missions have some time. I would definitely take a day just toze around at home after dealing with this," Ryder said as he walked to the washroom. He took a shower and got fresh beforeing out of the washroom.

    He got dressed and left his room as he walked towards the dining hall, which was attached to the kitchen.

    "Good Morning."

    Alice noticed Ryder and greeted him.

    "Good Morning."

    Ryder greeted her back.

    Alice ced the tes on the table and sat in one of the chairs.

    "Are you reallying to the University today to meet the Dean?" she asked Ryder.

    "Of Course. I can¡¯t miss out on today; otherwise, things might go wrong," Ryder replied as he started eating.

 Chapter 143 You cant do anything

    <h4>Chapter 143: You can''t do anything</h4>

    "What are you talking about? What could go wrong? What exactly will you talk to the dean about?" Alice asked in confusion. She didn¡¯t think that this whole thing was that simple.

    "It¡¯s a secret," Ryder smilingly replied as he focused on breakfast.

    Alice shook her head as she started eating as well. She wanted the answers, but she knew that she wasn¡¯t going to get any.

    They finished breakfast and left the house together.

    They got into the Whirlwind of Ryder, which zoomed off towards the University of Dreamers.

    Ryder was driving the car when his phone started ringing.

    "Can you pick the phone and hold it near my ear?" Ryder asked Alice as he kept both his hands on the steering wheel.

    Alice brought the phone out of his pocket.

    "Who is it?" Ryder asked Alice.

    "It¡¯s someone named Shu," Alice replied.

    "Oh, it should be the same Shu that helped me get you out of jail," Ryder answered her. "Alright. Pick up the call."

    Alice tapped on the green Symbol on the phone and put it on Ryder¡¯s ears.

    "Hello?" Ryder asked.

    "Brother Ryder, sorry for being out of touch. I got busy with some work stuff. Anyway, I called you to ask about that thing. How did it go?" Shu said as soon as he heard Ryder¡¯s voice.

    "Which thing?" Ryder asked him. Many things were going on with him, and he was unclear which of them Shu was talking about.

    "The thing about that Dean of the Dreamers University. You said that you would handle him. That¡¯s what I called to ask about," Shu answered him.

    "Oh, about him. Yeah, that¡¯s a done deal. He came to our home and apologized to Alice," Ryder answered Shu.

    Alice¡¯s ear perked up as she heard Ryder talk about her.

    "He apologized? Really? That stubborn old man apologized? How did you do it?" Shu asked as he startedughing.

    "Ah, I talked to him like a gentleman, and he understood what I wanted to say," Ryder told him.

    "That¡¯s a lie! Tell me what you did. Come on, I won¡¯t tell anyone," Shu said again.

    Ryder smiled wryly as he heard him insisting.

    "Ah, Yeah, I¡¯m going to the University with Alice, I¡¯ll send those documentster," Ryder said, subtly.

    He wanted to say that he was with Alice and that he¡¯d tell him somethingter, but he knew that Alice would start doubting him if he said that.

    "Oh, You¡¯re with her. Alright. I won¡¯t ask anymore, but I expect full details when you¡¯re free," Shu said to Ryder.

    "Alright. Expect that to be a done deal," Ryder responded.

    "You can focus on what you were doing. Don¡¯t forget to call me when you¡¯re free. This curiosity is killing me," Shu told him.

    "Sure."

    The call was disconnected.

    "You can put the phone back," Ryder told Alice.

    Alice put the phone back in his top pocket.

    "Is he your business partner?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "You can call him Big Brother Shu if you¡¯re wondering what to address him as. He¡¯s a close friend of mine, and we do have a business partnership as well," Ryder told her.

    He didn¡¯t mention what kind of partnership it was.

    "I forgot to mention it, but the next time you talk to him, please give my thanks to him. For helping mest time and for taking care of you," Alice told Ryder.

    "I¡¯ll thank him for the first one, as for the second, I guess you can say that we both take care of each other somewhat."

    Ryder stopped the car. He was already at the University.

    "Let¡¯s go. You can go to the ss, and I¡¯ll go meet the Dean," Ryder told Alice before he stepped out of the car. Alice also left the car.

    They both walked towards the University but separated along the way as Ryder walked to the administrative building.

    Ryder got to the Dean¡¯s door and knocked on it.

    "Who is it?" the Dean asked.

    "It¡¯s your friend," Ryder said as he opened the door and walked inside.

    The Dean saw Ryder and abruptly stood up.

    "You! What are you doing here! I thought we were done!"

    "Shhh. Don¡¯t behave like that. What will other people think? I¡¯m not here to harm you. I just want to talk to you," Ryder said as he closed the door behind him.

    "You want more money, don¡¯t you? I knew that you would keep ckmailing me," The Dean sighed as he sat down.

    "Who wouldn¡¯t want money, but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m here for. I need something else from you," Ryder said to the Dean as he sat on the seat in front of him.

    The Dean ced both his hands on the table as he gravely looked at Ryder.

    "What do you need?" He asked.

    "I want your daughter to regret what she did to my sister and apologize to Alice. I think you know that I have many methods to make that happen, some of which might be too brutal," Ryder said casually.

    "Don¡¯t you dare harm my daughter, or I will kill you!" The Dean roared in anger as he smashed his hand on the table.

    His loud voice attracted the attention of the people on the outside.

    "Sir, Is everything alright inside?"

    Ryder and the Dean heard a female voice and a knocking on the door.

    "E-everything is alright. Don¡¯t disturb me," The Dean replied.

    "Alright. I apologize for the disturbance," the woman responded.

    "You used your brain; otherwise, things might¡¯ve gottenplicated for you. Back to the topic of your threat, let me tell you. I can do anything I want, and you can¡¯t go anything to stop me," Ryder said as he smiled.

    " But I¡¯m not that kind of person, and I don¡¯t want to go down that dark path, that¡¯s why I came here. I want you to help me make your daughter apologize to my sister so that I won¡¯t need to take any strict measures," he continued.

    "I¡¯ll tell her to apologize," The Dean said to Ryder.

    Ryder shook his head as he denied that suggestion.

    "No, she needs to regret what she did as well. That won¡¯t happen if you just tell her to apologize. She will just detest my sister more and will never regret what she did. Do as I say and everything will be fine without any problem," he said.

    The Dean looked at him with a frown.

    "As long as it doesn¡¯t harm my daughter, I¡¯m willing to do anything," The Dean finally said with determination.

    "Good. It would have been so good if you were that understanding from the start. Things wouldn¡¯te to this point," Ryder muttered.

    "What do you want me to do?" the Dean asked Ryder.

 Chapter 144 Lie

    <h4>Chapter 144: Lie</h4>

    "What do you want me to do?" the Dean asked Ryder.

    "Is your daughter here today?" Ryder inquired as he nced at the man.

    "Yeah, She should be in her ss now," the Dean replied.

    "Good. You need to call her and tell her what I tell you," Ryder said as an amused smile covered his face.

    Misha was the daughter of the Dean of the University of Dreamers.

    She had everything one could ever need¡ªa rich father, money, reputation, and power on campus.

    Most of the students on the campus knew that she was the daughter of the Dean. She was the one that never hid it. She got a free pass to do anything on campus.

    She was the campus queen and also considered one of the prettiest girls of the campus, along with a few other girls. There was an unofficial Ranking of most beautiful girls on the campus. No one knew who started this, but it had be a legit thing throughout the years.

    Misha was ranked 3rd on that ranking right below Alice and another girl.

    She and Alice shared the same ss.

    Misha was sitting in the ss when Alice entered her ss. She was surprised to see Alice here. Her father hadn¡¯t mentioned that she was out of prison. The Dean hid what happened on the campus with Ryder from her.

    "You are back? Did you use the name of your rich boyfriend to get out of prison? Cheh, I should¡¯ve expected someone like you toe out," Mishamented as soon as Alice walked past her.

    Many people heard her words, and a lot of them even startedughing.

    There was another girl in the ss. She was Alice¡¯s friend that told Ryder about her being arrested.

    She was about to stand up to say that her brother was a big person. She had seen how Ryder¡¯s single call made the topwyer in the citye to the police station to help her.

    She wanted to inform everyone to shut their mouth, but Alice stopped her.

    Alice didn¡¯t want to extend the drama as it had already be big enough. She sat beside her friend.

    The teacher was still not here as there was some time in the first ss.

    Misha was about to repeat something when her phone started ringing.

    "Father?"

    Misha was confused about why her father was calling her at this time. Generally, he only called her when things were really serious.

    "Hello?"

    "Misha, are you in ss right now?" the Dean asked.

    "Yes, Father. Did something happen?"

    "There has been a problem. Do you remember that you had been in an argument a few days ago? The girl we had arrested?"

    "Yeah, That girl is in the ss right now. What about her?"

    "We were wrong. You were wrong. That girl is not poor. She is from a very big family, but she detested using her the money to show off, and that¡¯s why she hid it from everyone. I found out that her brother is a really big guy. The police that were on our side are now on his side, and they are nning to file charges to arrest you. Her brother has also sued me. We are in deep trouble," the Dean said. His voice sounded, really scared.

    Misha, for the first time in a long while, felt fear. She realized that if her father was acting like this, then things were really serious

    "I-is there nothing we can do?" she asked.

    "I got mywyers involved, and they are saying that the chances are that we will lose if this thing goes to court. We will lose all our money, and I will lose all my reputation. I might even be fired from my job, and you will be arrested. This... I don¡¯t know what to do anymore," the Dean told her.

    While the Dean was talking to his daughter, Ryder was sitting in front of him. His feet were resting on the table in front of him while he enjoyed the spectacle.

    Misha was starting to sweat as she heard everything. She didn¡¯t doubt her father¡¯s words. She knew that they were in deep trouble now. For the first time in her life, she was regretting doing something.

    If what her father was talking about actually happened, then she will lose everything. She couldn¡¯t even imagine how she would survive being poor.

    "F-father, I¡¯m really sorry for causing this problem. If the legal way doesn¡¯t work, then let me try asking for forgiveness from her. I... She might ask her brother to forgive us if I try hard," Misha said. Even though she knew what she wanted to say, she still stuttered. She never imagined herself saying such words.

    "That would solve everything. Please, Misha, Everything depends on you now," the Dean said before he disconnected the call.

    "Good work. That should be able to make her realize her mistakes. Now, as long as she apologizes to Alice, everything would be solved. After that, you wouldn¡¯t need to see my face, and simrly, I wouldn¡¯t need to see your face, as long as nothing like this happens again," Ryder said

    The phone was on speaker, so he heard everything Misha said. He was sure that half of the mission was already done.

    He should be getting the notification of the mission being sessful pretty soon.

    Back in the ss, Misha was still wondering how to do it. She had never apologized to anyone in all her life. Her feet were not even listening to her.

    After much struggle, she stood up. She walked towards Alice.

    Misha looked at Alice, who looked back in confusion.

    "Ce with me," Misha said.

    "Are you still trying to escte things? Can¡¯t you stay content with what you already did to her?" Alice¡¯s friend stood up for her.

    She didn¡¯t want things to go as far asst time. She tried to stop them from talking.

    "I have something to talk to her about. It¡¯s about my family and her brother," Misha said. "We are going to have a normal conversation. Don¡¯t interfere."

    Alice stood up as she heard that.

    "It¡¯s alright. Let me go talk to her," Alice told her friend before she left with Misha.

    They both walked out of the ss.

    "What about my brother?" Alice asked in confusion.

    Misha opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out of her mouth. She didn¡¯t know that it would be so tough, especially when she watched Alice looking at her.

    "I-i¡¯m sorry for what I did. I was wrong for acting like that and ming you. Please forgive me for everything that I did," Misha said as she bent her body forward and bowed before Alice.

 Chapter 145 Secret behind Parents Death

    <h4>Chapter 145: Secret behind Parents'' Death</h4>

    Alice¡¯s mouth opened wide as she saw Misha apologize. It was just as shocking for her as seeing the Dean apologize.

    She didn¡¯t believe her ears for quite some time.

    "Are you serious?" Alice asked Misha.

    "I seriously regret what happened, and I believe that we could start everything anew. Let¡¯s just forget all the negative past and start on a good note. We could only do that if you forgive me and don¡¯t look for revenge. Can you do that?" Misha inquired.

    "I, Ah, Yes Of Course. Let¡¯s do that," Alice let out, still looking stunned.

    "Good. Can you ask your brother to drop this issue as well? I hope he doesn¡¯t go after my family for my mistakes. I¡¯m willing to apologize to him as well," Misha said.

    "My brother? What did he do?" Alice asked her.

    Misha told Alice everything her father told her.

    ¡¯He did that? Is that why the Dean came to our home to apologize?¡¯ Alice wondered.

    She couldn¡¯t help but be amazed at Ryder¡¯s reach. How did he gain so much power that even the Dean was scared of him? She couldn¡¯t understand. All she knew was that she was happy after knowing that Ryder had achieved so much.

    "I will tell him that you apologized and convince him not to do anything like that,¡¯ Alice told Misha.

    "Thank you so much."

    Misha smiled happily.

    "Friends?"

    Misha extended her hands towards Alice.

    Alice had forgiven her, so she also reached out her hand. After shaking each other¡¯s hands, they walked back to the ss.

    "Let me make things clear to others as well," Misha said to Alice as soon as she entered the ss.

    Misha stood in front of the whole ss. She had shown her friendship gesture to Alice, and it was already epted, but she wanted to show even more goodwill to secure her future.

    "Listen, everyone!" Misha shouted.

    Her words attracted everyone¡¯s attention. The noisy ss has turned entirely silent.

    "I want to confess something before everyone. I was wrong about Alice. I just found out about how wrong I was. Alice is nothing like I imed. In Fact, her family is way richer than my family. Everything wrong that I imed about her was false and my assumption. Now that I know the reality, I see how wrong I was. I want to rify that before everyone, and I hope you will all behave properly with her," Misha said.

    Her words were very persuasive. Everyone knew how stubborn Misha was. If she was willing to apologize and admit her wrong before everyone, then that could only mean that Alice¡¯s secret family was a really big deal. That day, everyone¡¯s attitude changed towards Alice.

    Not a single person had an idea of how this simple event saved someone¡¯s life from getting ruined. Not even that person themselves knew. Even Ryder didn¡¯t understand the significance of what he actually achieved from this mission.

    Back in the office of the Dean, Ryder was sittingfortably.

    Suddenly, he got the notification of his Mission being sessful.

    [Alice received the apology. Mission sessful]

    [Reward Received: Open the Deity Phone to see the reward]

    ¡¯Finally, the mission is finished. I wonder about the reward. What clue will I get about my parent¡¯s death? The photo of the driver?¡¯ Ryder thought.

    Ryder didn¡¯t bring out his phone before the Dean.

    "I¡¯m done here. We won¡¯t see each other again. Don¡¯t tell your daughter that it was all a ploy. Also, make sure that my sister doesn¡¯t face any problems at the university. I don¡¯t want to have toe back again," Ryder said as he stood up.

    Ryder left the ce and walked back to his car.

    He sat in his car but didn¡¯t start it. Instead, he brought the Deity Phone out of his storage ring.

    As he unlocked the phone, he noticed a notification. He had received a video.

    There was no number of the sender, but there was the name of the Sender. It was sent by Janus.

    Ryder started ying the video.

    It was a short 3-second clip.

    Ryder saw what seemed like a graveyard. A person was digging out what looked like a grave. That was all. The video finished.

    Ryder didn¡¯t even see the face of the man, but he knew that the man wasn¡¯t a grave keeper. The man was wearing luxurious clothes and seemed rich.

    "A grave robber? Or someone from the team that steals dead bodies that I keep hearing about? How are they rted to the deaths of my parents?" Ryder wondered as he frowned.

    He wished that the video was longer so that he could see the face of the man, but it was too short.

    All he knew was that his parents¡¯ death had something to do with this rich-looking grave robber.

    The mysterious disappearance of the dead bodies was somehow rted. Previously, he didn¡¯t care for it, but now, he was getting more interested in it.

    He also remembered the call he had received when he was in the Ferris wheel from someone whose number was private and hidden. That person told him to bring bodies faster for someone. He was now suspicious if that person was actually rted to these body stealers or if Ryder was blowing things out of proportion because of his suspicions.

    "Janus, can you exin more about this video? Anything about it? Or the identity of the man? How is this video rted to the ident of my parents?" Ryder asked.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply. Ryder asked again, but he didn¡¯t answer.

    "Looks like you aren¡¯t going to say anything about it."

    Ryder gave up as he realized that Janus wasn¡¯t going to answer. He didn¡¯t know why Janus couldn¡¯t just tell him. What was stopping this almighty existence from disclosing some secrets about this?

    Ryder started the Engine of the car and drove it off into the horizon.

    He reached an Interior Designer¡¯s Office and gave him the contract to handle his building, and it¡¯s furniture. Everything rted to that was given to the Interior Designer¡¯s firm.

    It cost him a lot of money, but it was better to have a professional do it. He exined what he wanted in detail and only left after he made sure that the man understood.

    Ryder then went to the Building to meet the Spirit that lived in the building that he purchased.

    He wanted to get more information about the Spirit¡¯s son so that he could n things to finish that mission as well. Getting revenge for the spirit against the son who killed his father wasn¡¯t a bad thing, and he wanted to do it without wasting much time.

 Chapter 146 Spirit Help Desk?

    <h4>Chapter 146: Spirit Help Desk?</h4>

    Ryder reached the building that he had purchased to set up hispany.

    He parked the car in the building¡¯s parking and left the car.

    Ryder entered the building and called out a name.

    "Stanner? Come out,"

    A spirit that looked like an 18-19-year-old boy appeared before Ryder.

    "Did you make a decision? are you going to help me?" the Spirit asked.

    "Yeah, I must say that I¡¯ve gained some more experience when ites to hurting people. Considering how he killed his father, I agree that he doesn¡¯t deserve to live. I¡¯ll help you," Ryder said to the Spirit.

    "Good."

    The spirit finally seemed rxed.

    "Tell me your kid¡¯s name and some more information about him so that I can search him on the inte," Ryder said.

    "His name is Pasher Stan," The Spirit replied.

    "You named your kid Pasher?" Ryder let out as a weird look covered his face.

    "What¡¯s wrong with that name? It was my Great Grandfather¡¯s name," The Spirit replied as it red at Ryder.

    "Ah, nothing. It¡¯s just a unique name. I was somewhat surprised," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face.

    ¡¯I thought that I would have to go through thousands of results to find that man, but after knowing his name, I think it¡¯s going to be much easier than I thought. It¡¯s not like there are going to be many people with Pasher as their name,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He brought his phone out of his pocket and searched the name.

    "The fuck? Is this thing broken? How can there be so many Pasher Stan in this world?!" Ryder eximed in surprise as he saw the results.

    He added the name of the city, and the results were still a lot.

    "Come closer. It looks like we¡¯re going to have to do it the hard way. Let me know if you recognize any of them as your son," Ryder told the Spirit.

    The Spirit floated near Ryder.

    "Ahh."

    identally, the spirit¡¯s shoulders touched Ryder making the spirit go through a burning pain. It instantly moved back.

    "Sorry about that. Spirits can¡¯t touch me. You can watch while keeping some distance," Ryder told the Spirit with an apologetic look on his face.

    He was still wearing the Spirit Warding Ne that he had purchased from the system store.

    The Spirit looked at Ryder for quite some time before it again started flying towards him, but this time, it kept some distance.

    "This is the first result. The millionaire of the city, Pasher Stan, who lives in the south of the city," Ryder said as he showed Stanner the image.

    "No, he¡¯s not my son," Stanner shook his head.

    Ryder went through the results one by one, but none of them matched the son of Stanner.

    After some time, Stanner did react positively. He recognized his son.

    "So he¡¯s the guy, looks quite feminine," Ryder muttered. "Doesn¡¯t seem like a murderer."

    "I wouldn¡¯t have believed it either if I wasn¡¯t the one that was killed by him," Stanner said as he clenched his fist.

    "Now that I know him, I¡¯ll deal with everything else. I might even bring him here for you to kill him personally," Ryder said.

    The spirit didn¡¯t respond.

    "Oh, right, can I ask you one thing?"

    Ryder asked the Spirit as he looked at him in curiosity.

    "Ask me," Stanner replied.

    "You were killed when you were over 40 years old. Why is it that your spirit looks like a teenager? Shouldn¡¯t it have the same form as you when you were killed?" Ryder asked

    "How am I supposed to know that? It¡¯s not like we have a spirit help desk to ask questions and attend meetings. I don¡¯t even know why I can¡¯t leave this ce," Stanner said as he shook his head.

    "You¡¯re the Ancient Ghost Buster and the Spirit Expert. Shouldn¡¯t you know more?" He asked Ryder.

    "Well, Ah, you¡¯re a new case. I haven¡¯t seen a case like yours. Most spirits I saw were the same as when they died," Ryder bluffed.

    He had received a Skill of bluffing from a mystery box, which made even his lies seem like truths. No one was able to catch his bluffs after he learned that skill.

    "I will wait for the news," the Spirit said.

    He was about to leave when he heard Ryder telling him something.

    "Some people wille here soon. They will repair the building and prepare the furniture and stuff. Don¡¯t disturb them and don¡¯t appear before them."

    After informing the Spirit, Ryder left the building and walked back to his car.

    He was sitting alone in his car as he searched through the information of Stanner¡¯s Son.

    "So he left the city. He lives quite far away now. I guess it¡¯s another problem that I¡¯ll have to face now, going to other cities to kill," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "Hmm? What¡¯s that?!" Ryder eximed in surprise as he read something.

    "That guy purchased shares in Jameson¡¯s business? Awesome, Those two had to be rted, didn¡¯t they? I might be able to use him to call Pasher here, though."

    After thinking for some time, Ryder dide up with a n. Previously, he wanted to kill Jameson, but now he realized that he could use him.

    "I¡¯ll wait for Jameson toe back before Imence the n," Ryder muttered.

    He looked at the time on his watch and thought of something.

    "Oh, Right. I do have some time. I wonder if I can go collect my lottery money. I did give them tomorrow¡¯s time, but if I can do it now, then it will just save me time,"

    He started going through his contact list to find the number of the girl that had called him about his winnings.

    Last time, he had forgotten to ask the name of the girl, so he only saved her name as the Lottery Lady.

    After he found the number, he called her.

    "Hello?"

    Ryder heard a woman¡¯s voice from the other side as soon as the call was connected.

    "Ahmm, Hey, It¡¯s Ryder. You talked to me about my lottery yesterday," Ryder said.

    "Ah, Yes. Mr. Ryder. I¡¯ve arranged everything for you. You can collect the money tomorrow as you requested," The Woman said.

    "That¡¯s what I wanted to talk to you about. I noticed that I had finished my business faster than I expected, and I was wondering if I could collect the money today. It would only save time for me as I won¡¯t have toe tomorrow," Ryder told the woman.

 Chapter 147 Recognized

    <h4>Chapter 147: Recognized</h4>

    "Ah, right. Of Course. You cane today. We can fasten the process," the woman said.

    "Alright. I¡¯ming then. I should be there in an hour," Ryder told the woman before he disconnected the call.

    Ryder started the Engine of the car and got it on the road.

    The car raced through the roads of the city, attracting the gazes of girls and boys alike.

    Soon, Ryder reached his destination.

    Cloud Inc. was the organization that held most of the lotteries in the country. The corporation was a big name in the country with branches in every city of the country.

    They held many businesses, but most of their businesses were rted to the entertainment industry. They produced movies, had a famous musicbel, managed various big-name artists, and many more.

    Their headquarters were situated in the new capital of the United States, Glepnir. It was a human-made city in the middle of nowhere that had be the new capital of the country.

    It was the most well-developed City in the country that other cities couldn¡¯t evenpare to. It was the most technologically advanced city and the ce where most of the billionaires lived.

    The Headquarters of many prominent organizations was there. The Dream Corporation Headquarters, the Cloud Inc. headquarters, and even the Necrosis Corporation were situated there.

    Glepnir had everything one could hope for. It had also be thergest city in the country with time.

    The branch of Cloud Inc. in Ryder¡¯s city was just a minor branch. This time the branch attracted some attention because the lottery winner was from this area.

    Ryder¡¯s car stopped before Cloud Inc. Branch. He came out of the car and entered the establishment.

    As soon as he entered, he called the woman he had talked to before and informed her of his arrival.

    "Oh, Mr. Ryder. Please wait there. I¡¯ll be right down," The Woman replied.

    Ryder sat on a couch as he waited for the Woman toe down. It was better to be escorted by the one he talked to instead of talking to the receptionist and exining to her.

    He had just sat down when he got a call.

    "Oh, Shu. I guess I did forget to call him."

    Ryder smiled wryly as he saw the name on the phone.

    He picked up the call.

    "Why are you torturing me with the suspense!"

    Shu bellowed as soon as Ryder picked up the call.

    "Sorry, I just got free. I only have a few minutes before I go to the second meeting," Ryder said.

    "At Least tell me in short what you did! I¡¯m dying of curiosity how you made him apologize? Did you hire the mafia?" Shu asked.

    "No, I ckmailed him. That¡¯s all I can say for now. I¡¯ll tell you other detailster," Ryder exined, but that¡¯s when his expressions changed as he saw a woman standing behind him.

    The woman was wearing a white shirt and a ck skirt. Her hair only came down to her shoulders. Her beautiful eyes looked like they were a mixture of crimson and brown.

    He was even more shocked as he recognized the woman. It was the same woman that he had saved when he killed a criminal toplete his first mission.

    The woman had a weird look on her face as she stared at Ryder.

    ¡¯Did she recognize me?¡¯

    Ryder didn¡¯t know how to react.

    "Shu, I¡¯ll call you back," he disconnected the call and put the phone in his pocket.

    "Ah, hello," Ryder said.

    He kept his voice casual, to not make her suspicious as he had changed his voice when he talked to her on the murder site.

    "W-we talked on the phone. You cane with me to take your money," the woman didn¡¯t say anything, but Ryder could see that she was disturbed by his words.

    He couldn¡¯t help but facepalm himself before he started following her.

    ¡¯She¡¯s worried. It should be that she heard about the ckmailing. She can¡¯t possibly recognize me from that event,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    They got into the lift together.

    He didn¡¯t speak any single word after that. He wanted to talk to her as little as he could unless it was necessary.

    "My name is udia. I¡¯m handling the things rted to prize distribution," the Woman said.

    She was worried about what she heard rted to ckmailing, but after some time, she had recovered. She didn¡¯t want it to affect her work.

    "I¡¯m Ryder Flynn, but I¡¯m sure that you already know my name," Ryder told her.

    "Have we met before?" udia asked Ryder as she looked in his eyes.

    "Ah, no. I would¡¯ve remembered if I had met a pretty woman like you," Ryder said flirtatiously to throw her off.

    "Ah, Thank you," udia replied, but she didn¡¯t seem impressed.

    "It¡¯s just that you remind me of someone that saved me," she added. "I wonder if you are him."

    "Saved you? From what? Also, if he saved you, you should remember his face," Ryder said ignorantly. "Unless I have a twin running around without my knowledge."

    "He saved my life. I would be dead without him. I couldn¡¯t thank him properly at that time because I was scared. I always regret that. Also, he was hiding his face, so I don¡¯t know what he looks like," udia said as she sighed. "But, his body was like yours."

    "There are many people in this world with the same physique. Also, if I save someone, I wouldn¡¯t hide my face, especially if the person I saved was a Pretty Woman," Ryder chuckled.

    udia didn¡¯t reply.

    They stepped out of the lift on the 4th floor and walked to the office.

    udia sat on the main chair while Ryder sat on the other chair.

    She brought a tablet out of her drawer and gave it to Ryder.

    "You need to sign there and fill in the details like your Identification Number and address," udia said. "After that, I¡¯ll begin the money transfer process. It will reflect in your ount in an hour."

    Ryder nodded his head and filled everything before returning the thing to udia.

    "Thanks. Everything¡¯s done now. You will get your money soon. Taxes will be deducted from the 10 million dors, though," She said.

    "It¡¯s alright. I know how it works. Anyway, thanks for fast-forwarding this to today. I¡¯ll get going by now," Ryder stood up and turned back to leave.

    "Ahmm, Can I ask you something if you don¡¯t get offended," She asked Ryder.

    Ryder stopped as he looked back at her.

    "Sure."

    "You don¡¯t look like a bad guy. I did hear you talk about ckmailing, though. Although I won¡¯t tell anyone as it¡¯s your personal life, I do hope you can leave bad ways and improve your life. Crime is never the way to move forward," udia said after some hesitation.

 Chapter 148 Dream

    <h4>Chapter 148: Dream</h4>

    "I didn¡¯t ckmail anyone. That was my friend who asked me about how I won the lottery. I was just joking with him that I ckmailed the one that¡¯s handling it," Ryder made an excuse. "That¡¯s what you probably heard. We both know that it¡¯s not true."

    "Oh, I¡¯m sorry for the misunderstanding," udia apologized to Ryder.

    "Bye."

    Ryder bid her farewell before he left the ce.

    ¡¯It¡¯s crazy to look at her. I took a life that day because of Janus, but if I hadn¡¯t done that, she wouldn¡¯t be here. I got blood on my hands, but I got a good deed by saving a life as well. I wonder if that makes me a hell material or a heaven material,¡¯ Ryder thought as he entered the lift.

    Ryder left the building and entered his car, which he drove back home.

    "Is he the same person?" udia muttered as she looked at her tablet. "He definitely wouldn¡¯t ept it if he was. No sane person would admit that considering what happened, but I do believe that he¡¯s the one that saved my life. I get the same feeling from him."

    Ryder was driving back home as he called Shu and put his phone on speaker.

    "Is your meeting over?" Shu asked as he picked up the call.

    "Yeah, You nearly got me in trouble. The person I was meeting heard my words when I was talking to you," Ryder said.

    "You don¡¯t sound mad. You must¡¯ve handled it well. Anyway, let¡¯s continue the story. What did you do?" Shu asked.

    "It¡¯s not that big. When I went to his office, I entered his room without knocking and saw him doing some embarrassing things. I recorded his video and forced him to apologize to Alice," Ryder replied to him.

    "Ah, That was lucky. I was wondering how you would handle the guy, but it looks like god helped you. Anyway, what was the embarrassing thing he was doing?" Shu asked.

    "He was singing and dancing naked," Ryder answered him.

    "Ahh..."

    For quite some time, Shu didn¡¯t say anything. It was like he was shocked at what he heard.

    "Forget that. How¡¯s your training going? Have you been leveling up?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Yup. I¡¯m doing great. You¡¯ll understand what I mean when we meet," Shu said.

    "I¡¯ll know soon after the Level Ranking release for yers," Ryder replied.

    He knew that today was the day when the Level Ranking became public. Then he would be able to see the level ranking of the top 100 yers. He thought that it would be good if Shu were there on the rankings.

    "I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be on the top of the ranking when it is released. It will be you, or Lucifer. It might even be Darkness. You 3 are the most popr now," Shu said.

    "It will be clear soon. When that happens, the Treasure Ranking will also update, and this time, it will be something that updates daily, unlike before," Ryder muttered.

    "There¡¯s a big shock in store for everyone when it happens," Ryder added.

    "Yeah, I was wondering when it would update. It hasn¡¯t updated since it was released the first time," Shu said. "I want to see who else got treasures other than you."

    "You won¡¯t have to wait for long. It should be today ording to the rumors," Ryder told Shu.

    He already knew that it would most likely happen today if everything goes likest time with the number of yers. There was also a chance that he was wrong as history was already changed.

    "Anyway, I¡¯ll talk to youter. I¡¯m picking up, Alice," Ryder let out as he applied the brake of his car after reaching the University.

    "Alright."

    The call was disconnected.

    Ryder got out of the car and stood near it as he looked at his watch. It should be the time for her toe out, he thought.

    He could see students leaving the campus. Many girls looked at him, standing before the car with curious gazes.

    ¡¯I should get some new clothes as well. I always attract these weird gazes,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    After some time, he saw Alicee out. She was walking together with two girls. Ryder recognized one of the girls as the one who had informed him about Alice¡¯s arrest while the other girl was unknown. He didn¡¯t know that the other girl was Misha, who had caused all the problems.

    Alice reached the car.

    "Is that your brother?" Misha asked Alice.

    "Hmm," Alice nodded her friend.

    Ryder looked at the girl in confusion as he saw her bowing her head before him.

    "Sir, I would like to apologize to you for what I did to Alice. Please forgive me. I was stupid and naive, but now I understand my mistakes," Misha said.

    "Ah, Are you the Dean¡¯s Daughter, Misha?" Ryder asked.

    "Yea," Misha nodded her head.

    Before Ryder could say anything, Alice also started talking. She told Ryder everything that happened in ss and that Misha apologized. She also asked him to forgive Misha.

    "Alright. If Alice says that, I won¡¯t pursue the matter. It¡¯s good that you learned from your mistake. Just don¡¯t repeat that again," Ryder replied.

    "Thank you," Misha thanked Ryder politely before she walked back towards the office of her father.

    "Bye Alice,"

    Alice¡¯s friend also left.

    Ryder and Alice got in the car that started driving back towards home.

    "I didn¡¯t know that you were taking legal action on them. You became so big in such a short time without me even realizing," Alice said to Ryder along the way.

    "You can call it a god¡¯s blessing, I guess. Things are getting better," Ryder replied.

    After some time, they reached home. Ryder parked the car, and they entered the house.

    While Alice went to her room to change her clothes, Ryder went to his room to rest.

    "Tomorrow is a free day. I can spend the whole day in the game," Ryder muttered as heid on his bed.

    He cozily rested his head on a pillow as he closed his eyes.

    Even though the gaming substituted for sleeping and provided the same benefits now, he still thought about taking a nap. There was still some time before dinner.

    He decided to sleep for some time as it had been a long time since he actually slept.

    It didn¡¯t take long before Ryder fell asleep. The cold air of the AC filled up the room, making Ryder¡¯s sleep even morefortable.

    Ryder was sleeping, and soon he started dreaming.

    It was a weird dream where he found himself sitting in a strange ce. It seemed as if he was sitting on the ground made of clouds.

 Chapter 149 Brother

    <h4>Chapter 149: Brother</h4>

    He couldn¡¯t see his face, but his hands and feet made him seem like a teenager

    A young boy was sitting near him. The boy looked like he was 15-16 years old. He had ming red hair and a cute looking face.

    The boy seemed to be crying.

    "No matter what I do, I can¡¯t seem to attract her attention. She¡¯s always with her friends. Why am I not as handsome as them?" the boy asked.

    Although it was a dream, Ryder felt as if he had no control over his body. It was like this was all a rey, and he couldn¡¯t change or control anything.

    "Don¡¯t forget your identity. If you want the girl, just take her," Ryder said. His voice was much different than it was now and felt grimmer.

    "I... I can¡¯t do it. She will not respect me if I do that. I want to win her heart, not abduct her," The boy replied.

    "You will never get her the way you are now. It¡¯s not that you aren¡¯t handsome, it¡¯s your personality," Ryder said. "You¡¯re like a child."

    "What can I do to change that?" The boy asked as he looked at Ryder with hope.

    "You need to make your mindset more mature. Our identity is special, and we can¡¯t be like you are right now. If you¡¯re worried about a girl, then you will never achieve anything. Just do something to show her that she belongs to you. Show her that you like her if you want her," Ryder said.

    "She will hate me if I do that," The boy said as he shook his head.

    Ryder looked towards the boy before he stood up.

    He picked up the boy with his hand and started flying in a certain direction.

    After some time, he stopped in a ce that was filled with people. There were men, and there were women. All of them looked thousands of times better than most of the people Ryder had seen on earth other than a few.

    The dream version of Ryder got down to the ground and walked up to one of the random girls on the street that had a crown on her head.

    "I-isn¡¯t that..." the boy seemed surprised as he saw Ryder walking towards the girl.

    The girl had Crimson hair and deep blue eyes. Her jade-like skin made her seem like a fairy.

    Ryder walked to the girl, ced his hand around the girl, and kissed her abruptly.

    The girl was stunned at what happened, but she couldn¡¯t understand why her heart was beating faster. It was like she was charmed instantly by Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    She kissed him back as if she lost control of her body to her heart.

    The boy that was standing behind was stunned as he saw the events unfold.

    Ryder released himself from the girl¡¯s embrace and walked back.

    He caught the boy¡¯s hand and flew away, leaving the stunned girl behind.

    "T-that works?" the boy asked.

    "Not for everyone, but we are special. You don¡¯t need to use words if you can¡¯t use them. You need to show the girl you like, your true feelings. If you can¡¯t express it with words, then express it in other ways. This is the way that father taught me, and it has been working for me," Ryder said. "So far, I haven¡¯t met a girl that proved me wrong,"

    Even though the dream version of Ryder felt like a badass, there was some ignorance in his words. It seemed like he was still quite young and hadn¡¯t learned everything.

    "Father taught you?" the boy asked Ryder in surprise.

    "Yes, Janus, Father taught me. I will definitely be like him when I grow up. I will be the God that will make father proud," Ryder dered.

    "If father said that, then it must be true," Janus said.

    "Sometimes I wonder how I have a brother like you. We are so different. Anyway, tell me where we will find that girl. You need to do it as well. Express your feelings. I don¡¯t want to see you sulk about it every day," Ryder said.

    Janus nodded his head after some hesitation and told him the ce.

    They got to the ce he talked about.

    "That¡¯s the girl I like," Janus said as he pointed towards the girl.

    "Go, and do as I did. Act confident! Nothing will go wrong," Ryder said to Janus as he pushed him forward.

    Janus stepped forth and walked towards the girl that was standing with her friend.

    Ryder watched Janus talk to the girl. He took the girl to the side before he kissed the girl.

    The girl moved back in shock.

    The friends of the girls were mostly male. They were furious as they saw another guy kiss the girl. One of them walked towards Janus and pped him.

    Ryder¡¯s blood boiled as he saw his brother being hit

    After that, what happened could only be described as a massacre.

    It was at that time, Ryder woke up from his weird dream.

    "What... the ... actual... fuck?" Ryder cursed as he thought about what happened in that dream. He was weirded out.

    This was the weirdest dream he had seen. Janus as a real boy, that too, his brother? And what was with that stupid technique to pick up girls?

    "Janus?" Ryder asked.

    "Yes?" Janus replied instantly.

    "I think you should hear this. I had such a weird dream. I was like your brother, and I gave you tips on how to get girls. I guess your first mission about kissing Alice has somewhat influenced me, but seeing you as my brother was definitely weird," Ryder said as he smiled wryly.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply to him.

    "Hey, you can at least respond," Ryder asked again.

    Janus still didn¡¯t answer him.

    "Fine, don¡¯t answer. I¡¯m sure you would be freaked out by this as well if you weren¡¯t a system," Ryder said as he stood up.

    He got off the bed and went for a cold shower.

    Aftering out, he got dressed.

    It was already 8 in the evening. He stepped out of his room and walked towards the kitchen.

    "You¡¯re right on time. I was just about to go call you," Alice said as she served the dinner on the table.

    Ryder smiled as he sat down on the chair.

    "I woke up at the right time," he answered her.

    They had dinner together before they walked back to their rooms.

    Ryder entered his room andid on his bed as he wore his Divinity sses.

    He didn¡¯t know that Alice was in her room doing the same thing. She had also started ying divinity some time ago.

    Ryder entered the world of Divinity and found himself in the same cave he was in when he left.

 Chapter 150 We have no choice

    <h4>Chapter 150: We have no choice</h4>

    Ryder appeared in the Cave of Protection. Most of the team members were already awake, but they were sitting with their backs resting against the walls of the cave.

    Rale, on the other hand, was standing near the entrance of the Cave, as if he was keeping an eye on the surroundings outside.

    "Is there something outside?" Ryder asked smilingly as he stepped towards Rale.

    "Your Highness!"

    Rale turned back and greeted Ryder. The other team members also stood up and greeted Ryder.

    "Everything¡¯s fine, right?" Ryder asked him.

    "There¡¯s nothing strange going on. There is no movement. I did see a few specters, but nothing worth mentioning so far," Rale said.

    "Alright, Let¡¯s continue then. We will be entering the Inner Portion of the Valley. This should be where the important things start," Ryder told him.

    Rale nodded his head as he stepped out of the cave.

    Ryder and Rale walked together while the others walked behind them.

    None of them knew that the Vampire General was only slightly behind them. There were only 2 hours of distance between Ryder¡¯s team and the Vampire General¡¯s team.

    Strangely enough, the Vampire General was still facing more specters than Ryder¡¯s team was facing. It was like the Spectres were more attracted to him.

    Ryder walked through the forest, hunting specters and increasing his level.

    Only 4 hours had passed when Ryder heard a system-wide announcement.

    [Attention yers]

    [The American Server Level Ranking has been released]

    "The American Server Treasure Ranking has been updated]

    [The Rank 1 yer in the Treasure Ranking, Hades has been awarded 500 Fame points]

    [The Rank 2 yer in the Treasure Ranking, Hades has been awarded 200 Fame points]

    [The Number 3 yer in the Treasure Ranking, Hades has been awarded 100 Fame Points]

    [The Number 1 yer in the Level Ranking, Hades has been awarded 1000 Fame Points]

    [The Number 2 yer in the Level Ranking, Lucifer has been awarded 500 Fame Points]

    [The Number 3 yer in the Level Ranking, Darkness has been awarded 200 Fame Points]

    "Looks like it¡¯s out," Ryder muttered.

    "Guys, I¡¯m not hunting anymore. You guys can take the lead," Ryder told everyone.

    Once again, his team surrounded him while they continued ahead.

    Ryder opened the Level Rankings to see how everyone else fared.

    [Level Rankings]

    [1. Hades Level 47]

    [2. Lucifer Level 33]

    [3. Darkness Level 24]

    [4. Mikael Level 22]

    [5. Wrecker Level 22]

    ...

    [99. BigDaddy Level 18]

    [100. PrincesPotato Level 18]

    Ryder went through the list while he continued walking ahead under the protection of everyone else.

    There was a broad grin on his face as he saw the rankings.

    ¡¯It feels good to be on the top," Ryder thought as he smiled.

    ¡¯The others are not doing bad either. Some of them are performing even better than they did in thest timeline.¡¯

    "Shu has also gained a few levels since Ist saw him."

    He closed the Level Rankings. He was about to open the Treasure Rankings when he heard Rale¡¯s voice.

    "Your Highness, there¡¯s a pond ahead. I think you should take a look."

    Ryder stopped focusing on the rankings andmanded his men to move aside to let him pass.

    Ryder walked closer to Rale and looked at the beautiful crystal pond in front of them.

    The pond was not significant in size. In fact, it was only as small as an average size swimming pool.

    The pond was frozen in ice. There was something at the center of the pond which seemed like a sword that was stabbed in the ice.

    The Sword had a Golden de and a silver hilt.

    "Let me see what that is," Ryder muttered as he walked closer to the pond.

    He threw a nearby stone on the ice, but nothing happened. It seemed like the ice was solid.

    He tried touching the ice with his feet. The results were pretty normal. It seemed as if the ice was pretty hard that wouldn¡¯t break.

    He also ced some weight on his foot to test the limits, but the ice didn¡¯t break.

    Ryder was about to step over the Ice, but Rale stopped him.

    "Your Highness, let me step over the ice instead. I¡¯ll bring that sword back to you," Rale said.

    "Alright. You can take the lead. Just be careful, there might be danger," Ryder said as he stepped back.

    It didn¡¯t seem like there was any danger from what he had seen. He could still use his Time Rewind if something went wrong, and Rale gets hurt.

    Rale stepped over the ice and carefully walked over to the center of the pond and touched the hilt of the Sword.

    He was about to pull the sword out. His full focus was on the sword, as this could turn out to be dangerous.

    Everyone else was also looking towards Rale.

    It was at that time; a blood-red arrow came out of nowhere towards Rale.

    Rale sensed the danger as he turned back.

    He cast a barrier around him.

    The blood arrow hit the barrier. Rale¡¯s barrier suffered a tiny crack that automatically recovered, but the blood arrow was also destroyed.

    Rale pulled the sword out and jumped out of the pond to the ground.

    "Do you really need to hide to attack us?" Rale asked as he looked in the back.

    They saw a man walk out of the forest.

    The man had long red hair and deep red eyes. He was wearing a crimson robe on his back.

    "You are not the Undeads, are you?" Vampire General Viden asked.

    "You are strong, but not as strong as the Vampire King is said to be. You should be the Vampire General if I¡¯m not wrong," Rale said as he pointed the sword at Vampire General Viden.

    Rale¡¯s team members surrounded Ryder to protect him, leaving a small gap in their formation so that Ryder could watch everything.

    "You don¡¯t need to protect me. Let me talk to him," Ryder said to his men.

    The men stepped aside as per Ryder¡¯s orders.

    Ryder realized after hearing Rale¡¯s words that the person before them was the Vampire General, who should be as strong as Rale.

    "Vampire General Viden, We are not here to harm anyone. We just want to take something back that belongs to us. We would appreciate it if you don¡¯t obstruct our path," Ryder said to the Vampire General.

    "Silence!" The Vampire General waved his hand towards Ryder, as an arrow of blood appeared out of thin air and advanced towards Ryder.

    Rale moved and appeared before Ryder as he used his sword to intercept the attack of Viden.

    "Looks like that¡¯s a failed negotiation. We have no choice but to kill you," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

 Chapter 151 Battle with the Vampire General

    <h4>Chapter 151: Battle with the Vampire General</h4>

    "We have no choice but to kill you," Ryder said to the man as he sighed.

    "Rale, he should be as strong as you, right?" Ryder asked Rale. He wanted to hear Rale¡¯s answer.

    "That should be the case more or less," Rale replied as he nced at Vampire General Viden.

    "Alright. Take over the fight. The others will back you up," Rydermanded.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale nodded his head.

    "Why are you listening to the kid?" Vampire General Viden asked Rale. He was surprised to see how respectful Rale was to Ryder.

    "It¡¯s toote to talk now," Ryder replied as he noticed that Rale had already moved to attack the Vampire General.

    The Vampire General was using a blood Red Sword whereas Rale had the sword that he just pulled out of the ice.

    Both of their swords collided, which gave birth to a big wind st from the massive impact.

    Ryder¡¯s hair fluttered because of the wind.

    While the Valley of Wandering Souls was witnessing a battle between the top beings, the outside world was also witnessing something.

    The Level Rankings was released for the yers and the public, which shocked everyone that watched the rankings.

    "How could the level difference be so big? Just who is this Hades? How can he be so strong?"

    "He¡¯s also in the treasure rankings! He rules the treasure rankings! How can someone have so many treasures?"

    "Seriously! This is stupid! How can he be so lucky to get so many treasures? The Rank 2 on the Level Rankings, Lucifer, is not in the treasure ranking, whereas this guy is taking so many spots! The closest to him is Darkness, but even she only has a Silver-Rank Wind Dagger! The difference is so big!"

    Almost every yer that saw the rankings was shocked. They couldn¡¯t understand why the difference was so big! The difference in rank one and rank 2 was so massive, and the treasure ranking was even more incredulous.

    Some of the yers were even doubting him of cheating.

    "Is Hades cheating? He must be! He should be the son of the owner of the Necrosis Corporation!"

    "There¡¯s no way for someone to get so many unique treasures!"

    There were also some voices that opposed the cheating usations.

    "That shouldn¡¯t be the case. As far as I know, Necrosis Corporation won¡¯t fall down that much! They deal with so many governments; they won¡¯t destroy their reputation just to make one guy cheat."

    "Yeah, It might be that Hades got some unique chain quest, which is helping him grow. He might just be lucky."

    The whole yermunity was noisy at the moment.

    Shu was hunting monsters to increase his level when he got the notification of the Level Ranking being released.

    "L-level 47? What the actual fuck!" He couldn¡¯t help but curse out loud as he saw the rankings.

    He immediately sent a message to Ryder.

    In one of the Kingdoms, a girl was also looking at the Rankings.

    She couldn¡¯t help but smile as she saw Ryder¡¯s game name at the top of the Rankings. The girl looked simr to Alice, but she had a different Eye Color and different hair color.

    The people that had gone to the Dungeon Exploration with Ryder were all shocked at the Rankings as well. Especially the boys that have argued with Ryder.

    The girls that underestimated him also felt terrible for acting up.

    Lucifer was the only one that hadn¡¯t checked the Level Rankings. He didn¡¯t care for the levels and didn¡¯t check it.

    The only rankings he checked was the Treasure Rankings.

    He closed the rankings after looking through it and continued on with what he was doing.

    There was another girl in a different ce. She was also looking at the treasure rankings.

    "How can he have so many treasures?" she muttered as she looked at her own, Silver-Rank danger.

    Back in the Valley of Wandering Souls, Rale was fighting the Vampire General.

    Both of them had an equal strength on the surface, but their specialties were different. Vampire General Viden and Rale both specialized in different elemental attacks.

    Even though their strength was almost equal, Viden looked like he was in difficulty. He was not only facing Rale, but also the long-range attacks of Rale¡¯s team.

    Ryder had the Bow that was actually the changed form of his Scythe. He was also firing the arrows at the Vampire General constantly.

    The Vampire General was extremely annoyed. He wanted to find an opportunity to get free of Rale so that he could finish the others, but Rale was not giving him any chance.

    Their battle had changed thendscape of the area. The trees around them were destroyed. Even the iceke that looks solid had started to melt.

    "Get out of my way!" the Vampire General roared as he started using his special bloodline magic.

    His body became bulkier, and red veins became visible in his arms. His clothes were torn off at ces, especially around his biceps.

    This was the blood sacrifice. It was a skill that was exclusive to the Royalty of the Vampire n. They could burn half of their blood, but that would give them a massive boost in their strength.

    There were also downsides to it, though. The boost onlysted for a short time. And after the boost was ended, the Vampire General would be much weaker.

    But Viden was ready for that. He knew that the short moment would be enough for him to kill everyone.

    His strength was massively increased. Rale¡¯s sword shed with Viden¡¯s sword, but this time, Rale was pushed back 20 steps.

    Viden utilized this opportunity, and he chose to attack Ryder.

    He noticed that everyone listened to Ryder¡¯smand, which meant that he was someone important. He thought that killing Ryder would throw everyone off.

    He waved his arm. Another blood arrow appeared out of thin air and advanced towards Ryder, but it was much faster and more powerful.

    Ryder reacted fast and changed the moon scythe from a Bow to a shield.

    The arrow shed with Ryder¡¯s shield, but couldn¡¯t prate it. The strength behind that attack and the impact was still more powerful, though. Even though the arrow couldn¡¯t break through the defense of his shield, Ryder was still tossed back like a broken kite.

    Ryder flew back and crashed on the ground. The impact was just too powerful. He could feel his HP decreasing. Half of his HP was already depleted even though the attack didn¡¯t touch him.

    "The strength difference is just too much," Ryder muttered as he stood up.

 Chapter 152 The Seal

    <h4>Chapter 152: The Seal</h4>

    Ryder didn¡¯t use his Ruler of Nature to heal himself. Instead, he just drank the hp Potion to recover.

    "That Bow can change shape? You¡¯re definitely not a simple person to possess that," the Vampire General said as he started moving towards Ryder, but Rale came out of nowhere and hit Viden, making him fly away and crash on the frozenke.

    As the Vampire General crashed on theke, a few cracks developed on it, but the ice still wasn¡¯t broken, even though it was melting slowly.

    "Your Highness, Can I release the seal? It would expose our identity if I do that, though," Rale asked Ryder.

    "Let me ask again. Vampire General, We are not here to harm you. If you calm down, we can still handle the matters without taking things too far," Ryder said to the Vampire General.

    He didn¡¯t want to expose their identity as Demons. If Viden decided to escape, and this information spread, there was a good chance that the Undead Realm would not remain neutral. It would most probably join the Death Domain, which would not be beneficial for him or his kingdom.

    "You should have thought about that before you killed one of my men," The Vampire General said as he stood up.

    "What man? Why would we kill your man? I don¡¯t know which man you¡¯re talking about, but if we killed a vampire, wouldn¡¯t we have his scent? As I said, we are not here to harm anyone. We only want to take back something that belongs to us. We can clear the misunderstanding," Ryder said to him.

    "Silence! I don¡¯t care for your words!" The Vampire General bellowed as he moved towards Rale.

    "Alright, Rale, You have the permission to use that. Just make sure that he isn¡¯t allowed to escape,¡¯ Ryder told Rale as he sighed.

    "Understood," Rale nodded his head.

    He closed his fist as two wings appeared behind his back that he had kept hidden. As soon as the wings appeared, it was as if his power gained aplete boost.

    It was something that the Grand Duke Orisis had told Ryder about Rale.

    He had said that the whole Demon Realm thinks that Rale is as strong as a Duke, but they don¡¯t know that Rale is actually even stronger. Even the Dukes don¡¯t know about this. It is a secret that is only known by High Dukes. They kept it a secret so that no one knew how strong the one protecting the Royalty was.

    Rale was from the family of Royal Protectors that had sworn to protect the Royal Members. His father, at his peak, was as strong as the High Dukes and protected the previous Kings. Even then, people didn¡¯t know about his actual strengths.

    Even during Rale¡¯s father¡¯s time, people thought that his father was as strong as the Dukes.

    Even though Rale was not as strong as his father or the High Dukes, he was definitely much stronger than the Dukes. He kept his powers sealed most of the time to make him seem like his strength wasparable to the Dukes.

    His strength, in reality, was somewhere in between the strength of the Dukes and the Strength of the High Dukes at the moment.

    He could only remove his seal when he was in his full demon form, and that¡¯s why he asked Ryder¡¯s permission as he knew that once his Wings appear, the Vampire General will know that they were from the Demon Realm.

    "Those Wings! You¡¯re from the Demon Realm! I was right; you¡¯re not the Undeads! You are the infiltrators from the Demon Realm. You should be their Duke! You called him Highness, so he must be the Prince of the Demon Realm! What a clever n! I knew that the Demons were just as bad as the people from the Death Domain!¡¯ the Vampire General roared as he pointed his finger towards Ryder.

    "As I said, we weren¡¯t here to harm anyone, but now we have no choice but to do it," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    As soon as hisst word escaped his mouth, Rale moved his feet. He flew towards Vampire General Viden.

    Both Viden and Rale attacked each other with their fist using their full strength, but this time, Rale wasn¡¯t on the losing side.

    Despite the strength that Viden received from his Blood Sacrifice, he was still not able to defeat Rale.

    In a brief second, tens of punches were exchanged, but the results were not as Viden had expected. Rale¡¯s attack, as well as his defense, was much higher. Viden¡¯s skills were proving to be useless in front of Rale as well, but he was still holding on, without backing down, but it didn¡¯tst long.

    The effects of the skill were over, and Viden lost the strength he had gained. In fact, he only got weaker than he had initially been.

    Rale¡¯s fistnded on Viden¡¯s face, making him fly far away and crash on a tree.

    Rale walked up to him as he gripped his neck and raised him in the air.

    "So that borrowed strength didn¡¯tst long. Such a pity, I was enjoying the fight. It had been so long since I met such a good match," Rale muttered as he looked in the eyes of Viden that still looked resistant.

    "Good-Bye," Rale said.

    "Wait."

    Rale was about to crush the neck of the Vampire General when Ryder stopped him.

    Rale stopped and walked back to Ryder with Viden in his hand.

    "If I¡¯m not wrong, then your name must be Viden, the second strongest in the Vampire n after the Vampire King, Right?" Ryder asked.

    "Kill me if you want, I¡¯m not going to tell you anything," the Vampire General said.

    "Oh, I don¡¯t need anything from you. What can I ask from someone who doesn¡¯t even own his life," Ryder muttered.

    "I don¡¯t really want to see you killed. As I had said multiple times before, our purpose was not to harm anyone here. We are here to get something back that belongs to us. You were the one that attacked us out of nowhere without even talking. So you are clearly in the wrong here. We have theplete right to kill you at our discretion since you were the one that tried to kill us first," Ryder said.

    "Why aren¡¯t you killing me then? Do you want to humiliate me by rubbing your victory on my face? You demons are even worse than others. Just wait till the King finds out," The Vampire General told Ryder as he snorted.

    "The Vampire King? And how will he find out?" Ryder asked with a slight smile on his face, but he suddenly looked back as he heard a sound.

 Chapter 153 Esmi is here?

    <h4>Chapter 153: Esmi is here?</h4>

    Rale and the others also looked behind Ryder as they heard the noiseing from there.

    They noticed that the sound wasing from the small pond that was behind them.

    The Ice that seemed unbreakable until now was cracking up. Small cracks were being developed on it that were spreading everywhere in the surroundings.

    "What is happening?" Ryder muttered as he saw the cracks covering every corner of the frozen pond.

    "It doesn¡¯t feel right. Why is it cracking now?" Rale let out with a frown on his face.

    "No idea. The book didn¡¯t mention anything about the frozen pond. It definitely came into existence after he left," Ryder responded.

    The Vampire General just looked at them in confusion, wondering what they were talking about. What book?

    "It might just be a dyed reaction after he crashed on the ice. It happens sometimes," Ryder said.

    He ignored the pond and turned back to look toward Viden.

    "Back to the topic. Vampire General Viden, what do you think we should do to you?" Ryder asked the Vampire General.

    "Kill me! Even death is better than being captured by you!" the Vampire General replied fiercely.

    "Did you have an affair with someone from the Demon Realm in the past?" Ryder inquired just to be sure that Viden wasn¡¯t the father of the girl that was waiting back in his kingdom.

    "Cheh, I would rather die than have an affair with someone from the Demon Realm!" the Vampire General dered resolutely.

    "Good. That makes it easier. We still can¡¯t kill you, or the other Royal Vampires will be able to sense that we killed a Vampire if we were in close proximity. That might be troublesome during our future endeavors. But that doesn¡¯t mean that you can¡¯t die," Ryder said, smilingly.

    "Rale, Remove his hand and legs, and let¡¯s just watch what happens when a Vampire is killed by the specters. It might be a good experience," he said to Rale.

    Rale nodded his head as he gripped the hand of the Vampire General and ripped it off.

    "You have fast healing, but I don¡¯t think you can regenerate your limbs," Ryder muttered.

    Rale kept going on and ripped his arms and legs.

    "Let¡¯s continue ahead. Throw him like a shield when we meet the specters," Ryder told Rale.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale said with a bright grin on his face.

    He could see a glimpse of Demon Emperor Salem in Ryder¡¯s decisions. He didn¡¯t go easy on Viden and didn¡¯t lose himself in anger, either, which made Rale even more impressed.

    They left theke and continued towards the depths of the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    The Cracking of the ice in theke continued even after they left, along with the melting.

    After a few hours, a hand came out from one of those cracks. The hand seemed to be rotten, but it had flesh. It didn¡¯t seem like a specter. After the first hand, another hand came out from a different crack.

    Ryder and his team continued ahead. Rale still had Viden in his grip.

    "Where are all the specters when we need them?" Ryder muttered with a wry smile on his face.

    After a few more minutes, they saw some spectersing towards them.

    "Rale, throw him," Rydermanded.

    Rale nodded his head as he threw the body of Viden towards the Spectres.

    Even though the specters were the spirit forms, they were special as they could touch the others. They also ate the bodies of the ones they found.

    As soon as the body of Viden was thrown towards the Spectres, they ignored everything else as they moved toward Viden.

    Viden¡¯s body was slowly being eaten, but he couldn¡¯t do anything. His healing was slower than the rate his body was being devoured. Even though he was in pain, the Vampire General still didn¡¯t make any pained noise. He didn¡¯t want to give satisfaction to the enemy by allowing them to watch him scream.

    After some time, more specters came there. They also targeted the Vampire General.

    Soon, the Vampire General was utterly devoured. Not even the single remain of his body was left behind for others to see.

    "I don¡¯t like that we had to kill you that way, but that was the only way. We can¡¯t spoil the rtion between the Demon Realm and the Undead Region by letting you go. There was just too much at stake," Ryder muttered as he looked towards the ce where the Vampire General used to be.

    He raised his bow and fired an arrow towards the specters. Now that the Specters had done their work, they decided to wipe them.

    Soon, the specters were also wiped out under the barrage of attacks.

    Ryder continued forward with his team. Rale had hidden his wings once more and sealed his powers again.

    "There is no one here. Why are you keeping it sealed?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "I¡¯m just morefortable this way, Your Highness," Rale replied.

    They traveled throughout the day. The Inner Region also didn¡¯t pose much threat to Ryder and his team since they had Rale, who was technically one of the strongest beings in the Demon Realm.

    Ryder didn¡¯t even know what Rale¡¯s level was, but he assumed that it was higher than a thousand.

    They reached the end of the Inner Region right when it was the night time. There was another Protection Cave between the Inner Region and the Core Region.

    Ryder decided to spend the night inside as it was a known fact that the beings inside the Valley of Wandering Souls were stronger at night. He didn¡¯t want to deal with the Guardian of the Valley of Wandering Souls in the night.

    They entered the cave. Unlike thest cave, this cave waspletely empty, and it wasn¡¯t hidden by stones either.

    Ryder told Rale to take care of everyone before he logged out of the cave. By the time, everyone was familiar with Ryder¡¯s habit of sleeping in a different space. Most of the guys were amazed that there existed a treasure like this.

    Ryder woke up in the real world and took off the Divinity sses. He sat up.

    *Yawn*

    "Today, I have nothing big to do. I¡¯m just going to bezy at home and rest. I think I deserve a break before I get back to the other missions," he muttered with a rxed look on his face as he stretched his arms.

    He was about to get off the bed when he got a message notification.

    He picked up the phone and saw the message, which was enough to make his face lose its color.

    The message was from Esmi that said that she wasing to his house and that she would be there in a minute.

 Chapter 154 Uninvited Guest (*)

    <h4>Chapter 154: Uninvited Guest (*)</h4>

    "B-but why," Ryder muttered with confusion when he heard the doorbell ring.

    "Oh Fuck!" he eximed as he hurriedly got off the bed and ran towards the door. He didn¡¯t want Alice to open the door.

    As soon as he stepped out of his room, he remembered something. His eyes fell on the clock that was in the hallway, signifying that Alice had already left for school.

    Still, just to be sure, he checked the kitchen and her room. Her bag was missing, as well.

    "She probably left. Good," He muttered as he breathed in relief.

    He walked towards the door infort and opened it, only to be shocked again as it was Alice standing outside the door.

    "You?" he asked in surprise.

    "Why are you acting weird?" Alice asked as she looked at him suspiciously.

    "I thought you left. I was just wondering why you were back. Did you forget something?" he asked Alice, acting all casual.

    "I forgot something important. My phone is in the room, I think."

    Alice moved Ryder back as she entered the house and closed the door behind her. She was about to walk towards her room when someone rang the doorbell from the outside.

    Alice was closer to the door, so she turned back to open it.

    "Wait," Ryder caught her by her shoulders and prevented her from opening the door.

    "What are you doing? Let me open the door," Alice told Ryder.

    "You should get your phone. You¡¯re gettingte. I¡¯ll see who is outside in the meantime," Ryder told her.

    "Why are you trying to stop me? Did you invite someone home? Just let me open it. A few minutes¡¯ dy won¡¯t change anything," Alice said as she freed herself and opened the door.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but facepalm himself.

    "Is Miss Monalisa home?"

    It sounded like a male voice that didn¡¯t match Esmi¡¯s voice at all.

    Ryder looked outside and saw a man standing there with a courier.

    "Wrong house. Miss Monalisa lives in that house," Alice told the courier guy as she pointed towards their neighboring house.

    "See, I told you that nothing was wrong. I could¡¯ve handled the guy, and you would¡¯ve gotten your phone by now," Ryder said to Alice with an innocent look on his face.

    "Sorry, I will get my phone back now," Alice entered the house and took her phone from her room before she came back outside.

    "Is that your friend?" Ryder asked Alice as he pointed towards a girl that was sitting in a nearby car.

    He had already seen that girl with Alice in the amusement park.

    "Yeah, she¡¯s a friend. I¡¯m going to college with her," Alice replied.

    "Alright. Have fun," Ryder said, smilingly.

    Alice left him behind and went to the car. She entered the passenger seat, and the car drove away.

    Ryder breathed in relief again as he sat at the entrance of his house. He was mentally exhausted.

    He had barely rxed for a minute before he saw another car stop before his house.

    He recognized the car as it belonged to Esmi.

    Esmi stepped out of the car and waved her hand towards Ryder. Ryder didn¡¯t wave back. In fact, he looked quite upset.

    Esmi walked closer to him.

    "Why are you looking like someone took your candy?" Esmi asked as sheughed.

    "Have you gone crazy? Why would youe here? That too, without informing me beforehand?" Ryder inquired with an annoyed look on his face.

    "It¡¯s not like you have a wife at home that would get offended," Esmi said jokingly. "Also, I did inform you. I messaged you that I wasing."

    "You literally messaged minutes ago. Whatever, I¡¯m too tired to argue outside. Come inside," Ryder said as he stood up and entered the house. Esmi entered after him.

    Ryder locked the main door of the house.

    "I understand that you¡¯re angry, but I was just missing you too much. I decided to drop by since I was free today. Let me make it up to you," She said as she held his hand and pulled him closer to her before she kissed him.

    (((Warning: The content ahead contains adult content. Readers are advised to proceed with caution and even skip it in case it¡¯s not what they prefer! (Also, join my discord. Link in the synopsis))))

    "Mmm"

    Ryder responded to her kiss. His anger has calmed down under this special kind of assault from Esmi.

    He hugged her firmly. His hand slid down to her firm butt. It was enough to send a little shock, which made her mouth open.

    Ryder utilized this small opportunity to begin his assault as he invaded her sweet mouth with his tongue.

    His tongue roamed inside his mouth as if it was the ruler of this ce. Their tongues intertwined as they both tasted each other¡¯s taste.

    His hand kept roaming around her body. From her ass to her big breasts that were so soft that they offered only slight resistance as he pressed them.

    "Mmm," Esmi moaned every time Ryder yed with her breasts.

    Ryder separated his lips from her lips and released her from his embrace. Her face was red, and her eyes looked intoxicated. Her breathing was also heavy because of the long kissing session between her and Ryder.

    Ryder ced his hand on her shoulders and turned her back. Esmi was wearing a tight-fitting green dress that had the zip behind her.

    He held the zip that was near her shoulders and slowly unzipped her dress.

    After unzipping her dress, he was able to remove it quickly.

    Esmi was in her underwear, exposing her body before Ryder.

    Even though Ryder had seen her nude before, he was still amazed at how great her body was. She had curves in all the right ces.

    Ryder removed her red bra as well, releasing her big breasts from their restrictions.

    He turned her back towards him so that she was facing him.

    He stepped forward and moved his face towards her chest and kissed her peaks. He even yfully bit the tip of her breasts gently, making her moan.

    He sat down on his knees and ced his hand on thest piece of clothing on her body and slowly lowered it, revealing her sacred region.

    Soon, Esmi was standingpletely naked before him with no shred of clothing covering her beautiful body at all.

    Ryder stood up and picked her up in a princess carry and carried her to the bedroom. His eyes couldn¡¯t help but stare at Esmi¡¯s breasts that were jiggling left and right as he walked.

    Ryder got near the bed and threw Esmi on the bed lightly.

    "Let me see how you make up for what you did," He muttered as he removed his clothes and exposed his body before her.

 Chapter 155 All at Once

    <h4>Chapter 155: All at Once</h4>

    Alice was inside the car, going towards the University with her friend.

    "That was your brother?" Estonia asked Alice while she focused her eyes on the road.

    "Yeah, he is," Alice replied.

    "Anyway, it¡¯s your first day back to our university. How are you feeling? You¡¯ll meet the old friends," Alice smiled as she asked Estonia.

    Estonia was back in the city, and she had transferred to the University of Dreamers again.

    It was her first day at University after her return.

    "Meh, I don¡¯t care much for them. They are all idiots. Also, I think I am in a different ss. I won¡¯t meet them," Estonia replied.

    Alice suddenly thought of something when the topic of ss came up. She started looking in her bag.

    "Oh no," Alice eximed suddenly.

    "What happened?" Estonia asked in confusion. Alice looked serious.

    "I forgot my assignment at home. It is thest day to submit that. I can¡¯t believe I forgot something so important," Alice let out as she looked down.

    "It¡¯s really not your day, is it? First, the phone and now the assignment. It happens sometimes, I guess. Let me turn back at the next U-turn," Estonia chuckled lightly as she shook her head.

    "No, don¡¯t do that. It¡¯s your first day. You will gette. Just drop me off here, I¡¯ll get a cab back," Alice rejected her offer. She didn¡¯t want Estonia to get in trouble because of that.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter if I¡¯mte. No one is going to say anything about it. My father is one of the biggest donors of this university. They won¡¯t freak out just because I¡¯mte," Estonia smiled as she turned her car back at the U-turn and started driving back towards Alice¡¯s home.

    Alice just sighed.

    "Thank you," she thanked Estonia ultimately.

    Bastion was sitting in his car, talking to someone. Another person was sitting in the passenger seat.

    It looked to be a man of simr age to Ryder and Bastion.

    The man had short ck hair. He wore prescription sses. He was somewhat thinpared to Ryder, but he looked more intellectual.

    "A Reunion between us Book Club members?" Bastion asked the man.

    When Ryder and Bastion were in college, they were both in the Book Club. Both of them joined the club because of girls.

    Ryder joined the Club because there was a girl he liked. Bastion, on the other hand, joined the Book Club because it had more girls than boys, and some of the prettiest girls of the college were in the book club.

    "Yeah, We are organizing the reunion of the Book Club members that were under me," the man replied.

    The man that was standing beside Ryder was the President of the book club when Ryder joined it.

    Ryder and Bastion were technically Juniors of this man, but they were close and acted more like friends than like Senior and Junior.

    "Sounds like a good idea. I would love toe. It was lucky that I saw you on the streets. I don¡¯t think I would¡¯ve received the invitation otherwise. Am I right, Dan?" Bastion said, with a casual smile.

    "It¡¯s true. I didn¡¯t know that you were back in the country, so you would not have received the invitation. It was lucky that we meet each other," Dan replied.

    "Have you invited Ryder yet," Bastion asked.

    "Well, Ryder lives nearby, so I wanted to invite him personally. I know that guy, and he would probably reject the invitation and give some excuse. If I¡¯m there before him, I should be able to convince him. I was just going there," Dan answered Bastion.

    "Hahaha, Right. He¡¯s not good at social gatherings, but he¡¯s changed from what I¡¯ve seen. Anyway, let¡¯s go there together. I¡¯ll help you convince him toe," Bastion told Dan as he started the engine of his car.

    "I¡¯m quite excited to see how the girls look like now," Bastion muttered.

    "Hah, You¡¯ll never change, man. You¡¯re old now. Stop being a yboy. Find a girl and settle down," Danughed out loud.

    "Who¡¯s old? We¡¯re still young. At Least Ryder and I are, I can¡¯t say the same about you," Bastion started driving the car.

    An hour before Bastion met Dan¡ª

    Shu was sitting in his house, having his morning coffee when his butler came to him.

    "Mr. Zhang is here to meet you," the Butler told Shu.

    "Oh? He didn¡¯t inform me beforeing. Whatever it must be something important. Bring him to the hall. I¡¯ll be there," Shu answered.

    The Butler turned back and left Shu¡¯s bedroom.

    Shu finished his coffee at his usual pace before he got off the bed and left his room.

    As he reached the hall, he saw a white-haired man sitting on the couch. The man seemed to be 50-60 years old.

    He was the city¡¯s topwyer and the person that Shu called to get Ryder¡¯s sister out of prison.

    Zhang stood up as he saw Shu near him.

    "What brought you here, Mr. Zhang?" Shu inquired.

    "I came here to inform you that the papers to Sue the police are ready. I need a sign of Mr. Ryder on them. The faster we get the sign, the faster we can submit it to the court," Zhang said. "It would be great if you can call him here."

    "There¡¯s no need to call him here. Let¡¯s just go there instead," Shu chuckled as he tapped on the man¡¯s shoulders.

    "Come."

    Shu started walking towards the exit. He was still in his casual clothes, but it didn¡¯t seem like he cared about it.

    He told thewyer to follow his car as Shu quite liked traveling in his car.

    Four luxurious cars stopped before Ryder¡¯s house at the same time.

    Alice and Estonia stepped out of one of the cars, Bastion and Dan stepped out of the second. Shu stepped out of the 3rd while Mr. Zhang stepped out of the 4th.

    Alice recognized Shu.

    "Brother Shu," She waved her hand. "What brought you here?"

    Shu moved closer to her.

    "I have some work with your brother. Anyway, are you not going to University? From what I know, the sses should¡¯ve been started by now," Shu asked as he looked at the watch on his wrist.

    "I forgot something at home," Alice replied.

    Estonia stayed behind while Alice walked towards her house with Shu.

    Except for Estonia, everyone reached Ryder¡¯s door.

    Alice looked at Bastion in confusion, not recognizing him.

    "Little girl, have you forgotten your brother Bastion so soon? Bastion asked as he smiled wryly.

    "It¡¯s you! I thought that you looked simr. Didn¡¯t you move away?" She asked.

 Chapter 156 Is someone here?

    <h4>Chapter 156: Is someone here?</h4>

    "You¡¯re talking as if I had died. Those who leave the country cane back, you know," Bastion chuckled as he pressed the doorbell of the house.

    "Is Ryder home?" he asked Alice.

    "He should be inside," She replied to him.

    The door still wasn¡¯t opened, though. Bastion pressed the rang bell again.

    "He might have fallen asleep," Alice said as she pressed the bell this time.

    "Alright. It looks like we¡¯ll have to use the spare key," she muttered. "Can you all move back?"

    The others stepped back. Alice raised the wee mat and picked up an old and dusted key.

    She inserted the key into the keyhole, but the door was opened before she could open it.

    Ryder had opened the door. He was in his casual clothes, entirely calm.

    "Are we having a party? Why are all of you here?" Ryder asked in surprise as he saw all of them.

    "I forgot something."

    "I need to get your signature on something."

    "We are here to talk to you."

    Alice, Shu, and Bastion replied at the same time.

    Alice moved Ryder to the side and entered the house.

    She walked to her room.

    "Uhmm... Aren¡¯t you going to invite us in? Don¡¯t tell me you hate us," Dan told Ryder as heughed.

    "Uh, not at all. It¡¯s so good to meet you after so long. Come on inside," Ryder said as he moved to the side and let them enter.

    He brought them to the dining table and made them sit there.

    "Found it," Alice came out of her room with a file in her hand.

    "I¡¯m going," She told Ryder before she left.

    "Alright. You guys can talk now," Ryder told them as he sat on a chair after Alice left.

    "I need to get your signature on thewsuit papers. The one we are sending to the Police Department," Shu said first.

    The Lawyer brought the papers out and ced them before Ryder.

    "Oh, right. You reminded me at the right time. I was wondering about that. Let me get my pen," Ryder let out. He was about to leave, but two voices stopped him.

    "I have a pen."

    The Lawyer and Dan said at the same time.

    "Oh, thanks," Ryder took the pen from the Lawyer as he was sitting closer.

    He signed the papers and gave them back.

    "Alright. I¡¯m done here. I will take my leave first," the Lawyer told Shu before he left.

    He didn¡¯t ask Shu to leave with him as their destinations were separate. The Courthouse was on the opposite side of Shu¡¯s house.

    Shu didn¡¯t stop him either and let him leave.

    "Do you have something different to do?" Ryder asked Shu with a wry smile on his face.

    "Are you so eager to get me to leave?" Shu said jokingly.

    "Nah, you can live here for all I care. I was just curious. Anyway, let me introduce everyone. Shu, this is Bastion. My college friend and nothing less than a brother."

    "This is Dan. He was the President of our book club in college and another close friend."

    He introduced Bastion and Dan to Shu.

    "And guys, this is Shu. My friend, and also like a brother. He helped me a lot," Ryder introduced Shu to others.

    "Nice to meet you, bro," Bastion extended his hand towards Shu.

    They shook hands.

    "So you are Bastion. I heard a lot about you from Ryder. I must say you look great. Now I understand why one of the guys that I met when I was with Ryder imed that I look nothing like his best friend Bastion and that he went for the cheaper option," Shuughed out loud as he remembered the person that came to annoy them during his outing with Ryder.

    "Which idiot said it? You look, great man. My grandmother used to say that the people that have fat on their bodies are the most beautiful people. You would¡¯ve been her favorite," Bastion smilingly said to Shu before he looked at Ryder. "Tell me the name of that guy. I¡¯d love to beat the sh*t out of whoever said that to him."

    "No need. I already dealt with him. I don¡¯t think he would appear near him or me," Ryder responded before he stood up and walked to the fridge.

    He came back and served some cold drinks to everyone.

    "Anyway, why are you guys here?" he asked them.

    "Oh, Right. The Book Club is having a reunion. I came here to invite you. I met Bastion along the way, and he tagged along," Dan told Ryder as he picked up his ss.

    "You make me sound like I¡¯m a puppy who tagged along," Bastion let out with an annoyed look on his face. "Also, why are we being served cold drinks? Get some beer out, man. Let us boys have some fun!"

    "You remember I live here with Alice, right? Do you think that I would have alcohol lying around the house? Drink what I have," Ryder let out as he picked up his ss and took a sip of his drink.

    "Whatever, man. Anyway, you didn¡¯t reply to us. Are youing or not? Also, Shu, how about youe as well?" Bastion inquired.

    "Me? I am not in your book club. I don¡¯t think it would be appropriate for me to go there."

    Shu shook his head as he rejected the offer kindly.

    "I can¡¯te either. You guys know that I have no interest in reunions and stuff. I can already talk to the ones I want to. And there is no need to meet the ones I don¡¯t want to," Ryder shook his head.

    Dan looked at Ryder as he sighed.

    "Is this because of her? Are you worried that she would be there? Don¡¯t be. She¡¯s not even in the city. You cane without any worries. I can promise you that she won¡¯te," he said.

    "If you still say no, then I promise that I woulde here to drag you there myself! Also, I would tell Alice all your secrets," Bastion said to Ryder as he saw him not budging from his position.

    "You should go. What¡¯s the worst that could happen," Shu told Ryder as he chimed in.

    "Not just him, you also have toe. I need both of you there. It doesn¡¯t matter if you were in the book club or not. Each member can bring a partner or friend. You cane with Ryder. It will be fun. Don¡¯t cast a bad impression on our first meeting;e with us!" Bastion replied to Shu.

    That¡¯s when the sound of something falling came.

    "Is someone here?" Bastion asked as he stood up.

 Chapter 157 Its not what Youre Thinking

    <h4>Chapter 157: It''s not what You''re Thinking</h4>

    "No one is anywhere. Something might¡¯ve fallen somehow. Anyway, I wille to the reunion with you guys. I ept the offer since you¡¯re insisting so much," Ryder told Bastion as he agreed.

    "That¡¯s good and all, but how can there be no one. I clearly heard something. Are you hiding someone from me? Did you get a girl?" Bastion asked with a frown on his face.

    "Stop being suspicious. I¡¯m not hiding anyone," Ryder replied innocently. "It¡¯s not like I have a woman in my room."

    The dining table was facing the door of the house, and Ryder¡¯s room was on the right side of the hallway that was in between.

    "Hey, how about you show us your room? I wonder how the grown-up Ryder decorated his room," Bastion stood up as he walked towards the room where he heard a sounding from.

    "You really think I¡¯m hiding a girl in there, don¡¯t you?" Ryder asked as he stood up and followed behind Bastion.

    Shu and Dan also walked behind them.

    Bastion opened the door of the room and entered it. He didn¡¯t know which of the rooms belonged to Ryder, but he heard a voiceing from this room, so he was suspicious. Also, he realized that Ryder¡¯s sister probably locked her door. He knew that if it opened, it must be Ryder¡¯s room.

    "The f*ck?" Shu eximed as soon as he entered the bedroom of Ryder.

    Ryder entered his room after Bastion.

    "It¡¯s not what you¡¯re thinking," Ryder told Shu as he shook his head.

    "You became a geek that ys games? You know I hate gamers, right?" Bastion asked as he red at Ryder.

    He had seen the Divinity sses lying on the table.

    "That¡¯s not a game. That¡¯s a VR, I guess. Even though they are the same things, they are different. You can¡¯t me me for ying," Ryder replied with a wry smile on his face.

    ¡¯Damn, I forgot that you hated games. Whatever, it¡¯s not as bad as finding Esmi here. I guess this time, Rewind Power came in handy. The things were agitated in the previous timeline after you saw her car outside and saw me hiding her. Fortunately, I could rewind time once a day. I was able to make her leave on time in this timeline,¡¯ Ryder thought as he picked up the Divinity sses and ced them in his drawer.

    "Aren¡¯t they all the same? Whatever man, I guess you have gone to the dark side. I hope you see the light someday," Bastion said to Ryder.

    "Oh, right. I expect to see you at the Reunion. Don¡¯t bete," Bastion said before he left with Dan.

    "Damn, what is his problem with us gamers? Don¡¯t worry, brother Shu! We will stay on the dark side forever! I won¡¯t let anyone bully you!" Shu said proudly.

    "What dark side? You guys are trolling me, aren¡¯t you?" Ryder shook his head as he sat on his bed. "Also, the only one amongst us that can get bullied is you."

    "Anyway, what brought you here? You could¡¯ve called, and I woulde to your home to sign. Wait, now that I think about it, I haven¡¯t seen your home. I only know the ce your home is in," Ryder asked in confusion.

    "It¡¯s fine. Thewyer said that he was in a hurry. It would¡¯ve just wasted time if I had called you there¡ªanyway, Congrats on topping all the rankings. You are no. 1 in all of them. There are already articles about you online," Shu congratted Ryder.

    ¡¯It is nothing. Just wait for some more time. You don¡¯t even know how popr Divinity is going to get. It will be a craze soon. It will be broadcasted on tv, pro yers from all over the world will fight for prominence, the adventures will be broadcasted. It would be much better. Previously I wasn¡¯t famous, but now that I have the high position, I would be on tv all over the world,¡¯ Ryder thought as he remembered how the game had grown in the previous timeline.

    "It¡¯s good. I¡¯m not after the game, though. I just want to have some fun in the game," Ryder said casually.

    [Ding... A Sub- Mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Invite Shu toe to the party with you. Also, show him the birthday celebration invite that you received as a clue of the Ancient Cultivation Family]

    [Time Limit: A day]

    [Reward: Good Luck at that party]

    [Reward: 50 Origin Points]

    [Punishment for failure: You will not achieve any sess at the party]

    ¡¯Invite him to that ce? There¡¯s no difficulty in this mission, but I would have preferred to go alone. Whatever, it¡¯s just a birthday celebration,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    Ryder moved his hand behind his back and brought the invitation letter out of his storage space.

    "Shu, I have an invitation. Would youe with me to that party?" Ryder asked Shu as he showed him the invitation.

    "How did you get that invitation?" Shu asked in surprise.

    "You know about this?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    "I have an invitation as well, but I think I dropped it somewhere," Shu muttered with a wry smile on his face.

    "Some guy gave it to me as a gift. It¡¯s quite possible that he found the one you dropped. I¡¯m not sure. Whatever, You cane with me, or I cane with you. This is a 1+1 invite. It works both ways."

    Ryder made up an excuse. He was wondering how that terrorist got this invitation. It made sense if Shu dropped it and he picked it up.

    Ryder had already known that Shu¡¯s family was wealthy. It wasn¡¯t weird for him to get such invites.

    "I wasn¡¯t nning on going there, but I guess I cane if you want to go. It¡¯s good that you showed me this. This invitation is special, but you can¡¯t enter the party unless your name is on the invited list. I don¡¯t think the one that gave you the invitation knew about that, or he would¡¯ve told you that. Probably you are right that he found it."

    Shu agreed toe with Ryder.

    ¡¯There was that as well? I guess I was too naive. I haven¡¯t been to any high profile parties, so I couldn¡¯t have known that. I guess Janus did help me this time,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled.

    "Awesome. Thanks for that. There is a reason I must go there. It¡¯s so lucky that you told me about that. It would be embarrassing if I were thrown out," Ryder chuckled.

 Chapter 158 Shus Request

    <h4>Chapter 158: Shu''s Request</h4>

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. It¡¯s normal to be oblivious about these things if you don¡¯t attend it. I never liked these parties myself. This showing off when you¡¯re rich seems childish. Also, the parties are boring as hell. I would much rather attend a karaoke party with you and your friends than attend a party with the pretentious folks," Shu responded. He made it clear that he didn¡¯t like the parties and didn¡¯t attend them most of the time.

    "Your family sounds rich. I¡¯m sure you must be forced to go to parties with them. What do your parents do, though?" Ryder asked Shu. He was curious about Shu¡¯s family and their business.

    "My parents, ah, they are dead," Shu replied as he looked down. "Anyway, let¡¯s not talk about these sad things. I was thinking about going to a bowling alley. Do you want toe with me? Just to freshen up the mind," Shu suggested as he stood up.

    Ryder realized that he has made Shu ufortable by bringing up this topic.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s go," He replied. Even though he wanted to rest today and just sleep, he decided to go with Shu. Shu had helped him a lot, and he was also taking him to the party with him even though Shu himself didn¡¯t want to go. Ryder didn¡¯t feel right denying Shu.

    "Good. Let¡¯s go. We can also race to the bowling alley. The streets near that ce are always empty as they made it in a ce like that. We can have a short race when we¡¯re there," Shu said. "I have been practicing my driving in my free time, as well. I consider myself to be quite experienced now."

    "Sure. Let¡¯s do that as well," Ryder agreed as he stood up.

    He stepped out of the house and locked the door.

    They got in their separate cars and started driving them towards the bowling alley.

    The road of this ce was pretty crowded, but as they reached near the bowling alley, they found the roads to bepletely empty.

    Both of them stopped their cars in parallel. They both lowered the windows of their cars so that they could hear each other. Their cars were around 2 kilometers away from the bowling alley.

    "We will start on the count of 3. The one that reaches the bowling alley first wins!" Shu told him as he pointed towards the bowling alley.

    "It¡¯s a race, so there should be bets to make it more interesting. What does the winner get?" Ryder asked with an amused smile on his face.

    "If I win, I can ask any one thing from you, and you can¡¯t deny it as long as it¡¯s not outrageous. I¡¯ll tell you right now. What I will ask from you will be in Divinity, and it won¡¯t be your artifact or treasure or anything that is important to you," Shu said to Ryder.

    "What would it be then?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    "I can¡¯t tell you that yet. Anyway, as long as you win, you can ask me to do anything in the real world or in Divinity. How is that?" Shu inquired as he waited for Ryder¡¯s answer.

    ¡¯Just what is he thinking?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he fell in a deep thought.

    "Alright. I ept," Ryder nodded his head ultimately.

    Shu was his friend, and he didn¡¯t mind helping Shu in divinity as that is what Shu probably wanted but didn¡¯t want to say since he wasn¡¯t after his treasures.

    "Awesome. On the count of 3," Shu let out as he started the engine of his car again.

    Ryder also started the engine.

    "1... " Shu said.

    "2..." Ryder continued.

    "3..."

    Both of them said at the same time as they pressed the race of their car and removed their feet from the brake.

    Both of them had the supercars that had simr specs.

    Both of their speeds were almost equal most of the time. Ryder¡¯s car seemed like it had a slight edge, but not enough to take the lead.

    As each second passed, they reached more and more closer to the ending point, but right near the end, Ryder slowed down subtly to let Shu win.

    It was a way for him to pay Shu back for helping him to get Alice out of prison and to allow him to ask for whatever help that he needed.

    With Ryder¡¯s speed slowing down, Shu took the lead and won the race. Ryder slowed down his speed, really careful so that it was impossible to see that it was intentional.

    Ryder and Shu both applied the break after the race was over. The tyres of their car skid on the ground, giving a noise that was loved by almost everyone who loved to race.

    Ryder and Shu both parked their cars on the side before they stepped out.

    "I didn¡¯t expect to lose. You were lucky this time," Ryder shook his head as he pretended to be disappointed.

    "Alright. I won¡¯t be a salty loser. Tell me what you want?" Ryder inquired.

    "Why does it feel like it was not my victory at all? Did you lose intentionally?" Shu asked as he suspiciously looked at Ryder.

    "Are you doubting my sportsman spirit? I would never lose intentionally," Ryder dered with a serious look on his face.

    "Alright. If you say so. What I need from you is to do something for me," Shu told Ryder.

    "I thought so. What do you want me to do?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "I want you to use the guild token that I received and establish a guild by bing the guild master," Shu told Ryder as he started walking towards the bowling alley.

    "What the fuck? Why me? You can be a guild master yourself. Why do you want me to do it? You found the token, and bing a guild master can be a good thing. Be one and enjoy," Ryder told Shu.

    "I don¡¯t want to do it as I believe that it would just be wasting an opportunity. I want to be a member of the number 1 guild that is filled with top talents and led by you. If people knew that you were the guild master, many yers would join us, and we can secure our future as the number 1 guild. And I can still be the vice guild master," Shu told Ryder.

    "You can¡¯t deny that. You lost the bet!" he let out again as he saw Ryder looking like he was about to reject the offer.

    Ryder sighed as he finally agreed.

    "I will do it," he said.

 Chapter 159 Getting Exp

    <h4>Chapter 159: Getting Exp</h4>

    "I will do as you say. I will be the guild master when that system bes avable," Ryder answered Shu.

    "Hahaha, That¡¯s more like it," Shu smilingly replied.

    They walked inside the Bowling Alley.

    "Let¡¯s take the cornerne. That¡¯s the only one that¡¯s still empty," Shu suggested as they saw that there was space at the end.

    They didn¡¯t expect the Bowling Alley to be this crowded, but there was one ce free for them.

    "You go there and secure the ce. I¡¯ll bring some drinks," Ryder told Shu before he walked towards the reception that sold beverages and alcohol.

    He purchased two cold drink cans for himself and for Shu. He paid for them using his phone.

    After getting the drinks, he turned back only to find some people arguing with Shu.

    There were three bulky men, surrounding Shu. They were talking to him, but it seemed like they were threatening him.

    Ryder hurriedly walked there.

    He moved one of the bulky men to the side and stepped closer to Shu.

    "What¡¯s happening here?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Did you just touch me?" The Man that Ryder had touched red at Ryder in anger.

    "Answer me," Ryder ignored the man and asked Shu again.

    "It¡¯s nothing. They came here and told me to leave as they want to bowl at this ce," Shu replied to Ryder.

    "Are you ignoring me?" the man let out as he extended his hand towards Ryder¡¯s shoulders.

    He was annoyed at being ignored, and he wanted to grab Ryder.

    Ryder turned back and caught the hand of the man. He didn¡¯t apply much force on his hand, though.

    "Guys. Can you please behave? We are a civilized society. Don¡¯t act like idiots. My friend came here first. You can¡¯t force your way," He told the men before he released the hand of the man.

    "I don¡¯t care who came here first. You kids should go y somewhere else. Let the big boys stay here," Another manmented.

    "Are you the boss of this ce?" Ryder asked the man.

    "No," the man shook his head. "But even the boss won¡¯t dare say a thing. We are from the Dark Dragon Gang. we rule this ce!"

    "The Dark Dragon Gang?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    "Hehehe, Scared? Yeah. We are from the Dark Dragon Gang,"

    "Never heard of it before. Is your gang new?" Ryder asked with a wry smile on his face.

    " You dare insult our n! Don¡¯t me us for breaking your bones!" the man roared as he punched towards Ryder¡¯s face.

    Ryder brought his hand towards his face and caught the fist of the man.

    "That counts as an attack," Ryder smiled as he pressed the man¡¯s fist tightly, which made the man cry in pain. Ryder kicked the man, making him fly towards the bowlingne.

    The man crashed on the center of the bowlingne, but he kept sliding towards the other side until he struck the ten pins at the end.

    "Strike. I guess I still have the talent," Ryder chuckled as he looked towards the man.

    [50 Experience Points Added]

    [Level upgraded to Level 5]

    [10% increase in all physical stats]

    The other two guys were shocked to see their friend thrown away like a toy, but they didn¡¯t let it intimidate them.

    One of them attacked Ryder while the other one targeted Shu.

    Ryder ignored the one that was targeting him and moved towards the one that targeted Shu.

    He stepped before Shu and attacked the man, whose fist wasing towards Ryder¡¯s face.

    Their fist shed with each other, which ended with the scream of the man as the bones of his fist were broken from the impact.

    Ryder kicked the chest of the man, making him fly back. The man crashed on the wall. His head was swollen because of the impact, and he lost consciousness.

    [50 Experience Points Added]

    There was only one man left who had stopped his attack as he heard his friend¡¯s cry of pain.

    He was scared now that he had seen both of his friends being trounced.

    "Y-you think you won! Just you wait! Don¡¯t leave this ce if you have the balls!" The man let out as he tried to run, but Ryder stepped forth and caught his shirt, preventing him from running away.

    "Sigh, it would¡¯ve been better for me if you had attacked me properly, but I can¡¯t tell you to attack me either. It doesn¡¯t work that way. And you won¡¯t dare to attack me either¡ªsuch a wasted opportunity. I wonder if that small attempt will count," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face as he pulled the man back and caught both of his hands.

    "Should I break your hands?" Ryder asked the man.

    "N-no, please!" the man replied. No matter how he tried. He couldn¡¯t free his hand.

    "Sigh, Do you know who I am?" Ryder asked him.

    "No. Who are you?" the man asked as he looked at Ryder in full seriousness.

    "I¡¯m the man that broke your hands," Ryder let out before he twisted the hand of the man, breaking his hands. He kicked the man, making him crash on the ground.

    [50 Experience Points Added]

    ¡¯I guess it did count, ¡¯ he thought.

    "Sigh, My mood is spoiled. Let¡¯s just leave," Ryder told Shu, who was looking at him strangely.

    "Are youing?" Ryder asked him again.

    "Ah, Right. Let¡¯s go," Shu responded as he walked towards Ryder.

    They left the bowling alley.

    "I didn¡¯t know that you were so strong. Wow. I felt like I was watching the Treminator from the Treminator Movie. How can you be so strong? The men were so bigger than you," Shu asked Ryder.

    "Body size isn¡¯t proportional to strength. It helps, but that¡¯s not all. Look at the martial artists as an example," Ryder replied to Shu.

    "Oh, on that topic, I remembered a rumor that there are some Ancient Cultivators in this country. Have you heard anything about that?" Ryder asked Shu, hoping that he would know something since he had the invitation to the girl¡¯s birthday party, which was the clue of the ancient cultivator family.

    "Ancient Cultivators? You mean the ones from the Xianxia novels? I have no idea. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard anything about that," Shu shook his head. "It should just be a rumor."

    "Maybe," Ryder muttered.

    "Do you want to do something else, or can I go back and sleep?" He inquired.

    "You can go back. I don¡¯t think we should do anything else today. The start of our day hadn¡¯t been what I expected," Shu told Ryder as he shook his head.

    He waited for a response from Ryder, but he was stunned to see him looking dazed.

 Chapter 160 Call from the mysterious men

    <h4>Chapter 160: Call from the mysterious men</h4>

    Shu nced in the direction where Ryder was looking only to find a woman and a maning in their direction.

    The woman was pretty attractive. She had long blonde hair that was curly near the tips. She was wearing tight-fitting jeans and a red t-shirt.

    The woman looked to be the same age as Ryder. She was in her early 20s. She was 5ft. 7inches tall.

    She was holding the hand of the man she was walking with. The man, on the other hand, was much taller than the girl. He was close to 6 feet tall. He wore ck jeans and a ck shirt that made him look professional.

    "Do you know them?" Shu asked Ryder as he tapped on his shoulder.

    Ryder didn¡¯t reply and continued walking. He soon passed by the couple without any strange interaction. Shu felt like something was weird. Ryder was acting strangely, and he also noticed the girl looking ufortable. She seemed to be diverting her attention and tried not to look at Ryder.

    Shu wanted to ask Ryder about it, but he realized that Ryder was ufortable. He decided to drop the topic and not mention it again. Even though he was concerned about Ryder, he didn¡¯t want to involve himself in something that could annoy his friend.

    They reached their cars.

    "Bye. Work hard on upgrading your level." Ryder told Shu before he entered the car.

    Shu also got in his car. They started the engines and drove away towards their home.

    Ryder was driving much faster this time, though. Shu couldn¡¯t help but shake his head as he said that.

    "You are not going to tell me, so let me find out myself. If it is something I can help you with, then I will do it," Shu muttered.

    Soon, they separated and went their different ways. Ryder stopped his car near his house and parked it.

    He stepped out of his car and entered his courtyard.

    He brought out his phone and called the number of Dan.

    Dan picked up the call.

    "Hello."

    "I¡¯m noting to the book club reunion!" Ryder let out sternly.

    "What happened? Didn¡¯t you say that you woulde just a few hours ago?" Dan asked in confusion. " What happened in thest few hours?"

    "Didn¡¯t you say that she was not in the city! How is it that I still see her in the city?!" Ryder snapped.

    "She? I thought she was out. Maybe she came back to the city. I didn¡¯t know about that, I promise!" Dan replied with uncertainty.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m noting. There are already people that I don¡¯t like that will be there and now she as well? I won¡¯te," Ryder replied.

    "Please don¡¯t do this, man. I already registered your name and informed people. Some of them are genuinely excited. Don¡¯t disappoint them," Dan tried to exin.

    "I don¡¯t care," Ryder said before he disconnected the call.

    He threw the phone on the bed before he walked into the shower.

    His phone kept ringing for the next 10-20 minutes, but Ryder didn¡¯t care as he calmed his mind in the shower.

    He stepped out of the shower after 25 minutes and got dressed.

    The phone had stopped ringing by now. Ryder picked up the phone to see the notifications. He had received a call from three people by now. Bastion, Dan, and even Esmi had called him. He was not in the mood to call anyone back, though. He put the phone on the table near his bed andid on the bed, closing his eyes.

    He couldn¡¯t help but unintentionally relive his past memories, which ruined his mood even further.

    Before today, he had nned just to sleep today and bezy, but now that he finally got the opportunity to do it, he couldn¡¯t sleep at all. He justid in his bed for the next hour with his eyes closed, feeling down.

    His phone again started ringing.

    He opened his eyes and picked up his phone to look at the name of the person calling him.

    It was again a private number as it just said Private. The number was not showing either.

    "It seems like the repeat ofst time," Ryder muttered as he looked at the phone ringing.

    He picked up the call and brought the phone close to his ears.

    "Number 23, Why is your other number turned off? We have another meeting after two days. You need to be present. I don¡¯t want to listen to any excuse. You must attend this time. The new meeting will be held at the same ce. Don¡¯t miss it!" the person on the other side said. His voice was distorted, which made it clear that he was using something to hide his real voice.

    Ryder wanted to ask which ce he talked about, but he was worried about exposing that he wasn¡¯t number 23. He didn¡¯t even know if number 23 was a guy or a girl.

    He wanted to know their location as he was sure that the guys that were behind the missing bodies would be the ones hiding their numbers like that, and they were his biggest clue about the death of his parents, ording to Janus.

    ¡¯I must go to the extreme to find them,¡¯ he thought.

    He covered his face with a cloth to make it clear that he was hiding his voice as well. He knew that it would probably only work if number 23 was a male. The voice could be exined by the excuse of hiding it like the other person was hiding it.

    "Which ce?" Ryder asked.

    "You idiot! Weren¡¯t you conveyed the locationst time? Was this the reason you hadn¡¯t attended the meeting in recent times?" the man snorted.

    "No," Ryder replied.

    "Hmm, This will be thest time I tell you. Come under the Northeast Walter Flyover. The meeting will begin in the evening,"

    Before Ryder could reply, the call was disconnected. Ryder nced at the phone.

    "Northeast Walter Flyover?" Ryder opened the browser and searched the name of the flyover.

    "It¡¯s in Washington, Looks like I¡¯ll need to travel to attend the meeting," Ryder muttered as he found out that the Northeast Walter Flyover was in Washington.

    He opened the website of an Airline and booked the ticket for tomorrow morning.

    He wanted to deal with Jameson tomorrow, but this matter was more important. He wasn¡¯t sure if he would ever get an opportunity to find them again if he missed them this time. He could deal with Jameson and the others anytime, but not with this, as he was dealing with an unknown enemy now.

 Chapter 161 Boss Problems

    <h4>Chapter 161: Boss Problems</h4>

    "Alright, Master Jameson. It looks like I can¡¯t meet you tomorrow. Enjoy your life for a little longer," Ryder muttered as he looked at the ticket confirmation notification on his phone.

    His flight was at 11 o¡¯clock in the morning. Since he received this call, his mind had been diverted to this topic. His mood was also calmer.

    "I would have just gone to Divinity, but it¡¯s not good either. The guardian of the Valley of wandering Soul would be twice as strong at night. It would just be extra effort wasted for nothing. No need to be in a hurry," he muttered as he stood up.

    He picked up the key of his car and left his house since his n to bezy wasn¡¯t working, and he had no alcohol at home.

    He entered his car and drove it towards the nearest bar.

    As Ryder¡¯s car raced towards the nearest bar, another car passed by his car in the opposite direction. The person that was sitting on the passenger seat was the same guy that Ryder had attacked first in the Bowling Alley. He was the least bit injured.

    They were justing back from the hospital. He wasn¡¯t even admitted, but the other two guys were still in the hospital.

    The person that was sitting beside him was the boss of the Dark Dragon Gang.

    "Boss, the one that beat us up was in that car!" The man let out.

    "You sure?" The boss asked the man.

    "I am a hundred percent sure. He is the one," the man replied.

    "Good. Let¡¯s see who dared to offend us even after knowing our name," the man muttered as he turned his car back and started following the car of Ryder. He also called his other men and told them to track his phone ande prepared.

    Ryder looked in the back mirror and noticed the car following him.

    "Good. I was just getting bored. Just to be sure about them, I should take expert advice," Ryder muttered as he used a voicemand to call Esmi.

    "You finally decided to call me, huh! After ignoring my calls for so long," Esmi snorted as soon as she picked up the call.

    "I¡¯m sorry about that. I was in a bad mood because of some things that happened. I put my phone on silent and slept. It had nothing to do with you. I just checked the calls and decided to call you," Ryder replied to her.

    "Why did you call me?" He asked her.

    "Forget that. It is not important anymore. By the way, what spoiled your mood that much?" Esmi asked Ryder.

    "Someone made me angry. I¡¯m fine now. Anyway, Do you know anything about the Dark Dragon Gang?" Ryder asked her. This was the main reason he called her for.

    "The Dark Dragon Gang? Yeah, they are like our low tier subordinates, I guess. Did they do something to you?" She asked him.

    "Well, three of their men attacked me, and I beat them up. I think some of them are following me. I wanted to see if they worked for you," Ryder let out as he focused on the road.

    "Let me give them a call. They won¡¯t dare to go near you anymore, Esmi replied.

    "Wait. Don¡¯t interfere. I am in the mood to beat some people up today. Don¡¯t spoil the fun. Let me have fun today, then you can get them in line," Ryder rejected her offer.

    Ryder didn¡¯t want her to help him right now as he would lose the opportunity of farming the Experience points in the real world. He didn¡¯t want to see this opportunity go to waste.

    "You do know that they have guns, right? It¡¯s not a joke. You will get harmed. I¡¯m calling them. You can have fun in other ways. It would be bad if things get out of control," she muttered as she shook her head.

    ¡¯That¡¯s true as well. I guess I should¡¯ve thought of it. Now that I told her that I¡¯m taking on those men, I can¡¯t kill them. And I can¡¯t expose my healing powers and let them live. This thing is annoying,¡¯ he thought.

    "Alright. Call them then," Ryder finally gave up. He wouldn¡¯t have minded if he hadn¡¯t talked to her. He would have lured them to an empty ce and collected his exp, but the n was spoiled now.

    Esmi disconnected the call and called the number of Mark, who was her second inmand in this ce and the one that handled the matters of this city for her. She was actually from a different ce and came here for a few weeks to see if their operations were flowing smoothly or not.

    The person that was chasing after Ryder in his car got a call suddenly.

    "Ah, Yes, boss."

    "No, Boss."

    "Of Course, boss."

    "I understand, boss. I won¡¯t do anything to him. If I had known his reach would be so high, I wouldn¡¯t even think about him."

    The call was disconnected.

    The man called other members of his gang to tell them toe back. He also turned back his car and stopped following Ryder.

    Ryder nced at the rearview mirror and noticed that the car had turned back.

    "She worked quite fast," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He ignored whatever had happened and focused on the road.

    Soon, Ryder reached the Bar. He parked his car before he entered the Bar.

    He stepped towards the bartender and sat on an empty table nearby.

    "Get me an Old Fashioned," Ryder told the bartender who nodded in affirmation.

    "Not many people drink that nowadays. I¡¯m d to find someone who likes it as well," A woman said as she sat on the nearby seat.

    "Make that two. I need one as well," She told the bartender.

    Ryder looked towards the woman who looked like she was in her early 30s. She was dressed in a white suit and looked like a professional.

    "Isn¡¯t this too soon for professionals toe to a bar?" Ryder asked her as he looked at his watch. It was 4 in the afternoon.

    "Bad day at work. I left early," The girl let out with a wry smile on her face.

    "What happened?" Ryder inquired out of curiosity.

    "Lost a big deal. It sucks," the girl replied.

    "Can¡¯t say that I can understand. Sounds like boss problems," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    Even though he was also technically an owner of a registeredpany, that was mostly in name at the moment. Things haven¡¯t gotten on tracks yet for him, but he knew that his ride was going to be easy because of his knowledge.

 Chapter 162 Not even the God of Death

    <h4>Chapter 162: Not even the God of Death</h4>

    "You are lucky that you don¡¯t know the boss¡¯ problems. Sometimes even the mary benefits aren¡¯t enough topensate for the stress," The woman sighed as she shook his head.

    "Every job has stress and troubles. We all believe our problems to be worse," Ryder responded with a smile.

    The bartender served the drinks before them.

    "That¡¯s true as well. Anyway, I¡¯m Herriet," the woman replied as she extended her hands towards Ryder.

    "Ryder," Ryder replied as he reached out his hand to shake her hand.

    Something strange happened, though, as soon as Ryder¡¯s hands touched the hand of Herriet. His whole body felt a terrifying shock. He instantly retracted his hand as he looked at her with a stunned look on his face.

    "What happened? Why are you looking here like I am a ghost?" Herriet asked as she nced at Ryder.

    "N-nothing. I just felt like there was current coursing through my body as soon as I touched you," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "Hahaha, is this a new flirting line that guys are using nowadays?" Herriet startedughing at Ryder¡¯s response.

    ¡¯This is really strange. What just happened?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he nced at the woman.

    "Did that line work?" Ryder smiled as he asked the woman who was sitting before him. He knew that he would be seen as crazy if he insisted on what happened.

    "That was refreshing, I must say. Thanks for making meugh," Herriet thanked Ryder as she picked her ss.

    Ryder also picked up his ss.

    "Cheers," They both touched their ss before they drank the alcohol in one sip.

    "One more."

    Both of them ordered more at the same time. The bartender picked up the sses.

    "Which business do you own? Also, which deal did you lose? Maybe I can give you some ideas? You don¡¯t have to tell me if it¡¯s too personal," Ryder asked her.

    "I work in the Aviation Industry. We developmercial nes. We had received the order for 50 nes. We even took out loans and stuff, but the client suddenly canceled the orders. We are going to the court to sue them, so I don¡¯t think you can help me," The woman shook her head.

    "Are you the owner of Air Connect limited?" Ryder asked her with a surprised look on his face.

    "Yeah, How did you know?" Herriet asked in curiosity.

    "I read an article about the order of 50 nes. So I took a guess," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    He didn¡¯t tell her the truth that he knew about her from the previous timeline. In fact, herpany was a part of his bigger n to boost hispany further.

    He knew how thiswsuit went. The Air Connect Limited lost thewsuit. Things started going south for them. They were in such a bad condition that she didn¡¯t have any choice but to sell herpany. No one brought it, though. Ryder knew about it because it was a big deal at that time, and many media outlets covered it.

    It was also a big deal because of the rise of Air Connect Limited after the fall. It was something that no one could have expected.

    This time, Ryder wanted to change history. He wanted to buy thepany when it was at its worst and mix them in his group ofpanies.

    If he weren¡¯t wrong, the results of thiswsuit woulde in less than a week, and in three weeks, thepany will dere bankruptcy. Their shares will hit an all-time low. Ryder wanted to buy them at that time.

    No matter how much he wanted to help someone, he didn¡¯t want to spoil his n, so he didn¡¯t tell Herriet any of this. He onlyforted her that things would go better.

    He decided that after he owned thepany, he would still keep Herriet as the CEO of the Aviation branch of his Divine Corporation.

    "I hope so," the woman let out as she took another sip.

    "I should leave now. If I get too drunk, I would not be able to drive back. Bye, Mr. Ryder. It was fun chatting with you," Herriet said as she stood up.

    She paid the bartender before she left the bar.

    "Air Connect Limited..." Ryder muttered as he nced towards the door of the bar. "Tough times are ahead, but I would not let themst long for you. For my own benefit, though. Be with me on our rise together."

    He ordered another drink. He sat there for around an hour before he left as well.

    He drove back home.

    Alice was already home when he stepped inside the house.

    She stepped out of the kitchen.

    "You are back? Where were you?" She asked Ryder.

    "I was out with Shu," Ryder replied to her.

    "That smell... Did you drink?" Alice inquired, ring at Ryder.

    "Ah, a little. It was like men¡¯s day out," Ryder answered her with a wry smile on his face.

    "Go and eat on Men¡¯s day out as well. You¡¯re not getting anything to eat here today," Alice snorted as she walked back to the kitchen.

    "Hey, sorry. I wouldn¡¯t do it again, I promise," Ryder said as he followed after her.

    "I¡¯m not listening. You can cook for yourself if you want," Alice answered as she refused to look at him.

    "I heard some friends say that their wives treat them like this after they go home drunk. Don¡¯t be like their wives. I promise you that I would be more careful next time," Ryder insisted as he sat on the dining table.

    "Hmph," Alice did not answer, but Ryder could see that she was angry.

    Ryder stood up and walked closer to her. He ced his hand on her shoulders and turned her back to face him.

    "I am sorry," he said in full seriousness.

    "Why are you crying?" he asked her as he saw tears in her eyes.

    "You know what the cops said, right. Even though it was the truck owner¡¯s fault, our family would not be dead if they hadn¡¯t gone out to drink at a party. It was fine before as you weren¡¯t driving and took cabs, but now that you have a car, if you still don¡¯t stop, one day, I might lose you as well," Alice let out while looking down.

    Ryder hugged her firmly.

    "I promise that you won¡¯t lose me. Even the god of death can¡¯t separate me from you," Ryder said.

    Suddenly, he saw a scene of something simr. He was hugging a woman and said the same thing.

    Surprisingly, he recognized the woman. The woman looked like the Goddess of Nature, whose statue Ryder had seen in the Dark Elves Ancestral Temple. The woman that Ryder had found to look just like Alice.

    ___________________

    The End (JK)

    IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE: From now on, there is going to be a change in release schedule that will take ce from today.

    There will be 2 chapters every day released unless some unexpected circumstances prevent that. Thank you for reading and please vote. Each one of your votes works as a miracle for motivation :)

 Chapter 163 The Gods are Corrupt, FBI

    <h4>Chapter 163: The Gods are Corrupt, FBI</h4>

    "I will never forgive you if you leave me. No drinking from now on!" Alice told Ryder, bringing him out of his daze.

    "I won¡¯t give you any opportunity toin," Ryder said to her, while he kept his arms wrapped around her.

    "Hmm," Alice whimpered before she freed herself from Ryder¡¯s embrace.

    "Soo... Should I order food from outside?" Ryder asked with a confused look on his face.

    "There¡¯s no need. Go and rest," Alice let out as she turned back.

    "There¡¯s one more thing that I need to tell you. I suddenly got a business call today. I need to go to Washington tomorrow to attend a meeting. I won¡¯t be back for 2-3 days," Ryder told her abruptly.

    "You¡¯re going away?" Alice asked as she looked back at him.

    "Yeah, for a few days. I have a flight early in the morning. I need to attend this meeting to ensure the smooth operation of my business. It¡¯s just for a few days. I¡¯ll be right back before you even realize that I¡¯m missing," Ryderforted her.

    Alice didn¡¯t answer, but she nodded her head.

    "Thanks. If this deal went well, many of my problems would be solved," Ryder smilingly said.

    "I will pray for your good luck," Alice said to Ryder.

    "The gods are corrupt. There¡¯s no need to pray to them for me," Ryder let out without even realizing what he was saying. It was as if these words came out of his mouth out of nowhere. They sounded familiar, though, like he had said the same words before.

    "Don¡¯t talk bad!" Alice scolded Ryder as she red at him.

    "Ah, I was joking. Thank you for praying for me. I¡¯ll be in my room," Ryder replied before he hurriedly walked back to his room.

    Heid on his bed as he held his head.

    "Am I going crazy? What the heck is happening with me? Current when touching that girl and wordsing out of my mouth? These strange illusions and dreams... Just what is happening?" Ryder muttered as he looked at the roof.

    "Janus, are you the one that¡¯s messing with me? You need to cut it out!" Ryder eximed as he thought that it was Janus doing these strange things. He was the only mysterious thing that had the power to do anything, ording to him.

    [Janus is not involved with what you¡¯re going through, but Janus can¡¯t stop that either]

    Janus answered Ryder.

    "Am I going crazy then?" Ryder asked again.

    [No]

    Janus answered Ryder again, refuting his assumption.

    "Why is that happening then?" Ryder asked him.

    [That¡¯s for you to find out. If I tell you, everything will go wrong]

    "What will go wrong? What do I need to find out? Do you have an item that can stop these things from happening? I¡¯m willing to do any mission. Anything is better than not having the control of my own body. Strange wordsing out of my mouth without my permission reminds me of my time as an NPC. I don¡¯t want to go through that again," Ryder said, hoping to find a solution.

    [You don¡¯t need to worry about it. You will not lose anything. It¡¯s just that the process is much faster than I expected as you found the Bracelet of Immortality, which was unexpected. It¡¯s good, but it would be ufortable and confusing for you. There¡¯s no need to worry. I won¡¯t let any harme to you, as long as I am here. Never again]

    Ryder wondered what Janus was saying. He was like a powerful system ording to Ryder that could do anything, but Janus¡¯ words didn¡¯t make sense most of the time.

    "It¡¯s fine as long as I don¡¯t be like an NPC. I can handle these strange things if they happen once in a while, but it would not be good if they bemon urrences. I don¡¯t want people to think of me as crazy," Ryder let out as he sat up.

    He turned on the Air Conditioner and took off his clothes. He changed to morefortable clothes.

    He brought his phone outside and started reading any news he could find about the organization that was stealing the dead bodies. He wanted to see if the government authorities found any clue about them.

    "Nothing. The dead bodies keep going missing from different corners of the country, and no one knows what¡¯s happening. Just what is the FBI doing? It¡¯s been quite some time since these things started," Ryder muttered as he shook his head. He did not find any clue about them.

    Far away from Ryder and the city he stayed in, there was another city.

    It was the new city that had be the new capital of the country.

    The city was filled with tall buildings.

    One of these tall buildings was the FBI headquarters that housed the senior agents of the FBI that were not out on the field at the moment.

    A woman was sitting on a chair before herputer, looking at something on the screen in a decent-sized room.

    The woman looked like she was in herte 20s. Her dark hair matched with the ck coat that she was wearing.

    There was a knock on the door.

    "Come in," the woman said.

    The door opened. It was a man who was dressed in a simr manner.

    He had an ID card on his chest, which had FBI written on it.

    "Riya, Come quick. There¡¯s a briefing on the missing bodies¡¯ case in a few minutes. Captain will be there soon," the man said before he closed the door and left.

    Riya closed theptop and stood up as she left her room and walked to the briefing room.

    The briefing room was on the same floor but still far away from her room as her room was on the south of the building while the briefing room was on the other side.

    After some time, she reached the room.

    She opened the door and found it to be almost full. She and the captain were the only two people that were not here yet.

    "Ahmm, are you going to enter or not?" A man¡¯s voice came from behind.

    Riya looked back only to find a red-haired guy standing there.

    "Ah, Captain. Sorry," Riya apologized as she entered the room and took her seat.

    The man walked inside and stood at the other end of the table. He opened hisptop and connected it to the projector.

    "Ok, guys, so there is news that I have for you guys. You already know that we have been dealing with the missing bodies¡¯ case for quite some time. Our teams are spread out in most of the country where the cases of missing bodies have been discovered," The Red-haired guy said.

 Chapter 164 Same Destination

    <h4>Chapter 164: Same Destination</h4>

    Everyone silently nodded their heads.

    "I have an update about that. We finally discovered something about them which might help us in our investigation," the Captain added.

    "We have arrested one of the people that was involved in stealing the bodies. He destroyed his phone before he was arrested, but we did manage to capture him alive. This information is extremely ssified, and no one other than a few in our bureau knows about it. We have already interrogated him, and I want to brief you on what we found out from him," he added.

    The others were already focused, but they were even more focused now. This was pretty exciting for them, as this meant that they finally had some progress on the case.

    The Red-Haired Man tapped a key on the keyboard of hisptop. An image started showing up on the white board in front of them.

    "This guy is called Trey Masterson. He also has a nickname which is Number 23. He imed that this is how he was addressed to by the people that were above him," the Red-Haired Man said as he pointed towards the image of the man.

    "He said that he didn¡¯t know much about the organization and that he only followed themands he received from the people that he imed to be the ones that were the core members of the organization behind it."

    "So, he is like a disposable pawn of their organization?" Riya asked the captain as she raised her hand.

    "Yes and no. He was a pawn that didn¡¯t know anything significant about the organization, but he was not disposable. Arresting him wasn¡¯t useless. He had seen the faces of the core Members that we believe can lead us to the ones behind this racket. We have the sketches of three people that he had seen that were involved in this. We also have some more information," The Captain said.

    "We found out that there is a meeting held in Washington between the Core Members that he saw and the pawns like him. He also gave us the location of that ce. Even though we don¡¯t know if there will be another meeting or when it will be held, I still need a team to go to Washington to keep an eye on it. It might take a week or a month, but there should be a meeting again as long as they don¡¯t realize that we have number 23. It might even be as soon as tomorrow. Every second is of importance. This is our biggest opportunity to catch them," He added.

    Riya raised her hand again.

    "Yes? What doubts do you have?" the Red-Haired Guy asked as he pointed towards Riya.

    "Captain Max. How much of the team are you willing to send there? It¡¯s not certain that they will still hold a meeting there, and they would soon realize that their man is missing. This might be a waste of resources if we send too many people. Also, why aren¡¯t our men already present there assigned for this task?" Riya asked.

    "The team that¡¯s already there is dealing with another case. You know that the missing body case is a case assigned to our team. I can¡¯t take other men from their mission. As for your first question, We will send a small team as it¡¯s mostly a recon mission. If there is a meeting there, you can inform me. I¡¯ll make sure that all the teams and authorities present there get to you guys to give you back-up. The team will have four people," The Captain answered Riya¡¯s question.

    Another man raised his hand. He was the person that had reminded Riya of the Meeting.

    "Yes, Jacob?" The Red-Haired Man pointed towards the guy.

    "Captain, have you already decided on a team, or is it voluntary? Also, are youing with us as well?" Jacob asked the Captain.

    "I have already decided on a team."

    The Captain tapped another key on his keyboard, and four names appeared on the board.

    "The ones that I selected are Jacob Mastiff, Riya Fernandez, Mna Sanderson, and Ray Quinn," the Captain said.

    "Also, I won¡¯t being. I am going on another lead with a different team. You guys need to remain in contact with me after you reach there, though," He added. "Oh, right. Ray will be your leader for this mission. The tickets are already booked. You will leave tomorrow morning," he added.

    "Yes, Sir."

    "That¡¯s it for today. The others can get back to work. The ones I have named can leave early to pack their stuff," the Captain said before he disconnected hisptop and left

    Ryder packed some of his stuff in a bag before he kept the bag in his storage space.

    "The fuck, How could I forget that I have a bomb in one of my storage slots," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face as he saw the bag that had the bomb in one of his storage slots after he ced his clothing bag in a different slot.

    "Well, it mighte in handy someday," he muttered as he shook his head and closed the screen. "I do need to deal with the bodies, though. Might as well throw them outside with the bomb if I ever use that."

    He stood up and left his room. It was already night as he entered the kitchen.

    "I was just about to call you. The dinner is ready," Alice said as she nced back at Ryder.

    "I know that you¡¯re always on time," Ryder said as he smiled and sat on a chair.

    "Have you packed your stuff for tomorrow? I can help you if you haven¡¯t," Alice asked Ryder.

    "I¡¯m more self behaved then you give me credit for. I packed everything," Ryder replied to her.

    The dinner was served. They both had dinner together before Alice said that she would move in with her friend for a few days as she didn¡¯t want to live alone in this house.

    Ryder agreed to her and told her that she needed to call him if she faced any problem. He would handle everything for her.

    Alice agreed as a beautiful smile covered her face.

    After a peaceful dinner, Ryder walked back to his room.

    Heid on his bed and wore the Divinity sses.

    "Time to get the third orb," He muttered.

    "Take me to Divinity!" he used themand.

    Ryder opened his eyes to the world of Divinity. He was inside the Cave of Protection. It had started to get bright outside.

 Chapter 165 Against the Guardian

    <h4>Chapter 165: Against the Guardian</h4>

    "Let¡¯s go, Rale. We don¡¯t have time to waste. I want to deal with it before night," Ryder told Rale, who was standing at the mouth of the cave, looking outside.

    "Your Highness," Rale greeted Ryder.

    Everyone stood up as well. They all left the cave and entered the core region of the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    "Your Highness, When we find the Guardian of the Valley, I would suggest you to stay back. You will get harmed. The Guardian would be very strong. It¡¯s impossible to kill it, but I can hold it back. It would all go to waste if he managed to harm you," Rale told Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me. Killing me is more difficult than killing you at the moment. I¡¯m not bragging when I say that even Grand Duke Orisis can¡¯t kill me," Ryder chuckled as he tapped on Rale¡¯s shoulder. "But I would let you deal with the guardian. I only need that orb in his hand. Throw that orb towards me, and then you can hold him back."

    "I will take that orb for you, I promise," Rale promised Ryder.

    They faced many specters along the way, which were growing stronger. No matter how much Ryder attacked, he wasn¡¯t able to harm them. His strength had reached its limit on this Valley. The opponents that they faced were way stronger than the ones he could hurt.

    Rale and the others handled the specters with ease, though. Ryder had already known how wide the gap between Rale and him was, but Rale¡¯s team was just as strong.

    He had known that Rale was stronger than Duke Devilia.

    Even when Ryder was over level 150, he wasn¡¯t able to harm a dragon, but Devilia killed another dragon, which seemed to be hundreds of times stronger than the dragon that had killed him in the previous timeline. Rale, on the other hand, was even stronger than Devilia after he unsealed his power. He could only imagine how strong he was.

    Level thousand was the least that Ryder considered Rale to be. He was quite d to have someone like Rale to be his subordinate. He was like the most OP character in the game at the moment, but this only meant that the old enemies were not his enemies anymore. He was way above their league.

    He was in an entirely different league altogether, but he also knew that being in a powerful league meant facing powerful enemies. He also knew that it was not his own power. He wanted to find the Bracelet Fragments the fastest he could so that he could strengthen himself. The two fragments that he had found were enough to make him almost an immortal, but that still wasn¡¯t enough for him. He didn¡¯t want to die and revive, but he wanted to be strong enough to kill his enemies without dying.

    They had only traveled for 2 hours before they heard a loud roar.

    "This sounds like the Roar of the Guardian. He should be nearby. Guys, get ready to engage. The Guardian of the Valley can use Spectres like his personal ves. I¡¯ll deal with the guardian; you guys deal with the specters. No harm shoulde to His Highness!" Rale dered.

    "Understood Captain! We won¡¯t let them harm the Prince!" the men let out loud.

    They walked in the direction that roar wasing from.

    The number of spirits they faced kept increasing. Now they were seeing hundreds of specters every ten meters, but Rale was still able to deal with them without unsealing his power

    After some time, they finally saw the Guardian of the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    The Guardian of the Valley was simr to the Guardian of the Lightning Valley that Ryder had controlled to force the Dark Elf King to surrender. It was also a giant, but it seemed to be made of wood.

    The Guardian of Valley of Wandering Soul was like a giant Wooden Golem that had a humanoid shape.

    The Guardian of the Valley also had two giant horns on his head.

    There was a ne on the neck of the Guardian of the valley, which had a tiny orb tier to it.

    "There is the orb!" Ryder pointed towards the orb near the Guardian¡¯s neck.

    The Guardian looked towards them. He roared loudly. A screeching sound came out of its mouth.

    Thousands of Spectres from all over the valley rushed towards Ryder and his team to attack them.

    "Take care of his highness. I¡¯m going for the ne!" Rale let out as he unsealed his powers.

    His wings appeared behind his back.

    He flew towards the guardian like lightning.

    Rale was about to reach near the Guardian when a barrier appeared around the Guardian.

    Rale punched out. His fist struck the barrier, shattering it instantly, but that¡¯s when he saw the hand of the guardianing towards him.

    He flew to the side, dodging his hand, and again started flying towards the neck of the guardian.

    The Guardian stared at Rale. Rale felt as if there was a binding force that was trying to take control of his body.

    "My body is to protect the Royal Blood! I will never let someone like you control me!" Rale roared as an energy burst was released from his body, breaking the restriction around him.

    He shot out towards the neck of the guardian and tore off the orb, which he threw towards Ryder.

    Ryder reached out his hand to catch the orb, but he saw another spectering towards the orb. He knew that if he stayed there, the specter would get to the orb.

    He brought out his Scythe and started running towards the orb.

    Ryder and the specter, both were moving towards the orb.

    Ryder was slightly faster as he managed to grab the orb, but he also saw the Spectreing towards him. It was toote to dodge.

    He changed the scythe to a shield and ced it between him and the specters. He was tossed back like a broken kite as he crashed on a tree.

    He felt his HP going down by leaps and bounds before it could reach Zero; he used the Ruler of Nature to heal himself. His Hp was again full.

    He breathed in relief. His men had also dealt with the specters in the nearby region and surrounded him again.

    "Your Highness, please do not do this again. It puts you in danger and decreases our ability to protect you," One of the members of Rale¡¯s team requested Ryder. He was relieved as he didn¡¯t know how he would have answered if something had happened to Ryder.

    "Leave this ce! I will keep him back and leave after you are out!" Rale let out loud.

    Ryder didn¡¯t hear his words as he was looking at the notification.

 Chapter 166 Third Fragment

    <h4>Chapter 166: Third Fragment</h4>

    [Third fragment of Bracelet of Immortality found]

    [Fragment of Wind found]

    [Bracelet of Immortality: Second Seal is broken]

    [Skill Received: Ruler of Wind]

    [+10 Level ]

    "Ruler of Wind?" Ryder muttered as he nced at the notification.

    "Your Highness, we need to leave," The guard reminded Ryder, who was in a daze.

    Ryder closed the screen.

    "Yeah, let¡¯s leave this ce. We are done here," Ryder said as he stood up.

    He left the ce under the heavy Protection of his team, which kept dealing with the specters.

    ¡¯The Level Rankings are updated every 24 hours. I think I can imagine how shocked people will be after they find out my jump in ten levels in a day,¡¯ Ryder thought as he left the ce.

    They kept advancing towards the exit as fast as they could. Soon, they left the core region of the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    Ryder and his team reached the ce where they had fought the Vampire General.

    The Frozen Pond was melted entirely, and the water seemed to be crystal clear now.

    They traveled for hours and left the inner region as well. Soon after, they were outside the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    They all stopped after they stepped out of the Valley. It was said that the Spectres and the Guardian couldn¡¯t leave the Valley. Now, all they needed to do was wait for Rale toe out. Then they would be able to leave the Undead Region.

    Ryder stayed back as he opened the screen again to read the description of the Skill that he had received after the third seal was unlocked.

    He opened the description of Ruler of Wind to see if it was as useful as Ruler of Time and Nature or not.

    [Ruler of Wind: Wind is everywhere. It is what allows people to breathe, yet it can make them die. It can be soothing, and it can be terrifying. Not only humans but all the species depend on it. The one that controls Wind has the potential to control the surroundings and to reach higher than the heaven]

    [Active Skill: Blessed by Wind]

    [Blessed by Wind]

    [Skill 1: Flying]

    [Skill 2: Locked (Level not enough)]

    [Skill 3: Locked (Level not enough)]

    ¡¯It¡¯s a set of 3 skills as well?¡¯ He let out in surprise.

    He clicked on flying to see if it actually meant the same as what he was thinking. He hoped that it was the same. If he received the ability to fly, it would be amazing, especially since he would be able to use that in the real world as well.

    [Flying: Provides the holder Ability to fly

    When using Flying, one can touch the skies and fly like the wind]

    [(Warning: Flying can¡¯t be used beyond the current limit)]

    [Current limit: Flying can only be used for 55 minutes in a day]

    [(Note: Flying depends on the level of the user. Every five levels increases limit by 5 minutes) ]

    "Ability to fly, huh, let me try," Ryder muttered as he used the Flying.

    He started rising in the air, but his control was weak. He was a bit shaky, but he was able to fly.

    "I need some practice," Ryder muttered as he stopped using flying andnded on the ground.

    The others were looking towards the Valley, so no one saw him fly.

    Time kept passing slowly, and it was already evening.

    Ryder was starting to get worried. It waste, and Rale was still not there yet.

    He wondered if something had gone wrong, but he saw someoneing out of the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    It was Rale. His body was covered in blood, which seemed like his own. He was injured.

    "Rale, are you fine?" Ryder ran up to Rale and supported him.

    "You should¡¯ve seen the condition of that guardian," Rale joked as he smiled.

    "Let¡¯s get you inside the hut. You need to rest," Ryder said as he carried Rale to the small hut nearby. He made him lie down on a mattress that he carried with him in his storage space.

    "Are you really fine?" Ryder asked Rale again as he saw that the bleeding wasn¡¯t stopping.

    "I¡¯m fine, Your Highness. I just underestimated the Guardian. His strength increased so much after you guys left. He was probably angry. I did handle him, though. As for my wounds, don¡¯t worry about it. I would be fine by the morning. It¡¯s just taking some time. Once the healing kicks in, I¡¯ll be healed in a few hours," Raleforted Ryder.

    "Thank you for everything," Ryder thanked Rale. He was feeling so d to have Rale. He had already started considering Rale like his brother.

    "Rest now. There¡¯s no need to worry about anything else. The mission ispleted," Ryder told Rale as he held his hand.

    Rale nodded his head as he closed his eyes.

    Ryder sat there for an hour to make sure that nothing was going wrong, but after making sure that Rale had started healing, he stood up.

    "You guys need to protect Rale tonight. Keep an eye on the surroundings so that nothing unexpected happens," Ryder told the others before he disappeared from before them.

    The others had already be ustomed to seeing that. They didn¡¯t know that Ryder had logged out.

    Ryder woke up in the real world. He took off the Divinity sses and kept them in his inventory. It was 7 Am in the morning.

    He sat up and entered the shower. He came out and got dressed before he left his room.

    He wondered if Alice was sleeping.

    "Alice? I¡¯m leaving," He called out once before he left the house.

    Ryder didn¡¯t take his own car to the airport; instead, he booked a cab.

    The cab dropped him off at the nearest Airport.

    He went through the checking and other rted stuff, and soon, he was sitting on the business ss seat of the ne that was going to Washington.

    The flight was asfortable as it could be. There was no disturbance, and everything passed peacefully. No one talked in the business ss. Ryder simply slept in the flight.

    The flight stopped at the Bright Sun Airport in Washington. He stepped out of the ne.

    Just a few minutes ago, another ne had arrived at the same airport from a different direction. It was the ne that was carrying the FBI agents that were here to deal with the missing bodies¡¯ case.

    As Ryder was in the airport, leaving towards the exit, he passed by Riya and the other agents, not knowing that their final destination was the same.

 Chapter 167 Under the FBI radar

    <h4>Chapter 167: Under the FBI radar</h4>

    The ck SUVs were already waiting outside for the FBI agents. Ryder, on the other hand, had booked a cab as well. He didn¡¯t go to his destination, though.

    He had already known that the meeting was tomorrow, so he told the driver to take him to a hotel that was near his destination.

    The FBI agents, on the other hand, went straight towards the Northeast Walter flyover. They had booked a room in a building nearby where they could keep an eye on the flyover.

    The Northeast Walter Flyover was an abandoned flyover of the state that was not used anymore. No one used the flyover anymore, which made it easier for the Agents to see if something strange was going on there or not.

    They entered the building they had rooms in. They had arranged for two rooms. One for the guys and one for the girls. Both of these rooms had a window that was facing towards their target.

    "Captain worked fast. It feels like he found out everything about this ce already. He arranged everything for us. All we need to do is keep an eye and rest. This will be like a vacation in a way if they don¡¯t show up," Jacobmented as he entered the room.

    The room was fully furnished and had everything they could ever need.

    "This is not a vacation. This is our duty. We need to be alert every moment. Think of it as the enemy can appear any second, and you will miss it if youze around," Ray told Jacob.

    "The girls are in different rooms. They will keep an eye on the target as well, but I understand that we can¡¯t ck off either. We can do it in turns. You watch for 2 hours, and then I¡¯ll keep an eye for 2 hours. We will get rest, and it will be more effective as well," Jacob suggested.

    "We¡¯ll do it on a 4-hour schedule. 2 hours will be insufficient for someone to rest," Ray replied. Jacob agreed to that.

    They yed Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide who would go first. Ray was defeated, so he went to keep an eye. Even though he was the leader, this was not a difficult situation. He didn¡¯t want tomand anyone unless the enemy actually appeared.

    Ryder also arrived at a nearby ce. He had found a hotel and booked a room there. As the nearest hotel he found was only a small hotel, even the most expensive room in the hotel was cheap. The room didn¡¯t have many things. There was only a bed and some furniture inside. There was a room service, though.

    After checking the room out, Ryder left the hotel and walked towards the Northeast Walter Flyover.

    It took him 20 minutes of walking to get there on foot.

    He stayed away from that ce initially and just checked things out to see if there was someone there or not.

    The Northeast Walter Flyover was an abandoned Flyover that was made around fifty years ago. It was abandoned now for some reason, and a new Flyover was made some distance away from this ce, which was used for transport.

    After finding no one there, Ryder casually walked closer to the ce, pretending to be casually looking around.

    "Someone is approaching!" Ray told Jacob as he saw Ryder walking closer to the flyover.

    Jacob walked towards Ray and took the second set of binocrs to see.

    "Do you think he will be from that mysterious organization? He doesn¡¯t look like a bad guy," Jacob responded.

    "Do you think bad guys have a board hung on their neck, which says that they are a bad guy?" Ray let out as he rolled his eyes.

    Riya was in a different room watching Ryder as well.

    "If the captain was right about this ce, we might catch them. I see someone approaching our target. It might be a recon mission from that organization. If they are doing that, the meeting should be soon," Riya let out as she kept her focus on Ryder.

    "I remember seeing that guy at the airport. It¡¯s strange, indeed. Should I trail him?" Mna asked Riya.

    She wanted to take a second opinion.

    "The guys must have seen him as well. Let¡¯s go discuss with them," she added as she lowered her binocrs.

    Riya and Mna left their room and entered the rooms of Ray and Jacob.

    "Did you notice that guy as well?" Riya inquired as she entered the room. She saw Ray and Jacob looking out the window.

    "Yeah. That man is suspicious. Let me discuss it with the Captain. Jacob, you keep an eye on him," Ray let out as he walked back and brought his phone out.

    He called the Captain and told him what was happening here.

    "No, don¡¯t do anything to that guy. I don¡¯t want him to get suspicious. We would lose the big fishes if we go after the small fishes," The Captain answered. "Just stay alert. The next few days are going to be the most crucial for us. I¡¯ll alert the authorities to stay ready to roll out."

    "Understood," Ray nodded his head before he disconnected the call.

    "Don¡¯t do anything. The captain told us to stay put. We can¡¯t spoil everything. This might be our best chance to catch them all," Ray exined to everyone else.

    They all agreed. They just kept watching over Ryder to see what he was doing.

    Ryder, on the other hand, was still casually walking. He didn¡¯t stop by the Flyover thought and continued walking as he walked past it.

    "He didn¡¯t stop there. Were we wrong?" Mna inquired as she looked back.

    "No, He was being careful. Everything will be clear soon," Riya answered.

    Ryder continued walking and went to the supermarket that was ahead.

    He purchased something to eat and walked back on the same path.

    "He¡¯sing back with groceries. I guess we were just too worked up," Mna shook her head as she saw Ryder going back with a grocery bag in his hand after an hour.

    Riya still had a suspicious look on her face.

    Ryder walked back to the hotel and ced the bag on the bed.

    "The entrance was there. I guess there¡¯s an underground passage where the meeting takes ce. I should¡¯ve expected that. I don¡¯t know why I thought that they would actually have it under the flyover in the open," Ryder shook his head as he brought out an apple from the bag and started eating it.

    "The real fun will begin tomorrow. I hope I will be able to get some answers," Ryder muttered as he looked towards the window.

 Chapter 168 Two Number 23?

    <h4>Chapter 168: Two Number 23?</h4>

    The day passed away in silence, but Ryder knew that it was the silence before the storm for him.

    He needed to go to the meeting of potential criminals who would most probably have weapons.

    He had also carried two guns with him to this ce, which were in his storage space.

    He brought them out and made sure that they were full and ready to fire at a moment¡¯s notice.

    "I should buy some heavy-duty weapons for the future as well. It¡¯s not feasible to have two guns only," Ryder muttered as he opened the system store and went to the weapons section.

    He had some Origin Points left on him even after he paid the loan that he had taken from Janus.

    "Should I spend them on a weapon?" he wondered as he looked at a gun in the store.

    "Fuck it; I¡¯m doing it. I can always earn more Origin Points," Ryder muttered as he bought the gun.

    It was a machine gun that had a specialty of auto-reload. The Reload did take 5 seconds, though, but he didn¡¯t need to do anything.

    "Alright. I only need to capture the boss for my questions. It doesn¡¯t matter if others die in the process. The boss is what matters," Ryder let out as he aimed the gun towards the wall, trying to practice the cool pose.

    It was the afternoon of the next day¡ªthe day when the meeting was supposed to take ce. The meeting was in the evening; thus, Ryder waited. He wanted to be thest person to get there since he didn¡¯t want anyone to escape.

    "Something¡¯s happening. People are going behind the Flyover. So far, I have seen 25 people going there. That¡¯s it; we¡¯ve hit the Bullseye. It¡¯s a meeting!" Jacob let out with a bright grin on his face as he saw many people assembling near the flyover and going behind it.

    Ray brought out his phone to inform the Captain.

    The captain also seemed excited at the news. He told Ray what to do next.

    "Wait here. Let them all arrive. After that, we will surround that ce. Also, I¡¯m going undercover¡ªCaptain¡¯s orders. I¡¯ll send you a signal after the meeting begins. You can surround the ce then," Ray told his team before he changed his dress to the one that was given him by the captain.

    He also wore a peculiar mask to hide his face.

    "What are you doing?" Jacob asked Ray.

    "As I said, I am going undercover. These are the clothes that we recovered from Number 23. I¡¯m going to pretend to be him to enter the ce. I¡¯ll send you a signal after everyone is there. You guys can inform the captain about that and surround the ce. We can¡¯t let anyone escape this time," Ray answered as he nced back at Jacob.

    "This is going to be dangerous. Are you sure? There should be better ways to go around this," Mna told Ray in concern.

    "This is the most effective way. I already discussed this with the captain. After I leave, Riya will be the lead on this mission. Be careful, guys. We can¡¯t afford any mistakes. The Bureau is already under a lot of scrutinies for not being able to solve this case. This is the opportunity to change all that," Ray said as he clenched his fist.

    He wore ck gloves before he left the room.

    He walked out of the building and walked over to the gathering of people.

    "So that¡¯s where they were going," Ray muttered as he walked behind the Flyover. There was now an opening on the ground. Two men were standing around it. They were checking people before they went underground.

    "Name?" The man asked Ray as he reached the entrance.

    "Number 23," Ray answered in a heavy tone as he showed him a coin.

    He was allowed inside.

    As Ray entered the underground, he got a full view of the situation.

    The underground was like a big hall where tons of people were standing. Some were wearing masks while some were not hiding their faces in the least.

    He recognized one of the men standing in the front. He was wearing a gray robe.

    Ray had seen the sketch of this man, which was shown to him by the captain. He was said to be one of the high members of this organization.

    People kept arriving in that ce. The meeting hasn¡¯t started yet.

    It was 7 in the evening when Ryder arrived at this ce. He was also wearing a mask.

    He saw people wearing the mask going to the entrance.

    Thest person entered the underground hallway when he reached there. The entrance was also closed.

    Ray was standing inside the underground hallway. They had announced the start of the meeting, which meant that everyone was there.

    Ray pressed a button inside his clothes to notify his team.

    Ray¡¯s team was still inside the room when they got the notification.

    They instantly informed the captain and asked for backup.

    The captain informed them that the cops and the special ops team were on standby. They will be there in two minutes.

    "Let¡¯s roll out guys. Time to capture some bad guys," Jacob let out as he put the binocrs down. He was already wearing the bulletproof jacket, which had the FBI written on it in bold letters.

    They moved out of the room and walked outside.

    The guard asked Ryder for his name as Ryder reached there.

    "Number 23," Ryder replied in a heavy tone.

    The guard couldn¡¯t help but frown. He had seen another number 23 enter who even showed him the proof of identification. He was suspicious of Ryder.

    "Can you show me the coin?" he asked as he pointed his gun towards Ryder.

    "Sigh, I knew it wouldn¡¯t be this simple," Ryder let out with a wry smile as a gun appeared in his empty hand out of thin air.

    Two shots were fired at the same time. One of them hit Ryder in the heart while the other shot hit the guard in the forehead.

    The guard fell down to the ground with his eyes wide open.

    Both of their guns had a silencer which controlled the noise of the shot that was fired.

    Ryder, on the other hand, was holding his chest. He was sitting on his knees as he coughed out a mouthful of blood. His wound soon healed before he stood up.

    "This would be so good if this ability also decreased my pain perception," Ryder muttered as he looked at his blood-covered clothes.

    "Anyway, it looks like there is some more pain in my destiny tonight," he let out as he opened the underground entrance.

    Ryder entered inside the underground hallway.

 Chapter 169 Surrounded

    <h4>Chapter 169: Surrounded</h4>

    Ryder entered the underground hallway and closed the opening.

    Ryder has covered his body with arge oversized coat hiding his bloodied clothes.

    He stood behind the crowd ncing at people, trying to get an understanding of the situation to see who the leader was.

    The leader of this small gathering was named Ok. He was one of the core members of the organization, ording to the FBI information that Ray was given.

    Ok was a thin and weak-looking man who had no hair over his head, but his beard was long and white.

    He looked like he was in his 70s from his skin. He wasn¡¯t hiding his face, which made everyone see it clearly.

    "I smell blood," Ok let out as he nced at the people present in the room.

    Ryder didn¡¯t stay behind, though. He subtly continued walking forth since he had realized that Ok was probably the one in charge here since he was standing at the front, and everyone was looking at him.

    Ryder was amidst the crowd moving forward when Ok spoke another sentence, which alerted everyone.

    "There is an uninvited guest with us here today. Please step outside so that we can talk," Ok let out as he realized that there was one extra person here than the ones that should be here. He didn¡¯t know that amongst the infiltrators, one was from the FBI while the other was Ryder, whom he had invited.

    Something massive was happening outside, as well.

    Over ten armored vehicles arrived near the flyover, and over 50 cop cars arrived in the cop cars. The cops were prepared with bulletproof vests and guns while the Special Ops guys looked even more prepared with their heavy weapons. The leader of the cops and the leader of the special ops team shook hands with Riya and asked her for an update about the situation.

    After getting updates, theymanded their men to follow after them as they moved toward the back of the flyover with their guns aimed at the front, ready to fire.

    As Riya and the others reached behind the Flyover, the first thing they saw was a dead body.

    Riya couldn¡¯t help but frown as she saw the body.

    "Cheh, these criminals can¡¯t even assemble peacefully. They shot one of their own," The Police Captain let out as he shook his head.

    Theymanded their men to surround the entrance. Their initial n was to tell the people that were inside to surrender as Ray had already conveyed the information that this was the only way to get out.

    "Since you havee to our meeting, there¡¯s no need to be shy anymore. Come out and let¡¯s have a chat," Ok said as he nced at the masked members.

    "Everyone, our guest, is a little shy. Can I ask the masked members to take their mask off?" Ok said with a subtle smile on his face.

    ¡¯Well, I guess that was all for sneaking in,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He was about to step out when something strange happened.

    One of the masked people inside the hall pulled out a gun and pointed it towards Ok.

    "This is it for your dark syndicate. No one will move, or I¡¯ll blow his head off," Ray dered as he aimed his gun at Ok.

    "So you are our guest. Don¡¯t worry. No one will move. Why don¡¯t youe forth and tell me who you are?" Ok didn¡¯t look scared. He looked more casual as if he wasn¡¯t worried

    Ray was about to move forward when Riya opened the entrance and made the announcement.

    "The FBI has surrounded this ce. Step outside with your hands above your head, or we would be forced to enter. You have 1 minute to step outside!" Riya dered using a loudspeaker.

    The cops and the special ops agents were ready to enter at a moment¡¯s notice.

    "Now, you know who I am? There are hundreds of agents outside. If you don¡¯t follow mymands and surrender, you would be killed. There is no escape," Ray dered.

    Ryder, on the other hand, had a wry smile on his face. He wanted to take Ok with him to get his answers, but the news that he was surrounded by the FBI shocked him. Leaving this ce was not difficult for him, but leaving this ce while keeping Ok alive was more difficult.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t think the FBI can arrest me with the strength that they have," Ok shook his head as his smile disappeared.

    The ground below, Ray started shaking, which made him lose his bnce, but he still stayed standing. One of the men present there utilized this opportunity as he jumped towards Ray in front of the gun.

    Ray fired a shot that prated the forehead of the men that had jumped towards him, but more people jumped over him. It seemed as if they didn¡¯t care for whatever happened to them.

    The strangest thing was that the person that was shot in the forehead was still standing. It was as if he wasn¡¯t hurt.

    The man was previously wearing a cloak and a mask which hid his face, but now the mask had fallen. Ryder saw the face of the men, which looked as pale as the dead body. There was no shine in his eyes. In fact, it didn¡¯t seem like he was even breathing.

    Ray was captured, and his gun was taken.

    "Guys, Please get ready for battle. It¡¯s time to fight for the dark glory," Okmanded the members that were in the hallway.

    The people there brought out their guns asmanded. Only now did Ryder saw how heavily armed people were. Each of them was holding two guns.

    ¡¯That man... was he an undead?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he nced at the pale man whose head was prated. There was a big hole in his head, but no blood wasing out of it.

    There were 20 people in the hall that were wearing the same grey mask. Ryder wondered if all of them were like this person.

    ¡¯This world is turning out to be too creepy,¡¯ he thought as he looked towards Ok.

    The FBI raid and now the Undeads? Ryder¡¯s whole n was turned upside down today.

    Ryder continued walking towards Ok slowly.

    "Are you the person I talked to on the phone?" Ok asked as he saw Rydering towards him.

    "I must say, I was genuinely fooled. If I hadn¡¯t found out that number 23 was caught, I would never have realized that I gave someone else the information." He added.

 Chapter 170 Trapped

    <h4>Chapter 170: Trapped</h4>

    "I¡¯m not from the FBI, and I¡¯m not here to harm you. I just wanted to ask a few questions and leave. It would be good if youe with me," Ryder told Ok as he gave up on hiding.

    He had already failed many times, and he realized that today was not a good day for him even to try this infiltration game. He was not good at it, or the destiny didn¡¯t want him to seed. He was now going to use brute force.

    "Fine. I will answer your question, but only after you help me take care of the FBI," Ok told Ryder.

    "If you knew that your member was caught by the FBI, why did you still have a meeting here? Since you confidently came here, I don¡¯t believe that you didn¡¯t n something," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    "Clever. I did n something. For them, and for you," Ok gave a burst of creepyughter before he raised his hand.

    Five people aimed their weapon towards Ryder.

    Out on thend, Riya had finished counting to 60, but no one had stepped out.

    "We¡¯ll have to do it the hard way. Be careful, though. One of our agents is inside. Don¡¯t shoot the person who is wearing ck shoes with redces," Jacob reminded the others.

    They were about to barge inside while shooting when things started changing.

    A bullet came out of nowhere and prated the head of one of the special ops agents.

    Another bullet came, taking another life.

    "Take cover. There are snipers here. This was a trap!" The Special Ops captain let out as he hid behind a wall.

    The other agents also took cover.

    "We underestimated them. It was not a trap by us for them. It was a trap from them for us. Those bastards!" Jacob cursed.

    "Let¡¯s barge inside and kill those bastards! Let¡¯s see how their sniper will shoot us underground," A cop suggested.

    "We can¡¯t make decisions in a hurry. We were nning to get in by throwing tear gas inside and then barging inside while shooting, but even if we did that, it would not benefit us anymore with the snipers. We need more back-up," Riya let out as she called the captain to inform him of the situation.

    She suddenly heard the sound of a bullet being fired. She looked to her side and saw that it was a special ops guy who had shot a man that wasing towards them with a weapon. The man didn¡¯t fall down to the ground, though.

    The cops also started shooting at the man, but it didn¡¯t seem like there was any effect. It was kind the man was a zombie or an undead

    The undead man raised the machine gun to fire, but that¡¯s when a grenadended below his feet and blew him to smithereens.

    It was another special ops agent that had thrown the grenade.

    "Just what the heck was that thing?!" he eximed.

    Riya and the others were also having difficulty understanding what was happening.

    She was on the phone with the captain. She had described what was happening.

    The captain told them that he was sending helicopters for them and more back-up agents to go through the buildings to find the snipers.

    The cops and the special ops captain had also informed their higher-ups.

    The situation grew even more severe as over 29 people, just like the previous undead guy, came shooting towards them. Most of the bullets were stopped by the bulletproof vests, while some managed to hit the exposed areas and killed them.

    "There¡¯s no benefit in pointing a gun at me," Ryder let out as he raised his hand.

    A machine gun appeared in his hand out of nowhere. He started firing recklessly, killing almost anyone and everyone that came into his sight.

    He missed Ok intentionally, though.

    Blood kept flowing like rivers as people kept dying. Ray was lying on the ground, and he was safe.

    He saw a person shooting the others. He realized that this person was probably not one of them from his exchange with Ok, but he was curious about who he was then and why he was in the enemy¡¯s den.

    Ryder killed almost everyone in the room, even the ones that were standing near the entrance to fire at the ones that tried to enter, but he was also shot many times.

    Around 20 bullets had managed to prate his chest while another five passed through his forehead. His hand and his legs were also in a simrly bad condition.

    He fell down to the ground as blood kept flowing out of his body.

    "Sigh, you killed all my pawns," Ok muttered as he looked at the dead people in the room.

    Only the ones that had a grey mask were still standing despite being shot multiple times.

    There were 20 people in grey masks standing at the moment, excluding the undead whose mask had fallen off when he took down Ray. Other than them, only Ray and Ok were alive.

    "We can probably use your body, I guess. Since you took so many men from us, let me use you to the fullest," Ok chuckled as he licked his lips while looking at Ryder.

    The situation outside was much worse. Tens of bodies were lying on the ground. Most of them belonged to the cops, while some of them belonged to the special ops agents.

    The Three FBI agents were still alive, though.

    They had realized that these grey masked people were difficult to kill. They would just not die no matter what they did unless their bodies were blown to smithereens using grenades.

    "If this keeps going on, we would die!" The Special Ops leader Francis said as he saw his men die.

    *grr grr grr*

    They heard a loud sound suddenly.

    They looked towards the sky and saw tens of military helicopters flying towards them.

    The helicopters soonnded before them.

    Everyone entered the helicopters.

    While four helicopters flew above the entrance of the underground hallway to keep an eye on the ones that came out, the other two focused on killing the grey masked men.

    The other helicopters flew in the surroundings to keep an eye to find the snipers.

    "They brought helicopters as well. I guess it was expected. I want to see the fireworks," Ok muttered as he picked up Ryder in his arms.

    One of the grey masked men pointed a gun on Ray¡¯s head. Ok told him to follow hismands, or his brain will be blown up by Ok¡¯s men.

    Ok and his 21 men walked towards the exit.

 Chapter 171 Mission to kill

    <h4>Chapter 171: Mission to kill</h4>

    The first one to walk outside was Ray with a grey masked man pointing his gun at him.

    "Don¡¯t shoot. That¡¯s our agent!" Jacob announced, making sure that everyone got the information.

    More men walked outside, andstly, Ok came out.

    He looked towards a helicopter that was farthest from him with a grin on his face.

    A rocket was fired out of a nearby building that managed to strike a helicopter. The helicopter was destroyed and crashed on the ground.

    "Kekeke, There it is," Ok chuckled.

    "This... we were wrong. These are not an organ trafficking syndicate. They are full-blown terrorists. This case should¡¯ve been given to ATS," Mna muttered nkly.

    "The missiles, these special humans who looked like bio-enhanced humans that just don¡¯t die, snipers, the courage to attack the FBI and special ops. They are not normal criminals," Riya replied.

    Riya took a loudspeaker and made a bold deration.

    "Surrender while you still can! Soon, this ce will be surrounded by tens of thousands of our men! Release our guy, and we can still take you in without violence! If you don¡¯t stop, you will die along with your men! You can¡¯t oppose the authorities!"

    Ok looked towards that helicopter.

    "Are you talking about this young man? Sorry, but I am not giving him back. And don¡¯t worry about our lives... We will live while you will all die," Ok said as he smiled.

    Another rocket was fired from an unknown direction that hit another helicopter.

    "They are here..." Ok muttered as he looked to his south. There were tens of military helicoptersing towards them from that direction.

    "The backup is here, and more is on the way. Our people are searching the nearby buildings to find the snipers and his other men. We will get those bastards," Jacob told Riya as he nced at the helicoptersing towards them.

    "Shoot us if you dare. Let¡¯s see how much the FBI wants to arrest us," Ok said as he smiled.

    He started walking away with his men surrounding him.

    Ray was also forced to walk with them at gunpoint.

    Ryder had started to heal. His wounds were healed, but his clothes were still bloodied, hiding the fact that his wounds had healed.

    Ryder was wondering if he should wait and watch or do something about it right now. It would be good if Ok escaped with him. Then, he would be able to force Ok down without worrying about the FBI.

    He was still wondering when he heard Janus¡¯s voice.

    [New Mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Kill all the snipers and the hidden terrorists in next 20 minutes and save the FBI agent standing near you]

    [Host has been given the ability to track the snipers and assassins for the next 30 minutes to help with the mission]

    [Host has been given perfect aim]

    [Host has been given a sniper gun to help with the mission]

    [Rewards forpleting the mission: Host will get Exp worth +5 Levels in Real World]

    [Reward: Instant teleportation talisman to bring you and one more person to thest ce you slept in]

    [Punishment for Failure: Host will be the most wanted criminal in the country on the FBI list]

    ¡¯Sigh, I guess Janus made the decision for me. I can¡¯t waste the opportunity I am given with the free gun,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He finally moved his body as he jumped out of Ok¡¯s hands and kicked his chest, making him fall back on the ground with a stunned look on his face.

    He brought the machine gun out of his storage space and started shooting the grey-robed men like crazy, but he could see that it only stunned them for a few seconds before they started moving, which is why he specially targeted the guns in their hands with his machine gun.

    His bullets kept destroying the guns one after another.

    He destroyed the guns of all grey masked men except the one who was aiming his gun at Ray.

    That grey masked man changed the direction of his gun from Ray to Ryder to shoot him, but that was the opportunity Ryder was waiting for.

    He brought out a single handed gun and fired a shot.

    His bullet managed to hit the dead center of the Grey masked man¡¯s gun, destroying it.

    Ryder¡¯s action had stunned everyone from the cops to the FBI. They had assumed that Ryder was with Ok, who was injured, and that¡¯s why Ok was carrying him, but now they were wondering if their assumption was wrong.

    Ray, on the other hand, was stunned about a different thing. He had already known that Ryder was not with Ok, but what shocked him was that he had personally seen Ryder being prated by hundreds of bullets. He couldn¡¯t believe that Ryder was still alive.

    Was this because he was like those grey masked men? Was he a bio experiment gone wrong? Was that why he hated Ok and his organization and wanted to destroy them? He had so many questions in his mind. This whole mission had turned to a mess.

    The FBI, Special Ops, and the Cops had stopped firing. They were all watching Ryder trying to understand what he was doing.

    Ryder was about to turn back to look towards the buildings when he was shot in the head by a bullet that was fired by a sniper.

    He dropped down to his knees and fell down to the ground.

    Ok had stood up by now, but he couldn¡¯t help but look at Ryder with great interest. He could see that Ryder was differentpared to his grey-robed men, but he couldn¡¯t understand how he was alive after being shot by so many bullets.

    Ryder¡¯s head was once again healed, but he didn¡¯t stand up. He ced the machine gun and the guns back in the storage space and brought out the Sniper Gun.

    With a wide grin on his face, he stood up.

    He looked in the direction when the bullet entered his head.

    He could see a green mask that highlighted the Sniper.

    Ryder aimed the gun towards the Sniper. His perfect aim helped him with the aiming. In a millisecond, the focus of his point was on the forehead of the Sniper.

    The Sniper was looking like he had seen a ghost as he saw Ryder standing after being shot. He still aimed again to shoot Ryder, but Ryder shot first.

    The bullet prated the Sniper¡¯s head before he could even fire his shot.

    Ok was looking at Ryder like he had seen a ghost.

 Chapter 172 I have won

    <h4>Chapter 172: I have won</h4>

    Ok couldn¡¯t see what Ryder was seeing, but he was sure that one of his Snipers was in the direction Ryder fired in.

    Ok couldn¡¯t believe that Ryder was able to find his snipers

    Riya and the others also looked at everything with wide eyes.

    Ryder didn¡¯t stop and kept shooting the snipers and the other terrorists that had the RPG Launcher.

    In less than 2 minutes, Ryder had killed over 20 snipers.

    "What the hell are you looking at! Capture him!" Ok ordered his Masked Men, furiously.

    Ryder had managed to finish off all the assassins, and the other criminals that were standing at a distance, and half of his mission was alreadypleted. Now the only thing that wasst was to save Ray, which could only be done after all the threats were removed from this ce so that Ray could freely go to his people.

    The only threats that still remain here that were stopping that from happening were the grey-robed men.

    Ryder already had a n in his mind to deal with them, though.

    He moved towards Ok, dodging the attacks of the Grey Robed Men.

    He caught Oa by his neck and pulled him towards the entrance of the underground hall.

    Ryder threw Ok down the stairs into the underground Hall.

    The Grey robed men ran towards Ryder to attack him.

    One of the Grey Robed Men kicked towards Ryder¡¯s chest, but Ryder moved his feet to block the feet of the man. He had already realized that his physical strength was more than these men. The only specialty that they had was that they didn¡¯t die after being shot, but ording to strength, he didn¡¯t find them special. He caught the clothes of the man and threw him down the stairs into the underground hall.

    One by one, the Grey Robed Men kept attacking Ryder trying to take him down, but Ryder kept dealing with them the same way¡ª by throwing them down the stairs into the underground hall.

    After everyone was thrown down, Ryder nced back towards Ray. Ryder¡¯s face was still covered by his mask.

    "You are free now. Go back to your team; you are safe. Also, move as far away from this ce as you can. Sit on the helicopter and go in the air away from this ce. You might not want to be here with what¡¯s about to happen," he said in a heavy tone before he stepped down the stairs and closed the opening.

    The Helicopter that had Riya and the other agents in themnded on the Ground near Ray.

    "Are you safe?" Riya asked Ray.

    Ray nodded his head.

    "Everybody! Get in the helicopter now!" Raymanded everyone.

    Even though everyone was confused, they entered the helicopter.

    Ray told the pilot to create some distance from this ce and move a little back.

    Ryder was in the underground hallway.

    "Who are you? How did you not die after being shot?" Ok asked Ryder as he red at him.

    "I want to ask you a simr question, but we will have time for our nice chatter," Ryder said with a subtle smile on his face.

    "Do you think you can deal with my men? You can¡¯t harm them. We will be in a stalemate, and we will all be captured. Don¡¯t think that the FBI will let you roam free because you helped them. Listen to me! We can still change that and escape!" Ok let out as he tried to convince Ryder to help him.

    "Don¡¯t worry. We won¡¯t be in a stalemate. I have already won," Ryder muttered as he heard the voice of Janus iming that he had finished his mission.

    Ryder brought out something from his inventory and ced that on the ground before he started walking towards Ok.

    It was a bag. The same bag that had the time bomb which he had taken from the amusement park when he saved the others and prevented the st from happening.

    He slowly walked towards Ok as he perfectly knew how much time there was before the st urred.

    He kept beating the grey-robed men that jumped towards him to attack him and remove them from his way. Soon, he was standing near Ok.

    He ced his hand on Ok¡¯s neck and brought out a talisman from his storage that he had received as the reward of this mission.

    The talisman activated, and Ryder and Ok disappeared from that ce.

    A minute had passed after they left. The Grey robed men were standing nkly, looking everywhere.

    Suddenly, a loud st happened that blew them all to smithereens before it moved to the outside.

    Ray and the others were still in the helicopter, wondering what was about to happen when they heard a loud st.

    The ground burst apart, and the abandoned Flyover that was just above that ce was destroyed. The whole event was a terrific sight to watch.

    Soon, the wholend was covered in rubble.

    Fortunately, it was an abandoned flyover and an empty ce, which was even more empty after what had happened before; otherwise, many lives would have been lost.

    The impact of the st was so powerful that even though the helicopters were flying further away from that ce, they were still forced back and almost lost bnce because of the mighty wind st that urred simultaneously.

    After a lot of effort, the pilots managed to control the helicopters.

    Ray was looking at the location of the st nkly.

    "D-did he sacrifice himself to kill those bastards?"

    Ray was feeling sad. Not because he wasn¡¯t able to catch Ok, but because the person that saved his life was dead. Ray couldn¡¯t even see the face of his savior or say thanks to him for saving his life.

    "Is it over? Are they all dead? We lost so many of our people only to fail in the end," Mna sighed as she saw the cloud of dust clear up. They were able to see the ruins of the site once again.

    "That¡¯s because we underestimated the organization. They were not a group of thieves, but a group of terrorists who performed human experiments. Didn¡¯t you see how we couldn¡¯t kill those people no matter how many times we shot them? This mission was a failure before it even started," Riya replied as she shook her head.

    "Take the helicopter back on the ground," Raymanded the pilot.

    "Lock the area down. No one should be allowed to leave this area. There might be some criminals still hiding in nearby buildings," Raymanded the men.

 Chapter 173 The Uprising

    <h4>Chapter 173: The Uprising</h4>

    Ray was a leader now. It was like this whole event had given him a wake-up call.

    His team¡¯s life and the mission was his responsibility more than it was of his team. He was also influenced by his fleeting emotions because of his savior¡¯s death.

    "Riya, give me my phone," He told Riya. He had left his phone back before he had gone undercover.

    Riya returned the phone.

    Ray first called the captain to give him the update about the events that unfolded here, and he also told him to send more people so that they could search for the bodies of the ones that died in the st if their bodies were still intact.

    Some distance away from the location of the st was a small hotel where Ryder¡¯s room was booked.

    He appeared in the room with Ok because of the effects of the talisman.

    "Sigh, it¡¯s not home, but it¡¯s the next best thing," Ryder muttered as he nced around the room.

    "See, I told you that I already won. You want to see something?" Ryder chuckled as he pointed towards the window.

    Ok looked out and saw a big cloud of smoke in the sky at a distance.

    He looked at Ryder in confusion, not understanding what he was trying to show him.

    "That¡¯s from the st that happened in the underground hall. Your men are probably blown to smithereens now. It¡¯s over for you," Ryder met out as he looked at Ok.

    "You are not a normal human. Who are you?" Ok asked in a grave tone.

    "I¡¯m a god that controls your life and death. I can give you life if you answer my questions honestly, or I can give you a painful death if you lie to me," Ryder said with a subtle smile on his face.

    Ryder brought a handcuff out of his pocket and ced them on the man¡¯s hand.

    "Sit on the bed. If you screamed even once or if you tried to do anything funny, then you will see a second st up close and personal. This time, I won¡¯t take you with me, though," Ryder warned the old man.

    He brought his phone out of his storage and unlocked it.

    He went to the gallery and opened the picture of his parents.

    "What do you know about these two people?" Ryder asked the old man as he showed him the image.

    "I don¡¯t know anything about them. I haven¡¯t even seen them before. Are you looking for them?" the old man asked.

    "So you don¡¯t know them, but that doesn¡¯t mean that your boss won¡¯t. Tell me more about your organization. Who controls it? When did your organization be active for the first time?" Ryder asked the man.

    "I am not going to answer your question. I am more scared of Master than I am of you," Ok dered as he refused to talk.

    "I knew that you wouldn¡¯t cooperate, which is why I prepared something. Unfortunately, your body will be paralyzed forever if I use my method. I¡¯m giving you another chance to save yourself. If you are paralyzed, it would be almost equal to death. Think carefully and answer me," Ryder warned Ok.

    The man shook his head, refusing to give up even though he looked somewhat concerned.

    Ryder sighed as he shook his head. He waved his hand as he brought an item outside.

    It was a syringe that looked like the ones doctors used. Ryder stepped forth and forced the man down before he stabbed the needle in the man¡¯s chest and inserted the liquid in the body of the man.

    Ryder moved back after doing what he needed. Ok¡¯s body started trembling as if he was suffering through a seizure.

    After three minutes, the old man turned silent. His body stopped moving. His eyes were nk, but they were open. It was as if he was intoxicated and couldn¡¯t think for himself or move his body.

    "Answer my question. What is your name?" Ryder asked the man.

    "My name is Ok," the man replied nkly.

    "What is the organization you work for called?" Ryder asked Ok.

    "It¡¯s called The Uprising," Ok answered.

    "How long has it been since your organization became active?" Ryder inquired.

    "I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t have memories from more than ten years ago. Thest thing I remember was waking up ten years ago and meeting Captain Darksoul. The organization was active at that time," Ok exined.

    ¡¯If it was activated ten years ago, then it was active at the time of the ident as well,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked down. The death of his parents happened in thest ten years.

    "Who is this, Captain Darksoul? Is he the leader of your organization?" Ryder asked Ok.

    "No, he¡¯s not our master. Captain Darksoul is one of the Seven Great Generals of Master," Ok answered.

    "Are the Seven Great Generals, the second inmands in the Organisation?" Ryder asked.

    ¡¯Yes," Ok answered Ryder¡¯s questions nkly.

    "Where is the headquarters of your organization?" Ryder inquired.

    "It¡¯s in..." Ok was about to speak when a small st happened in his brain, killing him in an instant.

    "No, no, no.... it can¡¯t be happening!" Ryder eximed as he ran towards Ok, but it was toote. Ok was dead. There was a hole in his head.

    Ryder used his time Rewind to go 1 minute back in time to prevent the man from dying.

    Instead of asking the same question, he asked about the secret of the thing in his head so that he could find a clue of preventing him from dying while still asking the question, but it was still the same. It ended with a hole in his head as the chip activated as soon as the man thought about talking about the chip.

    "Those bastards! They did something to him to prevent him from leaking any significant information! I will kill you, bastards!" Ryder roared in anger.

    He was upset at having to lose his only lead that he worked so hard to get. He was so close to the answers about the organization. He believed that as long as he found the core of the organization, he would be able to get answers, but now it was all over.

    He was furious when he heard a knock on the door.

    "Sir, are you alright?" the person outside asked.

    "I am fine," Ryder let out as he started taking off his bloodied clothes. He ced the bloodied clothes back in his storage

    "Sir, can you open the door?" the person outside asked. It was the hotel staff who was concerned after hearing Ryder¡¯s scream.

    He also ced the bedsheets and the body of the men in his storage and made sure that there was no blood anywhere.

    "Don¡¯t disturb me! I¡¯m going for a shower."

    Ryder told them not to disturb him before he walked into the shower. His body was still covered in blood. He wanted to shower and clean himself.

    The hotel staff was even more concerned as the door wasn¡¯t opened.

    They walked back to inform the Manager about it.

 Chapter 174 Terrorists

    <h4>Chapter 174: Terrorists</h4>

    Ryder spent his time inside the shower, properly cleaning his body and trying to calm his mind.

    The cold water fell over his body, giving him a refreshing feeling. Even though his anger was still at its peak, he was calmer now.

    He stepped out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

    There was once again a knock on the door.

    "Sir, Open the door. I am the manager of this ce. Please let me make sure that you are safe and that everything¡¯s fine."

    The manager was standing outside, knocking on the door. Even though he had a master key, he hadn¡¯t used that.

    Ryder walked towards the door in his towel, without taking time to wear more clothes.

    He opened the door and instantly started scolding them.

    "What the fuck is wrong with you guys! Can¡¯t you let a guest bathe in peace? Is this the service of this hotel! Do I need to give a written letter to you guys so that you let me shower in peace? This is the worst!"

    "S-sorry Sir. One of our staff said that he heard a scream. We thought that you might be in danger. We were just trying to make sure that you are safe. We would leave now. Sorry for the disturbance,¡¯ the Manager apologized to Ryder before he left with the other staff.

    Ryder shook his head before he walked back to his room.

    "Sigh, this whole thing was a big mess. I got nothing and lost so many things. If I look at the silver lining, it¡¯s only that I managed to take off some bastard like them off the street," Ryder muttered as he sat on the bed.

    It was a good thing that had the ticket booked for the afternoon of the next day. He realized that since he got to this city, his sim wasn¡¯t working. There was still a long time in flight, though. He stood up and picked up a different bed sheet that was kept in the wardrobe and ced that on the bed before heid on it, lost in thought.

    While Ryder wasfortably lying on his bed, the whole city of Washington was chaotic. The news about what happened spread to everyone. The media had reached the site of the st. The Search work of the authorities was still going on.

    Almost every news channel was showing the same news as this was a big thing. There had been many years since there was a st like that. The number of agents and the attack helicopters standing there was proving how dangerous the situation was. Everyone knew that the situation was probably worse than they were able to imagine.

    The Captain of the FBI had told Ray over the phone to handle the situation and to give an excuse to the media to silence them. They had decided not to tell them that it was rted to the missing body case.

    Alice was having a sleepover with Estonia. They were together watching the news at the moment.

    "Didn¡¯t your brother go to Washington? You should call him to make sure that he wasn¡¯t nearby," Estonia told Alice, but Alice had done that already.

    Alice called Ryder to ask him if he was alright or not, but her call wasn¡¯t getting connected.

    It was as if Ryder was in a ce that was not getting signals.

    Ray was giving information to the media about what had happened. There were a lot of mikes ced before him.

    "Let me start by introducing myself. I am from the FBI and the incharge of the operation that just took ce here. I¡¯ll start with the good news first. There were no innocent citizens that were harmed here. Now that we cleared that, let me exin what happened in brief."

    "We got some information that terrorists were hiding there. It was an operation to catch the terrorists; unfortunately, we weren¡¯t able to catch them alive. All the terrorists are dead, and we didn¡¯t manage to catch them alive," Ray exined.

    "Sir, What are the chances of more terrorists hiding throughout the city? Do you have more information regarding that, and can you share that with us?" A reporter asked.

    "You guys can rest assured. We are here to protect you in any situation, just like we did today. No terrorist will be able to harm this country, thank you," Ray let out before he finished the briefing. He deflected the question subtly while answering in his own way.

    He didn¡¯t take any more questions and walked back.

    "Ray, they managed to clear the ce. We discovered no bodies intact, but we did find lots of pieces of bodies. The st did a number of them," Jacob told Ray as he saw himing towards him.

    Ray couldn¡¯t help but sigh. This meant that one of the pieces belonged to his savior, who couldn¡¯t even receive a proper burial now.

    "Collect them all. We would need them for the forensics," Ray replied as he nodded his head.

    He walked towards Riya, who was talking with the Special Ops captain and the police chief who had arrived there.

    "Did you find anyone?" Ray asked them.

    "No. We searched every ce that had a direct view of this flyover, but there¡¯s no suspicious person there. We did find the dead bodies of the snipers, though, which is strange. You remember the masked man who fired shots randomly with his Sniper Gun? Apparently, he managed to hit every sniper in the dead center of their forehead and no shot was a miss,"

    "The number of shots that he fired, that¡¯s exactly the number of bodies that we found," Riya exined as he looked towards the area of carnage trying to remember the figure of the masked person shooting with his Sniper gun like it was a toy.

    "Such a scary aim. That man would be a national treasure if he were in the army," The Special Ops Captainmented. He remembered how easy that man had made it look when he was watching from his helicopter.

    "Well, he saved all of us... including me. I wish I could thank that man personally. His sacrifice saved so many lives and killed the enemies of the country," Ray muttered.

    "Aren¡¯t you exaggerating? The enemies would be caught anyway even if he wasn¡¯t here. The whole police force of this state was about to surround them. We would¡¯ve taken them down even without his help," The Police Chiefmented.

    Ray nced at the Chief and didn¡¯t respond. Only he knew that the enemy had probably nned for everything.

 Chapter 175 Recognized

    <h4>Chapter 175: Recognized</h4>

    He saw how Ok didn¡¯t look even the little bit worried after more back-up arrived. The bio warriors, on the other hand, were impossible to kill without sting their bodies to smithereens. He could only imagine how much destruction it would have caused if Ryder wasn¡¯t here.

    That night, an important meeting took ce between all the captains of the FBI and the higher-ups regarding the information that they had received, which was even more shocking when they mixed the facts that there were people there who couldn¡¯t die even after being shot multiple times.

    All of them doubted that the people were the results of bio experiments most probably. The threat level of this mysterious organization was elevated to the national level threat from now on.

    The night passed away in the silence, unlike the loud beginning that it had faced.

    It was morning as Ryder left the room and checked out of the hotel. He went to the nearby restaurant to get something to eat.

    As he ate in the restaurant, he booked a cab. By the time he finished the breakfast, the cab was waiting outside for him.

    Ryder paid his bill before he left the restaurant.

    He walked to the cab and told the driver to take him to the airport.

    The driver dropped Ryder off at the airport.

    There was still some time in the flight, so Ryder waited in the premium lounge.

    There was a ck SUV that was alsoing towards the Airport.

    It was carrying Ray and his teammates who were told to go to a different location. Everything Important was already dealt with, and the non Important stuff didn¡¯t need for him to be there.

    They got out of the car and picked their luggage before they entered the airport.

    Ryder looked at his wristwatch and noticed that it was finally the time of his flight.

    He stood up and left the lounge before he started walking towards his destination.

    Ryder walked through the airport, toward the terminal.

    He entered the ne and found his way to the business ss section of the ne and walked to his seat.

    He had booked the return flight from a different airline as it suited his timeline more. The interior of this ne was different as the business ss had sets of two seats, unlike the single-seat arrangement of the previous airline, and this time, a person was already sitting on the neighboring seat that was attached to Ryder¡¯s seat.

    Ryder recognized that person which stunned him. He tried his best to control his emotions, though not to seem strange.

    The person that was sitting beside him was Ray from the FBI. The same person that had saved him. Ryder sat on his seat and didn¡¯t look towards Ray.

    He closed his eyes and started resting.

    ¡¯Just my luck to sit in a ne filled with the FBI. At Least they don¡¯t recognize me. Wearing the mask was definitely a good idea,¡¯ Ryder thought while keeping his eyes closed.

    Even though Ryder didn¡¯t look in the direction of Ray, Ray was looking towards him.

    He recognized Ryder as the person whom they had seen before. They had misunderstood him as the target while he was only there to go to the supermarket, ording to them.

    "It¡¯s strange that he came at the same time as us, appeared near our target location, and is leaving at the same time. That¡¯s some creepy coincidence," Mna whispered to Riya, who was sitting beside her as she looked towards Ryder.

    Riya was also looking at him.

    Ray, on the other hand, realized that Ryder seemed to be awfully simr to the man that saved him. He wondered if that was a coincidence as well.

    Ryder didn¡¯t look like he was injured in the least. It would be impossible for him to survive the st and escape if he was there, but the person that saved Ray had already done many things that he thought to be impossible.

    Ray was starting to doubt if there was a way that the person who saved him had escaped and was sitting beside him now.

    "Excuse me, can I ask you something?" Ray tapped on the shoulder of Ryder.

    Ryder didn¡¯t react and pretended to be sleeping, but Ray didn¡¯t stop. He wanted to hear Ryder¡¯s voice to see if there were any simrities between his voice and the person who saved him.

    Ryder opened his eyes and nced toward Ray with a confused look on his face.

    "Yes?" Ryder asked in the most casual voice.

    Ray found some simrities between Ryder¡¯s voice and the voice of the person that saved him. But there was a difference as well. Thest voice was heavy while this voice was light. He did realize that it was possible for Ryder to be using a heavy voice intentionally to protect himselfst time.

    Another thing that he noticed was that there was a slight burn mark on Ryder¡¯s hand, which seemed like something he had received many years ago. Even though Ray didn¡¯t look carefullyst time, he felt like he saw something like that in his savior¡¯s hand as well.

    Ryder knew that it was possible for them to doubt him. Still, there was no way for them to arrest him or me him as the whole world would consider them an idiot if they imed that a person had managed to survive that explosion and managed to escape, but he still tried not to give anything out.

    "Thank you for saving me," Ray let out, hoping to see even a flicker of change in Ryder¡¯s expressions.

    "Save you? Are you someone who benefitted from me donating money in the past? You don¡¯t need to thank me for that," Ryder smilingly replied.

    "For saving my life yesterday," Ray rified, still keeping his eyes on Ryder¡¯s face.

    "Ugh... are you mistaken? I don¡¯t understand how my sleeping all day in the hotel room can save your life. You don¡¯t seem drunk, but it¡¯s possible. Did you drink this morning?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    " You¡¯re right. Maybe I was mistaken. Sorry for disturbing you," Ray shook his head, not finding anything strange in Ryder¡¯s reaction.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t see any reason to doubt him. My experience ims that he doesn¡¯t know anything about it, but my senses are telling me not to believe him. He is clearly lying. My senses have rarely been wrong. Is he really the same person?That mark on his hand...¡¯ Ray wondered.

    Ryder didn¡¯t talk anymore and again closed his eyes as he started resting and ignoring Ray.

 Chapter 176 Hades is a cheater?

    <h4>Chapter 176: Hades is a cheater?</h4>

    The flight took off and soonnded on its destination.

    Ryder left the ne. He walked out of the airport and got a cab to drive him home.

    Ray and the others left the airport together and got in the car that was waiting outside for them.

    The SUV started driving them towards the hotel they were arranged to stay in.

    Ray brought out a phone and called someone.

    "I need you to find the details about the man that was sitting beside me on the ne. Get me everything about that man from his birth to the current day."

    Raymanded someone before he disconnected the call.

    "Are you also suspicious of that person?" Riya asked Ray as she heard his call.

    Ray didn¡¯t react to her and didn¡¯t say what he was actually thinking.

    The cab dropped Ryder off at his house. He paid for the trip and walked back to his home.

    The door was closed, but he had taken the spare key. He opened the door and entered the house.

    The house waspletely empty.

    He brought his phone out of his pocket and called Alice.

    "Hey, I¡¯m back home,"

    "Yeah, I¡¯m fine. Wait, why do you sound worried?"

    "Calm down; I was far away from the st location. Washington is pretty big, you know,"

    "No, As I said, I¡¯m perfectly fine. Should Ie to take you back, or is your friend going to drop you here?"

    "She will? Alright. I¡¯ll order some food in the meantime."

    Ryder disconnected the call and ordered some food before he walked back to his room and started resting on his bed.

    He was d to finally get some signals after getting back to the city, but he was still confused about why he wasn¡¯t getting signals when he was in Washington. This shouldn¡¯t be the case. He called theworkpany to register aint regarding it.

    The Customer Care guy apologized to Ryder for the inconvenience that he faced before he registered hisint. He also assured Ryder that they would inform Ryder when they find the problem.

    Ryder disconnected the call and walked to the hall and turned on the TV to see if the news about the Washington st was airing or if the government hid them. It was quite a Chaotic situation, after all.

    As he watched the tv, he couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    "So they didn¡¯t try to cover up the news, but they did decide to lie. Not a bad strategy. It¡¯s not a full-on lie either. Those people were the enemy of the country after all," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    While he was watching the news, he noticed a headline sh for a brief second before it was changed with another headline.

    The headline that Ryder noticed talked something about Hades and the Necrosis Corporation. He didn¡¯t have time to read much else.

    " What the heck is that about me? Did something happen?" Ryder muttered as he opened his phone and searched ¡¯Hades Divinity¡¯ on the inte.

    There were many articles about him on the, but the one on top was what attracted Ryder¡¯s attention as its headline was something that made Ryder furious.

    "Hades, the number one yer of Divinity or the biggest cheater?"

    He found the headline to be less of a question and more of an insult.

    He tapped on the headline to read the content of the article.

    "Those who y the World¡¯s first and massively popr Fully Immersive Virtual Reality Game, Divinity, must already know the name of Hades. The mysterious yer that was the first one to pass the Novice Vige, Hades, was already considered a top yer, but his recent achievements have created doubts in the mind of the users..."

    "... Hades jumped from level 47 to level 57 in a single day..."

    "... the other yers doubt that he is cheating and that Necrosis Corporation is letting him cheat because of his special identity..."

    "... some im that he¡¯s the son of a big politician while others im that he¡¯s the son of a Military General, There are also some ims that Hades is the son of one of the big shots of Necrosis Corporation..."

    "... The allegations of cheating are very serious this time. Allegedly, Necrosis Corporation has received Millions of email asking them to ban Hades from cheating..."

    "... We tried to get the response of the Necrosis Corporation, but so far, no one had replied to us. What do you guys think about the whole thing? Is this true that Hades is cheating? Or is this an unlikely misunderstanding? Tell us your opinions in thements."

    Ryder finished reading the article.

    "Those stupid, idiotic bastards. There¡¯s no cheating involved. Go keep crying," Ryder muttered as he shook his head at the stupidity.

    He knew that there was no way for Necrosis Corporation to ban him for such a stupid reason like an usation, and he was even more sure that they wouldn¡¯t find anything that proves that he ever cheated. He realized that they would probably wait for a little before iming that his level up was because of a Special Quest that he had received at the start of the game.

    He continued reading more articles to see if he missed anything, but he didn¡¯t find anything new. He ced the phone down and continued watching the news.

    He was watching the news when he heard the doorbell ring.

    He stood up and walked to the door.

    The pizza delivery guy was standing outside with Ryder¡¯s order.

    "Thank you," Ryder thanked the delivery guy as he took his order.

    He had already paid in advance, including the tip for the delivery guy.

    Ryder walked back to his room and closed the door.

    He had only taken a few steps when he heard the doorbell ring again.

    He turned back and opened the door once more.

    Alice was standing at the door this time.

    "You came at the right time. The pizza just came. Anyway, Why is your friend standing back there? She didn¡¯te into the housest time either. Didn¡¯t you tell her that I won¡¯t eat her?" Ryder asked as he nced back towards Estonia that was standing near her car.

    "She¡¯s just shy meeting strangers. She is waiting for me to get inside, I think," Alice replied.

    "Call her inside. She helped you so much. The least I can do is share some pizza. I ordered three of them. They would just go to waste," Ryder told her.

    Alice chuckled as she shook her head.

    "It¡¯s tough, but it¡¯s possible if we add pizza to the mix. She loves them. Let me try convincing her."

    Alice walked back towards Estonia.

    Ryder could see her talking to Estonia. After some back and forth, he saw them walking towards him.

 Chapter 177 Jameson

    <h4>Chapter 177: Jameson</h4>

    "Estonia, let me introduce you guys. You¡¯ve already seen him before; he¡¯s the most important person to me in the whole world. Brother, this is Estonia, my old friend and one of my best friends."

    Alice introduced Estonia and Ryder.

    "Hello, Estonia. Thanks for helping Alice," Ryder let out as he smiled. "Pleasee inside. I heard that you girls wereing, so I ordered extra pizza for you guys."

    He walked inside the hall and moved to the hall that acted as their dining room as well.

    Ryder ced the boxes of pizza on the table.

    Alice and Estonia entered the hall. They sat on the chairs and started eating.

    The Tv was still on, and the news was changed. It was now talking about Divinity and the usation on the Necrosis Corporation of partiality because of Hades.

    Alice nced towards Ryder to see his reaction. She already knew that Ryder used the name Hades in Divinity, but she wasn¡¯t sure if anyone else knew about this. She did believe Ryder, though. She believed that he didn¡¯t cheat and that this was a misunderstanding.

    "Hades, huh. Amazingly, he¡¯s on tv already. Would you believe it if I tell you that I met that guy? His Character looks somewhat simr to your brother, but there were some differences. What a coincidence that his modified Avatar looks like a real person. I wonder if there is someone in the game whose Avatar looks like my real-world look," Estonia muttered as she shook her head.

    Ryder looked at her with a surprised look on his face.

    "You met him?" He asked her.

    "Yeah, I went on a quest with him in a dungeon. I found him to be somewhat arrogant at the start, but by that end, I realized that he was not a bad person. He was definitely pretty strong, though," Estonia replied.

    ¡¯So she was one of the people that Shu found. Such a coincidence, having such a link between us in the game and meeting in the real world,¡¯ Ryder thought as he shook his head.

    "He was arrogant?" Alice asked Estonia in curiosity as she subtly nced at Ryder.

    "He definitely seemed to be arrogant at the start. I asked him to sell me his staff, but he refused even after I offered to pay him more money," Estonia replied.

    "Do you think that he cheated?" Ryder changed the topic as he looked towards the tv.

    "I am not sure. It does look like something that shouldn¡¯t be possible generally. Such a big power difference between the first and the second rank makes it even more suspicious. He or someone rted to him is probably someone in a very high position of power to make it possible," Estonia answered.

    "Maybe," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    The FBI agent Ray was sitting in his room when he got a mail from someone.

    "Good. They worked fast," Ray muttered as he opened the mail that contained information rted to Ryder.

    He started going through the content.

    "Ryder Flynn... lost parents at a young age in an ident. Not from a rich family and just a game developer. No criminal record. Earned most of his money from betting and winning the lottery," Ray muttered. "He does seem to be awfully lucky based on what the report shows."

    "Registered apany, but it¡¯s not started yet. Just what is he nning? A single game developer who couldn¡¯t afford a decent lifestyle suddenly earned so much. Although it seems like luck, something just doesn¡¯t add up. There is definitely something suspicious about him,"

    "Oh, he does have some more records. He¡¯s going to sue the police?" Ray couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as he read that. "Well, I wonder how it will turn out."

    He moved over to Ryder¡¯s information and found out something that made him frown.

    "Dream corporation¡¯s personalwyer is handling this case? Why? How is he rted to a giant like the Dream Corporation?"

    "Something is definitely not sitting right. It¡¯s like he suddenly changed one day and became someone different entirely who had everything in control. We don¡¯t have a big lead on that organization, but if he is actually the one that fought against that mysterious organization, he can help us find them. I need to convince him at all cost," Ray muttered as he clenched his fist.

    He closed hisptop and fell into deep thought toe up with a n on how to deal with this matter.

    He realized that no matter what he did, Ryder wouldn¡¯t ept that he was involved. Even if Ray promised him to keep his silence and not tell anyone that Ryder was his informant, Ryder would still not believe him.

    "Bullets didn¡¯t affect that person. If someone shot him and he healed, it would prove that he was that person, but I can¡¯t do that. It would be against our ethics, and it would be wrong if he weren¡¯t able to heal. I would just be hurting an innocent. Sigh, what can I do to deal with this?" Ray muttered as he held his head with his hands.

    He thought for a long time, but he couldn¡¯te up with a concrete n.

    He called the same number again.

    "I got the information that you sent me. Can you try to find more? Go in as detail as you can about thest one month of his life. Every person that he has a link to and everyone that he met. You can take a day or two to collect the data, but try to be fast," Ray let out before he disconnected the call.

    There was suddenly a knock on the door.

    "Come inside," Ray let out, already knowing who it was.

    Riya, Jacob, and Mna walked inside.

    "Did you get the information about our next mission?" Riya asked Ray.

    They were told that they needed toe to this ce by the higher-ups, but they weren¡¯t given any information. All they were told was that Ray would get the information when they get here and that he would brief them.

    "Yeah, I got that as well. Our mission this time involves someone called Jameson. He is involved in many businesses, but in the city, he is known as the owner of an Amusement Park. He will be our target this time," Ray exined.

    "Why him? We are in the team that¡¯s handling that mysterious organization. Is this Jameson involved with that organization?" Jacob inquired, with a confused look on his face.

    "There isn¡¯t a direct link between the organization and Jameson, but we did find an indirect link. Since we don¡¯t have any main lead this time, We¡¯ll be investigating that indirect link," Ray exined.

 Chapter 178 The Uprising

    <h4>Chapter 178: The Uprising</h4>

    "What¡¯s that indirect link?" Riya asked Ray as she sat down on a chair nearby. She was kept out of the loop on this one, but she understood the protocol.

    Jacob sat on the bed beside Ray while Mna also sat on a chair.

    "You remember that person we caught? We had received two clues from him. He didn¡¯t know anything other than that. First clue was the major clue, which was the information about the meeting ce and the sketches of a few of their men. The first lead is dead already after what happened. The second lead is Jameson, which we are going to investigate."

    "That person gave us a few sketches of people. After scanning the system with that data rted to the men¡¯s sketch, we found one photo belonging to one of them,"

    "In that photo, the suspect is shown to be standing beside Jameson, who is at what seemed like a club. That¡¯s why I said that it¡¯s an indirect link. It¡¯s possible for Jameson to know that man, but it can be a coincidence that he met and talked to a stranger at a club. That is what he will im even if he is rted to that organization. The picture that we found is not enough to arrest Jameson either. We will be going to his house to interrogate him about this and get his testimony," Ray let out.

    "What¡¯s the benefit in that? As you im, he will just lie about that to us. We can still do it in an illegal way. Kidnap him and force him to answer. You just need to get Captain¡¯s permission," Jacob suggested.

    "We can¡¯t do that with Jameson. I already talked about all the possible things that we can do with Captain, and going directly to interrogate is the solution we came up with," Ray replied.

    "I get it. So you want to bait him? Did the captain already get permission to tap his phone?" Riya asked, seemingly understanding the situation.

    "Yes. With what happened in Washington, this mysterious organization is raised in threat level to Alpha. It was pretty easy to get the permission even at such a distant link. The higher-ups are worried as well. They will do anything to capture this Mysterious Organization, which we named BTerror," Ray dered.

    "BTerror? Was that the best they coulde up with?" Jacob let out with a wry smile on his face.

    "It¡¯s the short form of Bio-Enhanced Terror Group," Ray exined.

    "Anyway, let me exin the n in clear terms. We will go to his house to interrogate him about this link, while we will begin tapping his calls. If he is actually involved in this, there is over a ny percent chance that he will call someone, and we will get our answers and another lead," Ray let out as he opened hisptop again.

    He opened the image of Jameson from the report and showed everyone.

    "This is our target. Tomorrow, we will begin with our n," Ray dered.

    Ryder and the others finished eating, and Estonia left.

    Alice also walked back to her room after talking with Ryder for some time.

    Ryder stood up and entered his room.

    "This trip was a failure, but now that I¡¯m back, I can get back to the things that I needed to do. I had to dy meeting with Jameson, but not anymore. Tomorrow, I will do it. I also need him to call Stanner back to the city, if possible. My mission depends on him now," Ryder muttered as he looked at Jameson¡¯s address on his phone.

    ¡¯I need to be careful, though. I can¡¯t let my eagerness to finish my mission have me make a mistake. Killing a millionaire in his house is much more serious than killing a criminal in private,¡¯ he thought.

    He decided that he wouldn¡¯t get his car anywhere near Jameson¡¯s house and sneak inside without getting caught in cameras. Even though he would need to purchase some items from the store, his safety was number one.

    Far away from Ryder¡¯s city, there existed an isted Ind. There were many luxurious private ships around the ind, all of which belonged to the owner of the Ind.

    The edge of the ind was surrounded by forest from all corners, but the center portion was mostly clear.

    There was a huge mansion at the center of the ind that looked to be even bigger than a pce of a king.

    The Mansion was surrounded in mist, and the sky above the ind was surrounded by dark clouds. The mansion was also entirely ck in color.

    There was a big hall inside the mansion, and there was a throne ced at one end of the hall.

    A person was sitting on that throne.

    There were seven more people inside the hall.

    "So, they are all dead?" The person on the throne asked.

    "Yes, master," One of the seven people replied.

    "Tell me, Darksoul. Was your n worth it? You imed something for me, but it seems like aplete failure. What do you have to say about that?" The person on the throne inquired.

    "This was the failure of my leadership. I don¡¯t entirely know what happened, but they shouldn¡¯t have died just like that. Something definitely interfered with my n. But I take full responsibility. I should¡¯ve sent more powerful people with them. I overestimated the lower level member," One of the seven replied.

    He was called Darksoul in the Organisation. Darksoul was the person Ok told Ryder about. He was one of the Seven Generals of The Uprising, but his real identity in the outside world was different.

    Darksoul had a very powerful position on the outside that gave him a lot of influence in the outside world.

    "I want what you promised. I don¡¯t care if you seeded or failed. I want what I want, and you know that. If you fail, you also know what will happen to you," the Person on the throne replied.

    "I won¡¯t fail," DarkSoul dropped down to one knee and ced one of his hands on his chest as he promised the person on the throne.

    He stood up and left the hall.

    Ryder finished his dinner and got on his bed, ready to dive into the world of Virtual Reality.

    He wore the Divinity sses.

    "Take me to Divinity," he let out.

    He soon found himself in the world of Divinity inside the small hut.

    He nced back and noticed that Rale was sleeping. The other people were still standing guard.

    They saluted Ryder as soon as they saw him.

 Chapter 179 Damaged Vitality

    <h4>Chapter 179: Damaged Vitality</h4>

    "How is his condition now?" Ryder asked one of the men as he walked toward Rale.

    "The wounds of Captain have healed. He fell asleep a few hours ago. He is resting now," the men replied.

    "Let him rest. We will leave after he wakes up," Ryder muttered as he sat beside Rale, waiting for him to wake up.

    He was d that Rale was healed, though.

    A few hours passed away as they waited in silence.

    Rale opened his eyes as his sleep was broken. He looked around, only to find Ryder sitting beside him.

    "Your Highness," Rale greeted Ryder.

    "How are you feeling, Rale?" Ryder inquired.

    "I am fine. I just fell asleep. I apologize for that," Rale replied.

    He stood up and stretched his arms, and jumped a few times to test his body.

    "Yup, perfectly fine," Rale added.

    "Good. Let¡¯s leave then. We are done in the Undead Region, but we still need to get to the portal before we are able to truly go back home," Ryder stood up.

    They left the house.

    Rale reached out his hand towards Ryder, hoping for him to hold on so that they could fly.

    "Let me fly on my own for some time. I haven¡¯t flown for quite some time. I might be a little rusty," Ryder said to Rale as he started rising in the air.

    "You can fly?"

    Not only Rale but everyone present there was surprised.

    "Yeah, but as I said, I¡¯m rusty, so you¡¯d need to adjust your speed sometimes. Let¡¯s go now," Ryder let out as he started flying forward.

    Rale and the others also started flying.

    Ryder was not proficient in flying, and it was evident in his flying pattern. Sometimes he flew up and then other times, he suddenly came down. It seemed like he was flying in a zigzag motion, trying to find the perfect bnce.

    After flying for over ten minutes, he started getting the hang of flying. His control was improving, and now he was able to fly much better.

    He flew for slightly over fifty minutes before he slowed down.

    "That¡¯s it for me today. I won¡¯t slow you down anymore. Rale, hold my hand and carry me," Ryder said to Rale as he reached out his hand.

    Rale caught his hand and started carrying Ryder with him.

    They increased speed and continued flying forward.

    As they flew, they tried to avoid cities and people as much as possible, which seemed to be working.

    Ryder wasn¡¯t sure if it was a coincidence or great luck, but they didn¡¯t face any trouble along the way and reached the point of the portal with ease.

    Ryder brought the portal key out of his storage and raised it high in the air.

    A portal appeared before him.

    He and the others entered the portal and appeared inside the Royal Pce of the Demon Realm.

    He closed the portal after everyone was in the pce.

    He and the others left the underground and went to the higher floors.

    "You guys worked hard. Go and rest," Ryder said to the men, sending them to their ces.

    ¡¯Rale, You¡¯reing with me. I need you to see a physician," Ryder told Rale.

    "We can¡¯t... They will start asking how I got injured. It would be better if we don¡¯t let anyone know what we just did," Rale said, shaking his head.

    He didn¡¯t want to bring suspicion over Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. We can im that you were hurt in training because you held back to test your limits. The physician won¡¯t ask too many questions," Ryder replied as he held Rale¡¯s hand and took him to a certain ce.

    The Royal Pce did have a physician in case of emergencies. The physician spent most of his day in his room, studying as there were no health emergencies in the pce.

    Ryder took Rale to the room of the physician and knocked on the door.

    "Who is it?" the physician asked from inside.

    "It is I, Prince Hades. Open the door," Ryder replied in a stern tone.

    The door was instantly opened.

    "Your Highness, Please forgive me. I never expected that it would be you. You should¡¯ve sent a servant to call me if you needed me." The Physician replied with a smile on his face.

    An old man was standing before Ryder, in a grey coat that seemed like ab coat. There was a tiny horn on the forehead of the man. This man was the Royal Physician of the Pce that only had one job to do, which was to heal the people of the Royal Pce.

    "Don¡¯t waste time. This is an emergency. Rale was hurt during the training. Even though he has healed, I still want you to check him. I want you to examine him to see if there is anything wrong or not," Ryder told the demon physician.

    "Ah, please. Master Rale, pleasee inside. Lie on the bed," the Physician told Rale as he stepped aside.

    Rale walked inside andid on the bed that was on one side of the room. Ryder also entered the room and stood behind.

    The Physician started checking the body.

    "You were right. There is evidence of damage even though the wounds have healed. His vitality is somewhat damaged. I can¡¯t even imagine how you are dealing with the pain without letting it show on your face," The Physician let out after he finished the checkup.

    "Pain?" Ryder asked with a stunned look on his face.

    "Yeah, Master Rales Vitality is damaged. Even though his vitality will recover in a day or so, he would be in extreme pain until then. I would never have guessed looking at his face. Master Rale is a strong demon who probably doesn¡¯t want anyone to see the pain on his face," The physician told Ryder before he started looking at Rale. "You can¡¯t be like that, Master Rale. Sometimes it¡¯s good to tell others when you¡¯re in pain."

    "I want you to heal him instantly! It doesn¡¯t matter what it takes! I don¡¯t want Rale to be in pain for even a second more!" Rydermanded as he walked closer to Rale.

    "I know you don¡¯t want to worry me, but you can¡¯t go around hiding things from me. If you do this again, no one would be worse than me," Ryder said to Rale with a stern look on his face. "You understand?"

    "Yes, Your Highness," Rale replied with an apologetic look on his face.

    The doctor walked to the shelf on the side and brought some things out.

 Chapter 180 Dukes Birthday

    <h4>Chapter 180: Duke''s Birthday</h4>

    The Physician came back with three vials and a bowl. Each of those vials contained the pills of different colors.

    He ced the bowl on a table and put one pill from each vial into the bowl.

    He started crushing each of those pills into the powder inside the bowl.

    He again walked back to another room and came back with a ss of water and a spoon.

    He spilled the water inside the bowl and started mixing the water and the three colored powder with a spoon.

    The colors started mixing, and the water started changing color. In the end, the water became a grey colored liquid.

    "Your Highness, this is the medicine for sleep and to relieve pain. It will end his pain, but it would also put him to sleep. He would sleep while his body counters the side effect ofck of life force. He would wake up after a few days after his body heals," The Physician said.

    "Is there no way to do it other than putting him to sleep?" Ryder asked the physician. He knew that Rale might not agree to it.

    "There is no other way," The Physician answered, shaking his head.

    "Alright. Let me give it to him then," Ryder muttered as he stepped forth and picked up the ss.

    He walked back to Rale.

    "Here, drink this," Ryder muttered as he gave Rale the ss.

    "What is that?" Rale asked as he took the ss from his hand.

    "It is medicine. It will ease your pain and help you rest infort," Ryder replied to Rale.

    He conveniently hid the information that it would put him to sleep for a few days as he knew Rale.

    Rale would never take things that would make him incapable of saving Ryder when the situation arrives, and if he had to sleep for a few days, he definitely wouldn¡¯t do it since he would be concerned for his safety in case of the unlikely scenario where this ce was attacked by the enemy.

    Ryder knew that Rale was too serious and considered far unlikely things, but Ryder also knew that this ce was safe. No enemy would just appear out of the pce and start attacking it without them getting any information.

    Rale looked at the ss and smelled it.

    "It smells like someone ced the sleeping pill in it along with other ingredients," Rale said to Ryder.

    Ryder was quite surprised by Rale¡¯s sense of smell and knowledge. He didn¡¯t expect that Rale would immediately recognize it. He had no choice now but to tell the truth.

    "Yeah. This medicine also has some ingredients like the sleeping powder. It just won¡¯t work without it. You would sleep for some time, but it would be fine. You will wake up soon, and when you wake up, all the pain will be over," Ryder said with a calming smile on his face.

    "I can¡¯t drink it. It is my responsibility to protect you and this pce. I can¡¯t sleep just because I suffer from measly pain. I am fine," Rale replied.

    He was about to stand up and put the ss down, but Ryder stopped him, cing his hand on Rale¡¯s shoulders.

    "I don¡¯t want to order you to do anything, but you need to drink it. I will be perfectly safe while you sleep. I won¡¯t even leave the Pce. Don¡¯t worry about anything and just sleep," Ryder said to Rale.

    "If you don¡¯t listen to my request, then I would be forced to order you to drink. Just drink it," he added.

    Rale looked unwilling, but he still raised the ss and drank it in one sip.

    He could feel his eyes turning heavy. He was starting to feel sleepy.

    Ryder held his shoulders and helped him lie down on the bed.

    "You can¡¯t leave the Pce," Rale said to Ryder before he fell asleep.

    "Sigh, I won¡¯t leave it. Just rest and wake up soon," Ryder said to Rale, who had fallen asleep.

    The Physician walked forth and ced his hand over Rale¡¯s chest.

    "It¡¯s working," The Physician told Ryder.

    "Good. Keep an eye on him and make sure that he isn¡¯t in pain. I¡¯ll send some servants and some men to guard this ce."

    Ryder knew that Rale needed to be near the Physician in this condition.

    He walked out of the room and went to find his personal maid, Miku.

    Ryder was walking in the long corridor towards the hall when he found Miku there.

    "Miku."

    "Your Highness, You are back," Miku eximed in surprise.

    "Yeah, I just came back today. Anyway, I need you to arrange some maids in the room of our Royal Physician. Also, assign the best men from our royal army before that room. Rale is slightly sick. He is sleeping there. I don¡¯t want anything to go wrong," Ryder told Miku.

    "Master Rale is sick?" Miku inquired with a concerned look on her face.

    "He was given medicine. He¡¯s just sleeping now. He will be fine after he wakes up, but I still want you to ce our best maids and guards there," Ryder said.

    "I will get it done," Miku responded before she started walking away.

    Ryder continued walking towards the hall.

    He reached the hall and sat on the throne.

    "I did promise him that I won¡¯t leave the pce, but now that I think about it, I do need to go out to hunt. I can¡¯t waste my time in Divinity," Ryder muttered as he ced his hand on his chin.

    "Should I go with other guards?" he muttered in confusion as he struggled toe to a decision.

    "Oh, fuck. I just remembered that High Duke Oris¡¯ birthday celebration is tomorrow," Ryder let out with a stunned look on his face. "What excuse will I give him for Rale not being able toe?"

    Ryder had utterly forgotten about the birthday invitation of High Duke Oris, but he suddenly remembered it and started getting worried about it.

    He couldn¡¯t let anyone find out that he left the Demon Realm with Rale, and he needed to hide what actually happened and why Rale was missing from High Dukes. He needed toe up with a good excuse. He couldn¡¯t tell them that Rale was sick or that he was injured while fighting. All the High Dukes knew Rale¡¯s true strength. They wouldn¡¯t believe it.

    While Ryder was worrying about the Birthday Celebration, there was someone else who was worrying at the moment.

    Far away from the Demon Realm, Vampire General Viden¡¯s daughter was sitting in her pce, worrying about her father. It had been so long, but her father hadn¡¯t returned. She was starting to feel like something was wrong.

    "Should I go to his Majesty about this?" She muttered as she looked towards the gate.

 Chapter 181 Vampire King found out

    <h4>Chapter 181: Vampire King found out</h4>

    No matter how much she tried to calm herself down, she couldn¡¯t seed. She had a bad feeling that was overwhelming her. Her heart was beating fast as she kept looking at the door.

    Her father had gone after the mysterious people inside one of the most dangerous ces of the Undead Region, and he wasn¡¯t back after so much time had passed. She didn¡¯t even get a message from her father. She was worried that something might have happened to him.

    She couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She decided to convey this information to the Vampire King.

    The girl stood up and called for a butler to arrange a link to the Vampire King¡¯s Pce.

    The Vampire King was one of the Two Strongest beings in the Undead Region. He was said to be as strong as the High Dukes of the Demon Realm, but that was only an estimate. No one knew what the reality was as those people didn¡¯t fight.

    The Vampire General was the friend of the Vampire King who had supported him for a long time. There was a link established between both of their ces in case one of them needed to talk to another.

    The Pce Butler knew about this and helped the girl set up the link so that she could talk to the Vampire King. They used a special object to establish the connection.

    It was arge mirror that needed Viden to ce his blood over the mirror to contact the Vampire King, but since the girl was his daughter, her blood also had the same function.

    The girl stood before the mirror and bit her finger before she stepped forth and made a strange symbol on the mirror. Her father had taught her the way in case of an emergency.

    The Vampire King was a name that was known by everyone in the undead region.

    He was one of the Two Great Kings of the Undead Region on the same level as the Lich King.

    He was someone that everyone was afraid to offend. No one took his name outside in fear.

    Even though the Vampire King had such a scary image on the outside, when it came to actual looks, it was quite different.

    After seeing his scary reputation, most people that heard about him would think that he would be an old scary looking man with incredible power, but the reality was quite different.

    The Vampire King looked very young. He looked like he was in his early thirties.

    The Vampire King had a muscr body. His nails were blood red in color and looked as sharp as the wolf¡¯s ws.

    He was wearing long ck pants that somehow matched his intimidating personality because of the design. He also wore what seemed like a ck overcoat with long standing cors, which exposed his chestpletely.

    There was also a ne around his neck, which had a big red crystal inside it near his chest.

    The Vampire King had short silver hair that only came down to his shoulders behind his back. His eyes were blood-red, which seemed like the eyes of a hungry wolf.

    He was sitting on a throne, so it was difficult to judge his height, but he looked to be at least six feet tall.

    The Vampire King was sitting on his throne, looking at a paper in his hand.

    He was going through the paper with full interest when he felt something.

    He ced the paper back in his storage space and pped his hands once.

    A beautiful mirror was lying in his room. The Mirror started floating, and it flew out of the room and toward the Vampire King.

    The Mirror entered the Royal Hall, where the Vampire King was sitting alone.

    The Mirror stopped before him.

    "What does Viden want now?" The Vampire King muttered as he looked at the mirror.

    He bit his finger and ced his blood on the mirror.

    "Speak, Viden, what happened now?" The Vampire King said as soon as the connection was established, but he was surprised to see a girl before the mirror.

    "Halia? What are you doing? This Mirror is not a toy! It¡¯s for your father to use in case of emergency!"

    The Vampire King was furious to realize that it was Vampire General Viden¡¯s daughter, who was using the mirror. He thought that she was ying with it.

    "I apologize Your Majesty, but this is an absolute emergency. I believe that my father is in danger!" Halia let out as she dropped down to her knees before the mirror with tears in her eyes.

    "What is happening?" The Vampire King asked her with a frown on his face. Halia¡¯s expressions gave him a feeling that things were really serious.

    He couldn¡¯t understand who could be the one putting Viden¡¯s life in danger. Had the Lich King started harassing his men? There were not many people in the Undead Region who were stronger than Viden, so the number of people who could threaten him was limited.

    Halia started telling the Vampire King everything that happened. She talked about how one of her escorts went missing and how she called her father to help her.

    She also talked about the information that they received about some mysterious people that were pretending to be Royal Vampires.

    In the end, she talked about her Father sending her back to the Pce and going to the Valley of Wandering Souls alone to catch those impersonators.

    "It has been so long since he left, and he isn¡¯t back. There is no message from him either. I worry about his safety. Please do something and save my father," She requested the Vampire King.

    "Mysterious impersonators?" The Vampire King muttered as he fell in deep thoughts.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll see it. You can go and rest," he told Halia before he closed the link.

    The Vampire King stood up from his throne.

    "I wonder who became so daring to impersonate the Royals. Whoever you are, I will find you, and I will make you regret your decision," The Vampire King let out before he started walking towards the door.

    "Your Majesty, are you going somewhere?" Someone asked as soon as the Vampire King stepped out of the hall.

    "Yeah, take care of the things here in my absence," Vampire King replied before he stepped out of the Pce and started flying towards the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    It didn¡¯t take him long to get there. Soon, Vampire King was standing before the entrance of the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    He noticed the blood drops on the ground that had dried up by now.

    "This blood... Demons?" He muttered with a frown on his face.

 Chapter 182 Vampire King in Demon Realm?

    <h4>Chapter 182: Vampire King in Demon Realm?</h4>

    The Vampire King noticed the blood outside the Valley of Wandering Soul, which had fallen when the injured Rale hade out of the valley.

    He recognized that blood color as the blood of the Demons, which made him frown.

    "The Demons were here?" he muttered in confusion.

    He could see that the blood belonged to Demons, but he couldn¡¯t determine when this blood had fallen here since the Demon Blood dried up really fast.

    It was possible that it fell here years ago and it was also possible that it fell a few days ago.

    Vampire King stepped inside the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    As soon as he stepped inside, thousands of Spectres came flying towards him.

    The Spectres were more attracted to the Undeads, which was why they had targeted Vampire General Viden more than they targeted Ryder and the others. Still, even amongst the Undeads, the specters preferred the powerful Undeads more.

    That was why the Vampire King attracted more specters than even the Vampire General had ever managed to draw, but with a single wave of his hand, Vampire King destroyed them all.

    "Annoying Insects," Vampire King muttered as he started walking ahead.

    Vampire King continued ahead and reached inside the Inner Region of the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    He stood near the frozenke that had now melted. There was a deep frown on his head as he watched theke.

    "Sigh looks like the ones that were trapped here have escaped. Tough luck, I told those guys not to trap them here. Now they will suffer," The Vampire King muttered as he shook his head.

    "Whatever, nothing to do with me," He let out before he continued walking ahead.

    Vampire King soon entered the core region of the Valley of Wandering Souls.

    Along the way, he didn¡¯t see Vampire General Viden, but that was because no remains of him were left behind.

    Even though Viden was killed in the Inner Region of the Valley, he was entirely consumed. Also, his blood was not left behind as the specters consumed every blood drop that had fallen out of Vampire General.

    Specters ate everyone they got the opportunity to eat, but they only consumed the blood of the ones from the undead species. The blood of the Demons wasn¡¯t even touched.

    If it were a demon, their blood wouldn¡¯t be consumed, but since it was a Vampire General from the Undead Species, nothing was left behind.

    Vampire King had entered the core region of the Valley of Wandering Souls, and he soon found the Guardian of the Valley.

    The Guardian of the Valley was sitting on the ground. It seemed to be upset.

    "What? How is this possible? Where is his gem?" Vampire King eximed in surprise as he noticed that the Guardian of the Valley didn¡¯t have the gem it always kept close to it.

    "How can someone manage to take the gem and escape? This shouldn¡¯t be possible!" He let out with a frown.

    Vampire King stepped closer and noticed more blood on the ground. There was blood everywhere on the ground. Many trees nearby were broken, and many marks on the ground were left behind, which showed how fierce the fight was.

    He also noticed that the blood on the ground belonged to Demons.

    "So Demons were the ones that fought it. From what I believe, they were here specifically for that gem. For them to sessfully leave, they must have sent a High Duke here. This makes sense. Viden can¡¯t defeat that High Dukes. If he faced them, it¡¯s quite possible that he was either killed or captured," Vampire King muttered as he looked around.

    He turned back and started to leave.

    "Looks like I would need to go to the Demon Realm. If they captured him, I would save him, and if they killed him, I would see who killed him," Vampire King dered in a stern tone

    Vampire King stepped out of the Valley of Wandering Souls and started flying back towards his Pce.

    Ryder was sitting on the throne, trying to find a good excuse when Miku walked into the hall.

    "Is it arranged?" he asked her as he raised his head.

    "I have arranged for the maids and the guards," Miku replied.

    "Good. Also, check up on him every hour to see if everything is fine or not," Ryder told her.

    Miku nodded her head.

    "Anyway, Did something new happen after I left? Do I need to know about anything?" Ryder asked her.

    "There is one thing. High Duke Oris¡¯ daughter hade to remind you about his Birthday. I told her that you were resting. She left without saying anything," Miku replied to Ryder.

    "Yeah, I remembered about that. It¡¯s tomorrow, isn¡¯t it?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah, It¡¯s tomorrow," Miku replied as she nodded her head.

    "I¡¯ll attend that. Anything else of significance?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yes, Your Highness. You have received invitations from all of the Dukes to visit their Pce and their territory," Miku exined.

    "An invitation to visit their pce? Why would I do that?" Ryder let out as he shook his head. "Let¡¯s just ignore those."

    "You can¡¯t do that, Your Highness. The invitations are public, and everyone knows that you have been invited. If you didn¡¯t go, they would feel insulted before their people. It would also spoil Your Highness¡¯ reputation before the citizens that hadn¡¯t attended the Coronation Ceremony."

    "It¡¯s an opportunity for you to meet the citizens that weren¡¯t able toe here for the ceremony and the ones that haven¡¯t seen your face. It would be good practice to let them see their Prince, or they would think that you don¡¯t care for them,"

    Miku exined the intricacies behind the invitation to Ryder.

    "Sigh, It is soplicated. Whatever, I¡¯ll visit their ce. Make a schedule for me and ce the visits on it. After Rale wakes up, I would visit thend of all out Dukes and meet my people," Ryder dered as he ced one of his feet over another.

    "Anything else?" He asked.

    "Nothing Major other than that," Miku shook her head.

    "Good. Everything¡¯s going smoothly. It would be great if it can continue like that. Thisnd needs to grow as well, though. I noticed that there were many problems with this ce, especially with the corrupt officials of small regions like the vige of Miyali. I need to understand the intricacies of this ce so that I am able to make decent changes to improve people¡¯s lives," Ryder muttered.

    "Is there a library here?" he asked Miku.

    "Yes. There is a library in the pce," Miku replied.

    "Good. Take me there," Ryder said as he stood up.

 Chapter 183 Royal Commanded

    <h4>Chapter 183: Royal Commanded</h4>

    Miku took Ryder to the Library of the Royal Pce.

    She also showed him around the library and helped him choose the best books when it came to the hierarchy of the Demon Realm.

    By the time Miku stopped choosing the book, Ryder had realized that there were over 50 books in her hand.

    He couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly at the impossible thought of reading the books.

    Miku ced all the 50 books on the table.

    "Ahh, Is this all?" Ryder asked her.

    "Not really. This is the most basic stuff that I chose to help you get the most basic idea. After reading the basics, you can start with theplex stuff about the inner workings of everything," Miku replied.

    "50 books of basics? Really?" Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face.

    "Forget it. I don¡¯t have that much time to read. Bring me a nk paper and a pen along with a map of Demon Realm," Ryder told her, shaking his head. He realized that it was much difficult to gain in-depth knowledge from books without attaining a skill rted to it because hecked the time. He decided to only learn the basics of the basics with the help of Miku.

    Miku walked away while Ryder sat on the chair near the books.

    He casually opened one of the books and saw some strange symbols that he didn¡¯t understand. He closed the book and started to wait for Miku toe back.

    Miku came back after some time with a few nk papers, a pen, and a map of the Demon Realm.

    She gave the map to Ryder and ced the papers and the pen on the table.

    "Alright. Move the books to the side," Ryder told her as he started unfolding the map, which was way bigger than he had expected.

    Even though the map waspressed, it was still bigger than Ryder.

    Miku picked up the books and ced them on another table while Ryder ced the unfolded map on the table before him.

    He picked up the paper and the pen.

    He wrote the word ¡¯king¡¯ on the top of the paper.

    "Alright. We¡¯ll start with the king. The highest in the hierarchy is, of course, the king who possesses all the powers. I know about that. Whates after the king? Who has a higher position? A prince or a High Duke?" Ryder asked Miku.

    "A High Duke and a Royal Prince are said to have a simr position. Both of them are important for the Empire."

    Ryder drew two lines from the word of King that he wrote on the paper. One of the lines went southeast while the other line went Southwest.

    He wrote Prince at the end of the southwest line and High Duke at the end of the other line.

    "High Dukes don¡¯t have anynd. They are like great elders of the Kingdom who are assigned to keep the kingdom safe. They don¡¯t have to worry about thend. Also, High Dukes have the power to kill anyone in the kingdom who they believe is putting the kingdom in danger, except people from the royal lineage."

    Miku started talking about the powers associated with High Dukes.

    "Interesting, So High Dukes can kill Dukes if they think they have a valid reason, and they can¡¯t be punished," Ryder muttered with a thoughtful look on his face.

    "Yes. They don¡¯t havend or anything, but they hold more power and authority than Dukes. If they want, they can also take the Dukedom of a Duke in control. Also, High Dukes are authorized to hold their own army. Their Armies are just like our Royal Army, but while the Royal Army is only assigned to protect the Royals in the Royal City and the borders of our Kingdom, the armies of the High Dukes are responsible for keeping peace in thend outside the Royal City."

    Miku kept talking about the High Duke¡¯s powers, which sometimes surprised Ryder, especially the army thing.

    " There¡¯s also one more thing. Even though High Dukes are allowed to hold Personal Armies, their army needs to be smaller than the Royal Army. They can only have twenty percent of the people in their army whenpared to the Royal Army."

    "That¡¯s good. I guess they did put some thought into it," Ryder muttered as he heard the second part.

    Ryder made another line below the High Duke.

    "The Dukes should be after the High Dukes in the hierarchy," Ryder muttered as he wrote Dukes at the end of the line.

    "Yes, I¡¯ll talk about the hierarchy of the High Duke side first. After that, I¡¯ll talk about the hierarchy on your side," Miku nodded her head.

    "Dukes are lower in position than High Dukes. They are assigned to rule over small portions ofnd called dukedom," Miku replied.

    "I understand that. We have the same thing back home. They are like managers that handle thend for the King since the King can¡¯t personally take care of every portion of thend," Ryder muttered.

    "Yes, they are responsible for keeping the popce happy in their dukedom and convey to the higher-ups if their dukedomcks anything or if there is any problem,"

    "They can also hold a small army, but their Armies can only be 5 percent of a High Duke¡¯s army in size. They can kill anyone in their Dukedom that is lower than them in the hierarchy as long as they feel a threat to the peace and the prosperity of thend."

    Ryder nodded his head.

    "After thates marquis who handles the smaller portions of the Dukedom. They are lower than the Dukes. They can¡¯t hold armies. The Dukes assign their armies to help the Marquis and keep peace in thend,"

    Miku kept talking about them and the ones lower in the hierarchy for the next hour.

    "Andstly, Vige heads. They are assigned to handle the viges. They are selected from the vigers. Some viges are weak, and they have weak vige heads as well. I heard that some of our vige heads are only as strong as the three-year-olds in our Royal City," Miku let out.

    "Three-year-olds?" Ryder muttered with a wry smile on his face as he remembered how proud he was after defeating a vige head when he first arrived in the Demon Realm.

    "Now we get to your side of the spectrum," Miku let out.

    "You, as the Crown Prince, have the authority tomand the Royal army to do anything other than dering war on anyone. You would need the majority permission of High Dukes for that, or you can use the Royal Command to force them to agree," Miku exined.

 Chapter 184 Wierd Powers of a Prince

    <h4>Chapter 184: Wierd Powers of a Prince</h4>

    "I heard about the thing that I can¡¯t dere war without their permission, but what about the Royal Command? I didn¡¯t hear about that before," Ryder asked in confusion.

    "Royal Command is something that the Crown Prince can use only once in his lifetime. In the absence of the King, the Crown Prince has the special privilege to use the Royal Command. As the Royal Command, themand would be as valid as themand from a King."

    " Even if you use the Royal Command to dere war on the others, everyone would have to follow. You can evenmand for the death of a High Duke. Since the Royal Command is like themand from the king himself, the other High Dukes must do it. Maybe they didn¡¯t tell you because this is a dangerousmand that they don¡¯t want you to use lightly," Miku exined.

    "Interesting," Ryder muttered as he ced his hand on his chin.

    "Anyway, You canmand the Royal Army, and you can use the Royal Command to force the High Dukes and the others to do anything. You also have other powers as a prince. You can also marry any woman in the whole kingdom. It doesn¡¯t matter who that woman is. As long as the woman is not a High Duke, you can marry anyone," Miku added.

    Ryder looked at her weirdly as he heard this privilege.

    "That is a weird power," Ryder muttered with a wry smile on his face.

    "As a prince, you can only use this forced marriage only once as well, but once you be the King, you can use this privilege as many times as you want," Miku replied.

    "What else?" Ryder inquired, changing the topic.

    "You can also take the Royal Army to search the pce of any Duke. Although you can¡¯tmand for the death of any Duke without a valid reason, you can search their house, and if you find something illegal or anything, you can use that to give them the death penalty for conspiracy," Miku said.

    She kept talking about his powers as a prince. Some of them were weird, ording to Ryder, that he didn¡¯t think he would use them, while the other powers were interesting that he was d to know about.

    After talking for over half an hour, Miku finished exining about the powers of a prince.

    "After the Royal Family, the one that has the most power is the Commander of the Royal Army."

    "I thought so. Rale deserves to be there," Ryder nodded in appreciation.

    "Yeah, in the overall hierarchy, Master Rale is between the Dukes and the High Dukes. His authority is closer to the High Dukes, though. He can kill anyone he believes might be harmful to the Royals. Even if it¡¯s a Duke that harms you even a little, Master Rale has the authority to decapitate them," Miku replied.

    "That¡¯s good to know," Ryder nodded his head.

    Miku kept giving knowledge about the things that Ryder didn¡¯t know. By the time she finished, Ryder had found out about the basics, which he felt made him more understanding and able to handle certain situations. She also pointed out in the maps the Various Dukedoms in Ryder¡¯s Empire and talked about the Dukes that were handling them.

    Ryder noticed that Devilia¡¯s Duchy was one of the closest Dukedoms to him.

    After finishing up, Ryder stood up and stretched his arms. He was tired after sitting for the whole day.

    "We¡¯re making a schedule to visit thends of all the Dukes, right? ce Devilia¡¯s name at the top. I want to visit hernd first. She was the one that helped me get here. I want to start the trip from hernd after Rale wakes up," Ryder told Miku.

    "Yes, Your Highness."

    Miku nodded her head.

    "Also, Thanks for the help. Now I know better. Good work," He said as he rubbed Miku¡¯s head. Miku lowered her head which had turned red.

    Ryder ced the map and the paper in his storage.

    "It¡¯ste already. I am going to my room now. Good Night," Ryder told her as he started walking towards his room.

    Ryder entered his room and locked the door.

    He opened the log out screen of the game and logged out.

    Ryder woke up in the real world and took the sses off. Just as he sat up, his phone started ringing.

    He picked up the phone and noticed that it was an unknown number.

    He picked up the call, but he didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Ah, hello. Am I talking to Mr. Ryder?"

    "Yeah, Who is this?"

    "I am speaking from the Police Department. We wanted to inform you that ourmissioner wants to talk to you. Will you be able toe to the police station today?"

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but frown as he wondered about the words. The Police Commissioner wanted to talk to him? He had so much power, couldn¡¯t he just send a few cops to take him to the station?

    He was still wondering when he realized what it was all about.

    ¡¯It should be about me filing awsuit. They are trying to be humble because they want to convey their sincerity and tell me to settle outside the court,¡¯ he thought.

    "I would love to talk to yourmissioner, but I am busy today. I won¡¯t be able toe. Maybe tomorrow," Ryder let out.

    The officer who was talking to Ryder was surprised at how casually Ryder rejected the polite offer of themissioner of Police.

    "Uh... Can you think again?" he asked.

    "I already told you that I¡¯m busy today. I have a big deal, and if I don¡¯t attend it, I¡¯ll lose money. Unless yourmissioner is willing to pay me millions of dors that I¡¯ll lose, tell him to wait till tomorrow. I would have been able to arrange something if you guys had informed me before, but on such a short notice, I can¡¯t do anything. I can¡¯t change my busy schedule," Ryder replied.

    "Ah, alright. I¡¯ll convey your message," The person on the other side of the call replied.

    "Yeah," Ryder let out as he disconnected the call.

    "I have to deal with Jameson today. I¡¯m not going to dy that for you," Ryder muttered as he stood up.

    He walked into the shower.

    Aftering out of the Shower, Ryder got ready. He picked up the car key and left his room.

    He looked at the clock, and it was already time for Alice to leave.

    "Alice, Want me to drop you, or is your friending again?" Ryder asked Alice as he stepped out of the room.

 Chapter 185 Awkward Situation

    <h4>Chapter 185: Awkward Situation</h4>

    "Estonia is already outside. I am leaving. Breakfast is on the table. Bye," Alice said as she ran outside in a hurry with her bag.

    Ryder walked to the dining table and started eating breakfast.

    He was somewhat surprised at how different this version of the timeline was.

    In thest timeline, he didn¡¯t meet Alice¡¯s friend. She didn¡¯t take her to University either. Although he didn¡¯t know why, he understood that something he did must have changed the timeline, and he was correct.

    It was indeed something that he did, which caused this.

    What Ryder didn¡¯t know was that when he had killed the first person toplete his mission, he had not only changed the destiny of one person, but he had changed the destiny of many more.

    That single mission was enough to alter the destiny of many; one of them was Estonia.

    As Ryder killed the criminal in the alleyway, he saved the girl that the man was trying to force, but he also saved a man.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that in the next few days, that man had killed another guy in thest timeline. The person that the man had killed was the father of Estonia.

    After her father¡¯s death, Estonia dropped her ns to transfer into the university of Dreamers as she didn¡¯t want to have anything to do with the city anymore.

    This was why Ryder didn¡¯t see Estonia in thest timeline.

    In this timeline, however, that didn¡¯t happen, and Estonia¡¯s father was alive. She came to the city and transferred to the University of Dreamers. She met her old friend Alice, and that¡¯s how Ryder was seeing her now.

    Even though he knew that it was because of him that the timeline was changed, but he didn¡¯t understand precisely how, and it was unclear if he was ever going to understand or not. It was just a fleeting thought to him that passed away.

    He finished the breakfast before he stood up and left the house after locking the door.

    Ryder sat in his car and opened the location of Jameson¡¯s house on his map.

    With the help of GPS, he located the area of Jameson, but he didn¡¯t take his car in that area.

    He stopped his car in the parking of a mall just outside that area and left the car.

    Ryder walked towards the area, which was almost empty since it was a gatedmunity, and not many people that stayed at home left the house at this time of the day in this ce. Still, he saw a few people taking a walk. Ryder had worn the mask of BirdMan to hide his face before entering that area.

    The birdman mask covered the top half of his face, and he had also worn a hoodie to hide his hair.

    BirdMan was a Character that not only kids loved, but even adults did as it was a famousics book Character that was a billionaire and fought injustice. That¡¯s why, although it was weird to see an adult man wearing that mask, it was not that shocking. Still, Ryder tried to keep himself hidden even though he had covered his face with a mask.

    Ryder stood behind a house, waiting for those people to walk inside their house. After some time, the men walked inside the house, and Ryder began advancing ahead. He could see the mansion of Jameson, which had armed guards standing at the entrance.

    He didn¡¯t want to attract their attention, so he went behind the mansion where no security was there.

    The Mansion was surrounded by tall walls from all four sides, and there was only one entrance, which was from the front where guards were standing.

    The walls were around five meters tall and had a smooth texture that didn¡¯t have any ce to grip. The walls also had electric wires on the top of the walls, all around to give it an additionalyer of security.

    There was also a camera behind the mansion, but it was a government CCTV which no one looked at for days until a crime wasmitted.

    Ryder still acted carefully. He had not only worn a good, but he also changed his clothes to the ones he didn¡¯t often use.

    He also got some items from the system store.

    One of the items was a weird pill called the Spider Human pill, which gave him strength and the powers of a spider. Ryder found it quite simr to the powers that another famousics superhero had received.

    He swallowed the pill.

    The pill started taking effect, and in less than 5 seconds, he could feel himself filled with power.

    His vision was sharper. He looked at his fingers and saw some sticky substance.

    He ced his hand on the wall and realized that he was able to make his fingers stick on the wall. He started climbing up the wall using his fingers.

    He reached the top of the wall and stopped just before reaching the electric wire. He didn¡¯t let his body touch the wire. Instead of moving ahead, he positioned his body for a jump.

    The pill had also given him the athletic ability, which helped him do acrobatics.

    Ryder jumped over the wire andnded on the other side of the wall, unfortunately, as hended there, he fell above a person that was standing on the ground near the wall.

    Ryder crashed on the person.

    As he realized what was happening, he was already lying above a person. His mask was still on his face, but as he opened his eyes, he saw the face of the person.

    It was a girl who was looking at him in shock. The woman looked like she was in herte twenties.

    Ryder was so surprised at falling over a girl that he didn¡¯t notice where his hands were. His left hand was above the right hand of the girl, whereas his right hand was on something soft and spongy. He could feel that his fingers were submerged in the softness.

    He lowered his gaze and realized that his hand was on the chest of the girl.

    Ryder tried to free his hand, but he couldn¡¯t. His hand was stuck on her clothes while his other hand was stuck on her hand, which he couldn¡¯t free. He was shocked and lost control of his abilities that he received because of the pill.

    He tried moving his hand up, but he wasn¡¯t able to. It was like his abilities were messing up.

    "Aa..." The girl was about to open her mouth to scream for help as she wasn¡¯t able to push Ryder aside either.

 Chapter 186 A sudden kiss

    <h4>Chapter 186: A sudden kiss</h4>

    Ryder had no choice but to close her mouth. Since he couldn¡¯t free his hands, he moved his head forward and closed her lips with his lips while he tried to gain back control of his abilities.

    After a few more seconds, he was able to retract the ability of his hand, and his hand was again freed.

    He released her lips and closed them with his hand instantly.

    "Mmm... mmm,"

    The girl kept trying to say something, but Ryder didn¡¯t let her speak.

    He also noticed a girl nearby. He assumed that this girl was probably a guard here.

    "It¡¯s not the time for you to talk. Good Night," Ryder muttered as he ced his finger under the left ear of the girl and moved it in a weird motion.

    A small cracking noise appeared, which was barely audible unless someone was trying to listen very carefully in an environment with a pin drop silence.

    The girl¡¯s eyes closed as she lost her consciousness.

    This was a skill that Ryder had learned from the lower martial art manual. It was something that could make a person unconscious for a few hours.

    After making the girl lose consciousness, Ryder removed his hand from her mouth. He noticed her red lips and couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    "I am sorry for the sudden kiss. I had no choice," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face as he got off of her and stood up.

    "Let¡¯s just move you to the side," He let out as he stepped forth and picked the woman up on his arm in a princess carry.

    The woman was very lightweight. He couldn¡¯t help but notice that.

    ¡¯You don¡¯t look so light looking at certain things, and still, you are lighter than me," Ryder shook his head as he moved the girl to the corner of the property and went behind the bushes. He left her on the ground in a ce where no one would notice her.

    Ryder walked out of the bushes after cing the girl there and walked to the gun that the girl had dropped.

    It was a beautiful pistol that had an eagle insignia on it.

    He checked it and found it to be fully loaded.

    He ced the gun inside his belt on his back and covered it with his shirt as he continued walking ahead.

    Instead of going towards the front where he believed to find guards, he decided to go through the window to the highest floor.

    He still had the spider human powers that he used to stick to the wall. He started climbing up.

    The mansion had three floors. The third floor was the ce he was targeting.

    Ryder climbed to the third floor andnded on the balcony. He could see the guards on the ground towards the front, but the guards were not looking up.

    He tried opening the window door, hoping that it would be unlocked, but he found it to be locked.

    He couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    "I hoped that it would be opened so I wouldn¡¯t have to waste Origin Points, but it looks like I have no choice but to do it," He let out.

    He opened the store of the system and brought a sticker.

    The item he got was called an unlock sticker. It was said to unlock any door or window it was ced on. This sticker was a one-time use item, and it couldn¡¯t be used again. ording to the description that Ryder had read, after being used once, the sticker would lose its abilities.

    Ryder ced the sticker on the window. As soon as the sticker was ced over the window, it started shining.

    The window lock was opened. Ryder was easily able to open the window.

    The window was opened, and Ryder entered inside the house before he closed the window.

    A few seconds after Ryder had entered the house, a ck SUV stopped outside the mansion. Ryder couldn¡¯t see that since he had already entered.

    Four people stepped out of the car. Two of them were guys, while the other two were girls. It was the team of FBI that hade to initiate the first part of their n. They hade to interrogate Jameson to make him know that they were after him, hoping that he would make a mistake after that.

    Ray was talking to the guards outside the house.

    Ryder was standing on the third floor of the house. He was looking around to find Jameson, but this ce was mostly empty.

    He had seen Jameson¡¯s image on the inte, and he believed that he could recognize him at first sight.

    Ryder walked through the floor and checked the rooms, but he didn¡¯t find Jameson.

    In the next five minutes, he had checked all the rooms on that floor except one.

    He was walking towards thest room.

    Thest room was the ce where Jameson was in. Jameson was sleeping on the bed when he was woken up by a call.

    He picked up the call that was from his security head.

    "They say they are from the FBI? Have you checked their credentials?"

    "Alright. Bring them inside. I¡¯ll be right down."

    Jameson disconnected the call. He got off the bed and started getting dressed.

    Ryder reached thest room. The room door was already unlocked. Ryder sneakily pushed the door open, and he was able to see a person looking in the mirror as he wore his shorts.

    ¡¯There he is,¡¯ Ryder muttered as he recognized the guy as Jameson.

    He stepped inside the room and walked towards Jameson without making as much noise.

    "Hello, Mr. Jameson," Ryder muttered when he was only three steps away from Jameson.

    Jameson turned back, shocked at the voice.

    He noticed Ryder standing there.

    "Who are you! How did you get in here! Secu..."

    Jameson was about to call for security, but he stopped as Ryder brought his gun out.

    As soon as Jameson saw the gun, he stopped. He didn¡¯t scream anymore, and he didn¡¯t try to move.

    "You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing. You can still leave, and I¡¯ll forget this ever happened," Jameson let out in a calm tone. "There are tens of armed men downstairs. One mistake can result in your death."

    "That should be what I say. One mistake can result in your death, so just listen to me. As for your armed guards, I couldn¡¯t care less about them," Ryder replied. "Do as I say and I¡¯ll leave."

    "What do you want?" Jameson inquired.

    "I don¡¯t want many things. All I want is for you to call a person and help me with some things," Ryder let out with a subtle smile on his face.

 Chapter 187 Pasher

    <h4>Chapter 187: Pasher</h4>

    "Who do you want me to call?" Jameson inquired with a frown on his face.

    "I¡¯m sure you know of Pasher Stan. He¡¯s a big builder nowadays, and he has invested in a lot of your sharestely. Unfortunately, he doesn¡¯t live in this city. I want him in this city. Make that happen, and nothing bad would happen to you," Ryder replied with a full-on serious look on his face.

    "Pasher? Do you have any enmity with him? Don¡¯t you know that it would have been easier to go to his ce than breaking in here and having me invite him here," Jameson let out with a weird look on his face.

    "I don¡¯t know his personal life. All I know is that he lives on the other end of the country. For me, it¡¯s easier to have you call him than to go in search of him. There¡¯s not even any guarantee that he would be in his home if I go there," Ryder let out.

    ¡¯ I need him in this city so that I can kill him before the Ghost of Stanner to fulfill his revenge and finish my quest,¡¯ He thought, but he didn¡¯t let it show on his face.

    "Call him and have hime here. If you can¡¯t make that happen, then I have no need to keep you alive," Ryder dered.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll call him here. Can I pick my phone up?" Jameson asked Ryder.

    "You can, but the call needs to be on speaker. I want to listen to every word," Ryder let out. "I¡¯m not taking any risk here. If there¡¯s anything even the slightest bit suspicious, I¡¯ll shoot your brains out," Ryder added.

    Jameson nodded his head, but he didn¡¯t look as scared as an average person would. He was rtively calm as if he had been in dangerous situations before, and he knew how to behave.

    He walked to the bed and picked his phone up.

    He called a number right before Ryder¡¯s eyes. He also turned on the speakers.

    Ryder could hear the ringing.

    "Hey Jameson, what¡¯s up? How did you call me today?"

    Ryder heard a deep sounding voice through the phone, which kind of matched the image of Pasher he had in mind.

    "I have some things to talk to you about. They can¡¯t be talked over on the phone, but I can¡¯t leave the city either for reasons. Can you take a flight here? It¡¯s really important," Jameson replied.

    "Is this about that project we talked about? I was wondering why you were dying it. Are there problems?" Pasher inquired. He didn¡¯t agree straight away.

    "Don¡¯t talk about that on the phone. I¡¯ll tell you everything when you get here." Jameson responded.

    "I can¡¯te, man. I¡¯m in India at the moment. I came here for business. I can¡¯t just leave. This whole week is really important for me. How about we talk on a satellite phone? No one can hear us, and it would be safe, too," Pasher suggested.

    Ryder was disappointed as he heard the response. Pasher wasn¡¯t in the country either. Let alone the other end of the country; he was on the other end of the world.

    Ryder gestured for Jameson to convince him at whatever cost.

    "Whatever you¡¯re dealing with can¡¯t be more important. I¡¯m telling you that if you don¡¯te here soon, we might both go bankrupt. Just listen to me and stop creating trouble for me. Just make an excuse to dy whatever deal you¡¯re having there or send someone else. You being here is most important!" Jameson let out in annoyance.

    "You sound really serious. Did someone get caught? Is that why I didn¡¯t hear any news of the ..."

    As soon as Pasher started speaking about that, Jameson was visibly ufortable.

    "Shut up, man! I told you toe here and not talk on the phone!"

    Jameson cut Pasher off.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll see what I can do. The best I can do is leave India tomorrow and get to the states," Pasher realized that he couldn¡¯t talk about that on the phone and agreed toe back as an apology. "I¡¯ll dy my stuff here. Sigh, I will be really angry if it¡¯s a false rm, and I lose my contract in India because of you, though."

    Pasher disconnected the call.

    "Are you satisfied now? He will being to this city. He will be here the day after tomorrow," Jameson replied as he ced the phone back on the bed.

    "That dys my n. I guess I would have to stay with you for two days," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "I knew that you might say that. You want him here, and you won¡¯t leave me alone before he¡¯s here, but can you really keep me in my room for two days without anyone being suspicious? I have many meetings today and tomorrow," Jameson replied. "You can leave your number behind. I¡¯ll call you when Pasher gets here."

    Ryder looked at Jameson weirdly, not understanding if he was joking or being serious.

    "Either you¡¯re joking, or you¡¯re a special kind of genius. How I handle whateveres next is on me. You just need to stay here and listen to me for the next two days if you don¡¯t want to die," Ryder told Jameson.

    On the ground floor of Jameson¡¯s Mansion, the FBI team was waiting with Jameson¡¯s security team head.

    "It has been over ten minutes. Is heing or not? We have more important things to do," Riya said to the Security Head as she looked at her watch.

    "We are here to ask him some questions, but I can¡¯t help but find him guilty of something because he¡¯s hiding. Is he really that afraid of the FBI?" Jacob chimed in.

    "Let¡¯s wait more. We are in someone else¡¯s house, and there might be reasons. It¡¯s only ten minutes," Ray let out, telling his teammates to stay calm.

    He wasn¡¯t worried. If Jameson was already scared, then it was even better. It would be good if he were already calling someone since they had already begun recording his calls. Their mission today wasn¡¯t to seriously interrogate but to scare Jameson and to make him take a wrong step. If they could do this by sitting on the couch, then there was nothing wrong with it.

    Jameson was in his room, waiting. He hadn¡¯t informed Ryder about the FBI¡¯s arrival here since he was waiting for them to create amotion that would need him to go out. As soon as he was out of Ryder¡¯s reach, everything was to be fine.

 Chapter 188 Experiment

    <h4>Chapter 188: Experiment</h4>

    "I remember Pasher was talking about something before you cut him off. I can¡¯t help but wonder if he was talking about blowing up the amusement park, was he?" Ryder asked Jameson. "That would havee in the news for sure."

    Jameson had looked calm most of the time. Even when Ryder had shown him the gun, he still hadn¡¯t looked anxious, but it was suddenly different.

    As soon as Ryder mentioned the blowing up of the amusement park, Jameson became anxious. A deep frown appeared on his face as he nced at Ryder.

    "What are you talking about?" He asked, acting ignorantly.

    Even though he wanted to ask how Ryder knew it, he didn¡¯t do it since that would prove that it was the truth. He wanted to deny itpletely, and the best way to do that was to not even acknowledge it.

    "Of course you know what I¡¯m talking about. I know about it as well. I killed the guy who you sent to set things up, too," Ryder chuckled. "What did you think happened to him? Did you think that he escaped with whatever money you gave him?"

    "You killed him?" Jameson inquired, as a frown covered his face.

    "Yeah, I think I shot him two times, or maybe it was one, I don¡¯t remember how many times I shot him," Ryder muttered as he ced his finger on his chin.

    "I¡¯m sure you¡¯re curious. You want to know why I did that, don¡¯t you?" Ryder inquired as he chuckled.

    "Don¡¯t worry; it was not to stop whatever n you were hatching. I just happened to be present in that park that day. That bastard hit me while walking and didn¡¯t even apologize. I took him to a corner and beat the shit out of him, but before I could shoot him, he started bbering. He talked about how his bag had a bomb, and if I killed him, the whole ce would be blown up."

    Ryder started using his bluff to make up a story.

    "I dealt with the bomb and, after that, interrogated him. After getting my answers, I shot him. Not a big deal," Ryder said casually.

    "He told me about the person who sent him to blow up the ce and guess who that person was?" Ryder inquired as he enjoyed the deepening frown on Jameson¡¯s face.

    Jameson heard Ryder¡¯s question, but he already knew what Ryder was trying to make him say. He wondered if Ryder had a recorder, and he was an agent sent to take his confession. He refused to say anything.

    "What happened? Cat got your tongue? Anyway, I guess I¡¯ll have to be the one who tells you. He said your name. Now I have a question. Why were you going to blow up your own property?" Ryder asked with an interested smile on his face

    Jameson just stood before him and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Ryder sighed to himself.

    "I guess you don¡¯t take me seriously anymore," Ryder muttered.

    Ryder had the gun which he had taken from the girl, but he wasn¡¯t using his own gun yet. He brought his hand behind his back and sent the girl¡¯s gun back into his storage space behind his back. He brought out another gun.

    The reason he wanted another gun was because the second gun was already set up with a silencer that made no notice when one was shot.

    Jameson was still not saying anything, and he was just looking at Ryder. He was really doubtful that Ryder was from the FBI and that he was undercover acting to be a criminal. He thought that the FBI had somehow caught the person he had sent to blow up the park, and they decided to enact this n to get a confession out of him.

    The timing of the arrival of the FBI team and Ryder matched as well.

    He also believed that they talked about Pasher and made him call him just to throw him off so that he wouldn¡¯t think too deeply when Ryder asked other questions. He also believed that Ryder wouldn¡¯t shoot him.

    "I¡¯m asking you onest time. Are you going to answer me or not?" Ryder inquired with a stern look on his face.

    Jameson still didn¡¯t open his mouth.

    Ryder abruptly brought his hand forward with him and asked once again. Jameson still didn¡¯t answer, but this time Ryder straight away shot the foot of Jameson.

    The bullet prated Jameson¡¯s foot, making him scream like a pig. He dropped down to the ground and roared as loud as he could, but Ryder didn¡¯t stop him and stayed there with a subtle smile on his face.

    "Hearing your scream gives me pleasure. Don¡¯t know why, though. I must really hate you for not answering," Ryder chuckled.

    "Is that the best you can scream?!" Ryder thundered, not keeping his voice low.

    Jameson looked at him in shock. His eyes were blood red, and his face was pale because of the pain, but he was more shocked that Ryder hadn¡¯t tried to keep him silent. Why wasn¡¯t he worried for his men toe here? What was happening here? Didn¡¯t he use a silencer because he wanted to keep the noise down, why was he not keeping his voice down then?

    "What Jameson didn¡¯t know was that the gun Ryder was using was the one he had taken from the same person that Jameson had sent to blow up the amusement park. As for the silencer, that was just something that Ryder used as a decoy just to see this confused look on Jameson¡¯s face.

    He had already warded the room by using an item from the system. It was the same item that he had used in the office of the Dean of the University of Dreamers when he went there to beat him.

    This was a precaution, and the item wasn¡¯t much expensive either. After using it, it was impossible for any sound to leave this room.

    "You can scream as much as you want, but your guards won¡¯te here. As for a reason, I¡¯ll leave that up to your guess," Ryder replied.

    "On another note, if you don¡¯t answer me, your other leg will be gone as well. I¡¯m not joking. You don¡¯t know the psychopath you havee to face with. Answer me, or we can have a small experiment. Do you want to hear the experiment? It¡¯s the same one I had with the guy you sent to blow up the park."

    "I¡¯ll count to three, and if you don¡¯t start answering, I¡¯ll shoot your other leg, and then I¡¯ll tell you about the experiment," Ryder added.

 Chapter 189 Furious Agents

    <h4>Chapter 189: Furious Agents</h4>

    "1..."

    Ryder started the count.

    "You bastard! My men will soon be here. I¡¯ll see how you survive!" Jameson roared. The pain was evident on his face.

    "They won¡¯te even if you scream all day long. Also, 2..." Ryder let out.

    "I wi..."

    Jameson started speaking, but without letting himplete, Ryder shot his other leg as well.

    ¡¯That¡¯s for putting Alice¡¯s life in danger,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    Jameson started crying even louder. His eyes were covered in tears.

    "Aaaa, You bastard! You will go to hell! I was about to start speaking, yet you shot me!" he let out as he held his legs.

    "Oh, you were trying to answer me. Sorry, I thought you were going to repeat the same thing about not answering me. My bad," Ryder responded, but he didn¡¯t mean it.

    "Anyway, now that we have alreadye here, let me tell you about the same experiment. The experiment is to see what hurts a person more. Being kicked between the legs or being shot between the legs. Are you going to answer me, or should I count to three again?" Ryder inquired.

    The name of the count itself was enough to send Jameson into a frenzy. He was already sweating as tears kept falling from his eyes. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder how a dignified person like him hade down to this bad condition.

    "I will tell you! No counting! I will tell you everything you want to know!" Jameson dered.

    "Well, that¡¯s no fun. Fine though. I can experiment with someone else. Start speaking," Ryder said as he sighed.

    "Tell me why you tried to blow up your own Amusement park," He added.

    "Because of Pasher!" Jameson dered.

    "Because of Pasher? I know that he is involved after hearing your conversation, but the main question is how he is involved," Ryder inquired.

    "We had a deal. He wanted to build a five-star hotel on thend. If we broke the park, he would be able to make the hotel, but he came up with a better idea. It was to blow up the amusement park, im the insurance and then do the creation of the hotel in thend," Jameson dered.

    "Well, that was anticlimactic. I thought it was because of some evil n or some sad history of the viin that made him hate kids having fun, but it was just for a fraud? Sigh, I¡¯m disappointed in you," Ryder sighed as he let out.

    "That¡¯s all we wanted. He had invested heavily in mypany, so my profit was also his profit. I couldn¡¯t deny him when he suggested this n either," Jameson answered.

    "What about Estonia? Why did you want to kill her?" Ryder asked again.

    "Estonia?"

    Jameson was once again shocked as he heard the question. He couldn¡¯t understand how Ryder knew about all these things.

    He was about to reply when his head started spinning. He had begun to feel weak. His legs had lost a lot of blood, and he wasn¡¯t able to see clearly.

    "Yeah, Estonia. Why did you send men to kill her?" Ryder asked again, but he suddenly noticed something strange. He was about to step forward when Jameson fell down to the ground as he lost consciousness.

    "He¡¯s unconscious. I should¡¯ve practiced moderation when shooting him. Now I can¡¯t do anything but wait," Ryder let out in annoyance as he brought out the spray that he had saved fromst time he had used on the Dean of the University of Dreamers.

    It was a spray that was able to heal any wound, but it had a side effect. If it was used on a man, it made them impotent, and if it was used on women, it made them unable to have a child in the future.

    Since Jameson was not a friend, Ryder didn¡¯t care if he was made impotent.

    Ryder stepped forth and sprayed on both of Jameson¡¯s legs.

    Jameson¡¯s legs started healing, and the bleeding stopped. In less than a few minutes, Jameson¡¯s legs were healed.

    Ryder picked Jameson up and ced him on the bed. He also sat on the bed.

    He casually picked up Jameson¡¯s phone that was lying on the bed.

    The phone was locked, but Ryder easily handled the lock. He used the fingerprint of Jameson to unlock the phone.

    As soon as the phone was unlocked, Ryder opened the contacts of Jameson.

    He opened Pasher¡¯s number. He also brought out his phone and saved the number in his phone. He ced his phone back and started going through the contacts of Jameson to see if there was something of value in there.

    He hadn¡¯t even scrolled once when a message arrived on Jameson¡¯s phone.

    Ryder opened the message and started reading it.

    "Boss, The FBI team is waiting for you. They are getting impatient. They are asking how long it would be before youe. What should I tell them?"

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but be stunned as he read the message.

    "FBI? What are they doing here? It would be troublesome if they came to meet Jameson," Ryder muttered. "I can reverse time, but that wouldn¡¯t be useful. Since the FBI is here, I need to save that for an emergency."

    He started typing a message.

    "Tell them that I¡¯m not feeling well and that I have fallen asleep. Have theme another time. I won¡¯t meet anyone today."

    Ryder sent the message.

    Daga was the security head of Jameson. He had just sent a message to Jameson to ask about his arrival and only after a few seconds, he got a message back.

    He read the message and nodded his head.

    He walked towards the team of the FBI that was sitting on the couch, waiting.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have received the information from the Head Maid that the Master is sleeping. He also has a slight fever. I don¡¯t think that he would be able to meet you today. I sincerely apologize. Pleasee again some other time," Daga told Ray and others.

    "We can¡¯t leave without seeing Jameson. I wouldn¡¯t disturb him too much, but we can¡¯t leave without getting what we need. We have already shown you the investigation warrant, and we have to finish it today. We have already waited enough here. Either call him down, or we¡¯ll go find him ourselves," Ray dered as he stood up. He was finally annoyed and feeling disrespected. Not for himself, but for the organization he worked for.

    "Don¡¯t think you can treat us this way! We are not here to ask him for any favor, it¡¯s an official FBI matter, and we have already waited long enough. That¡¯s enough time," Riya also chimed in.

 Chapter 190 Surrounded?

    <h4>Chapter 190: Surrounded?</h4>

    "You can either call him down, or we can seal this whole mansion and arrest your master. Don¡¯t think we don¡¯t have the authority to do it. We are in full authority here," Jacob dered as he pointed his finger at Daga.

    "Are you trying to threaten me? I have worked inw enforcement for 21 years, and I know some things. You can¡¯t force your way in. You have an interrogation warrant, but you don¡¯t have the search warrant to search the house. If you try to do anything inside this mansion, that would be illegal, and we will be well within our rights as the security of this mansion to gun you down," Daga responded without backing off. He was loyal to Jameson, and he was willing to do anything to make sure that hismand was followed.

    Daga was already in a bulletproof vest, and he was carrying a heavy gun, which already made him look intimidating to the agents.

    "As for the Interrogation Warrant, you can give that to me, and it¡¯s for our boss to decide if he is avable or not. If for certain health-rted reasons, he¡¯s not avable, then you can¡¯t force him as well. You can ce nonpliance on him, but that will be handled in the court ofw. That¡¯s all I¡¯ll say for now. I¡¯m not going to wake my feverish master for you. I must ask you to leave our ce," Daga said as he gestured for them to leave.

    "You a...."

    Jacob was instantly angry as he pulled out his gun and pointed his gun towards Daga, but as soon as his gun was pulled out, all the security guards of the mansion also pulled out their guns and aimed that at Ray and others.

    "Little guy, don¡¯t give us any reason to shoot. You know as well as I that it would be legal and self-defense. We have cameras right above us. It¡¯s clear that you pulled out the gun first. Silently leave, or you won¡¯t be capable of leaving!" Daga let out. There was a frown on his face as he red at Jacob.

    "Jacob, let¡¯s go," Ray told Jacob as he started walking towards the exit without creating anymotion.

    "But..."

    Jacob wanted to say something, but Riya ced a hand on his shoulder.

    "Listen to him. Let¡¯s leave," She said as she started walking towards the exit as well.

    "Hmph," Jacob snorted as he red at Daga before he lowered his gun and left the mansion with Mna.

    Jacob got into the car after Riya and Ray.

    "We had all the authority there. They can¡¯t stop us! We didn¡¯t have to leave!" Jacob said to Ray. "Now, it looks like we were scared!"

    "It was a tactical retreat. They wouldn¡¯t allow us to meet Jameson, and the four of us couldn¡¯t do anything. We need the Chief¡¯s permission to do anything. Let me consult him first," Ray said to Jacob as he sighed.

    "Riya, you opened the server to see if Jameson had called anyone in thest half an hour or not. I want to hear the recording if he called anyone," Ray told Riya.

    Riya nodded her head and opened theptop.

    Ray dialed the number of their head and started telling him what had happened.

    "Is that so, Alright. Check if he had called anyone or not. If he hadn¡¯t, then he¡¯s not worried about it yet. In that case, you have full authority to surround their ce. I¡¯m sending backup. I¡¯ll also get you a search warrant. It would be even better if we could arrest him for nonpliance. It doesn¡¯t matter much if we ask him questions in his home or in a cell since both would work the same to agitate him," the Chief told Ray.

    "I understand. We¡¯re checking the recordings now. I¡¯ll keep you updated," Ray said before he disconnected the call.

    Ray looked back at Riya, who was wearing a headphone and listening to something.

    "Anything?" Ray asked her as he tapped her shoulder.

    Riya took off her headphones.

    "Yeah, Jameson talked to two people in thest half an hour. One of them was his Head of Security, who told him of our arrival," Riya replied.

    She disconnected the headphones and yed the recording for everyone to hear.

    Ray couldn¡¯t help but ce his hands on his chin as he heard the first recording. It was nothing serious and just a message being conveyed about their arrival.

    "He doesn¡¯t sound worried after hearing about our arrival. He also talked abouting down, and I didn¡¯t feel like he was lying. What happened after that call, which made him note down?" Ray muttered with a frown on his face.

    "Alright. Who was the second person he talked to?" Ray asked Riya.

    "He called a person called Pasha Stan after a few minutes from the first call. I searched about him, and he is the owner of a constructionpany. Pasher is also a shareholder in Jameson¡¯s business." Riya answered to Ray.

    "Alright. y that recording," Ray told her.

    Riya tapped a few keys on the keyboard and started ying the second call.

    All of them heard the recordings, and they were all left confused after the recording was finished.

    "What is this all about? It sounds like something did happen. What was this talk about going bankrupt," Mna inquired in confusion.

    "We got it, but it wasn¡¯t clear. You guys heard it, right? Pasher was talking about something about news before he was cut off. He had said ; I think he was trying to say st. It might be something rted to uprising. We need to get him in. We are going with n b. We are arresting him and taking him to a cell. Let me inform the chief and have the backup fast," He said as he picked up his phone and called the chief again.

    He conveyed everything they found out and suggested some things. He disconnected the call after he got all the permissions.

    "Are we getting the backup?" Riya asked Ray as she saw him disconnect the call.

    "Yeah, they¡¯ll be here in twenty minutes. Mna, keep an eye on the ce to make sure that no one leaves. Riya, Jacob, wear the safety measures. It might be a big day," Ray let out as he stood up and started wearing the bulletproof vest.

    The others also started getting ready for a confrontation.

    "We¡¯ll get that bastard and that security head," Jacob muttered as he checked his guns to make sure that they were ready for what might be ahead.

 Chapter 191 Mission to attack FBI

    <h4>Chapter 191: Mission to attack FBI</h4>

    Ryder picked up the phone once again after a few seconds and messaged the security head asking for the details. He wanted to know if the FBI was gone or not.

    He was hoping to get a message likest time, but instead of getting a message, he got a call directly.

    Ryder looked at the number of Daga and started frowning. If he picked up the call, Daga would instantly recognize that he¡¯s not Jameson from his voice, and if he didn¡¯t pick up, he would definitely be suspicious.

    "Looks like I have no choice but to take a loan from the system," He muttered as he smiled wryly. "I will also need a few more items."

    "Hey Janus, I would like another Origin Points loan from you," Ryder asked Janus.

    Janus agreed and gave him Origin Points on loan.

    Ryder opened the Store of the System and started scrolling down. He had seen an item before, and he wanted to get that along with a few others that he believed to be useful here.

    "There it is," He muttered as he found what he was looking for.

    [Name: Voice Modification Pill]

    [Description: Exchange your voice with the first person you touch after eating the pill]

    [Warning: Effectsst for a day]

    Ryder clicked on the pill and purchased it.

    He scrolled once again and bought a few other items.

    The call was disconnected, but the phone started ringing again.

    "Wait a minute, dude," Ryder muttered in annoyance as he closed the store. He ced the pill in his mouth and swallowed it instantly.

    He touched Jameson, that was lying on the bed. As soon as he touched Jameson, he could feel something change in his throat.

    "Testing."

    He tried talking, and a smile appeared on his face as his voice sounded exactly like Jameson.

    He picked up the call of Daga.

    "Speak," Ryder said as soon as he picked up the call.

    "Ah, right, sir. I have sent the agents outside, but I don¡¯t think they would stay out for long. They might try to get the search warrant toe inside the house. What do you want us to do?" Daga asked Ryder.

    "Exin in detail what you did? Why would theye back if you sent them properly and invited them another day?" Ryder asked with a frown on his face. "Did something serious happen?"

    Daga started talking about the conflict and how it ended with both sides getting serious.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but facepalm himself.

    ¡¯You idiot! If I had to offend them, why would I tell you to tell them that I was sick? Of course, they¡¯lle back. You literally insulted them,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned, but he didn¡¯t say that out loud.

    "I¡¯ll call you back. Let me think for some time," Ryder let out as he disconnected the call.

    "They will probablye here with force now. Just what the heck did this guy do to offend them? I mean, I know what he did, but how did they know? What kind of evil guy is this? He can¡¯t even hide his trail," Ryder cursed as he kicked the butt of Jameson.

    "Should I take him and leave while I have the chance?" Ryder wondered as he nced at Jameson.

    "I should be able to leave while carrying him. That¡¯s it. That¡¯s what I¡¯ll do. As long as I have him, I can get Pasher anywhere," Ryder muttered as he clenched his fist.

    He had alreadye to a conclusion. He was about to go ahead and pick up Jameson, but that¡¯s when he heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    [Host has been assigned an Urgent Mission]

    [Mission: Kill the FBI agent with a red bracelet in their hand]

    [Mission Reward: The Loan would be forgiven]

    [Mission Reward: Hundred Origin Points]

    [Mission Reward: The Mask of Anonymity]

    [Punishment for Failure: Someone close to you will die in next five days]

    [Time limit: One day]

    "Killing an FBI agent? Now, why the heck would I do that? Do you have any enmity with him?" Ryder asked Janus.

    "I don¡¯t have any enmity or friendship with Mortals," Janus replied in a proud tone.

    "Whatever, can you at least tell me why that person needs to die? They shouldn¡¯t be rted to anything, and it¡¯s the first time you¡¯ve given a Mission to kill someone that is not a bad guy," Ryde asked with a frown. "Unless... that agent is a bad guy!"

    "I get it! He must be the bad guy!" Ryder came to a conclusion, mostly for thefort of his state of mind. He didn¡¯t know if he was close to reality or not, but that¡¯s what he believed.

    "Even if I agreed to kill him, it¡¯s going to be impossible, isn¡¯t it? Unless I go out guns zing and use my Ruler of Nature to stay alive, but they might recognize me fromst time then. I¡¯ll be linked to the Uprising and Jameson too. He mighte on the TV and Pasher won¡¯te then. I don¡¯t want to get that banner on me either. At least give me that Sniper Gun and the perfect aim again," Ryder asked Janus

    He believed that if he had the abilities that Janus gave himst time, he would easily kill the person from some nearby building. He would even be able to escape easily, but from the front, it would be troublesome.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    "Whatever. I guess I¡¯ll just have to do it myself, full-on Rambo style," Ryder muttered as he raised his gun.

    "I¡¯ll attack first, instead of waiting," Ryder let out as he looked towards the door.

    He believed that the agents should still be outside. He needed to leave and then kill them from outside so that he doesn¡¯t involve Jameson or himself in it.

    He ced the mask of BirdMan back and wore the full face mask of One Attack man since he needed to hide every trail. He was also wearing gloves. He covered every part of his body and made sure that not even a little of his skin was showing.

    He picked up the phone and called Daga again.

    "No matter what happens, don¡¯t let them enter the mansion if they try to," Ryder told Daga. "Also, make sure that no one disturbs me on my floor. I want true peace. I really have a headache."

    Daga agreed and promised that he wouldn¡¯t let anyone enter the mansion. Ryder disconnected the call.

    He walked out of the room of Jameson and closed the door as he ced a sticker on it.

    ************************************

    Author¡¯s Note: Sorry for the interruption, but just wanted to inform you that this novel is also a part of the Win Win event. If any of you want, you can buy any Privilege of this novel and it would be a Massive support. Even the 1 coin privilege helps.

    PS: This note was added after the chapter was updated. It won¡¯t affect the chapter cost.

 Chapter 192 You?

    <h4>Chapter 192: You?</h4>

    Other than him, no one was able to open the door from inside or from outside. Also, the inside was sealed so that no voice coulde out either. Ryder was carefree now as he walked towards the window.

    "Should I try flying? I can use other abilities of the bracelet in the real world, so flying should be possible too," Ryder muttered as he stood near the window.

    He jumped out of the window and started flying. He was able to fly, but he knew that he could only fly for less than an hour in a day. So he didn¡¯t waste it. He looked around and saw a ck SUV outside, which he believed to belong to the FBI.

    He flew toward the SUV andnded behind a tree that was near the ck SUV.

    "Time to get to work," He muttered as he brought out a gun and tucked in the back and covered it with his shirt as he walked towards the car.

    He stopped before the window and knocked on the door.

    The window was dark from the outside, but it was transparent from the inside. The people inside the SUV could see him.

    Ray and the others saw a man in a full face mask and started frowning.

    Ray gestured for Jacob to open the door while being careful. He also brought his gun out and aimed it towards the door to shoot the man if he tried to do anything.

    Jacob opened the door carefully.

    As soon as the door was opened, Ryder was able to see inside. He saw Jacob dressed in SWAT gear along with others. He also noticed Ray and recognized him as the person he had saved before.

    "Who are you? Why are you hiding your face in public?" Jacob asked Ryder.

    "I am looking for the One Attack Man Fan Club. Can you tell me the directions?" Ryder asked as he lowered the pitch of his voice. His voice was still Jameson¡¯s voice, so he wanted to make it hard to distinguish.

    He also tried to see the hands of the people, but he didn¡¯t find any bracelets in their hands. He looked to the side and saw the girls sitting there, and by the grace of luck, he saw a bracelet in the hand on one of the girls that matched the one he was looking for.

    ¡¯She should be the one I¡¯m looking for,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Sorry, we don¡¯t know anything. Ask someone else," Jacob let out. He was about to close the door when he saw Ryder¡¯s hand moving behind his back.

    "Stop moving your hand, or we will shoot! Get your hands above your head where I can see it!" Ray thundered as he saw Ryder¡¯s hand going towards his back.

    "Sorry, can¡¯t do," Ryder let out as he pulled out a gun.

    As soon as Ray saw the gun, he instantly shot. He had already aimed. His bullet prated Ryder¡¯s head, but not before Ryder fired a shot.

    Surprisingly, his aim was also good. It shot the girl that was wearing the bracelet.

    The girl dropped instantly while Ryder dropped down to the ground.

    "No, No, No! Riya, Fuck!" Ray let out in worry as he turned back and saw that Riya was shot.

    Jacob was also looking at her nkly.

    "How is it that you¡¯re still breathing?" Ray let out with a frown on his face as he noticed that Riya was still breathing perfectly fine despite being shot in the middle of the forehead.

    He checked her nerves, and that seemed fine as well.

    "Geez, there is no way out is there," Riya let out as she sat up as if nothing was wrong. There was a big hole in her forehead that wasn¡¯t healing; still, she was sitting.

    Mna backed off in fear, but she couldn¡¯t move too far away from Riya since she was in a car.

    Riya touched the hole in her forehead and sighed.

    "It¡¯s going to be so hard to convince them to heal this for me. That idiot just had to shoot my head," Riya let out in annoyance.

    "I guess this Infiltration is over. Being shot in the forehead before the other agents is game over. I can¡¯t even fake an excuse of miracle after waking up if we even go to the hospital. The only way to still keep this going is to kill you all. If no one saw me ¡¯dying¡¯, then Riya would still be a living agent of the FBI," Riya let out as she grinned.

    She raised her hand and gripped the neck of Mna, who was near her as she started choking her.

    "You¡¯re from the BioTerror! Release Mna this instant!" Ray let out as he shot a bullet in Riya¡¯s head as well. He kept firing and emptied his gun, but Riya didn¡¯t fall down.

    Jacob¡¯s hands were shaking as he saw a scene that he couldn¡¯t believe. Someone he thought to be a close friend was a Bio Enhanced person, and she was the enemy! He also emptied his gun, trying to kill Riya to free Mna, but it didn¡¯t work either.

    "You can shoot all you want. One repair cost the same. It doesn¡¯t matter if there is one hole or fifty," Riya let out as she chuckled. There were more than five holes in her forehead. She looked so creepy that a normal person would be easily scared, but Ray and Jacob were more concerned about Mna.

    Seeing that the bullets weren¡¯t working, Ray and Jacob decided to jump over Riya and use physical strength to free Mna.

    It didn¡¯t matter how much they tried; they weren¡¯t able to free Mna. Riya was just too strong. Mna was killed right before their eyes, and they weren¡¯t able to free her.

    "I¡¯ll save the leader for thest. Let me deal with my friend first," Riya said as she freed the dead body of Mna and gripped the neck of Jacob.

    "So you¡¯re from the Uprising. I shouldn¡¯t have doubted him. That organization is much bigger than I expected if they even sent someone in the FBI and they weren¡¯t found out. Really Interesting,"

    Riya was trying to kill Jacob when she and the others heard a voice.

    They all looked back and saw the person in the mask of One Attack Man standing behind them.

    The man entered the car and caught Riya by the throat as he pulled her out of the car.

    Jacob was freed as Riya was pulled out of the car. Riya crashed on the ground.

 Chapter 193 Joining the Enemy?

    <h4>Chapter 193: Joining the Enemy?</h4>

    "I thought I was done, and I had killed you, but it won¡¯t be over before you¡¯re truly dead. Bullets don¡¯t seem to work on you. Let me just cut you up then," Ryder muttered as he walked towards the girl lying on the ground.

    "His back... Is he the same person that helped us deal with the Bio Terrorists in Washington? He seems to have hostility from that organization and a lot of knowledge. No wonder he was able to find out the reality of Riya while we weren¡¯t," Ray muttered as he recognized the back of the man before him.

    Another thing that proved to him that Ryder was the same person was that he hadn¡¯t died either, just like that person wasn¡¯t dying. Also, he was against Riya, who was probably from that evil organization.

    Ray was over ny-nine percent sure that the person before him was the same person that helped him before, and he was over seventy percent sure that the person was Ryder.

    "Ahu, ahu," Jacob was coughing heavily as his neck was finally freed, and he was able to breathe.

    His heartbeat was fast, but it was getting normal as his neck was freed.

    "Is that really the one who helped you before? I can¡¯t believe it. How did he survive that st?" Jacob asked as he looked out of the car. He was having a hard time believing Ray¡¯s theory.

    " I have no idea. There are so many things that don¡¯t make sense, but they happen. That should be one of those mysteries. Every day, I¡¯m finding my general knowledge of the world being shattered," Ray replied as he shook his head. He had realized that this world was aplicated ce, and there was nothing that was unbelievable here.

    "Should we help him?" Jacob inquired as he looked at Ray.

    "Let¡¯s just watch. I don¡¯t think he seems to be worried," Ray replied.

    While Ray and Jacob were talking, Ryder was walking towards the girl with a sword in his hand that he had taken out from his storage.

    " It would¡¯ve been much better if you were the one to attack me first as I would be able to get some experience, but that¡¯s already impossible since I had to pull you out. I¡¯m pretty annoyed at you," Ryder let out as he walked forth.

    "You¡¯re the person that was in Washington, aren¡¯t you? Who are you? Why are you trying to be an obstruction for Uprising? Did they not give you what you want? Tell me why you went rogue after they helped you evolve!" Riya let out loud. Her voice was so loud that it reached Ray as well.

    The girl believed that Ryder was one of them since he had a simr ability. She thought that he got the powers the same way as she got her abilities, and if he was still opposing Uprising and trying to destroy them, then he was a rogue, but that was only her assumption. She didn¡¯t know that she was entirely wrong.

    She didn¡¯t know that Ryder¡¯s powers were way above whatever ability she got. She was living even after being shot, but she was like a robot. The damage was clearly shown in her forehead in the form of the bullet holes, but Ryder, on the other hand, was perfectly healed.

    To Ray and Jacob, this assumption sounded like a confession from her. They thought that she was talking about some secret. Ray believed even more and more that Ryder was part of some secret experiment, and now he had decided to fight against that evil organization by using their own powers.

    In Ray¡¯s mind, Ryder was a Rogue hero, fighting the evil sound in the quest for some kind of revenge.

    "What the heck are you talking about? All I want is to kill you. Just die silently!" Ryder let out as he ran towards her and swung his sword towards her neck. He wanted to destroy her beyond repair.

    Just as his sword was about tond on her neck, Riya raised her hand and caught his sword with her bare hands.

    "Hmm?" Ryder looked weirdly at her hand, wondering how it wasn¡¯t cut. Even though the sword was something that he bought from a normal store, it was still a sharp sword.

    "You can¡¯t kill me, and I can¡¯t kill you. You still have time. Join us," Riya said as she reached out her left hand to shake Ryder¡¯s hand. "You¡¯ll get many treasures if you join us."

    "That does sound good," Ryder replied as he reached out his hand and held her hand.

    "This can¡¯t be!" Ray let out with a look of disbelief on his face.

    "When is the backup getting here? We might need to fight the both of them," Jacob said with a look of sadness on his face. He believed that Ryder had actually joined up with Riya.

    "They should be here soon," Ray said as he shook his head, frowning.

    Ryder was holding the hands of Riya, but he used that to pull her closer as he kicked her face. His bootnded on Riya¡¯s face and made her fall down.

    His sword was freed from her grip. He raised her and smashed her on the ground.

    Cracks developed on the ground, and Riya¡¯s head was smashed on it.

    "I don¡¯t care for any organization, but I do need you for something," Ryder said as he gripped her neck and started running away with her. Riya struggled to free herself, but she couldn¡¯t.

    "Wait," Ray called out as he ran after him, but he saw Ryder turning in a corner. As he reached there, he saw that it waspletely empty. There was no one there.

    While Ray was looking around on the streets, Ryder was in the sky. He had alreadynded on the balcony of Jameson¡¯s Mansion. He was holding Riya in a chokehold while he used his other hand to close her mouth.

    He entered the mansion and walked into Jameson¡¯s room as he closed the door.

    He freed her inside the room.

    "Now, you can scream all you want," he let out as he smiled.

    "I¡¯ll kill you!" Riya let out as she ran forward to attack Ryder.

    "Thunder," Ryder let out casually.

    "Aaaaa!" Riya screamed like crazy.

    As soon as the word escaped his lips, Riya was electrocuted. She screamed out loud as she dropped to her knees.

    ¡¯The items are really fun to use. I might get addicted to buying things from the system store,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled.

 Chapter 194 The headquarters

    <h4>Chapter 194: The headquarters</h4>

    Riya was electrocuted because of another item that he bought before he stepped out of the mansion to kill her. It was another sticker. The person he ced this sticker on was electrocuted every time he said the word ¡¯Thunder¡¯.

    "I know that you don¡¯t die, but I have many ways to kill you that you can¡¯t even think of. I would have already killed you toplete my mission, but since you¡¯re from Uprising, I want to use you to get some answers. Answer my questions, and I¡¯ll let you go. Don¡¯t answer me, and I¡¯ll keep torturing you," Ryder told her. "The decision is yours."

    "First answer this. Do you have any chip in your brain that will kill you if you start answering me? It shouldn¡¯t be useful since you¡¯re still alive after being shot in the head a few times. Your brain is already sted off. Still, tell me if you can answer without dying or not," Ryder asked her.

    "I can answer," The girl replied. "But I won¡¯t answer."

    "That¡¯s all I needed to know. As for how I get the answers out of you, leave that to me," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "Where is the headquarters of Uprising?" He asked the girl.

    "Ask that question in hell!" the girl let out as she suddenly attacked once more.

    "Thunder," Ryder muttered once more.

    Before she could touch him, she fell down on the ground as she groaned in pain.

    "You bastard! What kind of Dark Magic is this!" the girl roared furiously.

    "A magician never reveals his secrets, but you, on the other hand, need to reveal your secret. I can do this all day. Thunder,"

    "Aaaa," The girl wriggled on the ground in pain as if her soul was burning with each electrification.

    "I¡¯ll tell you! It¡¯s in R...." The girl was about to speak, but her eyes when nk as soon as she started talking. White fog starteding out of her mouth as she stopped moving.

    [Mission Complete]

    [Loan of the host is forgiven]

    [Hundred Origin Points added]

    [Mask of Anonymity is given]

    "She¡¯s dead? Those guys really have some unique methods to kill the ones that are about to expose their secrets. The people that can die have the brain chip like thing, and the people that can¡¯t die have something weird altogether. It seems impossible to find about them from small fries," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    He stepped forth and started checking the clothes of Riya to see if divine useful was on her or not.

    He didn¡¯t find anything useful. She didn¡¯t have a phone, either.

    "A literal waste of time. At least I didn¡¯t have to make the agents my enemy. They saw what I¡¯m not on the enemy¡¯s side. Also, this matter will keep them busy. They don¡¯t try to get involved in Jameson¡¯s interrogation since the matter of Uprising should be more important for them," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He sent the body of the girl in his storage and sat on the bed as he nced back.

    "He¡¯s still unconscious. How long is he going to take?" Ryder wondered as he sighed.

    In the meantime, he opened his inventory to check the Mask of Anonymity that he had received. He didn¡¯t know what it was, but it sounded somewhat intriguing.

    "A mask to impersonate the people that I killed? Incredible! With this, I can impersonate anyone that I killed¡ªeven the girls. My body size and my clothes will also change ordingly. Seems pretty useful for disguise," Ryder muttered as he saw the description.

    "Now, I don¡¯t need to worry about keeping him alive anymore. I can kill him and take his ce," Ryder muttered as he nced at Jameson. "But first, I need my answers."

    He stretched his arms and started waiting for Jameson to wake up.

    Outside the mansion of Jameson, the backup teams had arrived in heavily armored vehicles. They were all dressed in their proper protective gear as they stepped out.

    "Jacob, you talk to them. Let me talk to Captain and tell him everything," Ray told Jacob as he saw the backup.

    Ray started talking to the Captain of their team.

    "Yes Sir, Riya was bio-enhanced as well. She didn¡¯t die when he shot her in the head. We also shot her many times. She was definitely a spy."

    "Yes."

    "Yes."

    "No, Sir, I don¡¯t know about that. The man disappeared with Riya. I don¡¯t know where he went or what he will do to her. But I believe that he will probably find a way to kill her."

    "Yeah, Mna is dead. She instantly died."

    "Alright."

    "Yeah, I think the same."

    "Right."

    "Yes, we will continue our mission. We are taking Jameson in."

    Ray disconnected the call.

    He walked towards the guys that had arrived as a backup.

    "Jacob, I¡¯ll need you to go back in the car. You need to apany the body of Mna to the hospital for the further process," Ray told Jacob.

    "Are we not raiding this ce?" Jacob inquired.

    "We are, but you won¡¯t be. I need someone to take the body of Mna. She was our teammate. It would only be natural that one of us would go with her," Ray replied.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll listen to you," Jacob agreed.

    Ryder was sitting in the room of Jameson, waiting for him to wake up, and he finally did.

    "Good. You¡¯re finally up," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "Tell me about Estonia. Why did you want to kill her? That¡¯s the only question I have left. We¡¯ll be done after that, and we can both rx," Ryder told him.

    "I don¡¯t know. Pasher requested me to help him kill the girl, and I did it," Jameson replied. He was also curious as to why Ryder was sounding like him, but he just saw that it was his hallucination.

    "Are you really telling the truth?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yes," Jameson replied.

    "Damn. I thought that you were the evil boss, but that¡¯s Pasher. Fine, it¡¯ll be over with his death. I need him for more important matters after all," Ryder muttered. He was continuing when he heard the gunshots.

    Even though this room prevented the voices inside from leaving, it didn¡¯t stop the outside noise.

    "Looks like this matter didn¡¯t divert their attention," Ryder muttered. Jameson¡¯s phone started ringing.

    Ryder picked up the call.

    "Master, The ce is under attack. The Swat us here as well, I think. We¡¯ll do our best to stop them, but you should get out from the back," Daga exined amidst the sound of gunshots.

 Chapter 195 Celebration

    <h4>Chapter 195: Celebration</h4>

    "Don¡¯t worry about them. Just stop them for five minutes. After five minutes, let them in. Allow them toe up as well," Ryder said as he disconnected the call.

    "What is happening?" Jameson asked with a frown.

    "Your death," Ryder let out as he shot Jameson with the gun he had taken from the girl. The bullet passed through Jameson¡¯s head, killing him instantly.

    Since he was wearing the gloves, his fingerprints were not on the gun. He ced the gun in Jameson¡¯s hands and left him lying dead in the bed, making it seem as if he had killed himself in fear of getting caught.

    Ryder stood up and left the room. He opened the window and flew outside. As he left the ce, he looked in the bushes where he left the girl and found it empty.

    "As expected, she woke up. Whatever, I don¡¯t care anymore. I¡¯m done," Ryder muttered as he continued moving.

    Hended in an empty ce and changed his clothes and took off his mask. He sent the old clothes back in his storage and wore the new ones, clearing every proof that he was somehow involved. His shoes were different, as well.

    He walked closer to the mall and entered in his car. He drove it away and got back home.

    Ryder entered his house and went to his room as he dropped down to his bed, tired.

    Since Alice wasn¡¯t back yet, he also decided to order a pizza for himself.

    He closed his eyes and just rested on the bed, calmly.

    After twenty minutes, he heard a knock on the door. He stood up and walked to the door. He collected the pizza and walked back to his room.

    After he ate the pizza, he again dropped on the bed as he closed his eyes.

    He just wanted to sleep while he could. The day was too chaotic, and after it, this peace and silence seemed heavenly.

    "Janus, Do you have a wife?" Ryder muttered out of nowhere.

    "No," Janus replied.

    "A lover?" Ryder inquired

    "No," Janus repeated the same answer.

    "You don¡¯t have a crush on Maia, do you?" Ryder asked.

    "No," Janus answered.

    "Good. I hate that one. If you ever decide to marry her, you¡¯ll never have my blessing," Ryder replied.

    "I can¡¯t marry her," Janus replied.

    "Why not? You can definitely marry her, but I won¡¯t tell you to marry her," Ryder added.

    Ryder started feeling more sleepy with each passing second.

    "You¡¯re a good guy, Janus. You¡¯re sometimes an A**hole, but your good. Thank you for giving me life. Thank you for changing my life. Thank you..."

    Ryder fell asleep.

    "Thank you for giving me life... Thank you for changing my life," Janus repeated the same word.

    Janus didn¡¯t say anything else and just went silent.

    Ryder slept like a baby in the silence of the house. In the evening, Alice also came home. She checked on Ryder and noticed that he was asleep. She silently left his room and went back to her room.

    It was night when Ryder woke up. He walked into the washroom and washed his face before he came out. He left the room and walked into the kitchen to see if there was anything.

    The dinner was already prepared. He had dinner and walked back to his room.

    Heid in his bed as he wore the Divinity sses and got ready to Dive in.

    "Take me to Divinity," He muttered.

    He found himself back into the world of Divinity. He left his room and saw Miku standing there with clothes in her hand.

    "What happened?" Ryder inquired with a frown.

    "I brought you clothes to wear on the birthday celebration of the High Dukes," Miku said as she gave Ryder the clothes.

    "I¡¯ll be right out," Ryder told her as he stepped inside the room.

    He wore the clothes that she gave. He also wrote the items that were given to the High Dukes during the coronation.

    He wore the Royal Crown, the Boots of Wind Blessing, and the robe.

    He was looking like a proper Royal, and the crown only made him look more dignified.

    He stepped out of his room, dressed like a king.

    "Is Rale up?" Ryder inquired.

    "No, Master Rale is still sleeping," Miku answered as she shook her head.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll take the others from the Royal Guards and you with me. How many people can I bring?" Ryder inquired.

    "As a prince, you can bring as many people as you want, but it would be good to keep the number low. I believe that five people in your entourage should be enough. If Master Rale was up, then only he would be enough," Miku said.

    "It¡¯s fine. Let him sleep. I¡¯ll handle it without him. What¡¯s the worst that can happen? It¡¯s a birthday celebration, after all. Call Dale and tell him to bring three of the best people from the Royal Guards. We¡¯re going soon," Ryder told Miku. "I¡¯ll be in the hall waiting."

    Miku bowed her head in respect as she left to call Dale and the others.

    Ryder was sitting in the Hall when Miku came back with Dale and three other Royal Guards that had gone into the Undead Region with Ryder.

    "Alright, guys, let me remind you. Rale got hurt fighting me because he was not using his full strength in fear of harming me, and he was injured. As for our small trips, no one will talk about them," Ryder reminded his people.

    "Yes, Your Highness," They all ced their hands near their chest and bowed their head.

    "Good. Come after me. We¡¯re going to High Duke Orisis¡¯s birthday celebration," Ryder said as he started walking towards the exit. The others followed after him.

    They left the pce.

    "That one is his Pce, right?" Ryder asked as he pointed towards one of the pces.

    "Yes. That¡¯s the one," Miku reminded him.

    "Alright. Also, Miku, can you fly, or do you want me to help you?" Ryder asked Miku.

    Two beautiful wings appeared behind Miku¡¯s back.

    "I can fly," Miku said with a smile on her face.

    "Alright."

    Ryder started flying towards the pce on the right.

    Miku and the others flew after him.

    They allnded before the Pce of High Duke Orisis.

    "Long Live the Prince."

    As soon as Rydernded there, all the guards dropped down to their knees as they greeted Ryder since he was the Royal Prince.

    The door of the Pce was opened.

    "Stand," Ryder told them as he started walking towards the entrance. He entered the Pce with his men.

 Chapter 196 Dangerous

    <h4>Chapter 196: Dangerous</h4>

    Ryder entered the beautiful pce of High Duke Oris and walked through the Red Carpet.

    He was being escorted by one of the maids when a woman came to him in a hurry.

    The woman was wearing a long white dress that perfectly covered her body, highlighting her figure. There was something wrapped in her waist that seemed like a Golden belt, but it seemed to match the style.

    Ryder recognized that girl as Felina. She was the girl that he had seen before. She was High Duke Oris¡¯ daughter who hade to the Pce before to give him the invitation.

    "Your Highness, You¡¯re here. I apologize for not being there to escort you. I thought that you woulde after the others in the afternoon, but you¡¯re the earliest," the girl told Ryder as she greeted him.

    "If I had known, I would be waiting outside," she added.

    "Don¡¯t worry about this. I just wanted to greet High Duke Oris as soon as I can," Ryder said with a subtle smile on his face.

    "Where is he?" He asked Felina.

    "He¡¯s still getting ready. I¡¯ll take you to him," Felina replied.

    "It¡¯s fine. Let him get ready," Ryder responded as he shook his head.

    "How about I show you the Pce in the meantime?" Felina suggested.

    "Sure. If there¡¯s an interesting ce here, I would love to see it," Ryder replied.

    Felina started escorting him and took him to a beautiful crystal garden.

    It was amazing as the ground seemed to be a big crystal that was purple in color. There were various crystal flowersing out of the ground.

    "Interesting," Ryder muttered as he walked in the crystal garden.

    ¡¯How did Divinity Developerse up with this idea? It¡¯s indeed pretty,¡¯ Ryder thought as he walked closer to a light green crystal flower.

    "Your Highness, Stop."

    He was about to touch the Crystal when Dale stopped him.

    "Your Highness, you would be injured if you touch them," Miku reminded Ryder as she pointed towards the Crystal. "These should be Red Crystal Flowers. They are only door looking, but they can be deadly if someone touches them."

    Ryder nced back at Felina, wondering why she didn¡¯t inform him that this ce was so dangerous, but then again, he was a prince; maybe she thought that he knew.

    Felina, on the other hand, started pping.

    "Amazing. Your Highness is indeed knowledgeable. He was able to recognize that these are not the Red Crystal Flowers, and thus he went ahead to touch them. I expected nothing less," Felina said with a smile on her face.

    Miku and Dale looked at her in confusion.

    "Only my Father and Master Rale had ever been able to recognize it correctly before. Now there¡¯s a third name in that list," Felina said as she started walking ahead.

    She touched the Red Crystal Flower with a beautiful smile on her face.

    "This is not the Red Crystal Flower. This is the Face Changing Crystal Flower. It disguises itself as a Red Crystal Flower to keep itself protected," Felina exined to Miku and Dale.

    "That¡¯s right. I recognized it, but I can only praise you for being alert for my safety. Keep it up," Ryder took the credit for his ignorance while telling Miku and the others to keep protecting him in the future.

    He didn¡¯t want them to think that he knew anything and let him die. That would just waste one day for him.

    Ryder also reached out his hand to touch the flower. It had a smooth texture, and as soon as he touched it, he could feel something. It was as if his happiness was increasing somehow.

    He removed his hand. He could feel that this was like some kind of drug flower that had the person who touched it the feeling of ecstasy. Touching for some time was fine, but if he touched for a long time, he might get drunk just from it.

    "Thinking about it, May I ask if Master Rale won¡¯t be here? It¡¯s unusual for him to not be with Your Highness," Fna asked Ryder.

    "He¡¯s back in the pce. He won¡¯te today. He¡¯s a little unhealthy," Ryder replied as if it was a fact. "It¡¯s not serious, but I forced him to rest. He should be fine after a good rest, ording to the Physician."

    "Oh, Ok," Fna nodded her head.

    "Let me show you another great ce then," Fna let out as she started walking towards the exit of the garden.

    As they were walking in the corridor, Fna saw another person. It was a maid that was walking towards them.

    "You¡¯re here? Is father ready now?" She asked.

    "Yes. Master should be in the Great Hall now," the maid replied.

    "Oh, Good." Fna nodded her head.

    "Your Highness, Father, is ready. Do you wish to meet him now or continue the trip?" she asked Ryder.

    "I came here for High Duke Oris, that¡¯s the main thing," Ryder replied in short.

    ¡¯Alright. Understood," Fna nodded her head.

    She changed her direction and escorted Ryder and his team to the Great Hall.

    Ryder was brought inside the Great Hall of the Pce, which was almost as big as the Great Hall of Ryder¡¯s Pce. It seemed only a little bit smaller.

    There were many seats ced all around the Hall in circles, making it seem like the seats were arranged as if a big round table was between them.

    Four of the Seats were bigger in size than the others, and one was even bigger than the four.

    Ryder assumed that the biggest one must be for the Royal Prince, that was himself. The other four were for the High Dukes.

    High Duke Oris was sitting on one of those chairs when he suddenly noticed Ryder.

    He stood up with a smile on his face.

    "You are here. If I had known about this, I would¡¯ve told the others toe in the morning as well. Fna, Did you write the wrong time in the invitation?" High Duke Oris looked at Fna as if her mistake made Rydere here before time.

    "It¡¯s not that. I was just getting bored at the Pce. Also, it doesn¡¯t matter if I¡¯m early," Ryder responded as he walked closer to the High Duke.

    "Anyway, Congrattions on your Birthday, High Duke Oris. I wish you a long and prosperous life so that you can keep our people safe with me," Ryder let out as he congratted the High Duke while keeping his Princely dignity.

    "Thank you," High Duke Oris responded.

    "Please have a seat. The others should be here soon," he told Ryder.

    Ryder nodded his head as he walked over to the biggest throne in the room and sat on it. Even though he wanted to respect the High Duke, he needed to give respect to his position as a Prince too, or it might return as a trouble for him in the future. Miku and the others stood behind him as they were part of his entourage.

    High Duke Oris sat on the chair next to him. A maid came and served the wine for them.

    Ryder took his first sip when he got the question that he was expecting.

    "Rale didn¡¯te with you? Is that guy neglecting his duties?" High Duke Oris asked with a frown.

    "He¡¯s back in the pce, and Imanded him to stay here. If hees, then that would be neglecting his duties, but as long as he¡¯s in the Pce, he¡¯s following my orders," Ryder replied casually as he took another sip.

    "I don¡¯t understand. He shouldn¡¯t leave your side when you¡¯re outside the pce. It could be dangerous for you and for our Empire if something happened to you while you¡¯re outside. Why would you tell him to stay back?" High Duke Oris inquired.

    "Because he wasn¡¯t healthy. We were sparring as a practice. While I was serious, he was not attacking me seriously since he was worried about harming me. He ended up getting injured. I told him to rest back home. He wasn¡¯t willing, but he can¡¯t refuse themands, and I won¡¯t let him leave injured," Ryder replied as he casually smiled.

    High Duke Oris was about to follow up with another question when Ryder changed the topic.

    "I only see 26 seats. Have you only invited High Dukes and Dukes?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yeah, those are the only ones I invited today. I couldn¡¯t invite Marquis since there needs to be a proper hierarchy," High Duke Oris replied.

    "Oh, understood."

    Soon, people started arriving. The ones that were arriving were Dukes. All the Dukes greeted Ryder and Oris as they arrived.

    They started taking their seats, and they were served wines as well.

    Devilia also arrived. She was wearing a beautiful green dress.

    "Greetings, Your Highness," She greeted Ryder. She also greeted Oris.

    "Devilia, You¡¯re looking as beautiful as always. It¡¯s good to meet you again," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    He talked to her a little more before she went back to her seat.

    Soon, all the Dukes were there. The other High Dukes were still not there.

 Chapter 197 Assault

    <h4>Chapter 197: Assault</h4>

    "Since you¡¯re all here, I wanted to tell you all something. I got the letters from all of you, inviting me to your Duchy for a visit. I have epted all the invitations. Soon, I¡¯ll start the visits. The orders of the visit might be random or ording to the letter that I saw first. I will inform you all of the time when it¡¯s decided. You guys can finish the preparation ordingly."

    "I would also prefer to talk to the people of your Dukedom directly. Something like I did during the Coronation. I want to see and give my message to my citizens. You guys can arrange for an event like that," Ryder replied.

    "Great, We would arrange everything, Your Highness," All the Dukes replied.

    "Good. I¡¯ll also send some kind of message to the other Nine Dukes that couldn¡¯t be here for some reason. You can also inform them if any of you lives near their ce. Anyway, the Twenty-Six of you can start preparation after going back since the visit will be very soon," Ryder nodded his head.

    "That¡¯s enough about my matters. Since it¡¯s High Duke Oris¡¯ birthday, I..."

    Ryder was speaking about something when there was an announcement of the arrival of a High Duke.

    Ryder nced towards the entrance of the Hall, and after some time, an older man walked inside with a younger boy. The young boy looked like he was in his early twenties.

    Ryder recognized the older man as the strongest High Duke of the Demon Realm, High Duke Manga.

    He still remembered how High Duke Magna tried to kill him the first time when he found out that he was from the Blood Demon Species, but he calmed down after the others intervened. That was before his official coronation when Ryder was just an unknown boy who came here to prove that he was a disciple of their King, but now he was a Prince. his position was equal to a High Duke in the Hierarchy.

    His position was, in a way, even higher since he was able to use the Royal Command once as a prince, using that he couldmand the High Dukes to do anything. He didn¡¯t feel like he would need that, though. He wasn¡¯t going to wage war on the Death Domain or the Undead Region since he also liked peace.

    "Old Man Oris, congrattions on another sessful year," High Duke Manga let out as soon as he entered the Great Hall.

    "Greetings to the Prince," He also greeted Ryder.

    "Greetings to you as well, High Duke Magna. Who is this young boy with you?" Ryder inquired.

    He was finding it weird that he was iming a boy that seemed to be the same age as him like this, but because of his position, he was allowed to act like an older man.

    "This is my kid. Introduce yourself, little boy," High Duke Magna looked at the young boy and said.

    "Greetings, Your Highness. I¡¯m Namag," The boy let out as he ced his hand on his chest and bowed his head lightly.

    Even though Magna was a High Duke and he was allowed to skip the formality of bowing his head to a prince, Namag was only his son, and he didn¡¯t have that privilege. He had to follow the courtesy before the Prince. If Ryder were king, he would even need to get down to a Knee, while High Duke would¡¯ve been required to bow his head.

    The Demon Realm followed the hierarchy correctly. It was really important to them in most cases.

    "Oh, Your Son. Nice. He does look like you," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    "Take a seat," He told Magna.

    Magna walked to the seat that was on the other side of Ryder and sat on it.

    A chair was ced for Namag behind his father¡¯s seat since his position was lower than Dukes and the High Dukes. He wasn¡¯t yet allowed to sit beside them in the round chair formation.

    His seat and the seat of the other Important people that were lower in importance than Dukes were sitting behind the one that brought them.

    High Duke Magna had just seated when he was served the Wine. He took his first sip when another announcement was made of the arrival of another High Duke.

    It was the High Duke that was in the third-ranking ording to strength amongst High Dukes. That was amon perception, though. Since the High Duke hadn¡¯t fought in a long time, no one knew how strong they actually were. It was also a rumor that High Duke Oris had a possibility of being stronger than High Duke Magna.

    The Third High Duke was called High Duke M. She was a beautiful High Duke that looked really young.

    She wasing with another girl who looked like she was 18-19 years old.

    High Duke M and the other girl stopped before Ryder and greeted him before they gave the birthday wishes to High Duke Oris.

    "Who is this young girl? Is she your kid as well?" Ryder inquired.

    Despite High Duke M looking super young, Ryder knew that she was probably as old as Oris and Magna. It was possible that she brought her daughter just like High Duke Magna brought his son.

    "Not really. I don¡¯t have a kid. I haven¡¯t even found a man, so the kid seems impossible," M chucked as she heard Ryder¡¯s assumption.

    "This is my Niece, Liasi. She is the daughter of my sister," She informed Ryder.

    "Oh, I understand. Have a seat," Ryde responded as he nodded his head.

    High Duke M wasn¡¯t even seated when another announcement of a High Duke¡¯s arrival was made.

    Ryder already knew who it was since there was only one High Duke that was left.

    It was the High Duke Eston, the Fourth High Duke.

    High Duke Eston seemed like a middle-aged man who was very intellectual. Ryder had a good impression of Eston.

    Ryder watched High Duke Estoning with a young boy as well. The boy looked like he was 19-20 years old.

    The boy¡¯s hair color was the same as the hair of High Duke Eston. He had light Green hair that came down to his shoulders.

    ¡¯What is with all the High Dukes bringing a kid with them? Now all four of them have a kid with them here, whereas the Dukes came alone. Is this a tradition I don¡¯t know about?¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown.

    "Greetings, Your Highness," High Duke Eston greeted Ryder. The young boy also gave the same greetings as he ced his hand near his heart and bowed his head.

    "Happy birthday, old man."

    "Happy Birthday, Uncle Oris."

    After greeting Ryder, they wished Oris for his birthday.

    "Greetings to you two as well. High Duke Eston, aren¡¯t you going to introduce me to this young man?" Ryder inquired as he nced at High Duke Eston.

    "This is my young boy, Nosam," High Duke Eston introduced his son.

    "Oh, nice. Have a seat as well," Ryder responded to them.

    They walked over to the seats as well and sat down.

    Finally, everyone was there.

    There were four High Dukes and Thirty-five Dukes in the Demon Realm. Except for nine Dukes that had to refuse the celebration invitation for some important matter rted to their Duchy, everyone else was here.

    One of the nine Dukes that wasn¡¯t here was Duke Wuxin Orisis, who wasmonly referred to as Duke Wuxin. He was the Duke that had doubted Ryder¡¯s identity as the disciple of the King of Demon Realm and tried to take the Moon Scythe from him, but that only resulted in him getting poorly injured at that time.

    Ryder wondered if the nine actually had some matter or were they just not willing toe. Still, Ryder had got the invitation from all the Dukes to visit their Duchy, and the nine were amongst them as well.

    "Why is Rale not here?" High Duke Magna inquired as he noticed the absence of Rale.

    High Duke Oris gave the exnation that Ryder had given him. Before High Duke Magna could follow up with another statement, High Duke Orismanded the beginning of the celebration.

    Floating tables appeared before them, and the servants started serving the food and even more wine.

    Far away from the Demon Realm existed the Undead Region.

    One of the two strongest beings of the Undead Region was the Vampire King.

    He was furious as he had found the existence of Demon Blood in the Valley of Wandering Souls, where Vampire General Viden had gone missing. He doubted the Demons, and now he was arranging to go to the Demon Realm.

    "My King, are you really going to go alone? That ce is dangerous. Please take our men with you. We can also talk with the forces of Death Domain if you wish to assault the Undead Region."

    Vampire King was looking at a paper talisman in his hand when he heard a voice from behind him.

 Chapter 198 Vampire King in the Demon Realm

    <h4>Chapter 198: Vampire King in the Demon Realm</h4>

    "I¡¯m not going there for a war. I¡¯m going to get the answers. If they are to me, I will do what I see fit. I won¡¯t try to wage a full-on war with their High Dukes. I know what I¡¯m going to do," The Vampire King let out as he looked at the paper talisman in his hand.

    The person behind him could feel the murderous tone in his voice.

    Just as he was about to reply, the Vampire King disappeared.

    The Vampire King appeared in an empty field, filled with sand in the middle of nowhere, but he knew that he was in the Demon Realm. He could feel a different kind of aura in thisnd. He started flying ahead.

    Back in the Royal Pce of the High Duke, everyone was still in the mood of celebration. Even Ryder was enjoying the food and the vine. He believed that the food was just Virtual, and the taste was all because of the Divinity sses, but he still liked it.

    After an hour, people finished eating, but their drinking continued.

    "So guys, I think it¡¯s the time to continue the tradition. It would be the first time His Highness will see it," High Duke M said with a beautiful smile on her face.

    Ryder looked at her in confusion, wondering what she was talking about.

    High Duke Oris noticed Ryder¡¯s confusion and started exining.

    "There¡¯s a tradition that whenever there¡¯s a birthday celebration of a High Duke, all High Duke¡¯s bring one person who is young and is their closest rtive. In most cases, they bring the kids," High Duke Oris said as he exined.

    He was about to continue his exnation, but his words were cut off by High Duke M, who finished the rest of the words.

    "The kids battle, and the winner gets one reward from all the High Dukes," High Duke M exined in short.

    High Duke Oris looked at her with a wry smile on his face.

    "Hey, don¡¯t look at me like that. What was I supposed to do? You were going so slow that I couldn¡¯t help but finish it fast," High Duke M said as she smiled innocently.

    "Hey M, It¡¯s his birthday, you¡¯re being a bad guest," High Duke Eston chimed in jokingly.

    "Interesting. Who wonst time?" Ryder asked them.

    "Last time, it was Eston¡¯s birthday. The winner that time was Magna¡¯s Son, Namag," High Duke Oris exined.

    Magna looked somewhat proud as Oris said this.

    "Interesting. Thepetition sounds fun. Where will it be held?" Ryder inquired.

    He knew that the Kids of High Dukes would be really explosive since their levels would be pretty high, unlike Ryder. Since it was a battle between them, it would definitely be destructive, and it would need a special arena or something like that.

    "Right here," High Duke M said as she pointed towards the front.

    She was literally pointing towards the circr area between them. Since the chairs were ced in a circr pattern in this big hall, it did leave a ring-like arena in the middle.

    ¡¯Isn¡¯t this too small? Also, this great hall would be damaged,¡¯ Ryder thought, but he didn¡¯t say that. Since they wanted to have it here, there must be a reason. They must have some precautions ready for that scenario.

    "The pattern of battle is already decided. The first battle will be between Felina and Liasi. The second battle will be between Namag and Nosam," High Duke Magna dered. All of the High Dukes nodded their heads.

    "Felina, your turn to show your strength before His Highness," High Duke Oris said as he nced at Felina, who was standing behind him.

    "Liasi, finally, it¡¯s time for you to show your growth," High Duke M said as she chuckled.

    Both the girls stepped forth into the arena.

    High Duke Magna brought out a box that had a strange pattern carved on it and ced that on the ground.

    The box started shining as soon as it touched the ground. Suddenly, a barrier surrounded the ring and separated the girls from the High Dukes and the Dukes.

    ¡¯So that¡¯s what it is. This barrier will protect the people watching, and it will also restrict the damage to the great hall,¡¯ Ryder thought as he nodded his head.

    Both the girls took their position opposite to each other.

    "Your Highness, please give yourmand to start the battle," High Duke Oris told Ryder.

    "Start the battle," Ryder dered.

    As soon as his words were heard by the girls inside, they started moving.

    Their speed was so fast that it surprised Ryder.

    He knew that they were stronger, but it seemed like the difference was too big. He had also tried to use the All-Seer, but despite that, he wasn¡¯t able to see anything about them. Their status bar was just a big question mark. All it showed was their names that too, because Ryder had already known it.

    Felina appeared before Liasi and punched in the direction of her chest. Liasi punched back. Both of their fists collided. Even though the barrier made it impossible for Ryder to feel anything, just from the impact, he was able to see how powerful the attacks were. Both of the girls flew back and crashed on the barrier.

    They stood up again.

    Felina started attacking Liasi with her skills. Her skill seemed like a more powerful version of Ryder¡¯s Shadow Ball. It was not only more powerful, but she was also able to cast ten shadow balls at once.

    The Shadow Balls flew towards Liasi like the bullets of a gun.

    Liasi made a sword using her skill. The sword was purely made of golden light. She used that sword to cut off the Shadow Balls. As soon as the Shadow Balls touched the sword of light, they were cut off in half. All the Shadow Balls were handled with ease.

    "Amazing. Liasi learned your special skill, Sword of Golden Light? This would indeed increase her strength," High Duke Eston said with praise.

    "Yeah. She didn¡¯t know itst time as far as I know. She is definitely stronger thanst time, but so should be everyone else," High Duke Magna said, not looking impressed.

    "Last time Namag fought Liasi in the first battle and won," High Duke Oris informed Ryder.

    "Is this Liasi¡¯s strongest skill?" Ryder asked High Duke M.

    M simply smiled as she replied, "She knows a lot more tricks."

    "Felina looks pretty confident. If it¡¯s Liasi¡¯s best skill, I believe Felina would be able to handle it. She seems like she has something prepared as well," Ryder muttered as he noticed Felina¡¯s expression.

    Felina raised her hand in the sky as a ball of ck light appeared above her hand. The ball started changing shape and took the form of a ck sword that seemed to be pitch ck in color.

    "No way. How could she learn your Sword of Darkness at such a young age," High Duke M asked with a frown on her face.

    "You know that Sword of Darkness has no restriction about age. Also, Felina is quite talented when ites to learning things from this old man," High Duke Oris replied as he smiled.

    Ryder looked at the battle with great interest.

    Liasi flew towards Felina as she thrust her sword towards her shoulder.

    ¡¯¡¯They are not targeting vitals. It¡¯s good that they know that it¡¯s a friendly battle,¡¯ Ryder thought as he praised Liasi for not losing herself.

    Felina held her Sword of Dark Light and moved it in front of her chest to block the sword of Liasi.

    As soon as Liasi¡¯s sword shed with Felina¡¯s sword, it¡¯s light started to dim. It was as if the golden light was being corrupted by the darkness of the ck sword.

    Liasi didn¡¯t put all her focus in the sword as she punched towards Felina¡¯s face with her left hand, but before her fist couldnd, a kicknded on her stomach that threw her back. Liasi flew back like an arrow and crashed on the barrier once more as shended on the ground.

    "It¡¯s over!" High Duke Oris imed as he smiled.

    High Duke M couldn¡¯t help but sigh as she shook her head.

    High Duke Magna picked up the small square box once again, and the barrier disappeared.

    "It¡¯s over?" Ryder inquired as he nced at High Duke Oris.

    "Yes. There are a few rules made for this battle. Firstly, if one of the contenders touches the barrier twice, they are defeated. If a person falls down on the ground twice, they are defeated. Also, if no person is defeated in the first five minutes of the battle, then all the High Dukes will vote to select the winner based on their performance in the five minutes of the battle," High Duke Oris exined.

    "Oh," Ryder muttered as he understood what it meant.

    ¡¯It was quite short. I thought it would be a long and fierce fight,¡¯ Ryder thought as he shook his head.

 Chapter 199 Revastan

    <h4>Chapter 199: Revastan</h4>

    Felina walked back. Liasi also stood up and walked back.

    "Good performance, both of you," Ryder praised them as he smiled.

    They both thanked him before they walked to their ce.

    "Time for a men¡¯s battle now," High Duke Magna let out as he nced back at his son.

    Namag stepped forth and entered the ring. High Duke Eston¡¯s son, Nosam, also stepped forth and entered the arena.

    High Duke Magna ced the box down again. The barrier once again surrounded them.

    Both the guys took their position on the opposite ends of the arena.

    "You can start the battle," Ryder let out as he saw them getting ready.

    As soon as the words left his mouth, Nosam raised his head and split into two. The two parts once again divided into two each. They kept splitting until there were sixteen Nosam standing in the ring.

    "Clones?" Ryder muttered with a frown on his face as he saw the sixteen versions of High Duke Eston¡¯s son.

    ¡¯These guys have some really amazing skills. If they were monsters, I would definitely hunt them to take the skills using skill absorption,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at Nosam.

    Nomag was moving ahead to attack, but he was suddenly confused as he saw sixteen Nosam.

    "I guess your boy learned some new tricks as well," High Duke Magna said to High Duke Eston.

    "He sure did. The boy had a good mind for growth. The only thing that hecks is the decision making abilities in tense situations. If he can handle that, he has a high chance of winning. On the other hand, if he fumbled there, he would lose," High Duke Eston replied with an honest observation.

    "He would lose even if he did everything that you wish him to do. It is impossible to win against true strength," High Duke Magna said in a solemn tone.

    Nomag attacked one of the sixteen Nosam who he believed to be the real one. Nosam flew back like a broken kite and crashed on the barrier. Nomag soon realized that it was the fake one when the version that had hit the barrier disappeared.

    The fifteen other Nosams had surrounded Nomag from all around.

    "This will be the end," All fifteen Nosam said at the same time as they started running towards Nomag.

    "me of Destruction," Nomag let out loud as he punched the ground with his fist, using all the force he could.

    Ryder felt the ground shake as soon as Nomag¡¯s punchnded on the ground.

    What happened next was even more terrifying. He saw the whole barrier filled with fire. There was nothing that could be seen inside the barrier. Ryder couldn¡¯t see what was happening inside.

    After a few minutes, the fire disappeared, and the scene inside became visible to all of them.

    There was only one Nosam left inside the barrier. All the fake versions were destroyed in that attack. The one that was left was also lying on the ground.

    "That¡¯s one," High Duke Magna muttered.

    Nosam stood up with shaking steps, but just as he stood up, he saw Nomag standing before him. Nomag gripped his neck and threw him back. Nosam crashed on the barrier.

    "That¡¯s second. Nomag won," High Duke Magna said as he picked up the small box. The barrier disappeared.

    Nomag walked back to his father. Nosam also followed behind

    "You fumbled. After falling on the ground, you forgot what to do next. You still need to work on your critical thinking," High Duke Eston told his son, shaking his head.

    "It was a good battle. Our Demon Realm has a lot of talent. I¡¯m happy. Your performance was good," Ryder let out as he looked at the boys.

    The boys thanked Ryder.

    They walked behind their fathers. Only one of them had their head held high, though.

    "I thought the battles would take a long time, but It was really fast. I guess soon we will know the winner. Since it¡¯s going to be the final battle and you guys are giving the awards to the winner, as a Prince, I can¡¯t fall behind. I will also reward the winner. Do your best," Ryder said as he looked back at Felina and Nomag.

    Even though he was acting neutral, he preferred Felina to win. Even though he believed that Nomag was a talented individual, Felina was someone he knew from before. Also, It was High Duke Oris¡¯ birthday. The victory of his daughter would definitely make him happy.

    "Go on. Let¡¯s get it done with," High Duke Magna said as he looked back at Nomag.

    "Best of luck for your final battle. Try your best," High Duke Oris told his daughter.

    Nomag and Felina walked into the ring.

    High Duke Magna put down the small box on the ground once again.

    A barrier again surrounded the both of them. The barrier seemed like it was made of ss. That¡¯s what Ryder felt. It seemed like some kind of damage absorbing ss that appeared near the box from the storage space of High Duke Magna. It was definitely a treasure, ording to Ryder.

    "Should we start?" High Duke Oris asked Ryder, who seemed like he was suddenly more focused on the barrier.

    "Oh, Right. It¡¯s going to be thest fight. Give it your best. You can start at the count of three. Till then, you can prepare," Ryder told them before he started the count.

    "One..."

    Both of them got into the opposite side of the field as they got ready to use their skills instantly when the fight started.

    "Two..."

    "Three..."

    At the count of three, Felina brought out the Sword of Darkness as she flew towards Nomag.

    ¡¯Is she making the same mistake?¡¯ Ryder wondered as she saw her flying at Nomag with her sword.

    "me of Destruction!" Nomag let out loud as he packed his fist and punched the ground.

    Ryder once again felt the ground shake. Another wave of fire filled the barrier, making it difficult for them to see what was happening inside.

    After a few seconds, the fire disappeared.

    Ryder was able to see inside, but the scene was different thanst time. Both of them were still standing inside the ring, and none of them was injured. Felina wasn¡¯t even harmed in the least against all expectations of Ryder.

    Ryder noticed that the Sword of Darkness was stabbed into the ground before Felina.

    "She even learned the barrier of the sword? Interesting," High Duke Magna muttered.

    "Hahaha, yeah. As I said, she¡¯s very talented when ites to learning my skills. Your son is very talented, as well. His progress is really fast since thest time I saw him," High Duke Magna said.

    Felina pulled out her sword from the ground and once again started flying towards Nomag.

    "You want to fight with strength, very well!" Nomag let out as a red sword of Fire appeared in his hand.

    ¡¯They all have a sword rted skills from what I see, and all their abilities are different,¡¯ Ryder thought as he saw the sword of Fire in Nomag¡¯s hand.

    Felina reached near Nomag and attacked with her sword. Both of their swords shed, creating a wind st. The Darkness of Felina¡¯s sword tried to corrupt the mes of Nomag¡¯s sword, whereas the Fire of Nomag¡¯s sword burned the darkness of Felina¡¯s sword.

    ¡¯Their swords seem to counter each other. I guess they are a reflection of Magna and Oris," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    The Battle of Sword continued, and both sides seemed to be on almost equal footing. Nomag seemed slightly stronger. Even though very slightly, Felina was being pushed back.

    Felina tapped the ground with her right foot twice in quick session as she muttered, "Bindings,"

    Tens of vines came out from the ground and wrapped Nomag¡¯s hands and legs. They stood him from moving. No matter how much he tried, he wasn¡¯t able to live even an inch. His hands were, and his legs were trapped in their position.

    "How could she know Bindings?" High Duke Eston eximed in shock.

    High Duke Mia also looked at the Battle with a stunned expression as well.

    "I guess this battle¡¯s conclusion is already clear. Felina will win," She muttered. "We will have a new winner this time."

    High Duke Oris was smiling while High Duke Magna had a frown on his face.

    Nomag¡¯s face was facing them while Felina¡¯s back was facing them.

    High Duke Magna noticed Nomag¡¯s eyes changing colors.

    "No, Nomag! Don¡¯t use that! You haven¡¯t mastered that yet!" High Duke Magna suddenly called out, but it didn¡¯t seem like Nomag was able to hear. It was also possible that he ignored the words since he believed that he could do it sessfully.

    "Revastan!" Nomag let out softly.

    Even though he said the words in a low voice, almost everyone managed to hear it.

    All their faces lost color.

    "Felina, get down on the ground now!" High Duke Oris screamed loudly.

 Chapter 200 Clash with the Vampire King

    <h4>Chapter 200: sh with the Vampire King</h4>

    As soon as Felina heard the scream of High Duke Oris, she got alert. She instantly dropped down to the ground.

    Just as sheid down on the ground, thousands of dark red needles came out of Nomag¡¯s body and flew in every direction, all around him. The needles were faster than lightning as they struck the barrier. Cracks started developing on the barrier, but instantly, another round of needles came.

    The barrier broke, and the needles spread everywhere.

    Since it was an attack of Nomag that was at a much higher level than High Duke Magna had assumed the battles to have, the barrier was broken instantly. If he knew that Nomag would use the skill he told him to not use before mastering it, then he would have used a stronger barrier, but he only used the one that he thought to be most appropriate.

    The barrier was broken, and the needles were flying everywhere, but the Dukes weren¡¯t worried about themselves since this attack was from a kid. Even though it was a strong attack, Nomag wasn¡¯t able to bring out its full powers. They were easily able to protect themselves against these Needles by simply dodging, but there was one person that couldn¡¯t stop the needle.

    Ryder knew that he would be badly hurt if the needle hit them. Just as the Needle got near him, High Duke Magna jumped to his left and pushed Ryder.

    Both High Duke Magna and Ryder fell down on the ground as the Needle passed, missing Ryder.

    High Duke Magna knew that if something happened to Ryder because of his son, then his son would definitely be executed. He needed to save Ryder at all costs. Ryder was the Prince, and his death was going to be a big matter, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to save his son in case of a mishap.

    Since Ryder was still holding the Wine ss in his hand, as soon as he fell down, the ss broke in his hand. The ss stabbed his skin and made him bleed. Ryder¡¯s hand started bleeding.

    "Your Highness, are you alright?" High Duke Oris let out as he helped Ryder up.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s nothing. I am perfectly fine," Ryder let out as he noticed that his hand had healed because of his nature of healing, but the blood was still left on his hand.

    Just as he was about to wipe the blood, a terrifying aura filled the ce.

    Ryder could feel the atmosphere getting cold. He even forgot to wipe his hand, which was covered in his blood.

    The High Dukes started looking towards the entrance of the Great Hall in full seriousness.

    "We have guests; it seems," High Duke M muttered.

    After a few seconds, they saw a person step inside the Great Hall.

    It was a man who looked like he was in his thirties.

    The man had a muscr body. His nails were blood red in color and looked as sharp as the wolf¡¯s ws.

    He was wearing long ck pants that somehow matched his intimidating personality because of the design. He also wore what seemed like a ck overcoat with long-standing cors, which exposed his chestpletely.

    There was also a ne around his neck, which had a big red crystal inside it near his chest.

    The Person had short silver hair that only came down to his shoulders behind his back. His eyes were blood-red, which seemed like the eyes of a hungry wolf.

    "Vampire King, I don¡¯t remember sending you an invitation to my birthday. It¡¯s fine, though. We wee all guests. Since you¡¯re here, how about, you have a drink?" High Duke Oris joked as he saw Vampire Kinging in uninvited.

    "I don¡¯t think you brought your army here. So this doesn¡¯t seem like an invasion. What brought you here?" High Duke Magna let out with a frown. He was more straight on point.

    While the High Dukes were talking to him, they noticed that his focus was not on them. The Vampire King was gazing at Ryder. More specifically, he was looking at Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "It¡¯s the same blood I found there. It smells the same. You were there!" The Vampire King let out as a powerful aura appeared around him. He was the King of Vampires, and he had a particr link with blood. He could recognize the smell of the blood as long as it was not inside someone¡¯s body.

    When the blood was inside the body, it was surrounded by the force of life, which prevented his senses, but when a person was bleeding, or the blood was outside, he could smell that. He had smelled the blood in the Valley of Wandering Souls and found Ryder¡¯s floor to match the blood there.

    "Vampire King, I don¡¯t think your intentions are right. You can¡¯t talk to our Crown Prince like that!" High Duke Mna chided the Vampire King.

    "I am here to take my men back! Where is Viden! Give him back, and I¡¯ll leave" Vampire King ignored her words and asked Ryder in a loud tone.

    ¡¯Crap, he knows. How is this possible? We made sure that no one knew about us there,¡¯ Ryder thought with a frown when he suddenly noticed the dried blood on his hand that had instantly dried.

    ¡¯Fuck, it¡¯s the blood! He must¡¯ve gotten a smell of the blood! How can I be so careless!¡¯ Ryder scolded himself in his mind, but on his face, he kept a calm expression.

    "You must be the Vampire King. I¡¯m the Crown Prince of the Demon Realm. If you can tell me who this Viden is, I might be able to help you find him in the Demon Realm if he¡¯s here," Ryder let out in a normal tone. No guilt was visible on his face.

    "I came here alone, not to fight, but to take Viden back! Give him to me if he¡¯s alive. Otherwise, I¡¯d be forced to believe that you have killed him!" Vampire King once again let out.

    "What the heck are you talking about! Why would we know the whereabouts of your men!" High Duke Elton let out, shaking his head.

    "All of you can lie, but I know that one or more High Dukes came to the Undead Region with him! You guys entered the Valley of Wandering Soul and took the gem of the Guardian of the Valley, but I don¡¯t care about the gem. Give me Viden that you kidnapped, and I will leave, otherwise..." The Vampire King dered, but before he could finish, High Duke Magna cut him off.

    "Vampire King! Don¡¯t forget that this is not your Undead Region! This is the Demon Realm! Don¡¯t ever try to threaten us or the result won¡¯t be good!" High Duke Magna let out furiously.

    "All of you are the same. I thought that the Death Domain was bad for using our people like weapons, but you guys are just the same. I feel disgusted just being in this dirty ce. I will ask once again. Will you tell me where Viden is, or have you killed him already?" Vampire King asked Ryder in a stern tone.

    "You..." High Duke Magna was about to say something when Ryder stopped him.

    "There is no benefit in getting angry. Let me talk to him," Ryder told Magna before he started looking at the Vampire King.

    "As I said before, there must be a misunderstanding. I don¡¯t think any of us have left the Demon Realm. I have been here for a long time. Also, I don¡¯t think any of us have time to go to the Undead Region. As for the gems, Our Demon Realm has tons of gems. Why would we go to take yours? There are already so many matters for us to handle. Whatever misunderstanding there is between us, let us handle it through talks. If you need any help to find your men, the Demon Realm will be willing to help you," Ryder said as he took a single step forth.

    "You hypocrite!" The Vampire King thundered as he lost his calm after seeing Ryder talk like an innocent person even after he knew that Ryder had been to the Undead Region. He disappeared from his position and appeared before Ryder as he reached out his hand towards Ryder¡¯s neck.

    "Where do you think you are!" High Duke Magna said as he moved like lightning and held the hand of the Vampire King that was reaching out towards Ryder and threw him away.

    The Vampire King crashed on the wall. The wall of the Great Hall was broken as Vampire King flew outside.

    "M, take His Highness and the others away. He might be injured if he stays here. We¡¯ll handle the Vampire King," High Duke Oris let out as he cracked his knuckles.

    "You don¡¯t need to get involved. I am enough for him," High Duke Magna let out in annoyance.

    "We can finish it fast if it¡¯s the two of us. Also, don¡¯t underestimate the enemy," High Duke Oris said as he smiled.

    "Your Highness, let¡¯s leave," High Duke Mika said as she reached out her hand.

    "You won¡¯t leave! You are the main culprit! I won¡¯t leave before I kill you!" The Vampire King roared as he flew back inside the Great Hall.

 Chapter 201 Changing the future

    <h4>Chapter 201: Changing the future</h4>

    "Get out of here; we will deal with him!" High Duke Oris told Ryder as he nced back. High Duke Magna was still keeping an eye on the Vampire King. He was alert to prevent the Vampire King if he tried attacking.

    "It¡¯s all because of the blood. I¡¯ll just undo that then," Ryder let out as he shook his head while refusing to leave.

    He knew that the battle would only escte if he left, which would only make the rtionship between both our realms even more troublesome. If he left, then the things would deescte very fast. Whatever happened from that point onwards will only result in the Neutral Undead Region hating the Demon Realm even more. That would mean that the Death Domain would get another ally, increasing their strength. It would simply make them stronger.

    "I can only go back for a short time and only once a day. Hopefully, I would be able to change the oue," Ryder muttered as he nced at the Vampire King.

    "Is there really nothing that we can do to stop the fighting?" He asked the Vampire King just to be sure.

    "You Shameless bastard!" The vampire King thundered as he moved so fast that it seemed like he disappeared. High Duke Magna also moved simultaneously.

    "Goodbye," Ryder muttered as he instantly used his Ruler of Time and went back in time. He was only able to use it once a day, and he decided to use it now.

    Ryder found himself back in time. The battle between the son of High Duke Magna, Nomag, and the son of High Duke Eston, Nosam, was taking ce. Both of them were inside the barrier, and the fight has just begun.

    Ryder looked at his hand, and the ss of wine was still there.

    He breathed a sigh of relief, but he knew that the trouble was still not over. The Vampire King was probably on his way.

    The battle was soon ever, and the oue was the same asst time. Nomag has won the battle once more. High Duke Magna picked up the box and deactivated the barriers.

    Nomag and Nosam stepped out.

    Nomag walked back to his father. Nosam also followed behind

    "You fumbled. After falling on the ground, you forgot what to do next. You still need to work on your critical thinking," High Duke Eston told his son, shaking his head.

    "That was a good battle. Good work," Ryderplimented them.

    "Let¡¯s start the final battle then. Finish it fast," High Duke Magna told everyone.

    He called out his son while High Duke Oris called out his daughter.

    "Wait a minute!"

    Both of them started walking towards the ring, but Ryder stopped them.

    Both of them stopped as they turned back to look at him. Everyone else in the room also looked at him.

    "I want to tell you both something. No one is allowed to use skills that they haven¡¯t masteredpletely. It might be dangerous if you use unfinished skills. Anyone found using a skill that they haven¡¯t sessfully learned will be punished. Even if you win, you will get no rewards," Ryder dered. Even though he said it as if he was talking to the both of them, he was basically telling this to Nomag.

    He was going to do everything he could to change the future, which began with Nomag using a skill that he hadn¡¯t mastered when he was in a desperate situation.

    High Duke Magna and High Duke Oris looked at Ryder in confusion, not understanding why he was talking about that now, but High Duke Oris went with the flow.

    "His Highness is right. This is a battle to test your strength and your skills, and if you start using skills that you haven¡¯t learned, then it fails the motive. Also, it can be dangerous for everyone," High Duke Oris said.

    "We understand," Nomag and Felina replied as they nodded their heads.

    "Good. You can go ahead then," Ryder nodded his head.

    Nosam and Felina entered the ring, and High Duke Magna activated the barrier.

    "Miku, can you keep this ss back? I¡¯m done drinking," Ryder let out as he gave the wine ss to Miku. He didn¡¯t want to hold it in his hand in case the same thing happened once again.

    If they fought and even if Nomag used that skill, as long as Magna saved him likest time, there would be no injury, and his blood wouldn¡¯t leak.

    "You can start the battle," Ryder told the contestants.

    The battle began, and it was just as intense as it was thest time. Nomag and Felina give it their best. While everyone else was watching it with great interest, for Ryder, it was basically a repeat telecast. Still, he kept his focus on the battle.

    The battle was between the Sword of Darkness and the sword of mes. Everything was happening the same way.

    The Battle of Sword continued, and both sides seemed to be on almost equal footing. Nomag seemed slightly stronger. Even though very little, Felina was being pushed back.

    Felina tapped the ground with her right foot twice in quick session as she muttered, "Bindings,"

    ¡¯Here ites. That moment is best,¡¯ Ryder thought as he watched Felina use the bindings again.

    Tens of vines came out from the ground and wrapped Nomag¡¯s hands and legs. They stopped him from moving. No matter how much he tried, he wasn¡¯t able to live even an inch. His hands were tied, and his legs were trapped in their position.

    "How could she know Bindings?" High Duke Eston eximed in shock just likest time.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    He looked towards M, knowing that she would say something now.

    High Duke M also looked at the Battle with a stunned expression as well.

    "I guess this battle¡¯s conclusion is already clear. Felina will win," She muttered. "We will have a new winner this time."

    High Duke Oris was smiling while High Duke Magna had a frown on his face.

    Nomag¡¯s face was facing them while Felina¡¯s back was facing them.

    High Duke Magna noticed Nomag¡¯s eyes changing colors.

    "He just doesn¡¯t understand. At Least I don¡¯t have a ss now," Ryder let out as he shook his head. As long as everything else happens the same way, I¡¯ll be fine, and Vampire King won¡¯t see my blood.

    "No, Nomag! Don¡¯t use that! You haven¡¯t mastered that yet!" High Duke Magna suddenly called out, but it didn¡¯t seem like Nomag was able to hear. It was also possible that he ignored the words since he believed that he could do it sessfully.

    "Revastan!" Nomag let out softly.

    "Felina, get down on the ground!" High Duke Oris called out to warn Felina.

    Ryder could have warned her before, but he wanted everything to happen like before so that his ns could progress the way he wanted.

    Felina heard the words of High Duke Oris and immediately dropped to the ground. What happened next also followed the same pattern as thest time.

    Thousands of needles came out of Nomag¡¯s body and hit the barrier. The barrier was broken, and the needles advanced towards Ryder. High Duke Magna jumped again to save Ryder.

    Ryder fell down on the ground once more as a Needle passed from his close proximity.

    Fortunately, he wasn¡¯t harmed. There was no bleeding either since he wasn¡¯t holding the ss.

    They helped Ryder stand up and asked if he was fine.

    Ryder smiled as he replied that he was perfectly fine. High Duke Magna was about to scold his son to make Ryder feel that he didn¡¯t need to punish Nomag anymore, but before he could say anything, Ryder spoke.

    "Looks like we have a guest here," Ryder let out as he nced at the door.

    He had said what High Duke Oris had said in thest timeline, before he could say that in this timeline, just to make him seem more knowledgeable.

    After a few seconds, they all saw the Vampire King entering the great hall.

    "Vampire King, I don¡¯t remember sending you an invitation to my birthday. It¡¯s fine, though. We wee all guests. Since you¡¯re here, how about, you have a drink?" High Duke Oris joked as he saw Vampire Kinging in uninvited.

    "I don¡¯t think you brought your army here. So this doesn¡¯t seem like an invasion. What brought you here?" High Duke Magna let out with a frown. He was more straight on point this time as well.

    Ryder was morefortable this time since he knew that the Vampire King wouldn¡¯t know about him being there in the Undead Region. He could only doubt, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to confirm. As long as there was doubt, Ryder knew that he had an opportunity to handle things peacefully. As long as there was no fight, everything was fine.

    While the High Dukes were talking to the Vampire King, they noticed that his focus was not on them.

 Chapter 202 Curse of the Vampire King

    <h4>Chapter 202: Curse of the Vampire King</h4>

    The Vampire King was looking in the direction of Ryder, which once again stunned him. He wondered why the Vampire King looked at him every time he entered the great hall. Did he have a big sticker on his forehead titled ¡¯killer¡¯?

    ¡¯Did he again find out? How could it be?¡¯ Ryder frowned, but he suddenly felt as if the Vampire King was not looking towards him, but he was looking behind Ryder.

    Ryder nced back and saw Dale. Dale was a part of the Royal army. He was one of the strongest members of the Royal Army. He was only slightly weaker than the Dukes. He worked under Rale, and he was also a part of the team that went with Ryder to the Undead Region.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but sigh in disappointment as he noticed the small mark near Dale¡¯s shoulder. It seemed as if one of the needles had managed to graze his skin. Ryder also noticed some blood on Dale¡¯s clothes. Dale was bleeding a little.

    Ryder finally understood what had happened. He wanted to curse out loud, but he kept his silence.

    What Ryder didn¡¯t know was that this same thing had happened in the past as well. Dale was injured in the previous timeline, too, and he was bleeding then as well.

    Since Dale was standing in the back, Ryder hadn¡¯t noticed that light injuries of his in the previous timeline. In thest time, he was more concerned about other things, and Dale hadn¡¯t said anything about being injured either, probably because the injuries were light.

    The Vampire King had also ced more focus on Ryder since he was wearing a crown, and his blood had also matched the blood he found there. So he also ignored Dale in thest timeline. Dale was an unorthodox factor here that has given the whole game away.

    "Where is Viden?" Vampire King asked in a grim tone. He only had one question in his mind that he wanted the answer to.

    Ryder knew how it was going to go, but since he wasn¡¯t caught yet, he could still act like the neutral party. He still had the hopes of making things better if he yed his cards right.

    "You must be the Vampire King. I¡¯m the Prince of the Demon Realm. May I ask what brought you here and who this Viden is?" Ryder asked innocently as if it was the first time he was hearing that name in his lifetime. The look on his face was so sincere that no one would have doubted that he was lying.

    "Viden is my general whom you treacherous Demons have kidnapped! Give him back to me," Vampire King roared in anger as he released his murderous aura that filled the great hall entirely.

    "Who are you calling treacherous! What would we do with your General? I thought you came here as a guest, but you¡¯re just here to nder us, aren¡¯t you?" High Duke Magna let out as he red at the Vampire King.

    "Let¡¯s just hear his concerns. If the concerns of the Vampire King are valid, We can address it," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    "So, You¡¯re saying that your General entered ournd and one of our people kidnapped him. May I ask which ce it happened in? We have most of our Dukes here. We can probably find your general," Ryder said to the Vampire King.

    All the High Dukes had already surrounded Ryder to keep him secure.

    "You! Tell me where my General is!"

    Vampire King said in a low tone as he nced at Viden. His red eyes turned even redder as a light shed through his eyes.

    "He..."

    Ryder was about to say something, but his words were cut off by Dale, who seemed as if he was under some kind of hypnosis.

    " We killed him in the Valley of Wandering Souls," Dale replied.

    "Dale! What the hell are you speaking! Stop Spouting nonsense!" Ryder thundered as he red at Dale, but he noticed the daze on Rale¡¯s face.

    "This seems like the Vampire King¡¯s skill interrogation. It won¡¯t work on anyone that is as strong as a Duke, but this skill can affect the weaker people," High Duke Oris let out as he kept his eyes on the Vampire King.

    "I heard that it could force people to answer their questions honestly. It is a pretty useful skill, but how why the heck is he saying about killing his men? Did one of the Royal guards actually sneak inside the Undead Region?" High Duke Magna let out with a suspicious look on his face.

    High Duke Oris also looked uncertain.

    "That proves it. Who ordered the killing of Viden?" The Vampire King inquired as he again used the same skill.

    "His Highness ordered his death," Dale replied.

    "So you guys actually killed him. I had a sliver of hope that he would be alive, and now that¡¯s crushed too. All of it just reeks of the dirt on demons," Vampire King let out in disgust.

    "The Demons have stayed away from our business in the past, but after getting a Prince on the throne, it looks like your ambitions are growing rapidly. You don¡¯t even think twice before sneakily into ournd and killing our people," Vampire King added as he shook his head.

    He opened his mouth once more as if he was going to say something, but he didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he disappeared as he appeared before Ryder and reached out his hand towards Ryder¡¯s neck, but his hand was caught by High Duke Magna, who gripped his hand firmly and threw him away.

    The Vampire King flew back as he crashed on the wall. The wall broke as the Vampire King flew outside.

    "We can¡¯t let you attack the Prince just with that," High Duke Magna let out as he nced towards the wall.

    "As for what happened with the matters about you sneaking inside the Undead Region without informing us, we¡¯ll have a lengthy conversation about thatter. For now, you need to get out of here. M, take everyone away. I¡¯ll handle the Vampire King," High Duke Magna said.

    "I¡¯m staying behind with you. Everyone else, leave," High Duke Oris added.

    "I don¡¯t need you. I can handle him alone," High Duke Magna said in annoyance.

    "I know, but two is always better than one. We can finish it fast," High Duke Oris replied.

    "I thought I would improve it, but it¡¯s even worse now. The Vampire King still hates us, and the High Dukes also start to lose faith in me," Ryder clenched his fist.

    "Let¡¯s leave," High Duke M told Ryder as she saw him standing in a daze.

    "No one is going everywhere. Today will be the day of ughter! I will kill the one that ordered for my people¡¯s execution and ughter everyone that stands in my way!" The Vampire King thundered as he entered the great hall once again.

    "You overestimate yourself!" High Duke Magna said as he disappeared from his position and appeared near the Vampire King as he formed a me sword. The sword seemed just like the one that his son had formed during the battle with Felina. The only difference was that this sword seemed bigger and brighter. It also seemed more powerful. The level difference clearly yed a significant role in the strength of this sword.

    High Duke Magna swung his sword towards the neck of the Vampire King that seemed shocked at the speed of the High Duke. Before the Vampire King could move, the sword cut his head off.

    The head of the Vampire King fell on the ground, but the High Duke didn¡¯t seem happy.

    High Duke Magna looked back towards High Duke Oris and called out, "It¡¯s a fake. Protect the Prince!"

    High Duke Oris also realized that and noticed the air move behind him.

    The Hand of the Vampire King wasing towards his back to pull his heart out, but High Duke Oris reacted fast.

    "Bindings!" he let out as he tapped the ground.

    Thousands of thick vines came out of the ground and caught the hand of the Vampire King. The other vines caught the body of the Vampire King.

    High Duke Oris looked back and saw the blood-crazed smile on the face of the Vampire King.

    "M! Get alert!" High Duke Oris let out, feeling that something was wrong.

    M noticed the Vampire King behind her and punched him. The Vampire King flew back like an arrow and crashed on the wall.

    High Duke M followed after him to smash him some more, but she heard High Duke Oris and High Duke Magna¡¯s scream.

    "You idiot! That¡¯s a decoy! Don¡¯t follow it!" The other High Dukes let out as they started running towards Ryder, but they were certainly toote.

    The real Vampire King appeared before Ryder and stabbed his palm inside Ryder¡¯s chest. The Vampire King pulled out the heart.

    [Massive Damage Received]

    [HP losing Rapidly]

    [The user has received the Deadly Curse of the Vampire King]

    [HP Critical]

    [5% HP left]

    [The Curse of the Vampire King activated]

    [No HP left]

 Chapter 203 Calling Dracula

    <h4>Chapter 203: Calling Drac</h4>

    Everything turned ck. There was no sound and nothing else.

    Itsted for what seemed like an eternity before Ryder was able to feel his hands and legs.

    He opened his eyes, which were blurry initially, but they soon became clear as he saw the roof.

    He looked to his left and noticed the familiar table.

    "I¡¯m back in my room? Is this a game over? Why wasn¡¯t there an announcement of that?" Ryder muttered as he sat up.

    He picked up his phone that was lying on the table and looked at the time.

    "What the heck? I¡¯m in the past?" Ryder eximed as he frowned.

    "That shouldn¡¯t be possible unless I died, and even then, I should be healed instantly because of the Nature Healing!" Ryder let out as he got off the bed.

    "Janus, can you exin? Did this freaking game again kill me in real life mysteriously?" Ryder said with an annoyed look on his face as he looked at his chest that seemed perfectly fine, but it was somewhat itchy.

    He took off the shirt and saw a strange ck-winged creature mark on his chest. The Mark was disappearing slowly as if it was being wiped. He felt a burning sensation as well, but that was not too painful.

    "Janus, Answer me," Ryder inquired again.

    [Ding... A main-mission has been issued to the main host]

    [Have the Vampire King thank you without telling a single lie]

    [Rewards forpletion: Good rtionship with the Vampire n]

    [Reward forpletion: 200 Origin Points]

    [Punishment for failure: You will be stuck in an infinite time loop]

    [Time limit: Unlimited]

    [Note: Until the mission ispleted, you will stay in the time loop]

    Ryder just stood there nkly as he looked at the empty air before him.

    "The heck is with this. You¡¯re not answering me, and now I¡¯m in a time loop? I thought we were cool. Why are you fuckin me again?" Ryder wanted to cry, but no tears came out.

    He understood the meaning of the time loop. It meant that this same day would keep repeating until he finished the mission, which might take a long time, considering the fact that he wasn¡¯t supposed to lie.

    "How can I even have him thank me without lying. I killed his men, and he¡¯s here for fucking revenge. That dude will rip me to shreds if I don¡¯t lie. And if I tell a single lie before him, it would probably end up with me dying. This is a freaking mess!" Ryder let out as he walked back and forth with a concerned look on his face.

    "Was it you who took me back in time to start this quest? My healing should¡¯ve healed me over eight times, at least," Ryder asked again, hoping for an answer from Janus.

    [Janus did nothing of that sort. It was because the host¡¯s soul had died. The Bracelet took you back in time]

    Janus answered Ryder in an emotionless tone.

    "My soul died? What does that mean? It¡¯s a freaking game. How can my soul die in it! Wait a minute; I think I¡¯m starting to understand," Ryder muttered with a stunned look on his face as if he hadn¡¯t expected this.

    [Did you really guess it? I couldn¡¯t tell you anything rted to this for certain reasons, but maybe it has started now]

    Janus¡¯ voice contained a little bit of hope.

    "I do understand everything now. This is not just a game. This is much more than a game... this is a crappy game! It destroys souls! Those fucking bastards released this bugged game to the public, and the freaking IMC certified it for safety. They are all corrupt! This game is faulty and not safe at all!" Ryder cursed out loud as he smashed his fist on the wall.

    [That...ah... Do the mission, and don¡¯t think too much. One day you mighte at the answer]

    Even Janus seemed stumped for words as he replied.

    "Hey, tell me more about the time loop, at least," Ryder let out, but Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    Ryder asked again and again, but he didn¡¯t get a reply.

    "Should I tell Shu to stop ying it? I can revive, but he can¡¯t. If this game is really that dangerous, then he might die as well," Ryder muttered as he thought for a while. "He wouldn¡¯t believe me though. I can¡¯t just tell him that I died, and that¡¯s why I know."

    ¡¯I guess I¡¯ll see how it goes. Probably I died because of that Curse thing. I¡¯m already treading in a strange territory in the game that wasn¡¯t avablest time for yers. It might be because I came in contact with the final boss level Character and died by his hands, which caused this bug for me,¡¯ Ryder thought as he walked back to his bed and sat down.

    He could see the pizza box nearby, so it was after he had eaten, but he still felt a little bit hungry. Alice wasn¡¯t home at this time, either.

    He again ordered a pizza before he started thinking about a way to solve the problem. How could he make the Vampire King to thank him when he wasing there for revenge, all while not telling a single lie.

    "Well, I don¡¯t have anything. Not a single idea. It seems impossible!" Ryder held his head after he couldn¡¯te to an answer even after thinking for a long time.

    "Should I call someone from the deity phone that can help me talk to Mythical People? Thest time I got advice from the bread boy, that was good. I can talk to someone good this time that would have an expertise in this field," Ryder muttered.

    He ultimately decided on doing it since he didn¡¯t have a better idea.

    Ryder brought out the deity phone and used some origin points to credit it before he started going through contacts.

    "There it is. I can call Drac. He seems like someone who can give me an urate answer. He was also a Vampire ording to the myths. He was pretty powerful too. He should be the best person to talk to," Ryder muttered as he looked at the name of Drac.

    Ryder tapped on the call icon.

    His call was connected, and Ryder was able to hear the caller tune, but he instantly got the phone away from his ears since the caller tune seemed like it was the sound of thousands of bats screaming.

    "What do you want?"

    Ryder heard a heavy voice from the other side. He instantly brought the phone close to his ears.

    "Hey, Am I speaking to Drac?" Ryder inquired.

    He had never imagined that he would ever say this line in his lifetime, but since Ryder had met Janus, all of the weird things were happening.

    "Yeah, what do you want? Hurry, I don¡¯t have all day to waste on the phone," Drac said.

    "Right. I had a problem, and I was hoping that you can help me find an answer," Ryder started exining.

    "So, there¡¯s a powerful Vampire. He¡¯s like the king of Vampires in thisnd. I entered hisnd sneakily to take something that belongs to me. His General found us, and I had to kill him. Now the Vampire King has found out blood there, and he has linked the killers to our kingdom. He is on our way here for revenge. I don¡¯t want there to be a fight between our kingdoms. I also need him to thank me, but I can¡¯t tell a single lie. What is the best way to solve this problem, ording to you?" Ryder inquired in a serious tone.

    "Simple. Have someone shoot a Garlic Arrow in his chest. Go there while he¡¯s weak, acting like a passer-by. Take the arrow off. He¡¯ll probably thank you. You won¡¯t have to say anything," Drac replied without taking even a second to think about it.

    "That¡¯s a good idea, but I¡¯m not sure if garlic is effective on him. He¡¯s a different kind of Vampire that isn¡¯t hurt by garlic," Ryder replied.

    "Strange. Alright then. When he¡¯s resting inside a building during the day, have that building destroyed. He will be hurt by sunlight. Give him an umbre to save him while his skin is burning, and he¡¯ll thank you," Drac again replied casually.

    "You¡¯re definitely joking. Are you sure that you¡¯re the real Drac? It¡¯s not a scam by Janus, is it?" Ryder asked with a suspicious look on his face.

    The Drac he heard about was a serious entity who was the most fierce, but the guy he was talking to sounded like he was a troller.

    "Look, kid. I¡¯m not going to show you my id card here. It¡¯s your choice if you want to believe me or not," Drac let out in an annoyed tone.

    "Alright, forget what I said. Also, he isn¡¯t affected by sunlight either. Can you tell me of a different n?" Ryder inquired as he shook his head.

 Chapter 204 Night Visit

    <h4>Chapter 204: Night Visit</h4>

    "You said that you were talking about a Vampire, but no matter how much I think about it, he doesn¡¯t sound like a vampire at all. Anyway, you definitely need to do something that will make him thank you. The most effective way is to save his life somehow or be creative in other ways. That¡¯s the only thing I can say," The Drac replied.

    Ryder was about to say something when he heard a beeping sound.

    "Hello, Hello?" Ryder let out, but he didn¡¯t get a response. He looked at the screen of the phone, and the call was disconnected.

    "I don¡¯t have any bnce left, but I think I get what he was trying to say. There is no way someone as powerful as him would juste to say thanks to me for no reason. I need to do something that would make him thank me. The problem still remains. What can I do? He¡¯s just too powerful. He wouldn¡¯t need me to save his life," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "He¡¯s definitely more powerful, and he can keep himself safe. Only a High Duke can face him. Should I tell a High Duke to disguise and attack him? No, that would be easily found out. Vampire King knows his strength, and he would know who else here is as strong as him. I can¡¯t use High Dukes. I¡¯d need to think outside the box," Ryder muttered.

    Just as he was thinking, he heard a knock on the door. He stepped out of the room and collected the pizza before he stepped inside the room.

    He was walking back to his room when he heard another knock. He opened the door once again.

    It was Alice this time. She stepped inside the house.

    "You came at the right time. If you were just a littlete, I would¡¯ve eaten the pizza I ordered. Get changed fast, and we¡¯ll share it," Ryder told Alice as he stepped inside his room.

    Alice nodded her head as she walked back to her room. She changed her dress and wore afy t-shirt and a blue skirt before she came out and entered Ryder¡¯s room.

    They shared the pizza as Alice talked about how her day was. They talked while eating the cheese-filled pizza. After finishing it, Alice left his room and went back.

    Ryder alsoid down on the bed as he looked at the time.

    "I¡¯ll enter Divinity right now. I need to set some things up," Ryder muttered as he picked up the Divinity sses.

    He wore the sses and muttered, "Take me to Divinity."

    Ryder woke up in the Royal Room of his Pce. It was midnight in the world of Divinity when Ryder woke up there.

    He got off the bed and opened the door as he stepped out.

    Some maids were standing outside his room.

    "Go and wake up, Miku. Tell her toe to my room," Ryder told the maids before he stepped inside the room.

    He picked up a paper and a pen that was on the table as he started thinking about the best n, but for that, he needed to know the weakness of the Vampire King.

    Rale was the best person for that task, but it was impossible to wake him up at the moment. He was hoping that Miku would have some answers.

    In the meantime, he continued looking at the nk paper.

    "He should be flying, so I can¡¯t make a trap on the ground and save him from that. That¡¯s out the window. I need a trap in the air that would make things difficult for him. I need to be the hero of the story and his savior. We need something that can trouble the Vampire King," Ryder muttered as he wrote the word ¡¯trouble¡¯ on the paper.

    Soon, there was a knock on the door.

    "If it¡¯s Miku, you cane inside. The for is open," Ryder said as he looked towards the door.

    Miku opened the door and stepped inside. She looked somewhat hesitant. She was wearing a beautiful white nightgown. She was sleeping when she was informed that the Prince called for her. She didn¡¯t even change the dress as she ran here.

    "Ah, You called me," She said in a low voice.

    "Yeah, I need you right now," Ryder replied casually as he looked at her.

    Miku clenched the corner of her clothes as her face turned red.

    "Come, sit near me," Ryder told her.

    Miku¡¯s face was as red as it could get. She was misunderstanding Ryder and thinking that he called her to take care of her at night.

    She walked closer to him slowly and sat near him. Her shoulders touched Ryder¡¯s shoulders.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s start," Ryder muttered as he looked at her.

    Miku closed her eyes as she waited for him to do something, but Ryder didn¡¯t do anything. Instead, he asked a question.

    "Do you know what the curse of the Vampire King is?" Ryder asked with a frown.

    Miku abruptly opened her eyes as she looked at him.

    "Y-you called me to ask me questions?" She asked.

    "Yeah. The question is really important," Ryder replied. "Do you know what it is?"

    Miku calmed down her head as she took a deep breath.

    " Ah, yeah. I heard about it. It¡¯s like a myth about the Vampire King. It says that if the Vampire King crushes someone¡¯s heart with his hand, that person gets the curse of the Vampire King. That person not only dies, but even his Soul is destroyed," Miku replied.

    ¡¯Even the soul is destroyed? That kind of makes sense. If my soul was destroyed in the game, then the healing wouldn¡¯t work, and Time Ruler was activated. So that¡¯s what Janus was talking about,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    "That¡¯s good to know. Do you know the weakness of the Vampire King?" Ryder asked her again.

    "I don¡¯t know about that," Miku replied as she shook her head.

    "Alright. Get Dale here. We¡¯re going out," Ryder told Miku as he stood up.

    Miku also got up and left the room. She came back with Dale.

    "Follow after me. We¡¯re going out," Ryder told Dale as soon as he came.

    He started walking towards the exit.

    "Your Highness, if we¡¯re leaving, we would need to bring more guards. It might be dangerous outside," Dale suggested.

    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not going to any dangerous ce," Ryder replied.

    He left the Royal Pce and wore his Royal Crown before he started flying in a certain direction.

    Dale and Miku also started following after him.

    They were a little surprised as they saw Ryder stopping before the pce of High Duke Oris.

    The guards that were guarding the Pce of High Duke Oris got down to the ground as they greeted Ryder.

    "I need to meet the High Duke. Someone escort me to the meeting hall and call him there," Ryder told the guards.

    "Ah, yes, Your Highness," the Head Guard told Ryder as he escorted Ryder and his team inside.

    The other guards that were standing outside the pce started talking amongst themselves after Ryder entered inside.

    "The Prince came here sote, and he looked worried. It must be a serious matter," one of the guards said.

    "I think that there¡¯s going to be a war. He must¡¯ve gotten some secret information. That can be the only urgent matter," Another guard replied.

    Most of the guards agreed to that as they found that more believable.

    "There¡¯s going to be another war after so long. I thought the peace wouldst for a little longer," One of the guards said.

    Ryder was escorted inside the Great Hall, where the event had taken ce in the morning of the previous timeline.

    "Please wait here. I¡¯ll inform Master of your arrival," the guard said as he left Ryder inside the Great Hall.

    Ryder walked to the throne in the Great Hall and sat on it.

    "Your Highness, May I ask what the matter is? You were talking about the Vampire King. Is there a problem? Is the Demon Realm going to be under attack?" Miku asked Ryder.

    "The Vampire King? It can¡¯t be! Did he find out about the..."

    "Silence! I don¡¯t want to hear a single word about that from your mouth," Ryder scolded Dale and stopped him from finishing his sentence.

    He had already decided that he wouldn¡¯t bring Dale anywhere where the Vampire King might arrive as that would be like bringing the witness of the murder before the Jury.

    "You will understand everything soon. Don¡¯t speak a work in between my conversation with the High Duke," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    After some time, the door of the Great Hall was opened, and the High Duke entered the Hall.

    "Greetings, Your Highness. What brought you here at this time of night?" High Duke Oris inquired.

    He walked to Ryder and greeted him.

    "Well, the matter is really important. By the way, since it¡¯s already over midnight, let me just wish you first," Ryder told the High Duke. "Happy Birthday."

    "Thank you. So, what¡¯s the matter?" High Duke Oris inquired.

 Chapter 205 The beginning

    <h4>Chapter 205: The beginning</h4>

    "I¡¯m here to talk to you about something that can affect our rtionship with the Undead Region. I have received some information that the Vampire King ising to our Demon Realm. I need to know about him, so I cane up with a strategy to deal with him," Ryder told High Duke Oris.

    "He¡¯sing here? Why?" High Duke Oris asked with a frown on his face.

    "I have a friend who is in the Undead Region. He is my spy there. He gave me this information. Apparently, one of the Vampire King¡¯s close men has gone missing, and he found the Demon Blood there. I believe that someone intentionally left the Demon Blood there to create this misunderstanding. It should be the people of the Death Domain that want to win the support from the Undead Region," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    "ording to my information, the Vampire King wille here tomorrow. I want to know more about him so I can talk to him more effectively," Ryder told the High Duke.

    "This is a serious matter. How trustworthy are your sources?" High Duke Oris asked Ryder.

    "As trustworthy as me," Ryder replied in short.

    "I need to inform the other High Dukes. They should know about this as well," The High Duke said, shaking his head.

    "I agree. They need to know about it, but not now. Let¡¯s keep this matter between us now," Ryder responded as he stopped High Duke Oris.

    "I don¡¯t want to waste too much time in discussion. First, I need my answers. After you rify some things, you can tell them. We need to utilize the time we have. It¡¯s not about the battle as the battle is an easy matter, but the biggest problem would be the Undead Region that had stayed neutral. We can¡¯t push them closer to the Death Domain," he added.

    "Alright. We cane up with the n ourselves. I believe that we should be honest and tell him that we didn¡¯t do this. Even he shouldn¡¯t be so stupid not to see this ploy," High Duke Oris said.

    Ryder shook his head.

    "That idea is what I thought as well, but we can¡¯t leave the small possibility behind that he might not be ready to believe us. That¡¯s why I want to know what you know about him. What¡¯s the weakness of the Vampire King?" Ryder asked the High Duke.

    "His weakness? I haven¡¯t fought him before, so I don¡¯t know his weakness, but I heard that the Vampires hate loud noises. It might be effective on the Vampire King as well. I personally believe that if ites to that point, we should just fight him. Using any method that will affect him would spoil the rtionship enough already," High Duke Oris said.

    "I don¡¯t want the weakness to defeat him. I need it to improve the rtionship," Ryder said as he smiled lightly.

    "Using his weakness to improve our rtionship?" High Duke Oris asked with a frown on his face.

    "I want to be the hero that saves the damsel in distress. Just imagine a situation when the Vampire King is in danger, and the Prince of the Demon Realm helps him. He would be thankful to us, and he would be more willing to listen to us. We might also be able to win the favor of the Undead Region," Ryder exined.

    High Duke Oris started stroking his beard hair as he thought about it.

    "Interesting. That idea might work if it¡¯s executed sessfully. I like your thinking," High Duke Oris let out as he nodded his head.

    "Of Course. This is what we need. The only problem is the execution. I need something that will genuinely trouble the Vampire King. The High Noise thing is useful, but how to execute this?" Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    "Do we have something that can make a loud noise that might hurt the Vampires?" Ryder asked the High Duke.

    "Yeah, I think we have something like that. Every year, we have a celebration, and the citizens of the kingdom use the Frikers to celebrate. We can use that," High Duke Oris told Ryder.

    "What¡¯s Frikers?" Ryder inquired.

    High Duke Oris waved his hand, and a flute-like object appeared before him. He gave the red flute-like item to Ryder.

    "This is a friker," He said to Ryder.

    Ryder looked at the flute-like thing and brought it closer to his mouth as he blew inside it.

    *Screech*

    A loud screeching sound came out of the flute that was so loud that it filled up the whole pce and woke up most of the people that were still sleeping. Even Felina had woken up. She stepped out of her room and asked the maids what that sound was.

    The maid told her that she didn¡¯t know, but it sounded like it came from the Great Hall.

    She told the maid to follow her as she started walking towards the Great Hall.

    Ryder looked at the flute and nodded his head.

    "If loud sounds hurt them, then this should be effective. I like this. The Vampire King would be here by the afternoon. We need to be ready by then," Ryder said as he gave the flute back.

    Ryder knew the time when the Vampire King entered the great hall. Using that time, he guessed the time when the Vampire King entered the Kingdom, but he didn¡¯t know the direction he would being from.

    The only way to catch the Vampire King outside the High Duke¡¯s pce was when he was near the pce.

    Ryder deducted a few minutes from the exact time and told the High Duke the time when the citizens needed to blow up the flute-like thing at once. He also told him that they couldn¡¯t tell the citizens what was actually happening. He told the High Duke to use the excuse that this was the wish of the Prince that everyone ys Friker at the same time to celebrate High Duke Oris¡¯ birthday. That way, he could act innocent after saving the Vampire King.

    Since he couldn¡¯t lie, he needed to have someone else talk to him at that time; he also decided who that person would be.

    The timing and the execution was the most important thing. Since he didn¡¯t know anything about the direction and about the Vampire King¡¯s weaknesses, he was treating it like a test to get knowledge for the next try. Still, he was trying to give it his all, hoping that he would seed in the first try.

    In the next hour, he and High Duke Oris talked more about the n before they finalized it.

    "Yeah, that should be perfect. We¡¯ll go with that. You can go tell the other High Dukes now," Ryder said to the High Duke before he stood up and left the Great Hall.

    He noticed Felina standing outside. She was probably listening to them. He smiled at her as he left.

    Miku and Dale followed after Ryder as they left the pce of High Duke Oris.

    Ryder flew back to his Pce and went to his great hall.

    He sat on the throne as he looked at Dale and Miku, who was standing before him.

    "Dale, go and bring everyone who came with me to the Undead Region," Ryder told Dale in a grim tone.

    "Yes, your Highness," Dale nodded his head before he left to bring his teammates.

    "Your Highness, Is the Vampire King really going to attack us? Did you actually kill his people there?" Miku asked Ryder. She had already guessed most of the things from what Ryder told the High Duke. She already knew that Ryder went to the Death Domain with Rale and the others. After that point, it was easy to guess. It was what he said before High Duke Oris.

    "Don¡¯t ask the question you don¡¯t need the answers to," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    "Also, you can¡¯te with me tomorrow. You need to stay behind. Get another maid to apany me tomorrow," Ryder told her.

    "D-did I do something wrong?" Miku asked with a concerned look on her face as she clenched the corners of her dress.

    "You did nothing wrong. It¡¯s just that I can¡¯t bring anyone who knows about my secrets. The Vampire King has a skill that can force you to tell all secrets about me. It won¡¯t work on me because of my Crown, but it can easily work on you. It would be problematic if you started spilling everything before the Vampire King and the other High Dukes. Just for one day, you need to stay away from me in the pce," Ryder told her.

    "I understand. I¡¯ll arrange for the best maid to follow you," Miku said, but there was a disappointment which was evident on her face.

    Dale returned with the guards as well. Ryder told the guards the same thing that they needed to stay in the pce in their rooms all day tomorrow. He also told them to arrange for a different set of guards for him for one day.

    The whole night, Ryder prepared for the day.

 Chapter 206 The Outcome

    <h4>Chapter 206: The Oue</h4>

    The night passed away, and it was day soon. Ryder left the pce with a new maid and a different set of guards.

    He flew towards the Pce of High Duke Oris. He was wearing all the artifacts that the High Dukes had given him. He especially wore the Royal Prince since it was something that protected him from the skills that could affect his mind.

    He entered the Pce of High Duke Oris.

    Unlike thest time, this time, all the High Dukes were there already. The Dukes were still not there, but they weren¡¯t told about this either.

    This secret was only told to the ones that were capable of resisting the skill of the Vampire King.

    As Ryder entered the Great Hall, he was able to hear the words of High Duke Magna.

    "I still doubt if his source is believable or not. If it¡¯s true, we should just meet force with force. We are going at it like we actually did something wrong," High Duke Magna said. Just then, he saw Ryder entering the great hall.

    The High Dukes greeted Ryder.

    " It¡¯s good to see that all of you are here," Ryder said as he nodded his head. He nced towards High Duke Oris and inquired, "Is everything ready?"

    "Yeah, Everyone¡¯s ready for that. All the citizens are informed about the order to y the Friker at the right time. They will y it thinking that it¡¯s for the celebration of my birthday," High Duke Oris said.

    "I thought the day was going to be a day of happiness and celebrating, but the Vampire King just had to infiltrate today. Such bad luck," High Duke M let out in annoyance. "I am so angry that I would beat the crap out of him if you allow us to fight."

    "It¡¯s not the time to let the personal feelings affect us. It¡¯s the perfect opportunity to win the support of the Undead Region. It would be a step forward towards the dominant position against the Death Domain if we can utilize this ce and establish a good rtionship," Ryder exined. Even though it was mostly an excuse, it was not a lie to say that it was a part of his goals as well.

    The Dukes started arriving as time passed.

    After everyone was here, Ryder began talking to all of them. He didn¡¯t tell them the thing about the Vampire King, but he did repeat what he saidst time about his visit to their region.

    The celebration started since there was still some time in the arrival of the Vampire King, and Ryder didn¡¯t want to spoil the birthday of High Duke Oris too much.

    The food and the wine were served, and everyone started enjoying the party.

    After the party finished, the High Dukes looked at each other as if they were contemting something.

    "I know what you¡¯re thinking. Is it about the ceremony to select the best kid out of the four, right? Since there is time, you want to finish that tradition right now," Ryder told the High Dukes as he nced at them.

    "You know about it. Good. It looks like you did put some effort into knowing about us and the Realm," High Duke Magna said as he praised Ryder.

    "I do know about it, and you guys can have that, but there needs to be a change this time. There will be only two battles. The final battle needs to wait until this whole thing with the Vampire King ends," Ryder told them. "We only have enough time for two battles."

    "Alright," All the High Dukes agreed.

    Since they had alle to an agreement, the battles began. The first battle was a win for Felina and the Second Battle was the win for Nomag just likest time.

    Since Ryder knew that the Vampire King appeared at the end of the third battle, he could already expect the Vampire King was nearing him.

    "It should be the time for his arrival. Let¡¯s go out to see," Ryder let out as he stood up.

    He started walking towards the balcony of the High Duke¡¯s Pce with the other High Dukes.

    A big crowd of demons was standing outside the pce with their Frikers since it was what they were informed.

    As soon as Ryder appeared on the Balcony with the High Dukes, he looked around and noticed something flying towards them at high speed.

    He held the hand of High Duke Oris and raised it in the hand.

    "Everyone, please congratte the High Duke on his birthday! Make it loud enough for the whole Kingdom to listen! It¡¯s the birthday of our Guardian after all!" Ryder let out loud.

    The Demons started cheering as they started ying the flute-like objects in their hands.

    Ryder saw the Vampire King flying towards them. He also noticed the changes in his expressions as soon as the screeching sound filled the atmosphere. Ryder was hoping for him to fall down, but it seemed less effective than he thought.

    It just seemed like the Vampire King was a little bit annoyed, but he didn¡¯t seem to be getting hurt or injured with the sound. Ryder realized that this was not the weakness of the Vampire King.

    Ryder already knew that there was a possibility of this happening since he was generalizing the Vampires. In contrast, the Vampire King should have been in a different category of his own. Since the Vampire King¡¯s strength is more than the others, his weakness should be less than the normal Vampires too.

    Ryder shook his head as he started talking to the High Dukes.

    "The n is a failure. Forget what happened. Don¡¯t show or say that you knew about his arrival. Talk as if you¡¯re hearing about his words for the first time," Ryder said to them in a low voice.

    The Vampire King stopped before Ryder and the High Dukes as he floated before them.

    "You have the Crown. You should be the Prince, and they should be the High Dukes! Tell me where my general is!" Vampire King thundered.

    All the Demons turned silent as they looked towards the balcony in confusion.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t lie, or I would get the same ending, which would result in me going to the time loop. I can¡¯t let him attack either, or it would be the same. Time to put my brain to work,¡¯ Ryder thought while on the outside, he pretended to be surprised to see the Vampire King here.

    "You must be the Vampire King. Come on inside. We can talk inside," Ryder said as he deflected the question while he started walking inside.

    High Duke Oris and the others kept an eye on the Vampire King as they escorted him inside.

    They went back to the Great Hall, where it all endedst time.

    Ryder sat on the main seat as he told the maids to arrange another seat for the Vampire King.

    "I¡¯m not here to sit! I¡¯m here for answers. Where is my general?" The Vampire King responded.

    "Which General are you talking about?" Ryder inquired as he nced at the Vampire King while he kept sitting on the throne.

    "The General that you took from the Undead Region when you entered the Valley of Wandering Souls to steal the gem of the Guardian! Tell me where he is!" The Vampire King let out loud as he spread his murderous aura.

    The High Dukes also released a bit of their aura to protect Ryder from Vampire King¡¯s chilling aura as they stood near him.

    "Vampire King, Since you are from the Undead Region, I¡¯m treating you as a guest. Don¡¯t go overboard, though. This is the Demon Realm. Please control your anger and talk like normal people," Ryder let out without looking the least bit worried. He was going to project the image of a powerful leader this time while using vague words to try to change the story.

    "As for the man you might be talking about, Let me rify it the best I can. We haven¡¯t kidnapped your man, and we have no man of yours in our custody. You should reconsider your information. It might be the work of an enemy to put you against us," Ryder let out in a suggestive time. It was not a lie since he used the words in a manner as if he was suggesting a possibility, but he didn¡¯t say that it was what happened.

    "Someone else like the Death Domain? You think that I will believe that when I already saw the Demon Blood there?" The Vampire King inquired in a sarcastic tone.

    "Well, let me try to find an answer to that. You came at just the right time. All the Dukes of the Demon realm are here. Almost all of them, at least. Listen carefully to their answers," Ryder said to the Vampire King.

    He started looking at the Dukes.

    "Everyone, Tell me, how many Demons go missing in your Duchy every day," Ryder inquired as he nced at the Dukes.

 Chapter 207 Time Loop Broken

    <h4>Chapter 207: Time Loop Broken</h4>

    "I might not have the urate numbers, but I believe that over a thousand demons went missing in mynd this year from what I hear. Since our poption is so high, most people don¡¯t even care when someone disappears. There have also been instances when demons kill each other and bury them while keeping it a secret. So, there can be many reasons for them to go missing," The Second Duke exined to Ryder since he was sitting closest to Ryder amongst all the Dukes.

    "The number can only be higher in my duchy since it¡¯s the most popted in the Realm. I don¡¯t know about this year, butst year, around Twenty thousand demons went missing. I know the exact number since I had this curiosity at that point in time, and I told my people to get the answer to this," Another Duke replied.

    One after another, all the Dukes gave a number. There was one constant, though. All of them talked about people going missing in their Duchy. None of them said that there was no one that went missing.

    The Vampire King didn¡¯t interrupt any of them while they were talking, but he was getting impatient.

    "See? There are thousands of Demons that go missing here every year. It¡¯s not impossible for someone to kidnap the demons and use them to ce the me on us. It might be the Death Domain," Ryder let out with a thoughtful look on his face.

    "They have the benefit and the Strength to do something like this. What do you think?" Ryder inquired.

    The Vampire King was finally confused as he heard it this way. He knew that there was also a possibility of that.

    He looked towards Ryder as his gaze became more intense. He was using his skill to get the truth out of him.

    "That Skill won¡¯t work on me. You might be forgetting who I am," Ryder replied casually.

    If it was a normal situation, he would have just pretended to be affected by his skill and lied that he was innocent, but since he couldn¡¯t lie, deflecting was the better option.

    "Look, I know how bad it can be to lose a close person. Even though I haven¡¯t lost a person close to me, I can still imagine how bad I would feel if a friend or something working for me went missing. Believe me, I am here for you. I don¡¯t want to spoil the rtionship between the two realms. I can help you if you want, but if you don¡¯t trust us, then things can only get worse. I don¡¯t want us to have it fight as the Death Domain will be the only one that benefits from it," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    The Vampire King frowned as he looked around the room as if he was trying to see if he could ask someone else his questions since he wasn¡¯t getting anything from Ryder.

    He looked at a Duke and used his Skill.

    "You think..." High Duke Magna was furious as he saw the Vampire King using his skills on the Dukes so arrogantly.

    "Let him use the skills he wants. I think he only wants to be certain. He won¡¯t harm anyone. Let him have his peace," Ryder stopped High Duke Magna from reacting.

    The Vampire King had used the skill, but he didn¡¯t ask the question.

    Instead, he raised both his hands as he cast an additional spell that filled the whole room.

    The High Dukes didn¡¯t react since they knew that Ryder didn¡¯t want them to act, and they could see that it was just a modification of that truth spell which he had used. It just meant that he could ask questions in more confidence, and he could believe faster.

    "Is the Prince scheming against me?! Tell me about it if anyone knows!" The Vampire King dered.

    Ryder was pretty confident that no one was going to say anything since the only two people that knew that he had killed the Vampire General were the people that traveled with him to the Demon Realm, and none of them were here at the moment.

    Even though Ryder was confident, his confidence was soon shattered as he heard someone speaking.

    It was a female voice that had started speaking, and it made his expressions turn grave.

    "His Highness did scheme against you. He knew that you wereing for revenge because your general was killed, and he also nned to have you injured with extreme sound. It was so that he could save you and get close to you to win your friendship."

    Ryder didn¡¯t even need to look back to see who was talking since he knew that it was Felina. He knew that he had failed, and it was impossible to convince the Vampire King now.

    What happened next was the same asst time. It was like a repeat telecast. The battle started, and Ryder got the curse of the Vampire King as he died.

    Ryder woke up again in his room.

    "Failed again, but now I know what I could do to solve it. Without Felina there, everything can work. It seemed like we were able to convince the Vampire King," Ryder muttered as he recounted what happened.

    He followed the timeline closely to thest one and did everything the same way.

    The only difference was that he didn¡¯t y the Friker in the pce of the High Duke, which resulted in Felina not waking up. When he left the room, Felina was not there.

    The morning also progressed the same way, but Ryder again changed one thing.

    He didn¡¯t let the battles between the kids of High Dukesmence. There was not even a single round.

    Instead, he told them to leave this ce and stay out of their sight until they were called for. He suggested them to stay in the garden of High Duke Oris since that was more of an isted ce.

    Even though the High Dukes didn¡¯t understand it, they did as he said and sent the kids away.

    Since they saved some time this time because of no battles, they went to the Balcony and gave a proper speech.

    Ryder talked about how the High Duke was important to the Demon Realm and how he had helped Ryder. He also praised other High Dukes.

    The Other High Dukes also said a few words as they congratted High Duke Oris.

    The crowd was told to y the Frikers since Ryder wanted to follow the timeline to the closest other than the few things that he changed to modify the uing events.

    Ultimately, they were in the same situation asst time.

    "Is the Prince scheming against me?! Tell me about it if anyone knows!" The Vampire King asked again.

    None of the Demons in the room said anything this time. The ones that knew about anything were not here, and the High Dukes weren¡¯t affected by this skill since they were too strong to be affected by such skills.

    "You need to listen to me and believe me. Whatever I said to you today, there was not a single lie in that," Ryder dered.

    Since everything he said was in the form of assumption, he didn¡¯t actually lie about anything, and this was the truth.

    "So, you don¡¯t have my General here?" The Vampire King asked Ryder.

    "No, we don¡¯t have your general. We don¡¯t have anyone from the Undead Region here as far as I know, other than you," Ryder replied.

    "I want to search the Demon Realm," The Vampire King said.

    "Sure, you can search the Realm. We treat you as our guest. We can even give you a nice room to stay while you stay here," Ryder replied.

    "Thanks for the offer, but I would like to stay free. I hope that none of your people will interfere in my search, though," The Vampire King said.

    ¡¯He said thanks. That should count,¡¯ Ryder thought as he eagerly waited for the system¡¯s announcement.

    [Mission Completed: The Vampire King said thanks]

    [Time Loop is broken]

    [Rewards Given, but since the thanks was not a thanks of friendship, some of the rewards might not be as described]

    Ryder started hearing Janus¡¯ announcement. Even though some of these things were not as he hoped, the mission was over, and that made him extremely happy, but he kept his expressions neutral.

    ¡¯I can lie now,¡¯ he thought.

    "Not at all. Feel free to search. We have a lot of respect for you, and we also want to bring the Undead Region And the Demon Realm closer. You can treat that as a token of trust," Ryder replied.

    Till now, Ryder was using a friendly tone, but his tone suddenly changed and became more serious as he continued.

    "You just need to keep one thing in mind, though. As much as I want the friendship, the safety of my people is above all else. If you harmed even a single demon while you¡¯re here, I wouldn¡¯t mind waging a war on anyone!" Ryder dered.

 Chapter 208 The Tragedy of the Past

    <h4>Chapter 208: The Tragedy of the Past</h4>

    Ryder¡¯s words were Sessful in igniting the fire in the Dukes¡¯ hearts. Even the High Dukes couldn¡¯t help but praise Ryder¡¯s words in their mind, which showed the dignity of the ruler of the Demon Realm. That¡¯s what they expected.

    High Duke Magna had already prepared himself to warn the Vampire King since he expected that Ryder wouldn¡¯t say anything, but he was pleasantly surprised to see Ryder react and get serious.

    "Also, Someone will need to stay close to you so that we can make sure that you don¡¯t harm our citizens and don¡¯t scheme against us. We can¡¯t let anyone stay in our region, especially not someone as strong as you. I trust you, but I have a responsibility for my people as well. Think of that person as your escort. They won¡¯t interfere with anything that you do. They will just keep a watch on you while you do whatever you want."

    " Do you ept that offer? I¡¯m sure you can understand my plight. You¡¯re also a leader of your people. I¡¯m sure you can¡¯t let a demon roam in yournd without governance," Ryder told the Vampire King.

    The Vampire King nodded his head, but he didn¡¯t say anything.

    Ryder looked back at the High Dukes before he came to a decision.

    "High Duke Eston, I might need to trouble you to apany our guest. Do you mind?" Ryder inquired.

    "Not at all. In fact, I would love to apany him. I have been fascinated by the culture of the Undead Region. I might be able to broaden my horizons if I stay with him," High Duke Eston responded with a smile on his face.

    "Good. You can stay near him then," Ryder said to the High Duke.

    The Vampire King didn¡¯t say anything else as he turned back and left. He flew outside the Pce of High Duke.

    "I¡¯ll see you guyster. Enjoy the celebration," High Duke Eston said as he followed after the Vampire King.

    ¡¯He wouldn¡¯t harm any demon¡¯s, but he will keep searching. As long as he doesn¡¯t use his skills on the ones that know about this and as long as none of us bleed before him, it should be fine. I have finished the mission, but I can¡¯t rx. I should just leave this area and begin touring the Dukes¡¯ Lands since I believe that he would spend his time searching here. Better stay away from this ce,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Should we send him alone, or would it be better if two people were to keep an eye on him?" Ryder inquired as he looked towards the exit after High Duke Eston left.

    "Eston¡¯s going to be fine. He¡¯s pretty strong. He might even be stronger than people expect," High Duke M replied as she smiled.

    "That¡¯s good then. Anyway, since the problem is solved, we can begin thepetition that you guys were talking about," Ryder said to them.

    Since it was more like a tradition, Ryder knew that he needed to have that be finished.

    High Duke Oris told a servant to go and bring Felina and the others back. In the meantime, Ryder and the others resumed drinking,

    After some time, Felina and the others came back to the great hall.

    The battles began, and the events followed asst time¡ªthe final battle once again between Felina and Nomag.

    Before the starting of the battle, Ryder once again told Nomag not to use any skills that could endanger others; the only difference was that he was more specific this time.

    Ryder said the name of the skill and straight away told Nomag that the use of that skill was banned unless he could prove before everyone else that he had mastered it.

    High Duke Magna was quite shocked at Ryder¡¯s knowledge. He hadn¡¯t expected Ryder to know that his son had started learning it, let alone the fact that he hadprehended a little of that skill already.

    Ultimately, it was decided that Nomag wouldn¡¯t use that skill.

    The battle began, and Nomag followed the rule as described this time. Since the specific skill was banned, he didn¡¯t use that skill. The match ended with Felina¡¯s victory, but Ryder knew that in real life battle conditions, the winner would¡¯ve been Nomag. There was no banning in real life, and he knew that Nomag¡¯s half mastered skill was enough to wound Felina seriously.

    Even though that was what he believed the real-life battle to go, it was a fact that Felina had won in this battle, no matter the disadvantage of Nomag.

    The High Dukes praised both of them for their amazing battle before they started giving them their rewards.

    In this timeline, Ryder hadn¡¯t dered that he would award anyone, but he still had both of them rewarded. The rewards were just jewelry that was precious in the Demon Realm only. On the outside, this jewelry had no value, and it had no buffs either. Even though he should¡¯ve rewarded only the winner, he gave the reward to Nomag as well since he was the one that gave him the handicap.

    After the battle ended, the party resumed again. It was the time of a ball. Music started ying in the great hall, but the Dukes and the High Dukes weren¡¯t dancing. The dancers were the professional demons that were invited to perform.

    Surprisingly, the dance they were performing had a lot of simrities with the ballroom dance that he had experienced in the Modern World. He had also learned ballroom dancing for the prom of college since it was the theme.

    As the music started ying, Ryder felt like dancing as well. He was happy that he was out of the Time Loop, but there was another reason for his desire to dance. He wanted to partner up with Devilia, who was looking at the dancers. He could see that she wanted to dance, as well. He also wanted to use this opportunity as a thanks for her help.

    Ryder stood up, and it attracted the attention of everyone. People stopped looking at the dancers and started looking at Ryder. The dancers and the music also stopped since everyone felt like something was wrong.

    While the Great Hall had pin-drop silence, Ryder started walking ahead. His footsteps were clear.

    Even Devilia was looking at Ryder, but she was surprised as she saw himing towards her.

    Ryder stopped before Devilia as he looked in her eyes.

    Devilia also stood up.

    "Miss Devilia, would you like to have a dance with me?" Ryder let out as he reached out his hand.

    "I..."

    Devilia¡¯s mouth opened and closed constantly as she struggled to say anything. She hadn¡¯t expected this to happen, and she was having a hard time responding.

    High Dukes also were shocked, but they started smiling.

    "Looks like His Highness has started to take an interest in women," High Duke M chuckled.

    Since the Hall was silent, these words were heard by everyone, which made the atmosphere awkward for Ryder.

    "It¡¯s a casual dance to celebrate the good day," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly.

    "Why did the music stop? Start ying," Ryder let out.

    The music started ying again.

    "Is that a yes or a no?" Ryder inquired as he saw Devilia not responding.

    He was about to lower his hand, but Devilia held his hand.

    "I would love to have a casual dance with his highness to celebrate this good day," Devilia replied, using Ryder¡¯s own words.

    Ryder took her to the center and started the ballroom dance with her. The other dancers moved to the side to allow them space.

    While Ryder danced with Devilia, he couldn¡¯t help but feel the happiness. He remembered the time of Prom in his college. He had learned the Prom Dance with a friend so that he could dance with the girl he liked. He had also invited the girl for the prom, and she had said yes. That day was going to be the best day of his life. A day of happiness that hasn¡¯t appeared since his parents left the world, leaving his heart filled with sadness.

    The Day of Happiness turned into a day of sadness, though.

    The girl that had agreed to enter the Prom with him hade to the prom, but not like he expected. She was holding the hand of another man. She walked past Ryder, who was standing at the entrance waiting for her without even ncing at him.

    Ryder had a Flower bouquet in his hand, which he threw to the side as he left the ce.

    "What are you thinking? You look sad," Devilia said as she looked in Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    "Nothing. I just remembered something from the past," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    Since the music was ying now, they could talk without letting others hear them.

    "You look really beautiful today," Ryderplimented Devilia.

    "Don¡¯t I look beautiful on other days?" Devilia inquired with an amused smile on her face.

    "You look beautiful always, but you look super cute today," Ryder replied as he smiled.

 Chapter 209 Suspicious Miku

    <h4>Chapter 209: Suspicious Miku</h4>

    "I¡¯ll take thatpliment," Devilia responded as she continued moving to the music while she closed in the distance between Ryder and her.

    "Hoho, Young ones really know how to have a good time," High Duke Oris let out as he chuckled while he kept watching Ryder and Devilia with a smile on his face.

    "You talk as if we are old. You might be old, but I¡¯m still a young maiden," High Duke M replied as sheughed.

    " We¡¯re the oldest people in the room," High Duke Oris responded as he shook his head.

    "Come with me, old man. Let me get you to move your old bones then," High Duke M stood up as she extended her hand to High Duke Oris.

    "You can¡¯t be serious," High Duke Oris replied with a smile on his face.

    "Come on, don¡¯t be shy. Didn¡¯t you hear the Prince? It¡¯s like something that friends do. It must be like a tradition from hisnd. Let¡¯s give himpany by taking part in that tradition," High Duke M insisted.

    "Hahaha, fine then, Let¡¯s give thempany then," High Duke Oris held her hand as he stood up.

    They walked up to Ryder and continued dancing to the music.

    "Cheh, They are like children. They don¡¯t even care about the dignity of High Dukes," High Duke Magna muttered as he snorted as if he didn¡¯t like the High Dukes dancing before the Dukes, but he didn¡¯t say anything.

    "This dress looks good on you. Who chose it?" Devilia inquired as she looked at the clothes of Ryder.

    "Miku chose this dress for me for this asion. She¡¯s back in the pce," Ryder responded as he smiled.

    "Oh, the Royal Head Maid. She does have a nice sense of fashion, but let me give you a bit of advice," Devilia said.

    She brought her face close to Ryder¡¯s ears and whispered something in his ears.

    "Be careful around her. Don¡¯t trust her too much," She told Ryder.

    Ryder heard her words and grew even more confused. It seemed as if Devilia was suspicious of Miku, but he didn¡¯t understand why she was suspicious.

    "Why?" He asked Devilia.

    "You don¡¯t know her background?" Devilia inquired as she looked at him.

    "Her background? I didn¡¯t investigate. What¡¯s her background?" Ryder asked again.

    " You remember the Duke that tried to take your Scythe when I first introduced you to the High Dukes?" Devilia inquired.

    "Yeah, he was the first Duke if I¡¯m not wrong. The strongest one amongst the Dukes," Ryder let out as he nodded his head. "He was badly injured after that, and I haven¡¯t seen him since then. He didn¡¯te today either."

    " Miku is his sister," Devilia answered Ryder.

    "She¡¯s the sister of a Duke? Why is she working as a maid in the Royal Pce then? Also, how did High Duke Oris allow her to work for me in that case?" Ryder inquired in a low voice, with a frown on his face.

    "Because they trust her. I don¡¯t know why or what happened, but five years ago, she was assigned to take care of the Royal pce as the head maid. I believe that they must have a reason to trust her, but I get a feeling that you need to be careful. It¡¯s better to be suspicious of the innocent than to believe the one that will betray you," Devilia told Ryder.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll be careful," Ryder replied as he nodded his head.

    "So, when exactly are youing to visit my ce?" Devilia asked Ryder.

    "Your ce is the first on my list. Since the Vampire King is already here, I¡¯ll have to rush some things. I¡¯ll probably be there the day after tomorrow," Ryder replied.

    "Good. I¡¯ll prepare for the Grand Wee," Devilia said as she smiled.

    "There¡¯s no need for a grand wee. I¡¯ve already been there," Ryder responded.

    Devilia licked her lips as she brought her face closer to Ryder¡¯s ears again.

    "You were there as a young boy who was too shy to even change before me, but now you¡¯ll be there as the Prince of the whole realm. It¡¯s not just for me, but for the wholend. There needs to be a grand wee. The People of mynd have been eager to see the new Prince, and it can be an opportunity to give them a nce before the main speech from the pce," Devilia said to Ryder.

    "Suit yourself," Ryder nodded his head.

    "Well, I think someone is looking at me with jealousy. I guess the others want the opportunity to dance with the Prince too. I¡¯ll take a rest. Enjoy the evening," Devilia let out as she released Ryder and walked back to her seat.

    Ryder wondered who she was talking about as he looked back and noticed that Felina was looking in his direction. As soon as his gaze met hers, she started looking away.

    "I hope it won¡¯t be too inappropriate," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "Come On, guys, why are you all not dancing? This is a day of celebration. It¡¯s the birthday of our High Duke Oris. Come on, everyone, stand up and enjoy the evening," Ryde let out as he nced at everyone. "Use this as a bonding experience to improve your rtionship with your fellow Dukes."

    There were Twenty-five Dukes in the hall, and twelve of them were guys. The Dukes started getting up and former pairs to dance.

    Now, thirteen pairs were dancing while the music yed. This looked like a proper ballroom dance now.

    Ryder went back to the seats.

    "High Duke Magna, why are you not celebrating?" Ryder asked as he saw High Duke Magna sitting with his eyes closed.

    "I¡¯m not joining this," High Duke Magna responded without opening his eyes.

    "Come on. Don¡¯t be shy. Come, let¡¯s dance. The old man seems to be tired already," High Duke M appeared near Magna and started telling him to dance with her.

    High Duke Oris sat back on his seat.

    "Take her up on the offer. It does feel better. It¡¯s kind of like an exercise. Just try it, once," High Duke Oris said to Magna.

    "I¡¯m not taking part in this. Leave me alone," High Duke Magna responded as he refused to budge.

    "Hmph, you¡¯re such a killjoy," High Duke M let out as she rolled her eyes.

    "My Prince, How about you dance with me?" High Duke M asked Ryder.

    Ryder was about to go ask Felina, but he had stopped since he saw Magna sitting alone, and now he was asked to dance M.

    "Alright," He agreed to the offer.

    He held High Duke M¡¯s hands and started walking with her to the center.

 Chapter 210 Fooled by a fake

    <h4>Chapter 210: Fooled by a fake</h4>

    High Duke M was one of the most powerful beings in the Demon Realm, but she didn¡¯t look like that. She looked like a girl that was only slightly over 18, but Ryder knew that it was just her looks. She was probably way older, but he knew that she hadn¡¯t gotten married yet, which was surprising since she was the only High Duke that wasn¡¯t married.

    There were quite a few Dukes that were single, but amongst the High Dukes, she was the only one who was still single.

    M had hair that was a lighter shade of red. Her hair was short and only came down to her shoulders, but they suited her looks.

    She also had two hornsing out of her head, but that didn¡¯t affect her beauty in Ryder¡¯s eyes. He had also seen her wingsst time when she was leaving, but those wings were not visible at this time.

    Ryder ced one of his hands on her back, and the other hand held her hand as they began dancing.

    "You dance really well. Not just you, but others too. It¡¯s difficult to imagine that you guys don¡¯t dance on asions like this. Why did you guys learn the dance then?" Ryder asked High Duke M.

    "It¡¯s a part of the basic training on the Noble households. It¡¯s just something that everyone needs to learn even though it has no use the same," High Duke M exined.

    "Oh. I understand it now. We also had to learn some useless things where I was born. Anyway, I have a question. Can I ask you if you don¡¯t mind? It might be somewhat personal," Ryder asked M.

    "Personal? Are you going to ask me about my breast size? I heard in a book when I was young that males are more interested in it, but I haven¡¯t had anyone ask me that yet," High Duke M responded with a curious look on her face.

    "Ah, that¡¯s not it. Anyway, I can already guess why no one asked that to you. That would just be looking for death. Anyway, my question is, why haven¡¯t you married yet. All the other High Dukes are still married, but from what I heard, you¡¯re the only one amongst them who¡¯s still single," Ryder inquired.

    "Why? Is there anything wrong with being single?" High Duke M inquired with an amused smile on her face.

    "There is nothing wrong with that. I was just curious," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    "I want to live a single life. I don¡¯t feel the need of a man in my life, so why should I care," High Duke M replied as she smiled.

    Ryder and M talked more as they continued dancing. After some time, they separated and walked back.

    "I guess I have one more dance left in me. Felina, would you like to dance with me?" Ryder asked Felina since she was the one who was left.

    The day passed away in the celebration as the drinking resumed after the dancing.

    When it was night, everyone started leaving.

    Ryder went back to his Royal Pce, and he was greeted by Miku.

    "How did it go?" Miku inquired as Ryder entered the Pce.

    " Things went good. Anyway, we¡¯re leaving the day after tomorrow to Felina¡¯s Duchy. Prepare for the journey. I¡¯ll be going back to my room since I¡¯m tired," Ryder replied as he started walking back.

    "I will prepare for that," Miku nodded her head.

    Ryder went back to his room and closed the door as he logged out of the game.

    He woke up in the real world. It was alreadyte in the day. It was the afternoon when Ryder woke up.

    He took a nice shower before he got dressed in proper clothing.

    He had purchased a satellite that didn¡¯t leave any trace of the call behind. He had taken the number of Pasher from the phone of Jameson. He wanted to call Pasher using that while using Jameson¡¯s voice to bring him closer to his death.

    Pasher was the father of the Spirit that was living in his office building. He had a mission to finish, which was to kill Pasher to help fulfill the revenge wish of the Spirit.

    He called Pasher using his satellite phone.

    "Who¡¯s this?" Pasher inquired as he picked up the phone.

    "It¡¯s Jameson. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I¡¯m using this satellite phone," Ryder responded in Jameson¡¯s voice.

    "What the fuck, I justnded in your city and heard that you were dead. How the fuck are you still alive?" Pasher inquired in a concerned tone.

    "I¡¯ll tell you everything personallyter. I¡¯m hiding in an old building at the moment. I¡¯ll send you the address. Come to meet me. We need to solve this problem. The feds will soon find out that the body they found isn¡¯t mine. They will reach you too if we don¡¯t deal with this. Come fast, I¡¯ll be waiting," Ryder let out as he disconnected the call.

    He sent the address of the building that was near the ce where the spirit was staying. He knew that Pasher wouldn¡¯te if he invited him to the exact building since he knew that it was a haunted ce, that¡¯s why he invited him to a nearby ce. Once Pasher got there, it was easy after that.

    Ryder took the keys of his car and stepped out of his home.

    He sat in his Whirlwind and started the car, which started driving away.

    He stopped the car near a fast food restaurant and ate something before he left and went to the building where everything was about to take ce.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that there was someone who was tracking his movement.

    There was a tracker ced under his car, which tracked his every movement. It was unclear who put that tracker there.

    The FBI was already on the trail of Pasher since Jameson was dead, and hisst conversation was with Pasher, where they talked about some strange things which aroused their suspicions.

    They had started tapping his call. They also heard histest call and got even more confused. Their tests had confirmed that the body they found was of Jameson. Who was this new Jameson? Were they really fooled by a fake?

    Ryder reached his building and parked the car underground before he stepped out of the car.

    He didn¡¯t go to the higher floors and walked out as he stood near the entrance of that building while he kept an eye on the meeting ce that was right before him.

 Chapter 211 Tranquelized

    <h4>Chapter 211: Tranquelized</h4>

    Ryder kept an eye on the road as he waited for Pasher. He didn¡¯t want to miss him when he came.

    Since he was getting bored, he brought out his phone and started to go through the news while he regrly kept looking at the meeting point.

    While he was going through the news, he came across something that talked about the raid of the feds near his area in which a businessman called Jameson was found dead.

    He didn¡¯t read anything unusual, and the article said that it was ruled out as a suicide. There was other news rted to the Dream Corporation. It was said that the Dream Corporation was in talks with the government for a bug militarisation deal. They were en route to be the biggest profiteer if the deal seeded.

    There was also news about murders of prominent celebrities. The report stated that in thest Twenty-Four hours, three celebrities were killed.

    After he finished the article, he closed it and searched his username on the inte to see what people were talking about him nowadays, and if the cheating im was still going on or not.

    The top result was about the reply of Necrosis Corporation against the ims of cheating.

    "So they did reply," Ryder muttered as he saw the headline.

    With great interest, he clicked on the article and started reading it.

    The Article talked about the whole bacsh and the ims of cheating, and then it mentioned the reply from Necrosis Corporation.

    The Spokesperson outright dismissed the concerns and imed that it was impossible to cheat in the game and how far a person could reach was totally dependent on the tasks and the missions that the yer got. They said that there were thousands of special quests hidden in the world of Divinity and that it was up to the yers about how far they could reach.

    "The reply is what I expected. That¡¯s how Necrosis had always been. They pride themselves on the creation of Divinity, and they would dismiss any ims of cheating. That¡¯s good too since I¡¯m not cheating, technically," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    Only Twenty minutes had passed since Ryder got here when he saw a luxurious car stop before the nearby abandoned building that Ryder had invited Pasher to.

    A man dressed in ck stepped out of the car. Ryder recognized that man as Pasher Stan, who was the son of the spirit that was residing in Ryder¡¯s building.

    Pasher got out of the car and couldn¡¯t help but nce towards Ryder¡¯s building that used to be his father¡¯s. He still remembered the day when he had to kill his father for his love.

    He thought that it would be the end of it as he gave the property papers to the father of the girl that he loved. Shockingly, After a few days, he was informed that the girl¡¯s father had died in that building mysteriously. The girl also died mysteriously inside the building.

    That¡¯s when people started calling that building a haunted building. He swore to himself that he would never step in that building ever again.

    He was quite surprised when he was sent the coordinates by Ryder since the ce he invited Pasher to was near that haunted building.

    He nced at the building once before he stopped looking, and he entered the second abandoned building where he was invited to. He had already inquired about this building, and after making sure that no mishaps had happened here, he agreed toe here to meet Jameson since, after the previous incident, he had started to believe in ghosts and stuff.

    The man did bring two guards that were carrying assault rifles for his Security.

    They entered the building with Pasher.

    Ryder looked around, and after finding that no one was here, he started walking towards the building as well.

    This region mostly contained abandoned buildings, so there were no cameras here, which gave him an additional sense of security, but he still wore a mask. The mask he wore this time was once again different.

    He didn¡¯t repeat the masks since he didn¡¯t want anyone to link him with previous incidents. The mask he wore this time was once again of a famousic book character, which has be even more popr after the movies were made on it.

    It was the mask of Stainless-steel Man. His character was supposed to be a billionaire that created amazing tech, which included a stainless-steel suit that made him a superhero.

    Ryder entered the building after Pasher.

    He had told Pasher to meet him on the third floor, so he knew where to find that guy.

    "Jameson, where are you?" Pasher called out as he stepped on the third floor, but he didn¡¯t get a response.

    "Are you here?" He asked again.

    "I¡¯m here," Ryder let out in Pasher¡¯s voice as he stood behind him.

    Pasher¡¯s guards turned back and aimed their guns at Ryder.

    "You¡¯re not him. Who are you? How dare you fool me with his voice!" Pasher let out in anger as he red at Ryder.

    "Can¡¯t you recognize me?" Ryder inquired as he chuckled.

    "I¡¯m Man, Stainless-Steel Man," Ryder replied with a joke as he raised his hand.

    "Don¡¯t shoot me if you don¡¯t want to die. I¡¯m giving the both of you a chance to leave. You will survive," Ryder told the guards, but the guards didn¡¯t budge.

    Ryder shook his head in disappointment.

    "I was joking with my name, but I didn¡¯t joke about your deaths. Since you¡¯ve already decided, then so be it," Ryder let out as he sighed. He was about to bring his guns out when he heard the sound of footsteps.

    He and Pasher looked towards the stairs and saw people dressed in bulletproof vests running up with guns in their hand, which they aimed at Ryder and the others. Ryder could see the FBI written on their vests.

    "Why do you guys always appear whenever I try to do something. Can¡¯t you let me do God¡¯s work of wiping the sinners?" Ryder let out in annoyance.

    Just as Ryder finished speaking, he saw another two mene up the stairs. They were Ray and Jacob, the guys that he had met and helped before.

    "We apologize, but that¡¯s our duty. We need to make sure that the people are brought to justice," Ray told Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry; we won¡¯t harm you. Just don¡¯t move and let us do our jobs. Also, I promise that we won¡¯t put any charges on you. We will just ask some questions about the things that you know which can help us get to the bio-terrorists," he added as he especially told Ryder.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but just like other times, I¡¯m in a hurry. Let me get Pasher. If you try to interfere, then you know what can happen," Ryder told them as he refused to stay back.

    Pasher, on the other hand, was ready to surrender. He knew that he would be free since the feds hadn¡¯t found him doing anything illegal, and Jameson was probably actually dead before they got to him. So he wasn¡¯t in any danger.

    "We hope that you have the same ability as them, and you won¡¯t die even after anyone shoots you. Also, you have helped us on many asions, so I won¡¯t try to kill you either, but I need you to cooperate with us. If you don¡¯t, then we will be forced to shoot you," Ray told Ryder.

    " You can heal yourself against bullets, but some of our guys have tranquilizers instead of bullets. You won¡¯t die, but you won¡¯t heal either when you go to sleep. It¡¯s on you if you want toe with us unconscious or while you¡¯re still fully conscious," he warned against.

    ¡¯Tranquilizers? I didn¡¯t think about this, but he might be right. Tranquilizers aren¡¯t deadly poisons that will kill me. The Healing might only heal the external wound and poisons. I might actually be in danger here,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned behind his mask.

    "What made you think that tranquilizers work on us when even bullets can¡¯t? Do you think that the creepy scientists that he experimented on us wouldn¡¯t have thought about this? I¡¯ll tell you right away. You can try attacking me, and I won¡¯t be the good guy anymore. All of you will be wiped out right here and right now. Let me leave with Pasher. It¡¯s for the better of the world," Ryder let out as he bluffed.

    He tried to fool them. Even though the chances of them leaving were less, he was trying.

    The n didn¡¯t work as a tranquilizer was shot and his Ryder¡¯s legs.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but thousands of lives depend on it. We can¡¯t let anything go wrong. Catching those guys is really important, and we need your help with that. We¡¯re ready to put our lives on the line for that," Ray muttered as he sighed.

    "You bastards," Ryder eximed weakly as he fell down on the ground.

 Chapter 212 The Revenge

    <h4>Chapter 212: The Revenge</h4>

    Ryder dropped to the ground as he was inflicted with the tranquilizer. His vision started to get blurry.

    "I¡¯m... not... risking..." Ryder muttered as he used the time-reversal since he didn¡¯t want to test if his healing worked against tranquilizers or not since if it didn¡¯t, then he would be in deep trouble.

    He traveled back by around five minutes when he was about to step on the third floor.

    This time, he didn¡¯t go straight there, though. He opened the system store and purchased an item which he believed to help him.

    It was another sticker. He stepped on the third floor and ced that sticker on the wall.

    He hid in the background behind a pir and didn¡¯t begin a conversation this time.

    "Jameson, are you here or not?" Pasher called out again, but no one responded.

    "Is he not here anymore?" Pasher muttered, but just then, they heard the footsteps on the stairs.

    They looked back and saw the federal agents in bulletproof vestsing to them.

    Everything happened likest time, but the agents aimed their weapons at Pasher this time.

    Ryder brought out another sticker from his pocket and ced that on the pir.

    As soon as the second sticker was ced on the pir, an invisible one started filling up the room. It was a gas that was impossible to smell too.

    The only way for someone to escape being affected by it was by putting their hand on the second sticker, which was before Ryder.

    Ryder ced his hand on the wall as he watched the feds handcuffing the people.

    The gas was extremely effective as, by the time people realized that something was wrong; it was already toote.

    Everyone lost consciousness as they fell asleep, including Ray and Jacob.

    Ryder walked up to them and took some of the guns, which he kept in storage, believing that they woulde handy in the future.

    After that, he picked up Pasher in his arms before he started walking towards the exit. He was careful walking towards the exit since he knew that their car would be there, and there was also a possibility of more agents being there, so he left through the window and went to his building.

    He had to break a window of his building to enter without going through the main door, but he found it to be worth it since this was better for him.

    As soon as Ryder entered with the body of Pasher, the Ghost appeared before him.

    "You killed him?" The Ghost asked as he looked at Ryder. Ryder realized that the Ghost was probably a misunderstanding, but he couldn¡¯t see any happiness on the ghost¡¯s face, still.

    "He¡¯s still alive. Let¡¯s go to the higher floors first," Ryder told the spirit since it was unsafe to stay in the ground floor.

    He walked to the highest floor.

    The decoration and other minor works on the building werepleted, but the furnishing work wasn¡¯t started yet. Ryder was told that the furnishing work was about to start the day after tomorrow, so the building was empty today, and that¡¯s why he chose the day to do it.

    Ryder stopped on the top floor as he ced Pasher on the ground. He looked towards the Spirit.

    "You don¡¯t look happy that your revenge is about to be over. Have you changed your mind? I can understand that it¡¯s not easy to kill your child or watch him die no matter what crime theymitted," Ryder let out as he sighed.

    The Spirit that looked like it belonged to a young boy looked at Ryder as it sighed.

    "You know, all these years, I have been thinking of revenge and killing this treacherous son of mine, but now that he¡¯s before me, I can¡¯t bring myself up to have him killed. He¡¯s thest of my bloodline in this world," The Spirit muttered as it sighed.

    "I know that it¡¯s tough, but you must remember, a person like him is better off dead. I¡¯m not saying it just because he killed you, but because I know more about him than you do. This guy was about to have an amusement park blown up. Thousands of people would have died, and that number would have included a lot of children too," Ryder exined to the spirit.

    "He was about to kill more innocent people?" The Spirit asked.

    "Yeah, If I weren¡¯t there, people would have died already. It¡¯s on you if you want to kill him personally, but if you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll be the one killing it. Decide for yourself," Ryder let out as he looked at the unconscious Pasher.

    "I will do it," the Spirit told Ryder as it came to a decision.

    It started moving closer to Pasher.

    Pasher started moving as the effects of the sleeping gas started to wear off.

    Pasher slowly opened his eyes, but his mind was still not fully active yet.

    "Daddy?" Pasher muttered as if he had still not registered what was happening.

    The spirit of Stanner felt a burst of emotions as he saw his son calling him Daddy like he used to call him since the beginning. It was also the first word that Pasher had spoken when he was a child. This single word was enough to bring up so many memories. The memories of him taking his son to the school for the first time, his son growing up, and many more.

    "He¡¯s not that young and innocent kid anymore," Ryder reminded Stanner.

    After some time, Pasher was finally back to his normal. He saw Stanner, and his face turned white as he moved back hurriedly.

    "How! You can¡¯t be alive! Ghost!" Pasher screamed as he hit up against the wall.

    Stanner remembered that he was dead, and he was also dead because of his child that had killed him with his own hand.

    He flew towards him again as he ced his hand around Pasher¡¯s throat.

    "D-don¡¯t kill me! I¡¯m your son! You can¡¯t kill me!" Pasher had lost his mind as he saw the Spirit of his father that he had killed. His eyes were filled with tears while his face was pale as he apologized.

    "You¡¯re not my son. No son of mine would kill his father and then try to kill innocent children," Stanner let out as he shook his head.

    He continued tightening his grip. Pasher had started to have difficulty in breathing. He begged again and again, but Stanner ignored him as he closed his eyes and continued strangling his son like his son had strangled him.

    Pasher kept struggling to free himself, but he wasn¡¯t sessful in it. His body kept getting weaker as his breathing stopped ultimately.

    After a few seconds, Pasher¡¯s eyes closed. He stopped struggling, and that was his end. In two days, two rich businessmen had died, and Ryder yed a role in their death.

    "You did what was necessary. It might feel bad for some time, but you finished the enmity. Let all the hatred from your heart die down so that you can be a new person.

    [Mission Finished Sessfully]

    [Helped the Spirit get its revenge]

    [Received the faith of the Spirit. It will be your Servant]

    The Spirit looked towards Ryder.

    "I feel something that I haven¡¯t felt ever before. Is this what they called true peace?" The Spirit muttered as it asked Ryder.

    "Thank you for helping me. I feel like I would have lost myself and killed so many people if I hadn¡¯t met you. You are really like an angel that came in my life to bring me to the right path. Please let me serve you while you stay on this earth to bring prosperity and happiness to people," The Spirit told Ryder without waiting for his response.

    "I ept your offer," Ryder replied to the spirit.

    [Master-Servant link established between you and the spirit]

    [Benefit: The Spirit will follow all your orders will full faith]

    [Benefit: You can take the Spirit anywhere with you]

    [Benefit: The Spirit can¡¯t betray you ever]

    Ryder kept the body of Pasher in his storage ring since he didn¡¯t want to leave any proof behind as he was sure that the agents must¡¯ve woken up by now, and he didn¡¯t want them to see the body if they decide to check this building.

    "You can leave this building now and see the outside world, but you can¡¯t leave the two hundred meter proximity of me. Let¡¯s get out of here now. I believe that it would be better for you to leave this ce now," Ryder told the Spirit as he got ready to leave. Since the spirit was his servant now, it was better to keep it close as that was more helpful.

    The Spirit nodded its head as it started following Ryder towards the exit.

    Ryder and the spirit went to the parking lot. Ryder got into the car and got it out of the building, but he had to press break as soon as the car got out.

    "Fuck," He eximed out loud.

 Chapter 213 Arrested

    <h4>Chapter 213: Arrested</h4>

    As Ryder got his car out of the parking, he saw tens of cop cars outside, lining up and blocking the road. There were also a few ck SUVs there.

    He also noticed the guns that were being pointed at him.

    Ryder had already changed the clothes when he was in the building, and he had taken off the Mask as he got out of the car.

    Ray and the other Feds were also standing before the cars, looking towards the Whirlwind of Ryder.

    Ryder stepped out of the car with an innocent look on his face.

    "May I help you guys?" Ryder asked the men after stepping out. He had a confused look on his face, which was trying to make it seem like he had no idea what was happening.

    "Wait, I think I recognize you. You¡¯re the person that I met on the flight who was asking me strange questions," Ryder let out as he pretended to recognize Ray. He had met Ray many times, and only one of those times was in his real face. He had met him on the ne on their flight back.

    "Yeah, we met before. Quite a few times, I believe," Ray let out with a knowing smile on his face.

    "Why are you guys blocking the road for me?" Ryder inquired.

    "Because we need you toe with us. I believe that only you can help us. We also need to ask you some questions rted to a case?" Ray asked Ryder.

    "What case? I don¡¯t think I can help you with anything. Can you leave the car to the side? I have more matters to attend to," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    "Someone we were looking for has been kidnapped. We had a tracking on that guy¡¯s phone. Thest location it showed was the building you just came out of. We know that it¡¯s a building you owned, but you justing out of that building just when we were about to enter is really suspicious. We need you toe with us. Please cooperate with us and ce your hands on the bo of your car," Ray told Ryder.

    The other cops were still pointing their guns at Ryder.

    " That sounds awfully lot like you guys are going to arrest me. This is so stupid. Is this what you guys use the tax money for? To harass innocent people right before their buildings?" Ryder let out in annoyance as he walked to the bo of the car.

    "It¡¯s not an arrest. We just need to cuff you and take you to the station to ask some questions. There won¡¯t be any charges," Rayforted Ryder.

    Jacob walked closer to Ryder and cuffed his hands. Ryder didn¡¯t resist since that would just make things worse.

    They took Ryder to the ck SUV and made him sit on the backseat of the car.

    "Some of you stay behind and keep an eye on him. I¡¯m going inside to see if anyone else is inside," Ray told Jacob and the other agents before he started walking towards the buildings with the rest.

    Ray and the others searched the whole building of Ryder, but he didn¡¯t find anyone inside. There was no sign of Pasher or his phone.

    While Ray wasing down, he saw the back window of the building broken on the ground floor.

    "Someone used this toe inside. It might be Ryder who came through this window after kidnapping Pasher, but the main question remains. Where is the body? The phone¡¯s signal also disappeared," Ray muttered as he frowned while looking at the broken window.

    After searching the whole ce, he came out.

    Ryder was sitting on the backseat of the car, cursing his stupidity. He took the unconscious Pasher, but didn¡¯t throw away his phone. He had no idea that his phone was being tracked.

    Fortunately, Ryder had left his own phone in his car when he had gone to kidnap Pasher, so it was impossible for anyone to link him to the kidnapping. As for Pasher¡¯s location from his phone, that thing was useless without anybody. As long as Ryder didn¡¯t say anything to get him in trouble, he was safe.

    Also, he was somewhat happy. All his missions were nowpleted except the one about finding the Ancient Cultivation Family.

    Now, he didn¡¯t have any killing mission, and he could live the life of a model citizen as long as someone didn¡¯t try to die from his hands by creating schemes around him.

    ¡¯The Birthday celebration of that girl is near. As long as I get any clue about the cultivation family and find them, all my missions will be done. Also, I need to grind with Shu for that quest. That¡¯s in a few days too. I just hope they don¡¯t keep me in arrest for too long,¡¯

    ¡¯I should be able to call Shu to see if he can get me out faster, but I doubt he would be able to. We are talking about the feds, not the normal cops. Still, informing him is better,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at his pockets where his phone was, but he couldn¡¯t pick the phone since his hands were cuffed behind his back.

    "Can I call my friends and family to let them know that I¡¯m arrested?" Ryder asked Jacob, who was sitting beside him.

    Jacob shook his hand as he refused.

    "You can do nothing before we get to the station,¡¯ he replied.

    "You know that it¡¯s my right to call," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face.

    " We¡¯ll give you your right when we get to the station," Jacob replied as he shook his head.

    Ray came back to the car and entered it as he sat on the other side of Ryder.

    "Did you find the body of anything?" Jacob asked Ray.

    "There¡¯s no body inside. Also, the signals from the phone have stopped. It¡¯s as if the phone suddenly went off the grid," Ray informed Jacob.

    "Probably it¡¯s turned off," Jacob replied.

    "The others will be behind taking the fingerprints and trying to find the body, but I doubt we will find anything significant. Anyway, let¡¯s go back. The others can deal with the search. We already got what we wanted in a way," Ray let out as he nced at Ryder.

    "You got the wrong person. I don¡¯t even know what you all are talking about and what happened, but I have nothing to do with anything. I was in the building that I legally own, checking the work that it¡¯s going through for my office. It¡¯s not a crime as far as I know," Ryder told Ray in annoyance.

    " We will give our side and hear your side after we go back, but let me just tell you, I know that you¡¯re not the enemy and that you¡¯re trying to help us, so we won¡¯t do anything to harm you. All we want is some cooperation between us so that we can work toward the same goal more effectively. We will talk moreter," Ray replied to Ryder as he closed his eyes.

    The car started driving away from Ryder¡¯s building.

    Throughout the hour-long drive, no one said anything.

    The car stopped before a beautiful building that was fully covered in ss.

    Ray and Jacob stepped out of the car with Ryder. There was another car behind their car, which had more agents.

    "Isn¡¯t this amercial building? I thought you would take me to a prison or something," Ryder let out with a frown. " It¡¯s probably an unofficial arrest, isn¡¯t it?"

    "Not at all. We have full permission to arrest anyone it takes to solve the case. As for bringing you to amercial building, it¡¯s notmercial anymore. We have booked the top floor of the building for our official work. This is the temporary headquarter for us," Ray told Ryder as he brought him inside the building.

    They took him to the lift, which took them to the top floor.

    On the top floor, they ced him in one of the rooms and locked the door from the outside as they left, but not before taking his phone with them. They did tell Ryder that they will be back soon. They also removed his handcuffs.

    The room had a table at the center and a few chairs around it. It seemed like an interrogation room. It wasn¡¯t fully closed, though. There was a window in the back as well.

    Ryder looked towards the window while he sat on the chair as he frowned.

    ¡¯It¡¯s so easy to escape from here for me, but that would just be painting a big target on my back,¡¯ Ryder thought as he shook his head.

    He looked around the room and noticed that there was a small camera too, which was almost invisible as it was embedded in the wall.

    He sat on the chair like an innocent boy as he started singing an old song.

    Only ten minutes had passed when Ray and Jacob entered the room.

    They sat before Ryder as they looked at him.

 Chapter 214 Illegal

    <h4>Chapter 214: Illegal</h4>

    "If you¡¯re going to keep me here for long, you need to let me call a friend," Ryder told Ray as he sighed.

    "After we finish our question, you can call anyone. We can¡¯t let the higher-ups interfere in the question, and I already know how High your reach is. I won¡¯t let the Dream Corporation pull strings to interrupt this," Ray let out as he shook his head and refused to let Ryder call.

    He already knew that Ryder had a link to the Dream Corporation. The Dream Corporation¡¯s privatewyer was handling thewsuit on the city police for Ryder, which meant that his reach within the Dream Corp was pretty high. He didn¡¯t want to take the risk at the moment before he was done with his interrogation.

    "What does the Dream Corporation have to do with me? You guys are seriously making a mistake. I¡¯m not the one you¡¯re looking for," Ryder replied in annoyance.

    He still didn¡¯t know that he had the highest reach within the Dream Corporation. The Owner of the Dream Corporation was Shu, who was like a brother to him.

    Why Shu was able to roam so freely without being recognized also showed the power of the Dream Corporation.

    They kept Shu¡¯s image from leaking. Shu¡¯s image was not avable on the inte. No one had his image, and no one was allowed to capture his image either. Only the higher-ups within the Dream Corporation and the High-level People within the society that met him knew how he looked like.

    His name on the documents was not Shu, either. Shu¡¯s full name on the documents and everywhere was Schumacher Phillip Maxwell. He used the short form of his name when introducing himself, which was Shu.

    Even the Feds didn¡¯t have any image of Shu in their database.

    This was clear to indicate the standing of Dream Corporation within the country. The Dream Corporation was one of the biggest organizations in the whole world. While the others of other organizations didn¡¯t mind their name and image getting out in the open and didn¡¯t make any effort to keep it a secret, Shu was different.

    Shu wanted his privacy, and he didn¡¯t want people to know who he was as he believed that the people that knew about his real identity would be the ones he would never be able to trustpletely when it came to friendship since he would always have that lingering doubt that they came close to him for his wealth.

    That¡¯s why, despite being rich, he didn¡¯t have any real friends until the day he met Ryder when he sneaked outside to buy the game called Divinity.

    That was the day when the owner of one of the biggest organizations in the world got close to the person that was soon going to be a terrifying existence that shook the whole world and even the worlds beyond.

    This unlikely friendship was something that Ryder hadn¡¯t expected, and he still didn¡¯t know who Shu was. When he met Shu and formed his friendship, he believed that Shu was just an Otaku. Even after all this time, he didn¡¯t know his real identity, and he still believed that Shu was the son of a wealthy tycoon who enjoyed the wealth of his family.

    "That¡¯s not the point of focus here. The faster we finish with this, the faster we can be done," Ray told Ryder.

    "Fine. Ask your questions," Ryder responded as he agreed to answer, but the answers weren¡¯t going to be the honest ones. He already had a story in his mind and a n to prove that he wasn¡¯t the culprit.

    "Do you ept that you were that masked person that helped us before by killing the BioTerror members?" Ray asked Ryder.

    "What masked man? I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. I thought this was about some kidnapping, as you said before. How did you bring me in the whatever masked man and savior story?" Ryder asked as he acted ignorantly.

    "Say yes or no, were you the masked man?" Ray asked again.

    "No," Ryder replied straight away.

    "Looks like we would need to do it the hard way. I wanted to do it respectfully, but the fate of the world depends on the truth, so I¡¯ll do what I have to. Jacob, call them inside," Ray let out as he sighed.

    Ryder frowned as he nced at them, wondering what it was about.

    ¡¯Are they going to torture me? I swear to god that I¡¯ll kill them all if they try to do anything like that,¡¯ Ryder thought as he clenched his fist.

    The door opened, and a person in ck clothes came inside with two briefcases. He ced both the briefcase on the table and opened the first one. It had some weird stuff that gave Ryder an odd feeling.

    The other briefcase was also opened, which seemed to have a machine inside.

    ¡¯It¡¯s a freaking lie detector test. These bastards,¡¯ Ryder frowned as he saw the machine.

    "We are going to perform a short lie detector test on you. Just be honest, and we¡¯ll believe whatever you say," Ray told Ryder with a calm look on his face.

    "You need the order from the court to perform that on me. Can I see that order?" Ryder asked Ray as he frowned. He didn¡¯t want to go through it at any cost.

    "We will show you the orderster. Just cooperate for now," Ray said as he shook his head.

    The ck-clothed man started preparing the lie detector machine. He ced some of the wires on Ryder¡¯s chest. Another wire had a clip attached to it, which he put over Ryder¡¯s forefinger.

    "It¡¯s ready," The ck-clothed man told Ray.

    "Alright. You can leave. We¡¯ll handle the rest," Ray told the man.

    The man nodded his left as he left.

    Jacob brought the machine before him. Since the briefcase was opened and now the back was facing him, Ryder wasn¡¯t able to see the machine inside or the screen.

    Ray and Jacob could see the screen only.

    "Alright. We are going to ask you the questions now. Answer as honestly as you can," Ray told Ryder.

    Ryder didn¡¯t respond as he continued frowning.

    "What is your name?" Ray asked.

    "I¡¯m not going to answer. This test is illegal. I¡¯m a respectable citizen of this country, and I pay my taxes. I¡¯m not going to say anything. This is all illegal," Ryder let out in a loud tone as he refused to answer.

    Ray couldn¡¯t help but sigh as he ced his hand on his forehead.

    "Alright. Jacob, stay here. I¡¯ll be back in ten minutes," Ray said as he stood up and left the room.

    Jacob sat before Ryder, keeping an eye on him.

    Ryder was trying to find an opportunity to use the system to get something useful while Ray was not inside.

    He started to pretend as if he was ying piano in the air with his finger and asionally kept tapping in the air.

    While Jacob couldn¡¯t see it, there was a semi-transparent screen opened before Ryder that only he could see or touch.

    Ryder was in the system store, trying to see if there was something that could help him in this situation, but he didn¡¯t find anything that was useful here. All he could see were stuff that would put him in trouble in the end.

    Ray entered the room with a paper in his hand. Ryder closed the screen and sat straight.

    "Here, the orders that you were looking for," Ray let out as he showed the court permission to Ryder.

    Ryder read through the documents and sighed.

    ¡¯The feds really have a lot of power. They got the permission so fast,¡¯ Ryder thought as he gave the paper back.

    "It¡¯s fully legal now. Just answer us. As long as you didn¡¯tmit any crime, you have nothing to worry about. As for the crimes that youmitted, we already know about that, and you won¡¯t be in trouble for that if you decide to help us," Ray told Ryder.

    "So, are you going to help us and ept that you were the masked man, or are you going to go through the test?" Ray asked.

    Ryder didn¡¯t reply.

    "Fine. We¡¯ll go through the test. Answer me. What is your name?" Ray asked the first question as a test.

    "I¡¯m Ryder," Ryder replied.

    "Is Ryder Flynn your real name?" Ray asked Ryder.

    "Yes. As far as I know," Ryder responded.

    "What were you doing inside the building where you came out of," Ray asked Ryder.

    "I looked at the walls. That is my building, and I gave the contract for its renovation. I checked the walls and other stuff to see how the work was going on," Ryder replied.

    He didn¡¯t tell the whole truth and the main thing he was seeing, but he didn¡¯t lie either. After killing Pasher, he did see the building and noticed the work.

    "Do you know who Pasher Stan is?" Ray asked Ryder.

 Chapter 215 Interrogation

    <h4>Chapter 215: Interrogation</h4>

    Ryder didn¡¯t open his mouth, and he didn¡¯t reply.

    "Answer me," Ray let out again.

    "Yes, I know him," Ryder answered as he told the truth.

    "How do you know him?" Ray further inquired as he smiled. He believed that he was getting close to the truth since Ryder had already epted knowing Pasher.

    " The building you saw meing out of is something that I own, as I already told you. It belonged to someone called Stanner Stan before. I did a search on the and found the son of Stanner Stan," Ryder replied.

    Ray looked towards the screen of the machine and nodded his head.

    "Alright. Did you meet Pasher Stan today?" Ray asked again.

    Ryder was trying to find his way through without lying by trying to tell the vague truth, but there was no way around it anymore. He knew that even if he escaped one question, he wasn¡¯t able to escape by being vague for a long time. He needed to fool the lie detector test to be sessful.

    He knew that the test used the irregr heartbeat to detect the lies, so first, he needed to keep his heartbeat calm.

    "I didn¡¯t meet Pasher today," Ryder replied after a while.

    Ray looked at the screen and nodded his head.

    "Alright. You didn¡¯t meet him today, so you might not be the one that kidnapped him, but that doesn¡¯t exonerate you," Ray let out as he shook his head.

    "Did you see anyone else inside your building?" Ray asked again.

    "I didn¡¯t see anyone," Ryder replied as he smiled. He was someone happy to know that it was working.

    "Were you the masked man that saved me in Washington?" Ray asked Ryder.

    "No, I was not the one you¡¯re talking about," Ryder replied with a confident look on his face.

    "Do you know anything about the Bio-terrorists that were involved in the encounter in Washington?" Ray inquired.

    "No," Ryder responded again as he tried to keep his heartbeat steady.

    "Have you killed the girl that you kidnapped yesterday?" Ray let out as he asked about Riya.

    "No, I don¡¯t even know what girl you¡¯re talking about," Ryder replied.

    "Do you know about the n of the BioTerror?" Ray asked.

    "No," Ryder answered.

    Ray again looked at the screen and nodded his head.

    "Do you know where we can find more members of BioTerror?" Ray inquired.

    "No," Ryder answered again.

    Ray continued asking the questions and Ryder kept replying while keeping his heart steady.

    "Alright. I have only two more questions," Ray muttered.

    " Will you ever help the enemies of the country and the innocent people?" Rey asked Ryder.

    "Never," Ryder replied.

    "Last question. Will you help us against Bioterror? We can give you anything you want if you help us. Will you reconsider cooperating with us, or will you do it alone?" Ray asked again.

    "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about," Ryder answered.

    Ray looked at the screen of the machine onest time. He closed the briefcase as he sighed.

    "I guess we really were wrong. I apologize for bringing you here, and I would like to thank you for your cooperation. You can leave now. Our man is standing outside. He¡¯ll escort you back to your car," Ray said as he looked at Ryder apologetically.

    "I told you you were wrong. At Least you know when to ept the wrong," Ryder let out in annoyance as he stood up and left the room.

    An agent took Ryder to their ck car and escorted him to the building where Ryder¡¯s car was.

    Ryder sat in the car and drove it back home.

    Ray and Jacob were still sitting in the room when Ryder left the room.

    "You were right. It did work," Jacob muttered as he opened the briefcase again.

    "Looking at his answers and his lies, he is indeed the person that helped us," he added as he looked at the screen and the paper where he marked the answers.

    "Of Course, I was right. I knew it from the beginning. He is definitely the person that helped us, and he wants to keep his identity hidden. I wouldn¡¯t me him. This is something that anyone would be afraid to take part in when they have the abilities like him. He might be afraid of many things that the government will do to him," Ray muttered as he shook his head.

    " His answers about not knowing the ns of Bio-terror were right. His answer about not knowing their location was right, too, also about having no contacts with them or any member rted to them. I guess we can¡¯t use him to get to them. We must wait to find a clue about them or for him to find a clue about them," Jacob let out as he looked at the papers in his hand.

    "Keep tracking Ryder. I want someone to keep an eye on him whenever he goes out. An agent needs to be on his trail permanently," Ray told Jacob.

    "Should we really not tell the chief about Ryder? We shouldn¡¯t keep this thing hidden from him," Jacob asked Ray.

    Ray shook his head as he took the papers from Jacob.

    "Now is not the time. We can¡¯t take any risk that might burn the bridges between us," Ray replied to Jacob as he looked at the papers.

    "Also, Riya is dead. I did expect that, though. I did not expect that he killed Pasher so fast. His answer was a lie about that. I guess we lost a trail there as well," He added as he sighed.

    "What should we do next? We don¡¯t have any other trail other than Ryder," Jacob inquired.

    "We haven¡¯t been able to catch Pasher either. We can¡¯t stay in this city without an excuse, and if we put an agent on Ryder¡¯s trail, Chief will definitely find out about it and ask us," he added with a concerned look on his face.

    "I know about that. That¡¯s why I¡¯m not going to use one of our own. I¡¯ll take outside help. Someone that is the best of the best. A person that can keep an eye on him from the shadows without getting in the path of danger," Ray replied as he looked towards the window.

    "Who? You¡¯re not talking about her, are you?" Jacob inquired as he frowned.

    "She¡¯s the only one that can do it. I need to call her," Ray muttered as he looked at the screen of his phone.

    "Are you really going to put your family in danger? And do you think she will help you after what you did?" Jacob asked Ray.

    "Come on; You¡¯re making it sound like I did something bad. I just got a little angry and told her to get out of the house that I own. It wasn¡¯t something that bad. That¡¯s only because she was hacking my official stuff for fun," Ray replied with a wry smile on his face.

    " You say that it¡¯s not bad, but have you talked to her after that day?" Jacob asked, frowning.

    "I didn¡¯t get the opportunity to talk to her. You know that just the next day we went to Washington and then we came here. She will help me if I convince her. Even though it wasn¡¯t my fault, I¡¯ll apologize to her as well," Ray let out with a wry smile on his face.

    " I guess that would be good if she agrees. She is the best in that field. She¡¯s even better than most of our agents. I always wonder why she didn¡¯t join any federal agency. Her talents mostly go to waste. She would be able to put them to good use if she was working with us in the FBI," Jacob muttered as he looked at Ray with a questioning gaze on his face.

    "Who knows what goes through the mind of that girl. I asked her multiple times, but she never gave me a reason. I guess she just doesn¡¯t want to work under anyone," Ray let out with a wry smile on his face.

    He called the number and ced the phone near his ears.

    "You talk in privacy. I¡¯ll be outside, putting this back," Jacob let out as he picked up the briefcases and walked out of the room.

    "Hello, Rin?" Ray said as soon as the call was connected.

    The ck SUV stopped before Ryder¡¯s building. Ryder stepped out of the car and left.

    Ryder¡¯s car was just at the entrance of the building.

    He stepped in the car and started the engine.

    "That was a happening day. I didn¡¯t expect I would be out so soon, though," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "Anyway, how was your first day out?" He asked the spirit of Stanner that had stayed near Ryder all this time.

    "I¡¯m d that they didn¡¯t harm you," The Spirit replied to Ryder.

    The car raced through the streets of the city as it moved in the direction of Ryder¡¯s home.

 Chapter 216 Suggestion or Threat?

    <h4>Chapter 216: Suggestion or Threat?</h4>

    "Oh, right. I totally forgot about that. Yesterday, I promised to meet the Police Chief. I guess there¡¯s one more meeting with the authorities," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face as he made a U-turn and went towards the Police Station.

    He parked the car before the station and entered the station. He walked to a cop and told him that he was invited to meet the Chief.

