After the world learned about the news that Joker is still alive it reacted with a wave of excitement and instead of bringing fear to the people like the grand king thought, it brought hope and single-handedly divided this generation into two, the great rise of the adventurers that created the platinum rank and this generation, the strongest generation, a generation were the strongest people will emerge to claim the rank of the king after hunting down the Joker
"So you really think you have a chance at becoming the king?"
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"Whoa! Quite sure are we? But I don't blame you! If someone is about to become a king it should be you, you are by far the strongest"
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"What? You don't want to? Are you insane? This is the best rank you can achieve!"
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"Honestly I don't know what goes through your head! I know you don't want to have so many responsibilities but you becoming a freaking king! Doesn't that excite you at all?"
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"Shhh! If a queen's guard hears that they will probably kill you!"
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"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING? Insulting the beauty of the queens is not funny idiot"
…
'Today is the final day... I feel great physically and I'm sure I can do much better than the last time I fought Pecus!' Teras thought as he quickly got up inside the empty house of Enyo's
She left to visit the Royal capital earlier in the morning and also deliver the message of Teras
Up to that point Teras was at a stable point, he learned many new and useful tricks such as control of his mana vessels, ranged explosion, better mana shield manipulation, better mana overflow manipulation, and finally the ability to steal mana and he is barely able to enter the state where he uses his black aura or what he likes to name, reverse mana flow, which makes sense if you account that in this state Teras absorbs mana from the environment
"I should visit Droe before challenging Pecus for the last time..." Teras thought out loud as he started walking toward the resident of Droe
'Snowing? I was wondering when it will happen after experiencing all this cold' Teras thought as he blew away the snowflakes coming at his face
The air he blew produced a smoke cloud that reminded Teras of Tokkou and his expensive cigarettes
~Meanwhile in the crowded-with-happy-faces Royal capital~
'I can't believe this... This place hasn't changed one bit...' Enyo disappointedly thought as she looked around the capital
"What's the long face for hag?" Tokkou asked with a smile on his face as he suddenly dropped from the top of a building
There was no reaction from Enyo
"You are here huh? That's why I was feeling this disgusting aura!" Enyo said as she sighed
"Oh come on! Didn't you miss me?" Tokkou asked as he desperately chased behind Enyo
"Aren't you going to ask how Teras is doing?" Enyo asked as she stared at Tokkou's dumb face
"Huh, him? I know this guy is probably doing fine, the question I should be asking about him would probably be, did he discover a new skill?" Tokkou said as he looked at the sky with a smile
"He reminds you of Rokkou doesn't he?" Enyo said with a sad expression
"Maybe he reminds YOU of Rokkou, that's why you are helping him" Tokkou said in an aggressive tone
Enyo didn't respond to what Tokkou said, she simply kept on walking
"Why didn't you bring Teras?" Tokkou asked after walking some meters
"I brought a letter from him, wanna take a look at it?" Enyo said as she handed the letter to Tokkou
"Nah I will read it in the throne room for everyone to hear it" Tokkou said as he placed the letter into his pocket
After that the two of them remained silent as they walked to the throne room, Many people recognized them and asked them about the Joker but Tokkou and Enyo ignored every one of them
They started talking to each other as soon as they got into the royal garden
"You are a mean girl now huh?" Tokkou asked with a smirk
"And you? Mr. Idol-of-the-new-world are too ignorant! Your fans may lose interest in you if you do" Enyo replied
"Don't be silly, they will never stop talking about me" Tokkou replied with a smug as he knocked at the door to the throne room
The doors were opened by a royal guard and the two members of the mana crusaders entered the building to see their former squad, that being Midas the high king, Haniella the high queen, Rigel the blue death, and Erebus the deadly shadow
