Paws growled fiercely at the enemy figure but instead got a kiss blown to him leaving him speechless. What…?
Even Genad stared at the dude incredulously, as a demon he had seen lots of things but this was the first time he had seen someone so… different.
“I’ve seen plenty drag queens my life, even Luka at one point became one but wow that dressing is bold… and why do demons like taking the form of kids again? I can’t even admire the dress without feeling like some predator,” Dina sighed sadly.
Who the heck was this? Although she could guess he was an enemy of Genad, she couldn’t tell exactly who. It wasn’t until Zero clarified to her that it all made sense, with how debauched that place was of course the ruler would be screwed in the head somehow!
Just possessing the black rose ability was enough evidence of how crazy the dude was, after all, ranking first among the deadliest flowers and third in rarity was the black rose. Although not as rare as the blue rose, unlike the blue rose whose only effect was inducing tranquility within one’s mind along with its beauty, the black rose had a more powerful effect.
Not only did it induce negative emotions, but it was a carnivorous type flower that could reduce anything to ashes even living beings if the amount was enough and the person was weak. It was also very poisonous and when injected was as deadly as demonic energy was to a non-demonic creature.
However it was not popularly used as poison due to its highly conspicuous nature, it changed any edible in contact with it to black and had a thick scent making it rather unsuitable for discreetly poisoning a person. Although there were rumors of mages creating substances that could hide its showy features and allow for a successful poisoning, those were still rumors.
Chuckling to himself, he hovered over the trio on the black rose bloom. His eyes met Feral whom he observed with interest. Even more than the unique vagabond was this creature that followed him around, not only was he a rogue royal but also possessed human blood and seemingly held the blue rose stigma to him. Quite impressive, maybe he’d take the little tag along after defeating the wannabe.
“Child?” he called out to Genad.
It felt odd to hear him call Genad a child considering he was more of the child with his looks, but even a moron could tell without being guided that the child form was merely an illusion. One could only guess just how old the Babel Lord was.
“What do you want Babel Lord?” Genad asked dully making the boy chuckle.
“You baby.”
Feral: …..
Paws: ( ಡ艸ಡ)
Genad: ( ◘_◘)▭ι═══════ﺤ
Dina: Oh no he didn’t! ( ಡ艸ಡ)
Understandably, Genad sent out the first attack and with a slash of his sword a thick wave of energy sliced all the trees surrounding the area in half, and if not for her minor resentment of the dragon god, Dina would have mourned their fate.
“Not bad baby, but you’re still just a child as seen by your former actions. If you truly wanted to challenge the demon king, you should have waited until after the portal to take out the lords and the—” The Babel lord was cut off by another sword slash which he skillfully dodged while still hovering.
“If you need something say it. Stop being so talkative, at this rate, you’ll become the babble lord instead,” Genad said stoically causing Feral to muffle his laughter to the point of tears.
Feral: (´ థ౪థ）
It wasn’t meant to be funny but somehow it was and paired with that strict face…! Dina laughed so much, that she began worrying if Zero was okay from all the laughter which he confirmed he was.
‘Exactly where is he? Or is he just so good at his work that no matter what I do in my mind he can’t be flustered?’ Dina suddenly hatched an evil plan, time to torment him with her thoughts. Maybe she’d let him have access to them and then attack!
Paws who didn’t get the insult only stared at Feral who was looking all weird with tears in his eyes while trying to control his smile and thought he had been somehow hurt. Why this crazy demon!
Rushing towards the Babel Lord, he was caught off guard when a thorny tendril flung him deep into the forest followed by a wall of flowers that separated him from the duo.
“Paws!” Feral exclaimed sharply, why this bastardious demon!
The lord of Babel was well aware of how disadvantaged he was, not to mention the wannabe kid who was plenty of trouble, he wasn’t sure how powerful the meek-looking elf-human truly was not to talk about the guardian whom he wasn't a match with in terms of power.
The only advantage he had in this battle was the element of surprise. His abilities were different and not something you’d see in your everyday battle which meant that unless they were rare geniuses it’d be quite tricky to figure out how to deal with him.
"The king wants me to capture you, but why not come willingly? You wanted to fight him anyway." The babel lord proposed ambivalently.
“I would rather obey the angel lord than your fraud of a king, and that’d probably be never so am not fucking going.” Genad sneered as he grabbed Feral’s arms, he had to get his elf to safety first.
“Suit yourself then and little elf, keep your eyes open, watch, and learn how these flowers are used.”
As Feral watched in horror, the ground quaked beneath him and the swarm of hundreds of flowers surrounded them. It was like the light had been extinguished and shadows of evil were rising from within the terrains of the darkness to consume them. Before he could make sense of what was happening, he was struck unconscious.
***
“H-huh? What?” a dizzy Feral mumbled as his eyes fluttered open, his vision was restored and he was stunned to see a brilliant blue sky not covered by trees or terrifying shadow roses.