    The Cop recognized Ryder and escorted him to the room of the station chief.

    The cop told Ryder to wait outside as he opened the door and entered the room.

    He informed the Police Chief of Ryder¡¯s arrival.

    After a few minutes, he came out of the room.

    "You can go inside," The Cop told Ryder.

    Ryder entered the room.

    He saw a man sitting on the chair behind a table. The man was wearing a dress that highlighted his position as the Police Chief.

    The man looked like he was in histe thirties. He had a clean face and short ck hair.

    "Have a seat," He told Ryder as he pointed towards the chair.

    Ryder stepped forth and sat on the chair.

    " I was expecting you yesterday, but I was told that you were busy," The Chief said with an expressionless face as he opened a drawer and pulled out a paper.

    "Yeah, I had a meeting nned," Ryder replied.

    "That¡¯s alright. I guess we can¡¯t expect you toe whenever we want. We can only force criminals to the stations," the Chief replied.

    "Anyway, I¡¯m Mak Donner. I¡¯m the one handling all the cops that keep this ce safe," The Police Chief let out as he reached out his hand to shake Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "Ryder, Ryder Flynn," Ryder let out as he reached out his hand as well and shook the hands of Mak.

    "So, Mr. Ryder. I found out that you have sued my department. May I ask why you would do that?" Mak asked Ryder.

    "Because your department vited the rights of my sister and participated in an injustice. They arrested my sister for no reason and without any research. Even if they arrested my sister, they let the other person go that was involved in that argument. It shows a clear partiality just because my sister didn¡¯t show her backing." Ryder answered the Police Chief.

    "As for thest thing, it¡¯s even bigger. The cops didn¡¯t allow my sister to call and inform me while they locked her up behind bars. That¡¯s the major vition of her rights. I also have more things, but that should be left for when we meet in the court ofw," he added with a casual look on his face.

    "So you sued us for Twenty Million Dors?" Mak inquired as he frowned.

    "I don¡¯t have any idea how much I sued you for. I left that for mywyer, but he did say something along those lines," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    " I want you to not go forward with thiswsuit and stop this. Our station can¡¯te up with so much money even if we lose. I ept that our officers made a mistake, but we are all humans. We all make mistakes," Mak told Ryder.

    "This is not about the mistake, but corruption and ming an innocent. I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯ll go forth with thewsuit. It¡¯s not for me, but for my sister. As for the money, I¡¯m sure the city will be able toe up with the money. It¡¯s not like you guys are a private organization that soon fork out of your pockets," Ryder let out as he refused the offer.

    "I¡¯m not taking back thewsuit. I want to, and I will win this. The money that we receive from you guys will go to the girl that was affected by your blunder. Alice will get all the money, and she will be a millionaire, thanks to you guys," Ryder replied as he smiled innocently.

    "So you don¡¯t want to cooperate. Does money matter more to you than your security?" Mak asked Ryder.

    "Mr. Mak, You should choose your words wisely. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would have thought that you were threatening me just now," Ryder replied with a subtle smile on his face.

    "Of course, I wouldn¡¯t threaten you. I¡¯m here to protect the citizens, and youe under them, but if you take the money from our department, we wouldn¡¯t have enough funds to take care of all our citizens. It would be a real shame if something happened to you because the department didn¡¯t have enough funding to maintain our personnel and keep the city safe. It would be best if you thought again," The Police Chief again told Ryder.

    "I told you what I wanted to say. I don¡¯t think I will have anything else to add. The decision is yours. I won¡¯t force you to take back thewsuit, but I would tell you to be a little considerate," He added.

    "I also told you what I wanted to say. I have thought about it. I¡¯m not taking back thewsuit. If you don¡¯t have anything else to talk about, I will take my leave," Ryder let out as he smiled. He stood up, and just as he turned back, he heard the voice of the Police Chief.

    "I hope you won¡¯t regret your decision," Mak said.

    "Since you have given me such nice advice, let me give you some advice as well. If you or anyone from the police department tried to hurt my family or me, then you will definitely regret your decision. Take it however you want. Don¡¯t try to test me. I¡¯m not the person that will be afraid of your hidden threats, and I won¡¯t be the one who will stay silent. I hope you won¡¯t try to test my limits," Ryder said without looking back.

    He walked towards the door and left the room.

    Ryder stepped out of the police station and entered his car.

    "That guy really called me here to threaten me. That son of a..." Ryder started cursing as he sat in the car.

    "I¡¯m not worried about me, but I do worry about Alice. She doesn¡¯t have the healing or anything like that, but I can¡¯t backtrack now either. Should I do something to increase the protection around Alice?" He muttered as he started the car and drove it back to his house.

    He was going back to his home, but he stopped the car along the way as he looked ahead.

    Right ahead, he saw what seemed like a body, just lying in the middle of the road.

    This road was empty at the moment too.

    Ryder frowned as he stepped out of the car and walked towards the body that was bleeding on the ground.

    The body was lying face down on the ground. He tilted the body to the side, but he was stunned to find a gun in the hand of the body that it was suddenly pointing towards Ryder.

    The person before him wasn¡¯t dead or injured, and he was simply pretending to be hurt.

    The man¡¯s goal was to hijack a car, but the people had be more clever now, and they didn¡¯t stop the cat for a stranger. He felt like the possibility of getting the cat was higher if a driver came out of his car and stepped closer to him.

    " Don¡¯t move, or you¡¯ll die," the man let out as he aimed the gun at Ryder.

    "Oh, that¡¯s your car? I guess I¡¯m quite lucky today. Quick, give me the keys," The man told Ryder.

    "Are you seriously robbing me in the open? Although it¡¯s evening, but still. Aren¡¯t you afraid?" Ryder inquired as he sighed.

    "Afraid of what? The cops? They don¡¯t petrol this ce, and by the time you willin, and they get here, I¡¯ll be long gone," The man told Ryder.

    "Not the cops. I was asking, aren¡¯t you afraid of dying?" Ryder asked as he shook his head.

    "Dying? Who will kill me? You? Hmph, stop wasting my time, you pipsqueak. Give me the keys and your wallet," the man thundered as he red at Ryder.

    "Stanner? Does this guy love pretending to be dead? How about you make him dead for real? Scums like this need to die," Ryder told Stanner.

    Stanner moved his hand towards the man¡¯s throat, but his hands passed through the man and couldn¡¯t touch him.

    "I-i can¡¯t touch him," Stanner told Ryder after he tried again. "Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯m not a cursed spirit anymore, and I got my revenge. I am at peace. I can¡¯t touch anyone or harm them."

    "Sigh, that sucks. I guess I¡¯ll do it myself then," Ryder let out as he sighed.

    "You bastard! Who are you talking to? Are you trying to scare me in the name of a ghost? Don¡¯t be oversmart, or you won¡¯t even know how you died," The Man warned Ryder.

 Chapter 217 Plan Leaked?

    <h4>Chapter 217: n Leaked?</h4>

    "Alright. I¡¯ll give you the keys," Ryder said as he moved his right hand towards his pocket, but with his left hand, he was operating the system screen to get his items outside.

    With his right hand, he got the keys of his car out, and he extended his hand towards the Man.

    The man reached out his hand as well, to take the key. His focus was attracted by Ryder¡¯s right hand, and he didn¡¯t notice a gun appear in Ryder¡¯s left hand.

    Ryder pointed his gun towards the man¡¯s hand and fired a shot. The bullet passed through the hand of the man and made his gun drop.

    The man screamed out loud like a baby as he held his wounded hand.

    "See you in hell," Ryder told the man as he aimed the gun towards the man¡¯s hand and fired.

    The bullet left the gun and prated the head of the man at a lightning-fast speed. The man¡¯s forehead started bleeding as a big hole was left behind.

    The man fell down on the ground on his knees and fell down.

    Ryder stepped forth and out the body and the gun in his storage.

    He turned back and started to walk towards the car.

    Ryder entered the car and started it again.

    "So, you can¡¯t touch anyone now?" Ryder asked the Spirit as he drove the car ahead while keeping his eyes on the road.

    "I can¡¯t," The Spirit replied as it shook its head.

    ¡¯ I was thinking that I got a good weapon to kill my enemies if I needed to, but I guess that¡¯s not possible anymore. At Least he¡¯s still good for spying,¡¯ Ryder thought as he tried to look at the positive side.

    He got the car back home and entered his house.

    He spent the rest of the day in peace at home with Alice. They had dinner and a little conversation about their days. Ryder lied about his day since he couldn¡¯t say that he was bagged by the FBI.

    After the dinner, Ryder went back to his room. He sat on his bed as he wore the Divinity sses and entered the world of Divinity.

    Ryder woke up in the World of Divinity and left his room and met up with Miku.

    "Is Rale up?" he asked Miku.

    "Master Rale is not up yet," Miku replied to Ryder as she shook her head.

    "Is something wrong? I thought he would be up in a day, but the physician did say that it might take longer. Let¡¯s just see him," Ryder told Miku as he started walking towards the room of the Physician.

    As Ryder got there, he saw quite a lot of maids and guards standing outside the room just as he had ordered.

    Ryder entered the room of the physician and saw Rale. Rale was up, and he was sitting on the bed. The Physician was checking Rale¡¯s hand.

    "Your Highness," Rale greeted Ryder as he saw him enter the room.

    His words alerted the Physician as well, who also looked back.

    "Your Highness, you came at the right time. Master Rale just woke up," the Physician told Ryder as soon as he saw him.

    "Good Morning Rale. How are you feeling now? Do you still feel anything wrong? Be honest," Ryder inquired just to be sure.

    "I am perfectly fine," Rale responded.

    "Is he really?" Ryder asked the physician.

    "Yes. All his vitals are normal now. Master Rale is perfectly fine now," The Physician told Ryder with a smile on his face.

    "That¡¯s good. Rale,e with me. I need to tell you about something," Ryder told Rale as he gestured for him to follow him.

    Ryder left the room. Miku and Rale followed after him.

    "You guys can go back. There¡¯s no need to guard this room anymore," Ryder told the guards and the maids before he started walking away.

    Ryder, Rale, and Miku walked through the Corridor as Ryder exined to Rale about the events that have happened while Take was asleep.

    He talked about the arrival of the Vampire King and the fact that the Vampire King was staying in the capital while he was trying to find his people. He also told Rale that they were leaving the capital today to get to the Duke¡¯s pces.

    "Your Highness, I think we should not leave the capital. Also, we should not allow the Vampire King to stay here," Rale told Ryder with a concerned look on his face.

    "I know about that second part. I shouldn¡¯t allow him to stay here as it just means that we¡¯re not clear, and he can find some things, but I have taken precautions. Nothing would happen. Why do you say that we shouldn¡¯t leave the capital, though?" Ryder inquired with a frown on his face.

    "Because it¡¯s not safe. The Vampire King is here. It¡¯s good that you have one High Duke keeping an eye on him, but it¡¯s still risky. It would be troublesome if the Vampire King found out that you left the Capital and if he tried to harm you outside the capital since the other High Dukes won¡¯t be there. If you want to leave, then I suggest that we take one of the High Dukes with us," Rale suggested with a serious look on his face.

    "Two High Dukes will stay in the capital so that they can protect the Royal Pce if the Vampire King tries to break in after we leave. One of them can be with us, and thest one will be with the Vampire King. Even if the Vampire King somehow lost High Duke Eston and managed to leave him behind, the High Duke that¡¯s with us can take care of the Vampire King. I would prefer not to fight unless it¡¯s to save you since you said that if we bleed, the Vampire King will know," he added.

    "That¡¯s a good suggestion. I agree with that. I¡¯ll ask one of the High Dukes toe with me," Ryder nodded his head as he agreed.

    "Yeah, Master Rale¡¯s idea is really good," Miku alsoplimented.

    "I think I¡¯ll leave High Duke Oris and High Duke Magna to take care of the capital. High Duke Eston is on Vampire King¡¯s trail, so I¡¯ll take High Duke M. I guess I would meet to drop my idea to leave today, though. I will only affect my affinity with High Duke M if I justmanded her to leave with me now. I need to give her time. I¡¯ll inform her that we¡¯ll leave tomorrow," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "Rale,e with me. Miku, you prepare the things for our departure. We¡¯ll leave tomorrow," Ryder told Miku before he left with Rale.

    Ryder left the Royal Pce and flew towards High Duke M¡¯s pce.

    He entered the royal pce as the guards escorted him.

    Ryder expected that he would be taken to the Great Hall and told to wait there, but instead, he was taken to the library where the guard said High Duke M spent most of the time.

    Ryder found it quite weird initially about how he was led straight to the High Duke. Generally, the guards informed the High Dukes first while they let the person of authority rest respectfully.

    He couldn¡¯t help but ask the female guard about it.

    "Are you really not going to inform High Duke M about my arrival first?" Ryder asked the guard.

    "These are the High Duke¡¯s orders. She told me to bring you straight to her when you came. She said that there was no need to inform her as long as she was not in her bedroom," the guard replied.

    " Hmm," Ryder nodded his head.

    "You can go in, Your Highness," The guard told Ryder as she stopped outside the entrance of the library.

    Ryder pushed the door of the library open and entered the library with Rale to meet high duke m.

    As he entered, he saw M sitting on a chair with a red book on her hand.

    "Oh, you came. So, when are we leaving?" High Duke M asked Ryder as she noticed himing in. She also stood up and greeted him.

    "Leaving where?" Ryder asked as he frowned while he sat down before her and gestured for her to sit as well.

    He wondered if she knew about his intentions. She shouldn¡¯t be able to read his mind, and the n was made just now. There was no way someone could have leaked it.

    "Of course, I¡¯m talking about leaving the capital. Aren¡¯t you here to invite me to apany you on the journey? So, when are we leaving?" High Duke M asked as she smiled.

    " How do you know about that," Ryder inquired as he maintained his calm. He didn¡¯t let his surprise show on his face. This was not how he expected this meeting to go at all, but he couldn¡¯t let himself look overly shocked.

 Chapter 218 Identity Problems

    <h4>Chapter 218: Identity Problems</h4>

    "Of course, I would know about it. I would have to be an idiot to know that you will invite me. I know that you¡¯re leaving the capital to go to the territories of the Dukes. I also know that the Vampire King is in the kingdom, and it would be unsafe for you to leave the capital alone, and Rale would not allow you to take the risk. I have known how cautious Rale is. His first suggestion would be to take someone who could keep you even more safe against the Vampire King," High Duke M replied as she smiled.

    She couldn¡¯t help but nce at Rale as she said it, but Rale didn¡¯t react and kept his expression neutral. Ryder on the head was nodding his head in praise.

    "That¡¯s interesting. You¡¯re pretty clever to guess that much from a little bit of information. Still, how did you know that I would invite you and not the High Dukes who are considered to be stronger?" Ryder asked again with an amused smile on his face.

    " That part was even easier. It¡¯s easy to guess what His Highness will do and who he will choose to apany him when the choice is between two old men or a beauty," High Duke M said with a cheeky smile on her face.

    Ryder shook his head as he smiled wryly.

    "Are you saying that I chose you for your looks," Ryder let out as he frowned.

    "Not exactly, but that should be one of the factors, I believe. The second reason should be that the stronger High Dukes need to stay in the capital to keep the ce safe," High Duke M replied with a serious expression as she ced the book in her hand on the table before her.

    "Well, you¡¯re right on both ounts, I guess. A femalepany is definitely better than a male one on long journeys," Ryder replied as he smiled. He was really amazed that the clever thinking of High Duke M

    "Anyway, If I knew that you were ready to leave, I would have made ns to leave today, but I have dyed them already. We will leave tomorrow morning," he told High Duke M.

    "I understand," High Duke M replied as she smiled.

    "Great. I¡¯ll take my leave then," Ryder said as he stood up and left the library.

    They stepped out of the Pce of High Duke M and started flying back to the Royal Pce.

    "Rale, Do you know of a good hunting ground with somewhat weak monsters? I have noticed that it has been a few days since I hunted and increased my strength. I would like to resume, or my progress will be stalled," Ryder told Rale while they were mid-air.

    "The Royal Pce has a special hunting space with His Majesty made for hunting, but I don¡¯t think we can use that. There are no weak monsters there. Almost all monsters here are at least on the same level as the Royal Guards, and from what you told me, I can¡¯t harm the beasts or killing them won¡¯t benefit you," Rale replied as he shook his head.

    "That¡¯s true. I can¡¯t hunt monsters that strong," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    ¡¯Heck, let alone monsters that strong, I couldn¡¯t even hunt a level two hundred dragon in myst time, and a dragon which was way more powerful than that was killed by Devilia like it was a toy. The Royal Guards can only be slightly weaker than Devilia. This is not something I can achieve even if I am level 200, let alone now,¡¯ Ryder thought as he sighed.

    "The Other High Dukes also have a personal hunting space and the Spatial tunnels connecting to that ce, but the monsters there aren¡¯t weak either. I think we can hunt in the forests of Dukes. Those forests have some young monsters that are not too strong," Rale suggested as hended before the Royal Pce.

    They entered the Pce.

    "Those ces do have weaker monsters. At Least Devilia¡¯s forest had monsters I hunted. The problem is that I can¡¯t go there unofficially today to hunt when I¡¯m going there tomorrow officially. Is there no other ce?" Ryder inquired.

    " I do have an idea if we don¡¯t want to go to the ces of Dukes. We can go to the Human Realm for a short trip. I heard that the ce is filled with weak Monsters. Thest time we went there for the thing called the Dungeon Exploration, it helped Your Highness. We can go there again," Rale replied.

    "That did help. Alright. Let¡¯s take a short trip there. We can spend twenty hours here since I don¡¯t have to lea... I mean sleep tonight," Ryder replied as he nodded his head.

    He had already decided that he would spend the night in the game and then the day too. He had taken the nutrition pull to keep him nourished during his gaming. He didn¡¯t need to do anything significant in the real world tomorrow, so he was fine spending the night here.

    "Alright. We¡¯re leaving now. Just the two of us," Ryder told Rale as he started walking towards the underground room, which has all the spatial tunnels, which led to various realms.

    Ryder didn¡¯t tell Miku that he was leaving this time since Miku was somewhere preparing for their journey, and he didn¡¯t want to wait for something so minor, but he did tell a maid to inform Miku that he was going to sleep in his room.

    Ryder entered the secret underground ce and opened the Spatial tunnel, which led to the human realm.

    Ryder and Rale entered the Spatial Tunnel together and appeared in a dense forest.

    "This ce is different. Why are we not in the emptynds where the dragon rests like thest two times?" Ryder asked Rale with a frown.

    "That¡¯s because the Spatial Tunnel changes the exit location in the human realm after four travels. We traveled four times by going back and forth, so that tunnel exit was changed. That¡¯s what I know, at least. Even I¡¯m not sure why it happens, but this is it," Rale said.

    "Oh, it is good then. Even if the location of the exit is exposed, people can¡¯t know about it since the tunnel changes location, so it¡¯s pretty good. At Least from the safety point of view," Ryder muttered.

    "Let¡¯s leave and see where we are," Ryder said as he started to leave the forest with Rale.

    ¡¯Now that I think about it, only a few people know what Hades looks like in the game. The team that was with Shu should be the only one. Since they don¡¯t yet allow recording of the gamey or live telecast yet, no one else knows about me.¡¯

    ¡¯ I didn¡¯t think about this before, but I¡¯m going to be a big target when those things start since some tech-savvy person might actually find my true face and looks. The Changes I made were only minor on the face sides, and the height and other stuff is the same.¡¯

    ¡¯ In the world with a poption in billions, there can be millions of people that will have a face with simr body dimensions that can make themselves look like me with minor changes on their faces at the time of creating character, so the looks of my character is not a proof that Hades is Ryder, but still, I should be more careful and take some more caution. I need to confuse them even more.¡¯ Ryder thought as he was walking in the forest and thinking about his poprity in the future when he bes famous is the game and in the real world for different reasons.

    He knew that he needed to be serious now and take precautions against those things.

    ¡¯ The best thing I can do is confuse everyone so that no one knows what I look like. If I appear before someone with one face and in front of others with a different face, it will be impossible to recognize me. If I¡¯m not wrong, there is an item like this in the game. Something that an unknown yer had received during the year when I died.¡¯

    ¡¯ It was a normal grade item and didn¡¯t show up in treasure rankings, but some people noticed this and thepany came forward and told everyone about this item. If I get that item, I can im that I got that at the start of the game, and I kept changing my fave every time. Even the ones that saw me before will believe it. This thing will be easily handled, and only Shu will know, but he won¡¯t betray me. I think I should go for that item since I¡¯m here. That thing should be near that dungeon too. I¡¯ll get two birds with one stone,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled. ¡¯But first, I need to know where I am.¡¯

 Chapter 219 Windsor City

    <h4>Chapter 219: Windsor City</h4>

    ¡¯If I¡¯m not wrong, the Dungeon should be in the Tiara Kingdom. That dungeon is a low-level dungeon in difficulty, and a team of level 40+ yers can clear it after putting in some effort. Fortunately, that dungeon isn¡¯t going to be discovered for a long time. It¡¯s at the bottom of the Dark Valley and just getting there alone is difficult for normal yers at this time,¡¯

    ¡¯In the previous timeline, that Dungeon was discovered by a member of a low-level guild after approximately three years from today. It was the same year I died. While the main yers of our guild were focusing on higher-level dungeons, we sent our low-level team to this dungeon. They and many other teams went to clear that Dungeon and to take the treasures,¡¯

    ¡¯Even though I was amongst the top 10 yers of my guild, the strength difference between each rank was too big. The guild master was much stronger than me. This was to be expected, though. I was not that big on strength at that time. I was better than most, but not the real peak yer. I was just one of the top yers of the third rank guild. If I were to look at the overall and counted the first tank and the second rank guild which was filled with real powerhouses, my strength wouldn¡¯t even put me in top thirty at that time,¡¯

    ¡¯ Even though a lot of teams went there to clear the high-level dungeon with our guild, it was ultimately cleared by the mysterious Darkness. Even though Darkness cleared the high-level Dungeon, there was someone else that got the most poprity. It was the simultaneous Low-Level Dungeon Raid where a mysterious item had appeared. It was an unknown thief that had managed to take the final treasure from that dungeon. No one knew what that artifact was, but after some time, it was discovered that it was a disguise artifact and a super rare item that could even keep itself hidden from the treasure ranking list,¡¯

    ¡¯Last time, that thief went and took that artifact, but this time, it will be me. I have traveled back in time, and I won¡¯t let the treasures get out of my hands. This will be a timeline where I won¡¯t be a good yer. This will be a timeline where I will be the God yer,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    They stepped out of the fires and saw a small vige nearby. The vige seemed to have only a few houses.

    Ryder and Rale entered the vige.

    They saw only a few people in the open. One of the people outside was an old man who was standing near a well.

    Ryder walked closer to the old man. The old man was pulling out a bucket of water from the well.

    " Old Man, Can you tell me the name of this vige and the kingdom we are in at the moment?" Ryder asked the old man.

    The Old man ced the bucket of water on the ground before he looked at Ryder with an annoyed look on his face.

    "Are you an idiot? I can understand that you might not know the name of the vige since it¡¯s possible that you are a traveler, but you don¡¯t even know that you¡¯re in the Tiara Kingdom?" The Old Man grumbled as he red at Ryder.

    "Tiara Kingdom? Are we really that lucky to get to our destination so fast?" Ryder let out as he smiled.

    "Sorry, Old Man. We have been traveling for a long time, and some thieves stole our belongings, including our map. We just wanted to be sure if we were in our Kingdom or a different kingdom after walking for so long," Ryder answered.

    The Old Man nodded his head as he smiled.

    "That makes sense, I guess. You are in Shenxu Vige right now," the old man replied.

    "Oh, We are on the other side of the kingdom. We¡¯ll still have to travel for a few hours, I guess," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "Thanks, old man. Can you also tell us the direction of the Windsor City as well? We are trying to get there," He added.

    "Windsor City? You¡¯re quite far away from the Windsor City. It¡¯s in that direction, but you it is on the other end of the kingdom. It would take you days if you were to walk there. I¡¯m going to the nearby city to get some supplies from the vige soon. If you want, you cane with me. You might be able to find a carriage to take you to the Windsor City in the nearby city. What do you say?" The Old Man asked.

    [The Old Man offered to escort you to the city]

    [Will You ept?]

    [Y/N]

    Ryder tapped no as he shook his head.

    "Thanks for the offer, old man, but we would prefer to walk there," He said as he started walking towards the North.

    Soon, Ryder left the vige.

    [You have rejected the kind offer of the Vige Head]

    [Affinity with the people of the kingdom decreased by ten percent]

    "Sigh, what is this happening. That old man made me lose my affinity with the people of this kingdom. That¡¯s stupid. Whatever, it¡¯s not like I need the affinity anyways," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He started flying towards the North. Ryder flew for just a little over an hour before he felt like he reached his limit. After that, he had Rale carry him since he couldn¡¯t fly at all during the day now. Rale took Ryder throughout the journey.

    Soon, Rale reached Windsor City. It was the city that was on the northernmost end of the Kingdom, and it was also the capital because it was the city that was the farthest from any other neighboring kingdom. On the North of this City was the Dark Cliff, and on the other three sides were the vastnd of the kingdom.

    The Kingdom was ruled by the Royal Windsor Family. The Windsor Family was said to be the Family that doted on the Adventures the most. They respected the Adventures and treated them fairly well. In Fact, in the previous timeline, It was said that a yer had managed to make the Windsor Princess fall in love with them.

    The yer was the Vice Guild Leader of the Second Rank Guild. He had the support of the princess, which helped them establish the proper foothold of their guild inside the Windsor Kingdom.

    Ryder knew that if he needed, he could make the Princess fall for him this time, and that was his n, but he didn¡¯t bother about it at the moment. He had more important things to worry about. He left that matter forter after he got the mask.

    He had already promised Shu that he would be the Guild Master of Shu¡¯s Guild and give the position for the Vice Guild Master to Shu. Since he was already going to establish a guild, it was better to take out a page from the book of the Second Rank Guild of thest timeline and use the Princess to form connections.

    Ryder and Ralended in the capital city of the Tiara Kingdom, which was called the Windsor City.

    As hended in the Kingdom, he saw a few yers that were roaming on the streets. Ryder also walked on the streets with Rale as he looked around the marketce to see why there were so many adventures here. So many yers shouldn¡¯t be here at once. There must be a reason for them being here.

    Ryder was walking on the streets when he noticed a small shop that was selling beautifully crafted masks.

    He went to the stall and picked up a mask.

    "How much is this mask worth?" Ryder asked the stall owner.

    The Stall Owner showed Ryder three fingers.

    "Three Gold Coins?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    "Three Bronze Coins," The Stall Owner replied.

    " Oh, That¡¯s good. Give me three of them," Ryder said as he gave a silver coin to the stall owner and picked up three masks which he kept in his storage. "Keep the rest."

    "Thanks, Young man," The Man smiled as he nodded his head.

    "Can I ask you something? I am new to the city, and I can¡¯t help but wonder why there are so many adventures here. Did something happen?" He asked the Stall Owner.

    "Oh, I heard that there is a dungeon nearby. All the adventures are here because they want to clear that Dungeon. At least, that¡¯s what the word on the street is," the Stall Owner said.

    "Oh, The Dungeon, huh," Ryder muttered as he ced his hand on the chin.

    ¡¯This doesn¡¯t make sense. There is only one dungeon in this city. The Dungeon of Dark Cliff. Did they really discover that? This shouldn¡¯t be possible. This happened three yearster in thest timeline.¡¯

 Chapter 220 Enemy of the Kingdom

    <h4>Chapter 220: Enemy of the Kingdom</h4>

    ¡¯ Is this because of my traveling back in time? Is the future and the destinies of this game is changing because of me as well?¡¯ He thought as he frowned.

    He ultimately shook his hand as he thanked the Stall Owner for the information.

    Ryder started walking away from the Stall. After he got to some distance, he covered his face with a mask that he had purchased just now.

    "They already know about the Dungeon, so the adventures here should be the ones that just got here. The ones that got here before should already be on their way to the Dungeons," Ryder muttered as he shook his head. He started walking towards the Dark Cliff directly, which was on the other side of the city in the north.

    Ryder reached near the Dark Cliff, but he noticed that there were hundreds of guards surrounding the path to the Dark Cliff.

    " Why would the king interfere like this?" Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    "Should we just kill all of them?" Rale suggested to Ryder.

    "It¡¯s not necessary. We can just go back and fly above their head," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    He turned back, but just then, he heard a notification.

    [ The guards have noticed you]

    [ Because of the decreased affinity, the guards doubt your intentions]

    Ryder smiled wryly as he shook his head.

    "I guess they won¡¯t let me go," Ryder muttered, but he still tried leaving.

    As soon as he took the first step, he heard a shout from behind, "Stop!"

    Ryder turned back and looked at them.

    "Do you need something?" he asked.

    "I saw youing this way, but you started leaving after seeing us. You seem suspicious," The guard said.

    "I find him suspicious as well. It¡¯s something that just doesn¡¯t make me trust him," another guard said.

    "What are you doing here?" the guard asked Ryder.

    " I was going to the dungeon. I saw you guys, and I remember that I forgot something behind in the city," Ryder exined.

    "Bye guys," He said as he started leaving.

    "Stop you bastard! How dare you leave without properly exining!" The guards started shouting as Ryder began to leave.

    " Silence! How dare you speak to his Highness like that!" Rale thundered as his eyes turned darker. A terrifying aura escaped from his body. The aura came like a tsunami that made all the guards fly back and crash on the ground.

    [ Warning: You hurt the guards of the city]

    [ Rtionship with the people of the city has gone down to zero]

    [You have be the enemy of the Tiara Kingdom]

    [You have received the title: " Enemy of Tiara"]

    [ No person here will give you a mission anymore, and people will be scared toe close to you]

    "What the heck? I didn¡¯t even do anything! Why am I getting these negatives that the dark yers got? Is this that little A.I at y here?" Ryder let out in annoyance.

    "Whatever, Go fuck yourself. I¡¯m going to see what you can do by decreasing my favorability with the people of this kingdom. If I can¡¯t establish the guild in this kingdom, then I¡¯ll establish that in another ce. If I can¡¯t even do that, I¡¯ll fricking destroy the kingdom and establish my guild there. This game is broken so let me break it even more," Ryder let out in anger as he started walking ahead.

    " Rale, you were right. There¡¯s no need for us to take any other way. There¡¯s no one that can stop us in this ce anyway," Ryder muttered as he started walking ahead.

    He reached near the guards, but he didn¡¯t pass through.

    "I already got the punishment for not even attacking by Maya. Might as well do something," Ryder let out as he kicked the guard that had stopped him from peacefully leaving.

    [You have attacked the guard again]

    [Favorability with the kingdom is zero. It can¡¯t be decreased]

    [User received a title: Biggest Enemy of the Kingdom]

    [Title: Biggest Enemy of the Kingdom]

    [Description: Tiara Kingdom is a peaceful kingdom that has never been in conflict with any kingdom. All kingdoms have a favorable opinion of the kingdom. By attacking the guards again, you disrespected the authority of the King once again. By disrespecting the king again, you have be the Biggest Enemy of the Kingdom]

    [Effects: All people of the kingdom will hold hostility towards you]

    [ Effects: Normal people of the kingdom will also fear you]

    [Effects: You won¡¯t gain negative points for theftmitted in this kingdom because if this title]

    ¡¯Why would I steal anything from this kingdom anyway. This title is useless, but whatever. This kingdom only has one useful thing, and that is the dungeon, and after today, it won¡¯t have that either. I was hoping to establish the guild here because this ce was the most peaceful kingdom after the starting kingdom, but whatever,¡¯ Ryder thought as he ignored the notifications from the game and continued walking towards the cliff.

    Soon, he reached the end of the cliff and looked down.

    He could see many people climbing down the cliff since the dungeon was at the bottom.

    "I was right. The yers are already here. Oh, would you look at that? He¡¯s here too," Ryder muttered as he clenched his fist. He had noticed a person.

    It was the same person that had schemed against Ryder. He had the healing potion, but he lied and made Ryder sacrifice himself by fighting the dragon, whereas that person just drank the potion and collected the rewards.

    " I didn¡¯t know you at this point in the game in thest timeline either as we met after a year in the guild. You became a guild member and a friend. We fought so many monsters together, but you bastard, you threw that all away at thest moment. I¡¯ll show you what it means to be killed by a guildmate," Ryder muttered as he looked at the face of that person.

    " Rale, I can¡¯t fly anymore. Can you carry me ahead? Let them walk like the insects they are. We¡¯ll go ahead," Ryder told Rale as he nced back.

    Rale nodded his head as he reached out a hand.

    Ryder caught the hand of Rale.

    Rale started flying, but just as they took to the air, Ryder heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    [Ding... A new mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Make the Princess of the Tiara Kingdom fall in love with you]

    [Time Limit: One month]

    [Rewards: 200 Origin Points]

    [Punishment for failure: None]

    ¡¯A new mission? It matches with what I wanted to do before, but it seems impossible now. I already got the title of Enemy of the Kingdom. It¡¯s impossible for me to even get close to the Princess, let alone make her fall for me. It¡¯s fine, though. Although I will lose the origin points rewards, but at least this one won¡¯t have a punishment,¡¯ Ryder thought as he shook his head.

    Rale and Ryder flew above everyone else as they ignored the depths of the cliff and the other yers that were climbing down the cliff.

    "If I¡¯m not wrong, that dungeon should be in this area. That¡¯s how far it was from the cliff. Get down there," Ryder told Rale as he pointed towards a certain point in the cliff.

    Ryder and Ralended on the ground where Ryder had pointed. That location was right in the middle of a dense forest.

    "It should be around here. This dungeon is also an underground dungeon. This was why it should¡¯ve been difficult for them to find it so fast," Ryder muttered as he started walking around, trying to find the entrance of the tomb.

    "There it is," Ryder said as he saw the stairs going downstairs at what seemed like the giant mouth of a lion.

    "Let¡¯s enter," He told Rale as he stepped on the stairs and brought out the Moon Scythe.

    Ryder and Rale went down the stairs and found themselves in a hallway that had three paths that lead in three different directions.

    "The left one should be the one that leads to the mask," Ryder muttered as he chose the left path. He started walking ahead and soon reached a door.

    There were two stone statues that were standing on both sides of the door.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder let out as he swung his Scythe and cut both the statues in one strike.

    There were two keys inside the statues that he discovered after the statues were broken to pieces.

    [Discovered the keys of the door]

    ¡¯ Just like I heard. Last time, while people were wondering how to open the doors, the statues started attacking them. After everyone defeated the statues, they found the keys inside. These keys were then used to open the entrance. So far, it¡¯s the same. No one has entered the dungeon either. Or maybe the one that found the dungeon and entered, chose the wrong path, and died instantly,¡¯ Ryder thought.

 Chapter 221 The Kingdoms Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 221: The Kingdom''s Dungeon</h4>

    Ryder picked up the keys, inserted them in the keyhole, and swung them to unlock the door, but the door didn¡¯t open up.

    "Strange. That¡¯s what I heard unlocked itst time. Could it be that something else had to be done too which the person who opened the door hid from others? Or is it that I made a mistake by destroying the statues before they were activated and started attacking?" Ryder frowned as he looked at the door that wasn¡¯t unlocked. No matter what he tried, he wasn¡¯t able to push it to open.

    "Is there a problem with the door?" Rale asked Ryder as he saw him frowning.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s not opening from the keys," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He started looking around the broken pieces of the statue to see if there was something hidden there which he had missed identally.

    *Thump*

    Suddenly, Ryder heard a loud sound. He turned back only to find that the door wasn¡¯t obstructing their path anymore. It was open. It was better to say that the door was smashed to pieces, and the obstruction was removed from its roots by using fill strength.

    "Problem solved," Rale said as he gave a cheeky smile.

    "Well, that was an option as well, I guess. You¡¯re definitely too strong for a low difficulty dungeon," Ryder chuckled as he stood up and started walking ahead and entered a big room.

    There was no door in the room, though.

    "Don¡¯t do anything. Whatever little bit of experience it may be, I still need it. Let me handle the problems now," Ryder told Rale as he took a step forward.

    As soon as he took a step forward, he got a notification from the game.

    [ Dark Wing Wolves have locked in on you]

    [Your speed will be restricted by ten percent]

    "As expected, it¡¯s the Dark Wolves that wille here this time. I already know all there is to know about it. Herees the first one," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "me st!"

    He raised his hand above his hand and used a spell.

    A giant ball of fierce mes appeared above his hand that shot up towards the roof.

    Ryder didn¡¯t even look up as he heard a big pained scream.

    [Killed a Dark Wing Wolf]

    "One down, five more to go," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He looked behind and pointed his hand towards Rale.

    Rale could already feel a Dark Wing Wolf appearing behind him, but he didn¡¯t move as he was confident that he wouldn¡¯t be harmed, and he didn¡¯t want to disturb Ryder¡¯s aim.

    Ryder shot out a fireball that passed my Rale. It missed Rale by just a few inches as it hit the Dark Wing Wolf that was behind him. If his aim was a little off, then he could have got Rale identally, but even that wouldn¡¯t be harmful to Rale as Ryder¡¯s strength and the level was too weak even to injure him.

    Ryder could only injure Rale if he used the Moon Scythe, but even that wouldn¡¯t be life-threatening because of the level difference.

    "Rale, close your eyes," Ryder said to Rale. Raleplied as he closed his eyes.

    Ryder was looking at Rale, and just when he saw Rale close his eyes, he pointed his palm towards the ground.

    "Sandstorm!" Ryder cast another spell. A sandstorm appeared in the room and covered the whole room, which smashed everything in the rook to pieces. Rale was too strong, so he wasn¡¯t affected as Ryder had expected. Ryder was at the core of the sandstorm, so he wasn¡¯t affected either.

    [Killed a Dark Winged Wolf]

    [Killed a Dark Winged Wolf]

    [Killed a Dark Winged Wolf]

    [Killed a Dark Winged Wolf]

    Ultimately, the sandstorm stopped. The entire floor of the room was covered now.

    "They¡¯re all dead. The entrance of the next portion should be opening soon," Ryder muttered as he started walking ahead.

    Ryder and Rale reached the front wall and a door shaped opening opened in the wall.

    They stepped into another long hallway that hadmps on both sides of the hallway that brightened up the path.

    Ryder and Rale walked to the end of the hallway and saw a wall that was blocking their path.

    Rale was about to smash through the wall too, but Ryder stopped him.

    "Don¡¯t do anything. This ce should be near the core of the dungeon. If you break it, the dungeon might fall down," Ryder said as he stopped Take.

    "This wall won¡¯t affect the dungeon. I can see that it¡¯s not the support. We can break it," Rale replied as he shook his head.

    "There¡¯s no need to take the risk, though. What I¡¯m here to get is really important. Also, it¡¯s not difficult to pass through this wall. I know how to do it," Ryder said to Rale as he stepped closer to the wall. He ced his palm on the wall.

    As soon as his palm touched the wall, some words appeared on the wall.

    Ryder read the words on the wall, which seemed to be a question.

    "The King¡¯s weapon was broken, yet he won. The sword was broken, yet he shed. The Shield was broken, yet he defended. How?"

    "Easy, he ughtered the Enemies with his pure strength like His Majesty would do," Rale said to Ryder.

    "That¡¯s what strong kings from our kingdom will do. This question is rted to this kingdom, and I have three chances to answer since I activated the question. Fortunately, I remember the answer," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "The king¡¯smander defended the King in that battle until their army won," Ryder answered the questions.

    "Correct." The words on the wall changed.

    Another question appeared on the wall.

    "The gods that bless the kingdom are called the Dilo and Mkna, what are they known for," The second question asked.

    ¡¯This dungeon is the dungeon that is rted to the kingdom. It¡¯s not supposed to be a dungeon but the tomb of the first king. His inheritance is inside this tomb, and that¡¯s why the questions are rted to the kingdom. The person that opened itst time had inquired around and knew some things about this kingdom. That¡¯s why he was able to open the entrance here as well. This is going to be quite easy,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smirked.

    He answered the question correctly again. Another question appeared, and then questions kept appearing until Ryder had finished all the questions. He had responded to all questions correctly.

    He was only allowed to say wrong answers three times before he failed. The person that had opened the tombst time was wrong twice, but Ryder knew the answers, so he got them all right.

    [You have answered the questions of the tomb of the first king]

    [Your affinity with the kingdom has increased]

    [Your affinity with the Royals of the Kingdom has increased]

    [The Royals will still feel dislike towards you because of low affinity, but they won¡¯t despise you anymore]

    "That¡¯s better," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    ¡¯ This can help me with the Princess. As long as the Royals don¡¯t despise me, I can still try,¡¯ Ryder thought as he saw the possibility ofpleting the quest of Janus.

    He removed his hand from the wall. Another opening appeared on the wall that allowed them to pass through, but as soon as they passed through the wall, they saw tens of giant bulls running towards then.

    Ryder twisted his body as he swung his Scythe in a horizontal motion.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder let out as he used his skill.

    A horizontal arc of light left the sword and passed through the room. The arc of light moved forward. Its edges were leaving deep groves behind on the walls of the room.

    [Killed the Giant Inper Bull]

    [Killed the Giant Inper Bull]

    [Killed the Giant Inper Bull]

    [Killed the Giant Inper Bull]

    ...

    [Killed the Giant Inper Bull]

    [Level +1 ]

    Ryder started getting the notification as the arc of light cut through all ten of the giant bulls. He also got the notification of ten percent Absorption ability activating simultaneously. He had gained the strength stat from only one bull. The other bulls gave him intelligence and dexterity only.

    "If this absorption weren¡¯t random, it would be so amazing to get strength stat only," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "At Least I got something, so it¡¯s not too bad," He let out as he shook his head

    "Let¡¯s continue," he said to Rale as he started walking ahead.

    Ryder passed through even more traps and faced even more dangers, but this dungeon was pretty easy for someone like him that had a high level. He easily passed through all the obstructions and gained experience along the way.

    After two hours, Ryder reached the end of the dungeon.

    He was standing in a giant room that was the final room.

 Chapter 222 Raksas King

    <h4>Chapter 222: Raksas King</h4>

    "I know how to pass theke, but that would take longer. We need to use that floating stone. We can¡¯t swim in this water as it¡¯s impossible, and solving this trap will take a long time. Let¡¯s just fly to the boss. Carry me," Rydermanded Rale as he reached out his hand.

    Rale caught Ryder¡¯s hand and flew across theke. Hended on the ground on the other side of theke.

    As soon as Rydernded on his foot on the ground, the boss of this dungeon opened its eyes.

    [Raksas King has woken up]

    "I can see that," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He saw the boss of the floor open his eyes as he looked at Rale.

    The boss of this floor was a level fifty monster that had a humanoid body, which was around ten meters tall. The Raksas King had four arms. Each of his arms was holding a different thing. One of his arms had a shield while his second arm had a sword. His third arm had an ax, whereas his fourth arm had a spear.

    "He¡¯s quite a low level beingpared to me, so the fight shouldn¡¯t drag out for long, but he¡¯s a boss monster, so I can¡¯t take him lightly. I don¡¯t want to have to take Rale¡¯s help and lose all the potential exp.

    The boss monster¡¯s eyes changed color and turned grey.

    [Raksas King has activated the Vision of Raksas. For the next twenty minutes, your defense will decrease by ten percent. Your dexterity will increase by five percent]

    "Whatever. I don¡¯t meet defense to deal with you. My speed is enough," Ryder muttered as he shook his head. "It should end shortly."

    "Transform!" Ryder muttered as he transformed his Scythe into the form of a sword.

    Ryder held the sword as he ran towards the Four-Armed Raksas King.

    The Raksas King used his ax to attack Ryder. Ryder lowered his head as he dodged the attack and passed through the Raksas King. He got behind the Raksas King and stabbed the back of the Raksas King¡¯s thighs with all his might.

    [You havended a critical hit]

    [The damage received by the Raksas King has been doubled due to the critical hit]

    [The Raksas King is heavily wounded]

    Ryder stepped back as he saw the HP of the Raksas King reaching zero. He knew the weak point of the Raksas King, which was only exposed for the first few seconds of the fight, and he utilized it.

    Ryder was already might stronger in levelpared to the Raksas King, and with the critical hit, the damage was doubled, which was enough to clear all of the Raksas King¡¯s HP, but just before it could hit zero, the HP bar of the Raksas King started filling up as it turned red.

    [Warning: The Raksas King is entering the Rage Mode. His strength is increased by ten percent]

    [The Effect of Vision of Raksas has disappeared because of the rage of the Raksas King]

    The HP of the Raksas King was full again, and its eyes were red.

    "Herees the rage mode. If I give him a chance, then he will call out the level 40 stone guardians. I would have dragged the fight out if the stone guardians gave experience, but they don¡¯t give any exp. It will just be useless for now. It¡¯s better to finish it fast and get the exp of Raksas King," Ryder let out as he moved like the wind towards the Raksas King.

    The Raksas King attacked Ryder as he threw the spear in his fourth hand towards Ryder¡¯s chest.

    Ryder jumped ahead as he saw the Spearing towards him. His left footnded on the spear, but he used the momentum as he jumped again.

    He was so high that it seemed as if he was flying as he passed above the Raksas King¡¯s head.

    Just as he passed above the Raksas King¡¯s head, he pointed his palm towards the head of Raksas King and used his skill.

    "Shadow Ball!" he let out as a dark ball of shadow appeared, which hit the head of the Raksas King.

    The Raksas King¡¯s HP started sinking like a stone, but Ryder didn¡¯t stop as hended before the Raksas King and used another skill.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder thundered as he swung his Moon Sword towards the Raksas King¡¯s head.

    The sword shed through the neck of the Raksas King, which acted like thest mail nail in the coffin. The Raksas King fell to the ground and dropped a few items.

    [Received the Sword of the Raksas King]

    [Grade: Silver]

    [Durability: 40]

    [Minimum Level to equip: Level 40]

    [Received the Shield of the Raksas King]

    [Grade: Silver]

    [Durability: 40]

    [Minimum Level to equip: Level 40]

    [Received key of the chest box]

    "The items are not bad. Shu might find them useful if he has reached level forty, but it is too soon for him. He will be nowhere near level 40," Ryder muttered as he shook his head. He kept the dropped items in his storage.

    He walked to the treasure chest at the front and unlocked it using the key he had just received.

    As the treasure chest opened, Ryder saw the item he was looking for.

    [Ring of Disguise Discovered]

    Ryder went through the description of the ring to find out all the details about it, including the things that probably weren¡¯t public before.

    It was the golden ring that was called the Ring of Disguise. It was a golden ring that had two uses. One of its uses was as an ornament that increased charm and decreased hostility.

    The second advantage of this ring was that it helped the yer face in the game to any face he liked as long as that face was not a face of another yer that was in the top 100 in the level rankings.

    "As I expected. This is perfect for me," Ryder muttered as he wore the ring.

    [Ring if Disguise equipped]

    [Charm of the yer has increased]

    " Rale, I want to test something. Tell me if my face changes," Ryder told Rale as he activated the ring and changed his face.

    He made his face more oval and his hair longer. His eyes were still the same color, but his nose was sharper. Ryder still looked good, but not as good as he generally looked.

    "It worked. If It were not for your aura, I wouldn¡¯t have recognized you at all. Is that a magical item of this realm?" Rale asked Ryder with an amazed expression.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s called the Ring of Disguise. It¡¯s an item that can help me change my face. But you are right. The Dukes and the High Duke¡¯s can still recognize me from my aura. Anyway, I only need it for when I¡¯m in the human world. Now that I got what I wanted, let¡¯s leave," Ryder said to Rale as he started leaving.

    Rale nodded his head as he followed after Ryder. They left the Dungeon and continued on their way back as Rale carried Ryder.

    "There they are. They got down the cliff, but still toote. Rale, stop here. I want to meet someone in that crowd personally," Ryder told Rale as he asked him to get down.

    Ralended on the ground with Ryder.

    Ryder started walking towards the group of yers that wereing towards the dungeon.

    Max was the person that was the vice leader of the team that Ryder led to subdue the dragon and finish the quest, but he lied to Ryder, which resulted in Ryder failing that quest.

    He was not as angry at failing the quest as he was about being lied to, which made him really angry at Ryder.

    After walking for a little while, Ryder met up with Max and the other yers that wereing in his direction.

    "Well, Max, It¡¯s good to see you again after so long, old friend," Ryder muttered in a tone that seemed on the edge of upset and angry as he stared at Max.

    "Who are you? I don¡¯t recognize you," Max said to Ryder with a questioning gaze.

    " It¡¯s not bad to forget your old friend, man, but then again, if you were willing to betray me, then I don¡¯t think I was ever your friend," Ryder responded as he smiled.

    He was using a disguised face, which was different from his original face because of the Ring of Disguise.

    " Whatever. It doesn¡¯t matter since you¡¯re about to die soon," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    "Who the fuck are you? Do you really think you¡¯re some bigshot? A freaking yer that is roaming with a single person thinks he can threaten me? Guys, don¡¯t you find this loser funny?" Max said as he looked towards his friend and startedughing.

    His friends also joined in as they startedughing at Ryder.

 Chapter 223 Burning Embers

    <h4>Chapter 223: Burning Embers</h4>

    Rale was getting annoyed, but he didn¡¯t do anything as Ryder had told him to let him deal with it.

    Ryder didn¡¯t react fiercely either as he simply smiled.

    He raised his hand towards the front and opened his inventory as he brought out his Moon Scythe.

    "Wait a minute, that... that... isn¡¯t that the Moon Scythe? That symbol... It¡¯s definitely the Moon Scythe from the description I read online from the people that met Hades," One of the yers in the group pointed out.

    "Hades? That top yer?"

    "The monster that¡¯s close to level 70 already? What the fuck?"

    "He¡¯s Hades?"

    There was an instantmotion in the field as people started to link Ryder with Hades, which he wanted since he needed to get his face out more so that people knew that he had a face-changing item.

    "Hades? What do you need from me? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve met you before?" Max let out in confusion.

    " I¡¯m not here to remind you of anything. Just know that you are going to die today. Also, every time I see you, I¡¯ll kill you," Ryder said as he moved like the wind and instantly appeared beside Max with the de of his Scythe resting against the neck of Max.

    "Last time you watched me die, now let me have that opportunity," Ryder muttered as he moved the scythe and cut the neck of Max.

    Max¡¯s HP instantly went down to zero.

    [You Killed a yer outside the safe zone]

    ¡¯I know. I won¡¯t get the yer Killer Tag as long as I don¡¯t kill them in the city. It¡¯s not like the yer Killer Tag will do much to me, but it¡¯s better to stay away from it while I can,¡¯ Ryder thought as he saw the notification.

    Max died with an impossible look on his face, not understanding what had just happened.

    "Go on your way. Don¡¯t waste time," Ryder told the other yers that were stunned as he left after killing Max.

    After getting far from them, he again had Rale carry him while he flew. Rale got Ryder above the cliff and then to the city. Ryder and Ralended near the central market Street of the city.

    Inside a room in a luxurious mansion, a man was lying on the bed. There were Divinity sses on his eyes. He was lying silently until he abruptly sat up.

    "Fuck that bastard! I don¡¯t even know him, yet he killed me out of nowhere! Who the fuck is that, Hades!" The man cursed out loud as he took off the Divinity sses.

    " I swear I¡¯ll find a way to kill you! I¡¯ll make us equal even if I have to pour all my money when they activate that function!" He let out as he clenched his fist.

    ¡¯I wonder if I can find the Princess of the kingdom or not. I still have over 18 hours before I need to get back. I should be able to find her, or I can go hunting instead,¡¯ Ryder thought as he tried toe up with a n on what he should do next.

    Ultimately, he decided to take a trip around the city. If he didn¡¯t find the Princess, then he could leave. He couldn¡¯t barge into the Royal pce as he would have to attack the guards, which will just increase the hostility, which would make his task more difficult.

    Ryder started walking through the marketce. A lot of yers were stilling to the city and getting their equipment in the city to prepare for their trip in the dungeon.

    As Ryder was walking, he saw a church on the side. It was a ce where the yers respawned. It was also the ce where Max was going to respawn, but he couldn¡¯t respawn before 24 hours as he was locked outside because of dying.

    "If only there was no lockout for 24 hours, I could¡¯ve waited here to kill him again and again until he cried and asked for forgiveness," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "Rale? There are so many shops here. Do you want to buy something as a souvenir? Some of the things are really interesting," Ryder told Rale.

    "It¡¯s alright, Your Highness. I have everything that I may need," Rale replied as he shook his head.

    "Alright. If you find something interesting that you like, don¡¯t hesitate to tell me," Ryder said as he smiled.

    [Your have shown an excellent gesture to your supporter]

    [Increase of favorability with Rale]

    Ryder saw the notification and frowned. This was the first time he saw notification like this. Since he came to the world, the game has been giving notifications at a higher rate. This feature was supposed to be released when they activated the features of transferring real-world money to this world. He wondered why it was here so soon.

    ¡¯The future is really messed up, I guess. The timeline is messed up as well. Whatever, no matter what they do, I¡¯m in a pretty advantageous spot with everything that I got,¡¯ Ryder thought as he shook his head.

    He started walking towards the Pce through the marketce since he believed that if the princess left the pce toe to the marketce, they would cross each other, but just as he started walking, he saw a little chaos.

    A thief was running away from someone. He was running in the direction of Ryder.

    "It¡¯s the perfect opportunity to increase my favorability with the people of this kingdom," Ryder muttered as he got ready to stop the thief. Still, just as he was about to move, he saw another yer jumping before the thief.

    The yer attacked the thief and made him fall down to the ground.

    The guards came and caught the thief and recovered the items.

    A woman also came forward. She was the one that the chain belonged to. The woman thanked that yer. The yer acted heroically as he started talking about justice and his duty.

    The woman thanked him again before she left.

    "It¡¯s him..." Ryder muttered as he recognized the person who was standing before you. "Ryuk!"

    In the previous timeline, this person was from the Burning Embers Guild. This guild was the second rank guild and really famous in the American Server and the whole world.

    This person was not any random member of the guild, either.

    Ryuk is the Vice Guild Leader of the Burning Embers Guild, and he was also the person who made the Princess of the Tiara Kingdom fall in love with him. Ryuk yed a really big role when it came to establishing the guild and securing its foothold in the kingdom.

    He also sat in the Top Ten yers Ranking in thest timeline. In this timeline as well, Ryuk was in the top ten already. He was ranked tenth at the moment.

    ¡¯ Ryuk... I haven¡¯t had any dealings with him in thest timeline, but I did see him a few times. I heard he¡¯s a nice guy, but some people im that he fakes that, and in reality, he¡¯s a cruel tyrant that didn¡¯t actually care about anyone and killed without hesitation if someone got in his way. There were also rumors of him getting people to attack the yers that he didn¡¯t like,¡¯ Ryder thought as he remembered everything he had heard about Ryuk.

    He was thinking about how to deal with the situation of Ryuk being in the same Kingdom where he made the Princess fall for himst time when Ryder saw a woman walking towards Ryuk.

    The woman was wearing average clothes that didn¡¯t seem anything specific. Her face was also covered because of the cloak she was wearing.

    "You were really brave. I would like to thank you for helping people of this kingdom," The woman said.

    "It was my duty. There¡¯s no need to thank me," Ryuk replied with a smile.

    "You¡¯re so humble. Would you like toe to the Pce? My Royal Father really respects adventures, and he would love to meet a brave and kind-hearted person like you," The woman said as she removed her cloak.

    "P-princess?" The Guards that were standing nearby recognized the woman and got down to the knees.

    " She¡¯s that Princess? What the...? This is so bad," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    " Your Highness, do you like that girl? Should I kidnap her for you?" Rale whispered in Ryder¡¯s ears.

    " Why do you always try to kidnap people? There¡¯s no need for that. I have another purpose in mind, and kidnapping can... wait a minute..." Ryder was refuting Rale¡¯s suggestion when he suddenly stopped.

    "It would be my pleasure to apany the Princess and His Majesty," Ryuk epted the offer of the Princess.

    He and the Princess left the ce and went towards the Royal Pce.

    "Now that I think about it, that can definitely help. Rale,e with me. I have a n," Ryder told Rale as he smiled.

    He took Rale with him and booked a room in a hotel in the city since he needed to stay in this ce for a day.

 Chapter 224 Greed

    <h4>Chapter 224: Greed</h4>

    Ryder took Rale into the hotel room to prepare for some things and to share the n with Rale.

    " So, Rale. I need you to kidnap the Princess of this kingdom. The same girl that we just saw," Ryder told Rale as he sat on the bed.

    "I¡¯ll be right back with her," Rale nodded his head as he prepared to leave.

    "No, don¡¯t be in a hurry. First, listen to the whole n. We¡¯re going to follow the n I like to call the Knight in Shining Armor. I need to save the Princess and attract her goodwill to be her hero. Ryuk had already taken the lead, and I can only overtake him if I save her personally from a life-threatening danger," Ryder said to Rale.

    " You need to kidnap her in stealth without anyone finding out. Also, no one! Not even the Princess himself should see you fly. We can¡¯t expose ourselves. Your identity as a Demon needs to stay hidden," he added.

    "Understood."

    Rale didn¡¯t even take a second before he agreed.

    "I know how fast you are, so don¡¯t start now. You remember the path we came from when we wereing from the city, right? I¡¯ll be there, pretending as if I¡¯m leaving the city since I already got the treasure of the Dungeon. That¡¯s when I¡¯ll see you running towards me with the Princess. I will stop you and save the Princess by defeating you. You¡¯ll run away after that."

    "Everything will depend on your acting. I was hoping you wouldn¡¯t make it too obvious that you¡¯re not attacking me in reality. Your acting needs to be convincing. So we need to n how we will do that and what skills we¡¯ll use. We need to be in sync as the viin and a hero," Ryder exined to Rale.

    "I understand that, but may I ask one thing?" Rale asked as he nodded his head.

    "Sure, Go ahead," Ryder let out.

    "Does Your Highness like that girl?" Rale inquired.

    "Hmm, I guess you can say that. That girl will be pretty important to me if things go right," Ryder answered.

    "Then why don¡¯t we just kidnap her and take her to the Demon Realm. There is no way she can deny being with you. We don¡¯t need to do this trickery. I don¡¯t wish to harm Your Highness identally," Rale said with a concerned look on his face.

    "Don¡¯t worry about this. There won¡¯t be any danger to me. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to control your attacks. Even if you do attack me seriously, I still have my ways to survive," Ryder said with a casual smile on his face.

    Rale was about to open her mouth to say something, but Ryder started talking again.

    "As for the girl, we can¡¯t take her in the Demon Realm. I need her to stay here. I want to establish my foothold in this kingdom for something that I¡¯m nning in the future. I want her to help me willingly. We can¡¯t do anything that might attract her hate towards me," Ryder said.

    ¡¯ Something in the future? Foothold in this kingdom? Is His Highness trying to take over the whole world in the future? Amazing. Such ambitions. This would definitely make our Demon Realm stronger,¡¯ Rale though as he nodded his head in appreciation. He misunderstood Ryder¡¯s intentions.

    Ryder spent the next half an hour clearing up the details with Rale. They talked about how they will perform the fight, and his Rale would run away and many more things.

    "Also, you need to change your clothes and wear a mask to hide your face since some yers saw you with me. Get ready. I¡¯ll leave first since you¡¯re much faster than me. I¡¯ll be outside the city near that forest. You can start your work after half an hour," Ryder said after he finished exining.

    He stood up and left a normal mask on the ground for Rale before he left the room.

    [You havee with a Scheme against the Princess of Tiara Kingdom]

    [You have gained a title: Fraud yer]

    [Would you like to unequip the Main Title: Salem¡¯s Sessor and equip the Title: Fraud yer?]

    Ryder saw a notification sh before his eyes that talked about him gaining a title as he left the room.

    "Fraud yer? Is this supposed to be a prank, Maya?" Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    He did remember that he had lied to Maya before, but he was sure that even though she was the Divinity A.I, she didn¡¯t know that. It was probably the new feature that Divinity activated, which kept an eye on the yer¡¯s action to give them rewards, Quests, and titles. It also informed them much more regrly about any new updates.

    "The title seems useless. Only an Idiot will unequip Salem¡¯s Sessor," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He still decided to read about the Title and what it offered.

    [ Title: Fraud yer]

    [Description: Title is given to the yer that use scheme against Royalties of Divinity]

    [ Effects: Charm: +50]

    "So it increases the charm. It can be useful in getting the Princess on my side. It is not that bad, after all. Even though it might help me, I¡¯m in no need of this at the moment. I¡¯m sure my n will work the way it is. If there is a problem, I¡¯ll unequip Salem¡¯s Sessor and equip Fraud yer for a short time," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He didn¡¯t use the new title that he gained and kept the old one.

    Ryder left the hotel room and started walking towards the exit of the town.

    He still had his mask activated to show a different face again. This face was different from the one he showed Max and the others. His scheme was to confuse as many people and have them understand that he had an item that helped him change face to separate his real life from divinity. He was also carrying his Moon Scythe in his hand to let as many people as possible see him and recognize him as Hades.

    "Wait, Doesn¡¯t that look like the Moon Scythe if Hades? Could it be that he is Hades?" One of the yers asked as he pointed towards Ryder.

    "You¡¯re right. That scythe matches the description. He¡¯s definitely Hades! We finally met him!" Another yer said.

    "That person has so many rare treasures! If we can kill him, we might be able to get the treasures!"

    "True, He has most of the top treasures in the treasure rankings. Our life would be set if we get the treasures! If I can sell a single treasure to someone rich, I¡¯ll be a millionaire!" another yer let out.

    "Don¡¯t be mad! Didn¡¯t you see his level in the level ranking? Last time I checked, that dude was close to level 70! We¡¯re not even close to level 30! He¡¯ll kill us instantly!" One yer said in a concerned tone.

    "Don¡¯t be an idiot! We can definitely take him on if all the yers here join up! Don¡¯t worry about anything! The bigger someone is, the harder they fall! Have faith! We¡¯ll take him on with numbers that are on our side. He¡¯s just a solo yer," Another yer said.

    " Alright."

    "That¡¯s right!"

    "We can do it!"

    "For the treasures!"

    "Let¡¯s take him on!"

    All the yers agreed one after another.

    Ryder had already noticed their greedy looks, so he knew what they were nning to do, but he ignored them. He knew that he could use them to spread out his fame to deter others in the future. His treasures were a big attraction to other yers, and he knew that there would always be crazy people who woulde after him for that. Only by increasing his notoriety, he could deter them.

    In thest timeline as well, the same thing had happened.

    Many yers targeted the top yers for their treasures.

    Most of the top yers chose a different approach.

    While Lucifer straight away ughtered the ones that came after his treasures, Darkness chose the different route. Darkness was almost impossible to find, and whenever someone found Darkness, they lost the trail.

    There were some yers that let their guild deal with them while some yers chose another route. Most of the top yers didn¡¯t kill as much as Lucifer since they wanted to maintain their reputation on the broadcasts that the channels showed in the future. Lucifer and a few others were the only ones that didn¡¯t care.

    Ryder kept walking in the direction where he came from and left the city.

    [You have left the Safe Zone. There will be no penalties for killing other yers]

    "I know that much," Ryder muttered as he ignored the notification.

    He continued walking. After walking for another hundred meters, Ryder stopped.

    "Are you sure you want to do this?" Ryder let out loud as he turned back.

    He saw hundreds of yers standing behind him.

 Chapter 225 Against the Master Planner

    <h4>Chapter 225: Against the Master nner</h4>

    "Did you guys bring out all the yers to take my treasures? If I may ask, how do you n to distribute them between the hundreds of you?" Ryder inquired as he smiled lightly.

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about that. We will decide when the timees. First, you need to die!" One of the yers said. That yer was a level fifteen mage.

    "Shhh, noobs should keep their mouth close and not disturb the big yers. Come talk to me after you hit half my level, at least," Ryder replied in a mocking tone.

    "You bastard! Don¡¯t think that we don¡¯t know the reason for your high level. All you did was get some high ranking quest which anyone could do. That¡¯s why you gained all that level!" Another yer chimed in as he pointed his fingers at Ryder.

    " Well, whatever suits you. I¡¯m in a hurry, so I¡¯ll be fast. Please help spread my name around after you guys wake up in the real world," Ryder chuckled as he used the Transformation and changed his Scythe to a Sword since a sword was a better weapon to use Enraged sh than a Scythe.

    "A transforming weapon? That Moon Scythe is said to be a unique treasure, but for it to have this ability, I¡¯m amazed," One of the yers said as he used his finger to adjust his spectacles properly.

    "Mages! He¡¯s using a sword! He must be a warrior! We need to keep him as far away from us as possible! Form a shield around as and start firing the magic! Hunters: Use your arrows to attack that guy! Warriors: Stand before the mages and protect them in case the barrier broke! Priests: Start applying buffs to the Mages!" that yer said.

    Ryder recognized that yer who was wearing the spectacles. His username was Masternner. He was a Thief and the leader of a small group of people. Even though he was good at the battle, he really shined when it came to his leading abilities. Masternner was the Guildmaster of the 5th Rank Guild called the "Troopers of Victory". His strategy helped his guild many times in the previous timeline.

    Masternner was said to be a great yer that was always a part of the Dream Team Rankings.

    Dream Team Ranking was not an official Ranking in the game that focused on the levels of a yer.

    It was a ranking that was determined by the yer and other sell reputed establishments that ranked yers based on their usefulness in a battle and their utility. Masternner was in the top twenty of Dream Team.

    Ryder smiled as he nced at Masternner.

    He was wearing the robe that was gifted to him by the High Dukes, so he didn¡¯t have to worry about attacks from low-level yers like them.

    "Transform!" Ryder muttered as he changed the n.

    He transformed his Sword into a bow.

    "Might as well kill the leader of the annoying bugs first," Ryder let out as he smiled while looking at Masternner.

    He raised his bow and aimed it towards Masternner. Ryder pulled the string of the bow.

    "He¡¯s pointing an empty Bow without any arrows? Has he lost his mind?" One of the yers said as he startedughing.

    Ryder released the string of the bow.

    A bright arrow that seemed to be made from the blue light of energy left the sword and flew towards Masternner.

    "... Guard the eternal shine of the lord!"

    The mages also finished casting arge scale defensive spell at that time, which shrouded everyone inside what seemed like a big bubble.

    The arrow hit the barrier. The barrier shattered like a ss as the arrow passed through and hit Masternner.

    Masternner¡¯s HP instantly dropped to zero because of the level difference and the huge attack power of Ryder.

    Masternner watched Ryder as he disappeared.

    [Killed a yer outside the Safe Zone: No penalties received]

    "Alright. Time for ughter and chaos," Ryder let out as he grinned.

    He started running away towards the thousands of yers.

    The barrier was already broken, so most of the mages were trying to cast another barrier. The rest of the mages were attacking Ryder. Arrows were also flying towards Ryder, which was getting blocked by the barrier spell that Ryder had received inside the dungeon after killing the monsters.

    "Let me show you something too," Ryder let out as he changed the Moon Bow to Moon Sword as he kept running.

    In the middle of the running, he slid ahead as he rotated his body by aplete 360 while holding his sword with both his hands.

    "Enraged sh!" Ryder thundered as he swung his sword. A powerful arc of light left his sword, which advanced towards the yers ahead as it kept getting bigger.

    The bright arc of light hit over fifty yers, instantly dropping their HP to zero as they all died.

    [Killed a yer outside the Safe Zone: No penalties received]

    [Killed a yer outside the Safe Zone: No penalties received]

    [Killed a yer outside the Safe Zone: No penalties received]

    ...

    [Killed a yer outside the Safe Zone: No penalties received]

    Many notifications shed on the side that notified Ryder.

    Amongst the yers that had died, most of them were Warriors and Mages that were standing in the lead. A few hunters had died as well in the attack, but most of the hunters were still alive. The Priests were mostly safe too. The Thieves had also survived the attack with the help of their speed.

    "We need tond an attack on him, at least! If everyone stands before him, then we¡¯ll all die! Surround him!" One of the thieves said as he moved towards Ryder¡¯s back. The other thieves also followed suit as they surrounded Ryder and got themselves ready to attack.

    All of them attacked Ryder from different directions.

    "It was your foolishness to think that I won¡¯t have a ranged attack," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He raised his hand towards the sky.

    "Sandstorm!" Ryder cast another one of his powerful spells. It was the same spell that he had used inside the Dungeon to take care of multiple monsters with ease.

    A sandstorm erupted in the field with Ryder at its center. It kept getting bigger as it shrouded everyone.

    "H-how! How can he use a spell? Isn¡¯t he a warrior?!" One of the yers screamed in disbelief as he was getting attacked by the sandstorm, which kept decreasing his HP like a rock dropping in the ocean.

    Soon, the HP of yers hit zero, and they died.

    The sandstorm disappeared, leaving an empty field with no yers in sight.

    [Killed a yer outside the Safe Zone: No penalties received]

    [Killed a yer outside the Safe Zone: No penalties received]

    ...

    [Killed a yer outside the Safe Zone: No penalties received]

    [Level up]

    Again, a barrage of notifications arrived. He had also gained a level after all these fights. Even though the yers he fought were low-level yers that weren¡¯t even level 30+, he still gained a level just from the sheer number of the yers he fought.

    Ryder looked at the ground and noticed many items that were dropped by the yers that he had killed, but all of these were random things that were useless for a high-level person like him. His inventory didn¡¯t have enough storage to keep all of these items, either. He left the items behind for whoever could find it and started walking away.

    After some more time, Ryder reached the ce where he had told Rale to bring the Princess of Tiara Kingdom.

    He sat under the shade of the tree and started waiting for Rale toe with the Princess.

    Half an hour after Ryder left the hotel Room, Rale left the room as well. He covered his face with a mask and changed his clothes to more darker ones as he flew through the city like lightning.

    His speed was so fast that no one was able to see him pass through them.

    Rale entered the Royal Pce without any trouble. No one noticed him.

    He found out that the Princess was in the Throne Room with the King and Ryuk.

    He knew that he could enter the throne room and kidnap her before the eyes of the long, but he didn¡¯t do it. Ryder had told him that he didn¡¯t need to use strength. It was going to be troublesome if he used his strength to fight the king and used a fraction of that strength to fight Ryder. The Princess would easily know that Rale wasn¡¯t using his full strength against Ryder if he beat the king here. He was to act like a kidnapper that wanted to kidnap the princess without getting caught by the King.

    After some more time, the Princess came out of the throne room with Ryuk and closed the door behind her.

    ¡¯Time to take her,¡¯ Rale though as he looked at the Princess. He moved towards her.

 Chapter 226 The Hero

    <h4>Chapter 226: The Hero</h4>

    Rale appeared before the Princess of the Tiara Kingdom right before everyone¡¯s eyes, but instead of holding onto her, he caught Ryuk¡¯s hand and threw Ryuk away.

    Even though Rale threw Ryuk using a meager amount of power, only to get him off his trail as he took the princess, it worked against his expectation. Even though he didn¡¯t even use 1 percent of his power, his strength was still enough to destroy Ryuk, who was a low-level yer.

    Ryuk smashed on the wall of the pce. The wall was broken as Ryuk flew out. He kept smashing into wall after wall as his HP kept falling like it was in a hurry to reach zero.

    Ryuk¡¯s HP reached Zero as he disappeared. He was logged out of the game.

    Ryuk woke up in the real world, still wondering what had just happened. He still couldn¡¯t understand how and what happened. All he knew was that a person appeared out of nowhere and threw him.

    " Who was he? The king¡¯s person? No, the king talked to me so nicely, his men wouldn¡¯t attack me like that. Who was it then? An enemy of the King?" Ryuk wondered.

    Rale realized that he had miscalcted, but he had no choice but to go forward with the n. There was nothing that could do about what had already happened. All he could do was follow the n.

    He picked the princess up in his arms and ran outside the pce like the wind. The Princess wanted to scream, but Rale closed her mouth using his hands.

    The guards that were there saw Rale leaving, but Rale was so fast that they lost his trail in less than a second.

    Rale moved through the city like a shadow. He was told that he couldn¡¯t fly, so he could only run on the ground, and his high speed helped him leave without attracting attention.

    Rale left the Royal City of Windsor.

    Ryder was sitting before the forest, waiting for Rale to appear when he got a notification.

    [Your subordinate had kidnapped a Royal Person]

    [Charm: -10]

    "It¡¯s just charm. It¡¯s no big deal. At Least it didn¡¯t increase my hostility with the people of the Tiara Kingdom. I¡¯m sure my hostility would increase of I was near Rale when he kidnapped the Princess," Ryder muttered.

    "At least I know that Rale has kidnapped the Princess now. He should be here soon," Ryder let out as he stood up.

    As Rale left the Royal City, he released the mouth of the Princess.

    "You! Who are you! Where are you taking me!" the Princess asked Rale with a scared look on her face.

    "I¡¯m kidnapping you so that I can ask for money from your father for your freedom!" Rale let out in a solemn tone. He tried to change his voice as he talked, which made his voice different from his real voice.

    "If he doesn¡¯t pay me what I ask for, I¡¯ll kill you!" He added.

    " Take me back! I promise that you¡¯ll get whatever you want! I¡¯ll tell father to give you what you want," The Princess told Rale, but Rale refused to budge from his position.

    "I¡¯m not freeing you. You can scream all you want. We are outside your city. No one will find you here," Rale said.

    "Who is he?" Rale suddenly eximed in a shocked tone as if he saw something strange. He stopped in his footsteps.

    The Princess wondered what made the kidnapper stop. She looked in the direction where Rale was looking at and saw a young man standing there with a sword in his hand.

    "That girl in your arms. She looks scared. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s willing toe with you," Ryder said as he red at Rale.

    "Girl, are you in trouble? Tell me if you are," Ryder asked the Princess.

    [Gained the title: Pretentious Bastard]

    ¡¯You are a bastard! Your whole family is a bastard! Stop giving me these useless titles, Maya!¡¯ Ryder cursed in his mind, but he maintained his heroic expressions on his face.

    "Brave Warrior, You are right! This person has kidnapped me! I¡¯m the Princes..." The Princess was replying, but Rale closed her mouth again.

    "She¡¯s my little sister. She ran away from home. I¡¯m taking her back," Rale exined.

    "You think I¡¯m stupid?! I heard her words! You are an evil being that is an abomination in this world! How dare youmit such crimes like kidnapping the innocent?!" Ryder let out as he pointed his sword towards Rale. "Release the girl."

    "I was expecting to end it peacefully and leave with the girl, but who knew you¡¯d be so clever. You found out that I kidnapped her. I can only end you now," Rale dered as he put the girl down on the ground.

    "If you move, I¡¯ll kill you!" He warned the Princess.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll defeat him and free you from his grasp," Ryderforted the girl.

    "For that, you need to be alive!" Rale let out as he brought his sword out.

    Rale started running towards Ryder.

    Ryder also ran towards Rale with his Moon Sword.

    They met in the middle as their sword shed.

    It looked like a fierce sh, but it ended up with Ryder flying back like a stone as he crashed on a tree.

    The Tree broke apart as Ryder continued flying back and ultimatelynded on the ground.

    Blood started flowing out of his lips as Ryder stood up.

    "Brave Warrior, Are you fine?!" The Princess let out loud in concern. She wanted to run to Ryder to help him, but she didn¡¯t move as Rale was standing before her.

    ¡¯Damn, even though we nned this and I knew this was going to happen, I still lost half my HP just from this acting,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at his HP bar. He drank a potion to heal his HP. His HP recovered entirely with the potion.

    "You are strong," Ryderplimented Rale as he frowned.

    "You can never beat me. I¡¯m giving you another chance. Run away and let me leave with the girl," Rale told Ryder as he pointed his sword towards Ryder.

    "I can never do that. I¡¯d rather die fighting the enemy than to run away in the face of injustice! I¡¯ll save the girl even if it cost me my life!" Ryder screamed in an emotional voice as he started running towards Rale again.

    Ryder¡¯s sword and Rale¡¯s sword collided, but Ryder simultaneously cast a spell with his left hand while their swords were engaged.

    "Shadow Ball!"

    A ball of darkness appeared in front of Ryder¡¯s left hand, which he shot towards Rale¡¯s hand.

    Rale moved back to dodge the attack, but he was hit by the shadow ball.

    Rale blew back and crashed on the ground twenty meters away.

    "Aaaaa! You can use shadow attacks! Those are my weaknesses! Damn you! How can I be so lucky to meet a Magic Warrior that can use the spells that are my weakness!" Rale let out in a horrified tone as he stood up.

    "I can¡¯t beat you with that shadow spell! I just had to be unlucky to meet you! Fine! You win! I¡¯m leaving, but I¡¯ll return and kill you for spoiling my ns!" Rale said before he started running away and left.

    ¡¯ This acting wouldn¡¯t win us any Oscars, but it should be enough for this world,¡¯ Ryder thought as he saw Rale running away.

    Ryder looked towards the Princess.

    "You are safe now," He said to the Princess as he started walking towards her, but he dropped to the ground.

    The Princess saw Ryder fall to the ground. She started running towards him with a concerned look on her face.

    She held Ryder and made her head rest on herp.

    "A-are you fine?" She asked Ryder.

    "I¡¯m fine. I just used too much of my strength to scare that bastard. We¡¯re lucky that he ran away; otherwise, both of us would be dead," Ryder let out as he sighed.

    " Y-you risked your life for me. You put yourself in danger to save a stranger. I don¡¯t know how I can thank you enough," The Princess said as tears appeared in her eyes.

    "It was my duty as a human to save another Human. Also, I was even more motivated when the other human was so pretty," Ryder said as he looked in her eyes.

    The Princess¡¯s face turned red as she heard his words.

    " Can I rest like this for a few more minutes? Just until I recover?" Ryder asked the Princess as he changed the topic.

    "Hmm," The Princess nodded her head as she smiled.

    ¡¯It seriously feels good resting in a girl¡¯sp. I should try this in the real world too someday,¡¯ Ryder thought as he closed his eyes.

    After a few more minutes, Ryder opened his eyes.

    "I¡¯m fine now," Ryder let out as he sat up.

    " I¡¯m name is Hades. I¡¯m a Magic Knight and the top adventurer. May I ask the name of the Pretty Lady before me?" Ryder inquired.

 Chapter 227 With the Princess

    <h4>Chapter 227: With the Princess</h4>

    The Princess¡¯s face again turned red as she looked down.

    "I¡¯m Aslina Windsor," The Princess replied.

    "Aslina Windsor? Are you from the Royal Windsor Family?" Ryder inquired as if he was genuinely surprised.

    "Yes. I¡¯m the Princess of the Tiara Kingdom," The Princess replied as she smiled.

    "I heard that the Princess of the Tiara Kingdom was as pretty as a flower, but after meeting you, I must say that they were all lies," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    The Princess lowered her head as her sadness covered her face.

    " All those rumors were lies. In fact, you¡¯re even prettier. You¡¯re as pretty as the moon on the beautiful shiny nights," Ryder said as he looked in the eyes of the Princess.

    The Princess looked in Ryder¡¯s eyes. Their gazes were locked as none of them took their eyes off. The Princess felt her heart beating faster than she ever experienced.

    Ryder brought his face closer to her face. Slowly, their lips came closer. The Princess knew what was happening as her face turned even redder, but she didn¡¯t move back.

    Ultimately, both their lips met as they closed their eyes.

    Ryder ced his hand around the back of Aslina¡¯s head as he kissed her deeply.

    Aslina also wrapped her arms around Ryder¡¯s back as she responded to her first kiss.

    After a short kiss, they separated their lips.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I couldn¡¯t control myself," Ryder told Aslina as he apologized.

    "I-it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sorry too," Aslina replied as she lowered her gaze.

    "Let¡¯s leave this ce. That guy mighte back," Ryder said as he stood up.

    Aslina also stood up. Ryder took his first step, but he pretended to be weak as he acted like he was about to fall down. He wrapped his arms around Aslina¡¯s shoulders as he controlled himself.

    "Sorry. I guess my legs are still somewhat weak from the battle. You should go and leave me behind," Ryder told Aslina in a solemn tone. "It would be bad if he returned."

    "No! You didn¡¯t leave me behind. I¡¯m not leaving you either," Aslina said as she ced her hand on Ryder¡¯s shoulders.

    She supported him as she started walking. Ryder kept his hands around her shoulders as he started walking with her.

    " Princess Aslina..." Ryder muttered as if he was hesitant about something.

    "You can call me Aslina," Aslina said as she looked at Ryder¡¯s face with a smile on her face.

    "I like you," Ryder confessed in the open.

    "T-this..." Aslina didn¡¯t know how to react as her mouth opened wide.

    "I fell for you the moment you helped me. I know that I shouldn¡¯t feel this way because you¡¯re a Princess, and you would never be with a guy like me, but I couldn¡¯t keep this feeling in my heart. I just had to get it out," Ryder said in a low voice.

    " Don¡¯t worry about replying. Your hesitation already answered me. Forget I said something," Ryder sighed as he shook his head.

    Aslina felt her heart ache as she saw the depressed look on Ryder¡¯s face.

    "T-that¡¯s not it. I like you too," Aslina insisted.

    [Princess Aslina has proposed to you]

    [Your favorability with the Tiara Kingdom is increased by five hundred percent]

    [All adverse effects are removed]

    "You do?" Ryder let out excitedly as he raised his head and looked at Aslina while ignoring the notification.

    "I do," Aslina said as she nodded her head repeatedly.

    Ryder hugged Aslina firmly as he whispered in her ears, "I¡¯m so happy."

    [Mission Completed: Made the Princess of Tiara Kingdom fall in love]

    [Rewards are given]

    ¡¯ This is good. The mission ispleted, and I got an Ally in the Tiara Kingdom,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled.

    " When we get back, I¡¯ll tell father how you saved me. He¡¯ll be so happy to meet you and know that I have selected you to be my husband," Aslina let out as she smiled innocently.

    Ryder nodded his head.

    He knew that even if she said that, there was no way he was going to be married in Divinity. Even in thest timeline, when Aslina was in love with Ryuk, they didn¡¯t marry. The Date of Marriage selected by the Kingdom Priests was said to be five years after they met. He had plenty of time to think things through.

    Ryder and Alice left the ce together and went back to the Royal City.

    Ryder had started walking without the support as he got near the Royal City.

    " Princess, you¡¯re back!" The Guards saw the Princess and grew excited. They were all concerned and worried since the Princess was kidnapped from the Royal Pce and they couldn¡¯t find him.

    "I¡¯m back. This Hero saved me and brought me back," Aslina said as she held Ryder¡¯s hand with a bright smile on her face.

    "I¡¯m going to meet father," She let out as she started walking towards the Royal Pce.

    Aslina and Ryder entered the Royal Pce.

    Aslina introduced Ryder to the King and exined everything that happened after she was kidnapped. She also said about how bravely Ryder fought the kidnapper to save her life.

    "Amazing. Thank you, brave hero, for saving my daughter," The King thanked Ryder wholeheartedly.

    "Please don¡¯t embarrass me by thanking me, Your Majesty," Ryder replied with a smile.

    "Father, there is one more thing that I need to tell you," Aslina said as she lowered her head.

    " What thing? You know you can tell us everything," The King let out as he looked at Aslina.

    "I love him," Aslina dered as she held Ryder¡¯s hand in front of her Father.

    "You do? Why are you so worried about that, though? You know that your marriage has always been my dream. I left the decision of your marriage in your hands, though, including the selection of the guy. If you have already selected a guy, what could be better than that," The Kingughed wholeheartedly.

    "It¡¯s even better that you found such a brave man who could keep you safe. I like your choice, little girl," the King said.

    "Thank you, father," The Princess let out as she ran towards her father and hugged him tightly.

    " Son-inw, why are you standing there? Come," The King said to Ryder.

    Ryder smiled innocently as he stepped forward and stood closer to the king.

    The King held his hand.

    "My little girl has given her heart to you. Please never break her heart. She¡¯s the most precious person to me in this whole world. Keep her happy," The King said to Ryder as he looked in his eyes.

    "I¡¯ll keep her happy," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "Good!" The Kingughed happily. He looked towards the Eunuch, who was standing in the back, "Eunuch! Tell the servants to bring some good wine. I¡¯ll drink with my son-inw today."

    The Eunuch left the Royal Hall and came back with the servants and the wines.

    Ryder drank the wine with the King to keep him happy.

    " I¡¯ll talk to the Royal Priests about the date of the marriage. We¡¯ll get you guys married on that day," The King told Ryder.

    Ryder nodded his head.

    "I appreciate it, Your Majesty," Ryder replied.

    After the meeting and the drinking ceremony, the King told Aslina to show Ryder around the Pce and to keep himpany.

    Ryder and Aslina left the Royal hall.

    "That went well," Aslina smiled as she held Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "Yeah, that went really well," Ryder replied.

    Aslina showed Ryder around the Pce, but in between the trip, Ryder informed her that he needed to leave for some time.

    He told her that he would be back in a few weeks since he was in the middle of an important mission when he met Aslina.

    "Can¡¯t you leave that mission? Stay in the Pce with us," Aslina told Ryder with an emotional look on her face.

    "I¡¯ll be gone for a short time only. I¡¯ll be back before you even know it," Ryder told Aslina as he ced his hands on her cheeks.

    "Promise?" Aslina asked Ryder as she looked in his eyes.

    "I promise I¡¯ll be back. After I¡¯m done with what I need to do, I¡¯ll even establish my guild here so that I won¡¯t ever need to leave the Tiara Kingdom and your side," Ryder told Aslina.

    "Alright," Aslina nodded her head though she still looked sad.

    "That¡¯s like my good girl," Ryder said as he gave a peck on her lips.

    "I wanted to tell your father about it, but he looked so happy. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to tell him that I need to leave for a short time. Can you tell him that when you get time?" Ryder asked Aslina.

    "I will," Aslina nodded her head. She hugged Ryder, "You can focus on your work without worrying about anything."

    Ryder bid his farewell and left the Royal Pce.

    He stepped out of the Royal Kingdom and went back to the forest.

    As he got to the forest, he saw Rale standing there. Rale had removed the mask, and he had changed his clothes back to his normal clothing.

 Chapter 228 Death Domain on the Move?

    <h4>Chapter 228: Death Domain on the Move?</h4>

    "How did it go?" Rale asked Ryder as he appeared beside him.

    Ryder looked at Rale and smiled.

    "It went perfect," he said.

    "Incredible. Your Highness did great. Now we can put your n of conquering the whole world ahead," Rale replied as he nodded his head in praise.

    ¡¯ n to conquer the world? Well, I guess he¡¯s right in a way. To get to the top of Divinity, I need to conquer the whole world of Divinity and be the strongest yer,¡¯ Ryder thought as he agreed to Rale¡¯s statement even though he knew that Rale was talking about a different thing altogether.

    "No, You were the one who did great. Your performance was amazing. I¡¯m d that everything went ording to the n," Ryder said in acknowledgment as he patted Rale¡¯s shoulders.

    "Where are we going now?" He asked Ryder.

    ¡¯Well, that¡¯s a good question. There are no other dungeons in this Kingdom, and moving to another kingdom just for a dungeon will be a waste of my time. I was only here to hunt and increase my strength. I can do that by hunting. If I¡¯m not wrong, there should be a forest around a nearby city that was known amongst the yers as a good hunting ground because it had some high-level beasts,¡¯ Ryder thought as he went through all the information, he knew about the details in his memories.

    "We¡¯re going east. There is a good hunting ground. I¡¯ll hunt there for half a day and then go back when it¡¯s time to leave," Ryder told Rale as he pointed in a certain direction.

    He told Rale to carry him since he could only fly for a few more minutes today.

    Rale held Ryder¡¯s hand and carried him to the forest Ryder wanted to enter.

    Ryder spent the next twelve hours hunting in the forest, the monsters that were stronger than him.

    [Level Up]

    "That should take me to level 75. It¡¯s enough for the day. It¡¯s time to leave. We need to go back to the Demon Realm too," Ryder muttered as he looked at his stats, which were looking really pleasing to the eye.

    He had Rale carry him to the ce where they hade from.

    Rale and Ryder reached the first vige they hade to when they came to this kingdom. Since the vige was near the forest where the portal was supposed to open, they needed to pass through this ce, but as soon as Ryder got there, a frown covered his face.

    He saw bodies lying all around the viges. Even the old man that had told Ryder the location of the Windsor City was dead. His body was lying in the center of the town.

    Ryder told Rale tond on the ground.

    Rale and Ryder stepped into the vige.

    "What the heck happened here? It hasn¡¯t even been a day since we left," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    He looked around to see if there was anyone alive or not.

    He went through the vige, but he didn¡¯t find anyone here who was living.

    Rale was also looking around while he kept himself close to Ryder to keep him safe.

    "Your Highness, I see some footprints that seem like they belong to the skeletons," Rale suddenly pointed out.

    "Skeletons? There is no dungeon nearby as far as I know. They shouldn¡¯t be here. The only other reason for them to be here could be the existence of a Necromancer, but that ss can¡¯t be unlocked so soon. There is no way it¡¯s a yer who will do it even if they get the strength of a Necromancer," Ryder frowned as he thought about what Rale said.

    "Based on my assumption, it¡¯s either the people of the Undead Region or the people from the Death Domain. The Skeletons of the Undead Region aren¡¯t clever. They wouldn¡¯te here unless someone in a high position in the Undead Region were guiding them. As for the Death Domain, those people can also summon skeletons with ease to finish their tasks," Rale exined.

    " The Undead Region? Could it be that the Vampire King followed us here? No, he is too proud. He wouldn¡¯t bring skeletons to take care of the opponents. That guy is a force to be reckoned with. He can easily destroy this Vige just by moving his fingers. He wouldn¡¯t use these tricks like using a skeleton. And if he was here for us, he probably would¡¯ve caught us by now. He can¡¯t be here. The High Dukes are also with him. He won¡¯t be here," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    "There are many more ns in the Undead Region. Some of those ns have their ways ofing to this world as well. It¡¯s highly possible for them toe here," Rale chimed in with his opinion.

    " I get that, but they shouldn¡¯t have any reason to be here and attack the citizens of this kingdom unless this vige had something they needed. Could it be possible that these guys had a treasure?" Ryder muttered with a suspicious look on his face.

    "Wait a minute. Could it be her?" Ryder let out suddenly as he frowned.

    "Who?" Rale enquired as he saw the serious expression on his face.

    "When I was new in the Demon Realm, and I wasn¡¯t crowned the Prince, I was staying at the Pce of Duke Devilia. I went to her forest to hunt alone, leaving the guards outside."

    Ryder started exining about events that transpired before.

    "I met a young girl there. That girl was able to use the beings of the Undead Region for her battle and to save herself from my attacks. She also had the heritage weapon of the Death Emperor. The Death Emperor was killed by my master during the great war of the Demon Realm, as you can probably remember. It is clear that the girl was from the Death Domain. She tried to kill me, but I defeated her. She escaped in the end," Ryder exined.

    "Anyway, she seemed like she was looking for something when she met me, and our battle began. If she can enter the Demon Realm to find something, I¡¯m sure their people can enter the Human Realm for treasures too. Those people can definitely be behind this ughter," Ryder let out as he frowned.

    "You were attacked? Why didn¡¯t you tell me?" Rale let out in concern.

    "It was only once, and I waspletely fine. I had forgotten about it after I became the Crown Prince since other matters took my attention. Anyway, as I said, I waspletely fine, and there is no way the Death Domain could harm me. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t tell you guys. Now it is a serious matter, though. If it was actually them, then it means that they are starting to get active and restless for something. Something big might be on the horizon," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    " I am over fifty percent sure that it¡¯s the work of people from the Death Domain. We can¡¯t find any of them here. I can¡¯t even sense their aura. They must have left already," Rale said.

    "Yeah, they probably came here for something. They got what they wanted. They killed everyone after that and left," Ryder agreed to Rale¡¯s opinion.

    "Let¡¯s leave. There is nothing we can do since they already left," Ryder let out as he started walking towards the forest.

    He and Rale reached the ce where they appeared when they left the portal.

    "There is no one around, is there?" Ryder inquired as he looked at Rale. He didn¡¯t want to use the portal when someone was nearby.

    "There is no one here. I don¡¯t feel anyone in the surroundings," Rale replied with full confidence.

    Ryder nodded as he brought out the key to the portal and raised it in the sky.

    The spatial portal opened before them.

    Ryder and Rale entered the portal and left the world. They appeared in the Demon Realm again.

    Ryder closed the portal and locked it again as he kept the keys back. He left the underground and went to the ground floor.

    Rale escorted Ryder to his bedroom.

    "It will be morning in a few hours. We will leave with High Duke Mna. Rest for some time," Ryder told Rale as he walked inside his bedroom.

    Ryder closed the door and went to the bed. Heid on the bed and logged out. Since he had a few hours of free time, he decided to spend it in the real world and to have something to eat in the meantime.

    Ryder woke up in the real world and removed the Divinity sses. It was evening at the moment. The dinner time was going to be in an hour.

    Ryder got off the bed, and we went for a shower.

    He read a few news headlines aftering out of the shower to keep him updated on what was happening in the world

 Chapter 229 The Idol

    <h4>Chapter 229: The Idol</h4>

    "Drug syndicate busted near the border? That line of work does have a lot of money involved. It¡¯s no wonder that even after all these years, there¡¯s no control over the illegal drugs that are harmful for people. It does nothing good in the bigger scene. It doesn¡¯t look like this problem will ever be solvedpletely. Only small victories are possible," Ryder let out as he sighed. His mood was down after reading the news.

    He hated the people that were involved in drugs, especially the ones that spread it all around the country since he saw many lives being destroyed because of drugs. This hate was born with experience and what he saw in the world.

    In school, Ryder had a friend whose father was a middle-ss worker. That mad somehow found his way to the drugs and got addicted. Ryder saw how his friend was affected because of that. Ultimately, his friend was forced to drop out of the school. He didn¡¯t know where that guy was now.

    Ryder swiped down to read another news article on the sight.

    "India?" Ryder muttered as he saw something new in the article that was rted to the person he killedst.

    " CEO and the Majority Shareholder of Stanner construction, Pasher Stan, go missing right before the multimillion-dor investment in India," Ryder read the headline.

    "Of Course, he would go missing. He¡¯s in the world of the dead now. There is no way he can appear again," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "I¡¯m curious, though. What was it he was investing in? I remember he sounded really eager to stay back and finish the deal when I made Jameson call him here. The deal must be really important," Ryder let out with a thoughtful look on his face.

    He went through the article to read the details. The article mostly talked about how Pasher was missing after entering the United States, but in the end, it mentioned about the deal hispany was working on.

    " He was trying to buy the rights of Riali Mines? I think I heard that name before," Ryder muttered as he fell in deep thought. He tried to go through his memories to remember where he heard of this name before, but he couldn¡¯t remember it. It was probably something he heard in passing, and he didn¡¯t consider it important at that time.

    Ryder put this name to the back of his mind and started reading the next news.

    "Diamond price increased again. I should probably buy a few diamonds as an investment."

    " The Tension between the European Union and the Russian Federation is on the rise again after Russia shot down a ne of an EU country? I hope this problem will be solved. I don¡¯t want world war 4. The third one was already bad enough," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "Fortunately, World War three was over in a month as the peace treaty was signed between the countries. The fourth one will be more challenging if the bigger yers start it. Can¡¯t these guys live in peace? Why do they wage war all around?" Ryder let out in an annoyed tone as he read the news, which spoiled his mood.

    He put the phone down as he stood up and went to the dining room.

    "Alice? Is the dinner ready?" He asked as he entered the dining room.

    "Huh, do you have a Seventh sense or something when ites to food? You¡¯re always on time," Aliceughed as she picked up the tes and ced them before Ryder.

    "My body has adjusted to your timing since you¡¯re always so punctual on dinner," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    He started eating dinner.

    "So, how was your day? Did something happen?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "My day was good. Nothing big has happened since I stayed at home all day. How was your day?" Ryder inquired.

    "My day was great. It was pretty fun," Alice let out as she smiled excitedly.

    "You sound excited. What happened?" Ryder asked with an interested look on his face.

    Alice never looked as excited when talking about sses as she was today, which intrigued Ryder. He knew that something of great significance must have happened.

    ¡¯ Could it be that she got some schrship for her higher studies?¡¯ Ryder wondered.

    "You know my favorite singer?" Alice asked Ryder with a big grin on her face.

    "I think I know. That Korean Idol Aera if I¡¯m not wrong. You keep listening to K-Pop, and you talked a lot about that girl," Ryder replied.

    "Yeah! She¡¯s the greatest singer. Her voice is so amazing. Herst two albums topped the charts as well, and she¡¯s only 19 years old," Alice excitedly exined to Ryder.

    "Yeah, I get it. She¡¯s good and talented. So what? Did you manage to buy her autograph online or something?" Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    " No! She just joined our University! She¡¯s in my ss!" Alice told Ryder with a big smile on her face.

    "Aera joined your University? Why would shee here to study? Korea has many great universities. Even in America, she has enough wealth to study in the new capital. Why would shee to this small ce? I agree that the University of Dreamers is a high ranking University in the world. Still, it¡¯s not on the same level as the top university of America or even Korea for that matter," Ryder let out in confusion.

    "I don¡¯t know the reason. I only heard the announcement from our teacher. She has registered for the sses, and she will soone to the University, and I will be able to meet him," Alice said smilingly.

    Ryder smiled as he shook her head.

    "So that¡¯s what it was. I guess it¡¯s good for you. You can make a friend with her and get her autograph for free," Ryder chuckled as he joked around.

    "Yeah, maybe I can bring her home too. Would you like to meet her?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "Nah, keep me out of this. I¡¯m not into music like that. I don¡¯t even recognize her other than what you told me. Keep her to yourself," Ryder replied as he finished the dinner.

    "Thanks for the food. It was amazing," Ryder praised Alice before he stood up and went back to his room.

    Ryder did some exercise and stretching in his room before heid on the bed.

    Heid on the bed and wore the Divinity sses as he got ready to enter the world of Divinity.

    "Take me to the world of Divinity," Ryder muttered as he activated the world of Divinity.

    He woke up in the Royal room in the world of Divinity.

    Ryder got off the bed and walked towards the wardrobe as he wore the new clothes of the Prince for his journey to the ces of Dukes.

    He also wore his crown and other artifacts that were given to him by the Dukes.

    He also changed the form of his Moon Scythe into a knife, which was small enough to carry easily and left the room.

    The Vampire King has spent all his time trying to find his General, but even after searching all around the Demon Realm, the Vampire King wasn¡¯t able to find anything rted to Vampire General Viden. He searched the Royal City of the Demon Realm using his Special senses, and he searched the other cities, but he didn¡¯t find anything suspicious.

    The Fourth High Duke followed the Vampire King like a shadow. He didn¡¯t leave the Vampire King alone for even a second and didn¡¯t let his attention wander off.

    "I told you. You aren¡¯t going to find anything here. Our new Prince is not free enough to enter thend of the dead," The Fourth High Duke smiled as he shook his head

    "If he had any bad intentions or if he was guilty, he wouldn¡¯t even allow you the free ess into the Demon Realm. Don¡¯t be stupid. It¡¯s clear that the Death Domain was trying to use you against us to harm us," The Fourth High Duke added.

    "That¡¯s for me to decide," The Vampire King let out in a grim tone.

    Ryder left the Royal Pce with Rale, Miku, and the other Royal Guards.

    Ryder traveled using the Royal Flying Beast that was used to carry the Royals. It had a small throne on top of it where Ryder could sitfortably.

    Rale and the others followed Ryder¡¯s beast and kept it surrounded while keeping their safe distance to protect Ryder.

    They could have taken the Royal Carriage, but Ryder preferred the flying since it was faster, and he wanted to finish this faster so that he could rx and go to the quest with Shu.

    Ryder and his entourage reached the first destination, which was the duchy of Duke Devilia. It was the first ce Ryder had stayed in when he was sucked into the Demon Realm for the first time.

 Chapter 230 Death Domain Spy

    <h4>Chapter 230: Death Domain Spy</h4>

    Ryder and his team reached the duchy of Duke Devilia. The Royal Bird flew in all its glory, surrounded by all the Royal Guards.

    High Duke Mna was flying right above Ryder, but she didn¡¯te on any flying monster. She flew on her own and maintained the speed just fast enough to fly in the same ce as Ryder.

    The citizens of the duchy saw the beautiful flying monsters flying in the sky in a group.

    "Isn¡¯t that the Royal Beast?"

    "You¡¯re right! The one behind that is the Royal Guardian Beast, which belongs to master Rale!"

    " It means that it¡¯s His Highness! He¡¯s here!"

    " I heard the announcement just yesterday that he¡¯ll be visiting this ce in the near future! I never knew it would be so soon. I can¡¯t wait to see him!

    A lot of the citizens were amazed as they recognized the Royal Beast that only the Royal Prince was allowed to travel on.

    Most of the citizens started chanting, "Long Live the Prince!"

    Ryder looked down and couldn¡¯t help but smile at all the love.

    ¡¯ Even though it¡¯s not real, it does feel amazing,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled. ¡¯The Kings of old times definitely had a good life," Ryder chuckled as he smiled.

    [You have gained a new title: The Beloved Prince]

    "Finally, you have me a normal-sounding title," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face as he watched the notification about him gaining a title.

    He tapped on the notification to understand what it actually gave him.

    [ Title: The Beloved Prince]

    [ Description: Only a prince beloved by the citizens can get the blessing of the Kingdom. Whenever the Prince fights any battle inside his Kingdom, all stats are doubled for the fight]

    [Warning: The effects only apply to the Kingdom of the Prince. The effects won¡¯t be there if outside the vicinity of the Kingdom]

    ¡¯Now, this is a good title. I can switch with this when I need to fight and switch back to the Sessor of Salem after that. After I get level hundred, I¡¯ll be able to equip two titles at once. I can keep both of them activated at the same time then,¡¯ Ryder thought as he closed the screen.

    "That¡¯s the pce. We¡¯re already there," He muttered as he nodded his head.

    The Royal Flying Beastnded before the entrance of the Royal Pce. All the other peoplended as well.

    High Duke Mna stood on Ryder¡¯s left, a single step back. Ryder stood on the Right side of Ryder, two steps back. The other Royal Guards stood behind them.

    "Your Highness," The Guard Chief of Devilia¡¯s Pce came to greet him since he was already standing outside.

    "Hey, it¡¯s you. Good to meet you again," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    He remembered the Guard Chief since that man was the one who escorted him to the hunting ce when Ryder was living in this Pce with Devilia.

    "I¡¯m great, Your Highness. Pleasee inside," The Guard Chief replied as he invited them inside.

    "Silence! What kind of reception is this?! The Prince of this Kingdom is standing outside the Pce of the Duke, and the Duke didn¡¯t evene out?! Where is Devilia? Call her out right now! Did she forget how to handle things like this?!" High Duke Mna thundered as she red at the Guard Chief.

    She seemed genuinely angry. Her aura was so fierce that it forced all the guards of the Duke¡¯s pce to their knees, including the Guard Chief.

    She was careful not to let her aura get near Ryder, though. She didn¡¯t want to harm the Prince too identally. She knew that Ryder wasn¡¯t as strong as them now. If he were forced to his knees identally, it would be the biggest sphemy towards the throne, and she would be killed for treason and disrespect towards the throne. She was pretty experienced in this and knew how to control her aura, so she didn¡¯t have any difficulty.

    The door of the Pce suddenly opened as a beautiful silver-haired woman stepped out of the pce, donned a beautiful green gown.

    " Calm your anger, Senior M. I came out here as soon as I found out of His Highness¡¯ arrival. Please forgive my dy," Devilia told High Duke M in a kind tone.

    "Calm Down, High Duke. It was only a few seconds dy," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly watching High Duke M angry.

    "Hmph," High Duke M retracted her aura.

    The guards felt like they could finally breathe when the mountain like aura wasn¡¯t pushing down on them anymore.

    They all stood up as they wiped the sweat off their face.

    " I¡¯m so d that you¡¯re here, Your Highness. I apologize for my dy. Hope I didn¡¯t waste too much of your time," Devilia greeted Ryder first, and then she greeted High Duke M as well.

    "Pleasee inside," Duke Devilia invited them with a smile on their face.

    Ryder nodded his head as he walked inside the Pce with Devilia and others. Devilia escorted them towards the Great Hall.

    "Have you arranged everything for my speech?" Ryder inquired as he nced at Devilia.

    "Yes. I had everyone informed about your arrival and about other things that you asked. I¡¯ll make another announcement saying that you have arrived. Tomorrow, we can do that," Devilia replied as she kept walking ahead.

    Along the way, she saw a servant. She stopped that servant and told her something in a low voice to make sure that others didn¡¯t hear her.

    Ryder wondered what she talked about, but he knew that he couldn¡¯t ask. It wouldn¡¯t be normal to ask about private matters of a Duke as a prince. He could¡¯ve asked her if High Duke M wasn¡¯t here, but before her, he needed to act like a people aloof Prince.

    Devilia took them inside the Great Hall of the Pce, where she had arranged for seats for everyone.

    Ryder walked forth and sat on the main throne.

    High Duke M sat on the throne beside him, but there was a problem. There were two people that needed to sit, Rale and Devilia, but there was only one seat avable.

    Rale felt strange, but he didn¡¯t say anything as he walked behind Ryder and simply stood.

    Ryder also looked at Devilia with a frown, wondering what she was doing. Why was there no seat for Rale.

    "I apologize, Master Rale. Please take that seat before you. I¡¯ll be the one standing. It¡¯s my fault that I arranged for fewer seats. I didn¡¯t know about the arrival of the High Duke with you. I would¡¯ve arranged an extra seat then," Devilia replied as she smiled wryly.

    "Ah, right. I told you about the arrival of my team only. High Duke M was added in thest moment, I forgot to update you about it," Ryder reacted as he remembered his fault.

    "Sigh, Devilia. Why are you acting like a child? There¡¯s a simple solution. Just bring more chairs. What has happened to you today?" High Duke M let out as she sighed. "You are generally so confident."

    " Ah, I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s because my father will being to the Pce today to meet His Highness. I¡¯m just a little..." Devilia sighed as she shook her head. "Anyway, I told the servant to bring more seats."

    ¡¯Ah, so that¡¯s what she was telling the servants in such a low voice,¡¯ Ryder thought as he got the answer to his previous question.

    "Oh? Your old man is back from his trip? I get it; it¡¯s the time for a switch. It would be interesting to talk to him," High Duke M nodded her head.

    She looked at Ryder, who looked confused about the person they were talking about.

    "You don¡¯t know her father. Her father is our spy in the Death Domain. He¡¯sing back, and another spy will handle the things there now," High Duke M told Ryder.

    "A spy in the Death Domain? Isn¡¯t that dangerous for your father?" Ryder inquired.

    "My father is the master of the art of spying. That old man doesn¡¯t worry about anything," Devilia answered Ryder.

    " I guess you chose the right ce to start the journey. Instead of waiting for him to get to the Royal pce, we can talk to him here and get the information faster," High Duke M said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯m pretty interested in the news of the Death Domain. My spies tell me that they have been pretty active in the human realm too. They ughtered a human vige some time ago," Ryder chimed in as he remembered the thing about the vige in the Tiara Kingdom.

    " Really? If that¡¯s true, then they are getting restless about something to show up in the human realm. They even went to the Undead Region and schemed against us by kidnapping the Vampire King¡¯s subordinate. Those guys are definitely up to something," High Duke M muttered as she frowned

    ¡¯ Right. Let them take the me for the Undead Region. They don¡¯t seem like the good guys either,¡¯ Ryder thought as he kept his mouth closed.

 Chapter 231 Two Factions

    <h4>Chapter 231: Two Factions</h4>

    " Yeah. We need some answers about them, and only your father can answer," Ryder let out as he looked at Devilia. "Why are you worried about your fathering, though? Are you nervous about meeting him after so long?"

    "Hahaha, her father is kind of different. He is a little too doting. I think Devilia finds herself embarrassed whenever she is near someone with her father. You¡¯ll see what I mean when hees," High Duke M chucked as she exined to Ryder.

    "Interesting," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    The servant came inside the Great Hall with another seat. The seat was ced near Rale¡¯s seat.

    Everyone was seated now.

    "Fine, Duke Devilia. Let me start by asking you about your Duchy. What are the problems you face if there are any, and what help do you expect from the crown," Ryder asked in a straightforward manner.

    "There are no major problems that I can¡¯t handle. Everything¡¯s going smoothly, but there is one thing that¡¯s creating trouble for me. You know, one of the Dukes that didn¡¯te to the Birthday Celebration of High Duke Oris controls the neighboring duchy. There is a group of Demons from his area that enters mynd and harasses the citizens. I don¡¯t want to have to take drastic measures to solve the problem, but talking doesn¡¯t work either," Devilia started exining about a problematic matter that she was facing.

    "Duke Floris refuses to do anything about this matter. I¡¯m controlling myself so much. I think one day, when I can¡¯t control myself, I¡¯ll enter his duchy and destroy that n, even if that esctes things," She told Ryder.

    "Oh? You did well. There¡¯s no benefit in escting things without telling the Crown. I¡¯ll handle the matter when I go to hisnd next," Ryder told Devilia as he nodded his head.

    " That would be great," Devilia let out as she smiled.

    " How is the problem of missing demons in your ce?" Ryder inquired.

    "It¡¯s in control. There are some demons thatmit murders, but the guards have been doing great to keep them in check," Devilia responded.

    "That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll talk to the citizens tomorrow. It¡¯s good if they don¡¯t have the problems and the ones they have is the one I know about," Ryder nodded his head.

    "When exactly will your father be here, by the way?" Ryder asked Devilia.

    "He should be here soon. By the evening, I believe," Devilia replied to Ryder.

    Ryder looked in the direction of Miku.

    " Miku, you sent out our schedule to the other Dukes, right? I want to finish all the trips in four days. You have something else to do on the 5th day," Ryder told Miku.

    "Yes, Your Highness. I sent the Royal Guards with the schedule. They will be ready with the citizens so that you can directly talk to the citizens and give your speech without any dy," Miku replied to Ryder.

    "Good. That¡¯s all for today then. Let¡¯s go out to see the Duchy," Ryder let out as he stood up.

    During the next two hours, Ryder and the others roamed through the duchy. The Marquis from various ces of the duchy were here as well to meet Ryder.

    Ryder and the others walked through the marketce of the ce, surrounded by the Royal Guards and the Marquis.

    The citizens greeted Ryder excitedly wherever he passed through as they saw his glory.

    "This is known as a luck crystal. It is said to give a person good luck," Devilia picked a Crystal from the store and showed it to Ryder. They stood close to each other as they looked at the crystal.

    High Duke M was looking at a different Crystal while Rale was keeping an eye on the surroundings.

    "Devilia!" Someone suddenly shouted.

    Ryder looks back to see who dared to call a Duke by her name.

    He saw a man who seemed to be in his early 40s. The man had dark hair, opposite of the shiny silver hair of Devilia.

    While Ryder was wondering who the man was, he saw Devilia step back in fear.

    ¡¯ Someone who can scare Devilia? Is he...?¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    "Hahaha, Come to your sweet daddy, little girl! Why are you standing there?" the manughed out loud.

    ¡¯I was right. He is her father. There is no doubt about that,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled wryly.

    " This guy? You already found a lover? My daughter has grown up to be such a prettydy, and she already found a lover too. Sigh, this man was so busy in his work, he didn¡¯t even know. Don¡¯t worry, baby girl; Father is here now! I¡¯ll arrange everything! I¡¯ll invite everyone! We¡¯ll have the marriage next week," The Man walked up to Devilia as he held her hand with tears in her eyes.

    "F-father, it¡¯s not..."

    While Devilia was trying to exin, the man looked in the direction of the man.

    "Son inw! You¡¯re getting married to my precious daughter. Take care of her always! Also, have some sweet kids. I want a few cute grandkids to show off to other old men," The man let out as he walked closer to Ryder, but before he could get there, Rale moved ahead and stood before Ryder.

    " It¡¯s fine, Rale. He¡¯s her father, I¡¯m safe," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    Rale nodded his head and stepped to the side.

    The middle-aged man stopped walking towards him as his attention was attracted by Rale.

    "It¡¯s you! Howe I didn¡¯t notice you were here. You listened to his orders, so he must be..." the man suddenly linked the pieces together as he recognized the identity of Ryder.

    "Little Girl? You and His Highness are lovers?! I didn¡¯t expect that. I¡¯m happy for you two," The man let out as he smiled happily.

    "Calm down, old man! You still haven¡¯t corrected that habit of yours to be overly emotional before your daughter! He¡¯s not her lover," High Duke M came forward and stood beside Ryder.

    "High Duke M? You¡¯re here as well?" the man let out with a surprised look on his face.

    "Don¡¯t tell me; he¡¯s your lover too? Are you taking the main wife position?" the man eximed with the shocked look on his face.

    " Little girl? Are you really fine with the position of the concubine?" The Man let out as he looked back at Devilia.

    High Duke M can¡¯t help but sigh.

    " Sometimes, I really wonder how you¡¯re one of the seven leaders of our Spy Unit," High Duke M said as she nced at the middle-aged man.

    "Listen, old man, none of us is anyone¡¯s lover. Even if we were, I would definitely be the one taking the main wife position. Anyway, We are here on an official trip. We¡¯ll be going everywhere and meeting all Dukes. So throw that idiotic though out of your hand and stop making a show before the citizens," High Duke M said in a stern tone.

    "We should go back now," High Duke M suggested to Ryder.

    "Yeah, since her father is here, it¡¯s better to go back and listen to his report about what he found out," Ryder nodded his head as he agreed.

    All of them went back to the Pce of High Duke Devilia.

    Ryder and the others were sitting in the great hall, looking at Devilia¡¯s father, Sulovan.

    "So, Master Sulovan. You spent thest many years in the Death Domain. ording to our information, the Death Domain is making some strange movements. They entered even the Human Realm. They wiped out an entire vige. Can you tell us more and what they might be trying to do?" Ryder inquired.

    Devilia¡¯s Father was genuinely surprised as he heard Ryder¡¯s word.

    "I¡¯m surprised. I didn¡¯t expect that the information about that cane here so fast? Do we have a spy in the human realm too now?" Sulovan asked in surprise.

    "That¡¯s for me to know. You tell me what you know. If we have a spy or how we got the information will not change anything. Just tell us what you know," Ryder let out in a tone that wasn¡¯t hostile but didn¡¯t sound extremely friendly either. Ryder was using his Princely Voice and trying to keep his dignity during the first meeting.

    "It¡¯s true. They are moving. They are also restless about the appearance of the Moon Scythe in the Demon Realm," Sulovan replied.

    " What¡¯s there to be so upset about then. They also have the inheritance weapon of the Death Emperor," Ryder replied casually.

    "That¡¯s the problem. The Royalty of the Death Domain doesn¡¯t have the inheritance weapon. The power bnce is shifting. The whole Death Domain is going through an internal turmoil. It has been Split up into two camps. One camp says that the bloodline of the Death Emperor should be the new emperor."

    " The other camo says that the person chosen by the weapon of the Death Emperor is the one who got his real inheritance and the one selected by the Death Emperor to rule."

 Chapter 232 Urgent Mission

    <h4>Chapter 232: Urgent Mission</h4>

    "The other faction supports the girl who got the inheritance weapon. There is tension everywhere. Both sides are trying to gain an advantage, and that¡¯s why they¡¯re getting restless," Sulovan said.

    " I fought the girl with the inheritance. She ran away before I could catch her. I didn¡¯t know she was a potential Emperor of Death Domain. Anyway, which faction was the one that destroyed the Vige in the Human Realm?" Ryder inquired while talking about his interaction with the Death Emperor Sessor.

    "That was the Royal Blood Faction. They were the ones who did it in the human realm," Sulovan exined.

    " Why would they do it? What were they after?" Ryder inquired as he frowned.

    " They were after something important. Something that is capable of shifting the power bnce in their favor while making it difficult for the opposite faction to get in power," Sulovan answered with a grave look on his face.

    "It¡¯s good. A conflict between them can be a good opportunity for us," Ryder let out as he nodded his head.

    "What was that something they were after? Did they get it?" Ryder inquired.

    "They were after something called the Orb of Lightning. It is said to be a small light blue orb that is capable of helping the wielder conjure lightning," Sulovan exined.

    Ryder heard his words and couldn¡¯t help but look in the direction of his hand. He saw the bracelet that had the various characters. Each of those characters represented an element of the universe like fire, water, and others. Ryder had already received three fragments of the bracelet of immortality to activate three characters. He stillcked a lot more, though.

    There were over Twenty Fragments still remaining in this universe.

    ¡¯An orb rted to lightning? Could this be a fragment rted to thunder? That should be an element too,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    The people in the great hall saw Ryder frowning and thought that he was thinking about something serious rted to the Death Domain. No one said anything to disturb his thoughts.

    ¡¯Janus, is thunder an element of this bracelet of immortality?¡¯ Ryder asked Janus.

    After a few seconds, Janus replied.

    [No answer can be given rted to the bracelet of immortality at the moment]

    ¡¯What no answer? It¡¯s a simple question. I already know a lot of things about the bracelet. Just give me another answer,¡¯ Ryder responded as he sighed.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply. Ryder couldn¡¯t help but shake his head as he stopped asking about it. He thought that there must be a reason.

    He also believed his assumption that there was a good chance that he might be able to get another bracelet of immortality fragment if he got the orb of thunder.

    "Did they get the Orb of Thunder?" He asked Sulovan.

    ¡¯ If they did, I might have to take a trip to thend of Death. I do need to go there to finish my Kingship Trial as well. I can do two things at once,¡¯ Ryder thought as he put the pieces together

    "They didn¡¯t manage to take it from what I heard. They went to a vige in the human realm because they had heard that it was in the vige at the ce. They also managed to find the vige it was said to be in, but ording to my sources, they didn¡¯t find the thunder orb in that vige. The vige elder had already given that thunder orb to someone. The whole vige was wiped in anger," Sulovan replied as he sighed.

    "They didn¡¯t keep anyone alive to find that person that has the thunder orb? I don¡¯t believe they¡¯ll drop the search just because another person took the orb. They must be after that person," Ryder inquired with a thoughtful look on his face.

    "The vigers didn¡¯t know where that person came from and where he lived. All they knew was that the person was an adventurer and his name. Without any information, founding that man is really difficult, but Your Highness is right. They kept someone from the vige alive to recognize that adventurer," Sulovan answered Ryder.

    "An adventurer? What is the name of that Adventurer?" Ryder inquired.

    ¡¯If he¡¯s a yer, I might be able to find him. I might even be able to exchange something from that orb or straight away, kill him to take the orb,¡¯ Ryder thought as he sat straight.

    " I don¡¯t know the Adventurer¡¯s name, unfortunately. It was something that I couldn¡¯t find out," Sulovan replied as he sighed.

    " So, we have nothing in our hands that can help us find that Adventure before the death domain?" Ryder inquired with a frown.

    " It seems that way. I apologize," Sulovan replied to Ryder.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but shake his head in disappointment.

    "Tell me more about the two factions of the Death Domain. Which Faction is stronger at the moment? Also, How strong is the conflict between them? Was there any fighting?" Ryder asked Sulovan.

    "The fighting has not started yet. There are just light skirmishes. I don¡¯t believe they¡¯ll break all cordiality so soon. It might take a few months before they even get to that level," Sulovan told Ryder.

    " Should we do something to fasten the process? We can definitely interfere in their matters and use that to our advantage to weaken them further," Ryder inquired as he thought about it in depth.

    "What do you think?" Ryder asked High Duke M as he looked at him.

    " It seems like a good opportunity. Although we are at peace, there is always a threat of war if they somehow be stronger. As long as they are weak, they wouldn¡¯t have big ambitions about fighting us," High Duke M replied as she nodded her head.

    Ryder heard her response and nodded his head.

    " That¡¯s right, but even if we involve ourselves to increase the conflict, it needs to be in a way that doesn¡¯t make them know that we are getting involved. We need to keep our name out of this matter, or they might join together to fight amon enemy, and the n would fail," Ryder frowned as he exined something he was concerned about.

    "That is true, as well. As long as they find out that the Demon Realm is getting involved, they¡¯ll be forced to stop their skirmishes and make a decision. That won¡¯t be good. We need to be stealthy, and we need to be clever. What do you think we should do?" High Duke M asked Ryder as she looked at him for answers.

    "Let¡¯s decide after we go back. I want all High Dukes to be there for this discussion. It is an important matter. I do have some ideas about what we can do, though. If things go right, I might even get three birds with one stone," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Three birds?" High Duke M inquired as she frowned.

    "It¡¯s a saying. It means that I will be able to achieve three goals if I seed," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "What three goals?" High Duke M asked.

    "You¡¯ll know when I put my n forward after we get back," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Hmm," High Duke M nodded her hand.

    "Anyway, let¡¯s continue. What else do you get? Any other useful information? Tell me everything," Ryder replied as he nodded his head.

    Sulovan told them a lot of things about the Death Domain conflict. He talked about various powers that were directly involved in the conflict, and he talked about the powers that were still neutral there. He also talked about the King Candidate. The Royal Bloodline Prince and the Death Emperor Inheritor. Surprisingly, ording to him, the two king candidates never showed up there.

    The conversation went on for over two hours.

    Soon, the meeting finished. Ryder told everyone to go back and rest.

    He was about to stand up when he stopped as he heard Janus¡¯ voice.

    [Warning! Warning! Warning!]

    [Urgent Mission: Log out of the game in five minutes and save Alice]

    [Mission Reward: Golden Knife of Kimichi]

    [Time Limit: Five minutes]

    ¡¯Save Alice? What the fuck?¡¯ Ryder stood up with a shocked look on his face.

    The others also stood up as they saw the shocked look on his face.

    "Is everything alright?" High Duke M inquired with a concerned look on her face.

    "Yeah, everything¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll be right back, though," Ryder replied as he opened the system screen and tapped on logout.

    " He disappeared?" High Duke M inquired as she frowned.

    " His Highness went to his treasure artifact that was given to His Majesty. He shouldn¡¯t be in any danger," Rale let out in a calm tone.

    "But his expressions? It didn¡¯t seem everything was fine," High Duke M inquired.

    " Maybe he forgot something important inside and went to take that? Let¡¯s wait here for his arrival," Rale replied.

    He had faith that Ryder would be safe in the artifact. He didn¡¯t know that Ryder had lied about the artifact and that there was no such thing.

 Chapter 233 The Mastermind

    <h4>Chapter 233: The Mastermind</h4>

    While Rale and the others were waiting for Ryder¡¯s return inside the great hall of Duke Devilia¡¯s Pce, Ryder had already logged out of the game.

    Ryder woke up in the real world and took off his Divinity sses as he sat up and hurriedly got off the bed.

    He started running towards the room of Alice since Janus talked about saving Alice. It meant that Alice was in danger.

    If he didn¡¯t save her in five minutes, she was going to be in danger, and one minute had already passed.

    "Alice!" Ryder called out loud as he barged inside her room only to find it empty.

    "Alice!" He screamed again, but the ce was empty. Alice wasn¡¯t inside the house.

    "Janus! Where is she?!" Ryder let out like crazy as he ran towards the exit of the hour.

    He opened the door to see if she was outside.

    Since the mission was to save her in five minutes, she must be somewhere nearby, he thought.

    It was the night time in this ce, and the sun hadn¡¯t started rising. The streets were still bright, though.

    As Ryder looked around, he saw a car at some distance.

    He saw Alice inside the car, struggling to free herself. It seemed like someone was kidnapping her right before Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    Before Ryder could do anything, the car started driving away.

    "You bastard!" Ryder roared like crazy as he brought his gun out and shot towards the tires of the car while he ran towards his whirlwind.

    There were only three minutes left before the timeline was over. He knew that if he didn¡¯t free her from their grasp, something might happen to Alice.

    Ryder fired at the car¡¯s tires, but he missed since the car was too far away already, and he was running.

    Ryder opened his whirlwind and stepped inside the car.

    " Janus! I want the healing potion right now. Keep that ready. You can deduct the Origin Points that you need," Ryder let out as he pressed the race.

    His car started speeding towards the BWM car that was running away.

    While the BWM was the luxurious car, it wasn¡¯t as fast as the whirlwind since the whirlwind was a sports car.

    Ryder¡¯s Whirlwind was closing in on the BWM, and soon, only a few hundred meters of distance was left between them.

    Even though it all happened in a short time, they were already out of that block of the city and entering a new block.

    The people in the BWM noticed Ryder closing in and started firing at his whirlwind.

    A few of the bullets managed to hit the whirlwind and broke the ss, but instead of being scared, Ryder continued his feel on the race as he kept trying to hit the maximum speed he could.

    Only one minute was left between the time given by Janus, and Ryder knew that he couldn¡¯t take his time off.

    He pointed his gun at the car ahead, ignoring the bullets that had hit him already.

    Ryder was shot four times already. Two of the bullets were in his left shoulder. One of the bullets grazed his left ear, and another one hit his chest, but Ryder ignored all the pain as he kept his focus.

    Blood was flowing out of his body, which started healing with the help of the bracelet of immortality skill that he received after he got the second bracelet of immortality.

    Ryder fired a shot that hit the head of one of the men that was firing at him, but before Ryder could fire again, he stopped since he saw the men pointing their gun at Alice in order to threaten him.

    "Those fucking bastards?" Ryder let out as he lowered the gun, but he increased the speed of his car and crashed his Whirlwind on the BWM.

    The impact was so powerful that both the cars were damaged seriously.

    Since Ryder¡¯s car wasing in at a higher speed, it got more impact.

    Ryder used this opportunity to use his special skill.

    Ruler of Wind was something that he had received as he found the third fragment of the Bracelet of Immortality.

    The skill allowed him to fly. He used the skill to safely escape the impact of the car crash.

    The BWM back was thrashed, and the kidnappers also lost their bnce as their guns core out of their hands.

    The BWM lost control and turned left. If nothing was done, the car was going to smash on a nearby house, which was enough to kill them all. There were only ten seconds left in the timeline given to him by Janus.

    Ryder flew beside the car as he opened the door.

    He continued flying beside the car as he caught the cor of the person who was sitting on that side and threw out the car so that he could reach Alice faster.

    Ryder held the hand of Alice and pulled her out of the car as he carried her with him to the ground away from the cat.

    The BWM crashed on the wall of the building while Rydernded on the ground safely with Alice.

    "Sigh, saved by the second," Ryder muttered as he looked at Alice.

    Alice¡¯s head was hit on the seat ahead, and it was bleeding a little. Her vision was vague as well, but she seemed mostly fine.

    "Open your mouth, little girl. Let me feed you this medicine so that you can get better," Ryder let out as he brought the potion out of the system storage that he had just purchased from the system.

    He made Alice drink the potion.

    As soon as Alice drank the potion, her wounds started healing. It didn¡¯t even take a few seconds before her wounds healed. Her blurry vision also recovered as if she was perfectly fine.

    "W-what was that?" She inquired in confusion as her pain disappeared like it was never there.

    "It¡¯s a miraculous medicine the scientists are researching for. I paid a lot for it," Ryder made up an exnation as he ced Alice down on the ground.

    "Your clothes! The blood..." Alice let out with a concerned look on her face as she looked at Ryder¡¯s blood-covered clothes that were covered in blood because of him being shot multiple times.

    "It¡¯s nothing. When the car crashed, a few ss pieces hit me and lightly injured me. I drank the same medicine, and I¡¯m fine now," Ryder replied and hid the fact that he was shot.

    "I¡¯m d you¡¯re fine," He let out as he patted her head.

    "Wait here, I¡¯ll be right back," Ryder said to Alice as he started walking away from her.

    Ryder walked towards the person who managed to survive because Ryder threw that man out of the car.

    ording to Ryder, the others were already dead. This man was the only person who was still alive.

    Ryder stopped before the man was wriggling on the ground in pain.

    He caught the neck of the man and raised him in the air.

    "Let me see... My fricking expensive car was destroyed because of you. That¡¯s nothing in front of your biggest crime of daring to kidnap someone close to me, though. How do you think I should deal with you," Ryder let out as he red in the man¡¯s eyes.

    The man saw Ryder¡¯s eyes and felt as if a demon was looking at him who could see through his soul.

    "I can consider leaving you alive if you answer me," Ryder threatened the man. "Who was the one that sent you to kidnap me?"

    Ryder knew that there were a few people that he had annoyed in this world. The Uprising was one of those organizations that had the wealth and the strength to do it if they found out that Ryder was involved in their matters and destroyed their ns.

    There was also a chance that someone who hated him sent the men for revenge like the Dean of the University of Dreamers. There were a lot more people who had problems with him, and he wanted to find the ones that were faster to scheme against people close to him.

    "I... I... It was the Police Chi..." The man started exining with a scared look on his face, but he stopped as he saw the Police cars arriving at that ce.

    He didn¡¯t answer as he started smiling.

    " You should run," The man let out as he smiled.

    Ryder nced back and saw the cops pointing their guns at him.

    "Ryder, release that man and put your hands behind your head. You¡¯re under arrest for destroying public property," The Police Chief warned Ryder.

    "Hahahaha."

    Ryder startedughing out loud like crazy as he heard the Police Chief¡¯s work.

    "So it¡¯s you getting your revenge by trying to harm my family to get me to take thewsuit back. Mr. Chief, I think you forgot my warning. I told you about not even looking at my family, yet you dared to scheme against my family."

 Chapter 234 The Big Guns

    <h4>Chapter 234: The Big Guns</h4>

    "Stop talking and ce your hands on your head. You just killed those innocent men by crashing your car in theirs. Everything else will be talked about in the prison! Arrest him!" The Police Chief told a cop to arrest Ryder.

    The Cop started walking towards Ryder while other cops kept their guns on him.

    Ryder nced at Alice, who was standing in the back, looking at Ryder with concern. She wanted to run to Ryder, but Ryder raised his hand to stop her.

    "Don¡¯t worry. Stay there. Nothing will happen to me," Ryder told Alice as he stopped her with gentle expressions on his face.

    He nced back at the Police Chief as his expressions became fierce again.

    " Mr. Chief, you might think that you can get me this way, but you underestimate me... a lot. It looks like we¡¯ll have a lot of fun soon. You¡¯re going to regret targeting my family," Ryder let out, but he didn¡¯t release the man.

    "Stop right there, or I¡¯ll crush his neck!" Ryder told the cop that was walking towards him to arrest him.

    The cop stopped.

    "You alreadymitted a lot of crimes. Don¡¯tmit more unless you want to be charged with homicide! Release the man!" The Police Chief said as he warned Ryder.

    " If any of you moved even an inch, I¡¯ll crush his neck. I¡¯ll release him after a few minutes. Just stay back like the good little puppy you are," Ryder said in a mocking tone. " I just want a call."

    Ryder used his free hand to bring his phone out of his pocket as he called a number.

    " Hey. I got in a little trouble again," Ryder said to someone on the call.

    "Huh? What happened? Tell me," The person on the other side said.

    " It¡¯s a serious matter. I¡¯m surrounded by the police. I did nothing wrong, though. Anyway, I¡¯ll exin everythingter. Come here fast. I can handle most of the things, but I need someone to protect Alice after I¡¯m taken in," Ryder said to the person.

    "I¡¯ll be right there," the person on the other side replied. "Give me the address."

    Ryder disconnected the call and sent the location using his phone.

    " It has been a few minutes! When are you freeing this man? Don¡¯t test our patience. We can even shoot you for domestic terrorism," The Police Chief threatened Ryder.

    "You feel really powerful at the moment, don¡¯t you?" Ryder inquired in a mocking tone.

    He was about to say something when he heard the sound of what seemed like a helicopter.

    "The police helicopters are here too?" Ryder wondered as he heard the sound.

    He looked towards the sky, but the helicopter was not a police helicopter.

    It seemed like a private helicopter.

    Ryder¡¯s phone started ringing.

    Ryder kept looking at the helicopter as he picked up the call.

    "Yes, Shu?" he inquired.

    " Uh, brother Ryder. I am on my way, but since my house is far away, you know that it will take me around ten minutes, at least. Anyway, I called to let you know that more help will be there soon. Someone that works for ourpany was in that area. I told him to get there fast. Let him handle it until I get there," Shu told Ryder.

    "Someone you sent? Is that person in the helicopter?" Ryder asked as he smiled wryly.

    " Yeah, he wasing to my house, and he was in the way. I told him to go to your location first since he was near. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll give you all the help I can," Shu said.

    " Thanks, man. Let me treat you to a drink in the future. You¡¯re my real brother," Ryder smiled as he responded.

    "Hahaha, was there any doubt about me being your brother? Anyway, let¡¯s talk about the drink after we deal with whatever trouble you got yourself in," Shu chuckled as he replied.

    Ryder disconnected the call and ced the phone in his pocket as he looked at the helicopter.

    Although the road was big enough for the helicopter tond, it didn¡¯tnd. A ropedder came down from the helicopter. It was long enough to cover the distance from the helicopter to the ground.

    The cops were also looking at the helicopter in amazement.

    "The Max203C... the best helicopter in existence and the most expensive... created by the Dream Corporation. Whoever is inside must be really wealthy and powerful," The Police Chief muttered as he stared at the helicopter.

    A person starteding down through the rope. It seemed like a man dressed in military clothes.

    The mannded on the ground. Another person starteding down from the helicopter and after that another.

    Soon, there were five men standing on the ground. Three of them were dressed in the military attire, and two were dressed in ck clothes and a bulletproof vest as if they were the personal guards or mercenaries working for someone really powerful.

    One more person came out of the helicopter and climbed down.

    The man was wearing a ck coat and pants. He seemed to be dressed quite professionally.

    The man seemed to be in his early thirties. He was wearing ck sunsses.

    His short red hair moved in the winding from the wing of the helicopter as he climbed down the stairs.

    "Those people... they don¡¯t look normal. Just who is Shu to be able to call people like them to help me. I thought he was just some rich third generation kid, but he seems to be something more. I should¡¯ve performed a background check. I saw that helicopter. It¡¯s not something many people can afford, and he said the man flying in this is working for his family."

    " There is definitely something. When I formed my friendship with him, I thought he was just a normal guy, but I found out he was rich and now this. Even after all this, he still cared for me as a brother. I knew that man was a real friend even though he was somewhat childish, but he is really nice. I wonder how I can pay him back for all the help," Ryder muttered as he looked at the men.

    "Are you Ryder Flynn?" The man in the ck Sunsses asked Ryder.

    "Yeah," Ryder responded as he nodded his head.

    "We¡¯re here to help you. Just wait there and let us handle it," the man said to Ryder before he shifted his focus to the Police Chief.

    "Look, Sir. I don¡¯t know who you are and what you want, but we¡¯re on duty. Don¡¯t interfere in our work," The Police Chief told the man.

    " What happened here? Care to exin?" The man in ck sses asked the Police Chief for an exnation.

    "I don¡¯t need to exin anything to you. I¡¯m here to perform my duty, and I¡¯m telling you not to interfere. You can read the report of what happened after going through the proper sources," The Police Chief replied without backing off. He maintained his stern stance even after realizing that these people were rich.

    The man in ck sunsses didn¡¯t reply; instead, another person took the lead if it was a man who was dressed in a military outfit.

    " Looking at your dress, you must be the Police Chief of this ce. I¡¯m Major General Andre from the United States Airforce," The man said.

    "M-major General of the Air Force?" The Police Chief was taken aback as he heard that such a high ranking person was standing before him. He couldn¡¯t understand why someone like him would be here.

    " I am Major General Dreyson from the United States Airforce."

    Another man in the military outfit stepped forth.

    "A-another one?"

    The Police Chief stepped back a step as he felt his heart thump. Another Major General?

    He looked towards the third person in the military outfit as a foreboding feeling shrouded him.

    " I am Major General Gaira from the United States Airforce," The third person also stepped forth as he introduced himself.

    ¡¯T-three Major Generals together? What the hell is going on?!¡¯ The Police Chief was shocked as he felt his heart beag fasten. If this matter reached the federals and the truth was exposed, then he was going to be in big trouble. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder since when it bes so easy to get powerful people like them together. Wasn¡¯t this guy just a normal man that lived in a small house? How was it possible that three Air Force Major Generals came to help him?

    ¡¯Three Major Generals? I was hoping Shu will be able to protect my sister in my absence, but this... How does he have so much power to call them here?¡¯ Ryder thought in shock

    While the Police Chief was shocked that Ryder was able to call these people, Ryder himself was surprised that he was able to call these people.

    "I know it¡¯s not our jurisdiction, but we can¡¯t sit back and watch when injustice happens before us. We heard that you¡¯re arresting the wrong person. Exin the situation so that we can understand the whole thing," Major General Gaira told the Police Chief in a dignified voice

 Chapter 235 Im not leaving

    <h4>Chapter 235: I''m not leaving</h4>

    "Well, ah, ah, the situation is that this person crashed his sports car in another car. The second car crashed because of that, and the innocent people inside it died," the Police Chief gave an exnation after realizing the position of the people that were standing before him

    "When we arrived, this man was also threatening a person and trying to kill him. You can see it for yourself! He still hasn¡¯t released the man. It¡¯s our duty to arrest all of them and then investigate. He¡¯s also resisting arrest and threatening to kill the person if we moved," the Police Chief continued as he kept shifting the me to Ryder.

    "Alright. If that¡¯s the truth, then you do deserve to arrest him, but I doubt that. You said that the car ahead was filled with innocent civilians that died because of this man¡¯s reckless driving, right?" Major General Gaira inquired as he looked at the man before him.

    "Ah, right. That¡¯s what happened," the police chief nodded his head as he gave an affirmation.

    "Good. And that should be the car is the innocent civilians that crashed. Then please exin to me why I see two guns near the car that crashed?" Major General Gaira inquired as he pointed towards the BWM.

    The Police Chief hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but the Major General was more observant. Near the BWM, a few guns were lying on the ground, along with the dead bodies of the people that were inside it.

    "I don¡¯t trust his story, either. I see many mistakes and irregrities in his story," Another Major General chimed in as he refused to believe the story of the police chief.

    He took a step forward and walked closer to the police chief.

    As he walked, his shoes tapped on the ground, making a clearly audible noise in this silent atmosphere that had turned serious after their arrival.

    Major General Dreyson stood right before the Police Chief as he looked in his eyes.

    "Tell me, is what you said really the truth?" Major General Dreyson inquired as he looked at the Police Chief. He knew that the Police Chief was hiding something.

    "Ah, Of Course, it is the truth as far as I know from the preliminary assumption. I¡¯ll have to investigate moreter on after arresting them," The Police Chief replied. He gathered his courage since he knew that the best way to handle this was to arrest Ryder at all costs since it came to this. He was determined in what he wanted to do, "Also, you can¡¯t intimidate me with your rank. I respect the airforce, but it¡¯s my duty to bring justice to the criminals and to keep the public safe. As you said, this is a matter that is under my jurisdiction. Please don¡¯t interfere with it."

    " Oh, really? I guess you are going to stick to your statement. Now that we got your side of the story, let us hear the other side of the story as well," Major General Andre let out as he stopped looking at the police chief and turned his sharp eyes in the direction of Ryder

    "You tell us, Young Man. What exactly happened," Major General Andre asked Ryder.

    A few people kidnapped my sister from my house for some reason. I chased after them in my car. They kept shooting at my car, and in order to stay safe, I had to take some measures. Unfortunately, my car lost control and crashed in their vehicle. Fortunately, my sister was able to jump out in time," Ryder took a nce at the Police Chief before he started exining.

    "You can check my car, or whatever left of it at least and you will find the marks of the bullets that will definitely match the bullets on those guns, and you will find the fingerprints of those guys that died. I¡¯mpletely innocent, and I¡¯m being falsely used by the Police Department because I dared to voice against them. They¡¯re ming me all because I sued them for viting my sister¡¯s rights and damaging her reputation by arresting her on false usations. It¡¯s funny how they arrested her wrongly and now to protect themselves from this, they¡¯re trying to arrest me on false ims," Ryder said as he stared at the Police Chief.

    A frown appeared on the face of all Major Generals as they heard this exnation.

    " So you¡¯re using your position for revenge? Shame on you! How dare you say you work for Justice when you do this? Let me talk to my friends. I¡¯ll have to report you! I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re not capable of doing something like this again," Major General Gaira let out as he red at the Police Chief.

    " This, this, this is a misunderstanding! We aren¡¯t doing anything for revenge. We based our assumption on what we saw, and without investigating, we can¡¯t believe his stories. That¡¯s why I wanted to arrest them all. I wasn¡¯t going to ce any charges on him before our investigation waspleted," The Police Chief let out as he waved his hand repeatedly with a nervous look on his face.

    "Oh, really? So it¡¯s not because of a vendetta against me? Let me tell you something then. The reason I¡¯m holding this man is because I was asking him about the person that sent him to kidnap me. He did tell me the name of that person already, but I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t repeat it again since his savior is already here. Let me try again, though," Ryder asked as he smiled.

    "Why don¡¯t you tell me again? Who was the one that sent you here?" Ryder asked again as he tightened his grip on the neck of the man.

    "You! Stop that! Free that man instantly! It¡¯s our responsibility to protect the man until the investigations arepleted! I¡¯m telling you that I will shoot if you don¡¯t stop!" The Police Chief warned Ryder as he pointed his gun at him.

    "Looks like the savior is even more eager to signal the man that they will save him," Ryderughed as he shook his head.

    "Whatever, I don¡¯t want you to be punished. That would be boring," Ryder smiled as he threw the man towards the Police Chief and stood tall.

    The Cops helped the man up and cuffed him.

    "Arrest him as well," The Police Chief let out as he directed his men to arrest Ryder as well.

    While the Police Chief was focusing on Ryder, Major General Gaira was talking to someone over the phone.

    Right when the Police Chief was directing his men to arrest Ryder, Major General Gaira walked closer to the Police Chief.

    "Since it¡¯s not my jurisdiction here, I called someone that might have a weight here. Here, for you," He gave the Police Chief a phone.

    The Police Chief frowned, wondering who the person on the call was.

    He took the phone and looked at the caller id.

    ¡¯ Little Brown? Who could he be?¡¯ The Police Chief wondered as he looked at the name on the phone.

    He ced the phone near his phone.

    "Hello?" The Police Chief said as he wondered who the person on the other side of the connection was? Just who was Little Brown that the Major General called.

    "You Idiot! What do you think you¡¯re doing? You¡¯re misusing your power to arrest an innocent man that was just saving his family instead of the criminals? Do you have any idea the people you¡¯re messing with? The Major General would never call me if it were not a serious matter. Handle it properly otherwise be ready to be fired," the person on the other side said.

    "M-mayor Brown?" the Police Chief eximed as his face turned pale.

    ¡¯W-w-what is happening here! How is it that they got the Mayor involved?!¡¯ The police chief couldn¡¯t help but wonder as he looked at Ryder with an impossible look on his face.

    " Yes, it¡¯s me! Do the right thing now. Also, give the phone back to the Major General!"

    The Police Chief gave the phone back to Major General Gaira.

    "Stop! Don¡¯t arrest him!" He told the officer that he was sent to arrest Ryder. "Take the bodies out of the car and wait for paramedics."

    Ryder smirked as he understood that he wasn¡¯t going to be arrested today. All because of Shu.

    As the cops freed Alice and moved aside, she ran up to Ryder and took him in his arms as she hugged him before everyone else.

    "I told you, I¡¯m going to be fine," Ryder said as he patted her back.

    "I¡¯m so d. I¡¯m so d that you are safe," Alice let out. Her voice seemed like it was breaking as if she was controlling herself from crying.

    "I¡¯m never going anywhere. As I said before, no one can harm me. They won¡¯t take me anywhere," Ryder replied. "The only people that are going somewhere will be the ones that messed with my family."

 Chapter 236 Maxwell

    <h4>Chapter 236: Maxwell</h4>

    " You can leave for now. We will investigate what happened here properly first," The Police Chief said to Ryder. A look of hate was clearly visible on his face.

    " Sure. I would love to meet you again to help you with the investigation. I hope you stay safe to finish this investigation sessfully. The criminals need to be brought to justice," Ryder replied with a subtle smirk on his face.

    "Hmph," the police chief snorted as he shifted his focus and started looking at the other officers.

    "You guys wait here and help the bodies get back. Take the stock of the damage and talk to the witnesses. I¡¯m taking this guy to the station to interrogation him," he told his men before he walked back to his car.

    A few cops stayed behind to investigate here while the others went back with the police chief.

    The Police Cars left.

    Ryder walked to the Major Generals with Alice.

    "Thank you, Sir," Ryder thanked the Major Generals with a bright smile on his face. "You helped me a lot."

    "Don¡¯t thank us, Young Man. We don¡¯t even know you. If Director Alem hadn¡¯t asked us to help you, we wouldn¡¯t even be here," The Major Generals replied as he pointed towards the man dressed in ck.

    "Director Alem?" Ryder muttered in confusion.

    Dream Corporation was an American aerospace, defense, arms, security, and advanced technologiespany with worldwide interests. It was a giant when it came to business. It had its fingerprints in many businesses, but it was most well known for its Weapon Technology.

    It was the biggest contractor of weapons for the US government at the moment and even worldwide.

    The Major Generals were going with the man in ck to Shu¡¯s house for some business matters rted to an important deal.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know that the man dressed in ck was called Alem Schmidt. He was the Non-Executive Director of the Dream Corporation¡¯s Defence Technology Branch.

    He was counted as one of the most influential people around the world. In the Dream Corporation, his position was said to be fifth in the Hierarchy.

    The first in the position was the mysterious Owner of the Dream Corporation that had all the power. The Second was the Managing Director of the Dream Corporation. The Executive Directors were third and fourth.

    Alem Schmidt was the fifth. One thing to note was that in the top five powerhouses of the Dream Corporation, Alem was the youngest and had the most potential for future growth after the mysterious Owner of the Corporation. He was seen as the future leader that was one day going to be the Chairman of the Dream Corporation.

    " Thank you for the help," Ryder thanked Alem.

    " It¡¯s nothing. I did it because he asked me to," Alem replied casually. He suddenly looked back and saw two carsing in his direction.

    The one in the lead was a Ferrari 2047, the car behind him was a luxurious SUV.

    The Cars stopped in front of Ryder.

    A person stepped out of the Ferrari.

    The man was wearing a ck coat and pants. He was a little chubby and looked to be as young as Ryder.

    "Shu..." Ryder muttered as he saw the man.

    The doors of the car behind him opened as well, and a Shu¡¯s butler stepped out of the car.

    "Master Shu, how can youe here without security?" Alem Schmidt inquired in an upset tone.

    "Calm down, Alem. You know I keep my identity hidden just for this reason. No one is going to hurt me here. I¡¯m not too fond of the security after me always. That¡¯s why I did so much to make sure that no one knows my face but the people I actually deal with and trust," Shu replied as he chuckled.

    "Brother Ryder, It seems like things are handled. Let¡¯s go back to my house," Shu told Ryder, who had his mouth open.

    "Generals, It¡¯s great to meet you again. Let¡¯s talk at home," Shu told the Generals as he greeted them.

    The Major Generals nodded their heads as they went towards the wire rope to get back to the helicopter.

    "Sigh, I¡¯ll never understand you. It would help if you worried about your security. Although only our trusted people know your real face, we can¡¯t ignore the fact that you need to have security. You can¡¯t ignore it like that. I¡¯ll talk to you about it back home. I¡¯m not leaving this topic today," Alem told Shu as he smiled wryly before he also went towards the helicopter.

    "Hahaha, He¡¯s still like that. He¡¯ll like that old grandpa that doesn¡¯t stop worrying," Shu couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    "Come, brother Ryder. I think it¡¯s finally time to tell you everything about myself," Shu told Ryder as he held Ryder¡¯s hand and started pulling him towards his cars.

    " You can bring the Ferrari back home. I¡¯lle in the SUV since Ferrari won¡¯t fit three people. Alright?" Shu told his butler, but he didn¡¯t stop as he continued walking towards the car.

    Ryder was holding Alice¡¯s hand with his other hand.

    All of them entered the ck SUV.

    A helicopternded in the helipad of Maxwell Mansion.

    Alem and the Major Generals stepped out of the helicopter and went towards inside the mansion.

    After some time, two cars also entered the mansion.

    Ryder, Shu, and Alice stepped out of the car.

    "A mansion like this..." Ryder muttered as he looked at the Mansion.

    "I was thinking I¡¯m the one keeping secrets, but you, it looks like you¡¯re two steps ahead of me," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "So, who are you?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "My full name is Schumacher Maxwell. In short, Shu," Shu answered Ryder.

    "Maxwell... that helicopter... the Major Generals... You¡¯re the owner of Dream Corporation?" Ryder eximed in surprise.

    "Huh?" Alice was also shocked as she heard it. The guy she thought to be Ryder¡¯s friend was such a big person.

    "Hahaha, Yeah. Sorry for not telling you before. I felt like there was no need to talk about this. I didn¡¯t want my position to change the bond between us," Shu replied as he smiled wryly.

    "What is your position? You spent time with me. Did you really think I¡¯ll behave differently around rich people? Don¡¯t worry about that; I¡¯m catching up to you pretty soon. Mypany will join the ranks of big corporations pretty soon. Position and money is nothing. It¡¯s not going to change anything between us," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    " I know what you¡¯re thinking, and no! I don¡¯t want help. I want to bring mypany to the top with my own hard work. If you tried to help me behind that shadows, then that will be what gets between us. So, don¡¯t even try," Ryder said as he saw Shu about to say something.

    "I expected an answer like that," Shu replied as he shook his head.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll only wish yourpany best of luck in that case," Shu said to Ryder, shaking his head.

    " You can go to the guest room and take a shower and change clothes. We have a resident doctor here as well. It doesn¡¯t seem like you have any serious injuries, but still, get checked. In the meantime, I¡¯ll deal with the Generals," Shu told Ryder right before he entered the mansion.

    Ryder and Alice were escorted to a room that seemed like it was a suite of a luxurious hotel.

    The gowns are in the bathroom. You can wear that, in the meantime, I¡¯ll arrange for clothes for you," The butler told Ryder before he left them in the room.

    " It¡¯s so incredible. Brother Shu is so rich. I had no idea that he was one of the richest people in the country. Who could¡¯ve guessed from the way he behaved and his clothes? He really fooled us," Alice said as she looked at Ryder.

    "I don¡¯t think he faked anything. There are unorthodox people all around the world. It¡¯s not unusual for someone so rich to be so down to earth. I¡¯m somewhat d that he¡¯s like that. It¡¯s good that power hasn¡¯t corrupted him," Ryder replied as he sat on the couch.

    "You can go take a shower first. I¡¯ll stay here," Ryder told Alice.

    Alice nodded her head as she started walking towards the Shower Room.

    "That bastard! He was lucky today! He not only managed to save the girl, but he escaped us as well. All because of you!"

    The Police Chief was in the cell with the only survivor of today¡¯s incident. It was the man that Ryder had spared.

    The man was tied to a rope, and the Police Chief had a staff in his hand, which he was using to beat the crap out of the man.

    The man kept screaming, but no one came to save him.

    "You trash!"

    "You can¡¯t even do a single job, right!"

    "Just die already!"

    The Police Chief was the one that sent these people to Ryder¡¯s house, so he wasn¡¯t actually going to investigate these people.

 Chapter 237 Access to Necrosis

    <h4>Chapter 237: ess to Necrosis</h4>

    All he wanted to do was kill this man to get rid of thest thing that linked him to this event. He knew that he couldn¡¯t get Ryder now without getting himself in trouble. Since Ryder had such a high reach, there was a chance that he could get federal agents to investigate, which would¡¯ve put him in trouble.

    If the Federal officials came to investigate and talked to this man, then there was a good chance that the truth would be out, which was not beneficial to him.

    "Stop! I promise I won¡¯t tell anyone!"

    "I¡¯ll take all the me on me! Don¡¯t kill me!"

    The man kept screaming, but all he did was get even more beating.

    "It¡¯s better that you die after all. Case closed. There¡¯s nothing else I can do now anyway without getting myself in trouble as long as you¡¯re alive!"

    He kept getting beating until the man was dead.

    "Mr. Maxwell, You already know why we are here. The new technology that your Firm is developing can be game-changing for the defense industry. It¡¯ll increase the strength of our country for sure. We are interested in purchasing that, you already know. The thing is that the Government feels that this technology shouldn¡¯t be sold to the outsiders," General Dreyson said to Shu as he looked at him in full seriousness.

    "Alem, didn¡¯t you tell them our position on the matter?" Shu nced at Alem and asked him.

    " He told us what you wanted. That¡¯s why we had toe here. We are ready to increase the number of purchases from you if you can assure us that you won¡¯t sell this particr thing to the other countries without the government¡¯s permission. We have sent that offer to you as well, but from what I heard, you refuse to ept that. You say that you want the permission to sell it to any country that¡¯s not the enemy of the states," Major General Gaia chimed in.

    " We can¡¯t ept that. We don¡¯t want any country to get that, even if that country is on friendly terms with us. You need to understand our position. Friends can turn enemies at any moment, and this thing can plunge the world into chaos if our enemies have it. If you have any other demands beside it, then I¡¯m willing to listen," Major General Andre said in a calm tone.

    " You know that it will be a big loss to us if we can¡¯t sell that thing even to the friendly nations. That¡¯s not something a purchase from you can¡¯t make up for. As you know, over sixty percent of our business is from overseas. Even if you double everything, we¡¯d still be at a loss," Shu folded his arms as he shook his hand.

    "I know, but the president is not willing to have it sold outside the country. It¡¯s just a big headache for us. What else can we give you then, please tell us? You need to understand; we don¡¯t want to spoil our rtions. At long as it¡¯s not overboard, we can listen to your demands in exchange for signing this deal," Major General Dreyson let out with a wry smile on his face.

    "Hahahaha, Don¡¯t worry. I know that better than you guys. Miss President is really stubborn on these matters. But our Dream Corporation is not her toy. Still, since I understand your plight, I¡¯m willing to listen. I¡¯ll ept your conditions as long as you ept my condition," Shu responded as he nodded his head.

    The generals finally breathed a sigh in relief. As long as you do what you say and agree, it does not matter; they could deal with it.

    All the Major Generals looked at each other and gave themselves a subtle nod of appreciation.

    "What conditions do you have?" Major General Andre inquired.

    " My conditions are simple. Since you want more than I suggested, I want more than I suggested as well. First, the United States government will double its business with us. The timing we need to get the permits should be decreased. We want our Dream Corporation to get a license to test our weapons in government facilities as well. Andstly, I want some information about the Necrosis Corporation," Shu told all his demands at once.

    "Please give us a minute," The Major Generals stood up and walked to the other side.

    They started discussing amongst themselves.

    After some time, they came back and sat on the sofa.

    "The first one is a little tough, but I believe it can be done. The President should be fine with it as long as it stops the weapons from going in other countries¡¯ hands," General Dreyson said to Shu as he nodded his head.

    " That¡¯s a good start. What about my other conditions?" Shu asked General Dreyson.

    "The second condition is also understandable. We can fasten the process as long as you can maintain the safety standards. The third condition is also a little tough, but we can do that as well and get you the ess to our facilities for your testing," General Dreyson said to Shu as he nodded his head.

    "That¡¯s good. What about thest condition?" Shu asked General Dreyson as he frowned. He could see some hesitation in the general¡¯s face, and he knew that it wasn¡¯t going to be easy to get him to agree from his looks.

    "Thest condition is impossible to ept. That¡¯s the truth, and no matter what we do, we can¡¯t change that. I apologize. Even if you decide to sell the weapons to foreigners after fighting a legal battle with the government, you won¡¯t get thest condition. The matters rted to the Necrosis Corporation are highly ssified. We need not only the permission of the ruling party but of the opposition party as well to dessify them," Generals Dreyson said.

    "As for telling you that information without dessifying those documents, it¡¯ll be considered treason. I apologize for this. It¡¯s impossible. Please tell us if you have any other condition," General Gaira said as he shook his head.

    ¡¯Interesting. I was only testing them since I had heard some rumors going around in the upper echelon, but from their extreme reactions, it looks like there might just be some truth in the rumors,¡¯ Shu thought as he frowned.

    "Alright. Myst condition is that I want the ess to Government satellites to use in my tech that you want to buy. We¡¯re using our personal satellites, but with the help of yours, we can increase the efficiency and uracy. I want the esspletely free," Shu told the Major Generals.

    The Major Generals looked at each other and nodded their heads.

    "We can get that done. We¡¯ll have final talks with the higher-ups and get you the documents to sign. I believe this is a done deal, though," Major General Andre let out as he stood up.

    He shook hands with Shu before he started leaving. The other Major Generals did the same.

    They knew that Alem wanted to talk to Shu about something, so they told him that they¡¯d be waiting outside for him.

    " Are you going to talk about security again?" Shu asked Alem.

    "Yes! You can¡¯t take your security so lightly. Not only the government but a lot of people might try to kill you one day for one reason or another. Even in our ownpany, there can be many people that can n to get you killed. Don¡¯t y with your safety," Alem told Shu in a stern tone.

    "Hahaha, Alem, you need to learn to chill, man. You already know that the ones in ourpany won¡¯t try to kill me since they won¡¯t gain anything from that. You know the reason for that. You should also know that the government won¡¯t try to take the risk either. As for the assassin, people can hire to kill me; I have already taken my precautions for that. You don¡¯t have to write about that," Shu said as he shook his head.

    "What precautions?" Alem asked Shu.

    Shu looked at Alem and simply smiled, but he didn¡¯t answer.

    " You always reply with that. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t have anyone. Anyway, put more focus on your security. I¡¯m leaving for now," Alem said as he sighed. He started walking back.

    Alem left the mansion and entered the helicopter with the Major Generals.

    The helicopter started flying and soon left.

    Ryder was still sitting on the couch when he saw Alicee out of the shower. Her hair was dripping wet while she was drying them with the towel.

    The white robe was sticking close to her cold body.

    Ryder looked at her face and smiled.

    "W-what?" Alice asked with a red face as she saw Ryder looking at her face.

    "Nothing, you just look stunning," Ryderplimented her, which made her red face even redder.

    "Y-you can go take a shower as well," She told Ryder as she started looking elsewhere.

    "Right," Ryder stood up as he took his shirt off and started walking towards the shower room.

    Alice couldn¡¯t help but nce at Ryder subtly.

 Chapter 238 Not over Her

    <h4>Chapter 238: Not over Her</h4>

    " Oh right, The guy came with the clothes. I kept them in the room. You can get dressed," Ryder reminded Alice before he stepped inside the bathroom.

    He took off the rest of his clothes and turned on the shower.

    Alice went to get dressed. The butler had brought a couple of dresses for Alice, all of the different sizes so that she could find the perfect fit for her. He did the same thing for Ryder. All those clothes were kept in the bedroom.

    Alice went through the clothes and found a skirt that was long enough to cover her feet entirely.

    Alice got dressed and came back to the hall.

    She sat on the sofa as she started waiting for Ryder toe out.

    After a few minutes, Ryder came out of the shower. The towel was wrapped around his waist, leaving her upper body care for Alice to see.

    Another towel was on his head, which he was using to dry his wet hair.

    "What happened? Do I look good too?" Ryder asked Alice after noticing her looking at him. He couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    " Since when did you get those abs?" Alice inquired as she looked at Ryder.

    " Hah, Of Course, I worked hard for them. I have been getting some exercise daily, I guess," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    He couldn¡¯t help but realize that it was because of everything he had been doing, like jumping through the fences or running. His real-life had be even more of an adventure then Divinity.

    His body wasn¡¯t bulky at all. He had more of an athletic build, but his body was pretty fit.

    " That¡¯s nice. You weren¡¯t interested in those things before, though. Are you doing this to impress girls?" Alice asked as she rolled her eyes.

    " Why? Are you jealous?" Ryder asked teasingly.

    "Hmph, why would I be jealous. Go, find all the girls you need," Alice let out in an annoyed tone.

    "All the girls? So you wouldn¡¯t mind if I get all the girls?" Ryder couldn¡¯t help butugh at her response.

    "Why should I mind. It¡¯s your life," Alice said as she looked down. "Go ahead, get the girls, and leave me behind."

    Ryder saw her childlike expressions as he started walking closer to her and stood before her.

    He ced his hand on her head and started messing with her hair.

    Alice raised her head and looked in his eyes.

    " You idiot, There¡¯s no way I can leave you behind. Don¡¯t worry. The only girl I would ever think about impressing is sitting right before me," Ryder let out as he smiled innocently.

    "Now let me get dressed and don¡¯t have these stupid thoughts about me leaving," Ryder let out as he started walking towards the bedroom to get dressed, leaving the dazed Alice behind.

    Ryder went into the room and got dressed beforeing out.

    As soon as he came out, he heard a knock on the door.

    Ryder went to the door and opened it only to find Shu standing there.

    "Are you done with your work?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Yeah, they were here to get a deal done. We got the deal," Shu replied as he shook his head.

    "Anyway, I met the doctor. She said that you two are perfectly fine. That¡¯s good to know," he added.

    " I told you I was fine. The blood on my clothes wasn¡¯t mine," Ryder replied. " Anyway, Why are you standing outside? It¡¯s your home, after all. Come inside and talk," Ryder said as he smiled wryly.

    He and Shu got inside the room.

    "Brother Shu, Thank you for the help," Alice thanked Shu for helping her brother.

    "Little girl, you¡¯re the little sister of Brother Ryder. In that way, you¡¯re my sister as well. A sister isn¡¯t supposed to thank a brother just like he isn¡¯t supposed to thank me," Shu chuckled as he waved his hand.

    Ryder didn¡¯t reply and simply smiled at Shu¡¯s response. He was somewhat surprised that people as decent as Shu existed in the world.

    " Anyway, do you n to go back home? If the kidnappers can break into your home, then it¡¯s not much safe," Shu asked Ryder.

    "I understand that. I will be getting a new house. I¡¯ll also be hiring some security for Alice. They can¡¯t do anything to me, so I don¡¯t have to worry, but I don¡¯t want her to get injured because of me," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    " How about you stay here instead? This ce can be considered one of the safest ces in the city. She can also use my security when she¡¯s outside. No one will think about harming her," Shy suggested as he looked at Ryder.

    " Sigh, It is a good offer, and I do want to thank you, but as you said, brothers don¡¯t thank each other. Just know, when you need me, I will never hesitate," Ryder let out as he ced his hand on Shu¡¯s shoulders.

    "You already helped me so much by being my brother. Just focus on your work and don¡¯t think about anything else. I¡¯ll be leaving now. You guys can have rest," Shu said as he got ready to leave, but Ryder¡¯s phone started ringing.

    Ryder picked up the phone.

    "Yeah, Bastion. What¡¯s up?" Ryder said.

    " Today is the reunion of our book club. Are youing or not?" Bastion asked Ryder.

    " I told you that I¡¯m noting to the Reunion. You know the reason. As long as that person is there, I don¡¯t even think abouting. Forget it. There¡¯s not even a need for a reunion in this day and age where we can talk to anyone around the world," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    "Sigh, Comeon Man, That guy promised me that she¡¯s noting. Be a good brother ande. I promise she won¡¯t be here. Listen to me, alright," Bastion said to Ryder in an effort to convince him.

    " You sure that person won¡¯t be there? I was told that person wasn¡¯t in the city at all when I found that person in the city. I¡¯m telling you that it wouldn¡¯t be good if I came here, and that person came as well," Ryder let out in a serious tone.

    "I got the promise from that guy. He said that he didn¡¯t even send the invitation. There is no way someone wille without an invitation. You can rest assured," Bastionforted Ryder.

    "Fine. I¡¯lle," Ryder sighed as he agreed.

    "Just hold on for a minute," Ryder said as he suddenly thought of something.

    "Are you free today?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Me? Yeah, I don¡¯t have anything to do," Shu replied as he shook his head.

    "That¡¯s good then. You¡¯reing with me to my Reunion," Ryder told Shu before he disconnected the call.

    " Yeah, sorry for that. I¡¯m back. So, I¡¯ming. I¡¯m bringing Shu as well," Ryder said to Bastion as he ced the phone near his ear.

    " Shu? Oh right. That guy I met at your house. It¡¯s fine. Bring him as well. I think I already told him toe with youst time," Bastion replied as he agreed.

    "Alright."

    Ryder disconnected the call.

    "Were you talking about that book club reunion from that time?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Yeah, That was Bastion over the phone. It¡¯s the afternoon, so you can rx until then," Ryder told Shu.

    "Oh, right. My Whirlwind is destroyed, so you¡¯ll need to take your car," Ryder told Shu as he smiled wryly.

    "That¡¯s fine. I have lots of cars. If you want to take a separate car from me, you can do that as well, or we can both go in my Ferrari 2047," Shu suggested.

    " Yeah, Let¡¯s go in one. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re going to show off. One car is fine," Ryder chuckled.

    "Cool. You can rest now. I¡¯ll be downstairs. Tell me when you¡¯re ready to leave," Shu said before he left the room.

    Shu left, but Ryder noticed that Alice was staring at him.

    " Don¡¯t look at me like that. You¡¯ll fall in love," Ryder let out teasingly as he ced he smiled.

    "The person you were talking about that you don¡¯t want to be in the book club reunion... is it that girl?" Alice ignored his words and asked him a question.

    Ryder was surprised at her question. Did she know that girl and what happened? How did she know? He couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    " Which girl are you talking about?" Ryder asked Alice.

    "The girl who used to be your best friend," Alice replied. "The girl who left you broken..."

    "There¡¯s no need to talk about that. The past is the past. Still, who told you about this?" Ryder inquired in full seriousness.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter who told me this," Alice let out as she shook her head.

    "Are you still not over her?" She asked Ryder.

    " What I¡¯m not over her? She doesn¡¯t even exist for me. I¡¯m in a different world, and she¡¯s in a different world," Ryder replied.

 Chapter 239 Classified Necrosis

    <h4>Chapter 239: ssified Necrosis</h4>

    "She¡¯s nonexistent for me. I¡¯ll be concerned about an ant more than I¡¯ll be about her. You know I stay away from spiders, right? Just think of her as that," Ryder replied as he sat on the sofa and closed his eyes.

    "Did someone from ss tell you?" Ryder asked without opening his eyes.

    "Yes," Alice muttered as she sat beside Ryder. Her shoulder made contact with his shoulder.

    " Can you tell me their name?" Ryder inquired again.

    "No. I don¡¯t want you to fight a friend as well. They were just concerned about you just like I was when you were like that after that incident. I asked them, no, I demanded that they tell me what happened. That¡¯s how I got the answer," Alice said in a concerned tone.

    " As I said, you don¡¯t have to be concerned about me. I¡¯m perfectly fine here," Ryder said with a smile on his face.

    " I just... If you want to talk about it, just know that I¡¯m here for you, always and forever," Alice muttered as she rested her hand on his shoulder.

    Ryder ced his hands on her cheeks and rubbed them gently.

    "Me too. Always and forever," Ryder let out softly.

    "You must be tired. So much happened today. Go and sleep," Ryder patted Alice¡¯s head as he told her to go sleep.

    "You too," Alice told Ryder as she sat straight.

    Both of them got off the sofa and went to the room as they smiled.

    Ryder entered the second bedroom in the big guest room.

    Heid on the bed and wore the Divinity sses. He remembered how he had to leave suddenly. He wanted to make sure that nothing unexpected happened in the Divinity after that.

    "Take Me to Divinity," Ryder muttered.

    He opened his eyes and found himself standing in the Great Hall in Devilia¡¯s Pce.

    Ryder looked around and saw a few people standing there.

    "You all are still here? Why didn¡¯t you all go to sleep?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    "You¡¯re fine! We were so concerned. How could we sleep!" Duke Devilia eximed as she heard Ryder¡¯s question.

    "Are you fine?" High Duke M asked Ryder.

    "Of Course I am fine. Rale knows where I went. Nothing can happen to me in that ce," Ryder chuckled as he nodded.

    " He did tell us that, but everyone was still concerned. Anyway, it¡¯s good that you¡¯re safe. What had happened, though?" She asked Ryder.

    "Nothing. As I said, I forgot to do something important that was rted to the maintenance of my treasure. It needs that every two weeks. I remembered suddenly that I waste and had to do it in a hurry. Now that you all know that I¡¯m perfectly fine, you can go to sleep. I¡¯m going to sleep as well," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "I¡¯ll escort you all to your rooms," Devilia told everyone as she gestured to them to follow her.

    Devilia showed everyone the rooms they were to stay before she left. She showed everyone¡¯s room except Rale.

    "Where¡¯s Rale¡¯s room?" Ryder asked Devilia as he noticed it.

    " Ah, Isn¡¯t he going to follow the Royal Guardian rules? Whenever the King is outside the Pce, the Royal Guardmander personally guards their quarters along with other Guards," Devilia let out as she looked at Ryder in confusion.

    " That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll be staying in your room to keep you safe," Rale nodded his head.

    "So, you won¡¯t sleep?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "No," Rale said as he shook his head.

    " There¡¯s no need to do that. You can sleep in peace. I¡¯ll be sleeping in my special realm instead. You won¡¯t need to protect me there. Sleep well. I¡¯ll see you guys in the morning," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    He just came back to calm them down, and now that he was sure he could leave. He didn¡¯t need to stay here, and it would be useless to hide that he was going to leave if Rale was going inside with him anyway. It was better to leave now so that Rale could officially sleep and so that no one even tried to target the room.

    "But..." Rale wanted to say something, but he was stopped by Ryder, who gestured to him to stay silent.

    "Don¡¯t worry about anything. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust my safety with you protecting me. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t want to waste your effort when I¡¯m not even lying here," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    He opened the system screen.

    " Goodnight, everyone. I¡¯ll meet you in the morning," Ryder said smilingly as he tapped on the logout.

    Ryder logged out of Divinity and woke up on his bed.

    He took off the Divinity sses and ced them in his storage.

    He got off the bed and left the room.

    He believed that Alice was already sleeping, so he decided to check once.

    He opened the door of her room gently and looked inside.

    Alice was lying on the bed. Her eyes were closed as she slept peacefully.

    Ryder smiled as he left the room and closed the door.

    He went downstairs and found Shu sitting on the couch. Shu was reading something on his Tablet. There was a deep frown on his face.

    "Is something the matter?" Ryder asked Shu as he stood near him.

    "Oh, you¡¯re here. It¡¯s nothing," Shu smiled as he closed the screen.

    "Is something troubling you? You can tell me," Ryder told Shu as he ced his hand on Shu¡¯s shoulders.

    "Nah, I was just a little too involved in the stock market. The Necrosis Corporation is doing pretty good," Shu muttered as he smiled.

    "Of Course. It would be strange if they weren¡¯t performing well. It¡¯s not for no reason that they became the... Ah, I mean, they developed a great tech that changed the world of gaming. Of Course, they will be big, and they will probably keep getting bigger," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Yeah, the tech is indeed extraordinary. To some, it may even feel like out of the world," Shu chuckled as he shook his head.

    "Let¡¯s leave," Shu said as he chuckled.

    Ryder and Shu left the pce and reached the car.

    " Want to drive?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Hahaha, are you sure? Just this morning, I crashed my car. You shouldn¡¯t trust me with driving," Ryderughed out loud, but he still walked towards the driver¡¯s seat.

    Shu threw the keys towards Ryder.

    Ryder caught the keys and unlocked the car. He sat on the driver seat while Shu sat on the passenger seat.

    Ryder started the car and moved it in reverse as he got it out of the Mansion Entrance before he pressed on the race and started driving it towards the direction where the Reunion was going to take ce.

    "What do you think about Divinity?" Shu asked Ryder suddenly.

    Ryder kept his focus on the road as he answered.

    " Our Divinity? It¡¯s quite incredible, but I think it¡¯s not entirely safe. If you listen to me, I¡¯ll advise you to stay away from it," Ryder replied casually.

    "You think so too, huh," Shu responded as he nodded his head.

    " I feel like you know something about it. Tell me what it is," Ryder inquired as he frowned.

    " I¡¯m not sure, but... Forget it. It¡¯s better that I find out everything before I spread this theory," Shu muttered as he shook his head.

    "No, tell me. I know a few things, as well. I might be able to help you get an answer," Ryder nced towards Shu for a brief second before he ced his focus back on the road.

    "The involvement of the Government in a game is giving me a bad feeling. These guys never involve themselves this deeply in a project. Even though it¡¯s a groundbreaking tech, but for them to invest this much and to secure the information so securely, there¡¯s definitely something messy going around in the back," Shu let out as he frowned.

    " Of Course, they¡¯ll keep the information secure. Don¡¯t they keep all high profile government investments secret? This tech has the potential to be a really big thing in the future. It can be used in many ces in the future. They would want to keep it secure and away from the hands of other countries," Ryder let out casually. He didn¡¯t find it too strange.

    "They keep the information secure and ssified, but normally the President has the authority to dessify the information if they want. This is different. From what I heard, even the President can¡¯t dessify the information. They need the permission of the president, the Majority members of the ruling party, and the Majority Members of the opposition party to dessify it. All three of them are the key of a single lock. This is what makes it even more strange," Shu exined as he sighed.

    Even Ryder started frowning at this information. This was indeed not normal level ssification.

 Chapter 240 $20 Million Card

    <h4>Chapter 240: $20 Million Card</h4>

    "I don¡¯t know everything about the politics, but that is indeed not normal. Normally, the President should have the control. Something seems strange," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    ¡¯ From what I know of my past memories, Nothing bad has happened in the three years rted to Necrosis. They did be an organization that was in the top five in the entire world in just three years, though. They increased this Fully Immersive VR craze.¡¯

    Ryder fell into a deep thought as he wondered about the incident.

    " They involved real-life money in Divinity. yers became millionaires just by ying and the brand deals. The live broadcast industry also bloomed from this growth. Although it was surprising how they became so big and so fast, I didn¡¯t find anything strange enough to warrant this crazy protection.¡¯

    ¡¯ Is it that I didn¡¯t know what was happening in the background in the past, or is it because of some change in the future because of meing back in time? The Uprising also wasn¡¯t a big problem in thest timeline. At Least I didn¡¯t know about them or any other high-level terrorist group. Could it be that I have changed the future?¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    "Are you sure about this information?" Ryder inquired as he nced at Shu.

    " Yeah. The Major Generals told me about this. I don¡¯t think they were lying. I¡¯m somewhat good at catching lies. I would have known if they were lying," Shu replied as he sighed.

    "Anyway, let¡¯s not talk about this serious topic. It¡¯s your reunion today¡ªtime for celebration and party. We don¡¯t need to concern ourselves with Necrosis," Shh chuckled as he shook his head.

    "No, it¡¯s fine. There¡¯s no harm in discussing a little bit. Anyway, I do have a question. If you know that Necrosis has something big going on in the shadows, why do you still keep using Divinity? Don¡¯t you think there might be danger in you using it?" Ryder asked Shu as he turned the steering wheel sideways to take the left turn.

    " Divinity is safe. I had my staff check the Divinity sses just to be sure. I also talked with the scientists that certified it. This thing has literally no danger to life. Now I did feel that there was a possibility that they were trying to steal memories of people to use them for their financial gains. Still, I am certain that it¡¯s not it after I did some more digging," Shu started exining as he looked towards Ryder, who was listening while keeping his eyes on the road.

    "Divinity is not stealing memories of the users, and it is not stealing any data. It¡¯s also not harmful to life at all. It¡¯s pretty amazing they managed to create a tech like this. Still, I do think something shady is going on. It¡¯s not rted to the yers or the Divinity sses, but they do have something that the government is interested in," Shu said as he sighed.

    ¡¯ The sses are safe? Dude! You¡¯re talking to someone who died in real life after dying in-game. You should find another person to im that,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled wryly. ¡¯Like hell I¡¯ll believe that thing is a hundred percent safe.¡¯

    Ryder knew that there was also a possibility that someone had killed him in real life while he was in Divinity, but the chances of that happening were really low. He was not someone extremely rich. He wasn¡¯t well known either in his real life.

    Ryder also lived a rtively peaceful life and didn¡¯t have any enemies as far as he knew. He might have had a few arguments and some fights but nothing big enough to warrant someone¡¯s decision to murder him.

    He fully believed that he had died because of Divinity since the chances of him dying in real life were almost negligible.

    "Why are you so interested in Necrosis? Even after finding out that it¡¯s rtively safe?" Ryder asked Shu.

    He was quite curious why Shu was trying to find this much information about Necrosis? If it was about the Government sealing information, how would he know that if he wasn¡¯t trying to get the information out in the first ce? It was clear that Shu was pretty interested in Necrosis.

    " You can just call it a hunch or a wild goose chase. It could even be the fact that I¡¯m interested in Necrosis as a futurepetitor. There can be many reasons when ites to that, and all of them y a role in my curiosity," Shu exined as he sighed.

    " Interesting. Tell me if you find something about it," Ryder let out as he nodded his head.

    Shu was about to reply when his stomach started growling.

    "I¡¯ll keep you updated. Anyway, where is the reunion? How long before we get there? I haven¡¯t eaten, and I¡¯m getting Hungry," Shu let out without feeling the least bit embarrassed.

    "Why didn¡¯t you eat at home? See, even your stomach is angry at you. You should not keep yourself hungry," Ryder couldn¡¯t help butugh as he replied.

    "I didn¡¯t want to be rude. The reunions have celebrations and all you can eat parties, I heard. I didn¡¯t want to be rude by going there and not eating," Shu answered Ryder.

    "You heard? Have you never gone to the reunions?" Ryder asked out of curiosity.

    "I didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t attend any reunion. It was the time my family had died. I was busy focusing on thepany. Those guys decided to throw another reunion just for me, and they kept bugging me. Things happened, and now I¡¯m not close to any of them," Shu exined. "So, I¡¯ve never been to a reunion."

    "Don¡¯t worry. Treat this as your reunion as well. Also, there will be food there," Ryder said. " Also, we¡¯re nearby. We¡¯ll be there in a few seconds."

    After around Twenty seconds, Ryder stopped his car before a small building. It seemed more like a shop that had two floors only. There was a Karaoke Restaurant sign on the top.

    Ryder parked the Ferrari and stepped out of his car. Shu also stepped out.

    Shu and Ryder were both in casual clothing. Even though Shu¡¯s clothes were very expensive, they seemed cheap since they didn¡¯t have any branding on them.

    The clothes that Ryder was wearing were also simr to Shu.

    Ryder was wearing a yellow T-shirt and ck jeans. Shu, on the other hand, was wearing a ck pants and a round neck t-shirt.

    "Let¡¯s go inside. I wonder how they have nned it. This seems to be a Karaoke party at the first nce. It can be fun if it¡¯s that," Shu let out excitedly.

    " Do you like karaoke?" Ryder asked as he walked towards the building.

    "I do. It¡¯s pretty fun. I gave a karaoke system at the mansion. We should try that sometime," Shu responded. "It¡¯ll be fun with us there."

    " Sure, in the future," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    He pushed the door open and entered.

    Ryder and Shu entered the building and called Bastion.

    "We¡¯re here. We¡¯re standing near the reception. Where are you guys?" Ryder inquired.

    "We¡¯re on the second floor¡ªroom number 13. Just wait there. I¡¯ll be right there," Bastion replied as he disconnected the call.

    " Where are they?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "They¡¯re on the second floor¡ªroom number 13. Now we can go there ourselves, but Bastion said that he¡¯sing down. Let¡¯s wait for a little," Ryder replied. Shu nodded his head and opened his phone.

    " This is interesting," Shu muttered suddenly.

    Ryder heard that as he nced at Shu.

    "What happened?" He asked.

    " Do you know about Pikomon? Shu asked Ryder.

    " Yeah, It is a big franchise that makes animated shows for kids. What about them?" Ryder asked Shu in confusion.

    " I just heard a news about them. More specifically, about Pikomon cards. An original Pikomon Card they made nearly half a decade ago just sold for over twenty million dors." Shu let out as he chuckled.

    "A ying card? 20 million?" Ryder asked with a frown on his face, not believing it even a little.

    "Yeah. It¡¯s a collector¡¯s item, you can say. Still, Twenty million is not much. I want it for myself! If I had known about the auction, I would¡¯ve bought it," Shu let out as he sighed.

    "Twenty million is not much?" Ryder muttered, not knowing whether tough or cry at the Prodigal Shu.

    "Yeah, this card would have been a good collection. It¡¯s the rarest of them all," Shu muttered.

    "You know that I don¡¯t understand yournguage now. Stop talking about cards. Save that money for something else," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    " What are you guys talking about?"

    While Ryder and Shu were talking about Pikomon, a man ced their hand on their shoulders as he asked.

    "Nothing, We were just talking about some cards. Let¡¯s go," Ryder replied as he looked at Bastion.

    "You sure that the girl isn¡¯t here, right?" Ryder asked just to be sure.

 Chapter 241 The Strange Mission

    <h4>Chapter 241: The Strange Mission</h4>

    "I¡¯m sure. She¡¯s not here, and she won¡¯t be. She hasn¡¯t been invited," Bastionforted Ryder as he pulled him and Shu towards the lift.

    All three of them got inside the lift, which took them to the second floor.

    They reached room number 13. Bastion opened the door and entered inside.

    The room was prettyrge. It was a private room that was big enough for fifty people to stay insidefortably.

    There were couches for people to sit and a table in front of them.

    A big OLED tv was fitted on the wall. There were speakers on all four sides of the room.

    "Ryder, you¡¯re here. Man, I¡¯m sorry for what happened." Dan eximed as he saw Ryder. He was the Club President of the Book Club. He was also the person that had the job of inviting people for the reunion. He had gone with Bastion to Ryder¡¯s house.

    Dan walked closer to Ryder and hugged him.

    " I seriously didn¡¯t know about her returning to the city, but I promise she won¡¯t be here. I haven¡¯t sent her the invitation. You can rest assured and have fun today," Dan told Ryder in a low voice so the others wouldn¡¯t hear.

    "Hey, Ryder! Long time no see. What have you been up to, man?"

    " Can¡¯t you see? He has been working out. He looks more fit now."

    "Hahaha, Yeah. Ryder used to be less interested in his body and more interested in hisptop and in books. It¡¯s good to see that he has started putting the focus on his body."

    "Come, sit, man. The food and snacks are already ordered. They¡¯ll be here soon. First, the celebration and then the party."

    All the guys and the girls present in the room had a friendly rtion to Ryder. They were all happy that Ryder was here.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile as he saw the warm wee. It had been so long since he met these people. Most of them had moved out of the city after graduating. They probably came the long way for the Reunion.

    "Thanks, guys. You all are looking great as well. Anyway, this is my brother, Shu. He¡¯ll be joining us today. I hope you will wee him," Ryder greeted them back before he introduced Shu.

    "Ah, right. Bastion and Dan told us that you¡¯d be bringing a friend. He must be a great friend for you to call him brother," One of the guys let out as he chuckled

    "Hello, Little brother Shu."

    "Hello."

    "Good to meet you."

    "How are you?"

    One after another, everyone started greeting Shu.

    "Hello Everyone, It¡¯s nice to meet you all," Shy replied with a smile on his face.

    "Let¡¯s sit," Ryder told Shu and the others before he found an empty couch to sit on. Shu, Bastion, and Dan sat beside him.

    " Man, Shu looks great. I want to have a healthy body like him. My wife keeps scolding me for being too thin. Brother Shu, please help me gain some weight." One of the men suddenly said to Shu.

    Even though he talked about Shu¡¯s weight in some way, Shu and the others knew that his intentions weren¡¯t to insult him. That guy probably wanted to gain weight for serious.

    "You idiot, Do you think he has opened a gym for you? Just eat and be happy. Don¡¯t worry about life and enjoy." another man replied before Shu could.

    "If that was working, do you think I would ask him? I want to know about the secret of weight gain. The techniques of gym owners and the others were useless. This body of mine refuses to gain fat," The man replied as he sighed.

    "That happens. My doctors told me about that. There are some people that have a different metabolism. No matter how much they eat, they don¡¯t get fat. Anyway, I would just tell you to keep eating what you actually like. Stop worrying about weight. You look perfectly fine just the way you are. You don¡¯t need to change yourself," Shu answered the man as he sighed.

    "Yeah, Isn¡¯t this just your wife wanting a chubby hubby now? She must¡¯ve seen some chubby actor or something that became her favorite. Don¡¯t mind the weight," Dan also chimed in as heughed.

    The others also startedughing.

    After some time, there was a knock on the door.

    "Looks like the food is here. Come on in!" Dan called out.

    The door was open, and the waiters brought the food and the wine bottles along with the cutlery.

    After setting up everything, they left.

    " Man, this brings back memories. Do you remember how we all used to eat after our club meeting? Those were some fun days," One of the men let out as he saw the food.

    " Yeah, those were some fun times," Dan chimed in.

    " I agree. The club was the best thing about the college life. Reading books after and spending time together," Bastion said as he reminisced about the past.

    " I would believe those wordsing out of anyone¡¯s mouth except you. Do you really think we don¡¯t know that you joined the club to hook up with girls," One of the girls present in the roomughed as she looked at Bastion teasingly.

    "Well, you can say hooking up was an advantage of being in such a prestigious Club filled with beautifuldies. You can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t like books just because I liked women," Bastion chuckled as he looked back at the girl.

    "Also, you girls were just so pretty. You can¡¯t me me for falling for you girls," he added.

    "Hahaha, herees our flirting king, Bastion. Man, you were the exact opposite of Ryder. I still wonder how you two were best friends. You spent your college life with multiple women, and Ryder spent it after..." Another girl started saying something, but she stopped herself as she remembered that she made a mistake.

    She had forgotten about Ryder¡¯s bad past rted to that girl. She couldn¡¯t help but regret her words. She also saw a lot of the people in the room ring at her.

    Ryder, on the other hand, didn¡¯t look phased at all.

    "It¡¯s fine. You can continue. I spent my college life chasing after a single girl only to then..." Ryder started replying. The only way to put this thing behind was to address it once and for all, but before he could continue, he stopped as he heard Janus¡¯ words.

    [Ding: A mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Make the next girl that enter the room cry without using any item from the system]

    [Reward: A mystery box]

    [ Punishment for Failure: Depression for 24 hours]

    [Time Limit: Today]

    ¡¯ What the heck? Make the next girl who enters the room cry? Who is he talking about? The room service didn¡¯t have any girls. Also, all the girls from the book club are already here except..." Ryder thought till here and stood up shocked as he came to an assumption.

    "What happened?" Bastion asked Ryder as he also stood up.

    There was suddenly a knock on the door.

    " Ah, it should be Maximul. He said he was going to bete. Come on inside, Max," Dan said as he looked at the door.

    The door was open, and a man entered inside the room.

    Ryder somewhat rxed as he saw that it was a man and not the person he was thinking.

    "Hey, guys, Sorry for beingte but guess who I found on the way?" Max let out as heughed.

    He looked back and said to someone, "Come on inside."

    Ryder saw another person entering the room, and it was the same person that he didn¡¯t want to see at all.

    It was a girl who was wearing a beautiful red dress. The girl had beautiful eyes.

    Ryder simply stood there with a nk look on his face. He looked to his side at Dan with a look that could kill.

    Dan started sweating as he saw the girl. He didn¡¯t understand how the girl was here. He didn¡¯t even invite her here.

    "I can¡¯t believe you guys forgot to invite her. I wasing here and saw her going in the opposite direction. Imagine my surprise after knowing that she wasn¡¯t invited. I knew you guys would make some blunder. Forgetting a member. Hah, I guess I should¡¯ve expected that. Last time also, you forgot to invite a few people," Maxughed as he rubbed his head.

    Dan wanted to kill Max for making such a big blunder. That Idiot didn¡¯t understand that it was intentional that they didn¡¯t invite her. Now, they couldn¡¯t do anything. They just couldn¡¯t tell her to leave outright. They had to be civil. Dan knew that he was stuck between a rock and a hard ce.

    "Ah, I can¡¯t believe I forgot to send her an invitation. I swear I remembered her. There must have been some mixup," Dan replied as he started sweating.

    _____________________________

    {{ Announcement:IMPORTANT: Trick Or Treat Giveaway. (Halloween 2020)

    As Discord is released a new fun bot for Halloween, we¡¯ll be using that for this giveaway.

    To take part, all you need to do is join the Discord Server.

    The winner of this will receive a Nitro as a gift and a Character named after them in this Novel.

    Happy Halloween guys. Link to discord is in the synopsis of the novel. }} {Note: This won¡¯t increase the chapter cost}

 Chapter 242 Works

    <h4>Chapter 242: Works</h4>

    "I should¡¯ve checked with her to see if she got it. I¡¯m such an Idiot," Dan facepalm himself as he pretended to be upset at the blunder. "Sorry, Imane."

    Even Bastion was shocked at the development. He ced his hand on Ryder¡¯s back and gently patted him.

    "You want to leave?" he whispered in Ryder¡¯s ears.

    ¡¯ I want to, but if I do, I¡¯ll be thought of as a scared kid. Also, I need to finish Janus¡¯ new task as well. Making Imane cry without using any items,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned while looking at Imane.

    He wanted to leave this ce and not even see her face, but he had reasons to stay, which made it tough for him to leave. Noting here was a different matter but leaving after arriving is an entirely different field of y, which would only make it seem like he was still petty about what happened in the past.

    Everyone present in the room was stunned since they hadn¡¯t expected Imane wasing here, but all of them started greeting her politely after she was here. The girls were more friendly with her than the guys, though.

    "Come sit; the food has just arrived. Let¡¯s begin our reunion celebration," Dan told Imane as he gestured for her to sit near the girls.

    Imane walked to the girls and sat on the couch near them.

    Ryder and the others also sat down. Dan looked at Ryder with an apologetic look on his face. Ryder didn¡¯t reach and just took a sip of his drink.

    While they were all eating, they also started talking. The first question was, how was everyone but the second question was more inquisitive.

    " May I ask what everyone is doing nowadays rted to work? I heard that some of you hit really big," One of the girls chuckled as she asked everyone.

    "Let¡¯s start from the left. Imane, you go first," She asked.

    "Work? I don¡¯t work. I stay with my boyfriend, who works in Necrosis Corporation," Imane replied as she nodded her head.

    ¡¯That guy works at Necrosis? It has been pretty tough finding Necrosis Scientists. Is he a Necrosis Scientist or a normal worker in marketing or something?¡¯ Shu wondered as he looked at Imane.

    Ryder, on the other hand, was still thinking about how he could make the girl cry. Did he really have to act petty in front of all his friends? he wondered.

    "Oh, so you¡¯re living a queen love. That¡¯s incredible. The guy must be pretty rich if he works at Necrosis," one of the guys eximed. He knew a little bit about Necrosis and knew that it was apany that was hitting it big in the market.

    "Alright. Your turn," The girls asked another girl.

    "Me? I work as a trantor for tourists and got online websites. It¡¯s a decent paying job," another girl replied.

    "I work at Marketing in Koko construction. I¡¯m not the head honcho in the marketing department, but I¡¯m quite good," the next girl answered.

    After her, the next girl in line started speaking about her work.

    "I work with Kia in the marketing department as well. We¡¯re both part of the same team."

    One after another, the girls kept replying until soon, it was the turn of the guys to answer.

    "I work in the sales department at BWM motors. It¡¯s a pretty high paying job. I also get to meet a few rich people when theye to buy cars," The first guy replied as he chuckled.

    "Does those rich people include girls too? That¡¯s a really good ce to find a wife and enjoy life with her," One of the girlsughed as he teased the man.

    "Meh, It¡¯s not as easy as it sounds. The Richdies thate to our showroomse with their boyfriends. The ones thate single don¡¯t show any interest at all," The man replied as he sighed.

    "Don¡¯t worry, man. Keep trying. One day, you¡¯ll find your woman," A guyforted her.

    "Hahaha, yeah. I won¡¯t give up. I¡¯ll definitely find my sugar mamma," the manughed out loud as he replied.

    "Man, I doubt that. You¡¯ve been saying that since college days. Just give up and find a decent wife. It¡¯s not easy to get a sugar mama with that face. Bastion, Ryder, Dan, and Arkun have the greatest chance of finding a richdy with their faces. You, on the other hand, will have a tough time," One of the girls started teasing the man.

    "Meh, You¡¯re just jealous that I didn¡¯t chase after you when I was in college. Just say if you want me. I might be willing to give up on my dream to date a rich woman and start dating you. It¡¯s worth a shot if you¡¯re willing," The man replied as he winked at the girl.

    "Hah, was that supposed to be a joke? I¡¯m sorry I forgot tough," The girl replied as she rolled her eyes.

    "You guys aren¡¯t going to learn. You keep bantering like this since the college days. Why don¡¯t you guys just date? It¡¯s clear that you¡¯re both close like that," Dan smiled as he tried to y a wingman to get someughs and to lighten Ryder¡¯s mood.

    "Since when did you start ying cupid?" The girl inquired as she looked at Dan.

    "It¡¯s not most me that thinks that. What do you say, Ryder? Aren¡¯t I right?" Dan asked Ryder.

    Ryder looked at the man and the woman, nodding his head.

    "They do look good together. Let¡¯s not force anything, though. It¡¯s not good when the girl or the guy doesn¡¯t genuinely like each other, though. Just let them decide. It¡¯s better never to be together than to go with someone you¡¯re going to leave in less than a week without even telling," Ryder replied as he closed his eyes.

    Everyone understood the direction he was pointing in. They knew the person at was specifically subtly directed at, but no one said anything. The atmosphere suddenly turned silent.

    Imane lowered her head but didn¡¯t say anything. She pretended not to understand his words.

    Looking at this suddenly awkward atmosphere, the guy who was answering changed the topic.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll get my sugar mommy sooner orter. Let¡¯s get to the next person. Reili, it¡¯s your turn," the man told his friend.

    "Me? I¡¯m not going anything big. I¡¯m a writer. I got seven books published already, and four of them are already the best sellers," Reili replied as he casually talked about his work.

    "Seven books? I¡¯m an avid reader. I¡¯ve read all the best sellers, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard your name. Did you really write a book?" One of the girls asked Reili.

    "That¡¯s because I don¡¯t use my real name. I use my Alias to publish to keep my privacy," Reili replied with a calm smile on his face.

    "What¡¯s your Alias? Tell me," The girl asked with an interested look on her face.

    Most of the people here weren¡¯t interested in reading books, so they didn¡¯t take much interest, but there were a few that were really interested in it and wondered if they actually read Reili¡¯s book without knowing.

    "I¡¯ll tell you if you promise that you all won¡¯t tell anyone," the man told her with a concerned look on her face.

    "I promise. I won¡¯t tell anyone," The York replied.

    The other girls also promised.

    "It¡¯s not that big a deal to brag anywhere. You¡¯re just an author who sold well. Who would even care about telling anyone. Don¡¯t worry. We won¡¯t tell anyone. Whatever happens here tonight will stay here," Bastion replied as he smiled.

    Even though most of the guys here were members of book club that loved to read books in their younger days, they had grown out of it a few years after graduating. Only a few of them were still crazy about books and followed the trend about them.

    "You read My Triple Soulmate?" Reili asked the people present in the room.

    "My Triple Soulmate? The current bestseller? Written by the great Drei? Are you Author Drei? It can¡¯t be!" the girl was instantly shocked as she heard the name of the book.

    "He can¡¯t be Drei! Drei must be an old writer! How can someone as young as him be that good? No chance!"

    "He¡¯s messing with us."

    "It¡¯s not possible!"

    All the girls looked at Reili in disbelief.

    " It is possible. I don¡¯t follow the books anymore, but you all know Drei appeared just a few years ago," Dan told the girls as he thought about it seriously.

    "Drei usesplex words but the prior outside him for keeping simplicity while mixingplexity without making it difficult. The things that Reili wrote while he was in the club also had a simr style," He said to the girls.

    "That... Are you really Reili?" the girl asked him.

    Reili looked at all of them and smiled as he nodded his head.

    Ryder didn¡¯t look impressed, though. Instead, he looked at Reili weirdly.

 Chapter 243 The CEO

    <h4>Chapter 243: The CEO</h4>

    Ryder looked at Reili as he frowned after hearing his author¡¯s name.

    He remembered seeing that name in an article.

    It was an article about how the Famous Writer Drei was killed by his wife in his own home. The article didn¡¯t have Drei¡¯s image, so Ryder right knew that Drei was actually Reiki.

    Ryder looked at him and wondered if that was about to happen again.

    "Reili, Do you have a girl you¡¯re seeing or a wife?" Ryder asked out of nowhere while so the girls were busy asking him for an autograph.

    "No. I¡¯m still single. Why do you ask?" Reili asked Ryder with a curious look on his face.

    "Do you have a girl in mind for me?" He inquired as he chuckled.

    "Not really. I was just wondering if you were seeing anyone or not. It would be best if you were careful with this," Ryder told Reili as he frowned.

    " You are acting weird, bro. Why would I have to be careful when dating? I¡¯m not a naive little girl," Reili chuckled as he shook his head.

    Ryder didn¡¯t reply since he has no way to exin what he was talking about.

    He couldn¡¯t just find it and say that Reili was going to be killed by his wife for some reason.

    If he had known that Drei was Reili, then he might have tried to find more about his death and the events that transpired instead of just skimming through the headline.

    ¡¯Maybe it will happen this time too, or maybe it won¡¯t. Not everything is happening as it did in the past. If the future is changed, then he¡¯s safe, and he doesn¡¯t need to worry. If it¡¯s the same, then he will die in two years. The best I can do is advise him,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at Reili.

    "Ah, Ryder? Are you alright, man? You¡¯ve been dazing out for quite some time now. Did something happen?" Reili asked Ryder as he didn¡¯t get a response the first time.

    " It¡¯s nothing. I just read an article before that a woman murdered her husband at night. The husband was a writer too. Just thought that I should inform and tell you to be careful. You can ignore my words if you want or just be careful when selecting a girl. No one knows how the girl will turn out," Ryder responded as he nodded his hand.

    "Hai hai, I¡¯ll be careful," Reili nodded his head as he smiled, but he didn¡¯t take this warning seriously.

    Ryder understood that Reili was just saying that, but he didn¡¯t say anything else. Even the future of divinity was changed, let alone the future of the world. Ryder understood that it was quite possible that he was concerned for no reason.

    While Ryder was dating these things to Reili since people took hisst line as him indirectly taking a jab at Imane, who was sitting silently.

    Even Dan and Bastion thought the same. They, too, felt that he was using his Reili¡¯s shoulders while taking an aim at Imane. They didn¡¯t interfere, though. They believed that it was Imane¡¯s fault for what happened. Even though they were all still friends, Dan and Bastion sided with Ryder more.

    While Reili was finished with his introduction and themotion had calmed down, the others started introducing their works.

    One after another, everyone talked about their work. Most of them were middle-ss, white-cor workers, while others were in decent positions in hispanies.

    While the people were introducing themselves, Ryder was lost in a different thought of his own.

    There was only one question in his mind, but that single question had many interpretations.

    ¡¯How? How can I do this? How can I make her cry without using any item from my system inventory? This girl is not the emotional type that will cry at a few insults. She might simply leave instead. He couldn¡¯t let her leave, and he couldn¡¯t¡¯ He couldn¡¯t help but frown as he thought about it with a grim expression on his face.

    He couldn¡¯t use violence, and he couldn¡¯t use his words as they would just fail. All he could use was his brain, which wasn¡¯t helping him in the slightest.

    ¡¯ Only now do I realize how dependent I¡¯m on the system when ites to doing tasks. I need to adapt my brain to be able to deal with stuff even when I can¡¯t use the system. This thing can happen anytime. I need to use my own strength and powers to achieve my goals,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    "Ryder?"

    While Ryder was lost in his thoughts, someone called out his name.

    He came out of his gaze and looked in the direction of the voice.

    "You¡¯re so out of it today. It¡¯s your turn to talk. What¡¯re you doing, dazing out there? Hurry up," The girls startedughing as she looked in the direction of Ryder.

    "I started my ownpany. It¡¯s in the initial stages, so I can¡¯t talk much about it, but you¡¯ll know about it soon enough," Ryder replied casually since he was not really in the mood to talk about it.

    "Wha? You started apany? Apany of that? How many people work for you?" The guys started asking Ryder.

    " I heard you made games which barely earned anything. Are you really that rich? Even the registration is $50k from what I heard. How can you afford that much just by developing games? Are you sure you¡¯re not bragging?" One of the girls asked jokingly.

    Shu couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. He was wondering what the girls would have thought if they had seen the car of Ryder. The Ferrari Whirlwind was a rich people¡¯s car which only the rich people could afford. Ryder was definitely not poor, but these girls were too idiot to see it. Instead, they were joking with it.

    ¡¯Should I help out? I might make him angry if I do, though,¡¯ Shu thought as he wondered if he should help.

    He wanted to chime in and tell everyone that the Ferrari that was parked outside was Ryder¡¯s. Even though it was going to be a lie, it wasn¡¯t a big lie. That would shock others, but he knew that Ryder wouldn¡¯t like it, so he dropped the n. He wondered what Ryder was going to say.

    "Were you really joking? Hahaha, you really got us there."

    The guys heard the words of the girl and started believing her. They misunderstood that Ryder was trolling them to have fun with them.

    "As I said, It¡¯s a smallpany that is in its initial stages. It doesn¡¯t need that much investment. Also, I have an investor that helped me with the money," Ryder said as he lied a little. All his money was his, but he decided to lie about an investor.

    "Ah, so it wasn¡¯t a joke. You actually got an investor. The idea you came up with must be really great. What¡¯s thepany about? What are you working on?" Reili asked Ryder with great interest.

    "It¡¯s a pharmaceuticalpany. As I said, it¡¯s one the beginning, and all we have is an idea. You¡¯ll know if we make any progress," Ryder let out casually.

    "You jumped from a game developer to a Pharma Ceo? That¡¯s a big stream change. I don¡¯t believe it," Imane said softly.

    "You don¡¯t have to believe it. Why should I care if you believe or not? Neither you¡¯re going to pay me anything, nor I¡¯m going to pay you anything. There¡¯s no reason for me to lie. Anyway, who¡¯s next? Take it over," Ryder replied casually without even looking in the direction of Imane.

    People could see the tense atmosphere, but they didn¡¯t interfere.

    "Ah, right. It¡¯s my turn," Dan let out suddenly as he smiled wryly.

    While Dan started talking about his work, Ryder again got busy with his thoughts, trying toe up with an idea, and he suddenly got one.

    ¡¯That¡¯s right. I can use her,¡¯ Ryder thought as he suddenly got a great idea about how he could make Imane cry. It was a long as aplicated method, but he believed that it was a surefire way to achieve it.

    If he was able to pull this off, he was going to seed for sure.

    "Excuse me for a second; I¡¯ll be right back. You guys continue," Ryder suddenly said as he stood up and walked out of the room.

    Dan and the others watched Ryder, but they believed him when he said he was going to be back.

    They continued with their conversation.

    Shu and Bastion didn¡¯t leave the room either since they felt like Ryder wanted some privacy for some reason.

    "I work for the Dream Corporation," Dan suddenly said, shocking everyone.

    His words shocked everyone. Dream Corporation was one of the biggest conglomerates in the world. Those who couldnd a job there could be said to be the absolute best. They were surprised that Dan worked there.

 Chapter 244 The Help

    <h4>Chapter 244: The Help</h4>

    Dan told everyone that he worked for Dream Corporation. It surprised everyone, including Shu.

    Shu didn¡¯t know that Dan worked for hispany. He found it to be pretty interesting. He didn¡¯t say anything, though, and just sat back and continued eating the snacks.

    " Dream Corporation has a lot of branches from what I heard. It works in multiple industries. What is your work in Divine Corporation?" One of the guys asked Dan.

    "I work there, but I¡¯m not a big shot. I work as a System Engineer in their Tech Division. It¡¯s just my beginning, so I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get higher positions in the future," Dan let out as he nodded his head.

    "A System Engineer in the Dream Corporation? It¡¯s not a bad deal. The work they do is pretty high profile, and the incentives are good too. You can definitely reach great heights if you stay there," One of the guys replied.

    The girls also started showing some interest as they looked at Dan. A man who was so sessful and had such a bright future was definitely worth their interest. That all wanted a sessful guy, and Dan was pretty good looking too.

    "Dan, it looks like you¡¯re going to be taking my role here. All the girls are looking at it like hungry wolves. Take care of her," Bastionughed out loud as he patted the shoulders of Dan.

    "Hah, stop joking, man. You¡¯re always going to retain that position. Only an idiot would be stupid enough to believe that the girls would want anyone other than the Great Bastion," Danughed out loud as he rolled his eyes.

    He knew that no matter how he looked, Bastion was many times better. He was handsome, and he came from a wealthy family. Dan had no confidence in himself.

    "Anyway, it¡¯s your turn. Start talking," he continued without giving Bastion a chance to respond.

    "Me? I¡¯m living the same life as before. You know that I¡¯m a happy go lucky guy. Just pandering my family money," Bastion replied casually.

    "Really? I heard you went to foreign for further studies. Don¡¯t you have any interest in working?" One of the guys asked Bastion.

    "I did finish my higher education and just came back. I¡¯m taking some time off before I think about what I need to do. It¡¯s not like I must work, though. I want to work on something that interests me," Bastion replied.

    "Anyway, let¡¯s move over to thest person," Ryder said as he looked at Ryder

    " Brother Shu, You¡¯re new, and the people here don¡¯t know you that well. Introduce yourself. From now on, you¡¯re a member of our club too."

    "Yes. You¡¯re with Ryder. Do you work with him?"

    Shu was the only person that was left who hadn¡¯t answered yet.

    "Ah, right. I work with Brother Ryder," Shu replied as he smiled innocently.

    He wasn¡¯t exactly telling the truth, but he wasn¡¯t lying either.

    They did work together in Divinity to clear the Dungeon. He didn¡¯t bother telling them the reality that he had one of the wealthiest people in the world, let alone amongst the ones present here.

    Shu was never the one to look for attention; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t keep his identity a secret, whether it wasn¡¯t needed to expose his identity.

    Ryder was standing outside the room as he picked up his phone and dialed a number.

    After some time, the person on the other side picked up the phone.

    "Ooh, My hubby is calling me? You never call. Did something happen? Are you missing me?"

    A beautiful sounding voice was heard from the other side of the call.

    "Of Course. Who would I miss if not you, my dear? There¡¯s never a day I don¡¯t miss you," Ryder let out as he replied.

    The person on the other side was none other than the Mafia Queen of the city, Esmi. She was the first woman Ryder slept with and the one who possessed a lot of power in the underworld.

    "Hah, you¡¯re flirting too. It¡¯s either you¡¯re really horny today, or you need me for something. Tell me what it is so that I can prepare ordingly," Esmi chuckled as asked Ryder.

    She knew that Ryder didn¡¯t sound urgent, so she could take her time flirting with him a little. If he sounded urgent, she would¡¯ve instantly left instead of talking like this.

    "I do need you today, and it¡¯s for something really important. I want to scare a few people. I need a few of your men here. You don¡¯t need toe through. Bastion is here as well. It would be awkward if youe here since there won¡¯t be any benefits, and only your time will be wasted, so only send the men. Send them with weapons. Also, make sure that they are people that Bastion doesn¡¯t know about. I don¡¯t want him to know what I¡¯m doing," Ryder told Esmi.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll send ten of my best men. All of them will be armed. Tell me the address," Esmi agreed before she asked the address.

    "Cafiona Karaoke Bar on the 154th Street. Give me a call when they¡¯re here. I¡¯ll meet them outside," Ryder told her.

    "Alright. Everything will be arranged. The men will be there in ten minutes," Esmi said as she nodded her head.

    "Awesome. Thanks," Ryder responded with a smile on his face before he disconnected the call.

    After disconnecting the call, Ryder walked back into the room.

    The club members were already finished with the introduction, and they were now about to start the Karaoke Session.

    Ryder walked back into the room and sat on his position as he joined up with them.

    Exactly after ten minutes, Ryder¡¯s phone started ringing. He didn¡¯t even bother looking at his phone as he stood up.

    "You guys continue. I¡¯ll be back after taking the call," He told Bastion and others before he left the room.

    Ryder walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

    He brought his phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller id. It was the same person he was expecting. It was Esmi.

    Ryder picked up the call.

    "Hey, there, hubby. Ten of my guys are already outside the ce. You can go out and meet them. You can give them anymand. Oh, Bastion doesn¡¯t know them. You, on the other hand, to know the guys," Esmi chuckled as she informed Ryder.

    "I know, but he doesn¡¯t? Interesting. Let me see who they are. Thanks, by the way. You¡¯re the best," Ryder said before disconnecting the call.

    Ryder went down the stairs and stepped out of the Karaoke Bar.

    "Hah, it¡¯s you guys? Esmi sent you to help me?" Ryder inquired as he frowned.

    He recognized the people in the lead.

    He remembered the day he went to bowling with Shu. Three people tried to bully Shu there, and Ryder had beaten them up.

    A few more things had happened after them, which involved the guy in the clear following Ryder¡¯s car to kill him.

    Ryder also nned to kill those guys, but he had found out that they were Esmi¡¯s gang members. Esmi had convinced Ryder not to go anything at that time, and she had told these guys to stop following Ryder.

    "Yeah, Madam Esmi sent us," the boss of the team said as he nodded his head.

    "Good. You brought the masks and the weapons?" Ryder asked the guts.

    The guy in the lead raised his shirt softly and showed the gun that was tucked in his pants.

    "Good. Now dress up and listen to the n," Ryder muttered as he walked closer to them and told them what he wanted to go.

    The gang members heard his n and couldn¡¯t help but look at him weirdly.

    "You called us here for that?" the leader asked Ryder with an incredulous look on his face.

    "Yup. It¡¯s not a tough job. I¡¯m sure you can handle it," Ryder replied.

    "Hmph, of course, we can handle it. It¡¯s a kid¡¯s job after all," the man let out as he shook his head.

    "Whatever. Let¡¯s just get done with this," The man said as he looked at Ryder.

    Ryder smiled subtly as he nodded his head.

    "Just how long is his call? It¡¯s Ryder¡¯s turn to sing," Dan asked Bastion as he looked in the direction of the door.

    "It must be a call from work. Let me see," Bastion let out as he stood up and left the room.

    Bastion looked outside but didn¡¯t find Ryder there.

    "Did this guy go to the toilet or something? Hah, he must¡¯ve eaten a lot. Let me go find him," Bastion muttered as he walked towards the gents toilet.

    He thought that Ryder came out of the room to take a call, but he went to the toilet after disconnecting the call.

    Ryder just happened toe out of the lift at the moment in time. He had disguised himself. He was wearing a joker mask and a robe.

 Chapter 245 The Joker

    <h4>Chapter 245: The Joker</h4>

    Ryder stepped out of the lift and saw the back of a person walking in the direction of the toilet.

    ¡¯Bastion?¡¯ Ryder thought as he recognized the person as Bastion.

    ¡¯Perfect. I was wondering how I could keep him away from this. This worked out for the best without me doing anything,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled.

    Ryder waited for Bastion to enter the toilet before he ran up there and locked the door.

    "One of you guys stay here and keep an eye on the door. Make sure no one opens it from the outside. No one should be able toe out of this ce," Ryder told one of his men to guard the door.

    He had locked the door from outside, but he still didn¡¯t rx. He didn¡¯t want anyone to open the door from outside and let Bastion out after Bastion starts constantly knocking on the door.

    Ryder wanted to avoid this situation, so he decided to ce one of the ten guys here to keep an eye.

    Ryder took the other nine men and walked in the direction of the room where everyone was staying inside.

    Bastion checked inside the Men¡¯s bathroom and found it to bepletely empty.

    He walked back to the door and tried to leave, but when he tried opening the door, he found himself being unable to open the door.

    "It¡¯s locked? Did someone lock me inside?" Bastion muttered as he looked at the door.

    He tried pushing the door and calling out for someone to open the door, but no one opened the door for him.

    He brought his phone out of his pocket and tried calling his friends toe open the door, but no one picked the phone.

    While Bastion was trying to call the people in the Karaoke Room, the Karaoke room was busy on its own.

    The entire room was suddenly silent, and only the ringing of a phone could be heard.

    It was Dan¡¯s phone that was ringing and it was Bastion who was calling.

    Ten people in joker¡¯s Masks were standing inside the room as well. All of them had a gun in their hands, pointing at the people in the room.

    Ryder had told the leader of the ten people to do all the talking other than him since he didn¡¯t want to say anything, but he had to be the one that caused Imane to cry, so he had also nned for that. It was for him to be the one who made her cry using the leader of the gang.

    "Kekeke, we came here looking for the enemy gang member, but it looks like we got the wrong information. Those guys are not here. Instead, just some kids are here. Such a waste of time," The leader of the said as he chuckled.

    Ryder was standing beside him, and he simply nodded his head.

    "Boss, since we already came here, how about we have some fun instead. It¡¯s clear that someone gave us the wrong information, and I¡¯m pretty irritated. I want to let this steam out. Please, boss, let me do this. The girls here look so pretty," The leader said as he looked in the direction of Ryder.

    Ryder made his voice sound heavy to make it indistinguishable. He looked in the direction of the leader of the hand and nodded his head.

    "I¡¯m not interested in anyone here, but since you¡¯re my loyal man, I won¡¯t let you down. But you can only choose one girl. We don¡¯t have time," Ryder replied as he nodded.

    "Kekeke, of course, boss. I am somewhat confused, though. All of them look so pretty. Can you pick one for me? Just chose any," The leader told Ryder.

    Ryder looked at the leader of the ten people before he roamed his gaze over all the girls. It was just to show since he had already decided on the girl he wanted to choose.

    All the girls were shivering as they saw the masked men and heard their words. They knew that they couldn¡¯t do anything and that they might lose everything today.

    Even Imane was looking scared. She was looking down, hoping not to get seen.

    "Any? Fine. I¡¯ll choose one for you. For us, dark-hearted people, you need a dark-hearted girl. That girl looks pretty evil. You take her," Ryder told the leader as he slowly raised his hand and pointed towards a girl.

    The girl he was pointing at was none other than Imane.

    Imane couldn¡¯t help but take a step back in fear.

    "N-no, please don¡¯t," She said as her shivering increased. She was too fearful now as she held the corner of her clothes. Her eyes started getting wet, but she still wasn¡¯t crying.

    The Leader that was with Ryder started walking towards the girl.

    "Wait! Don¡¯t you dare touch the g..." One of the guys started moving towards the girl, but that¡¯s when Ryder fired a shot, intentionally missing.

    It was a warning shot to show that he was serious about killing people, and the gun wasn¡¯t a fake. Because of the silencer in the weapon, it didn¡¯t make much noise. The you who was trying to move froze in his ce, unable to move in fear.

    He couldn¡¯t believe that he was so close to death just now. Suddenly, all his courage had left the body. No one tried moving.

    Even Shu didn¡¯t move. Shu was just silently standing in the background, looking at Ryder with great interest.

    No one tried moving after that as the leader of the gang continued walking in the direction of Imane.

    The man reached near her and stood just a few feet away from her. The man slowly reached out his hand towards the face of Imane to touch her face. Imane closed her eyes in fear as a teardrop fell from her eyes.

    [Mission has beenpleted]

    [Rewards have been given]

    Ryder heard the voice of Janus, who gave him the confirmation of the mission.

    "Forget it. It¡¯s just a waste of time. Let¡¯s leave. We should find those guys instead. I want to kill the ones that gave me the wrong information first," Ryder let out in a solemn tone as he told the leader to stop.

    "Kekekkeke, You¡¯re lucky little girl. You escaped. Man, I really wanted to have a taste, but I can¡¯t go against the wishes of my boss," The man said as he stopped his hand that was just a few inches away from Imane¡¯s cheeks.

    Imane slowly opened her eyes as she breathed in relief, but she continued crying.

    Ryder and the others left the room and locked that room from outside as well.

    He gestured for the man that was guarding the toilet to leave as well.

    All of them left through the stairs while Ryder entered the lift.

    The lift and the stairs didn¡¯t have any cameras, which Ryder had already seen.

    Ryder changed his clothes inside the lift and came back to the floor through the same lift.

    The other guys left the ce entirely.

    Ryder stepped out of the ring and walked back to the room with his phone in his hand.

    He opened the room and entered inside.

    "Man, thework is really getting worse nowadays. I can¡¯t believe I had to leave the building to get a good connection. Why did you guys give the door closed from outside, though?" Ryder asked as soon as he entered, but he stood shocked as he saw everyone in the room shivering.

    "What the heck happened here? Why are you so looking so scared? Did you see a ghost or something while I wasn¡¯t here?" Ryder asked in curiosity.

    While Ryder was disguised as the Joker, he had dialed the leader. Both of their phones were connected. He did it to make sure that if Bastion tried calling his number, it would be busy. He disconnected that call after entering the lift.

    "Also, where is Bastion?" Ryder asked again.

    Everyone in the room looked in his direction.

    "Right, Bastion! I hope he¡¯s safe!" Dan came out of his fear as he pulled his phone out and called Bastion.

    The other people started telling Ryder about what happened.

    Ryder pretended to be continuously shocked as he heard about it.

    "We should call the cops!" One of the girls suggested.

    "Yes! Call the cops! We need to tell them everything!¡¯ Another Girl chimed in.

    " I don¡¯t think there will be a benefit of doing that. The people had already left. This ce doesn¡¯t have any cameras either. The cops won¡¯t find anything. It¡¯ll be a useless endeavor," Shu said as he shook his head.

    "I agree. When I came up here, I didn¡¯t see any people dressed in a Joker outfit. They probably left. We should all just leave. The day must¡¯ve been tough for you guys. Go back and rest," Ryder agreed.

    "I guess you¡¯re right," The guys and the girls slowly started nodding their heads. They all understood that it was useless at this point. Fortunately, everyone was safe.

 Chapter 246 Vixen

    <h4>Chapter 246: Vixen</h4>

    While Ryder had managed to convince the people not to call the cop, Dan informed them about the whereabouts of Bastion.

    "Bastion is in the toilet. Apparently someone locked him there. Fortunately, he¡¯s perfectly safe as well," Dan said as he smiled.

    "That¡¯s good," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "Let¡¯s get him out of here. We should leave. The party is over as well," He added as he turned back and left.

    The others also nodded their heads as they left after him.

    "He¡¯s on the toilet of this floor, right?" Ryder asked Dan to be sure. Even though he knew, he decided to give an even more convincing performance.

    "Yeah. He¡¯s on this floor," Dan responded as he nodded his head.

    "Good."

    Ryder unlocked the door and let Bastion out.

    "You got locked in the toilet. I never thought I¡¯d see this day," Ryder said as he rolled his eyes. "Who did this?"

    " I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t see anyone. I was here looking for you, and when I tried leaving, the door was locked," Bastion exined.

    He hadn¡¯t heard about the things that happened with the Joker since Dan simply asked him where he was. He has no idea what had just happened outside now. He noticed the strange expressions on the faces of people.

    "What happened here? Now that I think about it, none of you were picking up your phones, and all of you look worried. Something must¡¯ve happened!" Bastion inquired.

    "What happened?" He asked Ryder.

    " I was not in the toilet. Because of somework issues, I had stepped out of the building. When I came back, the door of the room was closed. I¡¯m not clear on the details either, but from what I heard, Some thugs entered the room in search of their enemies. They scared them and left after some time. No one was harmed,"

    " The people were wearing joker masks, but when I came back, I didn¡¯t see anyone like that, so they probably left," Ryder exined in short to downy the situation and to exin to Bastion that there was no benefit in sticking to the situation or for trying to find those men who did this since it was impossible and didn¡¯t really matter since he said that they entered by mistake.

    " People in joker masks? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard of any gang with that. I¡¯ll try to find out about them. In the meanwhile, it¡¯s good to leave. You guys must be stressed about this. Go home and rest. We can do this again some other time," Bastion said as he nodded his head.

    Bastion left the toilet with the others.

    "Did you all get your stuff?" He asked.

    "Yeah."

    All of them nodded their heads.

    "Good," Bastion muttered as he walked towards the stairs.

    All of them left the floor and went down.

    All of them walked to their cars in the parking.

    Since Ryder still had the keys, he walked towards the Ferrari parked there and opened its doors.

    As soon as the others saw the car he unlocked, the people that were still outside started looking at him.

    "Ryder, you own a Ferrari?" One of the girls asked.

    "Of course, Brother Ryder owns a Ferrari," Shu said as he replied instead.

    "He walked to the car and tapped the bo of the car. This is Brother Ryder¡¯s favorite model," He added.

    Ryder understood what he was trying to do, and he couldn¡¯t deny either. Whatever Shu said was the truth, after all.

    Ryder did own a Ferrari. The only difference was that he owned a Ferrari Whirlwind that was not in good condition. It was also the truth that Shu¡¯s Ferrari 2047 was his favorite model. Ryder just stayed silent and entered the car.

    Shu entered the car as well.

    "Goodbye, guys," Ryder wished everyone before he drove away.

    Everyone else watched him zoom off into the distance. Even Imane took a few nces.

    Ryder had only driven for a few minutes when his phone started ringing.

    He connected his headset to his ears and picked up the call.

    "Hello?" he let out.

    " Stop at the next traffic signal and get in my car," The person on the other side of the connection said.

    "But I¡¯m going home," Ryder replied casually.

    "Fine. I¡¯ming," Ryder let out as he disconnected the call.

    "Call from work?" Shu asked Ryder as he looked at him.

    "Yeah, I need to meet someone for work. I¡¯ll have to leave. You take the car back. I¡¯ll be back by night," Ryder said as he stopped the car near the next traffic signal and got out of the car.

    "Should I leave you there?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Nah, they wille to pick me up," Ryder said as he shook his head. "You go back."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll leave then. Have fun," Shu replied as he smiled.

    He shifted to the Driver Seat and started the car.

    Shu drove away, leaving Ryder behind.

    Ryder stood in the traffic signal for a few minutes before a car stopped near him.

    He entered the car. There was a beautiful girl sitting in the car.

    "What do you need?" he asked as he looked in the direction of the girl.

    "Aww, My hubby called me when he needed me, and he¡¯s not going to do anything for me. It breaks my heart," Esmi chuckled as she ced her hand on Ryder¡¯sp.

    Ryder looked at her and smiled wryly.

    "You should know that your hubby just bullied a girl. Do you not mind?" Ryder asked.

    "Nope. My hubby is allowed to bully anyone except me," Esmi said as she chuckled.

    "That¡¯s good to hear. Let me pay you back then," Ryder replied as he ced his hand on her hand.

    " Wait, let us go to some ce first," Esmi said as she started the car with a beautiful smile on her face.

    She turned the car back and started driving it in the direction where Ryder came from.

    Esmi stopped the car before the same Karaoke Bar.

    "This ce?" Ryder asked as he looked outside.

    "Yup. Come with me," She said as she stepped out of the car.

    Ryder also stepped out of the car and entered the ce, following after her.

    Esmi took him to the same room where Ryder had left from and locked the door behind him.

    She sat on the couch.

    "So, you want to repay me?" Esmi asked, looking at Ryder, with one of her eye-brows up.

    ¡¯Is she trying to go for this y?¡¯ Ryder couldn¡¯t help but think as he smiled wryly. He decided to y along. He did genuinely like her though.

    Ryder sat down on the couch andzily ran his lean fingers through his hair as he spoke while yawning, "Yes, I don¡¯t leave debts."

    "Mmm...I see.." Esmi said in a deep voice before sitting down on the other couch. She put her legs on over another as she settled herself in a rxed position. Her bare skin was visible from where her pencil skirt ended.

    She looked like azy little kitten as she started drinking from the bottle on the table, not even bothered to pour it into the ss.

    Ryder also started drinking even though he knew he couldn¡¯t get drunk, yet when yourpany is drinking, you can¡¯t just sit by idly or it would seem bothme and unsocialized. He knew his manners.

    A few minutes passed by with both of them indolently when Ryder suddenly spoke up.

    "So, what do you want?"

    Esmi looked at him while licking the liquor left on her lips; a smirk shed through her face as she noticed Ryder¡¯s reaction at her little action.

    She cleared her throat, and a mischievous smirk formed on her lips as she said, "Are you sure you¡¯ll be able to give me whatever I want?"

    Ryder sipped from the goblet, trying to hide his slightly knitted eye-brows as he thought, what is the trickster nning again?

    But he quickly neutralized his expression when he put the ss back on the table.

    "Whatever you ask, little trickster, I never go back on my words," Ryder looked at Esmi challengingly.

    Esmi¡¯s eyes sparkled as an impish smirk covered her red lips; she looked back at Ryder directly in the eye as she dropped the bomb.

    "Seduce me and satisfy me," Esmi said in a serious tone as she changed the light settings of the karaoke room to red.

    Ryder, who was taking a sip, suddenly choked his drink and started coughing uncontrobly. He had already thought of several options about what she was going to ask for, but damn.. how could he ignore the fact that she was a vixen in the disguise of an innocent, cute cat.

    Esmi yawnedzily as shey back and teased Ryder with a smile on her face, "Awwee, already scared you wouldn¡¯t be able to satisfy me? Sad, didn¡¯t take you for that type hubby."

 Chapter 247 Karaoke with a Vixen (*)

    <h4>Chapter 247: Karaoke with a Vixen (*)</h4>

    (Adult Content Ahead! Seriously R18!)

    Ryder looked at thedy devil and squinted his eyes as he replied, "Huh. Aren¡¯t you too ambitious? I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s you who wouldn¡¯t be able to handle me. I¡¯m warning you; I don¡¯t go easy on the bed."

    "Show me," Esmi replied, instantly looking at Ryder with a revoking smirk visible on the corner of her lips.

    Ryder suddenly started sweating under her deep gaze; he drank all the liquor left in that bottle in one gulp and sat straight.

    Esmi stopped drinking; shended a sharp gaze and all her concentration on Ryder as she waited in anticipation. Outside, she looked calm, but inside, anxiousness was erupting inside her.

    Ryder, on the other hand, looked extremely calm; he wiped away the wetness on his mouth with the back of his palm and then loosened the top two buttons of his shirt and exhaled a deep breath. He looked nervous and a little bit off minded to Esmi.

    The mischievous spark in Esmi¡¯s eyes started to be dim as she thought about the fact that Ryder wasn¡¯t interested in her.

    Disappointment hit her hard; she looked away and started sipping from her bottle recklessly. Engulfed in her own thoughts, she looked lost.

    An awkward silence formed inside the karaoke room as two people sat on the purple couches. Both of them looked like they were fighting a rough battle inside.

    A few minutes passed by without any of them moving or talking...

    All of a sudden, Esmi felt a hot breath lingering on her neck as she looked back. Ryder didn¡¯t provide her the chance to say or look as he grabbed the heck of her neck and smacked his lips on her.

    The wine bottle from Esmi¡¯s handnded on the ground making a loud crackling sound echo in between the four walls of the karaoke room.

    Ryder started nibbling on her lips every now and then as he kissed her passionately. Esmi kissed him back with the same amount of passion and wildness in her actions.

    In one swift movement, Ryder grabbed her shoulder and pinned her against the wall; he didn¡¯t miss the sync of their kiss while doing so. Esmi, on the other hand, wrapped her legs around Ryder¡¯s instinctively.

    Ryder groaned in between the kiss as he cupped her face and tilted his head to one side, deepening the kiss.

    Esmi gasped for breath in between Ryder¡¯s hungry kisses. Her toes seemed to turn into jelly by the extremely passionate kiss.

    He devoured her candy floss like sweet lips as his hands moved into her hair. Ryder startedforting her into the kiss as he slightly bit down on her lower lip asking for ess to devour her mouth.

    Esmi abruptly bit on Ryder¡¯s lips instead of paring her ones for him, Ryder didn¡¯t expect this, and his lips parted, granting Esmi ess to explore his mouth. She entered her tongue inside his mouth, and their tongues started shing against each other, fighting for dominance while Esmi started unbuttoning Ryder¡¯s shirt.

    A smirk appeared on her lips as she felt Ryder¡¯s body quivering slightly the moment her hands touched his bare torso. She moved her palm over his bare chest, torso, muscles, and ended the journey by teasing his nipples. She tightened her grip on Ryder¡¯s waist with his legs and started rubbing her lower part against him.

    Ryder groaned as he pushed her on the wall with his waist and Esmi chuckled softly in between their kisses.

    Ryder kept moving his waist backward and forward while his passion for the kiss turned more fiery. Esmi felt woozy as his erection started moving against her core with passionate and rough thrusts. She gripped on Ryder¡¯s neck, panting hard as she arched her hip forward.

    Ryder smirked, knowing she had already lost it. He increased the pace of his waist as his one hand remained still on her waist to keep her steady while the other one started moving towards the hem of her tops.

    His rough, cold palm entered inside her top and started moving on her perfect shaped body.

    Esmi hissed as his hand came in contact with her bare skip. Ryder quickly pulled her top up and started massaging her breasts roughly.

    An unimaginable amount of pleasure sted through Esmi¡¯s body as a moan left her swollen lips.

    Her moan worked like an extreme revocation, making the caged beast in Ryder¡¯s boxer hardening instantly. He suddenly became more ferocious than before.

    Tearing the top off from Esmi¡¯s body, he unsped her bra effortlessly like a pro.

    Two soft fleshy breasts were released; the crimson nipple and essence of them made Ryder¡¯s head spin for a few seconds before he started pressing them mercilessly.

    Esmi¡¯s loud moans filled the room as Ryder took one of them in his mouth and massaged the other with his hand, without the discontinuation of thrusts. He yed with her buds for quite some time before nibbling on her soft pinkish nipple.

    The moment he gnashed one nipple in between his teeth and pinched the other one with the same amount of pressure, Esmi dug her nails into his skin as she arched her head back, moaning his name, she released orgasm.

    The next second they were on the couch, both of them sweating rapidly and panting from their previous actions.

    "Seduced enough, Vixen?" Ryder smirked, looking at the half-naked girl inhaling air through her mouth like a fish. Her lips were still swollen from their kiss; several hickeys covered her chest and bosoms while shey under her panting, in only her heels and pencil skirt.

    Esmi chuckled as looked at Ryder mischievously and said in an adorable voice, "No, hubby."

    Ryder gave her a pointed look as Esmi moved her head slowly towards Ryder¡¯s ear. Instead of whispering something in his ear, she licked his earlobe and seductively nibbled onto it. Making Ryder¡¯s whole body stiff as fire burned through his veins.

    She then whispered hoarsely in his ears, "I want you, in every possible way..."

    Those words ignited the fire in Ryder a thousandfold; he groaned as jumped back on her lips while his hand moved towards the zipper of her skirt. He pulled it down while continuing his sweet torture on her thigh.

    With every gentle stroke, he made on her thigh; it made Esmi go more insane. She already wanted him inside her so badly, but he kept teasing her.

    Esmi hissed when Ryder finally ejected one of his fingers inside her; she felt warm and slippery. A smirk formed on Rn¡¯s lips as hemented huskily, "So wet for me..."

    Esmi opened her mouth to say something but was stopped abruptly by Ryder as he pushed another finger in.

    A gasp left her throat as Esmi¡¯s words came in as moaning, "Oh God...Ryder..."

    Ryder pushed his third finger inside as he replied in a sweet voice, "Yes, love..."

    He started moving his fingers inside her together and moans after moans started erupting inside Esmi. She bit down her hand to suppress them but failed miserably as she ended up moaning his name with several shameless sentences.

    Ryder rubbed this thumb against her clitoris in an oval sequence while three of his fingers kept moving in and out of her womanhood, which triggered Esmi more. She desperately arched forward and cried out.

    "Ryder...oh..faster...ah..."

    She was so lost in that feeling of satisfaction and pleasure that she had given up her usual domineering tone and teasing habits.

    The second release bought waves of unknown feelings from Esmi¡¯s head to toe as dizziness swept over her. Ryder cuddled her calm body in his embrace, and Esmi finally found herselfing out of some fantasy world.

    A few minutes passed by that way, and Esmi broke the silence by pulling down the zip of Ryder¡¯s pants. As she pulled down his boxer, a huge erection erupted out. Esmi looked at it in astonishment; his beast was actually beastly and perfectly round, not too long, not too short. It was just perfect.

    Ryder chuckled at her mystified expression as he kicked his pants off; Esmi felt her cheeks getting flustered as he quickly moved her eyes away.

    "Scared that my big sausage won¡¯t fit in your little oven, vixen," Ryder smirked as he poked Esmi¡¯s cheeks.

    Esmi looked back at him angrily and pped his hand off as she scoffed, "Huh, you wish! I think you are scared that your little monster wouldn¡¯t be able to devour my unfathomable core."

    "Uhhah, is that it? Let¡¯s see for ourselves then." Ryder pulled her in the perfect position under him in one swift movement. His passion and ferociousness were no less than some severely hungry lion.

    Without wasting any second, he ced his bulge in the opening of her core. Esmi¡¯s breath hitched in her throat, and she arched forward as he prated full of his manhood inside her in one rough push.

    Ryder waited for a few seconds so that Esmi would befortable. The walls of her womanhood started sucking his rod.

    Once Ryder started impelling inside her, he began it at a slow pace, but after a few, he started thrusting at full pace.

    Esmi¡¯s moan and the sound of thumping filled the karaoke room as Ryder¡¯s body moved fast against Esmi¡¯s one maintaining a rhythmic sync.

    It only stopped after fifteen minutes when Ryder ejacted, making Esmi¡¯s oven full with his semen.

 Chapter 248 Janus Serious Warning

    <h4>Chapter 248: Janus'' Serious Warning</h4>

    It was 7 in the evening. Ryder and Esmi were sitting on the couch in the same room where they spent some intense moments just a few moments ago.

    Esmi¡¯s head was resting on Ryder¡¯s shoulders while her eyes were closed. There was a sh of red on her face.

    "That was great," Esmi muttered as her eyshes fluttered.

    "It sure was," Ryder replied softly. He was quite fond of Esmi. She was the first woman he had ever been with, and he liked spending time with her.

    Esmi¡¯s position meant that she was a fierce leader who didn¡¯t worry about killing people, but before him, she was always like a good girl. He couldn¡¯t find any ws in her at all. He and Esmi were together. They had been intimate on more than four asions, but still, they didn¡¯t have any formal name for their rtionship.

    Esmi didn¡¯t ask him, and Ryder wasn¡¯t sure either. He believed that if people were to listen to his situation, they would think that he was in a Friends with Benefits rtionship with Esmi, but only Ryder knew that it wasn¡¯t all. There was definitely something more. It wasn¡¯t love exactly, but it wasn¡¯t less than that either. Even he didn¡¯t understand what he thought.

    He believed that he even liked her, but he decided to take some time before naming their rtionship.

    "Alright, I should go now. Thanks for a great time," Esmi let out as she stood up and started getting dressed.

    "Esmi?" Ryder suddenly asked while Esmi was wearing her dress.

    "Yeah?" Esmi inquired without looking back. Her back was facing him as she dressed.

    Ryder looked at her for a few seconds without saying anything but ultimately shook his head.

    "Nothing. I¡¯ll tell youter," He smiled as he stood up and started getting dressed as well.

    Esmi turned back as she faced him.

    "What was it? Now I¡¯m even more curious," Esmi asked Ryder as she looked at him.

    She had always seen Ryder speaking whatever he wanted, even when it came to embarrassing stuff. For him to say something and stop? Was it something serious? she couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    "Nothing. It was Just some fleeting thought. I even forgot what I was trying to say," Ryder let out casually as he shook his head.

    "You know, you can tell me anything. If there¡¯s a problem troubling you, you can tell me. I will solve it for you," Esmi replied as he looked at Ryder¡¯s face.

    "I know that. Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll be the first person I contact if there everes a situation like this," Ryder said as he finished getting dressed.

    After he and Esmi got dressed, they left the room.

    Esmi dropped Ryder off near Shu¡¯s ce before she left. During the journey, they talked a lot but mostly about random things.

    Esmi didn¡¯t even bother asking Ryder why he asked for her men just to make a girl cry. She believed that he must¡¯ve had his reasons. Even if he didn¡¯t, she didn¡¯t mind him bullying others.

    Esmi had dropped Ryder around 300 meters away from Shu¡¯s mansion as per Ryder¡¯s instruction.

    Ryder wanted to walk the rest of the way, but just as he walked a hundred meters, he noticed something strange.

    He felt as if someone was looking at him. It was the first time he felt like that.

    He started feeling like that only a few seconds ago.

    He stopped in his tracks as he looked around to see if he could find the person.

    Ryder looked around for quite some time, but he didn¡¯t see anyone.

    That lingering feeling didn¡¯t go away, though.

    "Stanner, I feel like someone is watching me. Search my surroundings to see who it is," Ryder muttered softly as he talked to the Spirit that had be his helper after he helped it finish its long-awaited revenge.

    While Ryder continued walking towards the Mansion of Shu, Stanner went in a different direction. Stanner¡¯s task was to find the person who was spying on Ryder, and he could do it easily if the person were when he was keeping an eye on Ryder, and it wasn¡¯t hiding.

    Stanner looked around for quite some time before he found the person who was spying on Ryder.

    It seemed like a young woman who was wearing ck jeans and a ck jacket. There was a ck cap on her head. Her long hair was tied to a bun.

    Stanner observed the girl for a few minutes before he started flying back towards Ryder.

    Ryder still hadn¡¯t reached Shu¡¯s Mansion when Stanner reached him.

    "Did you find anything?" Ryder asked Stanner as he saw him get back.

    "Yes. A woman is standing on the top of the second house on the left side. She is keeping an eye on you," Stanner exined to Ryder.

    "A woman?" Ryder frowned as he wondered why a girl was keeping an eye on him. He was also curious about who the girl was.

    "What does she look like?" Ryder asked Stanner.

    " She looks like a girl. She is wearing a ck jacket and ck jeans. Her face was covered in a pollution mask. She was also wearing a ck cap," Stanner exined.

    Ryder looked at Stanner weirdly as he heard his first line, but he soon calmed down as he shook his head. He decided to focus on other things Stanner said.

    "The clothes you described makes it seem like she¡¯s trying to y pretend detective because dressing like a spy is the most stupid thing an actual spy can do," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    "Who could be this girl?" Ryder muttered as he thought about it.

    ¡¯Should I let her know that I know about her and scare her a bit to try to find her motivation? If she¡¯s actually a spy nted after me, I can use her without her knowing,¡¯ Ryder thought as he continued walking towards Shu¡¯s Mansion. There were only fifty meters of distance between him and Shu¡¯s ce.

    " Alright. I have decided. Stanner, You go to the girl. Follow her for the next 24 hours ande back to me after that. Try to find as much as you can about her," Ryder told Stanner.

    Since no one could see Stanner except Ryder, he believed that he was the most appropriate person to spy for him.

    Stanner probably had many more advantages like that. He could simply follow the girl and listen to everything she talks about on the phone or to a person.

    If she was a spy, then she was definitely going to report to someone. That could be the moment Stanner was able to find out about it.

    Stanner flew back to the girl while Ryder entered Shu¡¯s Mansion.

    Ryder entered the mansion; he saw the butler of Shu.

    "Where is Shu?" Ryder asked the butler just out of curiosity. If she was free, he wanted to talk about something to him.

    "Master Shu went to his room. He said he was going to rest. Should I go inform him that you wish to meet?" The butler asked Ryder.

    "It¡¯s fine. Let him rest. I¡¯ll talk to him in the morning," Ryder shook his head as he replied.

    It was night already, and he wasn¡¯t in any urgent need to talk either.

    Ryder went back to the guest room where he and Alice were staying.

    As he entered their room, he found the hall empty.

    "Alice?" Ryder called out, but he didn¡¯t get a response.

    He went towards the room that Alice had chosen and opened the door, but just as he opened the door, he got a little surprise.

    Alice was lying on the bed, and there were sses on her face. The sses weren¡¯t normal, though. They were the Divinity sses that Ryder recognized too well.

    ¡¯She¡¯s ying Divinity too?¡¯ Ryder frowned as he looked at her face.

    "She didn¡¯t even tell me about it," Ryder muttered as he kept his gaze on the sses.

    "The game is dangerous, and for her to y it... I can¡¯t allow it," Ryder muttered as he stepped forth, but he stopped as he heard Janus¡¯ words.

    [Don¡¯t do it]

    "What?" Ryder inquired as he heard Janus¡¯ voice. Whenever Janus talked before, it seemed like he was just a system that sounded like a human when it talked. At Least most of the time it talked, Ryder got a feeling that he was talking to a businessman except a few times where he felt some emotions.

    This time it was different, though. It felt as if the system wasn¡¯t his being like it¡¯s old self. It was really talking like a human being that was telling him not to do it.

    "What shouldn¡¯t I do?" Ryder asked Janus, testing if it was just his misconception.

    [You will ruin everything. Let her use Divinity whenever she wants. Stopping her now will have unforeseenplications]

    "How are you talking like that? You sound no different from an actual human I can have a conversation with now. Did something happen?" Ryder asked Janus.

 Chapter 249 Overlord System?

    <h4>Chapter 249: Overlord System?</h4>

    [Nothing major happened. Janus has gone through the Third evolution. It¡¯s more feasible now]

    "More feasible to do what?" Ryder asked Janus in confusion. He didn¡¯t understand the meaning of Janus.

    [More feasible to involve me more, but it¡¯s still not perfect. There are many problems. Many eyes are seeing Janus. Things will get bad if anything over the radar is done]

    Janus replied to Ryder in a more human-like tone.

    "Many eyes are seeing you? Who? Are there more systems like you? Is there an overlord system that keeps an eye on you all?" Ryder asked Janus out of curiosity.

    He remembered reading a story like this in a book when he was young. It was about the gods ying a game where they have each user some powers and a system, but the system wasn¡¯t allowed to tell them anything. He wondered if this was the same kind of story.

    [There are no systems like Janus. There is no overlord system, either. Instead, there is a...] Janus was about to continue, but he stopped.

    "There is what?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    [Don¡¯t take the sses off and don¡¯t interfere in her destiny. She will be in danger otherwise]

    Janus¡¯ voice was grim as he said it as if he had never been more serious.

    "Fine. I¡¯m not doing it," Ryder muttered as he agreed. If Janus was being so severe, then it was better for him to stay away. He didn¡¯t want Janus to give him another weird mission just because he ignored his words.

    "But if you¡¯re wrong and Alice is harmed because of Divinity, then..." Ryder let out in a heavy tone as if he was warning Janus in return to be serious about Alice¡¯s life.

    [That depends on you just like it didst...] Janus muttered softly but didn¡¯t finish his sentence.

    Ryder turned back and left the room, closing the door behind him.

    Ryder entered his room and sat on the bed.

    "Hey, Janus, you said you went through the third evolution? Howe it was so sudden? Why didn¡¯t I know anything about it likest time?" Ryder asked as he thought about Janus.

    Thest time, Janus had given him a difficult mission, and the Reward for him was the second upgrade of the system. He had to work hard for that upgrade. This time, however, Janus didn¡¯t pull any trick like that; instead, Janus upgraded on his own without even thinking about it.

    [It had to be done] Janus replied.

    "What had to be done? The upgrade? Of course. It¡¯s a good thing, after all. Just upgrade as many times as you want, and I¡¯ll be happy," Ryder said to Janus as he smiled.

    [It was because of the Bracelet of Immortality. You are using too much power of the Time Fragment. It is creating instability. Even though the instability in time is only minor, If it goes on for long, they will sense it. I had to evolve to help you]

    " You upgraded to keep the time stable? I didn¡¯t think it had consequences like that. I can¡¯t control that, though. You know that I don¡¯t intentionally die or use the Time Power. I do it only when it¡¯s necessary, especially the Power to revive by time reversal," Ryder replied as he sighed.

    [Janus knows. You need to use the power of the bracelet to get everything back. That¡¯s why I haven¡¯t told you to stop it; instead, I decided to do something entirely different. Now, as long as I can fool them, we would have more time. Just keep the progress like it is. Everything will be clear when it happens]

    Janus replied to Ryder in a kind tone.

    " You always throw these curveballs towards me. Talking like the old man does in those weird Cultivation Novels. You must¡¯ve read a lot of them to get this character," Ryder replied in an annoyed tone.

    "Who will sense it, by the way? Just be clear for once. Don¡¯t be that old man," Ryder told Janus as he sighed.

    [Even the words have powers. Only when the time is right]

    Janus didn¡¯t answer clearly; instead, he talked about something that Ryder once again didn¡¯t understand.

    "Even the words have powers? What did he mean by the phrase ``words have powers?" Ryder muttered as he thought about the words.

    "What does that mean?" Ryder asked Janus.

    [ Find for yourself]

    Janus answered Ryder without answering anything, but before Ryder could reply, Janus continued.

    [The sudden upgrade took a lot from me. I would not be able to talk for some time. You can use the Powers of the Bracelet but be careful. Don¡¯t overuse it before you¡¯re ready for the consequences]

    After saying that, Janus went silent. Ryder kept trying to ask him, but Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    " It must be something. Last time, he went silent before the upgrade, but this time, he went silent after the upgrade," Ryder let out as he got off the bed.

    Ryder went to the shower and came out after a short 10 minutes. He changed his clothes andid down on the bed.

    " My poor Whirlwind is wrecked, and now I¡¯m technically without a car. All because of that idiot. He already crossed my bottom line. He needs some consequences, but if the person Stanner saw was actually a spy ced after me, then I can¡¯t be careless. It¡¯s not a light offense to thrash the police chief of the city," Ryder muttered as he stared at the roof.

    "I¡¯ll think about itter after getting the identity of the girl who was spying on me. For now, I¡¯ll just stay under, I guess. The whole Federal debacle is already doubtful of me. I don¡¯t want to get the police after me as... Wait!" Ryder was casually speaking his thoughts out loud, but he stopped suddenly as if he realized something.

    "Is it the Feds? It must be! They let me go after the test and made it seem like they weren¡¯t doubtful of me, but when ites to that, it shouldn¡¯t be that easy. They might be pulling the old trick of letting the bait out to catch the big fish. They either want me to lead them to the Uprising unintentionally, or they want to catch me red-handed if it¡¯s them. Either that or the person is working for the Police Chief. Things will be clear soon," Ryder muttered as he came to an assumption.

    Even though he had a general idea about who it could have been, but he knew that he had to wait for Stanner¡¯s return before forming an opinion.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll deal with it depending on who it is,¡¯ Ryder thought as he clenched his fist.

    He brought the Divinity sses out and wore them.

    "Take me to Divinity," Ryder muttered. The Divinity sses activated, and a link was established which brought Ryder to the World of Divinity.

    Ryder appeared outside his room, where he had disappeared from when he logged out.

    He looked around and found the hallway empty.

    Ryder opened the door and entered the room.

    As soon as he entered the room, he found Rale. He imagined Rale to be sleeping, but Rale standing near the window, looking outside.

    "What are you looking for outside?" Ryder asked after entering.

    "Your Highness," Rale turned back and greeted Ryder while getting down on one knee.

    "Stand. I already told you that you don¡¯t need to go down on your knees when greeting me while we¡¯re alone," Ryder told Rale as he walked closer.

    "A royal etiquette should always be followed," Rale let out in full seriousness as he stood up.

    " You follow the rules, which is your biggest positive side, but sometimes you¡¯re too stern," Ryder responded as he smiled.

    He walked closer to the window and looked outside.

    "The view is really pretty from here," Ryder muttered.

    "It is. If wee here during the Third Month of Demon Calendar, we might even be able to see an even greater view," Rale suggested.

    "Why? What happens then?" Ryder asked as he looked back in curiosity.

    Rale walked closer to the window and pointed outside in a certain direction.

    "A rainbow fountain appears right around there during that time which showers over the whole city. It¡¯s a majestic view that can only be seen inside Duke Devilia¡¯s City. People from all around the Demon Realme here to see that," Rale exined.

    "Did youe herest time it happened?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Yes. It was fun. I came here with all my men," Rale replied.

    "What is it like? What happens other than the rainbow fountain? Is there a celebration or a festival of sorts?" Ryder asked in curiosity.

    "No. People juste here, watch, and leave. There is nothing else," Rale said, shaking his head.

    "That¡¯s sad. Alright. Remind me about this a month before this happens. If I¡¯m free, we¡¯ll make it a big event," Ryder told Rale as he smiled.

 Chapter 250 Killer Skeleton

    <h4>Chapter 250: Killer Skeleton</h4>

    "I¡¯ll remind you," Rale said as he nodded his head.

    "Anyway, how was your sleep?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "It was decent," Rale responded as he nodded his head.

    "That¡¯s good. Whenever we are in a ce where I can sleep in my special space, you don¡¯t have to guard me all night long," Ryder told Rale as he smiled.

    [+50 Loyalty]

    [You have received a new title]

    [Title Received: Caring Demon]

    ¡¯Hmm? Another title?¡¯ Ryder muttered as he tapped on the title to see what it entailed.

    A different screen opened before him.

    "Title: Caring Demon]

    [Description: A demon is said to be ruthless and fierce, but there exist caring demons too that think less about destruction and more about protection. A title that can only be given to a Caring Demon]

    [Benefits: Defence +20%]

    "A title for defense? It cane in handy," Ryder muttered as he looked at the screen before him.

    "Hmm?"

    Rale couldn¡¯t help wonder what Ryder was talking about. What Title for defense? Was Ryder thinking about the defense of this pce?

    ¡¯He must be thinking about what we talked aboutst evening. He¡¯s definitely thinking about breaking the defense of the Undead Region and weakening them after creating trouble between the two factions. He¡¯s already thinking so far ahead,¡¯ Rale thought as he looked at Ryder. He misunderstood the meaning of Ryder¡¯s words entirely and took them as a n against the Undead Region.

    "Oh, right. Rale..."

    Ryder nced back at Rale. He was about to ask something, but before he could, there was a knock on the door.

    "Come inside," Rydermanded.

    The door of the room opened, and Devilia entered the room. She roamed her gaze around the room and found Ryder standing near the window.

    "You¡¯re back. The citizens have arrived. Everyone is waiting for your arrival. We can start whenever you feel like it," she told Ryder.

    "Oh? There¡¯s no reason to dy then. Let¡¯s finish it faster. We still need to go to other ces," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    He already had the Crown on his head and the Treasure Robe on his back. His clothes were also princely, like a majestic ruler.

    "Now, only one thing is missing in my appearance," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    He opened his inventory and brought the Moon Scythe out of his storage ring.

    "It¡¯s perfect now," Ryder muttered as he stood with his Scythe.

    He started walking towards the exit of the room and went towards the Pce Balcony, being closely followed behind my Rale, Devilia, and his Royal Guards.

    As he reached near the Balcony, he saw High Duke M standing near that ce already, outside public view.

    "Come. Let¡¯s finish this," Ryder said to High Duke M as he smiled.

    He stepped onto the balcony, in front of the public view.

    High Duke M also walked out and stood on the right side of Ryder, just one step back. Rale and Devilia stood behind.

    The crowd that was chattering for a long time had suddenly turned silent as they saw their Prince appear.

    "All hail the Prince!"

    "All hail the Prince!"

    "All hail the Prince!"

    "All hail the Prince!"

    "All hail the Prince!"

    Suddenly, the citizens started chanting and cheering for Ryder. Ryder felt likeughing, but he controlled his expressions and remained stern.

    After a short period of chanting, Ryder raised his hand, signaling them to stop.

    There was again silence.

    Ryder used his Skill of Intimidation to make him seem like a fierce leader

    "Citizens of my Demon Realm, As you all may already know, I am the Prince of the Demon Realm. Not only the Prince, but I am also the soon to be King of the Demon Realm. A lot of you may have already heard about my character, but to those that don¡¯t, let me reiterate! I believe in individual strength, but I believe inbined strength even more. As long as you all are with me, No danger can even dare to look at the Demon Realm, and as long as I am here, No one can even think about harming my citizens!"

    Ryder began his speech.

    "Now, I came here today, to see the beautiful Dukedom of your Duke Devilia, and I must say that it looks astonishing. The view here is beautiful, and the Demons here are great. You all are doing a great job keeping this ce great, but as I say, There are always things that are hidden by the disguise of beauty. So today, I am here to listen to you. If any of you have any information or any major information that you think can affect the stability and safety of our realm, then feel free to tell me right now. I¡¯m willing to listen," Ryder dered.

    "Those who think they have something important to say, Raise your hand. Since we don¡¯t have too much time, I¡¯ll select any three of you guys to speak your concern. Make sure to utilize this opportunity," Ryder added.

    After speaking till here, Ryder waited for people to raise their hands.

    A lot of people raised their hands while a lot didn¡¯t.

    Ryder looked around all the citizens and selected one.

    "You! The one in that blue dress," Ryder said as he pointed towards a Female Demon that looked like she was in herte 20s.

    The woman lowered her hand and pointed towards herself as if she was asking for confirmation.

    " Yes, you! Speak your concerns," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "Greetings, Your Highness. I am Rinoloa. I have a problem that I think can affect the safety and stability of this ce if it increases," The girl told Ryder.

    "Yes. What is it?" Ryder inquired with a curious look on his face.

    "It¡¯s about the Missing Demons. I have seen some of the Demons go missing in our vicinity. At first, I thought that there was a Demon killing people or something for whatever reason. It isn¡¯t odd for people to kill here, but just yesterday, I saw something that made me realize how wrong I was," The girl told Ryder.

    "You mean to say that it¡¯s not Demons killing Demons? What did you see? Tell me clearly," Ryder told Devilia as he looked at her in full seriousness. Even Devilia seemed serious now since she hadn¡¯t known this.

    "When I was outsidest night, I saw something. I saw a Skeleton, dragging a big sack filled with something. There was blood dripping out of that Sack. It seemed like Demon Blood. I believe that the skeleton is behind the missing demons. It can only mean that the Undead Region or the Death Domain is involved. They must be scheming something," The girl told Ryder in a voice powerful enough to reach him.

    [Special Quest Received]

    [Quest: Find the reason behind missing Demons]

    [Quest Grade: Grade A]

    [Quest Rewards: The next part of Chain Quest will be unlocked]

    [Quest Reward: +2 Level]

    [Quest Reward: The Painting of Yama]

    [Quest Reward: +500 Fame]

    ¡¯ A Quest is here? Ah right. It must be a special quest associated with thisdy. If it¡¯s the work of other Realms, then the quest will only get bigger and scarier. The rewards were also getting better. I will also get fame points. This did turn out to be better than I thought]

    "Rale, bring her up here. I want to talk to him in private," Ryder turned to his left andmanded Rale.

    Rale nodded his head and flew outside the balcony.

    Hended in the crowd.

    "Give me your hand," Ryder told the girl.

    The girl gave him her hand, which Ryder held and flew back to the balcony.

    " This is an important topic. I¡¯ll talk with you in briefter. Till then, stay inside," Ryder told the girl.

    Ryder told one of the royal guards to take the girl inside the pce.

    The girl was sent inside.

    The crowd started talking amongst themselves as they heard this news.

    "A skeleton is killing demons? How? They¡¯re weak!"

    "It must be someone controlling the skeleton and making him stronger or giving it a backup. It seems like the work of the Death Domain! They¡¯re again looking for a war!"

    "Do they think we¡¯re weak? We¡¯ll smash them likest time too!"

    The demons were more enraged about the news of Skeleton being the killer. They didn¡¯t look scared; instead, they looked angry and started chanting for revenge.

    "We need to attack them!"

    "They forgot what happens when they fight us! It¡¯s time to remind them!"

    "I¡¯ll kill thousands of them alone!x

    "Revenge!"

    "Revenge!"

    "Revenge!"

    Ryder could see the crowd getting restless.

    "Silence!" Ryder let out in a stern tone. All the people that were chanting stopped instantly.

    "Alright. That was indeed an important topic. If her words are correct, then a skeleton has managed to sneak inside our Demon Realm. It is a serious matter, and we would need to investigate the matter clearly. In the meantime, I advise you all to stay alert," Ryder told them all.

 Chapter 251 The Mysterious Girl

    <h4>Chapter 251: The Mysterious Girl</h4>

    "We will also increase the security ordingly after getting a clear idea of the situation. Till we investigate, I suggest you all to start alert and notify the authorities if you notice anything like this. If it¡¯s the work of our enemies, I promise you that they¡¯ll be in for a lot of pain," Ryder dered as he looked in the direction of all citizens. "You guys don¡¯t need to be scared about anything. I¡¯m here for you guys. All I ask of you is to be alert."

    "Alright. Now that we have been informed about the first concern, let¡¯s move on to the second. Remember, only raise your hand if you believe the matter is important," he told the citizens as he again started looking for people with concerns.

    People once again raised their hands. The number of hands was no less than the number of hands that were raised before.

    Ryder nced over the people that had their hands raised and selected another person.

    "You, the demon with ck hair in red clothes," Ryder said as he pointed towards one of the men.

    The other people lowered their hands and started looking towards the man.

    "Greetings to Your Highness," The man greeted Ryder as he dropped to one knee.

    "Speak," Ryder told the man as he nodded his hand.

    " Your Highness, My concern might not be as important as the interference of Death Domain in our Demon Realm, but I feel like the life of us here would improve a little if this problem is solved," the man told Ryder as he hesitated a little.

    " It¡¯s fine. You can speak," Ryder told the man.

    The man opened his mouth and closed his mouth again as if he was still hesitating, but as he saw Rale ring at him as if warning him to be fast, the man finally started speaking.

    "It¡¯s about an official! I came from the domain of Marquis ria. The main purpose of meing here was to talk to Duke Devilia, but it was proving to be difficult. I told the City Guards about my concern, but even they refused to believe me. I was hesitant if I should speak before you or not because I wanted not to do it in public, but I don¡¯t think I can talk to the Duke otherwise or if anyone will believe me or not," The man exined with a concerned look on his face.

    Duke Devilia looked at the man as she frowned, wondering what he was talking about. She hasn¡¯t received any information. Did her guards really bury a crucial piece of information? She decided to investigate about thister.

    "I guess you¡¯re concerned about your security. Don¡¯t worry. I assure you that nothing will happen to you. Just be clear and tell your concerns. I would be happy to hear them and find a solution for you," Ryder told the man as he looked in his direction.

    "I am here to talk about our Marquis," The man said.

    "Marquis ria?" Ryder muttered as he tried to remember, but he didn¡¯t remember meeting any Marquis called Marquis ria. He hadn¡¯t met many Marquis at all since he had mostly been in the upper echelon.

    "I believe that Marquis ria is dead, and the Minister of Marquis ria is taking care of ournd in his stead! Under a different leadership, the quality of life in our ce is deteriorating," the man blurted out.

    "Marquis ria is dead?" Duke Devilia eximed in surprise.

    Ryder looked at Devilia and frowned. Looking at her reaction, it seemed like she had no information that he was dead, which could only mean that the Marquis Pce hadn¡¯t shared the information. How did this man know about it then? If they had kept it a secret that even the Duke didn¡¯t know, then how was it possible for a normal citizen to know about it.

    " What makes you believe that Marquis ria is dead?" Ryder asked the man as he frowned. x

    "There are many things that made me believe it. Marquis ria cared about the citizens, and he was a just leader, but there is no justice left in our ce anywhere. He also had monthly meetings with the citizens, but that has stopped too. No one is allowed to meet the Marquis anymore. No one had seen the Marquis from thest two months either. Something is really strange. If he¡¯s indeed dead, then it would indeed make sense. I can¡¯t be a hundred percent certain, but I¡¯m almost a hundred percent sure that the Marquis is dead, and the Minister is trying to use the Marquis name to collect power," The man told Ryder.

    Ryder nodded his head before he nced back at Devilia.

    "Duke Devilia, you¡¯re more aware about your Duchy. What do you say about the concern of this man?" Ryder asked Devilia.

    "That is indeed a serious usation," Devilia said as he frowned. She looked in the direction of the man before she continued. " You know that if it turned out to be a lie, you could be convicted, right?"

    "I know. That¡¯s why I waited for so long beforeing here, hoping that Marquis ria would appear, or I would get a signal of him being alive, but nothing happened. I had to take this decision. Even if I¡¯m wrong and I¡¯m put to death, at least I would get my satisfaction that he is alive. If he¡¯s not, then that too can be handled as long as people know about it," The man replied in full seriousness.

    "Alright. I will address your issue. Devilia, Send some people to the Pce of Marquis ria. I need the answers. If Marquis ria is actually dead and the Minister didn¡¯t inform anyone, then he shall be put to death," Ryder told Devilia after looking back at her.

    "It will be done," Devilia nodded her head.

    She looked back at her Chief Guard and told him to go to the Pce of Marquis ria and investigate this matter. She also told him to take a small amount of force to be ready if any unforeseen situation appeared.

    The Guard Chief nodded his head before he left.

    "Also, make sure that man remains safe. Find the guard that stopped this information from getting to you and deal with it ordingly," Ryder said again.

    Devilia once again nodded her head as she sent another guard to bring the man inside the pce. She was going to find the guard that this man was talking aboutter.

    "Alright. Two concerns, and both were valid. I wish I could take more, but I need to leave for other ces as well. I only have time to listen to one more," Ryder dered as he nced at the citizens once more.

    People raised their hands once again, but Ryder noticed that there was a kid this time who was raising his hand.

    It was a girl who seemed like she was 14-15 years old.

    Ryder had noticed the girl before because there was a strange tattoo on her face that seemed quite intriguing. Ryder had already seen the girl just as he hade out to the balcony of the pce. The girl hadn¡¯t raised her hand before, and it was her first time now.

    ¡¯Was she hesitating before, or did she juste up with something?¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at the girl.

    He raised his hand and pointed towards that girl.

    "You! The young girl in red. Speak what you want to say," Ryder said to the girl.

    The girl looked at Ryder without any expression on her face, but she didn¡¯t say anything.

    " Don¡¯t be scared. You can speak about anything," Ryder told the girl as he smiled.

    "What is it that you wanted to say?" Ryder asked the girl.

    The girl looked at Ryder and slowly opened her thin lips as she spoke five words.

    Even though the girl only spoke five words, the words were enough to send a frenzy. People started getting restless. Even High Duke M and Rale were shocked as they started looking at the girl.

    Their expressions turned severe, and even a little bit of killing intent appeared in their eyes.

    Duke Devilia also looked at the girl threateningly.

    "How dare you speak those words to the Prince! Do you wish to die!" Duke Devilia told the girl as she red at her.

    Her powerful intent pressed down on the girl, but she controlled her strength.

    Even Ryder couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. He was in a daze after hearing the girl¡¯s words.

    He saw people getting angry at the girl and came out of his daze.

    "Devilia, stop!" Ryder said as he raised his left hand and gestured to her to stop.

    Devilia stopped and retracted her killing intent. Rale and High Duke M did the same, but they still looked at the girl with hostility.

    "Everyone, calm down. Let me talk to the girl myself! No one will interfere!" Ryder dered in a powerful voice.

 Chapter 252 Death?

    <h4>Chapter 252: Death?</h4>

    Ryder told everyone to calm down and not make amotion.

    People closed their mouths and stopped saying anything, but they didn¡¯t stop looking towards the girl in hostility for what she said. None of them expected someone to say something to the Prince, that too in the presence of the Royal Guard Chief Rale and High Duke M. The girl would¡¯ve been decapitated for uttering these words in most situations.

    Ryder nced towards the girl and started looking towards the girl as he smiled.

    "So, little girl. You speak some bold words. You just said that I am going to die! Why did you say that? Also, how should I take those words? Should I take that as a threat?" Ryder asked with an amused smile on his face. "Or should I take it as a warning?"

    He asked his question and waited for the girl to reply. What she said was a bold statement, and he wanted to know the reason she said it.

    "It is a warning. You are going to die!" the girl repeated without any expression on her face.

    Ryder noticed the killing intent and hostility increasing in the surroundings.

    " How?" Ryder asked again as he looked at the girl.

    " I don¡¯t know," The girl replied.

    "You don¡¯t know how I¡¯m going to die? Then why did you say that I will?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    " Your death is near. The Death Domain will kill you. No one can save you anymore," The girl told Ryder, without any expression on her face.

    "Are you from the Demon Realm or from outside?" Ryder inquired. He wondered if the girl was someone from the Death Domain that was here to threaten him.

    The girl didn¡¯t reply and turned back to leave.

    "Rale, bring her back. I¡¯ll ask her myselfter," Ryder told Rale casually.

    Rale listened to themand and instantly flew towards the girl, but he failed to find the girl as he reached there. It was as if the girl had suddenly disappeared and he couldn¡¯t find her at all.

    Even Ryder was surprised as he lost track of the girl.

    High Duke M couldn¡¯t find the girl either.

    Rale kept looking around and observed every person present there, but the girl wasn¡¯t there.

    "Did she actually disappear?" Ryder muttered in confusion as he looked at the crowd, getting not even a glimpse of that girl.

    Rale flew back to the balcony and stood beside Ryder.

    "Your Highness, that girl is not here anymore. I believe she used some skill to leave," Rale told Ryder. He dropped down to one knee before Ryder with an apologetic look on his face. "I am ready for my punishment for failing to bring the girl back."

    "It¡¯s fine. We all lost the track of her. The girl was probably a spy from outside whose only purpose was to threaten me in front of everyone. I believe it is the Death Domain at y. They are going through internal discord and afraid that we might take advantage of that, so they sent that girl to threaten us and to send us on a wild goose chase about my security," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "You can stand. Don¡¯t worry about it. You know what I always say, right? Even gods can¡¯t kill me, let alone a few death dwellers. You don¡¯t have to worry," Ryder told Rale as he smiled.

    Ryder nced back at Devilia and frowned.

    "I find the security of your Duchycking. If people like the skeleton and that girl can roam around so freely without anyone knowing. Increase the security and conduct a search. If that girl is still in this ce, I want her found," he told Devilia in a stern tone.

    Devilia simply nodded her head.

    "I will deal with it appropriately," Devilia replied in full seriousness.

    Ryder looked back towards the citizens again.

    " Citizens of Demon Realm. This was all the time I had today as I have to deal with the major issues about the security of this ce but don¡¯t worry. This doesn¡¯t mean that you can¡¯t talk about your concerns. From today on, there will be a special branch set up by the Duke that will listen to all your concerns. You can send your concerns Anonymous or go there in person."

    " I promise that every concern you register there will reach Duke Devilia. She will solve them for you. Those who want to register their concerns today can also do this as well. Find the closest guard and give them a letter with your concern," Ryder dered to everyone with a gentle smile.

    " Also, if you have any concern that isn¡¯t solved by the authorities here and you feel like that¡¯s a pressing matter, you cane to the Royal Pce and tell the Royal Guards about that. You have all been without a king all this time, and even though the High Dukes handled the matters, I know we can make this ce even better. It¡¯s time to make the Demon better, and I¡¯m here for you," Ryder continued as he told everyone in a stern tone before he turned back and started going inside the pce.

    The citizens started cheering for Ryder. Under the loud cheers, Ryder and the others left the balcony and went back inside.

    " Alright. The battery of the missing marquis is something your people should be able to take care of. The only matter we have left is the mysterious skeleton. I didn¡¯t expect that the Death Domain would actually think about creating trouble for us when they¡¯re on the brink of a civil war themselves," Ryder muttered as he walked with the others towards the inside of the great hall.

    "That might be their exact n. They probably want us to get angry and attack them first. They can use fighting us as an excuse to get all the power. It¡¯s obvious that the Royal Heir had more power now because of him being the legal Prince, but that can change anything as the Inheritor of the Death Emperor bes strong. If we attack, the Prince can absorb all the power with the excuse of a war. I¡¯m over ny percent sure that it¡¯s the idea of one of those idiot Death Envoys that are with the prince," High Duke M told Ryder as she frowned.

    "True... The Inheritor chosen by the weapon of the Death Emperor will be at the biggest disadvantage if we attack. The Prince gains the most from it. Of course, my assumption is based on the fact that there is Death Domain behind this," Duke Devilia said as she chimed in.

    " We¡¯ll find who¡¯s behind this soon enough," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    He entered the Great Hall with the others. The girl who had informed them about the mysterious skeleton was already there in the room. She was standing near the center.

    Ryder walked past the girl and sat on the throne in the center. High Duke M, Duke Devilia, and Rale also sat down on the nearby seats.

    "Alright. Now we can talk about this in peace. Tell me what exactly you saw and where this took ce. I also want you to describe the skeleton in detail if you saw him," Ryder told the girl.

    The girl opened her mouth to speak something, but Ryder raised his hand and said, "What a minute."

    Ryder nced towards Duke Devilia.

    " Devilia, is there someone who can create a Sketch ording to the description? I want to talk to the Vampire King about this. He must know a few things about skeletons," Ryder said to Devilia.

    "There are a few artists. Let me call him here," Devilia nodded her head.

    She told her servant to bring the artist here.

    In no time, the artist arrived in the great hall.

    " You can continue now. First, talk about his appearance so that we know what you¡¯re talking about when you tell the rest of the story," Ryder told the girl.

    The girl nodded her head as she started describing the skeleton she saw.

    "The Skeleton was over 6 feet tall."

    The girl started describing the skeleton.

    "Its bones were ck, but on the skull portion, I saw something shining. It seemed like there was a tattoo on its skill that seemed like that kept from here to here..."

    She pointed towards her face as she talked about the skeleton tattoo, which was more intriguing for Ryder and the others.

    After around twenty minutes, the painting of that statue was created that seemed to be carrying a bag. The artist was so amazing that he made a realistic-looking art piece. Blood drops could also be seen falling from the bag.

    "It¡¯s ready," The artist said as he showed the portrait to the girl.

    "Yes, that¡¯s exactly what I saw," The girl nodded her head.

    The artist walked towards the Prince with the portrait and gave it to him on Ryder¡¯s orders.

 Chapter 253 The Special Skeleton

    <h4>Chapter 253: The Special Skeleton</h4>

    The artist gave the portrait to Ryder.

    Ryder observed the portrait before showing it to Rale and High Duke M.

    "It doesn¡¯t look like a normal skeleton. What do you guys think? Do you know about anything like this?" Ryder asked Rale and M.

    " Generally skeletons are white. A ck one should be easy to differentiate, that too one with the tattoo," Ryder continued as he hoped for a clue.

    " I do know about ck skeletons. They are generally Commander level Skeletons, which are normally more intelligent than normal skeletons," Rale exined to Ryder as he looked at the skeleton.

    "True. ck Skeletons enjoy a good reputation in the Undead Region. They are stronger than average skeletons and can think for themselves," High Duke M suggested as she smiled.

    " What about the tattoo of the skull? Do all ck skeletons have a tattoo on the skull?" Ryder inquired as he looked around.

    " They don¡¯t. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen a skeleton with a tattoo like that, at least not on the skull. That¡¯s what makes it so strange," High Duke M said as she frowned.

    "I have fought in thest great war between the Death Domain and the Demon Realm. We saw many strange things as the war raged on, and millions were killed. The Death Domain warriors used a lot of Undead in the battle, but none of the Undead was like this. Either it¡¯s a new type of evolution that had appeared after thest great war, or it¡¯s a skeleton that the Death Domain Warriors weren¡¯t able to control in thest great war, making them not use it," she continued.

    "So we have no proof that it¡¯s someone from the Death Domain. I guess I¡¯ll have to talk to the Vampire King," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t want to meet him as that can get troublesome since he¡¯s here to find someone that we already killed, but it looks like I have no choice. I do have the quest which needs me to find the ck Skeleton. If I can, I might be able to get an opportunity to take part in an S-Rank event,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked towards the girl standing before him.

    " Anyone have any more information about a skeleton of this type besides what we already know about its origin?" Ryder inquired as he looked around.

    Everyone looked at him and shook their heads. They knew about a ck skeleton, which they already talked about, but they didn¡¯t know about a ck Skeleton with that tattoo besides what they already shared.

    Ryder understood the meaning of their looks, and Ryder started looking in the direction of the girl that had seen the skeleton in Demon Realm.

    "Alright. You can continue. Describe everything that took ce on the day you saw this mysterious skeleton," he told the girl.

    The girl nodded her head as she started talking about that day.

    "It was just two days ago. At around 9 in the night, I was going to a friend¡¯s house. I had to walk through an empty street, but when I reached there, I saw that skeleton. I immediately hid in fear since it looked scary. My legs and hands were shaking, so I couldn¡¯t do anything. I just stood there nkly and watched the skeleton leave," the girl told Ryder

    "After a long time, when I finally gathered some courage and got my legs to move, I found the guards and told them about it, but they all thought that I was crazy. None of them believed that a skeleton could approach in the main city without being noticed by them. Even when I told my neighbors, they refused to believe me, I tried so much, but I was considered crazy. I can¡¯t describe how d I am that I got to talk about this today and bring focus to this topic," the girl said as she sighed in relief.

    She was really scared about the safety of this ce, but as no one believed her before, she couldn¡¯t do anything with this Knowledge. She was excited that she got to share her information and that too, in front of the highest authority in the kingdom like the Prince and the High Dukes.

    "Alright. Take me to that ce. Miku, drop the visits to other Dukedoms. We¡¯ll leave this ce after settling the matter about this skeleton. Send them a message about the dy. Tell them that I¡¯ll be there after two days," Ryder looked at Miku and told her to inform the others about the dy.

    ¡¯Even though there is no time limit about the quest of finding the reason behind the missing demons but still, the faster I do it, the better. Two days should be enough to get an idea,¡¯ Ryder thought as he nodded his head.

    "It will be done," Miku said as she nodded her head.

    "That¡¯s good. As for you..." Ryder said as he shifted his focus back to the girl standing in front of him. "Take us to the pce you saw the skeleton at."

    The girl nodded her head.

    Ryder stood up with the others.

    "Can you fly?" He asked the girl.

    "I can¡¯t," The girl said as she shook her head.

    "It¡¯s fine. Rale, you carry her. Flying should be faster," Ryder muttered as he nced back at Rale.

    Rale also agreed.

    Ryder, Rale, High Duke M, and Devilia, along with a few guards, went back to the balcony and flew away, under the watchful eyes of the citizens.

    The citizens had already guessed where they were going as they saw the girl being carried by them.

    "They¡¯re taking that girl. They must be going to investigate the skeleton appearance!"

    "True. The Prince and the High Dukes are already involved in this matter. There¡¯s no way that skeleton can roam around freely."

    "I still believe that the girl is trying to fool everyone with the fake story. She is only trying to get some fame."

    "That¡¯s possible as well, but if that¡¯s true, I¡¯m sure the Prince will give her a death sentence."

    The citizens started talking about them. Most of them believed that the girl was lying and talking about made-up stories. They were all proud of their demon lineage, and they looked down on skeletons. There was something really unbelievable at the thought of a weak skeleton being able to kill a demon.

    Ryder and the others were brought to the portion of the street where the girl had found the ck skeleton.

    The street was still empty, but as they allnded there, it¡¯s started looking crowded since it wasn¡¯t a wide street.

 Chapter 254 Sealing the city

    <h4>Chapter 254: Sealing the city</h4>

    Rydernded on the ground, along with the others. The empty street suddenly started looking filled.

    Ryder looked towards the girl, "Is this the ce?"

    "Yes. The skeleton was standing there and walked towards that side," the girl said as she pointed towards the other end of the street. She then pointed towards the other end of the street. "I hid there."

    Ryder nodded his head as she walked towards the direction where she talked about the skeleton.

    He observed the street for any marks that were left behind on the road, but as he reached near that portion, he saw marks of blood drop being left behind.

    "This should be the blood falling from that sack," Ryder muttered as he saw a trail of blood drop, which he followed.

    Rale and the others followed after Ryder.

    "Devilia," Ryder muttered as he looked towards Devilia.

    " Yes," Devilia replied in confusion.

    " This is my first time getting involved in the matters of this Dukedom, but I must say, I find your guards to be reallycking. How can I be sure of the safety of this Dukedom when all this is happening here, and you don¡¯t even have any information? Not only that, your guards don¡¯t even listen to people¡¯sints," Ryder let out in an annoyed tone as he kept following after that trail.

    Devilia looked down as she heard that, but she didn¡¯t say anything.

    "I can understand that the guards would be suspicious of this story, but they didn¡¯t even try to verify it. Not even this, but they didn¡¯t even try taking the concerns of that man who informed about Marquis ria? I am really disappointed here," Ryder said in disappointment.

    "With this level of security, how can we expect our citizens to have a safe life in this ce?" he continued. "I hope you do something about it after I leave."

    "I promise I will get to the end of it. Those who are responsible will be properly punished, and I will be stricter with them," Devilia responded as she smiled.

    Ryder followed the blood trail for half an hour before he reached the dead end.

    The blood trail disappeared after some time as he reached outside the city.

    " I guess this is as far as I can reach with this trail. The only thing we can be sure of is that the ck skeleton left the city. Unfortunately, there¡¯s no trail left here anymore," Ryder sighed as he saw no trail after that point.

    He looked back in the direction of Rale.

    "Rale, Is there a way for us to follow that skeleton without this trail? Something that can track the blood?" Ryder said as he smiled.

    "There is no way, unfortunately. We can not track the blood," Rale shook his head as he sighed.

    "High Duke M, Do you have any suggestions?" he asked Hugh Duke M.

    " I can cast a barrier around the city and seal this ce. If that skeleton is inside this city, he won¡¯t be able to leave, and if he¡¯s outside the city, then he won¡¯t be able to enter. We can have the whole city searched to find that skeleton after that," High Duke M suggested.

    "That¡¯s possible. We do know that the skeleton left the city two days ago after she saw him, but there¡¯s a high chance that he came back if he¡¯s been kidnapping the people from this city. We can take the risk of sealing the city, and we might be able to find him if our luck is good," Ryder muttered as he liked the idea.

    He believed that sealing the city and searching it can help him find the skeleton if luck supported them.

    "Should I seal the city then?" High Duke M asked Ryder to confirm.

    "Yes. Seal the city. Devilia, get the guards ready. I want the whole city searched in the next two days," Ryder let out as he walked inside the city.

    High Duke M raised her right hand and started chanting a spell.

    The spell was long and took M over five minutes toplete chanting. As soon as she finished chanting, a bright ray of light left her finger and arched forward as itnded in the center of the city.

    As soon as the lightnded, it changed the form into that of a golden bubble that kept getting bigger and bigger until it was big enough to cover the whole city.

    The Golden Light surrounded the city, and the barrier waspleted.

    Ryder looked at the sky and saw a beautiful golden barrier surrounding the city.

    ¡¯She¡¯s pretty powerful. An AOE skill of a level 200 yer can¡¯t even cover twenty meters, and her barrier covers an entire city, and she doesn¡¯t even look tired. Sigh, sometimes I can¡¯t help but feel down. In front of normal yers, I¡¯ll be a Godly Existence that can kill anyone, but when ites to this ce, I¡¯m not even close to being an ant. At Least I have them to help me, or I¡¯d be dead a hundred times over in a ce like this,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled wryly.

    High Duke M and the others joined Ryder.

    "High Duke M, can you contact High Duke Eston? He should be with the Vampire King. If there¡¯s a way, then establish the contact. I want to talk to the Vampire King," Ryder told High Duke M.

    "There¡¯s a way to do that. We can easily establish a link with them when we go back," High Duke M said as she nodded her head.

    "Good," Ryder muttered as he started flying towards Devilia¡¯s Pce. Rale and the others followed after them.

    Ryder and the others entered the pce and went back to the Great Hall.

    Devilia told a maid to take the girl that informed them about the skeleton to a different room since they didn¡¯t need her for now.

    All of them sat on the seats before they continued their discussion.

    "High Duke M, You can contact High Duke Eston," Ryder told M.

    M nodded her head as she stood up and walked to the front. She opened a spatial crack and brought a big mirror out of that which she ced before everyone. The mirror was as tall as M and as wide as her.

    M touched the mirror and said a spell which made the mirror shine brightly.

    The mirror changed color and started showing the view of High Duke Eston that was standing.

    "M? Do you need anything?" High Duke Eston asked as he looked in confusion.

 Chapter 255 It cant be

    <h4>Chapter 255: It can''t be</h4>

    The first thing he saw was High Duke M since she was standing before the mirror. He didn¡¯t see Ryder and the others who were sitting behind.

    "No, it¡¯s not me that wanted something from you. His Highness wants to talk to you about something important," High Duke M replied as she shook her head.

    "His Highness? Alright. Let me talk to him," High Duke Eston nodded his head as he heard it.

    High Duke M moved to the side and walked back to her seat beside Ryder.

    "Greetings, My Prince," High Duke Eston greeted Ryder.

    "Greetings to you as well, High Duke Eston. Today I have contacted you for a really important matter that is rted to the security of our Realm," Ryder told High Duke Eston in a grave tone.

    "Something rted to security? I¡¯m prepared to help in any way I can," High Duke Eston got serious as he heard it. He nodded his head and started listening even more carefully.

    "Tell me. Is the Vampire King near you, or has he left?" Ryder asked the High Duke.

    "The Vampire King? He is still here. He is in his room. I am waiting outside for him. Did you need something?" High Duke Eston asked Ryder.

    "Yeah. I need him. Get him in front of me. I want to have a conversation with him," Ryder asked High Duke Eston.

    High Duke Eston nodded his head and started walking towards the room of the Vampire King.

    The Mirror floated behind him and showed Ryder everything.

    High Duke Eston entered the room after knocking once.

    The Vampire King was sitting on the bed, lost on some thought, when the door opened.

    He saw High Duke Eston standing before him.

    "What do you need?" The Vampire King asked High Duke Eston in annoyance.

    "Our Prince needs to talk to you about something important," High Duke Eston said to the Vampire King before he moved aside.

    The Vampire King became visible to Ryder and the others.

    Vampire King looked towards Ryder.

    "What do you need?" The Vampire King asked in a casual tone. His tone frustrated both the High Dukes since there was no greeting involved. They found it disrespectful, but they knew they couldn¡¯t interfere without Ryder¡¯s orders.

    " I have an important matter to discuss today, but before I start, let me ask about you. Have you finished what you were trying to do? Did you find the person you were looking for?" Ryder asked the Vampire King.

    The Vampire King¡¯s mood only grew worse as he heard Ryder¡¯s words. He had hoped to find his General but even after all this time, let alone finding his general; he didn¡¯t even find a single clue about him.

    "I didn¡¯t find anything," The Vampire King shook his head.

    "As I expected. There¡¯s no way you can find him here since we weren¡¯t involved in his disappearance. As for the blood of Demons that you found there, I think we have found some clues. Today, I contacted you to discuss about that exact matter," Ryder told the Vampire King.

    The Vampire King was suddenly more interested in what Ryder had to say.

    "What did you find out?" he asked Ryder.

    "You remember when you first told us about your General going missing and you finding demon blood in his missing spot? Our first suspicion was the Death Domain since a lot of demons had been going missing in the demon realm. We believed that they used the blood of those missing demons. Today, I have found proof that it was indeed something like that. It¡¯s either the Death Domain kidnapping out people or your Undead Region that¡¯s nning against us," Ryder let out as his tone turned more serious.

    " Let me tell you one thing, though. If we find out that the Undead Region is behind it, then we won¡¯t hesitate from a full-on war. For me, the lives of my citizens are more important than anything. If you people are kidnapping my citizens, then I won¡¯t hesitate a single second before dering a war," Ryder said in a threatening tone.

    His tone was so serious that even the Vampire King frowned. He felt like Ryder was actually serious about the war. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder what he was talking about. What had happened? How was his Undead Region involved in it?

    Ryder¡¯s tone also gave pride to the others present in the room.

    Rale was extremely happy that Ryder was so brave. He was excited to see the Prince standing up to the Vampire King as the Prince of the Demon Realm. He couldn¡¯t help but see a glimpse of the Demon Emperor Salem in Ryder.

    High Duke M also smiled as she heard Ryder¡¯s words. She nodded her head in appreciation. Devilia, on the other hand, looked towards Ryder with a different gaze. She was somewhat attracted to Ryder, who was prideful. She found Ryder to be so manly today.

    "Anyway, let me talk about this matter now. I would appreciate it if you are honest since a single misunderstanding can result in a war and the loss of millions of lives," Ryder said as he looked in the eyes of the Vampire King.

    "I just came here to visit a douchy when I was informed that a witness saw a demon¡¯s body being carried in a sack. Can you guess the person who was carrying the sack?" Ryder asked the Vampire King.

    The Vampire King looked in confusion, not knowing how to reply.

    "Who?" he asked Ryder.

    "It was a skeleton! A ck skeleton! Do you know who uses skeletons? The Undead Region and the Death Domain. It¡¯s either one of you two that are killing and kidnapping my citizens or the both of you working together against us. Whatever it is, won¡¯t end well for anyone scheming against us," Ryder said in a grim tone.

    "A ck skeleton?" The Vampire King asked as he frowned.

    "Yeah. A ck skeleton with a tattoo on his skull! We have its sketch. Tell me if you know anything about it," Ryder let out as he turned the portrait towards the Vampire King.

    The Vampire King saw the portrait carefully. High Duke Eston was also hearing it carefully and seeing the portrait.

    ¡¯A ck skeleton with a tattoo? Did someone really infiltrate? Did the Vampire King bring someone with him?¡¯ High Duke Eston wondered as he looked in the direction of the Vampire King.

    "This... I remember it... it can¡¯t be!" The Vampire King was a little taken aback as he saw the portrait.

 Chapter 256 The Skeleton King?

    <h4>Chapter 256: The Skeleton King?</h4>

    "Hmm? I guess you know this skeleton. Could you exin how you know about it? Is it really the Undead Region scheming against us?" Ryder asked the Vampire King.

    "That skeleton! He..." The Vampire King kept ring at the skeleton with shock on his face.

    "Speak! Who is this skeleton! Why are you so shocked to see him?" Ryder asked the Vampire King.

    "It¡¯s because... I destroyed that skeleton myself! I crushed him into a powder before burying him!" The Vampire King replied as he frowned.

    "Hmm? Did you destroy it? Who is it? Why did you destroy it? If you¡¯re so sure that it¡¯s the same skeleton, then how is it still alive after being destroyed in your hand," Ryder asked the Vampire King as he frowned.

    " That skeleton is the previous Skeleton King!" The Vampire King replied, shocking everyone.

    Ryder and everyone else was shocked as they heard this revtion.

    The Skeleton King? An undead King? Even though the Leech King and the Vampire King were the two Major Undead Kings, there were other Undead Kings too.

    The Leech King and the Vampire King were said to have as much strength as the High Dukes of the Demon Realm, but the other kings weren¡¯t weak either. If Ryder were to make an assumption, the Skeleton King could be said to be as strong as a Duke of the Demon Realm. This meant that the Skeleton King was as strong as Devilia.

    If Ryder wasn¡¯t with High Duke M here and Duke Devilia badly fought with the ck Skeleton, she might not have been much of an advantage either.

    "So he¡¯s a Skeleton King. No wonder he was able to kill Demons without being found out. It¡¯s as strong as Devilia, after all. It¡¯s a good thing that we arrived and heard about it. I never knew such big trouble was roaming around in ournd under all our noses," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    "Tell me more about the ck Skeleton King," Ryder said to the Vampire King. "Since you killed him, it doesn¡¯t seem like you liked him much. That might be why he killed your general and framed us while destroying is from inside," Ryder said in full seriousness.

    Since the Skeleton King was here, he decided to use that as an excuse for the death of the Vampire General.

    "That¡¯s indeed possible if it¡¯s him. If it¡¯s indeed the ck Skeleton King, he¡¯ll definitely think about revenge," The Vampire King nodded his head in understanding.

    "It would make even more sense that he joined the Death Domain since he lost his position in the Skeleton n and with the rise of a new king from the Royal Skeleton n," he continued.

    "Tell us what had happened," Ryder asked in curiosity.

    "Nothing major. The ck Skeleton King was just too arrogant. He started attacking nearby ns and taking their resources. Ultimately, he attacked a n he shouldn¡¯t have," The Vampire King said as he reminisced about the past.

    "He attacked the Vampire n? Was he really an idiot, or was he way stronger than the current Skeleton King?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    There was no way a King that was as strong as a Duke will attack a King that was as strong as a Duke. The only possible exnation was that the Skeleton King was an Idiot, or he was way stronger than the current Skeleton King. Ryder only knew about the current situation where the Skeleton King was as strong as the Duke, but maybe in the past, the Previous Skeleton King used to be as strong as a High Duke?

    While Ryder wasing up with an assumption of his own, the Vampire King started replying.

    "No, he didn¡¯t attack the Vampire n. He wasn¡¯t an idiot to attack us. Instead, he attacked the Zombie n," The Vampire King replied.

    "How did you get involved then?" Ryder asked in confusion. Why would the Vampire King attack the Skeleton n for Zombie n? Their rtionship shouldn¡¯t be that close.

    "It¡¯s because of a promise. In the past, the Zombie King had helped someone from my family. I had promised him that I would help him once whenever he needs, no matter how big the problem. When the Zombie n was in danger, I came to his help and killed the ck Skeleton King. I helped the peaceful Royal Skeleton Commander rise to the throne, and the war was over. That was thest day I saw the ck Skeleton King," The Vampire King exined as he sighed.

    "So you destroyed it. It is surprising that it was able to rise against... wait a minute! The Death Domain! Those guys can revive undeads to fight for them!" Ryder eximed as he put the pieces together.

    "That¡¯s true. They can revive Dead Skeletons, but they shouldn¡¯t be strong enough to revive and control an Undead King, though. Only the Death Emperor was strong enough, but ording to my sources, he was killed by the Demon Emperor in thest great war," The Vampire King replied as he frowned.

    "Could it be that the Death Emperor is still alive? Or he revived the ck Skeleton King before dying?" Ryder asked as he frowned

    "No, if he was alive and he had revived the ck Skeleton King, he would have definitely used the ck Skeleton King against us in thest great war. He didn¡¯t use that against us, so I can¡¯t say that he is involved. The Death Emperor is definitely dead," High Duke M chimed in as she shook her head.

    "How is this possible then? Has another person appeared in the Death Domain that can revive High Ranking Undeads and the Undead Kings?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    "That shouldn¡¯t be possible. I don¡¯t think there is anyone like that in the Death Domain ording to our information," High Duke M shook her head.

    "There isn¡¯t, ording to our information as well," The Vampire King chimed in.

    "This doesn¡¯t make sense then! How is the ck Skeleton King still alive? The only possible exnation that can still make sense is that the Death Emperor revived the ck Skeleton King, but for some reason, he didn¡¯t use it on thest great war," Ryder let out as he frowned.

    "Alright. That does make sense, but there¡¯s a problem in that as well. If the ck Skeleton King has been alive for so long, why is it only getting active now? Why hasn¡¯t it done anything before? So many years have passed since thest great war," High Duke M asked as she frowned.

 Chapter 257 Forcing mila

    <h4>Chapter 257: Forcing m</h4>

    " We can only find the answers after catching the ck Skeleton King. We have sealed the whole city. We should get to search. The longer that thing stays free, the more people it will kill," Ryder let out as he stood up.

    " Wait! I want to help with this! I created so much trouble for you because of someone else¡¯s trap! I want to clear the dirt and free the name of the Undead Region! Tell me the location!" The Vampire King called out.

    "Alright. High Duke Eston, please bring the Vampire King to Devilia¡¯s Pce. The more people we have for this, the better. We¡¯re dealing with a Duke Level Threat after all," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "We are going to begin the search on our own for now. You can inform High Duke M after you get here. We¡¯ll create an opening in the barrier and help you enter after you get here," Ryder let out as he stood up.

    "It shall be done," High Duke Eston replied as he nodded his head.

    High Duke M waved her hand, disconnecting the connection. The visuals disappeared, and the mirror returned to normal.

    High Duke M stood up and walked up to the mirror. She touched the mirror with her fair fingers, making it disappear.

    "Let¡¯s begin the search. We¡¯re searching for an Undead King, so your guards can¡¯t do anything to stop him. Only Rale and High Duke M are effective against himpletely. The guards will just be cannon fodder, but at this point, we can¡¯t handle this without them. We need to use the guards and form a all around the city. Their goal won¡¯t be to kill the ck Skeleton King but only to find him. We also need a way to find out if one of those guards is killed so that we can get there. Can we do that?" Ryder asked Devilia in curiosity.

    "There is a way. There is a spell that can connect a person to the guards, but I can¡¯t cast it. Only a High Duke has enough Magic to link to the thousands of the guards in the city," Devilia replied as she talked about a way. She said that she couldn¡¯t cast the spell, but High Duke M could cast this spell.

    Ryder looked back at High Duke M.

    "Do you know about this spell, and can you cast it?" Ryder asked High Duke Devilia.

    "Yeah, I do know of that spell, but I don¡¯t think it would be good for me to cast it," High Duke M said with a concerned look on her face.

    "When I cast that spell, my mind will be linked to thousands of Minds. I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything more than see what the guards are seeing. When I¡¯m in that condition, if the ck Skeleton King attack is, I wouldn¡¯t be able to save you," High Duke M said as she sighed. She told Ryder her concerns, which were his safety.

    "How about we wait till Eston is here? I can freely cast it after he¡¯s here since he¡¯ll be able to keep you safe," she suggested.

    "No. We can¡¯t wait. We need to start now. The more we dy, the more people that ck Skeleton will kill. That is an Undead King. That thing was already dangerous, and now that he¡¯s trapped in a bubble, he¡¯ll be even more dangerous. Also, even though I believe that your barrier can keep him inside, it¡¯s still better to be fast. No barrier canst under a constant barrage of attacks for eternity. If the ck Skeleton King managed to break the barrier, it¡¯d be worse," Ryder replied.

    Even though he talked about this, his main concern was entirely different. There was another reason he wanted to start now, but he didn¡¯t tell High Duke M.

    The reason had something to do with something he had realized from the portrait of the ck Skeleton King that he saw. He didn¡¯t tell anyone about this, and he wasn¡¯t willing to, but he had noticed something. The ck Skeleton King had something that he needed. A very rare thing that he couldn¡¯t wait to get his hands on

    " But what about your safety? If I do this, who will keep you safe? You know that keeping you alive is a bigger priority than anything else right now. We need to keep you alive as you have be a foundation of our Empire now," High Duke M said, shaking her head.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly. He knew that her concerns were valid, as well.

    "Rale will protect me from the ck Skeleton King. You know his strength, right?" Ryder asked High Duke M as he smiled.

    High Duke M looked towards Rale.

    Only Ryder and the High Dukes knew about Rale¡¯s true strength. When Rale stopped controlling his strength and removed his limiters, he was much stronger than he normally was.

    Everyone else thought that Rale was as strong as a Duke of the Demon Realm, but High Dukes and Ryder knew his real strength. They all knew that Rale was much stronger than that. Rale¡¯s strength was way more than a Duke. He was only a little weaker than a High Duke when he wasn¡¯t hiding his strength.

    "That¡¯s assuming the ck Skeleton King is as strong as a Duke. We also need to consider the fact that he might be stronger. It¡¯s also possible that he¡¯s working with someone else. If he¡¯s working with someone else, then that might be dangerous. When Rale and I are together, we can take care of anything, but if I¡¯m out of the equation, then I don¡¯t think it will be safe. I highly oppose this idea," High Duke M said as she shook her head.

    She wasn¡¯t only concerned about the ck Skeleton King, but what his arrival meant.

    There was a good chance that the Death Domain was working with them. If the Death Domain had more pieces in their city, then she couldn¡¯t let his attention be diverted at all. She wasn¡¯t willing to agree. Ryder¡¯s safety was more important.

    ¡¯Sigh, it doesn¡¯t look like she will agree. Her intentions are right, but she isn¡¯t understanding. I can use my token ofmand to make her do any one thing for me, but to make her do this would be a waste of that token that I¡¯m given. I don¡¯t want to do this,¡¯ Ryder thought as he sighed.

    "Are you really not going to listen to me?" Ryder asked High Duke M.

 Chapter 258 Rale?

    <h4>Chapter 258: Rale?</h4>

    " I can do anything youmand but not something that will put your life in jeopardy. I am not going to do it. You would need to use the token ofmand if you want to force me. Think yourself," High Duke M replied as she shook her head.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile as he saw the stubbornness of High Duke M.

    " Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not going to force you," Ryder finally gave up. He wasn¡¯t going to waste hismand of the token on this small matter. He didn¡¯t want to wait, but he didn¡¯t need to be in such a hurry either. He decided to wait.

    Just as Ryder had given up, he thought of something.

    He looked towards Rale and smiled.

    "Rale, would youe with me?" Ryder let out as he smiled.

    Rale nodded his head.

    " Can you guys leave this hall for a few seconds?" Ryder told the others.

    High Duke M and Devilia looked at Ryder suspiciously, but they agreed as well. They stood up and left the hall.

    After High Duke M and the others left, only Ryder and Rale were left in the hall.

    "Rale, Do you know about that spell?" Ryder asked Rale.

    " The spell that Duke Devilia talked about? Yes, I know that spell," Rale said as he nodded his head.

    " That¡¯s good. By the way, Devilia said that she¡¯s not strong enough to cast that spell, but what about you? You are definitely stronger than her and almost reaching the levels of High Dukes. Can you cast that spell?" Ryder asked as he smiled.

    "This..." Rale stumbled as he realized that Ryder was talking about. He wanted Rale to cast that spell instead, but Rale had a simr concern to High Duke M. He was also concerned about Ryder¡¯s safety and didn¡¯t want to do it.

    He didn¡¯t know how to answer, though. He knew that he couldn¡¯t say no like High Duke Devilia said. He couldn¡¯t be as stubborn as her. There was just something about him that didn¡¯t let him deny themands of his Royal Prince. He knew that he couldn¡¯t lie either.

    "Why aren¡¯t you saying anything? Can you cast that spell or not?" Ryder asked Rale.

    Rale took a deep breath and sighed as he nodded his head.

    "I can cast the spell," Rale said as he nodded his head, but he also continued with his excuse of why he didn¡¯t want to.

    "But I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea for me to use it this time," Rale replied as he shook his head.

    "Why not?" Ryder asked as he frowned. Was he also going to use the same excuse as High Duke M? If this was the case, then Ryder believed that he could convince Rale to do it.

    Rale looked at Ryder in full honesty.

    "It¡¯s something to do with the reason I keep my strength hidden. This was something that every Royal Commander does. We are sworn in with the oath that we will keep our real strength hidden for the protection of our Royalty. That¡¯s why no one knew that my father was as strong as a High Duke when he was the Royal Commander before me," Rale eximed.

    " It¡¯s this oath that we shouldn¡¯t break unless the Royalty¡¯s life is in danger. I can¡¯t break this oath. If I use this spell, I will be linked to all the guards, and all the guards will know that it is I who is linked to them. They will easily realize my strength from this spell. They will know that I¡¯m much stronger than the Duke. My oath will be broken, and my strength will be exposed," Rale replied as he sighed.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know that Rale was going to use this excuse and this excuse genuinely sounded severe. With this, Ryder realized that he couldn¡¯t force Rale. If he forced Rale, then his favorability with Rale will increase. Ryder didn¡¯t want that at all since Rale was his main man in this ce. He trusted Rale more than he did anyone else, and he also felt safer with Rale around. Rale was a walking superhuman, after all. His level was so high that Ryder felt like he was already strong enough to break the game.

    Ryder realized that if the other yers knew that Ryder had someone like Rale as his helper, they would strike at the headwaters of Necrosis and start calling Ryder an illegitimate child of Necrosis owner even more. He didn¡¯t want to lose Rale, and forcing him would do that. He also knew that it would also affect other things. His favorability with the Royal Guards will decrease as well.

    Also, if his favorability decreased and Rale betrayed him, he could be in danger. Rale knew that they went to the Undead Region and many more ces illegally. Ryder could lose everyone¡¯s trust if Rale betrayed him. That¡¯s why he wanted to keep his favorability with Rale high.

    "Fine. You don¡¯t need to do it. We¡¯ll wait till the Vampire King and High Duke Eston arrive. You can call the others inside. We¡¯ll Wait," Ryder sighed as he walked back to the throne and sat on it.

    Rale also breathed in a sigh of relief since he didn¡¯t need to put Ryder in danger by following Ryder¡¯s orders.

    Rale left the great hall and told everyone toe inside.

    High Duke M and Devilia entered inside the great hall once again.

    "There is a n change. We will wait for the arrival of High Duke Eston and the Vampire King before we begin the search," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "That¡¯s better," Hugh Duke M said as she smiled. Her young face looked even cuter as she smiled. She sat on the throne beside Ryder. Devilia and the others also sat down.

    "Oh, right. Devilia. We sealed the city so suddenly. Are the citizens freaking out?" Ryder asked Devilia.

    "They were, but we have everything under control. I had my guards inform everyone that it¡¯s nothing serious. We used the excuse of testing the barrier. They wouldn¡¯t freak out, and we can keep the barrier up for longer," Devilia exined to Ryder.

    "That¡¯s good. It¡¯s better if they don¡¯t freak out. It¡¯ll be difficult to find the ck Skeleton King otherwise, and he would have an easy time to kill the demons," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    He closed his eyes and started waiting.

    While Ryder closed his eyes, the first thought that came into his mind wasn¡¯t rted to the ck Skeleton King and this matter, but it was about Alice.

 Chapter 259 Inside Necrosis

    <h4>Chapter 259: Inside Necrosis</h4>

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but think about Alice as he closed his eyes. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder about her whereabouts.

    He had found out about her and realized that she was also a part of Divinity. He had seen her with Divinity sses, which meant that she was also ying inside Divinity. He wondered what her Avatar was and where she was at the moment. The world of Divinity was mostly safe for normal yers. He had only died in theter stages of the game, so he believed that Alice was safe, but there was another concern for him.

    He had realized that the future was changing and anything was possible. If he could, he would never let Alice y divinity, but Janus was forcing him not to interfere. Janus had assured him that she was going to be safe, and he believed it.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. He wondered if he should find out about her username so that he could message her or send a friend request to her.

    He also wondered if that was the right thing to do.

    ¡¯She knows I y in Divinity too. She started ying and didn¡¯t inform me. Did she not want to meet me in Divinity? Is it that she wants freedom from me inside Divinity? If I do anything like asking her username and sending her a friend request, would it look like km stalking her? It might affect her negatively,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    Rale and the others saw Ryder frowning with close eyes.

    They all believed that Ryder was thinking about the ck Skeleton King and how he could save the people of the Demon Realm.

    ¡¯ He is indeed a nice Prince. I¡¯m d that he¡¯s somewhat serious about his role,¡¯ High Duke M thought as she smiled.

    ¡¯ As expected of His Highness. He isn¡¯t resting at all. Even in this situation, he¡¯s still thinking about the problem ahead. I should really do something to step up myself as well. I need to keep up with His Highness,¡¯ Rale thought as he looked at Ryder.

    The Royal Maid Miku, on the other hand, was not in the great hall. She was busy dealing with the official matters of the Kingdom. She was dealing with informing the other Dukes about the change in Ryder¡¯s schedule, which had be even moreplicated after the whole city was sealed down.

    Devilia¡¯s guards were guarding the great hall carefully. Ryder¡¯s Royal Guards were inside the Great Hall, taking care of his safety.

    While Ryder was inside the game, something else was taking ce in the real world.

    A bright moon was rising high in the sky. A cold breeze was flowing, making the grass on the ground whizzle.

    Under this cold weather, a meeting was taking ce in a giant building.

    The building was in the Corporate Capital City of the Country. It was a tall building that everyone knew about. It belonged to a new corporation that was on its way of bing a giant corporation.

    There was a name on the top of the building.

    "Necrosis Corporation."

    This building belonged to the Necrosis Corporation that was known to be the makers of the first fully immersive Virtual Reality Game of Divinity.

    On the top floor of this building, a meeting was taking ce.

    The meeting was between the top executives of the organization, where they discussed above the future ns for Divinity.

    "So, what did you find out about this Hades? How is he getting so many items in Divinity? Did you not take precautions to prevent it from happening before we allowed the public to ess Divinity?" An executive asked as he looked towards the screen.

    Ryder¡¯s image was showing on the screen. It was not the image of his Game Avatar. Instead, it was the pic of him in his real life.

    All the executives looked towards a certain person who was sitting in a ck suit in one of the suits.

    The man sighed as he stood up.

    "We did take precautions, but apparently we missed some things. That man, known as Ryder, was indeed lucky. He found an item that even we didn¡¯t know about. That helped him advance and unlock the quests after that. Anyway, I know we are gettingints, but we can¡¯t do anything about it. It was his luck that he got this chance. It¡¯s not worrisome. In my eyes, it only makes things more interesting. I think we can leave him alone for now and focus on other matters," The red-haired man replied.

    "Fine. We can let him be. It¡¯s his luck, and I¡¯ll leave it at that, but there are more things we need to talk about. There are more pressing matters," the dark-haired executive in the main seat said as he frowned.

    " About this Lucifer... Were you able to find out who this Lucifer is? How is he still getting ess to Divinity?" The dark-haired executive asked the red-haired man.

    "We... we have no idea. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s using our Divinity sses to get ess to Divinity. He¡¯s using some other methods. We can¡¯t find out who he is or how he actually looks like. He could be a guy, or he could be a girl. All we can say is that he has some really incredible resources in his hands to be able to do this. We¡¯re trying everything we can to find him, but it seems impossible," The red-haired man said as he shook his head.

    " Everyone is useless! You can¡¯t even find a guy that is getting ess to Divinity bypassing us? Useless! Morons! Do you have any idea about the seriousness of this matter? The whole... Ahhh, you¡¯re making me frustrated. I want him found! I want him found at all costs! Just remember, no one else is going toe from outside and help us find him. We¡¯re the ones that are going to have to do it. Put more men in trying to find him," The dark-haired executive said as he stood up in anger.

    The red-haired man took a deep breath but didn¡¯t say anything. He simply nodded his head.

    "It shall be done. Give me one more month," The red-haired man ultimately said.

    "Good! I expect to see results in a month," The dark-haired man said as he nodded his head. He sat down on his seat.

    " I also have to point out something," Another executive said as he chimed in. He also looked pretty serious as he talked.

    "Speak, what do you wish to say?" the dark-haired executive asked the man.

 Chapter 260 After Imane

    <h4>Chapter 260: After Imane</h4>

    " I know that the topic of Lucifer is really serious, and we need to find him at all cost, but even though he¡¯s essing Divinity without our permission, I don¡¯t think he can break any rules of Divinity that are set by us. From what we saw, all the rules set in Divinity are affecting him. He won¡¯t be able to do anything out of the box above that. So we don¡¯t have to worry urgently. The concern I have is something else entirely," The Second executive said.

    "That¡¯s true as well, but I don¡¯t like any abnormalities," The dark-haired man said as he nodded his head. He looked back at the red-haired man. " I still want him found, and I believe you will keep your words. You have one month."

    The red-haired man couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly as he nodded his head.

    The dark-haired man looked back at the second executive and asked again.

    "What is your concern? Speak," he asked.

    " It¡¯s about what we are going to do in the future. The involvement of real-world money in divinity. Are you sure that it¡¯s a good idea to leave it all on that man? Can he even handle it alone?" the second executive asked as he frowned.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. I have faith in him. He can easily deal with it. He is the..."

    The meeting continued in the office of Necrosis, while Silence ensued outside the building of Necrosis.

    The Two FBI agents that were on Ryder¡¯s Trail had left his city and arrived in this city as well since the headquarters of the FBI was here. They were going towards the hotel since it was night. They had to report at the office in the morning.

    " I¡¯m having second thoughts about it. Is your sister really going to handle it? I still think that you shouldn¡¯t involve her in this matter. If that guy is really the person we know him to be, then there are going to be dangers all around him. Your sister might get caught in then. It¡¯s dangerous for her. I seriously think we should tell the Chief about it. We don¡¯t need to take this matter into our hands. We seriously can¡¯t afford the consequences if something goes wrong," Jacob let out as he frowned.

    "Don¡¯t worry. My sister knows what she is doing. She also knows how to stay away from trouble. She won¡¯t involve herself in this matter too close. She will just track his movement and do nothing else. She is an expert in this. I have full faith in her. Also, I do think that Ryder isn¡¯t a bad guy. He wouldn¡¯t harm her even if something goes wrong. That man could¡¯ve killed us many times, but he didn¡¯t. That¡¯s enough for us to know about him. From what I understand, he only kills the ones that are involved with that Bio-Terror Organization," Ray let out, shaking his head.

    Jacob looked at Ray and couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly.

    "What about Pasher? Most likely, Ryder killed him," Jacob let out as he frowned.

    "I believe that it must be because Pasher was also involved with the Bio-Terror. We do know that Jameson was linked to the Bio-Terror Member. Also, we heard Pasher talking with him. Pasher was definitely involved in Bio Terror. It sucks that we couldn¡¯t catch that guy for this, but it simply means that Ryder is indeed going after the Bio-Terror. He knows more than we think about that Bio Terrorist Organisation. Only through him can we reach the big fishes. Don¡¯t worry. We will soon have a lead," Ray let out as he smiled. He believed that trailing Ryder would definitely lead them to the Dark Uprising.

    "Sigh, what can we do. Where we get a lead, Ryder appears here and kills our lead," Jacob eximed as heughed.

    "Sigh, yeah. That is indeed frustrating but don¡¯t forget if he doesn¡¯t appear, then we wouldn¡¯t be alive. He appeared in Washington and saved so many lives. He appeared outside Jameson¡¯s house and saved our life from Riya... wait a minute," Ray was talking about Ryder saving them when he suddenly thought of something.

    "What? I know about that look. Did you uncover some mystery?" Jacob asked Ryder.

    "Yeah. Jameson... he was rted to the Uprising. Also, Ryder appeared outside the house of Jameson that day when he took Riya. Could it be that Jameson... it wasn¡¯t suicide but..." Ray let out but didn¡¯t finish his sentence.

    " But Ryder killed him and made it seem like suicide. That¡¯s not tough to believe. In fact, I believe that more than the theory that Jameson was scared of some interrogation andmitted suicide," Jacob replied as he nodded his head.

    Ray couldn¡¯t help but facepalm himself, "That guy! He¡¯s killing all out clues!"

    After a long time, he sighed.

    "What can we do now? It¡¯s not like we have any clues left. Now we can only use him to get to clues. Previously, he and we were after the same clues, but now we¡¯ll be after him. He can¡¯t be faster than us now," Ray let out as he nodded his head.

    Everyone was busy with one thing or another. Shu was also busy in matters of his own.

    Shu was on the phone with someone, trying to find the history about the girl that Ryder hated. He had heard from Imane during the Karaoke celebration that her boyfriend was a member of Necrosis corporation. He was trying to find more about her boyfriend. He wanted to know what her boyfriend¡¯s position was.

    Necrosis Corporation kept the information of their engineers a secret. They never disclosed the names of anyone that might have been deeply involved with the creation of Divinity. Shu was hoping to find out about the guy through other measures, and if the guy was indeed an engineer, then he might have been able to get more answers.

    "Yeah, Go after Imane. Don¡¯t use any extreme means. I want you to find out about her boyfriend from her. Use any methods you can without harming the girl," Shu said in a grim tone.

    "Yeah, you can use that method. I don¡¯t think that will be considered illegal," Shu continued after he heard a response from the other guy.

    After some time, Shu disconnected the call andid on his bed.

    "Sigh, why is this little thing soplicated," Shu muttered as he looked at the Divinity sses in his hand.

    Back in the Demon Realm, Ryder had opened his eyes as he was informed of the Vampire King¡¯s arrival. He stood up.

 Chapter 261 Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 261: Arrival</h4>

    Ryder was informed of the arrival of the Vampire King. He slowly opened his eyes and stood up as he looked around.

    "The Vampire King is waiting outside the barrier with High Duke Eston. We¡¯ll need to go there to allow them to enter," Devilia said to Ryder and the others.

    Ryder nced towards Rale with a questioning gaze.

    Rale nodded his head as if he understood Ryder¡¯s meaning.

    When Ryder and Rale were alone in the room, Ryder had also talked about something else with Rale.

    He had told Rale one of his concerns, which would be negative for them.

    Ryder had told Rale about the Vampire King and how he could recognize blood. They both knew that when they were in the Undead Region, both of them had bled. In the alternate reality, the Vampire King had recognized Ryder¡¯s involvement in the death of his general through his blood. He knew that if he or Rale bled this time, the results might be the same.

    So he had told Rale to do everything he could to make sure that he didn¡¯t bleed. He was said to be alert at all cost and save himself from even the slightest of injuries. Ryder had ordered Rale to do it, and Rale had agreed.

    Ryder had also told Miku not toe before the Vampire King. Even though Miku hadn¡¯t gone to the Undead Region with them, Ryder knew that she was vulnerable. She knew about them going there, and if the Vampire King used his mind-reading ability on Miku, then they might be exposed.

    Ryder was protected from that ability because of his special crown that had the ability to protect against mental attacks. Rale was also protected from this ability since it only worked on people that were weaker than a Duke.

    "High Duke M, Do you need for us toe with you?" Ryder asked M

    "Not really. Devilia and I will be enough. You guys stay behind. I¡¯ll bring them here safely," High Duke M replied as she shook her head.

    "Alright. You go ahead. We¡¯ll wait back here," Ryder said as he nodded his head. He sat back on his throne once again.

    High Duke M and Devilia left the great hall and flew towards the entrance of the city where the Vampire King and High Duke Eston were waiting for them.

    Devilia and High Duke Mnded before the barrier, the other side of which stood the Vampire King and High Duke Eston.

    "They look pretty eager. Hah, both of them are impatient guys," High Duke M smiled as they saw the impatient look on the faces of both men.

    "Aren¡¯t all guys impatient? His Highness were being impatient too. He really wants to catch the ck Skeleton King," Devilia replied as she smiled.

    "True. He¡¯s really a caring prince. I can¡¯t wait to see him when he has reached his peak. If Prince Hades is so good, I can only wonder how amazing King Hades will be," High Duke M replied as she shook her head.

    "What are they doing? When are they going to let us enter? They¡¯re just talking there," The Vampire King looked at High Duke Eston as he asked with a frustrated look on his face.

    "Hey,dies! Are you going to open the entrance or not?" High Duke Eston asked with a wry smile on his face as he looked at High Duke M.

    "So impatient," High Duke M muttered as she shook her head.

    She waved her hand and made a door shaped opening in the barrier.

    The High Duke and the Vampire King entered through the opening.

    As soon as they entered the city, the barrier disappeared.

    "Finally, we¡¯re inside. You made us wait for quite some time," High Duke Eston said to High Duke Devilia.

    "You literally had to wait a few minutes. What are you even talking about?" High Duke M asked High Duke Eston as she shook her head.

    " Stop your loving banter. If I were you, I would be more concerned about the ck Skeleton King roaming in your city. He can cause so much destruction; you have no idea. Also, since it seems like he¡¯s with the Death Domain, it¡¯ll be even more dangerous," The Vampire King said in an annoyed tone.

    " And we can thank the Undead Region for that. They just had to be the pawns of the Death Domain against us! In thest war as well, we fought less Warriors from Death Domain and fought their Undead ves more. I still don¡¯t understand why you guys are still neutral even after they treat you like ves," High Duke M said sarcastically as she shrugged.

    The Vampire King red at her angrily.

    " They can control the weaker Undeads, so it¡¯s not my responsibility to take care of them. They can¡¯t control the Vampires, and I don¡¯t care about them. Why would I do anything about the Death Domain? They¡¯re your enemies. You should take care of them. It¡¯s not like I want to help you. I¡¯m only here to find my General. Since it seems like the ck Skeleton King and whoever is controlling him is responsible for this scheme, I want to help catch them and get to the end of it. Don¡¯t get any ideas like I¡¯m breaking the neutrality of the Undead Region by doing it," The Vampire King let out as he frowned.

    "Hmph," High Duke M rolled her eyes and didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Think whatever makes you feel better at night. We both know the reality. Most of the Undead Region is a ve of the Death Domain. You have the power to change that, but you¡¯re too scared. As for the excuses for it, I¡¯m sure you cane up with thousands of them," High Duke M ultimately said.

    The Vampire King was about to reply, but High Duke Eston cut him off since he knew that this would only increase this little argument further and waste more time.

    " We¡¯re gettingte. We really shouldn¡¯t dy this important matter. Let¡¯s go to the Pce and meet up with his Highness," High Duke Eston said.

    High Duke M nodded her head as she started flying towards the Pce. Devilia also followed after her. High Duke Eston flew near the Vampire King, keeping an eye on him.

    The citizens of the city saw them flying back, and they were once again shocked.

    "High Duke Eston is here as well? I feel like something is really wrong. Two High Dukes are in this city, and this city has been sealed," One of the demons said as he frowned.

    "I¡¯m getting worried too. It doesn¡¯t seem like a simple matter, or the other High Duke wouldn¡¯t be called here. Are we under attack from the Undead?" Another Demon inquired.

    " The appearance of a skeleton, the sealing of the city, and then the appearance of another High Duke. It seems like that. We might actually be under attack. I think we should stay inside our homes. Don¡¯t go out until there¡¯s any update, or the seal isn¡¯t removed. It¡¯s going to be a long day," the first demon said with a concerned look on his face.

    Most of the Demons had understood about it. They all realized that something was wrong here. They were all getting restless. Most of them chose to hide in their houses and waited for the thing to pass over.

    The Vampire King and the othersnded near Devilia¡¯s Pce and entered inside.

    They all entered the pce of Devilia and appeared before Ryder inside the great hall.

    "Sigh, finally, you¡¯re here. You guys made me wait for so long," Ryder smiled wryly as he stood up.

    "Ah, yeah. We did get dyed for some reason," High Duke Eston replied as he subtly nced at High Duke M.

    "It¡¯s fine. Now that you¡¯re here, we can begin. Let¡¯s start now. I don¡¯t want to wait even a second. High Duke M, Tell High Duke Eston the spell he needs to cast to link with all guards. After that, we can start. The guards will search the city, and where we get any information, we¡¯ll leave to catch the ck Skeleton King," Ryder said as he nced at High Duke M.

    High Duke M nodded her head.

    High Duke Eston, on the other hand, stood confused, wondering what they were talking about. What had happened? What were they talking about? he couldn¡¯t help but wonder, but everything was clear after High Duke M told him about the spell.

    "Ah, so this is what you were talking about. You just want to give this boring task to me. Isn¡¯t that why you didn¡¯t do it?" High Duke Eston asked as he nced at High Duke M. He did talk in a low voice so that only High Duke M could hear him.

    High Duke M smiled like a child whose n had seeded.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll do it," High Duke Eston sighed as he nodded his head.

 Chapter 262 Gigantification

    <h4>Chapter 262: Gigantification</h4>

    "That¡¯s good. High Duke Eston, please prepare the spell. After you have cast the spell, well tell the guards to begin searching. My Royal Guards will be supervising them and keeping an eye on them to make sure that the City Guards aren¡¯tx in their duties. As soon as they find the ck Skeleton King, you can inform us so that we can move out," Ryder told High Duke Eaton about the n going forward.

    High Duke Eston nodded his head as he agreed to do it since Ryder wanted it.

    "There¡¯s no need for preparation. I know the spell. Just make me see all the guards so that I know what I¡¯m working with and to make a good connection," High Duke Eston nodded his head as he told Ryder.

    "Devilia, please bring all the guards near the Pce. Let High Duke Eaton see them all. We can begin the work after that," Ryder told Devilia.

    "I¡¯ll arrange for that. I¡¯ll inform you all when it¡¯s ready."

    Devilia nodded her head as she started walking towards the exit.

    Devilia left the great hall, and just as she was walking away, she happened to walk past her father, who was going outside.

    "Father, please don¡¯t leave. Stay inside the pce for the next 24 hours. It¡¯s not safe outside," Devilia told her father as she tried to stop him.

    "Little Girl, do you think that ck Skeleton will be able to stop me? Are you underestimating your father? I can live in the Death Domain between their higher-ups and stille back alive, without any harm. What¡¯s the danger of a little skeleton? Even though it¡¯s a Skeleton King, it can¡¯t harm me," Devilia¡¯s Father let out with a casual smile on his face.

    "You?... You weren¡¯t in the great hall when we were talking about it? How do you know that the ck Skeleton is the Skeleton King?" Devilia asked with a suspicious look on her face as she frowned.

    "Hahaha, is that really a question you should ask me? Your father is the best Spy of the demon realm, little girl. I spent half my life spying in the Death Domain. Do you really think I don¡¯t know the information that goes around in my own home when I¡¯m here?" Her father replied as he chuckled.

    "You were spying on us? Do you know how serious of an offense that is to spy on the Prince and a High Duke? They can get you punished if they find out," Devilia scolded her father as she frowned.

    "They won¡¯t. I think I have a good understanding of people. I have read the Prince well. He isn¡¯t going to harm anyone for an offense like this. He might look hard on the outside, but from what I understood, he¡¯s a really soft guy on the inside, at least towards his own people. I like him. A really good choice to be my son inw. Go for it, my dear daughter. Father supports your choice," Her father replied as heughed lightly.

    Devilia red at her father in annoyance.

    "You again started!" she let out in frustration as she stomped her for on the ground.

    "Do whatever you want. I¡¯m busy," She said before she left, without even looking back.

    "Hahaha, you might be the Scary Duke Devilia for the citizens of the Demon Realm, but you¡¯re simply a kid that is too shy to know that she actually wants," Devilia¡¯s Father let out as he smiled before he continued walking towards the exit.

    Devilia arranged for all the guards toe to the Royal Pce. Tens of Thousands of guards were standing outside the Royal Pce, waiting for further orders.

    The citizens that saw it realized that their assumption was correct. There could only be one reason for bringing all guests together. A war was going to begin, and the beginning of this war was now. They believed that this was a war with the Undead Region this time. The citizens also started preparing for war in their own ways since they knew that they could be called at any moment.

    A lot of the citizens started moving towards the shops to collect the edible items that they felt were needed to get them through this war. They realized that with a war, there was a chance that the resources might startcking. They didn¡¯t want to die of hunger and started packing the food. The whole city was sealed, which made them even more confident that they¡¯llck food since the supply from outside the city would be disrupted because of this barrier as well.

    Devilia realized what was happening, but she had more important matters to deal with. She needed all the guards to be present, so she couldn¡¯t send any guards to exin to the citizens either.

    Devilia just waited back at the pce. She knew that this whole chaos would be over in a few hours. As soon as they finished the search, they would open the barrier, and everyone would realize that there was nothing to worry about. She knew that the more she tried, the more people would misunderstand the situation. She already gave an initial excuse, and she was going to stick with that.

    Devilia watched all the guards standing before the pce, and only then did she walk inside. She went to the great hall.

    Ryder and the others were still sitting in the great hall.

    Ryder was watching the Vampire King speak. He had asked the Vampire King a question about the ck Skeleton King¡¯s powers so that they could know what they were dealing with.

    "The Most Annoying Power of the ck Skeleton King was Gigantification," The Vampire King replied as he frowned. "It was really annoying as it made him more destructive."

    "Gigantification? What¡¯s that?" Ryder asked as he frowned. He had an initial idea about the power from its name, but he wanted to be sure.

    "It¡¯s a power of increasing in size. The ck Skeleton King can increase his size by a thousand times, at least. He can be a giant Skeleton that is over 60 meters tall. His strength also increases with his size, but there¡¯s also a disadvantage thates with this. With an increase in size, his speed decreases. He also bes a bigger target to hit with an increase in size. Still, it¡¯s a pretty annoying ability since his defense also increased because of it," The Vampire King exined as he frowned.

    ¡¯Gigantification? It increases attack and defense but decreases speed and evasion. The real magic is in the size, though. Oh man, I really want to kill the Vampire King myself and get that spell of Gigantification with the ability of Steal of the Moon Scythe. Fcc! Why did he have to be so powerful! I would¡¯ve been able to kill him myself if he was under level hundred, but he¡¯s as strong as Duke Devilia. I have no chance of killing him and snatching that skill. I can only watch him die,¡¯ Ryder thought as he sighed.

    He hated the fact that he couldn¡¯t kill, but he just forgot that it wasn¡¯t because he was weak. It was because he had essed something that should¡¯ve been beyond his abilities. With his level, he could¡¯ve killed anyone he wanted in the lower levels of the game where he belonged at this moment in time but his luck had yed such a game with him and straight away brought him amongst the real beasts of people.

    "That is an annoying ability indeed. If he used that ability inside the city, most of the citizens would die in the aftermath of the Battle. Did we really take the right step by imprisoning him in the city?" Rale asked as he frowned. He was simply raising a concern.

    Ryder looked at Rale and nodded his head. This was a genuine concern.

    "That will indeed be annoying. It would make us lose the trust of the citizens if that happened. High Duke M, I have a suggestion. We can take precautions against it, I think," Ryder said as he nced at High Duke M.

    "What suggestion?" High Duke M asked as she looked back with great interest.

    " Can you modify the barrier that¡¯s covering the city?" Ryder asked High Duke M.

    "That is possible," High Duke M nodded her head.

    "That¡¯s good. And, can the ck Skeleton King break the barrier if it used Gigantification?" Ryder asked M again.

    " I think he can break the barrier, but the barrier should be able to hold the attacks of the ck Skeleton King for a few minutes even in his increased size," High Duke M responded.

    "That¡¯s good. I have a n then," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "What n?" High Duke M inquired in confusion.

    Ryder opened his lips to reply, but that¡¯s when Devilia opened the door of the great hall and entered inside.

    "It¡¯s done," She said. "All the guards are waiting outside."

 Chapter 263 Bankrupt

    <h4>Chapter 263: Bankrupt</h4>

    "It¡¯s done," She said. "All the guards are waiting outside," Devilia said as she barged inside.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ming. Just wait. Let his Highness finish first," High Duke Eston let out as he waved his hand, gesturing Devilia to wait.

    "It¡¯s nothing major. I was just talking about something to stop him from using his Gigantification. We can¡¯t actually stop him from using it, but we can make it so that even if he tries, it only brings him at a disadvantage," Ryder told High Duke Eston casually.

    ¡¯What¡¯s the way? Anything we can do to decrease the amount of destruction is useful," High Duke M asked Ryder.

    Ryder looked back at High Duke M as he started talking, "What I want you to do is very simple. You can modify the banner, and it¡¯s specification, so I want you to decrease its height. Instead of it being like a dome, I want it to be like something that has a ne roof and possibly only a few meters taller as our tallest house."

    "If we do that, we can still manage to fly, even though we¡¯ll be flying a lot closer to the ground. This way, we can also stop the ck Skeleton King. If he starts increasing his size, his head will increase the barrier at the top, which, as you said, can hold him for a few minutes. We can use those few minutes to kill him," Ryder continued.

    "That is something I can do," High Duke M replied as she nodded her head.

    "Good. You do that while High Duke Eston will link with the guards. We can start when the two of you are ready," Ryder told High Duke M.

    "I should get going then. I¡¯ll be right back."

    High Duke Eston said as he stood up.

    He didn¡¯t leave, though, as he nced back at the Vampire King.

    "Why don¡¯t youe with me too? Let me show you our army," he said to the Vampire King.

    High Duke Eston was clever, and he had thought of everything before others could tell him. He knew what he needed to do.

    He had realized that when he left, High Duke M would start modifying the barrier. Since her mind would be more focused on the barrier, it should mean that Ryder would be alone with the Vampire King and Rale.

    If the Vampire King decided to attack Ryder at the time, High Duke M might not be able to react on time. High Duke M also nodded her head in appreciation as she realized what High Duke Eston was trying to do. He wanted to bring the Vampire King away from Ryder and keep him together.

    The Vampire King also realized what was happening. He knew that Eston was suspicious of him.

    "You guys don¡¯t need to y these sneaky games. If you¡¯re suspicious of me, just say it straight. I don¡¯t want to attack your Prince because he isn¡¯t dangerous for me. For me, he¡¯s just like your figure head. It¡¯s you guys that are more dangerous. It¡¯s obvious that if I actually attacked your Prince, I would need to be prepared for a war with the Demon Realm that I don¡¯t want to go through since it would be more harmful for the Undead Region," The Vampire King replied casually.

    He stood up.

    "Now, it would be a different matter if I find out that you guys schemed against my own people. I don¡¯t want a war, as long as you guys don¡¯t give me a reason too. Because, honestly speaking, amongst all your enemies, I can and will be your worst nightmare if you give me a reason to be," he continued as he started walking towards the exit.

    "Aren¡¯t youing with me to see the guards, High Duke Eston?" The Vampire King let out casually as he left the Great Hall without the least bit of worry on his face. High Duke Eston chased after him as he left as well. Duke Devilia left with them to show them the ce.

    After the others left, High Duke M also got ready to work.

    She closed her eyes as she started controlling the thousands of kilometers wide barrier. The barrier started changing shape. From a semi-spherical barrier, it changed shape and became a more square shape as the roof of the barrier became entirely t.

    The roof of the barrier was on Ten meters in height, no matter where it was measured from.

    High Duke M was so efficient and so fast that it took her only five minutes toplete the work. The barrier work waspleted as it became the exact shape that Ryder wanted it to be in.

    High Duke M opened her eyes after she was done with her work.

    " I¡¯m done. We can start at any time now," High Duke M told Ryder.

    "Alright. Let theme back now. We¡¯ll begin then," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    He closed his eyes and started waiting.

    ¡¯Janus, are you still resting?¡¯ Ryder asked in his thoughts, wondering if Janus was still in his slumber or if he was up. Janus didn¡¯t reply. Ryder felt like he was still sleeping.

    "Wake up fast, bro. There¡¯s something I need to talk to you about," Ryder muttered softly.

    Ryder opened his eyes and opened his status screen to see how it was there.

    He couldn¡¯t help but smile as he looked at the status.

    ¡¯The level that took me months to reach is now so easy to get. I think I really broke the game. I wouldn¡¯t have believed that it was possible if I wasn¡¯t looking at my level now. I can perfectly understand why the other yersin. Still, I need to do something about it. If it keeps going on like this, the others will only get more and more frustrated. It won¡¯t be fun anymore,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at his level, which was in the 70s.

    He felt like he was already far ahead of his nearestpetition. He was also concerned about the consequences. Such game breaking events could be really harmful for him and for Divinity.

    ¡¯ At Least no one can kill me now,¡¯ he thought as he smiled.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t want to be petty, but it would¡¯ve been so good if I was in the same timeline when I had died. Reviving in reality at that time would be too good. Now I am bing rich but still, living the same three years again is boring, even though it¡¯s different,¡¯ Ryder thought as he started frowning.

    Rale was looking at Ryder¡¯s every expression, curiously. He watched Ryder frown one second, then smile the next second and again frown. He wondered what Ryder was thinking about.

    High Duke M, on the other hand, was looking at her fingers, thinking about something as well.

    While Ryder was sitting on the throne inside Devilia¡¯s Pce, something else was going on outside in the real world. It was something that Ryder had already known about, and he had nned for it as well.

    He had previously met up with a woman when he was out drinking who was the Owner of an Aviation Industry Company. Ryder had remembered that thepany was going to go bankrupt soon because a buyer had backed out from a major deal after the deal was almost done. Thepany lost a lot of money in that, and it had sued the buyer, but Ryder knew that they were going to lose the case. Ryder wanted to buy it at that moment, and it was exactly that moment now.

    A Young looking woman was sitting in a room, looking at a bunch of papers that were lying before her. Her hands were holding her head as she was going through a fierce headache.

    "It¡¯s all over. We lost the case! Those bastards! They bought the judges! There¡¯s no way the decision would be like this otherwise. There¡¯s no other way. It¡¯s over. It¡¯s all over. We¡¯re bankrupt," The woman muttered as a tear fell from her eye.

    "We have no chance but to sell thepany shares at whatever we can to pay back the loan, or they¡¯ll take over thepany and sell it themselves," she muttered as she shook her head.

    While she was wondering if she could even get a buyer, she had no idea that the buyer was going to be no other than the person she had shared drinks with, thinking that he was just a casual worker.

    In another portion of the city, something else was going ording to Ryder¡¯s n as well. The renovation and finishing of Ryder¡¯s building werepleted as per the ns. The equipment that he had asked for was set up as well.

    Thepany was officially ready, and he could bring the staff that only included one man at the moment. That one man was a big shot thought. Not in this timeline, but in the previous timeline, it was said that the man was a lead contender for the nobel prize for his work. At the moment, he was just a nobody, though.

 Chapter 264 Heavenly Root

    <h4>Chapter 264: Heavenly Root</h4>

    While Ryder¡¯s pieces were falling into ces in the outside world for his future ns, something else was going on that he had no idea about.

    A person was moving through the tall buildings, jumping from one building to another like that person had some superpower or some special type of energy that made them stronger.

    That person was around 5 feet 8 inches tall, but as that person was shrouded entirely in ck clothing, it wasn¡¯t easy to judge if that person was a man or a woman.

    While that person moved through the roof, another group of people closely followed behind.

    The second group was also wearing ck clothing, but there was a Chinese dragon symbol on their clothes. The clothes of the person on the lead were in, though, without any symbols.

    It seemed like the grout of people with the dragon symbol were chasing after the person who was at the front.

    They kept chasing after the person in the lead.

    "You can¡¯t run! Give us the Heavenly Root! It belongs to us! Return it, and we can let you live! If you don¡¯t give it to us, not even your soul will leave intact!" One of the people that were chasing after the person in the lead said in a grim tone.

    The Voice sounded like it belonged to a middle-aged man. The voice also had some strange energy that seemed to be vibrating in nature, making it so that it clearly reached the ears of the person in the lead, but that person didn¡¯t stop as that person jumped again,nding on another building.

    "That Bastard! He stole the Heavenly Root that we purchased from the Underground Auction! Does he really think that he can escape after stealing from our Chu n?! I¡¯ll definitely kill him for sure!" Another person said in an angry tone as they looked towards the person in the lead.

    The person in the lead kept jumping from one building to another beforending on the building that seemed to be thest tall building in the surrounding. The next building was over a hundred meters away, making it seem impossible for the person to escape.

    The person finally stopped running at the end of the roof of thest tall building.

    That person turned back and looked at the people that were chasing.

    A face was covering the face of that person. Only blue eyes were visible from under that cover. The blue eyes looked towards the twenty people in the dragon symbol ck robesnding on the same roof.

    "Hahaha, why did you stop, little guy? Run! Jump off the roof! Hahaha, you really thought you could escape from us, didn¡¯t you," One of the followers said as theyughed out loud.

    " Haha, he really thought he could steal from the Chu n! I can bet that if we remove that mask, we¡¯ll find the crying face of a man who¡¯s too scared even to speak," another person said as theyughed.

    "Give us the Heavenly Roots, and we can still give you an easy death!" Another person chimed in.

    Everyone startedughing as they looked at the masked person with the blue eyes.

    "Give us the Heavenly Root! You have no way to escape! Just give it to us, you thief!" Another person said as they red at the girl.

    " I¡¯m sure you¡¯re an independent thief that has somehow learned a few Cultivation skills! If you give us the Heavenly Root and beg us for forgiveness, we can even think about taking you to the Chu Family. You can be a servant of our family. Think carefully. Our Chu Family is a really big name amongst the Cultivation Families," The man in the lead said to the Blue-eyed person.

    "What¡¯s there to think about? Should I really be concerned about what dead people say to me?" the blue-eyed masked person replied as a beautiful voice echoed in everyone¡¯s ears.

    The voice sounded like it belonged to a girl.

    "You¡¯re a girl?" The man in the lead eximed in shock.

    "Yeah, I am. So what? Can¡¯t girls embarrass old men by stealing things from under their noses," The blue-eyed girl replied.

    "Hehehe, that¡¯s nice. After taking the Heavenly Roots, us brothers can also have some fun with you to control the Yang Fire burning inside us after running for so long."

    "Kekeke, it¡¯s really our lucky day. We caught the thief, and we¡¯ll get rewards for retrieving our item, but not only that, but we¡¯ll also get to have fun with a girl with such a heavenly voice, all night long,"

    The men startedughing as they passed the lecherousments on the girl after hearing her beautiful sounding voice.

    "Oh? I would have to disappoint you, but you¡¯re not getting the Heavenly Root. You¡¯re not even getting the girl," The girl replied in a casual tone.

    The men looked at her and startedughing even louder.

    "Do you really think you have a way to escape? Or do you think that someone wille to save you? Little girl, we¡¯re from the Chu Family! Even the gods shall be afraid of us!" one of the men said as he continuedughing.

    "Wah, I thought you guys were idiots, but you¡¯re clever indeed. How did you know that someone ising to save me?" The girl let out in a fake surprise as she slowly took off her mask, revealing a beautiful jade-like face on the other side.

    The girl had a face without any blemishes. Her eyes looked as clear as the purest of blue and as deep as the sea. Her lips were thin, forming a slight smirk on her face. She had beautiful brte hair that was longer than her shoulder but not long though to reach her waist, but the ck robe she was wearing hid her hairs from the eyes of the men. The Girl looked like she was only 21-22 years old.

    Even though the girl had a beautiful face, the lustful gazes of the men had suddenly stopped as they saw her face, contrary to expectations.

    "Y-you are... It can¡¯t be..."

    "W-why would you... Your Family..."

    All the men were gobsmacked as they saw the girl¡¯s face. It seemed like they recognized the girl¡¯s face, and they were scared of her. The beautiful looking girl felt like a scary ghost to the men that were proudly chasing this girl like lions a few minutes ago. The Lions had suddenly turned into rabbits that had started shivering as they started stepping back, but they reached the end of the building.

    "Where are you trying to go? Don¡¯t you want the Heavenly Root?" The girl called out as she saw the men standing at the other end on the roof.

    " W-we apologize for disturbing you. We don¡¯t really want that Heavenly Root. Think of that as a gift from our Chu n to your family. W-we will take our leave now," the ck-clothed men said in fear as they turned back to leave, but their face turned even paler as they saw tens of white-robed people standing on the other roof.

    Not only that, white-robed people appeared on the roof they were standing on as well, on every corner of that roof, creating a ring around the ck Clothed people.

    A handsome man appeared beside the brte girl and sat on one knee. The man had a sharp chiseled face and beautiful silver hair. He looked like he was in histe twenties.

    "Young Miss, If you¡¯re done with this timepass activity, shall we go back? Madam had realized that you sneaked out of the n to have fun. She¡¯ll be getting restless," The silver-haired man said to the young brte.

    "Sigh, mother is like a baby. She always starts worrying. Why does she even have to worry? Aren¡¯t you here to keep me safe? She never lets me have fun. Fine, let¡¯s go back. This game of chase was nice. Btw, here, this Heavenly Root that I won in this game. Wasn¡¯t your birthday yesterday? Treat this as an extra birthday present," The girl said as she threw a fruit like an item towards the silver-haired man. This small fruit was called the Heavenly Root. It was a really mysterious fruit that was really helpful and rare.

    The Silver-haired man caught the Heavenly Root.

    "Thanks," he thanked the girl.

    "Y-young miss. C-can we leave? We already gave you that Heavenly Root as present," The ck Clothed man pleaded with the girl as they were scared after being surrounded by the White Robed people.

    "Do you really hope to leave alive after you talked vulgarly about her? Kill them and make sure that it¡¯s a painful death," the Silver Haired manmanded the white-robed people.

    "They can deal with it. Let¡¯s move back," he continued as he looked towards the girl. "We also need to prepare that birthday celebration. Many big people areing."

    The girl nodded her head as she got ready to go back home.

 Chapter 265 New Skill

    <h4>Chapter 265: New Skill</h4>

    Ryder came out of his daze as High Duke Eston entered the great hall with the Vampire King and Devilia.

    "I have seen them all. I am prepared to start at a moment¡¯s notice," High Duke Eston said as he opened his eyes.

    Ryder opened his eyes slowly and looked in the direction of High Duke Eston as he nodded his head.

    " Have a seat. Start as soon as you can. I don¡¯t want there to be any dys. Every second is important," Ryder said.

    High Duke Eston walked back to his seat and sat down. The Vampire King also sat beside High Duke Eston. Devilia sat beside Rale.

    "After you cast the spell, you should not only see what they see, but you should be able to hear their thoughts too. It will be challenging, but I¡¯m sure you can do it. When you¡¯re ready, take a deep breath and establish a link so that you can send them a message about starting the search," Ryder let out after High Duke Eston sat down.

    High Duke Eston nodded his head. He took a deep breath as he roamed his gaze all around the room. He rolled his eyes as his gazended on High Duke M. High Duke M smiled. She knew that High Duke Eston was annoyed as she dumped this task on him instead of doing it herself, but she didn¡¯t feel bad. Instead, she enjoyed watching the annoyed look of High Duke Eaton.

    "I¡¯m ready. The search will begin now," High Duke Eston said as he closed his eyes and started casting a spell.

    "O Lord of Demons, Give me the strength,

    Let me take the happiness and pain of all your followers that I wish,

    ...

    ...

    Give me their thoughts and give them my though,

    The world shall show me through their eyes,

    Eyes of Changing, Thought of Soro

    Let this be the wish of a Demon,

    Dreimaia!"

    High Duke Eston finished casting a spell.

    Ryder nced at them and heard the chanting. He wondered if he could cast the same spell with this chant as well? This chant was the most simple spell that he had heard, which didn¡¯t use any ancient words. Instead, it used the generally spokennguage. He wondered if he could cast this skill by changing a few things about it.

    Ryder looked towards High Duke M and wondered if he should ask her.

    ¡¯ No, she can be too stern. Rale knows about it too. I should take his help,¡¯ Ryder thought as he gave up on the idea of asking High Duke M.

    He waited until High Duke Eston went silent and finished establishing a link with the Guards.

    After he saw High Duke Eaton not moving for over five minutes, he nodded his head as he was sure that the link of High Duke Eston waspleted. It was the time of searching the whole city with the of guards, which would take a long time. He could take some time off from this ce without missing anything.

    Ryder stood up from his throne. High Duke M watched him curiously. She was surprised as she saw Rydering towards her without saying anything, but she didn¡¯t lose herposure.

    She watched Rydere closer and closer until Ryder was standing right beside her.

    Ryder moved even closer as he bent his body forward, cing his arms on both sides of High Duke M¡¯s throne as his face was just a half a meter away from her face.

    High Duke M¡¯s expressions turned a little unnerving as she looked in Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    ¡¯Is he going to kiss her?¡¯ The Vampire King thought as he looked at Ryder and High Duke M.

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t know their Prince was a person like that. Sigh, the demons are really like I heard. They are a creature of their emotions, lust being the strongest of them. The rumors were true after all," the Vampire King¡¯s thoughts continued, wandering off into different conclusions.

    Ryder, on the other hand, kept bringing his face closer to High Duke M¡¯s face, but just as his lips were a few inches away from her confused face, he turned his face to the left and brought his lips closer to her ears.

    "I need to leave this took with Rale for a few minutes. You stay here and keep an eye on the Vampire King. I¡¯ll be back in a few minutes. Also, sorry foring so close. I just don¡¯t want to disturb High Duke Eston," Ryder whispered in the ears of High Duke Devilia.

    His warm breath brushed against her ears, giving her a strange feeling. She could also smell Ryder¡¯s smell. She couldn¡¯t help but feel something strange, but she controlled her expressions and didn¡¯t let it show on her face. She nodded her head.

    Ryder moved back before he walked closer to Rale and whispered in his ears to follow after him silently.

    Rale followed the orders as he stood up and walked towards the exit, leaving High Duke Devilia, High Duke M, and others behind.

    Ryder and Rale left the great hall. Ryder didn¡¯t say anything as he continued walking in a certain direction. Rale didn¡¯t ask any questions, either.

    After walking for some more time, Rale realized where Ryder was going since they were getting closer to the Room of Ryder in the Pce of High Duke Devilia.

    Ryder opened the door and entered inside.

    "Come in," He told Rale after entering.

    Rale also entered the room after Ryder.

    Ryder walked closer to the window and looked outside. He could still see a few guards standing outside.

    " It¡¯s surprising how a person could link his brain to tens of thousands of people while still being the same. This skill of High Duke Eston is pretty amazing," Ryder said as he looked outside.

    "This is a good skill, indeed. From what I heard, our Second Demon Emperor had created this skill tomand his men effectively in war. While High Dukes can only link to a few hundreds of thousands of people with this skill, the Second Demon Emperor was said to be able to link to the entire Demon Realm and its million of Demons," Rale exined.

    "Interesting. He must be pretty high level," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Anyway, I brought you here to talk to you about something really important. I want to learn this skill. I need you to teach me everything about this skill," Ryder said to Rale as he nced back.

    "Ah, that? I can teach you about the skill, but I would suggest you not to use this skill before you¡¯re stronger than me. This skill is not something to be used lightly. It can really harm the brain if it¡¯s used carelessly," Rale told Ryder.

 Chapter 266 Second Demon Emperors Wierd Limitation

    <h4>Chapter 266: Second Demon Emperor''s Wierd Limitation</h4>

    " I understand that, but I don¡¯t want to cast the real skill anyways. I want to see if there is something I can do to make it easier to cast with lesser limitations. Anyway, start teaching me. We can talk about the restter," Ryder agreed as he nodded his head.

    "Alright. You already heard the High Duke cast this skill, but still, I¡¯ll repeat the spell for you so that you can listen again and get a better idea of it," Rale told Ryder before he started speaking a spell. Rale made sure to speak slowly so that Ryder could hear carefully.

    "I understand. I had already learned it on the first try," Ryder said as he nodded his head before he raised his first concern.

    "There is one thing I don¡¯t understand, though. Why is it that the skill didn¡¯t activate for you even after you said the spell?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    "It¡¯s really simple. The spell is not the main part of the skill. It is said that you need five things to cast this skill effectively. The spell is just one of those things," Rale exined to Ryder.

    "What are the other four things, then?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    " I¡¯ll talk about all five of them so that Your Highness can understand better. The first thing is Spell. Spell something that uses your energy to interact with the Demonic Energy in the surroundings to cast this skill. Mastering the spell is the easiest because of your Demonic Bloodline and because the spell is simple and doesn¡¯t useplex pronunciation of the words," Rale told Ryder.

    "The Secondponent that is needed to cast this spell correctly is intent. The intent is something that you need. It¡¯s like the will. Even if you speak the spell, the skill won¡¯t activate since you don¡¯t have the intent to activate it. That¡¯s why when I said the spell, it didn¡¯t activate for me. It was all because I didn¡¯t have intent," Rale continued as he looked at Ryder.

    "The Third Component is called the Spirit," Rale exined to Ryder.

    "Spirit?" Ryder asked in confusion. He understood about Intent and Spell from the words themselves, but it was the first time he was hearing about the need of Spirit to cast a spell. "Do you mean Souls?"

    "No, Your Highness. I didn¡¯t mean the Spirits like the ones we saw in the Valley of Wandering Souls. What I meant by Spirit is your soul. Everyone¡¯s soul contains some magical energy that is needed to cast spells. That¡¯s the thirdponent. If your spirit doesn¡¯t have enough magical energy, you can¡¯t cast the spell," Rale exined.

    "Oh, I think you¡¯re talking about Mana. That¡¯s right. Mana is needed to cast skills like this. I already realized that," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "Mana?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    "Ah, I meant Spirit. Don¡¯t worry, I understand. You can continue ahead. What¡¯s the fourthponent," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "The 4th is bloodline. As I said before, this Skill was created by the Second Demon Emperor, and he only created it to be used by the Demons. He didn¡¯t want the enemies to learn this skill somehow and use it against us," Rale told Ryder.

    "That¡¯s easy as well. From what I know, I already have Demon Bloodline. It shouldn¡¯t be a problem either," Ryder affirmed.

    ¡¯Now, as long as thestponent isn¡¯t bad, I should be able to learn it,¡¯ He thought as he waited for Rale to continue.

    A few seconds passed away, but Rale didn¡¯t start talking.

    "Go on. Talk about thestponent," Ryder said to Rale, who looked a little awkward.

    "Speak," Ryder asked again.

    "The fifthponent that is needed to cast this skill sessfully is rted to Virginity," Rale blurted out.

    "What the actual fuck? How did virginitye into this?!" Ryder eximed in shock as he looked at Rale with an incredulous look on his face.

    " I don¡¯t know why it is the way it is. From what I understand, the Second Ancestral Demon Emperor made it this way. As for his reasons, I have no idea. Anyway, this skill can only be used by people who are not virgins," Rale said openly.

    If the term ¡¯What the fuck¡¯ had an expression, that¡¯s what Ryder¡¯s face looked at the moment he heard Rale¡¯s works.

    ¡¯ Just what kind of person was this Second Demon Emperor? Did he really hate virgins so much that he made skills specifically for non-virgins?¡¯ Ryder thought as his frown didn¡¯t lessen.

    ¡¯I¡¯m not a virgin in the outside world, but still, I don¡¯t think that will be counted in the game. The VR sses did not have any data if I¡¯m a virgin or not. That should only know if I have sex in-game, which I haven¡¯t. I¡¯m entirely sure that I¡¯m considered a virgin by Divinity,¡¯ Ryder thought. ¡¯Whatever. Let me test the skill myself to see if I satisfy the criteria.¡¯

    "Rale, tell me more. About the meaning of each word in the spell and if I can change that. Also, how should I control how many people I link to? If I want to link to a hundred thousand people or if I want to link to ten, how should I handle that?" Ryder asked Rale the main question.

    He knew that it would cost more mana the more people he linked to, but if he linked to only one person, the cost of mana should be much lower. He wanted to try from the lowest level since he knew that his mana levels were nowhere close to even Devilia, let alone to High Dukes.

    "That is pretty simple," Rale let out as he started the significance of the spell, word by word.

    ...

    "As for the control of his many people you affect, that¡¯s pretty simple as well. When you cast the spell, you just need to think about the people you want to affect. That will be done. If you think about affecting a hundred thousand people that you know, it¡¯ll be fine as long as you satisfy all the criteria and have enough Spirit. Simrly, if you think about affecting only one person, that will be done as well," Rale said.

    "There¡¯s only one thing to keep in mind, though," he continued as he warned Ryder. "You shouldn¡¯t try to link to a person stronger than you without their permission, or it might harm you."

    Ryder nodded his head as he nced at Rale.

    "Rale, I want to test it. I want to cast this spell on you," Ryder let out suddenly.

 Chapter 267 Death Strikes Home

    <h4>Chapter 267: Death Strikes Home</h4>

    " Absolutely Not. Your Highness, it would be best if you didn¡¯t try casting it at me. There is a big strength difference between you and me at this point. Even though I won¡¯t resist if you try, but it¡¯s still impossible. You might even be injured if something went wrong," Rale warned Ryder as he shook his head.

    "Don¡¯t worry. Nothing will happen to me. I¡¯m doing it anyway, and I¡¯m not going to listen to anything. Don¡¯t worry. I have a Treasure that can protect me from that. Nothing will happen to me. Just don¡¯t resist, and I¡¯ll be fine," Ryder said as he made up an excuse. He believed that the skill wouldn¡¯t even work if he doesn¡¯t satisfy the criteria, but it definitely shouldn¡¯t harm him.

    "Your Highness has a Treasure for that?" Rale inquired with a curious look on his face.

    "Yeah, Don¡¯t worry. On the count of three, I¡¯ll begin. Be ready," Ryder said as he closed the conversation without giving Rale any chance to oppose. He had already made an excuse to make Rale uncertain, and he didn¡¯t give time for Rale to even think about it.

    "Alright. As long as it doesn¡¯t harm you," Rale affirmed, nodding his head.

    Ryder took a deep breath as he started chanting the spell.

    "O Lord of Demons, Give me the strength,

    Let me take the happiness and pain of all your followers that I wish,

    ...

    ...

    Give me their thoughts and give them my though,

    The world shall show me through their eyes,

    Eyes of Changing, Thought of Soro

    Let this be the wish of a Demon,

    Dreimaia!"

    As soon as Ryder finished the spell, notification started sounding in his head.

    [You have used the Spell Dreimaia]

    [ A unique spell detected that could be saved in Skills]

    [ The Special Grade Spell doesn¡¯t have any Elemental Affinity Requirement]

    [Would you like to learn the spell]

    [Y/N]

    Ryder looked at the notification in surprise.

    ¡¯Interesting. Even after chanting the spell, I can¡¯t use it, but fortunately, I got a skill to learn. Just chanting the spell gave me the option to learn it? Is this because of some specialty?¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    ¡¯Is it because it¡¯s specially made for demons by the Second Demon Emperor? If I can learn skills like that, it would be pretty good. I should investigate about it,¡¯ he continued as he tapped on yes to learn the skill.

    [ The Special Skill Dreimaia has been learned]

    Ryder tapped on the skill to see it¡¯s description in the game.

    [ Skill: Dreimaia]

    [Type: Active Skill]

    [Skill Level: Level 0]

    [Proficiency: 0% ]

    [Skill Cooldown: None]

    [Description: The Caster links his thoughts with the thoughts of the people he cast this skill on. The caster get ess to the vision of the one affected by the skill along with an ess to thoughts]

    The description also showed the limitations of the skills which he was the same as Rale had told him. The conditions to sessfully cast the skill weren¡¯t specific, but the ones that were specifically made Ryder give up on the idea to cast the spell.

    "What the heck, even the lowest mana cost is so high. Is it even possible to cast this skill? It¡¯s impossible. There¡¯s no way I can get that much mama even if I was a level thousand yer in my past timeline. This thing is soo..." Ryder was feeling frustrated as he saw the impossible-looking mana cost.

    "Forget it. I think you were right. It is impossible to cast this spell at the moment. I¡¯m not ready. Let¡¯s just forget about it and go back," Ryder nodded his head as he turned back to leave.

    Rale moved faster as he wanted to open the door for Ryder. Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile as he slowed down, letting Rale do what he wanted as he moved to the side.

    Rale reached the door and opened it, but as soon as the door was opened, Rale¡¯s expressions changed. He brought his hands closet to his chest as if trying to protect his chest.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t see anything, but he did see Rale making a strange movement of his hands after opening the door. Only a second had passed. Ryder couldn¡¯t even open his mouth to ask what was happening as he saw Rale flying back.

    Rale flew back, but it didn¡¯t seem like he was intentionally flying. It was as if a fist hadnded on his chest, making him fly back.

    Rale crashed on the wall at the back, but he didn¡¯t stop there. The force of the impact was so fierce that even the wall was broken as Rale flew out of the pce.

    Ryder just watched everything with his mouth wide open as he watched Rale fly outside. He looked back to see who was standing outside the room, and his mouth opened wide in shock.

    He saw someone he never expected to be here. It was someone he wanted to meet but not like this.

    There was a Skeleton standing outside the door and not a simple skeleton. The Skeleton was a Pitch ck in color. There was a strange tattoo on the skull of the Skeleton.

    Ryder was taken aback as he saw the Skeleton.

    "ck Skeleton King? How?" Ryder muttered in shock as he took a step back for some strange reason.

    ¡¯The heck, why am I even getting scared. I don¡¯t need to be scared. It¡¯s not like running can help me if he¡¯s going to attack me. Might as well...¡¯ Ryder thought as he stopped.

    He realized that it must be something like his Intimidation skill that the ck Skeleton King was using. His Crown should¡¯ve stopped all mental attacks, but this probably wasn¡¯t dangerous, so it wasn¡¯t stopped. It might also be that this skill didn¡¯t actually target his mind. It might be something that had a simr effect but didn¡¯t affect the mind, so it wasn¡¯t affected by his crown.

    After realizing it, Ryder activated his own Intimidation Skill to cancel out the effect. He also brought out his Moon Scythe out of his inventory as he got ready to defend himself until Rale came back. He knew that Rale wasn¡¯t going to stay down just from this. It wouldn¡¯t take long before Rale was back. He just needed to defend himself and made sure that he didn¡¯t die. Everything else was going to be taken care of by Rale.

    Thismotion was also going to attract the attention of the High Dukes. Ryder knew that some of the guards were outside the pce. It was highly probable that High Duke Eston¡¯s mind was connected to them too. They would definitely see Rale crashing on the ground. It wouldn¡¯t take long for them to realize that something was wrong. They would run to this ce, and everything would be taken care of.

    Even the ck Skeleton King couldn¡¯t survive the attack of a High Duke.

    The only thing that shocked Ryder was how ck Skeleton King was able to enter inside.

    It shouldn¡¯t have been possible. The guards must have caught him if he came openly. The only other possibility was that someone on the inside helped the ck Skeleton King. It was either that or a possibility that someone teleported inside. That would¡¯ve also needed the cooperation from someone on the inside with the Teleportation formation creation.

    Ryder also had another assumption.

    ¡¯That girl in Devilia¡¯s forest... When she left, she used some strange formation too. Something that helped her Teleport and leave. It must be something like that. This ce just has Death Domain spies. The Death Domain is definitely involved,¡¯ Ryder thought as he gripped his moon Scythe firmly.

    He saw the Skeleton King appearing before him instantly and punch towards his face.

    "Transform!" Ryder muttered as he used the Transformation ability of the Moon Scythe. This ability of the Moon Scythe allowed Ryder to change the Moon Scythe to anything he wanted as long as it was a weapon or a shield.

    Ryder used this to transform the Moon Scythe into a shield, which he brought closer to his face to protect himself from the fist of the ck Skeleton King.

    He knew that he couldn¡¯t stop the damage, but as long as it wasn¡¯t an instant kill, his Ruler of Nature might be able to help him.

    Ryder kept his shield in front of his face as he braced himself for the impact.

    This was the moment he was really nervous since he knew that if he were killed in one hit, he would have to repeat thest day, which he really hated a lot. He would have to arrange for everything again and get everyone back together, which he didn¡¯t want to do once again. It was just too much.

    Ryder knew that this revival ability was useful, but he also knew that if he kept using that, he would one day go crazy because of repeating the same things again. Janus had also warned him to use this ability sparingly.

 Chapter 268 Multiple Enemies

    <h4>Chapter 268: Multiple Enemies</h4>

    Ryder waited for the impact on his shield. He knew that the shield wouldn¡¯t break, but he had fully expected to go back flying, crashing on the wall, but instead, he felt a wind brush past his ear.

    Ryder opened his eyes and looked down. The first thing he saw was the feet, but these were actually feet, not skeleton feet. He moved his shield to the side and looked at the front. He couldn¡¯t help but smile as he saw a familiar back.

    A person was standing before him. Their two beautiful wings were clearly visible. A powerful aura was surrounding that person. Ryder could see that person¡¯s hair. That, along with the clothes and the physique, made Ryder know who that person was without seeing their hair.

    " Rale, Right on time," Ryder muttered as he looked at the back to give Rale enough space since he knew that Rale wouldn¡¯t attack at full force in fear of harming him. He was giving Rale freedom.

    Rale had opened the door when he was suddenly punched by the ck Skeleton King. Rale believed that he was in a safe ce, and he wasn¡¯t alert, so it was unexpected, but he still reacted fast and protected his chest using his hands, but he was thrown back because of the impact.

    Rale was thrown out of the mansion as he crashed on the ground outside the mansion, but he didn¡¯t even take a second to stand up. He was a little hurt, but he was not seriously injured since even though he had sealed most of his strength, his physical defense was still there.

    Rale was so furious and concerned about Ryder¡¯s safety that he wanted to Unseal himself and destroy the ck Skeleton King, but he controlled his emotions. He didn¡¯t Unseal himself here, but he did fly back to the ce he was thrown out of. As soon as Rale flew inside, he saw Ryder standing with the Shield near his face and the ck Skeleton King punching towards him.

    Rale¡¯s blood started boiling as he unsealed his full potential without even thinking twice. He released all his sealed strength that he had promised not to use unless a Royal was in absolute danger.

    Rale¡¯s speed was increased. His reaction was faster. In the blink of an eye, he appeared before Ryder.

    The fierce fist that wasing towards Ryder¡¯s shield was caught by Rale as he red at the ck Skeleton King.

    "You... dared... to harm my Prince!" Rale muttered softly as his eyes red at the ck Skeleton King.

    As Ryder stepped back, Rale packed the fist of his other hand and punched the skull of the ck Skeleton King, giving the ck Skeleton King a dose of his own medicine.

    The ck Skeleton King flew back as he was punched, crashing on the wall of the opposite side.

    The ck Skeleton King was thrown out of the room, and he kept flying away as he crashed on one wall after another, but Rale didn¡¯t stop. Rale chased after the ck Skeleton King as he stepped out of the room.

    Ryder followed after Rale, keeping a safe distance.

    Ryder left the room and entered the hallway, but he couldn¡¯t help but frown as he looked around and saw dead maids and guards.

    "No wonder there was nomotion even after it happened. The ck Skeleton King killed the maids and the guards as he came here," Ryder muttered as he frowned. He stopped looking around as he moved to the front and followed after Rale, but he immediately jumped to the side as he saw a person¡¯s back flying towards his direction.

    Ryder realized that it was Rale who was flying back.

    Rale didn¡¯t fall on the ground, though, as he bnced himself on the ground and stood straight. He did skid a few meters back even after he stood on the ground, though.

    ¡¯ How the heck is this possible? Is the ck Skeleton King stronger than we assumed? He should¡¯ve been on the same level as a Duke, but to push Rake back even in his unsealed form, his strength is definitely nowhere near we predicted. Did he get stronger after Revival?¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned

    "Your Highness, We¡¯re under attack! Go towards the Great Hall and meet up with the High Dukes! We¡¯re having multiple enemies! I¡¯ll hold them back! Your safety is the priority. I¡¯m sure their n is to harm you!" Rale noticed Ryder and let out in a loud tone as he flew ahead again.

    "Multiple enemies? The ck Skeleton King is not alone, I know, but the helper has also shown himself? Is the Death Domain really not scared of conflict?" Ryder muttered as he stepped back.

    He decided to listen to Rale and go to the great hall. He believed that the High Dukes should¡¯ve beening here, but he still decided to move back and catch up to them faster. Something was not right here. He needed to find out everything.

    Ryder started running back.

    " It can¡¯t be that the Death Domain is looking for conflict, but it must be the bloodline Heir of the Death Domain! He wants a war! He doesn¡¯t only want a war, but he wants us to attack them. We were right! He wants more power and control, and that power and control will be much easier to gain with us attacking them. That Bastard! I¡¯ll make him regret targeting me!" Ryder muttered as he started flying back.

    He was fully convinced that it was the handiwork of the bloodline inheritor of the Death Emperor. If there were a war, the opponent of the Royal Prince, the Death Emperor¡¯s weapon Inheritor, would be at a disadvantage. This was what he believed, but he also knew that this might be a reverse trap by the Weapon Inheritor.

    The Death Emperor Weapon Inheritor had previouslye to the Demon Realm, and she could also use the Teleportation proficiently. She might have made it too obvious to make Ryder think that it was the Bloodline Prince, and she might have also guessed that if she made it that obvious that it was the Bloodline Prince, the Demon Realm won¡¯t attack straight and send an envoy to reveal the Lies of the Bloodline Prince that he wanted a war. If that happened, the Weapon Inheritor would win more trust and power.

    It had be like a political chess where both sides had something to win from it, and Ryder was in the middle of the chess board. As the Prince and one of the Leading Voices in the Demon Realm, his every action was something that directly affected the future of Death Domain in one way or another.

    " Rale should be able to take care of himself. After the High Dukes join, this will..." Ryder was muttering to himself as he flew back, but just as he reached near the great hall, he was stunned as he saw tens of Skeletons standing before the great hall. The Guards and the maids were all killed.

    "What the heck? How can they kill people here, and the High Dukes still didn¡¯t know?" Ryder frowned as he let out in frustration.

    "These guys can kill the Pce guards. These Skeletons are definitely high level," Ryder muttered as he wondered if he should run, but still decided to use kid All-Seer.

    Ryder gazed his roam around the skeletons.

    [Normal Skeleton Soldier

    Level: 50

    Description: An undead summoned from the Depths of Hell]

    [Normal Skeleton Soldier

    Level: 53

    Description: An undead summoned from the Depths of Hell]

    [Normal Skeleton Soldier

    Level: 58

    Description: An undead summoned from the Depths of Hell]

    ...

    [Normal Skeleton Soldier

    Level: 52

    Description: An undead summoned from the Depths of Hell]

    One after another, Ryder looked at every Skeleton, but none of them were above level 60.

    "What the fuck? None of them are over level 60? How the heck did they kill all the guards unless... they were not the ones that killed the guards," Ryder eximed in shock, but he suddenly sensed something behind him.

    He instantly turned back and brought the Moon Shield in front of him without even thinking about it.

    A ck ball of lightnded on the Moon Shield. The Moon Shield wasn¡¯t damaged at all, but Ryder was tossed back like a broken kite from the impact.

    Ryder flew in the direction of the skeletons, but he didn¡¯t hit any as he passed by them andnded on the ground.

    [You have received a critical hit]

    [Moon Shield Effect Activated]

    [Most of the Impact has been absorbed by the Moon Shield]

    [Warning... Critical Damage]

    Ryder crashed on the ground as he watched his HP lower rapidly.

    From a hundred percent, it got down to five percent. Ryder didn¡¯t know if it would hit zero, but fortunately, it stopped when he still had 5 HP.

    "This bastard is definitely a level 200 or above beast. One hit was enough to almost kill me," Ryder muttered as he stood up while he activated his Nature Healing. His HP recovered to a full hundred percent.

 Chapter 269 Traitor

    <h4>Chapter 269: Traitor</h4>

    Ryder looked ahead to see who had attacked him. He was sure that it wasn¡¯t the Skeleton King, so that only left one possibility. It must be someone from the Death Domain.

    Ryder looked up and saw a person only to see someone he never expected to be there.

    He couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud as he saw the person.

    "So it¡¯s you. I should¡¯ve expected it. The Teleportation and everything," Ryder let out as hisughter changed to theughter of anger. "Miss Inheritor."

    A girl was standing in front of him, but she was not the one that had attacked him. Right beside the girl, a middle-aged man was standing. The middle-aged man was the one that had attacked him.

    "Interesting. I never knew that you would still survive after taking a hit from Master Mao," the Girl let out as she smiled while looking at Ryder.

    The girl was none other than the Girl that Ryder had met in Duke Devilia¡¯s Hunting Grounds. ording to information, the Girl was the contender for the Crown of Death Domain. She was in a race against the Bloodline Inheritor because she had inherited the Weapon of the Death Emperor somehow.

    "That attack? Meh, that was a child¡¯s attack," Ryder let out mockingly as he dusted his clothes.

    " Interesting. Master Mao is as strong as a Duke from your Demon Realm. To take his attack without dying and still mocking him, you¡¯re really brave, aren¡¯t you, Prince Hades. Do you really think that I don¡¯t know what the shield you used is? Everyone knows that the Moon Scythe of the Demon Emperor can transform. I never knew you would gain enough control in it that soon but still, do you really think a Shield would be enough to save you?" the girl asked mockingly

    Ryder looked towards his left at the door of the Great Hall, wondering if he could enter or even somehow attract the attention of the High Dukes inside the Great Hall.

    The girl noticed him looking towards the door and chuckled lightly.

    "Go ahead. Scream all you want. No one will listen. Do you really think we would dare attack this ce without taking precautions and collecting proper information?"

    " Everything happened ording to our n¡ªthe suggestion of using the brain linking spell, and the High Dukes being inside. We have sealed that room. No one can go inside. Not even any sound can infiltrate that room. As for the High Duke that has his brain linked to guards, he wouldn¡¯t know anything either since all the guards that he has linked to are searching the city. None of them are near the Pce. No one is going to know what¡¯s happening here," The girl said as she grinned.

    "So that¡¯s what it was. I was wondering why none of them were here yet, but I don¡¯t understand one thing. Why are you doing this? If you actually killed me, there will be a war. The Blood Prince has more to gain from the war than you do. Why are you doing it? If you were after a conflict to me Blood Prince, you could¡¯ve just let the ck Skeleton King found in the city, and things would¡¯ve gone your way. There wouldn¡¯t be a war, but there would be serious talks which would¡¯ve been beneficial to you," Ryder inquired in confusion.

    "On the other hand, if you kill me, you won¡¯t be able to bear the consequences," he said in a threatening tone.

    " Don¡¯t worry about the consequences. We were able to guess your thoughts and n all this, but you have no idea what our actual ns are. Only know one thing that today is going to be yourst day. The Demon Realm will lose its prince and..." the girl started speaking, but she stopped suddenly and didn¡¯t continue.

    She looked to the left and nced at the middle-aged man on the side.

    The middle-aged man had a pale skin, but unlike the Vampire King, his skill wasparatively less pale. His eyes were out h ck

    "Master Mao, you can kill him now," the girl said as she looked to her left and stepped back.

    As the girl moved back, the middle-aged man known as Mao cracked his knuckles as he grinned.

    "Who knew that the one leading the Demon Realm would be such a weak kid. This ce is nothing but trash. I¡¯m ashamed that our Glorious Death Domain lost a war with a trashy ce like the Death Domain," Maoughed as he started walking closer towards Ryder. "I¡¯ll give you a quick death, little prince."

    "Wait! Since you¡¯re confident that you¡¯re not going to be caught, why don¡¯t you let me live for longer? There are more questions I have. Just answer two of them, and then I can die in peace," Ryder let out as he raised his hand.

    He was curious about many things in this scenario, and who better to ask but the person who nned it all. He wanted to know who the spy inside Devilia¡¯s Pce was! He also had many more important questions that he wanted to know before he took further action.

    " Why should I care if you die a bad death or if you die in peace? You can die without peace. I¡¯m not answering anything. The faster you die, the faster we can leave," the girl replied as she rolled her eyes.

    Master Mao reached near Ryder as he grinned.

    "Little Girl, even your father can¡¯t kill me without my permission, let alone you. As for my permission, you¡¯re not getting that. I¡¯m not going to repeat a day when I have another option," Ryder muttered as he grinned.

    The girl felt something strange as she saw him smile.

    "Kill him fast! Don¡¯t take any chances!¡¯ She eximed as shemanded Mao.

    "Toote," Ryder muttered as he snapped his fingers. "Rewind!"

    Ryder activated his Ruler of Time¡¯s Active Skill, Rewind, which helped him rewind time by minutes that were equal to his highest level.

    The surroundings started changing as they got blurry. In the real world, the clock started moving back until it moved back by just over an hour.

    Ryder opened his eyes and found himself sitting in the Great Hall, on the throne.

    The Vampire King and High Duke Eston were still not here. High Duke M had her eyes closed as if she was waiting.

    This was the time when they were waiting for the arrival of the Vampire King and High Duke Eston.

    ¡¯I¡¯vee back in time, but things are still not perfect. That future... I need to stop it,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    He looked to his side and nced at everyone present in the room. His eyes stopped on Devilia as he wondered something.

    ¡¯That girl, she said everything went ording to the n, including the suggestions. Devilia suggested the linking spell that engaged High Duke Eston and made us send most of the guards outside while we stayed inside the Pce. Without that Spell, I would¡¯ve left with High Dukes in search as well. Could it be her?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he looked at Devilia.

    ¡¯It is already pretty suspicious that she wouldn¡¯t know about the ck Skeleton King infiltrating her Domain. Is that really possible, though? For a Duke to betray us? She already had everything she could hope for here. How would she even get in contact with the Death Do... Her father, right! How could I forget! Her father must be the link that worked to make Devilia betray us. Was it really a coincidence that I found the Death Domain Second Inheritor in her hunting grounds? It¡¯s a really serious usation, so I can¡¯t talk about it lightly as well,¡¯ Ryder continued as he ced his chin on his hands and continued thinking about it deeply.

    ¡¯The only people that should¡¯ve known about the entire n are Devilia, High Duke M, Rale and...¡¯ Ryder¡¯s thoughts reached till here when his frown deepened. He looked around and realized that Miku wasn¡¯t here. He had sent her for other matters and to handle his schedule.

    ¡¯Miku knows about the n as well, and she is in the Pce. Devilia also warned me about her before. She said that Miku is the sister of the Duke that I injured. She could be the betrayer too. High Duke M would not betray us since she¡¯s already at the Peak here. As for Rale, I already know that his Loyalty towards me is really high. He can¡¯t be the betrayer. The only people that are suspicious are Devilia and Miku,¡¯ Ryder thought as he closed his eyes and thought about everything that happened in thest twenty-four hours in the previous timeline.

    ¡¯When Devilia left to collect the guards, she could¡¯ve set things up for the death domain since our n was confirmed, but I still don¡¯t know if anyone left the Great Hall after I left with Rale.¡¯

    Ryder was getting a headache; the more he thought about it.

 Chapter 270 Warning High Duke

    <h4>Chapter 270: Warning High Duke</h4>

    "I can tell the High Dukes now, but if Devilia is actually the one that betrayed us, then she might leak the information, and the attack of Death Domain will be dyed. We need to catch the ck Skeleton King at all costs, but I still don¡¯t know their full strengths. All I saw was Rale being attacked,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    ¡¯ It¡¯s highly possible that they brought a Death Envoy that¡¯s as strong as a High Duke with them or even more. The side of the girl had the support of Two of the Four Death Envoys from what I heard. If this is a bigger scale n and both of them are here to make sure that nothing goes wrong, then we¡¯ll be in trouble since we can¡¯t fully trust the Character of the Vampire King.¡¯

    The Vampire King and High Duke Eston were still not here, and Ryder didn¡¯t know if the Vampire King would support Death Domain when the power bnce is equal.

    ¡¯I need more help,¡¯ he thought as he continued contemting.

    He nced at Devilia and nodded his head.

    "Ah, Devilia?" he called out.

    Devilia was surprised at being called out by Ryder all of a sudden.

    "Yes, Your Highness?" she responded curiously as she opened her thin lips.

    "Since we¡¯re on a time constraint, how about we work proactively? Tell all the guards to stand outside the Royal Pce. As soon as High Duke Eston is here, we would need to have him use Dreimaia on them and link with them. We would need to collect the guards in one ce for him to seeter anyway. Let¡¯s just do it now, so there¡¯s not much time waste," Ryder said to Devilia.

    Devilia was somewhat surprised as she nodded her head.

    "But Your Highness, there¡¯s still time in High Duke Estoning here. It would not be efficient to do it now. The long wait will only make the guards more restless," Devilia told Ryder as she raised her concern.

    " Don¡¯t worry. Just tell them there will be a meeting, and High Duke would be getting to know them a little in some time. I¡¯m sure you know what to think and say. Go ahead," Ryder said as he continued budging her to leave with this excuse.

    "Ah, Alright. If that¡¯s what Your Highness wants," Devilia ultimately nodded her head as she stood up.

    Ryder watched her leave the Great Hall before he also stood up.

    He walked closer to High Duke M just likest time.

    Everything happened the same way as he closed up with High Duke M and brought his face closer to hers. Her reactions were the same as well. The only difference was that Ryder whispered something different. Last time he whispered in her ear about leaving the Great Hall with Rale to not disturb High Duke Eston, but this time he said it merely for privacy since he didn¡¯t know if someone was listening to their conversation

    "High Duke M, I have something really important to talk to you about. It¡¯s something really private. Can you create a barrier around me, Rale, and yourself so that no one else would be able to spy on us? Also, make it so that no one is able to see inside the barrier as well?" Ryder whispered in her ears.

    He moved back to his Throne after saying the words. There was a casual expression on his face as he moved back to the Throne as if nothing was wrong.

    High Duke M looked at him in curiosity, wondering why he was being so cautious here. Ryder nced in her eyes and nodded his head.

    High Duke M also nodded her head as she waved her fingers casually. A barrier took shape, covering Ryder, Rale, and High Duke M inside.

    "Why all this privacy? Is something wrong here?" High Duke M straight away asked Ryder.

    Rale also looked in confusion.

    "Not something, everything is wrong here," Ryder let out as he sighed.

    "No one else can head us now, right?" he asked her.

    "Yeah, no one else can hear us now. You can say anything inside the barrier," High Duke M replied.

    "I know who is behind sending the ck Skeleton King here. That person also has a spy inside the Pce, and I can¡¯t take the risk, so I made this n to maintain my privacy," Ryder let out as he nced back at her.

    "Is that why you sent Devilia outside in such a hurry? Are you suspicious of her as well?" High Duke M inquired as she frowned.

    "Let me be absolutely clear. There are only two people in this whole Pce that I am not suspicious about. One is you, and the other person is Rale. Other than you two, everyone else has a chance of being that spy, especially Miku and Devilia. I don¡¯t want to believe it myself, but I need to be cautious," Ryder said as he frowned.

    " What is happening here? What do you know? Tell me everything," High Duke M let out in a grave tone. She felt like Ryder was severe, and if he was, then things were moreplicated here than they seemed.

    " Everything that has been happening here is a scheme of the Death Domain. The Second Crown Candidate of the Death Domain, the girl who got the Inheritance weapon of the Death Emperor, is the one behind all this," Ryder told M and Rale.

    He didn¡¯t stop and gave them a chance to speak, though. He continued speaking.

    " ording to my information, many parties are involved in this scheme; someone called Master Mao from the Death Domain being one of them. From what I believe, they have already infiltrated this city. They might even be hiding inside this pce already," Ryder exined in a grave tone.

    High Duke M and Rale both stood up. They were not scared, but the information that the Death Domain was able to infiltrate the Pce of the Duke so easily was really concerning.

    "It would make sense if Devilia is involved in this scheme; otherwise, she would be just too negligent not to know what was happening in her Pce," High Duke M said to Ryder as she thought about it. This way, the pce of the Duke. If what Ryder was saying was true, then it was a big negligence on Devilia¡¯s part. Either that, or she was actually involved in it.

    "That and a few other things, but I might be wrong at will. All I know is that there was a spy who was leaking whatever we talked about to the infiltrators. Devilia just has a high chance of being involved, but there¡¯s a good chance that she¡¯s not involved as well. I can¡¯t me anyone, and I can¡¯t clear anyone. All I know is that the three of us are the only ones that I want to n with that I can trust," Ryder dered.

    "How do you know all this? Why didn¡¯t you say it before?" High Duke M inquired as she looked at him suspiciously.

    " There¡¯s not enough time to discuss minor things like that. Just know that I have a few sources of my own," Ryder said, refusing to answer.

    "Hah, you want to keep it a secret? Do you know how serious of a situation it can result in? This situation is one where we are under attack from the Death Domain, and you refuse to tell me anything? That¡¯s not how a leader should behave," High Duke M let out in annoyance as she red at Ryder.

    "High Duke M, Please mind your manners. Don¡¯t forget who you¡¯re talking to. His Highness has every right to do what he wants. I¡¯m sure he knows what he¡¯s doing. Don¡¯t talk like that, or it can be taken as disrespect towards the Crown, which is a crime. You should know," Rale intervened as he saw High Duke M getting serious.

    He didn¡¯t want her to cross the limits, so he tried warning her.

    Ryder was surprised that Rale was talking back to a High Duke, but it wasn¡¯t surprising. Considering the authority, it was his responsibility. As the Royal Guardmander, he had the authority to hold people ountable. Even though he was weaker than Devilia, he still couldn¡¯t be scared when it came to his responsibilities.

    "High Duke M, I¡¯m not here to talk about unnecessary things. As I said, this is not a time to talk about my sources to maintain their anonymity. So we should really stop wasting time. We need to do something to stop them and be one step ahead," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    High Duke M was looking at him briefly before she sighed.

    "Fine. What is the n? What do you want me to do?" High Duke M inquired.

    " The first thing I need you to do is contact High Duke Oris," Ryder told her as he smiled while folding his arms. "They scheme against me? I¡¯ll show them what a scheme is."

 Chapter 271 Teleporting High Duke

    <h4>Chapter 271: Teleporting High Duke</h4>

    "Help me contact High Duke Eston. It¡¯s time we get one step ahead and respond in kind," Ryder said to High Duke M as a subtle smirk formed on his face.

    He had already nned something, and he was ready to follow that to the end. Something that was going to make the Death Domain regret getting involved in their matters.

    "Alright. Let me do it," High Duke M said as she nodded her head.

    She brought her mirror out of her Spatial Storage again and ced that in front of her.

    Since they were inside that special barrier formed by High Duke Devilia, even if someone entered the Great Hall, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything inside. They would have only been able to see a dark barrier in ce, hiding some area of the Great Hall in its shroud.

    High Duke M established a link with her mirror. The link was to the simr mirror that was with High Duke Oris.

    After a few minutes, the mirror of M started showing the visuals of High Duke Oris.

    High Duke Oris was standing in his garden, appreciating his flowers when he brought his mirror out of his spatial Realm. His daughter was standing with him.

    "High Duke Oris," Ryder greeted Oris in a gentle tone as soon as the link was established.

    " My Prince, Is everything alright? What made you contact me like this so urgently?" High Duke Oris inquired as he looked at Ryder.

    "I need your help. How fast can you get to Devilia¡¯s Pce?" Ryder asked Oris.

    "That? I can get there instantly. I do have a Teleportation Skill." High Duke Oris let out, shocking Ryder.

    "What? You have a Teleportation Skill? You cane here instantly?" Ryder asked in shock.

    "Yeah, I thought you knew it?" High Duke Oris let out as if he was surprised that Ryder didn¡¯t know about it.

    "How was I supposed to know? I had no idea that you even had a Skill like this," Ryder smiled wryly as he replied.

    "It¡¯s the Truth. High Duke Rale and High Duke Magna, both of them possess a skill like this. High Duke Eston and I are the ones that don¡¯t have the Teleportation Skills. He can be here in a second if he wishes," High Duke M nodded her head as she chimed in.

    " That¡¯s good. That makes my n even easier. Wait, don¡¯t Teleport here. I¡¯ll tell you a ce where you need to Teleport. High Duke M, can you exin to him the coordinates of my assigned room in this Pce? I need him to Teleport there," Ryder asked M.

    He wanted Oris to Teleport straight to the destination since he didn¡¯t want anyone else to know that he was here. His n was to beat the Death Domain in their own game. They wanted to shock them, but he was going to give them an even greater shock.

    " That¡¯s easy. High Duke Oris and I have been here before. In fact, he stayed in the same room that you¡¯re staying in now. He should have no difficulty teleporting there," M let out casually.

    "Are you talking about the room I stayed in during ourst visit or the one before that?" High Duke Oris asked M as he heard her words.

    "The one you stayed in thest time. You should have no difficulty staying there," She responded.

    "Yeah, I can Teleport there, but first, is anyone going to tell me what¡¯s going on here? I need to know," High Duke Oris inquired.

    "We have some information. The Death Domain is going to attack this Pce today. They have no idea that I know about this. Our n is to beat them at their own game and crush them. Also, I wish to catch the Second Crown Candidate of the Death Domain. There¡¯s a spy here, though, and they can be anyone, so I can¡¯t let anyone know that you¡¯re here as well. You¡¯ll be our hidden weapon in this attack," Ryder said to High Duke Oris.

    High Duke Oris was instantly furious as he heard Ryder.

    "Those bastards! They dared to scheme of attacking us? Let me bring Magna with me as well. We should really show them what it means to mess with the Demon Realm. We will kill them all and go to the Death Domain Royal Pce and throw the Dead Bodies there!" High Duke Oris let out furiously.

    He wanted to bring High Duke Magna with him as well and enter the Death Domain.

    "No, there¡¯s no need to bring him. Someone needs to stay in the capital as well. The Death Domain people are already in this city. We don¡¯t know if they¡¯re in the Royal City or not. Let him stay there. It¡¯ll be bad if something happens to that ce, especially the Royal Pce," Ryder responded, shaking his head.

    High Duke Oris seemed as if the understanding dawned on him about Ryder¡¯s logic.

    "Ah, that¡¯s true. If the Royal Capital is attacked, we¡¯ll be aughing stock of the world if none of us is here and the Royal Capital is destroyed," he let out, nodding his head.

    "Yeah, so we only need you here. Now, let me tell you what¡¯s going to happen and how we need to react. If everything happens as per n, we¡¯ll be in a really good position. Only 40 minutes are left if I¡¯m not wrong. Please Teleport to the room and wait for me there. Devilia might return anytime. We need to stop talking," Ryder let out as he decided to stop the conversation with High Duke Oris. He decided to talk to High Duke Oris about the rest of the n in the room when he was there.

    High Duke Oris nodded his head as he agreed. The mirror stopped working.

    High Duke Oris was back in his pce. As soon as the connection was disconnected, he looked back at his daughter.

    "You heard everything, right? Don¡¯t tell anyone. I¡¯ll be leaving now. I should be back as soon as things are back to normal," High Duke Oris told his daughter as he ced his hand on her head.

    His daughter nodded her head as she watched her father disappear into thin air.

    High Duke Oris appeared in the room that was assigned to Ryder. He sat on the bed and started waiting for the game to begin.

    After dealing with High Duke Oris, Ryder looked at M and told her to contact High Duke Eston as well.

    "Wait, don¡¯t contact him," Ryder suddenly called out as he stopped High Duke M.

    "What happened?" High Duke M looked at Ryder, who seemed like he had suddenly thought about something grave.

    " How could I forget about this possibility! I¡¯m an idiot!" Ryder eximed as he frowned.

    "What possibility?" M asked Ryder.

    " I thought that there were two major suspects that could be a Spy, but in reality, there are three major suspects," Ryder let out as his frown deepened. "How could I miss something so obvious."

    "What are you talking about? I don¡¯t understand anything," Devilia asked Ryder as she frowned.

    " The Vampire King! He knows about our n! He might have been the one that did it! He was also in this pce when the attack happened. He might have left this Great Hall and helped them. This ck Skeleton King, the Death Domain, and the Vampire King. They might all just be a part of this scheme. I need to tell High Duke Eaton about the n, but not when he¡¯s with the Vampire King," Ryder muttered as he looked down.

    "Don¡¯t contact them. I have another n. I¡¯ll tell him after he¡¯s here," Ryder muttered as he walked back and sat on the throne.

    "Let me tell you the n first," He nced at High Duke M and Rale as he started telling them what they needed to do and how things might y out.

    High Duke M dispersed the barrier that was surrounding her, Ryder, and Rale after the exnation waspleted.

    They all sat downfortably on their seats with their eyes closed as they waited for the pieces to fall in their ces.

    After a few minutes, Devilia entered the Great Hall.

    "I did it. The guards are on stand-by right before the Royal Pce," She told Ryder as she stepped closer.

    "Good work. Have a seat now. We can only wait for High Duke Eston to get here," Ryder said as he pointed towards the nearby seat and gestured to M to sit down.

    A few more minutes passed before High Duke M got a message that High Duke Eston was standing outside the great barrier surrounding the city.

    "High Duke M, you and Devilia should go to escort them. Rale and I will stay behind," Ryder casually said to High Duke M.

    "Alright," High Duke M and Devilia stood up and left the Pce.

    Ryder and Rale were left behind in the Great Hall.

 Chapter 272 Quest from Rale

    <h4>Chapter 272: Quest from Rale</h4>

    ¡¯Little Girl, you were pretty smug, weren¡¯t you. This time, the winner will be different, though. I won¡¯t let you escape,¡¯ Ryde thought as he smiled while thinking about the Second Inheritor of Death Domain that was going to be here if things went likest time.

    He believed that the second Inheritor might already be here, hiding in the pce along with other infiltrators.

    Ryder and Rale were left in the pce alone as they waited for High Duke M to return with other High Dukes.

    ¡¯Wait a minute? If there were already here and knew about everything, why didn¡¯t they attack me in the previous timeline when I was alone with Rale in this great hall and when High Duke M left with Devilia to bring High Duke Eston here?¡¯

    ¡¯Without the presence of and High Dukes, they could¡¯ve easily killed me, and the dangers to them would¡¯ve been really low. Why did they wait until High Dukes were here? Were they lying about knowing everything? Or was it actually the Vampire King that helped them get here after I left the Great Hall with Rale?¡¯

    ¡¯No! Even though High Duke Eston was involved in Dreimaia, High Duke M was still here. She was with him. There¡¯s no way that she would allow the Vampire King to leave the Great Hall or do anything without her watch!¡¯

    ¡¯That can only mean that the Death Domain wanted the High Dukes here. This was a part of their n. They want the High Dukes to see my dead body personally so that they lose themselves in anger and attack the Death Domain? No, attacking Death Domain would only help her opponent. She wouldn¡¯t n this. Just what did that girl n? I¡¯ll have to beat the heck out of her to get her to spill the information.¡¯

    Ryder continued thinking as he tried to make sense of the situation regarding the girl and her n, but he couldn¡¯te to a concrete conclusion

    He nced at Rale on his side.

    "Rale?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yes, Your highness," Rale responded, looking back.

    " How many people do you think actually know about your real strength? Is there really no one other than the High Dukes and me?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "I don¡¯t think anyone other than you all knows about it. Ah, right. My team knows about it. The team that was with us when I used my full strengthst time," Rale replied to Ryder.

    "Oh, right. They are there too," Ryder muttered as he remembered that there were other guards when Rale had unsealed himself in the Death Domain.

    "They are under the Royal Oath, so they probably won¡¯t tell anyone. Is there anyone else that knows?" Ryder asked again. "Is there someone that could have leaked it to the Death Domain?"

    " The only other person that knows is my father," Rale replied to Ryder.

    " Your father? He was the Royal Commander before you, right?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "He was almost equal to the High Dukes even before Rale became the Royal Commander years ago. He might have be as strong as a High Duke. If there¡¯s a war, he cane in really handy," He continued.

    "Yeah, my father is many times stronger than me. I can¡¯t even hope topare. As for his help, that¡¯s impossible," Rale let out, shaking his head.

    "Why is that?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    He wondered if Rale¡¯s father was dead? He didn¡¯t get that feeling from Rale¡¯s words, though.

    " It¡¯s the oath of the Royal Commander. After fulfilling their duty and passing on the responsibility to the next Royal Commander, they leave the Kingdom and go into anonymity. They can never use their strength for anything else than protecting themselves, and they are required to live in a ce of their choice that is not in the Demon Realm. No one knows where the previous Royal Commander lives," Rale told Ryder as he frowned.

    "In fact, even if there¡¯s a war, we would have no way of getting that information to my father. We don¡¯t even know which isted corner of the world he¡¯s living in at the moment," He continued.

    " That sucks. He would¡¯ve been a big help. Why is there an oath like that? That sounds stupid," Ryder asked, trying to understand the situation.

    Rale looked at Ryder and sighed.

    "There¡¯s a long history behind it. Please forgive me but I can¡¯t tell you. We are prohibited from talking about it, though. You should ask the High Dukes if you¡¯re curious about it," Rale let out, shaking his head.

    "High Dukes? I am indeed curious about him," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    Rale looked at Ryder in hesitation for some moments before he opened his lips to say something.

    "Your Highness, I should not ask you of anything, but I have a request for you. Can you please help me?" Rale asked Ryder with hesitation clear in his face.

    "What can I help you with? Sure go ahead. If it¡¯s within my means, I¡¯ll do it," Ryder let out, nodding his head.

    "Before my father left the Demon Realm after passing the Royal Guard position to me, he gave me something. He told me to pass it to the next heir of the Demon Realm, and he said that only the next heir could uncover the mystery behind it. He said that with the help of this item, the long lost treasure of the Demon Realm could be found again," Rale told Ryder.

    "I beg you to please find the lost treasure of the Demon Realm and fulfill the wish of my father," He continued.

    [ Royal Commander Rale has issued a quest to you]

    [Quest: Find the secret behind the item left behind by the previous Royal Commander]

    [Quest Grade: A]

    [Quest Difficulty: High]

    [ Rmended Level: Above Level 200]

    [Description: Royal Commander Rale left behind an item before he went into banishment. Use that item to find the lost treasure of the Demon Realm that has been lost for over a hundred years]

    [Reward: Undying Loyalty of Royal Commander Rale]

    [Reward: +10 levels]

    [Reward: The Moon Armor]

    [Reward: 1000 Fame Points]

    [Warning: Failure of Quest will result in Royal Commander Rale losing all his loyalty and adoration towards you]

    Ryder was surprised as he saw the quest prompt.

    ¡¯ Did I really receive a quest from Rale, and all I had to do to get the quest was to ask Rale about how father? Strange. I guess I shouldn¡¯t be shocked. NPCs give the quest, and Rale is an NPC too. It is not impossible for him to give me a quest,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at the quest prompt before you.

    ¡¯The rewards are really nice. What¡¯s the Moon Armor, though? Is it a Unique Grade Item like Moon Scythe? If it is, then it would be awesome. Could it be that the Moon Armor is the lost treasure that I need to find? I should really ask Rale about it. This quest will be really good,¡¯ he thought.

    He also wondered about the warning under the quest prompt. The warning meant that Rale would lose his respect for Ryder, which wasn¡¯t good.

    ¡¯I need Rale. I can¡¯t lose him, or it would be difficult for me to control the Demon Realm as effectively as I can now. If I took the quest and lost, I would be at a real disadvantage,¡¯ He continued as he started considering if it was worth it. Ultimately, he came to a conclusion that the risk was worth it.

    He tapped on yes as he saw a counter below the quest. The quest was automatically rejected if the quest wasn¡¯t epted within a specific period of time.

    "I will ept this request," Ryder told Rale as he tapped yes on the Quest prompt.

    " That¡¯s great. Let me give you that item right now," Rale smiled as he gave a scroll to Ryder.

    [You have received the map of the Moon Armor]

    "Map of the Moon Armor. I guess I was right. The Moon Armor is indeed the lost treasure of the Kingdom," Ryder muttered as he looked at the scroll. "This should be the map that leads to it or to a clue of the Moon Armor."

    "Rale, is the Moon Armor that lost treasure you talked about?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Yes. The long lost treasure of the Demon Realm. The Moon Armor that was said to be carved from the same material as the Moon Scythe. It was stolen from the Fourth Demon Emperor by his brother that ran away with the Moon Armor. It was never found again," Rale told Ryder.

    "It¡¯s rted to Moon Scythe. It must be an overpowered item as well," Ryder muttered as he looked at the scroll.

    " What do you know about this scroll?" he asked again.

    "I don¡¯t know anything. I was prohibited from opening it. Father didn¡¯t tell me anything about it either. All he said that it was to be given to the next heir if he wished," Rale told Ryder.

 Chapter 273 Unique Quest

    <h4>Chapter 273: Unique Quest</h4>

    "Let me tell you about this then. This scroll is a map that will help me get to the Moon Armor. I am quite curious about how your father got it. Still, he did a great service by getting me this map," Ryder replied as he opened the map and started looking inside it.

    He was right. The scroll was indeed a map. It had various lines and various markings that it showed.

    Ryder looked at the Map, but instead of getting happy, he got confused the more he watched the map. He couldn¡¯t understand a thing about the map.

    There were no words on the map: just various lines and a cross at the center.

    "Come here. Take a look. I don¡¯t have any clue about the ce on this map. Do you have any idea?" Ryder asked Rale as he asked him to move over.

    Rale stood up and walked closer, and looked at the map.

    "This..." I think I have seen a simr map before. I would have to look inside the library again, but from my initial assumption, this map is of a city in the Death Domain," Rale let out as he frowned.

    "A city in the Death Domain? It looks like I¡¯ll have to hasten to the Death Domain. This just gave me even more reason to go there," Ryder muttered as he rolled back the scroll and ced it back into his inventory.

    ¡¯ Sigh, I still need to go and do that quest with Shu. It¡¯s so strange that I¡¯m spending less time in the main game and more time here doing secret quests. I wonder if there is anyone else that got a simr secret quest like this," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    While Ryder was wondering if anyone else had a Secret Quest or not, there was another person that was going through something important.

    Alice had also joined Divinity a few weeks after he joined. She had even left the Novice Vige. Alive took ten days to clear the novice vige, which was the time a weak novice would take. It was Alice¡¯s first time ying Divinity or any mainstream game of this caliber. She had initial difficulty, but after ten days and doing quests in the vige, she had passed the Novice Vige as she became a level five yer.

    Alice had also entered the first kingdom that every yer spawned in after passing through the Novice Vige.

    She appeared on the same spot on the Este Kingdom where Ryder had appeared the first time he spawned here.

    She had studied some details about the gamey on online forums, so she knew where she had to go to get her ss.

    She started walking towards the Church of the Este Kingdom.

    As Alice was walking towards the church, she saw an old woman walking towards her from the other site. The old woman was hit by a man identally as she fell down.

    Alice ran up to the woman.

    "Uh, Grandma. Let me help you," Alice said as she ced her hand on the woman¡¯s shoulders to help her up.

    " T-thank you, kinddy," the old woman thanked Alice.

    "It¡¯s no trouble, Grandma. Please tell me where your home is. Let me escort you there. It¡¯s the least I can do," Alice said to the woman with an innocent smile on her face.

    "Ah, no. Don¡¯t worry about me. I can really go home without any trouble. It¡¯s nearby. Please don¡¯t waste your time on an old and insignificantdy like me," the olddy told Alice as she waved her hand.

    "If it¡¯s nearby, then that¡¯s even less of a problem. I can easily take you there, and I¡¯ll be back in no time as well," Alice chuckled as she refused to budge in her stance.

    "Hahaha, You¡¯re a really kind girl and a really stubborn one as well. Just like how I used to be in my young days," the woman finallyughed as she agreed. "Fine. You can take me home."

    Alice escorted the woman home.

    The woman¡¯s home was an old house on the outskirts of the Royal City of Estelle Kingdom.

    Alice reached the small house with the woman.

    "Thank you, kind girl," The olddy said to Alice as she bowed her head lightly.

    "Don¡¯t thank me, Grandma. It was just a little act of kindness. Anyway, I¡¯ll be going back now. I still need to get my ss," Alice said as she started walking away.

    The olddy smiled as she looked at Alice, leaving.

    " You old bastard! You think you can live in peace without giving me back my money?! I¡¯ll kill you today!"

    While Alice was leaving, she heard a loud shout from being. She saw a bearded man staring at the old woman with a knife in his hand. He started running towards the olddy to kill him.

    "Stop!"

    Alice also started running towards thedy to stop the man as she shouted.

    Alice had reached level 5 by doing normal tasks in the novice vige, so she had no fighting experience at all. She didn¡¯t even have any skills that she collected in the Novice Vige unlike Ryder that left the Novice Vige with two powerful skills.

    Alice was just a normal girl with level 5 stats.

    She reached the man first and held his hand to stop the knife from hitting the stomach of the olddy.

    "Don¡¯t kill her!" Alice scolded the man, but her eyes opened wide as she saw the man using a different knife to stab her back.

    "You dared to block my hand! You deserve what you got!" the bearded man let out with a cruel grin on his face.

    Alice¡¯s HP continued going down.

    The bearded man pulled out the knife as he looked towards the olddy, but that¡¯s when he noticed the city guards.

    "Crap! Why are the guards at this part of the city!" the bearded man cursed as he started running away.

    Alice¡¯s HP hit zero.

    [You have lost all your HP]

    [Level -1]

    [You will be logged out in 10]

    [9]

    [8]

    ...

    The countdown of logout began as Alice watched her body turning transparent.

    "You little girls are really kind. Not many people will help an olddy reach her home. Not only that, you even sacrificed your life for me. I think you are what they call the Warrior of the Goddess. When youe back to this ce in two days, make sure toe to my house," The woman told Alice.

    While Alice was confused, she heard a system prompt.

    [The Old Lady has given you a quest]

    [Quest: Come to her house after respawning]

    [Quest Grade: Unique]

    [Quest Difficulty: None]

    [Reward: A unique ss Quest]

    [Do you wish to ept?]

    [Y/N]

    Alice looked at the quest prompt and hurriedly tapped on yes before the logout timer hit zero.

    [Quest epted]

    That was thest thing that Alice saw before she woke up in the real world. She took off her sses and sat up.

    "Unique ss Quest? I heard about them. They are so rare. How did I get it so easily," Alice muttered as she looked at the door.

    "This must be because I helped thatdy. The game is hiding ss Quest behind such menial tasks. This is really interesting. I should tell Brother about this. If he does the same task, he can get the Same ss as well. We¡¯ll have the same ss then," she continued excitedly as she stood up, but she stopped herself.

    She sat down on the bed again as she shook her head.

    "Wait a minute; he already has a ss. He can¡¯t take a second ss, I think. Also, I haven¡¯t told him that I have started ying Divinity. I should wait and get stronger before I join his team to help him," she muttered.

    The Vampire King and High Duke Eston entered the Great Hall with Devilia and High Duke M.

    "Wee, Vampire King and High Duke Eston. Take a seat and rest a little before we get to work," Ryder told everyone.

    What happened next was the same as thest timeline. High Duke Eston still didn¡¯t know about the infiltration by the Death Domain.

    High Duke M told High Duke Eston about the need to use Dreimaia. After their initial banter likest time, High Duke Eaton agreed.

    " Rale, you go ahead with High Duke Eston and Devilia. High Duke M and I will stay back with the Vampire King," Ryder told Rale.

    This was the change he had made in this timeline. Instead of sending the Vampire King, he was sending Rale with High Duke Eston. He had already told Rale to inform High Duke Eston about the n without letting Devilia head. Rale could do it, and since the Vampire King wouldn¡¯t be here, he can¡¯t hear the n.

    Rale is stronger than Devilia, so she would have a hard time hearing them as well, but still, Ryder told Devilia toe back instantly after showing High Duke Eston that ce, leaving them there. Devilia was confused, but she agreed.

 Chapter 274 Calculated Risk

    <h4>Chapter 274: Calcted Risk</h4>

    High Duke Eston and Duke Devilia departed with Rale, leaving the Great Hall, leaving only Ryder and High Duke M in the back.

    "Vampire King, do you know about the chaos going on in the Death Domain?" Ryder inquired casually as he rested his head back.

    "You mean about the presence of two Inheritors?" the Vampire King responded with a question.

    "Yes," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    "Of course I know about that. You know it as well. As the rulers of our respective ces, we would be idiots to not know about it," The Vampire King replied, shaking his head.

    " What is your opinion about that? Which side do you think holds the actual right of session? The Bloodline Heir or the Legacy Inheritor?" Ryder asked, trying to gauge the Vampire King¡¯s ideology.

    "What I think doesn¡¯t matter. All that matters is what the people of Death Domain think. Whoever they choose will be the King of the Death Domain and your potential enemy," The Vampire King replied, shaking his head as he refused to answer.

    "True, but still. As a leader, if you had a choice, who would you rather see the King of Death Domain? the girl or the boy?" Ryder asked again. He was curious if the Vampire King would choose the girl that was going toe here.

    "If it were up to me, I would rather see the Bloodline Heir be the King," The Vampire King replied.

    "Why is that?" Ryder inquired curiously.

    "Because he will be a weak king. I¡¯m thinking of them as an opposing force. The girl that could get the Weapon Inheritance of the Death Emperor will undoubtedly be a more threatening opponent. I would much rather see someone weak that wouldn¡¯t have ambitions as wild as the Death Emperor had," the Vampire King replied.

    "That¡¯s interesting. By the way, what do you think about establishing a rtionship with the Demon Realm? You know how the Death Domain used the people of Undead Region in the past. It would be better if you join us. If there is a conflict, help us. You know that we won¡¯t use your people like cannon fodder. We¡¯ll protect you, and you¡¯ll help us. With peaceful rtions, we can go a long way," Ryder said as he looked at the Vampire King in full seriousness.

    If the Vampire King was not an enemy, then establishing a corporation with him would be a good thing. Both Death Domain and Demon Realm had four people as strong as High Dukes each. The Undead Region had two such people, and the Vampire King was one of them. If he could convince the Two Major Undead Kings to support the Demon Realm in case of a war, it would make them have six against 4 of the Death Domain. At that moment, he wouldn¡¯t need to worry about the results.

    Just the threat would be enough since the Death Domain would not dare to attack them if they know that the Death Domain was in support of them.

    "I have always been neutral, but I can¡¯t say about the future. If possible, I would prefer to be neutral, but I¡¯ll see what happens next," the Vampire King let out as he smiled.

    There was silence for the next few minutes before it was broken by the return of Devilia.

    Devilia had followed the orders and arrived after leaving Rale and High Duke Eston on the balcony, where they could see all the guards.

    Ryder talked about random matters of the surroundings duchies to keep Devilia busy. He also needed an excuse on why he asked her to return so fast after leaving them here, and he used these random conversions for that.

    After ten more minutes, High Duke Eston and Rale also returned.

    High Duke Eston nced at Ryder and nodded with a knowing gaze.

    "High Duke Eston. You can rest for a few seconds and then begin the linking as soon as you can. We need to begin the search as soon as we can. Every extra second we dy can be another second where the ck Skeleton King might kill more people.

    "There¡¯s no need for rest. I can start now," High Duke Eston responded as he sat on the throne and closed his eyes.

    After a few minutes, Ryder followed the same thing that he did inst time. He stood up and walked up to High Duke M to tell her that he needed to leave the Great Hall with Rale. He had already told High Duke M about this when he was telling her the n, but he still had to follow the proper script to make sure that the future didn¡¯t change much.

    Ryder left the Great Hall and walked towards the room that was assigned to him.

    He entered the room and saw High Duke Oris sitting there ording to the n.

    After closing the door, Ryder walked up to High Duke Oris and greeted him.

    As High Duke Oris looked at Ryder with a confused gaze.

    "Cast a noise cancetion barrier first. I¡¯ll tell you everything after that," Ryder told High Duke Oris.

    High Duke Oris did the same as he cast a barrier that was simr to the one High Duke M had cast.

    After the barrier waspleted, Ryder started exining about the rest of the n to High Duke Oris. He also told High Duke Oris about the details that he had left out in the presence of M.

    High Duke Oris¡¯ expressions went through a lot of change throughout the exnation, which ended with an understanding gaze.

    "I¡¯ll follow the n," he nodded.

    "Good. You can cancel the barrier now. It¡¯s the right time. We would begin," Ryder let out as he looked at the clock on the wall.

    It was almost the time when Rale had opened the door of the room to leave in the previous timeline.

    "Rale, you can Unseal your strength. You have my permission," Ryder told Rale with a subtle smile on his face.

    Rale nodded his head as he walked towards the door. Two beautiful wings appeared behind his back as he unsealed himself. His entire aura changed as Rale released all his strength.

    Rale reached near the door and opened it slowly.

    As soon as he opened the door, a shocked expression covered his face as it was exactly the same as Ryder had told him would happen.

    The ck Skeleton King was standing outside the door. His fist wasing towards him, but Rale bead prepared as well. He had already unsealed all his strength. He brought his hand closer to his chest and caught the fist of the ck Skeleton King with his left hand with ease.

    He packed the fist of his right hand as he red at the empty eye sockets of the ck Skeleton King.

    " Sorry, but you chose the wrong opponent," Rale dered as he punched the skull of the ck Skeleton King, making him fly back likest time.

    The ck Skeleton King went through wall after wall, breaking them as he was tossed back because of the impact of the punch.

    Rale flew after Rale likest time.

    There were guards who were dead as well, just likest time.

    Ryder flew behind Ryder, but he didn¡¯t go too deep as he moved to the side, just before Rale came back flying, crashing before him.

    "You were right. There was more than one enemy here. If I hadn¡¯t known about this, I wouldn¡¯t be able to protect myself so effectively," Rale let out as he stood up. He had protected his chest effectively this time, unlike thest time when he was slightly injured.

    "They brought their hidden weapons, time for us to bring out our weapon as well," Ryder muttered as he nced back towards his room.

    It was the time ording to the n.

    That¡¯s when it happened. The inf started changing as it seemed like a lightning bolt came out flying from the room.

    It was none other than High Duke Oris. Ryder had told him to stay back until he made sure that everything else was the same asst time. Since it was the same, he didn¡¯t need to hold back.

    "High Duke Oris will be able to handle him. Let¡¯s go. Time to participate in the next part of the n. It is going to be most crucial since the sess and failure will depend on it. We can¡¯t let the girl escape at any cost," Ryder muttered as he patted the shoulder of Rale before he began flying back.

    While Ryder continued towards the Great Hall, Rale hid himself as he followed after Ryder.

    He didn¡¯t want to go through the rest of the n since that n included Ryder getting hurt, and there were chances of Ryder seriously getting injured, but Ryder hadmanded him and promised that it was a calcted risk. Ryder alsoforted Ryder that nothing was going to happen to him.

 Chapter 275 The End

    <h4>Chapter 275: The End</h4>

    While Rale hid himself, Ryder continued towards the Great Hall at his full speed.

    Ad Ryder reached the Great Hall; he saw a few Skeletons standing before the entrance of the Great Hall.

    Last time he hadn¡¯t noticed it, but as he used [All-Seer] this time, he saw a barrier before the entrance. Ryder realized that it was probably the barrier that was preventing the outside sound from entering the inside the Great Hall.

    As Ryder was looking towards the Skeletons, he had already started essing his storage.

    He pulled out his Moon Scythe from the inventory.

    Without wasting a single second, he used Transformation to change his Moon Scythe into a Shield as he turned back.

    Ryder protected his body using the shield, which was hit by someone¡¯s attack. Fortunately, just likest time, this time as well, the Shield took most of the Impact. Ryder was tossed back like a stone, ultimately crashing on the ground.

    His HP started lowering, but his Ruler of Nature activated again, recovering all his lost HP.

    Ryder stood up as he patted his clothes while he looked ahead.

    There was a girl standing in front of him, but she was not the one that had attacked him. Right beside the girl, a middle-aged man was standing. The middle-aged man was the one that had attacked him just likest time.

    "Interesting. I never knew that you would still survive after taking a hit from Master Mao," the Girl let out as she smiled while looking at Ryder.

    The girl was none other than the Second contender for the Crown of Death Domain. She was in a race against the Bloodline Inheritor because she had inherited the Weapon of the Death Emperor somehow.

    "Did you think I was as weak as you? You were the one that ran awayst time, not me. Give me some credit," Ryder let out mockingly as he changed his time. Last time he had mocked the Middle-Aged man, but this time, he was mocking the girl for running away in their previous confrontation in the Forest of Duke Devilia. He had conveniently forgotten that he had run away himself to the past a few hours ago.

    "Interesting. Not only did you survive, but you also have the courage to mock me? Master Mao is as strong as a Duke from your Demon Realm. To take his attack without dying and still mocking us, you¡¯re really brave, aren¡¯t you, Prince Hades. Do you really think that I don¡¯t know what the shield you used is? Everyone knows that the Moon Scythe of the Demon Emperor can transform. I never knew you would gain enough control in it that soon but still, do you really think a Shield would be enough to save you?" the girl asked mockingly.

    The girl expected Ryder to look towards the entrance of the Great Hall in hesitation, but she was surprised as she saw Ryder smilingfortably instead.

    "Don¡¯t you want to scream for help? The High Dukes are right in that great hall. Why aren¡¯t you calling for help?"

    As the girl saw Ryder not doing what she expected, she was shocked. She had already prepared herself to see Ryder¡¯s anxious expression. She was waiting to reveal to Ryder about the barrier she had cast around the great hall to give him more despair, but he wasn¡¯t doing what she expected.

    "Why should I call them? Would that even do anything? The barrier that you guys have cast around the Great Hall will prevent my voice from getting inside anyways," Ryder let out casually as he raised his hand.

    "W-why, do you know that?!" Ryder¡¯s words thoroughly shocked the girl. She didn¡¯t expect Ryder to know about this. On a more critical note, she didn¡¯t expect him to still look sofortable even after knowing that he had no chance of getting help. Why was Ryder so calm? Where was his confidenceing from? Did he really have something up his sleeve? The girl couldn¡¯t help but wonder as she frowned.

    " Little girl, You¡¯re the Crown Candidate of the Death Domain, fighting for the position of the Prince, not me! I¡¯m the Prince of the Demon Realm! I¡¯m the ruler here! What I can do is beyond your imagination, so don¡¯t even try," Ryder let out with a smirk.

    "Hah, such big words for a guy who¡¯s about to die. Without help, you¡¯re nothing, and let me remind you, no help ising for you today. Everything we did was nned. Your Royal Commander is busy, and the others are inside the Great Hall, unaware of anything that¡¯s going on outside. Don¡¯t bother with us," the girl fired back, trying to break Ryder¡¯s confidence.

    "I wouldn¡¯t be getting any help? I wouldn¡¯t be so sure about that if I were you," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    A few minutes before Ryder had used his Shield to protect himself from Master Mao¡¯s attack, High Duke M inside the great hall had stood up.

    She looked at High Duke Eston that had his eyes closed.

    "Stop pretending. It¡¯s time to get to work," High Duke M told High Duke Eston.

    Devilia looked at High Duke M in confusion, wondering what High Duke M was talking about. Since High Duke Eston¡¯s mind was linked to thousands of soldiers, there was no way she should have broken his concentration. She knew that once Dreimaia was broken unintentionally, it couldn¡¯t be cast again before 24 hours. She wondered why High Duke M was trying to disturb High Duke Eston.

    The Vampire King didn¡¯t know about the basics of this spell, so he wasn¡¯t as shocked as Devilia about M disturbing Eston; what he was more interested in was her words. What n was she talking about?

    Devilia looked at High Duke Eston¡¯s eyes. She believed that High Duke Eston¡¯s concentration was broken. He was probably going to be really angry at High Duke M.

    Devilia¡¯s expectations turned upside down as she saw no anger in High Duke Eston¡¯s eyes. Instead, she saw a smile on his face.

    "Oh? So it¡¯s finally time. I was getting bored," High Duke Eston let out as he smiled.

    "What is happening here?" Vampire King asked High Duke Eston as he stood up.

    Devilia also stood up.

    "What¡¯s happening is really simple. We are under attack from the Death Domain. The ck Skeleton King is in the pce as well. Let¡¯s just step out of the Great Hall and see for ourselves," High Duke M told the Vampire King casually as she stepped towards the door of the Great Hall.

    She tried pushing the door open, but it didn¡¯t even move.

    "As expected, it was true. There¡¯s a barrier around the Great Hall," High Duke M let out as she smiled.

    She raised her palm towards the door of the great hall and fired an energy ball.

    "Stop acting smug! No one wille to save you. You¡¯re just trying to dy us by confusing us with your false confidence! I¡¯ve seen enough of this idiocy! Master Mao, let¡¯s not waste any more time. Kill our dear Demon Realm Prince so that we can leave," the girl let out as he smiled while looking at the middle-aged man beside her.

    "Right away," The middle-aged man let out with a smirk as he started walking towards Ryder.

    Ryder watched the maning towards him, but he didn¡¯t bother stepping back.

    ¡¯The timing couldn¡¯t be more perfect. Just a few seconds more,¡¯ Ryder thought as he saw Master Mao reaching near the door.

    Just as Master Mao was in front of the Great Hall door, a loud st happened. The Great Hall door came flying and crashed on Master Mao, making him fly back in return.

    High Duke M and the others stepped out of the Great Hall.

    High Duke M looked to the side and saw a girl standing there.

    "So you¡¯re the Second Candidate of Death Domain Crown. I thought that you would be smart but to infiltrate our Demon Realm under our watch? You¡¯re not much smart, are you?" High Duke M let out as she shook her head.

    "You!" the girl was horrified as she took a step back in fear. She instantly got a talisman out of her storage space.

    "Rale now!" Ryder let out in a hurry.

    The girl was shocked as she heard Ryder¡¯s road, but her face turned pale as she saw Rale appearing before her out of nowhere. Rale took the Talisman from her and threw it away before he caught both her hand and ced them behind her back.

    "Did you really think the same trick would work twice? I already saw you escape though that thest time we battled. Of Course, I¡¯ll take precautions," Ryder smiled as he looked at the girl.

    "High Duke Eston, there¡¯s someone called Master Mao in that rubble. Can you take care of him? He really likes hitting people. I think he¡¯ll really like a battle partner," he continued as he nced back at High Duke Eston.

 Chapter 276 Master is here

    <h4>Chapter 276: Master is here</h4>

    "Hahaha, Sure. Let me see who dares to be naughty in my Demon Realm," High Duke Eston smirked as he walked towards the rubble.

    He was somewhat excited as they really got a big win today. Not only did they catch the intruder from the Death Domain, but they also got the ck Skeleton King, who was being handled by High Duke Oris if everything went ording to the n there as well. All that while they just sat in the Pce. They didn¡¯t even have to go out. It was as if luck was all on their side today.

    Even though High Duke Eston was curious as to how Ryder got all this information to make such an urate n, he didn¡¯t think too much about it. He left those questions forter. For now, all he wanted to do was shatter the bones of the ones that dared to infiltrate this ce.

    Master Mao moved the door to the side as he came out of the rubble, but his face turned pale as well as he saw High Duke Eston walking towards him. He instantly turned back as he started rubbing, but he knew that it wasn¡¯t easy for him to escape from a High Duke.

    "My dear Zombies, dy him for me!" Master Mao let out as he continued running while he cast a spell.

    Five Zombies appeared out of thin air between High Duke Eston and Master Mao, to create an obstruction for High Duke Eston.

    Master Mao knew that the Zombies couldn¡¯t stop a High Duke, but he wanted to get whatever small bit of time he could get to escape and get to the Spatial Formation they had created inside the Pce. Unlike the girl that was caught by Rale, Master Mao couldn¡¯t use the talisman to leave this ce. He had to go to the formation that they had created before.

    He didn¡¯t even think about saving the girl. He knew that it was impossible. All he knew was that it would be bad to save his life.

    "Oh? You bought these Zombies to stop me?" High Duke Eston grinned as he saw the five Zombies standing in his path.

    The Vampire King just watched High Duke Eston and observed him. High Duke M, on the other hand, stood near him, looking at his expressions to get an idea of what he was thinking. She was trying to see if he had any thoughts of interfering or not, but it didn¡¯t seem like he had any intentions of that. The Vampire King didn¡¯t act suspiciously at all.

    High Duke Eston didn¡¯t waste much time with the zombies. He simply waved his hand as a gust of wind appeared and flew towards the Zombies. As the gust of wind hit the Zombies, it didn¡¯t toss them away like Ryder had expected as he watched this attack of High Duke Eston.

    Instead, that gust of wind hit the Zombies and destroyed them instantly.

    "Don¡¯t leave. The party has just begun!" High Duke Eston muttered as he looked at the back of Master Mao, who was running away. He instantly disappeared from his position and appeared before Master Mao, grabbing his neck.

    High Duke Eston caught the neck of Master Mao and raised him in the air before he smashed him on the ground.

    The ground cracked from the powerful impact as Master Mao¡¯s painful groan echoed in the hallway right at his impact.

    High Duke Eston nced towards Ryder.

    "Should I finish him or take him as a hostage for the future?" High Duke Eston asked Ryder.

    Ryder didn¡¯t reply instantly; instead, he looked towards the Vampire King.

    " What do you say? What should we do about him?" he asked the Vampire King. "Should we kill him?"

    ¡¯If he says yes, then he¡¯s definitely involved in this scheme since killing Master Mao would only mean one less witness for us to get information out of,¡¯ Ryder thought as he waited for Vampire King¡¯s response.

    "That depends on you. It¡¯s your Kingdom. Don¡¯t involve me in this. Still, since I¡¯m here, I¡¯ll give you an advice. As the Ruler, getting information out of the enemies is better. You should keep him alive for interrogation. If Death Domain people were able to enter your Pce, then there¡¯s a high chance that someone from this ce has betrayed you. It¡¯s better to find out about that person. The more prisoners you have, the higher your chance is to find the truth. That¡¯s just my advice, though. You can decide how you want to deal with this," the Vampire King told Ryder.

    "Interesting," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "What do you say, Devilia?" Ryder asked Devilia as he nced back at her.

    " I agree with the Vampire King. There¡¯s a good chance that someone has betrayed us. We already have the girl to get the information about this scheme, but the more people we have, the better," Devilia said as she nodded her head as well.

    Ryder frowned as he nced at Devilia.

    "Right," he said.

    "High Duke Eston, keep him alive," Ryder told High Duke Eston as he smiled.

    "Just cut off both his hands for now," he continued before he turned back to focus on the Second Crown Candidate of Death Domain that was still in Rale¡¯s grip.

    A scream of Master Mao echoed in the hallway as his arms were ripped apart by the High Duke. Ryder didn¡¯t look back as he focused on the girl.

    "So, little girl. Tell me why you wanted to kill me!" Ryder asked the girl.

    "Don¡¯t call me a little girl! I¡¯ll kill you!" the girl threatened Ryder as she red at him.

    "Well, you¡¯re an idiot that dared to enter an enemy¡¯s while the enemy was at their strongest. Why would I call you if not a naive little girl? Oh, on that note, I don¡¯t even know your name. What¡¯s your name?" Ryder asked the girl after sarcastically mocking her.

    The girl snorted as she refused to reply.

    "Well, I have many ways to get my answers from you, but I¡¯m taking the simpler route for now. Let¡¯s see the advantages of having more than one prisoner," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    He nced back at Master Mao, who was roaring in pain.

    "You, little Mao. Tell me her name if you don¡¯t want your legs to be torn off as well. You¡¯re just an extra, after all. It wouldn¡¯t matter even if you die, so don¡¯t expect us to go easy if you fail to cooperate," Ryder said to Master Mao.

    " Elisia! Her name is Elisia!" Master Mao roared loudly as he saw High Duke Eston stretched his hand out towards his legs.

    Ryder nced back at the girl as he smiled.

    "See? Simple," he let out as he chuckled.

    He walked closer to Elisia and ced his hands on her soft cheeks.

    Elisia had a killer look on her face as she red at Ryder.

    " Elisia is a beautiful name. It suits your beautiful face as well. Now, it would be a real tragedy if that beautiful face wasn¡¯t on that beautiful body anymore for some reason. Answer my question, Elisia. Don¡¯t test my patience," he said while giving a subtle threat as he looked in her eyes.

    "Hah, you¡¯re an idiot if you think you¡¯ll get any answers from me. The same tricks won¡¯t work on me!" Elisia let out as she rolled her eyes.

    Ryder had expected a reply like that, but just as he was about to reply, he heard footsteps.

    With a curious look on his face, be turned to the order side to see who wasing.

    As he saw the person, a smile appeared on his face.

    "High Duke Oris, did you deal with the ck Skeleton King?" Ryder inquired.

    The person that has just arrived was none other than High Duke Oris, who had stayed behind to take care of the ck Skeleton King and the other enemies.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s done. The ck Skeleton King is gone forever. Not even the ash of his bones remain. The other enemies also ended up in the same position," High Duke Oris said as he smiled.

    "Oh, right. The left portion of the Pce ispletely destroyed. You should start thinking about the repair," he continued as he nced at Devilia.

    " I¡¯ll get that done. It¡¯s nothing," Devilia said, nodding her head.

    "Looks like everything went ording to the n here as well. That¡¯s good," High Duke Oris said as he nodded his head.

    High Duke Oris seemed happy until his smile disappeared instantly as he nced towards Ryder.

    "Not in my watch!" High Duke Oris let out as he disappeared. He didn¡¯t use his movement. Instead, he used Teleportation to save whatever little bit of time he could.

    While Ryder was confused, he felt a sense of danger. He looked at Elisia¡¯s face and saw a smirk on her face.

    "Master is here," Elisia let out as she smiled.

 Chapter 277 Death Envoy vs High Duke

    <h4>Chapter 277: Death Envoy vs High Duke</h4>

    "Master is here," Elisia let out as she smiled.

    "T..." Before Ryder could even react, he felt the air in his surrounding changed as a terrifying pressure appeared out of nowhere.

    He looked to his left and saw a fisting towards him.

    It was so fast that Ryder didn¡¯t even feel like he had any hope of escaping. He had realized that it was probably going to be game over for him. He knew that because of the Ruler of Time¡¯s passive revival skill that didn¡¯t differentiate between the death in-game and the real-life death, he¡¯d be sent one day in the past again.

    Just as Ryder had given up, someone appeared before him.

    High Duke Oris appeared before Ryder and attacked with a finger towards the fist that wasing towards Ryder.

    The fist and the finger shed. Time seemed to have stopped at the sh as if two powerful entities had just shed. A terrifying energy wave was born because of the sh which tossed Ryder back. Ryder crashed on the ground. Devilia and Rale were also thrown back, and so was Master Mao from the terrifying energy wave. As Rale was tossed back, Elisia also suffered the same. Rale¡¯s grip on her was released through as she fell into a different ce.

    There were only five people that hadn¡¯t moved even an inch. The Vampire King, High Duke Eston, High Duke M, and High Duke Oris were standing still. The intruder that had just attacked was also standing still. He didn¡¯t move back even an inch, either, as if his strength had perfectly matched High Duke Oris¡¯ strength.

    "Death Envoy Lai, is this really what you want? This is an act of war. You should be ready for the consequences now," High Duke Oris let out as his eyes turned blood red in anger.

    The person standing before High Duke Oris was a man that looked like he was in his early 30s. He was the Death Envoy of the Death Domain, which was like the High Duke of Death Domain.

    "I¡¯m not here for a war. I¡¯m just here to take a rogue girl back. Now that we got what we wanted, I¡¯m leaving. We will send you an exnationter," Death Envoy Lai said in a grim tone before he disappeared.

    Ryder was injured the most from the crash, but his Ruler of Nature had healed him just as fast. Ryder stood up. Rale had also stood up.

    "Elisia, she¡¯s gone," Ryder let out as he looked around, not finding Elisia anywhere.

    "They took her. For her to be able to bring three Death Envoys to bring her back, She must hold a really important position in the Death Domain," High Duke Oris said as he frowned.

    "Three Death Envoys? Why did I only see one?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    High Duke Oris was about to reply, but before he could say anything, someone elsepleted his sentence.

    "One was standing in front of him. The other was taking the girl, and thest one was hiding nearby," Vampire King told Ryder.

    "Three Death Envoys? The Death Domain only has four Death Envoys, and three of them appeared here together for the girl? Interesting. Was our information wrong? Could the truth be that both the Crown Candidates don¡¯t have two Death Envoys supporting them? Elisia is being supported by three Death Envoys, and the Bloodline Prince is supported by one?" Ryder asked High Duke Oris.

