Gregory's anger, no matter how deep, was quickly squashed as his senses, that he honed through countless hours of vigorous training and dungeon raids, screamed at him to flee.
But it was too late.
He could only turn in time to meet the gaze of the predator that would soon end his life.
Puck's eyes were wide and unblinking and a wide crazed grin split his face as he stared down into the eyes of the scared stuff Gregory Oswald, who was forced to let go of his tight grip on Puck's throat as he was forced to his knees under the pressure of Puck's crazed glare.
"First of all...." Puck began as he gracefully landed on his feet.
He leaned down so that his mouth was even with Oswald's ear before whispering, "I'm no hero."
The weight of the world suddenly crashed down on not only Gregory, who received the brunt of Puck's killing intent, but even Zuri and the whole of Awakener's Bureau began to suffer from the effects.
Zuri fell and tried her best to scramble backwards away from Puck's form as it began to radiate a rancid black aura.
The windows of the Awakener's Bureau's building began to shake and shudder, it's foundation beginning to audibly groan under the strain of even being near the amount of killing intent coming off of Puck's gaze.
Speaking of which, Gregory couldn't tear his eyes away from Puck's own.
It was like he was caught in the gaze of a hungry dragon and one blink could mean his end.
It was beyond horrifying....
And incredibly humbling for the guild master.
He, who was once known as the strongest DPS mage in the entire world....
Was now kneeling before a Gacha Type user.
And there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
As soon as Puck's eyes began to shift to a more crazed and dangerous color.....
A hand on his shoulder stopped everything in its tracks.
"That's enough now. I hate him as much as the next person, but we still need him."
Gregory quickly turned to the source of his would be savior's voice, only to come face to face with an even more cold and unwavering gaze.
_____________________________
"....So what we're simply trying to ask is.... Mr. Puck Gier....please....lend us a hand in saving the world."
This was the request that was suddenly thrusted upon Puck by a being that he never thought he'd ever get to meet.
Puck was currently sitting in what could only be described as a penthouse office at the top of a luxurious looking building.
This was the main branch of the Awakener's Bureau.
Next to him to his right was one Gregory Oswald, who looked uncomfortable and as riled up as ever, and to his left was one Zuri Akintola, who looked much more relaxed than she did earlier.
"Bullshit! C'mon! We all know that this bastard knows something!" Gregory exclaimed as he suddenly jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process.
"Gregory. That'll be enough." The same gruff voice from before spoke up sternly, only to be completely blown off as Gregory continued.
"No dad, listen! All this started happening as so as he...." He points at Puck who simply flipped him the bird in response, causing Gregory's face to turn a new shade of red and for him to raise his voice even louder. "....Came out of that unranked dungeon! That can't be just a coinciden-"
Gregory was suddenly interrupted by an ungodly amount of killing intent that was directed towards him.
It was much more concentrated, yet less potent, than Puck's own from earlier, but it served it's purpose of shutting Gregory up.
And the killing intent from the older, middle aged, man sitting behind the desk in front of them.
His piercing navy blue eyes bore a hole right through Gregory's own.
He had neat white hair that was combed backwards and kept in a low braided ponytail.
He was wearing a dark navy blue suit completed with black tie and dress shoes.
His face looked rather rough with a scar over his left eye and a small grey beard on his face.
All in all, he looked like a man that saw one too many battles.
The oldest and strongest known awakener to ever exist.
This was Gregory's father, Henry Alexander Oswald.
Otherwise known as Sir. Alex.
Standing next him on his left was none other than Rebecca Washington herself, the master of the now #1 ranked guild in the world, The Black Hawk Guild.
"I did not invite you here for you to make a fool of yourself. Now shut up and sit. DOWN." Henry finished with another dose of killing intent.
"Tch." Gregory clicked his teeth in response, but begrudgingly sat back down in his chair after picking it up.
He glared at the ground to his side angrily while crossing his arms, but other than that, was completely silent.
"Now, back to the matter at hand...." Henry turned to face a stone faced Puck. "Mr. Gier I-"
"Puck is fine." Puck says, cutting him off mid sentence, causing Rebecca to smirk and Henry to have to compose himself once more.
"Look at you....looks like you finally decided to grow up!" Rebecca exclaimed teasingly, only to receive a a signal to be quiet from Henry in response.
"Yes....now....Puck, I assume I don't have to explain to you our current situation. The world, as we know it, is ending. Even now as we speak, portals and dungeon breaks are spreading all over the world at a rate that we just can't stop. Even Europe, with it's surplus of awakened, has fallen and become a no fly zone. America is taking in as many refugees as they can, but it's beginning to catch up. We need to know, if you have any idea or information at all as to what is going on or how this happened.... Please.... We need to know." Henry says with a hint of urgency in his voice.
Rebecca looked solum at this, more so than either with Zuri or Gregory.
Puck, on the other hand, looked more annoyed than anything.
He gently massaged his temples and let out a small sigh as he tried to think of a way out of this predicament.
"Please Puck...."
The sound of something wet hitting the floor reached Puck's ears and his eyes widen when he noticed that the sounds originated from Rebecca.
She was looking at the floor, but the fact that she was visibly shaking made it all too clear that she was cry.
Her fists were balled up tight as she tried to reign her emotions back in, and failed miserably.
"Please....there has to be something...." She chocked out once more.
Puck couldn't begin to understand what was happening, but then he remembered....
Rebecca's parents lived in England....
Puck was crazy.
But he wasn't heartless.