“Where are we?!” he asked without missing a beat as he rose speedily.
A white-haired girl with watery red eyes stood before him looking over anxiously along with Genad who was busy bandaging his hands.
“What—”
“You were knocked out!”
“I knocked you out.”
‘Okay, but what happened and how did I end up here?!’ Dina grimaced internally.
“The calculations began and the demon king as well as the angel lord approached the lord of Babel because apparently, you had to be in a group to get the reward.”
‘OH MY GOD! All three powerful beings who are enemies came together all at once, how is he still so calm?! I’m so glad I was knocked out or I would have had a mini-heart attack.’
“And…?”
“The trials have ended and we are about to be rewarded. We were immediately transported here after the calculations were done. I'm guessing that if your mark doesn’t reach a certain threshold you’ll be sent out with no reward because it also calculated each group’s eligibility as well,” Genad explained patiently.
“And if you’re the only surviving member?”
“You’ll get rewarded if you’re eligible. However guessing from how we’re randomly transported to various places, a person with no group would have to face any adversary alone.”
Dina pondered deeply, this meant even more people would be backstabbed and killed. After all, the group seemed to have been formed randomly and if one was unlucky enough to encounter a greedy person, they could be killed after helping to face the adversary in other to keep all the treasures.
But how come Genad was being so… considerate? Answering all questions without a hitch? With his nature, normally he’d have been glared down for asking too many questions. Did the meter change his attitude that much?
Before Feral could wonder more, Paws leaped into his arms.
“I was so worried! Are you okay?!”
“Am fine Paws, master knocked me out for my safety.”
“Still! What a ru—mmmph!” Paws words were muffled when Feral covered his mouth to prevent him from saying things not meant to be said.
In the end, Genad barely glanced at them while Paws kept on pouting even after Feral released him leaving the poor elf helpless.
Rubbing Paws' hair affectionately he observed their surroundings, they were in front of a temple which based on what Paws said was randomly placed in a desert in the middle of nothing but sand.
The temple was surrounded by a large fortress which had a huge impenetrable gate in front of it that even Genad’s spirit-grade sword couldn’t shred, at the end of the day all the rude bastard had to do was knock.
Feral face palmed, a few minutes of being knocked unconscious and someone’s mannerless nature was already on full display, the dragon god was probably somewhere watching their stupidity while cackling, great!
Within the gates was a temple that had a beautiful garden with neatly trimmed grasses and flowers surrounding it outside, as if it was made especially sure of that a gardener always came around the empty place just to take care of it.
Feral admiration of the garden was intruded upon when Genad opened the door of the temple, letting himself in and he ended up being dragged off by Paws in a hurry.
They had just entered the temple when a bright light besieged them, so bright that even Genad himself had to cover his eyes, talk more of Feral who turned backward because of how bright the light was.
All he could do was sneak a glance or two and he still couldn’t make out clearly what was before them. But Paws and Genad could and they were astonished at the brilliance of what they beheld.
Within the temple stood afloat two golden rings that intersected with each other, slowly rotating simultaneously around the object which it held; an object so bright that even they couldn’t make out what it was.
Paws was awe-stricken as Genad slowly and cautiously approached the shard, he felt something unique within it, something he wanted to have and suddenly that strange desire of his that always urged him to go into the portal began throbbing again.
It was like a silent whisper in his mind that this was meant to be his and that finally he had found a missing piece of him. In a daze, Genad found himself reaching out to the object within and grabbing it. Just as he did the rings stopped rotating and dropped to the floor with a clank, snapping him out of his daze.
The light receded and finally Feral turned around to see Genad holding onto a tiny shard of glass while observing it curiously. Before Dina could rejoice in happiness, warning signals suddenly rang through her mind and the immediate sense of danger enveloped her whole being!
Without thinking, Feral yelled loudly, “GENAD! DROP THAT SHARD NOW!!”
“Wh—”
BOOM!
A huge beam of light exploded from the shard sending Genad crashing meters away into the temple. Feral instantly rushed over along with Paws and his face went pale like paper.
Genad’s heart was pierced through and he was bleeding from all orifices, there was so much blood that Feral felt his head ring. The thick scent of it seemed to set off something within and Feral’s breath became labored as he fell into a panic attack.
Dina was panicking so much that her brain had turned to mush, the target was dying. The target was dying! The target was dying!! Genad was dying!
Genad would die, how? How?! How?!! No, why worry about Genad… what about all her hard work, it’d be over just like that?! Her 98% would be lost just like that?!
Feral slumped to the ground as Dina's composure completely collapsed, it was over. It was over. It was fucking over. Not just the meter, she didn’t want the dude she put all her efforts into dead just like that!
Just as all hope was lost, something clicked in Dina’s mind, the dragon god had once said that she would help him no matter what, so did that mean that… she was the issue?