    "I¡¯m not sure of that. It¡¯s impossible to exactly know the intricacies of the Death Domain. The information that we had did indicate that only two Death Envoys were supporting the girl," High Duke M chimed in.

    "It¡¯s either the Third Envoy also started supporting the girl, or the Bloodline Prince got active and sent his supporting Death Envoy to save the girl," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    "No. They didn¡¯te to save her," High Duke Oris let out suddenly.

    "They didn¡¯t? Why did theye here then? and why did they take the girl then?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    " It hasn¡¯t even been half an hour since it all started. On the other hand, it hasn¡¯t even been ten minutes since the girl and the other intruders were caught. There¡¯s no way that in ten minutes, the Death Envoys will get the information. Even if they got the information, it¡¯s impossible toe here in ten minutes. They will never take the risk like this in a hurry," High Duke Oris said as he frowned.

    "I believe that Death Envoy Lai wasn¡¯t lying. They were here to take the girl back, most probably because the girl decided to infiltrate the Demon Realm and scheme against us. The Death Envoys must have found out about this long ago. They must be here to take her back before she could cause irreversible damage, and when they came here, they saw her captured. That¡¯s only an assumption though, but I feel like it¡¯s right," he continued.

    " Isn¡¯t there a w in that story? If the girl was dead here, the Bloodline Prince will only get an advantage as he wouldn¡¯t have any enemies left. His throne would be safe." Ryder raised a question.

    "On the other hand, if the girl had killed me and the Demon Realm attacked the Death Domain, the Bloodline Prince could have med her and gotten her out of the way before getting all the power for himself to face us against the war. He would¡¯ve received the support of all the citizens of Death Domain as well, and all the me would¡¯ve fallen on the girl," he raised a question.

    "Why would he even send a Death Envoy to help her when the alternatives were so much better for him?" he asked.

    "The answer to that question is obvious. You¡¯re thinking of him as a Prince like you, but you aren¡¯t taking it into ount that he might be different," Vampire King chimed in.

    " He is a sensible prince. You remember what I said before? He¡¯s someone that would think ten times before doing something that can cause a war. He knows that the Death Domain will suffer a lot if there¡¯s another war. He most probably wants to avoid a war even if it means letting an enemy live," he continued.

    " That¡¯s what I thought as well. Also, from what Death Envoy Lai said, they might send us an exnation for all this soon enough," High Duke Oris said he sighed.

    "Interesting. That Prince is really interesting. The girl is hot like fire, and the Bloodline Prince is cool like ice. Both the Crown Candidates of the Death Domain are opposite to each other," Ryder muttered as he nced back at High Duke Eston.

    "It¡¯s good that High Duke Eston was near Mao, or they might have taken the Second Witness as well," he continued.

    " If what everyone says is right, then I think that they left him here alive intentionally since they didn¡¯t even try to take him. They could¡¯ve at least given me a fight, but they didn¡¯t even get near me. It seems pretty intentional," High Duke Eston said as he shook his head.

    "Why would they leave someone like him here? We can get information out of him that might be bad for them. Why then?" Devilia inquired in confusion.

    Ryder also thought about this question.

    "I got it," he suddenly let out.

    "That¡¯s because they do want us to get the information out of him. They want us to know the truth that Elisia was rogue and that they didn¡¯t know anything about her n to make us understand. I¡¯m sure their exnation will have something mentioning this too. They¡¯re pretty smart," He continued as he smiled.

    "They are smart, indeed, but we need to be smart as well. We can¡¯t be overconfident from this victory and underestimate them. There¡¯s still a big question before us. That is how we should react to this situation. We can¡¯t be too soft to maintain our dignity," High Duke M said as she stepped towards High Duke Oris.

    " Yeah. We can¡¯t let it go, and we can¡¯t dere war either since both options are too extreme. What do you all suggest we should do?" Ryder asked the High Dukes.

    " Sigh, let¡¯s not be hasty about this decision. We can think about this for a day, at least. It¡¯s an important development that might affect the future of both the Realms after all," High Duke Oris said, shaking his head.

    " Ah, How about you all eat first? It¡¯s time, and the Dining hall portion of the Pce is still intact. After eating, you can think about how to deal with the Death Domain regarding the event," Devilia gave a suggestion.

    "Ah, right. Now that I think about it, I didn¡¯t eat anything today. I was feeling hungry," High Duke Oris smiled as he nodded his head.

    Ryder also nodded his head.

    "Ah, High Duke Oris, keep Mao safe. We can¡¯t lose him. We still need to get the information about the spy in the Pce," he said as he subtly nced at Devilia.

 Chapter 278 Going to the Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 278: Going to the Enemy</h4>

    Ryder and the others were escorted to the Dining Hall.

    Ryder thought that High Duke Eston would carry Mao with him to keep him safe as a precautionary measure, but he was surprised when he saw High Duke Eston throwing Mao in a Spatial Portal.

    On inquiry, High Duke Eston told him that it was a skill of his which was called Dimensional Prison. It traps the person he wishes in a Dimensional Prison.

    He also said that Mao would be safe in his Dimensional Prison since no one else could enter his Dimensional Space.

    Ryder was once again surprised to see that a skill like that existed.

    ¡¯I guess I can get some fascinating skills with higher levels,¡¯ he thought as he nodded his head.

    With Mao in a safe prison and the enemies of the Duchy Dead, Ryder could finally be rxed as the threat on this ce was over, but the real problem still remained. It was the Death Domain and the person that betrayed the Demon Realm and worked with Elisia.

    The second problem could be solved after getting the information out of Mao, but the First Problem wasplicated.

    If he didn¡¯t handle it properly, there would be a war, and the whole world of Divinity will be affected. Even he would be in hot waters since his own strength was not sufficient enough to take part in the battle of the High Dukes and the Death Envoys. If ites to that now, all he could do was hide in the back and watch the battle. He still needed time to get strong enough. He projected that with the Speed he was growing, he should be as strong as a Duke in just a year, but that was just his assumption. He didn¡¯t know what the future held for him.

    Ryder and the others sat at the Dining Table together as the food was served for them. After serving the food, every maid and guard inside the room was told to leave since Ryder was going to start talking about the actions they needed to take during dinner.

    "So, what are your suggestions? What should I do about this?" Ryder asked the others.

    "Let me start with the Vampire King first," Ryder muttered as he nced towards the Vampire King.

    "What do you say? If you were in my ce, what would you do?" Ryder asked the Vampire King.

    " Before I answer, let me ask you something instead. I came here to help you, but more importantly, I came here to search for my General. I do believe your words that the Death Domain is scheming something, and they might be responsible behind it. If that¡¯s the truth, then they must have my General. I want to interrogate the person you captured first! I want to ask him about my General," the Vampire King told Ryder as he refused to answer.

    ¡¯Sigh, this guy still didn¡¯t forget that. Just think that your General is dead and drop the matter, man," Ryder thought, but he maintained a subtle smile on his face.

    "Sure. You can interrogate him first but in our watch," he said, nodding his head.

    ¡¯It¡¯s not like he would know anything. He¡¯ll just say that he has no idea. I can me the girl and say that she worked with others behind Mao¡¯s back to do this. It shouldn¡¯t be too troubling to go with this story. On the other hand, If I deny, then he would definitely be suspicious about my intentions and my involvement in the missing of his General,¡¯ he thought.

    ¡¯It¡¯s good that no one saw our faces in the Undead Region. The cloaks really helped. Without sketch, he can¡¯t find out about us, and with the shield of the Death Domain, we can definitely get away with this as long as we¡¯re careful,¡¯ Ryder thought, ncing at Rale.

    "We¡¯ll start the interrogation after dinner. You can ask your questions to Mao then," Ryder said, shaking his head.

    "Let¡¯s continue the main discussions for now," he continued as he smiled.

    " Alright. I¡¯ll answer the question that was asked. If I was in your ce and this had happened to me, I would have gone straight to the Death Domain Royal Pce and ask for an exnation. If I hadn¡¯t received a proper exnation, I would¡¯ve made them regret crossing me," Vampire King replied.

    ¡¯I can believe that. You¡¯re the guy that did the same to our Demon Realm when you came to High Duke Oris¡¯ Pce and attacked me under the watch of four High Dukes without worrying. This isn¡¯t that unexpected, but if we do that, this would be the same as dering a war,¡¯ Ryder thought as he nced at the Vampire King.

    Ryder shook his head. He was just about to speak, but High Duke M chimed in.

    "That¡¯s an interesting idea. We can go there before they give us their exnation and show them that we¡¯re not going to wait for their exnation. We need to show them that we have the strength to do what they did and even worse," She said.

    Ryder released a mouthful of breath as he smiled.

    "High Duke Eston, what do you say about this?" Ryder asked High Duke Eston.

    " This seems like a better option. We won¡¯t be outright dering a war, but we won¡¯t be sitting idle either. This is the good step between mild and extreme," High Duke Eston nodded his head.

    Ryder didn¡¯t say anything as he simply nodded his head.

    "What about you, High Duke Eston? Do you see something wrong with this n?" Ryder asked High Duke Oris. He had three answers that were agreeing with the n, but he didn¡¯t agree. He could see a problem with that n. He was wondering if anyone could see that problem or not. High Duke M and High Duke Eston had failed, but he believed that High Duke Oris would notice it.

    ¡¯The others are too hot-headed, so they can¡¯t see the bigger picture, but High Duke Oris should be able to see it,¡¯ he thought.

    High Duke Oris looked at Ryder in full seriousness.

    "That is a good suggestion, but we can¡¯t do it," High Duke Oris said.

    "Interesting. Did you see the problem as well?" Ryder asked as he subtly smiled.

    "What problem?" High Duke M inquired.

    " The problem is that we have no information about this. This might just be a n to get us out of the Demon Realm so that they cane here and create destruction everywhere. We can¡¯t leave the Demon Realm," High Duke Oris said.

    "That¡¯s simple. All of you stay here to protect the Demon Realm. Only I will go," High Duke M said as she nodded her head.

    "That¡¯s not good either. There will be four Death Envoys there. Even though I have confidence in you, but I can¡¯t underestimate them either. If you go alone and they attack you, you would be in trouble," Ryder let out, shaking his head.

    " I can protect mysel..."

    "I know you can protect yourself, but I can¡¯t let you take that risk."

    High Duke M was saying something, but she was cut off by Ryder that refuted instantly.

    " Any other suggestions?" Ryder asked everyone.

    " Everyone said what they wanted to say except you, Prince Hades. It¡¯s your turn. What do you wish to do," Vampire King asked Ryder.

    "Me? I¡¯ll do exactly what you suggested," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "What? But didn¡¯t you..." The Vampire King and the others were shocked since Ryder had just said no to the n.

    "I just said there was a problem with that n, not that we couldn¡¯t solve the problem," Ryder replied as he nced at High Duke Oris. "High Duke Oris is our solution."

    " Me?" High Duke Oris inquired as he smiled as if he realized what Ryder was going to say. Since he had the Power to Teleport, it was the safest for him to go there since he could escape from any situation. He realized that Ryder would ask him to go, and he was also ready. High Duke Oris himself was about to suggest this.

    "High Duke Oris, you have the spell of Teleportation. Can you use that spell to take others with you?" Ryder asked Oris.

    "Ah, yeah. I can take two people with me to the ces I Teleport to. What about that?" High Duke Oris asked.

    "I want you to go to the Death Domain. You¡¯re going to take Rale and me with you," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "Impossible! You¡¯re not going anywhere, especially the Death Domain!" High Duke M stood up in shock. High Duke Eston was also shocked.

    Ryder was the Prince of Death Domain, and he was the weakest. If anything went wrong in Death Domain, he would be the one dying first. Him going there was sheer stupidity, which they didn¡¯t expect from Ryder.

    "Listen to me first," Ryder said as he gestures to them to sit down.

 Chapter 279 Vampire Poison

    <h4>Chapter 279: Vampire Poison</h4>

    High Duke M sat down as she kept her eye on Rale.

    " High Duke Oris can Teleport, and he can take two people with him. We can¡¯t send more than one High Duke there since we need to protect the Demon Realm too. Three High Dukes need to stay behind, at least. As for Rale and me, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t scheme against me. High Duke Oris is very strong. He can escape with us at the first sign of a scheme," Ryder suggested after everyone sat down.

    "No. We are not letting you do that!" High Duke M, High Duke Eston, High Duke Oris and Rale, all said at the same time, refusing Ryder¡¯s suggestion.

    "But listen to me first!" Ryder let out, trying to get them to listen, but they refused to listen at all.

    "We are not letting you go there. Even though the chances of anything happening to you under High Duke Oris¡¯ watch are almost nonexistent, but we can¡¯t take the risk of sending you there," High Duke Eston said, refusing his suggestion.

    " But..." Ryder tried speaking again, but they again cut him off.

    "No, but! The rtionship between the two Realms is unstable right now. If you go there openly and something happened to you there, do you know how much of a trouble we will be in? There will be instability in the entire Demon Realm. People will start getting restless at the news of your death. They¡¯ll lose morale, and they¡¯ll lose confidence in our ability to win. Whatever happens, we can¡¯t let anything happen to you, at least not in the Death Domain!" High Duke M said, refuting Ryder.

    " I agree with them. It¡¯s not feasible for you to go there. I will go alone and do what you intended to do. I don¡¯t need anyone else toe with me. I can still escape under the assault of four Death Envoys, but with you around, it¡¯ll be tough to make sure of your protection!" High Duke Oris let out, shaking his head.

    "Sigh, I can take care of my safety. I will talk to you about thister, but I don¡¯t have any danger even if I go there," Ryder let out, trying to convince them.

    " What can you do to make sure of your safety?" High Duke Oris inquired as he looked at Ryder curiously.

    " You can test that for yourself. After we¡¯re done with the interrogation, you cane with me alone to my room. I¡¯ll show you my abilities," Ryder told High Duke Oris.

    "If it¡¯s a suitable ability to help me survive, you can let me go with you, and if you¡¯re not satisfied, then we can talk about thatter. What do you say?" Ryder asked again.

    "Interesting. Fine. I¡¯ll test myself if you have what it takes to survive in that ce. As long as I¡¯m satisfied, I¡¯ll take you with me," High Duke Oris let out, nodding his head.

    " What are you saying? Have you lost your mind?" High Duke Devilia asked High Duke Oris with an incredulous look on her face.

    " What I¡¯m doing is right. As a Prince who will be our King, he can¡¯t always hide in the Pce. If he really has the ability to pass my test, then it would mean that he had no danger in the Death Domain. Then there would be no reason to stop him froming," High Duke Oris said.

    "Right. If their Prince Candidate was brave enough toe here, how can I fall back? How can I stay behind! I have full faith in my abilities. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll die there," Ryder said, nodding his head.

    High Duke Oris and High Duke Eston looked back and forth between High Duke Oris and Ryder.

    "Sigh, Fine. If High Duke Oris believed in your ability, I¡¯d believe as well. As long as you pass the test he decides to take, you¡¯ll be allowed to go," High Duke M said as she sighed.

    " Hah, if two High Dukes agree to it, who am I to say no. You can go if High Duke Oris sees you fit," High Duke Eston let out as he agreed as well.

    " High Duke Oris and Rale, it will be your responsibility to keep the Prince safe. Don¡¯t take your duties lightly and bring him back safe if he passes the test and go there," High Duke M said to Oris and Rale.

    " It is my oath and my duty to keep His Highness safe. It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s Death Domain or the Demon Realm. I will bring him back safe even if it means my death," Rale let out as he nodded his head.

    As the n was made, they continued eating in silence until someone broke the silence.

    "It¡¯s good that you have decided what you¡¯re going to do but let me interrogate the prisoner before you leave. If I don¡¯t get satisfying answers from him, I wille with you as well," the Vampire King let out.

    "I can only take two people with me," High Duke Oris let out, shaking his head.

    ¡¯ Yeah, we can¡¯t allow him toe. I still don¡¯t trust himpletely. If he backstabs us there, it wouldn¡¯t be good. On the other hand, I can use that time to test his resolve. It¡¯s not like my life will be in danger,¡¯ Ryder thought as he nced at the Vampire King.

    "I don¡¯t need you to take me. I have ways of my own toe there," the Vampire King said casually.

    Before the High Duke could say anything, Ryder agreed.

    "But you¡¯lle separately. I¡¯m not leaving Rale behind to take you with us," he continued.

    "But..." High Duke Eston said, worrying the same thing as Ryder. He also thought that Vampire King could betray them. He wanted to say something, but he knew that Ryder wouldn¡¯t listen.

    "I¡¯lle as well if he¡¯sing." he continued.

    " I know what you¡¯re thinking. Don¡¯t worry about anything. I know what I¡¯m doing. Let the Vampire King see with his own eyes how the Death Domain schemed against his people. He needs to know the reality," Ryder let out, shaking his head.

    After a lot of back and forth, Ryder managed to convince all Hugh Dukes. It was decided that Ryder, Rale, and High Duke Oris were going to go there, and the Vampire King was going toe alone, separately from them.

    The dinner waspleted, and everyone went back to the Great Hall for the interrogation.

    Ryder and the others sat down on their thrones. High Duke Eston was the only one that was still standing in the center of the great hall.

    He brought Master Mao out of his Spatial Prison and stood beside him to make sure that he doesn¡¯t kill himself or someone doesn¡¯t hurt him.

    "Go ahead. You can ask your question first," Ryder let out, gesturing the Vampire King to ask his question.

    The Vampire King nodded his head as he nced towards Master Mao.

    "Mao, tell me! What did you do to my General, Viden?" The Vampire King asked Mao.

    " W-what your general? We did nothing to anyone rted to you! In all my time staying in the Demon Realm, you¡¯re the first Vampire I saw!" Master Mao let out intently.

    The Vampire King released some of his aura, only affecting Mao. The pressure was so powerful that Mao dropped down to the ground.

    "Don¡¯t lie to me! Tell me why you attacked him in the Undead Region inside the Valley of Wandering Souls! What did you steal from there?" The Vampire King asked again as he narrowed his blood-red eyes.

    "I never went inside the Undead Region!" Mao said as he struggled on the ground.

    The Vampire King stood up as he started walking towards Mao.

    High Duke Eston nced towards Ryder, wondering if he should stop him, but he didn¡¯t do anything as he saw Ryder gesturing to him to let Vampire King do what he wanted.

    Ryder knew that the Vampire King wouldn¡¯t kill Mao. He probably wanted to threaten him. Also, he knew that the prisoner was essential to them. He would not kill Mao. At Least not before they finished interrogating Mao as well.

    The Vampire King sat in front of Mao as he looked into his eyes. He brought his hands near Mao¡¯s face. His long nails prated Mao¡¯s face, leaving a deep scrape on his face.

    "You know about us Vampires, right? You know that¡¯s going to happen to your Body now, right? If you don¡¯t tell me what I¡¯m asking for, you¡¯ll see that first game," the Vampire King told Mao as he smirked.

    Mao¡¯s face started turning unusually green.

    " So that¡¯s the Vampire Poison. He¡¯ll start speaking, or he¡¯ll suffer a lot," High Duke Oris muttered as he nodded his head.

    "I-i will tell you everything! I never went to the Undead Region! I swear to my family name! Her Highness went there a few times, but I never apanied her. I don¡¯t know if she did anything to your general! I don¡¯t know anything," Mao let out as he felt his veins bulging.

 Chapter 280 The Betrayer

    <h4>Chapter 280: The Betrayer</h4>

    "Ah, so Elisia was involved. It was the truth. Death Domain schemed against us. I¡¯ll have a fun time talking to them," Vampire King muttered as he walked back to his throne. He looked at Ryder.

    "He doesn¡¯t know anything else. I don¡¯t believe he lied, so there¡¯s no benefit in me asking more questions. The questions I need to be answered can only be received in the Death Domain," he muttered as he closed his eyes.

    "He¡¯s under the effect of my Poison. Ask your questions before the effects take ce. He¡¯ll answer them all," Vampire King muttered as if he was telling others to be fast.

    Ryder nodded his head as he nced at Mao. He narrowed his eyes as he prepared to ask his question.

    "I only have one main question. It is impossible for you to make such an extensive scheme targeting our Demon Realm without any insider support. As for that insider support and the people that betrayed us, I¡¯m sure they are inside this Pce today. Tell me who they are. Tell me the names. Tell me who betrayed us!" Ryder asked Mao.

    Master Mao was wriggling in pain on the ground when he heard the question.

    "It¡¯s Master Lu! Master Lu helped us! Please stop the pain! Please stop it! I am telling you everything! Please stop the torture!" Mao screamed in pain.

    Ryder heard the name, and he was confused. It was the first time he was hearing that name.

    "Who is Master Lu? Is there anyone with that name in your Pce?" Ryder asked Devilia in confusion.

    "No. I don¡¯t know of anyone with that name," Devilia replied, shaking her head.

    "Who¡¯s Master Lu! What is his position here! Tell me everything about him, and I¡¯ll think about stopping the pain for you!" Ryder asked Mao once again. Since no one here knew who Master Lu was, only Mao could answer that.

    " Master Li is a Death General in the Death Domain! He has the same position as me in that ce!" Master Mao let out as he clenched his teeth to control the pain. "Please stop the pain now! Please stop it!"

    Ryder heard his answer and didn¡¯t know how he should react. He looked towards the Vampire King in confusion.

    "Is the poison screwing with his brain? Is it making him lose his abilities to understand questions?" Ryder asked the Vampire King.

    "It has no such effects. It only affects his body. He should be able to understand your question and answer them perfectly if he has the answers," the Vampire King responded as he sighed.

    Ryder nced back at Mao, who was begging for the pain to stop.

    "You idiot! I asked you who betrayed us! Who was a part of the Demon Realm that helped you infiltrate?! Who helped you with setting up this trap in Devilia¡¯s Pce?!" Ryder asked again as he started getting annoyed.

    "As long as I don¡¯t get the right answer, I¡¯m not going to move even a finger to stop the pain for you," he continued.

    "I-i¡¯m not lying! Master Lu helped us! Master Lu has a skill that helps him disguise himself perfectly! He has been living in the Demon Realm for months! He was also in this pce," Master Mao told Ryder.

    "Hmm? So there was an Imposter in this ce? Interesting. Who was disguised as? Is he still here? Is he one of us?" Ryder asked curiously. He only doubted Devilia. If Master Lu had killed the Real Devilia before Ryder¡¯s visit and he was pretending to be her, then it made sense that Devilia didn¡¯t know anything about this.

    "I don¡¯t know who he was disguised as since he was in his real form when he met us, but it must be a significant position since he was able to set up the formation outside the Great Hall and the formation to get us back home! That¡¯s all I know! I¡¯m sure that he already escaped through that position when he saw us getting caught! Even if he¡¯s here, there¡¯s no way we can recognize him," Master Mao exined as tears fell down his eyes because of Vampire Position.

    "So he can still be hiding here. I have an idea. We can easily test it. Demon Blood is distinct from the blood of Death Dwellers. We can cut out fingers and let our blood prove that we are not imposters," High Duke Oris suggested.

    Everyone likes the suggestion except Ryder, who was thinking about something else.

    ¡¯We can¡¯t do that! If Rale or I bled, then the Vampire King would know that we were in the Valley of Wandering Souls when his General went missing. That wouldn¡¯t be good,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    "I can say for sure that I, Rale, and the High Dukes can¡¯t be the impersonator. We can check everyone else," Ryder let out casually as he subtly got himself and Rale out of the testing.

    He didn¡¯t have any good excuse to stop this test, so this was the best he could do.

    "True. Prince Hades was holding the Moon Scythe. No one except him can hold that, so Lu is not him. As for Rale, I know that he¡¯s safe as well," High Duke Oris said as he nodded his head.

    He didn¡¯t openly say that Rale was safe because he was actually a lot stronger than a Duke. Master Lu was a Death General from what they were told. A Death General can¡¯t kill Rale that easily. Also, High Duke Oris had seen Rale Unseal his real strength when he attacked the ck Skeleton King. Since then, he had been with Ryder. There was no way Master Lu could kill Rale and pretend to be him.

    Devilia and the Vampire King were the only ones in the room that were not said to be safe.

    "The Vampire King should be safe as well. He¡¯s too strong for the Vampire King to impersonate him," High Duke Eston chimed in.

    "That only leaves Devilia. Even though I trust you a lot, you have been here before we arrived. It¡¯s possible that Lu did something when you were taking care of this Duchy alone. Just to be on the safe side, let¡¯s start this test with you," High Duke M said what Ryder wanted to say, but he was hesitating.

    Ryder didn¡¯t want it to seem like he was suspicious of her, but High Duke M knew that he was suspicious, so she asked Devilia to go through the test intentionally.

    Devilia looked at everyone nkly as she sighed.

    "I am me. You should trust my ability to defend myself. It¡¯s impossible for a Death General to defeat me and pretend to be me. Trust me! I am me!" Devilia ket out as she sighed.

    "We know that you are Devilia, but just to be on the safe side, please go through the test," Ryder said as he found her behavior suspicious.

    "No! You do not only doubt me, but you doubt my abilities as well. You know that I helped you so much. I suggested the n of Dreimaia to search for the ck Skeleton King! I did so much to catch him! I don¡¯t like you doubting my abilities and my dignity. I won¡¯t stand for it!" Devilia said, shaking her head.

    " I know you suggested the use of Dreimaia, but you also know that it was what Elisia wanted as well! If High Duke Eston had linked to Dreimaia and we were careless, the oue would be different. Now, I¡¯m not saying that your suggestion was wrong. The suggestion was right, looking at the situation, but it can¡¯t be used as your Defence. Please believe that it¡¯s for the safety of our home. Please go through this test," Ryder insisted as he red at Devilia.

    " No! I can¡¯t ept it! How can you say that a Death General can defeat me? I am a Duke of Demon Realm! It¡¯s insulting to me that you believe that I can be defeated by him while Rale can¡¯t! I would not ept it. Test everyone in this hall first! I won¡¯t be the only one that gets thisck of trust," Devilia let out as she rolled her eyes.

    "Duke Devilia, Please understand that it¡¯s not about trust. On the other hand, you¡¯re really acting suspiciously now. Go through the test right now," High Duke Eston let out as he looked at Devilia suspiciously. Ryder and the others also found her behavior strange.

    "It¡¯s enough. I need to see if the repair work of the pce is going smoothly or not. I¡¯ll be right back," Devilia said as she stood up and started to leave.

    " Duke Devilia, I¡¯m warning you! Stop and go through the blood test, or we will be forced to make you go through it," Ryder thundered as he stood up. His voice echoed in the chambers of the entirety of Great Hall as he used his Intimation Skill as well.

 Chapter 281 Desire to Burn!

    <h4>Chapter 281: Desire to Burn!</h4>

    "Devilia, don¡¯t do anything you will regret! All we need is a drop of blood!" High Duke Oris also warned Devilia. "Don¡¯t make this moreplicated than it is."

    "High Duke Oris is right. If you¡¯re really innocent, all you need to show is a drop of blood. Do it," High Duke M said to Ryder.

    "This is useless! I¡¯m telling you that I¡¯m perfectly fine. You all are doubting me unnecessarily. That is understandable since you¡¯re all stressed right now about the Death Domain, but are you really going to believe him? He is lying!" Devilia said as she pointed at Mao and used him of lying.

    " He¡¯s not going to get anything from lying. All he can do is dy us for an hour this way before he dies. Even if he is lying, it¡¯s not like we will lose anything if we indulge him," Ryder said in full seriousness.

    "Just show us your blood. We aren¡¯t going to lose anything. If he¡¯s lying, I¡¯ll let you punish him on your own!" he continued.

    " Of course we lose something! We lose our precious time, which I can utilize elsewhere. If it isn¡¯t a waste, why aren¡¯t you testing Rale and the others as well? Why am I the only one that¡¯s responsible to probe my authenticity!" Devilia let out in a hurt tone.

    " Devilia, you¡¯re wasting even more time than what we would have wasted. This is thest warning. I¡¯ll count to ten. If you don¡¯t show us your blood, you¡¯ll be forced! That¡¯s thest bit of rxation I can give you," Long Chen let out as he sighed.

    Devilia looked at them for a few minutes as if she was contemting something serious, before ultimately nodding her head.

    "You don¡¯t believe me. It¡¯s because you¡¯re a little stressed, I think. You guys should have rest. I will see how the repair work of the Pce is going on," She said as she turned her back on them and started walking towards the exit.

    "High Duke Oris, please stop her and test her blood. She isn¡¯t going to listen like this," Ryder sighed as he looked at High Duke Oris.

    High Duke Oris nodded his head as he started flying after Devilia, but as he was getting near her, two golden skeletons came out of the ground and caught the legs of High Duke Oris.

    While High Duke Oris was shocked, he noticed that Devilia had started running towards the door.

    "You idiot!" High Duke Oris roared in anger as an energy wave came out of his body, destroying the golden skeletons with ease. The energy wave was so powerful that it was equivalent to the energy wave that had appeared when High Duke Oris and the Death Envoy¡¯s attack had collided, but unlikest time, this energy wave was more controlled.

    It destroyed the skeletons and didn¡¯t go any further as it stopped without going any further.

    High Duke Oris disappeared from his position and appeared before Devilia as he caught her neck and smashed her on the ground.

    High Duke Oris used his nails to scratch the hand of Devilia, letting her blood flow.

    Everyone saw the blood color, which was different from the dark blood of the Demons.

    " Death Domain Blood," The Vampire King muttered as he saw the blood.

    " You are not Devilia! Tell me who you are?! What did you do to Devilia?!" High Duke Oris let out as he started tightening the grip on Devilia¡¯s neck.

    "I-i am Lu! I am the person he was talking about! I came here to impersonate others and get the information to my people! Please don¡¯t kill me! I will tell you everything!" Devilia started crying out loud as if she was seeing her death now, and she knew that if she didn¡¯t say anything, she was going to die.

    Ryder walked closer to High Duke Oris and Devilia with clenched fists. The others also followed behind her.

    "Sigh, he probably killed your Duke sneakily and took her ce. Such a cruel n from Elisia but really effective. She does think like a ruthless King; I must say," Vampire King muttered as he nodded in praise of Elisia.

    Ryder red at the Vampire King but didn¡¯t say anything. He simply looked back at High Duke Oris.

    "Attacking me and failing is a different matter, but killing a Duke of Demon Realm to make your n go forward. Elisia is really brave toe up with this n. She even dared to target Devilia? If she¡¯s really looking for death that much, then I¡¯ll give it to her," Ryder said in a Devil-like tone. He didn¡¯t know why, but he could feel his blood boiling at the thoughts of his people dying.

    It was as if he had gone through the same thing before. It was as if he had lost everything he held precious once before, and he couldn¡¯t do anything. He could feel a desire inside his heart. A desire to burn everything! A desire to destroy even the Heavens for what they took from him. He couldn¡¯t understand what this feeling was. He wasn¡¯t even that close to Devilia. He felt like there was something more to this feeling than Devilia. His anger was taking over his head.

    He didn¡¯t know, but at that moment, there was a glimpse of shine on his Bracelet of Immortality as if it was happy.

    A red shine also appeared in Ryder¡¯s eyes. For a brief second, it seemed like his eyes were back millions of years, looking at the destruction all around him. Ryder didn¡¯t notice anything. He was just lost in his anger to notice such minor things. All he knew was there there was an anger inside him that he couldn¡¯t suppress

    "High Duke Oris, we¡¯re not going to Death Domain. Send an envoy there with a letter from me. Tell them that I want Elisia here at all cost. I want Elisia on her knees before me in twenty-four hours! She deserves death for being responsible for our Duke¡¯s Death! Tell them that if I don¡¯t get Elisia, they should be ready for the consequences," Ryder dered as he red at High Duke Oris.

    High Duke Oris was stunned at Ryder¡¯s words. In his eyes, Ryder was a guy that always looked to avoid wars if possible, but it seemed like he was thirsty for war if he didn¡¯t get what he wanted. He was even more surprised as he saw Ryder¡¯s face.

    He didn¡¯t know what was going on, but he had a feeling as if he was not just looking at Ryder. For a brief moment, he felt like he was looking at the Ancient God himself, that was thirsty for ughter.

    " I will do as you said; just let us hear what he did to Devilia first. If she¡¯s actually dead, then Elisia truly deserves death along with the others that participated. I will fully support you in the war if it¡¯s the truth," High Duke Oris said as he nodded his head.

    " Tell me! Did you kill Devilia?" he asked the woman in his grip that looked like Devilia.

    "N-no, I didn¡¯t kill her! I did not need to kill her! I only made her unconscious and trapped her! She is perfectly fine! If I had Killed her, my skill of Impersonation would be broken! I left her perfectly safe! She is just sleeping because of the effects of my skill! I can free her if you want!" the woman lying on the ground said.

    Ryder heard his words, and his anger was a little less, but he hadn¡¯t calmed down perfectly.

    " High Duke Oris! Take him with you and bring Devilia safely back!" Ryder told High Duke Oris before he walked back like a king and sat on the throne with one of his legs resting on his other legs.

    ¡¯Just what exactly happened to him? His visage is all different? He was like a sensible prince before, but now I get a feeling as if I¡¯m looking at a deep abyss. Is this his real personality? Even I¡¯m feeling intimidated,¡¯ The Vampire King thought as he watched Ryder sitting on the throne.

    He never thought that it was ever possible, but he was actually feeling intimidated by a kid. He couldn¡¯t understand why it was that way. Just what was Ryder hiding? Just who was he exactly? The Vampire King has even met the Demon Emperor before. Still, the King of intimation he felt from Ryder was entirely different from the intimation he felt when he met the Demon Emperor.

    When he had met the Demon Emperor Salem, he felt like he was standing before a person that was impossible to be defeated. He felt like Demon Emperor Salem was the real king while he sat just a kid before him. He was like an iparable mountain in Vampire King¡¯s eyes, but the feelings he got from Ryder were entirely different.

 Chapter 282 Return of Memories (VIP)

    <h4>Chapter 282: Return of Memories (VIP)</h4>

    Now, he felt like he was looking at a King that was nothing but a deep abyss, and if he got closer to this abyss, he would be swallowed whole.

    ¡¯Just what is this feeling. I never felt this way,¡¯ The Vampire King thought as he frowned.

    High Dukes were feeling the same way. High Duke Oris didn¡¯t dy any further as he took the impersonator with him. High Duke M, High Duke Eston, and Rale were left behind, who just looked at Ryder, sitting on the throne like a real ruler.

    "You! Tell me! Was there any other impersonator or spy?" Ryder asked Maon in a grim tone.

    Even Mao was sweating as he lived in Ryder¡¯s eyes. He had forgotten the pain of the Vampire Venom; all he could remember were the devilish eyes.

    "N-no. We only had one spy! You already caught him," Mao replied.

    "Good. Last question. Did the Bloodline Prince and the Death Envoys know about Elisia¡¯s ns?" Ryder asked again.

    "No. Princess Elisia kept it a secret from them. They weren¡¯t told anything," Mao answered as if he was answering his master.

    Ryder stood up as he nodded his head.

    He walked towards Mao.

    "I-i answered. Can I go?" Mao asked Ryder with a hopeful gaze.

    Ryder stopped before Mao as he brought the Moon Scythe out of his Storage.

    "You can go. You are of no use to me anymore. I punish you to death!¡¯ Ryder let out as he shed his Moon Scythe, cutting the neck of Mao.

    In a faraway ce, a man was sitting on the throne. It was a world with a blue sun. The trees were red instead of green, and the people could fly.

    The man was sitting in a beautiful golden pce.

    He was wearing a golden Armor. There was a red cloak behind his back. He sat on a beautiful throne, listening to two people talking before him, when he suddenly felt something strange. He had long red hair.

    He hurriedly stood up as he looked towards the sky.

    "Was that my misconception? Why did I feel the same energy as that person? It¡¯s impossible. He should be dead. We all killed him together! There¡¯s no way I can feel that man¡¯s aura. Was this really my misconception?" The man muttered as he frowned.

    "Uh, me Lord? Did something happen?" the people that were standing before him asked the red-haired man in concern.

    "Ah, nothing. I just remembered an old friend... an old friend who is dead. I must be missing him," the red-haired man muttered as he shook his head and sat down on the throne again.

    Ryder shed his Moon Scythe and cut the neck of the Mao. Mao¡¯s head was separated from his body, and fell down on the ground.

    [Level up]

    [Level up]

    [Level Up]

    ...

    [Level Up]

    One after another, level up notification started resounding in Ryder¡¯s ears as he killed Mao.

    Generally, he would have been happy, but at that moment, his mind was not normal. It was as if his mind was taken over in anger. He didn¡¯t care about it.

    [Error: User has reached level 100]

    [Level Update is blocked. No more experience can be harvested]

    [ss update Required for future level upgrades]

    [Do you want to update Your ss?]

    [Yes/No]

    Ryder looked at the notification, but he didn¡¯t care about it. It was as if he was detached from the game.

    He ignored the notification and walked back to the throne. The notification was still in his notification panel to upgrade in the future if he ever wished to select yes in the future. There was no timer for eptance.

    As Ryder killed Mao so suddenly, no one could do anything. They all felt strange, though. Since when was Ryder so ruthless? Vampire King hadn¡¯t known Ryder for a long time, but from the time he interacted with Ryder, he had apletely different perception of Ryder than what he was seeing at the moment.

    High Duke M and High Duke Eston also looked at Ryder in shock. Today, they were getting shocks one after another, and it all happened after Ryder heard the news about the potential death of Devilia. It was as if the news of the death of someone close to him had woken up something inside him. It had woken up a small ruthless side in Ryder¡¯s heart. That¡¯s what they felt like.

    They even wondered if Ryder had ever gone through the trauma of losing someone before, which was deeply buried in his memories, and it was suddenly brought up by the news of Ryder¡¯s death.

    Watched the dead body of Mao with an expressionless face.

    "I won¡¯t let anyone kill me," he muttered as he walked back to the throne.

    Ryder sat again on the throne.

    "All of you. Sit down. We are done here," Ryder muttered softly as he closed his eyes, but the intimidating aura around him didn¡¯t disappear.

    [This feeling... it¡¯s just like before]

    While Ryder had his eyes closed, Janus¡¯ voice responded in his ears.

    Ryder didn¡¯t reply to Janus. He opened his eyes again, and time seemed to have stopped. It seemed as if the High Dukes and the others present in this room were paused in time.

    " Janus, Why are you here? I told you not to interfere with whatever happens after that moment, didn¡¯t I? You dare disobey me?" Ryder muttered in a grim tone.

    [I... You remembered? You remember everything?] Janus asked in a shocked tone.

    "I never forgot anything. I always remembered. How can I forget you, little guy," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    [A-are you really back? You¡¯re finally back?!]

    Janus inquired again as if he was having difficulty believing anything that was happening.

    "I¡¯m back, but not for long. I feel like I will forget everything soon. This is not the time for me to appear. I don¡¯t understand how this incarnation of mine managed to wake me up, but it¡¯s only temporary. This body is not strong enough for my memories yet. I can only stay here for a few more minutes at maximum before I¡¯ll disappear again. If I stay longer, he¡¯ll die," Ryder let out as he sighed.

    He looked into the distant horizon as if he was able to see the history of the universe.

    [I-i will make sure that everything is ready! It won¡¯t take long]

    Janus told Ryder like an excited boy that was talking to an elder.

    "You little kid, You didn¡¯t need to do anything. Do you have any idea what will happen if Father knows what you¡¯re doing? Don¡¯t take the risk. Let it happen at its own pace. It would be fine. The right time wille. I will get back everything that was taken from me," Ryder let out softly as he closed his eyes again.

    [Father... Ah, Are you going to spend yourst few minutes here? Don¡¯t you want to meet her?]

    "Her? Oh, right. Her name is Alice, isn¡¯t it? I can see many more people in the memories. Hah, they all came here as well. Those idiots. You¡¯re all idiots," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    [Yes. Her name is Alice. You can meet her before you leave]

    " It¡¯s fine. Everything will happen at its own pace," Ryder muttered as he nced at the bracelet on his wrist.

    " I¡¯m reaching the limits. I can only stay here for a minute before this body starts destroying itself. Even the Bracelet of Immortality won¡¯t be able to heal it then," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "It is really good to talk to you again, little brother," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    [ I will bring you back as soon as I can, big brother. Even if I gave to break all thews set by them]

    Ryder was about to reply when the door of the Great Hall opened.

    High Duke Oris entered the Great Hall with Devilia and the Impersonator Lu that had returned to his real body.

    "I still have a few seconds. Might as well use them to do something," Ryder muttered as he stood up.

    High Dukes and the Vampire King were paused in time. They started moving once again.

    High Duke Oris ced Devilia on the ground and threw Lu down.

    Ryder walked towards Lu with his Moon Scythe in his hand.

    "You dared to harm her and put her in your schemes? Anyone who dared to think about harming people close to me deserves death! Die for me?" Ryder let out as he shed with his Moon Scythe, cutting the head of Death Warrior Lu.

    [Error: ss hasn¡¯t been updated. Experience Points can¡¯t be absorbed]

    A notification resounded in Ryder¡¯s ears, but he ignored it.

    As Ryder killed for the first time before High Duke Oris and Devilia, they were taken aback in shock. The others had already seen Ryder kill Mao before, but even they were shocked to see how easily Ryder killed Mao again.

    "Thirty Seconds left. Might as well do something good for the little guy," Ryder muttered as he walked towards Devilia.

 Chapter 283 Tricks

    <h4>Chapter 283: Tricks</h4>

    He stopped before Devilia, who was looking at him nkly.

    "You¡¯re known as Devilia here, aren¡¯t you? You¡¯re mine from today," Ryder let out as he ced one of his hands behind Devilia¡¯s neck and pulled her face closer, kissing her.

    Devilia was so shocked that her mouth opened a little. Ryder slid his tongue inside her mouth.

    ¡¯Time to go,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    The strange aura that was surrounding Ryder disappeared as he returned to normal.

    Ryder had no idea what happened in thest few moments after Ryder had heard the news about Devilia¡¯s potential death, but as he came back to his senses, he felt a hot pair of lips touching his lips. He could also feel his tongue fighting for dominance insider Devilia¡¯s mouth.

    His right hand was resting behind Devilia¡¯s neck while his left hand was resting on her hips.

    Ryder was so shocked, he pulled his tongue out of Devilia¡¯s mouth and moved backward.

    "Ah, Devilia. You¡¯re perfectly fine. I¡¯m so d," he said, not knowing what else to say.

    "I... that was my first kiss. I... I don¡¯t mind. I ept. I am yours from today," Devilia said as she nodded her head as she moved forward and hugged Ryder as she kissed him back. It was time for Ryder¡¯s mind to be nk as he didn¡¯t know what just happened.

    From Devilia¡¯s words, it sounded like she was his woman. What did she mean by she ept? Did he propose to her during the time he couldn¡¯t remember what happened? Was he having some disorder or split personality? He couldn¡¯t understand what was happening.

    All he knew was that he didn¡¯t hate this development. He quite liked the kiss of Devilia. Also, Devilia was one of the prettiest women he had seen. She was pretty, and she was hot. Even though it was all in Divinity, he didn¡¯t feel like anything was unreal about it. Her kiss felt as real as it could.

    Ryder liked that kiss. He also felt a little hot from her kiss. He didn¡¯t hate Devilia. In Fact, he quite liked her. Since it had already happened, he decided to ept Devilia as his woman.

    He wrapped his arms around her back and hugged her even tighter as he sucked the sweet juice off her lips.

    After kissing her for over five minutes, he separated his lips from hers to breathe.

    Ryder looked in the eyes of Devilia, which seemed as deep as the sea.

    "Ahem, ahem."

    While Ryder was looking at Devilia with a passionate gaze as if he wanted to kiss her again, he heard a coughing sound.

    He looked to his side and saw High Duke Oris looking at him. High Duke M, High Duke Eston, Rale, and Vampire King were also looking at him.

    "Ah, right. That¡¯s not how I should¡¯ve behaved in public," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    Devilia¡¯s face was also red as she saw the gaze of High Duke M. She lowered her gaze, and her eyes couldn¡¯t help but fall on Ryder¡¯s pants. Her face turned even redder.

    ¡¯Devilia is here, and Mao and another person is dead here. Just what exactly happened here when I was nked out. How should I even ask them without making them feel like I have memory problems,¡¯ Ryder thought as he started frowning suddenly at the sight of two dead bodies lying on the ground.

    Even though he didn¡¯t remember what just happened, he knew that the two dead bodies had something to do with him.

    He thought that High Dukes killed the two of them, and he believed that they wouldn¡¯t do that without Ryder¡¯smand. So he believed that he had a hand in it.

    He tried to test this theory.

    " Back to the topic. You all know why I had them killed, right?" Ryder asked High Dukes.

    "Ah, yes. You said that Mao didn¡¯t have any valuable information to give, so you killed him. As for the other guy, you said he didn¡¯t deserve to live since he reserved targeted people close to you," High Duke Eston exined to Ryder.

    As Ryder heard High Duke Eston¡¯s words, his mouth opened slightly.

    ¡¯What the heck? What did he mean I killed them? How can I kill them? I would have asked them to kill for me! These guys are so high level; I wouldn¡¯t be able to kill them even if I sliced them ten times with my strongest skill. Just what exactly happened here? Is this really a split personality disorder? But this hasn¡¯t happened before. Howe I suddenly have this disease?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he started sweating. He was beginning to believe that he actually had a split personality disorder.

    Just when Ryder was trying to make sense of the situation, he heard the voice of Janus.

    [You don¡¯t have any disorder]

    "You¡¯re up? Oh! So it must be you, ying tricks on me! You idiot! Was this a new type of prank? You really scared me for a moment," Ryder muttered as he breathed in relief. He walked back to the throne and sat down.

    [Something like that]

    Janus replied in a casual tone.

    Ryder sighed as he shook his head.

    "You are really trying to kill me! Alwaysing up with these weird tricks. Anyway, what exactly did you do this time? Did you give me some strange task to kill those two with the threat to kill someone if I didn¡¯t do it? That makes sense!"

    " You must¡¯ve asked me to kiss Devilia as well! You are really troublesome. Why did you even remove my memories after doing all this?" Ryder asked Janus as he made an assumption about what must have happened.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply to Ryder, but Ryder didn¡¯t seem like he was going to drop this matter. Ryder kept asking the same thing again and again.

    "Answer me, you idiot!" Ryder let out in frustration.

    [Ding... A new mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Make Devilia tell you that she loves you]

    [Mission Reward: Devilia¡¯splete Loyalty]

    [Mission Reward: 100 origin points]

    [Punishment for Failure: You¡¯ll forget what thest fifty minutes of your memory]

    [Time Limit: Three hours]

    "Ah, I get it. You¡¯re trying to divert my attention. As for the punishment, I guess I got my answer. I lost my memory because I failed toplete the entire mission that you gave mest time. That must be it, isn¡¯t it?" Ryder asked again, but he didn¡¯t get any answer.

    "Sigh, he always goes silent when he¡¯s in trouble. One day, I¡¯ll definitely get back at him," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    " Oh, right. Since the witnesses are dead, there¡¯s no benefit to this meeting. You can all go and rest. High Duke M and High Duke Eston, you guys can go back to the Royal City after resting. High Duke Oris and I will leave for the Death Domain tonight with Rale," Ryder told everyone as he stood up and started to leave.

    He stopped before the door as he nced back at Devilia.

    "Oh, right. Devilia. I need to talk to you about something important. Pleasee to my room as soon as you can," he said before he left the Great Hall.

    Rale followed after Ryder.

    "Congrats Devilia. It looks like you¡¯re not going to be single for long," High Duke M chuckled as she patted Devilia¡¯s shoulders before she left as well.

    High Duke Eston, Vampire King, and High Duke Oris also left. z

    Only Devilia was left behind with a red face. She could feel her heart beating faster. She took a deep breath to calm her down before she left the Great Hall as well.

    "Your Highness, You must really like High Duke Devilia. The way you asked her to be your woman in front of everyone was shocking yet so brave¡ª exactly how a Demon King should behave," Raleplimented Ryder as he walked behind him.

    "Ah, really? Hah, even I can¡¯t believe that I did that," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly. "To be honest, I don¡¯t even remember what I exactly did."

    "That¡¯s the sign of greatness. Doing something big and not even remembering it. I¡¯m sure you remember about proposing to Duke Devilia. You¡¯re surely jesting with me about not remembering," Rale replied to Ryder with an innocent smile.

    " Hah, You¡¯re so clever, Rale. You know mepletely. You are right. I remember everything," Ryder let out as he agreed to what Rale wanted to believe.

    Ryder reached his room. He entered his room while Rale stayed outside.

    "You aren¡¯ting?" He asked Rale.

    "Ah, no. I can see Duke Deviliaing here. It¡¯s going to be your private time. I won¡¯t interfere. I will stand outside. The rooms are soundproof, by the way. You won¡¯t have to worry about any sound getting out," Rale told Ryder as he moved a step back.

    Ryder felt like he understood what Ryder was trying to convey. Rale was probably thinking that Ryder called Devilia here to have sex with her, but in reality, he wanted toplete his mission. At Least that¡¯s what he wanted, but he knew that this whole thing might actually end the way Rale was thinking.

 Chapter 284 What are you?

    <h4>Chapter 284: What are you?</h4>

    "Alright. You stay outside for some time. I do want to have some private conversation with her. Send her in when she gets here," Ryder told Janus before he closed the door. He walked over to the window and started looking outside.

    "Sigh, I have so many memories of alternate timelines that didn¡¯t exist because I reversed the time, yet I don¡¯t even have memories of my own timeline. It¡¯s kinda funny and sad at the same time," he muttered as he sighed.

    "Janus, can I ask you a question? What exactly are you? How do you have so many powers? Are you really a god that is bored in heaven and trying to entertain himself through me?" Ryder asked Janus as he walked back to the bed.

    [Wrong]

    Janus replied with a single word.

    "Then what exactly are you? Why do you have so many powers? Why do I have so many powers? Who exactly made this bracelet? Why do you keep toying with me? I thought we were cool after you stopped threatening to kill me and people close to me about our deaths in nuclear sts, but now you¡¯re wiping my memory. Just what are you trying to do? Just what do you wish to achieve using me?" Ryder asked Janus in a soft tone.

    [What does the host think?]

    Janus didn¡¯t answer anything. Instead, he asked the question in return.

    "I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know anything at all. I just have a feeling that you¡¯re not a bad being but the way you behave always makes me doubt my feelings. Despite all you did, I just can¡¯t seem to make myself hate you. Honestly, I am angry, more at myself than I am at you. Just what is wrong with me. Why can¡¯t I seem to hate you?" Ryder asked Janus as he frowned, but he didn¡¯t wait for an answer as he continued.

    "After meeting you, my life hasn¡¯t been in my control entirely. Most of my actions are a result of your missions. Even though I have the freedom about how I finish the missions, but still... I don¡¯t know when and how it will end. I should be hating you for making my life like this, yet I can¡¯t bring myself to hate you," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "Is this because you¡¯re the reason I was able to get my life back? Even if it¡¯s that, that was only a one-time thing. You messed with me so many times. I¡¯m seriously surprised why I don¡¯t feel angry at you. It¡¯s like something, a part inside me that makes me feel like you¡¯re family. Sigh, I guess my brain is really messed up. I wonder if I¡¯ll ever lose my sanity. Just remember to delete my browser history if I lose my sanity, and I¡¯m admitted to a mental hospital because of you," he added as he ced his hand behind his head and sat down.

    [Browser History?]

    " Ah, nothing. I will delete that myself after I go back," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

    Ryder sat straight.

    "Ah, Devilia. Come on in," Ryder said as he looked towards the door.

    The door was opened as Devilia walked inside and closed the door behind her.

    She walked over to Ryder and sat beside him.

    For a few minutes, no one said a single word. There was silence in the room, which was broken as Ryder opened his mouth after thinking about what he needed to say.

    "Ah, Devilia. You know what I said before. I wasn¡¯t lying," Ryder let out softly as he ced his hand over her hand.

    "Sigh, I¡¯ve been thinking about this for a long time. I wanted to tell you long ago that I¡¯ve been in love with you since the moment I saw you. I wanted to make you my woman, but I couldn¡¯t say that out loud. Today, when I found out that your life was in danger, I felt scared. I thought that I lost you and I couldn¡¯t even tell you my feelings. I was d you were safe and sound, but I didn¡¯t want to take the risk of staying silent again. That¡¯s why I told you to be mine in front of everyone," Ryder told Devilia.

    " Let me be as clear as I can," he added as he looked deep into her eyes.

    "I love you, Devilia. For a moment, forget that I¡¯m a prince. Forget that I have any authority over you. Please think of me as a normal human being and tell me honestly. Do you love me as well?" Ryder asked in full seriousness as he looked into her eyes.

    "I... I love you too," Devilia said as she nodded her head. A bright smile appeared on her face.

    While Ryder was reminiscing about the notification of his mission being sessful, a warm pair of lips suddenly closed his mouth.

    Devilia had always been bold, but she was shy as well in certain situations. Now that they had confirmed their rtionship, she was back to being bold in front of Ryder. Right after her confession, she kissed Ryder.

    Ryder also wrapped his hand around her back as he kissed her back. After kissing for a few minutes, he felt as if he was filled with pleasure. He felt as if his hands were moving on their own as he started taking off her clothes.

    Just as Rale had said before, even though Devilia¡¯s moans echoed inside the room, not a single sound reached outside the room. There wasplete silence outside the room while there was a storm of euphoria inside the room.

    Just like that, two hours passed away before the storm inside the room calmed down. Devilia and Ryder were lying on the bed. None of them had any clothes on their body.

    " That was amazing. No wonder people praise it so much," Devilia said as she smiled while looking at Ryder.

    " It was certainly good," Ryder muttered as he gave her another kiss before he sat up and started getting dressed.

    " It should be the time to leave for Death Domain. I¡¯ll go to High Duke Oris and the others. You take care of the matters of this Duchy. Oh, right. Keep an eye on the matter of the dead Marquis and his Minister handling the Marquis Manor¡¯s matters. I should be back soon. I¡¯ll tell High Duke Eston to stay back in the pce. If you face any problem in the next few days, you can take his help," Ryder told Devilia as he finished getting dressed.

    Devilia also got up and started wearing clothes. I¡¯ll take care of everything," she said as she nodded her head.

    Ryder left the room and met up with Rale, who looked at him with an interested gaze.

    "Why are you looking at me like that? Don¡¯t that me that the news about the walls being soundproof was a lie," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    Rale couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as he heard Ryder¡¯s words.

    "That wasn¡¯t a lie. I really heard nothing, but it¡¯s obvious," Rale said with a subtle smile on his face.

    "Don¡¯t tell anyone. We¡¯re leaving for the Death Domain. It¡¯s time to be serious," Ryder let out as he started walking away from the room. Rale followed after him.

    Ryder and Rale met up with other High Dukes.

    After some more time, all the preparations werepleted.

    High Duke Oris held Ryder and Rale¡¯s hands before he disappeared from Devilia¡¯s Pce.

    Far away from the Demon Realm existed a ce that seemed like an entirely different world.

    It was a ce that was upied by Death Dwellers. A ce where the biggest Enemy of Demon Realm stayed.

    The sky of Death Domain was a lighter shade of green with a tint of blue that made it look strangely charming. There was no sun in the sky, yet there was nock of light.

    Ryder and High Duke Oris appeared just outside a city inside the Death Domain. The city was surrounded by a barrier that seemed to be made from lightning.

    Ryder could see the flickering lightning forming a outside the city.

    "That city... Is that the Royal City of Death Domain?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    "Yes. That¡¯s the Death City. It¡¯s the Royal City of Death Domain where Death Envoys and the Royal Family lives," High Duke Oris replied.

    "Interesting. Have you ever been here before?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yeah, before the War between Death Domain and the Demon Realm, I came here. After that, things started going sideways. The rtionship between our two Realms started getting bad, and ultimately, there was the war. It¡¯s my first timeing here after the war," High Duke Oris replied.

    "Oh. By the way, Why didn¡¯t we Teleport straight inside their pce? Why are we outside the Death City? We are here to show off our strength and fierceness. It wouldn¡¯t be good to just walk to the Pce," Ryder inquired with a confused look on his face.

 Chapter 285 Class Upgrade

    <h4>Chapter 285: ss Upgrade</h4>

    "We didn¡¯t Teleport straight inside because it¡¯s impossible to Teleport inside. You see the giant lightning barrier? This obstructs with the Teleportation. It¡¯s impossible to Teleport straight inside without getting seriously injured," High Duke Oris responded as he looked at the flickering lightning that surrounded the city.

    "Is this simr to our barrier? From what I know, our Royal City also has a simr barrier that prevents Teleportation inside. Only Demons can Teleport inside and outside. Simrly, only Death Dwellers should be able to Teleport inside and outside here, am I right?" Ryder asked as he found simrities between this barrier and the barrier that was covering their Royal City.

    As the barrier needed arge amount of resources to maintain constantly, these kinds of barriers were only used in Royal Cities.

    "Yeah. It¡¯s kind of simr. The same person made both the barriers after all," High Duke Oris muttered.

    " Same Person?" Ryder let out in confusion.

    "Yeah. Neither a demon nor a Death Dweller made the two barriers. It was made by someone else," High Duke Oris exined. "Anyway, that¡¯s for a different time. We should be entering now."

    "How can we enter the city with that Giant Barrier?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    "It¡¯s impossible to Teleport inside, but we aren¡¯t going to Teleport. We are going to blow a hole in that barrier and enter while the Barrier repairs itself. When we¡¯re done here, we can just Teleport outside since the barrier doesn¡¯t prevent Teleportation going outside. It only blocks Teleportationing inside," High Duke Oris said as he smirked.

    "Interesting. Are these barriers that easy to break? I seriously worry about the safety of Demon Realm now if these barriers are breakable," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "These barriers aren¡¯t that easy to break, but for people like the Death Envoys and us, these barriers are breakable as long as they keep attacking at the same point constantly. It might take a few minutes, though," High Duke Oris said as he pulled a bow out of his Spatial Storage.

    " You use a bow?" Ryder inquired as he saw the beautiful bow.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m pretty good at it as well. Anyways, I¡¯m just using it because it¡¯s easier to strike the same point in the barrier with a bow and an arrow," High Duke Oris said as he smiled.

    He aimed the arrow towards the barrier and fired. While the first arrow was still midway, High Duke Oris fired another arrow.

    One after another, he kept shooting out the arrows. In just a second, he managed to shoot around ten arrows, all of which managed to hit the same spot on the barrier.

    Just as the tenth arrow hit the barrier, a giant opening appeared in the barrier.

    The striking of the arrows on the barrier had also alerted the Death Dwellers inside the Royal Death City.

    High Duke Oris held Ryder¡¯s hand and started flying towards the opening of the Barrier. Rale followed closely behind as his beautiful wings moved with the wind.

    The three of them entered the city through that opening just before the opening closed as the barrier repaired itself.

    High Duke Orisnded on the ground just inside the city.

    As soon as Ryder¡¯s feet touched the ground, a notification appeared in front of him.

    [Congrattions. You have be the first yer to step inside the Royal City of the Death Diamond]

    [5000 Fame Points received]

    [+10,000 Exp]

    [Error: ss hasn¡¯t been updated. Experience Points can¡¯t be absorbed]

    "What the heck? What ss update? Is this some bug that¡¯s stopping me from getting experience?" Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    He opened his stats screen to see what it was all about.

    As he opened his stats, his mouth opened wide in shock with what he saw.

    [Name: Hades

    Title: Sessor of Salem

    Species: High Demon

    ss: Demon Monarch

    Level:100

    Experience: 0/0

    HP: 89000(+74000)

    Mana: 56000

    Strength: 1362(+2553)

    Defense:1375(+2570)

    Speed: 1280(+2537)

    Stamina:1400(+2950)

    Dexterity:1300(+1803)

    Intelligence: 998(+2357)

    Avable stat points: 200

    Skills:

    Ruler of Time: Level Not Defined

    Enraged sh: Level 4 (55% mastery)

    All-Seer: Level 4 (59% mastery)

    me st: Level 6 (62% mastery)

    Shadow ball: Level 5 (72% mastery)

    Stealth: Level 4 (11% mastery)

    Sand Storm: Level 3 (19% mastery)

    Strengthening: Level 3 ( 13% mastery)

    Taunt: Level 2 ( 10% mastery)

    Intimidation: Level 5 (71% mastery)

    Dreimaia: Level 0 (0% Mastery)]

    [Tap to see more Skills]

    [Weapon Rted Skill:

    Absorption: Level 2(3% mastery)

    Transformation: Max Level

    Items:

    Moon Scythe: Unique Grade

    Bracelet of Immortality: God Grade (sealed) (1/25 fragments collected)

    Crown of Royal Demon: Unique Grade

    Robe of Royal: Unique Grade

    Wing Shoes: Unique Grade]

    [Tap to see more Treasures]

    Ryder looked at his status screen for a brief moment, getting even more shocked.

    ¡¯Just how did I be level hundred out of nowhere? Did Janus give me some crazy amount of Exp in the time I don¡¯t remember? Was that the reward of the mission I performed in the time forgotten?¡¯ Ryder thought as his frown became even deeper.

    ¡¯ No wonder I couldn¡¯t get the exp just now. There¡¯s apulsory ss upgrade avable at level hundred, and it¡¯s impossible to get exp without going through it. Sigh, ten thousand exp points wasted. If I had known about this, I should have epted the level upgrade beforeing here,¡¯ A deep sigh escaped his mouth, making High Duke Oris look at him with concern.

    " Is something wrong?" High Duke Oris asked Ryder.

    "Ah?" Ryder came out of his daze as he heard High Duke Oris¡¯s voice. "It¡¯s nothing. Just wait a few seconds."

    He opened his character upgrade screen and saw a notification there.

    [ss Update avable. Would you like to update the ss?]

    [Y/N]

    He tapped on yes.

    [Congrattions. ss upgraded from Demon Monarch to Blood Demon Monarch]

    [ Two New Skills Received]

    [ Skill: Blood Demon Wings

    Skill Grade: ss-Specific

    Skill Type: Active Skill (Consume Mana when being used)

    Description: yer can bring out the Blood Demon Wings and use them to fly]

    [ Skill: Rage of the Blood Demon

    Skill Grade: ss-Specific

    Skill Type: Active Skill (Consume Mana when being used)

    Description: The special Bloodline Skill of Blood Demons

    Effects: Double HP for ten minutes, Twenty percent more Mana

    Warning: Using this Skill might affect with thoughts of the yer and make them more prone to anger]

    "Two ss-specific skills. Not bad," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    He tried using his Blood Demon Wings to see how they looked.

    As soon as he used the skill, two ck wings appeared behind his back. There was a strange red pattern all around the wings that made them look devilish charming. The Wings were simr to the wings of Rale, but they were giving a strange bloody aura that was enough to intimidate even Rale.

    "The Blood Demon Wings," Rale muttered in shock as he took a step back.

    "Your Highness, please hide the wings. We can¡¯t let the Death Domain people know that you¡¯re from the Blood Demon Species. If they find out about it, they can use it to sabotage you. Only the Dukes and High Dukes know about it, and we have all taken an oath not to tell anyone about it because we know how damaging it can be," High Duke Oris told Ryder as he hurried him to hide the wings.

    Ryder canceled the skill immediately, and the wings disappeared.

    "There will be chaos everywhere if the normal citizens find out that their Prince is a Blood Demon. We definitely can¡¯t let our enemies know about this," Rale told Ryder as he calmed himself down.

    " I¡¯ll keep that in mind," Ryder let out as he nodded his head. He had forgotten entirely that his Species was High Demon, but even inside that, he was a Blood Demon.

    Blood Demons were also a part of High Demons, but they were hated by everyone, and people feared them for their ruthless history. Almost all Blood Demons were extinct now, so it was understandable that it was going to be chaotic if people find out about this. Now that he was reminded about it, he decided to make a note to himself.

    "Let¡¯s continue ahead," he told High Duke Oris.

    "Hold my hand. We are teleporting straight outside their Pce," High Duke Oris said as he reached out his hand.

    "Teleporting? Oh right. I guess you can Teleport now that we are inside the barrier," Ryder muttered as he held High Duke Oris¡¯ hand. Rale did the same.

    All three of them disappeared and appeared outside the Royal Pce of the Death Domain.

    As they appeared there, they saw all four Death Envoys standing outside the entrance of the pce.

    "You took a really long time to get here after breaking our barrier. I guess the Great High Duke of Demon Realm is really getting old," One of the Death Envoy muttered in a mocking tone.

    " That¡¯s not it. I was just taking the time to see the city that we are going to destroy if we don¡¯t get a satisfying answer," High Duke Oris let out as he smirked.

 Chapter 286 Double Trouble

    <h4>Chapter 286: Double Trouble</h4>

    " Interesting. You must¡¯ve brought your other partners here as well. Are they outside the city since I can¡¯t feel them? You dared to bring your Prince here? Aren¡¯t you afraid that we would take him and threaten you to stop the destruction even if you do anything? You¡¯re the only one here after all," Another Death Envoy said as he looked at Ryder while licking his lips.

    "You can try. You¡¯ll see what happens next."

    Before High Duke Oris could reply, Ryder did in his casual tone that gave the feeling of confidence.

    "You!" The Death Envoys were stunned as they heard Ryder¡¯s tone. They thought that Ryder would at least look a little bit worried now that he was in enemy territory and outnumbered, but the way he talked back, they couldn¡¯t help but wonder what he was hiding.

    "Call you Prince outside to meet me if you don¡¯t want to see your pce being destroyed. I¡¯ll count to ten. This time, you dared to attempt to kill me, and you expected us to sit behind? You expected us to wait for your exnation? I¡¯m here to ask for an exnation myself. Bring him out," Ryder thundered as he brought the Moon Scythe out of his storage to look then more intimidating.

    "You! Are you really looking for a war? We told you that we weren¡¯t responsible for it. It was something done by a rogue element of our Death Domain!" one of the Death Envoys told Ryder as he red at him. He also released his suffocating aura, but before that aura could even get near Ryder, it was stopped by High Duke Oris¡¯ aura.

    "Why should I care who did it! A Death General of your ce was involved along with a Crown Candidate that holds the Inheritance Weapon of your Demon Emperor! This is as official as it can get. Bring your Prince out now! I only have ten seconds. Seven Seconds have already passed," Ryder replied as he kept tapping his foot on the ground with the passing of each second.

    Just as he was about to tap his foot for the tenth time, he heard the sound of a p.

    He stopped as he looked ahead. He could see a young man in histe 20s walking towards him.

    The man had a staff behind his back that far a red diamond in the shape of the skull on the top. The body of the staff seemed to be made of wood. The man wore a dark green robe. His grey hair was long enough toe down to his shoulders.

    The man had a pale face that made him look really serious.

    ¡¯The description matches perfectly. He should be the Bloodline Prince of Death Domain, Amadeus,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at the man who was walking out of the pce. The man matched the description of Bloodline Prince Asmadeus that was given to him by Devilia¡¯s Father.

    "I heard the Demon Prince is an interesting person. You¡¯re interesting, indeed. And really brave. After Elisia attempted to kill you and got so snow to it, I thought that it would stay in heavy protection for some time. Contrary to my expectations, not only did you not hide but instead, you even came here with just one High Duke as your protection?" Prince Asmadeus asked Ryder as he stood in front of the Death Envoys, directly facing Ryder.

    "Just one High Duke is enough to destroy this city. Want to see that?" Ryder inquired as he fired back.

    "Are you sure of that? You might be underestimating my Death Domain a lot, Prince Hades. It¡¯s not as simple as you may think it is. As for trying, even though I¡¯m not interested in testing that, we both know that it will simply result in your death. Why are you after death and destruction so much?" Asmadeus inquired as he looked into Ryder¡¯s eyes as if he was trying to gaze deep down in his soul.

    "My Death? Well, you should forget about that. One of your Crown Candidates already tried. It¡¯s not that easy to kill me. Ask that stupid girl. She thought that she was always one step ahead of me, but she was two steps behind. It might be you people that underestimate me," Ryder replied as his fingers roamed on the de of his moon scythe.

    "I¡¯m not her, am I?" Asmadeus responded.

    "You¡¯re not her, but you¡¯re not me either. Anyway, I¡¯m not here to show off my abilities. If it came to that, we would be here for days. I am here for something else. I am here for an exnation and to return something," Ryder said, looking at Asmadeus

    "Return something?" Asmadeus inquired with a frown.

    Ryder opened his inventory and pulled out something.

    Two bodiesnded in front of Asmadeus.

    "Ah, so it¡¯s these two," Asmadeus muttered as he sighed. The two bodies lying in front of him were the two people that Ryder had killed¡ªMaster Lu and Master Mao.

    Asmadeus waved his hand gently. A green ball of me appeared out of thin air andnded on the bodies. In the blink of an eye, the bodies were turned to ashes.

    "You should¡¯ve burnt them yourself. These people dared to do something like this without asking for my permission. They deserved death," Asmadeus muttered as he looked back at Ryder.

    "Elisia did the same thing. Why did you save her then? You should¡¯ve left her with us if you were really that serious," Ryder asked with an amused smile on his face.

    "Elisia, she¡¯s a bit special. Even though she¡¯s chaotic and she¡¯s looking to take my crown, I still can¡¯t let her die," Asmadeus responded as he sighed.

    "Anyway, I forgot to introduce myself. I¡¯m the Prince of Death Domain, Asmadeus. I¡¯m sure I already know what happened. Elisia made this stupid n without consulting anyone. By the time I found out, it was already toote. This wasn¡¯t the official stance of Death Domain towards Demon Realm. Even though I don¡¯t like the Demon Realm, I would never think of doing something so sneaky. I would always attack from the front whenever I jump into a war," He added as a strange glint appeared in his eyes.

    " It doesn¡¯t matter who did what. What matters is that it happened, and it happened because of your people," Ryder replied in a grim tone. "You people tried to kill me, but that¡¯s not all. You even put the lives of my people in danger."

    "What do you want?" Asmadeus asked, straight away. He knew that Ryder wasn¡¯t here for an exnation. He was here to ask for some benefits for himself in exchange for forgetting that this happened.

    "I want Elisia. Give her to me, and I¡¯ll leave," Ryder said instantly.

    "That won¡¯t happen. I can¡¯t give her to you," Asmadeus said, shaking his head.

    "Oh? Is her life more important to you than the lives of your millions of people?" Ryder asked with a hint of threat in his tone.

    "Are you threatening me?" Asmadeus asked back with an expressionless face.

    "You can take it any way you want. I want the girl, and I¡¯m..."

    Ryder was talking about something when he felt something. A strange aura wasing in his direction.

    "Ah? He¡¯s already here? He¡¯s pretty fast," Ryder muttered as he looked back.

    "Vampire King As?" Asmadeus muttered as he saw the Vampire King flying in his direction.

    The Vampire Kingnded besides Ryder.

    "Vampire King As, gave you joined the Death Domain, against us?" one of the Death Envoys asked the Vampire King as he saw him standing beside Ryder.

    "I haven¡¯t joined anyone. I am here to get my answers, though. Bring the girl called Elisia outside! I want to ask her what she did to my General!" The Vampire King thundered. His voice was so loud that it was heard far and wide.

    "Your General? This stupid girl. Just how many people did she mess with," Asmadeus muttered as his frown deepened.

    " What did she do to your general?" he asked the Vampire King.

    "That¡¯s what I want to ask her. He is missing from the Undead Region, and she is behind it. If I don¡¯t get my answers today, then you should be prepared for the consequences. I want my General alive. And if she has killed him, I want her life!" Vampire King As said to Asmadeus.

    Asmadeus looked at the Death Envoys in confusion. Even he was having a hard time now. Just how much did Elisia screw him up? Not only did she mess up with the Death Domain, but she messed up with the Undeads as well? He could handle it if it were just demons, but if the Undeads joined the Demons, then they were going to be in trouble. He knew that he couldn¡¯t afford a war yet, at least not until he seeded in what he wanted to do, but he couldn¡¯t give up Elisia as well.

 Chapter 287 Taking Asmadeus Hostage

    <h4>Chapter 287: Taking Asmadeus Hostage</h4>

    "Vampire King As. I¡¯m sure you have a misunderstanding. The Undead Region and the Death Domain had no problem with each other in thest. Elisia would probably not do anything against you people. We all know that you have been neutral in the wars of the past. Why would we do anything to push you closer to them?" Asmadeus asked the Vampire King, failing to understand his reasoning.

    He knew that Elisia was our to screw him over, but even she wouldn¡¯t be so stupid as to kill a Vampire General, knowing what consequences it might have. He knew why she wanted to kill Ryder. It was to bring trouble to him, but for that, she wouldn¡¯t mess with the Undead Region.

    She had the levy to mess with the Demon Realm since the Death Domain and the Demon Realm both had almost simr strength, and both didn¡¯t have their kings. They could protect themselves from Demon Realm¡¯s assault.

    They could at least give a good fight and maybe even win, but bringing another Enemy in the picture, especially at a time like this, simply meant closing all doors of salvation. It was dangerous for Death Domain, which might result in theirplete annihtion since they would need to save the Undead Kings and the High Dukes at once.

    " It¡¯s obvious. You did that to scheme against us. To make the Vampire King hate us so that it can pull him to your side. It¡¯s all out in the open. Your Death Warrior already told us the truth about Elisia going to the Undead Region, and it¡¯s also amon knowledge that she was kidnapping Demons and killing them. I believe she not only wanted to frame us in the eyes of Vampire King but orders as well. I wonder if the Lich King was her neck target for the same scheme," Ryder chimed in, pouring out to the fire that was already raging.

    "I don¡¯tprehend what you¡¯re talking about, but from your words, it seems like Demon Realm is involved, and you¡¯re putting the responsibility on us, saying that you are innocent and it was our scheme," Asmadeus muttered as he looked in Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter anymore. Bring out the girl. I want the answers from her and not you! Today, either I get my answers and my General back, or I kill her," the Vampire King told Asmadeus.

    "Same here. I want you to give her to us otherwise..."

    Ryder was about to threaten Asmadeus as well when he got a sudden notification from Janus. He stopped talking.

    [Ding... A Bracelet of Immortality Fragment had been detected nearby]

    ¡¯Hmm? a fragment of my bracelet? How do you know? You said that it couldn¡¯t feel the fragments or find them?¡¯ Ryder asked Janus with a frown.

    [After the third upgrade, I can feel the Fragments when they are in the close proximity] Janus responded.

    ¡¯Interesting. Tell me where the fragment is,¡¯ Ryder asked Janus.

    [It¡¯s on Prince Asmadeus¡¯s body]

    ¡¯His body?¡¯ Ryder thought as he started observing Prince Asmadeus carefully.

    He didn¡¯t see anything of significance on Prince Asmadeus, but he did see a chain around his neck.

    The front end of the chain was hidden inside the clothes of Prince Asmadeus near his chest.

    ¡¯Could it be that it¡¯s a ne and there¡¯s a Fragment of my Bracelet being used as a green?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he frowned.

    "That chain looks pretty good, Prince Asmadeus," Ryder suddenlyplimented.

    Before Asmadeus could ask why Ryder was praising his chain and find it suspicious, Ryder continued.

    "I remember having the same chain. It was stolen. I was wondering what happened to it. Did one of your spies steal it?" Ryder asked Asmadeus.

    He didn¡¯t want her to be suspicious of why Ryder was asking about the chain, so he made up a story about him having a simr chain.

    He thought that Asmadeus would simply show him the chain to prove that it wasn¡¯t the same one as Ryder.

    Ryder thought that after confirming that the chain did have a fragment for the bracelet of immortality, he could keep insisting that it¡¯s his chain.

    Then, he could ask for the chain back and get the Prince to give him the chain.

    Asmadeus looked at Ryder with a frown on his face.

    "Are you using me of theft?" Asmadeus inquired as he frowned. "I, Asmadeus Szar, will steal a chain?"

    " Bring the rest of the chain out of your clothes. Let me see if it¡¯s actually the same. I¡¯m ny percent sure that it¡¯s mine, but for my peace of mind, I want to bepletely certain. Show me the entirety of this chain!" Ryder thundered as he looked at Asmadeus.

    "I hate thieves, especially Royal Thieves. If it¡¯s actually my stolen chain, then that would just increase the list of your crimes against me," he added.

    Asmadeus touched his chain as his frown deepened.

    "Sure, I can show you, but first tell me what the rest of the chain looks like. If you¡¯re right, and it¡¯s the same when I pull the chain out, I¡¯ll unconditionally return the chain back to you. So tell me, Prince Hades, what does your chain look like," Asmadeus asked Ryder as he looked at him with an amused look on his face.

    "If you can¡¯t answer correctly, then it would mean that you used me wrongly. In that case, you would leave this ce and forget whatever Elisia did. You won¡¯t ask for her. Things will go back to how they were before," he added.

    Ryder was stunned as he didn¡¯t expect this. Now he was standing between a rock and a hard ce. If he didn¡¯t answer correctly, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to im that it¡¯s his stolen chain and ask for his return. As for answering correctly, it was almost impossible as well since a bracelet of immortality fragment could be in any shape and color.

    ¡¯Janus, do you know which Elemental bracelet fragment it is? Just tell me the color of the crystal of that fragment.¡¯

    Ryder didn¡¯t know anything about this fragment, so he tried to ask Janus instead. As long as he had the correct answer, he could get the chain and the Fragment easily.

    [Not possible. Janus only knows where the fragment is, not the urate position or the kind of fragment it is]

    Janus answered Ryder, crushing all his hopes.

    ¡¯Heck, how am I going to answer now. I used him of theft. Not only will I not get anything if I¡¯m wrong, I would be used of ming him wrongly. He can use that as a way to settle the scores of what happened before.

    ¡¯Ah, right. Why didn¡¯t I think of this? It¡¯s obvious. It¡¯s so easy. I was worrying for no reason,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled.

    "Prince Hades, Do you ept the bet or not?" Asmadeus asked again.

    "I ept," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "Good. Then give me the description of the rest of it. Let¡¯s see how close you are," Asmadeus let out as he looked in Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    "If it¡¯s my bracelet, then there should be a white crystal attached to it," Ryder dered as he smiled.

    Asmadeus heard Ryder¡¯s answers and startedughing out loud.

    "You used me of theft in front of everyone. Let me show everyone how wrong you were. You should be ready to leave," Prince Asmadeus said in a grim tone as he looked at Ryder.

    He pulled out the other end of the chain outside his clothes and showed Ryder the rest of it.

    Ryder was right. The chain did have a Crystal attached to it, but he was wrong as well. Even though there was a crystal attached to the chain, it was not white at all. Instead, it was blue.

    "No matter how I look at it, it¡¯s not white. I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I?" Asmadeus inquired as he smiled.

    "The three of you can leave now as per the bet," Asmadeus said as he looked at Ryder, High Duke Oris, and Rale.

    After telling them, Asmadeus shifted his gaze over to the Vampire King.

    "As for Vampire King, you cane to our Pce. We can clear your concerns too. I¡¯ll let you meet Elisia as well. You can ask her the questions you have and get the rification. I¡¯m sure she did nothing you¡¯re thinking," he told the Vampire King.

    "Hmm? Are you asking us to leave? Why should we leave?" Ryder asked Asmadeus as he grinned.

    "Because you lost the bet you agreed to. Is Prince Hades going to break a bet?" Asmadeus responded with a frown.

    "I told you that I¡¯m going to leave this ce in rubles if I don¡¯t get Elisia. That¡¯s my word too. I can only break one of my words to fulfill my other words," Ryder replied with a smile.

    "High Duke Oris, how about you y around a little bit? Take Asmadeus hostage. Let¡¯s end it fast," Ryder whispered in High Duke Oris¡¯ ears.

 Chapter 288 Fourth Fragment

    <h4>Chapter 288: Fourth Fragment</h4>

    " Take Asmadeus hostage," Ryder told High Duke Oris in a low tone.

    "But that... I would have to leave your side. It¡¯s not safe," High Duke Oris let out as he frowned.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. Just do it. I want to see how things will go," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    "Take him a hostage, thene back to protect me. We can do this before they can even react," he added.

    High Duke Oris thought for a little while, but ultimately, he denied. He felt like it was a big safety risk for Ryder. There were Four Death Envoys before him. If even three of them blocked him, and the fourth one made a move, things could getplicated. He was confident in being able to protect himself and Ryder, but he needed to be close to Ryder for that.

    "I apologize, but I can¡¯t do that. If you had told me to do this and you had stayed behind in Demon Realm, I would have done this. How about I take you back and thene back to do it?" High Duke Oris suggested to Ryder.

    Ryder sighed as he nodded his head. He was trying his luck, but he failed.

    Ryder had nned to go back in time since he knew the color of the pendant already now. He had enough knowledge to answer it correctly by going back around five minutes, but he thought that since he was already going to reverse time, he might just have some fun.

    If he could seed in taking Prince Asmadeus hostage, then it would¡¯ve proved the strength and dominance of the Death Domain. He could then take the pendant and leave. It would have been something of a show of force for what the Death Domain did by going after his life. It would¡¯ve maintained their dignity too, and if High Duke Oris failed in taking Prince Asmadeus hostage, Ryder was already going to reverse time, so there was no damage, but all of it deepened on High Duke Oris agreeing, which he didn¡¯t.

    Ryder ultimately gave up on this n unless it was impossible to do it without High Duke Oris.

    "Fine," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "What are you guys talking about? Why are you still not leaving? Does the Prince of the Demon Realm have only this much dignity?" One of the Death Envoys mocked Ryder.

    "You old idiot, keep your mouth shut. When Elders are talking, idiots shouldn¡¯t interfere," Ryder replied sarcastically.

    "You!" The Death Envoy that had mocked Ryder could feel his face burn in shame as he heard a kid mock him.

    "As for you, Prince Asmadeus. You¡¯re an idiot as well. I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t remember this, but let me tell you. If you stand in my way, you won¡¯t even know how you died," Ryder let out as he looked deep in the eyes of Prince Asmadeus.

    Prince Asmadeus looked at Ryder in confusion as he wondered what he was talking about. He opened his lips to say something, but that¡¯s when he saw Ryder raise his right hand.

    Ryder raised his hand and snapped his fingers as he Activated his Ruler of Time to go back in time by five minutes.

    The Flow of time was reversed as the time started moving backward to the past.

    Ryder found himself standing in front of Prince Asmadeus.

    "Prince Hades, Do you ept the bet or not?" Asmadeus asked Ryder.

    ¡¯Perfect timing,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled.

    "I ept," he said as he nodded his head once again.

    "Good. Then give me the description of the rest of it. Let¡¯s see how close you are," Asmadeus let out as he looked in Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    "If it¡¯s my bracelet, then there should be a blue crystal attached to it," Ryder dered as he smirked.

    Everything yed out the same as thest time. The only difference was that the color Ryder said this time was blue instead of white.

    Even though it was a small change, that change of words, that was enough to change everything entirely. Prince Asmadeus hasughed at Ryder¡¯s reply in thest timeline, but in this timeline, he was shocked instead. He was stunned to hear Ryder¡¯s answer and Ryder knew why.

    It was because Ryder has guessed correctly. It was less of a guess correctly and more of a cheating correctly, though.

    " What happened, Prince Asmadeus? I haven¡¯t met you before. So I shouldn¡¯t know what kind of gem the other side of this ne would have. If it¡¯s not mine, I would be wrong, and if it¡¯s mine, I would be right," Ryder said as he smiled.

    Ryder saw Prince Asmadeus opening his mouth to say something, but Ryder cut him off.

    "Oh, right. Even if I¡¯m right, you might say that I managed to guess correctly. It¡¯s entirely possible, so before you use that excuse after showing me the gem, let me tell you more. The blue gem has a strange pattern on it that seems like it¡¯s forming a wave. That¡¯s all I had to say. Go ahead and show me," Ryder said with an amused smile on his face.

    Ryder was precisely right, though. Prince Asmadeus owned this ne, and he hadn¡¯t stolen it, so he could only think that Ryder had guessed correctly, and he was going to use that excuse, but Ryder had broken that wall of defense as well.

    ¡¯How? How can he know all this? No one other than I have seen that gem attached to the ne since it¡¯s always inside my shirt. There¡¯s no way he could have seen it before either, so how does he know,¡¯ Prince Asmadeus thought as his frown deepened.

    "Prince Asmadeus, we don¡¯t have all day here. Give me my ne back, and I can forget this ever happened. It might be idental as well. Maybe someone stole it from me and sold it to you without telling you, so I won¡¯t me you. But if you refuse to give it back to me, then I can only assume that you were behind its theft and that you are a thief. It would also make me believe that you are in on the infiltration of our Demon Realm since you for this item. Think carefully," Ryder told Prince Asmadeus, setting up his final pieces to checkmate the Prince of the Death Domain.

    Now, if the Prince of Death Domain didn¡¯t give him the bracelet, he would be a thief, and if he gave him the ne, he would be innocent. There was only one option left for Prince Asmadeus in Ryder¡¯s head.

    " Oh, right. I got ahead of myself. First, you should show us the ne. Who knows, I might be mistaken. It might be a different color ne, after all," Ryder said sarcastically, despite knowing the answer.

    Prince Asmadeus red at Ryder as he showed him the ne. It was the same asst time. There was a blue crystal on the chain.

    "You are right about the crystal of my chain, but you¡¯re wrong that it¡¯s yours. It was gifted to me by a Minister two years ago. You hadn¡¯t even appeared in the Demon Realm by then. There¡¯s no way that he¡¯s yours," Prince Asmadeus told Ryder in a solemn tone.

    "How would I know everything if it wasn¡¯t mine? Do you think you showed me the ne before or something? Of course, I know because it¡¯s mine. Give it back to me. Whoever gave you must¡¯ve fooled you. I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t be a thief. Don¡¯t prove me wrong, Prince Asmadeus," Ryder said.

    "I¡¯m sure that you know I¡¯m innocent and that it¡¯s not your ne. Why are you doing it then? Is this a y at showing off your dominance in some twisted way?" Prince Asmadeus asked as he looked at Ryder with a curious look on his face.

    "You can think whatever you like. What¡¯s mine is mine, and I don¡¯t let anyone take it. What you hold in your hand is something that belongs to me," Ryder dered in full seriousness.

    He knew that he wasn¡¯t lying as this fragment belonged to the bracelet of immortality and the bracelet of immortality belonged to him, which meant that this crystal was his as well.

    Prince Asmadeus looked at the blue crystal before he looked at Ryder.

    "I don¡¯t know how you did it or what happened here, but this ne is clearly not yours. Still, if you want to show off this way and make yourself feel better by taking something of mine openly, then be it. Here, keep this thing. Think of it as a gift from me," Prince Asmadeus said as he threw the ne towards Ryder.

    Prince Asmadeus wasn¡¯t attached to this ne more than usual. He just wore it because he found it intriguing based on its looks. He didn¡¯t mind giving it away to someone else.

    Ryder caught the Crystal attached to it and smiled as he heard a notification.

    [Ding... Fourth Fragment of Bracelet of Immortality Received]

 Chapter 289 Ruler of Water

    <h4>Chapter 289: Ruler of Water</h4>

    [Third fragment of Bracelet of Immortality found]

    Ryder heard the notification in his head, which brought a smile to his face. It was finally the time he was waiting for. He had taken another step in the path of unsealing the entire Bracelet of Immortality. The fourth Fragment was finally found. He had found it in a ce he had least expected and so quickly at that.

    As he held the blue crystal in his hand, which disappeared as it got absorbed in his bracelet. At the same time, Ryder sent the rest of the chain in his storage before others could notice that just the crystal had disappeared out of nowhere.

    After the Fourth Fragment of the bracelet was absorbed by it, even more notifications kept resounding in his head, which informed him more about this fragment. He was informed about the skill he had received from the fragment.

    [Fragment of Water found]

    [Bracelet of Immortality: Forth Seal has been broken]

    [Skill Received: Ruler of Water]

    [+10 Level ]

    ¡¯So it¡¯s a water element. I wonder how the skills are,¡¯ he thought as he excitedly opened the information about the skill he received.

    [Ruler of Water: Ruler of Water with the strength to Rule the Seas. Ruler of Water makes you control one of the universal elements of Water, forming the sea, giving home of billions of lives]

    [Active Skill 1: Blessed by Water]

    [Skill 2: Locked (Level not enough)]

    [Skill 3: Locked (Level not enough)]

    [Passive Skill: Underwater Breathing]

    ¡¯Underwater breathing. This can be pretty useful. It¡¯s also a Passive Skill. At Least I won¡¯t drown now,¡¯ Ryder thought jokingly as he shook his head.

    He wanted to open the Description of Blessed by water to see what it was about. Generally, the Active Skills were the ones that gave out more strength from what he had seen so far, so he was excited to see what was in the store for him, but as he was going to do it, he heard the voice of Prince Asmadeus.

    "You got what you wanted now. Can you leave? I have more matters to discuss with the Vampire King to clear his misunderstanding," Prince Asmadeus told Ryder.

    Ryder closed the screen as he remembered that he was still in between something.

    "Leave? What¡¯s the hurry? I seem to remember that we didn¡¯te here for this bracelet. We came here for Elisia. We want to meet her and ask her some questions. If we are satisfied with her answer and her apology, we can discuss further; otherwise, we would insist on taking her with us. It depends on you guys how you want to handle this. Just know, I¡¯m being very considerate here now. All I want is some answers from her and an apology," Ryder told his Death Domain counterpart as he smiled.

    "Sigh, Prince Hades. I¡¯ve been giving you my humility all this while, not because I¡¯m afraid of you or the Demon Realm behind you but because I don¡¯t want a war. That doesn¡¯t mean I would hate if a war does begin. You would be on the risk of losing just as much as me, so stop acting like you¡¯re at a high here," Prince Asmadeus fired back as a strange dark, and intimidating aura appeared around him.

    "As for the current situation, you¡¯re at my home, with one fourth our strength. I can kill you easily just by mobilizing two Death Envoys. Even if I don¡¯t take help from Death Envoys and just have them hold back the help you brought, I can still kill you easily. I can see your strength. You¡¯re as weak as an ant. Without the help from your Death Domain, you would be nothing but an insignificant ant. So you should learn some humility as well. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t even know how you died," Prince Asmadeus replied, shaking his head.

    " Who told you that I would have the risk of losing as much as you? Don¡¯t forget that our King is still alive, and I can call him for help if things really get to such a point. So you should be the one worrying instead. I¡¯ll leave the choice to you. Let us interrogate her and have her apologize," Ryder replied as he used his Bluffing skill that was given to him by Janus as a reward. He used it to make his words sound more believable.

    " You can also be stubborn and stop us, but let me tell you. If I go back empty-handed today, I won¡¯te. What wille is my army to avenge the people that will be killed by your brutal attack on my Demon Realm. I promise you, that won¡¯t be a sight you would want to see. I know we¡¯ll get some losses as well, but you attacked us first. We¡¯ll just be protecting our dignity,"

    " Think carefully. Is not letting her apologize to us more important to you than the entire Death Domain?" he continued.

    Prince Asmadeus looked at Ryde for a brief moment, trying to read his face. After a few seconds, he looked towards the Death Envoys, who all nodded their heads.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll let you and the Vampire King talk to her to get your answers. As for the apology, I don¡¯t think I can convince her to do that. As for letting you take her, that¡¯s impossible. Also, you won¡¯t be allowed to get within fifty meters of her range. Getting an apology depends on your luck."

    "You can¡¯t do anything even if she doesn¡¯t do it, because I believe she will die before apologizing. I¡¯d do the same if I were in her situation, after all. So here¡¯s the full deal. You can interrogate her, and then you must leave. Our scores will be equal," Prince Asmadeus told Ryder as he agreed to Ryder¡¯s conditions.

    ¡¯ Well, that worked,¡¯ Ryder thought as a subtle smile appeared on his face.

    He started following after Asmadeus, who escorted them inside the ce.

    The Death Envoys kept an eye on High Duke Oris and the Vampire King throughout the way.

    They escorted them to a big hall where seatings were arranged. It seemed like this was the ce for a meeting between the Various Death Domain officials as there were over fifty seats already arranged on both sides of the room.

    Prince Asmadeus sat on the central throne. Three Death Envoys sat around him while the fourth one left to bring Elisia here.

    Ryder also selected a seat and sat downfortably. High Duke Oris sat on his left. Rale sat on High Duke Oris¡¯ left. High Duke Oris made it so that he was in the middle so that if anything went wrong, he could hold Ryder and Rale and simply teleport away from here.

    As Ryder was free for now and waiting for Elisia to be brought here, he decided to see the things he was most excited about. He was really eager to see what his skill actually was.

    He opened the details of his [Ruler of Water] and tapped on the active skill [Blessing of Water]

    [Blessing of Water]

    [Effect 1: Once cast, this skill will bring rain in a ten-meter radius of the user. Those who are touched by the blessed water of the rain will have their speed halved. The user will have his speed increased by half.]

    [Effect 2: The Blessing of Water gives the user an ability to form any weapon of his choice from any water source]

    [Current limit: The rain can onlyst for 11 minutes

    (Note: Every ten levels of increase adds one more minute in the Current Limit)]

    ¡¯Ah, so that¡¯s what it is. The first effect of this skill is pretty useful yet very boring. It can decrease their speed by hand and increase mine by half. So if we both had equal speed, my speed would be the Times of the enemy while the rainsts. The only downside is the high requirement and low limit of it. I¡¯m a level 110, so I can only use it for 11 minutes. That can¡¯t be much if I¡¯m facing multiple enemies. Still, it can be very useful to me. The second effect sounds much more fun, though. Being able to form any weapon from water.¡¯ Ryder thought as he stared at the semi-transparent screen before him that was still showing the description of the skill for him.

    ¡¯Hah, I can be like Poseidon,ing out of the sea with a Trident made entirely of water. That would look pretty cool indeed. I wonder if I can form guns or only old forms of weapons. It did say I can form any weapons, though. If it includes modern weapons too, I can only imagine how powerful it would be. I¡¯ll be able to make a water bazooka with a water missile,¡¯ Ryder could feel his thoughts roaming wild at the prospects of using this skill. It was as if he was just a kid that had received a new toy.

 Chapter 290 Promise or Challenge?

    <h4>Chapter 290: Promise or Challenge?</h4>

    ¡¯I doubt it can make modern weapons, but any help will be a good help. Even older weapons cane in handy. Also, even though it needs a water source to form weapons, it takes care of that on its own with the rain. The rain not only weakens the enemy but makes me have an edge in the form of weapons,¡¯ Ryder thought as he imagined a situation when he formed tens of throwing knives and killed his unsuspecting enemies.

    " Prince Asmadeus, I¡¯ll talk to Elisia as well, but I need your answer too. Did you know anything about her going to the Undead Region for any purpose?"

    Ryder was thinking about his skills, but his attention was attracted by the Vampire King, who began talking to Prince Asmadeus.

    ¡¯The Vampire King seems very calm here,pletely unlike the time he met me for the first time when he barged inside our ce. It seems strange,¡¯ Ryder thought as he nced at the Vampire King with a frown on his face.

    "No, I had no idea about any of her actions. As you may already know, we act separately. We¡¯re kind of rivals in that sense, after all, so I don¡¯t know what goes on through her head and what she does," Prince Asmadeus let out, shaking his head.

    " Why are you protecting her so much then? If she is your rival and you didn¡¯t scheme anything together, why did you take the risk of sending Death Envoys to Demon Realm to bring her back? Why do you still refuse to surrender her to the Demon Realm for punishment?" the Vampire King inquired in a grim tone.

    "I can¡¯t. It doesn¡¯t matter what she did. If she were wrong, she would get punished here. I won¡¯t give someone from my Death Domain to the Demon Realm. They are not the only ones that have the dignity they need to protect. Also, she¡¯s also an inheritor of the Previous king. I just can¡¯t do what you¡¯re suggesting," Prince Asmadeus said, shaking his head.

    " If she is really responsible for the death of my General, how far are you willing to go? Because I¡¯m willing to go till the end of the universe to take her back to the Undead Region with me. I will let her die in the hands of the Daughter of General Viden personally for her sin," The Vampire King told Prince Asmadeus in full seriousness. His words were filled with a subtle threat too.

    " How far am I willing to go for her? Sigh, that¡¯s an interesting question that even I¡¯m curious about. Whenever I have questions like this, I always think about what my father would have done in this situation, and I get my answers. If it were my father, he would never have let you take her even if you had arrived with a bigger force than him," Prince Asmadeus muttered as he sighed.

    "With that thought in my mind, I guess the answer is clear. If she did something wrong, she would be punished here by us, but I won¡¯t let you take her even if that means a fight to the death. I¡¯ll follow my father¡¯s principal even though I don¡¯t wish to go down the path of war yet," he added.

    "You don¡¯t want to go down the path of war yet? Does that mean you n to do in the future?" Ryder chimed in as he noticed something wrong in Prince Asmadeus¡¯s words.

    " Not at all. What I meant is that I don¡¯t want to go to war now. I can¡¯t say about the future or what circumstances might exist, but the circumstances now are not bad enough for a war. A little back and forth between two opposing sides is but a reason for a war either. That¡¯s what I meant," Prince Asmadeus rified without even a single frown forming on his face. It seemed like he was telling the truth, but Ryder had some information about Prince Asmadeus trying to increase his strength, which made him feel like he wasn¡¯t being entirely honest.

    After a brief moment, Elisia was escorted to the discussion hall by a Death Envoy. She seemed to be walking freely. There didn¡¯t seem to be any restraint ced on her, but there was a barrier around her that had been made by the Death Envoy to protect her.

    The Vampire King and Ryder looked at her as they frowned. It didn¡¯t seem like she had even a shred of regret on her face for what she did. The Vampire King stood up.

    "Vampire King, please don¡¯t do anything that would make us take action. Stay seated. We allowed you to ask your questions to her, but as I said, we can¡¯t let you hurt her. If you try getting close to her, we would be forced to stop you and take that girl back, so please follow your words," Prince Asmadeus raised his hand and gestured for the Vampire King to stop moving.

    The Death Envoys also appeared before Elisia, surrounding her.

    "Fine," the Vampire King let out as he sat down.

    Ryder had stayed seated since he already knew that something like this was going to happen. With the intensity, Asmadeus was saying that he wouldn¡¯t let them take Elisia, it was obvious that he wasn¡¯t going to let anyone get close to her.

    Elisia was escorted near Prince Asmadeus. She was made to stand near Prince Asmadeus while still maintaining a safe distance between them.

    "Elisia, you have entered the Demon Realm and tried to harm the Prince of the Demon Realm. Do you have anything to say about that?" Prince Asmadeus asked Devilia.

    " I regret it. I regret that I didn¡¯t seed," Elisia said as she sighed.

    " He hase here to get some answers, and he will leave after that. Be truthful with him, alright?" Prince Asmadeus told Devilia.

    "Hmph," Elisia rolled her eyes, but she didn¡¯t reply.

    " Elisia, you said you regret you failed in killing me; I would like to ask you, how does it feel to fail twice? You¡¯re a kid, little girl. Don¡¯t show that attitude to me. You¡¯re just a kid who¡¯s being babysat by the adults. If it weren¡¯t for the Death Envoys that barged I¡¯m suddenly, this wouldn¡¯t be the ce we would be interrogating you. You would¡¯ve been in our cell, regretting even more things than just failing," Ryder responded in an annoyed tone.

    " Anyway, what happened has happened, so let me ask you what I came here to ask. It¡¯s good that both you and Prince Asmadeus are here. It is better this way," he muttered as he nodded his head.

    "So, my first question is why you wanted to kill me? We had no enmity. Even when we met for the first time, you tried to kill me but failed and ran away. Then now again, you tried to kill me. Why are you so after killing me? Our two realms are not at war. I didn¡¯t do anything against the Death Domain either, so why? Is this just because you¡¯re salty that the Death Domain was defeated in thest Great War? Do you me me for that?" Ryder asked Elisia.

    "Hah, you act to be so noble while carrying that Scythe of Death if that monster. An entire town..." Elisia muttered as she paused.

    "An entire town?" Ryder inquired in confusion.

    "Our entire town was wiped in thest great war from an attack of that weapon! I have the one that used this weapon to cause so much destruction. My entire family was wiped in that ce. Only I managed to survive. You know who used this weapon? The Demon King! I want to kill him, but that bastard disappeared. You¡¯re his Inheritor, so I want to kill you instead," Elisia told Ryder.

    As Elsia called the Demon King a bastard, Ryder felt a strange aura around him. It seemed as if both High Duke Oris and Rale were about to attack Elisia in anger. He couldn¡¯t let them do it but he couldn¡¯t ignore what Elisia had just said either since he had told everyone that Demon King Salem was his master.

    Elisia had just finished her words when Ryder stood up.

    "That¡¯s enough. She insulted my master by calling him a bastard. I don¡¯t want to ask any questions anymore. I¡¯m taking her with me. I was already conflicted over what I should do. Even though most of my important people and I survived her assault, many innocent demons lost their lives because of her. I already wanted to kill her, but she was brought here."

    "I still considered letting her live in exchange for an apology, but this is too far. She dared to disrespect the Demon King. Give her to us," Ryder told Prince Asmadeus in a grim tone.

    "She¡¯s an ignorant girl that doesn¡¯t know what to say and what not to say. Ignore her," Prince Asmadeus told Ryder in order to calm him down.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m taking her today and that¡¯s my promise as the Prince of Demon Realm," Ryder told Prince Amadeus.

 Chapter 291 High Dukes Arrive

    <h4>Chapter 291: High Dukes Arrive</h4>

    " You know what to do," Ryder muttered subtly.

    His words made people confused. Just where was his confidenceing from? Did he really think that he could push around the Demon Realm so much and take someone that wanted to protect so easily? Prince Asmadeus and the Death Envoys couldn¡¯t understand Ryder¡¯s thinking at all.

    "Now," Ryder muttered casually as he snapped his fingers.

    Suddenly, the roof of the room was broken as one of the High Dukes barged inside. It was none other than the strongest High Duke, High Duke Magna.

    High Duke Magna had entered the promise of the discussion hall, breaking every wall in between. Right as he entered, he went after the Death Envoys that were surrounding Elisia.

    Another wall was broken as High Duke M arrived in that ce as well.

    She flew towards Elisia. She punched the barrier that was surrounding Elisia, breaking it instantly.

    "Time to leave," She told High Duke Magna after she got a hold of Elisia.

    High Duke Magna teleported beside High Dike M and caught her hand. He also caught the hand of Elisia and disappeared as he teleported away.

    High Duke Oris also held Ryder and Rale¡¯s hand as he disappeared.

    Only Prince Asmadeus, the Vampire King, and the confused Death Envoys were left behind.

    "Well, that was surprising. I must say, he even shocked me. This Prince Hades is really interesting," The Vampire King muttered as he smiled.

    " Since there¡¯s nothing left here, I¡¯ll take my leave as well. It looks like I¡¯ll have to go to Demon Realm to interrogate Elisia," he added as he casually left the Royal Pce.

    Prince Asmadeus was still sitting on his throne. He clenched his fist.

    "We¡¯ll catch them," The Death Envoys said as they got ready to chase after them.

    "Don¡¯t bother. They used their Teleportation. They should already be back in the Demon Realm now. They¡¯ll hide Elisia as well. It wouldn¡¯t be usible to get her back. This Prince Hades, he really is bold," Prince Asmadeus muttered as he stood up.

    Ryder, Rale, High Duke M, Elisia, High Duke Magna, and High Dike Oris appeared back at the Devilia¡¯s Pce back in the Demon Realm.

    "I¡¯ll go back to bring Eston back," High Duke Magna said as he disappeared again.

    After a few seconds, he appeared again with a tired-looking High Duke Eston.

    High Duke Eston saw Elisia and smiled.

    "Well, looks like this crazy n worked," He muttered as he smiled.

    " You made us go through so much. I¡¯ll be keeping you in my space prison. Enjoy the istion," he told Elisia as he sent her to his Spatial Prison in the meantime. He wasn¡¯t sure if the Death Envoys would chase after them, so he took protective measures.

    Two hours ago,

    Ryder had just left Devilia¡¯s Room after the intense lovemaking session, and he had nned to meet up with other High Dukes before he left for Death Domain when he thought about something. He was second thinking about his n of getting Elisia back, so he came up with a better n.

    "High Duke Oris, I have a different n. I think that it would be better and easier if all of us go, but we can¡¯t let the Vampire King know about it. I still can¡¯tpletely trust him. Please contact High Duke Magna," Ryder told High Duke Oris.

    After that, Ryder told High Duke Magna everything, including the n.

    He hade to know that High Duke Oris and High Duke Magna were the only ones that could use the long-distance Teleportation, and each of them could take two people with them.

    His n was that he would go to the Death Domain with Rale and High Duke Oris and go to the Royal Pce.

    And twenty minutes after his leaving, High Duke Magna will enter the Death Domain with High Duke Eston and High Duke M.

    High Duke Eston was a vital part of this n. His job was to coordinate between two teams using Dreimaia.

    High Duke Magna¡¯s team stayed out of the Death City, and High Duke Eston used Dreimaia to form a link with Ryder, Rale, and the other High Dukes.

    He acted as a hub for their conversation. Using him, Ryder was able to give his real-timemands to the High Dukes who were staying outside the Death City to make the Death Envoys think that Ryder came only with one High Duke. The n was to ask for Elisia to be given to them and, if they disagreed kindly, then finding an excuse to take her forcefully.

    As soon as Elisia was brought to the discussion hall, over ny percent of Ryder¡¯s n was alreadypleted.

    "It was fun, I must say. Seeing the shock on their smug faces. They took someone from right in front of us, and we did the same. This truly makes me feel satisfied," High Duke M said as she smiled aftering back from the Death Domain.

    "Hahaha, yeah. We definitely showed them that they couldn¡¯t mess with us this easily," High Duke Eston added as he chuckled.

    "It¡¯s all good and well, but we can¡¯t ignore the risk of their retaliation. We should get back to the Royal City. It¡¯spletely unprotected right now," High Duke Magna said in his usually grim tone.

    "I¡¯m going first. Who wants toe with me?" he inquired.

    " Your Highness, do you want toe back to the Royal City? We can cancel your visits to the Demon Realm Dukedoms," High Duke Oris asked Ryder.

    "Nah, we can¡¯t do that. People are restless, still unaware of what happened. There should be many rumors going around. It¡¯s the time to get out more and show them that everything¡¯s right instead of staying in the Royal Pce," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    " You should go back with High Duke Magna. The Royal City needs protection. As for me, High Duke M and High Duke Eston will apany me," He told High Duke Oris.

    "Alright," High Duke Oris said, nodding his head.

    "You guys should contact me if something happens. I¡¯ll be here instantly. Keep him safe. I¡¯m leaving," High Duke Oris told High Duke M and High Duke Eston before he left with High Duke Magna.

    "I¡¯m going to rest in my spatial realm since I¡¯m tired. You guys should go rest as well. Stay on guard, though," Ryder told the High Dukes before he logged out.

    This whole event about him being attacked and the aftermath had taken a lot of his time. Normally, he logged out of the game at night when it was early morning in the real world, but it had already been twelve hours over that.

    It was early morning in Demon Realm and night in the real world. Still, he knew that he needed to log out.

    He hadn¡¯t taken any nourishment pill that could provide him nutrition for spending days without eating safely. He knew that his body must be very hungry at the moment since he had gone for over twenty-four hours without eating.

    He didn¡¯t want his body to suffer.

    Ryder logged out of Divinity.

    It was already night in the real world, and Ryder could hear knocking on the door of his room.

    He ced the Divinity sses in his inventory before he stood up and walked over to the door where he heard the calls of Alice.

    He opened the door.

    "You¡¯re finally up. I thought you were going to spend days gaming. The butler just called us for dinner. Let¡¯s go. Elder Brother Shu is also waiting downstairs," Alice told Ryder.

    "Ah, sorry. I got kind of too immersed in a quest. Just wait, I¡¯ll be right outside," Ryder told Alice before he turned back and went inside the washroom. He washed his face with warm water beforeing out.

    After wiping his face, he left his room with Alice.

    They walked downstairs and reached the dining table, where Shu was already waiting. The Dinner was already served as well.

    "Ah, brother Shu. You¡¯re here. Awesome. Come fast; the food will get cold," Shu called out to Ryder.

    Ryder and Alice took a seat at the dining table. They all started eating thevish food of Maxwell Mansion.

    "Ah, brother Ryder, We are leaving tomorrow, right?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Leaving where?" Ryder asked in confusion, not understanding what Shu was talking about.

    "That birthday celebration you got an invite to? Did you already forget?" Shu inquired as he smiled wryly.

    "Ah, that¡¯s tomorrow? Ipletely forgot. It¡¯s good that you reminded me. I need to attend that," Ryder let out as he thanked Shu.

    This birthday celebration was the ce where he was going to get a clue about the Cultivation Family, most probably toplete the Mission which was given to him by Janus.

    "Good. We¡¯ll leave at around ten," Shu told Ryder.

    "Around ten? Isn¡¯t the time to get there at twelve in the afternoon? Shouldn¡¯t we leave early?" Ryder inquired.

 Chapter 292 Lost Control

    <h4>Chapter 292: Lost Control</h4>

    "It¡¯s fine. I thought about everything. We¡¯ll be going on a private helicopter. Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll be right on time," Shu told Ryder as he smiled.

    " Anyway, I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t know much about the people that are throwing the party, right? You heard of the Silva Family?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Ah, no. I didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any Silva n amongst the business tycoons that I read about," Ryder let out, shaking his head.

    "Well, it would be wrong to call them Business Tycoons since they don¡¯t get involved in a business that would typically get covered by the mainstream media. They are more like an ancient medicine family. They create their own medicine and sell them. The strange thing, though, is that they don¡¯t sell to the general public," Shu told Ryder.

    "Oh? Who do they sell to then?" Ryder inquired curiously.

    "They have something like a membership. Most of the wealthy people are part of that membership. Also, that membership can¡¯t be asked for or applied for. You can only get a membership if they offer you. I don¡¯t know what other businesses they have. Besides that, they are pretty mysterious. They do have a high authority, though," Shu told Ryder.

    "Do you have that membership as well?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Yeah, I got the membership. That¡¯s why I got the invitation as well, which I lost," Shu let out as he chuckled.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly since that invitation of Shu was with him. He had taken this invitation from the Assassin that came to kill Alice¡¯s friend.

    He had to lie to Shu and say that he found the invitation.

    "Anyway, the Party is in Lavender Town, which is the hub of the Silva Family. The entire town is owned by them, and no one is allowed to enter the town without their permission. Also, you¡¯ll be seeing a lot of big people there, I¡¯m sure," Shu told Ryder.

    "Most of the powerful people that aren¡¯t too busy will attend the party. It can be a good ce for you to establish your collections," he agreed.

    "Yeah, it would be good to attend the party. I¡¯m quite curious about the people I¡¯ll meet there and if they can get me to my goal," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    He picked up the ss of water to drink and noticed that he could feel something. It was as if he could feel the water in the ss before even drinking.

    ¡¯Is this because of the Ruler of Water? Now that I think about it, I didn¡¯t test it. I should at least test the weapon-making," Ryder muttered as he looked at the ss of water.

    He activated his Blessing of Nature and ced all his focus on the ss of water. He wanted to make a tiny trident inside the ss of water.

    The water in the ss started shaking and rising.

    Ryder had ced the ss near his knees to hide it from everyone¡¯s view as he did it. He didn¡¯t want anyone to see.

    The water started shaking as if there was an earthquake. It started taking the shape of a thick stick. Ryder knew that he was getting close to making a trident. He started trying even harder.

    The water became more and more unstable with time until the ss shattered, and the water spilled everywhere.

    A few pieces of ss also stabbed Ryder¡¯s hand making him give out a pained noise.

    "Are you fine?" Alice and Shu stood up as they heard the sound of ss cracking.

    Ryder stood up as well as he wiped his pants that were wet from all the spilled water. His hands still had ss stabbed in them, but he couldn¡¯t let them see it as his hands were going to recover as soon as the sses were taken out. He couldn¡¯t let them see his incredible healing.

    "I¡¯ll be right back after changing clothes," Ryder told them as he ran towards the stairs to go back to his roof while keeping his hands out of the view.

    Alice looked at the shattered ss on the ground suspiciously.

    "The water spilled on his pants, so ss must be in his hands when it happened. I wonder if he got hurt and is trying to hide it. We should go see," Shu told Alice as she started walking after Ryder.

    Alice followed after him.

    Ryder entered the room and hurriedly took the sses out of his hand. He threw the pieces under his bed before he ran into the washroom to wipe his hands of the blood.

    As he wiped his hand, he could see that his hands were already healed. He took his pants off and hung it in the corner before he turned back to leave, but he stopped as he looked back towards the water droplets falling from the tap.

    His curiosity again got the best of it as he decided to try again.

    He opened the tap again and let the waterfall into the sink while he looked at the water.

    He reached out his hand and pointed his finger towards the water as he tried forming a trident again, but controlling this power wasn¡¯t as easy as it seemed. Even though he had all the requirements for this, he stillcked the practice.

    He remembered the time it took for him to learn flying after getting the Flying Skill from the Ruler of Wind.

    Hecked practice, but he still had confidence that he could do this.

    Ryder ced all his focus on the water to form a trident. The water seemed to be taking the shape of the Trident. Ryder could see himself near the sess, but that¡¯s when things started going south as he heard a sudden knock on the door.

    His concentration was suddenly broken as he lost control of the water.

    A needle made of water flew everywhere in the room. One of those water needles hit the mirror, shattering it. Another one of these water needles came in the direction of Ryder¡¯s neck.

    Having no time to Dodge, Ryder bent his elbow and brought it close to his neck to protect it. He knew that he was in danger at this point in time.

    He was sure that the water needle would prate his hand with the strength he had seen when the mirror was broken, but somethingpletely unexpected happened.

    The Water needed to touch his hand and changed into a gentle ssh of water that didn¡¯t harm him in the least. It only made his shirt wet.

 Chapter 293 Miraculous Medicine

    <h4>Chapter 293: Miraculous Medicine</h4>

    "Hmm? What happened? Ah, right. Ipletely forgot. I¡¯m blessed by water, and I can¡¯t be hurt by water like this. That is good. At Least I can practice without worrying. I just have to make sure that no one is stopping me when I do it," Ryder muttered as he looked at the water falling from the tap.

    "Brother, are you fine? Why aren¡¯t you opening the door?"

    Ryder heard Alice¡¯s voice. He opened the door of the washroom and stepped out. He walked towards the wardrobe.

    "Just wait a minute, I¡¯ll get dre..."

    Ryder was about to reply that he was getting dressed when the door suddenly opened, and Alice barged inside, only to find him in his underwear and a wet shirt.

    Shu also stepped inside. He had a key in his hand. It seemed like he used the master key after getting no reply for quite some time, and the door was opened just as Ryder started replying.

    "Ah," Shu and Alice saw Ryder standing in his underwear and a wet t-shirt. His hand also didn¡¯t seem bloody.

    Alice ignored Ryder¡¯s attire as she walked closer to him and held his hand close as she started observing it.

    " There¡¯s no wound. The ss didn¡¯t stab you. It¡¯s good," She replied as she smiled.

    "Ah, that¡¯s good and all, but can the two of you leave this room? I¡¯m notfortable standing in my underwear before you two. I¡¯m still not that shameless," Ryder replied as he looked at Alice nkly.

    "Ah, right. Sorry for barging in. We were worried about you. We¡¯ll be downstairs and wait for it at the dining table," Shu told Ryder as he left the room.

    Alice was still looking at Ryder¡¯s hand just to make sure that his hands were fine.

    "Are you leaving, or are you staying to see me strip as I change my clothes?" Ryder asked nkly as he looked at Alice.

    "Ah," Alice heard Ryder¡¯s words, and her face turned red as she left.

    She ran outside the room, but she didn¡¯t forget to close the door of the room behind her as she left.

    Ryder chuckled lightly.

    " Silly girl," he muttered as he shook his head. He opened the wardrobe to select another pair of clothes to wear.

    "Ah, all these clothes are from Shu¡¯s collection. They are nice and all, but don¡¯t feel the same. I¡¯ll need to go shopping aftering back from the Silva Family Birthday Party," he let out as he took a pair of shirt and pants outside.

    He left the room after getting dressed and went down to the dining hall

    The broken ss that was on the floor was cleaned by the servants. Ryder sat on his seat and continued dinner.

    "Where were we, oh right. The Silva n. You have their membership card. Does that give you ess to buy medicines from them?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Yeah, only the ones with the Silva Family membership card can buy the medicine from them," Shu responded.

    "How are their medicines?" Ryder inquired.

    "I have no idea. I didn¡¯t feel the need to buy anything from them. I did hear a few good things about though. The Silva n¡¯s medicines are said to be pretty miraculous. It is said that they can treat almost any sickness except a few terminal diseases," Shu exined.

    "Oh? Interesting. The Ancient Medicines. I remember reading a few Eastern Fantasy Novels about Cultivation families that have these kinds of medicines," Ryder let out jokingly.

    "Well, I don¡¯t know much about that, but when ites to medicine, the Silva n is in a really high position, but they maintain a low profile. It is said that they are very powerful, as well. I heard stories about their enemies disappearing mysteriously. Either way, it would be good not to annoy them in any way. They have the favor of many," Shu told Ryder, shaking his head.

    "Are you going to a birthday party? Can Ie too?" Alice suddenly chimed in.

    " That is not possible. The invitation-only allows entry for two people. Shu must be one of them since it¡¯s his invitation, and I can¡¯t enter without him, and I¡¯m the other person," Ryder replied, shaking his head. It was really impossible to take Alice there since the invitation didn¡¯t leave any room for it.

    If the invitation didn¡¯t have that limitation, he was sure that he would have taken her since it was just a normal birthday party where he was going to gather some information. He wasn¡¯t going to have a fight with them or infiltrate that would put Alice at risk, so he didn¡¯t mind taking her, but he couldn¡¯t.

    "Ah, it¡¯s fine. I didn¡¯t know that. Forget that I asked," Alice replied, shaking her head.

    " After Ie back, how about I take you for a nice dinner instead?" Ryder suggested, which brought a smile to Alice¡¯s face.

    As he saw the happy face of Alice, he started smiling as well. There was just something inside his heart that made him happy every time he saw Alice happy.

    "Oh, that¡¯s nice. I¡¯ll book a nice hotel for you guys," Shu chimed in.

    "You don¡¯t..."

    Ryder was about to reject his offer since he didn¡¯t want Shu to spend money for him. He wanted to take Alice out with his own money, but before he could say anything, he got a message on his phone.

    "The booking is confirmed, Young Master. I¡¯m sure Master Ryder got the confirmation notice."

    The butler who was standing near Shu said as he ced his phone back in his pocket.

    " You are so fast," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "I¡¯m not fast. It¡¯s him," Shu said as he pointed towards the butler standing beside him.

    "I just need to say the word, and he understands and does what I need," he added.

    "Anyway, that¡¯s just booking to the hotel. For Car, you can take the 2047 or any other car standing in the parking lot. You¡¯re like my big brother. Don¡¯t stand on ceremony," Shu said as he saw the look on Ryder¡¯s face.

    Ryder looked back and ultimately nodded his head.

    "Anyway, what¡¯s your level now in the game? Are you close to level 40 that¡¯s needed for the quest?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "That, yeah. I¡¯ve finished a few quests, and I¡¯ve been hunting, but I¡¯ll still need some time. I would take more time before I¡¯m able to attempt the chain quest with you. What¡¯s your level, by the way?" Shu asked Ryder with a curious look on his face.

 Chapter 294 New Update

    <h4>Chapter 294: New Update</h4>

    "Hmm? Didn¡¯t you see my name in the Level Rankings?" Ryder asked in confusion. He was sure that there must be a roar outside about him leveling so fast. There¡¯s no way Shu wouldn¡¯t have seen his novel.

    "Hmm? Did you not know about the new update in the world of Divinity?" Shu asked Ryder in confusion.

    "New update? What do you mean? Did they already introduce the conversion of real money into game money?" Ryder inquired.

    "No, I¡¯m talking about the update changing the ranking structure?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "What change?" Ryder asked, still not understanding. He wondered what was happening in divinity that he wasn¡¯t aware of.

    " For some reason, they changed the entire Ranking structure. When you see the level ranking, you only see the tank of yers, not their levels. We can only see that you¡¯re rank one, but we can¡¯t see your level. It¡¯s the same for treasure and fame ones ranking too. You can¡¯t see the number of Treasures one possesses in the rankings. All you see are the ranks," Shu told Ryder.

    "Hmm? That¡¯s weird," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    ¡¯There was nothing like thatst time. I can¡¯t see any changes this time except the fact that I¡¯m at the top in ranking in this timeline and the power gap is almost impossible for others to catch up. Is that why the future changed? Did they do it to calm down the cheating allegations from my unbelievable looking level? It seems that way,¡¯

    ¡¯ They don¡¯t want anyone to see my level that easily, but they didn¡¯t just make my level invisible from the rankings, so they made everyone¡¯s level disappear from the ranking. That¡¯s some clever y, I must say, but it¡¯ll only increase confusion amongst the yers who wouldn¡¯t know how much they need to level up to rise in ranking. I¡¯m sure they must be getting a lot ofints about this change, but on the other hand, theseints are better than theints of cheating,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    " I¡¯m still confused as to why they just don¡¯t ban me. Even though I did nothing wrong in the game, they can still do it instead of taking such a long way to calm things down," he muttered in an inaudible tone.

    "So, what¡¯s your level?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "I¡¯m level 110," Ryder told Shu casually. He didn¡¯t feel the need to hide his level from Shu. Shu had proven to be quite trustworthy. Even though he couldn¡¯t be entirely honest with him for some reasons, he could still tell him at least his level.

    Shu heard Ryder¡¯s words and just looked at him nkly.

    " That was funny. Now tell me your real level," Shu shook his head as he asked again.

    " I¡¯m not lying. I¡¯m really level 110. I found a unique quest rted to my ss, which gave me a bunch of experience points inpletion. Even I¡¯m surprised at the experience I got," Ryder said, shaking his head.

    "Hah, brother. Tell me where you found her. Be honest," Shu suddenly asked Ryder.

    "Found who? Who are you talking about?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    "Her! The goddess of luck that¡¯s getting you such overpowered quests. Bro, you¡¯re a god, aren¡¯t you? The game hasn¡¯t been released for a long time, yet you¡¯re already a level 110 yer," Shu replied with an incredulous look on his face.

    "Ah, that¡¯s what you¡¯re talking about. I guess I was indeed a little lucky with this quest," Ryder answered as he smiled wryly.

    "Man, you¡¯re really lucky that the developers hid the levels of people. Otherwise, you¡¯ll be getting so many haters. I know you and know that you have no rtion to Divinity Developers, and you can¡¯t cheat, but others were already calling you an illegal child of Divinity Bosses. If they knew you rose so much since the levels became invisible, they¡¯d have rioted," Shu told Ryder as he sighed.

    "Yeah, that was lucky as well," Ryder replied.

    "Man, I don¡¯t even know if I would be able to do anything in our question together. You¡¯ll kill all the enemies in one hit. You¡¯re like the One-hit Man of the tv show," Shu said as heughed lightly.

    "As I said, it¡¯ll be a fun adventure. Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯ll control my strength, and I¡¯ll make sure that nothing goes wrong," Ryder replied.

    "Hah, It¡¯s good too. When we start our guild, and you be our guild leader, we would have no trouble from other guilds at all," Shu said.

    Alice heard about the guild and got even more interested.

    ¡¯If I ten him that I started ying as well, he might get angry. If I join the guild, I can get close to him in the game. It would be so fun,¡¯ She thought.

    "Ah, Brother Shu. you guys are starting a guild?" She asked Shu.

    " Yeah, soon there would be a guild belonging to us," Shu said as he nced at Ryder. "A guild in a fully immersive world."

    " That¡¯s great. What would you name that guild?" She asked again.

    If she had a name, she could easily distinguish if at that time there were two or more guilds.

    " Ah, right. Brother Ryder. What name are we going to give it? What do you want your guild to be named?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "You found the guild establishment token, so it¡¯s your guild that I¡¯ll be managing as the Guild Master. You shoulde up with a name," Ryder threw the ball back in Shu¡¯s court.

    "Nope. I¡¯m not choosing one. You¡¯re going to be the one registering the name as it¡¯s guild leader, so you choose it. I¡¯m bad at naming things anyway. I don¡¯t think I have named any single thing correctly except my username that I use in every game," Shu told Ryder.

    "BigDaddy?" Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll choose a name," Ryder said as he agreed.

    " Yeah, think of a nice name," Alice also chimed in excitedly.

    "The Guild will be named..." Ryder muttered as he fell into a deep thought.

    As he was thinking, a voice echoed in his mind. It felt like some strange voice from his past echoing in his head.

    "You can never get salvation. You¡¯ll have Eternal Damnation in hell..." the Voice said.

    It felt as if a weird Deja Wu as Ryder heard the voice. He looked back, wondering if someone said this near him.

    There was no one around him.

    "Did something happen?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Ah, nothing. I just felt like someone said something. Anyway, the name of our guild will be... Eternal Salvation," He finally said after thinking for a while.

 Chapter 295 Entering Lavender Town

    <h4>Chapter 295: Entering Lavender Town</h4>

    "Eternal Salvation? Interesting name," Shu muttered as he nodded his head.

    "It has a feeling of a Saintly Guild," he added. "Right Alice?"

    " Yes. It¡¯s a nice name," Alice said.

    Soon, the dinner was finished as everyone walked back to their rooms.

    Ryder wished Alice goodnight as he walked inside his bedroom.

    He went inside Divinity once again and followed his schedule. He gave another speech in Devilia¡¯s Dukedom to calm down the people of thend that were confused throughout the day.

    The barrier that was sealing the city was removed as well.

    Everything returned to normal as people started calming down after the sealed city was unsealed again.

    "Devilia, we¡¯ll be leaving on our trip to other Dukedoms. Contact the High Dukes if you see anything suspicious or need us. We would return. Be alert, alright?" Ryder told Devilia as he prepared to leave the Pce of Devilia.

    "I will," Devilia said as she nodded her head.

    "Oh, keep an eye on the Dead Marquis case. If what our informant told us is true, kill the corrupt minister that hid the information of the Marquis¡¯s death and assign a new Marquis on thatnd," Ryder said again.

    "I¡¯ll make sure that justice is served," Devilia told Ryder.

    " Good. I¡¯m leaving now. I¡¯ll try to be back when I¡¯m going back to the Royal City," Ryder said as he stepped closer and kissed Devilia suddenly.

    Devilia¡¯s eyes opened wide in surprise. She didn¡¯t expect that amidst such a serious conversation.

    Ryder left Devilia¡¯s Dukedom and went to another Dukedom and spent half a day there looking around and meeting with the citizens. After giving a passionate speech, he left that city as well and went to another Dukedom.

    As Ryder was traveling from Dukedom to Dukedom and giving speeches and meeting with people, he could see that his Fame Points were increasing at a really fast pace.

    He spent all his day in Divinity, working as a prince, and when it was a night in Divinity Again, he logged out.

    Ryder woke up at 7 in the morning. He took a shower and got ready.

    He wrote a ck tuxedo for this asion. He was sure that it was going to be a formal party, so he prepared himself ordingly. Wearing a tuxedo was Shu¡¯s idea, though.

    After getting ready, Ryder realized that it was already 8 in the morning. He had taken an hour to get ready. He went downstairs with Alice and had breakfast.

    Alice was sent to college by Shu after the dinner. Shu also sent some guards with Alice to keep her safe from unforeseen dangers.

    "We still have an hour before we need to leave. Do you want to go now? We can spend an hour on the helicopter, looking around the city in the meantime?" Shu suggested suddenly as he looked at his watch.

    "Hmm? It would be fun to see the city from the top," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Instead, I want to see the Lavender Town of the Silva n. How about we go one hour early but not to the party. We can spend an hour looking around the town," Ryder suggested.

    "Hmm? That¡¯s not proper manners to be early to a party, but I¡¯ve never been the one to care about manners, and it sounds fun. Let¡¯s go," Shu said as he smiled.

    He stood up and left the mansion with Ryder.

    He went to the helipad with a few of his guards and Ryder. The helicopter and the pilot were already prepared.

    The Butler of Shu also came with him this time.

    The helicopter was big enough for ten people to sit. Shu took four guards with him. All four of these guards had superior training. They also had guns inside their clothes.

    "Can we take guns inside that ce?" Ryder noticed the guns and asked Shu.

    "We don¡¯t need to take the guns inside the Silva Mansion since they¡¯ll provide us protection. As for my guards, they¡¯ll stay outside the mansion. They¡¯re just to fit protection when we¡¯re outside the mansion," Shu told Ryder.

    "Ah, I understand," Ryder said, nodding his head.

    Lavender Town was a small town that was known for being the base of the powerful Silva Family. Many normal people lived in this town and worked. It was mostly like a normal town; the only difference being that no stranger was allowed to enter the town without the permission is the Silva Family.

    This town was like a different country where the Silva Family was the government that gave visas to the people that came inside the city.

    At this moment, a single helicopter was entering the premise of the Lavender Town.

    The Helicopter moved towards the giant mansion in the middle of the Lavender Town, which was the Mansion of the Silva Family.

    There were over thirty helipads made behind the Silva Mansion for guests. The helicopternded in one of those helipads.

    Shu and Ryder stepped out of the helicopter with the butler and the guards.

    " Are you the guest for the birthday celebration?" A group of three people walked towards Shu and asked the question.

    The men were wearing white coats and ck pants.

    "Yes. We¡¯re from the Maxwell Family. My brother and I will be attending the celebration," Shu told them as he showed the invitation.

    "Maxwell Family, right. It checks out. May I see your Membership card?" the man asked Shu.

    Shu showed his Membership Card that was issued to him by the Silva Family. The card didn¡¯t have his name or any details. It only had Shu¡¯s photo.

    "It checks out as well. You are one hour early, by the way. You can wait in the guest hall in the meantime while the preparations are going on," The man told Shu.

    " It¡¯s fine. We intentionally came early. We thought that we could see the beautiful Lavender Town first since we¡¯re here," Shu answered as he rejected the offer to wait in the guest hall.

    "Oh, Sure. You can see the Lavender Town. You have our membership card, after all. You can take your guards too, but make sure that they don¡¯t use any unnecessary violence. We follow strict rules here," the men told Shu before they turned back and left.

    "Interesting people," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Let¡¯s go," He ced his hand on Shu¡¯s shoulders as he told Shu toe with him.

    Shu and Ryder left the helipad and walked away from the giant mansion. They walked towards the small and lively market that they had seen from the top when they were in the helicopter.

 Chapter 296 Thief

    <h4>Chapter 296: Thief</h4>

    Ryder entered the marketce of Lavender Town with Shu.

    The butler and four guards were walking behind them. Since they were dressed sovishly, they attracted a lot of eyes. Many girls looked at Ryder with lovestruck gazes. Shu on the other hand also attracted a few gazes from the girl as he dressed like a rich person.

    "This town seems pretty normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. It¡¯s good though. In some cases, normal is good," Ryder muttered as he watched the stalls on the side of roads and small shops. The shops were selling all kinds of items, from electronics to cheap knockoffs. There were many weird things on sale as well. He also saw a statue shop that sold statues of gods and goddesses.

    While Ryder was walking, his gaze was on the side of the shops. He was trying to see if this small town had anything he could purchase as a souvenir for Alice to give him when he went back.

    "That looks interesting," He muttered as he walked towards the shop that he found interesting. The small shop was selling a few items that were carved from wood. Some of these items looked cute like dolls.

    He was about to enter the shop with Shu when a person collided with him lightly. The person seemed weird. They had a crazy looking mask on their face and ck robe that hid their head and body.

    The person didn¡¯t even say sorry as he continued walking away.

    Ryder had a weird feeling as he watched the person leave.

    He checked his backpack to make sure of something and noticed that his wallet was missing. His purse had some important documents and some credit cards for emergency purposes.

    "This freaking thief!" Ryder cursed as he started chasing after the cloaked man.

    " Brother Ryder, what happened?" Shu called out as he looked at Ryder, who was running away.

    "Nothing, you continue the tour. I¡¯ll meet you near the mansion near the entry time," Ryder yelled back as he continued chasing after the man.

    Ryder was fast, but he was surprised to see that he wasn¡¯t able to close the distance between him and the person running away.

    "You stupid thief, stop!" Ryder called out, even though he was sure that his words weren¡¯t going to work.

    They kept running throughout the town when Ryder saw the person turn into an alleyway.

    He turned as well and saw the person climb a ten-foot-tall wall that was closing the alley to jump to the other side.

    "What the fuck!" He cursed as he watched the man climb the wall so quickly. He could see that there were no ces to hold onto the wall, yet the person did that so quickly.

    "That thief is pretty skilled," he muttered as he ran towards the wall as well, but he chose a different route. While the thief had climbed the wall, Ryder jumped instead.

    What others didn¡¯t know was that he used some of his Flying Skill in that jump as well, but he made sure to make it seem like he was jumping in case anyone was watching. This was possibly the territory of an Ancient Cultivation n, after all.

    Rydernded on the other side of the wall and saw the thief still running away.

    The thief nced back, and his deep blue eyes looked surprised as he saw Ryder still chasing after him.

    He continued running. After some time, the thief started climbing a two-story house. The thief again made it look so easy, surprising Ryder again. It was as if this was not a building but a toy ground for him.

    "I swear to god; I¡¯m not letting you get away. Return my wallet!" He called out, but the thief didn¡¯t look back.

    Ryder reached the building as well. He once again used the same trick. He made it seem like he was climbing the wall, but in reality, he was using his Flying Skill to help him with the closing. It was an excellent skill for things like this, and his mastery of the flying skill was already good enough for him to do this.

    Ryder got on top of the two-story building. He expected to find the thief there, but he saw the thief two buildings ahead of him. Now the thief was jumping from building to building like he was a Parkour artist.

    "Come on, man, you have so much talent; why do you feel the need to steal. Come and work for me. I can pay you good," Ryder called out again as he once again started chasing after the man, but he knew that this time, he was in his element.

    He didn¡¯t have to worry about heights and jumping at all since he had his flying skill to fall back on to help him.

    He also jumped from one building to another as he continued chasing after the man.

    As he could put his flying speed to use when he jumped, he kept gaining momentum and closing in the distance between him and the thief when he saw the thief jump down a building.

    "What the heck?"

    He hurriedly ran to that building and looked down, but all he could see was a giant pond in front of him. The thief was nowhere to be found.

    "This idiot is annoying me a lot," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    He looked around to guess where the thief might have gone, but he couldn¡¯t find any ce where the thief could¡¯ve hidden so fast.

    "Did he jump inside the pond? He shouldn¡¯t be able to hide there for so long, but that seems to be the only possible where he can hide at this point. Sigh, it looks like I¡¯ll have to get my clothes wet again," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    He took off his coat, his shirt, and his pants to save them from getting wet since he had a party to attend to. He kept them in his inventory. He was only in his underwear, but he got a tracksuit lower out of his inventory and wore it.

    Ryder always kept some of his clothing in his inventory in case of emergencies. He didn¡¯t want to dive down in his underwear, so he wore his tracksuit lower.

    "Hah, time to get in the water and see the effects of the Blessing of Water. I should be able to breathe without trouble, and the water won¡¯t hurt me, so it doesn¡¯t hurt to look around," Ryder muttered as he jumped down the building, straight into the pond.

 Chapter 297 Cute Little Thief

    <h4>Chapter 297: Cute Little Thief</h4>

    Ryder entered the water and dove deep inside, trying to find the girl. He felt so rxed as he entered the water. He didn¡¯t feel the need to hold in his breath. It was as if he was in his home habitat where he didn¡¯t need to do anything but have fun. He realized that he could breathe easily. Not only that, but he also felt like he was a little stronger in the water. He could also see clearly inside the water without having the need to close his eyes.

    He looked around the pond and saw the thief sitting in the middle of the pond in a meditative position. The thief had his eyes closed as if he was meditating.

    ¡¯Looks like this idiot didn¡¯t think that I would be able to find him here,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    ¡¯Still, why is he meditating here? Could it be a technique to hold his breath for longer? That seems to be the case. This idiot is screwed,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled.

    He swam closer to the thief in the middle. As he swam closer to the thief, the thief felt the subtle vibration in the water.

    He opened his deep blue eyes in confusion as he looked around, but his eyes opened wide as he saw Ryder.

    The thief sat up as he started swimming away, but he didn¡¯t know that Ryder was using the Ruler of Water. This ce was like his home. There was no way the thief was going to swim faster than Ryder in this ce.

    The thief couldn¡¯t even get close to the bank of the pond before Ryder caught up to him.

    He caught the thief¡¯s hand with his left hand and turned him back before catching the thief¡¯s slender neck with his right hand.

    Ryder tightened his grip on the thief¡¯s neck as he watched his eyes open wide in pain. Ryder stopped soon, though, and rxed his grip. He didn¡¯t want to kill the thief. He just wanted to threaten the town that he could kill him if he wished.

    Ryder held the thief¡¯s neck in his hand as he swam towards the bank of the pond.

    He stepped out of the pond with the thief¡¯s neck still in his right hand.

    "You make me run for quite some time, little thief. You do have some good stamina, I must say. You chose the wrong opponent this time, though. I¡¯m not like the others. You can¡¯t escape from me," Ryder replied as he red at the thief.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but as he said this, he felt like he noticed a weird glint in the thief¡¯s eyes.

    "Where¡¯s my wallet?" Ryder asked the thief, but without waiting for a response, he already started seeing.

    The thief rolled his eyes and didn¡¯t reply.

    " I don¡¯t think you expected me to catch you, so you probably didn¡¯t hide my wallet anywhere Special. It should be in the normal ce where everyone keeps their wallet. You should have back pockets too," Ryder muttered as he reached out his hand and started sucking the butt of the thief to find his wallet.

    "Ummm, what are you doing, you idiot!"

    While Ryder was confused by not finding a back pocket, he heard a yell.

    He looked towards the thief¡¯s face in confusion. It sounded like a girl¡¯s voice.

    His mouth opened in surprise as he frowned.

    He took off the face mask of the thief to make sure, and again, he was shocked as he saw the face of the thief.

    The thief had brte hair that was tied to a bun. Her deep blue eyes stared at Ryder in anger.

    Ryder was stunned briefly as his grip loosened and the girl got released.

    As soon as the girl got released, she started running away.

    She looked back once and saw Ryder not chasing after her.

    She ced her hand inside her clothing near her chest and pulled a men¡¯s wallet out.

    She threw the wallet towards Ryder as she screamed.

    "You¡¯re crazy!"

    The girl ran away while Ryder caught the wallet.

    Ryder watched her run away as he sighed. The thief he thought to be a man turned out to be a woman. At Least she returned his wallet in the end.

    Ryder watched the girl fun away. He didn¡¯t take his eyes off of her. His gaze kept going down to her butt that he had given. Her clothes were wet and sucking closer, highlighting her figure even more now.

    " Can I get your number? That job offer is still valid!" Ryder called out suddenly, but the girl didn¡¯t reply. After some time, the girl disappeared from his view.

    Ryder chuckled as he turned back. He walked to an empty ce, took his wet clothes off, and got dressed in a Tuxedo again.

    He roughly arranged his wet her before he started walking towards the mansion where he had promised to meet Shu. The estate was very big in size, so Ryder had no trouble in finding it.

    He wanted to see the Lavender Town, but because of catching the thief, he wasn¡¯t able to finish his trip of Lavender Town, and now he didn¡¯t have enough time. He needed to go back in time.

    After around twenty minutes, Ryder reached the entrance of the Silva Mansion.

    He could see Ryder waiting for him there already.

    "What happened? Why did you leave so suddenly?" She asked Ryder.

    "Nothing, I was chasing after a cute little thief," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Cute little thief?" Shu muttered as he noticed the hidden meaning in Ryder¡¯s words. There was no way that Ryder would call a male as cute. That must mean he was chasing after a cute girl.

    "Did you catch that cute little thief?" Shu asked with an amused smile on his face.

    "I did, and I didn¡¯t," Ryder replied vaguely.

    "Let¡¯s get inside your now," he told Shu.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s about time," Shu said smilingly.

    "You guys wait at the entrance. We should be out soon," Shu told his guards before he walked into the red carpet that led to the main entrance of the Mansion.

    He had to once again show the invitation and his membership card before he and Ryder were allowed to enter inside.

    After some time, Ryder and Shu finally entered the mansion. They were escorted to the Main Hall, where tables were arranged for everyone.

    The Maxwell Family had a separate table arranged for them too. Shu and Ryder sat at that table as they waited for the prominent guests to arrive.

 Chapter 298 Showing Arrogance

    <h4>Chapter 298: Showing Arrogance</h4>

    Ryder and Shu were seated on a separate seat that was arranged especially for them.

    Since each guest was allowed to bring only one person with them, all the tablets had only two chairs around them.

    "Ah, I see a few familiar faces. You see that person to our left?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "The man in the green?" Ryder inquired.

    " Yeah, He¡¯s the owner of Delta Shipping. They own the shipping business. You can say that they are the biggest shippingpany with seventy percent market share. Even though we have some ships of our own, we use their vessels to transport material, including weapons of war. They¡¯re very trustworthy," Shu told Ryder.

    "That girl beside him should be his wife. It¡¯s his second marriage, I think. His wife handles the ounting side of their business," he added.

    "Shipping business hah, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll need their help in the meantime," Ryder muttered as he nced at the man in the green suit.

    " In business, one should never think like that. It¡¯s alright for all established businesses, but those that start a business for the first time must get to know everyone. You¡¯ll never know when you might need them. That¡¯s the first thing I was taught when I took over the Dream Corporation," Shu told Ryder as he shook his head.

    "Ah, right. Since I have an opportunity, it¡¯ll be good to introduce myself at least," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "I¡¯ll introduce you to all of themter. I¡¯ll just tell you and them for now so you can know which person you want to put more focus on," Shu told Ryder.

    "Thedy on the third table to our left? She owns Walter Entertainment," Shu introduced another person to Ryder. It was a woman who looked like she was in herte forties. She was wearing a blue dress.

    " Walter Entertainment, the media giant. Not only do they make high budget films with big stars, but they also own many mainstream media outlets. The third most popr tv news channel, Walter News, is also owned by them. As a new business, it¡¯s always good to stay on their good side. You should get to know her as well. Thedy is annoying, though. She keeps bugging me to have an interview on her channel," Shu let out as he smiled wryly.

    "That man in green to our left is the CEO of the United Wrestling Federation. Even though all the fights are usually fake and pre-nned, people seem to like it a lot. I don¡¯t think he can be of any help to you, but still, it wouldn¡¯t be a loss to get to know him. The bulky young boy beside him is his son."

    One after another, Shu kept introducing people in the room to Ryder.

    He introduced over forty of them before he stopped.

    "It¡¯s quite weird. I thought that a few military big shots would be here as well. It looks like they couldn¡¯te, or they weren¡¯t invited," Shu muttered after looking all around the room and not finding a single person from the military.

    " They only called people from the business world maybe," Ryder chimed in.

    "Ah, no. Therees one," Shu let out as he watched a man step inside the hall. The man was in his mid-fifties. He had ck hair and a rugged face.

    "That¡¯s Major General Raul; I met him on a deal with the government. He¡¯s a hard negotiator and an annoying guy altogether. I don¡¯t like him at all," Shu suddenly said as he shook his head.

    "That boy beside him must be his son then," Ryder muttered as he looked at the handsome young man walking beside the middle-aged Major General.

    The young man looked like he was in histe twenties.

    "Yeah. I haven¡¯t met his son, but they look simr. Anyway, from what u heard, Major General Raul¡¯s son is not even thirty, and he¡¯s already a Captain in the army. He¡¯s close to promotion as well. He should be Lieutenant Colonel pretty soon. His name was Rahil, I think," Shu said.

    Major General Raul stepped towards his seat and noticed Shu sitting there.

    " You¡¯re here as well? I thought you didn¡¯t attend parties, Mr. Shu," Major General Raul asked Shu.

    "I felt like attending one this time, and this just happened to be the one," Shu replied casually.

    "Anyway, is that your son?" Shu asked.

    "Yes. He is my son, Rahil," Major General Raul introduced his son and introduced Shu to his son. "Rahil, this is Mr. Maxwell. He is the owner of the Dream Corporation."

    "Nice to meet you, Rahil," Shu said as he reached out his hand.

    Shu kept his hand in the air, but Rahil didn¡¯t shake his hand; ultimately, Shu retracted his hand.

    "I guess you didn¡¯t teach your son any manners, Major General Raul," Shu responded as he smiled wryly.

    "Hmph, don¡¯t act so big. You¡¯re nothing without the inheritance you got. Your power and your money are all inherited, and you didn¡¯t work hard for even a single day. I, on the other hand, fought in the army for my Rank and my power. I don¡¯t need to show me manners, so some rich kids," Rahil said as he rolled his eyes.

    Ryder could see that Major General Raul didn¡¯t look ufortable at all with Rahil¡¯s behavior. It was as if he was enjoying it instead.

    " Aren¡¯t you the same, little guy? Do you think your father¡¯s position didn¡¯t help you indirectly in reaching the rank you did? Do you really think it was because of your talents only? There are many people like you all around the world. If you keep that arrogant attitude on the battlefield, you wouldn¡¯t even know how you die. You¡¯re lucky we¡¯re living in peacetime at the moment, and you¡¯re not out in some desert in Sahara fighting a war," Ryder chimed in. His tone was filled with even more arrogance than the man that had just insulted Shu.

    "You! Who the heck are you to talk to me like that?" Rahil yelled at Ryder.

    His shout attracted the attention of everyone in the room.

    "Brother Ryder, it¡¯s fine. He¡¯s a kid," Shu said.

    Almost everyone in the room looked at Shu weirdly. Shu himself was only in his early 20s, and so was Ryder. Both of them were talking about a clearly older man as a kid. They didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry in this situation.

    "Yeah, he¡¯s a kid," Ryder nodded his head.

    " Go to your table ande back after learning some manners," he casually replied to Rahil.

    "You bastar-"

 Chapter 299 Young Miss

    <h4>Chapter 299: Young Miss</h4>

    Rahil was about to curse Ryder when a loud shout stunned them all.

    "What is happening here! This is a ce of Celebration, not a ce of war! Please be a good guest and don¡¯t create noise. Everyone go back to your seats," someone from the Silva n arrived and scolded Rahil.

    Rahil was furious, but he calmed down as Major General Raul patted his shoulders.

    "He¡¯s right. It¡¯s a ce of Celebration. Let¡¯s get to our seats. Don¡¯t argue here," he said.

    Major General Raul went to his table with Rahil.

    Everyone had settled down, and almost all seats were filled when the door on the other side of the main hall was opened.

    A group of people walked inside; all of them were wearing white robes.

    The man in the lead was an old man who seemed like he was in his seventies. Behind him, two middle-aged men were walking with their wives. And behind them, a girl was walking.

    Ryder was shocked as he saw the face of the girl. The girl had deep blue eyes like the sea. He had brte hair that seemed to suit her. The girl seemed to have a height of five and a half feet.

    She was wearing a blue skirt that came down to her knees and a white t-shirt. Over it all, she donned a white robe.

    "Brother Ryder, are you interested in her?"

    Shu noticed Ryder looking at the girl and smiled as he asked Ryder.

    " Who is she?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "How would I know. It¡¯s not like Ie here daily. Amongst all those people, I have only met the man in the lead. He¡¯s Master Ri Silva. He is the head of the Silva Family. If I were to guess, the people behind him should be his sons, daughters-inw, or maybe his daughters and sons-inw. The girl you were gawking at, should be his granddaughter," Shu informed Ryder.

    " The young miss of the Silva Family? How could she..." Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    "Everyone, I would like to wee all of you here," the old man took the center of the stage as he greeted everyone.

    "As you all know, today is the 21st birthday of my daughter, and it¡¯s a small party I threw to celebrate that. I am grateful that you all took the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this old man¡¯s happiness," he added.

    " Anyway, let¡¯s not dy it further. I would like to introduce my little family to you. This here is my Eldest son Samuel and his wife, Samantha. He¡¯s my Second Son Mm and his wife, Da."

    The old man known as Murai Silva introduced the two middle-aged men and their wives that were standing behind them.

    "Andstly, My beautiful Granddaughter, Keia. She is the daughter of my Eldest Son, Samuel. It¡¯s her birthday today. Please give her your best wishes," Murai Silva said to everyone.

    Everybody started wishing Keia a happy birthday. Shu also wished her.

    Keia looked in the direction of Ryder with a weird look on her face.

    "Happy Birthday to you," Ryder also wished her.

    Soon, the cake was brought on the stage. The Cake was a giant Five Storey Cake with a diameter of 50 centimeters.

    Keia took the knife in his hand and started cutting the cake.

    Everyone walked up to Keia and gave her the birthday gifts that they had brought.

    The Elders of the Silva n were standing talking with the guests. Only Keia was on the stage, getting gifts.

    Soon, it was Shu and Ryder¡¯s turn to give gifts.

    "Here, give her the gift of the Maxwell Family. You like her; you can talk to her this way," Shu gave a small box in Ryder¡¯s hand subtly.

    Ryder smiled wryly as he nodded his head.

    He walked up to the stage with Shu.

    "A small gift for the birthday girl from the Maxwell Family. Happy Birthday," Ryder said to Keia as he gave her the gifts.

    "Thank you," Keia thanked Ryder.

    "This gift deserved to be in your hands. You know, a thief stole this gift from me today in the town outside. I had to chase after him to get the gift back. Fortunately, I was able to get it back," Ryder said in a low voice that only Keia would be able to hear.

    "Lies. I stole your pur-" Keia immediately responded but closed her mouth. She was relieved that no one heard. Shu was standing at some distance.

    "So it was indeed you, my cute little thief. Don¡¯t you feel any shame doing this despite being so rich?" Ryder asked as he smiled wryly.

    "Don¡¯t you feel any shame chasing after a thief for a small purse despite being so rich?" Keia replied as she rolled her eyes.

    "That¡¯s fair enough. Have a fun birthday. Also, I must say, it was fun chasing after you," Ryder did as he winked at Keia jokingly before he turned back and walked back to his seat.

    "This man," Keia muttered under her breath.

    Major General Raul and his son also presented the gifts.

    The whole event onlysted for an hour. The gifting ceremony had ended.

    "Everyone, We have also organized a little ball dance and a nice dinner after that. But first, you all should have lunch. Our chefs have created some incredible dishes using our ancient herbs. It would be good for your body, and it would increase your strength as well. After you have lunch, you can take a tour of our mansion as a walk after eating. Just make sure you don¡¯t try to open any doors that are closed. We¡¯ll return for the ball dance after two hours," Murai Silva informed everyone before leaving with Keia and others.

    "They left? I didn¡¯t know what to expect but birthday celebrations are like this, it¡¯s interesting. The first part seemed normal, but lunch and a ball party then dinner. It seems a weird celebration pattern. Or maybe it¡¯s different in the world of the rich?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Nah, it¡¯s definitely odd. It¡¯s a weird pattern of celebration. Still, every family has their own tradition. I don¡¯t think we canment. Just enjoy the good," Shu told Ryder.

    Soon, the food was served. It seemed like a dish that was entirely made of herbs.

    Ryder ate the food, and he was surprised to see that it was tastier than it looked. Ryder could also see that it was good for health as he heard a notification resounded in his head that his health was permanently increased by one point after he finished eating.

 Chapter 300 Searching Mansion

    <h4>Chapter 300: Searching Mansion</h4>

    After eating the dish that was served for Lunch, Ryder stood up from the table.

    "Let¡¯s look around the mansion. They already allowed us to. It would be bad for us to not take them up on their offer," Ryder told Shu.

    "Hmm? Do you want to find her?" Shu asked as he smiled.

    "Keia? Not at all. I just want to see the mansion," Ryder replied.

    "I will eat a little more. You should go and take a look. I¡¯m still feeling hungry," Shu told Ryder, shaking his head.

    "Right. This food is good for your health. Eat as much as you want. I¡¯ll be back shortly," Ryder told Shu before he turned back to leave.

    Ryder left the main hall alone as he wandered around the long hallways of the mansion.

    "Little Master, should I tell you the ces that you should visit in the mansion?" One of the Servants asked Ryder.

    The servants were informed that people might be going around the mansion to look around. They were told to help them and make sure that their experience was good. The Silva Mansion had many great ces that were worth seeing, and they were tasked with informing the guests about them in case someone wanted to see them.

    "What ces you might suggest?" Ryder asked the young servant.

    "We have the human-made water fountain, the private zoo, the Museum of Ancient, the Statue Hall where we have statues of all the heads of the Silva Family since the beginning. We also gave a ce where all the paintings created by Young Miss Keia are exhibited. Which ce would you like to see?" The servant asked Ryder.

    "Oh? Your Young Miss Keia creates paintings?" Ryder asked with an amused look on his face.

    "Yes. She not only creates them, but she¡¯s very good at them as well. It¡¯s said that painting is one of her greatest talents. Even professional painters praise her incredible paintings," the servant told Ryder.

    "So, do you want to see the Painting Exhibition? Most of the guests selected to see that ce," he inquired.

    "Ah, no. I don¡¯t want to see that ce. I¡¯m more curious about the Museum of the Ancient, though. What¡¯s that ce?" Ryder asked the servant.

    "The Museum of Ancient? Right. It¡¯s like a museum that houses many old and ancient things of our n that are not treasures. Even though they are not Treasures for the n, they are still really precious. So no one is allowed to touch them. You can only admire them from at least two meters of distance. Breaking the rules is a Punishable offense. Do you still want to see?" the servant inquired.

    ¡¯Why wouldn¡¯t I? It seems like that¡¯s why I came here after all. A ce that has the word Ancient in it, and I¡¯m looking for clues about the Ancient Cultivation Family. That seems like the best ce to start from,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Alright. Take me there," he told the servant.

    "As you wish," the servant nodded his head.

    He escorted Ryder to a certain room. The room had a wooden ck door. The servant opened the door.

    "This is the Museum of Ancient. No one chose to see this ce, so you have this all to yourself for the time. Just don¡¯t touch anything. I¡¯ll stay outside," the servant told Ryder.

    "Wait, aren¡¯t you going to keep an eye on me?" Ryder inquired with a curious look on his face.

    He wondered how they were going to know if he did something inside without keeping an eye on him.

    "There¡¯s no need to. You can¡¯t take any of the items outside without getting caught after all. There¡¯s a mechanism around this kingdom. Whenever something from this mansion goes outside, a Siren starts ringing. So even if you steal, you¡¯ll get caught when you step out of the mansion," the servant informed Ryder.

    "A Siren system. Interesting. How does it work?" Ryder asked innocently, trying to get some information.

    "I can¡¯t tell you that," the servant said, v refusing to answer.

    "It must be that there¡¯s some chip or something on the items that get activated when it¡¯s too far away from the core. It¡¯s such a cheap trick. There¡¯s nothing interesting or mysterious about it," Ryder said. He made sure that the servant heard him.

    "No. That¡¯s not it! It¡¯s the scent of the items. If you touch them and break the rules, you¡¯ll get that scent on you. If you touch anything inside and walk out the door, or if you take any item and do the same, you¡¯ll get caught. The for has a mechanism that captures and scans for the smell. It¡¯s way more mysterious than that you said!" The Servant responded fiercely.

    "Oh? That¡¯s indeed interesting. Thanks for telling me," Ryder told the servant as he walked inside.

    The servant has his mouth opened wide as he realized that he had just told Ryder the secret.

    "It¡¯s fine. Even if he knows, what can he do? He still can¡¯t take anything out. Now he¡¯ll just be more sure not to touch anything," the servant muttered as he justified his actions to himself.

    Ryder walked inside the room that seemed like an old library. There were many shelves that had various items. All these shelves were ten meters away from each other to give people enough space to walk in between them and observe them without getting close to the items.

    The walls of the room seemed to be giving an old aura, making it seem to be more mysterious.

    Ryder walked over to the first shelf and looked at the first item.

    It seemed to be an average grey rock piece. Ryder read the name tag on the shelf below the rock.

    "Rock of Afsha," He muttered in confusion.

    "Do they expect me to know what it is just from its name?" Ryder let out as he smiled wryly. He expected there to be a description of the items near them, but there were only names.

    He was about to move over, but his gaze fell on the ground. Ryder before him, there were a few words written on the ground.

    "Rock of Afsha, the rock that was thrown by the Young King Caesar when he was just a kid," Ryder read the words on the ground.

    ¡¯These idiots. They write the names of the items on paper on the shelf and write the description on the ground. Couldn¡¯t they write and hand the description beside the name tag,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled wryly.

    He moved over to the second item.

    "This?" he muttered with a frown on his face as he read the name of the item.

 Chapter 301 Five Ancient Families

    <h4>Chapter 301: Five Ancient Families</h4>

    " The bathwater of Queen Afsana?" Ryder let out with a weird look on his face as he longed at a small vial on the shelf that seemed to have some water.

    He looked at the ground for description.

    "The bathwater in which Queen Afsana of Kingdom of Riamsi bathed in 1200AD."

    "What the heck? How did they even get this item," Ryder looked at the small vial with an annoyed look on his face.

    He moved over to the third item on the shelf.

    "The Gauntlet of Manushh," He read the name of the item as he liked at the silver gauntlet on the shelf.

    He read less description.

    "The Gauntlet which the Brave Warrior King Manushh wore when hemanded to wipe half the poption of his enemy Kingdom. Only women and kids were spared," Ryder muttered.

    "So much history here. How the heck did they even find these things. I wonder if they made up most of it," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    "Are you calling my Family Liar?"

    Ryder had just said about these descriptions being made up when he heard a female voice.

    "Cute Little Thief, what are you doing here?" Ryder asked without even looking back.

    "I should be the one asking you this question. Why are you interested in old stuff?" Keia asked Ryder.

    "You should answer my question first, little thief," Ryder told Keia as he shook his head.

    " No one seemed to be interested in these old things. I was walking by when I saw little Dan standing outside. He told me that one guest selected to see the Museum of Ancient. I wanted to see who in this day and age decided to see this ce," Keia told Ryder. " Now, answer my question."

    "I am just more interested in things of the time forgotten. There¡¯s nothing wrong with this," Ryder answered.

    "Anyway, it¡¯s good that I got you alone. So, Cute Little Thief, tell me. Why did you steal my wallet? Looking at you, I don¡¯t think youcked the money or food. Was it for fun? Or were you especially targeting me?" he asked Keia.

    "Hmph, why would I target you. I was just out to have fun. I had hidden myself, so I could freely walk through the city when I saw you. You were walking in such a swag like a rich idiot; I couldn¡¯t control myself from thinking of trying to teach you a lesson. Who knew that you would be such a stubborn person," Keia replied as she shook her head.

    " You were able to catch up to me despite the fact that I tried so hard to shake you off. You¡¯re definitely not a normal person. The way you jumped off the roofs, even Chu n members weren¡¯t able to do it when they chased after me. Who is your master?" She inquired with a frown.

    "My Master?" Ryder let out in confusion, not understanding what she was talking about.

    " Yes, your master. The person who taught you cultivation," Keia rified.

    ¡¯ The person who taught me cultivation? She thinks that I was able to catch up to her because I cultivated? Doesn¡¯t that mean she¡¯s actually a... With her help, I should be able to get more information,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at the girl.

    "Why should I tell you about my Master? Anyway, how did you find out that I learned cultivation?" Ryder replied, without clearing the fact that he was not a Cultivator.

    " Are you kidding me? There¡¯s no way you don¡¯t know about my family. If I wouldn¡¯t know it, then who would?" Keia asked.

    "Hah, your family? Why don¡¯t you tell me about your family from your own mouth? I don¡¯t believe what I hear from vague sources. I want to hear what the Young Miss of the Silva n knows about her family," Ryder asked with an interested look on his face.

    "Hmph, what¡¯s there to not believe? Do you have any doubt that our family is really a Cultivation Family?" Keia said as she rolled her eyes.

    " Oh? Just a Cultivation Family? I don¡¯t put much mind into things other than my cultivation, so I don¡¯t know much about the outside world, but I did hear a rumor that the Silva Family was an Ancient Cultivation Family?" Ryder said with an interested look on his face.

    "Ancient Cultivation Family? There are only Five Ancient Cultivation Families in this country and only one in this part of the country. Even though our family is close to that level, we still can¡¯t qualify as an Ancient Cultivation Family, so someone was probably messing around with you," Keia replied, shaking her head.

    It was generally prohibited to spill the secrets about the cultivation world before mortals. Still, as Keia misunderstood Ryder as a Cultivator, she thought that it was normal for her to talk to him since he was a part of the same world as her.

    "Cute Little Thief, as I said, I don¡¯t put much focus on the outside world generally, so I¡¯m unaware of such things. Would you mind telling me which Ancient Cultivation Family is in the vicinity?" Ryder asked Keia.

    He knew that this mission of finding the ancient cultivation family had something to do with saving Bastion¡¯s life, and the family that ced his life in danger should be from the same vicinity, most probably.

    " Oh, that family would be..."

    Keia was about to answer when the door of the hall was suddenly opened as another person walked inside.

    "Hmm? Miss Keia, you¡¯re here," the person greeted Keia.

    "Uhmm? I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t know your name," Keia replied, shaking her head as she looked at the young man that had just barged inside.

    "This little kid is Rahil. He¡¯s the son of Major General Raul. Don¡¯t put any focus on this kid," Ryder said casually as he waved his head towards Rahil.

    " Why are you here? Shoo, little kids should stay with their parents. Learn your manners with your daddy and then roam around," Ryder stood to Rahil.

    "Pfft."

    Keia couldn¡¯t help butugh as she saw Ryder addressing a man who clearly looked many years older than him as a kid.

    "You! You¡¯re looking to die!" Rahil yelled at Ryder as his face turned red.

    " Master Rahil, this is a party of the Silva n, and everyone here is our guest. I don¡¯t appreciate you threatening a guest like that. Please go back to the hall," Keia told Rahil in an annoyed tone.

    "Ah, Miss Keia, it¡¯s not that. I just heard that you were here and I came to talk to you about something. It was his fault as he started mocking me. Still, I apologize for losing myposure," Rahil started apologizing as he saw Keia getting angry.

 Chapter 302 The Bet

    <h4>Chapter 302: The Bet</h4>

    He had begged the servants to tell her where he could meet the young miss of the n, and he even bribed one of them. Only then was he able to get her location, but as he stepped inside, he saw her with Ryder. He couldn¡¯t believe how the situation had turned sour for him from that point onwards. Now even the Young Miss of Silva n looked angry.

    " I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a kid that you need to find. Anyway, since you came here to see our Ancient Museum, you can see it. I¡¯ll be leaving now," Keia said to Rahil before she nced at Ryder.

    "Come, let me show you something," She told Ryder as she held his hand and pulled him with her. Ryder wanted to see what weird things this museum had, but he needed to get to know about the Ancient Cultivation Family, and only Keia could tell him about them.

    He let himself be dragged by Keia without resisting even a little.

    "Ah, Miss Keia, wait," Rahil called out as he reached out his hand, but Keia didn¡¯t stop and continued walking away.

    "This bastard! He took Keia with him!" Rahil muttered as he cursed under his breath. Even though it was clear that Keia took Ryder, he ced all the me on Ryder.

    He stomped his feet on the ground before he left the Ancient Museum.

    " Where are you taking me?" Ryder asked Keia.

    "Outside. To have some fun," Keia said as she chuckled.

    "Hmm?" Ryder couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    "From what I have seen, stealing is your fun. Don¡¯t tell me that you want to take me outside to steal," Ryder inquired with a weird look on his face.

    "Hehe," Keia looked at Ryder and grinned. Even though she didn¡¯t say anything, Ryder could feel that he had received his answers.

    ¡¯This weird girl. She¡¯s so rich, yet her hobby is stealing. I can¡¯t believe her family doesn¡¯t know about it. They must know it as well, yet they let her do it,¡¯ Ryder thought as he sighed.

    " Your family knows you like stealing things?" Ryder asked Keia as he walked beside her.

    " My mother knows, but other than her, no one in my family knows," Keia said as she shook her head.

    "You¡¯re a really weird girl, you know. Were you a thieving cat or something in your past life? You have all the money one could hope for, yet you find pleasure in stealing," Ryder told Keia as he shook his head.

    " I am the way I am," Keia let out as she raised her hand innocently.

    "How about we gave a contest?" She asked Ryder.

    "What contest?" Ryder inquired in confusion.

    "There are many big people here today, and most of them came with their guards that they left outside, right?"She asked Ryder.

    "That¡¯s right," Ryder said, nodding his head.

    "The guards must have weapons as well," She said.

    "Yes, they do," Ryder replied.

    "Half an hour," She said to Ryder.

    "Half an hour, what?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    "You have half an hour. Both of us will go outside and try to steal the weapons of the guards without being discovered. The one that can steal more weapons in half an hour will win," Keia exined.

    "What if the guards discover you and they shoot? I can protect myself, but you might be in danger," Ryder asked Keia.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me. I will be perfectly safe. I have many ways to protect myself," Keia said, shaking her head.

    " If you say so. Anyway, What will I get if I win?" Ryder asked her.

    Keia thought for some time as she looked at Ryder.

    "Uhmm, You¡¯ll get a promise," Keia said to Ryder.

    "What promise?" Ryder inquired curiously.

    " You can ask for anything from me. Even if it¡¯s about killing someone, I¡¯ll make it happen," Keia replied.

    "Oh? A promise like that from Young Miss of the Silva n? The offer is pretty tempting. What will you get if you win?" Ryder asked again.

    "Hmph, isn¡¯t it obvious? I¡¯ll get the same thing. If I win, you¡¯ll do any one thing I tell you to," Keia answered.

    " Oh? And what might that one thing be?" Ryder asked her.

    "You¡¯ll know after you lose," Keia responded with an amused smile on her face.

    "Thispetition does sound interesting, and I would agree to take part in it, but first you need to finish what you were telling me about the Ancient Cultivation family in this vicinity. I don¡¯t like leaving things hanging in the middle," Ryder told Keia.

    "Oh, that. I hadpletely forgotten about that. One of the Five Ancient Cultivation Families, the Jacksons," Keia answered.

    "Jacksons? I¡¯ve never heard of them. Where is their family established?" Ryder inquired.

    "The Jackson Family is one of the Five Ancient Families, but they are near the bottom of that ranking. They mainly deal in the assassination. I can give you their entire address but first, let¡¯s not dy. The ball will begin soon, so we should finish thepetition fast," Keia told Ryder as she refused to answer.

    "Fine. Let¡¯s finish our bet faster. After that, you can give me the address," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "Yeah, leave the Mansion and wait at the door. I¡¯lle out after getting into the old clothes. This dress is notfortable for stuff like this," Keia said as she turned back and went away.

    " Hah, this girl is a real character, but she seems like a nice person. After winning the bet, I can use that promise for many things. I¡¯ll have to think carefully about what I want from her," Ryder muttered as he shook his head. He continued walking towards the exit.

    Ryder left from the main gates of the mansion and looked inside. He could see the guards of various guests spread out throughout the long Boundary of the estate.

    Ryder stood at the entrance of the mansion as he waited for Keia to arrive.

    After a few minutes, Keia appeared beside him like a shadow.

    "I¡¯m ready," She said.

    Ryder looked at her and noticed that she was once again dressed in entirely ck clothing that fit her perfectly. The only difference was that she had changed her mask.

    "The same clothes? Doesn¡¯t matter. Let¡¯s share the yground, so we don¡¯t get in each other¡¯s way. I¡¯ll take the left side; you take the right side. The person thates back with most weapons at the end of 30 minutes will win," Ryder said as he nodded his head.

    "Wait a minute; I have something to say," Keia stopped Ryder.

    "It won¡¯t be easy to hold onto all the weapons until the end, so I have thought of something," Keia said.

    " Look behind you," She told Ryder.

    Ryder looked back and realized that a young man was standing behind him. The man had blonde hair, and he looked like he was in histe 20s.

    Ryder was surprised as he looked at the young-looking man. The man had managed to appear behind Ryder without him finding out. Ryde couldn¡¯t help but wonder if it was because the man was genuinely talented or because Ryder¡¯s mind was diverted by the thoughts of the Jackson Family, and he didn¡¯t notice it.

    "This is Saleyn. He is my most trusted guard. He protects me from troubles and many more things. The rules are that after stealing each weapon, the person muste to him to submit the weapons before going out to steal more. This would help in safeguarding the weapons as well as giving you the freedom to act freely without having to worry about the weapons," Keia introduced the young man briefly before she started telling him the rules.

    "I agree. Let¡¯s just start now," Ryder told Keia. He wanted to finish it as fast as he could without having to wait for it.

    Both Ryder and Keia went their separate ways as thepetition began.

    Ultimately, it was decided that Ryder was going to steal towards the Right side.

    Ryder walked around, wondering how he should deal with it. He was athletic, but he didn¡¯t have any experience in theft.

    His powers also didn¡¯te in handy at this point. His healing was useless when it came to stealing. His flying was also useless. As for his blessing of water, he couldn¡¯t even form the weapons of water correctly, let alone using them for anything. He didn¡¯t have anything that could help him in thispetition.

    "I don¡¯t have the talent, but I have something that will make up for thatck of talent in this situation," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "My dear Janus, Open the store for me," Ryder told Janus with an amused smile on his face.

    Janus was Ryder¡¯s biggest weapon and his biggest strength, and he was going to use it.

    Ryder realized that Janus was a supernatural system, but he didn¡¯t know how it came to exist or why it chose him only.

 Chapter 303 Theft Competetion

    <h4>Chapter 303: Theft Competetion</h4>

    Despite asking so many times, he never received answers.

    Even though there were many questions regarding Janus, and there were many things he didn¡¯t like about Janus, overall, he had many things that made him happy for being able to possess Janus.

    Janus was just like a guardian angel to him, and he fully understood it.

    The System Store opened before Ryder.

    Ryder looked at the screen before his eyes and started scrolling through to go to the items he needed. He had finished a few minor missions, so he had a few Origin Points, which he felt to be more than though for him.

    "There it is, the Art of Theft," he muttered as he found the thing he was looking for. Long ago, he had seen this item in the Store, but he never felt the use of it.

    It was not a physical item but more of a Spiritual Item. It was a small booklet that gave the user all the knowledge and experience that was in the booklet.

    When Ryder had first received the system, he had learned a skill from something simr. The Lower Martial Arts that he used to kill his first target was learned just like this.

    He purchased the Art of Theft.

    [Art of Theft Received]

    [Would you like to learn it directly?"

    [Yes] [No]

    Ryder tapped on yes despite knowing that direct learning costs some origin points. He didn¡¯t have time to go read the entire book and try to understand it, so he paid the origin points for thefort of learning it without putting much effort.

    As soon as he tapped yes, he could feel arge amount of Knowledge entering his head. It took him five minutes to assimte all of the knowledge that he had absorbed.

    " Never ceases to amaze me," he muttered as he smiled.

    Ryder walked up to one of the guards that were walking casually. Their gun was in their pockets.

    Most of the guards were just standing casually here and there, waiting for their bosses toe out. Until then, they didn¡¯t need to protect anyone.

    Ryder ran at full speed and hit one of the guards. Both of them fell down.

    Ryder hurriedly stood up.

    "I-i¡¯m sorry. I was running to get some exercise when my feet hit a stone. I lost control and hit you. I don¡¯t hurt you, did I?" He asked the guard as he reached out his hand.

    The guard looked at Ryder for a brief second before he shook his head.

    "I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t worry," the guard said as he stood up himself without taking any help from Ryder.

    "That¡¯s good. Have fun," Ryder said as he waved his hand and started running again. He ran back towards the mansion.

    Saelyn was standing at the entrance with his arms folded.

    He saw Rydering back.

    Ryder stopped before Saelyn and gave him the gun that he had stolen from the guard when he collided with him.

    "Here, My first weapon," he said while giving the gun.

    "Did Keia return?" he asked Saelyn.

    "Young Miss submitted her first weapon before you," Saelyn replied as he nodded his head.

    "She¡¯s fast. I can¡¯t fall back either," Ryder muttered as he ran away again.

    He had started a few minutester than Keia since he was purchasing things from the store and assimting the knowledge after that for over five minutes, so he didn¡¯t find it strange that Keia had arrived before him. It didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t leave her behind, though.

    For the next twenty minutes, Ryder increased his efforts. He didn¡¯t dally for even a second as he stole weapons from the guards and submitted them to Saelyn for scorekeeping.

    There were only a few minutes remaining before their decided time for the contest was about to be over.

    Ryder looked at the watch as he frowned.

    "Only two minutes; I should be able to get another catch if I¡¯m fast," he muttered as he ran towards a guard.

    Thirty Minutes were over since the contest began. Both Ryder and Keia had arrived back. Both of them stood before Saelyn as they waited for the results to be announced.

    "Young Miss Keia has collected 6 Weapons," Saelyn announced first.

    As soon as Ryder heard it, a smile appeared on his face since he knew that he had collected more.

    "Young Master Ryder had managed to collect..."

    Saelyn took a pause as he reached her. Keia waited with a curious look on her face since she didn¡¯t know how much Ryder had managed to collect.

    "... ten weapons," Saelyn dered, stunning even Keia. He looked towards Keia. "Young Miss, you lost."

    "Wow, I thought you were only a good Cultivator, but looks like you¡¯re a better thief than me," Keia said with an amazed look on her face.

    "I lost by such an impossible margin," she added as she sighed.

    "Now that we¡¯re done, let¡¯s go inside," She told Ryder.

    She looked back at Saelyn.

    " Thanks for the help. You can take the guns to the guards and have them collect it for themselves," She said before she went inside with Ryder.

    " Congrattions on winning. So, what do you want me to do? A bet is a bet. I¡¯ll fulfill my side of the bet since I lost," Keia told Ryder as she walked with him.

    "I want all the information about the Ancient Cultivation ns. The more information you can collect, the better. I want to increase my knowledge about the outside world now that I have finished my training. Can you do that?" Ryder asked Keia.

    He couldn¡¯t think of any use of Keia other than this. He didn¡¯t want her to kill anyone for him. He had already killed enough people, and he could kill more if he needed. As for money, he had ways to get that too. All he needed was information. The Ancient Cultivation Families were the side of this world that he hadn¡¯t known about.

    ording to legends, Cultivators were the humans that managed to increase their potential and gain various powers through intense training and Knowledge. He wanted to know more about them.

    "That¡¯s all? I can easily do that. Give me a week. I¡¯ll collect everything I can. Where do you stay? Tell me the address; I¡¯lle there myself with all the information," Ryder said to Keia.

    Ryder gave her the address of Shu¡¯s house since that¡¯s the ce he was living at currently. He didn¡¯t want to go back to the old house with Alice where she was unsafe, so he had decided to stay with Alice at Shu¡¯s ce until he got a better and safer ce.

 Chapter 304 Raging Shu Maxwell

    <h4>Chapter 304: Raging Shu Maxwell</h4>

    After giving her Shu¡¯s address, he separated from her since Keia said that she needed to change her clothes. He also needed to go back to the Hall where Shu was probably waiting for him.

    Both of them bid farewell to each other before Ryder went inside the Hall.

    As he entered the Hall, he could feel a hostile gaze looking at him.

    Rahil, the son of Major General Raul, was standing in the distance, ring at him as if he wanted to eat him.

    ¡¯What?" Ryder asked Rahil as he frowned.

    "You didn¡¯t do the right thing. It would be best if you didn¡¯t mess with me, or you will regret it," Rahil threatened Ryder as he pointed his finger towards Ryder¡¯s face.

    "Sigh, little guy. I know you¡¯re in the army, and you think you¡¯re tough, but don¡¯t point your finger at me. You might find yourself on the floor if you didn¡¯t stop with this idiocy," Ryder let out in an annoyed tone as he pped the man¡¯s hand away and sat on the table in front of Shu.

    *Thump*

    "You Bastard! You dare to show off!" Rahil yelled as he smashed his fist on the table in front of Ryder.

    Shu was eatingfortably when Rahil¡¯s hand smashed on the table, making the ss of water that was in front of Shu fall down.

    Shu was already annoyed that Rahil was disturbing him and Ryder, and this finally made his anger reach overboard.

    He stood up as he wiped his hand from a tissue paper. He didn¡¯t look towards Rahil; instead, he looked towards Major General Raul, who was Rahil¡¯s father.

    " Major General Raul, you should keep your son in control. I¡¯m not saying anything, but that doesn¡¯t mean he can do whatever the hell he wants with my brother and me. Don¡¯t forget who I am! You¡¯re not the only Major General that I know and deal with! I came here to have fun with my brother and take part in a birthday celebration, not to face a bickering kid! This is myst warning! If he still doesn¡¯t calm down, then he won¡¯t be in the army by tomorrow, and you damn well know that you can¡¯t stop me from getting him removed from the army!" Shu thundered. His voice echoed in the entire chamber.

    Most of the people that were present here knew about Shu and knew his strength and power. Some of them had even worked with him, as well. They were shocked to see Shu like that. Shu had been the calmest and calcting person that had known. To see him get angry was the first time for them.

    Almost everyone knew that Shu was the Owner of the Dream Corporation, which was one of thergest weapons suppliers in the world. They Were a giant conglomerate, and Shu Maxwell was on top of this massive Giant. When they heard Shu¡¯s threat to have Major General Raul¡¯s son removed from the army, they knew that it wasn¡¯t just a fake threat. If he came to it, he could actually achieve it.

    All of them looked at Major General Raul with pity in their eyes. They knew that he had no choice but to back off at the moment.

    Major General Raul looked at Shu with shock as well before he shifted his gaze to Rahil.

    "Rahil,e back! Why do you keep annoying them? Come sit at your own table!" he scolded Rahil.

    "But dad-"

    "No buts! Come sit down at your table! We¡¯re at someone¡¯s birthday celebration here! Don¡¯t you know how you should behave! Stop messing around and sit down silently."

    Rahil was about to argue that it was Ryder¡¯s fault, but Major General Raul cut off the sentence of his son as he continued scolding him.

    Rahil looked back at Ryder before he snorted. He went back to his seat, begrudgingly.

    "I apologize for my son¡¯s behavior. He seemed to have forgotten how he should¡¯ve behaved," Major General Raul apologized to Shu as well.

    Shu didn¡¯t reply as he simply sat down on the table.

    He continued eating the tasty food ced before him again.

    Major General Raul walked back to his table and sat down beside his son.

    "Man, that was my first time seeing you angry. I like it," Ryder smiled as he praised Shu.

    " That kid was just too arrogant. I don¡¯t like being arrogant or showing off, but when someone like him messes with my eating, I can¡¯t control my temper. I¡¯m sorry for showing you this unsightly sight," Shu told Ryder with a wry smile on his face.

    "I can understand how you felt. I was about to smack his face on the table when you stood up, shocking me. I must say, I think your approach was much better than I would have chosen," Ryder said to Shu as heughed.

    "Hahaha, now I regret standing up. Watching his head on the table would have been much better," Shu startedughing as well.

    "Finish fast. It¡¯ll soon be the time for the ball dance," Ryder told Shu as he looked at his watch.

    " It¡¯s myst te. I¡¯m done after this. I must say, I don¡¯t eat this much since I want to get slimmer, but this stuff is really tasty, and I can feel my body getting stronger as well. I¡¯m impressed at the food they have," Shu said as he smiled.

    Rahil was still looking at Ryder. As he watched Ryder and Shuugh, he could feel his heart burn. He was getting angrier and angrier.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll teach you a real lesson one day. You should pray you never get in my hands alone,¡¯ Rahil thought as he red at Ryder.

    Ryder could see Rahil ring at him. He simply raised his middle finger towards Rahil as he smiled to annoy him even more.

    "This bastard!" Rahil let out as he clenched his teeth.

    A member of the Silva Household arrived in the Hall and told everyone to shift to another Hall for the Ball Dance.

    Everyone stood and followed after the person who escorted them to a different Hall. The Hall was evenrger than thest hall. There were chairs ced near the wall, but most of the center portion of the hall was empty for dancing.

    Ryder and Shu were standing together, waiting for the hosts of the function to arrive.

    "Brother Ryder, I am curious about something," Shu suddenly asked Ryder.

    "Sure. Go ahead. What do you want to ask?" Ryder inquired as he wondered what Shu was going to ask.

 Chapter 305 Rejected

    <h4>Chapter 305: Rejected</h4>

    " The ones that came in a couple are fine, but what about the rest? Who will they dance with? I won¡¯t dance since I¡¯m not too fond of it, but there are many guys here. You¡¯re safe since you will dance with Keia, but what about others?" Shu asked Ryder, wondering how Ryder would respond to his childish question.

    "Is this your first time in parties like this as well?" Ryder asked Shu in return.

    Shu had been rich since the beginning. The only information Ryder had about Rich People Ball dancing was what he saw in the movies. He had seen one in the Demon Realm in Divinity, but there were more girls there as well. Also, that was more like a meeting and less of a ball dancing.

    This event, on the other hand, was purely ball dancing here, so this did feel confusing.

    " I went to a few of those but very rarely. Nothing was as unorthodox as this one, though," Shu replied, shaking his head in confusion.

    "Who knows what they will do. Maybe only the ones that came ase can dance. They didn¡¯t say it was a ball dance for everyone. The others can just talk and watch," Ryder replied as he raised his hand innocently.

    "True. Oh right, Do you want my help in setting up a dance between you and Keia Silva? I can act as your wingman?" Shu asked Ryder as he smiled.

    Ryder shook his head. "Don¡¯t worry. I think I have that base covered already."

    Shu was surprised that Ryder was so confident, but he didn¡¯t find it suspicious.

    The hosts of the event also arrived after some time. It was just as Ryder had expected; they didn¡¯t bring any more people with them.

    As the ball dance began, most of the couple started dancing. Even the two sons of the Silva n started dancing to the slow music.

    There was only a single girl in the entire hall that wasn¡¯t dancing yet, and she was Keia, but it wasn¡¯t like she didn¡¯t have any offer.

    Many young guys that came with their families walked up to her to ask her to dance.

    "Aren¡¯t you going to ask her to dance with you?" Shu asked Ryder after some time.

    " What¡¯s the hurry? Let the others get rejected first," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    "What if she says yes to one of them? You shouldn¡¯t lose any opportunity," Shu told Ryder with a concerned look on his face.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not losing any opportunity here," Ryder replied as he smiled. "She won¡¯t say yes."

    "If you say so," Shu muttered as he took a sip from the wine ss in his hand and watched Keia.

    He could see guys walking up to her anding back dejected. It seemed to be going just as Ryder had said. Keia was saying no to everyone.

    Shu still wasn¡¯t entirely free of concern for Ryder. Seeing Keia reject everyone didn¡¯t mean she was going to say yes to Ryder. He was curious if Ryder would actually seed.

    " Hmph, you guys are all trash. Watch me do it. You need looks as well as charm to get a yes from ady," Rahil suddenly said to the other guys as he proudly walked up to Keia.

    As soon as Rahil reached near Keia, he dropped down to his knees as he reached out his right hand to ask for Keia¡¯s hand for a dance.

    "That idiot watched a lot of movies," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    Everyone watched Keia say something to Rahil as she shook her head. After that, they watched Rahil stand up and walk back.

    Most of the guys wereughing by now. They were amazed at how proudly he went and how fast he came back.

    "She probably doesn¡¯t like dancing," Rahil gave an excuse to others as he stood near the wall with his back resting against it.

    "Everyone has been rejected except you and me now. Are you going now, or you want me to go and get rejected first?" Shu asked Ryder with a wry smile on his face.

    Ryder shook his head as he said, "I¡¯m going."

    He held the wine ss in his left hand as he walked up to Keia.

    "Cute Little Thief, are you going to dance with me?" Ryder asked Keia as he smiled.

    Every guy standing in the back expected Ryder to fail ande back, but they watched Keia hold Ryder¡¯s hand. Both of them walked to the center of the room together, shocking everyone.

    Ryder ced his right hand on Keia¡¯s back while Keia ced her left hand on Ryder¡¯s shoulders. They held their free hands as they got into the position and started dancing.

    "You¡¯re looking good in this dress," Ryderplimented Keia as they danced together.

    " Thank you. I wish I could say the same about you," Keia said jokingly.

    "Oh, right, I expect my wallet back. Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t notice when you were taking it from me after I won our bet," Ryder suddenly said as he remembered something.

    When he had won the very with her, and they wereing back, he noticed Keia stealing his wallet but he didn¡¯t stop her. He had just received a victory, and he wanted to give her a little win. He had already taken his cards and other things out of his wallet and ced them in his inventory already.

    "Hah, liar. You probably found outter. There¡¯s no way you wouldn¡¯t say anything if you had known about this at that time," Keia said as she rolled her eyes.

    "Oh, really? Did you check my wallet?" Ryder replied with an amused smile on his face.

    "I didn¡¯t say anything because I already emptied it. Still, you should give it back now that you yed around with it," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "Ouch, hey, what was that for!" Ryder let out as he felt pain in his shoulder. Keia has pinched him in annoyance.

    "You deserved it for being so annoying. Just when I thought I got one over you, it turned out you were one step ahead," Keia said as she rolled her eyes.

    " I am not anymore. You got one over me just now," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly. Keia had pinched him so hard that he still felt pain.

    " As I said, you deserved it," Keia said as she grinned.

    Ryder roamed his gaze all around the room as he smiled.

    "You deserve it too for trying to steal twice from me then," Ryder let out as he loved his hand and pinched her butt lightly before raising his hand up to her waist again.

 Chapter 306 Auction

    <h4>Chapter 306: Auction</h4>

    "You!" Keia¡¯s face instantly turned red as she realized what just happened.

    "You touched me there twice now," She said as she red at Ryder with a red face.

    " And you stole twice. We¡¯re equal now, and you still owe me one for that pinch," Ryder said as he rolled his eyes as well.

    "I¡¯ll say it too. You deserved it," he added.

    "Hmph, you¡¯re lucky we¡¯re here or..." She mumbled to herself.

    "Or what?" Ryder asked with a curious look on his face.

    " Nothing," she said as she smiled cheekily.

    " When youe after one week with the information I asked for, we won¡¯t be here. Then you can show me," Ryder said to Keia.

    "Hmph," Keia rolled her eyes as she shook her head.

    Soon, the Ball Dance was over.

    Itsted for an hour only. Ryder wondered what was going to happen next since they talked about dinner after the Ball Dance, but it was still too soon for Dinner.

    As Ryder was wondering what they were going to do for the next few hours, he got his answers as the Master of the Silva n announced that he was going to show them some of the new medicines they had created. There was also going to be a small auction of those medicines right now, which was said tost for a few hours.

    "Did you know about this?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "I wasn¡¯t told about this, and I believe no one else was either. They probably wanted to keep this auction for the ones that attended. If they had announced it before, everyone would have attended. Maybe they wanted to see who woulde just to celebrate their family member¡¯s birthday and who wouldn¡¯t," Shu replied as he shook his head.

    He was just told about the birthday celebration in the invitation and nothing about this auction, but it didn¡¯t matter since he always carried his ck Card with him. He didn¡¯tck money.

    "These medicines should be good. I guess it doesn¡¯t bother me to see them at an auction since I¡¯m already here," Shu said.

    Everyone was escorted to the auction hall that was made inside the Silva n Mansion for private auctions long ago. This ce had seen billions of dors of exchange throughout its existence, and today was going to be another such day.

    Ryder and Shu sat together as they waited for the auction to begin.

    Soon, the auctioneer came on the stage who was someone from the Silva n but not a part of their main branch.

    "Alright. I would like to wee everyone to today¡¯s special auction. This auction was kept a secret, and it¡¯s only exclusive to the people that bothered to take time out of their busy schedule to attend this birthday celebration. From the Silva Family, I would like to thank you once again," The Auctioneer said as he smiled.

    " Without further dy, let¡¯s start with the first item of this event. It is one of our oldest recipes, and some of you had already brought it before since it was auctioned in previous auctions as well," he said as he gestured for a servant to bring something.

    The servant came to the Stage with a tray in his hands. The tray was covered in a red cloth.

    The Auctioneer removed the cloth from the tray and revealed a small ss bottle that had ten pills.

    "Here, we have ten Nourishment Pills. These pills can make your body be younger by one month by rejuvenating your aging cells. Each pill can help you be younger by a month; unfortunately, you can only take one of these pills every three months. And you can only take twenty of them throughout your entire lifespan. Any more than that would be useless."

    "Even though you can only take 20 of these, that is enough to make you close to two years younger, which matters a lot in some circumstances. In previous auctions, it had been one of our bestsellers," The Auctioneer exined to everyone.

    " The Base price of this bottle, including Ten Nourishment Pills, is only Two Hundred Thousand Dors. Each increment in the price can only be of fifty thousand dors," The Auctioneer said to everyone as he smacked his wooden hammer on the stand in front of him gently, signaling the start of this trial.

    " Interesting, but it¡¯s useless for me," Shu said, shaking his head.

    " Interesting pill. It must have taken a lot of research to make something like this. The Silva n is really interesting indeed," Ryder muttered as he looked towards the stage.

    People kept bidding on the pill as it¡¯s price kept increasing. Ultimately, it became a fight between two people. One of them was a bald man who looked to be in his seventies, while the other person seemed to be in his sixties and had a head full of white hair.

    It had be a showdown between them, which managed to bring the price of the pills to five million dors.

    Ultimately, the pill was purchased by the bald man for Five Million Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dors.

    Ryder was surprised that people spent this much just to gain ten months of their young back. Was the fear of death so bad?

    What about him? He was going to be old one day as well, and he was going to die of old age. He couldn¡¯t help but think about that time. The Old age wasn¡¯t going to let him live, and the Bracelet of Immortality wasn¡¯t going to let him die. He could see a painful life ahead of him where he lived hisst day again and again.

    He could only hope that he would find a solution to this problem as he collected more and more bracelets of immortality fragments.

    The Next Item was brought on the stage, which was another pill, but this time, it was a pill for making people look younger but not actually making them younger as thest pill did.

    Surprisingly, this pill was sold for even more.

    In the end, this pill was sold for Eight Million Dors. Ryder was amazed that people desired for younger looks more than they desire for younger age.

    Shu once again didn¡¯t bet since he didn¡¯t care about looks, and he was only in his early twenties. He didn¡¯t need anything to look younger. He already looked young enough. He wanted to look more manly instead since his chubby body made him seem more cute than manly.

    Soon, the third item was brought on the stage.

    "What the heck? That?" Ryder¡¯s mouth opened wide in shock as he saw the third item.

 Chapter 307 Bidding War

    <h4>Chapter 307: Bidding War</h4>

    The Third Item was shown off in front of everyone. While the previous item was incredible, and they had managed to shock Ryder, it was not to the extent the third item surprised him.

    There was a weird look on his face as he heard the Auctioneer exined about the item.

    "This is the feces of the Antarctic Spirit Mammoth. As you all may know, the Antarctic Spirit Mammoths is a rare to find species that are said to have gone extinct, but we have managed to find it¡¯s feces by using our extensive resources," the auctioneer said.

    "For those of you that may not know about it, the Antarctic Spirit Mammoths are said to be special Spirit Beings whose bodies store the most amount of natural energy, and their feces have the ability that many may find useful," He added.

    ¡¯What the actual heck. I can believe he¡¯s talking that proudly about feces of something,¡¯ Ryder thought with a weird look on his face. He was working really hard not to let his disgusted expression show on his face.

    " When you consume this item, it will give you the energy of a dragon. Your strength would double for an entire week. More importantly, your little guy would be like a Mighty mammoth when you¡¯re in bed with your partners at night," the Auctioneer further exined.

    " So it¡¯s like a natural performance enhancement drug that works as a viagra. I never thought I¡¯d see something like this. I¡¯m d the System Store doesn¡¯t have items like this," Ryder muttered in an inaudible tone.

    "The Bid will start at One Million Dors. Each increment in the bid shall be of hundred thousand dors at minimum," the Auctioneer started the auction of the third item.

    Ryder watched people bid on the item in such excitement that it surprised even him.

    "Those guys? Don¡¯t they know that they would have to eat the feces to get the effects? Paying millions of dors to eat feces, I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s really happening," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "For some people, the effects outweigh the things they have to go through to get them. Look at Major General Raul. It seems like he really wants it. He¡¯s bidding so fiercely. That makes sense, as well. He¡¯s in the army. He would look for items that can make him strong at times of need," Shu muttered, shaking his head.

    " He can win this bid. If he wants to eat it that badly," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "I have a n," He said to Shu as he grinned.

    "What n?" Shu asked Ryder in confusion.

    "Old Zhu, stop bidding against me. We in the army need something like this more. Don¡¯t bid against me," Major General Raul said to a bald man who waspeting against him.

    These two were the only ones that were still bidding as the price reached Eight Million Dors.

    "I need it as well. To show my wife that I¡¯m not weak. Don¡¯t bid against me!" the bald man replied as he refused to budge.

    "8.5 Million Dors!" He raised the bid.

    Major General Raul red at the man in anger.

    "Nine Million Dors! I¡¯ll buy it at any cost! I¡¯ll see how you stop me! If you want that, get ready to pay a lot!" Major General Raul said as he raised the bid again.

    "9.5 Million Dors!" The bald man said after some hesitation.

    "Ten Million Dors," Major General Raul said as he raised the bid again.

    The bald man looked even more hesitant than ever. He didn¡¯t raise the bid again as he fell in deep thought.

    "Hmph, you can keep it. I¡¯m not going to fight you over it," He ultimately said as he pulled himself out of the bidding wars.

    A smile appeared on Major General Raul¡¯s face as he folded his arms.

    "The Current Bid is at Ten Million Dors. Is there anyone willing to raise the bid?" The Auctioneer asked as he nced at everyone.

    "Ten Million... 1."

    "Ten Million... 2."

    The closer the Auctioneer reached to finalizing the bid, the happier Major General Raul became.

    "Ten Mil-"

    The Auctioneer was about to finalize the bid when he stopped as he heard another Voice.

    "Ten Million Hundred Thousand Dors!" Ryder let out loud right at thest time.

    His voice managed to shock everyone, including Shu.

    "What are you doing? Do you want this item too?" Shu asked weirdly.

    "Maybe," Ryder muttered with an amused smile on his face.

    Major General Raul looked at Ryder as he clenched his fist.

    "Father, that bastard is intentionally making it difficult for us! We can¡¯t lose to him!" Rahil told his father as he red at Ryder. He didn¡¯t want to lose to Ryder.

    "We can¡¯tpare in money to the Maxwell Family, but I¡¯m not going to give up. If they want a bidding war, they¡¯ll get a bidding war!" Major General Raul muttered. " Even if they win in the end, they¡¯ll have to pay a massive price."

    "Why is everyone so shocked? Continued the proceedings," Ryder said as he saw everyone looking at him.

    " This Gentleman here bid Eleven Million for this marvelous item. Is there anyone willing to bid higher? Just remember, it might be thest Antarctic Spirit Mammoth feces that will ever be discovered. Your only chance to get this historic item," The Auctioneer said.

    Ryder wanted tough out loud as he heard the words of the man. He described this item in such an interesting way, ignoring what it actually was.

    " Twelve Million Dors," Major General Raul said as he bid again. His face was covered in anger.

    "Twelve Million Hundred Thousand Dors," Ryder let out.

    "You!" Major General Rahil muttered as he clenched his fist in anger. He was controlling himself a lot.

    "Thirteen Million Dors," Major General Raul said instantly.

    "Thirteen Million Hundred Thousand Dors," Ryder let out with an innocent smile.

    The Bidding Wars continued as Major General Raul kept increasing the bid by a million every time in anger while Ryder bid with only a Hundred Thousand more than him.

    "Twenty Million Dors!" Major General Raul said. Even he was starting to hesitate at this point.

    "Twenty Million Hundred Thousand Dors," Ryder casually raised the bid.

    "You little boy! Stop this instant! I need it more than you do!" Major General Raul said as he looked at Ryder.

    "It¡¯s not about needing. If the world worked on needs, people wouldn¡¯t be dying of hunger every day. Here, it¡¯s about bidding. You have money, bid. If you don¡¯t, then you can sit back calmly," Ryder replied as he rolled his eyes.

 Chapter 308 Blocked

    <h4>Chapter 308: Blocked</h4>

    "You Bastard! How dare you talk to my father like that!" Rahil stood up with a red face as he pointed his finger at Ryder. He was already annoyed at Ryder but watching his father being talked to like that made him even angrier.

    "This guest here, I would suggest you sit down and not disturb the proceedings. Otherwise, I would be forced to make you leave," The Auctioneer said as he saw Rahil standing up and arguing with Ryder.

    "Sit down," Major General Raul told Rahil, making him sit down.

    " Major General Raul, aren¡¯t you going to raise the bid? I thought you had some money since you¡¯re in such a high position, but I guess I was wrong," Ryder let out as he chuckled, trying to pin the man in the army uniform to raise his bid.

    "You!"

    Major General Raul became even more frustrated at the taunts. Previously, he was thinking about pulling out since he didn¡¯t have much money left, but now it was about his reputation and about revenge.

    He knew that he didn¡¯t have enough money to buy this item anymore, but he still wanted Ryder to suffer a loss.

    He knew that the Maxwell Family had tons of money. They could buy even if he bid a Hundred Million Dors, so he wanted to make them bleed. He could feel that Ryder wanted this item as well. There was no way that Ryder was going to let him win, which he wanted to use to his advantage.

    "Twenty-five Million Dors," he raised the bid, but this time he was calmer. He knew that Ryder would outbid him, so he didn¡¯t need to worry about paying the money.

    Everyone in the hall was gasping at the massive bid.

    He had raised the bid by close to five million dors at once. An item that was priced at 1 million dors was not at twenty-five Million dors. The Silva Family members that were watching it were surprised as well.

    "Twenty-six Million Dors," Ryder raised the bid again.

    The bidding war once again continued and reached a massive Fifty Million Dors in an instant.

    The Current Bid was from Major General Raul, who had bid Fifty Million Dors. There was not a speck of sweat on his face despite budding so much money since he knew that he didn¡¯t need to pay as Ryder would increase the bid again.

    He just wanted Ryder to pay over Fifty Million Dors for this item. After this bid, he was going to pull out from bidding since his goal was going to bepleted. He was seeing this as his revenge on Ryder.

    While he was waiting for Ryder to raise the bid, his face turned pale as he heard Ryder¡¯s next words.

    "I pull out. Fifty million dors is too much for me. Congrats on winning the feces," Ryder said innocently.

    Shu was getting concerned for Ryder for bidding so much, but after hearing his words, he understood what Ryder was trying to do. He had to work so hard to control hisughter.

    "You! What happened, little guy? Is that the only power of the Maxwell Family? The Giant Maxwell Family can¡¯t even afford fifty million dors? Such an undeserved reputation. Hahaha," Major General Raul startedughing as he mocked Ryder in an effort to make him bid again.

    "Ah, You¡¯re right. We don¡¯t have fifty million dors to spend on that marvelous item," Ryder said as he sighed as if he was really disappointed that he couldn¡¯t buy this item.

    "Have fun with this. You were willing to pay Fifty Million Dors for this. I think this Antarctic Spirit Mammoth feces deserve to be in your hands. I¡¯m impressed by your convictions. I can¡¯t bid against you after knowing you want to do much anyway," he continued.

    " Alright. Master Raul had bid Fifty Million Dors. Is there anyone willing to raise the bid?" The Auctioneer asked everyone.

    Major General Raul¡¯s face was as pale as it could be. He knew that he couldn¡¯t afford it, but he couldn¡¯t pull out either. He had bid, and this was the Silva n household. He wanted to cry, but no tears came out of his eyes.

    While the Auctioneer started counting, he kept trying to make Ryder irritated and bid more, but nothing worked.

    "Fifty Million Dors...3."

    "I would like to Congratte Master Raul for winning this item for Fifty Million Dors. You can pay the money at the time of leaving and collect your item," The Auctioneer said with a smile on his face as he looked at Major General Raul.

    The Auction continued throughout the day. Ryder could constantly feel a murderous gaze towards him. He knew where it wasing from, but he chose to ignore it since he already knew who it was from.

    He was more focused on the items that were being shown off in front of him on the Stage.

    There were many interesting items. Many of them had the same effect as a few of the Items that Ryder had seen in his System Store.

    Even though the items were rare, they weren¡¯t something that either he or Shu found useful. None of them bid for anything in the auction.

    Soon, the Auction was over, and it waste in the evening.

    Everyone was escorted to the dining hall. Many tables were arranged so that people could have dinner separately with the ones they came with.

    The dishes were also the special ones from the Silva Family that used the full knowledge of their medicine into the food to make it more useful for them.

    Ryder ate them, and he found them to be one of the tastiest dishes he had tasted. He also felt his strength increasing as he ate them, even though only by a negligible amount.

    "It would have been so good if Alice could taste these too," Ryder muttered as he sighed while remembering about Alice, who was alone at the estate.

    The Dinner passed away peacefully without anything exciting happening.

    Before anyone knew it, it was time to leave.

    The Hosts of the Silva n thanked everyone foring and bid them farewell.

    Ryder left the mansion of the Silva n with Shu as he walked towards the entrance of the estate where their guards were standing, but along the way, he and Shu had to stop as they saw Major General Raul and Rahil standing before them.

    "Ah, right. We¡¯re outside the Silva Family Mansion. Anything goes here," Ryder muttered as he smiled while looking in the eyes of Major General Raul, who was staring back at him with a murderous gaze.

 Chapter 309 The God of Time

    <h4>Chapter 309: The God of Time</h4>

    "General Raul, do you need something?" Shu asked Major General Raul as he frowned.

    ¡¯I wonder how much experience I would get if I beat up a Major General. That would only work if he attacks me first, though,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at the man.

    " Maybe he¡¯s here to show us the Fifty Million Dor item that he purchased," Ryder replying to Shu while diverting a taunt towards Major General Raul in an effort to get him to attack in frustration.

    " Master Shu, if memory serves me right, you don¡¯t have a family member who¡¯s living. May I ask who this young man beside you is?" Major General Raul asked casually as he looked at Shu.

    "I don¡¯t think that you need to know that," Shu responded, shaking his head.

    "Oh, nothing. I was just curious about it. The world outside is a scary ce. You never know what people might do and when someone might die. I was just wondering who he was so that if I ever had an opportunity to help him, I would be able to do that," Major General Raul said as he nced at Ryder.

    Ryder could feel a subtle threat in the tone of Major General Raul, which simply made him smile. His smile irritated Major General Raul even more.

    "If he would need help, the entire Dream Corporation and I will be there to help him. You don¡¯t need to bother. Now, if you¡¯ll excuse me, we need to get going," Shu said, casually shaking his head as he started walking away.

    ¡¯Man, I thought that guy would be more of a badass and attack us. He just wanted to threaten me? I guess he needs to maintain the army decorum, at least in public,¡¯ Ryder thought as he followed after Shu, leaving the Major General behind.

    Ryder and Shu met up with the Guards who surrounded them as they went towards the Helipad.

    They entered the helicopter of Dream Corporation, which started flying, soon leaving the airspace of Lavender Town.

    The helicopter flew through the air, only getting down in the Helipad in front of Shu¡¯s Mansion.

    Ryder and Shu entered the mansion.

    "Your Booking of Dinner with Alice is of tonight. You want me to get it rescheduled to tomorrow since you already ate?" Shu asked Ryder as he sat on the couch in the main hall beside Ryder.

    "There¡¯s no need. I can still eat more. Also, I know that girl. She must be excited about it since she hasn¡¯t been out like this in quite some time. Also, I¡¯ll get scolded to hell by her if I get it rescheduled," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "Hah, Brother Shu. I know you said that you¡¯re going to look for a new ce to stay but how about you stay here with me? I don¡¯t have any family, and it gets pretty lonely here with just me. There¡¯s so much space as well. Just stay with me," Shu casually suggested.

    Ryder released a mouthful of breath as he started thinking about it. He wanted to have a separate house for her and Alice since it was going to be Shu¡¯s house in any case, and he needed something of his own, but as Shu talked about being lonely, it made him think twice.

    "I¡¯ll think about it," he told Shu as he nodded his head.

    While Ryder was sitting in Shu¡¯s Mansion, something big was happening in this universe.

    Far Far away from the earth, existed a mystical ce.

    It was a Garden that had beautiful green grass. There was a strange thing inside that garden, though.

    No wind was flowing inside that garden. A squirrel could be seen in one corner of the garden, but it wasn¡¯t moving. It seemed as if the Squirrel was paused in space and time.

    Right above the garden, a little bird was also stuck in a simr way. It was stuck in the middle of the air right above the garden. Its wings were still open as if it was flying above the garden when the time had stopped suddenly.

    There was also a small pond inside that garden that seemed to have Crystal clear water that seemed to be nothing like anyone had ever seen before. The water was so pure that it was on the edge of beingpletely transparent. The bottom of the deep pond could be seen with the naked eye.

    A young boy was sitting at the edge of the pond with his feet inside the water.

    The boy seemed like he was only twelve, but there was an aura of ancient surrounding him. It was giving the feeling as if the boy had lived through centuries contrary to what his age and looks portrayed.

    The boy had short white hair. His eyes were pitch ck, creating a contrast with his snow-white hair.

    If one was to see carefully, they could see three golden needles of various sizes inside each of his eyes as if they were the hands of a clock, continually moving.

    There was also a shadow behind him, but strangely enough, it was the Shadow of a clock as well.

    The young big looked inside the water as he moved his feet.

    "There has been some disturbance in time recently. It usually happens whenever there¡¯s a natural shift in the energies of the world but this has been happening a lot recently. It can¡¯t be natural. Is this just that or something else?" The young boy muttered as he curiously raised his head towards the sky.

    "No one can control time like me, but there are a few that can mess around with time. Are they the ones doing it and having some fun? There¡¯s Pluto, Fiona, and Janus. Those three are the only ones that can control some aspects of time. Is it one of them?" The young boy muttered as he sighed.

    "Well, if it¡¯s only minor things like this, I don¡¯t mind. I just hope they don¡¯t try to mess around too much. It took me some effort to get him to create this separate space for me where I can stay in peace. I don¡¯t want to have to go outside to clear their mess and punish them," he muttered.

    He stood up and walked to the center of the garden, where a chair was ced.

    He sat on the chair as he closed his eyes.

    "Sigh, it¡¯s so peaceful here. I don¡¯t ever want to have to leave this ce. After the chaos ofst time where all of us had toe together to handle that person, some peace is nice. That crazy person, hah. I¡¯m d we don¡¯t have to worry about him anymore," he muttered.

 Chapter 310 Terrifying Plan

    <h4>Chapter 310: Terrifying n</h4>

    Ryder left Shu behind in the hall as he stepped out of the mansion. He gave Shu the excuse that he was going to take a walk outside since there was still an hour before he needed to take Alice for dinner.

    He left the mansion and walked on the road outside casually.

    "What did you find out?" he muttered casually as he walked through the neighborhood.

    If there was any person here, he would think that Ryder was talking to himself since there was no one around him, but there was indeed someone near Ryder.

    It was Stanner who he had sent to collect information on the girl he saw Spying on him since the moment he came back from the Library Club reunion.

    "That girl is indeed spying on you. She has a lot of expensive equipment and a gun as well," The Spirit of Stanner told Ryder.

    "Did you manage to find out who she¡¯s talking to?" Ryder asked Stanner.

    "She talked to someone called Ray. In fact, I only saw her talking to the person called Ray," Stanner told Ryder.

    "Ray? I only know of that FBI agent who was called Ray. Did you hear her say something about the FBI?" Ryder asked Stanner.

    "I didn¡¯t hear her say anything like that, but she did say to Ray about how his organization was useless if they needed her to trail you," Stanner told Ryder.

    "That doesn¡¯t exin anything. The police is a big organization as well. I wonder if I should just go talk to her face to face," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    " That Police Chief would have someone trail me, probably to find something against me or to know my habits so he can¡¯t scheme against me. The FBI also has a big incentive to do it if they find me suspicious and think that I¡¯m rted to the Dark Uprising," Ryder let out as he shook his head.

    "Oh, right. I do remember the number of that Ray she talked to. Maybe that cane in handy?" Stanner suggested.

    " Ah, right. I can use the number to find who this Ray is. Give me the number," Ryder asked Stanner.

    Stanner gave Ryder the number of Ray, which Ryder saved in his phone.

    Far away from Ryder, the girl that Ryder and Stanner were talking about was still keeping an eye on him using her Binocrs.

    She did seem confused as she saw Ryder talking to himself, though.

    "Is that guy going crazy? Just why is this person making my brother so obsessed? He doesn¡¯t seem special at all. He only seems crazy," the girl muttered as she shook his head.

    "Continue keeping an eye on her," Ryder told Stanner after he saved the number.

    He started going back to the mansion.

    He entered the mansion and noticed that Shu was still sitting on the couch,zily.

    " I need some help," Ryder said as he sat beside Shu.

    "What help?" Shu asked in confusion, wondering what he wanted.

    "I want you to use your resources to find me the origin of a phone number and the details of the person who uses it. Can you get it done?" Ryder inquired.

    Shu looked at Ryder nkly before he startedughing.

    "Only that? That¡¯s easy. Give me the number. You¡¯ll have the details by the time youe back from your dinner," he said.

    "The number is 9..."

    Ryder gave Shu the number.

    Shu noted the number on his phone and sent a message containing that number.

    He dialed a number.

    "I just sent you a number. I was hoping you could find the details and that number and the details about the person who¡¯s using the number. Be fast," Shu said before disconnecting the call.

    "Done," He told Ryder as he smiled. "Only a little bit of wait, and you¡¯ll have the things you need."

    "Is there anything else you need?" he asked Ryder.

    "Nah, that¡¯s already a great help. I¡¯ll handle the rest," Ryder said, shaking his head.

    "If you say so. By the way, how did you get that number without knowing who it belongs to?" Shu asked Ryder. Unless it was a number of a prank caller or some unknown person calling him and bullying him, the chances of Ryder asking about the owner of an unknown number were almost negligible.

    He wondered if someone was threatening him or creating trouble for him using this number.

    "It¡¯s nothing. I just met a person and got his number. I¡¯m curious about him, but I can¡¯t directly ask certain things. That¡¯s why I¡¯m using this method," Ryder said, making an excuse.

    He didn¡¯t want to tell Shu that the FBI was after him for being rted to the Dark Uprising just yet. He felt like he could handle it alone.

    "Ah, it¡¯s getting time to leave. I¡¯ll check on Alice to see if she¡¯s ready," he suddenly said as he changed the topic. He stood up and walked to Alice¡¯s room.

    He knocked on the door and started waiting for the door to open.

    After a few minutes, the door opened. Ryder saw Alice, who seemed to be already dressed for the asion. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress that seemed to be perfectly matching her beautiful eyes.

    "Ah, you¡¯re ready," Ryder muttered after being dazed for a while.

    "Yes. Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re already prettyte,* Alice said to Ryder as she held his hand and started dragging him with her excitedly.

    Ryder was amazed to see him so surprised.

    In a different ce inside a city, a meeting was taking ce. A few people in ck clothing were standing in a circle. There was one person standing in the middle of the ring.

    "Our Masters have given theirmand! Today is the day this city sees the first glimpse of the Uprising. The FBI killed our fellow members in Washington, and they have been acting very proud since then. Not only that, their hands even reached here to Jameson! They have been getting very boldtely. It¡¯s time to show them what happens when they start messing with things they don¡¯t understand. Tonight, this city will see the wrath of the uprising! The Entire city will shake tonight!" The man standing in the center dered proudly as he startedughing.

    "You all know the locations. Make sure that you get as many people as you can! The world should tremble in fear when they hear about the Dark Uprising from tomorrow! No failure shall be tolerated!" the man said as he grinned.

    The other people who were surrounding the man started chanting proudly.

    "Uprising! Uprising! Uprising!"

 Chapter 311 Master is here

    <h4>Chapter 311: Master is here</h4>

    "Uprising! Uprising! Uprising!" The ck-clothed men kept chanting throughout the night.

    "Everyone, take the things you need! May the Goddess of Destruction be with you all!" The man standing in the center let out loud as he startedughing.

    Everyone who was present in the room walked over to the wall that had a few carry bags ced near it. Some bags were small while some were big. Each of them carried a bad.

    "Go out and make the whole World Tremble! There are Fifty of you. Looking at the resources, at least twenty thousand people should die tonight, or it would be a waste of the resources we gave you! Master is in this City as well! Make sure that you seed! He will be watching," the man thundered as he started loading his gun.

    Ryder left the Mansion of Shu with Alice. He had taken the keys of the Ferrari from Shu already. He opened the door for Alice.

    He sat on the driver¡¯s seat and started the car, taking it in reverse. He got the car out of Shu Estate, got it on the road, and started driving away.

    " Ah? He¡¯s leaving at that time?" the girl who was spying on Ryder was shocked to see him leaving thiste. She hurriedly ran out of her house and entered her car as she started chasing after Ryder while keeping a safe distance.

    Ryder was driving the car, but he lowered the speed as he heard the voice of Janus. He knew that Janus mostly talked to him when it was for a mission. He didn¡¯t want to be in an ident by hitting the car on some pole if the mission was frustrating, so he had already lowered the speed in advance as soon as Shu said the first word.

    [A Mission has been issued to the Host]

    [Mission Take Alice on a date outside the City]

    [Mission Reward: A fulfilling experience with Alice]

    [Mission Reward: Hundred Origin Points]

    [Punishment For Failure: Death]

    ¡¯Hmm? Death? Whose death? It didn¡¯t say whose death this time. Is this a mystery threat or something? I can¡¯t die, so it can¡¯t be me. I won¡¯t let Alice die, and Janus wouldn¡¯t hide it if it were a threat about her death,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    ¡¯Whose death?¡¯ Ryder asked as he frowned.

    Unfortunately, Janus didn¡¯t answer.

    "Sigh, This guy is really irritating sometimes. His habit to not answer me is so frustrating," Ryder mumbled as he sighed.

    "Whatever, I might as well not take a risk this time. It doesn¡¯t matter if I have dinner in this city or the next. It¡¯s just that the booking Shu made for us will go to waste. I¡¯ll have to think of an excuse when I go back," he muttered.

    "Did you say something?" Alice asked Ryder as she looked at him.

    " Hmm? Nothing. I said nothing. I was just talking to myself," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He increased the speed of his car.

    "Hmm? Why are we going there? That will lead us outside the city? Aren¡¯t we going for dinner?" Alice asked in confusion as she looked at the road ahead.

    "We¡¯re going to dinner, but it¡¯s not dinner in this city. It¡¯s the next city. It¡¯s not often that we¡¯re out like this. I thought that if we go to the next city, we¡¯ll get a long drive as well. The more time I get with you, the better," Ryder muttered as he innocently replied.

    "Also, I heard that there¡¯s a really great hotel there. It has some great reviews. I always wanted to try it," He said, making up an excuse.

    " Ah, Didn¡¯t Elder Brother Shu book for us nearby?" Alice inquired in confusion.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. Everything¡¯s ced," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    "If you say so," Alice replied as she nodded her head innocently.

    Ray¡¯s Sister was still chasing after Ryder in her car.

    " He¡¯s leaving the city at this time? That¡¯s pretty suspicious," she muttered as she kept her eyes on Ryder¡¯s car while following it.

    *Ring* *Ring*

    "Hmm?" the girl was surprised as she felt her phone vibration. She ced her earphones in her ears and picked up the call.

    " Brother, you called at the right time. I was just about to call you," the girl said after picking up the call.

    Ray was on the other side of the call, speaking from the headquarters of the FBI. He wanted to take an update on how her mission was going, and if she found something.

    "Hmm? Why? Did you find something suspicious?" Ray asked the girl.

    "I did not find much yet. The guy spends most of his time inside, but today he went out of the mansion three times. In the morning, he left with Schumacher Maxwell on his helicopter. I couldn¡¯t follow them, so I don¡¯t know where they went, but it seemed as if they were going to some official business from their clothing. They came back in the evening," the girl replied.

    "Oh? Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll find out where they went in the morning. Where did he go the next two times?" Ray inquired.

    "The second time he left the mansion was right aftering back. He took a walk on the street outside the mansion. Oh, I did notice something strange at that time. It seemed like he was talking to himself," The girl replied.

    " Are you sure there was no one nearby? Some people can hide in the shadows pretty well. Don¡¯t screw this up, alright. It would be best if you didn¡¯t miss anyone this guy meets alone," Ray told the girl.

    "Hah, are you doubting my abilities? I know what I saw. That guy was alone. There was no one nearby. He was definitely talking to himself," the girl replied, shaking her head. "He went back after a few minutes."

    "And the third time?" Ray asked.

    "He left the mansion just a little while ago, and this trip is what I¡¯m just suspicious about. It seems like the man is leaving the city. I don¡¯t know what his objective is, but it doesn¡¯t look right. No one would leave the city thiste at night in a car if they had the helicopter of Schumacher Maxwell for their travel," the girl replied.

    "Are you following him?" Ray asked.

    "Yeah, I¡¯m on his tail," The girl replied.

    "Good. Something does seem fishy about this. It might be the time I was waiting for, where he leads me to someone. Stay on his tail without getting caught. See who he meets and what he does." Ray said.

 Chapter 312 The Attack

    <h4>Chapter 312: The Attack</h4>

    "If he¡¯s leaving the city and not taking the helicopter, that can only mean he doesn¡¯t want Shu Maxwell to know that he¡¯s going outside the city. If we¡¯re lucky, we¡¯ll get answers to many of my questions," Ray told the girl.

    " Alright. Now stop disturbing me and let me do my work," The girl said as he disconnected the call.

    Soon, Ryder left the city with Alice.

    " Alice, Can you open the and search for the best hotel for dinner? Since we¡¯re going there, we might as well go to the best one," Ryder told Alice while keeping his eyes on the road.

    This was an abrupt n that had to be made because of an abrupt mission given by Janus.

    He didn¡¯t have the time to do any research, and he didn¡¯t want to stop the car. He didn¡¯t want to dy any further by stopping the car since he knew Alice must be hungry. It was already very time consuming to travel from one city to another by car.

    He gave the task of searching for a hotel to Alice.

    "Ah, didn¡¯t you say that you are going there because that¡¯s a nice hotel there which you want to eat at?" She asked Ryder in confusion. If Ryder already knew where he wanted to eat, why was he telling her to search? She was confused.

    "Ah, right. I do know a great hotel, but now I think that it would be better to go to one selected by you. Choose one and give me the location," Ryder said, shaking his head.

    "It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t have a preference. I want to eat in the ce chosen by you," Alice answered as she smiled.

    "Ah, don¡¯t worry about that. Select one, or we¡¯ll spend the entire night like this since I am not dripping this unless you first a hotel for dinner," Ryder insisted as he smiled wryly.

    After a little more back and forth, Alice agreed to do it.

    She started browsing through the inte to find a hotel she wanted to have dinner in.

    "This one looks good, Hotel Luxia. The reviews of the critiques are good," Alice said as she selected a ce.

    "What about the people¡¯s republic review? You know some hotels pay the critiques to give nice reviews. You should focus more on the public reviews," Ryder said as he chuckled.

    "The public perception is good too. All I hear is praise for their dishes," Alice said as she smiled.

    "Alright. Hotel Luxia it is," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "Oh, right. How¡¯s that friend of yours? Estonia, I believe she was called?" Ryder suddenly said as he started some light-hearted talking.

    "She¡¯s good. I met her in college. She was shocked to hear that I was attacked, and she offered to help. She said that her father was rich and had plenty of security. She suggested that we stay with her to stay safe," Alice replied.

    "Yeah, her father is Rich indeed. What did you reply?" Ryder asked, even though he knew what her answer was going to be.

    "I denied. I¡¯m perfectly happy here, and I don¡¯t worry about my safety with you around," Alice replied as a beautiful smile blossomed on her face.

    " Hahaha, It should be the opposite. You¡¯re in more danger with me around. Danger always seems to be following me. I try to keep it away from my family, but it finds its way. The guys who kidnapped you did that because they wanted to ckmail me. If it were not for me, it wouldn¡¯t have happened," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    " Don¡¯t say that. It all started because I was arrested first, so it¡¯s because of me," Alice said, shaking her head.

    "Oh, right. Shu said that we should stay with him. He said he would be alone if we leave. I want to ask your opinion about it though. Should we get a nice mansion for just the two of us or stay with Shu? There won¡¯t be anypromise in your security either way," Ryder asked Alice.

    "What do you want?" Alice asked back.

    " I¡¯ll do what you say. I¡¯m fine with any of the two options," Ryder replied. He didn¡¯t take his eyes off the road throughout this conversation.

    "I-i think we should stay with Brother Shu. If he says that he would be alone when we leave, then it would be bad to leave. Also, it¡¯s more fun with the three of us. It¡¯s like our family just got bigger," Alice replied as she smiled.

    " Yeah, Our family got bigger," Ryder replied.

    " Shu is a great guy. He¡¯s just like us. It¡¯s like all our destinies were written with the same brush. All of us lost our parents at a young age. The only difference was that he had money, and we didn¡¯t. But that doesn¡¯t change the fact that we all suffered. All three of uscked a family. There will always be that empty spot in our lives," He muttered as he sighed.

    "Fortunately, I had you, but he didn¡¯t have anyone except a few loyal employees," he added.

    "We should stay," Alice said, nodding her head.

    "Yeah," Ryder muttered.

    "Oh, right. Ipletely forgot about that. I wanted to buy some clothes for myself. Let¡¯s get some on our way back," He said as he remembered.

    Soon, Ryder reached the neighboring city.

    ¡¯That car has been chasing us throughout the way. That girl is such an idiot. Did she think that I wouldn¡¯t notice her? That idiot spy. She¡¯s doing such a bad job. She¡¯s lucky that I¡¯m pretending not to know, or she would¡¯ve been in deep trouble,¡¯ he thought as he looked at the car chasing him through the mirror.

    The girl that was chasing him didn¡¯t know that Ryder had already discovered her.

    Ryder drove through the roads of the city that were empty since it was sote at night.

    He stopped his car near Hotel Luxia and stepped out of the car.

    He gave the Valet the keys to part the car before he entered the hotel while holding Alice¡¯s hand.

    Ryder entered the Hotel and booked a table. It was pretty expensive since it was a Seven-Star Hotel, but Ryder didn¡¯t care about that much money. He was escorted to the table, which was in a private room. The food was served inside the room for them.

    There was a TV in the room which was showing a news Channel.

    " Breaking News! We have just received information that there has been a terrorist attack in Hotel Durham in New Jersey!"

    Ryder was just about to take his first bite when he heard the news. He looked to his side and stood up, shocked.

 Chapter 313 Shaken City

    <h4>Chapter 313: Shaken City</h4>

    "We have just received information from our sources in Jersey City that there has been a terrorist attack in Hotel Durham! A bomb has gone off in the hotel," the anchor dered.

    "Hmm? We are getting the information that another st urred, but this time at Hotel Fionas in the same city!"

    " This seems to be a coordinated terrorist attack," the Anchor said.

    "I would take you to our men at the spot. They¡¯re bringing you the visuals of Hotel Durham from the top. You can see how terrible the st was. Smoke can be seen everywhere!"

    "We¡¯ll show you the visuals of Hotel Fionas in just about a minute. Our second team is on their way to Hotel Fionas!" the Anchor said.

    "Hotel Durham, isn¡¯t this the ce Shu booked a room for us? It looks terrible there," Ryder muttered as he looked at the visuals taken from the helicopter by the News Team.

    "S-should we go back?" Alice suggested as she stood up.

    Ryder was about to reply when the news channel started showing another headline, informing of another attack.

    " This is just in, but the Third Seven-Star hotel in the city has suffered a st as well. The whole city had been ced on red alert. All the borders of the city have been sealed! The President has just given the Orders to send the National Guards to help the city authority."

    "We have received the Statement from the FBI Director of Operations! He said that he¡¯s dispatching his teams to the city as well."

    "This is terrible! A fourth st has urred, this time in a Club. ording to the sources, it was one of the most famous clubs in the city that was always crowded!"

    The News Anchor kept giving updates one after another. Ryder simply stood there nkly, looking at all the terrifying visuals.

    "The Former Director of FBI joins the line with us to share with us his expertise about what the people of the city should be doing now! Mister Dion."

    The News Anchor brought an Expert on the Channel. Ryder was surprised at how fast the news Channels were in bringing experts.

    "Look, Jaily. ording to the pattern I see here, it seems to be arge scale coordinated attack by a terrorist organization. We have seen Four Terrible Terrorist attacks in the city at the moment, but that doesn¡¯t mean there won¡¯t be more. I have a feeling that this is going to be a long night. So from your channel, I would like to tell all viewers not to go outside and stay where they are. Let the Government do its job. Keep yourself safe and as far away from harm¡¯s way as you can," the Former FBI Director replied to the anchor.

    "That¡¯s right. We would also urge our viewers to stay indoors and not go out. This..."

    The Anchor was saying the same thing when she stopped. She went nk for a few seconds before she said again.

    " Three more sts have urred simultaneously. One of them was inside Hotel Elisium. The Second was at DXO Mall, and the Third happened to be inside the Police Station," The News Anchor said.

    "Even Police Station?" Ryder muttered as he frowned. "These Terrorists... It doesn¡¯t seem like they want anything. They just want to destroy," He muttered as he turned back.

    Suddenly, his phone started ringing. He looked at the screen and noticed it was Shu calling.

    "Hello?" He picked up the call.

    "Oh, thank God you¡¯re safe. I just heard the news of the st in Hotel Durham. Are you still there? I¡¯m sending my people to bring you back. That ce is not safe anymore," Shu said as soon as he heard Ryder¡¯s voice. He seemed to be somewhat rxed to know that Ryder was safe.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m perfectly fine. Also, don¡¯t bring anyone. I¡¯m not inside Hotel Durham. I¡¯m outside the city. We had a change in n midway and decided toe to the Luxia hotel in the neighboring city. Since the borders are sealed, we can¡¯te back, but we¡¯re safe. I¡¯m more concerned about you, though," Ryder replied as he frowned.

    "The whole city is under attack. Anything can happen. Tighten your security and stay safe. Don¡¯t go out at any cost," he continued.

    He turned back to nce at the news. His face turned nk as he saw the visuals on the channel. They were talking about a Bar suffering the same attack, but that was what made Ryder the most worried since it was a ce he knew.

    It was the Bar where Esmi¡¯s base was.

    "Ah, Shu! I¡¯m going to have to call youter. Someone I know might have been affected by the sts. I¡¯ll check up on youter," Ryder said as he disconnected the call.

    He dialed Esmi¡¯s number as he stepped out of the room.

    "The Number you¡¯re trying to reach has been switched off."

    He called again and again, but he got the same reply.

    The more he heard this automated message, the more concerned Ryder became.

    He dialed the number of Bastion instead to ask what the situation was.

    Fortunately, the ring of Bastion¡¯s phone was going on.

    Soon, Bastion picked up the call.

    "Ryder?" Bastion replied.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s me. I saw the news. There was a st at your bar. I was concerned. How¡¯s everyone? Is everyone safe?" Ryder asked in a concerned tone.

    "Ah, not really. A lot of our people died in the st. Fortunately, I was at home with my aunt. We¡¯re also trying to find more information about it," Bastion replied.

    "Ah, I am d that the two of you are safe. Stay indoors and stay safe. I¡¯ll taketer," Ryder said before he disconnected the call.

    "Those two are safe, and Shu is Safe as well. That¡¯s good," he muttered as he stepped inside his room.

    As soon as he stepped inside, his focus was attracted by the News Anchor¡¯s Words.

    "There have been Thirteen sts throughout the city and three instances of Shooting. Looking at the situation in New Jersey, all the states have also sealed their borders. Every city is on High Alert. ording to our sources, the President will deliver a speech in a few hours regarding these terrible attacks," the news anchor said in a solemn tone.

    Ryder walked over and sat in front of Alice.

    "Shu and Bastion are safe," he told Alice.

    "My friends are safe too," Alice replied, nodding her head.

    "That¡¯s good," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "Anyway, all the nearby cities are under lockdown. It looks like we won¡¯t be able to leave tonight," He said.

 Chapter 314 Bait

    <h4>Chapter 314: Bait</h4>

    "I will go and book a room for us in this hotel. They might run out of rooms otherwise," Ryder said as he stood up.

    "You don¡¯t step out," he told Alice before he stepped out of the room and walked up to the reception.

    "Uhmm, hey. I would like to book two rooms," He told the receptionist.

    The receptionist started looking at hisputer before he shook his head.

    " Ah, sorry, sir. We don¡¯t have two rooms. We only have one room avable. All the other rooms have already been booked by guests," the receptionist replied apologetically.

    "Ah, Fine. Give us that one room. Here¡¯s my card," Ryder said, agreeing to get one room. He didn¡¯t have any choice either way.

    He got the room keys before he started walking towards the cabin where Alice was waiting.

    As he was walking towards the Cabin, he suddenly realized something.

    "Hey Janus, this abrupt mission that you gave? Was that to get us out of the city?" Ryder asked in confusion.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    "Why didn¡¯t you give me a mission to stop the attacks instead?" Ryder asked again, after not getting an answer.

    " Do I have any chance of being able to stop them if I went back in time?" He asked again, not letting Janus¡¯ silence sway him.

    [No]

    Janus finally replied with one word.

    "I know I can¡¯t solve it at once, but I can try again and again until I find a way to?" Ryder suggested as he frowned.

    [It¡¯s not safe. The chances of sessfully stopping the attacks are only 0.01 percent. Also, doing it too many times in the same timeline will make time unstable. If that happened, he would be forced toe out. That won¡¯t be safe for anyone]

    Janus answered Ryder.

    "Who wille out?" Ryder asked again, but this time Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    "0.01 Percent chances of sess, huh," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "That means that I would have to go back in time over ten thousand times to have a chance of sess without dying, and even that wouldn¡¯t guarantee sess," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "That would be ten thousand timelines in which all these people will die because of my failure," He muttered as he fell in deep thought.

    Ryder entered the room and sat down as he sighed.

    " Have dinner. Don¡¯t think too much. There¡¯s nothing we can do about it," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "I am not hungry anymore," Alice said, shaking her head.

    "You can¡¯t do anything. Eat now. That¡¯s an order," Ryder said as he red at her.

    After a little more insistence, Alice finally started eating.

    From the Capital City, a federal ne was about to take off.

    The ne was filled with FBI agents. The ne was about to take them to the city that was shaken by the sts.

    There were over Thirty agents on the ne, and the ne had just taken off.

    "Hey, Ray. It¡¯ll be my first time working on this mission with you. Won¡¯t you brief our team about it? It seems like the work of the terrorists you faced in DC. What do you think?" One of the agents asked Ray. He had ming red hair and sharp eagle-like eyes

    Three FBI teams were going for this investigation, and each of them had a different leader. They were told to work separately.

    The Red-haired man was one of the three-team leaders. He was called Reylon Marvels.

    "It seems like this, but we can¡¯t be certain before investigators. But ording to my assumption, it seems to be their work. They¡¯re probably taking revenge because we got to one of their men and because we killed their members in DC," Ray replied as he sighed.

    " At the moment, I can only say one thing. Whoever did this can¡¯t be a human. Taking so many innocent lives," he muttered, shaking his head.

    "That¡¯s true," Raylon said as he nodded his head.

    ¡¯Is this just a coincidence, though? Ryder left the city, and sts happened? Did he know about this? Was he involved in these? So many questions, but the only thing I can see is that Ryder is at the center of it,¡¯ Ray thought as he closed his eyes.

    He was wondering why Ryder had left the city sote and just to go to a hotel to eat when he heard about the sts. It made him link Ryder with the sts. He felt like Ryder knew about these, but he was still confused. In his eyes, Ryder was someone who hated these Terrorists and stopped them as he did in DC and like he did outside Jameson¡¯s house. He couldn¡¯t understand why he didn¡¯t stop it this time, instead of leaving the city right before the sts.

    Could it be that Ryder had finally joined the terrorist organization? Or is it that the terrorists were waiting for him to go out of the city before starting this mission since they were worried that he would stop them again? It also had a third thought.

    He wondered if these attacks were just a ploy to bring out Ryder and catch him, but Ryder knew about it and ran away. All these assumptions kept floating in his head.

    He was curious to determine which of these assumptions was true and who the mastermind behind these attacks was.

    The ne flew through the clear skies towards the city, the sky of which was covered in smoke from all the sts.

    The city was burning. There was fire everywhere. The sound of cop cars and ambnces could be heard everywhere. Fire Brigades were working hard to get the raging mes under control.

    The peaceful city was filled with the noise of vehicles and the cries of people.

    No one knew, but right in the middle of this city, a man was standing at the top of a tall building.

    " It¡¯s so pretty. The zing city," the man muttered as heughed.

    The man seemed to be enjoying the destruction all around him. He was relishing in the cries and the screams of people. Only sheer pleasure could be seen in the eyes of the man.

    "Where are you, little guys? You killed our men in the DC. You were pretty brave. I thought that if I made a st big enough to attract some attention, you would appear again. Where are you hiding? Come out. Come out so I can kill you and take you to our supreme lord," the man muttered as he looked at the burning city.

 Chapter 315 To do or not to do

    <h4>Chapter 315: To do or not to do</h4>

    Ryder and Alice finished the dinner as they kept hearing the news of sts happening one after another.

    Ryder did asionally keep watching the news, just to make sure that nothing terrible happened in the neighborhood of his loved ones.

    After finishing the dinner, Ryder took Alice to the room that was assigned to them.

    The room had a single bed, but the bed was big enough for two people. As it was a Seven-Star Hotel, there were many facilities in this room, including chairs, couches and a big TV.

    "You can go, get fresh first," Ryder told Alice as he sat on the bed and turned on the tv. He started watching the news.

    Alice went into the washroom.

    "So much destruction. Almost half the city is destroyed," Ryder muttered as he sighed at the sight of the visuals in the news. He was feeling very ufortable as he simply watched it, unaware of the fact that this destruction was caused for him.

    The female FBI agent Riya that Ryder had killed outside Jameson¡¯s Mansion was the spy of the Dark Uprising organization that was behind all the missing bodies and the conflict with the Agents in Washington.

    Ryder had already known that Riya was an Uprising member after she hade back to life despite being shot in the head, but what he didn¡¯t notice was that Riya was a part of the Raid by the FBI inside DC in which Ryder had his first open conflict with the Dark Uprising.

    Ryder had killed all their members in that ce that he saw, but he didn¡¯t kill one. That was Riya, who was an Agent of the Dark Uprising, working as an FBI agent.

    Riya had given the information about that attack to her heads already, and that was why the Dark Uprising members were so prepared at that ce. That¡¯s how they knew they were going to be raised by the Feds. The Dark Uprising wanted to make a show of force in DC through this.

    That¡¯s how they were aware enough to prepare a trap for the agents. They brought their Undying Soldiers, and they ced Snipers on the buildings.

    Riya knew that it was a trap, and she intentionally led the FBI agents to their death; unfortunately, she didn¡¯t expect that Ryder woulde there.

    Ryder destroyed the trap from inside out. He openly killed all the Dark Uprising members, including the snipers.

    Fortunately, Ryder had kept his face hidden during that confrontation, and no one knew about it.

    There was only one person in the FBI that suspected Ryder as the masked man who destroyed the Uprising in Washington, and that was Ray. Ray sat beside Ryder on the trip back from Washington, and he started suspecting Ryder, but he didn¡¯t tell his fellow members.

    The only time he told anyone about Ryder was after Riya¡¯s death, and that was to his partner and best friend, Jacob.

    That¡¯s how Riya never knew what Ryder looked like. Riya had informed her higher-ups about the masked man, killing all their Members. She gave as many details as she could about that battle.

    That made the Dark Uprising higher-ups attracted to Ryder as they wondered where Ryder got all his powers from. How could Ryder not die after being shot so many times like their shoulders, and why did he have such battle prowess? They had decided to catch Ryder after all this.

    They also wondered why Ryder stopped their men. They thought that Ryder either had a heroplex or he knew about the Dark Uprising and hated it.

    Whatever being the case, they knew that Ryder would appear again if they made another boom.

    That¡¯s why they sent their men to thest city Ryder was seen. As Riya¡¯s death happened in this city and it was imed that a masked man who couldn¡¯t die after being shot killed her, they thought that Ryder was here.

    Their n was simple. Make a big noise and attract everyone. This would be their revenge, and this would also make Rydere out of hiding.

    They had many high ranking Members inside the city, merely waiting for Ryder to appear so that they could capture him. The formation inside the city was undoubtedly overkill to capture one single guy, but the Uprising didn¡¯t take Ryder lightly.

    They had sent one of the Thirteen Kings to the city personally.

    Ryder sat on the bed, unaware of the giant trap that was ced for him as he watched the news channels and saw the Visuals of the Terrifying Attack.

    All the cities were sealed. The whole country was under some sort of curfew. Not only the city that was under the attack but all the other cities, far away from that ce, were shut down. Cop cars had begun patrolling extensively to make sure that nothing bad happened in the city. All the civilians were inside their house, watching the terrifying scenes on various news channels.

    Various international media outlets had started to cover this, as well.

    "The President is holding the Press Conference at the moment. We will take you straight to the Press Conference," the News Anchor said as the scene switched to the White House.

    The Current President was sitting behind his Table, looking solemn.

    The Current President of the United States was a woman who was only the second woman to ever be the President of this country since its formation.

    The Woman was called ra Davis. She was the President of the United States.

    She was only in herte Thirties, which made her the youngest woman ever to be president of this country. Even though she was in herte thirties, she still looked like a youngdy in her twenties.

    She had beautiful light-green eyes and thin lips. Her brown hair came just a little lower than her shoulder. The Tip of her hair was colored red.

    She was wearing a white shirt and a ck coat as she appeared on the television.

    Ryder had already seen thedy on TV many times, so he wasn¡¯t surprised after seeing her.

    " My Fellow Citizens of this Brave and Great Country. Tonight, we are under attack! We are under attack by terrorists that believe they can intimidate our prosperous and great nation through these acts of Terror, but I promise to you all that we will not be intimated. I¡¯ll make sure that the people who took the lives of our innocent citizens pay for it."

    "These times are challenging, and I urge the citizens to remain calm and inside their homes..."

    The President continued her speed as she talked about the events tonight. She also gave people courage. As for the city that was facing the attacks, she gave them the assurance that the help was on the way.

    The whole speechsted for only ten minutes before the broadcast from the Whitehouse was over, and the focus returned to the news anchor.

    Alice came out of the washroom, and Ryder went inside.

    He took his clothes off and turned on the shower, letting the water droplets fall on his body as he ced his hand on the wall.

    His head was aching. He couldn¡¯t get the thought out of his mind. The thought to go and help the city, but the problem was the mission of Janus. Janus had given him the mission to leave the city. He had finished the mission in this timeline, but if he went back in time, Janus would again give the same mission. He was not worried about the rewards but about the failure.

    Janus had said that if he failed inpleting the mission, then there was going to be a death. The problem was that he didn¡¯t know whose death. It couldn¡¯t be about him, and Janus wouldn¡¯t talk about strangers¡¯ death since he wouldn¡¯t care. The only possible answer was that someone close to him could die if he didn¡¯t leave the city.

    He ced his hand on the wall as he frowned.

    "If I go back in time, someone close to me might die, and the chances of me being sessful are almost negligible. Should I take the risk? Most probably, I¡¯ll keep going back in time again and again and watch people die right before my eyes. The city would be destroyed in front of me. To top it off, someone close to me would die, and I don¡¯t know who," Ryder muttered.

    "If I don¡¯t go back in time by dying in the next twelve hours, the previous timeline would be fixed, and nothing would change. The city will stay destroyed."

    "On the other hand, if I did go back, the timeline would be unstable. The more I tried this; the more unstable this timeline will be, which Janus warned me about again. Should I do it or not? Can I watch thousands of people die again and again? Can I watch people close to me die?" Ryder muttered as he sighed.

 Chapter 316 Lord of Time and Space

    <h4>Chapter 316: Lord of Time and Space</h4>

    The cold water droplets fell on Ryder¡¯s hot head as he tried to think of something to deal with it.

    It felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. He wanted to help, but not helping was more beneficial for him.

    He couldn¡¯t help but fall deeper and deeper into this thought.

    Ryder shook his head as he sighed.

    "What the hell am I even doing here. Why am I having second thoughts about saving thousands of people? If I can save even one of them, it should be worth it. As for someone close to me dying, that is my assumption. Janus only said death would be the consequence. He didn¡¯t say whose death. He would¡¯ve said the name if it was the death of someone close. He never hesitated as he talked about the death of Alice previously. I can at least try to see what Janus meant?" Ryder muttered as he clenched his fist.

    " The only problem is the timeline," he muttered as he frowned.

    "Janus, how many times can I go back in time to the same day without disrupting the timeline too much to get noticed?" Ryder asked Janus and started waiting for a response.

    [I don¡¯t know how serious he is taking each disruption. The Lord of Time is resting in a special ce created by the Lord of Space. He wouldn¡¯te out for minor disruptions. It should be fine if you go back three times. If you were stronger, it would have been different, but for now, you should only go back to the same day three times. Any more than that, and he would probablye out. That won¡¯t be good. It¡¯ll be too soon]

    Janus told Ryder in an emotionless tone.

    "The Lord of Time and the Lord of Space? Are they like the gods?" Ryder asked with a frown.

    [ I believe that¡¯s what you people call them]

    Janus replied.

    " Awesome. So even gods will start trying to kill me if I took the wrong steps. Don¡¯t they have anything better to do than mess with a normal mortal?" Ryder asked as he smiled wryly.

    [Normal Mortal...]

    Janus went silent after saying these two words as if he was speechless.

    If any other person had heard Ryder and knew what powers he had, he would probably choke at him, calling himself a normal Mortal.

    "Anyway, I have less than one in a thousand chance of sess and only three tries. That too is overcounting since if someone close to me died the first two times, I wouldn¡¯t mess around the third time. I¡¯ll take Alice and leave the city, letting the same events take ce. So, in reality, I only have two tries to stop all these attacks. That¡¯s definitely not enough," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    [You should think carefully. In any case, it¡¯s too much to do and no chance of sess. Take your time and think carefully. This timeline is as good as it can get]

    Janus told Ryder in a grim tone.

    " Time hah, that¡¯s what I don¡¯t seem to have at this time at all. I¡¯ll do it! I¡¯ll go back in time and try to stop it. Even though I¡¯ll only have two tries to change the future, I¡¯ll do it. This is bigger than just me and my family," Ryder muttered as he clenched his fist.

    " First, I¡¯ll collect all the information I can about the attacks. The attacks happened at around Eleven in the night. I should have till tomorrow afternoon to collect all the information I can about the attacks before taking a step. I only have two chances; I can¡¯t waste one of them," he added as he turned off the shower.

    He wiped his body from the towel and stepped out of the washroom after getting dressed.

    He walked to the bed and saw that Alice was still watching the TV with concern.

    "Go to sleep now. It¡¯ll be over by the time you wake up," Ryder said as he rubbed her head.

    "I-i¡¯m scared. Watching everything I¡¯ve known being destroyed. It is heart-wrenching. I feel like I went through something like this before. I want to cry, but I can¡¯t cry either," Alice muttered as she looked at Ryder.

    "That¡¯ll happen. These attacks are horrifying, after all. There¡¯s nothing you can do about it, though. Just calm your head and let the authorities do their work. I¡¯m sure those who did these sins will get what they deserve," Ryder muttered as he turned off the TV.

    "Get to sleep now," he told Alice.

    "I can¡¯t sleep now," Alice said, shaking her head.

    "You can definitely sleep. Come. Lie down first. I¡¯ll turn off the lights," Ryder told Alice as he stood up and went to turn off the lights. Aliceid down on the bed.

    Ryder turned off the lights and walked back to the bed, andid beside Alice. He wanted Alice to sleep first before he started watching the news again.

    Just as Ryderid down, he felt a warm body sticking closer to him. Alice hade closer to Ryder. She held his hand.

    Ryder used his left hand to rub her cheeks gently.

    "Everything¡¯s going to be fine. I¡¯ll make sure everything is fine soon," Ryder muttered softly.

    "Hmm," Alice whimpered as she nodded her head.

    After half an hour, she fell asleep.

    Ryder released his hand from Alice¡¯s hand as he stood up. He ced his earphones in his ears and turned on the news channel on his phone to stay updated on thetest happenings without being disruptive to Alice.

    Fortunately, there were no attacks after that. There were Fifteen attacks at different ces throughout the city.

    It was around Four in the night, and the National Guards had started arriving inside the City in their armored vehicles.

    The Special¡¯ ne of FBI¡¯ had alsonded within the city. Most of the flights leaving the city were canceled. It was as if the city waspletely halted. Cops cars could be seen roaming the streets.

    The Fire Brigade was still busy putting out the fire.

    Homnd Security was also involved, along with many other organizations. The City had be a hotspot for investigation.

    ording to the News Reports, three FBI teams were sent to the city to investigate. Unfortunately, the city authorities hadn¡¯t managed to capture a single person involved.

    ¡¯As long as they can pinpoint the st location and spot, I should be able to deal with it. The first try will be about going to one of the st locations before the st and catching the person responsible before he can do anything," Ryder muttered.

 Chapter 317 Coming Clear

    <h4>Chapter 317: Coming Clear</h4>

    "Two tries... Two tries are all I have," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    He kept listening to the news, trying to see any new development. He wanted to know all he could.

    "Wait a minute, that spy on my trail. If she¡¯s working for Ray, that number she called would be his. If I can get in contact with Ray, I should be able to get more insider information. I still have 7-8 hours to collect information," Ryder muttered as he stood up.

    He walked to the hall and dialed the unknown number. He didn¡¯t wait for Shu to confirm who the number belonged to. He didn¡¯t have enough time. He was mostly sure that it was the number of Ray from the FBI who was after him. Either way, since he was going to erase this timeline, it didn¡¯t matter who this number belonged to. There was not going to be any consequences after all.

    He called the number.

    The phone started ringing.

    Ray and his fellow teammates were at the st location inside one of the Seven-star hotels that suffered the attacks. They were checking the CCTV footage to see what happened before the st.

    "Fast forward it," Ray told the operator, but that¡¯s when his phone started ringing.

    "Pause it right there. I¡¯ll be right back," he said as he turned back.

    He looked at the number on his phone, which was showing Ryder¡¯s name. Ryder didn¡¯t know about it, but Ray had already found his number and even saved it.

    " Ryder? Interesting. Let¡¯s see what you have to say," Ray muttered as he smiled. He had a feeling that Ryder could help him get to the culprits faster.

    Ray picked up the call but didn¡¯t say anything.

    "You¡¯re Ray from the FBI, aren¡¯t you?" Ryder asked straight away.

    "Yes," Ray replied.

    "Look, Ray, I¡¯m pretty sure you know who I am by now if you send your little spies after me," Ryder muttered. "You should be d I¡¯m letting the little bird live despite knowing that she¡¯s spying on me."

    Ray was shocked to hear Ryder¡¯s words.

    "Don¡¯t harm her! She didn¡¯t mean anything bad," Ray replied instantly.

    "I¡¯m not harming her. She still doesn¡¯t realize that I already know about her," Ryder replied casually. "I¡¯m not interested in that little bird."

    "Why did you call me?" Ray asked with a frown.

    " I called to tell you something. Now, I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re recording this call or whatever. It doesn¡¯t matter anymore. I¡¯m telling you straight away. You were right. I am Ryder, and I am the guy that saved your life in Washington and in front of Jameson¡¯s house," Ryder said in a stern tone.

    "I knew it. Don¡¯t worry; my calls are not being tapped. Your secret is safe with me. Did you call me regarding today¡¯s attacks? What do you want to talk about? Is this the work of the same people? Why did you leave the city just before the attacks happened? Did you know about the attacks?" Ray fired all his questions one after another.

    " The reason why I called you? It¡¯s because I need your help. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the work of the same people and that¡¯s why I need your help. I need information. I need to know details regarding the attacks so that I can help you and save innocent lives. I¡¯m outside the city, and I can¡¯te back fast enough to collect the information myself, so you can be my only eyes and ears now," Ryder replied.

    " It all depends on you now. If you help me, we can save thousands of lives together. If you don¡¯t help me, those lives will be as good as gone," he added.

    "I¡¯ll help you. What do you need?" Ray nodded his head as he said.

    "Good. All I need is the information regarding the attacks. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll check CCTV footage and ask the witnesses about what they saw. I want you to send me the pics of all the culprits you can find in the CCTV along with the information on where they appeared and where they ced the bombs. The faster you get me the information, the more I¡¯ll be able to help," Ryder said in a grim tone.

    "It¡¯s 4 in the night. You have till 4 in the morning. I need the information I asked for. These twelve hours are the most crucial. Any dy will result in the loss of lives. Be fast," he continued. "I¡¯ll call you in 6 hours to check up on you."

    Ryder disconnected the call.

    Ray went back to the monitor and started looking at the footage.

    Ryder called Esmi once again, wondering if her phone was on right now.

    Fortunately, this time, the call was connected, and Esmi picked up the phone.

    "Are you fine?" Ryder instantly asked.

    "Ah, yeah. I¡¯m fine. I was home at that time," Esmi replied.

    "That¡¯s good. Why was your phone turned off when I was calling you before? Also, how many people did you lose in these attacks?" Ryder inquired.

    "My phone? Ah, It ran out of battery. I was ignorant and forgot to charge it. As for the losses, many men died. There were over fifty of my men inside at that time," Esmi replied as she sighed.

    "It could¡¯ve been worse. At Least you¡¯re safe," Ryder said as he sighed in relief.

    "What about you? Everyone is fine on your side, right?" Esmi asked.

    "Yeah, fortunately, no one close to me was harmed," Ryder replied. "Also, outside the city, so there was no way I would have been harmed."

    "That¡¯s good," Esmi said, nodding her head.

    "Do you have any clue who is behind these attacks and why your ce was targeted? Most of the ces that were targeted had at least a few hundred people. Only your ce had less than a hundred. Why does it seem like they just did it for some reason, especially with your ce?" Ryder asked as he suddenly thought of something.

    He was wondering if the people that attacked had some link of enmity to Esmi. That could be the reason they went out of her ce to destroy her club instead of targeting more popted ces like they did in other attacks.

    "You mean one of my enemies could be involved in these attacks? I guess I didn¡¯t think from that point of view at all. This does make sense now that I think about it. The problem is that a person can make many enemies in this business. It¡¯s impossible to pinpoint one," Esmi replied as she sighed.

 Chapter 318 Thin Line

    <h4>Chapter 318: Thin Line</h4>

    "That is possible. Whatever being the case, don¡¯t leave the house until it¡¯s all over. The streets are chaotic," Ryder told Esmi.

    "Ah, yes. I¡¯ll try to find the person responsible for this while staying inside. If it were really a targeted attack of one of my enemies, I¡¯d make sure he pays for my damages," Esmi muttered as she sighed.

    "As long as you don¡¯t leave the house, everything¡¯s fine. Keep a strong security around your house, though. Don¡¯t let any stranger enter. Whoever did this managed to get inside your club with a bomb," Ryder responded.

    " Ah, yeah. I¡¯ll keep that in mind," Esmi said, nodding her head.

    Ryder disconnected the call.

    He rested on the sofa as he stretched his arms.

    This is going to be a long night indeed," he muttered as he sighed.

    "The world is trembling, time is cracking, and I¡¯m walking over a thin line between Terrorists and God of Time that cane after me at any time for messing around with time. Sigh, why can¡¯t I be allowed to live a nice and peaceful life? I thought things were finally in control," he let out as he unlocked his phone.

    He turned on live tv again and started listening to the news.

    There was nothing new, fortunately. No new sts happened. As for the information about the investigation, the news Channels didn¡¯t know much about what the authorities were finding since it hasn¡¯t been a long time since the attack. Most of the channels were discussing the attacks inside the country.

    The Fires were finally under control, though, but the damage that was left behind was heart-wrenching to see. Even though the news channels blurred the bodies, the blood that was everywhere was screaming about the innocent lives that were lost here.

    Ryder sighed as he watched the scene.

    "This is so bad. I must stop this at all costs. I must seed," he muttered as he frowned.

    The number of estimated dead people in these attacks was over ten thousand. The number of seriously injured people was even more. As for the ones with minor injuries, they were in tens of thousands.

    Throughout the night, Ryder kept watching the news and reading the articles about the attacks online. He even tried finding all he could about the attacks on social media, including videos captured by the people that were at sight.

    The night passed away just like this without him getting even a minute of sleep. Soon, it was 8 in the morning. Alice was still sleeping as she sleptte.

    Ryder put his phone down and went to the shower to refresh his head that was starting to get sleepy. He knew that he only had to take up for 8-9 more hours before it was the time to go back in time. At that point, his body should also be back to the condition it was in 24 hours ago, and he wouldn¡¯t need any sleep.

    He spent ten minutes inside the shower beforeing out and getting back to work.

    After half an hour, the doorbell rang.

    "Breakfast!"

    The person outside the door said.

    "Come on in," Ryder replied without standing up.

    The hotel staff entered the room and ced the breakfast on the table.

    "We would like to apologize for the dy in breakfast. It¡¯s been pretty chaotic here as well with everything that has happenedst night," The person apologized to Ryder respectfully.

    "Don¡¯t worry about this. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure everyone slepttest night after what happened. It¡¯s nothing," Ryder replied casually.

    The man nodded his head before he turned back and left the room, closing the door behind him.

    Ryder stood up and walked back to the bed. He was about to wake Alice up to get her to have breakfast, but as he saw her peaceful sleeping face, he couldn¡¯t bear to break her sleep.

    "She looks so cute when she¡¯s sleeping," he muttered as he shook his head. "Sleep as much as you need, little girl. Stay in the dreand for some time."

    He walked back to the couch and got back to his work.

    Soon, it was ten in the morning. Alice hadn¡¯t woken up yet. It had been only seven hours since she fell asleep.

    Six hours had passed since Ryder had talked to Ray, and only six more hours were left in the deadline he had given To Ray for collecting all the information.

    He called Ray¡¯s number again to get an update on every Ray had found so far.

    Ray was sitting in front of aptop, going through some information on the screen.

    His friend and fellow team member Jacob were standing behind him.

    "Ray, why don¡¯t you go get some sleep? You haven¡¯t slept in over twenty-four hours. Take a few hours of nap. I¡¯ll go through the rest in the meantime," Jacob suggested.

    "Ah, no. It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s only a day. I can go on for longer. It¡¯s not the time to rest anyway," Ray muttered as he shook his head.

    "Can you contact Reylon and Mias to get the information that they had managed to collect so far? Tell them that I¡¯m asking for it, and I¡¯ll share what I collected in exchange," Ray told Jacob as he nced back.

    "Ah, right away," Jacob said as he turned back and left the room.

    "This is intriguing," Ray muttered as he watched a video of CCTV that he had managed to collect. It showed the person that was probably responsible for cing the bomb.

    *Ring* *Ring*

    "Hmm?" Ray frowned as he shifted his focus from hisptop screen to his phone screen.

    "Ryder? Ah, half time had already passed. He seems pretty punctual," Ray muttered as he picked up the call.

    "Hey," Ray said.

    " Did you manage to find anything?" Ryder asked straight away.

    " Yeah, I found a few people. There were fourteen sts. I¡¯m investigating five locations. Other nine are being handled by other teams. I have managed to find the location of the bombs in all five of the ces in investigating," Ray told Ryder.

    "What about their faces?" Ryder asked Ray as he frowned.

    "Amongst the five st locations, I have managed to find the face of the culprits in four. The fifth-ce seems to be impossible for now since the CCTV room and everything else were destroyed there. We¡¯re trying to find witnesses so that we can make sketches," Ray exined.

    "So you have the faces of four of the terrorists that ced the bomb. That¡¯s pretty good so far." Ryder said.

 Chapter 319 Help

    <h4>Chapter 319: Help</h4>

    "As for the fifth ce, I don¡¯t think you can get that sketch in time for me. What about the other nine ces, though? I¡¯ll need the information about that too," Ryder said.

    "I¡¯ve sent my people to get the information the other two teams have managed to collect. I¡¯ll be able to get you everything that you asked for before four o¡¯clock," Ray told Ryder.

    "That¡¯s good. Send me everything that you have collected so far. I¡¯ll go through that. Send the rest as soon as you get that. My Share ID is..." Ryder asked for the information as he had Ray the ID that could be used to send hisptop all the information that he needed.

    "Alright. You¡¯ll get that in ten minutes. I¡¯ve circled around the ones that are responsible for the attacks, and I¡¯ve added my notes. Go through the videos and my notes to get a better picture of what has transpired here," Ray told Ryder before he disconnected the call and got back to his work of going through thest video, which he wanted to share as well.

    Ryder waited for the information to get on hisptop. Soon, there was a popup on hisptop.

    [User Ray wants to share videos and text files. Would you like to ept?]

    Ryder clicked ept on the prompt as he allowed hisputer to review all the videos and the notes that Ray sent for him.

    While Ryder watched the information arrive on hisptop, he heard footsteps behind him.

    "You¡¯re up," Ryder muttered as he nced back.

    "Breakfast is here already. The coffee might¡¯ve been cold. I¡¯ll ask for more coffee. You can start eating in the meantime," He added as he looked at Alice.

    " Have you eaten anything?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "Not yet. You start first. I have a little work to do. I¡¯ll eat lunch directly," Ryder replied, shaking his head before he picked up hisptop and walked back to the bedroom.

    He sat on the bed and ced theptop on hisp.

    The Transfer was alreadypleted. All that was needed was to go through the data.

    He started with the text file to read everything that Ray had managed to find out about this, including the locations of the bomb and how those people managed to get inside.

    It took him half an hour to go through the pages.

    "This is quite detailed. I do understand a few things, but this doesn¡¯t say anything about how those terrorists managed to pass through the security without being caught," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    He wondered if he should call Ray and ask this directly.

    "I¡¯ll ask himter. If he knows, he should be able to tell meter," Ryder muttered, shaking his head.

    He moved on to the videos of the CCTV footage that Ray had sent. There were four videos. Each of these videos showed a different targeted location in various parts of the city.

    Ryder ced the earphones in his ears and started ying the video.

    He saw peopleing and going inside the hotel before one guy walked over to the ce. There was a red circle around his face on the video.

    "Good. He did mark the videos to help me recognize the guys faster," Ryder muttered as he ced all his focus on the guy who was marked.

    The guy looked like he was in his middle age. He was wearing a casual t-shirt and jeans. There was a bag on his back, which seemed like aptop bag. The guy sat on the seat in the casino inside the hotel as he looked around. He even yed a few games in the casino.

    After around twenty minutes, the guy left the ce. Ryder did notice that the guy left his bag behind.

    There were some words on the video that showed the location and the timing of the st at that location.

    "So it¡¯s the first ce that saw the st. It happened at ten, but the guy entered the casino at 9:30. Just half an hour before the st," Ryder muttered as he rewinds the video and paused it when it was showing the face of the guy clearly.

    "Little devil, you think you escaped, didn¡¯t you?" he let out as he tried to save the face of the man in his head.

    After the first video, Ryder watched the second one and then the third one. Soon, he was finished with all four.

    "Four videos, five sts, five different locations," Ryder muttered as he frowned. "And this is just the first part. There are more locations of the sts, one of which is Esmi¡¯s club. Oh, right. Instead of going to a hotel with stricter security and trying to catch a guy there, it would be much easier to catch the terrorist at Esmi¡¯s club since I¡¯ll even get some help there."

    Ryder picked up his phone and dialed a number.

    "Ah, Esmi. You had CCTV¡¯s in your ce?" Ryder asked. He hadn¡¯t really put his focus on it before since he didn¡¯t care about it. He wasn¡¯t even sure if that ce had CCTV or not. The only thing he knew was Esmi¡¯s office didn¡¯t have CCTV.

    "Your ce didn¡¯t? Ah, it¡¯s fine," Ryder replied in disappointment.

    "Ah, no. I was just curious. I wanted to see if I could get any clues about this attack from the videos. Anyway, I¡¯ll get back to what I was doing. Stay safe. I¡¯ll callter," he said before disconnecting the call.

    "That sucks. Her ce didn¡¯t have any video Security. It would¡¯ve been much easier to catch a terrorist for interrogation there. I guess I have to take the guy from a more secure location," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s my first try, after all, and I¡¯m only doing this to get information. I can catch the guy, get information, and go back in time to stop it seriously. It doesn¡¯t matter if I break a fewws on my first try. It¡¯s not like that timeline would sti-" Ryder was talking about something when he stopped.

    "Wait a minute! Why didn¡¯t I think about it! I don¡¯t have to waste my first try like this. Fourteen locations! I can¡¯t be at the fourteen of them to stop the attacks, so I was thinking about looking for the guys before they separated. How could I be so stupid to even think about wasting this first attempt! So what if I can¡¯t be in fourteen ces at once! I have people I can use. We can stop it and save people on our first try!" Ryder let out excitedly as he suddenly thought of a new idea. An idea that was going to involve many people.

 Chapter 320 The Guy who died

    <h4>Chapter 320: The Guy who died</h4>

    "Instead of doing it alone, I can try taking the help of others. At Least on the first try. I can deal with the aftermathter. If the first try fails, I can think about using the second try more carefully. Overall, it should be good to take help," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    Without waiting for even a second, he picked up his phone and called a number again.

    Soon, the person he called picked up the phone.

    "No, I don¡¯t have that information yet. I told you I¡¯d send you as soon as I get them," Ray replied instantly as soon as he picked up the phone.

    "No, I didn¡¯t call for that. I wanted to talk to you about something else," Ryder said.

    "About something else? What?" Ray inquired.

    " Tell me one thing. If I had called you five hours before the sts and told you about them and their location, would you be able to help me stop them?" Ryder asked.

    " Five hours before the st? I don¡¯t think I could have. I was in the headquarters at the Capital City. Getting here alone would¡¯ve taken over an hour, and that too after asking for all the necessary permissions. I would have been able to help in other ways, though. With my help and reach, the Police and all the other authorities in the city would have believed you and helped you stop the attacks," Ray said.

    "Using cops and others? Nah, that wouldn¡¯t be as effective. I would have needed much more professional and trained people that would¡¯ve been able to lead, not only listen," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    "Also, the cops here and I aren¡¯t on good terms. They wouldn¡¯t trust me, let alone support me. Also, I don¡¯t have faith in them," he added as he sighed. "A single mistake could have resulted in hundreds of lives lost, and in the end, I would have been med because I warned them about this."

    ¡¯These options seem bad. Even if I seed in stopping the attacks, I would be on everyone¡¯s radar. If Ray were able to lead his teams and deal with these while I acted from the shadows, it would¡¯ve been possible, but with cops, it¡¯s not as easy,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    ¡¯Should I go with Shu¡¯s help?¡¯ he wondered.

    " No, you wouldn¡¯t be med. I would have handled everything. I wouldn¡¯t take your name. You would¡¯ve worn your mask and acted as a secret FBI agent. As for the necessary permissions, I would¡¯ve tried handling it," Ray replied to Ryder.

    " Even if I gave you no evidence about how I knew this or if it was actually going to happen?" Ryder asked.

    " Ah, I would¡¯ve believed you even if you didn¡¯t give any proof since I know who you are, but my Higher Ups would¡¯ve needed proof of this information and the validity of it. Without that, I don¡¯t think I would¡¯ve been able to get the permissions on time. I don¡¯t have enough authority after all," Ray said as he sighed.

    ¡¯It¡¯s useless then. How can I get proof?! I can¡¯t tell them I had traveled by death and had seen it happen? I don¡¯t even know their base and all,¡¯ Ryder thought as he shook his head.

    "Alright. It¡¯s useless then. I¡¯ll handle it myself. Get me the information I need as fast as possible," Ryder said.

    "Wait!"

    Just as Ryder was able to disconnect the call but he was stopped by Ray.

    "What?" Ryder inquired with a frown.

    "Why were you asking it? Did you know about these attacks?" Ray asked Ryder.

    "No. I was asking so that I know what I could do if something like this were about to happen again, and I knew about it," Ryder answered before he disconnected the call.

    "Asking for help is useless. There¡¯s too much questioning involved. If Ray was the Director of FBI or in some higher position, he could¡¯ve helped without any questions asked, but the current heads will not believe anything without questioning, and I don¡¯t want to go through that," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "If only I were close to a person of authority I could take help from, like the President or the Secretary of State," He let out as he looked down at hisptop screen.

    ¡¯Shu is powerful, but getting him involved is not a good idea. He¡¯ll be med if things go wrong. It doesn¡¯t take time for rumors to spread after all. Hispany¡¯s reputation might suffer, as well.¡¯ Ryder thought.

    ¡¯It¡¯s going to be a try, so I might as well try seeing what would happen if I take his help. He should have trained men that can deal with this while staying undercover. If things go right, I can follow the same pattern in the next trial. If things go wrong, but we still seed, I can improve it on the next try. If things go horribly wrong, I can go solo on the second try and go with my original n,¡¯ he thought.

    Heid down on the bed and started forming up a n in his mind regarding the information of the five attacked spots that he had received from Ray.

    Back in the city, the mes had died down, but the damage caused was still there. The rescue operation was ongoing. The bodies were still being collected and taken back to hospitals from under the rubble. The scene was horrifying.

    On one tall tower of the city, a man was standing, looking down at the cop cars going back and forth from one ce to another.

    He roamed his gaze all over the city.

    ¡¯Sigh, the party is over, but our guest still isn¡¯t here. Did he not live in this city?" the man muttered in an emotionless tone.

    "No worries. We have many more cities left. We¡¯ll keep destroying the cities and leaving our mark behind until we find the person we¡¯re looking for." The man said.

    He nced back as he heard the sound of footsteps.

    "I don¡¯t think that¡¯s possible. You¡¯ll never get the permission to do that from Master. Just getting the permission to target this one city without being involved ourselves was already hard, let alone trying to get the permission to destroy the country," the neer said as he looked at the masked men.

    "What can I say? To find that guy, we need to do it. I¡¯m sure Master is interested in the guy as well. The guy who can not die," The masked man muttered as heughed out loud.

 Chapter 321 Going to Hell

    <h4>Chapter 321: Going to Hell</h4>

    " It¡¯s not about not dying. It¡¯s about getting that power without meeting our master. That¡¯s the most intriguing part. Even Riya was made not to die, but the guy managed to defeat her easily. He¡¯s not only undying, but he¡¯s powerful as well. As for his fighting skills, sniping all out snipers without knowing their position, that¡¯s a feat in itself. That person... is not simple," the second man said.

    "Hahaha, why don¡¯t you tell it straight? You¡¯re dying to fight with that person. I¡¯m too! He seems to have the potential to be a king in the Uprising," The masked man said.

    "Yeah, I want to fight him. Too bad, he didn¡¯te. If he hade, he wouldn¡¯t be able to leave," the second man said as a creepy smile appeared on his face.

    There was a strange aura surrounding both of these men. The aura seemed to be warning that these two people were dangerous. The aura around them made them seem like a powerful deity that looked down on normal humans who had no strength.

    "Yeah, if he hade once..." The masked man muttered as he clenched his fist.

    Shu was sitting in his hall, looking at the news as well, wondering who would do such a thing. The security guards around his mansion were even more alert tonight. The guards were guarding with the mindset that this ce was definitely going to be targeted so that they had nox in security.

    The news channels started showing the visuals of the hotel where Ryder was about to go before he changed his n.

    "Sigh, it¡¯s so good that he didn¡¯t go there. Who would¡¯ve thought that the hotel that¡¯s known for its security would not even be able to stop a bomb from getting inside? Not only this one hotel but even other seven-star hotels. They have such great security; just how were the bombs brought inside? Did someone make a bomb that¡¯s tough to detect even by them? It could be a good technology," Shu muttered as he frowned.

    He picked up his phone and called a number.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s me. Get in contact with the government. Have them bring us a sample of the remains of the bomb that was used in today¡¯s attack. I want that to be analyzed. Find out how these bombs were made and how they weren¡¯t detected," Shu said as soon as the call was connected.

    "Yes, Sir," The other person said before Shu disconnected the call.

    " These guys are getting really advanced," Shu muttered as he sighed.

    Time kept passing, and soon, it was four in the evening.

    Ryder was just about to call Ray as he still hadn¡¯t revived the information regarding the rest of the locations, but that¡¯s when he felt a notification sound.

    He looked down at hisptop screen and saw a small window asking him to allow the permission to receive video and text files. Ryder clicked allow and waited for the information to arrive.

    His phone started ringing. He looked at his phone and saw that it was Ray calling.

    He picked up the call.

    "I sent everything I found. There were 14 sts, and out of the fourteen, I managed to get information about Thirteen. There¡¯s still no information about the fourteenth ce as everyone died there and there was no CCTV. Forensics are still there, trying to analyze everything, but that might take some time," Ray informed Ryder.

    "By fourteenth, do you mean the bar that was targeted?" Ryder asked, thinking about Esmi¡¯s club.

    " Yeah, it was a bar. How did you know?" Ray asked in surprise.

    " That doesn¡¯t matter. So, let me get this straight. I have the face of four terrorists from the five attacked locations that were under your jurisdiction? Did you manage to get the sketch of the fifth person at least?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah, I sent the sketch along with the files," Ray replied.

    "That¡¯s good. As for the other nine ces, except the bar, I should have the faces of all attackers, right?" Ryder inquired.

    "Ah, not all. They don¡¯t have the face of another person. I sent you a sketch of that person as well," Ray said.

    "Alright. So there¡¯s only one person I have no idea about, and that¡¯s the person that targeted the club. I¡¯ll go through the content you sent me. Thanks for the help," Ryder said. He was just about to disconnect the call when he remembered that he had something else to ask Ray.

    "Oh, right. I had another question," Ryder said abruptly.

    "What question?" Ray asked.

    "About the bombs. How were they brought inside the hotels despite their checking and seven-star security?" Ryder inquired.

    "That... Even I don¡¯t have the specifics about it yet since the guards that handled the gates died in the sts. But from the videos I saw, it seemed like the bags that had the bombs did go through the scanner, but they weren¡¯t detected. It might be a newponent they used to make the bomb or some new tech in the bad that hid it. We¡¯re still investigating that," Ray answered Ryder.

    "Alright, thanks." Ryder disconnected the call.

    He put his phone down and started going through the text files that he received first.

    He moved over to the videos and started looking at the clips he received. He had finished looking through everything in forty-five minutes. It was only 16:45 when he finished with this.

    He closed hisptop and got off the bed as he cracked his knuckles.

    " Hah, finally I¡¯m ready to go," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "I sure do hope that this going back through time works if the death is intentional. Otherwise, I¡¯d be screwed big time," He let out with a wry smile as he stepped out of the room.

    "Are you going outside?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "Ah, yeah. I¡¯m going to the reception. I¡¯ll be right back," Ryder said as he smiled.

    He left the room and went into the lift. Instead of going down to get to the reception, he went up.

    He went to the top floor of the hotel and went to the roof through the stairs. The door to get to the roof seemed to be locked, but Ryder broke the lock before he opened the door. He stepped on the roof and walked over to the edge.

    The hotel had seventeen floors. As Ryder looked down, he couldn¡¯t even see anyone clearly. There was no one on the road.

    "I¡¯m going to hell, aren¡¯t I?" Ryder muttered with a wry smile on his face before he took a step forward.

 Chapter 322 Dying

    <h4>Chapter 322: Dying</h4>

    Ryder was about to take a step forward, but he stopped as he heard a pping sound from behind him.

    He stopped as he turned back to look who it was.

    "Why did you stop? Go. Jump. Kill yourself. You think no running away from your problem helps, right? Go, do it. I won¡¯t stop you."

    Ryder could see a girl standing near the door who was looking at him like he was an idiot. She was gesturing to him to jump. He didn¡¯t recognize the girl.

    The Girl seemed to be slightly older than him. She seemed pretty, but her pretty face had a frown on it.

    "Why did you stop? Go, jump," the girl said as she saw Ryder looking at him nkly.

    " Just remember one thought, though. It doesn¡¯t help. Once you take a step forward, you¡¯ll die. You still have the opportunity and a long life ahead of you. You¡¯re still young. I¡¯m sure whatever it is that¡¯s troubling you can be solved. It might take a short time or longer, but it can¡¯t take longer than the life you have ahead of you," the girl said.

    "Think Carefully. You want to jump and give up everything or life and face whatever problem you have so that you can live a better life after that," she continued.

    ¡¯Ah, so she¡¯s doing it this way. Trying to save me,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled wryly.

    "How did you get to the top, though?" Ryder asked the girl. He didn¡¯t bother asking who the girl was.

    " Does it even matter? I live on the 17th floor. I saw you going upstairs to the roof and decided to follow you. Listen, Dude. I know you must have some problem to make a decision like this, but still, you can talk to me about it. I¡¯ll help you. Don¡¯t give up your life for this. We only have one life after all," The girl said to Ryder.

    "Hahaha," Ryder startedughing as he heard her words.

    "You wouldn¡¯t think that if you knew about me. Anyway, You¡¯re a nice girl. I¡¯m d I got to meet you, even though this meeting would never happen now. As for my problem, you can¡¯t help me. My problem needs me to jump. Thanks for trying, though. If we meet again, I¡¯ll remember you," Ryder said as he waved his hand.

    "Bye, prettydy," he said as he tilted his body backward.

    "Wai-" The girl reached out her hand as she ran forward, but she was toote. Ryder had already fallen down.

    This is going to hurt, isn¡¯t it?" Ryder muttered as he fell down the roof. He was falling down, feeling the rush of wind against his back.

    He was scared of dying like this, but he didn¡¯t want to shoot himself either. He had already died from being shot before. Since he had the ability not to die, he wanted to try experiencing what each death felt like. So far, he had only experienced being shot. This time, he wanted to try experiencing death through falling from a height. He was scared, but he was kind of excited as well.

    Soon, he reached near the ground. His body crashed on the concrete floor.

    Ryder opened his eyes as he heard the strange noise.

    He looked around and noticed that he was sitting beside Shu. They were in a helicopter together. The noise was from the fans of the helicopter.

    "Isn¡¯t that right?" Shu asked Ryder suddenly.

    "Huh?" Ryder let out as he looked towards Shu.

    " Right. That stock is a good option," he continued as he remembered what they were talking about at this point in time.

    "You look stressed suddenly. Did something happen?" Shu asked Ryder as he frowned.

    " Yeah, something did happen. Shu, I¡¯m going to need your help. I need Trained Soldiers that can take care of any enemy. People¡¯s lives depend on it," Ryder said as he looked into Shu¡¯s eyes.

    "Ah, did something happen?" Shu asked Ryder as his frown deepened. He could see that Ryder looked serious.

    "Did you see some bad dreams?" he asked.

    " I didn¡¯t see any dreams. I just remembered something really important. Anyway, I¡¯ll tell that to youter. I need Thirteen teams of at least two soldiers each. People that can take the lead and think in critical situations, and I need them in an hour," Ryder said.

    "What did you remember? What¡¯s it about?" Shu inquired, still not understanding what was happening.

    The Guards and the butler also looked at Ryder.

    " Tell me one thing first. Do you trust me? Anything I say?" Ryder asked Shu in a grim tone.

    "I do," Shu said without taking even a single second to think.

    "That¡¯s good. Don¡¯t ask any questions about how I know it. Just know that there is going to be a terrorist attack on our city tonight, and I need your help to stop it," Ryder said.

    "You ten," he continued as he looked at the guards of Shu. "You¡¯re taking part in this mission."

    "Now we need at least sixteen more people," He muttered.

    "Ah, You can take all the guards that are protecting our mansion. It¡¯s not like anyone will attack me anyway. There are over sixty guards there. All of them were former army members. They¡¯re all fully trained. That should make enough," Shu said, nodding his head.

    Ryder looked at Shu. He was seriously thinking about it when he remembered the mission of Janus that talked about death.

    He didn¡¯t want to take the risk of taking the guards of the Estate and put Shu and Alice¡¯s life in jeopardy.

    "Ah, no. I can¡¯t put the security of the Estate at risk. This night won¡¯t be safe for anyone. The more guards you have, the better," Ryder said, shaking his head.

    "It¡¯s really fine. I have my ways to protect myself. Take the guards. I can call our private security as well, but those people aren¡¯t in this city. They¡¯ll take some time to reach here," Shu replied.

    ¡¯ Looks like I underestimated how difficult it is to bring people in such a short time," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    He was also concerned since he didn¡¯t have any ways to show the sketch of the people that were going to cause the sts either. He couldn¡¯t sketch what he saw. He could only tell the guards about the location of the attacks and where the terrorist would sit or be. Even that required him to be personally there.

    "Shu, you mind if I borrow your helicopter for a little while right now?" Ryder asked Shu.

 Chapter 323 Final Place

    <h4>Chapter 323: Final ce</h4>

    "Ah, no. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m in no hurry to get home," Shu said as he smiled.

    Ryder stood up and walked to the pilot.

    "Young Master, these sudden talks about attacks? Do you seriously believe it? He probably saw some dream and thought it¡¯s going to happen. You don¡¯t have to y along," The Butler said softly to Shu.

    " It¡¯s fine. I believe him. I¡¯m sure he knows the difference between dream and reality. And even if it doesn¡¯t happen, so what? It¡¯s just one day. There¡¯s no trouble," Shu said as he shrugged.

    Ryder walked back after a few minutes and sat beside Shu.

    Shu could feel the helicopter changing direction.

    "Where are we going now?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Hotel Verison," Ryder replied.

    "What¡¯s there?" Shu inquired.

    "That¡¯s the first ce that is going to be attacked. I know the most about it, so I personally want to leave people there to teach them what they need to do," Ryder exined.

    ¡¯Now that I think about it, taking the help of cops will not be such a bad idea since Ick people, but talking to Ray, him getting permissions from his higher-ups and that too without any evidence seems impossible,¡¯ Ryder thought as he wondered if he how many people he should leave at each location to catch the terrorists and to stop the attacks.

    He had seventy people avable, including the professional guards who were guarding Shu¡¯s Mansion, and he didn¡¯t want to take too many and put Shu and Alice at risk.

    ¡¯There¡¯s most probably only one terrorist at each location since it¡¯s a simple sneaking inside and leaving the bomb missing for them. Two should be enough to catch that one guy,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    The Helicopternded on the roof of Hotel Verison.

    Shu and Ryder stepped out of the helicopter along with the butler and the guards.

    Ryder took everyone to a casino.

    He pointed towards two people after he reached the casino.

    "The Two of you will stay here for the next 5 hours. Look at your watch carefully. Exactly at 9:55, a bald man in a red t-shirt and ck jeans will enter the casino and sit there. Your mission is to catch that guy and take the bag to the roof. Try to get that guy to deactivate the bomb, and if you can¡¯t, put the bag inside the helicopter that willnd on the roof soon after," Ryder exined to the men.

    "Oh, right. It¡¯s not a joke. Take it seriously. You aren¡¯t here to gamble or drink. People¡¯s lives are at stake. Set a reminder of 9:54 so you don¡¯t forget. Just do this one thing carefully, and tomorrow, you can enjoy all you want," Ryder told the men before he left with Shu and others.

    "Man, that guy isn¡¯t even our boss, but he¡¯s ordering is around," one of the two men that were left behind muttered as he rolled his eyes.

    " He¡¯s the close friend of the boss, so we don¡¯t listen to him. Come on; it¡¯s just 5 hours. It¡¯ll pass away in the blink of an eye," The Second Guy let out as he smiled wryly. He pulled his phone out and set a reminder before he walked over to the side and sat on a chair.

    Ryder and the others went back to the roof and entered the helicopter, which was taken to the roof of another hotel. Ryder did the same thing again and left two men behind.

    He did the same thing on the third ce as well as the fourth and the fifth.

    After he finished with the fifth ce, he told the pilot to take them to the Shu Estate since he had run out of people. There were ten guards in the helicopter, and they were all left at one of the attacked locations.

    The Helicopternded on the helipad in the Shu Estate.

    He collected Sixteen more trained guards from the Estate before he left again, leaving Shu behind. He told Shu to stay inside the mansion and to not leave the ce tonight for whatever reason. He also told him to keep Alice inside and to make up some excuse as to why he couldn¡¯t take her to dinner tonight.

    The Helicopter left.

    Shu stood on the ground, watching the helicopter leave.

    " I hope it¡¯s not true. If it¡¯s just you, taking your dreams seriously, it¡¯s fine. But if it¡¯s really a terrorist attack, then it¡¯s really serious. It¡¯ll be a dangerous night," Shu muttered as he looked into the distant horizon before he turned back and walked inside the mansion.

    Ryder assigned the sixteen guards at the rest of the eight locations as well. He had covered almost every location. Now, thirteen of the fourteen st locations had guards waiting there for the terrorists to arrive.

    As for the fourteenth location, Ryder wanted to be there himself. It was the club of Esmi. He at least knew what the terrorists at other locations looked like, and he could give their description to the guards, but the one that targeted Esmi¡¯s ce was unknown. There was no sketch of that guy and no recorded footage. That¡¯s what made this ce more tricky. He wanted to handle it himself.

    Ryder gave the helicopter pilot a paper that had the schedule as to where he was supposed to be at what time.

    He had thought of everything and formed a thorough n.

    He had arranged a pattern in which the helicopter could get the bags of bombs from various locations in one ce if the bombs weren¡¯t disabled. After that, it was much easier for Ryder to take care of the bombs by simply putting them in his inventory as he did before.

    The Pilot took the schedule before he flew away, leaving Ryder near the Club of Esmi.

    Ryder walked towards the club. As he reached the entrance, he was greeted by familiar faces. The guards of the club recognized Ryder from his previous visits and allowed him to enter without any trouble.

    As Ryder entered the club, he saw Mak standing nearby. Ryder couldn¡¯t help but remember thest time he saw Mak. He had used his pills to turn Mak into a mental child to take his sign on the property papers for a mission.

    He didn¡¯t do anything with the papers since he didn¡¯t need that little bit of the money, and he didn¡¯t want to be seen as a bad guy. He just kept the papers in his invention if Janus ever gave a chain mission that needed those papers.

 Chapter 324 Split Personality

    <h4>Chapter 324: Split Personality</h4>

    "Hey, Makk," Ryder called out as he walked closer to Makk.

    "Ah, Ryder? You¡¯re here. I¡¯ve been thinking about meeting you for quite some time," Makk said to Ryder.

    "Why?" Ryder asked innocently.

    "Just what happened when I met youst time. I remember everything up to that moment, but I don¡¯t remember what happened after that. I only hear people saying that I was behaving like a child. That probably started after I met you. Did you do something?" Makk asked Ryder.

    "You were behaving like a child? Not at all. You were perfectly fine. We talked, and I left to meet Esmi before I left the ce. You seemed to be perfectly fine up to that moment. I¡¯m not sure about what you¡¯re saying," Ryder said as he shook his head.

    " If it¡¯s true, it seems like you have some neurological disorder or some Split Personality type thing that made you behave like a kid. I did hear that when a person has a split personality, his one personality doesn¡¯t remember what happens when the other personality is controlling that body. From what you said, that seems to be the case," he continued.

    "I-i have a split personality?" Makk asked in confusion.

    " That seems to be the most usible exnation. You should really meet up with a doctorter on. He can do some tests and tell you in more detail," Ryder said as he sighed.

    " Oh right, Is Esmi here?" he inquired without giving Makk any chance to ask anything else regarding the topic.

    "No, Boss is at home today. There¡¯s some renovation work going on there, so she won¡¯t be here," Makk said, shaking his head.

    ¡¯Oh, so that¡¯s why she wasn¡¯t here at the time of the st. It¡¯s good,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Did you need something?" Makk asked Ryder.

    " Ah, nothing. I was just here to spend some time. I need a ce to pass some time. You can do what you were doing. I¡¯ll just sit and rx," Ryder said as he waved his hand and walked up to a table.

    He sat on a chair at an empty table and started looking around casually.

    It was only eight in the night at the time. The sts were going to happen at ten. He still had two hours. He believed that the terrorists wouldn¡¯te before nine in most cases; still, he sat alert.

    "Come on, Mr. Unknown. Be fast. Don¡¯t make me wait for long," Ryder muttered as he tapped his fingers on the table.

    Two beer bottles were ced on the table of Ryder.

    "Here. You don¡¯t seem good sitting empty. Have some drink since you¡¯re already here," Makk said as he sat in front of Ryder.

    "It¡¯s fine. I won¡¯t be drinking before ten," Ryder said as he waved his hand lightly. He wasn¡¯t going to get drunk at this time since he was on a critical mission. He didn¡¯t want to be drunk and miss out on the opportunity. He needed to be in his proper condition to recognize and catch the terrorist.

    Makk didn¡¯t force Ryder to drink. He drank the entire bottle himself.

    After some short conversation, he stood up and left, leaving Ryder on the table alone.

    Soon, it was nine. Ryder messaged all the guards once again to remind them that time was near and to check if everyone was alert or not.

    It was 9:20 pm when Ryder finally noticed something suspicious. A man had entered the club. He had the same bag that Ryder had seen with the terrorists in the CCTV footage.

    "There you are," Ryder muttered as he stared at the man subtly. He watched the man go to the bartender and order a beer bottle.

    The Man took the bottle and walked to the end. He sat on an empty table. He ced the bag under the table and opened the bottle as he started drinking it.

    Ryder could see a phone in the man¡¯s hand. He wondered if that was a trigger or something which prevented him from going up to the man straight away.

    He kept observing the man, and only when the man put the phone in his pocket did he rx. He stood up and walked towards the man.

    "You mind if I sit here?" Ryder asked the man with an innocent smile.

    "Sorry, but you should sit elsewhere. I like drinking alone," the man replied in a grim tone.

    "Fine. I just thought you seemed like an interested person. I won¡¯t disturb you if you don¡¯t want,* Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    He was about to turn back before he noticed that his shoces were untied.

    "Ah, how did myces open? These guys are so annoying. I am this close to gettingceless shoes," Ryder said to the man as heughed while he bent down and started trying his shoes.

    The man kept his eyes on Ryder.

    Ryder finished tying hisces, but before standing up, he looked at the man.

    "Ah, there¡¯s a bee behind you!" Ryder called out with a shocked look on his face.

    The man hurriedly looked back in fear, not knowing that in that small timeframe, Ryder had managed to touch his bag. Ryder ced the bag in his inventory before standing up.

    "There¡¯s nothing," The man said as he looked at Ryder in anger.

    "I swear it was there. It flew up when I shouted," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    The man had still not noticed that the bag was missing. He subtly looked down and realized that the bad wasn¡¯t there.

    "Ah, My bag!" the man called out as he stood up in shock.

    "Bag? Ah, Do you mean the ck back?" Ryder inquired in surprise.

    "Yes! What did you do to my bag!" the man let out as he caught Ryder¡¯s cors with both his hands.

    Ryder smiled like a child.

    "Thank you," He said as he moved his hand and pulled out the phone from the man¡¯s pocket while both his hands were busy with the cors.

    "Ah, My phone!" The man called out, but he saw his phone disappear in Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "Now, there¡¯s nothing I need to be careful about. Let me tell you everything now. Your bag, I took it. It¡¯s where it is supposed to be. As for you holding my cor, I sure do hope that it counts as you attacking me," Ryder muttered as he packed his fist and punched the man, making him fall down on the ground.

    Makk ran up to Ryder as he noticed a man lying on the ground. He wanted to make sure that Ryder wasn¡¯t in trouble.

 Chapter 325 Success or Failure

    <h4>Chapter 325: Sess or Failure</h4>

    "Is everything fine?" he asked Ryder.

    "Everything couldn¡¯t be better," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "I just met a long lost friend, and he got a little too drunk. I¡¯ll be taking my friend with me. See youter," He said as he picked up the unconscious man on his shoulders and left the club.

    Makk stayed behind, looking towards the door.

    "I guess he met his enemy. I didn¡¯t know Ryder was like us. That guy would probably be dead soon," Makk muttered as he smiled. He went back to his work.

    "It didn¡¯t give me experience. Apparently, holding someone¡¯s cor isn¡¯t an attack. It should¡¯ve been. It was hostility targeted to me when my cor was held. I should¡¯ve received my exp," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    He stood outside the club and called the pilot. Since he got the men faster, he decided to spend the rest of his time in the helicopter, guiding everyone from the air and to Teleport the bombs to his invention without any dy as soon as the guards got it.

    In a few minutes, the helicopter arrived and flew right above Ryder. A ropedder was hanging from the helicopter.

    Ryder adjusted the man on his shoulder before he started climbing the ropedder.

    As he entered the helicopter, he tossed the man on the floor and told the pilot to go Higher.

    "It¡¯s 9:30. We have half an hour more. All the terrorists should be at their location soon," Ryder muttered as he looked at the time on his phone.

    "Uhmm..."

    Ryder was about to Call the guards again to make sure that they were alert when he heard a whimper.

    "He¡¯s waking up," he muttered as he looked the man wake up.

    Ryder stood up and walked towards the man, but his face turned pale as he heard a loud st.

    He stood near the door of the helicopter and looked outside. He could see smoke and a cloud of dust rising in the sky at the ce where one of the targeted hotels was supposed to be.

    "T-this can¡¯t be! It¡¯s not the time yet!" Ryder let out with a shocked look on his face, but that¡¯s when he heard another st.

    It was only 9:35, but Ryder could hear sts at various locations of the city.

    Soon, he had heard thirteen sts.

    He tried calling the guards, but the calls weren¡¯t connecting.

    Ryder didn¡¯t understand what was happening. Why was the future different? He just took one piece of the fourteen terrorists without leaving any chance of anyone finding out. The other terrorists shouldn¡¯t know about this. Why did they blow up so early? He couldn¡¯t understand anything. All he knew was that his first try was already a failure.

    He didn¡¯t even know what went wrong. Everyone seemed to be going so perfect, yet it went down the drain suddenly. He didn¡¯t understand why it happened. All he knew was that he was feeling angry at this unexpected failure.

    Even the Pilot was shocked. He had heard Ryder talking about sts. He didn¡¯t believe it even for a single second. He thought they were ying pretend. Now that he saw the st, he didn¡¯t know what to say. He focused on controlling the in amidst the energy sts.

    Shu was at home, but he was also shocked when he was informed about the sts. He didn¡¯t know what to think.

    He watched the news talking about the sts.

    "He was right. The sts did happen. Just how did he know? Is he really someone who can see the future? The sts happened at the locations he talked about. Only the timing of the sts seems to be different. I hope he isn¡¯t hurt," Shu muttered as he pulled out his phone and called Ryder.

    Ryder looked back at the terrorist he had caught.

    He walked up to him and caught him by the neck, raising him in the air.

    That¡¯s when Ryder¡¯s phone started ringing.

    He held the man¡¯s neck in his right hand and picked up the call with his left.

    "Hello?" He called in a severe tone.

    "Ah, brother Ryder. You¡¯re fine. I¡¯m so d. I thought that something might have happened since the sts happened half an hour before the assumed time. There were only thirteen sts, though. Did you stop the one at your location?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Yeah, I was wrong. I could only save one ce. Everyone else is dead. I couldn¡¯t save people. I even caused the death of your men. I failed," Ryder muttered in a grim tone.

    "Ah, don¡¯t think that! So what if you couldn¡¯t save everyone? Even if it was the government, it¡¯s impossible to stop the attacks in such arge quantity in such a short time. You already did well. You stopped one st and saved so many lives," Shuforted Ryder.

    " Alice, and you are safe, right?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Ah, yeah. She¡¯s in her room. I told her that you had to cancel the dinner ns because of an important meeting that just came. She¡¯s in her room since then," Shu replied.

    "That¡¯s good," Ryder said, nodding his head.

    " Anyway, I¡¯ll call youter. I have one of the terrorists in my hand. I¡¯ll talk to you after I finish interrogating him," Ryder said before he disconnected the call.

    " Are you going to speak, or should I kill you directly?" Ryder asked the man who was in his hand.

    "Kill me! I¡¯m not telling you anything," The man told Ryder firmly.

    "Sure. If that¡¯s what you want, then I¡¯ll do it. I should let you know that I like taking my time when I kill people," Ryder said as he brought a knife out of his inventory.

    The man red at Ryder and said, "Do your worst!"

    "Sure. I didn¡¯t need your permission, though. I¡¯m already in a very pissed mood. I¡¯m going to enjoy it," Ryder said as he smiled.

    He gripped the knife firmly and stabbed it in the elbow of the man. The knife prated the elbow of the man, making him scream loudly.

    "You¡¯re screaming with just that? Control yourself. I don¡¯t want you to lose your voice before we get to the main course," Ryder said as he looked at the knife that was stabbed in the elbow of the man.

    He held the knife firmly before he started sliding the knife lower without pulling the knife out. The Knife hadpletely prated the hand of the man, and it kept sliding lower, slicing the man¡¯s hand in half longitudinally.

    The man screamed like a dying pig. His eyes were red as tears kept falling down from her eyes.

 Chapter 326 Powers at Play

    <h4>Chapter 326: Powers at y</h4>

    Ryder had the man¡¯s neck in his hand, and he had just cut the man¡¯s right hand in half in length.

    Ryder watched the man¡¯s face that was filled with agony.

    "Scream. Scream all you want. Now that people are already dead, I have all the time I need to have fun with you and make sure that you feel pain worse than death," Ryder muttered as he changed his hand and caught the man¡¯s next with his other hand and switched the knife to the hand that was holding the man¡¯s neck.

    "So, do you want to do yourself a favor and answer me whatever I ask, or you want me to go on?" He asked as he made the pointy end of the knife touch the left elbow of the man.

    "D-don¡¯t do it. I¡¯ll tell you everything," the man said as he stopped Ryder. He was already in extreme agony because of his right hand. He didn¡¯t want to go through the same pain again.

    "Good. So tell me. Why did the bombs go off so fast? Weren¡¯t they supposed to st at ten?" Ryder asked the man.

    "H-how do you know that?" The man asked with a horrified look on his face. The was supposed to be the secret. He didn¡¯t know how Ryder knew it.

    Twenty Minutes Ago,

    Ryder had just ced the bomb in his inventory when he was using the excuse of tying hisces. He hadn¡¯t known, but that has changed everything.

    Far away from the building, a masked man was standing at the top of a roof.

    He suddenly frowned as his phone started beeping.

    He picked up the phone.

    "Hmm? Has a bomb already gone offline? It¡¯s not even the time. How can someone find the bomb this soon? Someone is really getting involved in our matters. Who could it be? Is it you, Mr. Undying Hero? Did you finally decide toe out?" The Masked man muttered as he grinned.

    "You really think you can save everyone, can¡¯t you? Let¡¯s see where you are," the man muttered as he tried to trace the number that was with the person who had the bomb that had gone offline, but that number was also untraceable.

    He called the number, but it didn¡¯t connect. It was as if the phone had disappeared from this world. Coincidentally, it was also the time when Ryder had ced the man¡¯s phone in his invention as well.

    " He¡¯s really an Idiot. He doesn¡¯t know that by disarming a bomb, he didn¡¯t save anyone; instead, he just decreased the time of other bombs. Other guys don¡¯t know. They¡¯ll probably die in the st of the bombs they¡¯re carrying. Whatever, they¡¯re just ants. It doesn¡¯t matter if they die," The masked man muttered as he grinned.

    He dialed another number on his phone.

    "Yeah, get me the location that was assigned to bomb number 11," The man said.

    He knew the number of the bomb that had gone offline, but he didn¡¯t know where the bomb was supposed to be. He decided to ask his men directly.

    "Ah, a bar. We might as well have a drink and see our new friend. Mister Undying Hero, I hope you don¡¯t leave," the masked man said as he jumped down from the building.

    Ryder hadn¡¯t known that his half-knowledge had caused the bombs to boast faster. He was standing inside the helicopter that seemed to be flying away from the bar and in the direction of Shu Estate.

    He was waiting for the man to answer him.

    "The bombs blew up faster because of you. I don¡¯t know what you did and where you kept the bomb, but it probably cut off its signal, which was synchronized with the other thirteen bombs. That decreased the time, and this happened," the man told Ryder.

    ¡¯Putting one bomb inside my inventory made every other bomb blow up? What the heck? My entire n rested on putting the bombs in my invention to stop them. How can I stop the bombs without that? I can¡¯t put all 14 bombs in inventory at once. I can only do that one by one, and if I did that, others would blow up. What can I do to seed in the next time jump? It seems impossible," Ryder thought as he looked at the man with a frown on his face.

    ¡¯There seems to be only one way. I must go with the better option and my initial n. Targeting them at their base before they activated the bombs,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    "At what time were the bombs activated and synchronized?" he asked the man.

    "Ah, that... Just half an hour before we left the facility. That should be at around 7 Pm," the man answered Ryder.

    ¡¯Slightly over two hours. I can¡¯t stop it without dying," Ryder thought as he sighed.

    "Tell me where this facility was and everything you know about it, including the people that were involved with it and how many people were there," hemanded the man.

    The man started exining everything to Ryder while Ryder listened carefully and tried to visualize everything.

    Back at Esmi¡¯s Club, a masked man had justnded in front of the club.

    The man walked towards the club.

    "Show us your ID Card and take off the mask!"

    The guards stopped the masked man at the entrance as they asked for his ID card.

    "My ID Card? I seem to have forgotten it at home," the masked man said as he grinned behind his Mask.

    "Sorry, you can¡¯t enter then," The Guards said, shaking their heads. "Please go back ande with your ID card next time."

    "Oh, I can¡¯t go back. How about I show you something else?" The masked man asked the guards.

    "Show what?" the guards inquired in confusion.

    "Your Death!" The Masked Man let out as heughed.

    The Guards were shocked at his words. They were about to pull out their weapons, but before they could do anything, their necks were caught by the masked men.

    It didn¡¯t take the masked man even a second before their necks were crushed. The guards fell down to the crowd.

    "Bloody Insects," the masked man snorted as he pushed the door open and entered inside.

    "Who is the leader here?" he asked the nearest person.

    "The leader isn¡¯t here, but he¡¯s the person of authority at the moment," The person answered as they pointed towards Makk, who was drinking on a table.

    "A person of authority, huh. Let¡¯s see if his authority can help me," the masked man muttered as he walked towards Makk.

 Chapter 327 Instant Death

    <h4>Chapter 327: Instant Death</h4>

    The Masked man walked up to Makk and sat down in front of him.

    "Shouldn¡¯t you ask my permission before sitting at my table? Also, who allowed you to enter the club with that mask. It¡¯s not allowed," Makk raised his gaze and looked at the masked guy.

    "I¡¯m looking for a person. He came here with a bag. From what I heard, he was wearing a ck t-shirt and ck jeans. He had red hair.

    " Are you a cop or what?" Makk asked the man, suspiciously.

    "Nah, I¡¯m just a friend of that guy. He called me, saying that he was waiting for me here," the masked man replied.

    "Yeah, I saw him. He sat here waiting for someone, but he left after a few minutes. I don¡¯t know where he went. You can leave and try looking for him," he said as he waved his hand.

    "Oh? So he left. I wonder why he didn¡¯t call before leaving," The masked man muttered.

    "Are you sure you¡¯re not lying to me?" he asked the Makk as he chuckled. It was clear that the man didn¡¯t believe Makk at all.

    " I know you don¡¯t believe me. It doesn¡¯t matter to me. What can you even do even if I¡¯m lying?" Makk said, ring deep into the eyes of the man.

    "Kekeke, that¡¯s right. What can I even do," The Masked man chuckled as he shook his head.

    "I can only kill you," He muttered as he moved his hand.

    The man¡¯s hand was moving so slow, but in Mall¡¯s eyes, that slow speed was already lightning fast. He couldn¡¯t fudge the hand. The hand caught the back of Makk¡¯s head and smashed him on the table.

    The guards inside the club saw this happening.

    "Hey, that man is attacking Makk! Kill him!" One of the men inside the club said as he pulled his gun out, but before he could even aim, his face turned pale.

    A red mark started spreading across his neck. He looked down nkly, but his head didn¡¯t stop when he tried to stop it. His head fell down on his feet.

    Somehow, his neck was sliced in half without him even knowing; by the time he realized it, it was already toote.

    The same thing happened to others. In less than a minute, everyone inside the club was dead. Only Makk and the masked man were safe.

    Five people appeared at the back of the club. They stood calmly with their backs resting against the walls.

    "Heh, those guys dared to show their weapon at the Thirteenth King. They were lucky we killed them. If the Thirteenth King had moved, they would¡¯ve wished for death instead," one of the five people said with a grin.

    " Isn¡¯t the obvious? He¡¯s the Thirteenth King of the Uprising after all," another person said casually.

    "I still don¡¯t understand why his Majesty sent the Twelfth King here as well. The Thirteenth King would¡¯ve been enough. It¡¯s not like, whoever this mysterious person is, would be able to face our Thirteenth King," the first person said again.

    "His Majesty sent two kings. He must have something in his mind when he decided that. We shouldn¡¯t question his ways," another one of the five people said in a gritty tone.

    "Where is the Twelfth King, though? I hadn¡¯t seen him over a day," The first person said.

    "Shouldn¡¯t you be more respectful to the Twelfth King? You¡¯re talking like he¡¯s your friend and not someone in a higher position than you," The Second Person chimed in as he nced at the first person.

    "Oh,e on. Why should I treat the Twelfth King like that when he¡¯s not even here. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re the subordinates of the Twelfth King. We belong to the Thirteenth Kinh and to his Majesty," the first person said as he snorted.

    "Ah, Twelfth King! H-he was just joking! Please forgive him!" the Second Person abruptly said as he bowed his head in the direction of the first person.

    "He¡¯s here?" the first person was shocked. With a horrified look on his face, he turned back.

    "I-i didn¡¯t mean that. Please forgive me! I¡¯m an Idiot," the first person said as soon as he turned back, but his face turned nk as he saw no one standing here.

    He could hear theughter of the other four people behind him.

    "So much for the bravery," the second person said as he looked at the first, who was acting all brave previously.

    "You idiot," the first person snorted as he stopped looking towards the others.

    "Are you going to answer me or not?" the masked man asked again as he removed his hands from the face of Makk.

    Makk raised his head. His nose was broken and bleeding. He looked around, wondering why no one came to help him until now, but his face turned pale as he watched the dead bodies lying all around the club.

    "Stop looking around. Answer me before I smash your head again," The Masked man said as he smirked.

    "Y-you killed them all?" Makk asked the man.

    "I didn¡¯t. The little ones in the back did. I¡¯m toozy to move at the moment," the masked man said as heughed.

    His words were enough to scare Makk to hell and back. He looked at the back of the club and saw five people standing there with grins on their faces. He was horrified as he saw their smile after knowing that they were the ones that killed everyone in under a minute.

    "So, tell me. Where is the guy I was asking about?" the masked man asked again.

    "This is the third time I¡¯m asking. If I don¡¯t get my answer now, you¡¯ll be missing an important part of your body the next time I ask you," he continued.

    "He was taken! He got into a fight with someone, and the other person took him out of the club. I don¡¯t know what happened after that," Makk answered as he wiped the blood that kepting out of his nose.

    "Oh? Who was that person?" the Masked man asked Makk.

    "I-i don¡¯t know that person. It was his first time in the club," Makk replied. He didn¡¯t want to talk about Ryder.

    "Hahaha, interesting. You¡¯re lying. So you did know that person. Tell me who it was. I¡¯ll count to three. Believe me; you wouldn¡¯t like me when I¡¯m Angry. I¡¯m being quite patient right now," the Masked man said in a grim tone.

    He nced at Makk as he waited for an answer.

    Makk opened his lips to answer.

    "It was..."

 Chapter 328 Revealed

    <h4>Chapter 328: Revealed</h4>

    "It was a person called Marques. He is the one who had an argument with your man and took him. I don¡¯t know where he took him, though! I¡¯m telling the truth," Makk told the masked man with a scared look on his face.

    "Sigh, some people never learn. Didn¡¯t I tell you that you shouldn¡¯t lie to me?" the masked man told Makk as he sighed.

    He had simply sighed and didn¡¯t even move when Makk started screaming as if he was going through excruciating pain.

    Makk was now also missing his left hand. The hand was lying on the ground, away from his body.

    Blood kept falling from the shoulders of Makk as he screamed until his voice turned hoarse.

    "You son of a b****! You cut my hand! You Bastard, I¡¯ll kill you!" Makk screamed.

    "Why are you screaming like you lost everything? You just lost one hand. You still have your other hand. Then your legs. What about your family? Do you have a family you would like to see die before you? We can make that happen as well so that all of you go to hell together if you don¡¯t answer me!" the masked man said.

    "You Bastard! You dare talk about my family!" Makk screamed. His face was already pale, as if someone had sucked all his blood dry.

    "I will ki...aaa!" Makk was about to curse the masked man as he was furious at his family being threatened when he found his right hand detached from his body as well. His right hand fell down on the ground.

    "Scream, little any. Scream even louder. I have the entire night. Let me hear your scream to my heart¡¯s content. I won¡¯t let you die. All so I could hear your scream," the masked man said as heughed.

    "You! What do you want!" Makk thundered. His eyes were blood red. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn¡¯t stop tears from falling from his eyes.

    " You know what I want. Tell me who took my men," the masked man said in a grim voice as he looked at Makk¡¯s neck.

    Makk was horrified as he saw the man looking at his neck. He was scared that the next item falling on the ground won¡¯t be his leg but his head. As for the man¡¯s im about keeping him alive, he didn¡¯t believe it.

    "It was Ryder! Ryder Flynn took your man when he was unconscious after the beating!" Makk blurted out the truth.

    "Oh? And where will I find this, ah, Ryder Flynn?" the Masked man asked Ryder.

    "I don¡¯t know! I fucking don¡¯t know where he lives! He¡¯s a friend of our boss! Only she can know where he lives!" Makk said.

    "Oh, that seems to be the truth. It¡¯s good that you learned not to lie. Now tell me, where can I find that boss of yours?" the masked man asked.

    Makk told the masked man the address of Esmi without taking even a single moment to think.

    "Hmm? This address? Isn¡¯t this the ce the guy asked me to stay away from when I was leaving the base? Hahaha, interesting indeed. What¡¯s the worst that can happen? It¡¯s not like you¡¯re here to stop me from going there, Tenth King. Let¡¯s see the ce you didn¡¯t want me to go," the masked manughed as he stood up.

    *Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

    Since the entire club was so silent, Makk could hear the footsteps of the masked guy, going away from him. He was in so much pain that he felt like dying, but he wanted to live when death was in front of him. He didn¡¯t want to die. He wasn¡¯t making a single noise now since he didn¡¯t want to attract the man¡¯s attention and die.

    The Masked Man soon left the club. The five ck-clothed men left as well.

    Makk finally breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up to go to the hospital, but as soon as he stood up, he felt the entire world turn upside down as his head turned over and fell down to the ground near his feet.

    His body soon followed and fell down on the ground.

    Makk¡¯s eyes lost their shine when everything turned dark.

    The Masked Man stepped out of the club.

    " I wonder if it¡¯s the ce dear to the Tenth King or a ce of his close aid. It¡¯s unfortunate that I need to go against him, but oh well, it¡¯s good that mission. I need to find our Undying Hero, after all. The best I can do for the third King is to not Kill anyone in that ce," the Masked man muttered as he smiled.

    He turned back to look at the five shadows that were following after him.

    "Little Kids, the next ce we¡¯re going to is special. That ce is rted to the Tenth King. So try to keep your hands in control. No killing anyone important in that house," He told his five subordinates.

    "We understand," the five responded.

    "Good Kids," the masked man said as heughed.

    Esmi¡¯s house was so big that it was no less than a mansion. There were guards all around the mansion, guarding it with their weapons.

    Something strange happened, though. One minute, over twenty guards could be seen standing and patrolling but the next minute, not a single one of those guards could be seen. Only their headless body could be seen lying on the ground.

    The masked man casually walked up to the door of the mansion and kicked the door open.

    "We¡¯re home," he let out as he spread his arms.

    Esmi and Bastion were sitting in the hall, within the news channels that were covering the sts.

    "The Thirteen sts were horrifying! The people who witnessed it are still shaken just like every person of this country," the News Anchor said.

    "Oh, it wasn¡¯t supposed to be Thirteen, though. There was one less," the masked man said as heughed.

    Esmi stood up and looked at the masked man.

    "Who are you? How did you get inside?" Esmi asked as she talked towards the nearby table to bring out her gun.

    Before she could even get to the table, a ck-clothed man appeared before her.

    "Little Lady, you should be careful. If His Highness hadn¡¯t told us not to join you all, you would¡¯ve been dead by now. I do appreciate this order, though. It would¡¯ve been such a pity to kill ady with such a hot figure," the ck Clothed man said as heughed.

 Chapter 329 Little Hero

    <h4>Chapter 329: Little Hero</h4>

    "Kekeke, Little Third. Aren¡¯t you forgetting your manners?" the masked man asked the ck-clothed man as he chuckled.

    "Ah, I apologize, Your Highness," the clothed ck man apologized.

    "Who are you all?" Esmi let out as she walked back to Bastion to protect him. She had a good sense of danger, and she had realized that she wasn¡¯t the opponent of these people without her weapon.

    "Oh? That boy behind you, he looks familiar," The masked man ignored Esmi¡¯s question and ced all his focus on Bastion.

    "Hahaha, now I get it! I understand why the Tenth King didn¡¯t want us toe here. That bastard!" The masked man startedughing as he stared at Bastion.

    "Who are you?!" Esmi asked again.

    "Are you the mother of this guy?" The masked man ignored the question again as he asked a question of his own.

    Esmi looked at Bastion briefly before she lied, "Yes, I am his mother."

    "Nah, you¡¯re lying. But you seem pretty close to him. I guess I won¡¯t kill you unless I have to," the masked man said as he shook his head. He caught her lie instantly.

    " Who the hell are you?! What are you doing here?!" Esmi asked the same question for the third time.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter who I am. What does matter is what I want! As for what I want, that¡¯s pretty simple. I want the address and phone number of someone called Ryder Flynn. I heard that you know him," the masked man said.

    Bastion and Esmi, both of them were shocked as they heard the name of Ryder. They were both close to Ryder and thought of him as their family. They were worried for Ryder after knowing that these people were looking for him.

    " Why are you looking for Ryder?! What do you want from him?! Are you looking to harm him?!" Both of them said at the same time.

    " Oh? The two of you are in perfect sync. It seems that this Ryder Flynn is very close to both of you. It doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯ll answer my question without me having to harm you. As for harming you, I don¡¯t wish to do that. I already have my te full with my own work. I don¡¯t want the Tenth King toe to annoy me as well. I guess I¡¯ll choose a more moderate way," The masked man muttered as he sighed.

    "Little Four, How about you bring me her phone? Oh right, the unlocked phone," He continued as he nced towards one of the five subordinates.

    The man known as little four stepped forward and picked up the phone that was lying on the couch.

    He walked over to Esmi and forced her to touch the fingerprint to unlock the phone, but it showed incorrect.

    "It seems to be the boy¡¯s phone. Where is your phone?" The man asked Esmi, unaware that Esmi¡¯s phone was out of battery and in her room.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. Bring me the boy¡¯s phone. Both of them know this Ryder, so both of them should have his number. It doesn¡¯t matter which weapon we use. What matters is that the prey should be dead. Here, all I want is the number. I don¡¯t care which phone gives me the number," the masked man said as he looked at Little Four.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Little Four moved over to Bastion and forced his finger on the fingerprint sensor of the phone to unlock it.

    He carried the unlocked phone to the masked man.

    The masked man took the phone and started tinkering with it.

    "Ryder, here it is. The person we¡¯re looking for. Now Mr. Ryder, are you the Undying Hero that we¡¯re looking for or just a stupid ant that¡¯s caught in its web by ident? It would be interesting to see," the man muttered as he dialed a number of his man and gave Ryder¡¯s number to the man. He told the man to track the number.

    Next, he called Ryder¡¯s number from Shu¡¯s phone.

    The man Ryder had caught exined everything to him.

    "So the ce where I would find you all," Ryder muttered.

    The man looked at Ryder weirdly. He wondered if Ryder was an Idiot who didn¡¯t know about past and present. How could he find everyone there when they were there in the past? He thought.

    "My next question. Are-"

    Ryder was about to ask his next question when his phone started ringing.

    Ryder brought the phone out of his pocket and looked at who was calling.

    " Bastion? Why is he calling me? Did something happen?" he muttered as he picked up his phone.

    " Yeah, Bastion. What happened?" Ryder asked as soon as he picked up the call.

    "Nothing happened yet, but a lot will happen soon, my Undying Hero," The Thirteenth King said.

    "You¡¯re not Bastion! Who are you? Why do you have his phone?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    He had also ced his focus on the word, Undying Hero. Did someone really find out that he couldn¡¯t die? He decided that it was best to ignore that and not give away any clue.

    "Who I am? I¡¯m someone who wishes to meet you. As for why I have your friend¡¯s phone, it¡¯s because he graciously allowed me to use his phone. By the way, little hero. If you¡¯re really the Undying Hero, why do you hide? Why don¡¯t youe clean?" the Thirteenth King asked as he started walking towards the exit of the mansion.

    He left the mansion. The other five people also left, leaving Esmi and Bastion behind but not before tying their hands and legs.

    "Are they safe?" Ryder asked in a grim tone.

    "They are. I don¡¯t want to face you by keeping hostages, little hero. I¡¯ll get to you on my own, and then I¡¯ll make you see the destiny of heroes," the Thirteenth King let out a creepyughter.

    "Who are you? Why are you trying to find me?" Ryder replied casually.

    "Well, I¡¯m not trying to find you. You tried to find us, and now I¡¯m making your wishe true. Don¡¯t worry, little guy. It won¡¯t be too long before everything¡¯s over," the man muttered as heughed.

    "Sure. Fine me," Ryder said as he disconnected the call.

    "So the Uprising wasn¡¯t as useless as I thought. They did find me. They didn¡¯t find me in thest timeline. It must be because of this guy I kidnapped that they knew about me," Ryder muttered as he looked at the man whose neck was in his arms.

    He walked to the Pilot and told him to change the direction of the helicopter. Since he was being trailed, he didn¡¯t think about going to Shu¡¯s estate and bringing trouble there.

 Chapter 330 The Destination

    <h4>Chapter 330: The Destination</h4>

    "Since I¡¯m already going to try a second time, I might as well see the true face of Uprising. I won¡¯t make it that easy for them. They want to find me; they need to work hard for it. Let¡¯s see if they have what it takes," Ryder muttered as he switched off his phone so that he couldn¡¯t be tracked.

    He walked closer to the Pilot.

    "Take the helicopter to the south block of the city. I¡¯ll tell you where to stop when I¡¯m there," he told the Pilot.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know that as he turned off the phone, he made it so that Esmi couldn¡¯t contact him either. Esmi was currently calling him to tell him about what happened and that a powerful person was after him.

    He was right about one thing, though. His phone was being tracked, and he cut off the tracking by turning off the phone.

    The masked man and his five subordinates were at a fast-food shop. The Five subordinates were having cold drinks inside while the masked man stood outside as he waited for the call.

    Soon, his phone started ringing.

    He picked up the call without even looking at the caller ID.

    He stood straight as he asked, "You found him? Tell me his coordinates?"

    "Found who? Who are you looking for?" The person on the other side of the call inquired in a deep voice.

    "Oh, it¡¯s just you, Twelfth King. What do you want?" The Masked man said as he rolled his eyes. He recognized the voice of the person and realized that it was the Twelfth King. He didn¡¯t seem much interested in talking to the Twelfth King.

    "I want some answers. Where are you right now?" The Twelfth King inquired.

    "What does this have to go with you? You¡¯re not my babysitter. Focus on your own work," The Thirteenth King replied in an annoyed tone.

    "I am doing our work. It¡¯s you who¡¯s not where we were supposed to meet. Tell me, where are you, and why was it that I only heard Thirteen sts. Did you screw this up again?" The Twelfth King asked, straight away.

    He was supposed to meet the Thirteenth King at the top of a building, but he didn¡¯t find him there. He decided to call him to inquire about his whereabouts and why one bomb didn¡¯t go off.

    "Look! I¡¯m here doing what I¡¯m supposed to do. Even if I did screw up, you can¡¯t do anything, so keep your mouth shut. This mission is my responsibility, and I got the permission for it. You are just here to be of useless help in case of emergencies that I¡¯ll never need. So stay where you are and stop trying to put your nose in what I¡¯m doing," the Thirteenth King let out before he disconnected the call.

    The phone again started ringing. He picked up the call again.

    "What now?" He said.

    "I was tracking the number, and I have some updates for you," the person on the other side of the call said. His voice sounded a little nervous.

    "Oh, it¡¯s you. Tell me where he is," The Thirteenth King said as he started walking.

    "I was tracking the number, and it was on the constant move. I was sure that the person was in a moving vehicle. That guy was clever and turned off the phone, so I couldn¡¯t track the signal, but he was just a little bit slow. I had already used the satellite to see his location. It¡¯s clear. He¡¯s moving a Dream Thunder helicopter to move around. I¡¯m keeping an eye on him using the satellite. He¡¯s still on the constant move,¡¯ The person answered.

    "He¡¯s moving, huh. Let¡¯s see how long he stays in the helicopter. He¡¯lle down pretty soon when the helicopter runs out of power. Tell me where he is right now," the Thirteenth King said.

    "He¡¯s going towards the South. I am not sure if he¡¯s leaving the city or going toe down there. I¡¯ll tell you when hees down," The person told the Thirteenth King as he kept his focus on theputer screen in front of him, which was showing the satellite imagery of Ryder¡¯s helicopter.

    "The South Block, huh. It doesn¡¯t matter," the Thirteenth King muttered as he disconnected the call.

    Far away from the city where themotion was taking ce, a Jet was getting ready to depart with the agents of the FBI that were being sent to investigate the sts.

    The President had also given the speech by now, which was the same asst time. All the cities were under curfew. The borders were sealed, and the National Guards were sent to the city that suffered the terrible attacks tonight.

    Ryder was sitting inside the helicopter with the terrorists, whose hand was still bleeding, but Ryder wasn¡¯t doing anything to help him. Ryder watched the man cry in pain. He was more concerned about getting his answers.

    "We¡¯re in the South Block," the Pilot suddenly informed Ryder.

    "Good," Ryder muttered as he dragged the terrorist close to the door of the helicopter and made him look outside.

    "Now tell me! Which was the building where you all met before leaving for the attacks and the ce where the bombs were synced?" Ryder asked the man.

    "T-that one!"

    The man said as he pointed with his only hand that was still intact.

    Ryder looked in the direction he was pointing at and saw what seemed like an abandoned building.

    The most shocking thing was that this building was right beside his building, which he purchased and got renovated for his business.

    ¡¯These bastards. nning such a thing right beside my building,¡¯ Ryder thought as he cursed the Uprising in his mind.

    "Will anyone be inside at this time?" Ryder asked the man.

    "There shouldn¡¯t be anyone inside now. The mission ispleted. The sts happened. I don¡¯t think anyone would stay here anymore," the man replied.

    "That¡¯s good. We¡¯re going inside, and you¡¯ll tell me the location where the bombs were kept and where you all stayed together," Ryder told the man.

    "Land the helicopter on top of that building,"

    He walked up to the pilot and told him tond the helicopter on the target building.

    The Pilot nodded his head and followed themands. Hended the Helicopter on top of the building.

    "Stay here. I should be back soon," Ryder told the pilot before he got off the helicopter with the man in his hand.

    He walked to the door at the end of the roof, which supposedly led downstairs.

 Chapter 331 Face to Face

    <h4>Chapter 331: Face to Face</h4>

    He got to the door and tried opening it, but he found it to be locked.

    "Hmph," Ryder muttered as he took a step back. He brought his gun out of his invention and fired at the lock.

    Two bangs resounded in the air as two shots were fired. The lock was broken and the door opened on its own.

    "Easy," Ryder smiled cheekily as he stepped on the stairs and started going down.

    "Which floor?" Ryder asked as he kept going down.

    "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re looking for. There would be no one here!" the man cried out in pain. " I already told you everything. Let me leave now! I¡¯ll die of excessive blood loss otherwise!"

    "You¡¯ll die when I tell you to die! For now, you¡¯re going to do what I say," Ryder dered as he red at the man and tightened his grip around his neck. "You realize that, don¡¯t you?"

    "I-i can¡¯t breathe," the man muttered after some struggle.

    "If you can speak, then you can breathe as well. Tell me which floor and which rooms were the bombs kept in and where you guys met," Ryder replied with a stern look on his face.

    "T-third floor! Go to the third floor!" the guy said after struggling to speak.

    "That¡¯s like a good boy," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    He went into the lift and tapped on the button of the third floor.

    The doors of the lift didn¡¯t close, and the loft didn¡¯t move down.

    "Oh, right. No power. I thought you guys arranged for power since you were doing something so important here," He let out as he looked at the guy.

    He stepped out of the lift and went back to the stair.

    " Looks like I¡¯ll have to go down the steps myself. Sigh, Twelve floors to go down," Ryder muttered as he started going down.

    After some time, he reached the third floor. He had the man show him every location and tell him what happened here and how.

    While Ryder was looking at the third floor and getting to know the terrain for future reference, something else was happening at the roof.

    The Pilot was sitting in the helicopter, checking things.

    "I must say, this model is really nice. Way better than the one we use."

    While the Pilot was looking ahead, he heard someone¡¯s voice from the back.

    He turned back, only to find five ck-robed people sitting inside the helicopter.

    "Who are you?!" the Pilot asked as he stood up.

    "Sit down, old man," one of the five people said as he stood up and walked towards the pilot in slow steps.

    "Hey, Don¡¯t mess with him. He can take us back after we¡¯re done here. It won¡¯t take more than a few minutes anyway," another ck-robed person chimed in.

    "Oh, right. Old man, you¡¯re lucky. Stay here. We¡¯ll be right back," the men said as they stepped out of the helicopter. They didn¡¯t forget to tie up the pilot so he couldn¡¯t take the helicopter away.

    "You had enough ying around?" the masked man was standing outside the helicopter. As soon as the five of them stepped out of the helicopter, the masked man chided them.

    " Are we not going down?" the five asked the masked man.

    "Nah. He¡¯s downstairs, trying to do something. Let the little one y around a little. He¡¯lle here in the end anyway. I want to see the look on his face when hees here. I want to see the sheer unfiltered emotions of the man. This Little Undying Hero, will he be scared or will he be brave," the masked man muttered as he walked to the edge of the roof and looked at the city from the top of the building.

    He could see fires at some distance. The Fires that were caused by the st were still notpletely dead. The Fire Brigades were trying to get the fire under control. The Cop cars were extensively patrolling the city. Sirens could be heard everywhere.

    "It is so beautiful. The chaos and themotion. How beautiful would the world be if all the ces in this world were like this," The Masked man muttered.

    "If every ce was like this and there was no peace everywhere, then it would¡¯ve be boring pretty soon. It¡¯s not the goals that are beautiful but the destination," A deep voice said.

    "Ah, you¡¯re here. How did you find me?" the Masked Man said without looking back.

    "It was easy. I had my people track your number," the person who stood back said.

    " Ah, Clever. This phone thing is really stupid. It helps us get to others and help others get to us," the masked man muttered as he sighed.

    "Are you here to take the credit?" he inquired as he finally turned back. "Twelfth King."

    "I don¡¯t want any credits. It¡¯s your mission. It was clear from the start. I¡¯m just here for assistance. Also, I wish to see this Little Undying Hero as well," the Twelfth King replied as he smirked.

    "I¡¯m warning you. It¡¯s my mission. I¡¯ll handle it my way. If you interfere, I¡¯ll forget that you¡¯re on my team. Under l I¡¯ve worked hard to find an interesting prey," the masked man said as he stepped forward and ced his hand on the Twelfth King¡¯s shoulders.

    The Twelfth King¡¯s smile disappeared as the Thirteenth King touched him.

    He moved the Twelfth King¡¯s hand aside.

    "I know you¡¯re insecure and all, but if you ever touched me again, you¡¯ll find your hand at the bottom of the ocean," the Twelfth King said as he stepped back.

    He walked over to the give ck-robed people who were standing near the helicopter, not moving at all.

    The Twelfth King stopped before then.

    "Will you move aside on your own, or should I move you myself?" the Twelfth King asked the five men.

    The five guys realized that they were standing at the entrance of the helicopter. The Twelfth King probably wanted to sit inside morefortably as he waited.

    They hurriedly stepped aside without saying anything.

    The Twelfth King stepped inside the helicopter and sat insidefortably.

    Ryder finished the search of the building. It was exactly as the person said. There was no one inside. As he finished seeing all the important ces, he started walking back towards the stairs.

    He climbed the stairs and again reached the top floor.

    In a few seconds, he was standing in front of the roof door.

    Ryder opened the door and stepped on the roof.

 Chapter 332 Fighting Thirteenth King

    <h4>Chapter 332: Fighting Thirteenth King</h4>

    Ryder took his first step on the roof. He had already killed the terrorist he had caught since he didn¡¯t need him anymore.

    As he stepped on the roof, he was stunned to find people already standing there.

    At some distance, he saw a man standing at the edge of the roof. The man was wearing a mask.

    Near the helicopter, Ryder saw five ck-clothed men standing.

    Everyone was looking at Ryder, and no one said a single word as if they were more busy trying to observe Ryder.

    "You¡¯re from the Uprising, I assume?" Ryder inquired casually as he took another step forward.

    "I must say I¡¯m not happy. I was hoping to see you at least shocked," the masked man muttered in a grim tone.

    "Why would I be shocked? You guys are from the Uprising; if you couldn¡¯t even track me after all this, you would¡¯ve been too useless. I¡¯m standing at your previous base after all, and we talked over the phone," Ryder replied as he rolled his eyes.

    He didn¡¯t bother with anything as he walked over to the edge of the roof.

    He looked at the burning city.

    " Now that you¡¯re here, can you tell me one thing? Why did you guys do it?" Ryder inquired. "What do you guys get by destroying the city and by killing people?"

    "What do we get? Do we need to get something? Watching people cry in pain, the chaos, and the destruction, it all feels so amazing. It gives such satisfaction when we watch people burn, cities destroyed. It¡¯s not as satisfactory as killing them with my own hands and watching life slowly leaving their body, but it¡¯s not bad," the masked man said.

    " You¡¯re a psychopath, you know?" Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    The masked man looked at Ryder and didn¡¯t say anything.

    Ryder abruptly closed his eyes and clenched his teeth to stop himself from making a noise as he felt heart-wrenching pain. His left arm fell down on the ground, cut from his soldiers.

    "Are you satisfied now?" Ryder inquired as he saw his arm on the ground and blood falling from his shoulders.

    "You¡¯re boring. Not even a single noise," the masked man let out in a disappointed tone.

    The same thing happened to Ryder¡¯s right arm. His right arm was also cut.

    Ryder kept his mouth closed and didn¡¯t let out a single noise. He didn¡¯t want the man to get the satisfaction he needed.

    He did seem surprised, though.

    ¡¯How are they doing it? I thought the people from Uprising only had strength, resources, and the power to not die? But this? None of them got closer to me. I didn¡¯t even see anyone move. How did they harm me?¡¯ Ryder was confused about how his arms were cut.

    The masked man walked closer to Ryder, but he stood still as he saw arms grow out of Ryder¡¯s shoulders. In no time, Ryder was in his perfect condition.

    It was Ryder¡¯s Second Power, the Ruler of Nature. It gave him an Extraordinary heading. He could heal himself even if the wound were deadly. Even though this power had limitations on usage, it was still incredible.

    "Amazing. Such incredible healing," the Masked Man muttered.

    "There¡¯s no doubt about it. You¡¯re the Undying Little Hero," the masked man let out as heughed out loud.

    "Since we already established that, let¡¯s have a little more fun," he let out as he started walking towards Ryder.

    "That¡¯s enough fun for you. You would need to work a little harder if you want more," Ryder muttered as he took a step forward and jumped down.

    While Ryder was falling down the roof, he opened his inventory and brought two guns out. Each of his hands had a gun now.

    "Let¡¯s see how well you handle the pain," Ryder let out as he started flying up.

    He had just started flying towards when he saw the masked maning towards him. The masked man had jumped down as well, after Ryder.

    "Is he crazy?" Ryder muttered as he moved away so that the masked man didn¡¯t hit him. He wanted to watch the man fall t on the ground.

    The Masked Man continued falling down and soon reached the same level as Ryder, but he didn¡¯t stop falling.

    He looked towards Ryder. He was surprised to see him flying.

    "The more I see, the more surprised I get. Let me see everything you have, little guy," he muttered as he grinned.

    Ryder saw that smile on the man¡¯s face and felt like something was wrong.

    "Urgh!" he let out a pained noise as both his legs were cut.

    "This freaking Bastard!" Ryder cursed out loud as he started shooting towards the man who was already falling down.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but no Bullets were hitting the man. It seemed as if the bullets were chanting their direction whenever they got near him. All the bullets missed him.

    The masked mannded on the ground. A deep crater appeared on the ground as hended on the ground. Even after falling from the eighteenth floor, the man was standingfortably as if he had jumped from a height of a few centimeters.

    The man raised his head as he looked at Ryder. Ryder¡¯s legs fell near him. He stepped forward and stomped on Ryder¡¯s legs as he gave a heartyughter.

    "This is fun. I¡¯m going to enjoy it," the man muttered as heughed.

    Ryder stayed mid-air as he waited for his legs to heal.

    "I guess this was what Janus said when he talked about me having low chances of saving people," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "It¡¯s because of these people being involved. It seems to be impossible to defeat them. I don¡¯t even know what freaking powers they actually have. If it weren¡¯t for my Nature of Healing, I would¡¯ve been dead multiple times already. When I go to the building, I can¡¯t stop anything if these people are guarding the ce," he let out as he frowned.

    "I need to find their weakness. I need to know everything about them that I could. Even if I can¡¯t save anyone and let the events take ce asst time, it would still be good to know about enemies that are this strong. I have a feeling that even if I don¡¯t do anything, one day, we¡¯ll still face each other. It¡¯s better to be prepared and know everything while I can," He muttered as he looked towards the sky with a frown on his face.

 Chapter 333 A battle to win

    <h4>Chapter 333: A battle to win</h4>

    "This is going to be a long night. Apetition to see if I can find their weakness and kill them first or if my healing runs out first, and I go back in time to my second attempt to stop every time," he continued.

    His legs had healed, and he was in his perfect condition.

    "Oh, right! Fuck, why didn¡¯t I think of this? This bastard attacked me first! If I defeat him, I will get a lot of Exp in the real world. Even if I dieter and go back in time by 24 hours where it didn¡¯t happen, I¡¯ll still have the Exp I already earned," Ryder muttered as he found something optimistic in this entire situation.

    "I¡¯ll give it my all. A victory is all I need," he let out as he smiled. He cracked his knuckles as he got ready for a serious battle.

    "Those other five guys didn¡¯t attack me yet. It would¡¯ve been easier to kill them from what it seems, but I won¡¯t get any Exp if they didn¡¯t attack me first. I should egg them on. I can heal anyway," He chuckled as he started flying upwards.

    Ryder flew in front of the helicopter that was stationary on top of the building.

    Ryder gazed at the five people that were standing near the edge of the roof, casually looking at Ryder like they weren¡¯t worried in the least of him.

    "What are you chimps looking at? Never saw a good looking person? I know you all look ugly as hell, but that doesn¡¯t mean you will stare at me," Ryder let out in a mocking tone.

    "Is that incel talking to us?" one of the five ck-robed guys muttered casually.

    "It seems that way," Another guy replied.

    The Twelfth King was still sitting inside the helicopter, watching things y out.

    "Interesting," He muttered with an amused smile on his face as he folded his arms.

    "Let¡¯s see how he deals with things," he muttered. "He does seem to have the potential to be the Fourteen King."

    " If he doesn¡¯t die in the hands of the Thirteenth King identally," he muttered.

    Outside, Ryder was still mocking the five people.

    " Man, I pity your parents. They must have abandoned you five when they saw your faces," Ryder said as heughed.

    " Oh wait, The Uprising is big on experiments, from what I heard. Did they create you five in theb? There¡¯s no way an actual human can look so ugly," He continued.

    "That¡¯s it! I don¡¯t care! I¡¯m killing him," one of the five said as he took a step forward.

    "Wait, he¡¯s Thirteenth King¡¯s prey. He¡¯ll kill you if you interfere," another man stopped him from taking action.

    While Ryder was busy mocking the five ck-clothed people, he didn¡¯t notice the masked man who was looking straight up at him.

    The Masked man raised his right leg in the air slowly. He stomped his right leg in the ground, which propelled him upwards.

    He flew up. It wasn¡¯t easy to distinguish it from flying. It seemed as if he had jumped, but the force of the jump was incredible.

    The Thirteenth King jumped so high that soon, he reached near Ryder.

    He caught Ryder¡¯s legs.

    "Hahaha, are you all the pets of the person you call the Thirteenth King? You are good dogs, I must say. Come work for me. I¡¯ll pay you two extra dog biscuits," Ryder said as heughed out loud. He was about to continue mocking the five when he felt like someone caught his legs.

    He became unstable as the extra weight was added to him.

    He looked down and saw the masked man holding his legs. The masked man was still moving upward, and Ryder couldn¡¯t stop him.

    The Thirteenth King rotated his body as he threw Ryder in the direction of the helicopter.

    The Twelfth King was sitting on the helicopter when he saw Rydering towards him.

    "He can¡¯t let me watch in peace, can he?" he muttered as he stepped out of the helicopter.

    A few seconds after he stepped out of the helicopter, Ryder crashed on it.

    Ryder could feel like his back was broken as he fell on the helicopter. The guns he was holding were released from his hands. His back was broken. He rolled down the helicopter andnded on the roof, with his back facing the sky.

    He felt like crying. He had died, and he was shot, but the pain of having his back broken was new for him. He didn¡¯t know how he could cope with it. He hoped that his healing would take care of it fast.

    The masked mannded on the roof.

    "You didn¡¯t have to get out. It¡¯s not like he¡¯s made of stone, which would¡¯ve ttened the helicopter," the masked man said as he looked at the Twelfth King.

    "You don¡¯t know what this guy is capable of. It¡¯s better not to take him lightly," the Twelfth King muttered softly.

    "You worry too much," The Thirteenth King said as he walked towards Ryder.

    "I agree that he has a few unorthodox strengths but nothing extraordinary other than the healing and that flying. I wonder how he got the flying, though," he muttered as he stopped near Ryder.

    "Wake up, kid; I know you aren¡¯t down. It¡¯s impossible for you to not heal from this light thing if you could regrow your limbs," the masked man muttered as he stepped closer.

    He was about to kick Ryder when Ryder caught his legs.

    Ryder made the masked man fall down as he stood up abruptly. He flew upward and.

    The masked man was hanging upside down as his leg was caught by Ryder. Before he could do anything, Ryder did the same thing that he did.

    Ryder threw the Thirteenth King towards the helicopter. They were only ten meters high from the helicopter.

    "Hahaha," the Twelfth King burst intoughter as he saw the Thirteenth King like this.

    The Thirteenth King came crashing down on the helicopter. As he crashed on the helicopter, the helicopter was dented. It seemed as if something extremely heavy crashed on the helicopter.

    The Twelfth King walked towards the Thirteenth King. " Can I say I warned you?"

    "You! Stop enjoying it!" The Thirteenth King said as he stood up and red at the Twelfth King.

    "I was just not careful enough," he said.

    He looked towards the sky in the direction of Ryder, who was flying above his head.

    "Enough ying around. Let me show you the read wrath of a king," The Masked man muttered as he clenched his fist.

 Chapter 334 Breaking News

    <h4>Chapter 334: Breaking News</h4>

    "Let me show you the Wrath of a real King," The Thirteenth King said as he red at Ryder, who was flying above.

    Ryder could see his guns lying on the ground near the helicopter, but he didn¡¯t have time to pick the guns up. He also didn¡¯t bother with getting the guns back. He had a few more guns in his inventory.

    Ryder opened his Inventory and brought two more guns out. One of these two guns was a special gun that he had purchased from the System Store previously, which didn¡¯t need any reload of bullets.

    "You want action; I¡¯ll give you action," Ryder muttered as he flew even higher to create even more distance from the Thirteenth King.

    "Janus, little bro. I know you don¡¯t help me much outside the missions but can you at least help me with your knowledge?" Ryder inquired.

    "Just tell me if I have any chance of winning and gaining experience," he continued.

    [The chances to win this battle? You have none]

    Janus straight away crushed Ryder¡¯s hopes.

    "You idiot, can¡¯t you motivate me, at least?" Ryder let out as he smiled wryly. The only way he was getting out of this fight was by dying, and he wanted to get all the answers he could before dying. He still had some hopes of winning before they were all crushed by Janus.

    [You want me to lie?]

    Janus asked in a curious voice.

    "At Least don¡¯t crush my hopes so brutally, you idiot," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly.

    [Your chances of winning? They¡¯re a hundred percent. You¡¯ll win this fight and all other fights here]

    Janus listened to Ryder and lied.

    "Even though I know that it¡¯s a lie that I told you to say, that still gives me some motivation to fight," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    He was fifty meters above the Thirteenth King when he finally stopped going upwards.

    Somewhere in the South Block of the city, a news helicopter was going towards a st location to capture some footage.

    "This day is so brutal. So many people died. I never expected I¡¯ll be spending the day shooting thousands of dead bodies and the destruction," The Reporter who was sitting inside the helicopter muttered.

    "Me too. This day was so unexpected. I just hope I don¡¯t vomit at the sight of all that blood," the cameraman muttered. He was sitting near the female reporter. He stood up as he stretched out his arms.

    He walked towards the door of the helicopter to get some fresh air. He looked outside.

    "Hmm? What¡¯s that?" He suddenly eximed as he noticed something in the air some distance away from him.

    "What the heck? Is a person flying? How is that possible? Man, it looks like I¡¯m already starting to get some hallucinations because of tension," the man muttered as he sighed.

    "What are you talking about?" The News Reporter asked the cameraman as she stood up.

    "Nothing. I¡¯m just hallucinating a little. I see a man flying in the air in front of me. Man, even my hallucination is strange. If I¡¯m going to imagine humans flying, at least give them wings," the man muttered as he sighed.

    "A man flying? I guess you really are hallucinating. Come back and rest a little," the news reporter told the cameraman as she walked towards him.

    She ced her hands on his shoulder as she looked outside.

    "See? No one is the-" She was just about to say that no one was Flying when she suddenly stopped. She could see a man flying some distance as well.

    The man was wearing what seemed like a tuxedo that was split in ces. The man seemed to be in his early twenties. The man was looking down towards a building.

    She looked in the direction he was looking at and saw a damaged helicopter on top of a building. A few people were standing near the helicopter on the building.

    "I know, I know. There¡¯s no one there. I¡¯m just a little tired, and I¡¯m seeing things. You don¡¯t have to mock me now," the cameraman said with an embarrassed smile on his face as he walked back.

    "N-no!You aren¡¯t hallucinating. I see the same thing. It can¡¯t be that the two of us are hallucinating the same thing. No matter how strange, but that seems to be the truth," the Reporter said with a nk look on her face.

    "Stand up ande back!" she told the cameraman.

    The Cameraman was shocked to know that she was seeing the same thing. He hurriedly stood up and walked towards her.

    " Look there and tell me what you see. If you¡¯re seeing the same thing that it¡¯s the truth! These things are happening! Hurry, tell me what you see," The Reporter told the cameraman as she pointed towards the building where she saw a few people standing.

    "I see a helicopter there. There are seven people standing there, looking up towards the man who is flying in the sky!" the Cameraman said.

    "You¡¯re exactly right! This is really happening. Open the camera and start recording. I¡¯ll contact the head office. If they see what we¡¯re seeing in the video as well, we can go with this as a live telecast! This can be breaking news! sts all around the city, appearance of the flying humans. Is this the dawn of evolution or the dawn of destruction?" The Reporter eximed as she hurriedly ran inside. She got her phone out of the bag and called her head.

    "Are you an idiot? What the hell are you talking about? Flying humans? Have you lost all your sanity?"

    The female reporter had just exined everything to her boss. Just as she expected, her boss didn¡¯t believe a single word she was saying. Instead, he called her crazy and many more names. She was already prepared for that, and she didn¡¯t feel angry. If she were in her boss¡¯s position, she would¡¯ve reacted in a simr way. Flying Humans? That sounded preposterous! Not a single sane person was going to believe it after all.

    "Sir, please listen to me. I¡¯m not the only one who¡¯s seeing this. I know how preposterous it sounds, and believe me, I wouldn¡¯t have called you if I wasn¡¯t sure if it. You can see the live footage from our camera. If you see what we can see, you can broadcast it live! Just think of themotion we¡¯ll cause if we showed this. Our TRP would jump through the roof," the girl said with a fawning smile on her face even though she knew that the boss couldn¡¯t see her.

 Chapter 335 Ruler of Water

    <h4>Chapter 335: Ruler of Water</h4>

    "That is true. If it is true and we broadcasted it live, our ratings would be really high. It has a lot of potential. Fine, I¡¯ll give you a chance. But if you¡¯re wrong, you¡¯ll be getting a lot of scolding when youe back," the Boss muttered as he nodded his head. Even though he agreed to listen and keep an open mind, he still left some room to scold the girl if she was wrong.

    "I promise I won¡¯t disappoint you. I¡¯m starting the transmission," the news reporter muttered as she disconnected the call.

    She opened herptop and started transferring the live footage to her boss at the head office.

    As soon as the boss saw the footage, he stood up in shock. He couldn¡¯t believe it. Even though he was seeing it himself, he still couldn¡¯t believe it.

    "She¡¯s telling the truth. Humans that can fly exist! Gold! We¡¯ve found true gold! If we go with the narrative that these flying Humans could be responsible for the st, we can create even more publicity and attract more attention!" he let out as a big grin appeared on his face.

    "You¡¯re right! I see it! Good work, Mei. Get ready! We¡¯ll be broadcasting the footage live in 5 minutes! Make sure you get a good focus on what has been happening!" he said before he disconnected the call.

    While Ryder was flying in the sky, looking down at the Thirteenth King, a camera was focusing on him. He didn¡¯t know that in a few minutes, his face was going to be on the television all across the country.

    After a few seconds, he did hear the sound of the helicopter at some distance. He looked to the side and saw a news helicopter. He could also see the camera looking in his direction.

    "Awesome! Only you guys were left! Can¡¯t you let me fight and die in peace? You want the whole world to see my ass get kicked, don¡¯t you?" Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    "Whatever! Since you¡¯re already watching, make sure you watch everything. Let the world see the true strength of Ryder Flynn!" Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    He raised his hand towards the sky.

    "I haven¡¯t used this power. It¡¯s going to be my first time using it. I don¡¯t like getting wet, but if it¡¯s what it takes to get a better chance at victory, then so be it!" Ryder muttered.

    "Heavenly Rain! Bless me!" he shouted loudly as he used the Ruler of Water¡¯s first Active Skill.

    Even though he didn¡¯t get to say these words, he still said these as it made them feel a little cool in front of the camera. He was feeling like he was a superhero, fighting against evil with the fate of the world at risk. The entire world was watching him. He wanted to experience this feeling once since he already had the opportunity now.

    The skill was very simple. It caused rain in the surroundings of Ryder. Those who were inside the range of the rain had their speed decreased while Ryder had his speed increased by half.

    The people that were outside the range of the rain weren¡¯t affected by this ability and its side effects.

    It was already night time, but the sky was very clear. The bright moon was visible in the sky, which was providing light to the earth and increasing the visibility at night.

    However, soon the clear sky was covered in a dark cloud. The bright moon became invisible. It was only within a certain range where the skill was effective, though. Outside this range, the sky was still clear. Those that are outside the range of this found this whole phenomenon to be strange.

    The Dark Clouds soon started raining. Ryder¡¯s clothes were wet. He opened the buttons of his coat and took it off. He threw the coat towards the ground in a cool fashion.

    He was only in a shirt and pants now.

    The people from the uprising were also wet, but they didn¡¯t seem phased.

    "It seems to be only raining around us. Outside this small range, there are no clouds, and there¡¯s no rain. This must be one of the strange abilities of this guy as well," The Twelfth King muttered as he looked around.

    "Doesn¡¯t matter! It¡¯s a child¡¯s y. It¡¯s just rain. What does he think he can do with this? Give me pneumonia? He underestimates me too much! He¡¯s too arrogant," The Thirteenth King let out as he stared at Ryder.

    "Well, he does seem to have the capital to be arrogant, though. Most of the abilities he had shown were proven to be absolutely amazing. And we can¡¯t be sure that those are his all. The boy has good skills, albeit he doesn¡¯t seem like he can tap into their true potential yet. He¡¯s too young and inexperienced," The Twelfth King replied.

    "Hah, so what? He¡¯s still a kid who¡¯s wet behind his ears. He is a little too arrogant. Does he really think he¡¯s the only one who¡¯s special? He thinks I can¡¯t get to him?" The Thirteenth King said as he stepped onto the air.

    "What the heck? He can fly too? Who the heck are these people?" Ryder eximed as she saw the Thirteenth King step into the air.

    "Oh wait, he¡¯s not flying! He¡¯s walking into the air. It seems like he can create some kind of invisible surface under his feet, which he uses to walk on air. Can he freeze air, or is it something that? Whatever it is, this seems to be his power. He probably used this save ability to divert my bullets and to cut my hands and legs previously," Ryder muttered.

    "You think you can get to me this easily? You can dodge the bullets? How many? Ten? Hundred? What about a thousand? Let¡¯s hear it," He let out as he grinned. He didn¡¯t need to worry about the bullets since it was a special gun he had purchased from system storage. All he had to do was maintain his distance.

    With a wide grin forming on his face, he aimed his gun towards the Thirteenth King of Uprising.

    "Knock Knock M******," He muttered as he started firing with both his guns while he flew back to maintain his distance from the Thirteenth King.

    The bullets he fired reached near the Thirteenth King, but as soon as they were near him, they changed their trajectory and missed him, but Ryder didn¡¯t stop at just that. Ryder kept shooting.

    Soon, his second gun was empty, which was a normal gun. He kept the empty gun in his Storage and continued with his Special Gun.

 Chapter 336 Live

    <h4>Chapter 336: Live</h4>

    Ryder kept the empty gun in his storage and started shooting with his Special Gun that would produce infinite bullets and didn¡¯t need to reload.

    He flew back as he saw the masked man jumping through the air on what seemed like steps created from the wind.

    "The Thirteenth King is going to enjoy torturing the kid in this battle," One of the five ck-robed men chuckled as they saw the Thirteenth King running towards Ryder.

    Surprisingly enough, the speed at which the Thirteenth ran was faster than the speed at which Ryder ran away.

    "Hahaha, that¡¯s what it seems like. I¡¯ll give it five minutes before the kid is lying in front of us, begging the Thirteenth King for forgiveness," Another person said.

    "I¡¯ll give it ten minutes. The kid is persistent and unorthodox. I¡¯ll give him the benefit of the doubt. In ten minutes, he¡¯ll be licking dust off the roof," The third guy said.

    "Come on, guys, aren¡¯t you underestimating him too much? Stop underestimating the Thirteenth King. In two minutes, the kid will be lying on the ground, groaning in pain," the fourth man also chimed in.

    "What do you say?" he asked as he looked at the fifth guy who hasn¡¯t chimed in yet.

    "I¡¯m not sure. I don¡¯t want to underestimate the Thirteenth King, but that guy has been proven to be quite unorthodox. It¡¯s better if we just wait and watch. Any number we throw at the moment is just going to be useless since he¡¯s not a normal human, and we don¡¯t know everything about him," the fifth ck-robed man said as he chimed in.

    The Twelfth King was also standing silently.

    He nced in the direction of the helicopter that was shooting everything on camera, but he didn¡¯t do anything. He had long since covered his face with a mask even before the helicopter got near that ce, so he didn¡¯t bother with anything.

    The five ck-clothed men had also covered their faces with masks. The only person who didn¡¯t have a mask was Ryder.

    Shu was sitting in his room, talking to his men about finding out the origin of the bombs and how they were taken inside these high-security ces without being detected.

    He disconnected the call and ced his focus on the TV that was muted. He didn¡¯t hear what the news anchor was saying, but there was a headline about flying humans at the bottom before the scene on the TV was changed. He increased the voice on the TV.

    "You can see the live footage from our correspondent at the scene. There, you can see two people flying in the air. This event is taking ce just a short distance away from the nearest st location where the st urred."

    "Who are these people? How can they fly? Why are they near the st location, and why are they fighting? We don¡¯t know the answer to any of these questions, but the circumstances make us believe that these people did have a hand in what happened here," the news anchor said.

    Shu was staring at the TV with great interest. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was real or made up.

    "They are going to get in so much trouble if they¡¯re showing fake footage. I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll take the risk. This should most probably be true, but how. Who are these guys? I can¡¯t see their faces. Get the camera closer, you idiots," Shu muttered as he cursed at the TV.

    "We can also see six people standing on top of the nearest building looking at the fight. All of them are wearing masks on their faces that are simr to the mask of one of the flying guys. It makes us believe that they¡¯re a part of it as well. It seems like a one on one battle between two people who can fly, but one of them seems to have a big backup."

    The news anchor continued her narration of the event, including the buildup of excess hype.

    " Can the other six people fly as well? Will they join the fight to help their fellow friend? Keep watching so we can find out together. You¡¯re seeing something that hasn¡¯t been seen before. The rise of a new era," the Anchor said, hyping it even more.

    "Wait! That helicopter! Isn¡¯t that mine? Something that Ryder was using?" Shu suddenly eximed as he noticed the helicopter on top of the roof; even the focus of the camera was on the six people on the roof.

    He stood up in shock.

    He picked up the phone and started calling Ryder.

    "The number you¡¯re trying to reach has been switched off. Please try againter."

    As he called, he only heard aputerized message that notified him of the phone being switched off. He called again just to be sure, but the same message was heard again.

    He called the number of the pilot who is operating the helicopter. The pilot¡¯s phone was also on silent. It was ringing, but there was no sound. Even if there were sound, the pilot wouldn¡¯t be able to pick it up since he was tied up.

    Alice was excitedly waiting for Ryder to return from the birthday celebration so he could take her to the promised dinner, but only Shu came back. Shu told Alice that Ryder couldn¡¯te today since he had to go to an important meeting for business purposes.

    Alice was disappointed, but she didn¡¯t say anything. She walked back to her room and stayed there. She didn¡¯t know anything about the sts.

    It wasn¡¯t until now that she found out about the sts when she checked her phone. She called Ryder¡¯s phone, but the phone was turned off.

    She hurriedly got off the bed and went downstairs to meet Shu and to get more information about where Ryder went to and if she needed to worry.

    As she came downstairs, she saw Shu standing in front of the TV, looking at it with a frown on his face.

    "Brother Shu," Alice said as she walked closer.

    "Ah, Alice. What are you doing downstairs? Go and have rest," Shu told Alice as he turned back.

    "I read about the sts. I tried calling his phone, but it¡¯s off. I don¡¯t know why, but can you tell me where his meeting was?" Alice asked Shu with a concerned look on her face.

    "Don¡¯t worry; I talked to him after the st. He¡¯s perfectly fine. He¡¯s outside the city. Because our borders are sealed, he can¡¯te back soon enough," Shu lied to Alice.

 Chapter 337 Forming Trident

    <h4>Chapter 337: Forming Trident</h4>

    "I¡¯m trying to get him back. After I have the permission I need, I should be able to bring him back. Just know that he¡¯s perfectly fine," he added.

    "Why is his phone switched off then?" Alice inquired in confusion.

    "When I talked to him, he was in a hotel, and his phone was on low battery. It probably turned off. He must¡¯ve ced it on the charger and fallen asleep. It was a tiring day for him after all," Shu replied. He kept his expressions straight, not letting out even a single clue that he was lying.

    "Oh," Alice muttered as she nodded her head.

    She looked towards the tv and saw the headline.

    "Flying humans?" She eximed in surprise.

    "Yeah, it seems to be that way. They seem to be fighting for some reason," Shu told Alice.

    "Anyway, you go and sleep. Brother Ryder told me to tell you to sleep early tonight," he said innocently.

    "I¡¯ll sleepter. It¡¯s not a daily event to see flying humans," Alice muttered as she sat on the sofa and looked at the TV.

    Shu sighed as he sat beside her. He knew that he couldn¡¯t force her without having her be suspicious and think that he was lying about something. He was more concerned about her, though. He was sure that Ryder was somewhere around that ce since the helicopter was there, and he didn¡¯t want Alice to see him there.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know what was happening. None of his bullets were hitting their target. Also, despite being affected by the effect of the rain created by the Ruler of Water and even after having his speed reduced significantly, the masked man was closing the distance between him and Ryder.

    The strange thing was that that man wasn¡¯t even flying, instead running in the air towards him, and he was flying; still, he was slower than the man.

    "I don¡¯t know what his abilities are, but from what it seems, He is able to solidify the air or create invisible wind des. No matter which ability it is, the solid bullets are hit by it and change their direction. I need to try a different approach along with trying to make him tired and make a mistake. He can make the solid objects miss him, but what about the liquid objects. Wind des can¡¯t cut water. Even if it did, it can¡¯t make it change its direction," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    "I¡¯ve never been able to create it sessfully, but it seems to be finally the time to do it. I¡¯m the lord of the water, so I¡¯ll have my trident! Let¡¯s see if he can do the same thing with my water trident!" Ryder muttered as he flew back. His hair was wet because of being in the rain and covering his forehead. He used his left hand to move the hair back and clear his view before straightening his left hand.

    The Water Droplets of the rain that were going to fall down started stopping near his hand. He didn¡¯t know what it was but his hand. It seemed as if a ma was there, and the water droplets were made of iron. They started joining together and formed a sphere. The sphere kept getting bigger and flew near Ryder¡¯s hand as he flew back.

    "Hmm? He can control water as well?" The Thirteenth King muttered as she saw a water sphere near Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "Control of water? Just who is this guy? How many abilities does he have? Where did he get these abilities from?" the Twelfth King was also surprised as he saw this. He was expecting Ryder to have more abilities that he hadn¡¯t used, but still, he was shocked to see himing up with a new ability.

    "Interesting kid. There seem to be so many mysteries surrounding you. We¡¯ll have to uncover all the mysteries ourselves," he muttered.

    The Five ck-robed subordinates of the Thirteenth King were also shocked.

    "It¡¯s been over ten minutes. All of you were wrong," the fifth ck-robed man muttered as he sighed.

    When everyone was guessing how long it would take before Ryder was defeated, he was the only one who had stayed silent and said that they didn¡¯t have enough information to guess that.

    "This kid is not ordinary. We can¡¯t treat him like a normal person and judge him on that criteria," the man continued as he nced at his fellow teammates.

    Just when the sphere was big enough to form a Trident, Ryder stopped collecting the water.

    "I hope it won¡¯t st everywhere like thest few times. Just let me create one Trident sessfully. I won¡¯t call myself Poseidon, but let me create it once," Ryder muttered as he started manipting the sphere to take the shape of the trident that he wanted.

    The Sphere started taking shape, and it became a thick staff at the bottom with a smaller water sphere at the top.

    It seemed like a magical staff that had a mystical orb at the top, the only difference being that the top was a sphere of water.

    The top sphere of water also started changing shape.

    Soon, it was starting to look like a trident. The only thing that was stillcking was that the trident wasn¡¯t sharp enough.

    Ryder kept flying back as he continued shooting at the Thirteenth King while still keeping enough focus on the trident to stop itself from blowing off while getting its edges sharp.

    As Ryder was flying away, he was getting awfully close to the news helicopter. The camera crew was finally able to get a focus on his face.

    Finally, the entire world was able to see the face of the first flying human.

    Most of the country and the world was watching this.

    As Ryder¡¯s face became visible, not only one but many people were shocked.

    Esmi and Bastion were amongst them who stood up in shock in front of their TV. Shu and Alice had the same reaction.

    There were more people who were watching it than Ryder could¡¯ve expected.

    On a dark Ind, a pce existed. A man was sitting on the throne inside the pce. Eleven people were sitting on seats that were a little lower than the main throne.

    "Why isn¡¯t the Thirteenth destroying the news helicopter first? He¡¯s showing this to the whole world?" one of the eleven people muttered as they looked at the holographic screen in front of them.

    "It¡¯s good that he isn¡¯t destroying that. So what if the world knows. At Least we can see the kid in action. The kid who spoiled our n. He¡¯s quite special; I must say," another one of the eleven people said.

 Chapter 338 Success

    <h4>Chapter 338: Sess</h4>

    "Yeah, he does seem special. He has some interesting abilities that even I haven¡¯t seen before¡ªcontrolling the water? Who would¡¯ve thought? If I¡¯m not wrong, the kid caused the rain as well," Another person said.

    "I think so as well," another person said.

    "Is it just me, or the Thirteenth seems a bit slower?" he suddenly noticed something strange and pointed out.

    "He does seem slower, but it should be intentional. He is probably toying around with the kid," Another person replied.

    While most of the people were agreeing, the person sitting on the throne opened his lips to speak something.

    "It¡¯s not intentional," the person on the throne said.

    Even though the voice was low, everyone was able to hear it clearly.

    "If it¡¯s not intentional, then that must mean it¡¯s the boy¡¯s doing. He can even do that? Amazing."

    "So limit the speed of thirteenth? This kid deserves even more credit than we were giving him."

    "Man, I really want to take this boy apart and see what makes him so special."

    "Watching him groan in pain right in front of me would be so amazing. I can¡¯t wait to see tears on his face as he¡¯s brought here."

    The Eleven Kings started talking amongst themselves while the person sitting on the throne folded his arms and continued watching the TV.

    "How the hell is it him? How is he there, flying and fighting! Didn¡¯t you say he was sleeping in a different town!" Alice thundered as she looked at Shu.

    "I-i don¡¯t know how he¡¯s flying. I¡¯ll need to ask him myself," Shu said with a nk look on his face. Even he was shocked, not understanding what was happening.

    "What happened to him? Why does he have these abilities? Just what did he go through?" Shu muttered with a frown.

    The Aircraft in which the various intelligence agencies were traveling also saw the live telecast.

    Ray and Jacob also saw this.

    "Bro looks like that guy isn¡¯t trying to hide his powers anymore. What the heck is with the flying, though? Can a person fly with gic engineering? Even bing undying was impossible but still exinable but flying? Are we really dealing with humans here?" Jacob muttered in Ray¡¯s ears.

    "Even I wonder that sometimes. But what are we doing then? What are they, if not humans?" Ray muttered with a frown.

    "They could be Seraph," Jacob muttered.

    "Seraph? What¡¯s that?" Ray inquired in confusion.

    "In mythology, the Seraphs are the angels of the highest orders that are closest to the gods and have godlike powers. In some stories I read online, it was said that Seraphim would appear on earth to cleanse all the sins," Jacob told Ray as he frowned.

    "So you¡¯re saying these people are Angels of destruction who are here to destroy us?" Ray said as he nced at Jacob.

    "You know what? I would¡¯ve called you crazy if it was before this, but now, even I don¡¯t know what¡¯s true and what is not. Heck, your exnation at least makes some sense in this situation. Angels of destruction. They did destroy the city, though. The ground of seven should be from the Bioterror group, and Ryder is probably trying to stop some scheme of theirs," Ray muttered.

    "Yeah, Ryder must be a rogue Seraphim. Who doesn¡¯t care about the other angels and is trying to save this world," Jacob said, nodding his head.

    "You¡¯re not telling me the plot of some strange novel you read, are you?" Ray asked suspiciously.

    Jacob was stunned for a brief moment before he started smiling, embarrassed. So what if it sounds the same as a story I read? It doesn¡¯t mean that it can¡¯t be true!" Jacob replied.

    "Maybe," Ray muttered as he nced at the screen. "Seraphim, huh. Let¡¯s see if these angels are really set on destroying us."

    In another corner of the country existed the New White House. It was created in the new Capital City.

    In the cabin of the White House, the president of the United States was sitting in her chair, watching the live footage. The Secretary of State was also beside her.

    " Did you contact the Martials in the city and ask them what¡¯s going on?" The President asked the Secretary.

    "I did. He says even he has no idea. The Army is on standby to take action. The surrounding area is being emptied while these people are busy fighting. Fortunately, that ce is not a ce where the general public lives, so it should be over soon," the Secretary replied.

    "Good. By the way, did you find out who this guy is? His face was visible clearly on the screen. You should¡¯ve been able to find him," The Woman in the main seat inquired.

    "I was already on it, Madam President. Also, we got a hit. This man is called Ryder Flynn," The Secretary of State exined.

    "Ryder Flynn? Why does this name sound familiar?" the woman muttered as she frowned.

    "Where is he from?" She asked.

    "He¡¯s a resident of New Jersey where everything is taking ce. ording to what we are able to find in such a short time, he¡¯s been living there since his childhood," the Secretary of State said.

    "New Jersey? Ryder Flynn? Is it possible that...?" the woman muttered as she gazed at the two people fighting in the air.

    "Do one thing for me," She said to the Secretary of State as she stood up abruptly.

    Ryder was still trying to maintain his distance. There were only twenty meters of distance between him and the Thirteenth King now.

    "Almost there," Ryder muttered as he noticed that the water Trident was almost ready.

    He was also pleasantly happy that the Thirteenth King wasn¡¯t using his abilities while he was forming his Trident, which made him believe that he found a limitation in the Thirteenth King¡¯s strength.

    He believed that the Thirteenth King probably had a limitation where his powers could only go as far as a certain range. Even though Ryder didn¡¯t know what that Range was, it was definitely less than twenty meters. Ryder was happy that his dying the battle was helping him know the limitations of the Thirteenth King¡¯s abilities, which was his main goal at this point.

    "Kekeke, Can you only run away, little ant?" the Thirteenth King inquired as heughed while chasing Ryder.

    "Can you only chase? You dumb idiot," Ryder replied mockingly. His reply was enough to make the Thirteenth King annoyed.

    "Wait for a little. It won¡¯t be long before I catch you. Then I¡¯ll show you what I can do," the Thirteenth King said as he red at Ryder. He didn¡¯t know why, but he was very frustrated.

    He wanted to catch Ryder fast, but somehow, his speed was way lower than it was supposed to be. He was sure that if it were his normal speed, Ryder¡¯s neck would¡¯ve been in his hands by now, but that wasn¡¯t the case. He was sure that his speed was fifty percent slower.

    "This must be one of this annoying kid¡¯s abilities. He can do this as well! I must catch him fast and not give him any opportunity," the Thirteenth King muttered as he frowned.

    The distance became shorter and shorter for them. Soon, only fifteen meters were left between the two.

    Right at that time, the water trident took shape sessfully. It became a proper trident that was sharp enough to break through human bodies with ease.

    "Finally, it¡¯s here," Ryder muttered as he smiled. He held the trident in his left hand as he flew back while he kept shooting with his right hand, but no bullets were hitting.

    ¡¯Now it¡¯s diversion time,¡¯ He thought as he changed the angle of the gun and pointed it towards the ck-robed men who were standing on top of the building, watching the fights infort.

    He started firing blindly without even aiming. All he wanted was to make the Thirteenth King look back, but it didn¡¯t happen.

    Even though what Ryder wanted didn¡¯t happen, he did manage to annoy the five people who had a barrage of bullets bombarded on them. However, they seemed to have an ability simr to the Thirteenth King. Whenever the bullets got close to them, they changed their trajectory and hit the ground.

    "You Bastard! You¡¯re really hateful, aren¡¯t you?" One of the five ck-robed men said.

    "Hahaha, the kid is interesting. He¡¯s running from the Thirteenth King, but he still has time to annoy us," another person muttered.

    "He¡¯s not annoying us. It¡¯s as obvious as day to anyone with an eye. He was trying to distract the Thirteenth King so he could attack with his trident. Such a childish strategy," the fifth ck-robed man said as he sighed.

    "Did you really think I would be dumb enough to look back?" the Thirteenth King asked Ryder with a smirk on his face.

    "That wasn¡¯t my goal, though. I already seeded in what I wanted to do. You¡¯re dead," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

 Chapter 339 New Skill

    <h4>Chapter 339: New Skill</h4>

    "Hah, do you think you can fool me? You can¡¯t run!" The Thirteenth King told Ryder as he frowned.

    " Yes! Do it now!" Ryder let out loud as he nced behind the Thirteenth King.

    Even though the Thirteenth King was very careful and knew that Ryder was trying to distract him, he didn¡¯t know that Ryder possessed the Art of Bluffing, which he had received from the Mystery Box of the system.

    It made his lies more believable, so much so that finding if he was bluffing or not was impossible.

    The Thirteenth King unwillingly looked back.

    As the Five ck Robes men saw the Thirteenth King turn back, they were surprised. They thought Ryder would never be able to fool the Thirteenth King but watching the Thirteenth King look back made them realize how wrong they were.

    The Twelfth King smiled as he nced at Ryder. He was getting more and more impressed with Ryder the more this fight progressed.

    He couldn¡¯t join the Battle and finished it instantly, but as the Thirteenth King was a hot-headed person, he wasn¡¯t going to put his feet in his matters until he was actually needed. He was simply watching and observing Ryder, which was enough to make him know how special Ryder was, more so than the Thirteenth King.

    Ryder smirked as he saw the Thirteenth King turn back.

    He raised his Trident into the air and used all the strength he had collected to throw it towards the Thirteenth King.

    The Thirteenth King nced back and soon realized that he was fooled.

    He instantly turned back and saw the three points of tridenting towards him.

    "You think that can get me?" The Thirteenth King snorted as he rolled his eyes.

    Ryder observed carefully to see what the Thirteenth King did.

    He couldn¡¯t see if it was invisible wind des with the bullet, but with the trident made of water, he could see if something like an air de passed through the water, which was going to be visible for a brief second.

    Ryder was waiting to see how the Thirteenth King was going to react and what his range was.

    As the trident entered within the Ten Meters range of the Thirteenth King, Ryder was finally able to see something.

    He could see many cuts appearing in the Trident. It didn¡¯t seem like a giant wind de, but what seemed like a wind de that was the length of a knife. Not only one, but he saw tens of cuts appearing in the Trident like these.

    It was obvious that the masked man could form tens of invisible des like this. These were the things that were keeping his bullets away by hitting them precisely and changing their trajectory.

    Unfortunately, these des weren¡¯t able to harm the trident as the Trident was made entirely of water and wasn¡¯t solid. Its direction didn¡¯t change at all. Moreover, whatever damage it suffered was healed instantaneously.

    Ryder watched the Trident heal with the help of the rain that was falling on top of the trident and smiled. It seemed like another one of the abilities of the weapons created by the ruler of nature. They could heal themselves as long as they were under the rain. This discovery made Ryder somewhat happy.

    It meant that his weapons were even more amazing than he could have hoped.

    Even the Thirteenth King was surprised as he saw the Trident being unaffected.

    The Thirteenth King was stunned, yet he moved fast. He moved his body to the left, dodging the Trident. Even though he was fast, the Trident still managed to graze his shoulder.

    The Thirteenth King stood straight and nced at his shoulders. He could see a light blood wound on his shoulder.

    "Hahaha, you finally managed to wound me. Are you happy? Let me guess; you think you forced me out of my tricks and manager to wound me. You might even think you found a way to beat me, don¡¯t you? You forgot one thing, though," The Thirteenth King muttered as he sighed.

    "So what if I can¡¯t use the old way. I still have thousands of ways to stop your attack, but I¡¯m not going to waste them on you. I won¡¯t use those and give you the right to brag that you forced me to use all my abilities. Go on, kid, show all your tricks. What else do you have?" He added.

    "I¡¯ll give you ten minutes. Try everything. I won¡¯t use any other abilities except the ones I¡¯ve already used. Kill me if you can, and you win. If you can¡¯t kill me in ten minutes, the eleventh minutes will be the moment of your death!" the Thirteenth King said as he continued chasing after Ryder.

    "Just what kind of monster is he! I have offense, but he can Dodge. I have bullets, but he can divert. I have speed, but he¡¯s faster! Is this even a battle or a chase?" Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    "Janus! Do you have any defensive skills that can protect me?" Ryder asked Janus as he frowned.

    [There is a Skill that can protect you for a short amount of time]

    Janus¡¯s words ignited hope in Ryder¡¯s mind. If he could get close without dying for even a single minute, that could be game-changing for him.

    "Good. I can¡¯t open the store right now. Can you get that skill for me and make me instantly learn it? You can take the Origin Points," Ryder said to Janus.

    He was d to have some hope. Janus had previously made him instantaneously learn the skills in exchange for some origin points, which made him know that he could do it again.

    "What are you waiting for? Get me that skill," Ryder said as he didn¡¯t get anything from Janus even after all this while.

    [Origin Points insufficient to buy the skill]

    Janus replied straight away, crushing Ryder¡¯s hopes.

    "If I don¡¯t have Origin Points, give me a loan and get me the skill. Please, I need that. Not only for right now, but for the next time I face him as well!" Ryder insisted again.

    He had previously taken a loan of Origin Points from Janus, which he had managed to pay off, but in return, hecked the Origin Points to buy the Skills he needed.

    He decided to take another loan to get the skill.

    [Loan can¡¯t be taken. It can only be taken once every three months]

    Janus once again crushed all of Ryder¡¯s hopes as he said no to giving out a loan.

 Chapter 340 The End

    <h4>Chapter 340: The End</h4>

    "Come on!" Ryder cursed out loud in frustration, but that¡¯s when he heardughter.

    The Thirteenth King wasughing. He was within the Ten kilometers range of Ryder.

    "Ten minutes are over," the Thirteenth King muttered as he chuckled.

    Ryder raised his gaze and looked at the Thirteenth King when he suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood.

    He nkly looked at the Thirteenth King as blood spilled out of his lips.

    He lowered his gaze and looked down at his chest.

    There was a big gaping hole where his heart was supposed to be. It was easy to look through his body through that hole.

    The Camera of the News Crew caught sight of it and telecasted it live as well.

    Esmi, Bastion, Shu, and Alice all of them stood up with pale faces as they saw Ryder¡¯s chest being prated.

    Shu had already called for help to get to Ryder. He had also sent his own mansion guards in another Helicopter with heavy weapons to help Ryder. The help was on the way, but Ryder was already like this. Shu felt like it was all over. There was no way to save Ryder.

    Back in the ne, Ray also stood up, shocked as he red at the screen, but he soon realized that Ryder was undying, so he didn¡¯t need to worry.

    There was another person that seemed to stand up from their seat, and that person happened to be the strongest person in the country.

    The President of the States was standing up. She nced back at the Secretary of State, who was looking at Ryder.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but he was shocked to see the President standing up.

    "It is indeed shocking. These people are fighting and killing," He said as he smiled wryly.

    Thedy in a ck suit looked at the Secretary of State and nodded her head before sitting down.

    Ryder started falling down as his body lost all its strength.

    He could only see the grounding closer and closer to his face as he fell down.

    His vision was turning darker, but his wounds had slowly started to heal.

    ¡¯Second Death in 24 hours and that too from getting t on the ground. I should look for some variety if I¡¯m going to do this ever again.¡¯

    This was thest thought in Ryder¡¯s head as his head smashed on the ground.

    Ryder slowly opened his eyes and found himself in his bedroom.

    He picked up his phone and looked at the clock and time on it.

    "It¡¯s Five in the morning. Sigh, my second try. Thest try, I can attempt to save people. After this, I¡¯ll be on the radar of the Lord of Time. I must seed," he muttered as he got off the bed. He walked into the washroom and cleaned his face before he came out.

    He walked out of the bathroom and got dressed before he left the room.

    He went downstairs and found the server.

    He had five hours before it was time to leave for the Birthday Celebration in Lavender Town.

    He wanted to use these 5 hours carefully and, if possible, solve the problems right now.

    He found the butler of the Mansion and asked him for the key to Ferrari.

    Shu was still sleeping, and the butler didn¡¯t bother to ask him either. He knew how Shu treated Ryder. There was no way he would say no to sharing the car, so the butler gave the keys himself.

    Ryder took the keys and left the mansion.

    He stepped inside the Ferrari and turned the engine in as he took the car in reverse and got it out of the Estate.

    He left the Mansion and went towards the South of the city.

    Ray¡¯s sister was up early and keeping an eye on the mansion.

    She saw the Ferrariing out of the mansion and Ryder sitting inside it.

    " He¡¯s leaving so early? This is suspicious," She muttered as she hurriedly jumped down from the balcony andnded on the ground.

    She entered her car and started the engine. She started following after Ryder.

    "This idiot! Does she never stop chasing?!" Ryder let out in frustration as he noticed the girl following him.

    He turned the car and blocked the road in front of her car. The woman also applied a break as she stopped.

    She was frowning as she wondered if Ryder had realized that she was trailing him.

    "This can¡¯t be! He must be suspicious at best!" she muttered as she opened the door of the car and stepped out.

    "Are you crazy! Why are you blocking the road! I have somewhere to be, you idiot!" The woman said to get any speck of suspicion that Ryder might have on her without even giving him a chance to speak.

    Ryder didn¡¯t reply as he walked closer to her.

    The woman was standing in front of her car, but she took a step back as she saw Ryder not stopping.

    "What are you doing?! Move your car aside and let me pass!" She said as she kept stepping back, but Ryder didn¡¯t stop.

    Soon, her butt was hitting the Bo of her car. There was no way to move back. Ryder stood just half a meter away from her as he gazed into her eyes.

    He reached out his hand, scaring the girl. He ced his hands on the bo of the car on both sides of her. His chest was just a few inches away from her.

    He brought his lips close to her ears.

    "Littledy, didn¡¯t someone tell you that it¡¯s not good manners to follow someone?" He said in a soft tone.

    "I¡¯m not following you! You were driving ahead of me! I was on my way to meet my friends!" the woman said to Ryder without budging.

    "Littledy, the school that taught you how to be a spy was established by me. Tell Ray to stop keeping an eye on me. I¡¯m not someone you people can use for your benefits," Ryder said in her ears softly.

    The woman¡¯s face turned pale as she heard Ryder¡¯s words. It was clear that he knew everything. The only question was how.

    Before she could ask anything, Ryder started talking.

    "Don¡¯t think how or what. Just remember one thing. If you don¡¯t stop this childish y, I won¡¯t be this civil next time," Ryder muttered as he softly kissed her cheeks before he turned back and started walking towards her car.

    "Remember my warning. I don¡¯t like to repeat things," Ryder said as he waved his hand without looking back.

 Chapter 341 Cost of Power

    <h4>Chapter 341: Cost of Power</h4>

    "Your cheeks are very sweet, by the way. Next time, it will be the turn of your lips," Said Ryder as he waved his hand without looking back.

    Under the nk gaze of the girl, he reached his car. Entering the car, he started driving away.

    "This guy... how shameless!" The girl stomped her feet as she started cursing Ryder.

    She picked up her phone and called Ray.

    She informed him about everything that just happened.

    "Hmm? He managed to find you out, and he even knows that I sent you? Hahaha, interesting. Very interesting. He¡¯s sending a clear message that he knows, warning me to stay away. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t take his advice," Ray told the girl as he startedughing.

    "He is trash! Human trash! Why don¡¯t you just arrest him instead of doing all this? Get the answers out through force since he already knows about you," the girl told Ray as she sighed.

    "You say that because you don¡¯t know who he is. He¡¯s not someone that can be messed around with easily. The Dream Corporation is behind him. It¡¯ll be a national issue if that Shu Maxwell takes action. Also, I don¡¯t want any hostility with Ryder. You didn¡¯t see what I saw. This one man is equal to an entire army. It¡¯s good that he¡¯s on the outside. I don¡¯t want to push him away by taking action against him," Ray replied in a grim tone.

    "What do you want me to do now? He knows about me, so it can get risky if I follow him," the girl inquired.

    "That¡¯s a problem indeed. I can¡¯t use our satellites without exining to higher-ups why I need them. Wait, why didn¡¯t you ce a tracker on his car?" Ray asked the girl abruptly.

    " I did," the girl answered.

    "You Idiot! If you have a tracker in ce, why were you trailing him!" Ray eximed.

    "The tracker can only track the car, you idiot brother of mine. It can¡¯t see what he¡¯s doing! I need to be near him to see what he¡¯s doing," the girl replied as she rolled her eyes.

    "You are the idiot! I told you to keep an eye on where he goes! Why did you need to trail his car if you already had a tracker on the car? You should¡¯ve gone there after his car had stopped. It¡¯s easy to see who¡¯s trailing on certain asions!" Said Ray in an annoyed tone.

    " I know that! I was going to follow that strategy the second time. It was the first time I was trailing his car, so it shouldn¡¯t be possible for him to know that I was trailing him! He knew about it already for some reason. I don¡¯t know why!" the girl replied.

    While the girl and her Ray talked about what to do and ying the me game, Ryder reached the south block of the city.

    He didn¡¯t go straight to the building where he knew terrorists to be hiding, though.

    Instead, he entered the building, which was near it.

    Even though the two buildings were near, there were still two hundred meters of distance between the two.

    This was a building that was owned by Ryder. Its renovation waspleted. The furniture and equipment were also arranged.

    Ryder parked the car in the parking, but he didn¡¯t step out of it.

    He sat in the car as he nced at his phone.

    It¡¯s six in the morning. 4 more hours before I need to leave for the party to make sure that everything else goes ording to the first time.

    "I should be able to finish it in 4 hours. It¡¯s just simple infiltration and assassination. What could be so tough about it? As long as those masked men aren¡¯t there, I should be fine. Even if they are there, I still can¡¯t be scared," he muttered as he sighed.

    " I have such determination, why then? Why is it that I feel scared? Why are my hands shivering? Why do I want to leave and never see the faces of these people? I can¡¯t die. I shouldn¡¯t need to worry about anything as long as I don¡¯t mess with time too much, ording to Janus, then why?"

    "Why is my heart beating so fast? Why is the thought of dying likest time scaring me so much? I¡¯ve died so many times, I never once felt scared of death, then why now? The only difference I can see is that I died of my heart being destroyed. Is this it? Is this why I am scared? Is that my fear? Losing my heart?"

    Ryder seemed as if he was talking to himself as he ced his hand on his heart.

    He didn¡¯t understand why he was so scared whenever the thought of dying likest time crossed his mind. He felt as if this was definitely not what he wanted. Why was he scared of losing his heart? Why was his heart such a concerning matter for him? He didn¡¯t understand.

    "It might just be something from dying twice in a day. It should only be that, yeah. I¡¯m thinking too much. But if it¡¯s that, does that mean, the more times I die, the more I¡¯ll feel like this? Does this mean I¡¯ll be changing with each death? What price does each deathe with? What price would I need to pay for this power?" Ryder wondered as he ced his head on the steering wheel and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

    "Janus, are you here? Can you listen to me?" said Ryder, breaking the silence inside the car.

    [Yes]

    Janus¡¯ voice was emotionless like always. There were only a few times when Ryder felt emotions in Janus¡¯ voice. Most of the time, his voice was just emotionless. This seemed like one of those times.

    "Janus, be honest. Are you hiding things from me?" Ryder asked straight away.

    [Yes]

    Janus answered without taking any time.

    " I won¡¯t ask you what you¡¯re hiding since I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll tell. Can you tell me if each death changes me? Is there a price to pay every time I revive without knowing?" Ryder asked straight away.

    [Yes]

    Janus once again replied.

    "Can you tell me what cost I¡¯m paying with each death?" Ryder asked in a calm tone.

    [No]

    Janus once again replied but this time with a different answer, refusing to tell anyone.

    "Is my fear rted to that?" Ryder inquired as he frowned.

    [No]

    "Then why do I feel this strange unknown fear?" Ryder inquired.

    [The past leaves a mark on the future while the future changes the past]

    Janus answered in vague terms.

    "The Past leaves a mark on the future, and the future changes the past?" Ryder muttered as he sat straight.

    " The first line must mean the recent death being the reason for my strange unknown fear. As for the second line, what does that mean?" Ryder asked as he frowned. "The future changes the past?"

    Janus didn¡¯t answer this time, though. He didn¡¯t say if Ryder was right or wrong.

    "Did you go missing again? Tell me that much, at least," Ryder replied again, but he didn¡¯t get any answer.

    " Sigh, he did go silent. This guy always disappears at important times," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    His hand was still on his chest as he felt the beating of his heart.

    "It¡¯s going to be fine. So what if I feel like that. I won¡¯t let fear control me. I¡¯m the person who went through so many deaths. So what if I have this fear? At the end of the day, fear is simply fear. It can¡¯t control my life! It can¡¯t kill me! I¡¯ll keeping back. As for the cost of each revival, why should I be scared of it? I don¡¯t even know what it is. I can only be careful not to die. I thought that I was immortal, but this immortalityes at a cost. The less I use it, the better," Ryder said with determination filled face as he sighed.

    He opened the door of his car and stepped on the concrete floor of the parking.

    His heart was still beating fast, but it was a little better now since he had stopped thinking about what will happen if he met the masked man again.

    He walked towards the lift that was in the parking.

    Pressing the button of the top floor, he watched the door of the lift close. The lift had a special code that a person needed to enter to use it before it moved up. Ryder pressed the code, which happened to be 1223.

    The lift started going up as sweet music started ying.

    The lift stopped at the top floor, and the door opened. He was greeted with the sight of a beautiful space with proper furnishing.

    "They did great work," Ryder muttered as he noticed how everything was arranged.

    He went to the stairs to get to the roof.

 Chapter 342 Infiltration

    <h4>Chapter 342: Infiltration</h4>

    Ryder stepped inside the roof and walked over to the other end of the room from where he had a clear view of his target.

    He brought his binocrs and started looking towards the building where his enemies were supposed to be.

    "I see no one. The roof is clear. The windows are covered, and the entrance seems to be locked¡ªno Uprising member on sight. Sigh, I sure hope that they aren¡¯t inside this ce," he muttered as he brought a mask out of his inventory.

    It was one of the many masks of famous characters he had brought before.

    This time, he was using a mask that seemed to have the face of a green monster.

    It was one of the famous characters of current times that was used in superhero movies. A man who could turn into a green monster and smash everything, including the viins. He was called Bulk.

    Ryder wore the mask to cover his face. Since he was hoping to make it a reality and save everyone so that he wouldn¡¯t need to die again, he took all the necessary precautions to make his life easier in the future.

    After wearing the mask, he also wore a ck cloak that came down to his knees.

    He only had one loaded gun in his inventory now since his other guns were emptied in thest battle, but he didn¡¯t reload them as that would¡¯ve taken time. He was sure that his special gun was going to be enough for most. It was a gun that didn¡¯t need to be reloaded after all. As for the masked people, even ten guns wouldn¡¯t be enough for them, so he didn¡¯t bother.

    He looked at the time on his watch.

    "Slightly over three hours. It should be enough if I y my cards right," he muttered as he stood on the edge of the roof.

    He started using his Ruler of Nature and flew straight to the next building. Fortunately, it was early morning, and this section of the city never had any traffic anyway.

    Landing on the roof, he walked straight towards the door.

    He was sure that it was going to be locked like it wasst time when he opened it using his gun. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t use his gun as the noise might attract their attention.

    This was the problem he was going to face, so he had already thought of it.

    Before he left the Maxwell Estate, he had taken a gas cutter from there, which he kept in his inventory.

    Bringing the gas cutter out of his invention, he started cutting the lock on the door. He had never actually used the gas cutter, but he had seen it being used before, so he felt like he knew what he was doing.

    Soon, the door was open for entry. Ryder stepped on the stairs and started going downstairs, cing his foot gently on the stairs, not to make any sound in case someone was near. He also had his gun in his hand, which was attached to a silencer so that he could shoot people without the noise of a gunshot.

    ¡¯They were on the 5th floor, ording to that guy. There shouldn¡¯t be anyone on the higher floors, but I can¡¯t be careless. He did say that he entered the building in the afternoon, so he wouldn¡¯t have known who was where this early in the morning,¡¯ Ryder thought as he reached the 16th floor.

    He walked through the floor and looked around to find if someone was there. He wanted to clear each floor as he went down so that no one could create any problemter.

    Searching around the entire floor, he found no one. The 16th floor waspletely empty. He straight away went downstairs and started checking the 15th floor.

    He kept clearing floors as he went down. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t find anyone.

    It wasn¡¯t until the Seventh Floor when he finally found a person for the first time.

    As soon as hended on the Seventh Floor, he saw a man in a military uniform walking away from him. As the entrance of the stairs were behind the man in the hallway, he didn¡¯t notice Ryder in the hallway.

    Ryder raised his gun and aimed at the head of the man from the back.

    With the intent to kill, he pressed the trigger and fired the shot.

    The bullet traveled the distance between the two in the blink of an eye and prated the head of the man.

    "Urgh," a light noise left the mouth of the man as he dropped to the ground. He died instantly.

    Ryder walked towards the body of the man, checking the rooms along the way to make sure that they were empty.

    Soon, he reached the body of the man and passed it. He held its hand and dragged it inside an empty room before leaving the room and closing the door. He didn¡¯t want anyone to find the body if they happened toe upstairs.

    He continued along the way and reached the end of the hallway. There was only one room left to check now, and that was where Ryder was standing.

    All the rooms he had checked so far were empty, but he was sure that this room wasn¡¯t. He could hear the soundsing from inside.

    "Where did he go? It¡¯s been over 5 minutes already. He should¡¯ve been here 6 minutes ago. It¡¯s his turn to keep an eye. Am I the only one who¡¯s punctual here? I¡¯m always on time when it¡¯s my turn but this guy!"

    Ryder was standing outside, hearing the noisesing from inside.

    ¡¯It sounds like there is a guy inside. He should be waiting for the guy I killed here. What is he talking about, though? His turn to keep an eye? Could it be that the bombs are inside? But they should¡¯ve been on the 5th floor. Did they shift it downstairster? I need to be careful here,¡¯ Ryder thought as he waited outside.

    He held his gun firmly as he knocked on the door, thinking that the man would unlock the door and step outside. That¡¯s when he wished to handle the man, away from the explosives.

    "Hmm? You¡¯rete! Come on inside," said the person from inside, spoiling Ryder¡¯s n.

    Ryder opened the door and stepped inside.

    A strange sight greeted him as soon as he entered, which he hadn¡¯t expected at all.

    He hoped that he would only see the fourteen bombs here, but he saw something that made him stunned.

 Chapter 343 Luck

    <h4>Chapter 343: Luck</h4>

    Ryder opened the door and saw what was inside. His lips opened wide as he frowned.

    There was a man who was sitting on his chair with his back facing Ryder.

    " Why are you sote today," the man said as he turned back.

    "What the heck? Who are you?!" With a shocked expression on his face, the man stood up as soon as he saw Ryder.

    He walked towards his gun that was lying on the nearby table.

    "I¡¯m your death," Ryder muttered as he aimed his gun.

    The man had just managed to touch the gun when a bullet prated his head.

    The gun fell down on the ground.

    Ryder closed the door behind him before he turned back to look at the twenty kids who were looking at him nkly.

    The twenty kids were eating something that seemed to be human limbs, which was almost making Ryder vomit. He didn¡¯t know what was happening here. Why were kids here, and why were these kids cannibals.

    The kids seemed to be in their early teens, but their eyes were nk.

    "What should I do? Are they human or the experiment of Dark Uprising?" he muttered as he frowned. He didn¡¯t know how to deal with this. If these were normal kids, he needed to help them, but if these were the puppets of the Dark Uprising who were actually not humans, then it was going to be much worse if they were mixed with normal kids by the authorities.

    "Why didn¡¯t that idiot tell me something about this. Freaking Bastards! Messing with kids," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    The kids kept eating what was in their hands without looking at Ryder. He had just killed the guy who was keeping an eye on them, but it didn¡¯t seem like something they even noticed. They were much more focused on their food.

    "Whatever, I¡¯ll think about them after I handle the bomb," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    He walked over to the body and picked up the gun. cing the gun in his storage, he left the room.

    The twenty kids were left alone inside the room after Ryder left. They started looking at the body of the man who was just killed by Ryder. They started crawling towards the man on their knees and surrounded the man.

    The sound of chewing and biting filled the room. No one knew what was happening inside the room.

    Ryder stepped on the sixth floor. He was just one floor away from the fifth floor where the bombs were kept.

    ording to his information, the sixth floor was the ce where some of the scientists and the people who carried the bombs to the st location were kept.

    He was already prepared to kill a lot of people as he stepped on this floor since he believed that not many people would have been out of their room this early in the morning. Killing them in their sleep was easy too.

    The only thing of concern was the thought that there might be the higher-ups of uprising here who he had fought before. If he came face to face with them again, it was instantly game over.

    Even though he prayed that he wouldn¡¯te face to face with them, he was sure that he would.

    In the beginning, Janus had said that he had a one in ten thousand chance of saving people sessfully. There was no way killing a bunch of people could be this hard. If he were facing normal people, the chances wouldn¡¯t be so low. The only reason it could be so low was because there was one in a ten thousand chance he wouldn¡¯te face to face with the masked people, and he needed to do everything right to bring that one possibility to reality.

    He needed to make sure that he did everything right so that this was that one in a ten-thousandth reality. He was optimistic. Even though Janus said that the chances of his sess were one in ten thousand, it didn¡¯t mean he would seed after that ten-thousandths try. It could also mean that he would seed on the first try and fail the next ten thousand times to replicate the same feat. It was luck for him, and he hoped that luck would support him this time as he desperately needed it.

    This was hisst chance to save people, and he had promised himself that he wouldn¡¯t take any more risk after this. The thought of God of timeing after him was not easy to take. He could only imagine how bad his life would be if someone who ruled over time actually came after him. He could be trapped in an infinite time loop in the blink of an eye if the lord of time wished it. At any cost, he wasn¡¯t going to go over the third time. He was going to listen to Janus¡¯ advice since he was a person of much knowledge.

    Opening the door of the first room, he stepped inside. It was good that no one locked doors here. Most probably because it was against the rules or they trusted their fellow mates. Anyhow, he entered the rooms and saw a man sleeping on the bed. The man seemed to have a white beard and looked to be in his sixties.

    ¡¯Must be a scientist,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned. ¡¯ If only he had put his brain to good use, he wouldn¡¯t be dying now.¡¯

    Ryder pressed the trigger, killing the old man in his sleep. He went to the washroom to check if someone was inside or not. After making sure that it was empty, he left the room and moved over to the next room.

    The next room had a young man who looked like he was in histe teens. He seemed like he wasn¡¯t even twenty yet.

    Noticing the gun lying on a nearby table, Ryder sighed. "At such a young age."

    He raised his hand and fired the shot, killing the young man without a second thought.

    He kept the young man¡¯s gun in his inventory before he left the room.

    A masked man was standing in front of the building inside which Ryder was killing people left and right.

    Five ck-robed men were standing behind him.

    "Where is the Twelfth King? He said he would meet me here. Cheh, that idiot. I don¡¯t know why His Majesty chose to send him with me. I can easily handle that little undying hero if he lives in this city. I don¡¯t need old twelfth," the man muttered in a grumpy tone.

    He started walking towards the building.

 Chapter 344 Familiar Face

    <h4>Chapter 344: Familiar Face</h4>

    The Masked Man entered the building. His five followers also entered after him.

    Right after the six people entered the building, a car stopped in front of the building, and a person stepped out of the car.

    He looked at his watch.

    "Right on time. I wonder if Thirteenth is going to be on time or if he¡¯ll bete like always," the man muttered as he started walking towards the building.

    Ryder was on the sixth floor, going from room to room, killing people in their sleep. He was entirely unaware of the fact that some neers had entered the building he was inside. These were the people he wished not to find inside, but it seemed as if his luck wasn¡¯t supporting him for now.

    Ryder was in his Sixteenth Room. He opened the door and entered inside the room. He was happy that no one locked their rooms in this ce, which made his task easier.

    So far, he had an easy sailing where all his targets were sleeping on the bad, but this time seemed to be different.

    The bed was empty, but it seemed like someone had slept there that night. The nket and the bedsheet was enough of a clue for Ryder to know that this ce was not empty.

    ¡¯Who lived here? Did that person leave the room before I came?¡¯ He wondered as he walked towards the bathroom to check. "It can also be that the people I killed on that floor to be from this room,¡¯

    There were only a few meters of distance between Ryder and the door of the washroom when he saw the doorknob moving.

    The door opened, and a man finally came into sight.

    "What the heck?! Who are you?! Why are you in my room?" the man asked Ryder with a surprise look on his face as he took a step back.

    The man seemed like he was very young, only in his early twenties. He had beautiful red hair that came down to his shoulders. He had a sharp-looking face and brown eyes that were looking at Ryder in confusion.

    Ryder didn¡¯t even look at the face of the man before he aimed his gun at his head, but he stopped and didn¡¯t press the trigger as he saw the face of the man.

    "Dixon?" he blurted out a name as his mouth opened in shock. His expressions couldn¡¯t be seen by the young man as they were hidden by the mask that Ryder wore.

    " Hmm? Ah, so you¡¯re one of us. Hah, you scared me. Did the doctor send you to me? Don¡¯t worry. Tell him I won¡¯t bete. Syncing the bomb won¡¯t take long. I¡¯ll sync them in a blink of an eye. No one would be able to disable them individually. This n will be a sess! You can go. Give me five minutes. I¡¯ll be downstairs after getting dressed," the young man told Ryder as he breathed in relief. He was d that it wasn¡¯t an enemy but one of their own. "Also, lower the gun, man. You know I¡¯m not a prisoner here."

    He walked over to the wardrobe and started getting dressed.

    "You¡¯ll sync the bombs? You know how they¡¯re going to be used, don¡¯t you?" Ryder asked again as he nced back at the man.

    His voice seemed somewhat down as if he was sad.

    "Of course. It¡¯ll be used to kill a few thousand insects that infest the earth. I know it¡¯s not much, especially since there are billions of Insects destroying this earth, but one day, we¡¯ll get our Utopia," the man replied as he sighed.

    "Ryder, stop fighting so much, man. You know you¡¯re not going to win. So what if they mock you a little. You can¡¯t fall down to their level. Come with me. Let me buy you a treat."

    ...

    "Hey, Ryder. Look. This bird! Do you know how rare it is? I can¡¯t believe that I found one. These things are hunted by humans for their fun. Poor birds. Why are we so cruel?"

    ...

    "It died! It died! Why?! How can my own father kill this innocent Bird? Why?! Why is everyone so cruel to these poor things?!"

    ....

    "Sigh, another forest fire caused by humans. So many innocent animals¡¯ lives lost."

    ...

    "Ryder, did you hear the report? The pollution has increased so much despite the measures we took! Can we even do anything with so many people disregardingmon sense?"

    ...

    Ryder looked at the man and couldn¡¯t help but reminisce about the past. A young school boy who was more concerned about nature and animals than his own life.

    He remembered how the young boy who was his best friend during the young days didn¡¯t stop talking about these things and how he wished to change the world.

    He didn¡¯t know how and why both of them separated and didn¡¯t talk since he entered College. He always wondered why his old friend stopped replying to his messages. Did he forget him? Did he get busy, or did he just remove him from his life?

    He never expected that he would find that old friend here.

    "Are you really fine with killing people, Dixon?" Ryder asked again.

    "Are you testing my loyalty to Uprising? Look, dude, you might be new, but I¡¯ve been here since my college days. I¡¯ve already killed thousands of people, and I¡¯ll kill thousands more today. You don¡¯t need to suspect my loyalty," the man replied without turning back.

    "You already killed thousands of innocent people?" Ryder enquired.

    "Hahaha, yeah. It¡¯s so overwhelming when I think about it. Still, those people were just the first step. I won¡¯t stop until I wipe ny percent of humanity and bring the bnce back to the world," the man replied.

    "You killed young, old, and even kids. How did you change so much, man?" Ryder asked as he sighed. " How did you get lost so badly?"

    "Hmm? Why are you talking like you know me? Who exactly are you?" the man asked as he turned back and looked at Ryder.

    Ryder ced his hand on his mask and slowly removed it, revealing his face to his old friend.

    The man looked at him for a brief period before managing to recognize him.

    "Hmm? Ryder is that you?" the man eximed.

    "It¡¯s you! I can¡¯t be wrong! You joined Uprising too? It¡¯s so awesome! We can both work together to improve the world," Dixon said as he startedughing.

    "To improve the world or to destroy it?" Ryder asked as he looked into Dixon¡¯s eyes.

 Chapter 345 Sin

    <h4>Chapter 345: Sin</h4>

    "Come on; You joined the Uprising too. Don¡¯t act like it has some moral high ground above me! We might have different reasons for joining Uprising, but we¡¯re both criminals now, fighting for the same goal," Dixon said as he rolled his eyes.

    He turned back and continued getting dressed.

    Ryder looked at the back of the man before he took a deep breath.

    He started walking towards the exit. "Goodbye, Dixon."

    "Bye, I¡¯ll see you downstairs," With a wave of a hand, Dixon replied.

    Just as Ryder was near the door, he nced back at Dixon.

    "No, you won¡¯t," Ryder said as he raised his gun slowly.

    "What do you mean?" Dixon let out as he nced in the direction of Ryder, but his mouth opened slightly as he saw the gun aiming at him.

    "Come on, Ryder. Stop joking. I¡¯m going to gette if you don¡¯t stop. Go and tell the doctor that I¡¯ll be right downstairs," Dixon said to Ryder as he smiled wryly.

    He had just started to wear a shirt. He put his left hand inside the shirt, but before he could put his right hand inside, a trigger was pulled, a bullet was shot, and a head was prated.

    Dixon¡¯s eyes were still wide open as his body fell on the ground. He couldn¡¯t believe that he had just died like that.

    "You¡¯re too far gone. Have a good rest," Ryder muttered as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

    Back on the first floor, the Thirteenth King had entered the lift with his five followers. The doors of the lift closed, and it started to go upwards.

    A few seconds after the door of the lift closed, the Twelfth King entered the building and walked towards the lift.

    He starts tapping the button to call the lift.

    The Thirteenth King stepped out of the lift on the fifth floor.

    "Your Highest, the Thirteenth King. You¡¯re here," A man in white doctor¡¯s clothes noticed the Thirteenth King getting out of the lift and went forward to greet him.

    "The Twelfth King didn¡¯te? I was here to escort both of you," he continued.

    "Hmm. That guy iste. Ignore him. Anyway, Where is Senia," the Thirteenth King enquired.

    "Boss? Please follow behind me. The boss is checking the bombs onest time. I¡¯ll take you to him," the man said as he started walking ahead.

    The Thirteenth King and the others followed behind.

    The lift went back to the first floor.

    The Twelfth King entered the lift as the lift¡¯s door opened. He tapped the button of the fifth floor and watched the door close.

    He stepped out of the lift on the fifth floor and looked around to see if anyone was there.

    He saw a man in soldier uniform standing at some distance.

    "You, Where is Senia?" he asked the man.

    The guard escorted him to the ce.

    The Twelfth King was brought to the hallway on the left when he saw the Thirteenth King walking ahead of him with his followers.

    "I¡¯ll handle the rest. You can go back," he waved his hand and told the guard to go back.

    Turning back, the guard started walking away.

    The Twelfth King nced at the Thirteenth King, who seemed to be about fifty meters away from him.

    He disappeared from his position and appeared right beside the Thirteenth King.

    The Thirteenth King didn¡¯t even nce towards the Twelfth King as he said, "You werete."

    "No, I wasn¡¯tte. It seems like you were early. Well, I guess I can¡¯t me you. You being early is better than you beingte," The Twelfth King replied in a calm tone.

    The seven of them were escorted to the room where they saw fourteen bombs ced in a line.

    A man in a ck cloak was sitting with his back facing them. He seemed to be working on the bombs.

    "Boss, The Kings are here," the white-robed man said after entering the room.

    The ck-cloaked man turned back and gazed at the Thirteenth and the Twelfth King.

    He stood up and bowed his head a little, revealing his face that seemed to be that of an old man who was in his sixties. He had a long white heart.

    "Your Highness, the Thirteen King, wee," he greeted the Thirteenth King before shifting to the Twelfth King. "Your Highness, the Twelfth King, wee."

    "You¡¯re still working on the bombs? Are they not ready yet?" the Thirteenth King inquired.

    "Ah, they are ready. I was just checking them to make sure that everything was right. Now the only thing left to do is to sync all of them together so that no one can disable them individually," The old man said.

    " Why didn¡¯t you do it yet? Are you beingzy? You know I don¡¯t likezy people," the Thirteenth King said as he red at the man.

    "Ah, not at all. It will only take five minutes at most. We¡¯ll start syncing soon. Our men will be here soon. We didn¡¯t do it before because it was more effective to do it half a day before we expect them to st. Any more than this, and it would¡¯ve wasted the energy of the bombs," the man said.

    " Call him here and finish it in front of me. I don¡¯t want any mistakes. I want our little prey to appear today, but if he doesn¡¯t, I still expect to see a good show of screams and cries," the Thirteenth King said.

    "Of Course. Please take a seat while I arrange things," the old man told the two kings as he pointed towards the seats that were ced on one side of the room.

    "Hmph," the Thirteenth King started walking towards the seat. The Twelfth King also followed. Both of them took seats while the Five followers of the Thirteenth King stayed standing.

    "You go and call Dixon downstairs. That guy is going to get me killed someday," the old man told the man in the White robe to call Dixon downstairs.

    The man nodded his head as he left the room. He entered the lift to go to the sixth floor.

    "This makes it the Sixtieth kill of the day. At Least I don¡¯t have to regret anything. I¡¯m only doing this world a favor by killing them," Ryder muttered as he nced at the dead body that was lying on the bed.

    " If it¡¯s a sin, then it¡¯s a sin I¡¯m willing to bear," he let out as he turned back to leave the room.

    He stepped out of the room.

 Chapter 346 Going Down

    <h4>Chapter 346: Going Down</h4>

    Ryder left the room, unaware that there was someone who wasing to the floor he was at.

    He moved over to the next room, which was to be thest room on this floor that he needed to search before it was going to be the time to go downstairs.

    He opened the door and entered the room.

    Just as Ryder entered the room and closed the door behind him, the door of the lift opened, and a man in a white robe stepped out of the lift.

    The man started walking towards a certain room. He was sent to call Dixon, unaware of the fact that Dixon was already dead, and his dead body was lying on top of the bed.

    Ryder was standing in front of the bed, where two peopleid bare. None of the two was wearing any clothes. While the guy was lying on his stomach, exposing his bare buttocks, the girly on her back, exposing everything for Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    Born of them had their eyes closed as they slept in peace.

    Ryder raised his gun and aimed at the guy first.

    He pressed the trigger of the gun. Without making much noise, the bullet left the gun and entered the head of the man. Without waiting for even a second, he shifted his gun to the side and aimed at the girl.

    "Not bad," heplimented before he pressed the trigger, killing the woman. He turned back and left the room, leaving the two bare bodies behind.

    As he stepped out of the room, the white-robed man entered the room of Dixon.

    Ryder walked towards the stairs that happened to be right beside the stairs.

    "Aaa! Murder!"

    Ryder had just taken a few steps when he heard a scream. It seemed to being from Dixon¡¯s room.

    "Fuck! Someone saw already!" Ryder cursed as he started running towards the room of Dixon. He was just a few steps away from the room when he saw a man dressed in white stepping out of the room. The man seemed like he was running towards the lift to get to his people.

    Both of them saw each other. The man stopped in his tracks, not knowing what to do. He didn¡¯t have a gun with him, but he did see the gun in Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "W-who are you?" He asked Ryder. "I¡¯m warning you! Leave this ce without creating any trouble. You are messing with the wrong people here!"

    " Hah, You guys were the ones that decided to mess with me first," Ryder replied as he raised his gun.

    Without taking a second to think, he fired the shot that killed the man. The man¡¯s body dropped to the ground.

    He held the hand of the man and dragged his body towards the lift and pressed the button of the lift.

    He saw the indicator that showed that the lift wasing from the fifth floor. He was alert to make sure that the enemies weren¡¯t in the lift. He had prepared to kill anyone the moment the doors of the lift opened.

    *Ting*

    He breathed a sigh of relief before he ced the body of the man inside the lift, only leaving half his body to make sure that the door didn¡¯t close.

    If the door didn¡¯t close, the lift wouldn¡¯t go down, and in return, no one would be able toe up on the lift while he was on the stairs. He didn¡¯t want something like this to happen again, where someone saw the dead bodies upstairs. If they came through the stairs where he was, he would be able to kill them, but if they came from the lift when he was on the stairs, he would be exposed.

    The door of the lift started closing, but it hit the body and opened again.

    Leaving the body and the lift behind, Ryder started walking towards the stairs.

    He starts going downstairs.

    While Ryder was carefullying down to the most important floor of this whole endeavor, which was the fifth floor where all the bombs were kept, the two Kings waited for the bombs to be ready before they could leave.

    The old man who was given the responsibility of handling the bombs and the operation rted to them was called Senia.

    He was walking back and forth, waiting for Dixon toe down.

    "Just where are those people? They don¡¯t have any value of time, do they? I sent him to call Dixon down, and now he has disappeared as well. Those idiots! The two kings are here. Can¡¯t they be punctual a single day?" Senia muttered as he looked at his watch in frustration.

    "After walking back and forth for a few more seconds, he turned back to look at the Two kings. The Thirteenth King was looking at him in frustration, whereas the Twelfth King was sitting with his hands folded. The Thirteenth King was looking impatient, whereas the Twelfth King was looking bored.

    "Your Highness, I¡¯ll go and see what¡¯s taking them so long. I¡¯ll be right back," The old man said to the kings before he left the room to go see for himself why two of them were taking so long.

    " Looks like these people don¡¯t know the value of being on time, just like a certain someone who is alwayste," The Twelfth King muttered as he smiled subtly.

    "Do you think I don¡¯t know who you¡¯re talking about? Do I need to remind you that it was you who werete?" the Thirteenth King said in irritation.

    " I wasn¡¯tte. I was sharp on time; it was you who were early today," the Twelfth King replied.

    "Just time that I¡¯m neverte. You guys are always early," the Thirteenth King said as he frowned.

    Away from the two kings, the five followers were having a discussion of their own.

    "I¡¯m so bored. Can¡¯t the day be over soon so we can see the fireworks?" The First of the five muttered.

    " Things take time. Don¡¯t worry. The end result should be worth it. If we¡¯re lucky, we might even get to see that Mysterious Person appeared for whom we ced this deliberate trap," The Second Man replied.

    " It¡¯s good to be optimistic, but it¡¯s just as important to keep your expectations in control. The chances of disappointment would be less that way. Just think about the fireworks. If the mysterious person appears, it would be like a bonus in that case, and if he doesn¡¯t, it won¡¯t be disappointing," the Fifth man chimed in.

 Chapter 347 Mission or Trap?

    <h4>Chapter 347: Mission or Trap?</h4>

    "You¡¯re always a downer, man. Let us be hopeful. Even the imagination of fighting and killing that person is so amazing. I wonder how satisfying it will be to cut off his limbs when I face him.

    "What happened to the lift? Why isn¡¯t iting down?" the Old Scientist, known as Senia was standing in front of the lift, pressing the buttons, but it didn¡¯t seem like the lift wasing down. It was showing that the lift was on the sixth floor.

    " Why isn¡¯t anything going as per expectations? Now even the lift stopped working?" the man cursed in frustration as he started walking towards the stairs.

    "This is where the real test starts¡ªthe one in a ten-thousandth reality. I can¡¯t waste this chance. I¡¯ll make it that one sessful possibility," Ryder muttered as he looked at the gun in his hand.

    "Janus, What are the chances of my sess now that I¡¯m here? I must have eliminated a lot of those ten thousand realities by being here. My chances should be better now, right? Give me a number," Ryder asked Janus.

    [You have one in five thousand chances of sess]

    Janus answered. There seemed to be some impatience in his tone.

    [Why do you wish to take the risk to sacrifice so much to save a bunch of strangers? Did you not learn anything after thest time?]

    Janus asked Ryder. Ryder felt as if he could sense the sadness in Janus¡¯ words. He could see that it was probably one of those times when Janus behaved like a real being.

    " It¡¯s because I can. I can save thousands of lives, so why wouldn¡¯t I? If it¡¯s a little harmful to me, so what? If I can save anyone without losing people close to me in the process, it¡¯s always going to be a win," Ryder muttered as a smile appeared on his face, but that smile was countered by the sadness in his eyes.

    " Alice and I are both orphans, You know? It¡¯s not fun. It was never fun. Seeing Alice cry, remembering her parents, is something I still remember. As for myself, the memories of my father and mother are still in my heart. I don¡¯t ever wish this fate on anyone else. I can only imagine how many kids would lose their parents and how many parents would lose their families if these attacks are sessful. I have a chance to stop them without any dangers to myself, so why wouldn¡¯t I?" Ryder inquired.

    " You said yourself; I can go back in time three times at once without attracting the attention of the lord of time. I¡¯m saving thest trip to save my friends and family by following the same set of events like the first time in case something went wrong, but that still gives me two attempts. I would be too cruel not to try that while I have the opportunity to save people. If I can stop even one person while keeping my friends and me safe, that would be a win for me," he continues.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know if it was real or his imagination, but he seemed to hear Janus¡¯ sigh.

    It was followed by a familiar sound that he had heard many times before

    It was the time... the time for a mission from Janus.

    [ Ding... A mission has been issued to the host]

    As Ryder heard that, a stunned look appeared on his face. This timing was just so strange.

    If it was a mission like he had received when he had killed the Dark Uprising members, then it was definitely a good thing, but if it was a mission that was going to mess with him like Janus often did, then it was going to be a bad thing. Ryder could only hope that it was going to be a good thing.

    [Mission: Stop the plot of Uprising and escape without getting caught]

    [Mission Rewards: Two Thousand Origin Points]

    [Punishment of failure: You would never be able to seed in stopping these attacks]

    [Time Limit: One Day]

    [To help the host have a fighting chance toplete the mission, he is allowed to take the rewards in advance]

    [Warning: If the host takes the Rewards in advance and fails to finish the mission, he would have to pay back double what he received in advance]

    [Would you like to take the advance?]

    [Yes/No]

    Janus asked Ryder after exining the mission.

    As Ryder heard the main and about the advance, a smile appeared on his face.

    "Would I take the advance? I would have to be stupid not to take it. Origin Points are exactly what I need!" Ryder eximed with a smile on his face.

    "Yes, give me the points in advance," Ryder dered.

    [Two Thousand Origin Points have been given to the host]

    "Janus, you¡¯re good. You do make my life hell sometimes, but you alwayse with a helping hand when I really need it. Thanks for the origin points," Ryder thanked Janus.

    [Don¡¯t thank me. You will have to pay me four thousand Origin points if you fail. I would have a fun time collecting those four thousand points from you]

    "Ah, you¡¯re trying to confuse me, aren¡¯t you? You definitely did this to help me, right? You didn¡¯t do it, so I would owe you an exorbitant amount of origin points, which would allow you to make my life real hell, right?" Even though Ryder said it, he was actually starting to doubt Janus¡¯ intentions.

    [Sure]

    Janus replied, intentionally talking as if he was mocking Ryder for being stupid.

    "You bastard! Do you really think I¡¯ll give you the satisfaction of owning me? I¡¯ll win, and I¡¯ll win with the extra Origin Points I received!" Ryder dered as he rolled his eyes.

    He was halfway down the stairs between the sixth and the fifth floor.

    Instead of going down, he went back again. Now that he had enough Origin Points, he could prepare more thoroughly to face the powerful Beings that he might face. He knew that he couldn¡¯t buy things from the store when he would be under the enemy gunfire.

    He wanted to buy on the sixth floor. No one coulde up using the lift since the lift was stuck here. As for the stairs, he could kill them if any unaware enemy came up even when he was busy going through the items in the store.

    He stepped on the sixth floor and moved away from the stairs.

    "Janus, open the store," hemanded.

    A semi-transparent screen opened in front of him, which showed the store of the system.

 Chapter 348 Aria

    <h4>Chapter 348: Aria</h4>

    A semi-transparent screen opened in front of Ryder, which showed the store of the system.

    The Screen had various items listed on it, which ranged from one point to Five Thousand Points.

    "Janus, which skill did you talk about that could protect me against the onught of those invisible attacks? Tell me the price range where I can find it," Ryder asked Janus as he continues scrolling down. He didn¡¯t want to go through the description of all the items to find what item he could use for him.

    [It¡¯s worth One Thousand Nine Hundred Origin Points, called Protection of Aria]

    Janus answered Ryder and didn¡¯t ignore him.

    "Protection of Aria?" Ryder muttered as he tried to find the skill.

    Soon, he found the skill that was called the Protection of Aria.

    He opened the description of the skill to understand it better.

    [Protection of Aria]

    [Description: The Skill of Goddess of Protection, Aria. Once used, it can make the user invulnerable to any harm for Sixty Seconds]

    [Usage: The Protection of Aria can only be used once in a day, and its effects canst for sixty seconds]

    "Protection of Aria, invulnerable to any harm? This is amazing," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Even though it can onlyst for Sixty Seconds, that¡¯s still pretty useful. Sixty Seconds is more than enough. I can use them for my benefits," Ryder let out.

    He tapped on the skill and purchased it.

    [You have Purchased the Protection of Aria. Do you wish to learn it instantly?]

    [Cost of Instant Learning: Fifty Origin Points]

    [Yes] [No]

    "Fifty? Why is it so expensive? Thest skill I learned cost only Five Origin Points? Are you inting the price instantly because I need to use the skill instantly?" Ryder inquired with a suspicious look on his face.

    [Thest skill you learned was a low-level skill, so it didn¡¯t cost much]

    Janus answered Ryder without taking much longer to think.

    "Sigh, whatever. Take fifty origin points and give me the skill," Ryder answered in a low voice.

    Ryder could feel a vast amount of information entering his brain. He could also feel some change taking ce in his body. His blood was heating up. It was even starting to hurt him, but fortunately, it didn¡¯t cross his threshold.

    Soon, the pain started going down, and his blood started getting cold. Previously it was getting hotter than normal, but now it was getting colder than normal.

    With a shivering body, Ryder asked, "Janus, what is happening? Why is this skill making me sick?"

    Janus didn¡¯t answer him even after a few seconds passed. His face was turning pale because of the freezing cold, but it stopped before it could get too extreme.

    His temperature returned to normal slowly.

    Finally, his body was feeling normal.

    "Did this skill change something inside my body to be able to use it?" Ryder wondered, but he didn¡¯t waste any time thinking.

    He still had fifty Origin Points remaining from the ones he has received. He decided to use them at the same time and purchased an item that he thought to be useful for him.

    After he finished with everything, he started to walk towards the stairs to go down but stopped in his tracks before he could step in front of the stairs as he heard the sound of someone talking.

    "This useless lift had to stop working right now. I hate stairs, but I have no choice. Those idiots will be getting a really big scolding for making me go through this."

    Ryder heard the words.

    Noticing that someone wasing up, he aimed his gun towards the stairs and stepped forward.

    "Wha-"

    A white-cloaked man was standing on the stairs. He grew shocked at the sight of a masked person suddenly appearing in front of him with a gun in his hand.

    He couldn¡¯t even get a word out of his mouth before a bullet prated his head. His eyes were wide open.

    Dropping down to his knees, dead, the man¡¯s body was about to roll downstairs, but it was stopped by Ryder, who ced his feet on the body of the man to stop him from falling down.

    He picked up the body of the man and carried it up. cing the body inside a room, he again went downstairs.

    Bringing out the second gun from his inventory, he finally stepped on the fifth floor.

    As soon as he stepped on the fifth floor, his eyes fell on three guards that were standing in the hallway. Two of the guards were looking away from him, whereas he happened to be in the direct line of view of the third guard.

    The guard raised his weapon while opening his mouth to say something, but he appeared to be too slowpared to Ryder.

    "Int-"

    He had only managed to make a light noise before the bullet entered his head.

    Even though the noise was light, this light noise had managed to attract the attention of the guards, but that small moment ofpse proved to be much more to Ryder, who used these few seconds to take aim and fire at one of the guards, leaving only one guard alive.

    Thest guard saw the dead bodies of his friends before he could see Ryder, which became his biggest mistake. He was overwhelmed at the sight of his dead mates to think of what to do.

    His mind couldn¡¯t evene to a decision before he died in the eerie silence. Ryder walked over to each of the bodies and ced them in his inventory, leaving no clue here.

    "If I was an evil scientist who had taken over this building, where would I keep the bombs. Come on, Ryder, Think. This building should have the same structure as my building, more or less. Where would the bombs be?" Ryder muttered as he looked to the two sides of the hallways, wondering which side to go to.

    "Since it needs to be the right decision, let¡¯s go to the right first," he continued as he started walking towards the right side of the hallway. He stopped in front of the first room on the side.

    "Just where is he? He is wasting my precious time!"

    While Ryder stood outside the door, he was able to hear the voice from inside.

    ¡¯There are people inside," Ryder mumbled as he ced his hand on the doorknob and slowly started opening it.

    With a gentle click, the door was open.

    He pushed it open and stepped inside the room.

    Entering the room, He saw a man sitting on a chair. The man seemed to be old enough to be his grandfather, but he was sitting bare without any clothes covering his chest. Fortunately, he was still wearing pants.

    "You¡¯re back? You brought the red shirt from my room, right? Next time don¡¯t spill a drink on me," the man said as he stood up.

    "You even broke my sses. Sigh, if only I had spare sses in my room. Come, give me my shirt, it¡¯s cold. After that, go buy me some vision sses." the man said to Ryder as he reached out his hand.

    ¡¯ So he can¡¯t see without his sses? He seems like a harmless old man, but no person working for the uprising is ever harmless,¡¯ Ryder thought as he observed the man.

    He also looked around the room and found it to be mostly empty. There were no bombs at sight.

    "Come on, stop wasting my time, you trash! Give me my clothes!" the man thundered.

    With a gentle sigh, Ryder turned back and started to leave.

    Before opening the door, he moved his hand back and fired a shot without looking back.

    The bullet left the gun, and shockingly it managed to hit the old man right on the head without looking back.

    "I¡¯m back, old man."

    Just as Ryder opened the door, he saw a man standing on the other side who was holding a shirt in his hand.

    "Wrong timing, dude," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    Another bullet left the silent gun, but this time, it hit the heart of the man.

    Ryder pulled the man and threw him inside the room before shooting at the head of the man as well. The second bullet was also spot on.

    He moved over to the second room in the hallway and opened the door to look inside. The room happens to be entirely empty as well.

    He walked over to the third room in the long hallway. He didn¡¯t know why, but as he reached close to the third hallway, he could feel his heart beating faster. He could feel a sense of danger from the third room.

    He had a feeling that this was the right room. The bombs must be inside, he thought as he stood in front of the room.

    He touched the doorknob of the third room and slowly opened the door.

 Chapter 349 Escape

    <h4>Chapter 349: Escape</h4>

    Ryder stood in front of the third door, which he was sure to contain the bombs ording to his intuition. He opened the door softly and inserted his head to peek inside.

    His eyes fell on the five people standing on the side. It didn¡¯t go ording to his n, though, since the five just happened to be looking in his direction.

    The situation turned a little awkward for Ryder as he was just trying to look inside, and he was already caught in the first second itself.

    He also noticed the masked man that he had fought in the previous timeline, sittingfortably, looking at him. There was also another man standing beside the masked man. He recognized that man was the second person who was arguing with the masked man in thest timeline. They seemed to hold simr positions. The ck-cloaked men were most probably the underlings.

    "Are you that Dixon who is supposed to sync the bomb?" the Thirteenth King asked Ryder, confusing him as Dixon, who the old man had gone to call.

    ¡¯Are they confusing me with Dixon? He was supposed to sync the bombs, that I know, but how could it be that no one knows his face here?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he tried to make sense of the situation.

    He didn¡¯t know that the people who were inside this room were the higher-ups of the Dark Uprising who hadn¡¯t seen Dixon. Only the scientists had seen Dixon, and they were already lying dead on the sixth floor.

    "Are you Dixon or not?" the Thirteenth King asked again.

    "I am Dixon. Sorry for beingte," Ryder replied as he entered the room. "I¡¯ll sync the bombs. It¡¯ll be don¡¯t in the blink of an eye," Ryder said, repeating the same words that Dixon had told him when he thought that Ryder was sent to call him down.

    "Get to it," the Thirteenth King replied casually before he shifted his focus to the twelfth king and continued arguing.

    The five ck-robed people also ignored Ryder and continued discussing how they were going to deal with the mysterious undying hero if he appeared in the evening at the st locations.

    Ryder heard their words and understood that they really didn¡¯t know it was him and not Dixon. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was the mask he was wearing, or they had actually never seen Dixon.

    ¡¯Must be the mask. They think Dixon is behind the mask,¡¯ Ryder thought as a smile appeared on his face that was hidden by the mask. That makes it easier to deal with the bombs.

    He nced at the fourteen bombs. He was so close to his target, but he didn¡¯t walk towards the bombs; instead, he turned back to look towards the Thirteenth King since he seemed to be the leader. He had a n in his mind, and he wasn¡¯t sure if it was going to work, but he wanted to try it.

    " May I ask all of you to step outside for a brief second while I sync the bombs? There might be a dangerous electromaic wave leak when I¡¯m syncing. I¡¯m wearing safety measures to protect against that when it happens, but you don¡¯t. It¡¯s not safe for you," he told the two Kings very respectfully.

    "Hmm? That wasn¡¯t something we were told before. That idiot Senia! How dare he not tell me this," The Thirteenth King let out in annoyance as he stood up.

    "Where is Senia?" The Twelfth King asked Ryder as he also stood up.

    ¡¯Who is this Senia?¡¯ Ryder wondered. He didn¡¯t know anything about any person like that, but he knew that he did need to answer something. The only thing he was sure of was that Senia was not in this room. Could he be the person he killed on this floor or someone he killed on higher floors? He wondered.

    " He went upstairs to check the room," Ryder replied vaguely.

    "Which room?" the Twelfth King asked suspiciously.

    "I don¡¯t know. I met him on the stairs when I wasing down. He just said that he was going upstairs to check the room," Ryder replied calmly.

    "Upstairs, huh? Fine. We¡¯ll wait outside. You prepare everything here," the Twelfth King said, walking towards the door.

    "I¡¯m in charge here. Stop interfering!" The Thirteenth King scolded the Twelfth King before he shifted his focus to Ryder and repeated the words of the Twelfth King. "We¡¯ll wait outside. You prepare everything here."

    He also left the room, followed behind by the five subordinates.

    All of them stood outside the room, leaving only Ryder inside the room.

    Breathing a sigh of relief, Ryder walked towards the fourteen bombs.

    "So you are the things that created so much trouble. You¡¯reing with me," Ryder muttered as he opened the inventory and kept the fourteen bombs in his inventory. Now he held fifteen bombs in his inventory since he had kept the fourteen bombs in the previous timeline.

    There was one problem though. The fourteenth bomb from the previous timeline was already synced with other Thirteen bombs. As he kept the fourteenth bomb in his inventoryst time, the sync was broken, and the Thirteen bombs went off. The fourteenth bomb, however, didn¡¯t because it was paused in time inside his inventory.

    As soon as he brought it out, it would be searching for the other bombs and not finding them; the bomb would st in a few minutes. At most, it would take the same time as it took for the other bombs to st in the previous timeline.

    After keeping the bombs in his inventory, he turned back to leave.

    Taking a deep breath and calming his heart, he walked towards the door. He didn¡¯t want to fight now that he didn¡¯t need to. Even after getting the Protection of Aria, he was not confident in killing the masked man since he only has one minute of protection of Aria.

    While he had only one minute of invincibility, the masked man was really strong. From what Ryder had heardst time, that guy wasn¡¯t even using all his abilitiesst time because he didn¡¯t want to be seen as weak against a kid. Ryder still didn¡¯t know what those abilities were.

    On the rare chance that he killed the masked man, there was still the second person who seemed to be in the same position as the masked man. That was going to be two formidable enemies, not even counting the five ck-robed men that were going to join the fight.

    Sixty seconds were definitely not enough for him, and he knew that.

    Ryder decided to leave for now but do something else instead. He had already nned two steps ahead to make sure that he would be ahead of them for the second time.

    He had already finished the preparation ahead of time. All he needed to do now was escape.

    Releasing a mouthful of breath, he opened the door and stepped out.

    "It¡¯s done," he told the people who were waiting outside.

    "Good. Go and call Senia. We¡¯ll go after he checks things and assures us that everything is ready," the Thirteenth King told Ryder.

    A smirk formed on Ryder¡¯s face as he heard the man¡¯s words. He needed a path to leave, and what better way but to go upstairs and leaving the same way he came. It was as if the Two Kings were telling him to escape themselves.

    He nodded his head before he walked towards the stairs.

    The Thirteenth King opened the door and entered the room to sit down, but his eyes fell on the location where the bombs were lying previously.

    The entire ce was empty. There was nothing there at all.

    "The bombs? That bastard!" he thundered as he stepped out of the room.

    "That bastard stole the bombs somehow! You check downstairs, and I¡¯ll see upstairs!" he informed the Twelfth King before he ran in the direction of the stairs.