So, with another annoyed sigh, he decided to tell them everything....
From the very beginning.
____________________________
"I see....so let me get this straight.... You want all of us to believe that everything you just said is true?" Henry said with his hands folded in front of his face.
Despite this, he was still able to level a stern look into Puck's eyes, who gave an uninterested look back as he leaned back in his chair.
"Yeeee~up!" Puck said as he spun in the chair slowly.
"This....Now everything makes sense!" Zuri exclaimed, dollar signs immediately appearing on her eyes. "So you can summon heros from other worlds to aid you in battle?! That's the kind of Gacha class you have! Right?!" She says excitedly.
"I'm more impressed at the fact that he has two classes! Like....how much stronger do you need to be?!" Rebecca exclaims with a grin, now seemingly back to normal.
"No wonder why you're so strong! That's practically cheating! One Man Guild my ass!" Gregory seethed, steam practically coming out of his ears.
"Eh....not really? It's kinda hard to expla-"
"Anime."
This one word made everyone stop in their place and slowly turn to the place where it originated.
Only to gained shocked and horrified looks as they stared at one Henry Alexander Oswald.
"He's saying that his Gacha can only pull those from games based off of anime.... correct?" He asked simply, causing Puck to swallow a small lump in his throat.
"Y-Yeah.... B-But how did you...?"
"Because I too....AM A WEEB!" Henry suddenly exclaims, jumping to his feet and ripping open his suit to reveal....
A shirt with Tsunade's face from Naruto on it surrounded by a giant red heart.
.....
.....
.....
___________________________
Puck let out a small relieved sigh as the meeting quickly came to a close.
He quickly left before any of them could ask him another question or try to get him to stay for some unknown reason.
His brain was already having a hard time adjusting to the new sudden voices that began to torment him in the night without having to add to the already growing headache.
Even then, he couldn't help but stretch while trying to organize all the new information that he just gathered.
First off....
It seemed like no one could understand him when he spoke about the "Old God of Insanity and Absurdity".
They kept saying that his voice was either hard to hear or that he was simply speaking gibberish every time he tried.
Which was good.
He wasn't trying to increase that guy's reputation or number of follows, even as his apostle.
He was crazy, not stupid.
Secondly....
He found out that Gregory was the son of the head of the Awakener's Bureau, which would explain his arrogant and egotistical attitude, along with his want to be at the center of attention.
Gregory was a daddy's boy after all.
The third thing he found out was the extent of the damage his latest power increase had on the world.
And it wasn't good.
Not good at all.
Hell, at least he can boast about being the soul reason why the apocalypse started....
Right?
The last thing Puck found out was something that he wish he hadn't....
"Who knew that the person known as the 'Great Sage' would be a weeb of all things? I mean....I respect it....but damn...." He mumbled to himself as he inspected Henry's status.
He had used his Inspect skill on him out of habit, and the thing he saw took his breath away, so much so that he wasn't watching where he was going while walking and ended up getting lost.
~Status~
Name: Henry Alexander Oswald
Nickname: The Great Sage
Age: 52
Lvl: 70
Race: Human
Job: Sage (Legendary)
Status: Good/In High Spirits
Class Type: Wiseman
Rank: S
Str: 5,000
Int: 88,000
Dex: 15,000
Wis: 99,000
Mental Fortitude: +100
Abnormal Status Res: +200
Other Res: +50
HP: 120,000/120,000
Mana: 200,000/200,000
Current Titles: The Man Who Walked Through Time, Born Leader, Great Wiseman, The First Sage, Old Man? No, I'm a Monster
Skills: N/A
~Status~
"You've got to give it to 'em.... Despite being kinda quirky, his status is pretty impressive for this world's standards.... He must've leveled up quite a bit during the recent dungeon breaks." Puck thought to himself with an impressed huff.
He decided not to look at the old man's skills, mostly out of respect.
But even then, he got a good feeling that Henry Oswald was more than he let on.
Especially with those titles....
A small shiver went up his spine as he read through them one more time.
Puck instinctively avoided people as he walked down the sidewalk.
Most gave him strange looks as he mumbled some things to himself, but he just pretended to be on his phone.
He was almost home anyway.
He quickly picked up his pace, wanting nothing more than to meet his beloved bed that he hadn't seen in who knows how long!
"Time flows differently in a dungeon! I was in there for a few years (counting the training montage), but out here it was only a few days! I can't wait t-"
~System Notification~
~The Old God of Insanity and Absurdity smirks at your enthusiasm~
~System Notification~
Puck's excited run slowly fell into a slightly jog, then a walk, until he finally stopped altogether.
The nostalgic sight of the system notification almost brought him to tears.
But not happy ones.
"So you did manage to come with me after all...." He mumbled to himself.
Only for a small eery chuckle to meet his ears in response.
That's when Puck finally notice that he was alone in the usually extremely busy side street before his apartment.
His eyes scanned the empty street for a moment, taking note that even the shops were empty, as if they had been completely abandoned.
That's when he noticed the oddly dark alleyway he had unknowingly stopped in front of.
"That definitely wasn't there before.... This can't be g-?!"
Puck was cut off as he was suddenly dragged into the alleyway by an unknown force.
Even with all his might, and even with the added mana(cost) to his body, he couldn't resist the force that was pulling him into the shadows of the alley.
Puck was gone.
Without a trace.
And without a sound.
The only thing left in his place was a strange grinning black canine that seamlessly walked back into the shadows of the alleyway as if it were never there.
_______________________________________________
End Chapter 29~