"Kukuku"
Brazen laughed while watching the show in front of him.
The TV showing the latest news of Kaiser's quest, but then, alarming news came out as players showed what was happening on Hellish Town and Gardan Village.
Fissures appeared on the space surrounding those places as demons were coming out of them.
Hidden Quests appeared to everyone on those places as the demons started wreaking havoc.
Gruesome footage of battles was shown as now not only the war at Storm's Lake was being transmitted.
Despite that, Ardha still managed to regain the spotlight with his sudden transformation, Brazen couldn't help click his tongue whenever he remembered that man.
But a satisfied smile appears on his face for being one of the orchestrators of this mayhem.
'I already paid those players off, so even if they want to accuse me, not much will be gained by them. I also gave my public apologies on what happened… geez, it was very hard to contain a smile from coming out'
He closes his eyes in thrill as he envisions the expression those of Kaiser must have now.
'Aaaah, such joy'
His eyes shining with an evil glint, remembering that dark green ring he has.
'But don't worry, I will make sure to squash all of you under my feet personally'
A fiendish grin appears on his face.
Brazen stands up and go towards his VR dispositive, greed and ambition shining in his eyes.
But it took no more than two days for his mood to be ruined again as he looked at Kaiser's declaration.
BANG!
His fist loudly hitting the table as his grits his teeth.
"Kaiser… I am going to pulverize you"
--------------------------------------------
'Pathfinders…huh'
I look at the black sky, waiting for them to arrive again. Anxiety was burning in my insides since I got to know what happened on Hellish Town, Gardan Village, and different other places.
When they told me that Peko was injured, I almost lost control again, but I managed to calm down thanks to everyone there.
But many other people died, even Thane and Tact Hand.
I close my eyes as I think of them and feel my fists tightening up. I release those emotions as I breathe out. Azalea was also gravely injured, but she managed to survive.
If Dontoshi was a purely physical type of demon, the one that attacked there was a purely magical type.
'There is also those that attacked Hellish Town…'
I think as I feel the pendant on my neck heating up slightly.
'The Seal is little by little breaking apart'
I close my eyes as information came to my mind when I woke up as a Death Lord. Even more, I was able to 'sense' it. As if sealed memories came to light, small headaches came to me from time to time.
Shaking my head, I turn to stare at the sword in front of me, Ultima.
"Who are you?"
Ultima shakes slightly and a beautiful, yet cold voice come from it, "I am Ultima, Sword of Death"
My eyes sharpen, "You are not just a sword, you are like Dei"
"I don't know who Dei is"
I look at Ultima silently as I organize my thoughts of everything that has come to my mind since I Awakened.
"Are you the first Death Lord?"
Ultima stays silent for a while, and I await her answer.
"I don't remember. I only wake up with the new resurgence of a Death Lord."
"But you still haven't fully awakened"
"That's because you are too weak"
Those words leave a bad taste in my mouth, but I don't refute her, as I know I am quite a special case in those that have awakened Ultima.
"I know that… but why do you only wake up with the power of the Death Lords?"
"I don't know"
I sigh at that answer as I had expected it, but then, my face tenses up as I open my mouth again.
"The madness of Death Lords… that comes from you"
Ultima stays silent and I smile wryly.
"And its also because of you we have such power"
Ultima stays silent again, but I don't care as I look at the sky again.
"I don't know if I should resent you for giving me such troublesome power, but… I am grateful now that I have it."
"Because I need this much power if I want to at least face off what may come in the future."
Ultima tingles again as I say those words and I turn to face her.
"You are a lot like the previous Death Lord"
"I am a true Death Lord now"
Sadness wells up in me, staring at the direction the bodies of my friends are.
"I didn't know why my parents didn't give me their surname, but now I know"
"For I am no longer just Zenith"
I look towards the sky again, this time it looks melancholic to me.
"And I will make those that has made this pay for everything"
--------------------------------------------
I look at my VR dispositive with tired eyes, waiting for the penalty time to finish.
Yesterday Isa arrived along with Eliana too, we talked about what to do next as we called Viviana and Kai. Both of them answered rapidly and we had our meeting.
The air seemed dense on the room as we all had gloomy expressions. Eliana's eyes were frost cold as she talked about all the information she had piled up and we all got into the conclusion that Pathfinders were one of the main parties of this tragedy.
When we saw Brazen publicly saying that they were sorry that something like that happened and how they would expulse those people from their guild, I couldn't help but swear.
We took a bit of time off to cool ourselves and then started organizing again our plan of action. We saw the map and started organizing our guild for what we wanted to do and called the different commanders for their opinion and their output.
Once we finished with our draft of a plan, we started thinking about polishing how we would execute it.
"We are going to have to do some things faster than expected, but that's good, it seems we don't really have much time" said Eliana looking at the plan.
We nodded at that and then we looked at Kagito to give the finishing words. Instead of his usual easygoing attitude, his eyes looked very sharp as his azure eyes glint with coldness.
"We have been reproached for being young and impulsive, one of the reasons they have put Pathfinders above us. But now, we are really going to show them our 'impulsiveness'"
After that we finished our meeting, and they all went to prepare for today.
As soon as I look that the time has come, I put on the VR dispositive and log in.
Soon my body materializes at Scardi's Fors. Countless windows appear before me as I feel my level rising rapidly but I simply wave them off. The Scardinian's watching over the place get startled at that as they get their weapons ready, but when they notice it's me, they relax, and a joyous smile appear on their faces.
"You have come back as they said! I'll go notify the Chief!"
Before I could say anything, the Scardinian runs off.
I look at him helplessly and wave at the others. But I didn't wait long as Isca appears in my line of sight.
I feel my mood sinking as I realize what that meant. Isca nods at me as he notices what I thought.
"My father died valiantly at the battlefield. I know about the plan as the others told me about it."
I close my eyes as I hear that, but then, a hand touches my shoulder.
"Thank you."
I open my eyes as I look at Isca surprised.
"What?"
"Thank you for everything you guys have done for us. If it wasn't for you, we would have been wiped out by Dorek and Grudell"
A fierce shine appears on Isca's eyes as I also grip my fist when I hear the name of Grudell.
"It is because of your decisions and your actions that we managed to prevail, to evade the death of so many warriors be in vain, and to give us unity we didn't have before. From today onwards, we, Scardinians, won't be separated anymore"
Isca looks at me resolutely as I feel power coming into my body as I nod at him heavily.
"We won't let them escape again" I tell Isca as he nods at me.
"Well, I am going to take where everyone is"
When walking, I could see the joy of the Scardinians watching me alive, but I could barely smile back at them as I knew there were far less of them than before.
This time, our win didn't bring me joy as I knew that we could have done more.
Soon, we arrive to the place where the warriors that died rested.
Arksen, Vladi, Isa, Tyrfing, the Barbarians Luer and Faicen, Juran and Jules, and finally Zenith were there.
The bodies of Aren, Trien and Zair were in caskets. I walk soundlessly forward as I look at the three of them.
Despite knowing beforehand about what happened, I feel my knees almost giving in as I put myself in front of Aren's casket.
I close my eyes as I feel my fists clenching up.
I touch the casket slightly as I feel the aura of the elements in peace.
"So long, my friend. Let there be plenty of battles where you are now"
Then I turn around and look at everyone, all of them with a resolute expression.
My eyes rest on Zenith as he looks back at me and nods.
"Are you ready?"
He grips his fists as he says with unyielding determination.
"I am"
Soon, very soon, we will let the world know.
That Kaiser has awakened, and with us, the Death Lord.
Zenith.