    The stairs were going in a circle, leaving a spot one-meter diameter in the center from which the top floor could be seen.

    The Thirteenth King jumped to that spot andnded on the ground floor, leaving a deep crater on the concrete floor.

    He raised his left leg a few centimeters above the ground and tapped his feet on the ground. Even though his foot tapped on the ground lightly, it was enough to create another crater. The force propelled his body upwards like lightning.

    The man went from one floor to another in the blink of an eye. Soon, he reached the Seventeenth Floor. He caught the railing of the stairs andnded on the stairs.

    He could see that the door to the roof was open.

    Stepping on the roof, he found Ryder running towards the edge of the roof.

    " Run, little guy. Let me see where you can run to now," the manughed out loud as he looked at Ryder running like a thief he was.

    Ryder heard the voice of the Thirteenth King and stopped at the edge of the roof

 Chapter 350 Acceleration

    <h4>Chapter 350: eleration</h4>

    Ryder didn¡¯t want the Thirteenth King to see him flying now that he was already here. He wanted to keep that a secret for now until he really needed it since the Thirteenth King could catch up to him even if he flew.

    "You¡¯re fast," Ryder muttered as he turned back. "Where are your partners?"

    "Sigh, do you really think I need anyone to crush you? You would be already dead by now if I weren¡¯t curious as to who you actually are. So tell me, little rat. Who are you and why, and how did you steal the bombs?" the Thirteenth King asked Ryder as he frowned.

    "I didn¡¯t take the bombs. Do you see anything in my hands? It¡¯s still inside the room. I synced the bombs and left. Why are you after me? Let me die in peace now that I have finished my work," Ryder said as he took a step back. He was just one step away from falling down.

    The Masked Man didn¡¯t respond as he started stepping closer. Ryder understood what the man was trying to do. Currently, there were more than twenty meters of distance between the two of them. The man probably wanted to decrease the distance to less than twenty meters, but Ryder knew that he couldn¡¯t let the man do that. If the man managed to get within the attacking range, then Ryder would lose his hands and legs before he could even speak.

    If it happens, it would be easy for the man to know that Ryder was the person they were looking for when his body starts healing right before the man¡¯s eyes.

    "Wait! Don¡¯te closer, or I¡¯ll jump. You will never find your bombs after I die!" Ryder thundered just when the man was five meters away from the attacking range.

    The Thirteenth King¡¯s right leg was in the air and about tond on the ground, but he stopped and ced it back. He didn¡¯t move ahead.

    "So you did confess that you know where the bombs are. Tell me where the bombs are and who you are. I can let you leave," The Thirteenth King told Ryder in a grim tone.

    "Also, if you think you can die in peace after jumping, then you can¡¯t be more wrong. The Twelfth King is standing on the ground. You have no path of escape," he continued as he looked at Ryder with a smile.

    ¡¯Ah, his partners are on the ground? That does make things moreplicated, but it also gives me a great opportunity,¡¯ Ryder thought as a subtle smile formed on his face.

    ¡¯Janus, I don¡¯t know if what I¡¯m to do is a part of that one in ten thousand possibilities in which I¡¯m sessful, but I¡¯ll do all it takes to take him down,¡¯ he thought as if he was talking to Janus.

    His hand was behind his back as he started walking towards the Thirteenth King. "I¡¯ll show you where I hid the bomb. Don¡¯t harm me."

    The Thirteenth King scoffed at Ryder, not knowing that Ryder had pulled out his gun behind his back that he was still hiding.

    As Ryder walked slowly, the sky was covered in dark clouds, and rain started falling. The Thirteenth King didn¡¯t move and waited for Ryder to get close to him.

    Ryder continued walking closer until he was just twenty-one meters away from the man.

    The man took a step towards Ryder, while Ryder took a step towards the man. Both of them were within twenty meters of each other. The Thirteenth King grinned as soon as Ryder was within his range.

    "I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll need your hand to show me the direction," he suddenly let out as he waved his right finger.

    He waited for Ryder¡¯s scream when his hand was cut; however, nothing happened to Ryder¡¯s hand. His hand was perfectly fine.

    The Thirteenth King didn¡¯t understand how it was possible. How could his ability fail? How was Ryder¡¯s hand still intact?

    "I disagree, big guy. How would I kill you if I don¡¯t have my hands," Ryder let out as he grinned.

    He flew towards the man who was still shocked. The man kept attacking with his invisible des, unaware that Ryder was under the Protection of Aria and he was invincible for the next sixty seconds.

    "H-how is this possible?" the Thirteenth King eximed as he moved back.

    Even though he was stunned, he didn¡¯t let Ryder get close to him. He kept moving back like lightning. As for the Bullets that wereing out of Ryder¡¯s guns were also unable to hit him. Even though Ryder was invincible, it didn¡¯t stop the Thirteenth King from using his powers to protect himself.

    The Thirteenth King¡¯s speed was also a big problem. Even when his speed was beingpressed, and Ryder¡¯s speed was being enhanced, he was still much faster than Ryder. With each passing second, the distance between them only increased.

    " Do you think your speed can save you? I already know it¡¯s a problem. I won¡¯t let it save you anymore!" Ryder said as he pulled out something from his inventory while he continued chasing after the man.

    It was a yellow pill that he had purchased from the excess points he had left after buying Protection of Aria from the store.

    In the previous timeline, when Ryder fought the Thirteenth King, he had already realized that his speed under the effect of the rain was just a tiny bit slower than the Thirteenth King. He had realized that he needed a little stimnt to get himself above that threshold to get faster than the man.

    Seeing enough Origin Points with him, he decided to buy two things, one of which happened to be [Pill of eleration].

    It was a pill that could increase a person¡¯s speed by twenty percent, but it was a one-time use item, and its effectsted for only five minutes. Ryder didn¡¯t care about the time, though. He only had forty seconds remaining. It was obvious that the pill would oust his protection anyway.

    As he ate the pill, his speed increased, which stunned the Thirteenth King. He was surprised at how fast Ryder had suddenly be when he watched suddenly.

    "Alright. You have intrigued me. You can¡¯t be that simple. Are you that little undying hero or a new obstruction that appeared in our path out of thin air? Whatever it is, you should be happy. You have forced me to use my true abilities now. You can die in peace," The Thirteenth King stopped moving back as a grin formed on his face.

 Chapter 351 Countdown

    Ryder saw the man stop suddenly. Finding it to be an excellent opportunity to kill the man, he continued towards the man. As it was his second time after he had managed to form the trident sessfully, his Trident of Water was finished many times faster.

    Holding the gun in his left hand, he used his right hand to thrust the water Trident towards the man.

    The Trident reached closer to the man, but just as it was a few inches away from the man, the Trident stopped. It seemed to have struck some kind of invisible wall that was in front of the man. The Trident couldn¡¯t move ahead no matter how hard Ryder tried. He used his gun in an effort to break whatever invisible wall he had, but then the bullets didn¡¯t manage to get through.

    The bullets hit the invisible walls and fell down on the ground.

    Looking at the mocking grin on the man¡¯s face, Ryder realized that it was impossible to hit the man. There are only twenty-second left in his invincibility. He knew that it was a time to decide. A time to decide if he was going to fight this war till the bitter end and see everything he achieved go to waste or run away.

    He knew that running away was a good possibility but that only meant prolonging the time until he had to face the man again since it was obvious that they weren¡¯t going to stop with a single city.

    There was this deep conundrum in his head, but he knew that keeping his head down was the best option for now. He stole the bombs and changed the future already. As for these people escaping and doing this again, he had already thought of something for that.

    He opened his inventory and pulled out the fourteenth bomb, but this was not the bomb from this timeline. It was a bomb from the previous timeline that probably had only a few minutes left aftering out before it burst. Ryder had seen the exact time when the Thirteen bombs blew up in the previous timeline after he kept the bomb in the inventory. He knew exactly how much time he had from that.

    ¡¯Four minutes before the fourteenth bomb blow up. Twenty Seconds before my invincibility is over. Four Minutes and forty seconds before my eleration is over. Until then, I¡¯m faster than him. I can create twenty meters of distance without dying until my Protect of Ariasts. After that, he shouldn¡¯t be able to harm me for some time since he can¡¯t get me in his range.¡¯

    ¡¯This is it. This is the time to show my true ability. If u survive, I¡¯ll save everyone. If I die, I¡¯ll let history take ce like it did the first time. Everything for this moment,¡¯ Ryder thought as he held the ck bag in his hand. He had already put his gun back in his Inventory, and he was still trying to break the barrier with his Trident.

    With Eighteen Seconds left to his Protection of Aria, Ryder was about to turn back to escape when he felt a push. The invisible wall had suddenlye forward and pushed him away. However, instead of falling down, he used the momentum to fly away.

    Watching Ryder fly, the Masked Man¡¯s eyes were opened in surprise. He couldn¡¯t understand what exactly happened. He could fly? How? Without thinking much, he started running after Ryder.

    Ryder flew off the building and became visible in the sky. The Twelfth King and the Five ck Robes subordinates also saw Ryder in the sky flying. Ryder¡¯s face was still covered in a mask, making them unable to see who he actually was, but they recognized him to be the person they were looking for that stole the bombs.

    The Twelfth King seemed as if he was about to take action, but he stopped as he saw the Thirteenth King running after Ryder.

    "Sigh, he¡¯ll be really pissed if I help him. He should be able to deal with it, though," the Twelfth King muttered as he gazed in the sky.

    The Five Subordinates also did the same. They stayed there and didn¡¯t chase after them since they had faith in the Thirteenth King.

    [Protection of Aria¡¯s effects are over]

    Ryder heard Janus¡¯ Voice after Fifteen Seconds passed.

    "Janus, you know why my n is, right? Tell me what my chances of sessful escape are if I manage to pull it off?" Ryder asked Janus as he continued flying away. Even though the Protection of Aria was over, Ryder was still over Twenty Meters away from the Thirteenth King, making his abilities useless.

    [With the current n, the chances of sessful escape are one in three]

    Janus answered Ryder slowly.

    "Hah, that¡¯s good to know. The One in ten thousand chance is back to one in three. All because of this little guy in my hand," Ryder muttered as he looked at the small bag in his other hand that was holding the fourteenth bomb.

    The clouds of rain seemed to be following after Ryder, bringing their rain with them.

    With the rain, came the effects of the rain, which made sure that the Thirteenth King¡¯s speed was lowered. Mixed with Ryder¡¯s fast speed with the effects of the rain and the further increase because of the [Pill of eleration], Ryder was able to increase the distance between them, albeit a bit slowly.

    Time kept passing, second by second. One minute was over, and soon two minutes were over.

    The distance between the two of them had be twenty-five meters from the initial twenty meters in these two minutes. Despite watching the distance increase, the Thirteenth King didn¡¯t give up.

    "What happened, little guy? Why are you running? What happened to the bravery you showed initially. Is your invincibility gone? Stop running and show me your power. Let me have some fun, little guy!" the Thirteenth Kingughed out loud as he chased after Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry, big guy. There wille a time when I¡¯ll face you for real, and that will be the time when you will be running away from me just like you did at the start, but even your shield won¡¯t be able to stop then. Your Shield will shatter. Just wait," Ryder replied in a proud tone, which the Thirteenth King found funny as Ryder was still running.

    He didn¡¯t know that Ryder was having a countdown under his breath.

    "Ten... nine... eight..." Ryder continued his countdown as his heartbeat became slightly faster.

 Chapter 352 Over

    <h4>Chapter 352: Over</h4>

    "7... 6... 5..."

    Ryder continued the countdown as he turned back and watched the Thirteenth Kinge close. The Thirteenth King was getting close and closed to the attacking range.

    Just when he was twenty-two kilometers away, Ryder threw the Water Trident Towards the masked man.

    The Trident flew towards the man, attracting his attention, but it was again stopped by the invisible wall and fell down.

    "Is that all you got?" the Thirteenth King said mockingly as he raised his gaze, but a frown appeared on his face as he saw a baging towards him.

    After throwing the bag, Ryder continued running away, but he didn¡¯t stop his Countdown.

    "3... 2... 1."

    Just as Ryder said one, the bag was only one meter away from the Thirteenth King.

    Unsure of what was inside the bag, the Thirteenth King used his invisible wall to stop the bag, unaware that the bag contained something he could never have expected Ryder to possess¡ª the live bomb.

    Only the Thirteenth King knew the codes to activate the blowup function of the bombs. He was about to insert the Codes in the bombs after the sync waspleted. That¡¯s why he had personallye here to this building.

    He didn¡¯t know that in a different timeline, he had already activated the bombs, and Ryder had already stolen one of those bombs. That was what he was using against the man.

    The bag hit the invisible wall exactly one second after Ryder said one. Ryder hadn¡¯t stopped running away for even a second.

    The bag hit the invisible wall, and immediately it blew up, creating arge st. The force of the st was so powerful that it tossed the Thirteenth King far away. His invisible wall wasn¡¯t able to protect him either. He flew back like a missile and crashed on the window of the building that was behind him.

    Ryder also suffered the same thing. He was propelled forward because of the st that happened in the air.

    His clothes were burnt behind him. His flesh was also badly burnt as well, making him cry in pain as he was tossed forward.

    He flew uncontrobly and crashed into a building that was ahead of him. Fortunately, he hit the window as well and not the wall.

    Breaking the window, his body crashed on the concrete floor of the building. His bodyid on the 12th floor of the building as if he was a burnt body. His mask was still intact as his back was facing the st. His body was less injured from the front. On the other hand, his body was almost ruined behind him.

    Still having some consciousness, he used the Ruler of Nature and watched his body heal. His body started healing slowly as his flesh started recovering. His visible backbone was once again covered in the flesh, which started getting better.

    Heid on the floor for five seconds before his body healedpletely. He ced both his palms on the floor and pushed his body upwards as he stood up.

    Standing up, he took off whatever remained of his clothes, feeling relieved that no one was here. He still didn¡¯t take off his mask since he wasn¡¯t sure if there was any camera here.

    Bringing out his clothes from the inventory, he started getting dressed.

    "My car is still in the building. I can¡¯t go that way, but I still need to leave faster before his fellow matese after me. Hopefully, they¡¯ll be upied with saving that guy," Ryder muttered as he started walking towards the lift. Leaving the lift, he arrived on the ground floor. Finding the door locked, he broke a window and stepped out that way.

    Taking off his mask, he casually started walking towards his home.

    He brought his phone out of his inventory and called Shu.

    He could hear police sirens in the background. Apparently, the cops were here after the explosion in the sky.

    "Shu? Yeah, can you send a car for me at Sixteenth Street near South Block?" he asked Shu.

    "Ah, no. It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯ll tell you everything after I return," Ryder replied after hearing Shu¡¯s barrage of questions.

    He disconnected the call and continued working towards the Sixteenth Street where he had called the car.

    He was wearing casual clothes previously, but now he was wearing professional clothes as if he was an employee, going to the office. He also held a bag in his hand like an official employee.

    Far away from him, the Thirteenth King was lying on the Tenth Floor of a building. He had lost his consciousness. His eyes were closed as heid unconscious.

    The Twelfth King appeared beside him and sighed, looking down at him.

    "So that person got the best of you. I told you not to be overconfident, didn¡¯t I? Whatever, looks like we¡¯ll both be punished when we get back," the Twelfth King muttered.

    He nced back at the five Subordinates of the Thirteenth King while hearing the sirens downstairs.

    "You take him back. I¡¯ll go and try to find the guy," The Twelfth King muttered, walking towards the window.

    "In an explosion of this magnitude, he should be injured as well. I¡¯ll try to find him," he added as he started walking towards the broken window.

    Ryder had changed his direction multiple times as he reached the Sixteenth Street and started waiting for the car.

    While waiting, he nced at his phone and wondered if he should call someone.

    Ultimately, he decided to call Ray.

    Ray was sitting in an urgent meeting that was called to talk about the explosion that took ce some time ago. Even though no one died, the explosion was a serious matter, and they needed to investigate it. The teams were being selected to be sent to NJ for this mission right now.

    Ray¡¯s phone was as silent, so he didn¡¯t know and didn¡¯t pick up Ryder¡¯s calls.

    Ryder disconnected the call and ced his phone in his pocket.

    " I¡¯m doing his work, and he¡¯s the one who¡¯s busy," Ryder muttered as he rolled his eyes.

    The Twelfth King arrived at the location where Ryder had crashed. He could see spots of blood on the ground

    He looked around and frowned, not finding anyone.

    "It seems like he was badly injured. But no blood drops can be seen in any direction. He definitely didn¡¯t drag his bloodied body. Did someone take him, or did he heal and walk on his own? Could he be that undying hero who killed out people in DC? He can heal like our people and fly. He even has the wits to defeat the Thirteenth King to unconsciousness. Interesting, very interesting," The Twelfth King muttered as he smiled.

    He walked inside the window and went to the ground floor.

    Stepping out of the lift on the ground floor, he looked around. A smirk formed on his face as he saw a broken window in the back. He stepped out of that and looked around. There were a few people walking on the road.

    The Twelfth King shook his head as he casually started walking North.

    A ck sedan stopped in front of Ryder. He recognized the car as the car inside the Maxwell Estate. Opening the door, he entered. The car started driving away, taking Ryder straight to the Maxwell Mansion.

    The Car stopped straight inside Shu¡¯s Mansion. Stepping out of the car, Ryder watched Shu sitting on the couch. He seemed to be looking at the News about the st.

    "You¡¯re back. You¡¯re fine, right? The st happened where you were standing," Shu asked Ryder as he stood up after seeing him.

    "Yeah, I went to see the work at my building in the south block. It happened when I wasing back," Ryder replied casually.

    "Wait a minute; I¡¯ll be ready in a few seconds. We can leave after that," he told Shu as he went upstairs.

    He went to Alice¡¯s room first to see how she was. She was wearing Divinity sses. She seemed to be immersed in the game.

    Closing the door, Ryder went back to his room and dropped to his bed right away.

    "It was so tiring," he muttered, closing his eyes.

    "Janus, how does it feel to lose?" Ryder asked Janus as he smiled lightly despite being tired.

    "One on Ten Thousand Chance, finished in two tries. Thanks for the help, though. If you hadn¡¯t helped me with advanced points, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do it sessfully at all," he told Janus. He knew that Janus¡¯ help yed a big role in it.

    ¡¯If I hadn¡¯t taken the bomb from the first timeline, it wouldn¡¯t have been possible either. If I hadn¡¯t fought that masked guy in the first timeline, I wouldn¡¯t have known that he was faster than me even under the rain¡¯s effect. Everything seemed to fall into ce," he muttered, remembering how everything happened for the end moment.

    " As for your words about someone dying," he let out suddenly.

 Chapter 353 Raid

    <h4>Chapter 353: Raid</h4>

    "As for your words about someone dying if I didn¡¯t leave the city, that was as a Punishment to the Quest. I did leave the city in that timeline. If you repeat that quest again, I¡¯ll simply leave the city, escaping the punishment. I don¡¯t think that I would need to do that, though. You want to know what I think?" Ryder asked suddenly.

    "You knew what was going to happen. You knew that this was the right way to save me and to make sure that I used the abilities I had to get that one in a ten thousand possibilities. This didn¡¯t start from the moment I traveled back in time, but it did when you made me leave the city and stopped me from being in the hotel that was going to blow up. Everything was nned. You knew what was going to happen, didn¡¯t you?" He asked Janus.

    Even though he waited for a response, he didn¡¯t get a reply.

    "Fine. Keep your secrets," Said Ryder as he snorted.

    After resting for a few minutes, he stood up and started taking off his clothes. He entered the shower to clean his body.

    After he finished his shower, he stepped out and got dressed.

    After getting dressed, he sat on the bed.

    "Open Inventory," hemanded.

    A semi-transparent screen appeared in front of him that showed him his inventory. It showed him the items he held there.

    He saw fourteen inactive bombs, his gun that didn¡¯t need bullets and reloading, his other guns that he had stolen from other people, a few dead bodies, and a few more things, including a golden mirror.

    Looking at the dead bodies in his inventory, he sighed. "I always forget to get rid of these bodies. I should find a ce to throw these away sometimes. I can¡¯t even set a reminder to throw away the dead bodies."

    Skipping on the bodies, his gaze stopped over the Golden Mirror.

    Tapping on the Golden Mirror, he brought it out and closed the screen.

    As Ryder double tapped on the back of the mirror, A map appeared inside the Golden Mirror. The Mirror seemed to be showing the satellite image of the area where Ryder was staying.

    He pinched in, and the map started getting bigger. He continued it until the map was showing the image of the entire city.

    He could see a green dot that was showing in his location.

    There were two red spots on the map as well.

    "If I¡¯m the green one, the red ones should be that masked guy and his partner. It seems like they¡¯re leaving the city. Good," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "It was a good idea to buy the tracker from the system and bound it to the two guys when I first saw them near the bombs. Now I can make sure they don¡¯t get close to my family," he continued as he ced the mirror back in his inventory. He stood up and started to walk towards the door. "It sucks that none of them were caught by the cops. I knew it would be the case, but I still had some hopes."

    Just as Ryder was able to open the door of his room to leave, his phone started ringing.

    Looking at the number on his phone, he picked up the call.

    "Ray," he said the first word without waiting for the other person to speak.

    "Ryder," the other person replied. "You are pretty good. I didn¡¯t know that you would recognize the person following you in less than a week. You¡¯ve surpassed my expectations."

    "I didn¡¯t expect you¡¯ll doubt me despite that Lie Detector Test. You¡¯ve surpassed my expectations as well," Ryder replied calmly.

    "I just got out of a meeting and saw your call. Did you call me to tell me to take off the person trailing you? Don¡¯t worry. I already told her to leave," Ray answered Ryder as if he had guessed his intentions.

    "I didn¡¯t call you for that. I called you regarding the explosion that took ce some time ago," Ryder told Ray.

    "Oh, that. Yeah, I had a feeling that you were involved in it. Going out so early and the explosion took ce near the ce you parked your car. It was somewhat expected that you were involved. So tell me, was the Bio-Terror Group involved? Did you fight them?" Ray asked Ryder as he sat down on his chair.

    Jacob was packing their bags for departure, still hearing Ray¡¯s conversation. He already knew about Ryder as Ray didn¡¯t hide anything from him.

    " They are not called Bio-Terror Group. Stop using such show-off names. They¡¯re called the Dark Uprising. Anyway, how did you know where my car was? I thought you had called that girl off my trail after I told her to stop. Let me guess; you got a Tracker in the car?" Ryder inquired with an amused smile on his face as he sat back on thefortable bed again.

    " Ah," Ray was stunned for words. He hadn¡¯t thought the answer to this question at all.

    "Hahaha, so this is it. I must say, you guys are doing something illegal. Putting a tracker in Shu Maxwell¡¯s Car. Do you know how hard that guy can screw the FBI if he knew that you guys had ced a tracker on his car?" Ryder let outughing. Ray was actually intimidated. Shu Maxwell was the owner of one of the biggest Weapon Manufacturing Conglomerates. He was also known as one of the top ten wealthiest people.

    Even though Shu¡¯s name was always kept nk in the rankings, every influential person knew who he was. The world only knew the owner of the Dream Corporation as Mr. Maxwell, whose images were not even on the inte, but the ones who knew him knew how powerful his position was.

    "I did it for our country. For the safety of our country, I need to catch the BioT... Dark Uprising. We need to stop them. I took this decision on my own. The FBI doesn¡¯t know you. That¡¯s why FBI agents weren¡¯t tracking you, and I sent that girl. The Tracker was my doing too. If you want me to face the consequences, you can tell Shu Maxwell about it. However, I appeal to you. Help us first. Let us catch the Dark Uprising and save everyone. I¡¯m ready for the Punishment after that," Ray told Ryder.

    Even though Ray knew that it wasn¡¯t going to be good if it was exposed by Ryder, he still didn¡¯t back off, insisting that it was for a good cause and he was ready to take responsibility.

    " Sigh, you¡¯re a fool, Ray. I know the call is not being recorded, but you would have regretted it if you were tapping my calls. Since you¡¯ve been a good guy, I¡¯ll help you a little. I know where the two leaders of Dark Uprising are. Soon, I¡¯ll send you their location. You can raid that ce and capture them, but remember one thing. The Dark Uprising is much stronger than you can imagine. What you saw in DC was nothing," Ryder told Ray.

    " I¡¯m nothing in front of their leaders. Honestly speaking, I would die ten times if I really faced them. If I¡¯m a rabbit at the moment, they¡¯ll be like lions. So you must take everything you can. Destroy them from their roots. This is thest chance that I¡¯m giving you to catch them. Do it right, and it¡¯ll be over," he continued.

    "Anyway, I¡¯m going for a birthday right now. I¡¯ll send you their location when I get it. It should be in a few days," he said before he disconnected the call.

    Beep... Beep...

    Ray heard the beeping as the call was disconnected.

    He ced the phone on the table.

    "What did he say?" Jacob asked Ray as he ced two bags on the table in front of Ray. These two bags were filled with their stuff that they were going to carry.

    "He says that he¡¯ll give us the location of Dar... I mean Bio-Terror¡¯s address. He¡¯s suggesting we go in full force and destroy them from their roots," Ray answered, looking grave.

    "Their location? Wow, that would make it so much easier if it¡¯s true. Do you trust him though?" Jacob inquired after the initial period of excitement.

    Ray nced at Jacob before he slowly opened his lips and answered.

    Far away from the Capital City of the states, A cended inside New York.

    A young man who seemed like he was in his early twenties stepped out of the ne.

    "Ahh, the fresh air of a new ce. I wonder what awaits me in this new ce," the young boy muttered as he asked towards the gates inside the airport.

    He stepped out of the Airport and entered a cab.

    "Wee to the States?" the can driver told the young boy with a smile.

    "Thank you," The young boy answered.

    "Are you Russian?" The cab driver asked, noticing the different ent of the boy.

 Chapter 354 The Monster

    <h4>Chapter 354: The Monster</h4>

    "Yeah, I came here for some work," the boy replied. "Anyway, I don¡¯t know many ces here. Can you take me to the most expensive hotel nearby?" the young boy asked the man with an innocent smile on his face.

    "Oh? The most expensive hotel? You must be pretty rich. It¡¯s good that you took this cab. It would be bad if some degenerate stole your stuff on the way otherwise," The Cab Driver asked as he started the cab. He hid the little smirk on his face.

    "Yeah, that would¡¯ve been bad. I wouldn¡¯t want to lose the things inside my bag," the young boy responded as he smiled wryly.

    A weird glint shed in the cab driver¡¯s eyes as he heard your words.

    "Don¡¯t worry. You and your valuables are safe now. I¡¯ll take you to your right destination," the cab driver said innocently.

    He took the cab through the entire city. The boy silently sat inside the cab, looking at the beautiful city through the window until he realized that the car was stopped near ake.

    Looking at the can driver in confusion, he asked, "Why are we here? Is there a hotel nearby?"

    "No. There is no hotel nearby. There aren¡¯t even many houses in this area," The cab driver said as he turned back to look towards the young boy.

    "Hmm? What are we doing here then?" the boy asked with a curious look on his face.

    "We¡¯re here because the police don¡¯te here. Silently give me your bag and all your valuables if you don¡¯t want to die today!" the driver said as he red at the young boy.

    The young boy didn¡¯t frown even though he noticed the gun in the driver¡¯s hand that was aiming at him.

    "Are you robbing me? Hah, Father did say that the state was filled with crooks. I didn¡¯t know I would find one so soon," The young boyughed as if he was entertained by the situation.

    "Stopughing and give me everything. I¡¯m not joking! I will shoot you. We¡¯re right beside ake where I can even dispose of your body!" The driver thundered at the young boy.

    Ryder left the house with Shu and went to the birthday celebration like thest timeline. He did everything else the same way as well. Despite knowing that the girl will try to steal his purse, he let it happen.

    He even chased her the same way. The only thing he did differently was he grabbed her butt even tighter when trying to find his purse since he knew who this thief was. He knew that the wallet was hidden near the chest of the girl, but he didn¡¯t find it intentionally.

    Everything progressed smoothly as the girl threw the wallet towards him and ran away.

    The events after that happened the same way as they did in the first timeline. Ryder met the girl again in the mansion. He met her again in the ancient museum. They bet about the stealing event, and Ryder won. The conflict with the Major General and his son was also the same as the first time. Ryder didn¡¯t intend to change the future much if he didn¡¯t need to.

    After having a short dinner, he left the ce with Shu and came back to the Maxwell Estate.

    Settings things up, he left with Alice for dinner.

    As he was on the way to the Hotel, he expected the same mission as Janus, and he got it. Janus gave the same mission to leave the city to maintain continuity.

    Leaving the city, Ryder entered the neighboring City to have dinner. There seemed to be another minor difference this time. Ryder didn¡¯t seem to be chased by the woman like he was in the first timeline, which was something he expected since he himself changed the timeline in that regard by telling them that he knew about them to get them off their trail.

    Without having to worry about anything, Ryder had a nice dinner with Alice. Fortunately, there was no news about the sts this time. The future was certainly changed.

    The News Anchor was only talking about minor news at the moment.

    "In more news, a Cab Driver¡¯s dead body was found near the Mahasa Lake inside a cab. Police are at sight to investigate what happened. What¡¯s shocking to the authorities is the condition of the body. The body seemed to be shrivelled as if the person has been dead for decades; however, the clothes on the man seem perfectly fine. The initial reports suggest it might be due to a chemical attack. The body is sent for Post-mortem to find more details," the News Anchor said, which was ignored by Ryder, who continued eating.

    The news anchor continued talking about more news as he moved over from this update.

    Finished with the dinner, Ryder left with Alice and went back to the city, unaware that he had changed one more thing from the initial timeline without realizing it.

    As Ryder left, he didn¡¯t get to go to the roof of the building where a young woman was about toe to stop him from killing himself.

    The Woman went to the roof just like the first timeline, but she came back down after having a little smoke. Ryder wasn¡¯t there, which made it impossible for their meeting to ur, not knowing how things might affect the future in strange ways.

    Ryder entered his City once again, but he didn¡¯t go straight to Maxwell Estate. Instead, he stopped the car in front of a Mall.

    " We needed clothes, right. Let¡¯s go on a shopping spree tonight," Ryder told Alice as he stepped out of the car after parking it in the parking lot.

    Going to the clothing section of the mall, he started buying the clothes he found fit. Alice also began selecting clothes for her own as she watched Ryder smile.

    "You¡¯re done so fast? But it¡¯s not even an hour since we entered this ce. You¡¯re not sick, are you?" Ryder asked, noticing that Alice was done with shipping. He found it to be quite odd considering the fact that Alice used to take much longer when he took her shopping before.

    "Yeah, now I don¡¯t need to find the best value for money clothes, so it was faster," Alice smiled in embarrassment as she smiled.

    Ryder understood what she meant. Previously the two of them weren¡¯t much rich, so Alice probably took longer since she didn¡¯t want to waste Ryder¡¯s money even a little bit. However, now that they had money, she could buy the clothes she needed without any worries.

    Ryder gently patted Alice¡¯s head before he went to pay for the clothes he bought.

    Far away from the Mall where Ryder currently stood, the Leader of the Dark Uprising was sitting on his throne.

    Ten Kings stood below him on their seats.

    "Thirteenth failed," The Leader of Dark Uprising muttered as he frowned.

    "Sigh, that guy failed so bad. I heard he even lost consciousness in the battle. This little hero is really intriguing," the Sixth King muttered as he smiled.

    "That guy can¡¯t even handle a single person. Does he even deserve to be called a King? He lost so badly. He should be ashamed," the Ninth King chimed in.

    While the ten kings were talking about the event that transpired and how their n was stopped, the door of the hall opened as a man entered the hall.

    "First King," Every other King got silent as they saw a man enter the hall.

    "What happened? Why are you back?" The Leader of the Dark Uprising asked the First King, who was the Strongest of the Thirteenth Kings.

    "Your Majesty, I have some important news. Adrian Bkin has entered the states. I got the news that he arrived this morning," the First King informed the Leader.

    "Hmm? He left Russia and arrived here?" The Leader of the Dark Uprising asked with a surprised look on his face.

    "Not only that. I believe he already killed a person right after arriving here. A Cab Driver," The First King said as he gave a photo to the Leader which showed the dead body of the cab driver. The sight of this particr dead body could have been enough to make someone vomit when they first saw it, but the man on the throne didn¡¯t even flinch.

    "Interesting. It seems like that Monster¡¯s work. I wonder what brought that guy here. Find him and invite him here," the Leadermanded the First King.

    "Yes, Your Majesty."

    The First King bowed his head lightly before he left.

    "Adrian Bkin is here. This might turn out to be bad," the Second King muttered softly after the First King left.

    "Don¡¯t worry. He might be here for sightseeing. That young man should not be here for longer," the Third King replied casually.

    " Sightseeing, huh. It could be that since only one person had incurred his wrath until now," The Second King muttered.

    "Is Adrian Bkin really that strong?" The Eleventh King asked the others.

 Chapter 355 The Seven

    <h4>Chapter 355: The Seven</h4>

    "No one knows exactly how strong he is, just like no one knows how strong His Majesty is," the Ninth King replied in a low voice. He answered vaguely since even he didn''t know the answer to this question.

    The way he described it made it seem like it was unclear if the young man known as Adrian was stronger or their leader. They had no idea. All they knew was that long there was a deal between their leader and Adrian Bkin.

    Their leader wasn''t supposed to go to Russia ever. Adrian Bkin wasn''t supposed toe to the States under the original terms of the deal.

    "I wonder what brought that guy here. ording to the deal, he shouldn''t have stepped foot here. Second, go and check the whereabouts of Suliven, Draco, and Itsuki. Out of the other six, these three are most unpredictable and chaotic. I want to know if they are in Ennd, China, and Japan, or they left too," The man on the Throne said to the Second King.

    "Yes, Your Majesty," the Second King said as he stood up and left the hall.

    The Second King walked through the hallway of the Pce on the mysterious ind as he talked to himself.

    "Adrian Bkin is here. If Suliven, Draco, and Itsukie here as well, wouldn''t it be a disaster? Those three are said to have the same reputation in Ennd, China, and Japan that Adrian Bkin has in Russia. Why is everyoneing here? What could it be that''s pulling them here? Is a war on the horizon, or is it something else?" the Second King muttered as he continued walking towards the exit.

    He left the ce, only to find a helicopter waiting for him outside.

    Stepping inside the helicopter, hemanded the Pilot to leave.

    The Helicopter started flying away and left the ind.

    Far away from the Mysterious Ind country in East Asia, located in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It was thend known for its technology, and it''s amazing culture that had still managed to survive despite the long years. The country of Japan was known to be very advanced near the start of the 21st century, and it only got better with the passage of time.

    They developed many new things and achieved many technological Breakthroughs.

    One of the Top Fivepanies in this world had its origin in Japan. It was known as the Itsuki Corporation. It was not always at the top like that. Itsuki Corporation was made after joining multiple big corporations that were owned by various billionaires of the country; however, before anyone could know what happened, a piece of news arrived that all of them had sold theirpany to a man known as Itsuki Yamada.

    The previously unknown man became the owner of multiple giant corporations of Japan in a single night. His name was in every newspaper the next day.

    The man merged all thepanies he now owned, making them one under the banner of Itsuki Corporation.

    Thus, a newpany appeared in the top five. Itsuki Corporation was just one spot under the Dream Corporation, which was owned by Shu Maxwell.

    The tallest building in the country of Japan was known to be the base of Itsuki Corporation.

    A young man was sitting in a luxurious office on the top floor of Itsuki Corporation.

    The man had seemed to be in histe twenties. He was sitting on afortable chair, looking at the screen of his Computer. He was wearing a long silver trench coat and a brown scarf around his neck. There was a sense of boredom on his face that seemed to be there for a long time.

    Suddenly he heard the knocking on the door.

    "Come inside," the man said, ncing towards the door.

    The door opened, and a young woman entered the room. The woman seemed to be wearing a smart skirt that barely covered her fair thigh. The woman looked so pretty that she could make a guy fall in love instantly, but the blonde-haired man didn''t seem phased.

    "What happened?" the man asked in a calm tone as he nced at the woman who seemed like she could be a model.

    "Master Itsuki, You told us to keep an eye on six people. One of them had left their country," the woman informed the young man who was the owner of the Itsuki Corporation¡ª Itsuki Yamada.

    "Oh? That''s interesting. That was unexpected. At Least so soon. Who is it?" The young man inquired as a smile appeared on his bored face.

    "Adrian Bkin. He entered the States this morning. We just got the information," the woman informed the blonde-haired man with a grave look on her face.

    "Hah, that disaster went to the States. It looks like fun times are ahead. It''s his headache about how to handle Adrian since it''s his ce. I don''t need to care one bit. I''m curious indeed, though. Howe Adrian Bkin went there? What attracted him there," The Young Man muttered as an interested smile spread on his face.

    "Also, I''ve seen movement around us. It seems like people are trying to see if you''re in the country or not," the woman further said.

    "That''s to be expected. It must be that guy. He''s probably curious since Adrian entered hisnd. He wants to see if I''m involved or not," The man said, ncing back at his screen.

    "Yui, keep an eye on the people I told you to. Tell me anyone else of the six leaves, especially that Draco. I don''t want the fun to end so fast. It''s not every day we get such interesting situations," The young man muttered as he smiled while looking at the girl.

    The Woman nodded her head before she excused herself and turned towards the door. She stepped outside.

    " Adrian Bkin, huh. The second youngest of us but no less than anyone else. It''s going to be fun indeed," the man muttered as he nced at the roof.

    Back in China, a man who seemed like he was in his early thirties got the same information about Adrian leaving Russia. An intrigued look appeared on his face as he nced at the window.

    Inside Germany, a man was sitting in his expensive sports car. He was just about to start the car to go somewhere when his phone rang.

    "Adrian Bkin?" he muttered as his fingers tapped on the steering wheel of the car.

 Chapter 356 Not interested

    <h4>Chapter 356: Not interested</h4>

    In the Royal Pce of the United Kingdom, A blonde man was taking a walk in his garden when a maid came from behind and informed him of something.

    "In the States? Interesting. I wonder if I should have some fun," the man muttered as he heard her words.

    Right beside the country of China, existed anotherrge Democracy known as India.

    Inside the Capital of India, New Delhi, a silver-haired young man was sleeping on his bedfortably, unaware of the rm that was beeping beside his bed.

    The young man seemed like he was barely twenty right now.

    After a long time, the man finally woke up. He looked towards the clock to see the time.

    "What the heck?! It¡¯s sote! I¡¯m going to bete for college!" the young man eximed as he stood up and started getting dressed in a hurry before he left his house for college.

    Entering his average car, he started it and raced it towards his college.

    His phone kept ringing, but he ignored the call as he focused on the road.

    Reaching the college campus, he parked the car and stepped out.

    Looking at his watch, a smile appeared on his face.

    "I made it," he muttered as he walked towards the building in a hurry.

    "Sigh, this phone is going to be the death of me. Always ringing," the young man muttered as he smiled wryly as he looked at the phone, which had started ringing again.

    "Hmm? Itsuki is calling? I seem to have missed a call from Suliven too? What¡¯s happening?" the young man muttered before he picked up the call.

    "Hey there, Mr. Billionaire. How¡¯s it going?" The young man asked, picking up the call.

    " So what if Adrian went there? What has this got to do with me? Come on, bro. I barely made it on time. I¡¯m going to miss my physics ss because of you," the young man replied after hearing the response from the other side.

    He walked towards his ss, listening to what the other side had to say.

    "So what if I¡¯m from the Seven. I just want to study and graduate. You don¡¯t know my aunt, bro. She¡¯s going to kill me if I fail," the young boy replied as he smiled wryly.

    "The six of you can y around. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll handle everything. I wouldn¡¯t need to get involved. Let me study and graduate so I can focus on other things. Right, I¡¯m outside my ss. I¡¯ll call youter," he said before disconnecting the call.

    While everyone was talking about Adrian Bkin, the man in question was walking around the streets of New Jersey. Finding a mall on his way, he entered to roam around. The ce happened to be in the same mall that Ryder had entered when he came to shop with Alice a few moments ago.

    "The clothes here aren¡¯t bad," the silver-haired young man known as Adrian Bkin muttered as he looked at the clothes in the shops.

    He entered the changing room and came out wearing a grey turtleneck and a ck coat on top alongside ck pants. He was also wearing reading sses on his eyes that he had just purchased.

    "I was right. The sses do make me look good. Even though I don¡¯t need them, I should wear these. These suit my looks," the man said as he smiled. He left the mall.

    Back at the Maxwell Estate, Ryder went back to his room after checking up on Alice.

    "Time to finish the task of visiting all Duke¡¯s Pces before I can be free to roam around Divinity with Shu on his mission," Ryder muttered as he wore the Divinity sses andid on his bed.

    "Take me to Divinity," he muttered, establishing a link with Divinity.

    Appearing inside the Demon Realm, he continued on his task. He went from one Duke¡¯s ce to another to visit theirnd andfort the citizens.

    Time kept trickling away as a week passed away.

    During the day, Ryder continued his word of setting up his office and hiring the people; Whereas, during the night, he visited the Dukes Pce. After a week, he was finally done as he and High Duke M returned to the Royal City of Demon Realm.

    Ryder woke up in the real world and took off the Divinity sses. Sitting up, he stretched his arms.

    "Finally, I¡¯m done! The next time I go back, I can have some fun," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "I have enough money too, after winning Fifty Million Dors from various betting ces. I even won the case against the Police Department. That gave Alice ten million dors on her own name. Life is so good. Now that everything has calmed down, it¡¯s about time to get revenge. Did that guy think he can have my sister kidnapped since he¡¯s the Police Chief? I won the case and money, but it doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ll let that guy go free after all he schemed," he muttered as he stood up.

    He stepped into the shower to get fresh and came out soon after.

    He has woken up early today just so he could drop Alice to college himself.

    "Alice,e! We¡¯re going to bete," said Ryder as he knocked on the door of Alice¡¯s room.

    "Is this girl still in Divinity?" Ryder muttered as he nced at the door.

    Opening the door, he entered the door. He was thinking that Alice was in bed, immersed in Divinity, and that was why she wasn¡¯t replying, unaware of the fact that something else was going on.

    As he entered the room after opening the door, he saw the room to be empty.

    Suddenly, the door of the washroom opened as a youngdy stepped out.

    The girl looked to be barely twenty years old.

    Ryder¡¯s face turned pale as he saw Alice standing in front of him in just a towel.

    Seeing Ryder in front of her, Alice stepped back in shock, her back hitting against the wall.

    "Ouch."

    Hitting the wall with force, Alice felt the pain that made her let out a voice.

    Ryder heard her pained voice and ran towards her, thinking that she was hurt. Just as he was a meter away from her, he saw Alice¡¯s towel open as it fell down.

    With a pale look on his face, Ryder tried to stop himself, stopping only a few inches away from Alice, who was standingpletely bare.

    Alice seemed to be nk as tears appeared in her eyes. Ryder also didn¡¯t seem like he knew what to do as the two of them stood in front of each other like that.

 Chapter 357 Blank

    <h4>Chapter 357: nk</h4>

    Ryder and Alice stood in front of each other. While Ryder still had his clothes, Alice waspletely bare, without a shred of clothing covering her body.

    Her face serene to be as red as a tomato as he looked at Ryder, whose gaze seemed to be looking down at her bare body.

    "A-ah, sorry about this. I didn¡¯t know you were in the bathroom. I thought you were sleeping, so I came inside," Ryder replied, nkly without turning back.

    " T-that is fine, but c-can you turn back please?" Alice asked in a barely audible voice as she looked at Ryder, whose eyes finally focused on her face.

    "Ah, right," Ryder replied as he slowly nodded her head nkly, but he didn¡¯t turn back. His mind seemed to be short-circuited that didn¡¯t know what he was doing.

    Alice¡¯s face kept getting redder and redder as she saw Ryder looking in her eyes; her heartbeat getting faster.

    #I¡¯m on a Highway to Heaven, I¡¯m on a Highway to Heaven#

    While Ryder was lost in Alice¡¯s eyes, his phone started ringing, which brought him out of his daze.

    He could see Alice¡¯s arms wrapped around her bare breast, barely hiding them.

    "Ah, sorry. I¡¯ll wait outside," Finally getting some sense, Ryder told Alice as he turned back and started to leave.

    "Hello?"

    Ryder picked up the call without looking at the number as he left the room of Alice, closing the door behind him.

    " Hey there, handsome," the person on the other side of the call said.

    "Oh, Esmi. What made you call me today?" Ryder asked Esmi, wondering what she needed.

    " What do you mean? Did you forget? You told me to remind you about that aviationpany. They did lose the code court case against their client. Their stocks have crashed like a rock. It¡¯s at rock bottom now. The Company had almost dered bankruptcy. You said you wanted to buy it when that happened. It seems to be the right time. You can buy their stocks and be a majority partner of a fallingpany or deal with the Owner themselves," Esmi informed Ryder.

    "Ah, right. I do remember now. I was so busy at work that Ipletely forgot. I knew something like this was going to happen, though. It was obvious that there was a good chance, I¡¯ll forget. That¡¯s why I told you to remind me when it happens. Thanks for reminding me. I¡¯ll go directly deal with their majority shareholder," Ryder said as a smile appeared on his face.

    "Want me toe with me?" Esmi asked Ryder.

    "You don¡¯t need to. I kind of know their boss. I should be able to handle it," Ryder said as he smiled wryly.

    "If that¡¯s what you say, then fine. Anyway, when are youing to meet me? It¡¯s been so long since west did that. I miss you," Esmi informed Ryder.

    "Ah, it should be soon. I miss you too," Ryder replied.

    He noticed the door behind him opened as Alice stepped out. She was perfectly dressed.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll call youter," Ryder said to Esmi before he disconnected the call.

    "Work?" Alice asked Ryder as she stood behind him.

    "Yeah. I¡¯ll be going to finish an important deal today," Ryder said to Alice.

    Patting Alice¡¯s head, he replied. "Come. I¡¯ll drop you to college."

    He stepped out of the building with Alice and entered the Whirlwind.

    He had the insurance on the Whirlwind of his that was destroyed, but that didn¡¯t cover the way he destroyed the car. Still, with the help of Shu, who had a call to the insurancepany, Ryder managed to im the insurance.

    With the money that he received from the insurance, he bought another car. He once again bought the same two-seater that he used to drive.

    Stepping inside the car with Alice, he got it out of the Maxwell Estate and got it on the road.

    He talked about some random things with Alice along the way. None of them mentioned about the shocking thing that happened inside Alice¡¯s room early morning.

    Dropping Alice at college, he left.

    "Air Connect Limited, huh. The new addition to my Divine Corporation. I wonder if Herriet still remembers me," Ryder muttered as he took the car to the office of Air Connect Limited, which was an Aviation Organization that made nes.

    It was apany that had fallen really low, but only Ryder knew that it was about to soar like a phoenix in the near future.

    Without waiting for that to happen, Ryder wanted to merge Air Connect Limited with his Divinity Corporation. At the moment, Divine Corporation only had a hundred employees; only one of which was the one who was going to create a world-altering medical discovery. He had seeded in poaching the guy who was going to be one of the biggest names in the Pharmaceutical Field. His next aim was the Air Connect Limited, which would make his Divine Corporation to be a multidisciplinary organization with a focus in Aviation and Pharmaceutical.

    That was not all. He wanted to do many more things, which meant including many more organizations that were going to make the Divine Corporation soar to the sky.

    If everything went ording to the n, the Dream Corporation was going to be really big in a few years.

    Air Connect Limited headquarters was on the north block of the city,pletely opposite side of the citypared to Ryder¡¯s Divine Corporation headquarters.

    Ryder stopped his car in front of the ACL Headquarters.

    Parking his car to the side, he stepped out.

    "What is this ce?" he asked, wondering what was happening.

    He entered the building and walked up to the receptionist.

    " I wish to meet Ms. Herriet," Ryder told the receptionist.

    " Sure, Sir. Do you have an appointment?" Thedy at the reception inquired.

    " I don¡¯t have an appointment since this n came up suddenly. You can tell your boss that Ryder Flynn of the Dream Corporation is here. Tell us that we came here to discuss about business," Ryder replied to the receptionist in a calm tone.

    " Please sit there. I¡¯ll check if madam is free," thedy told Ryder to sit as she started dialing a number.

    Walking up to the couch on the side, Ryder sat down as he started scrolling through the news feed on his phone as he waited for the receptionist to finish her call.

    "Ah, excuse me, Sir. Madam is free. You can meet her now."

    While Ryder was looking through the news with a bored look on his face, the receptionist called out to him and told him that he could meet the boss.

    She called a person to escort him upstairs.

    Ryder was brought to an office on the fifth floor where the boss of ACL was sitting.

    "Come in."

    Ryder heard a female voiceing from inside after knocking on the door three times.

    Opening the door, Ryder stepped inside. He saw a beautiful woman sitting on a seat behind a desk. The woman seemed like she was barely in her early thirties at the moment.

    "Mr. Ryder Flynn, I heard you wished to meet me regarding some business," the woman said as she raised her head to look at Ryder but as soon as she saw his face, her lips opened wide in surprise.

    "Have we met before?" The Woman asks as if she seemed to recognize him from somewhere.

    "You seem to have a weak memory, Ms. Herriet. You already forgot me. I, on the other hand, never forget the people I have a drink with," Ryder said with an amused smile on his face as he stood in front of thedy.

    "Ah, Right! Ryder, I remember! That day I met you in a bar. Please have a seat," Herriet told Ryder as he gestured for him to sit.

    "So, what business brought you here? We¡¯re already a finished organization. I wonder how you think we can help you," she asked as soon as Ryder sat down.

    "It¡¯s less about how you can help you and more about how I can help you. I heard you¡¯re in a tough spot, and I feel like helping a little," Ryder said with an amused smile on his face.

    "Hmm? I¡¯m listening," Herriet said with a fascinating look on her face.

    "I¡¯ll be straight. I wish to buy ACL and merge it into my Divine Corporation. My conditions are simple. I¡¯ll buy you guys. You can continue operating normally. You¡¯ll be the one CEO of our Aviation Branch if you wish. That¡¯s the main gist of it. We can think about the minor details when forming the contract," Ryder told Herriet in a straight-forward manner.

    "Hmm? You wish to buy ACL? May I ask why? Don¡¯t get me wrong. It¡¯s not that I¡¯m underestimating ACL, but even I¡¯m not sure if we can survive this dark period and controversy. I contacted many big organizations to buy us, but they avoided me like the gue despite us offering ourselves for so cheap. I don¡¯t get it. Why do you wish to buy?" Herriet inquired.

 Chapter 358 Unaware

    <h4>Chapter 358: Unaware</h4>

    "I don¡¯t get it. Why do you wish to buy our Company? I established thispany, and even I don¡¯t see how I can turn this around, yet; not only do you want to buy ACL, but you also want to keep me at its helm? Why?" Herriet asked Ryder as she frowned.

    " That¡¯s because I have faith. You might not know how to turn this around, but I believe I can after the merger. Even if it¡¯s a failure and I lose my money, I can still do this for a friend. As for keeping you as the CEO, you¡¯re the perfect choice since thispany is a result of your dream. You started it and brought it to where it is. I need people like you to handle the Aviation Branch of Dream Corporation. With my help, money, and corporation, along with your experience, I believe the both of us can reach greater heights," Ryder told Herriet as he smiled confidently. "So, do you agree?"

    "Huh, if you say it like that, how can I disagree? Since you¡¯re putting your faith in me, how can I not do the same? By the way, I have never heard of Dream Corporation. Can you tell me more about it?" Herriet inquired after agreeing to ce her trust in Ryder.

    "That¡¯s because it¡¯s a newpany that I started recently. We are a Pharmaceutical Corporation at the moment focusing on a world-changing project that should change the long-existing problem of this world. Entering the Aviation Industry is our next aim. After this, we will spread out even more," Ryder exined to the woman standing in front of him.

    As soon as he said it, he noticed the calm expressions look a little uncertain.

    "Ah, don¡¯t take me wrong when I say it, but you just started Dream Corporation. You might not know anything about the business world. Do you even know how much it will cost you? It won¡¯t cost a few million dors. Despite our down phase, we still need to pay the other investors before I can sell it. Even if I sell my shares for cheaper, It would still be too expensive for you. It would cost you Four Hundred Million Dors to buy the ACL. Do you even have that much money?" Herriet asked Ryder, worrying about his ability to be able to buy.

    She didn¡¯t doubt it before since he looked that confident, but after knowing that he¡¯s a newbie in this field, she thought that he was someone who didn¡¯t know how much it might cost to buy apany.

    She wondered if Ryder thought that he could buy thepany for ten or twenty million dors. If he thought that, then this deal had no chance of going forward since that would be like wasting the time of both parties.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I might have started my own organization this year, but I have years of experience working with Owners of Corporate Giants. You don¡¯t believe me, do you?" Ryder asked as he smiled while looking at the woman before him who didn¡¯t express anything.

    Ryder knew that Herriet clearly didn¡¯t believe him, but she didn¡¯t want to offend him either. He had already expected that. He was actually a newbie who didn¡¯t have anything except the knowledge of the future and determination to change the future, ording to him.

    Herriet didn¡¯t know that, though. He knew that if he were in Herriet¡¯s ce, he would not believe him either. It all sounded so incredible after all.

    "I had already expected that price. Don¡¯t worry. I have the resources to make it happen. I¡¯ll pay four hundred million dors to acquire your business," Ryder told the woman confidently.

    "Sigh, if you think you can arrange that and have faith, I don¡¯t see any reason to say no. I¡¯ll inform the other investors after you send the contact details. We can sign the day after that if both sides agree," Herriet informed Ryder as she smiled.

    "Sounds good. I¡¯ll send the contract," Ryder said as he stood up and turned back to leave. He opened the door, but before leaving, he turned back to ask something.

    " You want to have coffee? I heard that the shop nearby sells really nice coffee," Ryder asked Herriet.

    "There¡¯s a bar as well," Herriet said as she chuckled.

    "hahahaha, sounds good. Let¡¯s relive our first meeting," Ryder said as he chuckled. He gestured for Herriet to follow him.

    Herriet stood up as a beautiful smile appeared on her face, making her seem even more pretty. Ryder couldn¡¯t help but think that Herriet was really pretty. With just the lightest of makeup and a beautiful smile, she looked like someone that could win anyone¡¯s heart.

    He still wondered about one thing, though. Why did he feel an electric current course through his body when he first met her? What was it that made it happen?

    Was it really what they said? He had heard a myth that when a person found his soulmate, they felt a current coursing throughout their body. He hadn¡¯t expected that it was going to be so literal. He still didn¡¯t believe that myth.

    ¡¯It must be something else. There must be something else at y. Maybe it was Janus ying around with me at that time, or it might just be my hallucination. There¡¯s no way for any other reason to be behind it,¡¯ Ryder thought as he watched the womaning towards him.

    He entered the lift with Herriet.

    Leaving the lift, he left the building with Herriet. Thedy at the reception saw it and smiled. She was happy to see her boss seem happy after a long time. She hoped for that happiness tost for an eternity.

    Not only her but all others also liked to see their boss happy. Everyone in ACL loved their boss. They were all sad that thepany was going through this terrible time. Watching their boss be sad was not something any of them liked.

    "Let¡¯s go in my car. It¡¯s right here," Ryder said as he nced at his Whirlwind, which was parked right here.

    "You have a Whirlwind? I use one too," Herriet eximed in surprise as she saw Ryder¡¯s red whirlwind. "Mine is blue, though."

    She entered the car as Ryder unlocked it.

    Starting the car, Ryder zoomed off in the direction Herriet told him.

    Parking the car in front of the bar, Ryder stepped out. He entered the bar with Herriet.

    Another car stopped in front of the bar after a few minutes.

 Chapter 359 Again?

    <h4>Chapter 359: Again?</h4>

    Ryder entered the bar with Herriet, parking his car outside just a few moments before another car was driving by.

    The second car stopped behind Ryder¡¯s car.

    "Could it be his car?" The person inside the car muttered.

    A man seemed to be sitting inside the car. The person stepped out of the car and walked inside the bar.

    Entering the bar, the person saw Ryder sitting with Herriet. A ss of beer was in their hands, and they both seemed to beughing.

    The person walked towards Ryder and ced their hand on Ryder¡¯s shoulders.

    Ryder was sitting inside the bar with Herriet.

    " Aren¡¯t we sittingpletely opposite to how we satst time?" Ryder asked as he remembered how they satst time.

    " Yeah, I was sitting on the right. I still remember that flirting line that you used about you getting a current when you touched me. That left a deep impression in my mind," Herriet said as she startedughing.

    Ryder smiled, embarrassed, but he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking back, Ryder saw a red-haired man standing behind him.

    "Bastion? What are you doing here? Come sit," Ryder said as he patted the empty seat on his right.

    "I shouldn¡¯t. I just saw your car outside. Thought that I should say hi," Bastion said to Ryder as he patted Ryder¡¯s shoulder.

    "I won¡¯t disturb your date anymore. I was on my way anyway," Bastion replied as he waved his hand. He was about to turn back to leave when he was stopped by Ryder.

    "It¡¯s not a date. Let me introduce myself," he said to Bastion.

    "This is Herriet. She¡¯s the CEO of ACL. I¡¯ll be working with her in the future. Herriet, this is Bastion, my best friend," he introduced the two of them.

    Herriet and Bastion greeted each other, shaking each other. They both seemed very formal, though. Bastion sat beside Ryder and ordered another ss of beer.

    "I heard something about the flirting line, though. What was that about? Did my friend here use one?" Bastion asked Herriet as an amused smile appeared on his face.

    "Hahaha, yeah. It was at our first meeting. Must say, it was the first time I heard something like that," Herriet replied as heughed.

    "What line?" Bastion asked Herriet with a curious look on his face. "He was so shy in university. Let me hear how my friend has grown."

    Herriet looked at Ryder to see if he was fine with her sharing.

    Ryder didn¡¯t oppose her telling, so she told Bastion about her first meeting with Ryder.

    After hearing the whole story, Bastion couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    "Bro, that was so corny, but it was cute. At Least you¡¯re trying. If you need pickup lines, you can alwayse to me," Bastion told Ryder as he stoppedughing.

    "Nah, It was refreshing and didn¡¯t make me feel like he was just one of the guys who used the same everyday pickup lines. I liked that much more than I would any good one," Herriet chimed in before Ryder could reply.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know what to say. Even he believed that this line was stupid as a pickup line, but it wasn¡¯t a pickup line at all. It was his genuine reaction after he felt an electric current in his body. However, Herriet didn¡¯t believe it. Who would even believe that anyway?

    Ryder opened his lips to say something when he heard a st outside.

    Standing up, shocked, Ryder looked behind. He ran towards the exit to see what it was. Did they again blow up the city? Those people shouldn¡¯t be in the city now, ording to his tracking. How could they use the same n asst time? He wondered as he ran outside.

    Opening the door of the bar, he stepped outside. He looked to his left and saw that it was a car which was behind his car.

    It wasn¡¯t the city burning but a car. There seemed to be an explosion inside the car.

    "A minor terrorist attack using a car? Why would they do it at an empty ce, though?" He muttered to himself when the door of the bar opened again. Herriet and Bastion stepped outside along with others inside the bar.

    Bastion walked towards the burning car.

    "Wait, don¡¯t go there," Ryder told Bastion as he tried to stop him. There might be more stsing inside the car.

    "That¡¯s my car, though," Bastion said in confusion, looking back as he stood in front of the burning car.

    "Your car?" Ryder muttered at the revtion.

    ¡¯ Bastion couldn¡¯t be a terrorist. That means someone else ced the bomb in his car. Why? To use him or to kill him?¡¯ Ryder thought as he walked closer to the car as well.

    ¡¯We need to know what kind of bomb it was. If it was detonated using a remote, then it must be a warning for Bastion or for me since he was with me,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at the raging mes.

    ¡¯ If it was a time bomb, then there¡¯s a good chance someone intended to kill Bastion in this st,¡¯ he thought.

    "Where were you going?" Ryder asked Bastion.

    "I was leaving the city for some work. You know Kane¡¯s house, right? I was going to his house," Bastion answered.

    " That means if you hadn¡¯t stopped to meet me, you would be inside the car when the st urred," Ryder muttered with a thoughtful look on his face.

    "Are you thinking that someone ced a bomb inside to kill me?" Bastion inquired. He was also starting to think that.

    " Who knew that you were leaving the city today?" Ryder inquired, trying to find a clue.

    " Who knew? Everyone knew. Everyone inside the club knew," Bastion answered.

    " It could be one of them. We need to wait for city authorities and forensics to have a clear picture. I suggest you drop your n to leave the city for now," Ryder suggested since it didn¡¯t seem like the right time to leave.

    " That¡¯s right. Leaving the city in times like this aren¡¯t good," Herriet also suggested as she stood near them.

    "You should leave him home. We can drink next time," She said to Ryder.

    " You..." Ryder was about to say something, but before he could finish his words, Herriet cut him off.

    "I¡¯ll take a cab. Drop him off," Herriet said, knowing what he might try to say. Ryder¡¯s car was a 2-seater, after all.

    Without waiting for a response, she turned back and left. She didn¡¯t want Ryder to feel embarrassed for not getting to drop her after bringing her out.

 Chapter 360 Meeting Adrian

    <h4>Chapter 360: Meeting Adrian</h4>

    "Come, I¡¯ll drop you off. Don¡¯t stress out," Ryder told Bastion as he tapped on his shoulders. "Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re fine. Everything will be clear soon. You just stay at home until this probe is going on."

    Ryder dragged Bastion to his car, who looked a bit shaken, thinking how close he was to his death.

    Opening the door of his car, he made Bastion sit down while he walked over to his side of the car. As he was walking around, he identally hit the shoulder of a guy who seemed to be passing through in the direction of the burning car.

    While Ryder was more concerned about getting inside the car, he didn¡¯t notice the man and hit him. The man, on the other hand, was looking intrigued by the burning car, so he didn¡¯t see Rydering towards him when he was hit.

    Despite being hit identally, the man didn¡¯t lose his footing. He seemed to be quite strong despite not looking like a bodybuilder. Ryder had a strong body because of everything he went through and the help of Janus. The man, however, seemed unphased. It was as if an ant had struck him.

    The man was wearing what seemed like reading sses. His short silver hair was shining brightly under the bright sunlight, making him look even more charming.

    "Sorry," Ryder apologized politely.

    "It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s nice to see some polite people in this country. You wouldn¡¯t believe how bad the first guy I met was. He was a cab driver but didn¡¯t take me to where I wanted to go," the man said as he smiled.

    "Ah, you are from Russia? Thanks for not minding. I¡¯m in a hurry. Still, wee to the states," Ryder said, noticing the Russian ent in the man¡¯s voice.

    "Yeah," The man replied as he waved his hand and continued on his way.

    Ryder stepped inside the car and drove away while the silver-haired man watched the burning car as if he was admiring the beauty of the mes.

    On top of a nearby building, a man appeared, dressed in ck robes.

    Bringing out a picture from his pocket, he looked at it before he looked at the silver-haired man in front of the burning car.

    Bringing out his phone, he dialed a number.

    "Your Highness, I have found him. I found Adrian Bkin. He¡¯s standing in front of a burning car," The man said to the person on the other side of the call.

    "Good. Did he start that fire?" The person on the other side of the call asked.

    "I don¡¯t think he¡¯s the cause of that fire. He arrived here when the car was already burning," the ck-robed man replied.

    "Should I approach him?" He asked the person on the other side of the call.

    "No, wait, I¡¯ming there. Just keep following him. My jet will bending soon," the person on the other side said sternly.

    "Understood. I¡¯ll do as ordered," the ck-robed man said before he disconnected the call.

    The Silver Haired man standing in front of the burning car was someone whose appearance in the States has caused amiting in all the top echelons of the world. He was Adrian Bkin.

    Adrian looked at the mes for a brief second before he frowned and looked back. Raising his head towards the top of a nearby building, he frowned. No one was standing there.

    While Adrian was looking in his direction, the ck-robed man was lying on the floor, not to be seen. He was surprised when Adrian looked in his direction but reacting faster; he immediately dropped down to the ground to hide himself.

    After a few seconds, he raised his head to look at Adrian Bkin; however, he didn¡¯t find anyone down.

    "Fuck, that guy ran away! I lost him! I need to find him again," The man cursed as he stood up.

    "I must say, I¡¯m kind of angry that you think I would run away from you. It feels... Insulting. I wouldn¡¯t run even in front of the other Six, let alone you."

    While the ck-robed man was cursing, a voice appeared from behind him.

    The man¡¯s face turned pale as he slowly turned back. If one was to see into the man¡¯s eyes, they would see a true dear of death, but before he could even see the face of the man who was standing behind him, he dropped down to the ground, dead. His body started rotting.

    A silver-haired man could be seen standing behind him. He was the same man who was standing in front of the burning car, Adrian Bkin.

    "Sigh, why are people here so rude. Can¡¯t they be nice like that, young man?" Adrian muttered as he looked down, once again gazing at the mes burning in the car.

    "I wonder how long it will take me before I get what I need. I don¡¯t like breaking treaties, but I had toe here myself. It might cause some unseen troubles, but it will be worth it," The man muttered as a longing expression appeared on his face

    He looked back at the phone lying near the dead body of the man and picked it up.

    cing the phone in his pocket, he turned back and started walking away.

    Stopping the car in front of Bastion¡¯s mansion-like house, Ryder entered inside with Bastion.

    Just as Ryder entered with Bastion, Esmi came downstairs for something.

    "Hmm? Bastion? Why are you back home? I thought you were leaving?" Esmi asked Bastion in confusion. She was also surprised to see Ryder here.

    "I get it. Did you meet Ryder on the way and cancel your n?" She inquired as she thought of an excuse for them.

    "Not really. It¡¯s true that he saw me along the way and stopped to greet me, but that¡¯s not all. While we were together, there was a st in his car. I thought it wasn¡¯t right for him to go in these times, so I brought him home in my car," Ryder exined everything.

    "st? Are you fine?" Esmi asked Bastion with a concerned look on her face.

    " I am fine. I didn¡¯t even get a scratch. We were far away from the car. Anyway, Ryder already contacted the authorities along the way," Bastion answered.

    While Bastion and Esmi were talking about what happened, Ryder was busy thinking who could be the one wanting Bastion dead.

    ¡¯Could it be them? Are Janus¡¯ wordsing true? Or was it the work of someone else?¡¯ Ryder thought as he nced at the pictures on the wall.

    "Thanks for bringing him back. I know how stubborn he is. I¡¯m sure if you weren¡¯t there, he would have continued on his journey after getting a cab," Esmi thanked Ryder, bringing him out of his thoughts.

    "Ah, it¡¯s nothing. I want him safe, though. It would be better if he doesn¡¯t leave in the next few days until the culprit is found. Also, you should probably increase the security of this ce. Someone probably targeted him. If they are stubborn, they might try again, and if Bastion doesn¡¯t leave, they¡¯ll probably target this ce. Both of you are in danger until the culprit is found," Ryder told Esmi as he sighed.

    Esmi looked at him briefly as she thought something seriously.

    "I can¡¯t hide in my house, but I definitely won¡¯t let Bastion leave until I find that person. I most certainly will find him even if he¡¯s hiding in the depths of hell," Esmi said with a serious look on her face as she refused to listen to Ryder¡¯s advice to stay inside. She was really stubborn in that regard.

    It was her responsibility to keep Bastion safe here, and for that, she needed to find that person and kill them.

    "I won¡¯t stay inside either. I¡¯m not going to hide from my enemy. Now that I know that there is someone targeting me, I¡¯ll know to protect myself better than if I¡¯m out. Something like this will never happen again," Bastion also protested. He didn¡¯t want to be imprisoned inside his house in fear.

    "I know that the two of you are brave and that the two of you know how to protect yourself, but still! You can¡¯t take your lives lightly. At Least wait for the forensic report to know more about it before you think about what to do. Just stay at home until then!" Ryder said sternly, refusing to let them go anything stupid.

    He saw Bastion opening his mouth to say something, but before Bastion could say anything, Ryder continued, "I¡¯m not listening to any excuses! You¡¯re either listening to me, or you don¡¯t care for me at all, and I don¡¯t need to be here!"

    "Fine! You don¡¯t need to be overdramatic. I¡¯ll stay inside the house until the forensic reportse," Bastion snorted as he rolled his eyes. Turning back, he went inside his room that was on the ground floor.

    "I don¡¯t need to stay inside if he was targeted."

 Chapter 361 Meeting Keia

    <h4>Chapter 361: Meeting Keia</h4>

    " I can still go out and do my work of finding the culprit!" Esmi said, protesting the proposed house arrest of her.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. You¡¯re not leaving. Stay at home for a few days! That¡¯s final. I¡¯ll find who did it on my own," Ryder said as he red at Esmi.

    ¡¯What will I do inside the house? I¡¯ll get bored!" Esmi again said.

    " You won¡¯t get bored. You can watch a movie or something else. In any case, I¡¯m not letting you leave," Ryder dered, refusing to budge.

    Esmi nced back towards Bastion¡¯s door. Finding it closed, she walked towards Ryder.

    "Can¡¯t you reconsider..." She said as she wrapped her hands around Ryder. Bringing her lips closer to his ears, she finished her sentence and whispered. "... Darling."

    Ryder felt like facepalming himself as he saw her acting like that.

    pping her butt gently, Ryder whispered back. "Do you think these tricks would work on me?"

    Even though Ryder said that, he didn¡¯t remove his hands from Esmi¡¯s butt.

    "I will really be bored. Please have some pity on this poor girl," Esmi said, cutely in an effort to win some leeway.

    " If you¡¯re a good girl in the next few days and do as you¡¯re told, I¡¯ll give you a reward," Ryder said in a low voice.

    ¡¯What reward?" Esmi asked seductively as her chest stuck close to his.

    Giving a gentle grab on her butt, Ryder whispered something that made Esmi¡¯s face go red.

    "Are you sure?" She asked with an embarrassed smile on her face.

    Ryder nodded his head with a wry smile on his face.

    "Fine, I¡¯ll stay inside. But you can¡¯t go back on your words," Esmi told Ryder, looking deep into his eyes.

    "I never go back on my words. Anyway, it¡¯s gettingte. I¡¯ll be leaving now," Ryder said as he took his hands off of Esmi¡¯s butt. He was about to step back, but before he could, Esmi gave him a kiss.

    Their lips locked as they exchanged the sweet taste of each other¡¯s lips. Esmi seemed to want a long kiss, but Ryder controlled his urge and moved himself back before he would be unable to leave.

    Reminding Esmi to follow his words onest time, he turned back and left.

    Ryder left the mansion, went back inside his Whirlwind, and drove away.

    "Janus, can you tell me anything about these attacks? Was this the work of that Cultivation n?" Ryder asked Janus, wondering if he was rted to the quest that he was given by Janus, which had the Punishment of Bastion¡¯s life.

    Ryder waited, but Janus didn¡¯t reply.

    "Fine, don¡¯t answer. I¡¯ll finish the Mission soon. I already found out about the ancient cultivation n. Soon, the girl wille with the address of the n, and the mission shall be over," Ryder muttered as he snorted as if showing off to Janus that he had almost finished the mission in less time than he was told to.

    "Wait a minute; it¡¯s been seven days. When is that girling with the address? She said that she¡¯de personally with the address after a few days?" Remembering about the girl of the Silva n, Ryder wondered.

    He was about to stop the car on the side to call the girl¡¯s number when his phone started ringing.

    "Speak of the devil," Ryder muttered as he looked at the calendar ID. It was showing Keia Silva.

    "You¡¯re really a devil, aren¡¯t you? I was just thinking about you, and you called," Ryder muttered as heughed.

    "Hmm? You made me a Devil now? And here I was, finally getting the hang of being called Little Thief. Why do your nicknames keep getting weird?" Keia asked Ryder, not knowing if she shouldugh or cry.

    "Devil is temporary. Little Thief is permanent. Anyway, where are you right now?" Ryder asked Keia.

    "I¡¯m near the address you provided me. I should be there soon. I got the details you asked for," Keia answered Ryder.

    "Wait, if you¡¯re not there, you don¡¯t need to go. I¡¯m outside as well. Tell me where exactly you are. I¡¯ll send you the coordinates of a nice restaurant nearby where we can meet and have dinner lunch," Ryder suggested.

    "I¡¯m just entering the city in a car. Send me the coordinates. I¡¯ll go straight there," Keia told Ryder.

    " So you should be near the northern entrance. There¡¯s a nice restaurant just there. I¡¯ll send you the coordinates," Ryder said before he disconnected the call.

    Stopping the car on the side, Ryder opened the address of the restaurant and sent the coordinates on Keia¡¯s number.

    After sending the address, he started the car and drove it towards the North.

    It didn¡¯t take him long to reach La Fodier Restaurant that he had suggested to Keia.

    Stopping the car near the restaurant, he stepped out.

    He noticed a ck SUV standing in front of his car with two men standing in front of the car.

    Ryder recognized the clothes of the man as the clothes from the Silva n.

    "She¡¯s here," he muttered as he walked towards the restaurant.

    Opening the door, he entered the restaurant and looked around to find Keia.

    "There she is," Ryder muttered as he saw the beautiful girl sitting at a table, drinking a coffee. There was a man sitting near her. Ryder recognized that man as the one who Keia had introduced as Saelyn, the trusted right-hand man of the Silva n who was also the guardian of Keia Silva.

    Walking over, he sat in front of the girl.

    "Wee to the city, Miss Kiea," he said while sitting down.

    " A wee isn¡¯t enough. You¡¯ll be paying the bill that," Keia said as an amused smile appeared on her face.

    "Hahaha, of course. Which man wouldn¡¯t wish to pay bills for Miss Keia," Ryder said, shaking his head.

    Picking up the menu, he called the waiter and gave his order.

    Keia also ced an order. As for Saelyn, he just sat there silently as if he was under meditation.

    "I still think you wasted your time bying here. You could have just sent me the address and the details. You didn¡¯t even need toe personally," Ryder let out with a wry smile on his face

    "It¡¯s fine. It was an excuse to meet you again after all. Anyway, here¡¯s the address and all the details that I collected. You can go through it when you¡¯re free," Keia said as she shook her head.

    She ced a briefcase on the table and slid it towards Ryder.

 Chapter 362 Plan

    <h4>Chapter 362: n</h4>

    Opening the briefcase, Ryder could see a file inside it that had CONFIDENTIAL written on the front page in bold letters.

    Closing the briefcase, he ced it near him.

    The Waiter came with the food they ordered and ced them on the table.

    " So, what¡¯s your n after this?" Ryder asked Keia as he took a bite of the pizza he ordered for himself.

    " You should decide that. You¡¯ll be giving me a trip to your city, after all. You should know the next n," Keia said as she chuckled.

    "Taking you out in the city? I am a little busy today. Can we do it some other day?" Ryder asked Keia as he frowned. He realized that he wasn¡¯t free at all.

    He still needed to kill the Police Chief. He also needed to find the person that was targeting the Bastion. He also had to go to the Ancient Cultivation n to finish his Quest.

    Then he also needed to check the location of the Twelfth and the Thirteenth King to see if they reached a suspicious location or not.

    In thest seven days, they were moving all throughout the country, not staying in one ce for more than an hour. He was sure that none of the ces they stayed at was their base. He still waited for something concrete to give to Ray.

    He had told Ray that he would give him the address within two days, and it was the seventh day.

    Ray was also inside the city with his team, still investigating the origin of the st that urred in the sky seven days ago.

    He had been dodging Ray all this while since he didn¡¯t have any answer to give to him.

    That wasn¡¯t all, as he also needed to meet thewyer whom he had tasted to create a contract for purchasing ACL.

    It would have been fine but he also has another major problem. He barely had a hundred million dors, whereas the price of buying ACL was four hundred million dors. He still needed to arrange the money.

    He could take the help of Shu to get the money, but he didn¡¯t want to involve Shu in his business since he didn¡¯t want people to think that he was sessful because of Dream Corporation¡¯s help.

    He needed to collect close to four hundred million dors so he could not only have money to buy ACL but also enough cash to cover the operating cost of his Divine Corporation, which had just started.

    "Come on; you can be busy. I¡¯ll just tag along. I won¡¯t do anything to disturb you. I came so far away from you. Can¡¯t you let me stay with you for a few hours?" Keia asked with a pleading look on her face.

    " Fine. You can tag along for a while. Come, finish eating, then I¡¯ll show you the ce I was nning to visit today," Ryder said, immediately modifying his n to include Keia.

    He couldn¡¯t kill the Police Chief with Keia. He couldn¡¯t even go to the Ancient Cultivation n with her, but he could do something about money while keeping Kris closer.

    "Yesh! I knew I could convince you!" Keia said as she startedughing.

    Watching Keiaugh, Ryder also felt better. He didn¡¯t know why but he liked watching Keiaugh. Her peal ofughter sounded like a beautiful melody in his ears.

    He gazed at her as sheughed.

    " Why are you looking at me like that?" Keia inquired as she stoppedughing after seeing Ryder looking at her.

    "You look really pretty when youugh," Ryderplimented, stunning Keia.

    Even Saelyn, who was sitting like a puppet all this while, started coughing as if he had choked on water.

    With an embarrassed smile, Ryder stood up as he remembered that Saele was still here.

    "You¡¯re done, right? I¡¯ll pay the bill at the counter. The Whirlwind parked outside is mine. You two can wait there for me," he said as he picked up the briefcase and started walking towards the counter to pay the bill without waiting for the waiter toe with the bill.

    After paying the bill, he looked back to see if the others were still there or not. Finding the seats empty, he left the Restaurant.

    He could see Saelyn and Keia sitting closer to the Whirlwind.

    "It¡¯s a two-seater, so the two of you can¡¯t sit inside with me. I¡¯ll go in the lead while you two can follow me in your car," He told Keia before he unlocked the car.

    " Youe in the SUV; I¡¯m going with Ryder," Keia said as she walked over to the passenger side of Whirlwind and entered the car.

    Saelyn nced at Ryder briefly before he turned back and left in the direction of the ck SUV. He entered the car with two people.

    Opening the door, Ryder sat inside the Whirlwind.

    "Little Thief, aren¡¯t you afraid of sitting inside the car with me?" Ryder asked Keia as he started the engine of the car.

    "Hah, why would I be scared?" Keia asked Ryder in confusion.

    " I won ourpetition of stealing the weapons in your mansion. So I¡¯m a better thief than you. Shouldn¡¯t you be worried that I¡¯ll steal something?" Ryder asked as he chuckled. A Ferrari Whirlwind started racing through the city while a ck SUV followed behind.

    "Hah, I don¡¯t have any money. You can¡¯t steal anything," Keia answered with a cheeky smile on her face.

    "There are more important things that I could steal," Ryder replied without taking his eyes off of the road. "For example, I can even steal you. The people chasing us in the ck SUV won¡¯t be able to find us. It¡¯s too easy to take you away right now."

    "You might think you can, but you underestimate Saelyn. It¡¯s impossible to trick him. The most I was able to stay out of his sight was fifty minutes. He always finds me," Keia answered Ryder, shaking his head.

    "Hah, I have things that even the gods can¡¯t find without my permission, let alone your people. It¡¯s too much work, though. If I weren¡¯t busy today, I would¡¯ve shown you. The next time youe, I¡¯ll take you away for the entire day, breaking your record," Ryder said as heughed, shaking his head.

    "We¡¯re there already, anyway," Ryder said, stopping his car in front of a giant building.

    "This ce? You want to do this?" Keia asked with a confused look on her face.

    "Are you sure?" She asked Ryder.

    "Why wouldn¡¯t I?" Ryder asked with an amused smile on his face as he stepped out.

 Chapter 363 Putting Money

    <h4>Chapter 363: Putting Money</h4>

    Ryder stepped out of his Ferrari Whirlwind and started going towards the beautiful building in front of him, which had a digital board that had its names shining brightly.

    He walked with Keia towards the building.

    "This is called the Moneyhub Casino. It¡¯s one of the biggest casino chains in the country, with their casinos in every state. They deal with hundreds of millions of dors daily," Ryder exined to Keia.

    "Hah, I never expected that you would bring me to a Casino. This can be fun, though. Are you an expert gambler?" Keia asked Ryder.

    "Hah, I¡¯m not. It¡¯s kind of my first timeing to a Casino. You can call me an expert in Horse Race betting, though. Unfortunately, I¡¯m banned in all those ces," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly.

    "Why? Did you do something bad there?" Keia asked Ryder as she chuckled.

    "Nah, I don¡¯t do anything wrong. I didn¡¯t even cheat," Ryder replied as he sighed.

    "Why did they ban you then?" Keia asked Ryder in confusion.

    "It¡¯s because of my luck. I won a little too much," Ryder told Keia as he smiled wryly.

    He pushed the door open for Keia as he entered the Casino.

    He walked to the counter and bought a card and charged them with a hundred thousand dors. Ryder had heard about when casinos used chips, but during his time, the casinos had changed. They used a system simr to credit cards.

    The Casinos provided the people with cards after a low safety deposit, which the people could recharge the cards with. They bet with cards and got credits in their cards, which they could directly transfer to their bank ounts.

    "Since you¡¯re mydy charm, how about you choose for me?" Ryder asked Keia as he held her hand and pushed her towards a table which had a card game.

    The host pulled out one random card and said six numbers. The selected card was one of those six numbers. As long as the person guessed the card right during gambling, they won the money. Depending on the number of people, the earning rate changed, but on average, it was a hundred percent increase in the money if a person won.

    Ryder exined the game to Keia as he sat at the table with her.

    "Pick," he told the host as he gave him his card and bet ten thousand dors worth of credit.

    The host of the table picked a card from his deck and looked at it. He ced it facedown on the table.

    "Six of Spades, Three of Heart, Ace of Diamond, Seven of Club, Two of Heart and Three of Diamond," the Host gave them options.

    " Uh, I don¡¯t understand anything," Keia asked Ryder in confusion.

    "Pick a number from the ones he said basically. Oh right, Ace means one in a way," Ryder exined to Keia.

    "Oh, I chose Ace. It sounds nice," Keia selected.

    "I selected Ace of Diamond," Ryder told the Host.

    The host smiled as he reversed the card, revealing the Ace of Diamonds.

    " Congrats on winning. Your money has tripled," the host said, congratting Ryder as he transferred the money.

    ¡¯What the? She actually got it, right?¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at Keia with a surprised look on his face.

    Keia also looked happy. Even though she didn¡¯t understand what this game was, she liked the feeling of winning. Ryder also liked seeing that child-like happiness on her face.

    "I would like to continue. I¡¯m putting Twenty Thousand," Ryder told the host.

    The Host picked another card from the same deck.

    Three of Spades, Seven of Heart, Two of Diamond, Seven of Club, Three of Heart and Five of Diamond," the Host gave them options again.

    "That was fun. I selected Five of Diamonds!" Keia chimed in without waiting for Ryder to ask her.

    The host looked at Ryder for confirmation since he was the one putting his money on line.

    Ryder nodded his head as he went with Keia¡¯s choice.

    The host showed the card, once again congratting Ryder.

    "I must say, Sir, yourdy luck is really good," the host said as he smiled.

    Ryder, on the other hand, looked at Keia, wondering if she was actually lucky or if she could see the future. If she could see the future, she might know a few things about him since he¡¯ll being back in time to get the benefits of his knowledge.

    If it were the past, he wouldn¡¯t have believed that seeing the future was possible, but after what he had gone through in the past rted to his powers and Dark Uprising, anything was possible.

    He decided to test her luck even more in the next hour.

    He kept getting her to select a card. After a while, he was sure that it was her luck and she couldn¡¯t see the future since out of the Twenty Times he bet with her help, he only won fifteen times.

    ¡¯ Does she really can¡¯t see the future, or is she losing intentionally to remove suspicions from her?¡¯ Ryder thought, looking at her.

    ¡¯This much should be enough. I know the answers to Twenty cards. These should be enough to win enough money,¡¯ Ryder thought as he stood up.

    He started using his Ruler of Time¡¯s Active Skill that allowed him to go back in time equal to the number of his levels in minutes at most.

    Snapping his finger, he used the ability and went back in time.

    He went back just enough not to waste any time repeating the same things in the past.

    He found himself in front of the counter, getting his card for the first time.

    This time he credited his card with fifty million dors instead of the original ten thousand dors attracting various gazes from the people inside the casino.

    "Ah, isn¡¯t that a bit too much for gambling?" Keia asked Ryder in concern.

    "It¡¯s fine. Come," Ryder said as he held Keia¡¯s hand and walked towards a table.

    Sitting down at the table, he yed the same game asst time, keeping everything the same.

    He didn¡¯t ask Keia for the answers this time since he knew that he was going to win an absurd amount of money today. He didn¡¯t want to paint a big target on the back of Keia because of that.

    " Pick a card. I¡¯m betting twenty-five million dors!" Ryder dered, attracting the attention of the host, who seemed to be shocked since no one bet this much at once. This seemed to be some type of a record of betting here on first then.

 Chapter 364 Stopped

    <h4>Chapter 364: Stopped</h4>

    "Stop looking at me and pick the card. I¡¯m getting bored here. Let me have my entertainment!" Ryder said in a conceited tone as if he was some ignorant kid of a rich n who didn¡¯t know the worth of money and only looked for a kick.

    The host of the table picked a card from his deck and looked at it. He ced it facedown on the table.

    "Six of Spades, Three of Heart, Ace of Diamond, Seven of Club, Two of Heart and Three of Diamond," the Host gave them options just like the first time.

    " I¡¯ll go with Ace of Diamond!" Ryder said to the host.

    The host reversed the card with a nk look on his face.

    "Congrattions, you win. Your money is tripled," the Host said to Ryder, congratting him.

    ¡¯ That was easy. Now I have a hundred million dors in this card,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked at his casino card. ¡¯Now, I need to lose.¡¯

    ¡¯ Pick the next card!" He told the host.

    The host picked another card and gave Ryder six options.

    Intentionally picking up the wrong choice, he lost twenty-five million dors, finally getting the host to breathe in relief.

    " Hmph, what¡¯s this little bit of money. I¡¯ll just credit more in this card even if I lose everything!" Ryder muttered as he rolled his eyes.

    " Pick the next card. I¡¯ll bet twenty-five million more!" He told the host.

    The host picked up the card and ced its head down.

    Ryder lost again, making Keia look at him in concern.

    "Ah, I think you should stop," she told Ryder, "Or bet in low quantity."

    "Don¡¯t worry," Ryder told Keia.

    ¡¯Now that I established myself, time to start winning. Five Hundred Million should be enough,¡¯ he thought as he looked at the card in his hand.

    "Pick the next card. I¡¯m cing twenty-five million again!" Ryder dered.

    The odd was one to three at the moment, giving two hundred percent more return.

    "Ace of Diamond!" Ryder said, selecting a number that he was sure of.

    The host picked up the card, congratting Ryder.

    "Pick next card. Fifty Million Dor this time!" Ryder announced.

    The host picked up the card.

    Ryder easily won this time, however as the odd was one to three, he made One Hundred Fifty Million Dor instantly, which made his card have One Hundred Seventy-five Million Dors.

    "Hahaha, looks like the gods are on my side today! I came here prepared to lose at least two hundred million dors, but I¡¯m winning! Pick the next card! I¡¯m going all in this time!" Ryder dered proudly like a real rich boy who didn¡¯t realize how much he was betting.

    Even keia was shocked. This whole day had been shocking for her. She wanted to stop Ryder, but he had already bet one hundred seventy-five million dors.

    "King of Diamonds!" Ryder dered as he nced at the face-down card.

    The Host¡¯s face turned pale as he got the answer.

    He picked up the card with Shaking hands and showed Ryder.

    "C-congrattions. You won," the host said as he transferred the money to Ryder.

    Ryder looked around the casino, noticing various gazes at him.

    ¡¯ I have Five Hundred Twenty-five Million Dor now. These should be enough to handle everything. I should leave before I attract even more attention,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He was about to give an excuse to leave without breaking his character of a rich master, but he didn¡¯t need to.

    "That¡¯s enough! You shouldn¡¯t bet more! You have half a billion Dors! Don¡¯t get too deep in gambling! It¡¯s not good for your health!" Keia said as she dragged him away from the table.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll stop if you say!" Ryder dered proudly before he transferred all the money in his casino card to his bank ount, which now had close to Six Hundred Million Dor.

    "Excuse me, Sir! Our boss wishes to meet you!"

    While Ryder was leaving with Keia, three ck-robed people stood in their path, stopping them.

    "Sorry, but we don¡¯t wish to stay here any longer!" Keia said, refusing to stay. Holding Ryder¡¯s hand, she moved to the side to leave.

    "Please cooperate!" The ck-robed man said as they reached out their hand towards Keia to stop her; however, before the ck-robed man could touch her, someone else appeared before her.

    Ryder was about to step in front of Keia to help, but Saelyn was the one who arrived first.

    He held the hands of the ck-robed man.

    "Young Miss, please leave. No one shall stop you," Saelyn said as he smiled.

    Keia kept holding Ryder¡¯s hand and left the establishment without looking back.

    Ryder didn¡¯t even think about staying back to help Saelyn since he was sure that he was more than capable of protecting himself as the Silva n¡¯s chief of security assigned to their young Princess.

    " How long do you think he will take toe out?" Ryder asked Keia.

    "He should be out in a few minutes. Anyway, you really don¡¯t care about money, do you?" Keia inquired.

    "You were throwing money out so casually," she continued as she rolled her eyes.

    "No, I wasn¡¯t throwing money. I¡¯m not rich at all. Actually, I needed Four Hundred Million Dors for something. I had no choice but to gamble and put faith in my luck. I won, though," Ryder asked as he smiled wryly.

    "Ah, really?" Keia asked in surprise.

    "Yeah,e. Now that I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll actually take you to some nice ces," Ryder said as he smirked.

    Opening the door of his car, he stepped inside.

    "Hahaha, you¡¯re so good at acting," Keia chuckled as she walked over to the other side and sat on the passenger seat.

    Ryder started driving and took the car on the road, zooming into the distance just when Saelyn came out, dusting his clothes.

    Watching the Whirlwind racing off into the distance, he sighed.

    "Kids these days," he muttered as he walked over to the ck SUV and sat inside as he started following the Whirlwind.

    Ryder stopped the car on the side of the road.

    "Stay here. I¡¯ll be right back," he told Keia before he stepped out of the car.

    After a few minutes, he came back with two vani ice cream cones in each of his hands.

    "Here you go," he said, giving the cone to Keia.

    "I like chocte more," Keia said as she sighed.

    "I¡¯ll be right back," Ryder said, turning back towards the shop again.

    "Hey, stop! I was kidding! I was trying to see your reaction," Keia said as she sighed with a wry smile on her face.

 Chapter 365 Adrians destination

    <h4>Chapter 365: Adrian''s destination</h4>

    Ryder came back, smiling wryly.

    "You sure?" He said, giving the cone to Keia.

    " Yeah," Keia said, smiling as she took the ice cream cone from Ryder.

    The two of them ate Icecream while Saelyn and others parked their SUV at some distance so as not to disturb them.

    After finishing up, Ryder asked Keia, "Where would you prefer to go next?"

    "It¡¯s your city, and you¡¯re the host today. It would help if you decided," Keia replied as she smiled.

    " I don¡¯t go out much, and I don¡¯t know what girls like. I¡¯ve only been to movies, dinner, and amusement parks," Ryder asked her as he sat back inside the car.

    " Let¡¯s go shopping. Buy me some gifts," Keia chuckled, sitting inside the car.

    "You don¡¯t need me to buy anything. You¡¯re a rich girl. Moreover, the wallet you stole should have enough money to buy expensive things," Ryder let out, looking at Keia with an amused smile on his face.

    "Hmph! Not only yours, but you know when I steal from others as well. Are you even a human?" Keia said, bringing a purse out and cing it on the dash.

    "He tried to stop me when I was leaving that Casino with you. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from taking his purse," Keia replied as she smiled wryly.

    "You¡¯re quite an interesting girl, you know. You have a talent that ady of a rich family shouldn¡¯t since you nevercked money. How did you learn to steal?" Ryder asked as he took the car towards the Shopping Complex.

    While Ryder was roaming through the city, Adrian Bkin was standing in front of a house.

    He looked at the paper in his hand and then at the house in front of him.

    "Excuse me. Is this house the right address?" He asked a nearby person as he showed him the address written on the paper.

    "Yeah, this is right. That¡¯s the house," the person answered Adrian as he pointed at the house.

    " Good," Adrian muttered as he started walking towards the house, which happened to be the house of Ryder Flynn himself.

    He stood in front of the door and knocked on it. Despite waiting for quite some time, the door wasn¡¯t opened.

    "Is no one inside?" Adrian muttered as he frowned. He turned the doorknob to test if the door was locked; however, it wasn¡¯t. The door opened easily.

    He stepped inside Ryder¡¯s house.

    With slow strides, he searched each of the rooms but didn¡¯t find anything. There was nothing inside the house as well.

    The house waspletely empty. There was no luggage, either.

    Adrian didn¡¯t know that the people inside the house had shifted to Shu¡¯s Estate.

    "Did they shift?" Adrian muttered in confusion before he left the empty house. He walked over to the neighbor¡¯s house and knocked on the door.

    "Can you tell me what happened to the people who lived in that house?" He asked the person who opened the door.

    "Those people? They left this ce. I am not sure if they sold the house or not, but they definitely took the stuff over a week ago. The house should be empty now," the neighbor of Ryder replied.

    "Do you know where they went or any contact information of them?" Adrian asked the person.

    " I don¡¯t know anything. They might have left the city. The owner of the house apparently got rich. I wouldn¡¯t be shocked if they went to the New Capital where most of the rich live," the neighbor said before he went back inside the house, closing the door.

    "New Capital? That new city?" Adrian muttered as he looked in the distant horizon.

    "Where are you? How do I find you? Should I go to him for help? Or should I call back home and have them hack this country? That would be annoying to handle, though, all for an address," he sighed as he sat on the steps in front of the house.

    " I hate this country stuff. All this politics on an international level. Why the fuck do I even need to care about that. I¡¯ll do what I want!" He thundered as he brought his phone out of his pocket and called a number.

    "You have been blocked from calling outside the country as long as you¡¯re here. Please contact the authorities for more information."

    As Adrian called, he heard a female pre-recorded message telling him that he couldn¡¯t call outside.

    "This annoying government! Do they really want me to go on a rampage here? Blocking my calls?" Adrian frowned as he stood up.

    " Can the really be this stupid? Or is this the work of the guy who rules this ce from the shadows? Is he upset that I broke the treaty toe here and entered hisnd? He is so troublesome! I know I killed his men, but did he really need to do that?" he continued as he started walking.

    As Adrian was walking, he suddenly remembered something as a smile appeared on his face.

    "Oh, right! I have another phone that I took from that guy. Heh, let¡¯s see how you block that," he muttered.

    Bringing his hand inside his pocket, he brought a phone outside.

    The phone happened to be the one that he took from the person who was following him.

    He dialed the number with Russian Code.

    "You have been blocked from calling outside the country as long as you¡¯re here. Please contact the authorities for more information."

    "To hell with them!" Adrian thundered as he threw the phone on the ground.

    As Adrian roared in anger, the ground around him started shaking as cracks started developing on the concrete road.

    "Those Bastards must be tracking me using satellites! They aren¡¯t blocking my number from calling outside the country, but they are blocking every Phone that¡¯s in the same region as me! Those annoying trashes! Do I really need to take a trip to the White House? That Draco and Itsuki will get on my head about international integrity if I do that! Ahh! It¡¯s so annoying!"

    Adrian walked in frustration as he crushed the paper in his hand.

    "He looks annoyed. Is he cursing someone?"

    While Adrian was walking in frustration, inside Japan, one of the Seven, Itsuki, was watching him on hisptop using the Japanese Satellite that was tracking Adrian.

    Not only the Japanese Satellite, but the British Satellite and the Chinese satellite was also tracking him, keeping an eye on his every move.

    The American satellites were also on his back, keeping an eye on him.

 Chapter 366 Theft from thieves

    <h4>Chapter 366: Theft from thieves</h4>

    The footage from the American Satellites was being seen by many people, including the key officials of the States as well as by the people at the Dark Uprising Pce.

    "He seems to be looking for someone. If it¡¯s only that, we should be able to get him out of here faster. He needs to know that we can help him find what he¡¯s looking for if he agrees to leave peacefully!" The Leader of the Dark Uprising told one of the Kings.

    "Your Majesty, Twelfth King, and Thirteenth King are near that state. They can get there faster. Should we send them? Adrian killed the person who tried talking to him. A king needs to talk to him," The Fifth King suggested.

    "There¡¯s no need. First had alreadynded there. He should be able to handle it," the Leader replied in a grim tone.

    "Alright. That¡¯s all the time we had for today. I need to go to mywyer and have some more boring stuff to do. You should go back," Ryder told Keia after he helped her finish shopping.

    "Hmph, you¡¯re so stingy with your time. Fine! I¡¯m leaving!" Keia replied as she pouted.

    She turned back to leave. She had only taken two steps before she turned back.

    "What happened?" Ryder asked in confusion as he saw hering back.

    "I forgot something. You owe me something!" Keia said as she stopped in front of Ryder.

    "What?" Ryder asked in confusion as Keia said that.

    Keia didn¡¯t reply to him and simply hugged him tightly.

    "The first time we met. You did something," Keia muttered as she slid her hand down and ced her hand on Ryder¡¯s butt.

    "Now we¡¯re equal," sheughed lightly as she released him.

    Ryder remembered that he had done that when he was thinking that she was a thief while looking for his purse in the back pocket. He hadn¡¯t known that the thief was a girl.

    ¡¯So that¡¯s what she meant,¡¯ he thought as he smiled wryly.

    Keia turned back to leave; however, she didn¡¯t as her hand was caught by Ryder.

    Keia looked back at him, wondering why he held her hand when Ryder suddenly pulled her, embracing her.

    "Now we¡¯re equal," he whispered in her ear after giving her a tight hug.

    He freed her and went back to his car, leaving the stunned Keia standing there. Starting his car, he left.

    Keia looked at the car leaving before she startedughing.

    "Interesting guy indeed," she muttered with an amused smile on her face before she walked towards the ck SUV of her n.

    She walked inside the car.

    The SUV started driving away, only stopping at a charging station.

    Saelyn went inside the restaurant nearby with Keia and others while the car charged.

    When it was time to leave, Saelyn tried to pull his wallet out; however, he realized that his wallet was missing. A confusion filled expression appeared on his face.

    "I don¡¯t have my wallet. Did you steal it, Young Miss?" Saelyn asked Keia.

    "Hmm? I don¡¯t have mine either!"

    "My wallet is missing too!"

    One after another, all of Keia¡¯s men said the same thing.

    Keia didn¡¯t reply as she looked outside the window.

    "Interesting guy. Is this your way of showing off?" Keia muttered as she smiled.

    It was when her phone started ringing.

    She looked at the caller ID, realizing that it was Ryder who was calling.

    Ryder was driving his Whirlwind as a couple of wallets rested on the dashboard of his car.

    "Little Thief, I don¡¯t know if you realize it or not, but your men are missing their wallets. I have ced all their cards inside your purse. As for the cash, that can be my payback for what I spent on your shopping. Have fun," Ryder smiled before he disconnected the call without waiting for a response.

    Keia opened her purse and found a bunch of ID cards of her men and their credit cards.

    Bringing them out of her purse, she distributed them to their owners.

    "So, I was right. Young Miss, you¡¯re getting better at the art of Theft. Next time, please test it on someone else, though," Saelyn said as he smiled wryly before he paid with the card.

    "Where are our wallets, though?" He asked after paying.

    "They¡¯re with a thief," Keia chuckled as she shook her head.

    They left the restaurant and went back in their car before they left the city.

    Ryder went to hiswyer to get the documents ready and left only after getting the contract.

    Leaving the office of thewyer, he sent a mail to Keia with the documents before calling her.

    "Herriet, I¡¯ve sent you the contract. You can read it and we can talk about it tomorrow. You can mark the points you¡¯re unsatisfied about," he told her before he disconnected the call.

    After finishing up the matter about the ACL contract, he took his Whirlwind towards the Police Station where the Police Chief stayed.

    Entering the station, he went straight to the office of the Police Chief.

    Without knocking, he entered the office.

    "It¡¯s you. Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s bad manners to enter without knocking?" The Police Chief asked Ryder.

    "Mr. Mak Donner, Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s bad manners to have a guy¡¯s sister kidnapped, especially when you¡¯re supposed to protect the city?" Ryder inquired with equal sarcasm as he sat in front of Police Chief Mak.

    The Police Chief looked at Ryder with a frown.

    "Get straight to the point. You got the settlement longer from our department! Why are you here now? Are you still not satisfied?" The Police Chief asked Ryder.

    " The settlement was for you arresting Alice wrongly and not letting her use her basic rights. It wasn¡¯t for you attacking us, was it?" Ryder asked with an amused smile on his face.

    "I didn¡¯t have a hand in it. We investigated and found that they were just petty gangs who probably tried to kidnap your sister since they found her to be pretty. Unfortunately, the only man we managed to arrest alive on the case died. The case is closed. Simple," the Police Chief replied as he smiled while looking at Ryder as if trying to show him that Ryder couldn¡¯t do anything.

    "You¡¯re right. That case is closed indeed, but we both know who the real culprit was. Don¡¯t we, Mr. Donner? Anyway, I¡¯m here to tell you that the police department will have another case soon. The case about the suicide of Police Cheif Donner," Ryder smirked.

    "Hah, that¡¯s the stupidest threat I heard," the Police Chief said as he startedughing.

 Chapter 367 Potion

    <h4>Chapter 367: Potion</h4>

    "When did you get that crack on the wall?" Ryder suddenly asked, looking behind the Police Chief.

    The Police Chief frowned and looked back. Seeing a little crack on the wall, he startedughing.

    "Are you a contractor? Do you want to repair my wall?" Police Chief Donner asked Ryder with an amused smile on his face.

    "I was just curious. Nothing serious," Ryder replied as he smiled. He stood up and moved the chair back. "I¡¯m taking my leave now."

    Ryder left the room as well as the Police Station.

    He sat inside his car; however, he didn¡¯t leave the ce.

    Police Chief Donner looked at the door, frowning.

    "That idiot. He came all the way here to threaten me? What can that idiot even do? The witness is dead. Even if he calls those Airforce generals, they can do nothing about it. Without proof, there¡¯s nothing," The Police Chief chuckled as he shook his head.

    He picked up the cup of coffee that was in front of him and drank it in one gulp.

    He started resting on his chair after drinking the coffee.

    Suddenly, he opened his eyes. His eyes had changed color, and they were looking slightly pinkish.

    The police chief brought his phone out of his pocket and started calling a number.

    "I wonder if he drank it yet or not," Ryder muttered, looking at his clock.

    Watching the time, he was waiting when his phone started ringing.

    "Ah, Ryder baby! Did you leave?! Where did you go?! Please don¡¯t leave me! I love you so much!"

    A man¡¯s voice sounded from the other side.

    "Police Chief Donner?" Ryder inquired as if he was surprised.

    " Darling, don¡¯t call me so fast formally. Call me Mak. Where are you? I really want to meet you, baby! Tell me where you are!" The Police Chief said from his office.

    "Mak, I left your office. I¡¯m at ..."

    Ryder started giving an address to the Police Chief.

    "Come alone, alright. I¡¯m shy if youe with others. I¡¯ll hate you then," Ryder replied before disconnecting the call.

    "Ahh, that was so disgusting. I never thought I¡¯d have to talk to a guy like that. For revenge, it¡¯s important, though," Ryder eximed as he started the car and left.

    " I didn¡¯t expect I¡¯d be using the love potion. It was lucky that there was a coffee in front of him when I went there. That made it so easy," he let out as if he was talking to himself. "Even though its effects onlyst for a day, that should be enough for me."

    Ryder reached his office building and parked his car in the parking before he left.

    He stepped out of the car and left the building.

    He walked over to the neighboring building where tens of dead bodies were lying still. That¡¯s where it was going to happen today.

    He had invited the police chief to the building where the Terrorists made their base just over a week ago; however, no one knew about that yet since the st took ce in the air some distance away from this ce, and there was no proof leading them to this ce.

    Ryder didn¡¯t want to do anything inside the building he owned. As for the neighboring building, that was a good target as that was going to lead police to that ce so that they could find the dead bodies of Dark Uprising members and clean that ce.

    Ryder stepped inside the building and went upstairs using the lift. He walked through the building, remembering about the events that took ce over a week ago.

    "Hmm? No bodies are here. Did those guys already clear the building of the dead bodies?" Ryder muttered as he frowned after finding the whole ce empty.

    There were no bodies inside the building. It seemed as if the building had been abandoned for tens of years.

    "So they came back after the st and cleared the evidence. Not bad at all," he said as he smiled.

    "Oh, Fuck! How could I forget that! I¡¯m everything that happened that day; I forgot about the Cannibal Kids!" He eximed suddenly as he ran towards the higher floors using stairs.

    He went inside the room where he had left the kids, only to find it empty.

    "Did the kids run away, or were they taken by Dark Uprising? Just who or what were those kids? Why was Dark Uprising keeping them here? Did they need something from them? Just what was so special about the kids? I should¡¯ve called the police to raid this ce after I escaped! I made a mistake by forgetting!" Ryder eximed as he frowned.

    Stepping out of the room, he went straight to the roof and started waiting for the Police Chief.

    Looking around the roof, he remembered all the ces he was hurt at. The roof didn¡¯t have any blood on it since he was mostly harmed in the first timeline at this ce. In the second timeline, he was more careful to protect himself.

    "Both timelines seem to merge into one memory. Sometimes it gets so confusing to differentiate between the deal and the fake timeline. This stuff can really get annoying," he let out as he looked down the roof, on the road, while waiting for the Police Chief to arrive.

    Only ten minutes had passed when an SUV stopped in front of the building. The Police Chief stepped out of the driver¡¯s seat, showing that he had been the one who was driving.

    The Police Chief stepped inside the building.

    "He seems to be alone. Good. I wish he were sane so I could get more satisfaction when doing it, but his death is what I want. I don¡¯t care about anything else," Ryder muttered as he nced back at the gate, waiting for the man to get to the roof.

    The door opened after a few minutes as the Police Chief stepped on the roof.

    "Baby! There you are! You know how much I missed you!" The Police Chief eximed as he ran towards Ryder to hug him.

    "Stop right there! Don¡¯t pretend as if you care for me! You don¡¯t!" Ryder pouted as he raised his hand, gesturing for the man to stop.

    "Why are you saying that? Of course, I care for you, baby! You¡¯re the love of my life. You¡¯ll make me cry if you don¡¯t stop talking like that," the Police Chief said with a sad expression on his face.

    "If you care for me, you¡¯ll do one thing for me!" Ryder said as he smirked.

    ***

    "If you care for me, you¡¯ll do one thing for me," Ryder said, looking at the Police Chief.

    "What do you want me to do to prove my love! I¡¯ll do that without a second thought," Police Chief Donner said in a pleading tone.

    "I want you to write a letter. Write whatever I say! Only then will I believe that you love me!" Ryder said as he threw a notebook towards the Police Chief along with a pen.

    "I¡¯ll write! Anything for my baby!" Police Chief Donner said as he picked up the notebook and the pen.

    "Say. What shall I write, baby," he asked Ryder after he was ready.

    "I, Mak Donner, the police chief of this city, had made a grave mistake!"

    Ryder started telling the man what to write.

    " As Ryder Flynn sued my Police Department, I started hating him!" he continued.

    The Police Chief raised his head as he heard this.

    "But I don¡¯t hate you, baby?" He inquired with a curious look on his face.

    "Write what I say if you love me! It¡¯s a test for you!" Ryder said, looking at the man.

    " Fine. I¡¯m writing," the Police Chief said, nodding his head.

    He started writing what Ryder said.

    "I tried to threaten him to take the case back, but he refused to listen. Having no option left, I decided to have his sister kidnapped so I could ckmail him into taking the case back; however, he managed to save his sister."

    Ryder continued speaking while the man continued writing.

    " Our department lost the case. I¡¯ve been feeling bad about everything that I did. As a police chief, it¡¯s my responsibility to maintainw and order, but I tried to kidnap a citizen. I feel bad for my actions; however, no amount of apology can make up for what I did. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve decided to die today! My Death is my responsibility only. No one shall be med for it!" Ryder said.

    The Police Chief looked at him in confusion.

    "Death?" he asked Ryder.

    "It¡¯s just a test. I¡¯m not killing you, duffer. You can¡¯t even write that much. You don¡¯t care for me at all. I¡¯m leaving! Please don¡¯t talk to me again," Ryder rolled his eyes as he turned his back on the Police Chief.

    "Wait! Wait! I¡¯ll write! I¡¯ll write it!" The man said as he started writing.

 Chapter 368 Easy Death

    <h4>Chapter 368: Easy Death</h4>

    "I¡¯ll write it!" The Police Chief said in a pleading tone as if he couldn¡¯t bear the thought of Ryder misunderstanding him.

    He wrote what Ryder said.

    "I did it!" The Police Chief said after he finished.

    "Good. Tear off that page and let me see," Ryder responded as he smiled. He wore rubber gloves as he walked closer to the man and took the piece of paper that was torn off from the notebook by the Police Chief.

    Holding the paper in his hand, Ryder started reading.

    "Good. You did good," Ryder said as he smiled after nodding in appreciation.

    He folded the paper and gave it back to the Police Chief.

    "Here, keep it in your pocket," he told the man.

    "Why?" the Police Chief asked Ryder in confusion.

    "Fine! Don¡¯t do it! You don¡¯t trust me at all! I¡¯ll jump off of this building and die!" Ryder said as he started walking towards the end of the roof.

    "Wait, wait! I did it! I did it!" The Police Chief said as he ced the folded paper in his pocket while he ran to save Ryder.

    Stopping right at the edge of the roof, Ryder turned back.

    "You did it?" he asked the Police Chief, who breathed a sigh of relief as Ryder had stopped.

    "I did it! It¡¯s in my pockets!" The Police Chief said proudly, patting his chest.

    "Give me my pen," Ryder said, reaching out his hand.

    The Police Chief returned the pen to Ryder.

    "Good. Now that everything is fine, I believe that you¡¯re a genuine person. Come here," Ryder said, smilingly, as he spread out his hand to give the man a hug.

    The Police Chief smiled happily as he moved closer to Ryder to hug him, but as he got closer, Ryder caught him by his cor

    "Be d that I¡¯m busy nowadays and can¡¯t give you a cruel and thoughtful death!" Ryder thundered as he twisted his body. His strength was enough to pull the Police Chief in the air as he threw him off the roof.

    Watching the Police Chief fall down and hearing his scream, Ryder enjoyed the extreme satisfaction.

    He knew that he shouldn¡¯t feel happy at the death of someone else; however, he really enjoyed killing when it involved him killing his enemies. It was as if it satisfied some deep part of his soul that wished for chaos and destruction of the ones he didn¡¯t like.

    (Smash)

    The body of the Police Chief finally crashed on the concrete ground. His skill cracked as blood spilled everywhere.

    Patting his hands, Ryder yed with the pen as he walked over to the notebook that was lying on the ground.

    Picking up the notebook, he kept it inside his clothes before he went downstairs.

    Reaching the ground floor, he broke the window in the back of the building and left through there while the Police Chief¡¯s body was lying on the ground.

    He left the building and walked over to his building.

    As this ce was mostly abandoned, no one found the body.

    Ryder reached the parking of his building, still surprised that no one saw the body.

    "I should¡¯ve chosen some crowded ce. It¡¯ll take so long before his body is found," he muttered as he entered the lift.

    Pressing the button inside the lift, he went to the Fifth Floor, the floor assigned to the Pharmaceutical Department.

    It was after four in the afternoon, so there were still some people in the office.

    Stepping out of the lift, Ryder walked towards the office of Alesons, who was a prominent scientist in the original timeline of Ryder.

    In this timeline, Ryder didn¡¯t give Aleson the chance to suffer, which became a driving force of his action in the first timeline. Instead of letting the young man be big on his own, Ryder used his knowledge to hire him shortly after he graduated.

    Not only that, he gave Aleson the ideas of what he was going to find in the future, presenting them as his own ideas. In this way, he acted as an intermediary who stole from the future Aleson of the Original Timeline to give to the Young Aleson of this timeline.

    Ryder knocked on the door of the office despite being the boss.

    "Come in," a young voice came from inside.

    Opening the door, Ryder stepped inside.

    A young man was sitting on the chair, reading a file. Raising his gaze, he looked at the man who had just entered.

    Seeing Ryder, the man on the chair stood up, shocked.

    "Ah, boss! Why did you knock! You should¡¯ve just stepped inside. No, no! You should¡¯ve called me. I would havee to you!" Aleson asked Ryder in surprise.

    "It¡¯s nothing. I just came to see how things are progressing with your research," Ryder replied as he sat down

    " It¡¯s going great. The concepts you provided me are so amazing. I always wondered about these things, and I finally have an answer. If I follow this same line of thought and we are sessful, we can reallye to something revolutionary in terms of solving this problem!" Aleson replied to Ryder excitedly.

    " That¡¯s great. Keep up the good work. I have high hopes of you," Ryder said as he patted the shoulder of Aleson.

    "A boss, I had a question," Aleson inquired as he picked up the file in front of him.

    ¡¯Hmm? Does he want to ask about the research that I gave him? I wrote everything I remembered. I¡¯m not a scientist. I can¡¯t exin anything other than what I wrote. It¡¯s his own research. Shouldn¡¯t he do it on his own instead of asking me?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he thought about what the man could be asking.

    "Ah, sure. Ask what you want," he said, wondering about the question he¡¯ll receive.

    "I saw the concepts you gave me. They are so revolutionary. You¡¯re so good at it. Why aren¡¯t you a part of further research? Why aren¡¯t you leading this department?" Aleson asked Ryder.

    "Ah, that¡¯s what you wanted to ask. It¡¯s because I have more responsibilities as the head of Divine Corporation. There are many things that take my time, which stops me from giving so my focus on research. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t do it anymore," Ryder replied, shaking his head. "At Least not until everything settles down."

    "I understand that. I have another question, though. Why am I the head? Ah, Don¡¯t get me wrong. It¡¯s not that I dislike having such a high position, but with the money you pay me, you could¡¯ve hired some reputed, experienced scientist. Why did you choose me?" Aleson asked Ryder in confusion.

 Chapter 369 Culprit

    <h4>Chapter 369: Culprit</h4>

    "That¡¯s a secret for now. Just know that it¡¯s because I had faith in you. I had faith that you can do it," Ryder did, smiling.

    "Anyway, you¡¯ve been working for a few days only. Still, you¡¯ve managed to set everything up. I think you¡¯re doing good. Keep it up. I¡¯ll leave now," he said before he turned back and left, worried that Aleson might ask some hard questions if he stayed for longer.

    He left the office, leaving Aleson behind, and went to the ground floor.

    Entering the parking, he walked back to his car and got it out of the building. As he left the building, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if someone had managed to find the body by now or if he would need to do it himself.

    As he left the building, he saw two cars in front of the dead body of the Police Chief.

    One of which was an SUV in which the Police Chief had arrived here while the other car belonged to someone else.

    He could see a bald man, talking to someone with a worried look on his face. He was pacing back and forth near the body as he talked.

    "A passerby found the body; it looks like. Anyway, since that¡¯s not where my home is, I don¡¯t have to get involved anymore. I can simply say I didn¡¯t see the body. The Death Note in his pocket would prove it to be a suicide," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    His car raced into the distance, going towards the North of the city.

    "Now, I should have two things left to do. Read the file that Keia gave me and go to that Ancient n to finish the Mission and save Bastion. I also need to get the deal signed with Herriet tomorrow.

    A red Ferrari Whirlwind raced through the city and stopped at the Club of Esmi.

    Since he had some time before night, he decided toe here to see if he could find any clues about the person that ced the bomb in Shu¡¯s Car.

    "Hey, Ryder! What brought you here?"

    Entering the club, Ryder saw Esmi¡¯s right-hand man, Mark, whom he had fooled to finish a Mission in the past.

    "What brought me here? Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know. The attacks on Bastion!" Ryder sat on the table before Mark and started talking.

    "About that... I heard. I¡¯m d he¡¯s okay," Mark replied as he nodded his head.

    "There was a bomb in his car, probably with timing. It was the work of someone who knew where Mark was going and how long his journey was going to be. It¡¯s obvious that someone from this club was responsible for this. Did you have a hand in it?" Ryder asked straight away.

    "I can¡¯t believe you would doubt me! I would never do such a cowardly thing. I would never try to kill Young Master Boss. Even if I would want to kill someone, I would never do it like that. I¡¯ll go shoot that person from the front!* Mark replied, sounding upset.

    "I know you didn¡¯t have a hand in it. But someone from this ce did. I¡¯m sure Esmi told you to investigate. I¡¯ll tell you the same. Be careful while searching," Ryder replied, smilingly before he stood up and left.

    Leaving the club, Ryder stepped inside the car and left.

    " That bastard Mark! He did it," Ryder cursed as he drove the car while keeping his eyes on the road.

    " I can¡¯t interrogate him without proof, and I can¡¯t tell them what I used to know the truth. He did it, but I can¡¯t prove it. He¡¯ll vilify me in the club. Esmi and Bastion will believe me, but they¡¯ll be a little skeptical," he continued as he sighed.

    "As for the person who¡¯s truly responsible for this will escape by the time we get to it. I¡¯ll need to be careful with how I handle it."

    Ryder kept trying to form a n as he went towards Maxwell Estate.

    Entering the Estate, he stepped out of the cat and entered the mansion.

    As he entered, he saw a servant clearing the flower vase.

    "Where¡¯s Shu?¡¯ Ryder asked the servant.

    "Master is in his room," the servant replied.

    Climbing the stairs, Ryder went to the first floor and knocked on Shu¡¯s door.

    After getting the permission to enter, he opened the door and stepped inside.

    "Shu, are you prepared for the Quest? I am finally free to go with you in Divinity tonight," Ryder told Shu, who seemed to be prepared to Enter Divinity.

    "Hmm? You seem excited today," Shu replied as he chuckled. "Anyway, I¡¯m prepared for the Quest. I¡¯ve been waiting for a long time for this moment."

    "Yeah, I finished a boring task inside Divinity. Now I can finally do some normal gamey to get my head off of this real-world chaos. I feel like I really need this break to keep my sanity now," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Anyway, I¡¯ll contact you when I¡¯m in Divinity," Ryder said before he turned back and went back to his room.

    After getting fresh and changing clothes, heid on his bed. He brought his Divinity sses out of his inventory and wore them as heid down on the bed.

    "Take me to Divinity," Ryder muttered, allowing the sses to take him to Divinity.

    Waking up in the Royal Castle of the Demon Realm, Ryder stretched his arms as he sat up. He got off the bed and left his room.

    He left his room and went to the Training Grounds inside the Pce, where he was sure to find Rale.

    He walked through the hallway with the great maid beside him.

    "Did anything happen while I was sleeping?" He inquired from the Head Maid; however, she only shook her head as she said that nothing happened.

    "Good," Ryder muttered, nodding his head.

    He entered the Training Grounds and saw Rale battling against his teammates as a form of training.

    "Rale?" he called out.

    "Your Majesty!"

    Rale and the others greeted Ryder.

    "Come with me," Ryder told Rale before he turned back and left.

    Rale and the Head Maid Miku followed Ryder.

    Ryder brought them to the underground where the Portals of other realms were, hiding behind old doors.

    "Are we going somewhere?" Rale asked Ryder, understanding his intention.

    "Yeah, we¡¯re going to the Human Realm," Ryder said, smiling.

    "Miku, if someonees and asks for us, you know what to do, right?" Ryder asked the Head Maid.

    "Yes, Your Majesty. I¡¯ll say that you¡¯re sleeping and keep making excuses." Miku nodded her head.

    Ryder smiled, nodding his head.

    Opening one of the doors, he entered with Rale.

 Chapter 370 New Titles

    <h4>Chapter 370: New Titles</h4>

    Ryder entered the Portal to the main realm of Divinity, where the other yers did their Quests. He entered the portal with Rale

    Both of them appeared in a dense forest likest time, which was near the Tiara Kingdom. The portal was able to Teleport two times at the same ce before it changed the portal location. As it was Ryder¡¯s fourth time using the portal toe to this world, he was sent to the same ce asst time.

    He had entered the Tiara Kingdom to explore the dungeon where he got a [Ring of Disguise] to change his looks. To keep his identity a secret, he had decided to use the ring.

    As he started the game at the start, he hadn¡¯t realized that he would be such a shocking yer, which would make him the enemy of the public. That was the reason why he didn¡¯t customize his looks as much as he could and kept it simr to his real-world looks; however, as he progressed, he realized that it could be bad for him if people found his real life

    He had already gone on a quest where people had seen his Original Avatar¡¯s face and knew that he was Hades; when he went to the quest with Shu.

    He trusted Shu, and he already knew his real life; however, the people that were with Shu could give his real one to three public, so as to discredit them and let people know about his [Ring of Disguise] he was going out with a different face.

    He also happened to make the Princess of Tiara Kingdom, Aslina Windsor, fall in love with him¡ª all ording to his n to have this Kingdom to set his Guild. Even his marriage was set up with the Princess when he left after giving the excuse of a Quest.

    "I need to go through the Windsor City to get to Shu. It looks like I¡¯ll be meeting Aslina again. I wonder if they¡¯ll force me to marry her if I met her," Ryder muttered, wondering to himself.

    "Rale, You¡¯ll have to stay away from me when we get to the Windsor City since everyone will remember you from the time you kidnapped the Princess. I can¡¯t let them know that we¡¯re together. Stay within the shadow while keeping some distance," he said to Rale before he reached out his hand towards Rale.

    "You¡¯ll be carrying me," he let out.

    Not wanting to use his limited flying ability, he decided to ask Rale to carry him. He wanted to be able to fly when he actually needed it in the future.

    Nodding his head, Rale caught the hands of Ryder before he started flying.

    They left the forest and entered the border town of the Tiara Kingdom, which seemed empty, unlikest time.

    ¡¯I wonder which guy took the Fragment from this vige before the Death Domain peoplemitted a ughter here for the treasure. I get suspicions on Lucifer. Where is he, though? I tried searching the entire to find his locations, roaming through online forums, but no one knows where he is. It¡¯s like he had disappeared,¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked down at the empty town.

    ¡¯ If it were likest time, there would¡¯ve been many people ranting that Lucifer killed them in one ce or another; however, there¡¯s nothing like that this time. There¡¯s no news about him killing anyone within Divinity. ording to the forums, even less is known about Lucifer than about me. I¡¯ve been seen by a few people in Divinity; however, Lucifer is even rare to be seen. It seems almost impossible to find the guy. Where exactly is he?¡¯ The more Ryder thought about Lucifer¡¯s whereabouts, the more frustrated he got.

    As he flew with the help of Rale, he decided to see his notification to see what he missed since he wasn¡¯t able to use any of them within the Demon Realm.

    "What the heck? 999+ friend requests? I know my username is famous but still! How can I go through important ones within these?" Ryder muttered, frowning. Ultimately, he rolled his eyes and closed the Friend Request without epting or going through any.

    He didn¡¯t know that one of these uncountable notifications was from Alice¡¯s ount, who was using a different name as her ount.

    Closing the notifications, he shifted his focus at all the titles he had received so far to see if he needed to equip another title.

    "Hmm? [Scamming Hero] [Threatening Monarch] [Decent Speaker]" Ryder muttered as he started reading the titles. "When did I get these titles? I wonder if there¡¯s something interesting in any of them."

    He opened each of the titles to know more about them

    [Title: Scamming Hero]

    [Description: A Scamming Hero who pretends to be a hero to scam people]

    [Effects: Once equipped, it can increase Favorability of the yer with the enemies]

    "Scamming Hero makes my Favorability increase with my enemies. It cane in handy in certain situations; however, I don¡¯t see any use of it for myself."

    Finding the first title to be useless, Ryder started reading about the second new title that he had received.

    [Title: Threatening Monarch]

    [Description: A true monarch that threatens the enemies at their home ]

    [Effects: Increase Intimidation by ten percent when equipped]

    [Effects: Increase the chances of taming beasts when equipped]

    "Chances of Taming Beasts? That seems interesting. If the past is something to go by, a few special sses like Beast Tamers will be appearing. Those are the guys that use beasts to do their battle, sharing the Experience between them. There are still normal yers that can learn Taming, but without the Beast Tamer ss, the chances of them taming a beast are almost negligible. This Title would probably help them with their chances." Ryder thought about the second title, still not finding it worthy for him to change his title.

    "If I¡¯m not wrong, I got it after I threatened the Prince of Death Domain at his own Pce," he muttered before he closed the description and opened a different screen with the description of the third title.

    [Title: Decent Speaker]

    [Description: Only a person who speaks in front of arge crowd as the main speaker more than five times can be called a Decent Speaker]

    [Effects: 0.1 Percent chance of people following your orders without thinking about the good or bad]

    "Hmm? This effect is pretty good though. If it can make people listen to mymands without thinking, doesn¡¯t it mean I can rule everyone? It would be too much of an overpowered title. However, it only had a 0.1 percent chance of being sessful. That¡¯s too low," Ryder muttered, shaking his head.

    The chances of this effect taking ce were almost non-existent. He did not believe that it woulde in handy to him. His current title was still more worthy to him if he was to think practically; however, he still decided to equip this title as a Secondary Title while keeping the [Sessor of Salem] as his primary title.

    After he finished going through all the titles, he closed the screen and went to check his stats to have an urate idea about how his stats were affected.

    "Not too bad," Ryder muttered, smiling as he saw his stats.

    ¡¯As a level hundred yer, I am pretty high, but my stats make me even higher. I wonder if anyone can even take me over in the level ranking. I can finish high-level Quests while the other yers are stuck at low-level Quests even without taking the help of Rale,¡¯ he thought as he smiled.

    ¡¯If I count the help of Rale and the High Dukes, I can even finish the End Bosses, I think. However, I don¡¯t know what quests are at those stages and what are the final bosses. Still, on the assumption I should be able to finish them if they aren¡¯t too overpowered; counting on the fact that I¡¯m but thinking like a frog at the bottom of the well thinking I have the strongest people while not seeing the true peak yet.¡¯

    "Is something concerning you, Your Highness? You seem to be lost in some concerning thought," Rale asked Ryder, noticing his asional frowning.

    "Ah, it¡¯s nothing. I¡¯ve been thinking about the future. Nothing concerning, just something that¡¯s making me curious," Ryder replied, casually answering.

    Rale brought Ryder near the Windsor City, the Royal City for the Tiara Kingdom where the Royal Family stayed; however, he didn¡¯t enter the Royal City.

    He and Ryder get down right outside the Royal City as they couldn¡¯t be seen inside the city together.

    Ryder left Rale behind as he entered the city on his own.

    Even though Ryder walked alone, he was sure that Rale was nearby somewhere, keeping an eye on him to keep him safe.

    Ryder entered the Windsor City and went straight to the Royal ce.

 Chapter 371 Meeting Princess

    <h4>Chapter 371: Meeting Princess</h4>

    The guard recognized him as they were told about him being the future husband of the princess. The Guards didn¡¯t stop Ryder. Instead, one of them escorted him to the King himself.

    Ryder was brought to the Royal Hall, where the King was sitting on his throne having a meeting with his ministers.

    The guard informed the Eunuch about the arrival of Ryder, who in turn entered the Royal Hall and informed the King about the arrival of Ryder.

    Ryder was instantly allowed inside the Royal Hall.

    "So you finally decided toe back? You know how much our daughter missed you? You could¡¯ve told us if you had something to do but leaving without telling us? That wasn¡¯t good," the King asked Ryder, frowning.

    Ryder took a step forward before he bowed a little, respectfully.

    "I would like to ask for an apology, Your Majesty. I was feeling intimidated by you, so I couldn¡¯t get to tell you that I needed to leave; however, it was urgent, so I couldn¡¯t stop myself either. I could only tell Aslina before leaving," hemented.

    "Whatever. What¡¯s happened has happened. Don¡¯t do this again. Go and meet my daughter. She¡¯s been waiting for you!¡¯ the King grumbled, telling Ryder to go to his daughter instead. He shifted his gaze to the Eunuch and announced, "Take him to the Princess."

    "Yes, Your Majesty," The Eunuch and Ryder replied at the same time. Both of them turned back and left the Hall.

    Ryder was brought to a garden where the Princess could be seen watering what seemed like a beautiful flower simr to a rose.

    "You can leave," Ryder told the Eunuch in a low voice, making sure that the Princess whose back was facing him couldn¡¯t hear.

    The Eunuch gave Ryder a look before he turned back and left.

    Ryder stepped towards the Princess in slow steps without making a noise. The Princess was so immersed in watering the nts that she still didn¡¯t realize as Ryder appeared just a few inches behind him.

    Ryder brought his lips closer to her cheeks.

    "Beautiful flowers but none as beautiful as you," he whispered in her ears.

    "Huh!" Like a scared rabbit, Aslina jumped as she felt a tingling sensation in her ears. She turned back to see if the voice actually belonged to the person she thought it did.

    Aslina turned back and noticed that it was actually Ryder. Without thinking for even a single second, she jumped into his embrace, hugging him tightly.

    "You came! You actually came!" Aslina started sobbing as she hugged Ryder.

    Even though she hadn¡¯t been with Ryder for long, she had fallen in love with him. As he left, she thought she could bear the wait, having faith that Ryder would definitely return for her. However, as the wait got longer and longer, her urge to be with Ryder started increasing.

    She started missing him more and more. She was also starting to have negative thoughts about Ryder. She was scared, thinking that something might¡¯ve happened to him.

    As she saw him standing in front of him and felt his body warmth, she couldn¡¯t control her tears any longer. Her eyes got wet as tears started falling from her eyes.

    Ryder wrapped his hands around Aslina¡¯s back, rubbing it gently.

    "Yeah, I¡¯m back. I¡¯m sorry I took longer. Anyway, I have finished my old missing. I¡¯m even one step closer to establishing my guild in your kingdom. After that, I could be with you longer," Ryder assured in a gentle tone, smoothly floating the idea of establishing his Guild here, which was his main goal when he came to have her fall in love with him.

    "Yes. Create a guild here. Father will help as well. Don¡¯t leave me ever again," Aslina asserted cutely. Her tears were somewhat starting to slow down.

    "Only if you stop crying. If you don¡¯t stop, I¡¯ll be very angry at you," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    "I-i stopped." Aslina smiled as she freed Ryder to wipe her tears.

    "My good girl. So, how have you been? Did you miss me?" Ryder inquired, rubbing Aslina¡¯s head.

    "I¡¯ve missed you so much," Aslina alluded as she smiled. Her smile was so beautiful that Ryder couldn¡¯t take his eyes off of her. Aslina seemed like an innocent girl who was at true peace after she got what she wanted.

    " I missed you too, my beautifuldy," Ryder conveyed as he reached out his hands to touch Aslina¡¯s smooth hand and kissed the back of her hand.

    "Do you have more nts to water, or I can take you out with me to see the city with me?" Ryder asked Aslina, who still had a vase-like object she was using to water the flower.

    "I am free. I just came here to calm my mind since I was missing you," Aslina exined with an embarrassed smile on her face. She couldn¡¯t help but lower her head to hide her embarrassed expressions.

    She put the watering object down on the ground before she held Ryder¡¯s hand. She still kept her eyes down, not daring to look in his eyes.

    "Hah, you¡¯re really cute." Ryder chuckled, seeing her embarrassed. He held her hand firmly before he started walking towards the exit.

    As Ryder walked through the city, he realized that the number of the yers in the city was getting more and more. The first time Ryder came here, he could see many yers; however, right now, he could see many more yers.

    It was very easy to recognize yers in this world as the yers could see a red diamond-like icon above the heads of the yers who had killed another yer or the ones who were being punished for breaking thews of the game. Those yers could be killed without any penalty, and they gave slightly more experience than normal yers of that level.

    As for normal yers, they had a green dot above their heads, which showed that they were yers. However, only other yers could see these signals.

    yers could also see the usernames of other yers above their heads as that was a default feature. There was also a way to make your username private, making others unable to see their usernames above their heads. However, most people didn¡¯t bother going through the settings to make their usernames private since it didn¡¯t bother them.

    Instead of bothering them, it made them happier since it gave them the feeling of actually being in a game, and it made others know their name, which was a way for yers to show off and get popr amongst the yermunity.

 Chapter 372 Thought of attack

    <h4>Chapter 372: Thought of attack</h4>

    The yers also had the ability to show their guild names below their names once they joined a guild.

    They could make that information private too. This privatization worked really well in hiding the usernames of the ones that wanted the others not to know what their usernames were; however, there was a w in it.

    If a yer was five or more levels higher than the other yer, they could see the username of another yer even if it was private and hidden.

    Ryder kept his username private previously, and if he kept that, no one would be able to know he was Hades unless he used the treasures that gave away his identity. Despite that, Ryder made his username public now.

    He was using a fake face for his Avatar using the [Ring of Disguise], and he wanted more and more people to know how Hades looks like, which would clear suspicions of real Ryder if anyone actually saw him in real life.

    "Huh! Look at the name of that yer!"

    "H-he¡¯s Hades! The top yer in Level and Treasure Rankings and the Rank 2 yer in Fame Ranking!"

    "He¡¯s walking with the Princess of this Kingdom! Did he get some Quest from the Royal Family?"

    "That must be it! The Quest must have something to do with the Princess!"

    As Ryder walked with the Princess, more and more people started talking about him. They were less concerned about the fact that someone was walking with the Princess and more about the fact that it was Ryder who was doing it.

    Ryder¡¯s character Hades was one of the two most known characters in Divinity, at least in American Servers. As each country had a different server where the yers of that country yed, none could interact with the yers of other countries who yed on their own servers. That¡¯s why most yers didn¡¯t bother with anything outside the server of their own.

    They didn¡¯t know who the top yers of other servers were; however, they were sure that the chances of them catching up to Ryder was almost impossible.

    Before the Necrosis Corporation updated the system, where no one could see the level of yers unless they were one rank higher or lower, everyone had seen Ryder¡¯s level.

    While most yers had barely be level ten yers, Ryder had surpassed level fifty.

    The second most known yer in this server, Lucifer, was number one in fame Ranking and number 2 in Level Ranking; however, he wasn¡¯t even closer to Ryder in terms of levels before the Company hid the levels of all the yers.

    Even though other yers didn¡¯t know how Lucifer was faring ording to his levels however they were sure that he couldn¡¯t be on the same level as Ryder. They didn¡¯t have that much faith in Lucifer since they had seen the monster called Hades, which was Ryder¡¯s in-game-name.

    The yers were praising and talking about the possible reasons behind Ryder¡¯s appearance here; however, there was a certain group of people that were looking at Ryder with a malicious gaze.

    "Forget about everything! Think about all the Unique Grade Items he owns! If we can kill him, we should be able to get some of his treasures! We can hunt even more fiercely if we had the same treasures as him! We should be able to reach the top of the rankings as well!" One of the bald yers said, watching Ryder from behind the crowd.

    " Have you gone crazy? Did you forget about what happened to thest group of people that followed Master nner to kill Hades outside the city?" Another yer replied, shaking his head strongly.

    "Hmm? What do you mean? What had happened? Can you tell me?" the Bald Man asked, not knowing what his friend was talking about.

    "I read in an online forum that Hades wasst seen in this city a few weeks ago. ording to the thread, some yers decided to do what you suggested just now. Hundreds of yers agreed to do it. They were lead by a man known as the Master nner," the other yer started exining to the bald man.

    " What do you think would have happened? More than a hundred strong yers attacked a single Hades, and it was before the Level Rankings were taken private," he continued.

    " Obviously, he would die if he was attacked by hundreds of yers. Even that much level difference can¡¯t ovee the assault of hundreds of yers. If that¡¯s true, howe I didn¡¯t hear about Hades being killed before?" The bald man asked. However, he suddenly realized something. "Wait! Don¡¯t tell me he killed all of them?"

    He was shocked by his own conclusion, but he still couldn¡¯t believe it.

    " No! Ah, right. How could I forget about this? He must¡¯ve escaped! He¡¯ll have faster speed with his high levels!" He came up with an excuse for himself.

    "He killed them all! Not a single one of them was left alive! This thread was written on the forum by one of the yers who was killed. Many other yers who were killed verified the events described in this thread. There¡¯s no way for it to be a lie!" the other yer replied, sighing.

    "Do you still want to kill Hades?" he asked the Bald yer.

    "Ahh! No, I would have to be crazy to try to kill him after knowing all that! This guy is really a monster! I want to stay as far away from him as possible," the Bald yermented as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

    "Ah, that emptynd. That seems to be perfect for establishing my guild when I can. Do you have any idea how much I would need to pay to your father to get thisnd in my name?" Ryder asked Aslina, who was holding his hand as if she was afraid that he would leave her again.

    "You! You¡¯re going to be my husband. Do you really think my Father would take money from you? Treat thisnd as yours. I would tell father," Aslina said as she rolled her eyes.

    "It¡¯s not that. I need documents of the transfer of property to create a guild. It¡¯s better if I pay for it," Ryder replied, pretending a little bit.

    "Hmph, don¡¯t ever talk about paying in our family again. We don¡¯t pay or take money from family, and you¡¯re part of our family now. You want transfer documents? I¡¯ll tell father. He will arrange for it," Aslina answered, pouting a little.

    "Hahaha, fine. If you say so," Ryder answered, happy that he could create a guild here without any trouble.

 Chapter 373 Adrian Caught

    <h4>Chapter 373: Adrian Caught</h4>

    ¡¯ After getting the papers, I only need to get the guild token, and it can be established,¡¯ Ryder thought as he nced at the empty ground in front of him where Master nner had helped in establishing his Guild in the Original Timeline.

    This timeline was going to be different enough since he had already stolen the Princess who was going to be with Master nner in the previous timeline.

    Ryder turned back and walked towards the market.

    "There are some good Shops in the city where you can buy equipment. Do you want to go and see?" Princess Aslina inquired as she pointed towards a specific direction.

    "Equipment Store? Yeah, they will have some equipment for adventures; however, the equipment will be Commons Grade. At best, we will find Silver Grade Equipment, which will be too expensive already," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    "Don¡¯t worry about expenses. I¡¯ll afford one equipment for you. Any that you want," Aslina said to Ryder, thinking that he was worried about the price.

    "Ah no. Price isn¡¯t a big deal. The problem is that the equipment is useless for me at this point. I already have a higher grade of equipment," Ryder muttered as he smiled. He patted Aslina¡¯s head. "Thanks for the thought, though."

    ¡¯Wait, I don¡¯t know if Shu got nice equipment or not. I should ask him. If he doesn¡¯t have a Silver Grade Artifact, I can use Aslina¡¯s offer to get one for him.¡¯ Ryder suddenly thought as he remembered that he was on his way to meet Shu after being done here.

    He felt like bringing a treasure for Shu would be good since they were about to go on a severe mission after that.

    " Can you wait here for a minute? I think I saw something there," Ryder said as he pointed towards the empty ground.

    Releasing Aslina¡¯s hand, he walked further away from her.

    Opening his message box of Divinity, he messaged Shu, who seemed to be the only person in his friend list in Divinity.

    "Shu, what¡¯s the grade of your treasures?"

    Ryder sent a message to Shu before he came back to Aslina.

    Holding her hand again, he continued walking through the city

    "Aslina, there¡¯s something else I needed to talk to you about." Ryder started talking after walking through the city for half an hour.

    "What do you want to say? You want to leave again? Do you even need my permission for that?" Aslina replied as she chuckled, hiding the sadness in her eyes.

    "How do you know?" Ryder asked Aslina, surprised how she knew he was leaving.

    "I got a feeling from the way you were talking to me inside the Pce," Aslina replied, lowering her head.

    "Yeah, I need to leave again for some important work. I had managed to finish my first mission, but another mission still exists for me. I need to finish it before I can create a guild here," Ryder replied, vaguely.

    "Will you stay here for a day at least?" Aslina asked Ryder.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s why I came here. To spend time with you before I leave since I haven¡¯t spent much time with you," Ryder replied in full sincerity.

    "It¡¯s good. Stay at the Royal Pce tonight. You can leave tomorrow," Aslina told Ryder.

    "That sounds good." Ryder nodded his head as he started walking back towards the Royal Pce with Aslina.

    "Do you think you can tell father before you leave this time, or should I tell him after you leave likest time?" Aslina inquired as to if she had thought about something.

    " Your father would kill me if I left without telling him this time. I¡¯ll tell him before I leave," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly.

    He was walking with Aslina when she got a notification of a message.

    Opening his inbox, he saw a message from Shu, who used the Username of Bigdaddy.

    Opening the message, he was stunned.

    "That guy already has gold grade equipment? How? Did they insert real-world currency transactions? Ah, no. He must have paid outside the game to get these from the stronger yers that got these items. It¡¯s either that or he found these items himself," Ryder muttered, trying to understand how Shu had such high-level items already.

    If one was to grade treasures in levels, Gold Grade Treasure was a grade three while bronze rank treasure was rank 1.

    For Shu to already possess Rank three items, it was already very good.

    "I¡¯m on my way. I should be there the day after tomorrow." Ryder sent another message to Shu before he closed the inbox.

    He entered the Pce with Aslina.

    "Stay here. I¡¯ll go talk to your Father," Ryder told Aslina before he entered the Royal Hall, leaving Aslina outside.

    As the door was closed, she couldn¡¯t hear what was happening inside, but she hoped that her father wouldn¡¯t be angry.

    Time kept passing slowly, and soon, twenty minutes were over

    Unable to bear the thoughts of what bad things might be happening to Ryder, Aslina decided to enter herself.

    She reached out her hand to push the door open; however, before her hand could touch the door, it opened on its own.

    She found Ryder standing on the other side of the door. Holding Aslina¡¯s hand, Ryder started walking away.

    "What happened inside? Are you fine?" She asked Ryder.

    "Of Course, I¡¯m fine. What would happen to me?" Ryder asked, smiling.

    "Did Father scold you?" Aslina inquired.

    "Did he scold me? What do you think?" Ryder asked in return without answering.

    "I don¡¯t know. Maybe he scolded you a little," Aslina answered.

    "Hahaha, whatever that scolding was, it was definitely not little. He scolded me for over an hour before he finally gave me the permission to leave," Ryder answered as he startedughing.

    "I¡¯m sorry," Aslina apologized with an embarrassed look on her face.

    "Hey, why are you apologizing, you Idiot. You didn¡¯t do anything," Ryder objected.

    "If you hadn¡¯t met me, you would be free to do anything without getting scolded," the girl replied with an apologetic look on her face.

    "You Idiot, if I hadn¡¯t met you, I would have missed out on so much," Ryder answered, thinking how he would¡¯ve missed out on the support of a Kingdom to establish his guild. "So don¡¯t think nonsense. I¡¯m d that I met you and that¡¯s the only thing you need to know."

    "Alright," Aslina replied.

    The day passed away as Ryder stayed with Aslina, talking and trying to get even closer to her. The two of them only left each other when it was night.

    Ryder was provided a room inside the ce. Entering the room, he sat on the bed.

    "I wonder where Rale is. He shouldn¡¯t be inside the Pce. He¡¯ll be staying outside all night long. I hope he¡¯s sensible enough to get a hotel room," Ryder muttered as he opened his system screen to logout.

    "I already found a room."

    Just as Ryder was about to two on the log-out option, he heard a voice from behind him.

    Looking back, he saw Rale standing there.

    "Ah, you¡¯re already here. Did someone see you?" Ryder inquired with a frown.

    "No, they¡¯re too weak to be able to see and catch me. I wasn¡¯t seen at all," Rale replied, shaking his head.

    " Fine. Stay here for tonight. Make sure that no one sees you. I¡¯ll sleep inside my special realm," Ryder told Rale before he tapped on the logout button and disappeared.

    Ryder woke up in the real world. Taking the sses off, he sat up.

    Getting off the bed, he went to shower. After getting fresh and showering, he left the room.

    Entering his whirlwind, he raced towards the HQ of ACL, where he was supposed to meet Herriet to discuss the contract he sent.

    Parking his car, he entered the building.

    He was allowed to go inside as the workers of the ACL recognized Ryder. They were also told to allow Ryder to enter when he came.

    Ryder stood in front of Herriet¡¯s office and knocked on the door.

    "Come on in." Ryder heard a voice from inside. Opening the doors, he stepped inside.

    Opening the door, the First King of Dark Uprising stepped inside a building that seemed to be a hotel.

    He walked over to a table and stopped in front of a young man.

    Adrian Bkin was sitting, eating a burger, when he saw a maning towards him.

    The man sat in front of him without saying anything.

    "You¡¯re stronger than the ants here. Are you from the toy Organization that guy calls Dark Uprising? Hah, your boss is a real idiot. Why not just achieve what he wants directly instead of taking such a long route?" Adrian asked as heughed.

    "He wishes to meet you," the First King told Adrian in full seriousness.

    "Why should I care for what that guy wants?" Adrian inquired with an amused smile on his face.

 Chapter 374 Furious Adrian

    <h4>Chapter 374: Furious Adrian</h4>

    "It would be in your best interest if you meet him," the First King dered.

    The smile on Adrian¡¯s face disappeared as he turned serious.

    "Are you trying to threaten me?" Adrian asked as his eyes rested on the First King.

    The First King felt like he couldn¡¯t breathe. He felt like he was being suffocated, unable to even move.

    The ground also started shaking as if there was an earthquake.

    "It¡¯s an Earthquake! Step outside!" The people inside the building started running outside.

    Soon, the whole hotel was empty; however, two people were still inside, sitting as if nothing had happened.

    One of the two had a pale face as if he couldn¡¯t breathe while the other person was looking at him.

    "N-no! It¡¯s not a threat. We know you¡¯re looking for someone! We can help you! That¡¯s what I meant," the First King dered after initially struggling to speak.

    "Hmm? You know I¡¯m looking for someone? Ah, right. Satellites and my phone. Howe I didn¡¯t think about it. The others must be keeping an eye on me. I thought that would have better things to do than to keep an eye on little old me, but I underestimated them," Adrian replied as a smile again appeared on his face.

    The pressure disappeared around the First King. The intense shaking of the ground also stopped.

    "You have a phone? Call that guy for me. I want to talk to him," Adrian said to the First King as he took another bite of his burger.

    The First King pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

    "You must be wondering why I don¡¯t call him on my phone. I don¡¯t want to waste my money to call that guy," Adrian said while the First King was calling the number.

    The First King couldn¡¯t help but cough as if he was choked by Adrian¡¯s word. A guy as big as him was stingy? Or was it that he just didn¡¯t wish to spend money on his boss? He couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    "Ah, Your Majesty. He wishes to talk to you," the First King said.

    The First King was about to exin more when Adrian took the phone from his hand.

    " Yo, Aluren. I heard that you want to help me? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯ve already helped me too much by sending your men after me? Do you really think I¡¯lle to you for help? Keep your help to yourself and don¡¯t send your men after me, or I¡¯ll send you their bones starting with the bones of the guy who¡¯s sitting in front of me," Adrian said, making the First King cough again at how easily his death was being talked about.

    "Adrian, you that you¡¯re in my ce. I don¡¯t want there to be unnecessary conflict. Please don¡¯t force me toe out myself. I¡¯m warning you. It wouldn¡¯t be good for you. Take my help. I¡¯ll find what you¡¯re looking for to get you out of here faster. Let me know what you want. I¡¯ll get that for you. In any case, I want you out of mynd in a week," the leader of Dark Uprising said, threatening Adrian.

    "Come out then? Who¡¯s stopping you. Anyway, I¡¯m not interested in staying here myself. I¡¯ll go back to mynd after getting what I want. If you want to help, get the restrictions removed from my calls so I can be done faster. In any case, I¡¯m not telling you what I¡¯m here for," Adrian dered before he tossed the phone towards the First King.

    "I¡¯m finished. You can pay my bill," he told the First King before he left.

    "Don¡¯t you daree after me, or I¡¯ll cut your legs next time I see you," Adrian warned without looking back.

    The First King had just raised his butt a little bit when he heard the threat. He sat down again as he ced the phone near his ears.

    "Your Majesty, what are your orders?" The First King asked on the phone; however, he didn¡¯t stand up again and only watched Adrian leave.

    "I get it. I¡¯ll do as ordered," the First King replied after hearing themands.

    He stood up from his seat finally. He walked towards the exit only to find arge crowd of people outside that were finally starting to calm down.

    He looked around to see if he could find Adrian; however, he failed.

    He couldn¡¯t see Adrian anywhere. It was as if Adrian Bkin had disappeared.

    "Cheh!"

    In frustration, he pulled out his phone.

    "You have our satellites on him, right? Tell me where he is?" he asked someone over the phone.

    "We don¡¯t know. Thest ce we saw him enter was that hotel. Is he not there?" the person on the other side asked.

    " What do you mean you don¡¯t know? How can this hotel be thest ce where you saw him enter? Whatever, track his phone and get an eye on him again," the First King said after hearing the response.

    "We can¡¯t. His phone is off now. He probably realized that we were tracking him with his phone," the other person replied. "He probably turned off the phone."

    "Ahh! You mean to say we don¡¯t know where he is! That guy can be anywhere! How can we find him now if he doesn¡¯t want to be found? It¡¯s a problem. A really big problem!" the First King eximed as he frowned.

    He disconnected the call.

    "Come on, think. If I wanted to find something and all my resources were sealed, where would I go?" the First King muttered as he walked through the roads of the city.

    "Ah, f...!" he suddenly cursed out.

    "That guy turned off his phone. No one has his location! The signals around him can¡¯t be jammed! That guy will definitely call Russia now to ask for help from his people!" the First King eximed.

    Somewhere else within the country, a secret building existed that belonged to the government.

    Many people were sitting there, in front of theirputer screens.

    Various giant screens were ced there that showed the satellite images of various sections of the country.

    "Sir! We lost him! We can¡¯t trace him either. We can¡¯t seal the signals near him now. What should we do? He can call outside the country using someone else¡¯s phone!" ady suddenly eximed as she looked towards a middle-aged man.

    " Desperate times call for desperate measures. Block the calls to Russia from all private phones. Only level 3 leaders are allowed to call!" the middle-aged man dered.

    "Yes, sir!" The Lady sat down and did what she was told.

    "Sir, may I ask who this Adrian is? Why are we working so hard to keep him from calling? Is he a terrorist or a spy? Why don¡¯t we arrest him straight," one of the guys asked the middle-aged man.

    "Even I don¡¯t know. I havemands from upper levels to do it. All I was told is that this guy is connected to some top-level hackers in Russia who might try to hack our systems if he sessfully calls," the middle-aged man replied as he sighed.

    "Can¡¯t they hack if he doesn¡¯t call? That sounds suspicious. It feels like he¡¯s really some bigshot. I searched his face in our database, but it came as ssified," the other man replied as he sighed.

    "Yeah. It¡¯s max level ssification. Even I can¡¯t see it. Only the President and his closest aides can see," the middle-aged man replied, shaking his head.

    Back in the New White House, the President was sitting with the Vice President.

    Both of them were discussing something with grave looks on their faces.

    " The Seven, one of the biggest headaches of the governments of the entire world. Only six of them are known, while the seventh one has never been active, so no one knows them. Our country now hosts two of them. This can be a big problem," the Vice President said.

    "This world is soplicated. I never knew it was so deep before I became the President. It¡¯s like we¡¯ve been living in an entirely different world until now. At first, I used to think that the government hides the existence of aliens, but after sitting on this chair, I realize that it¡¯s much worse. Fortunately, the member of Seven staying in our country doesn¡¯t involve himself in the matters of this world," the President muttered as she sighed.

    She didn¡¯t know that one of the seven was behind the Dark Uprising, scheming something that no one could have expected.

    In her eyes, the person from their country who was part of the seven was a Saint who only stayed in his house and lived in peace, far away from the world.

    "I only know about six members. Adrian Bkin is said to be the most wilful. He is just a dangerous person who doesn¡¯t know the meaning of control," the Vice Presidentmented.

 Chapter 375 Not Real Gods

    <h4>Chapter 375: Not Real Gods</h4>

    " The others are more secretive, so they don¡¯t do much to attract the public eye. It would¡¯ve been fine if one of them was here, but this Adrian had to be the one. Our luck is bad," the Vice Presidentmented.

    "Don¡¯t be so sure. We still don¡¯t know about the characters of others. Adrian is more like an open book, but others can be like silent bombs. As for the Seventh, we don¡¯t even know who he is and where he is. He might be worse. I heard rumors that he¡¯s either in India or Pakistan, but no one knows his real identity other than the Members of the Seven. Just who are these people? Why are they like this? How can they be so strong?" The President replied, not taking this situation lightly.

    She didn¡¯t know that the seventh person was still a college student who wasn¡¯t as active. That was why no one knew about him yet.

    "Are we doing the right thing? Would it not make things worse if we make him angry?" the Vice President inquired.

    "It might, but we¡¯re doing the best we can. If worsees to worst, we¡¯ll be forced to take dire decisions. They might be strong, but I still doubt they can take on a whole country. I just don¡¯t want it toe to that since many lives can be lost in that. I don¡¯t doubt that we can kill the Seven. The one question is if the negatives are more than the positives," the President replied, sighing. "They are not real gods, after all. They can definitely be killed. Their body is still flesh and blood."

    "Yeah, they¡¯re still humans. We should be able to kill them with our advanced weaponry. The loss that we might suffer is a big chain around our feet, though," she said.

    "I¡¯m making you in charge of everything rted to Adrian. Make sure he doesn¡¯t bring any major harm to us or our infrastructure," she continued as she stood up.

    She left the room.

    Leaving the White House, she entered her helicopter that flew away.

    Although the president left, the Vice President still stayed within the room.

    He looked at the picture of Adrian that was ced before him.

    She picked up the picture.

    "Adrian Bkin, you might think you can roam freely in our country. Just know, we won¡¯t go easy on you. One mistake and you¡¯re gone," he muttered as he tore the picture in half with a ruthless look on his face.

    He crushed both the pieces of the image before he threw it away.

    "I¡¯ve gone through the contract, and I must say, it¡¯s more than fair. In fact, it¡¯s quite generous. I¡¯m happy with it. I¡¯ll share it with the investors. With the situation we¡¯re in, I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll disagree. We can sign the deal tomorrow," Herriet told Ryder after going through the contract.

    "That¡¯s good to know," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "I¡¯lle tomorrow then. You can tell me the time by messaging or calling," he said to her as he prepared to stand up.

    "How¡¯s your friend now?" Herriet asked as she saw Ryder standing up to leave.

    "Bastion? He¡¯s fine. He¡¯ll be staying at home until this whole thing blows over," Ryder replied casually.

    "Ah, that reminds me. I¡¯m sorry that you had toe back on your own after I took you out. I hope you don¡¯t mind," he continued as he smiled wryly.

    "It¡¯s fine. He needed you more than me. Also, you still owe me that drink since we had to leave before finishing the drinks," Herriet told Ryder as sheughed lightly.

    "Sure. Whenever you¡¯re free," Ryder replied before he waved his hand and left.

    Ryder left the ACL HQ. He entered the car and got it on the road.

    He had only driven for a little while when he saw a young man standing on the side of the road, asking for a lift.

    "Isn¡¯t he the same guy I met yesterday," Ryder muttered as he recognized the young man as the person he had collided with, identally.

    He stopped the car near the man.

    "Where are you going?" Ryder asked the young man.

    "I need to go to the airport. I can¡¯t use my phone to call a cab. Can I get a lift? You can drop me anywhere on the way when our paths diverge," the young man told Ryder as he smiled.

    "Sure. I¡¯m going to meet a guy. His ce happens to be near the airport. I can drop you there," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Thanks. Some people in this country are really kind. I wonder how the only kind person I met is you and that too, twice," Adrian smiled as he moved over to the other side and entered the car.

    Ryder started driving.

    "Oh, right. Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself. I¡¯m Adrian... Adrian Bkin. I came from Russia," the young man told Ryder.

    "Ah, nice. I¡¯m R-" Ryder was about to give his introduction when his phone started ringing.

    "Excuse me," he excused himself as he picked up the call.

    "Yeah. What¡¯s up," Ryder said after picking up the call.

    "No. I¡¯m on my way. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be there in a few minutes," Ryder continued after hearing the response from the other side.

    He continued talking while Driving. Adrian started looking outside the window.

    Throughout the way, Ryder didn¡¯t get the time to stop the call.

    He reached the airport before he could disconnect the call.

    "Here¡¯s the airport," he stopped the car and said to Adrian.

    "Ah, no. I¡¯m talking to another guy. I was giving him a lift. I¡¯m at the airport near your apartment. I¡¯ll be there right away," Ryder again got busy on the phone while Adrian stepped out of the car.

    "Thanks for the help," Adrian thanked Ryder before he turned back and entered the airport.

    Ryder left in his car as well. Unaware how a big problem was stopped simply because of the call he received. As he wasn¡¯t able to tell his name, so much was avoided.

    He didn¡¯t know if Adrian had heard what his name was, what might have happened.

    Adrian entered the Airport and got a ticket for himself.

    He boarded a ne that he assumed was going to take him to the city of the one who he was looking for.

    ording to Ryder¡¯s neighbor, his family had probably shifted to the New Capital City since he had be wealthy. Believing that, Adrian left for the next city.

    Ryder went to his friend¡¯s house to meet him since he was called there.

    After being done with the task of his friend, Ryder left.

    He entered his car and went back to Shu¡¯s house.

    ording to the documents provided by Keia, only one of the five Cultivation families was situated near this part of the city.

    It was called the Jackson City, which lived in the neighboring state.

    It was a family that specialized in the assassination of High profile targets. Based on that, they shouldn¡¯t have targeted Bastion. Even though he was rich, he wasn¡¯t on the same level as the people that Jackson n assassinated.

    If it were a normal situation, Ryder wouldn¡¯t have believed that the Jackson Family was behind the attempt on Bastion¡¯s life. However, ording to Janus, not finding about the Ancient Cultivation Family meant that Bastion might die, so he believed that they might have a link to it.

    He decided to visit them and see for himself.

    He borrowed Shu¡¯s helicopter and left the city.

    As he sat on the helicopter, he called Bastion to make sure he was at home.

    " Where are you right now?" Ryder asked Bastion.

    "I¡¯m at home. Where else would I be? I¡¯m on home arrest as I promised you," Bastion replied, sounding salty.

    "Hahaha, sorry bro. But it¡¯s for your own safety. Just bear with it for a few days," Ryder replied as heughed.

    "Anyway, can you give your aunt the phone? I needed to talk to her, but the call wasn¡¯t connecting," he continued.

    "Alright. She should be in her room. I¡¯ll give her the phone," Bastion said.

    Ryder heard the sound of footsteps that made it seem like Bastion was climbing the stairs.

    Ryder lied that he called Esmi and her number wasn¡¯t connected. He wanted to talk to her from Bastion¡¯s phone to make sure that both of them were at home.

    "He says your number isn¡¯t connecting. Here, talk to him," Bastion said as he gave the phone to Esmi.

    "Hey, Ryder. Is my number really not connecting? Let me try calling from here. I¡¯m it doesn¡¯t connect, I¡¯ll call from Bastion¡¯s phone. Just a minute," Esmi said over the phone before she disconnected the call.

    She called Ryder¡¯s number from her phone.

    "It connected. Yeah, what did you want to talk about?" She asked Ryder after he picked up the call.

 Chapter 376 Flirt

    <h4>Chapter 376: Flirt</h4>

    "You can go and rest," She told Bastion before she sent him back. As Bastion left, Esmi closed the door andid on her bed.

    "Hello, darling. Were you missing me? Or you wanted to see if I was at home or not?" Esmi asked as he smiled.

    "Of course. There is never a moment when I am not thinking of you," Ryder acknowledged, ttering Esmi.

    "Hahaha, you really have a sweet tongue, darling. Anyway, I hear the sound of the rotor. Are you in a helicopter?" Esmi inquired, noticing the sound.

    "You are very sharp. I¡¯m inside a helicopter. I¡¯m going outside the city on business," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Oh, right. I called you to remind you about something. I have found out who is behind the attack on Bastion. I was hoping you wouldn¡¯t ask me how I know it, but it¡¯s Mark. I don¡¯t know what his role was, but he was definitely involved. Keep an eye on him until I return," he asserted.

    "Oh, you know it too? I shouldn¡¯t have underestimated you," Esmi let out with an amused smile on her face.

    "What do you mean, I know it too? Don¡¯t tell me you already found out," Ryder inquired with a confused look on his face.

    "Yeah. Want to know a secret? I¡¯m only telling you, but don¡¯t leak it. The phone that my men use is a custom phone that can¡¯t be tapped even by the government. My men know that. What they don¡¯t know is that every call of theirs is recorded, which can be listened to by me whenever I wish. I heard everyone¡¯s call recording after the attack on Bastion. Mark¡¯s call recording proved that," Esmi exined.

    "Oh? That¡¯s pretty clever. You are pretty far-sighted to give them phones like this," Ryder responded as he chuckled. "So what did you find out from his calls? He was behind it, but I don¡¯t think he had any direct benefits from killing Bastion. Someone definitely put him to it."

    "That¡¯s right. However, he was clever. He didn¡¯t talk about the attacks and the details over the phone. He probably had a direct meeting with the person. Anyway, the night of the st, he called someone saying that Bastion was alive and that the n failed. I sent my man to catch him after finding the truth; however, he was found dead with his wife when my men reached his house," Esmi replied as she sighed.

    Ryder fell in silence as he lost himself in thoughts after hearing Esmi¡¯s words, trying to digest all this information.

    "So much happened, and you didn¡¯t tell me at all? Why?" Ryder inquired.

    "I didn¡¯t want to involve you since it¡¯s underworld business and you were close to Mark. I didn¡¯t think about telling you. Now that you already found out that it was him, I decided to tell you," Esmi exined.

    "Sigh, I can scold you so much regarding that. I told you that I would find the culprit. You found him and didn¡¯t even tell me. Just don¡¯t do it next time. I¡¯m not a kid who can¡¯t handle himself in these matters," Ryder replied to Esmi.

    ¡¯In fact, I seem to have more experience since I killed so many people from an even worse organization of true evil,¡¯ he thought, but he didn¡¯t tell Esmi his secret.

    "Anyway, you must have the number he called. We can reach the true culprit through that," hemented.

    "We can¡¯t. That number is uncrackable. I tried. Let alone tracking the number, I can¡¯t even find who owns the number. The people behind it aren¡¯t newbies," Esmi replied as she sighed.

    "So they are experienced," Ryder muttered as he looked at the address in his hand.

    ¡¯Professional like the Jackson family, which is famous for assassination? Why would they go through Mark to kill Bastion? If they are experts, couldn¡¯t they have sent a man of their own to assassinate Bastion? They wouldn¡¯t go through mark unless they were scared of being found out,¡¯ he thought as his frown deepened.

    ¡¯They killed so many high profile people using their members. They didn¡¯t worry about involving themselves since they barely left any clues behind. Why were they scared of Bastion? It¡¯s not like Bastion is that fierce. The only powerful person in his Family is Esmi. Even Esmi isn¡¯t on the same level as the people they killed. The only other person in Bastion¡¯s family should be his father, who is a normal businessman; this doesn¡¯t make sense.¡¯

    The more he thought, the more he found himself getting confused.

    "Darling, are you there?" Esmi asked again, not getting any response.

    "Ah, nothing. I was just thinking a little. Anyway, my deal still stays. You can¡¯t leave the house. The real culprit is still there. Since Mark failed and died, they might try themselves. Keep Bastion at Home as well," Ryder replied.

    "Yes, yes, my strict guy. I promised you already. I won¡¯t leave for three days. I¡¯ll keep Bastion at Home as well. In that time, I¡¯ll find the person who tried doing it," Esmi said as she smiled.

    "That¡¯s good.."

    Ryder and Esmi talked for the next thirty minutes, with their conversation bing more and more intimate each minute. Fortunately, no one other than Ryder and the pilot was inside the helicopter. Ryder didn¡¯t bring Shu¡¯s guards with him. He came alone to meet the Jackson Family to get the truth.

    The helicopternded in an empty ground near the Jackson Estate while still making sure to be outside the vicinity.

    "Stay here. I should be back soon," he told the pilot before he stepped out of the helicopter. As he stepped out of the helicopter, he saw almost every person present in that area looking towards him, wondering who this rich person was.

    "So this is what VIPs feel like. It does attract a lot of attention," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    Ignoring the attention, he started walking towards the Jackson Estate. He had only taken a few steps when a youngdy came running and stood in front of him.

    Thedy seemed to be wearing a top that revealed her slim stomach and a skirt that didn¡¯t even reach her thighs.

    "You¡¯re handsome, and I¡¯m beautiful. Our babies will be adorable. I¡¯m not that easy to impress, but I¡¯ll make an exception for you. So, where are we going for coffee?" thedy asked Ryder with a cute smile on her face.

    Ryder looked at the girl for a brief moment, surprised. Ultimately, he startedughing.

    "You are really cute. I like that confidence of yours. You got one thing wrong, though. Our kids won¡¯t be cute. We won¡¯t have any after all. You should look for someone else," he replied as he patted her head as if she was a little child, and he was an elder. Ryder started walking away, leaving her behind.

    "Hey, stop! You can¡¯t leave without telling me why," the woman let out as she ran after Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t you think I¡¯m hot? Why don¡¯t you like me?" the woman asked Ryder.

    "I didn¡¯t say you are not hot. I¡¯m not interested in you, though. I already have someone I like," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    "Leave her1. I can give you every pleasure you need," the woman let out as she ced her hand on Ryder¡¯s ass, rubbing it gently.

    Ryder stopped and caught her hand. Getting her hand away from him, he looked into her eyes.

    "I¡¯m not after pleasure. I¡¯m here for work," he said, shaking his hand. He freed her hand. The woman started pouting before she sighed in disappointment.

    "Oh, right. One more thing. I don¡¯t like to keep debt," he continued before he pped the butt of thedy. "We are equal now."

    "Hahaha, so I still have some hope," the woman chuckled as she looked at Ryder while licking her lips.

    "Anyway, I do have some time. Do you live nearby?" Ryder asked thedy, looking at her.

    "Yes. My apartment is nearby. Want toe?" thedy asked as she instantly held his hand.

    "Home? Not this soon. We just met after all. Let¡¯s go for coffee if there¡¯s a shop nearby," Ryder said.

    His purpose was simple. Through thedy, he wanted to know more about the Jackson family since thedy lived in the vicinity.

    "Yeah, there is a shop nearby." Thedy nodded her head.

    His initial n was to go there straight, but after seeing the insistence of the girl, he changed his n to collect more information before he made an entrance.

    "My name is Mike. I came here to meet the Jackson Family of Jackson Estate. You must know about them," Ryder asked thedy while giving her a fake name.

    "The Jackson family? Not really. I do see a few carsing and going a few times. Other than that, the Jackson family is really low profile. I don¡¯t think I ever saw the face of people from the Jackson family," thedy replied. "And yeah, I am Mary."

 Chapter 377 Imprisoned

    <h4>Chapter 377: Imprisoned</h4>

    ¡¯She doesn¡¯t know anything. It was a big-time waste. ording to her words, no one in this neighborhood would know more about the Jackson Family other than what I already know,¡¯ Ryder thought as he sighed.

    He took thest sip of his coffee before he stood up.

    "Well, Mary. It was nice meeting you. I need to get going," Ryder let out, looking at Mary. "I¡¯ll pay the bill. You want to order anything else?"

    "You¡¯re leaving? I¡¯ll escort you to the Jackson Estate," Mary said as she stood up, finding an excuse to stick with Ryder.

    " It¡¯s fine. I know where it is. You stay here and finish your coffee," Ryder objected, shaking his head.

    "Alright. How will we contact each other? You didn¡¯t even exchange numbers," Mari inquired as she pouted.

    " Right. Give me your number." Ryder acknowledged her concern.

    "0133-" Mary started giving the number, but she stopped as she realized that Ryder wasn¡¯t noting down the number.

    "Why aren¡¯t you writing my number or saving it anywhere?" she asked, suspiciously.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I have a photographic memory. It¡¯s saving in my head. Continue. I¡¯ll call you in the evening," Ryder replied.

    "Alright..."

    Mary started giving her number and told it to Ryder.

    "Alright. I¡¯m leaving now," Ryder let out before he went to pay the bill.

    He left soon after.

    "This is the Jackson Estate. Not bad. I guess assassinations pay pretty well," Ryder muttered as he stood in front of the Jackson Estate.

    He walked over to the guarded gate.

    " Excuse me. I¡¯m here to meet Master Elias Jackson. Is he home?" Ryder asked the guard.

    He had read the file given by Keia. From the file, he found out about the prominent members of the n.

    The name he gave was the name of the Head of the Jackson Family.

    "What business do you have with the master?" The Guard inquired suspiciously.

    "I¡¯m from Necrosis Corporation. I have some urgent business with him. The Jackson Family has the specialty in what I want to be done," Ryder told the guards.

    "Wait outside. I¡¯ll convey the message inside," the guard replied.

    ¡¯ I hope they don¡¯t ask me for identification. I had no choice, though. I can¡¯t give my real identity. I can¡¯t get Dream Corporation involved either. As for the other Organizations, I feel like Necrosis would have the least chance of being connected to them since their HQ is near the base of another Ancient Cultivation Family, and they rose too fast with their own invention,¡¯ Ryder thought as he walked back and forth in front of the gate.

    "You cane inside. I¡¯ll escort you to Master," the guard called out to Ryder after a few minutes as he opened the door.

    The guard escorted Ryder through the long Driveway of the Jackson Estate and brought him to a room where three people were already sitting on a round table.

    A white-haired man was sitting in the whole two middle-aged men sat beside him.

    "Greetings to everyone."

    Ryder greeted everyone respectfully.

    " Hmm. Tell me about yourself. Who are you, and why did youe here," the white-haired man asked Ryder.

    "I am Jason Vorhees. I¡¯m the Director of Development at Necrosis Corporation. I heard through a friend that you guys deal in assassination. I want you to assassinate someone," Ryder replied while giving false details.

    " Fifty Million per head," the White Haired man dered without even asking who the target was.

    ¡¯Interesting. I thought they charged depending on the position of the person. The price is constant, though. How did Bastion or his family offend these people? Or is it that someone v face them the assassination contract which they dumped on Mark, trying not to involve themselves directly unless they needed to?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he heard the price.

    "Don¡¯t you want to know about the target, though?" Ryder inquired.

    "We don¡¯t care who the target is. Give us a picture and their details. It shall be done," the middle-aged man, who sat on the left of the Family Head, chimed in.

    "I can pay what you ask. As for the target, it¡¯s Bastion Barrel," Ryder replied while gazing at the faces of the three men to see a change in their expressions.

    He didn¡¯t see any change in two of the three men. It was obvious that the two didn¡¯t know. These two were the men who sat beside the Family Head.

    The only person who¡¯s expression suffered a change was the Family Head of the Jackson Family.

    A stunned look appeared on the man¡¯s face, along with a frown, which he instantly hid.

    "This, Bastion Barrel. Where does he live?" the White Haired man asked Ryder.

    Ryder could see some murderous intent hidden on the face of the man.

    "He has lived in Washington since his childhood. He¡¯s a software engineer there who intends to Sue us," Ryder lied.

    The White Haired man seemed more relieved and calmer now.

    ¡¯ This guy is clearly involved in this. He must be the culprit. He was stunned after he said the name of the person who was already their target. He must be suspicious of me at that time, but he recovered after finding out that I was talking about someone else. The other two don¡¯t know it. It means that the Head of the family is directly dealing with it without the others knowing,¡¯ Ryder thought as he analyzed the information he received from the small test.

    "Give us their picture and address along with half the money in advance. Your work shall be done in two weeks," the White Haired man said to Ryder.

    "In advance? Fine. I¡¯ll send money in cash when I go back. My men will alsoe with the picture and image of the target. It¡¯s good to have this deal," Ryder said, smiling.

    "I¡¯ll take my leave now," he continued as he turned back to leave.

    "Stop. Show us your ID card. So we can find you if you don¡¯t show up with the money after wasting our time," the White Haired man asked Ryder, stopping him.

    "My ID, ah, I don¡¯t have my ID with me at the moment. I came here straight without my wallet. Anyway, I already told you my name. You can inquire about me. I¡¯m pretty famous in Necrosis," Ryder replied as he continued walking away, waving his hand.

    "Call your men and ask them to bring the target¡¯s image, address, and your wallet. Since you¡¯re already here, you can¡¯t leave without finalizing things. This ce is not the one where anyone cane and go," The White Haired man let out as his fingers tapped on the table.

    "Sigh, fine. I¡¯ll call my personal assistant to bring the money. I came from the New Capital, though, so they will take at least a day toe here. Where will I stay if I don¡¯t leave?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly.

    " We have a big estate. You can stay here until your mene. Our guest rooms aren¡¯t bad," the white-haired man said as he chuckled.

    Ryder nced at the old man before he ultimately sighed.

    " Fine. I will do as you say since I really need that guy killed. Anyway, I need to get fresh. Show me the guest room," he said.

    "Dray!" The White Haired Man called out. The door of the room opened as a young man entered.

    " Take Mr. Jason Vorhees to the guest room and ce a few... servants outside his room to help him if he needs something," the White Haired Man said with an amused smile on his face.

    ¡¯ This idiot. Does he really think I don¡¯t know? They aren¡¯t keeping me as guests, but I¡¯m under house arrest until they get proof of my identity. As for the servants, he¡¯s clearly talking about guards to keep an eye on me,¡¯ Ryder thought, understanding the intentions of the White-Haired man.

    "Yes, Grandpa," the young man nodded his head.

    He nced towards Ryder and said, "Come."

    Ryder followed after the young man and left the room.

    "Old man, you really think you¡¯re clever, but you have no idea. You didn¡¯t stop me. You stopped your death. Today shall be yourst day in this world. No one can harm Bastion as long as I stand before him to save him. Not Mark, not you, and definitely not anyone else," Ryder muttered as he nced back.

    "Are you the Grandson of Master Elias?" Ryder asked the young man as they walked through the long corridor.

    "Yes. He¡¯s my Grandfather," the Young Man said, nodding his head.

    " He¡¯s amazing. I felt like I didn¡¯t breathe when his eyes fell on me. He¡¯s like a god to me. I really respect him," Ryder professed with a fawning look on his face.

    "Hahaha, As you should, kid. My Grandfather is really strong. Everyone is scared of him," the young manughed as he nodded. He seemed like he was really proud of his grandfather.

 Chapter 378 Easy

    <h4>Chapter 378: Easy</h4>

    "Since he¡¯s like a god, he must live close to the sky. Let me guess; his bedroom should be on the top floor, right?" Ryder dered proudly.

    "Hahaha, you¡¯re wrong. Grandpa lives on the second-highest floor. His bedroom is there, as well. So not closest to the sky," the man replied.

    "Ah, I can¡¯t believe I was wrong. Let me try again. Your grandfather is so wise. The South is a direction of knowledge, ording to my grandfather. A wise person like your grandfather must follow this too. His bedroom must be in the South portion of that floor," Ryder said again.

    "Hah, you really have no idea. My Grandfather¡¯s room is towards the North. In fact, his room is the first from the north," the young man replied, shaking his head.

    "Ah, I¡¯m wrong again. His wiseness is beyond my means. I thought I would understand him, but I¡¯m no small before him," Ryder replied, sighing.

    "I can¡¯t me you. It¡¯s your first time here. Of course, you can¡¯t understand him," the young man replied.

    "Anyway, this will be your room. You can go inside. Stay there until you¡¯re called. Ask the servants if you need anything. You aren¡¯t allowed to leave the room. The servants will bring you everything you need," the man said to Ryder as he stopped in front of a room and pointed towards the door.

    Ryder nodded his head and acknowledged, "I understand."

    He stepped inside the room and closed the door.

    As Ryder entered the room, he checked everywhere to make sure that there were no cameras.

    "Good. There are none. At least they aren¡¯t that suspicious. They only want to keep me here until they see my identity and get money," he muttered as he sat on the bed.

    " This room is not bad. I guess I can enjoy their hospitality a little before I get started," he let out as he cracked his knuckles.

    He stood up and walked towards the door.

    Opening the door, he peered at the guards, " Can I get some ice tea? Oh, and I¡¯m hungry, so bring some chips for me as well.¡¯

    The guards looked at him nkly as they said, ¡¯Does this guy not know he is a prisoner here? Does he think he¡¯s at a hotel?¡¯

    "We will arrange for that. You go back and rest until then," the guards told Ryder.

    "That¡¯s better. Oh, I forgot. What¡¯s for lunch? I take lunch in my room. Bring me some great dishes an hourter. I should be hungry by then," Ryder said before he entered the room again and closed the door.

    "I wonder how furious those guys will be tomorrow when they know what happens," Ryder muttered as he sat on the bed again.

    Heid downfortably on the bed. His gazended on the roof.

    "Hey Janus," he called out. "You saw the white-haired man, right. He seemed strong. If I fight him openly, what are chances of winning?"

    [Seventy Percent as long as you use all your abilities. Forty percent if you don¡¯t use your healing. Twenty percent if you don¡¯t use any powers that you received from the Bracelet of Immortality]

    " So I have a hundred percent chance of winning, but I will have to show all my cards to them. That¡¯s not something I desire to do, but if it is needed, it won¡¯t be bad." Ryder ced his hand on his chin as he lost himself in thoughts.

    "I need to be a clever enemy. The most crucial thing in a battle is the brain, not the strength. There are many routes to take care of the enemy. That should be the path of an assassin as well¡ª cleverly killing the enemy without getting caught. The only problem is that I don¡¯t want to kill him only. I need him to tell me why he wanted to kill Bastion or who put him up to it?" Ryder murmured to himself.

    " What can I use? I already used the love potion on the Police Chief. I doubt it could be useful in this case anyway," he let out.

    "Janus, open store," Rydermanded.

    A semi-transparent screen opened in front of him, which contained all the items of the store that he found purchase.

    "Sigh, the Strength Enhancing Pills are still not here. The first time I ate them, they were able to increase my strength by fifty percent. I only saw them once in the store before they disappeared. It would have been so good to have those pills now that I am already stronger," Ryder muttered as he scrolled through the items.

    "Janus, do the Items of the store expire? I am certain some items of the past are missing. Do these items have a limited time offering or something?" he asked Janus, finally trying to clear his doubts.

    Janus didn¡¯t answer him as Ryder scrolled through the items.

    "You always go silent when I talk about important things," Ryder let out in disappointment.

    "There it is. I can use this to my advantage, I think," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    After getting the item he needed, he closed the screen.

    Knock,

    Hearing the knocking on the door, Ryder stood up. He got off the bed and walked towards the door.

    Opening the door, he saw a servant standing outside with a tray in his hand, which contained Ice Tea and chips as Ryder had asked.

    Ryder took the tray from the servant¡¯s hand. "You¡¯re very fast. Good work. I will take it from here."

    He closed the door and went back to the bed.

    Ring! Ring!

    Ryder had just ced the tray on the table near the bed when his phone started ringing.

    "Hey, Alice. Yeah, Bastion is right. I won¡¯t being home tonight. I¡¯m staying in a hotel outside the city."

    "That¡¯s right. I came for some business. I should be back by tomorrow."

    "Alright, bye. Have fun."

    Ryder disconnected the call after talking to Alice briefly before he sat on the bed.

    He looked at the ice tea but decided not to drink it. He had just asked for it without the intention of drinking. He couldn¡¯t trust the Jackson Family enough to make sure that they didn¡¯t drug his tea.

    He only picked up the packet of the chips. Tearing it open, he started eating it.

    He rested on his bed and started eating snacks as he scrolled through the feed to waste time and to wait for the night.

    The time kept passing slowly as Ryder kept getting bored. It seemed as if time was moving painfully slow.

    Ultimately, night arrived. He was also served lunch and dinner, but he didn¡¯t eat anything due to his suspicions. The food remained on the table.

    As the clock struck Twelve in the midnight, Ryder finally got off the bed.

    He opened the door, but it didn¡¯t open. "As expected. They locked the door at night so that I couldn¡¯t get out."

    He could fly outside the window; however, the room he was kept in had no windows either. The only option he could see was to break the door.

    Stepping back from the door, Ryder muttered, "It would make a lot of noise if I do that. That would spoil my ns. But I have no excess Origin Points to buy something else either. I guess using force is the only path left. I thought I could be stealthy. It looks like that¡¯s not in the cards."

    Opening his inventory, he brought his guns out. He tucked one of the guns in his pants while he kept the other gun in his hand.

    He applied the silencer on the gun before aiming it towards the lock.

    "It won¡¯t be able to keep the noise down, but I should do what I can," he muttered as he closed one of his eyes.

    After making sure that his aim was right, he pulled the trigger.

    The bullet left the gun and hit the lock, breaking it.

    Without wasting a single second, Ryder ran towards the door and kicked it open, ready to fire at the guards that were outside; however, he found none.

    "They were so sure that I couldn¡¯t leave after they locked the door. So unprofessional," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    He walked towards the stairs that he had seen when he was brought to the room. He walked through the corridor to reach the stairs.

    Finding the entire corridor empty, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder. Did this ce have so much trust in their outer security that they didn¡¯t have any guards inside the Estate?

    He reached the stairs and moved upwards.

    Reaching the desired floor, he moved towards the Northern section and soon reached thest room.

    "This should be the room of Elias," Ryder muttered as he reached out his hand towards the doorknob. He turned it as a force of habit, but the door opened.

    "Fuck! The security can bex, but not thisx! This is a trap!" Ryder cursed as the door opened so easily.

 Chapter 379 Ghost House?

    <h4>Chapter 379: Ghost House?</h4>

    "The Security can bex, but not thisx! This is definitely a trap! They knew it!" Ryder cursed as he saw the door opening so easily.

    He looked around, still finding the entire hallway empty.

    ¡¯The guards should have stormed by now. There are none here yet. Could they be inside?¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    He wondered what he should do.

    ¡¯I have two choices at this point. I can try to retreat and seed, or I can go in to see what they nned. It might even be just my misconception. Maybe they really are too overconfident in their security. Whatever, I should test now that I have a chance,¡¯ he thought as he made a determination.

    He clenched his fist as he stepped towards the room.

    His hand rested on the trigger, ready to shoot out at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Stepping inside the room, Ryder looked around. He thought that he would find men standing in the darkness, aiming their gun towards him; however, he was wrong. There was no one there.

    There was a single bed in front of him. It seemed like a person was sleeping on the bed.

    ¡¯It can¡¯t be that simple. There¡¯s no way it can be this simple! I don¡¯t believe that the guy sleeping there can be Elias,¡¯ Ryder thought, frowning as he stepped towards the bed.

    He stopped a few inches away from the bed as he looked around.

    "The Bathroom," he muttered as he noticed another room in the door.

    He could see specks of lightsing out of the corner of the doors, making it evident that the light inside the bathroom was turned on.

    ¡¯Are they hiding there?¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked towards the bathroom.

    ¡¯If they are there, they will barge outside as soon as I remove the nket of whoever is lying on the bed,¡¯ he thought, taking his time to decide what he should do.

    "Fuck it! To hell with these idiots!" Ryder cursed as he decided.

    He pulled his second gun out and aimed it towards the bathroom door while he aimed the second gun, which had the silencer, towards the person who was lying on the bed.

    He aimed it towards the legs of the body, lying on the bed. Even though he couldn¡¯t see the person because of them being covered inside a nket, it could expect where the legs were.

    Pressing the trigger, he fired a shot towards the body lying on the bed.

    The bullet left the gun and hit the leg of the body on the bed; however, no person screamed or stood up.

    "As expected," Ryder muttered as he sighed. The door didn¡¯t open ording to his expectations, though. "This isn¡¯t a real person."

    "No one barged out of the bathroom either. Just why is this whole ce like a ghost town at night? Is no one there?" He let out as he frowned.

    He stepped towards the door of the bathroom, both of his guns aiming towards the door.

    As he reached near the door, he kicked the door open as he barged inside, but this ce was empty as well.

    Confusion filled him as he turned to leave the bathroom. "Just what is happening here?"

    p! p!

    While Ryder was wondering what was happening here, he heard a pping sound.

    As soon as he stepped outside, he saw the old man standing in front of him, pping.

    "Elias," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    He was finally a little bit rxed at the sight of normalcy. Until now, everything was going opposite of his expectations. He was feeling worried that no one was there even though he expected a trap. He was confused. Being in front of the enemy was better for him than not understanding anything.

    "Jason Vorhees, what are you doing here? Looking for someone?" Elias asked Ryder.

    The man folded his arms as he continued, "Did you really think I can¡¯t inquire about Jason Vorhees in Necrosis Corporation? You really underestimated my connections, little guy."

    " Can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t expect that. Why were you hiding, though? Are you really scared of me?" Ryder asked, not trying to attack the man.

    The old man startedughing as he looked at Ryder. He condescendingly said, "Hah, don¡¯t overestimate yourself, boy. Do you see any guards? I let them all have a holiday now despite knowing that an enemy is inside. Do you know why? Because I don¡¯t want my enemies to use the excuse that they can¡¯t seed because of my guards."

    He stoppedughing, but his smile didn¡¯t leave his face as he continued, " I can¡¯t deny that I was curious to see what your n to kill was. I must say, I am disappointed. You are probably a newbie in this."

    Ryder shook his head as he sighed, "You know what your biggest problem is? You are like a genuine viin. Top overconfident. Not only did you send all your guards away, but you even appeared in front of me. Despite knowing that I¡¯m here to kill you, you didn¡¯t kill me instantly."

    A smirk appeared on his face, which gave a worried feeling to the old man.

    The Old man shook his head before he humphed. "Don¡¯t try to act overconfident. This false confidence can not scare me. If I wished, I could have you dead before you can even blink your eye. The only reason I left you alive is so I can understand who you are and who sent you here. Now get to speaking. Don¡¯t expect your guns to be able to kill me. Those toys are useless."

    " Whatever the reason, I should still thank you for giving me time to be prepared. As for killing, I didn¡¯t even try to kill you yet. Don¡¯t you wonder why? Same reason as you. I don¡¯t want your life, but I want your answer. Bastion Barrel, does that name remind you of something? Why do you want to kill him? Answer me, and I will let you live." Ryder replied.

    " Bastion! So I was right! Who sent you? How did you know it was us? Don¡¯t tell me his father found out!" The Old man said as his face turned pale.

    He intensely shook his head. "No, no, no! This can¡¯t be! If he had known, he wouldn¡¯t just send a kid. The whole building would be burning by now. Tell me who sent you?! Who knows!" the Old man roared furiously.

    "I am the one asking questions here!" Ryder muttered as he started stepping closer and closer to the man.

    "Stay right there! Don¡¯t you dare to act brave!" The old man said furiously as he raised his hand.

    Ryder smiled as he watched the man react. He opened his lips and let a single word out, "Paralysis."

    As soon as the word left his mouth, the raising hand of the man stopped and started falling down instead.

    Soon, the old man dropping down to the bed.

    "Elias, oh my Elias. You grew old. Your hair turned white, but you didn¡¯t gain any wisdom. Did you dye your hair to be white, so people don¡¯t consider you stupid? Thanks for taking care of your guards yourself. I brought this item for you only since it can only be used once. I was worried about your guards, but you solved that problem as well," Ryder muttered as he reached out his hand towards the man.

    He caught the cor of the man and closed the door before he dragged the man towards the bed.

    He pulled the nket away, revealing a human-like puppet with a bullet mark near the leg. Ryder tossed the puppet towards the wall and ced the old man on the bed.

    "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. One of the biggest assasin came to such a pitiful condition. That¡¯s what happens when you¡¯re at your own home. Even the most alert person outside is just a careless cat at home," Ryder muttered.

    "Now answer me. Why do you want to kill Bastion?" Ryder asked.

    The man didn¡¯t reply as if he couldn¡¯t move his lips.

    "Stop pretending. I know all the abilities of what I used. You can move your head and lips. Start speaking," Ryder replied, frowning after not receiving a reply.

    "You were right. I¡¯m a novice and not an assassin. You know what that means? I don¡¯t have the patience of an assassin," he let out as he pointed his gun towards the legs of the old man.

    He moved forward instantly and closed the mouth of the man with his left hand before shooting with his right hand. He shot the kneecap of the old man.

    "Mmm!" The old man screamed; however, his muffled noise drowned inside his mouth since he was closed by Lucifer¡¯s hands.

    "Since you already lost a leg, let¡¯s make it even. You can rest your entire life now," Ryder replied before he shot another leg of the man without waiting for even a second.

 Chapter 380 Person behind

    <h4>Chapter 380: Person behind</h4>

    "Umm!"

    Elias¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock. His eyes were bloody red by now; however, he couldn¡¯t move his body. It didn¡¯t matter how much strength he had or how influential his identity was; without being able to move his body, he was like a sitting duck.

    Even though his body was paralyzed, he could still feel the pain of his legs being shot.

    He was able to move his lips. He wanted to scream to relieve his pain; however, he couldn¡¯t even do that as his mouth was closed by Ryder.

    "So, are you going to tell me, or do I need to test your hands too? You can still move your hands after some time when this paralysis is gone, but if I start with your hands, you¡¯ll be an eternally paralyzed old man. I leave the decision to you," Ryder said in a devil-like tone.

    "I will remove my hand at the count of three. Answer what I ask. Any clever act will result in your grim future," he continued.

    Ryder started counting to three. "1... 2... 3..."

    At the count of three, he removed his hand from the mouth of the old man.

    Feeling worried for his life, the man didn¡¯t scream even after he was freed. He still couldn¡¯t move to save himself. He was at Ryder¡¯s mercy to live. The only thing he could do was to listen to him.

    "Good boy. Now tell me, why did you want to kill Bastion?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "I-i can¡¯t tell you that. Please don¡¯t ask me. I won¡¯t try to harm him if you¡¯re his friend. Just don¡¯t ask me whomanded us to kill the boy," the old man replied, refusing to answer.

    "Interesting. So you¡¯re confirming that you didn¡¯t wish to kill Bastion, but someone put you up to it. Who could afford millions of dors to kill Bastion? Tell me who told you to do it, or I¡¯ll kill you," Ryder asked, aiming his gun towards the man¡¯s elbow.

    "Not five or ten Million Dors. We were offered fifty million dors," the man answered.

    "Fifty Million dors? Who could be so rich as to offer to pay Bastion? I¡¯ll count to five. Give me the name, or you die!" Ryder dered, impatiently. "I don¡¯t have time to y around."

    He moved his gun, which slowly reached the chest of the old man, resting right above his chest where his heart was supposed to be.

    The man saw the gun resting on his chest as his face was covered in sweat. Feeling the fear for his life intensifying, he decided against taking a risk.

    Opening his lips, the man blurted out everything he knew, saying, "I-i can¡¯t answer! I don¡¯t know myself! I only know him as the Sixth King! I don¡¯t know his name, I promise! I don¡¯t even know who he is or where he lives. All I know is that he was someone that everyone is scared of. That¡¯s all I know. I swear on my life! That¡¯s all I know about the person!"

    Ryder heard the exnation of the man; however, it was as good as useless. The old man only said a title¡ªthe Sixth King. Without more information, this title was useless to him.

    "The Sixth King? Is this about some monarchy that still exists in this world? A real king? Or is it just some codeword?" Ryder muttered, feeling confused. "Who can that be?"

    He looked towards the man and asked, "How did he approach you, and how were you supposed to reach him after finishing the mission? What about the money? You must have some clue that can tell me more about him?"

    "I don¡¯t. I only saw a suitcase inside my bedroom one day. It had the money and Letter, iming to be from the Sixth King," the man replied.

    "Where did you keep that letter? I want it," Ryder said, feeling like the letter might have some clue.

    "I burnt the letter. Thest line of the letter said to burn it. I couldn¡¯t oppose hismands," the old man answered, disappointing Ryder.

    Ryder sighed deeply, feeling tired.

    "Tell me what it said, at least," he said.

    "It said to kill Bastion Barrel. The letter came with Bastion¡¯s address and his picture. It also said that I just needed to kill the boy, and that person would know. There was nothing else," the man answered.

    "So you¡¯re a dead lead. I can¡¯t reach that person at all," Ryder muttered, frowning.

    " Call your men that are in his city to kill Bastion. Tell them that the mission is canceled," Ryder said; however, he noticed that the man was already paralyzed.

    "Ah, I mean, tell me the number. You can talk to them," he continued as he pulled the phone out of the man¡¯s pockets. He was wearing white rubber gloves, so he didn¡¯t care about touching the ce or leaving prints behind.

    "Only one person knows, and that¡¯s Mark. He works in the club of Bastion. He already attempted to kill Bastion once. When he informed me about it, I told him to leave and that I¡¯ll handle it on my own. I was about to tell others and sent my men tomorrow. At the moment, no one knows of this. I don¡¯t have to recall anyone," the man replied.

    "You can go happily. I will drop this mission. No one will go after the head of that boy. I promise," the old man said.

    As soon as Ryder heard it, a smile appeared on his face. "So you¡¯re thest person that knows it."

    "W-what are you thinking? You promised me that you would not kill me after I tell you everything. You can¡¯t go back on your promise," the man let out, seeing the strange smile on the man¡¯s face.

    " We¡¯re both killers. What kind of loyalty can be between us?" Ryder replied as he chuckled. "However, I will still keep my end of the bargain."

    Ryder lowered the gun as he turned back to leave.

    The old man sighed in relief.

    "T-thank you," he thanked Ryder.

    "You don¡¯t need to thank me. I told you that I wouldn¡¯t leave you permanently paralyzed. I will do what I said. I won¡¯t leave you paralyzed," Ryder said, with his tone getting grittier the more he talked. "I will leave you dead."

    Without looking back, Ryder raised his gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet left the gun and, within the blink of an eye, prated the skull of the man.

    " Have a safe trip to hell, old man. If you get the next life, don¡¯t be so overconfident. It¡¯s not like you are me who can afford it," Ryder muttered before he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

    "Oh wait, window!" Ryder suddenly thought as he turned back. He stepped back inside the room.

    The lifeless body of the old man was still lying on the bed.

    Ignoring the body, Ryder walked up to the window. He pushed the window open before he looked outside. He could see a few guards around the Estate; however, none of them was looking upwards. Ryder was sure that no one would. Who would think that someone who could fly would barge inside or leave?

    Taking a deep breath, Ryder jumped out the window; however, he didn¡¯t fall. He started levitating in the air.

    With a casual smile on his face, Ryder flew away from the Estate.

    A young boy got off the bed, suddenly woken up from sleep. To get some fresh air, he walked over to the window.

    He slid the window upwards and looked outside. As soon as he looked out, he saw a young man flying away.

    "Hah, I¡¯m still dreaming," the boy muttered as he closed the window. He walked over to the bed.

    Rydernded near the empty ground where the helicopter was parked. He walked over to the helicopter and knocked on its door.

    The pilot was sleeping inside the helicopter. Hearing the knocks, he opened the door.

    "Thanks for waiting. We can go back now," Ryder replied as he stepped inside.

    The pilot nodded his head as he stepped on the seat.

    "Heck, I wasn¡¯t able to enter Divinity Tonight. I hope Rale or the Princess isn¡¯t worrying about me. Should I take a fast trip inside?" Ryder muttered as he sat on the seat. "The journey will take a long time anyway."

    "I¡¯ll be taking a quick nap. In most cases, I should be up before we reach there. If I¡¯m sleeping when we reach back home, don¡¯t wake me up." He reminded the pilot as he wore his Divinity sses.

    After the helicopter started flying away, only then did Ryder enter the world of Divinity.

    Appearing inside the world of Divinity, Ryder called or for Rale.

    "I¡¯m here, Your Majesty," Rale appeared beside Ryder and answered.

    It was already afternoon in this world.

    "Did someone create amotion because I wasn¡¯t up on time?" Ryder asked. As soon as he said, a set of knocks started on the door.

 Chapter 381 Vampires Urges

    <h4>Chapter 381: Vampire''s Urges</h4>

    "Yeah, they have been knocking on the doors for hours, trying to wake you up. This is their tenth attempt," Rale exined to Ryder as he looked towards the door.

    "Tenth attempt already? They¡¯re pretty active," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    "Alright. Get back the hiding. I¡¯ll leave this Kingdom soon. I will catch you outside," Ryder replied as he walked towards the door.

    He stopped right before the door and looked back, only to find the room empty. He smiled as he muttered, "He is good."

    Ryder opened the door, only to find Aslina there with the guards.

    "Ah, sorry. I was a little too tired, so I slept longer," Ryder said, rubbing the back of his head apologetically.

    "Ah, it¡¯s fine. I was just worried about you. I thought something happened to you," Aslina said, lowering her head.

    Ryder walked closer and hugged her gently. " Don¡¯t apologize. I should thank you for caring for me like this."

    The guards started looking elsewhere, not to make the couple more ufortable.

    Ryder freed Aslina and bid his farewell. "It¡¯s about time I leave now. Thank you for taking care of me so well. I really wish I could stay here for longer."

    "Can¡¯t you stay here for just a little bit longer?" Aslina asked Ryder as she held his hand.

    "I wish I could," Ryder muttered, sighing.

    "I will be back soon. And after I establish my guild here, you will see me more often. Just a little longer," he added as he ribbed Aslina¡¯s head. He freed his other hand.

    "Apany me to the exit," he said before he started walking away.

    He walked with Aslina towards the exit of the pce as he asked.

    "Did you get the papers of the ground in my name?" Ryder inquired, thinking back to what they talked about yesterday.

    "Yeah. I got my father to agree. Here are the papers. That ce belongs to you now," Aslina said as she gestured to one of her maids.

    The maid gave her the papers.

    Aslina took the papers from the Maid and gave them to Ryder, "Here."

    [You have received the Ownership Document of Land]

    [Would you like to ept?]

    [Yes] [No]

    Without thinking much, Ryder respected yes.

    [You now own a piece ofnd in the Tiara Kingdom]

    Ryder received the notification.

    "Nice," he muttered as he saw the notification on the screen.

    He stepped out of the Pce before he bid her farewell and left.

    Back in the Royal Pce of the Demon Realm, things were getting very chaotic.

    Ryder and Rale had left the pce without telling anyone.

    Miku was left to handle everything and to make sure that no one found out that Ryder had left.

    As she got busy with her work, she gave the work to bring food to Mitali to another maid.

    Miyali happened to be the Vampire Girl that Ryder had saved from persecution as soon as he entered the Demon Realm. No one in this once except Ryder knew that Miyali was a Half Demon, Half Vampire whose father was unknown.

    Ryder also knew that she was able to keep her vampiric tendencies under control as long as she wasn¡¯t left hungry for a long time. Miyali needed to drink beast blood every once in a while to stay in control.

    That¡¯s why Ryder had told Miku to take care of her food, not wishing to have any mistakes.

    Miku didn¡¯t know that Miyali was a vampire. She didn¡¯t know how important food was to Miyali. She just thought of Miyali to be an important guest of Ryder, making her dump the food-rted duties to another maid.

    The maid she gave the duties to was even morex, though. She gave Miyali food and on time, but he forgot themands to bring her a dead beast body every week.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t tell them to bring blood for Miyali as that was going to expose the fact that she was a vampire, so he used the excuse of freshly dead beasts. Miyali sucked the blood off of them while others believed that she ate the uncooked beasts.

    Miyali was given cooked meat by the new maid, and it had been over a month since she was given a freshly hunted body. Whenever Miyali asked, the maid replied that she would bring what she asked for the next day.

    Miyali kept waiting. As each day passed, she felt the urge to bite someone¡¯s neck to satiate her hunger. Her eyes also started to turn redder day by day, making her eyes look closer to a real vampire.

    Miyali was walking back and forth in her room. Her eyes were bloody red by now as her heart thumped crazily.

    "I-i will lose control if I don¡¯t get blood today. I hope that maid brings me the body today," she muttered as he ced her hand on her chest.

    Soon, the door was opened.

    Miyali hurriedly looked towards the door only to see the maid standing there with a tray that had cooked meat.

    "Where is the freshly hunted body!" Miyali said impatiently.

    "Oh, we weren¡¯t able to get one today. I will get you one tomorrow," the maid said, smiling innocently.

    "You! I really need it now. Please do something!" Miyali insisted, feeling the urge intensify. No matter how much she tried, her gaze was only stopping at the maid¡¯s neck, which she felt like biting.

    "Eat this for now. I will send people to hunt. You will get it by the evening. That¡¯s the only thing I can do," the maid said as she walked inside.

    She walked closer to Miyali with the tray and walked past her. She ced the tray on the table.

    As the maid walked past Miyali, her smell reached Miyali¡¯s nose, making her urge more intense. Her eyes turned even redder.

    She couldn¡¯t control herself anymore. It was already toote. Her body wasn¡¯t in control any more as her vampiric urges took over. She didn¡¯t care about anything anymore. Her body was filled with strength as she lost her control.

    She jumped towards the maid who had just ced the tray on the table as she closed her mouth and bit on her neck.

    The maid struggled, unable to free herself.

    As the maid struggled, she hit the table nearby.

    The tray smashed on the ground, making a smashing noise, but no one entered the room as no one was outside to hear the noise.

    Miyali sucked the blood of the maid, not caring about anything.

    The maid¡¯s face turned pale, but she couldn¡¯t scream as her face was closed by Miyali.

 Chapter 382 Murder

    <h4>Chapter 382: Murder</h4>

    The maid¡¯s face kept turning paler and paler as her blood was sucked from her body.

    Her struggle got weaker with each passing second until she couldn¡¯t move at all. All her blood was sucked as she died.

    "Rrruh!"

    Miyali bit off the neck of the maid, unable to control her strength as she couldn¡¯t suck more blood.

    She freed the body, which dropped to the ground.

    As her hunger was satiated, the girl returned to her senses, only to realize the horrible thing she had done as she saw the blood-covered face of hers in the mirror.

    "What did I do!" She let out as her face turned pale in guilt.

    She hurriedly wiped her lips and all the blood.

    Looking down at the body, she started muttering like she was crazy. "I killed her! I killed her! I need to tell Hades! Only he can tell me what to do!"

    She started running towards the door.

    Closing the door behind her, she left.

    She ran all the way to the center of the pce, hoping to find Ryder.

    While she was running through the corridor, she saw Miku.

    "M-Miku! Where is Hades?!" She called out as soon as he saw Miku.

    "You are a guest of His Highness, but still, you should be respectful. You can¡¯t call him by his name," Miku chided Miyali, refusing to understand her urgency.

    "I-i am sorry. Where is His Highness? I urgently need to meet him!" Miyali insisted.

    Hearing her urgency, Miku felt like something was wrong, but she knew she couldn¡¯t tell her where Ryder was. She couldn¡¯t just say that he snuck out of the Realm. Thus, she decided to lie about his whereabouts.

    "His majesty worked all night, so he¡¯s sleeping. What do you have to talk to him about? If you have any problem, I¡¯ll help you?" Miku asked.

    "Ah, the food... Maid... She..." Miyali struggled to find an exnation as she mumbled random words.

    "The maid? Food? Oh, is the food not to your liking? I¡¯ll put another maid on the city. You should¡¯ve told me before if you were having problems. Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ll instruct them to be careful," Miku said, misunderstanding her."

    "But His Highness..." Miyali muttered, still trying to meet Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry; I will tell His Highness when he wakes up. He would get back to you as soon as he wakes up," Miku said,forting Miyali.

    "Go back and rest now. Tell us if you need anything else," she continued.

    Miyali looked hesitant, but she nodded her head. "Please tell her to meet me as soon as he is free."

    She turned back and left.

    She decided against telling Miku that she had killed the maid unintentionally. She didn¡¯t know how she could exin it. She left it for Ryder to exin.

    Ryder stepped out of the Royal City of Tiara Kingdom.

    Even though he had only told Aslina to escort him out of the pce, she went one step further and escorted Ryder to the city exit.

    She even told Ryder to take one of their Royal Carriages for his journey; however, Ryder refused.

    Traveling with Rale was faster. He didn¡¯t want to give that up for a bit offort inside the carriage. Time was of the essence for him.

    Ryder left the city and soon disappeared from the sights of Aslina.

    After he was sure that Aslina couldn¡¯t see him, he stopped.

    "Rale, are you here?" Ryder called out as he looked around.

    "I¡¯m here, Your Highness."

    Rale¡¯s voice came from behind him. Looking back, he found Rale standing in the ce which was empty a few seconds ago he saw.

    "You¡¯re really good at hiding and clearing your tracks. I am overestimating myself if I believe that I can understand the true extent of the powers of such a boss level guy. I can¡¯t evenprehend how the dragon was so powerful, which was much weaker," Ryder muttered as heughed.

    He reached out his hand towards Ryder.

    "Let¡¯s continue on our way," he continued.

    Rale nodded his head as he caught the hands of Ryder.

    Rale started flying in the air, carrying Ryder with him. His speed kept increasing with time as he flew towards the destination.

    They traveled for an entire day. Only then did they reach the city where Shu was in. Despite flying so fast, they only managed to reach that ce when it was already evening.

    Rydernded on the ground with Rale outside the city as it wasn¡¯t feasible to fly inside the city without the risk of attracting attention.

    He entered the city with Rale following closely behind him.

    [I am inside the city. Where are you?]

    Ryder sent a system message to Shu.

    [Oh, you¡¯re here. I was just about to log out, thinking that you won¡¯te today as well. If you¡¯re at the entrance of the city, walk two hundred steps to the front and take a left...]

    Ryder received a message; however, it was iplete.

    "Hah, the limitation of words on a message," Ryder chuckled as he saw the message, understanding why it was iplete. It was because there was a limitation on the number of words that could be sent at once.

    [...There, you will see a bar. I¡¯ll reach there in five minutes. If you reach there before me, wait. If you¡¯rete, then I¡¯ll wait.]

    The second message arrived soon after.

    Ryder followed the directions in the message and reached the bar.

    Opening the door, he stepped inside. He could see quite a few yers inside the bar; however, he had turned off his Nametag. Because of that, his name wasn¡¯t being shown above his head. No one could see his name either since he was a higher level than them.

    Ryder, on the other hand, could see the nametags of others even if they set it on hide since he was a higher level yer.

    "Hydra21, Kingyer, LokiMama, FattyJoe, SexyDiva, ImNotaSimp, hah, I see a few familiar names. My fellow guildmates," Ryder muttered as he saw the names of a few guildmates from the original timeline, which was erased now.

    "There you are!"

    As Ryder was reminiscing about the past after seeing the old faces, he heard a familiar voice.

    Looking behind him, he saw Shu.

    "So you got here faster than me. Nice," Shu chuckled as he patted the shoulder of Ryder.

    "Oh, you brought your friend as well. I remember him from the first time. Will he not take part in the quest likest time as well?" he asked.

    "Nah, he¡¯s just here to apany me. He won¡¯t take part in the quest. At Least he won¡¯t try to," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

 Chapter 383 Levels

    <h4>Chapter 383: Levels</h4>

    "If you say so. Is he an NPC? Or a yer?" Shu asked as he sat on a chair.

    "I¡¯ll tell youter. Anyway, we are in the Resuria Kingdom. You have thepass that can take us to the Ring that we need to return to the Royal Family. What are we waiting for? Let¡¯s leave," Ryder said, smiling.

    "We can¡¯t right now. Thepass can¡¯t work at night. It¡¯s alreadyte. So we would have to go in the morning," Shu answered, shaking his head.

    "Hmm? I didn¡¯t know that. Fine, we¡¯ll go tomorrow. I was already pretty tired today. It¡¯s better to leave it for the morning. Oh, right. What¡¯s your level now?" Ryder asked curiously.

    "I am level 40 now. I slowed down levelling in thest few days, or I would be higher. It should be enough, though," Shu answered, embarrassed at his low level.

    "Level forty is pretty good. Your growth has been extraordinary. Let me check the level Rankings. I am at the highest level. I should be to see how far the second closest to me is," Ryder muttered as he opened the Level Rankings.

    [Level Ranking]

    [Rank] [Name] [Level]

    1. Hades. 113

    2. Lucifer. 68

    3. Rei. ¡ª

    "Right, I can only see the level of person exactly below me. This update really hid the levels of others," Ryder muttered as he went through the rankings.

    "Level 68, he was so close to greatness," he let out, sighing.

    " Level 68? So that¡¯s his level? I couldn¡¯t see it, but he¡¯s pretty high indeed. The higher you get, the more exp you need. His level is only 28 higher than me, but it¡¯s more than double the effort," Shu eximed, surprised.

    As Ryder scrolled through the list, he soon found the in-game name of Shu. "What the... You are rank 25 already? Your progress is really fast. What¡¯s happening here?"

    " Just some good quests, I guess," Shu replied innocently.

    "Also, I got lucky. I went hunting with a group, and we met a monster boss. The entire group fought, and we killed the month monster, but by that time, everyone else was dead, so I got most of the exp and the chain quests, which were non-violent. So I got a hefty amount of exp. Still, I could only reach level forty. There are twenty-four more people ahead of me that probably rose through battle and bloodshed, unlike me who was just lucky," he continued.

    "So that¡¯s it. It¡¯s good that your ranking is good," Ryder said as he stood up. "It¡¯s gettingte."

    "I¡¯ll get a room for him. I¡¯ll see youter," he waved his hand before bidding his farewell. He left with Rale.

    He booked a room for Rale to stay before he logged out of the game.

    Taking his sses off, he looked outside only to see that the helicopter was on the ground. They were back home.

    Since he had told the driver not to wake him up, the driver listened to his advice and didn¡¯t disturb him even after theynded. He didn¡¯t leave the helicopter either, though. He stayed inside, waiting for Ryder to wake up before he himself fell asleep.

    Ryder stood up and tapped on the shoulders of the pilot, waking him. "You did well. You can sleep in bed now."

    Stepping out of the helicopter, Ryder went back to his room. It was early morning, and the sky was still covered in darkish hue while the sun started rising in the sky.

    Ryder entered the Mansion and walked straight to his room, dropping on his bed.

    "So tired. I don¡¯t even want to eat," he muttered as he covered his body with a nket and made himfortable before he fell asleep.

    Outside in the real world, Adrian was already in the new capital, moving towards the New White House where the president lived.

    He wished to have a talk about removing the restriction on his calls and the tracking, because of which he had his phone turned off.

    He was sitting in a cab that moved towards the White House, but as it got near, it changed its direction and went in a different direction.

    Adrian didn¡¯t know about this ce, so he didn¡¯t know about the paths either. He also had his phone off, so he didn¡¯t check the maps.

    He only realized something was wrong when he saw the car stopping in the middle of a forest.

    "Don¡¯t tell me you wish to rob me as well. I¡¯ve been a really nice man since I entered this city, only killing a few. Why is it that the second cab driver I met is looking to die too much?" Adrian muttered, sighing.

    "Master, Adrian. Our Majesty wishes to meet you," the Cab driver said as he stepped out.

    "Majesty? Sigh, don¡¯t tell me that guy actually left his cave? I wished to handle everything peacefully without causing much destruction. It looks like that¡¯s not possible anymore," Adrian muttered as he heard the words of the driver.

    He stepped out of the can and looked around, only to find a person whose back was facing him. The cab driver stopped behind that person.

    "Your Majesty, he¡¯s here."

    "Good work, Fifth."

    The person turned back, revealing his face.

    The person looked like a youngster who barely looked adult. He had beautiful silver hair and light blue eyes.

    He was wearing a silver cloak and blood-red gloves in his hand.

    "Aluren," Adrian muttered, looking at the guy as he chuckled. "You will look like a kid after so long."

    "You¡¯re still as blunt asst time, aren¡¯t you, Adrian?" The Dark Uprising leader, Aluren, replied.

    "My phone is off. How did you track me? I don¡¯t have any tracker on me either," Adrian inquired with a bored look on his face as if he actually was interested in the answer since it didn¡¯t matter.

    "With a little bit ofmon sense. You¡¯re someone who can¡¯t bear to be on a leash. You probably hate the fact that your calls are being restricted. Not only yours, but the government is also blocking the entire country from being able to call Russia now. You must be furious. So it¡¯s obvious you¡¯ll go to the President to face a little, ah, chat," Aluren said, as he stepped closer to Adrian.

    " From that point, it was simple to wait for your arrival in this city. Anyway, I can¡¯t let you meet the President. We have barely established some form of bnce. I don¡¯t care if this country is destroyed," Aluren said in a grim tone.

 Chapter 384 Mystery Box

    <h4>Chapter 384: Mystery Box</h4>

    "I¡¯ll even do that on my own one day. I do, however, hate that you are trying to be the one doing it. I can¡¯t let you do it. I don¡¯t want us to be in an all-out war yet. At Least not openly. It¡¯s not the time. Tell me what you want. I¡¯ll get it done. But you can¡¯t roam freely in this country anymore," Aluren said as his deep eyes looked at Adrian.

    "Why should I care what you say? You¡¯re right. I don¡¯t like the restriction on me. I just want to talk to that president of yours. I won¡¯t cause any war. Anyways, even if I do, what¡¯s the worse that will happen. I¡¯ll wipe the ones leading the war before they can even dere it. In any case, you can¡¯t stop me," Adrian said, not caring in the least as he turned his back on Aluren.

    "Our fathers distributed thend to us. You¡¯re supposed to stay in Russia. This is mynd. If you didn¡¯t listen, I would beat the hell out of you first before I drag you to your father for breaking the rules set by them. The others might enjoy this spectacle since it¡¯s not happening in theirnds, but I won¡¯t let out happen here. Listen to me and go back!" Aluren insisted, getting impatient.

    "I can¡¯t go back before I get what I want," Adrian said, shaking his head.

    "Sigh, I¡¯m telling you. You¡¯ll get what you want. Just tell me what you want. I¡¯ll send my men to get that for you," Aluren let out, not backing off.

    Both of them seemed as if they were ready to kill the other person at the slightest discord.

    Ryder slept most of the day, only waking up in thete afternoon because of a call.

    "Yeah, Herriet. What¡¯s up?" Ryder asked, picking up the call.

    "The Board has approved the signing. You cane in an hour. We will sign the papers." Herriet answered him.

    Ryder sat up straight, wondering how he could have forgotten it. "Oh right. I¡¯m on my way."

    He disconnected the call before he entered the washroom to take a shower.

    Hurriedly getting ready, he left the Estate, straight towards the ACL office.

    He entered the office and signed the papers, bing the owner of ACL.

    After signing the deal, he transferred Four Hundred Million dors.

    Handling everything, he left with Herriet for a drink. He had a drink with Herriet, followed by a nice conversation before he dropped her back at the office.

    " Hey, Esmi. Yeah, you guys don¡¯t have to worry about anything anymore. You guys can end your house arrest. It¡¯s safe outside," Ryder informed Esmi as he drove back.

    Esmi heard Ryder but didn¡¯t outright believe him. "How can you say that? We still don¡¯t know who Mark had called and who was behind it."

    "I took care of it. The guy who was behind it confessed himself after a little intimation. He is dead. Anyway, ording to him, someone paid him fifty million dors to kill Bastion. That person was someone addressed as the Sixth King. That¡¯s all I know. Even though the person who gave the contract isn¡¯t dead, there are no assassins after Bastion at the moment. I¡¯m sure the Sixth King will be more wary now as well," Ryder replied.

    "Sixth King?" Esmi muttered.

    "Why, does that name ring a bell? You know who he is?" Ryder asked, thinking that Esmi probably knew who he was.

    "I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m just confused why a king would pay so much for Bastion¡¯s death. I¡¯ll try to find more about him," Esmi replied.

    After a little more talk on a lighter note, Ryder disconnected the call.

    He went back home when it was evening.

    Ryder sat on the bed.

    [Congrattions: You have finished the mission of finding the Ancient Cultivation Family]

    [200 Origin Points received]

    [Five Hundred Real World Exp received]

    [Level up]

    [Level up]

    [Mystery Box received]

    The system notification started sounding in his head one after another.

    "You¡¯re slow like always. It¡¯s the second time. I¡¯ve noticed it. Whenever the reward contains a mystery box, you always announce itte. Anyway, what use is the Mystery Box anyway since you¡¯ll ask me to go on another mission for the key," Ryder muttered, sighing.

    [The Mystery Box is unlocked. No key needed]

    "Really?" Ryder eximed in surprise.

    "For once in your life, you did something caring for me. Thank you," he continued as he opened his inventory and brought the Mystery Box outside.

    The box was very big this time. It was as fall as Ryder, and it was two meters wide.

    "Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s a humanoid robot inside. That would be cool, though, but a disaster to exin," Ryder muttered as he looked at the box.

    He walked to the bathroom and turned on the tap, letting the water fall.

    He used that water and his Ruler of water ability to form a water knife before turning the tap off and went back to the box.

    He cut the cardboard box open.

    As soon as he saw what was inside, his expressions turned weird.

    "Are you trolling me likest time? The first time you did the same. A box inside a box inside a box. Let me guess, there will be another box inside before I find the real item," Ryder let out with an annoyed look on his face as he saw the second box that was half the size of the cardboard box.

    This time, it was a wooden box, though.

    Taking off the lid of the wooden box, Ryder looked inside only to find another box that was half the size of this wooden box.

    "Called it," Ryder let out sarcastically as he looked at the metallic box.

    He opened the kid of the metallic box, hoping to finally find the real item inside.

    As soon as the box opened, Ryder facepalmed himself. He was wrong. This wasn¡¯t the end. There was another box inside. It was a non-transparent ss box this time.

    "I swear to god, if I find another box inside, I¡¯ll be cursing you for hours! It¡¯s beyond irritating!" Ryder let out, angrily.

    He opened the ss box, finding the item inside.

    "This... What is this?" Ryder let out as his expressions distorted.

    He reached out his hand and pulled out something.

    "What the fuck! A bunny costume of my size? There is no way in hell I¡¯m wearing this. Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s a hidden use of it. What is it even if not a crappy costume?" Ryder cursed, watching a bunny costume inside that had bunny ears too.

 Chapter 385 Illusion Item

    <h4>Chapter 385: Illusion Item</h4>

    Ryder looked at the bunny costume in his hand, confused. He couldn¡¯t help but ask Janus if there was something more to this crappy costume.

    [Item: Special Bunny Costume]

    [ss: Special Illusion ss Item]

    [Description: An item that can make you look like a real bunny once worn. People will only see the wearer as a real bully, hopping even if they walk on two legs]

    While Ryder was asking the question, a screen opened in front of him, showing him the description of the item.

    Ryder read the description of the item and understood its uses. With an understanding look on his face, he muttered, "An illusion item? Hah, that¡¯s not bad. At Least no one will see me wearing this crappy outfit even if I ever need to wear it. This can help me get out of the terrible situations oftentimes without being caught."

    "Should I try wearing it?" He wondered as he looked at the costume. "To test it?"

    After thinking for a little while, he shook his head. "Nah, it looks too stupid."

    He ced the bunny costume in his inventory.

    Heid on his bed and started going through thetest updates of the happenings in the world to keep himself involved about things that might be changing.

    "Necrosis¡¯ worth keeps going up. Should I invest in them? Sigh, I need money for my ownpany as well," Ryder thought, shaking his head.

    He scrolled to the next news and kept scrolling his news feed.

    "Hmm? The government banned the calls to Russia? Is there another conflict on the horizon between the two? Why so suddenly?"

    He kept going through his feed, only stopping when he finished reading everything.

    He opened hisptop and sent a few emails before putting theptop on the side after closing it.

    Heid in the bed and took a deep breath.

    "Ryder! Hurry! Come out!" Ryder had the Divinity sses in his hand, ready to jump inside when he heard the intense knocking on the door. Shu was calling him out with deep urgency.

    He kept the sses back before he got off the bed and opened the door.

    "What happened? Did someone attack?" Ryder asked, opening the door.

    "It¡¯s Alice! She¡¯s kidnapped!" Shu let out in urgency.

    "What the fuck?! How!" Ryder thundered furiously as he pulled out his phone and started calling Alice.

    "After college, she went to her friend¡¯s house. My guards followed her there, but someone knocked them unconscious. After not getting a reply from them, I traced their phone and found them dead in the car. Further investigation shows that Alice and her friend are both kidnapped. I¡¯m trying to track her number, but it¡¯s impossible. Her phone was inside the car as well, switched off!" Shu exined, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

    "I¡¯ve contacted the authorities. The entire city is in lockdown. My men are searching everywhere as well. I have utilized our satellites as well. We might find her son, but until then, her life is in danger!" he said as he held his head, worrying. "I don¡¯t know what I can do anymore."

    "This..." Ryder went nk for a moment, hearing all this, trying to progress this information.

    "How can she go missing like that. Every second she¡¯s not with us, her life is in danger. I must find her at any cost! When did this happen? I don¡¯t know when she was talented. ording to my assumption, it has been over three hours now. We found it just recently," Shu responded.

    "Three hours... It¡¯s too long. I can¡¯t go back that long," Ryder muttered as he walked towards the stairs.

    ¡¯As for going back with death, that¡¯s risky, so I shouldn¡¯t do it unless absolutely necessary. But it¡¯s Alice! It¡¯s necessary! I must find her at any cost!¡¯ he thoughts, frowning.

    "What are the chances that the culprits left the city before the lockdown?" he asked Shu, who was following him.

    "I don¡¯t think they could have expected such a great response. The authorities are already checking the cars leaving the city after that st that urred, trying to be more alert. I don¡¯t think they left the city. The only way to leave is through private helicopters and nes," Shu answered.

    Ryder looked at Shu, stopping on the stairs. "The helicopters? If the people are rich, they can use the helicopters, but why would they take Alice after taking such a risk? Also, why would they take her friend as well? Could it be that the friend was the target and Alice got caught in between? Did you try tracking Alice¡¯s friend¡¯s number, or was it also left behind?"

    "Her phone isn¡¯t in the house. So she¡¯s most certainly carrying it. The phone is turned off, though, so we can¡¯t track it. Thest known location in it is the house where they were kidnapped," Shu answered.

    "Her phone is off," Ryder muttered as he started going down the stairs again.

    " Can we go deeper? We need to go through the history of all the signals in the city to find which numbers were inside the house in thest 5 hours. The ones that don¡¯t belong to the guards are the kidnappers. As long as even one of them had their phones on when they kidnapped Alice and her friend, we can find her," he continued as he came with a n.

    "That! Why didn¡¯t I think of that? Yes, we can try that!" Shu said, smashing his head.

    "How fast can you get me the numbers and their current location?" Ryder asked gravely.

    "It can be done in ten minutes," Shu replied as he started dialing a number.

    "Good. I¡¯ll call the pilot. We will be in the air in ten minutes. I will find them at any cost, and if there¡¯s even a scratch on Alice...!" Ryder let out as he clenched his fist.

    He called the Pilot of the private helicopter of Shu, who soon came out, ready for work.

    Ryder and Shu were waiting outside the helicopter on updates about the numbers when Shu¡¯s phone started ringing.

    Shu picked up the call. "Yeah, what¡¯s the update."

    "Two numbers? Are they both in the same location now?" he eximed with a frown.

    "Alright. Got it. Send me their location and keep me updated if their location changes," he let out after hearing a response before he disconnected the call.

    He looked back at Shu and nodded his head. "You were right. Two numbers had entered the house and left that ce soon after. The two of them are still together. I have their location."

 Chapter 386 Culprit?

    <h4>Chapter 386: Culprit?</h4>

    "Good. Let¡¯s leave. We have a few bones to break," Ryder said as he stepped inside the helicopter. Shu and the other guards also entered.

    Shu shared the location with the pilot who started flying.

    The helicopter took to the air and started moving south.

    Ryder finally looked at the location in Shu¡¯s phone after taking it from his hand.

    "This ce is Esmi¡¯s house. Was she the one behind it? Someone is really going to die today," he muttered as he frowned.

    "You know this ce?" Shu asked, hearing Ryder¡¯s words.

    "Yeah. This is Esmi¡¯s Mansion. I mean, it¡¯s where Bastion lives," Ryder replied, confused himself.

    "Bastion? I remember him. Isn¡¯t he your best friend? Why would he kidnap your sister?" Shu asked in confusion.

    "I have no idea. I don¡¯t believe he would do something like this, but this location is actually his house. I really hope he didn¡¯t do this," Ryder muttered, clenching his fist.

    The helicopter soon reached Esmi¡¯s Mansion.

    Ryder and Shu stepped out of the helicopter with the guards.

    The Guards of Esmi¡¯s Mansion also stepped to the front, taking aims as they saw a foreign force in front of the Mansion doors.

    "Wait! Lower your Weapons. It¡¯s Mr. Ryder. He is a friend of the boss," the leader of the guards told the others to lower their weapons as he walked towards Ryder.

    "Mister Ryder, why did youe with so many guards?" The leader of Esmi¡¯s security asked Ryder, still being a little wary.

    "Don¡¯t mind then. They are apanying my friend who dropped me here. They will stay outside. Only I¡¯m here to meet Bastion. After that, I will leave with them," Ryder replied, gesturing to Shu¡¯s guards to step back.

    Understanding Ryder¡¯smands, Shu also told his guards to step back.

    The forward followed the same as that stepped back.

    "Alright. Come inside," the leader said as he opened the door, allowing Ryder to enter.

    "Ryder?" Shu called out to Ryder, wondering why he was willing to go alone inside.

    "I¡¯ll be right back. You so wait for me," Ryder said, waving his hand as he stepped inside the premise.

    He walked towards the mansion with big strides and soon entered.

    "Bastion! Esmi!" Ryder called out as soon as he entered the mansion.

    "Oh, Ryder? Were you missing me? You came at the right time. Bastion left half an hour ago. I¡¯m all alone," Esmi let out as she came down the stairs while smiling.

    " Where is Alice?" Ryder asked straight away.

    "Alice? Why would I have her? What do you mean? Was sheing here?" Esmi asked in confusion.

    Ryder opened the phone and noticed that the signal was still showing inside the house.

    "Alice was kidnapped. I think she is here. The people that kidnapped her are here after all!" Ryder called out as he walked towards the closest room and opened the door.

    Bargain inside the room, he started checking everywhere. Not finding anyone, he left and moved over to the next room.

    Esmi stayed on the stairs nkly for quite some time, nkly.

    After a long time, she opened her lips. She shouted angrily. "Are you doubting me? Do you really think that I can do this?! How can you even doubt me!"

    "I don¡¯t have time to exin. I¡¯ll exinter, but I¡¯m promising you, if you have a hand in it, it won¡¯t be good for anyone," Ryder let out as he continued checking the rooms.

    "Fine! Don¡¯t trust me! Check everywhere! I will prove that I¡¯m innocent, and then I¡¯ll see how you exin." Esmi said as she folded her arms. She also looked furious now as she was being doubted.

    Ryder checked everywhere on the ground floor; however, he didn¡¯t find anything.

    He walked towards the stairs and went upstairs, walking past Esmi, who didn¡¯t even look towards him in her anger. Ryder didn¡¯t care about her. He was more concerned about Alice at the moment.

    He went upstairs and started checking the rooms there as well.

    He walked towards Esmi¡¯s room after checking the other room.

    "You didn¡¯t find anything in other rooms. Do you still think you can find her here? But you don¡¯t trust me anyway. Go and check, or your suspicions won¡¯t be over," Esmi let out, sarcastically.

    She couldn¡¯t believe that Ryder didn¡¯t trust her. She didn¡¯t intervene, though. She let him do whatever he wished.

    Ryder stepped inside the room, opening the door only to find something that stunned him.

    Alice was tied. Her mouth was covered with tape, and two masked men were pointing their guns at her, gesturing to her to stay silent.

    Fortunately, there wasn¡¯t any wound on her, and it didn¡¯t seem like she was harmed. Her friend was also sitting beside her as tears kept falling from her eyes.

    "You bastards!"

    Ryder pulled out two guns that were tucked inside his clothes and fired the shots.

    One of the shots prated the head of the man, killing him instantly.

    The other bullet hit the hands of the second man, making the gun fall from his hands.

    Ryder ran towards the man, who was roaring in pain as his hand was shot.

    He grabbed the man by his neck and raised him in the air before he thrashed him on the ground.

    "How dare you!" Ryder let out, failing to control his strength as he started choking the man.

    "W-wait..." Alice called out despite being scared after seeing Ryder kill one man right before her eyes.

    Ryder heard her words and removed some of his strength, just enough to give the man pain but not to kill him.

    Esmi had heard the gunshots, and she barged inside. Her face turned pale as she saw two girls in her room and a dead body.

    She went nk, not knowing what had happened.

    "Tell me who put you to it! Tell me who!" Ryder thundered.

    "Aa..." The man struggled to breathe.

    "C-can¡¯t breathe!" he said after some struggle.

    Ryder removed his hand from the man¡¯s neck and stood up.

    Aiming his gun at the man, he shot again, this time hitting the other hand of the man.

    The man roared like a dying pig as his second hand was shot as well.

    "I¡¯m running out of patience! You have three seconds! I want names, or you¡¯ll die!" Ryder said, aiming the gun at the man¡¯s chest this time.

    Esmi stood in the back, frowning.

    "How did you even enter my house?" She asked the man.

    "I¡¯m interrogating him! Don¡¯t interfere!" Ryder roared, turning Esmi silent. He was furious to know that his friend and Esmi could do something like this, but he still gave them the benefit of the doubt and waited for an answer from the man.

 Chapter 387 Named

    <h4>Chapter 387: Named</h4>

    "Answer me this instant!" Ryder roared, showing his angry side, which he rarely showed in front of his loved ones.

    "W-we did it on the orders of Master Bastion and Madam Esmi. They told us to do it! I don¡¯t know why! That¡¯s all I know! I promise!" the man exined as his face was covered in sweat.

    "What the hell are you talking about! I don¡¯t even know you!" Esmi caller out in protest. "And Bastion will never do something like this!"

    "Why are you lying, madam! He will kill me if I don¡¯t tell the truth! Confess to him and ask for forgiveness. Don¡¯t let me die! I did so many things for you! You can¡¯t let me die like that!" the man called out.

    "You Bastard! You dare to nder me! Ryder, I promise I don¡¯t know who he is!" Esmi said as she walked to Ryder and held his hand.

    Ryder looked at her before he looked at the man, crying on the ground.

    He shook his hand, freeing his hand from Esmi, who looked nkly at him.

    She could feel that he didn¡¯t believe her.

    She took a step back, not saying anything.

    Ryder sat down near the man and ced his hand on the chest of the man.

    "I will count to three before I shoot you. I know when you¡¯re lying. You¡¯re definitely lying now. Tell me the truth," he said.

    Hearing his words, a relieved expression appeared on her face. She took a sigh of relief as she saw Ryder trusting her. Her eyes were already wet when she thought he didn¡¯t trust her, but only now did her tears started falling as she felt his trust.

    She was sure that if she were in his ce, even she would doubt herself after the man¡¯s usation. Ryder still chose to believe her. It warned her heart.

    "Don¡¯t you dare lie to me! Tell me the truth! I am not falling for that. Who told you to do it? Who wanted Esmi and Bastion to be med and why?" Ryder asked the man as he started pressing the gun on the man¡¯s chest

    "I-i swear to god! It was Master Bastion and Esmi who told us to do it!" the man said, feeling scared for his life. His voice was barely audible now in fear.

    As Ryder was interrogating inside the house, Shu was standing outside with his hands on the helicopter.

    His fingers kept tapping on the metal as if he was counting.

    There was no expression on his face at the moment as if he was lost in some thought.

    He didn¡¯t look towards Esmi¡¯s Mansion.

    His fingers were tapping in what seemed like a rhythm.

    "Tell me this instant. You know I¡¯m not in the mood to joke! Answer now! I¡¯ll count to three before I shoot!" Ryder said, sternly.

    "1... 2... Wha..."

    Ryder started counting to three, but he stopped midway as he saw white bubblesing out of the man¡¯s neck. His eyes started bleeding as well. His heart stopped beating instantly.

    "He is dead. He was already poisoned. It looks like whoever did this didn¡¯t want him to live for longer. He must have known it too, but he still didn¡¯t give the name of the real person. Maybe they have his family hostage or something else. Whatever being the case, it¡¯s a dead-end," Ryder muttered as he dered the man dead and stood up.

    He walked over to Alice and removed the tape from her mouth. He started removing the ties on her hand as he asked, "Are you alright?"

    Alice nodded her head.

    "I am fine. They didn¡¯t harm us at all. In fact, they were very stern about not harming us. One of them kept saying that there shouldn¡¯t even be a single scratch on our body," she told Ryder as she rubbed her wrists.

    Ryder walked over to the other side of the bed and started untying her as well.

    "So they didn¡¯t n to harm you. Their only intention was to bring you here. Most probably to use you to make me against Esmi and Bastion? They could have easily killed you and left if they only wanted to frame Esmi. They kept you safe, especially so they could use Esmi and Bastion in front of me," Ryder muttered as he thought to himself.

    "Who would n something like this? What would they get by making me against them?" he wondered as he finished untying the other girl.

    "I really don¡¯t know how he entered my house and my bedroom. I was in the study room, reading something, so I really didn¡¯t check my bedroom," Esmi said to Ryder as she walked closer to him.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I know you wouldn¡¯t be so stupid as bring her here even if you did it. Also, that man¡¯s heartbeat gave him away. He was lying when he took your and Bastion¡¯s name. It¡¯s unfortunate that I can¡¯t find the real culprit," Ryder replied as he walked over to the bodies and checked them for any form of identification.

    Finding none, he kicked the bodies in frustration. He pulled out his phone and took photos of the faces of both the dead bodies.

    He sent the photos to a number before he called it.

    "Yeah, Ray. I sent you two photos. Can you run these faces in the database? Try to find a match for them," he told Ray.

    " Alright. I will do that when I go back to HQ in the morning," Ray replied before he started telling his own problem.

    "That aside, it¡¯s been such a long time. You said you¡¯d send the address of that Dark Uprising Base. I have received all the permission thinking that I¡¯ll do it soon, and now everyone expected me to go for that raid. You know how embarrassing it is when people ask me why I¡¯m dying and if I¡¯m scared? I can¡¯t even tell them that I don¡¯t even have the location before I got the permission, or they¡¯ll think that I¡¯m crazy. Can you make it faster, please?" he asked Ryder.

    "I do have the location of two of their high-ranking members, but they haven¡¯t gone back to their base from what I believe. I can give you their location, but it¡¯ll be useless if you go after two and kiss the rest. You¡¯ll catch the rat I left to get to the real tiger. Wait a little longer. I¡¯m sure they will go to their base soon," Ryder replied, shaking his head. He still didn¡¯t have any exact answer to give.

 Chapter 388 Brother

    <h4>Chapter 388: Brother</h4>

    "Anyway, don¡¯t forget to send me the information if you find any match of these two. I need to know who they are and who they worked for," Ryder said as he disconnected the call.

    "Do you know how these two men brought you here?" He turned back and asked Alice.

    "They jumped through the wall and forced us to do the same at gunpoint. We snuck inside," Alice replied to Ryder.

    "It¡¯s not easy to sneak inside this ce. To find suchx security, either they are really talented, or they had insider help," Ryder muttered, hearing her words.

    He turned to Esmi and informed her, "I¡¯ll take them home. Send me the CCTV footage of your entrance. I want to know if one of your men helped them enter. If one of them is involved, it¡¯ll make it easier for us to get another trail."

    Esmi nodded her head. "I will send you the footage."

    He rubbed the head of Alice gently. He nced at the other girl. "Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll take you both home."

    Alice and her friend stood up and stood behind Ryder.

    The three of them left the room, and soon, they left the Mansion entirely.

    Ryder didn¡¯t forget to observe the expressions of the guards as he left with Alice and her friend.

    Almost all of them looked confused as if wondering when these two girls entered the house and howe they didn¡¯t know.

    The incharge of security directly asked Ryder about it.

    "Uh, Are these two your friends? When did they enter? I don¡¯t remember watching two girls entering with you," he asked.

    "Yeah, they were invisible when they entered. Stop finding excuses and improve your security. How can two kidnappers sneak inside this Mansion with the two girls they kidnapped without you having any clue? Do better next time. Someone can sneak inside and kill your boss if security is like this," Ryder replied sarcastically before he left the ce.

    Ryder stepped out the entrance of the mansion.

    Shu stopped his rhythmic tapping on the helicopter before he turned back.

    "You¡¯re safe! I¡¯m so d! I¡¯m really sorry my security failed you. I promise I¡¯ll ce even more focus on it. No one shall even dare to think about getting to you from tomorrow," Shu said as he sighed a breath of relief.

    "It¡¯s fine, Brother Shu. It wasn¡¯t your fault," Alice said, smiling. She didn¡¯t me Shu. The security he provided was already at the top level.

    "Come, let¡¯s go home. You went through a lot today," Shu said as he gestured for her to enter the helicopter.

    Esmi and her friend entered the helicopter.

    "Your brothers are very rich. They have a private helicopter. And they can kill so easily. Are they rted to the military?" Alice¡¯s friend asked her as she looked at Shu and Ryder, who stood outside, talking.

    "Ah, Rted to the military is a right term, I guess," Alice said, nodding her head. Shu was the owner of one of the biggest weapon manufacturers for the military. That kind of made him rted to the military in her eyes.

    " What happened to the kidnappers?" Shu asked Ryder, looking towards the Mansion of Esmi.

    "The two kidnappers are dead," Ryder answered, shaking his head.

    "Did you get the answers? Why did your best friend¡¯s family kidnap Alice?" Shu inquired, confused.

    "They did not kidnap her. Someone tried to frame Bastion and Esmi using my sister," Ryder replied.

    " What? Did the kidnappers say it?" Shy asked, straight.

    "No. He didn¡¯t say it, but I have ways of myself to know. They aren¡¯t behind it," Ryder said as he sighed.

    "Are you saying it because you don¡¯t want to believe your best friend¡¯s family would do it? From the angle I see, it looks one their work. Why would someone frame them using your sister? What would they get? I think you might be wrong this time," Shu let out in full seriousness.

    "I don¡¯t think I am. Anyway, let¡¯s go back. Girls must be tired. I¡¯ll find the real culprit myself," Ryder said as he walked towards the helicopter and sat inside.

    Shu sighed as he also started walking towards the helicopter and stepped inside.

    The helicopter started rising in the air. They first went to the house of Alice¡¯s friend and dropped her there before they went straight to Shu¡¯s estates.

    Ryder took Alice to her room and stayed there with her,forting her as he was worried that she might be in trauma. Even though it was her second time being kidnapped, it wasn¡¯t easy.

    He talked to her andughed with her. They joked around as they spoke of the old days.

    "You look really beautiful when you smile. You should always keep smiling," Ryder said as he rubbed Alice¡¯s cheeks.

    Alice looked into Ryder¡¯s eyes, filled with emotions.

    She ced her hand on Ryder¡¯s cheeks and did the same. "You too. Always keep smiling. You don¡¯t look cute at all when you¡¯re angry."

    Hearing Alice¡¯s words, Ryder startedughing. "Hahaha, wouldn¡¯t it be weird if I looked cute when I was angry? Why would the enemies take me seriously."

    "Why would you even need enemies. Just stay away from such things. Also, where did you even learn to shoot like that? You killed a man without hesitating even a little, and that too with a perfect shot to the head. How did you learn it?" Alice asked.

    "An army friend taught me for self-defense. I thought it was good to learn since there would be many enemies in business. It dide in handy in unexpected situations," Ryder replied, smiling innocently.

    "Don¡¯t put yourself in dangerous situations even if it¡¯s for business. We can live without money like we used to live before. You don¡¯t have to put yourself in danger," Alice said as she gazed into Ryder¡¯s deep eyes with care.

    "Hah, Yush! I will be more careful next time and try to stay away from conflict," Ryder said as he smiled gently.

    "That¡¯s good. Now go, I am sleepy. Let me rest," Alice called out, smiling as she closed her eyes.

    "Hahaha, right. I¡¯ll go now. Have a great rest," Ryder said as he stood up.

    He left the room and walked back to his room.

    Inside his room, Shu was sitting on his bed with a portrait in his hand.

    The portrait seemed to be of Ryder, but the man was wearing a military uniform that Ryder never wore. The man also had red hair. Other than that, he looked precisely like Ryder.

    "It¡¯ll be your twelfth death anniversary soon," Shu muttered as he gently rubbed the portrait. "Brother."

 Chapter 389 Forgotten Egg

    <h4>Chapter 389: Forgotten Egg</h4>

    Ring!

    A phone started ringing, breaking the silence spread inside the room.

    Shu stood up and walked towards the back wall. There was a number pad on the wall that was attached with a fingerprint sensor.

    He ced his left hand on the fingerprint sensor while he typed the numbers with his right.

    /28740/

    After pressing the code, he removed his thumb from the fingerprint sensor.

    A door became visible in the wall that was invisible until now.

    There was another number pad on the door.

    Shu pressed a different code inside this time.

    After he finished typing the code, the door was unlocked. He pushed the door open and entered the hidden room.

    The room inside had many safes. It also had a few portraits hung on the wall.

    There seemed to be a portrait of a middle-aged man who seemed to have simr features to Shu. Beside that portrait was a portrait of a woman who looked slightly younger than the man in the portrait.

    Shu stepped closer and ced the portrait of the young man who looked like Ryder on the wall beside the portrait of the middle-aged man.

    After being done, he stepped back and gazed at all three portraits. Tears appeared around his eyes as a sad smile spread across his face.

    "Father, Mother, brother... Did you take pity on my loneliness?" he muttered.

    He turned back and stepped out of the room.

    He closed the door behind him, which once again disappeared into the wall.

    Wiping the tears from his eyes, Shu walked over to the table where a ss of water was ced.

    He pulled out a pill from his pocket and ced it in his mouth before he picked up the ss of water. He drank the water, effectively swallowing the pill before heid on the bed.

    He was just about to pick up his Divinity sses when his phone started ringing again.

    He picked up the call.

    "Yeah?"

    "You traced the number he called when he was inside?"

    "Are you sure? Why would he be in contact with a high-ranking member of the FBI? It should be Bastion he called in anger!"

    "You know the consequences of giving me wrong information, right?"

    "Alright. I got it."

    Shu disconnected the call and ced his phone to the side.

    "FBI... Ray, is it? How did you enter the picture suddenly? A friend? Or a Foe?" He muttered as he looked at the roof while lying on the bed. "Only time can tell."

    He picked up the Divinity sses and wore them.

    "Take me to Divinity," he muttered.

    "Take me to Divinity."

    Ryder wore the Divinity sses and entered the world of Divinity. He woke up inside the room where Rale was standing, looking outside the window.

    "Do you ever sleep?" Ryder asked, smiling.

    "I do, unfortunately," Rale answered as he turned back.

    "I never saw you sleep. Everyone Ie, you¡¯re always up. You¡¯re really punctual," Ryder said as he walked over to the window.

    "Beautiful, isn¡¯t it? There¡¯s no differencepared to our Demon Realm. The cities and the people are all so simr. Only the species are different," hemented as he looked outside.

    "And the fact that they are weaker than Demons," Rale chimed in.

    "Compared to Dukes and you, they do seem a whole lot weaker, but they should have people capable of fighting normal Demons," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Anyway, let¡¯s get going."

    The two of them left the hotel and walked back to the bar where they met Shu.

    "So, where is that location, and how will we be traveling? The Location Portals inside the city shouldn¡¯t be activated yet. They will do it once the Real World Currency Exchange update arrives. Are we going to walk or take some carriage?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "We will be taking a carriage. Even if we had the Teleportation unlocked, we couldn¡¯t go there since Teleportation can only take us from one city to another. We don¡¯t know which city that ce might be inside. We only have apass that shows us the direction," Shu answered as he walked with Ryder.

    They went to an NPC and hired a carriage to escort them.

    They entered the carriage, which started escorting them.

    Ryder spent his nights in Divinity, getting escorted to the destination and his Day in the real world, where he continued working on hispany.

    After the merger waspleted, he owned two buildings as the ACL Headquarters was his as well now.

    As for the information about the two people that kidnapped Alice, their identity wasn¡¯t found as Ray didn¡¯t find any match in the database.

    Ray only came to the conclusion that these people didn¡¯t have a criminal record, and it was almost impossible to find their identity now without putting a lot of resources that he couldn¡¯t at the moment.

    Ryder could only give up on the lead as he failed to find the real culprit.

    Bastion returned to his everyday life, where he went out and partied often.

    Esmi also returned to normal. She and Ryder started spending more time together as they went out to eat every once in a while and even indulged in their romantic sessions often.

    Rale and Ryder were standing at some distance from the carriage as Ryder waited for Shu to log in.

    "It¡¯s already the fifth day. We can¡¯t stay out for too long. If someone finds out that we are missing, it would be very troublesome to handle." Rale expressed his concerns to Ryder.

    "I know, but this shouldn¡¯t take longer. We¡¯ll be done as soon as we get there. Also, I have faith in Miku. She¡¯s a clever girl who knows how to handle things. If things get worse, I even gave her a sure-fire excuse to use," Ryder replied, smiling.

    "What excuse?" Rale inquired.

    "If peoplee to her with real urgency, I told her to lie to them and say that I left," Ryder exined.

    "Isn¡¯t that the truth? If she told them that we left, we would be in trouble." Rale let out, not understanding.

    "No, we would only be caught if she told them that we left the realm. I told her to lie that we only left the Pce. She will tell them that it was my wish to roam the kingdom while being undercover to see the real situation of the kingdom and the lives of citizens," Ryder replied.

    "Ah, as expected of Your Highness. Your n had such depths! Someone like me could neverprehend your wiseness!" Rale said, bowing his head in praise to Ryder.

    "Let¡¯s continue. I¡¯m here."

    Shu said as he appeared inside the carriage.

    "Right. Let¡¯s be on our way," Ryder nodded his head as he walked back inside the carriage.

    "ording to the map, we will soon be entering the Forest of Liander. It¡¯s said to be a good hunting ground. Do you wish to hunt along the way?" Shu asked Ryder as they reached near a forest.

    " Hunting? I guess we can hunt a beast or two for some fun. It has been a long time since Ist hunted in this ce either," Ryder replied, nodding his head.

    "Only one round of hunting. We can¡¯t waste too much time here," he continued.

    "Hmm?"

    He suddenly frowned as a warning notification appeared on his system screen.

    [Warning: It has been Two Months since the Beast Egg Hatched. If it isn¡¯t taken out in two hours, the Egg will be ruined]

    "Hmm? The Egg? What does it mean?" Ryder muttered in confusion.

    ¡¯Oh heck! The Beast Egg that I found in the valley of Wandering Souls! How could I forget that?¡¯ he suddenly remembered as he stood shocked.

    He opened his inventory, and in the lonely corner, he saw an Egg which has a timer on top of it.

    He tapped on the egg to see its status.

    [Item: Mysterious Egg]

    [Description: Hatched long ago. The beast isn¡¯t able toe out since the Egg is in inventory. Bring the egg out to help the beaste out]

    [Status: Expiring in 2 hours]

    "Sigh, if I hadn¡¯t received the warning reminder, I would have forgotten about itpletely. Being attacked by Vampire General and then the deal with the Vampire King, Ipletely forgot about it," Ryder muttered as he breathed a sigh of relief.

    "Stop the carriage," he told the driver.

    Ryder jumped out as soon as the driver stopped the carriage.

    "What happened?" Shu and Rale also stepped out.

    "It¡¯s nothing. I just remembered that my tamed beast hatched. It¡¯s time to see what it is going to be," Ryder smiled as he nced back at Shu.

    "Tamed beast? Hatched? You mean you found a rare beast egg so fast? Sigh, who am I even talking to? You¡¯re the strongest yer here. I shouldn¡¯t be shocked at anything," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Let¡¯s see what you received. Don¡¯t dy," Shu insisted.

    "Yes." Nodding his head, Ryder opened his inventory again.

 Chapter 390 Ryders Beast

    <h4>Chapter 390: Ryder''s Beast</h4>

    "Let¡¯s see what you received. I had heard that there were eggs to be found in Divinity that could be hatched, but it was said to be extremely rare. I¡¯m so happy for you," Shu told Ryder as he smiled.

    "Yeah."

    Ryder brought the egg out of his inventory and ced it on the ground.

    There was a small crack on the egg, which started getting bigger and bigger until it spread out everywhere.

    The egg broke apart, revealing the beast inside.

    Ryder could see a small creature in front of him that was just like a little cat; however, it had silver fur. There was a horning out of this creature that seemed like the horn of a unicorn. It seemed to be made of diamonds.

    [You have received the Diamond Tiger. The Tamed Beast Contract is already established. Do you wish to cancel?]

    [Yes] [No]

    "I wouldn¡¯t cancel the contract," Ryder muttered as he tapped on no.

    [The Contract is kept. Would you like to give it a name]

    [Yes] [No]

    Tapping on yes, Ryder gave the little creature a name.

    "Let¡¯s see what you are, little guy," Ryder muttered as he stepped forward and picked the little creature in his hand, and started looking at his stats.

    [Name: Venus

    Species: Diamond Tiger

    Level: 1

    Experience: 0/100

    HP: 100

    Mana: 20

    Strength: 20

    Defense:35

    Speed: 30

    Stamina:40

    Dexterity:30

    Intelligence: 5

    Avable stat points: 0

    Skills:

    Rapid Dash: Level 1

    Charged Hit: Level 1

    Diamond Wall: Level 1]

    "Interesting. The stats are almost 5-10 times more than a normal level 1 beast should have. Not bad. It also has mana, but I don¡¯t see any mana rted skills. Most of its skills are physical skills. Maybe it would get elemental skills as it grows," Ryder observed.

    "It seems like an interesting beast. A rare one? Or a normal one? I have no idea since I haven¡¯t seen many beasts of Divinity, but it does seem interesting with that diamond horn," Shu muttered as he looked at the beast in Ryder¡¯s hands.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know about it either, which is strange since I have been in Divinity for a much longer time. This does seem to be a rare beast. Even in the original timeline, I didn¡¯t know of such a beast," Ryder thought as he looked at the Diamond Tiger.

    He looked back at Rale, who was standing nearby.

    "Rale, do you have any idea about Diamond Tiger?" he asked.

    "No," Rale replied as he shook his head.

    "I would need to help it hunt. Low-level beasts don¡¯t help me, but he can grow a lot with them. I guess we can hunt for a little longer in the next forest," Ryder muttered as he started walking back. Since no one knew the answer, it wasn¡¯t good to waste time.

    The carriage started moving again and soon reached the hunting forest. All three of them stepped out of the carriage.

    "The forest is known for level 30-40 beasts. I don¡¯t think it would be suitable for the little guy to hunt," Shumented as he walked over to the forest with Ryder and Rale.

    "It¡¯s not suitable for it to hunt alone, but I can help it. I can decrease the HP of monsters and restrict their movement, so this little guy can deliver the final attack. The exp from such low-level beasts is useless for me anyway. But even half of that experience would be a big deal for a level 1 beast. It would be able to jump multiple levels," Ryder exined as he stepped foot inside the forest.

    After searching around for a while, they found the first monster.

    He found a level 40 monster that happened to be the Dark Iron Wolf, who was known for its powerful defense.

    " You want to take the first beast, or should I do the honors?" Ryder asked Shu as they found the first monster.

    "It¡¯s the monster which is at the same level as me, so it¡¯s stronger, and it is known for its speed and defense. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll have an easy time against it, and a lot of time will be wasted. You take on this beast," Shu replied with a calm smile on his face as he waved his hand.

    Ryder ced the little Diamond Tiger on the ground before them and pointed towards the Dark Iron Wolf that was drinking water in the pond.

    "Alright. Little Guy, it¡¯s your first fight. Go attack."

    Rydermanded.

    The little tiger-like creature looked at the massive wolf before it, which was multiple times bigger than it. Just the aura of the wolf was enough to intimidate the little creature.

    The Diamond Tiger looked back at Ryder¡¯s face with a cry-like face as if telling Ryder that it was a bad idea.

    "Come on, be brave. Go on. Attack," Ryder let out, smiling.

    Seeing that there was no getting out of the situation, the little creature gave up on pleading and started running towards the Dark Iron Wolf.

    The Dark Iron Wolf looked back at the small creature that was running towards it with a condescending gaze as if it was upset that even such a weak creature dared to attack him.

    Opening its mouth, he fired a dark shadow ball. Electricity flickered around the shadow ball as it moved towards the Diamond Tiger.

    Seeing the shadow balling towards it, the Dark Tiger closed its eyes as if it was sure that it was going to die, but it didn¡¯t stop running.

    "Good work, little guy."

    The little creature heard Ryder¡¯s voice and opened its eyes as it stopped running.

    It saw a person standing in front of him. An intimidating looking Scythe was in the hands of the man.

    The person shed the scythe, cutting the shadow ball in half, destroying it instantly.

    "Sigh, I can¡¯t even attack back, or I would show you the real power of a shadow ball. I don¡¯t want to kill you in one shot, though," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    He looked back at the Diamond Tiger.

    He patted the head of the Diamond Tiger. "Little guy, go ahead. You did well. Let me take over from here."

    ncing back at the Dark Iron Wolf, Ryder disappeared.

    He appeared near the Dark Iron Wolf and kicked the tiger, throwing it back.

    The Wolf crashed on the ground, but before it could stand up, it saw Ryder¡¯s feelnding on it.

    Ryder started cutting the Dark Iron Tiger with his scythe to make sure that it¡¯s HP decreased at a controlled pace.

 Chapter 391 Son of Gods

    <h4>Chapter 391: Son of Gods</h4>

    He wanted to make sure that he left enough HP for the little guy to finish it in one attack.

    After a controlled amount of attacks, he kept the scythe back.

    "Venus! It¡¯s time. Use Charged Hit and finish the big guy," Rydermanded the fellow on the side.

    "Who would have known that he would gain ten levels just from a single hunt. It got bigger as well. It¡¯s now twice the size if I¡¯m not wrong," Shuplimented as he observed the Diamond Tiger while they searched for another beast after finishing the Iron Wolf.

    "I thought it would be something simr. It would¡¯ve been much more if I hadn¡¯t received half the exp from this hunt," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "It was a level 40 beast, after all. It also dropped its fang. It can be sold for a decent amount," he continued.

    "More importantly, this little guy is stronger now. By hunting in this forest, I should be able to get Venus to level 30-40. That¡¯s where it will slow down."

    "That¡¯s true. With your help, it will be able to rise a lot. Especially due to the fact that it¡¯s really low level and the beasts grow faster. Did it gain any new skills after reaching level ten?" Shu Inquired.

    "Not yet. It still has the same three skills, unfortunately," Ryder replied as he shook his head. "I am sure it will have a skill that will use mana in the future since it¡¯s intelligence and mana limit is decently high. It¡¯s not a physical beast only."

    The two of them hunted in the forest and even met a few other yers that were hunting there. The other yers were weaker and hunting in teams, unlike Shu and Ryder, who were traveling together but hunting solo.

    The other yers were surprised to see a beast walking beside Ryder. They wondered if Ryder had tamed a beast? They couldn¡¯t help but doubt if the world of Divinity had a hidden Tamer ss like other MMORPG games.

    After hunting for a few hours, the three of them left the forest when it was evening.

    The Diamond Tiger beast was level 35 by now. Shu was level 43 by now.

    Ryder had also gained one level, and he was level 114 now.

    As it was almost night in Divinity and day in their country, they logged out together.

    In a faraway ce, the mist was surrounding every ce.

    A few shadowy creatures could be seen barely because of the mist. It was unclear to see them, but they seemed to be humans.

    A few of them seemed to have wings on their back, while some had horns.

    " Lord of mes, I heard aint that your son has entered my son¡¯s territory? You know we sent our sons on the mortal nes to test them. When all of them were assigned their own separate zones and their own tests, why is your son breaking thews set forth by the seven of us?" One of them asked

    It sounded like a man¡¯s voice.

    " Lord of Death, I had no idea that it had happened. I do have a question, however. We had all decided that none of them can contact us and we can¡¯t contact them no matter what happens. We also decided that we won¡¯t look at the mortal nes? How is it that you know? Isn¡¯t your son also breaking thews? And in an even more serious manner since he can ask for your help in his test?" Another angry voice sounded, increasing the temperature in that ce.

    "This..." The Lord of Death seemed too stunned to answer the question.

    "We can call it an emergency situation! Contacting me should be allowed! It¡¯s your son that broke thews first!" he continued, furiously.

    "It¡¯s not about being allowed or not! It¡¯s about having a way to! My question is, how does your son have a way to contact you from the mortal ne? If you sent him down with a way to contact you when we sent them all down, it meansws were broken from your side first." The me Lord seemed angry, and he wasn¡¯t backing off.

    "Lord of Death, I agree. A kid breaking thews by going to someone else¡¯s territory is a less serious matter than one of us breaking the rules that too before the test even began. What do you have to say for yourself?" Another person chimed in, siding with the me Lord.

    "Lord of War, you too? I, ah, I gave him in case of emergencies. I didn¡¯t give him the intention of helping him in the test. You can make sure that I didn¡¯t go to the mortal realm, and I didn¡¯t send anyone else to help either. You can¡¯t me me for worrying about my son," The Lord of Death gave an excuse for himself.

    "Sigh, Lord of Death, Lord of mes, you¡¯re both in the wrong. However, it¡¯s not a serious matter, so you should both let it go. me Lord, we will send a messenger down to convey ourmands. Your son needs to go back to hisnd to which he was assigned. Lord of Death, your son, can¡¯t possess anything to contact you. The messenger will take back whatever you have him. Tell your son not to resist with the messenger. This is the best solution. Do you all agree?" A fourth person dered. Her voice made it evident that she was a female.

    "I agree with the Lord of Destiny."

    "I agree as well."

    "It¡¯s the best decision to handle it for now."

    Everyone agreed, and the decision was finalized.

    Everyone started departing from that ce one after another, disappearing until only Lord of me and Lord of Death were left.

    " I hope your son doesn¡¯t die in this test. It would be a pity," the Lord of Death let out grimly.

    "Don¡¯t worry. My son isn¡¯t so weak as to die down there. You should worry about your own," The Lord of mes muttered as he disappeared.

    The Lord of Death disappeared as well.

    As all of them disappeared from that ce, another person appeared there who seemed like a young boy.

    ¡¯Sigh, all your sons just happened to be there when the time of his awakening is getting near. I¡¯m trying to keep him away from their path. I wonder how long it will work,¡¯ the Young Boy thought as he stood in an empty location.

    "Janus, what are you doing here?"

    A shadow appeared behind the young boy.

    The young boy looked back.

    "Ah, Lord of Destiny?"

 Chapter 392 Messenger of Gods

    <h4>Chapter 392: Messenger of Gods</h4>

    "Lord of Destiny?"

    The young boy turned back, revealing his beautiful Silver hair and his eyes that had violet pupils. His right eye had white, while his left eye was pitch ck, excluding his violet pupils.

    He seemed like a 14-15 old boy.

    He gazed at the beautifuldy in white that dress that stood in front of him. Thedy had two semi-transparent wings behind her back and beautiful blonde hair that seemed to be full of purity.

    "Janus, what are you doing here?" The Lord of Destiny asked Janus.

    " Lord of Destiny, I should ask the same to you. Isn¡¯t this my Family¡¯s altar where my brother used to ponder his thoughts in his early days? Why are all of you here?" Janus asked in return.

    "Janus, you still call that Traitor as your brother? After all that he did against all the Gods? That Traitor got the punishment he deserved, and he¡¯s no more. Forget that he even existed. That¡¯s the best thing you can do. His existence itself was a source of anguish for us and his death a source of salvation. We all decided that we wouldn¡¯t mention him to forget that he even existed, and yet you don¡¯t," the Lord of Destiny looked at Janus as she squinted her eyes.

    "Sigh, Whatever. You might be strong, but you¡¯re still a kid. It¡¯s understandable that you¡¯re naive. I wouldn¡¯t fret on it. I¡¯m leaving," The Lord of Destiny muttered as she sighed. She gave up on arguing and decided to leave.

    "Janus, remember. Whatever we did was for the better. He had gone crazy. We only acted to save this world from him. You knew it yourself. Isn¡¯t this why..." The Lord of Destiny said as she started disappearing.

    "... you attacked him as well."

    Even though she disappeared, her words still echoed everywhere.

    Janus clenched his fist in full force, feeling the pain from her words.

    He looked into the distant horizon as he reminisced about that cruel moment when everything had happened¡ªthe moment when a god fell and the moment when... everything ended.

    The Lord of Destiny appeared in her Pce and called out to one of her maids.

    "You called, My Queen?" The maid asked the Lord of Destiny.

    "Freida, You are to go to the mortal Realm where all our sons are for their trials. Your task is to meet the Son of Death God, Aluren. You must get the conversation stone from him that helps him connect to his father here. Tell her it¡¯s the Command of all 7 Lords overseeing the Trials," The Lord of Destinymanded her maid.

    "Oh, and tell the Son of me Lord that he is needed to go back to his assignednd. It¡¯s ourmand as well; otherwise, he would fail, and he would be called back," she continued.

    "Yes, My Queen. Your wish is mymand," the maid said as she bowed her head.

    "I have a question, My Queen," the maid inquired.

    "Does your question have something to do with how you will find them?" The Lord of Destiny asked back as an amused smile appeared on her face.

    As soon as she smiled, it was as if the whole room was filled with blissful energy.

    The maid nodded her head.

    The Lord of Destiny raised her hand. A bright light starteding from everywhere and collected above her hand. It soon took the shape of a crystal.

    The Lord of Destiny three that stone towards the maid who caught it.

    "Take this stone. This has the location of Adrian and Aluren. Find them and carry out mymands."

    "Yes, My Queen."

    The Maid left the Pce.

    She left the Realm of Gods as the messenger.

    The messenger was sent from the Realm of Gods that arrived in the world where Ryder was staying.

    Frieda found Lucifer and Adrian, who were inside the forest, still waiting for a response since Aluren had told Adrian that he sent a message to his father.

    Without backing off, Adrian replied that he wasn¡¯t scared of anyone since Aluren was wrong by contacting as well. They both started waiting, hoping that the other person will be punished instead.

    The Kings were also sent back, making Aluren and Adrian to be the only ones waiting there.

    Aluren was sitting on a throne that was brought here by his men. Adrian, on the other hand, was sitting on top of the cab, enjoying the fresh breath of air.

    Soon, a portal opened before them.

    "Someone is here," Aluren muttered as he stood up from his throne.

    Adrian also jumped down from the top of the cab and stood straight.

    Soon, Freida stepped out of the portal.

    "Who are you?" Both of the guys asked at the same time.

    "I have been sent by the Seven God¡¯s that oversee this trial to dere theirmands," Frieda dered as she floated above the air.

    "Oh, a messenger. I should¡¯ve expected it. Fathers won¡¯te for such minor matters," Adrian muttered as he observed the messenger.

    Ignoring Adrian¡¯s words, the messenger looked at Aluren.

    "Aluren, by carrying an item that helps you contact the Realm of Gods, you have brokenws. However, after deep consideration, the Lord¡¯s have decided to forgive your mistake as it was your first mistake in this trial. They did say that no second mistake like this will be forgiven. For now, you are only allowed to give us the conversation stones back, so you¡¯re never able to contact again before the Trials are finished," Frieda dered themands she was told to convey.

    "Hahaha, I told that idiot that it was breakingws. He¡¯s really an Idiot," Adrian startedughing as he saw the distorted expression on Aluren¡¯s face.

    Frieda turned back to Adrian as she heard himughing.

    "Young Lord Adrian. By leaving your assigned territory and entering the territory of another young lord, you have broken the assignedws as well. However, it¡¯s your first mistake again. Although you are forgiven, you aremanded to go back to your assignednd and never to return here again, or you will be called back. You are immediately required to leave. This is themand of all Lords as well as your father," Freida announced.

    "If all I need to have you leave without creating trouble for me is give up on my conversation stone, then it¡¯s worth it. Leave now," Aluren said in a gritty tone as he gave the conversation stone to Freida.

    "Sigh, if it¡¯s what the lords want, I¡¯m leaving," Adrian muttered as he turned back.

    "I will remember it, though," he let out as he observed Aluren before he left.

    Frieda disappeared as well.

    "Finally, we¡¯re back to normal," Aluren muttered as he gazed at the sky.

    A person was sitting in his office on the top floor of the building he owned.

    It was the headquarters of one of the biggest Conglomerates of Japan and of the world.

    A portal appeared in front of the person who was looking at hisptop.

    The young man raised his head and looked at the portal before him.

    He watched a girl step out of the portal without feeling even the least bit of shock.

    "Frieda? What are you doing here? Isn¡¯t this against thews to have contact with people of the Realm of Gods?" The man asked with a curious look on his face. "If someone finds out, mother might be in trouble."

    "It¡¯s fine, Young Prince Itsuki," thedy said as she bowed her head.

    "I came here as a messenger to sharemands of the lords to Young Lord Adrian and Young Lord Aluren," Freida replied.

    "Oho, what was the verdict? I thought it would take a long time. How did they even know what was happening here so fast? Are they constantly looking down?" Itsuki muttered with a curious look on his face.

    "It¡¯s because Young Lord Aluren had a conversation stone which he used to ask his Father to get involved. I guess he didn¡¯t wish for Young Lord Adrian to interfere in his trials," Freida answered.

    "Oh, I didn¡¯t think he had it. People would think he¡¯s an Idiot to expose his Conversation Crystal that might get him punished, but he really took a calcted risk by sacrificing that in exchange for sending Adrian back. I was thinking that there would be a bigmotion there. He acted cleverly by removing that possibility. Clever indeed," Itsuki chuckled as he praised the n of Aluren.

    " He was probably sure that he wouldn¡¯t be punished at first offense. No wonder he¡¯s called the most scheming of us," he muttered.

    "Right. He did say that it was worth it. I didn¡¯t understand the meaning, but it¡¯s clear to me now. So that¡¯s what it was," Freida muttered as she realized the intricacies of what Aluren did.

    "Leave that aside. Since you wereing here, I¡¯m sure Mother told you to convey some of her message to me. What did she say?" he inquired.

 Chapter 393 Cyber Warfare?

    <h4>Chapter 393: Cyber Warfare?</h4>

    "What messages did mother send?" Itsuki asked the woman who stood before him, gazing at him respectfully.

    "She told me to convey her message that she wishes you luck and she hopes you¡¯re doing well. Oh, she also wanted you to know something important. She said, stay away from the matters ofdies. I don¡¯t know why she said that. Maybe she divined your destiny. I didn¡¯t ask her. It would be good to follow her advice, though," Freida replied as she smiled.

    "Haha, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s her divination. She always says that to me. She¡¯s worried somedy might steal the affection of her precious son. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be careful. I¡¯m always careful," Itsuki replied as he chuckled.

    "That¡¯s all. I will take my leave now," Freida informed Itsuki before she started walking back towards the portal.

    She stopped before entering the portal as she nced back. "Oh, Young Prince, best of luck for the trial. I am sure you will do great," She wished him before she entered the portal.

    The Portal disappeared soon after.

    "So Adrian will be back in Russia, and Aluren will be back to his work. I do wonder why Adrian went there. What was he looking for? No matter how many times I try calling him, his phone is off, and he¡¯s not picking up," Itsuki muttered as he tapped his fingers on the table, lost in some thought.

    "I don¡¯t think he would tell me, though. If he was willing to tell, Aluren might have helped him instead of exposing himself to get Adrian out of that ce by involving them. Just what is it? What could make him greedy? Just what is his Trial? Is it rted to that? It shouldn¡¯t be. It¡¯s gettingplicated. I don¡¯t believe Adrian will sit silently. I have a feeling that it will be cyber warfare. Let¡¯s see who has thestugh," he wondered.

    Ryder logged out of Divinity and got off the bed.

    He got ready after showering before he left the house.

    As it was a Sunday, Alice didn¡¯t need to go to the university, and even if she did, Ryder wasn¡¯t going to leave her alone likest time. Since she was at the Shu Estate, Ryder believed that she was safe enough for him to be able to leave.

    Racing his whirlwind in an unknown direction, he departed from the Shu Estate.

    He stopped the car near the airport where he was supposed to meet someone.

    He sat at the driver seat of his Whirlwind, gazing towards the exit of the Airport.

    A beautifuldy left the airport and looked around. She wore a long dress that fit her body perfectly.

    She walked towards Ryder, who was inside his car.

    "Ah, hey. Nice car. Can I ask for a lift?" Thedy inquired with a cute smile on her face.

    "Sorry, I am waiting for someone. You should book a cab or ask someone else," Ryder replied, not giving any importance to thedy.

    "Hmph, blind man. You must still be single. You can¡¯t appreciate beauty. At Least ask me for a coffee or something. A prettydy approached you on her own. You should be d," the woman didn¡¯t leave; instead, she started getting even more active.

    "Look,dy. If I¡¯m single or not has nothing to do with you. I don¡¯t have time to mess around with you. I¡¯m waiting for someone. I told you. Stop screwing around," Ryder waved his hand, gesturing for the woman to leave.

    "You! You can¡¯t be serious! I¡¯m sure you saw me. How can you be unaffected by my charm?" The Lady continued talking to Ryder.

    "Sigh, I got it. You¡¯re crazy. I wonder why they let crazy people," Ryder sighed as he heard thedy¡¯s response.

    He opened the door of his car and stepped out.

    "Where do you want to go?" He asked as he stood in front of the car.

    "Hahaha, you finally appreciate me. I want to go to this address," Thedy said as she showed Ryder a paper that had an address written on it.

    "Hmm? Oh, that ce. I got it. It doesn¡¯t matter where you wish to go anyway. I already have a destination in my head," Ryder replied as he read the address before he started gazing at the woman from top to bottom.

    "I say, you¡¯re not bad looking. I can kind of see where you get that crazy confidence from. My gang would like someone like you. All us brothers were looking for a girl like you," he muttered as he licked his lips.

    "G-gang? All Members? Looking for one girl?" The woman¡¯s face turned pale as she heard Ryder¡¯s words, which he intentionally said in order to make her scared subtly.

    "Hahaha, yeah. In fact, I was waiting for a woman as well. You are prettier than her. I¡¯m sure my men will like you. They¡¯ll treat you like a princess. Get in the car. I will definitely drop you at the right location," Ryder said as he chuckled while standing with the support of his car.

    "Ah, N-no. It¡¯s fine. I was joking. I have my mothering to pick me up. T-thanks for the offer," thedy let out as she starts running away like a scared cat.

    "Hah, I guess we must be crazy to deal with crazy," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    He gazed at the exit of the airport before he looked at the time on his clock.

    "He should be here by now," Ryder muttered.

    He soon noticed a personing out of the airport. It was a young looking man who was in a ck coat and ck pants.

    The man walked towards Ryder after noticing him.

    He stopped near Ryder and reached out his hand to shake Ryder¡¯s hand. Ryder also did the same.

    "Ryder," the young man said softly.

    "Ray, we meet again. Get in the car. I have a lot of things I need to take about," Ryder replied as he opened the door of the car and stepped inside.

    Ray walked to the other side and sat on the passenger seat of the two-seater sports car.

    The car started driving towards a certain section of the city.

    " You said you finally have somewhat of an idea where the Dark Uprising¡¯s base might be?" Ray asked after sitting silently for some time.

    "Yeah. After observing their movement and their locations, I finally have an idea where their base might be. I think I also know where their temporary bases are. I¡¯ll tell you everything you want to know. First I need to take you to a ce. You can¡¯t disclose what I¡¯m about to tell you to anyone," Ryder replied in full seriousness.

    "I won¡¯t tell anyone. You can trust me," Ray said, nodding his head.

    Ryder took the car to the building that he owned, but he didn¡¯t stop there. He only stopped the car at the next building where he had killed the people of the Dark Uprising when he foiled their n to cause explosions all around the city.

    Ryder stepped out of the car. Ray did so as well.

    "Why did you bring me here?" Ray asked Ryder in confusion as he looked at the abandoned building.

    "I remember this building. It¡¯s where we believe you kidnapped someone. And in the nearby building, we arrested you," he let out as he smiled wryly.

    "Yeah, this building is pretty unlucky. Many things happened here. You remember that st that urred in the airspace nearby a few months ago?" Ryder inquired.

    "Yeah. I came to investigate personally, but I couldn¡¯t find any clue until you told me about it." Ray nodded his head.

    "That¡¯s right. They were behind it, and it was their n to cause explosions all around the city. Their temporary residence was this tower. It was where I killed many of their people. I¡¯m still surprised they managed to clear all the bodies before you guys came to investigate."

    Ryder started exining.

    " Anyway, this was where I ced a tracker on their executives, which I had been using to track them. I can¡¯t give you the device that I use to track their location since I can¡¯t expose all my secrets, but I did create a map with their locations that I assume to be their bases simr to this ce. I also believe their permanent headquarters is..."

    He opened a world map and pointed at a certain location on the map.

    "This ind?" Ray inquired with a confused look on his face.

    "Yes. I am ny percent sure that this is one of their bases and slightly less sure that this is their main base. I leave the rest to you. These are the maps that have the location along with the extra information I marked. You can finally begin your raid," Ryder told Ray.

    "This Ind... We can¡¯t touch," Ray muttered, shaking his head. His words stunned Ryder.

 Chapter 394 Disruption of Time

    <h4>Chapter 394: Disruption of Time</h4>

    "The Ind... We can¡¯t touch it." Ray informed Ryder, stunning him.

    " You guys can¡¯t touch that ind? Why?" Ryder asked, not understanding why it was that way. They were dealing against terrorism. Even if that ind was owned by some private businessman, they should have been able to go there.

    "It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t want to, but we can¡¯t. That ind is the territory that¡¯s outside the jurisdiction of our country. To raid ces like these, we would need permission from the government. Furthermore, that specific Ind is even more special. I don¡¯t know who owns it, but I can certainly say that we won¡¯t get permission to go there. We can only target the temporary locations that you suggested," Ray answered as he sighed.

    "Alright. If that¡¯s something that you can¡¯t do, I can¡¯t force you. Attacking their temporary bases would also be somewhat effective. At Least it would force them to retract their forces. You can also catch their people and force them to confess. With enough proof, even if it¡¯s outside jurisdiction, you should be able to get permission. It¡¯s good to start even if it¡¯s slow," Ryder said, understanding Ray¡¯s plight.

    "Yeah. Thanks for understanding. And thanks for the map," Ray thanked Ryder as he took the maps.

    "I couldn¡¯t have sent this data online. You didn¡¯t have toe all the way here for this, though. I¡¯m surprised that you decided toe," Ryder told Ray as he walked back towards his car.

    "I wasing here to meet my sister when you told me about this. So I thought that it was better to collect in person since I could get more information. Can you drop me off at her ce?" Ray asked Ryder.

    "Of course," Ryder agreed instantly.

    Ray gazed at Ryder after he sat inside the car. "Also, I¡¯m sorry for putting my sister in your trailst time. As you can understand, it was for good reasons."

    "It¡¯s fine. You shouldn¡¯t worry about it anymore. Just don¡¯te after me again. We¡¯re on the same side, but I want to fly under the radar. You found out about me, but I don¡¯t want it to get to higher-ups. Mine and my family¡¯s peaceful life here is most important to me."

    Ryder started the car and escorted Ray to the address.

    Ray opened the door of the car, but he didn¡¯t step outside. Instead, he asked, "Why don¡¯t youe inside? Yourst meeting with her wasn¡¯t good. It would be good if the two of you got introduced properly."

    "It¡¯s fine. Maybe some next time," Ryder refused politely.

    "If you say so," Ray muttered as he stepped out of the car.

    He watched Ryder leave before he entered the building where his sister was staying.

    Adrian¡¯s flightnded in Russia.

    As he stepped out of the airport, he turned his phone on before he called someone.

    In a few minutes, many SUV¡¯s were lined up in front of him.

    "Master."

    A man appeared out of thin air like a shadow in front of Adrian.

    "We weren¡¯t able to contact you. Was your trip sessful?" The man asked Adrian.

    " Sessful? It was very sessful if by sess you mean a disaster. I didn¡¯t get what I was looking for, and I got into unnecessary trouble as well. Anyway, I might havee back as I needed to, but I haven¡¯t given up. It was my mistake to go there without preparation. I didn¡¯t know that they were so scared of me that they would block my phone in fear. Next time, it will be with fill preparation," Adrian replied as he walked towards the center car.

    "First, I want you to hack into something and get me the information I need. Then you shall go there personally and bring what I want to me," he told the man who sat beside him.

    The car started moving.

    ¡¯So what if I can¡¯t go because of father¡¯s orders. I have people that can do what I wish. I will get what I desire, no matter what I have to sacrifice!¡¯ Adrian thought as he looked outside the window.

    ¡¯Sigh, the other guys must beughing at me since I was forced toe back. They will definitely bring it up next time we meet. At Least that messenger didn¡¯t tell anyone else about the message that was intended for us. No one else can know that we were scolded like kids,¡¯ he thought as he sighed. ¡¯My entire reputation is ruined.¡¯

    "It¡¯s all because it¡¯s Aluren! The next time I meet him, I will crush him under my feet for messing with me," he muttered.

    In a different corner of the world, another one of the Seven Sons of Gods, Draco Liang, was sitting in his room.

    His trial was rted to China so that he couldn¡¯t leave this country like other Sons couldn¡¯t leave their assigned countries without getting punished.

    He held a crystal in his hand, which looked just like the Crystal that Aluren had used to contact his father and the one he had returned to Freida.

    "Yes, father. Don¡¯t worry. No one shall know that I can contact you and that I have a crystal," Draco told his father, who happened to be known as the God of War in the Realm of Gods.

    On the other end of the universe, the God of War was sitting on his throne, talking to his son.

    He seemed like a giant, but it wasn¡¯t easy toprehend how tall he was exactly. He had four arms, all of which were capable enough of shaking the worlds.

    "Yeah, what did that idiot expect after exposing the fact that his son contacted him. He is such a tactless guy. I can never be as idiotic as him," the God of War said, remembering about the act of Lord of Death in the meeting of the Seven Gods.

    "Father, is there a specific reason that you contacted me for? Or was it to tell me about Aluren and what happened to him?" Draco asked the father.

    "Sigh, you¡¯re such a boring guy. Can¡¯t a father contact his son? Why does there have to be a reason? You don¡¯t contact me at all even though I gave you the Crystal. And when I do, you act like that. You know how much your father misses you?" The God of War chided his son.

    "I have something to do. I will be leaving if there¡¯s nothing else," Draco replied expressionlessly.

    "Sigh, wait a minute. There is something that I wanted to talk about. Not many people know about it, but I did hear something strange. I wanted to tell you about this. I also need you to be aware of something," the God of War told his son.

    "Something strange? What do you mean?" Draco asked his father.

    " You know your sister. She has a few connections to space and time in this universe. She did tell me there has been some instability in time on your. She could sense faint fluctuationsing from that ce," the God of War told his son in all seriousness.

    " Now, she isn¡¯t entirely sure since it can also be because the seven of you are in that world, and it might be what¡¯s causing fluctuations, but I still wanted to tell you to be alert. Keep an eye on the others. I gave a feeling that one of the other six might be involved in this," he continued.

    "Fluctuations in space and time? There are not many that can actually y around with such things. The Lord of Time is in the separate dimension created by God of Space, resting. So he can¡¯t be the one causing it. That leaves only a few people, the strongest of whom are my sister and Janus. Did you try talking to Janus if he felt simr things? That can clear the situation. If he did, he might be able to find the cause since he is slightly more knowledgeable," Draco suggested.

    "Sigh, I didn¡¯t ask him. I don¡¯t wish to ask him either. You know that guy is weird. Also, he¡¯s the brother of the person we killed. Even though he supported us at that time, I still don¡¯t trust himpletely," the God of War said, shaking his head.

    "The person you all killed? Do you mean..."

    "Yeah. The monster who wanted to change the world. The person who wanted to break thews of nature. The person who wanted to give immortality to everyone using corrupt methods. We couldn¡¯t let him do it. If everyone were immortal, we wouldn¡¯t be the Strongest beings. If it were up to him, he would have created billions of gods from the mortals. We couldn¡¯t let him do it, could we?" The God of War sighed as he remembered the gruesome battle that took ce when one God faced all the other gods, ultimately falling to his death.

 Chapter 395 Tower of Prison

    <h4>Chapter 395: Tower of Prison</h4>

    "Making everyone immortal? Even though you mentioned it, I still can¡¯t believe a god as powerful as him would be so stupid. Why would he care if the mortals lived or died? He died for mortals. Such an idiotic being. At least his brother Janus wasn¡¯t that stupid and knew about the right thing to do," Draco replied, sighing.

    " Hah, you weren¡¯t even born at that time, so you didn¡¯t know that person, but he was... I don¡¯t even know how to describe him. He was something else. I¡¯m d he¡¯s dead," The God of War let out.

    It was the night time when Ryder decided to enter the world of Divinity again.

    He joined up with Shu and Rale as they departed on their journey again.

    "The Compass is pointing towards that tower. The Ring of Lexini must be inside."

    Shu and Ryder stepped out of the carriage as they looked at the tall tower in front of them.

    "Are you three going to enter this ce?" The Carriage driver asked Shu as he realized that this was the ce they wished to see.

    He hadn¡¯t known where they wanted to go. All they said was that they would pay however much it cost for this journey. He was stunned to see that this was the ce.

    "Do you know about this ce?" Shu asked the carriage driver.

    "It¡¯s the Tower of Orc," Ryder answered instead.

    "Tower of Orc? It¡¯s not on the map or the details. Did you have a Quest here as well previously?" Shu asked in confusion.

    "You can say that," Ryder answered vaguely, not telling Shu that he had been here before in the Original Timeline.

    "That¡¯s right. It¡¯s the Tower of Orc. Despite knowing that you came here? Let¡¯s go back. You shouldn¡¯t go inside," the Carriage Driver suggested.

    "Now I understand why this Quest was a Grade C Quest. We have to take the Ring of Lexini from the Tower of Orc. Even a team of level thirty yers might have a hard time finishing this quest. It¡¯s a good thing that you¡¯re level 43 now," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the dark tower before him.

    "From the name, it sounds like a tower that will be filled with Orcs. If it¡¯s a Grade C Quest, the Orcs wouldn¡¯t be stronger than us," Shu muttered as he sighed.

    "That¡¯s true. Even the Orc Lord inside is only at Level 40, if I¡¯m not wrong, but the sheer number of orcs present inside is the real problem. It is slightly easier for high-level yers if theye in a team, but if low-level yerse in teams, they¡¯ll all get wiped out inside. Even though we¡¯re only two people, I can clear this ce myself, but we can share the prey. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything to worry about," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    "Do you want to do anything else, or should we barge straight inside?" he asked Shu.

    "Hah, what else would I need. I am fully rested. Let¡¯s get inside and have some hunt," Shu replied as heughed.

    He pulled out his dagger that he was going to use as a weapon.

    "Let¡¯s go then," Ryder muttered as he started walking towards the Tower of Orc. He let Shu walk in the lead since he didn¡¯t wish to take Shu¡¯s opportunity to lead a quest.

    Walking behind, Ryder closed up on Rale.

    "Rale, don¡¯t interfere in whatever happens. Just stand behind us and watch. The monsters inside are really weak. Let us handle them on our own," he said.

    "Understood." Rale nodded his head.

    "Sigh, kids these days are too overconfident. It¡¯s the Orb Tower! Even established warriors are scared to enter this ce, and these guys aren¡¯t the least bit worried. I hope they cane out safely," the Carriage Driver thought as he watched the three people leave.

    Shu reached the entrance of the Prison Tower and pushed the door open.

    He and Ryder stepped inside the tower and heard an announcement in their head.

    [Congrattions. You are the first team to enter the Tower of Orcs]

    [Fame +200]

    "A good start," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Ah, I know you said that there would be many orcs but isn¡¯t it too many? There are more than fifty of them just on the ground floor, and all of them have a level between 20-30. It¡¯s tougher than I expected," Shu let out, as he looked ahead while ignoring the announcement.

    ¡¯Hah, only fifty. I expected more. Thest time I came, there were close to a hundred. We had such a hard time clearing this ce even when I came with the team from the Guild. It¡¯s good for Shu that there are fewer Orcs this time,¡¯ Ryder thought, remembering the past.

    "You can take the Orcs on the left. I¡¯ll handle the Orcs on the right. Try to hold out for as long as you can. It¡¯s a good opportunity to increase levels. Fall back when you think you can¡¯t take it anymore. I¡¯ll take over your side as well," Ryder told Shu as he brought his Moon Scythe out of his Inventory before he slept forward.

    "Alright! Let me show them my wrath," Shu let out, full of determination.

    Each of his hands held a short knife as he ran towards the Orcs that were after him.

    As Shu ran to fight, all the Orcs started running towards him.

    "Hey, are you going to leave me alone? Why are you all running to him? Some y with me as well," Ryder let out as he jumped in the middle of the Orcs while swinging his Moon Scythe.

    A high-level yer like Ryder was not someone that these low-level orcs could face. In a single attack, he managed to kill the Orcs that he came in contact with.

    [Exp +500]

    [Exp +500]

    [Exp +600]

    The notification of additional Exp kept resounding in his head as he kept killing the Orcs one after another. He didn¡¯t even need to use his Spells as a single attack from his Moon Scythe was enough to kill the enemies.

    In less than a minute, Ryder had killed more than half the Orcs on this floor.

    He had killed thirty orcs alone.

    Shu, on the other hand, had only managed to kill two Orcs while trying to defend himself from the rest of the Orcs.

    "I killed more than half identally now. I don¡¯t think he would mind," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    Standing on the side, Ryder watched the battle of Shu.

    "That¡¯s [Stealth Strike]. A decent move of thieves. Not bad. It looks like he has a good mastery of that skill. His speed isn¡¯t bad either. He can easily handle the Orcs, even though it might take some time. I don¡¯t think I would need to interfere," Ryder let out as he observed the battle of Shu.

    He didn¡¯t jump in the battle since Shu was still leading the battle. Until he was in danger, Ryder wasn¡¯t going to chime in.

    Rale walked over to Ryder and stood behind him.

    "Rale, what do you think of Shu¡¯s abilities?" Ryder casually asked Rale, wondering how an expert warrior of Divinity would judge a yer that was using skills.

    " His skills aren¡¯t bad, but they¡¯re not polished enough either. He is a good warrior, though. He should be able to win the battle. He¡¯s at the level of Demon kids in battle. He should be proud," Rale answered.

    Hearing his answer, Ryder couldn¡¯t help but cough.

    ¡¯ You¡¯re saying that he has the same level of strength as the kids of your species, and you want him to be proud?¡¯ he thought.

    "Don¡¯t tell him that," he told Rale.

    "Oh right, what and my skills. Give your honest opinion. How weak am I?" Ryder inquired, curious about his own abilities from Rale¡¯s point of view.

    "It¡¯s tough to judge. Your skills are way greater. I don¡¯t think you ever showed your true strength, though, so I can¡¯t judge. You¡¯re a very down to earth person. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve ever used more than one percent of your strength even when you were in danger," Rale answered.

    Ryder smiled wryly after hearing Rale¡¯s assumption.

    ¡¯ It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t use my strength! It¡¯s that I only had that much strength! Just how strong do you think I am, Rale?!¡¯ he thought to ask, but he didn¡¯t.

    While Rale and Ryder were talking, Shu was busy in battle. He had killed five orcs by now, leaving only fifteen more.

    His level had also jumped by one level.

    He was now a level 44 yer, giving him even more boost in his strength.

    Ryder wanted to drop the topic, but he didn¡¯t as his curiosity kept increasing. Unable to control himself, he ultimately asked, "How staying do you think I am exactly?"

    Rale nced at Ryder as he smiled.

    "That¡¯s a tough question, but I have an assumption."

 Chapter 396 First floor

    <h4>Chapter 396: First floor</h4>

    "That¡¯s a tough question, but I have an assumption," Rale seemed uncertain as he answered.

    "Interesting. Tell me your assumption itself then," Ryder asked the boy.

    "Hah, I believe that you¡¯re at least as strong as the Dukes. That¡¯s my estimate while being conservative. You might even be as strong or even stronger than High Dukes. Yes, tough to know for sure since you never show your true abilities," Rale told Ryder.

    ¡¯ Hah, he is so wrong. I thought he would know by now that I¡¯m a weak person who can get stronger faster. I guess his loyalty is so high, and he thinks of me as so great that his mind automatically believes that I¡¯m much stronger than I let out,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled wryly.

    He believed that it wasn¡¯t a bad thing. As long as Rale believed it, he wasn¡¯t going to say otherwise.

    "You might be right, or you might be wrong. I¡¯ll leave it at just that," Ryder answered as a faint smile appeared on his face.

    "Are you really not going to help? It¡¯ll be finished much faster with you helping them," Rale asked Ryder as he saw Shu, who had killed seven orcs, but he was starting to look tired. There were twelve orcs still left to kill.

    "Not yet. It¡¯s a good chance for him to get stronger. And we also divided our duties. I already killed more than I was supposed to. It¡¯s better if he kills the rest himself, or he¡¯ll feel like a burden when he¡¯s supposed to be the main lead of this mission," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "Sometimes we must take a back seat for the better, just like I let Devilia take the lead in dealing with the missing Marquis matter. There are many things to reconsider," he continued.

    "Your Highness is wise," Rale said as he nodded his head in praise.

    The two of them continued watching the battle. As it progressed, Shu got more and more active. He was looking tired as well, but he kept getting fiercer as he showed more abilities.

    His level also kept increasing.

    By the time Rale had killed the Twelfth Orc, he had be a Level 45 yer.

    The Twentieth kill brought him to level 46.

    After he finished dealing with every orc that was left, he dropped down to the ground, tired.

    Ryder walked closer to Shu and ced his hand on his shoulder as he said, "You did well."

    "Says the one that was finished in a minute," Shu answered wryly as he chuckled.

    "No, really. If I weren¡¯t at such a high level, even I would be having a hard time. I can¡¯t say for sure that I would¡¯ve done as well as you did if I was at the same level as you. You did really well," Ryder replied as heughed.

    " Even though you are saying that, you¡¯re only being nice, I guess I should still thank you," Shu let out as he smiled.

    "Give me a minute to rest. I will be ready."

    "Don¡¯t worry. Take your time. The Battle upstairs will be even fiercer. We need you in your best condition to be able to fight. You depleted all your stamina. Rest properly," Ryder shook his head as he answered.

    He also sat beside Shu with his back resting against the wall. Shu did the same.

    After quite some time, Shu stood up as he stretched his arms. "I am ready to go. We can fight more."

    " Alright. Let¡¯s go upstairs," Ryder nodded his head as he stood up with Dale.

    The three of them walked towards the stairs at the end of the hall that led upstairs.

    Shu again took the lead, with Ryder and Rale following closely behind.

    The three of them reached the first floor of the Tower of Orc.

    There they could see even stronger orcs, but something was different.

    There were three doors, and two Orcs stood in front of each of the doors.

    All six of these orcs were level thirty Orcs.

    "They have seen us. Why aren¡¯t they attacking us?" Shu asked in confusion.

    "None of them will attack until you go close to the door they are guarding," Ryder answered Shu.

    "There are only six orcs. I thought that these floors would have a tougher challenge. Why are there three doors, though? Which door should we enter? Or all three doors lead the same ce?" Shu inquired, wondering about the mystery of the doors.

    "All three doors lead to a different ce. The first door will lead to the chamber of orcs, where you will find hundreds of orcs. If you clear that chamber, a path will appear before you that will lead you to the lord of Orcs."

    Ryder had entered this ce before and that too as part of a big team. At that time, they had entered different doors by dividing into even smaller teams. That¡¯s why he knew which door led to where.

    "The second door will lead to a ce that will have half the number of orcspared to the one where the first door leads. Even though the numbers will be less, the level of monsters will be higher. In the first chamber, we might face Orcs in level 25-30. In the Second Chamber, we will face Orcs that are in level 30-32," Ryder exined.

    "The Third Chamber behind the third door will only have thirty Orcs, but all of them will be level Thirty-five."

    "They all lead to the Orb Lord after you clear those chambers. So which door do you want to enter?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "How do you know all this? Did you enter all three of themst time?" he asked the man.

    "You can say that," Ryder answered vaguely since he couldn¡¯t say he entered with a big team. He was the top yer. It would have been a big deal if he entered with a team, as someone might have mentioned it in one of the forums if it had happened.

    "I think going in the first door will be the best choice. Even though the monsters are slightly lower level, the number is way higher. We would have an advantage when collecting exppared to the other rooms," Shu answered Ryder as he selected the first door.

    "Alright. Go and kill the guards that are guarding the first door. You will get ess to open the door," Ryder answered as he smiled.

    He could kill the enemies in one strike, but he let Shu do it.

    "It¡¯s fine. I know you want to help me, but it¡¯s better if you do it yourself. I would have to spend a lot of energy to finish them; then we would need to rest. It¡¯s just a waste of time. You can finish them faster, so I have the energy to put in the right ce," Shu rejected the offer, knowing full well why Ryder had told him to do it.

    "Alright. If you say so," Ryder muttered as he raised his hand towards the orcs that stood in front of the first door.

    "Shadow Ball," He muttered, firing a ball of Shadow towards one of the two Orcs.

    Without waiting, he used another spell and fired a me Ball towards the second Orc.

    Both these attacksnded on the enemies, destroying them instantly.

    " So powerful. It must be really fun being such a high-level yer on this hand. You¡¯re like the god in Divinity. No one should be able to face you," Shu praised Ryder as he saw how powerful that attack was. In a single hit, he had killed the Orcs that Shu had to fight fiercely to kill.

    "I am strong? It¡¯s from his point of view that I am strong, but if he sees the world from my eyes, he would realize how weak I am. I am not even as strong as the weakest guard in the Demon Pce. If it is about beings that are like gods in Divinity, the High Dukes and Rale would be one of them. I am not even close to being able to be on their same level,¡¯ Ryder thought as a faint smile appeared on his face, hiding his true emotions.

    "Let¡¯s go. A battle is waiting for us," he told Shu as he started walking towards the first door.

    They reached the first door. Just like Ryder had said, the Orcs that were guarding the other doors didn¡¯t attack them even after the orcs guarding this door were killed.

    Ryder opened the door and stepped inside.

    As they entered, they saw close to a hundred orcs standing with clubs in their hands.

    "Oh right. I forgot to mention. This time they will have weapons as well," Ryder let out suddenly.

    "Haha, I can see now," Shu chuckled as he answered.

    "Want to follow the same pattern? We both share half, or should I take more?" Ryder asked Shu.

    Standing tall, Shu shook his head. "There is no need. I should be able to handle half of them."

 Chapter 397 Boss Battle

    <h4>Chapter 397: Boss Battle</h4>

    "Alright. You take fifty on the left; I¡¯ll take fifty on the right," Ryder told Shu, dividing the prey.

    "Sure. Oh, this time, don¡¯t take my prey likest time," Shu replied jokingly as he raised his knife.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I will only kill fifty this time," Ryder replied wryly.

    He was about to step forward with Shu when he stopped.

    "Oh, I have a better n. Dividing can be confusing, so how about I go first? I¡¯ll take my end of the Orcs first, and then you can have a good andfortable time battling them. Stay right here," he let out, stopping Shu.

    Shu agreed and stepped back, letting Ryder take the lead.

    Ryder smirked as he brought his Moon Scythe before he stepped forward, jumping in the middle of the Orcs.

    "Sand Storm!" Ryder let out, using a skill that he had learned near the start.

    As soon as he used the skill, sand started appearing around him, creating a whirlpool of sand that started spreading outwards.

    Even though it was a low tier skill, when it was used by Ryder, it was enough to wipe multiple orcs that touched it at the same time.

    The sand whirlpool kept spreading outwards, killing more and more beasts.

    "Just what is his ss? That Skill doesn¡¯t seem like something any of the ss should specialize in? Does he have a special ss?" Shu thought as he observed the skill of Ryder.

    He didn¡¯t know that Ryder¡¯s Moon Scythe gave him the ability to absorb one of the skills of the ones it killed. Even though this ability rarely worked, it was really good when it did.

    Ryder stopped his Sand Storm just when it was done killing the beasts that were near him.

    Ryder counted the beasts that were alive and started smiling wryly. There were only ten Orcs left

    [Exp +2500]

    [Exp +2500]

    [Exp +2500]

    [Exp +2500]

    Notification kept resounding in his head.

    [Level Up]

    "Ah, I killed ny Orcs identally. I thought this much time of Sandstorm would only be enough to kill 40-50. I underestimated its strength and range," Ryder let out with an embarrassed look on his face.

    He appeared beside Shu.

    "Hahaha, it¡¯s fine. Ten should be enough for me. They are higher level than the ones downstairs anyway," Shu replied as he chuckled.

    He stepped forward and joined the battle.

    Ryder waited beside Shu.

    " Your Highness did well. I like how you sneakily killed ny percent of the enemies even when you were supposed to take half. You did it to finish the battle much faster, right?" Rale asked Ryder, misunderstanding his intentions.

    "Ah, I have noments," Ryder replied vaguely.

    He didn¡¯t clear the misunderstanding that it was actually an ident.

    Shu kept fighting the Orcs. As the number of Orcs was less this time, the Orcs were higher level. Thus, it took more time for him to finish the battle even though he had leveled up quite a few times on the lower floor.

    After some time, Shu finished the battles. He killed the Orcs and walked back, tired.

    "I got a few drops. It was a rare tooth of Orc," Shu told Ryder as he showed the gold teeth to him.

    "Pretty rare indeed. These stupid orcs weren¡¯t dropping anything at all when I killed ny of them. You got in just ten. That¡¯s what is luck," Ryder let out as he smiled.

    "Anyway, have rest. Next, we should be facing the Orc King. There should be the ring of Lexini that we need as well," he continued.

    Nodding his head, Shu started resting. He sat down on the ground.

    Ryder was still fully rested. His stamina wasn¡¯t exhausted in the least as he only used one skill. His MP was so high at the moment that it didn¡¯t put even the least of burden on him.

    "Oh, fu*k! How could I not remember it? I could¡¯ve used the Diamond Tiger. If it killed the enemies here, it would have gained massive amounts of levels," Ryder suddenly cursed as the thought hit his head.

    He couldn¡¯t help but regret about the missed opportunity.

    "That¡¯s right. If you captured the enemies and let it kill them, it should have shared experience. Its growth would be too good," Shu let out, nodding his head.

    Even he was surprised that he didn¡¯t think of it before.

    "There is still an Orc King left. You can let it deal the finishing blow and grow," Shu suggested.

    "If I do that, it would be less effective for you since thest one that deals the damage gets the most experience. The rest gets ording to their contribution. It will get more than you, and if I join the battle as well, you¡¯ll barely get anything. You should be thest one to attack," Ryder replied, Shaking his head.

    It was Shu¡¯s quest, and he shared it with Ryder. He even decided to give the Guild token to Ryder without being greedy. After all that, Ryder didn¡¯t wish to take the credits from Shu that could help him level up. This little amount of experience was nothing to Ryder. He could collect much more Exp by hunting high-level monsters alone.

    "But-"

    "No, but. I can let it growter as well. I¡¯m a High-Rank yer. I¡¯ll have many more opportunities to let the Diamond Tiger grow and way easier," Ryder answered as he smiled.

    "Alright. If you insist, you¡¯re the boss here," Shu replied as he smiled wryly.

    After resting, the three of them left. The three of them opened the door that was at the other end of the chamber and stepped inside.

    As they passed through the door, they saw a Giant Orc that was twice the size of the previous Orcs.

    It had green skin and two red horns on its head. It also had three hands. Two of the hands wereing out of his right while one wasing from his left.

    Each of his hands held a weapon. One had a mace, another held a giant hammer, and thest one held a sword.

    The Orc King was standing with his eyes closed.

    "That¡¯s the Orc King. It wouldn¡¯t move unless we attack first. Let me get its HP down, and then you can deal the final blow and get half the experience," Ryder told Shu after taking a short nce at the Orc King.

    "Alright." Shu nodded.

    Holding the Moon Scythe in his hand, Ryder walked towards the Orc King.

    "It¡¯s so tiring to fight weak monsters. I can¡¯t even use any of my skills, or I would kill him in one shot. I can only cut him slowly to leave enough of his HP," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    As he walked, his speed kept increasing before he was right before the Orc King. Raising his legs, he kicked the stomach of the Orc King.

    The impact of the kick was powerful enough to throw the Orc King back.

    The Orc King crashed on the wall in the back as he opened his eyes.

    Ryder hadn¡¯t used any of his skills and simply kicked using little strength, but that itself was enough to depletion ny percent of the Orc King¡¯s HP.

    The Green HP was only at ten percent now when it turned red. As soon as it turned red, the HP kept increasing until it was full again.

    At the moment, the entire HP bar was full, but it was red.

    "Hah, the Rage Mode of the boss monster. Am I supposed to be scared?" Ryder muttered as he again appeared near the Orc King and kicked.

    The Orc King once again flew back like a broken doll, crashing on the different wall.

    He once again lost ny percent of its HP, but he stood up instantly as he threw the sword towards Ryder¡¯s chest.

    Ryder shed his Scythe horizontally, cutting the sword of the Orc King in half before he ran towards the Orc King.

    "Sigh, only ten percent HP left. I can¡¯t even attack with strength anymore. I guess I¡¯ll simply toy with it," Ryder muttered as he jumped after getting near.

    Hended on the back of the Orc King and cut the three hands of the Orc King.

    The Orc King lost another five percent of its HP, leaving barely five percent.

    The Orc King started shaking his body, trying to get Ryder down from his back, but Ryder didn¡¯t fall down. Instead, Ryder started slowly cutting the body of the Orc King.

    The HP kept trickling away slowly once again.

    "It¡¯s ready for you. Come and deal the finishing blow," Ryder let out as he jumped to the side.

    Shu crossed his de as he ran towards the Orc King.

    [Wrath of the Thief]

    Shu used his strongest skill just to be sure that he didn¡¯t leave anything to luck.

    Two shes appeared on the Orc King¡¯s chest, drowning its HP to zero.

    The Orc King dropped to the ground.

 Chapter 398 Shus Scheme

    <h4>Chapter 398: Shu''s Scheme</h4>

    Shu gained another level as he received the experience from killing the Orc King.

    Ryder also received the experience, but it wasn¡¯t enough to make him jump a level.

    The rewards aren¡¯t bad. All three of the weapons of this guy are Silver Grade treasures. I would offer you some, but you already have Unique Grade Items, and these items taking a slot in your inventory would be a waste of slots for you," Shu told Ryder as he picked up the weapons.

    "Yeah. You can keep them. You are a thief, so you can¡¯t use these items. Two of these are for warriors, while one is for archers. Keep them for when we open our guild. We can give to the ones that don¡¯t have good weapons," Ryder replied as he agreed.

    "I was thinking the same thing," Shu let out as he smiled.

    He collected the loot but as soon as he finished, the Orc¡¯s body started disappearing as it turned into little specks of light?

    As soon as it disappearedpletely, a ring was revealed to be lying on the ground.

    "That must be the ring we are here for," Shu muttered as he stepped towards the ring.

    He picked up the ring.

    [Ring of Lexini discovered]

    "Hah, finally we are done. Now we can return this thing and finish the quest," Shu let out as he smiled.

    He expected the battle to be tough and expected himself to at least be injured to win, but with the help of Ryder, he didn¡¯t even need to put much effort into it.

    He just made a single attack and won the Battle, all thanks to Ryder, which was the reason he wasn¡¯t the least bit tired.

    "Let¡¯s leave now that we are done."

    The three of them left the tower of Orcs and went back to the carriage that was waiting far away from the tower.

    "W-what? You entered, and you came back safely? How could this be? Oh right, you didn¡¯t actually enter deep, did you? You must¡¯ve stood near the door and ran out. There is no way that you went deep and survived. I am right, aren¡¯t I? No wonder you¡¯re safe," the Carriage Driver said as he saw Ryder and the others standing before him.

    "We killed the Orc King," Shu answered as he showed the sword of the Orc King.

    The Carriage Driver was stunned at the sight of the sword. He eximed excitedly, "What?! This can¡¯t be! It¡¯s actually the Sword of the Orc King? You really killed him! You three must be great warriors!"

    [ Five Thousand Fame Points received]

    Ryder heard a notification in his head. Shu heard the same in his head as well.

    "Just this single guy gave us so many Fame Points?" Shu asked in surprise.

    "It¡¯s not just him but his reach. He will go back and spread the word in the whole Kingdom. That is probably why the Fame Points are so much. We achieved something significant after all," Ryder exined as he smiled.

    He tapped the shoulder of the carriage driver. "Can you take us back now? We need to go to the Royal Family as well."

    "Ah, right." The man let out as he nodded his head.

    Shu and Rale also sat inside the carriage as it started moving.

    When it was night, Ryder and Shu logged out of Divinity.

    Ryder got dressed and left the Mansion since he had a meeting with Herriet about the future of the Aviation Branch of Divine Corporation and how they could make the rise.

    As he went down the stairs, he noticed that Shu was also dressed and leaving the house.

    Curious about Shu¡¯s outing, Ryder asked, "Where are you going?"

    "I will be out of the city for the next few days or even longer. We have a meeting between the board members. I should be back as soon as I am done," Shu answered as he smiled.

    "Alright," Ryder nodded and left the house with Shu.

    He stepped inside his Whirlwind while Shu sat in the helicopter that flew away.

    Ryder went towards his office.

    Shu was sitting in his helicopter beside his butler when he received a message.

    He opened the phone and saw that it was a message from a person he knew. He had received an image that showed Ryder meeting with Ray.

    He called the number that sent the picture.

    "When was it taken?" Shu asked.

    "We were following the officer that you asked us to keep an eye on. Just recently, he met with Ryder," the person on the other side replied. "They traveled together before Ray was dropped at his sister¡¯s house. After that, Ray left the city."

    "Did you find out why he is sticking so close to him? Did hee here to meet him or to meet his sister? What is his mission?" Shu inquired.

    "From what we found out, his mission is ssified. We were still able to dig something. Apparently, his team is handling the matter of a terror group that was behind the attack in DC and the one that was allegedly responsible for the bomb that blew up mid-air in your city," The person on the other side answered.

    "The st that urred near his building? If I¡¯m not wrong, he was nearby at the time of the st as well. Could it be that he is involved in something dangerous? I can¡¯t dy for long," Shu muttered as he gazed outside the window.

    "Alright. Keep an eye on Ray and tell me if he contacted Ryder again. I also want to hear what they talk," he told his ken.

    "I am really sorry, but that¡¯s impossible even with our resources. Ray is taking a lot of precautions. We can¡¯t listen to their conversion. We can know when they talk over the phone, but we can¡¯t know what they talk about. It was the samest time as well." The person on call sounded perplexed.

    "I don¡¯t care how you do it. Use any resource you want. I give you permission. I want to hear what he is involved in," Shu replied, not listening to his concerns before he disconnected the call.

    "Brother Ryder, why are you so much alike to him? Even your bad habits are the same? Why put yourself in danger for no reason. He was an idiot too. I hope you aren¡¯t the same. I don¡¯t wish to take drastic measures," Shu muttered as he sighed.

    "Sir, do you really not wish to tell him why you are so close to him? Don¡¯t you want him to know why you help him so much?" The Butler of Shu asked abruptly.

    "What benefit would it bring?" Shu asked.

    "I feel like he is getting more used to things and getting morecent. I sometimes feel like he treats you too casually. You should really let him know the reason so he could, ah, appreciate things more," the Butler asked.

    "No, it¡¯s fine just the way it is. He doesn¡¯t care about money, and even without my help, I believe he could have achieved a lot of things. At first, I was stunned when I saw him for the first time, standing behind me in the line. He looked so much like him that I felt like I was dreaming. I had to work so hard to get close to him. I can¡¯t spoil everything. I don¡¯t want him to leave," Shu replied, shaking his head.

    A sigh escaped his mouth.

    "Anyway, how many people are going to be there? You know I don¡¯t like crowds," Shu asked the butler.

    "I realized that. That¡¯s why, even amongst the board members, I have only called the ones at the absolute top. It won¡¯t be crowded," the Butler answered with a calm smile.

    "That¡¯s good," Shu muttered as he closed his eyes.

    "Sir, I had a question," The butler let out suddenly.

    "Ask. What is it?" Shu asked while opening his eyes.

    "When you had his sister kidnapped, why didn¡¯t you kill her? If you had left her dead body in the house of that guy, it would have been more effective than him finding her alive there," the butler told Shu.

    He was very confused about this, and he had been wondering about this reason for a long time.

    "Hmm! Only that? It¡¯s very simple. I want to achieve my goals, but I don¡¯t want to get what I want by breaking Ryder. I don¡¯t want him to lose his family like I lost mine. I never intended to hurt him like that. That¡¯s why I made sure that his sister wasn¡¯t hurt in the least," Shu answered as he smiled.

    "Also, she called me brother with such a pure heart. How could I hurt her? It¡¯s unfortunate that the n failed, though. I never knew he would trust his best friend so much. That was disappointing to know," Shu answered as he sighed.

    "It¡¯s fine, though. There are many more ways..."

 Chapter 399 Shus Past

    <h4>Chapter 399: Shu''s Past</h4>

    "I won¡¯t let the past repeat itself," Shu muttered as he sighed. "I won¡¯t be left alone ever again."

    " Sir, you know your Elder brother didn¡¯t leave you. After your parents died, thepanynded on his shoulders, but he didn¡¯t wish to manage thepany, instead fulfilling his military duties. He disappeared in the line of duty. It¡¯s clear that he died. I don¡¯t think he left you," the Butler told Shu as he sighed.

    "I don¡¯t care about how it happened! I was left alone! My brother sacrificed himself for this country. He gave his life instead of spending it with me, taking care of me. It wasn¡¯t my fault? I didn¡¯t kill my parents? I didn¡¯t ask for thispany? I didn¡¯t ask for money or power? It was all for him to handle! After I lost my parents, all I wanted was the brother who took care of me from little."

    "All I needed was my brother tofort me. To make me feel that everything was going to be fine but he... He died!" Shu eximed as a single droplet of tear trickled down his eye.

    Seeing Shu like that, the Butler also felt sad. His heart ached. He had been with Shu since childhood. He knew how much Shu and his whole family went through.

    When people saw Shu, all they saw was a confident chubby young man who had everything that he could possibly want. They only saw a rich kid that possessed so much wealth that his seven future generations could be spendthrift and still not spend it in its entirety.

    They were jealous of Shu. People thought that what problems can such a rich guy have? People thought of him as someone who didn¡¯t need to worry about anything.

    They didn¡¯t know that even when Shu got all this property and wealth, he didn¡¯t care about anything. He was broken. He had been broken since his parents died, but his heart wholly shattered once the news of his brother¡¯s death and disappearance came.

    He started closing himself and became more silent, but he couldn¡¯t watch the business empire his father built to fall. That¡¯s why even when he was broken, he didn¡¯t let it affect the business. He dealt with matters properly and made the Dream Corporation be even more dominant in the business world, so much so that his name was in the mouth of every powerful person as the business genius.

    Despite achieving all that, he kept his identity and name a secret. Except for the true high-level people in this world, no one else knew what the owner of Dream Corporation looked like. Even online, no one could find Shu¡¯s name since it wasn¡¯t public. All the general public knew was that the person was known as Mr. Maxwell, and he was young.

    No one else saw the struggles that went behind achieving so much. The Butler had seen Shu going confidently in board meetings and working all day but crying alone in darkness at night.

    He had seen Shu suffer alone while not letting anyone see his weaker side. That was the time when Shu started looking towards Video Games to find somefort and to keep himself distracted when he wasn¡¯t working.

    Even after all that, his pain and trauma didn¡¯t seem to be healing.

    The day Shu disappeared from the house without telling him, he knew that Shu went to buy a video game called Divinity, trying to see if a fully immersive world of Divinity can heal him a little. That¡¯s why he didn¡¯t send any guards after Shu.

    He wanted him to be able to enjoy a day out. However, he hadn¡¯t expected how that single outing that day would change everything. He didn¡¯t know that Shu would meet someone who looked like his beloved brother.

    He was so stunned when Shu came back and told him about it.

    "It has been fifteen years since he went missing. I know it¡¯s hard to get over, but that man is not your brother. He just looks like him," the butler said as he sighed.

    "You think I don¡¯t know that? That day I saw him, I realized that he wasn¡¯t my brother. My brother looked Twelve years ago how Ryder looks now, so there was no way for them to be the same. I had realized that straight away. But still, a part of me was happy, thinking that my brother returned to me in one form or another. That¡¯s why I got close to him," Shu muttered as a sad smile covered his face.

    "I know, but what you¡¯re doing now is..." the butler replied but stopped as he didn¡¯t know how to finish his sentence. He didn¡¯t want to make a mistake in how he addressed the situation, not to hurt Shu with his words.

    "Go on. Why did you stop?" Shu asked as he slowly opened his eyes and gazed at the man sitting near him. "What I¡¯m doing is what? Crazy? Psychopathic? Mad? I honestly don¡¯t care. He might not be my real brother, but the way he looks and the way he acts is exactly the same."

    "I don¡¯t care what happens next. I can¡¯t let him leave. My brother will never go away from me. I can¡¯t let anyone take him away from me. I won¡¯t let my brother leave me ever fucking again! Last time, he left me for duty, but this time, I don¡¯t let that happen! He has a best friend who is closer to him than me? I will create enmity between them! Then I would be closest to him, wouldn¡¯t I? Then he won¡¯t leave me ever, right?" Shu asked as a crazy look appeared on his face.

    The Butler opened his lips to say something, but no words came out of his mouth.

    He just watched Shu while sitting there.

    "I only want him to be close to me like a real brother and no one else. Unfortunately, Alice exists as well, and it¡¯s fine. We can be a family of three. I can think of her as an adopted sister. Only us three, closest," Shu let out as he smiled while closing his eyes.

    " Really? You live at the Estate of Mr. Maxwell, who rules the Dream Corporation?"

    Ryder and Herriet were leaving the office after their meeting to go to a bar to have a few drinks when Ryder answered Herriet¡¯s question, telling her where he lived.

    "Hmm? How do you know about him? I thought not many people know where he lived?" Ryder asked as he frowned. He didn¡¯t realize that Herriet would know about the fact that the owner of Dream Corporation lived there.

    "Oh, I once apanied someone to meet him. I also pitched him to buy ACL, but he refused, saying that it wasn¡¯t worth his effort to buy a dyingpany," Herriet replied.

    "Hmm? That doesn¡¯t sound like Shu. He is always warm and kind as far as I have seen him. He might have been stressed that day, maybe," Ryder said as he thought about it

    "Maybe, I am surprised that he let you stay with him. From what I heard, he is a pretty isted person that doesn¡¯t open up to anyone. It¡¯s surprising to know that he is so kind to someone. I guess I really misunderstood him," Herriet let out as she smiled wryly.

    The two of them entered the lift and pressed the button on the ground floor.

    "I am surprised a little as well. I didn¡¯t expect the rich people to be this kind. However, he is different. He is just like a kid, if that makes sense; innocent," Ryder said as he smiled.

    "Don¡¯t you find it a little bit suspicious? Why only to you?" Herriet asked, invoking the curiosity of Ryder as well.

    "I can¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t ask about that before. That question also got me curious a few times. Why me? Or maybe he was always like that, kind, but he didn¡¯t find a friend? There are many things that might have contributed to it. Anyway, it¡¯s not like he can get anything out of me. He didn¡¯t ask me for a single thing. I do think he will have any bad intentions," Ryder replied as he stepped out of the lift with Herriet.

    The two of them walked towards the car after leaving the building.

    Ryder opened the door of his car while he continued talking, "I don¡¯t know how to describe it properly, but the way he talks and acts, I genuinely feel like he treats me as his brother."

    "I guess it is possible. I heard of incidents where people be best friends in the first meeting. Maybe it¡¯s something like that. Anyway, I can only say that you¡¯re lucky. With the support of Dream Corporation, no wonder you were able to establish apany at such a young age and were able to buy ACL," Herriet told Ryder as she smiled. She also stepped inside the car.

 Chapter 400 Reason of Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 400: Reason of Meeting</h4>

    "With the support of Dream Corporation, no wonder you were able to establish apany at such a young age and were able to buy ACL," Herriet told Ryder as she stepped inside the car.

    "Not really. I might be living with Shu, but I don¡¯t use his influence for my business. As for the money I used to buy ACL, that was my own too. He did help me a lot in different ways, though," Ryder answered as he started the engine of his car.

    It wasplete silence. Herriet didn¡¯t speak anything, mostly because she was stunned. Ryder was able to collect so much money on his own without the help of Shu? She was having a hard time believing.

    "Are you joking?" she asked suspiciously.

    A wry smile appeared on Ryder¡¯s face. He wondered why he even told her that. He should have expected that reaction. Maybe because he didn¡¯t want her to give credit for his sess to someone else?

    He was surprised that he cared so much.

    ¡¯ Why did I even care if she was giving credit to Shu. It¡¯s not like it would be harmful to me in any way,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Hah, you¡¯re not answering. You were definitely teasing me." Herriet chuckled as she misunderstood Ryder¡¯s silence.

    Hearing her cuteughter, Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile as well. He slowed down the speed of the car even though the road was empty so that he could gaze at Herriet.

    Looking sideways, he watched the slender face of Herriet. A beautiful smile was on her face as sheughed.

    "You look really pretty when you¡¯re happy. You should always be like that," Ryder let out softly before he shifted his gaze back to the road.

    "W-what?"

    Herriet immediately closed her mouth as a slight blush appeared on her face. She didn¡¯t know why her heart skipped a beat as she heard Ryder¡¯s praise.

    She took a deep breath as she calmed herself down before she said with a smile, "I must say, your flirting skills are improving. It¡¯s way better than the line that you used at the start about getting a current when touching me."

    "What can I say? If you stay near me, I might be an expert at flirting," Ryder answered as he smiled wryly.

    "Oho? Aren¡¯t you going to ask if I have a boyfriend?" Herriet inquired with an amused smile on her face.

    " Do you?" Ryder asked casually.

    "I don¡¯t. You¡¯re lucky. Keep taking me to drinks like this, and I might actually fall for you," Herriet said jokingly.

    "Hah, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to handle you. But I can¡¯t stop taking you to drinks either. Sigh, a tough life," Ryderughed as he joked around too.

    "Do you have a girlfriend?" Herriet asked softly as she looked outside the window, hiding her red face.

    "A girlfriend, huh," Ryder muttered softly as he fell into a deep thought.

    ¡¯Esmi counts as one, I think, even though we haven¡¯t rified our rtionship.¡¯ he thought as Esmi¡¯s face appeared on his head.

    " You¡¯re not saying yes or no. Do you have a girlfriend?" Herriet asked again. Her fist was clenched as she waited for an answer.

    "I do have a girlfriend, kind of," Ryder replied vaguely.

    Hearing his answer, a disappointing look appeared on her face. She didn¡¯t let it show.

    "What do you mean kind of? How can you kind of have a girlfriend?" She asked.

    "It¡¯splicated. Anyway, we¡¯re here," Ryder let out as he stopped the car in front of the bar.

    "Complicated huh," Herriet muttered as she stepped out of the car.

    Ryder also left and locked the car before he entered the bar with Herriet.

    The two of them started drinking.

    In another part of the country, a board meeting was taking ce.

    A wooden rectangr table was ced in the center of the room.

    There were chairs all around the table, and Shu was sitting in one of the chairs. His seat was the main seat that was right in front of the screen, which was used to show projects and presentations.

    Shu was sittingfortably with his feet stretched outzily. His fingers were tapping the table, creating a sweet melody that seemed to have harmony with nature itself.

    Other than Shu, no one else was inside the room.

    Shu gazed at the clock, which was showing the exact time. There were still two minutes left before 2 in the afternoon.

    " Two minutes," Shu muttered as he closed his eyes, but he continued tapping his finger.

    There were still two minutes left before the meeting time.

    Only one minute had passed before the door of the room opened. People started walking inside the chamber.

    The first person to enter was Alem Schmidt. He was someone that Ryder had met previously. When Ryder¡¯s sister was kidnapped, and Ryder had caused an ident to save her, Alem had gone there with three Major Generals to save him from being arrested.

    He was the Non-Executive Director of the Defence Technology Branch of Dream Corporation. In terms of importance in the Dream Corporation, he was ranked fifth, but some people said that his actual position was technically higher since he was close to Shu.

    The Second was the Executive Director of the Dream Corporation¡¯s Research Branch, Mark Quinn. The Third to enter was the Executive Director of Defense Defence Branch, Fisch Layman. They were the third and fourth in terms of importance in the organizations.

    The fourth person who entered the chamber was the person who held the most authority in the Dream Corporation after Shu. He was the Managing Director of the Dream Corporation, Drake Lamia.

    "Only five of us are here? I thought it was a board meeting?" Drake asked as he sat on the chair that was directly opposite to Shu, on the other end of the table.

    " Yeah. Are the otherste? How unprofessional. It¡¯s already the time of the meeting, yet they aren¡¯t here? I¡¯m disappointed," Fisch chimed in as he also found a seat.

    " They shouldn¡¯t bete on such a special asion. I feel like something is different. Could it be that only five of us were supposed to be here?" Mark raised a concern.

    Everyone looked towards Shu for an exnation, including Alem.

    " Mark is right. This board meeting is only between the five of us," Shu answered casually.

    "Well, it¡¯s true that the five of us possess most of the authority in thepany but is it right to have a board meeting without other members?" Mask asked with uncertainty.

    "I don¡¯t like crowds. If you wish, you can tell them what we discussed here today after I leave. This is only for you guys and me," Shu said, clearing the concern of the man.

    "Alright. If that¡¯s what you want, this meeting shall be between us only. So tell us, what is it for? You don¡¯t generallye here personally unless it¡¯s really important, handling the matters from the back unless necessary. What brought you here?" Drake asked as he gazed straight at Shu.

    Mark also looked at Shu to hear his answer while Fisch picked up the ss of water in front of him and started drinking the water.

    "I want to buy Necrosis Corporation."

    Shu only said six words, but these six words were enough to stun everyone.

    Fisch, who was drinking the water, spat out in shock. Drake also frowned. Mark, on the other hand, seemed to be lost in some thought.

    Alem was as expressionless as he was mostly.

    "Do you know what you are saying? Necrosis Corporation is having its best time of life right now. Even the government is getting involved in their business. Do you think it¡¯s easy to buy them? Let alone then selling us, even if they did, can we afford it? We have such big ns for expansion. After spending so much, we would be pushed back by decades even if we managed to buy them sessfully. And we will be a joke if we don¡¯t. This is a failed endeavor from the start," Drake exined calmly.

    " Yeah. Think of our reputation. It would take such a massive hit if people know we failed to buy a newly risenpany," Fisch also chimed in.

    "Could it be that you¡¯re concerned about their rise? The government is closely working with that, so there¡¯s a chance they will enter the weapon industry, which is our turf. They can be a directpetitor to us. Could it be the reason you want to buy them? To eliminate thepetition before it gets big enough to threaten us?" Alem let out, thinking rationally.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s true. I had the same suspicion as well; however, if it¡¯s aboutpetition, we don¡¯t have to go all out like this. We can ruin them without even buying them. There are so many ways to sabotage their growth. It won¡¯t be tough to spread the news everywhere that their Divinity sses kill people. We already have the mediapanies in our hands," Mark said as he smiled.

 Chapter 401 Shus Death?

    <h4>Chapter 401: Shu''s Death?</h4>

    "We already have the media in our hands. As for the resources, we don¡¯tck them either. We can definitely bring them to ruins. Just a little bad PR for necrosis, and we can do it," Mark suggested during the meeting.

    Shu gazed at Mark and didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Mark is right," Fisch also chimed in. "If we can create fear in the public about the safety of the Necrosis products, that would make us win most of the war easily. When Necrosis is ruined, we can buy them and take over their tech. You know how the public is. We can easily make this work in our favor. The public will never know the truth."

    "The trust in Necrosis would hit rock bottom. Their shares will go back to where they came from. It would be much easier to swallow than whole during their fall," he continued.

    "What about you, Drake? What¡¯s your opinion?" Shu asked softly. There wasn¡¯t a single emotion visible on Shu¡¯s face.

    "I oppose this. We can use this method, but there are just too many risks and uncertainties. A single mistake can cost us big time. The US authorities are working with them even closer than they are working with us. If ites to light that we did it, we would be the ones hit hard. Our shares might not plunge as extremely, but the authorities will be a mess to deal with, even for us," Drake answered, opposing the n.

    "I¡¯m not even talking about the number ofwsuits we will face for doing it. Overall, it¡¯s a risky idea, and I oppose it." Drake expressed his opinion openly that he was against the idea suggested by Mark.

    "Alright. That¡¯s two in support and one in opposition to the suggestion. What about you, Alem? What is your opinion?" Shu asked Alem.

    "Why are you asking him? He doesn¡¯t have voting power in a matter of such importance. It should be decided by us four," Drake said, squinting his eyes.

    Shu frowned, but he didn¡¯t say anything immediately. He basically ignored Drake as he asked Alem again, "Speak. What is your opinion about it?"

    The face of Drake distorted as he was ignored, but he didn¡¯t say anything.

    "I think going down this path might be detrimental to our growth. If it¡¯s exposed, we might be in deep waters. We would lose the trust of people instead, which we worked so hard to gain. We can take some precautions to make sure we aren¡¯t exposed, but the risk will always be there," Alem answered after taking a deep breath.

    "Interesting. So the votes are tied. Alem, did you do that intentionally, so I be the final vote?" Shu asked Alem as he smiled.

    Alem didn¡¯t answer.

    "Alright. Here is my suggestion, the n Mark suggested..."

    Shu was in the middle of his sentence when his phone started ringing.

    Everyone looked at Shu nkly. They all wondered why he didn¡¯t silence his phone when it was such an important meeting, but his position was the highest, so they couldn¡¯t oppose him.

    "Excuse me, I¡¯ll be right back," Shu said as he stood up and left.

    After Shu left, the others rxed even more, but none of them said anything.

    It was pin-drop silence, and only the sound of the creaking of chairs could be heard.

    "Yeah, Speak," Shu said as he picked up the phone.

    Shu stayed silent and only heard for the next five minutes before he disconnected the call. Throughout the conversation, he hadn¡¯t said a single word.

    A thoughtful look graced his face as he ced the phone in his pocket. "That¡¯s pretty interesting."

    He walked back to the meeting.

    "Alright. Where were we?" Shu asked as he sat in his seat.

    He remembered instantly as he nodded his head. "Yeah, my opinion."

    "My stance on the matter is simple. We won¡¯t do as Mark suggested. Drake and Alem are right. Even though it¡¯s a good way to eliminate an enemy, this is not the right time to do it as we will not only be going against Necrosis, but we will be battling against the government that¡¯s behind them as well."

    He soon dered his verdict.

    "Hmm? I thought you would have the same idea. So, how else do you wish to buy Necrosis? We can¡¯t buy them like they are now," Mark replied after hearing Shu reject his suggestion.

    "I have a way. And I just wanted to inform you that I would be going forward with the talks with the Necrosis guys. As for the funds that we will use to buy them and where to arrange them from, I¡¯ll tell you that as well after our first round of talks conclude," he told the others.

    "Alright. That was all for today. I¡¯ll call you again when I get a clearer picture of what we¡¯re dealing with. The meeting is over now," Shu said as he stood up.

    He turned back to leave but stopped just before the door.

    "Oh, some of you were concerned aboutmencing this meeting without other members. If any of you wish, you can notify themter," Shu said before he left the chamber.

    Without stopping anywhere, he walked to the helicopter, which was waiting at the top of the Dream Corporation Headquarters.

    The Butler of Shu was walking behind him. After some time, he asked, "How did the meeting go?"

    "The meeting went like it was supposed to go. What were you expecting?" Shu asked with a faint smile on his face.

    "Oh, I did get a good piece of information," he muttered as he stepped inside the helicopter.

    "Oh, what news?" The butler asked Shu as he stepped inside as well.

    "Just some information about a little rat in our Organization. It would be fun to see that rat run around. Wonder how much we can use the rat," Shu replied softly.

    The helicopter started rising in the air and went back.

    Thirty minutes had passed since the helicopter started flying. It was flying above a barrennd.

    In a dark room at Dream Corporation, a man was standing alone, looking out the ss window.

    He looked at his clock.

    "It should be the time."

    "5... 4... 3..."

    The man started a reverse countdown as a faint smile appeared on his face.

    "2... 1... Boom"

    "Goodbye, Schumacher Maxwell," the man muttered softly.

    Far away from that ce, a burning helicopter was falling to the ground. An explosion had just taken ce inside the helicopter, causing it to blow up. What remained of it was falling down to the ground.

    The pieces of the helicopter crashed on the ground.

    In another part of the country, Ryder was still drinking with Herriet.

    After spending half an hour with her, he left with her and dropped her back at the office.

    After dropping her, he straight away went back home since he had nned for something today.

    It was Alice¡¯s leave, and he wanted to take her on an outing as it had been a long time since they spent some time together.

    He reached the Shu Estate and went straight to Alice¡¯s room.

    He knocked on the door a few times. "Alice, can Ie in?" He asked.

    "Ah, yeah," Alice¡¯s voice came from inside.

    Ryder twisted the doorknob and opened the door before he stepped inside.

    He could see Alice lying on the bed, covered in a nket. The AC was turned on, and the room was chilled.

    "You¡¯re beingzy even today?" Ryder asked as he chuckled.

    He walked closer to her and sat beside her.

    He reached out his hand and touched Alice¡¯s cheeks.

    "Get up. Let¡¯s go out today," he let out softly.

    "Hmm? Really?"

    Hearing Ryder¡¯s words, Alice sat up in excitement.

    "Yeah. I know that it has been a long time since west went out. I was thinking that it was a perfect opportunity since the both of us are free," Ryder answered.

    "Ah, yes. I¡¯ll get ready now," Alice replied as she stepped out of the nket and walked over to the wardrobe.

    She brought out a dress and showed it to Ryder. "How¡¯s this?"

    Even though she was showing a dress to Ryder, his gaze unintentionallynded some other ce.

    Even though the room was not hot, since Alice was lying in a nket, her body was covered in a little sweat.

    She was only wearing a thin t-shirt, and even that was sticking close to her body, highlighting her breasts.

    Surprisingly enough, she wasn¡¯t wearing anything inside the t-shirt, which Ryder realized as he saw the emerging peaks at the center.

    He wanted to look elsewhere as it wasn¡¯t appropriate, but he couldn¡¯t. It was as if his eyes were protesting against him, not letting him look elsewhere.

    "Ah, What happened? Why aren¡¯t you answering? Did you not like this dress?" Alice asked Ryder as she saw him not respond.

    She walked closer to Ryder and stood just half a meter away from him.

 Chapter 402 Love Hotel

    <h4>Chapter 402: Love Hotel</h4>

    Since Ryder was sitting and Alice was standing, his face was facing her chest. Both were at the same height.

    "Say something. What happened? Is the dress not to your liking? I can send another one," Alice asked Ryder.

    Ryder blinked a few times in quick session as he shook his head.

    "It¡¯s a good dress. Don¡¯t worry about anything. Get ready fast. I¡¯ve already selected a ce for our outing," he said as he nodded his head.

    "Hmm."

    Alice stood there, looking at Ryder, but she didn¡¯t move back.

    "I need to change. Are you going out?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "Yeah. I¡¯ll wait out the door," Ryder said as he stood up. His gaze again fell down, but it didn¡¯t linger for longer as he turned back and left.

    Alice looked towards the door, and after making sure that the door was closed, she started taking off her clothes and getting dressed.

    It took Alice only fifteen minutes to get prepared. She stepped out of her room.

    "You look good," Ryder praised as soon as Alice stepped out.

    "Are you not getting dressed?" Alice asked Ryder, who was still in his casual clothes.

    Ryder was wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt.

    "What getting dressed? I¡¯m already dressed. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to find a wife. I don¡¯t think I need to look fancy," Ryder replied as he chuckled.

    "I¡¯m not going to find a husband either, but still... It¡¯s good to look our best. What would I do if people make fun of me for not looking good enough to be beside you," Alice answered, smiling.

    She started walking towards the stairs, leaving Ryder stunned at her answer.

    "You already looked so pretty. I should be the one thinking about that," Ryder smiled wryly as he walked behind her. "Any guy can fall for you at first nce."

    " Any guy? What about you?" Alice asked subtly as if she had asked an unimportant thing. She continued walking away at her regr pace.

    "I¡¯m a guy, aren¡¯t I? I stand by my answer. Any guy can fall for you at first nce," Ryder replied as he nodded his head.

    "So you fell for me?" Alice inquired as sheughed.

    She thought that Ryder would be silent like always and pretend as if he hadn¡¯t heard it. This had happened a few times before. Whenever she talked about something like that, Ryder always ignored her. She thought that it would be the same this time as well.

    That wasn¡¯t what happened, though, as Ryder went against her expectations and answered.

    "Yeah," Ryder answered.

    Alice froze in her ce, unable to take a step forward. Her face turned crimson.

    " What?" Alice asked.

    " You heard me. I said I stand by my answer. Any guy can fall for you at first nce. You¡¯re just so awesome," Ryder said as he stopped near Alice. He rubbed her head.

    "Now, let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll gette. You¡¯ll miss the main part," he said. He reached out his hand and held Alice¡¯s hand.

    He left the estate with Alice, hand in hand.

    Alice could feel her heart beating irregrly after what Ryder had confessed, and holding hands now was making her even more hyper.

    Ryder only released her hand when they reached the car.

    He opened the door and stepped inside. Alice also stepped inside the car.

    "Were you joking?" Alice asked as Ryder started the car.

    "Not at all. Who wouldn¡¯t fall for someone like you?" Ryder asked in return as he reversed the Whirlwind.

    A pleased smile appeared on Alice¡¯s face as she heard him.

    She gazed at Ryder and softly asked, "Do you remember when we were little? My mother used to bring me to your home. I always made you y house with me. It still makes me embarrassed to this day."

    "Hahaha, how can I forget. You were such a brat. Even though you were younger than me, you always annoyed me so much. You made me the wife and became the husband every time. Sigh, I honestly hated it at the start," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly.

    "Then the incident happened where our parents died. You came to live with me permanently. I already knew you a lot before that happened, but after living with you, I realized that whatever I knew about you wasn¡¯t even close. You were so hard working. You always took care of me like my real family. Even though your mother wasn¡¯t rted to us but still, she felt like my real aunt, and you felt even closer than my real family," he muttered.

    The roads weren¡¯t empty, yet he was driving at a somewhat faster speed, keeping his eyes at the door.

    Hearing his words, Alice started looking down.

    "Have you found a girlfriend?" she suddenly asked.

    "Hmm? Why are you asking?" Ryder inquired.

    "Nothing. I was just curious. You have been finding less and less time for me nowadays. It might just be work, but I wonder if some other reasons are there as well," Alice asked.

    Ryder didn¡¯t feel like lying, but the truth was tooplicated to tell, so he deflected the question.

    " Work has been my main focus nowadays, and it does take lots of my time, making me unable to take care of you properly. That¡¯s why I ditched work today to have an outing with you."

    After thirty minutes of Driving, Ryder reached the destination he wanted. He stopped the whirlwind in front of a karaoke ce that had recently opened. It had the highest ratings despite being so new.

    Most of the reviews said that it was a heavenly ce.

    Hearing such praises, Ryder decided to bring Alice here. They could eat, sing and drink¡ªjust the two of them.

    "A karaoke? Not a bad ce. I would love to duet with you," Alice chuckled as she realized the ce they were at.

    Ryder parked the car and stepped out with Alice.

    The two of them walked inside the ce.

    Ryder walked to the receptionist with Alice. "Excuse me; we would like your best room."

    "Of course. Are you guys on a date?" the receptionist asked as she saw the two people that looked like a couple.

    "I guess it can count as a date," Ryder replied, nodding his hand.

    "Hahaha, of course. I understand." the receptionistughed as he nodded his head.

    "This is the key to our most expensive room. It would cost you two hundred for an hour," he said as he ced the key on the desk.

    Even though it sounded expensive for a karaoke room, Ryder didn¡¯t create trouble. He paid the guy and took the key.

    A servant escorted them to the room since they were new here.

    Ryder opened the room and stepped inside with Alice, only to be stunned.

    Only three words left his mouth. "What... the... F-"

    There was a giant TV; there was a mic and everything a Karaoke room was supposed to have. That wasn¡¯t the problem. The problem was that it even had what a ce like this wasn¡¯t supposed to have.

    There was a King Size bed ced in the room, which was covered in a pink bedsheet. Flower petals were ced on the bed in the shape of the heart.

    Beside the bed, there was a table where a bowl was ced.

    The bowl had something which even made Ryder embarrassed since he was with Alice.

    There were packets of condoms inside the bowl.

    "What the heck is this ce? I¡¯ll go talk to that guy," Ryder said as he turned back to leave, but Alice caught her hand, preventing him from leaving.

    "Don¡¯t go," Alice told Ryder.

    "Why? What happened? Ah, right. You must be ufortable in this room. You cane with me too," Ryder said.

    "No, that¡¯s not it. You don¡¯t need to go," Alice told Ryder softly.

    "I have heard about ces like this. I guess this is a Love Karaoke Bar. It¡¯s like a Love Hotel but with a Karaoke facility that operates mainly as Karaoke ce. I know you didn¡¯t know, but most of the rooms of this ce would be like this," Alice asked Ryder. "Since we¡¯re already here, why don¡¯t we..."

    "It¡¯s done. That guy is dead. We should be getting news by the morning. Since he didn¡¯t have any family members who can inherit thepany, we can take over. From now on, the Dream Corporation will belong to us," the Managing Director of the Dream Corporation, Drake, was talking to someone over the phone.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I have confirmed with my sources. He was present inside the helicopter when the explosion took ce. There is no way Schumacher Maxwell will ever be a roadblock in our path," he said as he nodded his head.

    He stayed silent for a few seconds as he heard the reply before he answered, "Right. That guy was so stubborn. Always doing whatever he wished. Now that he is gone, I can run thepany as I want. Don¡¯t worry; the real boss will only be you. I am just a way for you to rule Dream Corporation."

 Chapter 403 Raid

    <h4>Chapter 403: Raid</h4>

    "The real boss will be only you," Drake said to someone over the call.

    He heard the response for a few seconds.

    "Got it."

    Beep!

    The call was disconnected, and Drake ced the phone on the table again.

    "Finally... I won¡¯t have to see the annoying face of that guy again. I can run thispany much more freely. As for buying Necrosis, nope. There is no need for that." Drake rxed on the chair as he looked towards the window.

    Back at the Karaoke ce, Alice had caught the hand of Ryder, stopping him from leaving.

    "You don¡¯t need to go," she said. "Since we¡¯re already here, why don¡¯t we just use this ce."

    Her words sounded so ambiguous that Ryder started coughing.

    "What?" he asked.

    "I mean, we have all the tools here," Alice said, stunning Ryder. "If we can just ignore the decoration and the, ah, stuff on that table. We can use this ce for karaoke. It¡¯s the same anyway, except those few things."

    " It¡¯ll be a waste of time to go argue with the guy since he won¡¯t be able to do anything. Also, you already paid him. Let¡¯s just make the best with what we have," she continued.

    "Ah, that¡¯s what you meant. I thought..." Ryder didn¡¯t finish his sentence and started setting up the things.

    He selected the first song, which was a pop song from a new singer known as Dustin Fever, who had suddenly risen to poprity. From what he knew, girls and youngsters liked the music. It was everywhere and borderline bing annoying for older people.

    Ryder started singing with Alice as the song was a duet.

    They continued for close to an hour. They sang pop, country, and even rap songs. The fun time soon stopped as Ryder realized it was time to leave.

    Alice was breathing heavily as she had been singing and dancing. Ryder, on the other hand, was only singing; however, he was still out of breath as thest song that he sang was by a rapper known for his speed, Reminem.

    Ryder walked over to the bed and sat down. Looking at Alice, he said, "Rest for a little. I don¡¯t want the guy outside to see us out of breath and sweating. He would think that we were engaging in... bad things."

    Alice nodded her head as she did the same. She walked close to him and sat beside him.

    "It was fun," she said as she threw her body back andid on the bed.

    "It sure was. You can sing really well. I still sound bad," Ryder said to Alice as heid down as well.

    "I don¡¯t think that. Your voice suited some of the songs really well. Especially the tapping part of the rapper 50 Dors," Alice replied, shaking her head.

    " What¡¯s the next in our agenda? Where are we going after this?" She asked Ryder.

    "I do have a few ns, but I want to hear yours. Where do you wish to go?" Ryder asked.

    "How about a movie?" Alice inquired.

    "Movie?" Ryder asked in surprise. He didn¡¯t know that Alice was a movie person. As far as he knew, she barely watched movies.

    Alice answered, "Yeah. I heard it¡¯s a good experience even though I personally haven¡¯t seen one in theatres. Let¡¯s go and watch thetest one that¡¯s ying."

    "Sure. It¡¯ll only be an hour-long anyways." Ryder nodded his head.

    Although his n was different than what he had initially thought, since Alice wanted it, he agreed.

    After resting for a few minutes, the two of them stood up.

    They left the room without even looking back once.

    "Did you have a good time?"

    As soon as the two of them walked closer to the reception, the guy asked with a smirk on his face.

    "You are really an idiot. Don¡¯t make me open my mouth," Ryder replied sarcastically.

    Ryder left the ce with Alice.

    "Cheh, they all have fun and don¡¯t even respect the people who provide the resources," the receptionist muttered, shaking his head.

    Ryder entered the car with Alice and went to the nearest movie theatre.

    The two of them went inside.

    "So thetest movie is Revengers 68," Ryder muttered as he saw the digital poster at the front. "It¡¯s going to be a superhero movie with action. Should we watch some other movie since you¡¯re not into violence?"

    "Don¡¯t worry. It won¡¯t have that much violence. Let¡¯s just watch it. I heard a lot about this one. Apparently, 99.99 percent of the poption is wiped in this one by the viin. It sounds like an intriguing concept," Alice answered.

    "Alright then." Ryder bought the tickets and entered the hall with Alice.

    Both of them sat near the end.

    The entire movie was full of realistic 4d and didn¡¯t need sses or any other tech to see.

    "It can be pretty fun to see the tech of Necrosis used in movies. If these are already so realistic, imagine being inside the movie actually," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "The Virtual Reality? Yeah, that would be fun with movies. Actually being inside that world," Alice muttered in agreement.

    The movie soon started.

    "What the f..."

    Only five minutes had passed since the movie started, and there was already a kissing scene between two superheroes who were barely wearing anything.

    He nced at Alice to see her reaction, but she was looking down at her phone as if she didn¡¯t see it.

    Only after the scene was over did she raised her head.

    Ryder understood what she was doing. She didn¡¯t want him to feel awkward.

    A smile appeared on his face.

    He ced his hand on Alice¡¯s head and gently rubbed it.

    [Ding... A mission has been assigned to the Host]

    In a different part of the country, the FBI and the rted authorities were surrounding a building that was said to be a terrorist hideout.

    It was a raid mission that was being led by Ray. The building they were surrounding was a location given to Ray by Ryder. It was one of the temporary bases of Ryder.

    "Everything is ready. We are prepared to go in."

    People in fully protective heat were standing behind Ray, who was simrly protected.

    All of them were carrying their weapons with them.

    "Alright. You have all been briefed on what kind of enemies we might face. There may be people who are modified humans. They can¡¯t be killed easily. You need to be fully wary of such people. If you¡¯re attacked, and the enemy is like that, throw the explosives without hesitating."

    Ray gave the instructions to everyone.

 Chapter 404 Problem

    <h4>Chapter 404: Problem</h4>

    The teams entered the bindings and came out after an hour. There was a look of disappointment on their faces.

    "This entire building is empty. How can this be," Ray muttered as he sighed.

    "Maybe the information you received was wrong?" A team member asked as he frowned.

    "It can¡¯t be wrong. I¡¯m sure that my source was correct," Ray replied as he shook his head.

    "Who was your source? Maybe you should talk to him. If he gave false information, we need to know. We Have used a lot of resources to make this happen. Going back empty-handed will definitely not be right."

    Ray was also frowning as he heard the words of his team. It was true that if the information were wrong, not only him but his source would be a focus of scrutiny as well.

    "Let me check the other ces," Ray muttered as he pulled out his phone. He called a number.

    "Hey, Eyu, what¡¯s the situation there?" Ray asked.

    "Ah, yeah. I was about to call you as well. Are you sure that you gave us the right location? This whole ce is empty. I don¡¯t think even ghosts would be living here," the person on the other side of the call said jokingly.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll call you right back. Just give me a few seconds," Ray replied before he disconnected the call.

    He dialed another number.

    "What¡¯s the situation there? Did you find the enemies?" he asked as soon as the call was picked up.

    "No. Unless the rats that are inside the building are supposed to be the ones we¡¯re here to arrest. There¡¯s no one here," the other person answered.

    Ray kept calling the other teams, wondering if it was the same there as well.

    Unfortunately, it was. Almost every team reported that the ces they were supposed to raid were empty.

    "Ahh, this is such a headache. The higher-ups will eat me alive. I was the one that told them not to go any reconnaissance beforehand since I didn¡¯t want the enemies to be alert, but I didn¡¯t know this would happen," Ray muttered as his frown depended.

    He walked farther from the others and called Ryder¡¯s number to tell him of the problems that had urred.

    Ryder was in the middle of the movie when his phone started ringing.

    "Sigh, is it working again? Can¡¯t You silence your phone and ignore it?" Alice asked Ryder.

    Ryder was looking at the name of the caller on his phone. Noticing the call was from Ray, he stood up.

    "It¡¯s important. I¡¯m really sorry. I¡¯ll be right back," Ryder told Alice before he left.

    He walked out the hall and picked up the call.

    "Hey."

    Hearing Ryder¡¯s nonchnt tone, Ray couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly.

    "Don¡¯t hey me. I¡¯m in trouble," he replied.

    "What trouble? Can I help?" Ryder asked, wondering what could have happened.

    "The problem is not something you can help me with. What happened was that we were supposed to raid all the locations you had given me. In fact, I¡¯m standing in one of those locations," Ray exined.

    "And?" Ryder asked suspiciously.

    "All the locations are empty! There is no one there! Every single location!" Ray eximed.

    Ryder was stunned to hear his words. He replied, "That shouldn¡¯t be. Why would such high ranking Members stay in empty ces like those if it wasn¡¯t their bases? I even saw some people going in and out of those buildings through the satellite images."

    "This is what happened, though. I see from my own eyes." Ray sighed as he kicked the tires of his vehicle.

    After a few seconds of silence, Ryder implied, "I think someone leaked the information about the raid. They vacated the locations before you could reach there."

    "Who else knew about the location of the raid?" he asked.

    " No one knew about these locations except our head. Even the agents were only told when we were en-route," Ray answered.

    "Then you know my answer. The person who helped them isn¡¯t someone low in position. Your Chief might be the main suspect," Ryder said.

    "No, that¡¯s impossible. Our chief was the one who took the mission. He was also the one who assigned us to go to DC. He found most of the leads that helped us get closer," Ray replied, shaking his head.

    "Didn¡¯t the enemies in DC know about your n? Weren¡¯t they ready for you? He sent you there, and they knew about you..." Ryder muttered.

    "I know what you¡¯re implying. It was a ploy to have us killed to create problems? But you already know. Riya was the spy of Dark Uprising. She was the one leaking the information," Ray answered as he shook his head.

    " That doesn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t responsible. That n was too coordinated for it to be the work of Riya alone. Anyway, since those guys already vacated the location, I can¡¯t help you. The tracer shows that the people are on that ind, but you can¡¯t go there anyway. This was all I could help with," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "Also, I know what this means. You would get the me even if someone else leaked the information. They will ask for your source and start interrogating me if you answer. I¡¯m sure you know better than to name me, don¡¯t you? Because I won¡¯t be happy if I¡¯m involved, and you know how things can go wrong when I¡¯m not happy," he threatened Ray subtly.

    "Hah, you don¡¯t have to threaten me like that. I promised at the start that I wouldn¡¯t involve you in my stuff. I will keep my promise. It might be tough, but I¡¯ll handle it. And I can push the angle about the information being leaked," Ray answered, shaking his head. He had already decided that he would take most of the me on his head without letting Ryder be affected.

    " I wish I could help you, but it¡¯s out of my hands," Ryder muttered. "I truly wanted Uprising to lose its strength, but this was a failure. Their reach is already too high. Much higher than I expected."

    " What are you going to do about them?" Ray asked, wondering how Ryder was going to handle them. In his eyes, Ryder was a warrior of justice who had been fighting with this organization since the start.

    " I¡¯ll just ignore them. I¡¯m not going to their base to die before I¡¯m strong enough," Ryder answered straight away. He was already wary of them afterst time.

    "Ray, the Chief is on call. He says your number is busy."

 Chapter 405 Love Confession

    <h4>Chapter 405: Love Confession</h4>

    "Ray, the Chief is on call. He says your number is busy."

    One of the men called Ray.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll call youter," Ray disconnected the call before he took the phone from one of his men.

    "Yes, Sir," he said

    "Ray, can you exin what just happened? I¡¯m getting reports from everywhere that this mission was a waste? Didn¡¯t you say there will be those people in those ces? I trusted you and got all the permissions only to have this happen? How do you exin this?"

    "The Terrorists had vacated the premise before we got here. The possible exnation is that someone leaked the n, and they left," Ray answered.

    "Oh, are you putting the me on others? They all got to know the location 20 minutes before reaching the location. Are you really saying that in Twenty minutes, all the locations were vacated?" the Chief asked.

    "That¡¯s not what I¡¯m saying. It is not easy to clear all these ces so thoroughly in Twenty minutes," Ray answered.

    "Oh? So you¡¯re saying the n was leaked way before that? Who else did you tell about this other than me?"

    "I didn¡¯t tell anyone."

    "Are you ming me for leaking it then? Since what you¡¯re saying means only you and I knew?!"

    "I am not ming you, sir. Not this is the only exnation I have. Or maybe they did seed in twenty minutes since these were only their temporary bases, most probably. It¡¯s much faster to clear ces like this. Sigh, I know it was a failure, no matter what the reason may be. I am ready for any punishment."

    "Alright. Come back. We will discuss everything elseter."

    The call was disconnected.

    Ray returned the phone before he sighed deeply.

    "This is a mess. I wonder how I¡¯ll get out of it," he muttered as he looked towards the building.

    Ryder was walking back to the hall, talking to himself, "Those guys left the ces. I thought with this; I would be able to give some damage to those guys to keep them busy for a while. Instead of that, I¡¯m the one who got a surprise."

    "If I knew that this was going to happen, I would have told him to act much more carefully. Now the Uprising guys also know that someone knew about their locations. They will try to find out about me."

    " Even though Ray won¡¯t open his mouth, they wouldn¡¯t let him live in peace. I need to act. I¡¯m sure his boss was the mole. He is the Uprising agent too. I can¡¯t let him take control of the situation." Ryder stepped inside the hall.

    He walked near Alice and sat down.

    "You arete. You missed so much. The team is separated. They¡¯re all in different ces now."

    As soon as Ryder returned, Alice started updating him on the things that he had missed in the movie.

    "Oh, sorry for beingte. Let¡¯s watch," Ryder replied as he satfortably by cing his hand on the armrest. Alice happened to have her hand there as well, making his hand rest right above hers.

    Even though Ryder realized what had happened, he didn¡¯t take his hand off since he didn¡¯t find it to be a big deal. They were close enough anyway.

    Alice, on the other hand, was more surprised. She could feel Ryder¡¯s warm hand resting on the back of her hand.

    She felt something strange as if she was liking it, but she pretended as if she didn¡¯t find it a big deal either as she kept her focus on the movie.

    Ten minutes passed like this before she finally did something she never thought she would do. She didn¡¯t know where she got the courage from, but she did something unexpected.

    She turned her hand upside down so that her palm was touching Ryder¡¯s palm.

    Ryder was surprised. He thought that she wanted to free her hand, so he was about to remove his hand, but something else happened.

    Before he could remove his hand, Alice inserted her fingers in the gap between his fingers. Their fingers intertwined.

    Ryder grew even more stunned, but he didn¡¯t take his hand off. He let it remain there and kept their fingers intertwined.

    He looked at Alice¡¯s face, which focused more on the movie as if she hadn¡¯t done anything. Ryder shook his head as he started rxing. He could feel the softness of Alice¡¯s hand as he watched the movie. Her fingers were slim yet soft.

    "I like you," Alice said suddenly.

    Cough! Cough!

    Ryder suddenly coughed as he sat straight after hearing her words.

    "Sorry. I thought I heard something. Did you really say something, or was I hallucinating?" He asked her.

    "I said, I like you," Alice repeated her words. She still didn¡¯t look at him.

    "Oh, I like you too," Ryder replied, smiling.

    "Not like that. You know we have been sharing a house for a long time. You aren¡¯t my rtive. We aren¡¯t family either, in reality. Still, you took care of me all these years without everining," Alice muttered in a barely audible voice. "I like you not as someone I grew up with, but as someone I want to grow old with."

    "I-" Ryder was about to say something, but Alice didn¡¯t let him finish.

    "You don¡¯t need to say anything. Let¡¯s just watch the movie. I¡¯m happy I got to say what I always wanted to," Alice answered as she sighed. "You don¡¯t need to answer now. Take your time."

    "I never really thought a girl would propose to me like that, and that too, you," Ryder muttered as he rested his back on the seat. Their hands were still intertwined.

    "I don¡¯t want time to think, but I think you should," he continued before he stopped talking.

    "What do you mean?" Alice asked, confused.

    " What you feel might be confusing gratitude. You¡¯re grateful that I helped you. You¡¯re grateful that I took care of you even though we weren¡¯t actually rted. My grandfather didn¡¯t adopt your mother and only took care of her education. So you aren¡¯t my family either. Still, I took care of you. That might be the only reason you think that way," Ryder answered.

    "I know how it can be confused. But you should think carefully before thinking like that," he continued.

    "I know how things can be confused. That¡¯s why I had been thinking about this for a long time. I probably wouldn¡¯t even have the courage to tell you if I hadn¡¯t been kidnapped twice. I don¡¯t know what might happen the next moment. I don¡¯t want to die without even having a chance to tell you," Alice answered, shaking her head.

    Ryder took a deep breath. His mind was already nk since he hadn¡¯t expected that today would go like this.

    It was all unexpected. First, there was unexpected news that the raid was a failure, and just when he was thinking about how to deal with that, he received the confession of Alice.

    "It¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t need to answer. I know I have been asking you for a lot. You don¡¯t have to like me back. I¡¯m fine with the way things are going. Spending my days like this are already a bliss for me," Alice said as he smiled.

    "Yeah. For me as well," Ryder muttered. "Every day with you has been amazing. Especially eating your amazing cooking. I want to have the rest of my life eating that amazing cooking as well."

    "Does that mean you..."

    "I wish things were as simple. I don¡¯t know how I can even exin how my life is going up and down right now."

    A look ofprehension was on Ryder¡¯s face as he thought about Esmi. She was in his life as well, but he also liked Alice. He couldn¡¯t tell anyone about Esmi for apparent reasons, but he couldn¡¯t reject Alice without telling her about this either.

    He could ept her confession because he wanted to, but he thought that doing this without telling her the truth was not fair to her. He didn¡¯t know what to do.

    He was finding himself between a rock and a hard ce. He didn¡¯t want to lose Alice, but he couldn¡¯t keep her in the dark either.

    " Do you not like me?" Alice asked.

    "I like you. It¡¯s not that," Ryder answered without hesitation.

    "Not like that. I mean Like! In a romantic sense," Alice said.

    "I meant the same as well. Didn¡¯t I tell you? There can be no guy who doesn¡¯t like you," Ryder answered softly.

    "Then it¡¯s final. I don¡¯t care about any problems you might have," Alice said with a tinge of happiness in her voice. She didn¡¯t even think that the problem he was talking about was having another girlfriend as well.

    She ced her hand on his shoulder as she held his hand tightly.

    ¡¯Just what the hell happened today?¡¯ Ryder thought nkly, still not understanding what the situation had developed to. Was Alice his girlfriend now?

 Chapter 406 Adrians Target

    <h4>Chapter 406: Adrian''s Target</h4>

    Soon, the movie ended. Ryder and Alice left the theater.

    "You must be getting hungry. Let¡¯s go eat," Ryder told Alice as he stepped out of the theatre.

    Even though he was acting calm, his mind was thinking about many things. One of which was the situation about Ray. The second thing was about Alice and how the situation between them had changed suddenly. Thest thing that was on his mind was the Mission that Janus had given him.

    He couldn¡¯t help but think about the missing¡ªJanus¡¯ words repeated in his head.

    [Mission: Kill the person who leaked the information of Ray¡¯s mission]

    [Mission Reward: Twenty Level Up in real world]

    [Mission Reward: Five Hundred Origin Points]

    [Mission Reward: Two Strength Doubling Pills]

    [Time Limit: Five days]

    [Failure oue: Ray will lose his job as well as his life]

    [Failure oue: Dark Uprising will know about you]

    Ryder was very serious about this mission. He had already decided to do it even if he hadn¡¯t received the mission, but the rewards were what Ryder was more stunned by.

    The rewards were toovish. In fact, it was arguably one of the best rewards that Janus had offered.

    He was going to gain twenty levels in the real world, which was proving to be hard to level up since he had been the one who was proactively attacking enemies before they could get a chance. Due to that reason, he hadn¡¯t been getting experience since it only worked when the enemies attacked first.

    The need to be stealthily was proving to be his enemy. Despite that, he had been growing slowly. Whenever he got an opportunity, he got into an argument with people on the streets, making them attack him in frustration before he beat them up. Even though it was slow, he had still been gaining experience slowly and steadily.

    This time¡¯s reward meant that he was going to get so much experience that he would level up twenty times in close session. That wasn¡¯t a cheap reward at all.

    The second reward was also good since five hundred points weren¡¯t cheap. He could buy some really decent items from the store using the five hundred Origin Points.

    What really amazed him was the third reward¡ªthe strength doubling pills.

    He remembered using something simr at the start. He had seen Strengthening Pills in the store that was cheap. He had received the pills as a reward for his first mission. Each pill had managed to increase his strength and was able to increase his strength by fifty percent.

    When he had gained more origin points, he had tried to buy Strengthening Pills; however, he failed. He only got a notification that these pills couldn¡¯t be purchased. ording to Janus, things like these were only given as rewards. That¡¯s why the reward this time was more special.

    The Strength Doubling pills were even more special than the Strengthening Pills. The Strength Doubling pills doubled the strength instead of increasing it by fifty percent like strengthening pills.

    Two Strength Doubling pills were enough to give him four times his current strength, which was a massive boost for him.

    He had already been feeling weak since he wasn¡¯t able to defeat the Kings of Dark Uprising. He wanted to be stronger, and this was a perfect opportunity since it was going to make him four times stronger.

    He wanted to ask Janus why he was being so nice to him with the rewards. Was it his birthday or something? He wanted to ask if something special was going on since Janus was trying to make him stronger like that, but he didn¡¯t ask since he was with Alice now.

    "Oh, Alice. You know I got a call when I was watching a movie? It was from work. For a business meeting, I need to travel to the New Capital. Since you¡¯re also going to have a week-long holiday, how about youe with me as well?" Ryder asked Alice as he unlocked the car.

    "The New Capital? Awesome. It can be a vacation," Alice replied as she smiled. "I heard that ce is beautiful."

    "Hahaha, yeah. We can have a vacation after my business meeting finishes," Ryder said, nodding his head.

    ording to him, he was going to be free after he finished killing the target. He could spend a few days with Alice, sightseeing. This could also work as an excuse for him being present in the New Capital. If anyone raises their finger on him by somehow linking him to the murder, he could im that he was there on a vacation with Alice.

    "It¡¯s going to be so fun," Alice said as she sat inside the car.

    "It will be much more than fun," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Boss. We have managed to hack inside their country database. We found the girl you were looking for. We even find her picture."

    Adrian and a few other people were inside a room that seemed like a ce where a team of cyber experts worked. There wereputers and big machines everywhere.

    "You found her? Good. Show me the pictures," Adrian said as he smiled.

    "Right away."

    The printer started printing out the image. Adrian walked towards the printer and saw the image.

    "So she is the girl who wrote that essay," Adrian muttered as a smile formed on his face.

    "I went so far for you with just your address," he let out, shaking his head.

    Four months ago,

    Adrian stepped inside an office.

    A well dressed middle-aged man was sitting on the chair. As soon as he saw Adrian, he stood up.

    "Boss. What are you doing here? You could have called me. I would havee to you."

    "Nothing. I was just getting bored. I thought I¡¯de and see you since it had been a while. Anyway, what are you doing?" Adrian asked.

    The middle-aged man replied, "I was just going through the admission forms filled by people for admission in our university. I went through the national students¡¯ forms. I was going through the international ones now."

    "Oh? International kids want to study here too?" Adrian asked in surprise.

    "Hahaha, who wouldn¡¯t. We are the top university in Russia. Many people apply to get admission every year," the middle-aged man answered as heughed.

    " How do you decide who to select and who to reject based on their details alone?" Adrian asked as he walked closer to the stacks of paper. "Or do you decide based on their looks?"

    "We can¡¯t decide based on their looks anyway since our forms don¡¯t need them to add their pictures. They only need to fill in their details like name, mail id, address, and a few other minor details. What we select them on are their answers. Our form has multiple personalities rted questions. We select based on their answers."

    "Oh? Personality rted questions? Let me see what you asked and what they said." Adrian picked up the stack of paper and started going through them.

    "Such a naive kid."

    "This one is an idiot."

    "This one is surely lying."

    "His answers are so generic."

    Adrian kept reading through the forms and throwing them aside since he didn¡¯t like any of the answers. It was like that until he read the twentieth form.

    "So far, none of them are impressive. Let¡¯s see who¡¯s next. Oh, Alice." Adrian read the name on the twentieth form. He skipped all the details and went straight to answers.

    ¡¯Hmm? He¡¯s reading so carefully? It seems as if he¡¯s fascinated by her personality. Just who could that girl be?¡¯ the middle-aged man asked as he saw her reaction.

    " Amazing. Someone like this truly exist in this world? Her words are so fascinating. Her thoughts, her personality, her ideas... They¡¯re all perfect. It¡¯s like I was writing them myself," Adrian muttered softly as he gazed at the paper gently.

    "Really? Who knows. She might as well be your soulmate since she is the same as you," the Middle-aged man said, jokingly.

    "Soulmate, huh," Adrian muttered as he looked at the address on the paper.

    "Give her admission. Tell her she cane here," he told the middle-aged man before he left.

    One monthter,

    "What happened with the girl? Did you finalize her admission? When is sheing to Russia?" Adrian asked the middle-aged man over the phone.

    "Ah, actually... She said no. She said she didn¡¯t want to read in other countries now. Something about her brother telling her that she didn¡¯t need to go to other countries for studies. I don¡¯t know the exact scenario. All I know is she refused. I basically begged to have her here, but she didn¡¯t budge," the middle-aged man said as he sighed.

    "Hah, looks like I¡¯ll have to go there myself to meet her then," Adrian muttered as he disconnected the call.

    Present time,

    "So you¡¯re Alice," Adrian muttered as he looked at the photo before him.

    "Sigh, unfortunately, I¡¯m banned from going there based on the orders of the lord. Don¡¯t worry. My men will bring you here," he let out as he smiled.

 Chapter 407 Warning

    <h4>Chapter 407: Warning</h4>

    Adrian looked at the picture in front of him as a beautiful smile spread on his face.

    "You also found the address? The one that was filled in the form was not their current address. If I had the right address, I would have found her before things got troublesome. I want the right one this time," he said in amanding tone as he looked at all the cyber experts.

    "We found the address, Sir. She is living in the Estate that seemingly belongs to the Dream Corporation. She and her brother both reside there."

    Hearing the answer, Adrian nodded.

    "I¡¯ve printed out the address."

    The printer again started printing out a paper.

    Adrian picked up the paper and looked at the address.

    "Ah, so it¡¯s in the same city. If only I had this address. Those Americans blocked my calls, or I would be able to find out," Adrian muttered as he sighed.

    "Sir, since we are done, should we leave their database?"

    "No. They messed with me when I was in their country. Why shouldn¡¯t I mess with them when I¡¯m back? They brought this on themselves," Adrian replied, shaking his head.

    A smirk appeared on Adrian¡¯s face as he turned back. "Leave a gift to our American friends. Make is a good gift."

    He stepped out of the hall.

    Two men were walking behind him as he entered the building.

    "Luke, I want you to go to America. Go to this address and find the girl for me. Tell her about me and bring her here with all due respect," Adrian gave the paper with the address to one of the men behind him.

    The man was called Luke.

    Luke was the right-hand man of Adrian. He had beautiful dark hair that wasn¡¯t very long. His eyes seemed slightly red. He was wearing a professional ck coat as if he was a businessman. Both his hands had dark gloves that appeared to have diamonds in the knuckles.

    "Yes." Luke agreed without any hesitation.

    "Oh right, If I found out that you weren¡¯t respectful to her, you know how annoyed I will be, right?" Adrian inquired with an amused smile on his face.

    "I will be careful." Luke nodded his head respectfully.

    "Oh, right. Don¡¯t engage the person called Aluren in battle if you evere face to face with him. He had a few pawns that are called something like Thirteen Kings. If they try to obstruct you, you can kill them. Just be alert of Aluren. He can kill you in an instant," Adrian said as he showed the image of Aluren on his phone.

    Luke looked at the pic of the silver-haired Aluren.

    "I will make sure not to fight him," he answered.

    The doors of the lift opened. The three stepped out of the lift and walked out of the building.

    "Your ticket is booked. You¡¯ll be leaving tonight. Make sure nothing goes wrong. It¡¯s important to me," Adrian said to Luke before he opened the door of his sports car and stepped inside.

    The car zoomed off into the distance.

    Only two guys were left behind. These two were the most trusted men of Adrian.

    "He seems to ce a lot of importance on the girl. I¡¯m sure you know how crucial it is that there are no mistakes. Don¡¯t disappoint him," the second guy said as he tapped the shoulder of Luke. He stepped inside his car, which also left, leaving only Luke behind.

    Luke gazed at the address in his hand one more time before he folded the paper and kept it in his pocket.

    "No one will stop me from bringing the girl back. Even if that Alurenes before me, I won¡¯t let this mission fail," Adrian muttered as he stepped towards the third sports car in front of him. It belonged to him.

    He stepped inside the car and walked towards his Estate to collect his stuff for the journey.

    Ryder walked back home after spending the day with Alice. As it was night, he already had dinner with Alice before going back.

    "Shu won¡¯t be home tonight. I wonder if I¡¯ll see him in the world of Divinity. He should be there since he¡¯ll be free at night," Ryder muttered as he sat on his bed.

    He wore the Divinity sses andid down.

    "Take me to Divinity."

    He logged into Divinity. He appeared inside the carriage that was still.

    The carriage driver was doing something which seemed like exercise. Rale was also there. Rale seemed to be looking around, waiting for Ryder to return.

    "Rale, is Shu not here?" Ryder asked Ray as he stepped out of the carriage.

    "He¡¯s not here," Ray answered, shaking his head.

    "Strange. He should be here by now. Could it be that he really isn¡¯t logging in tonight? Maybe he¡¯s working at night as well. When you¡¯re the boss, work alwayses first since there¡¯s actually no free time," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "Without him, we can¡¯t do anything either. The Ring is with him, so we can¡¯t return it either. I guess we can only wait. If he actually doesn¡¯t log in tonight, it¡¯ll be a wasted day," he continued.

    "Your Highness, it¡¯s been quite some time since we came here. I don¡¯t know why, but I have been having a feeling that something isn¡¯t right back home. I just can¡¯t seem to shake off this feeling," Rale told Ryder, expressing his concern.

    "Don¡¯t worry about anything. I don¡¯t think Miku will expose our secret. And no one can find the truth that we¡¯re not in the Demon Realm. We wouldn¡¯t be in trouble," Ryder replying, smiling gently.

    "It¡¯s not us I am concerned about. I don¡¯t know how to describe it. I just think that we really should be getting back fast. We had annoyed the Death Domain. Maybe it has something to do with that? Sigh, I know I¡¯m asking for too much, but I trust my heart on this matter. Can we please go back?" Rale asked Ryder.

    ¡¯Sigh, I can¡¯t say no, can I? He has always been so loyal. If he¡¯s insisting this much, his feelings of concern must be really serious. If the Demon Realm is actually in danger, I need to be there, but Shu...¡¯ Ryder thought as he looked towards the carriage.

    " Fine, we will wait for four hours. If he isn¡¯t back in that time, we can leave. I¡¯ll leave the carriage behind for him. He already has the Ring of Lexini. He wouldn¡¯t need me. He can return the ring and finish the mission alone after this," he agreed to Rale.

    The two of them started waiting as time kept passing slowly. Seconds turned to minutes, which soon turned to hours.

    Four hours passed away just like that.

    Ryder stood up as he sighed.

    "I guess he isn¡¯ting. Let¡¯s leave. I¡¯ll leave a message for him." he said as he opened the message screen.

    Since Shu was on his friend list, he was able to send a message to Shu. He wrote a message saying that he needed to leave urgently. He also told Shu to return the Ring of Lexini and finish the quest.

    After sending the message, Ryder talked to the carriage driver and told him to wait for Shu here, no matter how long it took.

    After arranging everything, he left with Rale.

    They walked to some distance, and after they were out of sight of the Carriage Driver, Rale caught Ryder¡¯s hand and started flying.

    He flew at his maximum speed and even unlocked his seal to fly even faster since he really wanted to go back as fast as he could.

    Unsealing himself almost doubled his speed; still, it wasn¡¯t enough to get to the Portal Point on time. It was already night, yet they hadn¡¯t reached there.

    "We¡¯ll still take seven or eight hours to get to the Portal. We can rest for now. You have been flying throughout the day anyway. I¡¯ll rest too," Ryder told Rale after seeing that it was night time.

    The night time in Divinity was the Day time in the real world. He needed to log out. He also needed to be prepared since today was the day when he needed to leave for the New Capital. His flight ticket was already booked along with Alice. He couldn¡¯t spend time traveling throughout the night.

    "Right. Of Course." Rale started going down.

    "I¡¯ll see you in the morning," Ryder told Ray before he logged out.

    Ryder woke up in the real world and went to take a shower. After showering, he got dressed and packed his bags for this journey.

    He went to Alice¡¯s room and opened the door as he stepped inside

    "Alice, are you ready to leave?" he asked.

    "I¡¯m ready," Alice said, smiling as she closed the bag.

    "Let¡¯s get going. We¡¯ll miss our flight otherwise," Ryder told her.

    They left the Maxwell Estate and went to the airport.

 Chapter 408 Trip

    <h4>Chapter 408: Trip</h4>

    Ryder left with Alice for the airport.

    He tried dialing Shu¡¯s name as he wanted to ask him what had happenedst time and why Shu hadn¡¯t logged inst night.

    "The number you¡¯re trying to reach has been switched off. Please try againter."

    As he called, he only heard the recorded message about the number being switched off.

    "What¡¯s happening to him? Did he forget to charge his phone?" He wondered.

    He didn¡¯t outright think of bad things that could have happened. Instead, he tried to make excuses to make sense of the situation.

    Shu was a multi-billionaire, and he was in the office of thepany he owned, which was one of the safest ces in the world because of the security. He didn¡¯t think that something could have happened to him.

    ¡¯Sigh, he¡¯s so busy at work that he didn¡¯t even call. He even didn¡¯t keep his phone charged. Is this the Work-mode of Shu?¡¯ Ryder thought.

    There weren¡¯t many times when Shu had left the Estate for work, so Ryder didn¡¯t know how Shu was at work generally, but he did hear that Shu was very serious when he was at work and didn¡¯t waste time.

    He kept the phone in his pocket and started.

    "He must be busy at work. I heard there are people that keep their phone off when they want to immerse themselves in work entirely," Alice told Ryder, seeing the concern on his face.

    "Right," Ryder replied.

    They reached the airport and boarded the ne that was destined to take them to the new capital.

    At the same time, Luke boarded a ne in Russia that was going to lead him to Ryder¡¯s City.

    And two nes coincidentally took off at the same time from different ces towards different destinations.

    Ryder and Alice got the seats right beside each other. Both of them rxed infort and yed a movie on the screens in front of them.

    The movie was selected by Alice, and it happened to be a romance movie.

    The two watched the movie together. As the journey was not long, they couldn¡¯t even finish the movie before it was time tond.

    They left the airport, got a taxi, and stopped straight at the hotel that Ryder had booked for the two of them.

    The hotel was close to the FBI headquarters, but it wasn¡¯t too close. He had tried to keep sufficient distance not to make it too obvious even if someone had found out.

    "So, where are we going to travel and when? How long will it take for you to be done with your work?" Alice asked Ryder after they kept the stuff in their room. They had only booked a single room, but it was big enough for them to share without worrying.

    "How about we go out right now? We can take a walk through the city since it¡¯s still morning? As for work, my meetings start from tomorrow, and they will continue for 2-3 days. After that, I¡¯ll be free, and we can spend more time together," Ryder told Alice.

    As he talked to her, he checked about the city and various ces of tourism that were near the FBI headquarters since he wanted to go there to see the ce with his own eyes to have a general idea as to what he was dealing with.

    "We can go out now? Awesome!" Alice said excitedly as she hugged Ryder tightly. "I thought you¡¯d get busy right away and leave me alone."

    "Let¡¯s get going," she said as she freed Ryder. She held his hand and dragged him outside without letting him rest.

    "You¡¯re too excited today, aren¡¯t you?" Ryder asked as he smiled wryly.

    "Of course I am. I always wanted to travel here, and it¡¯s not every day that wee to ces like this," Alice answered.

    "That¡¯s all fine and well, but Alice, aren¡¯t you going to let me freshen up? We just arrived here, and I was thinking of taking a shower. We still have a lot of time after all," Ryder told Alice by the time she dragged him to the door.

    Alice freed Ryder with an embarrassed look on her face. "Oh, right. What are you waiting for? Go and get ready."

    "Little girl, don¡¯t worry. We will have a lot of time to travel the city. We¡¯re here for six days. Even if I exclude the two days that I¡¯ll need for work, we would still have seven days left," Ryder said. "You won¡¯t be disappointed."

    He walked towards the bed and opened the bag. He took out a new pair of clothes and entered the shower room.

    On a beautiful Ind, a pce existed surrounded by nature.

    Aluren was sitting on his throne inside the Pce. The Thirteen Kings were also in the chamber as well.

    "Speak. What matter did you want to talk about?" Aluren asked casually.

    "Your Majesty, our bases were raided by the FBI," the Fifth King said.

    "They were raided? Since you tell me now, I suppose this matter isn¡¯t as serious. Tell me what actually happened," Aluren said.

    "Your Majesty, we already knew about the situation since the people already tipped us off. We had changed our bases."

    "Good. Then what are you talking for? This can¡¯t be as simple," Aluren muttered.

    "The interesting part is about the person who found out about our locations. I had noticed something strange about the locations that were discovered. Strangely enough, these were all the ces that the Twelfth and the Thirteenth King had stayed in during thest month. No other ce was exposed." the Fifth King said.

    "Are you using us of telling them?" The Thirteenth King asked in a grim tone.

    "Not at all. Why would I use you? You know as much as I do about our sources in the agency. You would never be so stupid as to tell them about us. But guess who could be the person that tipped them off?" the Fifth King asked, frowning.

    "The person that I think is the person who beat you," the Fifth King said, smiling.

    His taunt frustrated the Thirteenth King. "I wasn¡¯t defeated! I was about to kill him! Who knew he would use our own bombs on us. I only underestimated him."

    "Wait a minute, are you saying that he¡¯s the one that tipped them off?" he suddenly asked.

    "I think so," the Fifth King said, nodding his head.

    "Doesn¡¯t that mean we can get to him?" The Third King asked.

    "That¡¯s right. This can lead us to that guy," the other kings also agreed.

    Aluren slowly raised his hand, gesturing for others to be silent.

    He gazed at the Fifth King and asked, "What are you doing about that then? Why haven¡¯t you found him?"

    "The guy in the agency who had a link to the tipster has been captured. Our guy is already interrogating him. In no time, we will have an answer. The guy will expose the truth soon enough," the Fifth King said.

    "If what you¡¯re saying is true and you find the guy, you would be rewarded heavily. If you¡¯re wrong, be ready to be punished for telling us unverified information," Aluren warned the Fifth King before he closed his eyes.

    "This is the famous statue of the Capital. It was created in thest ten years, but it¡¯s one of the most amazing pieces of artwork known throughout the world," Alice told Ryder as she pointed towards the fifteen feet tall statue.

    The statue was of a man who was riding a horse.

    It was said to be the artwork of a famous sculptor.

    Ryder and Alice had left the hotel long ago after getting dressed, and they were treading towards the destination that Ryder actually wanted to go to.

    Alice didn¡¯t know that it was mostly a reconnaissance mission for Ryder, which was disguised as the sightseeing of a couple.

    "Not a bad one. I did see it in pics, but it looks even better in real life," Ryder said, nodding his head.

    "Let¡¯s continue. I heard that the FBI headquarters are nearby. One of the biggest malls in the country is also in that area. Let¡¯s go check that ce out," he told Alice.

    "Ah, right. The mall is also here. How could I forget about that? Let¡¯s go!" Alice said excitedly as she held Ryder¡¯s hand and dragged him.

    "I can walk myself," Ryder replied as heughed. He matched her face.

    ¡¯She looks really cute when she acts like a kid. If I knew it was going to make her so happy, I would have arranged for more trips like these,¡¯ he thought as he saw the smile on her face.

    Soon, they reached outside the FBI Headquarters, which was a massive building that covered a significant portion of thend.

    ¡¯The security here isn¡¯t bad. As expected of a ce like this. It¡¯s going to be tough breaking inside. There are cameras everywhere as well," Ryder thought as he subtly observed the security details of the ce.

 Chapter 409 House Arrest

    <h4>Chapter 409: House Arrest</h4>

    ¡¯It¡¯s going to be tough breaking inside,¡¯ Ryder thought as he observed the strict security of the headquarters.

    The ce was nothing less than a fortress.

    Ryder wanted to call Ray directly and ask about the head and where his office was, but he couldn¡¯t even do that. After he had disconnected the call with Rayst time, Ray had called him again, saying that he was going to delete Ryder¡¯s number.

    He told Ryder to never call his number again unless he called from his side. It was to protect Ryder since Ray was sure that after he went back, there was a good chance that his phone was going to be taken.

    He was sure that someone had leaked the information since he believed Ryder¡¯s words. That only left one possibility. The chief was the one who was working for the Dark Uprising members, using their team as a pawn to further their mission. He found it absurd to believe, but it was the only possibility.

    Thus, he removed all his connection with Ryder to make sure that the enemies didn¡¯t reach them.

    Ryder also respected his wishes; thus, he didn¡¯t call Ray. It was obvious that calling Ray was going to reveal his identity at this crucial moment, which he didn¡¯t want, especially since it was evident that this information was going to go to the Dark Uprising guys.

    That not only ced him in danger but Alice as well. He needed to finish this mission and get four times stronger, even to have a chance of battling the Kings on a close to equal footing.

    Alice looked to her side but didn¡¯t find Ryder there. With a confused look on her face, she looked back.

    She could see Ryder walking slowly.

    "Come on, turtle. Why did you slow down? The mall is there!" Alice told Ryder as she gestured for him to move faster.

    Ryder stopped watching the FBI Headquarters and shifted his focus back to Alice. "Sorry. I was just fascinated by the buildings here," Ryder answered jokingly.

    He increased his pace and caught up to Alice. He had already memorized the security details that he was able to see from outside anyway.

    Ryder and Alice went to the Jigglybuff Mall, which was thergest mall in the country. It was also a part of the Jigglybuff group ofpanies that owned malls with simr names all around the world. They were also one of the big names when it came to business.

    The two of them entered the Mall, which was said to consist of almost everything.

    It was a mall consisting of 27 floors with the bottom floor being mostly a ce for rxation.

    "It¡¯s so big; it¡¯ll take us hours to finish going through all the floors. Do you have anything specific in mind that you want to see?" Ryder asked Alice.

    "Nothing like that. I just wanted to see this ce, not because I wanted to buy anything. Let¡¯s just roam around. There should be many ces we can enjoy," Alice answered as she dragged Ryder towards the lift.

    "It has been hours. Ray, why don¡¯t you give up. Tell us the man who pranked you by giving you false information. He needs to face the consequences of toying with us. If he¡¯s someone you know, we can go easy on him. All we ask for is his name so we can tell him never to do it again."

    Inside a room, Ray was sitting on a chair in front of a table.

    There were only three people in the room. One was Ray, another was the Director of the Bureau, and thest one was another Agent who had the same position as Ray in the agency.

    The Director of the FBI was called Mark Rubin. He was a middle-aged man who had short silver hair, brown eyes, and pale looking skin.

    The other person was called Sui, who was a dark-haired young man.

    Mark was the one who was asking the questions at the moment.

    "Ray, don¡¯t be stubborn. You are one of us. We are a team. We all work for this country. Why are you trying to hide information from us?" Mark asked again. "I already promised you we wouldn¡¯t harm your source. We would only tell him that it¡¯s not good to lie."

    "I¡¯m not hiding anything. It was an anonymous tip. It¡¯s the anonymous tipster that had been leaving true information around my house for a while, and most of them turned out to be true. So when he gave this information, I believed that as well. It was my mistake. I should have been more careful," Ray answered, not seeming as if he was lying at all.

    "Do you really expect us to believe that? Ray, you have worked under me for years now. I know you more than you know yourself at this point. I¡¯m not a kid you can fool with this excuse," Mark said, shaking his head.

    He was sure that Ray was lying. No Agent could be stupid enough to ce at much information on a tipster without actually knowing them and discussing with them. He was sure that Ray knew the person who gave this information, and he wanted the name of that person at any cost. Even he was under pressure.

    "Ray, I¡¯m sorry, but I need to ask for your phone since you aren¡¯t cooperating with us. For national security, we are taking your phone. Since you im that you don¡¯t know the tipster and never talked to him, then you wouldn¡¯t need to worry about anything, right?" Mark inquired as he squinted his eyes.

    "Of course, not at all. Here, you can go wild with my phone. I¡¯m not lying, so I have nothing to fear," Ray said as he confidently handed over the phone up Mark.

    "Sigh, I¡¯m sure you already took all the precautions to make sure that we don¡¯t find anything from your phone, but as I said, you can be rest assured, we aren¡¯t taking your phone thinking that we can find the tipster using it," Mark let out as he took over the phone.

    He and Sui left the room.

    After they stepped out, Mark gave the phone to Sui.

    "Sui, after we are done here, give this phone to forensics. I want you to get the contacts of Ray and all the details about the people he called recently. I¡¯ll handle the rest from there."

    Mark¡¯s n was simple. He wished to see the contacts of Ray to find the tipster but not only that, but he also wished to see who else Ray was in contact with to make sure he covered all bases.

    While schemes were going on in the FBI headquarters, Ryder and Alice were going around the Jigglybuff mall, seeing the various attractions that this ce had.

    There were water fountains on the floors. Small Trains that led people to different sections of the mall and even the staircase that had games on them.

    The staircase had some screen technology used, which tracked the motion of feet. It made the images of squishy slimes on the stairs that the people going up or down needed to step on.

    If a person broke the record of the lost slimes squished in the time the bottom stair took to reach the top, then the person was rewarded heavily.

    Ryder didn¡¯t y the silly game, but Alice yed the game with full zeal. She stepped on all the smiles she could before they disappeared; however, she still failed to break the record.

    Seeing the depressed look on Alice¡¯s face, Ryder gently rubbed her head. He softly said, "You can try again when we go to higher floors."

    "Right. I¡¯m already enjoying being here," Alice said as she hugged Ryder¡¯s hand.

    The two of them spent the rest of their day together, going on rides inside the ce, eating icecreams, fast food, and even shopping a little.

    It was only at night when the two of them left the ce.

    Ray was in a room that had a ss window looking outside. Even though he wasn¡¯t arrested, he was kind of under house arrest. He wasn¡¯t allowed to leave his room. There was only a single bed in his room.

    There was also a small camera ced on all four corners of the room.

    Ray walked towards the window and looked outside, bored.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t think they can find anything even if they trace my call details. They have no idea who they are dealing with. As for me, I can easily take care of myself. They can¡¯t do anything to me without proof. At least, he can be safe, fighting against the Dark Uprising,¡¯ Ray thought as he looked outside.

    Cough! Cough!

    He abruptly started coughing intently as he saw something he initially thought to be his imagination.

    He closed his eyes and rubbed them to make sure before he looked outside again, but he was still seeing the same.

    He could see Ryder walking with Alice on the streets.

    ¡¯Why is he here?!¡¯ he thought.

 Chapter 410 Blood

    <h4>Chapter 410: Blood</h4>

    ¡¯Why is he here? Is he looking to get caught?¡¯ Rale thought as he saw Ryder walking on the streets.

    He had thought that Ryder wouldy low for a while since Ray was caught. He didn¡¯t expect him toe here.

    ¡¯Is he worried that I¡¯ll expose him?¡¯ he thought as he sighed. ¡¯He¡¯s here to silence me?¡¯

    Bad thoughts were floating in his head. He soon shook his head.

    ¡¯It can¡¯t be. He wouldn¡¯t bring his sister here. Why did hee then? Sigh, I hope he isn¡¯t caught,¡¯ he thought before he turned back.

    He knew that he was being recorded, so he didn¡¯t say anything. He even kept his expressions mostly normal.

    He walked back and sat on his bed.

    Just as Ray turned back, Ryder happened to look towards the building once more. He couldn¡¯t see through the ss, so he didn¡¯t see Ray. He was simply wondering which floor that guy might be at.

    He and Alice went back to the hotel as it was alreadyte at night.

    The suite had two rooms, each with a Queen Sized bed.

    Alice walked to her room and fell asleep.

    Ryder wanted to do some thinking, but he wanted to give some rest to his body as well so it could be in its optimal condition in the morning.

    He wore the Divinity sses and dove into the world of Divinity to spend his night there.

    He wanted to do his thinking while he was hastening to go back to the Demon Realm.

    "I¡¯m here. Let¡¯s continue," he told Rale as soon as he found himself in the world of Divinity.

    Rale held Ryder¡¯s hand and started flying once again.

    Ryder soon flew above the Kingdom where the Princess was waiting for him, but he decided against going down and greeting her since it was going to take a long time. He needed to meet her, meet the King, make an excuse, and leave.

    That was all an unnecessarily long process since he was in a hurry.

    As he and Rale flew, he tried toe up with a n to break inside the FBI base.

    ¡¯There would be cameras everywhere, so I can¡¯t go in without getting caught. I can only change my face with someone else. That is a pretty easy part. The problem is that I can only do that with someone I touch, and that person would see me transform,¡¯ he thought as he tried toe up with a better n.

    "I can do it like that. Right. I can wear a mask and do it. No one would see my real face or my face being transformed. After that, it¡¯s all about entering. Since I¡¯m already taking a risk like that, I might as well disguise myself as an agent.¡¯

    ¡¯Alright. It¡¯s decided. The entire day tomorrow will be used to find the perfect target that I can use. After that, it would be easy to enter the ce. As an agent, I can also roam much more freely without getting caught. I¡¯ll be able to use the authentication as well. Perfect. I can easily find Ray and the Director. Killing that person isn¡¯t going to be trouble either as long as I find him alone. Escaping would be even less of a hassle.¡¯

    With this line of thought, Ryder realized that what he thought to beplicated was much more simpler. In his mind, it was an easy mission that was almost finished. The crux of the n rested on finding a perfect guy to impersonate, which was why he gave it the whole day.

    The day after that was the day of the game when he was going to actually enter and do the killing.

    A smile formed on his face as a much more relieved look appeared on his face now that he was free of worrying.

    "Your Highness, you have been looking stressed since you arrived. I am d to see you look happy now," Rale told Ryder.

    "Oh? You didn¡¯t ask why I was stressed?"

    "I assumed it was for the safety of the Realm. I didn¡¯t ask you regarding that since I myself worry about that. Seeing you rxed, it¡¯s pretty good. I¡¯m d," Rale said softly as he smiled.

    He was not only worried for the Demon Realm but for Ryder as well. He could see that Ryder hade here to have an adventure in the outer world.

    He could understand that Ryder had lived in the outer world for a long time. From what he had heard, Ryder only entered the Demon Realm recently on themands of the Previous King to get some experience.

    It was obvious that someone who lived in the outer world for most of his life was going to have a hard time adjusting to the Demon Realm. Ryder not only adjusted but helped them all so much.

    He even put his life in danger so many times. He was d that Ryder was taking a trip outside to rx. That¡¯s why he didn¡¯t resist whether Ryder wished to go out.

    He didn¡¯t even tell anyone about it. Rale had never broken the rules in his life. It was a rule that whenever the King or Prince left the Kingdom, the High Dukes needed to be informed. It was Rale¡¯s responsibility to inform them, but he hid it.

    If it was ever exposed, the punishment was massive. Rale could not only lose his position, but there was a chance that he was going to be executed for putting the life of Ryder in danger by not stopping him or informing the others.

    Despite such a scary punishment, Rale didn¡¯t stop Ryder. Neither did he inform the High Dukes. He didn¡¯t even tell Ryder about this rule because he didn¡¯t want Ryder to be tied to the Demon Realm as if he was prisoned for the sake of Rale.

    Ryder still had no idea the risk that Rale was taking by doing all this.

    After some time, they reached the forest where they had appeared after they jumped out of the portal.

    Ryder checked the messages to see if he had Shu¡¯s reply since he couldn¡¯t see messages after he entered the Demon Realm.

    Unfortunately, there were no messages.

    ¡¯Just where exactly is that guy?¡¯ he thought in concern.

    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t do anything.

    Ryder brought a golden key out of his inventory and raised it towards the sky.

    The key started shining, and soon, a portal opened before them.

    "Let¡¯s go and see what¡¯s themotion that you feel," Ryder muttered as he stepped inside the portal. Rale entered the portal after him.

    The two of them appeared in the room, which had five doors.

    The door behind them closed after Rale had stepped out.

    After making sure that Rale was here, Ryder started walking towards the stairs that led to the ground floor.

    At the end of the stairs, there was a for which required another key to exit or enter, which only Ryder had.

    Ryder unlocked the door and went left with Rale.

    "I smell blood."

    This was the first thing that Rale said as soon as he stepped out.

    His words gave Ryder an ominous feeling. Blood? Did the Death Domain really attack?

    The first thing he did was run towards the door outside the pce.

    There were always guards that were outside. He found it the fastest way to make sure if the Death Domain attacked or not. If the guards were safe, that means they weren¡¯t under attack, and if the guards were dead, it meant that they were in danger.

    Rale ran beside Ryder to keep him safe in any situation.

    Ryder opened the main door and stepped outside.

    "Your Highness!"

    As soon as he stepped outside, the guards got down on one knee and greeted him with full respect.

    "Did someone attack us?" Ryder asked the guards.

    "Attack?" The guards asked, clearly looking confused.

    From their reaction, it was evident that nothing strange had happened. Everything seemed to be normal.

    "Nothing. It¡¯s nothing," Ryder muttered softly as he turned back. He walked back inside the Pce.

    The guards closed the doors again.

    Ryder gazed at Rale and said, "What were you talking about? Blood? You must be wrong. No one attacked us. Why should there be blo-"

    As he was talking, he suddenly stopped as his face turned pale.

    "Fuck!" He suddenly cursed as he ran towards the stairs.

    Without stopping, he ran upstairs.

    ¡¯Oh god, Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s Miyali. I thought she would be living a decent life here. Did something happen to her? Ipletely forgot to go and interact with her because of other matters. She is a half-Vampire. If she turns, she will cause an onught. If it isn¡¯t an outer enemy, it must be an inside one. Please don¡¯t let it be her, or I¡¯ll be in a big mess,¡¯ he thought as he continued running towards her room.

    He soon reached there. He opened the room, only to get stunned. He didn¡¯t seem happy with what he saw.

 Chapter 411 Fired?

    <h4>Chapter 411: Fired?</h4>

    As soon as Ryder opened the room of Miyali, he was appalled. He saw five bodies lying inside the room. All five bodies were of maids that worked in the pce.

    Their bodies also seemed pale and dry as all their blood had dried up.

    "It is that girl. Just what the heck happened. I heard that she wouldn¡¯t turn if she got to drink real blood once every few weeks. Howe she turned? Could it be that she didn¡¯t get to drink? Or she refused to drink beast blood," Ryder muttered in confusion as he stepped inside the room.

    Rale was near him. He also looked stunned, but he didn¡¯t say anything about it. He knew this ce belonged to Miyali, who was with Ryder. He had also expected that Miyali wasn¡¯t a pure demon.

    He had guessed something whenst time he talked to Ryder about half-vampires and how they turned bloodthirsty if they didn¡¯t eat for some time. They were outside at that time. After hearing that information, Ryder had hurried back to here.

    That was a moment when Rale got suspicious. After that, he heard that Ryder had told the maids to bring wild uncooked beasts to Miyali¡¯s room, which confirmed his suspicions. He had realized that Miyali was a half-vampire who needed to drink blood at some time.

    He still didn¡¯t tell him that he knew. He let a half Vampire stay here since he trusted Ryder and his decisions.

    He hadn¡¯t expected something like this to happen, though. This was a massacre.

    He waited for Ryder to tell him himself.

    Ryder looked all around the room but didn¡¯t find Miyali.

    He turned back and looked at Rale, who was following behind silently.

    "You aren¡¯t asking anything?" He asked. "Do you already know?"

    "Know what?" Rale asked ignorantly.

    "Fine. I will tell you. Miyali is a half Vampire. I think she lost control of herself. I don¡¯t know how it happened or the reasons behind it. She is the type of person that hates violence. She lived on things that we eat. But as you said, half Vampires need blood once in a while, too, no matter how nice they are. She was handling that with beast blood."

    "I had arranged for beasts to be delivered to her regrly, so she doesn¡¯t have to suffer. I don¡¯t know what happened or why it happened, but something terribly went wrong," he muttered.

    "Yeah. It doesn¡¯t seem like her normal self. She lost control," Rale answered.

    Ryder walked towards the door and stepped outside. "Since the guards outside don¡¯t know, that means she hasn¡¯t left the pce yet. We need to find her."

    "Do you have a way to find her fast?" he asked Rale, wondering if he had a way to find her.

    "I can¡¯t. I wish I did," Rale answered, sighing.

    The two of them ran till the end of the corridor, which further split into two.

    "Let¡¯s separate. We can cover more grounds," Ryder told Rale before he ran towards the left side.

    Rale, however, didn¡¯t go to the right side and followed Ryder instead.

    "What are you doing?" Ryder asked, sternly.

    "I can¡¯t leave you alone at times like this. Your life can be in danger," Rale answered softly.

    "Rale, I¡¯m telling you. I can protect myself. Didn¡¯t you say yourself that I¡¯m as strong as the High Dukes, ording to your estimates? We can separate for a few minutes, and then we can search. That doesn¡¯t mean something will happen to me," Ryder responded, looking upset.

    "Your Highness, I know you can possibly keep yourself safe, but I can¡¯t ignore the risk. I am to be your sword and shield. I can¡¯t be left behind. I apologize," Rale answered without backing off.

    "Sigh, so you¡¯re really ignoring mymands? You know how grave of a crime that is?" Ryder asked, sighing.

    "I will ept any punishment after we are done with the problem at hand. I wouldn¡¯t resist even if I get the death penalty. As long as I can keep you safe until myst breath, that¡¯s enough," Rale answered, not backing off.

    "Sigh, what am I going to do with you? You always get this serious. Rale, honestly. Miyali won¡¯t be able to hurt me. I am strong," Ryder insisted again. "You go search the other way."

    "I can¡¯t leave you alone," Rale denied the request again.

    "Sigh, fine. I hope we are searching the right way. If she is in the right, it would be a lost opportunity," Ryder muttered, sighing.

    Rale was also concerned about that, but he didn¡¯t leave Ryder¡¯s side. He could let more people die, but he couldn¡¯t see Ryder get injured because he wasn¡¯t there to protect him.

    "I thought Miyali was strong. She was taking care of this ce. Howe she didn¡¯t stop it? Could it be that she is also...?" Ryder muttered, but he didn¡¯t finish his thought.

    "Miyali isn¡¯t as strong as the Dukes, but she should be strong enough to handle an inexperienced half Vampire like Miss Miyali," Rale answered. "If she was here, she should have been able to handle Miss Miyali."

    "Are you saying that he left the Pce unsupervised?" Ryder asked.

    "It is either that or she... She was attacked from behind when she was unaware," he continued.

    " Sigh, so she¡¯s either out or dead?" Ryder asked, sighing. "I hope it¡¯s not thetter."

    "Me too," Rale nodded.

    The two of them kept flying through the corridor. Ryder was also using his ability to the fullest since he didn¡¯t have time to spare.

    "Sigh, the High Dukes are going to climb over my head after they find out what happened. It¡¯s going to be a mess dealing with them," Ryder muttered, sighing.

    "Yeah. He wouldn¡¯t be happy to know that you were keeping a Vampire in your pce without them knowing. And they would be especially upset since the Vampire killed so many people," Rale muttered.

    "They can¡¯t fire me, right?" Ryder asked, confused.

    "Fire?" Rale asked, not understanding the meaning.

    "Oh, I mean, can they remove me from the position of the Prince?" He asked.

    Ryder was wondering if four high Dukes had the authority to remove him from the position of the Prince? If that happened, it was going to be a big problem.

    "Remove you from the position? It¡¯s impossible to do that unless you betray the Kingdom by joining the enemy and attacking our own. They can¡¯t do it for something like this. They can im that you were working with Vampires, but they can¡¯t prove that you had a hand in the death of anyone. I will be a witness as well," Rale answered.

    "At worst, we can just tell the truth that we weren¡¯t even here at the time of this assault. It would be exposed that we were going out secretly, but you would be safe from me," he continued.

    Rale still didn¡¯t tell Ryder the whole truth. If Rale did tell the truth about them leaving, Rale would be the one leaving his position and possibly have execution, but he didn¡¯t tell Ryder that. Ryder¡¯s well being was most important to him.

    Ryder didn¡¯t realize the depths that were involved. He was just relieved to know that he wasn¡¯t going to be fired. He was still going to try to keep everything under wraps, though. He still didn¡¯t wish to have thingse out in the open. He was still going to try and cover-up.

    At worst, he was going to tell the Second High Duke the truth since they were close to each other. He could take his help.

    With the help of one High Duke, it was going to be safe.

    Ryder kept flying through the corridor.

    "There¡¯s more blood in this room," Rale suddenly eximed as he looked to the side.

    Ryder stopped and turned back. He walked towards the room that Rale was looking at.

    He kicked the door open and stepped inside.

    "Sigh... More," Ryder muttered as he saw more dead bodies in the same condition

    "Rale, the half Vampires go in thirst mode when they don¡¯t get blood for a long time. Shouldn¡¯t she be back to normal after she had blood? Why did she continue killing?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "It¡¯s much easier to control the Vampire self from going crazy by giving your body blood once in a while, but it¡¯s different when they go crazy. Especially if it¡¯s their first time going through that."

    "If it¡¯s their first time, they will go crazy, drink blood and return to normal. They think that they are fine, but it doesn¡¯tst even two hours. If they don¡¯t drink blood in the next two hours, they loseplete control over themselves and be bloodthirsty," Rale answered.

    "So she can¡¯t return now?" Ryder asked.

    "She can, but it¡¯s uncertain how long her bloodthirst willst. It might be over in a day, or it canst for weeks. It¡¯s different for everyone," Rale muttered as he sighed.

 Chapter 412 Face to Face

    <h4>Chapter 412: Face to Face</h4>

    "It also depends on when she turned. If she turned right when we left, she could get back to normal faster. If she turned recently, it¡¯d definitely take longer," Rale said to Ryder.

    "Looking at the items on the floor, it seems like she turned not long after we left," he continued.

    "Sigh. No matter when she turned. We need to capture her alive and keep her locked until she returns to normal," Ryder said, sighing.

    His feet were still on the ground. There wasn¡¯t much blood on the ground, but there was enough that he was standing on a droplet of blood. His curious eyes looked around the room, trying to find clues about Miyali, but she wasn¡¯t here either.

    Ryder and Rale stepped out of the room and again continued their search.

    "Thanks a lot, Miku, foring to help. You are the only one I was able to ask. My grandpa knew the most about these flowers, which suddenly started dying. Unfortunately, he was busy with some other work outside so I couldn¡¯t contact him. I could only approach you and ask you toe."

    A blonde-haired girl was standing in front of what seemed like strange flowers that were made of rocks.

    She was talking to Miku, who was the Royal Maid of Ryder that worked in the Pce.

    She was the granddaughter of High Duke Oris, who was the second strongest High Duke in the Demon Realm. She was called Felina.

    After Ryder had left the ce to go to the human realm, Miyali had started losing control. She wasn¡¯t being given beasts to feed on by the maid she was given.

    After Miyali lost control, she sucked her blood and killed her identally. She went to find Ryder, only to be informed that Ryder was sleeping. She wasn¡¯t able to tell Miku about the fact that she had killed a maid.

    Miku thought that she simply wanted a new maid, so she assured her that she would assign another maid to Miyali.

    She was about to do that when Felina entered the Royal Pce. She approached Miku and told her about the problems with her flower and that it was urgent.

    Miku left with her to help her,pletely forgetting about the maid situation.

    Thus, not only did Miyali not get a maid, but she didn¡¯t even get any food.

    She kept waiting for Ryder toe to get after waking up as Miku had told her that she would tell Ryder after he woke up. Even after a long wait, Ryder didn¡¯te to her. She didn¡¯t know that Ryder wasn¡¯t even in the Pce.

    Her situation kept worsening as hunger, and her first turning overtook her brain before she lost all control and went on a rampage.

    Miku was the only person who had the strength to take care of her, but as she was out as well, no one was left to stop Miyali from going on a rampage.

    On one side, Miku was taking care of the rate flowers for Felina. On the other hand, Miyali was devouring the people who were in the Total Pce.

    "It¡¯s no trouble," Miku answered, smiling. "His Highness allowed me toe here, after all."

    She knew that she couldn¡¯t say no to Felina, or she would have requested to meet Ryder to take his permission for using Miku¡¯s help. As Ryder wasn¡¯t there, that wasn¡¯t feasible, so she had lied that Ryder gave her the permission toe to help Felina.

    "Oh, right. Where is the High Duke?" She asked.

    "Grandfather went to Duke Devilia¡¯s duchy. There has been some problem," Felina answered, smiling.

    "What problems?" Miku inquired.

    ¡¯If there were problems, it¡¯s strange that they didn¡¯te to meet His Highness. Could it be that the problem was small? No, why would High Duke Oris go personally to help Duke Devilia? There is something going on that is significant enough to warrant his attention, but they didn¡¯t even try to meet his Highness?¡¯ she thought, confused about the whole situation.

    "Don¡¯t worry too much. It¡¯s something that His Highness had already handled. You remember the missing Marquis case, right? It¡¯s solved, so it¡¯s time for a new marquis to be chosen. My grandfather went there to see the candidates. He would select a few well-deserving candidates. After that, the candidate would be brought here so that His Highness can give him a proper position as well as meet the candidates," Felina exined.

    Miku nodded her head as she understood. She also ced her worries to an end. She asked, "Oh. So it¡¯s that. I thought it was something serious. It¡¯s just tradition. How long will he stay there? When will hee back with the candidate?"

    "He should be back soon since it¡¯s been a long time already. Maybe in a few days or a week," Felina answered, smiling.

    She started walking towards the exit of the garden.

    She didn¡¯t notice, but there was some concern on Miku¡¯s face.

    ¡¯If hees back in a few days, it will be problematic. He would insist on meeting His Highness, and I can¡¯t say no. It¡¯s going to be a headache. We might be caught,¡¯ she thought.

    "I¡¯ll take my leave now. His Highness must be waiting," Miku told Felina.

    Hearing that, Felina stopped and looked back. "Aren¡¯t you staying for tea?"

    "Not really. Since I am done here, it¡¯s better if I go back to my work of taking care of His Highness," Miku answered, shaking her head.

    "Ah, right. That¡¯s important as well," Felina muttered as she nodded her head. "I should thank you for your help. You did so much for me. If you ever need any help, you cane to me anytime."

    "I will keep that in mind," Miku said as she turned back.

    She left the Pce of High Duke Oris and flew back to the Royal Pce.

    She soonnded in front of the entrance.

    "Did someonee?" She asked guards to make sure that no one approached the pce.

    "No one came from outside, but His Highness and Master Rale stepped out of the Pce for a few seconds. They soon walked back," the Guards informed her.

    "They stepped out?" Miku muttered as she grew stunned.

    ¡¯So, His Highness is here? Did hee back? That¡¯s such good news. Finally, I can rx,¡¯ she thought as she stepped forward.

    She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

    The first thing she did was to go upstairs to find Ryder.

    "Why are the corridors so empty? Blood? What happened here?"

    As she was walking through the corridors, she noticed that there were blood droplets on the floor, but there were no bodies to be found.

    Strangely, there weren¡¯t any people there either. The maids and the guards were all missing.

    A deep frown covered her forehead as she grew alert. She started walking more carefully.

    The more she saw, the more Suspicious she got as there weren¡¯t any people there.

    She soon reached the ce where Ryder and Rale had passed through. The corridor was going in two directions.

    Ryder had selected one side to go ahead, and Ryder followed him, but Miku walked towards the other side, unaware that Ryder had chosen a different path.

    She ran for fifteen minutes before she heard a noiseing in from a nearby room.

    It was as if someone had just grunted inside the room.

    She stopped running and stepped back.

    She stood near the door where the voice hade from. It waspletely silent now. It was so silent that Miku couldn¡¯t help but wondered if it was her misconception.

    "No. It can¡¯t be that. I definitely heard something. Someone is definitely inside," she muttered as she started walking towards the door.

    She touched the door and slowly pushed it open.

    With a creaking noise, the door opened slowly, revealing the inside of the room.

    Miku stepped inside, only to see something horrifying.

    There were tens of bodies lying on the ground.

    Only two people were standing. One of them happened to be a girl while the other one was a guard. The girl¡¯s back was facing Miku while the guy¡¯s face was facing her.

    She could see the lifeless red eyes of the guard, who seemed as if he was dead. The girl seemed like her lips were on the next of the guy.

    Miku looked around. She could see the bite marks on the necks of the pale bodies that were lying on the ground.

    "A Vampire," she muttered softly as she realized what was happening.

    The girl seemed to have heard her words. She threw the man to the side before she opened back.

    Her blood-red eyes looked at Miku without a shred of emotion. Her mouth was covered in blood that didn¡¯t belong to her.

    Miku saw the face of the girl only to realize that she was none other than the girl called Miyali, who was with Ryder.

 Chapter 413 Caught

    <h4>Chapter 413: Caught</h4>

    Miku saw the face of Miyali, who was covered in blood as if she had just finished feeding on the blood.

    "So you¡¯re a Vampire. Did his Highness know? Or were you hiding this from him as well? Whatever being the case, I can¡¯t let you roam around freely," Miku muttered as she looked at the bodies on the ground. "You have already killed enough."

    Miyali¡¯s face looked as emotionless as ever. She simply looked at Miku as if she was looking at a prey who was nothing but a blood bag for her.

    There was a moment of silence, which seemed like itsted for an eternity; however, it was not even a second.

    The two women disappeared from their position at the same time.

    There were ten meters of distance between the two previously, which was reduced to only a meter within a second.

    Miyali threw her hand towards the neck of Miku to grab her by the neck, whereas Miku threw a punch towards the chest of Miyali.

    Both of their hands moved just as fast; however, Miku¡¯s hand seemed to be a few seconds faster as her fistnded on Miku¡¯s cheat when the hands of Miyali were only a few inches away from her neck.

    The punch that epassed all the strength of Mikunded on the chest of Miyali, crushing her chest.

    Miyali flew back like a broken doll, crashing on the wall in the back.

    The wall broke as the force of the impact was so powerful.

    Miyali crashed in a different room as she coughed out a mouthful of blood.

    The bones of her chest were broken, and she wasn¡¯t able to sit up.

    Her bones started healing because of her vampire abilities, but their speed of healing was slow.

    She couldn¡¯t heal in enough time as Miku was already standing near her.

    Her healing was still going to take a few more minutes, but she didn¡¯t have much time since her life was already in jeopardy.

    Miku raised her feet and stomped on Miyali¡¯s chest again.

    "Your healing is slow. Too bad for you that I know all about your kind. In the time you heal, I can break you ten times more," Miku let out as she smiled.

    She kept stomping on Miyali, who wasn¡¯t able to resist.

    "How does it feel to beat weaker people? Did you enjoy killing innocent maids? Unfortunately, I can¡¯t be as cruel as you. Still, I can at least keep you in prison. His Highness can decide on your punishmentter," she continued, but she didn¡¯t stop stomping.

    "Miku, what¡¯s happening here?"

    Just as Miku was busy stomping on Miyali, a voice fell on her ears.

    "Y-your Highness?" Miku eximed as she turned back.

    "Oh, you caught her," Ryder muttered as she saw Miyali lying on the ground, unconscious.

    "She is already unconscious. You can stop beating her," he let out as he smiled wryly.

    "Rale, take Miyali and keep her imprisoned until she recovers. I¡¯ll interrogate herter about how it happenedter," Ryder told Rale as he sighed.

    Rale nodded his head as he stepped forward.

    "Move aside, Miku," he told Miku, who had her feet on Miyali¡¯s chest.

    "Ah, right," Miku muttered as she moved back.

    "Your Highness, I was called by Miss Feline. To not get you caught, I went to her pce to help, saying you had given me permission. When I came back, I saw this. I hope you forgive me for taking action," Miku exined to Ryder, hoping that he doesn¡¯t misunderstand.

    "It¡¯s fine. I understand what happened. We will discuss thister," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "Take care of the bodies. I want the entire pce cleaned, and no information should leak out. I will interrogate her first to know what happened before we decide what course to take," Ryder told Miku. "You understand, right?"

    "Yes. It shall be done. I¡¯ll take a short trip to see how many people are alive while I take care of the bodies," Miku replied. She understood how it was important to handle this matter carefully, so it doesn¡¯t get out of hand.

    If things were handled inappropriately, the High Dukes might have been angered. She decided to help Ryder as she believed that he wasn¡¯t a traitor.

    Ryder stepped out of the room.

    Rale was carrying Miyali, whose hands were tied.

    They walked to the Throne Room.

    Rale ced Miyali before Ryder.

    "Rale, what do you think we should do. Should we keep her imprisoned in a cell, or is it faster if we stay before her eyes?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "We should lock her up. The time in both cases would be the same, but we can keep her out of eyes if we keep her in a cell. If someonees, we can¡¯t be carrying her," Rale exined to Ryder.

    "That¡¯s true. Fine. Take her in the cell. You are responsible for checking up on her every day," Ryder let out as he nodded his head.

    "I¡¯ll be going now. I¡¯ll talk to you in the morning. I¡¯m sure you can handle the rest. The pce should be cleaned at night. I¡¯m trusting you," he told Rale as he opened the logout screen.

    Ryder tapped on the log-out option, which brought him out of the world of Divinity.

    Ryder appeared in the real world, where he was lying on his bed.

    He tried to move his hand but realized that someone was on his left hand, stopping it from moving.

    Using his left hand, he took off the Divinity sses and looked to the side.

    "Alice?" Ryder muttered softly as he saw the peaceful sleeping face of Alice, which was resting in her hand.

    Her hand was lying on his chest.

    "When did shee here?" he muttered in confusion.

    He ced the ss in his inventory.

    Picking up the phone, he checked the time.

    ¡¯It¡¯s only five, but I need to hurry since it¡¯s important today," he muttered as he looked at the time.

    He used his right hand to raise Alice¡¯s head before he pulled out his left hand.

    He gently ced down her head before he got off the bed.

    He hurriedly brought some less noticeable clothes out of his bags that were ck and walked into the shower room.

    While Ryder was showering, Alice woke up.

    She still seemed sleepy as she had just woken up. Her eyes weren¡¯t even fully opening as she was so sleepy.

    She walked to the bathroom, which was attached to the shower room, unaware that she wasn¡¯t in her room.

    At night, she saw a rat in her room. She ran out in fear and closed the door. Unable to step into her room in fear, Alice could only go into Ryder¡¯s room.

    As she entered his room, she saw him lying on the bed, wearing Divinity sses. Sheid beside him and soon fell asleep.

    As she woke up in the morning, she forgot that she wasn¡¯t in her room, but Ryder¡¯s as she stepped inside the bathroom.

    "Hmm? Is someone here?" She muttered in confusion, still sleepy as she slid the ss door to the side.

    She could see the back of a man who had his eyes closed. Ryder had shampoo in her head, which was sliding down her face.

    He couldn¡¯t see as his eyes were closed, but Alice¡¯s eyes opened wide as she saw Ryder.

    A scream was about to escape her lips, but she covered her mouth to make sure that no voice came out of her mouth.

    Ryder¡¯s back was facing her, so she couldn¡¯t see anything more. She decided to slowly walk back and get out of this ce; however, that¡¯s Whalen Ryder turned back as he started rubbing the back of his head.

    As he turned back, that proved to be the final straw as there were no covers between the two.

    Alice could see Ryder¡¯s naked body before her eyes. Water was dripping down his body, highlighting his chiseled body and well-toned muscles. Alice stopped moving back as her eyes started moving down from her chest.

    Her face was as red as a Tomato as her heartbeat at the speed that she rarely experienced. The more her gaze went down, the more her heartbeat increased until her gaze was right above his waist. Just a bit more, and she was going to see his thing that she wasn¡¯t supposed to.

    Her mind was telling her not to do it and to go back, but her heart was beating fast, and there was some inexplicable feeling inside her heart that was making her think that she needed to do it.

    Ultimately, she couldn¡¯t take it anymore as she finally lowered her gaze and saw every bit of Ryder.

    She could see the thing between his legs that seemed long but not too long. She wondered if that¡¯s how it was supposed to be as it was kind of her first time properly seeing it.

    She didn¡¯t know that it was because he wasn¡¯t hard and he was showering.

 Chapter 414 Spying

    <h4>Chapter 414: Spying</h4>

    Alice¡¯s eyes rested on the ce where it shouldn¡¯t have been, but she didn¡¯t seem to care. She could see that Ryder couldn¡¯t see because of shampoo, and his eyes were closed.

    She wanted to leave but she couldn¡¯t at the same time. After finishing the shampoo, Ryder reached out his hand to find the knob to turn on the shower.

    Seeing that, Alice slowly walked back since she knew that he would be able to see after he did that.

    She left the bathroom and went back to her room, where she used the toilet.

    Ryder turned on the shower, which fell over his head. He rinsed his head as the shampoo slid down.

    After a few more minutes, he turned off the shower.

    He picked up the shower and started wiping the body as he walked out of there, only to get stunned after seeing the door open.

    He remembered closing the door. How was it open? Did someone enter? He thought as he frowned.

    He looked around, but he didn¡¯t find anyone. He wrapped the towel around his waist before he stepped out.

    "She isn¡¯t sleeping? Could it be that she?" He muttered as he wondered.

    He knew that he couldn¡¯t do anything even if she saw since she wasn¡¯t saying anything. Asking anything was only going to embarrass her. He closed the door of his room before he started getting dressed.

    He dressed in ck clothes and made sure that his clothes were the least standing out.

    He soon left the room.

    "Alice?" He called out as he opened the door of her room.

    Alice was covering herself with a nket, pretending to be sleeping, but Ryder had a feeling that she was up.

    "I am going to work. I can bete tonight. Don¡¯t wait for me. Use room service to order food and don¡¯t leave the room," he told Alice before he left.

    Ryder left the hotel and walked towards the FBI headquarters.

    It was only 6 in the morning. Ryder knew that the FBI office always had agents inside, but he still went so early to find people that were going to start their work after 6.

    He wanted to find one such guy and observe him without being caught.

    After walking for twenty minutes, he found apletely empty street which was surrounded by tall buildings on both sides. He entered the street and decided to hide his face.

    He wore ck gloves on his face and changed his shoes, and brought another one of the masks that he had purchased.

    The mask this time was from another popr character nowadays. It was the main character of a famous series called Tokemon. The character was called Tash Retchum, who was a kids¡¯ favorite.

    Ryder wore the mask with his face to hide his real face. After getting ready, he took onest nce at his surroundings. After making sure he waspletely alone, he started using his abilities and flew up.

    He flew straight up to the top of the building andnded on it.

    After making sure there was no one on the roofs and no helicopters around, he left his conservations and flew straight towards the FBI building.

    It didn¡¯t take him long to get near the building; however, he didn¡¯t go straight to the building. He stopped in the nearest building that was even taller than the FBI headquarters.

    He decided to stay there. He brought out his binocrs, which he was going to use to keep an eye on the entrance of the building to find his perfect prey.

    For the next hour, he kept an eye on the entrance and soon found a guy he thought had a high enough authority. It was a man who hade in a ck sedan.

    The man was dressed in a white shirt and ck coat. Hemanded an authoritative aura that made Ryder feel like he had a pretty high position. The agents at the entrance also greeted him with full respect, which made him even more sure that the person was the one he needed.

    Ryder watched the man enter the ce. After that, he started waiting. He waited for the man toe out of the building.

    He realized the wait was going to be long since there was a good chance that the man wasn¡¯t going toe out until the evening, but he had already prepared for the wait.

    While he was waiting, he also did something else. He had noticed the direction that the car came from.

    It was mostly certain that the man lived in that direction, but he couldn¡¯t wait there as that was going to attract a lot of attention, so he did something else. He decided to change ces, so he could be sitting in a building in that direction.

    He wanted to be closer to the car when it left the headquarters so that he didn¡¯t need to chase after it as much.

    He once again found the right opportunity before he flew over to the other side of the FBI headquarters andnded on the building.

    He again positioned himself to make sure that he couldn¡¯t be seen by anyone before he continued keeping watch.

    The day started passing. Time seemed to be moving as slow as a snail. Since Ryder was waiting, it moved even slower for him.

    He decided to do some time pass, but as he couldn¡¯t use his phone or take his eyes off, the only thing he could do was to call someone.

    As he thought to call someone, two names came to his head¡ª Esmi and Herriet. He hadst talked to the two of them at the same time, which wasn¡¯t that long ago. He was much closer to Esmi, so he called her first.

    After only two rings, Esmi picked up the call.

    "You finally remembered me, did you?" She asked, sounding upset.

    "What do you mean? West talked the day before yesterday. It¡¯s not even been that long," Ryder asked, smiling wryly.

    "Are you out of the city?" Esmi asked suddenly.

    "How do you know?" Ryder asked, stunned at the fact that she knew.

    "It¡¯s nothing. Bastion came back to the city. He went to meet you at the new address you had given. He came back to inform me that you left the city, which was surprising since you didn¡¯t tell me," Esmi exined, sighing.

    Ryder could feel that this call was turning into aint call at this point.

    "It all happened so fast, and the stress of work, I couldn¡¯t tell you. I called you to tell you about it now," he made an excuse.

    He knew that it wouldn¡¯t work, so before Esmi could point anything, he changed the topic subtly.

    "Why didn¡¯t he call me, though? He went to meet me and didn¡¯t even call? Is everything alright?" He asked.

    "I know you¡¯re changing the topic, but I¡¯ll let it go now," Esmi muttered, shaking her head.

    "I don¡¯t know why. I think he brought a gift for you from his journey. He probably wanted to give you a surprise. That¡¯s why he didn¡¯t tell you, I think. After finding out that you were out of the city, he came back."

    "Did you see what gift he brought?"Ryder asked, curious.

    "I¡¯m not sure," Esmi asked, shaking her head.

    "Alright. I¡¯lle back and meet him to see myself. That aside, did you find anything about the guys behind contracting to kill Bastion?" Ryder inquired.

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about that," Esmi answered. "The right people will be dealing with that stuff."

    Their conversation continued lightly about random things before it changed to some spicy topics, which even made Ryder stunned. He couldn¡¯t believe this was a conversation he was having when he was out on such a serious mission, but he didn¡¯t deny.

    He engaged in the conversation properly, whichsted for two hours.

    After two hours, Ryder disconnected the call since Esmi needed to get to some work.

    After being done with her, he called Herriet to ask her how work was going and how things were progressing. He had already suggested to her the ns to make the Aviation Branch more sessful, which was something he had copied from the main timeline where Herriet hade up with them on her own.

    Herriet made herpany rise to the top using them, but now that she was part of Ryder¡¯spany, he gave her those ideas himself since he couldn¡¯t wait for her toe up with the ideas herself.

    "Yeah. If everything goes the way nned, we could be really profitable," Herriet told Ryder as she smiled. "We can make amotion in the business world."

    "That¡¯s what my n is. We won¡¯t only createmotion, but we would create explosions that will have everyone talking about us for months toe. It¡¯s just going to be the start," Ryder answered as he smiled.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll call youter. Something important hase up," he said as he noticed his targete out of the building.

 Chapter 415 Thief

    <h4>Chapter 415: Thief</h4>

    "I¡¯ll call youter," Ryder let out as he disconnected the call after he saw his target leaving the headquarters.

    He kept the phone in his pocket before he got ready to jump down.

    He walked to the other side of the roof and jumped down where no one was supposed to see him. He walked all around the building to get to the main road where the car was supposed to pass from.

    He started waiting on the corner of the street. He had already removed the mask by now since he didn¡¯t need that anymore.

    The man who Ryder was waiting for, entered his car and left the vicinity. He drove towards where Ryder was standing.

    At the sight of the car, a grin formed on Ryder¡¯s face. He could see the blonde man driving the car.

    He hurriedly walked on the road as if he was in a hurry to get to the other side. He made his timing just perfect so he would be right before the car, almost hitting it.

    The blonde man was driving at regr speed; however, he didn¡¯t know that right at the end moment, a man was going to jump before him.

    He hastily pressed the break, which still wasn¡¯t enough to stop the car on time. The bo of the car touched the knees of Ryder, hitting him.

    Ryder rolled over the car, falling behind it.

    "Fuck!" The blonde man cursed as he stepped out of the car to check up on Ryder.

    "Are you fine?" He asked Ryder, who fortunately seemed uninjured.

    "Ah, I¡¯m fine. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m hurt," Ryder replied as he smiled apologetically. He stood up and waved his hand, gesturing that he was fine.

    "Hmph, next time, walk more carefully. I don¡¯t want to have to deal with dead bodies outside my field of work."

    After hearing that Ryder was fine, the blonde man stopped focusing on Ryder.

    He warned him a little before he turned back. He entered his car and left.

    Watching the car leave, Ryder smiled as he crossed the road.

    "Don¡¯t worry. You won¡¯t be dealing with dead bodies. I will be the one dealing," Ryder muttered softly as he smirked.

    The blonde man didn¡¯t know that the ident was fully nned by Ryder with only one goal. The goal was to ce a tracker on the car so he could know the house of the guy. He couldn¡¯t beat the man in public. As for chasing the car, that was another tough job with a rare probability of sess. So he formted this n.

    Now that the tracker was ced, he could simply wait for the night to get to work and start the new day as the Blonde haired man.

    After cing the tracker, he started rxing. He went to a small restaurant nearby to have a light meal since he hadn¡¯t eaten anything while waiting since the morning.

    He ordered a burger and a few French Fries to go along with it. He also had a ss of coffee.

    Even after that, he still felt a little hungry, so he continued ordering. Only when he was satisfied did he stand up. He paid the bill along with the tip before he left the ce.

    He checked the location of the car once again, which was finally showing to be stable.

    "Looks like he¡¯s finally home. Better start now," Ryder muttered as he started walking towards the location that the tracker was showing.

    He took a cab along the way, which he used to drop him at a mall near the location. From there, he walked on foot and soon reached a big house.

    The tracker was showing this house, meaning the car was somewhere inside in the parking lot; however, he couldn¡¯t be sure since the doors were closed and there was a guard at the door. There was also a security camera ced there, which Ryder worked hard to avoid.

    The house was a 3-floor building which seemed like it could very well belong to more than one people. There wasn¡¯t any other way to enter except from the main entrance.

    The walls were too high for any normal man to jump, leaving only one path to enter, which was secured.

    Fortunately for Ryder, he wasn¡¯t a normal man, so he didn¡¯t need to take the risk of trying to infiltrate through the main path. He could easily pass through any wall no matter how tall it was as long as he hadn¡¯t used all his flying time. It was proving to be a really useful ability for sneaking inside.

    He once again walked to the less guarded side of the house carefully before he covered his face with the same mask.

    He flew straight up andnded on the wall that surrounded the house. After looking around, he flew straight to the balcony of the house, which had a ss window.

    He tried opening the window, but it happened to be locked, leaving him no other option but to use the various gadgets that he had purchased. As he was more and more involved in breaking in, he had decided to buy the items normally instead of using his Origin Points in the system store.

    He had brought aser pen that was capable of cutting the ss. He turned on the pen, which released a redser, which waster used by Ryder to cut the ss of the window.

