Jered protracted his stay in Hell. And for good reason too. His power was growing every day, and by the end of his first year there, he was a totally different person. He couldn't get enough of it. Unfortunately, Lucy, now that she had woken up from her centuries-long slumber, had to take care of a few things. Which meant she couldn't watch over his training anymore. She did promise him that she'd help him again, however. Someday.
His nose wrinkled briefly as he smelled the powerful tang of mana approaching him.
With a flap of her skeletal wings, Lucy parked next to him, over the edge of a steep cliff, "Are you going back?"
As usual, she was naked. And so was he. His clothes didn't survive his harsh training, so instead of going around with threadbare rags, he decided to discard them.
"I don't know how long it will take me to progress on my own. Besides, I promised Rainey that I'd come back in a year or so. And I'm kinda late."
"The moment you unlock your fourth vein, John will take over your training. So don't brood."
"I could use the advantage of the time difference here, though," he sighed.
Lucy chewed the inside of her cheek, "You can't stay here for too long, Jered. I know the time difference sounds fancy, but you're so young. You can't miss out on real life."
"My real life is so-so anyway," he smiled at her, spreading his arms in a playful shrug, "But I get what you're saying. This is not a place for kids, blah blah blah. I'm on the verge of becoming a Royal anyway. The only thing I won't miss is your whip."
He had caught a glimpse of his 'Sin'.
And it was mostly thanks to her. So, while he disliked her torturing him with her whip and body, he had to admit that the experience was of great help.
"It was all for your training!"
"No, it was all for your own pleasure."
She rolled her eyes, accepting the smidgen of truth in his words. Jered's smile widened at that.
"What are you going to do?" he followed up.
"Catch up on everything that happened in Archiland and the human realm in the last few hundred years," she said, her slumped posture denoting that she was against doing that kind of homework, "Then I'll contact some old friends. If they're still alive, that is."
He nodded, wondering how powerful those friends were.
A lot of things were going to happen soon. The moment he advanced to the next tier, everything was going to change.
"Your birthday is coming up soon, isn't it?"
Jered blinked at that non-sequitur.
Technically, his birthday was already over. But she was talking about his real life's birthday, which had yet to pass.
"Yes, I guess it is."
"I'll drop by to give you a gift," she gushed rather enthusiastically, as if expecting him to jump in joy over whatever ancient, super-powerful treasure she'd give him.
But his reaction was lackluster.
With an amused curl of his lips, he wisecracked, "I hope it's not your whip."
"You're so obsessed with that whip!"
"You used it for everything," he shot back, remembering the ways she defiled it, and then prompted him to suck the slick handle, as if it were a popsicle.
"..." Lucy narrowed her eyes, "I'm not going to give you the whip. It's going to be something you'll like a lot."
"What is it?"
"Can't tell you. It's supposed to be a surprise."
"How secretive," Jered spread his elbows on the ground and leaned back, "Do you even know where I live?"
She shook her head, "No, but I can easily find you," she sniffed him, "You smell like us."
"Glad to know my smell is a GPS signal."
"Huh? What is that?"
Oh, right. She slumbered for eons. Of course she didn't know.
"Something you'll find out soon."
She laughed—it was a melodious sound that would make any average man want to listen to it on loop, "Is that so?" she slowly got up, stretched her wings, and looked at him, "Let's not make your nanny wait any longer."
He scoffed, but readily complied.
Her gaze lingered at his side, where John was supposed to be, but nothing was there.
She released a soft breath, "Listen. You've already mastered most of your spells. There is no need for further training until you reach Royal-Tier, so when you get back, focus on that."
Under her sadistic tutelage, Jered had maxed out many of his spells, and learned new ones in the process. She wasn't wrong. It would be a waste of time to continue leveling them up when no visible benefit would be obtained from it, "I know," he said, walking over to her side, "I've learned a lot from you. Thank you."
"Good. You have manners."
He chuckled, staring down the cliff, where the barely visible shape of Demi could be seen, "Hurry up, we're setting off!"
She looked up at him and nodded.
Jered wore a satisfied smile as he watched her dislocate her limbs and climb up the cliff in a spider-like way. Her skinny—anorexic—body had filled out nicely, giving her the curves of an attractive young woman. Her skin was still an unhealthy pale, but it fit perfectly with her black, sclera-less eyes. In that regard, she reminded him of Seline. As beautiful as the moon, and just as mysterious.
Lucy strictly forbid them to absorb any more souls, so, to make up for that shortcoming, she brewed a potion called 'The Essence of the Living', and gave it to Demi. The potion didn't boost her power, and nor did it bring her back to life. She was dead, and nothing short of divine intervention could fix that, but at least she looked more presentable now.
"...Beautiful?" Demi batted her velvety eyelashes, her straightjacket torn on multiple areas.
He mentally promised he'd buy her new clothes.
"Very beautiful."
She smiled—a genuine arch of her carmine-red lips. Her teeth had never been so white before. And the best news? She didn't smell.
"So corny," Lucy gagged, "Now, if you two are done flirting, we have places to be."
"..."
With a dramatic rise of her hand, the air in front of them split apart.
A vacuuming force pulled them into the pulsing crack.
----
When they were belched out of the gate, Lucy wasn't there.
Jered looked around as the gate was swallowed back into the earth, the cracks mending back as if it had never been there.
There was only one teeny weeny problem.