“Wait, am I the issue?”
“Yes!”
Dina calmed down a bit to notice Zero calling out to her, Paws shaking and trying to calm Feral down, and finally, her mind settled down. There had to be a solution.
“You said yes?”
“Yes. I think that somehow the shard had noticed your existence as an external agent and is repelling you.”
“But why Genad, am right fucking here, do we by any chance look fucking same?!” Dina yelled in rage; that was just ridiculous!
“No. But your energy has rubbed off on him after staying for so long...”
“Why wasn’t I warned?”
“This… this wasn’t accounted for Dina,” Zero said with a stammer for the first time, he was having lots of first with this new host of his.
“So if I fail it won’t be my fault and I’ll be spared right?”
“Am afraid not Dina.”
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck it all! So what should I do now, huh? If every world is gonna end with the target repelling me how will I do my fucking work?!” Dina roared even angrier, did the bureau just thrive in making her life difficult?! These issues were supposed to be accounted for and resolved before throwing her into the damn world!
“This is a unique case, Dina, the only case where the shards are separate and thus more sensitive to odd energies like you,” Zero explained calmly but Dina was having none of it.
She knew from that day in the gnome ruins that something was being hidden from her, and Zero, this faithful bastard probably spearheaded the whole damn thing!
“You’re not telling me something Zero but it’s alright. It’s fine because you’ll eventually spill everything someday. Buy me a potent poison,” Dina spat poisonously.
“Affirmative.”
Paws watched in a panic as the still-as-death Feral suddenly moved, speedily sweeping out what seemed like a couple of potions from his bracelet, he filled his mouth up with the potions before lowering his lips unto Genad’s as he poured it all into his mouth.
Genad choked slightly before painfully opening his eyes to the relief of the duo but Dina knew it was not over, what she needed to do was... that. The only way Genad could survive now was by gaining divinity as this was an injury to his soul which meant only by absorbing the shard could he live.
As for why he was fed the potions, it was for one selfish reason of Dina, if she was leaving then she would ONLY after maxing out the meter. There was no way she was letting her all hard work go to shit.
“GENAD!!!” Feral exclaimed so loud the entire temple echoed with the demon’s name. In a semi-conscious state, Genad glanced wearily at the male who had called out his name again, maybe dying wouldn’t be so bad if such a beautiful song could lead him to nevermore…
No. He had to live. If he didn’t then his elf risked the possibility of dying from all the enemies he had incurred, he didn’t trust the guardian enough and even if he could, he still wanted to be with his elf.
“Elf….” he lip-synced, he was so weak he could barely make out words but even then he still wanted to console his little elf whose tears wouldn’t stop spilling.
“Genad! Please…,” At first, Dina wanted to put up a show but then her defenses came down, and unexpectedly tears began streaming down Feral’s face, “Please survive, am so sorry, it’s my fault… Oh god why, he just wanted to avenge his dad… Genad, hik… don’t die please!”
Genad could barely make out what Feral was saying and only felt that his voice seemed quite lovely, nice enough for him to want to listen to it for all eternity. Thus, he had to live, he couldn’t die here, he… just… couldn’t.
“I love you…” Feral suddenly muttered causing Genad’s dull eyes to widen before he painfully and slowly faced him, “Yes, yes, I do… I love you so so much.”
‘Just not in the way you want.’
Dina’s heart hurt so much from spitting out such lies. She felt like she was lying to a deeply beloved friend and giving Genad a hurt that would hurt for years to come because the one who claimed his love wouldn’t be there with him.
“I… I just thought it wasn’t possible for us and I… I mean it… I… love you!”
‘Zero, how many percent!’
“99% host.”
Why wouldn’t it budge? Was there something she wasn’t saying right?! Oh yeah, the worst of all… that.
“I… I’ll stay with you forever if you come back to me because I love you Genad… I do… I truly do so please…” Feral promised endlessly with a waterfall running down his pale cheeks.
His dark orbs were dewy with tears and his lips seemed redder than ever, like the ripest apple on a glorious tree and the most beautiful rose within a precious forest. At that moment he knelt confessing his love, he looked so vulnerable and desperate that if it had been any other situation that made him so Genad would have destroyed it, but, it was because of him.
His elf loved him so much that the possibility of him dying broke him to such an extent, his love for him was so blatant for any to see so why would he give up now? Why would be disappoint him? Why would he hurt his elf by dying?
A sudden strong desire to live surged through Genad, since his dearest had already confessed, wasn’t it up to him to return the favor?
Genad's dazed eyes flitted a sharp light as he gave an extremely rare, beautiful smile stunning Feral into silence, and ignoring the deep pain that ran through his marrows he leaned in with a painful grunt and stole the male’s breath away with a kiss.