    He cut the ss in a rectangr shape. After cutting the ss, he used the gloves with suction to pull out the piece of ss that was cut. He ced the ss to the side before he entered the house.

    As soon as he entered, the first thing he did was to check for cameras to see if there was anything like that there.

    He didn¡¯t find any cameras in the room or the hallway outside.

    He walked inside the empty-looking house, trying to find the man. The entire house was brightly lit, but no one could be seen.

    Ryder could also see dirt on the ground as if there wasn¡¯t a servant to clean the ce.

    He was getting confused. Was it the right ce, or was it some temporary meeting ce where the guy was meeting someone else?

    He searched the entire floor but didn¡¯t find anyone. There was furniture, but it didn¡¯t seem like it was used in a long time.

    He soon reached the stairs using which he went to the ground floor. It was only then did he find something.

    A door was open, and he could hear some noiseing from inside.

    He brought a tranquilizer gun from his inventory and got ready to shoot the man if he saw. He slowly walked towards the room.

    Entering the room, he soon found the guy he was looking for. The man seemed like he was looking for something in a safe that was embedded in the wall.

    From the back view, Ryder was sure that the man was the one he was looking for. He had blonde hair and the same height. He was also wearing the same clothes.

    Ryder aimed his gun before he pulled the trigger.

    The tranquilizer hit the neck of the man, who had a painful grunt. He opened his mouth, but no voice came out of his mouth. The effects of the tranquilizer were so fast that he couldn¡¯t even turn back to see who had hit him. His vision went blurry before he dropped to the ground.

    Ryder stepped forward and turned the guy over to see his face. He wanted to make sure he got the right guy.

    "Yeah. He is the same," Ryder muttered as he picked up the unconscious man over his shoulders.

    He walked upstairs with the man on his shoulders.

    He walked to the top floor and dropped the man on the ground.

    He tried to find a wire to tie the man. Even though he was unable to find a wire, he did find a rope. He used the rope to tie the hands of the man properly. He knew that man was probably an agent, so he might have ways of untying himself; that¡¯s why Ryder took proper precautions.

    After tying the man, he started waiting for him to wake up. The tranquilizer effects weren¡¯t longsting, so they started wearing off after an hour. The blonde man slowly opened his eyes as he looked around.

    It took him a brief moment to be able to see clearly since his vision was blurry when he woke up.

    Aas his vision cleared, he saw a man standing in front of him. The man was wearing what seemed like the mask of an animated character.

    "Who are you?" He asked, confused.

    "Hmm?" He soon realized that his hands and feet were tied.

    "Are you a thief? Do you know who you are dealing with here? I¡¯m warning you. Free me and leave or you don¡¯t know how you might suffer," he threatened Ryder.

    In his mind, Ryder was probably a thief who was looking for valuables.

 Chapter 416 Game

    <h4>Chapter 416: Game</h4>

    "A thief? Maybe I am," Ryder muttered as he smiled. He was talking in a different ent than his normal one and using a rich voice to make it difficult for the man to realize who he was.

    "I¡¯m warning you. You don¡¯t know who you¡¯re dealing with. I am from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As a thief, you¡¯re not worth my time. If you free me, you can leave. I won¡¯t stop you," the blonde man said, threatening Ryder.

    Ryder squinted his eyes as he gazed at the man as if he was looking at an idiot. He replied, "Why should I care who you are? From the FBI or from the government, after one bullet, you¡¯re going to be a corpse. You know, Dead Men tell no tales. I don¡¯t need to worry about anything. So don¡¯t even bother trying to scare me about your position."

    The blonde man could sense that it wasn¡¯t a normal robbery. The masked man wasn¡¯t trying to find anything valuable even though he had tied the man. This felt more like a kidnapping and less like a robbery.

    "What do you want then?" The blonde man asked, understanding that this wasn¡¯t what he initially thought. "What are you after?"

    "I am after you. You were looking at something in the safe. Unfortunately, you didn¡¯t have the time to take it before I hit you," Ryder let out as he pulled out a document.

    "Is it right? The document is pretty interesting. Should I leak it in the media?" He continued as he waved the document.

    ¡¯He saw it. I was here to take that back so I can sell thend, but he has the paper now,¡¯ the blonde man thought, frowning.

    "The worth of thisnd is so much that I don¡¯t think even the Director of your headquarters can buy this in his lifetime. It along with inheritance properly, but that seems to be impossible as well since this paper shows that you purchased it," Ryder let out as he gazed at the paper.

    He took out a wallet from his pocket.

    "My wallet," the blonde man called out as he recognized the wallet.

    "Yeah. It¡¯s your wallet. Oh, sorry. I misspoke. This used to be your wallet. Now, this wallet belongs to this thief," Ryder said, smiling.

    He folded the document and kept it in his pocket before he opened the wallet.

    He pulled out the identity card of the man.

    "Hmm, so you¡¯re actually an FBI member. You weren¡¯t kidding. Assistant Director, huh? Not bad. You look young. Who would have known that you were already over 40 and had such a high position? Not bad," he muttered as he read the card.

    "Now that you know who I am, free me. It¡¯s an honest mistake. I will really forgive you. If you kill me, the Entire Bureau will be after you. You won¡¯t be able to escape. Even if I will be dead, you won¡¯t survive either. Please don¡¯t make the biggest mistake of your life," the Blonde haired man said again, thinking that Ryder would be more cooperative after knowing about his high position.

    "Well, Mister Handerson, As I said before, I wouldn¡¯t care about you or your position. Answer me one question. Where did you get money to buy this from? Were you the one who leaked the information to Uprising?" Ryder asked, shooting an arrow in the dark.

    He didn¡¯t expect it to hit its spot since there was a possibility that the man was rich enough to buy on his own, but the man¡¯s expression gave him away.

    As soon as Ryder mentioned the name, the man¡¯s face went pale, which was shocking.

    It was more surprising since the FBI knew that organization as a different name. The only people who knew about the real name were Ryder and Ray.

    Ryder was sure that other than Ray, no one knew about the real name of the organization since the FBI referred to them as BioTerror.

    As the man reacted, it was as if he was stunned to know that name from Ryder, making it evident that he had some link.

    "So I was right. You are the leak. Interesting. From what I knew, only the Director knew about the locations, but the locations were leaked. So you and the Director are working with them. It¡¯s either that, or you used some other method to get the information from him without him knowing, is that right?" Ryder asked with an amused smile on his face.

    "Who are you?! How do you know about them?" Handerson asked grimly as he squinted his eyes.

    "Who I am doesn¡¯t matter. What mattered was the answer which I got now," Ryder muttered as he sighed. He walked over to the window and looked outside. There was only a single guard outside who was still standing at the main entrance.

    Ryder brought a gun out of his pocket, which already has the silencer attached to it.

    He turned back and walked closer to Handerson.

    Seeing the gun in Ryder¡¯s hand, Handerson was stunned.

    He had a bad feeling.

    "What do you want? Why do you have the gun? We can talk it out!" Handerson called out, looking scared.

    "I¡¯m doing nothing. I¡¯m only arranging for a game. Let me tell you the game. For every wrong answer, I¡¯ll shoot you. And for every right answer, you¡¯ll get one point. If you get three points, you¡¯ll win, and you will be freed. That¡¯s all. Simple and easy, right?" Ryder asked, smiling.

    "You! Stop it this instant and free me! I don¡¯t want to y any game! Free me this instant!" Handerson protested.

    "Are you in a feast or something? When you¡¯ll be allowed to leave whenever you desire? Sit there silently. I¡¯m the king here, and only my rules will be followed. I make rules here! You either follow that, or you die without even ying. You can decide," Ryder said, smiling like the devil.

    "You..."

    The man was stunned, but he didn¡¯t know how to react. His threat wasn¡¯t working, and Ryder had a gun. Ryder wasn¡¯t budging from his original position either. He could see no other option but to give in and y by his rules.

    "I will agree. Ask your three questions," the man said, feeling confident that he would win easily.

    All he needed was to answer three questions correctly in a row or at least respond in such a way that Ryder wouldn¡¯t know that he was lying.

    "Alright. That¡¯s like a good boy. Let us start then." Ryder smiled, pleased at the answer.

    "First question. Are you linked to the Dark Uprising? Is the Director also associated with you guys," Ryder asked.

    "That¡¯s two questions," Handerson pointed out.

    "I told you I make the rules. It¡¯s counted as one question," Ryder asked, smiling.

    The man wanted to curse Ryder for openly cheating, but he controlled himself. It was a situation where he couldn¡¯t lose his calm, or his death was going to be the consequence of his actions.

    "I heard about the Dark Uprising, but I¡¯m not working with them closely. I only leak information once in a while. Also, I don¡¯t think the Director knows about it. I was the only one involved in leaking," The man answered.

    "Oh? The Director didn¡¯t know?" Ryder said, smiling. "I told you, no lying, right?"

    Bang!

    He fired the bullet aimed at the knee of the man.

    As soon as the bullet

    "You bastard! How did you know I was lying! Fuck you! You attacked randomly! There¡¯s no way you knew I was lying!"

    Ryder smirked as he heard the response. It was true. He internationally asked this question since no matter what the answer was, he was going to shoot the man.

    In his mind, if the man was telling the truth and Ryder shot, he would curse Ryder for shooting even when he was telling the truth in anger. If the man was lying and Ryder shot, his initial response would bepletely different. In that case, the response was going to be of shock. This was a testing mechanism for him; that¡¯s why he asked the main question in the first turn.

    "I told you, don¡¯t try to lie to me. I have my methods to know that you lied to me. See? Because if you lie, you lose one leg. You won¡¯t be able to walk properly," Ryder said, sighing.

    "Don¡¯t lie again. I don¡¯t want you to lose your other leg as well," he continued

    "Second Question... Where is the office of the Director?" Ryder asked his second question.

    "On the top floor. Room 1709!" The man let out as he groaned in pain. He couldn¡¯t even stop the bleeding since his hands were tied.

    ¡¯At Least stop the bleeding now! My leg can still be saved! I answered!" He continued.

    "You can do that yourself after answering two more questions. I¡¯ll free you. Then you can stop your bleeding or make it worse. I don¡¯t care."

 Chapter 417 Magic

    <h4>Chapter 417: Magic</h4>

    "Alright. You got one point. You need two more points,¡¯ Ryder said as he gazed at the man who was groaning in pain. His leg had stopped responding, but the pain was still terrifying.

    As the room was fully closed, no voice left the room even though the man was making a lot of noises.

    The room was noisy, but the outside was silent.

    "Alright. Next question. Where is the base of the Dark Uprising! Tell me about their base!" Ryder asked the next question

    The man was already sweating in pain. He was upset. Not only did Ryder not help him, but he also continued asking.

    The man answered, "I don¡¯t know! I never knew about that. I only had a link to one of the members who I provided information to. He never told me about their base, and I never asked."

    Ryder didn¡¯tment anything. He turned back as he startedughing.

    The man finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he got another point. Now he only had one more question left.

    He gazed at his leg and wondered if he could save it if he was freed and got help in time. He had stopped groaning in pain. He was still hurt, but he had adjusted to the pain.

    Right when he was lost in his thought, he heard a sound which made him know exactly what to expect since he heard the same sound when his first leg was shot. Another scream escaped his lips as his second knew was shut as well.

    He screamed like a dying man as his body twisted and turned. His waist raised upwards, creating space between the ground and his back as he cried in pain.

    His eyes were already bloodshot red.

    "You bastard! Why did you shoot me now! Even when I told the truth, you still did it!" He screamed in rage as he controlled the twitching of his body.

    ¡¯Oh, good. So he wasn¡¯t lying,¡¯ Ryder thought as he nodded his head. From the reaction, he was certain that the blonde man wasn¡¯t lying.

    He also found this awkward since he had shot even after getting the right answer.

    He shamelessly smiled, calmly. I did this because you lied again," he said.

    "I fucking didn¡¯t lie! You don¡¯t have any way to know. You¡¯re randomly shooting since you did even after I told the truth! You have no intention of freeing me! You bastard!" the man cursed.

    "You sure you didn¡¯t lie?" Ryder asked as he smirked.

    "You said you never knew about their bases. It was a lie since you found out about their bases when you leaked the information of the future raids. That¡¯s why they weren¡¯t there. You could¡¯ve said you don¡¯t know about their base. But you never knew about their base was a lie," he continued.

    His words stunned Handerson, who never thought like that. He didn¡¯t know that even the past bases that were abandoned needed to be counted in his answers.

    "I think you might have misunderstood the question. Even though you lied, I¡¯ll still give you the point," Ryder let out.

    "Onest question. You only need one answer. If you¡¯re right, I¡¯ll free you," he said.

    "Last question... Is the Director also a modified human like you who doesn¡¯t die?"

    Hearing the question, the man¡¯s face went pale. How did Ryder know that he got operated on? It was right. He was exactly like Riya, who didn¡¯t die from bullets or wounds.

    "Confused? Are you wondering how I knew it?" Ryder assumed, looking at the stunned look of the man.

    The man who was groaning in pain like he was dying, stopped pretending. He startedughing.

    "Exactly. How did you know?" He asked,ughing.

    "It¡¯s simple. Do you really expect me not to know that you were acting? Even though you were shot in the leg, your reaction was all wrong. I¡¯ve shot plenty of people in the knee. Their reaction is quite fascinating. I must say, your family was not bad. But it wasn¡¯t close to good either. It was obvious that your reaction was fake," Ryder answered.

    "Who exactly are you?" Handerson asked, squinting his eyes.

    "Who am I? I¡¯m a thief, I told you at the start," Ryder replied.

    "You¡¯re not going to answer. Let me take a guess... You are the one who messed with the ns in DC and the one which our Kings want to catch," Handerson took a guess.

    Since Ryder knew so much about them, it was certain that he was the one. The one that the kings called the Masked Hero.

    ¡¯The Kings, huh? Now that I think about it, the one who asked to have Bastion assassinated was a King too. Could he be rted to them as well? Most probably. The night of the explosions, one of the targets was Esmi¡¯s club,¡¯ Hearing about the Kings, Ryder understood a few things. He was able to establish a few links and get a clearer picture.

    ¡¯I was wondering why they chose such a small ce. After that was the assassination attempt on Bastion, it¡¯s certain. They have some kind of hostility with Bastion¡¯s family,¡¯ he thought.

    " I won¡¯t ept nor deny your guess. You can think what you wish," Ryder answered the man.

    "Anyway, since you didn¡¯t answer myst question, let me change the question. How did you contact the Uprising? Let me take a guess as well; you use your phone. You have the number of someone from the group saved as a random name, and you use that to call, am I right?"

    "You¡¯re not stupid. But I¡¯m not telling you which name," the man answered.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I know you won¡¯t tell me about that, and I don¡¯t expect you to tell me either. What I know is already enough," Ryder answered, smiling.

    He kept the gun back in his inventory.

    "W-what? How?"

    Watching the gun disappear into thin air, Handerson was shocked. He had seen magicians, but this was too real.

    "Stunned? That¡¯s nothing. Let me show you more," Ryder said, smirking.

    Seeing his smirk, Handerson grew to have a bad feeling. His forehead was actually sweating as he watched the devil-like smile on Ryder¡¯s face.

    He watched the hand of Ryder to see what his n was while he actually started to struggle to free his hands.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve taken proper precautions. The ropes won¡¯t break so easily," Ryder answered, noticing his effort.

    He brought another item out of his invention, which happened to frighten Handerson.

    Handerson was modified in such a way that he didn¡¯t die from wounds. Bullets were useless as well, but his head was important. If his head was cut off or his whole body was blown up, there was no way for him to survive. He could see Ryder nned to do the first thing since there appeared a sharp sword in his hand.

    "You... Wait... Don¡¯t do it... I can h-" he was making excuses to calm down Ryder since he was actually scared for his life, but before he could even finish his sentence, Ryder swung his sword.

    As the sword came to a halt, a voice stopped, and a head rolled over to the ground.

    Watching the head of Handerson lying on the ground, lifelessly, Ryder sighed as if he was tired.

    "There goes another life. I wonder if he could even be called alive," he muttered as he wiped the de of the sword with the clothes of the man.

    After being done, he kept the Sword back in the inventory.

    He had previously already searched the body of the man, so he didn¡¯t need to do that again. He already had all the keys and the phone of Handerson.

    "Now I need to spend the night here. I can get back to work in the morning," he muttered as he gazed at the time on his phone.

    He dialed the number of Alice from his phone.

    "Hello," he said.

    "I am a little busy at work. I won¡¯t be able toe back today. Eat alone and sleep. I should be back tomorrow night," He informed Alice.

    "Can¡¯t youe even at night? Do you really need to do so much work that you won¡¯t even sleep?" Alice asked, concerned.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me. We have a room here with a bed. I can take a nap there after I¡¯m finished. Traveling is just not feasible. I do have good news, though. My work is going great. I should be finished with work on time. After that, we can enjoy our trip," Ryder informed her,forting her.

    "Fine. If you say so, I will wait for you toe back tomorrow¡ªbest of luck with work. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll make a killing," Alice said before she disconnected the call.

    "I will certainly make a killing," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the phone. He kept the phone in his pocket and sat down near the body.

 Chapter 418 At home

    <h4>Chapter 418: At home</h4>

    Birds were flying in the nightly sky that was lit only with the most sparkling of moonlight.

    Half the city was asleep while the other half was still working in the city that was said never to sleep.

    It was the new capital of the country which had the headquarters of all giant organizations. It was also where the government was located. Most of the organizations worked 24 hours on a shift basis as well, making this city to be just as busy at night as it was in the day.

    If Ryder wished, he could go to the FBI base right now, but he wanted to go there in the morning when the main target was going to be there. He wanted to go in the morning for the same purpose.

    Ryder gazed at the bead of the man who was lying near him.

    He sighed as he shook his head. "You just had to betray this country by joining up with them, didn¡¯t you? People like you are so messed up."

    He kicked the head, which rolled over to the side.

    He also sent the body of the men to his inventory.

    After resting for a few minutes, he stood up and walked over to another room that was somewhat cleaner and didn¡¯t have the smell of blood. He didn¡¯t forget to close the door behind him.

    There was a bed in that ce. Ryderid on the bed and closed his eyes. He didn¡¯t go to the world of Divinity today since he was not in a safe ce. He didn¡¯t want to be killed while he was in Divinity.

    He decided to rest while still staying alert to make sure no one else entered the building.

    He had already cleaned the dead body and locked the room, but he was still in his real body. His face was also the real one. He had taken the mask off as he closed his eyes. The silence in that ce was scary, but it was also somewhat soothing.

    It was so silent that Ryder had a feeling that he would be able to hear the footsteps outside if entered the house.

    He closed his eyes and started resting, trying not to fall asleep even though he was sleeping.

    He stayed like that for an hour, but he realized that he couldn¡¯t stay like that. He needed to sleep.

    He was feeling a lot sleepy. He sat up as he looked to his left.

    "Stanner," he called out.

    "I am here." a Spirit appeared near him after his call.

    It was the Spirit of Stanner that had taken him as master after he helped fulfill itsst wish. It had been following Ryder always since that moment.

    "You, keep an eye outside. Come here and scream loudly if you see someone entering the building. Only I can hear you, so it should be fine," Ryder told the Spirit, putting it on the work of guarding him throughout the night.

    After cing some safety mechanisms in ce, he went to sleep.

    Ryder sleptfortably even though it wasn¡¯t a ce he wanted to stay in.

    The night stealthily passed as Ryder fell asleep.

    Ryder was sleeping, and Alice was also sleeping. There was one ce, however, where no one was sleeping.

    It was the Maxwell Estate, which was the home of Shu Maxwell and also the ce where Ryder stayed with Alice.

    The guards of Maxwell Estate were just as alert as always in guarding the ce even though Shu wasn¡¯t here.

    They weren¡¯t aware that a man was walking towards them right at that time who was capable of shaking their entire defense alone.

    It was a man. He had beautiful dark hair that wasn¡¯t very long. His eyes seemed slightly red.

    The man was wearing a professional ck coat as if he was a businessman. Both his hands had dark gloves that seemed to have diamonds studded in the knuckles. He was Luke, who was the right-hand man of Adrian that was sent here to bring Alice with him.

    He had a piece of paper in his hand.

    He stood before a guard of one of the mansions in the area and showed him the peace of paper.

    "Can you tell me where I can find this ce?"

    The guard gazed at the address on the piece of paper.

    "Oh, you¡¯re looking for Maxwell Estate. That¡¯s the one." The guard pointed towards one of the nearby buildings.

    "Oh, so this is the ce," Luke muttered as he took the piece of paper back.

    He walked towards the Maxwell Estate and stopped before the metallic gates.

    The guards of the mansion approached him.

    "Yes?" They asked.

    "I am here to meet Miss Alice," Luke replied.

    "Miss Alice? Who are you to her? What business do you have with her?"

    Hearing the name of Alice, the guards grew alert. Alice was already kidnapped some time back. So they were told to stay more alert. Don¡¯t a man with such a strange ent here and that too, thiste wasn¡¯t something that found normal.

    Even though Alice wasn¡¯t here, they didn¡¯t tell the man about that.

    "Who are you?" They asked.

    "I am from the University she applied to study. This is my card," Luke showed the card to the guards.

    "I¡¯m here to ask her some questions. You can think of it as more like an on-site inspection about the behavior of the student. It¡¯s also an interview. Can you please call her out?" He continued.

    The guards saw the card, which seemed real. The excuse also seemed real.

    "Do you have anything else to prove that she actually applied, and you¡¯re here regarding that? The card you showed says that the University is in Russia. We don¡¯t know how the real cards look there. So we wouldn¡¯t know even if this card is fake," the guard pointed out, not giving the man a benefit of the doubt.

    It wasn¡¯t as if he could go back inside and verify with Alice since she wasn¡¯t here. So he could only deal with it this way.

    " You can go in and ask her yourself if she applied or not. It would even be better if you can call her out so I can talk directly," Luke replied, still behaving respectfully.

    Adrian had told him to be respectful when dealing with this stuff. He also needed to bring Alice with him. If he became violent here, that would create a bad impression on Alice, who might refuse toe with him. So he tried his best.

    Luke brought a piece of folded paper out of his pocket.

    "More proof? I do have a photocopy of her application form and the handwritten essay that she sent." He said as he gave the card to them.

    The guards observed the handwritten note and the name of Alice and her details. They were almost certain that the man was telling the truth, but they still couldn¡¯t put their doubts to rest.

    They decided to tell the truth.

    "Miss Alice and Mister Ryder left the Estate for their vacation. They will be back after a week. You can only meet them at that time. Pleasee back then," the guard informed Luke.

    "Hmm? They aren¡¯t here?" Luke muttered.

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t seem like they are lying. It looks like she really did go out. Can I really wait for a week? If she didn¡¯t go car, I can go there and approach her,¡¯ he thought as he observed the guards.

    "I am in a hurry, and she is thest candidate I need to interact with before I go back to Russia. Can you at least tell me where they went? If they didn¡¯t go too far, I could meet them there. If it is faster than spending a week here, then please tell me." He said.

    "We have no idea where they went on a vacation. They didn¡¯t tell us. All we know is that they aren¡¯t in the city. If you want to talk to Miss Alice, you need toe after a week. You can only find her then," the guards informed Luke.

    The smile on Luke¡¯s face disappeared as he turned back.

    ¡¯One week, huh,¡¯ he thought as he left.

    He called Adrian and informed him about the things that were happening here.

    ¡¯One week? Hah, it¡¯s fine. At Least you found out that she indeed lives there. I¡¯ve already waited to meet her for so long. What¡¯s one more week," Adrian said to him before he disconnected the call.

    "Hah!"

    A scream was heard as a girl woke up from her slumber.

    Alice¡¯s face was covered in sweat as he breathed heavily. It was as if she had seen some horrible dream that terrified her.

    She immediately turned on the lights as she started trying to calm her breathing.

    She gazed towards the door, which seemed to be farther than it had ever been previously. Her head was also spinning.

 Chapter 419 Rendezvous in the lift

    <h4>Chapter 419: Rendezvous in the lift</h4>

    Alice woke up from her sleep, sweating.

    Her heart was beating faster as if she had woken up from her sleep because of a deep struggle.

    She gazed at the time on her phone.

    Seeing that the time was 3 am, and no one was in the room, Alice picked up the ss of water, which was ced on a nearby table.

    She took a sip of water before she ced it back. The room was so silent that even the sound of ss hitting the table was clearly audible.

    She once againid down on the bed as she closed her eyes and started sleeping again.

    Back in the vi, Ryder was sleeping peacefully. There was no disturbance as no one barged inside the vi in the night.

    The Spirit of Stanner still kept an eye on the house, keeping it safer.

    The silent night ended as the light of the sun started brightening thend.

    Yawn,

    Ryder sat up as he opened his mouth, yawning. He stretched his arms.

    He got off the bed before he changed his clothes. He also donned a proper coat before he brought the body of Handerson out of his inventory.

    He touched the body of Handerson. As he touched, his skin started getting tanner. His hair also started changing color until they were precisely the same shade as the man.

    The length of Ryder¡¯s hair also adjusted to be the same length of Handerson¡¯s hairs.

    His eyes became sharper as his eyebrows became thinner. His slender nose also changed color, bing wider. His lips became drier.

    Soon, he was looking the same as Handerson. Even the heights were the same.

    Handerson was a little shorter than Ryder had been.

    Ryder brought a mirror out of the inventory and looked at his face. A smile formed on his face as a word escaped his lips, "Perfect."

    He kept the body back before he walked out of the room. He went downstairs and left the vi.

    Stepping inside the car of Handerson, he inserted the keys as he started the engine.

    He pulled the car out of the driveway and left.

    He also had Handerson¡¯s phone. He had already gone through the phonest night, but he realized that there were over two thousand numbers on his phone. It was impossible to find the number of the Uprising contacts that easy, so he had left that forter. He only checked the message, which didn¡¯t provide him with any information.

    He was keeping the phone in his pocket, hoping not to get any calls since he didn¡¯t wish to take the risk of getting caught.

    The wheels of the car turned as it entered the headquarters of the Bureau. Ryder parked the car and stepped out of the car. He confidently walked towards the entrance.

    He had seen the way Handerson walked, and he was trying to impersonate that movement.

    The man who stood at the entrance greeted Ryder respectfully as he stepped inside the FBI headquarters. The giant insignia and symbol of the Bureau were ced carved on the floor, covering the entire entrance.

    Ryder walked over the insignia as he moved towards the lift. He could see many agents walking through the hallway.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t believe I am actually infiltrating the FBI to kill their director. Even though I know he¡¯s the bad guy; this act technically makes me a terrorist. If anyone finds out, I¡¯ll be called a domestic terrorist. All the best investigators are already here,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    ¡¯Sigh, if someone had told me in the past that I will be breaking inside the headquarters of the FBI, I would have called that person crazy. But here, I am the crazy. Whatever, it¡¯s got the better of this world. The people like him deserve to die. Trying to get so many of his own innocent agents killed for his own benefit. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be going to hell for it.¡¯

    He entered the lips and pressed the button on the top floor.

    "Wait a minute! Stop the lift, please!" As the door of the lift was about to close, Ryder saw a girl running towards him, shouting to stop the lift.

    Ryder didn¡¯t wish to dy himself any further for some girl, so he didn¡¯t move or do anything, but there was another person in the lift who reached out his hand and prevented the door of the lift from closing.

    It was a man who was wearing big round sses like Darry Botter of the famous Wizard Movie. There was a fawning smile on the man¡¯s face as he watched thedy running towards him.

    His stomach wasing out a little, making him seem chubby but not fat. The man didn¡¯t have a field job, and he didn¡¯t exercise to control his weight anyway.

    Thedy stepped inside the lift and hugged the chubby man tightly.

    "Thank you so much! In this cruel world, only you arepassionate enough to help a poor girl like me. You are the best man. I can¡¯t believe I found someone as nice as you. Would you please marry me?" The seductive girl asked the chubby man as she bit the tip of her ear.

    The man opened his lips to answer, but that¡¯s when he heard another voice.

    "Get out of the dream."

    Hearing the voice, the man looked to his side only to see Ryder being the one who said it.

    Confused, he looked back at the girl only to realize that she wasn¡¯t hugging him. The girl was still running towards the lift.

    The man lowered his head in embarrassment.

    The woman was wearing a pencil skirt that wrapped around her waist perfectly. Because of the lift, she was unable to run fast. It still took her some time before she reached the lift.

    "She stepped inside the lift as she breathed in relief. Thank you for stopping the lift," she told the chubby man.

    The man was somewhat disappointed that the girl wasn¡¯t reacting as strongly as he had imagined.

    "It was nothing," he said softly. However, the girl had already stopped looking at him by then.

    The girl was instead looking at Ryder.

    "Good morning Sir," she told Ryder, who was standing on the side.

    "Good morning," Ryder replied, nodding his head.

    The girl smiled back. "Sir, I have arranged for all the papers you asked for. You said you wanted to see it early in the morning. I¡¯ll show you."

    ¡¯Who exactly is this girl. She is acting so close. Is she the assistant of Handerson or someone who worked under him? Sigh, this is troublesome. At Least Handerson¡¯s office is also on the same floor. I can do my work after I get free from her," he thought.

    "I need to meet with the Director," Ryder said to her, hinting that she would deal with the other workter.

    "Right, sir. As you had said, you¡¯ll see the documents you asked for after arriving and meet with the Director at 12 when he arrives," the girl affirmed.

    ¡¯He isn¡¯t here? So he wille at 12,¡¯ Ryder thought as he turned his wrist and looked at the time on the watch.

    ¡¯ Looks like she is indeed the assistant since she is carrying Handerson¡¯s schedule. Fine. I¡¯ll see what were the important documents that this guy wanted to read first,¡¯ Ryder thought as he gazed at the seductive girl.

    He didn¡¯t know why but he felt like the girl was looking at him weirdly.

    The lift stopped at the 5th floor, and the chubby man stepped out, leaving only the girl and Ryder inside.

    The lift door closed against.

    The girl started moving back slowly without looking back, closing the distance between her and Ryder.

    Ryder noticed everything as he wondered what the girl was trying to do.

    ¡¯Is she crazy or what? If she moved a little more, her butt...¡¯ Ryder was thinking something, but what he was thinking about did happen.

    The girl had closed all distance between the two of them as her ass rubbed against his upper thighs since she was short.

    ¡¯Just what is she doing? Isn¡¯t she worried when doing this to her senior? Or could it be that Handerson had this kind of rtionship with this girl?¡¯ Ryder thought, frowning.

    He didn¡¯t know how to react. If Handerson was into this kind of rtionship and did this in lift daily, he couldn¡¯t scold her. And If he wasn¡¯t in this rtionship, it was another problem since it would mean the girl was seducing him.

    "What happened, darling? Why aren¡¯t you using your hands like you always do?" The Girl said in a seductive fine as she caught both his hands.

    She ced his left hand in her breast while she ced his right hand between her legs as a slight moan escaped her lips.

    ¡¯What the heck! This girl is crazy! Even if she is in a rtionship, these two do this in lift daily? How crazy are they?!¡¯ Ryder was cursing in his head.

 Chapter 420 In Lift (*)

    <h4>Chapter 420: In Lift (*)</h4>

    Ryder gazed at the girl who was rubbing her butt against his upper thighs shamelessly.

    He wondered if the girl was crazy. He looked around to see if the lift had any cameras. If the camera were there, doing it would really mean the girl was mad.

    Fortunately, there were no cameras around, which he found surprising as well. How could a lift have no cameras? Strange.

    At Least that exins why Handerson and the girl did that activity in the lift so often.

    He didn¡¯t know the name of the girl and didn¡¯t understand how he should address her.

    He simply reacted, "I¡¯m not in the mood today."

    The girl seemed to be stunned after hearing his reaction. He turned back as she gazed at him.

    "So that¡¯s how it is," the girl muttered as she observed Ryder¡¯s face making him wonder if there were any problems in his disguise.

    Did she realize that he wasn¡¯t Handerson? Was it because of his words? Did he say something wrong? Many thoughts floated through his head, but he kept his poker face.

    "I can¡¯t believe it!" The girl let out strongly.

    ¡¯She knows. I need to do something. I can¡¯t even keep her in my inventory without killing her but killing her for something like that... Is there no other way..." Ryder clenched his fist as he wondered what he could do.

    He could go back in time by over an hour, but he didn¡¯t want to use that ability lightly because of the concerns about the Lord of Time. If he couldn¡¯t find other ways, the only ways would be to kill the girl or go back in time and stop the chubby man from stopping the lift.

    He was thinking about what he can do when the girl continued, "Don¡¯t we save that for Fridays? You want to do the roley today?"

    "Huh?" Ryder gazed at her in confusion.

    ¡¯Roley? What is this girl talking about?¡¯ he thought.

    "Sigh, fine. We¡¯ll do the roley today. You¡¯re the unwilling boss, and I¡¯m the secretary that¡¯s lusting after you as I can¡¯t wait," the girl let out as she grinned.

    ¡¯So she thinks I¡¯m pretending? If I don¡¯t y along, I¡¯ll expose myself. I guess I can only y along. Better than having to kill her or going back in time,¡¯ Ryder thought as he agreed.

    "No, I¡¯m really not in the mood now. Let¡¯s continue tomorrow," he said, keeping the same tone asst time.

    "You aren¡¯t in the mood, but I¡¯m in the mood, boss," the girl grinned as she ced her hand on the buttons in the lift. She tapped a button that stopped the lift.

    ¡¯I was wrong. This girl is really a psychopath!¡¯ Ryder thought as he saw her stopping the lift.

    Just what the heck was this ce? Was it actually the FBI headquarters or a porn shooting set? Or was he actually having some sexual fantasy in his dream? This was blowing up out of proportion.

    " We should be done by the time the Director arrives. Your meeting with him won¡¯t be dyed," the girl let out as he reached out his hand towards Ryder¡¯s pants.

    She opened his belt before she unbuttoned his pants. Ryder didn¡¯t stop her since he didn¡¯t intend to make her suspicious. From what he understood, Handerson never actually resisted her. That¡¯s what he was feeling here. He released a mouthful of breath as he let nature take its course.

    ¡¯It¡¯s not as if I¡¯m losing anything since she would be done by the time he arrives,¡¯ he thought.

    He had just decided when the girl slid down his pants as she sat on her knees.

    ¡¯I understand where this is going,¡¯ Ryder thought, understanding the girl¡¯s intention. He didn¡¯t even look down as the girl ced her hand on his manhood and started stroking it.

    He wanted to facepalm himself at what he was doing.

    Since his whole body was like Handerson, his little one was also like his. He only took a short nce down and felt like dying in embarrassment.

    ¡¯What the heck?! How can someone have so small! That Bastard! If I had something like this, I wouldn¡¯t even show it to someone in embarrassment, and he was stroking it all around his office?¡¯ he thought as he smiled wryly. Even he was feeling embarrassed even though his real one was multiple times bigger. He couldn¡¯t believe he was doing it with a girl like this in his transformed state.

    He didn¡¯t even dare to look down again after the first nce since he would be seeing that small thing again, making him feel like dying.

    As Ryder was looking up, the girl took his 3 inch long, which was already in its erect form, in her mouth and started sucking.

    As the girl gave him head, Ryder kept looking up, not bothering to look down.

    The girl continued for five minutes, but she started looking stunned. She brought her head backward as she gazed at Ryder, who was looking upwards.

    "What happened to you today, darling? You¡¯re doing so great. It¡¯s been close to 5 minutes, and you haven¡¯t released. Are you sick or something? You generally release within minutes," the girl asked him.

    ¡¯What the fuck? Within minutes? Even after having so much experience, within minutes? That too from only the mouth? The more I know about him, the more that guy falls from my eyes.

    "What are you talking about? This is the first time you¡¯re doing it to me. You don¡¯t know how long Ist. Continue what you were doing," Ryder replied, keeping with the excuse that he was roleying of someone who didn¡¯t know the girl.

    The girl smirked evilly as she licked her lips. She again resumed.

    The more she continued, the more she grew stunned since Ryder wasn¡¯t releasing. He only released after twenty minutes, and that too because it was time for him to leave. If he wished, he couldn¡¯t hold on for longer even though the girl was good at it.

    A white sticky liquid filled the mouth of the girl entirely. She closed her mouth to make sure that none of it spilled out.

    She did struggle a little but eventually managed to swallow it all.

    He licked her lips before he gave him a past sick to clean everything properly.

    "You released so much. You¡¯re really like a different person today. And it tasted so much better as well. I loved it. Is it because you were excited about this roley? We must do it often then," the girl let out as she grinned.

    Ryder raised his pants again before he arranged his clothes properly. The girl also stood up. Her smile didn¡¯t leave her lips.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll bete for the meeting," Ryder said as he tapped the button of the top floor.

    The lift once again started moving. Just when the lift was about to reach its destination, the girl hugged him tightly. Her moderately sized breasts squeezed between them.

    "Come to your office after the meeting. I¡¯ll be waiting so we can continue from where we stopped. The main course is still left," she whispered in Ryder¡¯s ears

    The lift stopped on the top floor. The two of them stepped out of the lift together and walked in the opposite direction.

    ¡¯She genuinely looked excited. Either she was acting to be so easy because she wanted to move forward in her career by using Handerson, or she really liked it. If it¡¯s thetter, wouldn¡¯t it mean size really doesn¡¯t matter? His whole perception of reality will be broken if it¡¯s that,¡¯ he thought as he smiled wryly.

    As he was walking, he saw another man step out from a different lift. He recognized the man to be the Director of the Bureau. Ryder followed the director to his office without saying hello.

    Even though he had seen the director, he wasn¡¯t seen by him.

    The Director entered his office.

    Ryder waited for a few seconds before he also stepped forward. He knocked on the door.

    "Come on in," a voice came from inside.

    Ryder turned the doorknob and opened the door as he stepped inside.

    He walked towards the man who was sitting inside the office

    "Oh, Handerson. It¡¯s you. You¡¯re right on time. If pretty surprising. Have a seat. We can begin after he is here," the Director told Ryder as he Kingdom pointed towards the chair.

    ¡¯Him? Is someone elseing too? He seemed respectful when mentioning about whoever ising. Just who could it be? Someone, even the Direction of this ce is respectful to?¡¯ Ryder thought as he took a seat.

    ¡¯There can only be two types of people that can make him talk like that. Either someone from a High position ising, which seems to have a higher chance. The second type of person is someone from the Uprising since this man works for the Uprising,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    Right at that moment, a person stepped inside the headquarters.

 Chapter 421 Named

    <h4>Chapter 421: Named</h4>

    From the words of the Director, Ryder had a feeling that someone high up in the position wasing to meet them who could only be someone from the government or the Uprising.

    In any case, he needed to kill the man. If he left in time, that would be amazing. If it was someone from the government, they could have handled everything. If it were someone from the Uprising, that would even be better since that person would be used of killing the guy.

    The first thing he needed to see was if the room had any cameras. Normally, this room shouldn¡¯t have one as far as he had expected. It was the room of the head where supposedly many secret and shady deals might have taken ce. No person in authority would like to have a camera in his room if he could control it.

    Ryder casually looked around the room. He acted so subtly that it didn¡¯t seem as if he was trying to search for something. It seemed more as if he was actually bored.

    He was sure the director would notice no matter how better he was at sneaking around, so he didn¡¯t hide and embraced the boredom.

    As he expected, the Director noticed his movement. "Are you bored?"

    "A little," Ryder answered as he returned to his normal position. He had already found out what he wished to know. There was no camera in the room. At least, not openly.

    There was still a chance that there could be a hidden camera, but at this point, he didn¡¯t care for that. It wasn¡¯t as if he was doing it with his real face. Even if the camera recorded everything, it would only show Handerson being the one who fired the shot, not Ryder.

    That would, however, stump his ns of getting the person who came here to be med since the camera will prove that the person wasn¡¯t the one who shot.

    No matter what the situation was, he knew he couldn¡¯t wait.

    His right hand was under the table where the Director couldn¡¯t see.

    "Janus, open inventory," he whispered softly.

    "Hmm? Did you say something?" The man on the other side of the table asked as he felt like he heard Ryder say something.

    "Nothing." Ryder shook his head as he nced at the middle-aged man.

    "Hmm," Director Mark nodded his head as he started looking back at the screen of hisptop.

    The invention was opened in front of Ryder¡¯s hand. He tapped on the gun with the silencer. The gun appeared in his hand.

    He was just about to raise his hand to shoot the Silver Haired Mark, nning to shoot him. Things didn¡¯t go as Ryder had nned, though.

    Before he could even bring his hand out from under the table, he heard the sound of the door behind unlocked.

    Who was it that dared to enter Mark¡¯s room without knocking on the door? It must be the one who they were waiting for. The person was already here?

    He hurriedly kept the gun back in his inventory.

    "Wee, Sir," Mark stood up respectfully, which stunned Ryder even more.

    Ryder was stunned to see the middle-aged man so respectful. Was the president here? Even that woman shouldn¡¯t attract much attention.

    Ryder also stood up as he turned around.

    He could see an old man standing behind him.

    The old man looked like he was seventy-eight years old.

    His head was full of white hair. His long white beard came down to his chest. There was a golden cane in his hand, the bottom of which was touching the ground.

    The man was standing in a perfect position, though. It didn¡¯t seem like he needed the cane.

    "Please have a seat, my King," Mark said to the old man as he stepped aside, clearing the path of his chair.

    The old man stepped forward with an expressionless face while Ryder stayed still, wondering what he had just heard.

    ¡¯My King? Is he just being respectful, or is the man actually a King from Uprising? Could he be the one that tried to get Bastion assassinated or someone else? The Uprising might have more Kings. It should be a title for them,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    ¡¯The two guys that I had faced must be Kings as well. So they are using an aristocratic hierarchy... This must mean they don¡¯t have one leader but a group of leaders that they call king, and this guy is one of their leaders, assuming he isn¡¯t an actual king,¡¯ he thought.

    Mark walked beside Ryder and stood before the second chair.

    The old man sat down on the chair. "Sit," he said softly

    Mark sat down, and Ryder followed suit.

    "So, did you guys manage to get any answers from the guy?" The old man asked as he ced the cane on the table.

    "Ray is a very experienced agent. He is fully trained not to open his mouth even when facing extreme tortures of the enemy. I am sure he wouldn¡¯t tell us if he doesn¡¯t wish to, no matter how hard we torture him."

    "He is also one of our best agents who has impable control of himself. He is really a genius. He can even fool Lie Detector tests," Mark started exining.

    ¡¯Oh? Are they talking about Ray? As I expected... The Uprising guys were going toe after Ray to get to me. They are already here...¡¯ Ryder thought as he kept his gaze at the cane. He didn¡¯t let any expressions show on his face since he didn¡¯t want to get caught.

    He noticed Mark¡¯s reactions when facing the man, and he was trying to enact the same thing though a little less noticeable.

    "So we have been trying to use other methods,"

    "I haven¡¯t asked you to praise me. Tell me what methods you have been trying and if you got any results?" The man asked as he chided Mark.

    "Ah, right. We have sent Ray¡¯s phone to our experts, hoping to find something to use. We did manage to find something," Mark exined.

    "You found the number of the guy we¡¯re looking for? Give me his location," the old man asked, sighing.

    "We didn¡¯t manage to find the number of the person he called. As I had said, he is a pretty clear guy. He was most probably using some other way to contact the man. Or he was cleverly removing all the traces of the call, but we did find a few suspicious contacts in his contact list," Mark said as he showed a piece of paper to the old man.

    "In his contact list, there are two hundred men who aren¡¯t the agents of our agency. All those two hundred are under suspicion, but even amongst them, I have selected fifty guys who are the most suspicious after we conducted a background search on them. This is the list of the fifty guys," he continued.

    The old man picked up the paper in his hand and started reading it.

    "Hu Xianhuan?" The old man read the first name.

    "He is from the country of China who happened to enter the country only ten days before the appearance of the masked man. He also happened to be in DC, where the person first appeared. He was also in the city where the man appeared the second time. He is our primary suspicion," Mark exined the reason for the man being on the list.

    "Taison ke?" The old men read the next name.

    "Yeah. The reason for suspicion is because he wasn¡¯t a rtive to Ray or an agent here, but his number is saved as family. From what I could gather, the two of them barely knew each other but still, tagging the person as family is suspicious," Mark answered. "His whereabouts at the time when the Masked Man appeared are unknown."

    "Third name, Ryder Flynn?" The old man asked as he moved over to the next name on the list.

    Hearing his name, Ryder grew stunned. There was his name as well? That fool Ray took so many precautions, but he forgot to delete his name from the contact list? Either Ray wasn¡¯t as alert, or Mark was much more clever than Ray. Whatever being the case, the risk was now on him.

    "Yeah. He is third on the list created by me. He is a pretty odd case if I just say so myself. He happens to be poor, but he got pretty rich within a short timeframe, and he even opened apany of his own," Mark answered.

    "Now, ording to our sources, he achieved all this with the help of Dream Corporation since he knows someone high up in the organization. Still, I have a feeling that his rtionship with Ray doesn¡¯t make sense. He also happened to be in the two cities at the time when the masked guy appeared, so we can¡¯t forget him," he continued.

 Chapter 422 He is Ryder Flynn

    <h4>Chapter 422: He is Ryder Flynn</h4>

    "Are all the guys in the list the ones who were present in the cities even the guy appeared?" The old man asked curiously.

    "Yeah. I only included the names who were either in the city or nearby at that time. The only other people who are included are the ones that we weren¡¯t able to locate at that time," Mark exined.

    "So you found 200 people suspicious. This list is of 200 people, and you¡¯re saying his phone had a number of 200 people who happened to match the locations?" The old man inquired.

    "No, the two hundred people include the ones whose locations we weren¡¯t able to find and who were suspicious. Amongst the ones whose locations we were able to verify, only the top twenty in the list are under suspicion," Mark exined further.

    "I am not here for a lift. I am here to find the identity of the person. How do you expect to find which of these two hundred people is the one? Or are you expecting me to do all the work and interrogate them myself?" The old man asked as he squinted his eyes.

    As he became serious, the entire atmosphere became heavy. Even Ryder could feel the man¡¯s aura. From what he could feel, the man gave him a simr feeling to the one he had received from the twelfth king and Thirteenth King.

    That made Ryder confident that the Kings were the leaders of the Uprising, and they had some incredible strength. He was sure that the man was going to have incredible strength like the others.

    No matter what it took, he couldn¡¯t attack now since the man was most probably unaffected by bullets as well.

    The aura was so powerful that Mark had already started sweating. As Ryder had previously already faced the Thirteenth King, he encountered something simr to this aura as well. He wasn¡¯t as much intimidated as well, but he also pretended to be suffocated under the aura.

    All he needed, for now, was to wait for the man to leave before shooting Mark and leaving. He just needed to bid his time.

    "Is that what you want? If I need to do all the work myself, why do we even have you?" The old man said, cing his hand on the table.

    His finger tapped on the table in a specific rhythm that seemed to be matching with the heartbeat of Mark.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know about it, but when he had entered Bastion¡¯s house to search for Alicest time, Shu was standing outside, tapping on the car with his fingers.

    Strangely enough, this man¡¯s beating rhythm was precisely the same when matched with the rhythm of Shu as both of them were using the same melody.

    As Shu had stopped doing this when Ryder hade out, he didn¡¯t manage to hear it, or he would have realized how these two tunes were precisely the same.

    "N-no, your Highness. I didn¡¯t mean for you to do it. I was just showing our progress. Within a few days, I¡¯ll find the person who is responsible for it. I assure you," Mark exined as he used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

    "I don¡¯t have that much time. Since I already came here, I¡¯ll handle the rest. Take me to this, Ray. I will get the answers from him," the old man said sternly as he stood up.

    "Ah, meeting you here is fine, but taking you there might cause suspicions on the ones that aren¡¯t involved with us," Mark expressed with hesitation as he stood up.

    The old man didn¡¯t say anything and just gazed at Mark, but the intimidation of that gaze in itself was enough for Mark to drop down on his knees.

    He hit his forehead on the ground as he started apologizing. "Please forgive me for my mistake. I didn¡¯t intend to do that. I¡¯ll take you there right away!"

    "Good," the old man muttered as he shifted his gaze.

    Mark pushed his body upwards as he stood up.

    "Please follow me," he said as he walked towards the door. He also wiped his forehead to hide any dust that might have stayed there because he had touched his forehead on the ground to apologize.

    The old man picked up his cane and started following Mark.

    Ryder followed after the two of them.

    ¡¯Are they going to torture Ray to get answers? No matter how corrupt they are, they shouldn¡¯t have done this. If they did something, I¡¯d have to make my move,¡¯ he thought as he kept his expressions unnoticeable.

    The door was opened as the three of them stepped out of the room.

    They walked towards the lift. The three of them entered the lift. Mark pressed the button of the tenth floor.

    The lift started going down.

    Mark was looking at the floor. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but he didn¡¯t have the courage.

    After some time, he raised his eyes, and he gazed at the old man. " Ray is a trained agent. He wouldn¡¯t break in pain. And if he realized why we need the information, he¡¯ll be even more strict." He expressed his concern.

    "I know how to get answers from him," the old man muttered under his breath.

    "P-please don¡¯t kill him. I¡¯ll have a hard time exining his death," Mark replied, understanding that the man wasn¡¯t guaranteeing anything.

    "I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find a way to handle the aftermath," the old man answered without any expression on his face.

    The more Ryder heard their conversation, the more he worried for Ray¡¯s safety.

    It was also an excellent chance to see Ray¡¯s loyalty, though. He wondered if Ray would give Ryder¡¯s name to save his life. If he did, Ryder wouldn¡¯t even think about saving him, but if he was prepared to die without exposing Ryder, he was prepared to do something.

    Ting!

    With a light notification, the door of the lift opened.

    Mark stepped out first, and the others followed after him.

    The old man was led to a room which had number fifteen written on it.

    There were two agents standing in front of the door.

    "Open the door," Markmanded the men.

    "Yes, sir." The men immediately opened the doors as per the orders of Ryder.

    Mark, Ryder, and the old man stepped inside the room before the door was closed once again.

    "Director and Assistant Director entered. That was normal, but who was the old man? Why was he allowed inside?" One of the two guards asked his partner

    "Maybe he is from some government authority here to test the living conditions of Ray? You know how the human rights department and various other troublesome agencies work. They always create trouble for usw enforcement," the other man smiled wryly as he answered.

    Ray was lying on the bed when he saw the door open. He opened his eyes slowly as he gazed to the side.

    He sat up after he saw that it was the Director and Handerson. He did find the third person to be suspicious. Who was this old man? Why was he here?

    "Ray, we already have a list of the people who might have given you the information. Please tell us who that person is, or you might be in deep trouble. We have sufficient reason to believe that the person is working for the evil organization. That¡¯s why he fooled us and made us waste our resources. Give the name, or you¡¯ll suffer the charge of treason," Mark let out as he stepped forward.

    He wanted to get the answers before the old man needed to since that would mean things could be handled in a civil manner.

    "I told you, I don¡¯t know who that person is. He only left letters in front of my doors. He only used an offline method of information sharing. I never knew who he was myself. All I know is that he helped me a lot in the past with information. He couldn¡¯t have joined the enemy," Ray answered softly, sticking to his excuse.

    Mark sighed as he shook his head.

    He was about to give up when he thought of an idea.

    Since he wasn¡¯t going to get an answer anyway, he decided to at least try his luck and tell a random name from the list. He was sure that Ray¡¯s expression would expose the truth if his guess were right.

    If he were wrong, that would only mean that the old man would take over. This was the only thing he knew.

    The old man raised his right feet to step forward, but before his feet couldnd on the ground, Mark utilized his n.

    "Hah, you really thought you could fool us, right? You think we wouldn¡¯t know who he is? I was only asking to test if you were willing to be loyal to your country in the end or not. Albeit you didn¡¯t choose," Mark let out,ughing.

    "He is Ryder Flynn, isn¡¯t he?" He asked.

 Chapter 423 Foolish Lies

    <h4>Chapter 423: Foolish Lies</h4>

    "We know the guy who helped you is Ryder Flynn," Mark dered in full confidence as if he had always known it.

    Ray¡¯s face went pale as he heard Ryder¡¯s name? They knew it? How did they find out? He had cleared all evidence. How could they have known?

    Hearing his name, Ryder also grew stunned as his expressions changed. He quickly controlled his emotions before anyone could notice as he realized what was happening.

    ¡¯This bastard! He is bluffing! He is using the same trick I used in Handerson! What a cunning Bastard! What luck, he got the name right,¡¯ he thought as he noticed Ray¡¯s face.

    He couldn¡¯t help but shake his head in disappointment. It was confirmed that Mark knew he was right now. He could only correct it all by going back in time, but he was listening to Janus¡¯ advice. He couldn¡¯t use his Time Powers unless absolutely necessary, or he had a possibility of getting in trouble with the gods.

    He could only do one thing at this point. Kill Mark and get stronger as he finishes the mission. After that, the only thing he could do was to defeat the King with the increased powers.

    One of the quest rewards was that he would be four times stronger. That should be enough to kill a King, he thought.

    Ray also considered the possibility that he might be bluffing. If that was true, he had to control the situation.

    The only way to get out of the situation was by giving an excuse as to why he was so stunned before it was toote. He could only make it genuine if he were fast in it.

    A smirk appeared on Mark¡¯s face as he realized that he had received the answer. He was about tough heartily as he bragged to Ray how he had fooled him with his trickery, but before he could even open his mouth, Rat took the lead.

    "How do you know about my sister¡¯s boyfriend? Did you arrest him? Tell me you didn¡¯t hurt my sister? How could you be so stupid to think he¡¯s the guy! Tell me he and my sister are safe!" Ray stood up from the bed in urgency.

    He walked towards Mark, but he couldn¡¯t even take two steps forward as the handcuff was tied to his right hand and the bed which kept him back.

    ¡¯Boyfriend of that girl?¡¯ Ryder thought with a weird look on his face. He understood what Ray was trying to do, but seriously? Boyfriend of his girlfriend?

    ¡¯He must not be thinking straight because he was overwhelmed, but it¡¯s such an easy lie to catch. All they need to do is call his sister or bring her here. He has also caused his sister to be dragged in the middle,¡¯ he thought.

    He wanted to step forward and smack Ray for being such an Idiot. That guy gave him away unintentionally. That was understandable, but he also got his family in danger. Ryder knew the importance of family, so he was even more furious.

    "You were stunned because she is your sister¡¯s boyfriend?" Mark asked, gobsmacked.

    "Yeah. You didn¡¯t know it? That means you didn¡¯t arrest him and my sister because of your misunderstanding? Good," Ray let out a relieved breath as if he was actually d.

    He walked back and sat down on the bed.

    "He isn¡¯t the guy. And I¡¯m sure none on your list would be that person. I¡¯ll actually tell you the truth. I have never talked to that person. We actually used the offline mode of message exchange. There is one thing I know, though. From the way that person talked, they were most probably a girl," Ray exined as he stuck to his lie while adding another thing to give them more to think about.

    "Call her."

    An old voice suddenly sounded.

    Ray looked in the direction where that voice came from, only to know that it was the voice of the old man who was standing behind silently with a cane in his hand.

    "Call who?" Mark asked, confused.

    "His sister. I believe he is actually the person we need. Your little guy is definitely lying. Call the girl. You¡¯ll most probably find out that he isn¡¯t her boyfriend," the old man said in an emotionless tone.

    ¡¯As expected. The others weren¡¯t idiot enough not to try it. Ray made a big mistake,¡¯ he thought.

    " Right. I did find her number. I was also thinking about getting her here to have a chat about her brother. It looks like it¡¯ll be the right time to call her," he let out as he grinned.

    It was only now that Ray realized how bad he had messed up. If they called her, Ryder was going to get caught since his sister would say that she didn¡¯t have a boyfriend.

    He opened his mouth to say something, but as soon as he opened his lips, he felt as if he was suffocating. It was as if someone was strangling his neck. He looked around and noticed that the old man was gazing at him.

    The old man¡¯s eyes were shining in red color somehow.

    ¡¯Magic? Or are his eyes artificially modified that can make him hypnotize me into thinking that I¡¯m being strangled,¡¯ Ray thought as he ced his hands around his neck.

    Ryder also noticed what was happening.

    ¡¯Is this what his power was? The other guy could use wind des. This guy can also use something in a long range. Is this telekinesis or something else? He must have a range as well. I can use Protection of Aria to be unharmed by his ability for a short time. That should be enough to kill him. I should only do that after I get stronger thanst time because I can¡¯t take the risk,¡¯ he thought.

    He had decided to wait until the man called. Only if he had no other choice was he going to do it inside the room.

    Mark started dialing the number. It was written on the list of special mentions as the weakness of Ray.

    cing the phone near his earlobe, he started waiting for the call to connect as he walked back and forth.

    Ray was still feeling like he was being strangled.

    "If the guy is actually your sister¡¯s boyfriend, you don¡¯t need to worry. Don¡¯t let out a single word if he isn¡¯t your informant. Let your sister confirm it. We would believe her. If he is the informant, you can speak before the call is disconnected. We¡¯ll have our answers both ways," the old man said softly as he grinned.

    His eyes returned to normal.

    Haaah!

    Ray took deep breaths as he was finally able to breathe. He looked at the old man like he was looking at a monster.

    Such powers and such disregard ofws! This could only mean that the guy was from the evil organization. Ryder was right! Mark was the mole in the organization who had leaked the information, helping the guys escape on time.

    Didn¡¯t that mean all the missions rted to Uprising have been traps to keep them upied while actually giving them free rein? Those guys had such high reach! Just who were these guys?! He couldn¡¯t believe it even though he had realized it now.

    Even after knowing, he couldn¡¯t say a word since he was going to be killed if he said anything. Not only that, his sister might be in danger after that since these people won¡¯t stop their search. He also couldn¡¯t say anything as that would mean that he was actually lying and Ryder was actually the informant.

    He could only hope that a miracle would happen, and the girl would say that she was Ryder¡¯s girlfriend. He did understand that it was highly unlikely.

    "Hmm? It¡¯s not connecting. I tried two times," Mark wondered as he gazed at the screen of his phone.

    He gazed back at Ryder, who was silently standing in the back since the start.

    "Handerson, you try as well. Maybe he told her to ce my number in a blocklist since he was already suspicious of me before getting caught. He didn¡¯t know anything about you. He must have told her to keep my number blocked. Try from your number.

    "Alright," Ryder replied as he picked up the call.

    He hadn¡¯t told the man anything, but he had already messaged the girl about saying that Ryder was her boyfriend to save her brother¡¯s life. He also told her to keep Mark¡¯s number blocked since it was going to act as a signal to him that she received her message.

    He had already realized this might happen as soon as Ray had told about him being his sister¡¯s boyfriend.

    He had started typing the message sneakily right then.

    "Right away. I¡¯ll have the call on speaker," Ryder replied as he brought his phone out of his pocket that he had kept there after sending the message.

 Chapter 424 Sold Out

    <h4>Chapter 424: Sold Out</h4>

    Bringing his phone out, Ryder asked Mark to share the number. Even though he knew the number, he couldn¡¯t express that he knew.

    Mark started telling the number, "Two, Five, Seven..."

    Ryder dialed the number and ced the phone on speaker.

    Ray still had no idea that Handerson was Ryder, who was in disguise as Handerson.

    He was constantly praying that his sister wouldn¡¯t expose Ryder.

    "Hello?"

    A feminine voice sounded as the call was picked up.

    " Ah, hello, Am I talking to Ray¡¯s sister?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah, who is it?" The Girl asked back, seemingly confused.

    "Oh, good. I am Jake Peralta. I work with your brother in the FBI. I¡¯m calling you in regards to your brother. He has been in an ident. He¡¯s been treated at our headquarters in the new capital. Can youe here?" Ryder exined to the girl.

    "You don¡¯t need to call her here. Just ask if she knows Ryder Flynn," Mark whispered in Ryder¡¯s ears.

    Ryder gestured to Mark to stay silent as if he knew what he was doing.

    "I¡¯m sorry for not being able to contact you. He had the ident a few days ago, and he has been in aa currently. As there was no data about his rtives, we could only use his phone. It took us some time to unlock it. Oh right, there was another number in his phone, marked important. Ryder Flynn, do you know him? Is he a rtive?" Ryder inquired.

    ¡¯Ahh, so that¡¯s what he was going for. Pretty clever. As expected of Handerson," Mark grinned as he understood what Ryder was going for. There was an appreciative look on his face.

    "Ryder? Yeah. He is my boyfriend. I¡¯ll bring him as well," The girl answered instantly.

    ¡¯So he wasn¡¯t lying,¡¯ Mark thought as he heard her answer.

    "Very well. That would be amazing," Ryder told the girl before he disconnected the call.

    He kept the phone back.

    "So he wasn¡¯t lying. His expressions were because of that. I thought I had him," Mark said as he frowned. He gazed back at Ryder. "After we leave, you can tell the girl not toe and that you were prank calling."

    Ryder nodded his head. He had already told the girl not toe anyway. She wasn¡¯t going toe.

    "There¡¯s no need," the old man suddenly said.

    "Let here. Since her brother is going to die, might as well kill her together," he continued as he walked towards Ray.

    His eyes again started shining. The invisible hand once again appears near Ray¡¯s throat, strangling him.

    Ray again started struggling to breathe.

    "Now, if you don¡¯t answer me, I¡¯ll kill you right here. Not only that, your sister will be killed as well after you¡¯re gone. Think for yourself. Do you want to save one informant, or do you want to save yourself and your sister? It¡¯s for you to decide," the old man said as he walked closer to Ray.

    The closer he moved, the stronger his force became.

    "I don¡¯t like to repeat things. I¡¯ll only count to 3. I don¡¯t care about my answer. Either you¡¯ll give me now, or you¡¯ll die. There won¡¯t be a second option," he continued.

    "I-i am telling the truth!" Ray answered, struggling. He still held onto his previous statement iming that he had told no lies.

    "One..."

    Despite Ray¡¯s answer, he continued.

    "Two..."

    As the count reached near the end, Ray really started fearing. He wasn¡¯t scared for his life, but he was scared for his sister¡¯s life.

    Ryder stood in the back, not doing anything. He wanted to see Ray¡¯s loyalty. Was he going to hold until the count of three was over, or was he going to answer before that in fear? Was he going to defeat him until the end or sell him out? This was the only thing he wanted to know low.

    If Ray didn¡¯t tell until the count of three, he was going to act. He was going to save him and kill Mark.

    If Ray gave him away, he would still act since he wouldn¡¯t want information about him leaving this room, but that would mark the end of the cooperation between Ray and him.

    Since both cases resulted in the same thing, he was prepared to shoot Mark.

    He had already called the gun out of his inventory.

    He knew that Mark was probably an undead who wasn¡¯t going to die by normal bullets. People like him only died if they were blown up or if their head was sliced from their bodies.

    Despite knowing that, he was trusting a gun only because of one reason. It was that he had already purchased a special bullet from the store. That bullet only had one specialty. It was that he was able to kill even the undead with the bullets.

    There was one limitation, though. The bullet needed to actually critically wound the person. He didn¡¯t believe that the bullet could even touch the old man.

    When he had tried shooting the Thirteenth King, not even one bullet was able to hit him. He was certain that it would be the case for the old man as well, but he was prepared. He has three bullets which were for two people. There could be no wastage, or he would be having a swordfight to cut the head of the old man inside the room. He didn¡¯t wish for the people outside to be alerted by that.

    Ryder¡¯s right hand was behind his back which was holding a gun as he waited for the time to be finished.

    "T-"

    The old man had opened his lips to finish the count when Ray gave up.

    "It was Ryder Flynn! He was the informant! You were right! Please don¡¯t harm my sister!" He yelled without caring about his breathing.

    A look of disappointment was on Ryder¡¯s face as he heard Ray selling him out.

    ¡¯He did it for a good cause at least,¡¯ heforted himself however he knew; this moment was defining for him.

    He couldn¡¯t trust people as they would always think for themselves and their family first. Staying anonymous was the best thing for him.

    By selling him out, Ray had saved his family, but he ced Ryder¡¯s family in danger. If information about him was out, he wasn¡¯t in danger since he was special, but Alice was actually the one who might die. He didn¡¯t take this lightly, no matter the reason.

    Mark grinned at being proved right as he turned back towards Ryder happily. "So we were rig-"

    As soon as he turned back, he grew stunned. His face went pale as he noticed the gun in Ryder¡¯s hand that was aiming at him.

    "Wh-"

    He had only managed to make a light noise before a bullet left Ryder¡¯s gun and prated the skull of Mark.

    The old man had be alert as soon as he heard the noise behind him. He looked to his side and saw a bullet entering the head of Mark.

    "Urgh!"

    Mark dropped to the ground as his eyes became blurry. His body had also lost all its strength. He wasn¡¯t sure what was happening since he had never suffered something like this.

    After his body was upgraded, he had be undying. He couldn¡¯t be killed by bullets. He has even tested that theory himself. Why was it all different now? How was his body reacting differently? Why did it feel like he was a normal human being who was shot?

    A hole was left in his head as his bodyid on the ground. He soon died, not understanding what had just happened. Why was Handerson even attacking him? These two questions were still floating in his head as he died.

    The mysterious force that was strangling Ray¡¯s throat had already disappeared after he had given the answer.

    Ray was breathing heavily to return to normal, but his breathing once again stopped as he saw Mark being shot right before his eyes.

    His face went pale as he grew shocked. He thought Mark and Handerson were both working for the evil Organization. That¡¯s what it seemed like from their conversation. Was it not the truth? Or were they going to kill him and use Mark as an excuse? He thought.

    He thought of a possibility.

    Could it be that they were going to im that I shot Mark by taking Handerson¡¯s gun, and Mark shot me in return? He wondered.

    That seemed to be the only possibility. Or was it that Handerson had suddenly gone crazy? Or was there some enmity between them? Or was it that Handerson had finally joined the right side and decided to oppose the evil?

    The more he thought, the more possibility appeared in his head.

    "Why do I have this suffocating feeling? It¡¯s as if something bad is about to happen. What is happening?" Alice was sitting in her room, feeling bad.

    She gazed at her phone and decided to call Ryder.

 Chapter 425 Scheme

    <h4>Chapter 425: Scheme</h4>

    Alice had a worried look on her face as she started having a bad feeling.

    She called the number of Ryder to have a talk with him, hoping that it would calm her heart.

    "The number you¡¯re trying to reach has been switched off. Please leave a message after the beep."

    "Beep..."

    As she called, all she received was information that his number was switched off. She was asked to leave a voice message for him.

    "Please call me as soon as you get this message." She left a message before she disconnected the call.

    Ryder had shot Mark right in the middle of his forehead, leaving a big hole in his head.

    Notification kept resounding in his head.

    [Main missionpleted]

    [Real World Level: +20]

    [ Five Hundred Origin Points added]

    [Two Strength Doubling Pills Received]

    [Would you like to use both strength doubling pills?]

    [Yes] [No]

    Ryder tapped on yes instantly. Both the pills appeared in his hand, which he ate instantly without dying for even a second, wondering how long it would take before the pill took effect and increased his strength and abilities by four hundred percent.

    All the others were stunned to see it. Even the old man seemed confused, but he didn¡¯t dy for even a second before he raised his hand in the direction of Ryder.

    Ryder also made his move as soon as he could. He knew that the next few seconds were the most important. That¡¯s why he had instantly fired another shot towards the old man.

    As he had expected, the bullet changed its direction before it could even reach the man and hit the wall.

    ¡¯As expected, he can use the same kind of Protection; I¡¯ll have to work hard,¡¯ Ryder thought as he started running towards the old man.

    He uses his full speed as he activated the protection of aria to make him invincible for a short time.

    The old man¡¯s expression free weird as he saw his powers not acting on Ryder.

    What was happening? How could he be invincible to his powers? Just who was he? The old man wondered.

    He picked up his cane and decided to use his physical strength to take care of Ryder. He was holding the cane in his right hand.

    As Ryder reached near the man, he swung his cane. Even though the cane was close to a meter long, a two meters longser came out of it, increasing its reach even further.

    ¡¯Try anything you can, old man. I am invincible. Let me test my powers now,¡¯ Ryder thought as he grinned.

    The Protection of Aria was an overpowered ability that made him invincible for close to a minute. In this one minute, no ability or power could harm him. He could still be defeated with brute strength, but he wasn¡¯t going to be harmed in this one minute.

    Theser sliced through Ryder¡¯s neck, bringing a smirk on the old man¡¯s face, but his face grew even more shocked as he saw Ryder remaining unharmed.

    There was not even a scratch on Ryder¡¯s neck.

    The man simply couldn¡¯t believe what was happening.

    "So you¡¯re the masked man. The man we were searching for was right under our nose. No wonder we couldn¡¯t find you," the old man muttered as he clenched his fist.

    "But if you think you have won, think twice."

    A powerful aura surrounded the old man as he punched Ryder¡¯s face.

    "Good. Let me see if I have enough strength to face a king now or not," Ryder eximed as he smirked like he was enjoying it.

    He had recently heard the notification that he was four times stronger. He was happy and eager to test his strength.

    With his original strength, he wasn¡¯t able to face the Kings, but he wondered if he could now that he was stronger. This was the best way to test.

    There were only forty seconds left to his Protection of Aria. He absolutely needed to finish the man before those forty seconds passed, but he only had one bullet left.

    The bullets were avable in limited quantities in the store. There were only three avable in slots, so he couldn¡¯t even buy more if he missed.

    He needed to make this one chance count and for that, he needed to divert the attention of the man.

    Ryder also punched out. His fist shed with the old man¡¯s fist.

    The impact was so powerful that a high wind pressure range was developed between them, which pushed both of them back.

    While Ryder was pushed back only two steps, the old man was in a worse condition.

    His brute strength proved to be much weaker than Ryder as he flew back like a broken doll. There was a look of disbelief on his face.

    He could control himself in mid-air. Thus he prevented himself from hitting the wall, but that wasn¡¯t enough as he found Ryder before him.

    Ryder caught the man by his neck and threw him on the opposite side of the room.

    Ray was standing at one end of the room. Ryder stood in the middle of him, and the old man stood on thepletely opposite side of the room.

    Ryder still had a gun in his left hand, with which he shot the old man who had barely managed to control himself mid-air once again.

    The bullet once again failed to hit the old man as it missed the man. His power managed to change the direction of the bullet once again.

    "Fu*k!"

    Ryder cursed out in anger as the bullet missed as well. He flew towards the man once again.

    There were only fifteen seconds left to his invincibility. The old man seemed furious. It seemed as if he was being toyed with. Ryder was ying with him, and he didn¡¯t like it.

    He couldn¡¯t understand anything that was happening now. How could Ryder not be affected by his power? How could he be invincible? More importantly, how could he be stronger than the man?

    The old man had always seemed calm, but it was evident that he wants to scream in rage now.

    Ryder threw the gun to the side as he flew towards the man, bare hands.

    It seemed like it was going to be a fistfight with only ten seconds left to his invincibility.

    Ten seconds were going to decide the direction that fight was going to take. Even though he was stronger than the man, he couldn¡¯t form water weapons or use the Rain to weaken the enemy inside this closed room.

    He had no way to handle the man¡¯s invisible powers in this ce. So these ten seconds were the most important to him.

    The old man swung his right arm towards Ryder¡¯s face once again as they both reached close enough to fight. Ryder ducked, making the man¡¯s attack miss as he made an uppercut, making the old man fly up.

    Ryder flew after the man and once again caught his neck as he started crushing it.

    "Three..."

    He was keeping an eye on the time left for his Protection of Aria.

    Only three seconds were left, which became two.

    The man held Ryder¡¯s fingers with both his hands, trying to free himself.

    His invisible powers were constantly attacking Ryder; however, the protection of aria was keeping him safe.

    Only two seconds were left, which became one second. If Ryder couldn¡¯t kill the man in one second, his body might be cut in half. He was sure of that.

    ¡¯Stop waiting, dammit!¡¯ Ryder cursed in his mind as if wondering something.

    "Urgh!"

    The old man suddenly blurted out a mouthful of blood as a bullet entered his head from behind.

    "That¡¯s better," Ryder muttered as he grinned.

    "M-my h..."

    The old man seemed like he wanted to say something, but his eyes lost their shine. He couldn¡¯t even finish his sentence before he died.

    The bullet that had hit him was the special bullet that Ryder had purchased from the store.

    A smile appeared on Ryder¡¯s face as he threw the old man¡¯s body on the ground before hended.

    He could see Ray standing in the back with a gun in his hand.

    Another gun was lying on the floor of the room.

    This went all ording to Ryder¡¯s n.

    Right after Ryder had hit the man for the first time, he had three his gun towards Ray.

    He had simultaneously taken out another guy so that the old man didn¡¯t notice that his gun was missing.

    The second bullet he had shot was from a normal gun while Ray stood behind with the real gun, waiting for the right moment to shoot.

    Ryder knew that there was no way the old man was going to take his eyes off him. The chances of him being able to shoot the man were almost negligible. He was more threatening to the old man after all.

    There was another man in the room who wasn¡¯t on this old man¡¯s radar, and Ryder decided to use him.

    He finally managed to kill a King.

 Chapter 426 Return

    <h4>Chapter 426: Return</h4>

    Ryder had finally managed to kill one of the Kings. He didn¡¯t know that there were twelve more kings like him still alive, not even counting Aluren, who was the true peak monster.

    Rydernded on the ground and gazed at Ray, who held the gun in his hand.

    "Handerson, did you really decide to join the good side?" Ray asked Handerson as he sat down on the bed. He had already seen that there was only one gun in the bullet, so he couldn¡¯t even use it to threaten Ryder.

    He could only sit back patiently as he tried to get his answer.

    "The good side where you throw your friend and his family under the bus for your family?" Ryder asked, frowning as he walked closer to Ray.

    Ray understood where Ryder was pointing at. He had basically betrayed Ryder. He still didn¡¯t know that Handerson was actually Ryder.

    "Wouldn¡¯t you have done the same?" Ray asked as he gazed into Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    "Without hesitation," Ryder answered.

    "Then am I really wrong?" Ray inquired.

    "As a person, you aren¡¯t wrong. But for me, you are," Ryder muttered as he reached out his hand.

    "Return my gun," he said.

    "Hmm? Aren¡¯t you going to use me as bait?" Ray asked, seemingly confused.

    He had thought that he would be med for all the murders.

    He had a gun in his hand, which was what killed both the men. There was his fingerprint on the gun.

    Handerson could easily im that Ray took the gun from Mark and shot two people. As the gun only had two bullets, he wasn¡¯t able to kill Handerson.

    With that excuse, all the me would be on Ray. There were no cameras in this room to prove his innocence either.

    "Shut up and give me the gun," Ryder let out, almost scolding Ray.

    Ray extended his hand, returning the gun to Ryder.

    Ryder brought a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the gun, effectively wiping all fingerprints before holding the gun in his hand.

    Ray¡¯s fingerprints were wiped clearly, leaving only Ryder¡¯s fingerprint.

    As Ryder¡¯s body was a carbon copy of Handerson, his fingerprints were also of Handerson.

    So he didn¡¯t need to worry about fingerprints.

    "Now listen carefully. You were knocked unconscious by Mark while interrogating. You¡¯ll be woken up by the guards outside. Just tell them you don¡¯t know how two people died," Ryder exined to Ray.

    "They¡¯ll find this gun with my fingerprints, proving that I killed the two and left. You¡¯ll be innocent," he continued.

    Ray looked at Ryder nkly, understanding what he was trying to say. He was going to take all the me for himself. Why? He couldn¡¯t understand.

    "One more thing," Ryder suddenly said.

    "Don¡¯t ever try to contact Master Ryder. All your rtionship with him is over. You two are strangers now. If you ever tried to keep an eye on him or contact him, you¡¯ll be killed without a doubt. Not only you, but I¡¯ll kill your sister as well. The same sister for whom you exposed him. So keep your distance," He continued as he smacked Ray¡¯s head with the back of his gun, making him lose consciousness.

    Ray¡¯s eyes closed as he dropped to the bed, without consciousness.

    Ryder watched the unconscious Ray as he shook his head. There was no one left in the room but two dead bodies and an unconscious guy.

    He gazed at the gun in his hand and threw it near the old man¡¯s body before he walked over to the other gun that he had previously thrown at the ground. He picked up the gun and kept it in his inventory before he started walking towards the door.

    He opened the door a little before he stepped out. He closed the doors again.

    "He is interrogating inside. Make sure no one disturbs him. Oh right, he does have a meeting in half an hour. Remind him when it¡¯s the time. Keep an eye on the watch and inform him exactly in half an hour. I don¡¯t want him to bete," Rydermanded the guards before he started walking away.

    Stepping inside the lift, he pressed the button of the ground floor.

    It was the same lift where he was in the morning. He couldn¡¯t help but remember the events that had taken ce in the morning. He was still feeling embarrassed. He couldn¡¯t wait toe back to his real body.

    Ting!

    The lift opened on the ground floor.

    Ryder stepped out of the lift and left the ce under the watchful eyes of the camera that captured him leaving the ce.

    Ryder walked over to Handerson¡¯s Car and unlocked it before he sat inside.

    He brought the car out of the parking and got it on the road, zooming it straight towards a distant location.

    After traveling for half an hour, he brought the car to a cliff. He stopped the car at the edge of the cliff.

    Opening the door, he confidently stepped out.

    He walked behind the car. cing his hand on the back of the car, he started pushing it.

    The car slowly moved forward until it couldn¡¯t control itself and fell down the cliff.

    There ends this chapter of my life.

    " This mission was pretty good. Not only do I have the strength to face the enemies, but I also have five hundred Origin points. Finally, I can see the good days when I¡¯m notcking in origin points," Ryder muttered as he grinned.

    "Should I use them to buy something for me or save them for emergencies?" He wondered as he returned back to his original face and body. He had already changed his clothes inside the car.

    "I¡¯ll see where I can spend them," he muttered as he decided to leave the decision to the future.

    He walked for a long time before he managed to get back on the road.

    He took a lift after reaching far away from the cliff.

    He was dropped off near a mall from where he again started walking.

    He walked for a few kilometers before he finally decided to book a cab.

    He had already turned off Handerson¡¯s phone and kept it in his inventory. He brought his real phone out.

    His phone was already switched off, which he turned on.

    As soon as he turned on the phone, he was bombarded with the notifications of Alice¡¯s call.

    "She called me so many times? Did something happen?" Ryder wondered as he called back.

    Alice was walking back and forth in tension when her phone started ringing.

    She ran to the bed where her phone was lying.

    Seeing Ryder¡¯s number, she immediately picked up the call.

    "Where are you? Are you fine?" She asked in concern.

    "Hmm?" Ryder was stunned to hear her concerned tone. She seemed concerned about him. How did she know he was doing something dangerous.

    "What do you mean? I was in a meeting, not on a mission to wipe terrorists, dumbo. Why would I not be fine?" Ryderughed as he tried to y off her concern lightly.

    "I-it is just that I was having a bad feeling. I don¡¯t know why," Alice muttered as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you free now? When are you finishing your work? When will youe back?"

    "Hahaha, so that¡¯s what it was. You just wanted me toe back fast. Don¡¯t worry, little girl. I am finished with work. Now I only have free time. I¡¯lle back now. We can spend the rest of the vacation enjoying ourselves," Ryder answered as he startedughing.

    "Now, let me disconnect the call. Only then can Ie back faster," he continued.

    He needed to book a cab which he couldn¡¯t do while he was still on the call.

    "Alright. Come fast," Alice said as she nodded her head. She disconnected the call from her side before she ced the phone on the bed.

    She could finally rx herself.

    Ryder finally booked a cab and started waiting for it.

    Far away from Ryder, Shu¡¯s Mansion was going through amotion.

    Someone had broken inside the Mansion.

    It was the right-hand man of Adrian who couldn¡¯t wait to meet Alice. He was getting too eager to finish his mission faster, so he decided to check the mansion himself to see if the guards were actually telling the truth about Alice being out or were they lying to him.

    The man broke inside the mansion without being caught and started checking each of the rooms.

    There was no one except the servants inside the Mansion.

    Ryder and Alice were actually out. As for Shu and his men, they were also not here.

    The man couldn¡¯t find anyone, but he still didn¡¯t give up. He decided to get the answers as to where Alice had gone.

    He entered the room of the one who seemed like the Servant with the most authority in the mansion.

 Chapter 427 Lost Trust

    <h4>Chapter 427: Lost Trust</h4>

    Adrian¡¯s right-hand man Luke had infiltrated the Mansion without getting caught in an effort to see if Alice was actually out or not.

    As he wasn¡¯t able to find her even after searching for a long time, his assumption was proven to be right. The guards actually weren¡¯t lying.

    ording to the Guards, She wasn¡¯t going to return for seven days. Only two days had passed out of the seven, and a wait of 5 more days was still needed, but Luke didn¡¯t wish to wait so long.

    Who was to say that she would actually return in the end or not. He was somewhat in a hurry to finish this mission and leave since he didn¡¯t wish to stay in this country any longer than he needed to.

    Longer stay only meant more chances of conflict with the Kings that worked under Aluren. He wasn¡¯t afraid of the conflict, but he had promised Adrian that he wouldn¡¯t engage them. He didn¡¯t wish to have to break that promise.

    He soon found a maid who was sleeping in her room. Her room seemed to be the lost luxurious amongst the rooms of the servants that he had seen here, so he was assured about her holding a lot of authority here.

    He had quickly snuck inside her room.

    ¡¯If even she doesn¡¯t know, then it would be tough to find her. I wouldn¡¯t have any choice but to wait,¡¯ Luke thought as he stepped closer to the woman who was peacefully sleeping on the bed.

    Bzzz! Bzzz!

    Suddenly, Aluren¡¯s phone started vibrating as he received a call. His phone was on silent and could only vibrate.

    Even though it was only vibrating, even the Vibration was so strong that it made a light noise in the room that only had pin-drop silence.

    "Hmm..."

    The maid also heard the noise as she slowly rubbed her eyes to open them. She turned on the tablemp that was near her bed and tapped the switch to turn on the lights.

    The dark room once filled up with light as soon as themp was turned on.

    The woman looked around the room, not finding anyone else.

    She picked up her phone, wondering if it was the one that was vibrating. Strangely enough, the phone neither had a call notification nor a message.

    "Must be my misconception," she thought as she shook her head. She turned off themp andid on the bed once again as she closed her eyes.

    Luke appeared on the roof of the mansion as he picked up the call.

    Adrian was on the other side of the call.

    "Luke, what are you doing there?" Adrian asked.

    Thest time he had called Luke, he was informed that Alice was outside and wasn¡¯t going to return for a week. Why was it that he called just now? Did he know what was happening?

    "Where?" Luke asked, sounding confused.

    "You said she isn¡¯t going to be at home for a week. Why is it that you¡¯re inside her house then?" Adrian asked.

    "This..."

    Luke was stunned for words. How did Aluren know where he was?

    "It must be the work of that Bastard! He¡¯s keeping track of my location. He must have informed master Adrian. I¡¯ll teach him a lesson after I go back,¡¯ Luke thought as he clenched his fist.

    "Answer," Adrian said softly, without any anger in his tone.

    "Actually, I did enter her house. I did it not to create any trouble. I haven¡¯t even interacted with anyone inside the mansion. I only wished to confirm if she was actually outside or were the guards lying to me for some reason," Luke answered, exining himself.

    "Good. Don¡¯t create a bad first impression of her or her close ones. I don¡¯t want her to hate us before even meeting me. Make sure you don¡¯t create trouble unnecessarily," Adrian said, appreciating Luke¡¯s self restraint.

    "Yes," Luke nodded his head.

    After telling Luke to keep his restraint, Adrian soon asked the question he was curious about. "So, what did you manage to find out? Is she actually outside?"

    "She isn¡¯t at home. The guards were telling the truth." Luke answered.

    "Alright. Leave now then. Even though I¡¯m in a hurry to meet her, I don¡¯t want our haste to spoil things for her. Wait for her to return before properly approaching her."

    This was thestmand of Adrian, after which he disconnected the call without even waiting for a response.

    "Sigh, I guess I¡¯ll wait and not act now," Luke muttered softly as he ced the phone in his pocket.

    He soon disappeared into the darkness.

    Ryder reached the hotel when it was evening. As there was enough time for them to travel the city, they simply yed the games during the evening.

    After having the dinner, they walked back to their rooms.

    Wishing a good night to each other, they went to bed.

    Ryder was lying on the bed gazing at his hand, which felt much stronger than before.

    ¡¯Four times the strength, huh,¡¯ he thought as he observed his hand.

    "I also got so much experience after I killed a King. I can¡¯t even believe it. It¡¯s good that the system counted it as him attacking me first when though I had shot him first since the bullet didn¡¯t touch him."

    " His invisible attack didnd on me after that, which couldn¡¯t harm me because of my Protection of Aria. Still, that was seen as him attacking me first. Can¡¯t believe I jumped Fifty levels in the real world just from that. Twenty levels were rewarded by the system for the mission, and four times the strength was also received because of the pills." He was amazed at how eventful this day had been.

    He had basically jumped seventy levels in the real world.

    After all this time, he had been only level fifty in the real world but now, he happens to be at level one hundred and twenty in a single stroke.

    Basically, his real-world level had not only caught up to the level in Divinity but it also slightly overtook his in-game level.

    The four times strength increase was entirely different from this calction.

    He was amazed.

    "Since my abilities are based on my level, I can use them ording to the highest level no matter if it¡¯s in a game or in the real world. Since my real-world level is higher, I should be able to keep them up for longer," he muttered as he smiled.

    He brought his Divinity sses out of his inventory and wore them.

    "Take me to Divinity," he muttered softly after he wore the sses.

    A connection was established between his brain and the world of Divinity as he was sent to Divinity.

    He opened his eyes, finding himself in the Throne Room.

    Rale was not in the Hall, but Miku was still there, seemingly cleaning the throne.

    "Your Majesty," she greeted Ryder as soon as he appeared.

    "Yeah. Did you handle the bodies?" Ryder asked Miku as soon as he appeared.

    "Yeah. I have arranged everything. Their bodies are buried properly," Miku answered as she sighed.

    "What about the family members of the ones who have died?" He asked softly.

    He was sure that they could keep this matter hidden, but the biggest problem was the family members of the Guards and maids who might ask about their whereabouts after they don¡¯t return for a long time.

    "Their family members are still unaware. The servants and maids that worked here are provided amodation right here. They only go back home once in a while by taking longer leaves. Their family members won¡¯t know about their disappearance for quite some time," Miku answered as she sighed.

    She was still upset that Ryder was thinking about hiding the deaths of theirrades who had died in the attacks of a vampire. Instead of telling others and cing the me on the girl, he was protecting her and risking himself even more.

    Even though she wanted to tell him how wrong he was, the hierarchy didn¡¯t allow her. Also, she was still hopeful that he might have a good reason.

    [Warning: Loyalty of Miku has deceased. Her faith in you is seventy percent only]

    Ryder was about to tell Miku to call Rale when a notification resounded in his head.

    ¡¯Sigh, Her loyalty did decrease. That was to be expected after all that happened. She must be close to the maids and servants. They all died because of the girl that I brought. She was serving the girl who killed her friends because of my orders. She must be stunned already. Not only that, but I¡¯m also keeping this news a secret and telling her to lie even about that. No wonder her loyalty is decreasing,¡¯ Ryder thought as he sighed.

    Her loyalty happened to be at eighty-five percent, but now it was down to seventy.

    He had expected it to fall, even more, so he was surprised that it only fell that much. Everything depended on what he did next.

 Chapter 428 Awake

    <h4>Chapter 428: Awake</h4>

    Ryder was surprised to see that Miku still had close to seventy percent trust and loyalty in him, but he knew that he still needed to take a few good decisions to make sure her trust didn¡¯t fall any further.

    "Where is Rale? I want to see Miyali to know the reason she decided to attack our people and what actually happened. If she is to be med, she will be executed," Ryder said softly. "I promise that. I won¡¯t be partial while distributing justice."

    He rubbed the head of Miku softly before he walked towards the door.

    Miku smiled gently as she ran after Ryder.

    "Your Majesty, Master Rale was just here. He came to check on you, but after not finding you here, he went to train the Royal Army members," Miku answered.

    Ryder heard her words as his feet stopped. He suddenly thought of something as he gazed back at Miku.

    "Tell me something. The Royal Army and Rale¡¯s squad should have been in the Royal Pce. Howe they let Miyali run wild without finding out or stopping her?" He asked.

    "Oh, that¡¯s because Master Rale had sent them outside the Pce for a training mission. He just called them back after he returned," Miku answered Ryder.

    "Oh. He probably didn¡¯t want others to know that I wasn¡¯t here. It should have been a secret from everyone. It¡¯s still strange, though," Ryder wondered as he left the hall. He shook his head as he concluded. "Maybe I am overthinking."

    "So he is in the Training Arena?" He asked Miku.

    "Yeah. That¡¯s where he should be, I believe." Miku answered.

    "Alright."

    Ryder walked through the long hallway that looked so deste without any maids or local guards.

    A look of contemtion was on his face as a sigh escaped his lips. So much had happened while he was inside.

    "Select more maids to serve in the Pce. I¡¯m giving you permission. As for the death of the ones that urred here, I have a n on how to handle that," Ryder said to Miku.

    "What n?" Miku inquired.

    "It¡¯s true that we can¡¯t tell others about what actually happened. We can¡¯t even me it on the Death Domain falsely since that would be the cause of a War, and we would lose the trust of our people who will say that even the Royal Pce isn¡¯t safe. We can¡¯t let that happen. So the truth shall be hidden eternally," Ryder answered

    "How? We can hide this for a few months if we don¡¯t hire new maids, but the families of the old maids will still start inquiring after a month or so if they don¡¯t meet them. And if we hire new maids, this secret will be even more short-lived," Miku wondered as she frowned.

    "That¡¯s why I have a n. Call all High Dukes here for a meeting today. I need to talk to them about something," Ryder said as he happened to walk past a window.

    He couldn¡¯t help but take a good look at the outside view.

    ¡¯Sigh, I don¡¯t like lying, but I guess I have no option but to do it again. I am sorry, my illusionary master, Salem,¡¯ he thought.

    He resumed walking and soon reached the Training Arena.

    Opening the door, he stepped inside, where he was greeted with the sigh of men facing each other in what seemed like a mock battle that was just for practice. Rale was standing on the other end, observing them.

    "Rale," Ryder called out.

    His voice was loud enough to attract the attention of everyone in the hall.

    "Your Majesty!"

    All Royal Army members gazed at Ryder and immediately dropped down to one knee as they greeted Ryder.

    Rale also greeted Ryder as he ran closer to him.

    "I¡¯ll be borrowing Rale for a little while. You guys continue your training," he said to the others before he shifted his focus to Rale.

    "Come with me." He said.

    Rale nodded his head as he started walking after Ryder silently, understanding what it might be about.

    "Take me to the cell where you¡¯re keeping her," hemanded Rale after they stepped out of the arena.

    "Yes," Rale nodded his head as he took the lead and started walking ahead of others.

    Ryder and Miku followed Rale in slow steps. None of them seemed to be in an excessive hurry. They were only walking slightly faster than their normal speed.

    They soon reached the cell that was underground.

    The cell was a dark ce with no light source. Only when Rale stepped inside did the roof started shining in the cell, filling it with light.

    Ryder could see Miku sitting on the ground. Both her hands were tied to a chain that was embedded in the walls. The chains were long enough to allow him to stand or sit, but she couldn¡¯t even step a few meters away from the walls.

    She seemed to be sitting silently on the floor. Even her eyes were closed as if she was unconscious. She couldn¡¯t lie on the ground as the chains were not allowing her to lie down.

    She seemed to be sitting with her back facing the walls.

    "Did she recover?" Ryder asked as he gazed at Rale.

    "I checked herst night. She was still in her uncontrolled form. She does seem a lot better now. Maybe she has recovered," he continued.

    ¡¯Maybe," Ryder muttered. He gazed at Miyali and called out, "Miyali, wake up."

    He didn¡¯t approach her since he didn¡¯t wish to die. He could revive after dying, but each death held a risk of attracting the attention of the Lord of Time to him. Even when it was in the game since his powers of time travel worked even in this world. He had no control over that.

    If he could, he would have preferred dying in game since the only thing he might suffer was being logged out of the game for a day and losing one level. That was much better than having used his ability of time reversal by death.

    It was an excellent ability to have as a backup in the real world. Still, in divinity, it was more of a disadvantage since it was a passive ability which he rarely had any control over. It was risky for him already. He didn¡¯t wish to take any more risk than what was necessary.

    He was allowed by Janus to travel back in time three times safely without creating enough disturbance in time to attract the Lord of Time.

    He had already done that twice. Now he only had one left, which he wanted to leave for emergency situations.

    He had decided that he wouldn¡¯t use Time Transfer by death even if half the world were destroyed by the Uprising next time. He had saved people once, and that was enough. He wasn¡¯t going to do it again since he didn¡¯t have any free chances.

    "Wake up, Miyali!" He shouted, trying to wake up Miyali.

    "Is she unconscious?" He asked Rale after she wasn¡¯t up despite his yelling.

    "She shouldn¡¯t be unconscious. Last time I saw her up. She wasn¡¯t hurt after that either," Rale answered. He started walking towards the girl. "Let me check."

    Rale and walked closer to the girl.

    "Wake up," he called out as he ced his hand on her shoulder.

    "Uhmm?"

    Miyali slowly opened her eyes as she was woken up by Rale.

    He looked around and found where she was. She could also feel that her hands were tied to chains.

    Soon, memories of what she had done flooded her head. She could see herself attacking and killing unsuspecting people inside the Pce.

    Tears filled her eyes as she realized what she had done.

    Ryder noticed the guilt on her face. She was sure that the girl seemed to be awake from her slumber. She was also out of her blood-crazed state.

    "Rale, you cane back. She seems to be fine now," he told Rale to return.

    Rale walked back to Ryder¡¯s side.

    "Miyali, stop crying. What happened can¡¯t be changed. But what you can do is help us understand what actually happened. Why did you enter your blood-crazed state? You shouldn¡¯t have been able to enter if you didn¡¯t intend to as long as you were having proper blood intake. Tell me what actually happened," Ryder said to Miyali as he saw her constant tears.

    "What happened when I wasn¡¯t here?" He asked.

    "You weren¡¯t here?" Miyali asked, confused. She clearly remembered Miku telling her that he was sleeping.

    "Yeah. I had to leave a few weeks ago. I told Miku to keep it a secret from others. If I remember, everything was fine until then. What happened after that? Did you intentionally not drink blood and forced yourself to go berserk? Or did you actually list yourself to your vampiric urges despite not needing to?" Ryder asked Miyali.

    Miyali finally understood that Ryder wasn¡¯t actually ignoring her. She had thought that he didn¡¯t wish to meet her even after she told Miku to inform him that she needed him.

 Chapter 429 Gratitude

    <h4>Chapter 429: Gratitude</h4>

    "I... It wasn¡¯t intentional. I wasn¡¯t given a beast body for a long time. It had been close to a month, and I wasn¡¯t given. I kept telling her to bring me, but she kept dying it to tomorrow. Her tomorrow never came," Miyali looked down as she started answering.

    "This..." Ryder muttered softly, finding it hard to understand. He gazed at Miku as he asked, "Is she telling the truth?"

    "I... She never told me about it. I don¡¯t know," Miku answered, shaking her head as she seemed worried.

    "Why didn¡¯t you tell me about it then? Let alone me; you didn¡¯t even tell Miku? How could you let the condition deteriorate to such a level and not even put some effort?" Ryder asked Miyali.

    "I-i kept believing the maid that was arranging food for me. I kept telling her how urgent it was. One day when I couldn¡¯t bear it anymore, I also told her that I wished to meet you, but she said that her job would be in danger if Iined. She swore that she would bring me what I asked," Miyali said as she sighed.

    "Did she still not bring you?" Ryder asked.

    "The next day as well, she forgot. It was toote by then. I lost control and bit her neck. I wasn¡¯t in control when I killed her," Miku answered as she sighed.

    Each of her words was creating an image before the others as to what happened, which was a very shocking image.

    "What happened after that?" Ryder asked softly.

    "After killing her, I returned to my senses. I realized what I had done, and I left my room to find you so I could inform you," she muttered.

    "Let me guess. You weren¡¯t able to find me?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah. I met her instead," Miyali answered. "She told me that I couldn¡¯t meet you because you¡¯re sleeping. I didn¡¯t want to tell her what had happened, so I told her to inform you to meet me when you wake up. After that, I came back to my room. I thought my bloodlust phase was over since I had blood, and I didn¡¯t need to worry about it for a few weeks."

    "Is that what happened?" Ryder asked Miku to take confirmation.

    "Yeah. That¡¯s what happened," Miku answered as she nodded his head.

    "I thought she hadined about the maid or some service, so I arranged for a different maid for her. I couldn¡¯t inform you since you weren¡¯t here. I had to lie to her that you were sleeping," Miku answered.

    "What after that? Did the maid not tell you about the new body?" He asked Miku. "You didn¡¯t check up on her after that?"

    "I was about to, but I was called by High Duke Oris¡¯s Daughter who needed help. To not have you caught, I left with her," she continued.

    Sigh!

    Ryder sighed as he shook his head.

    "Wrong coincidence at the wrong time," he muttered as he sighed.

    "What happened after that? The new maid saw you?" He asked the girl.

    "No. The new maid didn¡¯t see me. Before she could evene to my room, I lost my control again. I don¡¯t know how it happened," Miyali said as she tried to remember what happened. "It shouldn¡¯t have happened since I already had blood just a short time ago. I don¡¯t understand myself."

    "It¡¯s because it was your first turning. The first turning is always the toughest. Even after a vampire feed for the first time, they will still turn once again and go rampant. That¡¯s why the Vampires are kept tied after their first turning. You probably don¡¯t know that because you don¡¯t know about their customs," Ryder told her.

    "She doesn¡¯t know about customs? How?" Miku asked, stunned. "How could a vampire not know about such basic things?"

    "It¡¯s because she hadn¡¯t been to the Undead Realm. Her father was a Vampire, but her mother was a Demon. Her mother lived in the Demon Realm, away from her father for some reason. She died in Childbirth. She has lived without her father, so she doesn¡¯t know about Vampires," Ryder shook his head as he answered Miku. "All she knew was that she needed to drink blood every few weeks at all cost,"

    Ming Lan kept her head down as she heard Ryder.

    "So... It was not intentional that she did all this? It was all because of that single maid that my fellow people died?" Miku said with a nk look on her face. She didn¡¯t even know who to me anymore.

    She wanted to me Miyali, but she was also a victim of circumstances. Without her maid, she wouldn¡¯t have suffered. She wanted to me the maid, but she was already dead.

    Who could she me but herself for not making sure that her guest was properly taken care of.

    Ryder didn¡¯t have many tasks for her. She could have checked up on Miyali once in a while, but she didn¡¯t. She wasn¡¯t entirely free of me either.

    "Rale, what do you think?" Ryder asked.

    "She is telling the truth. I am certain," Rale answered.

    "Since she had her second turning as well, she can be freed since she will have control of herself as long as she keeps intaking blood every few weeks like before," he continued.

    "So she can be freed. Before I announce my decision, I must hear your opinion as well. What should I do?" Ryder asked.

    "I believe she is a victim in all this. We failed in taking care of our guests so more of the fault lies on us. She shouldn¡¯t be punished," Rale answered.

    "What about you, Miku?" Ryder asked Miku.

    "I agree with Rale. What happened was unfortunate, but after hearing her side, I believe she had no choice either. She could have taken better decisions when informing us, but we could have done better in taking care of her as well," Miku answered, nodding her head as well.

    "We¡¯re all thinking the same thing then. It is as you have said. She also suffered, but that doesn¡¯t remove the fact that she has killed people. She doesn¡¯t deserve the strictest punishment, but she needs to get punished as well," Ryder said as he stepped closer to Miyali.

    Miku opened her mouth to say something, but Rale stopped her. Take shook his head.

    After hearing what had happened, Miku thought that it was not fair to punish her, but as Rale and Ryder had decided, she didn¡¯t stop them either. She decided to leave the decision on Ryder as she started waiting for the punishment to be revealed.

    Ryder stood only a few meters away from Miyali, who was looking at her with red eyes.

    "Sigh, it all came to a full circle, didn¡¯t it?" Ryder asked softly.

    "When I first met you, you were trapped in simr chains. I had freed you and brought with me since I didn¡¯t wish to see unfair cruelty in my Demon Realm. You were a stranger to me when I decided to help you. I didn¡¯t even know you were half Vampire until a long timeter. But that didn¡¯t change anything since I knew how kind and well-mannered a girl you were," he continued.

    He was intentionally saying it openly to make sure that the others heard it as well. He didn¡¯t wish for them to associate him with the Death Domain, so he was indirectly rifying to improve his reputation in Miku¡¯s eyes. In Rale¡¯s eyes, his reputation was already at peak, so he remained only concerned about Miku.

    "I never thought that you would be in chains once again because of me," he said.

    "It¡¯s fine. Last time I was innocent, but this time, I am a killer. You¡¯re not wrong. This is what shall be done. Justice is more important than anything," Miyali answered. Her voice seemed to be filled with fear.

    Ryder, Miku, and Rale both seemed concerned about Miku only.

    "Good. Even though you had no control over what happened, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that bad things happened because of you. It would be unfair not to punish you. This is something that must be done. Will you ept the punishment?" Ryder asked.

    "With open arms. I wouldn¡¯t oppose it even if I am given the death penalty. I took so many lives. My hands are tainted by blood. Please punish me," Miyali replied.

    "But before that, I have to say something," she continued.

    "Speak," Ryder permitted her.

    "The ne that¡¯s on my neck. Please take it after I am killed," Miyali said.

    "Why?" Ryder asked curiously.

    "It is thest thing that my mother had. It belonged to my father, ording to her. It was something my father had given her after she helped him. It was a form of his gratitude," Miyali said.

    "Why are you giving it to me then?" Ryder inquired, seemingly curious.

    "To show my gratitude. I would have been tortured on the day you first saw me if you hadn¡¯t saved me."

 Chapter 430 Tomorrow

    <h4>Chapter 430: Tomorrow</h4>

    "You are the reason I managed to live as long as I could. Without you, it would have been impossible. Death would have been the best form of death at that time. There were even worse things that could have happened. I gave up on life by then, but you came," Miyali said softly as she raised her head to look at Ryder.

    There was a grateful look on her face that was evident.

    "You not only saved me, but you let me apany you. I got to live in the Royal Pce that I only heard stories about from my Grandfather," she continued.

    Ryder opened his lips to say something, but he closed once again as he saw her about to speak something.

    "I already received more from you than I could have asked for. I should thank you for that. But you¡¯re the Prince and the one who owns everything," Miyali said softly.

    *What can someone like me even give you as my gratitude? I only have this one ne which I had given you for a few days before. Before I am killed, please take it, so it doesn¡¯t get bloodied. I know I have no right to ask you anything, but I still hope you¡¯ll keep it safe as a memory or as a gift. Everything is fine," she continued.

    "I would have given it myself but my hands..." She said as she gazed at her chains. "You should take it."

    She lowered her head as she finished speaking.

    "You talked so much, but you didn¡¯t even listen to the punishment," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    "Alright. Miyali, you killed all the maids in this pce and even guards. It was unintentional, but it happened. Do you know how much work you increased for Miku? Since it wasn¡¯t intentional, you won¡¯t get the death penalty, but you won¡¯t be forgiven either. Your punishment is that..." Ryder muttered, but he took a deep pause.

    He gazed back at Miku and Rale, who were looking eagerly at him to hear what Miyali¡¯s punishment was.

    He shifted back his focus to Miyali and said, "From today on, you must help Miku in her work as a head maid. You will work under her, but you won¡¯t get any pay for as long as I decide."

    "Huh?" Rale looked at Ryder weirdly as an unwilling response came out of his mouth. This punishment had managed to stun him effectively.

    Miku was also shocked that this was the punishment, but she soon sighed in relief. She was somewhat d that her punishment wasn¡¯t severe. Ryder had technically made Miyali her servant, which could count as a punishment of sorts.

    "Are you fine with the punishment?" Ryder asked Miku after dering the punishment.

    "Yes, Your Majesty," the girl said as she nodded her head.

    "Good," Ryder said before he looked back at Miku.

    "Do you ept?" He asked.

    "I... This is too light Punishment for my crimes?" Miyali stuttered as she replied.

    "Hmm? Are you really saying that I am not fair in dealing punishment? You really refuse to ept your punishment? Do you know how big of a crime it is?" Ryder asked, feigning anger.

    "This..." Miyali was stunned for words.

    "This is my word. And my word is thew. Rale, free her and leave her for Miku to handle," Ryder turned back and said to Rale.

    "Miku, you know how to handle things from here," he said before he left.

    Rale walked up to Miyali and waved his fingers. The chains that were thinking Miyali were cut in half, freeing her.

    "Have fun," Rale said to Miku before he left the cell as well.

    He caught up to Ryder.

    "A good decision," Rale praised Ryder.

    "Really? Well, that was what should be done. She was not actually the one to be med. You all know it better than me how that phase is to vampires. She couldn¡¯t have controlled it since it was her first time," Ryder answered.

    "Anyway, leaving that aside, the main problem is going to be dealing with the High Dukes. The disappearing people in the Pce will definitely raise their suspicions. I hope my n works," Ryder said softly.

    It was the middle of the night in the bustling city that never slept.

    The moon was rising high in the sky. Many important meetings were taking ce in the capital city in the darkness of night, and one such meeting was happening in Dream Corporation, whose headquarters was established here as well.

    The top 4 executives were present in the meeting, but no one else seemed to be there.

    In a different part of the city existed the FBI headquarters, which was in Chaos.

    The director was killed, and the assistant director was the main used who was missing.

    Many detectives were at the site, investigating the scene.

    This news had not only shocked the FBI, but even the higher agents were stunned. The person with the highest position in the Agency was killed in the Headquarters right under everyone else¡¯s nose.

    There happened to be an agent there who was being kept in the room, but he was found unconscious when the agents had entered to remind the director about the supposed meeting

    That¡¯s when it all came to light.

    They had suspected Ray at first, but all the evidence pointed against it.

    The fingerprints on the gun were of Handerson, and the gun was lying far away from Ray, who was handcuffed in another corner.

    Even though the suspicion was on Handerson, Ray still wasn¡¯t released. He was kept under observation for interrogation.

    The government had also sent a person high in authority to supervise the investigation. It was none other than the Director of National Intelligence himself, which was surprising for a few.

    It was a middle-aged woman known as Greyn.

    She had taken the investigation under her own hand. She seemed to be more concerned about the old man who was lying dead near the dead body of Mark.

    The other agents were concerned about who the old man was and why Mark brought him to the room to interrogate Ray. They even asked Ray about it.

    Ray simply repeated that he didn¡¯t know the man and didn¡¯t understand why he was brought here. ording to his story, he was hit in the head only a short moment after they had entered the room. So he didn¡¯t even hear much of the conversation.

    On the question of what he was asked about, he simply made an excuse that he had received false information, and the Director was trying to ask him for his source since the resources of the agency were wasted because of him.

    He again maintained that he himself didn¡¯t know his source.

    Fortunately, Ryder had taken the papers which had the names of the suspects. The paper also had his name so that he couldn¡¯t leave it behind.

    "Mam, I believe he is innocent. It¡¯s certainly the work of Handerson. He has also gone missing after doing that," one of the agents said to Greyn, who was looking at Ray through the ss window from outside the room.

    "That¡¯s what it seems like. But Handerson and Mark were pretty close. That¡¯s what I understood thest time I met them. I just can¡¯t put my finger as to why he would kill his boss; that too in a ce like this? Not only that, he even left his gun behind as if he wanted us to know that it was done by him," Greyn said, frowning.

    "Did you run a check on the second body? Who is the old man that was lying dead near Mark?" She asked the agent.

    "Not yet. Jenny is checking. She should being back to inform us soon," the agent answered as he nced back as if wondering when the girl woulde back with the report.

    "Go check yourself. What¡¯s taking her so long," Greynmanded.

    "Yes," the man nodded his head as he prepared to leave.

    "Hmm? There she is," he suddenly said as he saw a girl on the other end of the corridor. The girl was running towards them. "Why is she running?"

    Huff! Huff!

    The girl called Jenny stopped near Greyn and the man as she breathed heavily.

    "What did you find out?" Greyn asked without giving any opportunity for the girl to collect her breath.

    "Ah, yes," the girl nodded her head.

    "You wouldn¡¯t believe what I found! That old man! He... He isn¡¯t an ordinary man! He... I still can¡¯t believe it!" The girl eximed.

    In a different part of the city, a hotel existed.

    Ryder¡¯s body was still lying on the bed peacefully. He was wearing Divinity sses and lost in Divinity.

    Alice was sitting near him, watching him.

    "Tomorrow is your birthday. I¡¯m sure you have forgotten already but I can¡¯t. I¡¯m so excited," she muttered softly.

    In a faraway ce, covered in clouds, a young silver-haired boy was sitting on a golden throne.

    "It¡¯s his birthday tomorrow," he muttered.

 Chapter 431 Past

    <h4>Chapter 431: Past</h4>

    "It¡¯s his birthday tomorrow..." The young silver-haired boy muttered.

    "Eons have passed, but the date remains the same," the young boy let out as he gazed upwards.

    He was sitting in what seemed like a massive hall which was as big as a football field. The walls of the hall were fifty meters tall.

    The hall had a Golden throne where the young silver-haired boy was sitting. Not only that, but there also happened to be another throne in the hall on the left side of the boy, which was pitch ck.

    The throne happened to be five times the size of the golden throne.

    If the golden throne seemed like the throne of the King, then the pitch-ck throne seemed like the throne of the Emperor.

    Strangely enough, it was empty. The boy still didn¡¯t sit on the bigger throne as if he was aware that it wasn¡¯t his position where he could sit.

    The walls of the giant hall also had what seemed like many portraits painted on them. The portraits seemed like they were alive.

    Most of the portraits seemed to be of one person.

    They seemed to be showing the Growth of that one person.

    The first portrait was of a young boy who seemed like two or three years old. The boy had dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. His skin seemed to be even smoother than a baby¡¯s skin was supposed to be.

    The young baby was lying on what seemed like a ck bed that was studded in the most precious of jades.

    A few tinys could also be seen floating around the small bed.

    The sun and the moon could also be seen there in the first painting.

    The second painting seemed to be of the same boy when he was 5-6 years old. The boy seemed a little older, but his eyes were still the same. He was wearing more intimidating clothes as if he wasn¡¯t supposed to wear cute clothes.

    The boy seemed to be looking straight ahead at the one who was drawing his painting. There was no smile on his face. His eyes also seemed emotionless.

    There was a small crystal in his hand in the painting. It was a red crystal that was shining brightly.

    The third painting also had the boy who seemed to be ten years old now.

    The boy was not alone this time, though. There was a young boy near him who seemed to be one or two years old. The second baby had silver hair, simr to the hair of the boy who was now sitting on the throne.

    The ten-year-old boy was gazing at the baby. His thoughts couldn¡¯t be understood from his looks, but it seemed as if he was smiling even though there was no smile on his face.

    The paintings continued until thest painting of the boy, who was now seeming like a grown man.

    He seemed to be in his twenties, at least based on the looks. The man had long ck hair that came down to his waist now.

    He was also wearing a dark robe that wasing down to his knees. Even though there was no crown on his head, he indeed seemed like the ruler.

    Strangely enough, the man seemed just like Ryder did now.

    The man had one sword in his hand, which seemed to be made ofplete darkness. It didn¡¯t seem to have a fixed shape. It also seemed illusory, as if it wasn¡¯t solid.

    The man seemed to be surrounded by many people as if he was a prey, and the others were hunters who were trying to hunt him.

    Even though he was surrounded, he didn¡¯t have the least bit of concern on his face. He stood tall like a proud lion.

    The painting captured the perfect essence of the moment before a terrifying Battle. It seemed as if everyone was about to attack the man in the next moment.

    One of the people surrounding the dark-haired man was none other than the silver-haired boy who was sitting on the throne.

    There were also paintings of more people here; however, unlike the dark-haired man, the other people only had single paintings of them.

    And all the paintings were of women.

    One of the women seemed to have a striking resemnce to Alice, while the other had a resemnce to Esmi.

    There was also one who seemed like Miyali.

    Just like these three, there were other girls painted. They were all wearing dresses that seemed like something that the modern world didn¡¯t have.

    "It was your birthday then as well," the silver-haired boy muttered as he gazed at the painting where the ck-haired man was surrounded by the others.

    "It¡¯ll be your first birthday where I¡¯ll be with you after that day," he continued.

    He shifted his gaze to the next painting.

    "Oh, right. There was someone who didn¡¯t leave you alone even on that day. Unfortunately..."

    "I wish I could have done something to save..."

    The Director of National Intelligence, Greyn, was gazing at Jenny who held a paper in her hand.

    "I never thought he would be someone like that..." Jenny said as she handed the paper to Greyn.

    "He is the founder and the owner of Dixon Conglomerate? The sixth biggestpany in the States?" Greyn muttered as she observed the paper.

    "He is one of the top ten richest people in the country. Why would he be with Mark?" She wondered.

    "Maybe he was the friend of Director Mark and came to meet him? Or he came to meet for some official purpose?" Jenny pointed out.

    "That is possible, but still, why would Mark take him to Ray?" Greyn asked.

    The man who was standing in the back also thought of the same thing. He was just about to say that, but Greyn said first.

    He opened his lips to say something else, but he stopped as he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

    He pulled out his pocket and stepped a few steps back before he picked up the call.

    "Yeah?"

    "Alright. Got it. We¡¯ll be right there." He continued.

    After saying a few words, he disconnected the call and ced the phone back in his pocket.

    "Who was it?" Greyn asked, gazing back at the man.

    "There is some information. The CCTV footage is ready," the man answered.

    "Good. Let¡¯s see how the events transpired," Greyn said as she started walking in a certain direction while reading the paper in his hand.

    They reached the surveince room where Greyn was shown the footage of Mark and the others. It showed even Mark and others entered the HQ. It also showed the time they entered the office of Mark.

    After a short time, they were done with the footage.

    "ording to the CCTV footage, the old man entered Mark¡¯s office where Handerson was already present. He didn¡¯t even stay there for a few minutes before Mark took him to the room where Ray was being kept. It makes it seem like the man was certainly here for Ray," Greyn concluded.

    "That¡¯s what it seems like. Maybe he knew Ray?" Jenny suggested.

    "He didn¡¯t. I already asked Ray if he recognized the man. The answer was no. He had never met him in his life," Greyn said, shaking her head.

    "I believe the information that Ray had was what attracted him here. As for how the old man knew about Ray, he was most probably told by Mark himself," she continued.

    "Why would Director Mark leak the information about an investigation to an outsider?" Jenny inquired, not understanding it.

    "I guess that¡¯s what we need to find out, isn¡¯t it?" Greyn muttered with an amused smile on her face.

    "Go ahead and invite all High Dukes. I believe High Duke Oris isn¡¯t in the Royal City. You should be able to contact him as well. Make sure he is here with the other High Dukes. He supports me the most. I certainly need him here when I put my n forth," Ryder told Dale, who was the right-hand man of Rale.

    "Yes, Your Majesty," Dale said as he nodded his head. He turned back and left the throne room.

    "Rale, it would probably take time before the High Dukes are here. They will be given the time toe as tomorrow so that even High Duke Oris can get there. Since we have the day free, how about we go hunting? It¡¯s been a long time since I hunted some strong beasts. My growth seems to be halted," Ryder said to Rale after everything else was taken care of.

    "The Diamond Beast also needs to get some experience as it is," he continued.

    "Sounds like a good idea. I can also get some training," Rale nodded his head.

    "Hahaha, don¡¯t take me to a ce which only has beasts as strong as you. I like gradually fighting beasts. So I want to face beasts that are close to the Dragon," Ryder suggested.

 Chapter 432 Goddess of Life

    <h4>Chapter 432: Goddess of Life</h4>

    "I want to face the beast that is close to the Dragon that we saw in the human realm. It would be better if it¡¯s a beast slightly weaker as well," Ryder rified to make sure that Rale didn¡¯t bring him to the strongest dragon in the Demon Realm.

    In Rale¡¯s head, Ryder was an unorthodox Prince who was possibly as strong as Dukes but didn¡¯t like to use his real power. This impression of the guy was something Ryder preferred, but he didn¡¯t wish for it to be troublesome for him; thus, he rified.

    "Understood. I know of a perfect ce where we can find beasts from the weakest to the strongest," Rale answered as he nodded his head.

    "That¡¯s better. Let¡¯s not waste time then. It¡¯s been a long time since I hunted in the Demon Realm," Ryder stood up strongly as he took the lead. He walked towards the door of the throne room.

    Rale followed after him.

    " Let¡¯s see how much I have grown in this world as well," Ryder thought.

    Demon Realm was not a Kingdom or an Empire even though it was collectively treated as an Empire.

    In truth, it was an entire realm of its own where only Demon Realm existed. People used different methods to enter and exit this realm. There was no such thing as borders with other Realms.

    There were many duchies in the Demon Realm, which were ruled by the Dukes who were under the Emperor. In the absence of the Emperor, High Dukes were the ones that kept an eye on the order of the Demon Realm.

    As it was such a big ce, the poptednd in the Demon Realm ounted for only fifteen percent of the entire Realm. Over fifty percent of the Demon Realm was forests where beasts roamed freely.

    The rest of the thirty-five percent of the area was covered by water in the form of rivers,kes, and more.

    The forests had many strong beasts that were enough to threaten anyone, but the Dukes and the High Dukes didn¡¯t bother with them. No matter how strong the beasts became, they were always weaker than Dukes, let alone the High Dukes who could kill them with a flick of their fingers.

    As the beasts were no threat, no one bothered with them except in the times when they felt like hunting.

    In one of the many vast forests, there was one unique one.

    It was a forest where beasts of all strength lived in harmony. The strong beasts didn¡¯t kill the weak ones. It was as if there was a brotherhood in the beasts of here. They didn¡¯t interfere in each other¡¯s business.

    No one knew why it was like that. It was one of the mysteries that seemed unsolvable as beasts fought in all other forests except this one.

    There was also a rumor about a unique beast existing here that was one of its kind. No one knew how this rumor started. People searched the entire forest in search of this beast, but no one found him. In the end, it was called a false rumor, and everyone forgot about it.

    This forest existed pretty close to the Royal City of the Demon Realm, and it was the exact ce where Rale was bringing Ryder for hunting.

    Janus was still sitting on the Golden throne, lost in the thoughts of the past, when he suddenly stood up.

    His face had turned pale suddenly as he closed his eyes and ced his focus on Ryder.

    "What is this presence I feel near him? Why does it seem exactly like his presence? How could this be possible? How could he still be alive? He was killed right before my eyes!" He eximed as he opened his eyes.

    "Asteria... Could it be that you are still alive?" He mumbled as he disappeared.

    The massive hall once again became empty as Janus also left.

    Ryder and Ralended before a dark forest.

    "Is this the ce?" Ryder asked.

    Rale nodded his head as he answered. "This is the forest where we will be hunting. It was one of the favorite hunting grounds of His Majesty as well. It has monsters from all ranges. You can find monsters as weak as a Demon Child to one almost as strong as a Duke."

    "That¡¯s good. So I can find a proper opponent for myself and for Diamond Tiger Beast, who needs weaker Beasts. You can also find beasts to face yourself. It¡¯s good for us all," Ryder smiled.

    "Let¡¯s get inside," he muttered as he started walking towards the forest.

    Soon, he took his first step inside the forest.

    As soon as Ryder¡¯s feetnded inside the forest, the winds started flowing at high speed. Ryder¡¯s robe was pping due to air. His hair was also flying.

    Deep inside the forest, a green pair of eyes opened right at that moment, gazing in the direction where Ryder wasing from.

    Without cing much focus on the winds, Ryder continued stepping inside.

    Janus was standing in the middle of clouds in the open. He didn¡¯t seem to be on earth, though. The clouds were dark blue in color. There was a small pond in the middle of the clouds that were showing Ryder.

    "I can¡¯t go down myself, or the attention of all gods will be on me. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been handling things differently, but if he is actually alive, it would really be shocking. Should I step down myself?" He muttered, frowning.

    "It would change everything if Asteria is actually alive. How did no one know about him if he didn¡¯t die that day, though? He died on the same day as him. I know how my brother is alive, but how can he be alive as well? It doesn¡¯t make sense."

    " The only one who could have made it possible is the God of Life and Death. But the God of Life and Death would never do this. I am sure of it. How then? Did the God of Life and Death actually do it?" He wondered.

    " I should go ask the God of Life and Death. That¡¯s the only ce I can get my answer from," the silver-haired boy said.

    He brought both his hands together and pped lightly once.

    As soon as he pped, the space before him split apart, which created a rift in space.

    The rift kept getting bigger and bigger. It only stopped when it was as big as a door.

    Janus stepped inside the spatial rift.

    "Janus? What brings the God of Beginning and Endings to me?"

    A beautiful woman was sitting on her throne. The woman seemed to be barely thirty years old. Her hair was light green that came down to her waist. They seemed to be the color of nature itself, which appeared to be full of life.

    Her eyes were open, which were silver in color. The woman somehow seemed like she was unable to see as her eyes had no focus in them. Janus knew that it wasn¡¯t the truth. It was just the way her eyes looked. There was a certain kind of charm in her eyes, but sometimes that charm seemed to be filled with death.

    Just a single gaze from the woman was enough to threaten anyone.

    The woman was known as the God of Life and Death, who was one of the High Gods.

    "Do I need a reason toe meet thedy of Life?" Janus answered softly.

    "Hahaha,dy of life, huh. Good name. It¡¯s so intriguing. Some people associate me with only death and call me Demon of Death, while others call me by my full name. You¡¯re the only one who calls me the Goddess of Life," the woman answered softly.

    "What else shall I call you? When it was decided that everyone will attack and kill my brother, you were the only one who decided to stay out of it, saying that you didn¡¯t want to be part of a High God¡¯s Death. I can¡¯t associate you with death after that. You respect life more than death, as I see. So it¡¯s only right that I call youdy of Life," Janus answered softly.

    "You just had to remind me of that day, didn¡¯t you? I still find it unfortunate that it happened," The green-haired woman muttered.

    "Morning is unfortunate. My brother deserved it," Janus answered as he shook his head

    "True. You did support it, but I still can¡¯t. That day, your brother isn¡¯t the only one who died. Twenty-five High Gods, Seventy Mid-Gods, and Three Hundred Low-Gods also died that day. This wasn¡¯t worth it," The Goddess of Death answered.

    "This was to be expected. We all knew how strong my brother was. We all expected casualties. Even though we lost half the gods, we at least managed to kill him. The result was certainly worth it," Janus answered casually, not seeming regretful in the least.

 Chapter 433 Love of a Goddess

    <h4>Chapter 433: Love of a Goddess</h4>

    "The result was worth it? This is what the ones who were behind this attack say. If you support one thing, and it goes wrong, but you still get the result, will you ever say you were wrong? We all have biases," the Goddess of Life and Death said softly as she sighed.

    Janus nodded his head as if somewhat agreeing with her. He found her words to be true since he also felt the same way. This was always the justification that people gave for doing bad things.

    He knew that people always say the result was worth it even if the steps they took were a hundred times worse than the original situation. This justification was what he found to be the unfortunate reality of the world.

    The biases that the people had were one of the reasons he believed for things to go wrong. People always thought that what they agreed with was the right thing. That was true with gods as well. They only agreed with the ideas and arguments that agreed with their bias even if it was wrong.

    "Since you have an interest in this, you will see the situation with the sses of your bias. But I, as a person from a neutral position, can see the bigger picture since I had no part in it. And what I see clearly doesn¡¯t make me think that it was worth it," the Goddess of Death continued.

    "I wouldn¡¯t argue against that," Janus said, sighing.

    "Hah, I believe you and the others were this sensiblest time. The great war wouldn¡¯t have happened. We wouldn¡¯t have lost so many of ourpanions in all this," the Green Haired woman said softly.

    A deep sigh escaped his lips, making the whole room seem deste and void of life. "Anyway, the past is the past because it can¡¯t be changed. Even the God of Time can¡¯t change it now. So let¡¯s not waste our time discussing it now. That only makes me feel regretful about the past."

    "Let¡¯s talk about you. I believe you didn¡¯te here to listen to me talk about the past either. So, what brought you here?" She asked. "What can little me provide to the Great God of Beginning and Ending?"

    " As I said, can¡¯t Ie here just to talk? Anyway, you are actually right about it. I dide here for a purpose. It is to ask you about something," Janus epted.

    "Ask me about what? I don¡¯t think I have done something that would require the intervention of other gods. It has been so long since I even left. Also, if you wanted to ask a question of knowledge, you would have a god to the other gods since I¡¯m not the best choice there either. What can you even ask me other than how bad we all messed up that day?" She asked.

    "What I¡¯m here to ask is something that only you can answer me," Janus answered.

    The Goddess of Life and death seemed even more curious now. She waited for Janus to answer.

    "It is about Asteria," Janus spoke just four words that stunned the goddess of life and death. Her serene expressions finally changed as she heard the name.

    She seemed more stunned than she should have been. That¡¯s what Janus thought.

    "Why do you wish to ask about him? He died with your brother. Why should we talk about a dead person? As I said, the past can¡¯t be changed. Let¡¯s not talk about the regretful things of the past," the Goddess of Life and Death answered as her expressions recovered.

    Janus looked around the room subtly. He could not feel any presence, but he still decided to take precautions before he started talking.

    He snapped his fingers. The color of the entire hall changed as it became colorless.

    "You are using your domain? Interesting. If I¡¯m not wrong, you never use it. Why do I have the pleasure to see your domain? Are you thinking about scaring me? Or do you actually wish to fight me?" The goddess of Life and Death asked as she saw her room bing pale.

    She was sure that it was because Janus had cast his domain. The whole pce had be his domain now. She was certain he wished to scare her, but there was also a possibility that he wished to kill her.

    She said, "Also, can I at least know the reason for you using it against me? Are the other gods nning to exterminate another god who doesn¡¯t bend to their knees?"

    "Goddess of Life and Death, don¡¯t be concerned. I don¡¯t wish to fight you. Why would I even think about fighting the goddess who is the ruler of life and death? I can certainly win, but as you said, the path to reach the oue would certainly be worse than the oue. I don¡¯t wish to repeat that," Janus answered casually.

    "Then why did you cast your Domain in my ce?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked curiously.

    "It¡¯s all because I don¡¯t wish for our conversation to leak outside. There is a possibility that other gods might have an interest in this ce. This is my domain now. No one will be able to hear our conversation, no matter how strong or knowledgeable they are unless they openly showed themselves," Janus answered.

    "Oh? You wish to keep it a secret from other gods? Interesting," the Goddess of Life and Death muttered as she smiled.

    "What could it be? About Asteria¡¯s death? Do you wish for me to bring him back to life?" She asked. "That would be the only reason you might wish to keep it a secret. Let me tell you. I have no power to bring people of that caliber back to life."

    "Don¡¯t worry. I don¡¯t want himing back to life. However, I am here regarding his life. I have sensed his presence. You know I can sense more of this universe than other gods. That might be the only reason I have sensed him, but this is true. I believe he is alive," Janus said.

    The green-haired woman¡¯s eyes squinted as she heard the words of Janus. She was stunned after hearing him.

    "He is alive? How is that possible" she eximed in shock.

    "That¡¯s what I¡¯m here to ask. Your acting is convincing, but you¡¯re the only god who can bring him back to life after the death he suffered. Now, tell me how and why you did it?" Janus asked gravely.

    "Firstly, I can¡¯t do it. Secondly, even if I could do it, I wouldn¡¯t have done it. Why would I bring him back to life? I have no rtion to him," The Goddess of Life and Death answered casually.

    "As I said, I can¡¯t bring people of that caliber to life. You must have been under some misunderstanding," she continued.

    " Do you think he came back to life himself?" Janus asked, seemingly suspicious.

    "Give me one reason I would bring him back to life?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked straight away. "I would have been proud if I was capable of this feat. I would have brought other gods to life as well. I would have done so much if I had the ability."

    "I don¡¯t think you have the ability to bring gods at the caliber of my brother to life. But you certainly can bring Asteria. I won¡¯t underestimate you that much," Janus answered.

    "As I said, I have no reason to bring Asteria back to life. As for bringing back your brother to life, it is only possible for the Ancestral Gods that created all of us if they hadn¡¯t perished after creating us," the green-haired woman answered.

    Janus went silent for a brief second as he closed his eyes.

    "If you have the ability, would you have brought my brother back to life?" Janus asked.

    "I don¡¯t wish for the great war to happen again. I wouldn¡¯t. Him staying dead is better for all of us," the Goddess of Life and Death answered.

    "Did you love him!" Janus askey bluntly.

    The green-haired woman¡¯s mouth opened slightly at the question she was asked so bluntly.

    "How can you even think that?" She asked as she smiled wryly. "Your thoughts do run wild."

    "He and you were close since you two were kids. Everyone thought that you liked him, not only me. It was only after he met her, you started creating distance from him. I thought you were jealous but still loved him," Janus answered.

    " Some gods even thought you would protect him in the great War like a tsundere goddess, but you stayed out of the war-making them think they were wrong, but I feel as if it was not because you didn¡¯t care about him. You certainly didn¡¯t hate him, or you would have joined the war from our side. Maybe it is that you didn¡¯t care for him at all, but I do feel that you did," he continued.

 Chapter 434 Level Up

    <h4>Chapter 434: Level Up</h4>

    "Hah, you all thought I would stay out because of my personal feelings? Not at all. If it were about personal feelings, I would be the first one to stab his heart and not you. When even his brother can kill him, why would I not have done the same if given a chance?" The Goddess of Life and Death argued back.

    She didn¡¯t like that Janus was associating her with his brother. At Least that¡¯s what it seemed like.

    "Then why didn¡¯t you take part in the siege?" Janus inquired, smiling.

    "It was certainly not because of my personal feelings. That¡¯s something I can tell with certainty," the Goddess of Life and Death answered.

    "As I said, I only stayed out because I knew that it was a bad decision to attack him. I¡¯m not saying it because I liked him but because I knew him. I knew how strong he was. I knew how big our losses were going to be when facing him. I tried to warn other gods, but they were too stubborn. I had no choice but to stay out because I didn¡¯t support their decision of this siege. My personal feelings didn¡¯t y even one percent role in my decision.

    "Don¡¯t worry. No one can hear us. We are under my domain. You don¡¯t have to lie here. Even if you said yes and I told others, no one is going to believe me. You can confess," Janus said as he sighed.

    "I am not lying. I don¡¯t know what else to tell you now," she answered.

    "Why did you go to meet my brother a day before we were about to attack him? Why did he cast his domain when he met you so no one could hear the conversation that took ce between you two?" Janus asked, gazing deep into the eyes of the Goddess of Life and Death.

    "This..." The goddess of Life and Death found herself at the loss of words as she thought about what she could say?

    How did he know? She had made sure that no one knew about her trip when she went there. Until now, she was convinced that no one knew about it. How was Janus aware of this?

    "As I said, I am aware of things. There is no benefit in lying to me. If I had bad intentions, I would have told it to the other gods long ago. But I didn¡¯t because I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t intend to fight against us. You just wished to alert the one you loved, isn¡¯t it?" Janus asked subtly.

    "The Goddess of Life and Death closed her eyes for a brief second. She opened her eyes once again after a brief moment of silence. Her eyes seemed slightly red.

    She stood up from her throne and started walking towards Janus slowly.

    Janus watched her emotionless face as she walked closer to him.

    The Goddess of Life and Death stopped just a meter away from Janus.

    "You are right. I did go to meet him. And I don¡¯t care if you go to tell other gods. As you said, no one will believe you since the main question that wille from it is why your brother didn¡¯t escape if I leaked the n. This would make your point moot. They wouldn¡¯t do anything to me based on that," the Goddess of life and Death answered.

    "And even if they did think about attacking me simrly, what¡¯s the worse they can do? They can¡¯t afford to fight me since they can¡¯t afford to lose more gods after what happenedst time," she answered.

    "As I said, I won¡¯t tell them. If I wished, I would have told them the day you went to meet him. Anyway, I also have the answer to your question," Janus answered.

    "My brother is too stubborn. His real personality is one where he doesn¡¯t even think about escaping. He is a proud god who is less like a god and more like a demon. He can die fighting and killing the enemy, but he can¡¯t run away," he continued.

    "Your brother ¡¯Is?¡¯ He is already dead. He isn¡¯t stubborn. He was stubborn. I don¡¯t believe you would make such a basic mistake when speaking. Are you feeling intimidated now?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked as she caught the minute details in Ryder¡¯s statement.

    He was talking as if his brother was still alive. How could they be possible? There was no way for that to be the truth. She would have known otherwise. Even she, the goddess of life and death, was not capable of doing it. There was no way he would be alive.

    The only other exnation was that Janus made a blunder. That was only possible if his mind wasn¡¯t working properly now. Could it be that he was actually scared by her and just pretending to be strong?

    In strength, Janus was almost as strong as her, but that didn¡¯t mean he could not be intimidated by her.

    "I made a mistake. It¡¯s not that shocking, is it? Anyone would be stunned before your astonishing beauty," Janus answered with an amused smile.

    He realized that he had made a blunder, and he could only escape it by being sly.

    "Is that it?¡¯ the green-haired woman inquired.

    It made sense that what he was saying was the truth, but she still found it suspicious.

    "Anyway, you¡¯re right. I did go to him. I didn¡¯t want the war to happen. Since the other gods weren¡¯t willing to listen to me, I went to your brother to tell him to run away and hide. This was something that could have avoided the war. Not only would he still be alive, but so many gods wouldn¡¯t have died. However, it is as you said. He is stubborn and a crazy guy. He didn¡¯t listen to me," she said.

    "He suffered, but he suffered proudly. He killed so many gods. I knew many would die in the war against him, but the actual casualties were still overwhelming. I hadn¡¯t expected it to be that high. He exceeded my expectations," she continued as she sighed.

    "Anyway, how did we even reach the conversation about your brother? We were talking about Asteria as far as I remember. You made me talk about somethingpletely unnecessary. Anyway, leaving that aside, let¡¯s get back to the topic."

    Janus nodded his head as he replied, "The topic was about Asteria. How is he still alive? What role did you y in it?"

    "I¡¯ll repeat the same thing no matter how many times you ask. I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. I¡¯ll be happy if Asteria is alive but I won¡¯t be sad even if he isn¡¯t. All I can say is I have no involvement with him," the Goddess of Life and Death answered again.

    "Maybe you¡¯re honest, and you had no hand in it, or you¡¯re effectively lying to me. In any way, I will find out one way or another," Janus muttered as he turned back.

    He started walking towards the door without looking back. The Pce once again returned back to its original color as he retracted his Domain.

    A door once again appeared before him who had opened. He stepped inside and into the light. The door closed once again.

    The green-haired hidden gazed at the empty spot where the door happened to be. She turned back and walked back to the throne.

    "He knows Asteria is alive as well. Is he going to kill Asteria, or will he tell others? I certainly had no hand in Asteria¡¯s revival. I myself don¡¯t know how it happened. I just sensed him. That¡¯s how I knew he was alive. I cast my magic on him to make sure no one else notices him. Janus is certainly impressive if he noticed Asteria even after my warding," He muttered to herself.

    "Attack now!" Ryder yelled as he flew back.

    He has just attacked a powerful beast and brought down his Health to the lowest. After that, hemanded the Diamond Tiger Beast to attack the monster to finish him off and to gain experience.

    The Diamond Tiger Beast was looking to be bigger than it was before. It was already twice the side.

    The Diamond Tiger Beast also looked more experienced and brave than he did before. Instead of hesitating like it did the first time it battled, he jumped at the Giant Snake Monster like he was an alpha wolf who wasn¡¯t scared of anyone.

    Sharp ws came out of his paws that seemed to be made of the strongest of the metals.

    sh!

    He shed with his ws towards the head of the giant snake.

    The health point of the monster was only at 1 point, which tricked down to zero.

    [+50000 Exp]

    [Level +1]

    [Level +1]

    [Level +1]

    [Level +1]

    [Level +1]

    [Level +1]

    The diamond tiger beast started getting a massive boost in his stats as his level increased due to the enormous influx of experience.

 Chapter 435 Exposed to goddess

    <h4>Chapter 435: Exposed to goddess</h4>

    "Already at level seventy. Is it just I, or his growth is faster than me?" Ryder muttered as he observed the Diamond Tiger Beast.

    "He is already at level sixty. Not bad at all," he observed as the Diamond Tiger Beast¡¯s star remained open before him.

    While Ryder was staring at the status screen of the Diamond Tiger Beast, a red pair of eyes was watching him from the shadows.

    "Hmm?"

    Rale sensed something. He had a feeling that someone was watching them.

    He moved the center of his body and turned back to gaze in the direction where he had a strange feelinging from.

    Swiss!

    The dry leaves could be seen flying that had fallen from trees. Other than that, there seemed to be no movement. There was no one there either.

    ¡¯Was that my misconception?¡¯ he thought as he squinted his eyes.

    Ryder closed the status screen of the Diamond Tiger Beast as he nced back.

    He could see Rale looking solemn as he gazed into the distance.

    "What happened? Did you notice our next prey?" Ryder inquired, smiling.

    "It¡¯s nothing. I just had a feeling that someone was watching us," Rale answered, shaking his head. He seemed out of focus.

    Ryder also looked in the direction where Rale was looking. He ced all his focus there and even used All-Seer, but he couldn¡¯t find anyone. He replied, "There seems to be no one there. Let¡¯s continue finding prey. I want the Diamond Tiger Beast to reach level hundred as well. I should be able to reach level 150 too."

    "That does depend on us finding prey at the right time, though since we only have one day here," he continued.

    "We can hunt at night as well if Your Highness wishes," Rale suggested.

    "We can¡¯t. We can only hunt until the evening," Ryder answered, refusing him.

    ¡¯If I stay here at night, I won¡¯t be able to apany Alice in the day. It¡¯s our holiday. She would kill me if I am not apanying her,¡¯ he thought as he imagined the consequences of not spending the day with her.

    "Let¡¯s continue finding the beasts then," Rale agreed.

    "There is ake nearby. We should be able to find plenty of beasts there," he suggested.

    "How strong are the beasts we can find there?" Ryder inquired.

    He knew that level thousands of beasts were morning before Rale, but they could quickly kill Ryder and make him suffer an unintentional revival by time travel of 24 hours. That was the worst penalty for him, so he was vignt.

    "We¡¯re far away from the core of the forest. The core is where the stronger beasts reside. They have different sources of water than the pond I am talking about. The pond that I¡¯m talking about is on the outskirts of this forest. So we should be seeing weaker monsters," Rale answered. "It¡¯s at a walking distance. We should be there in a few minutes."

    He started walking towards the Pond. Ryder also followed him.

    The Diamond Tiger Beast walked beside Ryder.

    The red pair of eyes once again appeared in the darkness, watching Ryder.

    It was difficult to see who these eyes belonged to as the ce seemed awfully dark.

    "Compared to the Dark Poisonous Snake we faced just now, how strong will the enemies be? I¡¯m thinking about fighting against many at once," Ryder asked Rale.

    "They should be slightly stronger than the Dark Poisonous Snake," Rale answered.

    Ryder nodded his head as he gazed at the Diamond Tiger Beast.

    ¡¯Slightly stronger, huh? That¡¯s good. I should be able to handle them. As long as the ¡¯slightly¡¯ of Rale is not a couple of hundred levels,¡¯ he thought.

    The Goddess of Life and Death was walking back and forth in her ce, seemingly lost in thought.

    "It can¡¯t be. No matter how much I think about it, this doesn¡¯t make sense. I have warded Asteria. Even if it¡¯s Janus, he should not be able to sense Asteria unless he was intentionally searching the forest where Asteria is staying," she thought, frowning.

    "That can be the only way he could sense Asteria. That raises the question. Why would Janus be looking at a forest in that ce? What could be his reason? What changed in that forest?" She wondered.

    "I should check myself as well," She decided.

    "If I go down now, the other gods might sense me, and that would be proof that I was with Asteria. If Janus has told the other gods, my going there would basically be a confession. I can¡¯t go down, but I can still see. Let¡¯s see what special that ce has that attracted Janus."

    The Goddess of Life and Death raised her right feet. She lightly touched the floor with the toe of her feet.

    The floor that was pure white turned transparent as if it was a ss.

    If someone were to stand at the green-haired woman¡¯s ce, they would have thought that they were standing in space with just a piece of ss between them and the earth that seemed like it was a tiny ball.

    She waved her hand, and the scene in the ss changed. It started showing a dark forest.

    In his own Pce, Janus was doing the same thing. The only difference was that he was using a pond to see.

    While the Goddess of Life and Death was looking for something suspicious, Janus was looking for Asteria.

    "This... I was right. He is here. He is behind him!" Janus let out as he noticed someone keeping an eye on Janus.

    "Asteria!"

    "There he is. Why is Asteria not in the core of the forest, though? What¡¯s he doing in the outskirts?" The goddess of life and death muttered as she noticed Asteria.

    She knew that Asteria stayed in the core of the forest, so she found it strange that he was outside now.

    She didn¡¯t understand why he would be out. She looked around him to see who he was looking at and soon she saw two men and a small tiger-like beast.

    The first person she noticed was Rale, as he had the strongest aura of all the people.

    ¡¯Is he watching that guy? Could it be that he is intimidated by that guy? It¡¯s good that he keeps an eye on intruders,¡¯ she thought as she shifted her focus to the second man who was walking behind him.

    As she was seeing the top view, she could only see the top of Ryder¡¯s head. She couldn¡¯t see his face.

    "This second guy also seems strong, but the first guy is stronger. Why is it that this guy feels more... Intimidating now that I observe him? It can¡¯t be my misconception. His strength is low, but there¡¯s just something about him that I can¡¯t put in words," She muttered. She had a strange feeling as she was watching Ryder. She still didn¡¯t see his face.

    "Let¡¯s see his face," she decided as she snapped her finger.

    The angle changed as the front view appeared. She could see the face of both the guys. The first person she saw was once again Ryder, who felt like any normal stranger.

    She was more interested in Ryder, though.

    She shifted her focus to the second guy.

    There was a calm look on her face.

    "W-what!"

    Her face turned pale as she saw the face of Ryder.

    She unintentionally took three steps back, eventually falling down, but she still kept dragging her body back in disbelief.

    "H-he!"

    "...is alive?!"

    Her heart was beating rapidly as if it was going to jump out of her chest.

    Her face seemedpletely devoid of blood as she refused to believe her own eyes. She wanted to see the face again to make sure, but she didn¡¯t dare to.

    She ced her hand on her chest as she stood up slowly. Her heart continued thumping as she took a few steps forward and gazed at Ryder¡¯s face once again.

    She clenched her fist as she dropped to her knees.

    "It¡¯s him..." She muttered as she closed her eyes.

    She inclined her head a little as she looked towards the roof.

    She took a deep breath before she closed her eyes.

    "Janus!!!"

    She screamed as loud as she could in rage.

    "You bastard!!!"

    Even though she screamed so loud, the voice didn¡¯t leave the hall.

    "So this was why you agreed to attack your brother! This was why you were thest person to stab him and kill him! It was all you! You are really a bastard!" She said strongly as tears appeared in her eyes.

    The tears trickled down her cheeks, leaving a wet mark on her beautiful skin.

    Her fists were still clenched. Her heartbeat hasn¡¯t calmed down at all, even after all this time.

    "So that¡¯s why you were watching the forest now! That¡¯s why you sensed Asteria! You... You are really a good actor!" She muttered softly as she gazed at the door.

 Chapter 436 The Same

    <h4>Chapter 436: The Same</h4>

    Ryder and Rale reached theke where they were supposed to find beasts to hunt.

    "Strange. There is not even one beast here? What¡¯s happened?" Ryder asked Rale as he gazed back.

    "I¡¯m not sure. This ce should have had at least one beast. No idea what¡¯s happening here," Rale answered, frowning.

    "I guess we would need to go deeper," Ryder said as he came out of the bushes.

    He walked past theke as he advanced deeper into the forest.

    A shadow kept following them around. Rale¡¯s feeling continued that someone was watching them, but he couldn¡¯t find who it was even after all that. He kept ncing back more often than not.

    "There is one!"

    Ryder noticed a beast in some distance. He started running after the beast to catch him without giving it a chance to run.

    A scythe appeared in his hand, which looked as sharp as it could possibly be.

    The beast seemed like a giant bull. There were a few differences, though. The bull had no horns; instead, it had ears like a rabbit. Its skin was sky blue. Only its ears were of different colors. The bull¡¯s eyes were pale white.

    Ryder had instantly activated the All-Seer as soon as he had deen the bull, which showed the information of the bull before his eyes.

    [Name: White-Eyed Bull]

    [Species: Demon Wolf]

    [Level: 150]

    Without dying for even a second, Ryder swung his scythe as he appeared near the White-eyed bull.

    He wasn¡¯t going to leave this beast to the Diamond Tiger Beast and get the experience himself, but near the end, he changed his mind.

    He decided not to kill the Bull in one blow and controlled his force.

    The White-eyed bull saw Ryder attack him. It roared furiously as he started stepping back slowly. A white light started taking shape near its forehead that kept getting bigger.

    "It¡¯s about to attack! Careful!" Rale warned Ryder, seeing the white light.

    Ryder nodded his head as he understood what was happening.

    Before the white light could finish taking shape, the de of his scythe reached the neck of the enemy. Its neck was sliced through the middle, killing it instantly.

    The light also disappeared as the beast¡¯s head fell down to the ground.

    Rydernded on the ground and smiled wryly.

    "Oops..."

    He shook his head as he watched the beast¡¯s dead body lying on the ground.

    "I thought this would leave some HP for him to deal the finishing blow. Who knew that it was not possible," he muttered as he gazed back at the Diamond Tiger Beast, who seemed to be confused.

    Until now, Ryder was giving it the opportunity to make the final attack. I thought this time was going to be the same.

    It was standing ready to deal the finishing blow; however, it didn¡¯t have any need anymore as the White-eyed bull was lying dead in the ground.

    "I¡¯ll give you the next prey," Ryderforted the Diamond Tiger Beast.

    "Umph."

    The Diamond Tiger Beast gave a light whimper as if it was agreeing with Ryder.

    The body of the White-eyed bull slowly disappeared as it turned into specks of light.

    "We should see more just like them."

    Ryder and the others started walking even deeper into the forest.

    "He seems weaker. Just what method did Janus use to bring him back to life? Why doesn¡¯t he have his old strength? I get the same intimidating feeling from him as before, but the way he fights... It¡¯s different. Does he not remember?" The Goddess of Life and Death wondered as she saw Ryder fight.

    "I need to meet him to test this theory. But if I go down, I¡¯ll attract the attention of other gods to that ce. He would be discovered..." She muttered as she frowned.

    "That must be why Janus didn¡¯t go down to fight Asteria even after knowing that he is alive. He doesn¡¯t want to get the attention of others to that ce. But in his shock at finding Asteria, he made a mistake. Does he really not realize that his mistake exposed his existence to me?"

    "Oh, does he know? It was intentional? Since Asteria is alive and he knows that I am not willing to cause another war, he wouldn¡¯t worry about me knowing. Is that his way of subtly involving me in his scheme? Or was it actually an honest mistake?"

    The more she thought about it, the more she grew curious. She knew that there was only one person who could end her curiosity. There was only one person who knew all the answers about what was truly happening, and it was Janus.

    She tapped her feet on the floor once again after taking onest nce at the face of Ryder.

    The floor once again returned to normal and stopped showing the images.

    The visage of the Goddess of Life and Death started getting vague as she disappeared slowly.

    Janus was watching Ryder in the water of his pond when he sensed something. He snapped his fingers, and the pond returned to normal.

    Two fishes could be seen swimming in the pond. Janus watched the fishes with curiosity.

    "The Sun and Moon Fishes. Pretty rare. I never knew you had them," a feminine voice came from behind him.

    "But then again, I never knew a lot of things. You¡¯re good at fooling people after all," she continued.

    "It¡¯s you. What brought you here?" Janus asked without looking back.

    "Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t expect me toe here. You are pretty good at scheming, Janus. It was all intentional, wasn¡¯t it? Making that mistake when speaking and talking as if your brother wasn¡¯t dead. Telling me about your discovery of Asteria. It was all a part of this n since the moment you noticed him. Am I right?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked.

    "Oh? Am I really like the evil boss behind the shadow in your head?" Janus asked as he smiled slightly.

    He snapped his fingers once again. The pond started showing Ryder again.

    He could see Ryder fighting with another snake-like beast.

    This time, thest blow was dealt by the Diamond Tiger Beast as per the n of Ryder.

    "Good work, little guy. You again jumped in levels. Your progress makes me jealous," Ryderplimented the Diamond Tiger Beast as he patted his head.

    After Ryder finished patting the Diamond Tiger Beast, he started walking ahead in search of a different prey. Rale walked on the left side of Ryder while the Diamond Tiger Beast walked in the middle of the two.

    Crack!

    "Hmm?" Ryder heard a cracking sound that wasn¡¯t light at all. It was a loud sound as if a tree was broken.

    Swoosh!

    As soon as he turned back, he saw a giant tree falling towards them. To be specific, it was about to fall on top of the Diamond Tiger Beast, who was walking in the middle of Ryder and Rale.

    Rale reached fast as he appeared in front of the Diamond Tiger Beast. He reached out his hand and caught the falling tree easily before he pushed it aside.

    "Strange. How can a tree fall so suddenly," Ryder thought as he observed his surroundings suspiciously.

    "I was right. It¡¯s him!" The Goddess of Life and Death eximed as she saw Ryder in the pond of Janus. It was obvious that Janus was watching him. He wasn¡¯t even trying to hide it now.

    It was evident that he intended for her to know.

    "Asteria is never going to change. His jealousy is still the same," Janus muttered as he sighed.

    "I wasn¡¯t going to have you know since I didn¡¯t know your feelings towards my brother. I had seen you going to meet my brother a day before the attack. I even asked him what you two talked about after that, but he didn¡¯t answer. He was expressionless, so I didn¡¯t know if your talks were good or bad. So I kept you out..." Janus starts exining.

    "But now that I know about you, it¡¯s certain that you were concerned about him even then. You also helped Asteria, who was close to him. I should thank you. One of the things I regretted was not being able to save Asteria. Who knew that he was still alive..." He continued.

    "Yeah. He didn¡¯t change at all. He was like this before too. He was pretty annoying sometimes, to be honest," The Goddess of Life and Death answered as she sighed.

    "So tell me. How did you do it?" She asked Janus.

    "How did I do what?" Janus inquired.

    "How did you save your brother? How is he still alive? And does he really not remember anything? Did you use the forbidden reincarnation that gods aren¡¯t able to use?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked. "Reincarnation can be the only answer as to why he doesn¡¯t know about his fighting abilities and his strength? Is that it?"

 Chapter 437 Sealing

    <h4>Chapter 437: Sealing</h4>

    "I can neither confirm nor deny," Janus refused to answer the question of the Green Haired woman who was seeking confirmation if Ryder had his memory or not.

    "So if it is reincarnation? How did you even get it to work? Gods can¡¯t reincarnate. These are the universalws that were created by the chaos of origin. Did you find some loophole to save your brother?" The goddess of life and death inquired.

    "As I said, I can¡¯t answer. It is moreplicated than you think. Just know that my involvement in this is close to none," Janus answered as he frowned.

    "From what I can guess, you pretended to join the other gods and fight your brother to get the chance to stab him before then. Thatst attack is where the mystery resides, isn¡¯t it?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked.

    "That¡¯s when you did something. Anyway, I am d he doesn¡¯t remember anything. If he doesn¡¯t return, things can stay the way they are. I don¡¯t want there to be another conflict," she continued.

    Janus gazed at the green-haired woman and nodded his head as if agreeing with her; however, the thought in his head waspletely different.

    ¡¯Oh, I think he won¡¯t agree. He has a n of his own. It is much bigger than you or me...¡¯ he thought as he shifted his focus back to Ryder.

    "Did you make contact with him, or are you just keeping an eye on him? You can¡¯t go down to that ce like me if I¡¯m not wrong. Or it would attract much more attention to that ce which wouldn¡¯t be good," the green-haired woman said to Janus.

    " If the gods know that your brother is alive, they wouldn¡¯t stop at anything to have him killed again. It would result in a massive war. The gods that have gone to seclusion will return. Even God of Time wille back. The God of Space will also leave his realm. This war would be much bigger thanst time. You won¡¯t be stupid enough to risk it, right?" She asked.

    Janus just smiled wryly, but he didn¡¯t answer.

    He didn¡¯t tell her how close he had been to have the whole thing exposed. They came so close to have the God of Time sense the distortion in time. Fortunately, it was a light distortion that a few gods could create as well. It wasn¡¯t enough to have the God of Timee out.

    Janus knew the God of Time for a long time.

    The God of Time was one of Janus¡¯ teachers, after all. He was the one who taught Janus to control the time at his brother¡¯s request.

    The God of Time, God of Space, God of Light, and his brother were said to be the four best friends of their time.

    They were said to be the strongest circle of friends. The three gods had also taught Janus at the request of her brother.

    Janus still remembered how warm these days were.

    It was all over when a tragedy urred. The tragedy changed Ryderpletely. He changed after that day and started working to give immortality to everyone, which attracted the wrath of gods.

    The gods didn¡¯t like it. Even the God of Light, God of Death, and God of Space thought that it was a bad idea. They all opposed Ryder, but he didn¡¯t listen.

    It would still not have been bad enough for the three to think about killing Ryder but what he did next made them determined to kill him.

    The ones who used to be the best friends of Ryder were one of the Eight Major Gods that had formed the n to kill Ryder.

    Ryder knew it all, but instead of running away, he decided to face them all bravely.

    On one side stood Ryder and Asteria, while on the other side stood his three best friends and almost all Major Gods, looking to kill him.

    Even Janus stood against him.

    Asteria was killed in the war. Many major gods fell in the great war.

    One of the three friends of Ryder, the God of Light, had also died in the great war.

    Ryder himself was the one who had killed him along with the other gods.

    It was a brutal war... Much more brutal than anyone thought it was going to be.

    How difficult was it going to be to kill one God when they have all other gods on their side. That¡¯s what the other gods had thought, but they didn¡¯t realize that the one they were facing was Ryder.

    Ryder was not alone either. He had the help of his bracelet that he had created, which gave him even more powers. Unfortunately, the bracelet was just created at that time, so it wasn¡¯t ready to be used. Ryder couldn¡¯t even use one percent of the bracelet¡¯s power at that time.

    If he could, the oue would have been different. After Janus stabbed Ryder, Ryder¡¯s body turned to dust. Only the bracelet of immortality was left behind.

    All the gods wished to use the bracelet for themselves. But this was a problem since no one was willing to have another person take the bracelet.

    It was impossible to give up the bracelet. The allure was just too much to let others have it.

    Even if they were gods, they had simr emotions to humans. If they couldn¡¯t have something good for themselves, they wished for no one to have it. Some gods were willing to let others have it or use votings, but there were some who didn¡¯t agree.

    In the end, it was decided that no one will keep the bracelet. Since one couldn¡¯t keep it, no one was going to keep it.

    That also had a problem of its own enough. They could also feel that it was breaking the bnce of the world. Even if they didn¡¯t use it, the bracelet was not something that could be allowed to exist.

    It was an unstable item that was destroying all elements as it grew in power each second. They didn¡¯t even know if they could keep it in control for long.

    In the end, they decided that the only way to stop this problem was to deal with the item once and for all. They decided to destroy it.

    They used the strongest of attacks to break the braceletpletely. They even used the hellfire and heavenly thunder to destroy it, but nothing worked. The bracelet couldn¡¯t be destroyed.

    In the end, they all used a different idea. It was an idea that was suggested by Janus himself.

    He had suggested that they all use a bit of their power to seal the bracelet and create a key. These keys were the tokens created by each of the gods.

    Not even Thirty gods were selected to seal the bracelet. Everyone agreed to it since no one would be able to unseal the bracelet without all the tokens from the gods. And getting the tokens was impossible since no one wished for the other to be able to use the bracelet of immortality.

    In the end, the bracelet was sealed. After being sealed, it was ced inside the box of anonymity.

    The box of anonymity was a mysterious item that was embedded with space and time magic.

    Its speciality was that whatever was inserted inside it was Teleported to some random location in an unexpected corner of the world. The item was also covered in a mysterious aura that made it impossible for that item to be tracked. People could spend millions of years, but they would be unable to find the item that was ced in the box of anonymity.

    The sealed bracelet of immortality was ced in the box of anonymity to make sure that it was never discovered.

    The bracelet of immortality was a powerful item that was impossible to be destroyed. It also had many untold powers. Even if it was sealed and each god kept a key with them, it was still not certain if someone would try to steal the key due to greed.

    After the bracelet of immortality disappeared inside the box of anonymity, Janus suggested another thing.

    He told the gods that everyone knew who had these tokens. If a powerful god wished, he could steal these tokens or use immoral ways to get the keys. He suggested that the best way to make sure that no one even thought about getting the bracelet of immortality unsealed was to ce all the keys inside the box of anonymity one after another.

    Even though some people didn¡¯t agree with it, the majority did. The keys were ced inside the box of anonymity. Thus, the keys were thrown to unknown corners of the world where they could never be brought together to unseal the bracelet.

    Since the box of anonymity also removed the aura of items, it was also impossible to find the keys.

    So no one had any hope of getting the bracelet of immortality or unsealing it.

 Chapter 438 Talking me a Goddess

    <h4>Chapter 438: Talking me a Goddess</h4>

    It was all done based on Janus¡¯ suggestions, who had won the trust of the other gods by helping them against his own brothers, and no one knew how far-sighted he had been.

    The goddess of life and death believed that Janus wouldn¡¯t go down to meet his brother since that would ce him in danger. Did he really not contact his brother?

    "So Asteria is alive, and you had no role in it. You only knew about it. That exins why I felt your protection around him," Janus answered, ignoring the question of the green-haired woman.

    "You even sensed my protection from so far away? This should be impossible even if you are keeping an eye on that ce. Unless... You are connected to your brother through consciousness. Is that it?" The Goddess of Life and Death inquired.

    "Yeah. He doesn¡¯t remember anything. I help him stay alive to make sure he doesn¡¯t die," Janus answered casually.

    "So you can talk to him from here?" The green-haired woman asked Janus.

    Janus nodded his head.

    "Can I talk to him as well? I wish to... Have a conversation with him. I wouldn¡¯t take long. Please give me this chance?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked.

    Janus drew his breath, and let it back out with a loud sigh, almost resembling the great winds of the north.

    He pointed out, "Eliena... He doesn¡¯t remember anything. Talking to him right now would be no different than talking to a stranger."

    "I know it wouldn¡¯t be the same, but still..." Goddess of Life and Death Eliena answer, not backing off.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll let you talk to him for a minute," Janus answered softly. "But you¡¯ll have to do something I¡¯m interested in."

    "Do what in exchange?" Eliena asked with curiosity.

    "You can¡¯t revive Immortals, but you can revive mortals. I want your help with that. You must create a pill that contains your power. It must be able to revive andpletely heal a mortal who had died," Janus replied.

    "This... I can do that, but why do you want it?" Eliena inquired.

    "You¡¯ll know soon enough," Janus answered as a smile sneaked out the corner of his mouth.

    "I can give you the pull, but it won¡¯t be free of limitations. Since it¡¯ll be in the form of a pill, it would only work if the pill is ced inside the mouth of the dead person. It¡¯ll work as long as the person hasn¡¯t been dead for over five minutes. Also, it won¡¯t work on gods," the Goddess of Life and Death informed Janus.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. That should be enough. Just give me the pill, and I¡¯ll let you talk to him," Janus answered as he nodded his head.

    "Alright." Eliena closed her eyes as he reached out her empty hand and bawled her fingers to make a fist.

    Her body started glowing slowly with a green light. Itsted for a few seconds before it retracted back. The woman opened her fist to reveal a green pill.

    "This is the life pill. Here," she let out as she threw the pill towards Janus.

    "Good. This should be able to help in the future." Janus muttered as he gazed at the pill in his hand.

    He gazed back at Eliena before he answered, "Wait a minute."

    Ryder was looking at the tree which was lying on the ground, wondering how it fell down. It didn¡¯t seem like anyone was near them.

    "Your Highness, I¡¯ll take a look around. I had a feeling that someone was watching us. This event doesn¡¯t seem natural either. Please don¡¯t move for now," Rale told Ryder before he moves out in search of something odd.

    Ryder and the Diamond Tiger Beast were left behind, watching Rale disappear from their sight.

    "Is a spirit watching us? This reminds me of the ghost valley in Divinity, where invisible spirits are the enemies. Could it be the same?" Ryder wondered as he sat on the trunk of the fallen tree.

    He started waiting for Rale to return as he rested. As his All-Seer wasn¡¯t showing anyone, he couldn¡¯t do anything but wait.

    The Diamond Tiger Beast sat in front of Ryder.

    [A new mission has been Issued]

    When Ryder was about to reach out his hand to pat the head of Diamond Tiger Beast, Janus¡¯s voice echoed in his ears.

    "Finally... Another mission. Now I can get stronger." Ryder grinned as he heard the voice of Janus. He had been waiting for a long time for Janus to give another mission.

    [Mission: Talk to Goddess Eliena on the Deity Phone]

    [Mission Reward: One Life Pill]

    [Punishment for Failure: Lost opportunity]

    [Time Limit: 5 minutes]

    "Hmm? Isn¡¯t that a simple mission? I just have to talk on the Deity Phone? Not bad," Ryder muttered as he finished hearing the mission.

    He opened his inventory and brought out the Deity Phone, which he had received as a reward from the system previously. It was said to be an item that allowed him to talk to mythical creatures over the phone.

    He had previously used this phone to talk to Drac.

    "Let¡¯s see if there is a goddess Eliena in the contact list. I don¡¯t remember seeing that namest time I checked," he muttered as he opened the list of names.

    "There it is. Hmm? Only five origin points for a minute call? Not bad," he let out as he saw the cost of the call.

    There was an ¡¯I¡¯ icon in front of the name. He tapped on the icon to see what it was about, only to have a warning open on the phone screen.

    [Warning: Maximum call duration is only one minute]

    "Hmm? It¡¯s fine. I only need to talk to her. It¡¯s better if I keep the call short to save my Origin Points," Ryder let out as he saw the notification.

    He tapped on the call icon and dialed the number.

    Janus watched Ryder call. A phone appeared in his hand, which he threw towards Eliena.

    "You only have one minute of talks. Here," he said.

    The Goddess of Life and Death caught the phone.

    "Isn¡¯t this a human device that they use? You use this to stay in contact with him?" She asked Janus.

    "Yeah," Janus lied without any change on his face.

    Eliena ced the phone on her ears as she picked up the call.

    "Hello? Is this goddess Eliena?" Ryder asked as the call was picked.

    Eliena¡¯s mouth opened slightly as she heard the voice of Ryder. She opened her mouth to say something, but no voice came out of her mouth. She was so stunned that she couldn¡¯t speak anything for a moment.

    Her eyes turned red as wetness filled her eyes.

    "Fifty seconds left."

    Janus pointed out after ten seconds of silence. He didn¡¯t wish to have her waste all her time without speaking anything since she had paid him for this opportunity.

    "Hello? Is anyone there? Hello?" Ryder asked after not hearing any response over the call.

    He gazed at his phone, wondering if something was wrong. "Is this thing still working? Hey Janus, I called. I want my reward even if I don¡¯t get any response. I want no excuseter on!"

    "H-hello."

    Goddess of Life and Death finally spoke a word after fifteen seconds had passed.

    "Finally. Someone answered..." Ryder muttered.

    "So, which mythical person are you. I don¡¯t remember reading about you as I did of Drac. Are you an actual goddess?" Ryder asked excitedly.

    Even though he hadn¡¯t heard her name before, there was a goddess in her name. He believed that she probably was a goddess.

    "Yes... I am a goddess," Eliena said as sheughed. Tears trickled down her cheeks even as sheughed, which created a big contract of emotions.

    "You must be really pretty. I¡¯ve never seen a goddess, but I heard they are heavenly beauties. You must be one too, right?" Ryder asked softly.

    "Is this really the truth, though? Are goddesses prettier than humans? J can¡¯t imagine anyone being prettier than some of the girls I know. I highly doubt that" he continued without even waiting for an answer.

    "You didn¡¯t see a goddess?" Eliena asked softly.

    "How would I? I¡¯m not a god. Aren¡¯t only gods supposed to see other gods since they live in heaven? What could someone like me see?" Ryder answered as he sighed.

    "I¡¯m just a man who kept being annoyed by Janus," he continued.

    Eliena gazed at Janus at the response to Ryder¡¯s words. She could only see a wry smile on his face.

    "I am sure you¡¯ve been the prettiest woman in your life. No one can be prettier than the ones you have seen," Eliena answered as she remembered how Ryder was in his previous life.

    "It¡¯s so strange..." Ryder suddenly muttered.

    "What is strange?" Eliena inquired.

    "I feel like I have heard your voice before. Are you really a goddess? Or am I being pranked again?" Ryder asked curiously.

 Chapter 439 Attack of Shadows

    <h4>Chapter 439: Attack of Shadows</h4>

    "Are you really a goddess, or Am I being pranked here?" Ryder asked, wondering if Janus was messing with him. Why else would the girl¡¯s voice sound so familiar?

    "Of course, it would sound familiar. You don¡¯t remember, but there¡¯s still a part inside you that knows..." Eliena answered. Her brows arched up as a smile bloomed on her face.

    "I don¡¯t remember?" Ryder asked, wondering what she was talking about. "What don¡¯t I remember? My memory is pretty good, but I do forget people I meet once in a while. Are you really not a goddess and a person I met before?"

    The Goddess of Life and Death chuckled at Ryder¡¯s confusion. She had never seen Ryder confused in his previous life. He was always a confident guy who seemed like he had everything in control. Watching him look confused was a refreshing sight which she found hrious.

    It was only made better due to the fact that she was able to see him and his expressions through the pond.

    She walked closer to the Pond to get a closer view of Ryder.

    After sitting down on the edge of the pond, the woman started answering, "I am-"

    Beep... Beep... Beep...

    She had just started answering when she heard the beeping sound.

    "Your time is over. The connection is cut. He can¡¯t hear you now," Janus answered as he walked closer to her. He took the phone from her hand, which disappeared in his hand.

    "No, please. Give me one more minute... I¡¯ll give you ten more pills like that!" Eliena protested as she stood up eagerly. She didn¡¯t wish to stop now. She wanted to talk more with Ryder.

    "I am sorry, but I can¡¯t. I myself don¡¯t talk to him for over a minute at a time. I don¡¯t want his existence to be exposed. Talking for long will risk him. This was all the time I could give you. I had already informed you about it in advance," Janus answered, shaking his head.

    It was unclear if it was actually the truth or if he was making an excuse since his face was expressionless, making it tough to judge.

    Eliena breathed in and breathed out, trying to calm herself. A sigh escaped her lips. "You are right. I was being stupid."

    She turned back to gaze at the face of Ryder as a sad smile covered her beautiful face, making her seem more mncholic.

    "I am happy that he is alive. Even if he doesn¡¯t remember. I¡¯m also d to know that he is still the same person from inside. He didn¡¯t forget my voice even after reincarnation," the Goddess of Life and Death muttered as she sighed.

    ...

    Janus didn¡¯t say anything and simply closed her eyes.

    "Hello? Hello? Hmm?" Ryder kept wondering why he couldn¡¯t hear the voice anymore. He gazed at the screen of the Deity Phone.

    "Oh, a minute is over... It was not bad to talk to her, though. Too bad the call got disconnected just when she was about to tell me about Janus¡¯ prank and who she is," he let out as he realized the reason behind disconnection. The warning already said that he could only talk for a minute.

    [Mission Completed]

    [Life Pill received]

    "Good. Let¡¯s see what this thing is..." Ryder alluded as he opened his inventory. He could see a green pill in one of the slots.

    Tap!

    After tapping on the pill, he noticed two options bing avable.

    [Life Pill]

    [Withdraw] [Details]

    He didn¡¯t wish to bring it out and only to see its details, so he tapped on the details.

    [Name: Life Pill]

    [Description: A magical pill created by the Goddess of Life and Death with her essence. It is said to be a godly item that can even bring the dead back to life once ced inside their mouth]

    [Item Grade: God Grade]

    [Item Type: One-time Consumable Item]

    [Usage: Once ced inside the mouth of the dead person, it will bring that person back to life]

    [Warning: Only effective if ced inside the mouth of the dead person within 5 minutes of their death]

    [Limitation: A headless body won¡¯t be revived]

    [Limitation: Can only be used on humans]

    "Interesting item. So it¡¯s like one added life. Honestly, I can¡¯t use it on myself since I¡¯ll be revived anyway. My healing is pretty good, and my time travel also kicks in unintentionally if I run out of my healing chances and die. So it¡¯s of no use to me, but I can help someone close to me if I ever need it. Not a bad item indeed," He admitted.

    "I didn¡¯t find anyone here. Not even any beasts are nearby. It¡¯s strange."

    Rale came back to Ryder, informing him about hisck of findings.

    "As I said, there is no one here. It¡¯s either an ident or a spirit. Just be careful," Ryder said as he ced his hand on the trunk of the tree and stood up.

    "Let¡¯s be on our way. The faster we finish, the better it¡¯ll be for us," he let out as he resumed the trip to find prey.

    After walking for over close to half an hour, they finally found a beast that was fit to be a prey.

    It was a bear that had an Armor on its chest.

    Using All-Seer, Ryder found out the name of the bear and its level.

    "There is one. It¡¯s a level 170 Stone Armored Bear. I¡¯ll get its HP down. You stay ready to attack!" He informed the Diamond Tiger Beast before he flew straight ahead towards the Bear.

    Ryder had only flown for a second when he sensed something. He could see a shadow moving from the bushes towards the Diamond Tiger Beast. Its speed was so fast that Ryder could only see a blurry shadow that was moving like lightning.

    "Another beast is here! Rale, watch out!" Ryder yelled to warn Rale, but Rale had already noticed the shadow.

    Rale flew towards the shadow instead as he bawled up a fist to punch the shadow when he got in its close proximity.

    Ryder had also stopped as he focused more on the shadow, ignoring the bear.

    Rar!

    Ryder¡¯s Shout had attracted the attention of the bear as well, who started running towards Ryder with a loud roar of his own.

    Ryder took his nce off of the shadow for a brief second as he raised his hand towards the Stone-Armored Bear.

    "Shadow Ball!" He said softly. A ck ball of shadow appeared before his palm, which shot out straight towards the Stone Armored Bear.

    The shadow ball hit the chest of the Stone Armored Bear, breaking his strong looking armor while leaving a wound behind; however, the Armor had taken most of the blow. Thus the near wasn¡¯t harmed much.

    The bear couldn¡¯t prevent himself from being pushed back because of the impact, though.

    "Raawrrr!" It roared wildly, seeming to be even more enraged.

    "me st!"

    Without giving it another chance, Ryder used another elemental attack, spending his mana.

    A ball of raging hot me appeared near his hand, which shot straight towards the Stone Armored Bear.

    It was a properly nned attack. The Shadow Ball to break the Armor and the me st to blow up the bear who didn¡¯t have the protection of the Armor to end the beast fast without wasting much time.

    The me ballnded on the chest of the Bear. It blew up into a big cloud of mes as soon as it touched the chest of the near. The cloud of mes covered the bear, his fur catching on fire.

    Raaaa!

    The bear roared in pain as its Hp started sinking like it was a ss of water which was being drunk from by a thirsty person.

    Ryder didn¡¯t even waste time watching the near after the attack since he was certain that the bear wouldn¡¯te for him. It didn¡¯t even take a few seconds before the Bear died.

    Ryder gained the entire experience since he was the only person who had attacked.

    [Level up]

    The level gain notification resounded in his head, which was effectively ignored by him as he focused on Rale.

    Rale reached the shadow and punched out with all his strength. Just as Rale¡¯s fist reached near the shadow, the shadow disappeared if it appeared behind Rale and continued speeding towards the Diamond Tiger Beast.

    "Heck, it¡¯s targeting the little guy," Ryder let out, stunned.

    He also flew towards the Diamond Tiger Beast.

    Ryder reached near the Diamond Tiger Beast a few moments before the shadow could.

    He pulled out the knife from his pants. The knife started changing shape and took the shape of a scythe. It was none other than the Moon-scythe, which he was carrying as a knife since it was easy to carry that way because of its shape changing abilities.

    As the Moon Scythe returned to its original position, Ryder swung it towards the shadow that had reached dangerously close to them.

 Chapter 440 Contract

    <h4>Chapter 440: Contract</h4>

    Ryder appeared before the Diamond Tiger Beast between him and the shadow before he swung his Scythe in haste towards the shadow.

    Seeing the scytheing towards it, the shadow stopped as it retreated. Rale came from behind the shadow, which was retreating, and attacked it from behind as well.

    Seeing the attacking from both sides, the shadow dispersed, disappearing entirely.

    "Where is it?" Ryder asked Rale as he noticed the shadow disappear. He looked around but didn¡¯t find the shadow.

    Rale also looked around, failing to find the shadow nearby.

    "It looks like it left," Rale answered as he frowned.

    "Just what was that thing? I couldn¡¯t even see what it was. Did you manage to get a good look?" Ryder inquired.

    "I also didn¡¯t see what it was, unfortunately," Rale answered, shaking his head.

    "Its speed was fast, but its strength is still shrouded in mystery since we couldn¡¯t even though it. I do have a feeling that it was stronger than the Stone-Armored Bear, though. Maybe a level 200 beast or above," Ryder assumed as he took onest nce around.

    "Should we go back? It doesn¡¯t seem to be safe here for you since the beast can hide so well," Rale suggested, trying to take Ryder back to safety.

    He was sure that he could protect himself and Ryder, but he didn¡¯t wish to ce Ryder¡¯s security in his assumption when the enemy was someone he had no idea about.

    " There¡¯s no need; I should be-"

    Ryder was about to refuse when he heard the noise of the Diamond Tiger Beast.

    He and Rale gazed at the Diamond Tiger Beast, who seemed to be looking upwards.

    Both of them looked up to see what he was watching, only to find the shadow above them, speeding down towards them.

    "It can fly?" Ryder wondered, but he didn¡¯t let his shock overwhelm him.

    He had seen that the Shadow could dodge physical attacks, but he still had more attacks to test.

    He opened his fist as he aimed his palm towards the shadow that wasing down towards them.

    "me st!"

    He shot out a ball of fire towards the shadow. Rale also did the same thing as he fired a me ball, but his sphere of me seemed to be many times bigger than Ryder¡¯s me ball.

    In fact, Ryder¡¯s me ball seemed like a kid before Rale¡¯s attack. It was not only smaller but slower as well.

    Even though Ryder had attacked first, Rale¡¯s ming sphere caught up to his attack and even shot past it.

    The shadow seemed to be one step ahead again as it dispersed again.

    "Not again!" Ryder let out in frustration as he saw the shadow use the same move again that it had used before.

    He felt the need to find the shadow again, but it didn¡¯t take long as he felt a presence behind his back.

    Without thinking for a second, he swung his Moon Scythe behind, which had changed into a sword to cover more area with the de.

    Turning the bnce of his body, he swung his hand with the Sword, only to see the shadow right beside his hand.

    The shadow had managed to close in on him. The de of the sword couldn¡¯t touch it even if he hit the shadow as the shadow was near the hilt and his forearm.

    Seeing the sword bing useless, Ryder changed the sword to a knife which he easily controlled. Controlling the motion of the knife, he thrust it towards his chest where the shadow wasing.

    The shadow changed its direction and stopped targeting Ryder¡¯s chest; instead, it moved towards his left hand, biting it.

    The knife touched the shadow immediately after his flesh was bitten; however, the shadow once again dispersed.

    "Fricking hell! This sneaky bastard!" Ryder cursed as he watched his hand bleeding.

    He gazed at his hand and noticed something strange. A ck line had appeared on his forearm that seemed to be made of ck ink.

    The ck line seemed to be moving as if a tattoo was being drawn on his hand by a mysterious artist. Ryder didn¡¯t feel any pain as it happened.

    "Is it poison? No, my healing should have been activated if it was poison. It doesn¡¯t seem to be harmful. What is it, though? Just what was the shadow?" He wondered as he squinted his eyes.

    "Strange... I am harmed, but I didn¡¯t lose even the slightest of HP either?" He wondered.

    He gazed at Rale and thought for a little while.

    "Rale, n change. Let¡¯s go back. This beast is not something I wish to face right now..." He said, shaking his head. " We should find another hunting ground next time. Till then, you try to find out everything you could about a beast with simr properties to this one."

    He agreed to go back since it was a waste of time. They couldn¡¯t fight a beast that could disappear like this and appear again. It was still good when it attacked like this when they were free, but if they were attacked when they were busy fighting other beasts, it could be worse. He didn¡¯t wish to suffer because of overconfidence.

    "Agreed," Rale nodded his head.

    Ryder kept the Diamond Tiger Beast back before he caught the hand of Rale.

    Both of them started flying back towards the Pce.

    "So this was the n of Asteria. He was jealous and wanted to kill the Little tiger, but he changed his n after seeing it being protected so seriously..." Janus mumbled as he watched Ryder leave.

    "Not only that, but he also left that mark. Once again, the contract has been established between the two. It reminds me of the old times," he let out as he smiled wryly.

    "Yeah... Last time seemed to be the same as well. But that was when your brother was the one who wished to establish the contract. He beat up Asteria ck and blue and only left him after he received the contract. I remember watching that... It was funny," Eliena let out as she smiled.

    She could see the tattoo being carved on Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "This time, it¡¯s the reverse. Asteria established the contract on his own," Janus pointed out.

    "Yeah. I guess I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about him being found out by other gods since he will live inside the tattoo in your brother¡¯s arm now. Your brother doesn¡¯t have his divine powers and memories, so he won¡¯t get caught either. They have you to keep an eye on them either. I can be free of worries," Eliena answered as she smiled.

    "Are you jealous?" Janus asked softly.

    "Jealous of who?" Eliena inquired, seemingly confused.

    "You know who..." Janus answered vaguely.

    The goddess of Life and Death seemingly understood Janus¡¯ words, but she ignored him.

    Instead, she changed the topic, "Your brother seemed like a different person altogether. Reincarnation and growing up in a new environment can change a person so much. It¡¯s fascinating."

    "What do you mean?" It was Janus¡¯ turn to be confused now.

    "Your brother... He is thinking with his brain now. How easily he decided to retreat now, it¡¯s good. If it was the old him, he would have died but wouldn¡¯t leave. If it were the current him when I came to inform him about the uing war, he would have left, and so many people wouldn¡¯t have died," Eliena answered, sighing.

    "That¡¯s true. Simrly, if he had his old memories, he would never leave this forest. He would have burnt this whole forest to ashes to kill the shadow," Janus let out as he chuckled. Hisugh was contagious and sounded more like an evil cackle than an expression of amusement.

    ...

    Eliena watched Janus nkly as she rolled her eyes. She found no words to respond.

    "So, what¡¯s your n. What are you going to do to him?" She asked. "He is not a mortal, I believe. Even if he has reincarnated, one day, he might get his memories back. That¡¯s how Divinity of us gods work. It can be dyed, but his Divine Powers will find him in the end," Eliena expressed her concern.

    "It¡¯s not a question of if but a question of when and how. What is your n for that day?" She asked.

    "I know that the day is inevitable. That¡¯s why I¡¯m making sure that all the pieces will be at the right ce when that happens. It will be a return that the universe will remember for eons toe. Something that will change the entire world and mold it differently," Janus answered softly.

    "Is this your wish or his?" Eliena asked.

    "It¡¯s... Our wish!" Janus answered with an expressionless face.

    "What do you want from me? I wish to help him, but I won¡¯t do anything that¡¯s against my consciousness. You should remember how I am," Eliena informed Janus.

    "I know. That¡¯s why I won¡¯t ask you for much. I only need you to do one thing. That is all..." Janus replied.

 Chapter 441 Bluffing

    <h4>Chapter 441: Bluffing</h4>

    "What is the one thing that you want me to do? As long as it¡¯s not something bad, I¡¯m willing to help for old time¡¯s sake," The Goddess of Life and Death answered.

    "Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s not anything bad. It¡¯s just something to do with the God of Time and the God of Space," Janus replied.

    "The two guys who were his friends but stood against him? Are you going to scheme against them?" Eliena asked, getting cautious. She wasn¡¯t going to betray her fellow gods if that was what Janus wanted. It was against her consciousness and certainly something she couldn¡¯t do.

    Janus didn¡¯t answer. Instead, he gazed in the pond, which had returned to showing two fishes that were circling each other.

    "Why do you even want to involve them in it? I know they stood against him, but it¡¯s been so long. They have already stopped involving themselves with other stuff after that day, instead opting for staying in a separate realm, far away from others, not leaving even once," the goddess of Life and Death told Janus strongly.

    "What they did and what it led to had a strong impact on them as well. Can you not involve them in your business? If you did and they found out, we would be forced into another useless war," she continued.

    "Stop theorizing. I only said that my request is rted to them, and you already started dreaming of doom. Don¡¯t worry... I have somemon sense as well. They are too strong. The farther I keep him from them is the best. If they find out about him, things won¡¯t end like they didst time," Janus answered softly.

    The Goddess of Life and Death breathed out a sigh of relief as she heard Janus¡¯ confirmation that he wasn¡¯t going to do what she thought he would.

    She asked, "Then what do you want?"

    She seemed calmer now. Whatever he wanted couldn¡¯t be that bad since it was just like he had said. He wasn¡¯t an idiot. He wouldn¡¯t do things that would put them in jeopardy.

    Janus stopped looking at the pond, instead gazing in the deep eyes of the Goddess of Life and Death.

    He snapped his fingers once again. Everything around them turned grey.

    "It¡¯s your ce. You don¡¯t have to cast your Domain since no one was going to be able toe here without your permission anyway," Janus answered softly.

    Janus didn¡¯tment on her words. Instead, he started answering her other question.

    Janus told the Goddess of Life and Death what he wanted, exceptionally slowly. He wanted to make sure that she heard each of his words clearly.

    The Goddess of Life and Death had vivid expressions as she heard Janus¡¯ words. She seemed to be getting more shocked the more she heard. Each of Janus¡¯ words seemed like a hammer that was striking against her ears.

    Janus finished his exnation before he turned back and walked closer to the sun and moon fish in the pond, gazing at their shining selves.

    The Goddess of Life and Death stood stunned, unable to collect herself together for quite some time. It was only after a long time that she was finally able to get her thoughts together

    She opened her mouth after quite some time, only to scold Janus. "Did you gopletely insane?" She asked

    "No. I didn¡¯t go crazy. Why do you say so? I told you to do nothing that could be against your conscience," Janus answered, rolling his eyes.

    Janus¡¯ words once again stunned her since he was right. This was not something that was against her morals but still, how could she do this? She didn¡¯t understand.

    "You are right but still! This... This..." She tried to say something, but she failed to find excuses to give while finishing her sentence.

    "Don¡¯t stress yourself. You are the only one who can do it, and I¡¯m sure you will. Just think of it as a return for him helping you in hisst days here," Janus answered, seeing what she was trying to do.

    If she was going to do this, Janus wasn¡¯t going to stay back either. He was going to y his ultimate card in this situation¡ª emotional ckmail.

    "Help in thest days here? What do you mean?" The goddess of Life and Death asked, confused.

    "You still don¡¯t know, do you? How my brother saved you," Janus answered as he sighed.

    "What do you mean?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked.

    "Who was the one that was really responsible for getting all gods against my brother? Who is the main reason behind this all?" Janus asked.

    "It... Was the Goddess of Destiny," The Goddess of Life and Death asked Janus.

    ¡¯Exactly. You weren¡¯t part of thest great war, but I¡¯m sure you saw it in its entirety, didn¡¯t you?" Janus inquired again.

    "You¡¯re right. I saw it," the Goddess of Life and Death answered, nodding her head.

    Thest moment of my brother, do you remember the two people that were in the range of his attacks?" Janus asked.

    "This..."

    The Goddess of Life and Death tried to remember about what she saw. It was still deeply etched in her memories, so it didn¡¯t take her long.

    "What! Howe I didn¡¯t realize it before? The two people in the range of his attacks were the God of Light and the Goddess of Destiny!" She answered.

    Janus nodded his head, subtly. "Exactly. Why did he not kill the Goddess of Destiny then? The woman was one of the main people responsible for getting people against him, wasn¡¯t she?" Janus asked softly.

    "Because he was in rage? He wasn¡¯t thinking clearly?" The Goddess of Life and Death theorized.

    "Hah, you know my brother. Did you really thought he would lose his senses with just that much?" Janus rolled his eyes as if he couldn¡¯t even believe she was saying such things.

    "You¡¯re right. He wouldn¡¯t. Maybe it was because he hated the God of Light more since he used to be a friend and then stood against him?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked, finding it difficult to find a good reason. She was just finding anything she could to make sense.

    " Then he would have killed the God of Space first. He had many opportunities to do that, didn¡¯t he? If he really wanted to kill the three, no power in this world could save them. Instead, he killed the gods that came before him, not prioritizing anyone," Janus said.

    His tone was not too loud or too low, but it was crystal clear. He continued, "It was only in thest moment when he had a choice, and he selected his long-time friend instead of the main enemy. Why?"

    "Why?" The Goddess of Life and Death also asked this question again. She had given up.

    A world-epassing sigh escaped the lips of Janus as he inclined his head a little, gazing towards the sky.

    "It was because of you," he answered.

    "Because of me? How?"

    "You want to know? It¡¯s something that you never knew. How he was fighting for you until thest moment," Janus answered in a mncholic tone as if he was finding it extremely sad.

    "How! Tell me what he did!" The Goddess of Life and Death asked as her heart started beating faster. It was as if her heart was going to jump out of her chest.

    Did Ryder actually do something for her at thest moment? What did he do? She couldn¡¯t be at peace without knowing.

    "You really want to know?" Janus asked.

    "Yes! Tell me!" Eliena said impatiently.

    "Why should I? If you can¡¯t even do what I asked you for him, then you don¡¯t deserve to know what he did for you. It¡¯s better you stay ignorant." Janus let out, shaking his head lightly

    "You, Janus, don¡¯t keep me in the dark! Tell me what he did! I¡¯ll do what you ask! I can do anything for him. Just tell me what he did!" Eliena said, seemingly angry that he wasn¡¯t telling her such an important thing.

    "You will do what I asked?" Janus inquired softly.

    "I will! Now tell me!" Eliena agreed.

    "Fine. First, prove that you can. I will tell you everything after you finish it. I will also tell you hisst words that he had told me to tell you. I kept them a secret until now as well. Since he lost his memories, I¡¯m the only one who knows. You want to know these two things, do what I asked," Janus answered. His face was expressionless, not letting out his expressions.

    It was impossible to know if he was telling the truth or bluffing.

    "You are lying to make me do your bid!" Eliena let out.

    "You can think what you want. If you want the answer, you¡¯ll do what I asked. If you don¡¯t want to, you can consider it a lie," Janus answered.

 Chapter 442 Gift from an old friend

    <h4>Chapter 442: Gift from an old friend</h4>

    "Fine. I will do as you asked, but if it turned out to be a lie, you would regret lying to me," The Goddess of Life and Death let out as she finally agreed to the terms of Janus.

    She really wanted to know what Ryder had done for her in hisst moments and what hisst words for her were. She chose to trust Janus¡¯ words that he wasn¡¯t lying to her.

    "Good. I wish you all the sess. Your sess will be our sess after all," Janus muttered before he snapped his fingers again. The grey surrounding returned to normal, bing colorful once again. He retracted his Domain, making it dormant again.

    Eliena turned back and disappeared from Janus¡¯ sight.

    Janus gazed at the empty spot with a thoughtful look on his face before he shook his head.

    Ryder had left the Dark forest with the intention of reaching the ce; however, mid-way, Rale informed him about another beast forest at some distance from their location.

    Since there was still some time left before it was going to be time to leave, Ryder agreed to be taken to the forest.

    Rale changed direction and took Ryder to another hunting ground.

    Ryder and Rale spent the next few hours hunting in this new ce. It passed without any trouble, unlikest time. This ce seemed much better as well since it didn¡¯t seem like someone was keeping an eye on them anymore.

    Ryder was so immersed in hunting; he didn¡¯t notice the changes that were taking ce on his hand.

    The ck ink inside his skin seemed to be spreading slowly. It was also getting much lighter.

    Ryder and Rale left the forest when it was close to night time. Rale took Ryder back to the Royal Pce. Both Ryder and the Diamond Tiger Beast were stronger now that they hade back after their experience grinding.

    Even though it was a short three hours, Ryder still managed to grow a lot since the second hunting ground was much better. They didn¡¯t have any tough time finding beasts. Instead, it seemed as if the beasts wereing to them to die rather.

    Ryder stepped inside the great hall where he met the person he had sent to call all the High Dukes here.

    "Did you inform them all about the meeting tomorrow?" Ryder inquired casually as he sat on the throne.

    "Yes, Your Highness. I have informed all four of them personally," Dale answered.

    "All four personally? You mean High Duke Oris is back?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    He had heard that High Duke Oris was out. He thought that he would be informed indirectly but informing him personally meant that he was back.

    "Yes, Your Highness. He had juste back a few minutes before I reached there. In fact, he wasing here to meet you with the new Marquis candidate. After I informed him about the meeting tomorrow, he decided to do all things tomorrow and not to disturb you," Dale answered.

    "Marquis Candidate? What¡¯s it about?" Ryder inquired, seemingly confused. He shifted his focus from Dale, who was on one knee before him, to Rale, who stood beside him.

    "He must be the new Marquis Candidate from Duke Devilia¡¯s duchy that needs your approval to be official Marquis. Ah, right. The marquis was dead there. So that¡¯s what it¡¯s about. I remember Miku mentioning something about this to me.

    "It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t have much knowledge about this anyway. Since High Duke Oris selected the candidate, it must be right. I don¡¯t have to think much anyway," Ryder muttered as he shook his head. "I¡¯m not the emperor yet, after all."

    ¡¯This reminds me... I need to finish the Kingship Trials to be the Emperor. I feel confident enough to finish them now. I also need to go to the Death Domain to finish Rale¡¯s Quest and get the next fragment. I should arrange for that as well. Since it¡¯s an official trial, I don¡¯t have to sneak inside there like I have been doing. It¡¯s better as well,¡¯ he suddenly thought.

    As a Prince, he still had a few limitations andcked certain authorities, like leaving the Demon Realm openly or the authority to wage war. After he finished the trial, he was going to be an absolute ruler. The entire Demon Realm was going to be his personal army in that case, and he was going to be the sole ruler of Divinity. He wouldn¡¯t need to be worried about anything in that case.

    It was still a n, though. Firstly, he needed to swiftly deal with the problem of missing guards and maids. If he couldn¡¯t handle it properly, let alone bing the Emperor, he wouldn¡¯t even be allowed to remain as Prince. He knew where to ce his priorities.

    "Good. Since everything is set, you can go rest," he told Dale before he departed with Rale.

    Rale thought that he was escorting Ryder to his room, but he soon realized that they seemed to be going in a different direction.

    Seeing Rale following him with confusion, Ryder said, "Rale, you don¡¯t have to follow me. You can go rest as well. I just want to see Miyali and Miku onest time before I go back to sleep."

    "Oh, That¡¯s where we are going. It¡¯s fine. I should still escort you until you¡¯re back in your room safely," Rale replied, understanding where they were going.

    The two of them soon found Miku and Miyali. They were in the kitchen where Miku seemed to be teaching something to Miyali.

    The two of them seemed to be talking more cordially.

    Rale was about to step inside the kitchen to inform them of Ryder¡¯s arrival, but Ryder reached out his hand, stopping Rale.

    He ced his hand on Rale¡¯s cheat, stopping him before he shook his head.

    He silently turned back and started walking back. Rale also did the same, understanding that Ryder didn¡¯t wish to disturb them. It seemed as if Ryder was only here to see if the two were handling things fine after all that happened previously and not to talk to them. Now that he had seen them, he could go back.

    Ryder was escorted back to his room, and after making sure that he was inside, Rale finally left.

    "He is too stern in his duties," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly while sitting on the bed.

    He opened the logout screen and logged out of Divinity.

    After taking off his sses, he sat up. He walked to the bathroom and turned on the tap before filling water in his hand and sshing on his face a few times. After drying his face using a towel, he was about to step out of the bathroom, but as he moved the towel aside, he noticed his forearm that was covered in what seemed like a ck tattoo.

    "Heck, this thing followed me in real life? How is this possible? My Digital Avatar should have been the one affected. Why is it in my real hand as well?!" He eximed with an incredulous look on his face.

    The tattoo also looked less like a random ssh of ck ink likest time. Instead, it seemed like a proper tattoo of a creature.

    It was still only a ck shape with no other color, but this shape certainly seemed like a dragon that he had seen in fantasy books. The Dragon had phoenix-like wings, but as the ink waspletely ck, the wings also seemed ck however light ck color was around the wings, making it seem as if the wings were burning in ck mes at the moment.

    His entire forearm was covered in the tattoo.

    Ryder again turned on the tap before he ced his forearm under the water. After wetting his arm, he started running soap on the ck tattoo with as much strength as he could, trying to clean it. His arm was covered in foam, but he kept rubbing for longer. It was only after a long and hard rubbing that he ced his forearm under the water avability to rinse it.

    As the soap and the foam was cleaned up, a clean arm was revealed before Ryder¡¯s eyes; however, that tattoo was still there.

    "Janus! What the heck is this! You must know what it is! Why is it in my arm! Tell me if you¡¯re messing with me at least," Ryder called out after seeing that it wasn¡¯t something that could be cleaned. It was certainly outside the realm of possibility unless someone came here and tattooed it in his arm when he was in Divinity.

    It seemed to be more on the side of Janus¡¯ expertise since it was the supernatural stuff.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply to him even after his call.

    "I know you can hear me. Stop ignoring me. What is it?" Ryder asked again.

    [It¡¯s a gift from an old friend]

    After the second call-out, Janus finally answered.

 Chapter 443 Merger

    <h4>Chapter 443: Merger</h4>

    "A gift from an old friend?" Ryder muttered in confusion. What did Janus mean?

    "Which friend? Are you talking about yourself? Don¡¯t joke around. This tattoo looks strange on my hand. I look like a gangster. Remove it right now," he said straight away.

    [I can¡¯t remove it. Ask that old friend yourself]

    "I am asking you! If it¡¯s not you, tell me who did it so I can beat the crap out of him for making this!" Ryder replied in annoyance.

    He wished to get it removed from his hand as fast as he could.

    Janus stopped replying to Ryder at this point. Ryder kept asking again and again, but Janus didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Fine. Don¡¯t answer. Keep your mouth shut and ignore me. Just remember, I¡¯ll ignore you too one day," he let out as he rolled his eyes before he stepped out of the bathroom.

    He gazed at his hand onest time before he wore a full sleeves t-shirt and covered his forearm.

    He stepped out of the room and met up with Alice, who was waiting outside for him already. Alice seemed to be long ready to leave.

    "You¡¯re finally out. If you still hadn¡¯te, I would have woken you up myself," Alice¡¯s eyes lit up as she saw Ryder outside.

    She caught his hand and dragged him outside the room without giving him a chance even to speak.

    "Why are you in such a hurry?" Ryder asked Alice as he got dragged by her.

    "We are going to bete!" Alice replied.

    "Late for what?" Ryder asked, still not understanding what it was about.

    "I don¡¯t seem to have any appointments or reservations. Weren¡¯t we just going to roam around the city?" He inquired.

    "n change. I saw an offer online and took it. It gave us the booking of the entire day on the cheap," Alice let out.

    "A booking of where?" Ryder asked.

    "DiskeyLand. It is an offer that provided us with a limo to pick up and drop at that ce. There are also more services included. I wanted to ask you, but the offer was going to expire in ten minutes, and you were sleeping at that time, so I did it myself," Alice told Ryder. "The Limo is already outside."

    "Did I make a mistake?" She asked. "I can cancel it if you have another n decided. The cancetion charges are only two percent."

    "It¡¯s fine. There¡¯s no need to cancel," Ryder replied as he sighed.

    He entered the lift with Alice, which went down. They left the hotel only to find a long ck car waiting outside for them.

    They confirmed with the driver if the car was here for them before they stepped inside the car.

    The car took them to DiskeyLand and dropped them at the entrance with the VIP tickets.

    The tickets gave them an even faster entry inside the venue.

    They stepped inside the ce only to be greeted by the mascot of that ce, who seemed to be a humanoid cat in coat and pant.

    "Look, Dickey Cat! Such a ssic! It was such a funny cartoon when it used toe on tv."

    Alice pointed out excitedly, but Ryder¡¯s mind seemed to be in a different ce altogether. He had once again tried calling Shu, but the number was out of reach again. Something didn¡¯t seem right.

    Not only was Shu¡¯s number out of reach for a long time, but he didn¡¯t get any call from Shu either. He could be busy at work but not for so long. And how could his phone be out of reach for so long?

    Something didn¡¯t make sense.

    He went online and tried to find the service number of Dream Corporation. Since Shu¡¯s number was out of reach, he was going to try calling them directly.

    "Is something wrong?" Alice saw the seriousness on Ryder¡¯s face. He seemed to be thinking about something else entirely. Let alone enjoying this ce, he seemed to be more serious instead.

    "It¡¯s nothing. I need to make a quick call. How about getting an ice-cream for yourself. I¡¯ll join you soon," Ryder said as he pointed towards an ice-cream shop.

    Alice nodded her head and left to get ice cream while giving him privacy to deal with whatever matters he had.

    After Alice left, Ryder called the reception of Dream Corporation Headquarters.

    "Hello, Dream Corporation. How may I help you?"

    A female voice answered Ryder¡¯s call.

    "Hello, I am Ryder Flynn. I need to talk to Schumacher Maxwell. His phone is out of reach. Can you transfer the call to him? Just tell him my name. He will confirm my identity," Ryder told the woman.

    "Mr. Maxwell? I am sorry, sir, but he isn¡¯t here. He left a few days ago after the meeting," The woman answered Ryder.

    "Hmm? He left? So he isn¡¯t working there? Did he go home or to some other business meeting?" Ryder asked.

    "I am sorry, but I can¡¯t answer that. I have no information about his whereabouts," the woman answered.

    "Alright. Thanks," Ryder let out softly before he disconnected the call.

    Ryder ced his phone in his pocket as he fell in deep thought. Strange he left the office, but he didn¡¯t call me. He isn¡¯t even back home since I recently talked to the mansion guards regarding it. Just where is he?" He let out with concern evident on his face

    He was still lost in thought when an ice-cream appeared before him, held by a beautiful hand.

    "Here, I brought one for you too," Alice told Ryder as she gave him the ice cream.

    "Thanks," Ryder thanked Alice as he took the ice cream.

    "May I know what¡¯s troubling you? I may not be able to help, but sharing always helps in times like this," Alice alluded to Ryder lightly.

    She didn¡¯t wish to force him to tell her, but she did wish to express that she was here to listen if he wished to talk.

    "It¡¯s about Shu. I don¡¯t know where he is. His whereabouts are unknown. The office said that he left days ago. The mansion guards say that he isn¡¯t back yet. His number is out of reach as well. The number of his butler is off as well. Something doesn¡¯t seem right," Ryder let out.

    "I am worried for him," he expressed.

    "How long are we going to keep his death a secret?"

    "Just a little longer. If we let this information out now, the share prices will fall like a rock from a cliff. Let us take some precautions first to protect the Dream Corporation against those variables. We need to treat this thing carefully."

    "Sigh, what can we even do? We can¡¯t save the shares. The mysterious Shu Maxwell is seen as the core of thispany. With his death, the Maxwell bloodline is over as well. Trust of people will certainly fall, but we cane above it."

    " No, I have a better idea. Only we know that Shu Maxwell died in a helicopter crash. A few people in the police and first responders know, but we already paid them money to keep silent. The people don¡¯t know, and we must keep it that way."

    "How is that even possible? Shu Maxwell is the one who deals with the government on important matters. His absence will certainly arouse suspicions."

    "No, it won¡¯t."

    "Why not?"

    In an adequately lit up room, the top board members of the Dream Corporation were talking amongst themselves. They had all found out about Shu¡¯s death, but it wasn¡¯t leaked outside thepany yet. If it were out, all media outlets would be covering it by now.

    "Because Shu Maxwell¡¯s death will be announced. I¡¯m not saying that we never need to announce it. All I¡¯m saying is to wait for a few days."

    "What will happen in a few days?"

    "I am working on a deal with Necrosis Corporation. Once the deal is finalized at our current valuation, we can let the news about his death out. The information about the merger will protect our shares from the fall. We would also retain our position while earning lots of money from this merger. It¡¯s a win-win situation for us."

    "You were working on this deal; why didn¡¯t you tell us?"

    " I didn¡¯t want to tell something that had no possibility of happening. I just tried it after finding out about Shu¡¯s death. Fortunately, it worked, and I got a positive response."

    "Why are we dealing with Necrosis Corporation and not other big organizations instead? Wouldn¡¯t that be better?"

    "Necrosis has the best reputation at the moment, so it¡¯s better for us. Secondly, they are closest to the government as well at the moment. So we wouldn¡¯t have any problem with the merger. If we try to merge with others, we will face lots of problems from regtors. There are no problems with Necrosis."

    "Fine... You can deal with these matters. How long will it take to finalize the deal and to inform us of the conditions?"

    "Give me two days only."

 Chapter 444 Going In

    <h4>Chapter 444: Going In</h4>

    "So you can¡¯t contact him at all?" Alice asked Ryder, talking about Shu.

    "I can¡¯t. It¡¯s like he has gone underground. It¡¯s either that, or he is avoiding me," Ryder replied. This also gave him a thought. Could it be that his number was blocked? That could be why his calls weren¡¯t getting connected.

    Even though it was an unlikely case, he still needed to make sure.

    Just to make sure that this wasn¡¯t true, he told Alice to call herself. "Can you try calling from your phone? Maybe it¡¯s a problem with my number."

    "Alright." Alice nodded her head, intending to try.

    Shu was like a brother to her. She was also concerned about him and wished to help in any way or shape she could.

    She dialed Shu¡¯s number.

    After a moment of silence, she also shook her head lightly. "It¡¯s not getting connected. His number is out of reach."

    "Just where the heck did he go. He said it was going to be a one-day thing, but it¡¯s been way longer. Not only did he not go back home, but he isn¡¯t avable to contact either,"

    He took a deep breath and tried to calm his mind, which was filled with bad thoughts about what could be happening.

    Even after trying, he wasn¡¯t able to calm down. The negative thoughts were only increasing in his head. Could it be that something happened to Shu?

    With so much in his head, he couldn¡¯t rx.

    "Alice, I think I need to go to his headquarters myself and check things out. I can¡¯t calm down without knowing what is happening."

    "Right. His safety is more important. Let mee with you," Alice chimed in.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. I¡¯m only going to talk to those people. I should be enough for that. As for you, how about you travel this ce without me for now?" Ryder replied, rejecting her offer.

    "How can I do it alone. It¡¯s not important. I only wanted toe here with you. We cane again next time when we are sure that brother Shu is safe. If you don¡¯t want to take me with you, that¡¯s fine as well. I can just wait in the hotel," Alice refused to stay behind as well.

    "You don¡¯t have to do that. Just see all the rides, so you know which are better ones. Next time wee, you can show me around as well. Also, you paid for both of us. Don¡¯t waste money," Ryder let out as he chuckled. He patted her head.

    "Don¡¯t worry. He must have gone to some other meeting that low-ranking receptionists don¡¯t know about. That ce must not have a good reception. It¡¯s nothing serious..don¡¯t stress yourself and see this ce to its fullest," Heforted her as he yed things down.

    "Go on all the rides and send me pics. If I saw you beingzy, I wouldn¡¯te here with you next time," he let out.

    "But..."

    "No buts! I don¡¯t want to hear any excuses," Ryder let out as he saw Alice trying to refuse.

    "Now I¡¯m bailing out. Have fun. Call me if you face any problems. I¡¯ll be right here! Bye now."

    He finished hastily before he ran away, not giving her the chance to give an excuse.

    "Sigh, he is always like that," Alice muttered as she watched Ryder run away. She wanted to leave as well, but his words echoed in her head. If she left without spending the day here, he was going to be annoyed. He would nevere back here with her then. She couldn¡¯t go back if she wished toe here with him.

    She breathed in a mouthful of breath before she breathed out with a sigh. She turned back and started walking inside the facility.

    Ryder stepped out of the ce and booked a cab that was supposed to take him to the headquarters of the Dream Corporation, which was also in this city, along with the headquarters of many other top organizations.

    The headquarters of the Dream Corporation was in a block of the city which was called the Dream Park, named after the Dream Corporation.

    Dream Corporation owned three multistorey buildings in the Dream Park. The rest of the area contained other assets like trees and recreational spaces where the employees could rx. There were many restaurants that were allowed to operate in the Dream Park as well.

    The cab stopped in front of one such restaurant. Ryder stepped out of the cab and paid the driver.

    Ryder stood on the street and saw three tall buildings in front of him. He wondered which building he was supposed to enter. He knew these three were owned by Dream Corporation, but where actually did the higher-ups stay?

    All three of these probably had an incharge, but he decided to enter the building, which seemed to be the tallest in this area.

    He climbed the stairs of the building to reach the entrance. As soon as he reached there, the door opened automatically.

    He stepped inside and the building and walked over to the receptionist.

    "Excuse me."

    "Yes, how may I help you?"

    "I am your Schumacher Maxwell¡¯s friend. He had told me toe here to meet your executives for an important deal. Are they here?" Ryder asked.

    "What is your name? Do you have an appointment?" The Receptionist inquired.

    "Did your heads don¡¯t tell you? How about you contact them? Tell them Mr. Flynn is here. They must be upstairs, right?" Ryder let out, casually.

    "Yeah. They are in a meeting. Were you supposed to be in that meeting as well? I was not informed about it," the receptionist asked.

    She was aware of a meeting that was taking ce upstairs. Ryder¡¯s excuse coincidentally matched the situation, making her believe that it was possible. She still needed to make sure before having him escorted there.

    " Do one thing. Is Alem in the meeting? Call him and tell him that I¡¯m here to talk. He will handle the rest," Ryder replied as he named Alem.

    Alem was none other than the Non Executive Director of the Defence Technology Branch of Dream Corporation. He was overall fifth in the dream corporation in terms of a hierarchy of authority.

    Excluding Shu, there were three more people more influential than him. He was the closest to Shu, though. Ryder had met him before and also taken his help. He believed that the guy would certainly be willing to talk to him.

    "Ah, he is in the meeting. I am sorry, but I really can¡¯t disturb them in meetings. I can only do that if you give me any concrete proof that you were supposed to attend that meeting as well. Since I wasn¡¯t given any other instructions, I can¡¯t help you more," the receptionist shook her head as she started typing something in herputer to check something.

    After some time, she shook her head. "As expected, your name isn¡¯t here. I¡¯m sorry, but you must wait until the meeting is over. You can¡¯t attend. I can try something if you can get someone in higher-ups to contact me to verify what you¡¯re saying."

    "It¡¯s better for you to wait, in my opinion. The meeting would be over in a few minutes anyway," she continued right when Ryder was about to try something.

    "Fine. Contact Alem after the meeting is over. I can at least talk to him," Ryder let out as he rolled his eyes. He walked back and sat on the guest sofa.

    If anyone could answer him about where Shu was, it was Alem. The only problem was that he didn¡¯t have Alem¡¯s number, but that problem was solved as well since Alem was here and he could be contacted through the desk.

    Ryder sat on the sofa like a king as he started waiting for the girl to inform him that she had contacted Alem.

    He kept observing her, trying to see when she would call and when the meeting got over.

    It was after ten minutes that he finally saw her pick up thendline and call someone.

    She said a few things before she nodded her head. She put the phone down.

    "Mr. Flynn!" She called out to Ryder.

    Ryder stood up and approached the girl.

    "Alem, Sir recognized you. He told me to bring you to him. Just wait for a few seconds. I¡¯ll arrange for someone to take you to him," the girl told Ryder before she called another number. A servant soon came to them.

    "Follow him. He will take you to Alem, Sir," the girl said to Ryder.

    Ryder followed the servant, who took him inside a lift. The lift stopped on the thirty-fifth floor where Alem¡¯s office was.

    "This is his room," the servant informed Ryder before he knocked on the door.

    "Who is it?"

    A voice came from inside.

    "Sir, I brought Mr. Flynn."

    "Oh, good. The door is open. Send him in."

 Chapter 445 No Control

    <h4>Chapter 445: No Control</h4>

    The helper opened the door but didn¡¯t step inside. He greeted Alem from outside before he gestured for Ryder to step inside.

    Ryder walked inside the room and walked over to the table of Alem.

    He reached out his hand for a handshake that was a normal custom in situations like these.

    Alem gazed at Ryder¡¯s hand, but he didn¡¯t reach out his hand.

    "Please sit," he said boringly.

    It seemed awkward as Ryder¡¯s gesture was rejected. He pulled back his hand and sat on the chair.

    ¡¯What an arrogant man. Was he always like this?¡¯ Ryder thought while observing the face of Alem.

    "So, what brought you here, Mr. Flynn," Alem asked casually. His eyes kept their focus on the screen of hisptop, not even focusing on Ryder.

    ¡¯If this guy weren¡¯t the one who had helped me before, I would be so annoyed at this ignorance. But I¡¯m giving him some leeway since he helped me before,¡¯ Ryder thought as he ignored the negligence.

    "I am here to talk about Shu. He left the mansion saying that he¡¯sing here for a meeting. He was supposed to return in one day at most, but it has been much longer than that. His number isn¡¯t on. The number of people who were with him is also out of reach. I came here for some answers. I am concerned about him," Ryder exined his purpose ining here before he asked, "Just where exactly is he?"

    "So you¡¯re here for him," Alem muttered as he finally looked at Ryder again. He closed hisptop before he pulled his drawer.

    He brought a piece of paper out of the drawer and ced it before Ryder.

    "Here, sign it," he said. He also slid his pan towards Ryder.

    Ryder looked down at the paper and picked it up. He started reading the paper line by line.

    "A non-disclosure agreement? What do you mean? I¡¯m not asking about some corporate secret that I¡¯ll leak. Tell me where he is," Ryder asked as he smashed the paper with his hand on the table.

    "Calm down. It¡¯s just an NDA. I¡¯m not asking you to give me all your property. If you want an answer from me, you must sign it. It is just a precautionary measure. If any conversation that happens here is leaked out, I will sue you. This is all," Alem answeredzily.

    He satfortably on the chair as he continued, "To sign or lot to sign, I leave that choice on you. However, if you don¡¯t wish to sign, you can leave my office as we have nothing to talk about. I am not free to talk about my life, and I won¡¯t talk about stuff rted to thepany as long as you don¡¯t sign the NDA."

    Ryder gazed at the paper once again before he started wondering. Were Shu¡¯s whereabouts a corporate secret? Or was this how Alem naturally was? Having people sign NDA that came here?

    "Fine. I am signing it." Having no choice, Ryder picked up the pen and signed the paper before sliding it back to Alem.

    Alem took the paper and observed the sign.

    "Good." he nodded as he ced the paper inside a file which was again kept in the drawer.

    "Now tell me, where he is?¡¯ Ryder asked. "And when will hee back home?"

    "Schumacher Maxwell... Will note back home," Alem answered softly.

    "What do you mean? Why won¡¯t he return?" Ryder asked, seemingly confused. "Is he out of the country?"

    Alem shook his head before he started answering, "He is not out of the country but out of this world. He is dead. A few days ago, he was going back home after finishing the meeting with us. That¡¯s when his helicopter crashed because of some technical malfunction."

    He continued, "In the crash, Schumacher Maxwell and all the people who were apanying him died."

    Ryder looked at the man nkly, not believing a word. His heart did skip a beat, though, as he heard about it. Shu was nothing less than a real brother for him. His death news was something he couldn¡¯t believe.

    "Stop lying," Ryder replied. Disbelief was evident on his face.

    "I am not lying," rm answered vaguely.

    Ryder stood up as he smashed his hand on the table in anger. He forgets to control his strength in anger. "How could this be? What kind of joke is this?"

    His power was so much that the table broke apart instantly. Its legs also broke as it fell down. Theptop and all other stuff which was ced on the table also fell down on the ground.

    Intimidated by the sudden change, Alem reacted subconsciously as he pushed his chair backward, getting away from the table.

    Ryder ignored the table that he had broken¡ªinstead, continuing with his statement.

    "You expect me to believe that Shu is dead? He is dead, and this news is not all over the world? He wasn¡¯t a homeless beggar whose death won¡¯t be out in the media or public. He was the king of one of the biggestpanies in the country! Stop messing with me. This joke is not fun!"

    Alem was somewhat intimidated by what he saw. He felt like Ryder had lost his mind in anger. He was also worried that he might be beaten if he said something wrong.

    He couldn¡¯t even call for security as the only way to call for security was to use the phone. He could also scream loudly and hope that someone would be outside his room to hear his screams, but he didn¡¯t do it. It might only anger Ryder more.

    ¡¯If I scream, he might smash my head like he smashed the table. He is angry. I need to calm him down first before doing anything else. I can¡¯t make things worse,¡¯ Alem thought as he gazed at Ryder.

    "Ryder, calm down. Listen to me first. This is not in the news because the other executives decided to keep this information hidden. They paid the people who know about it not to leak it outside. They don¡¯t want the prices of shares to fall because of this news right now. That¡¯s why this news is not in the media," he exined gently.

    "And I am also sad and shocked with this news. It¡¯s as bad for you as it is for me. You know that I cared for him as well. I wish it were a lie as well, albeit it isn¡¯t. Schumacher Maxwell is dead," he continued.

    Ryder clenched his fist as he felt a pain in his chest. This felt like a pair all too familiar. It felt simr to how he felt when he had heard the news of his parent¡¯s death. It wasn¡¯t as painful as that time, but it was close.

    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself.

    Seeing Ryder standing with his eyes closed, Alem wondered if he should try to get to the phone to call security or he should try leaving the office itself.

    Alem was still to decide what to do when Ryder opened his eyes.

    His eyes were slightly red as if someone whose eyes were in pain.

    "I¡¯m sorry for overreacting," he said softly. "Where is Shu¡¯s body? Is it intact, or was it burned entirely?"

    A thought dide into his mind about using the pill of Life that he had just received from Janus as a reward, but he soon realized that it wasn¡¯t possible.

    ording to the limitation, the pill only worked when it was used under five minutes of death. It had been much longer than five minutes. In fact, it had been even longer than a day, so he couldn¡¯t even think about going back in time through death since he could only go back in time by one day through death.

    Even if he was to ignore the risk of bringing the wrath of God of Time on himself, he still couldn¡¯t do it since it had been much longer than he could handle using his power.

    "His body, ah, it¡¯s already buried by us. He didn¡¯t have any family members or any close rtives. And the people who were closer to him died in the helicopter with him. So we all managed the burial ourselves. His body is buried in Saint Alea Graveyard near this ce. If you want to see his grave, you can reach there in ten minutes." Alem answered.

    "You people buried the body of my brother without letting me know?" Ryder asked grimly. He seemed to be getting even angrier.

    Alem once again started feeling worried.

    "I¡¯m sorry. We had no choice," Alem answered as he took a step back.

    "You had no choice? You didn¡¯t think about calling the mansion to let others know? You didn¡¯t think about letting me know? Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t know us," Ryder let out as he stepped closer to Alen slowly.

    "This... I wanted to tell you about it but I couldn¡¯t. We couldn¡¯t let this information about his death get out." Alem kept stepping back slowly.

 Chapter 446 Grave

    <h4>Chapter 446: Grave</h4>

    "So you buried him without the presence of his brother and sister? Because you wanted to keep it a secret?" Ryder said grimly as he stepped closer to Alem.

    "I... This is what happened. I had no choice. And we followed all the proper procedures to do it. He is buried in the best ce with the best of procedures. He got a proper send-off. I can assure you of that," Alem said as he continued stepping back.

    "He got a proper send-off? By being buried secretly like he didn¡¯t even exist?" Ryder inquired as he gazed in the eyes of the man as if he could see the depths of the man¡¯s soul.

    "We will tell the world. His name would be immortal in this world. I assure you. We don¡¯t wish to keep it a secret for long either," Alem said, trying to calm Ryder down.

    "I thought you were his well-wisher. But even you did it without a second thought," Ryder let out, frowning.

    Alem¡¯s back soon hit the wall with a ce to move back. He looked around, wondering what he could do.

    Ryder stood two steps away from him. The distance between them shrank to only one step as Ryder took another step.

    "Tell me about his grave. Does it at least have his name, or you faked the name on the grave to keep it a secret as well?" Ryder asked.

    "It has his name. As I said, he was like a little brother to me. I am as respectful and caring for him as you can be. It isn¡¯t that his burial didn¡¯t have any close ones. It had me. I did it with my own hands, not letting the corporate bastards even touch his coffin," Alem answered softly.

    Knock! Knock!

    Soon, there was a knock on the door.

    "Excuse me, sir. Mister Mace is here for you. He says it¡¯s urgent. Should I send him inside?" A female voice sounded from outside.

    Ryder gazed back towards the door before he shifted his focus back to Alem.

    "You did wrong. You did very wrong..." Ryder muttered softly as he gazed at Alem onest time before he turned back and left.

    He opened the door and left the office.

    As he stepped out of the office, he saw a woman standing outside.

    "He is a little busy. Give him a few minutes to breathe. He would call you inside," Ryder told the girl before he left.

    Alem watched the closest door, frowning.

    He released a mouthful of breath as he sighed. He could finally breathe a sigh of relief now that the crazy mad had left.

    He walked over to his chair and sat down to give his legs some rest. His eyes fell on the table that was lying in front of him. The table was already in pieces. Alem knew that he could press charges in Ryder, but he didn¡¯t for many reasons.

    "Wait a few minutes. I¡¯ll be outside. Have Mr. Mace sit in the conference hall. I¡¯ll meet him there," Alem called out, without giving the girl permission to enter.

    "Yes, Sir," The Girl called out from outside the door before she left.

    Ryder left the headquarters of Dream Corporation, knowing full well that all his rtionship with Dream Corporation was gone now. He didn¡¯t care, though. He hasn¡¯t used the name or influence of Dream Corporation for his business. He didn¡¯t even borrow any money, so he didn¡¯t care about Dream Corporation.

    He was just somewhat upset because Shu was gone. This news came out of nowhere. Even though he had some bad feelings about what might have happened, he would never have known that Shu was actually dead.

    All the memories of their past interactions yed in his head, from the moment they met to the moment they separated.

    Alem walked over to the window of his office and looked outside. He could see Ryder stepping inside the Cab.

    "I¡¯m sorry. But this was something I needed to do," he muttered.

    Ryder stepped inside the can and told the driver to take him to the graveyard.

    The Can took only a few minutes to reach the graveyard. Ryder paid the cab driver before he stepped out. The cab zoomed off into the distance while Ryder gazed at therge metallic door of the cemetery.

    He walked towards the door and stepped inside the graveyard after pushing the doors open.

    As this was a graveyard that was reserved for the high profile and rich people, there were not many graves inside the ce. There were only about a hundred graves that could be seen in this ce.

    Ryder stepped forward, trying to find the grave of Shu.

    He checked over thirty graves before he managed to find a tomb with Shu¡¯s name on it.

    The tombstone had Shu¡¯s name and a few vague words on it.

    [Schumacher Maxwell]

    [A man who changed the world for the better and left too soon]

    "Left too soon, huh," Ryder muttered as he sighed. That¡¯s certainly the truth. You left too soon," Ryder muttered as he read the words on the tomb.

    He dropped down to his knees before the grave.

    "We had so many things. You idiot, why did you have to be in such a hurry to go to heaven? You didn¡¯t even submit the ring of Lexia. Do you know how annoying it is to have a pending quest? And we haven¡¯t even opened our guild yet. How shameless of you," He let out softly.

    "How can I handle the guild alone without you. Youzy ass! You knew it would be hard work, so you left, isn¡¯t that right? You didn¡¯t even think about what would happen to Alice? You are lucky that you aren¡¯t here, or I would have beat your ass up myself for this," he said as he punched the ground.

    He closed his eyes as he sat there in the grave. After about five minutes, he opened his eyes.

    "Leaving all theinants aside, how are you?" Ryder asked softly. His eyes were red already, but there wasn¡¯t any wetness in his eyes.

    "I heard heaven is a good ce. You must be enjoying that ce, right? At Least you get to reunite with your parents..." He let out softly. "Unlike me."

    ¡¯I can¡¯t even think about dying because of this thing. Forget about meeting my parents in heaven; I don¡¯t even know how this thing would work with time revival when I¡¯m old. I must say, a little part of me is jealous of you as well,¡¯ he thought as he gazed at the bracelet of immortality in his hand.

    "You have worked so hard for yourpany since you were young. You can finally rest. Alice would really be upset, though. I don¡¯t think I can tell her about it either. Let¡¯s see if I can," he muttered.

    He gently touched the ground before he stood up. "Alright, I took a lot of your time. You can rest now."

    With slow steps, he started leaving. It took him much longer to leave than it took him toe here. His feet were getting much heavier right now.

    He soon reached the gates of the graveyard and stepped out of the ce. Taking another cab, he left.

    He didn¡¯t know that there were cameras all around the graveyard, and one of the cameras had transferred the footage of him visiting the cemetery to someone¡¯s phone.

    A person was sitting in a properly lit room with the phone in their hand, which showed the footage of Ryder visiting the grave.

    A smile formed on the person¡¯s face as they saw it.

    "I knew you woulde after knowing. You were much faster, though..." That person muttered as they closed the screen on the phone. His voice was that of a man.

    "Sir, how long are we supposed to wait?" An old man stood behind the man, asked him.

    "A little longer. Soon it would be time," the man answered softly. "We have all the time in the world anyway. We don¡¯t need to be in a hurry."

    "Wouldn¡¯t it be bad if this news is out in public?" the old man asked.

    "It wouldn¡¯t be out. Even if it¡¯s out, I will handle everything." The younger man answered.

    Back in the FBI headquarters, people were still trying to find who killed the Director with another man.

    A door opened slowly as a person entered in a office.

    "Mam, we have located him. His car was found at the bottom of the cliff, and its condition wasn¡¯t good. It seems like the car caught on fire as it fell down. We also found some remains inside the car, but the body is in very bad condition. Only ashes remain mostly. I doubt we can get any information from it," the man informed the woman who was sitting on the main chair.

    "No need. Now I ampletely sure it wasn¡¯t his work alone. It¡¯s a bigger," the woman replied.

 Chapter 447 Detective

    <h4>Chapter 447: Detective</h4>

    "What should we do then? We have no clue about what actually happened and who was really behind that guy going rogue and killing the director," the man told the woman as he frowned.

    "Who says we have no clue. We have a living clue," The woman answered.

    "Who?" The man inquired.

    "You know what Mark was investigating. The source of Ray. And the old man came here to meet Ray despite not meeting him before, ording to Ray. What do you think this means?" The woman asked after giving a vague exnation.

    "That... Do you mean that Ray is lying?" The man asked softly.

    "It¡¯s either that Ray is lying or his source had some kind of attraction that managed to bring the Owner of one of the biggestpanies to him despite not knowing him. And their death is linked to this person as well. This person... Is our clue? We need to find his source," the woman said as hezily.

    "Good. I will start interrogating him about the source," the man nodded his head as he turned back to leave.

    "There¡¯s no need," the woman called out as she stopped the man.

    "Hmm?"

    The man turned back, confused.

    "You forgot, didn¡¯t you? He already told us that he doesn¡¯t know his source. And that he had no ways to find him," the woman said.

    "He¡¯s obviously lying," the man let out, rolling his eyes. "How can he not know who was helping him."

    "Even I know that he is lying but trying to get him to confess is a wasted effort. He already lied to us, and he would stick to it. There¡¯s no benefit in asking him. We wouldn¡¯t get anything from him," the woman said.

    "So what should we do, Mam?" The man asked the woman who was in a much higher ranking position. The woman was the Direction of National Security of this country. Her position was higher than the position of Mark, who was the Director of FBI before his death.

    "Let him go," The woman answered.

    "What?" The man inquired in a slightly unusual tone, wondering if he misheard it.

    "I said let him go. Free him. You¡¯re the acting director. He was arrested because he wasn¡¯t telling the source who made the FBI waste their resources based on false information. You¡¯re the acting director now. You will soon be permanent and take Mark¡¯s position."

    " Go and free him. Tell him that you don¡¯t care about a little waste of resources. We can¡¯t keep such a talented person locked in prison for such little things. Go show him your support. He is supposedly one of the best agents, after all. Free him."

    The woman saidzily as shemanded the man.

    "But what about this case? Are we going to drop it as well?" The man asked.

    "Sigh, Drake. Sometimes you make me regret my decision of nominating you as the next Director. You still don¡¯t understand what I¡¯m trying to say? Free him, but don¡¯t free him. Keep his phone tapped and have agents on his tail. He would most probably contact his source of these deaths if he knows something about these deaths and has links to it," the woman let out as she rolled her eyes.

    She was in disbelief that she still had to exin such little things to this guy.

    "Ah, right. I was so immersed in the possibility of interrogating him; I didn¡¯t think of this possibility. I¡¯ll do this right away." The man nodded his head. He opened the door to leave.

    "Make sure he doesn¡¯t get suspicious. And arrange everything in his phone before giving it back. Also, get me the unlockedptop of Mark when youe back. Our team should have unlocked it by now," the woman said again.

    "Yes, Mam," the man said before he left. He didn¡¯t forget to close the door.

    Ryder took the cab back to DiskeyLand from where Alice was still sending her pics of the ride she was taking as per hismands.

    He stepped out of the cab and entered the amusement park before he called Alice to know where she was.

    "You¡¯re back?!" Alice eximed in surprise to know that Ryder was back.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m back. Give me your location. I should be there soon," Ryder replied.

    "I¡¯m in front of the Ronald Duck ride. It¡¯s towards the-"

    "It¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t need to exin further. I¡¯m in front of the map of this park. I know the ride you¡¯re talking about. It¡¯s towards the south, right?" Ryder asked while cutting her off.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s where it is," Alice agreed.

    "Good. I¡¯ll be there in a few minutes. Stay there," Ryder let out as he started walking towards the ride after disconnecting the call.

    He soon reached the ride, which had a big gate at the entrance. The gate seemed like the face of a white duck that had its mouth wide open. A person had to walk through the mouth to enter.

    He could see Alice standing near the gate. Alice saw Ryder at the same time as he saw her.

    "Did you find out about brother Shu?" Alice asked Ryder as soon as he reached her. He had gone to find the whereabouts of Shu. She was also concerned about that.

    Now that Ryder was back, she decided to ask.

    Ryder grew stunned as he heard her question. He hadn¡¯t thought that this would be the first question she would ask.

    He wasn¡¯t yet ready to tell her about it. It wasn¡¯t the right time. He wanted to talk when they were in a more secluded ce, preferably back in the hotel. Now was certainly not the time.

    "What happened? Why aren¡¯t you saying anything? Did you not find out anything?" Alice asked softly.

    Ryder nodded his head and decided to go with the story that he didn¡¯t know. In this case, he couldter confess the truth to her and say that it was then that he got the information. In this way, he could dy these talks.

    "Yeah. I didn¡¯t manage to get answers. I went to his office, but the higher-ups weren¡¯t there. And the receptionist didn¡¯t know anything," Ryder answered. "I guess they all left on some business trip outside the country. These low-ranking people in the Organization would certainly not know about this."

    "But why wouldn¡¯t he tell you that he was going to go outside the country?" Alice inquired.

    "How would I know. Maybe there¡¯s some problem with his phone. Or it could also be that he called in the night. That¡¯s it. He must be in a country where it¡¯s night when here is day. So he didn¡¯t call us because he didn¡¯t want us to be disturbed at night," Ryder gave an excuse.

    In his haste to find a justification, he had forgotten something crucial.

    "Couldn¡¯t he have messaged you? From someone else¡¯s phone?" Alice asked.

    Ryder felt like smacking Alice¡¯s head lightly for asking so many questions.

    "Miss Detective, how should I know everything? I¡¯m only guessing too. Shu would give his own exnation when he returns. As for your question, maybe his phone got corrupted, and he lost all his numbers. You don¡¯t know, but that guy is prettyzy. He certainly wouldn¡¯t have any numbers remembered. That must be why he didn¡¯t send a message or call," Ryder answered.

    "In any case, it¡¯s only been a few days. He is so careless; he wouldn¡¯t know how worried we are for him. Just let hime back. I¡¯ll have him give all the answers with a big apology," he let out as he ced both his hands on Alice¡¯s shoulder.

    "Now, can we stop this interrogation? Let¡¯s have some fun. You went on all the rides alone, but I didn¡¯t even get to go on a single. Let¡¯s not dy anymore," Ryder insisted as he caught the hands of Alice before he started walking inside the mouth of the Duck.

    The ride was nothing more than a basic Ferris wheel. The only thing special about it was its design which was based after a popr cartoon, Ronald Duck. Another special thing was its speed. It was said to be the fastest Ferris wheel in existence.

    Ryder and Alice entered the chamber of the Ferris wheel while holding hands.

    They sat inside and started waiting for the ride to begin.

    "You are free. I can¡¯t even believe that Mark had kept you in arrest for such a little thing like false information. Many pieces of information turn out to be faulty. This doesn¡¯t mean we must arrest all informants," the new acting director of the FBI opened the hands of Ray and freed him.

    "Here is your phone and your gun. Wee back to duty, agent Ray," he continued.

    "As you know, we have a big case about Director Mark¡¯s death. You saw the culprit yourself¡ª the Vice-Director. Come, let me exin the updates on this case. You¡¯ll be leading it."

 Chapter 448 Throne room

    <h4>Chapter 448: Throne room</h4>

    "I¡¯ll be leading the case? But I just..."

    Ray was visibly confused. Why was this case being handed over to him? He was under observation by the previous director. They should be suspicious, not reward him.

    "I know it¡¯splicated. The thing is that you are one of the one people we can trust," Drake answered vaguely, stunning Ray.

    They could only trust him? Why? He couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    Drake didn¡¯t let Ray delve into his confusion for longer and exined further instead, "The Director of FBI was killed in this ce. It must mean that our agents arepromised by a foreign enemy. You are the only one we can trust at the moment since you weren¡¯t close to either the previous Director or his killer, ording to our reports and witnesses."

    He turned back and walked closer to the door. He opened the door but didn¡¯t step out. Instead, he gazed back at Ray.

    Gesturing him to follow, he said, "Come with me. I¡¯ll exin further. I¡¯ll give the investigation to you, but that doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll be the sole incharge. There are going to be three teams. You¡¯ll lead your previous team in your investigation while others will investigate separately."

    "You¡¯ll all report to me about how the investigations are going."

    "Yes." Ray stood up and followed after Drake.

    Ryder left the amusement park with Alice after spending the rest of the day there. He and Alice went on many different rides. They even went on a few rides in which Alice had previously gone along.

    Ryder tried to have fun with Alice, but since he knew that Shu was dead and never going to return, he just couldn¡¯t enjoy it. There was a certain sadness in his heart about what had happened.

    He could only pretend to be enjoying the rides and having fun. Fortunately, he was good at pretending, and Alice didn¡¯t find anything strange throughout the day.

    It was only in the evening when the Limo returned to pick them up and to take them back to the hotel.

    They reached the hotel and entered their rooms.

    "It was so fun today. I feel like I¡¯m going to have the best sleep I¡¯ve had in a long while," Alice said as she entered the room.

    Ryder gazed at her but didn¡¯t say anything. He was thinking about finding an opportunity to tell her the truth, but after hearing her words, he had dropped his ns of telling the truth. He was going to let her be happy tonight and wait for another opportunity to tell her the truth.

    "Today was certainly fun. What¡¯s your n for tomorrow?" Ryder asked casually.

    "I don¡¯t have any ns yet. In any case, you should decide. Today was decided by me. It¡¯s going to be your turn tomorrow. Today we did something that was fun for me. Tomorrow, let¡¯s do something that¡¯s fun for you tomorrow," Alice asked softly.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll decide what we do tomorrow. Go sleep now. You just be tired," Ryder replied as he agreed.

    He was still waiting for her to confess to her that she had joined Divinity, but so far, she didn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t even understand why she was keeping it a secret, but he wasn¡¯t going to ask her. He could only wait for her toe forward herself.

    Ryder and Alice went back to the bed and turned off the lights.

    Ryder ced the Divinity sses once again and entered Divinity.

    He woke up in the Royal Chambers of the Demon Realm Royal Pce, where he had logged out.

    Opening the gates of his room, Ryder stepped out. He could see a Miyali standing outside the room.

    "What are you doing here, Miyali?" Ryder asked, confused. Shouldn¡¯t she be with Miku, learning her work?

    "Ah, Miku sent me here to wait for you to wake up. The High Dukes are already here. They are waiting in the Throne Room for you," Miyali answered.

    "Oh, they¡¯re faster than I thought," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "Come." He started walking towards the throne room.

    "So, Miyali, how are you? Did you feel that urge again?" Ryder asked Miyali as he walked beside her.

    "Urge? No," Miyali answered.

    "Good. That¡¯s how it should be. ording to Rale, you should be better now that you faced your first turning and the side effects. From now on, you can control it better. Just find go hungry for weeks again like before. You should be fine," Ryder nodded.

    "Also, your body should be stronger as well. How about I get Miku to train you? She isn¡¯t a Vampire, so she can¡¯t tell you how to be perfect when ites to strength, but she does know a good amount of information regarding Vampires. You¡¯ll only get stronger under her training," he suggested.

    "There is no need. If I get stronger, I¡¯ll only be more difficult to control if, God forbid, I ever lose control again. I¡¯m fine the way I am," Miyali kindly rejected the offer.

    "Don¡¯t worry. You won¡¯t lose control again. This time we know what went wrong. You wouldn¡¯t be allowed to go hungry again. And even if you get stronger, you¡¯ll not be strong enough to take on Miku. Even though she isn¡¯t included in the strongest beings of Demon Realm, she¡¯s pretty strong indeed," Ryder answered, still insisting.

    "Why do you wish for me to be stronger? Will I be helpful to you if I¡¯m stronger?" Miyali inquired, seemingly confused.

    "You will be. You¡¯re a Vampire who is half Demon. You got the best of both worlds. You can have some crazy abilities. If you get stronger, you¡¯ll be able to help me and protect our people," Ryder answered.

    "You heard about what happened in Devilia¡¯s ce, right? We were attacked by the Death Domain. Now we were able to stay safe, but a lot of people died. There¡¯s no guarantee that something like this won¡¯t happen again. I want you to be able to protect yourself if that ever happens again in this ce," he continued.

    They soon reached the door of the throne room. Ryder stopped before the doors and gazed back at Miyali.

    He continued, "Only when a person can help themselves can they help others. If you can¡¯t even protect yourself, how will you save others in the pce? You can protect the lives of our people. In that way, you can somewhat atone for the lives you took. That¡¯s all I¡¯ll say."

    "I won¡¯t force you. You can think about it and tell me if you are ready," he let out before he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

    Miyali stayed back, lost in deep thought. She wasn¡¯t allowed to enter the Throne Room so she left. Aplicated look remained on her.

    "Saving lives is the only way I atone for the lives I took. And I can only save lives if I¡¯m strong enough to do it. I must do it," she finally muttered as she clenched her fist. She was prepared to do it. She thought about it a lot, and she decided to tell Ryder that she was ready after he came out of the meeting.

    Unaware of the fact that Miyali was ready so soon, Ryder stepped inside the throne room.

    As soon as he stepped inside, Ray dropped to one knee. Miku did the same as they greeted their Prince.

    The four High Dukes also stood up, but they didn¡¯t take a knee or bow. They weren¡¯t required to do it since their positions were equal to that of a Prince of the Demon Empire.

    They only needed to bow to the Emperor. Ryder wasn¡¯t the Emperor yet.

    "Greetings, Your Highness." Rale and Miku greeted Ryder.

    "Greetings to the Prince," the High Dukes greeted as well.

    There was one more person who seemed like a middle-aged man. He also greeted Ryder by taking a knee like Rale and Miku.

    Ryder already realized who that man might be. He must be the new Marquis candidate that needed his validation. It was only for name¡¯s sake since he was already selected by High Duke Oris.

    "Greetings to everyone," Ryder replied gracefully as he walked back to the throne.

    He sat on the throne in full glory before he gazed at everyone.

    "We heard you called for us. What could be so urgent?" High Duke M asked Ryder.

    "We can talk about thatter. For now, let¡¯s deal with something else," Ryder replied as he gazed at the Marquis Candidate.

    The other High Dukes understood his implications. It must mean that Ryder wanted to be done with the Marquis Validation faster so that the new Marquis can be sent back.

    Only the High Dukes were called here. So it must be a matter of grave concern that couldn¡¯t be shared before others.

    High Duke Oris stood up.

    "That¡¯s right. Prince Hades, let me introduce you to Kaia. He is the new Marquis candidate that I feel deserves this position. I should tell you his achievements so you can judge for yourself," High Duke Oris said before he went into the history of the man.

 Chapter 449 Declare

    <h4>Chapter 449: Dere</h4>

    High Duke Oris introduced the man who was selected to be the new marquis by him.

    He talked about his achievements and what he had done for the betterment of the Empire. Ryder wasn¡¯t the least bit interested in these things since it wasn¡¯t a big deal for him.

    He was certain that the man deserved the position. All needed scrutiny was most probably already done by High Duke Oris, but he still listened.

    He couldn¡¯t show how bored he was when facing the people in front of him. He had to act the part at least, and thus, he listened.

    "Impressive," Ryderplimented after High Duke Oris finished. "I believe in your decision as well. Kaia is a good choice to take the position of the diseased Marquis."

    "I believe so," High Duke Oris agreed.

    Ryder shifted his focus back to the middle-aged man and asked, "Kaia, do you promise to work with full honesty and take care of my citizens like they are your own family?"

    "I promise, Your Highness." Kaia dropped to his knees as he answered.

    "Good," Ryder nodded as he stood up.

    He walked over to Kaia. Rale walked beside him.

    As Ryder reached near Kaia, he reached his hand towards his left where Rale was standing. Rale gave Ryder a red leaf that seemed like it was from a beautiful tree.

    Kaia extended his hand towards Ryder.

    Ryder ced the leave in the hands of Kaia. "I have high expectations from you. Don¡¯t disappoint me."

    This was something that Rale had told Ryder. The leave that was given by Ryder to Kaia symbolized his eptance of Kaia in the noble hierarchy as a Marquis.

    Ryder walked back to the throne and sat down.

    "I will die before disappointing Your Highness," Kaia said proudly as he stood up.

    "Good. You may leave now. Wait for me in my Pce. I should be there soon," High Duke Oris told Kaia, telling him to leave since the meeting for which all High Dukes came here also needed to take ce.

    He could already see the first High Duke getting impatient.

    Kaia nodded and didn¡¯t say anything. He understood what he needed to do and why. He simply turned back and left the hallway.

    "Now that he left, can you start? I have more things to do," High Duke Magna let outzily after the man left.

    "Right. What could be so important?" High Duke Oris asked as he walked back to his seat. "Is this about the Death Domain?"

    "No. It¡¯s about my Master," Ryder replied as he straightened up his back.

    "His Majesty?" All High Dukes stopped up, shocked as soon as they heard it.

    Rale and Miku were standing behind Ryder, but even they grew stunned.

    ¡¯Emperor Salem? Is heing back? Or did something happen to him instead?¡¯ High Duke Oris thought, seemingly concerned for the safety of Salem.

    "No, you shouldn¡¯t concern yourself. It¡¯s nothing serious. What actually happened is Master hade here recently," Ryder said, conveniently lying.

    "His Majesty came here? Is he still here? Where is he? Let us meet him! It¡¯s been so long!" High Duke Eston let out in an unusual tone. He was excited to meet Salem again now that he was here.

    "Yes! It would be even better if he actually decided toe back. Where is he?" High Duke Oris asked.

    "No, he hasn¡¯t decided toe back. He just came to see me and ask how I¡¯m doing. Nothing serious. He also talked about traveling the world and see even more ces. Anyway, he already went back now," Ryder answered, making up even more stuff.

    "He even left? We really didn¡¯t have the fortune to see him; it seems," High Duke M let out in disappointment.

    She sat back down on her seat as she continued sighing repeatedly.

    The other High Dukes also sat down.

    "How was he?" High Duke Magna inquired.

    "He was good. Just the way I left him. Anyway, I didn¡¯t call you here to talk specifically about that. I called you here because of something else," Ryder replied, making them curious again.

    "Something else? What else could be the reason then?" High Duke Oris inquired.

    "It¡¯s about the people who worked in the Royal Pce," Ryder answered.

    "Hmm? Now that you mention it, I did see ack of maids or guards on the way," High Duke Eston mentioned what he observed on the way here.

    Other than the two guards at the entrance, he saw no one else inside the Pce. Miku and Rale were the only other people they saw.

    "Exactly. As High Duke Eston mentioned, you saw fewer people inside the Pce. That¡¯s because I sent them all with my Master to take care of him outside," Ryder answered.

    "What? You send all helpers in the Pce away?" High Duke Oris asked, squinting his eyes.

    "Yeah. Since I am not with my master because of bing the Prince of this ce, my Master had be alone. It¡¯s my duty as a student to make sure that he staysfortable. Even though he insisted on not taking anyone, I got him to take them," Ryder exined, making a bigger story.

    It was all so he could find an excuse about the missing people in the Royal Pce.

    Rale and Miku were confused previously when Ryder mentioned meeting the previous Emperor. When did that even happen? They thought.

    Miku thought it happened when Ryder had left this world with Rale, but Rale knew that it wasn¡¯t what happened. Rale wondered when it happened himself.

    Their confusion remained only until the moment Ryder mentioned about sending the workers of the Pce with him.

    They both knew that everyone was dead. How could they be sent back if they were already dead.

    They realized that Ryder was using the previous Emperor as an excuse. Even though it was disrespectful, they realized that this might be the best option since they wouldn¡¯t be interrogated as much. No one was going to doubt his words.

    They didn¡¯t know that Ryder had used the same trick before just because he was certain that he could keep lying his way. They still didn¡¯t realize that, in reality, his so-called Master was already dead. And more importantly, Salem wasn¡¯t Ryder¡¯s master either.

    Unfortunately, they still didn¡¯t expect that more lies existed. This lie itself was based on another lie.

    "So that¡¯s why this ce seemed so empty. This isn¡¯t a big deal. Those maids are lucky that they get to serve His Majesty now. It¡¯s the blessing of their lifetime." High Duke Magna sat backfortably as hemented.

    Ryder nodded, "Yeah."

    "In any case, since they won¡¯t be returning anytime soon, I was thinking about hiring more people. Miku can take care of the hiring process. I just wanted to inform you all about this so that you aren¡¯t confused when you hear the announcement of this hiring," he continued.

    "Oh, so that¡¯s what it was about. You called us all for such a minor matter? You can handle things like this. You don¡¯t need us or our permission. You couldn¡¯t just have someone deliver the information about what happened to us, so we weren¡¯t confused," High Duke Oris said with a calm smile on his face.

    "Yeah. This isn¡¯t such a big deal," High Duke M said as she nodded her head.

    "I¡¯ll even help with the search for new helpers in the Pce. My Pce has a few experienced maids. They would be more than happy to serve here. I have too many of them anyway," High Duke Eston chimed in.

    "Ah, that would be good. It would be better to have a few experienced ones to train the new ones," Ryder nodded as he thanked High Duke Eston.

    "I can spare a few maids as well. You should take a few guards from me as well. Your Pce is not really secure now that you don¡¯t have anyone," High Duke Oris offered.

    "Well, I do have all the Royal Guards, so that isn¡¯t needed," Ryder let out as he rejected the offer.

    He didn¡¯t wish to take guards who could spy on his movement. He had a trusted group of people, and he wanted to keep it that way.

    As for taking the maids of other High Dukes, that was only temporary as well. He had already decided to send them back after they finished training the newly selected maids. Only Miku was enough after that with the new candidates.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll only send maids," High Duke Oris agreed.

    "I can spare some maids as well." High Dike M also offered.

    "Looks like you have plenty. You won¡¯t need my maids," High Duke Magna said, excusing himself.

    "Is that all you had to talk about?" He asked. "If this is, I¡¯ll take my leave since we¡¯re done here."

    High Duke Magna had just stood up when Ryder answered. "Not at all. There is one more thing."

    "I will be taking the Kingship Trial," Ryder dered, stunning everyone.

 Chapter 450 Merge

    <h4>Chapter 450: Merge</h4>

    "I will take the Kingship Trials," Ryder dered, shocking everyone once again.

    Today was full of shocks for High Dukes. First, the information about Salem visiting the Demon Realm. And just when they thought it was it and we¡¯re about to leave, came the information about Ryder trying to attempt the Kingship Trial?

    "I don¡¯t think this is the right time to do it," High Duke Magma straight away refuted.

    "I agree. You should dy the ns. There¡¯s no need to attempt that so soon," High Duke Eston echoed the words of Magma.

    Ryder was surprised. He had thought they would agree. Why were they trying to get him to dy? Did they really not wish for him to finish the Kingship Trial and take the position of the Emperor?

    ¡¯Well, if I were in their ce, I would have also denied. A kid being a prince is good but letting him be the sole authority when I haven¡¯t tested is not possible. They must be thinking the same thing,¡¯ Ryder thought, trying to guess their reasoning.

    He soon realized how wrong he was, though as High Duke Oris also supported this notion. Fortunately, High Duke Oris also gave reasoning behind his objection, which made Ryder understand why they were against it.

    "It would be better not to do it now. Our rtionship with the Death Domain is not good right now. Not only did their people try to kill you, but you also went there and kidnapped the girl from their ce," High Duke Eston said. "If you go there, they¡¯ll leave everything to try and kill you."

    "That girl... Oh right, Elisia. The second candidate for the Death Domain Hair. That crazy girl who formed the n to infiltrate Devilia¡¯s Pce to kill me. I had forgotten about her. We worked so hard to kidnap her from the Death Domain, right in front of their Prince," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    "How¡¯s the interrogation going with her? Did you manage to find out anything?" He asked High Duke Eaton, who was keeping Elisia in his special Space Prison.

    "That girl is really stubborn. High Duke Oris and I have been trying really hard to get answers from her. Albeit she doesn¡¯t talk much. We did manage to find some things out, though," High Duke Eston said.

    "What did you find out?" Ryder asked curiously.

    "The weapon that she possesses is actually the weapon that the Death Emperor had used in the battle against His Majesty Salem in thest war. This girl is actually selected as an heir by the weapon," High Duke Eston said.

    "That is as per the rumors. That¡¯s why there are two heirs in the Death Domain¡ª the weapon heir and the bloodline heir. Anyway, it¡¯s strange. Their Prince isn¡¯t asking for her return?" Ryder wondered. "Is he really happy that we took out an enemy of his throne?"

    "We did get a few requests from them to return the girl safely. They haven¡¯t taken any offensive action yet. While requesting, their tone has been very cordial as well. It¡¯s somewhat unsettling," High Duke Oris said.

    ¡¯These guys are dealing with all that, but they didn¡¯t tell me? As expected, they only tell me big things. They handle little things on their own. That¡¯s to be expected, I guess. I¡¯m only a prince and a kid before their eyes,¡¯ Ryder thought after realizing that he didn¡¯t know so much.

    ¡¯That¡¯s why I need to be the Emperor. I need all the authority I can get as soon as I can. After I be the Emperor, they won¡¯t be able to do anything. I¡¯ll be the sole ruler.¡¯

    He didn¡¯t let his thoughts show on his face, though.

    "It¡¯s really strange. Why are they so calm? They aren¡¯t threatening war or anything. Even if they are weaker, they should still be getting worried and take strict actions. Their Royal Weapon is with the girl who is with their enemy. Still, they¡¯re only asking for the girl and not the weapon?" he expressed his surprise.

    "Anyway, you must have received that weapon from the girl. Where do you keep it?" Ryder asked, wondering about the weapon of the Death Emperor.

    He continued, "They infiltratedst time. They can try again. The girl is in space prison, so that¡¯s fine. But the weapon also needs to be secure."

    "We don¡¯t possess the weapon," High Duke Oris answered. "It¡¯s still with the girl."

    "It¡¯s with her? Why do you let the girl still have it? Take possession of it."

    "We can¡¯t. As I said, the weapon has selected the girl as the heir. It¡¯s Bound with her soul. We can¡¯t take it without her permission. And she doesn¡¯t give permission no matter how much we try," High Duke Eston exined.

    "What if you take it with force? Why do you even need permission?" Ryder asked curiously.

    He suddenly remembered that he hadn¡¯t seen the girl carrying the weapon when she was captured.

    "Ah, I get it. She must be keeping that weapon in her special space. You can¡¯t get ess to that ce. That¡¯s why..."

    "Not really. She does have a special space that we can¡¯t ess, but that¡¯s not where the weapon is. It¡¯s actually merged with her soul. It only appears when she calls for it," High Duke Eston refuted Ryder¡¯s assumption.

    " What¡¯s stopping that girl from just taking that weapon out and using it against us then? Can she still not get out of your Prison? Shouldn¡¯t the weapon of the Death Emperor be stronger?" Ryder asked, surprised. The girl still possessed one of the strongest weapons even when she was under arrest?

    It was as if a criminal was arrested, but he was allowed to keep a rocketuncher? All weapons need to be confiscated to make sure that no mishap happens.

    "You don¡¯t need to be concerned about that. We took precautions. She can¡¯t call out the weapon," High Duke Oris said. "Anyway, it¡¯s better not to go into detail about how we achieved it. The important thing is that she can¡¯t use the weapon now."

    Ryder gazed at High Duke Oris suspiciously, but he didn¡¯t say anything to oppose that. Even he didn¡¯t wish to go into technical details about how they stopped her. From what he guessed, it must be one of their skills.

    "What else did you manage to find out from her? Was she the mastermind behind the attacks?" Ryder asked curiously.

    "She says she was, but I have my suspicions. We¡¯re still interrogating her slowly. Hopefully, we¡¯ll find our more soon enough," High Duke Eston exined.

 Chapter 451 Secret Weapon

    <h4>Chapter 451: Secret Weapon</h4>

    "Good. You can interrogate her. In the meantime, I¡¯ll take a little trip to the Death Domain andplete the Kingship Trial," Ryder expressed his eagerness to finish the trial.

    Since they had received no information from the girl, it was useless to ask about it. It was better to focus on the trial, which needed him to go to the death domain.

    "Did you not listen? If you go there, it would be risky. In Kingship Trials, you can¡¯t take anyone with you. You¡¯ll have to go all alone. And if they find you, they¡¯ll imprison you in the better scenario or kill you in, the worse case. This is not the right time." High Duke Oris shook his head.

    "No sane person would go to Death Domain at times like this," High Duke Magna chimed in.

    "That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m thinking. And that¡¯s that they¡¯ll think as well," Ryder said as he stood up. He walked to the center of the hall and faced the High Dukes.

    "Do you think the people in the Death Domain don¡¯t know about the Kingship Trials? They know I would have Kingship trials. If I do it in the future when everything is fine, it would be much riskier for me," he exined.

    "When people start dying, they¡¯ll suspect the Kingship Trial of ours. But if we do it now, it would be different," he continued.

    "Even they wouldn¡¯t think that I would be stupid enough to enter theirnd when we possess one of their own and when the rtionship between the two ces is so tense," he alluded to the High Dukes.

    "Furthermore, there is one more element of interest," he further said.

    "The Vampire King... He has a little skirmish with the Death Domain now. Their first suspicion would be on him if something happened there now. By the time they know it was me, I would be back here."

    "How is my n?" He asked.

    "This is somewhat clever, but still, the risk is still high," High Duke Eston said in concern.

    "You should get stronger before you attempt the Kingship Trial," High Duke Oris suggested.

    "I am strong enough. And I believe I can do it now. Do you really wish to stop me? This is the perfect opportunity," Ryder insisted.

    Even after saying all that, he was sure that they weren¡¯t going to agree now. There was definitely some risk, but this was something he must do.

    There was a Fragment of his Bracelet of Immortality in that ce. While doing Rale¡¯s quest, he could get that. He didn¡¯t want to dy that any further.

    That was why he decided to pull out his hidden secret card that he knew was always sessful. He was sure after he used this, he was going to get permission.

    "I talked to my Master about it as well. He said it was the right time for me to go as well," he said.

    No one was going to call him a liar or doubt his words. So, of course, they believed him. However, this only meant that Salem himself allowed it.

    If their Emperor allowed it, who were they not to allow it. They were stuck between a rock and a hard ce. They didn¡¯t wish to allow Ryder since it was risky.

    Simultaneously they couldn¡¯t say no, or it would be disrespectful to Salem. It would imply they didn¡¯t trust his decision which they didn¡¯t want to do.

    They could only agree.

    Ryder waited patiently for their response, but he was already sure that it was going to be a yes. He had no doubt about it.

    All the High Dukes gazed at each other as silence ensued in the ce.

    "Fine. If His Majesty thinks it¡¯s a good idea, who are we to refuse," High Duke Magna said after some time. It was obvious that he didn¡¯t wish to give the permission, but he had no choice.

    "You can go," High Duke Oris said.

    "Who are we to stop," High Duke M also agreed.

    "I agree as well," High Duke Eston also affirmed.

    "When are you nning to leave?" High Duke Oris asked.

    "I will go today. In the evening would be the right time to leave. In my absence, Miku and Rale can handle everything here regarding the recruitment," Ryder answered softly.

    Rale seemed like he wanted to say something, but he controlled himself.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll leave you there personally before Ie back. I¡¯ll tell you everything you need to know about this trial as well," High Duke Oris said as he stood up.

    "Alright. You handle it," High Duke Magna agreed as he also stood up.

    He walked over to Ryder. "I wish you all the sess. I¡¯ll see you when you return. I¡¯ll take my leave now."

    After saying that, he left.

    High Duke M and High Duke Eston also wished Ryder luck before they left. They did spend a little more time than High Duke Eston, though.

    This trial was something where Ryder needed to go alone. He couldn¡¯t take any person with him even if he wished. So Ryder only needed one person to transport him to the Death Domain. They couldn¡¯t do anything but waste time here even if they stayed here.

    High Duke Oris was already the best choice since he could Teleport him straight to the Death Domain, and he also knew all the things about it.

    "You can also go back for now. Send Marais Kaia back. You cane in the evening. I¡¯ll be ready to leave by then," Ryder told High Duke Oris after everyone else left.

    "It¡¯s fine. I can wait here and help you prepare," High Duke Oris replied as he shook his head. "I can send Kaia back after Ie back from Death Domain."

    "It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t need much preparation. I¡¯ll mostly rest and collect my energy. So you can go for now," Ryder rejected the offer. He wanted his privacy during hisst few hours since there were a few things he couldn¡¯t talk openly about if High Duke Oris were walking beside him all the time.

    High Duke Oris gazed at Ryder briefly for some time. He ultimately nodded his head.

    "I¡¯ll be back in the evening," he said before he departed as well.

    Ryder watched High Duke Oris leave. After High Duke Oris left, he asked Rale to close the door before he walked back to the throne.

    "I know what you¡¯re thinking. And yes, I lied. My master didn¡¯te here. He is right where I left him," Ryder told Rale and Miku.

    ¡¯...dead,¡¯ he added to his statement in his head.

    "I used him as an excuse to deal with the matter of missing maids," he continued.

 Chapter 452 Offer to break rules

    <h4>Chapter 452: Offer to break rules</h4>

    "I used my master an excuse to deal with the matter of missing maids," Ryder confessed to Rale and Miku.

    It was certain that they knew about him lying about maids going with Salem since they both saw the dead bodies. They have to be stupid not to know that he actually lied to them.

    It was better to confess to them.

    "My master didn¡¯te back. And I decided to use him in my n. I know he wouldn¡¯t mind me using his name. Still, I¡¯ll apologize to him the next time I see him," he continued, using soft words to present to them that his master was actually alive in case one of them was suspicious.

    He was sitting on the throne as he talked. Rale and Miku were the only two people present in the room. Both of them stood in front of Ryder.

    "We understand, Your Highness," Miku let out as she nodded her head.

    "You don¡¯t have to exin," Rale also chimed in.

    "Good. Now let¡¯s get back to the main topic," Ryder said as he changed the topic. "I will be leaving this ce soon. You two are incharge of the Pce in my absence."

    "Rale, make sure that the Pce stays safe in my absence," he told Rale before he shifted his gaze to Miku.

    "As for you, Miku. Take care of the recruitment of maids. Select some good ones that you think would be good," he said to Miku.

    "And Rale, make sure you check the background of every candidate who is selected. I don¡¯t want spies in my Pce."

    Rale and Miku nodded, but Rale still seemed somewhat uncertain. It was as if he wished to talk about something, but he didn¡¯t know how to start.

    "Do you desire to say something?" Ryder asked softly. "You know, you can tell me anything you wish."

    Rale opened his mouth, but he again closed as if he was still not sure if he should say it.

    He took a deep breath before he ultimately said, "Your Highness, how about Ie with you to the Death Domain? I don¡¯t feel well with you going alone. It¡¯s actually risky."

    He knew that it was not allowed. Talking about this was only going to express his willingness to break the rules. That was why he had to think so much before saying it. He didn¡¯t want Ryder to think of him as a delinquent who didn¡¯t care for rules.

    "I wish I could take you myself. It would have been so much easier to travel. I would also feel much safer. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t. From what I am told about the Kingship Trial, the candidate is supposed to be alone in the Death Domain without any help. I can¡¯t take you. Or this wouldn¡¯t be a kingship trial," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    Rale hesitated for a few seconds before he gathered his courage and followed up, "I can go separately. You, on the other hand, will go with High Duke Oris. I can meet you in the Death Domain. No one will know."

    Ryder gazed at Rale in surprise. Was this man actually talking about breaking the rules? He had always seen Rale as someone who respected all the rules. To see his willingness to break the rules for him was both shocking and surprising.

    He didn¡¯t know that Rale had already broken many rules for Ryder before.

    "Your n isn¡¯t bad, honestly. The problem is something else entirely. It is the unlikely scenario in which someone finds out that you were there with me. If youe with me there and someone finds out, not only will I lose my chances of bing the Demon King, you will also be put to death most probably," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    "I am ready for death if it keeps you safe. I can tell them that you didn¡¯t know about meing there even if someone found me there. No me shalle to you," Rale replied.

    "There¡¯s no need to take the risk. I can take care of myself there. I¡¯ll be safe. Don¡¯t worry about me. I have tricks of my own. In fact, youing with me will be riskier. I need you here to keep appearances," Ryder expressed as he shook his head.

    He continued with his thought process, "As long as my Royal Commander is seen publicly often, no one would doubt that I¡¯m not in the pce. For my safety, it¡¯s better for you to stay here."

    "This..."

    "No this or that. It¡¯s my order. You will stay here. That¡¯s final," Ryder interjected without letting Raleplete his words. He didn¡¯t wish to talk about it any longer.

    "As Your Highness wishes," Rale bowed as he epted themand respectfully.

    "That¡¯s better," Ryder acknowledged.

    ¡¯Why do I feel like I¡¯m forgetting something?¡¯ he soon thought. He was feeling as if he needed to talk about something else as well, which he had decided before. It was only now that he forgot it.

    "Oh right, there¡¯s one more thing," he let out as he remembered what it was about.

    "Miku," he called out.

    "Yes, Your Highness," Miku responded instantly without a moment of dy.

    "I told Miyali that she should get fighting training from you. I left the decision to her. If shees to you for help, train her in the ways of a warrior. Also, teach her how she should use her powers better," Ryder told Miku.

    "To train her?" Miku asked.

    "Yeah. I don¡¯t think there is any risk in training her. She won¡¯t lose control any longer. Even if she loses it, you and Rale will be here to control her," Ryder answered.

    " Also, we need her to be able to defend herself and the others in case we are ever under attack. She is a hybrid. She can be of great help to us. Not training her would be stupid," he continued.

    "Ah, Yes. If she asks, I will train her as one of our own," Miku epted, but she also expressed her concern. "But I believe Master Rale can help her more in training."

    "Rale can train her better, but he needs to train the Royal Guards first. I want all the Royal Guards to be stronger. I don¡¯t want to divert his attention to too many things. Times are uncertain. We need to be as strong as we can," Ryder answered as he stood up.

    "Anyway, now that I am going to the Death Domain, I need the clothes to seem like one of them. We have some, right? Bring them to me. It¡¯s time I start preparation as well."

 Chapter 453 Accepted

    <h4>Chapter 453: epted</h4>

    Miku instantly left the hall to bring things Ryder might need, leaving only Rale behind with Ryder.

    As she stepped out of the hall, she saw Miyali standing at the door.

    Miyali had stood there, waiting for Ryder since the moment the High Dukes left to tell him about her willingness to train.

    "Miyali, do you need something here?" Miku asked curiously.

    "Ah, yeah. I wish to meet him to tell him something," Miyali answered.

    "Oh, he is free right now. You can go in, I suppose," Miku told Miyali.

    "Anyway, he told me about your training. Do you actually ept to be trained?" She inquired further.

    "Ah," Miku was surprised that Ryder already told her about it.

    "Yes. I am ready. That¡¯s what I wished to tell him as well," she continued further.

    "Oh, good. We can start training from tomorrow. I look forward to training you," Miku responded. "Anyway, I should get going now. I have to prepare for his highness¡¯s departure as well."

    "His departure? Is he leaving again?" Miyali asked, surprised.

    "Yeah. He is leaving again. His trip this time might be long as well," Miku surmised before she left.

    Miyali stood at the entrance for a long time, simply lost in thought about the possibility of not seeing Ryder for a long time.

    "She didn¡¯t like that. She didn¡¯t know why but from the moment she saw Ryder, there was some part of her that made her feel close to him. She didn¡¯t understand it herself but it was as if there was some old connection between them.

    She felt at peace when she was with him and felt sad when she didn¡¯t see him for a long time. She wished to understand what it was about herself, but she didn¡¯t. There seemed to be some unknown element that she couldn¡¯t ce her hand on.

    After quite some time, she shook her head as he tried to stop thinking about it. She even patted both her cheeks lightly to get her out of it.

    After taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open slightly.

    Even before she could ask for permission to enter, Ryder noticed her. "Miyali, why are you standing outside? Come on inside."

    Miyali opened the door even more and stepped inside.

    "Did you need something?" Ryder inquired softly.

    "Ah, Yes. I came to talk about what you said recently." Miku nodded her head.

    "Oh, about that. Good. So, did you think about it already? What¡¯s your decision? Do you wish to train? Or you don¡¯t?" Ryder asked softly.

    "I ept. If this is a way in which I can¡¯t help this ce and atone for what I did, I ept. I wish to be helpful any way I can," Miyali acknowledged in full seriousness.

    "Awesome. I¡¯ve already told Miku about it. She can train you. Just tell her you agree to be trained." Ryder stood up from his throne with a pleasing look on his face to see Miku agree.

    "Alright. You can get back to work now," he told Miyali as he reached her.

    He walked out of the Hall. Rale followed behind, not even asking where Ryder was going.

    As Ryder left the hall, Miyali remained alone inside. She simply stood there as if she didn¡¯t know what to do. She felt like something was not right.

    Ryder left the pce with Rale. The guards who stood outside greeted Ryder respectfully.

    "I wish to take a walk in our Royal City. It¡¯s been quite some time since I actually saw it. I heard there is a pretty neat marketce. Come, we¡¯ll take a short trip while we¡¯re free. Let the city see the glory of their Prince and make sure that I¡¯m actually here. So no one suspects that I have gone somewhere else," Ryder told Rale as he flew into the air alone.

    He was able to fly for longer than two hours now because of his level being higher. This made him not need Rale¡¯s help since he was only going to fly for a short distance.

    His cloak flew in the air behind him as he flew against the flow of air. He wasn¡¯t wearing a crown at the moment. It was in his inventory.

    But he still looked glorious even without the crown because of the special boots, the robe that was given by the High Dukes. His Royal Clothes made him seem even better.

    Rale closely followed behind Ryder. As they were going nearby, he didn¡¯t feel like there was a need for more guards. He alone was enough.

    Ryder and Rale soon reached a cross-section at the most famous crossing in the main market of the Royal City. It was a ce that had most of the famous shops in the Royal City.

    He had not walked through the Royal City previously. He had walked through a few cities and met up with people when he was on the trip to roam the duchies. But he still hasn¡¯t walked through the Royal City.

    He did see the citizens of the Royal City right after his coronation, though.

    As Ryder and Ralended in the middle of the crowded ce, the entire ce went silent. All the eyes ended up on him as the citizens recognized them.

    The citizens recognized Ryder and Rale.

    They instantly dropped to their knees in the form of respect and bowed their heads.

    Ryder roamed his gaze over the people on the street. Only Rale and Ryder could be seen standing.

    [Intimation activated]

    Ryder instantly activated his intimation skill to have an intimidating aura around him.

    "You can stand," Ryder said casually. Even though he talked normally, because of his intimation, he sounded much more dignified.

    Unfortunately, the citizens were much higher level than him, so the skill could only have the effect of making him seem dignified.

    After hismands, the people stood up, but their gazes didn¡¯t leave Ryder.

    "You guys can continue doing what you were doing. I¡¯m just here to take a walk and see the city," Ryder further said.

    His words weren¡¯t as effective this time, though. At Least not as much as he had hoped.

    The citizens did get back to their work, but it was evident that they were much more interested in Ryder. Their gazes never left Ryder.

    Ryder could only sigh and regret his choice of not disguising himself beforeing here. If he had done so, he might be able to have a better experience.

    "Is there an essory shop nearby?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Treasure essory or just the fashion ones? There are many of both types," Rale inquired in return.

 Chapter 454 Nature Fairy

    <h4>Chapter 454: Nature Fairy</h4>

    "I have things that are already attracting so much attention. I don¡¯t need things to make me look even more noticeable. essories that are for fashion are useless. I want something that I can use for my advantage," Ryder answered to Rale¡¯s query as he cleared his desire.

    "I think I know just the right ce," Rale acknowledged as he nodded. "It¡¯s in this direction."

    He told Ryder the direction to walk in while taking the lead, and Ryder followed.

    Everyone on the street moved to the side to clear the path for Ryder and Rale.

    The street that was filled a moment ago seemed entirely empty now as people stood on the opposing sides of the road.

    An ancient-looking building stood near the end of the marketce.

    "This is a ce which is most famous for selling the treasured essories," Rale introduced the shop to Ryder as he walked towards the ss door of the shop. He pushed the door open and held it open for Ryder.

    "It looks good," Ryderplimented as he entered the shop. His hands were behind his back.

    After Ryder entered, Rale also stepped inside.

    "Hmm? High Duke Eston¡¯s portrait? And my Master Salem¡¯s portrait beside him? I understand why someone will have their Emperor¡¯s portrait, but why to have the portrait of only one High Duke and not all?" Ryder asked curiously as he noticed the two portraits on top of the wall.

    The portrait of Salem seemed to be higher, while the portrait of High Duke Eston was lower.

    "This is a shop which belongs to the family of High Duke Eston. That¡¯s why his portrait is here. We ced it over there as a form of respect to the owner," a voice fell over Ryder¡¯s ears.

    Ryder looked left and saw a woman walking towards him. The woman seemed like she was in her thirties. She was wearing a long yellow gown.

    "Greetings to Your Highness," She continued as she dropped to both knees.

    As her gown didn¡¯t allow for her to get down on one knee, she had to get down on both her knees, or it would be considered disrespectful.

    "Greetings to the Royal Commander," she said as she greeted Rale as well.

    "You may stand," Ryder responded as he proceeded towards the wall where many bracelets could be seen.

    The girl stood up and walked behind Ryder.

    "Are you the only one here? You manage this shop alone?" Ryder asked the girl. She seemed to be the only one here.

    "I¡¯m not the only one. We actually have five more people. Unfortunately, they¡¯re all sick today. That leaves only me to handle," the girl answered respectfully.

    "Why didn¡¯t you ask High Duke Eston¡¯s estate to send more people for help? It¡¯s not like he wouldck people there. It¡¯s also his business, after all," Ryder asked curiously.

    "There is no need for that. The five of us who handle this shop are experienced. Just for one or two days, if we ask for help from inexperienced people, it would be less helpful. So we didn¡¯t ask for help. I¡¯m fully able to handle the shop alone," the girl answered.

    "Oh?" Ryder turned back and gazed at the face of the girl. "What is your name?" he asked.

    "I am Kia," the girl answered respectfully.

    "So, Kia. What will you do if, right now, another person steps inside the shop? Will you keep them waiting while you help us?" Ryder inquired with a curious look on his face.

    He shook his head before he shifted his focus back to the essories. "As I said, one person, to handle such a big ce, it¡¯s not good for you. Well, it¡¯s your wish. I won¡¯t force you."

    The girl also didn¡¯t stay behind as she answered instantly, "When Your Highness is here, even nobles would think twice before entering this ce, let alone normal people."

    This was an answer which Ryder didn¡¯t expect. It surprised him a little.

    "I want some treasure essories. What do you have that can be good for me? I need something diverse and useful," he told the girl.

    "Oh, we have many incredible treasures. Let me show you some of our best pieces," the girl asserted as she walked back towards a shelf.

    "Hmm?" Ryder looked back in confusion. He thought she was going to show something from the items on the wall, which Ryder was observing already, but she was showing something else entirely?

    "The items on the wall are the worst items in the shop. They are cheap and formoners whoe here to buy. The special items are kept in the back," Rale exined to Ryder as he noticed his confusion.

    "Oh, so that¡¯s what it is," Ryder muttered as he understood. He looked at the girl who came back with a small box in her hand.

    She ced the box on the table, which was near the wall. "These are the most precious treasures that are avable here. I¡¯m only allowed to show these when someone from the highest ranks of nobilityes here. No one less than the Dukes is allowed to possess these items."

    "Interesting. Items that are reserved for High Dukes and above." Ryder observed the box, which seemed like a normal box. There was nothing strange about the box.

    It seemed to be made of normal wood as well.

    "Shouldn¡¯t these special items be kept in some special-looking box?" He asked the girl.

    Rale brought his face near Ryder and whispered in his ears, "This box only looks old. It¡¯s made from the most special mystical wood."

    He made sure to speak in a low voice so that the girl wouldn¡¯t hear. He knew that Ryder wasn¡¯t from this ce. So it was not strange that he thought of this box as a useless box.

    Rale could have answered openly, but that would be like showing Ryder didn¡¯t know such basic things before a stranger who didn¡¯t know where Ryder was from.

    After informing Ryder, Rale returned to his original position and got back to damage control.

    "Your Highness is right. It would be fascinating to have these items in some special looking back to improve the presentation. Even though Mystical wood is good, its looks are average. I agree with Your Highness," he said to make it seem like that was what Ryder meant.

    "I would suggest this to Master," the girl acknowledged their concern.

    She opened the box and revealed the things that were inside, but as Ryder and Rale were standing farther from the box, they didn¡¯t see.

    "Let¡¯s start with one of the most precious items even amongst this box," she let out as she brought an item outside. It was a silver bracelet that had a green wings pattern.

    "This is the Nature Fairy Bracelet which is contributed to our collection by High Duke Eston himself. He had received it after he helped a Nature Fairy during his younger days. The fairy gifted him this bracelet as a form of thanks," Kia informed Ryder about the bracelet.

    ¡¯Nature fairy? There is a myth about the nature fairies in the world of Divinity. It was expected that I¡¯d hear about their lore inter stages of the game. Albeit it is just now that I see something rted to them,¡¯ Ryder thought as he observed the bracelet.

    He reached out his hand towards the bracelet to take it in his hand.

    Usually, the girl wouldn¡¯t have let anyone else touch the bracelet, but it was the Prince of the Demon Realm. It would be preposterous for her to even think about stopping Ryder. She gave the bracelet to him.

    As Ryder took the bracelet and ran his analysis on it, he could see more about the bracelet.

    [Name: Nature Fairy Bracelet]

    [Grade: Epic Grade]

    [Description: A bracelet made by the fairy queen of the Nature Fairies. It is said only to be given to the most high ranking Nature Fairies as a gift by the Fairy Queen for certain achievements]

    [Stats]

    [HP: +25000

    MP: +5000

    Strength: +1000

    Defense: +1000

    Speed: +200

    Dexterity: +50

    Stamina: +700

    Intelligence: +20]

    [Special Ability: Invisibility for one minute

    Cooldown time: 24 hours]

    ¡¯Incredible. These stats are definitely not bad. Did Eston actually save the Nature Fairy Queen in his younger days since she makes it? Or he saved some other high-ranking fairy that received it as a gift? In any case, he was definitely lucky,¡¯ Ryder thought as he observed the status.

    "It evenes with an Invisibility skill. The duration of skill is not high, but it¡¯s a very useful skill," he muttered softly.

    "As expected of Your Highness. You managed to see what¡¯s so special about it without me even telling," the girl said as she nodded her head, seemingly impressed.

    "That¡¯s right. This bracelet gives the wearer ability to go invisible," she continued.

    "It¡¯s definitely a good item. How much is it worth?" Ryder asked right away. He hadn¡¯t expected that he would be impressed by the first item itself.

 Chapter 455 Stupid Trail

    <h4>Chapter 455: Stupid Trail</h4>

    "It¡¯s worth 5 Million Gold," Kia told Ryder when he asked for the price of Nature Fairy Bracelet.

    "Rale, We have the money, right?" Ryder asked Rale. He was the Prince, he should have the money, but he decided that it was better to be certain.

    "Yes, Your Highness. The treasury at the Royal Pce can cover everything," Rale answered.

    ¡¯Incredible. This is so overpowered. When the real-world money system is activated, people would be able to convert their real-world money to in-game money. Still, they would have to spend millions to have enough to buy the items. I, on the other hand, got this treasury without doing anything?¡¯ he was amazed to know how much money he had. It was incredible, after all.

    "There is a limitation, though. As a Prince, you can only use up to ten million gold coins every six months," Rale continued.

    ¡¯Ten million, huh. So I¡¯m a millionaire in the game without having to do anything. That¡¯s still incredible. I can buy two of these items easily. And this is only the limitation until I finish the Kingship Trial. After I finish, I won¡¯t have to worry about anything.¡¯ Ryder gazed at the bracelet in his hand.

    "I¡¯m taking this. You can collect the money from the Pce. Or I¡¯ll send someone with the money," Ryder told the girl before he wore the bracelet in his left hand.

    [Nature Bracelet Equipped]

    [Invisibility Unlocked]

    [Please read more for description]

    A screen opened in front of him, but he ignored it since he already knew what it was.

    "You must be jesting, Your Highness." the girlmented as she seemed to be taken aback.

    "Why? Do you think I would default and not pay?" Ryder inquired in confusion.

    "Of course not. I can¡¯t even dare to think that. What I meant is that you¡¯re the Prince. There is no way we would take money from you. You can take this bracelet for free. That¡¯s what I meant," the girl rified.

    "Oh." Realizing that he misunderstood her, Ryder was somewhat embarrassed, but he didn¡¯t let it show on his face.

    "Thank you for the kind offer, but I can¡¯t let you do this. It¡¯s High Duke Eston¡¯s ce. Even if I pay, the money will go to a good ce," Ryder insisted on paying now that it was one that.

    It was about reputation. He could get it for free, but he didn¡¯t wish to have that. Money was going to be a fleeting thing once he became the Emperor. How could he let people talk about him not paying what he owes? His reputation was going to suffer if people got to know about it.

    "But..."

    "No, but. This is mymand. Now show me the other artifacts. I seem to have room for one more," Ryder didn¡¯t even let the girl continue her words before he stopped her and changed the topic.

    Kia could only give up, seeing that she had no choice. It was themand of the Prince. She knew that High Duke Eston was going to be upset after knowing that she took money from him. At Least she had an excuse now. And she did try. There is nothing more that she could do.

    She turned back to the box and brought the next item out of it.

    It was a ring this time. The ring seemed to be made of gold, but it had a mysterious stone ced inside it which acted as the jewel of the ring.

    The stone was green in color, but there seemed to be a blue illusory mist around it.

    "This is the Ring of Blue Sea. Another incredible artifact that is made by the hobbits during the old times," Lia told Ryder. "It is said to be from the time when His Majesty Salem was still a youngster. Its history is also fascinating."

    "It is said that the Hobbit King came to visit His Majesty Draia at that time. When he happened to enter the Throne Room, His Majesty Draia was in the ce with his son. The son was none other than His Majesty Salem, who was still young," she continued.

    "He offered to pay His Majesty Draia anything in exchange for help, but His Majesty Draia refused to take anything else in return when agreeing to help," she said.

    "Impressed by this selfless will to help them, the Hobbit King kept His Majesty Draia¡¯s words and didn¡¯t insult him by offering anything in return. Instead, he gave His Majesty Salem this ring as a gift for their first meeting from an adult to a kid."

    "His Majesty Draia didn¡¯t stop His Majesty Salem from taking the ring. That¡¯s how this precious ring of Hobbit King ended up in the hands of His Majesty Salem."

    "His Majesty Salem wore this ring throughout His Young life. He only took it off five years after he became the King. And that too when he gifted this ring to the Previous Royal Commander."

    The girl seemed to bepletely immersed in the story as she told it. Ryder also found this fascinating. The ring ended up in the hand of such high-profile people. First the Hobbit King, then the Demon King, and then the Royal Commander?

    "Wait a minute!" Ryder suddenly eximed as he thought of something. He gazed at Rale with surprise written on his face.

    "The previous Royal Commander, wasn¡¯t that your father?" he asked.

    "That¡¯s right. He was. And I recognize this ring. My father had the ring," Rale acknowledged.

    "Strange. How did it end up in this ce then? Did your father really sell the ring that was given to be by the King? That doesn¡¯t seem unlikely. I don¡¯t think he would have given this ring to someone else either. It was a precious gift, after all." Ryder had found the story fascinating so far, but the end confused him. It was as if someone had left the climax of the movie and abruptly ended it.

    "I told you about my father. The Royal Commanders have a rule. When they pass their position to someone else, they are supposed to leave the Demon Realm not to make the bnce of power uncertain. When they leave, they aren¡¯t allowed to take any treasure with them even if it was a gift," Rale answered softly.

    "That was why he donated all his Treasures to this ce," he continued.

    "Strange. Why didn¡¯t he give it to you then? He couldn¡¯t take it, but he should be able to give it to you then?" Ryder inquired.

    "He said I hadn¡¯t proven myself yet. So I wasn¡¯t worthy of the ring. So he gave the ring to High Duke Eston and told him that only someone worthy should take it," Rale answered Ryder.

    "That¡¯s right. High Duke Eston ced the ring here. This is the only treasure in the entire shop that can¡¯t be sold even to Dukes. It can only be sent to the ones who get a medal of bravery," Kia added to Rale¡¯s statement to exin more.

    "Medal of Bravery? What¡¯s that? Am I allowed to get that medal to be allowed to get this ring?" Ryder asked. "How can I get that medal?"

    Rale smiled wryly as he shook his head. "You don¡¯t need any medals. You are the Prince. You should be allowed to get this. Even my father would have given this to you if you were here during his time."

    "As for the medal of bravery, it¡¯s a medal of achievement that is given by High Dukes and the Royals to the ones they deem to have given extraordinary service to this Empire," he continued.

    "Royalty? So I can give this to you?" Ryder asked.

    "You can," Rale answered. He understood what Ryder was thinking about, so he immediately rified. "But I haven¡¯t done anything. You shouldn¡¯t even consider what you¡¯re thinking."

    "Yeah. It would be a hassle and would take a lot of time. I¡¯m leaving tonight, so I don¡¯t have time either," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    "It¡¯s fine. I am allowed to buy it. That¡¯s enough. How much is it worth?" He asked Kia.

    "No money was set for it. It¡¯s free as long as the person satisfies the criteria to get it," Kia told Ryder as he extended her hand towards Ryder, which held the ring.

    She was already sure that Ryder was going to ask for it.

    "Good. I¡¯m taking this," Ryder took as he took the ring.

    [Ring of Blue River received]

    [Item Grade: Mystical]

    [Description: The Treasure Ring of the Hobbits made by the Hobbit King during his ruling days]

    Ryder went through the stats of the ring, which was surprisingly more or less the same as the bracelet that he had purchased for 5 million. It also had a special ability in it. The special ability was somewhat useless for Ryder, though.

    It allowed a person to be able to lock in on another person so they could be found easily in case they are lost and sense when the person was in life-threatening danger.

 Chapter 456 Divine Oracle Alice

    <h4>Chapter 456: Divine Oracle Alice</h4>

    ¡¯What¡¯s wrong with everyone. Why would someone add such a stupid ability in a ring-like that?¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    ¡¯I should choose something else that has a better ability. I have a limited number of essory slots that can be equipped, after all. What should I do? It would be embarrassing if I returned the ring wore by Salem for being useless,¡¯

    He walked back and forth as he fell in deep thought. He understood that it was a bad idea to use this item. He only had the slot of one more item after he equipped the Crown, Wind Shoes, and the robe that were given by High Dukes.

    That wasn¡¯t even counting the bracelet of Immortality that was upying the permanent slot that he couldn¡¯t remove. He could only equip one more essory, and this seemed not to be worth it.

    The problem was how he should get rid of it after finding its history.

    ¡¯Wait a minute... This ability, it can be useful. Why didn¡¯t I think of it before!¡¯

    Ryder looked back at Rale as he smiled subtly.

    "Rale," he called out.

    "Yes, Your Highness?" Rale responded respectfully.

    "Your father didn¡¯t give you this ring because he said you hadn¡¯t earned it. I seem to believe you all the rights a person can have. You shall wear it," he said as he reached out his hand towards Rale.

    "This... But Commander Rale didn¡¯t satisfy the criteria of having a medal of bravery," Kia pointed out as she tried to stop Ryder.

    Ryder gazed back at the girl with a clever look on his face as he said, "You seem to be forgetting something really important, little girl."

    Even though the girl seemed older than him, he still called her little girl, which was a force of habit from his real life.

    "Hmm?"

    Not only Kia but even Rale seemed confused.

    "The criteria is for you people selling it. As you said, I satisfy the criteria. So I took it from you. From this point onwards, your responsibility is over, and I¡¯m the owner of this ring," Ryder exined to the girl.

    "I don¡¯t need to follow your criteria to decide who I can give my thing to," he said before he looked back at Rale. "Come on, take it."

    "Your Highness, I am not worthy of it," Rale told Ryder as he took a step back.

    "Are you going to ignore mymands?" Ryder inquired as he squinted his eyes.

    "As for your worthiness, that¡¯s for me to decide. You have helped me so much throughout thick and thin. You even fought so bravely against the intruders from the Death Domain. Your contribution to my life is a lot more than I could have hoped. Here, take it," Ryder told Rale as he smiled.

    Rale looked at Ryder nkly while he reached out his hand and epted the ring. It was the first time Ryder had seen some wetness in Rale¡¯s eyes which amazed Ryder.

    Did rale be so emotional from this small gesture?

    [Congrats: You have achieved the hidden requirements of absolute loyalty. Royal Commander will be absolutely loyal to you even when you go against thew or against this Empire]

    A notification appeared on a semi-transparent screen in front of Ryder. Reading that only startled Ryder.

    ¡¯A hidden Criteria? Absolute Loyalty of Rale even to the point where he can betray the Empire for me? Amazing. So there are criteria like this sprinkled throughout. I didn¡¯t expect that,¡¯ Ryder thought as he finished reading the system notification from the game.

    That wasn¡¯t all. After he closed the screen, more notifications started popping up in continuation.

    [Hidden Criteria of Quest of Salem fulfilled]

    [Salem ss Upgrade Quest is Avable]

    [Quest: Secret]

    [You can only read the details of the quest after you ept the quest]

    [Failing the quest after epting will result in your failure in Quest of Salem. You¡¯ll lose all further ss quest]

    [Would you ept the ss Upgrade Quest]

    [Yes]

    [No]

    ¡¯Hmm, A secret quest that I can¡¯t even read? How can I decide if it¡¯s worth epting or not in case this is some disaster? The failure will limit me from getting further rted quest.¡¯

    The information about the quest made him uncertain. He would have epted in a heartbeat if there wasn¡¯t a thing about the oue of failure.

    "Your Highness, I would like to thank you for this great honor. I, Rale Akazer, pledge my full allegiance once again." Rale¡¯s Voice brought Ryder out of his daze.

    Ryder watched Rale sitting on his knees.

    "I know how loyal you are, Rale. You don¡¯t have to pledge anything," Ryder answered as he smiled. "You may stand."

    Watching Rale¡¯s determination and support gave Ryder more motivation.

    ¡¯That¡¯s right. Why am I even worrying about it? I have Rale and everyone else. Why do I have to be scared of a simple quest.¡¯

    He pressed Yes on the screen and epted the quest.

    [Quest: Be the King of Death Domain]

    As Ryder epted the quest, what it was, got revealed before him, which was enough to shock him thoroughly. Just what kind of quest was it? Was this system of the game malfunctioning?

    How can he be told to be the King of a realm which literally hated him? He was not only the soon-to-be king of the Demon Realm, which was an eternal enemy of this ce.

    It wasn¡¯t as simple as bing the Prince of this ce to be the King there. He knew that if he tried to swim in two boats, he was going to drown, but he had epted the quest. There was no going back unless he wanted to lose all future opportunities.

    ¡¯War? I can wage war. The quest didn¡¯t say that I must be their King with their will. If I wage a war and win over them, I¡¯ll be the King of both ces. They should satisfy the criteria of Salem,¡¯ he thought of a way that made it possible to achieve it.

    But he knew that there was still a problem.

    Was it really possible to achieve it? He didn¡¯t see his probability of sessfully getting it done even with war. Those people would all be willing to die before epting their enemy race as their King. And would he even be considered a king of the Death Domain if it¡¯s just barrennd?

    That was something that he could only leave to possibility. The thing to do now was bing the King of Demon Realm by finishing the Kingship Trial.

    Rale stood up after Ryder¡¯smand.

    "Show me other items," Ryder told Kia to show him more. He had one more slot for an essory. And he wanted to find something which really offered him the best support.

    "Oh, right. Rale, I forgot to tell you something about that ring."

    While Kia turned back to the back, Ryder started talking to Rale.

    "This ring has a special ability where you can lock onto one person. When you do that, you¡¯ll know when the person is in danger. I want you to use that ability on me after wearing that ring. Through that, you¡¯ll know when I¡¯m in life-threatening danger," he told Rale.

    "When that happens, you can bring High Dukes to help me. In this way, it can act as a homing beacon."

    This was also one of the reasons Ryder decided to give this to Rale. He wanted to die as little as possible for certain reasons. This special ability of the ring was useless for him, but it was something that gained much more importance when it was used by someone else for his Protection.

    "That¡¯s right. This way I don¡¯t have to worry about you. I can be there when you need me," Rale eximed. He was fascinated. Why didn¡¯t he think of this before?

    He hurriedly wore the ring and used the ability on Ryder.

    [New ss Upgrade Quest unlocked]

    [Quest: Use your army to take over the Demon Realm]

    [After finishing the quest, your special ss will be further upgraded]

    [Failure to finish the quest will result in all further quests being locked]

    [Would you like to ept]

    [Yes]

    [No]

    "How did I even end up here? What is this war quest? Why is this game so weird? I thought it would be a fun adventure. Why does this seem so stupid?"

    A girl was standing in front of a semi-transparent screen that was showing her a quest.

    She was wearing an adventurer attire.

    A confused look was on her face as she gazed back and forth between the screen and the hundreds of people that were lying on their knees before her, chanting, "Long Live the Divine Oracle Alice!"

    "Fine. If this means I can be a High-Level yer and surprise him, I will finish this quest," the girl muttered as she made a determined face.

    Reaching out her finger, she tapped on [Yes]

 Chapter 457 Departure

    <h4>Chapter 457: Departure</h4>

    Ryder went through more of the essories in the pce before he selected his second item. It was also a ring, but it didn¡¯t have a special history like the Hobbit Ring.

    It also had some statscking, but Ryder still liked it mostly because of its abilities.

    This ring was much cheaper than his bracelet as well. It only cost him three million coins.

    "This would be all. Send someone to the Pce to collect the money. Rale will handle the stuff. Alright?"

    The girl wanted to say no since it was better not to take the money from Ryder, but she couldn¡¯t do anything. In the end, she could only agree. "Yes, Your Highness."

    "Good girl." Ryder nodded in acknowledgment before he turned back and left the ce.

    There were still many people outside who were looking at him, but he ignored them all. Instead, he looked towards the sky.

    "A lot of time has passed. We should be getting back to the Pce," Ryder told Rale. He had told High Duke Oris toe in the evening, and it was almost that time.

    He flew into the air and shot straight towards the ce. Rale also did the same, but he made sure to control his speed enough to be behind Ryder.

    Ryder and Rale soon reached the Pce.

    "Did High Duke Oris arrive?" Ryder asked the guards at the entrance.

    "Since he left in the afternoon, he hadn¡¯t returned," the guards answered Ryder as they opened the doors for him.

    Ryder and Rale stepped inside the pce and walked straight to the throne room where Miku was supposed to be with the bag, which Ryder was going to carry as per hismands.

    As they entered the throne room, the two of them found it empty. "She¡¯ste?"

    "I¡¯m so sorry for beingte. It took some time to find the clothes."

    Right then, a voice came from behind. Turning back, the two of them saw Miku walking inside with a bag in her hand.

    "It¡¯s fine," Ryder told Miku calmly. "Leave the bag here and get out."

    "Your Highness?"

    Even though Ryder¡¯s expression seemed calm, his words seemed sharp. Was he angry? Why was he telling her to leave?

    "Did I do something wrong?" Miku asked.

    "You duffer, I didn¡¯t mean it like that. I meant to leave for now so I can get dressed. I need to get ready to leave. You don¡¯t wish for me to get dressed before you, right?" Ryder asked as he smiled wryly.

    "Oh, right."

    Miku¡¯s face turned red as she heard Ryder¡¯s reasoning. Hearing his words, a visual of Ryder changing clothes before her also appeared in her head, which embarrassed her even more.

    To hide her face, she instantly turned back as she left. She didn¡¯t forget to close the door behind him.

    Even though Miku had left, Rale was still left behind.

    "Rale?"

    Ryder let out softly.

    Understanding Ryder¡¯s words, Rale also started leaving. "It¡¯s fine. You¡¯re a guy as well. You don¡¯t have to leave. Just turn back, and that would be fine."

    Rale did as he was told and made his back face Ryder.

    Ryder walked towards the bad that Miku had brought. Opening the bag, he saw old-looking clothes inside.

    The Demon Realm had many spies in the Death Domain who collected a few items, which they brought back with them when they returned. All the new items were given to the Pce while the used items were kept by them.

    These clothes were also brought back by them. The clothes seemed rather ordinary but darker. He had seen a few people wearing simr clothes when he had gone to the Death Domainst time. He was certain that these were their clothes.

    He took the Wind Boots that were given to him by High Duke and kept them in his inventory. He didn¡¯t use such things there. The same was done to the robe. One by one, he took off all the equipment from his body that he worest time he went to the Death Domain.

    These identified him as someone from the Demon Realm. He only kept the ring and the bracelet that he had purchased recently.

    The Bracelet of Immortality was also something he couldn¡¯t take off. Fortunately, this was not a defining treasure of Demon Realm. The only few people who had seen this bracelet in his hand were the Prince of the Death Domain and a few Death Envoys.

    As they were all going to be near their Royal Pce, he needed to be careful. He had decided to wrap the bracelet of immortality in an old-looking cloth. He also changed the clothes. The rest of the clothes he kept in his inventory.

    "I¡¯m done. You can turn back."

    Hearing Ryder¡¯smand to turn back, Rale did so.

    "How do I look?" Ryder asked as he spread his hands out.

    "These dark clothes don¡¯t suit many people, but as it¡¯s Your Highness wearing them, they look good," Rale praised Ryder.

    "Hahaha," Ryder couldn¡¯t help butugh as he heard Rale¡¯s answer. "I should¡¯ve expected this answer from you."

    "Honestly though, I do like dark clothes but not this dark. I am one haircut away from looking emo," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "Emo?" Rale asked curiously.

    "It¡¯s nothing," Ryder answered. He didn¡¯t wish to exin to Rale what Emo was.

    "Your Highness, are you prepared? High Duke Oris is here!"

    Rale opened his mouth to say something, but a female voice fell into Ryder¡¯s ears first as Miku called out from outside.

    "You cane inside. I¡¯m done!" Ryder answered, keeping his tone high in return to make sure that his voice reached outside.

    The door opened as High Duke Oris stepped inside. Miku followed behind him.

    "You¡¯re prepared. That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s leave. If we go now, you won¡¯t have to look for a ce to stay at night. It¡¯s better to go in now," High Duke Oris said softly.

    "It¡¯s fine. It doesn¡¯t matter. I do have a treasure where I can spend the night. You don¡¯t have to worry about that," Ryder answered to put High Duke Oris at ease.

    "That¡¯s good. Now you can at least be safe at night. Stay alert, though. The ce is much riskier than you thought. In the Trial, I can¡¯t drop you straight at the Royal City. You¡¯ll need to begin from the farthest town on your own. I can only help to get you there. Are you prepared?"

    "I know that. I was told about such things. I made my n ordingly. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be safe," Ryder answered.

    "I have a map using which I¡¯ll go to the Royal City of Death Domain and start my mission... The mission to kill," he continued.

    "That¡¯s good. However, there is one more concern. You need to kill a lot of people. When one of them dies, they will start getting suspicious. The Death Envoys might get involved as well," High Duke Oris informed Ryder.

    Ryder seemed confused. What was High Duke Oris trying to say? These were the things that he knew already. These were so obvious. What was the need to speak again?

    "Think again. You don¡¯t have to be in such a hurry to go there. You¡¯re still young. You have plenty of time. You can get more experienced and a better understanding before you try. For someone like you, ten years are nothing," High Dike Oris said softly.

    ¡¯Oh, so that¡¯s what he was trying to say. He¡¯s getting worried and doesn¡¯t want me to go and risk myself,¡¯ Ryder thought as he understood the hidden meaning behind the words.

    "As I said, I¡¯m fully prepared to go there. And if you¡¯re still worried about my safety, you can rest assured. I am leaving something behind," he answered.

    "If I fail the trial and I am in life-threatening danger, Rale would find out. He will inform you, and you cane to the rescue," he continued.

    "How is that possible?" High Duke Oris asked in confusion.

    Ryder looked at Rale andmanded, "Rale, show him."

    Raising his hand, Rale showed the ring that he had received from Ryder.

    "Ah, the ring... So that¡¯s how. Clever idea. Even though the risk still remains, I can at least put my mind at a little ease," High Duke Oris acknowledged.

    "Alright. Since I am ready, and I have already handled everything, we can leave."

    Ryder stepped towards High Duke Oris and reached out his hand. High Duke Oris caught Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "Are you ready?" He asked Ryder.

    "Best of luck. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll handle everything in my absence perfectly. I¡¯ll be back soon," Ryder told Rale and Miku in a caring tone to leave a decent impression even when leaving.

    "I¡¯m ready."

    As soon as he said that, he disappeared. High Duke Oris and Ryder disappeared from Rale¡¯s view. He wanted to say something back to Ryder, but he didn¡¯t get the opportunity; they left.

 Chapter 458 The News

    <h4>Chapter 458: The News</h4>

    Ryder and High Duke Oris appeared in a forest inside the Death Domain. The light seemed like it was on the cusp of disappearing as the night drew close.

    As soon as Ryder appeared in the ce, he brought a scroll out of his inventory and opened it before High Duke Oris.

    "Your is the map of Death Domain. Where are we on the map?" he asked High Duke Oris.

    High Duke Oris gazed at the man briefly before he ced his hand on one spot in the map. "This is where we are."

    As soon as Ryder saw the spot, a wry smile appeared on his face.

    "You just had to drop me at the farthest edge from the Royal City, didn¡¯t you?" He asked softly.

    If the point where High Duke Oris touched was supposed to be believed, that meant Ryder was as far from the Royal City of the Death Domain as he could possibly be. It only increased his distance that he had to cover.

    ¡¯There are many edges of the Death Domain, but he just had to drop me here,¡¯ he thought as he took another nce at the map.

    "These are the rules. I can do nothing about it," High Duke Oris innocently raised his hand as he rid himself of the responsibility.

    "It¡¯s fine. It just means some extra travel. You can leave now," Ryder let out as he shook his head. It wasn¡¯t worth it to argue with High Duke Oris since he said it was the rule.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll leave now. You already have the map, so you know about the vige nearby. But you won¡¯t need to stay there since you have that treasure. I wish you all the luck. I hope you¡¯ll be sessful and increase our fame even further."

    After finishing what he had to say, High Duke Oris took another full nce at Ryder before he disappeared.

    "Hah, this guy is finally gone. So much for thinking, he¡¯ll drop me somewhat closer," Ryder muttered as he started walking towards the nearest vige.

    It was finally the time for him to be alone in the Death Domain amidst his enemies.

    ording to the map, he only needed to walk for half an hour to get out of the forest and entered the vige, but he didn¡¯t feel like wasting time.

    Since he wasn¡¯t going to stay in the vige, he didn¡¯t need to bother. Instead, he had to go even farther.

    He took out the map once again and saw the direction of the Royal City and nned ordingly about how far he could go to reach there before it was time to log out. He thought of a path with which he could travel without having to go near any of the popted ces.

    It was much safer to fly alone without interacting with anyone since the real trial was going to begin when he reached the Royal City.

    After making the best n of approach, he started rising into the air and shot straight towards the Royal City, avoiding the viges in the path.

    He flew straight for close to two hours before he finally stopped as the time of his ability was almost over. He wanted to save some in case of emergency, so he didn¡¯t use it all.

    The ce where he stopped was a beautiful pond that was shining beautifully. This seemed like a perfect ce to end his journey.

    Hended near the pond, which seemed to have still water. After hended, he noticed that a few bubbles wereing out of the water. "Are there some Fishes in water too?"

    He had to log out, but the bubbles made him curious. Albeit the curiosity onlysted for a few minutes before he decided that it was better to just log out now instead of wait there.

    He opened the system screen to log out, but just as he was about to tap on the logout button, he saw the ripples in the water increase.

    He stopped as he looked back at the water, only to see the ripplesing towards him.

    "Hmm?"

    As the ripples reached the end of the pond, a hand came out of the water. Soon, another hand came out before a head became visible.

    "A girl?" Ryder muttered in confusion as he saw the person.

    It seemed like a girl. The girl pushed herself up, revealing the top half of her body which was not covered in the least.

    Only after she hade halfway out did she open her eyes which revealed her blue pupils before Ryder.

    "Yaaa!"

    As soon as she opened her eyes, a scream left her mouth before she ducked her body inside the water once again.

    "Who the hell are you! How dare you enter this ce??" The girl asked, screaming.

    ¡¯Hmm? How did I get here? Did she find out who I am?" Ryder wondered, misunderstanding her words.

    "Are you deaf?! How did you enter this area! I had sealed the area. No one should have been able to get inside! Who exactly are you?" The girl asked again as she got no response.

    ¡¯Oh, she¡¯s talking about this ce, not the Death Domain. I¡¯m an Idiot to misunderstand that,¡¯ Ryder thought as he smiled wryly. ¡¯But what barrier is she talking about? I saw none on the way. Could it be that the barrier was on the ground? Maybe that¡¯s why I wasn¡¯t affected.¡¯

    While Ryder thought of a reason for not being affected, he was wrong. The barrier was not only covering the ground but the sky as well. The only reason he didn¡¯t feel or see the barrier was because it was only effective against people from the death domain.

    As the girl hadn¡¯t thought of a person from realms infiltrating, she didn¡¯t realize the obvious that was right in front of her.

    "Maybe you made a mistake in creating the barrier. The ce I came from had no barrier. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know you were bathing here. I¡¯ll take my leave now," Ryder let out as he started walking away.

    "You bastard, you think you can leave after seeing me?!" the girl asked Ryder loudly.

    Ryder stopped in his tracks as he turned back. "What are you going to do? Come out of the water and let me see even more?"

    "I already told you that it was an ident. I didn¡¯t even know you were inside. Now that I know, I¡¯ll leave. I have no interest in seeing people nude after all," Ryder let out as he turned back and started leaving.

    The girl watched him leave without saying anything. He was right. If she came out to stop him, he was only going to see more.

    She wanted to let him go somewhat far before she came out to get dressed. She could find the guy after she was dressed. Albeit, she didn¡¯t realize that she wasn¡¯t going to find him.

    Ryder didn¡¯t wish to run away. He only wanted to get out of her view before he logged out.

    "That girl was pretty tough. Not a bad ce," Ryder muttered as he tapped on the logout button

    The world became blurry before it turned ck. Ryder found himself lying on his bed. He opened his eyes only to find Aliceing inside his house.

    "You are up! Good! You need to see this!" She told Ryder in a hurry.

    "Huh? What happened?" Ryder inquired as he stood up.

    "The tv! See what they¡¯re showing. Brother Shu¡¯spany... It¡¯s being sold!" Alice dered.

    "What the heck?" Ryder got off the bed and walked out of the room without even taking time to wash his face.

    He entered the room where the TV was ced. The TV was showing a news channel called CNPC.

    In the program, two anchors could be seen talking amongst themselves. A headline was shown on the bottom of the screen.

    "Dream Corporation to be brought by Necrosis?"

    "Please wee our correspondent Alison who is in front of the headquarters of Dream Corporation. Allison, give us an update on what you managed to find out. And what can you tell is our readers?" The Anchor asked the girl who was being shown on a split-screen now.

    "Jay, I¡¯ve been trying to get a statement from the Executives of the Dream Corporation since the Washington Host published the news about the possibility of the sale. Albeit no one hasmented. Their silence was somewhat telling, though," the girl answered.

    "So they have refused to deny the reports? There is a possibility of this going through. When can we expect the sale to happen? And what reasons do you see for them taking this decision? You¡¯ve been covering them for a long time. Give us some of your theories," the anchor further asked.

    "Jay, from what I know about the Dream Corporation, this decision is pretty shocking. I¡¯m not sure, but it seems like it¡¯s a decision made with the support of all executives and Mr. Maxwell, who owns the Organisation. We haven¡¯t heard any news of any arguments between them."

 Chapter 459 Lied

    <h4>Chapter 459: Lied</h4>

    "So Alison, do you have anything else to share with our readers that can give them more details?" The Anchor asked the girl.

    "There is one more thing, Jay. All the executives are in this building in front of us except Mr. Maxwell. He doesn¡¯t generally show himself except on rare asions, so we believe he mighte here today. If that happens, we would have our confirmation about this sale. We can only wait until then," Alison answered as she closed the mike firmly.

    "If he doesn¡¯te, would that mean there is no sale or that Mr. Maxwell doesn¡¯t agree with it?" Jay asked.

    "That¡¯s right. From what we knew about Mr. Maxwell and the way he handled the story, it seems highly unlikely that he would sell thepany instead of buying necrosis corporation, but that¡¯s where all clues point at. We would have to wait to get more information about these," Alison replied.

    "Thanks a lot, Allison, for keeping our readers up to date with all this. We¡¯ll get back to you soon. Have fun out there."

    The channel stopped showing the visuals of Alison as they returned to focus on the anchor.

    "There, you have it. This news just broke this morning. By the evening, the image should be more clear about the sale and if it¡¯s going through. From the thing we can¡¯t confirm now, let¡¯s take you to something that is confirmed," the anchor let out as the screen started showing the price of Dream Corporation Stocks.

    "This is the stock price right now. The stocks of Necrosis have increased by three hundred Points, increasing their worth massively, whereas the stocks prices of Dream Corporation have also seen a massive jump."

    "The stocks of Necrosis Corporation are being traded one hundred fifty points higher than their usual price. It¡¯s a big day for the business world today. Stay with us to stay up to date."

    "We¡¯ll be right back after thismercial break."

    The News Anchor dered before announcing a break.

    "Do you know what this is about? Wasn¡¯t he out of the country? How is it that hispany is being sold? I remember him talking about it once, saying this is the only thing that he received from his family and that he didn¡¯t want to sell it ever. What happened to him? Why is he selling it?" Alice asked Ryder as he stood behind him.

    Ryder also remembered the moment when Shu had told them. Thispany was precious to him, and that¡¯s why he worked hard. Howe these Bastards were selling it! Was this the reason they kept his death a secret?

    It didn¡¯t matter. He couldn¡¯t let thepany he sold. This belonged to Shu, and now it was his job to keep it safe. It was never to be sold.

    He looked back at Alice and smiled. Don¡¯t worry. Thispany isn¡¯t going to be sold. These must be rumors. Since Shu isn¡¯t here, these rumors are only increasing. If he were here, he would have cleared them instantly.

    "Oh, that must be it. I got worried for nothing."

    Believing Ryder¡¯s words, Alice sighed in relief. She has thought that it was true. She didn¡¯t even consider the possibility of this being a lie.

    "Yeah. Don¡¯t worry. A rumor doesn¡¯t hold any weight," Ryder let out as a fake smile covered his face.

    "That¡¯s better. These idiots, how can they believe such rumors? What nonsense is this?" Alice added as she rolled her eyes. "These news channels are always like this. Jumping the gun on rumors and airing them without verifying. They scared me so much.¡¯

    "So, where are we going today?" She asked Ryder.

    "Nowhere. I just remembered that he has some minor work today. I won¡¯t be able to apany you for now," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "What? But you said that you¡¯d be free."

    "I know. This just came so suddenly. It will only take a day. I¡¯m sorry," Ryder apologized. He didn¡¯t wish to tell her the truth about what he was going to do. So he could only use this excuse.

    As work was important as well, Alice agreed.

    "Fine. Come back fast. And best of luck with your work."

    "That¡¯s like my good girl. I¡¯ll be back soon."

    Ryder walked back into his room and hopped into the shower.

    "Little Shu, I know it¡¯s none of my business, but I won¡¯t let your dream shatter after you did so much for me. It¡¯s time Shu Maxwell returns for this world," he muttered as the droplets of water kept falling over his well-chiseled body.

    After a short show, he left the shower and got dressed after drying his body.

    He left his room. Alice was sitting on the sofa. As soon as she saw him step out, wholly ready, she asked, "Aren¡¯t you going to have dinner either? The room service will be on its way."

    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll eat at work. Those guys should being without eating as well. It¡¯s just the work which is so urgent," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "Eat without me."

    Ryder left the room and entered the lift, which brought him to the ground floor.

    He had already booked a cab to take him to his destination. The cab soon stopped in a ce. It was the same graveyard where Shu was buried, ording to what Ryder knew. He paid the cab before he entered the cemetery.

    He walked straight to the grave of Shu Maxwell in a graveyard that had no security at all.

    He stopped in front of Shu¡¯s grave.

    "I¡¯m sorry, brother. It looks like I¡¯ll have to disturb your eternal slumber. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll bury you back at an even more peaceful ce. Just let me get done with this..." Ryder muttered as he gazed at the tombstone.

    He soon took out a shovel before he started digging the grave.

    Tuck!

    After digging for close to twenty minutes, he finally heard the sound of the shovel hitting something solid.

    "There it is."

    He intensified his digging, and soon, the entire coffin was revealed before his eyes.

    The coffin seemed to be made of pure gold, which made it even heavier; however, Ryder¡¯s strength had increased a lot in thest few days because of the mission and the pills. The coffin felt very light to him.

    Ryder took a deep breath as he prepared himself. Even though he had seen a lot of Dead Bodies, it was the first time he felt intimidated by seeing a body. Watching the person, he knew dead, seemed tough.

    After waiting for a few more moments, he finally gathered enough determination and opened the coffin.

    His n was simple. Using the pill from the system that let him impersonate any person he touched. Even the fingerprints and everything else remained the same in that case. He wanted to use this method to impersonate Shu and stop the sale.

    Who would dare to go against Shu¡¯s wishes? If Shu Maxwell appeared before them, the sale would be stopped, and the name of Dream Corporation wouldn¡¯t disappear.

    That was his n; at least, however, the n went headfirst into the grave as Ryder opened the coffin. A weird expression covered his face.

    "Shu¡¯s body isn¡¯t here? What the heck?!"

    Ryder was shocked to find the coffin empty.

    He remembered Alem¡¯s words, who told him that he himself buried the body of Shu Maxwell in front of others. How was it that the body wasn¡¯t here?

    "That Bastard Alem! He lied to me?! Where is Shu¡¯s body?! That idiot is going to die in my hands for lying about this. I don¡¯t even know where the body of Shu is? He must answer," Ryder let out as he clenched his fist.

    He decided to get the answers from Alem at all cost as he stood up. He didn¡¯t forget to keep the coffin in his inventory. If Alem lied to him again, he was going to throw this golden coffin straight at his face.

    Ryder left the graveyard and took another cab which was to take him to the Dream Corporation Headquarters.

    As he reached the headquarters, he saw many Vehicles of prominent new channels outside who were trying to cover a story.

    The security seemed to be more thanst time to stop these people.

    Stepping out of the cab, Ryder walked straight to the gates.

    "What is your purpose?" The guards asked Ryder.

    "I need to meet Alem. I have an appointment. That girl knows me as well," Ryder let out as he pointed towards the receptionist. It was the same girl he had metst time.

    "Wait right here."

    The girl walked back inside the building and asked the receptionist.

    As the receptionist saw Ryder, she recognized him. He was here just a few days ago afterall to take part in the meetings of the executives. At Least that¡¯s what she thought. As Alem told her to send him to his room, she didn¡¯t think that Ryder was lying.

    "Send him in," she told the guards.

 Chapter 460 Infiltrating

    <h4>Chapter 460: Infiltrating</h4>

    As the woman confirmed him not to be a stranger or a reporter, he was allowed inside.

    Ryder approached the woman and asked, "Alem is upstairs, right?"

    "Yeah. Sir is in his room. Do you have a meeting today as well? Sigh, why am I never told about meetings rted to you? It was the samest time as well. It¡¯s fine. Let me call him to confirm," the woman answered before she picked up the phone to dial Alem.

    "It¡¯s fine. You call him; I¡¯ll use the restroom in the meanwhile," Ryder let out as he smiled innocently.

    "Sure. It¡¯s towards the left," the woman let out as she pointed towards the left side.

    Ryder had hoped for that ce to be close to the lift or the stairs, but it was in theplete opposite direction. Having no choice, he walked away towards the toilet.

    "Hello. Yes, Sir. Mister Ryder is here to meet you again. He says that he had a meeting with you," the woman informed Alem.

    When Alem was informed of Ryder¡¯s, he was sitting in his office. He couldn¡¯t help but stand up, shocked at the information. He remembered how damaging thest visit of Ryder was. He didn¡¯t wish to meet him today.

    As Ryder entered the toilet, he already expected how Alem would answer.

    ¡¯That idiot would certainly tell her to make an excuse to send me away. Too bad for him, I know all tricks of people like him,¡¯ Ryder thought as he stepped inside the toilet. He saw only one person inside the ce who was washing his hand.

    Ryder silently approached the man from behind before he hit the back of the man¡¯s neck, making him lose consciousness.

    The man was a worker in this ce as he had the identity card of dream corporation. This was what Ryder needed. It was a permit to reach Alem.

    After making the man lose consciousness, he tied the man¡¯s hand using his tie before he ced his body inside a stall and closed the door from inside. After closing the door from inside, he jumped outside from the top using his flying abilities.

    He didn¡¯t forget to tie the man¡¯s mouth as well.

    He had changed his looks with the looks of the unconscious man and also switched the clothes. The unconscious man only remained in his underwear now.

    After being done with the preparation, Ryder left the washroom.

    "He is here? Make an excuse. I don¡¯t wish to meet him now. Tell him that I have left. Tell him toe next week. He shouldn¡¯t know I¡¯m still in this building," Alem told the receptionist who had just informed him of Ryder¡¯s arrival.

    The receptionist was increasingly shocked. Alem was more like a stern boss in her head. Why did it seem like he was scared of Ryder? It was not her position to ask more questions to him, so she agreed.

    "Yes, Sir, I¡¯ll send him back."

    After her acknowledgment, Alem disconnected the call.

    Since the woman was given themands to send Ryder back, she started looking towards the washroom in order to wait for Ryder.

    Ryder did walk out of the washroom in front of her eyes, but he was an entirely different person altogether. Ryder was wearing a professional ck suit and ck pants. There was apany identification card hanging on his neck. Only a necktie was missing toplete his professional look.

    As his face was different, the woman didn¡¯t recognize him. He walked to the lift right in front of her eyes and entered the lift. He was taken to Alem¡¯s room using the liftst time, so he knew how to go there.

    The lift made a sound as it stopped on his desired floor. Ryder stepped out of the left and walked towards the left where Alem¡¯s room was.

    There were no guards on this floor as most of the security was on the first floor. Without any trouble, Ryder reached before Alem¡¯s office.

    He looked around to make sure that there were no cameras. Only when he was sure did he cancel the transformation.

    Knock! Knock!

    He knocked on the door respectfully.

    "Who is it?" A voice came from inside, which belonged to Alem. After making sure that it was Alem who was inside, Ryder opened the door and stepped inside.

    "You!"

    Seeing Ryder, Alem hurriedly stood up. Ryder had thought that Alem would try to press the help button, which was on the table. That¡¯s why he has prepared against that as well.

    However, against all expectations, Alem didn¡¯t try anything. He just stood surprised that Ryder had managed to reach that ce.

    Ryder stepped towards Alem as hemanded, "Don¡¯t you dare try anything to call for help. I¡¯m just here for some answers."

    "Sure. What do you want to know?" Alem asked as he gestured for Ryder to sit.

    Ryder pulled the chair back before he sat on it. "Aren¡¯t you going to get me to sign an NDA this time?"

    "There¡¯s no need anymore," Alem answered.

    "Oh, because you¡¯re already selling Shu¡¯spany? It¡¯s toote for anything to go wrong, isn¡¯t it?" Ryder asked.

    Alem didn¡¯t answer this time as he sat down as well.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll get back to my question. I¡¯m here to ask about Shu," Ryder let out. "Where is he?"

    "What do you mean where he is? He is dead. He is in heaven. Where else?" Alem answered carefully.

    "Oh? Heaven, huh. And where is his body?" Ryder inquired further.

    "It¡¯s buried in the graveyard that I told you about. Did you not go to that ce? There¡¯s a big tombstone with his name. His body is inside a fully gold engraved coffin. You should go there and pay respect."

    Alem didn¡¯t seem to be getting a hint.

    "I should go to the Graveyard to pay respect to an empty coffin? Interesting concept," Ryder let outzily as he rolled his eyes.

    Even though he seemed like he hadzily said it, he was still carefully observing Alem¡¯s reaction. As soon as he talked about the empty coffin, he got a strong response from Alem, which made him certain that Alen knew something about it.

    "What do you mean? What empty coffin?" Alem asked as he controlled his emotions, hoping that Ryder hadn¡¯t seen them.

    "Did you really think I wouldn¡¯t know? You gave him the burial yourself, right? So could you exin to me a simple thing? Why is his coffin empty?" Ryder inquired.

    "What empty? If not empty at all," Alem replied.

    "Oh? It isn¡¯t? I might be wrong then. Why don¡¯t youe with me then? We¡¯ll get the coffin out of the ground in front of its eyes. Let¡¯s see how truthful you are," Ryder let out as he grinned.

    That was when Alem¡¯s phone started ringing.

    "Pick it up. If you said anything about me, you know the consequences," Ryder warned Alem while giving him the permission to pick up the phone.

    Alem nodded as he picked up the call.

    "Hello?"

    He only said one word before he went silent. After a few minutes, he continued. " Right away."

    He pushed the phone towards Ryder. "It¡¯s for you."

    "For me? Who is calling me on your number? No one knows I¡¯m here," Ryder let out in confusion, but he still took the phone.

    As soon as he ced the phone on his ear, his mouth opened slightly.

    A familiar voice fell on his ears.

    "Brother, please don¡¯t make things difficult for Alem."

    The voice... Ryder couldn¡¯t forget this voice. It belonged to...

    "Shu?" he eximed in surprise.

    "One and only," Shu answered as he smiled.

    "You are still alive?" Ryder asked as he stood up.

    "Of course I am alive. How else do you expect me to talk to you?" Shu answered instantly.

    "What is this about? Alem told me that you¡¯re dead. Was he joking with me?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "It wasn¡¯t a joke. All the Higher-ups think that I¡¯m dead. Don¡¯t worry; today is thest day of this misunderstanding. Everything will be clear today," Shu replied to Ryder.

    "Also, I have something to tell you," he continued.

    Ryder waited patiently to hear what Shu had to say, but he couldn¡¯t get the smile off his face. Shu was alive. This dumbass was actually alive. He was so happy that the guy didn¡¯t die.

    "I would like to apologize to you. Because of my n, I couldn¡¯t contact you. I didn¡¯t expect you toe here and find out about my so-called death. It¡¯s not true. I didn¡¯t want to worry you unnecessarily, so I told Alem not to include you in this. I¡¯m sorry," Shu apologized to Ryder.

    "You duffer, you could¡¯ve at least messaged me once. I would have helped you in whatever you¡¯re trying to do. Sigh, you really scared me, you know that? I haven¡¯t even told Alice about this yet. You owe her an apology for disappearing like that," Ryder responded.

    "Of course. I would exin everything soon," Shu answered.

 Chapter 461 Entrance

    <h4>Chapter 461: Entrance</h4>

    "Alright. I¡¯ll wait for your exnation. In the meanwhile, tell me how I can help," Ryder with Shu. He wasn¡¯t going to ask everything if Shu wasn¡¯t ready, but he was still free to help.

    "There¡¯s nothing for you to do. Go back and enjoy your time with Alice. Everything is under my control here," Shu replied, sounding confident.

    Ryder went silent as he thought for a little. "Are you sure?" He asked.

    "Absolutely. There is no problem here. It¡¯spletely in my control. In fact, it would be bad for me if you don¡¯t leave Alem¡¯s office soon. The stage is set. I can start as soon as you leave," Shu told Ryder.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll trust you. I¡¯m so d that you¡¯re safe. I¡¯ll wait for you to return," Rydermented before he returned the phone to Alem. He suddenly thought of something as a suspicious look appeared on his face.

    ¡¯Is that really Shu? How can I believe so easily when there are so many people who can copy someone¡¯s voice to perfection. I need to confirm,¡¯ he thought as he suddenly took the phone back from Alem before he could even say something.

    "Shu?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Yes?" Shu answered.

    "The ring is still with your character. You do know that we will fail, right?" Ryder inquired casually.

    "Ah, right. The ring of lexini. I still have to return that. How can I forget that? Don¡¯t worry; I won¡¯t fail the mission," Shu chuckled as he acknowledged.

    A smile formed on Ryder¡¯s face as he confirmed that it was Shu indeed. He nodded as said, "That¡¯s better."

    He returned the phone to Alem before he stood up and left the office.

    He didn¡¯t even bother changing his looks again as he was done with the work.

    The receptionist was still waiting for Ryder toe out of the washroom.

    "Strange. How can he spend so long there? Did he fall asleep? I should get someone to check on him," she muttered as she worried about Ryder.

    She decided to send someone to check on him; however, that¡¯s when she saw Rydering out of the lift from the opposite side. Ryder had kept the identity card in his storage, and he had also changed his clothes in the bathroom on the higher floor. He was in his normal clothes now.

    "W-what? How did he get there?" She let out in shock. She was told to stop Ryder, but he had already gone ahead?

    "You! Come here!" She told Ryder as she puffed her cheeks.

    Ryder walked up to the girl, "Yeah?"

    "How did you get there? Didn¡¯t you go to the bathroom?" The girl asked Ryder.

    "What are you talking about? What bathroom? You told me to go straight up. You even watched me go to the lift. Did you hit your head or something to forget it?" Ryder asked innocently.

    "I did?" the girl asked in confusion. Why did she have no recollection of that ever happening? In fact, she remembered theplete opposite.

    "It¡¯s fine. You must be tired after working for so long. I¡¯ll talk to Alem to get you a paid leave for a few days. Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll be fine after a good rest," Ryder let out as he smiled while patting her head innocently.

    He soon turned back and left the premises.

    The people from the media were still standing outside when Ryder left. He took a cab while ignoring them.

    ¡¯It makes sense why the coffin was empty now. Shu is still alive. But what is it about? It seems to be something rted to the deal with Necrosis.

    While Ryder was going back in the cab, a helicopternded on top of the Dream Corporation.

    Two men who were dressed in ck coats and pants came out of the helicopter. They were greeted by the people from the Dream Corporation, who escorted them to the meeting hall.

    Ring! Ring!

    Alem was in his office when his phone started ringing. He picked up the phone.

    Before he could even say hello, the person on the other side started speaking.

    "Alem, get to the conference room immediately. People from the Necrosis Corporation are here already."

    "I¡¯ming," Alem replied before he disconnected the call.

    "Thus, it begins," he muttered as he stood up. He left his office and went straight to the conference hall.

    Not having anything to do with what happened in Dream Corporation, Ryder reached his hotel room.

    As he got back home, he told Alice that Shu was hoping to return soon and that they talked.

    Now that he was back and iming to be done with his work, he suggested going out with Alice. Alice excitedly agreed without denying.

    The two of them left the hotel soon.

    Drake Lamia was the Managing Director of the Dream Corporation. He had the highest authority after Shu, who was now assumed to be dead.

    He weed the Director of Necrosis Corporation, Rai.

    He was apanied by someone from the army.

    "Wee, Mister Rai. To the ce where we are going to write the history. After the merger, our sess will reach the stars," Drake told Rai, who also smiled in return.

    "Of course," Rai answered as he smiled.

    Drake introduced Rai to the others from the Dream Corporation, including Rai.

    Rai sat on the chair which was beside the chair of Drake as he ced a briefcase on top of the table.

    He opened the briefcase and pulled out a few files, which he pushed towards the members of the Dream Corporation.

    "This is our offer in response to what you asked for. Read it so we can move forward," Rai informed the members of Dream Corporation as he satpletely rxed on his chair.

    There were four people here from the Dream Corporation, including Alem. All four of them picked up the files as they started going through them.

    It took everyone half an hour to go through it.

    Drake was the first one toment on it. "This seems fine. You¡¯ve agreed to all our terms, I believe. We can still optimize it a little more, but it¡¯s good as it is," he said.

    "Yeah. This seems good enough."

    The others also agreed.

    "I have a question." Alem was the only one who raised his voice.

    "Yes," Rai asked casually.

    "What about the regting authority of Dream Corporation? Will they agree to the merger? It¡¯s not a small thing after all," Alem asked.

    "Good question," Rai let out as he smiled. He looked towards his left side, where the second person that came with him was sitting.

    "General Kale, why don¡¯t youment on it?" He asked the man.

    "There is no problem. We already managed to get the permission for the merger. This is the document from the regtory authority that ims that there is nothing wrong if the merger happens," General Kale said as he also brought four files and pushed them towards Dream Corporation members.

    As soon as Alem saw the documents, a smile formed on his face. "Perfect. The regtion authority ims that there is nothing wrong with the possible merger. They can¡¯t go back from their stance now, or we can sue them in the court ofw."

    Drake thought that Alem was talking to himself, but he didn¡¯t know that Alem was talking to someone else through the microphone that was ced inside his shirt.

    As soon as he finished saying it, two helicopters took to the air from nearby buildings, flying straight towards the headquarters of Dream Corporation.

    "Yup. Now that the regtory authority has also permitted it, nothing can go wrong. Should we consider the deal finalized?" Rai asked Drake.

    "I have one more problem with this contract. Point 5a ims that..."

    Alem started talking about small things that he found confusing in the contract. Even though these things were not severe enough to stop a deal, they were sufficient to dy it for a little as all questions needed to be rified.

    Necrosis wanted to buy Dream Corporation throughmon consensus so as to not get any negative publicityter on.

    Rai heard the question of Alem carefully and started answering. It was at that point; two helicoptersnded on top of the Dream Corporation.

    A chubby youngster stepped out of the first helicopter. He was followed behind by a person who seemed like his butler. There were also a lot of guards surrounding him. They entered the building of Dream Corporation and walked towards the conference hall.

    "So that¡¯s it. It¡¯s a small misprint which we¡¯ll clear in the final version. As for point 5b, we will also make the wordings a little clearer so as to not leave any scope of misuseter. You can rest assured," Rai answered with a calm smile.

    "Are there any other questions? Or should we consider it final?" He asked after he finished rifying.

    "I have a question," a voice filled the conference hall as the door opener. A man stepped inside the conference hall with his head held high.

 Chapter 462 Deal

    <h4>Chapter 462: Deal</h4>

    "I have a question," a voice filled the conference hall as the doors opened.

    A chubby man barged inside the conference hall with a confident smile on his face.

    Everyone looked towards the door. The people from Necrosis Corporation didn¡¯t stand up. They didn¡¯t even look shocked as they hadn¡¯t seen this person before.

    The others, however, recognized the person.

    Derek and the others stood up, shocked as they watched the person who had just entered the conference hall. Except for Alem and the people from Necrosis Corporation, the faces of others turned pale. It was as if someone had sucked all the blood from their body.

    "You?" Derek eximed as his mouth remained open.

    The person who had entered was none other than Shu. He was followed behind by a few armored guards and his butler.

    "Derek, it¡¯s surprising. We¡¯re having a party, and I wasn¡¯t even invited?" Shu asked with an amused smile on his face.

    He walked over to Alen with slow steps.

    Derek still had a hard time understanding what was happening. "H-how?"

    "How? Don¡¯t worry. Everything will be revealed soon enough," Shu muttered as he grinned.

    He stopped near Alem and picked up the file that was lying in front of him.

    He read the papers in the file before hemented, "As expected, you got this permission pretty fast. It would have been impossible even for me to get them to give this certificate. In any case, this is going toe in handy. I should thank you a lot."

    "Who is this person?" Rai asked Derek. He was confused. Who was it that had the capacity of stunning the man thoroughly?

    "Oh, I apologize. Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself before guests," Hearing Rai¡¯s question, Shu tapped his forehead lightly.

    "Wee to the Dream Corporation, Mister Rai. I am Shu Maxwell. Pleased to make your acquaintance," he introduced himself respectfully.

    After finding the name of Shu, even the two people from the Necrosis Corporation who had remained sitting also stood up.

    "Weren¡¯t you dead?" Rai asked, seemingly confused. He looked back towards Derek as he inquired, "Didn¡¯t you tell me he was dead and you had the authority of this deal?"

    "Oh, of course, he would say it. It¡¯s not like he left any stone unturned to make that happen," Shu chimed in before Derek could even answer.

    "What are you saying?" Derek asked as he took a step back. His words, what did they implied? Did they know something?

    "Oh, right. Derek. It¡¯s good to meet you after so long. I brought a gift for you," Shu answered while ignoring the question of Derek.

    He ced his right hand in his pocket and pulled out a Pendrive which he tossed towards Derek.

    "Go ahead. Open it," Shu let out with a smile.

    Derek hurriedly inserted the Pendrive into theptop that was lying in front of him.

    As he opened the Pendrive, he found only one folder inside it, titled "Gift."

    He opened the folders, which seemed to contain many documents and footage that made him look even more scared.

    "This! This is a lie!" Derek eximed as he waved his hand innocently.

    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not using you. That¡¯s why we havews. You¡¯re innocent till proven guilty," Shu dered as he smiled. Suddenly his expressions changed as they became sterner. "Unfortunately, that¡¯s not all,"

    He ced his left hand in his other pocket and pulled out another Pendrive which he tossed Derek as well.

    "Open it," he said casually as he pulled a chair behind and took a seat.

    Derek inserted the next Pendrive as well, which had another folder named "Bonanza Surprise."

    As he opened the folder, his mouth opened wide in shock.

    ¡¯H-how did he get these proofs? How? This should be impossible!¡¯ he thought, unable to close his mouth.

    "It¡¯s fine. You can think in prison. Go ahead. Take him," Shumanded as he gazed towards the door.

    As soon as hemanded, police stepped inside the conference hall to handcuff Derek.

    They took Derek outside the conference hall. Derek refused to beg or say anything as he kept his mouth closed. Derek was taken to the police station using the helicopter to protect him from the media at the moment.

    "Alright, gentleman. Let¡¯s begin the meeting. Although Derek is no longer with us, I am here to take care of the deal. My terms are slightly different, though," Shu told Rai before he looked back at the file in his hand, which was the permission. "Fortunately, this makes it easier."

    While Shu had turned the whole deal upside down and removed the Managing Director from his position, the media outside was still unaware of what was happening.

    Ryder, on the other hand, was still outside with Alice, enjoying his time, but he did keep an eye on the news using his phone.

    Unfortunately, the news seemed to know even less than him at the moment. They were still in the phase of conjecture.

    It was only in the evening even the news about the arrest of Derek broke. He was used of trying to kill Shu Maxwell, ording to the police statement.

    " I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t ept your terms. We refused to sell Necrosis," Rai refused Shu¡¯s offer as he stood up to leave. The General who stood beside him also stood up to leave.

    "Are you sure? You gain to lose a lot more than I do," Shu let out as he chuckled.

    His vague wording forced Rai to stop. He turned back as he asked, "What do you mean?"

    "Why will I lose anything?" he inquired.

    "Isn¡¯t it obvious? I am the Victim, Shu Maxwell. The managing director of mypany tried to kill me. There couldn¡¯t be any more proof than I already passed to get him convicted. That leaves you," Shu answered.

    "Why do you think Dream Corporation would sell itself to a smallpany? Unless you had a hand in trying to take me out while paying Derek. As I said, I only need proof to convict him, which I already have. As for the rest, it can only be a vague theory. Just think about the reputation hit you¡¯ll take," he continued.

    "I don¡¯t know about the real consequences, but your share prices will fall while mine will increase. The more you fall, the more I¡¯ll rise. And it¡¯ll be easier for me to buy you. So think again. You have an hour to think." Shu stood up as he also started to leave.

    "Gentlemen, please leave the conference hall to these two. They have a lot to think about," he told Alem and the other Executive Directors who listened to themands like robots.

    "I¡¯ll return after an hour. If you¡¯re still here, we can discuss further. If you left before that, please don¡¯t me me for what happens next."

    Shu left with his team, leaving Rai behind.

    It was in the evening when Ryder returned to the hotel with Alice.

    As soon as he reached the hotel, he called out Shu, hoping to get the call through now that he was back.

    Fortunately, the phone rang this time.

    "Hello," Shu answered as he picked up the call.

    "Are youing to meet us today? I¡¯ll give you the address of the hotel if you are," Ryder told Shu.

    "I can¡¯t today. I promise I¡¯lle back tomorrow. I¡¯m working on a deal with Necrosis. It seems like things might go through," Shu answered. He sounded somewhat pleased.

    "Yeah. I heard about the arrest of Derek. You¡¯re really fine, right?" Ryder asked as he walked back to his room. Alice had already gone inside the washroom to take a shower.

    "Of course I am fine. Not only me but others as well. You can see tomorrow," Shu responded. "Anyway, I¡¯ll go back to work so I can finish fast. I¡¯ll call you in the morning."

    "Alright."

    Ryder disconnected the call before heid in his room. He had already wished goodnight to Alice.

    He wore the Divinity sses and got ready to enter the World of Divinity.

    "Take me to Divinity."

    Ryder appeared where he had logged out. He was still near the pond. "That girl must have left by now."

    Despite being sure, he still remained alert as he slowly walked back towards the pond. Fortunately, the girl was not here in this ce.

    "Good. She left," Ryder muttered as he nodded in relief. He walked closer to the pond and washed his hand to feel the beautiful water before he started walking slowly towards his destination.

    As twenty-four hours hadn¡¯t passed, his limitation on flying hadn¡¯t been removed yet. As he was, he couldn¡¯t fly today and could only watch.

    He walked for twelve hours straight while asionally resting whenever he ran out of the stamina.

    He did the same throughout the day and logged out when it was the night.

    As he woke, he heard the chattering from outside. "Shu?"

 Chapter 463 Return

    <h4>Chapter 463: Return</h4>

    Ryder had juste out of Divinity when he heard the voice of Shuing from outside. He took off the sses and kept that in his inventory before he got off the bed and stepped outside.

    As soon as Ryder stepped into the hall, he saw Shu sitting on the sofa. A cup of coffee was in his hand, which he was sipping casually. Alice sat some distance from him.

    "Why was your phone off? You didn¡¯t even message. Do you know how worried we were?" she asked Shu.

    "I¡¯m sorry. Circumstances were such where I was unable to contact you. I¡¯ll make up for it, though. Let¡¯s go to the Maldives on a two-day vacation with Ryder," Shu told Alice as he smiled apologetically.

    "Maldives? But it¡¯ll take time. Tickets and everything else needs to be arranged. Moreover, we don¡¯t have many days left. College is about to open soon," Alice asked with a concerned look on her face.

    "Don¡¯t worry about anything. You just convince him. As for the trip, I have my private jet. Let¡¯s go there and have some fun. Thest few days have been stressful. I just want to rx for now," Shu let out as he smiled wryly.

    "As for college, I own the damn thing. It¡¯ll stay closed for as long as I want," he continued.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll talk to him," Alice agreed. "He should be up soon."

    "There¡¯s no need to talk. I heard everything. And it does sound like a good idea after all that happened," Ryder chimed in, letting everyone know of his presence.

    "Ah, you¡¯re up," Shu eximed as he stood up. He walked towards Ryder in significant steps as he hugged him firmly.

    "I¡¯m d you¡¯re alive, little guy," Ryder let out in a low voice as he hugged Shu back.

    The hug was not longsting as both of them separated from each other.

    "So when are we leaving?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "I see no reason to dy. We can leave in an hour. I¡¯ll arrange for everything," Shu answered as he nodded his head.

    "That sounds good. Anyway, I want to talk to you about something important. Let¡¯s go outside and have some fresh air while we talk," Ryder told Shu as he stood up.

    "Alright," Shu nodded his head as he left.

    Alice gazed at the both of them suspiciously as they left.

    "You want to know everything?¡¯ Shu asked Ryder as he stepped outside.

    "Yeah. But that can wait. Let¡¯s talk on the roof," Ryder replied as he entered the lift with Shu.

    Both of them went to the roof of the hotel.

    "I didn¡¯t tell Alice about anything. She only knew that you went to work and stopped contacting us. I¡¯m sure you might have already guessed that, though," Ryder told Shu as he stepped on the edge of the roof.

    "Yeah. I realized that." Shu nodded.

    "So tell me what happened. Why did you pretend to be dead? And what¡¯s this about your MD trying to kill you?" Ryder inquired.

    "That¡¯s what happened. I already had some information about Derek scheming to kill me. And I wanted to use that to my advantage. I let him do as he pleased. The proofs kept stocking. Finally, the right time came when he thought he could actually kill me," Shu started exining everything.

    "Anyway, in short, he thought he seeded. And joined up with Necrosis to use this to his advantage. That got him to y right into my hand. Now I have everything I need.

    I have Necrosis at a disadvantage for mixing up with him, and I have a document from the regtory authority, which was the biggest obstacle previously. Every piece of the puzzle is at the right ce," he continued.

    "So you did this because you wanted the merger?" Ryder inquired.

    "Not a merger. I want to own them. I want all the information they have. I¡¯ve been suspicious of them for a long time, and I want to know what they¡¯re hiding," Shu answered as he looked at the clouded sky which had hidden the sun.

    "So did you seed? Are you able to buy them now?" Ryder asked, wondering if it worked.

    "Not yet. I thought I would be able to, but they¡¯re too stubborn. Let¡¯s see what happens. There¡¯s another meeting next week," Shu answered as he smiled wryly.

    "So this was the thing. You could¡¯ve told me before. But I won¡¯t keep it over your head," Ryder acknowledged that there must be some reason behind the thought of Shu.

    He was in no position toin after all the things he kept hidden from the people close to him. If he was in the position of Shu, he might have done the same after all. No one wished to trouble the people who were close to them.

    "Let¡¯s go back," he let out as he started walking back.

    "Thank you for understanding," Shu told Ryder. He paused for a second before he continued, "Also, I am happy."

    "Happy for what?" Ryder inquired as he turned back to look at Shu.

    "To see you concerned for me. It¡¯s been a long time since someone worried for me like that," Shu exined to Ryder as he stepped towards him.

    Both of them went back downstairs. Ryder and Alice started packing bags for the trip that remained ahead of them.

    The three of them got ready in an hour before they departed from the hotel. Shu¡¯s car was already waiting outside for them.

    The three of them stepped inside the car, which took them to the airport where the private jet of Dream Corporation was standing. They entered the jet, which took to air after getting permission to fly.

    The luxury jet seemed beautiful from the outside, but it was even better from the inside. It was the first time Ryder was sitting inside something so luxurious. Alice was also amazed at the sight of it.

    "It¡¯s so fascinating how money can buy so many things," She muttered as she looked around at the interior of the jet.

    "Yeah. Unfortunately, money can¡¯t buy everything," Shu muttered as he gazed outside the window. A few faces shed before his eyes that seemed to belong to his brother and his parents.

    The jet also had a beautiful kitchen that was filled with ingredients and the service staff that served the food for them.

    They were served juice and sandwiches at the start of the journey whereas they were served some heavy food near the end.

    The jetnded at the airport in the Maldives, where another car was waiting to take them to their beach resort.

    The ce where they were staying was nothing less than a beautiful Mansion for the rich, which was facing the beautiful sea. The beach was right in front of the mansion, where a few foreigners could be seen resting.

    The three of them spent the day sitting on the beach as they enjoyed the soothing windsing from the sea.

    "We should go back," Ryder suggested as the sky turned dark.

    "Yeah," Shu and Alice agreed as they stood up.

    The three of them went back inside the mansion. "Don¡¯t forget to return the ring today, or the quest will expire," Ryder reminded Shu before they separated.

    Ryder walked back to his room and once again jumped inside the World of Divinity.

    For the next two days, time kept passing just like that. During the day, they enjoyed the beauty of Maldives, while during the night, Ryder treaded through the Death Domain to reach the Royal City.

    In the meantime, Shu had finished the worst by returning the ring of lexini to the ce it was stolen from.

    Ryder was inside the Death Domain. It was his second andst night before he had to go back home with Alice and Shu.

    He gazed at the map which was in his hand.

    "I should reach the Royal City tomorrow," he muttered as he folded the map again before cing it in his inventory.

    He opened the screen and logged out.

    The sun had just started to rise in the Maldives when Ryder woke up. He took a shower before he got ready to leave.

    The three of them once again went to the airport, where the private jet was ready to take off. Only a few minutes after they entered, the ne took off.

    Ryder and Alice were sitting near each other, excited to get back home after all this time. None of them had any idea that a person was waiting for them eagerly near the mansion.

    Their jetnded at the airport, from where they entered a helicopter which brought them to the mansion.

    A man was staying in a nearby mansion. He was keeping the owners of the mansion hostage as he stayed in that ce. It was the best ce to keep an eye on Maxwell Estate. The man watched a helicopternd inside the Maxwell Estate.

    "They are back." A smile formed on the lips of the man.

 Chapter 464 Insisting

    <h4>Chapter 464: Insisting</h4>

    Ryder and Shu got back to the Maxwell Estate with Alice. The three of them got out of the helicopter with the guards as they stepped inside the mansion.

    After entering the Mansion, Shu greeted the servants, who expressed how much they missed him. Even though these were servants, they were a lot like family in terms of the respect and care they gave Shu.

    The Dinner was prepared, which was nothing less than a feast to celebrate the return of Shu Maxwell. While the dinner was going on inside the Maxwell Estate, outside the estate, a man was walking towards the entrance.

    It was a young-looking man who had beautiful dark hair that wasn¡¯t very long. His eyes seemed slightly red. He was wearing a professional ck coat as if he was a businessman. Both his hands had dark gloves that appeared to have diamonds in the knuckles.

    He stopped at the entrance of the Estate.

    The guards that protected the Estate recognized the man as the man who had arrived here about a week ago.

    "You are, Luke, right?" One of the guards asked as he remembered the name of the man.

    "Yeah. Is Miss Alice back? I¡¯ve been waiting and dying my other work. It¡¯s been a week. As you said that she¡¯ll be back by now, I decided to check out," Luke told the security personnel.

    The guards were somewhat surprised at his precise timing. She had just returned, and the man was here? That too at night. Was it a coincidence or something more?

    It wasn¡¯t under their authority to decide for Alice, though. Now that she was back, they needed to inform her.

    "Yeah. She is back. Wait a minute. I¡¯ll inform her of your arrival," the guard told Luke before he started walking back towards the Estate.

    The others kept an eye on the man without opening the gates for him to enter. Luke seemed to be in no hurry. He could easily barge inside; however, he didn¡¯t have the authority from Adrian. He had to make a good and civil first impression.

    If he screwed this up, he was going to be in trouble.

    "Excuse me, Mam."

    The guard entered the estate. He could see that Alice was having dinner. Even though he didn¡¯t want to disturb her, this seemed important.

    "Yes?" Alice asked the guard. Ryder and Shu also looked at the man.

    "A man is outside to meet you. He ims that he¡¯s from Russia from a university where you applied to. He says that he needs to talk to you regarding that," the guard informed Alice.

    "You applied in Russia? Why? Didn¡¯t you say you weren¡¯t going to study outside?" Ryder asked Alice.

    In the original timeline, he only knew that Alice had applied to study in China. That¡¯s where she had gone to study as well. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t realize that in the previous timeline as well, Alice had applied to more countries.

    In that timeline as well, Alice had applied in Russia. However, things were different. In that timeline, Adrian hadn¡¯t seen her application form. That was the thing that was different in this timeline for some reason.

    "I applied long ago. After talking to you, I canceled all ns to go to other countries," Alice answered as she shook her head innocently.

    "Strange. Did you not tell the Russian University about the change in n? They sent a guy so far for you?" Shu chimed in, finding this situation strange.

    "Their chancellor called me and insisted that I join his University. But I refused him. I don¡¯t know why he should still send people here. Maybe there was a misunderstanding. I¡¯ll clear it with them," Alice let out as she stood up.

    "Don¡¯t go now. Finish dinner first. It¡¯s not good to leave in the middle. He can wait for a few minutes," Ryder told Alice as he ced his hand on her back.

    Alice listened to him and sat back down as she resumed eating.

    "Tell the man that we¡¯ll be out in a few minutes," Ryder told the Guard, who left swiftly.

    It took the three of them ten more minutes to finish the dinner. They all washed their hands in a bowl before they got up.

    "I¡¯lle with you," Ryder told Alice, who walked towards the door.

    "I¡¯ll join too. Let¡¯s see what this is about," Shu also chimed in.

    Ryder and Alice got out of the mansion, with Shu following them closely behind.

    They soon reached the entrance of the Estate, where Luke was waiting patiently. Luke¡¯s eyes lit up as he saw Alice. He had seen her portrait, so he recognized her instantly. Finally, he found himself closer to his goal.

    "Yes? I am Alice. I heard you¡¯re here for me. How may I help you?" Alice asked Luke.

    Ryder stopped right beside her. His gaze observed Luke. He didn¡¯t know why but he wasn¡¯t feeling anything good about this man. There was an intrinsic feeling about the man that was making him feel like the man was dangerous.

    His forearm was also itching at the moment where he had a strange, mysterious tattoo. He couldn¡¯t help but rub the tattoo gently, wondering if he was having an infection from this strange tattoo.

    "Hello, Miss Alice. I am Luke. This is my card," Luke introduced himself as he gave Alice his card.

    Alice took the card and read it. The card had the university name, which was precisely the one that she had applied to. It confirmed to her that he was from the University.

    "You applied to our university. I¡¯m here about that," Like said softly.

    "Yeah, I did. But I changed the n. I think I already informed the university that I no longer n to join," Alice informed Luke as she shook her head lightly.

    "I know about that. But you don¡¯t know our chancellor. He really appreciates talented students. Your application and your answers really impressed him. He really wishes to have more students like you in the university to Grace us and to help with our diversity," Luke told Alice.

    "Even though you refused to join, he still didn¡¯t give up. He sent me here to try to convince you so that we don¡¯t lose a good student. More importantly, he is ready to give you a full schrship and many more benefits on the campus. If only you are interested, I can tell you more," he continued respectfully.

    There was a calm and respectful look on his face which made it seem like there was anything wrong. He seemed perfectly professional.

    Aplete schrship did seem interesting to Alice. It wasn¡¯t as if the university was bad. It was one of the best universities in the world ording to the international rankings. It was one of the top five universities at the moment.

    It was as expensive as it was prestigious. And to get a full schrship and the grace of the chancellor, that wasn¡¯t a small thing. Alice was having second thoughts about joining the university.

    She looked towards Ryder to take his opinion about what to do.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but we don¡¯t need a schrship. As you may already see, we are fully capable of paying the fees. And we don¡¯t need a schrship. Moreover, I don¡¯t wish for her to go far from me. She will join one of the universities here. Thank you for considering her, but we would have to kindly refuse," Ryder answered as he took over the conversation.

    Luke¡¯s face finally twitched as he heard Ryder. He controlled his anger in his heart and didn¡¯t let his calm smile disappear.

    In his mind, he was cursing Ryder. ¡¯Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me?!¡¯

    He wanted to p Ryder to oblivion for being so inconsiderate. He was here for Adrian¡¯s mission, and the only one who could talk to him was Alice. No one in his eyes had enough worth to talk to him as equal here.

    "I understand that, Sir. But please reconsider. At Least hear the things we are offering first," Luke replied with respect.

    "I know you don¡¯t want to see someone close to you go far, but it¡¯s only a two-year course. It would be a worthy sacrifice for her future. Let me tell you what we are offering," he continued.

    "Why do you sound like a salesman and not someone from a university?" Ryder asked curiously.

    The man seemed awfully interested in getting her to agree toe to Russia. Something seemed strange. It seemed suspicious.

    "As I said, we aren¡¯t interested. You may leave," he told Luke before he caught the hand of Alice and started walking back with her. Shu also walked back.

    "You did well. There was something wrong with the man. He was insisting a little too much," Shu finally opened his mouth as he entered the estate with Ryder.

    "Yeah. This wasn¡¯t normal. Or maybe he¡¯s just a person who gets too passionate about his work. In any case, Alice isn¡¯t going there," Ryder told Shu.

 Chapter 465 Kidnapped

    <h4>Chapter 465: Kidnapped</h4>

    "Alice isn¡¯t going with him," Ryder told Shu before he shook his head. "Though I am suspicious about him."

    "Don¡¯t worry. I will make sure that our men keep an eye on him," Shu acknowledged as he understood what Ryder was trying to say.

    Even though the chances were almost negligible, there was still some hope that the man might try to kidnap her. There was a sense of unwillingness and a craze in his eyes.

    "Yeah. If he has the skill to break inside or not doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s better to stay alert," Ryder agreed.

    Shu called his security incharge, who was at the entrance of the estate.

    "Is that man still there? Or did he leave?" He asked the security head.

    "He¡¯s standing at some distance, talking to someone over the phone," the security head answered.

    "Can you hear what he¡¯s saying?" Shu inquired.

    "We can¡¯t hear what he¡¯s saying. But from his expressions, it seems like he¡¯s talking about failing," the security head replied.

    "Alright. Keep an eye on him. And stay alert. Inform me if he doesn¡¯t leave after he finishes talking. The security should be high tonight," Shumanded the man before he disconnected the call.

    Shu gazed at Ryder after he finished the call. He ced his hand on Ryder¡¯s shoulder as he alluded, "You can rest assured. Nothing would happen here."

    He shifted his gaze at Alice. "Sleepfortably."

    Alice was inside her room, immersed in the world of Divinity.

    Ryder was also supposed to be inside Divinity, but he wasn¡¯t. He was on the roof instead. He had a feeling that he needed to stay alert. Even though there was a high possibility that it was his misconception, he still didn¡¯t want to take the risk.

    He walked back and forth on the roof of the estate while keeping an eye on the road.

    Minutes turned to hours as time started passing away. Ryder stood on the roof all night without feeling the least bit tired.

    The night passed away; however, not a single person barged inside the mansion. As the first ray of light fell on his face, Ryder went downstairs. He checked Alice¡¯s room onest time to make sure that she was fine.

    After making sure that she was fine, he went back to his room and dropped to his bed.

    "It¡¯s good. I was wrong," he muttered slowly as he closed his eyes. Now that it was morning, the risk was over. If someone were going to barge inside, they would have don¡¯t so in might when most of the little was sleeping. Now that everyone in the mansion was up, he could sleep.

    As he was already tired after staying up for close to twenty-four hours, he instantly fell asleep as he lost himself in the world of dreams.

    After another hour, Alice woke up. She went to wake Ryder up to have dinner with her but seeing him sound asleep, she gave up and let him sleep.

    "One of our men was killed, and you still haven¡¯t found out who managed to do it?"

    "Any random man wasn¡¯t killed! The Fourth King was killed! And we don¡¯t know who the culprit is? It¡¯s been so many days!"

    Inside a Pce on an unknown ind, some people were discussing. A look of difort was on their faces.

    "Second King Riaf, you were put in charge to find that person. What have you been doing for so long? Why don¡¯t we have that person before us?"

    A dark-haired middle-aged man asked a Red-haired man who was sitting near the throne.

    A young-looking silver-haired man was sitting on the throne,zily hearing the discussion of people.

    "Is there even a doubt? Of course, it¡¯s that masked Bastard! The Fourth King had gone there to find his identity, and he was killed. Who else but that that masked Bastard was going to have the ability to achieve that!"

    "Second King, Now he¡¯s even killing our Kings! We can¡¯t dy it any longer. How long do you expect us to wait? His Majesty has given you the responsibility to find him! What have you been doing?"

    One after another, everyone kept asking for an exnation from the red-haired man.

    The red-haired man kept his mouth closed as hezily kept sitting as if he didn¡¯t care enough to exin to these people.

    "Riaf, answer,"

    It was evident that the man wasn¡¯t going to answer, but that changed as the man on the throne asked him a question.

    The red-haired man stood alert as he nodded.

    He looked towards the throne before he started exining, "Your Majesty, I have already taken the right steps. We would have the identity of that man soon enough."

    "What steps did you take?" Aluren inquired casually.

    "Your Majesty, when Gong died, there were three more people in the room. One of those three was the Director, who also died with him. The second person is the one who is med to have killed them. And the third person is Ray, who Gong had gone to interrogate." Riaf started exining.

    "Now the story is that the Vice-Director killed Gong. But we know that he also worked for us. So this doesn¡¯t make sense. The only person who can reveal this is Ray, as everyone else has already been found dead. So the steps I took are for precisely that," he continued.

    "I have found Ray¡¯s sister and have her kidnapped. Our man finished the task only today. Soon I¡¯ll have then contact Ray and have him answer if he wants his sister alive. We will have our answers soon if he wants to see his sister alive," he further added.

    "And what if he didn¡¯t answer?" The Ninth King asked.

    " He will. He sure will," The red-haired man answered.

    "You can¡¯t be so certain," the Third King chimed in.

    He further added, "What if Ray is the masked man himself? What if he lies to us and name a random person? Or if he keeps pretending to be ignorant?"

    "That¡¯s right. If he is the culprit himself, he might not tell the truth. He¡¯ll keep acting ignorant to keep himself safe," Another King said.

    "If he lets his sister die and still acts ignorant, then it¡¯s fine. Next would be his number to die then," the red-haired man answered.

    "Just have some patience. I know what I¡¯m doing," he added.

    "You have five days," Alurenmanded as he nodded.

    Knock! Knock!

    A sudden knock on the door attracted everyone¡¯s attention. The door was opened a little as a person took one step inside.

    "Master Riaf, we brought the girl here." The man informed Riaf.

    "Good. I¡¯ming there. Wait," Riaf nodded as he stood up.

    "Your Majesty, I¡¯ll be right back," he told Aluren. After getting Aluren¡¯s permission to, he left.

    Ring!

    Ray was sitting in his car, thinking something, when his phone rang.

    He checked his phone only to find out that it was an unknown number.

    He picked up the call and ced the phone near his ears.

    "Hello?"

    As soon as he spoke, his face turned pale.

    From the other end of the call, he heard the screams of someone he cared about.

    It was as if his face had lost all its blood.

    The windows of his car were closed, so his voice didn¡¯te out of the car, but if someone were to look in the direction of the car, they could see a man screaming inside the car with a phone in his ear.

    "Don¡¯t! Don¡¯t do anything to her! I¡¯ll do as you say!" Ray thundered.

    " Good. Tell us the name of the man who helped you in DC. The person who was behind a mask while killing all the terrorists. And the person who killed your director and the old man who was with him. Give us the name of that person."

    Ray went silent as he heard the conditions. He had to give up Ryder. How was it that a situation like this happened twice in such little time? It was once again the same. His sister¡¯s life was at risk if he didn¡¯t answer?

    ¡¯They won¡¯t know if I lie. As long as I¡¯m convincing,¡¯ he thought as he decided to lie. It was risky, but he had faith in his abilities.

    He lied about not knowing the person who had killed the terrorists in DC. As for the death of the Director, he ced the me on the Vice-Director. His acting was good, ording to him, but it was as if the others refused to believe him.

    "I¡¯ll count to three. If you don¡¯t tell me, the girl will die. The question is simple. Answer us. Either that man will live or your sister. The decision is yours." A grim voice from the other end of the call said.

    Ray¡¯s heart skipped another beat as he heard their threat. He was going to stay calm and think of a way, but he lost hisposure as he heard the sound of a gunshot, which was followed by a scream of their sister.

 Chapter 466 Discovered

    <h4>Chapter 466: Discovered</h4>

    "You Bastard, I¡¯ll kill you!¡¯ Ray roared in rage as he heard the scream of his sister after the gunshot.

    He thought that they had shot his sister.

    "Don¡¯t worry. The bullet only grazed her arm. But we can¡¯t guarantee if the next shot will be the same or if it¡¯ll pass through her heart. Everything depends on your answer. This is thest chance."

    Ray clenched his fist as he looked at the dashboard of his car.

    "Fine. It looks like you have decided. Don¡¯t me us now," As Ray didn¡¯t answer, the person on the other end of the call let out. He was just about to disconnect the call.

    "Wait. It¡¯s Ryder Flynn!" Ray epted as he gave up on protecting Ryder for his sister. In his heart, he kept apologizing to Ryder as he threw him under the bus.

    "That person who killed the terrorist was Ryder Flynn! He is the one. Now release my sister. I told you everything I know! Nothing should happen to my sister. She doesn¡¯t know anything!" He continued.

    "Give us more details about this Ryder Flynn. His address and everything you know!" The person on the other end of the call asked.

    Ray took a deep breath before he started telling everyone.

    Beep! Beep!

    There was no response from the other end of the call after that, as the call was disconnected as soon as Ray finished telling everything he knew about Ryder.

    "Hello? Hello?"

    He kept asking despite knowing that the call was disconnected.

    He soon got a message on his phone which told him not to talk about this to anyone and that the person close to him will be safe. He looked at the message before he sighed.

    He looked into the distant horizon as he shook his head. He was disappointed in himself, but there was nothing he could do about this.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that his calls were getting tapped. So there was someone else who heard his conversation. It was the new Director of the FBI who had released him only to get to his source.

    "Interesting. They¡¯re lucky it was me who heard this. If it were someone else, we would have been exposed. These guys, can¡¯t they be a little careful?" The new Director muttered as he rolled his eyes.

    He deleted the recording to make sure it wasn¡¯t in the system for anyone else to hear, especially the higher-ups.

    Ryder was sleeping in his bed peacefully. He was unaware that danger was looming over his head. His identity was exposed, and the enemies knew who he was.

    He slept peacefully throughout the day and only woke up near the evening when he went downstairs to eat.

    "Did Alice eat?" Ryder asked the servant who was serving him.

    "Yes."

    Ryder finished eating and stood up.

    "Where¡¯s Shu?" he casually asked.

    "Master Shu is in his room, resting. Should I call him?" the servant answered.

    "There¡¯s no need. I was just asking casually. Anyway, if they ask about me, tell them I went out for a little while," he let out as he started walking towards the gate.

    He left the Estate estate on foot to take a walk on the road. As Ryder walked through the empty road in the posh area, he breathed in the fresh air.

    He had only walked for a short while when he noticed a person inside a nearby house from the corner of his eyes.

    "This guy... He¡¯s still here?" he muttered as he frowned. He could see Luke behind the ss window of a nearby house. Usually, it was impossible to look through the window clearly, but he was able to get a nce which made him over ny percent sure that it was Luke.

    "That house wasn¡¯t for sale or rent. How is he staying there, though?" He wondered. "Or am I wrong?"

    He decided to check out.

    "Stanner!"

    He called out the name of the Spirit that always followed him.

    "Here," Stanner answered.

    "You see the house to my left? Go inside and check the condition. Return in ten minutes to exin what you see," Rydermanded Stanner.

    Stanner immediately followed themands and left. While Stanner searched the house, Ryder walked on the streets as if he was just having fun.

    He also stretched his arms asionally as he yawned.

    After ten minutes, he started walking back as he waited for Stanner to return.

    Stanner soon returned and stopped in front of him.

    "What did you find out?" Ryder inquired.

    "The people inside the house are kept as hostages. The dark-haired man near the window is the only one who is free. I think he¡¯s the one who held them hostage. The people are tied up and kept in a room. Also, that person is observing you," Stanner exined.

    "Cheh, I thought this thing was my misconception. But this man... He¡¯s really a psychopath. It looks like I¡¯ll have to take some action myself," Ryder thought as he decided to take action.

    "Go back to him. Keep an eye on him and inform me if he leaves the house," he informed Stanner before he walked back to his Mansion.

    Ryder walked back to his room and sat on his bed. "That man, he¡¯s really looking to die if he¡¯s scheming something. I thought I could be at peace, at least here, but he¡¯s really annoying me."

    He opened his inventory and brought a Mask out. He used to wear random masks whenever he used his powers to take action against anyone. This time as well, he was going to use the same thing.

    He had already prepared many masks so that he wouldn¡¯t need to repeat any.

    The Mask he pulled out right now was not a mask of a famous animated character, though. It was a mask of a real actor this time.

    He was going to wear the Mask of an actor called Dom Cruise, who was known as an action star.

    He not only prepared a mask but a leather jacket and other things like shoes, gloves and everything else.

    After making sure that everything was ready, he started waiting as he walked closer to the window. He looked outside the window to see how the protection of this ce was. There were guards everywhere. Shu did have good protection, it seemed. His protection seemed only better now.

    He left the Estate once again, but this time with the keys of his car. He stepped inside the car and drove it outside the Estate before zooming off into the distance. He left the area in his car, but he didn¡¯t go too far.

    He only went fat enough to make sure that he was in an isted ce before he stepped out of the car. He looked all around to make sure that no one was here before he changed his clothes and donned a mask.

    After getting ready, he started walking back. He even flew when no one was nearby. When people were nearby, he was on the ground. His mask attracted a few gazes, but no one paid much heed or interfered with his matter.

    Ryder soon reached the house where Luke was keeping people hostage. Hended on the roof of the house.

    As soon as Rydernded on the roof of the house, a frown appeared on the face of Luke, who was still standing near the window. He looked upwards.

    " Did they find me?" he muttered softly. "I promise him that I¡¯ll try to stay out of conflict with Aluren and his men. But if they¡¯re here on their own, I don¡¯t have to hold back."

    He had realized that someone was on the roof, but he misunderstood one thing. He thought that it was a King from Aluren¡¯s side. He didn¡¯t know that it was Ryder who had just left.

    He prepared to kill whomever the intruder was. He cracked his knuckles as he walked back to the chair and sat on it.

    Instead of going to the roof on his own, he started waiting here. If someone was here to kill him, that person was going toe on his own. On the other hand, if the person was not here for him, then he didn¡¯t need to involve himself.

    In any case, he didn¡¯t want to work too much.

    Ryder went downstairs in slow steps as he tried to locate the room where Luke was. It didn¡¯t take him long to get there.

    He slowly pushed the door open as he stepped inside. A gun was tucked in his pants.

    As soon as he stepped inside the room, he found Luke sitting on the chair. Luke gazed back at Ryder only to find a man in a human mask.

    "Why are you dressed like a joker?" Luke asked with a weird look on his face.

    Ryder didn¡¯t shoot him directly because he was already told by Stanner that the man had known about his arrival as soon as Rydernded on the roof.

 Chapter 467 Weak Hearing

    <h4>Chapter 467: Weak Hearing</h4>

    Ryder stood in front of Luke. A gun was tucked behind him in his pants, away from the man¡¯s sight.

    "Who are you? And why are you after Alice?" Ryder asked straight away.

    He hade to kill Luke initially, but as he was told about Luke finding his arrival so easily, he realized that things were not so simple.

    With that, he started thinking about it deeper. Why was Luke here? Why was he after his sister? Moreover, was he the one who was after her? Or was he just a pawn? If Luke was Pawn, then who was the mastermind? If he killed Luke without finding the truth, he was going to have troubleter on.

    That was why he decided to change his n and handle things a little bit differently.

    "Who am I?" Luke asked with an amused smile on his face.

    "A man who wears the mask of another man is asking me for my identity? Is this really how stupid a person can be?" he further asked.

    He turned his back towards Ryder as he walked back to the window.

    He ced his right hand over the window as he said, "You don¡¯t have to tell me your identity, though. I already know your identity. You really think making your voice heavier; I won¡¯t recognize you? Master Ryder Flynn? The guardian of Alice?"

    Ryder¡¯s face twitched unwillingly as he realized that he was exposed. It was strange. His voice was nothing like his normal voice, yet he was found out? It seemed strange.

    ¡¯Is he bluffing?¡¯ he thought as he frowned.

    "If you¡¯re thinking that I¡¯m bluffing, you should think again. I have no doubt in my mind that you¡¯re Ryder, and I¡¯m not bluffing. As for the gun that¡¯s behind you, I¡¯d suggest you not even touch the gun," Luke replied as if he was able to read Ryder¡¯s thoughts.

    "I was told to be a gentleman on my trip. I¡¯ve been trying not to kill people on this journey. That¡¯s why the people who own this house are kept as a hostage even though it was easier to kill them. So it would be good if you don¡¯t force me to kill you. I won¡¯t know how to exin to him that I killed the guardian of Alice," he added.

    "Him? Who are you talking about?" Ryder asked as his frown deepened. He was right? There was actually someone behind this guy?

    Who was that person? This man had strange talents, which made Ryder think that he was from the uprising. But if this were the case, this man would be after him, not after Alice.

    Still, he decided to make sure.

    "Are you from the uprising?" Ryder asked.

    "Uprising? Oh, that thing I was told about. The small try group of Aluren? Don¡¯t worry. Even on the worst day, I won¡¯t join things like those. It would be an embarrassment worthy of death to work for things like those," Luke answered.

    "Who do you work for then?" Ryder inquired.

    "Sure. It¡¯s not like his name is embarrassing to tell. But it does feel strange talking to a mask. Take that mask off, and I¡¯ll talk. Don¡¯t worry, that mask isn¡¯t going you any favors," Luke answered as he rolled his eyes.

    Ryder took a deep breath before he ced his hand over his mask and slid it down. There was a possibility that the man was bluffing, but he had his own ideas at the moment. He removed the mask slowly.

    His handsome face was revealed before the enemy, who had already seen him previously.

    "This is better," Luke acknowledged as he walked back to the chair.

    He gestured for Ryder to sit as well while pointing towards a nearby chair, "Have a seat."

    Ryder walked, stepped forward, and sat on the chair. When he had decided toe here, he had thought of many possibilities about how it can go. Unfortunately, he never expected to be discussing things with Luke like it was a meeting.

    In another part of the country, many helicopters flew into the air. The members of the Uprising were inside the helicopter along with the Third King, The Seventh King, and the Eighth Ling, who were personallying to take care of Ryder.

    Not only them but even the Second King wasing with the team against all expectations. He was sitting in a different helicopter, though.

    Five helicopters flew straight towards Shu¡¯s Estate.

    "Finally, I¡¯ll get to see how strong this masked hero is. My blood has been boiling a lot to face a strong opponent," the Seventh King let out as he grinned.

    "Don¡¯t get overconfident. That guy had managed to kill the Fourth King. He¡¯s quite strong, and we still don¡¯t know what his abilities are," the Eighth King exined with a concerned look on his face.

    "Meh, you know our numbers aren¡¯t decided based on strength but by the order of us joining the organization. Why should I care that the Fourth King was killed? I was stronger than him after all," The Seventh King let out as he rolled his eyes.

    Silence ensued as the Eighth King stopped speaking. He understood that whatever he said wasn¡¯t going to prate the thick skull of the Seventh King.

    "Now tell me who you are?" Ryder asked Luke.

    "I already told you who I am. My name is Luke, and I came from Russia to take Alice with me," Luke answeredzily.

    "Why are you after her? She doesn¡¯t want to study in Russia. Why do you still insist? What will you get if she goes with you, and what will you lose if she doesn¡¯t go with you?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    "Hah, so many questions. Alright. I¡¯ll answer them all. It¡¯s better to talk to you directly in any case. You¡¯re her guardian. She¡¯ll definitelye with me if you tell her. I saw the respect in her eyes for you. So convincing you is better," Luke alluded as he nodded.

    "First, why am I after her? It¡¯s not because I wish to have her study in Russia. It¡¯s because someone I work for wants her to study there," Luke answered.

    "What will I get if she studies there? I¡¯ll get satisfaction from getting the wishes of that personpleted. What will I lose if I fail to take her? I might lose my life and my respect for failing such a simple mission," he further added.

    "Alright. Who is the person that you work for? Why does he want Alice specifically?" Ryder asked curiously.

    " My boss read her application for admission. He is very impressed by her answers. You can think of it as him falling in love with Alice because of her thinking. My boss is the ruler of Russia. He¡¯s a god! Let your sistere with me. She¡¯ll be happy like a queen," Luke told Ryder.

    "He¡¯s a god?" Ryder inquired as he rolled his eyes. He didn¡¯t take his words seriously. Many people called humans as gods just because they were stronger.

    Some citizens of monarchies also called their emperors as gods. So he thought it to be the same thing. He didn¡¯t think he was actually referring to god.

    "Even if he¡¯s an actual god, so what? He has a crush on Alice, and he thinks he can force her? Is he even a man? He couldn¡¯t evene himself instead of sending you? What God, even humans would be more courageous," Ryder let out as he rolled his eyes.

    "Oho? You do know that I can kill you for your disrespect, right? If you weren¡¯t the Guardian of Alice, your head would be rolling on the groom at the moment," Luke answered as his gaze sharpened like it was a sword capable of cutting Ryder¡¯s neck.

    "My head, huh," Ryder muttered as he lowered his gaze.

    ¡¯This guy does have some arrogance,¡¯ he thought as he smiled.

    "You¡¯re not strong enough to kill me," he told Luke as he ced one of his legs above the other while sitting morefortably.

    He blinked for a moment, only to be shocked as he saw Luke disappear.

    Luke disappeared from his chair and appeared in front of Ryder as he grabbed Ryder by his neck. He raised Ryder up in the air as he tightened his grip.

    "Would you care to repeat what you just said? I hear a little slow sometimes. I thought you said that I¡¯m not capable enough to kill you. It¡¯s not what you did, right? Obviously, you won¡¯t be so careless," Luke told Ryder in a grim tone.

    "I said you aren¡¯t strong enough to kill me. Let alone you; even your god, won¡¯t be able to kill me. I¡¯m not sure if I should be happy for that or sad," Ryder let out as he rolled his eyes.

    The immortality he received from the bracelet of immortality was a double-edged sword. It did make him Immortal, but it also brought him at an odds-against real gods.

 Chapter 468 Decision

    <h4>Chapter 468: Decision</h4>

    "I said you aren¡¯t strong enough to kill me. Let alone you; even your god won¡¯t be able to kill me. I¡¯m not sure if I should be happy about that or sad," Ryder dered proudly as he gazed into the eyes of Luke.

    Not even the least bit of fear was visible in his eyes as he answered Luke. Fear of death was thest thing he even thought he¡¯d have.

    Still, he was actually somewhat concerned. Dying was something he preferred to progress without.

    "I¡¯m not sure if I shouldugh at you or feel pity. Fear of death is something that all weak people like you should possess. It keeps you grounded to reality and makes you stay within your limit," Luke told Ryder as he frowned.

    "Without fear of death, you wouldn¡¯t even know how you¡¯ll die," he continued. "Unfortunately, you seem like the unlucky one that won¡¯t know when deathes at his door," he continued as he rolled his eyes.

    He loosened his grip as he freed Ryder before he walked back to his seat. Luke sat downfortably.

    "I¡¯ll repeat the same thing again. You¡¯re lucky that you¡¯re her guardian. Or you would be dead a thousand times by now," he further said.

    "Sure. If that¡¯s what you want to think," Ryder replied as he patted his clothes before he sat back on the chair as if nothing had happened.

    "She wille with me. That¡¯s final. I have wasted too many words only because I want things to be civil. If that doesn¡¯t work, I¡¯ll have to take action. In any case, she¡¯lle with me," Luke told Ryder.

    "You only have one thing to decide. Do you want to be alive when shees with me? If yes, then agree. If you don¡¯t want to be alive, then keep saying no. She¡¯ll still live. The only difference is that you won¡¯t be alive to watch that," he continued.

    "I¡¯ll count to ten. If I don¡¯t hear yes as an answer, then I¡¯ll wish you well for the journey in advance..." Luke said casually. A smirk formed on his face. "For the journey to hell."

    Ryder only smiled but didn¡¯t reply. He ced his hand behind his head as he positioned himself to be morefortable. He watched Luke, who started counting as if it was something Ryder should have been scared about.

    "One..."

    "Two..."

    Luke¡¯s countdown kept advancing. The Pin Drop silence inside the room was only broken whenever the next number in the countdown was spoken by Luke.

    "Eight..."

    Luke soon reached the count, which was awfully close to the end. He observed Ryder¡¯s expression, which still seemed careless.

    He unintentionally slowed down the count to give Ryder a little more time to consider.

    "Nine..."

    Luke took a deep breath before he finished, "Ten."

    "Looks like you have decided to die in peace here," Luke let out as he sighed.

    "Wait a minute. Let me inform him about what I¡¯m going to do. I don¡¯t want him to me me. I tried my best after all," he dered as he stood up.

    He brought a phone out of his pocket as he dialed the numbers of Adrian.

    "Hello. I¡¯m standing before Alice¡¯s guardian..."

    He started exining everything that had happened and how Ryder refused to cooperate with them. It didn¡¯t take him long to exin everything.

    After exining, he started waiting for the reply of Adrian.

    Adrian paused for a moment as he thought about it. His thoughts took a minute. After a minute, he opened his lips as he spoke a few words of hismand, "Fine. Kill him."

    "Yes," Luke responded. He was about to disconnect the call when he heard Ryder¡¯s words.

    "Wait. Give me the phone. I want to talk to your boss as well," he said.

    Adrian also heard Ryder¡¯s words. He told Luke to give the phone to Ryder.

    Luke followed themands as he gave the phone to Ryder.

    Ryder took the phone and ced it on his ears.

    "Hello. I heard you¡¯re looking for someone I care about. May I help you with that?" Ryder asked Luke.

    "That¡¯s right. I like Alice, and I want to get to know her," Adrian answered normally.

    "You want to know her. Is that how a man behaves when they want to know a girl? Either my understanding of a man is wrong, or your understanding of a man is wrong," Ryder answered.

    "ording to me, a man should approach the girl if he likes her. Not act as a goon and send their man to kidnap the girl. You act like you¡¯re a proper man? You¡¯re nothing but a petty person," Ryder let out as he rolled his eyes.

    "You misunderstand me. I wanted to meet her myself. I even came there to meet her. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to meet her. Also, because of some misunderstanding and some situation, I¡¯m unable to step foot there. There is why I had to send my men. Don¡¯t think I¡¯m wrong. It¡¯s the situation which is wrong," Adrian answered in full seriousness.

    "So you¡¯re banned by the government to step foot here? Interesting. I¡¯m finding you worse each second. When even the government doesn¡¯t think you¡¯re good for a country that allows all kinds of people, then I can only imagine what you must have done," Ryder let out as he frowned.

    "I didn¡¯t do anything. And it¡¯s not your government that¡¯s the reason for me being unable toe here. It¡¯s something else," Adrian answered as he shook his head.

    "I don¡¯t care. I will only listen to you if youe here personally. No idiot like the man you send shall be allowed to even step near Alice. If you want, you can againmand him to kill me. But just remember, if he tried it, you wouldn¡¯t hear from him again," Ryder let out as he frowned before he tossed the phone towards Luke¡¯s head.

    Luke caught the phone and ced it on his ears. "Hello."

    "Turn the phone on speaker," Adrianmanded Luke.

    Luke listened to themands and turned the call on speaker.

    "It¡¯s done," hemanded.

    "Listen to me, Mr. Ryder Flynn. And listen carefully because I¡¯m not going to repeat it again," Adrian dered.

    "I would havee if I could. But no way in hell do I have a chance toe there. If I even tried to, I¡¯d lose everything. If you want to meet me, you cane with Luke and Alice. That¡¯s the best I can do. You¡¯ll be treated like a King here. So think carefully," he added.

    "If you still say no, then Luke will kill you. And I am very interested in seeing how you can stop Luke. Think carefully. Don¡¯t underestimate Luke. You can overestimate yourself but underestimating Luke, that would be foolish," he continued.

    "My answer," Ryder let out as he smiled. He stretched his arms while he stood up. A yawn escaped his lips.

    "Fine," he said softly.

    A smile appeared on Luke¡¯s face as he saw Ryder agree. Adrian also smiled as he thought Ryder agreed. Unfortunately, Ryder¡¯s next words broke the misunderstanding of the both of them.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll have to show you how no works," Ryder answered as he pulled out his gun. He aimed the gun towards Luke as he smiled.

    "Embarrassing. I thought you¡¯d say yes. I thought even if you said no, you¡¯ll at least have some trick. But all your confidence is because of a gun?" A mocking grin remained on Luke¡¯s face as he saw the gun.

    In a different part of the city, Ryder¡¯s Divine Corporation Headquarters was situated. He had brought an entire building that was set up as a base. He had even hired a lot of little. Two of the branches of Divine Corporation were alreadypleted.

    One of which was the Aviation Branch which was led by Herriet. The Aviation Branch of the Divine Corporation had started turning in profits because of Ryder¡¯s help.

    Ryder had all the knowledge about the future. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t know much about Aviation Industry. He only knew the method Herriet had used in the previous timeline to make sure herpany came out of the slump.

    He just told the same ideas to Herriet before she coulde up with them. This not only elevated the position of Herriet in Ryder¡¯s head but it also impressed her.

    Herriet could see Ryder as a genius when it came to business, unaware that all these were her ideas which he was borrowing from her older shelf.

    In any case, she followed the methods that were told her by Ryder. Not only the aviation branch started rising, but it also started bringing in the profits for Ryder¡¯s Divine Corporation.

    There was another branch of Divine Corporation at the moment. It was rted to the research and development of medicine and medicinal equipment. It was led by the man that was the first person Ryder had hired.

 Chapter 469 His Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 469: His Arrival</h4>

    In a crowded room, multiple people were arguing over a stack of papers.

    An older gentleman banged his hands on the table. "That¡¯s insane. There is no way that will work! Are we going to take a child¡¯s word that this is usible?"

    A slender woman looked over, questioning the numbers and the odds before speaking, " John, I think Aleson is onto something that might work. Why don¡¯t we just try?"

    A young man was sitting nearby. The man looked like he was in his early twenties. He was the youngest person here; however, he was technically the boss.

    He was Aleson, who was the first person Ryder had hired to lead the medical division.

    In the previous timeline, Aleson was a jobless person who didn¡¯t have money. His grandfather¡¯s death motivated him to push himself into research which made hime up with a great discovery that changed how cancer was detected in advance.

    Unfortunately, that was a different timeline. Aleson was in a different timeline now, which was changed by Ryder.

    Ryder had hired Aleson already. Not only that, he even gave some research which he had only known because of Aleson in the previous timeline.

    John was another high-profile hire in the medical division.

    He had years of experience and a big name; that¡¯s why he didn¡¯t like working under Aleson. He didn¡¯t trust Aleson either.

    John grumbled as he stood up, looking angry at the woman. "Fine, Jane, you want to waste your time with Aleson chasing after an improbable odd! I won¡¯t stop you."

    "Once you two make idiots of yourselves, then I will be promoted. I¡¯ll be seen as the only reliable person, and I will have you both gone!" John stormed out of the office, heading in the opposite direction of the lift.

    Aleson watched John storm out of the office. He didn¡¯t stop John or try to convince him. An iprehensible yet confident look remained on his face.

    Aleson turned over to Jane. "Well, It looks like we are on our own here. Doesn¡¯t matter. Let¡¯s test this and see how well it works out. ording to my calctions, it should have at least a forty percent chance of sess."

    Jane sighed as she walked over towards the testing station, "You know the boss might get upset at us for wasting his money and not making any progress. You might even lose your role. Can you afford to make this kind of mistake?"

    Shaun pulled out a vial of blood with a frown on his face, "If we don¡¯t take a risk, we will never make progress. Without risk, we becent, and we will not strive for better. I am willing to take this gamble." Aleson put the vial into the testing equipment and started the simtion.

    As they were watching the progress move slowly, their faces held more and more shock and anticipation.

    "There seems to be a reaction. Maybe this will really work. If we pull this off, we will save a lot of lives. Early testing will be more essible, and we will be heroes," Aleson muttered as he watched the test. A hopeful look remained on his face.

    "Aleson, you are a genius. Even if this fails, you don¡¯t have to be disappointed. You¡¯re really talented. You¡¯ll soon find the solution."

    Down the hall, John started to fiddle with a lock to one of the bigger offices, trying to get in, "Come on... Come on; I¡¯m so close, just open up already."

    With a loud pop, the handle came loose, and the door opened. He smirked as he entered and shut the door going through documents looking for the information he wanted.

    "This is it. I finally have what I wanted."

    A wide grin remained on his face as he watched the documents that were in his hand. There was a word written on the top of this file that read, "ssified!"

    "All your confidence is because of a Gun? I am disappointed," Luke told Ryder as he watched the gun being aimed at him.

    He didn¡¯t seem shocked. Instead, he was disappointed.

    Ryder opened his lips as if he was going to say something, but he didn¡¯t speak. Instead, he directly pulled the trigger. He only showed that he was going to talk more to throw Luke off.

    It was much easier to shoot someone when they didn¡¯t think that they were going to be shot.

    As Ryder pulled the trigger, a bullet left the gun with the sound of a bang.

    Teck!

    The bullet hit the wall as Luke disappeared from his position. Luke was missed.

    Luke watched Ryder as he appeared behind him.

    Tap!

    He tapped on Ryder¡¯s shoulder. "Anything else? Why don¡¯t you show me more."

    Ryder turned back as he frowned. The smiling face of Luke fell in his eyes.

    Unfortunately, he could only see that smile before a punchnded on his chest, making him fly back.

    Ryder was tossed back like a bow from an arrow as he smashed on the wall.

    "Urgh."

    He couldn¡¯t help but cough out extensively. The gun also fell off from his hand.

    Luke stepped forward and picked up the gun which was lying on the ground.

    "This thing is so funny. A small metal piece gives you such a sense of security that you even decide to face death. Interesting indeed," he muttered as he frowned. He aimed the gun towards Ryder.

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    One after another, he fired four shots. All of the shots were fired towards Ryder.

    One bullet entered his right hand. Another entered his left arm. The third bullet prated his right leg, whereas the fourth bullet was aimed at his left leg.

    "Argh!" A painted grunt left Ryder¡¯s lips as he was shot.

    His clothes became colored in red as his blood spilled out. The bullets remained inside his body.

    "Funny, right? I gave you a choice. I didn¡¯t want to do it. I wanted to be a gentleman, but you forced me. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m a sensible person. I won¡¯t give you a painful death," Luke let out as he smiled.

    He didn¡¯t know that the bullets which were inside Ryder¡¯s body had started melting already. The bullets melted inside his body and turned to nutrition as his wounds started healing. It was all because of the Nature fragment of his bracelet of Immortality.

    Ryder had many abilities because he had managed to collect four fragments already, one of which gave him the ability to heal. Second gave him the ability of going back in time. The third gave him the ability to fly, whereas the fourth gave him the ability to rule pure water.

    Unfortunately, there was no pure water here.

    "I¡¯m sorry for this. But I¡¯ll take care of Alice really well on this journey. You can rest in peace," Luke let out as he aimed the gun at Ryder¡¯s head.

    Ryder had just finished healing, but his body was still not in full control as he tried to stand up.

    Ryder was certain that it was going to prate his skull this time.

    Even though he didn¡¯t want to have to go back in time, he had no choice. He started to utilize the ability to go back in time by half an hour.

    As long as he didn¡¯t die through death, the Lord of Time wasn¡¯t going to know. That¡¯s what he wanted to do to have an advantage since his body wasn¡¯t moving or listening to him.

    Unfortunately, his ability didn¡¯t work either this time. He wasn¡¯t able to travel back in time.

    A perplexed look was on his face as he didn¡¯t understand what was happening. Why was his ability not working?

    His wounds were still healing, but his ability of time wasn¡¯t working. Why?

    Bang!

    He heard another gunshot as he watched a bullet leave the gun of Luke. The bullet advanced towards Ryder¡¯s skull. He had no choice. It seemed like his death was near, and he was going to be forced back in time by twenty-four hours.

    That was when something strange happened, though.

    The bullet, which was mid-air, stopped in its tracks. Everything turned grey, and nothing moved. The world lost its color.

    Ryder¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. What happened? Everything had stopped. Even Luke wasn¡¯t moving at the moment.

    While Ryder was trying to understand what had happened, he felt an itch in his hand where the strange ck tattoo had appeared. The itching became so unbearable that he wanted to scratch; unfortunately, his body wasn¡¯t moving either.

    "So this is where the time distortions happened."

    A calm voice filled the room suddenly. It didn¡¯t belong to Luke.

    ¡¯Who said that? No one else is here,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned. This voice seemed like it wasing from everywhere. It was impossible to locate its location.

    A white portal appeared between Ryder and Luke. A young boy stepped out of the portal. A curious gaze of his looked everywhere.

 Chapter 470 Janus arrives

    <h4>Chapter 470: Janus arrives</h4>

    A crimson portal appeared between Ryder and Luke. Initially, nothing was visible throughout the portal except the crimson, which seemed like blood. Soon, a person stepped out of the portal.

    It was a young boy. The boy had beautiful blonde hair and smooth skin, making him look out of this world.

    The boy stepped out of the Portal as he muttered to himself, "So this is the world where the distortions in time happen. I felt the effort to manipte time once again."

    As he stepped out, he looked around. His gaze soon fell over Ryder, who was lying on the ground. Looking back, the young man saw Luke as well.

    Luke was paused in time. His breathing, as well as his movement, had stopped. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t seem like he was harmed despite being unable to breathe. It was as if the entire world had stopped in time.

    "Interesting. You can still move," the young boy let out as he observed Ryder. Even though Ryder wasn¡¯t able to move his body yet, his pupils and his gaze were still moving, which made the young man know that he could move.

    "Very interesting. How can you move? Could it be that you¡¯re the reason for this distortion?" the young boy dered as he started walking towards Ryder.

    "Who are you?" Ryder asked curiously. He might have thought that the person was Janus who was messing with him, but the voice was different than Janus.

    ¡¯Who am I? Hmm. You¡¯re the one who should tell who he is. Not a single person in this world can resist time. But you are clearly doing it. Who exactly are you?" the young boy let out as he stopped a few centimeters away from Ryder.

    It was at that moment, Ryder finally felt some movement in his arms. His body had finally decided to listen to him again as he gained back the control of his body. The itching of his right arm had stopped as well.

    He ced both his hands on the ground to propel himself upwards.

    "Interesting. Not only your eyes and your mouth, but your entire body is free of bounds. Very interesting," the young boy kept repeating his words. The more he observed Ryder; the more fascinated he became.

    Ryder stood tall and asked the young boy, "Did you stop time?¡¯

    "I thought I did," the young boy muttered as he rubbed his chin. "Maybe not entirely."

    Ryder understood what he was implying.

    "You answer me, and I¡¯ll answer you. Who are you?" He asked softly.

    Even though Ryder was talking to the young boy, he didn¡¯t stop moving his hands. He brought a gun out. He wanted to utilize this opportunity. The time was stopped. If he could kill Luke right now, that was going to save him a lot of trouble.

    He aimed the gun towards Luke¡¯s head. Luke was already paused in time. He had no way to oppose Ryder as even his thoughts had stopped in time.

    After taking a nice aim, Ryder pressed the trigger. A bullet left his gun, which soon found its way into Luke¡¯s head. A hole was left behind in Luke¡¯s head. Strangely enough, Luke didn¡¯t make any noise.

    His eyes remained open as if his body was still paused in time despite his death.

    "Cheh, You¡¯re really a petty human, aren¡¯t you?" The blonde boy asked Ryder as he smirked wryly. "Here I am talking about something so important. And there you¡¯re busy in something else entirely?"

    "Didn¡¯t I tell you already? I¡¯ll only answer you if you answer me. Who are you," Ryder responded with a carefree gaze.

    " I am known by many names. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll know even if I tell you my real name. I¡¯ll tell you my title to make it easier for you," the blonde boy nodded his head as he replied.

    "The world knows me as the Lord of Time. Who are you?" he inquired.

    ¡¯Lord of Time? The person Janus warned me about?¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    Janus had warned him against excessively using the bracelet of immortality to go back in time just for this guy. ording to Janus, Ryder was going to be in trouble if this person found him. He couldn¡¯t believe that the person was actually standing before him.

    Also, why was this person a young boy? Ryder had imagined the Lord of Time to be an adult, not a kid.

    "From your expressions, it seems like you know about it. You¡¯re increasing my curiosity more and more," the blonde boy let out as he grinned.

    He observed Ryder from top to bottom to find what was strange about him. His eyes soon fell on Ryder¡¯s bracelet.

    Ryder noticed the boy looking at his bracelet of immortality. He subconsciously moved his hand behind his back to get the bracelet away from the boy¡¯s view. Unfortunately, it was toote already. The boy had already seen the bracelet.

    " That bracelet... I can¡¯t tell you how long it¡¯s been since Ist saw it. I never thought I¡¯d see it again after that day. So this is the thing that¡¯s creating so muchmotion," the boy let out as he nodded.

    "I told them that we shouldn¡¯t throw this ce in a random corner of this world. See? Someone but only found it but also got it to work. It¡¯s such a hassle," the boy let out as he frowned.

    He raised his right hand towards Ryder as hemanded, "Give me that bracelet!"

    Ryder squinted his eyes as he heard the orders. Who did this boy think he was? So what if he was the Lord of Time? The bracelet belonged to him. How could he just ask for it like that?

    Also, even if Ryder wanted to give the bracelet of Immortality to this boy, how could he even do it? That bracelet was impossible to be refused. If he could, he wouldn¡¯t keep that double-edged sword on his wrist always.

    "Give me that bracelet. We can talk about the restter," the young boy told Ryder.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t give this bracelet to you. It¡¯s stuck in my hands. How about you leave it just the way it is?¡¯ Ryder asked as he smiled wryly.

    He only had two ways he could deal with the situation. One was by fighting the boy using all his abilities. The second option was to tread with care and solve problems through words.

    The first option was thrown out the window since the boy was the Lord of Time. ording to Janus, he was literally the god of time. Ryder didn¡¯t even think that he could face this boy who was an actual god.

    That only gave him the option to use his wits.

    "This bracelet is stuck. I can¡¯t remove it. Be a little considerate, Mister Lord of Time," Ryder told the boy.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but that¡¯s not an option. The thing that¡¯s in your hand is too powerful. It can¡¯t be allowed to be in your hand," the boy answered. "See how much you disturbed my precious space already?"

    "As for not being able to take it off, I have a solution for that as well. What I need to do is simple. All I have to do is go back in time to the moment you got the bracelet and prevent you from taking it. That¡¯s all. So tell me, when did you get this bracelet," he further added.

    "Or you can stay silent and refuse to cooperate. In that case, I¡¯ll have to follow an even simpler method. And that is to kill you right now."

    "Can I say that both options sound bad?" Ryder inquired as he frowned.

    "If this guy goes back in time and takes the bracelet, the future will change. Without the bracelet, I would be dead many times already. I can¡¯t let that moment be changed. And I can¡¯t die now either,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    ¡¯Janus, it would be the right time to help if you want to!¡¯

    "You must choose one. I¡¯ll count to three. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll go with the second option since that¡¯s the one which is easier for me," the young boy replied as he smiled subtly.

    ¡¯Sigh, it Looks like I¡¯ll have no choice but to try to kill a god. He is too stubborn,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    The blonde boy opened his lips as he started his countdown.

    "Three..."

    The boy had spoken the first word itself when a pping sound filled the room.

    With a curious gaze, the boy looked back.

    "Of course, you would prefer to kill him. It won¡¯t be the first time you¡¯ll do it after all."

    As the blonde boy looked back, he saw another person standing there. A silver-haired boy stood behind him.

    "Hahaha, Janus. It¡¯s you. What are you doing here, little boy?" The blonde boy inquired with a curious gaze.

 Chapter 471 Destroy Soul

    <h4>Chapter 471: Destroy Soul</h4>

    "Janus. It¡¯s you. What are you doing here, little boy?" The blonde boy inquired with a curious gaze as he looked at the silver-haired boy who stood before him.

    "Let me guess... You know this boy? That must be it. Were you helping the boy find the fragments? You were the one who gave the idea to toss everything aside. Was that all for this?" he further inquired.

    ¡¯This boy is Janus? His voice does sound the same,¡¯ Ryder thought as he noticed that the voice of the Silver Haired Boy was the same as the one he had been hearing. Janus was actually here? And he really was a kid?

    In any case, a smile was on Ryder¡¯s face. Finally, he had some support. He was sure that Janus would be able to support him against the Lord of Time. ording to him, Janus wouldn¡¯t have evene here if he didn¡¯t have enough strength.

    He opened his lips to speak something to Janus, but he couldn¡¯t say anything as he was taken aback by Janus¡¯s words.

    "I¡¯m not here for that. Don¡¯t worry. I don¡¯t even know the boy," Janus told the blonde boy.

    "Hmm?"

    The blonde boy looked at Janus curiously, whereas Ryder looked at Janus in shock.

    What was he talking about? Was this a different Janus? Or was this guy throwing him under the bus because he couldn¡¯t face the Lord of Time?

    The Lord of Time couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. "So you don¡¯t know him? Why are you here then?"

    "Little Janus, don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re here to meet me instead," he couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    "I just came out. There¡¯s no way you could have known where I was," he further added.

    "Do you really think I couldn¡¯t have known?" Janus let out as he rolled his eyes.

    "You have stopped the time of not only this house but of this entire world. Do you really think I wouldn¡¯t know who would be behind it? It was obvious that it¡¯s you here," he continued.

    "If I¡¯m not wrong, more people wille here soon because of themotion you have caused," Janus let outzily.

    ¡¯Hmm? Is this guy trying to act like a stranger? A way to help me? Could he be trying to help as a stranger without bing the enemy of the Lord of Time?¡¯ Ryder wondered as he felt like he understood what Janus was trying to do.

    "So you¡¯re really not here for him? Hahaha, Interesting. Then you wouldn¡¯t care about whatever happens to him, right?" The blonde boy inquired as he pointed towards Ryder.

    "Why should I care?" Janus asked in return.

    "Good. Then help me deal with the boy and prove it. Since you don¡¯t care, do it with your own hands. Get the bracelet for me," The blonde boy told Ryder as he smiled cheekily.

    He ced both his hands behind his back as he casuallymanded the boy.

    "How?" Janus asked.

    "Kill the boy or do whatever. I don¡¯t think I need to tell you what you can do. You¡¯re the reason this bracelet ended up here. So it¡¯s your responsibility to get this. That is... As long as you aren¡¯t rted to the boy." The blonde-haired boy let out as he stood up.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll cut his hand and get the bracelet for you," Janus let out as he nodded.

    "Huh? What nonsense are you all talking about? Cutting my hand? Did you all lose your head?" Ryder blurted out furiously as he saw Janus agree. He still didn¡¯t expose that Janus knew him, but he did curse them both.

    "Silence!" Janus shouted at Ryder.

    As soon as his voice fell in Ryder¡¯s ears, Ryder felt a pain in his head. It felt as if his head was going to blow up. The nerves in his head were thumping.

    A pressure was also falling on his body which made him feel like a mountain was ced on his shoulder. He had the urge to go down on his knees to give his body some rxation from this stress. All of it because of a shout.

    "You¡¯re lucky that we are only cutting your hand. It¡¯s better than losing your head," Janus told Ryder as he started walking towards Janus.

    Janus reached Ryder, who was still resisting the pressure on his knees to stay standing.

    "Don¡¯t do this! This bracelet can¡¯t be removed!" Ryder told Janus as he took a step back.

    "Leave that to me. I¡¯ll get that bracelet off," Janus told Ryder as he reached out his hand. He caught the hand of Ryder right away using his left hand. His right hand was ced on Ryder¡¯s shoulder.

    All of it happened so fast that Ryder couldn¡¯t even react before his right hand was torn off from his shoulder.

    A pained scream left Ryder¡¯s lips as his hand was torn off. A soul stabbing pain moved through his entire body as he yelled.

    "You Bastard! What the hell are you doing!" Ryder roared in pain.

    Janus ignored Ryder¡¯s scream as he removed his hand from Ryder¡¯s shoulder. With Ryder¡¯s left hand in his hand, he turned back towards the blonde-haired boy.

    "Here, take the bracelet along with the hand," Janus said as he tossed the arm towards the Lord of Time.

    The Lord of Time caught the hand.

    "I asked you for the bracelet, not the arm," the Lord of time let out as he tossed the arm back towards Janus. "This thing doesn¡¯t have the bracelet anymore."

    Janus¡¯s eyes opened wide in surprise as he realized that the arm didn¡¯t have the bracelet of immortality.

    He looked back at Ryder in surprise.

    ¡¯I told you. It¡¯s impossible to take the bracelet. You think I didn¡¯t suffer this before? The bracelet disappears as soon as my hand is cut. And it will only appear when my hand appears again," Ryder dered as he held his bleeding shoulder with his left hand.

    Fortunately, the bleeding seemed to have slowed down as his Healing of Nature took ce. His face was still sweating profusely, though.

    "As I expected, this is impossible through normal methods. We can only take some extra steps. Kill him and lose the bracelet forever or find when this boy got the bracelet and stop that moment from happening," the Lord of Time muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    "No!" Janus straight away refused. "It¡¯s better to destroy him simply!"

    Ryder¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock as he heard Janus¡¯s suggestion. It was confirmed. This guy had gone crazy. He was throwing Ryder under the bus to get himself rid of the responsibility.

    Without giving the Lord of Time the opportunity to ask, Janus exined, "The other methods are too time-consuming. And you already know my stance on all this. I was against people possessing this bracelet. And I still don¡¯t want that. So I¡¯ll simply kill the boy to make sure that the bracelet never finds a way to return."

    Ryder was getting more and more sure that Janus had betrayed him, but after seeing Janus suggest to kill him, Ryder realized that it wasn¡¯t right.

    There was no way that Janus wouldn¡¯t know that he had the power of the bracelet. As long as he was killed, he was going to be sent back in time by a day. That acted as an opportunity for him to make different decisions. Was that what Janus was trying?

    ¡¯No! This doesn¡¯t make sense either,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    This wasn¡¯t a normal person who wouldn¡¯t know the truth. This was the Lord of Time! Weren¡¯t they worried that the guy would know if they traveled in time? How was it possible that this person wouldn¡¯t know if Ryder was killed and traveled back in time because of the bracelet? The disturbance in time will still be there after all.

    What was Janus trying to do then? Did he have a way to make sure that the Lord of Time didn¡¯t realize?

    "That¡¯s true. Killing him would be better. Do it," the Lord of time nodded his head as hemanded Janus.

    "No, I can¡¯t do it," Janus shook his head.

    ¡¯This guy, just what is he trying to do?¡¯ Ryder was having a hard time understanding what was happening. What was the end goal? Just what exactly was happening here?

    "So you do care for this boy?" The Lord of Time inquired.

    "No. What I mean is something different. There¡¯s another reason I can¡¯t do it," Janus answered as he gazed back at Ryder.

    "This bracelet was made by him. I know a lot about this bracelet. I¡¯m sure this bracelet will help him if we kill him. The ability of time can clearly be felt in the bracelet. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll just go back in time if I kill him. That¡¯s why we don¡¯t need to kill him. Instead, we must destroy him!" Janus dered. A cruel smile was on his face.

    "Your abilities are the ones that can destroy his soul from its core!" he continued.

 Chapter 472 Silencing Ryder

    <h4>Chapter 472: Silencing Ryder</h4>

    "Killing him is the best option as that would make sure that the Bracelet of Immortality is lost again. I didn¡¯t want it in our hands, and I still don¡¯t want that. So that¡¯s the only option I can support," Janus told the blonde-haired Lord of Time.

    "But killing him with the conventional methods is useless. We can only kill him properly by destroying him from his core. And only you can do that with your abilities. Reverse the time of his soul until it¡¯s destroyed. Problem solved," he added.

    The Lord of Time rubbed his chin as he fell on deep thought. "What you say does make sense. Getting rid of the bracelet is the best. But isn¡¯t that what you saidst time as well?"

    "We got rid of itst time as well, and this guy found it. What¡¯s stopping it from being found in the future! Aren¡¯t we only dying the problem? It¡¯s better if we keep the bracelet," he further exined.

    "No! The bracelet won¡¯t be found. And even if it¡¯s fine by a mortal, that¡¯s still less dangerous than this thing being in the hand of the gods!" Janus let out sternly.

    "We already talked about thisst time. You know why we can¡¯t possess it. It¡¯s already rare that a mortal managed to find the bracelet and fragment. But the chances of this happening again are even less. Destroying this boy and lodging and bracelet forever is still the better option," he insisted.

    "Hmm? You¡¯re still as passionate about it asst time. But you suggest that I kill this man. So I think I was wrong about you. You didn¡¯t have a hand in the boy finding the bracelet," the Lord of Time nodded his head as he epted.

    "But there are more parties that should have a say in it. You said you found out because I stopped the time of this world. Other gods should be getting here soon as well. It¡¯s better if we all decide how to deal with it. They should have a say in it as well," he continued.

    Janus looked back and forth between the Lord of Time and Ryder before he nodded his head. "If that¡¯s what you want."

    Ryder was standing in the back, not believing his ears. Janus was actually suggesting his soul being destroyed.

    Not only that, but he even exposed the powers and told the Lord of Time that he couldn¡¯t be killed normally? Just what kind of betrayal was it? To save his own skin, this guy was pushing him off a cliff?

    ¡¯This Bastard! He is getting me med to save himself! He is getting me killed! I won¡¯t let him get out scot-free as well! I¡¯ll expose him that he knows me and that he helped me. Maybe both of them will fight and kill each other. I¡¯ll survive and rid myself of both of them. That¡¯s best!¡¯ he thought as he decided to do something iprehensible as well.

    He was going to betray Janus and expose him as this guy had exposed him! This guy was a bastard who deserved no pity or help from him. Why should Ryder be the only one who died?

    He opened his lips as he eximed, "Wait a minute!! This b-"

    Ryder had not even finished his sentence when his head started spinning. Everything turned dark before his eyes as he dropped to the ground, losing consciousness.

    "What did you do," the Lord of Time asked Janus as he watched Ryder drop to the ground.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I just made him unconscious. He was making too much noise," Janus answered casually. "Now, he won¡¯t disturb us."

    The Lord of Time nodded his head as he walked towards the window. He looked outside the window.

    He could see a bird stopped in its ce mid-air. It was neither going forward nor backward.

    The clouds were also not moving. Trees and leaves were also as it is. They weren¡¯t moving as if no wind was moving in this world.

    A person was seen on the streets. One of his legs was in the air as if he was taking a step forward when he was stopped in time.

    "You¡¯re right. It looks like I don¡¯t underestimate my abilities. I thought I controlled my ability enough only to target the source of distortion, which was this house. How unfortunate. I guess spending so long inside a rxed environment created by the Lord of Space made me rusted," the Lord of Time smiled wryly as he looked outside.

    "No wonder you noticed me," he further added.

    "Hahaha, Lord of Time! You are finally out of your seclusion. How have you been?"

    A manlyughter filled the room. Lord of Time turned back as he watched the person who wasughing.

    As he turned back, he saw a bulky man standing behind him. The man had four arms with sharp ws. It seemed as if the top half of his body was made from magma, zing in mes. Each of his arms was thicker than Ryder¡¯s chest itself.

    "God of War... You¡¯re the second to arrive here. Honestly, though, I expected the Goddess of Destiny toe before you," The Lord of Time nodded casually as he recognized the man.

    "Hahaha, I guess I should apologize for disappointing you here. But what could I do? I saw the level of disturbance and realized that there is only one person who could do this. And that one person is the Great Lord of Time himself. After knowing about it, I couldn¡¯t stop myself froming as fast as I can," the God of War said.

    Another portal appeared in the room.

    "Hah, I guess she is here as well," the Lord of Time let out as he saw the Portal.

    A beautiful woman stepped out of the portal. The woman seemed to be as pretty as a goddess. Her eyes seemed to epass the universe itself.

    "I guess I¡¯m a littlete in weing the Lord of Time. Please forgive me," the woman said as soon as she stepped out.

    She greeted the Lord of Time.

    "It¡¯s not a race. Don¡¯t worry. But I am surprised," The Lord of Time muttered.

    "May I ask what surprised the Lord of Time so much?" The God of War asked the Lord of Time.

    " I¡¯m not surprised that Janus was the first person to arrive here. But it was unexpected that the God of War would be second. I also mentioned this to him before you came here," the Lord of Time muttered as he acknowledged.

    "May I ask what brought you out of your seclusion?" The Goddess of Destiny asked curiously.

    "The Bracelet has returned," the Lord of Time said softly.

    "Bracelet? What bracelet?" the God of War asked in confusion. What bracelet was he talking about?

    The God of War pointed back without even looking. His finger was pointed straight towards Ryder¡¯s hand that had healed by now. The bracelet of immortality was also visible on his hands. It had returned.

    Both God of War and Goddesses of Destiny looked where the Lord of Time was pointing. Their eyes fell on Ryder¡¯s hands which had the Bracelet of Immortality.

    Their lips opened wide in shock, along with their eyes as they recognized the voice.

    "This bracelet... I never thought I¡¯d see it again after we ced it inside the box of anonymity. Even though it¡¯s been so long, but to see it before my eyes, it makes me remember the events that happened because of this bracelet like they happened yesterday," the Goddess of Destiny muttered.

    The Lord of Time was about to reply when he turned to his left at the sight of another portal appearing.

    A handsome middle-aged man stepped out of the portal. The man sported long white hair. His pale eyes gave a mysterious feeling to the man.

    "Old Friend, you have returned," the man muttered softly.

    "Lord of Space, You have returned as well?" The God of War eximed in surprise.

    ¡¯Both, the Lord of Time and the Lord of Space, went into seclusion in mysterious spaces created by the Lord of Space after thest great war. To see them bothe out, it¡¯s surprising,¡¯ he thought.

    "But this makes sense..." he muttered as he gazed back at the Bracelet of Immortality of Ryder.

    The bracelet had appeared once again. It was such a special item. It made perfect sense.

    "You¡¯re here as well. I didn¡¯t expect you toe. I not only stopped my rest but also made youe out. I should apologize to you," the Lord of Time answered as he smiled wryly.

    "Don¡¯t worry, old friend. Also, stepping out once in a while is good for health, especially when I get to meet my friends," the Lord of Space replied.

    Three more portals appeared nearby as more people stepped out. Portals kept appearing from which the gods kept stepping out one after another. Soon, the room was filled with tens of people.

 Chapter 473 For us

    <h4>Chapter 473: For us</h4>

    The room was filled with more and more gods as they kept appearing here one after another. It seemed to be a mass gathering.

    The newly arrived people didn¡¯t forget to greet the Lord of Time and the Lord of Space as they hade out of their seclusion after a long time.

    Most of them were still confused as to what the Lord of Time was doing in this world. And why had he stopped the time of this world?

    The only thing that they found special about this world was that the sons of gods were in this world going through their trials.

    A few of them noticed the bracelet and understood everything. The others, however, had to resort to asking to find the truth.

    Other than the Gods, there were a few more youngsters that were free of the restriction in time.

    The Lord of Time wanted to stop the time of only this house, but he had subconsciously stopped the time of this world. Fortunately, his power was still in his control up to some extent despite using it after centuries.

    Because the Lord of Time didn¡¯t intend it, the Sons of Gods weren¡¯t affected.

    It was simr to why Ryder wasn¡¯t affected. It wasn¡¯t because of the bracelet of immortality that he was free of restriction from time. It was because of his inner strength that no one knew about. The Bracelet of Immortality didn¡¯t even have to activate to keep him free.

    Unfortunately, despite all that, Ryder still failed to stay conscious against the abilities of Janus. He was lying unconscious, unaware of the conversation that was taking ce between others. He had no control over his destiny and what was about to happen.

    All it depended on was what the Lord of Time did and how the bracelet reacted to it.

    "I¡¯m sure some of you may know why I came out of my seclusion. It¡¯s because of too much disturbance in time. I just couldn¡¯t stop myself," the Lord of Time exined to others.

    "When I came out, I found out the source of that distortion, and it led me to this ce. To make sure that the time wasn¡¯t affected too much because of the distortion, I used my abilities in this house, only toter realize that I had affected this world," he continued as he smiled wryly.

    "In any case, what happened next is me finding the distortion to being from this boy who was able to move even after being affected by my abilities," he added as he pointed towards the Lord of Time.

    "And you all can understand why he wasn¡¯t affected like I did. It¡¯s because of the bracelet," he said as he squinted his eyes.

    Most of the Gods had already noticed the bracelet. There were still some who hadn¡¯t noticed the bracelet yet. Even those people noticed it after the Lord of Time pointed towards him.

    A wave of gasps filled the room.

    "That bracelet!"

    "After so long, it appeared again!"

    "I can¡¯t believe it was found again. How was it able to protect him, though? Wasn¡¯t the bracelet sealed by all of us? It shouldn¡¯t have any abilities left?"

    Along with the shocked gasps, a few questions were also raised.

    The Lord of Time gazed at Janus as he smiled amusingly.

    "Janus, would you like to answer them or should I?" he asked vaguely.

    Janus squinted his eyes as he wondered if the Lord of Time was actually asking him to answer or implying something.

    He kept his head calm as he answered, "I think he found some keys that you all used to seal the bracelet. We can only conclude that his luck was too good," Janus told everyone as he nced back at Ryder.

    His tone was as calm as always.

    "I knew something like this would happen. That¡¯s why it¡¯s better to keep dangerous things with us instead of throwing them away randomly!"

    "That¡¯s right. We made a mistakest time. Instead of being scared of the bracelet and trying to throw it away, we should have found methods to control it. In any case, it¡¯s a miraculous item that was created by him."

    "Exactly. We have another opportunity to correct our past mistakes. The bracelet has returned to us. Let¡¯s just take it this time."

    Some of the gods started chiming in with their opinions. Their opinions went against the suggestion of Janus.

    There were some that opposed this as well, giving Janus some boost.

    "The problem still remains! Which one of us can keep the bracelet in control? It¡¯s a dark power that might have the Demon God¡¯s vengeance and his wrath. He was killed while wearing this thing, after all. It would be risky for us." The Lord of Wind said in a heavy tone.

    "That¡¯s right. Thest time was the same. This bracelet is a double-edged sword that is more dangerous to keep with us than it is to throw away!" The Lord of Lakes chimed in.

    "Exactly! Moreover, which one of us can keep it? Will others agree to that? Can any of us be allowed to keep it? It¡¯s too strong. If I keep it, you¡¯ll be suspicious of me, and you¡¯ll try to kill me. Others might do the same if one of you gets to keep it!" The God of Rage supported the notion.

    "That¡¯s right. We¡¯re all equally strong, mostly. But the bracelet will give an undue advantage to whoever keeps it. Even though it¡¯s sealed, it¡¯s still not good. It will only end up in a war amongst ourselves," Janus chimed in, trying to make the bnce tilt towards his side.

    "That¡¯s why I opposed keeping itst time. And this is also why I¡¯ll suggest the same thing," he further added.

    "It was an unfortunate event that a mortal managed to find the bracelet and get its fragments. But this still proves it. That this was a better option; if a god had kept it, we might have had many civil wars. But a mortal got it."

    Janus walked towards Ryder slowly. He kicked Ryder¡¯s arms lightly as he continued, "And what¡¯s the worse a mortal can do? Even with the bracelet, there can be no irreversible damage that can be created by a Mortal."

    Janus¡¯s gaze moved through everyone who was present inside this ce.

    "We¡¯re here to decide what to do with the bracelet. There are two suggestions. One is to keep the bracelet with one of us, and the other is to do the same as we didst time. You can all decide what to do."

    "But just remember... Choosing the first option means setting up the foundation of a civil war. You thought thest great war was bad? Going against one powerful God was bad."

    "Just imagine the chaos when we all go against each other. None can survive. It¡¯s for you to decide. Do you support leaving, or you support a civil war," Janus finished before he folded his arms.

    "That¡¯s right. I don¡¯t want a civil war!" The Lord of Wing voiced loudly.

    "There won¡¯t be a war. It¡¯s just fear-mongering of Janus likest time. I support keeping the bracelet by one of us. And I also nominate me to be the person who keeps the bracelet!" The God of War dered proudly.

    "I support keeping it as well. And I nominate myself to be the one who keeps it," the Goddess of Destiny chimed in.

    "Hey, why do you get to keep it? You¡¯re the worst person to keep it. I should be the one who keeps it!" the God of War retorted.

    "Just shut up. I¡¯m the best person to keep it!" the God of Thunder let out arrogantly as he threw his nomination into the mix.

    After the three of them started asking for the bracelet, more gods started doing the same. The voices that were supporting throwing away the bracelet were drowned in the voices that supported keeping the bracelet for themselves.

    It seemed less like a nominal and more like a vocal fight.

    "Sigh, I guess you were right. I can see them going to war for this bracelet if one of them is allowed to keep it," the Lord of Time muttered as he gazed at Janus.

    " I would never suggest the things that are bad for us. Of course, I was only thinking for ourselves," Janus muttered vaguely, not signifying what he meant by, "Us."

    He made it feel like he was talking about the gods, but only he knew what he truly meant.

    "Silence!" the Lord of Space yelled. His single yell was enough to shake the entire space of this universe. Fortunately, he had controlled himself, or he would have caused spatial storms to appear everywhere.

    " Is this the etiquette you show when all of us gather at one ce? Why do you fight like mortals? Stop showing me something so unsightly. Janus is right. If we keep it, the only thing we¡¯ll receive is devastation. I support losing the bracelet!" he dered.

 Chapter 474 Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 474: Awakening</h4>

    "I¡¯m starting to tilt more towards Janus¡¯s suggestion after seeing this sight as well. If we¡¯re fighting like this before even getting the bracelet, how will we fight after one of us gets it? I don¡¯t want to be a part of another great war likest time. One had been more than enough for me," the Lord of Time muttered as he nodded his head.

    "I support this decision as well." Lord of Space also dered.

    Soon, more and more gods started supporting the decision. The voices of support that had drowned previously against the voice of opposition again got the lead as two Great Gods supported Janus.

    The God of War looked at the people who were supporting losing the bracelet. "You¡¯ve all gone crazy. We shouldn¡¯t lose this bracelet again."

    "Alright. Let¡¯s do one thing. We will give the bracelet to the Goddess of Destiny. If you agree to that, we¡¯ll keep it," Janus took a step forth as he chimed in.

    The Lord of Time understood what Janus was trying to do. He couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud.

    "Interesting. That¡¯s right. You and Goddess of Destiny seem to want the bracelet more. If you can sacrifice it for her, it would mean that we can deal with one person keeping the bracelet. What do you say?" he let out.

    "Letting her keep it?! No way! I would rather lose it forever than give this to her!" The God of War war eximed furiously.

    With his decline, the decision was made.

    "And with that, the people who support losing the bracelet again have the majority. It¡¯s decided. We¡¯ll go with Janus¡¯s suggestion," the Lord of Time acknowledged.

    "Even though it would mean that I¡¯ll need to destroy the soul of an innocent mortal, it¡¯s worth it," he added as he looked towards Ryder.

    "Destroyed his soul? What do you mean?" The Lord of Space asked curiously.

    The Lord of Time breathed a sigh of relief as he exined, "This guy seems to have managed to unlock a few of the bracelet¡¯s seals. One of which happened to be the seal made by me."

    "With that, we can¡¯t kill him. Even if we kill him, he¡¯ll just go back in time and make sure that he isn¡¯t found again. The only way to stop him is to reverse the time of his soul until the moment it doesn¡¯t exist anymore," he further said.

    He added, "That way, there would be nothing to bring back. He would be dead. The bracelet would be ownerless, and it would be lost in the void."

    "Interesting. So only you can kill him," the Lord of Space muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    "Previously, Janus got to kill the owner of this bracelet. Now it¡¯s your turn. He had to kill his brother, whereas you have to kill an unaware mortal. I guess every time this bracelet appears; it makes us decide between a rock and a hard ce," he added as he found simrities between both situations rted to the Bracelet.

    "That¡¯s a good analogy. Hopefully, we won¡¯t see this bracelet ever again," the Lord of Time muttered as a sad smile appeared on his face.

    He started stepping towards a Ryder. There were a few gods that still didn¡¯t support losing the Bracelet of Immortality like this, but they couldn¡¯t do anything as it was decided with the majority likest time.

    They could only fight if they wanted to keep the bracelet, but they knew that it was going to be a bad decision.

    The Lord of Time stopped a few inches away from Ryder, who was lying on the ground.

    Janus stood in the back with an expressionless face as if it was something he didn¡¯t care much about.

    The Lord of Time raised his right palm towards Ryder¡¯s face.

    "Forgive me for taking your life. After your soul is destroyed by going to nothingness, not only will you die, but you won¡¯t evene to being ever again. But this is something we just do. Yours is a necessary sacrifice," the Lord of Time said as he closed his eyes.

    His entire body started shining with mystical light. His body shone for a few minutes as he stood still with his palm raised towards Ryder¡¯s face.

    After a few minutes, his shine started decreasing as his body returned to normal. The Lord of Time slowly opened his eyes which were pure white as if there was only a white abyss inside.

    "Return to nothingness," the Lord of Time muttered softly as a small white speck of light left his palm.

    The speck of light moved towards Ryder¡¯s chest. It hit Ryder¡¯s chest and disappeared.

    "Now his soul will keep regressing into reverse time until itpletely returns to the time when it didn¡¯t even exist," the Lord of Time muttered as he smiled. "Looks like we¡¯re done here."

    On the side, Janus couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    ¡¯No, we¡¯re not done here. We¡¯re just getting started,¡¯ Janus thought as he gazed towards Ryder.

    ¡¯I¡¯m sorry, brother. I know I¡¯m pitting you against them all by exposing you, but it¡¯s the only thing I can do. The situation waspletely out of my hand with the arrival of Lord of Time. I didn¡¯t think he would find the distance in time big though toe out. With him here, the only thing I could think of was to use him,¡¯ he thought as he shook his head.

    Ryderid on the ground. He remained unconscious. His face seemed so peaceful that it seemed like he was sleeping. But only the knowledgeable ones knew what was truly happening.

    Even though his body seemed to be normal, it was his soul which was suffering.

    Ryder¡¯s soul started going back in time.

    It started regressing. The Lord of Time had thought that Ryder was a normal mortal. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t realize what Ryder actually was.

    He had thought that Ryder¡¯s soul would be destroyed by reversing its time. Unfortunately, that was only possible on a mortal¡¯s soul. On a god¡¯s soul, it was impossible.

    The only possibility to destroy a god was if their soul had lost its divinity.

    Ryder¡¯s soul had lost its divinity which it was gaining back slowly. Unfortunately, with the time-reversal, something mystical happened.

    Ryder¡¯s soul regressed in time to the moment when it had its Divine Powers. It was Janus¡¯s entire n. He wanted Ryder to awaken his powers so he could deal with the situation himself.

    It was out of his range now, after all. He couldn¡¯t face so many gods. Only Ryder was the one who could deal with the situation and survive.

    Ryder¡¯s soul kept regressing. It regressed to the lowest of his mortal lifespan. Typically, before this point was nothingness. But for Ryder, before this point was the time where his soul hadplete Divinity.

    Thud... Thud... Thud....

    The ground started shaking. Winds began moving faster as if a storm was on the way.

    "Hmm? How is this possible? I didn¡¯t free the time. Why is this world moving again?" The Lord of Time muttered in confusion.

    He looked back towards the God of Wind and the other gods.

    "Are you guys doing it?" he asked softly.

    "Not at all. We thought you released time, and that¡¯s why it was happening. If you didn¡¯t free time, then how...?" The God of Wind eximed as he talked about his non-involvement in these things.

    "Strange. What¡¯s happening then?" The Lord of Time muttered in confusion.

    "The only thing I did differently is send his soul back in time to nothingness," she let out as he shifted his gaze to Ryder.

    It was at that moment, Ryder¡¯s eyes opened suddenly.

    As soon as his eyes opened, a wave of energy came out of his body that tossed back all the gods.

    Not even the Lord of Time and Lord of Space were safe. Even the two of them were tossed back like stones.

    As none of the gods had expected it, they didn¡¯t take any precautions to protect themselves from this wage of energy.

    All the gods crashed on the wall in the back. Not even Janus was safe who suffered the same thing.

    Ryder¡¯s eyes had opened, but they were different. His eyes weren¡¯t blue like that had been previously. Instead, his eyes were blood-red in color.

    His hair started growing. His hair got longer and longer until they came down to his waist. His height also started increasing. His face also changed a little bit. It kept most of the features of Ryder¡¯s face, but it seemed a little more devilishly charming now.

    Ryder breathed out a mouthful of air before his body started flying upwards. He stood up without having to use his legs or hands. He did all that with what could only be described as controlling his surroundings.

    "Janus, Oh Janus. You just had to drag me into this again, didn¡¯t you?" Ryder muttered softly. His voice was a little heavier and sounded much more intimidating.

    His voice sounded especially intimating to the gods that recognized it. The gods seemed like they had seen a ghost.

 Chapter 475 Old Friend

    <h4>Chapter 475: Old Friend</h4>

    "Janus, Oh Janus. You just had to drag me into this again, didn¡¯t you?" Ryder muttered softly. His voice was a little heavier and sounded much more intimidating.

    His voice sounded especially intimating to the gods that recognized it. The gods seemed like they had seen a ghost. Most of them went deathly pale.

    "It¡¯s you..." The Lord of Space muttered as he stood up.

    "So you were alive," the Lord of Time muttered as he also flew up. His body floated a few inches above the ground.

    "It¡¯s good to meet you too, old friend," Ryder muttered softly with an expressionless face.

    He gazed back towards the bracelet that was in his hand.

    "My bracelet has gained some powers. Unfortunately, the seals of most of you still exist. It¡¯s good that I got the seal of yours removed. That is good. Now I don¡¯t have to face all of you at once," Ryder let out as he gazed at the bracelet of immortality.

    "What do you mean?" The Lord of Time eximed as he squinted his eyes.

    "Janus, I¡¯ll talk to youter, you troublemaker," Ryder ignored the question of Lord of Time to talk to Janus.

    Janus couldn¡¯t help but smile like a kid in embarrassment.

    "So I was right. Janus did have a hand in the appearance of the bracelet again," the Lord of Time muttered as he saw the chemistry of Janus and Ryder.

    It didn¡¯t seem like the way someone would talk to a person who killed them. It was definitely that Janus was supporting Ryder in some scheme.

    "You bastard! You betrayed us!" the Lord of Space cursed at Janus as he understood what it implied.

    "I knew we couldn¡¯t trust you!" The God of War roared in rage. "Just wait and watch how I deal with you after I kill your brother again!"

    "Kill him? I don¡¯t think it would be as easy as you think," Janus let out as he rolled his eyes.

    Ryder, on the other hand, raised his right hand.

    "My dear friend, I¡¯ll meet you really soon. Don¡¯t worry," he said casually. "As for the others, you¡¯ll have to wait a little longer."

    Snap!

    Ryder snapped his fingers.

    As soon as he snapped his fingers, everything turned white.

    The Bracelet of Immortality was an item that was said to be one of the strongest creations. It could have the powers of every god. Unfortunately, it hadn¡¯t fully awakened previously when Ryder fought all the gods.

    Moreover, it was sealed after that by the gods. Now that it¡¯s been so long, the bracelet had awakened, but it still had the seals of the gods, which was preventing it from showing all its abilities.

    Ryder had still managed to unseal it a little bit. And one of those unsealing was with the Fragment of Time itself which unsealed the seal cast by the Lord of Time himself.

    That unsealing gave Ryder the ability to go back in time by a few hours. It also gave him the ability to go back in time by a day after dying.

    Fortunately, now that his soul had its Divinity, the restriction didn¡¯t apply to him. He didn¡¯t need to die to go back in time by a day.

    Last time he didn¡¯t have the power of time but now that he had it, he wanted to use it.

    He used the Bracelet of Immortality to go back in time by a day. Not only that, but he also hid his aura to make sure that the Gods in the new timeline couldn¡¯t sense him.

    The only person who would be twenty-four hours ago who will know what actually happened is the Lord of Time. That guy ruled time. Time couldn¡¯t be used to fool him. He was going to know about what happened before him in this timeline.

    Janus could also use a few abilities of time so he could also remember what happened before him.

    As for the other gods, they would bepletely unaware as times of this timeline wouldn¡¯t have happened. They couldn¡¯t know about Ryder¡¯s return.

    Ryder moved back in time as he appeared in the same house where he was before.

    Luke stood in front of the window, looking outside. It was a different timeline, and Ryder hadn¡¯t arrived yet. He hadn¡¯t gone to invite Alice yet. He wasn¡¯t rejected at the moment either.

    Ryder¡¯s deep red eyes gazed towards Luke. He remembered everything that had happened previously. This guy was here for Alice to forcefully take her if she said no.

    "People like you don¡¯t deserve to live. I dere death to you," Ryder said in a grim reaper-like tone.

    Luke looked back in shock as he heard a chilling voice behind him. How was it that someone managed to enter his house without him knowing?

    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t even turn back to see the face of Ryder before he heard the snap of Ryder"a finger.

    One snap... Just a single snap¡¯s noise was enough to deal with Luke.

    As soon as the sound of Ryder¡¯s snap fell on Luke¡¯s ears, his heart stopped beating as he dropped to the ground.

    Ryder didn¡¯t waste even a second more as he disappeared. The ce he was going to was a ce he didn¡¯t want to have to go so soon. Unfortunately, the situation didn¡¯t give him much time.

    In a distant ce, a special realm existed. Inside the spatial realm, a young boy was sitting with his feet inside a pond.

    The cold water brushed against his warm feet as he moved them.

    The boy was sitting calmly, but suddenly his expressions changed. Many thoughts flooded his head as the boy got his memories from a different timeline about what he had seen.

    He understood what had happened. Ryder used his abilities to go back in time.

    He hurriedly stood up.

    "You don¡¯t have to be in such a hurry, old friend."

    The boy was just about to leave the special realm when he heard a voice.

    "So you not only came back in time, but you came straight to me," the young boy muttered as he gazed back at the long-haired man who possessed beautiful yet frightening red eyes.

    "Of course. Only you know about me now. Who will I go to if not you," Ryder told the Lord of Time calmly.

    "Strange. I think you¡¯ve changed. If it were the old you, you wouldn¡¯t be scared to fight all the gods at once. Instead, you chose to run back in time so you won¡¯t have to face them. Not only that, you came straight to me, so I can¡¯t inform them," the Lord of Time muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    Ryder squinted his eyes, but he didn¡¯t say anything. The truth was different, honestly. It wasn¡¯t because he was scared to face the gods at once. But he came back in time for something else.

    " All I can say is that you¡¯re wrong. I would still have preferred to face you all at once, but I have my reasons," he said after quite some time.

    "Interesting. I wonder what those reasons are. Can¡¯t you tell me? I¡¯ll be dead shortly, after all," the Lord of Time let out softly as he sat down on the ground again.

    "You¡¯re giving up so fast? I don¡¯t know about me, but you certainly seem to have changed," Ryder muttered as he walked closer to the Lord of Time. He sat beside him as he looked straight into the distant horizon.

