'Now I am freed from these cuffs. I can finally use my flow to defeat this giant, but these shitty injuries will slow me down!'
"IO sees you freed, puny human, but IO wouldn't let you escape from IO's presence!"
The giant slowly swings down, breaking down by cratering a crater on the ground and filling it with lava, which Ross dodges and goes into hiding behind a tree.
"IO hates to hide and seek and wants to smash IO's enemies with IO's beloved son, IO Jr." He calls its weapon its son.
Ross breathed heavily from the injury, thinking, 'I have no time to fight with him when my flow needs to recover.'
The Galilean vibrated the ground with every footstep, and the heavy breath came from above. Ross looked up and saw IO's head looking down on him.
"IO sees you! IO Smash!"
He swings the mace straight into the ground, destroying the tree in the process, which doesn't impact Ross when he barely avoids it and runs into a different hiding spot.
"IO is getting angry at the tiny human running from IO." His body started shaking, making his body's volcanos spread lava, melting everything in its path. James Ross's hiding spot dissolved, so he left it and went to find somewhere else.
'I can't fight him right now. I need somewhere to hide before my Flow Energy is restored. But can I outrun the lava?'
Ross was running away from the tailing lava coming at him at high speed, but the smoke from the eruption was quicker than the lava reaching above him.
"Huh?!"
IO spawned from the smoke, falling toward Ross's head, and said, "IO Smash!" The
The Volcanic Galilean smashed James into the ground by swinging his weapon in a way that didn't kill him, making him unconscious.
"IO was going to kill the puny human, but IO remembered IO would get in trouble if IO killed the tiny man!" The giant grabbed Ross's unconscious body and skipped toward the castle.
James became conscious, surrounded by flames. Everything was burning to the ground around him, and he couldn't move from a wooden board that fell onto his legs.
"Goddamnit, I need to hurry up to save them. Get off!"
Ross gets freed from the board with his willpower by forcefully squeezing his legs free. His bones weren't broken from the board falling.
"Honey, I'm coming to save you and our son!" He speedily goes upstairs, and a mumbling sound comes from his and his wife's bedroom.
"Kiddo, your dad is coming to save you." He enters his bedroom and sees his wife and son tied up in a chair, blindfolded, and mouths covered.
"I'm here to save you t-?"
A man with black and white hair, a silver tint, and a top hat on his head slashed James Ross' family's throats, making Ross angry and about to kill the man, but the killer teleported behind him and said, "Its all your fault, Chosen One!"
Ross wakes from consciousness, fleeing the godly aura of his surroundings, making him throw up, but the person on the skull throne doesn't care and starts speaking, "You finally awake. Welcome to my throne room, Guardian Candidate!"
Ross is tied up in chains with the same functions as Anti-Flow Cuffs on a tall, huge wooden cross in front of three people in skull thrones. These three were Emperor Night, Empress Moon, and Jupiter.
The emperor is a very 8-foot human male without being a giant, sitting on the skull throne without a crown on his head. A polar bear's skin, as his scarf and pants were made of lion skin, was the only proof he needed to show he was the Nightcore emperor!
The empress's 7-foot human female with long, sparkling black hair wears a shiny golden skull mask, and nobody knows her face except her husband, the emperor.
Zeus Von Olympus (Jupiter) is the admiral of all Galilean Giants and the Navy of the Nightcore Empire with his bald head. Many golden rings call his fingers home.
The aura of his presence makes people puke, so the queen says, "General, your Core energy is making these weaklings vomit all over my clean rug. Ugh! I have to call our cleaning service again."
"My lady Moon, the general is testing our hostage... To see why HE chose him as a candidate, so you better shut up!"
"Ugh, how awful to say to your wife, my lord, but I can't stand looking at these filthy pigs all vomiting before me... I take your advice and leave."
Empress Moon left the throne room. The rest of the guards passed out from the Core Energy. The emperor went toward Ross.
***
Meanwhile, a young woman was protecting to be a soldier, marching with a group of soldiers until she left the group sneakily without anyone noticing.
She was about to enter the prison entrance, but a sergeant blocked her and said, "You are not supposed to be here, private. Go back before I need to tell you again."
"So-so-sorry, sergeant, I was lost."
After saying that, she pretended to return, but the sergeant grabbed her hand and said, "Wait a minute, you are the imposter, aren't you?"
"What are you talking about, sergeant?"
The sergeant swung his battle ax toward the young woman and said, "Don't play dumb, you imposter!"
After smashing the ground, he said, "Where did you go?" She tapped his shoulder and said, "I'm here!"
He turned around, and no one was there, "I'm sorry!" She teleports his heart in her hands, making him drop to the ground, then puts it back onto his body.
"According to His Majesty's orders, I must find Leo Vortex without evidence of my identity being revealed."
The woman removes the ring and changes into the Shadow of the King, Jett Amdede.
"You will be great as a disguise for the ring." He puts the ring back on to scan the dead body to make him disguise himself as the sergeant.
After the scanning finished, he turned into the dead sergeant. His mustache grew larger than ever, changing into blue. His hair got fluffier and a little bit longer. He got an inch shorter, from 5.7 to 5.6.
Jett pointed his hand at the sergeant's dead body. An aura from his hand left and into the dead man teleported him somewhere random in the castle.
'I hope I send you somewhere where you are hidden well.'
Jett Amdede disguises as the surgent goes forward inside the prison, where Leo Vortex, the N-ranker, is supposed to be. Inside the prison, it was very dark. Only places where lights were inside of the cells.
When he passed a cell, people started yelling and cursing, "Oh look, guys, the mother fucker came back. Hey—?!
'Aren't these individuals from the Rankers Tournmant's gladiators? What did the Nightcore Empire try to achieve by capturing these people?'
"Hey, stop ignoring us, you asshole!"
"Do you think you are better than us by locking us up here? If we leave here, you be sorry!" Another man said.
"Looking at you, dumbass faces, makes me puke! No wonder your parents abounded, your useless person!" Jett made one man angry, and he was about to throw his hands on Jett if his cellmate didn't stop him.
"Idoit, he is trying to provoke you! Keep your calm."
"I urgent matters to intend then to waste my time with a waste of space!" Jett getting further away made the angry gladiator's voice quieter with each step.
'My disguise worked, but the real challenge will start now. Now, where are you, Leo?'
Jett was walking forward to where the cells were located, following the lights to see his surroundings easily. Every cell passed by was cursing at him.
'Everyone in this prison is a gladiator. What is the Empire planning?'
While walking, he saw a soldier walk out of a room. He went toward him and said, "Private, would you show me the cell of the man named Leo Vortex?" The private suddenly got scared when Jett talked to him.
"I didn't notice you there, Sergent Major. I don't know who you are talking about?"
'He seems familiar and suspicious. But I will play along.' Jett thought.
"Okay, then. Sorry to bother you. Farewell, private." Jett placed a bug on the soldier's collar after he passed him.
'To make sure what the suspicious man is doing. But I still need to focus on finding Leo.'
***
He was hiding behind a wall, watching three guards taking out beat-up Leo Vortex, and his disguise was about to unmask.
'What should I do? My flow still didn't recover enough to teleport. My disguise will be worn off.'
From his watch, a loud beeping sound indicated that the person he placed a bug on was coming toward him. And the guards noticed, so one of them said, "Hmmm? Who's there?!"
The guard carrying the beaten and unconscious Leo Vortex investigated the sound, making the other soldier wait.
'What should I do? When two people are coming my way.'
To be continued.