Feral stared in a daze after the kiss before his voice cracked and with a broken gasp his silent whimpers turned to a full bawl.
Alerted and confused, Genad hugged him tightly as he cried bitterly. His heart was still bleeding and his health was rapidly dropping but one thing he knew was that he had to live, to at least wipe away the elf’s tears.
“Why are you crying so much?” he asked worriedly while carefully patting the back of the hyperventilating elf who just wouldn’t stop.
“Because…. Because…” Feral muttered in between gasps, he was crying so much that his own words were choking him.
‘Host, it's 100%, shall I send the poison directly into your system?’
Dina was silent for a while as if contemplating if her decision was truly right but she soon shook it off. This was her feelings clouding her senses, she knew deep down that what should be done should be done, this was no story and even if it was she wouldn’t be the main character.
This meant no magic would happen, no plot armor would swoop in and save the day, and even the only main character there had his plot armor thoroughly destroyed. She was just a worker who if didn’t do her work correctly would face punishment.
If only things were like those QT novels where everything would somehow work out even if the main character didn’t do their work then it’d be fine, but it wasn’t. If she failed this world no one would be saving her, not even Zero, the fucker might even testify against her, and all she worked for would be gone just like that.
Her reviews would tank and her chances of becoming a higher agent and getting the information and help she needed would tank as well. Right now wasn’t the time to do the right thing— it was the time to do the logical thing.
‘…Yes.’
“Because…” Feral choked one last time but couldn't complete his sentence as Zero did just as told and soon his body went numb.
‘I lied to you Genad, I’m sorry, so very sorry, I don’t love you, I won’t live for you, and I… don’t regret anything I said.’
It was a strange feeling, it was like she had been split into two, one part was still within Feral’s body, and could feel every sensation as it died; his heartbeat slowing down drastically, his breathing coming to a halt and his body organs shutting down slowly but surely while the other part hung up in the air watching everything that was happening in a third-person perspective view.
“FERAL!”
She saw Paws scream in a mixture of astonishment and terror as he rushed over. On noticing what was happening as well, Genad’s expression went slack like the body in his arms.
He was obviously stumped when the person in his arms suddenly went slack and his cries abruptly came to a halt. It was so sudden that even after Paws screamed it still didn’t fully register, just how?
No, even more, why... why wasn’t the person in his arms moving, why was he being so still…. Why was… why was… his breath completely still…?
Even as Paws who had been spectating all this while moved to snatch the male, he refused to let go, even as she screamed and shouted and threatened to attack him he didn’t let go and even as the shard suddenly merged with him and the excruciating pain rushed through his body… he still didn’t let go.
It was all going in a flash before Dina’s eyes and she couldn’t tell if it was because spirits couldn’t feel or that she had truly lost her very heart but all she felt was numbness.
Genad's tears fell along with his screams, not due to the pain of being merged with the shard or the pain of being clawed at by Paws to let go of the corpse in his arms but by the sizzling pain within his heart that threatened to rip it into a million pieces.
Just why… JUST WHY DID HE LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING!?
Why did he lie about loving him? He wouldn’t have been so cruel if he did!
Why did he lie about staying with him? He left as soon as he promised it!
Why did he lie about his entire identity? All this while… did he never know the true face of the person that had been with him? Was it all false? Was everything false…? At least his love for the male wasn’t!
“Urgh… urgh….,” Genad growled deeply, he felt a ring within his ears and a phenomenon similar to an explosion blew through his mind.
That elf… that elf of his… that evil creature that stole his heart.
He felt something never before, for all the sweetness he felt an equal bitterness consumed him, for all the pleasure he felt an even deeper pain in equivalent besiege him, and for all the love he had an equal amount of hatred had been born.
“FERAL!!!!”
Genad cried out with a malicious voice as a brilliant light burst forth from his body, the shard which the dragon god had kept locked for so long had eventually escaped.
It had gone back to its rightful owner and now it was raging. The portal was collapsing from its tremendous power and the entire Styr was quivering as its divinity roamed through it and proclaimed its presence.
Rising from the ashes of the portal was a new creature, the first to rise to the rank of divinity, that seemingly unachievable rank. An unexpected persona, a wanted fugitive with a hatred that burned fiercer than a thousand volcanoes and even threatened to burn fierier than the sun, Genad Edward had evolved not only in strengths but in his sanity.
He had devolved into a madman.
***
*Beeeeeep*
/Mission Completed!
Awe Meter- 100%
Grade of Completion- A
Level of Transmigrator- E
Transmigrator’s Mentality- Stable
ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!
Access to all Transmigrator’s required knowledge has been granted!
#ALL REWARDS WILL BE SHOWN BY THE AIT#
#ALL INFORMATION WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE AIT#
Thank you for your cooperation and great work Transmigrator!
/
“Mmmmh, Blergh. Ugh gosh am getting sick of all this.”