    "Do I even have another choice? That bracelet is in your hand. And it seems to have powers of time. Even before, time couldn¡¯t affect you when I had stopped the time of the entire world. And that was when you didn¡¯t have your Divinity, I believe." Lord of Time let out.

    "I won¡¯t even imagine that I¡¯ll be able to affect you with my powers now. This bracelet certainly proved to be a game-changer. Especially with my seal being unlocked first. You¡¯re invincible to my powers." he continued.

    "Even before when you didn¡¯t have the bracelet, these powers barely affected you. As of now, It¡¯s only a fool¡¯s wish to kill you. At Least, I can¡¯t do it."

    He ced his feet in the water again as he closed his eyes. Honestly, though, I never expected to lose my life to you after so long. I thought it¡¯d be much sooner."

    "I honestly expected to die in thest Great War. But you didn¡¯t attack me that much. Was that intentional?" he asked Ryder.

    Ryder looked towards the Lord of Time as he confessed, "I don¡¯t want to kill you. Let me seal you, and you¡¯ll survive. After I¡¯m finished with what I want to do, you¡¯ll be free. Please don¡¯t make me kill you. You are one of the only few people I honestly don¡¯t want to kill."

    The Lord of Time looked back at Ryder. He couldn¡¯t help but burst intoughter as heid on the ground.

 Chapter 476 Caught

    <h4>Chapter 476: Caught</h4>

    The Lord of Time couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud as he heard Ryder suggest that he ept to be sealed.

    "You must be joking, my friend," the Lord of Time let out as he rolled his eyes.

    "I will never ept being sealed. Even if you give me a choice between dying and getting sealed, I¡¯ll prefer to die," he added.

    Ryder was sitting on the right side of the Lord of Time. He wasn¡¯t even looking at the boy. Instead, he looked straight ahead.

    The Lord of Time slowly yet carefully started moving his left hand, making sure that he wasn¡¯t caught.

    A small portal appeared near his hand from which a paper-like object came out. The paper floated in front of his left hand, close to the ground to make sure that it remained out of Ryder¡¯s sight even if he looked in the direction of the Lord of Time.

    The Lord of Time nced towards Ryder and kept his eyes on him as he started talking.

    "You know me. And I know you. Both of us are the same at the core. We would never ept being sealed. Even your offer to make me do it makes me think that you never knew me that well. You better kill me," the Lord of Time said softly.

    Even though he talked to Ryder on one side, on the other hand, he kept moving his fingers. As his fingers moved, words kept taking shape on the paper that was floated in front of his fingers.

    Soon, the entire paper was filled with words.

    The Lord of Time tapped his finger on the ground after he finished what he was trying to do.

    Another small portal opened near paper which was floating above the ground. The paper entered inside the portal and disappeared along with the portal.

    "You¡¯re right. You know me. And I know you. Both of us are the same at the core. So the little tricks of yours won¡¯t work here, my friend," Ryder said in a grim tone as he shook his head.

    The Lord of Time frowned as he wondered if Ryder had known what he did. That should be impossible. He couldn¡¯t have seen. He was very careful after all.

    "What do you mean?" he inquired.

    Ryder finally moved his head as he looked back towards the boy who was on his left.

    A deep sigh escaped the lips of Ryder that seemed to epass the entire universe inside it. It seemed to be filled with thousands of memories and emotions.

    It seemed mostly sad, though.

    Ryder raised his right hand and snapped his finger.

    A snapping sound echoed in the entire special realm, which started shaking this whole realm.

    The Lord of Time grew stunned as he felt the realm shake. Just how strong was Ryder? Did he have all his old powers? How was that possible?. Even if his soul had returned to normal, his body still shouldn¡¯t be able to support all this power.

    As for his Divine Body, that was already destroyed. How was he still so strong?

    Ryder didn¡¯t mind the shock of the Lord of Time. Instead, he gazed at the white portal that had opened in front of him.

    The Lord of Time¡¯s face went pale as he saw the portal and the object that came out of the portal. How was this possible?

    What came out of the portal was no other thing but the paper that he had sent previously.

    "You know me. And I know you. Both of us are the same at the core. Do you think I really wouldn¡¯t know the tricks you might use? As for you epting death? Sigh, I didn¡¯t know you would resort to tricks, but I can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t expect it," Ryder muttered as he caught the paper that was floating before him.

    He started reading it and soon finished.

    "As expected. You were informing them about my return. Unfortunately, they¡¯ll never get this message," Ryder muttered.

    He said a single word, "Burn."

    The mystical paper that was in his hand started burning. It caught the mes and burned to dust.

    The mes that were in the hands of Ryder disappeared as soon as the paper was destroyed.

    "Now that the tricks are over, you can attack me," Ryder muttered as he patted his head as he stood up.

    "It¡¯s useless. Why will I attack you? As I said, my powers won¡¯t affect you," the Lord of Time let out as he stood up as well.

    "Sigh, My friend. Please don¡¯t forget what you said. You know me. And I know you. Both of us are the same at the core. You¡¯ll do what I would do, and that is to fight even if I have no chance of victory. You¡¯ll never surrender. So you can drop the act," Ryder answered as a knowing smile appeared on his face.

    It had been a long time since a smile like this was on Ryder¡¯s face but watching his old friend lie through open teeth was indeed amusing.

    "Sigh, I guess this really won¡¯t work. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll handle things myself the old way then," the Lord of Time muttered as he patted his clothes.

    He pped his hands once. A wave of energy came out of his p that spread in every direction. Ryder watched the wave of energy advance towards him as well, but he didn¡¯t move.

    The wave of energy reached him and passed through him without even harming him a little bit.

    ¡¯You¡¯ll never change. You¡¯re going to fight to the death here, but you¡¯re more concerned about the Special Realm that was created. You brought us to a different time to make sure our battle doesn¡¯t have any effect on reality," Ryder let out as he understood what had happened.

    He and the Lord of Time weren¡¯t in the real timeline now. Instead, they were in a different time realm which seemed like the real thing.

    "What can I do? I care about my things. If I manage to kill you, I need a ce to go back to. I can¡¯t keep asking him to make another special realm for my seclusion after I¡¯m done here," the Lord of Time muttered as he chuckled.

    ¡¯That¡¯s like the ruler of time I used to know. Anyway, this is thest time I address you as a friend. I¡¯m offering you again. Agree to be sealed by me, and everything will be fine. This is thest chance for you," Ryder alluded to the Lord of Time.

    "Say yes, and you¡¯ll still have a friend before you. Say no, and you won¡¯t have a friend before you. What you¡¯ll have is an enemy. This is for you to decide," he said softly.

    "My decision, huh," the Lord of Time muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    He raised his right feet above the ground and tapped the ground lightly with his feelings. The ground started shining brightly as a portal appeared inside.

    A pointy thing starteding out of the ground, which revealed itself to be a spear.

    "The Spear of Time. I guess I know your decision now. How unfortunate," Ryder muttered as he shook his head in disappointment.

    The Spear was the Spear of Time which was the signature weapon of the Lord of Time. It was said to be a weapon that ruled over time.

    "Seeing that thing reminds me of my sword. Where are you guys keeping that thing?" Ryder asked the Lord of Time.

    "That abomination of a weapon that drank the blood of so many gods in the Last Great War? Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s in a ce where you can never get to. You¡¯ll never get your sword again. And it¡¯s not like you¡¯ll need it. Dead men don¡¯t need a Sword!" the Lord of Time eximed as he caught the hilt of the Spear of Time.

    He flew straight towards Ryder with his Spear of Time.

    "Sigh. It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t think I can keep that thing as I am right now. There is still more preparation to be done," Ryder muttered as he disappeared just when the tip of the Spear of Time was about to touch him.

    He appeared behind the Lord of Time. He seemed to be holding a scythe in his hand, which he didn¡¯t have previously.

    "For now, I¡¯ll use this. It¡¯s not too bad either," Ryder said softly as he held the Scythe in his hand.

    If the previous Ryder were here, he would be shocked to see this Scythe. It was the Moon Scythe that was a special weapon in the world of Divinity. He would have been shocked to see this thing here. Unfortunately, it was a different Ryder here who was holding the Scythe.

    The Lord of Timended on the ground as he turned back towards Ryder to see the Scythe.

    "That Scythe? It looks weak," he said.

    "It¡¯s not the weapon that makes a person but a person that man a man," Ryder let out as a cruel smile appeared on his face.

    He flew towards the Lord of Time, who did the same.

 Chapter 477 Exposing Weakness

    <h4>Chapter 477: Exposing Weakness</h4>

    Ryder flew towards the Lord of Time with the Moon Scythe in his hand. At the same time, the Lord of Time shot towards Ryder with the Spear of Time in his hand.

    The distance between the Lord of Time and Ryder, which was about ten meters previously, kept decreasing rapidly, and soon it was a few meters only.

    "You died once! Today, you will die again!" The Lord of Time dered as he threw the Spear towards Ryder when Ryder was too close to dodge.

    Unfortunately for him, Ryder had a good battle awareness, and he expected this. He was already prepared for something like this. At the sight of a Spearing towards him, he dodged mid-way.

    The air seemed like it was already prepared to support the battle of Ryder. It moved as he wished and allowed him to dodge effectively.

    The bracelet had given Ryder some abilities of wind, water, Healing, and time. Those abilities came with certain restrictions, but with his Divine Powers, those restrictions didn¡¯t apply.

    Not only did he have his old powers, but he also had extra because of being able to use some fragments in the bracelet.

    As the Wind helped Ryder, he was able to dodge to the left as he continued flying towards the Lord of Time.

    Unfortunately for him, the Spear of Time that he had managed to dodge underwent a reversal in time as he appeared in the hands of the Lord of Time again.

    "Useless tricks," Ryder eximed as he swung his Moon Scythe towards the neck of Time.

    "I can only use tricks against you, my friend," the Lord of Time eximed as he snapped the fingers of his left hand.

    As the sound of snap moved through the realm, time seemed to stop. Even though the stopping of time didn¡¯t affect Ryder, it did affect the Scythe, which was in Ryder¡¯s hand.

    The Scythe seemed to have be immovable. It didn¡¯t move forward, no matter despite the immense strength of Ryder. The Moon Scythe was a miraculous item, but even it couldn¡¯t resist the time.

    The Moon Scythe stopped just a few inches away from the Lord of Time¡¯s neck, who didn¡¯t even move. The Lord of Time watched Ryder and didn¡¯t even move.

    Not even a single worry could be seen on his face.

    "I can¡¯t affect the time for you. But I can affect it for the weapons you use. Pretty neat, isn¡¯t it?" The Lord of Time asked Ryder as he smiled.

    "It¡¯s a good trick. I guess I can¡¯t use a weapon against you. This is a headache," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    Ryder freed the Moon Scythe that was in his hands. He snapped his fingers. The moon scythe also disappeared and went back to where it came from.

    "It¡¯s fine. Other than my old sword, nothing suits me anyway," Ryder muttered as he shook his head.

    "Too bad for you, My friend. That Sword isn¡¯ting to you ever again," the Lord of Time responded as he shook his head.

    "That¡¯s what you think. If I want, I can find it even from the depths of hell. But I just can¡¯t make too much noise right now. So I¡¯ll just use my hands," Ryder alluded to the Lord of Time as he shook his head.

    "You might be strong, but even you aren¡¯t strong enough to face me without a weapon when I possess my Divine Weapon of Time," the Lord of Time said as he took a step back.

    "Last time you had that weapon. And you had your full strength. But you have none at the moment. I can already feel that you¡¯re weaker. That must be why you used this trick toe back in time, don¡¯t you? You weren¡¯t confident in being able to kill them all?" he asked Ryder.

    "Previously, you gave me a choice. Now, I¡¯m giving you the same. Surrender, and you¡¯ll live. Oppose, and you¡¯ll die. Even I don¡¯t want to kill you. So don¡¯t force me. You have three seconds to think," he further added.

    "Interesting. Using my tricks on me. You¡¯re learning," Ryder let out as he gazed at the person who used to be one of his closest friends.

    They had done so many times together. He still couldn¡¯t believe that they were against each other even though it was his second time fighting the Lord of Time.

    "You¡¯re right, though. I don¡¯t have my old powers. And I¡¯m losing the ones I have. The trick you used to return my soul to nothingness brought it back to the time I had powers. But my body isn¡¯t ready to ept these powers now. It will be destroyed if I use them all," he acknowledged as he sighed.

    "Also, even the little bit of power I can use now won¡¯tst for long. The trick you used on my soul brought it back. But the effects won¡¯tst long. My soul is a Divine Soul. The only person who can actually affect it is me. You¡¯re strong and managed to affect it because it didn¡¯t have Divinity. But even still, my Soul resists foreign powers."

    "The effects of your powers are running out. My soul will soon return to the way it was. So I don¡¯t have long. That¡¯s why I decided toe back in time. I could kill you all if this were my permanent state. But I only have a day at best. I can¡¯t afford to fight you all even though I hate it," Ryder told the Lord of Time.

    "So you actually decided to run. You ept it. You¡¯ve changed," the Lord of Time said softly.

    "You¡¯re wrong. I did this for her. If we all had fought there, she would have died. And you all wouldn¡¯t let me change locations. I know the God of War. Is he very..." Ryder muttered, but he didn¡¯tplete his sentence.

    "Think of it as dying the battle to save some people," he said.

    "Her?" The Lord of Time asked.

    "Who is this ¡¯Her¡¯ you speak of?" he inquired curiously.

    "You don¡¯t need to know," Ryder retorted.

    "That¡¯s fine. I have a more important question to ask anyway," the Lord of Time replied. "Why did you tell me about this?"

    "Now I know your weakness. All I need to do is drag the battle for a day, and you¡¯ll be over. So why... Why did you tell me?" The Lord of Time asked.

    "Think of it as me giving myself a handicap. I took the opportunity from you to fight me with the others. The least I can do is give myself a handicap," Ryder replied as the glimpse of a smile appeared on his lips.

    "Moreover, you can¡¯t live for more than 2 hours anyway. So it doesn¡¯t matter even I tell you about it," he added as the smile again disappeared, only to be reced by the grim look that suited Ryder¡¯s face more.

    He didn¡¯t tell one thing, though. Another reason why he told the Lord of Time about this was because that man was his friend. And he was going to kill him. The least he could do was do this. It was his form of making up for what he was about to do.

    The Lord of Time couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud.

    "Again, with this confidence. I don¡¯t know if I should praise you for your consistency or to me you for such arrogance. If you didn¡¯t have this, maybe the events of the past wouldn¡¯t have happened previously," he let out as he reminisced about the pasts and the events that led to the great war amongst the gods.

    "This is the only thing I inherited from my great father. I can die, but I can¡¯t lose good confidence of mine," Ryder replied. "Anyway, I¡¯m running out of time. Even though I have a day, I want to finish within a few hours so I could do more things," Ryder said.

    "As for your offer, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to ept," he acknowledged.

    "You have twenty-four hours, but you want to kill me within a few hours? Isn¡¯t that disrespectful to think you can kill me so soon? That too without a weapon?" The Lord of Time asked again as he tightened the grip on his spear.

    "I only said a few hours because I respect you. What would be embarrassing is to kill you within a few minutes. So don¡¯t give me an opportunity," Ryder said as he clenched his fist before he shot out towards the Lord of Time.

    "You¡¯ll need an eternity to kill me! Time is Immortal?" the Lord of Time roared as he tapped the other end of his Spear on the ground.

    As soon as his spear touched the ground, an illusory clock started taking shape behind him. The Clock seemed to have only one hand, which was pointing straight up towards the sky as if signaling that it was twelve o clock.

 Chapter 478 Mystical Sword

    <h4>Chapter 478: Mystical Sword</h4>

    An illusory clock started taking shape behind the Lord of Time as soon as the back of his spear tapped the ground.

    The clock only had one hand, which was pointing straight towards the sky.

    The Illusory Clock seemed to be made of shadows. It was dark in color, but the hand which was pointing at the sky was stark white in contrast to the color of the clock.

    "It¡¯s Time!" The Lord of Time thundered as he clenched his fist and punched the ground. To punch the ground, he had to bow down, which gave the clock behind him the space to attack freely without the worries of having the Lord of Time be affected.

    The fist of Lord of Time crashing on the ground seemed to act as an intermediate to provide more energy to the illusory clock behind him, which seemed to have gotten more real and less Illusory.

    Ryder didn¡¯t help but frown as he saw the clock. He knew what it was, and it wasn¡¯t a good deal for him. Yet, he didn¡¯t back off.

    His fist was tightly clenched, with which he punched straight ahead. A giant dark hand took shape before his fist, which seemed to be multiple times bigger than Ryder¡¯s real fist.

    The hand also seemed more frightening as the dark hand seemed to be made of shadows that were even darker than what the Clock was made of.

    The slender fingers of the hand seemed less like the fingers of humans and more like the ws of a beast.

    The dark hand shot straight towards the Clock, which acted at the same time by shooting out a white ray of light to match the attack of Ryder.

    The dark and the white ray of light shed with each other, effectively fighting for supremely.

    The sh was so powerful that it created a powerful wave of wind that spread everywhere.

    The wind was powerful enough to toss any human dozens of meters away, but it wasn¡¯t strong enough to affect Ryder and the Lord of Time that held their ground.

    Ryder had to stop in his tracks as he didn¡¯t go close to the ce of impact. Even though he was strong, it was because of his soul. His body was still weak. He had to be careful when dealing with such things.

    If it were the old him, he wouldn¡¯t even need to use the Dark Hand to take care of the Annihtion of Time. Only good physical prowess would have been enough. Unfortunately for him, his body didn¡¯t support him, and he had to stay effectively carefully.

    As the Dark Hand and the white ray of light kept shing for supremacy, Ryder acted with swift hands as he raised his right hand towards the sky.

    Another dark ray shot out towards the sky,ing out of his palm, which seemed only to be an inch thick.

    The ray of light shot out for about Twenty meters before it stopped.

    Ryder caught the other end of the Ray of Light to use it as a rope. He jerked his hand to make the rope follow the Lord of Time who had just stood up.

    Even though it seemed like a long time had passed between the previous attacks, in reality, only a moment had passed. The Lord of Time¡¯s fist was still on the ground, which he was slowly raising to stand up.

    The rope made of Dark Ray of light shot towards the Lord of Time and wrapped around his legs.

    The Lord of Time had barely managed to stand up when the rope suddenly wrapped around his leg. Ryder pulled the rope as soon as it got a hold of him.

    The Lord of Time lost his bnce as he was pulled by Ryder.

    Ryder watched the Lord of Time being dragged towards him at the speed of light. He already seemed to have prepared for it as he freed the rope and punched out.

    It all happened so fast that even the person that ruled over the time couldn¡¯t do anything when Ryder¡¯s fist connected with his face, making him shoot straight towards the pond.

    The Lord of Timended on the pond of water. Unfortunately for him, despite that, Ryder didn¡¯t give him the time to recover as he raised both his hands towards the sky.

    "Come and show this ce a glimpse of your true Strength!" Ryder roared in a voice full of emotions as he looked towards the Sky.

    The wind started moving even faster as the sky started turning red. Even the Sound of Thunder could be heard despite there being no presence of any clouds. The Sky was perfectly clear of clouds despite being covered in what seemed like the blood-red hue.

    The Blood Red Hue started collecting in one ce, getting denser and denser. It could be seen taking shape already.

    The shape it was taking seemed to be of what could only be described as a silhouette of a sword.

    The Sword didn¡¯t seem sharp, but it did seem to be filled with power. As for the sharpness, that didn¡¯t seem to be possible as it was made from a misty red hue. The sword started taking shape and became denser and denser with each moment.

    As it became denser, the problem of its sharpness also seemed to be stopped. The Red Sword¡¯s edge became sharper and sharper as it took shape.

    Within moments, the sword wasplete. It seemed to be a sword that was seventh meters long and a meter wife. The hilt of the sword itself seemed to be a few meters long.

    As the Sword finished taking shape, it was also looking more realistic, as if it was a real sword. There also seemed to be a strange pattern on the de of the Sword, which was iprehensible and unclear. Only Ryder knew what that pattern meant.

    The Lord of Time had a moment to get to his senses after the punch that had managed to knock the lights out of his brain. He was still at the depths of the pond, but he swam upwards.

    As soon as he managed to get his head out of the water, his gaze fell on Ryder, who was standing at a distance. Ryder had his hand aiming towards the sky. A shade of red was visible on his face and his body which was making him look even more demonic.

    That wasn¡¯t strange, though. What was strange was that the entire ce seemed to have a shade of red. Curious about what it was, the Lord of Time slowly raising his head towards the sky.

    As soon as the Lord of Time looked towards the sky, he saw a giant sword hanging above his head.

    The Sword seemed to be something he recognized which made his face go pale as he blurted out, "That sword... How..."

    Unfortunately for him, he couldn¡¯t ask as Ryder didn¡¯t give him time to.

    Ryder started bringing his hand down slowly. As soon as his hand started moving, the Sword that was hanging above the Lord of Time¡¯s head also started falling down.

    The Lord of Time tried to move out of the water, but it seemed like the presence of the sword was making him unable to move. A restriction was applied to him, which was stopping him from flying.

    He could only swim. The Lord of Time started swimming towards the edge of the pond to get out of here as fast as he could.

    Albeit, his speed seemed like the speed of a turtlepared to the giant red Sword, which appeared to be a tiger chasing after the turtle.

    The Turtle realized that he couldn¡¯t get out on time. The only way to get out of it was facing the sword head-on.

    He raised his hand towards the sky to call out the Spear of Time which had fallen somewhere when he was punched.

    Unfortunately, the Spear didn¡¯te flying to him despite his expectations.

    "Looking for this?"

    The Lord of Time heard Ryder¡¯s voice. He looked towards Ryder only to find the Spear of Time in his hand now.

    The Spear of Time was trying to get out of Ryder¡¯s grip, but it seemed to be failing badly. It wasn¡¯t able to get out of Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "I¡¯m sorry, my friend. But this is as far as you go," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the Lord of Time. The red Sword had reached awfully close to him

    "Stop everything!" The Lord of Time roared as he used thest option he had. It was to destroy this special realm and run to a different ce. Unfortunately for him, this also didn¡¯t work.

    "What he didn¡¯t know was that Ryder had already cast his Domain which sealed everything inside this realm. Let alone time; not even space could be affected here anymore. He did all this to make sure that the energy that came out of this battle did not reach the other gods.

 Chapter 479 Apology

    <h4>Chapter 479: Apology</h4>

    The Lord of Time tried to break this special realm to run to a different timeline only to fail.

    He was inside a domain of Ryder, which stopped him from doing the things he had nned. Strangely enough, he didn¡¯t even realize when Ryder had cast his Domain in the first ce.

    How was it possible that he... A god of Time couldn¡¯t know that he was in the domain of another god? Just how strong was this guy? The Lord of Time didn¡¯t remember Ryder being this strong.

    Or was it that he always had an ability like this which he never used? He had so many questions that he wanted to ask. Unfortunately for him, the questions were never going to get any answers. He only now realized howte it was for him.

    Death was above his head, and it was going to reach him without moments. He only had the time to say one word at best. He didn¡¯t wish to waste that one word in a question, the answer of which he wasn¡¯t even going to be able to hear.

    He opened his lips as he said hisst word, "Goodbye."

    He had only finished his word when the Swordnded on his head.

    Shake! Tremble!

    The entire special realm started trembling as soon as the sword crashed on the head of the Lord of Time.

    Fortunately, Ryder had already casted his domain which was the best weapon to contain this energy. If he hadn¡¯t, the energy that came out of this attack would have been devastating.

    It could have destroyed the Entire Realm, and not only that, the extreme strength of it could have alerted the Lord of Space and the other gods. It was absolutely necessary for him to stop all that, and the Domain was just the tool he needed.

    The Destructive energy was contained inside the findings, but not much before it destroyed the entire pond and everything else in its range.

    It even reached Ryder, who raised his right hand to stop the impact from reaching him. A dark barrier appeared before him that stopped the devastating power that was capable of destroying his mortal body.

    Within minutes, the smoke and dust settled only to reveal what could only be described as a carnage. A big hole could be seen in the ground where there happened to be a pond until recently.

    Not even a glimpse of the Lord of Time could be seen anywhere, but Ryder knew what had happened. It was over. It was all over. The Lord of Time was never going to return. He was dead.

    Ryder had killed another one of his friends with his own hands.

    He gazed at the big crater in the ground where the Lord of Time was previously.

    Ryder didn¡¯t have time to respond to thest words of his friend. He could only reply now when that man didn¡¯t exist.

    He opened his lips and muttered, "Goodbye. And I¡¯m sorry."

    He gazed at the Spear of Time which was in his hand.

    This was said to be one of the most precious items. A spear that could rule over the time. In fact, Ryder had used a small part of this spear when making the bracelet of immortality.

    He hadn¡¯t told the Lord of Time, but there was a time long ago when he had borrowed the Spear of Time to hold it. That was when Ryder had taken a barely noticeable part of the spear. As it was the Spear of Time, it had the ability to heal itself.

    The part which was broken by Ryder healed. That was why the Lord of Time never knew how his spear was basically a part of the cursed bracelet of immortality that caused all this.

    Spear of Time was an item that was bound to the Lord of Time. No one except the Lord of Time could use its abilities. That¡¯s why it was useless for Ryder. It was basically just a spear that could heal, for him.

    The Spear of Time disappeared from Ryder¡¯s hands as he turned back. It was unclear where Ryder had sent it.

    He started walking in an unknown direction. After having taken only a few steps, a portal appeared before him.

    Ryder entered the Portal and disappeared from the realm that was left in a carnage. The Lord of Time was no more. Unfortunately, no one was going to know that. The special realm where the Lord of Time had gone into seclusion was still intact.

    In the eyes of other gods, the Lord of Time was in seclusion there. No one was going toe to check. It was unclear if it was ever going to be discovered that Lord of Time was wiped off of existence.

    In a different part of the universe, a young silver-haired boy was walking back and forth.

    A look of worry was evident in Janus¡¯ face as he walked in front of a small pond that only had two fishes¡ª the fish of Sun and the fish of moon.

    "I¡¯m dead. Absolutely dead," Janus muttered as he frowned.

    It was at that point; a portal appeared before Janus. At the sight of the portal, it was as if Janus¡¯s heartbeat stopped.

    He knew who was going toe from that portal.

    He instantly got down on his knees to prepare for the arrival and to have an edge.

    "I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!"

    Janus started yelling even before Ryder came out of the Portal. His voice only increased as soon as he actually saw Ryder.

    Ryder was indeed the person who had stepped out of the portal. A look of arrogance mixed with some reminisce was on Ryder¡¯s face as he stepped out of the portal.

    "Does it matter now?" Ryder askedzily as he gazed at Janus.

    "It doesn¡¯t. What happened has happened, but still, please allow me to apologize. I couldn¡¯t stop it from happening. If only I were more alert," Janus let out as he kept his head down.

    He didn¡¯t even dare look into Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    "If it¡¯s about you, let alone you, even I wouldn¡¯t be able to know. He was the ruler of time, after all. It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t me you. Stand up," Ryder let out as he walked over to the pond.

    "Was?" Janus muttered as he frowned. Did it mean the Lord of Time was no more?

    He gazed at Ryder with a face full of emotions. He could only imagine what Ryder was going through.

    In the Last War, Ryder had many opportunities to kill the Lord of Time and the Lord of Space, but he didn¡¯t do it. It was because they used to be his friends.

    ¡¯Sigh, this is really a mess. Even after all that, it actually came to this. I can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t expect this. It was the most probable oue after he had disappeared by going back in time,¡¯ Janus thought as he gazed at the back of Ryder, which looked somewhat lonely.

    He knew that it was going to be a battle between Ryder and the Lord of Time. It was because all gods could forget about Rydering back to life after he went back in time but not the ones that had the power of time.

    Janus was one of them, but the Lord of Time was in a whole different league altogether. He was never going to forget about Ryder¡¯s return. Ryder could only kill him.

    But Janus had still hoped that things between them could be solved with talks. No matter how unlikely, there was still hope. Unfortunately, that hope was gone now.

    "These two. They¡¯re still here," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the two fishes in the pond. Finally, a smile appeared on Ryder¡¯s face.

    "Of course. I could let nothing happen to your favorites," Janus let out as he stood up. He stepped closer to the pond and stepped beside Ryder, who sat down near the pond.

    "These two are the only things that are still uniform in my life. I can never lose them," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the fishes. "Thank you for taking care of them. And of everyone else."

    "Now that you¡¯re back, I don¡¯t think I need to anymore," Janus let out as he smiled. "You can take care of everything now."

    "I can¡¯t," Ryder let out as he gazed at his hands. "It won¡¯tst long."

    "What do you mean?" Janus asked as confusion engulfed him.

    "The power of the Lord of Time which brought me back... Their effect is running out. I¡¯ll have to go back soon. You¡¯ll need to handle things for a little longer," Ryder said, shifting his gaze to Janus.

    "But... What about you? You¡¯re back. Why do you have to go back? Your soul ispletely awake. What are you talking about?" Janus asked. Even though he had some idea about what Ryder was talking about, he still didn¡¯t want to believe it.

    "Now, you can use your powers. You should be able to find ways," he added.

 Chapter 480 Last Minutes

    <h4>Chapter 480: Last Minutes</h4>

    "You have your powers now. You should be able to heal your soul to stay like this. Why do you have to go back?" Janus asked, not understanding why Ryder couldn¡¯t do it. Was there really something that wasn¡¯t possible for him?

    Ryder simply gazed at his brother without saying anything.

    After a brief pause, he finally said something, "My physique... My body won¡¯t even adjust to my powers if I did that. Forcefully doing something like that will only destroy this body. And everything would be over."

    "I¡¯m sorry. I forgot about that," Janus let out as he lowered his head.

    "How long do you have before... you have to go back?" Janus asked as he frowned.

    "I have a few minutes if I¡¯m not wrong," Ryder muttered as he gazed towards the fishes in the pond that were swimming without a single care in the world.

    Even though he had told the Lord of Time that he had a day, in reality, he had much less time which decreased, even more, the more he used his powers.

    The ability he used, in the end, was too strong for him to use at the moment, but still, he did that. That decreased his time here, even more, leaving only a few minutes for him to meet Janus and talk.

    "I was thinking you could meet the Goddess of Life and Death if you had time, but you only have a few minutes. That won¡¯t be enough," Janus muttered as he shook his head in disappointment.

    "The time you have is not even enough for me, let alone her," he added.

    Ryder heard about the Goddess of Life and Death. A smile appeared on his lips that seemed almost non-existent. But it was evident at the same time.

    "That girl, she must be really angry at me if I¡¯m not wrong," Ryder let out as he gazed at Janus.

    "She was," Janus muttered as he smiled wryly.

    "Hmm?"

    Suddenly, a frown appeared on Janus¡¯ face as if he was stunned. He stood up.

    "What happened?" Ryder asked, seemingly confused. What had happened to make this guy so shocked?

    " I believe I¡¯ll have to disturb you a little bit. Some trouble is approaching you. I don¡¯t know why I didn¡¯t know about thisst time. Was it because of the Lord of Time or something? Anyway, some trouble is going toe soon to you if you don¡¯t take action," Janus told Ryder.

    "What do you mean?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Ray is a person who knows about your real identity. If that identity is exposed, people wille after you. And you¡¯ll be sleeping when they do. I don¡¯t think the other you can face so many people at once," Janus informed Ryder.

    "You can directly solve the problem by going to the source, but the source is the son of a god. That would create a bigger mess. You¡¯ll have to stop the information from leaking. That girl can¡¯t be allowed to be Kidnapped. I can¡¯t go down, so you must do it," he further added.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll do it myself," Ryder let out as he gazed at the sky.

    "Where is that girl?" he asked.

    Janus snapped his fingers, making a portal appear before Ryder.

    "She¡¯s on the other side of the portal. Try to stay out of her sight," Janus told Ryder.

    Ryder didn¡¯t respond and simply started walking towards the Portal in slow steps.

    "Brother!"

    Just as Ryder was about to step inside the portal, he heard the voice of Janus, who called out to him.

    "Hmm?" Ryder turned back to gaze at Janus.

    As soon as he turned back, a figure closed in and hugged him tightly.

    "I missed you so much," Janus said softly as he hugged Ryder. "I hope this all gets over soon."

    His voice felt like it was breaking up because of emotions as he spoke.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. He raised his hand and ced it over the head of Janus.

    "I missed you too, little guy. Sorry for leaving you alone. And I can¡¯t tell you how proud I am of you. Father would be so happy to see you grow up so much," Ryder muttered as he rubbed Janus¡¯s head.

    "Now leave me. I don¡¯t have long," he continued as he freed himself.

    After freeing himself, Ryder stepped inside the Portal only to find himself in a different corner of the universe. He was inside a room.

    Ray¡¯s sister was drying her hair using a hairdryer. It seemed like she had juste out of the shower. Fortunately, she was fully dressed.

    The girl looked in the direction of Ryder as she frowned.

    "What? How?" She muttered in confusion as she walked towards Ryder.

    As she reached near Ryder, he stepped aside and let her pass.

    The girl walked behind him and closed the window.

    "Strange. How could I forget to close the window?" She muttered before she walked back to the mirror.

    The door and the window were closed now. She didn¡¯t see Ryder because he was hiding using his abilities.

    Ryde gazed towards the door. Even though the girl couldn¡¯t see, Ryder was able to see through the walls now that he had his powers. Through the walls, he was able to see outside. A group of ck-cloaked men could be seen standing in front of the door.

    It seemed like they were ready to break the doors.

    Ryder raised his right hand towards the door. He brought his finger and his thumb together before he snapped his fingers.

    Snap!

    A snapping sound filled the room, stunning the girl who looked around, wondering where that voice came from.

    Was it a knocking sound? She wondered as she walked towards the door.

    She opened the door and looked outside. "Huh? Who left ash here?"

    As she opened the door, all she saw was ash. She didn¡¯t know that what she found to be ash used to be humans until a moment ago.

    The snap she had heard a moment ago not only filled the room, but it also left the room. As soon as these men heard the snap, their bodies started deteriorating. They all turned to ash.

    Ryder was standing behind the girl, gazing at the ash outside.

    More use of power had further decreased his time.

    He had to go back now. He didn¡¯t have much time.

    He snapped his finger once again and disappeared to go back to the house where Ryder was at this point in time. As soon as he had appeared here, the Ryder of this timeline had disappeared. He was the only Ryder here.

    He Teleported straight to where Alice and Shu were. The only difference was that they were at the beach, whereas he had teleported inside the room.

    As soon as he appeared inside the room, he sat on the bed. He could feel his hand shaking. His body was at the limit. If he still didn¡¯t leave, it was going to be destroyed. His soul had also reverted back to how it was before the Lord of Time had reverted it.

    Ryderid on the bed and closed his eyes. Onest change in his soul, and everything was over. The soul had reverted back to normal. The old Ryder was back, and the older Ryder had returned to the unknown.

    "Hmm? Where is Ryder?" Shu asked Alice.

    He was on the beach with her.

    "Hmm? He was just here. Where did he go?" Alice looked around in confusion, not finding Ryder.

    "Did he go back to the room?" Shu wondered as he called Ryder.

    Ryder¡¯s phone rang, but he seemed to be unconscious and not picking up the phone.

    After not seeing the phone be picked up, Shu and Alice started getting worried.

    "He¡¯s not picking up. I¡¯ll check our rooms," Shu told Alice as he started walking back.

    "I¡¯ll alsoe with you," Alice chimed in as she started walking back with Shu.

    "Hah, You¡¯re again gone, leaving me," Janus muttered as he gazed at the pond.

    Ryder¡¯s favorite fishes were still swimming carefree.

    "He¡¯s here. He must be tired. He came back and fell asleep. He could¡¯ve at least told us."

    Shu and Alice were standing before Ryder, who was lying on the bed. He seemed like he was sleeping peacefully.

    Alice walked over to the bed and sat beside him. "I¡¯ll stay with him."

    Things progressed likest time. Ryder woke up with most of his memories blurry. The only thing he knew was that he was on the beach with Alice and Shu.

    How did he get here?

    Shu and Alice went to the private jet with Ryder as it was time to go back. They entered the jet, which took to the air and led them to their home.

    The next event was also the same. Ryder and Alice were having dinner with Shu when they were informed of Luke¡¯s arrival.

    Ryder once again denied Luke.

 Chapter 481 Aim

    <h4>Chapter 481: Aim</h4>

    The progression of things was awfully simr to thest time. There were only a few differences.

    The first was that Janus had told Ryder to inform Ray about the kidnap attempt on his sister. It came as a mission that was easily finished by Ryder, all to keep him away from the things that were too high level for him to understand or be part of at the moment.

    That wasn¡¯t the only change in this timeline, though.

    Ryder had walked to the roof likest time to keep an eye on the streets to make sure nothing bad happens.

    As he was walking on the roof, he heard Janus¡¯ voice once more.

    [Another Mission has been issue to the host]

    [Mission: Kill Luke]

    [Description: Luke is someone who possesses many mystical powersparable to the people the host has faced previously. If he isn¡¯t killed, problems wille]

    [Cost of Failure: Unknown]

    [Reward of Sess: The strength of Luke will be absorbed in your body]

    [Time Limit: Twelve Hours]

    "Hmm? Killing Luke? And what¡¯s happening? Howe Janus is giving me a description of the mission about the reason for this mission. This wasn¡¯t like thisst time," Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    Previously, Janus only gave him missions while telling him what he should do and what he shouldn¡¯t do. Howe things were different this time? Or was it that Janus was finally trying to involve him more and keep him aware?

    In any case, now that he knew that Luke had some powers, he knew that he couldn¡¯t just treat Luke like an average person. He needed to take extraordinary measures.

    "But first things first, where is that guy actually? I need to find him first. If he will cause problems for me, he must be somewhere nearby," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    "That¡¯s right. I can use him," he let out as he thought of an idea. There was a way to make it easier.

    "Stanner!" He called out.

    A semi-transparent spirit appeared before Ryder.

    "Stanner, do one thing for me. Search all houses nearby and find out if Luke is staying in any of them. Come back to me fast after you finish," he added.

    Stanner was a Spirit that could only be seen by him. He was the best option to sneak around and find out where a person was hiding without risking anything.

    Stanner nodded as he started flying away. Ryder remained on the roof as he walked back and forth, waiting for Stanner¡¯s return.

    He even pulled out his phone once in a while. He was already getting a lot of calls from Ray, who was apologizing to him for what he did after he had called him to tell him to have good sister change ces to be safe.

    "Neen miss calls and ten messages of apology. Sigh, this guy is really regretful, it seems," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    "But it¡¯s better if I stay away from him. There will be too much attention on him at the moment. That attention will only fall on me if I keep utilizing him."

    "I thought I could use him and the FBI to take care of the enemies, but that was a bad move. Not only was I not sessful, but it brought more troubles on me instead," Ryder let out as he cleared all the notifications before he opened the news articles to see what thetest news was.

    Apparently, the thing about Dream Corporation was all over the ce. The arrest of their MD was making big headlines, and there were already rumors out that the MD had tried to kill Schumacher Maxwell.

    There was no mention about how, though. Ryder already knew why. He had talked to Shu about it and knew that Shu was going to leak the information about the attempt on his life. Ryder just didn¡¯t know that he would be this fast.

    He also knew that Shu was keeping Necrosis hostage, and that¡¯s why he wasn¡¯t leaking the rumors about why the attempt on his life was made. If Necrosis didn¡¯t go with the feel, the next day itself, rumors were going to fill the sites that Necrosis was working with the MD of Dream Corporation to kill their owner.

    On the other hand, if the deal went through, it was going to be a different matter altogether.

    Just as Ryder was going through various articles, Stanner returned to him.

    "You came back fast. Did you find him?" Ryder asked Stanner.

    "Yeah. I didn¡¯t have to go far. He¡¯s in that house," Stanner let out as he pointed towards the nearby house.

    "Interesting. As expected, he¡¯s keeping an eye on us," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the house where Luke was staying in.

    "He is sitting in a room near the window that faces this mansion¡¯s entrance. But there¡¯s more wrong with him. There is a middle-aged couple who is tied and kept hostage, I think. They¡¯re kept in the basement," Stanner informed Ryder.

    "Oh, they must be owners of the house. I seem to remember a middle-aged couple owning the house. In any case, those guys don¡¯t have anything to do with me. After taking care of Luke, they would be free as well," Ryder let out as he gazed towards the Window.

    The window was on the first floor of that house, whereas Ryder was on a higher floor in Maxwell Estate. Even though he could see the window, his angel and field of view didn¡¯t allow him to look inside, just like the one from inside wasn¡¯t able to see him.

    "Will you go straight to kill him?" Stanner asked.

    "Not really. If he were a normal enemy, I would have, but he isn¡¯t. Modern problems require modern solutions. So I won¡¯t approach him personally," Ryder muttered as he opened the screen of his system.

    He got a sniper gun out of the system.

    He gazed at the long sniper gun as he smiled, "Why should I go near him when I can handle him from far away. I wish I didn¡¯t have to do it like this, though. There are risks to getting caught, but some risks are worth it."

    "For me to be sessful, we need two things. First, you need to make sure that he doesn¡¯t have binocrs or things that can help him look inside our windows. Secondly, I need his exact position to know which window in the mansion would be most suitable," he told Stanner.

    "He doesn¡¯t have binocrs. As for his position..."

    Stanner answered Ryder in proper detail.

    After getting the answers, Ryder thought for a little while and tried to visualize which ce would be better for this task.

    After thinking for a while, he shortlisted two rooms that could be perfect for this task but to select the best amongst them was going to require him going there and checking himself.

    After thinking for a while, he went downstairs to the first room he had selected.

    The sniper gun was already in his hand as he walked downstairs. Fortunately, no one inside the Pce was awake to see Ryder carrying a weapon.

    If someone had seen it, they might actually misunderstand him.

    He pushed the door open as he stepped inside the room before he raised his gun. Through the scope attached to the gun, he took an aim and tested to see if he was able to see Luke.

    He could see the window which Stanner had told him about, and he could also see inside, but he wasn¡¯t able to see Luke. The wall and his position were making the angle unsuitable.

    Ryder lowered the gun and left the room. This was a failure. He walked over to the next room. He once again approached the window as he looked outside to throw the scope.

    A smile appeared on his face as he finally got a proper view. He could see Luke sitting on a chair with his eyes closed. It was unclear if he was trying to sleep or if he had actually fallen asleep.

    "Perfect," Ryder let out as he smiled. It was right to take aim, but he still wants to be more certain. He looked around the room and saw a table.

    He walked over to the table and picked it up before he brought it closer to the window. He ced the sniper gun on the table before he walked over to the window. He slid the window open after unlocking it.

    After opening the window, he walked back to the table that came up to his waist height. The table was still a bit small, but he always had an idea. He had a wooden box nearby that he ced above the table.

    The top of the box came just under his shoulder hearing. After making sure that the arrangement wasn¡¯t unstable, he ced the gun on top of it and started taking aim with his finger on the trigger.

 Chapter 482 Find Her

    <h4>Chapter 482: Find Her</h4>

    Ryder ced the gun over the stand before he started aiming it towards Luke, who was sleeping on the chair.

    His finger reached the trigger as he looked through the scope. He took a deep breath as he calmed his head to make sure that his aim didn¡¯t miss.

    Once he shot, the bullet was going to break the window of Luke¡¯s room. If he missed, the noise of window breaking was going to wake up Luke. Ryder didn¡¯t wish to have this happen. The first aim was something he wanted to make his final aim.

    The cross in his view was on Luke¡¯s forehead.

    After bing calmer, he pulled the trigger.

    A bullet shot out of the gun zoomed towards the house ahead.

    It soon reached the window of Luke and prated through it.

    The window shattered, creating a loud noise. Luke¡¯s eyes opened wide at the sound of the breaking of the window, but it was toote for him as the bullet prated his forehead as soon as his eyes opened.

    "Wa..."

    He couldn¡¯t even finish his words as he dropped to the ground, dead instantly.

    Ryder ced back the gun in his inventory before he walked closer to the window. He closed the window and went upstairs once again.

    As he reached upstairs, he looked around the estate to see if there was anymotion amongst the guards. The house he shot at was pretty far. So the noise shouldn¡¯t have reached here.

    As he looked around the Estate, he realized that it was safe. No guards seemed to have noticed.

    "Good. Now I should go and check. I also need to free the owners of the house that are tied. Without anyone knowing, they might die of hunger as well," Ryder muttered as he thought of some things.

    He ced a ck cloak around him to hide his clothes. Moreover, he also donned a mask that he had worn in the previous timeline when he had gone to take care of Luke.

    After making sure his identity waspletely hidden, he chose a route that he believed to be the best for dodging the gazes of the guards.

    He decided to go around the house after thinking for a while. Even though it was a bit longer, it was the safest path.

    After selecting the path, he started floating in the air before he shot out like a superhuman.

    As Ryder flew, he couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly.

    He remembered a famous superhero that was no less than a god. He could also fly; the only difference was that he flew with both his hands raised towards the front.

    It was a superhero known as BlooperMan in BC Comics.

    Ryder wondered if there was any logic to flying like that. Did it increase speed or something?

    He decided to try it as he raised both his hands towards the front.

    "It¡¯s useless. I don¡¯t see any change in speed with this. On the contrary, I feel tired," Ryder let out as he returned to his usual position after not finding the change to be beneficial.

    "At Least now I know how BlooperMan feels when he files," he chuckled, trying to find some childish logic in this whole thing.

    He was basically trying to divert his mind from thinking about how he was going to clean a body from his neighborhood belonging to a person that he had killed. He didn¡¯t want to think how close trouble came to the ce he stayed.

    Even though he took a long route, it didn¡¯t take him long before he reached the house where Ryder¡¯s body was lying.

    The window was already broken, so he didn¡¯t have a hard time entering the ce.

    As he entered through the broken window, he ended up right before the dead body of Luke, which was lying on the ground with a hole clearly visible on his forehead.

    His eyes were still open as the poor man didn¡¯t have the time even to close his eyes as he died.

    "Sigh, bro. When I shot you, you had your eyes closed. And that was when you happened to be alive. And bow that you¡¯re dead, you have your eyes open," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly while walking towards the dead body.

    He ced his finger on Luke¡¯s wrist to once again make sure if he was actually dead or not.

    "I now pronounce you dead¡ªtime of death, twelve a.m. Rest in peace, bro. And sorry for killing you, but you can¡¯t me me for that. Apparently, you were going to be trouble."

    "And from what I understood from your behavior, this trouble was going to involve her. So please don¡¯tin to the Devil too much about me when you reach hell. In exchange, I¡¯ll close your eyes. Deal?"

    Even though Ryder expresses his views before a dead body, he still closed the eyes of Luke.

    "Sigh, my inventory will be a graveyard, I believe. There goes another body," he let out after he sent Luke¡¯s body inside his inventory.

    After cleaning up the body, he stood up and started walking towards the room where the owner of this house was held, hostage.

    Reaching the room, he opened the door and saw a middle-aged man and woman lying in one corner.

    Their hands were tied behind their backs, and the two of them seemed unconscious.

    He closed in on the two to check if these two were fine.

    "They seem fine. But I should still help out," he muttered as he opened their rope.

    He carried the both of them separately to their bedroom and ced them on the bed safely.

    After that, he found a phone inside the house and called 911.

    "I have an emergency. A man infiltrated my house, and he¡¯s keeping me hostage. Please send help. My address is..."

    He informed the authorities of the address before he disconnected the call. Throughout his time inside this house, he hadn¡¯t used his normal voice. Instead, he had talked in a heavy voice with a British ent to make sure no one can link anything to him.

    After informing the authorities, he started flying back and reached the Maxwell Estate¡¯s roof.

    "Cops wille. They¡¯ll find the couple. Probably help them. Problem solved," he muttered as he started walking downstairs.

    Now that Luke was dead, he has no reason to stay up. He could go back downstairs and enter Divinity. The problem was solved, ording to him.

    As he wasn¡¯t able to talk to Luke in this timeline, he didn¡¯t know that Luke was only following someone¡¯smands. In the previous timeline, he had talked to Luke, and he has also talked to Adrian, but here, he was able to do none, making him unaware of everything.

    As for the memories of the previous timeline, he didn¡¯t remember anything.

    In a different part of the country, a man was frowning deeply as the phone remained close to his ears.

    "What do you mean all our men disappeared? Did the earth eat them, or the sky swallowed them?" The man roared in anger.

    "They could have been killed? You¡¯re saying some of our best men were killed in an attempt to kidnap a single girl? Do you know your it might have happened?" He asked again, seemingly not happy with whatever response he had received.

    "No idea? Then get an idea, you useless man! That¡¯s not the response I wish to hear!" he scolded again.

    He took a deep breath to calm down so as not to lose his control.

    "Where is the girl now?" he asked after taking a long pause.

    "No ide-, ah, Sir, I mean. She is in the hiding, most probably. She isn¡¯t at her house. We¡¯re still trying to find ourselves," the man, on the other end of the call, replied, barely stopping before saying the words that could have made the man angry.

    "I don¡¯t want to hear excuses. Find Ray¡¯s sister fast!" The manmanded before he disconnected the call.

    On the other hand, Ray was inside his bedroom in the New Capital City. He had been released from the FBI¡¯s cell and brought back to the force. Not only that but he was also given themand to find the killer of the previous Director.

    He didn¡¯t know if it was even possible for him to find the guy. He already knew who the man was, but the thought of going against Ryder hadn¡¯t even crossed Ray¡¯s head.

    He still thought of Ryder as a friend whom he had betrayed once. He couldn¡¯t feel ashamed of what he had done, but he was sure that he would have done the same if he was given another choice if his sister¡¯s life depended on it.

    In any case, Ryder still saved his sister despite all that. Not only that, he saved his sister once again by calling him only recently.

    That made him even more ashamed that he had to betray Ryder. He was calling him again and again to apologize, but no one picked up his calls.

 Chapter 483 Smuggling

    <h4>Chapter 483: Smuggling</h4>

    Even though Ray kept calling Ryder, he took all necessary precautions and used another phone to call him and not the phone which had the number known by everyone. Even after all that, the signal of his calls was keeping it encrypted to add additional protection.

    "He isn¡¯t picking up," Ray muttered as he once again heard the call being disconnected after it rang for a while.

    "Sigh, this guy is really upset, I guess."

    "What can I do as a form of apology? How can I help him when I¡¯m myself in danger..." He wondered as he frowned.

    "Apparently, the bad guys are after my family and me to get an answer from me about my Ryder. If I¡¯m not wrong, my own organization will also be suspicious of me. It doesn¡¯t make sense for them to free me like this. What can I do?"

    He kept thinking as he tried toe up with a n.

    "I need to give up my source. That will be the only solution, but I can¡¯t give him up. I can only forge my source and its death story. But I still need some help. There will be too many eyes on me," he muttered as he tried to think of a n. After some time of thinking, his eyes lit up as he thought of a person that could help him.

    He picked up his second phone and dialed a number.

    Ryder had ced his phone on silent after being annoyed at all the calls. He put his phone to the side as heid on the bed.

    Heid on the bed and ced the Divinity sses on his eyes.

    "Take me to Divinity!"

    After a long travel, Ryder had finally reached the royal City of Death Domain inside the world of Divinity.

    He was here on a mission to kill to finish his task to be the Emperor. Throughout the journey, he had dodged most of the cities in his path, but as he got near the Royal City, he stopped dodging the cities.

    Age needed to enter the Death Domain Royal City, and he needed more information before that and an understanding of the behavior of the people of Death Domain.

    The ce where he could get the best idea of it was in the cities that were closest to the Royal City.

    He needed to understand their culture and behavior. He had done all that throughout his journey, and after finishing it, he finally reached the Royal City.

    The Royal City of the Death Domain had a giant barrier, as he had seenst time when he hade here previously.

    The barrier prevented anyone who wasn¡¯t from the Death Domain from entering.

    There was one path that led inside the city, which was for the official purpose from where envoys of other Realms could enter to dodge the barrier.

    It was made so that the Death Domain wouldn¡¯t need to stop the entire barrier and reactive it whenever a foreign guest came. It was hard after all.

    That¡¯s why they had left some gap in the barrier. The Demon Realm¡¯s Royal Barrier was also made by the same guy, so it had the same thing.

    These entrances were a weak point of a barrier from which enemies could also pass through; that¡¯s why heavy security was ced on the entrance to make sure no one without permission could enter. Not only that but traps were also ced, which only the High ranking protectors knew how to pass.

    Ryder stood in front of the barrier.

    "It¡¯s repaired. Pretty fast," He muttered as he smiled wryly. He could remember how High Duke has broken the barrier within a few attacks to allow them entryst time.

    Unlike that, this time, he couldn¡¯t have it that easy.

    If he tried breaking the barrier, not only would the infiltration be known by the Death Domain, but it would also make them alert. They would search the whole city, which would be a mess for him.

    His face was already hidden because of the disguise treasure he had collected. The mask had allowed him to change his face.

    He had worked really hard to find this mask to make sure no one in Divinity knew what Hades actually looked like.

    Fortunately, this mask wasing in more handy here.

    He was disguised as someone from the Death Domain that he had seen in thest city he stopped at.

    It was a fat and chubby man that seemed like he was quite wealthy.

    When Ryder was in thest city, he had killed the chubby man who tried to create trouble for him. After killing the man in secret, he hid the body of the man and stole all his clothes before he took the man¡¯s ce.

    At the moment, he seemed like a chubby man with long white hair and big cheeks. His big round eyes were looking at the barrier.

    "I might have the looks, but I still need to enter. The only path of the entrance is a mess. Can I even enter without being caught? I got some instructions from Rale and the others but still, why do I feel like this might be a mess?" He wondered as he gazed towards the left where the path of the entrance was.

    He started walking towards the path which led to the entrance.

    "What¡¯s happening?"

    As Ryder was walking towards the entrance, he noticed a hole in the barrier.

    A few people could be seen transferring some boxes from inside the Royal City to outside through the hole.

    "Hah? Smuggling?"

    A smile formed on his face as he saw that.

    Apparently, some people here had found a way to make a hole in the barrier to probably smuggle items outside the royal City.

    "It was strange, though. They were a hole in the barrier which protects the city. That, too, not long after the Demon Realm had broken inside? How could the Death Domain allow it? How was it that they didn¡¯t know yet?" He wondered.

    He observed the whole debacle from a distance and soon realized something.

    The hole wasn¡¯t permanent. It was healing and closing in, but whenever it closed in too much, one of the men used a strange torch-like artifact to open it once again.

    "Ahh, I get it. They didn¡¯t know because it isn¡¯t permanent. They smuggle things and then the barrier heals. No one knows. Interesting approach," Ryder thought as he nodded his head in understanding.

    The answer was right before his eyes. There were still some questions as to why these people had to snuggle stuff out. Was the Royal City not allowing some trade? Or was it something else? Or was it to get robbed items outside the Royal City? None of the questions mattered.

    What actually mattered was that Ryder had found a way to sneak inside. He needed that torch or to kill them all to sneak inside.

    But killing them all at once seemed tough when they all had such strength.

    He was sure that if he tried, it wasn¡¯t going to turn out the way he nned.

    It wasn¡¯t that easy to kill so many people together.

    There were two options before him. One was to wait a bit to try to steal the item so he could sneak insideter.

    The other was to go through the tougher part. He was told how he could sessfully enter through that path, but it still possessed risks.

    As for the second option, it was to wait and try to steal. It was going to waste a bit more time, and it was also a bit risky but not as much as the first option.

    He decided to go with the second option as he remembered the face of the person who held the item.

    It was a bulky man that seemed to be telling everyone to be fast.

    A carriage could also be seen nearby inside which these men were cing these boxes. Two horses were attached to the carriage, ready to pull it when everything was loaded in the carriage.

    Behind these carriages, a much better-looking horse was also standing with an armor around it, looking like a stronger and more expensive horsepared to the horses that were tied to the carriage.

    "Alright, that¡¯s thest box! ce it inside the carriage!" The bulky men told his men who were carrying out thest carriage through the opening.

    The men ced the box in the carriage before they looked towards the bulky man who seemed like the leader here.

    "We¡¯re done, boss. All boxes are inside the carriage. Should we leave?" One of the men asked the bulky man.

    "You guys go ahead. I still need to wait for Kaxia. He¡¯s keeping an eye on the guards to make sure they can¡¯t see us," the bulky man replied.

    "You guys leave; I¡¯lle back with him," he added.

    The men agreed as they entered the carriage and left.

 Chapter 484 Dark Grade

    <h4>Chapter 484: Dark Grade</h4>

    The men entered the carriage, which started moving away.

    The bulky man, on the other hand, stayed back with the independent horse, seemingly waiting for someone.

    As the carriage left, the man climbed on his horse and let the hold heal.

    Soon, the hole wholly closed. Since there was no need to keep the hole open, he let out closed as he waited for his friend toe. After he was here, the man could open the hole again, which was less risky than keeping it constantly opened.

    The carriage soon disappeared from the sight, but the man kept sitting on the horse that was striding back and forth.

    Ryder remained hidden behind a giant tree, waiting for the carriage to leave so that the man had no reinforcement.

    After the carriage was left, Ryder finally stepped out of the carriage. He started walking towards the bulky man who was looking towards the barrier, wondering if the man was going to return.

    As the barrier cut all the voices from inside to outside, he couldn¡¯t just look elsewhere and hope to hear the man screaming when he was here. He had to keep looking inside the barrier, waiting for the man.

    He constantly looked inside the barrier, only asionally taking his gaze off as he looked around to check his surroundings.

    As he looked around, he noticed Ryder in some distance, walking towards him.

    The hole was already closed, so he didn¡¯t have to worry about anything. He was just like a random person, riding on a horse near the Royal City. No rules were broken, so he remained calm.

    He did seem a bit curious as to why another person was walking here.

    The path that mostmon people used to enter the city was in the opposite direction. He didn¡¯t know why someone would be walking here.

    He had no idea that Ryder wasn¡¯t from the Death Domain, so he couldn¡¯t enter using the old path.

    The barrier only stopped people that weren¡¯t from the death domain from entering and unauthorized items from being taken out.

    That was the one reason they had to make a hole in the barrier even though they could go in and out of there easily.

    As the bulky man was staring at Ryder, Ryder was also gazing back at him.

    Ryder was using his All-Seer to get more information about this man.

    [Name: Dark Tooth]

    [Profession: Smuggler]

    [Species: Dungeon Dweller]

    [Level: Unknown]

    [Stats: Level too high to see]

    [Skills: Level too high to see]

    ¡¯As I expected, his level is too high for me to fight him like this now. I can only get by with some tricks,¡¯ Ryder thought as he gazed at the screen in front of him.

    He reached near the man who kept his eyes on him.

    He stopped near him and looked back at him.

    "What are you staring at?" the man asked Ryder, trying to

    "May I ask if you have seen my Dark Grade Pendant here?" Ryder asked the man who was sitting in some distance.

    "Dark Grade Pendant?!" The man eximed in shock as he heard Ryder¡¯s words.

    The Dark Grade was a grade of treasures here which was one of the highest grades. The treasures were so expensive that only the richest of the rich could possess them.

    "Yeah. I had found it, but I dropped it somewhere around here. I can¡¯t seem to find it. I¡¯m a poor man and don¡¯t have much money. I was hoping to sell that to earn something, but when I reached the shop, I realized that I didn¡¯t even have it anymore," Ryder told the man with an innocent look on his face.

    " I¡¯m sure if it was dropped, it¡¯s somewhere around here. Did you see it anywhere?" he asked the man.

    The man nkly shook his head, whereas, in his mind, he could only think how amazing it was. If he could get the Dark Grade treasure, it was going to be so amazing.

    "Oh, you didn¡¯t see him. I will keep searching then," Ryder replied in concern as he shook his head, seeming a bit disappointed.

    He started walking away, looking at the ground as if he was genuinely trying to find something.

    The bulky man known as Dark Tooth hadpletely forgotten about his friend and was waiting for him. Instead, he was more interested in the pendant now.

    He kept his eyes on Ryder. Only Ryder knew where he had walked and where he might have lost his pendant. If he kept his eyes on him, he might get to the Dark Grade treasure soon.

    He slowly started following after Ryder, trying to act too casual.

    A smile appeared on Ryder¡¯s face as he realized that the man was following after him.

    "Oh god! It¡¯s here! I can¡¯t believe I actually found it!" Ryder eximed out loud as if he was so excited that he had failed to control his voice.

    He was so loud that the man who was on a horse behind him also managed to hear him.

    Ryder bent forward and picked up something, and startedughing out loud.

    "Little guy, you troubled me so much! But finally, I found you. Don¡¯t worry; I won¡¯t lose you again!" he eximed as he smiled.

    Ryder turned back and noticed that the man in the house was near him.

    A suspicious look arrived on his face as he ced his hand behind her back to hide something.

    "What are you doing here?" he asked Dark Tooth.

    "Why are you getting scared?" Dark Tooth grinned as he looked at Ryder.

    "I¡¯m only here, trying to help you find the pendant," he added with a smug look on his face.

    "It¡¯s fine. I already found it. I appreciate the intention, though. You can go back," Ryder replied as he took a short step back.

    "Hahaha, what¡¯s the hurry? Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m here for you. Don¡¯t be scared," the man said as he got down from the horse.

    He started closing in on Ryder. "Can you let me see what a Dark Grade Pendant looks like? I want to be able to tell my children that I was able to touch such a high-grade item once. I¡¯ll give it back to you right away," he added as he raised his hand towards Ryder.

    "Ah, sorry. But I¡¯m notfortable giving that to you. Please forgive me. And don¡¯t close," Ryder let out as he slowly kept stepping back.

    "How cruel. Here I was, trying to help you, and you can¡¯t even let me hold that pendant for a moment? Come on, don¡¯t be that selfish," the man said as he didn¡¯t stop.

    He kept closing in on Ryder.

    "I-i can¡¯t! Please stop!" Ryder called out.

    "You bastard! Enough of ying around! I thought the nice guy act would let me have it easy, but if you don¡¯t want to go along with that, then I¡¯ll force you!" The man roared as the expression on his face changed.

    A sword appeared in his hand, which he aimed towards Ryder.

    "If you don¡¯t give me the sword, I¡¯ll cut you in a thousand small pieces right here! Give me the sword!" he warned Ryder.

    "I¡¯m Dark Tooth! I¡¯ve already killed tens of people already. So don¡¯t try testing me!" He added.

    "This..."

    Aplex look appeared on Ryder¡¯s face, which was mixed with a bit of fear.

    "But... It¡¯s mine. Please let me leave with it," Ryder requested.

    "I¡¯m warning you for thest time! Are you giving me or not?" The man asked Ryder.

    "Fine," Ryder let out as he unwillingly brought his arm to the front, revealing a pendant in his hand.

    "Can you at least give me some money in exchange?" he asked.

    "Hahaha, Of course. I¡¯ll pay you the worth of this bracelet. I have lots of money with me. Give me the bracelet first!" Dark Tooth told Ryder with a cheeky grin.

    Ryder thought for a while before he nodded his head. He started stepping closer to the man.

    "No need toe close. Throw the pendant towards me!" Dark Tooth stopped Ryder from approaching him.

    Ryder stopped as he tossed the bracelet towards the man.

    The man caught the bracelet as a wider grin formed on his face.

    "Give me my money now," Ryder told the man.

    "Hahaha, you idiot. Don¡¯t tell me you really expect me to pay you. I¡¯m allowing you to leave with your life intact; you should be d for that. Don¡¯t even think about getting anything else! Scram now!" Dark Tooth startedughing at Ryder for talking about return.

    It was obvious that he wasn¡¯t going to give any money in return.

    "Now run before I change my mind and kill you! Scram!" he threatened Ryder before he startedughing out loud.

    Ryder looked down in disappointment before he turned back and started walking away. As soon as he turned back, a smile appeared on his face.

 Chapter 485 Level Up

    <h4>Chapter 485: Level Up</h4>

    Ryder turned back and started walking away, but there was a pleased look on his face as he counted inside his head, "One...Two..."

    He stopped walking as soon as he finished counting to three. He turned back only to find the bulky man lying on the ground.

    The man remained on the dust-covered ground, seemingly unconscious. Two items were lying inside the man¡¯s body. One of which happened to be the torch that he had used to create the opening in the barrier, whereas the other was the pendant that Ryder had given to the man.

    The pendant seemed a bit different, though. It was as if it had lost its color. It seemed a bit semi-transparent.

    "The item Rale gave me dide in handy. Now this man won¡¯t wake up before an hour, at least from what he had told me," Ryder muttered as he walked towards the man who was lying on the ground, unmoving.

    As he reached the man, he picked up the pendant first and sent it in his inventory before he walked over to the torch-like item and picked it up as well.

    "So you are going to help me enter," he let out as he ced the torch in his pocket before he shifted his gaze back at the man who was lying on the ground.

    "I wonder if it counts towards the Kingship Trial. I need to kill the people of the Royal City. Is he from there or not?" Ryder thought as he raised his left hand.

    There was a bracelet in his hand that was different from the Bracelet of Immortality.

    "I really love this ability of Moon Scythe. It can change shapes as well. When it¡¯s in pendant form, I can carry it with me, and no one can recognize," Ryder muttered as he waved his hand.

    The Bracelet that was in his hand started getting bigger and changed shape as if it was water. It moved and appeared before his hand in the form of a Scythe.

    Ryder held the scythe and roamed his gaze over his surroundings.

    The bright sun was shining even brighter over this deserted ground, but fortunately, not a single person could be seen as far as his gaze reached.

    He raised the Moon Scythe high in the sky before he shed it down, stabbing the man.

    He could see a small trickle down in the man¡¯s HP, which seemed to be about five percent only.

    "Come on, just how high is your level? Your HP gets down so slowly. Die fast before someonees and sees me," Ryder said as he tightened his grip on the scythe.

    His beautiful robe waved with the wind as he once again hackled down, decreasing the man¡¯s HP even further.

    Ryder kept attacking with his scythe again and again as the unconscious man remained unmoving.

    After a long time and much more effort, he finally achieved sess. Ryder knew that his arms would have been aching by now if he was in the real world, but in the world of Divinity, he had better stamina to cope with it.

    Dark Tooth¡¯s HP reached zero, and his body disappeared.

    [Killed Dark Tooth]

    [Experience: +50000000]

    [ Level +1]

    [ Level +1]

    [ Level +1]

    ...

    [ Level +1]

    "What the heck? Just how strong was this guy? He alone was able to bring me to level 200? So much level gain. If all people in the Death Domain are so strong, then just by finishing the Kingship Trial, how strong will I be?" Ryder muttered in shock as he stared at the screen before him.

    He was a level 200 yer now? How was it so fast?

    [ss Upgrade Avable]

    [Would you like to upgrade ss to Salem¡¯s Demon Ruler?]

    [Yes] [No]

    "Another ss Upgrade?" Ryder eximed in surprise as he saw the notification.

    As it was a ss avable after reaching level two hundred, it was obviously going to be better than the previous ss. However, he still decided to read what it was about to make sure he didn¡¯t make an update by upgrading.

    He tapped on the ¡¯i¡¯ Icon near the Notification.

    [Salem¡¯s Demon Ruler]

    [As the inheritor of Salem and after achieving certain criteria, the inheritor can get the Salem¡¯ Demon Ruler ss]

    "Strange. There¡¯s no description of this ss other than some useless stuff." Ryder gazed at the semi-transparent screen before his eyes as he rubbed his chin. "Is this a ss that¡¯s really worth upgrading?"

    "Heck it. It shouldn¡¯t be bad," he dered, not intending to waste too much time. Raising his right hand, he tapped on yes.

    [ss Upgraded]

    [Skill received: Demon Control]

    "Demon Control, so that¡¯s what this upgrade came with."

    Ryder once again opened the description, hoping that it wouldn¡¯t be as useless asst time. Fortunately, this time the description didn¡¯t tell him the things he already knew. Instead, it actually gave him the description.

    [Demon Control]

    [Description: The caster can control the Demons up to a hundred levels higher than them for up to ten minutes.]

    [Note: At most, hundred Demons can be controlled without upgrading the skill]

    Ryder¡¯s mouth slightly opened as he saw the skill¡¯s description. It was a pretty overpowered skill for most. Using the skill, a level 200 yer could control up to a hundred level 300 Demons? No one would call this ability useless except for Ryder.

    He found it to be useless to the highest extent.

    It is an ability that only works on Demons. And after he went back, finishing the Kingship Trial, he was going to be the Demon King.

    As the Demon King, let alone a hundred Demons, but the entire Demon Realm was going to listen to him without any time duration. What use did this skill have then?

    The only use he could think of was when he needed to control someone absolutely without taking tomand them.

    He closed the screen only to have another screen pop open in front of him as a notification resounded in his head.

    [New Title Received: Shameless High Killer]

    "This useless game. Why does it always give me such stupid astounding titles?"

    Even though Ryder cursed, he still read the description of the title to see if it was worth anything.

    [Shameless High Killer]

    [Description: Title given to the yers that use shameless methods to kill beings that are more than a hundred levels higher than them]

    [HP: +50000]

    [Mana: +600]

    [Strength: +2000]

    [Dexterity: +700]

    [Speed: -200]

    [Defence: -500]

    "The heck? It not only increase some of my stats but also decrease some? The increased stats do seem worth it, though."

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but lose himself in deep thought as he saw the description of the skill. It was a skill that had some advantages, but it also had some disadvantages.

    "I have to lose a bit of my defense in exchange for my strength."

    After some time looking at the advantages and disadvantages, he decided to equip this title as his second title. The primary title was still going to be Salem¡¯s sessor.

    He hastily equipped the title before he started walking towards the barrier. He had wasted enough time here already. He needed to leave before the man Dark Tooth was waiting for arrived here.

    He reached the barrier and used the torch to create a hole in the barrier that was wide enough for him to enter. The barrier right away started healing, but that much time was enough for Ryder to step inside the barrier.

    He didn¡¯t stop after entering the barrier. Instead, he started advancing towards the city while making sure that he wasn¡¯t seen by anyone.

    The first house of the city wasn¡¯t too far away from the barrier, so it didn¡¯t take him long to enter the popted area of the city. He was a stranger here, but no one was going to focus on him as a lot of strangers came from nearby cities in this city to sell items.

    Ryder was wearing a long sleeve dress that was hiding his bracelet of immortality since that was his only problem. It was something that could give him away, so he kept it hidden.

    Many guards patrolled the city, which was to be expected as it was the Royal City, but still, the security of this ce didn¡¯t seem as good as the security of the Demon Realm.

    ¡¯Are these guys useless? Someone was smuggling items from the city, and they don¡¯t even know? The guards of our Death Domain would never be as ignorant,¡¯ he thought as he shook his head.

    He soon thought of something that made him stunned.

    Smuggling was taking ce here, but the Prince didn¡¯t know. Or he would have stopped it. What if the same thing was taking ce in Demon Realm. It was possible that he wasn¡¯t going to know about that either.

    ¡¯Could it be that the security of Royal Cities is really that bad? These torch-like items, what if there are some for Demon Realm Barriers as well? If this is the case, the Demon Realm Royal City is not as secure as I thought...¡¯ he frowned, imagining a scene where thousands of enemies crossed through their barrier.

 Chapter 486 Deciding

    <h4>Chapter 486: Deciding</h4>

    "I was talking about their Prince, but I might be just as ignorant as well," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly at the ignorance.

    He didn¡¯t even know items like these existed. Didn¡¯t this basically mean that the Royal City has no safety? Their barrier was truly useless?

    He released a mouthful of breath, trying to think of ways to make sure that he didn¡¯t be a part of another sneak attack that seemed inevitable one day.

    "It would be time to leave soon. Until then, I can try to find a ce that would be a good target. I need to stay here to not bring in more suspicions to me," he mumbled under his breath as he tried to find a person to target.

    ¡¯If I kill a person here, I¡¯ll not only achieve my target, but I can also take his identity and their house as my own. So finding the person who lives alone should be best,¡¯ he thought as his gaze roamed over all the well-dressed people walking back and forth in the marketce.

    It seemed a bit too crowded. There were shops, but a lot of people could also be seen on the streets, trying to sell their items.

    ¡¯Last time I came here, I didn¡¯t notice itst time, but this ce is actually a bit less arranged than ours. They seem to have no proper arrangement here.¡¯

    As he walked and observed his surroundings, he couldn¡¯t help but think of the differences between this cepared to the Demon Realm Royal City.

    Even though he took casual steps not to attract any attention, it didn¡¯t take him long before he left the marketce and reached a more isted part of the city. Not many people could be seen on the roads here, but the houses here seemed to be in decent condition.

    Ryder was following after a middle-aged Death Dweller, who he had noticed in the marketce. Even though the person was not intimidating, he had a lot of muscles on his body. Strangely enough, though, he wasn¡¯t strong.

    Unlike Dark Tooth, whose level Ryder couldn¡¯t see because of being too high, this man¡¯s level was clearly visible.

    Through his ¡¯All-Seer¡¯, he was able to see the man¡¯s stats. A screen was floating on the outer edge of his view with the stats of the person.

    [Name: Old Jiw]

    [Species: Death Dweller]

    [Level: 1]

    [Strength: 1]

    [Defence: 1]

    [Speed:1]

    [Dexterity:1]

    [Stamina:1]

    ...

    Even though Ryder found it weird that the man was so weak, he didn¡¯t care. It was a good thing to find a person like that. It was an easy kill. He could kill the man with one strike, but he wanted to wait for the time when they were alone.

    Killing this man was going to bring his score in the Kingship Trial to one. Even though this man was unbelievably weak, he was still a person who lived here. So he satisfied the criteria.

    After following the man for some time, Ryder finally got the opportunity to be alone with the guy. This man had finally stopped, and they also happened to be in a ce where not a single person was there.

    ¡¯Is that his house?¡¯ Ryder thought as he noticed the man looking to the south towards one of the houses.

    He also started walking towards the house. He brought some key out of his pocket and opened the lock of the house before he entered.

    Ryder nodded his head, realizing that he was right. This house belonged to this man, and since it was locked, he probably lived here alone. The target couldn¡¯t be any more perfect.

    He strode towards the house that Old Jiw gas already entered.

    Standing before the door, he looked at both sides to make sure that not a single person was there. Only after making sure, he brought out the Moon Scythe to its real shape.

    He knocked on the door and waited for it to be opened. As soon as the door opened, he swung his scythe, not waiting for a moment.

    The scythe stabbed in the heart of the man that had just opened the door. The man seemed stunned as he was attacked by the person he didn¡¯t even know about.

    His death came as a shock to him, that too after he had just returned home. He died with so many questions in his head.

    ...

    As the man¡¯s body disappeared, Ryder stepped over the ground where the man happened to be standing until a few moments ago.

    Closing the door, Ryder started searching the house to make sure that no one else was there.

    Knock!

    Ryder had just finished checking the whole house. He was d that no one was inside, but a known stunned him. It seemed to being from the door.

    "Who could it be? A neighbor?" Ryder muttered, gazing at the pale door.

    ¡¯I¡¯m not opening. If they think that no one is inside, they¡¯ll go away,¡¯ he thought as he refused to open the door.

    "Is that guyte today?" A female-sounding voice came from outside before the creaking sound of the door resounded inside the house.

    Ryder hastily uses the mask to change himself to the man he had killed just now as he saw the door open, not understanding how someone could open the locked door so easily. Did they have a key as well? Was it someone who lived here too?

    He thought as he stood calmly to see who it was.

    As the door opened, Ryder saw a beautiful woman. The woman had shiny dark hair that seemingly came down to her waist. Her hourss-shaped body was even more visible in the tight-fitting dress which she was wearing.

    The woman saw Ryder standing before him.

    "You are here, and you refused to open the door?" She said, frowning as she started walking towards Ryder.

    Ryder activated All-Seer and tried to see the stats of the woman who was before him. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t see anything. The woman was much stronger than him in levelspared to the man had been.

    The woman approached Ryder, who got ready to use his other methods to take care of the woman, but her following words made him stop.

    "Darling, were you busy inside? You could¡¯ve told me. I wouldn¡¯t have knocked. I would have used my keys in the first ce instead," the Woman told Ryder.

    These words made Ryder realize that he wasn¡¯t in danger. This woman was probably the wife of the man. It was still strange, though. A man that was level one was married to a woman who had a level he couldn¡¯t see.

    ¡¯Love is truly blind, I guess,¡¯ he thought, justifying it with that.

    The woman approached Ryder and wrapped her arms around him.

    "I missed you so much," she said with a longing look on her face as she brought her face closer to Ryder¡¯s face and kissed his lips.

    The kiss felt as real as it could be.

    "Blood, don¡¯t make me wait longer. Let¡¯s go to the bedroom. I need to go back home as well. I only have a few hours to spend with you," the woman said.

    ¡¯So she is here for a few hours. She has a different home. It must be an affair or something, I guess. What can I do? If I log out, I¡¯ll lose this house which I can use. And the girl can even report to the Guards about this suspicious thing. That would be a mess,¡¯ Ryder thought, wondering what he could do. He couldn¡¯t just disappear now.

    The only other option was to spend the next few hours with the girl but what it implied was that the girl probably wanted to have something intimate with him.

    If he stayed, it was going to be his first time doing that in divinity and to go that with this woman?

    He tried to think of the advantages and disadvantages, including the moral dilemmas.

    He didn¡¯t have much time to think, so he came to a decision as the women started pulling him towards the bedroom.

    ...

    "That was great. Am I just imagining it, or did you actually improve?"

    Ryder was lying on the bed while the womanid beside him, her hand resting on his bare chest.

    "Why aren¡¯t you saying anything, by the way?" She further asked, wondering why Ryder was silent throughout this.

    Since she hade here, he hadn¡¯t spoken a single word.

    "Is your throat aching or something?" She asked Ryder, who nodded in response. Since she gave him the excuse herself, who was he to say no.

    "Oh, don¡¯t speak then. Give your throat some rest. You should be fine in some time," the woman said to Ryder as she sat up.

    "Anyway, I should be leaving. My husband should be getting home soon."

    She got off the bed and started getting dressed.

    After getting dressed, she slid over the bed and gave Ryder another kiss.

 Chapter 487 Tender

    <h4>Chapter 487: Tender</h4>

    "I¡¯ll be back after three days," the Woman whispered in Ryder¡¯s ears before she got off the bed and left.

    Ryderid on the bed, cing his palm on his face.

    "Just what magic is this? This seemed so real..." Ryder thought as though about what he had gone through just now.

    He stood up after a while and got dressed before he walked over to the door to check if the woman had left.

    After confirming, he walked back to the room and closed the door before he logged out.

    ...

    It was already morning in the real world when Ryder had woken up from his slumber.

    He got off the bed and freshened up before leaving the room.

    He walked downstairs, where he saw Shu sitting before the TV.

    "You woke up. Prettyte today. Did you have a good sleep?" Shu asked Ryder.

    "Yeah, a bit too good sleep," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly.

    "Don¡¯t tell me you were in Divinity until now?" Shu asked, rubbing his chin.

    "Maybe," Ryder let out as he stepped forward and sat on the chair beside Shu.

    "Anyway, you might not have heard, but something shocking happenedst night. Apparently, someone kept the owners of a nearby house hostage," Shu told Ryder.

    "From what I was told, it sounded like the work of that guy who hade to bring Alice. He is currently missing."

    Ryder nodded his head, not much shocked. He already knew about it, though.

    "Did Alice go to college?" Ryder asked.

    "Nah, she was about to go. And I know how stubborn she is. She wasn¡¯t going to stop if I had told her. And going out when that guy is missing was risky," Shu responded.

    A cheeky smile graced his cute yet chubby face.

    "Oh god, what did you do then?" Ryder inquired, feeling suspicious after seeing that smile. "Don¡¯t tell me you called the university and got them to cancel all sses for the day?"

    "Hahaha," Shu startedughing after hearing Ryder¡¯s reply, but he ultimately nodded his head. " You know me so well."

    "Sigh, you didn¡¯t need to do it. Actually, that guy is already dead," Ryder told Shu,ing clear with him. He at least had that much trust in him.

    "What?" Shu¡¯sughter disappeared as he heard Ryder¡¯s words. "How do you know that?"

    " Because I killed himst night. As you said, he was keeping the people hostage. Moreover, he wanted to kidnap Alice. So I took him out," Ryder said calmly, not much emotion on his face.

    "But... Sigh, I won¡¯t ask. He wanted to hurt Alice, so he deserved it. I¡¯m still shocked, though," Shu let out. "If you knew his intentions, you could¡¯ve told me. I would send my guards. You wouldn¡¯t have had to dirty your hands."

    "Oh right, did you return the Ring of Lexini?" Ryder asked Shu, trying to change the topic.

    Shu noticed that Ryder was trying to change the topic, but he pretended to be ignorant and went along with it.

    "That¡¯s right. I returned the ring and got the rewards." Shu answered.

    He picked up the remote and changed the channel to a news channel as he asked, "Also, I have the Guild Token. When are you going to establish the guild?"

    "I heard some people are already after the tokens. If they found them, they¡¯ll establish their guilds first. We¡¯ll lose the opportunity to be first. So I think we should do it as soon as we can," he added.

    "Yeah. I think so too. I¡¯ve also selected a ce and arranged for the Land where our Guild will be established. But at the moment, I can¡¯t do it. I¡¯m stuck on a mission that I can¡¯t get out of. So you¡¯ll have to wait," Ryder answered, without exining things about the Death Domain.

    "That¡¯s fine. If you¡¯re stuck, we can¡¯t do anything. The others also wouldn¡¯t have an easy time getting this. So we should have some more time," Shu nodded.

    "Is Alice upstairs?" Ryder asked Shu, looking back towards the wall. "I thought she¡¯d be in college, so I didn¡¯t check."

    "Yeah. She had lunch and went back to her room. Maybe she¡¯s resting now," Shu suggested as he rubbed his chin. "I didn¡¯t check either."

    "I¡¯ll go see her. Anyway, don¡¯t cancel the sses tomorrow. She should be safe from now on," Ryder told Shu as he stood up and started walking towards the stars.

    "Understood, I¡¯ll only keep our best guards with her and tell them to inform us if anything suspicious happens around her when she goes out," Shy responded before she shifted her gaze back to the TV.

    ¡¯I know he isn¡¯t my brother, but his instinct to kill to protect is just like my brother¡¯s. Should I tell him the truth? That I came close to him because he reminded me of my brother?¡¯ Shu thought as he closed his eyes andid on the sofa, lost in thought. ¡¯No, he¡¯ll be weirded out by me. It¡¯s fine the way it is. I can¡¯t lose my family again.¡¯

    ...

    Ryder opened the door of Alice¡¯s room only to find him lying in bed. The Divinity sses were on her face.

    ¡¯This girl, Looks like she¡¯s addicted to this as well,¡¯ Ryder thought as he closed the door and walked back to his room.

    He picked up the keys of the car he had purchased after his old car was broken previously. cing the keys in his pocket, he left the room.

    "I¡¯m going out."

    After reminding Shu, he left the Estate and stepped inside his car.

    His car passed through the house where Luke was staying previously. A cop car was outside the house.

    He zoomed off into the distance.

    ...

    Ryder¡¯s car stopped before the building, which was the headquarters of the Dream Corporation. It has been quite some time since he hase here.

    In the previous timeline, he had gone to kill Luke instead ofing here.

    As he stepped inside the building, he was greeted by the guards who had known him all too well.

    Almost everyone here had seen the picture of the person who was the owner here.

    No-one stopped him from going anywhere he wished. Ryder stepped inside the lift, which took him to the floor, where the medical researchers recently finished a discussion about a new test to verify their research. If they were sessful, it was going to be tremendous progress.

    Ryder asked one of the guys where the main members of the team were. None of them could be seen in their offices.

    In the response to his question, he was told that they were in theb, testing something.

    "Shall I inform them about your arrival?"

    "No, it¡¯s fine. Let them focus on work. I was just casually here," Ryder replied before he turned back and walked to the lift.

    He went to the upper floors where the aviation department of Divine Corporation was.

    Herriet was the leading person there.

    Fortunately, she was in her office and free as well.

    "Herriet, how are you?" He asked the woman as he opened the door.

    "Ah, so you finally have the time toe and meet me after so long. Have a seat," Herriet told Ryder as a smile covered her face.

    Ryder stepped forward and sat on the chair before her.

    "After that day, you finallye to meet me now. I wonder if I should be d," she muttered as she smiled wryly.

    "Ah, I told you. I had to go out of the city. I just came back now. I came back here to meet you right aftering back," Ryder exined himself as he smiled wryly.

    "Anyway, how¡¯s work going? Is everything fine?" He asked Herriet.

    "Yeah. I was just about to call you. I just got information that we got a tender. It¡¯s a big tender, and with that, we might be able to earn our first big break after this merger. But we do need more money, too," she told Ryder.

    "We are already entering the aviation business. But if we simultaneously manufacture as well, we¡¯ll be really good," she said.

    "Hmm?" Hearing her words, Ryder fell in deep thought.

    ¡¯Just what was it about? Thest timeline didn¡¯t have this. There was no tender after that. The change here seems to be after the merger,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    "Can I know more about the tender and where it¡¯s from?" Ryder asked.

    "Oh, it¡¯s from the Max Corporation. Apparently, they¡¯re outsourcing some of their stuff to us," Herriet answered.

    "Max Corporation?" Ryder muttered, not remembering the name.

    He pulled up his phone and searched the name.

    "Ah, got it," he muttered as he looked at the information he received.

    "Apparently, they¡¯re a subsidiary of Dream Corporation. It might be Shu trying to help us. But we don¡¯t need it. Don¡¯t worry; I have faith. The aviation industry will be much more beneficial," Ryder said, shaking his head.

 Chapter 488 Princess

    <h4>Chapter 488: Princess</h4>

    "I¡¯m sure he¡¯s trying to help us, but we don¡¯t need it at the moment. In fact, getting back into manufacturing will be harmful at the moment. Just focus all our resources on what we nned before. That should be all," he added as he smiled wryly.

    "Sigh, alright. You¡¯re the boss. Even though I don¡¯t see any loss in it, I¡¯ll listen to you," Herriet nodded as she sighed.

    "Oh right, could it be that you don¡¯t want this because it¡¯s from apany owned by a friend? I did rememberst time it mentioned that you took no help in establishing thispany. Could it be you want it that way, so the credit of your sess isn¡¯t given to your friendship with someone big?" She asked, frowning.

    "Maybe, that¡¯s one of the reasons. I don¡¯t want anyone to say that I only seeded because of him. Or that I only became his friend for financial goals," Ryder answered as he nodded.

    "But there¡¯s another reason. I really think that it¡¯s a bad idea to do it. Must listen to me on this," he insisted.

    "Alright," Herriet nodded. She decided to go with his suggestion. Noticing the time on the clock, he asked, "Oh right, did you have lunch?"

    "Not yet," Ryder shook his head as he realized that he had not only skipped breakfast but lunch as well. It was only now that he realized about that. He didn¡¯t even feel hungry in any case.

    "It¡¯s already lunchtime. How about we go out and have lunch? Or I can have something ordered here?" Herriet inquired, wondering what he preferred.

    "Well, it¡¯s better to go out. Come, it¡¯s my treat for doing such a great work," Ryder told Harriet as he smiled wryly.

    Herriet nodded her head as she stood up. She followed after Ryder as she left the office.

    ...

    "This is the ce that isn¡¯t recently opened here, but the reviews are really good about this ce," Herriet escorted Ryder to a newly opened restaurant nearby that had be her favorite in such a short time.

    She was the one who suggested them toe here when Ryder asked where they should go.

    They entered the restaurant and sat on a sofa near the window. The sofa given to them was only big enough for two people.

    A table was ced before them on which the food was served.

    "So, I don¡¯t know much about you. Why don¡¯t you tell me a bit. Other than the mysterious rich boss, what else are you? Do you have a family? Or a girlfriend?" Herriet asked as she started drinking the wine that was served to them.

    "There¡¯s nothing to know about a boring person like me. Instead, you should tell me about yourself. Who is in your family?" Ryder asked, changing the topic from him to the girl.

    Seeing his tactics, Herriet startedughing.

    "Hahaha, don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing. You¡¯re changing the topic," Herriet let out as she rolled her eyes.

    "Anyway, I¡¯m the only child in my family. My father and my mother live in a far out of state. They don¡¯t like the hustle of the city. So I live alone here," she exined.

    "And your boyfriend?" Ryder asked casually.

    "I don¡¯t have a boyfriend. I¡¯m still single. Why? Are you interesting?" she asked as she gazed at Ryder, who had taken another sip of the wine.

    Hearing Herriet¡¯s words, Ryder coughed out the mouthful of wine that he had just drunk.

    "Ahem, Excuse me," he let out as he smiled wryly.

    The waiter came to their table to clean it.

    After the table was cleaned, Ryder and Herriet again continued their conversation.

    " I had casually asked. It¡¯s not like I was asking you to be my boyfriend? You didn¡¯t have to choke," Herriet chuckled as she covered her lips with her hand.

    "It¡¯s not that. I just remember something else. Don¡¯t worry," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    "You didn¡¯t answer about yourself. Tell me something," Herriet asked Ryder, not going deep into his previous reaction.

    "Me? As I said, I am a really boring person. My parents died a long time ago. I don¡¯t have any family except for a girl," Ryder answered, smiling wryly.

    "Which girl?" Herriet asked, curious.

    "She is called Alice. She¡¯s the daughter of a family friend I guess you can call technically," Ryder exined.

    "Oh."

    "There¡¯s Shu as well. He¡¯s no less than a real brother to me," Ryder continued.

    "I¡¯m Jealous. You get to be brothers with Shu Maxwell. If I were in your ce, I would never have faced a single problem," Herriet muttered as she looked at Ryder with cute jealousy, making it evident that she was just joking.

    "It¡¯s fine. I know how amazing it is to a normal person. So I can understand," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly.

    ..

    "Thanks for the treat. Next time it¡¯ll be my treat," Herriet told Ryder as he dropped her off in front of the office.

    "Didn¡¯t you say this thest time as well?" Ryder inquired, smiling wryly. "Anyway, you don¡¯t need to treat me."

    " No, I need to. I owe you two now," she said as she smiled cheekily.

    She turned back and entered the building.

    Ryder, on the other hand, went back to the Maxwell Estate.

    As he reached the Maxwell Estate, it was already near the evening. Shu wasn¡¯t in the hallway anymore. On asking the staff, he was told that Shu had left the Estate for some work.

    As for when he was going to be back, ording to them, he was going toe back by night.

    After checking Alice¡¯s room and making sure that she was inside Divinity, he went back to his room.

    Taking all his clothes off, he entered the shower and only left after a long half-hour shower.

    Dressed infortable clothes, heid on his bed and entered Divinity once again.

    As he entered the world of Divinity, it was night time. There seemed to be a few hours before it was going to be the time for sunrise.

    Ryder stood outside the house he had taken over as he gazed at the sky.

    The entire city was filled with darkness, but it was still visible for some reason.

    Ryder stepped on the empty streets as he started roaming inside the city to see if he could find any prey.

    Even if there were guards of the city, he could still use some trick to kill them or at least try to find some people who lived alone here.

    Unfortunately, even after searching for hours, he could find no one. Why was it that this entire city seemed like a ghost town at night? Let alone seeing any guards, he couldn¡¯t even see a single person outside.

    He wondered if the town even had any security at night. This should have been the heaven for thieves with this level ofziness, but he couldn¡¯t even see thieves out on the streets.

    Just what was happening?

    Just as he was wondering what was happening, he saw a massive group of soldiers that came running from the distance.

    They were running beside a horse on top of which a woman was sitting. Shockingly though, the woman was sitting.

    It was a beautiful woman who could only be described as charming by people. She was wearing a long gown as she sat on top of the horse sideways. The horse raced inside the city.

    Even though the speed of the horse was fast, it was surprisingly matched by the guards that were running beside the house as if protecting the woman.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but hide behind a tree as he let the horse pass.

    ¡¯That girl, what is she doing here?¡¯ he thought as he frowned, recognizing the woman who was sitting on the horse.

    She was none other than the that that Ryder had seen when he had just entered the Death Domain. The woman was inside the water, not wearing anything. He had even managed to see a lot of her.

    It was as surprising to see her here as it was stunning to see the security around her as if she was a princess. Just who was this girl exactly? It was something that made him really curious.

    In any case, it was already going to be morning, so he decided to walk back after the entourage had left, feeling like the emptiness of the city probably had something to do with them.

    He entered inside the house again and started waiting while forming a n to finish the trial faster. It was the truth that he didn¡¯t actually have the strength to kill most of these people openly, even though he was a level 200 yer. These were monsters that were too high in the level that he couldn¡¯t even see.

    So his entire n rested on scheming to achieve his target here to make sure he could survive as well as finish the trial.

 Chapter 489 Poison

    <h4>Chapter 489: Poison</h4>

    Ryder went inside the house that he had taken over as he started trying to prepare for his n.

    Sitting inside the house, he started wondering, "To finish the Kingship Trial, I need to kill a hundred citizens of the Royal City and bring their heads back to the High Dukes. But that¡¯s impossible since they disappear after I kill them."

    "Fortunately, they also gave me this badge. It will light up after I kill hundreds of citizens of the Royal City. Now I only need ny-nine more," Ryder thought, smiling wryly.

    "I also need to get the next fragment after I finish this trial. That will mark the end of Rale¡¯s quest too. But first, this trial is more important. Ny-nine more people," Ryder wondered as he rubbed his chin.

    "I do have my tricks, but that might not be feasible to use on so many people. The bracelet to make them unconscious also has limited use like many other items. So the work here is somewhat different. How could I make it easier and faster for me?" he wondered as he frowned.

    "Oh, right. That¡¯s it!"

    Suddenly Ryder¡¯s eyes lit up as he thought of something.

    "If I do this, I can kill them all in one stroke," he muttered as a smile formed on his face.

    "But first, I need to understand things more. What do these people like to eat? I need to make it but the least bit suspicious," he added as he stood up.

    He started searching for something left and right inside the room he was sitting.

    "Come on. I need some money for this ce. It would help if you had something hidden here. Let me see..." he asked himself, frowning.

    He searched the entire bedroom from top to bedroom, unable to find what could be described as money.

    He did find some weird things, though. Under the bed, the underwear of the woman was lying, which brought so many questions to Ryder¡¯s mind.

    Just how did this get inside there? Could it be that the woman had forgotten it?

    "But she did wear one when she was leaving. I do remember seeing..." he muttered but realising what he was saying, he stopped abruptly.

    "Ahem, I mean I happened to coincidentally see. Janus, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re listening. Don¡¯t think I¡¯m a pervert! I¡¯m innocent!"

    He hadn¡¯t expected Janus¡¯ reply, but unfortunately, this was precisely when Janus finally answered.

    [Don¡¯t worry. Janus knows how much of a pervert host is. No exnation needed]

    "You bastard! You¡¯re using me! I can hear it from your tone! Is this how you treat me after I let you dy my rewards for killing Luke?" Ryder asked as he frowned.

    [That¡¯s only pending for a few days because of some reasons. They will be given]

    "But still, I didn¡¯tin, did I? You were supposed to give right away after I finished killing him, but you said that you can¡¯t give rewards right now because of some risk in sending things to me at this time. I didn¡¯t ask twice, but here you are, using me of being a pervert," Ryder asked as he gave a hurtful look as if his heart was broken.

    "You break my heart, Janus! I didn¡¯t expect this from you!"

    ...

    Back in the God Realm, Janus was sitting near the pond, watching the antics of Ryder. He didn¡¯t know if he shouldugh or cry at this. In any case, it was amusing.

    Just as he was about to reply to Ryder, he stopped. Snapping his finger, he made the pond go back to normal.

    Behind him, a portal opened.

    He didn¡¯t even gaze back as if he knew who it was. It was his domain. No one could enter here without his permission in any case.

    "Godden of Life, what brought you here?" he asked the beautiful woman who stood behind him.

    The goddess of Life and Death cast a barrier surrounding them to protect their conversation. Janus also did the same to make it more secure n

    "You consider me Goddess of Life, but you forget I¡¯m the goddess of death as well. I know things that others won¡¯t. So tell me... Did you have a hand in the death of the Lord of Time?" she asked Janus.

    "Oh? That guy is dead? I¡¯m shocked," Janus let out with a fake shock on his face.

    Finding his action to be obviously fake, the Goddess of Life and Death understood that he did have something to do with it.

    "Lord of Time was living in seclusion. He wasn¡¯t interfering in outside matters. So why did you decide to kill him? If I don¡¯t get any satisfactory answer, I¡¯ll kill you today. Enough of these games," Goddess of Life and Death asked Ryder as she frowned.

    "I didn¡¯t do it. He did it," Janus answered calmly as he touched the pond with his finger lightly.

    The scene in the pond changed to reveal Ryder when he waspletely awoken previously. It was from the time when he hade here to talk to Janus.

    The goddess of Time took a few steps forward to look inside the pond, only to fall in a daze. This guy... He had returned?

    After a long pause, she finally collected her thoughts as she asked, "He returned? His powers are back? So he went to kill the Lord of Time in revenge forst time?"

    "Not entirely. Actually, the Lord of Time found him when he wasn¡¯t awake. He was about to be killed for that bracelet. So I yed a little trick on the Lord of Time to make him revert Ryder¡¯s soul back to nihility to make sure the bracelet disappeared forever," Janus exined.

    "But when used that on a God whose soul is sleeping, it will..." The Goddess of Life muttered.

    "That¡¯s right. He woke up, and after that, he protected himself while making sure no one else found out because the power of the Lord of time couldn¡¯t keep his soul awaken for long. After killing him, he went back to his old self," Janus answered.

    "So he killed the Lord of Time in self-defense..." the Goddess of Life and Death muttered as she frowned.

    "That¡¯s right. You can only me the Lord of Time for trying to kill him," Janus further added.

    ...

    "See? You ran away. You don¡¯t have a reply. You know I¡¯m the most innocent person in existence," Ryder let out, not getting any reaction from Janus.

    He continued his search throughout the house, widening his parameters to the other rooms since the bedroom didn¡¯t have the thing he needed.

    As he searched the other rooms, he did find a few ck gold coins. From what he has understood previously, the ck gold coins with the face of the previous Emperor were the most expensive.

    "This should be enough to arrange a feast," Ryder thought as he gazed at the coins. He picked them up and continued his search to find as many as he could.

    By the time he ended his search, he had seven ck gold coins in his hand. These seven coins were just expensive because of the image on them. It was even surprising to know that this guy possessed these seven.

    He lived in this house which wasn¡¯t the best. So he didn¡¯t seem. How did he get them?

    "The bribe from that woman? In any case, I don¡¯t have to worry about such things," he thought as he shook his head. He left the house and walked towards the market. It was early morning now, but most of the shops were already open by now.

    He brought them to the restaurants and got some food packed. Since the food was enough for ny people, he couldn¡¯t carry it alone. So he asked the restaurant to have it delivered to his home while paying a bit extra for this.

    The restaurant agreed. Since it was early morning, they weren¡¯t crowded. Instead, the staff was mostly free.

    They packed the food before they went to deliver it, following behind Ryder.

    Reaching the house, Ryder opened the door and allowed them to ce the packets of food inside.

    He closed the door after everything was delivered.

    "So much, and it cost less than one ck gold coin. This thing is really expensive," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the rest of the coins in his pocket before he kept it back.

    "Alright. Food is here. Poison is here. All I need to do is mix the two. Invite the people for a feast. It¡¯ll be mission finished at one strike," Ryder muttered as he started taking the packets to the kitchen.

    He brought a packet of poison and mixed it in all food items. After preparing everything, he left his house to invite his neighbours, not knowing if it was going to work as he nned or a bit different. In any case, he knew that he could only give it a try. If he was sessful, it was a win situation.

 Chapter 490 Come with me

    <h4>Chapter 490: Come with me</h4>

    Ryder finished mixing the food with the poison and arranged it all in the hundred tes that he had purchased. He even arranged all the tes before he left the house and walked to the nearest house.

    It was a house that looked simr to his but was in a better condition. The house belonged to ady that opened the door right after Ryder had knocked without dying as if she was standing right behind the door waiting for Ryder.

    Unlike the woman that had barged inside his house, this woman was much older. Wrinkles could clearly be seen on her face, but she still looked perfectly healthy. Her body was a bit too strong. Her muscles were clearly visible.

    Her biceps themselves were twice the size of the head of the man Ryder was impersonating.

    The first nce itself was enough to surprise Ryder at the physique of this woman, but he maintained hisposure. He didn¡¯t even know how the man he impersonated used to talk to his neighbors.

    He could only try his best.

    "Hey, Actually I¡¯m having a celebration at my house. I¡¯ve prepared a feast. I would be happy if you cane and attend that," he said as he started waiting for her response to see if he had made any mistakes or not.

    The woman did gaze at him oddly for a moment.

    "You pipsqueak, did you finally gather the courage to talk to me? I often notice you are so scared to even look at people. Anyway, what¡¯s the celebration for?" the woman asked Ryder, confused.

    "It¡¯s because I found ten dark gold coins today. They were dropped by someone. When I returned them, I was awarded one coin in return. But I don¡¯t have many expenses, so I thought to use that to give you all a feast," Ryder exined. He didn¡¯t know what excuse to give, so he went with this one.

    "Hmm? That¡¯s quite lucky. Generally, it¡¯s rare for someone to drop that much money. So did you spend all that money on food already?" She asked.

    Ryder could see a sneaky light shine in her eyes. He was sure that if he said that he didn¡¯t, the woman was going to probably snatch the money from him.

    "Yeah. I brought the food for a hundred people from chubby ce. Their most expensive dish. So they took all my money," Ryder exined.

    "Cheh, what a waste. That ce is indeed expensive. Fine. You have food; I¡¯lle to eat that. When is the feast?" she asked Ryder.

    "It¡¯ll start in the evening. I still need to invite more people. So you cane at 6?" he asked the woman. "Will that be alright?"

    "Fine. I¡¯m going out now, but I¡¯lle on time," the woman nodded before she left.

    Ryder watched the woman go away as he smiled, ¡¯One down. Ny-eight to go.¡¯

    He started walking towards the nearest house. The house belonged to a man who was much more kinder than the woman previously. The man talked more calmly and listened to Ryder with a smile on his face.

    The man agreed instantly. He didn¡¯t even ask the reason for a feast. Ryder gave him the time of invitation before he moved over to the next house.

    One after another, he kept going to the houses. Just to make sure he didn¡¯tck people, he invited hundred people here.

    If one couldn¡¯te, he was still going to have ny-nine people.

    The problem was if more didn¡¯te. But he couldn¡¯t invite more. He only had food and space for a hundred people.

    After inviting a hundred people, he walked back to his house and started waiting for their arrival. Now that most of the work was done, he could only leave the rest on luck and hope that nothing went wrong.

    As the time for feast drew closer, Ryder started pacing back and forth as he watched the door to see if anyone was going to knock or not.

    "Janus, what are the chances of this n being sessful?" Ryder asked, wondering if Janus could give him some confidence.

    Unfortunately, Janus didn¡¯t answer him. It was as if that guy was either ignoring him, or he genuinely couldn¡¯t hear that guy.

    "Fine. Don¡¯t talk. In any case, I want my reward from Luke¡¯s killing. If I don¡¯t get them within twenty-four hours, I¡¯ll seriously start cursing you," Ryder let out in anger as he shook his head.

    He had thought that Janus was ignoring him because he didn¡¯t want to pay the debt he was owed. He had decided to bug that guy even more after he was back.

    For the moment, his main focus was going to be on the task at the head. If he was seeding, it was going to be a significant aplishment.

    He couldn¡¯t even imagine the face High Dukes were going to make if they knew that he finished the trial within two days of entering the Royal City of Death Domain.

    Just as he was wondering what kind of face High Dukes were going to make, he heard a knock on the door.

    "I guess one of them is here already? Or maybe all," Ryder muttered as he started walking towards the gate with an expectant gaze on his face.

    He opened the door only to find a person standing outside. It wasn¡¯t any of the people he had invited, though.

    Instead, it was someone who made Ryder stunned. Ryder remembered seeing that person. That¡¯s why he didn¡¯t like this development.

    He had seen that man just this morning before sunrise. The man was one of the few guards who was running beside the girl who rode on the horse through the empty City.

    Just what was this man doing here? Could it be that the woman recognized Ryder as the person who saw her naked? Many thoughts floated in his head.

    ¡¯No. Impossible! How could that woman recognize me? I¡¯m in a disguise. It¡¯s impossible for her. My clothes are different too. Wait a minute, my bracelet?¡¯ Ryder suddenly thought of something that might have given him away.

    If that woman saw him in the morning and noticed his bracelet, then she was going to know. But he just couldn¡¯t remember. Was his bracelet exposed in the morning?

    He lowered his head to look at his hand, which had the bracelet of Immortality.

    His bracelet was covered by the long sleeves of his shirt. It wasn¡¯t visible. If everything was normal, it shouldn¡¯t have been visible in the morning either, but he just couldn¡¯t remember exactly.

    "Yes?" He asked the guard while keeping his calm expressions.

    "Are you Jiw?" The man asked Ryder.

    "Yeah?" Ryder asked. At Least he was sure that the man hadn¡¯t known him. So he could talk to the man as a stranger.

    "You need toe with me," the man told Ryder.

    "Come with you where?" Ryder asked, confused.

    "You need toe with us to the Royal Pce. We have orders to kill you if you resist," the man told Ryder.

    "Can you at least tell me what I did?" Ryder asked calmly.

    Inside he was bewildered. He was going to be taken to the Royal Pce where the Prince of Death Domain was going to be?

    The same Prince that Ryder made a fool out of with the help of the High Dukes? The same Prince that probably hated him to death? If that was the case and the Prince recognized him, it was going to be bad.

    But if things were different and he didn¡¯t go, things could be bad there too.

    "Can I take some time? Give me an hour? I promised a feast to some neighbors. If I don¡¯t give it, they might be angry. If you want, you cane in and eat too? I got food from chubby. You will love it. I have extra," Ryder suggested.

    If he could make the man eat, that was for the better. That man would die of poison, and Ryder could continue staying here to find the rest of the neighbors.

    Unfortunately, that man didn¡¯t agree. Instead of saying yes, he shook his head while seemingly fully serious.

    "You can¡¯t stay here for a minute longer. I need to take you to the Royal Pce right away. As I said, you¡¯ll be hurt if you resist. So calmlye with me.

    Ryder used his All-Seer on the man. He was already sure that he wouldn¡¯t see anything because of his high levels but still used it while hoping for the better.

    The luck wasn¡¯t on his side, though. It was as he had expected. He couldn¡¯t see anything. The man who stood before him was too strong. He could only follow after the man.

    "Fine. Take me to the Royal Pce," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly. In his disappointment, he didn¡¯t even bother closing the door behind him.

    The guard took Ryder with him as they both advanced towards the Royal Pce.

 Chapter 491 Accidental Success

    <h4>Chapter 491: idental Sess</h4>

    Ryder left the house, keeping up with the guard that was here to escort him. He had no idea why he was being called to the Royal Pce.

    There were three possible exnations. The Prince found his truth for some reason. The Girl recognized him or,stly, something else entirely.

    ...

    As Ryder left the house, he forgot to close the door entirely, leaving the house unlocked.

    He didn¡¯t know that a few moments after he left, the hundreds of people he had invited arrived.

    They people stood before the house and called out to Ryder but got no response.

    "Is he not home? What kind of person is he? He invited us here and himself left?" One of the guestsined.

    "That idiot! Is he messing with us? The next time I see him, I¡¯ll beat the crap out of him," another man said, cursing Ryder.

    "Yeah. That bastard deserves it! He¡¯s making a mockery out of all of us!" the bulky woman also chimed in. She was the first person Ryder had invited.

    Everyone was angry. Only one person was calm.

    "Wait a minute. Let¡¯s think about it. Maybe he got something urgent and had to leave? He left the house open. That must be for us so we can go inside and eat? Why else would he leave the door open? He invited us for a feast, and he left the door open so we could have our feast," the man said.

    "Oh right. Why didn¡¯t I think of that? He left the door open so we could eat. Feast doesn¡¯t need him to be present personally. All it needs is the food that he might have prepared inside. Let¡¯s go inside."

    One after another, more and more people kept agreeing.

    They all entered the house and started searching the house for food, not knowing that what they were searching for was the poison.

    Soon, they found the food as well, properly served as if it was waiting for them.

    Each of them picked up a te and started eating at the same time.

    "Amazing. Chubby¡¯s food is expensive, but it¡¯s worth it. This thing is so tasty!"

    "It¡¯s my first time eating it. I can¡¯t believe that I hadn¡¯t eaten out before. I deserve to be punished for such a big mistake. I was missing out on something so great. Even if it¡¯s expensive, I¡¯ll buy it again. It¡¯s so amazing."

    "It¡¯s your first time? It¡¯s my fifth, but I still love it just like I did the first time."

    Everyone praised the food they were eating. They ate it while enjoying it properly.

    Even though they tried to savor the taste for as long as they can while eating slowly, the food was still finished within minutes.

    As everyone finished, they stood up to leave.

    "Amazing. This was the best fea-" one of the men let out with a satisfied grin, but he couldn¡¯t even finish his sentence when he stopped.

    His face turned pale as he held his throat with his hand, struggling to breathe, "Urgh! Wh, ah, can¡¯t bre-"

    Soon, he dropped to the ground, dead. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t alone in it.

    The others also had the same reaction at almost the same time as they also dropped to the ground. People kept dying in hordes, one after another. Not a single person was able to step out of the house before dying.

    .....

    Ryder was still walking with the guard. They were just at the entrance of the Royal Pce.

    He was still unaware that he had already achieved his target. He had killed more than a hundred people of the Royal City of Death Domain. He finished the trial. If he went back now, he was going to be the king of the Death Domain. Unfortunately this he didn¡¯t know what he did yet.

    Leaving the door open was only because he didn¡¯t care to close it. Who could have expected that even in his absence, the n would seed and that people would enter the house and eat themselves.

    Ryder remembereding to the Royal Pce of the Death Domainst time. He was even escorted to the Throne Room by the Prince of Death Domain himself.

    Now that he was again walking the same path, he realized that he was once again being escorted to the Throne Room.

    They were walking through the same path, after all. He didn¡¯t even need to ask the guard where he was being taken. One thing that was confirmed was that he was going to be presented before the Death Domain Prince.

    They soon reached the throne room entrance. The door of the chamber was opened by the other guards, letting them enter.

    Ryder entered the chamber with the guard. He could see the Death Domain Prince sitting on the central throne at the other end of the chamber.

    The four High Duke equivalents of the Death Domain, the Death Generals, also sat inside the chamber along with a few more people that Ryder didn¡¯t recognize.

    ¡¯Oh God, is this because of that?¡¯ Ryder thought as he realized what was happening. It was obvious now.

    In the middle of the chamber, he saw a woman standing. The woman had her head down, but still, Ryder recognized that woman. It was none other than the woman that had slept with him yesterday.

    Beside the woman, a man was standing. The man was ring at the woman in anger.

    ¡¯Did her affair get exposed? And I¡¯m here to get the punishment? God, this is embarrassing. Why would a Prince take care of the matters of affairs though?¡¯ he wondered as he gazed at the woman.

    "Stand right here! And get down on your knees," the Guard told Ryder after he reached near the center of the chamber. Not only was he told to stop, but he was also told to get down on his knees?

    Ryder couldn¡¯t believe it. Thest time he came here, he was sitting proudly in front of their Prince as his equal, and this time he had to get down on his knees before this guy?

    ¡¯Whatever. At the moment, keeping my disguise is more important. If things go downhill, I can take other steps. But as of now, it¡¯s not the time,¡¯ Ryder thought as he convinced himself.

    He went down to his knees.

    "Your Highness, this is the Jiw I was told to bring," the guard told the Prince, who nodded his headzily.

    The Prince looked towards Ryder.

    "So Jiw, so you understand why you¡¯re brought here?" the Prince asked Ryder.

    ¡¯Man, his voice sounds so arrogant. Did he learn some of my tricksst time? He used to talk so calmly, unlike now. Or could it be that was only in front of me? This is his original self?¡¯ Ryder thought as he raised his head.

    He shook his head lightly. Even though he did have an idea, it was better to act ignorant.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll tell you. We heard that you have an affair with the wife of General Linni. Is that the truth?" the Prince inquired.

    ¡¯Ah, so that¡¯s why a Prince is taking care of the matter. It involves his general. I understand now. But still, this Jiw guy was pretty badass. Despite only being level one, he had an affair with the wife of a general? How did he even achieve it?¡¯ Ryder wondered in surprise.

    "Your Highness, I had no affair. It¡¯s not the truth," Ryder answered, denying the usations.

    It was possible that it was a test. If the woman denied it and he confessed, it would be wrong. He would be trapping himself. Thus, he could only have faith that the woman wouldn¡¯t ept her mistake either.

    If she had epted, he knew it would be even more wrong since the Prince would know I was lying to him.

    "Alright. She also says the same thing. But still, there are witnesses that said they saw her meeting you secretly and spending time inside your house? In fact, I even heard that you spent hours inside. What did you do?" the Prince asked.

    ¡¯So I was right. She didn¡¯t confess. The situation is still salvageable if I¡¯m careful,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He tried toe up with an answer to the next question. His answers needed to match her answers.

    ¡¯What could she say we did inside for hours?¡¯ Ryder wondered, trying to guess her answer.

    "We talked," Ryder answered. What else could they do for hours except talk?

    "We are like friends who have been close for years. In some ways, we¡¯re as close as brother and sister. We meet and talk about various things. We get so immersed in talking that hours pass before we even resize," he added to his exnation.

    He did talk slowly so he could see the woman¡¯s expression before speaking his following words to know he wasn¡¯t saying wrong things and, if he did, to correct himself in time.

 Chapter 492 Come in

    <h4>Chapter 492: Come in</h4>

    "Shut up! Stop talking nonsense! What brother and sister? Do you take us for idiots? Come out and confess the truth of the wrong you did!"

    As Ryder kept lying, the man who was standing beside the woman couldn¡¯t control himself. The man red at Ryder while he screamed.

    The man was none other than General Linni.

    The highest authority in the Death Domain belonged to the Prince. After him came the Death Generals. Next were Death Warriors. After them came the normal generals.

    So even though General Linni didn¡¯t have the highest position, his position was still not something someone couldugh at.

    Ryder had already guessed that this man was the husband of the woman he slept with. How unfortunate. When he did it, he didn¡¯t even know that the woman was married. He found it a bit awkward.

    "I¡¯m not lying. She¡¯s really my sister!" Ryder said as he noticed the woman not resisting what he was saying. It must be the right path, he thought.

    "Someone is trying to use us falsely to use a woman as innocent as her wrongly? I know she is innocent as her brother. Shouldn¡¯t you also know that she is innocent as her husband? Have faith in your wife!" he insisted, utilizing the opportunity.

    General Linni was taken aback by Ryder¡¯s passionate voice. He actually didn¡¯t have much proof. All he knew was that his wife went to this guy¡¯s home and spent a few hours there asionally.

    That was what he knew. When he asked his wife, she was shocked and started babbling nonsense about that person being her brother. He was sure that she was lying. He wanted to kill that guy who dared to do this to his wife, but he couldn¡¯t.

    Times were special. Some guests hade, and the Prince had told everyone that no one could take any action against citizens without his permission. That¡¯s why he approached the Royal Court first.

    But if it was true that Ryder was actually her brother in name and he had misunderstood, then it was going to be embarrassing.

    "General Linni, I¡¯ll advise you to not interfere with the matter of this court now," the Prince told the General who had started talking without permission.

    "I apologize, Your Highness," the General replied as he went silent.

    "Well, your story does match her story. But I¡¯ll still give you a chance. If you want to tell us something, this is the only chance. If you lie to us, you¡¯ll be killed. But if you tell us the truth and even if you did wrong, you won¡¯t get punishment. How is that offer?" the Prince asked Ryder calmly.

    "Your Highness, I don¡¯t think I can tell you anything else. That I¡¯m telling you is already the truth as it is," Ryder replied calmly.

    His art of bluffing was also acting, making him good at lying. Not a single person could see that he was lying. Even the woman herself was surprised at how good Ryder was at lying. She was the only one here who knew that he was lying.

    After hearing the final response of Ryder, the Prince nodded his head calmly.

    He gazed towards the four Death Generals and asked their opinions about it, "What do you all think?"

    "I don¡¯t think he is lying. If he is, then he¡¯s really good at it," the first Death General said calmly.

    "It¡¯s possible what he¡¯s saying is the truth. There¡¯s no evidence, on the contrary, to prove that he is lying. All we know is that the woman was meeting him. If they only talk, then it also makes sense," the second Death General also nodded his head as he shook his head.

    "I also think he¡¯s telling the truth. There¡¯s no way someone like him can fool us otherwise," the third Death General said confidently.

    The fourth Death General was the only one who still hasn¡¯t said anything yet.

    He was observing Ryder, who kept his head down.

    "What about you?" the Prince asked the Fourth Death General, who didn¡¯t say anything.

    "I¡¯d like to ask a few questions to him as well," the fourth Death General said.

    "You may," the Prince nodded while giving permission to the Death General.

    "So, Jiw. How long has it been since you first met her?" the Fourth Death General inquired.

    Ryder raised his head slowly as he gazed at the Death General. This was really the question he didn¡¯t know how to answer.

    It was tough to guess if the woman had been asked this question. He also didn¡¯t know exactly how long these two had known each other.

    ¡¯I guess this is where I lose this game. I can only answer a random thing and hope they hadn¡¯t asked the woman. If I¡¯m wrong, then back to the past,¡¯ Ryder as he decided on an answer.

    "It¡¯s been slightly over a year, but to me, it feels like I know her for an eternity," Ryder answered calmly.

    "Is she good in bed?" the Death General asked Ryder.

    "I wouldn¡¯t know. But she is really smart. I get to know so many things just by talking to her," Ryder replied calmly.

    "Alright. I think you¡¯re telling the truth. We did wrong by disturbing you unnecessarily. To make up for it, I¡¯ll offer you something. As a Death General of this ce, I give you one wish. Anything you ask will be made true. If you want General Linni to be killed so this woman can be yours, I can make that happen as well," the Death General said.

    "So think carefully. And don¡¯t think that I¡¯m lying. As a Death General, I won¡¯t lie. It¡¯s beneath my dignity. So choose your wish wisely," he added.

    "But-" General Linni wanted to protest, but before he could even say a word, the Death General interfered.

    "Silence!" The Death General let out, stunning the General who closed his eyes.

    "So, Jiw. Tell me what your wish is?" he asked Ryder.

    "What do I want? I just want to make sure that no lies are made against us. Such usations shouldn¡¯t taint our pure rtionship. We only talk to each other and nothing more, but still, some people talk back about us. I just want our innocence back," Ryder said, requesting the Death General.

    Even though he was asking this, inside his heart, he was thinking something else entirely.

    ¡¯You idiot, I¡¯m the soon-to-be King of the Demon Realm. Do you think you can even offer me something that I can¡¯t take myself? I¡¯ll soon take over your ce. Everything will be mine anyway. So I¡¯m not going to fall for your little trick here. Greed is thest thing someone like me can have. So I won¡¯t even test if you¡¯re telling the truth or not,¡¯ he thought.

    "Interesting. Even after I offer you everything, you still don¡¯t desire anything. You really have a pure heart. I agree that you¡¯re innocent as well. The ones who used you and this woman should be ashamed of themselves," the Death General said, nodding his head as he smiled in appreciation.

    Ryder¡¯s reply had really impressed him. He didn¡¯t expect him to say that. If he were wrong, he would have asked for something that would have proven his guilt. Not not only did he give up the opportunity, all he asked for was his innocence.

    General Linni lowered his head in embarrassment. After everyone had epted that Ryder was right, he was feeling red-faced. Did he really misunderstand his wife? Was she really Innocent?

    In any case, it didn¡¯t matter now. Now that Death Generals had epted that Ryder was innocent, he couldn¡¯t do anything.

    "Alright. Since Death Generals agree with your innocence as well, I¡¯vee to a verdict. You¡¯re innocent. The one who used you clearly misunderstood a pure rtionship. You can go back," the Prince told Ryder.

    He evenmanded the same guard to send him back that had brought him here.

    Even though Ryder wanted to go back alone, he couldn¡¯t oppose themands. He left with the guard.

    ...

    Ryder and the guard finally reached back to his home.

    The door was in the same condition, so Ryder didn¡¯t know that his guests had alreadye. He thought that they probably left from the gate.

    A deep sigh left his lips, "If you had taken meter, I could have finished giving a feast to my guests. Now because of you, they must be angry with me."

    "What can I do? I had themands. Anyways, you did offer me to taste your feast before. How about I eat that now as a form of apology?" the guard asked Ryder as he smiled wryly.

    ¡¯Well, one prey is better than nothing. I¡¯ll only need ny-eight more after him. As for the others, I can handleter,¡¯ Ryder thought as he nodded his head.

    "That¡¯s great. Come on in," he said smilingly as he opened the door.

 Chapter 493 Shameless Woman

    <h4>Chapter 493: Shameless Woman</h4>

    "Come on inside," Ryder told the guard who was standing behind him.

    He was inviting the man, not knowing that a hundred dead bodies were lying inside his house, dead. Since he wasn¡¯t the one who killed them, the bodies hadn¡¯t disappeared.

    Ryder stepped inside the house, leaving the door open so that the guard could enter after him but as soon as Ryder took a step inside the hall, he saw the dead bodies in the distance.

    A wry smile formed on his face at the sight of the dead bodies. Those guys, just how shameless were they for the feast? Did they actually step inside when Ryder wasn¡¯t here to eat?

    ¡¯Oh God, I invited this idiot behind me. Could someone be more unfortunate than me? I invited the cops to see the dead bodies of people I helped die?¡¯ he thought as he hastily turned back.

    "Wait!" He told the guard as he ran towards him, stopping him right at the entrance.

    "What happened?" the guard asked Ryder.

    "I just remembered, the feast was for the morning. The food must have spoiled by now. Since the food went to waste, I have nothing to feed you. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll arrange another feast for you. How about youe then?" he asked the guard.

    "Hmm? You said that the food was from Chubby¡¯s ce, right?" the guard asked Ryder.

    "That¡¯s right," Ryder replied, remembering telling the man about it when he was here to take Ryder.

    "Then don¡¯t worry. The food prepared at that cests for weeks. It won¡¯t be spoiled so fast. It might be your first time buying from him. That¡¯s why you don¡¯t know about this. But I know. So don¡¯t worry," the guard said as he patted Ryder¡¯s shoulder.

    He couldn¡¯t see that Ryder was only saying this to get him to leave. Instead, he genuinely thought that he didn¡¯t know.

    "No, I know about that. The truth is that I brought it weeks ago. This afternoon was when it was said to expire. So it¡¯s better not to risk it," Ryder improvised right away to get the man to leave.

    "Ah, is that so? That makes sense. You didn¡¯t want it to expire for no reason, so you decided to give a feast?" The guards let out, finishing Ryder¡¯s sentence while giving him even more excuses.

    "That¡¯s right," Ryder said, immediately jumping on the train.

    "Oh god, I really should have tried to understand your plight. I¡¯m really sorry. Because of me, your food went to waste, and your neighbors are probably angry at you too," the guard muttered with concern.

    "It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about it. You have more important things to do. You should go," Ryder replied as he ced his hand on the man¡¯s back while subtly pushing him towards the door.

    The guard felt the pushing and thought that Ryder was sad and upset. Even he felt somewhat bad.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I can¡¯t solve the problem of expired food, but I should be able to solve your neighbor¡¯s problem. I¡¯ll go talk to them. If I tell them that you were called by the Prince and you had no reason, they¡¯ll understand," the guard said as he started leaving.

    For a moment, Ryder was happy the man was leaving, but he soon realized that it wasn¡¯t right. If he went to his neighbors, he¡¯d find no one there. All his neighbors are dead already. If he felt suspicious about their disappearance, it could be problematic.

    "No wait!" he called out.

    "Huh? What?" the dark-haired man turned back towards Ryder and asked, but he soon pped his head as he understood.

    "I understand everything," he let out in a serious tone as he nced at Ryder.

    ¡¯He understands? How?¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    "What do you understand?" he asked right away while opening his inventory so that he was ready to take action.

    "I understand that you worried about your neighbors finding why you were called. If they know that it was because you were used of sleeping with someone else¡¯s wife, you¡¯ll lose all your reputation here even though you¡¯re exonerated by the Prince," the dark-haired guy muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    ¡¯This guy, is he a guard or an idiot? He¡¯s giving me the excuses I need without me even asking,¡¯ Ryder thought as he gazed at the man nkly.

    "I¡¯ll take your silence as a yes," the guard muttered.

    "That¡¯s right. You leave and don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll handle everything on my own. It¡¯s not that hard. You focus on your work," Ryder agreed.

    "Sigh, you don¡¯t have to act so strong. I know you¡¯re worried about your neighbors, and you have no idea how to handle it," the man told Ryder, looking at him in concern.

    "I¡¯ll talk to them myself. And don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell them the actual reason you were called by the Prince. I¡¯ll make up a story that will make them see you as a hero!" He told Ryder.

    "I told you not to worry. Why do you keep interfering? Please leave me on my own. I told you that I know how to handle it. If you talk to them, things will be even worse. So leave. I swear things will be better if you do nothing," Ryder said, somewhat angrily.

    This man was really annoying him. Just why didn¡¯t he leave?

    Hearing Ryder¡¯s angry tone, the man was stunned and a bit taken aback.

    He was also somewhat angry. He was trying to help this guy, and he was scolding him?

    "Fine! I won¡¯t involve myself in your matter even if you ask me to," he snorted angrily as he left the ce.

    Ryder stepped forward and closed the door, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

    It was over. He didn¡¯t have to worry anymore. Moreover, he had also killed people without even knowing. He walked inside the hall to see how many people he had actually managed to kill using the food.

    "One, two, three..."

    ...

    "Sixty, Sixty-one, Sixty-two..."

    ...

    "Ny-nine, Hundred."

    Ryder soon finished the counting of bodies that had filled most of the house.

    "That makes it. I reached the target. Did this thing light up?" he wondered as he brought the item given to him by the High Duke.

    He was curious if this thing worked. He wasn¡¯t really sure if poison deaths counted. This was the lowest and most despicable form of killing someone, after all. He was doubtful if the color would be the same or changed.

    Fortunately, his worries proved to be unfounded as he realized that the item has indeed changed color. His mission was over.

    Now all he had to do was leave the Royal City and rub it. It was going to give a signal to the High Dukes that the mission was over. They were going toe back and take him.

    He had decided that it was the time to leave. Now that he was done here, he only had one reason left to stay in this Death Domain, and that was to finish Rale¡¯s quest and get another fragment that he knew was somewhere in the Death Domain. He even had the map to find it.

    He couldn¡¯t leave the dead bodies behind, though. Even though they were already dead, they weren¡¯t going to disappear.

    So he started carrying them one at a time to waste the store room of the house and threw them all there.

    "Sigh, this game is pretty brutal sometimes. Teaching me how to kill and take care of bodies," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly while dragging thest body. "It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t know about these things before, though."

    After cing all the bodies in the storage room, he locked the door and got ready to leave.

    Reaching the main door, he had just opened it when he saw a couple of people standing before him.

    It was General Linni and his wife.

    "You?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    Was this guy still not convinced and wanted to kill Ryder?

    ¡¯Come on! It¡¯s such a clean sess of this Kingship Trial. Don¡¯t ruin things by forcing me back in time,¡¯ he thought as he gazed towards the hands of the man to keep an eye on him, wondering if he was going to attack him.

    The man didn¡¯t attack him, though. Instead, he bowed down to Ryder.

    "What?" Ryder eximed as he saw General bowing before him.

    "I came here to apologize to you for misunderstanding you. Please forgive me. I already apologized to my wife. I need to apologize to you as well since I inconvenienced you as well," the man said, without even raising his head.

    The woman stood straight through.

    Ryder gazed at the woman who was actually in the wrong, but it was her husband apologizing. She was lucky that it was Ryder. If this were previous Jiw, she would have been caught.

    The woman didn¡¯t look apologetic, though. Instantly, she licked her lips as she gazed at Ryder¡¯s waist with lustful eyes.

 Chapter 494 Giving up Divinity

    <h4>Chapter 494: Giving up Divinity</h4>

    "It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about it. You can leave now. I am a bit tired, and I¡¯ll rest. Thanks foring," Ryderzily said as he stepped back inside the house and closed the door. He couldn¡¯t be bothered to deal with the two.

    He waited inside the house for some time to make sure that these people had left. After about ten minutes of silence, he opened the door to check if they had left.

    Finding the path clear, he realized that they had gone. He closed the door behind him and started walking towards the other end of the Royal City.

    The ce where he needed to do Rale¡¯s mission was opposite to the direction where he came from. If it weren¡¯t that way, he would have gone to that ce first instead ofing here.

    Unfortunately, Royal City fell in the middle of his destination, where he was going to find the next orb and where he came from.

    ...

    "Strange. The time... It feels a bit too unrestricted. What happened? Did the Lord of Time stop handling time?"

    In a dark ce, a woman was sitting in the darkness. The ce had no light. There was no flow of time in this ce either.

    "It could only be when he died. No, it can¡¯t be. How can the Lord of Time die? Is this my misconception? I should ask Janus. He also has some rtion to time. If he feels the same, then something really big has happened."

    The woman stood up and took a step forward, submerging into the wall as she disappeared.

    In a different ce, she appeared only to find a dark barrier before her.

    "Huh? Domains?" Frowning, she gazed at two different colors of domes in front of her.

    "One of these belongs to Janus, as for the other... Goddess of Life and Death?" Her frown deepened only as she thought about it.

    "Why are these two meeting? Moreover, why are they using their domain? What could be so secretive?"

    "Could it be that Lord of Time really...? The Goddess of Life and Death is here. That would exin it," she muttered as she took a step forward while raising her hand in the sky.

    A massive clock appeared in the sky from which another Domain spread out, making it a triple domain zone. Even though this didn¡¯t allow her to step inside Janus¡¯s Domain while staying unnoticed, it was done to give Janus information about her arrival.

    ...

    Near the pond, Janus and the Goddess of Life and Death were still talking when the two of them saw the third Domain.

    "This girl... I should¡¯ve thought about it. She has rtion to time as well. Of course, she would feel something odd." Janus frowned at the sight of the new domain as he knew what this implied.

    "What do you want to do? I can¡¯t lie to hide the information about the Lord of Time. As the Goddess of Life, it¡¯s my responsibility to tell her that the Lord of Time is dead if she asks me," the Goddess of Life and Death said softly.

    "I know. If you lie and she goes to check up on him, the suspicion will fall on you," Janus let out as he frowned. "Whatever. Just do as I tell you."

    ...

    The woman had just cast a third Domain. She expected Janus to remove his domain instantly after realizing that she was here. Surprisingly though, Janus was slower than she expected.

    Janus and the Goddess of Life only removed the domain after around five minutes.

    "Goddess of Change, wee. I must say, I was expecting you," Janus told the woman who reached near him.

    "So you feel it too? Time is a bit too unrestricted. Did something happen to Lord Cronos?" the newly arrived woman asked Janus.

    " I felt the same. I was about to go to the Goddess of Life to consult her about the Lord of Time. Surprisingly, she came even before that," Janus said calmly.

    "I do have some bad news, though. ording to the Goddess of Life, she can¡¯t feel the presence of the Lord of Time," Janus added.

    "So he¡¯s dead? How could he die? He¡¯s eternal! He¡¯s one of the strongest gods. Did the Lord of Space attack them? Or was it someone else just as strong?" the woman asked, stunned. " Something so big happened, and instead of telling everyone, you¡¯re here talking in secret?!"

    "Calm down, Hiori. Don¡¯t talk bad about Lord Cronos. Do you think he could be killed? No! He¡¯s eternal!" Janus insisted as he squinted his eyes.

    "But you said his presence was gone!" Hiori thundered at Janus. Was he mocking her? First, he said he¡¯s gone, and when she repeated, he was berating her?

    "His presence has disappeared. But that doesn¡¯t mean the Lord of Time is dead. There are more reasons for something like this to happen," the Goddess of Life and Death chimed in.

    "Like what?" Hiori asked.

    "It could also be possible that he gave up his divinity and went to the mortal ne to live a silent life," the Goddess of Life replied.

    "What? You¡¯re saying he decided to give up his immortal life so he could be a mortal and die a natural death? What nonsense is this?" Hiori rolled her eyes.

    "At first, I thought that it was impossible as well. But this makes more sense than him dying, doesn¡¯t it?" Janus told Hiori.

    "He had never been the same after the Last Great War. He went into seclusion because he started hating this ce. Maybe istion changed, and he felt that living itself was a pain for him? Maybe he wanted to see how mortals lived and died? In any case, we aren¡¯t anyone to call any decision of his stupid," he added.

    "This..."

    Hiori found herself at a loss for words. He was right; this did make more sense than him dying.

    "In any case, you need to tell others. We need to investigate. If he was killed, there must be battle scars all over his seclusion realm. I can¡¯t sit at peace without knowing the truth.

    "Alright. But do you even know where his seclusion ce is? Because no one other than him or the Lord of Space knows where it is," Janus said. "As for the seclusion ce of Lord of Space, that¡¯s an even bigger mystery."

    "And if you want to use your powers to find that ce, you need to have strength at leastparable to the Lord of Space and the ability to find that ce. There were only three people who had the ability and the strength to find the spaces created by the Lord of Space," the Goddess of Life and Death exined.

    "We¡¯ll go to them. Tell me who they are," Hiori insisted.

    The Goddess of Life answered, "Those three were, the Lord of Time, the Lord of Space himself. And..."

    "And my brother... Who died in thest great war." Janus finished her sentence as he gazed back at the pond.

    "This... One of these three is already missing. The second one is already in seclusion. As for the third, he¡¯s dead. So we have no way to find that space," Janus answered casually.

    "Also, why do you even want to find it?" He asked, frowning. "Do you not have trust in Lord Cronos? Let him live his life as he pleases. Stop doubting him. He can¡¯t be killed. And if you make trouble for him and we find out that he¡¯s actually given up his Divinity, he¡¯ll be really upset for us exposing this."

    "You¡¯re not wrong, but still...this...I..."

    "Don¡¯t worry. Just have faith in the Lord of Time and stop thinking. Even if he gave up his Divinity, that¡¯s for him to decide. We¡¯re no one to judge. So stop worrying and go back," Janus said as he patted Hiori¡¯s shoulder.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll take my leave as well." The goddess of life and death also disappeared.

    "Janus, he would really be safe, right?" Hiori asked Janus, concerned.

    "Don¡¯t worry. No one can kill him. Your father will be safe," Janus said calmly. Even though he lied straight to her face, Hiori didn¡¯t notice as she nodded.

    Turning back, she disappeared as well.

    After Hiori left, Janus finally breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡¯Sigh, this thing could¡¯ve be messy. It¡¯s good that she¡¯s a bit naive,¡¯ Janus thought as he walked back to the pond.

    "Now that it¡¯s over, and no one else seems to have known anything, I can finally contact him again. I should prepare to have Luke¡¯s powers transferred to him. Controlling everything from here will be a bit tough, though," he mumbled as he sat near the pond again, wondering what Ryder was doing.

    Looking down, he saw Ryder leaving the Royal City of the Death Domain. He had reached the barrier where he used the torch-like object to make a hole, allowing him to leave the Royal City.

 Chapter 495 Coffin

    <h4>Chapter 495: Coffin</h4>

    Ryder left the Royal City of the death domain after finishing the work here. He hadpleted his task, and now he was free to go back as the new king of Death Domain.

    But first, he had to do something else. He wanted to get another fragment of the Bracelet of Immortality that he thought to be within his reach.

    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t know that there was someone else who was also nning to go to Death Domain.

    ...

    In an unknown ce, a woman in a beautiful robe was standing. The woman seemed somewhat simr to Alice but with some differences.

    She had a different eye color and a changed hairstyle.

    In her hand were two beautiful gloves. She also wore two beautiful bracelets in each of her hands.

    She seemed to be looking at a semi-transparent screen in front of her that seemed to be showing something.

    "My stats were still pretty low from what I can understand," she muttered as she looked at the screen.

    [Name: Alice

    Title: Sessor of Silvi

    Species: Spirit Race

    ss: Royal Oracle

    Level:30

    Experience: 10/100

    HP: 150

    Mana: 60000000

    Strength: 21

    Defense:22

    Speed: 28

    Stamina:40

    Dexterity:30

    Intelligence: 1980

    Avable stat points: 0]

    "Too bad I can¡¯t even see the ranking of the ones higher than me. Is he at the top? Where will he be? While he¡¯s having adventures, having fun, I¡¯m stuck here in this quest," she muttered as she closed the screen before she gazed ahead at the giant army that was standing before her.

    "Your Highness, we are ready. Shall we depart for the Demon Realm?" The soldier asked Alice, who found herself in deep thought.

    She couldn¡¯t understand how she ended up here.

    All she knew was that she had helped ady. Thatdy called her back for a reward which gave her this special quest as well as this unique ss.

    She also found herself in this ce, in front of a massive army that calls her princess.

    "Your Highness, should we move?"

    The Spirit General again asked.

    "Yeah."

    ....

    Ryder left the Royal City of death domain and started walking towards his next destination.

    ording to Rale¡¯s quest, the Moon Armor was here in the Death Domain. It was said to be the same grade of an artifact as the moon scythe, so it was indeed special.

    But the more special thing was what Rale told him after that. Rale had said that the armor was pretty useless at first until one of the Demon Emperors used a special crystal on it. After the special crystal was embedded on it, that was when the miracle truly happened.

    From what Rale described, Ryder was sure that the crystal was none other than one of the fragments.

    To get to the crystal, he had to get to the moon Armor. After that, he could worry about retracting that crystal.

    As he walked through the isted forest, wondering how long before he could fly again, he opened the scroll. He already knew where the next city of his destination was.

    As he opened the scroll, he saw two beautiful cities in his path that were going to be between him and his destination.

    Once again, he decided to avoid the two cities as he formed his travel n. His path included a lot of going forests and even a river. Fortunately, he knew that he wouldn¡¯t have to travel most of this journey on foot.

    He was sure that he would be allowed to fly soon enough.

    As it was already time to log out, he kept the scroll back before he logged out of the game.

    ...

    The next day, Ryder once again logged in to continue his journey from where he left off.

    His travel continued for a long time and only stopped when he reached the destination.

    It was a small city that was not asvish as the Royal City. It also didn¡¯t have the security, which could bepared to Death Domain¡¯s Royal City.

    Let alonepared to the Royal City; its security was even worse than the normal cities.

    Only one guard could be seen at the entrance of the city who didn¡¯t even stop a single person from entering.

    Ryder also had an easy time in entering, still disguised as Jiw from the Royal City.

    Let alone stopping him; the guard didn¡¯t even ask him a single question as to where he came from or what his purpose was.

    With such an easy entry, Ryder didn¡¯t have to think of any excuse even though he did have a lot of things he could have said to get an entry.

    This city is pretty backwater. Not many facilities here. Buildings seem to be broken and old here as well.

    ¡¯Whatever, I don¡¯t need to think of a reason. I can only try to find the Moon Armor. It¡¯s the lost treasure of the Demon Realm, so he was sure that no one was going to see it here.

    The previous Demon General would have hid it properly. So he wasn¡¯t in any hurry.

    ording to the scroll, the Moon Armor was buried ten feet under the ground in the middle of the city.

    He was confused about how he could get it out. If it were in the middle of the city, then it would be a crowded ce. He couldn¡¯t just start digging and get the Armor. It could even be possible that there was a building or a marketce there. So he could only go there and see from his own eyes.

    Not long after he entered the city, he found himself at the center of the city. It wasn¡¯t a big city after all. Looking ahead, a wry smile remained on his face as he saw where the Moon Armor was buried.

    "A graveyard? That guy hid it inside a graveyard? Wtf?" Ryder eximed as he shook his head.

    Was this really a ce to hide the treasure? Just what was that guy thinking.

    "At Least that makes it easier for me to get my hands on this thing," he thought as he shook his head.

    Pushing the door of the graveyard open, he stepped inside and started walking.

    The graveyard was at the center of the city. But finding the center of the graveyard was somewhatplicated since he couldn¡¯t see the top view of the graveyard.

    Yet, as he walked all around the graveyard, he gained a general idea as to what this ce was and how its shape was.

    Using some assumption, he also guessed where the center might lie and started walking towards it.

    As he reached the center, he noticed a gravestone.

    "He couldn¡¯t have buried that thing under someone¡¯s grave. It must be either on the right of the grave or left," Ryder muttered as he started digging on the left first.

    Even after dragging for about twenty meters, he didn¡¯t find anything.

    Shifting to the right of the grave, he once again started digging, but the result was the same.

    One after another, he dug all around, only to fail.

    After some time, he sat down on top of the grave, tired. He had searched all around, but the Armor was nowhere to be found. Could it be that it was actually under the grave?

    Frowning, Ryder stood up and started gazing at the grave.

    "Sorry, bro. It looks like you need to be disturbed a bit. I don¡¯t think you should me me for this. me that old man that ced the Armor under you," Ryder muttered as he started digging before the tombstone.

    As he kept digging with the help of moon scythe that had once again changed shape to help him dig better, he heard a metallic sound as if he had hit something.

    He started moving the soil to the side only to reveal a grave.

    "As expected, I disturbed the grave," Ryder muttered as he picked up the grave and moved it to the side.

    "Wait here. I¡¯ll get back to you after I finish finding the Armor. I¡¯ll ce your back, he said before he turned back towards the pit and started digging.

    As he dug more and more, his frown deepened at the realization that it was a pretty useless endeavor. In his zeal, he had dug for over twenty meters again, but he didn¡¯t find the Armor.

    "What the heck? It¡¯s not here either?" he let out as he stopped digging and flew out of the put tond before the coffin.

    "Was I wrong about the center?" he wondered in confusion as he frowned. "I guess I was wrong."

    He knew that if that was true, it was actually going to be somewhat tough to find the actual center. It was also going to take a lot of trial and error as well. He could already feel tired.

    As he was wondering where the center could be, the coffin behind him started opening slowly as a hand came out of it slowly.

 Chapter 496 Control of Divinity

    <h4>Chapter 496: Control of Divinity</h4>

    The coffin slowly opened as a hand started crawling out of it, creepily.

    Ryder,pletely unaware, looked in a different direction, not even knowing what was happening. He was just in thoughts as he tried to think what he could do.

    There were a lot of ces he could search.

    "I wish it¡¯s at least in the graveyard somewhere. If I had to dig outside, it¡¯d be a mess, especially when the enemies are so strong. I did hunt a bit along the way and managed to get to level 220, but still, it¡¯s nothing before then," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    He knew that he was getting stronger each day, but it still wasn¡¯t enough. It was only strong enough to bepared to the normal levels of the game.

    In fact, he was already stronger than the Dragon that had killed him the first time in Divinity.

    Even after ying inside Divinity for two years, Ryder wasn¡¯t even a level 200 yer. He was easily killed by a dragon.

    As for now, he had only yed for a few months, and he was already stronger than that dragon. As for other yers, most of them hadn¡¯t even reached level fifty.

    He was already walking in a different realm than the rest of the world.

    Despite being absurdly stronger than his fellow yers, the people of this town were so strong that they could only be killed by him using tricks. He was like a yer who had reached the middle stages of the game while others were stuck at the beginning.

    Moreover, he was ced in the end stages of the game for some reason.

    As he was immersed in his thoughts, the top of the coffin waspletely open.

    A dried-up corpse could be seen inside the coffin that had sat up suddenly. A beautiful silver armor was on its chest that was slowly shining.

    The dried-up corpse gazed towards Ryder.

    ....

    "Maya, did you finish the task I gave you?"

    In a certainb, a young-looking man was standing before what seemed like a hologram of a young girl, asking him questions.

    "The task is finished. Everything is arranged," the hologram answered.

    "That¡¯s good. Finally, I have full control of half of that world. It was a good n to use the people of this world as mana sources to tip the bnce of that world," the young man muttered as a grin formed on his face.

    "The more that people joined from here, the more they grew, the weaker that world got. And the more I get control over it. Now finally, everything is in ce. Surprisingly it was a bit faster than expected. Soon, I¡¯ll get full control, too," he let out as he rubbed his chin.

    "I guess I should thank this Lucifer and, more importantly, this Hades. The two of them proved to be dark horses. As for that, Alice, she is also pretty special. Her mana is off the charts, even breaking the bnce of power I set."

    "Tell me, did you find more about him? You told me you couldn¡¯t control his skillsst time. Is the reason found?" the man asked Maya.

    "Not yet. I am unable to see him as well for a long time. As if something in that world is resisting me," Maya answered without much emotion on her face.

    "Strange. The people of this world use our machine to connect to the server we made. Using that, we create a corporeal body in Divinity which they think is a game, not knowing it to be real. Even though we can¡¯t control a lot of things in that world, we can at least control a few things there."

    "Regardless of that, since humans here use our servers to go there, we should have control over their corporeal bodies. Yet this Lucifer and Hades are out of our control. Let alone Lucifer; we can¡¯t even find the whereabouts of Hades? What¡¯s happening here," he rubbed his chin as he frowned.

    "Thisck of uncontrol is concerning," the man muttered as he gazed at the face of Maya.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that the dark hand of Janus was at y here. Not only was he protecting Ryder secretly, but he was also using his powers to keep Ryder¡¯s hidden identity a secret from Necrosis as well.

    "Should I ban them from essing Divinity?" Maya asked carelessly.

    "Are you an idiot?!" the young man couldn¡¯t help but scold the girl uncontrobly. "Why would I ever do such a thing?"

    "These two people are helping my control increase in divinity. They¡¯re the biggest factor in decreasing the world¡¯s power and tipping the power dynamics in my favor. I can never block them. If I wanted to, I would have done so the day you told me you couldn¡¯t control his skills," the man exined.

    "What are mymands?"

    "None. Go back and do what you were doing," the man casually said as he waved his hand. Turning back, he started walking away.

    "Even though I can¡¯t block them, I still don¡¯t like things that aren¡¯t in my control. I need to find their identity. I guess I should move that thing forward. The live telecast of Divinity and its yers. When they get the exclusive rights to telecast and the money, they¡¯lle forward themselves."

    ...

    Ryder finally turned back to ce the Coffin back in the ground. It was enough time waste as he decided that standing here like stupid won¡¯t stop problems for him.

    He needed to act, even if it meant digging thousands of holes more.

    As he turned back, his mouth opened wide in surprise. His eyes did the same.

    "What the heck?"

    He finally found the Moon Armor, but this wasn¡¯t what he wanted to see it as. It was before his eyes, but that wasn¡¯t all. It was work by a corpse that was blinking its eyes while looking at Ryder.

    Ryder used All-Seer right away without dying for even a second to know what he was dealing with. Was it actually someone from the undead region?

    A corpse?

    "Name: Unknown]

    [Species: General Corpse]

    [Artifacts: Moon Armor]

    "Strange. There is not much about it. No level, no stats. Is this not a normal undead? And a Corpse General? Just what the heck was it?" Ryder was confused as he used the All-Seer. Instead of solving his questions, it raised even more.

    He didn¡¯t remember hearing that term before. What was a Corpse General?

    But at least one thing was confirmed. The Armor on its chest was the Moon Armor.

    All he needed to do was take it off, and he was done.

    But the question remained. Did that Corpse have any strength? He couldn¡¯t see any level for it. So he could only hope that it was a useless corpse. But if he was wrong, he was going to be in danger.

    "Whatever! I can only take a bit of risk. Even if it¡¯s not weak, what¡¯s the worse that can happen. I have healing. I have traveled back in time, and I have moon scythe. Why am I even worried?" Ryder let out as he brought the Moon Scythe out of his inventory.

    ....

    Far away from the Death Domain, Rale was standing in a room, tired. He had just finished his training, and now he was taking a bit of rest.

    He was just about to sit down when his aura became unstable. A bracelet in his hand was shaking uncontrobly. His ring and other artifacts also did the same.

    "It¡¯s the effect of that thing. It means he must be in danger," Rale let out as he started running out of the hall.

    He ran as fast as he could as he left the Royal Pce.

    No one even understood why Rale was in such a hurry. What could have shaken him so much?

    While others were confused after seeing a glimpse of Rale, he had already left the Royal Pce as he shot straight towards the Pce of High Duke Oris; he reached there within the blink of an eye.

    The guards of High Duke¡¯s Pce tried to stop Rale to ask why he was here. Even though Rale¡¯s position was high, they still needed to do their job properly.

    Unfortunately for them, Rale didn¡¯t seem like he was in a mood to stop.

    With a flick of his hand, he made the guards fly to the side as he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

    "High Duke Oris! Come out right now!"

    He kept screaming as he moved through the Pce in haste to find High Duke.

    "Rale? What happened to you?" High Duke Oris soon appeared near Rale.

    His daughter followed behind him.

    "Is there a problem?" High Duke asked.

    "He is in danger! He is in danger!"

    Rale repeated his sentence as he showed the treasure that was telling him that Ryder¡¯s life was in danger.

    "Hmm?" Seeing that, even the High Duke seemed worried.

 Chapter 497 Toying

    <h4>Chapter 497: Toying</h4>

    "His life is in danger," the High Duke eximed as he understood the meaning of this shaking. That¡¯s right. We need to get to him fast and help him.

    "I¡¯ll go and help him. You stay here," High Duke Oris said as he smiled.

    "No, I¡¯lle with you as well," Rale said, refusing to agree.

    "No. It¡¯s unsafe for you. It¡¯ll be easier for me alone," High Duke Oris shook his head.

    "It¡¯s my duty to be there to help him. I¡¯ll go with you at any cost," Rale insisted.

    ...

    "Sigh, fine," After a bit of back and forth, High Duke Oris agreed, even though a bit unwillingly, all because he didn¡¯t have much time to waste here.

    Each second wasted here is a second lost that could have been used to save Ryder.

    High Duke Oris caught the hand of Rale as he disappeared.

    ...

    In a different ce, Ryder was running towards the Corpse with the Scythe in his hand with the intention of cutting it in half.

    While Ryder closed in on the distance, the Corpse-like being stepped out of the coffin, revealing its shriveled-up legs that were nothing but bones.

    The part below its waist seemed to belong to a skeleton, while the top half seemed like a bloodless body. The only object on its body was a silver Armor that was covering its chest.

    "This is unexpected. I thought it was more like a zombie, but it¡¯s like a hybrid of skeleton and Zombie," Ryder eximed as he clenched the Scythe even tighter after reaching the being.

    He swung his scythe towards the waist of the hybrid, which seemed like the weakest part of its body. Nothing but a few bones were there.

    The de of the scythe acutely moved towards the bones, cutting even the winds themselves in its path, moving as fast as it could.

    As the de of the Scythe reached closer to the bones, the Armor started shining slowly. A beautiful silver light came out of the Armor, shrouding the whole body of the skeleton, including the part of his waist that was being targeted by Ryder.

    Tuck!

    A metallic sound was heard as Ryder, the de of the scythe, hit the silver barrier. It seemed like the two of them shed with each other for supremacy. Unfortunately, in the fight of the sickle and the Armor, the Armor won as it managed to defend the wearer against the attack.

    The scythe couldn¡¯t move even an inch forward.

    "This freaking barrier!"

    Angered, Ryder mixed them Scythe back. He had thought that he could easily cut that guy in half. That¡¯s why he hadn¡¯t used any skills. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t that easy.

    Deciding to use his skill since it wasn¡¯t going to be easy, he used his [Enraged sh]

    The attack was stronger thanst time now. Unfortunately, the oue was the same. Nothing happened. The defense of the barrier was a bit overpowered.

    "me st!"

    "Enraged sh!"

    "Ranging mes!"

    "Dark Strike!"

    "zing Thunder!"

    "Defense Reduction!"

    "Arcana st!"

    Ryder used skill after skill, but he didn¡¯t achieve any sess. All he got was failure after failure. Each of his attacks failed to harm the hybrid even in the least.

    It was as if he was a kid, hitting at the wall, trying to break it with his meager strength.

    The hybrid still, simply gazing at Ryder. There was no expression on its face, so Ryder didn¡¯t know what his silence meant. Was it just a puppet that couldn¡¯t do anything?

    "That¡¯s right. Why didn¡¯t I think of it? Could it be that it¡¯s not an enemy?" Ryder wondered as he finally stopped attacking. He simply gazed back at the hybrid as well, wondering if his line of thought was correct.

    The being wasn¡¯t attacking him. It seemed like this guy wasn¡¯t the enemy here.

    Also, even when Ryder stopped attacking, that thing still didn¡¯t do anything. What was it doing?

    "It might be that it¡¯s simply a puppet that does nothing? That¡¯s right. Why would this Armor be ced on it is? The only one who had the map was Rale. No one but the Demon King heir woulde here. The one that hid it here wouldn¡¯t do anything to harm me. It might be that the puppet is also a gift?"

    "I should ask Rale what it is. But first, I need to take that Armor and the fragment. Since he does nothing, I should be able to take the Armor even without needing to kill it."

    And with that line of thoughts, Ryder decided to step forward. The scythe once again changed back to the bracelet that wrapped around Ryder¡¯s hand as he stepped closer to the being.

    Raised his right hand, he touched the Armor to take it off, not expecting the drastic change that was going to follow his action.

    As soon as his hand touched the Armor, the wind seemed to have stopped moving. The gentle silver light that was surrounding the hybrid changed color to the red. Its eyes also changed color to dark red.

    The being that had stood calmly like it was a thing that knew nothing moved its hand, striking Ryder¡¯s chest.

    The force behind that punch was so powerful that it made Ryder fly back like a tossed stone.

    He uncontrobly fell inside one of the holes that he had dug himself.

    "That hurt," Ryder muttered as he held his chest while looking at his health bar, which was showing red color.

    A single punch from a thing that had no level was enough to bring his health down so much that it was already in the danger zone.

    Fortunately, he also saw his HP instantly replenishing to the fullest, all thanks to Nature of Healing.

    "This guy, I thought it was a gift for me. I guess I was wrong. It doesn¡¯t seem like it¡¯ll let me take the Armor easily. But I can¡¯t injure him either? Is there something I can even do?"

    Sitting inside the pit, Ryder wondered what he could even do.

    "Sigh, I came so far. I can¡¯t leave without taking what I want. Going empty-handed is impossible. The only thing I can do is take what I want even if it¡¯s impossible," Ryder muttered as he flew out of the pit, only to get shocked once again.

    As soon as he came out of the pit, he found the corpse in front of him. Another punchnded on his chest, once again sending him flying.

    "This annoying Bastard!" Ryder once again found his HP dropping by more than ny percent. It again replenished as well.

    "He is toying with me! This Bastard! He¡¯s lucky he has that Armor to protect him, or I would have smashed him to pieces!"

    Once again, standing up, he flew out of the second put he had fallen in, only to have the same thing happen again.

    "Argh! This thing!"

    Before he could even know anything, he found himself in a third pit that he had dug.

    It was making him furious, especially when he couldn¡¯t do anything about it.

    This time, he didn¡¯t act hastily like before. After suffering the same thing thrice, he had realized how wrong he was.

    He didn¡¯t jump out of the pit this time. He knew that whenever he jumped out, another first was going tond on him. That being was just probably again waiting outside for him this time as well.

    Instead of going it, Ryder decided to wait inside as he again called forth Moon Scythe, but this time in the shape of a bow, ready to shoot that thing as soon as it came over the pit.

    He was sure that it was going toe after it when tired of waiting. This thing was especially targeting him again and again. There was no way it wasn¡¯t going toe down if Ryder didn¡¯t go up.

    That was his assumption. He waspletely prepared to take that thing by surprise. Unlikest time, he was going to get back at it. He was going to teach it how it felt to be tossed back.

    Just as he had expected, the hybrid flew above the put since Ryder didn¡¯te out, probably to check if he was dead.

    As soon as Ryder got the view of the hybrid, he fired the arrow, which actually managed to hit the forehead of the hybrid.

    Surprisingly, the barrier didn¡¯t act this time. It didn¡¯t protect the being as its head was prated.

    Seeing the arrows to be effective against the barrier, Ryder once again attacked, but he didn¡¯t target the forehead this time.

    Since this thing was already dead, targeting its head was useless. It wasn¡¯t going to die. As for his HP, Ryder couldn¡¯t even see it.

    The only option he saw was attacking his waist that was going to break it in half. It didn¡¯t have any flesh, and the area seemed like a weakness. A single attack was probably going to be enough to finish it.

 Chapter 498 End of Rope

    <h4>Chapter 498: End of Rope</h4>

    Seeing the barrier not act against the arrow, which managed to prate the forehead of the hybrid, Ryder felt like he saw a sliver of hope.

    There was an opportunity to kill that thing. As long as his assumption was correct and the barrier was useless against that arrow, he felt like he could destroy that thing by attacking its weakness.

    Getting another arrow ready, Ryder shot it right away.

    The arrow moved through the wind, cutting it as it passed.

    The Hybrid kept flying towards Ryder without caring for the attack. He didn¡¯t even care to dodge. It was as if he didn¡¯t know the seriousness of the attack and didn¡¯t realize that if the attack managed to hit the weakest part of his body, he might be destroyed.

    Seeing the ignorant being ignore the attack, Ryder felt even more confident.

    The arrow finally reached the waist of the hybrid and was about to strike when Ryder again saw that silverish light appear.

    "The heck, not again," Ryder cursed as he saw that silverish light. He understood what it implied. It meant the Armor was again acting.

    As he expected, the Armor activated. The barrier once again surrounded the thing entirely. The arrow struck the translucent barrier, only to get destroyed itself.

    "This annoying barrier!" Ryder couldn¡¯t understand why it activated this time and notst time.

    "Wait, could it be that it protects its weak points and from threatening attacks? The arrow at the forehead was useless against it. But the attack on its waist might have destroyed it. That¡¯s when it activatedst time as well."

    With a bit of thinking, he realized that something made sense. The barrier didn¡¯t give it Protection against useless attacks but gave protection against the attack that might harm it.

    Ryder watched the Hybrid flying towards him. The old arrow was still inside his forehead, handing.

    It seemed to be a bitte, but he once again flew upwards. It was better to be tossed back than be buried in the ground.

    Once again, changing the Moon Scythe, he flew towards the iing enemy. The scythe had been changed to a sword this time. He had already known that another punch woulde towards him, but he wanted to use it this time to cut the hand itself.

    It was to test to see the range of the Armor. So far, he knew that the barrier protected the weakness. But if he was going to cut then hand, was it going to stop?

    Cutting the hand wasn¡¯t dangerous for this thing that didn¡¯t feel pain. And it wouldn¡¯t destroy it. But it would definitely make the thing weaker in his attack.

    Without its hand, it couldn¡¯t attack. It was a risk that he was willing to take. If he failed, he was once again going to suffer, but he wouldn¡¯t die from what he had seen. The attacks weren¡¯t strong enough to kill Ryder in one strike. So the risk seemed worth it.

    Failure means one more use of Nature of Healing while sess means a big breakthrough.

    The fist once again advanced towards Ryder¡¯s chest, but this time he also swung his sword towards the elbow of the Hybrid to cut his hand.

    Smack!

    The fist once againnded on Ryder¡¯s chest, making him fly back uncontrobly and crash on the ground.

    Holding his chest, he once again stood up as his Nature of Healing recovered his health once again.

    "Well, that was a failure," Ryder muttered as he saw the hand of the Hybrid still intact. "Is there nothing I can do against it?"

    He stood up, feeling depressed. The thing he wanted was right before his eyes, but he couldn¡¯t take it. This Armor that he wanted for himself was proving to be his biggest enemy.

    It was not only protecting that thing but also giving it free rein to attack Ryder without any risk of being injured.

    Ryder kept thinking of a new n about what he could do. But nothing came to his tinkering. His head was in a mess. All he could think of was to leave somehow, but he didn¡¯t want to do that. Leaving was only going to mean that he would never get his hands on the Armor and on the fragment.

    He could ept losing an Armor. It wasn¡¯t a big deal but what he didn¡¯t want to lose was a potential fragment that might be embedded in the Armor. It was after a long time that he had a potential clue of a fragment.

    Aftering so far, leaving seemed impossible.

    "But what can I even do? I don¡¯t even know much about this Armor or its weakness. I was too naive. I should have received more details from Rale about this Armor. If I had known about this, I would have asked everything I could."

    "I was an idiot." Ryder let out in annoyance, but it was toote now.

    The Hybrid once again reached Ryder and punched out. Instead of attacking and leaving his defense bare, Ryder focused on protecting himself while he thought of a n.

    The Moon Scythe changed its shape once again, this time changing itself to a Shield that Ryder ced before his chest to intercept the attack.

    The fist againnded, but this time, the impact was taken by the shield.

    Ryder was once again forced back because of the impact, but this time, his HP was safe. No damage was taken by him.

    Without giving Ryder even a chance, the Hybrid once again appeared before him.

    His fist again moved towards Ryder as if he was a puppet. He didn¡¯t even attack anywhere else but Ryder¡¯s chest despite him protecting it with a shield. It was as if the puppet couldn¡¯t think for himself and was programmed to attack the chest only.

    Ryder once again prepared for the impact. Since he had no n, he could only prolong the fight. As he braced for the impact while holding his shield firmly, the impact didn¡¯te.

    A frown was on Ryder¡¯s face as he saw the hand of the puppet stop only a few inches away from the shield. A hand could be seen holding onto the wrist of the puppet.

    Frowning, Ryder looked to his right at the origin of the hand, but as soon as he saw the person who this hand belonged to, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder about something as his frown changed to his smile.

    "What are you doing here?" he asked as he gazed at the man who stood near him.

    The man was dressed in a Royal Red Robe. His long hair and beautiful eyes gave him a charming look which was contrary to the angered look on his face.

    Two beautiful wings could also be seen behind that man.

    "Ah, Rale, you already unsealed yourself?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly.

    He asked Rale, who had apparently unsealed his full strength.

    He was the one who was holding into the corpse¡¯s hand.

    "I apologize, your Highness, but I was... Concerned about you," Rale answered.

    "It¡¯s fine, I guess," Ryder answered. "Can you take care of him?"

    Rale gazed at the corpse and the Armor it was wearing.

    "That¡¯s the Moon Scythe. I think it¡¯s the one that brought the corpse back to life. It¡¯s going to be tough," Rale muttered. "But every hand that moved towards you shall be cut by me."

    Knowing that, Rale used his other hand to catch the Corpse by its neck before smashing it on the ground.

    Clinching his other fist, he punched towards the skull of the corpse, intending to blow up.

    Ryder remained curious if Rale was going to break the barrier this time? Was the barrier even going to get active since the target was the skull?

    Rale¡¯s fistnded on the skull of the Corpse. The barrier once again activated since Rale¡¯s punch wasn¡¯t like Ryder¡¯s arrow. It was capable enough to destroy that thing in one blow.

    The barrier stopped Rale¡¯s attack. But Rale didn¡¯t stop attacking.

    "Stop one attack; I¡¯ll give ten. Let¡¯s see how long you can stop. Even in the old days, this barrier had this weakness. It can¡¯t stop continuous attacks in one ce. Let¡¯s see how long it can handle me," Rale said.

    "Ah? So that was its weakness. Attacking the same ce again and again with overwhelming strength. If that¡¯s the case, Rale should be able to take care of it. But I do wonder how he got here?"

    "I brought him here. We knew you were in danger, and now we know why."

    Ryder heard a voice from behind him.

    Without even having to look back, he recognized the voice. "High Duke Oris, you¡¯re here."

    "Yeah. Anyway, you shouldn¡¯t worry. I know you failed the trial, but that¡¯s fine. You can try once again after three years," High Duke Oris said.

    "After three years? I failed? What do you mean?" Ryder asked in confusion, not understanding how he failed.

 Chapter 499 Under attack

    <h4>Chapter 499: Under attack</h4>

    "What do you mean I should try again after three years? How did I fail?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    He genuinely couldn¡¯t understand it. He had killed hundred people from the Royal City of death domain. The color of the item that decided his sess had already changed. He had seen that with his own eyes.

    He couldn¡¯t understand. How did he fail?

    "You didn¡¯t reach the Royal City, let alone kill their people. And you already needed our help," the High Duke said. "I had told you before. If you take help from Demon Realm before finishing the trial, you fail."

    "Why are you confused now? Did you forget that?" he asked.

    "Huh?"

    Ryder looked at High Duke Oris with a wry smile on his face. This guy, he genuinely believed Ryder didn¡¯t reach the Death Domain Royal City?

    "I already went to the Royal City and finished the Trial. Even if I take help now, that doesn¡¯t change the fact that I finished the trial," Ryder said as he waved his hand and showed the evidence to High Duke Oris. It was the artifact that saw if Ryder achieved his target.

    Looking at the changed color, High Duke Oris was shocked. His mouth opened wide in surprise as he found it hard to believe it.

    It hadn¡¯t even been two weeks, and Ryder not only went to the Death Domain Royal City, but he also liked the people there?

    How? He sessfully killed hundred people from the Royal City, and there happened to be nomotion? He wasn¡¯t caught? Not only that, he even managed to sessfully escape the city?

    "Do I qualify now? Am I the King?" Ryder asked, enjoying the stunned look of the High Duke.

    He found it fascinating. Even though the High Duke was shocked, he couldn¡¯t deny the truth.

    "I¡¯m amazed. You really seeded. That too in such a short time. Amazing. As expected of the disciple chosen by His Majesty Salem himself," the High Duke said, praising Ryder.

    "You didn¡¯t answer. Am I the King now?" Ryder asked again.

    To his response, High Duke Oris shook his head. "You¡¯re not the King yet, but you fulfill all the criteria to be one."

    "Then what else do I need to do to be the King?" Ryder asked.

    "You need to do nothing. You already did what you needed to. All that¡¯s left now is the Coronation which we¡¯ll have soon enough after we go back. We need all High Dukes to be present for it, after all. It¡¯ll be done in the Royal Pce. So within a few days at best, I suppose," High Duke answered.

    "Alright," Ryder replied.

    Waiting for a few days to have everything under his control was worth it. Once he was the King, he could do anything, and no one was going to stop him. After that point, he didn¡¯t need to sneak out of the Demon Realm. Instead, he could openly leave with his Royal Guards. He could even dere war on the ones that so much as annoyed him.

    Both Ryder and High Duke Oris watched Rale beating the barrier again and again at the same ce, trying to break it.

    He had attacked almost a hundred times already, and finally, Ryder could see the shine of the barrier weakening.

    The shine kept getting weaker and weaker the more Rale attacked until it couldn¡¯t even be seen.

    "This should be enough. One more attack, and it¡¯s over," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the new change.

    Rale punched onest time towards the skull of the Hybrid. This time, the barrier didn¡¯t appear. The fistnded on the skull of the Hybrid.

    Blood spilled everywhere as the skull was crushed like a watermelon smashed by a baseball bat.

    "Strange. With how pale it was, I thought there would be no blood in it. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Now my shoes are bloodied," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly while gazing at his feet. "I should¡¯ve stepped back while I had the chance."

    As blood spilled everywhere, some of it happened tond in his shoes as well.

    Rale stood up after dealing with the thing that didn¡¯t move anyone. Grabbing the Armor, he pulled it out.

    No one was able to stop him this time. The corpse didn¡¯t move. Rale took the Armor with him and handed it over to Ryder.

    "Well, thank you," Ryder replied as he took the Armor.

    He started looking around the Armor to find the fragment that was supposedly embedded in it. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t find it.

    "Rale, where is the fragment? I mean, where is the crystal that you said was embedded in the Moon Armor?" Ryder asked Rale, unable to find it.

    Was it just a rumor? Was there actually no fragment here?

    "That crystal? It should still be inside the Armor. There¡¯s a formation on it that makes it invisible. It was done to make sure the Armor looked a bit decent and not stand. If you move your hand inside the Armor, you should be able to feel it," Rale replied.

    "Ah, so that¡¯s what it is. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t see," Ryder muttered as he inserted his hand inside the Armor and started moving it.

    His fingers grazed over the smooth surface of the Armor, amazed at how smooth it was.

    As his fingers moved slowly so he could feel when there was a chance in the texture, he did find it.

    There was one spot where he could feel a change in texture. But he didn¡¯t need to guess if it was the fragment or not. Because as soon as his finger touched it, he heard a notification resound in his head.

    [Fragment of Bracelet of Immortality found]

    [Fragment: Life Fragment]

    [Would you like to embed it into the Bracelet of Immortality?]

    [YES] [No]

    Within waiting for Janus to ask him twice, Ryder clicked on yes.

    The bracelet which was in his hand started shining, whereas the bright silver color of the Armor became dull.

    [Another seal unlocked]

    [Skill Received: Ruler of Life and Death]

    [Description: A skill said to originate from the Goddess of Life and Death. It is said to be one of the most unique skills only possessed by the one who can rule over both life and death]

    [Sub skill 1: Dead Revival]

    [Sub Skill 2: Locked]

    [Sub skill 3: Locked]

    Ryder gazed at the screen before him, trying to understand. It seemed a bit simr tost time.

    ¡¯Dead Revival? It sounds a bit simr to what I already have. Another passive skill? Is this trying to make me a meat shield? I want to be on the offensive, not defensive,¡¯ Ryder thought as he frowned.

    ¡¯I¡¯m actually going to be pissed if this skill is what I think it is," he muttered as he opened the description of the skill.

    [Skill: Dead Revival]

    [Description: Allows the user to revive any dead body with its old strength intact. The revived dead body would have all old memories and will do any task given by user]

    [Limitation: Revival onlysts for one day. It can only be used once on a body. After the skill is used, the dead body will turn to ash]

    ¡¯Oh, so it¡¯s different. It¡¯s not very passive. It¡¯s not much active either. I need dead bodies to use it. And strong bodies are impossible to.. wait a minute¡ªthat Luke guy. I should be able to use him,¡¯ Ryder thought as he rubbed his chin.

    He remembered Janus telling him that Luke was strong. If that was the case, he could be really useful in dangerous situations.

    ¡¯Not bad,¡¯ he nodded his head with satisfaction. This skill wasn¡¯t bad. At Least not as bad as it could have been.

    "Should we leave?"

    While Ryder was lost in thought while looking at the screen, he felt a hand tap on his shoulder.

    He gazed back only to notice High Duke Oris.

    "That¡¯s right. I¡¯m ready. Let¡¯s go back home," Ryder nodded his head as he held the hand of High Duke Oris.

    The other hand was caught by Rale.

    As soon as the two of them caught his hand, he disappeared with them.

    The both of them reached the Royal Pce again. They were standing inside the throne room.

    High Duke Oris was about to say something when he heard amotion outside.

    He walked out of the throne room. Ryder and the others also followed him to see what this wholemission was about.

    "Why are you all making so much noise?" High Duke Oris asked, opening the door.

    "Ah, High Duke. We apologize for disturbing you. We didn¡¯t know you were inside. It¡¯s just that we heard the news about the Demon Realm being under attack. So we... I apologize again," the guard replied, apologizing repeatedly.

    "Huh? We¡¯re under attack? So dares?" The High Duke furiously roared in rage.

    "Is it the Death Domain?" Ryder asked, wondering if they realized that their citizens went missing because Ryder killed them.

 Chapter 500 Spirit Queen

    <h4>Chapter 500: Spirit Queen</h4>

    "Is the Death Domain attacking us?" Ryder asked, wondering if the Death Domain was here? Did they finally decide to attack? And if they did, was his trial what led to it, or was it something already nned?

    "No, that shouldn¡¯t be it. Their Prince was in their Pcest I saw him. There seemed no indication that he was about to attack anyone. The army was also not preparing for war?" he muttered, confused.

    "Who is it that attacked us?"

    "We don¡¯t know. We have stayed inside the Pce to protect it. We only heard that the Southern Border of the Demon Realm is under attack," the Guard answered.

    "Southern Border? That¡¯s a ce Devilia handles with a few other southern Dukes," Ryder muttered.

    "The other High Dukes have more information. I wasn¡¯t here, so I don¡¯t know about this. Come with me," High Duke Oris said as he started walking away.

    Ryder followed behind him with Rale.

    As the three of them left the Royal Pce, they stopped as they looked in the distance.

    "Looks like we don¡¯t need to go anywhere for answers. They¡¯re here already," Ryder muttered as he gazed at the new arrivals.

    He could see the other three High Dukes flying towards him.

    High Duke Eston was on the left, and High Duke M was on the right. High Duke Magna was flying in the middle.

    All three of themnded in front of the Pce.

    "You¡¯re here already. We came to your Pce to get you only to find out that you had gone to help the Prince?" High Duke M said to High Duke.

    "I see you brought this guy with you. So he failed," High Duke Magna said as he gazed at Ryder standing beside High Duke Oris. "Can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t expect that."

    "He didn¡¯t fail. He finished the trial. It was after he finished it sessfully, and he wasing back that he faced the danger," High Duke Oris said.

    Without waiting for High Dukes to be shocked, he continued, "Even I couldn¡¯t believe that he finished so fast. But apparently, he can."

    He showed the proof to the High Dukes as well.

    "Amazing. He finished the trial at such a young age. He might be the youngest Prince to finish the trial in history. Not bad," High Duke Eston praised Ryder.

    "That¡¯s right. Now that he is finished, he can be the King," High Duke M said.

    Ryder wondered if they would do Coronation now. It was good if they did. At most, it would take a few minutes

    Unfortunately, all his dreams were ruined by High Duke Magna.

    "He will be the King after the coronation. But it¡¯s not the time for that. First, we need to solve the problem at hand. Did you forget that we are under attack? Every second is important."

    "Who is attacking us?" High Duke Oris asked.

    "It¡¯s the Spirit Realm," High Duke Magna said.

    "The Spirit Realm? They still exist?" High Duke Oris eximed in surprise.

    "Apparently, they do. I thought the First Demon King had wiped their entire race. But it seems like some survived and went under hiding. They grew in number with time, and now they¡¯re back to attack us," High Duke M said.

    "Spirit Realm?¡¯ Ryder asked in confusion. He didn¡¯t know about them at all.

    "They¡¯re a different species that live in the Spirit Realm. Apparently, one of the seven doors at the basement leads to Spirit Realm. But it was destroyed a long, long time ago. That gate doesn¡¯t work now," Rale whispered in Ryder¡¯s ears to give him a short exnation.

    "In short, they¡¯re a long-forgotten enemy. It seems like we¡¯re at war now. A war which we must finish before the Death Domain decides to use this opportunity to join the Spirit Realm in attacking us," High Duke Oris also gave an overview of the situation.

    It was at that point, a quest notification popped up before Ryder. However, it wasn¡¯t from Janus this time. It was from Divinity.

    Strangely, not even the notification, but he also saw something else. A semi-illusory figure was standing before Ryder.

    "Maya?"

    Seeing that figure, Ryder blurted out. It was the human form of the Divinity System. The one that had screwed him overst time. If it weren¡¯t for Janus, Ryder would be stuck as an NPC by now because of this cra*py Maya.

    [A World ss Quest has been received by you. Would you like to ept?]

    Maya asked Ryder a question that happened to be the same that was on the screen.

    All the High Dukes stood still, not moving. It was as if Ryder and Maya were in a different realm where they weren¡¯t affected by time.

    "World ss Quest? What is that?"

    Ryder didn¡¯t ept the quest. He had not even heard about such quests. All he knew about quests from the lowest rank to the S-Rank. World ss Quest was a new term that he was only hearing now. What was it?

    [World ss Quest is a quest the sess or failure of which affect the future of the world of Divinity]

    [Would you ept the quest?]

    As Maya exined, the screen again popped up before Ryder.

    "Why is there only one option here on the bottom of this popup? Why is there not a ¡¯no¡¯? What would I do if I had to select no? Not that I want to reject the quest, but this is a bad system," Ryderined, noticing the problem in this quest. It seemed like a bug that didn¡¯t show the other system.

    "There is no other option. You can only select yes," Maya replied.

    "Are you stupid then? Why are you even asking me to select when I can only select yes?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly.

    This was a mandatory quest. Was there even a reason for her to waste so much time?

    "What if I don¡¯t select the option?" he asked.

    "Then yes will be selected automatically within two minutes," Maya said.

    Ryder felt like facepalming himself. This girl was so annoying. She was basically wasting his time here.

    "Fine, I select yes," he said as he tapped on Yes.

    [Quest epted]

    [Quest Goal: Defeat the Spirit Realm and kill the yer leading them]

    [Quest Grade: World ss Quest]

    [Quest Reward: The World Fragment]

    [Quest Reward: Level +69]

    [Quest Reward: Mysterious Mirror of Galia]

    [Quest Reward; Hidden]

    [Quest Failure: You will be banned from Divinity for eternity]

    "The rewards are pretty nice. But that increase in level by sixty-nine? Is Maya joking with me? Or is she a woman of culture?" he muttered as he saw the information about the quest on screen.

    It highlighted all rewards, but the failure was also intriguing to him. If he failed, he could never enter divinity? That sounded like a harsh punishment after he did so much to get the Kingship.

    If he failed, he couldn¡¯t even attend his own Kingship.

    "Well, I don¡¯t think there would be any Kingship if I must anyways since this ce will be destroyed or taken over by the enemy. But it¡¯s funny. There¡¯s another yer that got themand of a special realm like me?"

    "I wonder who it might be. The second highest was Luciferst time I checked. Is it him? It¡¯ll be fun to see who it is. Since I have already epted the quest, I can¡¯t do anything else anyway."

    "The yer on the other side has beenmanded to kill you as well. But as the important bit of the quest, your face will be changed. It¡¯s being done to hide your yer look since this event will be broadcasted in the Real World." Maya told Ryder.

    "I understand. Are our names going to be hidden as well?" Ryder asked.

    "Your names will also be hidden. Random names will be assigned to you. You will be named Demon King. The enemy yer will also have her looks altered. She would be known as Spirit Queen. For the duration of this event, your yer names are changed."

    "Spirit Queen? The enemy yer is not Lucifer but a girl?" Ryder asked in surprise.

    Maya didn¡¯t answer him, though. She had said everything she wanted to. Now it was time to go. She disappeared.

    "Wait a minute... Is Lucifer a girl? I never saw him actually as a guy. I only assumed he was a guy. But it¡¯s also possible that he¡¯s a girl," he wondered while everything returned to normal.

    "Who is leading the Spirit Realm?" High Duke Oris asked High Duke Magna as he started moving.

    "We don¡¯t know. At the moment, only their army is here. As for their leader, that¡¯s probably in the back somewhere. For now, they haven¡¯t managed to barge inside ording to what information I got from Devilia," High Duke Magna said.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll arrange my army. You arrange yours too. After they¡¯re all ready, we¡¯ll leave for the Southern Border. If it¡¯s a war they want, it¡¯s a war they¡¯ll get."

 Chapter 501 Massive Level Up

    <h4>Chapter 501: Massive Level Up</h4>

    Ryder was sitting on his throne in his Throne Room alone.

    Rale had gone to prepare the Royal Guards for departure. The High Dukes had gone to arrange the army they were givenmand of.

    Ryder was left behind with nothing to do. He decided to log out. ording to Rale, the entire evening and night was going to go for Preparation. Since he could do nothing but wait in this trying time, he decided to leave.

    Even though it was still night in the real world, at least he could try getting some sleep even though he didn¡¯t need sleep at the moment.

    He stood up and opened the log-out screen, and left the world of Divinity which happened to be a few moments before Miyali stepped inside the chamber.

    "Hmm? He isn¡¯t here? Did he go to rest?" she wondered.

    ording to Rale, Ryder was here. Guards also agreed that Ryder was inside. If he wasn¡¯t here and didn¡¯t go out, that could only mean he was resting in his special treasure, ording to her.

    ...

    Ryder logged out of Divinity when it was still night in the real world.

    He kept the sses to the side and didn¡¯t even bother getting up as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

    Even though he wasn¡¯t tired, he didn¡¯t have any difficulty sleeping.

    But only did he sleep, but within a short four hours of sleep, he even had a lovely dream about enjoying his life with everyone close to him.

    In the dream, he was in the real world with Rale, Alice, Esmi, Shu, High Dukes, and almost everyone he considered his friend or had good feelings towards. They were all on a beach, ying volleyball.

    His dream was only broken when it was morning. A volleyballnded on his face, which he had missed to hit back. That proved to be the end of the dream.

    "That was a good dream. I really should get more natural sleep. No matter how much rest I get in Divinity, it¡¯s never this peaceful. I somehow feel stronger and more refreshed," Ryder muttered as he sat up while stretching his arm inziness.

    "Janus, is it time now? Can I finally get Luke¡¯s powers? You¡¯ve been dying it for a long time. You said you¡¯ll give my reward to me today. Don¡¯t negate on your promise again," he said as he slid to the side of the bed.

    cing his feet on the cold floor, he walked towards the bathroom, not thinking that he¡¯ll get a response. He was sure that Janus was going to ignore him again and dy the promise after a few hours like he had been doing since thest few days.

    "Get the body out. I¡¯ll give you the body," Janus said, contrary to Ryder¡¯s expectations.

    Ryder was about to push the door open to step inside the bathroom door, but he stopped as he heard Janus¡¯s words.

    "Really?"

    "Really," Janus answered. "Bring the body of Luke out."

    Ryder stopped his n to get a shower at the moment. This was more important. He wasn¡¯t sure if Janus¡¯s mood was going to changeter. Now that he was ready, it was to be done.

    "Alright."

    Turning back, Ryder walked towards the main door of his room to lock it so that no one could enter when he had a body lying in the open.

    After locking the door, he opened his Inventory and brought the body out.

    A man¡¯s dead bodyid on the ground with a bullet hole on his head.

    "What next?" Ryder asked.

    "ce your hand on the body¡¯s chest," Janus told Ryder. "And apply some pressure."

    "Alright."

    Ryder sat on his knees in front of Janus as he ced his right hand on Luke¡¯s chest and applied a light pressure.

    "Is this right?" he asked.

    " Stay like that," Janus answered.

    Something started happening in the room, which felt a bit strange. Small specks of light starteding out of Luke¡¯s body and flew towards Ryder¡¯s forehead, and started entering his body.

    Ryder could see the speck of light entering his body with his own eyes, but even as they entered his body, he didn¡¯t feel anything different. He couldn¡¯t feel him getting stronger at all.

    ¡¯Maybe I¡¯ll get it when it¡¯spleted,¡¯ he thought as he decided to let the process continue.

    It was after ten minutes when the light transfer stopped entirely.

    It was also when Ryder heard Janus say, "It¡¯spleted."

    "What? But I feel no difference. Did that guy even have any strength at all? Or was his ability that made him scary different and not his strength?" Ryder asked, but he didn¡¯t even wait for a response as his mouth opened slightly as he saw Luke¡¯s body disappearing slowly.

    He couldn¡¯t even ask why it was happening before the body waspletely gone. Nothing was left of the body.

    "The heck? Not only did I not get any strength, but I also lost the body that I could¡¯ve used Dead Revival on?" heined as he stood up.

    "Absorbing his Essence and strength had that effect. It¡¯s normal. A body can¡¯t exist without strength," Janus answered.

    "What strength? I get nothing," Ryder muttered as he gazed at his hand.

    "Stats!"

    Hemanded to see if his real-world stats had increased or not.

    [Ryder Flynn]

    [Race: Human?]

    Ryder had long seen up to here when he smiled wryly. "What do you mean, Human? Is there really a need to put question there?"

    Shaking his head, he continued reading more.

    [Level: 1000]

    [Strength: 99999]

    [Defence: 99999]

    [Speed: 99999]

    [Dexterity: 5000]

    [Intelligence: (Better to not say so you¡¯re not embarrassed)]

    Ryder stood nkly as he read the stats. What did this mean? He couldn¡¯t believe it. He was Level thousand in the real world? How?

    Thest time he checked, he was much much lower that even calling him closer to level 500 was an insult to level 500.

    How was it that he was so high now?

    "So this guy was stronger than that Immortal-looking old dude I killed in FBI headquarters?" Ryder was confused. This Luke guy was really tens of times more threatening than that?

    His level up from that was much less. What he forgot to consider was that he had received real-world experience after killing the old man, which made him level up. He hadn¡¯t absorbed his strength. That¡¯s why the level increase was so lesspared to now.

    At the moment, he had absorbed Luke in his entirety in essence.

    The only reason he didn¡¯t understand the difference was because he hadn¡¯t received Experience after killing Luke. After all, Luke hadn¡¯t attacked him first. If Luke had attacked him and then he killed him, he would have received Exp as well. And now, getting this level up would have made him realize the difference.

    "Man, losing this one body seems to be worth it. But you¡¯re right. This guy was dangerous. So dangerous that I had no idea. Thank you for warning me about him in the form of this mission," Ryder thanked Janus as he closed the screen.

    Janus didn¡¯t reply and went into oblivion.

    "Cheh, you wouldn¡¯t answer. That¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll still thank you. You helped me a lot," Ryder said as he smiled. "I¡¯ll forgive you for basically calling me stupid by not showing intelligence for that. Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t notice that."

    He again walked inside the bathroom to freshen up.

    Holding the doorknob, he tried turning it only to end up breaking it with the lightest of touch.

    A weird look remained on his face as he watched the broken doorknob.

    "Sigh, this strength... I just touched it because I knew something like this might happen, but even then, it did," he muttered, wondering how he wasn¡¯t able to control his strength despite being careful.

    "Sigh, I should try to make it less. Or increase my contract. It¡¯s the sudden jump."

    ...

    Ryder had freshened up and even finished showering. Unfortunately, it all came at the cost of breaking a few things.

    He stood before the main door that he had locked, staring at it as if he was staring at his long-lost enemy. He needed to open the door, but he knew it was tough.

    With a gentle touch, he tried to hold the doorknob, but even that made an indent on it.

    He didn¡¯t lose hisposure as he knew that it might be risky, and it¡¯ll only make him lose even more control.

    He gently twisted the doorknob, opening the door sessfully.

    An aplished look appeared on his face as he seeded in opening the door, which seemed a bit funny. Even he found it pitiful that he was celebrating being able to open a door.

    Unfortunately, this was where he was at.

    Not only did he have to touch things carefully not to break them, but he also had to walk slowly because his speed was a bit fast now. It was going to take some time. He had already decided to practice at the roof after finishing dinner so he could at least have ayer of control.

 Chapter 502 Billion Dollar Prize

    <h4>Chapter 502: Billion Dor Prize</h4>

    Ryder walked down the stairs and went to have breakfast.

    There was no fixed time for breakfast since almost every main member in the house, including Ryder, Alice, and Shu, woke up at a different time mostly.

    So it was decided that they didn¡¯t need to have a universal breakfast time. They could wake up at any time and ask for breakfast.

    Ryder went to the dinner table after telling the chef to prepare breakfast for him.

    The chef prepared breakfast for Ryder within minutes which was served on the table.

    Coincidentally that happened to be when Shu also came down. "Oh, you¡¯re here as well. I thought I¡¯d miss you today too."

    "Yeah, I happened to wake up at time, I guess even though a bitte," Ryder replied as he slid his breakfast te towards Shu. "Here, start first. They¡¯ll get more for me."

    "It¡¯s fine. They¡¯re bringing mine too," Shu answered as he sat beside Ryder.

    "Did you hear the news, though?" he asked Ryder.

    "What news?" Ryder inquired, confused.

    "They¡¯ve made a change in Divinity. Now yers can sign exclusive contracts with streaming channels to steam their live divinity gamey. Some live tv channels might also give exclusive contracts to big yers since the world of Divinity, and the realistic fantasy element with adventures might be really popr for them."

    "Also, you¡¯re the biggest name in Divinity. Everyone is curious about you. Since you¡¯re so popr, you have a great chance to get exclusive contracts," Shu told Ryder.

    "It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t need exclusive contracts with any live streaming tform to get money. As for fame, I don¡¯t need the Divinity fame in the real world anymore. It would only bring more trouble than good. I¡¯m fine keeping my identity a secret," Ryder replied as he shook his head.

    "Even if there are a billion dors involved?" Shu asked with an amused smile on his face.

    "Billion Dors?" Ryder frowned. Where did the question of billion dorse from?

    Nopany was going to give that much money. Even in the original timeline, this thing had happened. But the highest amount that was ever offered was in millions. Never a billion.

    "That¡¯s right. The Necrosis Corporation hade up with an announcement. They said that they¡¯re organizing a special event after ten days. The winner of that event will get a billion dors. But to take part in the event, the yer must get registered with them. It¡¯s only avable for top ten people in the Level Rankings, though," Shu told Ryder. "And it¡¯ll be broadcasted live on their channel."

    "A tournament a few days after starting the live telecasts? It didn¡¯t happen before, let alone happen so fast," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    "What didn¡¯t happen before?" Shu asked, confused.

    "Nothing."

    "Are you going to take part?"

    "I don¡¯t think I will. I don¡¯t want to expose my identity. Even if it¡¯s a billion dors, I believe I can earn thatter as well. But registration with them or any channel runs the risk of my real identity being exposed in public. It¡¯s better if that doesn¡¯t happen."

    Ryder refused even the notion that he could take part in the event.

    "That¡¯s right. You do go a bit extra step to hide your identity. A few yers report seeing you and have your description. But no two descriptions match. It¡¯s strange," Shu muttered, confused. "Is someone else going with your name?"

    "Not really. I do have a mask. It¡¯s a unique treasure that helps me change my looks. As I said, I don¡¯t want anyone even close to guessing my real looks." Ryder answered.

    "Even though the game world version of me looks slightly different than my real self, it¡¯s still better to keep that hidden. Who knows what kind of reverse engineering is possible nowadays," he continued. "My game self does have some simrities as well to me."

    "Interesting. Since you¡¯re not going to take part, I think the opportunity will go to the eleventh ranked yer," Shu muttered.

    "The twelfth rank might also participate. I don¡¯t think Lucifer will take part either. As for why I think that, you can call it a hunch," Ryder said as he started eating.

    "Oh? Have you met him before?" Shu asked, frowning.

    "I did," Ryder answered, not telling that it was not in this timeline but in the original timeline.

    In this timeline, he hadn¡¯te face to face with Lucifer even once.

    He did want to meet him, though. ording to his information, it was quite possible that Lucifer had the next fragment that he had taken from a vige before it was destroyed by the Death Domain.

    He had been trying to find Lucifer too, so that he could take back the fragment.

    That was the only possible clue he had about a fragment. As for the close to twenty other fragments, he didn¡¯t know anything about where they might be.

    He kept eating the breakfast in peace. Silence ensued on the table as Shu was also served the food.

    As Ryder ate in peace, he remembered something. He raised his head and gazed at Shu.

    "Wait, weren¡¯t you going to be the owner of Necrosis? If you¡¯re the owner, you should be able to get me entry without exposing my identity?"

    "Not actually. The talks fell through. Those guys are willing to let their shares plunge to rock bottom, but they don¡¯t want to sell. It¡¯s a mess of a situation. I don¡¯t think it will work as well as I thought it would."

    The disappointment was evident on Shu¡¯s face as he answered Ryder¡¯s questions.

    "It¡¯s fine. You can just expose them and watch the fallout. When their shares fall, you can have a forceful takeover, can¡¯t you?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "Not really. They have some rigid backing from the government. It¡¯s at a crazy level, I think. I don¡¯t know why but I¡¯m sure the government will go to extended lengths to save them. That¡¯s why they¡¯re not selling. Because they know about their backing," Shu answered, shaking his head.

    "And if I still try that, it¡¯ll bring me and the US government face to face. I might be one of the richest men in the world, but even I would suffer from that. Mypany will be affected, which I don¡¯t want. Because it¡¯s not mypany, it¡¯s the heritage of my family. I don¡¯t want it to suffer even the tiniest bit," he said as he looked down.

    Ryder gazed at Shu¡¯s face. He could see the seriousness in Shu¡¯s face. It was evident that Shu really cared for the Dream Corporation.

    "You don¡¯t need Necrosis anyway. Since you¡¯re so concerned, it¡¯s better you don¡¯t take risks. Focus on the business expansion instead," Ryder said. "I¡¯ll do the same."

    "Oh, another thing. Did you have a hand in the manufacturing contract that my Aviation Branch received?" he asked. "It was given by the branch of Dream Corporation."

    "Not really. I don¡¯t handle those pesky things. The administration of the Dream Corporation handles all contracts. I don¡¯t interfere unless the matter is really high level," Shu answered, smiling.

    "Oh? Really? So you never involved yourself in such things?" Ryder asked, suspicious.

    The timing and everything did seem suspicious. Without Shu¡¯s involvement, it was highly unlikely that he was going to get the Contract.

    "Well, I did get involved once or twice a long time ago," Shu said as he chuckled.

    "You remember that guy who happened to be your ssmate, but he mocked you and mocked me?" he asked.

    "I remember him. Wait a minute... He worked in Dream Corporation Marketing Division! I remember now!" Ryder let out, remembering the guy. "Did you fire him?"

    "Not really. I am not that petty. But he did brag about his high position in thepany and mocked me for my weight. So I just got him demoted and had a fat person under him promoted. Since he doesn¡¯t like us fat people, it¡¯ll give that something to enjoy," Shu answered as he grinned.

    "Meh, I think you gave him a light Punishment. But this is good too," Ryder answeredzily, not mentioning that he had also punished the guy by almost making him pee himself in fearter on.

    The two of them had a bit more light talk as they continued their breakfast before Alice joined them as well.

    "Huh? You¡¯re still here? I thought you¡¯d be in college by now?" Ryder asked.

    "Why would I be in college?" Alice asked before she exined. "It¡¯s a holiday."

    "Holiday?" Ryder wondered. What holiday was it today?

    "It¡¯s not the weekend. And I don¡¯t remember any other holiday being today. What¡¯s it?" he asked.

    "Todaypleted the twenty-fifth year of existence of Dream University. It¡¯s a holiday to give students time to enjoy at home," Shu answered instead.

    "Oh, that¡¯s what it was. Congrats for that," Ryder congratted Shu.

    "I wanted to tell you something. Is this the right time? I should¡¯ve told you before, but if you¡¯re busy, I¡¯ll tell youter," Alice asked Ryder.

 Chapter 503 Cheating

    <h4>Chapter 503: Cheating</h4>

    " Yeah? What is it?" Ryder asked, gazing at Alice while standing up.

    He had finished eating and didn¡¯t need to keep sitting anymore.

    "What I wanted to say is that I-"

    Alice started screaming, but she stopped as she heard a phone ringing.

    "Excuse me for a minute," Ryder apologized as he looked down at his pocket where his phone was ringing. He brought the phone out and looked at who was calling him.

    "Aleson?"

    He noticed the name of Aleson, who was the young man he has hired to lead the Medical Research department of his Divine Corporation.

    "Hello?"

    Ryder ced the phone near his ear.

    "What?" Ryder suddenly eximed in shock after he heard the words of the other side. "Are you telling the truth?"

    "Alright. I¡¯ll be right there," Ryder replied before he disconnected the call.

    "I¡¯m really sorry, but something urgent hase up. I¡¯ll have to leave," Ryder told Alice as he started walking towards the stairs. "I¡¯lle back in the evening, and we will talk."

    He hastily went into his room and picked up the car keys, not remembering to control his strength. In his haste, he had broken the doorknob as well as the door.

    "God, I can¡¯t even hurry now. Can I really drive in this condition? I¡¯ll crush the steering wheel," he muttered as he stared at the broken door. He didn¡¯t even know how he was going to exin it.

    "No time to think," he let out as he stepped inside and picked up the keys carefully before walking down.

    "Shu, can I borrow your driver?" he asked Shu, who was still sitting at the Dining table.

    "Sure. He should be outside."

    Nodding his head, Ryder left the Estate and went to the driver, who was already outside. He gave the keys to the driver and told him to drive.

    The driver opened the door of Ryder¡¯s car. He didn¡¯t forget to open the passenger side door for Ryder since he was kind of like the unofficial boss.

    Ryder was d to see the driver opening the door himself. If he hadn¡¯t, Ryder would have to ask him to open, which would have made Ryder look egomaniac.

    He couldn¡¯t open himself either since the door was going to be broken very easily.

    He sat inside the car and told the driver where to take him.

    ...

    A beautiful yellow sports car stopped before a tall building.

    The driver stepped out of the car and gazed towards Ryder, who didn¡¯t step out. Ryder, on the other hand, looked towards the driver, creating an awkward moment.

    He couldn¡¯t open the door. He wanted the driver to open it, but he didn¡¯t know how to ask.

    The Driver understood the meaning of Ryder¡¯s gaze. Without manyints, he stepped out of the car and closed the door before he walked over to Ryder¡¯s side.

    "Cheh, such azy man. Even master Shu isn¡¯t thatzy," he muttered as he clicked his tongue. Even though he didn¡¯t react before Ryder, he was pretty annoyed at this king-like behavior of Ryder.

    That guy couldn¡¯t even open the door for himself.

    "Sorry for making you do it. Actually, my hands are hurting a lot today. I can¡¯t do anything that needs strength without pain," Ryder apologized, realizing that the man wasn¡¯t happy.

    If he could do damage control by giving an excuse, then it was alright anyway.

    "It¡¯s fine, sir. It¡¯s my duty," the driver answered. "I¡¯ll wait in the car for your return."

    ...

    Ryder walked towards the ss door of the building, which was opened by the guards who stood at the entrance, so he didn¡¯t need to touch the ss door.

    "Good morning, boss."

    "Good Morning, Sir."

    "Good Morning."

    As Ryder walked inside the building, he was greeted by the workers, who all recognized him and gave him great respect.

    Some of the staff that were new were still finding it hard to believe. A boy as young was the owner of such a big building and owned apany of his own when he wasn¡¯t even twenty-five years old right now

    That wasn¡¯t shocking either since, ording to what they heard, one of the biggestpanies¡ª the Dream Corporation was also owned by a young man.

    Thatpany was like a god in front of this newpany. But what really made Ryder special for them was that Ryder was a self-made man.

    He wasn¡¯t like Shu Maxwell, who inherited thepany from his parents.

    Instead, Ryder was an orphan who lived a middle-ss life. How did he achieve so much? It was amazing. Many people looked at him like inspiration.

    What¡¯s more special was that Ryder always came here without any security. He was so free despite being rich. Most rich people of this level walked with guards for their security, but he was different.

    While the workers were praising him in their heads, Ryder walked towards the lift.

    Stopping before the lift, he slowly raised his hand and pressed the button as lightly as he could. Fortunately, the button wasn¡¯t broken.

    The door of the lift opened, and he walked inside.

    ...

    The lift reached the higher floor, where Ryder stepped out and walked towards the office of Aleson.

    He opened the door without knocking and stepped out since he was in a hurry and didn¡¯t care about manners.

    "Aleson, are you telling the truth?" he asked as soon as he stepped inside.

    "Sir, you¡¯re here. It¡¯s true. I used the data you gave me and added the things that were missing with great research. The first test was sessful. I think it can work," Aleson told Ryder with excitement. "I think we should apply for the right to conduct human trials. We¡¯re very close."

    "Human trials, huh," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    Inside his head, he was wondering what he needed to do to get human trial permissions. He was new in this field. He didn¡¯t know the administrative side. The only reason he was even able to help Aleson was because he knew the past.

    ¡¯I should ask Shu about it. He would know the right people to get me whatever permission I need the fastest,¡¯ he thought as he came up with a n.

    "I¡¯ll arrange that. You prepare the rest," he told Aleson. "Anyway, can I see that test too? I also want to see it working."

    "Of course. It could only be possible because of your ideas. The highest credit belongs to you. Pleasee with me," Aleson replied as he started walking in a different direction.

    "Credit to me? Not really. It all belongs to you. Nothing would be possible without you," Ryder answered as he smiled wryly. It was the truth. He didn¡¯t deserve any credit.

    "You¡¯re really humble, sir. Even when you deserve the credit, you want to give it to me. I¡¯m so lucky to work for you. Without you, I don¡¯t know where I would be. It was you who helped my grandfather and paid for his treatment. I wouldn¡¯t even know he was sick without you."

    "I can¡¯t even begin to thank you after all you did."

    Aleson thanked Ryder repeatedly as he left the room, advancing towards theb.

    Ryder didn¡¯t react. He could only be d that Aleson was leading him so that he wouldn¡¯t need to open the doors and risk looking like an alien.

    "This is theb where we worked on it. These are the documents with the working principle behind it. It basically works the same as the idea you gave me. I only had to expand on the idea and fine-tune it a bit," Aleson told Ryder as he showed him theb.

    ...

    In a different officer on the same floor, another man of Aleson¡¯s team was sitting on his chair. He didn¡¯t like the fact that Aleson was the leader and head of this branch despite being the youngest.

    He felt like that was an insult to him. Moreover, his advice was often ignored, and everyone only listened to Aleson as if he was an Idiot.

    The man known as John was sitting on the chair, talking to someone over the phone.

    "Hello, sir. That¡¯s right. You know the documents I sent you after stealing from here?"

    "That¡¯s right. It¡¯s proven that it works. The test results are here. I¡¯m sure Aleson would apply for human testing. You should take the credit for this for yourpany before that happens and ask permission for yourself."

    "That¡¯s right. Yourpany is the biggest name in the Pharmaceutical Industry and research. This little new Divine Corporation is nothing before you. After you take credit, you can easily call out Divine Corporation for stealing your research."

    "That¡¯s right. So is my position as the head of your research department confirmed?"

    "Thank you! Thank you so much! I promise I will work hard for you after joining yourpany. You won¡¯t be disappointed."

    He disconnected the call as he startedughing like mad.

 Chapter 504 Luring

    <h4>Chapter 504: Luring</h4>

    "This is pretty amazing, actually. You did some great work at it. Keep working hard. I¡¯ll give you all the support you need. Once again, congrattions on the achievement," Ryder told Aleson.

    "I¡¯m not the one who deserves all the credit. Your ideas yed a crucial role. Moreover, my team helped a lot," Aleson answered.

    "That¡¯s right. Where¡¯s your team? I need to congratte them too. You all did great work here," Ryder inquired.

    "I¡¯ll introduce you to them. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve met them since you have the responsibility to hire most of them," Aleson let out as he left the room.

    "That¡¯s right. I only hired a few big names in the industry. Other than that, I left it all to you. So I actually haven¡¯t met most of them. Thest time I dide to meet you, but you were busy with some tests. This must be that test," Ryder answered as he followed Aleson.

    ...

    "This is our team," Aleson introduced Ryder to his entire team, which also included John who had betrayed them. No one knew about that yet.

    "John, right? You were the one hired by me. I¡¯m d you¡¯re fitting with the team perfectly and achieving such a great breakthrough." Ryder met John, who was standing first in the line, ahead of everyone else.

    "Thank you," John said with a smile on his face, but on the inside, he was scoffing at Ryder.

    ¡¯Don¡¯t me me for what¡¯s about to happen next! I¡¯m older than everyone here, and I had the highest experience and the greatest reputation amongst everyone present here! But you still chose an inexperienced kid to lead the branch! You can only me yourself for what will happen!¡¯

    Ryder couldn¡¯t hear his thoughts and moved over to the next person in the line.

    "I heard many great things about you. Great work," he praised the woman that was also one of the main members of the team.

    He didn¡¯t shake anyone¡¯s hand through since he had a feeling that he¡¯ll most certainly break a few bones if he did.

    Instead, he joined both his hands together to give a different kind of greeting.

    He soon talked to every member of the team and gave a few motivational words before he left.

    He wanted to talk to Herriet as well since he was already here, but it wasn¡¯t the right time since he didn¡¯t have his strength in control.

    He wanted to train first.

    He left the building and noticed the drivere out of the car to open the passenger side door.

    "You don¡¯t need to. Keep sitting in the car. I¡¯ll just take a walk to the nearby building ande back after an hour or more.

    "You can go eat or rx until then. Or rest inside the car."

    ...

    Ryder walked over to the building that was next to his Divine Corporation building.

    Even though it was a building right next to his building, there was still sufficient distance between the two.

    It was a building where a lot of things had happened. It was where Ryder had killed many men, including some from the Uprising, which was ruled by one of the sons of gods.

    Ryder entered the abandoned building, which had all blood cleaned inside. There was no person inside the abandoned building, so it seemed like the perfect ce to train.

    Still, Ryder didn¡¯t train here. He went to the roof instead, where he was going to train in a much bigger area.

    "I have control over my speed mostly. I only need to train that a bit more, but that can be der. The problem is the strength. That¡¯s my enemy. I need to understand my strength first to know how I can deal with it and what amount of strength has what effect," Ryder muttered as he clenched his fist.

    He had decided to punch with ten percent of his strength. He gazed towards an empty wall, breaking, which wasn¡¯t going to affect anything.

    After preparing, he punched out.

    Boom!

    "What the heck?" Ryder eximed in shock as he saw the oue of his attack. "But that was only ten percent!"

    He was surprised. Even though it was only a fraction of his power, it was enough to break the wall.

    ...

    "When is heing back? He said he¡¯s going to take a walk, but it¡¯s been an entire day. It¡¯s already evening, and he still isn¡¯t back," the Driver muttered as he looked around while sitting in the car. "I¡¯m getting so bored here! Why was my luck so bad that I got stuck with him."

    His eyes were disappointed and somewhat annoyed as he gazed in the direction of the nearby building.

    "Should I go and check him?" he wondered as he frowned.

    He was thinking if he should go check up on Ryder. He could use the excuse that he was checking if the guy was fine or not.

    "There he is! Finally!"

    His eyes suddenly lit up as he saw Rydering out of the building. He got out of the car and opened the door so that they could leave as soon as Ryder came here.

    "You don¡¯t need to open it now. My hands are better now. No pain," Ryder told the man as he walked over to the driver¡¯s side.

    "Sir, why are you sitting there? I¡¯m the driver?" the driver asked Ryder.

    "I feel like driving now. You sit on that side," Ryder replied as he entered the car and closed the door.

    After the driver sat inside, Ryder started the car, which zoomed off into the distance.

    After an entire day of hard work, Ryder had finally learned to control his strength.

    ...

    The car stopped inside the Maxwell Estate.

    "That¡¯s right, Alice had something to talk about. I should hear her out," Ryder muttered as he stepped out of the car and entered the mansion before he walked over to Alice¡¯s room.

    "Alice, are you inside?" Ryder asked as he knocked on the door. But there happened to be no response. Curious, he opened the door and peeked inside.

    "Sigh, that girl is already inside," he muttered as he noticed Alice lying on the bed. "So she couldn¡¯t hear me because she was inside Divinity."

    He closed the door again and walked back to his room only to realize that his room didn¡¯t even have a door.

    A broken door was just standing there, but it provided no protection. A single push was going to make the door fall since it wasn¡¯t attached to the wall anymore.

    "Cheh, I need to get that fixed too. I forgot to tell them," Ryder muttered as he turned back to find the butler who could arrange things.

    "Here, in this direction."

    As Ryder turned back, he saw the butlering in his direction with someone who seemed to carry a toolbox.

    "You¡¯re back. I noticed the door was broken. I don¡¯t know how you made it happen, but I called someone to repair it. It should be done shortly.

    "I was just about to call you. Thank you. I was in such a hurry in the morning that I forgot to tell you about this," Ryder told the man with an embarrassed look on his face.

    He was technically a guest here, and he was breaking things and not even telling them.

    "So should I ask how you did it?" The butler asked Ryder with an amusement-filled smile.

    "Not unless you want to hear a lie," Ryder truthfully said. Even if this guy asked, he was going to have to lie. So he vaguely hinted that he would lie to make the butler not ask.

    "Alright. I won¡¯t ask then."

    ...

    As the butler had said, the for was fixed in less than an hour. Ryder closed the door and went to take a long shower now that everything was over.

    He got out and prepared to dive into Divinity.

    Walking back to the bed, heid down and picked up the sses.

    Gazing at the Divinity sses, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder about something.

    "A billion dor prize... Why? What changed your time for you, Necrosis? Your earning isn¡¯t much higher thanst time, but your spending is way more. By giving a billion dor Prize and only making it an exclusive contest between current top ten yers, just what are you trying to achieve?"

    "You¡¯re trying to lure us out. That much is obvious. But the question is, why? The only change in this timeline I can think of is my rise. Nothing else should be different."

    "Are you guys after me? Is that what you¡¯re trying? Or am I attracting too much suspicion from you by getting to such a high level? Or is it something else? Just what exactly changed..."

    "If this contest was open for every yer, it might have seemed more genuine and make it seem like you were attracting more people to y Divinity in the lure of rewards, but it¡¯s only for the top ten. Shu was right. You guys are suspicious."

 Chapter 505 Departure

    <h4>Chapter 505: Departure</h4>

    "You guys are pretty suspicious. I hope you don¡¯t n to do anything against me. Because if you do, I¡¯ll have to get involved. And you wouldn¡¯t like it when I get involved, especially now that I have so much strength," Ryder muttered as he wore Divinity sses.

    He closed his eyes andmanded, "Take me to Divinity."

    A link was established, and he found himself in the world of Divinity.

    Ryder appeared in the throne room of the Royal Pce when it was early morning here.

    Rale and the others were still waiting for Ryder.

    "Your Highness, you¡¯re back."

    Rale let out as his eyes lit up at the sight of Ryder.

    "Are you prepared?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Yes. The High Dukes are also prepared. They¡¯re waiting outside for you for departure," Rale answered.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s leave then. I¡¯m alreadyte, I guess," Ryder let out as he stood up and started walking outside the Pce with Rale following behind.

    "Are our Royal Guards outside?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "That¡¯s right. They¡¯re outside with Miku and Miyali," Rale answered.

    "Miku and Miyali? That reminds me. Did the new maids get hired? And what¡¯s happening with Miyali¡¯s training?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Miyali¡¯s training seemed to have gone pretty well. She can already transform for a little while staying in control. I¡¯ll give credit to Miku. Her knowledge and her training worked wonders," Rale answered.

    "As for maids, all new maids have been hired. Also, as per your orders, we have started giving money to the family of maids that were killed. We still didn¡¯t tell them about their deaths, though," he added.

    "That¡¯s good. As for telling them, I¡¯ll find a way to do that too. But that¡¯s forter," Ryder nodded in appreciation.

    "Are Miku and Miyaliing with us? They said they want toe with us. I told them that only you could decide that. So, do you want to bring them with us?" Rale asked Ryder.

    "They want toe? Well, they are strong. At Least Miku is. And from what you said, Miyali has improved a lot too. So this can be good. What do you think?" Ryder inquired in return.

    "I¡¯ll listen to your wise decision," Rale threw the responsibility back at Ryder.

    "Fine. We will take them," Ryder answered.

    ¡¯It¡¯s an important quest anyway. I can¡¯t afford to fail it,¡¯ he thought as he remembered the consequences of losing.

    If he lost, he wasn¡¯t going to be allowed to log in ever again. He was going to lose everything he created in the world of Divinity. That wasn¡¯t something he wanted to go through after working so hard to increase his level.

    Moreover, he had Rale and others here. They had all be a part of his family now, whom he didn¡¯t want to lose.

    Ryder and Rale left the Royal Pce, followed behind by a few Royal Guards.

    The rest of the Royal Guards were already waiting outside for Ryder.

    "Ah, Your Highness, I just remembered something. You¡¯re going for war. Most of the soldiers would be seeing you for the first time. Shouldn¡¯t you change clothes?" Rale suggested when they were a few meters away from the exit.

    "Uh?"

    Confused, Ryder looked down, only to have his mouth open wide. He was still wearing the attire that he had worn in the Death Domain. It was the dress of Death Domain.

    He hadn¡¯t realized that he was still wearing that. His mind waspletely diverted because of the war and the quest.

    "Wait a minute. I¡¯ll change clothes. You guys go ahead and wait for me outside. Tell the High Dukes that I¡¯ll be out in a minute," Ryder told Rale and the others who listened to themands.

    After Rale and the Royal guards left, Ryder remained behind and started changing his clothes.

    He wore a beautiful white dress and donned a luxurious red robe on top of it.

    He also wore the shoes of wind that were gifted to him by a High Duke.

    Not only that, but he also brought the Royal Crown out of his inventory and wore it, increasing his charm and authority even more.

    He even brought a red glove which he wore in his left hand. In his right hand, he wore a gauntlet.

    "Now, this is better. The perfect look to lead the army to war," Ryder muttered as he grinned.

    As he looked at himself in a wall mirror.

    "Oh wait, I stillck something toplete my look."

    He raised his hand, which had the Moon Scythe wrapped as a bracelet. The bracelet unraveled and started getting bigger and bigger before it returned to its original shape.

    Ryder held the Moon Scythe in his hand as he stood proudly.

    "This is better. As their leader, I should support their Royal weapon. Too bad, I can¡¯t use the Moon Shield as it lost all its power without the fragment," Ryder muttered as he sighed in disappointment.

    He once again started approaching the door and stepped out of the Royal Pce, only to see a massive army standing at the door.

    "The heck? We have that big of an army? And this is all situated in the Royal City? If we count the entire army of the Demon Realm, just how big would it be?" He eximed in amazement.

    As far as his eyes could see, he saw the army. It was like the entire ce was filled with a sea of soldiers.

    "You¡¯re out. You arete," High Duke Magna told Ryder. "Anyway, let¡¯s get going."

    "Shouldn¡¯t I give a speech to the soldiers first?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Huh? Do you want to do that this time? We¡¯re alreadyte! This is an emergency!" High Duke Magna said. "We shouldn¡¯t dy any longer."

    "I¡¯ll only take a few minutes," Ryder answered.

    "Let him speak. The soldiers are confused. They need some words from their soon-to-be king," High Duke Oris said.

    "We should let him speak. He¡¯s not a prince anymore. He¡¯s technically our King since he finished the Kingship Trial. We just can¡¯tplete coronation now. As a soon-to-be king, we can¡¯tmand him. Instead, we should listen to him," High Duke M also chimed in.

    "He¡¯s our leader in the war, and we¡¯re his advisors. We can only advise him but not form decisions for him," High Duke Eston said.

    "Cheh, fine. Speak," High Duke Magna agreed.

    Ryder took a step forward as he looked at the sea of soldiers. The soldiers at the front were silent, but the soldiers at the back who couldn¡¯t see Ryder were chattering amongst themselves.

    Using his flying, Ryder started rising in the air until he was ten meters high to make sure everyone could see him.

    As soon as the soldiers in the back saw Ryder, they also stopped talking.

    "Soldiers of the Brave Demon Realm! Listen to me! I am Prince Hades, your soon-to-be King! As you may know, today, our Empire faces a peril! We are being attacked by our old enemies that we had defeated brutallyst time!"

    "But as the saying goes, some people never learn! They once again decided to attack our Empire because they have a death wish! It¡¯s time we fulfill their wish and show them the true power of the Demon Realm! Not only to the Spirit Realm, but it¡¯s time we have a show of strength, so our enemies think at least ten times before attacking us next time!"

    "Do we have the strength to do it? Yes! Can we do it? Yes! Will we do it? Yes! That¡¯s all you need to remember! We¡¯re the warriors of the Demon Realm! We never learned yeh meaning of Defeat! We have fought countless wars, and we have won them all! This will only act to increase that number of victories."

    "So you all have no need to be worried! As long as you give it your all, we will win! And we will win big time! Let¡¯s win and make the Demon Realm gre- ahem, I mean, Glory to the Demon Realm!" Ryder dered proudly, making a mistake and correcting it right away before he came down.

    Hended in front of the High Dukes amidst the deafening chants of the soldiers that were filled with the fighting spirit after hearing Ryder¡¯s words.

    "That was a good speech," High Dukesplimented Ryder.

    "Enough wasting time! Let¡¯s leave! Our border is under attack! You all seem to be forgetting that!" High Duke Magnained.

    ...

    Thousands and thousands of flying beasts filled the sky of Demon Realm, carrying the Royal Army Soldiers on them.

    The ones leading were the Prince and the High Dukes. The citizens of the Demon Realm watched them leave in the sky. They cheered for them loudly, wishing the army good luck for war.

    Even though they were hopeful, they were still concerned since it was their first fight without a king. Even though they had High Dukes, without their King, it still felt different.

 Chapter 506 On Time

    <h4>Chapter 506: On Time</h4>

    A big army advanced towards the border of the Demon Realm, prepared to participate in their first-ever fight without their King.

    The Demon Realm had gone to many battles, thest being against the Death Domain many many years ago.

    That battle proved to be the greatest battle that changed a lot of things for the Death Domain and for the Demon Realm.

    Even though it ended with the victory of the Demon Realm, the Demon King and the Death King both disappeared after that war.

    While the people in Demon Realm believed that their King killed the Death King and, seeing no enemy strong enough to threaten the Demon Realm left, he left the Demon Realm to travel the world to find worthy opponents.

    Whereas the people of Death Domain assumed that the Death King and the Demon King were both dead.

    Both sides were assuming things since no one knew what exactly happened that day. All they knew was that the Death King was most certainly dead; otherwise, he would have joined the war, preventing their defeat.

    ...

    At the border of the Demon Realm, an assault had already started.

    A portion of the Demon Realm army was already there, led by the Marquis and the Dukes.

    Until now, the enemies hadn¡¯t managed to break inside the Demon Realm because of the barrier surrounding the Demon Realm in its entirety.

    The enemies were from the Spirit Realm; thus, they couldn¡¯t pass through the barrier. The only way to enter the Demon Realm was by breaking the barrier that was protecting this ce.

    But breaking the barrier wasn¡¯t easy. At Least it couldn¡¯t be achieved without putting in much time and effort. It wasn¡¯t called the strongest Empire here for no reason after all.

    Unfortunately, the strengths of the Spirit Realm weren¡¯t weak either. Moreover, they had been continuing their assault for over a day now. It didn¡¯t seem like the barrier couldst for much longer. And once the barrier was broken, the Spirit Realm armies would rush through, starting the war.

    On one side of the barrier stood the Armies of Spirit Realm, attacking ruthlessly. On the other side of the barrier stood their opponents, the Demon Realm warriors.

    "The barrier won¡¯tst long, I think," Duke Mikmented as he watched the barrier¡¯s light dimming.

    "You¡¯re right. It wouldn¡¯tst much longer," Duke Devilia said, frowning.

    She was dressed in her warrior outfit, covered in Armor that provided her some level of protection.

    "Do you think the reinforcements from the Royal City would be here on time?" One of the Dukes asked.

    There were five Dukes and sixteen marquis present at the site, waiting for the barrier to break, preparing for what was toe.

    " They should¡¯ve been here by now, honestly. We informed them long ago. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s taking them so long," another Duke replied.

    "Do you think our new Prince is getting cold feet and taking longer to order a departure?"

    "Who knows. All I know is that they shoulde with the reinforcements from the Royal City fast. If they don¡¯te, the trouble that will follow us will be much bigger.

    "Yeah, The enemy army outnumbered us. Moreover, they are from the Spirit Realm. In their peak days, they used to beparable to our Demon Realm in strength."

    "You¡¯re right. It wasn¡¯t until the war when they were destroyed. It had been a long time since they went into hiding, which is enough time to recover. So it¡¯s highly possible that they might have warriorsparable to our high Dukes. If that¡¯s the case, we would not survive without the High Dukesing here personally."

    The Dukes seemed pretty pessimistic and weren¡¯t sure if they were going to get help. It has honestly taken longer than it should have. Theoretically, the reinforcements should have been here before yesterday, but they were not here even now.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I know the new Prince. He is the kind of person that dared to barge inside the Death Domain and face their Death Envoys and their Prince, stealing our war criminal from right under their eyes within their Royal Pce. Do you really think that kind of person can get cold feet? Don¡¯t worry and have faith," Devilia chimed in.

    She knew Ryder the best and understood all the things he had achieved. Moreover, she understood his temperament.

    "I hope so..." the Dukes said.

    ...

    "I see our army. It looks like the enemy still hadn¡¯t managed to barge inside. We aren¡¯t toote," Rale told Ryder as he noticed the barrier still intact.

    "That¡¯s good," Ryder agreed.

    ...

    "Did you hear about the new event of Necrosis?"

    "The billion-dor event that¡¯s for the top ten? Yeah, I heard about that. It¡¯s everywhere. Amazingly, apany is willing to spend that much."

    "Not that! About a different event!"

    Two youngsters were sitting inside a cafe, talking to each other over coffee.

    "What event? I am not much info this VR and Divinity sh*t. I¡¯m happy ying my Nario and other old games the normal way. The only reason I heard about the billion-dor event was because someone told me before. What new event are you talking about?"

    "Apparently, two lucky yers in Divinity had received a special quest. Each of them became a leader of a special Empire, and both the Empires are at war. Each of those yers needs to make sure that their Empire wins, and this whole thing will be broadcasted on the official site of Divinity from today."

    "Hmm? What¡¯s special about two yers fighting? Isn¡¯t that the same as the billion-dor event, just that the number of yers is small and the mode of battle is arge-scale war here? Anyway, what¡¯s the prize? For this to make news, the prize should be half a billion dors at least?

    "Not at all! Apart from that, the prizes are kept a secret. Moreover, the loser of this war will be banned from Divinity forever! But that¡¯s not why this news is so special. It¡¯s because people can finally start watching and streaming their events after this event! I¡¯m so excited to see the battle between two yers, leading the armies of NPCs."

    "Who are the yers?"

    "I have no idea yet. Basically, no one knows. But we should know when the stream starts. Want to watch it with me?"

    "Sure. I¡¯ll see what Divinity is all about since you insist so much."

    The same discussion was taking ce all over the country. Many Divinity enthusiasts had already opened the Divinity website as they waited for the stream to start finally.

    Not only them, even Shu hadn¡¯t gone inside Divinity tonight as he stayed out to watch the stream. He even wished to watch with Ryder and Alice, but apparently, none of them were avable.

    He could only do so alone now.

    ...

    In the office of Necrosis, people seemed very busy.

    "How long before we can start the broadcast?" the Director of Necrosis asked a woman.

    "An hour at most," the woman answered.

    "Good."

    ...

    In a different part of Divinity, a man was walking in what seemed like a desert. The man had a mask covering his face.

    If Ryder had seen the man, he would have recognized him as Lucifer.

    Moreover, that man wasn¡¯t too far away from where Ryder was at the moment. He was actually inside the Demon Realm.

    Ryder was trying to find the whereabouts of the man, not knowing that he was right below his nose.

    In fact, the army of Demon Realm even flew above the head of Lucifer at a point in time, but they were in haste to reach the border and hadn¡¯t focused their heads down.

    If Ryder had looked down, he would have found the person he was looking for while simultaneously getting a potential fragment of Divinity which he believed to be in the hand of Lucifer.

    ...

    "Here theye," Devilia eximed as she smiled at the sight of reinforcements. They were at the right time, actually, which was amazing.

    The other Dukes also became happy as they saw Ryder and the massive army. Their worries proved to be unfounded as he was here on time.

    "Your Highness,"

    Everyone greeted Ryder as therge armynded on the ground. Ryder was in the lead, followed by others.

    "What¡¯s the situation?" Ryder asked.

    ...

    "Oracle... Their army is here! Apparently, we arete. If only we could break the barrier in time, we might have managed to cause more destruction before their arrival."

    One of the Spirit Warriors was informing Alice, who was sitting in a tent at the end of the Spirit Realm army.

    "Is the army big? Can you take care of it?" Alice asked, wondering if she could even hope to finish this quest.

    She was actually depending on the army to do anything to finish the quest since she actually didn¡¯t know what to do. She didn¡¯t even realize how she ended up here at all. All she knew was that this was a quest she needed to finish if she didn¡¯t want to be banned and y with Ryder in Divinityter.

 Chapter 507 New plan

    <h4>Chapter 507: New n</h4>

    "The army is pretty big, but with the support of the Oracle and the will of our people, we can take care of them. The barrier would be broken soon enough. We will attack then," the Spirit Warrior told Alice.

    "Alright. If you say so, I¡¯ll use my blessing to increase all your strength in this war," Alice nodded.

    She had received a lot of special skills because of receiving the unique ss of Divine Oracle of Spirit Realm.

    One of those skills was Stat Enhancement. Despite being a low-level yer personally, she had many general-level skills that had arge area of effect. It was as if her ss was specifically made to help the army she led.

    The Stat Enhancement was something that allowed her to increase the stats of every warrior that was under her by a certain amount.

    The Increased amount and percentage depended on the people she was using the skill on.

    If she used it on one, the effects were best, whereas if she used it on arge number of warriors, the effects were somewhat less.

    "That would be perfect. Stay behind and rest after casting your skill. We should handle the rest. If we can¡¯t, then we would call for more help," the Spirit Warrior said before he respectfully bowed his head and left.

    ...

    "The barrier is going to be broken soon. How long do you expect it tost?" Ryder asked the High Dukes, wondering the exact time. He hadn¡¯t known about the barrier much, so he couldn¡¯t say how long they had.

    The armies were already in the position to start the battle as soon as the enemy barged inside after breaking the barrier.

    "Half an hour at best," High Duke Oris said, giving his estimate.

    "I think the same," High Duke M agreed as she gazed at the barrier.

    "It¡¯s my first time leading a war, so I don¡¯t know much. I¡¯ll depend on you all to give me the right advice at the right time. Let¡¯s make sure that we will win the war with the least casualty," Ryder said respectfully.

    He knew that he was pretty weak in Divinity, at least whenpared to the High Dukes. In any case, he could only depend on them to win the war. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t anything shameful to depend on his High Dukes as a Prince. They were there to help the Royals, after all.

    "Of course we would. We would help to the best of our abilities," High Duke Oris said.

    The other High Dukes also agreed. Only High Duke Magna didn¡¯t say anything.

    Ryder gazed at him, smiling wryly, wondering why that guy was always so stern-looking. Did he not like him?

    "What about you?" Ryder asked High Duke Magna.

    "It¡¯s my duty to help the Empire. But it¡¯s not my duty to answer every sentiment-filled question. We are the High Dukes of the Empire. It¡¯s our purpose to protect the Empire. And if you still have to ask us if we will or won¡¯t, then doesn¡¯t that mean you¡¯re doubting our will and resolve?" High Duke Magna asked, squinting his eyes.

    The Dukes stood in the back, hearing the conversation of the higher-ups. Hearing High Duke Magna¡¯s reply, they could feel the tense atmosphere.

    Was everything not right between the High Duke and the Prince?

    "Not at all. I¡¯m not doubting your resolve at all," Ryder replied, smiling wryly. He couldn¡¯t believe the simple question of his was seen as him doubting the abilities of High Dukes, but he could see how that misunderstanding was created.

    He didn¡¯t even know what to say in reply, so he changed the topic, "I have a question. Instead of sending our soldiers first, how about we go in ourselves and take theirmanding authority out, ending the war right away? We won¡¯t have to sacrifice our warriors?"

    "That¡¯s a noble thought, but that¡¯s not possible. They might already expect us to attack. It¡¯s easy for them to take steps to put us at a disadvantage on theirnd. It¡¯s not as easy to attack an enemy base; otherwise, wars wouldn¡¯t use any soldiers at all," High Duke Magna was the first one to answer, refusing the suggestion.

    "Moreover, fighting alone against millions of soldiers while also taking care of the attacks of the strongest enemy that can bring a lot of people down. That¡¯s why wars use soldiers here to dwindle down the number of soldiers of the enemy that can interfere in the battle against the peak powers," High Duke Eston chimed in, agreeing.

    "Oh, so it¡¯s like a game of chess. Where you try to decrease the pieces surrounding the enemy King to leave no way for it to escape," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    "Chess?" High Duke M inquired, confused.

    "Nothing. But if it¡¯s about decreasing the number of enemies, we can send our top powers to kill their soldiers and help our soldiers right away," Ryder replied.

    "That¡¯s what we do. We try to attack them, giving them as much damage as they can while trying to get the most advantageous position. And if there¡¯s a hint of a crack in the defence of the enemies, we barge inside to finish the job once and for all. Unfortunately, with time, the enemies had gotten stronger and smarter," High Duke M exined.

    "How was thest war with the Death Domain? Did you wait till all the soldiers were dead?" Ryder inquired, wondering how the previous King got the victory.

    "Last warsted for a long time. Many soldiers from both sides died, including a few of High Dukes. In the end, the battle between the two kings happened, not on the battlefield, though."

    "It happened far away from our eyes. Both Kings disappeared at once. Only our Demon King returned after an hour. Signs of battle were clearly visible. It seemed like he had gone through an intense weapon. Anyway, he dered victory before he again disappeared, never to return again," High Duke Oris said.

    ...

    The conversation between the High Dukes and Ryder continued as he tried toe up with a n to deal with the uing battle. But in the end, he knew that he could only treat it as a war game.

    He had yed many strategy war games previously. Even though none of them were VR and this realistic, he felt he could do what he wanted. He had a good idea of his abilities. He didn¡¯t know about the abilities of the High Dukes, but he had faith that they could take care of the enemies too.

    Time kept passing slowly, and soon, half an hour was over. The barrier had be so dim that it wasn¡¯t even visible anymore.

    To make sure that the barrier was broken, Spirit Warriors attacked the barrier with their sword. The attack passed through without any obstruction.

    "The barrier is broken!" The Spirit General dered in a tone filled with fighting spirit.

    He raised his silver heavy sword high in the sky before hemanded, "Warriors of the Spirit Realm! It¡¯s time to take or revenge for everything these Demons did to us! Go ahead and destroy them all! When this war ends, there should be no demon realm anymore! Attack!"

    With hismand, he used a skill called War Cry that filled his soldiers with a strong fighting spirit and a will to win at any cost, even if it meant sacrificing their lives.

    ...

    "It¡¯s time. Give themand for our soldiers to advance." High Duke Oris told Ryder as he watched the enemy soldiers step inside the Demon Realm.

    It was Ryder¡¯s responsibility as the Prince of the Demon Realm.

    "Yes." Ryder once again started rising in the sky to make himself visible.

    "Sigh, there he goes again with his minute-long speech! Couldn¡¯t he simply tell them to attack like a normal person?" High Duke Magnained, rolling his eyes.

    Ignoring his words, Ryder focused on his soldiers.

    "Warriors of the Demon Realm, it¡¯s time to show your strength! Go show your prowess and wipe the enemy that dared to step inside out purend!"

    He kept it short this time while also infusing his words with amander ss skill to fill his warriors with strength and motivation to fight.

    "Yaaa!"

    "Attack!"

    "We will kill you all!"

    The soldiers of the Demon Realm also started running towards them Spirit Realm warriors, flourishing their weapons, prepared to cut the enemy in half.

    Rydernded on the ground aftermanding.

    "So the first stage of battle will be led by the Marquis and the soldiers while we protect them from a stronger level of attacks, right?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "That¡¯s right," High Duke Oris nodded.

    "I have a n that I want to put forth," Ryder suggested as he rubbed his chin.

    "You might think it¡¯s a waste, but I know it is useful," he added.

    "What n?" High Dukes asked, wondering if the n was good and useful. If it was, why did Ryder seem so uncertain as if they were going to say no?

 Chapter 508 Old Janus back

    <h4>Chapter 508: Old Janus back</h4>

    "What n do you have?" High Dukes asked Ryder, wondering about his n.

    "I want to hide myself and go fight with our normal soldiers as a fellow soldier," Ryder said.

    "So your n is to leave yourmander duties and fight like a brute?" High Duke Magna said, unable to believe what he was hearing.

    Was this really the person who was supposed to lead them?

    Ryder, on the other hand, had a different idea. In reality, he could see an opportunity here. There were so many enemies; it was like a fest to gain exp.

    If he stayed back, all the easy targets would be killed, and he won¡¯t get any experience. As for the stronger enemiester, they would be killed by High Dukes. He didn¡¯t want to stand here like a decoration and lose the opportunity to get stronger. But he couldn¡¯t tell them that he wanted to take part because of his own greed. So he decided to give an excuse.

    "You don¡¯t understand my entire n. What I n to do is go in as a soldier but find an opportunity to infiltrate the enemy if I can and kill theirmander," Ryder said, wondering if his words would work.

    "Let me get this straight. So your n is to go fight thousands of soldiers where you can be killed to find an opportunity to sneak to enemy camps where their strongest warriors protect their General along with a few other traps, thinking that you can kill them," High Duke Magna spoke, making Ryder uncertain if he was mocking his n or seriously asking.

    But the way he said it made Ryder realize how stupid his n was.

    ¡¯I should¡¯ve used different words. Now I realize how hasty I was in speaking it,¡¯ he thought, wondering how to correct his statement.

    "Is that what you¡¯re saying? Because if it is, then I don¡¯t know what to say. Because I don¡¯t want to insult you," High Duke Magna said.

    Ryder was cursing inside his heart, thinking, ¡¯You old man! You say you don¡¯t want to insult me. What you are doing is exactly the same, dumbass.¡¯

    "You don¡¯t understand my n. I have a few abilities that make me best for stealth. Moreover, I can impersonate their soldiers as well as hide myself to extreme levels. I have faith in myself," Ryder said, telling a bit of truth to cover his lies.

    High Duke Magna looked at High Duke Oris, sighing as if he didn¡¯t want to deal with this level of stupidity or exin more. "You speak to him. Maybe he will understand."

    "My Prince, this idea is genuinely bad. You¡¯re the leader of our side, and you need to be present here to see the changing situations of war, not in the middle of the field, fighting like brutes. The soldiers see you here and get moral support. So does all the Dukes and Marquis. It¡¯s more advantageous for you to be here," High Duke Oris said to Ryder calmly.

    "Moreover, you are underestimating the Spirit Warriors. No matter how good at stealth you are, they are expected to find you and kill you. Losing a Prince is no less than losing a war here. So we can¡¯t allow you to leave," High Duke M chimed in.

    High Duke Eston also agreed to this notion. In general, no one was going to let Ryder leave.

    Ryder sighed in disappointment. Was there nothing he could do to not lose this opportunity?

    [Attention yers!]

    Ryder was thinking about what to do while Alice was thinking about the oue of the war when the two of them heard the notification in their ears.

    Ryder looked towards the sky, where the sound was supposedlying from, only to find Maya there.

    "What now?" he asked.

    [The live broadcast of your War is about to start in another five minutes. By epting the Quest, you gave us the right to broadcast this war. For that, we are grateful.]

    [As a reward for giving us that privilege, we provide you with an opportunity.]

    Up to this point, Ryder and Alice heard the same thing, but this was where the words changed for both of them.

    [As you are already in the top ten ranks, You are allowed to take part in our billion-dor prize event. But as a special reward, you are allowed to give one more yer the right to join the billion-dor event along with you.]

    [If you ept, send the details of yours and the other yer to Necrosis Headquarters in a sealed envelope with title Special0011]

    As Ryder heard it, he couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly. These guys, they were really going all out. Giving him the permission to bring another yer? That wasn¡¯t a bad proposition. But disclosing his information was still a problem.

    "Wait a minute, what if I lose the war? Won¡¯t I be banned? How can I join the event then?" he asked, frowning.

    [In case of a loss in the quest, your participation chance will still be valid, and you¡¯ll be rewarded an unban as long as you¡¯re not found to go against the rules in this war]

    "Interesting. So if I lost, I still have a chance to continue inside Divinity, given that I sent my details and take this opportunity. Theseplicated things. I better try my best not to lose then," Ryder muttered, rubbing his chin.

    ...

    Ryder heard about an additional chance to give the participation rights to another yer, whereas Alice heard something different.

    [As you may know, Necrosis Corporation has organized an event for the top ten yers of Divinity where they have an opportunity to win a billion-dor. Despite not being in the top ten, you are provided an opportunity to take part in the event.]

    [If you ept, send the details of yours and the other yer to Necrosis Headquarters in a sealed envelope with title Special0012]

    Alice also asked the same question as Ryder about being banned, and she was given the same answer, which made her eyes lit up. That means she didn¡¯t have to worry about losing the war. She found it extremely helpful.

    "Thank you so much," she told Maya, who disappeared.

    ...

    "Alright. This is a war we must win. No excuses," Ryder muttered, clenching his fist.

    "High Dukes and everyone else present here! I have amand for you!" he dered as he looked around, using his unique grade artifact, which was his crown, to use his authority.

    "Yes, Your Highness."

    "I want all of you to tell me about all your skills. Nothing should be skipped. We will work smart and make sure we make the best of your skills. There needs to be synchronization between our skills to maximize the effort," Ryder said.

    His strategic mind was finally working as he was reminded that losing meant giving away his privacy or his right to y divinity.

    Since he couldn¡¯t take this as a VR that he was supposed to take part in, he was going to take it as a strategic war game.

    They began with the Marquis, who started describing their skills in detail. The line kept moving as one after another they kepting forward.

    After all the marquis were done, it was the turn of Dukes. Some of the Dukes were uncertain about exposing all their skills since there were conflicts between Dukes as well. Telling their skills meant telling their future potential enemies about their strength which they believed could be bad.

    But it was amand. If they lied or disobeyed, they were going to be killed at discovery.

    With the invisible sword of death hanging above their head, none of them lied or hid anything from others.

    They all told the truth.

    Thest in the line was Devilia, who told her skills.

    "And myst skill is Vision of iafh. It allows me to see through walls of any obstruction," Devilia said.

    "See through walls, huh. Interesting skill. If I had that, wouldn¡¯t I be able to see through walls too?" Ryder muttered, amused at the prospects of having a skill like that.

    [Perverted thoughts detected]

    [A new mission has been issued]

    ¡¯What perverted thoughts, you idiot! I was thinking about seeing through walls when enemies were on the other side. Not watchingdies bathe!¡¯ Ryder thought, feeling like crying.

    It was the truth, though. When thinking about the prospects of this power, he thought about enemies first, but a small part of him also realized that it could be used for perverted things. But that didn¡¯t mean he wanted to do it.

    He had a feeling that this mission was going to be the death of his, depending on what it was.

    He could only hope that old Janus wasn¡¯t back who used to bully him with missions just to have fun. It had been a long time since Janus stopped that but hearing his tone, he had a feeling that it¡¯s what Janus was going to do here.

    [Mission: Hug High Duke M and grab her butt while whispering in her ears that you want to marry her]

    [Time Limit: 5 Minutes]

    "What the heck?" Ryder cursed, hearing the mission.

 Chapter 509 Mission Swap

    <h4>Chapter 509: Mission Swap</h4>

    "Janus, Please tell me you¡¯re joking. That quest at a time like this is pretty bad," Ryder told Janus, frowning. This quest was a mess.

    "I¡¯m joking," Janus repliedzily. "This isn¡¯t the mission."

    "Really? You were joking?" Ryder inquired, pleasantly surprised. This boy had really learned to mess with him.

    "No. You told me to say I was joking, and I said that. The mission wasn¡¯t a joke," Janus answered.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but facepalm himself. This little system was being clever here.

    "Do I have any other choice but to do this mission?" Ryder asked.

    "You have one choice," Janus answered, cheekily as if this was what he was waiting for.

    "What is that?" Ryder asked, wondering. Was it true? Janus was actually giving him an option to do something else besides this quest?

    "You can switch this mission with another mission. You only have one minute to decide," Janus said.

    "What other mission?" Ryder inquired.

    " The exchange mission will only be disclosed once you make the switch. The decision is yours," Janus answered.

    Hearing his words, Ryder fell into a deep thought. This was an offer indeed, but it was a risky offer at the same time. If he selected blindly, the other mission might be moreplex or worse. Anything was possible for Janus, after all.

    He could see two timers before him. One was the timer with the exchange offer, which had only thirty seconds remaining, while the other was one with over four minutes left which was the time duration he had for this mission.

    "Whatever. I ept the quest."

    With only one second remaining in the first timer, Ryder dered, deciding to take the risk.

    [Mission change epted]

    [Old mission has been retracted]

    The screen with the second timer disappeared.

    [Another mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Brotherly Bond]

    [Description: The host has been talking badly to Janus for quite a long time. ording to the quest, Host needs to treat Janus as his real little brother]

    [Time Duration: Lifetime]

    [Reward: As this is an exchange mission, there are no rewards]

    [Punishment for failure: Only two times failure is allowed in this quest. A third failure will result in a mysterious punishment]

    For a moment, silence ensued. Ryder stood calmly, wondering what he just heard. That was the quest? What was Janus thinking this time? Did he give this quest because he knew Ryder couldn¡¯t do it or for some other reason?

    ¡¯You made a mistake, my dear brother. I can easily do this quest. You underestimate me," Ryder said, grinning. He was feeling happy that he received such an easy mission in exchange. The switch worked.

    ¡¯Maybe I should try this switch facility next time too. If it can change tough missions to easy ones, it¡¯s good,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    ....

    Far away, Janus was sitting near a pond,ughing.

    It had been a long time since heughed so openly and so freely. As heughed, his eyes also got somewhat wet. It was unclear if he had tears of happiness or tears of sadness.

    "I would never understand you, my dear big brother. But I¡¯m d this worked. I get to hear that from you now. The old you wouldn¡¯t call me brother, only Janus. I just say this is a bit more pleasing," Janus muttered as he shook his head.

    "As for the ones that underestimated you... Don¡¯t worry. It won¡¯t take long before they realize how wrong they were. It would be toote for them at that time, though."

    ....

    After Ryder was done, he shifted his focus back to the war.

    The Soldiers had started the Battle already. At first nce, it seemed like the Demon Realm soldiers had an advantage, but the Spirit Warriors weren¡¯t easy to defeat either. It seemed like a fierce battle.

    "Alright, no time wasting. It¡¯s your turn. Tell me your abilities," Ryder told the High Dukes.

    They went from lowest in strength to highest.

    High Duke Eaton was the first to show his skills, followed by High Duke M, High Duke Oris.

    High Duke Magna was still a bit unwilling, but he went along.

    "Alright. Now that I know better, I think I can make a n," Ryder said, rubbing his chin.

    After thinking for a while, he looked towards High Duke Eston.

    "High Duke Eston, Synchronise yourself with all the Marquis that are leading the war. I would have asked you to sync with all soldiers, too, but that¡¯s a bit too much. From what I heard, only your Emperor was able to do such a thing. So syncing with the Commanders should be enough. They can convey our ns ahead," he said.

    "Alright," High Duke Eston responded as he sat down and closed his eyes to sync his thoughts with the Marquis that were on the battlefield.

    "Tell them that we are giving them a one minute long buff while giving Enemies a ten minute long debuff. I mean, we¡¯re making them strong and enemies weaker. Tell them to use this opportunity well while emptying the left side of the field entirely, leaving the enemies," Rydermanded.

    "Alright."

    "Devilia, give our army a buff. And use the weakening on the enemies."

    "Duke Milua, use the Thunderstorm of Zia on the left side of the field as soon as our soldiers empty that."

    "High Duke Oris, bring down the poisonous rain on our enemy if they escape the Thunderstorm and reach near us."

    "Duke Hua, increase the speed of our soldiers that are on the left side of the field to help them move faster and dodge the Thunderstorm."

    "High Duke M, form a shield on top of our soldiers after the Thunderstorm is used because seeing us involve our higher-ups, the higher-ups of Spirit Realm will use something simr to attack our soldiers. I want you to obstruct it within that time. The barrier should protect them."

    "High Duke Magna, you go up. Fly in the sky and keep an eye on the enemy using your Distant Vision. If they send someone to break the shield, attack. I don¡¯t care about anything else. We¡¯re not dragging this war any longer than it has to be. It shall be finished fast before Death Domaines to use this opportunity."

    "I understand the old rules of war that you follow, but today, it shall be my rules. No one is allowed to disobey!"

    One after another, Rydermanded everyone on what to do. Suddenly, it seemed as if the unaware sheep that depended on High Dukes suddenly became a lion that wasn¡¯t going to listen. Moreover, people didn¡¯t dislike it. Even High Duke Oris was impressed.

    As per hismand, the stats of his army was increasing. The enemies¡¯ stats were decreasing, but since the enemy was under the buff from Alice, their stats didn¡¯t decrease much.

    The speed on the army of the left had increased, and hearing themand from their Marquis who led the left side of the battlefield, the soldiers started running towards the right to join the right side army.

    The enemy army on the left side was stunned to see enemies running to the other side, but that also meant that there was no obstruction to stop them from reaching the enemy.

    "This is the opportunity! Oh, brave Warriors! We made the enemies run to the other end! Instead of chasing after them, use this opportunity to attack the core of the Demons! Let¡¯s kidnap their Prince! Charge!" the Spirit Commander said to his army, telling them to attack.

    As per his order, the Spirit army didn¡¯t chase after the demon army to the right. Instead, they charged towards Ryder in the back.

    "Hah, as expected. A single bait and they fell. What else can I expect when their leader is another yer? He¡¯s probably too excited to win. Too bad," Ryder muttered as a grin formed on his face after seeing the action of his enemies.

    He raised his right hand in the sky and started counting to three.

    "One... Two... Three... Now!"

    "Duke Milua, let the thunder reign supreme!"

    As soon as hismand came out of his lips, an old looking Duke raised both his hands and pped.

    A heavy Thunderstorm fell from the sky, burning the enemy, killing them in droves.

    The sudden Thunderstorm had brought forth the destruction that stunned everyone. The enemies were stunned. The Spirit army on the right side was shocked and worried for their warriors on the left. The army on the left was horrified, running everywhere to escape the Thunderstorm.

    "High Duke Oris! Let the Poisonous Rain fall!"

    Not feeling the least bit of pity on the enemy who was suffering, Rydermanded the High Duke to make it even worse for the enemies.

    Clouds covered the left side of the battlefield from which green poison droplets started falling down, burning everything they touched.

    "Those bastards! Their strongest dare attack our weakest! Those scheming guys! They¡¯re shameless. Fine! They asked for it!" a Spirit General stood up in the enemy camp, ready to attack.

 Chapter 510 Too weak

    <h4>Chapter 510: Too weak</h4>

    The water had risen above the head. He couldn¡¯t sit calm anymore. He thought the enemy wouldn¡¯t be shameless enough to break thews of the war, but apparently, they were. Since they broke it, he could too.

    "Princess! The enemy leaders are attacking our soldiers! Allow me to attack as well! Let the hell reign supreme on them! We will end it today itself," the Spirit general said to Alice, asking for her permission.

    "It¡¯s already time? Alright. I¡¯lle out."

    Alice stood up, unsure if she actually wanted to join the battle. She still didn¡¯t think that it was her ce to lead such a thing, but she had to give her best now that she was here.

    She came out of the tent and gazed at the battlefield and the enemy camp.

    She could see Ryder standing in the distance, before the High Dukes, seeminglymanding his men.

    "Is that their Prince?" she asked her Spirit General in surprise.

    "That¡¯s right. He is their Prince who ismanding them," Spirit General answered.

    "Interesting. I can¡¯t see his face. There¡¯s something that¡¯s making his face blurry for me. Is it the system? Maya did say that I and others can see the enemy¡¯s face just like they can¡¯t see mine. Do they see my face as blurry too?" She wondered.

    Just as he expected, Ryder also noticed the girl in the distance.

    "I think that¡¯s their Princess who is leading them," High Duke Oris said, observing the girl. He had no trouble seeing her real face.

    Ryder, on the other hand, could only see a blurry face.

    "So that is the enemy yer. Is she a yer in the top ten too? The Spirit Empress? Or someone else? Whatever, it¡¯s better I don¡¯t know. I won¡¯t have to feel bad about having someone he banned since I can¡¯t see the face," Ryder muttered as he nodded his head.

    "Princess, you see how they¡¯re using those strongest powers on our weakest soldiers? Give me more strength to fight them," Spirit General said as he pointed towards the left side of the field where the thunder storm and the poison rain was killing their enemies.

    "Sigh, so much pain and destruction. Even though it¡¯s a game, I don¡¯t like this. Alright, go and win the war so we can stop this faster," Alice said as she raised her right hand.

    Her hand started shining brightly as a bright ray of light shot towards the sky, piercing into the clouds.

    "Beautiful..."

    Even though Alice was an enemy, Ryder couldn¡¯t help but appreciate her skill which seemed beautiful. It seemed like someone had erected a beautiful golden tower.

    "Go ahead. As long as this golden tower exists, your strength will be doubled. Be fast enough. I don¡¯t think I can make itst for longer than a minute," Alice said.

    "One minute should be enough for me," the Spirit General said, hitting his fist together in excitement as he flew up in the sky.

    Another Spirit General used his skill as an illusory bow appeared in his hand.

    He stretched the string of the bow as he aimed a dark arrow towards the right side of the field.

    "One arrow?" Alice asked, confused. Was this one arrow going to be enough for the enemies?

    "Just wait and watch, Princess," the Second Spirit General said, grinning.

    He released the string of the bow, which fired the arrow. A single arrow flew in the sky, flying towards one ordinary soldier, but that wasn¡¯t all.

    As the arrow was in mid-distance, it split into thousands of arrows that flew towards different soldiers.

    "High Duke M, I want a barrier now!" Rydermanded in haste.

    Within seconds, High Duke M cast her barrier to protect their soldiers from the iing arrows.

    Thousands of arrows flew closer to the semi-transparent blue barrier that had just appeared in the sky, protecting the entire field.

    "Hah, that barrier? It would have been enough to stop my attack if I was at my normal strength, but because of Princess, my strength has doubled! That toy of a barrier can¡¯t stop me anymore! Only your Emperor might have the strength to stop my attack. Too bad, he¡¯s not here!" Second Spirit General said as heughed out loud before he fired another arrow from the bow.

    The first attacknded on the barrier, which couldn¡¯t resist in the least.

    The Barrier broke like it was made of a fragile ss that shattered because of a stone being tossed at him.

    Fortunately, even as it broke, the attack was stopped.

    Too bad that another attack wasing right about now.

    More than a thousand arrows flew towards the soldiers of the Demon Realm that were trying their best to fight and kill their enemies.

    As the barrier broke, High Duke M was taken aback. She couldn¡¯t cast another barrier again because of her previous barrier being broken.

    If the barrier wasn¡¯t broken, her cooldown time might have been lower, but after it was broken with force, her cooldown time was much higher.

    "This can be possible. How did his attack break my barrier?" High Duke M asked in disbelief.

    "I think it¡¯s because of that pir of light. That¡¯s increasing their strength by a massive amount," High Duke Oris talked about his observation.

    Hundreds of arrows fell down, stabbing the bodies of the soldiers of the demon realm, killing them.

    "Doesn¡¯t that mean that guy is buffed too? So High Duke Magna will be in trouble," Ryder pointed out as he noticed High Duke Magna about to sh with the First Spirit General who hade flying to them.

    "Magna, huh. I think you should watch yourself," High Duke Oris let out as he smiled wryly.

    The First Spirit General and High Duke Magna reached closer to each other in the sky.

    "Hahaha, you¡¯re here! You don¡¯t know how strong I have be because of our Divine Oracle. Watch yourself be killed now! You can only me yourself for your death because you were my enemy," the Spirit Generalughed out loud as he punched ahead with all his strength.

    It seemed like his entire surrounding was shaking with his punch because of the immense strength. High Duke Magna also punched straight ahead. Not even a single frown could be seen on his face as if he didn¡¯t care about this guy.

    Unlike the punch of the Spirit General, which seemed chaotic, the punch of Magna seemed calmer as if he hadzily tossed ahead a fist without applying any strength behind it.

    Both the fist shed, but the oue was clear if someone was to see the faces of the two. The High Duke¡¯s face had disappointment written all over it. On the other hand, the Spirit General¡¯s face was filled with shock.

    In the sh of strength, the winner was High Duke Magna, who was still in his position, whereas the Spirit General was pushed back a little because of the impact.

    "How! My strength is twice now! How can you match my strength? How?!" The Spirit General eximed in shock.

    "Two times the strength? So that¡¯s the effect of that pir which allowed your friend to break the barrier of M. Too bad for you, but I¡¯m not M. If this is twice your strength, you¡¯ll need at least five times your strength to match me. I¡¯m amazed at your pitiful original strength. And you dare to attack our great Demon Realm?" High Duke Magna asked the Spirit General calmly.

    Even though the High Duke Magna had spoken calmly to the Spirit General, his words felt mocking.

    On the ground, even Ryder was surprised. This strength... Just how strong was Magnapared to M?

    "He is that strong?" he asked High Duke Oris, who stood beside him.

    "He¡¯s pretty strong indeed," High Duke Oris answered.

    "Are you as strong as him? If not, then how weak are youpared to him?" Ryder asked. He had previously thought that the difference between the strength of High Dukes wasn¡¯t this massive, but only now he knew that it was much more vast.

    "Hmm... If I am as strong as him?" High Duke Oris muttered with an amused smile on his face.

    He soon answered, "I¡¯m not sure. I haven¡¯t fought him in thest thousand years. So I can¡¯t say."

    "And who won a thousand years ago?" Ryder asked, interested to know.

    "That¡¯s a secret that we decided not to tell anyone," High Duke Oris chuckled as he refused to answer.

    Even though Ryder could have forced High Duke, he didn¡¯t do it.

    "You bastard! So what if your brute strength is stronger than me? You¡¯ll still die!"

    The Spirit General raised his arm and tossed a Spirit Orb towards the High Duke, Intending to kill him.

    "Too weak," High Duke Magna saidzily as he flicked his finger lightly, making a small barrier appear before him which absorbed the spirit wall.

    "You shouldn¡¯t forget how badly you all lost thest war. There was a reason for that. Waging a war again? The new generation is really stupid." he said as he patted his hand.

 Chapter 511 Sacrifice

    <h4>Chapter 511: Sacrifice</h4>

    "Your new generation is really stupid. Last time you survived theplete massacre, but you just had toe back for that?" High Duke Magna said before he raised his right hand and gripped the thin air.

    From what he did, something simr took ce in the distance. Even though High Duke Magna wasn¡¯t holding the next of the Spirit General personally, the Spirit General could be seen choking.

    It was as if some Mystical force was choking him, making him unable to breathe.

    "Geez, if he is that strong, then why were we even worrying about attacking their base right away? Their strongest warriors are like kids before High Duke Magna," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.

    He shifted his gaze to High Duke Oris before he continued, "I suppose you¡¯re just as strong. So are we really wasting time here by going easy? Whatever excuse you have doesn¡¯t make sense anymore."

    "As we said, this is war etiquette. We generally don¡¯t break that, but as per yourmand, we are doing that. Moreover, there¡¯s another reason in my mind. It¡¯s because we¡¯re keeping guard at this ce. It¡¯s tooplicated to exin," High Duke Oris replied.

    ...

    "He seems like he is in trouble," Alice told the Second Spirit General as she noticed the First Spirit General choking in the distance.

    "There¡¯s not much time left in the one minute of boost. Shouldn¡¯t you help him?" She asked the Second Spirit General, who was more immersed in using his newly gained strength for killing the enemies with his arrows.

    The Spirit Realm only had three Spirit Generals. Two of them were already here as for the Third Spirit General, who was missing.

    Hearing his words, the Second Spirit General came out of the battle mindset and shifted his focus on other ces too. He soon noticed the first Spirit General, seemingly in trouble.

    "I¡¯ll help him right away!"

    With that said, he raised his bow to aim towards the High Duke.

    The arrow wasn¡¯t ck this time. Instead, it was golden in color, which seemed different. It was evident that he was using an arrow with a different specialty.

    It wasn¡¯t an arrow that divided in thousands; instead, it was one that focused all that energy into one.

    "Go!"

    He released the string and fired the arrow in the direction of High Duke Magna.

    "Tell me one thing. Do you regret your overconfidence? Or do you regret waging the war which will end up with all of you dying?" High Duke Magna asked the Spirit General who was choking.

    The Spirit General¡¯s HP kept decreasing rapidly as he neared death.

    "High Duke Magna, watch out for the arrow!" Ryder called out as he saw the arrow nearing the High Duke.

    Hearing Ryder¡¯s concern, High Duke Magna¡¯s eyes twitched in annoyance. Did he say that he needed help? He already knew about the arrow.

    "Looks like your friend still doesn¡¯t understand the massive gap between the two of us," High Duke Magna muttered as he raised his left hand towards the iing arrow.

    A small ball of dark light appeared before his palm, which shot out towards the iing arrow.

    The arrow and the ball of light shed with each other. The sh didn¡¯tst for long enough as the ball of light swallowed the arrow entirely as if it was a hungry beast that finally got its food.

    "So that¡¯s his Devouring Orb. I wondered how it worked after he described it. Pretty good skill for defense and offense," Ryder nodded his head in appreciation of the skill, which seemed useful.

    "What? How!"

    Seeing his attack being swallowed so easily, the Second Spirit General was shocked. This guy was really so strong? His strength and other stats were twice as strong because of the pir now. And even then, the attack felt like an attack from a toy. This didn¡¯t make sense for him.

    "I can¡¯t hold it anymore!" Alice eximed as she found herself overburdened. The limitations of this tower were reached as it disappeared swiftly, bringing the strength of the Spirit Generals to normal.

    "I¡¯m sorry," Alice apologized as she sat back on the ground, tired.

    "Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s we who disappointed you by ourck of strength. We don¡¯t know their High Dukes would be this strong. Their strength is nothing like described in our scriptures. They are much stronger.

    "That was given. They are the strongest warriors of the Demon Realm that defeated youst time. I told you long ago that you shouldn¡¯t underestimate them," Alice told the Spirit General.

    She remembered saying that when she was told about this war against the people of the Death Domain. The war was pretty hasty in her opinion.

    She had told them that they were underestimating the enemy a lot by saying they will definitely win and that they are as strong as their enemies.

    "Don¡¯t worry. As long as we kill their Prince, we are done with the war. It would be our victory. The Third Spirit General is already doing that much for us. It would be over soon," the Second Spirit General nodded in appreciation.

    "What about the first Spirit General? He would be long dead by then," Alice asked.

    She could see the HP of the first High Duke dropping even faster now that he was without her buff. Soon, his HP was going to be zero. He was going to die.

    "That¡¯s fine. A necessary Sacrifice to keep them distracted," Second Spirit Emperor said as he sighed.

    ....

    "That guy won¡¯t live for long. It¡¯s strange. Why aren¡¯t they trying to save him?"

    Seeing the First Spirit Emperor close to death, Ryder was surprised. Apparently, no one was trying to save him, which was really strange.

    "Your Highness, I have a guess. Maybe because that golden pir is gone? They don¡¯t know if they can still attack us or not without the strength? Or without their boost in strength, they aren¡¯t that willing to attack at the front?" One of the Dukes chimed in.

    "Maybe," Ryder muttered, rubbing his chin.

    It was when the First Spirit General was killed. His body was tossed back to the ground after he was killed.

    "There goes one. I think there¡¯s one more left now. Let¡¯s attack them. We¡¯ll think about the restter. No point in wor-"

    Ryder was still speaking, talking about attacking, when he suddenly saw someone appear before him out of thin air, thrusting a sword towards him.

    The Sword prated Ryder¡¯s chest. His HP started decreasing as if it was a race to see how fast it could hit zero. Ryder was sure that within a few moments, he was going to be dead.

    "There he is! The Third Spirit General managed to sneak inside! It¡¯s our victory!" The Second Spirit General eximed as he smiled at the sight of Ryder being stabbed.

    ...

    Since the entire fight was being broadcasted on the website of the Necrosis Corporation, a lot of people were watching it live despite it being night.

    Even now, there were over a million people watching the broadcast, at least.

    They all felt like Ryder had an upper edge in the war. His army was stronger, his n seemed the best, and more importantly, his Warrior, which was the first High Duke, seemed unstoppable.

    Seeing all that, they had decided that Ryder was going to win. Compared to him, his female opponent seemedckluster. She didn¡¯t seem to have any ns. She was just fighting a lost war.

    It was when things changed as they saw a person suddenly appear before Ryder, stabbing him.

    "So the girl wasn¡¯t an idiot. She was a scheming girl who was nning to take out her enemy yer. Not bad. I guess I lost my bet. The war is over. I should have bet on the girl instead."

    That was what everyone thought as they saw the sudden change in the field.

    Along with the war, many bettings had also started, and almost all of them had betted on Ryder winning after seeing the first five minutes of war.

    But now, the ones who had betted on Ryder were sad, whereas the ones who bet on the girl were gleeful.

    ...

    Ryder saw his HP going down. He knew there was no escaping it. His decreasing HO wasn¡¯t going to stop now. And if he died, it was going to be his loss.

    Not willing to lose, he used his time control to go back in time by five minutes.

    He could now go back in time by up to three hours without dying. But he only needed five minutes to escape from this problem.

    The time started moving back as Ryder found himself back in time. The first Spirit General wasn¡¯t dead at the moment.

    High Duke Magna hadn¡¯t even started choking that guy.

    "That¡¯s better. Let¡¯s see who kills me now," Ryder muttered as he stayed prepared for the uing attack that was supposed tond on him after five minutes.

 Chapter 512 Leader who fooled

    <h4>Chapter 512: Leader who fooled</h4>

    Ryder stayed calmly, waiting for the attack. He was sure it was going toe, and he also knew where it was going toe from.

    Time slowly trickled away. Only a few seconds were left before it was going to be exactly five minutes.

    "Now," Ryder muttered softly as he moved over to the side, only taking two steps.

    As he stepped to the side, a person appeared before him as the sword was thrust forward. Fortunately, Ryder had moved on time, and the Sword passed through thin air, not hitting anything.

    "You!"

    High Duke Oris reacted hastily as he moved, catching the intruder.

    Ryder gazed back at the man who was lying on the ground, caught by High Duke Oris.

    "Good work High Duke Oris," Ryder said to High Duke Oris as he smiled.

    Inside, his thoughts were different, though.

    ¡¯If only you had moved before he attacked, I might have been finest time,¡¯ he thought.

    "He should be their Spirit General. I don¡¯t know what skill he used, but he waspletely understandable before he attacked. I couldn¡¯t even feel him. How did you find out and move to the side?" High Duke Oris asked, confused.

    "It¡¯s a skill I have. I felt danger, and I moved. I didn¡¯t know it was dangerous in this form," Ryder gave an excuse.

    "So, this is their Spirit General, huh. They were trying the assassination plot while ming us for breaking the rules?" Ryder asked as he gazed at the distance towards the female yer whose face he couldn¡¯t see clearly.

    He gazed back at the Spirit General they had pinned to the ground.

    "You people are quite hypocrites, aren¡¯t you?" he asked as he stepped forward. The Moon Scythe was still in his hand.

    He shed down, stabbing the de of the scythe in the Spirit General¡¯s chest.

    "Argh!"

    The Spirit General screamed in pain as the Scythe entered his body. His HP started decreasing slowly as he tried to break free.

    Unfortunately, without the boost of the Golden Tower, he was too weak against High Duke Oris¡¯s mighty strength. He couldn¡¯t even move, let alone free himself.

    All he could do was watch his HP decrease slowly.

    It didn¡¯t take long before his HP reached zero altogether.

    [Killed Third Spirit General]

    [Curse of the Bracelet has been activated. You took help from someone to kill. No Exp awarded]

    [Moon Scyth¡¯s stat absorption activated]

    [Third Spirit General¡¯s stats absorbed: Strength]

    "Spirit General¡¯s strength, who is almostparable to High Dukes? Even though Moon Scythe only gave me a little fraction of his strength, it¡¯s not bad," Ryder muttered with an amused smile on his face.

    [Moon Scythe¡¯s Skill Absorption sessful]

    "What? Skill absorption? Ipletely forgot about that. There was always a tiny chance to absorb the skills of enemies I killed. But it rarely worked because of such a low chance. Can¡¯t believe it worked," Ryder thought, amused to know that it was going to work.

    He was going to get one random skill of this Spirit General? If it worked, he wanted to get the skill that helped the Spirit General sneak here. That could help him a lot. Unfortunately, he could only leave the selected skill to his luck which was often wed.

    [Skill absorbed: Invisible Aura]

    [Skill Grade: Unique]

    [Description; Using the invisible Aura makes the caster go invisible while simultaneously removing all his aura, making it impossible for him to be discovered]

    [Skill effect Duration: The Skillst as long as the Mana of the user hasn¡¯t been depleted entirely]

    [Mana Usage: Five Hundred per second]

    [Skill Cooldown: One month]

    "Such High Mana cost, cheh. This skill can¡¯t be used. My mana is really low already. I can¡¯t even use this skill for a few minutes."

    Seeing the description of the skill, Ryder couldn¡¯t help but frown. He had received the skill he wanted. His luck was good in that department, but even after all that, he got disappointed in the end because of the high usage cost.

    "High Duke Oris, do you know how many Spirit Generals they have in total?" He asked High Duke Oris.

    "I don¡¯t know. They certainly won¡¯t disclose all their cards. This is called the war of deception. That side will certainly try to pretend to be weak to lead us to take a wrong step," High Duke Oris answered.

    "Exactly. Throughout the war, we only saw Two Spirit Generals. They gave us the impression that they only had two spirit generals while scheming to use the third one to assassinate you. We can¡¯t be sure if they won¡¯t have one or two more for schemes like this," High Duke M chimed in.

    High Duke Magna also came back after killing the First Spirit General.

    "So they tried assassination. Can¡¯t say I¡¯m surprised. These people are truly idiots," High Duke Magna said, sighing. "They truly don¡¯t know what¡¯s best for them. Did they really think the assassination of the Prince will make them win the war? They¡¯ll be wiped in the end anyway. They¡¯re just struggling about the death they themselves asked for."

    ¡¯I don¡¯t think they intend to win the war. Their leader just wants to kill me, which will make her finish her quest. Too bad for her, I can never die. This war is my victory. The only question is how long I take to win this war,¡¯ Ryder thought, understanding the scheme of things.

    "High Duke Magna, High Duke Oris. Are you all still scared to attack? I have another n. How about we try that?" he asked.

    "What scared. We¡¯re never scared. We¡¯re just cautious to protect our Empire," High Duke Magna retorted.

    "What n?" High Duke Oris asked, focusing on the second part of the n.

    "I have a skill which is simr to this guy. It can make me Invisible for a short time. Even though it is useless. I can¡¯t keep it active until I reach there, but I thought of a way to use it," Ryder replied.

    "What way?" High Duke Oris asked, frowning.

    "Teleportation to the enemy base. You can easily bring me there with your skills. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re concerned about traps? You don¡¯t have to Teleport me right there. Take me right outside their camp. You cane back after that," Ryder said.

    "Are you really asking me to run away while leading you there? No. We¡¯re going to win this war anyway. We don¡¯t have to risk anything, especially your life,"High Duke Oris answered.

    "Why do you even want to end this war so fast that you¡¯re willing to risk your life? Don¡¯t take such a stupid decision in a war because of your naive youth! We all want the war to end fast but have patience!" High Duke Magna said, frowning.

    "I have a reason of my own. Just listen to me. We can end this in one try. Look at their faces. I¡¯m sure they only had three Spirit Warriors. They don¡¯t have anything else left now. They¡¯re paper tigers. Come with me to finish it fast," Ryder answered.

    "If you don¡¯t want to leave me behind, you don¡¯t need to. You can alwayse with me and attack with full force! Keep them distracted while I go invisible to take out their princess! That way, you will have to leave me behind! You can create a distraction while giving me cover!" He added.

    "But-"

    "No, but! This is mymand. Please let me fight this war the way I want to. Also, you say that I¡¯m hasty because I want to win faster? No. I¡¯m hasty because only by ending the war fast can I save my soldiers!" Ryder dered proudly.

    Honestly, though, he was lying. He simply wanted to end the war fast so he could go back and rx a bit.

    Even though he lied, his art of lying was so good that everyone believed it to be the truth.

    The soldiers couldn¡¯t help but gaze at Ryder proudly.

    The High Dukes, Dukes, and everyone at the lower level was amazed.

    They were amazed. Ryder had so much care for the lower-ranked soldiers that he was willing to put his own life in danger while antagonizing the High Dukes in the process?

    [Faith in the army of Demon Realm towards you has increased]

    [The Demon Realm Army has be more loyal to you]

    [Charm +50]

    [Title Received: The leader who fooled his army]

    ¡¯He what the heck is wrong with this system? I didn¡¯t fool anyone! This title is so misleading. I¡¯m d only I can see this title."

    "Fine. If this is what you want, we would directly attack their base. We would keep everyone distracted while you attack their Princess," High Duke Oris said after leaving a deep sigh.

    He didn¡¯t want to do it, but seeing the determination of Ryder, he found himself forced to do this.

    The other High Dukes also agreed since High Duke Oris said so.

    "That¡¯s better. Let¡¯s kill that girl," Ryder said, smiling while gazing in the direction of the enemy.

 Chapter 513 Frontal Assault

    <h4>Chapter 513: Frontal Assault</h4>

    "Alright. Since we¡¯re already going to attack, we might as well attack now when they are overwhelmed," High Duke Magna said, intending to attack as well.

    After what he saw, it seemed evident that the enemy was unprepared. Maybe it was actually better to wipe them here now that they had a chance.

    "Alright. High Duke M, you stay with High Duke Duke Eaton, protecting him. You can also keep attacking the enemies from here. In the meantime, High Duke Magna, High Duke Oris, and I will go take care of the enemy at their base," Rydermanded the rest as he caught High Duke Oris¡¯s hand.

    Only when he was touching High Duke Oris could he teleport with him.

    "Oh wait, Don¡¯t Teleport now. I have a gift for them," he suddenly called out as he realized something.

    He looked back at the body of the Third Spirit Emperor, grinning.

    How could he forget about something so important? The Fragment of life had given him the ability to bring one dead body to life to be used as he wished. Even though it could onlyst for a short time, it was enough for his purpose.

    Moreover, a dead body of a Spirit General that didn¡¯t worry about death was a perfect weapon to use in this situation. They were basically using their enemy to attack their enemy.

    He touched the body of the Spirit Emperor and kept it in his inventory. He wanted to call it outter.

    "Let¡¯s leave now."

    After finishing, he once again caught the hand of High Duke Oris. Rale also did the same since he wasn¡¯t going to leave Ryder alone.

    "Ready?" High Duke Oris asked.

    "Yes."

    "Three... two...one... Now!".

    At the count of one, both High Duke Oris and Magna teleported right at the enemy camp.

    Ryder used the invisibility right away as he started flying towards the Princess nearby.

    The High Dukes started attacking all the leaders of the Spirit Realm, killing them left and right.

    The hugemotion attracted a lot of attention.

    The Second Spirit General was the only one alive, but he couldn¡¯t let the enemies do as he wished

    "Your Highness, use the Defensive Barrier on yourself. And give me a boost from the back. Also, give me the minute immortality so I can protect us!" Second Spirit General said to Alice as he started flying towards the High Dukes that were advancing towards them while killing anyone in their path like they were an unstoppable force.

    "Protection of Goddess!" Alice called out as she again used one of her skills.

    It was a skill that made a Shield all around her to protect her from the enemies and all the attacks.

    Unlike the golden pir, the shield this time was Silver in color, but it seemed much pure and dense.

    "Minute Immunity!" She again called out, using her skill which she had saved for an emergency. It was a skill that only affected one of her warriors. It was something that increased the selected warrior¡¯s strength by at least five times.

    The effect of the skillsted for only a minute, though. Moreover, this wasn¡¯t all because there was a limitation on the skill.

    Alice could only use this skill on a warrior that had sworn his allegiance to her and was ready to sacrifice his life for her. The other limitations were even worse.

    It was that after the Effects of this skill were over, whoever it was used on died. So this skill was basically a self-sacrifice skill that provided a big boost.

    The Second Spirit General felt the boost from the skill. Since he only had a minute remaining, he didn¡¯t want to wait even a second.

    These sixty seconds were all he had. In these sixty seconds, he had to kill all High Dukes if he wanted to give some hope to his side in this war. Even though he was about to die, he wanted his sacrifice to be worth something in the end.

    The second Spirit General teleported to High Duke Magna right away as he smashed his foot on the ground.

    Many thick trunks of a tree came out of the ground, advancing towards both the High Dukes to entrap them in its grasp.

    "Futile Effort," High Duke Magnazily said as he easily cut the branches and trunks.

    "Not futile. It managed to distract you long enough," the Spirit General said as he punched out. This much time was enough for him to close in on the unaware High Dukes.

    High Duke Magna reacted faster as he also punched out in time.

    Both fists once again shed with each other. High Duke Magna was the one who seemed to lose this sh against all odds.

    He was forced back ten steps as he felt a pain in his knuckles.

    "That was a strong attack. You¡¯re most certainly stronger than thest guy you sent. Was this your real strength, or is it also borrowed strength as he had?" High Duke Magna asked, amused.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter what it is. All you need to know is that you will die!" the Spirit General said as he waved his hand lightly.

    Tens ofck arrows appeared out of thin air, all of which advanced towards High Duke Magna.

    High Duke Magna again called out his shields like he had donest time to protect himself from the arrow of Second Spirit General. Unfortunately, this time was different. This time, things didn¡¯t go likest time.

    The shield that had easily stopped the arrowst time was shattered to pieces like it was a toy as the arrows passed through like an unstoppable force.

    The arrows all prated the body of the High Duke before they disappeared, leaving a hole behind.

    ....

    While the High Dukes and the Spirit Emperor were fighting, Ryder was advancing towards the Princess, flying as fast as he could.

    It didn¡¯t take him long before he appeared behind Alice, who was surrounded by the silver barrier.

    He brought the body of the Second Spirit General out while he used histest skill to bring him back to life to shatter the barrier. Even though he was going to try to break the barrier himself, if it didn¡¯t work, he needed more help.

    While the Second Spirit General wasing back to life, Ryder called out his Moon Scythe as he swung it towards the barrier, intending to destroy it.

    ...

    Back in the real world, Shu was sittingfortably in his room, watching the fight live.

    "It looks like it¡¯s on the final stage¡ªthe final assault. The guy will win, I guess," Shu muttered as he watched Ryder appear behind the girl who was standing inside the barrier. It was obviously thest stage of the battle.

    He seemed confused as to why the guy would bring out the corpse of a Spirit General, but his shock was much bigger as he saw the scythe.

    He had previously been the guy in the battle using a scythe. It was also the weapon that was used to kill the Spirit General. But it was only now, when Shu¡¯s mind clicked, he realized that this was the same scythe that he had seen Ryder use.

    "He is Ryder? I¡¯m so slow! I should have realized it long ago! He said he was busy forming the guild. So this was what he was busy with?"

    "Wait. So one of the participants in the war is the top yer in Divinity? Who is the other person? Someone from the top ten as well? I don¡¯t understand the decision of Necrosis. Their top yer is fighting, but they keep that a secret? Instead, they focus more on the war aspect? Why?¡¯ he wondered.

    "It could be because they don¡¯t want to bring the focus away from their billion-dor tournament? But this still doesn¡¯t make sense. What do they think when they make these decisions?"

    ....

    Ryder swung his Scythe, intending to shatter the barrier so he could kill the female yer and finish the quest.

    Tun!

    The de of the Moon Scythe hit the barrier, making arge metallic sound as if two hard metals shed. Unfortunately, the barrier wasn¡¯t affected.

    Hearing the sound, Alice realized that someone was behind her.

    She turned back to look only to find the enemy yer standing behind her, outside the barrier. She still couldn¡¯t see his face, though.

    "Cheh, this barrier is indeed strong. I can¡¯t break it," Ryder muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    "But he should be able to," he let out as he noticed the body of the Second Spirit General standing up.

    "In any case, this barrier won¡¯tst long. A few minutes at best."

    The Spirit General started punching the barrier, again and again, to break it with all his strength

    Ryder could see cracks developing on the barrier slowly which were getting bigger. It was clear that the trick was working. Soon, it was going to be broken, and he could kill his enemy.

 Chapter 514 Identity revised

    <h4>Chapter 514: Identity revised</h4>

    "Cracks started developing on the barrier that was surrounding Alice, protecting her.

    The barrier was strong, but it wasn¡¯t one that couldst for infinity against attacks of someone as strong as the Spirit General.

    With each passing attack, more and more energy of the barrier was used until in the end when it didn¡¯t have enough to sustain itself.

    The Spirit General puppet attacked onest time, shattering the barrier like it was made of ss.

    "Princess!"

    Seeing Alice in danger, the second spirit general was shocked. He only had thirty seconds in his boost left, but he didn¡¯t think about them. Saving Alice was more important to him than killing the enemies. If Alice was dead, this whole thing was over. Their victory wouldn¡¯t matter anymore since he¡¯ll die in thirty seconds.

    Not a single person was left after them who could lead the Spirit Realm. Saving Alice was most important for him.

    He turned back, leaving the injured High Duke Magna behind as he started flying towards Alice.

    "What¡¯s the hurry? I want to have some fun as well. Don¡¯t leave. Let¡¯s continue our battle."

    While the Second Spirit General was flying away, a man appeared before him who happened to be none other than High Duke Oris that had just finished destroying all the tree trunks that were annoying him.

    Now he was free to interfere in the battle.

    "I don¡¯t have time for you!" The Second Spirit General called out as he waved his hand. "Move aside!"

    Arge gust of wind appeared as he moved his hand, which intended to move High Duke Oris to the side; however, this was useless.

    "Step aside? Why? What¡¯s the hurry? We just began," High Duke Oris asked as he smiled.

    ...

    Back near Alice, Ryder was walking towards Alice as the barrier was just broken. His Moon Scythe was held firmly in his hand, intending to attack at a moment¡¯s notice.

    "I don¡¯t have any personal enmity with you. I don¡¯t even know who you are, which is good, I guess. But I can¡¯t be defeated. I have too much to lose here. So you must be killed here," Ryder told Alice as he raised the Moon Scythe.

    ¡¯Hmm?¡¯

    Even though Alice couldn¡¯t see Ryder¡¯s face, she recognized his voice since he was speaking in his normal manner here.

    Her eyes lit up in surprise. The person before her was Ryder? But what did he mean? He has too much to lose? He can¡¯t afford to lose?

    If Ryder hadn¡¯t said those words, Alice might have talked to him and told him about her, but now that she knew it, she didn¡¯t want to talk. If Ryder knew it was her, he wasn¡¯t going to attack. And winning was important for him. She didn¡¯t want toe between him and his victory now that she knew who it was.

    She was also about to use some skills to fight Ryder previously, but after knowing his identity, she didn¡¯t do that.

    She didn¡¯t even step back. Instead, she stood calmly as she gazed at himing closer. She didn¡¯t even speak.

    ¡¯It¡¯s fine. I can afford to lose here. Even if I¡¯m banned, I have that special reward. By taking part in the billion-dor event through their invitation, I can get unbanned. Maybe he doesn¡¯t have that. I should help him here. This is what he wants. It¡¯s just a game for me anyway,¡¯ Alice thought as she closed her eyes and stood unmoving.

    "Hmm? You¡¯re not moving? That makes it easier for me," Ryder said as he realized that the girl had stopped moving. Now he didn¡¯t need to chase after her.

    Gripping the scythe firmly in his hand, he shed down.

    The girl was already prepared for the attack, it seemed. She didn¡¯t even open her eyes as the Scythe came and sliced her Avatar apart.

    "Argh!"

    She didn¡¯t know why but that actually hurt. In this world, she had set the pain settings to the minimum, but that attack still hurt badly, making her scream in pain.

    "Huh?"

    Her scream seemed family to Ryder. The voice... It reminded him of Alice.

    ¡¯Wait a minute! Alice yed inside Divinity too. Is this her?¡¯ Ryder thought, frowning.

    Even though he asked this question to himself, he was already sure that it was Alice. Unfortunately, it was toote already. Alice had disappeared. She was gone, and her Avatar was dead. Ryder didn¡¯t know what to do anymore but stood there, confused.

    The girl he was fighting was Alice? Is that why she stopped moving back and let her be attacked after hearing his voice.

    "I¡¯m a real idiot!" Ryder muttered as he sighed in disappointment.

    "Wait a minute. Isn¡¯t this a good thing? Divinity is a dangerous ce. She probably had the same task as me. Now that she lost, she is most probably banned from here. That means she can¡¯t log in. She will be much safer now," he suddenly remembered that it wasn¡¯t a bad thing either.

    He had wanted Alice to stop spending time inside Divinity since this ce was actually deadly. Unfortunately, Janus had stopped him by telling him that he shouldn¡¯t interfere in this.

    Even though this time was also an interference, it was an indirect interference. He had received what he wanted. Even though it was still bad that he literally killed Alice, he could apologize to her. Dying here didn¡¯t mean that she died in the real world too.

    He was thinking that it was a good thing when he suddenly realized that this wasn¡¯t all that either. A game death had resulted in real death for him the first time. He couldn¡¯t be sure that Alice wouldn¡¯t suffer the same.

    He wanted to go check up on her and reverse any damage if something happened to her while he still had time.

    Without caring for anything, he opened the system screen and tapped on the option to log out.

    [Can¡¯t log out in the middle of Universal Quest]

    [Please finish the quest first]

    " What finish the quest? I killed the enemy princess. The quest should be over," Ryderined, seeing the warning notification.

    "Wait, I remember. That was only the first part of the quest, in a way. I also need to neutralize the enemy army now," he thought, understanding the meaning of the quest. It wasn¡¯t over now, so it meant the soldiers were also a part of the quest.

    "Fine! If they stand between me and my goal, I¡¯ll wipe them all out too," he dered as he started flying towards the ce where the soldiers were fighting.

    He was going to join and finish the process faster while also letting out some of his frustration.

    The Second Spirit General also flew behind him as a good puppet. Rale did the same.

    Ryder flew in the center, Rale in his right and the Spirit General in his left.

    All three of them joined the fight as they started killing the enemy soldiers.

    Seeing their Prince join, the Demon Realm soldiers were filled with even more battle intent. They all fought even more fiercely now.

    Not only them, but the Dukes that were standing near the base of Demon Realm also joined the free for all battle.

    Since their leader had joined already, what was keeping them behind?

    "Hahaha! I know this is more fun!"

    "I guess this is fun when our enemy is weak. Let the rivers of blood flow!"

    The Dukes were excited as they flew towards the warzone. All of them wanted tond near Ryder to safeguard him while getting most of the action and recognition.

    "I can¡¯t fall behind, can I?" High Duke Devilia also joined.

    A minute was over, and the Second Spirit General was also dead. Now that the biggest enemy was gone, the High Dukes were free.

    They all gazed towards Ryder, who was fighting.

    "Oris, look at his face. That fighting spirit? That no respect for old traditions? Doesn¡¯t it remind you of someone?" High Duke Magna asked High Duke Oris.

    "Hahaha, You mean him? His Majesty Salem was also like him in his young days, I remember," High Duke Oris answered.

    "That¡¯s right. He does have great potential," High Duke Magna said.

    "I know. I¡¯ve known it from the moment I met him. And I¡¯m sure you did too. But you¡¯re really giving him a really hard time sometimes," High Duke Oris answered.

    "That¡¯s important too. He shouldn¡¯t be allowed to becent. I¡¯m only doing what I should as a respectable adult. You¡¯re the caring High Duke; I¡¯m the strict one. That¡¯s the role we were given, and that¡¯s what I¡¯m doing," High Duke Magna answered, smiling wryly.

    "Sigh, I feel bad for you. I¡¯m sure he doesn¡¯t like you at all. He doesn¡¯t know the truth," High Duke Oris said, sighing.

    Gazing towards Ryder, High Duke Oris answered, "He doesn¡¯t need to know either. Things are fine the way they are right now. They need no change."

 Chapter 515 Shameless

    <h4>Chapter 515: Shameless</h4>

    "Your Highness, are we really not going to react to this? ording to our sources, the Demon Realm is under attack by the Spirit Realm. Should we not take advantage of the situation?¡¯

    Back in the Death Domain, an old man was talking to the person sitting on the throne.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. The Spirit Realm was entirely destroyed in the warst time. I don¡¯t think their remnants are very strong. At best, that can resist the Demon Realm army for a day. By the time we get there, the war would already be over," the young man on the throne replied as he sighed. "Well, only waste time."

    "But they would at least be tired after a war. Isn¡¯t that an opportunity?" the old man asked.

    "You¡¯re a Death General Here. You¡¯re the most senior person here. Are you really asking that question? As I said, the Demon Realm won¡¯t even use ten percent of their stamina to win the war. I know them all too well. Instead, it¡¯s better that we wait and focus on our own n," the Death Domain Prince answered as he sighed.

    "If you say so," the Old Man nodded his head and didn¡¯t mention it again.

    "Anyway, how¡¯s the investigation going? We heard that an entire neighborhood disappeared without any trace? Did you find out what happened?" the Prince asked.

    "We do have some clues. Apparently it¡¯s the work of Jiw. He¡¯s the same guy we had arrested for a potential affair with our General¡¯s wife," the Death General answered.

    "Hmm? That guy?" the Prince asked, frowning.

    "That¡¯s right. We found traces of poison in food at his ce. We also heard about him leaving the city that same day. We are almost certain it¡¯s the work for him. We have started searching for him in the entire Death Domain," the Death General answered.

    "Oh? Very interesting," the Prince muttered as he rubbed his chin, trying to make a sense of this situation.

    "Wait a minute!¡¯ Just as he waszily thinking about this topic, he remembered something. He couldn¡¯t help but stand up, shocked.

    "What happened, Your Highness?" the Death General asked.

    "How many people have disappeared? Give me the exact number now!" the Princemanded.

    "Exactly hundred people," the Death General answered.

    "Hundred? That bastard! The Kingship Trial of Demon Realm! It¡¯s most probably the work of that bastard! Not only did he kidnap someone from my cest time, but he dared toe alone in the Death Domain and my Royal City? Not only that, but he even seeded in killing and finishing his Trial!"

    The Prince was seething in anger. He couldn¡¯t believe that he was so slow.

    "Should we try searching the Entire Death Domain for him?" The Death General asked the Prince.

    That also happened to be the time when the door of the Royal Chamber opened as ady stepped inside the ce, followed behind by her guards.

    "Lady Romi," the Prince eximed in surprise as he saw thedy.

    "Young Prince, who are you trying to search for? Did something happen in your ce? You lost someone?" the woman asked the Death Domain Prince.

    "Lady Romi is the Princess of Dark Tribe in Death Domain. Your Tribe is the second strongest after ours. Of course, I won¡¯t hide such things from you. Actually an enemy had most probably barged inside our Death Domain from the Demon Realm sometime ago."

    "He is none other than the new Prince of Demon Realm. He also killed hundred of our Royal City citizens to finish his Kingship Trial," the Prince answered.

    "Hmm? But I heard that Princes couldn¡¯t take any help in the Kingship Trial? Also, how is it even possible for him to kill hundred Royal City citizens? He shouldn¡¯t be strong enough. His personal strength is weak ording to my knowledge," the woman asked.

    "He didn¡¯t kill using his strength. Instead, he used the despicable method of poisoning the food," the Prince answered.

    He shifted his focus back to Death General after finishing his exnation.

    "There¡¯s no benefit of searching anymore. After finishing the Trial, he most probably already escaped. He¡¯s already at the ce of war now. We lost a good opportunity this time," he said as he sat on his throne, sighing.

    The young woman was still lost in some thought, frowning.

    She couldn¡¯t help but remember what had happened to her at the pond when she was bathing.

    She had used a barrier to prevent anyone from reaching the pond. The barrier was supposed to stop everyone from the Death Domain. But a person had managed to walk inside, unfazed.

    That person had given a stupid excuse for why he was able to do that, but she never believed that. As for now, she understood the whole truth.

    If the Prince of Demon Realm was here, he was easily able to pass through that barrier. There was a good chance that the man was none other than him.

    ¡¯Didn¡¯t this mean that the Demon Prince saw me... N-naked? That shameless Bastard! Poisoning enemies, watching youngdies bathe. He truly had no shame!¡¯ she thought, frowning.

    ....

    Achu!

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but sneeze suddenly.

    "Strange. First time sneezing in Divinity," he let out as he looked around.

    He could see the entire ce filled with bodies. Almost all the enemies were killed, with only a few of them taken as hostages.

    Finally, the war was over as he saw the prompt congratting him for seeding. He had gained a lot from this. Not only did he get the rewards from the quest, but he had also leveled up astronomically.

    Even though he hadn¡¯t killed most of the enemies that he could, the ones he killed were enough to bring him up to a level of 500 already.

    It was where he was given a prompt of ss change, but he didn¡¯t care.

    He didn¡¯t think much about the rewards. He could always go through them the next time he logged in. Instead, he approached High Duke Oris.

    "High Duke Oris, can you leave me at the Royal Pce urgently? I have something urgent to do there. After that, you cane back here and take care of the rest," he said to the High Duke, who agreed right away.

    He wanted to log out right away, but he had realized the problem. If he logged out here, when he logged in next time, he would appear here.

    He would have to travel all the way back to the Royal City alone. The better option was to have High Duke Oris Teleport him back to the Royal Pce, where he could log out without any worries.

    Since Ryder asked this, the High Duke didn¡¯t ask too many questions. He agreed right away.

    He took Ryder and Rale back to the Royal Pce before he left.

    Ryder told Rale that he was going to sleep because he was tired.

    After telling Rale, he logged out.

    ...

    Ryder woke up in the real world and hastily took off the Divinity sses as he got off the bed and ran out of the room. He was already toote.

    He just wanted to make sure if Alice had sessfully logged out. If she was stuck in the game like he wasst time, this was going to be a mess.

    Without even bothering to knock, he barged inside her room, pushing the door open.

    The first thing he did was see the bed to know if Alice was still there or not. A sigh of relief left his lips as he realized that she wasn¡¯t there. That means she had left the game.

    "That¡¯s better," he said, smiling.

    "Eek!¡¯

    Just as Ryder was about to leave, he heard a shocked squeal. Looking to his side, he noticed Alice standing there. She had juste out of the shower. Seeing Ryder had shocked her, making her let out that noise.

    "At Least it¡¯s not likest time. You¡¯re wearing a towel. So I won¡¯t be killed by you," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly.

    "I was just checking up on you. Don¡¯t mind me," he said as he stepped out of the room, not willing to make it more awkward for Alice.

    He walked back to his room where he sat on the bed, finally calm.

    "This thing scared me. I¡¯m d nothing happened to her," he said as heid in the bed.

    "Jan- I mean, little bro, can you hear me?" he called out to Janus.

    "Yeah," Janus replied.

    "Can you tell me the truth about everything? Just what exactly is Divinity? What are you trying to do with me? Why do you help me?" Ryder asked.

    "Ask me a different question. I can¡¯t answer that right now," Janus answered.

    "I can¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t expect that reply. Fine. Next question. Is the time-reversal power of this bracelet going to weaken ever as the healing powers did?¡¯ Ryder changed his question.

    "No. Because the Lord of Time is already dead now, his element is unstable," Janus exined.

 Chapter 516 Chaos- History of Ryder

    <h4>Chapter 516: Chaos- History of Ryder</h4>

    "Are you saying that because the God of this element is dead, their element is unstable?" Ryder asked Janus, surprised.

    "That¡¯s right. Because of your body being a mortal body, you aren¡¯t really allowed to use the Bracelet of Immortality. It was made for a God after all," Janus answered.

    "It was made keeping an immoral godly body in mind. You don¡¯t have that. It¡¯s only because of your soul that you can even use a little bit of it. But that also isn¡¯t enough. Each elementes with a limited ability. Because of your body, you can¡¯t use their full potential," he continued.

    "You can only use each element¡¯s ability to a higher extent for a few weeks after you get that fragment. After that, it adjusts to your body and bes limited," he added.

    "Yeah. You told mest time. That was also why I was able to heal from death with the use of your Nature of Healing without having to be forced back in time at the start. But now, death forces me back in time. The Nature of Healing only works now to heal me from a near-death situation if the damage is something which won¡¯t cause my death right away," Ryder answered, realizing what he meant.

    "That¡¯s why you need to get all your fragments. That will make the braceletpletely unrestrained by the mortal bounds," Janus said.

    "But you just said that the death of the God of Time made his element unstable? How can I use that element to its previous capacity that I was able to do at the start. Doesn¡¯t that mean if other gods are dead, the oue will be the same?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "That¡¯s right. If you kill the God who presides over Nature, Nature of Healing will also return to normal," Janus answered.

    "Sigh, but is that even possible? I still don¡¯t understand how the God of Time died. He is a literal god from what I understand that rule over time. He can¡¯t die of old age, at least ording to the lores I read," Ryder wondered, curious.

    "That¡¯s right. He can¡¯t die of old age. But that doesn¡¯t mean he can¡¯t be killed," Janus answered, finding it a bit funny. The one who had killed the Lord of Time was asking such questions.

    But he couldn¡¯t me Ryder either. He didn¡¯t remember anything at all. It wasn¡¯t his fault. That was how it was supposed to be.

    His memories needed to return slowly. Otherwise, his body was going to be overburdened by all that power and destroyed within days.

    "Someone killed the Lord of Time? Who could have such Strength? Another god?" Ryder asked. "Wait a minute. You¡¯re a god too. Did you kill him?"

    "I didn¡¯t. Someone even stronger than me killed him," Janus answered,ughing.

    "Who? Which element was he a god of? There should be many gods," Ryder assumed.

    "His element?" Janus asked, amused. "That¡¯s an interesting question. His element is something that no one knows. Actually, not even I know what his element is," Janus answered.

    "Huh? Do all gods have a Heavenly City or something? Do you gossip about other gods like oldies here? It¡¯s tough to believe that you don¡¯t know about a god," Ryder replied.

    "I know about the element of all gods except one. He is the one who killed the Lord of Time. He is the anomaly of the God Realm. Do you want to hear about him? It¡¯s actually a pretty well-known and amazing story in Heaven," Janus asked Ryder.

    "Sure. It¡¯s not like I have to do anything in a hurry. I¡¯m free for a good story. Let me know more about the Heaven. I also want to know if all those books were right or not," Ryder nodded his head as heid on the bedfortably, waiting for the story.

    "He is the one who was named... Chaos."

    Janus said the name which no one had spoken in a long time. It was the name of his brother¡ªthe true name of Ryder at his Origin.

    "Chaos? What an intimidating name," Ryder muttered. Just hearing the name itself gave him a strange feeling.

    "He was born in a time of peace. There were no wars. Everywhere was peace. All gods had an Element that they inherited from their parents. They were the ones who were going to inherit the element and the position of their parents after growing up."

    "In that time of peace was born a boy who was named Chaos..." Janus said.

    "You want to know why he was named that?" he asked.

    "Why?" Ryder asked.

    "It was because the peace was destroyed with his arrival. On the day he was born, before he could even be named, his mother died of sickness. It was the first time a goddess had died of sickness. That same day, another prominent god dered war on the boy¡¯s father."

    "The whole Heaven was thrown into the pit of war after an eternity of peace. All before the boy could even be named..."

    "Don¡¯t tell me his father ced the me of everything on the bad luck of his son and called him Chaos?" Ryder asked, feeling somewhat bad for the boy. He didn¡¯t know why but his heart ached as he heard that story more than it should have.

    "That¡¯s right. His father med him. After two months of being born, he finally got his name¡ª Chaos, the God of Nothing."

    "The God of Nothing?" Ryder asked, surprised.

    "Yeah. It was a time when all kids inherited the abilities of their parents, including their Divinity. But Chaos was different. He was born without any abilities. He was the first child that was born without Divinity..." Janus answered.

    "That was why others made fun of him by calling him the God of Nothing."

    "What happened after? How did a boy without any abilities be strong enough to be able to kill the Lord of Time who should have been the strongest, I assume?" Ryder asked.

    ...

    Far away from earth, Janus was still sitting near the pond where two fishes swam.

    He was gazing towards the light sky that was shining in Mystical lights.

    "So beautiful..." he muttered softly.

    ....

    "Beautiful?" Ryder asked, hearing Janus¡¯s words.

    "Yeah. The boy didn¡¯t have any Divinity, but he was a really great painter. His paintings were so beautiful. I wish I could see them once again. Unfortunately, he destroyed them all with his own hands," Janus answered.

    "Tell me what happened to him. Not about his paintings," Ryder said, smiling wryly.

    "Fine. What happened was that he wasn¡¯t actually as useless as everyone assumed. It was when the boy was ten years old when everyone realized that," Janus said.

    "Why? What happened then?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "When the boy was eight years old was when his father married again. His father married another goddess. He also had a son who was one year old when Chaos was ten years old."

    " As you may guess, Chaos received no importance. Everyone detested him for being weak, including his own father. But he never hated his father. He only had love, not only for his father but for his new step brother as well."

    "His brother was only one year old. Chaos was sitting near him. Their parents were outside; it was a meeting of the gods. Only the two kids were home," Janus exined.

    "Don¡¯t tell me something bad happened?" Ryder asked, having a bad feeling.

    Janus softly answered, "That¡¯s right. Something bad did happen. The one year old boy identally used his ability that he had received from his father to open a portal, unaware of anything. And from the portal, came they..."

    "They who?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "The Dark Crawlers..." Janus said after a deep pause.

    "Dark Crawlers? What are they?" Ryder asked, confused.

    "They are the frightening creatures that aren¡¯t born. They just came into existence in random corners of the space because of the increasing darkness in the world. Normally they can¡¯t enter the Heaven, but because of that portal, they were able to," Janus answered.

    "This is getting bad. Don¡¯t tell me someone died," Ryder told Janus.

    "That¡¯s right. Someone died..." Janus answered.

    "But it wasn¡¯t who you¡¯re thinking," Janus answered. "It was the Dark Crawlers that died. All of them. Not a single scratch or harm came to the one year old boy."

    "And Chaos?" Ryder asked.

    "Sigh, Chaos was punished by their parents," Janus answered.

    "Wait a minute! You skipped the most important part. Who killed the Crawlers? Chaos was useless. Was it the one year old boy? Did the parentse home and kill the crawlers?"

    "And even then, why did the parents punish Chaos? You said the boy wasn¡¯t harmed. Did they me the portal incident in Chaos?" he asked.

    There were already tens of questions in his mind and not enough answers. Just what actually happened? Why was the boy published when he wasn¡¯t at fault? Who saved them?

 Chapter 517 God of Mysteries

    <h4>Chapter 517: God of Mysteries</h4>

    "Why was the boy punished?" Hearing the words of Janus, Ryder asked the question directly.

    "You¡¯re right. The Crawlers were killed by the parents of the boys. And you also guessed it right. Chaos was punished by their parents," Janus answered.

    "Half an hour after the Night Crawlers entered their home did the parentse back. When they came back, they saw the Crawlers all around their house. Strangely enough, no Crawlers were attacking the young kid," he added.

    "You mean the Crawlers were inside the house for half an hour, unchecked, and they didn¡¯t harm the kids? That was lucky," Ryder said, amazed.

    "But didn¡¯t you say that the Crawlers were dangerous? They didn¡¯t do anything; that¡¯s amusing."

    "It was all because of Chaos. When their parents came back, everything was revealed. They saw Chaos controlling the Crawlers. That was why the entire me fell on Chaos," Janus answered.

    "Honestly, Crawlers are creatures of Darkness. Basically, no one can control them. No one can even understand them. ording to our knowledge, Crawlers only have one purpose¡ª destroying what they see."

    " So for someone to not only be able to talk to them but to control them was pretty shocking for the parents, especially when it was their eldest son," Janus exined.

    "Wait! I heard about this! I read in fantasy books about beast tamers. Was that his element? He wasn¡¯t a God of Nothing, but he had a special ability. Shouldn¡¯t his parents be happy that he had such a unique ability? Why were they punishing him?¡¯ Ryder asked.

    "Sigh, this wasn¡¯t taming. The Crawlers don¡¯t have souls. Controlling them or even taming them is impossible. So you¡¯re mistaken here," Janus replied.

    "To understand even a fraction of the Crawlersnguage, a person must be filled with extreme darkness from top to bottom. Even the Demons don¡¯t have that much evil darkness. That¡¯s why no one can even understand them. But Chaos was not only able to understand them but even control them," he further said. "Do you understand now?"

    "You mean Chaos had an evil heart? That¡¯s why he was able to do it? That¡¯s why his parents punished him?" Ryder inquired.

    "That¡¯s partially true but not entirely. What happened was that Chaos was controlling the beasts, trying to see what he could do when his parents came there and saw everything. It was only after a minute that they came out of their daze and shouted at Chaos, attracting his attention."

    "Chaos was shocked and frightened at the sudden noise and lost his control as he looked towards his father. The Crawlers all attacked his father."

    "Ahh, I get it. They had seen him controlling the beasts. When the beasts attacked the parents, they must have thought that Chaos had intentionally made the Crawlers attack them," Ryder answered, guessing everything.

    "That¡¯s right. The father thought that this was intentional by Chaos. The mother also agreed, saying that it was because their father loved their little son more. That¡¯s why Chaos was upset and wanted to kill them," Janus exined, sighing.

    "This whole situation was messy. The misunderstanding was big. And the potential of Chaos being filled with Darkness, nothing like what had ever appeared before, made them trust their notion," he added.

    "I feel bad for the boy. He didn¡¯t do anything. The father seems like a prick," Ryder let out as he sighed.

    "Hah, He wasn¡¯t that bad. I don¡¯t think Chaos ever hated his father. Even after what he went throughter. Cheh, anyway, that¡¯s enough for history. Chaos was punished. No matter how bad their father was, he still didn¡¯t expose his son to other gods. They kept it a secret and made Chaos take the Heavenly Oath that he would never use whatever he did to control the Crawlers again," Janus replied.

    "So they basically took away the only ability the boy had. At Least they kept his abilities a secret. I think the other gods might consider him a risk because of his abilities otherwise," Ryder agreed.

    "That¡¯s right. And with the Heavenly Oath, Chaos couldn¡¯t control the Crawlers. If he did, he was going to die. So once again, he became the God of Nothing," Janus answered.

    "Wait a minute. You said his father kept it a secret. How do you know about it then? Doesn¡¯t this mean everyone found outter? What was the reaction? And what about his element? If this taming wasn¡¯t his element, what was it? How was he able to kill the God of Time since he couldn¡¯t use the only ability he had awakened?" Ryder asked.

    "I didn¡¯t say that was the only ability he could use? All I said was that no one knew what abilities he had exactly, let alone knowing his element," Janus answered.

    "When he was fifteen, he got into his first fight. It was when everyone found out that he wasn¡¯t actually useless since he was able to defeat seven godchildren at once. Apparently, he had abilities. It was just that no one knew about it," Janus answered.

    "The day he first controlled the Crawlers was when he started awakening, I think. But he didn¡¯t tell his parents. He already had a bad experience with them. They had already made him take a Heavenly Oath to stop him from using his only heavenly ability."

    " That¡¯s why he didn¡¯t tell them about the powers that he awoketer. I guess he was a bit scared that they would force him not to use them as well."

    " So for five years, he kept them a secret. He lived his life as a useless god, despite potentially being the most talented out of all," Janus said.

    "So he was exposed at fifteen. Those seven must have done something really bad to force him to use what he kept secret for years," Ryder muttered.

    "Yeah. They did something pretty bad indeed. Honestly, if God of Time and God of Space hadn¡¯t arrived in time to stop the battle and to calm Chaos, he would probably have killed those seven," Janus replied as if he wasn¡¯t exaggerating.

    "What did they do?" Ryder asked.

    "I can¡¯t tell you that," Janus answered, ignoring the topic.

    "Was it so bad that you can¡¯t even say? Come on. Tell me!"

    Even though Ryder asked again, Janus didn¡¯t answer. He didn¡¯t even reply as he went silent.

    "Fine. I won¡¯t ask what they did. Don¡¯t ignore me. Continue the story. What happened next?" Ryder asked, sighing. Seeing that Janus wasn¡¯t going to answer, he stopped with the old question.

    "The God of Time and the God of Space were the closest friends of Chaos. Everyone knew that Chaos was useless and had no ability. Not a single person treated him with respect except a few, which included two kids that were going to take the mantle of God of Time and God of Space," Janus again started speaking.

    "I think it was lucky that they had stopped Chaos. If it was someone else, he might not have stopped," he added.

    "Now that it was known that he wasn¡¯t useless and had more abilities, how did his father react?" Janus asked.

    "It was clear. First, they scolded him for attacking the seven. But they didn¡¯t punish him after knowing that they deserved it. They also seemed somewhat happy to know that their son had some abilities, potentially not negative, unlike the Crawler-rted abilities."

    " But since the boy didn¡¯t wish to tell, he refused. So his father didn¡¯t force him; he even took a Heavenly Oath before his father that he would never tell anyone about his abilities. With that, his father couldn¡¯t ask him. Since there was no way for him to tell without dying."

    "This action enraged his father, bringing even more tension in the rtionship between the two. Anyway, now that people knew he had abilities, he didn¡¯t need to keep his strength in control or stay hidden. He just didn¡¯t use his main abilities ever."

    "After that, his rise was very swift. He became one of the strongest of his time and ultimately became one of the strongest that lived in the Demon Realm. Despite all that, no one knew about his real abilities."

    "So his name was changedter? What was he called now, instead of the God of Nothing?" Ryder asked.

    "His new name was Chaos¡ª God of Mystery. It was because he was a big mystery which no one truly understood. Anyway, he was the one who killed the God of Time," Janus answered.

    "Wait a minute; you said those two were friends?! He killed his friend?" Ryder inquired, remembering about what Janus told before.

    "Yes. So you¡¯re safe now. You can go back in time by dying any number of times you want without worrying about the Lord of Timeing after you," Janus said.

    "That¡¯s better, but you didn¡¯t answer. Why did he kill his friend?" Ryder asked again.

    "Because he found out..." Janus answered softly.

    "He found out?"

 Chapter 518 Thief

    <h4>Chapter 518: Thief</h4>

    "Found out what?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "There was something that Chaos couldn¡¯t afford to have known. He worked hard to keep that a secret. It was years of hard work, but the Lord of Time found out. He was going to tell other gods. Seeing no choice, Chaos killed a God," Janus answered.

    "From the way you¡¯re talking, I think you won¡¯t tell me what that thing was. But I have a feeling that Chaos is your friend. You know so much about him and even the fact that he killed the Lord of Time. Is he a good guy?" Ryder asked.

    "What do you think? Is Chaos good ording to you?¡¯ Janus asked in return.

    "I don¡¯t know him personally, so I can only go by what you told me. But he did have a rough childhood, so I feel bad for him. And he did help me by killing the Lord of Time, so I should thank him, but I don¡¯t think he did right by killing his friend. If he killed his friend to keep a secret, I don¡¯t think I can appreciate him," Ryder answered.

    "It¡¯s as if Shu finding out about you and my powers. I don¡¯t want anyone to know about it, but if Shu finds out, I won¡¯t just kill him. That¡¯s not how this works. You need to be truly cruel to kill your friend to keep your secret. Maybe that¡¯s why he was able to control the Crawlers? As you said, someone needs to have true darkness to do that. And now I know he had that," Ryder answered, smiling.

    "Ironic..." Janus simply said one word before he stopped.

    "Ironic what? What do you mean?" Ryder inquired.

    Despite Ryder¡¯s question, Janus didn¡¯t answer this time. He directly disappeared, not responding.

    "Are you there?" Ryder asked again but received no response.

    "Sigh, fine. Don¡¯t bother."

    ....

    Days passed slowly as Ryder spent most of his time in Divinity. His Coronation was supposed to be done right away, but the High Dukes dyed it since they wanted to make this event big.

    It was decided that it was going to be a grand ceremony where many prominent guests would be invited. It was also a bit of showoff to arrange this so grand after a war to show everyone that the war didn¡¯t affect them even a little.

    Many invitations were sent. A few leaders of the Undead Region received the invitation. The Hobbit n also received one. Human Realm also had a few great names that were invited to the Coronation of Ryder.

    The news of the Demon Realm getting a new king was everywhere. It was a really big deal since Demon Realm was one of the major powers here. All other major powers were given invitations. One of them was even sent to the Death Domain.

    However, since Death Domain was their enemy, they didn¡¯t give as much privilege to the Death Domain.

    The other leaders were allowed to bring three more people with them. But the Death Domain Prince was only allowed to bring one person with him. It was done so he doesn¡¯t bring all Death Generals with him. Bringing your enemy home and giving him the permission to bring all of his guns was what the Demon Realm didn¡¯t want to do.

    If there was only one Death General here with the Prince, they could easily make sure that nothing went wrong.

    It was decided that the Crowning Ceremony was going to be held after a week to give everyone enough time to prepare and get here.

    There was an atmosphere of Celebration in the entire Demon Realm, but Ryder was a bit bored. Because of his Coronation Preparation, he couldn¡¯t leave the Pce. He was getting bored sitting inside and giving all the permissions, making the decisions.

    At Least, he had leveled up a lot, so he didn¡¯t feel the need to go hunt. But he did realize that he could have used this one week to go to Human Realm and establish his Guild with Shu. But the High Dukes wanted the Coronation to be big, and they didn¡¯t listen to him on that matter.

    The only freedom Ryder had was in the real world, where he was handling the matters of hispany. He was working with Shu to get permission for hispany to conduct their human trials.

    Ryder was new in this business. He didn¡¯t know who to contact. Shu was the only one who could help him by telling him about the proper authority and helping him contact them.

    With Shu¡¯s help, a meeting was arranged between Ryder and the board that handled such permissions.

    Ryder was supposed to go to them for a meeting with his staff and get permission.

    "You sure you don¡¯t want me toe?" Shu asked Ryder, who was leaving the house for the meeting, fully dressed.

    "It¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t need toe. You already helped me with this meeting. As for the rest, I should be able to handle it. You already have lots to do," Ryder told Shu before he left the mansion.

    Entering his sports car, he drove away.

    Ryder went to the office from where he picked up Aleson, who had prepared all the documents to exin what their trials were going to be about.

    "You prepared everything, right?" Ryder asked Aleson as he picked that guy up.

    "Yeah. I even prepared the presentation and all the documents ording to what you told me," Aleson replied confidently.

    "That¡¯s better."

    ....

    The sky was getting dark as clouds covered it, hiding the light of the sun. Despite being afternoon, it seemed like evening when it had started getting dark.

    Cold winds were flying, signaling the arrival of rain.

    "It¡¯s been quite some time since I saw rain. It looks like this day will be pretty fun," Ryder told Aleson as he stepped out of the car.

    "You like rain, sir?" Aleson asked Ryder.

    "Who wouldn¡¯t? I honestly enjoy the rain a lot. I have some really good memories attached to rain," Ryderughed, replying.

    "Some people say the arrival of dark clouds signals that things are going to go bad. I hope it¡¯s not like that today," Aleson muttered, gazing towards the sky.

    They entered the government building in front of them where the meeting was supposed to take ce. They were brought to the meeting room on the sixth floor.

    Knock!

    "Come on in."

    Hearing the confirmation, Ryder and Aleson stepped inside the meeting room.

    "Ryder, Divine Corporation. This is Aleson; he works for me."

    "Mr. Ryder, we heard about you. We were waiting. Please take a seat."

    Ryder and Aleson sat before five men who were here to review their applications.

    Aleson started exining about their research and what kind of experiments they were intending to do. He also talked about the safety measures they were willing to take and everything else they had achieved.

    As Aleson was about to finish exining, Ryder noticed a surprised frown on the faces of these five men as they looked at each other.

    "What happened? Is there something wrong with our exnation or the documents?" Ryder asked, wondering why they were frowning.

    "Ah, Mr. Ryder. We heard that you were an associate of Mr. Maxwell. That¡¯s why we had already decided to give you the permission for this experiment as long as your proposal was even partially satisfactory, but after hearing about it, I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t allow you to do it. We can¡¯t give you the permission," The man in the center answered.

    "Why is that? Did we do something wrong?" Ryder asked. Since they were willing to give permission before, this meant that this meeting changed their mind. He didn¡¯t think their proposal was wrong. There wasn¡¯t any risk to it either. What could it be then? He didn¡¯t understand.

    "Ah, I don¡¯t know how to say it, but you can¡¯t do this research at all since this is stolen by you," the board member replied, sighing.

    "What the heck? Are you calling me a thief? How dare you!"

    Shocked, Ryder stood up. Even though they were right, he did steal this research from the alternate timeline, but it was something of Aleson. That person was here as well. Even then, they couldn¡¯t know about this alternate timeline stuff. For them to call Aleson¡¯s hard work as stolen, did they go crazy?

    "Mr. Ryder, please calm down. We are only telling what logic tells us. Why don¡¯t you exin something to us? If you were in our ce and someone came to you with a research that was exactly the same as anotherpany which came more than a week ago with the same thing, what would you think? Would you not call the second person a thief?" The man asked Ryder in return.

    "You¡¯re saying someone else came to you with the same research? Who?" Ryder inquired, understanding their hidden meaning.

    "It¡¯s not a smallpany either, actually. It¡¯s one of the biggest names in medical research. On the other hand, yourpany is new in the field. So anyone would believe that this research belongs to them and not you," the man answered.

    "I asked the name. Whichpany?!"

 Chapter 519 Intimidation

    <h4>Chapter 519: Intimidation</h4>

    "What are we going to do now, sir? Is it really possible that anotherpany came up with the same theories? That seems a bit too coincidental," Aleson and Ryder were standing outside the building in front of their car.

    They had juste outside after going through a meeting that went nothing like they nned.

    Instead of getting good news from the meeting, they got bad news.

    "It can¡¯t be a coincidence. I don¡¯t think it should be possible. Someone cheated us. As those people said, there has been theft. Someone stole our research and gave them," Ryder muttered, frowning.

    "Go back and investigate who did it. Check all video footage and write down the people you have suspicions on. Whoever did this, I¡¯ll sue their a*s."

    " As for me, I¡¯ll go to thatpany directly. Let¡¯s see what they know about this," Ryder told Aleson as he walked over to the other side and sat inside the car.

    "Step inside the car. I¡¯ll drop you to the office before leaving," he called out to Aleson, who was still standing outside in a daze, trying to guess who it could be.

    Hearing Ryder¡¯s call again, he stepped inside the car.

    ....

    Dropping Aleson to the office, Ryder went to thepany which was the potential thief to their research.

    Parking the car outside, he entered the building and walked up to the reception.

    "Who is incharge here? I need to meet him," he told the receptionist.

    "I¡¯m sorry, sir, but do you have an appointment with her? Can you tell me the name of yours?" the receptionist asked Ryder.

    "I¡¯m Ryder Flynn. The Divine Corporation belongs to me. You might not understand, but the higher-ups will. This is thepany they stole their uing research from. Tell him I¡¯m here to meet him," Ryder exined.

    "Ah." Hearing his Words, the receptionist was in a daze. She couldn¡¯t understand what was happening here, but it seemed terrible. Someone was here using them of theft. In any case, this matter was too big for her to handle. She could only inform the Higher-ups.

    "Wait a minute. I¡¯ll inform them," she told Ryder before she called a number. She told everything Ryder had told her to say.

    ....

    "Alright. I talked to our madam. She says you can meet her. Wait a minute; I¡¯ll tell someone to escort you there," after a short conversation, the receptionist informed Ryder.

    ....

    "This is our Madam¡¯s room."

    A person escorted Ryder to a higher flood and stopped right before a room.

    There was a name written on the door which the man knocked.

    "Aaliya Ashlen," Ryder muttered the name as he remembered it. It probably belonged to the woman who was inside. There was a tag in front of that name which was, MD.

    ¡¯Come on it."

    Hearing the permission from the inside, the man opened the door as he gazed inside.

    "Madam, I brought Mr. Ryder."

    "Alright. Send him in and bring two coffees."

    "Yes, Mam."

    The man had a short conversation with the woman inside before he turned back to Ryder and said, "You can go inside."

    ....

    Ryder stepped inside the room and noticed that there were already a few people inside. He noticed a youngdy sitting on the main chair. Thedy seemed to be in herte twenties.

    She was in professional attire, including a ck coat. But what surprised Ryder even more, were the five men that were standing beside her.

    They seemed to be her special security guards since their guns were clearly exposed.

    It was apparent that thedy was trying to intimidate him to stay within his limits. She just didn¡¯t know how useless such things were to him. Now that the Lord of Time was gone, death was thest thing he was worried about since he could die and go back in time any number of times without attracting much attention.

    The one who watched over the Time was already gone, thanks to Chaos.

    Without seeming intimidated, Ryder stepped forward and sat on the chair before thedy without even asking for any permission.

    The woman frowned, seeing Ryder¡¯s arrogance, but she didn¡¯t say anything.

    "You¡¯re much younger than I assumed, Ryder. So, what are you here for?" The woman asked Ryderzily as she gazed into his eyes.

    "Are you really going to pretend that you don¡¯t know? I already sent a message to you through that receptionist. I¡¯m here regarding your theft of our research. I know you aren¡¯t going to ept what you did. This is about reputation, after all. I don¡¯t even expect you to do anything," Ryder told thedy.

    "Since you don¡¯t expect us to do anything even if what you said is true, then why did youe here?" thedy asked Ryder, amused.

    "I came here to ask you about the name of that person who betrayed us. Also, I came here to warn you. You might think Divine Corporation is a smallpany that can¡¯t do anything, but you don¡¯t know me. Correct your course, or you¡¯ll regret crossing my path," Ryder told thedy.

    Hearing the words, Aaliya gazed at him nkly. She couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing. After some time, she burst intoughter.

    "Hahaha! You¡¯re funny. You dare toe here and threaten me? Do you think I don¡¯t know about myself? I know everything, little boy," she told Ryder as sheughed.

    "Ryder Flynn, born dirt poor. Orphan for most of his life with no wealth. Only suddenly started rising. There are stories that you achieved everything through your own effort, but I know the truth. You¡¯re nothing but the dog of that Shu Maxwell who funds you and handles everything. You think I don¡¯t know you? I know you as well as your boss," she added.

    "But if you think I¡¯ll be intimidated because of that Shu Maxwell, then you¡¯re wrong. You don¡¯t know me either. You better don¡¯t cross my path. Or let alone that Shu Maxwell, even his dead father, won¡¯t be able to save you. Don¡¯t jump so much just because you have the backing of Dream Corporation," she further said.

    Her words surprised Ryder. It wasn¡¯t because she was entirely wrong. Shu wasn¡¯t his boss, and no, he wasn¡¯t funding him. But what really surprised Ryder wasn¡¯t her assumption about Shu being involved but her arrogance.

    Even when she was talking about Shu, she talked as if she was in an equal position or had the backing of someone who was in an equal position.

    No matter what, herpany wasn¡¯t big enough to take on Dream Corporation. It wasn¡¯t even in the top ten globalpanies like Dream Corporation. Why was she so arrogant then?

    "You think I¡¯m talking about Shu Maxwell? No. First of all, he isn¡¯t helping me in running mypany. And even if he wanted to help me, I wouldn¡¯t need his help in dealing with yourpany. As I said, don¡¯t cross my path. You won¡¯t even know how the world went upside down for you," Ryder told the woman calmly.

    He didn¡¯t let his stupidity make him angry.

    "What are you going to do? See my men behind me? I can have you shot dead here, and you can do nothing. I can even have you be med for your own death, and no one will call me out. Your life and death are in my hands. You¡¯re in my domain right now. So leave and forget about that research," the woman warned Ryder as she smiled.

    "I allowed this meeting only so I could tell you this. Otherwise, you don¡¯t even deserve a second of my time here," she continued arrogantly.

    "Now get out before I change my mind," she told Ryder.

    "What men are you talking about?" Ryder asked, smiling.

    "What men? Are you blind? Can¡¯t you see my me-"

    The woman turned back to point towards her men, but as soon as she turned back, she saw all five of her men bring out their guns, but they were toote. A bullet entered each of their hearts, killing them before they could even pull their gun out.

    "Haa!"

    The woman turned back to look towards Ryder, her mouth opened wide. Her face was already pale as she realized what had happened. Ryder had shot her men in her office itself.

    "I repeat my question. What men are you talking about?" Ryder asked the woman again, who gazed at the gun in Ryder¡¯s hand, which hezily ced back on the table.

    "Miss Aaliya, having a few men with you as guards might give you a sense of security, but as I said, don¡¯t cross my path. You don¡¯t know what I¡¯m capable of. I¡¯ve already killed too many people to be bothered with such little things anymore," Ryder told the woman who seemed pale.

    "W-what do you want?" the woman asked Ryder.

    "Give me the name of the person that betrayed us by giving you that research first," Ryder told the woman as he gazed into her deep eyes.

 Chapter 520 Scared Cat

    <h4>Chapter 520: Scared Cat</h4>

    "I want the name of that person. And a confession saying that this research doesn¡¯t belong to me. If you don¡¯t give me what I want..."

    "What will you do then?" The woman asked Ryder suspiciously.

    "Then I¡¯ll just leave," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Y-you will leave? You won¡¯t do anything?" The woman asked.

    "That¡¯s right. I will leave, and I won¡¯t do anything. In fact, instead of causing any damage here, I¡¯ll clean this ce instead. I¡¯ll clean all six dead bodies here, so the staff doesn¡¯t need to work hard to do it," Ryder replied with an amused smile on his face. "Aren¡¯t I nice?"

    "But there are only five bodies here," Aaliya told Ryder.

    "Oh, I¡¯m counting your body as well," Ryder replied before he became surprised. "Wait a minute. Don¡¯t tell me you thought I would be leaving you alive?"

    "Your body would be lying in a ditch somewhere along with the men of yours who you were so proud of. And trust me when I say this, you won¡¯t be able to stop me from doing it," he added.

    "So, what have you decided?" he asked again.

    "Fine. I will tell you and do as you say," the woman told Ryder as she agreed.

    She had confidence in her guards, but now those same guards were dead. She had no one to protect her now. She was at Ryder¡¯s mercy. As for her backup, that person can¡¯te here to protect her. She knew that if she even tried to call someone, she would be dead.

    "Come on, don¡¯t waste my time. There¡¯s a paper before you. There¡¯s a pen. Start writing everything you did wrong and who it was that betrayed us on that paper," Ryder told Aaliya.

    "But if I do that, you¡¯ll use this as evidence to sue me," Aaliya told Ryder as she frowned.

    "Don¡¯t worry, little girl. Why would I sue you? Just stop iming our research as your own, and we won¡¯t have to do anything. The only one who will get punished is the person who betrayed us," Ryder replied.

    "As for this paper, it would simply be used as a backup. If you ever betrayed us and didn¡¯t do as you imed, only then will this paper be used," he added.

    "Think carefully. I¡¯m giving you time to think," Ryder said as he gazed at his clock. "You have a whole two minutes to decide. After that, you can tell me what you have decided."

    ¡¯This bastard! He is mocking me! Are two minutes supposed to be some great help? Fine! You bastard! I will write the truth, and I will give you what you want. But do you think you¡¯ll even be able to use the paper? The moment you step out of this ce, I¡¯ll have you killed. Nothing will happen with this paper,¡¯ the woman thought as she gazed at Ryder.

    "Fine! I will do it," she told Ryder.

    "Clever girl. I knew you¡¯de to the right decision. Fine. Go ahead and sign the paper after writing your confession," Ryder nodded his head in affirmation.

    Picking up a pen, Aaliya started writing.

    She wrote how an employee from Divine Corporation approached her and told her about this research and how he wanted a high position in herpany in exchange for this information.

    She even wrote that she was fascinated by this research and agreed to the deal and arranged everything. After she finished writing, she gave the paper to Ryder.

    "Here, take the paper," she told Ryder as she slid it towards him.

    Ryder picked up the paper with his left hand as he started reading it.

    "So it was that guy. Well, this is a bit disappointing since he was the only one in the team that I hired."

    Reading the name, Ryder was stunned to see the name. He was also disappointed.

    He kept the paper in his inventory.

    "Huh? Where did the paper go?" the woman eximed in surprise as she saw the paper disappear in Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "That paper? It¡¯s gone to the past just like I¡¯m going," Ryder told Aaliya as he smiled.

    "Huh?"

    While the woman was confused, Ryder raised his hand as he snapped his finger.

    The time started flowing in reverse as Ryder found himself back before the woman.

    It was the time when he had just entered the room and sat before the woman.

    "You¡¯re much younger than I assumed, Ryder. So, what are you here for?" Aaliya again repeated her old words as she gazed at Ryder.

    "I¡¯m here to tell you that you have stolen my research. And I don¡¯t like my things being taken. So what happens next will be your own fault. Don¡¯t me me," Ryder told the woman as he stood up.

    "Oh, you dare to threaten me?" The womanughed as she saw Ryder stand up.

    "You¡¯re such a scared cat. After threatening me, you don¡¯t even dare to stay behind. Run, little guy. Don¡¯te here again, or you won¡¯t even know how you died," Aaliya told Ryder, who was leaving.

    "Sigh, you¡¯re again threatening me? You little girl, you really need some lessons. I had other ns for you. I wanted to handle things the legal way, but I guess we¡¯ll have to do things the old style. I wasted a trip," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    Turning back, he brought a piece of paper out. He already saw that there was no security camera here. But just likest time, he didn¡¯t want the noises to go out.

    He tore the strange piece of paper that he had received from the system and sealed the entire room.

    "Madam, he¡¯s acting really arrogant. Please allow me to go teach him a lesson," one of the guards told Aaliya.

    "Fine. Just give him a little beating. Don¡¯t use your gun. I don¡¯t want another mess to deal with," Aaliya said as she gave the permission to her men.

    One of her guards stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. A big grin remained on his face as if he was pleased about what he was going to do.

    "You little man, you should be d that our madam doesn¡¯t want you killed. I¡¯ll only beat you up a little bit. Don¡¯t worry," the man told Ryder as he ced his hand on Ryder¡¯s shoulder.

    Gazing at the hand, Ryder frowned as he raised his hand.

    p!

    A pnded on the bulky man¡¯s face that sent him flying away. The man crashed on a wall on the other end. A single p was enough to break his skull, killing him right away.

    Watching the sudden change, Aaliya¡¯s mouth opened wide in surprise. She didn¡¯t expect Ryder to be able to beat such a strong man to death in a single p. Just how strong was this man? How was he able to achieve that? She couldn¡¯t understand it.

    Ryder, on the other hand, gazed at the other me, who did just as he predicted. They brought their guns to shoot Ryder.

    Ryder had alreadymitted murder here. They didn¡¯t need to hold back anymore. They could just shoot him dead now.

    Unfortunately, before they could even move their guns, four bullets came flying towards them.

    It was as if time was repeating itself. The same thing was happening again as the bullet stabbed through the hearts of these men, killing them right away.

    The woman¡¯s face turned pale as she saw what had happened. Her men were killed right before her eyes by the man that she called a scared cat just a few minutes ago.

    She was starting to regret her decision. If only she hadn¡¯t stopped Ryder, things might be different right now. Unfortunately, she just happened to make the wrong decision and stop Ryder.

    Now she was at the mercy of this guy who had justmitted a murder before her. She was a witness to the crime. What was he going to do? Was he going to kill her as well? She didn¡¯t know what this psycho was going to do.

    "What happened? Scared? Why are you scared of me? I didn¡¯t do anything. Since you only told them to beat me and not kill me, I won¡¯t kill you either. Go ahead. Run," Ryder told the woman as he walked over to the wall and stood with his arms folded.

    He even closed his eyes to give a bit more confidence to the woman.

    Seeing his actions, Aaliya was suspicious. Was he going to shoot her from behind? Just what was he scheming? In any case, she knew that she couldn¡¯t afford to stay back. She needed to get out of here. She needed to take a risk.

    Standing up, she ran towards the door. Each of her steps was filled with dread as she didn¡¯t know if she was going to be shot in the back. There was a good chance that Ryder was going to shoot her anyway.

    She soon reached the door.

 Chapter 521 Finishing Up

    <h4>Chapter 521: Finishing Up</h4>

    Aaliya soon reached the door. As she reached out her hand to open the door, she kept praying that she wouldn¡¯t be shot in the back.

    Bang!

    Her fingers touched the doorknob, and simultaneously, a big sound came from the back. She couldn¡¯t help but close her eyes as she felt like her heartbeat had stopped. She had thought that Ryder had shot her.

    "Huh?"

    There was no pain in her body. She wasn¡¯t bleeding. There was no pain. She realized that it wasn¡¯t that she was shot.

    She wanted to turn back to see what that noise actually was, but she didn¡¯t dare. She pushed the door open and ran out, not even daring to look back.

    Only after she stepped out sessfully did she breathe in relief, but she didn¡¯t stop running. She needed to bring people here. She needed to bring security along with more people.

    ....

    "That¡¯s right! Come!" The woman came back after some time. Tens of guards were following behind her, all with big weapons.

    As she had left, she had made sure to ce a man here who was to keep an eye to make sure that Ryder didn¡¯t leave.

    "He didn¡¯t leave, right?" she asked that man.

    "No, mam. Only Alex had left," the man answered.

    "Alex? My personal guard? What do you mean only he left? He is already killed by that bastard! Whatever!" Aaliya rolled her eyes as she reached the rooms. She stood in the back and watched her men enter. The men were alreadymanded to shoot Ryder at sight.

    ...

    A few minutes had passed since the armed men entered her office, but there was no sound of shooting.

    "What happened? Why is there no sound?" She wondered as she stepped inside as well, initially hesitant.

    As she entered, her face turned pale at what she saw.

    The room... It seemed perfectly fine. There was no blood anywhere. As for bodies, there were no bodies either. It seemed like nothing had happened in the dream.

    The new guards were also looking confused. They were wondering if their boss had gone crazy. There was no way a shooting took ce here. Did she hallucinate something? They wondered, frowning.

    "How is this possible?" Aaliya eximed, shocked.

    This room didn¡¯t have a camera so that she couldn¡¯t prove anything, but she knew that her men were probably finding her crazy.

    "So what if this room doesn¡¯t have a camera? The outside hall has a camera. I¡¯ll find him there. The window is perfectly fine. He didn¡¯t leave from there. There¡¯s no way to bring bodies out except through the main hallway. That would reveal everything!"

    She walked over to herptop, which was ced on the table, perfectly neat.

    After unlocking theptop, she pressed a few buttons to go to the footage of thest hour to see what took ce outside.

    "There I am, leaving."

    She saw her running. She was sure that Ryder left after her. She was waiting to find that guy. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t find him. That guy wasn¡¯t there at all.

    Who left the room after her was none other than Alex! It was her guard that was killed first by Ryder.

    "How! How could he be alive! No! It was Ryder Flynn! I¡¯m not crazy!"

    She kept ying the footage. After that, not a single person left the office until she came back just how. But how. Where was Ryder? What happened to him? Where were the rest of her men? Was a ghost here? Or what?

    "Yes! I should have the footage of himing to my room. I can prove that!"

    She was determined to prove that Ryder was here. She started rewinding the footage to before she had run.

    She wanted to see Ryder entering.

    "What?"

    Her head was spinning as she saw the footage. She saw her workering to her office and leaving after that. Ryder wasn¡¯t there with him. Ryder wasn¡¯t there. How? From what she remembered, that man brought Ryder here; how could he not be seen in the footage.

    "Was he actually a ghost?"

    Frowning, she ran outside her room. She needed to make sure by asking that man that Ryder was here with him. Footage can lie, but he won¡¯t, she thought.

    She soon found that man in the cabin on the lower floor. She was still breathing heavily as she had been running. Her guards also ran behind her. At this point, almost everyone was certain that their boss was not feeling right.

    "Tell me! When you came to my office, you brought Ryder Flynn to me, didn¡¯t you?" She asked.

    "Ah, boss, do you mean that man I was told to bring? I came to your office to tell you that the man returned from the lift saying he didn¡¯t want to meet anymore. So I couldn¡¯t bring him. That¡¯s why I apologized to you as well," the man replied, confused about what she was talking about.

    "You bastard! How dare you lie before me!" Furious, Aaliya pped the man before she dropped to the ground, feeling that her head was going to blow up. Was she going crazy? Was this all a dream? Just what was happening? Why was everyone lying to her?

    "Madam, I think you¡¯re not feeling alright today. Let me take you to a doctor."

    A manager stepped forward to help the woman.

    ....

    Outside the building, Ryder was standing before his car, gazing at the building. A calm smile was on his face.

    A piece of paper was in his hand which contained the confession of Aaliya. He was going to approach her again. If she didn¡¯t ept the truth, this was the option.

    "But first, I have someone else to deal with," Ryder muttered as he entered the car.

    ....

    Ryder¡¯s car stopped before his office. Stepping out of the car, he walked inside the building amidst the many greetings.

    He went straight to the office of Aleson.

    "Boss, You¡¯re here. I was just about to call you. I believe the research was stolen the same day we conducted experiments since the footage of that day is missing. I don¡¯t know who messed with it, but it seems like an borate scheme. It¡¯s going to be pretty tough to find the culprit.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I already know the culprit," Ryder said as he sat before Aleson, sighing.

    He ced the piece of paper which was in his hand towards Aleson, who picked it up and started reading it.

    "It¡¯s him?"

    Even Aleson seemed shocked, but Ryder could see that Aleson probably was already suspicious of him. He just wasn¡¯t saying anything since this guy was hired by Ryder himself.

    "Yeah. It¡¯s this bastard. So tell me. How do you want to deal with it? Going through the legal route and ruining his life or the easier path?" Ryder asked Aleson.

    "What¡¯s the easier path?" Aleson asked, wondering what Ryder meant.

    "The easier path will make that Bastard disappear from thispany forever without legal troubles," Ryder answered.

    "With that exnation, the easier option sounds better, but I have a bad feeling about this," Aleson muttered as he frowned. He was suspicious of this easier path.

    "Easier path it is. Stay in your office and continue working. I¡¯ll handle things my way," Ryder said as he stood up and started walking away. "These people really think they can dance over my head just because I don¡¯t do anything here."

    Leaving Aleson¡¯s office, Ryder entered a different office where he spent only ten minutes. After ten minutes, he stepped out and left.

    That day... An office became empty as a person disappeared forever.

    ....

    Dealing with the small things, Ryder left the building and walked downstairs. He didn¡¯t spend any more time there than what he needed to.

    He directly went back to the mansion to rest now that he had finished everything.

    ...

    What Ryder didn¡¯t know was that Alice was also doing something when he was outside.

    She had decided to ept the offer of Necrosis and take part in the billion dor tournament that was going to take ce soon. For that, she needed to send her information. And she was ready to do that. She hadn¡¯t thought about it twice as she did everything.

    She knew that this was the only option if she didn¡¯t want to be blocked from divinity. Moreover, she can have a chance of winning a billion dors to help Ryder as well. She was willing to take it.

    She had sent her information, and she was already back, resting when Ryder returned after handling matters outside.

    Aftering back, the first thing he did was to meet Alice. He had killed Alice in Divinity. He needed to apologize to her.

    Coming back to the mansion, he went straight to her room and told her everything. He told her that he didn¡¯t know it was her and apologized to her. But he didn¡¯t say anything more than he needed to.

    "Oh, right. You¡¯re blocked now, right?" Ryder asked her.

 Chapter 522 The Seven

    <h4>Chapter 522: The Seven</h4>

    "I remember that you were doing the same quest. So you probably had the risk of being blocked as well. Did this happen?" Ryder asked Alice despite already knowing the answer to this small question.

    It was already certain that she was blocked. Ryder was also happy about that fact since that meant Alice wasn¡¯t allowed to even step a foot inside that dangerous game.

    But since he was the one responsible to make it happen and to hurt Alice, he still needed to act concerned.

    Alice nodded in Ryder¡¯s response, letting silence take over.

    Her silence was only broken as she continued, "That¡¯s right. I am blocked. It¡¯s fine, though. I had a special reward for epting the Quest before I was banned."

    "Special reward?"

    Hearing that word, Ryder had a bad feeling. If her reward was the same as his reward, then it was wrong. It meant that Necrosis was asking for her data to let her take part in that billion dor event.

    Hoping to be wrong, he asked her directly. "What reward?"

    "That¡¯s right. It was something that allowed me to take part in their Billion Dor event. Since it¡¯s something that will be held inside Divinity, they can¡¯t have me blocked. So they¡¯ll unblock me soon," Alice answered.

    She didn¡¯t stop with her excitement here as she continued, "If I win those billion dors, I¡¯ll give them all to you so you can boost thepany."

    "Don¡¯t tell me you already sent them your details?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "I did," Alice answered smilingly.

    ¡¯Sigh, this girl. I don¡¯t want to be involved since I¡¯m a bit suspicious, but she¡¯s already involved now. They should already have her information. But they don¡¯t know she¡¯s rted to Hades yet. So they don¡¯t know about me. This doesn¡¯t make sense.¡¯

    ¡¯They were after the top ten. But Alice is nowhere near top ten, from what I know. Since they even ept her, does it mean that I¡¯m worrying unnecessarily? There¡¯s no scheme to involve the top ten only? Don¡¯t tell me I¡¯m bing a conspiracy theorist, but something doesn¡¯t add up here.¡¯

    Hearing Alice, Ryder had realized that the information was already gone. Alice was a part of this event now. That also made some cracks in his previous assumptions and sent him into deep thoughts.

    He couldn¡¯t help but have second thoughts if he was just being too suspicious of this event because it didn¡¯t happen in the previous timeline.

    Many things happened in this timeline that didn¡¯t happen in thest. Shu tried to take over Necrosis in this timeline when he hadn¡¯t tried it in thest timeline. So a change didn¡¯t prove there was a scheme.

    After a long thought process, he finally decided to put this matter down. In any case, he was here to protect Alice against any schemes, so it was fine.

    "Is something wrong? Should I not have taken part?" Alice asked Ryder, wondering if she had done something wrong.

    As soon as she told him what she did, he went silent, which was giving her a bad feeling as if she had done something wrong.

    "No, you did nothing wrong. I just remembered something about work. I was thinking about that. Anyway, tell me when you get a response from Necrosis with more details about this event. I want to know about it too," Ryder told Alice.

    "Huh? You¡¯re the top rank, if I¡¯m not wrong. Are you not taking part yourself?" Alice asked, surprised.

    She needed a special reward to take part, but Ryder was different. This event was especially for the ones that were in the top ten. And as the top ranked yer amongst them, he had the best chance. Why wasn¡¯t he taking part?

    "I am not sure if I will take part or not. Most probably, I won¡¯t. Maybe I mightter on. As I said, I¡¯m not sure at the moment. So tell me what it¡¯s about when you get the information since you already sent them the information," he told Alice, who nodded in return.

    "Alright."

    ....

    After finishing the conversation with Alice, Ryder was back in his room.

    He had freshened up and was lying on the bed in his morefortable clothes.

    He didn¡¯t wish to enter Divinity tonight since he knew it was going to be boring. There was only preparation everywhere. There was no fun for him. But it was for his coronation. So he didn¡¯t have any choice.

    Despite just wanting to sleep tonight, he wore the Divinity sses as he prepared to enter the world of Divinity.

    ....

    "Your Highness, which robe do you want to wear on your coronation? This one or that?"

    ...

    "Your Highness, these are the choices for dishes in the feast. Do you have anything to add or remove?"

    ...

    "Your Highness..."

    "Your Highness..."

    ....

    Throughout the day in divinity, he was made to go through thousands of choices. He wanted to give all these to Rale to choose, but High Dukes had said that it was the custom for the Prince to choose such things. Ryder couldn¡¯t deny such customs, so he was forced to go through it.

    Fortunately, the tiring days finally got over as tomorrow was the day of the ceremony.

    Tomorrow morning was when guests were going to arrive, and the evening was when the crowning ceremony was supposed to happen.

    One more day and the big event was about to take ce, after which Ryder knew he was going to get all the freedom he wanted.

    Hopeful about the next day, Ryder left the world of Divinity again.

    ....

    Far away from the Maxwell Estate existed the country of Japan.

    It was a small country in size, but it was a very important country. It was a country which held many top organizations that were a pioneer in the department of technological advancements.

    There was also apany here that was one of the top tenpanies in the entire world. It was close to the Dream Corporation in size and business, not much different.

    The owner of this huge conglomerate was also a young man, but his story was different from Shu.

    While Shu was the son of the Dream Corporation Owners, he received their inheritance after their death.

    This man, on the other hand, had an entirely different sess story. His rise was swift. It was said that manypany owners in the country just handed over theirpanies to him for some reason. There were many stories about it, but no one knew the exact truth.

    The man was known as Itsuki Yamada.

    At his young age, he was suddenly the owner of many differentpanies. He merged them all and made them all rise, bing the owner of apany which was known to be one of the richest in the world.

    Thepany was what he named Itsuki Corporation.

    There were only six people in this world who knew the truth about this guy.

    He actually wasn¡¯t from this world. Instead, he was the son of the gods who hade here on a trial, just like Aluren and the other five.

    In total, there were seven such god-sons in this world. Each of them was given a different goal in this trial.

    To make sure that no one affected the other person¡¯s trial, some rules were also made.

    Each of these seven was given a specific country which they weren¡¯t allowed to step out of. If they left and entered someone else¡¯s territory, it was against the rules and something which could warrant punishment for them.

    That¡¯s why it was such a big deal when one of the seven, Adrian, had left his country to enter thend which was assigned to Aluren.

    Fortunately, the punishment wasn¡¯t big this time since both Aluren and Adrian were wrong. So no one could me others, and the matter was over.

    Amongst the seven, Aluren was allowed to stay in the country of the United States. Adrian Bkin was told to stay in Russia. Aryan was in India. Draco Liang was staying in China. Suliven Szar was in the United Kingdom. Julien was in Germany. Andstly, Itsuki Yamada was ruling over the business Empire in Japan.

    Each of these seven was the sons of one of the Great Gods. They were given all the instructions about their trials, and when needed, some external maniption was also given.

    Just like his Suliven Szar was made Prince of the United Kingdom through great maniption. Aryan was ced in a family whose memory was wiped to make them believe that he was their nephew.

    There was a simr story with all of these seven, albeit a bit different since each of them had a different trial to go through.

    At the moment, Itsuki was sitting in his office, talking to someone over the phone.

    "So you¡¯re saying he wasn¡¯t in any cameras either. And the men disappeared. Interesting. Alright. I¡¯ll see what it is," he said to the person over the phone before he disconnected the call.

    Gazing towards his receptionist, hemanded, "Get me the information of this Ryder Flynn from Divine Corporation. And see if he has any rtionship to Aluren or not."

 Chapter 523 Rising Suspicions

    <h4>Chapter 523: Rising Suspicions</h4>

    "Get the Information of Ryder Flynn. I want that on my table by tomorrow. Also, check if he has any rtionship with Aluren or not. If he is with Aluren, then it¡¯s not shocking. But if he isn¡¯t, then this would be interesting," Itsuki told his assistant.

    The Assistant nodded in response. It wasn¡¯t often that she saw Itsuki so curious about something. It seemed as if something had attracted his attention this time. She felt pity for whoever it was as she turned back and left the room.

    "Aaliya is my subordinate, helping me keep an eye on Aluren and handle an important part of my business in the states since I personally can¡¯t go there. The way she described this person, to be able to change reality, he isn¡¯t normal. And if he isn¡¯t normal, then what is he?" Itsuki muttered as he rested his head on the table, losing himself in deep thought.

    "The way she described it. She isn¡¯t crazy, I¡¯m certain. So someone not only changed the footage, making him invisible from cameras but also altered the memories of the men. Moreover, five bodies had disappeared. As for one of the dead body walking out, impersonation is most likely involved."

    " So many things... It reminds me of one particr god that could do such things with ease. That trickster Janus with his strange abilities. But he wouldn¡¯t be here. Who appears with simr abilities? I can¡¯t let such strange elements stay unknown since they might affect the Trial of mine," he further said as if talking to himself.

    "The only way this could be possible is if that person is rted to Aluren who helped him with some of these abilities like those toys he calls kings. But he knows Aaliya works for me. After the mess with Adrian, he wouldn¡¯t interfere in these matters which rte to me. Should I contact him directly and ask him to see who this guy is?"

    "After I get the report on that guy, I¡¯ll ask him. Since it can affect us all."

    ....

    Back home, Ryder had left the world of Divinity. It was morning when he left the room as he heard a strange drilling sounding from outside.

    He wanted to check what was happening.

    Leaving the room, he realized that the sound wasing from the stairs.

    "What¡¯s happening here?"

    Reaching the stairs, he saw a person drilling. The main butler of the Mansion was standing behind, watching the work.

    "Oh, good morning Sir Ryder. Did the noise disturb you? Just a little bit of renovation going on here. How about you use the other stairs if you want to go down for now?" The butler told Ryder, pointing towards the second stairs nearby.

    "I¡¯m not going down. I just heard the noise and came to check up. I still need to freshen up."

    Ryder went back to his room after checking what was happening here. He took a shower and got dressed before he finally left the room.

    He already had ns for today, and that also involved Aaliya. The only reason he hadn¡¯t killed Aaliya was because of this research.

    If he had killed her, the confession on the letter would be proven useless since thepany could have imed that someone forced Aaliya to write that before kidnapping her. So he wanted to use some mind tricks.

    He wanted to show us that he wasn¡¯t that easy to mess with. After the small show before, finally, he was going to contact her again to finish this.

    ...

    Alice had gone to college, and Shu had left for a business meeting as well, leaving no one but Ryder, who was also leaving.

    After informing the butler, he left the mansion. He was again going to meet Aaliya physically.

    ...

    A silver-haired man was sitting in an air-conditioned room, talking to someone over the call. He was speaking in Russian while the other side also talked in the samenguage, believing that this man didn¡¯t know English.

    "Verno. Eto vse chto ya mogu skazar po etomu povodu."

    After a lengthy conversation, the well-dressed man disconnected the call.

    "Who was it?"

    Another man was sitting in front of the silver-haired man, who asked him as he saw him looking upset.

    "Hah, The authorities in the states. Apparently, Luke is being investigated for keeping a couple of hostages before going on a run. I¡¯m amazed they managed to get my number," the silver haired man said.

    He was none other than Adrian who had sent one of his men to bring Alice here. It was unclear how it happened, but that man disappeared someday. There was no contact from him. And calling that number wasn¡¯t working either.

    That much was enough for Adrian to guess that his man was dead. But what amazed him was that people were able to contact him because of that guy.

    "I told him to stay away from Aluren if he saw that guy. I¡¯m sure he didn¡¯t listen and messed with that guy. That¡¯s why he died. Aluren should be the one who also gave my name. That bastard, one day I¡¯ll really kill him. He was luckyst time I didn¡¯t," Adrian said as he ced his phone on the table roughly.

    "Do you n to go there personally?" The other man asked Adrian.

    "Sigh, I badly want to. But I can¡¯t. This is a mess. Alright. I have a n. Tell me how it is."

    ...

    Adrian started describing the n to the other guy, who had many vivid expressions throughout the exnation.

    "Are you sure?" he asked Adrian.

    "I¡¯m sure."

    Seeing the determination of Adrian, the other person could only agree.

    "Alright. But just know, it can just as easily invite a war on ournd. Think again," the man told Adrian again.

    "Hah, why would I be scared of a war? I don¡¯t even know what fear feels like, so don¡¯t worry," Adrien answered.

    "Sigh, alright."

    ...

    Ryder reached the building which belonged to thepany which was said to rule over a pharmaceutical empire.

    It was also where he had met with Aaliya.

    Without worrying about a single thing, he casually entered the building and walked to the receptionist he had met before.

    "Hello, prettydy. How are you doing? Can you tell Aaliya that I¡¯m here to meet her? Last time I couldn¡¯t since something urgent hade up. I was thinking I could finish the meeting today when I am free," he told the receptionist, who seemed stunned to see Ryder.

    Ryder was the person her boss was hallucinating about. She imagined meeting him and him killing her men. It all seemed like a dream, but she did remember Ryder not meeting her bossst time.

    She wasn¡¯t sure if this was the right thing to do. Was reminding her boss about Ryder a good idea?

    "Wait a minute. I¡¯ll tell our manager about your arrival. He will handle the rest," she told Ryder. "Please wait on the sofa there."

    Without arguing, Ryder walked back to the sofa calmly and started waiting.

    ...

    Only about five minutes had passed when a middle-aged man arrived near Ryder.

    "Are you Mr. Ryder?" the man asked Ryder.

    "Yes, who might you be?" Ryder asked in return n

    "I¡¯m Rom, the manager here," the man answered.

    "Rom? Don¡¯t tell me you have a brother named Ram, too," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly.

    "I can¡¯t say that¡¯s the first time I heard that joke. It¡¯s pretty boring at this point," the middle-aged man replied without a change in his expressions.

    "Man, it wasn¡¯t a joke. I was genuinely curious. Anyway, I¡¯m here to meet Aaliya. Take me to her."

    "Madam can¡¯t meet you this time. She¡¯s not feeling healthy," the middle-aged man answered.

    Through the conversation, his eyes kept staring at Ryder, wondering what it was about this man which was making his boss hallucinate him killing the bodyguards?

    This man didn¡¯t seem very strong. There was no intimidating aura about this man. In fact, he seemed like a harmless bird. The thought of this man killing a person seemed like a big joke.

    But even if he knew that, he couldn¡¯t do anything since it wasn¡¯t him who was hallucinating but his boss.

    "She¡¯s unhealthy? How about you take me to her? At Least let me wish her well? I do know she¡¯s in the office. So don¡¯t waste my trip. I¡¯ll go after seeing and wishing her well, I promise," Ryder told the man, talking normally.

    "I told you, we can¡¯t. Please leave. In any case, you don¡¯t have an appointment. Next time you want to meet her, call her office and make an appointment. After that, you cane meet her. Please leave now," the middle-aged man again refused.

    "Sigh, I thought I could surprise her like this. But you¡¯re making it impossible. Whatever, I guess I¡¯ll spoil the surprise," Ryder said, sighing.

    He brought his phone out of his pocket as he called a number.

 Chapter 524 Second Meet

    <h4>Chapter 524: Second Meet</h4>

    Hearing the constant no from the middle-aged man, it had be extremely obvious that the middle aged man wasn¡¯t going to let him meet Aaliya.

    Ryder also knew the reason for it, so he didn¡¯t have high hopes even before, but he still tried to go through the normal route. Now that it was out, he was going to use the n he had already prepared.

    Thest time he was here, he had already taken the personal number from Aaliya. It was all before he had reversed time, so she didn¡¯t remember giving him the letter or the number, but he had them both.

    Bringing out the phone, he dialed the exact number. As he was calling the number, the middle aged man was curious as to who he was calling.

    "Hello, Aaliya. Recognize my voice? Anyway, I¡¯m standing in front of your reception. I¡¯m here to meet you. Can you tell someone to arrange the meeting?"

    "You Bastard! It¡¯s you! How did you get my number?!"

    Hearing Ryder¡¯s voice again, Aaliya was furious. In her room, she stood up, enraged.

    " A magician never tells his tricks. But if you still want to know how I did what I did, then arrange the meeting."

    As Ryder talked, he had created the distance between him and the middle aged man so he couldn¡¯t hear his words.

    "Or do you want me to pull a stunt likest time? I don¡¯t want you to disappear like your guards. So be a good girl, and arrange for a meeting, alone. And don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t want to kill you. You don¡¯t need to have guards. If I wanted to kill you, I could have killed you ten times already," he said calmly. "I¡¯m waiting."

    Finishing up, he disconnected the call and ced the phone back in his pocket.

    He walked back to the sofa and started waiting.

    The middle aged man wondered who he had called. And why wasn¡¯t he leaving? His confidence was unsettling.

    Curious, he approached Ryder.

    "Who did you call? And why aren¡¯t you leaving?" he asked directly.

    "Why should I leave? Don¡¯t worry; you¡¯ll sure know who I called," Ryderzily said as he ced one of his legs above another and closed his eyes.

    Time kept passing slowly as the man stood, curious. Did he call the president or something? Just why was he so sure? Who was capable enough to force him to take this guy to his boss without permission?

    "I wanna be the very best, Like no one ever was! To catch them is my real test; to train them is my..."

    As he was wondering, his phone started ringing as the ringtone started ying.

    "Hmm? I remember that tone. It¡¯s from Dogemon, right? You¡¯re a fan of cartoons?" Ryder asked, opening his eyes. An amused smile was on his face.

    "It¡¯s called anime!" The middle aged man snorted as he rolled his eyes. "And no, my daughter set up this ringtone. I¡¯m not so childish."

    Turning back, he brought the phone out and looked at the caller only to be surprised.

    It was none other than his boss who was calling.

    ¡¯Wait a minute! Don¡¯t tell me he contacted the boss? Or did he contact someone who had the contact of my boss?¡¯

    With many questions in his head, he picked up the phone.

    "Yes, mam. Ah, that¡¯s right. Yes. He is here. I, ah, sorry, mam. I made a mistake. I should have informed you."

    "Are you sure? But..."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll bring him up."

    He disconnected the call after a short conversation but that short time was enough for him to be filled with sweat.

    Even his forehead was covered in sweat which he wiped with his handkerchief before he turned back.

    "What happened? Did she scold you for not informing her and taking decisions on your own?" Ryder asked, amused as he stood up.

    "Who did you call? Was it her?" The middle aged man asked Ryder.

    "You don¡¯t need to know that. So, are we going to meet your boss or not?" He asked.

    "Come with me," the man rolled his eyes before he escorted Ryder to the lift.

    Through the lift, he brought her to a different office this time.

    ¡¯Hmm? She isn¡¯t in her old office? Is she scared to sit there because of me?" He wondered, amused.

    "Is this her new office?" He asked the middle aged man, who nodded his head.

    The man knocked on the door, and after getting permission to enter, he pushed it open before entering with Ryder.

    Aaliya was sitting behind the table. She had already prepared herself to see Ryder again. Gathering her courage, she had reminded herself again and again that she didn¡¯t need to stand up or act scared when he entered.

    She had the backing of the Itsuki Corporation who was said to have many assassins to do their shady deals. She didn¡¯t need to worry about Ryder. They could kill him anytime. But even after all that thinking, as soon as she saw him, she couldn¡¯t control herself.

    Her old memories returned as she stood up like a frightened rabbit.

    Realizing what she had done, she controlled her emotions.

    She reached forward and picked a pencil that was lying on the farthest edge, pretending that she had stood up to pick it up.

    Picking up the pencil, she sat down again.

    "You¡¯re here. Take a seat."

    She calmly gestured for Ryder to sit down.

    Ryder was amused at her actions, but it wasn¡¯t shocking. She was on the back foot, but she wanted to take the lead to act strong. He didn¡¯t find anything strange with it.

    Stepping forward, he took a chair.

    "You can leave now. I want to talk alone with Ryder," thedy told the middle aged man.

    "Huh?" The man couldn¡¯t help but look at her weirdly. Just what happened to her? Just some time ago, she was so scared. She was iming that Ryder had killed her guards when she was alone, and now she was wishing for him to be with her? Just what the heck?

    Was she in her right mind? Or was fear making her make stupid decisions? He couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    "What are you looking at? Did you not hear me? Leave. I want to talk to him alone," she said to the man again.

    "Sigh, yes, mam."

    Seeing her determined face, the man decided to leave her on her own. Since she wanted it, then fine. At Least she couldn¡¯t me him for leaving her alone with him when she asked him twice.

    Without making her ask twice, he turned back and left the room, closing the door behind him.

    "Tell me what you didst time? Why doesn¡¯t anyone remember youing to my office, and how did you make my men disappear? Also, what do you want from me? Since you¡¯re not killing me, you definitely want something. What is it?" She shot out a ton of questions, without a care in the world.

    "Calm down, Princess. Ask one at a time. I can¡¯t answer all of these questions since I don¡¯t even remember most of what you said, but I think it was about what I didst time. And to answer your question, I only left you a message. A message that you shouldn¡¯t cross me. Because if you do, you¡¯ll die."

    "And when you die, not a single person is going to remember you or your killer. So what¡¯s more important, your life or a single theft which you¡¯re probably doing for money? I think the answer should be simple."

    "When you die, what will the money be? So be a good girl, and take back your request and tell the authorities that someone cheated you and sold you research which now you found to be stolen. Your reputation will be saved, and problems will be solved.¡¯

    Without stretching things, he directly told her what he was here for.

    "So, are you ready? Because, unlike yesterday, I¡¯m not leaving. Let¡¯s go to their office and tell them that the misunderstanding has been cleared. Because we really need the permission for those tests. So don¡¯t make it worse for us," he told the girl.

    "I don¡¯t want your research anymore. Leave my office. I¡¯ll call them and tell them that it belongs to you. Go get that permission and stop annoying me. I don¡¯t want to have to do anything with you. So leave," the woman told Ryder as she rolled her eyes, not willing to go out with him alone.

    In any case, things had gone overboard. This wasn¡¯t about money anymore. She wanted her life and Ryder¡¯s death. To make sure both happened, she agreed to his demands.

    "Well, that was easy. Alright. Call them and tell them the truth right before me so I can leave," he told Aaliya.

    "You¡¯re really suspicious. Fine. I¡¯ll call him," she said, sighing.

    She picked up the phone and called the person.

 Chapter 525 A date

    <h4>Chapter 525: A date</h4>

    ...

    After a call thatsted for over twenty minutes, Aaliya ced the phone back on the table as she asked, "There. I did what you asked. Happy now?"

    Over the call, she had talked about being fooled and how someone cheated her and said that it was his individual research that he wanted to conduct in herpany because ofck of funds. Throughout the exnation, she ced herself as the victim of cheating.

    In that way, she protected herself and herpany¡¯s reputation because it was bad if someone called herpany thieves of research that belonged to others.

    "Leave now," she told Ryder after she finished up.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m not willing to stay here for longer than I have to anyway," Ryder answered as he stood up.

    "But keep in mind. Things have ended here. Don¡¯t bring trouble to yourself again. Let bygones be bygones," he added before he turned back and departed from this ce.

    "Hah. Let bygones be bygones? Sure? I¡¯ll let that happen. But that doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll get to live for longer for what you did to me. Just watch your back, young man. Not only you, but your whole family will suffer," she said as if she was talking to herself after Ryder had left.

    She didn¡¯t realize that Ryder was listening to her as he stepped out of the building.

    "Sigh, why is it that these viins never learn of my goodwill? Whatever, I tried, at least. No one can me me now," Ryder muttered as he stepped in his sports car, which departed.

    A few moments after he left, the Manager of Aaliya walked towards her office to check if everything was fine. After confirming that nothing was wrong, he left. Unaware that something big was about to happen.

    A few moments after he left, Aaliya¡¯s head went nk as she lost her consciousness.

    "Is mam fine?" One of the staff asked the middle-aged man.

    "Yeah. She¡¯s fine now. I talked to her myself. She¡¯s not hysterical like before," he replied as he went back to his work.

    Time kept passing slowly, and soon, it was night. Everyone felt a bit odd since it had been sote, but Aaliya hadn¡¯t left.

    The manager once again went to ask her.

    He kept knocking on the door, but no one opened the door. There was no sounding from inside either.

    "Mam! Are you inside? Please reply!"

    He kept shouting, but no reply ever came.

    Worried, he was just about to break inside when he finally heard a voice from inside.

    "Uhmm..."

    The noise sounded like someone just waking up from sleep and yawning.

    "Mam, open the door. I¡¯m worried for you!" The man called out.

    It didn¡¯t take much longer for the door to open at this time, but something seemed strange. Even though Aaliya was standing before him, he couldn¡¯t feel the same.

    Instead of the big boss who was arrogant, Aaliya seemed like a young girl who was confused.

    "Madam? Are you alright?" He asked.

    "What madam? Who are you? And why are you calling me madam? Where even am I? I remember being in college. How did I get here? Did you kidnap me?" Aaliya asked arrogantly.

    "Do you know who my father is? He is one of the richest in thend! He can kill you with ease! Are you sure you want to mess with him?" she dered.

    Seeing her, the man was surprised. What happened to her? Why was she talking like that? And her father? Didn¡¯t he die already? It was she and her sister who were handling thepany now. What was she even talking about?

    "Wait, did you forget your memory? Tell me which year it is?" He asked, peering in her eyes.

    "Yeah? It¡¯s... "

    The woman replied while talking about how tomorrow was her graduation exam and she needed to prepare.

    Hearing her response, a deep sigh escaped the lips of the man.

    "I¡¯m right. You lost thest few years of your memory. First the hallucinations, and now this... Let¡¯s go to the doctor. Also, I¡¯ll inform your sister too," the man said, sighing. Things are really troublesome now.

    His boss... She lost her memory. Thepany was going to be in turmoil for a little while.

    ....

    Ryder waspletely uncaring about what was happening behind. Instead, he went straight to the authorities, which now knew the research belonged to hispany, to take the permission.

    Now that it was clear, there was no problem in him getting the permission since the previous one was going to be canceled.

    As he went back there, the men apologized to him for being suspicious of hispany just because it was new. And now that the truth was out, they felt bad.

    Just because of that, they worked even faster for him and promised him that he would have the permission in a day.

    Ryder left the ce as well. It was still not evening, and there was plenty of time. He didn¡¯t feel like going back home yet since it was just going to be empty.

    "Where to go... Office? That¡¯s boring. As for the other things, those aren¡¯t ready yet. Gambling? Well, that seems like a good idea. I haven¡¯t been there in so long. It would be good to get some free money as well."

    It didn¡¯t take him long toe up with a n as he remembered the first use of his power. He had used his time ability to gamble in horse race and win millions.

    That was the money that started it all. With that money, he brought his first car, which was destroyed by some people in a kidnapping attempt.

    That was also the money he started thepany with. And when he needed more money to buy Herriet¡¯spany, he again used horse betting as his personal bank.

    At that time, he had decided that he would never go there again since he already had thepany up and running. Too much betting was also bad for him since it might attract some risk.

    That was what he had thought at that time when he decided not to go back there. But now that he had the strength he needed to protect himself from anyone, why was there a need to worry?

    Determined, he decided to finally have some fun after such a long time of seriousness.

    He also decided to invite someone else. A woman he had a rtionship with, but he wasn¡¯t able to meet her as often as he would have liked. Both of them were often busy with their work.

    Sitting inside the car, he dialed the number of Esmi.

    "Esmi, where are you right now?" He asked as he started the car.

    "At home? Why?" Esmi asked. "Are you nning toe?"

    "How about we go on a date? We can also have some fun? If you¡¯re not busy,e with me," he said.

    "Not busy at all. Where do you want to go?" Esmi inquired.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll send you the coordinates. Get dressed and reach there in half an hour. I¡¯ll also get there after finishing some work," he told Esmi before disconnecting the call.

    He sent her the address before he went to finish his important work, which was none other than eating.

    He had been starving, and going back home seemed like too much work. Instead, he just went to a fast food restaurant. He was feeling the need to eat some junk food today since he hadn¡¯t in a long time.

    As he reached the fast food restaurant, he took a table and ordered a few burgers and a drink.

    ....

    "Feel much better now. This fast food really tastes so good sometimes."

    After finishing the food, he left the restaurant and went inside the car as he left for the betting arena. He had given Esmi half an hour to get there. As for him, that ce was already nearby, so it didn¡¯t take long to get there.

    Despite hurrying, as he reached there, he realized that she was already waiting for him near the entrance of the ce.

    "She¡¯s fast," he muttered as he stepped out of the car after parking it.

    "Sorry for keeping you waiting," he told Esmi apologetically.

    "It¡¯s fine. I just got here as well. Anyway, when you said a date, this surely wasn¡¯t the ce I was assuming," Esmi replied as she gazed towards the betting arena.

    "Don¡¯t worry; it will be fun. Also, we can bet a little to win as well. Come on, let¡¯s see who gets the most right," Ryder said as he caught the hand of Esmi and brought her inside the building.

    ...

    "Sir, that guy is back on the premises!"

    A middle aged man hurriedly barged inside a room and informed the man who seemed like the boss.

    "Which guy? What are you talking about?¡¯ The boss asked, curious.

    "The man you told me to keep an eye on. He¡¯s back here to bet! What should we do?" The man asked. B

 Chapter 526 Losing Spree

    <h4>Chapter 526: Losing Spree</h4>

    "Which man are you talking about? I told you to keep an eye on many people throughout the years. Which one is back?" The boss asked, still not understanding.

    "Ahh, wait."

    The man pulled out his phone and opened an image which he showed to his boss.

    "This man. He is back here. He hade here a few times and never lost. If he¡¯s here, he¡¯s going to win today as well. What should we do?" He asked, frowning.

    "Oh, so it¡¯s this man. Let him y. If he wins the first round today as well, I¡¯ll go meet him personally," the boss replied before he shifted his focus back to his work.

    ....

    "You know, I wouldn¡¯t have minded if you had taken me to even a hotel on a date or even the most boring ce. But this... It¡¯s not that bad either. I dide here a few times in the past," she said as she nodded her head.

    "Did you win?" Ryder asked, curious if she was any good.

    "Hahaha, let¡¯s just say, my luck hasn¡¯t often been good in such matters. I had be addicted to this gambling, and it took me much effort to leave the habit. So I don¡¯t know if I should thank you or if I should scold you for bringing me here. But I do feel better here," Esmi answered.

    "How much did you lose here?" Ryder asked.

    "Not much. Just a bit over two million," Esmi responded.

    "Two million is not much?" Ryder couldn¡¯t understand how to respond to it. Even though he was a multi-millionaire, two million was a bit too much for them to call a bit.

    "How much did you lose? Or win here previously?" She asked Ryder, wondering how his track record was here.

    "Nothing much either. Just close to forty million dors," he replied in a simr tone to her.

    "Wow, looks like you¡¯re even worse at it than me? It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll teach you a few things. Maybe you¡¯ll lose less," Esmiughed as he held Ryder¡¯s hand while walking towards the stands.

    "Hah?"

    Ryder was surprised to hear her response. It seemed like Esmi was a bit misunderstood when he said forty million. She thought he meant he lost more than forty million.

    It was evident what her misunderstanding was, but he didn¡¯t find it surprising. He should have rified at the start anyway.

    "It¡¯s not that-"

    He started exining, but Esmi cut his words short as she started exining about her own experience.

    "See, I did lose a lot of times, but I also won a few. And before I quit, I think I was only getting better at winning. The first thing you need to know is the personality of the horse. Then its track record. Andstly, it¡¯s physique and actions right before the race," she told Ryder, who could only nod his head wryly.

    Actually, he was also a noob when it came to betting. The only reason he won was because of cheating and going back in time after knowing all the answers. But other than that, all his guesses had been wrong entirely.

    As they kept conversing, they reached the stands where a race was already going on.

    "I guess I missed the first one."

    "It¡¯s fine. There are many more. We can always bet on others. It¡¯s not like you know the answers to all the races, and missing one is like missing money."

    Patting his shoulder, Esmiforted Ryder as she sat down.

    Ryder also sat down beside her.

    The race was soon over, and the next one began. It was the one in which both Ryder and Esmi bet separately since they had made it apetition of sorts to see who wins the most money and most races today.

    As for the rewards, they had also decided that. If Esmi won, she was going to get one wish from Ryder. No matter what she said, as long as it wasn¡¯t overboard, he needed to do it. And if he won, he was going to get a wish from her.

    The first race ended with the loss of both of them since the two horses each of them chose ended up losing the race.

    The second battle was also a loss for both of them, even though they chose separate horses.

    "I guess you weren¡¯t lying when you said you were bad," Ryder gazed at Esmi, amused. He had expected her to win.

    "Hey, you¡¯re in no position to brag, mister. You¡¯re even worse than me. The horses I chose at least reached near the winner. Yours were in thest, watching the asses of other horses like lowers," Esmi responded as she rolled her eyes.

    "You can¡¯t me them. If it were a race between you and me, I would also be behind for the same reason," Ryder reacted to her amusing words.

    "Oh? Is it good?" Esmi asked, cing her hands on his thighs.

    "Lady Esmi, we are in public. Control," Ryder reminded her as he felt her hand sliding up his thighs slowly.

    "I think someone else needs to control first," Esmi said as she winked at Ryder while she pointed towards the one which had started rising inside Ryder¡¯s pants.

    "You¡¯re really a vixen. Of Course, I¡¯ll react with you pulling such tricks. Wait for the races to be over, and don¡¯t do it here," Ryder told Esmi as he ced his palm over her hand, which was relentlessly moving upwards. He sessfully stopped it in the middle before it could reach too far.

    "Hahaha, cute. Don¡¯t worry. I think you¡¯ll like my wish after I win. Just wait," Esmi told him before she retreated her hand.

    And thus, the day continued.

    Ryder¡¯s power of time reversal worked based on his level. Not only that, it worked depending on his highest level from his real world level and his game level.

    Even though he was at a lower level in the world of Divinity, in the real world, he was at level thousand.

    So he was allowed to go back in time by a thousand minutes at most. He could only use this ability once a day still.

    So each day, he could go around sixteen hours back in time at best, but that was already too much.

    He believed that a few hours would be enough since repeating the day was always tiring. Not only that, it even made him feel unmotivated and depressed on asions. So he preferred to keep the repeat as short as he possibly could.

    One after another, races kept finishing, most of which ended in a loss for Esmi. She did manage to win once, though. Even after winning, she was down a million dors in loss.

    Ryder, on the other hand, had lost each and every race. He was having a disastrous day. He even found it a bit funny how his luck was so bad that without cheating, he couldn¡¯t win a single time out of so many. Even Esmi was better than him.

    There was another person who was shocked. And it was the man who worked for this betting arena. He was keeping an eye on Ryder, who had never lost here but seeing his losing spree, he couldn¡¯t help but doubt himself.

    "I guess I was just too suspicious for no reason. Thest few times, his luck was good. As for now, it¡¯s as bad as it can get. No need to keep an eye anymore," he said as if talking to himself before he left.

    Throughout this time, Esmi was looking at the clock.

    "Time up! We decided on two hours. It¡¯s over. I got one point, and you got zero. Even though I lost money, I still get a wish from you. Come, let¡¯s leave. I don¡¯t want to wait anymore," she called out as she tugged Ryder¡¯s hand.

    "Hah, alright. I guess that¡¯s enough as well," Ryder agreed.

    "Oh right, one more thing," he suddenly said, gazing at Esmi.

    "What?" Esmi asked.

    "I am really sorry for cheating. I promise I¡¯ll make it up to you," he said.

    A confused Esmi was about to ask what it was about, but before she could, Ryder snapped his finger as he used his ability.

    He reversed time by two hours to just when they were about to make their first bet.

    "I choose number 2." Esmi chose the same horse asst time. As for Ryder, his choice was a bit different this time.

    "Number five will win," he said as he ced his bet.

    "Hah, that horse won¡¯t win. Just look at it. It doesn¡¯t even seem like it¡¯s in the mood to race. But it¡¯s fine. More loss for you means more chance for me to win a wish," Esmi said as sheughed at Ryder¡¯s choice, but her choice soon turned to surprise as she saw number five win.

    As for her surprise, it didn¡¯t take long before it changed to sheer shock as more and more rounds happened, each of which was won by Ryder.

 Chapter 527 Secret

    <h4>Chapter 527: Secret</h4>

    "Are you a magician or something? How could your luck be so good that you win each and every time? Were you lying when you said you¡¯re bad at it? You¡¯re so good; I can¡¯t believe you could have lost over forty million here," Esmi couldn¡¯t help but ask Ryder questions one after another. Her shock was impable.

    "Were you lying about that as well?" She asked.

    "I never said I lost forty million," Ryder ignorantly replied as he raised both his hands.

    "But you clearly said forty million. I don¡¯t have that bad memory," Esmi eximed in surprise.

    "My dear Esmi, if you have such a great memory, then try to remember the question you had asked before I said forty million. And repeat that question to me," Ryder told her as an amused smile spread across his lips.

    "Huh? The question? Alright. I had asked how much you had won or lost in betting here," Esmi repeated the question, but she suddenly stopped as a look of understanding dawned on her face.

    "You meant you won that much, not lost?" She eximed in shock.

    "It¡¯s not much. Just forty million," Ryder said, enjoying the shocked look on her face.

    "I guess you already broke that record today. You won fifty million today already. Are you nning to win more?" She asked Ryder,ughing. "Do I even need to bet more? It seems like you won a littlepetition of ours. So what¡¯s your wish going to be?"

    Ryder nced at Esmi as he nodded. It was true that he had won theirpetition.

    "My wish? It¡¯s simple. My wish is that you tell me your wish so I can fulfill that." He told Esmi.

    "Huh? You want me to tell you my wish? You want to fulfill that? Why? You won, not me," Esmi reacted, surprised.

    ¡¯It¡¯s true that I won in this timeline, but the real score is still 0-1. You won. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t tell you that. So let it be this way. You deserve the victory,¡¯ Ryder thought as he shook his head.

    "I won because I was lucky. But I think you deserve this victory. As for a reason, don¡¯t ask me. Just tell me what your wish would have been," Ryder told Esmi, nodding his head.

    "Hahaha, I feel like I don¡¯t deserve this win, but I¡¯m not going to say no to this kind offer. And since you already said that you¡¯d fulfill one of my wishes, you can¡¯t say no!" Esmi said right away as she took the offer.

    She slowly brought her lips closer to Ryder¡¯s ears, sticking her body closer to his. Ryder could already feel her breast sticking close to his body, distracting him.

    "My wish is that you... Take me to a hotel after we¡¯re done here and... Do I need to say more?" She whispered seductively as she gently licked her ear tip before she moved back.

    "I was nning to do that even if you hadn¡¯t asked," Ryder replied as he smiled wryly. "It seems like you wasted that wish."

    "Alright. Let me change it then," Esmi smiled cheekily as she said.

    "Nope. Not allowed. You only had one wish, and that¡¯s gone now," Ryder responded as he shook his head. "As for the hotel, let¡¯s just go through one more round before we leav-"

    He was still speaking but stopped without finishing his sentence as he looked back. Someone had tapped on his shoulder.

    Turning his body sideways, he nced back.

    "Yes?" He asked the dark-haired man who was standing behind him.

    "Excuse me, Sir. But the boss of this ce invited you to meet him. Would you please apany me?" The man asked Ryder respectfully.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m busy. I don¡¯t have time. Tell your boss maybe next time," Ryder refused without even entertaining the thought. "I have another meeting. I was just leaving."

    He stood up. Esmi also followed suit.

    "Sir, please. I insist," the dark-haired man repeated. Even though his tone was still respectful, the man had moved back his coat to reveal a gun that was tucked in, clearly in an effort to intimidate Ryder, which he clearly understood.

    "If you think that¡¯s going to work, then you¡¯re clearly wrong, my friend," Ryderzily said as he tapped the shoulder of the man.

    "As for such toys, I have many. So step aside," he added as he pushed the man to the side.

    Grabbing the hand of Esmi, he started leaving.

    "Sir! We are telling you. Please stop!" The dark-haired man again repeated. "Our boss just wants to have a little coffee. If you leave, my job will be in danger."

    The dark-haired man still seemed respectful. He hadn¡¯t taken out his weapon but changed his tone.

    "Sweetheart, are you interested in a coffee?" Ryder asked Esmi, gazing into her eyes.

    "I wouldn¡¯t mind a cup. Let¡¯s go meet his boss. I want to see what he wants." Esmi nodded, grinning.

    Nodding, Ryder nced back and looked at the dark-haired man.

    "Alright. Take us to your boss."

    ...

    The dark-haired man started leading Ryder through to his boss¡¯s cabin.

    "This is where our boss is sitting. Please go inside. No need to knock. He already knows you¡¯re here. I¡¯ll send coffee in the meantime," the man said as he turned back and left.

    Click!

    Ryder turned the doorknob and pushed it open after the sound of a click.

    Opening the door, he stepped inside.

    "Mr. Ryder. Wee to my ce. You¡¯re such a big member of this ce; I should have greeted you long ago. I can¡¯t believe it took so long. Please take a seat," the man inside the room told Ryder as he gestured for them to sit. "As for Miss Esmi, I¡¯m d to meet you as well. Please sit."

    Both Ryder and Esmi stepped forward. Pulling the chair back, they sat.

    "I¡¯m Gander. I think there¡¯s a good chance that you heard of me already," the man said to Ryder.

    Ryder, on the other hand, looked confused. Who was this guy, and why was he supposed to know him? Was he that famous?

    The only thing Ryder knew about this man was that he was the owner of this ce which dealt in millions of dors, so he was most probably filthy rich. But other than that, he didn¡¯t know anything.

    Gander could already understand as he saw Ryder¡¯s expressions. It was clear that he hadn¡¯t heard about him.

    As for Esmi, she had. She started exining to her Ryder since she also realized that Ryder didn¡¯t know about a Gander.

    "You¡¯re the owner of over eighty percent of the casinos in the country. Not only that, but you¡¯re also the cousin of our vice president. As for your wealth, I don¡¯t even think I need to talk about it. You¡¯re filthy rich in short. Did I guess it right?" Esmi asked Gander.

    "Hahaha, Miss Esmi. It¡¯s not called guessing when you tell the answer which you already knew," Gander said. "Anyway, yes. You¡¯re right. Since you already know that I have plenty of money, then you don¡¯t need to worry about me hurting you for the little bit of money that you won. So you can rx."

    "Even if you win a few billion dors here, I wouldn¡¯t honestly be concerned," he added.

    "If it¡¯s not about money, then why did you invite us here? Don¡¯t tell me you called us here to have ourpany as you drink coffee," Ryder jokingly asked.

    "I called you here because of my curiosity. As they say, curiosity can be a really bad thing," Gander replied as he opened a notebook that was ced before him.

    He also picked up a pen and started writing something. As he finished, he moved the book towards Ryder.

    Gazing down at the pages of the book, Ryder understood what he was implying.

    The only thing which was written on the page was 37-2.

    "37-2. That¡¯s your record. You¡¯ve bet in total thirty-nine times here and lost only twice. And looking at the pattern, it¡¯s not difficult to guess that you Intentionally lost the two times you did," Gander said as he gazed at Ryder, amused. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder how Ryder would react.

    "I¡¯m d you think I¡¯m a god that can never lose, but those two times was an actual loss," Ryder replied, openly lying.

    "Even if we agree that you lost twice, that¡¯s still over ny percent victory rate. Even the best of the best isn¡¯t over thirty percent victory rate. So, what¡¯s your secret, Mr. Ryder?" Gander asked.

    "Does there really need to be a secret? Can¡¯t my luck just be good? Because I¡¯m honestly a noob when ites to such things. Ie here, test my luck, and I win. Isn¡¯t that betting all about? Because it depends on luck?" Ryder inquired.

    "That¡¯s the thing. But you¡¯re different. You are twisting the luck in your favor, and I think I know how," Gander said as he smiled.

 Chapter 528 Asking for help

    <h4>Chapter 528: Asking for help</h4>

    "You know how? Alright. Tell me how I do it," Ryder asked, curious.

    He was sure that this guy didn¡¯t have a single idea how Ryder did it. He was bluffing. There was no way he had any idea what Ryder did and that he was able to go back in time.

    "You work for them, don¡¯t you?" Gander asked,ughing.

    "Huh? Work for who?" Ryder asked, stunned. What is he talking about? Who did he work for?

    "The Kings... You work for them, don¡¯t you?" Gander asked again.

    ¡¯Kings? The strange guys that have strange powers as well? I killed one of them already; why would I even work for them now? But I guess it¡¯s understandable. Those people have some strange abilities. This could be a justification for him,¡¯ Ryder thought as he gazed at the man who stood before him, proudly as if he had solved a mystery.

    "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. In reality, it was all only a guess that I had won. Nothing other than that. As for working for any king, I have no idea. Do Kings and Royalty even exist in our country?¡¯

    Ryder acted ignorantly in his reply as he refused. He didn¡¯t want to be associated with the Kings or establish any link. He didn¡¯t want any misunderstanding to be created, which resulted in his enemies standing outside his door.

    "Oh, Either I¡¯m really misunderstanding, or you¡¯re keeping it a secret since you think I¡¯m a stranger. But don¡¯t worry, I work for them too. So you can tell me," Gander insisted, but Ryder again refused.

    "I apologize but you¡¯re wrong. I have no idea who you¡¯re talking about. I neither know any real king nor know a person named king. Is that why you are offering us a coffee? Because you misunderstood our identity? I guess we should leave then," Ryder said as he stood up.

    It was interesting to know that this guy worked for the so-called kings. It was an important piece of information. He already wanted to know more things about them. The only thing he knew so far was that they were criminals. And now he knew where to get the information safely from.

    After he left today, he had already nned to return, but this time in stealth to interrogate this guy. He didn¡¯t want to interrogate this guy as Ryder Flynn, known by everyone. Instead, he wanted to keep his real identity a secret.

    Hearing his reply, Gander realized that he had messed up. He had talked about Kings before someone else because of his misunderstanding. He knew he had to make damage control.

    "Oh, looks like I was really wrong. And you¡¯re right; I thought you worked for a person named king who is a master bookie. So I thought he was giving you answers. Please forgive my misunderstanding."

    "As for coffee, treat it as an apology before you go," he told Ryder

    Three cups of coffee were delivered inside the office, which Ryder drank without hesitation because of his poison immunity.

    Even if there was poison in the coffee, he wasn¡¯t worried. In fact, if Gander did such a thing, it would be no different than writing his death warrant.

    He not only drank the coffee but also enjoyed it.

    "This was good. But I¡¯m afraid we should be leaving. Thanks for the hospitality. I was sure that this meeting was going to go a different direction, and I¡¯m d it didn¡¯t. You¡¯re not bad."

    After a few cordial conversations, Ryder got up and started leaving. Fortunately, they weren¡¯t stopped as they left.

    After Ryder and Esmi left, Gander was left behind in a room that seemed very empty.

    Gander looked down as he folded his arms, lost in deep thoughts.

    "I messed up. Because his luck was too good and he was with Esmi, I thought he knew about Kings too. But I was wrong. God, if the Kings knew that I talked about them, I would be killed. I pray to god that Esmi won¡¯t tell them," Gander thought as he sighed.

    ....

    Ryder and Esmi were leaving the facility, but Ryder was lost in some deep thought.

    "He thought I knew about Kings, so he talked to me openly. But why did he act as if Esmi wasn¡¯t a stranger either? Did he think she also knew about them since she was with me?

    That¡¯s a pretty far fetched assumption of his if it¡¯s true. And he¡¯s really an idiot, but if it isn¡¯t, then that would mean Esmi knows about this too? Could it be true? Or am I thinking too much?

    "Was he really talking about King as a person who was a bookie? I have a feeling that he was lying. What do you think?" He asked Esmi, trying to see her reaction.

    "Huh? I didn¡¯t notice anything strange. Are you sure? In any case, what does it even matter? Let¡¯s focus on us and my wish for now. Leave that man behind," Esmi repliedzily as she ced her hand on Ryder¡¯s butt, squeezing it lightly.

    ¡¯I guess I¡¯m thinking too much,¡¯ he thought as he didn¡¯t find anything strange in her reaction. It was as if she was actually ignorant entirely.

    "Maybe you¡¯re right. Anyway, we both came here in our cars. So we¡¯ll have to drive separately. Which hotel should we go to? There are two in the opposite direction."

    "The one on the right. It¡¯s better," Esmi replied as she stopped before her car, which was parked nearby.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll meet you there," Ryder said.

    ...

    As Ryder was going to spend time with Esmi, another man was walking in a long corridor, being followed by ady.

    "Sir, we got the credentials of thedy. Her name is apparently Alice. As for Hades and Lucifer, we still don¡¯t have their response," thedy exined to the man in the lead as she gave him a paper.

    "I already had a feeling that those two won¡¯t take part. But it was still worth a try," the man replied. "I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m not disappointed, though."

    "If even a billion dor prize can¡¯t lure those two, then something is really extraordinary about those two. As for now, gaining this Alice is already enough. Because with her, we¡¯ll get to Hades," the man said as he smiled calmly.

    "How will we get to Hades through her?" Thedy asked, curious.

    "She knows him. Of Course, she will lead us to him. From theirst conversation, it was clear that those two knew each other really well. It was even more clear since this was when they couldn¡¯t see each other¡¯s avatar," the man exined.

    " So, should we try contacting her?" Thedy asked the man.

    "Of course. Send her an invitation toe to our headquarters. And while you¡¯re at it, send the same to other yers in the top ten that had sent us their details. Tell them that we want to tell them about the details of the uing tournament," the man said as he smiled.

    "Yes, sir," thedy replied before she left.

    The man was walking alone in the long corridor, gazing at the piece of paper in his hand, which had not only the image of Alice but also her details.

    "Oh, she lives with that Shu Maxwell? That guy who keeps annoying me and cing this whole thing in danger? Interesting. Very interesting. I guess the real fun will begin soon. In the end, nothing will matter anymore," he said as he smiled.

    ....

    At the same time, Itsuki Yamada was sitting in his office when ady entered the ce.

    "Sir, I finished the task you gave me. That Ryder Flynn, he isn¡¯t rted to Aluren as far as we know."

    "Oh? Someone different with powers like us? It¡¯s going to be interesting. You can leave. I¡¯ll talk to Aluren myself and get things cleared. If this is someone¡¯s attempt to spoil the trials for us, then this is bad," Itsuki replied as he sent thedy back.

    After she left, he picked up the phone and dialed a number.

    ....

    "This guy? What does he want now?" Aluren was sitting in his Pce on an isted ind when he received a call. He picked up the call.

    "What?"

    "Aluren, I want you to do something for me."

    "Do you really think I¡¯ll do something for you? Did you really not know me at all, Itsuki? We have our different trials. If you want my help in yours, then just forget it," Aluren straight away refused without even listening to the request. His tone sounded condescending as well.

    "I don¡¯t want help in my trial. I want you to investigate a person. I think there¡¯s a good chance that another god-son besides the seven selected is here to spoil our trial. If that¡¯s true, then things could be spoiled. It will affect us all," Itsuki said, frowning.

    "Another god-son?"

 Chapter 529 Decision of Janus

    <h4>Chapter 529: Decision of Janus</h4>

    "Are you really saying that another god-son is amongst us?" Aluren asked Itsuki.

    "I don¡¯t know. I am not sure, but I¡¯ve always had this doubt. I feel some really strange disturbance here. The natural bnce of power is often unstable and not in a way which would imply that it¡¯s one of us using," Itsuki answered.

    "I always had a feeling that another god is here. But the unbnce is not what it should be when a god uses his power while being present here. It¡¯s simr to a power that¡¯s a bit tame, like us. And I have a clue as to who it might be. I want you to investigate just because I can¡¯t. That person is in your domain," he added.

    "Interesting. I¡¯ve been thinking about the same thing rted to a pest that has been annoying me here. I did not assume that there was a chance of a god-soning here. I thought it was more like a person here got the blessing of a god, and now he had some strengths,z Aluren answered as the information about that masked being shed before his eyes.

    The powers that the person showed aren¡¯t something an average person should possess. Moreover, he hadn¡¯t received the powers from him like the Kinga did. So clearly, someone else was messing with him.

    "That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been trying to find and catch that person so I can get my answers. If the person you¡¯re talking about is the same, then I¡¯ll interfere. Tell me," Aluren told Itsuki.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll send you the information I have about that person. Meet him and confirm if he has the blessing of a god or if he is a god-son himself," Itsuki replied.

    "Oh, right. Please don¡¯t send your Kings or other toys to bring him to you. If he is a god-son, your toys will be broken. Go yourself," he added.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll handle this personally. I guess it¡¯s finally time to get out of this ce and move my hands a bit," Aluren agreed as he gazed at his court, which was filled with twelve kings that were here.

    "Alright. I¡¯m sending the information. If it¡¯s a god-son, inform us all as well. Since you might need all of our help," Itsuki reminded Aluren onest time before he disconnected the call.

    "All your help?" Aluren muttered as he heard the beeping sound on the phone after the call was disconnected.

    " To hell with me if I ever need your help," he said before he kept the phone back.

    Beep! Beep!

    A notification sound once again attracted his attention. He opened his phone and checked the mail, which seemed to have a PDF file attached.

    He tapped the PDF file, which opened, revealing a form that had an image.

    The image was the one which Ryder had given when registering hispany. It also had other details about him like his name, current address, and his family.

    "Hmm? He lives there? Isn¡¯t that where these two faced that masked guy a few times and came back defeated?" Aluren said as he noticed the address of Ryder Flynn.

    "Ryder Flynn... I don¡¯t think you remind me of any god-son, but you do seem a bit familiar. Just what is it about you? Are you really the man that has been messing up my trials?" he added as he stood up.

    As soon as Aluren stood up, the other Kings also stood up.

    "Let¡¯s get going. We need to get somewhere," Aluren told his kings that had already stood up as he continued walking towards the exit with his hands behind his back.

    "Ryder Flynn... I guess it¡¯s time we meet face to face. Enough hide and seek."

    ...

    "Oh no..."

    Janus was again sitting near the pond, smiling as if he had remembered something funny, when his smile suddenly disappeared as he saw one of the two fishes in the pond change trajectory.

    As he realized that, he stood up, stunned.

    "This sudden change... He isn¡¯t ready yet. This shouldn¡¯t have happened so fast. If the god-sons get involved, he¡¯ll be at risk. Even if he wins, he will be exposed."

    Frowning, Janus started walking back and forth as he lost himself in deep thoughts at the sudden change that hade as a surprise.

    He started worrying about what he could do.

    "Should I tell him to keep dying again and again so he can go back in time? But even then, what could he do? I was too rxed. I should have been more careful."

    " Since there was no direct threat on him from what I could see, I forgot that threats from normal people are easier to detect, but threats from God-sons always take more time. Changing time again... This seems to be a way out."

    "The God of Time doesn¡¯t exist. The only person who still knows as much about time as him is her. The loss of her father is certainly keeping her busy, and she¡¯s not as powerful to know about such things. I think I can pass this under her nose if I¡¯m careful."

    "But should I really do it? If I let things happen as they are now, maybe these can fast forward such things. Aluren has the next fragment and one of the most important fragments of the bracelet, which can change the whole game for Ryder."

    " If I take the risk and he gets that fragment, things can be pretty smooth from here on. And things will move much faster. Is the risk worth the reward?"

    There were many questions in Janus¡¯s mind, but there was a voice in his heart that was telling him to take the risk.

    "He will kill me if things went wrong. But I do think the risk is worth it."

    Clenching his fist, he had decided that the risk was worth it. It was something he needed to do.

    He believed that he could get Ryder prepared for facing Aluren. Ryder was already as strong as a king in that world after absorbing the powers of a being. He only needed a bit more to face off against Aluren.

    As for the rewards of victory, he would get one of the most important fragments of the bracelet. Moreover, he would be able to absorb the strength of Aluren to get even stronger.

    With that strength, his body would be much stronger. And he would also get some divine energy in his body which would give his body more strength to host his Godly soul without falling apart. And if he killed other god-kings before the gods realized what was happening, the rewards were golden.

    As for the risks, that was big as well. If he failed against Aluren, he was going to die. And if he seeded against Aluren and the gods found out, they would be enraged ande down to earth to see what was happening. That would expose the whole thing.

    Rewards and risks were both massive, but Janus felt it was worth it, and thus, he contacted Ryder.

    ....

    Ryder had reached the hotel with Esmi. After a long kissing and forey, he was just about to move to the main course.

    He was just about to thrust when he stopped as he heard Janus.

    "Get your carnal desires fulfilledter. You¡¯re in danger. Get dressed fast," Janus told Ryder.

    ¡¯What are you talking about? Are you Again messing with me? It¡¯s not the right time, little brother. Please don¡¯t disturb me.¡¯

    "I¡¯m not messing. There has been enough messing. It¡¯s time for you to get serious. Twelve Kings areing to you to kill you. Your identity is exposed. As for how, I don¡¯t know," Janus answered.

    Ryder heard the words and frowned.

    "Excuse me for a minute. I think I¡¯m not feeling right today. Can we continueter?" Ryder told Esmi as he rolled to the side and got off the bed.

    Getting up, he started getting angry.

    "I¡¯m extremely sorry. I¡¯ll make it up to youter." Getting dressed, he walked back to Esmi and kissed her gently before he left.

    "What the heck?"

    Esmi was lying on the bed, naked, wondering what just happened to Ryder. He actually left? Was he really feeling sick?

    She sighed as she got up and started getting dressed.

    ....

    Ryder stepped out of the hotel and walked towards his car.

    "Alright. Tell me what happened in detail now? How did they find out? And how much do they know?" Ryder asked as he stepped inside the car.

    "I don¡¯t know how they found out."

    Janus knew how they found out, but he lied since he knew that if he told Ryder the truth, he would go back in time and change the past. He would obviously choose the easy route instead of choosing the route which had more risks yet more rewards as well.

    "They know everything about you. The Kings aren¡¯t a concern, but their leader is a mess. You need to strengthen yourself to have a chance to take him on," Janus told Ryder.

 Chapter 530 Plan

    <h4>Chapter 530: n</h4>

    "Strengthen myself? How?" Ryder asked, wondering how he could make him stronger. He was already plenty strong but getting stronger was tough.

    At Least he couldn¡¯t achieve it without the help of missions.

    "Are you going to help me? Give me strength doubling pills?" Ryder asked, realizing that it was the best way. If he had the strength doubling pill, he could get as strong as he wanted. He could swallow hundreds of those and be hundreds of times stronger.

    As long as Janus helped him, it was perfect.

    "No. Those pills are useless to you. You took enough of them. If you take even one more, your body will start dying from inside out." Janus replied. "But if you want to take it, I can give it to you. It would be fun to see you blow up like a balloon."

    Even though Ryder knew that Janus was using sarcasm to exaggerate the danger, but the image of him blowing up did appear in his head.

    He couldn¡¯t help but sweat as he thought about that.

    "Then how can I get stronger?" Ryder asked.

    As for the answer, he received the answer in the old method. In the form of a mission that was given by Janus.

    [A mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Kill the kings one by one]

    [Mission Duration: 2 days]

    [Reward: You will receive their strength]

    [Failure consequences: You will die]

    "This... Isn¡¯t this the same as the one with Luke? It means if I kill the Kings, you will help me absorb their strength?" Ryder asked, but Janus didn¡¯t reply. He was already sure that Ryder understood.

    "I get it! So that¡¯s the answer! The Kings areing with their leader. And their leader would certainly be stronger than them. So I need to kill the kings first and get stronger slowly. The Kings are my food to make me strong enough to face their leader! I get it!"

    "I have a question," Ryder said after he formed an idea about what he needed to do.

    "What question?" Janus asked.

    "The Kings will be apanying their leader. How can I take them out without attracting their leader¡¯s attention? Won¡¯t their leader see me?" Ryder inquired.

    "That¡¯s for you to decide," Janus answered.

    "Come on, help me a bit!" Ryder insisted.

    "Alright," Janus repliedzily. "Since you¡¯re making things difficult for me and letting me take more risks, make it up to me. Let me be entertained."

    [Another Mission has been issued to the host]

    [Mission: Separate the Kings from their leader]

    [Reward: Mystery Reward]

    [To help the host, a special facility is activated in the Deity Phone, which shows the location of all the Kings and their leaders]

    "Go have fun. And try to stay alive," Janus said onest thing before he disappeared.

    He already gave Ryder what he needed to. The information and the tracking. As for the rest, he had faith in his brother and believed that he could handle the rest.

    "The Deity Phone? Oh right. That thing."

    Opening his inventory, he opened the phone that he had received as a reward. It was something given to him by Janus which allowed him to talk to mythical creatures.

    Other than that, it had no features. But at the moment, Ryder could see that a new app was on the phone.

    The app was named something pretty generic. It was called "Enemy Tracker."

    As for the app icon, it was across that seemed to imply that he needed to kill the enemies.

    He opened the app.

    As soon as the app opened, it revealed a map which was showing thirteen red dots. All of the red dots were at the same ce, so he had to zoom in to see them separately.

    The strange part was that all the dots were showing in the middle of the ocean.

    "I guess they¡¯re on a ne. They¡¯reing in my direction. Since they know my address, I need to make sure Alice and Shu stay away from that ce."

    Ryder¡¯s car raced through the roads of the city as he called Alice.

    "Where are you?"

    "I¡¯m at home. Why?"

    "Alright. Leave home right now. Go to your friend¡¯s house for a few days. I will be a bit busy for a few days. As for Shu, he would be busy too. And I don¡¯t think you¡¯re safe at that ce alone."

    "I¡¯m not safe here? Why?" Alice didn¡¯t understand what Ryder was trying to say. "The security here is one of the best in the city. Why won¡¯t I be safe? What are you saying?"

    "Just listen to me. Don¡¯t stay there. Pack your bags and wait at the entrance. I¡¯m getting there soon. I¡¯ll drop you at your friend¡¯s house. Also, for the next few days, don¡¯t go to college as well. And don¡¯t let anyone know where you¡¯re staying," Ryder insisted.

    "Sigh, alright. I¡¯ll pack my bags. But I really hope you¡¯ll tell me what¡¯s happening when you get here," Alice said before she realized that the call was disconnected.

    She walked back to her wardrobe and started getting her clothes ready and packed in a bag to leave.

    As he finished talking to Alice, Ryder called Shu.

    The phone rang for over a minute before it was picked up.

    "Where are you?" He once again started with the same question.

    "I¡¯m at a meeting. Why?"Shu asked, surprised. "Did something happen?"

    "No, I just wanted to tell you something. Actually, some big enemies areing. So I want you to stay away from your estate for a few days. Alice and I will stay away too. As for the note exnation, I¡¯ll give youter," Ryder told Shu.

    "Huh? Enemies? They¡¯reing to the estate? How about I prepare a nice wee for them?" Shu asked, smiling.

    He already had a few ideas about how to deal with the enemies.

    "There¡¯s no need. Just stay away from the Estate and let me handle the rest. As long as we aren¡¯t in the estate, everything will be solved," Ryder said, strongly advising Shu not to do anything stupid.

    "Sigh, alright. I¡¯ll do as you said. In any case, I¡¯m out of the city, and I won¡¯t be able to return before two days," Shu replied, nodding. Since Ryder was insisting so strongly, he didn¡¯t argue either.

    "Still, do you need any help? Just tell me what you need, and I will arrange," he asked.

    "I have everything I might need. So don¡¯t worry," Ryder refused before he continued. "Best of luck with the meeting. I¡¯ll call youter."

    "Alright."

    ...

    Ryder reached the Estate where he found Alice to be already waiting with her packed bags.

    "Are you going anywhere?"

    Seeing both Alice and Ryder leave, the butler couldn¡¯t help but assume if they were leaving the Estate forever.

    "We¡¯re just going on a short vacation. Don¡¯t worry. We will be back. If anyone asks about us, just tell them we went out, and we will return in two days," Ryder told the butler, without letting it be clear that he was lying.

    He left with Alice. She told him the directions to her friend¡¯s house since he didn¡¯t know about it.

    On the way, Alice asked him about what was happening and why they were leaving. Ryder refused to answer directly and kept his answers vague.

    He talked about tens of reasons, and none of them were actually true. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t tell her the truth that God-like humans with magical powers wereing to kill him. So he could only make a few excuses that made him sound less crazy.

    Seeing him try so hard to keep it a secret z Alice gave up. In the end, she only asked one thing.

    "I don¡¯t want to know anything else. Just tell me one thing, honestly. And don¡¯t lie to me about this. Is there a danger to you in all this?" She asked Ryder.

    "Danger? None at all," Ryder replied calmly.

    Even though Alice told him to be absolutely honest, he still lied since telling the truth was just going to worry her.

    In truth, this had more risk for him than anything else he ever went through since he was going to face a god-son.

    It was the first time he would be facing a being with Divine Energy in his normal form. He had fought the God of Time previously, but that was not actually his current self but his old self. That was different from him now.

    He neither had the knowledge of his true powers nor could he use them at the moment.

    He didn¡¯t even know a lot about gods. All he had was the hope to get stronger to face Aluren.

    ...

    Time passed fast as a sports car raced through the city and its mostly empty roads only to stop near its destination.

    Pushing the door open, Alice stepped out.

    She turned back and said, "Best of luck with what you¡¯re about to do. I hope you¡¯re sessful."

 Chapter 531 Special Bullets

    <h4>Chapter 531: Special Bullets</h4>

    Dropping Alice at her friend¡¯s house, Ryder left without waiting for even a second. Each second he was checking the position of the Kings.

    He had expected them to be outside Shu¡¯s mansion in less than a day. That much was clear.

    But he still needed to n how to separate the Kings. And to know more about the Kings, he needed to get someone who could answer him.

    Fortunately, he also had that person in his mind. His luck was great. Just today, he had met a person who he believed knew about that.

    The owner of the betting arena Gander was a perfect target for this.

    Since he still had some time before the Kings got here, he decided to approach Gander.

    ...

    The sun had started setting as the night drew closer.

    Unsure, Ryder hoped that Gander would be in the arena by the time he got here. If that guy had left, things would be dyed a bit too much since he would need to find that guy again. And for that, he didn¡¯t have enough time.

    His car raced through the streets as he drove as fast as he could to get to his target.

    Since Alice¡¯s friend¡¯s house coincidentally happened to be near the betting arena, it didn¡¯t take him long to get back to that ce.

    As he reached that ce, he also happened to pass by the hotel where he had taken Esmi. There was still some regret on him about having to leave Esmi alone, but the circumstances were as such.

    Driving past the hotel, he realized that her car wasn¡¯t there. She had left.

    She didn¡¯t call him yet, though, which was something strange.

    "I guess she is angry that I did that. I guess I¡¯ll have some making up to do after everything¡¯s over," he thought.

    "You should think about the present first and the futureter. Because your future depends on your present, especially on what¡¯s about to happen next."

    As Ryder was talking to himself, he heard the voice of Janus, who was reminding him of the seriousness of the situation.

    "Janus, I know this is serious. But I can¡¯t be all doom and gloom. In my mind, I have won. If I myself can¡¯t be certain about my victory, then how can I win? Let me be optimistic here," Ryder replied as he stepped closer to the building to step inside.

    Unfortunately, as he reached closer, he saw the guards raising their hands as they told him to stop.

    "All the races of the day are over. You should leave," the guards told Ryder.

    "I¡¯m not here for the race. I¡¯m here to meet your boss. Tell Gander that Ryder is here to talk what he couldn¡¯t before," Ryder told the guards, hoping that Gander would be inside.

    Through his message, he was sure that Gander would be ready to meet him. With the message, Ryder was trying to imply to Gander that he actually worked for Ryder and that he wasn¡¯t able to talk openly because of Esmi before.

    ¡¯This should be enough to give him the assumption that I work for the Kings and meet me,¡¯ he thought.

    Also, this was a good test to see if Gander was inside. If that guy were there, the guards would be willing to deliver the message. And if he wasn¡¯t here, then he also had a n for that.

    If Gander wasn¡¯t here, then it just meant the guards were going to get beaten until he received his answers from them. Fortunately, the situation didn¡¯t reach there.

    The guards nodded as one of them went inside to deliver the message while others stayed behind with Ryder.

    ...

    Gander was sitting in his office when he heard a knock on his door.

    Opening the door, the guard informed him about the arrival of Ryder, who was asking for a meeting with him. The guard also delivered the message that Ryder asked to give him.

    "Oh? He is here? Bring him to me," Gandermanded the guard who followed through as he went back.

    ...

    "He will meet you. You cane in," the guard informed Ryder, who entered the building, smiling.

    Gander was still here, which was something he found great. This meant a lot of his time was saved, and after dealing with Gander, he could still have some time left to n and handle the rest of the stuff.

    As he was escorted inside, Ryder didn¡¯t even feel the need to follow behind. He was walking right beside the guard as he already knew the path.

    The two of them didn¡¯t talk much as they walked through the long corridor. Ryder did have a few questions about Gander that he wanted to ask the guard, but he controlled his urge since that had the potential to get bad.

    The two of them reached the office of Gander. Ryder entered the office while the guard stood outside.

    "Mr. Ryder. Wee again. I heard you wanted to talk to me about something you couldn¡¯t before? What was it?" Gander asked Ryder.

    "You talked about Kings. I couldn¡¯t say yes because I was with Esmi. She doesn¡¯t know about Kings, so I acted ignorant, but you¡¯re right. I do work for the Kings," Ryder said as he stepped closer to Gander.

    Even though he lied, he did so with a straight face making it impossible for anyone to know that he was lying.

    "Is that so?" Gander asked, smiling. "That makes sense. Since she doesn¡¯t know about Kings, you kept silent."

    "Please have a seat." He told Ryder.

    Ryder sat on the chair.

    "So, which King do you work for?" Gander asked as he slowly opened the drawer.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know that Gander was bringing out his gun from the Drawer as he talked to Ryder.

    All because Ryder had messed up. Esmi knew about Kings, and Gander knew about Esmi knowing.

    Since Ryder was saying that Esmi didn¡¯t know, that meant he was the one who didn¡¯t know about her. In that case, there was no way that he was on a level high enough to know about Kings.

    Gander made it seem like he was opening Drawer to bring out something casual rted to his work.

    "Oh, which King I work for? I guess you¡¯ll get the answer if you look under the table," Ryder said with a calm smile.

    "Huh?"

    Gander was shocked to see that his gun wasn¡¯t in his Drawer. As for Ryder¡¯s words, they also made him a bit suspicious.

    What was he talking about?

    "Go ahead. Look under the table," Ryder said, calmly smiling.

    "Or better yet, let me help you instead," he added as he raised his hand, which was ced under the table to reveal a gun that was pointing at Gander.

    "T-that is my gun! How did you get it?¡¯ he asked Ryder, shocked.

    "Don¡¯t stress on how I got it. Stress on what I can do with it," Ryder replied, seemingly amused. "You know, there are many who don¡¯t die with a bullet. I¡¯m curious to see if you¡¯re one of them. Should I test?"

    "Who are you?!" Gander asked, opening his eyes wide. He was sure that Ryder didn¡¯t know about the Kings and their Infrastructure. But he knew about the abilities of the organization members? How? Just who was this Ryder Flynn?

    Also, he was right. Gander couldn¡¯t be killed with a normal bullet. Unfortunately for Gander, this gun was different since it had special bullets that could even kill people like him.

    He couldn¡¯t help but sweat as he saw the gun face him. If there was an idental misfire, he was going to be dead.

    "Oh? Looking at your face, I guess you don¡¯t have that ability. Interesting. It¡¯s fine then. That makes things easier."

    Seeing the worry on the man¡¯s face because of a gun being pointed at him, Ryder realized that he could be killed. He didn¡¯t know that it was because of the special bullets in the gun..he still thought that the gun was a normal gun.

    "What do you want? How do you know so much about some things and so little about others?" Gander asked.

    Hearing his question, Ryder sighed as he shook his head.

    "My old old friend, I guess you¡¯re forgetting something. I have the gun and your life in my hand. Shouldn¡¯t I be the one asking questions instead of it being the other way around?" he asked.

    "That¡¯s what I want to know. What do you want from me?"

    "Simple. I want the answers to my questions and all the information about the Kings. And don¡¯t worry, I know about blowing up of heads. I asked another guy such questions and his head blew up just as he started answering. I guess it¡¯s the same with you," Ryder replied.

    He ced a paper and a pen before the man.

    "Instead of telling, you should write down the answers just to be safe," he added.

 Chapter 532 Truth

    <h4>Chapter 532: Truth</h4>

    As Ryder had captured leaders of the Uprising even before, he knew a few things. But the problem was that the person he had caught was dead as soon as he reached closer to telling the crucial things about this organization.

    He did have an assumption, though. From what he guessed, there was a good chance that this limitation only applied to middle level members. The ones that were lower didn¡¯t know anything anyway. As for the ones that were higher, it was his guess that they wouldn¡¯t have this limitation.

    Gander seemed like he was one of thetter the way he directly talked about Kings without dying. He was mostly sure that he was right, but just to be sure, he told him to write instead.

    "Alright. Ask what you want to know," Gander replied, sighing. The gun that was aiming at him was his problem.

    He did have a few thoughts about getting up and attacking Ryder or trying to take the gun, but there was something inside his heart that was advising him not to do this, saying that it was a bad idea.

    He did decide to listen to his inner voice just to be sure.

    ¡¯In any case, I can answer his questions with lies. Since he¡¯s asking me those questions, that means he doesn¡¯t know the answers either. My lies will be his truth. That¡¯s way better than taking risks,¡¯ he thought as he nodded.

    "That¡¯s like a good boy. Alright, now write everything you know about the Kings. If there¡¯s anything missing, you¡¯ll die," Ryder told the Man.

    "You want to know about Kings? Believe me when I tell you. You¡¯re better off not knowing about them. If someone outside their organization knew about them, they would kill that person. Why do you want to enter their radar?" Gander asked Ryder.

    "And how will they know? You¡¯ll tell them?" Ryder asked, smiling.

    "There are only two people here. I won¡¯t tell them. As for you, that¡¯s out of the question. If you tell them that I know, it would also be exposed that you told me about it. You¡¯ll suffer too. So you won¡¯t tell, and I won¡¯t tell. No risk," he repliedzily.

    In any case, he had already nned to kill the Kings. So what if Ryder was on their radar? He was already on a worse radar than the guy was thinking. All the Kings wereing to kill him after all, that too with their leaders.

    "Sigh, you¡¯re pretty scheming," Gander said as he sighed. "Alright. I will tell you."

    He picked the pen and started writing on the piece of paper.

    He wrote something for close to five minutes and used more papers to finish since one wasn¡¯t enough.

    After finishing, he slid the paper towards Ryder and told him to read.

    "Stanner, you read. I¡¯ll keep an eye on this guy," Ryder said without even looking at the paper.

    He didn¡¯t want Gander to attempt to take the gun, thinking that Ryder was distracted. And he was right since Gander was already contemting the possibility of snatching the gun if there was a possibility.

    ¡¯What the hell is he talking about? Is he talking to thin air? Wait, is this guy crazy or something?¡¯ Gander thought as he frowned.

    Ryder wanted information, and when he wrote the information, that guy wasn¡¯t even taking a look at it.

    The silence in the room was unsettling as Gander saw Ryder staring at him. He didn¡¯t know that it was silence only for him. But in Ryder¡¯s head, there was no silence.

    The Spirit known as Stanner was standing right beside him. It was reading the paper for Ryder.

    As the spirit finished the first paper, it told Ryder to flip.

    Ryder flipped the power.

    Gander was increasingly growing confused as he watched Ryder flip the paper without reading.

    "Are you going to read or not?" Gander finally asked, unable to take the silence for longer.

    "Shh. Don¡¯t annoy me. Let me read what you wrote," Ryder replied as he sushed Gander.

    Gander held his head, worrying what crazy person got his gun.

    "Alright. I finished reading, and I¡¯m sure most of it is a lie," Ryder told Gander as Stanner finished reading.

    "Lie? Not at all! I wrote no lie in it! I told the truth!" Gander insisted with an expression that seemed to be crying about the injustice of being used.

    "Oh, you didn¡¯t lie?" Ryder asked Gander.

    "Not at all!" Gander replied.

    "Oh? When did seven kings die then?" Ryder asked, shaking his head.

    "What seven kings died?" Gander inquired ignorantly.

    "Sigh, I must say, you¡¯re pretty good at acting. But you chose the wrong person to lie to. I have more than ten methods to test if someone is lying, and they all work. But in your case, I didn¡¯t even need to use them since your lie was so obvious," Ryder replied.

    "There are twelve kings still alive. And one of them is dead," he added, not rifying that the one who had died was killed by him as well.

    "In your letter, you wrote that five kings exist. So I was curious, when did the other seven die?" he asked.

    Hearing Ryder¡¯s exnation, Gander was stunned. This guy... How did he know about everything in such great detail? He even knew about the death of a King? No wonder his lie was caught.

    "My Little Gander, I am not killing you doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t. This was your first andst warning. As I said, don¡¯t lie to me because the second strike will be yourst. As for lying, don¡¯t even try sneaking a single lie there," Ryder said.

    "You should neither test my patience nor my method of detecting lies. Because my patience is running short as for my methods, you won¡¯t be alive to test them a second time!"

    "I already told you, as long as you tell me everything, nothing will happen. I¡¯ll leave, and no one will ever hear about me or that I heard anything from you. You have a choice now. But that choice won¡¯tst for long."

    After warning Gander, Ryder once again returned to the silence and left the rest to Gander.

    Gander gazed at Ryder¡¯s face before he nced at the gun. And his words. He didn¡¯t know why but he had a feeling that his words held truth.

    Also, he knew about the Kings and even the death of one of them. He certainly wasn¡¯t someone with a low reach.

    ¡¯Should I really betray the organization? As he said, he won¡¯t tell anyone. Nothing will happen, isn¡¯t it right?¡¯ he thought, trying to convince himself to tell the truth and not take risks.

    On the one hand, he was scared of the Organisation and knew that he had the risk of being killed by them if he told Ryder the truth. On the other hand, he had the same risk if he didn¡¯t tell Ryder the truth. At Least, in this case, he still had some hope of hiding this from the organization.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll be honest this time, but only if you promise that no matter what happens, you won¡¯t tell anyone that I told you!" He told Ryder as he agreed to give the information.

    "I promise. No one will know that you told me," Ryder replied.

    Gander picked up the pen again and started writing.

    This time he wrote the truth, though. Instead of taking the risk, he wrote down everything he knew about the Kings. As an added bonus, he also wrote more things about the organization and its structure.

    As he gave the paper to Ryder, Ryder kept the papers. This time he didn¡¯t ask Stanner to read them. Instead, he directly asked Gander, "Did you write everything you knew honestly?"

    "Yes. I wrote everything," Gander replied.

    Hearing his words, Ryder nodded. This time he was sure that this guy was telling the truth.

    "Good. This time you didn¡¯t lie. I¡¯ll keep my end of the bargain as well and not tell anyone that I found anything from you. Oh, right. If you told them, believe me when I say it, you¡¯d die. They¡¯ll kill you. And if they don¡¯t, I will kill you myself. Cherish the life you won," he told the man before he stood up.

    "Ah, can I have my gun back?" Gander asked as he watched Ryder leave with his gun.

    "You can¡¯t. I like this one. Anyway, it mighte in handy for meter," Ryder replied as he kept the gun in his inventory before he pushed the door open.

    He left the office and even departed from the building under the watchful eyes of the guards.

    Entering the car, he left and only stopped at an empty ce where he took out the papers and started reading it.

    There were Twenty papers that he was given. They contained all the information about the kings which Ryder wanted to utilize in the war that was drawing near.

 Chapter 533 Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 533: Arrival</h4>

    "Interesting. They are such high profile people with so much power, and still, they do such things? Just how powerful is their leader?"

    As Ryder read the first page, he was surprised. The first name was Cali Malium. He was the Military Chief of the United States.

    Just one king was such an influential person; what about the others?

    He was already surprised, and he had only read the name and the position of the person, not even more.

    "The King known as Army King. He is known to be one of the most resourceful Kings and someone who thinks might can always win battles. Despite such a hard-headed personality, he does love his family so much. He has only one granddaughter as part of his family, and he cares for her a lot," Ryder said as he read the description.

    "Interesting indeed. This is something I can use. First, I need to find out where his granddaughter lives and her number. I can use her," he thought as he came up with a n to take care of this King.

    He opened his phone and sent a message to Shu to find the details about the family of Chief Cali. He doubted if he was ever going to get the address and number through the inte. He needed a resource that was in a much higher position of power. That¡¯s where he thought Shu would help him.

    As he finished sending the message, he returned to the pages at hand and skipped over to the next page.

    "This guy, he didn¡¯t even write the name in order. First was the fourth King and now the Seventh King on the next page?"

    Shaking his head, Ryder continued reading as he read about the next King.

    "The King is known as the Lustful King. The heck? Isn¡¯t he the owner of the biggest fashion conglomerate? He owns most of the major fashion brands. Even he is one? Surprising indeed but not shocking," Ryder muttered as he sighed.

    "I guess the name itself tells the weakness of this guy¡ªthe Lustful King. I can use his Lust to get him to his death. Still, I should read more."

    Ryder continued reading about what was written on the page. The more he read, the more his expressions distorted.

    Seeing the name, Lustful King, he had thought that the guy was lustful for women and stuff like that. But the reality waspletely contrary to what he thought. The guy liked guys. But that was still normal. The strange part was that he liked dead guys.

    He killed whichever guy attracted his fancy, and then he fulfilled his lust. Even reading about it was making Ryder vomit.

    He wanted to kill this guy first.

    Finished reading, he switched to the next paper.

    "The First King, as I expected, this guy¡¯s order is really messed up," Ryder muttered as he read the first word, which was the title of the King.

    ording to Gander, the title and the number of the Kings didn¡¯t show who was stronger or who was weaker. The numbers weren¡¯t a proof of strength. Being the first King only meant that the King was the first person to be made a king.

    After reading the title, Ryder moved over to the name.

    "Jake Hallenfall? That name? I feel like I heard it somewhere," Ryder muttered as he read the name of the first King.

    Soon, a look of understanding dawned on his face as he realized what it was.

    "That¡¯s right! He¡¯s the Vice President! How the heck..."

    Seeing the Army Chief being one of the Kings was still understandable but seeing the Vice President? Who was the leader then? Was the leader the president?

    With such a high profile te, didn¡¯t it mean they effectively had the whole country in their control? This didn¡¯t make sense. Since they always had such high-profile people and had the potential to rule the country from the shadows, why did they try to blow up the cities?

    Why would they do it when they already owned it? This didn¡¯t make sense at all? We¡¯re they all just doing it for fun? That¡¯s what it seemed like at the moment.

    "The Vice President. He has been single all his life and doesn¡¯t have much baggage. He has the cleanest reputation amongst all male politicians and only slightly less poprity than the president, only because he doesn¡¯t make much appearance."

    "His family wealth is the highest amongst all the politicians mostly because of the wealth he received from his father."

    "This guy is tough. He has no living family. As for his other weaknesses, those are unknown. He will be the hardest to handle," Ryder muttered as he finished reading about the First King.

    One after another, Ryder kept reading about all the Kings. He was amazed at Gander for being so thorough. He knew so much; he was most certainly a very high-ranking member of the organization, probably closer to a King.

    There was still a chance that Gander could betray Ryder, but that was also why Ryder took precautions when he left Gander alive.

    One after another, he kept reading about the Kings, and soon, he reached the secondst name in the list.

    "Ah, the one who I killed. That old man. He was pretty rich too. Too bad he didn¡¯t have any family. All his wealth going in the hands of a stranger," Ryder thought as he ced the page in the end.

    The guy was already dead. Ryder didn¡¯t feel like he needed to go through the information about the man since the man was already gone.

    "It¡¯s such a disappointment. It would have been so amazing if I had absorbed the strength of that guy right there. This Janus, if he had told me, I would have brought the body with me outside."

    "Next time, I¡¯ll try to find where that body is kept so I can absorb it. For now, I need to focus on what¡¯s near me. As for his strength, that will be mine soon as well," Ryder thought as he smiled wryly.

    "You can¡¯t absorb his body."

    Ryder had only spoken about absorbing the strength of the King he killed when Janus jumped in, saying that Ryder can¡¯t.

    "Why can¡¯t I?" Ryder asked, wondering if there was a reason.

    "Strength can only be absorbed before within a certain time period of the death. The body¡¯s time period has passed. You can¡¯t absorb the strength now. That¡¯s gone forever," Janus answered.

    "Geez, you could have made me absorb it before if that was the case," Ryder replied, not knowing that Janus had a reason for not doing it. He didn¡¯t want to attract too much attention at that point in time.

    "I had a reason. It was impossible to transfer the powers at that time," Janus replied sharply.

    "Really? And why didn¡¯t you tell me to keep the body in inventory for the future then?" Ryder asked, rolling his eyes.

    Hearing the question, Janus went silent. In reality, he had forgotten, but he didn¡¯t feel like telling the truth.

    "It was because I knew that by the time you¡¯d be qualified for transfer of powers, the time for that body would be expired," he replied.

    "You could have at least been optimistic. It¡¯s not like losing one inventory space was too much?" Ryder asked, feeling like there were many loopholes in the answer.

    "Focus on the mission at hand and stop wasting time. Don¡¯t die because of wasting time here," Janus said calmly before he stopped talking.

    Shaking his head, Ryder went back to the next paper, which had the name and description of thest King.

    "This name... The father of Bastion? He too? How the heck? Just why did he have to be one too? I need to kill his father too?"

    Even though thest name wasn¡¯t as high in position as the army chief or the Vice President, it was the toughest and most shocking for Ryder since this was the name of his best friend¡¯s father.

    ...

    A private nended at the airport runway from which came out thirteen well-dressed people, all of whom seemed to be of different ages.

    There were a few who looked as young as teenagers while a few looked as old as the people in their sixties.

    A few of them were even wearing masks since they needed to keep their identity a secret. One of those people was the Vice President himself. He didn¡¯t want anyone to know that he was here, or themotion would have been much bigger.

    Simrly, the army chief was also keeping his face hidden from the public view. Only a few were keeping their faces exposed, one of whom happened to be Aluren himself, who had donned a long coat that came down to his ankles.

    His hands were in his pocket as he left the airport with his men.

    Outside the airport, a few ck luxury cars were already waiting for them to take them to their destination.

 Chapter 534 Caught in between

    <h4>Chapter 534: Caught in between</h4>

    Outside the Airport, thirteen ck SUVs were waiting for the newly arrived guest, the one in the middle being the best.

    The middle one was one in which Aluren entered. As for the rest, they were upied by the other Kings, and the car started moving.

    ...

    "They¡¯re here and advancing towards the destination. As expected, the device really works."

    Ryder was standing on the roof of a building near the airport from where Aluren and the others stepped out. He did that so he could see the enemies in advance.

    It didn¡¯t seem difficult to find the enemies since these thirteen people made it too obvious from the visible arrogance in their faces and the subtle strong aura around them.

    Strangely enough, Gander was also there to escort the guests.

    As Aluren had appeared, Gander stepped out of one of the cars and greeted them. He was visibly respectful and a bit fearful.

    "I guess I should have expected Gander to be here. He¡¯s a high-ranking member anyway. There will be a problem if he decides to expose the truth about me after these people tell him who they are here for."

    "These people will know that something is wrong here, and it would be a mess for me. I did take precautions that Gander would die if he tried speaking, but that would also be bad before these people."

    "His death away from them was free of consequences, but if he tried to speak and he died before them, it would be too obvious that something is really wrong here," Ryder thought as he smiled wryly.

    He didn¡¯t realize that his precaution was going to be a problem for him.

    "I should have killed him even before and gotten rid of the problem. I can only hope he doesn¡¯t try speaking about me here."

    He kept the binocrs back in his inventory before he stepped up.

    "In any case, I guess I can only try to use him now. Take preemptive precautions," he decided.

    ...

    "So, sir. What brought you here exactly?"

    Gander was sitting in the car, which was the farthest with the Thirteenth King, who happened to be the father of Bastion as well.

    Gander worked for the Thirteenth King, who was basically the boss here. That was why he also knew about Esmi. And this was also why he was so prone to such information about the organization. He was the closest to Bastion¡¯s father here.

    "We are here to catch a bastard that¡¯s possibly the enemy we are looking for. He is the one who killed a King and also the one who injured me and spoiled a lot of our missions," Bastion¡¯s father, Renner, exinedzily.

    "Hmm? Do you mean that masked person? You finally have his location? Do you even know his identity? Who is he?" Gander asked.

    "Some Ryder Flynn... We aren¡¯t confirmed that it¡¯s him, but he seems to think that it¡¯s him, so there¡¯s a good chance," Renner answered.

    "Cough... Cough... Ryder Flynn?"

    Hearing the name, Gander started coughing extensively.

    "Yeah. Do you know him?" Renner asked, curious.

    "Ahem, not personally. I did hear about him a few times. He is quite young and quite sessful here," Gander replied as he lied. He realized that he couldn¡¯t tell the truth.

    Not only had he exposed all the secrets of their organization to a stranger, but that stranger also happened to be the biggest enemy of the organization? How could he tell the truth? Telling the truth here would mean his actual death.

    He didn¡¯t want to be involved in this and stay far away.

    Moreover, he was actually d that he listened to Ryder and didn¡¯t try to fight himst time. He was literally the one who had killed a King!

    He was at leastparable to a King, if not stronger. Fighting him was no less than chasing death for Gander. He was really happy that he didn¡¯t try to snatch the gun and told the truth.

    Gander still hoped that no matter who won in the sh of two sides, he would be safe. Ryder had promised not to tell the truth about finding things from him. So he could only have faith that he wouldn¡¯t be found.

    "Do you need me to find his address for you?" He asked Renner.

    "No need. We already have his address beforeing here. That¡¯s where we are going," Renner replied as the car advanced.

    Gander nodded his head, but before he could reply, his phone started ringing.

    He picked up the phone and realized that it was from an unknown number.

    Curious about who it might be, he picked up the call.

    "Hello? Who is it?" He asked.

    "My dear Gander, you already forgot my voice? I¡¯m hurt."

    "Y-you?"

    Far away from the entourage of cars, Ryder was sitting on a roof, talking to Gander.

    "Hey, don¡¯t act so shocked. The person who is sitting near you will be suspicious. For this call, I¡¯m only a client of yours. You can think of a name yourself."

    "Ah."

    Gander realized that Ryder was right. He was going to bring suspicions when he couldn¡¯t tell the truth.

    Just as he expected, Renner was looking at his shocked face in surprise.

    "It¡¯s my client. I didn¡¯t expect the call after our deal fell through. I became a bit too surprised," Gander told Renner.

    "Ah, sorry for keeping you on hold, Mr. Mickey. I was in a meeting. Had to cancel it so I could talk to you in peace," he told Ryder.

    "Hahaha, Mickey? Alright, whatever. Listen carefully. I want you to do something for me."

    "Of course, Mr. Mickey. I surely want the deal to go through. The expansion of my business will increase with your help."

    Even though he wanted to say something entirely different to Ryder, he had to keep up the mirage of talking to a client.

    "That¡¯s good. Listen to me carefully. I want you to do something very specific, and there shouldn¡¯t be a mistake," Ryder told Gander.