He was still naked. Lucy didn't bother to provide him with any garments to cover himself with.
It was a relief that the abandoned facility they were in was deserted, and so was the area around it. He didn't want to be prosecuted for public indecency.
A surge of heat condensed behind him.
Jered turned around, already knowing who it was.
The swirling embers parted, and Rainey calmly stepped out, her heels clicking rhythmically until they were a few inches apart.
"..."
"..."
She eyed him up and down, drinking in the sculpted bulges of his muscles and sinewy curves. He had grown taller too, and that was not the only 'part' of him that grew either. There was a different kind of intensity to his eyes—one that radiated power, confidence, and the fangs of the beast behind that sexy face and harmless smile.
Frankly, Rainey hardly found herself being attracted to men, and not because she wasn't straight, but because 'dating' was not on her to-do list. However, she had to admit that Jered was 'rather' handsome at the moment. She closed her eyes, "You're late," she said, simply.
"Hah, sorry," he returned, not really meaning it, "Got caught up in my training."
"I can see that."
"I missed you."
Rainey burst out laughing, wiping away a fake tear, "Sure you did," she then turned to Demi, who looked nothing like the grotesque creature she used to be, "Oh dear, you've become so pretty. Aren't you happy?"
Demi nodded.
"You're as tight-lipped as usual."
"She picked up a few new words here and there during our stay in Hell. I reckon I'll have to teach her many more," Jered explained, "On a different note, do you have some spare clothes?"
"You look good the way you are right now," Rainey grinned, giving his body another once-over. She curled her hand into a claw and purred, "Rawwwr. Makes me want to bite you."
"..."
Jered rolled his eyes, arms crossed.
"So, what are your plans from now on?"
He didn't hesitate, "I'm going to do as you said," a smile, "I'm going to speedrun through the rankings of the AUC and turn the leaderboard upside down. After that? Heh. I'm so close to becoming a Royal, so I'll focus on that. It won't be long now, Rainey. I'm catching up to you."
She didn't make fun of his overconfident challenge. She really believed he could stand next to her soon. In fact, she looked forward to it.
"I'm waiting for you with open arms. So don't make me wait for too long!"
He chuckled, and so did she.
The brief atmosphere of merriment was disrupted when she conjured a set of fresh clothes, "Here," she floated them towards him, "Don't forget that they will disappear if you walk too far from me. So make sure to stay very close to mommy Rainey, 'kay?"
Jered slipped into the pants and buttoned the shirt. The shoes she conjured were not his style, but he'd be changing them as soon as he got back home.
"As long as you keep your hands to yourself."
"Oh, I can't promise that."
----
Del couldn't get rid of the knot in his stomach. At first, it was only his heart beating slightly out of rhythm. Then the hot surges of excitement made him flushed, sweaty, unsettled. His hands tightened over the railing of the arena. Not even the explosion of cheers, whistles, and applause distracted him from the magnificent sight that was Jered. He didn't know what happened to him, but he had become overbearingly strong.
The first opponent threw the towel in and left.
The second opponent was a bit bolder, but he was defeated the moment he stepped on the arena. One second. That was all it took.
The third opponent had signed up for a deathmatch. Now whatever was left of his corpse was splattered on the wall, like an abstract painting.
The fourth opponent was not bad. She was a talented Adept Magician, the rising star of an organization in Montgomery. Unfortunately, all of her spell repertoire combined couldn't even get through a simple 'Mana Barrier'. Jered slammed her against the bloodied wall, and she passed out. The more he won, the more the crowd got into a frenzy. And Del had a front-row seat. He watched, mesmerized, as Jered's mana pressure brought everyone to their knees, like a king.
A Sovereign.
Someone born to be above everyone else, to change the world.
Del's eyes trailed Jered's wisps of mana. He stretched his face forward, hoping to smell it, to lick it, to taste his power. He wanted to know what it felt like to be that power. To be Jered.
He panted, flushed, pupils dilated.
The last opponent, a wizened man over a century old, staggered back and stumbled down.
"I q-quit..."
"You can't..." Del reminded him in a breathy voice, "This is what your contract demands of you."
Jered raised a hand, and then clenched it into a fist.
As if on cue, the old man's head burst open like a watermelon.
"Aaaaand.... we have a winner!" Del screamed at the top of his lungs, feeling the burn, the excitement bubbling in his chest. He left the stream open as he leaped over the railing and ran over to Jered. He halted for a second to catch his breath, then smiled brightly, "You did it! Though I had no doubt that you would win, still... you did it!"
"Your enthusiasm never ceases to amaze me."
Del pouted, but couldn't help the smile that split his face, "What happened? You destroyed them. How did you get so much stronger in such a short time?"
"Oh..." Jered allowed himself a moment to bask in the attention of the seething audience, "I decided to stop holding back. From now on, I'm going all out, Del. So go ahead, schedule the next match, pair me against the best, challenge the ones at the top. Let them know that I'll be climbing over them, one corpse at a time."
Del fell down to his knees, biting his lip. His heart threatened to jump out of his chest. He stared at Jered's immaculate leather shoes, "I will... sir."
A chuckle followed Jered as he passed him by and walked out. Del heaved a deep breath of his leftover fragrance. It was such an instinctual act that it surprised him. Then he noticed a lone strand of hair on the ground. Without anyone noticing, he quietly sneaked it into his pocket.