"I thought I ordered you to bring the boy here too!" Midas said with a loud voice as he glared at Enyo
"My bad king! He was damaged from a fight and also ill, I couldn't bring myself to carry him here, but I did bring a letter of his that describes his experience fighting the Joker" Enyo said to the king as he pulled Tokkou's sleeve implying him to read the letter
"So the letter says, Enyo please do the formalities for me because I'm bad at... Okay let's ignore that part" Tokkou said as he tried to hold his laugher
"So his description of the fight starts from here! Even though his aura felt scary he was able to hide the incredible bloodlust he had, but once his identity was revealed he killed everybody slowly as he laughed, at that time I froze up but suddenly I was able to use something I call reverse mana flow, when I used that I fell into a state of unconsciousness while my body was super buffed, I was able to keep up with the Joker and also injure him by cutting his right arm but that still wasn't enough to beat him, I run away and stumbled across Enyo's house, more specifically the huge cliff with a bottomless pit surrounding it, I somehow managed to throw the Joker inside this pit and after that, I'm unaware of his runabouts"
Tokkou then folded the letter
"An interesting kid right? I expected him to be way more cocky about it" Rigel said as he looked at the king
"He doesn't seem like a monster to me" Midas said calmly as he looked at the queen
"His name means monster, there should be a reason behind that" Haniella insisted
"I understand your concerns but Teras could also be a random nickname, I mean he didn't remember anything about himself and also told me that this name was something he came up with" Tokkou explained to the queen
"But it still doesn't make sense, did he simply come up with an angel word and that word happens to be monster? I said I have to see the kid myself first before ensuring he is safe" Haniella said as she left the room
"Do you have nothing to add Erebus?" Enyo wondered
She didn't know Erebus that much but every time she was with him Erebus appeared as a talkative person and someone who would doubt even the high king
"What can I say? To be honest I'm still mad that you guys hid the existence of Joker from me so I wasn't able to focus on anything these days" Erebus said as he looked outside the colored glass windows of the throne room
"I apologized about that Erebus and I explained to you that the reason we hid it was that you were new, Aside from that I had no reason to hide it from you, so I suggest you stop being childish and try to chase after the Joker, after all, that was the reason you obtained this card" Midas said with a cold voice
Erebus sighed and also left the throne room to look for the Joker
"Now I want to discuss one last thing with you Enyo" Midas said as he turned to Enyo
"What's up?"
"The ignorance you have shown to the biggest families of the world and us is beyond disrespectful, I wish that you start to interact with the world more than you do now because if you don't I will have to replace you, the world isn't in need for a useless Goddess that doesn't help them or their community, you are smart so please don't let yourself get lost, we need you but we need the you that help us and respect us, not the you that isolates herself in a forest hoping for something new to happen day after day"
After what was said Midas dismissed everyone
'A boy not even above the gold rank was able to fight and harm a ranker, how low has the Joker fallen? Maybe it's time for me to act...' Midas thought as he looked at his old armor
~Meanwhile back to the little forest~
'The snow shows no signs of stopping huh? I haven't fought in a snowy area before, this could prove problematic...' Teras thought as he slightly slipped on every step he took toward Droe's house
But after every step, he became more and more used to the snow
He started feeling a bit happier about his progress but this happiness was quickly cut short after reaching Droe's house, Teras saw Droe looking around like a maniac so he asked
"What are you searching for?"
"Is Tom with you? I can't find him anywhere, I searched in the village too but they told me they haven't seen him"
Droe looked concerned and pale which made Teras feel the same
"You searched everywhere... Are you sure he isn't somewhere around the forest?"
"If he was around here I would have known! I have yelled for him again and again with no response, could it be that a monster..." Droe said with an empty look in his eyes
"No way, monsters would have left a sign behind it's something else..."