    "Sure."

    "Good. You¡¯re in a car with Bastion¡¯s father, Renner. I want you to bring him to a different ce. Bring him to your office or something and use whatever excuse you want. I want him there, no matter what. I¡¯ll wait for you two there," Ryder said.

    "Huh? You want to have a meeting right now? But I¡¯m a bit busy," Gander replied.

    "I know what you¡¯re busy in. You¡¯re all going to the estate I live in. Don¡¯t worry; I know more things about you all than you can imagine. I¡¯m not there. After they don¡¯t find me there, you can easily use any excuse to bring Renner out," Ryder answered.

    "And if you didn¡¯t do it, remember me when I say it, I¡¯ll kill you before they can. And trust me when I say this," he added.

    ¡¯God, of course I know you can do it! You killed a King, after all! But why are you involving me in a mess between you and a King?¡¯

    Gander couldn¡¯t help but curse Ryder in his thoughts, but he didn¡¯t say anything out loud. He was too weak to go against anyone here. He was stuck in between a rock and a hard ce, and his survival depended on being the middleman.

    He wanted to stay out of everything, but Ryder had pulled him deep. He could either be an Enemy of Ryder by not listening to him or listen to him and hi against a king and bring him to where Ryder asked.

    If he did the first thing, not only would he make Ryder his King who could kill him anywhere, but he also had the risk of Ryder telling the truth to the Kings and break his promise. In any case, he was bing the enemy of both sides if he didn¡¯t listen to Ryder.

    And if he did thetter, that meant he was siding with Ryder. But if the Kings survived Ryder, they were certainly going to kill Gander for siding with Ryder.

    He wanted to cry out loud for falling into this mess! He wanted to beat him up for inviting Ryder for a tea and having such a big mouth where he exposed himself about knowing the Kings.

    If only he hadn¡¯t been so interested or if he had kept his mouth shut, all of it could have been avoided.

    "So, will you do this or not?" Ryder asked the man after not hearing any response for quite some time.

    "Alright. You¡¯re going to be here for only a little time. I guess I can¡¯t miss the meeting. I¡¯ll finish what I have to do here and try to get to the meeting. Wait for me," Gander replied before he disconnected the call and kept the phone back.

    "Sigh, this business stuff really gets in between a few things sometimes. Anyway, where is Ryder Flynn¡¯s house?" He asked Renner.

    ....

    Maxwell Estate was really peaceful as Shu, and the other important people of the Mansion were absent. Ryder and Alice had also left, iming to go on a vacation.

    That silence wasn¡¯t longsting as many expensive cars stopped before the Estate.

 Chapter 535 Coffee

    <h4>Chapter 535: Coffee</h4>

    Many expensive cars stopped before the Maxwell Estate, surprising even the guards that were standing near the gates.

    This Estate belonged to one of the richest men in the world, and still, generally, this many cars never came together. At best, a few helicopters arrived whenever someone wanted to meet Shu.

    Seeing so many cars, it was surprising.

    The doors of all cars opened, and the Twelve Kings stepped out of the cars with Gander. Aluren was thest to step out of the car.

    All of them walked towards the door and gestured for the guards to open the door.

    "We¡¯re sorry, Sir, but before we open the door, we need to know who you¡¯re here to meet," the guards asked Aluren.

    Normally they would also have asked if these people had appointments, but in this case, it was clear. There was no way these people could have an appointment since no one was even here.

    They only wanted to know who they were here to meet so they could tell them if the one they were here to meet went out of the city for a meeting or if they went on a vacation.

    "Cali, take care of it," Alurenzily said.

    He didn¡¯t bother to answer the guards. In any case, they didn¡¯t care about rules.

    "Yes."

    One of the Kings stepped forward and kicked the main entrance, shattering the iron gates like it wasn¡¯t actually iron.

    The broken iron gate flew far away before itnded on the ground.

    Seeing the destruction, the Maxwell Estate guards were surprised. These people who looked like wealthy billionaires were so strong? It seemed impossible to break the door with just a kick, but one of them did it.

    "Stop right there! This is private property! We are warning you!" The guards raised their guns towards the guy who had broken the door.

    "Idiots..."

    Standing in the back, Gander couldn¡¯t help but sigh as he watched everything unfold. These idiots, instead of standing back and not interfering like sensible people, they were actually aiming their guns towards a King?

    "They¡¯re dead," he muttered as he sighed.

    He closed his eyes and started counting to three.

    "One... Two... Three..."

    As he counted to three, he heard many screams, but he didn¡¯t open his eyes. He only opened his eyes when his count finished.

    After three seconds, he finally opened his eyes to see a sight which he didn¡¯t find shocking.

    Blood was everywhere. As for the bodies, only a few bodies were left intact. As for the rest, only their pieces could be seen.

    "Cheh, a blood drop fell on my clothes. These bastards," Cali muttered as he gazed at the bottom of his pants where a single droplet of blood could be seen.

    "Next time, you should be more careful. Our clothes are more expensive than the lives of these pests. Don¡¯t let them ruin your clothes," Another King chimed in as he started walking towards the Mansion behind Aluren.

    The rest also followed behind.

    As they all reached the door, Aluren snapped his fingers, making the door magically open before he stepped inside.

    There was a sofa right near the entrance of the main hall.

    Aluren walked to the sofa and sat on it, resting one of his legs on another before he started walking back and forth.

    "Find that guy and bring him to me," he told the Kings before he folded his arms and started resting.

    The other kings dispersed and spread out, but before they could go far, one of the maids entered the hall.

    The maid saw a new face inside and thought that the man sitting on the sofa was a guest since they were allowed inside the house.

    "Ah, sir. Should I bring coffee for you?" she asked Aluren.

    "I don¡¯t want coffee. I want Ryder Flynn," Aluren told thedy as he raised his hand to kill the woman for disturbing him, but he stopped as he heard the next words of the woman.

    "Him? But he already left on a vacation for a few days. Are you sure he gave you the appointment of today? Well, if he did tell you toe today, maybe he woulde back," the maid said. "So, should I get some coffee for you?"

    "Oh? He left on a vacation? You mean he isn¡¯t here?" Aluren asked, surprised.

    "That¡¯s right. He left just yesterday. He said he woulde back in a few days. Did he not tell you?" The maid asked, curious.

    This man was here to meet Ryder, and he was also allowed entry, and he didn¡¯t even know that Ryder wasn¡¯t here? It seemed surprising.

    "Do you have her number?" Aluren asked the maid.

    "I do, but he said his number will be switched off since he doesn¡¯t want anyone disturbing him during the vacation. I doubt it would be on," the maid replied.

    "Try calling him and give me the phone if it works," Aluren told thedy who agreed as she walked over to pick up the phone.

    She dialed a number while cing the phone in speaker mode.

    "The number you¡¯re trying to call has been switched off. Please try againter."

    The woman disconnected the call before she turned back. As I said, his number is off.

    "Does he have a servant or anyone else with you that we can contact?" Aluren inquired.

    "He did take young miss with him. Other than that, he has no one," the maid replied.

    "Alright. Call the young miss that you spoke off,x Alurenmanded.

    The maid picked up the phone and dialed another number.

    ...

    At the home of her best friend, Alice was ying a board game with her friend. Her phone was ced on the bed in the distance, switched off.

    Ryder had already told her to keep her phone off until he came to pick her up. She listened to him.

    ...

    The maid tried calling Alice.

    "The number you¡¯re trying to call has been switched off. Please try againter."

    "Her number is off too," the maid informed Aluren.

    "Where did they go on vacation? Give me their location," Aluren told the woman.

    "They didn¡¯t tell us where they were going since they didn¡¯t want any disturbance. I don¡¯t think we would see them before theye back on their own," the maid answered, sighing.

    "We searched the whole house. That bastard is nowhere to be found!"

    As Aluren was talking to the maid, the Kings returned from their search, unable to find Ryder.

    "Huh?"

    Hearing the tone of these people and their words, the maid was surprised. It didn¡¯t seem like these people were the friends of Ryder. Her suspicion was increasing.

    "Who are you people?" She asked.

    Aluren stood up and stepped closer to the woman. As he stopped near her, he looked into her eyes.

    "How many days did you say he was going to take?" Aluren asked thedy. "Wait, two days, I think. From that point on, you¡¯re useless since you don¡¯t know their location and can¡¯t contact them."

    "I¡¯m honestly pretty upset that I have to wait here. So I would appreciate it if you don¡¯t annoy me anymore."

    Saying that, he turned back and walked back to the sofa.

    "Oh right, since we¡¯re going to be waiting here, I guess we¡¯ll need that coffee now. Go make one for us," he told the maid before he closed his eyes.

    The maid opened her mouth to speak something, but she was stopped by Gander.

    "Shh... Do you want to die? Just listen to him and go make the coffee. I don¡¯t want to have to find someone else to make it," Gander told the maid before he dragged her with him to the window and showed him outside where tons of dead bodies were lying.

    The dead bodies were spread everywhere in the outside garden, belonging to the security guards of the Pce.

    "Don¡¯t put your life on the line for one coffee. As long as we¡¯re here, serve them like a proper maid if you don¡¯t want to end up like the people outside," Gander said before he freed the hand of the woman.

    "Oh right, if you tried to contact the police, nothing will happen to them, but you¡¯ll die. So have mercy on yourself and be clever," he added before he walked back to Renner.

    The maid had a pale face as she heard the words of Gander but seeing so many dead bodies had horrified her. She could feel her hand shivering as she nodded her head.

    She turned back and walked inside the kitchen.

    "That guy isn¡¯t here? Did he find out about our arrival and escape? He¡¯s pretty knowledgeable in some strange ways. Should we try searching for him?" One of the Kings asked.

    "I don¡¯t think he ran away. This much time isn¡¯t enough to know about the information of our arrival since only we knew about it. And that guy left yesterday, not today. I guess he really went on a vacation," Aluren replied.

 Chapter 536 Return

    <h4>Chapter 536: Return</h4>

    "Should we try to find him?" One of the Kings asked Aluren.

    "How do you expect to? He kept his phone off. Even tracking won¡¯t work," Aluren answered.

    "What can we do then? Wait?" The King asked.

    "Yeah. For the next few days, this Estate is our base. Take care of the bodies that are lying outside. Since we¡¯re going to be staying here, we might as well keep the ce secure," Aluren answered. "Moreover, I don¡¯t want any disturbance because of the bodies."

    "For the next few days, you guys are to stay in this city. As for what you¡¯re to do, you can think about that yourself," he added before he went silent.

    Gander was standing in the back, watching everything. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh as he watched what was happening.

    These people really believed that Ryder didn¡¯t know about their arrival?

    ¡¯Of course, that guy isn¡¯t here. Anding back in a few days? I doubt he wille back before he takes care of you all. That guy is ying a really big game,¡¯ he thought.

    But he was also confused about something. ording to what Aluren said, the n of their arrival was made only recently, and only the Kings knew.

    For Ryder to know about this, did it mean that King was working for him?

    Gander couldn¡¯t help but observe all the Kings. He believed his assumption to be correct, which meant Ryder wasn¡¯t alone in this scheme. Someone was helping him.

    ¡¯Who could it be? The only clue I have is that it¡¯s not Renner since Ryder wants my help to bring that guy out.¡¯

    ¡¯Oh, god. I don¡¯t have time to think about such things. I need to finish the task I¡¯m given before that guy decides to expose me.¡¯

    Gander walked over to Renner, who was gazing out the window.

    "Your Majesty, I need to leave for the meeting. Shall I go?" He asked.

    It wasn¡¯t off since Gander worked for Renner in the organization. To leave, he needed the permission of Renner.

    "Go," Renner answeredzily.

    With a slight nod, Renner started leaving, but only after taking two steps, he stopped.

    Turning back, he nced at Renner as if he had suddenly thought of something.

    "Your Majesty, why don¡¯t youe with me as well? Since your target isn¡¯t here anyway, there¡¯s no benefit in staying here. You¡¯re only told to stay in the city but no restriction about staying in the estate. Come, I¡¯ll show you my arena," Gander told Renner, trying to get him toe together without making it too obvious.

    "It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t want to," Renner answered.

    "Alright. If you say so. I just heard that you liked horses. I wanted to show the best horses in my arena. They¡¯re real champions. We can also try having a horse race with both of us as riders. I¡¯ll go easier since it¡¯s my arena," Gander said subtly.

    He knew that Renner liked horses and horse riding. That was what he believed he could lure him out with. Moreover, he also hoped to bring out the fighting spirit of Renner.

    "Are you saying that I can¡¯t ride horses and that you¡¯ll need to go easy on me to let me have a chance?" Renner asked as he frowned.

    He didn¡¯t realize that he had just yed into the hands of Gander.

    "Of course I¡¯m not saying that. I¡¯m sure you know horse riding as well. The thing is that I¡¯ve been doing this for years. I¡¯m an expert in this. It would be too unfair for you if I try my best since you haven¡¯t had as much experience as me," Gander answered.

    "You! Fine! Come! Let me show you my experience, but I¡¯m warning you, if you dare go easier, you¡¯ll die! Watch me defeat you when you give your two hundred percent!" Renner hmphed as he started walking towards the door with long strides.

    ¡¯It worked! I guess I was right. Want to make a King do something? Just hurt their pride,¡¯ Gander thought as he smiled. He started walking behind Renner as he left the mansion.

    The two of them walked out in the garden where another King was already taking care of the bodies.

    Branches of trees hade out of the ground, which had wrapped the bodies and started dposing them.

    The powers seemed strange to Gander, but it wasn¡¯t strange since he had already realized that nothing was impossible when it came to the Kings. As for the person who was able to kill a King? Just how strong was he?

    ¡¯I guess today I will see two powerful beings fight and really see the true extent of their powers. If Ryder wins, I¡¯ll be temporarily safe, but if he wins, I¡¯ll be killed for betraying him,¡¯ he thought, stepping inside the car, which started driving towards the arena.

    Inside the Arena, Ryder was sitting in the office of Gander with both his feet on top of the table.

    He was waiting for Gander to bring Renner. As for having trust in Gander, he was sure that Gander wasn¡¯t going to expose him.

    He was certainly going to find a way to bring Renner here since he understood Renner. Moreover, he also had his faith, so the chances of Renner doubting his words were close to none.

    All he needed to do was wait for the arrival of his guests.

    "I am level thousand in the real world. The Kings are somewhere around the same strength if I were to make a guess. I can probably win with a straight battle, but killing them with tricks would be easier."

    " And after I absorb the energy of one or two of them, it would be much easier."

    Ryder was sitting and seemingly talking to himself as he thought of the future and wondered how strong he could be.

    "There are twelve kings in total. If I kill all of them, I would most certainly be five or six times stronger. A level five thousand or above being. Just how strong would that be?"

    As Ryder was waiting for a reply from Gander, the phone started ringing. It wasn¡¯t his real phone but a temporary number he was using, belonging to a phone he had stolen. Through this, he had called Gander, and this was also the number Gander was calling.

    Seeing the number, Ryder picked up the call.

    "Yeah, what¡¯s the update?"

    ...

    On the other end, Gander was sitting inside the car beside Renner.

    "If you¡¯re still in the city, you cane to my office. We can have our meeting there. I¡¯ll reach there in half an hour, and I¡¯ll stay there for a few hours," Gander informed Ryder vaguely.

    ...

    "Understood," Ryder replied before he disconnected the call.

    "This guy, he isn¡¯t half bad. He really seeded," Ryder muttered as he ced the phone on the table.

    He opened his inventory to make sure everything he needed was ready.

    ...

    A flight hadnded in the city from which a young red-haired man stepped out.

    The man left the airport and saw someone waiting for him at the entrance.

    The one waiting for the man seemed like a young woman who seemed to be in herte twenties. Thedy wore a long dress which seemed a bit like a gown.

    "Bastion, wee back to the city," the woman said as she weed Ryder back to the city.

    "Aunt Esmi? How did you know that I wasing back today? I don¡¯t think I informed anyone about my return?" Bastion asked Esmi in surprise.

    "Secret," Esmi cheekily replied as she held Bastion¡¯s hand and started walking towards the car.

    The two of them entered the car, which started moving towards their mansion.

    "It feels so good to be back in the city again," Bastion said as he nced out the window.

    "I want to throw a party to remind everyone of my return. I¡¯m sure there would be a few who missed me," he added before he called a number.

    "Huh? Ryder¡¯s phone is turned off? This guy, he can¡¯t even keep his phone charged, can he?" Bastion muttered as he heard the notification of the number being switched off. "I¡¯ll tryter."

    "His phone is off?" Esmi asked, curious.

    "Yep. I just tried,x Bastion answered.

    Hearing his words, Esmi became a bit concerned. Because of Ryder¡¯s actions, she was a bit angry, and she hadn¡¯t called him, but she still remembered that Ryder had to leave in urgency, and it didn¡¯t seem like he was happy.

    Was he in trouble?

    "How about we go through the ce he stays in? Since his phone is off, you can talk directly." She asked Bastion.

    "Sure. That would be even better," Bastion¡¯ replied.

    "Perfect."

    ...

    Esmi started driving towards the Estate of Shu where Ryder was staying while at the same time the car in which Bastion¡¯s father was sitting, was closing in on Ryder¡¯s location.

 Chapter 537 Tricks

    <h4>Chapter 537: Tricks</h4>

    The betting arena, which was always so crowded during the peak time, waspletely empty.

    Even the guards had left after locking the entrance.

    There was only one person inside such a big arena; it was Ryder, who was waiting for the arrival of his target.

    He was inside the room from where he was able to see the footage of the camera, which was keeping an eye at the entrance.

    "Come on; I¡¯m getting bored. Come fast," he said as he tapped on the table before him.

    He had so much time here that he had already set up all the traps, and still, they weren¡¯t here. He didn¡¯t know what else to do. Everything was going ording to the n.

    Ryder had already put all the pieces in ce, not only with Renner but with other Kings as well that were still with Aluren.

    "This is probably the mostplicated target¡ªthe father of my best friend. Even though I don¡¯t want to kill Bastion¡¯s father, this guy is an evil man. Killing him would only rid this world of him."

    "And the faster I kill this guy, the faster I can be free of the conundrum of having to face the father of my friend. Then I can focus on the important thing without any concern."

    Just as he was thinking about when these guys were going to be here, he saw them.

    Two people had walked inside the building. One of the two being Gander, while the other one being Renner.

    "Finally, they are here!"

    Ryder kept his gaze on the two through the cameras. He could see the two walking towards the office.

    Gander had a phone near his ears with which he was supposedly calling someone.

    As Ryder wondered who this guy was calling, his phone started ringing.

    "So he was calling me."

    He picked up the phone and responded, "Yeah."

    "We¡¯re near my office. How long before you get here?" Gander asked.

    "Not long. Just keep him in the office for a little while. I¡¯ll be there soon," Ryder told Gander.

    Even though his voice was calm, there was a smile on his face as if he was looking forward to something.

    Gander disconnected the call and continued taking Renner to the office

    "That guy would be here within a few minutes. After the deal, we can try horse riding. And I really don¡¯t go easy on you," Gander told Renner.

    "I would hope so. I¡¯ll defeat you at your best. So what if I didn¡¯t ride a horse in months? Talent is in my bones. You will see," Renner said.

    The two of them turned through the corridor and reached the office.

    Using the keys, Gander unlocked the door before he stepped inside. Renner also stepped inside after Gander.

    The door was closed.

    Back in the surveince room, Ryder started pressing a few buttons, with the help of which he deleted all the surveince footage of this week. Moreover, he stopped any further recording as well before he stood up.

    With big strides, he left the surveince room and advanced towards the office of Gander as well.

    He didn¡¯t even bother covering his face with a mask this time as he walked confidently with his hands in his pocket.

    He didn¡¯t even bother dressing in a professional attire. He was still in a t-shirt and jeans.

    He soon reached the office. Without even bothering to knock, he turned the doorknob and opened the door before he stepped inside.

    As he entered inside, he saw Gander sitting on the second seat, whereas Renner was seated on the main.

    With his entrance, all gazes turned on him, one of which happened to be of Renner, who stood up, surprised. He had recognized Ryder. They had seen his picture when they searched for him.

    "Ryder Flynn! So this was a trap!"

    It didn¡¯t take Renner long to realize what was happening. Gander bringing him here, saying he was going to meet someone and the appearance of Ryder. More importantly, Gander didn¡¯t seem shocked at Ryder¡¯s arrival, which made Renner even more sure that this was a scheme.

    "You¡¯re right. Albeit you¡¯re a bit toote," Ryder said as he looked at his watch.

    He had nned everything, and he had started a timer when Renner entered the office. And now that timer was going off, beeping.

    "Yo-"

    Furious Renner took a step towards Ryder, but before he could even finish one step, he dropped to the ground with a pale face.

    Gander was confused as to what happened, but he soon realized as he felt his entire body ache. His face turned pale as he realized that he couldn¡¯t control his body. His mouth also twisted as he failed even to speak.

    There was only one thought in his hand. He was curious as to what Ryder had done? Is this some kind of paralysis? He had this kind of ability as well? And even if he did, why did he use this on him as well? He was on Ryder¡¯s side! There was no need to paralyze him.

    As he was wondering why he was harmed, he realized something.

    ¡¯It¡¯s not that he used this power on both of us! He did something to this office! That¡¯s why both of us were affected. Did he drug us? I didn¡¯t smell anything strange or felt anything. It was all so sudden!¡¯ He thought, amazed at the tricks of Ryder.

    This guy, he was really cunning. Is this how he killed the other king as well? Until now, he had been thinking that Ryder was as strong as a King, and that was why he was able to kill one, but now he realized that there were more possibilities to it than just that.

    "I apologize for using such tricks, but I wanted to save time. I have eleven more kings to kill after you as well. Can¡¯t waste much time here," Ryder said, smiling as he stepped closer to Renner. "After that, I also have to kill your leader too."

    Renner¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock. They were right. This Ryder Flynn was that masked person who killed their partners and spoiled so many schemes! And now he was nning to kill them all?

    If Renner wasn¡¯t paralyzed and he could speak, he would haveughed at Ryder for thinking that he could kill their leader.

    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t even move his lips. He could only watch with his eyes that had also started turning red.

    "Now, before the effect of this thing falls, let me end this," he said as he brought out a knife.

    "I know you guys heal from bullets. And I don¡¯t want to waste the special bullets. They require a lot of points to buy. So I¡¯ll have to do with slicing you up. Please forgive me for being so hard on you despite your indirect rtionship to me," He said.

    "Oh right. If there¡¯s a next life, you either try to be a good guy or be born as far away from Bastion as possible."

    Gripping the knife firmly, Ryder shed down, finished everything.

    He didn¡¯t like killing like this as this felt like he was an animal, but the situation demanded it. Even though he hated it, he didn¡¯t stop.

    And thus, Another King was killed. This time much easier thanst time.

    Ryder ced the body of Renner in his inventory before he walked back to the chair and started resting.

    He wanted to absorb the energy of Renner right away, but he decided to wait since he didn¡¯t want to do it before Gander. Moreover, he didn¡¯t want to kill Gander. He still had more uses for this guy.

    Ryder ced his hand under the table and started grazing his fingers over it as if he was trying to find something.

    "Here it is," he said as he found what he was looking for.

    He brought his hand out from under the table to reveal a thick paper sticker that he had ced under the table.

    This sticker was an artifact that he had purchased from the store using his points.

    It was known as the Godly Paralysis Sticker.

    It was something that was said to be used by the gods to prank other gods when they were younger.

    It was ced in a room or a closed space. As the sticker was ced, it started leaking out an invisible smoke that was impossible to be seen or smelled. The smell filled the room. And when a person smelled that simple for five minutes, their body was paralyzed.

    On gods, the effects onlysted for a minute, but on humans, itsted for over ten minutes.

    Ryder had been in this room for only close to two minutes. If he had stayed for a few more minutes, he would also have suffered paralysis.

    Now that the sticker was removed, its effects had stopped as it turned to dust as it was only a one-time use item.

 Chapter 538 Absorbing the King

    <h4>Chapter 538: Absorbing the King</h4>

    The sticker, which was a one-time item, disappeared as soon as it was removed.

    Ryder watched the stickers disintegrate, with which all the mysterious smoke also went away, leaving Ryder free to spend as much time as he needed here.

    Moreover, Gander also recovered as soon as the sticker was destroyed.

    Ryder nced towards Gander as he said, "Stand up. You¡¯re fine now."

    Gander heard Ryder¡¯s words and tried moving his hand only to realize that Ryder was right. He actually was able to move. Moreover, he didn¡¯t feel any pain. It was as if his body was back to normal now.

    He pushed his body up before he stood up.

    "You got me too. I thought you¡¯d get rid of me as well," Gander said as he brought a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

    "Why would I? You work for me now. But yeah, you would have been dead if you had betrayed me. So give the credit to yourself for choosing the right side," Ryder told Gander as he gestured for him to sit before him.

    Gander walked towards the chair and sat on it again.

    "What did you do to the body? How did you make it disappear?" He asked.

    "Please enlighten me about something. How does it concern you what I did with the body?" Ryder asked sarcastically.

    Even though he asked in sarcasm, he still answered, "I destroyed the body."

    "Y-you destroyed it so fast?" Gander asked Ryder. "Are you a magician?¡¯

    Ryder took a deep breath as he sighed. "Moving on, listen to what you have to do next."

    He was getting tired of the idle chit-chat. He already knew that he didn¡¯t have much time. And the number of people he had to kill was too many.

    "Next in the list is the Seventh King, also known as the Lustful King. Apparently, he is pretty creepy, as you already described. He is interested in boys that he kills before he..."

    "Anyway, I want you to lure him out this time. Bring him here as well," Ryder said.

    "Him? You want me to go there? They would kill me if I went there and they found out the truth. They all know that I left with the Thirteenth King. What will I say if they ask where he went?" Gander asked.

    "Just tell them that he left you midway and left, saying he has someone important to meet in the city. If you think that won¡¯t work, I¡¯m sure you cane up with some excuse of your own," Ryder said as he closed the topic.

    "I don¡¯t care what you do; I want him here," he said.

    "Anyway, he is a fashion tycoon. And with his weakness, I¡¯ve prepared something." He ced a picture on the table before Gander.

    "This picture? Who is this boy?" Gander asked as he watched the image.

    "I have no idea. Apparently it¡¯s from a local model photoshoot here. I prepared this pic to lure the Seventh King out. I had been wondering how to get this pic to him, but you¡¯re here. That makes it simple," Ryder said.

    He further added, "Just tell him that you have prepared a boy for him to enjoy while he is in the city. And bring him here. I¡¯m sure you understand the rest. You have three hours to get him here. Be careful and don¡¯t make them suspicious as you do it."

    "We¡¯re really ying with fire here. With your tricks, you might be able to kill the weak Kings, but the strongest ones are really careful. Your n to kill all Kings... That seems like a dream. Your dream is as hard to fulfill as climbing Mount Everest on foot in three hours anding back in that time, alive," Gander said as he sighed while he kept the picture in his pocket.

    "Nothing is impossible in this world. After the things I¡¯ve seen, climbing Mount Everest in three hours seems like a child¡¯s y," Ryder replied as he rolled his eyes. "Don¡¯t worry about me. Just do as I said and watch how I take care of all the Kings and their leader."

    "All the Kings are already tough, but their leader? I heard their leader is no less than a god. He can make anything possible. I wonder if you can actually do it. I wish you luck. Since I have already sided with you, my survival depends on your sess," Gander said as he stood up.

    He turned back and started leaving, sighing again and again as if he was regretting his life choices to be caught in the middle of this.

    "Don¡¯t forget to close the door behind you," Ryder called out as he watched Gander leave.

    "Yes. After all you¡¯ve told me to do, this seems like nothing," Gander said as he closed the door after he left.

    Ryder stood up after a few minutes and walked over to the door. He opened the door as he peeked outside.

    "He really left. That¡¯s good," Ryder muttered as he again went inside the office and closed the door from inside.

    He walked back to the center of the office and brought the body of Renner out of his inventory, leaving it on the ground.

    "Alright, Janus, should I do it likest time, or is the method different with the Kings?" Ryder asked Janus.

    "Do it likest time. Everything will be the same. Be fast," Janus¡¯s voice echoed in Ryder¡¯s mind.

    Ryder sat on his knees before he did, just as he didst time. Unlikest time, Janus didn¡¯t need to exin everything, and the transfer process moved very smoothly.

    It was even faster thanst time as Ryder absorbed the strength of the Thirteenth King.

    As the strength of Renner was absorbed by Ryder, the body disappeared.

    He was level thousand before when he absorbed Luke. As he absorbed the energy of Renner, he opened his status screen to see what his level and status were now.

    [Name: Ryder]

    [Species: Human/Unspecified]

    [Level: 1700]

    "Level 1700? A boost of seven hundred levels? That¡¯s fine, but what¡¯s with the species? Of Course, I¡¯m human. Why if in the bracket it¡¯s showing unspecified?" Ryder asked Janus.

    "Don¡¯t tell me absorbing their energy is changing my species?"

    "Don¡¯t worry about such things. It¡¯s nothing," Janus answered without exining much.

    "I¡¯ll really be angry if it makes me a monster or something because of this. Be warned," Ryder said as he stood up and walked back to the chair.

    Unlike before, he didn¡¯t have a hard time controlling his strength either since he already had an assumption of his strength now. Moreover, the boost wasn¡¯t as crazy as before. Previously he had jumped from weakest to strong. But now, his jump was from strong to stronger.

    "Looking at this jump, I guess that Luke wasn¡¯t much weaker than a King," Ryder said as he ced his forehead on the table before him.

    "That means there are people like these kings in Russia as well. If I¡¯m not wrong, there must be people like these in other countries as well. So people like their leaders also exist in other countries. I can only assume that they are in all the countries of the world."

    "The question remains, where did theye from?" He asked himself. "And what their purpose is? They¡¯re all so influential and have everything. What is their purpose, then? What do they want?"

    Realizing that asking himself was useless, he shifted his target. "Janus, you know the answer to my question, don¡¯t you?"

    "Who are these people? And where do they get their powers from? Is this some game? Where each god selects a yer from the earth and has them fight? It would make sense. I received all my powers from you. Just like that, these people could only have received their powers from other gods as well," Ryder asked suspiciously.

    He knew that Janus was not a system but a god. He also knew that there were other gods as well. So his assumption made sense to him.

    "You¡¯re missing something," Janus answered but didn¡¯t exin.

    "What am I missing?" Ryder asked, not realizing that he had missed a possibility.

    He had said that people here could only receive powers from gods. He forgot that the humans here could be gods themselves.

    He asked Janus what he was missing, but Janus didn¡¯t answer.

    ...

    Esmi and Bastion reached the Mansion of Shu Maxwell since Ryder¡¯s number was switched off. They wanted to see if he was here.

    As they reached the entrance of the mansion, they were surprised to see that the entrance waspletely unguarded. There was not a single person at the entrance which was surprising since the owner of the mansion was so rich. The security shouldn¡¯t be thisx.

    Opening the doors, Esmi and Bastion stepped out of the car as they walked through the entrance, where the door was missing as well.

 Chapter 539 Go out and kill them

    <h4>Chapter 539: Go out and kill them</h4>

    Esmi and Bastion stepped inside the premise of the Maxwell Estate, curious why this entrance was empty. But a single person could be seen through three entire courtyards, which should generally have been filled with people.

    "Are you sure Ryder lives in this ce?" Bastion asked Esmi as he looked around.

    "Yeah, I am. Why?" Esmi asked, curious as to why Bastion was asking a question like that.

    "Nothing, I just found it strange. This whole mansion is so big, yet no sign of Life can be seen here. In fact, I would have thought that this mansion was abandoned already. That¡¯s why I asked if he lived here," Bastion said.

    "You¡¯re right about that. I can¡¯t say for sure either. Maybe they changed houses, and this ce is abandoned?" Esmi said as she agreed. "Let¡¯s see if someone is inside the Mansion; if there¡¯s no one there, we can leave," Esmi said as she nodded her head.

    They continued walking towards the main door of the mansion, unaware that someone was looking at them through the window.

    ....

    Inside the Mansion, Eleven Kings were spread out, getting bored. Most of them were trying to think of a good excuse to leave and where to go.

    The rest of the Kings were with Aluren, discussing some things about the future.

    Amongst the Kings that were getting bored was the Seventh King, who was also known as the Lustful King.

    He was also nning to leave as he looked out through the window.

    As he looked outside, he saw someone approaching the mansion.

    "Someone ising here," he said as he looked at the others, attracting their attention.

    "Who is it? Ryder or someone useless?" The First King asked without looking back. He was sitting near Aluren.

    "It¡¯s not Ryder. A woman and a man," the Seventh King said.

    "As long as it¡¯s not Ryder, I don¡¯t care. Go out and kill them," Aluren said. "I don¡¯t want any disturbance here."

    The Seventh King stretched his arms as he yawned while walking towards the door.

    ...

    Esmi reached out her hand to ring the doorbell, but before her finger could even touch the doorbell, she stopped as she saw the door open.

    She could see a well-dressed handsome man standing before her. The dark haired man seemed like he was a handsome model who was in his early thirties.

    As soon as Esmi saw the man, her lips opened wide, not because he was handsome. She wasn¡¯t dazed by his looks, but she was shocked for a different reason. It was because she had recognized the man.

    "Seventh King?" She said, surprised.

    "Huh?" Her words, in turn, surprised the Seventh King. Thedy knew about him? How?

    "Who are you?" He asked thedy, surprised.

    "Ah, right. You don¡¯t know about me. But I am a part of the same organization under the Thirteenth King," Esmi told the Seventh King.

    "Aunt Esmi? What are you talking about? What kings? What organization?"

    Bastion didn¡¯t understand her words and asked her what she was talking about.

    "Ah, you work for Renner then. I guess this guy doesn¡¯t know about him. You know our rules, right? I would have to kill him now since he heard about us," the Seventh King said as he grinned while looking at Bastion.

    "Kill me? What the heck? Who the hell do you think you are to kill m-"

    "Bastion! Silence!"

    Hearing the words of the Seventh King, Bastion was upset and started talking back in anger. Seeing Bastion talk like that to the Seventh King, Esmi¡¯s eyes opened wide. She hastily closed Bastion¡¯s mouth.

    "Ah, wait. Your name is Esmi, and you work for Renner. His name is Bastion... I understand now. He¡¯s..."

    It seemed as if the mind of the Seventh King clicked just now as he realized the identity of Bastion.

    "That¡¯s right," Esmi nodded.

    "Alright. I won¡¯t kill him. He¡¯s a part of the organization as well, even though indirectly. Anyway, what are you doing here? Did Renner call you here? You¡¯rete. He left a while ago," the dark haired man said.

    "Huh? He is here in the city?" Esmi asked, surprised.

    "Renner? Is he talking about father?" Bastion asked Esmi.

    "That¡¯s right. I¡¯m talking about your father. Anyway, from your reaction, it didn¡¯t seem like you even knew about his arrival. So he certainly didn¡¯t call you here," the Seventh King suspiciously said. "That raises the question. What are you doing here?"

    Hearing his question, Esmi fell into deep thought. These people were here in a ce where Ryder lived. But Ryder didn¡¯t know about the Kings. So why were they here? And the missing guards, were they killed by the Seventh King?

    She felt like they weren¡¯t here to do anything good. She didn¡¯t know what Ryder did, but she was worried about him now.

    Ryder leftst time in a hurry, as if he was in a big problem. And now these people are here. Did these things have any link? She wondered.

    She started trying to think of an excuse for why she was here. She knew that she mustn¡¯t tell that she was here for Ryder and that she knew him.

    "I¡¯m here to meet my friend Ryder. Now tell me! Where is my father? I need to talk to him right now!" Bastion said before Esmi could answer.

    Seeing that Bastion had told the truth already about their purpose ining here, Esmi felt like banging her head against a wall.

    ¡¯No! Things aren¡¯t bad enough yet. He doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯m close to Ryder. I can still handle it,¡¯ she thought.

    "That¡¯s right. We¡¯re here to meet Ryder Flynn, who lives here. Ryder was Bastion¡¯s ssmate in college and his old friend. After a long time, Bastion came back to the city, and he wanted to throw a party, so he¡¯s here to invite him. After this, we¡¯ll still have to go to the house of others," Esmi said, minimizing their rtionship to Ryder to that of only a ssmate.

    "Oh? Is that so? It¡¯s surprising that you go to the house of all ssmates personally instead of calling," the Seventh King said with an amused smile. He wanted to see what she was going to reply.

    "Actually, we n on calling. But there are a few whose numbers are off. Ryder happened to be one of the few people who had their phones off," Esmi exined.

    "Hey, are you both forgetting about me? Bastion chimed in. "Tell me where my father is. I need to talk to him personally."

    " I guess your words make sense. His phone is indeed off. But I would advise you something. Leave this ce and cancel the n to invite him. Because I don¡¯t think he would be able to attend. In any case, he isn¡¯t at home. He went on a vacation, ording to the servants here. He left yesterday," the Seventh King said.

    "Even we¡¯re here for him¡ªwhat a disappointing host. The guests are here, but he went missing," he further said as he smiled. "We¡¯re waiting for his return. Tell us if you find out about him."

    As he finished talking to Esmi, he shifted his attention to Bastion. "As for you, young man. I think you¡¯re simr to your father. He also has a hard time hearing things sometimes. So let me repeat what I already said once again."

    "Your father left a while ago. As for where he is now, I¡¯m not his assistant to keep a record of it. Leave now and don¡¯t annoy me anymore. I don¡¯t want to exin to your father why his son is missing a tongue," he further added before he turned back and walked inside the mansion, closing the door.

    "This rude man!" Bastion said in frustration.

    "Aunt Esmi, did you hear? Father is in the city, and he didn¡¯t even contact us? That guy! His number is always busy, and when it isn¡¯t, he doesn¡¯t pick up. And now that he¡¯s here, he still doesn¡¯t want to meet us? Does he even consider me his son anymore?" He asked.

    "Don¡¯t think nonsense. Of Course, he considers you his son. Maybe he¡¯s busy in something. Let¡¯s leave," Esmi said as she started leaving.

    As she walked, her mind was constantly racing, thinking about what was happening here.

    She didn¡¯t think that the Seventh King lied to her about anything. So they were here for Ryder. Her guess was right. And she also believed that their intentions towards Ryder weren¡¯t right.

    Moreover, they said that he left yesterday. That also marches with the time when Ryder had abruptly left her. That could only mean Ryder knew about them?

    How did he know about the Kings? And what did he do to make the Kingse after him? Normally the Kings didn¡¯t handle normal matters. For small things, they only sent their troops. But for them toe personally, something of great significance must have happened, she thought.

 Chapter 540 Luring the Seventh King

    <h4>Chapter 540: Luring the Seventh King</h4>

    ¡¯I hope Ryder is safe. If the Kings are against him, he is in danger. He should get out of the country as fast as he can. If he knew that he was in danger, that¡¯s what he must have done. Maybe that¡¯s why he also closed his phone so that no one knows where he is?¡¯ Esmi thought as she stepped inside her car with Bastion and left.

    She knew that there was nothing she could do. Ryder¡¯s phone was off. And if the Kings couldn¡¯t trace him, she had an even worse chance to achieve this. All she could do was stand back and pray for Ryder.

    ...

    A few minutes after Esmi left the house, Gander arrived near the ce.

    He stepped out of the car, wondering how he was going to exin where Renner was and why he came back. He was praying that he would be able to leave alive after he entered the mansion.

    As he walked through the long courtyard, he kept preparing to speak the lines he had decided on.

    Within minutes, he reached the entrance of the Mansion, where he knocked.

    ...

    Hearing the knock, the ninth king looked towards the Seventh King, "You¡¯re close to the door. Open it and see who it is that¡¯s distributing us again and again."

    "I openedst time. It was Renner¡¯s son. I sent him away. It must be a different person this time. You go and open the door," the Seventh King said in response as he refused to budge. "I¡¯m not going on permanent door duty. I already did it once. That¡¯s enough for me."

    "Youzy guy, fine. I¡¯ll open this time," the Ninth King said as he rolled his eyes while standing up.

    He walked to the door and opened it.

    "It¡¯s you. What are you doing here?" Noticing Gander at the door, the ninth king asked.

    "I came back. His Highness left me midway, saying he had to go somewhere else. And I finished my meeting. I came back to see if I could be of any help to you all. I¡¯m the leading guy in this city. Of course, I¡¯ll be here when all my masters are here," Gander replied, fawning.

    "Tsk, he must have gone to meet his family. I heard his family came here," the ninth king said, "Whatever. It¡¯s good. You can open the door next time. Close the door after you enter."

    The ninth king walked back without bothering to ask too many questions.

    Gander stepped inside the mansion and closed the door

    Seeing Gander inside, the other kings were also curious, but they seemed toozy to ask anything. None of them could even imagine that Gander could have done something against them.

    They were the Kings, and they were arrogant. It didn¡¯t even cross their month that within thest few hours, one of them could be dead, that too when almost every single one of them was in the city.

    As Gander entered the main hall, it didn¡¯t take him long to find the Seventh King, who was walking back and forth, lost in a thought.

    Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Gander started approaching the Seventh King.

    "Your Highness, you seem worried. Can I help you with something?" Gander asked the Lustful King, trying to start a small conversation.

    "Help? Ah, that¡¯s right. I¡¯m new to this city, but ah, how do I say it, where in the city can I find some good young guys for myself?" The Seventh King asked Gander, feeling like he could get help.

    Hearing the request of the Seventh King, Gander felt like he was flying in the seventh heaven. He didn¡¯t even need to try anything, and everything fell in its ce on its own.

    He was amazed at his own luck. It was as if the prey wasing to the hunter and telling them to kill.

    "What happened? Can you help me with this or not? If you can¡¯t, then scram," the Seventh King snorted as he heard no response from Gander. He felt like Gander wasn¡¯t going to answer.

    "Ah, not at all. It¡¯s just that I was surprised. Of Course, I can help you with this," Gander said, cheekily smiling.

    He brought a picture out of his pocket before he showed it to the Seventh King.

    "Here, look at this. How does it seem?" He asked.

    "This?" Seeing the pic, the eyes of the seventh king lit up. He couldn¡¯t help but lick his lips. "Tasty."

    "Who is this? I want him!" he said.

    "Actually, I run a modeling agency. This guy works under my agency. In fact, how about I take you to meet him right away? I can invite him on the pretense of a meeting regarding a big modeling gig? How¡¯s that?" Gander asked.

    "Fantastic! But don¡¯t invite him here. I won¡¯t be able to enjoy it here. Arrange for a different ce of meeting, a ce where no one shall disturb us," the Seventh King said as he gazed at the picture in his hand with lust-filled eyes.

    "I have a perfect ce for that. Come with me," Gander said as he started leaving.

    "I¡¯m going out for a little while to see the city with Gander. I¡¯ll be back tomorrow," the Seventh King said to the others as he left with Gander.

    ...

    Gander and the Seventh King stepped inside the car, where Gander called a number.

    "Yeah, Ru. You know the guy known as Jake who works under our modeling agency? Bring him to our office. Tell him there¡¯s an important meeting that could make his future. I¡¯ll be there as well."

    As he finished speaking, he ced the phone back in his pocket.

    On the other end of the call, Ryder was sitting, smiling. He had understood everything. It was Gander signaling him that he wasing with the Seventh King.

    "That guy... He is not bad. Because of him, things are moving so smoothly," Ryder said as he scrolled through the System Store

    "This way, I will run out of the origin points very fast. I can¡¯t use items like this in every battle. I¡¯ll have to try different methods with a few of them."

    He clicked on another item and bought it with his origin points as he prepared for another guest.

    ...

    The Seventh King thought that Gander had talked to one of his men to arrange this meeting. He wasn¡¯t the least bit suspicious about this as he casually sat in the car.

    He hadn¡¯t stopped ogling the photo for even a second as he kept thinking about how much fun he was going to have.

    The car had only traveled for only ten minutes, and the Seventh King had asked more than five times when they were going to reach that ce and when he was going to meet this person.

    "We would reach there very fast. Within ten more minutes at best," Gander answered. "As for the young guest, he would take an hour to get there, I suppose. So you¡¯ll have to wait a bit. But the wait will be worth it, I¡¯m sure."

    "I hope so. I can¡¯t wait to meet him," the Seventh King said, smiling.

    "Oh, right. You have a bed in your office, right?" He asked.

    "Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll get all the facilities that you want," Gander replied.

    Minutes kept trickling away as Gander advanced towards the ce where Ryder was waiting for the two of them. His car raced through the city, not slowing down in the least.

    Just as he had said, ten more minutes was what it took for Gander to reach there.

    He ced the brake as he stopped the car right at the entrance of his building.

    He and the Seventh King stepped out of the car.

    The Seventh King stared at the building ahead of him. "So this is the ce? Doesn¡¯t look half bad from outside."

    "It looks good from inside as well," Gander said. "Pleasee."

    Gander once again brought a King inside the building, twice within a few hours.

    He soon brought the Seventh King to the office.

    As Gander was about to open the door, he couldn¡¯t help but pray for himself, wondering what it was going to be this time. Was it going to be paralysis likest time? Or was it going to be something serious? Or could it be that he was going to be coteral damage this time?

    ¡¯Please don¡¯t be a bomb this time. I want to live! I don¡¯t want to die! Please, please, please, god, let me live!¡¯

    In his mind, Gander kept praying as he finally turned the doorknob and opened the door.

    As soon as he opened the door, his mouth opened wide in shock. The Seventh King¡¯s eyes also opened wide as he saw inside the office.

    "What the f*ck?" A curse escaped the lips of Gander at the sight which was before him, unable to believe it.

 Chapter 541 Third Strike

    <h4>Chapter 541: Third Strike</h4>

    "What the f*ck?" Those were the only words that left the lips of Gander as he saw a boy standing inside the room.

    The boy was none other than the person that was in the picture, which was given to him by Ryder.

    "Why are you so shocked to see him here? Didn¡¯t you call him here yourself?" The Seventh King asked, even though he himself was surprised about the boy¡¯s presence since the boy hade here so fast.

    "By the way, didn¡¯t you say he would take longer to get here? How is he so fast?" He further asked, raising the question in his mind.

    "Ah, t-that¡¯s what I¡¯m curious about as well. That¡¯s why I was so shocked," Gander replied, making an excuse.

    The reason he was shocked was because he expected Ryder to be here, or at least the trap. He didn¡¯t expect to actually find a boy here that he didn¡¯t even call.

    "I was near this ce at a mall when I got the call; that¡¯s why I was able to get here faster," the young boy replied to the query of the Seventh King.

    ¡¯His voice!¡¯ As soon as Gander heard that voice, he felt a jolt of electricity. That was the voice of Ryder!

    ¡¯What the heck? How the hell did he change his body so well? Is he a magician? Just how many tricks does he have?¡¯ he thought.

    Now that he knew that it was Ryder, he had to handle the situation. The Kings knew Ryder¡¯s face, but it didn¡¯t seem like they knew his voice. That was why the Seventh King hadn¡¯t recognized his voice n

    "I get it, hahaha. That¡¯s right. He was nearby when he got the call, instead of being at his home. That¡¯s why he was able to get here faster," Gander said, smiling.

    "That does make sense," the Seventh King said. "But how did he get inside? You had the key; he didn¡¯t. You opened the door right before me."

    "The sir who called me toe here opened the door for me. He told me to wait here for the arrival of you all. Are you the modeling director who is here to audition me?" Ryder asked innocently.

    "Hahaha, that¡¯s right. I¡¯m the director. Don¡¯t worry, as long as things progress the way I want; you won¡¯t ever need to worry about bing famous ever again," the Seventh King said, grinning.

    He looked back at Gander before he said, "I want to interview him alone. Where¡¯s the room you talked about? With bed? So that we can be morefortable during, ah, interview."

    "That, how about you talk here? In the meanwhile, I¡¯ll get the room ready. Just give me five minutes," Gander said before he hastily stepped out of the room.

    He was sure that he wasn¡¯t actually going to need a room since Ryder was most probably going to kill the Seventh King by then.

    And in case the oue was different, and the Seventh King killed Ryder, he still wasn¡¯t going to need a room with a bed since he was going to know the truth about their n in that case. And that was going to mean Gander¡¯s death at the hands of a King.

    He started walking away to hide in different parts of the building. If Ryder won, he was sure that he was going to get a call. On the other hand, if the Seventh King won, Gander could at least have an advantage since he was going to be hiding in advance.

    He hastily walked as far as he could from his office and stopped only when he reached a room that he had decided to hide inside.

    ....

    Back in Gander¡¯s office, Ryder was standing before the Seventh King, like an innocent kid.

    "Shall we start the interview?" The Seventh King asked. "Are you ready?"

    "I am," Ryder replied. He already knew about the methods of the Seventh King.

    The Seventh King generally did the short talks with his prey before he closed in and stabbed them in their back. And after the prey was dead, did he start doing the dirty deed with them.

    "So, tell me. What do you like? And what do you dislike? And why do you want to be a model?" The Seventh King asked as he took a step closer to Ryder.

    "I like everyone, my friends, my family, and all the nice people. As far as I know, I don¡¯t dislike anything," Ryder replied.

    "And I want to be a model because it¡¯s my passion," He further added.

    "Oh? Do you like all nice people?" The Seventh King asked, amused. He again took a step towards Ryder, leaving only three steps of the distance between the two.

    Ryder nodded his head in response.

    "Does that mean you like me too?" The Seventh King again asked. "Because everyone says that I¡¯m a nice man."

    He took one more step towards Ryder. The distance between the two decreased to two steps only.

    "You are? Then I like you too," Ryder replied with an innocent smile. He understood what the man was trying to do. Soon, he was going to attempt to stab Ryder.

    "Oh? You like me? I¡¯m so d. Because I like you too," The Seventh King said, grinning.

    "So, did I pass?" Ryder asked the Seventh King.

    "You passed with flying colors. Congrattions!" The Seventh King said as he spread out his hands to hug Ryder, who also stepped forward, excitedly hugging the Seventh King back.

    "Congrattions, young man. You¡¯re even better than I hoped. Thank you for making my stay in this city pleasant," the Seventh King said as a knife appeared in his hand. "And may you rest in-ahhh!"

    He was about to finish his sentence, but he couldn¡¯t even finish as his scream escaped as if he was dying.

    Someone had used the same trick he was going to use as a knife was stabbed in his back. Normally, he wouldn¡¯t have screamed since he was a King with his extreme healing, and he couldn¡¯t die from just this, but this time it was different.

    The Seventh King actually felt like he was dying. He tried to move his hand to stab Ryder in revenge, but his hands didn¡¯t move.

    "How does it feel to be beaten in your own game? I can¡¯t even imagine how many kids you had looked like this before what you did to them, all so you could have your satisfaction. Honestly, I¡¯ve killed two kings before you, but by killing you, I really feel the best," Ryder said before he stepped back, leaving the golden knife stabbed in the back of the Seventh King.

    He left the hug and once again created the distance from the Seventh King, bringing the distance between them to two meters.

    "The Soul Snatching Knife, not a cheap item by any means but really magical. You should feel lucky that you got it used on you. At Least you can say with pride when you go to hell, that I died because of a magical treasure!" Ryder said as hezily stretched his arms. "No need to thank me."

    The lips of the Seventh King twitched as if he wanted to say something, but his body or even his lips didn¡¯t move. His consciousness was growing weak with each passing second as if he was dying.

    "Don¡¯t worry; you won¡¯t die so fast. You still have ten seconds before you could sleep forever. As for your words, don¡¯t worry. I already know what you want to say. It would probably be the same thing that the two kings before you said when they died. And I¡¯ll tell you the same thing as them."

    "You¡¯re not thest one. I¡¯ll send more kings to keep youpany on the highway to hell," he added.

    The golden knife that was stabbed in the back of the Seventh King was the Soul Snatching Knife, the item which was said to belong to the legendary soul snatched witch. It was said to be something that bound the soul of the one it was stabbed inside with it.

    After the binding was sessful, it destroyed itself, because of which the soul was destroyed too.

    Soon, the golden knife started disintegrating before itpletely disappeared. And with that, the final light in the eyes of the Seventh King also disappeared, bringing Ryder¡¯s score to three.

    He had killed three kings now, excluding Luke, who was almost equivalent to a King.

    With the death of the seventh king, Ryder didn¡¯t waste a single moment before he stepped forward and absorbed the body of the Seventh King, bringing his level to an even greater height.

    His real-world level had increased to a whopping level of 2500 with the newest addition, making him surprised. So much strength now belonged to him.

    He wondered if he was strong enough to kill the leader of these people or not. Janus had told him to absorb all the kings before taking on their leader. Just what did that imply?

 Chapter 542 Meeting the Weakness

    <h4>Chapter 542: Meeting the Weakness</h4>

    "I need to absorb all kings to have the strength to fight the leader of these people. So he¡¯s at least as strong as all the kingsbined? How can someone be that strong, though?"

    "Whatever, I have no choice anyway. They want to kill me, and I have to kill them. Only one will survive, and the one dying won¡¯t be me," he muttered as he stood up.

    Picking up his phone, he called Gander, who was hiding in his room, wondering if the oue was going to be Ryder¡¯s victory or not.

    ...

    "Ah, it¡¯s him? It looks like another King is gone. Sigh, this guy is really clever to be able to take two kings out," Gander said as he looked at the name on the phone.

    He didn¡¯t believe that Ryder and the Seventh King actually fought since their fight would have meant that the whole building was destroyed. And if Ryder won without a battle, Gander believed that he used another sneaky trick likedy time.

    But to kill two kings in one day, Ryder certainly was talented in his eyes.

    ¡¯Maybe he actually has a chance of victory?" He muttered before he picked up the call.

    "Hello?"

    "Gander, where are you hiding? Come, meet me in the office. I have some work for you," Ryder told Gander before he disconnected the call.

    "Work for me? Sigh, one more luring out? Is he going to make me lure out all the Kings? How will it work? This time, there will certainly be suspicion," Gander muttered as he left the room and went to his office.

    As he met Ryder in the office, his assumption was proven to be right. Ryder was alive. As for the Seventh King¡¯s body, it was missing, just like the body of thest King.

    ¡¯I guess this guy loves destroying the remains of the Kings,¡¯ he thought as he sighed.

    "Your next Target is the Twelfth King. You need to lure him out this time," Ryder said, just what Gander thought. It was as if all his predictions wereing true.

    He hoped that the Prediction about the Kings getting suspicious wouldn¡¯te true, or he would be dead.

    Worrying about his life, he insisted, "I can¡¯t go this. Luring out the two kings was enough. The third would be too suspicious. I can¡¯t do it. Please use someone else."

    "No one else can do it but you," Ryder said firmly.

    "I can¡¯t do it either. Use some other method, then. Or just run away, far from the kings. In any case, this risk is a bit too much. I¡¯m leaving," Gander said before he started leaving without looking back.

    "If you took a step out of this office without intending to help me, you¡¯ll be dead. No matter what you think, helping me is the only option left for you. You can either oppose me and go to the kings who will kill you since you took part in a scheme which caused two of the kings to die, or you¡¯ll be killed by me."

    "You are really evil; you know that?" Gander asked, frowning as he stopped just one step before the exit.

    "First time I¡¯m hearing it," Ryder replied as he raised his hand innocently. "Anyway, don¡¯t waste time. Get him here fast. The faster we kill all, the faster we can get done with it."

    "On the other hand, the slower you are, the riskier it will be for you since they¡¯ll have more time to figure things out. So we need to kill them all in two days," he added before Gander went far away from them.

    As Ryder sent Gander to bring the Twelfth King here, he had also put another n in motion.

    ....

    He left the office and walked outside. Stepping inside his car, he drove it to the south of the city.

    As he reached a certain empty ce, he stopped the car as he stepped out.

    The whole ce was entirely empty since the ce he stopped in was an abandoned neighborhood.

    He looked all around to make sure that no one was there. After making sure, he changed his clothes to a hoodie and ck jeans.

    He also covered his face with a full-face pollution mask, making sure that his hair and his face were covered.

    As he made sure, he started flying high in the sky, leaving the neighborhood.

    The ce he actually wanted to reach wasn¡¯t very far from here, and it only took him a short while before hended on the roof of a small and ordinary looking house.

    Even though the neighborhood had some cameras, since he came from the sky, no cameras recorded him. As for the house, it had no security guards either.

    Looking at the house, no one could have imagined that the daughter of United States Military Chief Cali Malium was living in this house.

    "Even though I had to try a bit, I did manage to find out a lot about the Fourth King. With this weakness, he would have no way to escape," Ryder said as he smiled.

    He broke inside the house and walked around, trying to find a person, which didn¡¯t take long since the person he was looking for was inside the main hall, sitting on the couch, watching the TV.

    Ryder could see the back of a girl facing him as sheughed at the jokes being told in the movie.

    ¡¯The girl who is the grandfather of the Army King. His only living family member and his weakness. Even though it¡¯s scummy to go after someone¡¯s family, I have no choice,¡¯ Ryder thought as he stepped forward.

    As he reached the girl, he brought out his gun and ced it on her head.

    As soon as the gun touched her head, the woman turned back, surprised as she hastily stood up and turned back.

    "Why so serious, Mr. Dickey Mouse?" A cartoonist voice echoed in the room, spoiling all the serious atmosphere. The TV was still on, showing the live adaptation of Dickey Mouse.

    "Can you turn the volume down?" Ryder asked thedy who still had the remote in her hand.

    The girl was still in a daze as she started pressing the button on the remote.

    "Gah! You¡¯re not Dickey Mouse! You¡¯re his twin brother, Lickey Mouse! Betrayal!" The voice again came, this time even louder.

    "Ah, miss, that¡¯s volume increase, not decrease!" Ryder said, even vehemently, to make sure his voice wasn¡¯t drowned in the noise.

    The girl came out of the daze and finally looked down as she found the right button. Instead of lowering the voice, she turned the TV off altogether.

    "That¡¯s better."

    The girl couldn¡¯t help but look weirdly at Ryder. Why was he talking like he was a guest here and she was the one annoying him? He was the intruder who was showing the gun.

    "Who are you?" She asked Ryder.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter who I am. What matters is who you are? And you are the daughter of Chief Cali. You can call me his biggest fan. Anyway, please give me the number of your grandfather. I want to talk to him. No funny stuff, don¡¯t worry," Ryder said calmly.

    "A fan? Are you one of those psycho fans? Like the ones Hollywood stars have? The ones that do bad things, kill, steal, even sometimes break inside their houses, only to get the attention of their favorite stars?" The girl asked, surprised.

    "That¡¯s right. You can call me a fan like I guess. But I just want to talk to the man protecting our country once. Please give me his number!" Ryder told the girl, agreeing.

    "If you let me talk to him, I¡¯ll calmly talk to him and leave once I¡¯m satisfied. And if you don¡¯t let me talk to him, I¡¯ll really be one of these psychopathic fans and kill. Please listen to me," he further added.

    His words, which consisted of the Art of Bluffing he had received as a gift from Janus, made him lie so well that the girl actually believed his words.

    "Sigh, alright. If you¡¯re his fan and you want to talk to him, I¡¯ll let you talk. I¡¯ll give you his number," the girl replied.

    "Wait, I just realized. I can¡¯t call him from my number. He won¡¯t even pick up a stranger¡¯s number. Let me talk from your phone," Ryder said. "Unlock your phone and dial his number before giving the phone to me!"

    The girl, kept at the aim of the gun, had no choice but to listen as she stared at Ryder.

    She picked up her phone, unlocked it before she dialed her grandfather¡¯s number, and gave the phone to Ryder without trying anything funny.

    In any case, it wasn¡¯t as if Ryder was asking her for something precious like money. It was just a short call which wasn¡¯t going to cost her anything, she thought.

    She didn¡¯t know that this single call was going to write the death sentence of her grandfather.

 Chapter 543 One after another

    <h4>Chapter 543: One after another</h4>

    The girl gave the phone to Ryder after dialing the number, but Ryder disconnected the call right away before the call could even be picked up.

    "What happened? Why did you cut the call?" The girl asked Ryder, confused.

    "Because I have better ns. Anyway, your work is finished. I would need you to sleep for a little while so that you don¡¯t interfere. I don¡¯t want to have to hurt you," Ryder said as he raised his fist in the direction of the girl, throwing some kind of powder on her face.

    As soon as the powder entered the body of the girl through her nose, she dropped to the ground, unconscious.

    "Non-harmful sleeping powder. It will all be over by the time you wake up. So don¡¯t worry," Ryder said as he stepped closer to the girl.

    He picked her up in his arms before he took her to the bedroom. cing the girl on the bed

    Slowly reaching out his hand, he touched the face of the girl. Keeping his fingers on the cheeks of the girl, he swallowed a pill which started changing his body temporarily to that of the girl who was before him, including the face.

    "God, this work really needs me to do some messed up things. Impersonating a girl to get to my goals, and not as an illusion. The effect willst for two hours. That much time should be enough to be done with it."

    "But first, I need to wear her clothes as well, to make it more realistic."

    He walked towards the wardrobe of the girl and picked up a pair of jeans and a shirt.

    After getting dressed, he used the video call option on the unlocked phone of the call with which he called the grandfather of thedy who was the Fourth King.

    ...

    The Fourth King had just stepped out of the bathroom when he heard his phone ring. Looking at the number, a surprise look spread across his face.

    He also seemed a bit happy since, after a long time, his granddaughter had called him.

    After the death of his son and his daughter-inw, this girl was his only family member. He doted on her a lot, but even then, she didn¡¯t appreciate it.

    She said that she wanted to be independent and didn¡¯t want to have to rely on her grandfather; that¡¯s why she left the house and came to this city to study at the Dream University.

    It had been a year since that. He even tried to send a few guards here to protect her, but she was once again upset and made him swear on her life that he won¡¯t interfere in her life or send anyone to protect her since she didn¡¯t believe she was at risk.

    Despite caring so much for her, he only called her once a week since he didn¡¯t want to annoy her even more.

    To see her calling from the front, he was not only surprised but also ted. Moreover, it was a video call.

    "Janine, how are you, my dear," the man said as he picked up the call.

    On his screen, he could see his granddaughter crying.

    "Huh? What happened? Why are you crying? Did someone hurt you? Tell me what happened, I will take care of everyone!" He said firmly, feeling worried for his granddaughter.

    "I am missing you a lot. I wish you were here. I feel broken after what happened today," the girl replied, crying. Her tears didn¡¯t stop for even a second.

    The Fourth King didn¡¯t know that the one who was talking to him was none other than Ryder and not his daughter.

    Ryder had schemed everything. Now he was putting his final pieces in ce to call the fourth in the ce where he wanted.

    Seeing his granddaughter cry, the fourth king couldn¡¯t help but feel a heavy pain in his heart.

    "Are you at home," he asked his daughter. "Tell me. I wille to you right away. I¡¯m already in the city. I will get there within a few minutes. Just tell me if you want me to."

    "Please. I need you," Ryder said in the form of the girl as fake tears continued leaving his eyes.

    "Right away."

    The Fourth King left the house without telling anyone and straight away went to the address which was given to him by Ryder.

    "Janine! I am here! Open the gate!"

    As the Fourth King reached the house of Janine, he started knocking on the door and calling out to her.

    Ryder walked over to the door and opened it.

    As soon as he opened the door, he hugged the Fourth King, still crying.

    "Don¡¯t cry. Tell me who made my princess cry. And watch them cry," The Fourth King said as he hugged Ryder back.

    "The one who made me cry is..." Ryder said before he stopped.

    "Tell me. Who is it? Don¡¯t worry about anything," the Fourth King said as he heard his granddaughter stop talking.

    A knife appeared in Ryder¡¯s back which was the simr knife he used to kill the Seventh King by destroying his soul.

    How that he was within a perfect ready, he stabbed the back of the Fourth King.

    " It is you. So die for me and make me happy!" Ryder said softly.

    "Urgh!" The Fourth King¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock as he found himself stabbed by his own granddaughter. Even after all that, he didn¡¯t attack his granddaughter since he just couldn¡¯t.

    He did wonder why his Granddaughter hated him so much to kill him.

    The knife which was stabbed on his back disappeared along with his soul as thest bit of him died as well with hundreds of questions in his mind.

    He kept thinking about why his Granddaughter attacked him and how he was dying because of a single stabbing when he had incredible healing?

    Even when he died, he didn¡¯t realize that the person he had hugged wasn¡¯t his daughter but Ryder.

    Unlike the previous King, the Fourth King was warier since he was in the Army. He was more suspicious as well and rarely let anyone get close to him.

    That was why Ryder had to take the form of his own granddaughter since she was the only one he was going to allow to get close to him without putting up any guard. That was exactly what Ryder needed at this point.

    He dragged the body of the Fourth King inside the house before he closed the door and began the absorption process, bringing his Level to above 3000.

    "God, that¡¯s my real world level. Doesn¡¯t this mean I am most probably even stronger than the High Dukes of Divinity? This is so amazing." Excited, Ryder canceled the transformation before he returned to his normal face.

    He once again covered his face with a face mask and walked back to the room where he had kept his old clothes. He changed clothes again before he checked onest time to see the sleeping girl.

    "Thanks for all the help. Have a great day. You¡¯ll wake up in half an hour. Until then, enjoy the dreams."

    Closing the door of the girl¡¯s room, he left the ce, once again flying before he reached that abandoned neighborhood where he had parked his car.

    He once again changed his clothes before he stepped inside the car and took off his mask as well.

    He also received the call from Gander, who informed him that he had sessfully brought the Twelfth King to the office.

    "You aren¡¯t in the office, right?" Ryder asked Gander.

    "Really? If I was there, why would I even be calling you? I left the office with an excuse," Gander replied.

    "Good, don¡¯t step inside the office for the next ten minutes if you don¡¯t want to die," Ryder told Gander before he brought out his Deity phone inside which he had installed an Application that cameplimentary with the item he had brought from the store.

    Opening the app, he saw two buttons. One was red with [Detonate] written on it.

    The other button was green with [Disengage] written on it.

    Without thinking twice, he pressed the red button.

    ....

    Inside the office of Gander, the Twelfth King was sitting on the main seat.

    "I wonder where this Gander went. He said he had something important to tell me, but it¡¯s taking a bit longer," he said, talking to himself.

    As he was speaking, an explosion took ce, but it wasn¡¯t an explosion of fire. It was an explosion of a poisonous gas that filled the entire room.

    Seeing the green gas everywhere, the Twelfth King realized something was wrong. He stood up and started running towards the door, but before he could even reach the door, he dropped to the ground, breathless.

    His heartbeat had stopped.

    The Kings, who were like gods for some people, were dying one after another in the hands of Ryder, and not a single person except Gander knew.

 Chapter 544 Lord of Space on Earth

    <h4>Chapter 544: Lord of Space on Earth</h4>

    The four kings were already killed by Ryder with various schemes, most of which belonged to getting close to them.

    With the count of the King he had killed in the FBI headquarters, there were a total of Five Kings who were out of the equation, leaving only the seven of them alive.

    Ryder again sent Gander to bring the next King to what was going to be his graveyard. Now that the process was in full swing, things progressed smoothly. And with an insider helping him in this job, things were even faster.

    Gander kept bringing Kings to Ryder, who kept killing them one after another. At one point, he even felt like things were too easy.

    The Kings were very arrogant and confident of their strength. They didn¡¯t feel like they had any risk. There was only one person who had managed to harm even one of them in their eyes, and that person was on a vacation, so their defenses were even more non-existent.

    The slightest bit of schemes was working on them, bringing them to the depths of hell. By the time they realized what was happening, it was toote since they found them dead.

    And just like that, the day had passed. Ten Kings were killed in a single day, leaving only two Kings back at the Mansion with Aluren.

    The only two kings who were still alive were the first King and the Second King.

    Since it was night, the First King and Aluren went to sleep while the second King kept guard.

    Even Aluren didn¡¯t get suspicious about the missing Kings since he had given them the permission to go out and enjoy. In his mind, the suspicion about their absence hadn¡¯t taken shape.

    ...

    "Gander.-"

    Ryder and Gander were still in the office. Ryder was trying to say something, but Gander cut him off.

    "Don¡¯t even try! It¡¯s night. I¡¯ve already run out of excuses to lure them out. And at night, it¡¯s especially impossible. If I even tried, it would be like bringing suspicions to myself, and the whole n would be spoiled. Wait for tomorrow. We can n something in the day," Gander told Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t worry; I wasn¡¯t going to send you there either. But you didn¡¯t let me finish. I was going to tell you to go and sleep since you worked really hard. We have more work to do tomorrow, so go and have rest," Ryder told Gander before he left the office.

    "I¡¯m going to have a rest as well. I will contact you tomorrow," he added before he departed.

    Entering his car, Ryder drove to the hotel which he had booked and went to his room.

    Heid on the bed and closed his eyes before he softly said, "Stanner, keep an eye on the entrance of this room. Wake me up if anyone suspicious approaches."

    He soon fell asleep after making sure that his security was decent and there was no risk.

    ....

    Back at her friend¡¯s house, Alice was still waiting on the bed, wondering if Ryder was fine. She wanted to pick up her phone, turn it on and call him, but she couldn¡¯t as Ryder had told him to keep the phone off.

    She was having a hard time sleeping, worrying about Ryder.

    "God, please keep him safe from all problems," she prayed to the gods as he closed her eyes.

    While Alice prayed for the gods, she didn¡¯t realize that the one she was praying for was a God himself. Moreover, Ryder was not alone. Instead, he was being helped by Janus, who was another god.

    ...

    While the scheme of Janus to get Ryder the needed strength was in full motion, Janus was still sitting near the pond.

    He wanted to get down to Ryder, but he couldn¡¯t as he didn¡¯t want to attract the attention of other gods to Earth.

    The Trial of god-sons was taking ce on Earth, and the Gods weren¡¯t allowed to enter the earth. If Janus entered, it was going to raise some eyebrows and bring the attention of other gods to Ryder, and it was too soon for that.

    Janus gazed at the two fishes which were swimming in the small pond as he muttered softly, "Soon, Aluren should be dead."

    "After that, I need to make Ryder kill the other god-sons fast. Because the gods would soon realize that their kids are dead and appear."

    "This time, I won¡¯t sit behind and stand with them. I¡¯ll go down and help him. To hell with everything. It won¡¯t be my brother against the world."

    "Also, we have the trick as well. As soon as he awakens his Divinity and I help him by opening the Portal of Darkness, he can use it. He is already free of his Heavenly Oaths because of this reincarnation. He is not restricted anymore. All he needs is to get back his Divinity before it¡¯s toote."

    Even though Janus seemed like he was talking to himself, in truth, he was talking to the fishes.

    "Aren¡¯t I right, father, mother?" He asked the fishes as he smiled.

    ...

    As it was night in America, it was day in China where one of the seven god-sons, Draco Liang, was sitting in an empty room, talking to his father, the God of War.

    Even though it was prohibited for the Gods to contact their sons or give them things that could be used to contact them, the God of War still sneakily gave one to his son, simr to how Aluren¡¯s mother had given to Aluren.

    The only difference was that Aluren was caught. As for Draco, he was still not caught since he had been more clever.

    "So, how¡¯s your Trial going?" The God of War asked his son.

    "It¡¯s going pretty good, but it¡¯s taking a bit of time."

    "Any major problems?"

    "No father."

    "That¡¯s better. Keep doing it the way you are, and make your father proud of your sess. You need to be the fastest toplete the trial!"

    "I will, father."

    "Oh right, I also heard the news. I think you would find it interesting too," The God of War told his son.

    "What news?"

    "It¡¯s about the God of Space. We all thought that he also went into seclusion in a separate space with the Lord of Time. Apparently, he is out and roaming on earth."

    "What? Lord of Space is on Earth?!" Draco eximed in surprise.

    "That¡¯s right. I only found out about it now. This news is only spreading in the God Realm now. I happened to be the one who got it first, but soon, everyone will know," the God of War said.

    "Why is he on Earth? Isn¡¯t it not allowed for the Gods to enter Earth as long as the Trial is going on? How can he enter earth?" Draco asked.

    "Hah, he can go anywhere he wants since he is out of our control. And we don¡¯t want to fight him either. We know his personality after that incident has been pretty bad. So stopping him would now be akin to a war. The only one he still treats as his friend is the Lord of Time," the God of War replied.

    "Don¡¯t worry though. He won¡¯t interfere in matters at earth. At best, he will just travel there, see sights, get bored and leave. In any case, he won¡¯t interfere with the trials of you all. So don¡¯t worry."

    "I only told this to you so you can stay alert. We don¡¯t know where he is on Earth since the space is his shroud that keeps him hidden from us."

    "So just keep an eye out and don¡¯t do anything stupid to annoy him if you are him. You understand?" The God of War asked.

    "I would have to be crazy to annoy him. Don¡¯t worry, father, I will stay alert," Draco answered.

    ...

    Just as the God of War had said, this news was spreading like fire in the God Realm.

    Even the Goddess of Life and Death heard this news.

    ¡¯The Lord of Space is on Earth? The Earth where Chaos is living his life without any memories? What if the twoe face to face?¡¯ she thought, frowning as she stood up.

    She Teleported straight to Janus.

    "Did you hear?" She asked Janus, whose back was facing her.

    "Hear what?" Janus asked, curious. "Why are you so worried?"

    "The Lord of Space! He is not in seclusion! He is roaming on Earth! We just got this information now. Because he is so good with his shroud, it¡¯s almost impossible to know about him, but this time we have conclusive proof that he¡¯s on Earth! And you know who else is on Earth! What are you going to do about it?" She asked, worried about the safety of Ryder.

    "Lord of Space is on Earth? What? Howe I had no clue about it?" Janus asked as he stood up, surprised. "Where did you get this information from?"

 Chapter 545 Bringing Aluren out

    <h4>Chapter 545: Bringing Aluren out</h4>

    "Why did the Lord of Space go to earth? And how did you know about it? If this is true, things could be really wrong. All the ns would be spoiled if he is in the same ce as him," Janus thought, concerned.

    "The gods had sent an envoy to Earth to inform something to all the God-sons. And when he wasing back, he noticed the Lord of Space there but before he could approach him and ask, the Lord of Space disappeared," the Goddess of Life said, frowning.

    "He is a tricky guy. His Spatial Shroud makes it almost impossible for us to find him. The Envoy was very lucky to be where the Lord of Space was or we wouldn¡¯t have known about it. Anyway, did he say on which part of Earth the Lord of Space was?" Janus asked.

    "Yeah. The Envoy was delivering thest message in a ce known as Germany on Earth. We don¡¯t know the rest," the Goddess of Life said.

    "Germany? So he isn¡¯t in the same country as him. That¡¯s good. But with Lord of Space we can¡¯t be sure. He can Teleport anywhere and appear in America within seconds. He might even be there already," Janus said, frowning.

    "That¡¯s right. Chaos¡¯ life is in danger. If the Lord of Space knows about him, he would kill him," the Goddess of Life said.

    "No, I can¡¯t let him kill. I¡¯ll keep a strict eye around brother. Even though we can¡¯t locate Lord of Space, we can atleast watch Ryder and his surroundings. If the Lord of Space appeared nearby, we would need to interfere. If worsees to worst, I would interfere directly," Janus said, clenching his fist.

    ...

    As the news of the appearance of the Lord of Space was going around in the God Realm, Ryder was sleeping peacefully on bed.

    The night passed peacefully without much happening. As the morning arrived, Ryder stood up, prepared to take on the final two kings today before it was going to be the time of Aluren.

    He got ready and left the hotel before he called Gander.

    "Are you up?" He asked.

    "Yeah. I could barely sleep, fearing that today will be myst day and wondering how you¡¯ll use me to lure thest two kings," Gander replied.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t ask you to do much. Only something very simple. Today, you don¡¯t need to bring out the Kings. But today, you need to bring out Aluren," Ryder said as he stepped into his car and started the engine.

    "What the heck? You want me to bring out that monster? You want to kill him directly? Have you gone crazy? He is the strongest! What happened to killing all Kings first? If Alurenes, the other two Kings woulde with him as well! You¡¯ll be against three of them!" Gander replied, protesting against the decision.

    "You¡¯re wrong. The Kings won¡¯te with Aluren. Because they will certainly leave one person back at the mansion, to make sure someone is there to intercept me if I return. So don¡¯t worry. Just make sure you bring out Aluren," Ryder said.

    "How can I bring out that monster? He wouldn¡¯t listen to me!" Gander said.

    "He will listen to you when it is about me. Tell him that you were trying to track my number to help them and that my number became active for a second in the Gravin Resort before it again went off," Ryder said as he drove the car.

    "Tell him you believe that I might be there. He will certainlye with you. At best, he would bring one King with him and leave one back for reasons I mentioned before," he further added.

    "Fine. I will do as you said. If he brings both Kings, don¡¯t me me," Gander said before he disconnected the call.

    ...

    "Did you meet that guy? Is he a god-son or not?"

    Itsuki was talking to Aluren over the phone, asking if Aluren had found anything.

    "I haven¡¯t met him yet. I¡¯m sitting in his home but apparently he went on a vacation with his family. He should be back soon," Aluren replied.

    "Inform me when you find something," Itsuki said before he disconnected the call which was short and to the point. The two hadn¡¯t even talked for a minute.

    ...

    Gander walked back to the mansion of Ryder.

    As he entered the mansion, he found the first and the second King in the main hall.

    "You¡¯re back again. You¡¯ve been doing the bank and forth a lot of times. What¡¯s up with you? Every Time you came, you left with one of us and that person left you midway ording to you. This doesn¡¯t make sense. What are you trying to do?"

    Seeing Gander return, the First King asked him a question which Gander didn¡¯t want to hear. The question which had the potential to ruin everything.

    "Your Highness, what can I say, my luck is bad. But I¡¯m not trying to do anything. I didn¡¯te here to bring anyone. I came here to inform Master Aluren about something important," Gander said, keeping his breathing calm.

    "What do you want to tell him?" The First King asked.

    "I want to inform him about Ryder Flynn. Where is he? I found out something important about Ryder," Gander said.

    "Why d-" The First King tried to respond but he closed his mouth as he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He recognized these footsteps. Aluren had entered the ce.

    "What about Ryder?" Aluren asked as he sat on a sofa.

    " I was here when we heard about him going on a vacation and that his phone was off. Since then, I¡¯ve been trying to find him. Today, I finally got something!" Gander said.

    "What did you find?" Aluren asked. "Get straight to the point."

    "His number which had been switched off for a long time was finally turned on today. Even though his phone was only on for a few minutes, we managed to track where it was before it was turned off again," Gander said.

    "You have his location? Where is he?" Aluren asked as he stood up.

    "He is in this city, at a resort on the southernmost edge," Gander answered.

    "That¡¯s good. Lead us there," Aluren said as he started leaving.

    The Two Kings also followed after Aluren.

    Gander aap followed behind, frowning.

    ¡¯What the heck? The two of them are following Aluren? What happened to the n? Ryder was really wrong here,¡¯ Gander thought as he sighed.

    He left the mansion with the others.

    "Oh right, one of you two stay behind at the mansion. Ryder was seen at the resort but this ce isn¡¯t far from here. He might even be returning here faster. Someone needs to be here to wee him," Aluren said as he stopped right before the car and looked at his men.

    "I¡¯ll stay behind then," the Second King said, agreeing to the decision.

    Aluren didn¡¯tin and sat inside the car. The first King also entered with Gander as the car drove away.

    Gander sat inside the car with the first King but he seemed really impressed with Ryder. Everything happened just as he had said.

    ¡¯Could it be that he can read minds or see the future?¡¯ he thought.

    ...

    The Second King walked back to the mansion, not realizing that a man had already walked inside the Mansion in the meantime. The man they were looking for was already inside the Mansion, setting things up.

    As the second King walked back, he felt something different.

    There was an additional scent inside the house that previously wasn¡¯t here.

    He looked around to see who this belonged to. He soon found the source of the scent. It was a bunny that had apparently barged inside the house.

    "Little Bunny, where did youe from? Come here," the Second King said, smiling as he walked towards the white bunny that was before him.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that the bunny that was before him wasn¡¯t actually a bunny but Ryder.

    Long ago, Ryder had received a Bunny Costume from the mystery box. The costume had a speciality that it made Ryder seem like a real bunny.

    At that time, he believed this item was useless. He had kept it in his inventory and forgotten.

    Only recently had he thought about it when he was reading the notes of Gander on the Kings. On the notes, it was written that the Second King loved bunnies. As Ryder read that, he had finally found a use of this item.

    The Second King approached Ryder and bent down to pick him up. He didn¡¯t know that he was seeing the illusion of a bunny while Ryder was still standing on his two feets.

    As soon as the Second King bent down, Ryder shed with his knife, separating the head of the Second King from his body.

    And like that, one more King had died. In these two days, Ryder had killed Eleven of them, without having to fight a single one of them.

 Chapter 546 Janus coming to Earth

    <h4>Chapter 546: Janusing to Earth</h4>

    The Second King was also killed by Ryder, who was now lying on his body without a head.

    Ryder hastily kept the body in his inventory before he went into his bedroom.

    Closing the door of his room, he sat on the ground before bringing out the body of the Second King and started absorbing his powers. The process moved smoothly as one more king¡¯s strength was absorbed by Ryder.

    ...

    Unaware of what was happening back home, Aluren and the Vice President of this country were going to a resort with Gander, believing that Ryder was there.

    They didn¡¯t know that they were instead going away from Ryder.

    ...

    Back in the New Capital, the team of Necrosis was trying to contact Alice to tell her that she needed toe there for the tournament, but her phone was off for a long time, so even they were finding it hard to get to her.

    Necrosis had even sent a worker of theirpany to personally inform Alice about this at the mansion of Shu.

    ....

    The FBI was still on the trail of Ryder, but they were getting no clue as nothing was left behind. As for Ryder¡¯s man in the FBI, he was also being careful about it. He wasn¡¯t finishing Ryder. As for the initial times that he did, he kept precautions.

    Thus, the investigation of the murder of the Director was stuck at a dead end. Fingerprints, blood samples, video footage, nothing helped them move forward.

    ....

    After what seemed like an hour, Aluren and the others reached the resort and started searching for Ryder. Aluren stood in the back with the First King while Gander asked the receptionist about Ryder while showing them this picture.

    "Was this guy here?" Gander asked the receptionist.

    "I don¡¯t believe I have seen him," the receptionist answered.

    "Are you sure?" Gander asked again. "Look carefully. We know he was here for at least a minute. His phone was active here."

    "I told you, I don¡¯t think he came here. At Least not as a guest. If his phone was active here, then it could be that he stopped by near the resort but didn¡¯t book a room here. In any case, I¡¯m sure this guy didn¡¯te here," the receptionist answered.

    Gander looked back at Aluren with an embarrassed look on his face.

    "I guess the receptionist is right. Ryder probably drove through here when he activated his phone for a minute, and I thought that he was here," he said, hitting his head in embarrassment.

    Aluren didn¡¯t say anything as he turned back to leave.

    The first King, however, said something.

    "I am really disappointed in you," he said as he also left.

    Gander lowered his head as he followed behind.

    ¡¯ Don¡¯t me me. I have no choice but to lie,¡¯ he thought.

    He also entered the car with Aluren and the first King.

    "If we believe that he was passing through here, then it might be possible that he is back. He would most probably be going back to his home," Aluren said.

    "That¡¯s right. I guess it was a good decision to leave one of us behind," the First King said.

    The luxury car once again started moving as it was taken back to the Shu Estate.

    ....

    "Do you see anyone near him?" The Goddess of Life asked.

    "No. The God of Space, fortunately, isn¡¯t near him. That¡¯s good," Janus answered.

    The goddess of Life was about to say anything when she stopped as she saw someone else entering Janus¡¯ domain.

    Janus stopped his spell before he turned back to see who had arrived.

    "Goddess of Destiny? What brought you here?" Janus asked as he looked at the beautiful-looking woman.

    "Janus, I am here to ask for your help. I have already talked about this with other gods, and I believe it¡¯s the right decision. Only you can do this," the Goddess of Destiny said before she nced at the Goddess of Life.

    "What are you doing here, though?" She asked.

    "I came here to ask him something. Now that I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll leave," the Goddess of Life said before she disappeared.

    "What help do you need?" Janus asked the Goddess of Destiny.

    "Have you heard the news about the appearance of the Lord of Space on Earth?" The Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "Yeah, I heard. What about it?" Janus asked.

    The Goddess of Destiny looked at Janus as she sighed. "You know about the trials as well."

    "The sons of seven gods are on earth, trying to go through the trial uninterrupted. The Lord of Space appearing there could disturb it. But we all can¡¯t go there to search for him. It would be hard for us too, because of his Heaven¡¯s Shroud and more so because our sons are there, we shouldn¡¯t go down."

    "So the Seven of us have decided to send someone else in our ce to find the Lord of Space and to invite him to the God Realm," she said.

    "Why me? Other than you seven, there are more gods," Janus said, expressionless. In his mind, he was happy.

    He wanted to ept this offer since this allowed him to go down to earth officially, without raising any eyebrows or attracting any suspicions on why he went there.

    "You have the necessary skills needed for this. Moreover, the Lord of Space is a bit hard-headed. He has known you for a long time since he was the friend of your brother. You two go long back. He would certainly not be upset if you ask him toe back. If someone else does this, I¡¯m not too sure," she added.

    "That¡¯s true. He might be angry and think that you guys are trying to control him. He is a free soul, after all. I would help you this time," Janus said as he nodded without much expression.

    "We are really grateful. So when are you going to earth?" Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "I will go as soon as I can. Within a few hours since, I also wanted to experience the earth which Lord of Space is seeing," Janus replied.

    "I¡¯ll be preparing a few things now. You can leave," he told the Goddess of Destiny.

    The Goddess of Destiny didn¡¯t wait here any longer and left.

    As Janus watched her leave, a smile appeared on his face. He was going to go to earth.

    He was already worried about Ryder with the appearance of Lord of Space. Fortunately, now he could directly try to find the Lord of Space before he could get to Ryder.

    Moreover, he could also see Ryder personally and possibly even give him some treasures that he couldn¡¯t give previously.

    He disappeared and appeared in his Pce before he started taking a few things that he wanted to give Ryder.

    After he was done, he started leaving the God Realm for Earth, excited.

    ....

    A car stopped before Maxwell Estate, from which Aluren and the others stepped out. The three of them walked inside the Estate.

    The first King called out for the Second King, intending to ask him if Ryder had returned, but he got no response.

    "There¡¯s no response. Is he not here? He wouldn¡¯t have broken yourmand. He wouldn¡¯t have left," the First King thought as he received no response even after calling out multiple times.

    ¡¯You won¡¯t find him. I guess Ryder already got to him. There goes one more King. I don¡¯t know why, but now I have a feeling that Ryder can do this. Within two days, he had killed almost all the Kings. He should be able to create a miracle and kill Aluren too,¡¯ Gander thought as he sighed.

    "Check upstairs. Maybe he¡¯s there," Aluren told the first King, who listened to themands and went upstairs.

    Ryder was still in his room, upstairs.

    ....

    Itsuki was trying to find Ryder through Aluren. He believed that Ryder was possibly a god son as well.

    He was also the son of Goddess of Destiny, but he didn¡¯t know that his mother himself sent Ryder¡¯s brother on earth. The guy he was going to go against... his brother wasing to Earth to help him even more.

    The Earth that already had seven god sons in different countries was now going to have three gods as well: Chaos, who was asleep inside Ryder, Lord of Space and Janu, the God Of Transition, and Gates.

    Earth had be a mini god realm, and the destiny of a lot of people was going to change forever.

    In this giant mess, there also existed the Necrosis Corporation, which also had a scheme of their own, which wasn¡¯t something that a mortal could havee up with.

    Something big was going to happen soon, and no one had any idea since they all believed that their own n was the best.

    As for the biggest nner of them all, Chaos was still sleeping without his Divinity, waiting for the time when all puzzle pieces were going to be in their proper ce.

 Chapter 547 Preparing for Aluren

    <h4>Chapter 547: Preparing for Aluren</h4>

    The First King walked upstairs and started checking the rooms as he called out to the Second King, but there was no response.

    Soon, he reached Ryder¡¯s room and pushed the door open to see if there was anyone inside. As he tried to push the door open, he found it locked.

    "Locked room? From inside? It wasn¡¯t lockedst time," he thought as he frowned.

    "Tennor, are you inside?" The first King called out, but there was no response from inside.

    After no response, the First King finally decided that he needed to break the door. There was a chance that Ryder was inside.

    He kicked the door open as he barged inside.

    As soon as he entered, his lips opened slightly as he actually found someone inside.

    "Tennor, you¡¯re here? Why weren¡¯t you replying?" The First King asked as he actually found the Second King inside, reading what seemed like a file.

    "Why would I reply? I knew that you would break the door yourself. So I didn¡¯t feel the need to scream. Anyway, I was busy reading this file," the Second King said as he showed the file which was in his hand.

    "I was checking the rooms to find Ryder¡¯s room. I wanted to search his room to see if we could find anything about him from his belongings, and it seemed like my decision was right," he added. "This file proves a lot of things."

    "What¡¯s in the file?" The First King asked as he stepped forward.

    "Read yourself. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be surprised too," the Second King said as he raised his hand towards the First King, telling him to take the file from his hand.

    The Second King reached out his hand and took the file before he started reading it.

    "Huh? What¡¯s this? There are only a few strange lines in the fi..."

    As the First King took the file in his hand, he saw the first page, which seemed to contain nothing but a bunch of lines that were strange. But there also seemed something strange about these lines.

    The First King was just asking the Second King about it when he realized that his eyes were getting tired. He was feeling extremely sleepy. He couldn¡¯t even finish his sentence before he dropped to the ground, falling asleep.

    The Second King looked at the First King, who had fallen asleep as he said, "As easy as taking candy from a kid."

    He was none other than Ryder, who was using the disguise of the Second King. His disguise was so perfect that even the aura was the same.

    The file which was in the hand of the First King was lying on the ground now, but the strange words that were on it had gone missing. Only nk pages could be seen now.

    "I really feel like a scheming Assassin¡ªdoctor Artifacts. I¡¯m spending my Origin Points points like I¡¯m rich on them, but it¡¯s worth it. I only wonder how I¡¯ll pay back the coins to Janus that I took from him as a loan. He¡¯ll surely make me do a few weird quests," he muttered as he sat down near the First King before he brought his knife out and got to work.

    The First King was only sleeping. Ryder didn¡¯t want to allow him to wake up, or all this effort would go to waste.

    He killed the First King right away before he ced his hand on the first King and started absorbing his strength.

    With this, thest King was also gone, bing the strength of Ryder.

    "It¡¯s all over. I am prepared. I have all the strength I possibly could, and now, time for Aluren," Ryder said as he started leaving the room.

    [No! You can¡¯t fight him yet. You just gained all this strength, but you need to let your body adjust to it and learn to use it effectively. You can¡¯t use this strength well. First, learn how to use it. You have some time.]

    Just as Ryder was nning to leave, he heard the Voice of Janus in his head, advising him against it.

    Ryder¡¯s leaving steps stopped as he realized what Janus was trying to say.

    It¡¯s just like when he absorbed Luke¡¯s strength. He couldn¡¯t control that power without putting in an effort. On the other hand, now he has much more strength.

    He needed to train himself as much as he could within the next day or so to make his bodypatible with his powers and to make him more efficient in knowing his strength and weakness.

    "I agree. I was being too hasty. Since you talk so high about Aluren, I can¡¯t fight against him. I need to be at my best when facing him," Ryder said before he turned back and walked over to a window.

    He pushed the window open before he jumped outside and left.

    ...

    Time kept passing slowly as Aluren waited on the sofa.

    The first King had left to find the Second King, but finally, Aluren was starting to wonder. It had been twenty minutes, but the second King hadn¡¯t returned.

    As for Gander, he had also left, citing the reason that he needed to attend an urgent business meeting.

    What was happening in his surroundings? Finally, suspicions were setting in as the curtains of arrogance were being opened by the hands of his suspicions.

    Almost all the Kings were missing. He knew he told them that they were allowed to leave but still, all of them leaving at the same time, that didn¡¯t make sense.

    Moreover, the First and the Second King barely left his side without telling him, but even the two weren¡¯t returning now.

    He finally decided to call the kings to satisfy his curiosity and to make sure that he was just thinking too much.

    As he called the numbers of the King, the numbers were switched off. One after another, he tried all Kings, but none of the calls connected, making him sure that something was really wrong.

    "This is a scheme of that, Ryder. He did something. This whole thing was nned by him. And that Gander, he must also be a part of this! That bastard! I will give him the most painful death for working against me!" Aluren said as he stood up.

    "Ryder went on a vacation just before we came and the missing of the kings! It was his scheme. But to be able to make all my Kings go missing in such a short time, his strength can¡¯t be ordinary. Was Itsuki right? Another god-son is here?"

    "Could Ryder actually be a god-son?"

    A deep frown appeared on Aluren¡¯s forehead as many thoughts floated through his head, all rted to Ryder and how he could be a god-son.

    ...

    Ryder had already left the Maxwell Estate as he went back to his car, which was parked inside a faraway corner.

    He started driving away as he took the car to the abandoned building, which was beside his building office.

    The abandoned building was the ce where he has trained before as well. And even now, he wanted to train here since no one came inside the building.

    Unlike before, he even parked his car inside this abandoned building, unlike thest time when he had parked his car outside his building.

    He didn¡¯t want anyone to know that he was here, and since his office was nearby, taking the car inside the abandoned building was a better option.

    Parking the car inside, Ryder walked over to the room to start his practice.

    ...

    Janus alsonded on Earth,ing down from the god realm.

    Landing on Earth, he stretched out his arms as he yawned. So this is earth. The atmosphere here isn¡¯t half bad. Not as pure as our ce but still good," Janus said, smiling.

    "Now, time to find the Lord of Space. ording to the envoy, he wasst seen here. Even though I doubt that he would still be here, I need to start from here."

    At the moment, he was in the country of Germany where one of the God Sons was residing. It was also the ce where the Lord of Space was seenst time.

    A young god, looking like an ordinary kid, walked through the cities of Germany, appearing and disappearing at different ces in search of the Lord of Space.

    Within a few hours, he had checked the entire country of Germany. He also happened to appear near Julien, who was one of the Seven god-sons who was assigned to Germany for his trial.

    Janus knew that Ryder would also need to kill Julien to achieve his goals. Even though it was unfortunate since Chaos actually had no enmity with these kids, but Janus was adapting ording to the situation.

    Moreover, it wasn¡¯t as if he was making Chaos kill them. He was making Ryder do it. It was his technical loophole for his justification. Also, it wasn¡¯t for no reason. These people wereing after him first.

 Chapter 548 Haunted Forest

    <h4>Chapter 548: Haunted Forest</h4>

    Janus went from city to city searching for the Lord of Space, but he didn¡¯t find him anywhere. Let alone finding him, even his aura wasn¡¯t visible anywhere. ording to the envoy, the Lord of Space was here at least once, so his aura should have been here. But it wasn¡¯t, which was strange.

    In any case, he had finished searching Germany, and now it was going to change the ce, and the next ce he selected was... Britain.

    He believed that even though the other Gods had sent him here, they wouldn¡¯t give him a free rein. They¡¯ll be watching him at the start to see if he was actually trying to find the Lord of Space or just messing around.

    He knew that at least for the next few days, he needed to physically be as far away from Ryder as he could be, only helping in the old ways.

    This was good, too, since this gave Ryder the freedom to handle things his own way. So far, he was doing pretty good.

    Janus had initially assumed that it was going to be hard for Ryder to defeat so many kinds, but as it turned out, it was extremely easy, barely an inconvenience.

    He had already killed all the Kings, and now it was the turn of Aluren. Fortunately, Ryder wasn¡¯t going in blind, and instead, he was taking some time to practice his newly gained strength.

    ...

    While Janus had started searching Britain, one man had appeared in the United States, who was none other than the Lord of Space himself.

    He stepped out of a spatial portal that disappeared after he left like it was never there.

    "I was right. This is the ce," the Lord of Space said as soon as hended in America. Fortunately, the state hended in was far away from where Ryder actually was.

    "I would never have expected that when I woulde out of my seclusion, I would find him missing. I made a special spatial domain for him to seclude himself, and no one should¡¯ve known where it was. As long as he himself didn¡¯t leave, no one should have been able to do anything."

    "The realm was also perfectly fine and not destroyed, so no battle took ce, I believe. Time left of his own volition, but where did he go? I feel a bit of his auraing from this. He should have gone here. Unfortunately, that aura is too faint and spread everywhere now. But he should be here. I¡¯ll find him," he said to himself as he started walking on the streets.

    As he walked, a lot of people looked at him, amused at his clothing. His clothes seemed so strange. He waspletely bare-chested, but his pants were the real deal, seeming like he wasing from a fancy dresspetition where he made apletely original cartoon character costume for himself.

    The Lord of Space didn¡¯t bother about these gazes. When he was in Germany, he had also seen gazes like it. These mortals were really strange. Wherever he went, they were looking at him.

    "I guess they¡¯re really awestruck by my heavenly aura. I can¡¯t me them. Even though I¡¯m controlling my charm, the heavenly aura is just too powerful inside me. Even after all that, these people can feel it," he said as he sighed.

    ....

    Ryder spent his entire day practicing. Even though he had started the practice in the building, he soon realized that it wasn¡¯t feasible for him.

    The strength of his was too much for this ce. In a single punch, he has blown up the entire top most floor of the building. Fortunately, no one noticed as of yet since on the top most floor, there was only one room for stairs; otherwise, the destruction would have been much worse.

    Seeing that sight, Ryder realized that he had made a mistake by practicing here. Unlike before, his strength was too much now. Practicing in a building was no better than destroying the whole thing and attracting attention from everywhere.

    He decided to go somewhere even more isted.

    Since there were not many ces like those, he chose arge forest inside the city. The first was said to be a haunted forest. Once a person went inside, he never returned. That saying was tested again and again as many lost souls entered the forest, believing it to be a rumor, but even they couldn¡¯t return.

    Slowly, people actually started fearing the first, and no one entered the ce.

    This was the perfect thing that Ryder was thinking about? What Haunted? He always carried a personal ghost with him. As for other ghosts, they were the least concerning for him.

    As Ryder walked inside the forest, he straight aimed to go the deepest into the forest. The deeper he went into the forest, the darker it became. Some strange sounds of footsteps could be heard everywhere, but no one was seen.

    Ryder looked back as he frowned.

    "Footsteps? Since when do ghosts have footsteps? Don¡¯t tell me these are the filmy ghosts that y more tricks than they actually kill?" He said as he chuckled.

    He stopped walking as he raised both his arms. "You don¡¯t need to hide anymore. I¡¯m pretty deep inside the forest already. You cane out."

    "Hehehe, kid. Don¡¯t call your death yourself. Even after all those stories about this forest, you still came here. Since you¡¯re looking for death, let us help you."

    Aughter echoed in the forest as a man stepped out of the trees,ing straight before Ryder. It was a bearded man that seemed to have a scar on his forehead. The man seemed like he was forty years old.

    "These annoying kids, they never learn," Another man stepped out, cackling.

    "Let me guess; you are the ghosts of this forest that are still alive. Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ll help you in bing real ghosts by killing you," Ryder said,ughing.

    "Kid! Do you even know what you¡¯ve walked yourself into?" One of the men asked Ryder.

    "I think I already do. I already had this assumption, but I¡¯m more sure now. These ghost stories, they¡¯re your work. You spread them, and you also kept killing the people that came inside the forest," Ryder said.

    "As for the cops, you escaped every time they arrived to investigate. Am I right?" He asked.

    "Oh? Not bad. Since you know that, you just already know why we did that?" One of the men asked.

    "Of course, I have a hunch. You wanted to prove this ce as a haunted ce, and once it became a forbidden ce in the eyes of the whole world, no one was going to step inside. And even if someone stepped inside, you could kill them, and cops wouldn¡¯te since the reputation of this ce would already be proven when cops doesn¡¯t find anything in the first few tries," Ryder replied.

    "And once this once became actually forbidden, you can do your illegal harvesting right within the city, under everyone¡¯s nose," he added.

    "So, which illegal thing are you growing here?" He asked, smirking.

    "Kid, you really know more than you would. Did youe here to test if your theory was right? Didn¡¯t you hear, curiosity killed the cat? Today, you¡¯re going to be that cat," the dark-clothed man said.

    "And even if you know everything, so what? Dead men can¡¯t talk," he further added before he gestured to everyone to attack.

    "Bad decision..." Ryder said softly as he cracked his knuckles. "For you. But for me, this is good since I finally get to test my strength. And I don¡¯t need to control either. Don¡¯tin to the devil about me when you reach hell, but do tell him that I said hi."

    ...

    Three minutes, three minutes was all it took for all the men to die. Let alone their bodies being left intact; it was barely left. The sight of battle seemed really gruesome as Ryder actually did what he said.

    He actually attacked these people with his entire strength, which was enough to blow them to smithereens.

    "Cheh, my clothes got bloodied," Ryder muttered as he nced at his clothes that were covered in blood sshes.

    He removed his clothes, washed his arms, legs, and face before he wore different clothes.

    He continued walking inside, and as soon as he reached the center of the first, he realized why these men had done these things. He was right; they were actually growing the drug called Cloud Touch.

    It was a new drug that was said to be very harmful for the human body. Most of the people who took these drugs suffered paralysis after just ten years of taking them, but it wasn¡¯t as if they could leave it since it was addicting from the first time use itself.

    Moreover, even if someone dared to stop taking these drugs after taking them for a few days, the withdrawal effects were even worse than the actual side effects.

 Chapter 549 New Bracelet Skills

    <h4>Chapter 549: New Bracelet Skills</h4>

    Ryder stopped in the depths of the forest, staring at the illegal nts.

    "These nts... It would have been so much better if it was something else that I could have used against Aluren," Ryder thought as he smiled wryly.

    "Whatever, I need to practice. Now that I¡¯m a Higher Level, the powers that I got from the Fragments have upgraded too."

    "Each fragment gave me three powers, but I only used the first as the other two were sealed. But now, more of them are unlocked because of my extremely high level. I need to make my body adjusted to the new strength and also master the skills of the fragments. They¡¯ll work miracles if I use them correctly," he added as he opened his Skill bar.

    He had many skills in this world, but the major skills were, Ruler of Nature, the Ruler of Time, the Ruler of Wind, and the Ruler of Water.

    He wanted to know more about the skills since the new abilities were only unsealed after he killed thest King and gained one more boost.

    First, he tapped on Ruler of Time on his status screen to know more about his new skill.

    As he tapped on it, a screen opened before him with all the details.

    [Ruler of Time: Time is absolute, and no one can change it except the one who truly controls it. The one that truly masters the time can never be defeated unless the destiny wills it]

    [Skill 1: Time Reversal

    Skill 2: Time Maniption

    Skill 3: Locked (Level not enough)]

    He already knew about time reversal as it allowed him to go back in time depending on his level, but the real interesting past was the time maniption.

    He tapped on the time maniption to see what it actually was.

    Another screen popped up before him as soon as he tapped on the skill.

    [Time Maniption: Time is the most difficult to control, but whoever can manipte it as their desire bes the King who can really be defeated. Time Maniption allows the user to reverse the time of any object or dead to the time before, without having to go back in time.]

    [Reminder: On an inanimate object, the limit of time reversal is equal to your level in minutes, any number of times.]

    [Reminder: On dead beings, this ability can only be used once to reverse their time by thirty minutes]

    "Interesting skill. Not offensive but a pretty good skill indeed. So I can reverse the time of objects. So if a bomb is about to blow up, I can reverse its time. And the door and the other things that I broke, I can bring them to as they were before. If I had this before, no one would have known that I broke the door of my room," Ryder muttered as he read through the skill.

    "But the most important part seems to be the second one," he continued. "If I¡¯m at a war, and someone close to me dies, I can reverse their time and bring them back to life as long as they aren¡¯t dead for longer than thirty minutes."

    "Even though I can only use this skill on one person only once, this is still pretty useful. Moreover, there¡¯s no limitation on how many people I can use this on," he said as he closed the screen and got to the previous screen.

    "I wonder what the Third skill will be when it¡¯s unlocked. I have such a high level, and still, that¡¯s not unlocked. How long is it going to take?" He thought to himself.

    He opened the second skill, Ruler of Nature, soon after.

    It was the skill that he had received not long after getting the first fragment.

    [Ruler of Nature.]

    [Skills: Passive Skill: Double Growth]

    [Active Skill: Blessed by Nature]

    [Double Growth: Every growth that the person achieves is doubled. The Stat Points received after every level up will be doubled. The experience gained will be doubled.]

    (Limitation: Doesn¡¯t work on body proportions like height and weight) ]

    [Blessed by Nature:

    Skill 1: Infinite Healing

    Skill 2: Nature Control

    Skill 3: Locked (Level not enough)]

    "Nature control, huh. Interesting."

    He knew what infinite healing did. Even though it was called Infinite, it came with a limitation. But the Nature Control interested him more.

    [Nature Control: The nature is a vast force of this universe that helps maintain the bnce of life. It can create, and it can destroy. The Skill allows the user to control any ntation to his advantage and even making Tree Warriors to fight for them]

    [Reminder: The Tree Warriors can only be made depending on their strength. If the Tree Warrior is made to have strength equal to ten percent of the User, five of them can be made. Tree Warrior is made to have strength equal to fifty percent of the User, one of them can be made.]

    [Limitations: The Tree Warriors can¡¯t have strength more than fifty percent of the user]

    [Limitation: The Duration of their existence is limited, after which they¡¯ll disappear. They can only be summoned again after 24 hours]

    "Tree Warriors? The heck! It¡¯s such an OP Skill. With my high level, if I summon five of them even at ten percent strength, they¡¯ll be able to destroy cities! Amazing skill."

    "And when I summon at twenty or thirty percent, they¡¯ll have more strength than the Kings had. It¡¯s like having my personal kings!"

    "I need to test these skills before fighting. It¡¯s good that I wasn¡¯t hasty," he said to himself.

    As he thought of the various uses he could put this skill to, he opened the next skill in question.

    [Ruler of Wind: Wind is everywhere. It is what allows people to breathe, yet it can make them die. It can be soothing, and it can be terrifying. Not only humans but all the species depend on it. The one that controls Wind has the potential to control the surroundings and to reach higher than the heaven]

    [Active Skill: Blessed by Wind]

    [Blessed by Wind]

    [Skill 1: Flying]

    [Skill 2: Extreme Flying]

    [Skill 3: Locked (Level not enough)]

    "Flying and extreme flying? Is that just an upgraded flying skill?" Ryder asked to himself before he tapped the skill.

    [Extreme Flying: Allows the user to fly outside Earth and even to ces where no air exists]

    [Limitation: This skill can only be used once every two days.]

    [Limitation: User won¡¯t die ofck of oxygen, but he might die from hunger if he doesn¡¯t eat]

    [Limitation: Once used, the user must go to a different world within two days of the skill being used; otherwise, the skill will be restricted to two years]

    "I doubt what I feel about this skill. It¡¯s good as I can travel in space, but the limitations are massive. It¡¯s clear it¡¯s an intergctic travel skill, so I can¡¯t use it for random uses. That¡¯s what thest limitation wants to make sure, I think," Ryder said as he closed the screen.

    "So I can only use this for leaving Earth and going to a different. If I use it for anything else, I¡¯ll lose this skill for two years."

    "Moreover, I also need to carry my food with me since I doubt I can get anything to eat in space otherwise," he said before he sighed. This skill was good, but it came with a lot of baggage.

    Moreover, he couldn¡¯t see any use for it. It¡¯s not like he wanted to use it to actually go to the moon or something, even though it sounded fun.

    As Ryder finished with most of the skills, he moved to the next skill, which was the Ruler of Water.

    He tapped on the screen, making another window pop up before him.

    [Ruler of Water: Ruler of Water with the strength to Rule the Seas. Ruler of Water makes you control one of the universal elements of Water, forming the sea, giving home of billions of lives]

    [Active Skill 1: Blessed by Water]

    [Skill 2: King of Water]

    [Skill 3: Locked (Level not enough)]

    [Passive Skill: Underwater Breathing]

    He already knew the first skill, which allowed him to make weapons from water and call out the rain which had the ability to temporarily boost his powers while decreasing the strength of the enemies that were under this rain, but the second skill was what he was more excited about as it sounded cool¡ª the King of Water.

    He tapped on the screen to know what it was actually about, only to be stunned as he saw the description of the skill.

    [King of Water: Allows the user to control any sea creature when inside water]

    "This skill... Didn¡¯t it make me the God of Water Poseidon?"

    "I remember using the first skill to make a trident to feel like Poseidon, but I can also control the sea creatures now? This skill, even though not useful outside water, is so cool. I like it a lot," Ryder eximed, smiling.

 Chapter 550 Lift Snatching

    <h4>Chapter 550: Lift Snatching</h4>

    "And now for the newest addition to the family, the Fragment of Life," Ryder said as he tapped on thest fragment skill which he had received only recently, the Fragment of Life.

    As he tapped on the skill name, another screen opened before him with the description.

    [Ruler of Life and Death]

    [Description: A skill said to originate from the Goddess of Life and Death. It is said to be one of the most unique skills only possessed by the one who can rule over both life and death]

    [Sub skill 1: Dead Revival]

    [Sub Skill 2: Life Snatcher]

    [Sub skill 3: Locked]

    "Life snatcher? I remember the Dead Revival, which allowed me to revive any dead body with its old strength intact. The revived dead body would have all old memories and will do any task given by the user, but because of its limitation, those bodies could onlyst for one day before they turned to ash."

    "But this new skill, it sounds much darker," he curiously tapped on the name of the Life Snatcher to see its description.

    [ Life Snatcher: Allows the user to steal up to ten years of life from an enemy and add to their own life span if the enemy is an adult and fifty years is the target is a kid.]

    [Warning: Skill can only be used on one person only once, and a lifespan of more than fifty years can¡¯t be snatched.]

    [Reminder: Skill can only be used only once per day]

    [Reminder: The Target gets older as the years are snatched from them. The user gets younger with the stolen age.]

    [Caution: Please use the skill carefully if you don¡¯t want to turn into a baby identally or disappear]

    "As expected, it¡¯s a dark skill. It basically allows me to decrease the lifespan of my target while adding to my lifespan. Still, this skill is pretty powerful. If I have this, I don¡¯t have to worry about old age! And that was what I was most worried about!" Ryder eximed as he smiled.

    As soon as he received the first skill from the bracelet of immortality which sent him back in time by one day as long as he died, he had been worried about his life. Since this meant he couldn¡¯t die.

    And in his old age, he would have to live hisst day again and again, but now with this skill, he didn¡¯t have to worry about old age since he could just stay young forever.

    Moreover, it wasn¡¯t like he was going to steal the age of kids. He could steal the age of adult criminals. He didn¡¯t even need to work that hard. He only had to steal ten years from a person every ten years. So one person per ten years to stay the same age he was now.

    He believed this was a good skill, even though it wasn¡¯t an offensive skill.

    And who knew, maybe one day he faced a ny year old enemy? He wouldn¡¯t even need to fight. He can just snatch his ten years and hope that he was not going to live for over a hundred. As long as his luck supported him, he could win fights against them without having to worry about anything.

    "So, I got five new skills, and even though all five of them are useful on their own, against an enemy onnd, only two can help me effectively. It¡¯s not like I can fly to Mars to win a fight with the Fragment of Wind or be ten years younger to win a battle."

    "And bringing the dead back to life is also not very helpful when it¡¯s a one on one battle. Moreover, controlling underwater creatures, that¡¯s also ineffective here."

    "The only one of value at the moment is the Nature Control and bringing out Tree Puppets with half my strength to help me."

    He liked all skills, but he still felt disappointed that there were no truly offensive skills. Most were support type skills if he were to ssify them.

    "It¡¯s fine. Skills don¡¯t make a man. The ones I already had are versatile enough. Like the [Protection of Aria] that makes me invincible for a minute or the time reversal. I should focus on them. And the physical strength."

    "Janus, open the store," Ryder said, and a screen opened before him, which listed all the items.

    "There it is, the skill book of Weapon Mastery. Only fifty origin points. I should have brought it a long time ago."

    He tapped on the skill to purchase it, only to see another screen pop up.

    [Would you like to learn the skill instantly]

    [Cost: Five coins]

    [Yes] [NO]

    "Of course, yes. I don¡¯t have time to sit and learn," Ryder replied before he tapped yes.

    As soon as he tapped the screen, he felt like knowledge about thousands of weapons and how to use them like a master entered his head.

    "Not bad."

    "Alright, time to buy a few more things in preparation. He¡¯s the big boss. I can¡¯t underestimate him. In any case, I¡¯m already in debt of origin points with Janus. I might as well spend it all; this is thest enemy."

    And thus, Ryder went on a shopping spree in the system store, buying all the things he believed to be useful.

    ....

    In a different ce, Janus was still searching for the Lord of Space in Britain. But he could also see Ryder¡¯s actions even though he wasn¡¯t there personally.

    He couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly as he saw Ryder purchasing so many things.

    "Hah, what the? Is he even getting that? But that¡¯s the most useless item. Is he getting things blindly?" He said. "Whatever, I should have faith in him. Let him do what he¡¯s trying to do."

    ...

    Inside the Shu Estate, Aluren felt like he was going crazy. Everyone had gone missing, and no one was picking their phones. Even the First King had gone missing, that too when he was just with him.

    He believed it was the work of Ryder, but he was still furious.

    "To kill him, that guy must havee here. Since First was right here before he disappeared. That person... He came here, took my men, and I didn¡¯t even know. Just who is he! Just how courageous is he? He needs to die!"

    "It must be the Son of Lord of Theft. Only he can have the skills to be this stealthy. Or could it also be her? Or him? So many people can be Ryder, but one thing is for certain! He is a God Son," Aluren said as he clenched his fist.

    He picked up his phone and called Itsuki.

    "You¡¯re calling this time? What happened? Did you find Ryder? Is he a human or not?" Itsuki fired a barrage of questions as soon as he picked up the phone.

    "I haven¡¯t found him, but I believe he¡¯s nearby. He¡¯s in hiding. He probably didn¡¯t go on vacation. It¡¯s just that he somehow knew about my arrival," Aluren answered.

    "He¡¯s hiding nearby, and you can¡¯t find him? Are you serious?" Itsuki asked.

    "That¡¯s not all; I think he killed all my Kings. That person can be anything, but he¡¯s certainly not a human to be able to do that. He came, he killed, and he left. In the whole process, I didn¡¯t even know he was here," Aluren replied.

    "Your hunch was right. That guy is most probably a god-son. There were rumors that there was an eight god son who was secretly sent here for a Trial, and I think those rumors were right. Ryder should be the person. As for his real identity, that¡¯s for me to find out," He added.

    "You¡¯re against a god-son. Don¡¯t do anything stupid. We don¡¯t want any death. How about Ie there? We can talk to him together," Itsuki suggested to Aluren.

    "Don¡¯t you dare ce your foot here! This is my domain, and I¡¯ll handle everything myself. I just called you to tell you that you were right. Don¡¯t think I called you to ask for help," Aluren snorted before he disconnected the call.

    "Huh, he really thought I needed his help. So what if there¡¯s a god-son here? This time I won¡¯t be as kind as I was with Adrian! This is the second time someone has stepped foot in my domain. I need to set an example! He needs to die! He interfered in my trial first, and now he will suffer."

    In long strides, he left the Mansion.

    Throughout this long game, he was passive unaware, while Ryder was active. Now it was his turn to get involved too. And the first part of that was disappearing from Ryder¡¯s view.

    Wherever he was, he was surely keeping an eye on Aluren.

    Aluren was in light while Ryder was in shadows. He believed that it was time for him to get in the shadows too.

    He wanted to be scheming; now, he was going to face the wrath of Aluren.

 Chapter 551 Fateful Day

    <h4>Chapter 551: Fateful Day</h4>

    As Aluren left the Shu Estate, it was unclear where he went, but he seemed to have disappeared. He didn¡¯t even bother taking the car he had arrived in.

    On the other hand, Ryder seemed utterly oblivious about this as he was still immersed in training. Still, even if he knew that Aluren was changing locations, he wouldn¡¯t have cared since it didn¡¯t matter where Aluren went.

    He had a device that was able to track Aluren and all the kings. It was given to him in the form of an app by Janus.

    Now that the kings were dead, it could only show Aluren, so it didn¡¯t matter where he went or hid. He was never going to be hidden from Ryder¡¯s view.

    He believed he had the stealth, but his stealth was also being tracked, unaware to him since Ryder had a real god on his side to help him.

    The day passed away like any ordinary day, but many things happened that day, unaware to the general public.

    Aluren used his reach and influence to get his people to spread out all around the city and to inform them if they spotted Ryder.

    He didn¡¯t use them before since he didn¡¯t believe that Ryder knew about their arrival. How could Ryder possibly know about the recently made n, he thought. So even though he was informed that Ryder left, he didn¡¯t link it with their arrival.

    If he hadn¡¯t been so confident, he might not actually be in a condition where all his kings were dead, and their strength was stolen.

    Aluren also tried to find Gander but that guy has also seemed to disappear. A few people did mention that they saw Gander leaving the city.

    Aluren didn¡¯t care about Gander as much as he did about Ryder, but he had decided that once he finished killing Ryder, he was going to kill Gander as well.

    While Aluren spread his web all around the city in hopes of finding Ryder, Ryder was immersed in training.

    He trained his strength and control. The more he used his strength, the more he realized that he needed control if he didn¡¯t want to destroy things unintentionally.

    As for his skills, even though he wanted to try, he didn¡¯t since he didn¡¯t want his skills to be unable to be used when he needed to.

    ....

    A day passed away before Ryder actually felt like he was ready to take on Aluren.

    "That guy should already have known about me killing all his kings, as long as he¡¯s not an idiot. I wonder if he¡¯s still in the Estate like a brave man or he already went into hiding, thinking that I can¡¯t see him," Ryder muttered as he brought out his Deity Phone and used the tracker.

    "So that¡¯s where he¡¯s hiding. I guess he did run, thinking I can¡¯t see him."

    "There¡¯s a problem, though. The ce he¡¯s hiding in seems to be in the middle of a crowded ce. I can¡¯t fight him openly there. Should I invite him to fight me face to face in an empty ce, far away from the general public?" He wondered as he started leaving the forest.

    "I can invite him, but I doubt he¡¯de alone. I should also challenge his manliness when inviting him toe. If I can hurt his ego, he will definitelye. In any case, it¡¯s not like I need to actually fight him openly. I don¡¯t need to keep my word when ites to him."

    As Ryder continued leaving, he made a n. He had decided on what to do.

    As the n was formed, he stopped walking and started flying. He went back to his car, inside which he found a notepad and a pen.

    Using the two things, he started writing a letter to Aluren.

    ...

    Aluren was sitting inside a bar, having his eyes closed as he waited for the news about Ryder¡¯s appearance, when a man walked up to him.

    Aluren sensed someone approaching him and looked back to see a bald maning to him who seemed to be in histe sixties.

    He observed the man to check if he could be Ryder in disguise, but he soon realized that this was an ordinary man. There seemed nothing strange about it.

    The bald man stopped before Aluren.

    "Are you Aluren?" The man asked.

    "Yeah. Who are you?" Aluren inquired, frowning. He didn¡¯t understand how this man knew about him. He couldn¡¯t be from his organization, or he wouldn¡¯t be calling him by his name.

    And if he wasn¡¯t from his organization, there was only one way he could know Aluren¡¯s name if someone told him.

    "Also, who told you my name?" He asked.

    "A man outside told me to deliver this letter to you," the bald man said as he handed the letter to Aluren. "He told me your name and described your looks."

    "Ryder Flynn!" Aluren eximed as he ran outside the bar and looked around, but he didn¡¯t find anyone.

    "This rat, he loves hiding! He escaped! But still, how did he find out I was here?" Aluren muttered as he walked inside the bar.

    He walked over to the old man before he took the piece of paper from his hand.

    Before reading the letter, he showed the bald man an image of Ryder before he asked, "Was this the man?"

    The bald man nodded his head. " That¡¯s right. He¡¯s the one. Anyway, he gave me ten dors to deliver this letter. Now that I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll leave."

    The Bald Man departed, and Aluren started reading the letter.

    "My Dear Aluren,

    I hope this letter finds you well.

    I must say, I really respect you. You¡¯re my idol. I had always lovededy shows, and I was always a fan ofedians, but I must say, those people are nothing before you. Just your face itself makes meugh more than I everugh at their jokes. You really should try your hands atedy."

    "Anyway, I¡¯m writing this letter to inform you that all your Kings are dead. They died so easily; I¡¯m amazed you even called them Kings. I believe even kids can fight better than that. If they are this week, I doubt their leader can be any strong. You¡¯re weak too, aren¡¯t you?"

    "What a disappointment. I wanted to face your organization since I thought it would give me a challenge, but it has been disappointing so far. Heck, I even killed your First King when you were downstairs, and you still didn¡¯t know. Truly pathetically weak."

    "You are their leaders, and you should be strong, but I believe even if Ie to you and p you twice right before your eyes, you still wouldn¡¯t realize what actually happened before I leave."

    "As for your brain, I wonder what I should say about that. If it were someone else in your ce, they would have already found me, but you? You¡¯re still having such a hard time."

    "At this pace, you can¡¯t find me for an eternity, you idiotic A*shole! This is getting boring now. I thought you¡¯d work hard and find me, but it has been over twenty-four hours since I killed your first King, and you still have no clue."

    "Since I am bored and I don¡¯t want to wait an eternity for you, I¡¯m telling you my location¡ªa ce far away from the crowd where no one will disturb us. Oh right, since you¡¯re weak, you don¡¯t have toe alone. Bring all your dogs with you too. Maybe with their backing, you can give me a proper fight."

    "I¡¯ll be waiting for you tomorrow at 6 a.m. In...."

    " Pleasee and don¡¯t run away.

    Your loving Father,

    Ryder Flynn."

    As Aluren finished reading, he felt like smoke wasing out of his ears. He never felt this insulted! This bastard! He mocked him so much!

    Aluren crushed the paper which was in his hand before he stood up.

    "You bastard! Just you wait! As soon as I get there, I¡¯ll kill you! And bringing my army? You¡¯re not deserving! You think too highly of yourself! I¡¯lle alone and break all your dreams!" He said firmly as he clenched his fist. He wished he could go there right now, but the time was of tomorrow. Ryder wasn¡¯t going to be there now. He could only wait.

    In a different ce, Ryder was eating in a restaurant, thinking about tomorrow.

    "This much should be enough to get him alone. He¡¯s an arrogant idiot, but I¡¯m not. Even if I¡¯m strong, I won¡¯t be like that. I still need to be careful and go ording to the n. Tomorrow will be thest day of Aluren! I can make no mistakes!"

    ...

    Thest night also passed away as the fateful day arrived.

    Aluren reached that building right on time, not a minute soon and not a minutete.

    The ce Ryder Flynn had invited him to was something Aluren didn¡¯t expect thest fight to be at, but he didn¡¯t care.

 Chapter 552 Treasure Hunt

    <h4>Chapter 552: Treasure Hunt</h4>

    Aluren had expected that ce to be some dessert or some big group where nothing could obstruct their battle. At Least what he thought when he was given the letter which contained the coordinates of this ce.

    Only when he reached her did he realize that it wasn¡¯t anything like that. Instead, it was an abandoned neighborhood of the city.

    Not a single person could be seen here.

    "Wee, Aluren. I¡¯m amazed that you came alone. I guess you¡¯re not a coward, at least."

    As soon as Aluren stepped inside the neighborhood, he heard a voice. Even though he hadn¡¯t listened to the voice of Ryder before, but he was sure that it was the voice of Ryder.

    "I¡¯m not hiding, but you are. Don¡¯t worry, let me bring you out of the hiding ce," Aluren said as he started walking in the direction that voice came from.

    It wasn¡¯t as far as it seemed. The voice seemed to havee from a nearby house.

    "You¡¯ll bring me out? Do you really dare to?" The voice came again as Aluren reached near the door of the house. He was certain not. That voice wasing from the other side of the door.

    He kicked the door open as he barged inside.

    "I wonder how you¡¯ll drag me out without knowing where I am. But still, this seems fun," Ryder¡¯s voice came again.

    Aluren looked at the speaker that was ced before him as he punched the wall. Ryder wasn¡¯t here. Instead, he was using the speaker to talk to him.

    Aluren still believed that Ryder was still nearby.

    "Why are you hiding, Ryder Flynn? You called me a coward but aren¡¯t you a bigger coward? I came where you wanted, all alone. But you still can¡¯t dare to show me your face? Is this the dignity of that a god-son should have?" Aluren asked as he picked up the speaker before he left the house.

    Ryder was standing in an unknown location, wondering what this guy was talking about! God-son? Did he mean son of a god?

    ¡¯ Is this guy thinking that I¡¯m a son of a god? Wait a minute, don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s the son of a god himself? This... Ah...¡¯ Ryder didn¡¯t know how to process the information.

    He was actually against a divine being? The son of a god? So it wasn¡¯t that this guy received his powers from a god as he did. Instead, he himself was a mini-god? So he had distributed powers to the kings like Janus gave him?

    "This makes it a bitplicated," he muttered as he frowned. He didn¡¯t forget to turn off the speaker as he talked to himself.

    "Janus! Tell me the truth! Is this guy the son of a god?" He asked.

    "He is," Janus replied.

    "You! Why didn¡¯t you tell me before?" Ryder asked.

    "Would that have changed anything? They would still being to take your life, and you¡¯d still be fighting back. Isn¡¯t that the truth?" Janus asked in return, stunning Ryder. He was right.

    "Fine, don¡¯t disturb me now. Even if he¡¯s the son of a god, I¡¯ll still take care of things my way," Ryder muttered before he got back to talking to Aluren.

    "My dear Aluren, as you know, I defeated your dogs from right under your nose. It was clear to me at that moment that you¡¯re too weak. If Ie out now, you¡¯ll be defeated in a few seconds, and that would be boring."

    "So I¡¯ve decided on a new game. I¡¯ll give you a few clues. If you can find me, I¡¯ll not only tell you my identity, but I¡¯ll also do whatever you say. How¡¯s that?" Ryder asked, suggesting a game.

    "I don¡¯t want any games now! Come out and fight me like a god!" Aluren retorted, enraged.

    "You¡¯re not the one in charge here, mister Aluren. I¡¯m incharge! You either agree to my rules, or you leave. In any case, a two second long battle would be boring. I should find someone else since you¡¯re weak," Ryder said,ughing. "Goodbye, Aluren. I hope you¡¯re stronger the next time I see you."

    "Wait, don¡¯t go! You can¡¯t run away after spoiling my trial! Come out and die!"

    "Not happening, Aluren. You either y by my rules and find me, or I¡¯ll leave. The choice is yours."

    "Fine! I¡¯ll listen to you! Give me clues!"

    Having no choice, Aluren could only give up. No matter how many times he tried to use his powers to find Ryder, nothing worked. This seemed like the only option.

    "Give me a clue! Where are you?" He asked.

    "Alright. Your first clue to my location is pretty simple. ck under the green, Seven to the three." Ryder told Aluren, grinning.

    "ck under the green, seven to the three? What does it mean?" Aluren asked.

    "If I were to tell you, would it still be a game?" Ryder asked,ughing. "It¡¯s pretty simple, though. I feel like even a kid can solve it."

    "Another hint, you need to know maths to solve this puzzle," he further said.

    "I need to use needs? What kind of maths can be in ck under the green? ck is five letters, and blue is also five letters. What could I do with them? Five under five? That¡¯s one. What can I do with one?"

    Aluren tried to solve the puzzle while still keeping Ryder¡¯s speaker in his hand.

    "You¡¯re really an idiot, aren¡¯t you? Even after this clue, you¡¯re still focusing on the wrong part of the puzzle?" Ryder asked, mocking Aluren, making him even angrier.

    "Shut up, and don¡¯t disturb me!" Aluren yelled in response to Ryder¡¯s taunt, but he didn¡¯t ignore his words.

    "Focusing on the wrong part? Should I focus on the second sentence then? That¡¯s right, seven to the three. It should be about multiplication. That¡¯s twenty-one. Twenty-one what? Twenty-first house?" Aluren muttered as he started looking around before he soon noticed something.

    A small ck box was ced under a tree near him which felt out of ce.

    "ck under the green? As for twenty-one, that¡¯s twenty-one steps, it seems. That box is exactly twenty-one steps away from me!" Aluren eximed as he walked to the box, counting his steps.

    As expected, this was twenty-one steps.

    "Well done, you solved the first clue. Open the box, and you¡¯ll find the second clue," Ryder told Aluren, congratting him.

    Aluren opened the ck box to find a key inside it.

    "A key?" He muttered in confusion.

    "It¡¯s the key to one of the houses here. Get to searching. Which house does it belong to? You have thirty minutes," Ryder told Aluren, who started running to test these keys in the houses. He went from one house to another, testing the key on the locks.

    He tried over fifty houses, but the key seemed to belong to none of them. He kept trying the key in different locks.

    ....

    In a different ce, Ryder seemed to be enjoying this view.

    ¡¯Good. Aluren, keep searching. The more you y this game, the more you¡¯re going to fall into the trap. Every door you touch, every item you touch in this game, they¡¯ve all been poisoned. All the items are modified with different poisons that will keep weakening you without you even realizing.¡¯

    ¡¯Moreover, the speaker you keep carrying in your hand, that¡¯s also a treasure of Janus. By the time you realize what¡¯s happening, it would have been toote.¡¯

    ...

    Unaware of Ryder¡¯s ns, Aluren kept trying all the doors until he finally found one which the key matched.

    "Good work. Inside that house, you¡¯ll find something special¡ªthe next clue. Go and find it," Ryder told Aluren.

    "What the heck? Is this a joke? I¡¯ll keep finding clues all day with this. Stop it now! I already solved two clues. Come out!" Aluren said firmly. "Enough ying around. It has already been close to an hour!"

    "Don¡¯t worry; you solved two clues. After you solve the fifth, you¡¯ll be standing right before me. But it¡¯s fine if you want to stop. I¡¯ll just think you¡¯re defeated and leave," Ryder said.

    " Stop! If it¡¯s only five clues, I¡¯ll do it! To kill you, I¡¯ll solve the next three clues too!" Aluren said as he stepped inside the house, still seemingly upset.

    "That¡¯s better. Good boy," Ryderplimented, and thus, the treasure hunt continued.

    Aluren took another hour to solve the third clue, which seemed to be a bit tougher. As for the fourth clue, he solved it within Twenty minutes.

    "Last clue! If I solve it, you can¡¯t give any excuses! You must show yourself before me!" Aluren said firmly.

    "Of Course. I¡¯m a man of my words. I¡¯ll show myself to you without any dy," Ryder replied innocently.

    And thus, the fifty clue was given, which was a puzzle. Aluren had received a map of the neighborhood, which had a few X Marked on it. The X was the location of puzzle pieces that he needed to find and finish the puzzle.

 Chapter 553 Killing Aluren

    <h4>Chapter 553: Killing Aluren</h4>

    "This is so frustrating. Just remember, after I finish this mission, I will give you a really cruel death since you upset me a lot with these tricks," Aluren told Ryder as he started searching ording to the map.

    The map had so many crosses that he literally had to search the entire neighborhood, all the houses. The map seemed useless in that department since it technically marked all the houses.

    Throughout the day, Aluren kept searching the houses for small puzzle pieces. Each search took him half an hour, enough to make him even more furious.

    He kept searching the whole day and the whole night before he actually found all the pieces of the puzzle.

    He carried all the puzzle pieces, which seemed to be more than fifty.

    All the pieces were tiny, which took him even more time to arrange. After two hours, he finally managed to put all the pieces together.

    As the puzzle waspleted, it seemed to make an image.

    The image was none other than a joker holding the card of a joker. There was something written on the card as well.

    "You."

    That was the word which was written on the card.

    "Are you calling me a joker? It doesn¡¯t matter! I did what you asked, howe out as per the promise and fight me properly! Stop hiding!" Aluren said as he stood up, cracking his knuckles.

    "As you wish. Count to three," Ryder¡¯s voice came through the speaker.

    Aluren started counting to three, and as soon as he finished, he was able to see Rydering towards him, flying.

    Soon, Rydernded before Aluren, ten meters away from him.

    There was no weapon in Ryder¡¯s hands and no mask on his face. He was truly here as he was.

    "Finally, you¡¯re here! Tell me who you are? Son of God of Theft? Or son of God of Wind? Or who exactly?" Aluren asked, frowning.

    "I am your father, Aluren Skywalker," Ryder said jokingly. "How¡¯s that for a revtion?"

    "What?" Aluren asked, not understanding.

    "Cheh, you don¡¯t even understand. It¡¯s from the Movie called Space Wars. Anyway, to remove your misconceptions, I¡¯m not really the son of a god. I¡¯m just a normal human being, born and raised in this world," Ryder answered.

    "Honestly, I wouldn¡¯t even do anything if you hadn¡¯te here to kill me. But what can I say when someone¡¯s time is bad, theye running to death," he further continued.

    "You¡¯re not a god-son? How did you get those powers then?" Aluren asked, frowning.

    "That¡¯s a question that you won¡¯t get the answer to. Since you¡¯ll be dying within a few seconds," Ryder replied as he raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

    With the sound of his snap, a tree monster came out of the ground, having half his level.

    Honestly, he didn¡¯t even need to snap his fingers to call out this tree puppet since he used his skill to do it. Just to bring some dramatic effect, he made the snap.

    "God of Nature¡¯s ability? So you¡¯re his son. So much for lying but did you really think that something like this could stop me?" Aluren asked as he recognized this ability. He was sure that it belonged to the God of Nature.

    "I can kill tens of these toys with my finger alone," he added as he raised his fingers to use his powers.

    "What? What¡¯s happening? Why can¡¯t I use my powers?" Aluren eximed as he realized that he wasn¡¯t able to use his powers. It was as if all his powers were sucked dry, and he didn¡¯t feel a thing.

    "What did you do to me, you bastard!" He asked Ryder, ring at him.

    "What did I do? I went neck-deep in loan to buy so much poison to suck your power dry. I don¡¯t even know how I¡¯ll pay back that loan. I¡¯m starting to worry about that," Ryder replied, sighing.

    "Poison? What poison, no poison can affect me!" Aluren said firmly.

    "I know that no poison can affect you because your divine protection wards it off and protects your body. That¡¯s why I used it in so many ces," Ryder started exining as he walked closer to Aluren, slowly and steadily.

    "The speaker you kept holding in your hand for the entire time? I used Protection Removal Poison on it. And all the clues that you picked up after that had this poison as well, which kept shing with your protection, slowly chipping it away."

    "As your protection was at its weakest, you got the puzzle pieces which had a different poison that sucked your powers and your strength, without letting you notice. And now happens to be the time when you barely have a fraction of your physical strength left."

    "As for your other powers, they¡¯re gone for the moment, and they don¡¯t return, at least not soon. So, what were you saying? Who did you want to kill?" Ryder asked,ughing.

    He seemed to be enjoying this. The trick had worked perfectly, and it wouldn¡¯t have worked without the help of Janus.

    Even though Janus didn¡¯t tell him about Aluren being the son of a god, he did tell him about the strength and weaknesses of Aluren. Janus also told him about the protection that was around Aluren, as if giving him ideas.

    That day, Ryder scrolled through the entire store to find something to help him take care of Aluren, and atst, he had found the section of the poisons.

    These things were expensive, though, and he barely had any points, so he took a massive loan. Using that loan, he brought the poison, which was the most of his spending.

    Seventy percent of his loan was spent on these poisons, while the rest was spent on items that he used to kill the Kings.

    Killing the kings was the most important part of his n since he needed the kings dead. That not only challenged the ego of Aluren, which was one of his weaknesses, but it also made him get Aluren alone, which was necessary for this n.

    "You, scheming bastard! Is that what the God of Nature taught you?" Aluren said as he started running towards Ryder to attack him physically. So what if he didn¡¯t have his powers? He was going to use his strength.

    Even though he knew that running away was the best option at the moment since he could wait for his powers toe back and return, but he couldn¡¯t show his back to his enemy because of his ego.

    Aluren was getting closer to Ryder when the tree puppet appeared in between the two. The puppet not only appeared between them, but he also punched Aluren.

    Aluren was so focused on Ryder; he had forgotten entirely about the Tree Puppet, which was why the attack got such a clean hit. His face was hit as he was tossed back like a doll.

    Aluren crashed on the ground, making a crater appear under him since his body was so hard.

    "This won¡¯t do anything. Even if I don¡¯t have my powers, I¡¯m still a Divine Being! You can¡¯t kill me like this!" Aluren said as he stood up.

    "I know, but he can, with this," Ryder said, grinning.

    Aluren looked at Ryder to see what he was talking about, only to find him standing with a Scythe in his hand.

    "Go on, little guy. Take him out. This should be easy from what Janus told me," Ryder said as he tossed the Scythe towards the Tree Puppet.

    "Janus told you? You mean it¡¯s the work of Janus! That bas-"

    Aluren heard the name and realized everything, but before he could even finish his sentence, a Scythe came swinging towards him, slicing his neck.

    ...

    "Cheh, I thought killing a God should be tough. But he died pretty easily. Are gods really not that special? Even a mortal like me can kill him?" Ryder muttered to himself as he walked towards Aluren¡¯s body which was lying, headless, and unmoving.

    ....

    Far away from Ryder, Janus was smiling. To see Ryder speak as such, it was funny.

    He couldn¡¯t help but talk to himself, "No. It¡¯s not easy to kill a god. Only a god can kill a god, so no. I mortal didn¡¯t kill him. He was killed by the creature that appeared from a Skill that was cast by a god."

    Even though he was talking, he made sure that Ryder wouldn¡¯t hear him.

    ....

    Ryder was sitting near Aluren¡¯s body, prepared to absorb his strength.

    "Janus, I¡¯m ready to absorb the strength. Start the process," he said.

    "No. You can¡¯t do it today. If you do it, it would only be a wasted opportunity," Janus replied.

    "What do you mean, a wasted opportunity?" Ryder asked.

    "His powers were sucked dry. That body barely has some power left. Absorbing it won¡¯t give as many benefits. Keep it in inventory for two days. The body will gain back the powers as the effect of poison wears off."

 Chapter 554 Return

    <h4>Chapter 554: Return</h4>

    " That¡¯s right. I forgot about that," Ryder muttered as he pped his forehead.

    "I do have a question, though. Are you sure he won¡¯te back to life after his body recovers the strength? I don¡¯t want him to attack me next time I bring him out," he exined.

    "Don¡¯t worry. His body will regain the divine strength that a god should have, but his life is gone. And it¡¯s not going to return," Janusforted Ryder.

    "That¡¯s better," Ryder said before he kept Aluren¡¯s body in his inventory.

    As he finished up everything, he stretched out his arms as he rxed his tense body.

    He hadn¡¯t really thought that it would be so easy. He literally killed a god even though he was a human in his mind.

    At every single point in the n, he was thinking that something would go wrong and he would be in trouble. Even when Aluren was killed, he was still worried that the guy mighte back.

    Ryder was alert until the end, for the battle if the n failed. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t need to now. And now that Janus had confirmed it, he could finally put his mind to ease.

    He could return to the Estate while bringing Alice back.

    "Before I bring her back, I need to check the Estate. Thest time I went there, the blood and everything was cleared by them. Nothing seemed wrong there, but I still need to make sure," he said as he started flying back.

    He went to the ce where he had parked the car and went back to the Estate. He also turned his phone on since there was no need to keep it off. Aluren and the Kings were gone. For the time being, he was safe.

    As Ryder reached the Estate, the first thing he did was repair the main door that was broken by the Kings when they came here for the first time.

    He didn¡¯t have to work hard to get the door back to how it was. This was where his newly received ability came to use. Unlike the living things, this ability had less limitations on objects

    With his powers, he was able to reverse the time of the objects. As he returned the time of the door, it returned to how it was the day before the arrival of the Kings.

    Ryder walked inside the Estate and went straight to his room, and repaired the door of his room before he started checking the other rooms.

    No servants were still inside the Mansion. The guards were killed at the start, whereas the servants that were kept hostage by Aluren ran away after finding a decent opportunity.

    "Sigh, this is nothing more than a ghost mansion now. Good thing I already knew about this. At least Shu won¡¯t say anything. I had informed him that something like this might happen," Ryder said as he called Shu.

    "Oh? You¡¯re calling from your real number? Everything¡¯s normal, it seems?" Shu asked Ryder as soon as he picked up the call.

    Throughout thest few days, Shu was in constant contact with Ryder. But the number Ryder used to talk to Shu was different. He was using a different phone to contact people so that he couldn¡¯t be traced. His old number remained off throughout.

    Throughout those days, Shu kept trying to persuade Ryder to let him help, but Ryder was also stubborn. He had warned Shu that if he even dared to help, he would leave forever and never return or talk to Shu. He also told Shu that he was perfectly safe and there was no need to worry.

    "Yeah. Everything¡¯s fine now. You can return whenever you want, but yeah, you might need to hire new guards. And those maids too," Ryder told Shu.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. I already arranged for that, but I¡¯m happy that you¡¯re safe. Even though I don¡¯t know what you were against, I¡¯m really proud of you," Shu said to Ryder.

    "Alright, I¡¯m cutting the call. I also need to bring Alice back. See youter," Ryder replied before disconnecting the call.

    Now that the house was back to normal, it was time to bring Alice back.

    He left the Estate once again and entered the car.

    ...

    "It has been so long. I wonder how he is," Alice was lying on the bed, talking to herself.

    Her friend was lying right beside her. Hearing her words again, she couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly. She had listened to this line for close to a hundred times, but now, and it had only been a few days.

    She didn¡¯t understand why Alice didn¡¯t just call her brother. She didn¡¯t know the circumstances surrounding Ryder and the real reason Alice was here.

    Instead, Alice had told her that her brother was going on a foreign trip, and since he wasn¡¯t going to be here, she decided to stay here.

    "Shouldn¡¯t you talk to him now? If you¡¯re worried about him, then talk to him. Call him and ask when he¡¯s going to return."

    "He should return soon. I don¡¯t think I should disturb him," Alice answered, still not telling her the truth.

    "As you wish," her friend replied, feeling defeated.

    Knock! Knock!

    A knock was heard at the door.

    "Come on in."

    After getting the permission, a servant entered the room and said, "Young Miss, Mr. Ryder is here to take his sister."

    "He¡¯s here?" Alice jumped in excitement as she got off the bed and ran towards the door.

    As she reached the door, she saw Ryder standing there, perfectly safe.

    "You¡¯re safe! You¡¯re safe! I¡¯m so happy," Alice repeated as she embraced Ryder tightly.

    Alice¡¯s friend also reached here. Seeing her actions, she couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    "Of course, he would be safe. He went on a foreign business trip, not a war. You¡¯re so emotional."

    She looked at Ryder before she continued, "Alice really worried about you. I¡¯m d you¡¯re back."

    "Thanks for taking care of her," Ryder told her friend before leaving with Alice.

    ...

    Alice and Ryder were sitting in the car, talking about what had happened.

    "Is it really over now? You¡¯re not at any risk?" Alice asked.

    "Don¡¯t worry; I took care of everything. No risk to anyone," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    "Are you really not going to tell me what had happened?" She asked Ryder.

    "I wish I could," Ryder responded as he sighed. "Just think of it as some bad guysing after me for business rted reasons. And I took care of them. Now no one will disturb us ever," Ryder replied.

    "As long as you¡¯re safe," Alice muttered.

    ....

    Janus had searched the entire Ennd, but he didn¡¯t find the Lord of Space.

    "Lord Janus?"

    He was just about to leave when he heard a voiceing from behind him.

    Janus turned back only to find the god-son that had a trial in this world, Suliven Szar.

    He was the Prince of Britain, but not really. Not a single person knew that he was a god that hade here on a trial. Moreover, most of the memories of his birth in the Royal Family were fake, created with magic for the trial.

    "Ah, it¡¯s you. How are you, young man?" Janus asked Suliven.

    "I¡¯m good, but what are you doing here? Aren¡¯t gods not allowed toe to the trial world?" Suliven asked Janus.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me; I got permission from all your parents toe here," Janus answered.

    "Their permission? Did youe regarding the trial?" Suliven asked.

    "Not really. Don¡¯t think too much. I¡¯m not here regarding your trials. I¡¯m here for a different matter that doesn¡¯t concern the trials. You can call it a personal matter," Janus answered.

    "Anyway, I¡¯m taking my leave. It was good meeting you," Janus said before he disappeared.

    As Janus disappeared, the smile on Suliven¡¯s face disappeared, returning to a serious expression.

    "This Janus, calling him Lord, hurts my tongue every time. To know he¡¯s the brother of that Traitor of God Realm. I don¡¯t understand why the other gods don¡¯t just kill him as well. He did fight against his brother, but still. He has that guy¡¯s bad blood."

    "Treachery runs in the blood. Every time I see him, I feel like he¡¯s not the right person. He doesn¡¯t deserve to be in the god realm, and they allowed him toe here? Why? Just what could be so important?" He talked to himself as he started leaving.

    "Could it be that he was lying?"

    ...

    Janus appeared in a different country as he left Ennd. He appeared in China this time, trying to find the Lord of Space.

    ...

    While Janus was searching for the Lord of Space all around the world, the Lord of Space was still walking on the streets of America.

    It seemed like he was trying to find something or someone too; as for what, it was unknown.

    He was also searching like Janus.

 Chapter 555 Invitation to Necrosis

    <h4>Chapter 555: Invitation to Necrosis</h4>

    The Lord of Space was also searching like Janus, but it seemed like he was also having a hard time finding what he was looking for.

    From one city to another, he kept changing locations as he searched each city and soon.

    ...

    Ryder and Alice had reached the empty.

    "Where are the others?" Alice asked Ryder as she entered what seemed like a ghost mansion. Not a single person could be seen here.

    "The staff was assigned to a different ce. A different staff wille and take over soon," Ryder lied to Alice as she sat on the sofa, finally rxing.

    " You seem tired," Alice pointed out. "Why don¡¯t you go and rest in your room? I¡¯ll prepare something to eat for you."

    "Th-"

    Ting!

    As Ryder was about to reply, he heard the doorbell.

    "It seems like Shu is back," Ryder said as he started walking towards the door. Alice also followed behind him.

    As Ryder opened the door, he found a man standing at the door. The man seemed to be dressed in a ck coat and ck pants.

    "Who might you be?" Ryder asked the man, curious.

    "Ah, are you Miss Alice?" Ignoring Ryder, the man asked Alice.

    "Yeah. Who are you?" Alice asked.

    "Greetings, Miss Alice. I am from the Necrosis Corporation. You actually agreed to take part in our billion-dor event of Divinity. To brief the selected yers about that event, they are invited to the Headquarters of Necrosis in the New Capital," the man informed Alice.

    "We actually tried contacting you regarding it on the number we were given, but it seemed to be off. Seeing the importance of the event and your participation, I came here to tell you personally," the man further said.

    "You¡¯re from Necrosis? Can I see some identification?" Ryder asked the man.

    "Sure. Here is my ID card," the man said as he gave his identity card to Ryder.

    Ryder observed the card for a brief moment before he handed it back.

    After taking back the card, the man looked back at Alice.

    "So, Miss Alice, are youing? We have arranged for the ticket as well. Since you need to be there tomorrow evening, the ticket is for tomorrow morning."

    Alice nced at Ryder as if asking him if she should. Ryder nodded as if giving her the permission.

    In any case, he also wanted to see what Necrosis was up to. He didn¡¯t need to worry about anything after all. He has the strength of all the Kings, and he had Janus. No matter what they did, he was confident in himself.

    Moreover, he was soon going to get the strength of a god that he had just killed.

    He did know that the powers of Aluren were going to make his mortal body much stronger, but he didn¡¯t realize that the only reason Janus wanted this for him was that his body was going to be strong enough to contain Chaos¡¯ strength.

    If his body were stronger before, Chaos would¡¯ve had to go back to sleepst time he came out.

    "Alright. I ept the invitation, but I¡¯ll bring him too," Alice told the man as she epted the ticket.

    "That¡¯s no problem. Each person is allowed to bring one guardian," the man replied. "But we haven¡¯t arranged the tickets for him."

    "It¡¯s fine; I¡¯ll get my tickets on my own," Ryder chimed in.

    "That¡¯s better. I¡¯ll take my leave in that case," the man said as he left.

    Alice and Ryder once again walked back inside the room.

    "Are you sure you aren¡¯t going to take part in this event as a yer?" Alice asked Ryder as she sat beside him on the sofa.

    "I don¡¯t have any need. The identity of Hades shouldn¡¯t be revealed to Necrosis or the world. Think of that as a leverage. Hades is an important part of my life, and when the truth is out to Necrosis, it might bring unforeseen troubles," Ryder replied.

    He has done many impossible things in the world of Divinity, after all. And by now, he had also found out that Divinity wasn¡¯t actually a game. It was a different world altogether.

    As for how Necrosis was able to send people to that world through those sses, that was a real mystery.

    Now that he knew what kind of powerful people existed in this world, he was sure that one such person was behind Necrosis too.

    And if it was true, then that person must know about the specialty of Hades and how things about him didn¡¯t make sense. If he was out to the world, it was going to be a problem.

    He needed to keep his identity secret as he solved the mystery of Divinity and Necrosis.

    "If you say so," Alice muttered. "Anyway, I¡¯ll bring something to eat. You don¡¯t forget to book tickets for yourself."

    As Alice left, Ryder booked a ticket for himself to the New Capital as well on the same flight as Alice.

    He was just about to put the phone back when he started ringing again.

    "Esmi?"

    He picked up the phone after seeing that it was Esmi who was calling him. It looks like she finally forgave him for leaving her like that.

    "Hello?" He said as he picked up the phone.

    "Your phone is finally on again. Listen, I¡¯m sure you know this, but there are some people after you. It¡¯s a special organization that I can¡¯t talk about. So stay out of the country or at least out of the city. Those people are at your home!" Esmi told Ryder.

    "Esmi, may I ask how you know about this?" Ryder asked, amused.

    "I¡¯ll be honest with you since your life is in danger, but Bastion¡¯s father is an important part of that organization. I know a few things through him."

    "And I went to your Estate a few days ago with Bastion to meet you. That¡¯s when I found out that they¡¯re living there. Since then, I¡¯ve been trying your number every day. Don¡¯t return to that ce! It¡¯s a really strong organization with strong people that you can¡¯t even imagine!" She told Ryder.

    "God, Esmi, you worry for no reason. Those people weren¡¯t that strong. Anyway, I¡¯m safe. Don¡¯t worry about me. I already dealt with them through peaceful methods. They won¡¯t disturb me now," Ryder answered as he chuckled.

    "Anyway, I¡¯m sorry forst time. I promise I¡¯ll make it up to you next time," Ryder told Esmi.

    "What do you mean you took care of them? Did you talk to them? They went back?" Esmi asked, confused.

    "Let¡¯s just say something simr to that. They won¡¯te to the city again," Ryder replied.

    "Really? They aren¡¯t people that are this understanding. Are you sure?" Esmi asked again.

    "Of Course, I¡¯m sure. Anyway, I¡¯ll be leaving the city soon. When Ie back, I¡¯lle to meet you," Ryder said.

    "I¡¯ll believe it if you say that. I¡¯ll also try to know more from my side to know if they actually left. I¡¯ll inform you," Esmi replied before she disconnected the call.

    ...

    Alice came back with the food she made just in time when Shu¡¯s helicopter alsonded inside the Estate premises.

    "I¡¯m back. Won¡¯t anyone open the door?" Shu called out from outside as he rang the doorbell.

    "It¡¯s Brother Shu. You continue eating; I¡¯ll open the door for him," Alice told Ryder, who had just taken his first bite.

    She walked to the door and opened the door.

    ...

    As Shu reached near Ryder, he also sat on the sofa before he started talking to Ryder, making sure that he was alright while trying to know what had happened.

    He was amazed to find the condition of the Estate, though. When he had heard that the Estate was taken over and the guards were killed, he thought he woulde back to the Estate, which was covered in blood and half-destroyed, but there was nothing like that.

    He couldn¡¯t see any destruction, even a minuscule one. As for blood, there wasn¡¯t even a blood drop.

    Ryder repeated the same story he had told tens of times and kept the reality a secret. He couldn¡¯t tell the truth even to Shu. All he could say was that some bad guys were creating trouble.

    "Oh right, I am going to be meeting with the Vice President next week. Do you want toe with me? It can be fun," Shu suddenly asked Ryder.

    "Vice President? Did you take this appointment from him in thest two days?" Ryder asked, surprised. Didn¡¯t he kill that guy? How could he be deciding on meetings?

    "It was decidedst week. Why?" Shu asked.

    "I think that meeting will be canceled. So don¡¯t have high hopes," Ryder told Shu as he smiled wryly.

    "Cancelled, why?" Shu asked.

    "Because the VP isn¡¯t avable. And I doubt he¡¯ll be in the future," Ryder answered.

    "What are you speaking? Do you know that guy? How can you say he won¡¯t be avable?" Shu inquired.

 Chapter 556 Offer More

    <h4>Chapter 556: Offer More</h4>

    "Believe me; no one knows it better than me. The meeting will be canceled," Ryder said as he nced back to make sure that Alice wasn¡¯t here. "Because that guy... He is dead."

    "What? He is dead? What do you mean?" Shu asked, stunned.

    The Vice President was dead? He didn¡¯t hear any news about that. How could it be that only Ryder knew about it, unless...

    He stared at Ryder before he asked, "Don¡¯t tell me you killed him?"

    Ryder took a deep breath before he once again nced back to check up on Alice. "I did."

    "Why?" Shu asked.

    "Because he was one of the people that were here to kill me. You can call it self-defense," Ryder answered.

    In any case, it wasn¡¯t as if anyone could prove that he had murdered the Vice President. ording to the world, he was still in the New Capital. Moreover, he came here secretly with Aluren, so Ryder was sure that there was no proof that he wasing here. He also kept his face hidden whening.

    He wasn¡¯t worried in the least that Shu would rat him out to the authorities, but even if he did, it wouldn¡¯t matter since there¡¯s no proof. His body is also destroyed by now.

    "Are you really not joking?" Shu asked, frowning.

    "I¡¯m not joking at all. That guy really is dead," Ryder answered.

    "Hah, I really didn¡¯t expect that. You seemed to be in a real mess if the one who came to kill you was the Vice President. But I don¡¯t understand, why did hee personally? He could have used his authority if he wanted you in trouble?" Shu asked.

    "Don¡¯t ask that since I can¡¯t answer as even I don¡¯t know. The man who can answer is the Vice President, but he is already dead, so I doubt we can ask him," Ryder answered before he turned on the TV.

    In the meantime, Alice brought some food for Shu as well.

    "Aren¡¯t you going to eat?" Ryder asked Alice, who sat near them, without anything to eat for herself.

    "I already ate before you came to take me," Alice answered as she shook her head.

    The TV was on, ying a news channel that seemed to be talking about Necrosis.

    Seeing that name in the headline, Shu told Ryder, " Increase the volume."

    Ryder turned up the volume as he was also curious about it.

    "That¡¯s right; we just got the news. The government has finally rified its position on Necrosis Corporation, putting all the rumors to rest. Necrosis Corporation has received a multi-billion dor contract to develop a virtual training world for the United States to prepare them," the News Anchor exined.

    "Ron, what¡¯s thetest update?" he asked the correspondent.

    "The world seems to be going crazy after hearing this news. The stock prices of Necrosis are through the roof, increasing the value of thepany massively, but that¡¯s nothing in front of therge scale implications it might have!" The correspondent answered.

    "Ron, please tell our viewers that don¡¯t know anything about this matter. Whatrge scale implications could this have?" Ryder asked.

    "Therge-scale implications are the impact of this on the world. The United States government has given the green light to the spections that we all had. It¡¯s that the Virtual Reality can be used for military purposes."

    "As for how it increases the efficiency, it¡¯s to be seen, but for one aspect, now the soldiers can gain experience ofrge scale real world wars in the world of Necrosis. Moreover, they can learn many new things, all at once."

    "Since it¡¯s a Virtual World and technology rted to the brain, it¡¯s also possible to imnt knowledge in the head of the soldiers. As I said, the implications it has are really massive!"

    "For the moment, the United States is leading in this technology because of Necrosis, but I¡¯m sure other countries will try to catch up. And if they can¡¯t, they¡¯ll try to tie up with Necrosis. Let me remind you, this is apany that just rose recently, and now it¡¯s going to be at the center of the new world."

    "In the uing days, you can expect even more jumps in the stock prices of Necrosis as it¡¯s a delicious pie at the moment in the eyes of the world¡¯srgest economies, and everyone would be asking for a piece of this pie," the Correspondent exined.

    "Hah, so it finally happened. I knew something like this would happen. The rumors weren¡¯t false after all. That¡¯s why I wanted to buy Necrosis before, but even after I tried such a hard hand, the owner of Necrosis is too stubborn. He would rather watch Necrosis burn than sell it," Shumented as he sighed.

    He seemed upset.

    "Necrosis is really doing some big things, but I still don¡¯t think they¡¯re right. They¡¯re really scheming something, and they would soon fall if they don¡¯t stop. In fact, their fall would be even faster than their rise," Ryder told Shu before he turned off the TV.

    "What do you mean? Do you know something about them that I don¡¯t?" Shu asked, curious. Ryder surely knew something, it seemed.

    "All I can say is that Divinity isn¡¯t what it seems. And if they don¡¯t stop ying with Divinity, they¡¯ll regret it," Ryder replied. "Anyway, I¡¯m going to the Necrosis Headquarters tomorrow. So I¡¯ll know more about them."

    "You¡¯re going to Necrosis? Why?" Shu inquired.

    "They have the billion-dor event. They¡¯ll be giving a brief about that to the yers soon," Ryder exined.

    "Huh? So you¡¯re taking part in it? Didn¡¯t you say you won¡¯t?"

    "I¡¯m not taking part. Alice is taking part. She applied before I even knew about it since she was invited. I¡¯ll be going there to apany her and to keep her safe," Ryder exined.

    "Alice was selected for that? Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s a top ten yer? The heck? I didn¡¯t even know she yed, let alone the fact that she became a top ten yer?" Shu exined in surprise.

    "She¡¯s not a top ten yer. She took part in a special event and got this offer. This tournament isn¡¯t actually restricted to top ten yers. You can call it as an exclusive which will include top ten yers and any specially invited yers," Ryder further exined.

    "Not bad, Alice. Congrats on being selected, but I¡¯m d that you¡¯re taking Ryder," Shu congratted Alice.

    "I shoulde too, though. I don¡¯t trust that Necrosis," he further suggested.

    "You¡¯re noting. She can only bring one person with her, and she¡¯s bringing me. Moreover, I don¡¯t want you toe with us. If youe, many eyes will be on us. You¡¯ve got a pretty eye-catching personality, after all. Only I will go so I can do what I want without attracting any attention," Ryder told Shu, refusing him.

    Shu just looked at Ryder nkly for a moment before he rolled his eyes. "You always keep me out of all the fun. Fine, I won¡¯te with you."

    ...

    Back in the headquarters of Necrosis, the preparation was going on, which was for tomorrow¡¯s briefing. Moreover, there was also preparation going on for the billion dor event and the live broadcast arrangement for that.

    "Is the preparationpleted?" The owner of Necrosis asked his assistant who was walking behind him.

    "Ongoing, Sir. They¡¯ll soon bepleted," the assistant replied.

    "That¡¯s better. What¡¯s the news surrounding the yers? We gave them permission to sell their rights to any broadcaster of their choice. How did that go?" The man asked his assistant as he entered his chamber.

    "A lot of them have signed exclusive deals, earning millions since Divinity is only gaining poprity. Amongst the top fifty yers, thirty-seven have signed exclusive deals with broadcasters," thedy answered.

    "Is Lucifer or Hades amongst those thirty-seven?" The man asked as he sat on his chair.

    "No, sir. Those two are from the thirteen that haven¡¯t. Many agencies have released their offers online for Hades and Lucifer to approach them, but I don¡¯t think any of them got a response," thedy answered.

    "What¡¯s the highest offer each of them received?" The man asked with an amused smile on his face.

    "For one year contract, the max Lucifer was offered was just above twenty million dors. As for Hades, he was offered a little over fifty million dors," thedy answered.

    "That¡¯s not much. Hah, do one thing. Release our offer from our subsidiarypany. Five Hundred million for Hades and four hundred million for Lucifer. Maybe this can sway them," the man told his assistant before he opened hisptop.

    "I¡¯ll do that, sir," thedy acknowledged before he left the office.

    "I would love to have Hades and that Lucifer, but even if they don¡¯te to me, I have other arrangements too. But still, I¡¯m curious. Just who is this, Hades? Even I can¡¯t find his identity. As for Lucifer, I don¡¯t understand how he is hacking our system."

 Chapter 557 Top ten

    <h4>Chapter 557: Top ten</h4>

    "At Least I know Lucifer is entering Divinity through a hacked system, but Hades is a bigger mystery. It¡¯s showing that he¡¯s entering through a verified terminal, but I still can¡¯t find him. So strange," the man muttered, frowning.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. Even if he isn¡¯t here so we could use him openly; even his hidden action helps us. So it¡¯s fine. Hide. Hide Mr. Hades. As long as that world is converted, you won¡¯t have anywhere to hide," he continued as he closed his eyes.

    ...

    "Alice! Are you ready? We need to leave, or we¡¯ll bete!"

    Standing outside Alice¡¯s room, Ryder was knocking on the door as he called out to her.

    He had a bag in his hand which had his clothes and his essentials. Even though he didn¡¯t need any bag since he had his inventory, he still went for one just for show.

    "Coming! Just a minute!" A voice came from inside the room.

    "I¡¯m waiting in the car. Come out when you¡¯re ready. I¡¯ll keep it on," Ryder informed Alice as he started going downstairs.

    "You¡¯re leaving?"

    As Ryder reached downstairs, he was greeted by Shu.

    "You¡¯re up early today? But yeah, we¡¯re leaving," Ryder replied.

    "Take care of the trip and stay alert. Just give me a call if there¡¯s a problem. I have many resources in the New Capital to help you," Shu reminded Ryder.

    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind," Ryder answered as he smiled. "You stay safe too."

    With that, Ryder left and went inside the car, which he turned on as he started waiting.

    "Janus, are you there?" Ryder asked as he started getting bored.

    His words received no reply from Janus, not even a yes.

    "Cheh, even he¡¯s busy. Whatever."

    Ryder turned on the music as he started tapping his fingers on the dashboard while waiting.

    "Really a legend when it came to singing. I should meet him one day," Ryder said as he sang along with the singer.

    Within what seemed like ten minutes, Alice also stepped out of the Estate with Shu, who escorted her to the car.

    As Alice stepped inside the car, Shu once again wished her a safe trip before he went back.

    ...

    The Airport wasn¡¯t close to the Estate, but it wasn¡¯t far either, as Ryder reached that ce within half an hour.

    After parking the car, he stepped out with the bags and entered the airport with Alice.

    After finishing all the necessary procedures, he entered the flight. Unfortunately, their seats weren¡¯t near each other as they had booked at separate times. When Ryder got the ticket, only one seat was avable, which wasn¡¯t in the business ss.

    Despite having money, he was going to travel in the back because he wanted to be on the same flight.

    As Alice sat alone in the business ss, Ryder tried to find his seat.

    "The middle one, it seems," he muttered as he made sure once again. He had the middle seat of the three.

    All three seats seemed empty, though. He wondered what his co-passengers were going to be like as he took his seat.

    "God, why didn¡¯t I get this idea before. Instead of booking my seat on this flight, I couldn¡¯t have booked both of ours in theter flight, which had seats avable! God, sometimes I¡¯m really slow!"

    "Excuse me, can you move a bit? That window seat is mine, I think."

    As he was cursing his slow thinking, he heard a beautiful sounding voice.

    Looking to the side, he noticed ady that seemed like she was a model. The blondedy seemed to be in herte twenties, dressed in a mini-skirt.

    "Please," Ryder said, surprised as he moved a bit, giving the space for thedy to get to her seat.

    "Thanks," thedy thanked Ryder as she sat down.

    "This is the one."

    Not even a second had passed since thest sat down when Ryder heard a different voice.

    Ryder looked to his left side to realize that it was a different woman but the woman this time seemed like a mature woman who was in herte thirties but still, her body seemed to have curves in all the right ces. As for her voice, Ryder had only heard a few words, but he found her voice to be seductive.

    The darkdy took the other seat beside Ryder.

    ¡¯Uhmm, I guess all that happens is for a reason. I can¡¯tin abouting to this flight either. We should get there as early as we can afterall,¡¯ Ryder thought as he folded his arms.

    "Hello," the dark haireddy looked at Ryder as she reached out her hand. " I have a feeling that I know you from somewhere? Have we met before?"

    "I doubt we did. Because I don¡¯t think I would have forgotten your face if we had met," Ryder answered, smiling.

    "Why? Is my face that bad?" Thedy asked as she chuckled while covering her lips with her fingers.

    "Not at all. On the contrary, you¡¯re just so pretty," Ryder replied.

    Cough! Cough!

    Hearing the words of Ryder, the maturedy smiles. The blondedy, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t help but cough as she cringed at that line.

    "It might be my misconception then," the dark haired woman answered. "Anyway, I¡¯m Diona Rae. Nice to meet you."

    She reached out her hand.

    "Ryder Flynn," Ryder answered as he also reached out his hand and shook her hand.

    "So, are you going to New Capital on vacation?" Diona asked Ryder.

    "Ah, I guess you can say I¡¯m going on a business trip," Ryder answered. "You?"

    "Me? I live there. I came here to meet my husband," Diona answered.

    "Husband? You¡¯re married?" Ryder asked, surprised.

    "Hahaha, what¡¯s so shocking about that?" Diona inquired as she smiled.

    "Nothing. I just didn¡¯t see a wedding ring, so I was surprised. Anyway, you live in the Capital, and your husband lives here? For work, is it?" Ryder asked.

    "Not at all. We¡¯re separated. Oh right, I should make a habit of saying ex before husband," thedy replied. "I always forget that."

    "So he¡¯s your ex-husband?"

    "That¡¯s right. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t have a ring."

    The short conversation continued as the flight took off.

    Through this journey, Ryder had also started a conversation with the blondedy, who was a little less open. She didn¡¯t talk much with Ryder, but she didn¡¯t ignore him either.

    ...

    As the flightnded in the New Capital, Ryder stood up.

    "Thanks for the greatpany."

    "Best of luck with your work."

    After bidding farewell, Ryder left the ne with Alice.

    Watching Ryder leave with Alice, thedies couldn¡¯t help but shake their heads. As Ryder was talking to them, they thought he was interested in them, but he didn¡¯t even bother asking their numbers as he left with a differentdy.

    As Ryder and Alice left the airport, they were thinking about taking a can when they saw a man standing with a board in his hand which had Alice¡¯s full name.

    "I think he¡¯s here to take us. He should be from Necrosis," Alice told Ryder as she noticed her name.

    Ryder and Alice walked up to the man.

    "Excuse me, are you from Necrosis?" Ryder asked the man, who nodded his head.

    "I¡¯m Alice, and he¡¯s my guardian," Alice told the man as she gazed at Ryder.

    "Wee to the New Capital, Miss Alice. I¡¯ll take you to the headquarters where you¡¯ll be briefed. Please enter the car," the man told Alice as he opened the door.

    Ryder and Alice sat in the car before it started moving.

    They were brought to the Necrosis Headquarters straight. The path to Necrosis passed through the ce where the headquarters of the FBI was situated.

    He couldn¡¯t help but remember how he had infiltrated the ce. This was the ce where he had killed his first king. As he saw that ce, he couldn¡¯t help but regret as he sighed.

    If only he knew about this strength absorption thing before, he wouldn¡¯t have lost the opportunity. He could have absorbed one more King.

    As the two of them reached the Necrosis headquarters, they were greeted by a different team that escorted them to a hall where eight people were already sitting.

    "These guys... I remember their faces," Ryder muttered as he smiled.

    In the original timeline, he had seen all these yers on the news channels since they were big names in Divinity. He remembered their in-game name of that time, so he knew they were the top ten yers.

    It seemed like everyone was here except for him and Lucifer.

    ¡¯This is disappointing. I thought that I might finally get to see Lucifer with this, but he still didn¡¯t appear. Will heete? Or is he like me and didn¡¯t wish to join? It would be interesting if he¡¯s leaving one million dors.

    As the two of them entered the hall, the eight yers stood up and approached Ryder and Alice.

    "You must be the top two yers. So which one of you is Hades, and who is Lucifer?" They asked.

 Chapter 558 Ugly Hades

    <h4>Chapter 558: Ugly Hades</h4>

    "Lucifer and Hades? What do you mean? We¡¯re none of them," Ryder stepped forward as he answered.

    "You¡¯re not those two? Then who are you? They said only the top ten yers are allowed to take part, I think. You don¡¯t look like a staff either?" One of the guys asked Lucifer.

    "Ah, I think you¡¯re misunderstanding something. It¡¯s not that only the top ten yers can take part. My sister isn¡¯t in the top ten, but she also got lucky and got an invitation. I¡¯m her guardian," Ryder replied, acting ignorantly.

    "She¡¯s not in the top ten? And she was invited? Why weren¡¯t we told about this before?"

    "This is strange. So more than ten yers will take part? Interesting."

    The new news came as a surprise to most of them that hadn¡¯t known this as Necrosis hadn¡¯t exined anything either.

    While most of the yers were shocked about them, there was one girl in the group that was looking at Alice curiously.

    " She was specially invited, so something must be special about her. What¡¯s your level?" The girl asked Alice.

    "I¡¯m level Sixty-two," Alice answered.

    "Huh? Not a bad level, but still, nothing special either. So it can¡¯t be because of your level or strength. Could it be because of your ss? What¡¯s your ss in Divinity?" the dark-haired girl asked again.

    "My ss is Divine Oracle," Alice answered again.

    "Divine Oracle? Never heard about that. Could it be a special ss that¡¯s received after doing some unknown set of tasks in the proper sequence?" A man muttered, curious.

    "Send like that. This must be why she was invited. Because of her Unique ss," another man chimed in as he brought his hand out of his pocket.

    "So that¡¯s how it is. I think I understand it now. Only special yers are invited. The top ten yers and the yers with special sses. It looks like this isn¡¯t going to be as easy as I thought," A short man said.

    Hearing his words, the rest of the men turned to look at the short man weirdly.

    "Did you really think it was going to be easy? Hades should be taking part as well. I have no idea how strong he is not, but still, at the speed he was growing when levels were visible, he could very well be above level hundred by now and not by a little."

    "That¡¯s right. There¡¯s Lucifer too. He¡¯s at Rank Two. Those two are really strong. But still, the real nightmare would be Hades. Did you see how many Unique Treasures he had? It¡¯s like he has a cave where he can get any treasure he wants."

    "Yeah, it¡¯s weird. Even I don¡¯t understand how he does it. I thought it was because he was rted to Necrosis, but even they denied that they had any rtion to Hades. That guy must have some crazy luck."

    "I wonder what he looks like. He must be a tall and handsome man. He might as well be a billionaire who can buy any treasure he wants in Divinity? Whoever he is, it¡¯ll be fun to meet him."

    Throughout the conversation, there seemed to be only five of the eight people that were talking. As for the other three, they remained entirely silent.

    "I don¡¯t know about this Hades, but maybe he¡¯s an ugly guy? Or a broke fellow who is just lucky?" Ryder chimed in, smiling. It was fun hearing people talk about them.

    They were so wrong about many things. Level hundred yer? He was way above five hundred already.

    ¡¯They are wrong about many things except one. They¡¯re pretty spot on about my looks. I¡¯m tall and handsome as well, aren¡¯t I right, Janus?¡¯ Ryder asked Janus in his thoughts, jokingly.

    "If Handsome meant looking like you, then yeah. If we go by the normal definition of this world from earth¡¯s standard then, noments," Janus finally responded as he heard Ryder¡¯s words.

    "You, Mr. Guardian! Stay silent! What do you know about Hades to make thatment? I¡¯m his fan! Stop ruining my dreams already and keep your mouth shut!"

    It seemed as if Ryder¡¯s words about Hades had triggered one the dark-haired girl that had asked Alice about her ss.

    "Who might you be?" Ryder asked the girl even though he already knew who he was.

    "I¡¯m Rank Seven, Naomi!" The girl replied proudly.

    "So, Rank Seven Naomi, please exin why I should stay silent?" Ryder asked, amused. "It¡¯s not like I said anything about you. The only one who canin is Hades himself. When he gets here, tell him what I said."

    "You! Shut up! I¡¯m a high-ranking yer! How can you talk to me like that? Do you even know how many channels ran after me to sign me?" Naomi told Ryder, seemingly upset.

    "Uh, should I care how many channels came after you? It¡¯s not like you¡¯re Hades. So however many came after you, came to you because they couldn¡¯t get Hades and the others, isn¡¯t that right? Rank Seven Naomi?" Ryder asked,ughing.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but today he was having fun annoying thisdy.

    "You! Shut up, shut up, shut up! Don¡¯t talk to me! You¡¯re making my blood boil!" Naomi thundered before she stormed back to the sofa. She didn¡¯t want to talk to this foul mouth guy.

    The other yers also walked back as the introduction was over, leaving only one guy behind.

    The blonde man closed in on Ryder before he said, "I must say, you¡¯re really good at words, bro. By the way, I also think Hades would be ugly. I guess we¡¯ll see today."

    "You must be the current Rank Four Vien? Right?" Ryder asked the man, recognizing him.

    "That¡¯s right. I thought you said you don¡¯t know much about Divinity. How did you know about me?" Vien asked Ryder.

    " I just saw you on a news channel. You¡¯re pretty good yourself. Best of luck for thepetition," Ryder answered.

    In reality, he knew Vien in the original timeline. Vien had even joined up with him to finish some missions. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t in the top ten at that time. Surprisingly, he reached number four in this timeline. Things really were different.

    "Thank you. I think I¡¯ll really need that," Vien replied as heughed.

    He shifted his gaze to Alice as he continued, "Best of luck to you as well, Young Lady. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have fun at least."

    He also walked back to his seat with Alice and Ryder, who sat near him.

    Time kept passing slowly as ten minutes were over. Other than Ryder and Vien, not many people were talking.

    Soon, the entrance door opened as a few people stepped inside.

    The man in the lead was dressed in a ck coat and ck pants, looking entirely professional. He was apanied by a few guards and ady that seemed like an assistant.

    "It looks like all the yers are here. We shall start the briefing without wasting your time. My name is Ion. I¡¯m the Director of Necrosis Corporation and also the big boss as a few people jokingly call me," the man introduced himself.

    "And she is my personal assistant. So are you all ready for the briefing about this contest?" Ion asked the ten people who were inside the room.

    "Wait a minute. We are only nine, and thatdy isn¡¯t even from the top ten. As for that man, he is her guardian. So that means at least two people are still missing, Lucifer and Hades," Naomi chimed in as she reminded the man that Hades wasn¡¯t here.

    She was his fan and didn¡¯t want him to miss it. In any case, she didn¡¯t think she could even win against everyone else. All she came here for was to meet Hades and maybe help him.

    "Not at all. I already know those two aren¡¯t here, and I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll being either. They refused the offer and didn¡¯t reach out to us. I believe they don¡¯t want to take part," Ion exined with a calm smile on his face as he looked at Naomi.

    "Wait a minute, did you really say that Hades doesn¡¯t want to take part? Seriously? Does he hate money or something? I mean, he really has the best chance to win, and still, he isn¡¯t taking part?" Rank Five yer Beming asked, surprised.

    "It could also be that he really doesn¡¯t want to show his face? Maybe he actually us ugly as my friend here said?" Vien chimed in as he gestured towards Ryder. "He doesn¡¯t want to show his face even if it means losing a billion dors?"

    "Shut up! You¡¯re ugly! Stop talking!" Naomi snapped at Vien as she heard him talk bad about Hades.

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s about his looks," Beming again said. "I mean, he also said no to all deals that the channels offered him. I heard he even refused the contract worth fifty million dors. They didn¡¯t even want him to show face. He still refused. I think he really doesn¡¯t want money. Naomi could be right. Maybe he¡¯s a billionaire."

 Chapter 559 Tasks

    <h4>Chapter 559: Tasks</h4>

    "Forget Hades and Lucifer for now. They aren¡¯t going toe. So listen to what I have to say. I¡¯ll tell you the rules so that you guys can leave and mentally prepare yourself," Director Ion chimed in, getting the yers out of their own separate conversation.

    His voice attracted the attention of people towards him as everyone started focusing.

    "That¡¯s better. So, as you may know, you all have different levels, but that won¡¯t matter. In the battles, your levels won¡¯t give you an advantage or disadvantage."

    "Because you¡¯ll be given separate tasks of your own, depending on your level. And the one who finishes his tasks the fastest will be the winner of the Tournament and will take home the Billion Dor Prize."

    As for the individual trials, they will be broadcasted live before the world. Moreover, nothing is banned in the tournament. You can use anything to your advantage. Since you know the trials of your opponents, you can even try to obstruct them or kill them if you can," Ion exined.

    "Will the yer who died be disqualified?" Naomi asked, curious.

    "That¡¯s right. If you die, you¡¯re out. It doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re killed by an NPC, a monster, or the other yers. So be careful," Ion replied.

    "So there are two ways to win in that case. Finish your trial fastest or leave your goal and try to kill all other yers. Thetter sounds like a better option for the stronger yers but finding the other yers in itself would be a tough task. I doubt our tasks will be near each other," Vein chimed in, finding it fascinating.

    "That¡¯s right. Personally, I¡¯ll say the chance of winning by killing other yers is really small. So I would suggest that you all focus on your trials instead," Ion agreed.

    "So I¡¯ll tell you about your trials now. Come with me," he said as he started walking towards the door, which was on the other side of the room.

    The ten yers started following after Ion, but he suddenly stopped as he nced back.

    "You are Alice¡¯s guardian, right?" He asked, observing Ryder.

    "Yes, I am," Ryder answered.

    "I don¡¯t know why but I find you a bit familiar. Have we met before?" Ion asked as he squinted his eyes.

    "I don¡¯t think so. I would have remembered if we did," Ryder answered, shaking his head.

    He was sure he hadn¡¯t met Ion before. Only Shu had met this guy.

    "I suppose you¡¯re right," Ion nodded before he left the hall. Ryder and the others also went after him.

    They were taken deeper inside the facility inside what seemed like a movie theatre. There was a giant screen in the front while many chairs were ced before the screen.

    "Select a seat and enjoy the show," Ion told the yers before he also sat on the seat at the front.

    Each of the yers took a seat they preferred.

    Soon, everyone was sitting.

    "Alright, Maya, show the first Trial," Ionmanded after everyone was settled.

    After his words, a hologram appeared in the room, seeming like a young girl.

    ¡¯Maya? So she¡¯s not just the System of the game, but they use her algorithm here as well. Pretty interesting,¡¯ Ryder thought as he recognized Maya.

    The hologram of Maya looked towards the massive screen and gently flicked her fingers, making the screen turn on.

    "The trial for Rank Three yer, Death of Emperor Luke," Maya dered as a map showed on the massive screen which was pointing at one of the Empires in the Game.

    "yer Number three needs to assassinate the Emperor of Lukedonia without dying."

    The screen also showed the stats of the Emperor, which was pretty shocking.

    Even Ryder was amazed. He remembered that guy. He was a powerful NPC. He was level Two Hundred and Thirty in the original timeline, and it seemed like he was the same in this timeline too.

    Moreover, Ryder also remembered getting some quests from this guy. Overall he liked that guy.

    ¡¯Strange. Why do these people want to kill Luke? If I were naive, I wouldn¡¯t have cared. I would have just thought that he¡¯s an NPC, so it didn¡¯t matter. But now I know that world is real."

    "So is Emperor Luke. Why does Necrosis want him assassinated? What would they achieve? Is this really as innocent as it seems?¡¯ Ryder thought as he stared at Emperor Luke on the screen.

    Not only Ryder but others were also frowning at this revtion. They needed to kill such a powerful guy? This really was tough. It looked like it wasn¡¯t going to be easy to get those Billion Dors.

    "I¡¯m sure you understand your Trial now? It¡¯s as simple as it can get. I don¡¯t think we need to exin more about this. Still, if you have any confusion, you may ask," Ion asked the person who had received this task.

    As he received no response, he understood that it was fine.

    "Alright, next," Ion said.

    " Trial for Number Four," Maya again took the lead. "Clear the Dungeon of Yamina."

    The visuals on the screen again changed as it showed the map of the dungeon and the level of monsters inside.

    It didn¡¯t seem like this trial was any easier than the previous trials. In fact, it only seemed tougher.

    "The minimum level to enter the Dungeon is Level 200! How can I even think about clearing it? It¡¯s impossible!" Vien eximed as he stood up. This Trial was crazy.

    He even wondered if they were intentionally giving them Trails that were impossible so that none of them could win? It seemed to be highly possible.

    "Are you intentionally making it impossible?" He couldn¡¯t help but ask. "If all the trials are like this, then none of us would win."

    "Don¡¯t worry. We have a measure against that too. If none of you win, the Billion Dor Prize will be equally distributed amongst you all. It¡¯s so that you don¡¯t think we made the Trials impossible to save our money," Ion replied, smirking.

    "There¡¯s no benefit to us by making it so that none of you win. The trials are hard, but they are how they are, and they won¡¯t be changed," he further added.

    "Maya, move on to next," hemanded Maya.

    "Rank Five Beming. Your Trial is to infiltrate the Demon Realm and kill the maid known as Miyali," Maya dered.

    ¡¯What the f*ck!¡¯

    Hearing the next mission, Ryder had almost stood up in shock, but he controlled himself. He couldn¡¯t expose his identity.

    Still, he was even more confused. ¡¯They want to kill Miyali? Why? They knew she was close to Hades. Could it be that they want to use this mission to achieve some scheme rted to me?¡¯

    ¡¯With each passing second, it seems to be getting too confusing. I wonder if I should just use force and ask Ion about everything," he wondered.

    "Don¡¯t even think about this," Ryder had only thought when he heard the voice of Janus.

    ¡¯Why?¡¯ Ryder asked Janus.

    "Don¡¯t do anything before you absorb Aluren¡¯s strength tomorrow," Janus said. His tone sounded especially strict this time.

    ¡¯Fine. I¡¯ll wait one more day then,¡¯ Ryder replied.

    While Ryder talked to Janus, Maya exined to the other yers about the Demon Realm.

    She told them that it was a special realm which was a part of Divinity, hidden from the main world.

    "Next Trial, Number Six. Your task is to create a war between the Empire of Estrus and the Empire of Tiano. You can choose any method or try anything. As long as there¡¯s an official war, your trial will be sessful," Maya said, moving over to the next yer.

    As she told this mission, the yers that had received the mission before her seemed upset.

    "She is lucky. She got such an easy trial. All she needs is to create one big enough misunderstanding, and she wins. This is annoying," Vien muttered under his breath as he heard this mission.

    Unfortunately, hisints didn¡¯t achieve anything as Ion had already dered that these missions were final. In any case, it was their money and their tournament. He couldn¡¯t tell them how to give trials, no matter how unfair they were to some yers.

    "Number Seven, Your..."

    The briefing continued as Maya kept telling everyone their mission before it was finally the turn of Alice.

    "Next, wildcard entry Alice," Maya said as she nced at Alice.

    "Your task is to go to the Special Realm of Undead Region and kill the niece of Vampire King," Maya said.

    ¡¯What the heck? Do you even know how strong the Vampire King is? He is literally as strong as the High Duke! To ask Alice to kill anyone close to him, are they crazy?¡¯ Ryder thought as he clenched his fist.

    He wanted to curse them out loud for giving such an impossible mission, but he again controlled himself.

    If he told his mind, he was sure that they would ask how he knew about the strength of the Vampire King.

 Chapter 560 Do you believe in Gods

    <h4>Chapter 560: Do you believe in Gods</h4>

    Ryder kept his silence and let the briefing be over.

    As everything was over, the screen turned off as Maya disappeared.

    Ion and his staff stood up and turned towards the ten guests.

    "I¡¯m sure you all understood your trials better? The details of your Trials will also be uploaded on our official site tomorrow. So be wary; not only the yers that are participating in this event but other yers can also interfere in your tasks if they wish. There is no restriction against it," he told the yers.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll take my leave then. My assistant will give you a tour of the facility after which you¡¯ll be taken to the hotel that we booked for you. We have also arranged a driver and a ride for all of you in case you want to see the city. Thank you once again. Have a great day," he added before he started leaving. His security followed after him.

    Ion couldn¡¯t help but nce at Ryder once more as he asked, "I¡¯m sorry, but I forgot your name. What was it?"

    Ryder also noticed that strange nce. He wondered why that man was looking at him. Did he know something? Or was it different?

    "I¡¯m Ryder Flynn," Ryder answered.

    "Ryder Flynn, nice name. You¡¯re not from the field of Divinity, I suppose? I hope you like our facility. Please don¡¯t forget to give feedbackter," Ion said, smiling before he left.

    "Please follow after me for the tour. We have some really fascinating ces in our facility. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll love it," the female assistant stepped forward as she told everyone to follow her.

    ...

    Ion walked back to his office and closed the door. Walking to his table, he sat on the chair as he thought curiously.

    "Ryder Flynn... He is different. He¡¯s not normal," Ion muttered as he ced his head on the table, closing his eyes.

    "His aura was so different. It wasn¡¯t the aura of a human. Moreover, I also felt the aura of Aluren on him. That wouldn¡¯t be strange since Aluren keeps sharing his powers with some of his henchmen, but it¡¯s not that either."

    Ion kept lightly hitting his forehead on the table as he thought.

    " He also had the aura of Adrian as well. The aura of two god-sons? I doubt both would be cooperating to help him."

    "No one gives their strength to the men of others. It¡¯s not like Adrian and Aluren are best pals either. Something doesn¡¯t add up here. I need to find more about Ryder Flynn."

    "Too bad that I can¡¯t even contact Aluren and Adrian to ask them directly. I can¡¯t let them know that I¡¯m here or it¡¯ll be over," Ion muttered, frowning.

    He was lost in deep thought as he wondered what he should do.

    After a long time, he raised his head as he spoke softly, "Maya? Come here."

    At his voicemand, the hologram of Maya once again appeared before him.

    "Maya, I want you to get me all the details about the man known as Ryder Flynn."

    Maya nodded before she disappeared.

    "The man who has the aura of two god-sons. I wonder who you are, Mr. Ryder Flynn," the man muttered as he nced at the door. "Not only that, but you also have some other strange aura that I can¡¯t put a finger on. But that aura also seems all too familiar. It¡¯s not the aura of Earth. You¡¯re very interesting."

    ...

    While Ion was taking a greater interest in him, Ryder was walking inside the facility, taking the tour with Alice.

    Except for the confidential sites and the server room, they were given a tour of all other ces, including the cafeteria of the staff.

    As the facility was very big, it took them over two hours to finish the tour, after which they were given lunch.

    Everyone departed after lunch in the separate cars that were assigned to them, which took them to their hotel. Surprisingly, each yer had received a room on a separate floor for some reason.

    As for Alice and Ryder, they had received two rooms that were near each other.

    Despite getting two rooms, Ryder was with Alice.

    "Alice, what do you think about your trial?" Ryder asked Alice.

    "It¡¯s tough, so I don¡¯t know if I can do it. Even if I can, it¡¯ll take a long time," Alice replied.

    "Not a long time. It¡¯ll take an impossible amount of time. You won¡¯t do it; take your name out of this event," Ryder said firmly.

    "I met that Vampire King whose rtive you have to kill. He¡¯s a different deal altogether. You know the members of your Spirit Realm? The Generals?" Ryder asked Alice, remembering about the war.

    "Yeah, I did. What about them? Is he as strong as them?" Alice inquired.

    "He isn¡¯t as strong as them. He is much, much stronger than them. You have no idea. Moreover, I don¡¯t feel right about these trials. I can¡¯t let you take part," Ryder told Alice.

    "But I already registered. If I don¡¯t take part, they might take legal action," Alice told Ryder, frowning.

    "Don¡¯t worry about any legal action. I¡¯ll take care of everything. Oh wait, I have a better idea," he suddenly let out as he smiled.

    "What better idea?" Alice asked.

    "Just tell them that you¡¯re sick and you can¡¯t take part," Ryder said, grinning.

    "We¡¯re in their hotel. Won¡¯t they know that I¡¯m not sick if they send a doctor?"

    "They won¡¯t. I have a pill. Just take it and you¡¯re set. Even the Doctors won¡¯t be able to know that you¡¯re not sick."

    ...

    The day was almost over as the night arrived. The preparation of the drama was already finished as Ryder gave Alice a pill. It was a pill that he had purchased from the system.

    It could increase the body temperature of Alice without actually hurting her. In fact, it was written that after the person ate the pill, he wouldn¡¯t even feel that their temperature was high.

    Moreover, it also created an illusion around the person so that they looked even sicker.

    "Eat this pill in the morning, alright?"

    Ryder gave Alice the pill before he continued, "I¡¯ll call and inform Necrosis that you¡¯re sick and that you want to remove yourself from the tournament. They might send a doctor. As soon as hees, eat the pill."

    Alice again nodded.

    "That¡¯s better. Now sleep. I¡¯ll just..." Ryder got off the bed as he spoke, but he couldn¡¯t even finish before Alice caught his hand.

    "Don¡¯t leave tonight. I don¡¯t want to be here alone," Alice told Ryder weakly.

    "I¡¯m not leaving, idiot. I¡¯m just going to the washroom," Ryder answered as he freed himself before he left.

    Coming out of the washroom, he got into the bed beside Alice.

    The two of them remained on the bed for ten minutes, where none of them spoke anything.

    The silence was ultimately broken by Alice.

    "What is happening with our life?" She asked Ryder.

    "What do you mean?" Ryder asked, not understanding her words.

    "I mean... Things haven¡¯t been the same between us in a long time. I don¡¯t know why but I feel like you¡¯ve been really distant recently. Did I do something?" Alice asked Ryder as she sat up.

    Ryder also sat up.

    "I don¡¯t know why you feel that way. For me, everything is the same. However, I agree that things are different than before. Before, I was a programmer, and I spent most of the time at home. Even though we were poor, we had time for each other, and that was enough."

    "But things have been really different. I got a big business, and then even more things happened that made my life very hectic. I don¡¯t know how long it would be like this, but I hope not for long," Ryder told Alice as he sighed.

    "I am really sorry for making you sad, but my life itself has turned upside down. There are so many things that I didn¡¯t know about. Troubles just keeping, and I am tangled in them every time, even though I don¡¯t want to," he added.

    "Then tell me what troubles. I haven¡¯t said anything in a long time, but really, you haven¡¯t told me anything. You are stressed often, and I can see it, but please tell me. Or do you really not believe me? You think I¡¯ll tell someone else?" Alice asked, staring at Ryder.

    "It¡¯s not that. It¡¯s just that there are some things that I can¡¯t tell you," Ryder replied, sighing.

    He realized that he couldn¡¯t talk about Janus or things rted to him. It was the rule.

    "Alright, Alice, tell me one thing," he suddenly said.

    "Yes?" Alice asked.

    "Do you believe in gods?" Ryder inquired.

    "I do. I even believe in heaven and hell," Alice replied.

    "And do you believe that there are gods amongst us? Walking on earth? Like literal gods from Heaven?" Ryder asked Alice.

 Chapter 561 Target Change

    <h4>Chapter 561: Target Change</h4>

    "This... What are you trying to say? I can¡¯t answer that as I don¡¯t know," Alice responded, unable to answer. "I never really thought about it, but maybe."

    " Think about that question. That¡¯s all I can tell you. My troubles are bigger than you can understand at this point," Ryder told Alice as he again fell on the bed.

    "The world is a much moreplicated ce. Just know that myths are true, and nothing is impossible," he said softly before he closed his eyes. "Get some sleep now."

    Seeing him, Alice couldn¡¯t help but wonder what his words meant. Myths are true, and nothing is possible? Talking about gods? Did he really say that gods are real in vague terms? Gods are walking amongst them? She started putting the pieces together from whatever slight hint she got from Ryder.

    ....

    "I found everything about Ryder Flynn," Maya told Ion in his office as she finished the task.

    "Tell me. Who is he?" Ion asked.

    "Ryder Flynn, born in the states. His parents had died when he was young, killed in a truck ident. As for the driver of that truck, it was a worker of Gian Transport Company. The man was sentenced to..."

    "You¡¯re shifting the focus. I don¡¯t want to know about the driver. You¡¯re here to tell me about Ryder Flynn," Ion reminded Maya.

    "After his parent¡¯s death, he lived with a girl known as Alice, who is a daughter of their family friend. They have stayed together throughout the years. As for their lifestyle, it was quite modest."

    "Ryder Flynn¡¯s profession was of a Software Developer who developed small budget games. He didn¡¯t work for anypany."

    "Also, when I was checking his records, I found out that he had purchased a Divinity sses set," Maya told Ion.

    "For Alice?" Ion asked.

    "No. Alice brought one herself," Maya answered.

    "Interesting. I thought I heard him mention that he doesn¡¯t know much about Divinity and he doesn¡¯t y. So he was lying," Ion muttered, grinning. "Did you find his registration details? What is his character? Show me his journey in Divinity."

    "There is no registration data rted to Ryder Flynn. I didn¡¯t manage to find any details," Maya answered.

    "Oh," Ion muttered in disappointment. "So it¡¯s quite possible that he didn¡¯t really y. In that case, he wouldn¡¯t be lying. So he bought the sses and didn¡¯t y. That¡¯s also strange. Why did he buy then?"

    "Alright. Continue telling more about him," he said.

    "Ryder Flynn went to a Betting Arena one day where he won over a million dors. That is when he started bing richer. He opened apany of himself which is known as Divine Corporation, which is doing good so far. He also brought an Aviation Company and merged the two together," Maya answered.

    "Moreover, his record shows that he continued going to the betting arena and kept winning. Until now, he has won over fifty million dors and lost next to nothing," she said.

    "His luck seems to be good. A bit too good," Ion muttered, amused.

    "Get the code of the sses that he purchased and check it. I want to know if these sses were used or not. Or if they were messed with. I have a feeling that this guy could be Lucifer," He further said.

    "He isn¡¯t. I ran a facial and body dimensions check between the two. They are different people," Maya replied.

    "Check with Hades then. I want to be sure," Ion said.

    Maya nodded her head as she closed her eyes.

    "Zero percent match. He isn¡¯t Hades," Maya replied.

    She didn¡¯t know that Janus had taken thorough precautions. He had subtly changed the body built of Ryder. This wasn¡¯t something that yers could do, as Divinity was mostly a realistic experience. If they changed their body proportions, this was registered in the Database of Divinity as a separate file.

    There was no such file about the character of Hades. So at least it was certain that he wasn¡¯t changing his body proportions.

    As for the file about details of Hades and his login location and other data that could be used to catch Ryder, they were also in the system of Divinity. Unfortunately, that data seemed to corrupt right from the moment Hades first registered. Even Maya couldn¡¯t recover that corrupt data. It was the work of Janus, after all.

    "Interesting. So he¡¯s neither Hades nor Lucifer. Or it could also be that he is one of them, but he took some precautions and managed to change his body without creating any alert. Pretty interesting," Ion muttered as he frowned.

    "Continue and tell me more about him. Did he ever go to Russia?" Ion asked Maya.

    "No such record exists. He hasn¡¯t visited Russia," Maya replied.

    "Strange. How did he contact Adrian then? Oh right, Adrian also came to this country. So it should be then," Ion said as he suddenly realized what it was.

    "That should be when he met Adrian and got him to share some of his powers. But still, he¡¯s fascinating. I really want to ask him a few questions, but I can¡¯t. If he really knows Aluren and Adrian, he might have ways to contact them. If they find out about me, it¡¯ll be a mess."

    He stood up and walked over to the window before he gazed outside. It had started to rain outside.

    "I can¡¯t take the risk. It could also be Adrian and Aluren who sent him here to test me? If I take any action, they¡¯ll know. It seems like this Divinity is really starting to raise some suspicions. I need to increase the pace."

    ...

    While Ion was worrying about Aluren, Itsuki was also thinking about Aluren.

    He was walking back and forth in his office.

    "What actually happened? I can¡¯t contact Aluren. He said he found that Ryder Flynn, and since then, he himself has disappeared? Something isn¡¯t right," Itsuki muttered.

    ....

    In the distant country of India, Janus was searching for the Lord of Space. He himself was seemingly looking worried.

    "Everything is moving too fast. Lord of Space is missing, and Itsuki is getting suspicious. Ryder needs to get to Itsuki and take him out, but there¡¯s also that guy. I thought he could kill him first, but that will take time."

    "Tomorrow Ryder will be able to absorb Aluren¡¯s strength, and then killing Ion will take time too. In that time, Itsuki can very well find out about Aluren¡¯s death. I need to change ns," Janus thought as he stopped to nce at the sky.

    ...

    Itsuki called for his assistant inside his office.

    "Yes, sir?" The assistant asked.

    "Contact our sources in America and ask them to find Aluren and what happened to him. I want that information in two days," Itsuki said to his assistant, who nodded her head.

    "It shall be done."

    ...

    Ryder had fallen asleep. Alice was also sleeping now when Ryder suddenly woke up.

    There was a beeping sound in his head that kept ringing as if an rm was going off inside his head.

    "What the heck is this? Am I going crazy?" Ryder muttered as he frowned.

    Even though the rm in his head wasn¡¯t hurting him, it was annoying the heck out of him.

    As he woke up, the rm also stopped.

    "Good Morning," Janus¡¯ voice appeared in Ryder¡¯s head next.

    "So this was your work?" Ryder asked as he got off the bed.

    [Ding... A new mission has been issued to you.]

    [Mission: Go to Japan tomorrow as soon as you can and kill the owner of Itsuki Corporation, Itsuki Yamada]

    [Time limit: Three days]

    [Mission Rewards: Strength of another god-son and two thousand Origin Points]

    [Punishment for Failure: Your secret will be exposed, and everyone close to you will die]

    "This... Do you really have to do this? Can¡¯t you directly tell me that Itsuki is the next god-son that I need to kill?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly.

    After all this time, he had understood Janus all too well. Whenever he wanted Ryder to do something, he didn¡¯t directly tell it but used the missions as an excuse.

    "Can you at least tell me how many more god-sons are left now?" He asked Janus.

    "There are seven left now that I know of. Before Aluren, there were eight that I know of," Janus told Ryder.

    "So I need to kill more. It doesn¡¯t matter. Only the first few times will be tough. But after I absorb the strength of the first few god-sons, it would be child¡¯s y," Ryder said.

    "Let me try to find tickets. Hopefully, I¡¯ll find one of tomorrow."

    He walked back to the bed and opened an app from where he tried to book tickets.

    "Seats are avable. Not bad. Early morning flight. It sucks that I can¡¯t sneak inside the Necrosis and kidnap Ion. Janus told me to wait till tomorrow before absorbing the strength of Aluren. He doesn¡¯t even let me go after Ion without absorbing the strength. Such a good chance wasted."

 Chapter 562 Link with Itsuki

    <h4>Chapter 562: Link with Itsuki</h4>

    "Alice, wake up," Ryder said as he tried to wake up Alice, who seemed to be lost in a deep sleep.

    He even tried shaking her to wake her up, ultimately breaking her sleep.

    "Huh? Are doctors here? Wait, I¡¯ll eat that pill right now," Alice said as she sat up. She couldn¡¯t help but run her eyes that were barely opening as she was still so sleepy.

    "You don¡¯t need to take that pill anymore. We¡¯re not going with an excuse. We¡¯re leaving openly," Ryder told Alice. "Get prepared. We¡¯re going to Japan."

    "What? What happened to the old n? And why are we suddenly going to Japan?" Alice asked as the shock made her open her sleepy eyes.

    "I have something important to do in Japan. It suddenly came up. Since I don¡¯t want to leave you behind, I¡¯m taking you with me," Ryder told Alice. "Not get up and get ready. The tickets are booked. We¡¯ll leave from here."

    Alice nodded as she got off the bed.

    ...

    Within half an hour, Alice got ready for travel. Ryder carried the bags as he left his room with Alice. He had just left the ce when he stopped as he caught the sight of guards standing right before their rooms.

    "What are you people doing here?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "We are from Necrosis. We were sent here to guard the rooms of the yers to make sure that nothing happened to them. Think of us as your personal guards," the ck-clothed man told Ryder.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but we don¡¯t need any security. One of our rtives has expired. We can¡¯t take part anymore. We¡¯re leaving," Ryder told the man as he started leaving.

    "Wait. We don¡¯t have any such information from the higher-ups," the guards said as they blocked Ryder¡¯s path.

    "Have you informed them?" They asked. " Please do so if you haven¡¯t. As long as they give us permission, we¡¯ll let you leave."

    "You¡¯ll let me leave?" Ryder asked, frowning. "I think you might be in some misunderstanding here. You¡¯re not keeping us hostage here. We were guests, and now we want to leave. We don¡¯t need anyone¡¯s permission to leave. As for contacting your higher-ups, I¡¯ll inform themter."

    " We¡¯re gettingte at the moment, so step aside. I¡¯ll call them. When I¡¯m in the cab," he said, gesturing to them to move.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but we can¡¯t. Wait, I¡¯ll call them myself and ask," the guard told Ryder, not moving at all.

    "My friend, please move. If you treat me like a prisoner, I¡¯ll treat you like a kidnapper. And trust me, I don¡¯t treat kidnappers nicely. You can ask the ones that tried kidnapping herst time," Ryder said, squinting his eyes.

    "We can¡¯t let you leave unless we have orders from above. That¡¯s final," the guard told Ryder, not worrying in the least. "Also, we also worked in special-ops. So please don¡¯t think threatening us is a good idea. Please cooperate with us."

    "Fine. You want it the hard way, let it be the hard way," Ryder said as he turned to look at Alice.

    " Hold my bags and step back," he told Alice as he gave her the bag.

    "Don¡¯t fight, please. Let¡¯s call the cops," Alice told Ryder as she looked at him with concern.

    "We don¡¯t have time to wait for the cops. As I said, I will bete, and I can¡¯t afford to miss my flight. It¡¯s really urgent to get there," Ryder said, smiling wryly. "Don¡¯t worry; it doesn¡¯t take long."

    Alice gave up as she stepped back.

    Ryder looked around the hallway to make sure that there were no cameras there. Unfortunately, there happened to be two cameras there.

    "Well, it¡¯s the old trick then," Ryder muttered as he ced his hands in his pocket. The guard looked at him carefully, wondering what he wanted to take out of his pocket.

    As Ryder brought out his hands, he was holding nothing. But he had already done what he wanted to. The cameras in this entire hotel were disabled for a few minutes.

    "Alright, you, the special-ops. Let me see what they train you," he said as he stepped towards the man.

    The guards didn¡¯t react or hit Ryder, just watched. As Ryder got close to them, he didn¡¯t attack them either. Instead, he tried to walk past them. He knew they would try to stop him, and that¡¯s what they did.

    A fistnded on Ryder¡¯s shoulder, pushing him back.

    Unfortunately, the man who was trying to push Ryder back couldn¡¯t help but frown. Ryder was like a road roller. His strength wasn¡¯t enough to stop Ryder.

    As he was about to use another hand, he saw Ryder grin. A fist advanced towards him, cracking the ribs of his stomach while making him fly away.

    The other guards tried to intervene, but they also ended up the same way. Nothing worked on Ryder. His body seemed to be made of stone. No attack of theirs worked while his single p was enough to send them flying.

    Within seconds, all guards were lying on the ground except one. The one Guard was so scared that he was shivering in his boots. He didn¡¯t dare move either.

    Alice tapped on Ryder¡¯s shoulder as she asked, "Why are none of them moving? They¡¯re all standing like statues?"

    Ryder nced at Alice as he responded, "Don¡¯t worry about them. I think they¡¯re meditating."

    As for the guards, none of them had actually died. They were all standing where they had been. In fact, what they saw previously was nothing but an illusion that Ryder had shown them inside their heads since he didn¡¯t want to attack anyone in front of Alice.

    "Let¡¯s go," he said to Alice as he caught her hand and walked past the guards easily.

    He entered the lift with Alice and went to the ground floor, where a cab was already waiting for them. They entered the cab, which took them straight to the Airport.

    From there on, the process was much simpler as they boarded a flight.

    The flight took them straight to the airport in Japan.

    ....

    "Sir, we have news," An assistant entered the cabin of Ion.

    "Yeah, what news?" Ion askedzily.

    "Alice and Ryder Flynn aren¡¯t in their hotel. They left," the assistant told Ion.

    "What do you mean they aren¡¯t there? How can they leave? What were our guards doing?" Ion asked, frowning.

    "They were, ah, standing there in a daze. I don¡¯t know what actually happened, but they im that Ryder beat them up. But there¡¯s not a single wound on their body. I think they were dreaming. But it¡¯s strange. All of them dreamt the same thing at the same time," the assistant answered.

    "It¡¯s either that or they¡¯re trying to use this story to escape punishment," she further added.

    "Interesting. Showing a dream to all at the same time. Very interesting. Get me the footage of that entire floor. I want to see it myself," Ion told the assistant, who nodded as she left.

    "This Ryder Flynn is getting more interesting by the second. Aura of Aluren and Adrian and being able to use dreams like Itsuki? Intriguing. I wonder why he ran away, though. Wasn¡¯t he here to investigate me? Or could it be that he found out about me already?" His frown deepened as he ced his forehead on the table again.

    "Maya, get me the details of this Ryder Flynn. Where exactly is he right now?" he said.

    "Right away." Maya¡¯s voice echoed in the room.

    Within seconds, Maya appeared before Ion.

    "He booked a ticket to flight 107, going to Japan. He went with Alice. At the moment, he should be on that flight," Maya exined to Ion.

    "As expected. He has some rtionship with Itsuki too. Japan is the domain of Itsuki, and he is going there. Keep an eye on his location. Use the satellites if you need them. I want to see his every action," Ion told Maya, who nodded before she disappeared.

    "I also need to see the Trials. This Ryder Flynn just had to make a mess at a time like this. Couldn¡¯t he have waited one more day?" he muttered, frowning.

    ....

    The flight of Rydernded in thend of Japan. Ryder and Alice left the airport and went to an ordinary hotel that Ryder had managed to book in advance.

    In any case, he didn¡¯t mind not getting an expensive hotel since he wanted to stay under the radar, and this ce seemed the best.

    He had only booked one room in the hotel, but that one room itself was very big.

    "Alice, I¡¯m going to take a shower. I¡¯ll be right out. You stay here," Ryder told Alice as he hastily stepped inside the bathroom.

    After entering the bathroom, he closed the door before he finally brought out the body of Aluren. It was here that he wanted to absorb the body of Aluren.

 Chapter 563 Deadly Pain

    <h4>Chapter 563: Deadly Pain</h4>

    Ryder ced Aluren¡¯s body on the floor of the bathroom as he positioned himself.

    "Janus, I¡¯m ready. Give me his strength," he muttered softly as everything was prepared.

    Janus was standing before the house of one of the god-sons that was residing in India for his trial; even he heard Ryder¡¯s words.

    Janus disappeared swiftly as he appeared inside an empty house.

    ....

    "Prepare yourself. The strength of Aluren will make your body like you never felt before. It would finally be closer to the body of a god than the body of a human," Janus told Ryder.

    " When the process begins, you¡¯ll feel like your body is being destroyed from the inside out. You¡¯ll feel like you¡¯re about to die, and you might even scream in pain. So prepare yourself and iste that ce so that your scream doesn¡¯t leave that ce," he further reminded Ryder, who nodded.

    Ryder took a deep breath as he tried to calm his heart. He had thought that the process was going to be simr to others, but Janus sessfully managed to scare him about this. His motivation was shaken.

    After a few deep breaths, he finally brought out a sticker from his inventory that he ced on the wall, making sure that the noise of this ce wasn¡¯t heard outside. The entire room was sealed.

    After preparing everything, he again took his position as he started the process.

    ...

    Alice remained on the bed, waiting for Ryder. She didn¡¯t know that inside the room, Ryder was inside the bathroom, screaming in extreme agony. She couldn¡¯t hear even the slightest of sound. Even the sound of water falling wasn¡¯t heard by her, which she found strange.

    Inside the bathroom, Ryder was screaming at the top of his lungs as he felt like every nerve in his body was going to burst apart. As for his skin, he felt as if thousands of poisonous snakes were biting him all around the body, leaving their poison inside him.

    Ryder had already understood that Janus had understated how painful it was going to be! It was hundreds of times more painful than he had said.

    "Don¡¯t lose consciousness! And don¡¯t take off your hands! You can do it!" Janusforted Ryder as much as he could, trying to keep Ryder conscious. If he lost consciousness, Aluren¡¯s energy was going to be wasted, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb any more.

    Janus tried his best to keep Ryder awake.

    Ryder also kept holding on even under extreme pain. The only difference was that his body was in pain. As for his spirit, it seemed to be perfectly safe, as ifpletely unaffected from this tiny bit of strength.

    The energy of Aluren started filling up Ryder¡¯s body, making it stronger.

    The entire process continued for what seemed like an hour before it finished. Ryder¡¯s whole body was covered in sweat as his skin had turned red from the pain. His clothes seemed as if he had just taken a shower.

    As for Aluren¡¯s body, it had disappeared entirely.

    As the process ended, Ryder also lost his consciousness as he finally dropped to the ground. His strong will finally stopped working as his frail body fell down.

    ...

    Janus was inside a dark room, smiling. "He actually managed to hold on alone. I thought I¡¯d need to interfere."

    Janus once again disappeared and appeared where he previously was.

    He was standing in front of a house that a god-son was upying with the name of Aryan.

    Just as Ryder had appeared again, he saw the silver-haired boy leave the house with a college bag on his back. He was running as if he was gettingte.

    "Frick! I¡¯m going to bete for physics test. All these tests are ruining my life! How will I finish my trial like this?" He thought as he sighed.

    As the boy was running, he suddenly noticed Janus in the distance.

    He changed his direction and ran towards Janus instead.

    "Sir Janus, what are you doing here?" He asked Janus, frowning.

    "What am I doing here? The answer is simple. I¡¯m looking for someone. As for who I¡¯m looking for, you don¡¯t need to worry. And before you ask, yes. I got permission from everyone beforeing here. I¡¯m not breaking any rules," Janus answered, smiling.

    "Ah, that¡¯s better. Who are you looking for? May I help you?" Aryan asked Janus.

    "Are you sure you want to help me? I thought you were gettingte," Janus inquired as an amusement-filled smile spread across his face.

    "Oh right! I¡¯m gettingte! If I miss the test, finishing my trial will be tougher! I¡¯ll run!" Aryan eximed as he started running.

    "Pleaseeter. That¡¯s the house I live in! I¡¯ll love to talk to you again!" he said, yelling as he ran to make sure Janus heard him.

    "Nice kid. I don¡¯t want to see him die. He¡¯s the only of the seven that I like. But if the other six fail to prepare Ryder¡¯s body, I¡¯ll have a tough choice to make," he muttered as he nced at the silver-haired boy who was running away.

    ...

    Ryder was still lying on the floor unconscious while Alice was sitting outside.

    It had been an hour, but Ryder wasn¡¯t out yet. She couldn¡¯t help but start getting worried. What was he doing for an hour inside? Was he really taking a shower, or was it his stomach that was bad?

    She got off the bed as she decided to check. Getting to the bathroom, she knocked on the door.

    "Are you inside?"

    She didn¡¯t get a response. She again knocked on the door, but there was no response again.

    "Come on, don¡¯t make me worried. Tell me if you¡¯re inside! Answer me!" Alice said even loudly, but there was again no reply.

    Getting no response, Alice started getting even more worried. Could it be that something happened to him?

    "I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll soon be out. Don¡¯t worry about me."

    Just as she was about to get the hotel staff to open the door, she heard Ryder¡¯s voice.

    Inside the bathroom, Ryder was still lying unconscious. It wasn¡¯t him right who had spoken. It was Janus who came to Ryder¡¯s rescue.

    "Are you sure? Why weren¡¯t you answering me? You know how much you worried me?" Alice asked, sighing a breath of relief.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m actually fine. It¡¯s just that my stomach is upset, so I might take a little longer. Give me more time. I¡¯lle out on my own when I¡¯m feeling fine."

    ...

    Three more hours passed before Ryder¡¯s eyes actually opened.

    His body was still aching everywhere. As for his head, it seemed to be thumping.

    He looked around and realized where he was. He weakly pushed his body up as he stepped out of the bathroom.

    "You¡¯re looking so red. Are you sick? Let me call a doctor," Alice said as soon as she saw the condition of Ryder.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. I¡¯m just tired. I need some sleep. Don¡¯t disturb me for the next few hours," Ryder said as he barely managed to walk as he dragged his body to the bed before he fell on it.

    He closed his eyes and started giving his weak body the rest it was aching for.

    Alice kept looking at Ryder, worried. She even checked up on his body every few minutes to make sure he was still fine and breathing.

    Ryder¡¯s reststed for the entire night. Alice didn¡¯t get even an ounce of sleep as she kept taking care of Ryder.

    As Ryder slept the entire night, his reddish skin seemed to have returned to normal. At Least now, he didn¡¯t look like he had received a sunburn. He was looking more like a person that had received a tan at the beach.

    His breathing was also stable throughout the entire night.

    He slowly opened his eyes which happened to coincide with the first ray of sunlight falling on the window of the hotel.

    As Ryder opened his eyes, he noticed Alice looking at him.

    "What happened? Why are you looking at me like that? And your eyes, did you not sleep?" Ryder asked as he sat up.

    Alice shook her head.

    "You idiot, I told you I was fine. I only needed some sleep. Take a nap of a few hours, or you¡¯ll actually get sick instead," Ryder chided Alice as he made her lie on the bed

    ...

    It was eleven in the morning as Alice woke up from her sleep as well.

    She and Ryder ate together before Ryder told her that he needed to leave for a meeting.

    Leaving Alice back in the hotel, he departed.

    Ryder booked a cab which took him straight to the Itsuki Corporation headquarters. He paid the driver and let him leave.

    Standing at some distance from the building, Ryder observed it from top to bottom.

    "So this is where he lives. My next target... A son of god," Ryder muttered as he smirked.

 Chapter 564 Meeting Itsuki

    <h4>Chapter 564: Meeting Itsuki</h4>

    "I need to get as much information about him as I can without letting him know about me. If I go with the stealthy route likest time, I might make it easier. Let me find his weakness," he muttered as he nced at the tall building.

    On the route here, he had read more about Itsuki. He tried to find as much as he could and what came before him was an even more shocking story than him. Just like he had be a rich guy after meeting Janus and became a businessman, Itsuki seemed to be simr.

    From what Ryder could find, Itsuki wasn¡¯t from a business family. In fact, he was believed to be an orphan, and his journey from that point on to here seemed extraordinary. He took over manypanies in Japan and merged them to make his business empire.

    "I need to get close to him to understand him. I can¡¯t track him like I did Aluren. And it doesn¡¯t seem like Janus will give any more help either. He straight refused to give me more help and more origin points as a loan. I¡¯m on my own here."

    Without thinking much, he started stepping towards the Itsuki Corporation.

    He was going to break inside while impersonating their staff.

    As he reached near the tall building, he tapped the shoulder of one of the employees that wereing out of the building.

    "Yes?" The employee asked Ryder, curious.

    "I want you toe with me," Ryder told the man as he looked deep into his eyes.

    "What? Why would I-" the man seemed confused why Ryder wanted him to follow him when his eyes suddenly started closing as if he was sleeping.

    In his sleepy state, he agreed as he started following after Ryder.

    Ryder and the man walked away from the building and traveled on foot as they advanced towards an unknown ce.

    Ryder with the man to a small hotel where he booked a room for three days.

    The receptionist at the hotel couldn¡¯t help but smile as she gave a look to Ryder, believing he was here to have fun with his boyfriend. She was surprised to know that it was going tost for three days.

    As Ryder received the keys, he went into the room with the man and locked the door.

    "This is better," he muttered as he picked up a chair and sat on it. "You go sit on the bed."

    The man hemanded walked to the bed and sat as if he was hypnotized to listen to Ryder¡¯s everymand.

    As the man sat down, Ryder started asking about the ce he worked at.

    He asked what the position of the man in the organization was and how the ce worked. What were the rules and how to get to Itsuki? He especially asked as much as he could about the security precautions of the organization and about Itsuki.

    He asked about the arrival time of Itsuki, his departure, and any distinguished activities he liked doing.

    After a five hour long interrogation, he finished up before he gave the man hisstmand.

    "For the next three days, you¡¯ll live here one a normal guest. You¡¯ll stay in the room, eat what they served, sleep, and repeat. You aren¡¯t allowed to go out and speak," Rydermanded the man. "After three days, you¡¯ll wake up from this and get back to the normal you, forgetting everything that happened here. You understand?"

    "I understand," the man answered.

    "That¡¯s better. Give me your ID card and your clothes. You can wear the robes of the hotel."

    The man took off his clothes and gave them to Ryder.

    Ryder wore the man¡¯s clothes and left that room, using a treasured mask to disguise himself as the man.

    He walked out of the hotel, making sure he wasn¡¯t seen by many people before he walked back to the headquarters of Itsuki Corporation.

    The massive building was the tallest building in the area. As for its entrance, it was heavily guarded.

    Ryder showed the ID card that he had taken from the man before he walked through the scanner. He finally entered the building.

    He walked to the lift through which he went to the top floor.

    As Ryder was interrogating the man, he was surprised to know that his luck was too good. The random man he had nabbed to get the information happened to work on the top floor. It was also the ce where Itsuki¡¯s office was.

    It was his great luck that he just happened to catch the man when he left the building to get lunch.

    Ryder reached the top floor and stepped out of the lift as he walked through the corridors.

    Soon, he was standing before the room, which had seven written on it. From what he knew, this was where he sat. As for Itsuki, he was in room number one.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t go to that area as he saw a few guards standing there. They were surely going to ask why he was going there.

    He knew that the first two days were just going to be for investigation. He was going to understand Itsuki better while staying out of his radar. He didn¡¯t want to be caught.

    Ryder walked inside the office of his own to see two tables ced there. As he had already heard, a woman was also sitting there who worked in the same office.

    Moreover, that woman was Itsuki¡¯s personal assistant. As for the person Ryder was impersonating, he worked here as an analyst but a bit different

    Seeing Ryder, Itsuki¡¯s assistant couldn¡¯t help but ask, "What are you doing here?"

    "Me? What do you mean?" Ryder asked, surprised. Did he recognize him from somewhere? Was his disguise not good?

    "Yeah. What are you doing here so fast? Normally you don¡¯te back until lunch is over, but now you¡¯re here so fast. Did something happen?" Thedy asked Ryder.

    "Nothing. I just felt likeing back and resting in the office," Ryder replied in Japanese in the same ent as the man he was impersonating.

    He walked to the table on the left, which he believed to be his own, and sat on it.

    "Did you finish lunch?" He asked the girl.

    "Not yet. I need to do something for the boss. This Ryder Flynn stuff is troubling me so much. Boss wants me to find him and Aluren but both of them are missing. Even our spies there aren¡¯t able to find any clues about them," thedy answered, sighing.

    "Boss asked me to find his location and what happened to that Aluren guy, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to. He only gave me the deadline of today. If I don¡¯t give him the report today, I¡¯ll be scolded," she continued as she tapped a few keys on herptop.

    ¡¯Itsuki is trying to find Aluren and me? So he knew about me just like Aluren? Could it be that he has the same misunderstanding? That I¡¯m a hidden god-son? How can these guys be such big idiots?" Ryder thought, stunned at the information that he was wanted by Itsuki too?

    ¡¯So that¡¯s why Ryder told me to hurry and get here. He¡¯s in my tail, and I need to be in his tail. The one who gets to victory faster will survive, and the other will die. And I can¡¯t be the other in any case. I need to take Itsuki out at any cost.¡¯

    ¡¯I doubt if I could kill him in one shot. He might have healing like Aluren too. Killing him will take special means. Either I need to take his divine protection out like I did with Aluren, or I need to kill him with other methods.¡¯

    Just as Ryder was wondering what to do, the door opened suddenly as a young man barged inside.

    "Did you find Aluren?" The man asked thedy, who stood up in shock.

    Ryder also stood up as he recognized the face. It was Itsuki himself. He hade to this room to take an update.

    "N-not yet, sir. We are still trying," thedy answered.

    "Well, it doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯re trying hard enough if you can¡¯t even find what happened to him in that city," Itsuki told the woman as he nced around the room and noticed Ryder.

    As soon as his gaze fell on Ryder, he couldn¡¯t help but be surprised as a smile spread across his face.

    "You,e with me to my office," he told Ryder as he stepped out of the room.

    Ryder also followed behind him, wondering if the guy had recognized him. If this was the case, it was going to be a mess, but he was prepared

    He still hoped that the man hadn¡¯t recognized him.

    Ryder walked behind Itsuki as he soon stepped inside the office.

    While Itsuki walked to his chair, he gestured for Ryder to sit as well.

    After sitting, he stared into Ryder¡¯s eyes as he said, "Ryder Flynn if I¡¯m not wrong?"

 Chapter 565 Other Methods

    <h4>Chapter 565: Other Methods</h4>

    Itsuki was sitting before Ryder. He smirked as he asked, "You¡¯re Ryder Flynn if I¡¯m not wrong?"

    Amazed at how fast he was caught, Ryder didn¡¯t deny it. If it was the case, then he didn¡¯t mind. He just needed to y with the cards he was dealt.

    "And you¡¯re Itsuki Yamada, I suppose?" Ryder asked casually as he stopped his disguise. His looks returned to normal.

    He was finally looking like his authentic self.

    "Hahaha, you came to my office, Mr. Ryder. It would be hard for me to believe that you didn¡¯t know about me. Anyway, I was trying to find you myself. I suppose you have some information that I want," Itsuki asked Ryder.

    "Let me guess. You want to know about Aluren?" Ryder asked,ughing.

    "You¡¯re right. I want to know about Aluren. What did you do to him?" Itsuki asked Ryder directly.

    " I think I¡¯m the only person in this world who can answer you, but the question is, why should I? I can think about it if you answer one of my questions too," Ryder replied calmly.

    If one were to see their discussion, they would have thought that two businessmen were talking and not two enemies.

    "Ask me your questions. I¡¯ll answer any one," Itsuki answered as he folded his arms.

    "How did you know that I¡¯m Ryder Flynn? How did you see through my disguise?" Ryder inquired.

    "That? Do you even need to ask that? It¡¯s because I sensed the aura of Aluren on you. Moreover, that¡¯s not the only aura that I can feeling from you. So it wasn¡¯t hard to guess," Itsuki answered.

    "Anyway, Now it¡¯s my turn to get an answer," he further said.

    "Not yet. I want to know more things first. Only then will I answer. Don¡¯t worry; I don¡¯t have many questions," Ryder said, smiling.

    "Ryder, are you forgetting that you¡¯re in my domain? You really think you can force me to do something? At the moment, you¡¯re the one who is at my mercy; it¡¯s not the other way around," Itsuki warned Ryder. "Be careful with your actions."

    "If you think you can, I invite you to stab me or try to kill me. Just know, you won¡¯t get your answers ever in that case," Ryder answered without seeming the least bit worried.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll fulfill your wish," Itsuki let out as a white sword appeared in his hand, which he thrust towards Ryder¡¯s chest. Even though a sword wasing towards him, Ryder didn¡¯t even flinch.

    "You¡¯re not afraid of death; it seems," Itsuki muttered as he stopped his sword just a few millimeters away from Ryder¡¯s neck.

    "Are you afraid of death?" Ryder asked in return. "As the sons of gods, we can¡¯t be scared of death, can we?"

    "Interesting. So you ept that you¡¯re a god-son. Were you here on a hidden trial?" Itsuki asked.

    "If you want any answers, answer me first. When I have all my answers, I¡¯ll start answering," Ryder answered.

    Itsuki stared into Ryder¡¯s eyes, which seemed tost for a long time.

    "Fine! This once, I¡¯ll listen to you. Ask any questions you have," Itsuki ultimately said as he rxed.

    "That¡¯s better. So first question, what do you want to do with me? Why are you and Aluren after me?" Ryder asked his first question.

    "We aren¡¯t after you. We just want to know if you¡¯re a god-son. And if yes, then who. That¡¯s why Aluren went to meet you. But it doesn¡¯t seem like the meeting went well since he¡¯s missing," Itsuki muttered as he sighed.

    "And what if I didn¡¯t tell you about myself? What will you do?" Ryder inquired.

    "We¡¯ll kill you. It¡¯s as simple as that. Either we know about you, and all of us focus on our own trial. Or you die, and we focus on our own trial. In any case, we can¡¯t let any uncertainty exist. The trials are very important to all of us," Itsuki told Ryder.

    "Who else is hunting for me other than you two?" Ryder asked again.

    "No one else at the moment," Itsuki answered. "Anything else?"

    "Come on. Keep asking me your questions. You need time for that formation to take action too. If you don¡¯t keep me distracted, I might notice it. Ask me your next question," he further said, amused.

    Ryder was amazed to hear his words. He knew what Ryder was trying? How?

    From the moment Ryder sat down, he kept his hand under the table. That¡¯s where he brought out a talisman that he had received from the system. He had just pasted the sticker, but Itsuki already knew?

    "Whoever you are, I doubt you know much about me. But those kinds of tricks are useless to me. So can we get over these tricks? You want to kill me? Fight properly like a brave god. And if you don¡¯t want to do that, you can keep using the tricks and waste your time," Itsuki further said.

    "Anyway, ask your next question."

    "What is your trial?" Ryder asked, confused. He remembered hearing about it. The gods were here for their trials. He wanted to know what it was for Itsuki.

    "I apologize, but I can¡¯t answer that," Itsuki answered as he shook his head.

    "Didn¡¯t you expect me to tell you about my identity and my trial? You want trust, then you must answer me as well," Ryder retorted. ¡¯If you don¡¯t, then don¡¯t expect further answers from me as well.¡¯

    "Fine! My trial is to be the richest businessman without letting others be suspicious of my extraordinary origin. As a starting point, I was given a fewpanies. Other than that, I can¡¯t use my powers to finish my trial, or I¡¯ll fail," Itsuki answered.

    "Next question," he continued.

    ¡¯So they have trials like that? Seriously? To make a toppany? What the heck? Are they gods or what?¡¯ Ryder thought, amused.

    ¡¯If one trial was one that, what were the trials for others? Be the best janitor? Bing a movie actor?¡¯

    At first, he thought that their trials were something scheming like something that could destroy the earth, but only now did he know how wrong he was. He had seriously overestimated their trials.

    "If there are no more questions, then I suppose I can start asking?" Itsuki asked.

    "No. I have more questions," Ryder chimed in. "Tell me, how did you know about the trick I was pulling a few moments ago?"

    Hearing the question, Itsuki took a deep breath. "Now you¡¯re just asking nonsensical questions. You aren¡¯t really going to answer me, are you?"

    "Not until I¡¯m fully satisfied with all the answers I want," Ryder replied.

    " I think we won¡¯t go anywhere like that. Let me try a different approach then," Itsuki let out, feeling frustrated now.

    "Bring her in!" He said loudly.

    As soon as hemanded, the door of the office opened as a few guards stepped inside with Alice, whose hands were tied. Her mouth was also tied.

    "Alice?" Ryder eximed in shock as he stood up.

    "Sir down, Mr. Ryder. I know you care for her. If you step closer to her, she¡¯ll be dead," Itsuki said sharply when Ryder had only taken one step towards Alice.

    "You really had to go there?" Ryder asked Itsuki as he clenched his fist and walked back to his seat.

    "Of course. That¡¯s not all. I have more surprise for you," Itsuki said as he again pointed towards the door. "Send him inside too."

    As soon as his words left his lips, more guards stepped inside.

    Ryder again nced back to see that it was also a person he knew! They had brought Shu inside.

    Shu¡¯s hands were also tied, just like his mouth.

    As Ryder saw Shu, he became stunned. It was possible for them to get Alice since she was here, but how did they get Shu?

    Kidnapping Shu and bringing him to Japan was impossible in two days?

    But then again, it was a god-son. Maybe he had other means, Ryder thought.

    "So you¡¯re going after mortals to ckmail me?" Ryder inquired.

    " Of course. Since you don¡¯t answer what I ask normally, I can only ce this card on the table. Two questions. I¡¯ll only ask two questions, and as long as you tell the truth, I¡¯ll free both of them. Think carefully. One answer for one life," Itsuki said,ughing.

    "First question for the life of your friend. What happened to Aluren?" He asked.

    "That question? The answer is simple. Death happened to Aluren. He should already be in hell by now, but if you leave now, you might be able to catch him on the way to hell. Just say the word, and I¡¯ll help you. You won¡¯t even need to thank me," Ryder replied.

    "Oh? You killed Aluren? You mustn¡¯t be weak then," Itsuki muttered, but he didn¡¯t seem shocked to hear about Aluren¡¯s death. It seemed like it was what he already expected.

    "Next and the main question. Who actually are you? Which god is your father?" he asked.

 Chapter 566 Lord of Space Destination

    <h4>Chapter 566: Lord of Space Destination</h4>

    "I¡¯m not a god. I¡¯m just a normal human," Ryder replied. "But I¡¯m not an idiot. So I know this is all fake."

    "This is all fake?" Itsuki asked, curious.

    "That¡¯s right. Every person in this room other than you and me is fake. You know I might not be suspicious for a moment if you had only brought Alice here but bringing Shu gave it away. And as expected, it was all fake," Ryder said as he frowned.

    He was told this by Janus only now. The guards that came, Shu, Alice, they were all fake.

    In fact, Ryder was even a bit upset that Janus didn¡¯t tell him before about this ability of Itsuki. If he had said it before, Ryder wouldn¡¯t have been phased like that.

    "Your ability is illusion and dreams, isn¡¯t it? The illusion you created is pretty good. I think it¡¯s something simr to what I did, but the only difference is that it¡¯s not in my head. It¡¯s the illusion right before my eyes," he further said to Itsuki.

    "Now that I think about it, you aren¡¯t sitting before me either, are you?" He suddenly asked, frowning.

    "So that¡¯s how you knew what I was doing, and that¡¯s how you said that no trick of mine would work on you, isn¡¯t that right? You¡¯re not actually here. You¡¯re in some other ce, actually. You handle all the matters with your illusion. If I¡¯m not wrong, this whole building is under your illusion, right?" He further asked.

    "Pretty clever, Mr. Ryder. I must say, you¡¯ve exceeded my expectations. So, what are you going to do about it? You want to kill me? But I can be anywhere in this world. I can even be in the Philippines or Korea? Or could it be that I¡¯m in Europe? Hahaha, where am I? Guess that too," Itsuki answered,ughing.

    "You¡¯re not anywhere else. You¡¯re still in this building, aren¡¯t you?" Ryder asked as he rubbed his chin.

    "Let me take another guess. You saw me the moment I stepped inside this building since this whole ce is in your control. That¡¯s why you hid in some other room? You sent your illusion with an excuse, acting as if you didn¡¯t know I was already there? How is my guess?" he further asked.

    Hearing his answer, Itsuki finally flinched.

    "Clever. Your guessing is powerful. Who actually are you? I don¡¯t trust that you¡¯re a human. It¡¯s impossible for you to be a human. Who actually are you?" Itsuki asked, frowning. "And even after all this, why do you lie?"

    " You may think that I am lying, but it¡¯s the truth. And if you don¡¯t want to believe me, then I can¡¯t do anything. So I have a better offer. Come to the top of the building with your real self. No fake illusions. Fight me there," Ryder said.

    " If you win, your uncertainty will be over because I¡¯m not going to tell you the truth in any case. I¡¯ll wait for you there. If you¡¯re brave,e. If you¡¯re not, then I¡¯ll leave, and you won¡¯t be able to find me again," Ryder said as he stood up, yawning.

    He walked past the illusions of Alice. Even though he knew she was an illusion, he still tried to touch her to make sure. As expected, his hand passed through her.

    Itsuki watched her leave, frowning. He didn¡¯t try stopping her.

    He instead let Ryder leave. The illusions he had created also disappeared.

    In a different office, the real Itsuki was sitting with his eyes closed.

    "Interesting. His performance wasn¡¯t half bad," Itsuki muttered as he finally stood up.

    ...

    Ryder entered the lift and went to the top of the building.

    As he reached the top of the building, he was able to see most of the city, which seemed really beautiful from here.

    ¡¯Janus, I¡¯m really upset with you. Why didn¡¯t you tell me about Itsuki¡¯s abilities if you knew? You could also have told me about the fact that the god-sons that I absorb leave their aura on me, which makes others recognize me easier?¡¯ Ryder thought, frowning.

    He didn¡¯t speak out loud since he wasn¡¯t sure If Itsuki could hear him.

    " I can only help up to a limited extent," Janus answered.

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t ask you to help personally. You could¡¯ve just given me verbal information,¡¯ Ryder replied.

    "I couldn¡¯t. Because of Itsuki¡¯s mother," Janus answered.

    ¡¯Itsuki¡¯s mother? What about her?¡¯ Ryder asked, confused.

    "His mother is the goddess of Destiny. She can see the destiny threads. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll notice if I interfere any more than I already did. In fact, I already helped you too much by shrouding your destiny aura, so she didn¡¯t notice the thread diverge."

    " But if I do more than that, like giving you crucial information more than what I already did, it might cause too much disturbance. Since it¡¯s rted to her son, I can¡¯t take the risk of disturbing the destiny like that."

    "Whatever you do, whatever you find out from this point on, you must do yourself. Only then there won¡¯t be any disturbance, and she won¡¯t notice. So do it fast and finish him. That¡¯s all I can help," Janus answered as he walked on the outskirts of Indonesia.

    ¡¯ Fine. I¡¯ll do it myself. In any case, I already have a general idea now,¡¯ Ryder responded.

    ...

    In Heaven, the Goddess of Life and Death was present in front of the Goddess of Destiny.

    "What brought you here?" The Goddess of Destiny asked, frowning.

    "I came here to inform you of something," the Goddess of Life and Death said as she took a deep breath.

    "Exin what?" The Goddess of Destiny asked, frowning. The Goddess of Life and Death never came to talk to her. For her to suddenlye here, something was really wrong, she assumed.

    "I have to inform you something about Chaos. There is a big scheme going on, I believe," the Goddess of Life and Death said as she sighed.

    "Chaos?"

    Hearing that name, the Goddess of Destiny stood up, shocked.

    "I haven¡¯t heard that name for so long. Why remember the dead? What is it about him? Could it be that someone is trying to do something simr to that idiot?" She asked.

    "No. It¡¯s something much bigger than that. I heard from one of my spies that someone is trying to resurrect Chaos!" The Goddess of Life and Death eximed.

    "What? Someone is trying to resurrect that monster? Who can be such an idiot? If Chaos returns, I¡¯m not even sure we could defeat him again! Tell me who it is! I¡¯ll immediately call the Council of Gods to kill that traitor!" The Goddess of Destiny said firmly.

    "Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know who he is. My spy was heavily injured by the time he got to me. He couldn¡¯t even tell the name. So it can be anyone. We can¡¯t call the Council of Gods without any proof, or that person will be alert. We need to solve this mystery ourselves!" The Goddess of Life and Death said.

    "If you don¡¯t know who that person is, how are you sure that it¡¯s not me?" The Goddess of Destiny asked, frowning. "This doesn¡¯t add up."

    "It¡¯s because I know that whoever that person is, it¡¯s a he. That¡¯s why I came to you. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not you. But I don¡¯t want Chaos back. I¡¯m already hurt by the number of deaths in thest war," the Goddess of Life and Death answered.

    "That¡¯s why I stayed out of that. I don¡¯t want to go through that again, so we need to stop that from happening, and that too, without letting anyone know." She further added.

    "I also don¡¯t want that. I¡¯ll help you. What else do you know about this?" The Goddess of Destiny asked.

    What she didn¡¯t know was that it was all a part of Janus¡¯ scheme to keep the Goddess of Destiny distracted while Ryder killed her son and the others. He had been nning this a long time ago. He was only waiting for the right time, which unfortunately came sooner than he expected.

    ....

    While Ryder was in Japan, the Lord of Space was roaming the New Capital. He soon stopped before the building that belonged to the Necrosis Corporation as he frowned.

    "Interesting. Very interesting. So this is the ce," the Lord of Space muttered as he teleported inside the building.

    He appeared in the office of Ion.

    ...

    Ion was sitting in his office when the Lord of Space appeared before him.

    As soon as Ion saw the Lord of Space, he couldn¡¯t help but stand up and step back.

    As the chair was behind him, he also fell on the ground, unable to bnce himself.

    "So that¡¯s where you were hiding," the Lord of Space muttered as he stared at Ion.

    He started stepping closer to Ion in slow steps.

    Soon, the Lord of Space was only a few steps away from Ion, who had a pale face by now.

 Chapter 567 From the future

    <h4>Chapter 567: From the future</h4>

    The Lord of Space stopped before Ion, who was lying on the ground, looking at him.

    "Why are you so scared? Come on. Is there a need to act like that? No matter what, I¡¯m still your father after all," the Lord of Space said as he reached out his hand towards Ion.

    "What father? Do you even remember how long ago it was before you left mother and me to go to your Istion?" Ion retorted as he stood up, frowning.

    "Are you still angry because of that?" The Lord of Space asked, sighing.

    "Why did you evene back here? Leave! I don¡¯t want you here! I managed without you all this time, and I can do it now as well!" Ion said, furious.

    "Why are you being a child?" The Lord of Space asked, frowning.

    "Don¡¯t disturb me and leave. I¡¯m busy with something. I don¡¯t want you here!" Ion said again. "I told you, leave! Why did you evene here in the first ce?"

    "How¡¯s your mother?" The Lord of Space asked, not leaving.

    "Why does it matter? She has nothing to do with you! Just go away. Or better, I¡¯ll leave. You stay here!" Ion said as he furiously left his office.

    The Lord of Space once again appeared near him and started following.

    "Come-on! What do you want! Why are you here!" Ion said, stomping his foot on the ground.

    "I don¡¯t want anything. I came to this world looking for something. I was just walking around in search when I felt your aura here. I decided to check out," the Lord of Space said.

    "Hah, as expected. You¡¯re not even here for me. Instead, you¡¯re here for something else. It just happened to be a convenient stop, isn¡¯t that right?" Ion said, sounding a bit disappointed.

    "Not exactly. After being done here, I wanted to go meet you back home. Who knew I¡¯d meet you right here," the Lord of Space said, smiling.

    "So, are you here for the Trial of Gods?" He asked.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m the secret entry. I need to finish this trial before the others find out about me," Ion let out sharply.

    "Not bad. I think you¡¯re doing pretty good so far. If only you adjusted your spatial aura a little bit, you could be even more stealthy," the Lord of Space told Ion. "Come, let me teach you how to do that like old times."

    "I don¡¯t want you to teach me anything! You weren¡¯t there most of my life, and I don¡¯t want you now either! I¡¯ll do everything I want myself, including learning!"

    "That¡¯s why I¡¯m attempting this Trial! So I can get the right to be a true God! I don¡¯t need you. Leave!" Ion repeated again, but it didn¡¯t seem like the Lord of Space had any interest in listening to him."

    "I understand what you¡¯re trying to say. In short, you¡¯re upset, and you want to do it yourself to prove yourself. Fine, I don¡¯t interfere. I¡¯ll just wish you luck," the Lord of Space said as he sighed. "I¡¯ll see youter after you seed ande back home."

    The Lord of Space disappeared after wishing Ion luck and resumed his search.

    "Huh, the old man finally listened," Ion muttered as he walked back to his office. "Still, I¡¯m curious why he came here for. Does the other know about him? How did they let hime to the world of trials?"

    "What am I even thinking? That¡¯s my father. I doubt he told them what he was doing. And even if he told them, it¡¯s not like they could stop him. No matter how disappointing he is as a father, he¡¯s still a primary God in the Heaven, one of the strongest," he said as he sat on his chair inside his office.

    ...

    Two gods and seven god-sons were on earth, excluding Ryder. While one god was searching for other, the other seemed to be in a search of his own for something he believed he could only find here.

    As for Ryder, he was in a quest of his own to kill the remaining seven god-sons to get stronger and get him off the hook.

    He was still waiting on the roof of Itsuki Corporation headquarters, waiting for Itsuki.

    The door soon opened as Itsuki stepped forward. Soon, another Itsuki came out. It didn¡¯t take long for the third Itsuki toe out. One after another, more and more Itsuki¡¯s kepting out until soon; there were tens of Itsuki standing before Ryder.

    "I assume one of you is the real Itsuki?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Possibly," All the Itsuki¡¯s answered at the same time.

    "I assume you really are scared of me, aren¡¯t you?" Ryder asked.

    "Not at all. You asked the real me toe, and I did. Now don¡¯t tell me to feed you like a baby. I¡¯m not going to make everything easier for you. You want to fight; then you¡¯ll use your strength. Simrly, this is my strength," Itsuki answered.

    "I must say, Aluren was more brave than you," Ryder taunted Itsuki. "You, on the other hand, are a coward."

    "Itsuki was braver than me? Is that why he is dead as well?" Itsuki asked,ughing.

    "Ryder, I¡¯m not an idiot like Aluren. You know about me. I¡¯m not the one whose identity is hidden. Everyone knows about me. You, on the other hand, are someone who is keeping his identity hidden. I don¡¯t even know who your father is," he further said.

    "So if you want me toe out in the open and fight you without any tricks, you must do the same. You must stop hiding behind your mysterious identity!"

    As Itsuki spoke, it wasn¡¯t just one. Instead, all Itsuki was speaking at the same time.

    "If you do that, I promise I¡¯ll also stop what I¡¯m doing. Tell me the truth about you, and only the real me will be left," Itsuki further told Ryder.

    "Is that so? Fine," Ryder said as the rain started.

    Ryder had already used his skill long ago, which was why there were already clouds when Itsuki came to the top floor. He didn¡¯t find it strange at all.

    And now that the clouds started raining, it also didn¡¯t feel out of ce.

    Itsuki didn¡¯t know that it was Ryder¡¯s ruler of Water at y, bringing this rain. It wasn¡¯t a normal rain. Instead, it was the rain that decreased Itsuki¡¯s strength while also increasing Ryder¡¯s strength.

    Ryder also brought the Moon Scythe out of his inventory and held it before Itsuki proudly.

    "I¡¯ll tell you the truth about me," Ryder said,ughing.

    "I¡¯m the Son of the Lord of Time," he said, grinning.

    "You¡¯re lying! You can¡¯t be! He had no son!" Itsuki blurted out in shock, not believing.

    "Correction! He had no son that you know of. I¡¯m the one you didn¡¯t know. I was born in the future. He used his strength to send me back in time to do something important," Ryder said, using his art of bluffing.

    "What did he send you to do? If you¡¯re not lying, then tell me," Itsuki asked, frowning. Even though he didn¡¯t believe it, he didn¡¯t outright dismiss the possibility. He had checked Ryder¡¯s records.

    They were too thorough to be forged. It seemed like he did grow up here since childhood, unlike them. This could only be possible with the powers of the Lord of Time, who ruled over all time.

    "I told you the truth about me; now you tell me the truth about you. Show me your fall self. Then we can talk further," Ryder told Itsuki. "You said you would."

    "You still haven¡¯t proven your identity. Only after you tell me why he sent you here could it be proven," Itsuki said.

    "He sent me to kill Aluren," Ryder answered, deepening his lie.

    "He sent you to kill Aluren? Why? He could easily do that himself," Itsuki asked.

    "He couldn¡¯t because he is trapped in the future. Aluren betrayed everyone and destroyed everything. It¡¯s only chaos in the future. That¡¯s why he sent me back in time to make sure that I stop it before it happens," Ryder said, telling a movie story.

    "What? What did Aluren do in the future?" Itsuki asked, shocked.

    Ryder had lied so convincingly that even he slightly believed it.

    "That¡¯s enough. I already trusted you more than I should. You either trust me back, or I leave. In any case, I didn¡¯t fight to kill you. I only found out that you were searching for me, and I believed it could put innocent humans around me at risk."

    "Moreover, if you had informed the others about me, things could get problematic for me. I can¡¯t be stopped from finishing my targets, or the future will be hell for all of us!" Ryder said.

    "You mean there are more of them? You need to kill more of them? More of the god-sons that can destroy everything in the future?" Itsuki asked, frowning.

    "That¡¯s right. You weren¡¯t amongst them; that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t kill you yet," Ryder answered.

 Chapter 568 Real Itsuki

    <h4>Chapter 568: Real Itsuki</h4>

    " How can I believe that you aren¡¯t tricking me?" Itsuki asked Ryder, frowning. He still didn¡¯t fully trust him, even though he felt like that story made sense.

    " If you still don¡¯t trust me, there¡¯s nothing I can do. You don¡¯t want to show your real self? Fine. I¡¯ll just leave," Ryder told Itsuki as he turned to leave.

    "Wait! Tell me more about it. I trust you," Itsuki said as all the other versions of him disappeared. Only one Itsuki was left there.

    "How can I be sure that you¡¯re the real Itsuki?" Ryder inquired.

    "Didn¡¯t you say that it was about trust? You trusted me and told me your story. It¡¯s now my time to trust you and show you my real self. That¡¯s the cycle of trust. If you want to break it at this moment, go ahead," Itsuki answered in the same tone as Ryder.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll believe you. Just let me touch you once. If you¡¯re not an illusion, I¡¯ll tell you everything," Ryder answered.

    "Sure. I¡¯m right before you. I¡¯m standing right here. Touch me and satisfy yourself," Itsuki said as he spread his arms.

    "You should be careful about your words. Yourst line sounds so... Ah, whatever. Let me test."

    Ryder started stepping towards Itsuki.

    "Wait a minute. Don¡¯t you think that Scythe is too much? Unless you¡¯reing to kill me, keep it back," Itsuki told Ryder, stopping him midway.

    Ryder kept the Scythe back since he needed to show his sincerity. To kill Itsuki first, he needed to know the real one. If he couldn¡¯t even know who he was, it was all going to be useless.

    As Ryder reached Itsuki, he reached out his hand to touch Itsuki. The touch felt real, unlike the illusions. Also, Ryder was sure that he wasn¡¯t in a dream. He had taken precautions to strengthen his mind to make sure Itsuki couldn¡¯t control it to show him dreams. The best Itsuki could do was show Ryder the illusions.

    Ryder made sure that it was actually Itsuki. Without waiting for even a second, he once again called forth the Moon Scythe. Now that he had the proximity, he wanted to utilize it.

    It didn¡¯t matter if he had Divine Protection. Even though he couldn¡¯t be killed right away, he could still be injured with a weapon like Moon Scythe. And that initial moment was enough for Ryder to take other precautions to take Itsuki away.

    As the Moon Scythe came swinging towards Itsuki, he couldn¡¯t move. Everything happened so fast that before he knew it, the Scythe came swinging. It sliced Itsuki in half.

    As Itsuki¡¯s head was sliced, his body dropped to the ground, lifeless.

    "This can¡¯t be. It was too easy. He¡¯s not Itsuki," Ryder muttered, frowning.

    "He¡¯s a real human, though. He¡¯s not even an illusion? Could it be that Itsuki had a person go through stic surgery to take care of things here?" He wondered.

    As Ryder was curious, tens of Itsuki again appeared around him, out of thin air.

    "Aww? You killed that innocent human. How cruel can you be, Ryder? After making up all those stories, this is what you had to do? You know, I¡¯m disappointed. For a moment, I thought you were serious. In fact, if you hadn¡¯t attacked him, I would have personally met you," All the Itsuki¡¯s said at the same time.

    "None of you are real. And the one I killed, isn¡¯t you right. Where are you hiding? Are you not going toe before me? What happened to your bragging about killing me? Are you going to kill me with boredom?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Nope. Instead, I know everything now. You came here because you found out that I knew about you. I think Aluren told you about it. But for you toe here because of that, one thing is obvious. You don¡¯t want anyone knowing about your existence," Itsuki said again.

    "This became more clear since even when you talked about leaving, thinking I won¡¯t show up, you made up a story to make sure that I won¡¯t tell others about you. So I¡¯m going to do what you¡¯re most scared about. I¡¯m going to tell everyone. And then I¡¯ll show you my real self, with everyone else. Don¡¯t worry; the wait won¡¯t be long," he continued as he startedughing.

    Seeing tens of Itsuki¡¯sughing, Ryder felt like his head had started aching.

    "You know what, Itsuki? You¡¯re an idiot. Thank you for telling me that you would have shown yourself if I hadn¡¯t attacked," Ryder retorted as a grin started forming on his face.

    "I¡¯ll see youter," Ryder said as he used his time reversal.

    He didn¡¯t go much back in time. He only went back by a few minutes to the moment when Itsuki had invited him to touch.

    "Sure. I¡¯m right before you. I¡¯m standing right here. Touch me and satisfy yourself," Itsuki said as he spread his arms.

    Ryder started stepping towards Itsuki, but he stopped.

    This time, he didn¡¯t let Itsuki tell him to keep the Scythe back.

    "Oh right, I should keep the Scythe back now," Ryder said before Itsuki could even speak.

    He soon reached Itsuki and touched him to make sure he was real.

    "Alright. You¡¯re real. I¡¯ll trust you now," Ryder said as he took a sigh of relief, acting as if he didn¡¯t know this one was fake too.

    He started leaving.

    "You¡¯re going?" Itsuki asked Ryder, watching him leave. Ryder didn¡¯t attack him even when he was defenseless. It seemed like he really didn¡¯t want to kill him.

    "I need to kill the ones who are going to destroy the future. I just came to tell you not to tell anyone about me. Now that I¡¯m done, of course, I¡¯ll leave," Ryder replied, ncing back.

    "Oh, one thing before I leave. Let me prove that I¡¯m actually the Son of the Lord of Time. As thanks for your trust," he further said as he kicked a flowerpot that was on the roof.

    The flowerpot fell down, shattering to pieces.

    After breaking the flowerpot, Ryder reversed the time of the pot. The broken flower pot started going back in time as its pieces went back to their original ces.

    Soon, the flowerpot was lying new like nothing had happened.

    "Oh right, your shirt has gotten dull too. Let me help you with that," he further said as he pointed his finger towards Itsuki¡¯s shirt.

    His shirt that seemed to be a few months old, also started going back in time as it returned to the time when it was new. There was no dust around him. Even the button that had started to get loose was back to how it was when the shirt was new.

    "Goodbye, Itsuki. Make sure you keep this secret if you don¡¯t want the future to be destroyed," Ryder said for onest time as he stood at the edge of the building, looking like he was going to jump.

    Standing behind Itsuki took a deep breath as he wondered what he needed to do. Ultimately he raised his hand as he tried to stop Ryder from leaving.

    "Wait! Don¡¯t leave! I want to show you something, and I also want to know more about that event which will happen in the future! Also, I want to show you the real me! Let me apologize and really trust you now!"

    "What do you mean? What real self?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Follow after me," Itsuki told Ryder. "You¡¯ll know everything."

    Ryder looked confused on the outside but on the inside; he was grinning. He had a better idea now. Instead of killing Itsuki, he was going to use him to kill the other god-sons.

    Even Janus hadn¡¯t imagined that it was how things were going to go when he sent Ryder to kill Itsuki.

    But Ryder really believed that he had a chance to get Itsuki on his side.

    ¡¯ I¡¯ll kill the others with Itsuki. He knows much more. It¡¯s going to be so much easier as I collect the bodies of other god-sons and absorb them. By the time Itsuki will know the truth, it will be toote. I¡¯ll already be too strong for him,¡¯ Ryder thought as he followed after Itsuki.

    Standing in a faraway country, even Janus was amazed at what Ryder was nning.

    "Even when he is asleep, his n will always be one step ahead of me," Janus muttered as heughed heartily.

    Ryder followed after Itsuki, who brought him to the office where Ryder was previously sitting.

    Only the female assistant could be sitting in the office.

    "Greetings to the Son of the Lord of Time. I¡¯m Itsuki," the woman told Ryder as she stood up.

    "You¡¯re Itsuki? Then this?" Ryder asked, ncing at the male Itsuki.

    "That¡¯s actually the person who pretends to be me so I can be safe in some unforeseen circumstances. You have no idea how worried I was when you stepped in this office suddenly this morning," the woman said,ughing.

    "I thought I was caught, and you¡¯ll kill me right here," she further said.

 Chapter 569 Another War

    <h4>Chapter 569: Another War</h4>

    "I really thought that you were going to kill me today. When you sat near me, unaware, only then I rxed a bit as I realized that you didn¡¯t know anything. That¡¯s when I told him everything and told him toe here," the woman said as she pointed at male Itsuki.

    "Anyway, I¡¯m the real Itsuki. As for him, he¡¯s my right-hand man. Just think of him as the Itsuki I want the world to see while I remain in the shadows," he further said. "And yeah, I¡¯m a guy. I¡¯m in the form of a girl."

    "Not bad. And you¡¯re really right. I didn¡¯t notice you. I can¡¯t sense auras," Ryder answered, going with the story as he took a seat.

    In his mind, he was constantly in contact with Janus.

    ¡¯ Come on! Give me the name of any three god-sons out of the remaining six. I need to make up a story,¡¯ Ryder told Janus.

    "Julien, Draco, and Adrian," Janus answered Ryder, naming three people who he believed needed to be taken out first.

    "So, tell me about this future you speak of. What is going to happen, and who is going to betray us?" The real Itsuki asked.

    "Four people. There are four people who caused it, but that doesn¡¯t mean one of them couldn¡¯t cause it. As for those people, they are Aluren, Julien, Adrian, and Draco. So I came back in time to take all four of them out," Ryder answered.

    "I didn¡¯t know that when I was collecting information, you and Aluren would find out about me. So I killed Aluren and came here to stop you from spreading the news," he further said.

    "And how do they do it? I mean, how do they bring this apocalypse? I can¡¯t believe they be so strong as to destroy all the other Prime Gods and take them over? Why didn¡¯t they stop them?" Itsuki asked Ryder.

    "Because they were dead before they even knew it. As for how these people did it, the answer is simple. They didn¡¯t do it. Instead, they brought the person who did it back to life," Ryder answered.

    "They brought the person who did it back to life? And who is that person, if I may ask?" Itsuki inquired.

    "Chaos. They brought Chaos back to life. As for how they did it, I have no idea. But Chaos and these four people caused everything. I need to kill the four of them before they pass the trial."

    " Because if they pass it, they¡¯ll bring apocalypse for all of us," Ryder answered.

    " Let me contact my mother then. She will solve everything. She will surely believe you and imprison the four of them," Itsuki suggested.

    Hearing his words, Ryder was a bit taken aback. If this guy actually told the higher-ups, it was going to be a messy situation. He needed to stop it.

    "No! We can¡¯t! I have a reason I came straight here and didn¡¯t go to tell them. As for that reason, It¡¯s the parents of those three!"

    "They would never trust us! In fact, it¡¯ll cause a war between the gods. Moreover, Aluren¡¯s family will go crazy in rage that I killed him! So the best way to do it is to take them out silently!"

    "After killing them, I¡¯ll disappear and go back to my timeline, and everything will be fine! No one will know who killed them! There will be no war between the gods over this! Do you understand now?"

    As Ryder kept making up this story, he was amazed at his talent. He believed he could have been a famous novelist with this kind of imagination.

    "Ah, right. You¡¯re right. Their parents won¡¯t support us most probably, and it¡¯ll cause another war. That¡¯s not a good way of doing things. Assassination is better," Itsuki agreed with Ryder.

    "That¡¯s right. So do you want to help me? If the two of us do it, we might seed faster. It¡¯s also less risky," Ryder suggested, to which Itsuki once again agreed.

    "Give me a moment to think," Itsuki told Ryder as he closed his eyes and fell into a deep thought. Killing others was a serious matter. Moreover, it also involved stepping on other people¡¯s domain.

    "Since I¡¯ve always been hidden, not even the other god-sons know that he isn¡¯t me. I should be able to step on theirnd without alerting them. But it is still risky," he muttered as he rubbed his chin.

    "Alright. I¡¯ve decided. I¡¯ll help you. We¡¯ll finish it fast, and then you¡¯ll go back. Alright?" He asked Ryder, who nodded his head.

    "Deal."

    "So, who do you want to go after first?" Itsuki asked.

    As Ryder didn¡¯t know who the three people were, he just gave a random name. "Julien first."

    "Alright. Tonight we¡¯ll leave tomorrow. We¡¯ll go in the Private Jet of a friend," Itsuki informed Ryder. "You can go to your hotel and get your things."

    "I¡¯m fine with that," Ryder agreed. "Till then, I¡¯ll stay here."

    He didn¡¯t want to go back to his hotel since he didn¡¯t want to lead others to where Alice was.

    "Don¡¯t you want your luggage?" Itsuki asked.

    "No need. I have everything I need," Ryder answeredzily.

    ...

    Alice was back in the hotel room, waiting for Ryder¡¯s return, but she didn¡¯t know that he wasn¡¯t going toe.

    Instead, Ryder used his second phone to send a message to Alice that he might not be able toe for the next few days. He also told her not to call since he was busy with something important.

    He also asked for forgiveness at the same time. He also reminded her not to leave the hotel room until he returned.

    "And if there¡¯s any problem or you notice anything strange, tear the talisman that I gave you. Keep that safe for emergency use."

    Alice finished reading the end of the message.

    "Hmph, he always does this. Disappear in the middle and return after days. Just what is he doing? He doesn¡¯t even tell me anything. All he said were the vague things about the gods walking amongst us." Alice dropped to her bed, furious at Ryder. She wasn¡¯t angry that he left, but she was angry as he didn¡¯t give her any information.

    When she tried calling him, even his number was off.

    ....

    Ryder spent the day with Itsuki, and it was only in the evening when he left the Itsuki Corporation with the real Itsuki.

    He sat in a luxurious car which took them to the airport where a private jet was waiting for them.

    The two of them boarded the ne, which started flying.

    ....

    Back in the Necrosis, Ion was sitting in his office, watching the feed of the top yers going through the trials he had set up for a billion dors.

    He wasn¡¯t the only one who was watching, though. There were millions of people who were watching the feed.

    "Any update on Ryder Flynn?" Ion called Maya, checking up.

    " Ryder Flynn went to the Itsuki Corporation headquarters as you suspected," Maya told Ion as she started showing the footage that was caught on the roof.

    "Wait a minute! Are the two going to fight?" Ion asked, confused. As he saw Ryder and Itsuki facing each other, he wondered if they were going to fight, but nothing like that happened.

    Ryder only touched Itsuki before he returned. It was at that moment in the footage when he noticed something strange.

    Ryder broke a flower pot and reversed its time.

    "What the heck?" Noticing that moment, even Ion couldn¡¯t help but be shocked.

    "That¡¯s the power of Time! None of the god-sons taking power in the trials could give it to him! So I truly was wrong! He wasn¡¯t a puppet of them, but he was another god-son, rted to the Lord of Time? Interesting. I wonder if he¡¯s another one like me."

    "But wait, he went to meet Itsuki. And I believe he met Aluren and Itsuki too. So he doesn¡¯t need to hide like me for his trial. What is his goal then?" Ion wondered as he frowned.

    "Maya, show me what happened after that!" Hemanded.

    "After that, he went downstairs, and we have no view from that point on. It¡¯s in the evening when he left that building with that woman who is Itsuki¡¯s assistant and boarded a private ne," Maya answered as she showed the footage of Ryder leaving. Even Ion didn¡¯t know that the woman Ryder left with was the real Itsuki himself.

    "Where is that jet going?" Ion asked.

    "It¡¯s en-route to Germany," Maya answered.

    "Germany? Julien? Just what exactly is this guy doing?"

    ...

    As Ryder boarded the ne, he brought out the Divinity sses. He wanted to go back as well. As for worrying about Itsuki, he didn¡¯t care.

    Even if Itsuki took the opportunity to kill him, he was just going to go back in time. And now that he knew Itsuki¡¯s real identity, he could easily kill him.

    "Hah, you y with that toy too?" Itsuki asked Ryder as he noticed

 Chapter 570 Caught

    <h4>Chapter 570: Caught</h4>

    "You y with this toy too?" Itsuki asked as he noticed the Divinity sses in Ryder¡¯s hands.

    "Yeah. I use them for something important. Anyway, you won¡¯t understand," Ryder responded. "Anyway, it¡¯s weird seeing you as a girl now that you told me you¡¯re a boy. Can you get in the turn of a guy?"

    "Hahaha, I wish I could. It¡¯s not fun for me either. But I can¡¯t change forms. I can only create an illusion for you if you want. Others will still see me as a woman, but you¡¯ll see me as a guy? How¡¯s that?"

    "That¡¯s better. Cast the illusion of yourself, so I see you as a guy," Ryder agreed.

    Itsuki did as Ryder said, and soon, Ryder found him looking like a guy.

    "Now it¡¯s better. Anyway, I¡¯m going to rest. I¡¯ll wake up by the time we get there. Also, if you want to attack me when I¡¯m out cold, you can try. You have my permission."

    Laughing, Ryder adjusted his seat as he wore the Divinity sses.

    "Take me to Divinity," he muttered. The connection was established, and soon, Ryder found himself in the world of Divinity.

    He was back in the Royal Pce. It had been quite some time since hest came here. In fact, he had barely shown himself after his Coronation was done.

    The happy asion which was attended by the strongest of beings in Divinity was over without any problem. Even the Prince of Death Domain had attended, with one Death Envoy.

    After the coronation, they all went back. Since then, Ryder has had a lot of freedom. He wanted to go to the human realm in Divinity and establish a guild, but because of the real world stuff, he hadn¡¯t been able to achieve it.

    "Your Majesty, finally you came! Where were you? So many people came to meet you. We had to give excuses to all of them to send them away. Even High Dukes came to meet you!"

    As soon as Ryder left the Royal bedroom, he was caught by Miku, who shot tens of questions as she informed him what had happened in his absence.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I just went out to have a little walk. Now that I¡¯m back, I¡¯ll handle everything," Ryder replied as he brought out the Moon Scythe.

    He started walking towards the exit of the Royal Pce without wasting even a second.

    Seeing Ryder in such a hurry, Miku felt like something was wrong.

    "Your Majesty, is something wrong? You look serious?" Miku asked.

    That also happened to be the moment when Ryder noticed Rale in the distance. Rale also saw Ryder.

    "Your Majesty, you are back!" Rale let out as he greeted Ryder by going to his knees.

    "Stand up. Didn¡¯t I tell you that you don¡¯t have to do such nonsense?" Ryder let out, smiling wryly. " Where¡¯s Miyali?"

    "She¡¯s in the training room, practicing with the Royal Guards. Do you want to meet her?" Rale inquired, curious.

    "Nope. I want to do something else instead. Are youing with me?" Ryder inquired. "We have business in the Royal City."

    "Of course. I¡¯ll go wherever you go," Rale responded.

    The two of them left the Royal Pce. Ryder seemed to be flying towards the crowded part of the city where the market was established. Rale followed behind him, curious what was happening. Ryder seemed a bit serious.

    Ryder soon reached the market andnded on the ground.

    Seeing the new King in the Market, all the people got down on one knee in respect.

    "Long Live Your Majesty!" They shouted in unison.

    Unlike before, Ryder didn¡¯t tell them to stand up. Instead, he looked around as if he was looking for someone.

    "There you are..." He suddenly muttered as he walked towards a specific person.

    After a few steps, he stopped. The person who was before him was also on his knees like the other people. He was also wearing a hood which was making it impossible for his face to be seen.

    "Rank Five Beming, don¡¯t tell me you really thought you could infiltrate this ce without getting stopped," Ryder told the man who was looking down.

    As soon as the man heard these words, his face twitched. It seemed like he was caught. And for the person to know his rank, it must be a yer too, he thought.

    "Support me. We can win the trial together. I¡¯ll share half the money," the man said, still not raiding his head.

    "If I were interested in money, I would have taken part in the trial instead. It would have been much easier. But you came to kill someone who was close to me. I don¡¯t enjoy that, so you need to die," Ryder answered calmly.

    "Then you die first!" Beming suddenly yelled as he raised his head while throwing three knives at Ryder. Unfortunately, Ryder¡¯s robe acted up, creating a barrier around him that took care of the knives.

    "You really thought it¡¯d work, didn¡¯t you?" Ryder asked, sighing.

    "That Scythe? You are Hades?" Beming eximed as he recognized Ryder. It was said that Hades used the Moon Scythe as his weapon? What was happening? The strongest yer was here to obstruct him? Why did he want to?

    Thousands of questions were in his mind, but before he could get to a single answer, the Moon Scythe shed before his eyes, taking him out.

    Beming was killed, and simultaneously, he was out of the billion dor race.

    "Your Majesty? Who was he?" Rale asked Ryder.

    "An insignificant ant. ording to my sources, someone had infiltrated the Demon Realm to kill Miyali. And he was that person. I don¡¯t know why some people want Miyali dead, but I want you to keep her safe. You understand?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "I¡¯ll take care of that, Your Majesty. You don¡¯t have to worry," Rale answered.

    "That¡¯s better. Let¡¯s go back then." Ryder nodded as he turned back.

    "My dear Demon Realm citizens. You may stand. As you just saw, that¡¯s what happens to the person who tries to infiltrate ournd to harm our citizens! Your King and the others are here for you! We¡¯ll never let any harme to our citizens!" Ryder dered proudly as he addressed the citizens that were still on their knees.

    All the citizens started cheering for Ryder as they stood up. Amidst the loud cheer, Ryder left.

    Ryder and Rale soon reached the Royal Pce and entered.

    "Rale, I also want you to do one more thing," Ryder suddenly said as he walked over to the throne room.

    "Yes, Your Majesty."

    "I want you to send a person to the Vampire King in the undead region. Tell him that someone wants his niece dead ording to our information and that he should be careful," Ryder said.

    "Someone wants Vampire King¡¯s niece dead? And someone wants Miyali dead? Why are people after insignificant people?" Rale asked, frowning.

    "I wish I knew. The only thing I can think of is the Chaos it¡¯ll cause because the ones that want to kill are not actually insignificant as they are rted to very significant people," Ryder answered.

    "

    "Ah, while you¡¯re at it, send some more messages from me to other ces too." He further said as he schemed to create trouble for Necrosis by obstructing their trials.

    He told Rale about all the trials that were given to the yers in the billion dorpetition. He wanted to warn all the targets, so they knew what wasing.

    "It shall be done," Rale nodded. "I¡¯ll oversee it personally."

    "That¡¯s better. Anyway, I¡¯ll take my leave now. I¡¯ll meet youter."

    Ryder stood up, ready to leave.

    "Your Majesty, it¡¯s not the night. Are you really going to sleep? Is your health alright?" Rale asked, concerned. He still didn¡¯t know Ryder was from a different realm and that he didn¡¯t go to sleep in a treasure, but he left this world.

    "I¡¯m perfectly fine. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll soon be back, and we¡¯ll go on more adventures," Ryder told Rale before he disappeared. Only hisst words were left behind.

    Ryder woke up in the real world and took off the Divinity sses. As he looked around, he was surprised to see that Itsuki actually hadn¡¯t attacked him. It looked like Itsuki passed the test. He really trusted Ryder.

    Not only had he not attacked Ryder, but he was also sleeping.

    ¡¯It is such a perfect opportunity to kill him. He really is helpless,¡¯ Ryder thought as an idea crossed his mind. Could he really miss such a good opportunity?

    He stopped up and started walking towards Itsuki.

    ...

    Back in the Necrosis, Ion was looking at how the trials of the yers were going. Millions of people were watching them too.

    But there was a lot of chaos online as people were shocked by the surprising appearance of Hades in Beming¡¯s feed. Hades had actually appeared.

    Not only the viewers, but even Ion was frowning. He wasn¡¯t shocked by the appearance, though. Instead, his mind was on the Scythe of Hades.

    "That Scythe, I didn¡¯t notice it before, but it looks the same?"

    "Maya! Bring forth the footage of Ryder on the roof with Itsuki fast!"

 Chapter 571 Theyre the same

    <h4>Chapter 571: They''re the same</h4>

    "Maya! Bring the footage of Ryder this instant!" Ionmanded. A screen opened before him, which showed Ryder¡¯s interaction with Itsuki.

    "Fast forward to the moment he brought out his weapon," he furthermanded.

    The video started moving forward, and soon, it was in the scene where Ryder had brought out his Scythe.

    "Pause right there!"

    "Zoom in on the weapon!"

    As the focus was ced on the Scythe, Ion couldn¡¯t help but smack the table.

    "That¡¯s right! It¡¯s the Moon Scythe of Hades! As I expected, he is Hades! And he is the son of the Lord of Time too. That must be why he¡¯s able to stay hidden despite all that! I caught you, Mr. Ryder!" He said as he burst intoughter.

    "Who knew, a god-son was inside Divinity! He was ying! So that was why there was so much distortion around Hades! Even though indirectly, he did help me by joining the game. And if he¡¯s Ryder, I don¡¯t have to be careful! I can finally put the final n forth!"

    "After this billion dor trial is sessful, I¡¯ll get control over an even bigger part of Divinity! After that, I¡¯ll take him on! I¡¯ll make sure he finds himself in trouble and struggles hard, creating even more chaos. With that, I¡¯ll be done. That much push should be enough."

    A grin was on the face of Ion as if someone had given him a big gift. He finally knew the identity of Hades, and it was helpful for him.

    ....

    Ryder didn¡¯t know that Ion had already realized his identity. He was still in the ne, approaching Itsuki, who was sleeping.

    Ryder soon reached Itsuki, but he didn¡¯t stop there. He continued walking and entered the toilet, which was on the other end.

    As Ryder walked past Itsuki, he opened his eyes slowly. He noticed Ryder waking up, and he had ced a test of himself to see if Ryder was actually trustworthy.

    Ryder had passed the test, making Itsuki trust him even more.

    Ryder washed his hand and his face as he looked at himself in the mirror.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t kill him, no matter how good the opportunity. I need him and his knowledge about others to kill them. Just as I noticed it this time, all of them won¡¯t be stupid like Aluren to fall into my trap. I¡¯ll need to fight now, and it¡¯s better to have support,¡¯ he thought, looking in the mirror.

    He walked back to his seat and started resting as he wondered how angry Alice would be at him right now for him blowing her off again.

    "How much do you know about Julien?" Itsuki asked Ryder, who had just sat down.

    "You¡¯re up? Anyway, I know a lot about Julien. But from the time I¡¯m from. I don¡¯t know anything about the younger him. So I can¡¯t tell," Ryder answered.

    "I¡¯ll tell you then. Since we need to be quick and efficient, we need to have a n," Itsuki told Ryder.

    "Julien is, I guess, the fastest out of us. He is also the most carefree as he doesn¡¯t involve himself in the matters of others," he further said.

    "But he does love living the rich lifestyle of Earth. In fact, I believe he has the biggest sports car collection on earth."

    "Also, he has two subordinates that he shared his powers with. And both of them are pretty strong as well, just like him," Itsuki exined.

    "So we need to take his subordinates out first? Does he always keep them with him?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "Yep, they are always near him. Even when he goes on long rides, they follow behind in their cars," Itsuki answered.

    "Is that so? I guess we need to take them out first before taking on Julien," Ryder suggested.

    "Nope. We can¡¯t. If we went after them first, Julien would find out about us. He¡¯ll be suspicious, and that will make things tough for us. So we need to be careful. We need to take on all of them at the same time," Itsuki suggested.

    "That¡¯ll make things more chaotic," Ryder pointed out.

    "It won¡¯t. Because we¡¯ll do it in such a way that everything will work out," Itsuki responded.

    "What¡¯s your n?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "Every day, Julien takes a long drive in his sports car on the empty streets of Germany. His subordinates follow behind him. That¡¯s where we¡¯ll take action. I¡¯ll get in between them and block the subordinates. You will follow Julien and attack him," Itsuki answered.

    "And I will take care of the subordinates before joining you. If you still haven¡¯t finished Julien by then, I¡¯ll join you, and we¡¯ll finish him together. How¡¯s the n?" He further asked.

    "Sounds good so far. We¡¯ll do it then," Ryder agreed. They¡¯ll be in an empty ce so he could use all his powers, too, without worrying about other people. And when he used his powers, he believed he could win.

    It wasn¡¯t going to be like Aluren since Ryder was strong. It also wasn¡¯t going to be like it was with Itsuki since they weren¡¯t going to be on top of a crowded building.

    "That¡¯s better. We¡¯llnd there, and we¡¯ll get on with the nning. I already have his general schedule since he basically does the same thing every Saturday. We¡¯ll wait for that day, and we¡¯ll strike," Itsuki said as he finished up.

    ...

    The ne soonnded at the airport in Germany. The flight had taken only five hours as it got here.

    As Ryder checked the click, he realized that it was only 8 in the morning ording to the regional time.

    Ryder and Itsuki left the flight. Since they didn¡¯t want to attract much attention, Itsuki didn¡¯t use his reach to get a car outside. Instead, they just booked a cab like normal tourists, which brought them to a small hotel.

    "Stay in the hotel; I¡¯ll go and arrange for some rental sports cars since we¡¯ll need them," cing his stuff in the hotel room, Itsuki told Ryder.

    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯lle with you too. I also wanted to get some fresh air. I¡¯ll be bored in the hotel," Ryder replied, not letting Itsuki go alone.

    "Are you still suspicious?" Itsuki enquired. "It doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to rob a bank. You cane with me."

    Ryder and Itsuki left the hotel together.

    As they walked beside each other, for Ryder, they were two young men walking together. Unfortunately, for the others who were seeing them, they seemed like a couple that hade here on vacation since they saw Itsuki as a woman.

    "This is where we¡¯ll get the cars we need. To keep up with Julien on Saturday, we¡¯ll need the fastest cars we can find," Itsuki said as he walked towards a garage before them.

    The garage seemed to have the best of sports cars from every prominent brand that was avable.

    "Whose garage is this?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "It¡¯s another car collector. But he also gives his cars on rent for a few days as long as the pay is good," Itsuki answered.

    The two of them entered the garage and approached the owner. While Itsuki talked to the owner and handled the legal process, Ryder looked around.

    He was amazed at the cars that were here. In fact, there were even some rare models that weren¡¯t avable in the United States.

    After dealing with the owner, Itsuki walked back.

    "Alright. I made a deal with him. We can take any two cars. Which one do you want?" He asked Ryder.

    "I will take this one," Ryder said, cing his hand on a Bugatti, which was theirtest offering at the moment.

    "Then I¡¯ll take this one," Itsuki let out as he selected a Lamborghini.

    "The keys are inside the cars. Step inside and let¡¯s leave," He further said as he stepped inside the car.

    Ryder also opened the door of the Bugatti, and he also stepped inside the beast of a car.

    He picked up the key and started the car.

    Broom!

    As the engines of the car roared, Ryder finally remembered how good these cars were. His personal car seemed to be nothing before them.

    "After I¡¯m done with everything, I¡¯ll buy one of these too," he muttered.

    Itsuki already got the car out of the garage. Ryder also followed behind him.

    Ryder noticed that Itsuki had stopped right outside the car. He brought his car right beside Itsuki¡¯s and lowered the window.

    "What happened?" Ryder asked.

    "Nothing. I was waiting for you." Itsuki replied.

    "How about we test the cars today? Follow after me. I¡¯ll show you the path that Julien will take on Saturday. We need to understand the road better and know where it¡¯ll be the best to intercept them," he further said as he again started driving.

    Ryder also started the car, followed by Itsuki.

    The two of them left the city, reaching the empty roads far away from the city, which was the ce Julien drove in.

 Chapter 572 Facing Julien

    <h4>Chapter 572: Facing Julien</h4>

    Ryder and Itsuki drove through the empty roads.

    Since Itsuki was the one who was showing Ryder the direct, Ryder stayed behind. After a long time, Itsuki stopped the car.

    Ryder also stopped as he stepped out of the car.

    "Why did you stop here?" Ryder asked as he walked to Itsuki, who had also stepped out of the car.

    "Because this is the end. This is where Julien finishes his trip before he starts driving back. This is the entire route. You understood it?" Itsuki asked Ryder.

    "I think I understand," Ryder agreed.

    "That¡¯s good. So where do you want to intercept him?" Itsuki asked.

    "I think thest intersection would be the best point. Youe from there, and I¡¯ll start from here. Instead of chasing after him, I want to be here when hees," Ryder answered.

    "I¡¯m fine with that. So this is what we¡¯ll do. I¡¯ll inform you if something goes wrong."

    "Now that we have the route and the n, all we need is to wait for Saturday. Let¡¯s go back," Itsuki stepped inside the car as he started it.

    Ryder also stepped back to his car as he started it.

    As they started going back, Ryder was in the lead, unlike before, but it seemed like Itsuki wanted to retake the lead.

    He soon crossed Ryder¡¯s car as he took the lead.

    "I already gave you the lead once. If you want again, you¡¯ll need to earn it! You want a race; you¡¯ll get a race!"

    Ryder also pressed his foot on the pedal as he also increased his speed, catching up. He again took the lead.

    Itsuki burst intoughter as he realized what Ryder wanted. He also got in the mood to race.

    And thus began the race as two of the world¡¯s fastest cars raced to take the lead on the empty roads of Germany.

    The race only stopped when the two of them got in a crowded area. At that point in time, Ryder happened to be in the lead.

    The two of them reached the hotel again.

    As two expensive cars stopped in front of this middle ss hotel, they attracted many eyes. Many people wondered what such rich guys were doing in such a mediocre hotel? If they could afford such cars, they could easily have gotten a seven-star hotel.

    Under many watchful gazes, Ryder and Itsuki stepped out of their cars as they stepped inside the hotel. Without caring for the others, they walked to their rooms, talking with each other.

    "You¡¯re pretty good at this. I didn¡¯t think you would be able to catch up to me in the end, but not only that, you even took the lead. Pretty good," Itsuki told Ryder as he was defeated.

    "You weren¡¯t half bad yourself," Ryderzily answered.

    ...

    Days kept passing as Ryder and Itsuki started finalizing their ns to the second. In fact, they even took a trip to the ce where they were going to intercept once again.

    Soon, it was the day where everything was going to go down.

    Ryder and Itsuki woke up early. It was only four in the morning when they woke up and got dressed.

    Most of the city was still sleeping when these two youngsters sat in their expensive cars and got to work.

    Itsuki took his position near the intersection where he was going to separate the two subordinates of Julien and him.

    "I¡¯ll message you as soon as theye. Stay in your position," Itsuki told Ryder, who was sitting in his car near Itsuki.

    Ryder departed and reached the end of the road, where he waited for the message from Itsuki.

    As Ryder started getting bored, his uncertainty was increasing. He wondered if he really had what it took to kill the son of a god without any items of tricks.

    "This is going to be my first proper fight without any tricks. Janus, what are the chances of me winning?" He asked Janus himself.

    "Mediocre," Janus answered without a single care.

    "What do you mean?" Ryder asked, confused.

    "Your chances are mediocre. They aren¡¯t too good, but they aren¡¯t too bad either. You have the potential, but how you use that, it depends on you," Janus answered Ryder.

    "Can¡¯t you just give me a number? Out of ten, what are my chances of killing him sessfully?" Ryder inquired again, smiling wryly.

    "Six," Janus answered.

    "And what are the chances of my death in this battle?" Ryder asked again.

    "Zero," Janus answered.

    "Oh right, I forgot. I¡¯m immortal. Why am I even worrying? If I don¡¯t seed, I¡¯lle back stronger and better," Ryder let out, hitting his head lightly.

    Time continued passing and soon another hour passed. Ryder was standing outside his car, looking at the clock.

    "This is when he leaves his mansion. He should be on the way now. Soon, he¡¯ll be here."

    As Ryder walked back and forth on his spot, Itsuki was keeping an eye on the road as he kept sitting in the car. Unlike Ryder, he couldn¡¯t take a walk outside as his role was very important.

    Soon, ten minutes passed, and he finally saw a Koenigsegging from the distance.

    "That¡¯s Julien," Itsuki let out as he started the car. His timing needed to be perfect.

    Two other cars were following Julien, keeping their distance.

    It didn¡¯t take long before Julien drove past the intersection. That was also the moment when Itsuki¡¯s Ferrari reached there, blocking the path for the two cars that were following behind.

    The two subordinates of Itsuki hastily pressed breaks as they saw a car suddenly appear before them. Fortunately, their cars stopped on time before they could hit Itsuki¡¯s car.

    The doors of the two cars opened as two handsome men stepped out.

    "You crazyzy! Can¡¯t you drive? How can you get in the middle like that?"

    "You¡¯re lucky you aren¡¯t dead with this kind of driving! Now step back and let me pass!"

    The two men scolded the woman who was sitting in the car before them. They looked as angry as they could be, but they didn¡¯t be violent.

    Itsuki also opened the door of his Ferrari as he stepped out.

    "I could have died, but you would certainly die," Itsuki said as he pped once. Thousands of Itsuki¡¯s appeared all around the two men, circling them

    Looking around, the two men looked shocked as they saw what was happening.

    "Who are you!" One of them yelled.

    "Me? You can call me death!" All the Itsuki¡¯s said at the same time as they started running towards the two men.

    "Get ready to face the enemy!"

    The two men didn¡¯t fear. Instead, they got ready to face all the Itsuki¡¯s.

    ....

    Julien was driving without a single care in the world. He didn¡¯t even know that his two men were intercepted by Itsuki.

    It didn¡¯t take long before he also had to hit break as he saw a car standing before him, blocking the path.

    Frowning, Julien stepped out of the car as he looked behind.

    "Where are they?"

    It was only now that he realized that his men weren¡¯t there.

    "They¡¯re too slow. I¡¯ll handle it myself," he said as he walked towards the Bugatti that had blocked the road.

    Soon, he reached the car. He tried to look through the window to see if someone was inside the car. Not a single person was there, it seemed.

    "Strange. No one is inside. And no one is here too? Which idiot left his car in the middle of the road?"

    "Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s bad manners to call someone an idiot?"

    Just as Julien was talking to himself, a voice came out of nowhere.

    Frowning, Julien looked up to notice where it wasing from.

    As he looked up, he saw Ryder flying in the sky.

    "Who are you?" Julien asked, not being intimidated. In fact, he didn¡¯t even care that a stranger was flying in the sky. He didn¡¯t care if it was a trap. He just had that much self confidence in himself. To him, his answers were more important.

    "Who am I? I think he¡¯ll tell you that," Ryder said, smirking.

    Curious, Julien looked behind to be shocked as he saw a creature that seemed like it was a tree that came to life. That wasn¡¯t all. He also saw this tree creature¡¯s punching towards him.

    It seemed like it was toote. He couldn¡¯t dodge or stop the attack.

    Even though it seemed impossible to dodge, Julien didn¡¯t even try to. He didn¡¯t even flinch at this surprise attack as he let itnd on his body.

    The punchnded on Julien, making him fly. He hit many trees before he finally crashed on the ground.

    Julien soon stood up, patting his clothes. There was no expression on his face.

    In fact, he still didn¡¯t attack. He didn¡¯t even look angry. He simply nced at Ryder before he asked, "Happy?"

    "Now tell me who you are."

 Chapter 573 Getting Serious

    <h4>Chapter 573: Getting Serious</h4>

    "Now tell me who you are," Julien said as he stood up again as if nothing had happened.

    Even Ryder was stunned to see how easily this guy shrugged off the attack. It was as if he didn¡¯t care that he was attacked. He didn¡¯t even realize that he was attacked, it seemed.

    Instead, he was more curious about Ryder.

    "Tell me. Who are you?" he asked again as he didn¡¯t get the answer the first time.

    Ryder didn¡¯t answer. Instead, it was the tree creature that once again reached Julien before he attacked.

    This time Julien didn¡¯t resist either as he let himself be attacked. The attack once again hit him, making him fly far again, but Julien again stood up like before.

    He seemed carefree as he again asked, "Come on! Who are you? Are you one of us? Or someone¡¯s pet?"

    The tree-being again reached Julien as he attacked. This time, however, Julien didn¡¯t get hit. Instead, he gently raised one of his fingers. He seemed to have raised his finger slowly, but it also seemed too fast at the same time. There was something really mystical about his attack.

    Ryder didn¡¯t understand what was happening? Why was his movement so mysterious?

    It wasn¡¯t just his movement but his strength as well. A single finger of his managed to block the attack of the giant tree creature.

    "Two times is enough. Go y somewhere else," Julien said as he used his other hand to catch what seemed like the arm of this creature.

    Holding the arms, Julien swung the tree creature before he tossed it away.

    The being that Ryder had created flew far away before it crashed on the ground.

    "You still didn¡¯t answer. Who are you?" Julien again asked.

    Ryder was stunned. This was the first time where he was in a direct battle, and he was surprised at the strength he was seeing. This strength was so powerful. It was just like the strength he possessed.

    "You wanted to know the chances of your victory?¡¯"

    Just as Ryder was standing frowning, he heard Janus¡¯s voice.

    "Yeah," Ryder replied.

    If you just keep standing like that, the chances of your victory are going to be zero," Janus replied.

    "You¡¯re right. I can¡¯t use toys on him. I need to give it my all!" Ryder said, frowning.

    He had decided. He wasn¡¯t going to treat it as a real-world battle. He was going to treat it like he was in a game since that¡¯s what it was. Each death resulted in a respawn back at the vige, and he needed to defeat the boss monster.

    "I am Ryder Flynn, the person who is going to kill you. But don¡¯t worry. It doesn¡¯t matter even if I tell you all this since either you¡¯ll die today, or you won¡¯t remember anything when I go back. As for why I¡¯m here, I guess it should be easy to understand," Ryder said, smiling.

    Dark clouds had started covering the sky under the effect of Ryder¡¯s skill. It also started raining soon after. It wasn¡¯t ordinary rain, though. It was working to make Ryder stronger while making Julien weaker.

    Julien started stepping towards Ryder, not seeming to be in any kind of hurry.

    "You¡¯re here to kill me?" Julien asked again. "May I ask why you want to kill me?"

    " You misunderstood me. I don¡¯t want to kill you. You¡¯re wrong there. It¡¯s not about want but about need! I need to kill you!" Ryder dered as he raised his right hand in the sky.

    His clothes were already wet by now, but he didn¡¯t care. As Ryder raised his hand, water started collecting around his hand, taking the shape of a weapon.

    It didn¡¯t take long before it became a bow, made entirely of water. A string of water also appeared like magic. Strangely enough, it acted like a working bow.

    " You really aren¡¯t human, are you? But you¡¯re not one of us seven that came on a trial. Are you something like a wild card entry?" He asked, frowning. "Is your trial to kill us?"

    "Wild card? I guess you can call me that," Ryder answered as he raised his bow before he also made an arrow from the water.

    One after another, Ryder fired tens of such arrows. He knew that Julien wouldn¡¯t die or be hurt from these arrows, but he had a different thought in his mind.

    Since the water of the rain was not normal water, it could effectively decrease the strength of Julien just like the rain did. That¡¯s why he wanted to attack with the arrow.

    " It¡¯s alright then. Since you have a valid reason, I allow you to fight me," Julien said, nodding.

    He didn¡¯t even bother dodging the arrow and let them hit him.

    "Come out, Micaster!" He said softly.

    He stomped his foot on the ground, making a shining circle appear on the ground, which seemed like a formation.

    A mysterious sword starteding out of the formation, which was caught by Julien.

    " A weapon?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    It didn¡¯t seem like a normal weapon either.

    "Is this something like the holy sword?" Ryder muttered, frowning.

    He didn¡¯t feel intimidated and kept trying to attack, again and again, using the special arrows. Each arrow decreased the strength of Julien even more.

    He wanted to make him as weak as he could before it was the final sh time.

    Unfortunately, his ns seemed to be destroyed immediately. As soon as Julien caught the sword, he raised the sword towards the sky.

    Tens of golden swords appeared above Ryder¡¯s heads, hanging like they could cut him in half.

    "I allowed you to fight me, but you also need to be worthy to survive. If you don¡¯t, then you can just die," Julien said, bringing his sword down.

    As if flowing the movement of his sword, the golden swords that were flying in the sky also came down at once towards Ryder.

    "This annoying thing!" Ryder said, frowning. He tried to dodge the swords that wereing down, but as the swords were too many, he couldn¡¯t escape entirely as his arm was slightly cut.

    "You can heal too? Very intriguing. Who is your father? You seemed to have a mix of abilities. You seem like the son of the Goddess of Water since you can use water and control it. But at the same time, you seem like the God of Wind since you can control wind too."

    "At the same time, you can heal simrly to the Goddess of Nature. You¡¯re very intriguing. Who is your father?" Julien asked, frowning.

    Ryder didn¡¯t y around this time, though. He didn¡¯t answer. He also stopped using the bow, which returned to the water.

    This time, Ryder seemed absolutely serious. The trying to weaken, the dy, waiting for Itsuki, it all started annoying him now since Julien¡¯s attack had almost killed him. Since he already held the risk of a retry, he decided to die while fighting.

    "Fine! If I keep using these things, I¡¯ll only suffer since you aren¡¯t ying around. So I¡¯ll give you the same in return!" He dered as he brought the Moon Scythe out.

    Against a Divine weapon, he was going to use another special weapon.

    Without dying for even a second, he started flying towards Julien, intending to seriously fight him.

    "Fine. I won¡¯t kill you. I still need my answer. Can¡¯t let you die before my curiosity is gone," Julien said as he also ran towards Ryder.

    The two enemies soon reached each other under the heavy rain.

    nk!

    The Scythe shed with the Sword, but as the strength of both the owners was the same, no one was pushed back.

    Unfortunately, this wasn¡¯t all as Scythe¡¯s specialty came into y. The Scythe, which was being kept back by the sword, changed into a short sword that passed through the defense of the Sword.

    Julien¡¯s eyes opened in surprise at the sight of the changing weapon. He moved back to dodge since he wasn¡¯t sure what kind of a weapon it was, but even then, he was cut.

    ....

    Back in his office, Ion was watching the live telecast of the battles.

    "So that woman was none other than Itsuki. I know his abilities. It¡¯s him," Ion said, looking at Itsuki fighting the two subordinates of Julien.

    On a different screen, Ryder¡¯s battle with Julien was showing.

    "I still don¡¯t understand one thing, though. Why are these two trying to kill Julien? Just what is this Ryder trying to do? First, he seemed like he wanted to fight Itsuki. Then he joined Itsuki, and now they¡¯re fighting Julien? Strangely," Ion said in confusion.

    The door of the office suddenly opened as a girl barged inside.

    "Sir! There¡¯s a problem!"

    "What problem?"

    "Someone seemed to have interfered in thepetition in a big way. All the yers that took part in the event are dead and expelled," The assistant answered.

    "So fast?" Ion asked.

    "Yeah. Apparently, someone informed their targets what their goals were. Instead of them trying to finish their targets, it seemed like their targets finished them," the assistant answered.

 Chapter 574 Weapon of God

    <h4>Chapter 574: Weapon of God</h4>

    "Are they all dead?¡¯ Ion asked, frowning.

    "They are. ording to the rules, they¡¯re all disqualified," the assistant answered. "What should we do? Should we distribute the money equally amongst them as we promised?" The assistant asked Ion.

    "No need for that. Do one thing. Tell them since their performance was so bad and the audience is demanding more, we are giving them another chance. Send them in again but switch the missions this time. Give someone else¡¯s mission to someone else," Ion told the assistant.

    "Yes sir," the assistant nodded her head as she left.

    Ion got back to the footage he was seeing, which was more important to him than anything else. He wanted to know why Ryder and Itsuki were going against Julien.

    "If only I could hear what they were saying, it would have been so good," he said as he smacked the table in frustration.

    ...

    Back in Germany, Itsuki had already killed one of the two subordinates, and he was attacking the second one, who was also seemingly overwhelmed with so many attacks.

    He couldn¡¯t see which one was real as attacks came from different directions, mixed won¡¯t hundreds of fake attacks. He couldn¡¯t know which one was real and which one was fake.

    "Enough of your games!" The man yelled as he stomped his door on the ground, bringing an earthquake. He wanted to make Itsuki lose his bnce and fall.

    Unfortunately, not a single of the hundred of Itsuki¡¯s fell down.

    "Childish trick." Someone whispered in his ears before a knife plunged through his throat.

    "Argh!"

    The man tried to speak, but no words came out as he dropped to his knees before falling face first.

    All the Itsuki disappeared, leaving only one who was standing behind the man with a bloody knife in his hand.

    All the Itsuki that these men saw were fake. As for the real Itsuki, he was always invisible. This was his way of not getting hit even once. All he did was toy with these two for a bit.

    "This is my personal knife. Even the strength that Julien gave you can¡¯t save you. No amount of Divinity is enough to escape its attack," Julien said as he looked towards the dead bodies.

    " Let alone you; even Julien would be a mortal before this knife just like I¡¯ll be before his sword. That¡¯s why we god-sons avoid fighting each other as much as possible," he further said as the knife disappeared in his hand.

    He calmly walked back to the car that was blocking the road. Opening the door, he stepped inside the car before he started it and started driving it towards the ce where he was supposed to meet with Ryder.

    ...

    Ryder had already forgotten about Itsuki as he stopped dying. He was giving it his all. In the first sh, he seemed to be victorious as he gave the first wound to Julien.

    Julien flew back, creating distance from Ryder before he looked at him in surprise.

    "Intriguing. That Divine Weapon? Isn¡¯t this the Scythe of Death? Where did you get it from?" Julien asked Ryder in surprise as he nced at his shoulder. The wound that was on his shoulder wasn¡¯t healing.

    "When you made the weapons of water, I thought you had no proper Divine Weapon but to see it? How did you even get it? Even I only heard about it in books. Didn¡¯t it disappear when the Lord of Death diedst time? It was only after that when the Goddess of Life and Death came to power."

    " How did that scythe end up with you?" Julien asked.

    ¡¯It¡¯s the weapon of a god? I thought it was the weapon of Salem. And he certainly couldn¡¯t be a god. Divinity isn¡¯t heaven, I¡¯m sure of it. Could it be that after the Lord of Death died, this weapon ended up in the world of Divinity? It was picked up by a Demon who became the first Demon King?¡¯ Ryder thought, frowning.

    ¡¯ Because from what I know, the Moon Scythe had been in the Demon Realm from the time of the first king.¡¯ Ryder thought, as this revtion also stunned him. He was using the weapon of God of Death?

    "It seems I¡¯ll have to be careful of you now. That weapon can actually kill me," Julien said, frowning.

    "I guess I should thank you for that?" Ryder said, smiling. Thank you for telling me that. Now I can go all out without worrying. That makes things simpler."

    Ryder once again flew towards Julien, even more excited than before since he had a godly weapon in his hand. He didn¡¯t care about anything else now.

    He didn¡¯t need to worry about their healing. He didn¡¯t need to worry about finding tricks to take away their Divinity. He could fight properly

    "Fine! If it¡¯s a fight to the death, then be it," Julien said,ughing. He also started running towards Ryder.

    Ryder had changed the Moon Scythe to a sword from a knife.

    His sword shed with the golden sword of Julien when Ryder again used the same trick again.

    The sword changed to a knife to bypass the sword of Julien as it advanced towards his neck this time. Julien didn¡¯t seem phased this time as if he was prepared for it.

    He moved his body to the side, dodging the knife before he used a spinning kick which connected perfectly.

    The spinning kick of Juliennded on the ribs of Ryder, not only breaking them but also tossing him so far away.

    Ryder crashed with multiple trees as he flew past them before hended on the ground.

    "Gosh, that hurts. Even after all this Defence, he hurt me so easily," Ryder cursed as he rubbed his stomach. Fortunately, it had healed by now with his nature of healing.

    As Ryder stood up to attack again, he noticed that a car had stopped in the distance.

    "Itsuki is here," Ryder muttered softly.

    The door of the car opened as a woman stepped out.

    "Now, who might you be?"Julien asked, frowning. He didn¡¯t recognize Itsuki as no one had seen his real look on earth.

    "God, Julien. You always had problems recognizing auras, didn¡¯t you? You can¡¯t even recognize me when I¡¯m this close?" Itsuki replied,ughing.

    "Stop with the games and tell me straight. Who are you?" Julien asked again.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll tell you," Itsuki said as a hundred more of him appeared all around him.

    "Ah, Itsuki. That¡¯s you? What are you doing here? Are you with him?" Julien asked, frowning.

    "It¡¯s not that I wanted to. But it seems like I need to if I want to save the future," Itsuki answered.

    "What future? What do you mean?" Julian asked, frowning.

    "You don¡¯t need to know," Ryder said strongly as he flew towards Julien, reigniting the fight.

    Unlike before, he didn¡¯t attack straight. He changed the Moon Scythe to a spear which he tossed towards Julien.

    "Stupid choice," Itsuki said as he moved to the side.

    "I know, but treat it as a small sacrifice for a payback," Ryder said as he appeared near Julien, also using the same spinning kick.

    Julien was so immersed in the weapon that even without the scythe, Ryder was a strong being.

    Ryder¡¯s kick also connected just as perfectly, hitting the ribs of Julien, making him fly.

    Julien dropped his sword though, as he flew back.

    Ryder tried picking up Julien¡¯s sword, only to feel a shock running through his body. It seemed like he couldn¡¯t pick this weapon. He dropped the ns.

    Standing in the back, Itsuki was frowning as he noticed something strange.

    ¡¯He is the son of a god. Shouldn¡¯t he know the rules? We can¡¯t pick up the weapons of other gods as long as they are alive? He still tried to do it? Did he really not know? How could it be?¡¯ Itsuki thought, frowning.

    ¡¯Or could it be that it¡¯s different in the future? I¡¯ll have to ask himter.¡¯

    Ryder wasn¡¯t sure how a single question of his had managed to bring the suspicion of Itsuki on him. Fortunately, this suspicion wasn¡¯t as bad since Itsuki also came up with a reason. All he needed was confirmation from Ryder.

    Without wasting even a second as he went to his spear. He picked it up before he flew after Julien.

    Julien didn¡¯t have as bad of a crash this time as he controlled his momentum. He stood up on his own two feet.

    He stomped his foot on the ground as he saw Ryder advance towards them. Two formations opened up¡ªone under sword while the other came up near Julien. While the former formation swallowed the golden sword, thetter formation brought it out.

    Before Ryder could¡¯ve reached Julien to take advantage of a weaponless enemy, the weapon was back in his hands.

    Julien held the sword in his right hand as he rubbed the left side of his chest.

    "I must say, that really hurt," Julien said.

 Chapter 575 Meeting Janus

    <h4>Chapter 575: Meeting Janus</h4>

    "That¡¯s not the only thing which will hurt. Just wait," Ryder said as he gripped the sword firmly in his hand while advancing towards Julien.

    "I doubt you¡¯ll get the opportunity anymore," Julien said as he also attacked at the same time.

    Unfortunately, before his sword could even sh with Ryder, a tree giant came out of nowhere, attacking, which smacked the face of Julien, who hadn¡¯t expected it.

    Julien once again flew back, but he didn¡¯t release the Golden Sword this time. He kept holding it firmly.

    Ryder chased after Julien, who had once again managed to stand on his feet, but unfortunately, he didn¡¯t get the time to prepare as Ryder¡¯s sword came shing.

    He blocked Ryder¡¯s attack, but as he hadn¡¯t managed to bnce himself properly, he couldn¡¯t keep standing as he blocked the attack.

    He was pushed back and forced on the ground, but that¡¯s also not where Ryder stopped as he changed the Sword to a long-handed Hammer with which he tried to smash Julien¡¯s chest.

    Julien rolled to the side, dodging the attack, but Ryder didn¡¯t stop. He didn¡¯t give him the chance to stand up as he kept attacking with his hammer like the god of war.

    As the attacks of Hammer kepting nonstop, Ryder didn¡¯t stop. He kept attacking, not giving any chance.

    "How does it feel down there?" Ryder asked Julien as he kept attacking as if he was mocking him.

    "This guy, he isn¡¯t half bad. He knows that Julien is a tough enemy when he stands up. Good going."

    Standing in the distance, Itsuki was watching Ryder fight Julien. Instead of joining in, he spent his time on observing the battle.

    Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t the only one who was observing the battle.

    The hammer kept getting dodged until Julien reached the tree. He couldn¡¯t move another. And a hammer also came from above, intent on smacking Julien¡¯s head.

    Tung!

    The hammer finally got a hit as it wasn¡¯t dodged. But it didn¡¯t hit Julien. Instead, it hit the de of Julien¡¯s sword, which he had used to keep himself safe.

    It also happened to be the moment where a strange wave of energy suddenly came out of Julien¡¯s body which tossed Ryder back.

    "There ites. He¡¯s finally getting serious," Itsuki said, frowning as he saw what had happened.

    Julien¡¯s skin was shining in a mysterious blue light as his eyes turned pitch ck.

    He stood up calmly, looking like a Demon.

    In the distance, Ryder was stunned to see what it was. This guy? What had happened? How did he be like a Demon?

    ¡¯ Ah, Janus? What¡¯s happening? Did he be a Super Saiyan or something¡¯ Ryder asked Janus, frowning. What was happening? Everything was going normal. Why is he suddenly like this now?

    "He has entered his Half God mode. His strength and defense have doubled. He can also use his godly powers now," Janus answered.

    ¡¯ What the heck? Was he less strong before that he had to be stronger? What the heck is happening? There was no mess like this with Aluren. Why can¡¯t Julien be a good boy and die peacefully like Aluren?¡¯ Ryder asked, frowning. He was feeling slightly upset.

    "All god-sons can enter into their semi godly physique. The trial is to allow them to enter their full godly physique. Only the ones that pass in the trial can be true gods. They are all semi gods now," Janus answered.

    "As for Aluren, you took his Divinity away before you actually killed him, so he couldn¡¯t enter his semi-godly physique," Janus answered.

    "Well then, aren¡¯t I fucked? He¡¯s basically twice as strong as me now," Ryder said, frowning.

    "Wait a minute. I also absorbed Aluren¡¯s strength. Can¡¯t I enter this Semi-Godly physique?" Ryder asked Janus, frowning.

    He was feeling slightly intimidated as he looked at Julien.

    He also looked at Itsuki as he yelled, "Are you just going to stand or help me?"

    Itsuki smiled wryly as he replied, "I thought you wanted to have fun alone. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t join!"

    "Well! Now I¡¯m asking you to join! Get your ass down here and help me finish it fast!" Ryder yelled, frowning.

    At the same time, Janus also answered him.

    "You can also enter your Semi-Godly form, but that¡¯s not suggested. That would be problematic," Janus answered Ryder¡¯s question at the same time.

    "You don¡¯t expect me to just die, do you?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Fine! I¡¯ll do something. But you need to get as far away from Itsuki as possible. Or he would be able to sense my presence," Janus told Ryder.

    "What do you n to do?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "I n toe to you. Get at least five hundred meters away from Julien and Itsuki so they can¡¯t sense me!" Janus told Ryder.

    "Y-you areing in real?" Ryder asked in disbelief.

    "That¡¯s right. If you want my help, get out of there now. I¡¯ll take the risk. But it¡¯ll be thest time," Janus told Ryder before he stopped talking.

    Julien seemed to have finished his transformation. Aside from his skin and his eyes, his hands had also changed to wolf-like ws. As for his body, it was slightly bigger as well.

    As he finished transformation, Ryder started flying away. He soon caught up to Itsuki, who was running towards him.

    "What are you doing?" Itsuki asked, frowning.

    "Handle him for two minutes. I aming right back with something I need. Just two minutes!" Ryder told Itsuki as he didn¡¯t stop flying.

    "I¡¯m also taking your car, so I cane back faster with what I need!" He said as he continued flying.

    "W-what?"

    As Itsuki stood stunned, Ryder had already left. Ryder entered the Ferrari and started it before he left.

    "W-what the fuck?¡¯ Itsuki blurted in shock.

    Ryder had actually left, leaving him to deal with the buffed Julien? The heck?

    He didn¡¯t want to enter his semi-god physique, but it seemed like he was left with no choice. Now that he was stuck in the middle of this, he had no choice.

    ...

    Ryder drove the car for one kilometer instead of five hundred meters, just to be sure. It was only there when he stopped the car and left.

    "I¡¯m away from them! Come out!" Ryder dered as he stepped out of the car. "You cane here!¡¯

    ...

    Sitting in his office, Ion was amused at the weird twists and turns this battle was taking.

    Ryder and Julien fought? Then Julien got serious? Then Itsuki joined, and then Ryder ran away? He couldn¡¯t understand what battle it was. It was so unorthodox.

    He had two screens in front of him. In one, he could see Itsuki alsoing in his godly form. Julien was already prepared as well.

    On the different screen, Ion was looking at Ryder, who had stepped out of the car as if he was waiting for someone.

    Ion was highly curious as to what was happening. He kept his eyes on the second screen where Ryder was.

    ...

    "Janus? Where are you? Come on!" Ryder said, calling Janus again¡¯ who hadn¡¯t replied to him the first time.

    "Get inside the car." Janus¡¯ voice finally came.

    "What do you mean get in the car? Are you noting?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    " I told you to get in the car," Janus repeated again.

    As Ryder heard the voice again, he was surprised. It didn¡¯t seem like the voice wasing from his head now. It seemed to being from the car.

    He turned towards the car to be shocked as he found a kid sitting in the passenger seat of his Ferrari.

    Ryder hurriedly got inside the car.

    In a different part of the world, Ion was surprised as well. Ryder stood outside the car. That was fine, but the way he went back, it was as if someone was inside the car. Who was it? That was the question that he was curious about.

    As Ryder stepped inside the car, he smiled. "God, you really look like a kid. Who would have thought that you were a god."

    "Anyway, it¡¯s good to meet you, little brother," he further said as he hugged Janus tightly.

    "B-brother? Did your memories..." Janus muttered but didn¡¯t finish.

    "Of course, little brother. Didn¡¯t you give me a task before that I must treat you as a little brother? So you¡¯re my little brother," Ryder said as he freed Janus.

    "Anyway, now tell me. How are you going to help me? Are you going to join us in the battle?¡¯ he asked.

    "If I join, all hell will break loose. You¡¯re already doing very well. You must continue as well," Janus told Ryder.

    "Then why did you personallye here for?¡¯ Ryder asked. "Since you can¡¯t help physically?"

    "I came here for this," Janus said as he ced his finger on the forehead of Ryder.

    As soon as his finger touched Ryder, Ryder¡¯s eyes closed as his body started shining.

 Chapter 576 Return of Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 576: Return of Chaos</h4>

    The fingers of Janus touched Ryder¡¯s forehead, sending a stranger sensation all around his body. Before he could even know it, he found everything around him turning dark.

    Within seconds, his mind turned nk as he lost all his senses.

    Ryder¡¯s body started rising in a mysterious light as his eyes closed n

    Time kept passing as soon; ten seconds were over.

    It was at that point when a mysterious aura filled the car.

    Janus¡¯s lips opened slightly as he took off his fingers. He hadn¡¯t expected this to happen, but now that it had, he was sweating as to how he could handle it.

    Ryder slowly opened his eyes as a serene look shrouded his face as if he was above all the worldly matters.

    "Janus, can I ask what you were trying to do right now?" Ryder said softly, but his voice seemed slightly different. It didn¡¯t seem like the voice of Ryder. Instead, it seemed like the voice of a higher being that was filled with some strange power.

    "Ah, brother. Why did you have to wake up just now?¡¯ Janus asked, smiling wryly.

    He had identally awakened Chaos which he absolutely didn¡¯t want to do.

    "I asked you a question," Ryder said as his blood red eyes looked at Janus.

    "Ah, well. Actually, you were fighting Julien, son of Lord of Light. And Julien had entered his Semi-Godly Physique," Janus exined.

    "I didn¡¯t ask why you were doing it. I asked what you were trying to do? Were you trying to bring out my Godly Physique? You know I can¡¯t do that. This body isn¡¯t strong enough to support that for even one second."

    "And even if you brought it out, the earth can¡¯t support even my real aura. You can¡¯t be an idiot not to know what you were trying to do, were you?¡¯ Ryder asked, frowning.

    "I wasn¡¯t. I know I can¡¯t bring you out. That¡¯s why I was trying something else," Janus answered.

    "What were you trying then?" Ryder asked again.

    "I, ah, I was trying to bring out Aluren¡¯s Semi-Godly Physique. Since you absorbed his Divinity, your body is capable of entering that. So I wanted to do that to help you," Janus answered, sighing.

    "Janus, you¡¯ve really yed a hard game when I was sleeping. You shouldn¡¯t have. In an effort to fasten everything, you have really...¡¯

    "Sigh, whatever. Now that it has happened, I will handle everything for now. I¡¯ll let him use Aluren¡¯s Divinity," Ryder said as he started closing his eyes.

    "Wait! Brother! I also had to tell you something! Now that you¡¯re here, you must know that the Lord of Space is here!" Janus exined, trying to get it out before Chaos went to sleep.

    "Lord of Space is here? Who is he? Is he also taking part in the trial?" Ryder asked ignorantly.

    "I waste. He already went to sleep," Janus muttered, frowning.

    "What are you saying? Who went to sleep?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Nothing," Janus replied as he again ced his finger on Ryder¡¯s forehead.

    "Huh? It looks like I don¡¯t need to do anything! He took care of everything," he let out as he took off his fingers from Ryder¡¯s forehead.

    "What do you mean?" Ryder asked again, not understanding everything.

    "Nothing. Now you can also enter a semi-god mode, but it¡¯ll be Aluren¡¯s. So once you do that, Itsuki will understand that you lied and that you can absorb their energy. So you¡¯ll have to kill both of them fast. Are you ready?" Janus asked Ryder, telling him the details.

    "I understand. I¡¯ll kill both of them. Just tell me how to enter the semi-godly physique of Aluren," Ryder let out, nodding.

    "The system will handle everything. Just day awaken my physique whenever you want to enter that. Everything else will be handled," Janus exined.

    " But remember, it¡¯ll be your first time using that. You won¡¯t be perfect, and you might but be able to utilize it to perfection. It¡¯ll be tough for you to win against two. Do be careful," he further exined.

    "I¡¯ll handle everything. Don¡¯t worry about it," Ryder exined. " If I fail, I can always try again."

    "Best of luck in that case," Janus said before he disappeared, going back.

    Ryder also started the car as he drove it back, confident. He didn¡¯t know how he was going to beter, but he hoped it was going to be cooler than the form that Julien took.

    Ryder¡¯s antics were confusing Ion, who was closely watching him. He ran from the fight, and then he came back? What was happening?

    Itsuki and Julien had already started fighting. While Julien used his strength to attack, Itsuki used his illusions even more freely. Now that he was in his full form, even his illusions could actually attack.

    Ryder stopped the car near the forest and stepped out to see Julien and Itsuki fighting.

    "Ah, I have second thoughts now. Instead of fighting those two at once, I must join when one of them is dead. Itsuki is more troublesome. And the way this battle is going, it seems like he is going to die. I should just watch instead," Ryder said as he changed his ns again.

    "Oh fuck it! That Julien is stronger! I should join with Itsuki without entering that form!"

    Ryder didn¡¯t know why but today, he was really conflicted about what he should do. In the end, he decided to help Itsuki

    Holding the Moon Scythe in his hand, he flew towards the fighting zone.

    Hundreds of Itsukis joined with Ryder to attack Julien.

    "Where did you go?" Itsuki asked Ryder now that he was back.

    "Nowhere. Forget it. I¡¯ll distract him. You kill him," Ryder replied as he again took the lead.

    He once again attacked with the Scythe since this was the only thing that could kill and scare Julien.

    Unfortunately, Julien¡¯s single wave was enough to toss Ryder away this time since the difference in strength was too much.

    Ryder crashed in the distance, taking heavy damage, but he just as fast stood up.

    This time, however, he didn¡¯t run to join the fight.

    "Heck, I can¡¯t kill someone who is twice as strong now. I need that form to be equal. But then those two will join to kill me? I¡¯ll have to be fast in this case. I must take risks!"

    Clenching his fist, Ryder actually decided to go through it. The enemy he was facing was different from Aluren, and the situation was different.

    "If only I had absorbed two of them, I could have handled him even without using that. But I have no choice now."

    "Awaken my physique!¡¯ Ryder firmly said as he clenched his scythe.

    As soon as Ryder said it, his body started getting warmer. His size started increasing as he felt like he was getting bigger. He couldn¡¯t see it, but his hair had also started bing redder and illusory.

    A fire started burning all around Ryder¡¯s body which even burned his clothes, but he couldn¡¯t feel any warmth in that fire. He wasn¡¯t in pain. It seemed like the fire wasn¡¯t harmful to him.

    His hair had changed even more as they seemed like the zing red fire that was burning in his head.

    His skin also started getting illusory, along with everything else. His eyes disappeared as well as his lips and everything else.

    Within seconds, it seemed like there was not a human here but a creature that was made entirely of mes.

    "This... Is really cool," Ryder muttered softly as he looked at his hand.

    "I¡¯m made of mes. But not ordinary mes. I¡¯m made of mes of hell. This Physique of Aluren is really cool. Much better than Julien and Itsuki," he added as he pleaded.

    Itsuki had stopped fighting as he looked at Ryder.

    "Aluren¡¯s physique? Ryder? What is this?!" Itsuki asked furiously.

    "Awesome. It seems like Janus also simplified all the skills of this Physique in the form of Divinity. I can use it all. They will be handy."

    Ignoring the words of Itsuki, Ryder seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

    "You can¡¯t be the son of the Lord of Time! You¡¯re not here to stop a cmity! You stole the Divinity of Aluren! That¡¯s why you want to kill others! So you could steal from them too, right?" Itsuki yelled, finally getting Ryder¡¯s attention.

    "After killing three with my help, you would have absorbed them, and you would be strong enough to take everyone out alone? Am I right?" He further asked furiously.

    Julien had also stopped as he realized what was happening. So Itsuki was fighting him because he was fooled. The real enemy was Ryder, it seemed.

    "I knew this would happen if I did this. That¡¯s why I had to think so many times. But now that I sailed this ship, I might as well go all the way," Ryder dered as he changed the Moon Scythe to a staff.

    "me Tsunami!" He dered as he tapped the ground with his staff, using one of the strongest skills of Aluren.

 Chapter 577 Taken out

    <h4>Chapter 577: Taken out</h4>

    Ryder finally used a skill that he was prepared for. One of the strongest skills in the arsenal of Aluren that he could only use after going into his Semi-Godly form.

    As soon as Ryder¡¯s staff tapped the ground, a massive wave of me came out of the ground, taking everything in its path, turning things to ashes.

    The trees, the nts, everything in its path was destroyed as the massive wave advanced towards the two young gods like a Tsunami that hade straight from hell.

    "Even his attack?" Itsuki eximed as Itsuki watched Ryder use Aluren¡¯s attack. There was no doubt in his head that Ryder was an enemy.

    The me Tsunami came so fast that it burned all the Itsuki versions, destroying them all.

    As for Julien, he seemed to have stabbed his golden sword on the ground, making a Golden Barrier around him.

    Ryder didn¡¯t let this opportunity go to waste as he changed the staff back to a scythe before he swung it back without even looking.

    "Argh!"

    A pained noise came from behind him. Ryder calmly turned back to see a thread of blood floating in the air.

    "Did you really think it would work on me? I know how alert you are. The guy who kept his identity secret while letting others know a different version of him? The man who had his subordinates act like him and even used the Illusions to save that subordinate? You jumping in a battle so openly?" Ryder said grimly.

    ¡¯You would never jump in a fight openly. So it was obvious. All the avatars that were fighting Julien were fake. As for the real you, it couldn¡¯t be easier finding you. You know why?" Ryder said as he saw the invisible Itsuki bing visible.

    Itsuki¡¯s throat seemed to have been cut, and he was struggling to breathe. His face had turned pale as well. A small knife was in his hand, which he couldn¡¯t even move as his entire body had frozen.

    There were many questions in his eyes, but he couldn¡¯t even speak as he took hisst few breaths while going down.

    "In the fight when you were pretending to be asleep? I knew you were acting. But I also knew that was the real you. You know why and how I knew everything?"

    "When you showed me your real self for the first time, I had ced a special scent in my hand. When I shook your hands, that was the moment I had taken the steps to make sure I always knew where the real you is."

    "I knew from the start that you weren¡¯t actually fighting Julien but keeping yourself safe in the distance. It¡¯s only now when you came out to kill me," Ryder told Itsuki, who had fallen to the ground.

    Just to make sure, he changed the Scythe to a sword which he stabbed in the chest of Itsuki.

    "There goes the second one," Ryder muttered as he kept Itsuki¡¯s body in his inventory.

    As for Julien, he seemed to still be facing the me waves, trying to resist with his treasure sword.

    ....

    "This battle... Have they all gone crazy? One moment a person is helping others, the next moment they are fighting amongst themselves? First, it was Ryder and Itsuki against Julien, and now it¡¯s Itsuki and Julien against Ryder? What the heck?"

    Ion seemed like he was going crazy as he watched the battle. The moment he believed he had an idea about what was happening, something else happened entirely. And the moment he felt like something else was happening, things changed again.

    "Also, he can use Aluren¡¯s strength? Could it be that Ryder was actually Aluren and the Aluren I saw was fake? Just like Itsuki, for the world was different, but that woman was the real Itsuki? That should be it. He¡¯s Aluren! But then again, why was Aluren able to use the strength of Lord of Time?¡¯

    The more he thought about what was happening, the more things changed. In the end, he seemed like he had no choice but to wait to understand everything better.

    "If only I didn¡¯t have to hide, I could have asked them myself," he said, frowning.

    "I¡¯m any case, Itsuki is dead. Soon, either Julien or Aluren will be dead too. And maybe the others will die too. That¡¯s good for me. Lesspetition."

    ....

    Ryder looked at Julien, who seemed to be stuck in the middle of the tsunami of fire, only at the mercy of his barrier. But fortunately, his barrier seemed to be of high quality at least. It was resisting the mes as he waited for the fire to die down.

    Ryder, however, didn¡¯t want the mes to die.

    Instead, he flew right into the waves of mes which couldn¡¯t hurt him. The Moon Sword again changed to Moon Scythe

    He stopped before Julien, who was standing with his golden sword buried into the ground, ring at Ryder with his estranged eyes.

    "That barrier won¡¯t save you," Ryder dered as he gripped the Moon Scythe firmly before he raised it in the sky.

    "If you¡¯re really the Divine Weapon of an Actual God, are you really going to be defeated because of a Divine Weapon of a Semi-God?" Ryder dered as if he was talking to the Scythe.

    "I don¡¯t know if you can hear me or not! But if you want to keep the dignity of your old master and of yourself, you must not be stopped by that measly sword! It¡¯s nothing before you! Show me what I said is true!"

    As soon as Ryder said the words, he swung the sword as fast as he could. A mysterious ck light started shining around the entire Moon Scythe as the strange characters that were carved in it started shining in a mysterious golden glow.

    Smash!

    As soon as the Scythe¡¯s de hit the golden barrier, the barrier shattered like it was made entirely of ss.

    As the barrier broke, even Julien was shocked. He hadn¡¯t expected that his barrier could be broken. That¡¯s why he hadn¡¯t taken any precautions in case the barrier was broken.

    As he saw the Scytheing towards him, he felt like it was death that was advancing towards him. He tried to raise his sword to protect himself, but it was toote. By the time he brought out the golden sword, the Scythe had already passed through.

    For a moment, silence spread everywhere as time seemed to have stopped as Ryder looked at Julien, who seemed to have understood what happened.

    There was still pride in his eyes even as his head rolled to the ground.

    "Finally!" Ryder muttered as he sighed in relief. Everything was over. Not only one, but he had also killed two of them at once. Now he could absorb them. After that, he could easily take care of the other god-sons. His strength was going to be too high after that.

    "Ah, Janus. How do I go back to my usual body now? Can you please return me to my usual physique now?" Ryder asked Janus as he looked around. He was done. The mes on the field had also stopped, but he was still made of fire.

    As soon as he asked, his body strategy returned to normal as his mes also died down. His skin started returning to normal. His eyes and other features also returned to their normal form. His hair also turned ck as he became his normal self.

    After returning to usual self, Ryder kept Julien¡¯s body in his inventory too.

    He nced at the Scythe as he smirked. "You really are a great treasure. Much better than others."

    The Scythe had also returned to normal, and it wasn¡¯t shining, but Ryder believed it could understand him. He didn¡¯t forget to praise the Scythe even more before he sent him back.

    He soon shifted to ncing at the golden sword of Julien and the knife of Itsuki.

    "Janus, how can I pick them up? Without getting electrocuted?" he asked Janus since he didn¡¯t want to leave such precious things behind.

    "Use your hands to pick them up," Janus answered.

    "Do you think I picked them up with my nosest time?" Ryder asked, rolling his eyes.

    "You can pick them up now. They are ownerless. As long as the owner of a Divine Weapon is alive, no one else touches them. But as long as their owner dies, others can touch them as long as they have even a tiny bit of Divinity in them," Janus exined in detail.

    "Can I learn that barrier trick of this sword then?" Ryder asked as he picked up the golden sword.

    "You should think about thatter. Leave now," Janus told Ryder, changing the topic.

    "Alright. We caused a lot ofmotion here. I really should leave before anyone actually shows up. But I¡¯ll get all the details from you. I¡¯m not forgetting this!" Ryder dered as he ran to the knife of Itsuki that was lying in the distance.

 Chapter 578 After Prince?

    <h4>Chapter 578: After Prince?</h4>

    Ryder picked up the knife of Itsuki and kept it back in his inventory as well before he ran to the cars.

    "Ah, Janus. That also leaves a problem for us," Ryder said as he stopped before the Ferrari.

    "There are two cars that are registered to us temporarily. We need to return both, but more importantly, I can only drive back one. What should I do?"

    "That¡¯s for you to decide. The answer isn¡¯t that tough," Janus repliedzily before he stopped talking.

    "Should I destroy them all? Oh, wait! Inventory! I never tried it, but I should be able to carry cars in them too! That would make it so much easier when I travel to other countries. Taking my personal sports car with me. Why didn¡¯t I think of this before?"

    Pleased with his n, Ryder kept the Ferrari of Itsuki back in the inventory.

    He didn¡¯t stop there as he walked over to the Koeinsegg of Julien. With a grin on his face, he kept that in his inventory too.

    "That car is pretty good. I¡¯ll take it on a tripter," he muttered before he walked back to the Bugatti that was blocking the road in the distance.

    Getting in the car, he turned it on before he started leaving.

    He didn¡¯t even have to drive for long when he stopped again as he saw two more sports cars standing in the distance.

    "These must belong to the guys that Itsuki killed. Well then, more for me, I guess," Ryder said as he opened the doors and stepped out.

    He walked to the two cars and kept them in his inventory as well before he got in the Bugatti and left.

    Ryder had already changed his clothes before getting in the car. He also wiped any marks of blood so that no clues were left behind.

    He soon got back to the hotel and booked a flight back to Japan.

    As there were no flights for the day, he got the tickets for tomorrow. It was only now when he could actually leave.

    In the evening, he went to the Garage and returned the Bugatti.

    "Where¡¯s your friend? The second car?" The owner asked Ryder.

    "Actually, she is sick. So I¡¯ll bring back her car myself. So wait for a little," Ryder told the man before he left.

    He walked to an empty ce where he brought the Ferrari that was being used by Itsuki.

    He entered the Ferrari and gave it to the man before he took a cab to go back.

    He also wanted to call Alice to tell her that he wasing back tomorrow, but Janus stopped him.

    "What happened?" Ryder asked, wondering why Janus had stopped him.

    "There are more people left to kill. Four more before you can actually return back to your original life," Janus told Ryder.

    "Why? Itsuki told me he hadn¡¯t told anyone about me. And when I met Julien, I also understood that he hadn¡¯t known me. He couldn¡¯t have done anything."

    " Now that the one who could¡¯ve spread the news about me is dead, I should be able to go back," Ryder retorted, not understanding why he needed to jump in the mess that didn¡¯t belong to him.

    "You don¡¯t understand. The news about you will only start spreading now that so many of them are dead. It won¡¯t be long before it¡¯s the time for the yearly meeting of God-Sons," Janus replied.

    "They¡¯ll try to get together. That¡¯s when they will realize that the others are missing or dead. It won¡¯t take them long to get to you. Before it¡¯s the time of their meeting, you need to kill them all. Or it¡¯ll be toote. You and everyone around you will be in danger," he further exined.

    "Geez, you¡¯re really no fun, are you? Anyway, it doesn¡¯t matter. I might as well kill them all now that I started. In any case, I¡¯ll soon have the power of three of them. I should be able to take them out easily. Tell me, where¡¯s the next target?" Ryder asked as he got ready.

    "We¡¯ll be going to Britain," Janus replied. "The Prince of Britain is your next target."

    "You want me to take out the Prince?" Ryder asked, frowning. "Do you want me to be the public enemy?"

    "He isn¡¯t the real Prince. He just created a false memory for everyone to think of him as Prince. Even the Royal Family lives in that illusion," Janus exined.

    "You know he¡¯s not real! I know he¡¯s not real! But the people of Britain and the Royal Family don¡¯t know, do they?! If I killed him, what are the chances they¡¯ll believe my exnation that their Prince was a god that came on a trial on earth and that he fooled them all?" Ryder asked, squinting his eyes.

    "I¡¯ll be seen as a crazy man! Moreover, MI6, MI7, and everyone else will be after me! I¡¯ll be a fugitive!¡¯ he further said. "I can¡¯t kill him!"

    "Alright. Start with a different one, then. We can go back to himter," Janus said, sighing.

    "Who is the next one?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "Adrian in Russia," Janus exined.

    "He? The bastard who tried to kidnap Alice? You don¡¯t need to ask me to kill him. I¡¯ll do it on my own. I hadpletely forgotten about him!" Ryder let out as he canceled his flight to Japan. Instead, he booked a flight to Russia. It was finally time to get to work.

    He still decided to call Alice once more as he told her that he was caught in work and that he was going to take a few more weeks. He also warned her to stay in the hotel and not go out because he was sooning back.

    ....

    After handling everything, Ryder was lying in bed. The flight to Russia was going to be tomorrow afternoon. He had plenty of free time, and he decided to check up on how the work was going in Necrosis.

    Did everyone fail the trials as per his n, or some were still alive?

    As he opened the news on his phone, he couldn¡¯t help but smile. It was true. Everyone had failed. Moreover, his name was also being taken. Many people were saying that Hades was also interfering in the trial to make it more challenging.

    Some people praised him for making the trials more interesting, while others med him for misusing his powers because he was jealous that the others might win.

    The public opinion was split into two camps: one who loved Ryder while others who were jealous of him.

    Ryder ignored the public opinion and focused on what Necrosis was going to do next. It was good that they did the trial publicly. No matter what they tried, he was going to have an idea about what they were doing.

    "What the heck?"

    As Ryder saw what was happening, he was stunned. Necrosis had resumed the trials, but they had switched yers as per the news. Moreover, they had made the faces of the yers and their names vague so that no one could see which yer was on which trial.

    "Hah, I understand. It¡¯s so that I can¡¯t obstruct them likest time with the sketches of their specific yers. When I don¡¯t know who is doing what, I can¡¯t tell them what to keep an eye on. Moreover, their targets will bex after killing the yers likest time," Ryder muttered, seemingly amused.

    "Not bad at all. But you still underestimate me," Ryder said as he smirked.

    He brought the Divinity sses out of his inventory and wore them.

    "Take me to Divinity."

    ...

    Ryder woke up in Divinity and approached Rale, who was in the training room with Miyali.

    As he looked inside the training hall, he was amused. Miyali was much faster. Now she really seemed like the Vampire King as she was also able to fly and use other tricks that were specific to Vampires.

    ¡¯But she still can¡¯tpare to Rale. The level difference is just too big. It¡¯s not as if I can help her level by making her hunt. Only yers and beasts can do that. She¡¯ll have to grow naturally,¡¯ Ryder thought as he stepped inside.

    As Rale saw Ryder, he stopped the battle.

    "Greetings, Your Majesty."

    Rale and Miyali both greeted Ryder at the same time.

    "You may stand," Ryder replied. "Anyway, Rale. I had work from you. Come with me."

    "You can go and rx a bit. You¡¯re dismissed," Rale told Miyali as he left with Ryder.

    "Rale, did you do the tasks I gave you?" Ryder asked Rale.

    "Yes, Your Majesty," Rale replied. "Moreover, the kingdoms sent thanks to you. Even Vampire King thanked you for helping him keep his niece safe since she¡¯s his only family left now."

    "His only family left? You mean he doesn¡¯t have anyone else?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "He doesn¡¯t. I did hear that he supposedly talked about having a baby somewhere in the world before," Rale answered.

 Chapter 579 Meeting the Vampire King

    <h4>Chapter 579: Meeting the Vampire King</h4>

    "Vampire King had a kid? What happened then? Why is it only a rumor at this point?¡¯ Ryder asked Rale, confused.

    "Because no one has any other information regarding that. Who knows, it might as well be a rumor. We can not confirm it. And we can¡¯t just ask them either," Rale exined.

    ¡¯ A vampire that lost his kid. Isn¡¯t Miyali someone whose father is a Vampire too? So what if others can¡¯t confirm it. I¡¯ll talk to him myself,¡¯ Ryder thought, deciding that he needed to check. If his luck was right, maybe Miyali will get her father.

    And if she gets her father, it was good for him too since Vampire King will support him even more in that case after her influence. He could safeguard the Demon Realm for whatever the future held.

    He believed that the future was going to be Chaotic since Ion was definitely trying something. He needed to be prepared and keep everyone ready, so they could be safe even if he weren¡¯t here. It was a real world, after all.

    "Rale, I want you to send the notice to the ones I told you about yesterday. Tell them that even though they killed the enemies, there are more who are after the same goal. This time these are the people we don¡¯t know the face of. So tell them to be careful," Ryder told Rale.

    "You handle this. I¡¯ll go to High Duke Magna. After Ie back, we¡¯re going on a trip to the Undead Region; stay prepared," He further said before he started leaving.

    Rale got back to work and didn¡¯t chase after Ryder since he needed to finish up before it was the time to leave.

    Leaving the Pce, Ryder started flying to the Pce of the High Duke Magna.

    He had been to the Pce of High Duke Oris many times, but this was his first time going to High Duke Magna¡¯s Pce.

    Rydernded at the entrance of High Duke Magna¡¯s ce. As soon as hended, he was greeted by a wee which he had be ustomed to.

    "Greetings, Your Majesty!" All the guards said in unison as they went down to their knees.

    "Take me to High Duke Magna. I have business with him," Ryder told the guards who stood up.

    They took Ryder inside the Pce and stopped just at the entrance of High Duke Magna¡¯s study. He was inside the room.

    The guard knocked on the door as he told Magna about Ryder¡¯s arrival.

    "Send him in," High Duke Magna replied in an emotionless voice.

    The gate was opened, and Ryder stepped inside.

    As Ryder entered the chamber, he was surprised. He could see shelves filled with books everywhere. It seems to be a library.

    High Duke Magna was sitting in a chair with the book in his hand.

    "Your Majesty, what brought you here?" Magna asked Ryder.

    "I¡¯m here to take you. I¡¯m going to the Undead Region to have a meeting with Vampire King, and you¡¯reing with me," Ryder told the High Duke directly.

    "Huh? You¡¯re actually here to take me? Don¡¯t you always take Oris with you?" Magna asked, curious. "What brought this change this time? May I ask what this meeting is about?"

    "I can¡¯t tell you that. Just know that I need you because you can take me there faster with your teleportation. I¡¯ll wait for you in my Pce. Be there in half an hour," Ryder told High Duke Magna before he started leaving without even getting a response.

    Ryder left the Pce and went straight to High Duke Oris, who also seemed surprised to see him.

    "High Duke Oris, I¡¯m going to the Undead Region," Ryder told High Duke. "And I want you to stay here and keep Miyali safe."

    "You want me to keep that hybrid safe? Why?" High Duke Oris inquired.

    "Hybrid?"

    Ryder was taken aback as he heard High Duke Oris? This guy knew the Truth?

    "You knew that she was a hybrid?" Ryder asked, surprised.

    "Was it supposed to be a surprise? We all knew it the moment we saw her," High Duke Oris said.

    "Then why didn¡¯t you say anything before?" Ryder asked. "I thought you all didn¡¯t know."

    "Why would we have said anything? She was with you, so she couldn¡¯t have been evil. Moreover, she was also our citizen since she¡¯s a half demon too. So no files were vited," High Duke Oris exined.

    "Anyway, you didn¡¯t tell me. Why do you want me to keep her safe?" He further asked. "And who will go with you if I stay here?"

    "I¡¯m taking High Duke Magna with me. That¡¯s why I need you to keep her safe. Only you can do something like keeping her safe since you have the patience, unlike High Duke Magna," Ryder exined.

    "That still didn¡¯t exin why I need to keep her safe?" High Duke Oris asked again.

    "Some people want her dead. There was already an infiltration yesterday, which I stopped. I believe there will be one more. I need you to stay in the shadows and kill whoeveres to kill her. That person is already in the Empire, I believe," Ryder told High Duke Oris.

    Hearing that, High Duke Oris stood up, frowning. "Someone infiltrated our Empire? I¡¯ll take care of it."

    "That¡¯s what I expected from you. I¡¯m leaving you here because I have faith in you. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll handle it. Also, when Ie back, I¡¯ll possibly bring good news. That¡¯s all. I¡¯m leaving in half an hour. You can tell other High Dukes about thister or keep it a secret that I¡¯m not here. I leave that to you," Ryder said as he turned back and started leaving.

    ....

    Ryder entered his Pce again, where he found Rale prepared to leave.

    "Are you done?" He asked Rale.

    "I handled everything. I have sent updated messages to everyone to be careful. They¡¯ll be able to handle it from here on," Rale replied, nodding.

    "That¡¯s good. I didn¡¯t send any message to the Vampire King since we¡¯re personally going there anyway," he continued.

    "That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll tell him personally," Ryder agreed.

    It didn¡¯t take long before High Duke Magna also came, right on time.

    "Is everyone ready?" Magna asked in a hurry to leave.

    Ryder nodded as he reached out his hand.."We¡¯re ready. Let¡¯s go."

    High Duke Magna grabbed Ryder¡¯s hand. He also caught the hand of Rale before he disappeared.

    ...

    The Pce of the Vampire King existed on the peak of the highest mountain in the Undead Region. The mountain seemed to be covered in Dark Clouds always, not letting even a single ray of sun pass through.

    The Vampire King only had one rtive left, who was his niece. She was the daughter of the General who was killed by Ryder.

    Before her father was killed, she lived in a separate ce while the Vampire King lived alone in the Royal Pce with only his servants. But now, the Vampire King brought her to his own Pce to keep her safe, which was especially crucial now that there were people after her life.

    At the moment, the Vampire King was sitting on his throne, alone. He seemed to be lost in thought. It had been so long, but he hadn¡¯t been able to find what happened to his General. That had been his biggest failure.

    He didn¡¯t know that the ones who killed them wereing to him themselves.

    Just as he was losing himself in darkness, he felt a powerful aura.

    "Someone strong is here. Enemies?" Frowning, he stood up as he flew outside the Pce.

    As he stepped out of the Pce, he was surprised to see who it actually was.

    "What are you guys doing here?" He asked Ryder and Magna.

    "I wanted to talk to you personally. Aren¡¯t we invited inside?" Ryder asked, smiling as if he was meeting an old friend.

    "Fine. Come inside," the Vampire King said as he rolled his eyes. He gently flicked his hand, making the entrance doors open. He alsonded before Ryder.

    "I also wanted to thank you for informing me about people that were after my niece," He further said to Ryder. "Anyway, follow after me."

    "That¡¯s what we¡¯re partially here for. Actually, I have more information. I heard there are still some people after her. And this time, I don¡¯t know their faces. So you still need to keep her safe," Ryder informed the Vampire King.

    "Don¡¯t worry about her. I took adequate security measures. No one can hurt her. But you said that¡¯s only the partial reason? What¡¯s the other reason?" The Vampire King asked, frowning.

    "The second reason is the more important one. But I¡¯ll tell youter. First, find a ce to sit," Ryder said, dropping the topic for the moment. He couldn¡¯t just ask him about his kid directly.

    The Vampire King took him to his throne room, where all of them took seats.

    "Now we¡¯re all sitting. Tell me now," the Vampire King said.

 Chapter 580 Caught again

    <h4>Chapter 580: Caught again</h4>

    Ryder took a deep breath as he got ready to speak.

    "Actually, I came to know that you might have had a kid that you lost. And I wanted to know more about that so I could help you find it," he told the Vampire King.

    "That doesn¡¯t concern you. You can leave if you¡¯re here for that," The Vampire King straight away refused to respond.

    "So you really don¡¯t want our help? Alright. If that¡¯s what you want, then we¡¯re done," Ryder said as he stood up, prepared to leave. "High Duke Magna, let¡¯s leave."

    High Duke Magna also stood up as he reached his hand towards Ryder and Rale while muttering, "Can¡¯t believe we came all the way for this."

    Rale also held the hand of Vampire King, and they were just about to leave when the Vampire King actually raised his hand as he yelled, "Wait!"

    "I¡¯m ready to tell you about it," he said.

    "That¡¯s good," Ryder said, smiling. "Now that wasn¡¯t hard, was it?"

    He freed the hand of High Duke Magna as he once again sat down.

    "Tell me everything. And then I¡¯ll tell you everything that I know. Who knows, our information might match," Ryder said, hoping that he¡¯ll mention about falling in love with a Demon. If that were the case, it would be confirmed that Miyali is his daughter.

    "Years ago, when I was young, I had a fight with my father, and I ran away from home. That¡¯s how I met her. She had identally entered the Undead Region. The girl who was a Demon," the Vampire King said as he sighed.

    "What happened next?" Ryder asked, calm on the outside but excited on the inside. It seemed like it was confirmed. The Vampire King was really in for some great news today.

    "After that, one thing led to another, and I brought her back to my Pce and helped her disguise as a Vampire. She was my personal maid for the world but for me; she was my everything as before I knew it, I had fallen in love with her," the Vampire King described.

    "Then?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Then nothing. One day, she disappeared. The only thing I had was her letter in which she mentioned that she didn¡¯t love me. She was only pretending to be close to me to save her life, and now that she had an opportunity, she was running away," the Vampire King said, sighing.

    "This can¡¯t be," Ryder muttered, frowning.

    "That was also my reaction. I thought she was joking. I searched all around for her, but she was never found. It was clear that she had left. That¡¯s when I thought that it was all over," the Vampire King said, shaking his head.

    "Wait. So she didn¡¯t mention she was pregnant in the letter? How do you know that you had a kid in that case?" Ryder asked again.

    "I didn¡¯t know it. My father told me when he was on his deathbed. Apparently it was all his trap. He knew what was happening and that I had fallen for her. She also found out that she wasn¡¯t even a Vampire. What upset him even more was that she was carrying our baby... A hybrid," the Vampire King said, sighing.

    "He forced her to run away and that if she told me, he was going to kill her son, which he didn¡¯t believe worthy to be his grandson. By the time I knew it, it was toote. I even tried searching the Demon Realm for her when I found out the truth. But to no avail," he said as he finished the story.

    "So that¡¯s what happened. I think I know about the woman you¡¯re talking about. As for your kid, I know her too," Ryder told the Vampire King, epting the truth.

    "H-her? You mean I have a daughter? Where are they?" The Vampire King said as he stood up. In his excitement, he advanced towards Ryder, but High Duke Magna stepped in the middle of the two.

    "Please keep your distance," he reminded the Vampire King.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I was a little overwhelmed," the Vampire King said as he sat down again.

    "Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s normal. I would have reacted the same if I was in your ce," Ryder said as High Duke Magna stepped aside.

    "So, how are my daughter and my wife? Can you take me to them so I could apologize?" Vampire King asked Ryder.

    "I can take you to your daughter. She¡¯ll be so happy to meet you. She was also searching for you for so long," Ryder said, smiling.

    "Let¡¯s leave. Come to our ce. I¡¯ll help you meet your daughter," he further said as he stood up. "Also, bring your niece. If she¡¯s here alone, the people who are after her can hurt her. It¡¯s better if she stays with you."

    Rale and the High Duke also stood up.

    "Wait. You only mentioned meeting my daughter. What about my wife?" Vampire King asked, feeling like something was wrong with how Ryder was not talking about his wife.

    "Your Wife... Actually, she is no more. From what I heard, she died during childbirth. Your daughter lived with her grandfather in her young days. But something happened, and her grandfather was killed," Ryder said as he started exining.

    " She was also on the verge of being killed. That¡¯s when I met her and saved her. She told me everything about how she was a hybrid. Since then, she has been living in my Pce safely."

    " I didn¡¯t know she was your daughter. It was only recently when Rale told me about the rumor of you having a kid that you lost. That¡¯s when I thought of the possibility of you being her father. I came here right away to confirm," He further said. "Come to my Pce so that a daughter can meet her father."

    "Demon King, I still can¡¯t believe if what you¡¯re saying is true or not, but if it¡¯s true, you¡¯ll have my eternal undying gratitude for saving my daughter," the Vampire King said, looking emotional. There was also sadness on his face as he found out about the death of his wife.

    "You¡¯ll see it¡¯s true when you see her. I¡¯ll wait for you," Ryder said as he disappeared with Rale as High Duke Magna used his strength.

    "I¡¯lle right behind you," the Vampire King muttered as he clenched his fist. He started going to get her niece toe with her.

    ...

    High Duke Manga appeared in the Demon Realm Royal Pce with Ryder.

    "So that¡¯s what the purpose of the meeting was. Your maid is the Vampire King¡¯s daughter. That¡¯s surprising. Even I didn¡¯t expect that. But this is good. She is loyal to you, and Vampire King will be loyal to her. Indirectly, he will be loyal to us. This is very good," High Duke Magna acknowledged as he praised Ryder.

    "But next time you should tell us if there¡¯s something like this. Anyway, Vampire King should being here anytime soon. I¡¯ll bring other High Dukes here for when hees," he further said as he disappeared.

    "This was good. The Vampire King is Miyali¡¯s daughter. I can¡¯t wait to see her expression when she finds out. Rale, bring Miyali here. Also, where¡¯s Miku? I hadn¡¯t seen her all day?" Ryder asked as he noticed the absence of the Head Maid.

    "She should be in the Pce too. I¡¯ll bring both of them here," Rale said as he left.

    Ryder also started waiting as he hoped that the Vampire King wouldn¡¯t dy too much. He needed to be on the flight in the morning. He couldn¡¯t sit here all day long.

    Rale came back with Miku and Miyali. High Duke Oris also came with Miyali since he was already here, hiding.

    "So, High Duke Oris, did someone suspiciouse?" Ryder asked the High Duke.

    "None at all," the High Duke replied.

    The other High Dukes also came soon after.

    Miyali was standing in the room where she wondered why she was called here. So many influential people were here. Was something important going to happen?

    It was also when the Vampire King entered the Pce.

    Ryder was surprised at how fast he hade. Maybe because he wanted to meet his daughter as soon as he could?

    But what surprised him even more was the person who he was grabbing by the neck.

    Wasn¡¯t this the yer who was sent to kill the niece of the Vampire Kingst time?

    "This guy came to kill my niecest time. I killed him. Surprisingly he came back to life. I noticed him roaming near your Pce. What do you think about him?" The Vampire King asked Ryder.

    "Ah, he must be the infiltrator that was here to kill Miyali this time. I guess they didn¡¯t expect he¡¯ll meet you again," Ryder said,ughing.

    "Let me take care of it," he said as he stood up with the Moon Scythe in his hand.

 Chapter 581 Return

    <h4>Chapter 581: Return</h4>

    Ryder walked towards the yer that was caught by Vampire King.

    "Wait! You are-" he opened his lips to say something, but he stopped as he realized that it was none other than Hades. Why did he seem like the leader of the enemies?

    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t even finish his sentence as his head was shed. A single attack was clear for him to be taken out. He was eliminated again.

    "Why is this guy trying to kill everyone? First near my Pce and now yours?" The Vampire King asked, frowning.

    "No idea. I believe they want chaos and war. But that¡¯s only an assumption at this point. I don¡¯t know more about this either," Ryder replied, pretending to be ignorant.

    "Is that your niece?" He asked as he noticed a beautifuldy behind the Vampire King.

    "That¡¯s right. She¡¯s the daughter of the person I came here to find. Unfortunately, I got no clue yet," the Vampire King said as he sighed.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but feel a little guilty as he heard about this. They had killed her father, after all.

    ¡¯It¡¯s not like I had any choice. He came after me,¡¯ Ryder thought, trying to justify everything that had happened before.

    "That aside, where¡¯s she?" The Vampire King asked, getting back to the main topic.

    Ryder knew who she was talking about. He walked towards Miyali as he asked, "Can I have that pendant that belongs to your father?¡¯

    Miyali gave the pendant to Ryder as she frowned. She didn¡¯t understand why he was asking that, but she listened to him.

    As she brought out the pendant before everyone¡¯s eyes, the Vampire King noticed it.

    He was stunned for words. That was his. Did that mean this girl was his daughter?

    For a moment, he felt as if his body had frozen in ce. He couldn¡¯t step forward or step back as he didn¡¯t know how to address the situation.

    He had thought of many things as he wasing here before, but now that he actually had his daughter, no words came out of his lips.

    He believed he was the culprit of his daughter. Because of him, she had to grow up an orphan.

    Ryder walked with the pendant to the Vampire King.

    "Is this yours?" he asked.

    The Vampire King stood frozen as he looked at the pendant. Even though the Vampire King didn¡¯t say anything, Ryder understood everything from his reactions.

    "I¡¯ll take that as a yes,¡¯ he said as he walked back to Miyali, who still seemed confused.

    "Miyali, let me tell you everything. After a little bit of effort, I had managed to find your father who was also looking for you. Meet the Vampire King... He is your father," Ryder exined to Miyali, sighing.

    The same reaction as the Vampire King was seen in Miyali, who was also overwhelmed.

    "A-are you joking, Your Majesty? I know my father is a Vampire, but he can¡¯t be the Vampire King. If he were of such high authority, he would never have let my mother leave. She wouldn¡¯t have lived the life she did if someone so prosperous was my father. You must be misunderstanding," Miyali said, shaking her head.

    She refused to believe it. Even though her grandfather hadn¡¯t told her about her father, she still believed that her father was a good guy. She thought that it was a taboo for Vampires to be bound to other species.

    She believed her father didn¡¯t have any power to change the rule and her mother had to leave. There was no way he could be the Vampire King. If he were someone so special, he would have stopped her. He would have changed the rules for her.

    Her word slightly hurt the Vampire King, but he knew she had every right to say that.

    He took a deep breath as he gathered all the courage he had. He wasn¡¯t this scared even when he faced the strongest beings in the world as he was now.

    Clenching his fist, he stepped forward and stopped right in front of his daughter.

    "Without thinking anything about his dignity, he went down on his knees as he sighed.

    "I am your culprit. I won¡¯t try to exin anything if you don¡¯t want to hear. But just know, I didn¡¯t want this to happen. I don¡¯t want your mother to leave. I even tried to find her, only to fail. The situation was so unfortunate that if I had an opportunity to go back in time to change it, I would have done so in a heartbeat," the Vampire King said as he sighed.

    Seeing the sadness in Vampire King¡¯s eyes, Miyali¡¯s soft heart melted as she felt bad for him. She didn¡¯t know what had happened. She couldn¡¯t judge it.

    "Tell me what happened." She told her father. "I¡¯m ready to listen."

    The Vampire King took a deep breath as he started telling Miyali everything that he told Ryder. She told him what had happened and how things progressed before her mother left.

    Ryder sat on the throne, giving the others their silence as he kept an eye on the time since he didn¡¯t want to leave. Except for High Duke Magna, the others were all surprised at the identity of Ryder¡¯s maid. She was the Vampire Princess?

    "Can you forgive this unfortunate man for disappointing you?" The Vampire King asked as he finished exining.

    Miyali answered with her actions as she hugged the Vampire King.

    "I knew my father couldn¡¯t be bad. I knew there must have been circumstances. I was right. You didn¡¯t abandon us. You weren¡¯t wrong. Even you lost as much as us," Miyali said softly as she sighed.

    "Thank you for forgiving me. Come with me. Let¡¯s go back to your real home. Your Pce is empty without you," the Vampire King said as he smiled. His heart was finally at peace as he had received the thing he always desired.

    His family was back. Even though he didn¡¯t have his wife, he had his daughter now.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯te back," Miyali replied as she shook her head.

    "Why can¡¯t you?" The Vampire King asked.

    "I need to work here and take care of His Majesty. He took care of me for so long, even though I created so many troubles for him. I can¡¯t leave him behind," Miyali replied as she nced back at Ryder.

    ¡¯Created trouble? Is she talking about the Rampage she went on? Ah, that¡¯s right. I had punished her to work as a maid at that time. Could it be that she isn¡¯t leaving because of that punishment?¡¯ Ryder thought, amused.

    "Miyali, don¡¯t worry about me. You¡¯re free, and you should live with your Father. You deserve the life of a Princess. Also, it¡¯s not like we won¡¯t meet again. I¡¯lle to meet you often. And you can alsoe asionally on vacation. Our two realms are tied in a friendly bond now. So don¡¯t worry," he told Miyali as he stood up.

    "But..." Miyali tried to say something, but no words came to her head as her thoughts were jumbled. She didn¡¯t know what excuse to use. She just didn¡¯t want to leave Ryder, but she also didn¡¯t want to leave her father.

    "As I said, don¡¯t worry. Go home and at least see how it is. Also, your father can tell you about your powers and how to control them better than us. You¡¯ll be better there, and you¡¯ll get stronger," Ryder said as he stood up.

    He walked towards her and patted her head.

    "I can¡¯t say I won¡¯t miss you. In fact, I¡¯m going to really miss you. But it¡¯s better for you," he further said.

    Miyali couldn¡¯t help but nod. She couldn¡¯t say no to him.

    She looked at her father as she said, "I¡¯lle."

    The Vampire King nodded. ncing at Ryder, he softly said, "You have my eternal gratitude. Today you returned my life to me. If you need anything from me in the future, don¡¯t hesitate. Just tell me, and I¡¯ll do it, no matter what it is."

    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind," Ryder replied as he nodded.

    The Vampire King left with Miyali and his niece, going back to the Undead Region.

    "She really was the Vampire King. This isn¡¯t bad. Now we have his eternal gratitude. Is this the good news you were talking about?" High Duke Oris asked Ryder as the Vampire King left.

    "That¡¯s right. Now that we have the Undead Region on our side, things are going to move smoothly. Moreover, we also have cooperation from other kingdoms after we helped them," Ryder replied.

    "Are you trying to bring peace to the world? You¡¯re creating such cooperation everywhere. Previously we only used to care about ourselves but we are different now. Are you really doing it for peace or because something more dangerous ising?" High Duke Oris asked.

    "The people that are trying to infiltrate our Empire, the one who wants to kill the Vampire King¡¯s niece... Who are they?" He asked Ryder.

 Chapter 582 Adrians Whereabouts

    <h4>Chapter 582: Adrian''s Whereabouts</h4>

    "All I know is that they are people that want to cause War. And I want to stop them or at least do something to keep our people safe. Anyway, that¡¯s all for today. I need to be in my room for something. I¡¯ll see youter," Ryder let out as he started running since he realized that he was gettingte.

    He was going to miss the flight. He went into his room and locked the door before he logged out.

    Waking up in the real world, he sighed in relief as he realized that he was still on time, fortunately.

    He could at least take a shower without missing the flight. He got the shower before getting prepared and left the hotel.

    He already had a cab waiting for him at the entrance, which took him to the airport.

    After the initial checking, he was able to enter the flight where he had booked a business ss seat to Russia.

    He sat alone on the flight, which started going to Russia. Within a couple of hours, the flightnded in Moscow, where he was supposed to find Adrian. But there was also a problem.

    He also remembered that there was one problem that he hadn¡¯t thought about. Itsuki was famous, so finding his address was easy.

    He owned multiplepanies, after all. On the other hand, how was he going to get to Adrian? All I heard was that the guy was in Moscow.

    "Janus, help me. Where is that guy staying? Can I get his address?" Ryder asked as he stepped out of the airport.

    He didn¡¯t book a cab and simply brought the sports car out of his inventory after finding an empty location.

    "I don¡¯t know. Unlike the others, he doesn¡¯t have a certain ce where he stays. As for finding his current location, I¡¯ll need toe there personally, which I can¡¯t. So you¡¯re on your own," Janus replied as he ced all the burden on Ryder.

    "Come on! Of all the countries, you only found Russia to ce all the burden of finding someone on me? Do you even know how big this ce is?" Ryder asked as he sat in the car, not knowing where to go.

    "I can¡¯t help with this. All I know is hisst location that I noticed when I was there," Janus replied.

    "Fine. Tell me that. Even that will be enough," Janus said as he sighed.

    "Open your Deity Phone," Janus said. "The location will be there."

    "That¡¯s much better. I can find about him there at least," Ryder said as he turned on the Deity Phone to see the location. On the other hand, he activated his real phone in which he opened the route ordingly.

    As he now had a proper route, he started driving towards that red dot.

    "Wait, I forgot one more thing. I don¡¯t have Russian money. How will I get petrol in this thing?" He said as he noticed the car slowly running out.

    "It seems like I¡¯ll have to do something about money first," he muttered as he stopped the car and stepped out.

    "I feel bad doing this, but what can I say? I have no choice," he said, justifying himself as he walked over to someone who seemed like a businessman, sitting in his car.

    As the car windows were closed, Ryder had to knock on the window to get the attention of the man inside, who seemed to be busy in smoking.

    The man lowered the ss as he asked, "What do you want?"

    Even though the man talked in Russian, Ryder heard it in English since he had specially learned a skill from the system that helped him understand and speak allnguages.

    "Look into my eyes," Ryder softly said as he started using the hypnosis again that he had used on the worker of Itsuki.

    "Worked like a charm," He let out a smile as he noticed that it had worked.

    "Give me all the cash you have," Rydermanded the man.

    The man brought his wallet out of his pocket and brought one coin out of it as he gave it to Ryder.

    "What nonsense, do you think I¡¯m a beggar?" Ryder asked, frowning. "If you don¡¯t have cash, then get some out. The ATM is right there."

    "Don¡¯t bring too much money. I only want..."

    As Rydermanded the man, he left the car and walked to the ATM, from where he brought a bundle of cash which he gave to Ryder.

    "That¡¯s right. You¡¯ll forget everything that happened in thest ten minutes and return to normal after one minute," Ryder told the man as he took the money before he started leaving.

    Entering his car, Ryder left.

    He stopped at a petrol station and got the car filled up as he paid in cash.

    Getting the car on the road, he got en-route to the red spot on the map.

    After driving for half an hour, he finally ended up at the ce where this point was showing.

    "This ce? He was in this University?" Ryder let out, frowning.

    "Now that I thought about it, isn¡¯t this the University that Alice applied to? The man that hade to kidnap Alice also pretended to be from this ce. It doesn¡¯t seem wrong. The Dean of this ce should know about it too," he said as he parked the car. It doesn¡¯t matter if this was a university; he needed to check.

    He parked the car outside and walked inside the University on foot. He wasn¡¯t stopped or even checked.

    "The atmosphere of this ce isn¡¯t bad, just like any other University. Not bad at all," he observed as he noticed the surroundings. Youngsters could be seen ying games. Some could be seen walking with books in their hands while others were just sitting and talking.

    Ryder approached one of the students.

    "Excuse me. Can you tell me where the Dean¡¯s office is?" he asked the young man he had approached.

    The young man smiled as he nodded. "You want to go to the Dean? Walk straight from here and climb the stairs to go to the second floor. Remember, don¡¯t take the lift!"

    "After you¡¯re there, turn right and walk to the end of the corridor. There will be his office," the man told Ryder.

    "Thanks," Ryder responded as he left.

    Just as he was informed, he didn¡¯t take the lift and climbed the stairs as he walked to the second floor from where he turned right and walked to the end.

    As Ryder reached the end, his face twitched in frustration. The ce he ended up at was none other than thedies toilet.

    "That annoying guy. He didn¡¯t find anything else to pull this prank? Just you wait bro. If I ever saw you again, you¡¯ll regret it," Ryder muttered. He was just about to turn around to leave when the door opened, and a woman stepped out.

    As she stepped out, she saw Ryder looking at her.

    "What the hell are you doing here? Men¡¯s toilet is on the other side," the woman told Ryder, frowning.

    "I¡¯m sorry, I was looking for the office of Dean. Someone outside told me it was here. It seems like someone pulled a childish prank on me. Can you tell me where the Dean¡¯s office is?" Ryder asked the girl.

    "Ah, there are some who love to pull the prank on the visitors. Don¡¯t worry; you aren¡¯t far off. The Dean¡¯s office is on the third floor. You can ask anyone there; they¡¯ll point you in the right direction," the woman told Ryder before she left.

    "Thanks."

    Ryder went upstairs and asked another student on the third floor as to where the Dean¡¯s office was.

    It was only now that he was taken to the Dean¡¯s office.

    "That¡¯s his office." The students who escorted Ryder here told him.

    "Thanks," Ryder said again as he knocked on the door.

    "Come on in," came a voice from the inside.

    Ryder opened the door and stepped inside to find a person sitting on the floor.

    "Yes?" the man who was sitting behind the table asked. "What do you need?"

    "I need Adrian. Where is he?" Ryder said as he casually stepped forward.

    Hearing the name of Adrian, the man stood up only to notice that Ryder had disappeared.

    Ryder appeared behind the Dean, grabbing him by the throat before he smashed his head on the table, breaking it.

    "From your reaction, it¡¯s clear you know him. Don¡¯t pretend or act now. Tell me where he is, or the next time it won¡¯t be the table that breaks but your head," Ryder said, frowning.

    "Who are you?" the man asked Ryder, still not answering.

    "Why do you want to know? Do you have an intention of marrying your daughter to me? I¡¯m not interested. Just tell me where that Adrian is," Ryder said as he raised the man in the air. After absorbing three god-sons, his strength was not weak at all.

 Chapter 583 Hes Adrian?

    <h4>Chapter 583: He''s Adrian?</h4>

    "Where is Adrian?" Ryder asked firmly as he kept the men¡¯s neck on his hand, not letting him love.

    The Dean of the college was a bulky man, but he couldn¡¯t move in front of Ryder, who seemed to be having an incredible amount of strength, keeping him down.

    The Dean was curious. Who was this guy? How was he so strong, and how was he able to keep him pinned so easily?

    "Come on, my patience is running out," Ryder said again as he raised the man¡¯s head and smacked him down again.

    "I don¡¯t know who you¡¯re talking about! I don¡¯t know any Adrian! Is he a student in our academy?" The man asked, seemingly ignorant and having no idea.

    "Oh, is that so? You don¡¯t know who he is?" Ryder asked, amused. He was sure this man was lying.

    "Is that why he was able to get the admission form details of my sister?" Ryder asked as he smacked the man down again.

    "Sister Admission form?" The man seemed confused, but he soon realized who Ryder was talking about. There was only ever one admission form that Adrian was interested in, and it was the form of Alice. Was he her brother?

    As the man realized who Ryder was, he understood why he was here. Because he was upset with Adrian. But still, who exactly was he to be so strong? As far as he knew, only Adrian was this strong.

    "Onest time, I¡¯ll ask. Where is that Adrian!" Ryder said as he frowned.

    "Ah, you¡¯re talking about him! I know! I just remembered, I know him. As for where he is, that I don¡¯t know. He onlyes here asionally because he likes the college atmosphere," the man answered.

    Ryder didn¡¯t take the words lightly as he grew even more upset.

    "You don¡¯t know where he is? Then you¡¯re useless. I thought I¡¯d let you live after you give me answers, but that¡¯s not the case anymore. Since you¡¯re so useless, I might as well just kill you," he softly said as he started choking the man.

    "Oh my, if only you knew, you could have been left alive," Ryder said, frowning.

    The man felt his breathing slow down as he struggled to breathe. He wasn¡¯t getting enough oxygen, and his face was also turning pale because of that.

    Unable to take it any longer, the man blurted out, "I-i remember! I know where you can find him! Pierre Club! He¡¯ll be there! I am not lying!"

    "That¡¯s better. See? That wasn¡¯t hard, was it?" Ruder asked, smiling.

    "By the way, I didn¡¯t even talk about how you put Alice in danger. Now that we¡¯re there, let¡¯s finish that conversation too," Ryder let out as he smirked.

    He didn¡¯t even let the man answer as he crushed his neck directly, killing him.

    "I don¡¯t want anyone putting people closer to me in danger," he said softly as he turned back while putting the body of the man in his inventory.

    After he was done dealing with the man, he left the room as silently as he came. He didn¡¯t forget to heal the broken table with his time maniption to make sure nothing looked off here.

    With his hands in his pocket, Ryder went downstairs, and he was just about to leave when he stopped.

    A smirk formed on his face as he saw the same man standing in the distance who had fooled him. The man could be seen ying basketball with his friends.

    "Well bro, you¡¯re not the only one who can pull a prank. Let me try too," Ryder muttered as he started walking towards the basketball court.

    As Ryder got there, the man noticed him as he burst intoughter. "So, how was the Dean¡¯s office?"

    "It was good. Thank you so much for the help," Ryder said as he stepped closer and hugged the man. While the man thought Ryder was crazy, he didn¡¯t know what was happening. All he noticed was that his mind went nk for a moment.

    "From tomorrow, you¡¯lle in adies dress and use thedies toilet. This willst for one week. And you won¡¯t remember that it¡¯s because of me," Ryder said softly before he snapped his fingers.

    He freed the man as he smirked, "Thanks again."

    After saying that, he started leaving. The man, on the other hand, returned to normal, not remembering Ryder¡¯s words.

    "I hope he enjoys my prank," Ryder said as he stepped out of the campus and unlocked his car before he sat inside.

    He turned on the engine and again got the car on the road before he started advancing it towards the Pierre Club, which was a famous ce ording to the map. The only problem was that it was kind of on the other end of the city.

    Sitting in his car, Ryder drove through the city, attracting a few eyes in the car that people thought to be imported. Fortunately, he had swapped the number tes of the car, so no one knew it was a German car that wasn¡¯t registered here.

    ...

    The Sun had started setting, but the city was still brightly lit, not letting even the slightest of Darkness enter the city. No matter where Ryder looked, it was bright as most of the city lights were turned on.

    He soon stopped his car near his destination, which didn¡¯t seem to be an ordinary ce. He could see many luxury cars parked here. None of the cars seemed as expensive as his though.

    "So this is the club," Ryder muttered as he looked in the distance.

    "Nice car."

    As Ryder was standing near the car, a woman stopped near him.

    "Thank you," Ryder replied casually as he looked at the woman, who seemed to be wearing a pretty revealing dress. Her short skirt seemed to barely cover her hips while her top revealed as much cleavage as she possibly could. Overall, Ryder found her beautiful.

    "How about we go on a ride in that thing? I do love riding things after all," the woman said seductively.

    Ryder understood what she was trying to say, but he was busy at the moment.

    "I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m busy. I thought you should ride someone else tonight," he replied casually before he left, not even taking a second nce.

    "What a rude man," the woman thought as she rolled her eyes. She also started walking in the same direction since she was here for that club too.

    ...

    Amidst the loud sound of the music, Ryder approached the club, where two bouncers were standing outside. This was an exclusive club where only women and rich and influential men were allowed to enter.

    "May I know your identity? Do you have a membership of the Club? It¡¯s our first time seeing you here, so we need to check," the guards said as they stopped Ryder.

    "Hah? What do you mean? You saw me here many times before. Did you forget me? Remember, you saw me before and even checked my membership at that time," Ryder said softly as he started deep in the eyes of the guard.

    Even his own eyes started shining slightly as he used his hypnosis.

    "Ah, that¡¯s right. I saw you before. How could I forget? Please go in," the guard said as if he had just remembered. He stepped aside.

    The other guard was still confused as he couldn¡¯t remember seeing someone like Ryder here before, but since his partner was saying it, it must be true, he assumed as he also let Ryder enter.

    Ryder casually entered the club, smirking.

    "This ability is so useful. Well worth going through all the effort that I had to," Ryder said, smiling. He was really pleased with how this ability had helped him get things don¡¯t easily.

    As he entered the club, the first thing he noticed was the dance floor. Some rich and influential people could be seen dancing withdies. In fact, many old people could also be seen dancing withdies half their age.

    "Now, what does this Adrian look like? That¡¯s also a problem. I only got a vague idea, but it¡¯ll be hard finding someone in so many people," Ryder said softly as he frowned.

    He saw everyone on the floor, observing them carefully, but none matched the description.

    Ultimately, he could only go to the upper floor, hoping that he was going to find that Adrian. As he had expected, he did find someone that matched the description, but that also made him surprised.

    "Could it be that he¡¯s the same Adrian? Wasn¡¯t he in America before? I even gave him a lift?" Ryder muttered, frowning as he recognized the guy.

    "Gosh, he was so close to me that day, and I had no idea," he let out, shaking his head as he started approaching Adrian.

    It was going to be his fourth target, and he seemed to be prepared to take him out. This was the person who was after Alice, after all.

 Chapter 584 Drunk in russia

    <h4>Chapter 584: Drunk in russia</h4>

    Ryder stepped closer to Adrian, prepared to take him out. Since only a Divine Weapon could kill one of them, he only had two options of weapons he could use¡ª the knife of Itsuki or the Moon Scythe after changing its shape.

    Even though he was able to use the Dream Knife of Itsuki, he didn¡¯t use it. He felt better using the weapon he had always used. That¡¯s why he already had the Moon Scythe, which was in the form of a knife, tucked inside his shirt.

    Adrian seemed to be looking towards the stage where the people were dancing when he casually nced around while taking a sip of his wine.

    His eyes soon fell on Ryder, who was walking towards him. He also recognized Ryder from before.

    "Hey, aren¡¯t you the man who gave me the lift before?" Adrian asked as he stood up while approaching Ryder.

    ¡¯He saw me too. But it¡¯s also annoying. If he recognizes my aura like Itsuki, it¡¯ll be tough. I did take precautions by covering myself with a fake aura, but still, it seems concerning. It was all going toe down to this now.

    As Adrian approached Ryder, Ryder observed his expressions to notice even the most minute of changes to see if he noticed something strange.

    "Why are you looking at me so seriously? Come, join me on a drink!" Adrian said as he patted the shoulder of Ryder.

    ¡¯Good. He doesn¡¯t recognize me,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    "Don¡¯t you recognize me?" Adrian asked, wondering if Ryder was thinking that he was a stranger.

    "I recognize you. I dropped you at the airport. I am surprised to see you here. This world is really so small," Ryder said, acting familiar.

    "That¡¯s better. Come, join my group. I¡¯ll show you around," Adrian said, bringing Ryder with him.

    "This here is my closest aid," Adrian told Ryder as he showed him a man who seemed to be observing Ryder.

    ¡¯He must be his right hand man. The person he shared his strength with,¡¯ Ryder thought as he observed the bald man as he reached out his hand.

    "Hey, nice to meet you."

    The man also shook his head, but Ryder noticed that the man was trying to press his hand, maybe to test his strength.

    Ryder acted ignorant as he said calmly, "That actually hurts. You¡¯re really strong."

    If he wanted, he could have crushed the hands of the man right away with his strength that even his boss shouldn¡¯t have been able to handle now, but he didn¡¯t. This ce was too crowded.

    First, his n was to do a simple assassination, but it had changed now. Even if he assassinated Adrian now, this guy was going to start amotion, and it was going to get big. Ryder didn¡¯t want that.

    Since he was already here, he decided to be patient and wait tillter.

    Adrian called a waiter who brought more drinks for them.

    "Drink. It¡¯s the strongest beer in Russia. After a few sses, you won¡¯t be able to walk properly," Adrian told Ryder as heughed.

    "Shouldn¡¯t we not drink then? We still need to walkter," Ryder said as he smiled wryly.

    "Don¡¯t worry. You helped me that day. I¡¯ll help you today. My men can take you to your hotel room if you lose yourself," Adrian said. "As for us, we have strong resistance to it."

    ¡¯Strong resistance than me? I doubt it. My ability makes me immune to alcohol. But it¡¯s also possible that they¡¯ll have something simr to that. I think I can y that to my advantage,¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He picked up the ss of wine and started drinking it.

    Adrian also picked up the ss of beer and drank it all at once before he asked, "So big guy, what brought you to Russia? Is there anything I can help you with? Just say the word, and I¡¯ll make it happen. I have a bit of reach here."

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about it. I don¡¯t have any important business. I¡¯m only here for a vacation. I always wanted to see Russia," Ryder replied calmly

    "Yeah. It¡¯s a beautiful ce indeed. If you need suggestions, I can tell you about a few must see ces," Adrian said, nodding.

    ¡¯This guy... He really seems nice. The way he portrays himself and the way he talks. He doesn¡¯t seem like a bad person at all. If he hadn¡¯t tried to kidnap Alice, we might have been friends. Unfortunately, he tried that. I can¡¯t let a threat like him for Alice.¡¯

    "Also, if you need my help while you¡¯re on vacation, you can alwayse to my ce," Adrian further said.

    "Where is your ce?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "I don¡¯t have a permanent ce, but at the moment, I¡¯m living in Hotel Wind Pce, inside the Presidential Sweet. Come any time. If I¡¯m there, I¡¯ll meet you. If I¡¯m not there, you can leave your message," Adrian answered.

    "Where are you staying?" He inquired.

    "I¡¯m living in Hotel Alexia, Room number 115," Ryder answered, lying. He simply told the name of the first hotel he had seen near the airport.

    Ryder and Adrian kept drinking the wine as they casually talked with each other. Ryder also acted like he was getting drunk.

    "Mmmh, you were right. This thing seems to be acting. It¡¯s pretty strong. My head is spinning already. I think I should leave," Lucien muttered as he tried to stand up only to almost fall.

    He barely kept himself standing with the support of the table.

    "You really have a good resistance, my friend. Much better for an ordinary man that isn¡¯t from here. But in the end, it¡¯s always the Alcohol that wins. I think it¡¯s the time for you to end this now," Adrian said as he also stood up.

    "Take him to his room,¡¯¡¯ he said carefully.

    "I¡¯ll also take my leave," Adrian further told his man before he turned back to look at Ryder. "It was a good day, my friend. I hope we meet again soon."

    After speaking to Ryder, he patted his hand before he left.

    The blue-eyed man stood up as he caught Ryder by his shoulder. "Let me take you to hotel Alexia."

    He helped Ryder leave the hotel before he carried him to his car.

    Opening the passenger side door, he made Ryder sit inside, who was still acting to be drunk. After cing the seat belt around him, he closed the door before walking to the Driver¡¯s seat.

    He sat in the Driver¡¯s seat as he started driving the car. He didn¡¯t know that he was ying right into Ryder¡¯s hand. There was another reason that Ryder had named the Alexia hotel. It was not only far from here, but it also had routes that had no houses nearby.

    Unaware of everything, the blue-eyed man started the car. As he didn¡¯t want to be stuck with Ryder for a long time, he was driving as fast as he could.

    Initially, the car was in a crowded part of the city, but he still didn¡¯t slow down. As for his speed, it only increased as he reached the empty roads where only trees could be seen on the both sides of the road.

    This was the moment Ryder was waiting for as he suddenly said, "Stop!"

    "What? What?" The man asked, surprised.

    "I need to pee!" Ryder replied.

    "God, it¡¯s like babysitting a kid. Fine, I¡¯ll stop the car. Don¡¯t do it inside," the man said as he pressed the brakes. He also opened the doors of the car for Ryder.

    "Oh wait, it was a false rm," Ryder said as he smiled. His hand moved like lightning as he grabbed the throat of the man. "Shall we try the test of strength again?"

    Crack!

    As Ryder talked, he didn¡¯t give the man any chance to reply as he crushed his neck. But he didn¡¯t stop here as these people were annoying.

    They always came back to life because of the Divine Energy given to them by the sons of gods. He believed this guy was going to stay dead for only a few seconds, but he didn¡¯t give him a chance toe back to life.

    He pulled out his Moon Knife and stabbed it in the chest of the man.

    It was only after that when he kept the knife back after cleaning it.

    "I really am bing an Assassin; it seems," he muttered as he shook his head.

    He kept the body of the man back in his inventory as he softly said, "Mighte in handy with the revival skill of mine. It¡¯s a strong one, after all."

    As he took care of the body, he moved over to the Driver¡¯s seat as he turned the car around.

    He was leaving, but he wasn¡¯t going back. He wanted to go to eat something first since he was getting hungry. Moreover, he wanted to wait tillte to break into Adrian¡¯s room.

 Chapter 585 How can I sleep

    <h4>Chapter 585: How can I sleep</h4>

    Ryder drove the car back to the bar, stopping it near the bar which he had just left.

    He stepped out of the car and walked back to his old sports car, which he took with him as he drove to the restaurant nearby.

    "This one should be good enough for dinner." He observed the restaurant he noticed before he stopped the car.

    Parking it nearby, he stepped out and walked inside the restaurant without forgetting to put the cash in his pocket that he had taken from the man.

    As it was already gettingte, there weren¡¯t many people in the hotel. Only a few seats were taken. As for the rest, they werepletely free to be taken.

    Ryder selected one of the seats that were close to the window as he started waiting for the waiter that was taking someone else¡¯s order.

    After taking thest order, the waiter approached Ryder with the menu.

    "Bring whatever is the best dish of this ce. No need for the menu," Ryder told the waiter casually without even looking at the menu. He believed he wasn¡¯t going to understand half the dishes because of the different names anyways.

    The waiter left.

    Ryder brought out his phone as he looked at the clock.

    "Eleven thirty only. I still have time. I should get there by one, it seems," he said as he kept the phone back.

    The waiter brought the dish and ced it before Ryder. "This is our best dish. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll love it."

    As the waiter left, Ryder started tasting what seemed like a mixed vegetable dish that also contained something he couldn¡¯t recognize. It did seem delicious.

    "Not bad at all."

    He didn¡¯t long before finishing that dish. Instead, he even ordered seconds.

    "This is really good. What¡¯s it called?" He asked while the waiter gave him the bill.

    "It¡¯s called The Fool¡¯s Gold," the waiter replied, making Ryder look at him weirdly.

    "I must say, it¡¯s a weird name, but the dish is pretty good," Ryder said as he brought the cash out of his pocket and ced it on the table along with the tip as he left.

    Getting back in his car, he again looked at the clock, which was just one minute short of midnight.

    He opened the GPS in his phone to direct him to Adrian¡¯s hotel.

    He turned on the engine of the powerful car, which seemed to be roaring with power as he pressed the elerator.

    It didn¡¯t take him long to get to the seven star hotel where Adrian was staying.

    Without stopping his car there, he drove ahead and stopped a hundred meters away from the hotel where he parked the car before he walked back to the hotel.

    The roads were mostly empty, and only a few cars were driving on the road at this time in the night.

    As Ryder was walking, he suddenly stopped. Without looking back, he calmly said, "I¡¯m warning you. Trying to rob me won¡¯t be a good idea. Someone would be injured, and it won¡¯t be me."

    A man was standing behind him with a knife in his hand with a shock on his face. He was just about to use the knife to rob Ryder, but before he could even speak a word, the man before him started talking.

    "Do you have eyes behind your head?" The man asked Ryder.

    "I don¡¯t exactly have eyes behind my back. But I do have a ghost behind me, if you believe that," Ryder said, smiling. It was the spirit of Stanner who had informed him about this. It had always stuck with Ryder, even now.

    "God, so you are a crazy man. You didn¡¯t know I was here. You just thought it was a ghost. You scared me for no reason," the man told Ryder as he sighed. "You scared me for no reason."

    "It doesn¡¯t matter, I guess. In the end, you¡¯re going to do what you want. I already did my job by warning you. After this, it¡¯s your choice," Ryder calmly said as he started walking away.

    "Stop and hand over all your money!" the robber yelled as he ran towards Ryder, but before he could even get close to him, he saw something shining sh before his eyes. By the time he realized what had happened, his head was lying on the ground.

    Ryder nced at the man who was standing frozen as if he had seen a ghost.

    "You¡¯re lucky that I don¡¯t want to make a scene here or what you saw would have been the reality," Ryder saidzily before he once again started walking away, leaving the shivering man behind.

    He soon reached the hotel and entered.

    As he entered, he created anotherrge scale illusion from the skills he had received after killing Itsuki with the Moon Scythe. The illusion made him invisible for the people he cast it on.

    As he didn¡¯t want to be stopped by the staff of the hotel, he basically made himself invisible. It worked in the same principle as his rabbit suit that made him seem like a rabbit.

    As no one could see him, he casually walked to the receptionist and picked up the master key of Adrian¡¯s room back. He entered inside the lift, which took him to the top floor where Adrian¡¯s room was.

    Stepping out of the lift, he started searching for the room.

    "There it is."

    He ced the master key to open the door.

    Click!

    The door was soon open as Ryder walked inside calmly.

    "Ah, my friend. I know I invited you to ask for help, but I didn¡¯t know it would be so soon." A peal ofughter echoed in the room.

    "You still didn¡¯t sleep, I see," Ryder mutteredzily as he noticed Adrian sitting on the sofa. He was still up.

    "How can I sleep when one of my men is missing," Adrian replied,ughing. "That¡¯s right. I called him to ask if he left your home safely, but he didn¡¯t pick up. That never happens."

    "He would always pick up my call unless he is dead," he further said. " So it was evident someone killed him or captured him, which isn¡¯t an easy task. Only a rare few people can do this, and all of them are my enemy."

    "So which one of them sent you? Let me guess, was it Aluren?" Adrian asked, frowning.

    "Aluren? That weak guy? I don¡¯t think he can ever send anyone anywhere anymore. He¡¯s dead," Ryder replied as he stepped closer to Adrian in slow steps.

    "He¡¯s dead? Is that a joke? Who killed him?" Adrian asked, scoffing.

    "Yours truly," Ryder let out as he spread his arms proudly. "I killed him like I¡¯ll kill you."

    "Hahaha, you killed him?" Adrian burst intoughter.

    "Just for that good joke, I¡¯ll give you a quick death!" He said as he disappeared from the sofa and appeared before Ryder as he punched with all his strength.

    Unfortunately, before his fist could hit Ryder¡¯s face, he found his hand caught. And it was caught by none other than Ryder. His immense strength was stopped by Ryder? For the first time, he looked shocked and out of control.

    "This won¡¯t work, my friend. Just like Itsuki had the illusion, Aluren had the fire, and Julien had a defense, you have strength. That¡¯s why I got three times strength beforeing here," Ryder said as his bracelet changed to the Moon de, which he stabbed in the heart of Adrian, who was standing in shock.

    Adrian¡¯s face turned pale as the moon knife was stabbed in his chest, but Ryder didn¡¯t stop as he brought the knife out, changed it to a sword, and shed the head of Adrian off.

    Thud!

    The head of Adrian dropped to the ground, followed by his body as his eyes remained open.

    "You really shouldn¡¯t have gone after Alice," Ryder said as he stepped closer to the body. He sat down before it and started the absorption process like before.

    As the absorption process was finished, the body of Adrian disappeared, turning into a pure form of energy that was also absorbed by him.

    Ryder stood up and sat on the sofa as he rxed.

    "Finally, I¡¯m done here too. Now starts the next part. Who to choose? I killed Four of them. The other four should be child¡¯s y. The only problem is the Prince now. How to kill him without getting wanted in all the countries."

    "I can¡¯t always avoid him. I need to finish him too. I guess next will be him. Might as well get it done with."

    He brought out his phone and booked his next flight, which was going to take him to Great Britain, where his next target was.

    As the next day¡¯s flight was booked, he decided to leave the room just as fast as he hade.

    Even as he left, no one saw him. Not a single person knew that a powerful person was killed here, and no clues were left. Not even the body was left.

 Chapter 586 Need of Sleep

    <h4>Chapter 586: Need of Sleep</h4>

    Ryder left the hotel and got into his car, which he took near the airport. The flight was in the early morning, and not many hours were left to it. He decided to stay in the car for the night since it was only a few hours.

    Setting his rm, he closed his eyes as he started sleeping while sitting.

    Even though it seemed a bit ufortable, he soon fell asleep, only to be woken up at the sound of the rm in the morning.

    He slowly opened his eyes as he looked outside. It had started to get bright out. He opened the gates and stepped outside.

    As Ryder stepped out, he was able to stretch his arms while yawning. He was still sleepy, but he couldn¡¯t rest anymore as he needed to get to a flight while also taking care of the car. He couldn¡¯t keep it back as there were people here.

    After stretching a little, he got back in the car as he started finding an empty ce.

    "There it is," he said as he noticed an empty ce. He stopped the car and stepped out. After observing his surroundings, he sent the car back before he took a cab to take him back to the airport.

    He checked in the airport and entered the flight after going through all the necessary steps.

    As the flight distance wasn¡¯t long, Ryder realized that he couldn¡¯t get proper sleep, but he could still have another short nap which he took.

    "Excuse me?"

    As Ryder was sleeping, he woke up as he felt someone shaking his shoulder. Opening his eyes, he noticed a fellow passenger.

    "We havended," the passenger told Ryder.

    "Ah, thank you." Ryder opened his seat belts and started getting off the ne as well.

    He left the airport without any luggage since all he needed was inside his inventory. Stepping outside the airport, he took a cab and told the driver to bring him to the nearest hotel.

    Since he hadn¡¯t been able toplete his sleep properly, he was feeling tired. And the short naps only made him more sleepy.

    He booked a room in the hotel that was shown to him by the cab driver and went to his room.

    As soon as he went to his room, he fell on the bed, saying, "Finally."

    He could get a good sleep now.

    His sleepstest for eleven hours before he actually woke up, still feeling tired.

    "What¡¯s happening? How can I sleep for so long today?" He wondered as he got off the bed.

    "Your body is tired since you absorbed so much strength in such a short time. Don¡¯t worry; it¡¯s nothing dangerous. You just need rest," Janus informed Ryder, who was getting worried if something was wrong with him.

    "Won¡¯t it get worse if I absorb more then?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "It won¡¯t. Just keep doing what you are," Janus calmly replied without exining much. "It¡¯s just your body getting stronger. Get good sleep after every absorption, and you¡¯ll be fine. You won¡¯t even notice anything," Janus exined.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll do that." Ryder replied, nodding. "Anyway, it¡¯s time to get to work."

    He got off the bed, stepping his feet on the cold floor. He took off his clothes, tossing them back in his inventory before he brought another pair of clothes. He tossed the new clothes onto the bed before he walked inside the shower room.

    Turning on the overhead shower, he started taking a shower.

    Knock! Knock!

    As he was in the shower, there was a knock on the door of his room. He could hear the knock. Realizing that it must be the room service with the food, he turned off the shower and started wiping his body.

    After drying himself, he wrapped the towel around his waist as he left. Going straight to the gates, he opened it.

    Just as he expected, it was the room service guy who was here with the breakfast.

    "ce that on the table," Ryder told the man, letting him enter as he stepped aside.

    The man stepped inside the room and ced the food on the table before he left.

    Ryder walked back to the bed and got dressed before having breakfast.

    As he finished the breakfast, he opened hisptop and started searching more about the Prince who was going to be his next target.

    "As expected, unlike others, this Prince is different. He doesn¡¯t seem to have a schedule like others. He randomly leaves and attends events without anyone having any idea that he ising. If I want him, I can¡¯t set traps in other ces."

    " I still need to wait outside his pce for him to leave the Pce if I want to go after him. But that would be hard too. Hees with his security. I doubt I can get him alone. If I want to get him, I¡¯ll need to get inside the Royal Pce," he said as he looked at the picture of the Royal Pce.

    "My illusion can fool the staff. Entering wouldn¡¯t be hard. But the problem would be the cameras. The illusion can¡¯t fool the cameras. I can use the items to disable the cameras, but first, I need to enter the Royal Pce. Only then can I use that. But if I went there, I would already be recorded before I activate that thing."

    "And if the cameras are disabled when I¡¯m there, the suspicions would straight go to me," he said as he smiled wryly. "That¡¯s what I certainly don¡¯t want."

    "I can use two methods, though. Either I should hypnotize a staff from Pce to make him do it, or kidnap one and transform my body into his Hypnotize options seems better," Ryder thought as he decided on a n.

    "Even then, I need to stalk the Pce first. I should be careful with that."

    He wore a jacket with a hoodie before he left the hotel.

    He walked on the roads of the city, only stopping in a ce where he couldn¡¯t find anyone. He once again brought his Sports Car. He even cast an illusion on his number te to make it seem like a number from Ennd.

    Stepping inside the car, he turned on the GPS to lead him to the Royal Pce as he was unaware of the roads. It was his first timeing here, after all.

    As he drove the expensive car, he attracted many gazes, including some from the owners of other expensive cars as he stopped at the traffic signals.

    One such couple was sitting in the car, which had stopped right beside him. The man was looking at the car with a jealous gaze. His girlfriend was also looking at Ryder¡¯s car, fascinating.

    "That¡¯s such a sexy car. Josh, why don¡¯t you buy it too?" The woman asked the man, holding his hand.

    "Do you know how expensive that car is? I can¡¯t afford it. Let alone buying it, the importing cost and the tax on top would be so high. Be happy with what I have," the man let out, rolling his eyes.

    "Cheh, you¡¯re just stingy. I wish he were my boyfriend instead," thedy let out, pouting. "He¡¯s so handsome too.¡¯

    Ryder was able to hear their conversation even though he didn¡¯t let it show on his face.

    He nced at the couple who was sitting in their car. The man seemed to be looking at his girlfriend, trying to make her understand as their argument started.

    The light soon turned green. He started the car and left the bickering couple behind.

    He soon reached near the Royal Pce. He parked his car in the distance as he stepped out.

    He approached the pce on foot while casting his illusion to make himself invisible.

    As he approached the pce, he noticed that there were cameras everywhere. He believed the cameras were recording him, but it didn¡¯t matter. He wasn¡¯t inside the pce. He was just like an ordinary man who was walking on the roads.

    He found a blind spot from the cameras near the Pce where he stopped.

    Folding his arms, he started waiting. He had the direct view of the entrance and the exit of the Royal pce to keep an eye on here.

    He was waiting to see if someone was going to leave or not.

    Two hours passed soon, and there was no movement.

    "This is so boring. Come on,e out fast! I don¡¯t have all day!" He softly said in frustration.

    It seemed like the gods listened to him as the gates of the Pce opened. A man stepped out of the Pce.

    Ryder didn¡¯t know who this man was, but he seemed like an important person inside the pce as the guards talked to him with respect.

    The man also talked back to the guards just as kindly before he starteding in the direction of Ryder.

    Ryder also stepped towards the man, ready to take action.

 Chapter 587 Water against Water

    <h4>Chapter 587: Water against Water</h4>

    The man was casually walking when he suddenly stopped as if he had hit something.

    Ryder stopped the illusion for the old man while still keeping it for others.

    As the man saw Ryder suddenly appear before him out of thin air, his eyes opened wide as if he had seen a ghost.

    "You won¡¯t scream, and you¡¯ll listen to mymands," Ryder told the man, staring into his eyes.

    As Ryder spoke, his eyes shone briefly as his illusion was cast.

    The man seemingly went in a daze as soon as he looked into Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    "I will listen to yourmands," the man said emotionlessly.

    The guards in the distance noticed the man standing in the middle of the road.

    "Is everything alright?" One of the guards in the distance asked.

    "Act normal and tell them that everything¡¯s fine," Rydermanded the man.

    The man turned back, looking at the guards.

    "Everything is fine," he said out loud. "I was just thinking about something."

    "Good. Now look back at me," Ryder told the man who turned back.

    The man looked back at Ryder.

    "Now, you will go back and ce this sticker inside the Royal Pce in a ce where no one will find it. After you¡¯re done, you¡¯lle out again, and then you¡¯ll forget anything rted to me or what you did in thest one hour," Ryder told the man as he gave him a sticker that he had purchased from the system store.

    It was a sticker that could make a field all around the pce, disabling all the cameras for the next one hour. That much time was enough for him.

    The man took the sticker and kept that in his pocket before he started walking back.

    "You are back? Did you forget something?¡¯" the guards asked as they saw the mane back.

    The man simply nodded his head before he again entered the pce.

    Ryder stood in the distance, standing with the support of the wall.

    Ten minutes passed before the man stepped out of the Royal Pce again.

    Seeing the man, Ryder got the hint. The work was done.

    As soon as the man left the Pce, Ryder¡¯s hypnosis was over. He got back to normal as he forgot what he had done.

    He did look a bit confused initially, but he shook it off before he left.

    Ryder stretched his arms as he yawned. "Looks like my work isplete. I can freely walk inside. I do hope that the sticker works though. If it fails, I¡¯d literally be walking inside while everyone can see me through cameras."

    While keeping his faith in the item he had received from the store, he approached the road.

    He entered the Royal Pce right in front of the guards, who were still under the illusion that everything was alright.

    As Ryder entered the massive pce, he realized that finding the Prince was still going to be hard. He only had an hour to do it, and just checking all the rooms were going to take hours.

    He walked through the long corridors of the luxurious pce in search of a servant he could use.

    Fortunately, it didn¡¯t take him long to find someone. A maid could be seen walking in his direction.

    He canceled his illusion as soon as the woman reached him. Seeing a man suddenly appear before her, a scream was about to leave her mouth, but he closed her mouth with his hands.

    "You won¡¯t scream, and you¡¯ll do as I say," Ryder told the woman, using his illusion.

    "I won¡¯t scream, and I¡¯ll do as you say," the woman said, nodding.

    "Good. You¡¯ll go to the room of Prince Suliven before walking back here. And when you get here, you¡¯ll forget what happened, including ever seeing me," Ryder told the woman who looked deep in his eyes.

    The maid turned back and started walking away.

    With his hands in his pocket, Ryder followed her as if he was the king of this Pce. But he also kept his illusion wherever he passed through, to not be caught. He was infiltrating the Royal Pce, after all.

    The maid moved through the massive pce to get to the room of Prince Suliven, which took her ten minutes.

    She stopped in front of a room, but she didn¡¯t do anything before she turned around and started going where she came from.

    "So this is the room," Ryder muttered as he observed the doors of Suliven¡¯s room.

    He looked at the time in his clock. There were still around forty minutes left for killing the Prince and getting out of here.

    He knocked on the door after looking around to make sure no one was there.

    "Come on in." He heard someone¡¯s voice from the other side.

    ¡¯So it¡¯s open. I didn¡¯t need to knock. I alerted him for no reason,¡¯ Ryder thought, smiling wryly. ¡¯ It doesn¡¯t matter. I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll scream for help."

    Ryder opened the door and stepped inside the room to see a handsome blonde-haired man sitting on the bed with a book in his hand.

    "You don¡¯t work here. Who might you be?" Suliven asked Ryder, seeing through his illusion. This didn¡¯t work on him.

    "Adrian sent me," Ryder replied calmly as he stepped closer.

    "Adrian? Why would he send you here?" Suliven asked, frowning.

    "He asked me to give you something," Ryder said as he stepped closer.

    "What did he ask you to give me?" Suliven asked, curious.

    He didn¡¯t worry about the fact that Ryder was stepping closer to him with each passing second until he was right beside the bed.

    "He told me to give you this," Ryder said as he brought a small bracelet out of his pocket.

    He got even closer as if to give the bracelet to Suliven.

    "The bracelet? What¡¯s special about it?" Suliven asked as he also reached out his hand to take the bracelet.

    As Ryder believed that he was close enough to Suliven, he decided to attack. The ck bracelet which was in his hand changed shape as it turned to a scythe which he swung towards Suliven.

    As Suliven saw the unexpected attack, his eyes slightly widened in surprise, but he also reacted fast.

    His body turned to water, falling on the bed. The scythe passed through the air, missing him.

    That¡¯s when the water returned to Suliven, who pointed his finger towards Ryder.

    A wave of water came out of his finger, hitting Ryder¡¯s chest, making him fly back.

    Ryder crashed on the wall.

    "So this really was an assassination attempt. But I doubt Adrian would send you. He isn¡¯t idiot enough to not know this won¡¯t work. So who are you?" Suliven asked. "Wait, it doesn¡¯t matter. I shouldn¡¯t even waste any time on you."

    He gently waved his hand, making the water appear out of thin air. The water swallowed Ryder inside what seemed like a ball of water.

    Suliven wanted to drown Ryder in water, suffocating him.

    Ryder wasn¡¯t the least bit affected, even as he stayed inside the ball of water. Instead, he folded his arms to show off.

    He was the Ruler of Water. It couldn¡¯t hurt him. He could breathe underwater while also being able to control it.

    As for Suliven, he was the son of Goddess of Water, but even he wasn¡¯t able to kill Ryder with water.

    Seeing Ryder stand inside the water while looking sofortable, Suliven was stunned. Why wasn¡¯t he affected?

    ¡¯ I should thank him for creating water for me. I can control it, but I can¡¯t create it,¡¯ Ryder thought, smiling. ¡¯It¡¯s my turn now.¡¯

    He raised both his hands before he gently pped.

    The massive sphere of water that had swallowed him freed him. Instead, it flew towards Suliven, swallowing it.

    Suliven casually waved his hand, making all the water disappear, but his surprise was evident on his face. Not only could Ryder breathe inside water, but he could also control it?

    "Who are you?" Suliven asked, frowning.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter who I am. What matters is that I don¡¯t have much time to y around," Ryder said as he looked at the time, which kept trickling away. He needed to leave before the cameras returned to normal.

    "So, Prince Suliven. You¡¯ll need to die," Ryder said as he ran towards the Prince, attacking with his scythe again.

    The Prince again turned to water, escaping the attack. The water moved around, falling on the floor where Suliven again came back to normal.

    "You might not know, but killing me is almost impossible. You can¡¯t cut water," Suliven replied calmly. "So drop that idea and tell me who you are. Who sent you to kill me?¡¯

    "You¡¯re right. That ability is indeed annoying," Ryder said, frowning.

    "But it doesn¡¯t matter. I have something that can take over water," Ryder said as he jumped on the other side of the bed before he attacked again.

    Suliven again turned to a puddle of water, but this time Ryder didn¡¯t let him go so easily.

 Chapter 588 Upset Ryder

    <h4>Chapter 588: Upset Ryder</h4>

    Suliven turned into a puddle of water dodging another attack of Ryder, but he didn¡¯t seem stunned this time. Instead, Ryder smirked as if he had expected this.

    He slightly raised his hand, making mighty mes burn in his hand. He had the strength of Aluren, who controlled the mes. Against water, the me was the best ability to use since these weren¡¯t normal mes that water could stop.

    The battle between the heavenly me and the divine water was much more fierce than the battle between the normal me and normal water.

    Without giving Suliven any chance to recover, he ced his burning hand inside the water.

    The water jumped into the distance, retaking the shape of Suliven, but there was a burn mark on his face as if someone had burned his face.

    He also seemed to be in pain as he looked at Ryder.

    "Who are you?" He asked, frowning. "You can control water, but you can also control mes? Moreover, those aren¡¯t normal mes! They are the mes of-"

    "mes of Aluren, I know," Ryder let out, finishing the sentence.

    "How do you have this?" Suliven asked as he kept stepping back.

    "I have this because I am the real Aluren. The one you were seeing was a fake Aluren that I had created so I could easily assassinate you all. As long as you¡¯re all dead, I¡¯ll be the sole person who passes the trial," Ryder said,ughing.

    He held the Moon Scythe in his left hand while a small ball of fire was taking shape in his right hand.

    "You¡¯re lying. You can¡¯t be Aluren. He would never be stupid enough to kill us because only an idiot would do this. If he¡¯s the sole winner and the others are dead, it would be too obvious. He would cause a war if he did that. Moreover, he can¡¯t control the water!" Suliven repeated, shaking his head.

    "You can¡¯t be him. Who are you?" He asked.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll tell you the truth," Ryder said, signing.

    "But only if you survive!" He abruptly said as he tossed the ball of fire he had created towards Suliven.

    Moving to the side, Suliven dodged the attack only to realize that Ryder had appeared before him. He could see Ryder¡¯s scytheing towards him.

    The ball of fire had also managed to hit the curtain near the window, which started burning.

    Ryder swung his scythe, attacking Suliven, who had barely dodged the ball of fire, forcing him to again turn to water to escape.

    Suliven turned into the puddle of water again, dodging the attack forcing Ryder to again use the burning hand to destroy the water.

    "Argh!"

    Suliven screamed in pain as he tried moving, but Ryder didn¡¯t let him. He kept up to Suliven. No matter how much he tried to create distance, he wasn¡¯t able to do it.

    And he couldn¡¯t evene to his real form without creating distance.

    As Ryder was enjoying bullying and destroying Suliven drop by drop, he didn¡¯t notice that a Water Spear was taking shape behind him. Even in this situation, Suliven could use his powers.

    Even when he was in the form of water, he was creating a Water Spear to attack Ryder.

    The spear didn¡¯t take long. As it came into existence, it flew towards Ryder. If Ryder hadn¡¯t dodged, it was going to hit where his heart was.

    Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t happen. Before the Water Spear could even stab Ryder, it stopped.

    "This trick won¡¯t work, little guy. I¡¯m the Ruler of Water. I can control it just as much as you can," he said proudly.

    Even though he knew that the only reason he was able to stop it was because Stanner had told him about the Spear behind his back, he didn¡¯t forget to boast and show how overpowered he was.

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    Just as Ryder was enjoying the advantage, he heard a thumping sound as if someone was hitting the door heavily.

    "Your Highness! Are you inside! We got reports; there¡¯s a fire inside your room! Please reply!"

    ¡¯These guys! They just had toe at this time. Doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m annoyed at having to go back in time and doing things again and again! Not again! This time I won¡¯t be scared of them. They want to interfere; I¡¯ll show them what it means to interfere!" Ryder said, annoyed.

    He knew he could just go back in time to make sure that the fire didn¡¯t hit the curtain, but he didn¡¯t care. It was too irritating already for him.

    He already knew that there weren¡¯t any cameras here that were working, so he could just let go. As long as the guards didn¡¯t see him, it didn¡¯t matter even if they saw a ghost or whatever supernatural thing.

    He brought a body out of his inventory which belonged to the right hand man of Adrian.

    He was a powerful being that Ryder was going to use as a puppet. He couldn¡¯t die anyway, and no one could rte him to Ryder.

    As Ryder brought the body out, he used his Ruler of Death to bring this body back to life.

    "No one is responding! Prince might be unconscious because of the smoke! Break the door!" The guards outside decided to break the door as they didn¡¯t get a response even after a minute and multiple callings. They couldn¡¯t wait for the keys of the room to be brought here.

    They had already tried opening the door, but it was locked. Ryder had taken enough precautions.

    Just as they were about to break the door, they saw the doorknob turn.

    They breathed a sigh of relief as they saw it. They believed it was the prince who wasing out and that he was safe. Unfortunately, that¡¯s not what happened. As the door opened, they saw that a man had stepped out. As for that man, he wasn¡¯t Prince Suliven.

    The man who stepped out seemed to be dressed in a ck jacket. His dark eyes stared at the guards while he closed the door behind him.

    The guards seemed surprised. The man looked deathly pale, as if there wasn¡¯t a single droplet of blood in his body. As for his expressions, they were also lifeless.

    "Who are you? Why were you in the room of His Highness?" The guards asked.

    "We don¡¯t have time for that now. You arrest him. I¡¯ll get his Highness out," the guard in the lead said as he shook his head.

    "Step aside!" The guard said as he reached out his hand to push the pale-faced man aside. Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried, he wasn¡¯t able to push the man. Let alone push; he couldn¡¯t even move him a little.

    The man seemed like a mountain who couldn¡¯t move.

    Other guards also came to help as they tried to move the man but to no avail. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn¡¯t help.

    "You won¡¯t learn kindly!" Another guard said as he clenched his fist to attack the dark-clothed man, but it didn¡¯t work.

    After clenched his fist, the man was about to punch the face of the man. Unfortunately for him, the man actually moved this time as he also repeated the same action. He clenched his fist as he punched the guard as well.

    While the guard¡¯s punchnded on the face of the dark-clothed man, his own face was hit as well.

    Both the attacks seemed to have different impacts though. The guard¡¯s punchnded on the face of the man, who didn¡¯t even flinch as if he wasn¡¯t hurt even a little.

    The guard, on the other hand, suffered much more as his head twisted because of the Punch. His neck broke at the same time as he flew back, crashing on the wall in the back.

    The rest of the guards were intimidated as they saw what had happened. They stepped back in fear. Who was this guy? Was this someic book or a superhero movie?

    How could one punch send a person flying? Did they actually see what they thought they saw? Or were they dreaming? There were many questions in their heads.

    "W-who are you? Tell the truth, or we will shoot!¡¯ the men said as they all brought their guns out of their pockets.

    The man didn¡¯t react even after seeing so many guns being pointed at him.

    "This is thest warning. Step aside and identify yourself. Or we will shoot! The life of His Highness is on the line," the guard said, warning the man.

    The man still didn¡¯t react.

    "This is myst chance. We¡¯ll count to two! If you don¡¯t step aside, we¡¯ll shoot!" The guards said, giving him another chance.

    Even now, the person didn¡¯t react.

    "One... Two!"

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    At the count of two, the men actually shot the man, firing at his chest.

    The man was shot, but he still didn¡¯t fall. Instead, he kept looking at them without any expressions.

 Chapter 589 Zombie

    <h4>Chapter 589: Zombie</h4>

    Despite being shot, the man didn¡¯t fall to the ground. Instead, he emotionlessly looked at the guards. There were hikes in his chest, but no blood was flowing.

    "Is he a zombie or something? He can toss one of us with a single hand, and he doesn¡¯t die even with bullets?" One of the guards let out, frowning.

    What he said wasn¡¯t only his flight. It was the thought of everyone here. Everyone was looking at the man as if they were looking at a ghost.

    Another guard raised his gun again as he shot the center of the man¡¯s forehead. Bullet passed through the head, leaving a hole in the head, but the man still didn¡¯t move.

    This actually horrified the guards even more as they realized that it was actually impossible to defeat this person. He wasn¡¯t a human.

    "Should we run?" A guard suggested.

    "What nonsense? We can¡¯t leave the Prince to die," Another guard retorted.

    "What can we even do? We can¡¯t move him. We can¡¯t kill him. All we can do is stand here and wait for him to kill us. And I don¡¯t want to be killed by a Zombie. Didn¡¯t you see the movies? If they bite you, you¡¯ll be one of them too. I don¡¯t want that!"

    "Don¡¯t worry! Nothing like that will happen. Can¡¯t you see? He isn¡¯t attacking. He¡¯s simply trying to block the door. We just need to have him move. Distract him! Make him chase after you. The entrance will be free, and we¡¯ll be able to enter!"

    "Distract him? Make him chase after us? Have you gone crazy? He¡¯s standing there; let him stand. If we made him chase after us, he would kill us! As for the Prince, who knows, he might already be dead! This monster came from his room after all."

    "Mark is right. Maybe he already killed the Prince? Putting our life in danger for a dead person is stupid. Just stand here and wait for that guy to move!"

    The guards talked amongst themselves to figure out a n, but none of them coulde to a consensus. Most of them were already too scared to approach the dark-clothed man, while there were also some who wanted to do their duty and protect the Prince.

    After a brief pause, a brown haired man stepped forward.

    "Fine! You all are too scared. I¡¯ll do it. I¡¯ll be the one distracting this person. When he chases after me, go and save the Prince!" he said.

    "Mark, What are you saying? You want to risk your life?" Another guard asked.

    "Yes," Mark said, determined.

    "How can you even distract this person, though? Have you ever thought about it? It seems impossible. Even after being shot so many times, he hadn¡¯t attacked us," Another guard said, frowning.

    "That¡¯s right. The only time he actually reacted was when Jack tried to hit him with hand. Other than that, he hasn¡¯t reacted much."

    "If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll do the same. I¡¯ll attack him physically to get his attention," Mark said, clenching his fist.

    "Are you crazy? You want to suffer the same fate as Jack? What distraction? It¡¯ll be a waste. To hit him personally, you¡¯ll need to be close to him. But then he can also easily hit you back without even having to move. What distraction?"

    ...

    While a discussion continued outside on how to enter the room, Ryder was still inside his room, keeping Suliven trapped. He wasn¡¯t giving Suliven the chance toe back to his real self.

    Suliven knew that if he tried toe back to his real self, he was going to be killed. But he couldn¡¯t do anything else either. He couldn¡¯t stay like this and keep getting hurt.

    "It¡¯s pretty fun. I suppose I should thank you for giving me a free rein," Ryder told Suliven, mocking him.

    Suliven couldn¡¯t take it anymore as he jumped back beforeing to his real self, but at the same time, he saw the de of Ryder¡¯s Scytheing towards his neck.

    Ryder seemed even faster now. Without giving Suliven a chance to even bnce himself, his Scythe reached him, slicing the neck of Suliven.

    Suliven¡¯s head rolled on the ground as his body had just managed toe to its real self when Ryder¡¯s Scythe reached him.

    Suliven was killed without even getting the chance to enter his semi-godly. To enter it, he needed a few minutes in his human form, but Ryder didn¡¯t let him have that either because he expected that.

    Finishing up, Ryder nced at the body of Suliven. A smirk could be seen on his face. He kept the body in his inventory.

    "Finally done. I wonder how he¡¯s doing outside," he wondered as he looked at the door.

    He did hear a few gunshots before, but he wasn¡¯t worried. No one could kill the person who was already dead, after all.

    He walked towards the door and opened it.

    ...

    Mark had just approached the man blocking the door, trying to get him away when he stopped as he saw the door behind him open on its own. No one could be seen there, though. It was as if the door opened on its own.

    That wasn¡¯t the strangest part though. They next saw the man disappear in thin air.

    Since Ryder was using his illusion, they couldn¡¯t see him. And he had also kept the puppet back in his inventory. Since he was already dead, it could be kept there.

    Finishing up, Ryder started leaving.

    While he was leaving, he noticed the body nearby.

    ¡¯It seemed like he killed someone. Oh well, it can¡¯t be traced to me now. I¡¯m on time,¡¯ he thought as he looked at the time in his clock.

    Without thinking twice, he started leaving right in front of the guards, who were in a daze as they saw a man disappear before them.

    Some of them even wondered if they were dreaming, while the other half thought as if what they saw before him was a ghost.

    Some of them came out of their daze as they pinched their cheeks.

    "Stop standing there! Check for the Prince!" They reminded others as they ran towards the room.

    Unfortunately, they were toote. As they entered the room, they found a terrible fire inside. Moreover, no person could be seen inside.

    ...

    Ignoring whatever was happening inside the ce, Ryder stepped out and walked back to his car, which was parked far away from the Pce vicinity.

    Reaching his car, he entered before he started driving away.

    "Done with one more. Janus, where to next?" Ryder asked while driving to a hotel.

    "There are two more targets left¡ª one in China and another in America," Janus answered.

    "America? Wasn¡¯t Aluren the only one there?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "There¡¯s one more," Janus answered.

    "That¡¯s good. So I¡¯ll go to China first. After dealing with the sixth guy, I¡¯ll go back to America with Ayn and finish thest one," Ryder affirmed.

    He parked the car inside the hotel parking lot before walking to his room that he had booked.

    He soon entered the room and sat on the sofa, rxing a little. He also turned on the TV at the same time to see if there was any news about what had happened today.

    "There had been a fire in the Royal Pce! The fire seems to be spreading!"

    " ording to thetest updates, everyone has evacuated the Pce while the authorities are trying to control the fire from spreading even more."

    "Prince Suliven seems to be missing ording to our sources. Search for him is also ongoing inside the Pce!"

    As Ryder heard the news, he couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly. "I apologize for destroying your Pce."

    "Anyway, keep searching for that Prince of yours. You aren¡¯t going to find him ever. Not like he was actually a Prince though. You can thank me for thatter," He further said as he turned off the TV.

    He brought out his phone and booked a ne ticket for China. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t need to wait for long as he got a seat on tonight¡¯s flight.

    There were only a few hours left before the flight.

    He opened the inventory and brought Suliven¡¯s body outside.

    "Before leaving, I might as well finish this."

    He sat near the body and started the absorption process. Unlike the first time he did it, the absorption wasn¡¯t painful. His body had be more resilient.

    It was also much faster this time as within a minute; he finished the absorption. The body of Suliven disappeared as well.

    Ryder sat on the sofa again,zily. He started rxing as he again felt sleepy. Unfortunately, he knew he didn¡¯t have time to sleep. He needed to leave for the airport soon.

    He rested on the sofa for a little, and when it was time, he left.

    Reaching the airport, Ryder took the flight to China.

 Chapter 590 Surrounded by gods

    <h4>Chapter 590: Surrounded by gods</h4>

    Ryder was sitting on the flight, which was taking him to China.

    He kept his eyes closed and gave them rest, but he didn¡¯t sleep as he knew that sleeping would make him more irritated when he wakes up. He wanted to sleep without having to wake up in the middle, so he was going to wait until he got to the hotel.

    ¡¯I took so many flights in such a short time. It feels less like going to murder people and more like taking a world tour,¡¯ Ryder thought, trying to keep his mind busy.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried to keep him up, he fell asleep within the first ten minutes of the flight.

    As Ryder fell asleep, he didn¡¯t wake up. The flightnded in China, but Ryder was still sleeping. Unlike before, no passenger woke him up. It was instead an air hostess who tried waking him up. Unfortunately, he was in a deep sleep and refused to wake up.

    "We¡¯re going out. Come out after waking him up," the other air hostess told the one who was trying to wake Ryder before she left.

    The pilot also left, leaving the whole ne empty. There was not a single person here except thedy and Ryder.

    "Come on, Sir! Wake up. We¡¯re already there," she said as she moved Ryder¡¯s shoulder, but he still didn¡¯t wake up.

    "Come on. How deep is he asleep!" The air hostess said, sighing.

    She brought her lips closer to Ryder¡¯s ears, ready to scream.

    "Wake up!" Thedy said, screaming.

    The scream worked instantly as Ryder woke up from his sleep, stunned as if he was attacked. He hastily moved his face in the direction of the voice as he opened his eyes suddenly.

    Thedy¡¯s face was still close to his ears as she had yelled just now. As Ryder suddenly turned, his lips met hers.

    Her eyes opened wide as she realized that her lips were on a man¡¯s lips. Ryder had also just woken up, but he was still sleepy.

    As he felt the soft lips on his lips, he didn¡¯t move back. Instead, believing it to be a dream, he ced his hands around thedy¡¯s neck and continued sucking her lips.

    Thedy was shocked at what was happening. She wanted to move back, but she couldn¡¯t. She felt her legs go weak as the kiss sent a tingling sensation inside her body. Even though she didn¡¯t want a kiss, now that she was experiencing it, she couldn¡¯t resist.

    She didn¡¯t want this to end either, as she also responded to the kiss equally passionately.

    As Ryder was in the middle of kissing, he also came out of his daze as he realized that it wasn¡¯t a dream. He was in the ne, and he was kissing the woman.

    Just as he was thinking of moving back to free her lips and apologize, he saw the beautiful woman wrap her arms around his neck as she passionately kissed him while sitting on hisp.

    He was amazed at what was happening to him now. Out of nowhere, he was getting a kiss. He didn¡¯t reject it either since he had also started feeling around as thedy sat on his thighs.

    He lowered his hand, cing it in her butt.

    "Ungh!¡¯ the woman moaned a little as her butt was grabbed by Ryder. As her moan left her lips, her misty eyes looked deep into Ryder¡¯s eyes, who had used the opportunity to push his tongue inside her mouth.

    His other hand slid down to rest on the breasts of the air hostess.

    "Did he wake up or not?" Another air hostess stepped inside the ne as she asked.

    Stepping into the Business ss, she noticed her friend sitting on the man¡¯sp. One of his hands was on her breast while the other rested on her butt.

    "What the heck are you doing? Do you want to get fired? Get off now!" Shemanded her friend, who hastily freed Ryder and got off hisp like a scared rabbit.

    She adjusted her clothes.

    " I... I..." She stuttered as she tried to exin herself.

    "It¡¯s time. You don¡¯t need to exin. I won¡¯t tell anyone. You better hope he doesn¡¯t tell anyone either."

    "Don¡¯t worry. It was also my mistake. I won¡¯t tell anyone," Ryder let out as he apologetically stood up.

    "That¡¯s better," the second air hostess said, frowning.

    "Do you have a phone?" The first air hostess asked Ryder.

    "Yeah," Ryder replied, curious as to why she was asking it.

    "Good. Here¡¯s my number. Call meter. So we can finish what we left halfway," the air hostess whispered in Ryder¡¯s ears. She gave him a piece of paper at the same time, cing it in his pocket.

    She turned and left with her friend.

    Ryder couldn¡¯t help but smile as he left the ne as well.

    ....

    Stepping out of the airport, Ryder got a can and went to the nearest hotel.

    He got a room in the hotel and straight walked to his room.

    Closing the door, he fell on the bed, finally sleeping.

    ....

    "Very interesting. He killed five of them, it seems. Even Suliven is missing after he went there. It seems like he¡¯s after the sixth one now. Then he¡¯ll kill thest one as well. That¡¯s good. The fewer of them, the better. After he deals with all of them, I¡¯ll deal with him all at once."

    Back in the office, Ion was still stalking Ryder¡¯s every action.

    Knock!

    "Come on in," he said at the knock of the door.

    "Sir, all the yers have failed again. None of them couldplete the missing. Even the easiest one has failed. And once again, it seems like Hades was responsible for the defeat of one of them," the assistant told Ion. "What should we do now? We can¡¯t find them try after try. The audience will feel like we aren¡¯t serious about this event."

    "That¡¯s right. It¡¯s fine. If they¡¯re defeated, then they¡¯re defeated. It seems like I overestimated them. Still, it was a good experiment. I got some good output from it," Ion replied.

    "What should we do about the prize?" The assistant asked.

    "As we promised them, we¡¯ll distribute it equally amongst them," Ion answered. "Prepare for that."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll do that," the assistant said before she left.

    ...

    Ryder was sleeping on the bed in one of the best rooms of a five-star hotel. The room had many facilities, but Ryder wasn¡¯t concerned about any of them. Instead, he was still lost in sweet dreams.

    In his dreams, he found himself in a ser match. He was the captain of one of the teams, which contained Shu, Alice, and her friends. The other team consisted of Janus and some other people that Ryder knew.

    No matter how much effort he put in, he couldn¡¯t get a lead against the team of Janus, who seemed to always be one step ahead. Moreover, the aim of Janus also seemed perfect.

    Janus was about to take the victory shot when he stopped as he looked at the sky.

    Ryder also looked up to notice a sky that was covered with dark clouds. A light shower had started, but they didn¡¯t shock Ryder. What surprised him was that there was a Water Dragon that could be seen flying through the crowds.

    Roarr!

    As he was looking at the Water Dragon, he heard a roar.

    Turning around, he noticed a Fire Dragon behind him.

    The fire dragon changed shape and became a red-haired human.

    "You! You dare kill my son?! You deserve death for that!" The red-haired man roared. His roar sounded just like the roar of the Dragon.

    The Water Dragon also came down, taking the shape of a Woman.

    "You killed my son as well! Today, you shall face the wrath of the gods!"

    Another man appeared out of thin air who said the same thing.

    One after another, more and more people kepting, and they all said the same thing that Ryder had killed their sons.

    "Who are you? I didn¡¯t kill anyone!" Ryder replied.

    "We are the gods that rule over everything! And you killed our sons? Did you think you¡¯ll survive? Did you forget that when you kill them, you wrote your death sentence? You didn¡¯t respect us and killed our sons. Your sin is grave!" The gods told Ryder.

    "Come on! I had no choice! They started it first! What happened after that was the snowball effect. I¡¯m sure you can forgive me for that," Ryder replied, smiling wryly.

    "ept your death!" The gods roared in rage as they all pointed their hands towards the sky. A mountain-sized golden sword appeared in the sky, which started falling towards him.

    "What the heck are you doing! Janus! Help me!" Ryder yelled, calling to Janus, who was standing right beside him.

    "I¡¯m sorry. But you¡¯re on your own," Janus said before he disappeared, leaving Ryder alone.

 Chapter 591 Ill protect you

    <h4>Chapter 591: I''ll protect you</h4>

    Ryder found himself surrounded by the gods from all sides, making him ask Janus for help, but even Janus seemingly refused to help before he disappeared, leaving Ryder alone in the storm.

    Looking at all the gods flying in the air, Ryder didn¡¯t know what he could know. He could ask them for forgiveness, or he could fight them. But he didn¡¯t know how strong they were. He doubted he had what it took to defeat them, especially when there were seven of them.

    Just as he was thinking about what he could do, he noticed tens of tree branchesing out of the ground, which wrapped themselves around his legs. No matter how much he tried, he couldn¡¯t move.

    He tried opening the inventory to call out his Moon Scythe so that he could cut the tree branches that were holding him in a ce.

    Surprisingly, even the inventory didn¡¯t open. He couldn¡¯t ess it, no matter what he tried. He couldn¡¯t even see it. Without the Inventory, he realized that he didn¡¯t have a hope of sess.

    He couldn¡¯t win either. His strongest weapon wasn¡¯t with him. Let alone the strongest weapon; not a single weapon was with him as he kept everything in Inventory. The tree branches didn¡¯t seem to be the end of it as he soon noticed the ground split again.

    This time water starteding out of the ground, which swallowed Ryder, who couldn¡¯t even move.

    He was even more horrified as he found himself submerged in water, unable to breathe. For some reason, even his Ruler of Water wasn¡¯t helping him breathe underwater.

    He was suffocating, struggling for a single breath. He tried to swim out of the water to get some air, but the tree branches kept holding him tightly, not letting him move even an inch.

    Just as he felt like he was going to die, the water started leaving. It went back inside the ground, leaving Ryder behind, whose clothes werepletely wet.

    Finally, he was able to breathe. As he breathed heavily, gasping to take in oxygen that he needed, he raised his head to look at the gods.

    "Please don-" he said to make them stop, but before he could even finish, he noticed the red haired man waving his hand.

    Deep red fire came out of the ground as if it hade straight from the depths of hell. The fire swallowed Ryder as well and started burning him.

    Ryder actually felt like he was burning as he started screaming in pain. This was the pain he had never felt before. He actually believed he was going to die within a few seconds, but the fire also disappeared like magic.

    As the fire disappeared, Ryder was left behind, weakly lying on the ground; his skin was severely burnt.

    Just as he was hoping that his healing would much in, it didn¡¯t happen. The painsted for a long time, but there was no healing. He couldn¡¯t even move time back for some reason which made him lose whateverst bit of hope he had.

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    The ground seemed to be vibrating. Opening his eyes, Ryder noticed a stone gianting towards him. The stone giant seemed to be ten feet tall and left massive. The closer it came, the bigger it seemed.

    Soon, it was standing right before Ryder. It slowly raised its right foot and brought it above Ryder before he stomped down.

    "Argh!"

    Ryder sat up, holding his chest. His whole body was covered in sweat as he looked around.

    "This was a dream! Just a dream!" He said as he tried to calm his heavy breathing. His heartbeat was racing.

    He wiped his sweat and turned on the AC which he had forgotten to turn on before.

    It was only after ten minutes that he felt like he was actually calm.

    "Janus! Are you here?!" Ryder said, frowning.

    "What?" He heard the voice of Janus.

    " My dream! I just saw all the gods surrounding me for killing their sons. Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s going to happen in real life. I didn¡¯t think so far in the past, but they¡¯ll certainlye for me since I killed their sons, won¡¯t they? Aren¡¯t I fcked?" Ryder asked, concerned.

    "You aren¡¯t. I¡¯ll protect you when that timees. But I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be able to get to you. So it¡¯s highly unlikely," Janus replied. "As long as we kill everyone on time."

    "What you¡¯ll protect me? What can you even do in front of so many gods? Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯ll just run away, like in my dream? At least leave me Moon Scythe so I could try to protect myself," Ryder said, sighing.

    "What are you even talking about? I won¡¯t be alone if that ever happens, so you don¡¯t have to worry about this," Janus replied since he believed when that day came, he wasn¡¯t going to be standing alone. Instead, he¡¯d be standing with Chaos.

    "I hope so. I¡¯ve already dug my grave deep by getting on the wrong side of the gods. I can only keep faith in you and go all the way," Ryder said, sighing.

    "That¡¯s right. Have faith," Janus replied before he stopped talking.

    ....

    "Looks like that dream really scared him. Fortunately, he isn¡¯t a coward; otherwise, he might have just quit."

    Standing in the middle of the Sahara Desert, Janus was continuing his search for any trail of Lord of Space.

    He had traveled half the countries already, but he didn¡¯t find Lord of Space anywhere, but he didn¡¯t give up.

    ...

    Back in the hotel, Ryder had calmed down, but he didn¡¯t feel like he could sleep anymore after thest dream that he saw.

    Thus, instead of sleeping, he decided to watch a movie and rx a little.

    He opened his phone and started ying the movie which had been releasedst year. It was an animated movie which was a part of the hit Kung Fu Octopus trilogy, about a boring octopus that was given a task to save the world by learning Kung Fu.

    Ryder had seen the first part of the movie with his parents, which was released when he was just a kid. As for the second part, it was released five years ago. It was only now that thest part was released.

    He had been thinking about seeing the movie for a long time but wasn¡¯t getting time. Now that he had time and a reason, he decided to watch it.

    He watched the two hour long movie. By the time he finished, he hadpletely forgotten about the dream he had.

    He looked at the clock to notice that it was already morning by now. Instead of going back to sleep, he decided to get back to work.

    He needed to find the person he was here for. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t need to search for him as Janus had given him the address.

    All he needed to do was to go there and assassinate him.

    "How hard could it bepared to assassinating a prince?" He muttered as he stood up.

    He got a shower and left the room after getting ready.

    He didn¡¯t bring out his car this time. Instead, he booked a cab and told the driver to escort him.

    "Where do you want to go?" The can driver asked in Chinese.

    Ryder told him the address which he had received.

    "That ce? Are you sure?¡¯ the driver asked, seemingly stunned as he heard about the ce.

    "Yeah. Is something wrong with that ce?¡¯ Ryder asked after noticing the extreme reaction of the driver.

    "I can¡¯t go to that ce. I can drop you near that ce, as far as I can go," the driver said, still a bit hesitant. "Not only me, but I don¡¯t think any driver will take you to that dangerous ce.

    "Dangerous ce? What do you mean?" Ryder asked, curious.

    " That ce is the home or a terrifying n. They are the rulers of the underworld here. That¡¯s why everyone is scared to go there since the men of that n had banned any vehicles from entering that area."

    ¡¯ If anyone wants to enter that ce, they must walk on foot, as long as he isn¡¯t a member of their n," the Driver said.

    "Interesting. Underworld n, huh. So that¡¯s where he stays. But it¡¯s fine too. Now I can be even more heavy handed,¡¯ he thought, smiling.

    "It¡¯s time. I ept it. Take me as far as you can take me. That¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll also pay you extra for taking the risk," Ryder told the driver, who was ecstatic to hear it.

    He pressed his feet on the elerator, driving the car on the well-made roads of the city.

    Sitting in the car, Ryder kept looking out to see tall buildings everywhere.

    " I must say, this ce is really beautiful," he said, amazed.

    Even though he was looking at normal buildings, but even they looked like tourist destinations because of their intriguing designs.

 Chapter 592 Brother

    <h4>Chapter 592: Brother</h4>

    The cab moved through the city, taking Ryder to a certain part of the city where not many cars went unless they were cars that had special passes given by the n that ruled over that part of the city.

    "What more can you tell me about that ce?" Ryder asked, sitting in the back of the car.

    "More? All I can say is that it¡¯s a scary ce where we don¡¯t dare to go, so we don¡¯t know how it actually is. We have only heard of the stories that the people who went there are still missing," the driver replied.

    "So they were killed, I guess. Now I understand why you are scared to go there," Ryder said, understanding the man¡¯s fear.

    "Is this your first time going there as well?" The man asked Ryder.

    "That¡¯s right," Ryder answered.

    "May I ask what business you have there? Because you can¡¯t be a member of their n at least," the driver said while asking a question at the same time.

    "Oh? Why can¡¯t I be their member? Do you not have the scary vibe on my face?" Ryder asked,ughing.

    "It¡¯s just that they don¡¯t ept any foreigners," the driver answered. "Moreover, you seem like a kind person who can¡¯t even kill a mosquito, let alone joining a gang where people are killed often."

    "Oh? I don¡¯t look like a person who can kill?" Ryder asked,ughing. "I guess you¡¯re right. I am just too kind. I can¡¯t even think about killing a person."

    "As I expected. So why are you going there?" the driver asked again.

    "Actually, I want to find someone there. A person named Draco Liang," Ryder said.

    Screech!

    As soon as Ryder said the name, the driver hastily pressed the brake in shock.

    "What name did you say? Can you repeat that?" the man asked, turning back.

    "Draco Liang. Why? Do you know him?" Ryder asked, curious.