Soon enough a random villager came running toward them, he was bleeding from his head
"Teras, you are Teras right?" The villager asked
"Yes, what is going on? Are you okay?" Teras asked concerned
"It's the beastman! He kidnaped me and Droe's kid, he brought us to the mountain's cave and told me to tell you to face him there or he would kill the kid, Please go there and see what he wants"
As soon as Teras heard that his heart stopped and the ground beneath his feet collapsed
'He will kill Tom?' Teras thought as he looked at the snow covering his feet
"GET UP TERAS! YOU AND I WILL KILL THIS MOTHER FUCKER!" Droe yelled as he picked up Teras
"No, if you do that he will kill the kid! He said he wants only Teras to come, if anyone else comes with him he will kill the kid!" The villager said as he blocked Droe's way
Droe took a deep breath and turned to Teras
"Look kid, you said yourself that winning against him wouldn't be so hard now that you are recovered so you must go there and save Tom"
"There is no way I can do that, he will kill Tom no matter what I do..." Teras said with no emotion on his face
"Teras please don't say that! He is just scared of you, as soon as you get there he will be scared and you will surely find a way to save Tom and beat his ass" Droe said as he put his hand on Teras's shoulder
"What if he has killed Tom already?"
Upon hearing that Droe punched Teras in the face
"HE HASN'T! AS LONG AS YOU BELIEVE THAT TOM IS ALIVE HE CAN NEVER DIE! HE PROMISED YOU THAT HE WOULD BECOME A ROYAL GUARD DIDN'T HE? MY SON IS NO LIAR SO THERE IS NO WAY HE IS DEAD! SO GO THERE AND WIN TERAS!!!" Droe screamed at the top of his lungs with D E T E R M I N A T I O N
"You are right..." Teras said as he activated his mana flow
He then started running toward the mountain near the village, this mountain is the source of the water which the villagers use and also the place where the villages acquire most of their herbs and meat, in the middle of this mountain there is a cave that hunters use for shelter when the weather isn't in their favor when they hunt up there, and that's also the place where Pecus was now with Tom as his hostage
Teras was quick to locate the cave and he slowly entered while praying Tom was okay
Thankfully he was, but he wasn't in a great state
"Once he comes here he will beat your ass so let me go asshole!" Tom yelled as he pointed an axe at Pecus
"Pipe down kid, your little hero is here!" Pecus said as he pointed at Teras
"TERAS!" Tom yelled
"Tom are you alri..."
Before Teras finished talking he noticed that Tom had a broken leg and was missing a finger but he didn't seem to be crying, not a single tear in his eyes, only D E T E R M I N A T I O N
"How dare you lay a finger on him, you bastard?" Teras asked as his mana flow started going berserk
"I'm sorry I did this to him but he refused to listen! You see I planned to drive you here so we could have a "fair" fight! Because no matter how our fights went Enyo would always help you in the end so I had no real advantage, I mean I could never harm you so I could train myself and beat you easily the next time we fought, but you, you had all the time in the world to better yourself, it was a bit unfair so I thought to myself, "What if I did the same?" And here we are! I have little Tom here acting as my Enyo, Every time things get tough he will be my getaway card, doesn't that sound fair? I mean you did this for the whole month so I think I have the right to do it too don't you think?" Pecus said as pointed his sword at Tom
"I get it, I get it, but if you dare to even put a scratch on him now I will behead you" Teras said as he glared into Pecus's eyes
He was ready to attack any time but still held back just in case
"Don't worry! I won't hurt him unless I have to do it to save myself, so here we go! This is the final fight, isn't your heart beating faster? Aren't you excited to see what is going to happen? Aren't you afraid of dying now that you have nobody to save you?" Pecus said as his beast side started to shine
"Just so you know at a point I felt like you were really misjudged and felt bad for you but today I learned something new, if someone commits a bad act it means two things, it's either wickedness or weakness, and I have fought you many times to know that what you have is wickedness in your heart so expect me to show no mercy" Teras said as he walked around the cave
"After all what hunter shows mercy to his prey?"
Pecus felt true fear after hearing that but was convinced he had a lead by using Tom
On the other hand, Teras was prepared to save the day no matter what he had to do
Teras couldn't let anyone else die for him ever again...