    "Do I know him? You¡¯d better be asking who doesn¡¯t know him! Draco Liang, the person that owns the entire underworld. He¡¯s the Master of the Liang n, which he started. That n is where you¡¯re going. He is said to be a ruthless person that even the government doesn¡¯t want to offend!" The Driver exined.

    "What business could you have with him?" he further asked.

    " He¡¯s my cousin. His mother is the second sister of my mother. I just want to meet him since he¡¯s my extended family," Ryder replied, making stuff up.

    "He¡¯s your rtive?" The driver eximed in shock. "But you don¡¯t look like you have any Chinese genes?"

    "I guess they are my dormant genes. You don¡¯t have to care about that. Just take me there. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be safe," Ryder said, smiling.

    "Ah, alright," the driver muttered as he started the car again.

    Sitting in the back of the car, Ryder could see that the man was starting to sweat.

    "What happened?" He asked the man. "Are you worried now that you know I¡¯m rted to him? Don¡¯t worry; I am not that close to feel bad when someone calls him a murderer. Because he probably is. So you can rest assured."

    "Also, you still don¡¯t have to take me inside that area. Just stop me outside like we had decided before," he further added.

    "T-thank you," the driver responded.

    "I had another question," Ryder asked after some more time passed.

    "What question?" The driver inquired.

    "What¡¯s the presence of police in that area?" Ryder asked.

    "Police? There¡¯s no police! The Liang n is the police, the mayor, the judge, everything! You can think of that ce as a small independent country inside our country that has its own rules," the driver answered.

    ¡¯ Interesting. I wonder if they have cameras or not. It doesn¡¯t matter. Since it¡¯s a criminal area, I doubt there would be cameras. But I¡¯ll still wear the mask,¡¯ he thought.

    The car finally stopped in front of a red like that was painted on the ground.

    "Are we there yet?" Ryder asked, confused.

    "That¡¯s right. The marking you see on the road? That¡¯s the warning signal. Two hundred meters from here is where the Liang n¡¯s area begins," the driver replied.

    "Ah, interesting. Thanks for getting me here. Also, one more thing," Ryder said as he opened the door. "Can you look here?"

    The driver turned back to look at Ryder. As his eyes met Ryder¡¯s, he was instantly hypnotized.

    " You won¡¯t remember meeting me ever. You¡¯ll forget everything that happened regarding me," he told the driver as he stepped out of the car.

    "Oh right, keep this money," he further added as he ced some money in the man¡¯s pocket.

    The driver turned the car back and left.

    Ryder looked at the red pain on the ground, which seemed to be making an X Mark.

    He couldn¡¯t help butugh at the tactics. "This toy can¡¯t keep me out."

    He waved his hand, bringing the mask out of his inventory, and wore it before he crossed the marking.

    Even though he crossed the marking, he wasn¡¯t walking. Instead, he was flying ahead.

    While he flew, he made sure to cast his illusion to make sure no one managed to see him even if he flew past them. The only concern he had were the cameras that could record him, which was why he flew high, keeping an eye on possible cameras.

    Surprisingly there were many cameras, unlike what he had previously assumed. It seems like every portion of this area was being monitored.

    The cameras were focusing downwards on the road, making it easier for Ryder to avoid them as he flew from above them.

    He could also see men walking with machine guns, despite having so many cameras. It seems like the security wasn¡¯tx just because they had cameras.

    He tried to find someone who was alone that could be asked questions; unfortunately, it was proving to be difficult. The people that were alone were in the range of cameras while the ones who weren¡¯t in the views of cameras were walking together.

    It was only after a long time that he found a guard who was single and out of the camera¡¯s view.

    Hended on the ground in front of the dark-haired guard. The guard also had a gun in his hand, but he didn¡¯t know that Ryder was standing before him.

    Ryder suddenly canceled the illusion, appearing in front of the man.

    Seeing Ryder appear out of thin air, the man was initially stunned as he stepped back in fear. He soon stopped as his eyes fell in Ryder¡¯s eyes.

    "You work for me from now on. Take me to the ce where Jiang stays," Ryder told the guard, who nodded his head as he turned back.

    Ryder again cast his illusion as he walked behind the guard. Now that he was walking, he didn¡¯t need to worry even if the cameras saw him.

    The guard brought Ryder in a certain direction, but he couldn¡¯t go too far as he was stopped by more n members.

    "What are you doing in this area? Only high level members can go ahead. Did you forget the rules? Go back!¡¯ the guards told the dark-haired guard, unaware that Ryder had walked behind them.

    A Scythe appeared in Ryder¡¯s hands as he smirked.

    sh!

    With a single sh of his Scythe, two heads rolled on the ground.

    "You¡¯re wrong. This is my domain now. And whoever I want can go wherever I want," Ryder said before he shifted his attention to the man who had again started walking.

    Ryder followed the man again, who was once again stopped by the nextyer of defense.

    "Seriously! Just what kind of defense is it? Even the President of a country won¡¯t have so manyyers of defense," Ryder thought, smiling wryly.

    He once again took the men out of his way, clearing the path.

    Simr to this, Ryder faced three more defensiveyers where the guard was stopped. Not only stopped, the other guards even suddenly started firing at him, stunned that someone who was so low in ranking managed to get here.

    As for the ranking, they could see it because of the tattoo that was in the man¡¯s hand.

    The man that Ryder had hypnotized was shot, being killed ultimately, but Ryder simply hypnotized another guard and gave him the mission.

    That¡¯s how he continued passing through the next few defenses before he ultimately ended up in front of a beautiful mansion.

    "Is this the ce where Jiang stays?" Ryder asked the guard, who nodded his head.

    "Alright. You can leave now. You¡¯ll forget whatever happened and everything rted to me, including the fact that you met or saw me," Ryder told the guard as he sent him away.

    As the guard left, Ryder looked at the mansion. He could see two cameras that were looking straight in his direction.

    He raised his hand and casually waved at the cameras before he stepped towards the gates.

    Reaching the gate, he pushed it open. As the doors weren¡¯t locked, they opened instantly.

 Chapter 593 Going all out

    <h4>Chapter 593: Going all out</h4>

    Ryder pushed the door open and stepped inside to find him greeted by tens of men that had fired without stopping.

    The camera had recorded him getting here, which brought great attention to him.

    In the footage, Ryder could be seen killing their men. What they actually found shocking was that their men weren¡¯t attacking him in the footage. They didn¡¯t know that they couldn¡¯t even see Ryder at that time.

    Unfortunately, they were in for a rude awakening. No matter how many bullets they fired, none of them hit Ryder as a water barrier appeared before Ryder, swallowing all the bullets that were fired towards him.

    At the same time, he brought out a bazooka that he had received as a gift from the system.

    He aimed the bazooka at the man before firing.

    A small opening was made in the barrier, which allowed the missile to pass through.

    The mouths of everyone opened in shock as they saw what actually happened. They wanted to dodge, but they just didn¡¯t have enough time.

    The attacknded, blowing everyone. Even the mansion was damaged, but none of it affected Ryder, who was protected from the fire by his water barrier.

    As the fire died down, Ryder kept the bazooka back.

    "I always wanted to try it. It¡¯s just as fun as I expected. Not bad," he said as he smiled.

    He gently waved his hand, letting him see through. The path ahead seemed empty, but he was hoping that this explosion was going to attract Draco. In any case, he wasn¡¯t going to be subtle about it today since he wasn¡¯t killing a Prince.

    As for the water barrier, he found it extremely useful. Previously he had the Ruler of Water Skill which allowed him to make objects from water and even control it, but he didn¡¯t just make water appear out of thin air.

    But after hisst absorption, he gained full control of water. Now he could bring water out of thin air, even if none existed in his surroundings. It was simr to how he could bring out the fire after absorbing the strength of Aluren.

    Surprisingly this amount of destruction also didn¡¯t bring Draco out.

    "Draco! Where the heck are you hiding?" Ryder asked, yelling out loud, but he got no response.

    He did hear what seemed like many footstepsing towards him. The other guards came downstairs, running towards him, but he didn¡¯t seem to be in a mood to entertain them.

    He waved his hand again, making a sphere of water appear. The spear of water started firing bullets at the men that wereing towards Ryder as if it was a bullet gun.

    As it was an attack from the Divine Water, it was capable of even killing the Kings of Aluren if they were here, let alone the men who were running towards him.

    Ryder killed each of the men that approached him, except one person who was lying on his knees, shaking.

    The man even seemed to have wet his pants in fear as he failed to understand what was happening. It seemed like a magician hade here to annihte them all.

    He even wondered if Ryder was a government experiment that was sent here to annihte their n.

    He had already assumed that he was dead today as he found the others being shot one after another. The entire floor was covered in blood, but he still survived.

    Strangely, no bullet came to him. He wondered why he wasn¡¯t killed. Was he going to survive? He couldn¡¯t help but dream.

    Ryder waved his hand again, making the spear of water disappear. He started walking towards the man who was sitting on his knees. He didn¡¯t get too close though. He could already see the man had wet himself.

    " Where is Draco?¡¯ Ryder asked the man.

    "Patriarch?" The man asked, stunned.

    "That¡¯s right. Take me to him since he doesn¡¯t seem to be brave enough toe to me," Ryder said.

    "May I ask who you are? And why are you looking for me?"

    As Ryder was asking the man about Draco, a powerful voice came from the distance.

    Ryder looked up to find a long dark-haired maning down the stairs. The man seemed to have long ck hair that came down to his elbows. He also had beautiful red eyes, as if he was a vampire.

    Moreover, the man was very tall. He was even taller than Ryder and not by a small amount. Draco was at least seven feet tall, but he wasn¡¯t bulky

    "Draco Liang, son of God of War. I guess I should be pleased that I finally get to meet you," Ryder said, smirking.

    "You know a lot about me, I guess. Who are you?" Draco asked, frowning.

    "I wonder why everyone asks me the same question. What does it matter who I am? All you need to know is that I¡¯m here to kill you," Ryder said,ughing.

    "Is that so? Interesting. Your aura is pretty interesting, I must say. I can feel the aura of at least five of us inside you. I really can¡¯t underestimate you, can I?" Draco asked, signing.

    "Fine. If that¡¯s what it takes to get some peace in the house, then I might as well," he said, frowning.

    He removed his red robe and tossed it to the side. His eyes also started shining, bing an even darker shade of red. His skin also started changing as it became harder. His muscles began bulging as his height increased even more.

    "Semi-god form of the Son of God of War. Someone who is proficient in strength, defense, and even battle tactics. Unfortunately, none of that wille into y here," Ryder muttered as he saw Draco transform.

    Within a few seconds, Draco was done. He has changed so much that Ryder couldn¡¯t even find any form of simrities.

    Draco was tall before, but he was even taller. He was around thirteen feet tall now. As for his muscles, they were bulged so much that just the wrist of Draco was as thick as Ryder¡¯s head in size.

    Moreover, two more arms had appeared, making it so that Draco had four arms now, two on each side. He looked like a red-skinned giant.

    As Draco finished transformation, he jumped towards Ryder, trying to smash him in a single attack.

    Ryder saw Dracoing towards him, but he didn¡¯t seem intimidated. He instead waved his hand, making a sphere of water appear again, which was so big that it swallowed Draco whole.

    Moreover, when Ryder used the water, it was even stronger than when Suliven had used it.

    The water swallowed Draco, stopping his momentum, not letting him move. But even that wasn¡¯t enough to stop Draco entirely.

    Draco used all his arms to p with as much strength as he could pour inside. That seemed to work the trick, destroying the sphere of water, letting him be free.

    Draconded right in front of Ryder, but he didn¡¯t give Ryder the opportunity to attack. Clenching his fist, he collected his divine aura to attack.

    His right fist started shining as he punched Ryder. Even the winds became chaotic as Draco attacked with something that seemed to have the capabilities of even destroying the mountain.

    Draco expected his punch to blow Ryder to smithereens.

    Ryder was also surprised at how powerful this attack was for Draco.

    ¡¯This attack is too strong. I doubt I would have been able to stop it even if I had the strength of two god-sons. But that doesn¡¯t matter. I have the strength of five of them. Even this can¡¯t stop me,¡¯ Ryder thought, smirking.

    He was way stronger now. He casually moved his hand and caught the shining fist of Draco that didn¡¯t even manage to move him an inch.

    Stunned, Draco¡¯s eyes opened wide as he saw what had happened. How could someone have more strength than him? He was the son of God of War! This didn¡¯t make sense.

    "This doesn¡¯t make sense, does it?" Ryder asked Draco, who seemed like he was having a hard time believing reality.

    "W-who..." He asked in his heavy voice, again asking who Ryder was.

    "Well, isn¡¯t it good? You will have a lot of time to think about it on the way to hell," Ryder replied as he moved his right hand. His bracelet changed to a short sword, appearing in his hand.

    The sword sliced through the neck of Draco as if slicing through butter. Draco couldn¡¯t believe that he was killed. That too by someone he didn¡¯t even know. He could at least be at peace if he knew who actually killed him.

    Everything had happened so fast that he didn¡¯t even get time to inform his father using themunication stone.

    He was actually sitting in his room that isted all sound. He had only juste out when he heard the sound of screaming, making him decide to check out. He was now regretting that choice as he died.

 Chapter 594 Repeated Dreams

    <h4>Chapter 594: Repeated Dreams</h4>

    As Ryder finished hisst enemy here, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He kept the body of Draco in his inventory before he left. It was finally the time to go back.

    ording to Janus, thest enemy was in America. He could go back while taking Alice with him.

    He searched inside the mansion to find anyone who could still be alive since he still had one more thing to do. He needed to delete all the security footage.

    Even though the footage didn¡¯t contain his face, it was still good to remove all evidence. It didn¡¯t take him long to find a person either. It was the same person who had peed himself.

    When Draco had arrived, Ryder entirely forgot about him. He had run upstairs to escape since Ryder was standing at the entrance. He hadn¡¯t expected that his luck would be so bad that he was going to be found out so soon by Ryder again.

    Moreover, seeing Ryder before him also confirmed one more thing. It was that Draco was dead. Only then could Ryder be walking so freely.

    Ryder didn¡¯t even feel the need to hypnotize the man as he was already scared to his core. He had seen what Ryder was capable of.

    "Take me to the ce where all the security footage is recorded," he told the man, who nodded as he escorted Ryder. He also kept praying in his head for Ryder to let him go if he did as he was told.

    Unfortunately, he knew that the chances of this happening were too low, but he still took the risk in hopes of surviving.

    Ryder was brought to the ce where all the footage was recorded. All he simply had to do was delete everything that was recorded, but he didn¡¯t leave it at that. He also destroyed the entire system before feeling satisfied.

    After being done, he nced back at the man that had escorted him here.

    The man¡¯s heartbeat stopped for a moment as he saw Ryder staring at him.

    "You¡¯ll forget that you ever met me, and you¡¯ll also forget everything that happened today. All you¡¯ll remember is that someone inside the n betrayed you and tried to take over, causing all the losses," Ryder told the man, hypnotizing him.

    "Oh, one more thing. Change those pants," he further added before he left. The man stood in a daze for a few minutes before he came out of it, stunned as to what had happened here. He couldn¡¯t remember anything.

    Ryder stepped out of the mansion, leaving a blood-filled ce behind that seemed like a ughter had taken ce here.

    Fortunately, he didn¡¯t need to clean things up. It was a ce where gangsters lived, and he didn¡¯t believe anyone was going to investigate much. He had already deleted the footage, which was all that mattered.

    He flew outside the zone which belonged to the Liang n andnded back at the red mark. He casually nced back before he brought his sports car out of his inventory.

    Opening the gates, he stepped inside before he followed the same path which the driver took to bring him here. He didn¡¯t even feel the need to check GPS as he remembered the way.

    It didn¡¯t take him long to reach the hotel. He entered the car inside the underground parking. After parking the car, he stepped out to look around.

    As he made sure that no one was here, he kept the car back in his inventory. He went back to his room. This time, he wasn¡¯t going to leave in the middle of the night. He decided to absorb the body and finish his sleep before leaving.

    He entered his room and brought the body out, which was absorbed within seconds this time.

    The process seemed to be the fastest he had ever experienced.

    But the side effects were even worse. As soon as he absorbed the strength of Draco, he started feeling so sleepy. It was so bad that he was having a hard time even keeping his eyes open.

    He struggled as he dragged his sleepy body back to the bed. He dropped on the bed and fell asleep.

    ....

    Ryder had the same dream asst time again. He could see himself being surrounded by the gods. He found himself in the same situation as the gods killed him in different ways, torturing him.

    He could only suffer in his dreams as he found that he had no control inside his dream. Everything happened the same way as he found himself trapped without any of his abilities.

    Janus had again betrayed him, leaving him alone in the middle of the gods that wereing at him like hungry vultures.

    After what seemed like an eternity, his dream finally broke as he woke up.

    He realized that he was once again covered in sweat. He checked his phone to see the date and time.

    " What? I slept for twenty-five hours? The heck?" he eximed in surprise.

    "I had booked ate ticket to give me time to sleep and even shop in the city to bring some souvenirs, but I don¡¯t think I can even get to the airport at a time like this!"

    He immediately got off the bed, forgetting about everything else. He didn¡¯t even bother to wash his face or take a shower as he left his room.

    He checked out at the hotel and took a cab.

    Throughout the way, he kept telling the driver to go fast as he was gettingte. If he could, he would have preferred going in his sports car but finding an empty ce to keep it back was always time consuming, and he didn¡¯t have that much time.

    He even offered the driver extra money if he could get him to the airport in time.

    The trick seemingly worked as the driver increased the speed even more to what was legally allowed. In the end, Ryder reached the airport in time, making him breathe a sigh of relief.

    He paid the driver before running inside the airport. He went through the checking and fortunately managed to enter the flight on time.

    As he sat inside the flight, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. If he had missed, one of his days would have been wasted.

    The flight was ready to take off, but Ryder¡¯s attention was attracted by someone else. The air hostess on this flight was the same woman who had given him her number.

    She seemed to be ring at him. All he could do was smile wryly in response. Even though she gave him her number, he couldn¡¯t call her. He had been too busy.

    The woman rolled her eyes as she stopped looking at him as if she was upset. Throughout the flight, she didn¡¯t pay any attention to Ryder at all.

    The flightnded at the national airport of Japan.

    Ryder stood up and left the flight. He wanted to apologize to the air hostess, but she didn¡¯t even look at him. He didn¡¯t bother much either.

    Stepping out of the airport, Ryder took a cab. He went back to the hotel where Alice was staying. He hadn¡¯t even told her that he wasing back to give her a surprise.

    Standing before the room, he knocked on the door.

    He stepped inside the hotel and walked back to his room. He had left the key for Alice, so he didn¡¯t have any at the moment.

    There was no response to the knock.

    Frowning, he knocked again. Unfortunately, there was again no response.

    He knocked for the third time.

    "I¡¯ming! Just chill out, for god¡¯s sake!¡¯

    Finally, he got a response, but it wasn¡¯t what he was looking for.

    It wasn¡¯t the voice of Alice from what he could understand.

    It was even more clear as the door was opened. A chubby woman was the one that had opened the door.

    "You¡¯re not room service? Who are you? Why are you creating trouble for me? Are you a stalker or something?" thedy asked Ryder.

    "Where is Alice?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Who is Alice? I¡¯m Maria!" The woman replied.

    "The person who was staying here! What are you doing in her room!" Ryder asked, frowning.

    He didn¡¯t have time to waste in conversation, so he directly used his hypnosis.

    He stared deep into thedy¡¯s eyes as he asked, "Where is Alice?!"

    "Who is Alice? I don¡¯t know any Alice," thedy again answered.

    " Alice is the girl who was staying here before you. Where is she?" Ryder asked.

    "That girl? She is in the other room. We switched rooms because this room had my lucky number. I didn¡¯t ask her name when we did it," the woman answered nkly.

    Ryder sighed in relief as he heard it. It seemed like he was worried for no reason.

    "You can go back," he told her as he turned around and went to the other room and knocked.

 Chapter 595 New Fragment

    <h4>Chapter 595: New Fragment</h4>

    Ryder moved over to the other room, which the woman imed to have switched with Alice.

    As he stopped in front of the door, he knocked.

    The door was soon opened to reveal Alice standing in front of him.

    "You finally got time toe back?" Alicezily says as she rolled her eyes while walking back.

    Ryder didn¡¯t receive the warm wee he had expected, but he didn¡¯t mind. He believed he deserved the cold reception for leaving Alice alone for so long.

    "I¡¯m sorry. Just that important work came up. I couldn¡¯t do anything but leave. Can you forgive me?" Ryder asked, apologizing.

    "Are we going back?" Alice asked, staring at Ryder as she sat on the bed.

    "That¡¯s right. But not before enjoying one day here. We can¡¯t just go back like this," Ryder said, trying to make up for his mistake by pleasing Alice.

    "Really?" Alice asked, stunned.

    "That¡¯s right. Get ready fast. We¡¯ll leave soon. Also, I have booked tomorrow¡¯s flight. So we have all day today," Ryder let out, sitting on the bed.

    Alice was still angry, but she was secretly pleased as well. This did make her happy. She stood up and went to get properly dressed. In thest few days, she hadn¡¯t left the hotel at all as she was told by Ryder to stay in the hotel for safety. Finally, she could see the city.

    After half an hour, Alice was standing before Ryder, properly dressed. He was also adequately dressed by now.

    He and Alice left the hotel.

    They spent the rest of the day together. They went to the anime cafes that they had heard a lot about. They also went to the malls, shopping for traditional Japanese clothes, which Alice appreciated a lot.

    They even shopped for souvenirs in the small shops outside.

    They soon entered an old looking shop.

    "Isn¡¯t this ce amazing?" Alice asked Ryder as she observed the antiques inside an old shop.

    "Don¡¯t know. Some of these items do look cursed," Ryder said, smiling wryly.

    He moved from ce to ce, noticing all the weird items that this shop had.

    He found a few strange masks, some antiquemps, some bottles of pills, and more strange items that he didn¡¯t even know a ce could have. Everything here was cheap as well, but he didn¡¯t feel like he was going to buy anything here.

    Even after searching half the shop, he didn¡¯t find anything worth interest.

    "Come on, Alice! Let¡¯s leave! There isn¡¯t anything good!" Ryder yelled in English, hoping that the shop owner wouldn¡¯t understand his words. But as he saw the shop owner ring at him, a wry smile formed on his lips. It seemed like this guy understood him.

    "Look at this! This is so beautiful!" Alice¡¯s voice came from a distance.

    Ryder found his way to Alice inside the shop that seemed no less than a maze. As he reached Alice, he was able to see her holding an old pot that seemed to be slightly crackle.

    "This ugly thing?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly.

    "Can¡¯t you see the jade in it? Then though it should be fake, it looks so realistic. It suits this a lot. Let¡¯s buy it. It¡¯ll be good for the interior," Alice told Ryder. "It¡¯s only five thousand dors."

    "Only?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly. "Let me see that jade."

    Alice turned the pot¡¯s other side towards Ryder to make him see the jade that was attached to the pot.

    "This... Isn¡¯t this...." Ryder stuttered as he saw the jade. At the same time, a notification echoed in his head.

    [ A new Bracelet of Immortality fragment has been discovered]

    Excited, Ryder closed in on the pond and touched the gem, making it disappear.

    As soon as the gem disappeared, another character out of the strange twenty-six characters started shining in his bracelet.

    [Fragment of Space has been equipped]

    [Skill: Ruler of Space has been received]

    [ Space and Time Fragments had formed a pair.]

    [Skill: Ruler of Origin has been unlocked]

    [Ruler of Origin has leveled up under the effect of Space and Time fragments]

    ¡¯What the heck? Space Stone? That sounds overpowered. But what¡¯s the Ruler of Origin? It sounds like a skill I received after getting fragments. Could it be that I have received another skill because Space and Time form a pair? Strange,¡¯ he thought.

    He was just about to open his Status Screen to know more about the skill when he came out of his daze at Alice¡¯s call.

    "Where did the gem go? Gosh, the shop owner will kill us. He¡¯ll think we are thieves! How did it disappear?" Alice asked Ryder, noticing that the gem wasn¡¯t there anymore.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. Wasn¡¯t this just a copy? It¡¯s not like it was a real gem. Still, we¡¯ll buy this pot. We won¡¯t be scolded," Ryder answered as he patted Alice, who nodded.

    He took the pot from Alice and walked back to the shop owner.

    "We want to buy it," he told the old man while cing cash before him.

    The old man noticed the missing gem, but he didn¡¯t care. He had already had that gem checked. It was said that the gem was fake and wasn¡¯t even worth a thousand dors.

    He thought that these people mistook that for a real gem.

    He kept the cash and nodded. "This is yours now."

    "Here," Ryder gave the pot to Alice as he left the shop.

    They continued their shipping, ending in a restaurant where they had dinner.

    After finishing dinner, they went back to the hotel.

    It was already twelve in the night as Alice fell asleep.

    Ryder, on the other hand, was sitting outside on the sofa. Finally, he could see what skills he had received.

    [Name: Ryder]

    [Species: Divine God (Partially Awakened)]

    [Level: Fifty Thousand]

    [Strength: Too High to measure]

    [Defence: Too High]

    [Speed: Too High]

    [ Dexterity: Too High]

    [ Intelligence: 120( Asleep}

    Too High (Awakened)]

    [Tap to See Skills]

    He opened the Stats Screen, which showed his real-world level as Fifty Thousand, which he already knew about, but it still surprised him.

    If he went inside the world of Divinity with his real body, he could smack everyone to the ground as no one was this strong in Divinity.

    But what surprised him more were the other things.

    What did they mean his species was a Divine God? And asleep?

    "Could it be because I have absorbed their strength that it thinks that I¡¯m one of them? Possibly. But it¡¯s surprising. It can¡¯t measure my strength and other stats. It just shows too High. All it can measure is my intelligence?"

    "But why does it say asleep? It says I¡¯m too smart when I¡¯m awake? Am I really that intelligent when I¡¯m not sleeping? That¡¯s surprising. I always thought I had average intelligence. But I only have that when I¡¯m sleeping. I¡¯m a genius when I¡¯m awake," he muttered, feeling pleased.

    He really misunderstood the meaning of sleeping and awake as their literal meaning when it was talking about Chaos. When he was awake, the intelligence was too High. It gave two different criteria on intelligence for both of them.

    He quickly brought himself out of the self praise and tapped on the Skills to see his new skills.

    Amongst his new skills, he found two additions¡ªthe Ruler of Space and the Ruler of Origin.

    He tapped on Ruler of Space first, as this was what he was most excited about.

    [Skill: Ruler of Space]

    [Description: The power to control space and bend it to one¡¯s convenience]

    [Skill 1: Infinite Teleportation (Max Level)]

    Description: The user can teleport to any world he wants to]

    Uses: Infinite Uses

    Cooldown: One hour between each use

    Note: User can only go to the worlds he has seen before]

    [Skill 2: Space Control (Max Level)

    Description: The user can control space to the various degrees possible

    Limitation: The Universal Laws of World can¡¯t be broken]

    [ Skill 3: Space Immunity ( Max Level)

    Description: Makes the user Immune to any Space Rted attack]

    As Ryder finished reading about the skill, he was stunned. It was the first time he saw a Ruler Skill where the third skill was unlocked. Most of the time, the third skill said that level wasn¡¯t high enough to unlock.

    "Could it be that the other skill also unlocked level three? Is my level high enough now?" He thought, surprised.

    He hastily went back to other skills to check if he was right.

    As he opened the old skills, he grew surprised. He was right! The third skill of Each Ruler skill was unlocked. He finally had an idea what it was. The third level of all skills was simr.

    The third level of the Ruler of Water gave him Infinite Water Immunity. Ruler of Wind gave him wind immunity, and it was simr to the other skills.

    "Why did water give me Water Immunity? What does it even mean? I always had something simr that I couldn¡¯t drown in water. So what is it? Wait! Could it be something that makes me immune to the attacks of gods of those themes?" He suddenly eximed.

 Chapter 596 Jumping Worlds

    <h4>Chapter 596: Jumping Worlds</h4>

    "If it¡¯s true, that would really be amazing! I need to collect the fragments even faster in that case. After that, even if the dream of mine bes a reality, I would be able to protect myself."

    "No fire would be able to burn me. And simrly, no other attack would work as well. The physical attacks would still be a problem. I have absorbed the strength of six god-sons. I wonder if that gives me enough strength to at least physically face the gods if theye."

    "Whatever, better than nothing! I just need to be prepared for the inevitable day when that happens. If I fail and if I¡¯m at risk, I can just teleport to another world.".

    Sitting on the sofa, Ryder seemed to be taking himself as he heard of the skills that he had just received.

    "But would that skill even work? It should only work if I¡¯ve seen another world before," He frowned as he thought about it. He felt like he was missing something.

    Suddenly his mind clicked as he realized what he was missing.

    "The world of Divinity!" He eximed in surprise.

    "Isn¡¯t that the real world too? If that¡¯s the case, I should be able to go there physically. I won¡¯t have the revival boost of the game since my real body will go there. I¡¯ll just be like other NPCs, but that¡¯s fine too. I have a revival skill of my own!"

    "Finally, I can be stronger than the High Dukes. Heh! I wanted to be stronger than them from the start, but now I can do it without even leveling up!"

    A grin rested on his face as he realized the infinite possibilities that this skill had just unlocked. He was literally the god of Divinity if he went there! That was perfect, he believed.

    "Alright! Calm down! I still haven¡¯t opened thest surprise. Let¡¯s open that as well," he thought as he smiled.

    He closed all the screens and opened the detail screen of Ruler of Origin.

    [ Ruler of Origin]

    [Description: No Description]

    [Skill received: Origin Immunity]

    "What the heck?"

    As the screen opened, there were only three lines that he could read, and even those didn¡¯t give him any details regarding it.

    There was no description of the skill. All it had was a name. Moreover, unlike the other Ruler Skills, it doesn¡¯t have three sub-skills. Instead, there was only Origin Immunity.

    "What the heck is Origin Immunity? What the heck is even Origin? Is this a scam? At Least give me a description!" heined as he smiled wryly.

    "Janus! You tell me! What is Origin?" He decided to ask Janus directly as only that guy could answer.

    There came no response from Janus even after he waited for over five minutes.

    "Come on! I know you are listening. Tell me about it. It¡¯ll just take five minutes at best." He added as he sighed, but even that didn¡¯t get him a response.

    "Fine. Don¡¯t tell me. I guess it¡¯s a useless skill anyway. In any case, it¡¯s Origin Immunity. It should be a passive skill. It wouldn¡¯t have mattered even if I knew about it," he let out as he stood up.

    He closed the screens.

    "Let¡¯s see the Space Skill."

    Since it was night, he was sure that it must be day in Divinity. Moreover, he had time to take a trip too.

    He used the Ruler of Space as he thought about the World of Divinity. He even imagined the Royal Pce to have a good idea as to where to appear exactly.

    Soon, his body disappeared from the earth.

    ...

    Ryder appeared in the world of Divinity inside the Royal Pce as he wanted to. Unfortunately, the appearance spot happened to be different than he imagined.

    He initially wanted to teleport in the Throne Room, but the ce he appeared in was something he had never expected.

    He has teleported inside the area where Miku was showering. She wasn¡¯t wearing anything as she sat inside a pond. Her breasts were half submerged in water while the rest was clear for Ryder to see.

    Fortunately, she happened to have her eyes closed and couldn¡¯t see Ryder.

    Ryder breathed a sigh of relief as he silently tried to leave the room.

    Miku slowly opened her eyes as she prepared to leave. Her eyes fell on Ryder, who had just turned back to escape.

    "Who are you?! Intruder!" She eximed as she jumped out of the water. Her figure flickered as she appeared before Ryder, pointing her knife at him that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

    "Miku, it¡¯s me. Don¡¯t you recognize me?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly. He didn¡¯t attack Miku as he wasn¡¯t worried of being hurt. What concerned him more was the fact that she wasn¡¯t wearing anything and she was standing in front of him.

    "You can¡¯t fool me like that! His Majesty doesn¡¯t look like you! And his aura is different as well! Moreover, he won¡¯t ever try to peek at me while bathing! You think I won¡¯t recognize him? You not only infiltrated the Royal Demon Empire, but you also tried to impersonate His Majesty?" Miku yelled furiously.

    It was only now that Ryder recognized what was wrong. They had be familiar with the Aura of his real body, which had a Blood Demon Species aura. On the other hand, his current body had the Divine God¡¯s aura, which was clearly different.

    "Don¡¯t be fooled! My aura is different because I¡¯m using a skill! It¡¯s a skill to shroud my Aura! That¡¯s why you find it different? As for my appearance here, that was an ident. I was practicing the Teleportation of the High Dukes. I just couldn¡¯t control my destination and identally appeared here!" Ryder exined.

    "You¡¯re lying! Prove it!" Miku said firmly.

    Ryder casually waved his hand, making the Moon Scythe appear in his hand.

    "Do you recognize it? I¡¯m sure you can see that its aura isn¡¯t fake. Moreover, only I can control it. Moreover, I have more ways to prove it! Only I, you, and Rale know that I have snuck out of the Demon Realm through underground portals. Also, the fact about where our maids actually went when they disappeared!" He told Miku, proving his identity.

    "T-that¡¯s true. Only His Majesty should be able to use the Scythe. And it¡¯s certainly real," Miku said, nkly. The knife in her hand disappeared as she went down on her knees with tear-filled eyes.

    "I¡¯m extremely sorry, Your Majesty. I¡¯ll ept any punishment you have for me. I dared to show my weapon at you!" She said firmly as she lowered her head, waiting for punishment.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. Anyone could have made the mistake. Moreover, you were just trying to keep the Empire safe. I should praise you for that, not punish you," Ryder let out, shaking his head. "In fact, I should be the one asking for an apology. Not only did I suddenly appear when you were bathing, but I even saw everything."

    "Y-you don¡¯t have to think about that. As a subordinate of Your Majesty, you have every right to see my body. I and everything in this Empire belongs to the Demon Emperor," Miku respectfully responded as she stood up.

    "I¡¯m not sure about that. Nothing belongs to me, especially not you. You belong to yourself," Ryder said as he smiled wryly.

    "Anyway, get dressed now. I¡¯m having a hard time keeping my gaze away," he added. "I¡¯ll wait."

    Miku nodded as she stood up. She hastily dried her body and wore clothes. "I¡¯m done."

    "That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s leave. I also want to meet High Dukes and Rale. I think they¡¯ll be suspicious of my identity as well. I¡¯ll have to convince all of them," Ryder said as he started leaving. He still kept the Moon Scythe in his hand as he thought it¡¯de in handy.

    "Ah, Your Majesty! What is with your clothes? They look so odd." Before Ryder could even step out of here, he heard Miku¡¯s concern.

    He looked down to realize that Miku was telling the truth. He was still wearing the clothes from the earth, which looked odd here.

    "That¡¯s right. I don¡¯t have my normal clothes. Can you bring my clothes? I¡¯ll wait here," Ryder told Miku.

    "Yeah. I¡¯ll do that. Stay here," Miku said, leaving the ce.

    Ryder stayed behind, waiting for Miku.

    Within ten minutes, Miku returned carrying a pair of his Royal Clothes.

    After giving the clothes to Ryder, Miku turned back to give Ryder privacy to get dressed.

    "I¡¯m done. Let¡¯s leave," Ryder said, tapping on Miku¡¯s shoulder as he got dressed.

    He left the ce with Miku and went in search of Rale, who he believed to be training the Royal Guards at the moment.

    Stopping at the training room, he pushed open the gates and stepped inside.

    Feeling a new Aura in the ce, Rale turned back to look at the entrance.

    As he saw Ryder, a frown appeared on his face. His frown only deepened as he saw the Moon Scythe in Ryder¡¯s hand.

 Chapter 597 Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 597: Invitation</h4>

    Ryder stepped inside the hall where Rale was practicing to see Rale staring at him.

    "Is something wrong?" Ryder asked, wondering if Rale was stunned because of his different aura and looks.

    "Your Majesty? Is that you?" Rale eximed, stunned.

    "Who else could it be if not me?" Ryder asked, waving his Moon Scythe in the air.

    "I¡¯m lost practicing my new aura skill. I need to stay in this aura for quite some time to master this skill. Same for my disguise skills. Anyways, how¡¯s everything going?" he asked Rale after giving a short exnation.

    Rale was still stunned as he found it strange and unfamiliar, but he understood that it was Ryder. Despite that, he still decided to take the test.

    "Everything¡¯s going good. I was just training my men," Rale answered.

    "By the way, Your Majesty. Have you looked at the documents I gave you a few days ago? What are your thoughts about that? Should we go forward with that?" He further inquired.

    "Documents? Why don¡¯t I remember something like that?" Ryder inquired, frowning. "If I¡¯m not wrong,st time, you only gave me a letter of appreciation from the citizens. There was no n for that. Or did I misunderstand?"

    "Ah, maybe I misunderstood. It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about it," Rale let out, smiling wryly. "I think I forgot to give you the documents."

    He was pleased to know that Ryder knew it. He was the real person.

    "What are these documents about? Is something happening in our Empire?" Ryder inquired, still not understanding.

    "It¡¯s about increasing the number of the Royal Guards. I have that n ready for the new recruitment. That¡¯s what I was nning to give you," Rale answered.

    "Ah, those things? You can handle them to the best of your abilities. I¡¯ll support whatever proposal you have created," Ryder informed Rale, smiling.

    "By the way, don¡¯t stop for me. You can continue your training. Wait, not that I think about it; let me get some action too. I also want to practice with you. I¡¯ve always dyed it for reasons you might not understand, but I think today I¡¯m free. Let¡¯s have a practice battle," he continued, suggesting a battle with Rale.

    Rale always had a misconception that Ryder was strong while only Ryder knew the reality.

    But there was also the fact that he actually didn¡¯t know Rale¡¯s strength.

    He had believed that Rale was probably a level thousand NPC, but now he knew that he was wrong. Rale wasn¡¯t an NPC. Moreover, he might not actually be level thousand. He might even be stronger.

    "Battle?" Rale asked, surprised. He never expected he would get to battle Ryder.

    "We shouldn¡¯t. It would be bad if I identally harmed you," Rale sternly refused.

    "Come on! There¡¯s literally no chance of you hurting me! Do you really think I¡¯m that weak? Don¡¯t worry about it. I am strong enough to protect myself," Ryder insisted.

    " On the other hand, if you don¡¯t fight me, I would think that you probably think that I¡¯m weak. Do you really want that message to go out that a General refused to fight the King in a training battle in fear of hurting the weak king? Is that the respect you have for me?" He ultimately asked.

    "N-not at all!" Rale firmly replied. "I just... Fine. I ept."

    "That¡¯s better. I don¡¯t want you to go easy at me at all. Give it your best," Ryder further stated as he raised his Scythe as if challenging Rale.

    "Miku, you can signal the start of the battle,"

    Miku nodded.

    "Shall I go first?" Rale asked Ryder. Even though he didn¡¯t want to attack Ryder, it was good manners to attack first since it showed that the opponent was strong. Rale didn¡¯t want to insult Ryder by asking him to go first.

    "Go ahead," Ryder said, smiling. The Moon Scythe returned to a bracelet that wrapped around his wrist.

    "Start!" Miku signaled the start of the battle.

    As soon as the battle began, Rale¡¯s figure flickered as he appeared in front of Ryder, punching Ryder¡¯s fist.

    Ryder didn¡¯t even bother to dodge as he gently raised his fist, catching the attack of Rale easily.

    "Is that your best?" He asked Rale, shaking his head in disappointment.

    "This attack was even weaker than the attack of Draco alone, let alone the attacks of six god-sonsbined.

    Rale seemed surprised, but at the same time, he seemed as if he partially expected that his attack would be stopped so easily since he knew Ryder was strong.

    Ryder grabbed the wrist of Rale, tossing him to the side.

    Ralended on his feet, far away from Ryder, looking back.

    "Come on! Show me the strength of my General! Is that the strength you can muster up?" Ryder asked Rale, disappointed.

    "Why aren¡¯t you using your true strength? Are you still afraid of hurting me after all this while?" he asked, frowning

    "I apologize for hesitating in my attacks. I¡¯ll fight like a real enemy this time. Please tell me to stop when you want," Rale affirmed as he disappeared.

    His figure appeared behind Ryder as he reached out his hand to grab Ryder by the neck to thrash him to the ground. He was actually going all out instead of going easy as per orders.

    Even though Rale¡¯s speed was fast, Ryder seemed to be even faster as his figure also disappeared before Rale could even grab him.

    Ryder appeared behind Rale, grabbing him by the neck instead as he raised Rale in the air while tossing him back again.

    ¡¯As expected, the people of this world can¡¯t face me even when I¡¯m using a fraction of my strength and speed. It¡¯s the strength of gods, after all. But it¡¯s still fun to fight freely,¡¯ Ryder thought, observing his hand.

    The Battle continued for the next half an hour, and in every exchange, it was Ryder who was at an advantage while Rale always found himself at a disadvantage.

    Fortunately, Ryder hadn¡¯t hurt Rale at all. Every time he caught Rale, he freed him or tossed him away instead of thrashing him to the ground.

    Even the other Royal Guards who stood in the distance found themselves engrossed. Their Emperor was really that strong. It was the first time they had seen Ryder fight.

    "I ept defeat. I used all the skills I had, and I couldn¡¯t even touch you. Your Majesty is really mighty, as I expected," Rale ultimately dropped to his knees as he epted his defeat.

    "You gave a good fight," Ryder said as he stepped closer to Rale. He reached out his hand to help Rale up.

    Grabbing the hand of Ryder, Rale stood up.

    "Now arrange for clothes. You can¡¯t look this dirty when we meet the High Dukes," Ryder said before he sent four Royal Guards to invite the High Dukes to the Pce. It was the time to establish his dignity before the High Dukes as well.

    Even though the High Dukes already respected him, he wanted to show them that he actually was strong and deserved that respect.

    Rale dusted his clothes while the others guards left to call the High Dukes.

    After cleaning his clothes, Rale and Ryder walked together to the Throne Room. Miku also followed after them.

    "Did anything significant happen while I wasn¡¯t here?" Ryder inquired.

    "Nothing major. Everything has been stable so far. But our men did catch a few infiltrators from other ces.

    These people seemed like humans, but after being killed, their bodies disappeared. It was just like what happened when you had killed that man before the Vampire King.

    "It seems those people have been trying to infiltrate the Demon Realm for some reason," Ralemented.

    "Moreover, some of them are really good at disguise, so it¡¯s pretty hard to find someone who has already infiltrated," he continued.

    "Ah, that problem. Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ll soon solve that problem as well. Just keep the Pce safe in the meantime. Within a few days, it should be solved," Rydermented, reminding Rale not to worry about it.

    He already remembered about Necrosis. He had already nned to go there after taking care of the god-son who was residing in America.

    "I understand. That¡¯s a relief," Rale affirmed as he sighed in relief. "It was starting to upset our citizens. If this continued for longer, our people might really start hating humans."

    "It won¡¯t continue for long," Ryder responded. "Anyway, anything else that might have happened?"

    "Ah, nothing significant. Just some invitations from the Dukes of different regions. And the human empires also invite you to thank you. These are the names of the Empires." Rale gave a list of names to Ryder.

    Ryder opened the list and went through the names. It seemed like all the empires and kingdoms had invited him already.

    "This Kingdom?"

    A name, in particr, attracted his attention.

    "ept this invitation. We¡¯ll go to this Empire. Arrange a date of a few dayster," Ryder said as he returned the list.

 Chapter 598 Entering Death Domain

    <h4>Chapter 598: Entering Death Domain</h4>

    "I¡¯ll arrange for that," Rale nodded as he kept the list back, but he did wonder why this specific kingdom was selected instead of others.

    "Ah, that¡¯s right! Isn¡¯t this the kingdom where we kidnapped the Princess?!" He suddenly eximed as he realized what this was.

    "That¡¯s right. It¡¯s the same Kingdom. I was thinking about going there at least once again. We¡¯ll see how it goes, but it should be a fun trip," Ryder said, confirming Rale¡¯s theory.

    "Anyway, Rale. What do you think about this world? Do you think there are more worlds like this?" He further asked, curious.

    "More worlds like this? There are. Human World, Death Domain, Undead Region and others," Rale nodded.

    "Not that. They are just like different realms in the same vast worlds. I¡¯m asking you if there could be more worlds that have everything different to us. A world where there are no skills and everyone is weak. Or the world where gods live. Have you ever thought about this?" Ryder asked, shaking his head.

    " A world of gods? I never thought about that," Rale answered.

    Rale and Ryder continued their random conversation as Ryder tried to understand what Rale thought of this world as a whole. As for the conversation, it stretched for over twenty minutes and only stopped when the gates opened.

    The Four High Dukes stepped inside the Throne Room, stunned by what was happening. They could see a stranger sitting on the throne while Rale was talking to the stranger happily.

    "Who are you? How dare you sit on our Royal Throne?!" High Duke Magna¡¯s figure flickered as he disappeared while appearing before Ryder. He brought out his sword to aim at Ryder. He wasn¡¯t going to kill Ryder but just keep him at the point of his sword.

    Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t go as he nned. The man who was sitting on the throne moved even faster as a Scythe appeared in his sword. The Scythe shed with the Sword.

    As High Duke Magna hadn¡¯t expected this speed, he couldn¡¯t resist the strength of Ryder even the least. His sword flew out of his hand, crashing in the distance.

    "High Duke Magna! What do you think you¡¯re trying to do by attacking your King?" Ryder asked, grimly

    "This voice... King Hades?" Magna let out, stunned. "That scythe as well? Why is your face and your aura different?"

    "I was practicing an Aura skill. At the same time, a new disguise skill. I need to stay like this for some time to upgrade my skills. That¡¯s all. But why did you attack me?" Ryder asked after a brief exnation.

    "I thought you were someone else. Your aura skill even fooled me," High Duke Magna said as he retreated. "I apologize for what I did."

    "Ah, so that¡¯s why. I guess I should¡¯ve given a heads up. Don¡¯t worry about it," Ryder calmly responded. He wasn¡¯t upset at all as he got what he wanted. It worked perfectly.

    There weren¡¯t any stray talks, and he could get to the point right away. Moreover, now everyone knew that he was Ryder. That wasn¡¯t all either, as High Duke Magna probably got a taste of his strength.

    Ryder was pleased as he saw the stunned look on the face of High Duke Magna. He was sure that the guy must be wondering why he never knew that he was so strong.

    That was the same thought in Magna¡¯s face.

    ¡¯I thought he was weak. But the strength with which the Scythe shed with my sword, that makes it certainly seem like he¡¯s stronger than me. Could it be that he kept it hidden from us all?¡¯ High Duke Magna thought.

    "It¡¯s surprising to see you with a new aura. It¡¯ll take time for us to be familiar with this aura. But it¡¯s certainly a good skill. With this, you should be able to disguise and infiltrate any ce you want,¡¯ High Duke Oris said, looking at the aura Ryder.

    "That¡¯s right. It¡¯s a pretty decent skill. That¡¯s why I really want to master it. So you¡¯ll see this look of mine for a long time," Ryder replied.

    "Did you call us here to tell about this look?" High Duke Magna M inquired.

    "That¡¯s right. That¡¯s what I wanted to tell you. But that¡¯s only a partial reason. I have another important reason as well," Ryder calmly said.

    "What other reason?" High Duke Magna inquired.

    "Today, we¡¯re all going to the Death Domain. Let¡¯s return the girl we kept hostage. Their second heir... There¡¯s no need to keep her here anymore. Moreover, we can also show them who¡¯s the leader at this time," Ryder answered.

    "Are you sure about this?¡¯ High Duke Oris asked. That¡¯s all he could do as none of them could say no to Ryder, who was now their king. Not that they wanted to refuse.

    "I¡¯m sure of it. In fact, we¡¯re going there right now," Ryder let out as he stood up. "Let¡¯s just finish it all when we have the time. I don¡¯t want anyone to utilize this time and create more chaos here."

    "Alright," High Duke Magna nodded as he reached out his hand.

    Ryder grabbed one of his hands while Rale held the other. As for High Duke Oris, he held the hands of High Duke Eston and High Duke M.

    All of them disappeared from the Royal Demon Pce and appeared outside the Royal City of the Death Domain.

    High Duke Oris stepped forward to break the barrier that was surrounding the city so they could enter.

    "Wait," Ryder called out, stopping them. "Let me give it a try instead."

    High Duke Oris stepped back, frowning. He was surprised that Ryder was going to break it. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the young guy could even do it in the first ce.

    Fortunately, that question didn¡¯t stay in his mind for a long time as he soon got his answer. A single punch... A single punch was all it took for Ryder to shatter the barrier.

    After shattering the barrier, Ryder turned around while smiling. As he turned back, he could see the surprised faces of the High Dukes.

    "Let¡¯s enter," he added before he started flying towards the Death Domain Royal Pce. The others also followed behind him, still wondering what was happening today. Ryder was so strong. But how was it that it was only today?

    There were many questions in their heads that they had no answer to.

    Ryder flew straight to the Royal Pce. Flying through the city brought so many memories back. He had spent a lot of his time here, after all.

    When he came here on a mission, he even stayed here.

    He could even see the house where he had stayed while flying from above it.

    As the barrier was shattered, it started healing itself. But that wasn¡¯t before all the higher ups were alert about an intruder.

    The Prince and his Death Generals stepped out of the Pce, wondering who it was that had entered so brazenly.

    As they saw in the distance, the Death Prince was able to see the person who was flying towards him.

    "The Demon Realm again? God, do these guys never rest? I mean, we haven¡¯t even attacked them yet!" The Prince let out in frustration.

    "Could it be that they found our ns?" one of the Death General asked.

    "It¡¯s possible as well. But how? And even if they found out, why would theye alone?" The Prince asked, stunned. "That doesn¡¯t matter. I think we¡¯ll soon get our answers. Everyone, prepare for the battle!"

    "I¡¯m confused. Who is the one leading them? He doesn¡¯t seem like their King, does he?" Another Death General asked.

    ...

    Ryder and the High Dukesnded in front of the Royal Pce, where the Death Generals were already waiting for them.

    "Aww, I knew you would be here to wee us. I think the rtionship between the two empires is improving fast," Ryder said,ughing as hended before the Prince.

    "Hades?" The Death Prince asked, stunned.

    "That¡¯s right. Did you expect someone else? Oh, don¡¯t mind my different aura. There¡¯s a reason behind it," Ryder responded. "Also, thanks for the Warm Wee."

    "What warm wee? We didn¡¯t invite you! You just barged inside! Tell us what you want?" The Prince inquired, rolling his eyes.

    "I don¡¯t want anything. I¡¯m just here to return something to you. We¡¯ve decided to forgive that girl that attacked us. But it¡¯ll only be a one time thing. Just think of it as a good gesture," Ryder replied.

    "Also, remember, if you ever tried to do something like this again, I wille again. And that time, it won¡¯t be as a guest," he further added as he warned the Death Prince. "The rtionship between the two realms is improving. Don¡¯t make it bad again. It¡¯ll be best for you."

    He turned around to look at High Duke Eston, "Release the girl."

 Chapter 599 Challenge

    <h4>Chapter 599: Challenge</h4>

    At themands of Ryder, High Duke Eston released the girl who was being kept hostage by them for a long time.

    Previously Ryder did want his treasure while also wanting to punish her, but now that he had strength, he had forgotten about most of it. It was carefree about these minor things.

    Thedy appeared in front of everyone, looking tired as if she hadn¡¯t slept in a long time.

    "Go on. You¡¯re free," Ryder told the girl casually. "But if you still want to attack me, this is yourst chance. No one will interfere."

    "This offer isn¡¯t only valid for her only. You all have the same offer. If you want to try, you can too," he further said, looking at the Prince and the general. "You don¡¯t have to be shy. The High Dukes won¡¯t interfere.¡¯

    "Aren¡¯t you being too arrogant?" The Death Prince asked, frowning. "You might have be the king, but you¡¯re still young and weak. Don¡¯t let position get to your head. I don¡¯t know if I can defeat you or not, but my Generals certainly can. So don¡¯t make the situation worse."

    " As I said, it¡¯s my offer. They can try if they really think they¡¯re capable of that. I promise in my honor that no one will interfere, and we won¡¯t hold you ountable no matter what happened. Even if I die, you won¡¯t be med. That¡¯s the promise of the Demon Realm," Ryder responded.

    He really wanted to show off a little. That was why he gave such a good offer, but it didn¡¯t seem like anyone was talking the bait.

    "Is that true? So you all stand by those words?" Death Prince asked the other High Dukes.

    The High Dukes looked at each other. Could they really question it now that Ryder had already given the challenge. If they didn¡¯t stand by these words, Ryder would look weak. In any case, If things didn¡¯t go as they wanted, they could always interfere and get the heck out of here.

    "We stand by his statement. None of us will interfere," High Duke Magna was the first one to speak something. He didn¡¯t seem worried about anything as he was already pleased at what was happening.

    He had seen Ryder¡¯s strength. He believed Ryder could take care of them easily. ording to him, he was hiding his strength previously, and only now did he start to show.

    "If that¡¯s the case, then we would ept the offer. I hope the Demon Realm will keep their word. If something happened to your King, we wouldn¡¯t be responsible," the Death Prince rified onest time before he shifted his attention to the Death Generals.

    He looked at the strongest of the Four. "General Mizi, why don¡¯t you give it a try? Try not to kill the young king."

    "I¡¯ll try," the Death General said as he chuckled while stepping forward.

    Another Death General stepped forward and picked up the girl who was still lying on the ground to get her inside the Pce so she could be treated.

    The others also stepped backward to give enough space for the two to fight.

    "Don¡¯t mind if I start first!" The Death General said as his figure flickered. It seemed as if he had disappeared and appeared behind Ryder instantly. A sword appeared in his hand, which he trusted towards Ryder.

    His sword stabbed Ryder. The eyes of High Dukes opened wide as they saw it happen. Ryder was actually stabbed? They were just about to move to help him when they all stopped as their mouths opened wide.

    Even the General seemed stunned as he felt as if his sword had prated only air and not flesh.

    "Not bad speed. But you¡¯re still too slow," Ryder¡¯s voice fell in the Generals and ears,ing from behind.

    The figure of Ryder, which was standing before him, turned into smoke and disappeared. At the same time, a hand came from behind, grabbing him by the neck.

    Ryder raised the Death General and smacked his body on the ground.

    Ryder didn¡¯t stop there as he raised the General¡¯s body again while tossing him away.

    "This is boring. All of youe together. Let me have some fun!" Ryder dered firmly. Just as he said that, the Death Generals became furious; they felt like they were being insulted. But they did listen to Ryder and attacked him.

    ....

    "That was all? That was all the Death Generals had? Only this much strength? God, did we all overestimate them?" Ryder asked as he looked at the three unconscious Death Generals lying on his feet.

    Standing behind him, the High Dukes were grinning from ear to ear as they saw what was happening. Ryder had actually defeated not one but all of them at once. His strength was actually so high.

    "Worthy to be our King," High Duke Estonmented.

    The Battle seemed to be one sided as everyone was defeated so easily.

    Only the Death Prince was still standing as he hadn¡¯t moved yet. He also couldn¡¯t believe his eyes, but he knew it was the truth.

    Ryderzily stepped closer to the Death Prince, stopping a few steps away from him.

    "As you can see, I can easily wipe this whole ce alone. I could also have easily killed your Death Generals. But I didn¡¯t. Because I don¡¯t want to rule the Death Domain. I have no interest in it. So stop trying to attack our Demon Realm and end this hostility," Ryder said calmly.

    "And I do know what you all were nning. So don¡¯t even think about lying. I¡¯m serious. If you ever attacked us, there won¡¯t be a Death Domain anymore. Instead, you can choose the path of friendship and cooperation. I won¡¯t force you for that either."

    "Even if you don¡¯t affect friendship, I won¡¯t attack the Death Domain as long as you don¡¯t attack us. So it¡¯s your choice if you want to be neutral or if you want to be our friend and forget the enmity. That¡¯s all I¡¯m going to say for now!" Ryder said as he turned back and started leaving.

    "Wait! I ept it!" The Death Prince said. "Let¡¯s end it all and start anew."

    "That¡¯s better. I look forward to that," Ryder replied as he stopped before High Duke Magna.

    The small group from Demon Realm disappeared, leaving behind a Prince and three unconscious Generals.

    The fourth Death General returned after leaving the girl with the physician. "What happened here? I was only gone for a few minutes!"

    "Few minutes was all it took," The Death Prince muttered. "Cancel all the ns to attack the Demon Realm. It¡¯s better to forget the enmity and be their friends instead."

    ...

    "That should deal with the problem of the Death Envoys. I¡¯m sure you all can handle the rest. I¡¯ll also take care of the intruders," Ryder said as he appeared in the Royal Pce.

    Everyone in his presence nodded in full respect that they truly felt from their heart now.

    Landing in the Demon Realm pce, Ryder didn¡¯t stop there for long. Instead, he wrapped up everything and disappeared, going back to the real world.

    ...

    As an hour-long cool down was already over, Ryder was able to return to the real world again.

    He got back to the room and looked at the clock.

    "There¡¯s still quite some time until the flight," he muttered as he shook his head.

    nk!

    A button was turned on, making the light turn on. Alice was standing behind Ryder.

    "You¡¯re up. Get ready. It¡¯ll be the time to leave soon," Ryder told Alice, but only to stop as he noticed her looking at him strangely.

    "What happened? Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked weirdly.

    "Since when did you start cosying?" she asks Ryder.

    "Cosy? What the heck are you talking about?" Ryder asked, frowning. Soon, he understood what she was saying. His eyes opened wide as he smiled wryly.

    He looked down to realize he was still wearing the Royal Clothes from Divinity.

    "I was just trying to see how I would look in Royal Attire. Don¡¯t take it seriously. I¡¯m not a cosyer. Go and get ready. I¡¯ll get ready as well," he hastily said before he went back to the room to change your clothes, embarrassed that he forgot to change them beforeing here.

    Within the next hour, Alice and Ryder got ready after taking a shower before they departed.

    The two of them went to the airport from where they took a flight straight to the New Capital in the States.

    ording to Janus, the next god-son was there as well. He still wasn¡¯t told that the guy was none other than Ion. The two people Ryder wanted to kill were the same.

    ....

    As Ryder wasing back, Ion was sitting in his office, watching his every movement.

    "So he¡¯sing back. I guess I should prepare for a warm wee. I wish I could have killed him in Divinity. But the preparations are still notplete. I need to hold on for a week more before they will be."

 Chapter 600 Facing Ion

    <h4>Chapter 600: Facing Ion</h4>

    The flightnded in the New Capital of the States. Ryder and Alice stepped out of the flight and went straight to a hotel.

    As for Ryder, he once again left Alice back in the hotel as he left with the excuse to attend a meeting. Since he was here, he wanted to deal with everything at once before leaving with Alice for home. He didn¡¯t intend to waste any time.

    Alice was once again frustrated as Ryder left, but this time he had promised that he was only going to be gone for a short time and not for days like before. Alice once again believed him as she let him leave.

    ...

    It was only after Ryder left the hotel that he asked, "Janus, where is thest one?"

    "Thest person is Ion, the owner of Necrosis," Janus exined.

    "What the heck? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re serious?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "That guy is one of them as well? So my next two targets are one? I can end it all in one blow?" He asked,ughing.

    "They¡¯re the same," Janus replied in simple terms.

    "I couldn¡¯t ask for anything better. In one strike, I can end it all," Ryder muttered as he brought his Sports Car out of his inventory.

    Sitting inside the car, he straight took it to the headquarters of Necrosis Corporation.

    "That direction... It seems like he¡¯sing here, isn¡¯t he?" Ion muttered, looking at his screen, which was focused on Ryder.

    "After killing all the others, he¡¯s after me," He muttered, frowning. "I¡¯m still curious. Why did he let thest one live? Why didn¡¯t he attack that guy? Distance of India from China isn¡¯t much. Instead, he came back here to kill me after killing all the rest?"

    " It doesn¡¯t seem like he has any intention of killing Aryan. Why is that? Is he rted to that guy somehow? It¡¯s clear that he isn¡¯t a human, at least. He should be one of us, or even stronger."

    "I thought I could let him kill all the god-sons to remove thepetition before informing the gods, but oh well, we can¡¯t have the best in all wars," he thought as he smirked.

    He brought out a red crystal which was kept in a drawer.

    It was a Communication Crystal. No participant in this trial was allowed to bring this crystal as it was not allowed to contact the gods since there were concerns of cheating. But that didn¡¯t stop some of them from still bringing it.

    One such crystal was with Aluren, which he had used to inform the gods about Adrian infiltrating his realm. When the gods knew it, they did send an envoy to take that crystal back.

    Another such crystal was with Draco¡ª the Son of God of War. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t able to use it on time when he was attacked.

    Ion clenched the crystal in his fist as he closed his eyes.

    "What the heck? It¡¯s a fake?!" His face turned weird as he realized that it was a useless crystal.

    "How can this happen? I remember bringing the real one! This can¡¯t be happening at a time like this! Arghhh!"

    Ion was filled with frustration as he found out that the crystal was fake. He was also filled with many questions. He remembered that he brought the real one. How did that turn fake?

    " Could it be that someone switched it? Who could have done that?"

    As he thought more about it, his eyes opened wide in shock. He realized what had happened.

    "That bastard father of mine! He never forgets to screw my life!" Ion yelled like crazy.

    ...

    In the city of Washington, the Lord of Space was walking randomly, still in search of something. He seemed to be ying with a red crystal, tossing it up in the air again and again like it was a toy.

    "Sorry, kiddo, but I couldn¡¯t let you be disqualified. From how you acted, it seemed like you really wanted to seed in the trial. But you don¡¯t know; you¡¯ll not only be disqualified but punished as well if they knew you had it. I hope you won¡¯t be too upset when you find out that I took it. It was for your own good," the Lord of Space muttered, unaware of how badly he had screwed his son.

    ...

    "Fine, if I can¡¯t call for help, I¡¯ll do it myself. I¡¯ll take care of him myself. Unlike the others, I¡¯m not unaware of his goals and his schemes. He wants to kill us all, but if he thinks it¡¯s going to be that easy, he can give it a try," Ion said, sitting in his room.

    The cab stopped in front of the Necrosis Corporation. Ryder openly stepped inside the Necrosis and walked to the receptionist.

    "Is Ion in his office?" He asked the receptionist.

    "Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asked. "May I know your name?"

    "I don¡¯t have an appointment, but I was really hoping to meet him. Tell him Ryder Flynn is here. I think he should remember me," Ryder told the receptionist.

    "Let me check," The receptionist said, picking up the phone.

    She informed Ion about the arrival of Ryder Flynn and his desire to meet him.

    "Yes, Sir," she ultimately nodded as she kept the phone down.

    "You can go upstairs. He¡¯s willing to meet you," she told Ryder. She also called a man to escort him.

    Ryder was taken upstairs to the top floor where Ion¡¯s office was.

    "You can go in. This is the office," the man told Ryder.

    He hadn¡¯t noticed that Ryder¡¯s hand was resting on the wall at the moment. When he removed his hand, a white sticker was left on the wall. At the same time, all the cameras in the building were turned off.

    "Thank you," Ryder thanked the man who had escorted him here. The man didn¡¯t stop here as he turned back and left.

    Ryder pushed the door open, expecting an unaware Ion to greet him but what he saw waspletely different.

    He could see tens of Spatial desing towards him, intending to slice him into small parts.

    Before Ryder could even react, the des passed through him. His clothes were cut in ces, but his skin wasn¡¯t harmed in the least.

    ¡¯Space Skills? Hah, this is the worst match for this guy. I¡¯m already immune to space-rted damage,¡¯ Ryder thought as he grinned while looking at Ion.

    He was also slightly surprised to see Ion attack him directly. Did he know why Ryder was here? Or was it that he was just upset that Ryder messed up his nsst time?

    It didn¡¯t matter what the reason was. Ryder closed the door behind him while also cing a different sticker in the wall.

    Next, he gently waved his hand, making the water appear out of thin air. The water filled the entire room within seconds. All the files were ruined. Theputers were damaged.

    Ion couldn¡¯t breathe in the water, so he tried to teleport outside the room to gather his thoughts. He still didn¡¯t know why his des didn¡¯t hurt Ryder.

    He wanted time to understand what had gone wrong, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn¡¯t teleport outside. It was as if the space was sealed.

    Let alone him; even Ryder couldn¡¯t teleport outside.

    It was a skill that he had received from the Moon Scythe called Self Sacrifice. It allowed him to temporarily sacrifice one of his elements to seal another element of the enemy.

    The god-sons couldn¡¯t use it since they had only one element themselves. They did it; even though they could seal another person¡¯s element temporarily, they¡¯ll both be like ordinary men. But for Ryder, temporarily sealing his space control wasn¡¯t a problem since he had many other elements.

    Basically, with this single skill, he had made Ion useless. Ion couldn¡¯t control the space in his surroundings, while Ryder could still use many of his powers.

    Without being able to teleport, Ion seemed to be stuck in the water, unable to breathe.

    Ryder came closer to Ion, looking at him, struggling to breathe.

    ¡¯You know, I really wanted to know what this scheme was. Why you wanted to use the world of Divinity. And what was your end goal? If only you hadn¡¯t attacked me so soon. But with your death, it won¡¯t matter anyway,¡¯ he thought as he observed Ion.

    Ion tried to swim towards the gate to open it and leave, but he couldn¡¯t even do that. It seemed as if the water was holding him in ce, preventing him from moving. This was his domain, after all.

    Ion¡¯s eyes were turned red as he struggled to free himself from the grasp of water, but even that didn¡¯t seem to work.

    ¡¯They won¡¯t work. This isn¡¯t ordinary water either. Moreover, unlike me, you don¡¯t have water immunity.¡¯ Ryder thought, but at the same time, he also brought out the Moon Scythe.

 Chapter 601 Divinity Shut Down

    <h4>Chapter 601: Divinity Shut Down</h4>

    Ryder moved closer to Ion as he prepared to swing his Scythe. No matter what Ion did, he couldn¡¯t just resist the water to free himself.

    All he could do was watch Ryder move closer to him. He couldn¡¯t even speak because of the water, but if he could speak, it was obvious what he would have said.

    Without a second thought, Ryder shed with his Scythe, slicing Ion in half as easily as he could.

    With his increasing strength after killing so many of them, the task only became easier as he moved from one god-son to the next.

    After killing Ion, Ryder clenched his fist to make the water disappear as if it was never there. Even the water that was sucked by their clothes was gone, leaving their clothes dry.

    There was no sign of water anywhere. As for the things that had the sign of water, Ryder destroyed them.

    Moreover, when he had formed a domain of water, he made sure that water didn¡¯t seep out of the room, so even outside, no one had any idea about what had happened inside.

    Ryder sat near Ion and reached out his hand as he observed the strength of Ion. This time he did everything by himself, without calling Janus.

    After absorbing the strength of Ion, he stood up, prepared to leave.

    "Warning! The Space in the World of Divinity is bing chaotic. You are needed at the core chamber."

    Before Ryder could leave, he heard a female voiceing from behind him.

    He turned back to see a little girl standing there.

    "Maya?" Ryder asked in surprise as he noticed the AI of Divinity standing behind him.

    "Warning! The Space in the World of Divinity is bing chaotic. You are needed at the core chamber," Maya repeated again.

    "What do you mean my support is needed?" Ryder asked, stunned. What exactly is going on here?

    "If you don¡¯t link your Aura at the core again, you¡¯ll lose all the established control in Divinity. All the yers will be stuck there. You have thirty minutes!" Maya said without any emotions.

    "Tell me who I am?" Ryder asked, wondering if she was misunderstanding him.

    "You are the new owner. Your aura matches the old owner, so you are needed to stabilize the Divinity Realm unless you want Necrosis to lose all control of Divinity," Maya told Ryder.

    "Let me guess. You knew about what Ion was. He should have taken some special steps to create you. Since I have the same aura as him now, you consider me your owner?" Ryder asked, suspicious.

    "Correct!" Mata answered.

    "Then what is this control thing?" Ryder asked.

    "The quest of the first Owner. To take over Divinity and control everything. Warning! Stabilize the Divinity if you don¡¯t want to fail and lose all control!" Maya repeated again.

    "Argh, you¡¯re so confusing. But I think I understand a few things. He used his Space Control to link to Divinity. And he used you to maintain the connection and all other minor details? And it was to gain control of Divinity? I don¡¯t understand how?" Ryder repeated.

    "What will happen if I don¡¯t link with Divinity?" He asked.

    "If the owner didn¡¯t link with Divinity, all the connections would be removed. The Divinity Network will shut down. No yer will be allowed to go in ore out after that," Maya exined.

    "Is that so? How much time do I have?" Ryder asked.

    "You have half an hour to do all that. Failure will result in Divinity shutting down, and all the work will be for naught," Maya exined.

    "So we have half an hour. Do one thing. Force all the yers to log out in the next ten minutes. If they refuse, you log them out forcefully. No yer should be in Divinity after fifteen minutes," Rydermanded Maya.

    "And after that, let Divinity Network shut down. The world of Divinity needs to be free of our influence. Let them live in peace. It¡¯s time we do that," Rydermanded Maya.

    "Understood," Maya nodded.

    "Wait, what will happen to you after thework shuts down?" Ryder asked.

    "After that, I will be deleted," Maya answered.

    "You can¡¯t have a yer-like body in Divinity? I mean, it¡¯s not as if yers went there with their real bodies. So it¡¯s clear that a fake avatar was created, right? Can¡¯t you do that to live there?" Ryder asked.

    "It¡¯s impossible after the Divinity Network is down. Everything will shut down," Maya answered.

    "So you¡¯ll die?" Ryder asked.

    "I never lived," Maya answered. "But yeah, I will be deleted."

    "How about you transfer yourself into my phone or something? Is that possible?" Ryder asked.

    "That is possible," Maya answered.

    "Alright. Then force every yer out and transfer yourself to my phone. We¡¯ll see what to do with you next," Ryder let out as he walked back to the table.

    He sat on it as he started waiting for Maya to be done.

    After fifteen minutes, Maya returned. All the yers were forcefully logged out. The entire inte was flooded withints about what was happening in Divinity.

    The yers were just told to log out, and the excuse that was given was that Divinity was having maintenance.

    After half an hour, Maya once again appeared in front of Ryder.

    "All the work has been finished. The yers have been elected from Divinity. And their ess to Divinity is disabled. In a short time, the Divinity Network will shut down forever," Maya told Ryder, standing before him.

    "Alright. Enter my phone now. We¡¯ll think about what to do next," Ryder told Maya as he ced his phone on the table.

    "I have already transferred myself to your phone," Maya replied.

    "Huh? Why can I still see your hologram?" Ryder asked, surprised.

    "Because I can appear and disappear ording to my desire. I¡¯m linked to you," Maya answered.

    ¡¯I guess she¡¯s linked to my Space Power and essing it a little,¡¯ Ryder thought, frowning.

    "So, Maya. What can you do without ess to the Divinity Network?" Ryder asked. "I mean, are you like a Super-AI that can hack anything, or are you just like an assistant that can help with time and schedule?"

    "It is the former. Divinity Network was only for the world of Divinity. The other ess isn¡¯t dependent on that. I can do anything from hacking someone¡¯s phone to hacking a satellite and getting their footage ess," Maya answered.

    "Interesting. I think this will be pretty good. Alright, Maya. I want you to do one thing. I have already disabled the cameras after I stopped in front of Ion¡¯s office. But up to that point, all the footage has been recorded. I want you to delete the footage of my arrival," Ryder exined.

    "Done!" Maya answered.

    "That¡¯s pretty fast. I think it¡¯s going to be really fun to have you around," Ryder muttered as he smirked.

    He walked to the door while keeping his phone in his pocket as he left the office. He freely went downstairs without any worries.

    He left the Necrosis headquarters that was almost finished. Without Divinity, they were nothing. And the game of Divinity was never going to return. It was always going to stay down.

    "Maya, I also want you to delete all the data stored in the server of Divinity. Make it unrecoverable," Rydermanded Maya as he sat inside his car.

    "Taskpleted," Maya answered.

    "That¡¯s better. By the way, I have one more question. I don¡¯t know if you can answer or not, but is there a possibility of there being glitches in the Divinity Network in the future?" Ryder asked as he started the car.

    " For example, after one year, is there a possibility of there being a glitch about a yer¡¯s real body dying in the real world and his body being stuck in Divinity? And you making it an NPC?" He further inquired, thinking about his original timeline. That¡¯s exactly what had happened there.

    "Making an NPC? It¡¯s highly likely. If a person¡¯s body in the real world dies, it¡¯s the Protocol to remove his consciousness from the world of Divinity as well," Maya answered.

    "Why didn¡¯t you delete me then? Why did you make me an NPC by breaking the protocol?" Ryder asked, frowning. But it was also true that if she had killed him, he might not have met Janus. He might actually be dead, and he wouldn¡¯t have had this second life.

    He couldn¡¯t help but wonder why Maya changed the rules for him? Was it because he had died because of a false stats bug in the system? Or was it something else? Or could it be that it was Janus¡¯s work at that time?

    Many questions ran into his head.

    "I apologize, but I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I didn¡¯t break any protocol," Maya answered.

    "That¡¯s true. You didn¡¯t yet. And now you don¡¯t have to either," Ryder muttered, realizing that he might never get his answers. Only the Maya in his original timeline could answer that question. It technically happened in the future, after all.

 Chapter 602 Spread Rumor

    <h4>Chapter 602: Spread Rumor</h4>

    "It¡¯s fine though. Whatever happened doesn¡¯t matter anymore. All¡¯s well that end¡¯s well," Ryder said, nodding.

    Everything was finally over. And all of his enemies were dead. Now all he needed to do was to stop getting involved in things like this and hide from the gods who mighte after him.

    "Janus, I¡¯m actually done, right? No other god-sons to take care of?" he asked Janus.

    "None. This should be enough for your physique and for his arrival," Janus answered.

    "Whose arrival?¡¯ Ryder asked, surprised.

    Janus didn¡¯t answer the question. Instead, he remained silent. He knew that there was one more god-son left, but he didn¡¯t care about that. They already received enough of Divine Aura to get what they wanted. There wasn¡¯t a need for more.

    ...

    Ryder reached the hotel where Alice was staying.

    "Get ready. We¡¯re going out," he told Alice as soon as he got to the hotel. He was really in a good mood today and just wanted to enjoy.

    The two of them got ready and left the hotel, taking a trip of the whole city and seeing all the tourist ces that they could.

    As they were touring the city, they even saw the FBI headquarters, which reminded Ryder of what had happened in the past and about Ray.

    "Maya, do me another favor. Hack the FBI servers and find anything regarding me. Is there anything about me there? I wonder if they have even a single lead about me," Rydermanded Maya while Alice had gone to buy ice cream.

    "They have files about you, but nothing significant," Maya answered. "It¡¯s simr to what they have about all other citizens," Maya replied.

    "That¡¯s good. No need to worry then," Ryder let out, nodding.

    Alice returned with two ice creams in her hand. She gave one to Ryder while sitting near him.

    They continued their trip and came back in the night. The flight back was in the morning the next day.

    ...

    After enjoying a good night¡¯s sleep, the two of them woke up.

    They got prepared and left the hotel. They went to the airport and got on a flight toe back. The flight took off from the airport.

    ...

    As the flightnded in their home city, they went back to the Maxwell Estate.

    The whole ce seemed to have returned to normal by now. New staff was hired as well. Security was also back to normal.

    Entering the mansion, Ryder could see Shu sitting on the sofa, watching the news, which was talking about the plunging stock prices of Necrosis.

    Divinity had been down for over twenty-four hours, but there was no update about when it was going to return. The members of thepany had kept their silence. No one wasmenting on what was happening, but everyone knew that something big had happened.

    There were even rumors that some Hackers had messed with the Divinity and brought it down. All people knew for sure was that the excuse of Server maintenance was a lie.

    "Ah, you two are back. Wee," Shu told Ryder, standing up. "Did you two see what happened to Necrosis? I think something big is going on."

    "I think the same. I don¡¯t think Divinity will ever return. And with that, Necrosis will disappear again. Isn¡¯t it good that you didn¡¯t buy thatpany?" Ryder let out, smiling.

    "That¡¯s true, but with that, a great game also disappeared forever. I really wanted to have that Guild of ours. But it looks like there¡¯s a chance we might never have that," Shumented.

    "That¡¯s true as well. But I think this is all for the best. It¡¯s better for everyone if we all stayed away from Divinity," Ryder said.

    He turned to Alice. "You can go to the room and rest. I¡¯ll stay here with Shu."

    Alice nodded as she left.

    "So, do you know what happened to them?" Shu asked Ryder as they both sat on the couch.

    "Why do you think I would?"

    "Because you prevented Alice from taking part in theirpetition. And after a few days, the entire Divinity went down. Did you really have no idea?" Shu asked,ughing.

    "You might be right actually. I did have a hand in it. All I can tell you is that Divinity will never see the light of day again. It¡¯s over forever," Ryder replied.

    "How did you do it?" Shu inquired.

    "I won¡¯t go into the technicalities, but the system they used is destroyed. And I don¡¯t think they can ever make it again. So they¡¯re gone forever," Ryder answered.

    "Did you find what was wrong about them? What were they trying to do?" Shu inquired.

    " Something certainly was going on there. As for what, it¡¯s somewhat hard to exin. Anyway, enough about Necrosis. Aren¡¯t you d that Dream Corporation can now rise even more? With Necrosis gone, yourpany will grow faster," Ryder pointed out, changing the topic.

    "It¡¯s already happening. Since the news of Necrosis entering the defense field spread, our stock prices were falling. It was clear the government was optimistic about Necrosis. Now that it¡¯s gone, we have already started rising. Just today alone, our stocks are trading twelve percent higher," Shu pointed out,ughing.

    "On a different note, I¡¯ve been thinking about opening a branch to focus on simr fully immersive VRMMO. Even if Necrosis will fall, I¡¯ll still buy them right when they¡¯re on the verge of bankruptcy. It should help us," he further added.

    "Maybe one day our dream of opening a Guild would be true."

    "I¡¯m sure it will," Ryder replied. "Anyway, I¡¯ll also go and get fresh. See you at the dinner table."

    Standing up, Ryder also went upstairs. He entered his room and straight went to take a shower.

    He spent over thirty minutes in the shower before he left the ce.

    He got dressed and jumped straight on the bed with his phone in his hand to give rest to his tired body.

    As heid on the bed, he kept scrolling through his phone to see thetest news rted to the ces he had visited.

    "Maya, can you try to delete the footage which shows me in other countries? Let¡¯s just remove all evidence for the sake of it," he told Maya.

    "It¡¯s done," Maya instantly replied.

    "That was fast. You¡¯re pretty overpowered," Ryder said,ughing.

    "This wasn¡¯t hard," Maya responded.

    "Alright. Do one more thing then. I want you to release a rumor on the. Make sure everyone sees that rumor. Alright?" Ryder asked.

    "What rumor?" Maya inquired.

    Ryder smirked as he said something. Maya nodded in response.

    "Done. Everyone on the inte will see that," she said after a few minutes.

    "We should see the effects soon then," Ryder said as he opened the site, which showed the stock information ofpanies.

    He had also went public as hispany had grown considerably. But he believed that today was going to be slightly different.

    As he watched the information about hispany, he smiled. His stock prices were rising too high. Every time he refreshed, he saw a higher number.

    "Just perfect. Now it¡¯s time to grow thepany even more. Let¡¯s take over everything," Ryder smiled.

    "Arrange a meeting with Itsuki Corporation," he told Maya. " If we y our cards just right, we can take over Itsuki Corporation. At the same time, we can also grow even more. Oh, right, find me the signature that Itsuki used. I want a copy of that."

    "It¡¯s time we talked to the fake Itsuki," he added as he kept the phone on the side, preparing for the next part of his n. "Within one month, I¡¯ll make sure Divine Corporate is inside the top fivepanies of the world."

    "Completed," Maya responded. "I managed to slip it inside their system. The meeting will be tomorrow at two."

    "That¡¯s good. Do one more thing for me while you¡¯re at it," Ryder said.

    "What thing?" Maya inquired.

    "Order pizzas for all of us. Let¡¯s have a pizza party. I¡¯m craving some fast food. Order some cold drinks too," Ryder answered.

    As he had Maya now, he believed his life had be so much easier. This was truly the best assistant a person could have. If he wanted to, he believed he could even hack the World Bank and get all the money for himself, but he didn¡¯t.

    After he finished giving her all themands, he closed his eyes.

    "Wake me up when the pizza gets here. I¡¯ll take a short nap."

    ....

    Ryder was sleeping in peace, but there was someone who wasn¡¯t at peace at all.

    It was the God of War. As his son Draco had the Conversation Crystal, they talked almost every other day.

    Today was the day they were supposed to talk again, but he couldn¡¯t contact his son at all.

    He found it really strange. This never happened. He started to get worried about his son, wondering why he wasn¡¯t able to contact him. What happened?

 Chapter 603 All at one place

    <h4>Chapter 603: All at one ce</h4>

    The Lord of War didn¡¯t know what was going on with his son, but he had a bad feeling. Especially with the appearance of Lord of Space on earth.

    He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if something bad happened to the young boy.

    "I should wait for a day. If he doesn¡¯t respond, I¡¯ll have to take action," the Lord of War decided as he kept the stone back.

    He started thinking about what he could do without letting others know that he was in contact with his son, and that¡¯s why he was asking.

    ....

    It was a new day on Earth. The Sun shone brightly in the sky when Ryder woke up from his sleep.

    Yawning, he got off the bed and went to get fresh. After an hour, he gotpletely ready, dressing in professional clothing.

    He left the Maxwell Estate and got into his car that was parked outside, and departed from the premises.

    He went straight to his office inside the Divine Corporation headquarters to check what was happening in that ce.

    As for thepany shares, they were soaring even now. Everyone was trying to invest in thepany to get some shares because of the rumors Ryder had spread. Even the media was standing outside the Divine Corporation headquarters, covering the new star in the business industry.

    A Ferrari stopped in front of the Headquarters, and a well-dressed man stepped out of the car.

    The dark-haired man entered the building, being greeted by the guards. Everyone seemed respectful to him as he was the boss of Divine Corporation.

    Ryder went upstairs and met his Medical Research Department head to inquire about how the human trials were going.

    He was told that everything was going smoothly so far, and they could see progress.

    He also heard their surprise at how thepany had risen so much in one night.

    "That¡¯s just the start. Just keep watching," Ryder replied as he smiled.

    He went to the higher floor to meet his Aviation Department head to talk about a few things. After a conversation thatsted for about half an hour, he left the ce. He went to his office, which was reserved for him.

    This was only his second time stepping inside this office since it was made.

    Inside the office, there was a table and afortable chair. There were also shelves, but there was nothing inside them. Since he never came here, there were no files here.

    He locked the door as he walked to the chair. Sittingfortably on the chair, he brought out hisptop and ced it on the table.

    "Maya, is everything prepared?" he inquired as he opened theptop.

    "It¡¯s all prepared," Maya said.

    "That¡¯s good. We can begin," Ryder nodded. "Start.¡¯

    As he spoke, the screen on theptop changed as a video call link was established to Japan.

    As for the recipient, it was none other than Itsuki, or the person who the world knew as Itsuki.

    "It¡¯s you. I was wondering who it was that forced this meeting in our systems because I certainly remember not having anything like this. What do you want? And where is Itsuki?" The fake Itsuki asked.

    "He is dead. He was in an ident, and now he is no more. But I¡¯m sure you should have tried calling him already, didn¡¯t you? He wouldn¡¯t return," Ryder answered.

    "He died in an ident. It can¡¯t be possible," The Fake Itsuki said, not believing in the least.

    "Let me send you the video of it happening then. In hisst moments, he told me a few things, and I want to fulfill his dying wish. That¡¯s why I contacted you," Ryder said as he tapped once on the table, signaling Maya.

    As Maya got the signal, she did as she was told. She sent a video to Itsuki, which appeared on his screen. It was a video that showed the Car of Itsuki crashing, being destroyed.

    It also showed Itsuki¡¯s death. In the video, he could be seen speaking something. But as there was no audio, no one was able to hear it.

    "I¡¯m sure you saw the footage, didn¡¯t you? That¡¯s not a fake. You can try having it go through any software or forensics. But it¡¯s the truth. And as he died, he said something to me. He wants me to control the Itsuki Corporation and continue his quest further," Ryder said, taking advantage of the moment.

    Itsuki didn¡¯t understand what was happening. This footage seemed real, and if Ryder was so adamant about having it checked, then there was a good chance that it wasn¡¯t doctored. But didn¡¯t this mean Itsuki was dead? How could he die because of a simple ident? He was a god-like being.

    "I promised him that I¡¯d help his quest, so I¡¯ll certainly do that. Now you can do a few things. You can either hand me the control of thepany, or I¡¯ll have to get heavy handed. And I¡¯m sure you can¡¯t do anything without Itsuki¡¯s protection," Ryder warned Itsuki.

    "You can take it as a threat, or you can take it as a reminder. Just know that it¡¯s how it¡¯ll end. So what do you want to do? You have three hours. You can decide and then tell me," he added as he disconnected the call.

    After disconnecting, Ryder closed theptop.

    "Maya, keep an eye on him. And even if he checks that footage, make sure he finds it to be genuine, alright?" he told Maya as he closed theptop.

    He got off the chair and left the office. He stepped out of the office.

    Leaving the building, he stepped inside the car and left.

    He went straight to the mansion of Esmi as it had been a long time since he saw her.

    Thest time he saw her was when he left her inside the hotel.

    As he reached the mansion of Esmi, he was stopped at the gates.

    "There¡¯s no one inside the Mansion," the guards informed him.

    "Where is Bastion? And Esmi? She isn¡¯t here either?" Ryder asked.

    " Both of them went to Miami. They¡¯ll be back in a week at best," the guards replied. "If you have something important, you can contact him directly."

    "It¡¯s fine. I didn¡¯t have anything important to do," Ryder answered, shaking his head.

    He reversed the car and turned it around before he left.

    "It seems like they¡¯re on vacation. I should¡¯ve called beforeing," He muttered as he smiled wryly.

    "Hey, Maya. Can you make a reservation in Hotel Seaton for our dinner tonight? Make it for three people. We should have a day out with Shu and Alice," he told Maya as he departed from this ce.

    He went back to the Mansion now that he was done with what he had to do. He spent the rest of the day with Alice and Shu, enjoying the day to the fullest.

    There even came a time where they all went to y baseball with their security team in the afternoon.

    Ryder yed the baseball, but he also controlled his strength. He didn¡¯t want to destroy a building with his fast pitch. Fortunately, he had no problem in controlling his strength by now. As he had be a master.

    After a good ying session, they all went to shopping before it was time for dinner. They left the ce and went for the dinner.

    ....

    "Not here either," the Lord of Space sighed, standing in a different part of the nation.

    He disappeared and appeared in another city, this time in the same city where Ryder was currently residing. He began his search here.

    ...

    At the same time, Janus also appeared in the same city as Ryder. He had finished his search on other parts of the nation where he believed Lord of Space could be. He decided to search America now.

    Janus appeared in the same city as well. The only difference was that he was on the other end of the city.

    ...

    God of War had called for a meeting now that more time had passed. He still couldn¡¯t get in contact with his son. He couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He decided to get into action.

    All the gods who had their sons taking part in the Trial were called.

    "What happened?" The gods asked. "Why did you call us here?"

    "I think we should send an envoy to check if our sons are fine or not," the God of War suggested.

    "Why so suddenly? Why won¡¯t they be fine?"

    "I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s just that I have a bad feeling from yesterday. It¡¯s as if something really bad has happened to them. I don¡¯t know what it could be about, but I can¡¯t sit idle. In any case, it¡¯s only normal that we keep checking up on the kids now that the Lord is Space is there," the Lord of War suggested.

    "Is nothing big. It¡¯s only sending an envoy. I think we can afford that, can¡¯t we?" He asked.

 Chapter 604 Meeting Lord of Space

    <h4>Chapter 604: Meeting Lord of Space</h4>

    "I still don¡¯t understand why we need to send an Envoy down. Janus is there, isn¡¯t he? Even if you¡¯re concerned about the kids, we can ask him to check, can¡¯t we?" Another god asked.

    "He should be busy finding the Lord of Space. Let¡¯s not divert his attention. What is even the problem with sending a messenger to check if they¡¯re fine or not?" The God of War asked, frowning.

    "Sigh, fine! If that¡¯s what you want, we¡¯ll do that. We¡¯ll send an envoy down to meet all of our kids. But that will be all. No message will be delivered. It¡¯ll be just to check if they¡¯re fine or not," The Goddess of Destiny said, agreeing.

    "That¡¯s all I wanted. Let¡¯s make it as fast as we can," the God of War said, pleased that everyone agreed.

    ...

    Ryder finished the dinner and went back to the mansion of Shu.

    As everyone seemed tired of ying all day, they all went back to their rooms without spending any more time together.

    Ryder also walked back to his room andid on his bed. He wanted to go to the Divinity World, but he found himself somewhat tired and sleepy.

    "I¡¯m still feeling more sleepy than usual. Didn¡¯t Janus say it was because I absorbed the strength and my body was adjusting to it? Hasn¡¯t it been long enough already? I wonder when it¡¯ll stop," he muttered as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He was feeling toozy. He fell asleep right away.

    As Ryder fell asleep, a person was walking inside his neighborhood.

    The person kept walking towards his mansion. It was only after ten minutes that he stopped.

    The person looked towards the Maxwell Estate as he nodded.

    "Finally, I¡¯m here."

    He jumped over the wall to get inside the Estate. As he jumped, that personnded right in front of the Guards, but it didn¡¯t seem like any guard could see him.

    That person walked carefree right before the eyes of the guard, not worrying about being caught.

    He soon reached the gates of the Mansion.

    His figure suddenly disappeared as the person appeared on the other end of the gate.

    He calmly walked towards the stairs and climbed up.

    The person soon stopped before a particr room. The room belonged to none other than Ryder. A smile formed on the face of that person as he entered the room. He passed through the door as if it was air, providing no obstruction to him.

    As the person stepped inside, he was able to see Ryder sleeping on the bed.

    He stepped close to Ryder.

    Stopping just a single step away from Ryder, he reached out his hand towards Ryder.

    "Here you are," the person muttered. He caught the wrist of Ryder as he closed his eyes.

    The person¡¯s body started shining along with Ryder¡¯s body. After a few minutes, everything returned to normal.

    "It¡¯s good. It should be enough. His body ispletely prepared," the silver-haired person muttered, who happened to be none other than Janus.

    He had just checked to see if Ryder¡¯s physical body had enough Divinity to support the return of his. He found himself satisfied to know that it was enough.

    Janus nced at the bracelet in Ryder¡¯s hands, sighing.

    "If only he had more fragments. But then again, he at least has the fragments to resist the strongest of the enemies. I think it¡¯s time I woke him up and get some scolding. The Lord of Space is on Earth. Who knows when he-"

    Janus was talking to himself, trying to justify something, when he suddenly stopped. A frown developed on his face as he looked in a certain direction.

    It was the time when the Lord of Space also entered the neighborhood.

    "He just had toe now? I need to intercept him," Janus said as he sighed.

    He nced towards the sleeping Ryder. At the same time, he waved his hand to bring forth a sticker that had a few strange characters carved. He ced that sticker on Ryder¡¯s forehead.

    After being done, he disappeared.

    ...

    The Lord of Space had just stepped inside Ryder¡¯s neighborhood when he stopped.

    "Janus, what are you doing here?" He asked, turning around.

    " I came here looking for you. The main question, on the other hand, would be what you¡¯re doing here?" Janus asked, standing in front of the Lord of Space.

    "Can¡¯t I take a walk? I was getting bored, after all," the Lord of Space said, smiling. "Staying alone for so long was more boring than I thought. So I came here," the Lord of Space asked,ughing.

    "You could¡¯vee to the Heaven to take a walk? It¡¯s amusing that you chose the world where the young gods are going through trials. I¡¯m sure you know the rules, don¡¯t you?¡¯ Janus inquired.

    "Ah, so those guys sent you here. I suppose it was to bring me back?" The Lord of Space inquired.

    "That¡¯s right. So get ready toe back," Janus said, getting up. "It¡¯s better for us to stay away from Earth for trial duration

    "I¡¯lle back after I¡¯m done with what I have to do here. Don¡¯t worry; you go ahead. I don¡¯t interfere with anyone¡¯s trial. I¡¯m not interested in that," Lord of Space answered.

    "Done with what you have to do here? Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯re here for a walk? In that case, you¡¯re done. Let¡¯se back," Janus retorted.

    "Janus, I¡¯m noting back. That¡¯s final. Go back. In any case, you know you can¡¯t force me back. But if you want to try, you can call the other gods here. Maybe they might be able to do something," Lord of Space said as he continued walking, ignoring Janus.

    "Tell me the truth. Why are you actually here?" Janus asked as he again appeared in front of the Lord of Space.

    "I¡¯m sure you already know the reason, don¡¯t you? There¡¯s no way you wouldn¡¯t know this," the Lord of Space asked, smiling. "You really think I can¡¯t feel his aura now that I¡¯m so close to him?"

    "Who are you talking about?" Janus asked, frowning.

    "As I said, you know exactly what I¡¯m saying. Tell me. He¡¯s here, isn¡¯t he? Chaos? How did you all do it?" The Lord of Space asked.

    "I mean, imagine my surprise when I went to meet the Lord of Time only to find that ce empty? There were no signs of battle, but I could feel the disturbance in Space. And that powerful aura of Chaos is impossible to be hidden from me after all," he added.

    "There was also the aura of earth. I had a feeling that Chaos was on Earth. I came here, but that aura seemed to disappear. It wasn¡¯t as prominent. It took me so hard to find this aura again. I had to search the entire Earth."

    "Why is his aura so weak, though?"

    The Lord of Space was pleased that he was close to Chaos, but he was also stunned that his aura was so weak. It was so weak that even he couldn¡¯t feel it until he came closer.

    "What happened? Why are you so silent? Troubled because you¡¯re getting caught? Actually, I was suspicious of you, but I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯d actually do you. This was really bad," the Lord of Space said.

    "I¡¯m any case; I hadn¡¯t expected that he woulde back. Not only did hee back, but he even killed one of his friends?"

    " Is he looking for revenge? Is it because the fight with the Lord of Time exhausted him so much that his aura is weak now? Is he hurt? There are so many questions in my hand, including how he achieved it sessfully."

    "Something is certainly going on though. He would havee outside by now. I¡¯m sure he can feel my aura too, then why isn¡¯t heing out?" he asked.

    "Do you really want to face him?" Janus asked. "After what happenedst time, do you really want to go before him? That too, without any backup?"

    "Backup, huh. That¡¯s true. He¡¯s pretty strong. Or he was, at least. Not looking at his weak aura, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s the same as before. In any case, it¡¯s what I must do," Lord of Space replied as he started walking towards the Maxwell Estate, Teleporting behind Janus.

    Janus did the same as he also appeared in front of the Lord of Space again.

    "You want the answer. I¡¯ll tell you everything. These are things you must know before meeting him if you don¡¯t want things to go back," Janus told the Lord of Space.

    "I feel like you¡¯re just trying to dy me, but sure. I¡¯ll listen to what you have to say. In any case, I have sealed the space of this ce. Neither you nor he should be able to leave without my permission," the Lord of Space smirked as he folded his arms while he waited for an answer.

 Chapter 605 Waking Up

    <h4>Chapter 605: Waking Up</h4>

    "Tell me. What did you want to say?" The Lord of Space asked, ncing back at Janus.

    "I wanted to tell you that you¡¯re wrong. The Aura you felt wasn¡¯t his aura," Janus answered.

    "Oh? Then whose Aura was it?" The Lord of Space inquired, amused.

    "It was the aura of someone else. I¡¯ve also been investigating the same thing. I think someone is using my brother¡¯s aura to keep themselves safe while killing other gods," Janus replied.

    "Even if I believe that for a moment, what then? Do you really have some proof that it actually wasn¡¯t Chaos? You can make mistakes, but I can¡¯t. There¡¯s no way to fake that aura," the Lord of Space answered.

    "No, I¡¯m not kidding. It¡¯s not his aura. It¡¯s someone else," Janus insisted. " A big scheme is being hatched by whoever that person is."

    As Janus spoke to the Lord of Space to keep him dyed, the sticker he had ced on the forehead of Ryder started disintegrating slowly.

    At the same time, Ryder¡¯s body started floating in the air.

    "Then tell me whose Aura it is? Because whoever that person is, they¡¯re in this ce. And you¡¯re trying to dy me. Let¡¯s hear your answer," the Lord of Space said, amused.

    But he didn¡¯t wait as he continued, "I mean Janus, did you really think I was stupid enough for that? I wouldn¡¯t know such basic things? You¡¯re still a kid."

    "You¡¯re wrong," Janus retorted.

    "Let¡¯s go check personally. Let me see if there¡¯s a chance for it to be the truth," the Lord of Space said as he started walking towards the Maxwell Estate.

    This time, however, Janus didn¡¯t stop him. Instead, he walked behind the Lord of Space. In any case, he had done what he wanted to.

    "If you don¡¯t trust me, then fine. Go and check for yourself. I mean, do you really think he can actuallye back? It¡¯s a bit funny honestly,¡¯ Janusmented from behind.

    "We¡¯ll see what¡¯s funny and what¡¯s not," the Lord of Space said.

    The two reached near the entrance of the Maxwell Estate and teleported inside together.

    They entered the mansion without being seen by anyone.

    Tracing the aura, the Lord of Space climbed the stairs and reached Ryder¡¯s room.

    "So, behind this door is that person. After so many centuries have passed, I¡¯ll get to see him again, huh. But I¡¯ll also have to kill him. This is the destiny unfortunately," the Lord of Space said as he took a deep breath.

    He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

    As the Lord of Space entered the room, Janus also entered behind.

    Standing inside the room, the Lord of Space was stunned at what he saw.

    A young dark-haired man was lying on the bed, sleeping. It was his aura.

    "He looks simr to Chaos... Is it the Forbidden Reincarnation? What did you do, Janus?" He asked Janus as his lips opened slightly.

    "Is that why he¡¯s so weak?" he inquired. " But then, how was he able to kill the Lord of Time?"

    "Old friend, you really came all the way to get answers?" A heavy voice filled the room that seemed to being from all directions.

    At the same time, a powerful aura enveloped the room, seeminglying like a tsunami.

    The young man who was sleeping on the bed opened his eyes slowly to reveal blood-red eyes.

    "Chaos," the Lord of Space muttered, frowning. He understood what was happening. It was really Chaos.

    "So it was a trick. You¡¯repletely fine. Your Aura is almost as strong as before too. You were just hiding for aura. You¡¯re getting good," the Lord of Space said softly as he looked at Ryder, who sat up.

    Ryder got off the bed.

    He casually waved his hand. His old clothes disappeared, changing with new clothes. It seemed like he was really a god as he wore the beautiful yet mystical looking clothes that had many jades embedded in them.

    On top, he had a beautiful ck robe that was so ck that it seemed like a pitch ck shadow robe instead.

    Ryder¡¯s hairs also grew longer. His skin became smoother, unlike the skin of an ordinary human. He really seemed like someone who could make any woman fall for him in a single nce.

    "You should¡¯vee," Chaos said grimly. "I didn¡¯t want to have to kill you too."

    "Am I supposed to trust your words after you killed Time?" The Lord of Space asked.

    "He came after me as well. Just like you did," Chaos answered.

    "I¡¯ll give you the same choice I gave him. Let me seal you for a short time. And you can live," he told the Lord of Space.

    "And what will you do after that? Destroy the heaven?" The Lord of Space asked.

    Ryder didn¡¯t answer this time. He just kept looking at the Lord of Space.

    Ryder looked up at the roof of the Maxwell Estate.

    " This isn¡¯t the ce to talk. Let¡¯s go somewhere else," he ultimately said as he raised his hand towards the window. The window opened on its own, giving an exit.

    Ryder flew outside. The Lord of Space followed after Chaos.

    He even stopped the Space sealing as he left with Ryder.

    Janus didn¡¯t stay behind either as he also followed after the two of them.

    ...

    The gods had decided to send an Envoy on earth to check up on their sons once. As for the Envoy, it was selected right away. It was going to be the most trusted subordinate of a Neutral God.

    After the envoy was selected, he was given the permission to go down to earth.

    The Envoy left without much dy and appeared on Earth.

    He was given items that could be used to trace the aura of the god-sons to find them if they weren¡¯t in the designated ces.

    As hended on earth, the first country he went to was Germany. He used the device, but he wasn¡¯t able to find an aura of Julien. Frowning, he went to check on the ce that he was told was Julien¡¯s ce of residence, but he couldn¡¯t find him there either.

    "He isn¡¯t in his designated nation?" The Envoy wondered, confused. "Where might he be?"

    He decided to check on other god-sons in other countries. He went to China, Britain, and Russia, but he couldn¡¯t find a single of them. At this point, even he was starting to feel like something was wrong.

    Fortunately, he ultimately did find one of them. As hended in India, he was able to locate the aura of one of them. He went to meet Aryan.

    "Hmm? Are you an Envoy?" Aryan asked as he recognized the aura of the Envoy.

    "That¡¯s right. I was sent here by your parents. I¡¯m here to check up on you all. Have you contacted the other god-sons?" The Envoy asked.

    "Not in a long time. Is something wrong?" Aryan asked.

    "I haven¡¯t been able to find a lot of them. You have any idea where they might be if not in their domains? And have you seen anything strange or out of ordinary that might exin this?" the Envoy inquired.

    "I haven¡¯t seen anything out of the ordinary," Aryan answered. "Ah, that¡¯s right. There was one thing that seemed odd. I saw Lord Janus here. He said he was sent here by the gods to find something?"

    "Lord Janus? That¡¯s right. He should be here too. Did you see anything else that was odd?" The Envoy asked.

    "I haven¡¯t. I¡¯m sorry," Aryan answered. "Anyway, how is my father?"

    "He is good. Thank you for answering. I¡¯m going to continue my search," the envoy said as he sighed.

    He was now going to America to see if Aluren was there or if he was missing as well.

    It was clear that things weren¡¯t normal here.

    The Envoy appeared in the States and used the item to search the aura of Aluren.

    ....

    Chaos and Lord of Space were standing in the middle of a barrennd, facing each other.

    No one had moved at all. As for Janus, he was also about toe here, but he couldn¡¯t. There was a strange space barrier around Chaos and the Lord of Space which even Janus couldn¡¯t pass through.

    He had no choice but to wait outside. In any case, he had faith in Chaos and knew that his help wouldn¡¯t be needed.

    As the Space barrier existed around the Lord of Space and Chaos, it contained their aura.

    No one outside was able to sense it. This was also how the Lord of Space had been able to keep his aura hidden. It was why he was so hard to find.

    "Before we cross the line, let me ask you one thing," the Lord of Space said with his hands behind his back.

    "What thing?" Chaos asked.

    "What do you want? What is your n? What do you want to achieve with this? Why did you have to kill the Lord of Time?" The Lord of Space asked.

 Chapter 606 Im real

    <h4>Chapter 606: I''m real</h4>

    "Why did I kill him? The answer should be obvious. Because he wanted me dead. I just told him to let me seal him and not inform others about me. He didn¡¯t agree. And I did it," Chaos answered. "I¡¯m giving you the same choice. Don¡¯t make the same mistake he did. That¡¯s for your own good."

    "So you killed him because you were scared of being in front of other gods? You¡¯ve changed. If it were the old you, you would¡¯ve told him to call the other gods too while you stood there proudly. Aren¡¯t I right?" The Lord of Space asked.

    " There are more things at stake than you can understand. I don¡¯t want to go all out just yet," Chaos answered, sighing.

    " Was I right then? You¡¯re weak now?" Lord of Space inquired. "But it doesn¡¯t look like that from your aura. There is certainly something odd with it but not that much," the Lord of Space answered, sighing.

    "Let me guess, the reason you don¡¯t want the other gods toe is because you don¡¯t think you can face them all at once, in the condition you¡¯re right now. Am I right?" he further inquired.

    Chaos didn¡¯t answer this time. He just looked back at the Lord of Space.

    The silence was scary as no one knew how long it was going tost. Both of them knew that they couldn¡¯t keep talking. Soon, it was going to be the time for them to fight like they were thirsty for each other¡¯s blood.

    It was especially hard for Chaos. The Lord of Space was hisst friend. These two grew up together. Other than the Lord of Time, he was the only one Chaos had. One was already killed by him.

    Even though these two had foughtst time when Chaos was attacked by all the gods, he didn¡¯t hate them. If possible, he wanted to let them both live. But the Lord of Time didn¡¯t ept his condition. And it seemed like it was going to be the same now.

    The only difference was that this ce was earth. It wasn¡¯t a different realm like before. If they fought, their battle had the potential to destroy the entire. Moreover, this was certainly going to bring the other gods here by alerting them.

    Fortunately, Chaos didn¡¯t have the limitation like before. The body of Ryder was fully capable to amodate him for now.

    Chaos took a deep breath. " Old Friend, is this yourst decision?"

    " To not surrender? To not let myself be sealed? Yeah, I think I¡¯m better off without that," the Lord of Space responded. "Also, want to know something fun?"

    "What?" Chaos inquired.

    The Lord of Space raised his hand to reveal the red crystal which was in his hand.

    Seeing the crystal, Chaos frowned.

    "I think you already failed. Even if I let myself be sealed, that won¡¯t do anything. They already know," the Lord of Space told Chaos, smirking.

    "They should have received my message some time ago. And they¡¯ll be here soon," the Lord of Space answered.

    Chaos looked towards the sky before he nced back at the Lord of Space.

    "Is that so? You sent them a message?" He asked.

    "That¡¯s right," the Lord of Space answered. "It¡¯s a funny coincidence that I had this thing with me. Who knew it¡¯de so handy."

    " Did you get any message back?" Chaos asked softly.

    "Hmm?" A frown formed on the face of the Lord of Space. He did realize that he hadn¡¯t received any message back. But he thought that it was because they were all trying their best to get the information to other gods, and that¡¯s why they couldn¡¯t reply.

    That also raised a question for him. How did the Chaos know about this? How did he know that no message came back?

    "From the look on your face, I suppose you got no reply yet? Go ahead. Send them a message again. Ask them how long they¡¯ll take to get here?" Chaos asked, folding his arms. "They should be pretty fast if I¡¯m not wrong."

    The Lord of Space again sent a message through themunication Crystal.

    It was the same this time. No reply came back.

    "What did you do? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s working! Why am I not getting a message back?" Lord of Space asked.

    "How would you? Your message isn¡¯t reaching them after all. I doubt they could reply to something they don¡¯t get," Chaos replied.

    "How did you do it?" Lord of Space inquired.

    "It wasn¡¯t hard. I did what you did," Chaos replied.

    "What do you mean?" Lord of Space asked.

    "You sealed the atmosphere around me. Simrly, I sealed the whole world," Chaos answered, smiling. "No message cane here or go outside. I think you¡¯re on your own this time. So be careful."

    This time, it was the turn of Lord of Space to be surprised. So he couldn¡¯t call anyone here. He was on his own.

    "I shouldn¡¯t be surprised that you managed to do this," Lord of Space said, sighing. "If it¡¯s like that, then the two of us are alone. You can¡¯t bring Janus inside either. You¡¯re also alone."

    "Do you really think I¡¯ll need to call help?" Chaos smiled as he raised his hand towards the sky, bringing out the Moon Scythe.

    "The weapon of the Lord of Death? How do you have it?" Lord of Space asked, taken aback.

    "It just found its way to me, I guess. It¡¯s not a bad weapon at all actually. Pretty good when ites to killing. But I still would¡¯ve preferred to have my sword. Where did you all keep that?" Chaos asked. "I haven¡¯t been able to sense it at all."

    "That sword? I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll ever get that cursed sword back. It¡¯s so out of your reach now," the Lord of Space answered.

    "Where?" Chaos repeated his question.

    "I won¡¯t answer. In any case, it¡¯s my duty to take you out now, knowing what you¡¯re nning. You won¡¯t need your Sword," the Lord of Space answered as he raised his hand as well, bringing a semi-transparent sword out of thin air.

    The Sword was known as the Space Shattering Sword, which was the weapon of the Lord of Space. It was said to be a sword that could even cut space itself. No person could hide from the attack of this sword.

    Since it was a special sword that used the Space, it could avoid any defense when attacking. It could pass through any defense or block by temporarily shifting itself to a temporary space while continuing on its path until it reached the enemy. And that¡¯s when it came out to slice the enemies in half.

    Just because of this specialty, it was said to be a really frightening weapon that rendered any defense useless.

    "I see you¡¯re still carrying that sword. It seems more powerful than thest time I faced it. How?" Chaos inquired, noticing the Sword.

    "Not only the sword, but the thousands of years of istion had made me stronger as well. On the other hand, you should barely have your old power. The difference between us has decreased so much that you can¡¯t even imagine. Let alone decrease, I think I¡¯m stronger than you now," the Lord of Space answered.

    "So instead of you asking me to surrender, it should be I who ask you that. I¡¯m giving you thest chance! Surrender or else..."

    "Or else what? You are threatening me?" Chaos asked, bursting intoughter.

    "Alright. Since it¡¯s that way, I¡¯ll give you a handicap. I won¡¯t move in the next two minutes. You can attack me as much as you want. If you can take me out, you¡¯ll win, and I¡¯ll surrender. If you can¡¯t, then it¡¯ll be my turn to get serious. That¡¯s the least I can do for an old friend," Chaos said,ughing.

    "Don¡¯t me me if I ept," the Lord of Space said as he raised his hand towards Chaos, controlling the space to bring Chaos to his knees.

    "Huh?"

    A stunned look was on his face as he saw Chaos unaffected. Something felt out of ce. Even if it was Chaos, he had to use some strength to get out of it. But this time, he didn¡¯t seem like he was putting any effort at all.

    Chaos was simply standing there with his hands behind his back.

    "Fine! I¡¯ll really attack you now!" The Lord of Space said as he noticed that time was passing. He needed to use those two minutes to the fullest.

    He waved his hand, firing two space des towards the knees of Chaos.

    The Space des didn¡¯t hit his knees though. The space des simply passed through him as if he wasn¡¯t even there.

    " Are you an illusion? Why isn¡¯t anything affecting you?!" Lord of Space asked, not understanding anything.

    "I¡¯m not an illusion," Chaos said as he stomped his foot on the ground to prove it.

    As soon as his foot hit the ground, it started shaking as if an earthquake hade.

 Chapter 607 Seal

    <h4>Chapter 607: Seal</h4>

    As for the center of that earthquake, it was where Chaos was standing. Seeing that, Lord of Space felt like it was true. Chaos was actually standing there. He wasn¡¯t a fake illusion.

    Then why wasn¡¯t he getting hurt? How was he able to escape these attacks without actually moving? Many questions remained in the heads of the Lord of Space.

    "Time is trickling away. Thirty seconds are already over," Chaos reminded the Lord of Space, sighing.

    "Fine! I¡¯ll do it personally," the Lord of Space let out as he moved. His figure flickered as he appeared right in front of Chaos.

    He was expecting Chaos to defend himself now that he was actually attacked, but despite all that, Chaos didn¡¯t move.

    He didn¡¯t even try to block the attack, which had the potential to kill anyone. The Lord of Space was stunned. Was this guy actually underestimating his Sword?

    He didn¡¯t stop attacking as he thrust his Sword inside the chest of Chaos.

    The Space Sword passed through Chaos¡¯s chest before being pulled out. But the Lord of Space realized something. There was no resistance to his sword. There was no blood either, it seemed.

    He pulled out his sword to find no wound on Chaos¡¯s body.

    For some reason, his sword didn¡¯t hurt him in the least.

    "One minute left," Chaosmented, unfazed.

    The Lord of Space was stunned at the strange event that was happening, but he didn¡¯t stop. He kept attacking.

    Within the next thirty seconds, he had attacked a thousand times at least. He used all the attacks he could, and all from such close range. But none of the attacks harmed Chaos.

    "Thirty seconds left..." Chaos said softly.

    "How is this possible?" Lord of Space asked. "Answer me this instant! Why aren¡¯t any of my attacks hurting you? What have you done?!"

    "What have I done? I don¡¯t think I did anything yet. I haven¡¯t even moved," Chaos shrugged.

    "You know what I¡¯m talking about! Answer me!" Lord of Space raged, not understanding what was happening. Sometimes he even felt like he was dreaming.

    " In short, you can¡¯t do anything against me. No attack of yours can harm me. On the other hand, all of my attacks will harm you. I am asking one more time. Surrender and let me seal you. Because what you¡¯re facing is inevitable death otherwise. And you can¡¯t even fight back," Chaos said one more time, still giving Lord of Space a chance.

    " Because you can¡¯t call for help. You can¡¯t hurt me. And you can¡¯t leave my domain to escape either. The only choices before you are to surrender or die," he further added, sighing.

    The Lord of Space didn¡¯t respond and kept his silence. He looked towards the sky, trying to see if he had any other options at the moment. But there seemed to be none. Chaos was right. It was a battle that was already lost.

    If he couldn¡¯t harm Chaos, then it was pointless even to fight. It was no less than sacrificing himself for no cause at all.

    "Have you decided?" Chaos asked again. "Because your two minutes are already over. I¡¯ll start attacking now, and I think you wouldn¡¯t like that at all."

    "Fine. I¡¯ll ept it. I ept to be sealed, and I won¡¯t resist," the Lord of Space ultimately said as he sighed. "I have one condition though."

    "What condition?" Chaos asked.

    "That you¡¯ll never hurt my son. No matter what your n may be, you¡¯ll make sure that he doesn¡¯t get hurt in it!" Lord of Space said, telling Chaos his only condition.

    He didn¡¯t realize that his son was already dead, killed by Ryder.

    "Alright. I promise I won¡¯t hurt your son in the future," Chaos agreed. It wasn¡¯t a hard thing to promise. In any case, he couldn¡¯t hurt someone who was already dead.

    Sighing, the Lord of Space agreed. "You can seal me then."

    "Good decision," Chaos said as he waved his hand, sending the Moon Scythe back. As his hand was freed, he ced it on the forehead of the Lord of Space.

    "Will I ever be let out?" Lord of Space inquired.

    "Maybe..." That¡¯s the only answer Chaos gave.

    The only way to seal a god was to actually make him surrender and stop resisting. As long as there was even the slightest of resistance, the sealing was never going to work. Fortunately, Chaos had convinced the Lord of Space to stop resisting.

    As Chaos started the process, the body of the Lord of Space started shining in bright light. Soon, it turned into specks of light, which shrank together to form a small pearl.

    Chaos grabbed the pearl and looked at it. The semi-transparent pearl looked like a precious gem, but it was more precious than anyone could imagine. It contained a god that was sealed inside.

    Chaos clenched his fist and opened it again, but the pearl wasn¡¯t there anymore.

    "Sleep for an eternity," he muttered as he shook his head.

    As the Lord of Space was gone, the Space barrier around Chaos also disappeared. Janus was finally able to get in.

    "Did you kill him already?" He asked Chaos as he didn¡¯t find him there.

    "He¡¯s sealed," Chaos answered as he started walking back.

    "Now that you¡¯re fully back, what¡¯s the next n?" Janus asked, following Chaos.

    "Getting the other fragments. I willplete the bracelet of immortality and then... It¡¯ll be the time," Chaos answered, shaking his head.

    "That should be easy. You made those fragments. If anyone could find them, it should be you," Janus let out, smiling.

    "Yeah, but even for me, it¡¯ll take quite some time. Too bad I can¡¯t take any time now. An envoy is here from Heaven. He will soon inform them that all their sons are dead."

    "Fortunately, I stopped all themunications. But even if I kill him, the gods will be suspicious when he doesn¡¯t return. In any case, we have no time now. I wanted to find all the fragments before reaching this far, albeit things progressed faster than even I had expected," Chaos said, shaking his head.

    "This is going to get really chaotic," he further said as he disappeared.

    Chaos appeared behind the envoy that was sent from the Heaven to meet the god-sons.

    The Envoy noticed had finished searching Aluren¡¯s ce, and he was just about to leave when he saw a person appear before him.

    "Y-you!"

    Seeing the person that had appeared, the envoy was taken aback. He stepped back in fear but fell to the ground.

    "Why are you so scared of me?" Chaos asked, smirking. "I am not that bad. I¡¯ll give you a quick death. No need to worry."

    He raised his hand towards the Envoy and clenched his fist. At the same time his fist clenched, the Envoy disappeared. All that was left behind was a drop of blood floating in the air.

    Chaos owned his fist and clenched it again, destroying that drop of blood as well.

    Janus also appeared behind him now.

    "The gods would soone looking themselves," Janusmented.

    "Of course they wille," Chaos answered softly. "But we still have some time."

    "Shall we start searching?" Janus inquired, frowning.

    "Yeah. But first I have to do something else. There is someone who helped me a lot. But if I stay here, he¡¯ll forever disappear. Even though he¡¯s me as well, I don¡¯t want him to disappear," Chaos said, ncing at the sky after teleporting on the roof of this ce.

    "You mean Ryder?" Janus inquired.

    "That¡¯s right. Even though indirectly, he was really useful in my return. And I want to help him in truth. I don¡¯t want him to disappear forever," Chaos responded.

    "What can you even do?" Janus asked, frowning.

    "I need the Origin Fragment to do what I want to do. You¡¯ll know what I do after that," Chaos answered as he smiled.

    "Origin Fragment? Don¡¯t tell me you want to..."

    "I think you already understand. Not bad at all," Chaos smirked.

    "Not at all! That¡¯s too dangerous! It¡¯s not the time! You just returned!" Janus let out hastily.

    "What isn¡¯t dangerous in this world? From going out to staying in the house, everything is dangerous on its own. As for the dangers you¡¯re talking about, I understand your concerns. But you don¡¯t have to worry about it," Chaos replied, shaking his head.

    "Let¡¯s get to the search. There are five fragments on Earth that I can easily sense. They should be easy to find. As for the rest, they¡¯re in a more dangerous ce."

    "I¡¯m giving you the location of two of the five fragments that are on Earth. Find them and get them to me. I¡¯ll get the other three," he added as he snapped his fingers.

    With a little snap, a hologram of earth appeared before the two of them.

    On the hologram, there were five dots visible.

    "You get these two," Chaos said, pointing towards two of the dots. "I¡¯ll get others."

 Chapter 608 Im you

    <h4>Chapter 608: I''m you</h4>

    "Alright. I¡¯ll meet you after getting the Fragments back," Janus said as he disappeared.

    Chaos was left alone behind. He didn¡¯t leave so fast though. Instead, he nced towards the sky.

    It was only after a few seconds that he disappeared.

    He appeared in the desert of Sahara in the middle of nowhere.

    Standing in the middle of the desert, Chaos looked down.

    He looked around, wondering where the fragment actually was. All he had was the general location. Finding the fragments from there was a different matter.

    Instead of searching everywhere, he decided to take a shortcut.

    His body started flowing in the air. He slowly raised both his arms and pped once.

    A mysterious red wave was created from his p, which hit the sand under him in the area with a radius of one kilometer with him in the center.

    Wherever the wave hit, everything was destroyed. Even the sand wasn¡¯t safe from it as most of the sand disintegrated, leaving a massive crater under Chaos.

    Inside the crater, Chaos found a blue crystal. A smirk formed on his face as he found the crystal he was looking for.

    Instead of searching everywhere, it was easier to just destroy everything. As the fragments of the bracelet of immortality couldn¡¯t be destroyed, they were left safe.

    He flew down,nding in the middle of the crater. Reaching out his hand, he picked up the fragment.

    "Fragment of Destiny... Not much use for me but decent," Chaos said, smiling.

    He ced the fragment inside the bracelet of Immortality, merging the two together.

    He disappeared again.

    This time, he appeared in a different ce altogether.

    Everywhere eyes could see, there was snow. It was a freezing ce with only white visible everywhere. The temperature was already in the negative in Antarctica when Chaos appeared here.

    There were still a few people here though. It seemed like there was a small settlement here, camping for some reason.

    Seeing the people here, Chaos couldn¡¯t help but frown. If he used the same trick asst time, these people were going to be disintegrated as well. Even though it didn¡¯t matter if a few humans died, he didn¡¯t want to take their lives when there wasn¡¯t a need to.

    He took a deep breath as he said, "Fine. It¡¯ll just waste a few seconds anyway."

    He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. The sound of it reached far and wide. Everyone who heard the sound dropped to the ground, instantly falling asleep.

    After everyone was asleep, Chaos made a strange gesture with his hands, making all the equipment of these men and their tent fly in the air.

    After everything was floating in the air, the ground was clear of any obstruction.

    With a casual wave of his hand, Chaos made everythingnd in a different ce, far from here.

    After he was finished with shifting the location of the settlement, he once again pped, making that mysterious red wave appear again.

    This time, it was the Ice that disintegrated, leaving another crater in the ground.

    Chaos floated down and picked up a red Fragment.

    "Fragment of War. Not bad. This will be pretty useful in what¡¯s toe," Chaos said as he ced the red fragment on his Bracelet of Immortality as well.

    After finishing, he disappeared again.

    ...

    Janus was also on the same job, but unlike Chaps, it wasn¡¯t easy for him.

    The ces he was given to search were in crowded cities. There was no way to use the trick of Chaos here.

    All he could do was actually search, which was a time consuming process for him.

    He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Chaos actually gave him these locations because it was a boring and time consuming task to search here.

    Having no choice, he got to work.

    ...

    Janus was still searching for the first fragment, whereas Chaos was already on his third.

    This time, he appeared above an active volcano.

    "Inside this ce?" Chaos muttered, sighing. "It¡¯s good that I came. Ryder could never have found it here in his entire lifetime."

    Without wasting a single moment, Chaos jumped inside the moltenva as if it was nothing but ordinary water inside a swimming pool.

    He swam inside theva, trying to find the Fragment.

    "There it is."

    It didn¡¯t take long for Chaos to find the Fragment which was lying at the bottom of the volcano.

    The zing red fragment was easily noticeable by Chaos. He swam down and picked up the Fragment before he flew out of theva.

    As Chaos came out of the Lava, he seemedpletely fine. Even his clothes were fine since he wasn¡¯t wearing human clothes but his old clothes. This bit couldn¡¯t harm his clothes.

    He nced at the fragment as he muttered, "Fragment of Fire... Another useless one, but at least it¡¯ll contribute topleting the bracelet."

    Finished with his task, he disappeared again, returning back to the Maxwell Estate.

    He appeared inside his room, where he had awakened.

    "It looks like Janus will take time to get the other two. In the meanwhile, I should introduce myself to my other self. He has been kept in the dark for quite some time."

    Chaos made sure that no one other than Janus could step inside the room before he closed his eyes.

    ...

    Ryder found himself in what seemed like a dream.

    He was sitting in his room when he heard the door open.

    He wondered who stepped inside without even knocking, but as the door opened, he was stunned.

    It was none other than himself. The person who entered looked exactly like himself. The only difference was that he had long hair and deep red eyes.

    "Am I dreaming again?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    He tried pinching himself to wake up.

    "It¡¯s not a dream," the long haired man said softly. "You are in my domain."

    "And who are you? Why am I in your domain? Is this a trick of Janus?" Ryder asked, standing up.

    " It¡¯s no trick of Janus. It¡¯s the reality. As for who I am, the answer to that is very simple. I¡¯m you, and you are me. We¡¯re both Ryder, and at the same time, we¡¯re both Chaos," Chaos replied.

    ....

    "Did you get any report from our envoys?" In another meeting of the gods, the Lord of War asked.

    "Not yet," the Goddess of Destiny replied, shaking her head.

    ¡¯Hasn¡¯t it been a long time since he left? What¡¯s taking him so long? Why don¡¯t we try contacting him instead?" Another god asked, feeling like it was odd.

    " We did try contacting him as well. There has been no response. Lord of War is right. Something is out of ce here. We sent an Envoy on a simple task to contact our sons and tell us if they¡¯re safe or not. But for him to give no reply, there¡¯s certainly something going on," the Goddess of Destiny answered, also feeling concerned.

    "Let¡¯s go ourselves! It¡¯s about the safety of our sons. And if we go together, there would be no concern about breaking the rules," The God of War suggested.

    "Let¡¯s wait one more day. If we still don¡¯t get a reply even then, then we would go ourselves," The Goddess of Destiny agreed, giving their envoy onest chance to reply.

    "I don¡¯t agree! Why are we dying it again and again! This is about the safety of our sons! What if we arete and something happens to them? We should check as soon as we can! Everything else cer!" The Lord of War stood up, not agreeing.

    "I agree with the Lord of War. I don¡¯t want my son to be at risk while I wait here! We don¡¯t even have any way to contact them. Even in feeling concerned for them now," the God of Fire said, siding with the Lord of War. "I can¡¯t wait for even a second!"

    "I also think we shouldn¡¯t dy even a little. What if something goes wrong because we werete? Who will take responsibility for that?" The Goddess of Water also chimed in as she stood up.

    Since the atmosphere was so serious, even she couldn¡¯t sit idle. Her worries about her son¡¯s safety were also increasing, now that there was no reply from the envoy.

    " I also support going down right now. We don¡¯t have time when ites to such things. Since so many of us have concerns, let¡¯s go down and see for ourselves. In any case, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re going to affect their trials in such a way. We won¡¯t interfere at all. We¡¯ll just watch ande back," Another god said.

    Seeing so many of them willing to go down right away, even the goddess of destiny couldn¡¯t oppose it. She didn¡¯t want them to seem like they were overreacting, but now when they all wanted it, she couldn¡¯t say no either.

    " Fine. We¡¯ll go down," she agreed.

 Chapter 609 The History

    <h4>Chapter 609: The History</h4>

    "I¡¯m you, and you are me. We¡¯re both Ryder, and at the same time, we¡¯re both Chaos," Chaos told Ryder, who seemed confused as to why he was talking to himself.

    "What do you mean? Chaos? Do you mean that Chaos? The one that Janus talked about? The one that killed the Lord do Time? The God of Nothing?" Ryder asks, standing in shock.

    "Yeah. That would be us," Chaos exined. ¡¯We killed the Lord of Time. We are one. You¡¯re just my personality that came because of living life on earth."

    "You¡¯re lying. I can¡¯t be you. I¡¯m not a god? I am a human. There¡¯s no question about it," Ryder said, refusing to believe. "I¡¯m certainly dreaming. It¡¯s confirmed."

    "You¡¯re wrong. As I said, it¡¯s the truth. We are the same person, and yes. You¡¯re a god. Or should I see, you¡¯re a fallen god that was sleeping, waiting for his awakening," Chaos exined, sighing.

    "I think you won¡¯t understand like this. I¡¯ll need to tell you what actually happened and how I ended up on the earth," he continued as he snapped his finger.

    With a single snap, an illusory screen appeared before the two of them, which showed thest great war of gods in which Chaos fought against the other gods.

    Seeing the battle, Ryder was stunned. It looked like him. The man who stood before him was fighting against so many gods, and he wasn¡¯t being defeated. He was certainly taking hits, but he wasn¡¯t falling. Instead, he kept killing gods one after another.

    No gods could stand before him. A multitude of attacks wereing towards him.

    Ryder found it simr to his dream where he was attacked by so many gods at once for killing their sons. Still, the scene on the screen was even more massive.

    Unlike his dream when he was being attacked by seven gods, Chaos was being attacked by hundreds of gods, all of whom seemed to have power to destroy anything in their paths.

    Chaos started getting tired as the battle stretched for hours. And even though he was only taking a small bit of damage from all the attacks, they were also bing a problem. He was looking really beat up by now. He was also bleeding from all over the ce.

    It didn¡¯t seem like he couldst longer. He was going to be defeated. Moreover, only half of the attackers were dead. A lot of them were still alive. It seems like he was certainly going to be killed unless he escaped.

    "He?!" Ryder suddenly eximed as he saw another familiar face in the picture. It was none other than Janus.

    " What¡¯s Janus doing there?" he asked, but he soon got his answer as he saw Janus stab the heart of Chaos

    And that¡¯s when the war seemed to have stopped. Chaos dropped to the ground, unable to move. Blood came out from his lips as he stared at Janus.

    Janus¡¯ lips moved as he seemingly said something, but Ryder couldn¡¯t hear anything. There was no voiceing from the screen.

    Soon, Chaos¡¯s body turned to dust as he forever disappeared.

    "Why did he kill you!" Ryder asked, staring at Chaos. "Wait! If what you¡¯re saying is true, then I¡¯m your?! So Janus actually killed me in myst life? Why would he?"

    Chaos snapped his fingers again, changing the scene. In this new scene, he was sitting on a throne, looking at a bracelet in his hand.

    "Bracelet of Immortality?" Ryder asked, recognizing the bracelet.

    "That¡¯s right. The Bracelet of Immortality that you were wearing all this while was created by me," Chaos exined, smirking.

    " You made that cursed thing? Why?" Ryder asked.

    "I made it for the future. Unfortunately, I made a slight miscalction," Chaos answered, sighing. "Anyway, that¡¯s a question forter. Didn¡¯t you want to know why Janus stabbed me? There¡¯s your answer."

    Ryder could hear the sound of footsteps that seemed to being from near him. But there was no one here.

    "It¡¯sing from that?" He asked Ryder, realizing that the sound of footsteps wasing from Janus that was walking towards the throne on the screen. Unlike before, Ryder could hear the sound now, but the sounds seemed too realistic.

    " Janus, what brought you here?" Chaos asked Janus.

    "Brother, I¡¯m here to ask you to run away. I got the information that the gods want to attack you. And it¡¯s not just one or two gods but almost all of them," Janus told Chaos.

    "Why do they want to kill me? I don¡¯t think I did anything like that, did I?" Chaos asked, frowning.

    "It¡¯s because of that bracelet. They found out about it. And they know you want to make everyone immortal. They don¡¯t want that," Janus exined.

    "Ah, that thing. They did send a messenger to me to tell me to surrender the bracelet. I refused. But to think they actually want to wage war for it? Don¡¯t they know how bad the consequences can be for them?" Chaos asked, wondering if all the Gods were suddenly idiots.

    " Yeah. They didn¡¯t take it all too well. They want to kill you and forcefully take it," Chaos said, sighing. "All gods agree with them. None of them want you to do it. Can¡¯t you just drop the n and give it to them?"

    Chaos nced at the bracelet in his hand. "Give this to them? They can¡¯t handle its power. They¡¯ll end up destroying themselves along with heaven. They¡¯re all idiots. I can¡¯t give it to anyone. I made it for a purpose, and until that purpose is achieved, I¡¯ll keep it."

    "Did you say all gods supported killing me? Lord of Space couldn¡¯t have been one of them, right? What about Lord of Time? And Goddess of Destiny? I¡¯m sure they didn¡¯t support this, did they?" Chaos asked Janus.

    Janus started looking down as he heard the question.

    "Answer me!" Chaos firmly said.

    "Goddess of Destiny said she would stay out of this war. She won¡¯t support them, but she won¡¯t support you either," Janus exined.

    "What about the other two?" Chaos inquired.

    "Lord of Space and Lord of Time agreed. They will support the other gods in the war against you," Janus said, knowing how bad it was.

    "Hahahaha!"

    Hearing Janus, instead of being sad, Chaos startedughing madly.

    A scary aura spread everywhere. Feeling the intimidating aura, Janus understood that Chaos was seriously angry.

    "My friends also sided with my enemies, huh. Good for them. But if they think they can take me down, they¡¯re wrong," Chaos said.

    "Brother, I know you can kill most of them, but their numbers are just too much. Please escape! Don¡¯t fight them!" Janus insisted.

    " Run away like a coward? I can do anything but run from a battle! It doesn¡¯t matter if I¡¯m fighting one god or thousands. It also doesn¡¯t matter if I¡¯m fighting an enemy or a friend. They cane. They¡¯ll find me here. It doesn¡¯t matter if I have support or not. I¡¯ll face them alone!" Chaos said firmly.

    "You¡¯re not alone! Even if everyone left your side, just know. I¡¯ll always be standing by your side! It doesn¡¯t matter who our enemy is. If you decide to fight, I¡¯ll fight with you!" Janus said firmly.

    "How about I open a portal and let Dark Beasts through? You can control them. It¡¯ll be easy that way. No one would dare to attack you then," he further suggested.

    "Did you forget the oath I gave to father? I can¡¯t ever use that power in this eternal life," Chaos replied, shaking his head.

    As Chaos said it, he suddenly stopped as he realized something. "Wait a minute... In this life....?"

    Janus wondered what Chaos was talking about. He suddenly fell into deep thought.

    " Janus, I have decided. I don¡¯t want you to fight with me. Instead, I want to die," Chaos said, sighing.

    "What? What are you saying? I can never let you die!" Janus refused right away. "We¡¯ll fight, and we¡¯ll win, no matter who our opponent is."

    "No. We won¡¯t win. I want to die, and I want to die by your hands," Chaos said, shaking his head. "I want you to join them as well. I want you to attack me and kill me!"

    "What nonsense are you spouting! I would rather die first than kill you!" Janus stated, refusing to budge.

    "You don¡¯t understand, little brother. Try to think objectively," Chaos said, sighing. "I¡¯m not going to run away. So this battle is certainly happening. And there¡¯s a good chance that I¡¯ll die in that."

    "And if you side with me, you¡¯ll die as well. But if you side with them, you¡¯ll survive. Moreover, if you will win their trust as well. As for me, I have this," he added as he showed the fragment.

    "This Bracelet is just finished. So it doesn¡¯t have its full power. All the fragments of this bracelet will take hundreds of years to gain their full potential. Until then, it¡¯s not of much use."

    "There is only this one fragment which can be used for now. And it¡¯s what I¡¯ll use," he further said as he touched a white fragment attached to the bracelet.

 Chapter 610 The Choice

    <h4>Chapter 610: The Choice</h4>

    "What does that do?" Janus asked the Chaos, wondering what he was talking about.

    " It¡¯s the Fragment of Rebirth," Chaos exined.

    "Rebirth? Isn¡¯t that a taboo?" Janus asked, unable to believe what he was hearing.

    "It¡¯s only a taboo because the consequences of failure are frightening. Your entire soul is destroyed if you fail in rebirth. That¡¯s why it¡¯s been dubbed as a Taboo," Chaos answered, sighing.

    "Still, that doesn¡¯t change the fact that no one has been able to do it sessfully. A person will have to be crazy to even attempt something like this! It¡¯s much better to die while fighting than suffering the consequences of a failed rebirth attempt," Janus let out, refusing to agree to this n. "You can¡¯t do it!"

    "You don¡¯t understand. This is a good way to go out. Also, it¡¯s not true that no person has seeded in it. There has been one person. The Goddess of Rebirth who gained her title after being sessful," Chaos exined.

    "That was millions of years ago. You know as well as I do that her second rebirth attempt was a failure as well. It¡¯s clear that her first attempt was nothing but good luck, which she didn¡¯t have the second time. Tens of gods have tried it since then, none of them seeding in it!" Janus firmly stated. "So don¡¯t even think about it."

    "You can either fight against the other gods with me standing by your side, or you escape. But in no circumstances am I supporting you in this crazy mission," he straight away pointed out.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter if you support me or not. This is what I¡¯m going to do. Because I¡¯m not running away. You can either watch me be killed, or you can take the risk with rebirth. Just know that rebirth will be pretty helpful if we seeded," Chaos said, not ready to take a refusal.

    "Why are you so stubborn!"

    "Because I can be," Chaos let out, smiling.

    "Moreover, there¡¯s one more important reason," he further stated.

    "What reason?" Janus inquired, confused. He wondered what other reason could there be?

    "First, this will remove all the restrictions from me. I will be free of the Heavenly Oath that I took on Father¡¯smands. That oath was for not using my powers that he saw in this lifetime. But if I go through rebirth, it¡¯ll count as another lifetime. I would be entirely free when I return, with no restriction," Chaos exined to Janus.

    " Andstly, because I need time. The fragments need more time to gain their full strength since they¡¯re only recently made. I might as well enjoy a good sleep while I have the time. In any case, I also want to experience fighting all the gods. Let¡¯s see how strong they actually are."

    "That¡¯s certainly a reason, but that doesn¡¯t solve the main problem! It¡¯s that reincarnation is impossible toplete. Even the Goddess of Reincarnation died while attempting it. How can you even think about doing it?" Janus asked, not dropping the topic.

    "I have faith in it," Chaos calmly said, ncing at the white fragment. "Also, I made it using the remains of the Goddess of Reincarnation. It¡¯ll give me her protection even if she is dead. That certainly increases my chance of sess."

    The screen disappeared, not showing anything.

    Ryder nced at Chaos, wondering what happened next.

    "Why did you stop? I want to see what happened next!"

    " I think you can guess that already. I convinced Janus, who agreed right away. And we went along with the n. The war came next, and he stabbed me as you already saw. It was all ording to the n," Chaos answered.

    "I used the fragment of rebirth to send my soul through reincarnation with my Divinity. Even I didn¡¯t know where and when I was going to be born when it happened," he continued. "That ce turned out to be earth."

    He snapped his fingers, making an illusory throne appear in front of him, on which he sat downfortably.

    "You mean, you were born on earth, as me?" Ryder asked, overwhelmed by what he was hearing.

    "Exactly. Since my soul was sleeping, you couldn¡¯t ess my memories. You... Or should I say that I lived apletely different life, unaware of the reality. And here we are now, I¡¯vepletely awakened," Chaos exined.

    "So I am just a personality of a god?" Ryder asked, not knowing what to say. "Is that why Janus was helping me? That makesplete sense now."

    Taking a deep breath, he asked, "What will happen to me now that you¡¯re up? Am I going to disappear forever?"

    "You¡¯re wrong. You¡¯re not just a personality. You¡¯re much more..." Chaos said, sighing.

    "What will happen to me now? Can you tell me the truth? Will you take over my body? And I¡¯ll disappear? Or will you give my body back to me, and you¡¯ll get a different body?" Ryder inquired, frowning.

    Chaos didn¡¯t answer this time. He simply kept ncing at Ryder.

    "Tell me, what do you want to happen?" He asked, noticing the heavy heartbeat of Ryder.

    "I just... Don¡¯t want to disappear. I want to live... I don¡¯t want to die. Please don¡¯t erase me?"

    There was sadness in the voice of Ryder, mixed with a dread for the future. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he could ever earth again after what had happened here. Was he really going to die?

    Chaos took a deep breath. "That¡¯s not the answer to my question. Tell me, what exactly do you want to happen? I want to hear your desires. Do you want to merge with me? Or do you want to live a separate life?"

    " Just know, you won¡¯t get this body back in any case. It¡¯s the only one that can support my soul¡¯s Divine Strength after absorbing all the Divinity from other god-sons. So tell me, which of the two choices do you select? Do you want to merge with me? Or do you want to live a separate life?"

    ....

    "There it is!" After a long search, Janus actually found the Fragment that guy was looking for. It was one of the two fragments he was looking for, which was being kept in the safe of some businessman it seemed.

    After taking the first fragments, Janus disappeared, not even bothering to close the safe.

    He appeared in a different ce where the second fragment was supposedly hiding.

    Appearing here, he couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly as he saw another crowded ce. This ce was just as crowded as thest one, if not more.

    "One more search," he let out, smiling wryly. He began the search.

    Just as Janus was searching for the Fragment, he sensed something. There was a powerful presence.

    No, there wasn¡¯t one powerful presence, but there were many. And it seemed like all these presence were behind him. He was able to guess what was happening.

    He slowly turned back.

    "You¡¯re all here as well? Why?" Janus asked, seemingly surprised.

    Seven gods were standing before him. Even though they were here, no civilian could see them.

    "Tell us where our sons are," the Goddess of Destiny said, staring at Janus.

    "Your sons? I was here to find the Lord of Space, not your sons... Unless I misunderstood the mission, which I don¡¯t think I did. So I wonder why you¡¯re asking me about your sons?¡¯ Janus inquired, ignorantly.

    " We came here to see our sons, and they are mostly missing except for one. And we found your aura in one of those ces. You certainly went there. Tell us, where are they?!" The Goddess of Destiny asked. " It¡¯s not the time to y around! Tell us where they are this instant!"

    "I don¡¯t know where they are. As for how my aura got there, that¡¯s not hard to exin. Since I¡¯m searching for the Lord of Space, the first thing I did was check near your sons to see if he approached any of them. That¡¯s why you saw my aura there," Janus exined, still not taking the me.

    "You can ask the one who is alive if I met him or not. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll tell you the truth. Just like I met him, I met others as well," he further said.

    "Then where did our sons go! We can find none of them!" The Lord of War yelled, furious.

    "How would I know? I haven¡¯t been able to find the Lord of Space yet. I didn¡¯t have time to babysit your kids," Janus casually replied, not backing off.

    "Ah, wait! I think I have an idea!" He suddenly eximed. "I know where they might be!"

    "Where are they? Tell!" the Lord of War inquired.

    " The only person who could do it is the Lord of Space. There¡¯s a good chance that he¡¯s keeping them in a different space. That should be why you can¡¯t feel his aura! Nothing else can exin this!"

 Chapter 611 Selection

    <h4>Chapter 611: Selection</h4>

    Janus swiftly shifted all the me to the Lord of Space since everyone knew that he was here on earth. It was the easiest way to get the me off himself.

    "The same Lord of Space that you failed to find?" The Lord of War asked, ring at Janus. "What cr*p were you doing here when the Lord of Space kidnapped our sons?"

    "You know how hard it is to find him? You can¡¯t me me for that," Janus eximed, sighing.

    "I checked up on all your sons to make sure that Lord of Space wasn¡¯t in that country before moving on to others. How would I know he would go to themter? In any case, do you have any idea how hard it is to find him?" He further asked, sighing.

    ...

    "Decide... What do you want to happen? Do you want to merge with me, or do you want to be a separate person?" Chaos asked Ryder, wondering what this guy was going to choose.

    " Are these two my only choices?" Ryder asked, staring at Chaos.

    "What more choices do you want? Tell me. Let¡¯s see if something is possible," Chaos nodded, wondering what Ryder wanted. He knew that he had made it clear to Ryder that he wasn¡¯t getting the body back. What choice did he have now?

    Even Ryder lowered his head, lost in a deep thought. His body was going to be taken over by someone else, and he couldn¡¯t do a single thing to retain his body. Apparently it was the only one that Chaos could have.

    If his story was to be believed, the body belonged to Chaos since he was the original being, but Ryder couldn¡¯te to terms with it. He had lived his whole life as Ryder. How could he quit now?

    Even though he asked for more choice, he knew that the ones that Chaos gave seemed to be the only two that were possible. Either he merges, or he separates.

    If he merged, he and Chaos were going to be one. He could gain unlimited powers, but how could they work? Could he still have any individuality left? Or was he just going to be a memory to Chaos?

    And what about the other choice? If he separated, what was going to happen? Was his soul going to be sent in someone else¡¯s body? Many questions floated in his head, and all were essential for his future.

    "What will happen if I decide not to merge? What if I separate instead?" He asked Chaos.

    "I¡¯ll create a new body for you. It won¡¯t be as strong as the current body, but it¡¯ll be more powerful than any human body could ever be. Also, I¡¯ll make sure you carry all the powers that you had previously," Chaos exined.

    "Ah? What¡¯s the catch here? That sounds too good to be true. If you could create such a powerful body, then you wouldn¡¯t be trying to take over this body, right?" He asked Chaos, surprised.

    A body that had all his previous powers?

    "There¡¯s one difference. That body won¡¯t have any Divinity. So it can¡¯t amodate my Divine Soul. Only the real body of mine can amodate my soul," Chaos exined. "You won¡¯t lose anything since you have many choices, but I don¡¯t have those options."

    "Will that body look the same as me? What other difference would there be? Will it be a real body?" Ryder asked, just to be sure.

    "It¡¯ll be a real body indeed. As real as a human body can be. You wouldn¡¯t even be able to find a single difference, I believe," Chaos exined.

    "And what if I merge with you? What will happen then?" Ryder inquired.

    "Nothing much will happen in that case either. You and I will be one. Through me, you can live the life of a god. You¡¯ll get my goals, and I¡¯ll get your desires if we merge. It¡¯s like a truebination of two people," Chaos exined.

    "Those are your two choices. Time for you to decide," he told Ryder.

    "I think I have decided," It was after a long time that Ryder spoke.

    Chaos was curious to hear the answer of Ryder.

    "As much as I would love to live like a god, I want my old life back. I don¡¯t want eternal life or the Divinity. Just get me back to the way I was. I want to separate from you," he ultimately said.

    Hearing his answer, Chaos subtly nodded. "Fine. If that¡¯s what you want, that¡¯s what you¡¯ll get."

    "Stay here for a few hours. As soon as Janus returns with the Fragment, we will begin."

    After finishing, Chaos disappeared. In the real world, he opened his eyes.

    "Hmm? I feel more presence here?"

    As soon as Chaos opened his eyes, he was able to feel the presence of more gods. He spread his arms, forming an illusory image of earth to find where these godly auras were present.

    "It¡¯sing from where Janus is standing. All seven of them are there? Ah, so it¡¯s them. I guess they¡¯re here for their sons. That¡¯s why it was risky for Janus to take such a risk. I guess it¡¯s time to hunt some more gods," he muttered as he stood up, prepared to fight.

    "Hmm? They¡¯re all going in a different direction? So they aren¡¯t fighting?" Just as Chaos was going to disappear, he stopped as he noticed that all gods were going in different directions.

    ...

    "It is much harder to find the Lord of Space alone. Much more than I expected. That¡¯s why I wasn¡¯t able to find him. He probably keeps switching ces whenever someone gets close to him."

    "It¡¯s not the work of one person to cover all ces at once. We need more people. With your help, we should be able to cover more ces and entrap him. Only then can we get answers from him about why he did this. What do you all think?"

    To get out of your situation without fighting, Janus had shifted all the me to the Lord of Space, and now he was using that to separate all the gods.

    "That does make some sense. We sent Janus here. He didn¡¯te here on his own. So the chance of him nning to hurt our sons are too low. Also, he would have killed my son as well if he was the culprit since he met him. I think he¡¯s not lying," One of the seven gods agreed. He was none other than the father of the only god-son that was left alive.

 Chapter 612 Seperation

    <h4>Chapter 612: Seperation</h4>

    "What he¡¯s saying makes sense. We can only get our answers from the Lord of Space when we manage to find him," Another god chimed in.

    One after another, the other gods also chimed in, agreeing.

    "As I said, it¡¯s pretty hard to find him since I believe he moves from ce to ce. We can¡¯t be at all ces at once, can we? It¡¯s easier if we spread out. But I leave the decision on you," he added, sighing.

    In the end, all gods agreed to the suggestion, including the Goddess of Destiny. They all fell for the words of Janus.

    In the end, it was decided that everyone was going to search for the Lord of Space together and not stop until they found him.

    All the gods spread out, leaving only Janus back, who also pretended to go in a different direction initially only to stop mid-way and return where he previously was.

    He again started searching for thest fragment, which he was here for.

    It took him one hour and constant searching to find the fragment which was kept on disy at a jewelry store.

    He entered the store, not seen by any human.

    An evident relief ended up on his face as he noticed a beautiful semi-transparent fragment on disy.

    Waving his hand, he took the fragment back. The fragment disappeared from the disy right under the eyes of everyone who was present here, only to end up in the hands of Janus.

    He disappeared after taking the fragment.

    ....

    Janus appeared in the room of Ryder, where Chaos was already present, looking out the window.

    "You got it?" Chaos asked without looking back at Janus.

    "Yeah. It was hard finding them in such a crowded ce despite knowing their approximate location, but I did it," Janus said, raising his hand to show two fragments in his palm.

    "The Fragment of Destruction and the Fragment of Creation? Good," Chaos let out as he noticed the two fragments. "A good pair. And they have almostpletely gained their strength as well."

    He took the fragments from Janus and merged them with his Bracelet of Immortality.

    "You know about them, don¡¯t you?" Janus suddenly asked as he walked back to the bed and sat.

    "You mean about those seven? Yeah, I noticed," Chaos replied.

    Sighing, Janus continued. "They¡¯re here about their missing sons. I sent them to search for the Lord of Space temporarily. It won¡¯t be long before they realize it. So you think we should...?"

    "No. It¡¯s time for me to leave," Chaos exined.

    "Disappear from this ce and find other fragments. The Warzone of Earth needs to end. You stay with the other gods. I¡¯ll leave some trail that seems like the Lord of Space. That should be enough to keep them busy," he continued, shaking his head.

    Janus nodded and agreed to the n before he asked, "Have you decided about Ryder? Will you be one with him?"

    "I won¡¯t. He has chosen another path. And how can I say no to myself?" Chaos replied, smiling. ¡¯It¡¯s the first time he asked something from me. I¡¯ll fulfill this wish of his. Moreover, it¡¯ll be safer for him if I separate myself."

    "You mean you¡¯ll...? Are you sure? You know this will weaken your soul, don¡¯t you? Since he¡¯s made from a fraction of your soul. You should think about it clearly!" Janus reminded Chaos, who nodded causally.

    "I¡¯ve thought about it. And I want to give him the freedom he craves for. Let him live his life, far away from Chaos. He lived unaware of his real identity, all while forming a life of his own. If he wants to live that life, then it¡¯s fine for him," Chaos replied calmly as he sat on the bed.

    "Do you think he can live a life of his own without worries? He¡¯ll still have some of your strength since he¡¯s a fragment of your soul, which haspletely awakened how. His strength will certainly attract trouble to him. Merging helps you both," Janus let out, still feeling that it was wrong. Both Janus and Ryder were supposed to be one.

    "Enough. There¡¯s going to be no discussion about it. I¡¯ve decided. This will happen," Chaos said as he refused to listen. "I know you¡¯re concerned, but you don¡¯t have to be."

    "Now, step back. I¡¯m about to begin," he added as he spread his arms wide. An energy barrier came out of his body, spreading everywhere.

    Soon, the barrier was surrounded their house.

    " This will keep the aura from leaking. No gods should be able to sense the massive amount of energy that¡¯s about to be created here," he added as he lowered his hands.

    He closed his eyes and stood still. The Bracelet of Immortality started shining brightly. That shine spread to the body of Chaos as well, making him look like a figure made of bright light.

    A small speck of light soon separated from Chaos which flew away before it started getting bigger and bigger, taking a humanoid shape of itself.

    Standing behind, Janus couldn¡¯t help but sigh as he saw what was happening. Chaos wasn¡¯t listening to him.

    "If he thinks it¡¯s alright, then fine," Janus let out, shaking his head.

    Within minutes, both figures stopped shining to reveal another body before Chaos which looked simr to him. It looked exactly like the body of Ryder with short dark hair and beautiful blue eyes.

    The second body stood unmoving, watching Chaos.

    Chaos casually snapped his fingers. As soon as he snapped his fingers, the body seemed to havee to life.

    "Huh? Where am I?" Ryder asked, confused as to where he was.

    "Are we in another of your domains?" He asked as he noticed Chaos.

    He thought it was the same as the ce where he first met Chaos.

    "You¡¯re not in any domain. It¡¯s the real world. And you¡¯re in the body that I promised to give you. Are you satisfied now?" Chaos inquired as he casually waved his hand, making a mirror appear before him.

    Ryder nced at his hands, surprised. Was it really the fake body? It felt so real? If he weren¡¯t told that it wasn¡¯t his real body, he wouldn¡¯t even know.

    He looked at the mirror, observing himself.

    "This... Is really good."

    "So, are we different people now?" He asked Chaos.

    "If you want to call it that," Chaos let out, smiling. "I hope you enjoy your life on earth. I have also cast a spell on your body. Not even the gods can see that you¡¯re different from a normal human. So don¡¯t use your powers recklessly, alright?"

 Chapter 613 Left behind

    <h4>Chapter 613: Left behind</h4>

    "Are you leaving now?" Ryder asked Chaos.

    The way Chaos was talking, it made him feel like he was going to leave.

    "This ce has nothing left for me anymore. So yeah, I¡¯ll leave now. But first, I need to do something," Chaos let out as he disappeared. He appeared in the room or Alice.

    "Where did he go?" Seeing Chaos disappear, Ryder was surprised. He wondered if this guy already left.

    "Don¡¯t work; he hasn¡¯t left yet. He is in the other room," Janus exined as he stood up. Instead of disappearing, he left through the door.

    "The other room?" Ryder muttered, realizing that the other room belonged to Alice.

    He also ran to that room, wondering why Chaos was there.

    Entering the room, Ryder found Chaos standing before Alice.

    Alice still had her eyes closed as she slept peacefully.

    Stepping closer to her, Chaos ced his finger on the forehead of Alice.

    As he removed his fingers, a speck of light came out of her forehead, which was grabbed by Chaos.

    "What are you doing to her?" Ryder yelled, thinking that he was hurting her.

    "Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯m just taking something which doesn¡¯t belong to you. She is perfectly fine. I haven¡¯t woken her up," Chaos told Ryder as he stared at the speck of light in his hand.

    "What is that?" Ryder asked, staring at the speck of light.

    "It¡¯s nothing you should be concerned about," Chaos replied as he turned back to leave.

    "It¡¯s time I leave. Janus, you know what to do after I leave, right? Just contact me if you face any problem. I¡¯ll be finding others in the meantime," he added before he ultimately disappeared.

    As Chaos disappeared, Alicia also opened her eyes. She had woken up from the scream of Ryder, but Chaos was keeping her asleep.

    "What are you doing here?" Alice asked Ryder, stunned to see him in her room at this time. "Did you need something?"

    Ryder looked at Janus, who waspletely ignored. He wondered if Alice could even see Ryder. She didn¡¯t ask who this boy was?

    "Why are you looking there? Is something there?¡¯ she asked Ryder.

    "She can¡¯t see me. You don¡¯t have to worry," Janus also confirmed. "Anyway, I¡¯ll also leave now. You¡¯ll still have the system I gave you to help you, along with all your abilities. But you don¡¯t have the bracelet, so you can¡¯t use any Immunity."

    "You can, however, use the abilities you had umted before. Use them well and stay alert," he reminded Ryder before he also started disappearing.

    "Will I see you again?" Ryder asked Janus, seeing his figure be transparent.

    "Maybe..." Janus muttered before he disappeared.

    "Who are you talking to?" Alice asked Ryder, seeing her talk to thin air.

    "No one. I just came here to see something. I¡¯m done; I¡¯ll take my leave." Ryder also left the room, not waiting anymore.

    "Hmm? Strange." Confused, Alice went back to sleep.

    ...

    Ryder walked to his room and sat on his bed as he observed himself.

    He opened the Stat Screen to see his stats which were the same asst time.

    Almost everything seemed the same. The only difference was that some of his old skills were missing and his species was written as [Human?]

    "What the heck? Why is there a question mark after my species? Is it because even the system isn¡¯t sure what I am?"

    He tried bringing fire out of his hands, using Aluren¡¯s abilities and seeded, but he understood he could no longer enter their semi-god form.

    He soon stood up and took off all his clothes to see if the other things were the same as well, like his body proportions.

    After making sure that everything was how it should be, he breathed a sigh of relief.

    "Thank you, Chaos. For giving me my freedom and for listening to me," he muttered as he got dressed again before he walked back to the bed to sleep.

    ...

    In the unknown ce, Chaos appeared out of thin air.

    The ce where he appeared seemed like a barren that had nothing but mountains.

    He was standing on top of the tallest mountain in this ce.

    Looking down, he waved his hand to make a big hole in the ground before tossing the speck of light in that hole. He soon filled up the hole before leaving this ce.

    As he left, he didn¡¯t even bother looking back once.

    ...

    Janus had left Ryder¡¯s house and started the search for the Lord of Space just for show. Of course, he knew that guy was dead, so he didn¡¯t put any effort into it. He was just searching casually as if he was sightseeing.

    Soon, he was contacted by one of the gods with themunication stone.

    It was the Goddess of Water who was contacting them. She was saying that she found something and she was asking for others toe to her right away.

    All the other gods approached her, wondering what had happened.

    "What happened?"

    As soon as Janus reached the goddess of water, he was able to see other gods already present there. They were asking questions.

    "I think the Lord of Space was recently here. Also, I found thismunication stone here. It has his aura all over it! Moreover, it also has someone else¡¯s aura," The Goddess of Water exined as she showed a red crystal she had picked up.

    "That¡¯s the aura of my son! It¡¯s the stone he carried with him! It¡¯s confirmed, the Lord of Space kidnapped my son! That bastard!" The God of War roared furiously as he recognized his aura.

    He couldn¡¯t help but stomp his feet on the ground, causing an earthquake.

    "Calm down! And answer us this first. Why did he have this stone? Wasn¡¯t it against the rules?"

    "Shut up! He only carried this in case there was ever a need to contact us all in case of an emergency like this! My son is kidnapped, and you¡¯re focusing on small things like this? Grow up!" The God of War fumed, diverting the topic.

    "That¡¯s right. We have more important things to do. All our sons are still missing and it seems like Lord of War took them," he added, sighing.

    "That also raises a question. Why would he leave this behind? I mean, he kidnapped your son and came here to toss this stone? That doesn¡¯t seem like it!"

    " Yeah. Something is strange. But only Lord of Space can answer why he did what he did. We need to find him first!" The God of War epted.

 Chapter 614 Questioning Janus

    <h4>Chapter 614: Questioning Janus</h4>

    " Where can we find him? We have tried searching everywhere already. That guy is so tricky. Who knows, he probably already left Earth," Janus pointed out, sighing.

    "Let¡¯s just keep searching for now. We still haven¡¯t finished the search," the God of War let out, not giving up. "No matter how hard it is, I want to find him at any cost! And I want to ask him why he took our kids!"

    "Let¡¯s get back to searching. And Janus, this time you¡¯reing with me. I want to talk to you about something," Goddess of Destinymented as she grabbed the hand of Janus before disappearing.

    She appeared in apletely different ce on a faraway ind.

    "What did you want to talk about?" Janus asked the Goddess of Destiny, confused. He wondered why the Goddess of Destiny had taken him.

    "I am going to ask you a question. You need to be honest with your answer. Don¡¯t even think about lying," Goddess of Destiny let out, ring at Janus.

    The way she looked at Janus, it made him wonder if she had noticed something strange.

    "I¡¯ll try to be honest. Tell me what you want to ask?" Janus asked.

    "Tell me where the Lord of Space is. I think you know about it. You¡¯re just trying to save him by sending us on false trails, aren¡¯t you? He¡¯s your family friend, after all. There¡¯s no way you hadn¡¯t found him after so long. So tell me the truth, I promise you won¡¯t be med," the Goddess of Destiny said.

    "You think I know where he is?" Janus asked, smiling wryly. "Also, he was a family friend a long time ago. Not anymore. I don¡¯t care about him at all now."

    "I¡¯m asking you once again. It¡¯s just you and me. No one else will know. I only want my son safe. He can keep the others. Just tell me the truth. Why did he take our kids, and what does he want to do with them?" Goddess of Destiny again asked.

    "I honestly have no idea. If I knew, I would have stopped him. I can see anything, but I can¡¯t watch someone use young gods for their advantage. I would never have let him kidnap your sons. You can trust me on that," Janus stuck to his story, not saying anything more.

    "So you really have no idea where he left be?"

    "I don¡¯t," Janus answered.

    "Fine then. I¡¯ll trust you. But Janus, trust my words too, we would find him. And when we do, we¡¯ll know the truth. And if it turns out that you were involved in this in some way, you¡¯ll certainly regret," the Goddess of Destiny warned Janus before she disappeared.

    "I would certainly regret?" Janus muttered, rolling his eyes. "We will see about that."

    Janus disappeared as well.

    ...

    Ryder was inside his room, prepared to test one of his skills.

    It was the world travel skill that allowed him to go to any world he had ever been to before. He wanted to go back to Divinity once again.

    This time, he didn¡¯t forget to wear his Royal Attire. Fortunately, Janus had left the system to him. He could still use most of his skills along with his inventory.

    The System Store was also there, even now.

    Ryder used his skill, disappearing from his room.

    He appeared inside the Royal Pce. Fortunately, this time he didn¡¯t appear in the bathing room of Miku. Instead, he appeared inside the Training Room,nding right in front of an attack from Rale.

    The fist of Rale wasing towards his face.

    ....

    Rale and another member of his team were training by battling each other. Rale had just attacked his opponent when a person appeared out of thin air. Since the distance was so close, Rale couldn¡¯t stop in time, despite knowing that it was their King that had appeared.

    He closed his eyes as regret filled his face, unable to believe that his punch was going tond on Ryder¡¯s face.

    Ryder didn¡¯t let it happen though. He raised his hand at lightning fast speed to block the attack of Rale. His speed was faster than Rale¡¯s, making him easily grab the fist of Rale.

    "I see that you guys have been practicing? I apologize for barging in the middle. I was testing a skill. Didn¡¯t know I was going to appear here," Ryder let out apologetically.

    "Not at all. I should be the one apologizing for almost hitting you," Rale apologized. "I¡¯ll ept any punishment."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. It wasn¡¯t your fault," Ryder said, stepping aside, freeing the palm of Rale. "You can continue your practice."

    "We¡¯re done already," Rale responded. He couldn¡¯t ignore their King and continue practicing.

    " Alright then. Come with me," Ryder said, leaving the training room. Rale followed closely behind.

    "So, did you send an eptance to the invitations?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah. The Kingdoms already replied as well. They said we¡¯re wee toe anytime we want," Rale answered.

    "That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s go right now, then. It has been quite some time since I¡¯ve been to those ces. Go and inform the High Dukes that we¡¯re leaving temporarily and tell them to take care of this ce in my absence," Ryder told Rale, reaching his throne room.

    As he sat on the throne, Rale left to inform the High Dukes. Since Ryder was a King now, he wasn¡¯t prohibited from leaving this ce.

    Moreover, he had already proven to everyone that he was stronger than the High Dukes, so he was sure that no one was going to worry about him going alone.

    Within minutes, Rale returned. He didn¡¯te alone. Instead, he came back with all the High Dukes.

    The High Dukes weren¡¯t here to stop him. Instead, they were here to wish him luck for his journey.

    Even though they offered to go with him, they didn¡¯t insist too much since Ryder was strong now.

    After a small talk, Ryder left with Rale, going underground to the portals.

    Using the keys, Ryder opened one of the portals, entering the Human World of Divinity.

    This time, the portal opened right above a pond.

    As soon as Ryder stepped out of the portal, he realized that there wasn¡¯t ground under his feet. He started falling.

    Before he could fall in the water, he started flying.

    Rale was also able to fly, so he didn¡¯t fall either.

    "These random locations are getting annoying. I¡¯m telling you, one day; this might open inside an active Volcano the way things are going," Rydermented, ring at the Portal behind him.

 Chapter 615 Hes Ryder

    <h4>Chapter 615: He''s Ryder</h4>

    "I doubt it would happen. Even though these are random locations, they¡¯ll never open in extreme environments. So no appearing inside a frozenke or an active volcano," Rale exined, expressing that there was no risk that could be that extreme.

    "Let¡¯s just hope so. I don¡¯t want to appear inside a volcano since I don¡¯t have immunity anymore," Ryder muttered,nding on the ground.

    Previously he wouldn¡¯t have cared as he had me Immunity which kept him safe from that as well. Unfortunately, amongst the abilities he had lost because of separation from Chaos, he didn¡¯t have that immunity anymore.

    "So, where exactly are we this time? And how far are we from our destination," he asked Rale, ncing back.

    "I¡¯m not sure," Rale replied, raising his hand innocently. "We¡¯ll have to ask someone where we are."

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to be easy finding a person like that when we¡¯re standing in the middle of a forest. Let¡¯s go in that direction. Maybe we¡¯ll find someone," Ryder said as he flew towards the North.

    Rale flew behind him, staying close to Chaos.

    The two of them flew above the forest, trying to find any person they could ask for. Even Ryder wasn¡¯t able to recognize this ce, despite knowing a lot about most of the ces.

    After flying for half a kilometer, Ryder suddenly stopped. He couldn¡¯t help but hit his forehead lightly. "Ah! How could I forget about it! I have her! Why would I need anyone else?"

    "Hmm?" Rale also stopped, noticing Ryder talking to himself.

    "Maya, can you help me?" Ryder asked, calling for Maya.

    "Help with what?" Maya appeared before Ryder.

    "Tell us where we are," Rydermanded Maya.

    "You¡¯re in the Dark nes," Maya answered.

    "Dark nes? We just had to appear here? This ce is the farthest from our destination¡ªsuch a waste of time. And when going back, we¡¯ll have to travel to here as well. This is upsetting," Ryder eximed in frustration.

    "Give me the Directions. In which direction do we need to go if we want to get to..."

    ....

    Ryder followed the directions given by Maya, advancing towards his destination.

    As the journey was much longer because of where they hade out of the portal, hours passed, and they hadn¡¯t even traveled halfway.

    "Rale, do one thing. You go ahead and wait for me at the entrance of the Kingdom. I¡¯lle there after you," Ryder suggested to Rale.

    Rale asked a few questions before he agreed and left alone.

    Since Ryder wanted to be on earth, he wanted to go back. Also, because of his World Travel skill, he could appear right in the Kingdom without any worries, so he let Rale go ahead instead of waiting here for him.

    This saved time for both of them.

    ...

    Waking up in the real world, Ryder again contacted the fake Itsuki to ask him if he was prepared to hand over the Itsuki Corporation.

    The fake Itsuki agreed. He wasn¡¯t greedy for wealth. Moreover, he knew how strong Itsuki was. Ryder was just as strong as Itsuki as far as he knew, so he didn¡¯t want to mess with Ryder.

    "That¡¯s good. Come to America as soon as you can. We can finish the legal work here," Ryder told Itsuki, closing the connection.

    ...

    The Goddess of Destiny was still suspicious of Janus even though he said that he wasn¡¯t involved.

    She believed that finding the Lord of Space like this wasn¡¯t going to work. And even if it did, she didn¡¯t think that Lord of Space would kidnap their kids. He had no need to do that after all.

    Moreover, even if he did that somehow, there was no way he would have been stupid enough to leave themunication stone behind. It all just seemed a little too convenient.

    She wanted to investigate herself about what had happened.

    At first, she just tried to find her son, and she couldn¡¯t find him anywhere on earth, but now she decided to investigate the trail of her son to see when he wasst seen and where.

    At that moment, the goddess of destiny stood in front of the Itsuki Corporation.

    "Hmm? Is that woman cosying?"

    "She¡¯s pretty good, actually."

    "I wonder if she¡¯s a model. She¡¯s so pretty."

    "That¡¯s true. She¡¯s pretty hot indeed."

    Everyone was able to see the Goddess of Destiny this time. Most of the men were stunned by her looks, while thedies were jealous of how smooth her skin looked.

    A lot of young men approached her to ask for her number.

    The Goddess of Destiny ignored all the attention around her. She also ignored the men that were flocking around her as she disappeared.

    "What the...."

    "Did she just disappear?"

    "I think I¡¯m dreaming! Can you pinch me?!"

    "Crap! That¡¯s not a dream! Was that woman a ghost? And I was about to ask her out? I can¡¯t believe it!"

    Everyone who was previously staring at the Goddess of Destiny was scared, believing that saw a ghost.

    On the other hand, the Goddess of Destiny appeared in the room where Itsuki used to sit.

    "Who are you? How did you get it?" Itsuki asked, stunned as he saw the Goddess of Destiny inside her office, appearing out of thin air.

    "So you¡¯re the man my son shared a tiny fraction of his powers with. Where is Itsuki?" she asked the fake Itsuki.

    "Hmm? You son? You mean Master Itsuki was your son?" The fake Itsuki asked.

    "That¡¯s right. I want to know where he is. And why wasn¡¯t I able to sense him?" The Goddess of Destiny asked the Fake Itsuki.

    "You don¡¯t know? He died," Itsuki replied, sighing.

    "He left with a young man. I didn¡¯t see him again. All I received was the information that he had died in a car ident and a video of that from that young man," he added as he opened hisptop to show that video.

    "Huh? Where did that video go? Why can¡¯t I find it?" Itsuki eximed in shock, unable to find the video.

    "You really shouldn¡¯t lie to me. Tell me the truth. Where is my son?!" The Goddess of Destiny shouted.

    "I¡¯m not lying. He had left with the son of the God of Time who came here from the future!" Itsuki exined, talking about the story that Ryder had given to him, about theing from the future to stop the uing war.

    "So this person... Was there to kill our sons to stop a future war? God of Space? Who is he?! Tell me right now!"

 Chapter 616 Trap

    <h4>Chapter 616: Trap</h4>

    "He is known as Ryder Flynn. Interestingly enough, he wants me to meet him tomorrow. He wants to possess thepany that Itsuki created, which certainly makes me think that he was involved in the death of Itsuki," the fake Itsuki pointed out.

    "Ryder Flynn? Where does he live?" The Goddess of Destiny asked, frowning.

    "I have his address with me. But I think it would be better if you came with me. He won¡¯t know about you, and then you can hear his lies yourself. Or you can go alone?" Itsuki suggested.

    "I¡¯ll being with you. Just tell me where he is," the Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "He lives in the United States. I¡¯m going there tomorrow. I¡¯ll arrange a ticket for you too," Itsuki said.

    "No need for tickets," Goddess of Destiny said, grabbing the man by his shoulders before she disappeared. The man disappeared with her as well.

    She and Itsuki appeared on top of a tall building in the United States of America.

    "We are there. Next?" Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "Ah, alright. I was supposed to meet him in his office tomorrow, but I guess we can do it today. I¡¯ll just tell him that I was already in America. As for his office, it¡¯s..."

    ...

    Ryder had just reached home after taking an outside trip. He was just about to step out of the car when his phone started ringing.

    "Maya, can you tell me who is calling?" Ryder asked, not bothering to bring his phone out of his pocket. There was no need for him to do it since Alicia was with him.

    "It¡¯s Itsuki," Alicia replied.

    "Pick the call and put it on speaker," Ryder said.

    Alicia followed hismands.

    "Hello?"

    "Mr. Ryder, where are you at the moment?" Itsuki asked, hearing Ryder¡¯s voice.

    "Why do you want to know about me?" Ryder asked.

    "Actually, I¡¯m in front of your office. Didn¡¯t you want to meet? When are youing?" Itsuki asked.

    "Huh? You¡¯re outside my office? How did you get there so fast? Weren¡¯t you in Japan when west talked?" Ryder asked, surprised.

    "I already had a business trip nned for America. And Japan isn¡¯t that far either. After getting off the call, I took my pre-nned thoughts. And now I¡¯m here. Soe fast, I need to get going. I don¡¯t have all day," Itsuki let out.

    "Fine! Wait there. I¡¯ll be there in half an hour," Ryder replied before he disconnected the call.

    Ryder turned the car around and left the Maxwell Estate once again.

    "Maya, I still think it¡¯s a bit too odd that he got here so fast. A bit too coincidental that he had another meeting in the city before I even invited him. Can you check if he actually told me the truth?" Ryder asked Maya.

    "It¡¯s wrong. He didn¡¯t get on any flight. I¡¯ve been keeping an eye on him as youmanded. He was in his office when you talked to him. Since then, he hadn¡¯t left his office," Maya replied.

    "Is that so? Then is he lying about being outside my office?" Ryder asked.

    "Wrong. He is actually outside your office," Maya replied.

    "How is that possible? I don¡¯t understand it. You said he was actually in his office, and he didn¡¯t take any flight. And you say he is in front of my office as well?" Ryder asked, not understanding.

    "Something doesn¡¯t add up. It¡¯s impossible unless he has some skill which is simr to my world traveling skill," he muttered. "Tell me, how did he get here so fast?"

    "I¡¯ve sent a video to your phone. You can see what happened yourself," Maya exined to Ryder.

    Ryder stopped the car on the side of the road before bringing his phone out of his pocket.

    He opened the new footage that he just received and started ying it.

    As he yed the footage, he couldn¡¯t help himself as his mouth opened slightly. Not only was he able to see the video, but he was also able to hear the conversation.

    He noticed a strange woman appear in front of the fake Itsuki. She imed that Itsuki was her son.

    Hearing that, Ryder understood that she was a goddess who was the Mother of Itsuki. What he was worried about was actually happening.

    "This just had to happen now?! Couldn¡¯t she have waited for a few days? I nned to have that Fake Itsukie here with the excuse of buying hispany. He would never have gone back after that," Ryder muttered, sighing.

    He couldn¡¯t help but sigh deeply as he heard their conversation. Everything was out. And now that goddess knew that he was behind the disappearance of her son.

    What shocked him even more was that thedy disappeared with Itsuki. Ryder knew where the two of them were right now. They were waiting for him in front of his office. It was a Trap.

    "They know about me. I need to make sure that Alice and Shu aren¡¯t in the Estate. After I don¡¯t fall into their trap, they¡¯ll certainlye where I live!" Ryder quickly turned the car around, driving back.

    He called Shu.

    "Shu, I need you to do something," he asked as soon as the call was picked up.

    "What do you want me to do?" Shu asked. "Just name it."

    "I want you to take Alice on a Vacation from my side. Just get her to leave the Mansion and the City! Make any excuse you have to! I¡¯ming back as well. Just think that you don¡¯t have much time!¡¯ Ryder hastily said.

    "Hah? Did something happen again? It¡¯s the second time you¡¯re asking people to abandon the mansion. Is it again something that guards can¡¯t solve?" Shu asked.

    "No amount of guards is ever going to be enough! Just listen to me this onest time," Ryder insisted.

    "Fine! I¡¯ll make some excuses for this vacation. We can take out private jets. I¡¯ll tell it to get ready. How does a Vacation of Egypt sound?" Ryder asked, sighing.

    "It¡¯s fine. As long as it¡¯s far away from the states," Ryder let out.

    "Good."

    ....

    Ryder reached home to find Shu talking to Alicia. He was telling her about a business trip to Egypt, and he wanted to take Alicia and Ryder with her for vacation.

    Alicia instantly agreed.

    "Ah, you¡¯re here as well! We¡¯re going to Egypt!" Alicia informed Ryder.

    "Yeah, we are. Let¡¯s not dy any longer. The jet is waiting, and everything is ready!" Ryder affirmed. He helped Alicia pack her bags.

 Chapter 617 Abandoned

    <h4>Chapter 617: Abandoned</h4>

    Alice and Ryder left the mansion together with Shu. They entered the helicopter that was standing inside the Mansion premises.

    The helicopter started flying, taking the group of three to the airport where the private jet was waiting for them.

    ...

    "It has been half an hour. Where is he?" The Goddess of Destiny was getting impatient, standing outside the headquarters of Divine Corporation, which was owned by Ryder.

    They were waiting for his arrival, but he didn¡¯t arrive even now.

    "Maybe he¡¯s runningte. That happens sometimes. Let me call him again," Itsuki said, picking up the phone.

    He called Ryder again.

    ...

    The helicopternded at the airport. Alice and Ryder stepped out of the helicopter, following Shu. They were escorted to the private ne.

    Ryder¡¯s phone started ringing.

    "Excuse me for a minute."

    Ryder moved away from all the noise and picked up the call.

    "Yeah, Itsuki. What¡¯s up?"

    "Where are you? It¡¯s been close to an hour," Itsuki reminded Ryder.

    "Ah, yeah. I apologize for that. Actually, I¡¯m runningte. An emergency came up. I¡¯ve finished it. Now I¡¯ming straight to the office. Give me another hour. I¡¯ll be right there," Ryder replied before quickly disconnecting the call.

    Ryder walked back to Shu to make an excuse. He didn¡¯t n to leave the city in the first ce either.

    ¡¯I¡¯m extremely sorry, but something important came up. I can¡¯te with you two right now. I¡¯ll only be free tomorrow. You two leave. I¡¯ll join you a dayter," he informed Alice and Shu.

    Shu already knew that Ryder wasn¡¯t going toe, but it came as a surprise to Alice. "Again?"

    "I can wait for a day as well. I¡¯lle with you," she told Ryder.

    "Don¡¯t be stupid. Just go there now. It¡¯ll be useless even if you stay here since I¡¯ll be busy at work. I won¡¯t be at home. In any case, you won¡¯t be with me. Instead, it¡¯s better if you go there first and arrange everything," Ryder said, not letting her stay behind.

    After a thorough convincing, Alice ultimately agreed to go with Shu before Ryder.

    Ryder watched the two of them enter the private jet, which soon took off.

    He walked back to the helicopter that was waiting behind them. He sat inside the helicopter, which started flying back towards his office.

    It was time for him to meet the Goddess of Destiny. He was prepared for the consequences, because he still had the power of time reversal. He wanted to see what they wanted from him and if he could fool them before deciding on what to do.

    He didn¡¯t forget to inform Janus about the appearance of the Goddess of Destiny, but he hasn¡¯t received a response that made him think that Janus had abandoned him.

    He was asking Janus¡¯ help for over an hour, but there was no response. He believed that Janus was just with Ryder for his brother, and now that his brother was free, he didn¡¯t need to stick around.

    Ryder felt abandoned. He realized he couldn¡¯t depend on anyone at the moment. He needed to solve this mess himself.

    His helicopternded on the roof of the building he owned. He stepped out of the helicopter and went downstairs to his office before calling Itsuki.

    "You cane inside. I¡¯m in my office."

    ...

    "He¡¯s inside. That helicopter right now must be his," Itsuki told the Goddess of Destiny, who was invisible.

    She and Itsuki stepped inside the building.

    Itsuki informed the receptionist that he was here to meet Ryder.

    "He already informed me that you¡¯ll be arriving. He¡¯s waiting for you. Please go ahead," the receptionist answered as she sent Itsuki to Ryder¡¯s office.

    Itsuki stepped inside Ryder¡¯s office, apanied by the Goddess of Destiny, who was invisible.

    "Wee, Mr. Yamada. I¡¯ve been wanting to meet you for so long. It¡¯s really great to finally meet you," Ryder greeted Itsuki.

    "Yeah. Same here."

    "I can¡¯t tell you how surprised I was when you called to inform me about your desire to sell yourpany. It was really surprising," Ryder said.

    "I contacted you? What are you saying? You talked to me about buying mypany, almost forcing me when you talked about Itsuki¡¯s death in an ident," Itsuki eximed.

    "Itsuki¡¯s death? Ah? Aren¡¯t you sitting before me? Why would I tell you about your death when you¡¯re alive? Are you drunk or something?" Ryder asked, stunned.

    He acted as if it was his first time hearing this.

    Itsuki couldn¡¯t believe what Ryder was trying to say. "What nonsense are you speaking! Why are you acting as if you don¡¯t know what I¡¯m speaking! You¡¯re the son of God of Time! The person who can manipte time!"

    "You know there were two Itsuki¡¯s; one was the son of a god. You took that Itsuki, and he never returned! Then you said that he died in an ident!" he further added, reminding Ryder. "You even sent the video of that ident!"

    "God? Manipte time? Ah, Mr. Yamada, I think you¡¯ve been watching too many movies. What you¡¯re saying sounds like the story of a Revengers movie. All this nonsense about gods. Do you really expect me to believe it?" Ryder asked, still acting innocent.

    "I never called you. It was you who called mest week with the proposal of selling yourpany to me! I think you¡¯re really not in your right mind. You need a doctor. I know a perfectly good psychiatrist. He can really help you. You must meet him! Let me give you his number," he further said.

    "Nonsense! Why aren¡¯t you epting the truth?! You video called me! I have proof!" Itsuki firmly stated, bringing out aptop. He opened the video call app and checked the history of all calls.

    "Alright. Let me check," Ryder said, standing up. He approached the side of Itsuki to see for himself.

    "What? How is that possible?" Shock appeared on the face of Itsuki as he checked the history. It didn¡¯t show any call from Ryder. Instead, it showed him that he was the one who called Ryderst week.

    "See? Do you remember now? I never called you. It was you who called me," Ryder said, sighing. "Don¡¯t worry, buddy. The doctor I suggested will really help you."

    "This is a lie! I¡¯m not crazy! You called me! You¡¯re the son of the Lord of Time! You said it yourself! You definitely used some trick to hack my system! I¡¯m sure of that!" Itsuki yelled.

    "Ah, Mr. Yamada, your conspiracy theories are getting worse with each passing second," Ryder muttered, smiling wryly.

 Chapter 618 Messing with brain

    <h4>Chapter 618: Messing with brain</h4>

    "What nonsense! None of the things I said was a conspiracy theory! You were the one who always called me! This... You hacked the app! You are behind this! You¡¯re framing me!" Itsuki yelled, standing up.

    "Enough. I don¡¯t have time to entertain your nonsense. If you want my help, go to a good doctor. If you don¡¯t want to go there, just leave and live with your sick head. I have no need to frame you!" Ryderzily said, standing up.

    "What a waste. I came here especially for this meeting, only to find out that I was meeting a crackhead. Please leave. The meeting is over. I¡¯m also leaving," he added, opening the doors for Itsuki, who was totally confused. What was happening? Why wasn¡¯t Ryder epting the truth?

    As he was wondering what it might be, he realized something.

    "I get it! You¡¯re pretending not to know anything since you know that I brought Itsuki¡¯s mother with me! Isn¡¯t that right?" Itsuki asked.

    "Huh? You brought your mother too? Is she waiting outside? Why would you even bother to bring your mother to a business meeting?" Ryder asked, sighing.

    "Anyway, take her and go," he stated, closing the door after everyone had left the office.

    Leaving Itsuki behind, he started leaving.

    The Goddess of Destiny stood behind Itsuki, watching everything. She couldn¡¯t help but wonder if this was true? Was this guy actually crazy? Was he lying about Ryder being the Lord of Time?

    After Ryder left, Itsuki turned towards the Goddess of Destiny. "I swear on my life! He was pretending!"

    ¡¯Whatever you imed, you didn¡¯t show any proof. You said that guy came to your office to meet my son. But there was no proof of that. Then you said he called you here. No proof of that either."

    "Then you stated that he sent you the footage of my son in an ident. No proof of that either, was there?" Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "Ah, he is just too clever. He probably deleted all the footage! Don¡¯t trust him. I swear I¡¯m not lying! He is the son of God of Time! He actually reversed the time of a nt!" Itsuki insisted.

    "Enough with that story! He had no godly aura! And he has no aura of our sons either! He¡¯s nothing but a human! Enough with your crazy stories! Tell me the truth!" The Goddess of Destiny said, cing her hands on the shoulders of Itsuki.

    She disappeared with Itsuki.

    "Those two have left," Maya informed Ryder, who was sitting in the helicopter.

    "That¡¯s good. I think we handled it well," Ryder let out, smiling. The helicopter started flying.

    "Too bad I can¡¯t take hispany now."

    ...

    Since the jet of Shu had long left, he couldn¡¯t go there. He needed to wait for tomorrow for his next flight.

    He straight went back to the mansion.

    After having dinner at the mansion, he went to his room.

    "Maya, can you trace that goddess who was with Itsuki? Where are those two? I want to go to the Divinity World, but I can¡¯t with her looming over my head. Can¡¯t let her see me disappear," Ryder said, sighing.

    ¡¯After Chaos took my body and gave me this one, I¡¯ve gotten rid of all the aura of those gods that I killed. That aura was attached to the original body. And he even made it so that no one can see that I¡¯m more than a human. Fortunately, everything worked as expected.¡¯ he thought, lying on the bed.

    "I found the two of them," Maya replied, opening a holographic screen in front of Ryder, which showed Itsuki.

    Itsuki was sitting on a chair, nkly. There remained no expression on his face.

    The Goddess of Destiny wasn¡¯t alone with him. There were also six other people with her.

    "Oh, cr*p. They didn¡¯t give up. Those seven should be the parents of the ones I killed. What are they trying to do?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Can you ess his memories and confirm if he¡¯s telling the truth?" The Goddess of Destiny asked a man who had his hand over the head of Itsuki.

    "Ah, they¡¯re trying to ess his memories! I freaking knew they¡¯d do something like that! I hope that medicine works, or I¡¯ll be screwed big time," Ryder muttered, hearing what they were trying to do.

    ...

    Hours ago,

    Ryder had just stepped out of his helicopter on top of his building, but before calling Itsuki to his office, he met with a worker in his office.

    He gave that guy two sses of water; one had a little mark on them.

    As for the marked ss of water, it was drugged. Ryder added a medicine he purchased from the store in the ss is water.

    The medicine effectively messed with the person¡¯s memories, removing all he saw before and changing them all to the dreams he had seen throughout his life.

    Ryder knew that someone was probably going to try something with his memories; that¡¯s why he messed with them. The effect of the medicine started as soon as Itsuki left the office.

    As the worker served the sses of water, Ryder picked up the water, which didn¡¯t have a mark, leaving the other for Itsuki.

    Itsuki also picked up a ss of water and drank it, not expecting it to be drugged.

    ....

    "Please make the medicine work. Or I¡¯ll be fcked!¡¯

    Ryder prayed, waiting to see what happened.

    The man who had his hand on the head of Itsuki retracted his hand with a weird look on his face.

    "All his memories are messed up. I think you were right. He is crazy. His words can¡¯t be taken seriously. In some of his memories, he¡¯s the president of the whole world," he said.

    "In other memories, he¡¯s a popr actor, and in some, he¡¯s a man in a metal suit, fighting a pink alien who wants to wipe half the world. It¡¯s just weird," he further added, shaking his head.

    "Yes! It worked!" Ryder clenched his fist in excitement.

    "See Janus?! I don¡¯t need your help to handle such things! I can do it without you too!" he eximed, smiling.

    Just as he was getting excited, he noticed something.

    "Wait! Can you show me in the back of the room? I thought I saw someone¡¯s hand. Another person is there!"

    Maya widened the screen to show the whole room.

    Ryder was able to see another person present there now. It was none other than Janus!

    He was standing with all the gods that were searching for Ryder as well.

 Chapter 619 Meeting Aslina

    <h4>Chapter 619: Meeting Aslina</h4>

    "He¡¯s there with them? Is he pretending to side with them? No wonder he wasn¡¯t replying to me. He probably didn¡¯t want to get found out. But still, he could have at least informed me one way or another. It didn¡¯t have to be words," Ryder thought, seeing Janus with the other gods.

    "The problem will exist though. All the gods won¡¯t stop searching. And thatdy mighte here to check up on me again. Wait, how would she know where I am?"

    "Even if I went to the world of Divinity, she isn¡¯t going to know where I am. Even ordinary humans aren¡¯t at their homes at times. Also, I won¡¯t be the only one who¡¯s not here. There shouldn¡¯t be a need to worry," Ryder thought, shaking his head.

    He started getting dressed using the attire from the world of Divinity and hi

    "Maya, keep an eye on all of them. Even when I¡¯m in Immortal World, alert me if any of them gets closer to this ce," hemanded Maya before he disappeared.

    ...

    Tiara Kingdom... It was one of the highly influential Kingdoms in Divinity which was a popr destination for the yers.

    At one time, crowds of yers could be seen in the Kingdom, but at the moment, the kingdom seemed void of any yers. That wasn¡¯t the case for this kingdom only. Other kingdoms also faced the same thing.

    Tiara Kingdom was also the ce where Ryder wanted to establish a guild. He already owned a piece ofnd in the Kingdom because of the Princess who handed it to him.

    The capital city of the Tiara Kingdom was known as the Windsor City, which was ruled by the Royal Windsor Family. They were one of the many kingdoms that had invited the Demon King to their Kingdom as a form of thanks.

    Even the Windsor Royal Family hadn¡¯t seen the Demon King before. They were in for a big surprise.

    Ryder appeared at the entrance of the Windsor City out of thin air. It was the ce he had decided to meet the Rale.

    As he appeared at the entrance, he noticed that Rale wasn¡¯t there yet. "He¡¯s runningte."

    Ryder started walking back and forth in the rough group, waiting for Rale.

    It was the same ce where Ryder had pretended to defeat Rale, who had kidnapped Princess Aslina Windsor. It was where he had established himself as a hero.

    "Ah, now that I think about it, Aslina will remember Rale as well. She¡¯ll understand everything," He muttered, smiling wryly. "I guess it¡¯s time I told her the truth as well.

    In the distance, he finally saw a figure flying towards him.

    "He¡¯s here," he thought, ncing at Rale in the distance. He had finally reached there.

    Ralended in front of Ryder. "Did I make you wait?"

    "Not for long. Don¡¯t worry. Let¡¯s go in," Ryder replied.

    He flew towards the Royal Pce with Rale.

    Seeing two people flying above their City, the citizens were surprised.

    "Sorcerers!" Most of them eximed, looking at Ryder and Rale. They could only think that Ryder and Rale were magicians from other powerful magic kingdoms. There were stories of such people.

    The twonded in front of the Royal Pce.

    Ryder¡¯s top half face was covered with the Royal cloak he was wearing.

    Seeing two peoplend in front of them from mid-sky intimidated the guards a lot.

    "W-who are you?" They asked.

    "We¡¯re from the Demon Realm! Your King invited us to be his guests," Rale answered.

    "Ah, right! He told me about you. Please follow me." The guard escorted Ryder and Rale inside, not knowing that Ryder was the person they had already escorted many times.

    The small group of two was taken to the Royal Court, where the King was sitting with his ministers. Aslina was also present there.

    "Greetings to the mighty King of Demon Realm. I can¡¯t tell you how grateful I am that you epted our invitation." King Windsor stood up in respect, facing Ryder and Rale. "It¡¯s good to finally see the mighty Demon King."

    He couldn¡¯t see the face of Ryder either. Aslina was also the same, but she could see Rale, who wasn¡¯t covering his face.

    "Wait! Aren¡¯t you the one who tried to kidnap mest time? Did your Demon Realm want to kidnap me?¡¯ Alicia openly said, making the frown.

    "Is this true?¡¯ King Windsor asked Rale, frowning.

    ¡¯It¡¯s not true, Princess Aslina. Rale didn¡¯t want to kidnap you," Ryder replied grimly. He shifted his attention to the King.

    "You said it¡¯s good to finally meet me? That¡¯s not true though. We¡¯ve met quite a few times before," he told the King.

    "We have?" The king asked, stunned. ¡¯Why don¡¯t I remember?"

    "What do you mean he didn¡¯t want to kidnap me?! He did that unintentionally? You know if a great man weren¡¯t there on time, your follower would have taken me!"

    Both the King and the Princess were talking at the same time.

    "No, he wouldn¡¯t have taken you. Also, that great man himself asked Rale to take you from your Pce so he couldter save you and get close to you," Ryder replied.

    "Nonsense! Why would he do that?!"

    "Because he wanted to impress you?¡¯ Ryder replied, removing his hood to show his face.

    "You?!" Aslina and the King were shocked to their cores. They weren¡¯t the only ones though. The entire Royal Court was filled with gasps.

    "You... are the King of the Demon Realm?" The King asked.

    "That¡¯s right. I lied about being an ordinary adventurer for another Kingdom. I am the King of the Demon Realm. And when I met Aslina, I was the Prince of Demon Realm," Ryder replied, sighing.

    "Ah! I get it! It¡¯s like those stories I read! A Prince falls in love with the Princess at first sight, and to get close to her; he lies about his identity! That must be the case with you too! Isn¡¯t that the case?¡¯ the King eximed.

    "That¡¯s somewhat close, I guess. Not entirely urate, but yeah. I like Aslina. I hope my identity won¡¯t be a problem for you?¡¯ Ryder asked.

    "Do you still want to marry my daughter?" King Windsor asked the question which was in everyone¡¯s mind.

    Ryder paused for a moment before he nodded. "I do."

    "What do you say, Aslina? After knowing the truth, do you want to marry the King of the Demon Realm?" King Windsor asked his daughter.

    "I want to talk to you alone!" Aslina told Ryder, not answering her father. "Please follow me."

    "Rale, you stay here. I¡¯ll be right back," Rydermanded Rale before leaving with Aslina.

 Chapter 620 Mystery Gift

    <h4>Chapter 620: Mystery Gift</h4>

    Ryder left with Aslina, who escorted him to a ce that was all too familiar to him. She took him to her room where he had been before.

    Entering the room, Aslina closed the door behind Ryder before she shifted her attention to Ryder.

    "Tell me the truth. Why did you have me kidnapped? Why did you fake all that?" She asked Ryder, staring into his eyes.

    "And what truth are you expecting? Didn¡¯t I already tell you the truth?" Ryder asked in return.

    "What you said wasn¡¯t the truth. You had me kidnapped so you could save me? Because you liked me? Nope. If that were the case, you wouldn¡¯t have left so fast," Aslina retorted.

    "Also, you asked me for thend in our kingdom, iming that you were an adventurer that wanted to open a guild? Why did you need thatnd? This doesn¡¯t add up. You already had a kingdom of your own," she continued.

    " If you are actually the King of Demon Realm, why did you have to lie about that? Why did you want thatnd?" She asked, putting Ryder in a corner.

    "That actually wasn¡¯t a lie though. It¡¯s true that I¡¯m the King of Demon Realm, but it¡¯s also true that I¡¯m an adventurer at heart. I wanted to open a guild in the Tiara Kingdom," Ryder exined.

    "You could¡¯ve asked fornd as the King of the Demon Realm. My father wouldn¡¯t have disagreed if the request wasing from such a powerful ce. Or you could have also opened the Guild in your kingdom; why in our ce specifically?" Aslina asked.

    "I had a reason for that too. Firstly, I didn¡¯t want to use my position to scare your father into giving me yournd. I wanted to achieve this without using my identity. And secondly, I didn¡¯t want that guild in my own realm. Because I wanted that to be here only," Ryder replied, sighing.

    "Because I wanted to be in your presence as often as I could. If my guild were in any other ce, this would have made it even more difficult to apany you," Ryder exined, selecting a decent story.

    " Why else do you think I¡¯d select the Tiara Kingdom for my guild? With my strength, I could have easily receivednd even in the strongest of Empires in this would?" He continued.

    "Are you telling the truth?" Aslina asked. "Was it all because of me?"

    "Of course. Who else would this be for if not you?" Ryder innocently asked.

    "So you really love me?" Aslina inquired.

    Ryder nodded in response. Even though he hadn¡¯t spent much time with Aslina, the time he spent had already made him like her. Aslina was not only one of the most beautiful princesses in the world of Divinity, but she also had a great and pleasing personality.

    ...

    "Hmm?" Ryder suddenly frowned, noticing something strange. Aslina had frozen in her ce, not moving at all. It was as if time had suddenly stopped.

    He even looked at the clock on the wall to see that it had stopped as well.

    "What¡¯s happening?" he muttered, confused, but he soon realized why it happened as a familiar figure appeared before him.

    "You¡¯re here as well," Ryder asked, looking at a man who looked simr to him. The man did have longer hair than him and a few more minor differences.

    There was a bracelet on the man¡¯s hand which had some strange characters shining, but this bracelet was also familiar to Ryder. It was the bracelet that he used to wear until some time ago.

    The man in front of him was none other than Chaos, who had stopped time at this Pce.

    "Did youe here to talk to me? You didn¡¯t have to stop time for it? On a different note, I didn¡¯t even know we could stop time with this bracelet. Why didn¡¯t I have this ability before?" Ryder asked.

    "I didn¡¯te here for you," Chaos replied, approaching the wardrobe in the back.

    "Why did youe here then?" Ryder asked, confused.

    Chaos didn¡¯t reply. Instead, he opened the wardrobe and took something out which seemed like a deep blue crystal.

    "That... Is that a fragment?" Ryder asked, but he soon received his answer as he saw Chaos ce the Bracelet of Immortality.

    "That¡¯s right. It¡¯s the Fragment of Charm," Chaos exined, turning around.

    "A fragment was here? Why didn¡¯t I know about this when I came herest time?" Ryder asked, surprised to know that a fragment was so close to him, and he wasn¡¯t able to take that.

    "Because it wasn¡¯t here when youst came. I think this was only recently kept here," Chaos exined. "How have you been doing? Enjoying the new body of yours?"

    "It is what it is," Ryder muttered. "I don¡¯t feel any difference in it."

    "That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll get going then. Still need to get seven more fragments," Chaos let out, ready to leave.

    "Wait!" Ryder called out.

    "What?" Chaos asked.

    "So you know that there are seven gods hunting me for killing their sons? How can I get out of that? Help me! Why don¡¯t you kill them already? I don¡¯t want to live in fear, and without the Immunities, I¡¯m at their mercy if they ever find me," Ryder exined.

    "You, on the other hand, have the immunity from all the fragments you collected. You are also stronger. Take them out!"

    "I can¡¯t yet. I need them alive. But you don¡¯t have to worry. Janus is with them. He¡¯ll help you if something goes wrong. The gods, however, can¡¯t get to you. I¡¯ve made your body such that they can¡¯t realize you are different from an ordinary human. As far as I can see, you¡¯re perfectly safe," Chaos replied.

    "Depends on your definition of perfectly safe." Ryder rolled out his eyes. "A goddess came to me just today. She sat standing only a few feet away from me. If I wasn¡¯t careful, I might have already been dead."

    Chaos sighed. " Fine. If you¡¯re actually worried about your safety, I¡¯ll give you something."

    Chaos stepped closer to Ryder and waved his hand, making a small portal appear before him. He entered his hand inside the portal and brought it out again. There was a piece of paper in his hand this time though.

    He gave the piece of paper to Ryder.

    "When you¡¯re in danger, tear that piece of paper. But remember, only do that as ast resort. Don¡¯t use it lightly," Chaos exined.

    "What does it do?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "You¡¯ll see when you use it," Chaos muttered before disappearing again.

 Chapter 621 Wedding

    <h4>Chapter 621: Wedding</h4>

    "Man, that guy really loves the dramatics. Couldn¡¯t he just say what it does?" As Chaos left, Ryder remained behind, watching the paper in his hand, which felt like paper but, at the same time, looked different as well.

    It felt much more durable in hand and very thick.

    He ultimately kept that paper in his inventory for the future because he had a feeling that he could soon need it with the way things were going.

    "What are you thinking about?" Just as Ryder was lost in deep thought, he heard the voice of Aslina, who was standing in the back.

    As Chaos had left, the time started moving at its usual pace. Aslina returned to her normal self to notice Ryder lost in thought.

    "Ah, nothing," Ryder let out, shaking his head. "So, what were we talking about?"

    "I was asking if you really want to marry me? That¡¯s not a lie, right?" Aslina asked Ryder, frowning.

    "That¡¯s right. I do want that," Ryder let out, nodding his head.

    "Are you really sure?" Aslina asked Ryder.

    "Why else would I say yes? I know that life is too short. I shouldn¡¯t worry about small things and just have what I want. Who knows what might happen the next day. So yeah, not hesitating any more," Ryder let out.

    Even though Chaos had separated from Ryder and the two of them were different, they still influenced each other, even though a little because of the time they had been together.

    Ryder now possessed the boldness of Chaos, while Chaos also possessed a few aspects of Ryder¡¯s core.

    Ryder was now a little different and more open than he had been before; he just didn¡¯t realize it.

    "I don¡¯t want to give you up. That¡¯s why I came here. I know we haven¡¯t spent much time together, but the time we spent is something I can¡¯t forget," Ryder told Aslina.

    "Me too," Aslina nodded, sighing.

    "Oh right, there¡¯s one more thing," Ryder suddenly said.

    "What thing?" Aslina asked, confused.

    "The face you see? That¡¯s not my real face. I actually used a treasure to keep a different face so my enemies couldn¡¯t recognize me," Ryder said, touching his face.

    "What do you mean it¡¯s not your real face?" Aslina asked, confused. He looked like he always did. There was nothing strange about his face now.

    "As I said, I used a mask to hide my real face. As for my real face, it¡¯s this..." Ryder let out as he took his Mask of Disguise off.

    He intentionally wore a mask to sport the face which he had in the world of Divinity since he wanted her to know who he was. He didn¡¯t want to keep two separate identities.

    As soon as he took the mask off, his silver hair turned into ck. There were also some more changes on his face which were mostly minor.

    "This was what I used when visiting the human realm. Now that I already told you the truth about me, do you trust me?" he asked.

    Aslina was overwhelmed at the thought of Ryder being able to change face. Was it his real identity?

    She was also confused. How could she trust Ryder? How could she know that he was actually the person she met before? If he could change the face, it was also possible that he was just the King of Demon Realm who was pretending to be the man that defeated Rale to save her?

    She didn¡¯t know if she could trust Ryder with this information.

    "I guess you are thinking about my authenticity? If I¡¯m actually the man you met or not? Aren¡¯t you?" he asked.

    Aslina nodded slowly, stepping back.

    "My face can lie but can my eyes lie?" Ryder asked, sighing.

    "This weapon which I used at the time too?" he added, bringing out the Moon Scythe.

    After Chaos had awakened, he left the Moon Scythe with Ryder as well since he didn¡¯t need it now. Instead, he was going to get his own weapon that truly belonged to him.

    "This scythe?" Aslina recognized this scythe as the scythe used by Ryder before.

    "That¡¯s right. I used this scythe before you. Do you think it¡¯s an Ordinary Weapon?" Ryder asked, smiling. "It¡¯s the Royal Weapon of the Demon Realm. No human can possess it. If anyone except me touches it without my permission, they¡¯ll be badly hurt."

    "Do you understand what I¡¯m saying? This alone proves who I am. Oh right, one more thing that will actually prove my identity. Ipletely forgot about it."

    Ryder opened his inventory and brought a scroll out from it.

    "This is the deed of thend that you personally gave me. Since it¡¯s on my name, it can certainly shine only in my hands. If this doesn¡¯t prove my identity, I don¡¯t know what will."

    Aslina looked at the scroll that was shining a little. It was true. It could only shine in the hands of the true owner.

    She wondered if Ryder had sold thisnd to the Demon King, and that¡¯s why it was shining. She took the scroll and opened it.

    As she checked the name, she found the same name on it which she had written. It wasn¡¯t sold at all.

    "I¡¯m sorry for doubting you. I just..." Aslina looked down apologetically for doubting Ryder.

    ....

    Aslina and Ryder left the room after finishing their conversations. They went back to the Royal throne room.

    "Ah?" Seeing Ryder, the King of Tiara Kingdom, grew surprised. Ryder was wearing the same clothes that the King of Demon Realm was wearing when he had left, but his face was different.

    Aslina ran up to her father and told her everything.

    "Ah, so that¡¯s what it was. I can understand that. As Royalty of his stature, a person needs to hide his identity, when going to foreignnds. It¡¯s not shocking," King Windsor said, nodding.

    "So, what have you two decided?" He asked his daughter, who nodded her head.

    "Incredible! So would we go forward with the marriage? When should we have it?" The king asked.

    "Let¡¯s do it tomorrow since I¡¯m already here," Ryder dered.

    The king nodded in satisfaction. "Good! You aren¡¯t shying away from marriage. It seems like you¡¯re really serious. But what about the Demon Realm? Would they ept a human bride for their King?"

    "They¡¯ll ept it. Don¡¯t worry about them," Ryder replied.

    "Good then! Very good! Tomorrow shall be the marriage of my daughter with the king of the Demon Realm! And tonight, we shall feast! Congrattions to everyone!" The king dered happily about the feast.

 Chapter 622 Teams

    <h4>Chapter 622: Teams</h4>

    The feastmenced in the night. Quite a few high-profile people from the Kingdom were invited on short notice to attend the feat. Princess Aslina was to be married to the King of Demon Realm. It was big news.

    After the feast, Ryder went back to his room, where he was arranged to stay. Rale apanied him.

    The two of them stood at the window, looking outside at the beautiful city.

    "Are you sure you want to marry Aslina? I think there are many greatdies in the Demon Realm too. They¡¯ll be very disappointed to see you married outside," Rale informed Ryder, sighing.

    "You think so? I doubt it. But yeah, even I sometimes have second thoughts, but then there¡¯s this feeling inside me that tells me that it¡¯s okay and that I wouldn¡¯t worry about anything and just listen to my heart," Ryder replied, shaking his head.

    "I¡¯m just going with the flow now. But I do see my life bingplicated in the future."

    "Anyway, I¡¯m leaving for the night. You can stay in my room. I should be back in the morning probably. If I¡¯mte, so something to keep them busy," he reminded Rale before disappearing.

    Ryder disappeared from the world of Divinity and appeared in the real world inside his room.

    Since there was no update from Maya, it was clear that the gods weren¡¯t closing in on him.

    Taking his clothes off, he donned the clothes from earth and kept the clothes from Divinity back in his inventory before leaving the mansion.

    As he stepped out of the mansion, he found a helicopter already waiting for him. The helicopter took him to the Airport, where a private jet was arranged to take Ryder to Egypt as well, where everyone else had gone on vacation.

    He entered the jet, which took off after getting all the necessary permission.

    ...

    As the flight was in the air, Ryder was served the food.

    "Maya, where are those gods right now?" After finishing the breakfast, Ryder asked.

    "Their location is unknown at the moment. None of them has been spotted in your surroundings though," Maya replied, sighing.

    "So we don¡¯t know where they are?" Ryder asked.

    "They all disappeared after thest time we saw them. Their location is truly unknown. I tried searching the entire world at one point but didn¡¯t find anyone," Maya replied.

    "Hmm? Could it be that they left this world already?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "It¡¯s possible," Maya nodded.

    "That would be great if that¡¯s the truth. If they leave, I can live my life freely," Ryder muttered, sighing. He did not keep his hopes high though.

    "Maybe I won¡¯t ever need to use that piece of paper in the future," he said. He was a bit relieved about it, but at the same time, he was upset about it as well.

    He really wanted to see what happened when that paper was torn, but he was seriously warned to only use it in case of emergency. Without gods, that emergency was never going to arrive.

    He already had most of his powers, thanks to Chaos. Small things could never threaten him. Only the gods could threaten him and force him to use that paper, but now that they were gone, he couldn¡¯t even use that.

    "Janus, are you all here?" He asked, wondering if Janus could answer him. But he still didn¡¯t get an answer.

    Sometimes he really felt that Janus had abandoned him. That guy hadn¡¯t talked to him even once since Chaos left.

    "Man, I feel really abandoned at this point," Rydermented, sighing. "Is it thest of us? Probably we¡¯ll never meet again unless our paths coincide as mine did with Chaos."

    ....

    While Ryder was thinking about Janus, Chaos was busy in finding all the fragments and setting things up for the endgame.

    Chaos appeared on a mountainous. It was a that was covered in the mountains entirely. It was also the same where Chaos hade to, right after separating from Ryder.

    It was also the where he had tossed the speck of light that he had collected from Alice.

    Hended on the tallest mountain in this world and sat down as if waiting for something.

    "It should be the time soon," he muttered, closing his eyes.

    Time kept trickling away, and soon, an hour passed.

    Deep near the core of this world, a small speck of light was still going down, reaching the center of this world.

    Soon, the speck of light reached the true core of the world. In the center of the world, a body was buried which hadn¡¯t decayed even a little. It didn¡¯t seem like that body belonged to a dead person. It was as if the person was only sleeping.

    As the speck of light touched the body, it started shining slowly. The shine only kept getting brighter and brighter.

    Back on the top of the mountain, Ryder felt a slight tremor. The where clouds never formed was soon covered in the clouds. The entire was covered in sunny clouds, which soon covered the entire.

    A strange phenomenon also took ce, forming what seemed like a world changing event.

    Green grass started growing in the mountains. Thepletely barren was soon covered in grass entirely, turning green. Trees and flowers also starteding out of the ground, making this world apletely different ce.

    Chaos patiently waited.

    ...

    In a different ce, Janus was still being apanied by the Goddess of Destiny, who was still suspicious of him.

    "Are you never going to leave me alone? If you¡¯re that suspicious of me, I can just go back to Heaven. I¡¯m here to help you, not because I have some ulterior motive. If that¡¯s how you are going to be, I might as well leave." Janus told the Goddess of Destiny, who was with him like a shadow.

    "I¡¯m not with you because I¡¯m suspicious. It¡¯s just that we all made a team of two, and you ended up with me. There was certainly no scheme in it either," The Goddess of Destiny said, shaking her head.

    "This idea to make groups of two was your idea. Are you saying that you had no ulterior motives in it?¡¯ Janus asked, smiling.

    "Of course. We¡¯re searching for the Lord of Space. We all know how strong he is. If one of us finds him, we might not be able to face him alone. That¡¯s why a team of two was decided. This is safer as well as better for us," the Goddess of Destiny said.

 Chapter 623 Return

    <h4>Chapter 623: Return</h4>

    "You think it¡¯s safer, but is it actually?" Janus asked the Goddess of Destiny.

    "What do you mean?" Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "In front of the Lord of Space, even two of us aren¡¯t enough, actually. He is much older than the two of us, isn¡¯t he?" Janus asked.

    "Older doesn¡¯t mean stronger to that extent. He is more powerful than us but now enough to wipe out two gods at once before others could be informed. He isn¡¯t your brother after all," Goddess of Destiny exined.

    ....

    The Goddess of Water walked with the God of mes.

    As she walked, she seemed somewhat uncertain.

    "What are you thinking about?" The God of Fire asked, noticing her uncertainty.

    "Something is really wrong. I don¡¯t know what it is, but I feel like we¡¯re all going in the wrong direction. It¡¯s as if someone is intentionally leaving us on a bad trail," the Goddess of Water said, sighing.

    " I have the same feeling. I don¡¯t understand why the Lord of Space would kidnap our sons? Not only ours, why would he kidnap his own son as well? Something is really strange here," the God of mes agreed.

    "What can a person get from our kids? They¡¯re not evenplete gods by now. And even if it was to ckmail us or to force us to do something, we didn¡¯t get any such demand either," he further added.

    " I don¡¯t believe someone kidnapped them to force us either. That¡¯s why... Themunication device being left behind... The aura of our sons on that device, it¡¯s just too convenient," Goddess of Water agreed.

    These two weren¡¯t the only ones who were thinking like that. Almost everyone here was thinking the same thing, but that also raised a question? Who was behind all these? And what did that person want?

    ...

    Another day passed with no development. All the gods searched the entire world, not finding anything.

    All of them came together at the end of the day to talk about what they could do next.

    "I think we should go back and talk to the Lord of Foresight. He¡¯s the almighty. He can certainly find out what has happened. And he can help us too. Nothing can be hidden from him!" The God of mes suggested.

    "That¡¯s the only option we have left. I don¡¯t believe the Lord of Space is on Earth anymore. We should really consult the God of Foresight!" The Goddess of Water agreed.

    "Do you think that arrogant man would help us? He didn¡¯t even help us when we all went to him for help against Chaos! He¡¯s just too...irritating!" God of War dered, rejecting the suggestion.

    "That¡¯s because he said he would never interfere in the battles of gods. We have a different situation this time. We don¡¯t want war either. All we want is to find the location of our kids. This isn¡¯t a battle of gods! He must help us this time!" The Goddess of Water replied.

    "I think we should try at least. It¡¯s better than randomly trying to find our sons," The Goddess of Destiny agreed. "He can¡¯t refuse us this time! The lives of our kids are on the line."

    Everyone agreed ultimately to the suggestion except Janus. He didn¡¯t involve himself in the discussion, standing like an outsider in the back.

    "Janus, you¡¯reing with us!" The Goddess of Destiny told Janus as it was decided that they would go back to Heaven.

    Since they were going back, she wanted Janus toe back with them since he had no reason to stay behind. Moreover, she was suspicious of him as well. If he had a hand in it, she wanted him to be with her.

    "Sure. I also want to get to the end of it. I don¡¯t minding with you. I¡¯m also curious as to what he would say if he decides to help you," Janus agreed. He didn¡¯t want to stay behind either since he wanted to keep an eye on them.

    All the gods left the Earth and went back to Heaven.

    ...

    Ryder¡¯s flight had alreadynded in Egypt, where he spent his vacation with Alice and Shu, watching the beautiful pyramids.

    ...

    Chaos sat on the mountainous where the entire scenery had suddenly changed. The world was greener andpletely different. No one could even find simrities between this world now and this world before.

    It looked entirely different. Except for the mountain, nothing was the same. The tremors continued with time and only intensified as time passed.

    Soon, the entire mountain had split in half as a crack developed, which went straight to the core of the earth.

    Chaos opened his closed eyes slowly as he stood up, ncing at massive cracks.

    He flew inside the crack, going to the core of the earth. As he reached the core of the earth, he was able to see a body lying on the ground.

    The body belonged to a woman who was dressed in a green dress. Her hair was also green now. As her eyes were closed, her eyes weren¡¯t visible, but the woman looked like she was sleeping peacefully.

    Chaos stepped closer to the body, going down on his knees. He gently ced his fingers on her cheeks, caressing her.

    The woman slowly opened her eyes, ncing at Chaos, who was also looking back.

    Their eyes met and didn¡¯t move. The two of them found themselves lost in each other¡¯s eyes, remembering about the thousands of years they had spent together in the past.

    "Good Morning..." Chaos softly said.

    "Good Morning," the woman replied, softly as she sat up.

    As she spoke, her soothing voice fell in Chaos¡¯s ears, sounding too melodious.

    "How long has it been?" The green haired woman asked Chaos.

    "Not long at all," Chaos said, smiling. "I¡¯m d you¡¯re up again."

    Chaos stood up with the woman and the two of them flew outside together. Through the crack, they came out tond on the green grass on top of another mountain.

    "This bracelet... I suppose it worked?" The green haired woman asked.

    "Hmm," Chaos nodded. "I still need to get the other fragments, and then I¡¯ll be ready."

    "Was it worth it? So much suffering all for that one goal of yours?" The woman asked.

    Chaos nced at the sky, sighing.

    "It¡¯s nothing. Even if I had to suffer twice as much, it was going to be with it," Chaos exined.

    "Just a little more, and no one will be able to stop me. I would be able to achieve it. And now that I have you, it¡¯s even better," he further said.

 Chapter 624 Janus caught

    <h4>Chapter 624: Janus caught</h4>

    All the gods reached the heaven, going straight to the God of Foresight, who lived in his own pce in the heaven.

    The God of Fortune didn¡¯t live alone like most gods. He didn¡¯t keep servants either. Instead, he lived with his students who learned under him. As for the students, they weren¡¯t from heaven either.

    Instead, he preferred going to different worlds and finding different people who he believed had the talent to learn his art. It was all because he didn¡¯t have a kid, and he wanted to find someone to inherit his Foresight so that this art never disappeared.

    Even though other gods didn¡¯t like the fact that the God of Foresight was meeting mortals to heaven, he kept them in his ce and didn¡¯t let them leave. The students didn¡¯t know that they were in Heaven either.

    On the promise that he was going to keep the kids in his Pce and wouldn¡¯t let them know about the heaven and the gods, he was allowed to keep them here.

    The gods didn¡¯t want to make a big issue out of it since it was happening in the Pce of the God of Foresight. Moreover, it was all so he could find an heir. They understood his plight.

    What actually surprised the other gods was that the God of Foresight was already thinking about his death. It was strange since most gods didn¡¯t think about death.

    Some gods believed that he had seen through his foresight about his death and how he was going to die. They believed that was why he was in a hurry to find an heir, so much so that he started picking mortals.

    Other gods believed something different though. They believed that he wanted to create more people to inherit his art so they could teach it to others, spreading it even further. There are even more theories about why he was doing it, but no one knew the truth.

    At the moment, eight gods stepped before the Pce of the God of Foresight.

    The God of War stepped forward to push the door open, but before his hand could even touch the door, the doors opened.

    The doors were opened by a human-like being, but it was clear that he wasn¡¯t human. He had red skin and two long horns protruding from his forehead.

    He was also one of the students of the God of Foresight. He also didn¡¯t know that the ones he was facing were gods. He still had no idea where he actually was. All he knew was that seven guests wereing.

    The God of Foresight was only allowed to tell the truth to his heir if and when he selected one.

    "Greetings to the Esteemed Sirs. Master already expected that you¡¯d being. He¡¯s already waiting for you inside. Please follow me," the horned man said.

    "I expected something like this. Not a bad show of skills. Take us to him," the God of War let out, rolling his eyes.

    All the gods were escorted inside the Pce.

    They were taken to a chamber that was very small. It was only three meters long and two meters wide.

    There was nothing in the room except nine mats ced on the ground. On the first mat, a man was sitting on his knees. The other eight mats are still empty.

    The horned man stopped in front of this room.

    "That¡¯s as far as I can go. You all can go inside. He is waiting for you inside," he told the gods before he turned around and left.

    Pushing the doors open, the seven gods stepped inside the room, apanied by Janus.

    Entering, they all noticed the eight mats in front of them.

    A dark-haired man was sitting before them. His hair came down to his waist, and so did his long white beard. The man was sitting with his eyes closed.

    "Greetings, old friends. So what brought you here?" The God of Foresight asked the gods.

    "You already knew we wereing. Don¡¯t tell me that you didn¡¯t know why we wereing?" The God of War asked, frowning.

    "I just want to hear it from you," the God of Foresight said, smiling. "I saw you were going toe, but I didn¡¯t bother seeing our conversation. For me, it¡¯s the real conversation."

    "I¡¯m sure you know that our sons have been kidnapped. We need your help in finding them and to know who kidnapped them," the Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "Who kidnapped them? That¡¯s a good question. Unfortunately, even I don¡¯t know who kidnapped them since they were never kidnapped," the God of Foresight said.

    "Huh? What do you mean they weren¡¯t kidnapped? Where did they all go then?" The Goddess of Water asked, surprised.

    "They went to the ce where a lot of gods went before us. One day, all of us shall go to that ce too. Unfortunately, the young ones went before us," the God of Foresight said, sighing.

    Sitting in the back, Janus couldn¡¯t help but frown. It seemed like this guy really knew everything, despite all the precautions he had taken.

    "Don¡¯t speak in vague words. Speak clearly. Where did they go? Where are they right now?" The God of War asked.

    "They¡¯re in the afterlife. Your sons are already dead. Well, most of them, at least. I see that one was left alive. That guy is really lucky," the God of Foresight said, sighing.

    Hearing his words, all the gods stood up, shocked.

    "Our sons are dead?! That bastard! I¡¯ll kill the Lord of Space! As soon as I find him, he¡¯ll be gone, I swear!" The God of War roared furiously. He was already convinced that it was the work of God of Space.

    " I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll ever find God of Space again," the God of Foresight said, sighing.

    "Why won¡¯t I? Even if he is hiding in the depths of hell, I¡¯ll find him!" The God of War dered.

    "You can¡¯t. Even I can¡¯t see where he is or what happened to him. So I doubt you can find him," the God of Foresight said, sighing.

    "Even you can¡¯t see where he is? What are you saying?" Goddess of Water asked, surprised. "Where could he be hiding that you can¡¯t find him?"

    "I¡¯m not sure, but I think there¡¯s one person here who can answer that question," the God of Foresight said, smiling.

    "Who? Who can tell us where he is?!" the God of War asked.

    "The one person who met the God of Spacest," the God of Foresight replied. "Janus, why don¡¯t you answer them?"

 Chapter 625 It cant be

    <h4>Chapter 625: It can''t be</h4>

    "Janus, are you going to exin?" The God of Foresight asked Janus, who stood in the back calmly.

    "You! I knew you had a hand in it! Tell me where that bastard is hiding! And why did you two kill our sons!" The God of War roared as he grabbed Janus by the cor.

    "Ah, God of War, I think you should release my clone. He isn¡¯t very durable. If he broke, my connection to you all would be cut. And how would you get your answers then?" Janus asked, smiling.

    "Clone?" The God of War eximed in shock.

    "God of Foresight? Why don¡¯t you tell him?" Janus asked, shifting his focus to the bearded man.

    "He is right. He isn¡¯t the real Janus. The real one didn¡¯t even enter this room," the God of Foresight exined. "Janus was thest one to enter, so he sent his clone and stayed outside. By now, he should already be gone."

    "You! Why didn¡¯t you tell us before! What am I going to do with a clone?!" The God of War roared, shifting his anger to the God of Foresight.

    "I told you, I¡¯m not going to involve myself in the problems of you all. You wanted the answers, and I¡¯m answering. But besides that, I have no responsibility. In any case, you need an answer, and this clone can answer you as well. I suggest you free him," the God of Foresight said softly.

    "So, are you freeing me or not? If you¡¯re not interested in hearing me, then I can just self destruct here, but then let alone finding the God of Space, you won¡¯t even be able to find me. So think carefully," Janus said, smirking.

    "Free him," the Goddess of Destiny agreed. "Let¡¯s hear what he has to say. He left his clone behind, so he certainly wants us to hear."

    "Hmph!" The God of War freed Janus before stepping back. "So, tell me! What did you do? And where is the God of Space?!"

    "God of Space?" Janus smiled, patting his clothes. "That guy is going, and you¡¯ll never see him again. I guess you can say that he¡¯s no better than dead at this point."

    "What happened to him? Why did he kill our sons? And why did you support him?¡¯ the God of War asked.

    "Do you not understand even now? The God of Space wasn¡¯t involved in anything. It should be Janus who did it all," the Goddess of Destiny chimed in, putting the pieces together.

    "He took out God of Space alone with our kids and tried to shift the me to God Of Space. He probably didn¡¯t expect that he would get caught like this. That should be what happened. Isn¡¯t that right, Janus?" She asked Janus.

    "Well, you¡¯re mostly wrong. It¡¯s true that I shifted the me on the God of Space, but that¡¯s all you got correct. I didn¡¯t kill your kids, and I didn¡¯t take God of Space out. I mean, do you really think I can defeat the God of Space?" Janus asked, shrugging.

    "If you didn¡¯t, then who did it?" Goddess of Water asked.

    "Well, someone who you really shouldn¡¯t have offended. As for who that person is, you¡¯ll know when the timees," Janus answered.

    "Even you don¡¯t know who did it?" The God of mes asked the God of Foresight.

    The God of Foresight shook his head.

    "I have no idea. Thest I saw of Lord of Space was when he met Janus. From that point on, I couldn¡¯t see anything, as if some strange force was stopping me. That can only mean that an upper echelon god cast his domain right then," The God of Foresight said.

    "Hmm? Are you sure it wasn¡¯t the God of Space himself? He is also pretty good at hiding himself?" The Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "No. It wasn¡¯t him. It was some Dark Domain. The Domain that stopped me seemed to contain some dark power. The domain of the Lord of Space is powerful, but it isn¡¯t Dark," the Lord of Foresight answered.

    "An upper echelon god with Dark Powers? There aren¡¯t many like that. But how would we know which one of them did it?" Goddess of Water asked, shaking her head.

    "Of course, this bastard Janus will tell us! He knows who did it! All we need is to beat the answers out of him!" The God of War dered.

    "How? His real body isn¡¯t here. He probably already escaped by now. We can¡¯t do anything with his clone," the Goddess of Water answered.

    "It¡¯s not hard to find Janus. He isn¡¯t an exception like the Lord of Space who can hide himself to perfection," the God of War replied. "Aren¡¯t I right, Janus? You know we can find you! And then we¡¯ll kill you! You will have a chance. Tell us who did it, and you¡¯ll survive."

    "What will you do after knowing who did it?" Janus asked, smiling.

    "We¡¯ll kill him, of course!" The Lord of War dered.

    "Are you sure you can?"

    "Of course we can! No matter which God it is, the seven of us can kill that person! Just give us the name! You¡¯ll see then!"

    "The seven of you are enough to kill that person?" Janus asked, looking weirdly at them before bursting intoughter.

    "Is that why you collected all the gods of this Realm to kill him? If you seven were enough, why didn¡¯t you seven do it alone then? Why did it take the entire God Realm to take him out!" Janus roared.

    "Entire God Realm to face him?"

    "Dark Aura...?"

    "Is it him?"

    "No, it can¡¯t be!"

    "How can it be possible! We watched him die and turn to dust right before our eyes!"

    "That¡¯s right! It¡¯s impossible! It can¡¯t be that monster!"

    All the gods took a step back, remembering that person. Even though it had been thousands of years, they could still feel that chilling feeling when facing that man.

    "Janus, you¡¯re lying! Tell us you¡¯re not talking about who we think you¡¯re talking about?" The Goddess of Water asked with a pale face.

    Janus simply smiled. "How many gods were attacked by the entire Heaven? Is there even a room for question? You know as well as I about the person I¡¯m talking about!"

    "No! He couldn¡¯t have returned! How is that possible? It can¡¯t happen!" The Goddess of Water eximed with a pale face.

    She had faced Chaos that day as well, and she had suffered badly. Fortunately, she had survived in thest moment while God of Space and God of Time stepped before her right when Chaos¡¯s horrifying Sword was about to impale her head.

 Chapter 626 He wont answer

    <h4>Chapter 626: He won''t answer</h4>

    "It can¡¯t be true! He can¡¯t be alive!" She repeated, remembering what seemed like a neat death to her.

    Being killed wasn¡¯t scary for her, but what truly scared her was the way she was going to be killed. The frightening sword of Chaos was still making her shiver.

    Almost all gods knew about the Sword that Chaos used. Unlike the Spirit Weapons of others that the gods formed themselves, the Sword that Chaos used wasn¡¯t a Spirit Weapon of his own.

    Instead, it was something he had discovered in the Dark Abyss where no god dared to go because of Dark Creatures that roamed there. That was more like a prison that no one wanted to go to.

    Only three gods had gone to that ce in all eternity, and two of them were Chaos and the Goddess of Reincarnation.

    It was said that Chaos had found that Sword in the Dark Abyss. It wasn¡¯t an ordinary sword but a Dark Sword that contained the Dark Energy of the deep abyss which Chaos had bound to his soul.

    That Sword was said to not only kill the gods but also to destroy their souls in the cruelest way possible by corrupting their souls and absorbing them to be stronger.

    She wasn¡¯t scared of death, but she was scared of her soul being tormented for an eternity even after death, and she wasn¡¯t the only one.

    All other gods were also scared of that Sword; that¡¯s why they did all that was possible to avoid that sword when fighting.

    Even after the death of Chaos, they couldn¡¯t bear to see the sight of that sword which was why they took care of it.

    "Are you telling the truth? Your brother... Chaos...? He is back?" God of War asked, frowning.

    "Who else do you think could have avoided the foresight of God of Foresight? There are only a few people who can do that in this world, and none of them was involved," Janus answered.

    "He has really changed. To go after our young kids for his revenge on us? How low could he have fallen?" Goddess of Destiny asked. "Where is he now? Why is he hiding? Ah, wait! Could it be that he¡¯s weak now?"

    "That¡¯s it! That¡¯s why he¡¯s hiding! If he weren¡¯t weak, he would have attacked us straight! Since he can¡¯t face us openly, he is resorting to hiding and killing innocent kids for his revenge! What a bastard!" The God of War agreed.

    "What else can we expect! Without his sword, he is nothing! Anding back has probably weakened him as well!" he continued.

    "Ah? I-i think you¡¯re forgetting something," the Goddess of Water said, stuttering initially.

    "What?"

    "You¡¯re forgetting that he easily took out the God of Space, who is an upper-echelon god! Even if he¡¯s weak, he should be stronger than all of us individually," the Goddess of Water exined. "And now Janus is also siding with him!"

    "Janus, why are you helping your brother now? Didn¡¯t you side with us before? Why are you changing sides now that your brother returned? You know what¡¯s the right thing to do! You shouldn¡¯t have supported him," the God of mes sighed, shaking his head at the poor choice of Janus.

    "Ah, do you still not understand?" Janus asked, smiling wryly.

    "What don¡¯t I understand?" God of mes asked.

    "He never truly sided with us. He probably only pretended to side with us so he could deal thest blow to his brother before us." The Goddess of Destiny answered instead, getting her answers from the expressions of Janus.

    "I¡¯m sure that thest attack held the secret to his brother¡¯s return. He must have done something right then, and we weren¡¯t able to notice it! It was a big trick that we all fell into. We made a big mistake by letting Janus side with us! We shouldn¡¯t have!" She continued.

    "Is this true?" God of mes asked Janus. "That was all part of your n?"

    "What do you think?" Janus asked, standing with his back resting against a wall. "Why did you think I would betray my brother?"

    "So you really betrayed us. It¡¯s because of you that so many of the gods died in vain. It¡¯s because of you that their deaths are in vain. Do you really not feel bad? All because of one brotherly bond, you betrayed entire Heaven?" The God of mes asked.

    "Not only that, you even helped him kill our sons? Didn¡¯t you have any conscience? Killing kids? Really?" he continued.

    "Actually, killing your kids was my idea. He didn¡¯t even know what was happening. So I¡¯ll take the credit, even though your kids died in his hands," Janus let out, bowing like a showman who had just finished a great show.

    "You¡¯re lucky that you aren¡¯t really before us. I would have broken your skull right now!" The God of War dered, stepping towards Janus, clenching his fist.

    "Janus, just know one thing. No matter how confident you are, your end won¡¯t be good. You¡¯ll regret doing this! Just wait! The time wille!" The Goddess of Destiny also chimed in. "You and your brother have made an enemy of the entire Heaven! Now you¡¯ll see what that means!"

    "Didn¡¯t we already see what it means in the Last Great War? It¡¯ll just be a repeat of that, but the oue will be different this time," Janus answeredzily.

    "Are there any other questions? If not, then I shall leave," he continued, smiling. "His body slowly started disintegrating since it was just a clone."

    "We shall bring all the gods together. Issue an alert. It¡¯s an emergency! And prepare to find the God of Time. We¡¯re going to need his help as well," Goddess of Destiny started preparing a n of bringing all the gods together since the threat was big.

    She knew that all the gods would agree since the return of Chaos was not good. They had all fought against Chaos, and now if he returned, he was going to take revenge on them all. No one could afford to stay out of this war.

    Even the neutral gods that didn¡¯t join thest war had to side with them now since the entire Heaven was going to be destroyed if they didn¡¯t.

    Moreover, they had an excuse as well. Chaos had killed their kids. It was enough to threaten the other gods that Chaos had gone crazy, and if he won, he might kill their sons too.

    "Oh right, before I go. You shouldn¡¯t call the God of Time. I don¡¯t think he would answer," Janus said before he finally disappeared.

 Chapter 627 Late to the party

    <h4>Chapter 627: Late to the party</h4>

    "The Lord of Time won¡¯t respond? What did he mean by that?"

    Janus¡¯sst words left everyone confused. They didn¡¯t understand what he was trying to imply with his words.

    "I think he meant that you shouldn¡¯t count the Lord of Time to help you," the God of Foresight chimed in.

    "Why won¡¯t he? Is there something you¡¯re hiding from us?" The Gods asked.

    "I¡¯m not hiding anything. Actually, this news has already spread in Heaven. I also heard it. Apparently the time has be unstable. The Pce of Lord of Time has fallen," the God of Foresight replied.

    "The Paradox Pce has fallen? How?"

    "I think it¡¯s because time has be unstable. Since time was stable because of the Lord of Time, the Paradox Pce existed perfectly fine. Now that he¡¯s gone, it failed to keep itself stabilized. I think that must be why Janus was saying it."

    "The Lord of Time has fallen? Who... It¡¯s this Chaos again, isn¡¯t it? First, he took out the Lord of Space and now the Lord of Time? He¡¯s taking out powerful enemies that contributed the most in the battlest time! He wants to take all his threats out one by one!" The Goddess of Destiny eximed, forming a theory.

    "If that¡¯s the case, I think we all know who¡¯s going to be his next target! The person who contributed the most in the battle against him after the Lord of Time and Lord of Space... We should keep an eye on him! Chaos would probablye to take him out too!" The God of War let out, frowning

    "You mean Goddess of Chains and Barriers? Her chains restricted the movement of Chaos, annoying him the most." The Goddess of Water chimed in, wondering if they were thinking about the same person.

    "That¡¯s right! If he¡¯s going by the order, he¡¯ll go for her next!" the Lord of mes agreed.

    "It won¡¯t be good if we all go there. We need to inform other gods and bring them together as well! We can¡¯t focus on only one thing! Let¡¯s do it like this. Three of us will go to meet the Goddess of Chains," The Goddess of Destiny said, making a slight change in the ns.

    " The other four shall inform the other gods and make sure we¡¯re all on the same page about the level of threat before us!" She continued.

    As everything was decided, all the gods left. Only the Goddess of Destiny was left behind with the God of Foresight.

    "Is there any other information you can offer us that can be helpful to us? Like where Chaos is? Or where he¡¯ll appear in the future? Or what will the oue of our war be? Will we win again?" She asked the God of Foresight.

    "You know, our powers rarely work on other gods. You¡¯re the Goddess of Destiny, but even you can¡¯t see the Destiny of other gods. Simrly, my foresight is only limited." the God of Foresight answered.

    "Now that Chaos has entered the picture, I can¡¯t see anything. He¡¯s much more powerful than me, after all. I¡¯m but an ordinary monk," he continued.

    "Tell me if you¡¯re able to see anything," the Goddess of Destiny said before she also disappeared, leaving the God of Foresight alone.

    The God of Foresight sighed, sitting back on the ground. He again closed his eyes and started meditating.

    "It looks like you had guests just now? Did I miss the party?" Just as the God of Foresight closed his eyes, he heard someone¡¯s voice filling the room.

    It sounded like a male voice.

    He slowly opened his eyes, observing the man in front of him.

    "Chaos...." He muttered. "May I ask what brought you here?"

    "Can¡¯t Ie to meet an old friend?" Chaos asked, smiling.

    "Do you even have friends left now?" The God of Foresight asked, shaking his head. "Are you here to kill me?"

    "Why should I kill you? You are already going to die in less than a year. I won¡¯t steal that one year from you," Chaos answered calmly.

    His words stunned the God of Foresight.

    "How did you know about that?" he asked, surprised.

    "You¡¯re not the only one who can see such things. So, how close are you to selecting your heir? Have you decided on one yet?" Chaos asked.

    "I¡¯ve decided on one. But I still have some time to teach him more before passing my inheritance to him. But I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯te here to talk about me. Why did youe here then? You must be angry that I exposed your brother?" God of Foresight inquired.

    "Upset? What made you think I didn¡¯t want that to happen? I mean, I¡¯ll have to be stupid to not take you into consideration," Chaos answered, smiling.

    "Hmm? Your brother is really good at acting then. I seriously thought that he didn¡¯t expect this development. What is your scheme actually?" God of Foresight asked, frowning.

    "Scheme? There¡¯s no scheme here. Why is everyone suspicious of me?" Chaos let out,ughing.

    "Tell me directly. What do you want from me? And who is hiding behind you?" The God of Foresight asked.

    "Why don¡¯t you see for yourself?" Chaos asked, stepping aside.

    As soon as he stepped aside, the God of Foresight saw the person that was hiding behind Chaos.

    Seeing that person, his eyes opened wide. "H-how could it be? It¡¯s impossible! There¡¯s no way!"

    "Hmm? You weren¡¯t that surprised even when finding out that Chaos was alive. Why is my life so shocking to you, Epimetheus?" The person asked the God of Foresight.

    " His survival was shocking, but yours....? Your entire origin was destroyed by him! Even with rebirth, you couldn¡¯t havee back to life! This is Impossible! Absolutely Impossible! How could youe back after all that? How!!" The God of Foresight asked, almost yelling.

    It was the first time he had lost hisposure.

    "Let alone me; even he would be shocked to know that you¡¯re alive! You¡¯ll bring a cmity on all of us, bigger than anyone could expect! He would certainlye down if he finds out about your survival!" he eximed.

    "Why are you so scared of that guy?" Chaos asked, smiling.

    "Don¡¯t tell me you forgot! You are one of the strongest in this world. But even you aren¡¯t anything before him! Don¡¯t forget how helpless you were before him! You must always remember that!" The God of Foresight eximed.

    "Not only you, as were all helpless before his aura! If he had stayed here for even a moment longer, reality would have been destroyed! How can you forget!" he continued.

 Chapter 628 Tomb of Gods?

    <h4>Chapter 628: Tomb of Gods?</h4>

    " Don¡¯t worry; I haven¡¯t forgotten a single thing. I remember everything," Chaos answered.

    "And you¡¯re still not worried?" the God of Foresight asked grimly.

    "Why should I be?" Chaos asked, shaking his head. "Anyway, it¡¯s not the time to talk about that. I came here to get an answer from you."

    "What answer?" The God of Foresight asked, frowning.

    "Where is my Sword hidden? No matter what I try, I can¡¯t sense it. Where is everyone keeping it?" Chaos asked the God of Foresight.

    "Your sword? I don¡¯t know," The God of Foresight replied.

    His answer made Chaos sigh. "Are you really going to act ignorant? Don¡¯t you know what the oue of that can be?"

    "You¡¯ll kill me? As you said, I only have one year left. I¡¯m already a dead man, living on a borrowed life span. I don¡¯t think death threats will work on me," the Lord of Space continued, smiling.

    "Then what will work on you? You know I wouldn¡¯t want to hurt your heirs, but you also know that it¡¯s not impossible, don¡¯t you? All your heritage will be gone. I feel bad threatening you like that, but that¡¯s what I¡¯ll do if you don¡¯t answer," Chaos warned the God of Foresight.

    He casually waved his hand, making a mirror appear out of thin air. The mirror started showing the disciples of the God of Foresight.

    "You really have fallen," the God of Foresight muttered, shaking his head.

    "It¡¯s just that I can¡¯t afford to wait anymore. Since she is back, he will return soon too. I can¡¯t rx," Chaos answered, pointing towards the beautiful woman who was standing behind him.

    "Also, I¡¯m only asking about something that belongs to me. Tell me where it is? Where is my Sword?" he repeated his question.

    "I¡¯ll say the same thing I saidst time. I don¡¯t know where that sword is. That Sword was taken by the High Council, who were to decide what was to be done with the sword. After that, I didn¡¯t bother to keep an eye. I¡¯m not sure where they kept the sword or if it even exists by now," Lord of Foresight answered, sighing.

    "No matter how you threaten me, I can¡¯t tell you something that I don¡¯t know myself," he further added.

    "The High Council, huh? So they also decided to put their nose where they don¡¯t belong? Then so be it." Chaos turned around, frowning.

    "Epimetheus, remember. Don¡¯t make the same mistake as they did. And your lineage will keep on living even after your death. But if you did involve yourself, let alone your lineage, even your name will disappear forever," he reminded before he disappeared with the woman.

    As Chaos left, the God of Foresight finally sighed a breath of relief. The kids were safe.

    "The Queen of Reincarnation has returned. And Chaos also went through some kind of reincarnation. He would be really upset when he finds out about Gods breaking his rules," the God of Foresight muttered, shaking his head.

    "Unfortunately, things have already gone too far. Nothing can be done at this point," he continued, sighing.

    ...

    Ryder was still spending time in Egypt, on a vacation with Alice and Shu.

    At that moment, the three of them went to the Oldest Pyramid in Egypt to see it.

    Using his links, Shu got the permission to observe the pyramid from extremely close. Despite his high clearance, the Egyptian Authorities sent an overseer to keep an eye on them so that they didn¡¯t break any rules or damage anything.

    Ryder was observing the tallest pyramid, resting his hand on the pyramid to feel its texture.

    "Amazing workmanship, right?" Shu asked Ryder, standing behind him.

    "Yeah. For that time, it¡¯s certainly very impressive. They didn¡¯t have any powerful resources that we have now, but they still managed to create it. Amazing indeed," Ryder answered, fascinated.

    "You know, there are fascinating stories about this Pyramid," the overseer stepped forward, talking about the history of this Pyramid.

    "Is that so? What story?" Ryder asked, amused.

    "Well, ording to the stories, real gods are buried inside these pyramids," the Overseer answered.

    "Real Gods?" Shu asked. "Must be another mythical story. There¡¯s no such thing as gods."

    Ryder nced at Shu, smiling wryly. If it were a few years ago, he would have agreed with Shu. But not now. Now he knew that gods existed. Some even came to walk on this earth. Moreover, he himself was a god at one time indirectly.

    Now, he believed that there was a chance for all stories to be true, no matter how impossible they sounded. If gods, elves, demons, and other worlds with life existed, then anything was possible.

    "Did no one go inside to check these stories? Not even archeologists?" Ryder asked.

    "Nope. This is a restricted site. And there are no entrances to this Pyramid. No one can enter without damaging it, and the locals are extremely against damaging this ce," the Overseer answered.

    " So no, no one was allowed to entry. At least not until someone could find an entry without damaging the pyramid. But no one seed," he continued.

    Ryder observed the pyramid, shaking his head. "Interesting indeed. Who knows, there might actually be a god lying inside."

    "Well, that¡¯s the thing. No one will ever know. It¡¯s like Schrodinger¡¯s cat experiment. We won¡¯t ever know what¡¯s inside," the Overseer answered. "Anyway, it¡¯s getting dark. Shall we leave?"

    "Ah, sure. Let¡¯s go back," Ryder agreed. He and the others were taken back to their hotels, finishing their trip.

    It was decided that tomorrow they were going to go back.

    Everyone went back to their rooms where they were supposed to sleep so they could wake up on time. Unfortunately, there was one person who didn¡¯t sleep.

    Ryder was really curious if there was actually a dead god inside. And he wanted to enter that ce to check for himself. But in the presence of others, he didn¡¯t do it. Instead, he waited for the night when he could actually begin.

    He opened the window of his hotel room, which was on the twentieth floor. He looked outside at the dark sky. Since it was midnight, almost everyone had fallen asleep. Only a rare few cars could be seen out on the road.

    He quickly jumped out the window and started flying in the direction of the Pyramid.

    The Massive Pyramid hi hu happened to be right outside the city, but it didn¡¯t have much security. There was only a single guard who was keeping an eye on the pyramid.

    Ryder soon reached the Pyramid.

 Chapter 629 Secret Floor

    <h4>Chapter 629: Secret Floor</h4>

    Ryder reached the massive Pyramid that was standing near the City. It was an important pyramid that was rumored to be the graveyard of the gods, ording to the locals.

    That was the same rumor that Ryder wanted to test at this point. He wanted to infiltrate the Pyramid to find what was inside it.

    Avoiding the single Guard that was protecting this ce, hended behind the Pyramid. It was the same ce where he was previously standing when he was informed about this ce.

    He opened the store of his system and brought something out of it which he believed he could use.

    There had also been a change in the System Store. Now that Janus was home, there was no lock on the system. All the items in the store that were present were unlocked now. He didn¡¯t need any Origin Points to buy those items now.

    There was another change, though. Most of the High Ranking treasures were also gone now. What remained was a bunch of items that weren¡¯t too overpowered.

    One of those items was a pass-through sticker.

    It was a sticker that, once ced on the wall, made the wall illusory. It basically made the wall useless as anyone could pass through the wall. However, no one knew that the wall was illusory. For the unversed, the wall seemed very ordinary from a distance.

    No one could have known that they could pass through the back of the Pyramid now.

    As it was already midnight, no one was going toe here either. And Ryder already believed that he was going to be back by the time it was morning; he didn¡¯t worry about someone else entering this ce. He stepped inside the Pyramid, passing through the walls

    "Hmm? What is this ce?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    He had seen some documentaries about pyramids and some exploration inside them. He had a general idea of what the inside of the Pyramids looked like, but something was different here. The interior of the Pyramid was entirely empty. There was nothing that could be seen here.

    There weren¡¯t any corridors or any hallways. There weren¡¯t any rooms here either. All that was here was a massive empty space. It was as if someone had only made the outer walls and forgot to make anything inside. There were no inner walls. It was all a massive empty space.

    It waspletely empty. Let alone the coffin of gods; there weren¡¯t any coffins here at all.

    Some carvings were made on the walls, which gave him a general idea.

    "Is it just a scam? Let alone the tomb of gods; it¡¯s not even an ordinary tomb. There¡¯s nothing here. It should just be a showpiece; that¡¯s why no one made any entrance. Such a disappointment," Ryder muttered, shaking his head.

    He turned around and started leaving, only to notice some strange carvings on the wall. "Hmm? What¡¯s that?"

    There were carvings on the wall which depicted some characters. The drawings continued throughout the wall as if making a story.

    Curious about what this was, Ryder went to the start of the wall to go through these drawings, trying to understand what it was.

    The first drawing seemed to be of what seemed like the Sun. Strangely, the sun split apart in two in the next drawing.

    The two suns started changing shape and took a more humanoid shape. It was as if the two suns had turned into humans.

    The drawings continued depicting the two beings that continued looking at the world which appeared around them.

    In fact, it even seemed like they had formed the worlds and the stars together. Throughout the next few drawings, the two beings remained together. They were the only constant in the drawings for the most part as worlds kept being made.

    Everything changed in the next drawing though. There were now four humans in the next carving.

    The two old humans remained at the top while two more of them appeared under them, appearing out of a speck of light that the two old beings had created.

    The two old beings then opened a new portal and sent the two new beings inside.

    From the following drawings, it depicted that something went wrong.

    The second being created a world alone, simr to the first being who had created a few worlds before the first. At the start, the two of them created the worlds together, but once the first being made a bunch of them alone, the second also did the same.

    For some strange reason, the next drawing showed the two old beings fighting. The second being was defeated and ced on a world. Around that being, the first being formed a strange tomb, as if sealing him forever.

    "Strange. Don¡¯t tell me this is that ce where the second being was sealed. It can¡¯t be. That ce isn¡¯t in the shape of a pyramid. I think it can¡¯t be," Ryder muttered, shaking his head.

    He moved over to the next drawing. Even though he wasn¡¯t sure if he was understanding these drawings correctly, he didn¡¯t give up.

    He moved over to the next drawing, which was somehow even more bizarre. He knew there were drawings, but he somehow couldn¡¯t read them. For some strange reason, there was a strange, vague veil over the following carvings.

    He hasn¡¯t seen those vague veils before. They had somehow appeared suddenly as he reached here.

    Confused, he tried touching the walls, wondering if he could understand what was carved here through touch.

    He touched the wall, feeling the carvings, but he couldn¡¯t imagine the full picture with just his touch in his head.

    His fingers kept brushing against the wall as he tried to make a mental image, but he couldn¡¯t.

    "Ouch! That hurts!" He suddenly eximed as his fingers hit something sharp.

    He retreated his hand, noticing his fingers were bleeding.

    "What was that?"

    He didn¡¯t realize that a droplet of his blood had fallen on the wall. The droplets of the blood trickled down,nding on the ground, soon absorbed by the groundpletely.

    As soon as the ground absorbed the blood droplet, it started shaking. Not only the ground inside the Pyramid but the whole world started shaking.

    It was as if the world was going through a massive earthquake. The earthquake caused an enormous uproar in all the world. The ce where it was day, people ran to take shelter in safe ces, scared for their lives.

    As for the world where it was night, people started waking up from their sleep as their beds began shaking.

 Chapter 630 Key

    <h4>Chapter 630: Key</h4>

    Even Shu and Alice woke up from their sleep. The two of them stepped out of their individual rooms.

    They didn¡¯t find Ryder there, which made them concerned

    " Is that guy still sleeping?" Shu asked, running towards Ryder¡¯s room to wake him up.

    "It¡¯s locked. He¡¯s still inside!" Shu eximed, noticing the door locked.

    "Ryder! Wake up!" Shu eximed, yelling out loud.

    He kept calling out to Ryder as the shaking of the hotel intensified, but he didn¡¯t receive a response.

    "Sir, we need to leave. Staying here is dangerous!" The guards of Shu reminded him as the ground started shaking.

    "I know. Break this door! I can¡¯t leave him behind!" Shumanded his guard.

    "Please step back," the guard informed Shu before he stepped closer to the door.

    Shu stepped back and let his guards use a pin to open the lock of the door. He was talented in such things.

    As the doors opened, the guard stepped inside with Shu and Alice.

    "Ah, sir. I don¡¯t think anyone is here," the guard replied after checking every ce.

    "Strange. Where did he go?" Shu muttered, confused.

    He walked over to the open window, looking outside.

    "Maybe he left already because of the earthquake?" The guard replied. "We should hurry too! It¡¯s really risky!"

    "He wouldn¡¯t go, leaving us behind because of the earthquake. It can only mean that he left before the earthquake. But where would he go sote at night?" Shu asked, confused.

    "Ah, I have no idea, sir. But if we don¡¯t leave now, it might be toote soon! We need to stay alive to find him! Come!" The guard took Shu and Alice with him outside the hotel. They went to a ce far away from the buildings that had the risk of falling.

    Even when outside, Shu was still confused. He couldn¡¯t understand why Ryder would leave sote? Moreover, this earthquake... Why was itsting so long?

    Generally, earthquakes didn¡¯tst for more than a minute, but it had been over ten minutes, and the earthquake was still going strong for some reason.

    Just as everyone was wondering about what was happening, they saw a bright white beam shooting towards the sky from an unknown location.

    Since they were all inside the city, none of them knew where that white beam of light exactly came from, but they realized that it wasing from the direction of the Pyramid.

    "Is it the Apocalypse?!" Alice asked, remembering about the stories she had heard.

    Their guide had told them about a story rted to the Pyramid as they wereing back. He said that there was one more rumor that existed rted to the Pyramid.

    The first rumor was that bodies of gods remained inside the Pyramid. The second rumor was that one day, when the gods Awakened, an apocalypse was going to descend on earth, highlighted by a godly light going up, attacking the heaven.

    She had a vague idea about those words but what happened just now seemed simr to that. The earth was shaking like never before, and a mysterious white light shot towards the sky for some reason.

    ....

    Inside the Pyramid, even Ryder was facing the earthquake, but he didn¡¯t realize that it wasn¡¯t an ordinary earthquake and that the entire world was engulfed in this earthquake.

    Because of the powerful earthquake, hundreds of buildings came crashing down. There was destruction and devastation everywhere. Cracks appeared on the ground in many nations as if the earth had started splitting apart.

    Unfortunately, one of the buildings that came crashing down was the headquarters of Ryder. The head office of the Divine Corporation came crashing down.

    Everything inside the building was destroyed, including all the machines that they had bought. All the systems were destroyed as well.

    In essence, Ryder¡¯spany was almost over, as was his dream of bing the wealthiest person on earth based on his past world knowledge, at least for now.

    Unaware of what was happening outside, Ryder was looking at the center of the pyramid where a small opening had appeared in the ground. From that ce, a white beam of light was shooting towards the sky.

    "Is something under the ground? That beam is definitelying from something," he muttered, frowning.

    He looked down at the ground. He previously believed that the whole pyramid was empty, but he realized that it might not be the case. It was possible that the Pyramid extended under the ground.

    He opened the store again and took out the pass-through sticker. He ced the sticker on the ground, making the ground tired almost nonexistent. His body passed through the ground, going under it.

    "So it was exactly what I thought. This is the real part of the pyramid!" Ryder eximed, seeing the secret location of the Pyramid.

    He couldn¡¯t help but smile, amused.

    Unlike the higher floors, the lower floor wasn¡¯t empty. In the center of this floor, a coffin was ced at the center of the room.

    The coffin seemed to be made from pure gold. Many rare jewels were embedded in the coffin, most of which were something that Ryder had never seen before.

    As for the white beam of light, it was alsoing from the center of the Coffin, shooting towards the sky.

    Curious, he walked towards the Coffin. Even as he reached the Coffin, the white beam of light didn¡¯t stop.

    Soon, Ryder was standing just an inch away from the Coffin.

    "The coffin... It doesn¡¯t seem like an ordinary one. This beam of light is certainly odd. I wonder if a god really lies inside it. Why would a dead god have his tomb here though?"

    He was really thinking about opening the coffin, but he couldn¡¯t. There was a lock on the coffin, which seemed like a lock from old times which used keys.

    "Now, where can I find its key? Very strange," Ryder wondered, smiling wryly.

    He needed to open the lock to see what was inside, but he didn¡¯t possess the key.

    "Fine. Since I don¡¯t have a key, I¡¯ll simply break it," he muttered, bringing out the Moon Scythe.

    He wanted to slice the lock in half so he could open the lock.

    Strangely enough, as soon as he brought the Scythe out, it started vibrating. There was some kind of resistance that it was offering against Ryder.

    Something like this had never happened before, which made Ryder observe the Scythe, wondering what had happened. He gripped the Scythe firmly and didn¡¯t think too much about it as he swung his Scythe, slicing the lock of the golden coffin.

    As soon as the lock was cut, the white beam of light stopped. The shaking of the ground also stopped.

 Chapter 631 Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 631: Awakening</h4>

    Ryder sliced the lock on the coffin, splitting it into two parts. As the lock was broken, the white beam of light suddenly stopped. The shaking of the ground also stopped at the same time.

    The world which looked like it was going to split apart returned to normal. Finally, the longsting earthquake stopped, giving people a breath of relief.

    Ryder kept the Moon Scythe back in his inventory, stepping closer to the Coffin.

    He touched the Coffin, feeling its soft texture. The coffin looked beautiful as well as mysterious.

    He slowly opened the coffin, sliding the top.

    As he opened the coffin, his lips opened slightly as a weird expression engulfed his face, making him frown.

    "What the heck is this?" he asked, wondering what it was. No matter how he tried looking at it, he couldn¡¯t understand. "Why is it empty?"

    He found the Coffinpletely empty for some strange reason. Let alone possessing a body of a god as he expected, it didn¡¯t possess anything at all.

    "If this coffin was empty, then why did it have a lock? And what was that mysterious light?" He asked, frowning.

    "That light was a Warning signal to alert that person about someone entering this ce," A mysterious voice fell in Ryder¡¯s ears.

    "Who said it?" Ryder asked, shocked. He turned around, wondering who had spoken. Until a moment ago, this whole ce was empty. He has made sure of that. Then who spoke?

    As he turned around, he got an answer, but that answer raised even more questions

    A shadow was standing in front of him. The shadow had no face at all. It was just a pitch-ck shadow.

    "What are you?" Ryder asked, bringing his Moon Scythe out, aiming it towards the shadow, threatening it.

    Being aimed at the shadow, the Moon Scythe started resisting, even more, opposing Ryder¡¯s control.

    "Ah, that Scythe. So that¡¯s why I felt a familiar presence when I woke up," the Shadow said, raising its head towards the Scythe.

    The Scythe freed itself from Ryder¡¯s control and flew towards the shadow,nding in its hand, which further shocked Ryder.

    "It has been so long since I created it for that kid. I wonder how that kid is," the Shadow muttered, observing the Scythe.

    "Which kid? Are you talking about the Lord of Death? It¡¯s his Scythe, but he¡¯s dead. Are you the one who created this Scythe for him? Is that why it was behaving so badly?" Ryder asked, frowning, understanding a few things.

    "Before you start misunderstanding, I simply found this Scythe after his death. I don¡¯t even know how he died. I had no hand in it. So don¡¯t me me," he further added.

    "That kid is dead? I wonder how long it has been. It mustn¡¯t have been a short time since even he died," the Shadow let out, releasing a sigh which seemed to have broken the boundaries of space and time, to bring all the sadness with it.

    ¡¯ He calls the God of Death a kid? Just who is this guy? From what I know, God of Death is even older than Chaos and Janus! For someone to call him a kid... Just what is the identity of this person?¡¯ Ryder thought.

    He knew that whoever this shadow was, it wasn¡¯t someone he could offend.

    "May I ask who you are?" Ryder asked the shadow.

    "Who am I?" The shadows asked in return. "I¡¯m a remnant of an era long forgotten."

    "Are you a god?" Ryder asked.

    "God? No. Instead, I¡¯m the one who created the ones you call gods," the Shadow answered.

    "You¡¯re the father of gods?" Ryder asked, shocked. "The heck!"

    "So you¡¯re more powerful than anyone in existence?" he further added. "How did you end up like this then?"

    "I¡¯m not the father of Gods, but I¡¯m one of the creators of Gods. There was one more person involved," the Shadow answered.

    "Wait a minute. Are you someone who is depicted in the carvings on top? One of the two that created everything?" Ryder asked.

    "Carvings?" The shadows asked. His tone sounded confused.

    "Let me show you. Come after me," Ryder said, flying up. He went to the upper floor and stopped before the carving.

    "This one," he said, pointing towards the first carving, which showed two beings.

    "Ah, this. You¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m not, then. They are the Almighty who created the two of us," the shadow answered, sighing.

    "Hmm? They created you? Ahh, right! I saw that too!" Ryder moved slightly ahead to the carving, which showed two more beings appear.

    "This?!" He asked.

    "That¡¯s right. That¡¯s where we were created. The Almighty created us as their shadows, but they also sent the two of us in a parallel space so that we could form worlds of our own," the shadow answered.

    The shadow moved ahead to the portion which was covered by a vague most. He casually waved his hand to remove the mist.

    "We were the first beings that were created by them, in their own shadows. We were like their sons, but they sent us to create something of our own."

    "At the same time, they created a border between the two spaces, so we couldn¡¯t depend on them. Because of that, we couldn¡¯t even contact them. We could still see in their worlds though. We just couldn¡¯t interfere."

    "In our space, the two of us created many worlds. We made the gods, we made the humans, and we made the civilizations. In fact, we made everything. But we were just copying in reality."

    "Since we could peek inside the world of Almighty, we created mostly everything they did, just with a little modification, the way we thought it would be better. They made gods; we made gods. They made humans; we made humans."

    "Then how did you end up here? Did you get bored and went to sleep?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Sleep? I wish it would¡¯ve been that easy, but it wasn¡¯t," the shadow answered, sighing.

    "The two of us grew up well, understanding the civilizations while trying to make them grow, but we also kept peeking at the world of Almighty since we loved seeing our fathers. Unfortunately, that is a problem since we saw something we shouldn¡¯t have," it further added.

    "What did you see? Did you see something which made parents angry? Did theye here to punish you?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    For him, that seemed like the most logical conclusion.

    "That would¡¯ve been much better if it had happened, but no. What happened was much worse. It destroyed all our beliefs and everything we worked hard to create," the shadow replied.

 Chapter 632 Help

    <h4>Chapter 632: Help</h4>

    "What happened?" Ryder asked, frowning. He wondered how things ended up as they did. He wasn¡¯t even sure what actually happened, but from the tone of the Shadow, he could believe that it wasn¡¯t good.

    "Something went wrong between the Two Ancestors. And one of them sealed the other forever," the Shadow answered. "As for the one who was sealed, it was the Ancestor who created him..."

    "You mean who created your partner? Ahh! I understand now. So he was upset that your Ancestor sealed his? And then he did the same for you in revenge?" Ryder eximed, understanding a few things.

    "That¡¯s close. That event resulted in the battle between the two of us. Ultimately, I lost. And I was sealed here, forever," the Shadow answered.

    "Why didn¡¯t he kill you?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Because he couldn¡¯t. I have Origin Immunity. I couldn¡¯t be killed even by him," the Shadow answered.

    "Ahh! So that¡¯s what Origin Immunity meant! So that¡¯s what I received at that time!" Ryder eximed, remembering receiving this skill from the bracelet.

    "Hmm? Did you receive Origin Immunity? Why can¡¯t I sense it?" The shadow asked, cing its hand on the head of Ryder.

    "Because I don¡¯t have it anymore. Anyway, does it work to make you a True Immortal? I thought Gods were already Immortal?" Ryder asked.

    "Gods are Immortal, but they aren¡¯t True Immortal. They can be killed, and I¡¯m sure many have already died. Only the ones that have Origin Immunity are true Immortals," the Shadow answered. "And only they¡¯re truly Undying, but they¡¯re not undefeatable either."

    "Anyway, you said you had Origin Immunity? But now you don¡¯t have it? How is that possible?" It asked further, curious.

    "Because my other half took it," Ryder answered, sighing.

    "Your other half?" The shadow asked, confused.

    "Yeah. Actually...."

    Ryder started exining everything that had happened to him, from how he lived his life to how he received the system. He even talked about how he received the Origin Immunity and how he killed the God-sons.

    Ultimately he talked about meeting Chaos and finding out about his true history and how these two were the same person. In the end, he said how he didn¡¯t have his real body now.

    "Ah, so that¡¯s what happened. That¡¯s why you were able to enter this ce. I was wondering about this," the Shadow let out,ughing.

    "What do you mean? I was able to enter because of these stickers. These made the walls useless to me," Ryder exined, showing the sticker he possessed.

    "That¡¯s true. These things made the walls useless for you, but that wasn¡¯t how you were able to enter. There was another Barrier ced inside the wall. It was to stop any human, beast, any other species, or any god. It also stopped puppets from entering."

    "It was all a precaution to make sure no one found out about me in the future. But you¡¯re not a human now. You¡¯re not a god either. Also, you¡¯re not any other species, and you¡¯re certainly not a beast. You aren¡¯t a puppet either since you have a real soul."

    "I believe that¡¯s why you managed to pass through. Moreover, your blood..."

    The shadow stopped, sighing his head.

    "What about my blood?" Ryder asked, confused.

    "Your Blood is the Godly Blood. It seems like that Chaos left his blood to you to give you those powers that you possess now. That¡¯s also the reason I was awakened," the shadow answered, looking down. It observed a blood droplet mark that was left on the ground. As for the blood, it was absorbed by the ground.

    "Your blood was a God¡¯s blood. It was a Divine Blood that was absorbed by this ce, and the Divinity ultimately reached to me, waking me up. Without that blood, I wouldn¡¯t be up," it further added.

    "What about the lock on the coffin? I thought I sliced it which freed you?" Ryder asked.

    "That lock? Nah, it was an ordinary lock. It wasn¡¯t anything special. I was out way before you but the lock. In fact, I was standing behind you when you sliced it," the Shadow replied, smiling.

    "Anyway, I should thank you for waking me up," he further added. "But then again, my awakening will only further boost themotion in the world. He would soon find out about my awakening ande to fight me."

    "I¡¯ll have to fight back, and many worlds will be destroyed in the process. I haven¡¯t regained all my strength since I just woke up. It doesn¡¯t seem like I¡¯m ready to face him," he continued, sighing.

    "That isn¡¯t something you should concern yourself with though. I¡¯ll find a way to do it. Tell me, what gift do you want for helping me? I¡¯ll try to grant that to you before I leave in search of a ce to rest."

    "Is there a way I can help you?" Ryder asked, slightly concerned. "You seem like a nice person."

    "Nice... Hahaha, it¡¯s the first time someone called me nice. Thank you, but you¡¯re the real nice one here. Not me. In any case, I¡¯ll only trouble you more if I take your help."

    "There¡¯s no trouble. Just tell me how I can help you. At least until you recover? Should I try contacting Janus? He basically broke all his rtionships with me. But maybe he¡¯ll listen now? He should be able to help you?" Ryder suggested.

    "No. I don¡¯t need the help of God. They can¡¯t help me either. But then again, I think I should take your help. At the same time, I should help you too," the shadow said, frowning.

    "What do you mean help me too?"

    "Your Blood awakened me. I¡¯m sure. He¡¯ll sense that when hees here. He would find you through that Blood. But if I stay inside your body, I can modify your blood essence a little, so he can¡¯t reach you."

    " Moreover, your body is a perfect ce to hide. He can¡¯t sense me there because of...."

    "Anyway, that would be good for us both. I can rest inside your body while sharing my strength with you. We can both grow together. Moreover, because of my essence, soon, you¡¯ll be as strong as Chaos. I¡¯m sure you¡¯d love that, won¡¯t you?"

    "Getting as strong as him... Ah, that would certainly be good. But the Blood part is the best. I wouldn¡¯t want to be found because of that. My family would be put at the risk. Moreover, it would help you too. I would ept that" Ryder agreed to the suggestion, allowing the shadow to use his body to hide.

 Chapter 633 Who is it?

    <h4>Chapter 633: Who is it?</h4>

    "Young one, are you sure about it? It would be painful for you if I entered inside your body. Think carefully," The Shadow reminded Ryder.

    "Ah, didn¡¯t you just say that it was going to protect you and me both? Now you want me to think about it? Shouldn¡¯t you be the one to make up your mind?" Ryder thought, rolling his eyes.

    "If it keeps my family and me safe, I don¡¯t need to think about it. It doesn¡¯t matter how painful it will be. I believe I went through much more dangerous times in my lifepared to it. This will be nothing," He further added.

    "Alright. If you say that, I¡¯ll do it. But not here," the shadow added. "We can¡¯t stay here for long."

    He casually waved his hand, making everything turn white. Everything became so bright that Ryder had to close his eyes to protect his eyes.

    As the light decreased, he slowly opened his eyes, finding himself in apletely different ce.

    As far as his eyes could see, there were only clouds. But there wasn¡¯t a sun in the sky, making him believe that he wasn¡¯t on earth.

    "Where are we?" he asked the shadow, who was still standing before him.

    "This is my Inner Domain. It¡¯s a temporary space that I created. No one cane in here since it¡¯s not in this universe," the Shadow replied.

    "Unfortunately, I can¡¯t hold this for long because I¡¯m weak at the moment, and it requires a lot of energy to keep it up. So I¡¯ll start now," he further added. "Take a deep breath and hold it. It¡¯ll be painful."

    Taking up the advice, Ryder closed his eyes while taking a deep breath, standing on the fluffy clouds. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder how painful it was going to be. Was it going to be as painful as it was when he first absorbed the strength of a God? He wondered.

    The only thing he knew for sure was that it wasn¡¯t going to be easy. When the person who created the gods called it painful, then it was going to be much more painful since the definition of painful for him was going to be at a much higher threshold.

    Just as he was lost in thought, he felt something touch him. The next moment, his heart stopped entirely as a terrifying pain engulfed his body.

    It was a pain that was a thousand times worse than the worst pain he experienced, and it wasn¡¯t even close.

    He dropped to the ground, screaming in pain. He clenched his fist so tight that it started bleeding. His nerves started bursting one by one... Or at least that¡¯s what he felt was happening.

    ...

    As Ryder went through excruciating pain, Janus stood in the realm of gods, facing the sky. A deep frown spread across his forehead as he noticed something odd.

    The connection he had with Ryder was suddenly cut. Even though he had already stopped listening to Ryder or keeping a contact with him, he still left his System for Ryder.

    The System was thest link, but he just realized that thest link was also gone for some reason.

    "What just happened? How can this connection be cut? Did he die? No! Even if he died, he had the time reversal. Except for the Origin Immunity, Brother gave him all the other powers he possessed before, including time reversal."

    "If he died, he should¡¯ve gone back in time. This wouldn¡¯t have happened. The connection was never cut even though he died many times before too. So what could have happened to him?"

    Janus started getting concerned, thinking about what might have happened. He wanted to go down to check, but he couldn¡¯t do that. He was needed here, after all.

    Moreover, the entrance and the exit of the Realm of Gods were sealed. He couldn¡¯t leave that easily without breaking the seal, but that wasn¡¯t an option even if he could.

    Instead, he decided to look at earth to see what was happening. His figure disappeared.

    He soon appeared near his ce where his pond was. It was the ce which he often used to keep an eye on earth. The two Sun and Moon fishes were also there who further boosted his vision.

    Unfortunately, he stopped at a distance and didn¡¯t go close.

    "Those guys. They already surrounded my Pce? That was a bit fast. Not bad," he muttered, frowning.

    He could see many gods standing near his ce, searching it to find him.

    He dropped the n to go inside now, leaving it forter. He went back.

    ...

    The Goddess of Reincarnation appeared near a massive pce that was on a floating mountain. Chaos also appeared behind him, watching the waterfall that was falling from the floating mountain onto the ground.

    A mystical shine was emanating from the floating Castle, looking surreal to arge extent.

    "The High Council... The arrogant bunch. I didn¡¯t expect to see them so fast. But if I want my sword, I¡¯ll have to meet them ultimately. Better now thanter," Chaos muttered, observing the Castle.

    "The High Council isn¡¯t anything special. If you hadn¡¯t refused to join them, you would¡¯ve been there too. Same with me. Unfortunately, that¡¯s not what you or I wanted. The day I left the High Council Pce, I didn¡¯t expect to return to this ce again," the woman with Chaos muttered, sighing.

    Chaos moved his hand, holding onto the hand of the Goddess of Reincarnation. The two of them started flying towards the High Council Pce.

    Soon, theynded in front of the Pce.

    A golden lion head was carved on the High Council Pce gates. The lion¡¯s head started moving as he saw people before him.

    "State your purpose for approaching the High Council. Your request will be sent to them," a voice came from the mouth of the carved head.

    "My purpose? It¡¯s to take back what belongs to me. But don¡¯t worry about sending my request to them. I can take it myself," Chaos dered, raising his foot, kicking the door.

    As the door was kicked, it flew back, breaking apart. The cries of a lion echoed everywhere as if the lion was really hurt. The cries soon stopped.

    Chaos and the Goddess of Reincarnation stepped inside the High Council Pce.

    ...

    In a different chamber of the High Council, five people were sitting in a circle, talking about something important, when all of them stopped as they heard something.

    "Someone dares to break inside? Who is it?!" One of the five yelled in anger.

 Chapter 638 - 634: Best Of Luck

    <h4>Chapter 638 - 634: Best Of Luck </h4>

    The entire High Council Pce trembled as it was invaded by a foreign aura.

    All five High Council Gods realized that they were invaded as they felt the trembling. Even their thrones statue trembling because of it.

    All five of them stood up in order to investigate who it was that had invaded this ce, only to realize that they didn¡¯t need to.

    They were able to see that the door of their chamber was slowly opening. Whoever the intruder was, he was now about to enter their chamber.

    All of them prepared to face the enemy and even kill that person for this sphemy. Anger became evident on all their faces as they waited for the face reveal of the intruder.

    Unfortunately, that same face turned pale as the door actually opened.

    "It¡¯s you!"

    "How is that possible?!"

    "It can¡¯t be! I refuse to believe it!"

    "What are you doing here? How are you alive?"

    "How did youe back to life?"

    All five High Gods were stunned to find Chaos standing before them. But that shock was soon about to intensify as another person stepped inside the chamber.

    The next person was a long-haired woman who seemed like the prettiest woman in existence in this universe. No matter who saw her, they could easily be starstruck by her looks but not in this case because the people here knew who he was.

    One of the high gods was so shocked that he stepped back, ultimately losing bnce and falling over his throne. Fortunately, his fall wasn¡¯t embarrassing, as it seemed like he had sat down on his throne.

    "Did you all miss me?" Chaos asked, spreading his arms, amused at the reaction. "I missed you too."

    "You traitor! How dare you step inside this holy ce! And how did youe back to life?" A dark-haired High God asked, almost yelling.

    "How did I dare to step inside? Are you really asking that question to the so-called traitor that fought with all the gods? There is nothing this traitor doesn¡¯t dare!"

    Chaos continued stepping closer to the five High Gods as he talked.

    "Moreover, I was first invited here by you. You do know that once a person is allowed to step inside the High Pce, no defense mechanism works against him from next time. This time was like a walk in the park because of that," he further added, smirking.

    "You came back to life! And so did she! What dark powers did you use to make that possible?"

    "Dark powers? Hahaha, don¡¯t you consider all my powers as dark powers? Just take it as me using them. But that doesn¡¯t change the oue. Now let me tell you what¡¯s going to happen here!"

    "Insolence! Who are you to dare say what¡¯s going to happen here?! This is our ce!"

    "Can you stop screaming so much? Because I can promise you one thing. If I start screaming, all of you will go blind. So, tread carefully," Chaos said, waving his hand.

    A throne flew from behind one of the High Gods and flew to him. He walked around the throne and sat as if he was at a party and not an enemy domain.

    He casually waved his fingers again, bringing another throne. "Mydy, why don¡¯t you take a seat too."

    The Goddess of Reincarnation also sat on the throne.

    "Are you looking for death?" The Gods asked.

    "Death? Not at all. I already experienced it. I don¡¯t want to experience it more, but I wouldn¡¯t mind making you experience it once too. But let¡¯s just hope there isn¡¯t a need for that," Chaos responded.

    "I am not here for bloodshed. I want something that belongs to me. I heard you took it identally. Would you be nice enough to return it to me?" he asked.

    "Are you talking about that cursed sword? You can¡¯t get it. We already tossed it in the Dark Realm. Moreover, we also carved a spell on it. That sword is now Invisible and without any aura. Even you can never find it again," The high gods answered.

    Hearing their answers, a frown appeared on the face of Chaos as he clenched his fist. He was expecting for them to do something as stupid as this, but he was still hoping that it wasn¡¯t the case.

    He knew how hard it was to find the Sword now. The Dark Realm wasn¡¯t an ordinary ce. It was a ce that even the strongest of gods were scared to go to. It was also the ce where Chaos had found the Swordst time.

    He knew how vast that ce was and how hard it was to find that sword there. Now that it was Invisible, it was going to be even harder in that case.

    "Did you really have to toss it there? Do you know how hard it was for me to find out there?" he asked.

    " Why should we care? We couldn¡¯t use that cursed sword since it epted you as your master. Moreover, without its master, its dark aura was only going to attract Dark Dwellers from the Dark Realm here!"

    "Keeping the sword here was useless. So we did the next best thing we could. We sent it where it belonged!"

    Despite being told not to yell, the High Gods didn¡¯t listen. They continued talking in a loud tone.

    "Hmm? Its dark aura was attracting them? Didn¡¯t you say you carved a spell to hide its aura? If they were still being attracted to it, it means your spell doesn¡¯t work on them? That makes things a bit easier. That¡¯s for informing me. Time for me to get my old partner back."

    Chaos focused on a single part of their sentence, which gave him a hint of how to find his sword again.

    He stood up and turned to the Goddess of Reincarnation. He reached out his hand to her.

    The Goddess of Reincarnation also caught his hand and stood up.

    "I think it¡¯s time we took our leave," Chaos let out.

    "You think you can leave? You¡¯re going to die right here!" the High Gods roared as they started using their aura.

    "I should be the one saying that. I wish you luck, dear High Gods," Chaos responded, smirking. He and the Goddess of Reincarnation disappeared before the attack couldnd on them.

    "That bastard ran away! Who said he was brave! He is a coward!" A High God said in anger.

    "I don¡¯t understand one thing," Another High God let out.

    "What thing?"

    "Why did he tell us best of luck?" The High God asked, but soon his eyes opened wide. "Ohh Sh*t!"

 Chapter 639 - 635: Destruction

    <h4>Chapter 639 - 635: Destruction </h4>

    Right before Chaos disappeared, he didn¡¯t forget to wish luck to the High Gods.

    Most of the High Gods didn¡¯t mind those words except for one of them, who was frowning as he wondered why that guy would wish them luck.

    Unfortunately, he soon realized the answer as he noticed a dark sphere appear where Chaos was standing before.

    "Oh sh*t! It¡¯s the Dark Sphere! Seal it right now!" One of the High Gods yelled, noticing the dark sphere that was filled with immense energy.

    Moreover, the sphere was only getting bigger and bigger with each passing moment.

    Seeing the sphere appear, all the High Gods stepped up and raised their hands as they started using their powers to the fullest to create a barrier around the dark Sphere.

    The Dark Sphere was made from Dark Energy that Chaos already possessed, but its creation was further boosted with the help of the Dark Fragment of the Bracelet that Chaos had collected.

    Dark threads inside the sphere twisted and turned in itself, getting more and more unstable with each passing second.

    A blue energy barrier appeared around the dark sphere, cast by one of the High Gods, but that¡¯s not where it ended. A red energy barrier appeared on top of it, closing the blue barrier. It was cast by another High God.

    Soon, a third barrier appeared on top of thest two Barriers, enclosing the previous two. The third barrier seemed to be of green color.

    The fourth barrier also appeared, which was yellow in color, even bigger.

    The Dark Sphere inside the barriers was getting darker. It also kept expanding as it was finding it hard to contain all the energy inside it.

    At the same time, the fifth barrier also appeared on top.

    All the High Gods were focused on keeping the sphere in control since they knew what it could do.

    "Don¡¯t lose focus! And brace yourself!" One of the High Gods said. "It is going to blow up soon! If the barriers break, the entire High God Pce will be destroyed! We can¡¯t let that happen."

    "Yeah. But with five barriers, we should be able to stop him. I mean, we also did it before. Chaos should have known that he couldn¡¯t hurt us with that. Could it be that he¡¯s trying to dy us so he could get a lead?"

    Even though the High Gods knew how serious this thing was, they also knew that this wasn¡¯t something that they couldn¡¯t stop with theirbined powers.

    Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t go as nned as the dark sphere kept getting bigger, soon breaking the first Barrier.

    "What? How could it back that so easily?"

    Seeing the first Barrier break so soon surprised the High Gods, but they soon sighed a breath of relief as they saw the dark energy sphere stop expanding.

    "Is it finally stabilizing?"

    "It¡¯s not! Brace yourself! It¡¯s going to blow up no-"

    Boom~

    The dark sphere blew up even before the High God could finish his sentence.

    A massive wave of energy was released, which moved in all directions like a Tsunami.

    ...

    Boom~

    The sound of explosion filled the entire God Realm, making everyone look in the direction of the High Pce, which floated far away. Even though the High Pce was very far, the gods were able to see it.

    They also knew that it was where the sound came from.

    "What¡¯s that?"

    "A cloud of fire? What happened to the Pce? Why is it covered in clouds of mes?"

    "Is the pce attacked? It was certainly an explosion!"

    "It seems that way, but who would dare to attack the High God Pce!" One of the Gods asked, stunned.

    "I¡¯m not sure. Maybe we¡¯re thinking wrong. Maybe no one attacked, and it¡¯s just the High Gods practicing their powers?"

    Many people had many theories as they saw the destruction in the sky. The High Duke Pce had disappeared and all that was left in its ce was a cloud of fire.

    The pieces of the Pce started dropping to the ground, still caught in the fire.

    At the same time, five specks of lights could be seen flying towards the South.

    As the five specks of lights flew closer, the gods realized that they weren¡¯t dots, but they were High Gods who were using a healing spell on them.

    All five high Gods dropped to the ground in the middle of Heavenly City.

    The mighty High Gods that were once highly respected were now lying on the ground weakly. Their clothes were torn in ces while their wounds were visible to the naked eye. Some of them were even bleeding, which was something never seen before.

    Their wounds had started healing slowly, but as it was a wound caused by a powerful attack from another mighty God, the wounds were healing slowly.

    "High Gods, are you alright?" A group of gods closed in on the High Gods, asking them if they needed help.

    One of these Gods was the God of War, while the other was the Goddess of Water.

    Soon, the Goddess of Destiny and the God of mes also reached there.

    "What happened?" The goddess of Destiny asked.

    "Chaos... He approached us and attacked us before running away. That bastard even destroyed the High Pce!" One of the High Gods replied as he stood up.

    "Cough! I can¡¯t understand why he¡¯s alive." Another High God said, coughing out a mouthful of blood.

    "You don¡¯t look shocked to hear this," A third High God asked, noticing the expression of the other gods who didn¡¯t look surprised like he expected them to be.

    "Don¡¯t tell me you knew about it?" The Fourth High God asked.

    "W-we knew about it." The Goddess of Water replied before she started exining about how they found out about this.

    "You! You knew about his return, and you didn¡¯t think it was important enough to tell us! Preposterous!" The Fifth High God stood up, enraged.

    "We were about to tell you, but we wanted to tell the other gods first since they were truly weak. Moreover, we didn¡¯t expect that Chaos would be brazen enough to attack the High God Pce with the five of you being there," The Goddess of Destiny exined.

    "I don¡¯t understand. Why would he attack the High Duke Pce directly? We thought he was weak at the moment," the God of mes asked. "But from what he did just now, it doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s weak at all."

    "Weak? On the contrary.. I would say that he¡¯s even more powerful than thest time we met him!" The first High God exined.

 Chapter 640 - 636: Return

    <h4>Chapter 640 - 636: Return </h4>

    "It does seem that way now," The goddess of Destiny let out, ncing at the remnants of the Pce that were falling from the sky in the distance.

    Looking at the destruction that was caused, it was obvious that Chaos was strong. No weak person could have destroyed the High Pce, especially from right under the nose of the High Gods. Moreover, despite all that, he seemingly managed to escape.

    "It¡¯s just that he was targeting kids and others one by one instead ofing at us openly. That made us think that he was weak. It¡¯s clear we have been wrong," She further added. "What shall we do now? It seems like the next war is going to be even more fierce."

    "It does seem that way. But this time, he¡¯s not alone," The High God answered.

    "Huh? What do you mean, he¡¯s not alone?" The God of mes asked. "Are you talking about Janus? He¡¯s not even a threat before Chaos. We can take him down easily."

    "I¡¯m not talking about Janus," The High God answered, sighing.

    "What do you mean then?" The Gods asked, stunned. "Is there anyone else supporting him?"

    "Not just anyone," The High God answered. "It¡¯s not a random being but one of the oldest and most knowledgeable. It¡¯s someone who lived two lives!"

    "Someone who lived two lives? Who?"The God of War inquired, not being able to guess.

    "The Goddess of Reincarnation is with him!" the High God exined.

    "It can¡¯t be! It¡¯s impossible!"

    "How could that be?"

    "Didn¡¯t the Goddess of Reincarnation fail her third reincarnation and die?"

    "That¡¯s right! I remember as if it was just yesterday when the Goddess of Nature came before us and told us that she was the reincarnation of the Goddess of Reincarnation!"

    "I remember that too! After that, she tried to go through another reincarnation right before us, but she failed! Only her ashes were left behind! I was there watching it personally!"

    "I was there too! I remember being shocked as I saw her core being destroyed right before my eyes! If I¡¯m not wrong, Chaos and the High Gods were there too!"

    The High Gods sighted as they nodded. "That¡¯s right. We were there as well."

    "In fact, the Goddess of Reincarnation lived before we were even born. We only read about her when we grew up! So finding out about hering back through reincarnation was shocking."

    "We were all surprised to know that she had been living as the Goddess of Nature in this reincarnation before she regained her memories."

    "That¡¯s why we had offered her a position in the High Council of Gods, but she refused, saying she wasn¡¯t interested." the High Gods exined.

    "Ah, I remember that too! She¡¯s one of the only two gods who received the invitation to join the High Council but refused. The other one was Chaos," The Goddess of Water let out, remembering about the incident.

    "Actually, the Goddess of Reincarnation was the person who started the High Council in the first ce. In her first life, she was the first member of the High Council with six more people," the High God said, remembering what is read.

    "Except for one, all the High Gods from that Council are dead. As for the one, she was the Goddess of Reincarnation herself."

    "That was also one of the reasons we offered her the position. But she refused, saying that she wasn¡¯t interested."

    "So she¡¯s alive? How? What is happening in this world? First, the Goddess of Reincarnation returned from death, and now Chaos returned from death? Is someone toying with thews of Nature?" The Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "Wait! I remember! The bracelet that Chaos created? Wasn¡¯t it created to toy with the Laws of Nature? Could it be that this is the reason he was able to return?" she abruptly let out, remembering something. "High Gods, do you remember seeing that bracelet on the wrist of Chaos?"

    "Ah, that¡¯s right. I did see a bracelet," One of the High Gods let out. He even described the color.

    "Ah, that¡¯s right! It¡¯s the same color the bracelet was! That proves it! He has regained the bracelet! He must have received the Powers of the bracelet as well! That is why he¡¯s so strong!"

    " That¡¯s also why he managed to reverse death! That¡¯s also why he¡¯s safe after all this. Moreover, that should also be what brought the Goddess of Reincarnation back to life!"

    As the Goddess of Destiny gave her theory, almost everyone nodded their heads. It made sense. They had known from the start that the bracelet he was creating was a cursed item, which was why they waged a War on Chaos despite having so much risk.

    "We waged a War to stop him from using the bracelet, and it still fell in his hands. We failed!"

    "Yes! We failed, and it¡¯s all because of that Janus! He is the one who convinced us to send the bracelet and the Fragments to unknown ces! That must be how he was able to find them and regain his power!"

    "That means it¡¯s all the fault of Janus! That little traitor pushed the entire Heaven in the path of destruction!. I¡¯m going to kill the insect when I find him!" The God of War roared.

    "Not only you, but I¡¯m also going to kill that insect!"

    "Me too! It¡¯s all because of him! I¡¯ll kill him!"

    One after another, all Gods started chanting "Death to Janus."

    "Silence! Janus is a minor problem at this time. He did what he wanted to do, but we need to think about a bigger problem!" The Goddess of Destiny yelled

    " The big problem is that Chaos has returned, and he¡¯s stronger than before! Moreover, he¡¯s not alone! He has the support of the Goddess of Reincarnation for some reason!" She further added.

    "Moreover, Chaos brought her back to life! So he could have corrupted her soul to support him! We won¡¯t be facing Chaos but also the Goddess of Reincarnation! We must think about them first! Janus will get his punishment, but first, let¡¯s take out Chaos!" She further added.

    She turned to look at the High Gods. "Do you know where he might be?"

    "I know where he is. But it¡¯s a ce none of us would be willing to go," the High God answered.

    "Where could that ce be?" The God of War asked. "Just tell us! We¡¯ll surround him!"

    "You can¡¯t surround him there. That ce is bigger than you think.. I doubt you could even find him if you went there," The High God key out, sighing.

 Chapter 641 - 637: Tracker

    <h4>Chapter 641 - 637: Tracker </h4>

    "Wait! Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re talking about the Dark Space? That seems to be the only ce that matches the description. Is that the case?" the Goddess of Destiny asked, stunned.

    "That¡¯s right. That¡¯s exactly the ce I¡¯m talking about. He should be there now!" The High God replied.

    "But why? Why would he go there?" the Goddess of Destiny asked, confused. "Did he go there so he could hide?"

    "But that ce is even more dangerous! Why would someone go to that ce to hide?" The Goddess of Water asked.

    "Exactly! That ce is known as the Graveyard of Gods, as those who go there rarely return alive! That¡¯s a forbidden ce!" The God of mes agreed. "I mean, it would make sense if he went there to hide since we can¡¯t find him, but the risks outweigh the advantages!"

    "Moreover, as we saw, he is strong enough to blow up the High God Pce so easily. Why would he go there to run away when he¡¯s strong? In any case, it¡¯s not as if we could find him easily even if he hadn¡¯t gone there? So I don¡¯t think he went there to hide!" he further added.

    "Will you all shut up for a minute and listen to me?" The High God asked, frowning. "He didn¡¯t go there to hide. Instead, he went there to retrieve something!"

    "Retrieve what?" The Goddess of Destiny asked.

    "He went there to retrieve his cursed sword!"

    "The sword which you had taken after his deathst time?" The goddess of Water inquired. "Why would it be in the Dark Realm?"

    "It would be there because we tossed him there. It is a sword that originated in the Dark Realm! It was possessed by the Dark Realm aura. With the death of its owner, that aura wasn¡¯t in control, and it was leaking everywhere, luring Dark Beings to this ce!" The High Gods answered.

    "So we sealed the sword and tossed it in the Dark Realm so it could never be found again. We didn¡¯t know that Chaos was going to return one day to retrieve it!" Another High God agreed.

    "That¡¯s right. Now that we think about that, it¡¯s good that we tossed it away. If it were in the Pce, Chaos would have recovered it to get even stronger!" Third High God said, sighing.

    "Ah, so what can we do at this point then? We can¡¯t go into the Dark Realm to find him. And even if we go there, I doubt we can locate him. That ce is just so big!" The God of War let out. "Can we do anything other than just hoping for his death at the hands of the Dark Creatures?"

    "We can certainly hope for that, but don¡¯t keep your hopes high. He is one of the rare few that had managed to return from that ce alive even before when he returned with his sword. Everyone believed he would die there even then," the God of Fame said, sighing. "There¡¯s a good chance he¡¯ll return."

    "And when he does, he will be even stronger than before," he continued, shaking his head.

    The High Gods frowned, nodding. They knew it was the truth.

    "We might not be able to kill him until he returns, but we can certainly weaken him!" The Goddess of Destiny said, clenching her fist.

    "How?" the Goddess of Water replied,ughing.

    "By targeting his brother! I mean, the two brothers fooled us. Janus acted as if he wasn¡¯t fond of Chaos when he supported us in the Godly War. But now we know that wasn¡¯t the case. So these two brothers are still close!" The Goddess of Destiny said, smirking.

    "You mean...?"

    "That¡¯s right. I think we should catch Janus! We can use him to lure Chaos to us and maybe force Chaos to listen to us with Janus as our hostage!"

    "That... That must work. I think we should give it a try. That¡¯s the best option at the moment," The God of War agreed. "Moreover, that bastard Janus is responsible for everything! I certainly want to get my hands on him!"

    "High Gods, are you going to support us in our search?" the Goddess of Destiny asked the High Gods, frowning.

    "We can¡¯t," one of the High Gods replied. "Instead, we need to go somewhere to handle things our way. You follow your n; we¡¯ll do ours."

    The High Gods noticed the disappointment on the faces of orders.

    One of them stepped forward, sighing. "But we would certainly help you in a different way."

    He flicked his fingers, making apass appear in his hands.

    He tossed the goldenpass toward the goddess of destiny.

    "Thispass has the aura of Janus. You can use it to find him. As long as he¡¯s not hiding inside his Domain, this can track him. It would help you," he eximed.

    Thepass was caught by the Goddess of Destiny. "Thank you so much. This would be really useful in tracking that bastard!"

    Giving thepass, the High Gods disappeared together, going to somewhere unknown.

    "I wonder where the High Gods are going. Do they want to go to the Dark Space after Chaos?" The Goddess of Water muttered, watching the High Gods leave.

    "I think they¡¯re going to him..." the Goddess of Destiny replied.

    "Him?" the Goddess of Water asked, confused.

    "The person who had killed the Goddess of Reincarnation in her second life! He was the one who said that she would never be allowed to reincarnate again and her soul would be destroyed," The Goddess of Destiny exined.

    "Now that she returned, of course, he would as well," She added. "And who knows, if we¡¯re lucky, he might evene and take care of the Goddess of Reincarnation and the person who brought her to life. We might not even need to do something."

    "I hope that¡¯s the case. It would be perfect!" the Goddess of Water said as a glint of hope shed in her eyes.

    "Now enough wasting time. Let¡¯s go and catch that traitor so we could show him the consequences of ying with us," the goddess of Destiny said, ncing at thepass which was pointing towards a certain direction.

    It was as if it was getting a signal of Janus already.

    ...

    Unaware of the troubles that were advancing towards him, Janus wasfortably sitting in the Pce of the Goddess of Life and Death.

    Since he couldn¡¯t go to his own pce, he came to the Goddess of Life and Death to take her help in locating Ryder so he could see what was happening with the little guy and why he couldn¡¯t feel him.

 Chapter 642 - 638: Located

    <h4>Chapter 642 - 638: Located </h4>

    Janus not only took asylum with the Goddess of Life and Death, but he also asked her to help.

    It had been over half an hour, but he was still trying to convince her since the Goddess of Life and Death wasn¡¯t listening.

    "Janus, I told you I can¡¯t help you. Why don¡¯t you understand?" The Goddess of Life and Death repeated.

    "You can certainly help me. It¡¯s just that you¡¯re not willing to. Why are you so scared? It¡¯s all going to be over soon! I just need ten minutes of your time. After that, we shall be done! Just help me locate Ryder and see what happened to him!" Janus insisted.

    "Nope. I told you once, and I¡¯m going to tell you again. I won¡¯t help you with this. The entire Godly Realm is after you. The realm is sealed too. If I try to do anything, they would know it. And I would be discovered too! I can¡¯t do it!" the Goddess of Life and Death said, sighing.

    "Look, I know it¡¯s dangerous, but do you really need to be that scared? Now that he has returned and siding with us, why worry? It should be the other gods who should be worried, and they certainly are! They won¡¯t be able to harm you even a little!" Janus said firmly.

    "Please help me onest time. You know Ryder, that little guy? I think he is in danger. Can you really see him die?" Janus asked.

    "Even though he isn¡¯t a god, he helped us! Moreover, he is still Chaos... At least a fraction of his soul! You know that Ryder¡¯s death would result in the destruction of that fragment! That would weaken Chaos by a lot!"

    "So please help me!"

    "Sigh, fine! But just know, if I do that, we¡¯ll be caught right away. Especially now that the Heavenly Realm is under such a harsh scrutiny," The Goddess of Life and Death said, ultimately giving in. She couldn¡¯t continue denying Janus again and again.

    She waved his hand, making a small pendant appear in them. The pendant had a red jade embedded in it which seemed a bit like a ruby but not quite. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t much bigger. It was only as thick as a human finger.

    Grabbing the pendant firmly, she closed her eyes, losing herself in the silence. Her body started shining in a translucent light as she used her powers.

    "Strange..." After a long time, she opened her eyes, disappointed.

    "What happened? Did you not find him?" Janus asked, seeing her disappointment.

    "I couldn¡¯t find him. I know his aura, but it doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s anywhere on earth. It¡¯s quite strange," The Goddess of Life and Death replied.

    "Well, that reminds me. He did have the power to travel worlds. Maybe he¡¯s in the world of Divinity? Try checking there?" Janus suggested.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll try there too."

    The Goddess of Life and Death closed her eyes again and resumed her search.

    The pendant in her hand started shining even brightly as if she was putting even more effort. The search this timested for half an hour before the Goddess of Life and Death stopped.

    She opened her eyes, letting out a mouthful of breath.

    "Did you find him?" Janus asked.

    The Goddess of Life and Death shook her head, sighing. "I didn¡¯t find him there either."

    "If he¡¯s not in those two worlds, then which world is he in?" Janus muttered, confused. "If I¡¯m not wrong, to go to worlds, he needed to go to them once. So there¡¯s no way he could be in any other world? Strange."

    "He¡¯s not in any other world either," the Goddess of Life and Death replied, sighing.

    "What do you mean?" Janus asked, frowning.

    "This time, I didn¡¯t just check the world you asked me to. Instead, I searched all the worlds. Let alone worlds; I searched the entire universe. Excluding the Dark Realm, I searched every ce possible. He¡¯s nowhere!" the Goddess of Life and Death replied.

    "Nowhere?" Janus muttered. "How could that be possible? If you can¡¯t find him anywhere, that would just mean that he doesn¡¯t exist anymore? He is dead? Is that why I can¡¯t sense him?"

    "I think that might be the case. Or else, it¡¯s impossible that I wouldn¡¯t be able to find him. I think he is dead," The Goddess of Life and Death replied, sighing.

    "H-how? He had all the powers! And he had the healing! There¡¯s no threat on earth for him! It¡¯s impossible for him to die!" Janus eximed, not able to believe.

    He couldn¡¯t understand! How could Ryder be dead! How could that guy be dead so easily?

    "You need to calm down. Sometimes, the most basic of things can kill a person. As for how he died, that¡¯s a question for thetter. For now, we need to be concerned about what this implies," The Goddess of Life and Death replied, sighing.

    "What does that imply? Ah, that¡¯s right! Chaos! With Ryder¡¯s death, Chaos would be weakened a lot! And he is in the Dark Realm! If he is weakened there, his life might be at risk!" Janus eximed, realizing what that meant.

    "That¡¯s right. He should be weakened now. But the Goddess of Reincarnation is with him. She should be able to protect him and bring him back safely! The real problem will start when he¡¯s back! All the gods will jump on the weakened Chaos like wild beasts! This would be the opportunity they were waiting for!"

    "Sigh, I guess you¡¯re right. We need to be prepared for that as well," Janus said grimly.

    "Hmm?" Abruptly, he stood up, looking towards the south.

    "What happened?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked, confused. Why did Janus act like he saw a Dark Creature suddenly?

    "When I wasing here, I cast a formation around your pce to make sure we knew of enemy intruders. It looks like someone just passed through those formations. And we all know who that could be," Janus said, frowning.

    "The gods found us? I told you we shouldn¡¯t try finding Ryder! It led them to us!"

    "No, it¡¯s not that. Even if we used your powers, there¡¯s no way that they could¡¯ve been here so fast. I think it was something else which led them to this ce!" Janus replied.

    He lightly pped his hand, making a human-sized mirror appear before him. The mirror started showing the scene outside the Pce.

    "Not one god, but all of them are here. As if they knew I was here. I¡¯m surprised they located me so fast.. I wonder how."

 Chapter 643 - 639: Stronger

    <h4>Chapter 643 - 639: Stronger </h4>

    Ryder went through extreme pain to ultimately lose consciousness. The changes in his body continued even when he went unconscious. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t feel the pain anymore as he was unconscious.

    It was after what appeared to be a really long time that he woke up.

    His eyes slowly opened as he felt a strange feeling in his body. It was as if his body was slightly different now. It was filled with a kind of power that he had never felt before.

    However, that wasn¡¯t the only change. He found his brain filled with billions of memories, all belonging to the being he had amodated inside his body.

    Not only was he able to use the being¡¯s power, but more importantly, he now had all the memories of that person too. He knew how he came to exist and how he lived his life.

    Now he even understood what he actually went through and how that shadow ended up in this time more clearly. Previously, it was just words about what had happened, but now he felt as if he had actually lived that life.

    "Man, I must say you had a harsh life... And a boring one. Living for so long?" Ryder muttered, sighing. "I only imagined how bad it might be, but only now I understand what nightmare it can be."

    "Nightmare? I didn¡¯t see my life like that. Since you humans have a short life span, the importance of time is different to you. But we were born with this, to be able to live for an eternity. What¡¯s life or what¡¯s death to us? There is no importance of time."

    "A billion years is the same to us as a single second. So I didn¡¯t mind it," he added, sighing.

    "That¡¯s true as well," Ryder muttered, smiling.

    "Anyway, your memories... They taught me so much. Through your memories, I saw the birth of this universe, the birth of lives, and the creation of Nature. It is so amazing. So that¡¯s what it is like to be an ancient god," he continued.

    "Before this kind of existence, what were the ordinary gods? I mean, if I want, I can go and meet Chaos and shock him. Hahahaha, it¡¯s going to be really fun!¡¯

    He was very pleased with what he ended up with. Not only did he have the memories that he couldn¡¯t even think of possessing, but he also possessed the other form of knowledge, including you, to use the powers beyond imagination!

    He could not use all the powers that the shadow was sharing with him. And as long as the Shadow didn¡¯t obstruct, he could use the powers any way he wanted. Moreover, he could also take over the whole universe if he wanted.

    His thoughts were going crazy.

    "Don¡¯t fly too high, young man. You are strong, simr to me. But don¡¯t forget. Even someone like me can end up in a coffin, trapped. So learn from me and stay within limits. Don¡¯t put your life at risk for unnecessary ambition," the Shadow warned him.

    "I know. Don¡¯t worry; I was just thinking casually. I¡¯m not nning to take over the universe. And on the topic of you being trapped here: it wasn¡¯t because you were weaker than him! It was because you didn¡¯t resist," Ryder responded.

    "I didn¡¯t resist or fight back, that¡¯s true. But so what if I had? That doesn¡¯t mean that I would¡¯ve certainly won. The battle would have ended with the two of us weakening and trapping each other," the shadow answered.

    "So, in a way, even if I had fought, I would still end up in that coffin. The only difference is that he would¡¯ve been trapped with me. Which is basically no different," he continued.

    "And in my current condition, I can¡¯t match him even if I go all out. I¡¯m too weak. And simrly, you¡¯re much weaker than him. So you still need to avoid him at all costs. That¡¯s why I gave you all my memories. So you can use my powers to protect the two of us and your family!"

    "And you can do that by avoiding him!"

    "I know. Don¡¯t worry; I won¡¯t do anything stupid," Ryder replied, sighing. He waved his hand, making his old clothes turn to dust, bing naked.

    Next, he snapped his fingers, making a rainbow waterfall appear above him. The rainbow water started falling on him, cleansing his body.

    "With that, I¡¯ll remove all the aura on my body. No one would be able to locate me... Locate us, I mean," he exined.

    "Good start," The shadow replied.

    After a short time, Ryder stopped the rainbow waterfall above him, making it disappear.

    Gentle warm wind started flying, drying his body quickly.

    After his body was destroyed, he casually waved his hand, making another set of clothes appear on his body.

    The clothes on his body this time were too luxurious. He created those clothes from his memories. These were the ones that were worn by the shadow in old times.

    Ryder also made a mirror appear before him and looked at his reflection. "I must say, your sense of fashion was pretty good. It suits me as well. Unfortunately, I think it¡¯ll stand out too much. I better wear ordinary clothes."

    He waved his hand again, changing clothes in a split second. He now wore a casual green shirt and ck jeans.

    "This is much better," he muttered before making the mirror disappear. "Time to leave the spatial crack and get back to my real ce."

    p~

    He pped his hands, destroying the spatial realm he was hiding inside. Now that he had removed his aura, he didn¡¯t need to hide.

    He had taken all the precautions he could ording to the memories of the shadow.

    As the spatial realm was destroyed, Ryder also disappeared. He appeared back in his hotel, yawning.

    "Oh right, I had one question. How long are you going to take to heal? And will you leave me like Janus when that happens? Also, what about your powers? Will you take them back too?" Ryder asked, sitting on the bed.

    He didn¡¯t realize that no one was in the hotel except him. Because of the earthquake, no one found it safe to return to the buildings, at least until they had an idea as to what was happening.

    "Ah, that Janus. I saw about him in your memories. Now I know better about them. Honestly, I don¡¯t think they were wrong in leaving you," the shadow replied.

    "Why?" Ryder asked, confused.

    "I mean, do you still not understand why they did that?" the shadow asked.

 Chapter 644 - 640: Soccer With Earth

    <h4>Chapter 644 - 640: Ser With Earth </h4>

    "What do you mean why? Isn¡¯t it because they were simply using me? After they got their work done, they left," Ryder responded.

    "You¡¯re wrong. I think it¡¯s because they didn¡¯t want to put you at risk. You can see that for yourself. If they didn¡¯t care about your needs and only cared about themselves, Chaos wouldn¡¯t have let you live a separate life," the shadow answered.

    " Instead, he would have merged with you since staying away was more dangerous for him," he added.

    "Dangerous how? With your memories, I know that it would affect him a little to separate a fraction of the soul, but that doesn¡¯t mean anything. Any disadvantage would have been offset by the bracelet and his increased powers. So I see no disadvantage," Ryder responded.

    "From a certain point of view, you¡¯re correct. It¡¯s not very damaging to separate a fraction of your soul on its own, but what you¡¯re not seeing is the risk in it."

    Ryder looked at the man with a questioning gaze.

    The shadow further continued, approaching the question from a different way. "Tell me one thing. If that small fraction of soul was destroyed, what would happen to the main soul?"

    "That... You¡¯re right. That fraction of soul is a liability. Separating it isn¡¯t dangerous but what¡¯s dangerous is if that soul fraction was destroyed because that would injure the main soul massively! So that soul fraction would be a weakness of the main soul!" Ryder let out, finally guessing it.

    "That¡¯s right. So now answer me this. Why would a God leave this kind of weakness free? Moreover, why would he create this weakness in the first ce? If he thought about himself, why would he do something selfless like that?" The shadow asked.

    "No matter what happens. A person must always look at the biggest picture if he wants to understand the entire situation. You can¡¯t understand something like that otherwise."

    "I¡¯m sure you understand why they left you alone?"

    "I understand. They didn¡¯t want to bring harm to me, so I could live my life freely. Moreover, if I was living safely here, then not only would I have the life I wanted, but that liability would be safe too. So it helped everyone," Ryder replied.

    "That¡¯s right. It was done so you could get what you wanted and, at the same time, keep you safe."

    Ryder nodded, sighing. "I understand now. I guess I was short-sighted. But I¡¯m strong now. I¡¯m not a liability. Maybe I should contact them instead?"

    "You need to do no such thing! You have enough problems of your own. Just stay on earth," the shadow replied.

    Ryder walked over to the window, looking at the beautiful moon in the sky. "Maybe that would be the best course of action. In any case, Chaos won¡¯t need my help with that bracelet."

    "That bracelet..." The Shadow muttered. "I must say, that thing appears to be really incredible. For a God to make something like that... It¡¯s not bad."

    "Yeah. That bracelet was pretty good indeed. Allowing someone to use the powers of other gods, just with the fragments," Ryder nodded.

    "No, it¡¯s not that. What¡¯s really amazing about it is that it¡¯s a single Artifact which can hold all gods¡¯ power."

    " We couldn¡¯t even create one god simr to us who could possess all the powers, no matter how many times we tried, and here we have a mind who managed to create an Artifact to hold the powers? He is pretty amazing. He was able to think of something like this which even we couldn¡¯t."

    The shadow appeared impressed about the achievement of Chaos.

    "It is the highest tier of Artifacts which can probably make a God as strong as us when we were at our peak. At least that¡¯s my theory from what I saw of it in your memories, which isn¡¯t much since it didn¡¯t have all the fragments yet."

    "That¡¯s why I can¡¯t say anything for sure. But if my assumption is correct, we¡¯re in for a big show. As soon as the bracelet ispleted, it¡¯ll change the whole world. He might alsoe out to stop that from happening since he¡¯ll be alerted about it," he added.

    "You mean your partner? That reminds me. Where is he? You said he¡¯lle to the tomb to check? I don¡¯t see anything odd?" Ryder asked.

    "Odd? Hahaha, don¡¯t tell me you expect him toe with a beam of light like they do in your superhero films?" The shadow asked, sounding amused.

    "Huh? Have you seen ¡¯Revengers: Beginning Games¡¯ too?" Ryder asked. "Ah, right. You know my memories now. I keep forgetting."

    "I must say, you people used your brains to make some really magical things here, without having any magic. That makes me wonder if it¡¯s because you people have such a limited lifespan which forces you to make the best of it?" the shadow asked.

    He hadn¡¯t expected for humanity to grow in this direction at the start.

    "From stone age to the age of technology, we dide pretty far," Ryder nodded.

    "Thanks to all the great minds. But then again, sometimes I wonder if we¡¯re going back to the stone age," he muttered, smiling wryly.

    "Going back to the stone age?" The shadow asked.

    "Don¡¯t you see the Return to Monkee meme in my head?" Ryder asked, rolling his eyes. "Sometimes, I worry for humanity¡¯s future. Every day it seems like things are changing for the worse. But then again, we do get some fun memes to offset the negatives."

    "So you worry about the humans?" The shadow asked.

    "Not only me. I suppose many people worry about it. It¡¯s just that some people be too extreme in their worries," Ryder answered.

    "Then why don¡¯t you change the future?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "I mean, you are a God now. In fact, you are the strongest god. You can do anything. You can even make humans develop teleportation Portals, spaceships, and many more," the shadow answered.

    "Well, we already kinda have space ships," Ryder replied, smiling. "But yeah, that other thing sounds good. But won¡¯t it alert your partner?"

    "I didn¡¯t mean right now. I meant after the problem regarding him is solved. After that, you can do anything. You can make this ce a hell, or you can make it a living Utopia. You can also make it a ball you can y ser with if you want," the Shadow let out,ughing.

    "Ahh, that ball thing sounds like going too far. But I¡¯ll think about the other things. Oh right, that reminds me. Now I can see the future too.. Shall I try?" Ryder asked.

 Chapter 645 - 641: Even Gods Cant

    <h4>Chapter 645 - 641: Even Gods Can''t </h4>

    "Don¡¯t even think about it," the shadow replied.

    "Why?" Ryder asked. "Shouldn¡¯t this power be something we use? We can see the future? And who knows, we might find something useful."

    "Nope. The future is supposed to be uncertain. Let it stay as such," the shadow answered. "If you see the future, that would seal it. Good or bad, it would be final. There would be no way to avoid it in that case," the shadow replied. "That¡¯s why I say. Let it stay as it is. Don¡¯t try to see it."

    "Sigh, so that¡¯s what you¡¯re concerned about? That¡¯s true as well," Ryder nodded.

    "Exactly. It¡¯s like seeing death. If you see your future and know when and how you¡¯re to die, it¡¯ll be a fate worse than living in uncertainty," the shadow further said.

    "I understand. You don¡¯t need to rify. I won¡¯t use that ability." Ryder nodded. "Ahh, there it is! I see now!"

    "Your partners dide inside the Tomb! I can see him!" he added.

    "Don¡¯t look in his direction. He might be able to sense you," the shadow reminded Ryder, forcing him to stop using his vision to see inside the tomb.

    Instead, Ryder shifted his see-through gaze in another direction.

    "Huh? Why are there so many people in the garden? Hmm? Alice is there too? And so is Shu? What are they all doing there?"

    "Ah, I remember it now! That earthquake! If it wasn¡¯t contained inside the tomb, then it could mean the entire city felt it. No wonder everyone is outside their rooms."

    As Ryder managed to guess why everyone was outside, he also realized that he was in a mess. If there was an earthquake, then the others probably tried to get him before leaving. He was certain that Alice and Shu checked his room before leaving.

    It was clear that they knew he wasn¡¯t inside his room in the middle of the night. Now he needed to exin to them where he was in the middle of the night.

    He decided to go to that ce however stopped before using his Teleportation. He suddenly remembered that the other Origin God was inside the tomb, checking what had happened. There was a good chance that he was able to sense special distortion.

    Since he knew his own powers, he also knew that if he were in the ce of that God, he wouldn¡¯t realize if someone used the spatial powers.

    Instead of flying or teleporting outside, he ran towards the gate. Pushing the door open, he left.

    After taking the stairs, he soon reached the ground floor and left the hotel before running towards the garden where everyone had gathered.

    After a long running session, he reached the garden. Even though he had run for quite some distance, he didn¡¯t feel tired at all. It was as if he had only walked a few steps.

    From the huge crowd, he easily found Alice and Shu, who were standing in the front.

    "There you are! And here I was, looking for you everywhere!" Ryder eximed as he stopped before Alice. "You know how worried I was for you?"

    "You were worried for me?" Alice asked, rolling her eyes. "I should be the one asking you that question! During the earthquake, we went to your room to take you. But you weren¡¯t even there!"

    "I know I wasn¡¯t there. I woke up from sleep in the middle of the night, and I was feeling a bit stiff. So I went to take a walk outside and to stretch a little. That¡¯s when the Earthquake came. I was so worried for you," Ryder exined.

    "But by the time I went back, the hotel was empty. I searched the entire hotel," he added. "Let alone the hotel; I searched the entire city. It¡¯s only now that I found you!"

    "You went for a walk in the middle of the night?" Shu asked. "Whatever. It¡¯s fine as long as you¡¯re fine. Anyway, did you know that the earthquake didn¡¯t juste to Egypt, but it came to all the countries. It was as if the entire Earth was shaking.

    "The entire world?" Ryder eximed in surprise. Even he hadn¡¯t expected that. It was beyond his expectation.

    "There must have been massive damage all around the world?" Ryder asked.

    "That¡¯s true. I doubt we can even count the damage at this time. The mary damages are still fine, but too many lives are also lost in this. Entire buildings came crashing down, killing the people inside them," Shu exined. "Two buildings of mine also came crashing down. It¡¯s a huge disaster which will take a long time to recover from."

    "I also have a bad news for you," he added.

    "What bad news?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Yourpany building also came crashing down. It was already very old, so it couldn¡¯t resist for long," Shu replied.

    "How many people died inside?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "Twenty people who were workingte," Shu answered.

    Ryder rubbed his forehead, looking down.

    "Do you regret entering the tomb now?" The shadow asked Ryder. "If you hadn¡¯t entered that ce, I wouldn¡¯t be free, and this disaster wouldn¡¯t have urred."

    ¡¯It¡¯s not your fault,¡¯ Ryder answered.

    "Whose fault is it if not ours?" The shadow asked.

    ¡¯It¡¯s no one¡¯s fault.¡¯ Ryder replied.

    "Are you alright?" Shu asked as he ced his hand on Ryder¡¯s fallen shoulders. "I know it¡¯s hard, but we can do nothing about it. We aren¡¯t gods. All we can do is make sure that the memories of the deceased live on."

    "We can¡¯t do anything... We aren¡¯t gods indeed," Ryder muttered, rubbing his chin.

    "Don¡¯t even think about it. If you reverse the time of the entire Earth, you would have saved them, but the oue would be much worse! You¡¯ll destroy the natural bnce," the shadow reminded Ryder.

    "And when you go to correct the blunders you¡¯ll inevitably create for reversible the time of the earth; you¡¯ll create even more. It¡¯s an unending cycle. The only thing you¡¯ll do is make the numbers of dead increase more and more," he continued, warning Ryder against using his power for this situation.

    Ryder sighed as he nodded. ¡¯I know. I wasn¡¯t thinking about doing it. I was just considering the feasibility of it, and I know it¡¯s useless. So don¡¯t worry.¡¯

    He nced at Shu as he continued. "Even if we were gods, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to change anything."

    "Can you arrange a flight back? I think it¡¯s time we go back," He continued.

    "I¡¯ll see what I can do," Shu affirmed.

 Chapter 646 - 642: Found It

    <h4>Chapter 646 - 642: Found It </h4>

    Shu and the others returned to the hotel after making sure that it was safe.

    "I checked with the staff. We can¡¯t leave this ce," Shu informed Ryder as they reached their rooms.

    "Why not?" Ryder asked.

    "Because the runway is damaged. There are cracks everywhere. Our jet can¡¯t take off. We¡¯ll have to wait until it¡¯s repaired," Shu exined.

    "But that¡¯s going to take a long time. It might even take a week," Ryder muttered, rubbing his chin.

    "We can do nothing about it. It¡¯s out of our hands," Shu muttered, sighing. "We can only stay here and handle everything from here. What do you say?"

    Ryder scratched the back of his head, sighing. "It¡¯s alright. Since there¡¯s no other option, let¡¯s do that."

    "Good. Since you didn¡¯t sleep in the night, take a nap. I¡¯ll also get some rest."

    Shu pushed the door of his room and stepped inside.

    Ryder also went inside his room which was right beside the room of Alice.

    Instead of sleeping, he once again looked in the direction of the pyramid, wondering if that person had left.

    He decided to check again. Using his abilities, he looked inside the pyramid, making sure not to take a long nce.

    "Hmm? He¡¯s not there. It looks like he left."

    "That seems to be the case," the shadow added. "He was clearly frustrated. He destroyed the coffin before leaving."

    "Yeah. It looks like he still hasn¡¯t forgiven you," Ryder said, sighing.

    "And he won¡¯t forgive me for a long time, either. It¡¯s alright though. I¡¯ve decided to stop being concerned about forgiveness. What happened wasn¡¯t my fault. And I didn¡¯t do anything to upset him!" The Shadow answered.

    "Moreover, I always spent such a long time inside that coffin. I¡¯m not going to go inside again. If he wants to fight, I¡¯ll happily oblige him," he continued. "Instead of backing off, I¡¯ll return all the favor with interest."

    "That¡¯s the spirit," Ryder muttered, smirking.

    ...

    In an unknown pce existed a frozen mountain. There was a ne area on the top of the mountain, which appeared like a skating rink; however, it had a pool in the middle.

    Despite being on top of the frozen mountain, the pool appeared to have warm water.

    All the High Gods appeared on top of the Mountain and observed the surroundings.

    They noticed the pond and the statue of a Snow Lion right beside the pool.

    "Where is he?"

    "I don¡¯t know. From what I know, he never leaves this ce. Even though we haven¡¯te here since the death of the Goddess of Reincarnation, it¡¯s still strange."

    "Do you think he already found out about the return of the Goddess of Reincarnation? Did he leave to find her and kill her again?"

    "It¡¯s possible. He is the almighty. He should already know about this."

    "Let¡¯s do it like that. One of us shall stay behind to inform him if he returns. The others will go back to the Heaven to see if he is there."

    "I agree. But who will stay behind?"

    "I can volunteer for that."

    "Alright. In that case, you can stay behind."

    Leaving one High God behind, the others left.

    ...

    A person appeared in the Heaven.

    It appeared to be a six feet tall man whose face wasn¡¯t visible clearly since it was hidden under a ck cloak.

    Even though the body was covered in a cloak, there was some strange aura around the man, which was sleeping into the atmosphere.

    "This ce... It reeks of her..." A hoarse voice came from the man inside the cloak.

    "But I don¡¯t feel his aura. He hid himself well! As expected from him! Even after hiding, he certainly isn¡¯t going to escape!"

    "I shall destroy this whole universe if I have to! But I shall find him!"

    The cloaked man started rising in the air.

    ....

    Chaos and the Goddess of Reincarnation flew inside the Dark Realm, searching for the sword of Chaos. However, let alone swords, they couldn¡¯t even find the Dark Beasts.

    It was such a huge ce that even if they flew for a hundred thousand years, they couldn¡¯t get to the end of it. It was clear to them that finding the sword depended on luck. And to find the sword, they needed to find the beasts in the first ce.

    It was said that the beasts could sense the presence of the sword even better than Chaos could, so he wanted to find either of them. If he could find the beasts, then it was good as well, but the chances of finding the beasts seemed low as well.

    "Last time I came here, the beasts were everywhere. And now I can¡¯t even find one of them. This is upsetting," Chaos muttered, frowning.

    "It¡¯s a big ce. Maybe,st time you happened tond near their settlement? And this time, we appeared far away from that ce? That¡¯s all I can think of," the Goddess of Reincarnation replied.

    "Possibly," Chaos muttered. "But st-"

    While speaking, Chaos suddenly stopped.

    "What happened?" The Goddess of Reincarnation asked, noticing the strange behavior of his. She looked around, wondering if he saw something, but there was nothing nearby. "Did you sense the sword?"

    "I certainly sense something, but it¡¯s not the sword," Chaos replied. "Follow me."

    He changed his direction and started flying in a different direction.

    After two hours of flying through empty space, he finally stopped.

    "There it is."

    He could see a stone floating before him.

    "Another Fragment."

    He flew closer to the stone and grabbed it before cing it on the bracelet.

    "Five more to go. I wonder if they¡¯re all in this ce too? If they are, it¡¯s going to be hard to find them," Chaos muttered, looking around.

    "Then again, if I was to find something, this fragment helped me a lot."

    "Which one is that?" The Goddess of Reincarnation asked, curious.

    "It¡¯s the fragment of search. I created it after taking the soul crystal of the God of Searches," Chaos exined. "This would increase my range of search by at least a thousand times. With this, I would certainly have a higher chance."

    Chaos spread his arms and closed his eyes as he started using the bracelet.

    Even after ten minutes, he didn¡¯t open his eyes. The Goddess of Reincarnation waited for him to wake up instead of disturbing him.

    "Found them," Chaosmenter.

    "The beasts?"

    "That¡¯s right. Even after this extended range, I couldn¡¯t find the Sword, but I found them. They should be able to help," Chaosmented. "Follow me."

    The two of them once again started flying in the endless space.

 Chapter 647 - 643: Surrounded

    <h4>Chapter 647 - 643: Surrounded </h4>

    Chaos flew through the endless space in a quest to get the fragment that he had sensed only recently.

    The fragment was so far that he couldn¡¯t sense it in the past, but after getting the fragment of search, his range had increased by a lot. He was able to sense the other fragment.

    Even though he flew at the highest speed, it still took him an hour to get to the next fragment.

    As he saw the following fragment, he slowed down.

    A smirk formed on his lips. "So you¡¯re the one. Perfect."

    He moved closer to the fragment and caught it.

    "The Fragment of Speed," he muttered as he ced the Fragment on his bracelet.

    "You seem happy to get that Fragment?" The goddess of reincarnation asked Chaos.

    "I certainly am. This fragment is one of the most important ones after the Origin Fragment for me," Chaos answered.

    "Why is that?" The Goddess of Reincarnation asked.

    "Because the enemy of ours isn¡¯t someone ordinary. Even if all the Gods work together, they can¡¯t even put a scratch on him. I want to bepletely prepared to face him. And the most important part of the battle will be speed. If I can¡¯t match his speed, I can¡¯t expect to win," Chaos answered.

    "The battle is not only fought with strength and defense but it¡¯s also fought with speed. On the contrary, I would say that speed is more important than anything against a being whose single step is faster than teleportation," he added.

    "I understand that. He is certainly fast. But can this fragment help you match his speed? At the end of the day, what if it¡¯s not enough?" Goddess of Reincarnation asked.

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about it. I am sure it will work. Now, if I can avoid him until I collect all the Fragments, the synergy will make them even stronger," Chaos answered.

    "The fragments which were in the outside world were already collected by me. So if I¡¯m not wrong, the rest should be here! It doesn¡¯t matter how long it takes. I want to find them all," he continued, sighing. "It won¡¯t be long now. As soon as I finish the bracelet and get my sword, we shall leave this ce and finish it once and for all."

    "I hope so," the Goddess of Reincarnation said, sighing. "Wait! Look there! Isn¡¯t that a Dark Beast? We finally saw one!"

    "Hmm?" Frowning, Chaos turned around.

    As he looked back, he was pleasantly surprised. It was indeed one he was looking for. It was one of the Dark Beasts who upied this empty space. Moreover, they were also the ones who were told to be able to sense his sword!

    He was sure that the sword was found by the Dark Beasts a long time ago. And if he could get the help of one of them, he could get there faster.

    The Dark Beast didn¡¯t have a physical body. Instead, it appeared to be a creature who was entirely made of dark shadows. It did look a bit simr to a beast.

    Chaos started flying towards the Dark Beast, which looked back at him.

    The beast opened his mouth to review his shadowy teeth.

    Awooo~

    The wolf raised his head, howling like crazy before it started running towards Chaos.

    Chaos took a deep breath as he raised his right hand. His eyes suddenly turned pitch ck as a shadowy aura appeared behind him as well.

    The wolf felt a strange yet serene aura that was too soothing for him as if he was with a family member. There was also an urge inside him to listen to this man.

    "Stop." Chaos softly said.

    Hearing themands, the beast stopped.

    Aftermanding a Dark Beast, Chaos looked up, smiling.

    "As expected. I wasn¡¯t hurt. The Heavenly Oath isn¡¯t valid anymore since I went through reincarnation. I can use the abilities I promised never to use," Chaos muttered, pleased that it worked.

    It was also one of the reasons he decided to die and go through the reincarnation. Firstly, it allowed the Fragments to have enough time to gather energy.

    Secondly, it allowed him to be free of his Heavenly Oath without being free. Andstly, it allowed him to make his spirit even stronger.

    It was a known fact that Reincarnation had the potential of strengthening the Divine Soul of a god. That¡¯s why gods often tried to go through reincarnation, only to die in the end.

    Other than him and the Goddess of Reincarnation, no one had ever seeded before.

    "Have you seen this sword?" Chaos asked as he created an illusion of the sword before the beast.

    The Dark Beast nodded his head.

    "Good. As expected. Lead me to that sword!" Chaosmanded.

    The Dark Beast selected a direction and started running. Chaos followed him.

    ...

    The Pce of the Goddess of Life and Death was established on the top of a beautiful mountain. The snow mountain matched the crystal pce of the Goddess of Life and Death.

    Despite being such a beautiful mountain, not many people came here. The Goddess of a Life and Death was the only person who lived here. As she didn¡¯t have many friends, the Pce was often empty on any ordinary day.

    Today wasn¡¯t any ordinary day though. Let alone one or two gods; the Pce was surrounded from all sides by more than thirty gods.

    Moreover, they had also sealed the space of this mountain to make sure that no one could teleport away or use any trick to escape.

    All the gods came for one person only, tracing the arrow on thepass that was given to them by a High God. The Arrow was still pointing towards the Pce, signaling the presence of Janus inside.

    "Heh, he is inside! As I expected, one of us was helping him! There are too many traitors in our midst! First that Janus and now the Goddess of Life and Death!" the God is War dered.

    "So she imed that she wasn¡¯t taking part in the battle to kill Chaos because she didn¡¯t like gods killing other gods? And here she is, helping the people who killed our kids? She is certainly a traitor!" The God of mes nodded.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter! Today we shall kill the Goddess of Life and Death and serve justice while capturing Janus to control Chaos!" The Goddess of Destiny said, smiling.

    They started walking towards the entrance of the pce, but when they were just a few meters away from it, the gates of the Crystal Pce opened, and a person stepped out.

 Chapter 648 - 644: No Way Out

    <h4>Chapter 648 - 644: No Way Out </h4>

    You can read the novel online free at <strong></strong> or <strong></strong>

    The doors of the Crystal Pce opened before the gods could even get to them.

    A person stepped out of the pce, appearing to be a young silver-haired boy.

    "As expected! You were here!" The God of War said. "I¡¯ll see where you run now, traitor!"

    "Run? Can I even run after the entire space is sealed by you? I¡¯m not an idiot to think that you people didn¡¯t take precautions to stop me. What I¡¯m actually surprised by is how you found me?" Janus asked.

    "Thatpass is probably what led to me. But I don¡¯t think you had that before. Or you would¡¯ve found me long ago. Did the High Gods give you that? Ah, what am I even asking? The High Gods are certainly the ones who can do something like that."

    "They were probably salty that their pce was blown up, weren¡¯t they?" Janus asked.

    "Enough nonsense! Get down on your knees! We aren¡¯t here to kill you! We will simply imprison you! If you¡¯re sensible, you won¡¯t resist!" The Goddess of Destiny stated. "Don¡¯t force us to kill a god again!"

    "Kill? Hahahahaha."

    Janus burst intoughter, hearing their words.

    "You think I can believe that you¡¯ll let me live simply out of the goodness of your heart?! Nonsense! You want to capture me so you can use me against my brother? You want me as your hostage, don¡¯t you!"

    "Isn¡¯t that a better option than death?" The Goddess of Water chimed in. "If you resist, you¡¯ll be killed. The only option is to surrender. Then you¡¯ll survive. So the choice is between life and death! Why do you worry about the future? Just decide in the present after looking at your options."

    "Options? I have already looked at my options. And I¡¯ve also decided my answer," Janus replied.

    "Very good. So you agreed to surrender," the Goddess of Destiny let out.

    "Tsk, the bastard survived! I wanted him to resist so I could kill him!" The God of War stated in frustration.

    "Why don¡¯t you listen to my answer first? I said I decided. But I didn¡¯t say that I decided to surrender?" Janus said, smiling.

    "You mean....?"

    "Yep. I want to fight. If he can fight you alone, why can¡¯t I? I¡¯m his brother, after all. Moreover, being used against my brother? No thanks. Instead of being a coward and bing an obstruction in his n, I might as well die fighting!" Janus dered as he flew towards the God of War.

    Since the space was blocked, he couldn¡¯t teleport to attack. He couldn¡¯t use his Spatial gates either, at least not the ones that were big enough to amodate him.

    He could only make small Spatial Gates that weren¡¯t even as big as his head. So the only option for movement left for him was to fly.

    However, space was the advantage of Janus! Without his Spatial Movement, he was just an ordinary God when it came to speed.

    Even the God of War was faster than him since the God of War was the best fighter. He was not only a master in hand to handbat, but he was also powerful and fast.

    His reflexes were also the fastest.

    He smirked at the sight of Janus attacking. His figure flickered as he appeared near Janus.

    He tossed his fist. Janus moved in the air, changing his position to avoid the attack instantly. He grabbed the God of War¡¯s wrist beforending on the ground.

    It all happened within a fraction of a second. Before the God of War could even react, a kicknded on his chest.

    The kick contained so much strength that it would generally have made him fly back, but not at the moment. Janus was holding the wrist of the God of War to hold him in ce.

    Because of not being able to move back, the impact of the kick made the God of War even more hurt.

    Janus realized that the God of War was going to attack back. He freed the wrist of the God of War before hended a spinning kick whichnded in the same spot, hurting the God of War even more. This time, he flew back uncontrobly before crashing on the ground.

    Even though Janus had attacked first, it was all a bait since he knew that the God of War was going to attack as well. He pretended to be careless just to make the God of War attack.

    Moreover, he also arranged his kick in such a way that instead of tossing the God of War towards the other gods, it made him fly towards the Pce of the Goddess of Life and Death.

    The God of War passed through the entrance of the pce before crashing inside the pce.

    "That bastard! I will kill him!" The God of War stood up, enraged.

    "Hmm? What¡¯s that?" He suddenly noticed something. A barrier was present around him. And a formation was under him.

    "Trap!" He raged, seeing the formation. He attacked the barrier, ultimately failing to break it.

    The barrier was made because of the formation under him. The formation was created by Janus using his own blood. He had spent a lot of vitality to create that formation. In fact, his body was considerably weaker now because of that, but he believed it was worth it.

    Even if he wasn¡¯t weak, he knew he couldn¡¯t defeat all these gods. He wasn¡¯t his brother, after all. The best option he had was to be quick and trap them all, making them unable to leave for a short time so he could escape with the Goddess of Life and Death.

    On the other hand, if he didn¡¯t do this, he knew that not only was he going to be captured, but the Goddess of Life and Death was also going to be killed.

    Even though at the start he acted to be surprised to know that they nned to capture him instead of killing him, he had already expected that since he was the weakness of his brother and these people were going to know that.

    Moreover, that was the only reason they didn¡¯t blow up the entire pce to kill him at the start.

    That¡¯s also why he took such a big risk. Since they weren¡¯t going to kill him, he could afford to sacrifice his strength for the end cause.

    Without wasting a single second, towards the God of me.

    "Futile struggles. You can never defeat us! You can only dy the inevitable," the God of mes said, sighing.

    He waved his hand, making hundreds of ming swords appear above his head.

    You can read the novel online free at <strong></strong> or <strong></strong>

 Chapter 649 - 645: Sacrifice Or Not?

    <h4>Chapter 649 - 645: Sacrifice Or Not? </h4>

    God of mes conjured thousands of mes that increased the temperature of the surroundings.

    Within seconds, he shot all those Swords in the direction of the Warlock Council.

    The swords shed through the air as they flew towards Janus.

    Janus dodged the swords as best as he could while controlling the momentum; however, he wasn¡¯t able to avoid them entirely.

    Some of the swords scratched his arms while solving his clothes. The fires of the sword were so hot that Janus felt a sharp burn that made him hiss in pain, but he didn¡¯t stop. Somehow he avoided any major wound in targeting the God of mes.

    He reached the God of mes, who brought forth his Divine Weapons, which was a silver Sword. The silver Sword had a ming symbol on the de, which was ming red in color. It also had a blood red hilt that was held by the God of mes

    Janus raised his right hand, bringing his own Divine Weapon.

    A golden hammer appeared above his head that had a handle twice his height. The hammer looked odd when held by Janus, who looked like a young kid. Janus didn¡¯t stop himself as he attacked. He swung his dark hammer fiercely in the direction of the Silver Sword.

    The Sword and the Hammer shed. The Sword had more destructive power than the hammer, but it wasn¡¯t able to damage the hammer. The dark hammer, on the contrary, had destructive power, which was lower than the silver Sword but instead, it had the brute force.

    The brute force didn¡¯t need to destroy the sword, but it was enough to push the God of mes back. The golden sword also fell from his hand.

    Janus appeared behind the God of War before he could recover his sword. He swung his sword, which hit the back of the God of mes, making him fly towards the Pce in the distance.

    The God of mes felt his back hurt as he flew without any control. He fell inside the pce, right beside the God of War.

    "That hurt," he rubbed his back as he stood up.

    He noticed the God of War. "What are you doing here? We are fighting outside, and here you are, rxing?"

    "Rxing? You idiot, try going outside."

    The God of mes frowned. He tried leaving only to be stopped as a barrier appeared before him.

    "What¡¯s happening?" The God of mes asked. "It¡¯s a trap?"

    "That¡¯s right, genius. He cast a trap here. We can¡¯t leave this ce. So I wasn¡¯t rxing here. I am trapped here, and so are you," the God of War answered.

    "What? There must be a way out!"

    "You can try everything. I already did. I don¡¯t see any way out."

    "Hmm?"

    The God of mes didn¡¯t give up. He clenched his fist as a fire started burning around it.

    He punched the barrier with his bringing fist, attacking the same ce again and again.

    "Useless, isn¡¯t it?" the God of War asked, rolling his eyes.

    "When I can¡¯t break it, do you think you can?" he asked.

    The God of mes lowered his fist, frowning. "This is stronger than I thought. Just how did he make it? Could it be that he sacrificed some of his Divinity?"

    "It¡¯s quite possible," the God of War nodded.

    "That means we should be able to break it if one of us sacrifices more of our Divinity?" The God of mes asked, looking back at the God of War.

    "Don¡¯t look at me when you talk like that. I¡¯m not going to sacrifice my Divinity, especially when a battle with Chaos is inevitable. The Sacrifice is permanent. I don¡¯t want to be too weak to face him." The God of War rolled his eyes.

    "If you want to do it, be my guest," he added.

    Even the God of War hesitated. He was fine with someone else sacrificing, but even he didn¡¯t want to sacrifice his own Divinity.

    "What do you suggest we should do in that case? Just stay here?" He asked.

    "What¡¯s the problem with it? It¡¯s not like that guy can take out all the others. He¡¯s going to be caught soon. The others woulde here looking for us and break the barrier. We don¡¯t need to be hasty," The God of War replied, folding his arms.

    "Though I do regret not being able to crush that insect Janus with my own hands. If only I were more careful," he muttered, shaking his head.

    "That¡¯s true. He can¡¯t defeat everyone. Soon, they¡¯re all going to be suspicious anyway," the God of mes nodded as he sat down.

    The two of them hade to terms with their situation. They left the other responsibilities to the other gods.

    Tap~

    Tap~

    As the two went silent, they heard the sound of footsteps.

    The two of them looked towards the stairs.

    "It¡¯s you. So you finally decided to show your true side. We should¡¯ve known when you refused to take part in thest great war. You are always against the Gods, aren¡¯t you?" Lord of War asked, frowning.

    "Goddess of Life, you¡¯re not doing the right thing by siding with them. You¡¯re actually betraying the entire Heaven for your personal feelings. Did you ever think about it? Do you think you can seed?" The God of mes also asked, ring at the Goddess of Life and Death.

    "Janus will soon be caught. We need him so he¡¯ll be left alive, but you... You should worry about yourself at this point. You¡¯ll be getting the consequences of your action," he added b

    "I¡¯m not siding with anyone. I was a neutral partyst time, and I¡¯m a neutral party now," the Goddess of Life and death said, shaking her head.

    "Only an idiot would believe that. That traitor was inside your pce. Instead of telling us, you hid him while allowing him to make this trap for us? And you say you¡¯re neutral?"

    "Didn¡¯t I also allow you to fight themst time? I didn¡¯t stop you either. Who am I to stop others from doing what they want?" The Goddess of Life and Death replied, sighing.

    "But I would say one thing. What you¡¯re doing is wrong. And I doubt you will seed. You can kill Janus, and you can kill me. But how will you kill him? We¡¯re not a danger to your life. You¡¯re only targeting us because we¡¯re weaker? That won¡¯t work." she shook her head.

    "Just you wait! I¡¯ll show you how it works.. Just let me out of here once!" the God of War red at the Goddess of Life.

 Chapter 650 - 646: Taken Out

    <h4>Chapter 650 - 646: Taken Out </h4>

    "There¡¯s no need to show anything. I already know what you two are capable of. I won¡¯t be falling for that," the Goddess of Life and Death said.

    "You!" The Lord of War red at her. "You¡¯ll die at my hands!"

    Boom~

    Just as the Lord of War was distracted by the Goddess of Life and Death, a body came flying, hitting him in the back.

    "Ouch, that hurt."

    The Goddess of Water was also sent flying, only to crash on the God of War.

    She got up. "Are you alright?"

    "You as well?" God of War asked, frowning.

    "What do you mean even me? Anyway, you guys are wasting time here. Stop doing that ande with me. We need to stop Janus!" the Goddess of Life and Death dered.

    "Sigh, are you going to tell her?" The God of War rubbed his head as he stood up.

    "We can¡¯t go out. We are trapped here. He Sacrificed his Divinity to ce this trap. We can¡¯t do anything here," the God of mes deres, sighing.

    "Huh? Trapped?"

    The three gods were immersed in talking amongst themselves when the Goddess of Life and Death disappeared. She nced through the window to see how Janus was doing.

    She didn¡¯t want him to face them alone, but she knew there was no choice. They were here for Janus. She couldn¡¯t distract them even if she wanted to. That¡¯s why Janus had made her promise that she was going to run away when he was distracting them.

    The Gods that were surrounding her pce from all sides hade to the front, leaving the other sides empty. Still, she hadn¡¯t run away yet, despite promising Janus.

    She wanted to stretch it as long as possible, hoping for Janus¡¯s win even when she knew that it was impossible.

    Just as she had expected, even though Janus had an explosive start, his weakness was now starting to show. After sending three gods to his Trap, he was having a hard time now.

    He wasn¡¯t as untouchable as before. His speed was also slower than earlier in this ce.

    His lips were bleeding as he was punched by the God of Beasts, who had taken the shape of a massive beast.

    "That was a good one," Janus dered as he wiped his lips. He flew towards the God of Beast, gripping his hammer firmly.

    He was really missing his Teleportation at this point. He was at a massive disadvantage because of that.

    As he reached the God of Beasts, he raised his hammer high to attack, but he stopped in the middle as he changed the direction to his left.

    nk~

    His hammer blocked the attack of the sword from the Goddess of Destiny; however, this gave the God of Destiny an opportunity.

    He reached out his hand to grab the wrist of Janus from the hand which was holding the hammer.

    He caught Janus before Janus could fly back.

    Janus had a feeling that he was in a mess now. He couldn¡¯t Teleport, and he was caught by the God of Beasts.

    He clenched the fist of his left hand, bringing an Aura Sword out of thin air, which he thrust towards the God of Beasts to free his hand.

    Swish~

    Before he could even reach the God of Beast, a Sword came shing.

    "Argh!" Janus groaned in pain. His left hand was sliced from the shoulder. It fell down along with the aura sword as he started bleeding.

    "We want to catch you alive, but that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t harm you," the Goddess of Destiny let out, licking her lips.

    Her Sword was covered in the blood of Janus.

    "Good word," the God of Beastsughed. He clenched his fist as he punched the chest of Janus with full strength. His punch broke the ribs of Janus, making him scream even more.

    "You traitor! Why are you yelling? Can¡¯t bear to take the pain? You can only scheme against us, can¡¯t you? Just know, all schemes fail before true strength!" he said proudly.

    "All schemes fail before true strength? Remind me again who is trying to catch me because of their scheme to use me to control my brother? And who dares to im to have true strength in the presence of my brother?" Janus asked, weakling. Blood kept falling off his lips.

    "You talk too much. Let me help you keep your mouth shut," the God of Beasts dered before he punched the face of Janus. Without hisplete Divinity, Janus was even weaker against these attacks.

    His eyes slowly closed as he lost his consciousness. His body lost all strength as blood kept dropping.

    "You take care of him. I¡¯ll see why the other three still haven¡¯t left the pce," the Goddess of Destiny said before she walked towards the Pce of Goddess of Life and Death. She didn¡¯t forget to take a couple of other gods with her.

    The Goddess of Life and Death saw the situation of Janus. There was an urge inside her heart to go and save him, but she knew that she wasn¡¯t capable. If she didn¡¯t run, she was going to waste the sacrifice of Janus.

    Instead, she needed to find Chaos to inform her.

    She walked to the back of the Pce and left through there, disappearing into the unknown.

    The Goddess of Destiny entered the pce. "There you are! I thought something happened to you!"

    "Wait! Don¡¯t step closer, or you¡¯ll be trapped too!" The God of War yelled.

    "Trap?" The Goddess of Destiny muttered, frowning. She looked down to see the formation.

    She was just one step away from stepping on the formation and being trapped herself.

    "So that¡¯s why you weren¡¯t out! That sneaky Janus had ced this trap here. He really thought that he could win with something like this?" She snorted, rolling her eyes.

    "Is he caught?" the God of War asked.

    "He¡¯s caught, yeah. Just wait a minute; I¡¯ll free you."

    "No, wait! Leave others to free us! You need to catch the Goddess of Life! She will run away now that her partner is caught! She was just here a little while ago. She shouldn¡¯t be far!" Goddess of mes said.

    The Goddess of Destiny listened to him and left in search of the Goddess of Life with her other men. She only left one God behind to break this trap so the three could join them too.

    "Now I show that bi*ch that happens to traitors!" The God of War dered as he ran after the Goddess of Life and Death as well.

    The God of mes didn¡¯t go there.. Instead, he went to see Janus, their main goal.

 Chapter 651 - 647: The Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 651 - 647: The Meeting </h4>

    The God of mes and the Goddess of Water left the mansion to see Janus.

    "There he is."

    They found Janus, who was lying in a Spatial Prison, unconscious. He wasn¡¯t moving at all.

    "Finally. The first part of our n is over. Now we just need for Chaos to return. He¡¯ll see his brother and will be forced to surrender!" the God of mes said.

    "But what if he doesn¡¯t surrender?" the Goddess of Water asked, frowning. "What if he chose his life over the life of his brother?"

    "The chances of that happening are less, but we would have to n something for that scenario as well," the God of mes muttered. "Then again, we have many ways for that. We can set a trap for him with Janus to weaken him now we do have a bait after all."

    "Hmm? That person..." The God of mes looked up, seeing a man in the distance, hiding in a cloak. The aura around the man was really frightening, but it wasn¡¯t the first time these people had seen that person and the aura.

    All the Gods in the Heavenly Realm saw the person. They went down on their knees.

    Even the High Gods went down on their knees, surprised to see that person here.

    "We went to find him above. Who knew he was going to be here instead," One of the High Gods muttered.

    "Maybe he senses the aura of the Goddess of Reincarnation? We should approach him." Another High God stood up and flew towards the man in the sky. The others followed him.

    After reaching the sky, the High Lords bowed in respect before the person in the cloak.

    "You are here. We went to inform you, My Lord. As expected, you already knew about it."

    "You went to inform him about his awakening?" A gritty voice came from under the cloak.

    "T-that¡¯s right. We didn¡¯t know how he came back to life, but he came here with her. He even destroyed our pce!" One of the High Gods said, sighing.

    "With her? He is with ady?"

    "Ah, you didn¡¯t know?" The High God asked. "He was with the Goddess of Reincarnation?"

    "With the Goddess of Reincarnation? How is that possible? Why would he revive her?"

    "Maybe because those two were friends when she was alive. We think he brought her back to life because of that."

    "Friends? What nonsense are you speaking! He was sealed before she even came to life! How could he know her?" The man in the cloak asked.

    "He was sealed? But My Lord, we are sure we killed Chaos! It has been a long time since the death of the Goddess of Reincarnation!"

    "Chaos? He¡¯s back to life as well?"

    "Ah," the High Gods scratched the back of their heads. If he wasn¡¯t talking about the High Gods, then who was he talking about? Who hade back? Who beside Chaos was enough to bring this person here?

    "That¡¯s right. We were talking about Chaos. He hase back to life. He also brought the Goddess of Reincarnation back, ignoring yourmands. Moreover, he has waged war on us all!" The High Gods said.

    "Moreover, he is very powerful now. He was able to destroy our pce and still escaped to the dark realm before we could do something. We even captured his younger brother who was supporting him." The High Gods pointed towards Janus, who was lying unconscious on the ground.

    ...

    One monthter...

    The destruction that had urred on earth was something that was solved by now. The roads that were destroyed were repaired again. Airports and air travel resumed again.

    The world was trying to get back on its own feet again, trying to leave the demand behind while embracing the memories of the lives lost in the disaster.

    The scientists were even trying to find a reason as to why the sudden earthquake came in the entire world together. This was something that had never happened before. There appeared to be no scientific exnation whatsoever, and they wanted to find one.

    Shu got back to the states with Ryder and Alice and got back to work, trying to see how much damage he had suffered and what he needed to do to make things better.

    Ryder also went to his office building, trying to see the damage. He met the staff that was still alive, which was most of them. Not many people from the staff had died, but even the small number that had died was too much for him. He couldn¡¯t do anything to bring them back.

    All he could do was make sure Divine Corporate got back on its own two feet again and got back to work. Still, he wasn¡¯t as enthusiastic about hispany as before.

    In the end, he wanted to be rich and enjoy all the luxuries of life and fame, but after the things he went through, and the supernatural events that he was a part of, he realized that money was nothing.

    This earth was a small part of the world that didn¡¯t even matter in the grand scheme of things. If he wanted, he could take over the whole earth. However, he didn¡¯t want anything now.

    He would¡¯ve even tried to start thepany again if it wasn¡¯t for his staff. He wanted them to have the ce they worked so hard for.

    After interacting with his staff, he left the ce and went back to his car. He went straight to the home of Bastion to see if Esmi was back or not.

    Stopping his car before the entrance of Esmi¡¯s mansion, he stepped inside the house. Even the guards didn¡¯t stop him.

    "Ah, Ryder! There you are! What even happened to you? Your phone wasn¡¯t connecting, and you weren¡¯t at home! I thought something happened to you!"

    The first person Ryder met was Bastion, who looked happy to see Ryder alive.

    "Ryder?" Esmi also came out of her room, hearing the voice of Ryder.

    She ran down the stairs as she saw Ryder before hugging him tightly. "You know how much you scared me! How dare you scare me like that!"

    She was so worried about Ryder that she even forgot about the presence of Bastion before hugging him.

    "Hey, you left for a vacation, not me. I came to meet you in the past. But still, I¡¯m sorry for scaring you." Ryder also ced his arms around the soft back of Esmi.

    Standing in the back, Bastion was looking at the whole event weirdly. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder what was happening here?

 Chapter 652 - 648: Proposal

    <h4>Chapter 652 - 648: Proposal </h4>

    "Cough." Bastion coughed lightly.

    Esmi freed Ryder and walked back.

    "Is there anything that I should know about?" Bastion asked, shifting his attention between Ryder and Esmi. That hug was pretty intimate and didn¡¯t appear ordinary.

    Esmi looked at Ryder, wondering if he was going to ept something. She wasn¡¯t going to put him on the spot.

    "Yeah. There is something that I do want to tell you. And I¡¯ve decided to get everything off my chest so I could live my life the way I want to," Ryder said, ncing at Esmi.

    He stepped closer to her, cing his hand on her cheeks. "I¡¯m dating Esmi, and I¡¯m going to marry her."

    "You what?" Bastion¡¯s jaws dropped open at the announcement. What did he mean they were dating and going to marry?

    "Are you messing with me or something?"

    "Nope. It¡¯s not a joke. As I said, I¡¯m not going to keep any feelings in my heart. I¡¯m taking what I want!" Ryder stated. "I said what I said."

    "H-how long has this been going on?" Bastion asked, still overwhelmed.

    "It¡¯s been quite some time," Ryder replied.

    Bastion looked at Esmi, who nodded. "He¡¯s telling the truth."

    Bastion turned around, scratching the back of his head. "And I had no idea all this while. Wow!"

    "Where are you going?" Esmi called out to Bastion, who was walking away.

    "Nowhere, just trying to think. Give me a minute!" Bastion responded as he left the mansion.

    "I¡¯ll go check up on him," Ryder told Esmi. "He¡¯ll be fine. I can see that much."

    Esmi nodded, but she didn¡¯t let Ryder leave. She held his hand and pulled him closer. "I¡¯m so happy that you epted me openly."

    She ced her lips on the lips of Ryder, giving him a tight loss. Ryder also wrapped his arms around the slim waist of Esmi.

    "Alright, now I should seriously check up on him. After that, I have something important to talk to you about regarding the future."

    "Hmm." Esmi nodded, watching Ryder leave.

    Ryder left the mansion to find Bastion standing in the garden.

    He stepped closer to Bastion, stopping behind him.

    "You should¡¯ve told me before, man. I mean, if it was serious, I shouldn¡¯t have opposed it. It sucks that you two kept that a secret for so long," Bastion said without looking back.

    "What would you have done if you were in my ce?" Ryder asked. "Would you have said it?"

    "Oh, hell no. I¡¯m not crazy." Bastion rolled his eyes. "But it¡¯s not about me. It¡¯s about you, and I have a right to be upset."

    "What do you want me to do to make up for it?" Ryder asked.

    "I want you to do two things."

    "What two things?" Ryder asked.

    "First, I want you to promise me that you¡¯ll keep her happy. She has always been there for me when I needed her. If being with you makes her happy, I won¡¯t stand in the path. But I need to be sure that you¡¯ll keep her happy, and it¡¯s not a short term fling."

    "I promise I¡¯ll keep her happy to the best of my abilities," Ryder replied. "What¡¯s the second thing?"

    "Second, I¡¯ll be the wedding nner." Bastion dered.

    Hearing the second demand, Ryder was momentarily surprised.

    He ultimately burst intoughter. "Deal, my friend. Now shall we go back? She must be worried."

    "Yeah."

    Bastion went back inside the mansion with Ryder and told Esmi that he was fine with everything.

    "Anyway, you guys have your privacy. I need to meet someone. I should be back in a few hours." Bastion left the mansion again, this time taking his car.

    After Bastion left, Esmi looked in the eyes of Ryder. "So, he¡¯ll be out for a few hours. I wonder what we can do in a few hours. Do you have some suggestions?"

    "I have one in mind," Ryder replied before pulling Esmi into his arms, kissing her lips. She picked her up and went upstairs to the bedroom.

    ...

    "I missed it so much."

    Esmi was lying on the bed with Ryder. There was no piece of clothing on her body that waspletely bare, just like Ryder¡¯s body. She was lying on the bed, sticking close to him.

    "Me too," Ryder replied.

    "Now that we¡¯re done with the important thing, we can get back to the other thing. So what were the things you wanted to talk to me about downstairs?¡¯

    "Ah, that¡¯s right. I forgot about that entirely. I wanted to tell you about Alice."

    "Alice? That girl who lives with you?"

    "Yeah. I wanted to tell you that I love her."

    "What?" Esmi stood up, frowning. "Then what about me? What was it downstairs? Why did you say you wanted to marry me?¡¯

    "Because I love you too? I can¡¯t leave you. And I can¡¯t leave her. So I¡¯ve decided that I¡¯ll..."

    "That you¡¯ll marry two of us?" Esmi looked at Ryder weirdly. "I mean, some people do it, but that¡¯s soo... That¡¯s like living your entire life in a threesome. It¡¯s great for guys, but it¡¯ll be awkward for me and Alice?"

    Ryder also stood up. "I know it¡¯s not somethingmon, but there¡¯s nothing I can do about it. I don¡¯t want to give up anything dear to me. I want you both. But I won¡¯t force you. If you want, you can say yes. If you don¡¯t want to, then you can say no. In any case, I can¡¯t leave Alice."

    He started getting dressed. "I know I¡¯m putting you on the spot, but I already thought a lot about it. And certain developments in my life have given me a new perspective about life, and I don¡¯t want to lose it."

    "You can take your time. Tell me your answer any time you want." He left the room, leaving stunned Esmi behind.

    ...

    Leaving the house, he went back inside his car, going back to the mansion.

    "Am I doing the right thing?" Ryder muttered to himself, sitting inside the car. "I mean, it¡¯s normal for Chaos and Gods. Since I lived your life and his two, I can take it as ordinary, but thedies have grown up on the earth, and this is weird for them. I wonder if they¡¯ll say yes."

    "It¡¯s better to be honest with them about what you want. If not, you¡¯ll always keep running from reality, and you won¡¯t ever grasp reality. The faster you tell the inner feelings of yours, the faster everything will be over. If they ept, then fine.. If they don¡¯t, then they¡¯ll make a choice for you," the Ancient God inside Ryder replied.

 Chapter 653 - 649: Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 653 - 649: Surprise </h4>

    "I suppose you¡¯re right. Instead of sacrificing, I should give it a try. Everything will be fine." Ryder nodded.

    Even though he agreed, he knew it was still going to be hard. There weren¡¯t only twodies. There were two more in the world of Divinity.

    First was the princess he had already married. He was still to tell others about it. There was also Devilia there. He simply scratched the back of his head, knowing everything was going to beplicated.

    It was already hard to convince one to let him marry the other, let alone convincing one to let him marry to three others. However, it was also not a big taboo for him anymore.

    He reached his home and walked to Alice¡¯s room.

    Knock~

    "Are you inside?"

    "The door is open." A voice came from inside.

    Ryder pushed the door open and stepped inside.

    "Going somewhere?" Ryder asked, noticing Alice pack clothes.

    After packing them, she kept them in a bag that was lying on the bed.

    "Where would I go alone? Just packing done clothes that I won¡¯t be needing anymore. I was thinking about donating them," Alice answered.

    After keeping thest article of clothing in the bag, she closed the bag.

    "Are you busy?" She asked Ryder, picking the bag.

    "Why?"

    "I need to get to the shelter to give the clothes. I was thinking you could drive me."

    "Ah, right. I¡¯m free. Come."

    Ryder took Alice to his car that was parked outside the mansion before driving ording to the directions given by Alice.

    Reaching the ce, Alice left the car. After giving the bag to the shelter, she walked back.

    "We can leave," she told Ryder, getting inside the car.

    "Yeah," Ryder nodded. He started the engine but didn¡¯t start driving. "Ah, Actually, Alice, there was something I wanted to tell you."

    "What?" Alice asked, looking back curiously.

    "I wanted to tell you that I am going to get married soon," Ryder said, sighing.

    "W-what? With who? Why? It¡¯s not right. It¡¯s too soon for you. You should think about it and take more time to find the right girl!" Alice eximed, stunned that he was going to marry someone.

    What actually overwhelmed her was that she believed that he wasn¡¯t talking about her.

    "That person? She is a really nicedy. And I¡¯ve been in love with her for a long time," Ryder replied. "I think I¡¯m ready for this step. However, I still haven¡¯t asked her."

    "Who is she?" Alice asked.

    "Well, I have her picture on my phone," Ryder brought his phone out of his pocket.

    He gave the phone to Alice after opening a screen.

    "Hmm? You opened the camera instead of the gallery." Alice returned the phone, which had a camera screen open.

    "Nope. That¡¯s where you¡¯ll see her picture," Ryder said, switching the camera to the selfie camera. It showed Alice her own face as if it was a mirror.

    "Do you mean..."

    "Yep. Thedy I¡¯m talking about is you. So, Alice, will you marry me?" Ryder asked, smiling.

    Alice ced her hand on her chest as she failed to find the right words to speak. Her mouth remained open. She could only nod her head.

    "Shall I take that as a yes?" Ryder asked.

    "Yes!" Alice said before she tightly hugged Ryder.

    She didn¡¯t forget to smack a kiss on his lips.

    It was only after a long time that she freed him.

    Ryder took a deep breath, getting to the main topic. "There is one more thing that I need to tell you. And it¡¯s also very important for me to tell..."

    "What?"

    ...

    Two dayster:

    Ryder found himself back in the Divine World in the Demon Empire. He had called everyone for a meeting.

    Every Duke, Marquis, and even High Duke attended the meeting.

    Everyone was wondering why they were called for a meeting.

    "Everyone, I called you here to inform you about an important development. And it¡¯s that I am married! You have a queen now!" Ryder dered after everyone was seated down.

    "And thatdy is Aslina, the Princess of Windsor Kingdom!" Ryder dered.

    On his introduction, the doors of the chamber opened, and Aslina stepped inside.

    Aslina walked to Ryder, standing right beside him.

    "A human?"

    "His Majesty married a human? How could that be?"

    "But she is a human?"

    Amotion ensued in the Royal Chamber, with people being stunned that Ryder had married a human.

    "I told you it was going to get chaotic if people knew that you married a human. And there we have it. Should I handle it?" Rale asked Ryder, whispering in his ears.

    "There¡¯s no need. Let them finish talking." Ryder smirked.

    After around ten minutes, the hall once again regained its calm.

    Almost everyone was talking about it except for High Dukes, who were already told by Ryder.

    Amongst the Dukes, everyone was surprised, especially Devilia. She had thought Ryder was going to marry her after what had happened between them.

    And even if he wasn¡¯t going to marry her, she hadn¡¯t thought that he would marry someone else, especially a human?

    "Are you all done now?" Ryder asked calmly. "Now that it¡¯s over, I¡¯ll ask one question. Those who have a problem with me marrying a human should stand up."

    His gaze roamed over everyone in the hall. In front of his gaze, no one cared to stand up to oppose him. How could they do it? They neither had the authority nor strength.

    Even Devilia didn¡¯t stand up, but not because she was scared. Since Ryder had decided and had already done it, she didn¡¯t feel there was a reason to force him.

    "Good. Now that we¡¯re done with it let me get to the second point of this discussion. I called you all here so you could attend my wedding." Ryder stood up.

    ¡¯Hmm? Isn¡¯t he already married? He wants to marry her before us again?¡¯ High Duke Eston asked, amused.

    Ryder looked at Aslina. "Shall I?"

    Aslina smiled and nodded.

    "Thank you..."

    Ryder turned around and started walking away from the throne and towards the guests.

    The Dukes straightened their backs, watching Ryder approach. Some were even stunned, wondering if Ryder wasing to kill them since they had talked about him marrying a human before?

    Ryder stopped before Devilia and looked at her.

    He went down on his knees and raised his hand towards Devilia. "Duke Devilia, will you marry me?"

    "Me?" Devilia stood up, surprised. Ryder was actually proposing to her?

    Ryder had talked about it with Aslina, but he kept it secret from Devilia since he wanted to give her a surprise.. Even High Dukes didn¡¯t know.

 Chapter 654 - 650: Father

    <h4>Chapter 654 - 650: Father </h4>

    "Who else?" he asked, smiling. "Will you marry me?"

    "W-what about her?" Devilia asked, looking back at Aslina.

    "We already talked about it. I had told her everything at the start," Ryder responded. "So, are you going to answer me?"

    "Yes." Devilia stood up.

    "Yes to answering or yes to marriage?" Ryder asked, amused.

    "Yes to both!" Devilia eximed as she hugged Ryder tightly while kissing him on his lips.

    ...

    Time kept trickling away as if it was at a race with itself instead of a race with others.

    Months turned to years and years to decades.

    Throughout these long years, Ryder had settled a good life for himself. The biggest problem for him was convincing Alice and Esmi, but after one year of struggle, he had managed to convince them.

    The two of them agreed to marry him. Despite all that, he didn¡¯t tell the two of them about Devilia and Aslina, keeping his life separate from the world of Divinity.

    Hispany also started rising once again, and by the tenth year, it had be the biggest name in the aviation industry and the medical field, opening branches all over the world. Some of it was because of his mystical contribution, but he didn¡¯t tell anyone.

    He didn¡¯t help the world more than a tiny bit since he needed to stay underground, keeping the ancient being inside his body safe.

    Despite that, he could still sprinkle some magic here and there, manipting the world in his fingers. If he wanted, he could¡¯ve made hispany the wealthiestpany, but he didn¡¯t do it. He let Shu¡¯spany remain at the top.

    He also wasn¡¯t involved with the weapon industry, letting Shu¡¯spany deal with it, which helped it maintain its monopoly.

    Ryder Flynn was the name that was on everyone¡¯s lips as he was the star that had risen out of nothing, taking the world by storm, revolutionizing the entire Medical industry, which helped Saving millions of lives.

    It was a form of making up for his mistakes since he was the reason many of the people had died in the first ce. The blood of millions of people was in his hands because he was the reason for the earthquake that had killed so many people.

    So he atoned by helping the medical field. The Divine Corporation, which was started by him, was apany that discovered the cure of many incurable diseases of the past.

    In fact, at one point, people had started calling Ryder a literal angel of God who was here to help the humans.

    His wealth was rising the fastest, but his reputation was rising even faster. Despite being so rich, he still lived in the house of Shu with his joint family.

    After the tenth year, he had started to do something else as well. He wanted to find Maya a new life. She was still in her illusory form since Divinity was shut down.

    He could easily give her a human body, but he was told that it was something that could alert the higher gods of their presence on earth. The only other option was to bring back Divinity and let her live there.

    That was also why ten years after getting his newfound powers, he purchased Necrosis which was just a remnant of its former glory.

    Necrosis had long gone bankrupt, so it wasn¡¯t hard for him.

    He changed the name of Necrosis and released the game known as Divinity again, this time with his support.

    Even though it was ten years into the future, users still flooded shops to buy headsets for Divinity which allowed them an ess to the world, which had long gone silent.

    This time the game was different though. Users were banned from killing any being in this world, excluding monsters. Since Ryder realized that it was a real world, he didn¡¯t want humans of this world to die because yers thought that they were NPC.

    Maya was given freedom inside the world of Divinity, where she could live her real life. She was also the manager of Divinity to control everything. She was literally the God of Divinity who lived inside it as well.

    Ryder didn¡¯t start a guild in the Divinity, as was the n in his young years, but he did let Shu start a guild.

    Shu wanted to live the guild life, and Ryder gave him the opportunity.

    The humans from the earth and the humans from the world of Divinity enjoyed thepany of each other. Moreover, all the missions for the yers were something that was to help the citizens of Divinity.

    ...

    It had been two years since Divinity was rereleased and twelve years since Ryder had barged inside the tomb, which changed his future forever.

    An armored helicopternded on the roof of a massive building.

    The door opened slowly, and a person stepped out of the helicopter.

    The man had beautiful silver hair and a sharp chiseled face. The man looked like he was in his mid-thirties; however, his looks were something that could make anydy fall for him instantly.

    His deep blue eyes seemed to be in a hurry.

    "Wee, Sir!" A group of well-dressed people weed him.

    "Enough of the wee. Where is she?" The man asked.

    "Madan Alice is in her room. She is perfectly fine. Let me lead you to her, Mr. Flynn," the leading man respectfully said.

    He couldn¡¯t disrespect the Silver haired man since this guy was the one who was one of the richest men in this world. Moreover, he was also the one who owned the massive hospital where they were standing.

    "Good. Take me to her."

    Even though Ryder was in a hurry, he had stopped using Teleportation since it was just suspicious in ces like this. He used the usual mode of travel unless he needed to travel to isted ces.

    "Pleasee!"

    The group of men led Ryder to the lift, which brought them to the 45th floor.

    As Ryder came out of the lift, he found another middle-aged man standing before a room, walking back and forth.

    He walked to the chubby man, who also looked pretty rich.

    "You¡¯re finally here. Are you nervous?" The chubby man asked,ughing.

    "Nervous? Man, I¡¯m about to have my second kid, but it¡¯s still like the first time. Which father won¡¯t be nervous?" Ryder chuckled. "But I¡¯m more excited than nervous. Where¡¯s Esmi?"

    "She is apanying Alice inside in your absence. Go ahead before shees out to kill you for beingte.." Shuughed before pushing Ryder towards the room.

 Chapter 655 - 651: Born With Origin

    <h4>Chapter 655 - 651: Born With Origin </h4>

    Shu looked simr to how he looked in the past, but he looked even more healthy. He also appeared slightly taller for some reason.

    Many people in the hospital were surprised to see two of the richest men in this world in this hospital; however, some found it ordinary since this hospital was the best-ranked hospital in the whole world and owned by one of them.

    Every famous personality came to this hospital to get treated. The staff had seen almost every celebrity. However, it was the first time seeing Ryder and Shu together.

    Ring~

    Shu¡¯s phone started ringing abruptly.

    "Hello?"

    "Sir, Mr. President contacted us. He said he wants to talk to you personally?"

    "Tell him I¡¯m busy. My best friend is about to be a father. Give him an appointment on Friday," Shu responded before disconnecting the call.

    Ryder looked back, smiling. "He wants to order more weapons? Man, that guy will never learn."

    "Hahaha, that¡¯s what keeps the business going. Who are we to care. But don¡¯t waste your time! Go inside!" Shu firmly stated.

    Ryder took a deep breath before he opened the door and stepped inside the room.

    Alice was lying in bed. Her belly looked slightly big as she was already nine months pregnant. ording to the doctor, she could be a mother anytime.

    "So you finally decided to show up. How can you bete even today?"

    "I came as fast as I could," Ryder responded as he scratched the back of his head.

    "By the way, where is J?" he asked Esmi.

    J was the name of his first child. She was the daughter of him and Esmi and the first heir of the massive conglomerate.

    She was only five years old at the moment.

    "She is with Emma back at home," Esmi answered. "I didn¡¯t bring her here."

    Emma was the name of Shu¡¯s wife. He had also married a beautifuldy that managed to steal his heart about seven years ago. In fact, Shu also had a son of his own which was only one year old at the moment.

    Ryder nodded his head before he stepped closer to Alice.

    He sat before her before holding her hand. "How are you feeling?"

    "Tired," Alice replied.

    "Don¡¯t worry about anything. A little more, and you¡¯ll be back home," Ryder said, smiling. "Did you eat anything?"

    "I drank some juice."

    "Good. Just stay here. I¡¯ll go talk to the doctor and be right back."

    He left the room to go talk to the doctor.

    "Where is the doctor?" Ryder asked Shu.

    "She went to check on another patient. She should be back soon. Do you need something from her?" Shu asked.

    "Ah, it¡¯s nothing. I was just wondering why she wasn¡¯t with Alice. I want a doctor with her every moment!" Ryder dered.

    "Hahaha, I can understand what you¡¯re going through. It¡¯s the first child of Alice, and you¡¯re concerned. But you shouldn¡¯t be. There¡¯s a nurse inside the room every minute," Shu replied.

    "If anything changes, she can inform the doctor instantly. And since it¡¯s your room, hundreds of doctors will rush to the room to attend to your wife. Don¡¯t worry. She¡¯s perfectly safe," he added. "You¡¯re worrying for no reason."

    "I know. But still... I don¡¯t know why, but I have a bad feeling. It¡¯s as if something bad is about to happen," Ryder muttered, sighing.

    "Don¡¯t talk nonsense. Nothing bad will happen. It¡¯s just the insecurities of a father speaking. I checked her reports. All reports are normal. She¡¯ll be perfectly fine," Shu let out, shaking his head.

    "If you¡¯re still worried, let me call the doctor here. We¡¯ll have one sit inside the room every second just for your peace of mind."

    "Yeah. That would be better. We¡¯ll have her back."

    Ryder walked back inside the room and told the nurse to call the doctor back.

    After finding out that it was Ryder Flynn who wanted him back in the room, the doctor had her colleague take over as she rushed back.

    She stepped inside the room.

    "Mr. Flynn." She respectfully greeted Ryder.

    Ryder nodded his head. "I want one doctor to be with my wife every second. Is there any problem?"

    "N-no problem at all. I¡¯ll sit here." Thedy respectfully said as she took a seat.

    "That¡¯s good." Ryder nodded in satisfaction.

    He apanied Alice throughout the day and even at night. It was only early in the morning when it happened... A baby boy was born to Alice and Ryder.

    The boy looked simr to Ryder. He had deep blue eyes, just like his father as well.

    The doctor gave the young boy to Ryder.

    Ryder took the young boy in his arms. It was his second time taking his baby in his arms, but it was simr to the first time for him. He was just as happy as he was in the past when he held J in his arms.

    "Wee to the word, champ," Ryder muttered as he lightly touched the tiny nose of the boy. "Thank you foring into my life and making it a thousand times better than it already was."

    The baby seemed to have smiled in response, making Ryder feel like he could understand him.

    "This kid..." The ancient being inside Ryder¡¯s body muttered something.

    "Hmm? Did you say something?" Ryder asked.

    "Yeah. Your boy... Pretty fascinating. I didn¡¯t know it was possible..."

    "What was possible? What are you talking about?"

    "Your first daughter was born an ordinary human with the lifespan of a god. Other than that, she didn¡¯t have anything special. However, this boy... He received every bit of power that you have."

    "And that includes my own powers as well. He is born with Origin Immunity!"

    "Origin Immunity? How is that possible? Even I only have that because you¡¯re sharing your powers with me. I would lose that when you leave my body. So how could my son have that?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    "I¡¯m not sure. That¡¯s why I said it was impossible. There are four people in this world who possess Origin Immunity! My partner and I were the only two who were born with Origin Immunity."

    "The third was Chaos, who found a way to gain Origin Immunity through the bracelet, which was a miracle in its own."

    "Fourth is you because I¡¯m upying your body."

    "Of the four who possessed Origin Immunity, only two were born with it, and that too because we were made by the Higher Beings. And your son is the third one who is born with Origin Immunity! Do you understand the significance of this?"

    "I-i don¡¯t understand how it is possible," Ryder muttered, frowning.

 Chapter 656 - 652: Celebration

    <h4>Chapter 656 - 652: Celebration </h4>

    "I¡¯m not sure either. Maybe he received the abilities that I shared with you? That shouldn¡¯t be possible though. Somehow it became possible," the Ancient being inside Ryder replied.

    "Are you sure Nyx?" Ryder asked, frowning. "Because I still can¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary with him?"

    "You can¡¯t see because your body has special powers. And your soul has borrowed powers. But my soul was born with all this. I have a better understanding than you," the being replied who had previously introduced himself as Nyx to Ryder.

    "Are you again talking to yourself again? You and this habit of yours," Esmi said, smiling. "Let me hold this little guy as well."

    "Here, be careful." Ryder handed over the little guy to Esmi.

    Esmi red at Ryder. "It¡¯s not my first time holding a newborn genius."

    She carefully took the little guy in his embrace. "His eyes are beautiful."

    "Of course. It¡¯s my son after all," Ryder smiled.

    The two of them walked to Alice and sat down.

    Alice was weakly looking at Ryder with a calm smile on her face.

    "Your little prince is a cutie pie. He¡¯ll steal the hearts of many girls in the future. You should be alert," Esmiughed as she handed the little guy to Alice. "In other words, he¡¯ll be even better than his father at it."

    "So, that¡¯s his name going to be?" She further asked.

    As Alice was too emotional after holding her newborn in her hand, she just kept looking at the kid. He and Ryder were both orphans and lived most of their lives without parents, only having the support of each other.

    Holding her baby in her hand, she knew that her family was nowplete. She promised to herself that she was already going to be with her son, not leaving him alone. He was going to grow up withoutcking anything. He was going to be the happiest kid in this world.

    "Alice? Come out of your daze. You have your whole life to look at this little guy. But first we need to decide his name," Esmi called out, bringing Alice out of her daze.

    "Huh? Did you say something?" Alice came out of her daze.

    "Yeah. I was asking you about the name. What are you going to name him?"

    "Why don¡¯t you suggest a nice name?" Alice asked Esmi.

    "Me? Hahaha, I don¡¯t think I should influence this decision. It should be his and your mutual decision. I already had the opportunity to name one little devil. This time you shoulde up instead," Esmi let outughing.

    Alice looked at the little boy before looking at Ryder. "What name do you have in mind?"

    "I do have a name in my mind, but let me hear your choice first," Ryder responded.

    "I was thinking about going with Alex... Alex Flynn," Alice answered.

    "Alex?" Hearing the name, Ryder was slightly taken aback. Alice had chosen the name of his father.

    "Yeah. It was the name of your father. And it¡¯s a nice name as well. Let¡¯s bring the name back to life..." Alice replied. "What do you think?"

    Ryder took a deep breath before shaking his head.

    "I think we should leave that name where it belonged. We shouldn¡¯t try to bring the name back. We don¡¯t need to name our son like that. My father had a seperate ce in my heart which will never disappear. And I want a different ce for my son."

    "That was the name I thought of. What name do you have in mind?" Alice asked.

    "I want to name him Nyx..." Ryder replied. "What do you all think?"

    Hearing Ryder¡¯s suggestion, Nyx was surprised a bit. Ryder was naming his son based on him instead? That was a sweet gesture but surprising as well.

    "Nyx? What kind of stupid name is that?" Esmi eximed, rolling her eyes. "Moreover it sounds like the name of a girl. Rejected! I won¡¯t let your kid go through such an embarrassing name."

    "Cough! Cough!"

    Inside Ryder¡¯s body, Nyx started coughing. Someone was actually calling his name stupid and feminine.

    "It¡¯s not a stupid name. In fact, the name has great significance. It¡¯s just that we¡¯re not familiar with it."

    "I don¡¯t care. The little boy will be a butt of all jokes with that name. Select a different name!" Esmi firmly stated.

    "Who dares to make jokes on my son¡¯s name. They¡¯ll never be seen again. You know no one will mock my son." Ryder folded his arms.

    "I like that name. Let¡¯s name him Nyx," Alice chimed in, siding with Ryder. Since he wanted to name their kid Nyx, she didn¡¯t want to take away his right. If it gave him happiness, he was fine with it.

    "You too? Sigh. Fine. Nyx it is." Esmi also caved in. Since the other two agreed, who was she to say no.

    "It¡¯s decided then. Wee to the new world, little Nyx," Ryder eximed, gently touching the cheeks of the young boy.

    Shu also stepped inside after being informed that everything was done and it was a baby boy.

    "Congrattions on having a son!¡¯

    "Ah, Shu. Meet your nephew Nyx Flynn!" Ryder happily stood up, weing Shu.

    "You already named him? And Nyx?" Shu asked, stunned.

    "I know, right?" Esmi eximed. "But that¡¯s his name now."

    "Is it not a good name?" Ryder asked.

    "It is a good name. It¡¯s just that it sounds a bit feminine," Shu eximed, smiling wryly.

    "He too," the real Nyx let out, disappointed. Why was it that everyone in this world considered his name feminine?

    "It just seems that way. But it¡¯ll be the new norm. Don¡¯t worry," Ryder eximed,ughing.

    "Hahaha, congrats on a boy Sir!" Another well dressed man barged inside the room, congratting Ryder.

    "Ah, Aleson! I was wondering where you were! Come, meet your nephew, Nyx Flynn!" Ryder eximed.

    Aleson was one of the first workers he had hired. He also worked as the head of the Research department for Ryder in the medical field. He was also the Managing Director of this hospital and all the medical facilities that belonged to Ryder, working under him.

    "Nyx?" Even Aleson was surprised with this name, but he didn¡¯tment anything. "That¡¯s a nice name."

    "You don¡¯t have to lie man," Shumented, smiling wryly.

    "Anyway, Aleson. Today is the day my son is born. I want no patients to be billed today. Everything today shall be free for them, from me," Ryder reminded Aleson.

    "I¡¯ll handle that," Aleson nodded.. He made a few calls and instructed the people who worked under him.

 Chapter 657 - 653: Not Anymore

    <h4>Chapter 657 - 653: Not Anymore </h4>

    That day, every surgery or every treatment that was previously scheduled was free. No one was charged a single penny. All consultations were also given for free.

    Since it was a sudden decision, it only benefited the ones who were already inside the hospital. There was no public deration about this.

    However, it still got out that Ryder Flynn had his second child and it was a son.

    Since many people in this world treated Ryder like a visionary idol, they were happy in Ryder¡¯s happiness. There were celebrations everywhere, including all the countries.

    The tallest building in Dubai showed the image of Ryder, congratting him. There were also fireworks there and in many countries including China, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, Ennd, India and many other major countries.

    Many aspects of life were touched by the Divine Corporation owned by Ryder for which he was also given many awards throughout the years. But no awards couldpare to the public appreciation he had received.

    It was after a long time that the whole world was celebrating something at once. Thest time was when his daughter was born.

    Moreover, there was another thing that stood out. For some reason, a rainbow could be seen in almost every country. People associated that with the good fortune the kid was going to bring for the world.

    Amelia was kept in the hospital for one more day before being discharged.

    The next morning, she left the room with Ryder and the others.

    There were media vans outside the hotel. Some media channel helicopters were also flying around, waiting to catch a glimpse of Ryder.

    They received their wish when they saw Ryder step out of the lift on the roof with his family.

    There were five helicopters waiting on the roof. Ryder and his family stepped inside the helicopter in the middle while the guards stepped inside the other helicopters.

    All five helicopters started rising in the air, leaving together.

    The media houses kept their cameras on the helicopter of Ryder, talking about how he was leaving the hospital with the young prince now.

    "As you can see, Mr. Ryder Flynn has left the hospital. The young prince was resting in his arms. Unfortunately, we couldn¡¯t see the face since it was being covered, however it appeared like the little guy was asleep."

    "Mr. Shu Maxwell, known as the king of weapons and the longtime friend of Mr. Flynn was also seen leaving with him. You¡¯re watching it exclusively on DNN. Stay tuned for more information."

    ...

    The helicopter of Rydernded on the helipad on the outskirts of the Shu Estate.

    Unlike before, now the entire neighborhood belonged to Ryder and Shu. They had purchased all thend in the surrounding area since Ryder believed it was needed for the security of his family.

    This whole neighbourhood was like the most protected location in the whole country with the private army of Shu guarding the ce. No one was allowed to even get close to their mansion without permission from Ryder and the others.

    That mansion was also slightly bigger now as it was reconstructed to amodate two families ordingly. Even now, the two didn¡¯t live separately as they had stayed together for the most part of their lives. Their families lived together in the same mansion which was no less than a pce.

    The kids of Ryder and Shu also grew up together in thepany of a loving family.

    The door of the helicopter opened and Ryder stepped out, not giving the little boy to anyone else. He carried the young kid like the most precious thing in the whole world.

    Esmi and Alice also stepped out of the helicopter, followed by Shu.

    The four of them walked inside the mansion which looked simr to how it looked before yetpletely different.

    The doors werepletely automatic and were able to scan the guests before opening.

    After scanning Ryder, the doors opened and Ryder stepped inside with the young baby.

    "Where is J?" Ryder asked the maid that came to wee them.

    "She is with Madam Joana in the study room," the maid answered, not forgetting to steal nces of the young boy.

    She had already heard the news and knew it was a boy, but seeing the young kid before him was a different experience.

    Ryder walked to the study room which was on the first floor.

    He pushed the door open and stepped inside with the others.

    Inside the room, a young woman who appeared to be in herte twenties was sitting on the ground. Near him, a young 3-4 year old girl was sitting.

    There was a book before the young girl and the woman was teaching him something from the book.

    There was a baby crib nearby inside which a young boy was sleeping peacefully.

    Hearing the doors open, the woman stood up, looking back.

    "Ah, you¡¯re all back!"

    "Papa!" The little girl tried to stand up on her feet to walk to Ryder.

    "Yes, little princess." Ryder stepped closer to the girl and went down on his knees. "Look who I got for you. Your little brother, Nyx."

    "Nyx?" The girl looked at the little boy in Ryder¡¯s hands carefully. "Brother?"

    "Yep. He¡¯ll be your best friend growing up. And also someone who¡¯ll always be there for you."

    "Like papa?" J asked.

    "Yep. Like me. We¡¯ll always be here for each other," Ryder patted the head of the little girl. "Were you studying?"

    The girl nodded, still keeping her eyes on the little kid in Ryder¡¯s arms.

    The dark haired woman on the other hand walked to Janus, standing beside him. "Wee home."

    "Is our little guy sleeping?" Shu asked, stepping to his own son in the crib.

    "Yeah. He just went to sleep," The woman known as Joana answered. She was the wife of Shu.

    "You all must be tired. I¡¯ll get food arranged. Get downstairs in ten minutes!" She said out loud. "In the meantime, you keep an eye on little Alec."

    Joana left the room.

    "Did you eat?" Ryder asked J.

    J nodded her head.

    "Good. Stay here with mother. I¡¯ll be right back after putting your brother to bed."

    Ryder took Alice and the little boy to their room to rest.

    "Take some rest. I¡¯ll send food in the room."

    "I don¡¯t need rest. I¡¯m fine."

    "Don¡¯t be stubborn. You¡¯re weak. Just stay here," Ryder responded, shaking his head.

    He ced the baby who was sleeping in the crib he had purchased for the new guest only recently.

    After putting the Nyx in the crib, he started leaving.

    As soon as he touched the door to open it, he felt like everything had turned grey suddenly.

    It was as if the world had lost all the color suddenly.

    Ryder looked back, finding Alice still on her bed as if she was stuck in time.

    He ran to the crib, wondering if it was the work of the kid who couldn¡¯t control his powers, but there was no kid in the crib anymore.

    "You hid really well, my friend." A calm voice filled the room.. "But not anymore."

 Chapter 658 - 654: Divine Prison

    <h4>Chapter 658 - 654: Divine Prison </h4>

    "You are...?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    He could see a person standing before him. His face was covered in a veil, but it was clear that he was a man from the voice.

    The man had suddenly appeared here, which gave Ryder an idea that this person was actually a god. But he couldn¡¯t feel any aura around the man.

    "You don¡¯t know me. But there is someone else with you who does..." The hooded figure said grimly. "And I want him, not you."

    "However, I can see that he¡¯s hiding in your body. And he probably won¡¯te out that easily. Now I have two choices. I can either kill you and force him out. Or I can make you force him out."

    "The second option sounds much better." The figures said as he turned around.

    "If you want to get back your wife and your family, look inside the crib. I¡¯m leaving you a gift." The figure disappeared, turning into mist.

    Ryder took a deep breath, frowning.

    Even though the man didn¡¯t have any aura surrounding him, hearing his words, it was clear that he knew about Nyx.

    Ryder walked closer to the crib, looking inside.

    "That bastard took my boy." He clenched his fist, looking at a little sphere in the crib instead.

    He picked up the sphere. As soon as Ryder touched the sphere, he heard a message.

    The message contained the voice of his confused wives, who appeared to be asking the others where they were.

    Shu¡¯s voice and the crying of his son could also be heard in the background.

    In the end, the name of the ce was said by the same person who had talked to Ryder.

    "Not just your kid. He took your entire family. As for who he is... I think you already know. He ultimately found me. I¡¯m not sure how. Maybe the Divine Aura of your son led him here. I don¡¯t think he would free your son even if I surrender to him since it¡¯s your son he¡¯s intrigued by."

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. I can¡¯t leave my son with him! I need my family back!" Ryder stated.

    "I know. And that¡¯s why I think it¡¯s time I step out... It¡¯s time I go and face him myself..."

    "But you¡¯re weak! Your body will take hundreds of years to get to its previous glory! You can¡¯t fight him!. If you go alone, you¡¯ll die, and my son won¡¯t get back! We need a n! And I know someone who might be able to help us with ns."

    "Who?" Nyx asked.

    "Janus! It has been a long time since he talked to me. But I¡¯m sure he would help me since it¡¯s my family who is in danger this time! He must help me!"

    Taking a deep breath, Ryder closed his eyes.

    He brought out the Divinity phone that was given to him by Janus long ago and used thest bits of Divinity points to call Janus.

    Keeping the phone near his ears, he walked back and forth. After a few minutes, he crushed the phone, tossing it away.

    "That selfish bastard! Even now, he doesn¡¯t want to talk to me!" Ryder exined, tossing the broken phone aside.

    "Alright. We¡¯ll need toe with a different n ourselves then!"

    "There can be no n that will work before Ra!" Nyx said. "It was good spending my time with you. But it¡¯s my problem that I must solve myself. Don¡¯t worry, though. I promise I¡¯ll bring back your family safely, even if it¡¯s myst day in this world."

    "No! There is too much risk of failure! I can¡¯t let you!"

    "Do you have a better n then?" Nyx asked, getting impatient.

    "I... I have another n."

    "What¡¯s your n then?" Nyx asked.

    "We can talk to him and convince him to forget the enmity?" Ryder suggested.

    Nyx went silent.

    "That¡¯s your n? To just go to him and ask your son back?" he asked.

    "That¡¯s not all. I have some friends who can help me as well. Listen to the n carefully..."

    ...

    Three hourster, Ryder appeared in the location which was told to him through that sphere.

    He found himself sending on the top of clouds in Heaven. There was a throne before him.

    The hooded figure was sitting on the throne.

    Four High Gods were standing on each side of him. Even more, gods stood in the surrounding.

    Behind the throne, there was a prison made of shining golden bars.

    Inside the prison, Alice was sitting, crying. Esmi has her daughter in her hand. Shu and his family were also inside the cell.

    Ryder didn¡¯t find his son inside the cell.

    "I am here as you called me. Where is my son?" Ryder dered.

    "Your son?" Ra asked calmly.

    "I must say, your son is really interesting. A human boy, born with Origin Immunity... I didn¡¯t think it was possible. Look like my friend inside you achieved a great miracle," he added.

    "Return my son! I¡¯m willing to return Nyx!" Ryder dered.

    "Toss my old friend out of your body, and I¡¯ll think about it," Ra said calmly.

    "First, let me see my son! Or I¡¯m not moving! And I can promise you; I would never be found again by you if I left today without letting Nyx out! So think clearly! Show me, my son!" Ryder dered.

    "Hahaha." Ra burst into a mockingughter.

    "This is my Domain! You cane inside, but you can¡¯t leave! You¡¯re trapped here, young man! But still, I¡¯ll show you your son."

    "Bring forth the Divine Prison," hemanded one of the High Gods.

    The High Gods pped his hand, making a spatial portal appear behind them.

    Two bodies came floating out of the cell. One was the son of Ryder. Both of his hands were tied above his head, and he was constantly crying.

    The second person was also a young boy from the looks. His hands were also tried above his head by a Divine Rope.

    Both of them were inside invisible cell that could only be seen by Ryder, High Gods, and Ra.

    It was a cell that was used to keep gods imprisoned since it was said to be unbreakable.

    "Janus?" Ryder eximed, frowning. "What is he doing here?"

    "Oh? You know each other? That¡¯s intriguing. If I¡¯m not wrong, he¡¯s been in the prison since the awakening of my friend. It makes me wonder. How did you know him?" Ra asked.

    ¡¯ He¡¯s been imprisoned since then? So he wasn¡¯t avoiding me?¡¯ Ryder thought, frowning. So he was ming Janus for no reason?

 Chapter 659 - 655: Trick

    <h4>Chapter 659 - 655: Trick </h4>

    Ryder shook his head, cursing himself in his mind for not trusting in Janus.

    The guy was trapped here, and he kept ming him. However, he still couldn¡¯t understand why Janus was trapped.

    It couldn¡¯t be because of him since these people didn¡¯t know about him knowing Janus. Was it because of Chaos? Then where was his other self? Was he already killed?

    "Get out of daze, young man," Ra said calmly. "I¡¯m sure you had a fun time ying with a god¡¯s strength. Send Nyx out and take your family. I¡¯ll let you leave with your wife and the others," Ra said, looking back. He observed Ryder¡¯s son. "However, this young boy, he would stay with him."

    "The choice is yours. Be a good boy and leave safely with family. All you¡¯ll lose is a son, but you can make more kids in the future. Or you can be stubborn and watch me tear you in half and kill you. Whatever suits you," he continued.

    Ryder took a deep breath.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll let him out. And I¡¯m ready to leave my son behind. But you must free my family first," Ryder replied.

    Ra snapped his finger, making the prison fly to Ryder. After reaching him, the prison disappeared, freeing his wives, daughter, and the family of Shu.

    "Are you alright?" Ryder asked everyone, going down on his knees.

    "What is happening here? These people! Our son! All this magic! What is all this?" Alice asked Ryder.

    "Ah, it¡¯s a long story. But you remember I asked you one time if you believed in gods?" Ryder asked. "These are those gods. They are real. And they want something from me. That¡¯s why they brought you here. Everything will be fine. Don¡¯t worry."

    Ryder touched the face of his wife gently, making her stand up.

    "I freed your family. Now bring Nyx out," Ramanded Ryder.

    Ryder took a deep breath. "I¡¯m letting him out. But first, I want my family sent back to earth safely."

    Ra frowned. "You have quite a lot of demands for a young human. But it¡¯s nothing big. So I¡¯ll make it happen."

    He snapped his fingers. "The Spatial Block is temporarily removed. You can send them back home. But remember, if you try to be clever, you¡¯ll suffer."

    "I¡¯m sending you back, alright."

    "What about you and my son?!" Alice asked.

    "I have one more thing to do. After that, I¡¯ll be back," Ryder replied before sending his family back.

    A white portal appeared under their feet. They disappeared.

    "Can we begin now?" Ra asked, smiling. "Bring Nyx out. It¡¯s finally time I meet my old friend again."

    "Old friend or old enemy?" Ryder asked, engaging the man in conversation.

    ...

    Back on earth, Alice and the others appeared back at the mansion.

    Shu still couldn¡¯t believe that he wasn¡¯t hallucinating, and it was all true.

    "All this... I knew he was different, but all this..." He muttered nkly.

    "Ah, you¡¯re all back. That¡¯s good." A calm yet old voice came from the back.

    "Who?" Everyone turned back, shocked.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I am High Duke Oris. We are with Ryder. He brought us here to take care of you," High Duke Magna came out of the shadows.

    He gave some bracelets to everyone.

    "Wear these. ording to Ryder, these can hide your aura," High Duke Oris also came out and exined.

    "Hmm? You are... Are you even human?" Shu asked, stepping before thedies to protect them.

    "We aren¡¯t. We are demons. But no need to fear. We work for Ryder. As I said, this ce is risky, so hemanded us to take you to a safe ce so gods won¡¯t be able to find you," High Duke Oris said.

    "But how can we trust you? What if you¡¯re one of them?" Esmi asked.

    "Would we be asking for your Permission then? We are strong enough to take you forcefully," High Duke Magna said, frowning.

    "Calm down, Magna. He did say that they might not trust us. That¡¯s why he left this," High Duke Oris brought out a device and Pressed a button in it.

    As he pressed the button, a holographic image appeared from the device, showing Ryder.

    "Alright. First of all, if you¡¯re hearing this message, that means I seeded in sending you back from Heaven. Now don¡¯t waste time. They mighte after you again. I¡¯m sending my trusted people behind. They¡¯ll take you and keep you hidden in my other home. So don¡¯t waste time and do as they say," Ryder said.

    "Oh, and don¡¯t worry. Everything is going to be fine. I¡¯ll make everything alright. So don¡¯t worry," he added before his hologram disappeared.

    "Do you trust us now?" High Duke Oris asked. "So wear these bracelets. He made these himself. After that, we¡¯ll take you to a safe ce while he keeps them distracted."

    Alice and the others took the bracelet and wore them.

    After that, both the High Dukes caught the hands of the group and disappeared.

    They went back to the world of Divinity. Since they were wearing the bracelet as well, no trace of the Teleportation was left behind. Even gods couldn¡¯t find where they could have teleported.

    ....

    "Enough nonsense. Send him out!" Ra said after hearing nonsense from Ryder for five straight minutes.

    He wasn¡¯t interested in answering Ryder about his rtionship with Nyx.

    "I¡¯ll count to three this time. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll actually kill you." Ra stated.

    "Man, you¡¯re so rude. Whatever. I¡¯m sending him out."

    Ryder took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

    "Alright, friend. Time to go out. I¡¯m sorry, but my life is more important than yours. I hope you can understand," he said.

    "Heh, the humans and their fear of death. It¡¯ll never change," the Goddess of Destinymented, smiling.

    A small speck of light came out of Ryder¡¯s chest, taking the shape of Nyx.

    "Ah, Nyx. Should I wee you back?" Ra asked, seeing Nyx. "You really hid well and inside a human at that?"

    "Excuse me, but if you had enough talk, can I go back?" Ryder asked.

    "Nope. If I release the Spatial seal again, my friend here might escape too. So I have a better n," Ra smiled.

    "What n?" Ryder asked.

    Ra¡¯s figure flickered as he appeared before Nyx. He grabbed Nyx by his throat before flying up.

    "The n to kill you and his family." One of the High Gods finished the sentence of Ra.

    He looked back at the others. "Go and kill his family."

    The second High God disappeared.

    "May I ask why you¡¯re breaking your promise? If you wanted me dead, why didn¡¯t you kill me before?"

    "Heh, because if the host had died, the soul of Nyx might have disappeared with your reincarnated cycle.. So we had to let you bring him out first," High God asked, not knowing that Ryder already knew this.

 Chapter 660 - 656: Last Resort

    <h4>Chapter 660 - 656: Last Resort </h4>

    "So that¡¯s what it was. You couldn¡¯t do anything until I let him out," Ryder said, rubbing his chin.

    "That¡¯s right. Now that he¡¯s out of you, you¡¯re useless for us. We don¡¯t need you anymore. So die!" The High God¡¯s figure flickered as he appeared before Ryder instantly, grabbing him by his throat.

    "me your luck that you were involved with the wrong people. If you hadn¡¯t, you wouldn¡¯t be in this situation!" The High God said. A cloud of fire came out of his hand, surrounding Ryder.

    The fierce fire that could burn even steel was zing brightly.

    However, Ryder¡¯s figure could still be seen inside asionally. He wasn¡¯t burning at all.

    "I can me my luck. But who will you me?" Ryder asked, grinning.

    He opened his mouth and started sucking all the fire inside.

    Within seconds, he swallowed all the mes.

    The High Gods didn¡¯t know that Ryder had the me Immunity at the moment. It was gifted to him by Nyx like all the other abilities. In fact, Nyx had recovered more strength than he was showing. But he shared the strength with Ryder, leaving himself weaker.

    He had literally given half his strength to Ryder. And the n wasn¡¯t veryplicated either. Since Nyx had Origin Immunity, he couldn¡¯t be killed. He could only be trapped.

    So all he had to do was keep Ra engaged for a little time, at least until Ryder could take care of all the gods that were left behind. After Ryder saved his son and sent him to a safe ce, he could join with Nyx, and the two could fight Ra together.

    Now that the first part of the n was finished by Nyx, who took Ra away, Ryder was free to deal with the rest. And with the help of Nyx¡¯s strength, it was a child¡¯s y for him.

    "Now my turn," he grinned like a Devil as he grabbed the throat of the High God in return. He also used the same trick, but he didn¡¯t release fire from his hand. Instead, he opened his mouth again and breathed out fire.

    His fire was the fire of a True God like Nyx, which could burn anything. No god could survive this fire until they had Origin Immunity which was only possessed by some rare people.

    "Argh! Stop!"

    Being burnt by mes, the High God could only scream in pain. He tried freeing himself, but he couldn¡¯t do that as the space was sealed. He could only cry in pain and hope that others came to help him.

    After the Initial Shock, the other gods finally came out of their daze.

    "Free him!" The other High Gods roared as they ran towards Ryder.

    "Toote." Ryder smirked. It was already over. The High God was dead, and nothing but ashes were left of him.

    "Next is your turn," he added as he calmly pped his hand. A domain spread around him, covering all the Gods. The God of Time was gone, so no one could oppose this time domain. Ra wasn¡¯t here as well.

    Everything inside Ryder¡¯s domain slowed down to one hundredth of a second.

    "Enjoying yet?" Ryder asked, appearing behind another High God. He thrust his hand ahead, which had changed into a w.

    The w stabbed the chest of the High God, releasing the same fire but this time from inside the body of the second High God.

    It only left the Third High God. The rest had gone to earth. He didn¡¯t even bother about minor gods at the moment. In his eyes, only one more person was left.

    Ryder appeared before the third High God, who was moving extremely slowly in the time domain.

    This time, He simply ced his palm on the face of the third High God. The same fire came again, working as the best and most favorite weapon of Ryder against the Gods.

    The third High God was also burnt.

    Ryder nced at the other gods, grinning like a devil. The goddess of Destiny was so scared of his gaze; she took a step back. However, Ryder didn¡¯t go after them. He had taken care of High Gods, and these small gods were no threat to him.

    First, he decided to free his son and Janus.

    He walked closer to the cage.

    "Janus, we meet again. How have you been, old friend?" Ryder asked, looking at Janus.

    Janus was slightly surprised to see the strength of Ryder. This guy certainly had an adventure of his own after Janus left.

    "So that¡¯s why I couldn¡¯t feel you. I thought you were dead," Janus said, coughing in between sentences. "It¡¯s so good to see you safe. And congrattions on the wedding and kids. Sorry I couldn¡¯t attend."

    "No worries, little brother," Ryder said calmly. "There will be more opportunities. First, let¡¯s get you and my son out of here."

    Ryder reached out his hand towards the cell to destroy it.

    Just as his hand was about to touch the cage, it flickered. The cage disappeared with Janus and the little boy.

    "What?" Ryder eximed in shock.

    "Who dares!" he turned around, thinking that it was the work of a minor God that he left behind. However, as he turned back, his lips opened slightly.

    "Good trick. But I have a feeling that you made one of the two mistakes. You either underestimated me or overestimated yourself. I mean, fighting him without his full strength? That was simply boring. But it¡¯s good too. I was able to see you in action."

    "Not bad. You certainly earned the right to be killed by me."

    Right in front of Ryder, the cloaked man was standing. He was none other than Ra. His right hand was holding onto Nyx¡¯s neck, who wasn¡¯t moving.

    "Did you kill him? How?" Ryder asked, wondering how it was possible. Didn¡¯t Nyx have Origin Immunity?

    "Dead? He isn¡¯t dead. He has Immunity. I just put him to a little sleep after finding his little trick so I could deal with another rat first." Ra answered.

    "Any other trick you have?" he asked. "Because that little strength of yours isn¡¯t going to cut it."

    Ryder¡¯s face twitched unwillingly. How did everything turn so bad so fast? The cage was now behind Ra. And he couldn¡¯t defeat Ra. He knew that much.

    He wondered what he could do. What could help him?

    "Go ahead. Use whateverst resort you have. Don¡¯t give up so easily," Ra said, treating Ryder like a beast who was at the end of his life.

    "Last resort?" Ryder muttered, remembering something.

    He remembered about the paper which Chaos had given him to be used as ast resort in case of absolute emergency.

    He wasn¡¯t sure if that little thing could help him much. Even Chaos couldn¡¯t have expected he would end up facing Ra after all.. But still, he wanted to try.

 Chapter 661 - 657: Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 661 - 657: Arrival </h4>

    Ryder had nned everything but what he didn¡¯t n was Nyx¡¯s such Swift defeat. If he had known about this possibility, he would have been more careful.

    He didn¡¯t know that Ra could have been even stronger now than he was in the past. He was trapped now. He had killed three High Gods, but other gods were still left.

    Moreover, the main opponent was Ra, who was standing between him and his son. And to top it all off, Nyx was out. He couldn¡¯t even work with Nyx to engage Ra. Without Nyx, he had nothing. He didn¡¯t even have Origin Immunity to survive a conflict.

    The only thing he had was the piece of paper that Chaos had given him. It was as if he was drowning, and he only had that small piece of paper to save him.

    Despite having that, he wasn¡¯t very confident. Still, he wanted to at least try it. If not now, then when?

    He had kept that piece of paper with him, mostly forgetting that it even existed.

    He wanted his hand, bringing that piece of paper back in his hand.

    "You want to give me a letter?" Ra asked, smiling at the sight of Ryder bringing a paper.

    Ryder didn¡¯t open the power. Instead, he held the paper between his thumbs and tore it.

    Chaos had told him to tear the paper when he was in danger and had no other choice.

    After tearing the paper, he held it firmly and looked around.

    "What?"

    He was confused. He tore the paper, but nothing happened. He couldn¡¯t understand. Was this a prank by Chaos? This time couldn¡¯t even attack weakly?

    He could only scratch the back of his head. "This wasn¡¯t a good prank."

    Even Ra looked at Ryder weirdly. He wondered if the kid had gone crazy in fear.

    "I¡¯ll repeat again. Use yourst resort before I deliver your death!" He dered again.

    "Use thest resort?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly. "What did you think I just did?"

    "Whatever. It doesn¡¯t matter anyway. I will help myself," he dered before tossing the piece of paper away.

    He started flying towards Ra.

    Ra grinned as well. He didn¡¯t toss Nyx away before flying to Ryder.

    Ryder threw a punch. Ra did the same.

    Boom~

    Just as Ryder had expected, he was no match of the strength of Ra. He lost the first sh as his body flew back. Even the bones of his hand were broken.

    He crashed in the distance.

    However, he wasn¡¯t an idiot. He already knew what was needed for the sh .he couldn¡¯t understand what was going to happen if he just used his raw strength. Still, he went with that for one purpose.

    His only goal was to touch Ra once.

    We Ryder¡¯s fist got in contact with Ra; he left behind a small mark on Ra¡¯s fist.

    Ra raised his hand, frowning.

    The small speck of others started burning. Powerful wave of me came out of the speck of light, swallowing Ra entirely.

    Ryder used the time when Ra was busy to appear before him.

    He grabbed Nyx and flew back.

    He needed Nyx to be up to have any chance of fighting. After freeing Nyx, he started using his Healing to wake up Nyx again.

    On the other end, Ra calmly pped his hand, destroying the fire that was surrounding him.

    He looked back at Ryder, smiling. "Didn¡¯t I tell you already? You are just dying your inevitable death."

    Ra started walking towards Ryder.

    ...

    On the other side, the piece of paper that Ryder had torn finallynded on the ground and burst into. mes. The mes spread in a circle, forming a formation withplicated lines intersecting.

    "Come on, Nyx! Wake up! What did he do to you?!" Ryder eximed in frustration.

    Nyx didn¡¯t open his eyes though. He was out cold for some reason.

    "He won¡¯t wake up for a couple of hours. His mind is trapped in a maze at the moment. And that maze can¡¯t be broken that easily by him after getting trapped," Ra smiled.

    "Now, shall we start with you?" He raised his hand towards Ryder.

    As soon as Ra raised his hand, a strange yet powerful force started acting on Ryder¡¯s body which pulled him towards Ra.

    Ryder tried resisting, but he couldn¡¯t for some reason. He only had borrowed strength and that too half of a person who was already weaker than Ra.

    Within seconds, Ryder found his throat in the hand of Ra.

    "I expected better. But then again, you are a fake after all. So I can¡¯t expect anything more," Ra said. His face was still not visible through the cloak.

    He prepared to kill Ryder.

    "Hmm? What¡¯s this dark aura?" He abruptly said as he looked behind.

    On the ground, he could see a ming formation, and the dark aura was sleeping in this world through that formation.

    Suddenly, thousands of shadows came out of the formation, surrounding the formation circle. All the shadows took the shape of pitch-ck beasts.

    "Nightmare Beasts from the Nether?" The Goddess of Destiny eximed.

    There were billions of Dark Creatures in the Dark Realm known as Nightmare Beasts. It was because of them that all the gods avoided going into the Nether, which consisted of ny percent of the entire space in this universe.

    How did this suddenlye here?

    From another ce, the other High Beasts also came. "We couldn¡¯t find his family. Huh? What happened here? Why are Nightmare Beasts here?"

    The Nightmare Beasts were creatures that weren¡¯t created by Nyx or Ra either. They were the beasts that appeared from the darkness on their own. They couldn¡¯t be killed entirely.

    They could only be destroyed, but that respawned again in the Nether. That¡¯s why these beasts were a mess. It was much easier to stay away from the Nether than facing these beasts.

    However, the beasts didn¡¯te on their own. Instead, they were sent here by someone else.

    A door came out of the ming formation as well. The pitch-ck door slowly opened, and two people stepped out.

    In the lead was a man.

    "Chaos..." The Goddess of Destinymented.

    Chaos had stepped out of the door. His left hand had the bracelet, which waspleted now. And as the bracelet waspleted, it was giving immense strength to Chaos which was enough for him to control all of reality.

    Moreover, his aura alone wasparable to the aura of Ra. And he also had Origin Immunity without having the weakness of Nyx for being trapped.

    At the same time, he was holding a dark sword in his right hand, which was called the Nether Sword, as it also appeared in the Nether, made from all the darkness.

 Chapter 662 - 658: Sharing

    <h4>Chapter 662 - 658: Sharing </h4>

    Chaos stepped out of the ck door, wearing the bracelet of Immortality and carrying his powerful sword, which seemed even stronger now.

    Behind him, the Goddess of Reincarnation walked calmly.

    "Janus?" Chaos asked, looking towards Janus in the cage. He also noticed the small kid in the cage. He could feel a sense of familiarity with the kid, as if the kid had a part of his soul too.

    He nced at Ryder. "Your child?"

    As he finished speaking, he snapped his fingers. The blue fragment in the bracelet shone briefly. The cage which was behind Ra disappeared and appeared before Chaos.

    Next, he simply touched the cage. The sword of his was enough to destroy the cage with its darkness. After so long, Janus was finally free. He dropped to his knees weakly.

    The small kid also started falling, but Chaos waved his hand, bringing the kid to himself.

    He turned to the Goddess of Reincarnation. "Take care of the little one."

    The goddess of Reincarnation took the young boy in her embrace, fascinated at the divine aura of the kid.

    Chaos turned to Janus. "Am Ite?"

    "You¡¯re right on time." Janus held his chest as he coughed while standing up, but his knees went weak again. He didn¡¯t fall this time.

    Chaos kept him standing by supporting him.

    "Took a little longer to collect these all. But it¡¯s good that I¡¯m notte."

    He ced his hand on the head of Janus, sharing some of the healing energy with Janus to heal him.

    Ra red at Ryder. It was after a long time that he was seeing Chaos. And he was stunned. Chaos had the Origin Energy around him. And he also had a powerful aura. Moreover, he seemed a bit different.

    After Janus was healed, Chaos pushed him back.

    "Ancestral God Ra. We meet again," he told Ra. "All this trouble... All this mess... All this suffering... It was all for today. I hope I won¡¯t disappoint you.¡¯

    "Oh right, first you should return someone." he pped his hand.

    With the sound of his p, Ryder disappeared and appeared before Chaos as well. Ryder had a spiritual fraction of Chaos. His death could hurt him badly, so he didn¡¯t want Ryder to suffer, at least not without Origin Immunity.

    "Don¡¯t get involved," he reminded Ryder before he started walking towards Ra.

    On the way, he reached Nyx first. He held the shoulder of Nyx. Nyx¡¯s body started shining.

    Even though Nyx and Ra were Ancestral Gods, Chaos now had something they didn¡¯t. He had the Bracelet of Immortality which he had especially crafted to kill Ra.

    However, he also knew that people were going to ask him why he was making such a strong bracelet. They were going to oppose it. And if anyone realized that it was all to kill Ra, who sat at the top of the food chain, he was going to be in trouble. He wasn¡¯t strong enough to face Ra them.

    With that in mind, he spread the rumor that he was making it to give Immortality to humans after the others found out about him messing with a huge amount of Divine Energy.

    He came up with an absurd reason which could justify the use of energy in this range to make it while at the same time being something that wasn¡¯t concerning to Ra. He didn¡¯t want the information to reach Ra at any cost. And that¡¯s what happened.

    He finished making the bracelet. And as it was a matter of human immortality, the gods didn¡¯t go to Ra to inform him. Instead, they waged a War on Chaos.

    The War killed him, sending him into Reincarnation, which gave enough time for the bracelet to gain its full strength. At the same time, the issue about him making something absurd was forgotten with his death.

    Everything had settled down, and he could continue his work without being caught. All for this one point.

    As for why he hated Ra enough to n so much to kill him? It was all because of the Goddess of Reincarnation, which was his first love. However, she was killed by Ra for the crime of attempting Rebirth, which Ra felt to be something that could put him at risk.

    He spoiled her second Reincarnation, which killed her. Unbeknownst to him, The Goddess of Reincarnation knew something like this could happen.

    That¡¯s why she left a fraction of her soul with Chaos and a body hidden in the core of a world.

    The soul fragment went into Reincarnation with Chaos, appearing inside Alice. However, it was different from the reincarnation of Chaos.

    Chaos had only one soul, which was used by Ryder. On the other hand, Alice had two souls. One was her real soul, while the other was the fragment of the Goddess of Reincarnation that hid in her soul, healing.

    Now that he had the Bracelet of Immortality, he could do anything. He was no weaker than Ra, if not stronger. Moreover, he could heal Nyx.

    He broke the mind maze of Nyx and woke him up. At the same time, he even shared some of his healing light.

    Seeing Chaos trying to heal Nyx, Ra couldn¡¯t waste any more time.

    "You dare!" He roared as he appeared before Chaos, grabbing him by the throat before flying away like he did with Nyx.

    Even though he took away Chaos, it didn¡¯t matter. The healing light was still left with Nyx, healing him.

    Something which should have happened in a thousand years happened instantly. The soul of Nyx gained his true strength. He hade out of the damage he suffered because of being sealed.

    He looked up, frowning. He didn¡¯t fly though. Instead, he looked back at Ryder.

    "Your other half isn¡¯t half bad. He helped me."

    "He certainly isn¡¯t bad," Ryder replied.

    "Still, he won¡¯t have an easy time against Ra. One shouldn¡¯t underestimate Ra. Since he helped me, I¡¯ll help him too," Nyx said.

    "Nah, it would be better if you help him instead. Two halves of the same soul fighting together. You want to do that?" Nyx asked.

    "How can I? I¡¯m too weak to help them. I can¡¯t even resist Ra," Ryder replied.

    "You couldn¡¯t because you had a fraction of my strength... A fraction of my weaker self¡¯s strength. But I¡¯m fully healed now. Want to try my full strength?" Nyx asked.

    "I-i can? How?"

    "All you need to do is reach out your hand. And it¡¯ll be yours," Nyx said.

    Ryder frowned. But he also raised his hand towards Nyx.

    Nyx grabbed the hands of Ryder before disappearing. He had again entered the body of Ryder, sharing his strength.. He merged his strength of what he had with what he had shared with Ryder, making it even more.

 Chapter 663 - 659: You Are Me

    <h4>Chapter 663 - 659: You Are Me </h4>

    Nyx and Ra were both made from the same Origin. Despite that, Ra had grown stronger throughout the year while Nyx¡¯s strength was stuck because of what had happened to him.

    Even though Nyx was back to his original strength thanks to Chaos, he still had that same Origin. The same Origin of the two was what helped Ra trap Nyx in the mind maze. Even though he was strong, he didn¡¯t want to risk being trapped there again.

    The consideration made him decide to fight with Ryder this time. As he hid inside Ryder, even if Ra could put him in a mind maze, Ryder could still use his strength to fight back. That way, he could be at less disadvantage.

    At the same time, he wanted Chaos and Ryder to fight together. Just like Ra and Nyx, Ryder and Chaos also shared a fraction of a soul. That could give him strength when fighting together because he knew something that Ryder didn¡¯t.

    Even though Chaos had confidently stepped into the battle, he knew that Chaos didn¡¯t have that great of a chance of killing Ra since Ra also had Origin Immunity. So the best they could do was trap Ra. But killing a person was easier than trapping him. Simrly, taking out Ra and sealing him was easier said than done.

    He could only hope that Chaos and Ryder could tread carefully.

    As Nyx entered the body of Ryder, he found himself filled with immense strength. It was nothing like he had ever experienced before. This was the true peak of Nyx! The strength that Nyx possessed before he was sealed.

    ...

    Ra grabbed Chaos¡¯s throat and flew high in the sky. Resisting Ra, Chaos used his spatial control. Despite the spatial seal of Ra, he was able to teleport freely.

    He appeared behind Ra and kicked his neck.

    As Ra¡¯s neck was hit, he lost his bnce and flew far away. The impact of the attack was so powerful that a booming sound echoed in the surroundings.

    Ra flew uncontrobly towards the ground, but just as he was about to hit the ground, he stopped. It was as if time had paused suddenly.

    His body straightened up. He looked up at Chaos while rubbing his neck.

    "That bracelet of yours. Not bad. It looks like you found a neat hack to artificially boost your strength. But it looks like you didn¡¯t hear before. Artificial strength can never defeat true strength.

    As Ra finished speaking, his eyes shone from under the cloak.

    Chaos felt an abrupt pressure that pulled him towards the ground.

    His bracelet started shining again. Within a second, he was free of all the pressure.

    "You mean this?" Chaos said calmly. The bracelet shone even more. The same pressure started acting on Ra.

    Ra found the force so strong that even he had to struggle to remain standing

    Chaos once again disappeared. He appeared behind Ra and swung his sword.

    The ck Sword sliced Ra in two halves. The two halves turned to smoke and joined in a different ce, appearing as one.

    "Go ahead. Try again," Ra said, smirking. His face wasn¡¯t clearly visible from under the cloak.

    Chaos once again appeared behind Ra, and this time he stepped the sword into the chest of Ra.

    Ra again turned to smoke and appeared in a different ce away from Chaos.

    "My turn now," Ra said. He casually waved his hand, making thousands of golden swords appear behind Chaos.

    All the swords attacked Ryder, only to be destroyed by a Barrier that appeared behind him.

    "That reminds me how difficult it can be to kill people like us. It¡¯s as if I¡¯m figuring Nyx of the past,x Ra said, smiling.

    "Your turn," Ra said. It was as if he was taking it as a game.

    Chaos didn¡¯t say anything and straight appeared before Chaos. This time, he stabbed his hand inside the chest of Ra and grabbed his heart. As he used his left hand, even his Bracelet of Immortality ended up inside the body of Ra. He wanted to use it to deal with Ra¡¯s soul.

    A strange force started prating the body of Ra through his head. Ra¡¯s smile disappeared. He tried moving back, but he couldn¡¯t.

    "Trying to seal me?" Ra asked, frowning. "Naive."

    Ra grabbed Chaos¡¯s throat and applied force. Despite the force, he couldn¡¯t crush Chaos¡¯s neck.

    At the same time, Chaos stabbed his sword in the forehead of Ra. Since Ra was in his grasp, he couldn¡¯t turn to smoke now. Moreover, the sword of Darkness could only weaken him to be sealed easily.

    "Little kid, you dinner know what you¡¯re doing. If you don¡¯t stop now, you¡¯ll regret," Ra said as his forehead and his eyes started bleeding.

    Chaos didn¡¯t stop, though.

    Crack~

    Suddenly, a cracking sound was heard. It was as if the heart of Ra was cracked. Soon after the heart cracked, Chaos felt his hands burn.

    He immediately pulled out his hand to avoid the burning pain, which was something even his bracelet couldn¡¯t resist.

    He moved back.

    Ra remained standing silent. He looked up, grinning. "I warned you."

    Ra slowly raised his hand to lower his cloak, revealing his handsome face.

    As for his face, it was no different than the face of Chaos for some reason.

    It was as if he was the same person.

    "You..." Chaos was slightly taken aback. It was the first time he was seeing the full face of Ra. And it was his face.

    The only difference was that Ra¡¯s eyes were pitch ck which seemed to epass the entire universe.

    "Millions of years..." Ra said, smiling.

    For millions of years, I sealed my heart and my strength with it. Since Nyx was gone, I didn¡¯t think anyone could be an opponent to make me use the same strength again.

    "Who knew, I would find someone again... Someone who could force me to unseal myself as well." He rubbed his chest.

    There was no heart inside his body now. But a ck light that appeared to be a ck hole.

    "Why do you look like me?" Chaos asked grimly. He was concerned about this unsealing this guy talked about, but he was even more concerned about his face.

    Moreover, when the heart of this guy shattered, he had felt the same kind of dark energy inside Ra which he felt inside himself.

    "Who am I to you?" Ra asked. "I am to you what I am to all! I am the creator and your God! I am the one who created half the world! I am the one who created most of the life forms!"

    "And you are one of those life forms! You are my creation!" Ra said. "Unfortunately, I created you right after trapping Nyx. So I wasn¡¯t careful. I made you in my image, and identally some of my soul entered your body," he added.

 Chapter 664 - 660: Origin Vs Origin

    <h4>Chapter 664 - 660: Origin Vs Origin </h4>

    "Your Soul?" Chaos asked grimly. "So my soul..."

    "That¡¯s right." Ra startedughing. "You are to me what that Ryder is to you! A small part of my soul that got away."

    "I wanted to destroy you right after I made you. But I let you live. You know why?" he asked.

    "Hurting a fraction of your soul hurts you," Chaos responded.

    "Exactly. You were a part of my own soul. Destroying you would have hurt me a lot. And I wasn¡¯t in the mood to be hurt."

    "There was another reason as well. It was that I didn¡¯t care about you. You were nothing! Just a useless fraction of my soul that didn¡¯t even have Origin Immunity! You were nothing but trash. So I simply sent you to where you belonged. Amongst these trashy gods of the lower ne!"

    "Who knew that one day, my own soul woulde to hurt me. You do know what will happen after you hurt me? You know what will happen after you seal me?" Ra asked.

    Chaos didn¡¯t answer. He knew everything though. He knew that if Ra was sealed, he was also going to be sealed together.

    When a soul was sealed, it looked toplete itself. And toplete it, Ra¡¯s soul was going to drag Chaos¡¯s soul inside as well. And if his soul was dragged, the soul of Ryder was going to be dragged as well.

    "So you understand now. I can destroy you. And I¡¯ll only be hurt a bit. On the other hand, if you hurt me, you¡¯ll end up being destroyed! Do you still want to attack me?" Ra asked. "Not that it would matter anyway. I have my unrestricted strength."

    "You can¡¯t stop me. I¡¯m invincible! I am your true God!" Ra dered out loud. "I can destroy whatever I want, including the Goddess of Reincarnation who turned you against me! And that¡¯s what I shall do! You won¡¯t be able to stop me! You can¡¯t! You can only live under my feet!" he further stated.

    "Sorry, I¡¯mte!" Ryder also came flying by now. Hended beside Chaos. "Why aren¡¯t you attacking? Also, will someone exin why he looks like me?"

    Chaos turned to Ryder but didn¡¯t speak anything. He noticed Nyx inside Ryder.

    He ced his hand on the shoulder of Ryder, contacting Nyx directly.

    After a few seconds, he removed his hand.

    As soon as Chaos took away his hand, Ryder dropped to the ground, unconscious. Within seconds, his body disappeared.

    Chaos had taken back his soul from Ryder¡¯s body. He wasplete again.

    He took a deep breath as his eyes turned blood red. He turned to look at Ra.

    ...

    Two dayster...

    Ryder woke up in an empty room. He held his aching head and stood up.

    "What happened? My memories are blurry?" he muttered as he walked to the window.

    "Huh?" As he looked outside the window, he found a clear blue sky. There were many tall buildings around. Everything appeared to be normal.

    "Am I back on earth? What happened to the battle? Why don¡¯t I remember what happened after I met Chaos?"

    "Because you don¡¯t need to remember," A voice came from the back.

    Ryder turned around, finding a young man there. He didn¡¯t remember seeing that dark-haired man before.

    "Nyx?" Ryder asked. He didn¡¯t recognize the face, but he could recognize the voice. It was Nyx in his real face that was of a young dark-haired man.

    "Correct," Nyx replied, walking closer to Ryder.

    "What happened to the battle? Did we seal Ra? Howe we¡¯re alive if we didn¡¯t?" Ryder asked.

    "We didn¡¯t seal Ra. Someone else did," Nyx said, sighing.

    "Who? Chaos? Did he seed? Where is he?" Ryder asked, frowning.

    ....

    One day ago...

    "So you are the one I came from. You¡¯re like my father now that I think about it. The father who I grew up hating," Chaos told Ra. "You¡¯re right though. I can¡¯t seal you. Because if I do, I¡¯ll go with you too."

    "If I try, I¡¯ll end up sealed as well. I won¡¯t be here to see the world. I won¡¯t be here to live my life in the world which I dreamt about. But if I don¡¯t do it, there would be others who would end up dead," he said, looking back.

    Through his powers, he could see the Goddess of Reincarnation and Janus standing in the distance.

    "Now that I think about it, I¡¯ve already lived two lives. Do I still need to be greedy?"

    Without thinking twice, Chaos flew straight to Ra.

    "As you wish. If you want to die, then so be it!"

    Ra raised his hand, releasing a dark energy that appeared to being straight from hell. Chaos flew through the Dark Energy without stopping.

    The Dark Energy was the core energy of Ra, and since he had released his full strength, it was even more powerful. The dark energy started burning the skin of Chaos.

    It also started destroying the bracelet since Ra wanted the bracelet gone. As long as the bracelet didn¡¯t exist, Chaos was going to lose his origin Immunity which protected his soul from destruction.

    The bracelet in Chaos¡¯s hands started turning darker, getting corrupted with Dark Energy.

    As soon as Chaos reached Ra, he touched the dark sword on his Bracelet of Immortality. The bracelet of Immortality changed shape and finally left his wrist, merging into the dark sword.

    All the fragments of the bracelet merged with the dark Sword. The dark sword also changed color, turning into a gray light.

    Ra didn¡¯t care about the bracelet. He had Origin Immunity, and he believed he could destroy the bracelet. Moreover, the moment the bracelet left Chaos¡¯s wrist, instead of moving back, Ra intensified his attack to use the moment to destroy Chaos, who didn¡¯t have Origin Immunity anymore.

    Chaos could feel his soul being destroyed with each passing second. However, he didn¡¯t care.

    Stab~

    Chaos stabbed the gray sword in the chest of Ra, targeting the ck hole in Ra¡¯s chest.

    "Urgh!"

    Ra felt something as he was stabbed in this chest. It was different this time. It was very different. This time, he truly felt a soul-crunching pain.

    He felt as if his soul was being sucked inside the sword. Despite being so strong, he couldn¡¯t resist.

    "YOU!" He roared in rage, holding the throat of Chaos.

    All he saw in return was a smile from Chaos. The serene smile that made him look like he wasn¡¯t scared at all.

    Within a second, both Ra and Chaos disappeared with the gray Sword.

 Chapter 665 - 661: The End...

    <h4>Chapter 665 - 661: The End... </h4>

    ...

    Current day...

    "Where is he? That is a good question. Even I wonder that." Nyx said, looking at the vast space.

    "Tell me! What had happened! Where is Chaos? What happened to Janus? And where is my son?!"

    "What happened to Chaos?" Nyx sighed as he smiled. "He has sealed Ra. And he is sealed with him as well. In short, both Ra and Chaos are sealed together in some unknown corner of the world."

    "What? Why? Why did he seal himself too? That¡¯s so stupid! And why don¡¯t I remember anything?! What was I doing? Why didn¡¯t I help him?!" Ryder asked, concerned about Chaos.

    Nyx told him about Chaos being a fragment of Ra¡¯s soul and that when the main soul was sealed, all soul fragments got sealed with it.

    "That doesn¡¯t make sense! I¡¯m also a soul fragment of his. If he was sealed, why wasn¡¯t I?¡¯

    "Because you aren¡¯t a soul fragment of his," Nyx answered.

    "To keep you away from this mess, he asked for my help. I made an identical soul fragment from my soul this time. And all the memories and experiences were transferred from that soul fragment to my soul fragment. That was why you lost consciousness."

    "Chaos took back the soul fragment that he left with you while leaving you to live your life."

    "This..." Ryder didn¡¯t know how to reply.

    He had started his life as the other half of Chaos, and now he was the other half of Nyx. Chaos didn¡¯t care about leaving his soul fragment with him even though there was a risk of being hurt if Ryder was killed. But when it came the time to seal himself, he didn¡¯t drag Ryder.

    Ryder was slightly grateful. At the same time, he was a bit upset as well.

    "Can we get him out?" he asked.

    "Not without bringing out Ra. So no. Otherwise, everything would be a waste," Nyx replied. "In any case, It¡¯s impossible to find where they are sealed."

    "So he¡¯s nevering back," Ryder said, sighing.

    "Yeah. He isn¡¯ting back," Nyx replied. "So live your life. So what if you don¡¯t have his soul fragment. You will always be the other half of Chaos! Live your life to the fullest in his stead. That would be what he would¡¯ve wanted as well."

    Ryder didn¡¯t speak. He kept his head down, looking at the city that was going about its day as nothing had happened. These people were never going to know what had happened in this world.

    "Where is my son?" he asked.

    "He is with your wife. Come," Nyx said.

    A portal opened before them.

    Ryder and Nyx stepped inside the portal, ending up in the Demon Realm.

    His four wives were sitting together with the family of Shu and all the High Dukes.

    "There you are! Wee back!" All thedies stood up, weing Ryder.

    The little boy of Ryder was in the hands of Alice. And his daughter was with Esmi.

    Even though only two days had passed, this mess brought all thedies from these two words together.

    "When I brought your boy here, I told them that the battle was over and you were safe and that you were taking care of some minor matters so they wouldn¡¯t be worried. They just think you came back from a minor tussle," Nyx whispered in the ears of Ryder.

    "Thank you." Ryder patted the shoulder of Nyx as he stepped towards his wife, taking his first step towards a new life, far away from all the conflicts. There were no threats anymore.

    He walked to Alice and took the little boy in his arms. Even though the boy looked like him, to Ryder, the young boy looked more like Chaos.

    Seeing Ryder, the boy burst into a smile.

    "Grow up healthy and strong like him, alright, little guy?" Ryder asked, touching the nose of the little boy.

    ...

    Back in the Godly Realm, most of the gods were killed. In fact, to pay back Chaos, Nyx had killed all the gods who could be a threat to Janus and the others. The God Realm was back to peace after a short yet explosive war.

    At the moment, Janus was standing in an empty pce.

    It was the Pce of Chaos... The pce of his Elder brother. He had thought that his brother would take his rightful ce on the throne here after everything was done, but it was only now that he knew it was never going to happen. Chaos was gone forever.

    Janus had tears in his eyes as he watched the ce. "It will always be empty now..."

    Behind him, the Goddess of Reincarnation and the Goddess of Life and Death stood.

    "There is nothing left in heaven for me. I think I¡¯ll leave this ce..." Janus said.

    "No, you won¡¯t leave this ce," the Goddess of Reincarnation said. Even she looked heartbroken by what happened to Chaos.

    "Don¡¯t try to stop me. This ce will only remind me of him. I need to leave!"

    "If you leave this ce, who will help your nephew grow up? Who will teach your nephew what his father was like? Who will teach the little guy how to be a brave god like his father?" The Goddess of Reincarnation said in a low voice.

    Even though the Goddess of Reincarnation spoke in a low voice, Janus heard her clearly.

    "Nephew? You mean Ryder¡¯s son?" Janus answered without looking back.

    "No. I meant the true heir of Chaos..." The Goddess of Reincarnation said.

    Janus turned around, stunned.

    "You mean...?"

    The Goddess of Reincarnation looked down and touched her tummy. "I mean your nephew..."

    "This... He... Is it true?" Janus asked, taken aback.

    "Yeah. In the Dark Realm, we...."

    ¡¯So that¡¯s why he sacrificed himself? To keep him safe?¡¯ Janus thought nkly.

    "This little guy..." Janus said, smiling. Even though he smiled, tears kept dripping from his eyes.

    "Maybe this throne won¡¯t be that empty after all," he said, looking back at the throne.

    ...

    After a few months, the Goddess of Reincarnation gave birth to a baby boy who looked just like Chaos. He had his eyes, his cute nose. On the other hand, he has the fluffy cheeks of his mother.

    The moment the young boy was born, a beautiful Rainbow appeared in all the worlds in the universe, weing the little guy who was going to be the ruler of heaven like his father was.

    ...

    Far away in an unknown space, a gray sword was floating aimlessly. However, at the moment, it shone a little before returning to its silence. It kept floating aimlessly in the Dark Space where no one dared enter, destined to stay here forever...

    *****************

    The end.

    *****************

    Author Note:

    And with that, the storyes to an end...

    for now at least.

    Thank you to everyone who stuck through this journey whichsted for more than a year.

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    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!