(PRESENT TIME)
"You have done me a great service, Astoria, summoning you from the ritual port was indeed the greatest action I could've taken, to achieve such a hardworking servant."
Astoria was on one knee, bowing before her master.
"I am not deserving of such praise Lady Lilith…"
"Are you certain? Very well, then I suppose this gift I was going to give you is useless," She clapped her hands, bringing one of her butlers next to her throne, "Rupert, destroy the gift."
"As you wish my lady."
"Wait!!" Astoria extended her hand, halting their actions, "I-I was just showing my astonishment, Lady Lilith! I didn't expect to be praised by you, that's why I said those words!"
"Fuhuhu, very well. Rupert, hand Astoria her gift, she deserves it."
"Mmm." He nodded, approaching Astoria as he gave her the miniature case.
"A gift… from Lady Lilith…" Astoria graciously accepted the reward, placing it in both her hands, "What could it be?"
"Open it and see." Said Lilith with a smile.
"Aahhh~" Astoria slowly opened the case, widening her eyes as a flash of light shone upon her face, "My Terra… are you certain?"
"Yes, I am."
"To give me a level infinity item, I-I don't know what to say." Astoria closed the case, bowing before her master, "Thank you so much, Lady Lilith! I humbly accept your reward!!"
"And congratulations, Astoria, you're now the second strongest in the Kingdom of Gehenna with that level infinity item in your storage."
"S-Second strongest?!"
"Indeed. You're right under that Gobby fool, Tocka, who's being punished as we speak."
"I see." Astoria stood up from the ground, picking up her gift, "I'll continue training so I may rise in the ranks, and become your strongest!"
"Fumu," She tittered, "That is what I like to see." Lilith clapped her hands together, bringing Rupert back to his position, "Now then…" The Great King rose from her throne to approach Astoria, "Unfold." Lilith extended her hand, bringing up Astoria's personal information, "With this level infinity item, debuffs will become buffs instead. Let's say, someone used a nullification debuff on you, well, that nullification spell will turn into an enhancement spell, increasing your strength twice-fold. This level infinity ring is called Dual God, Janus."
"Dual god… Janus? Something like this seems unbeatable."
"It is in most cases. You see here?" Lilith pointed at the list of buffs active on Astoria's personal hub, "The symbols you see are the passive buffs given to you from Dual God Janus. You're immune to all debuffs, entirely."
"Is a ring like this from your personal inventory?" Asked Astoria.
"Yes indeed, but I found it useless since we Great Kings are naturally immune to all debuffs inside the game."
"Ah, right." Astoria bowed her head again, keeping her arms side-to-side, "I can't thank you enough, my lady!"
"Fuhuhu, how about you thank me by working hard to level up."
"Yes, mam!!" Shouted Astoria, filled with determination.
"You're dismissed."
Astoria nodded before turning around and jogging outside of the castle.
"I am quite jammy, aren't I, Rupert?"
Her butler nodded his head, "Yes, my lady. From what I have seen, you're always lucky. Perhaps that's another trait that makes you so great."
"How sweet of you." Said the smirking Lilith, "You're never numpty in your words, that's what makes you so charming, Rupert."
"I suppose I get that trait from my father that you killed, my lady."
"Uhohoho!" She covered her mouth, cackling, "I suppose so!"
***
"We checked everywhere and there's still no witnesses. What the hell are we doing at this point?" Crimson sat on a bench, leaning into it, "Let's just head back to Ottenmore and report our situation to Emperor."
"Why? So you can get punished? You know how Emperor is." Said Kuma, "Even if it's Haruto inside of his body, Emperor can still enact punishment."
"Enact punishment? Like hell. Give Haruto some credit, he has emperor in full control like we have our Game Avatars in full control." Shouted Crimson.
"I mean… our game avatars have the same personality as we did in real life, so there's no separation between the two, that's mainly why we're so calm and collected." Said Lucienne.
"Hmm… I suppose you have a point. The only person with a completely different personality is Emerald, and Emperor, right?" Asked Crimson.
"Yeah, I think that's about it." Said Lucienne.
"Well shit, not like it matters. What can be a worse punishment than having this bitch, Mona beside me?"
"Hey, let's not call each other names, calm down." Proclaimed Kuma.
"Why calm down? She's into that stuff…"
"Huh?!"
Mona suddenly blushed in her face, getting all giddy.
"T-To call me such names… I'm heartbroken!!"
"Oh… right…" Kuma sighed, "I forgot she's a total masochist."
"We can't be sitting here all day; we need to do something. Either continue searching for people who saw Emerald and Christopher or find that girl who stole our Guild Badge." Lucienne said, crossing her arms.
"You're right, we have to do something," Crimson stood up from the seat, stretching his arms above his head, "But if it's finding that thief, I'll be the one to teach her a lesson, you got that?"
"Alright Mr. Macho man." Uttered Lucienne.
"I'm serious!" Shouted Crimson.
"U-Umm… excuse me, are you part of the Phantom Mutiny?"
"Huh?" (All)
They all turned to the subtle voice, meeting eye-to-eye with a brunette, and black-haired girl.
They looked quite shy, but they were here for a reason.
"My name is Dustina." Said the brunette.
"And I am Wolfgang." Muttered the black-haired girl.
"Are you in search of Ms. Emerald and Christopher?" Asked Dustina.
"Huh? Yeah, how do you know that?" Crimson lifted his brow in question.
"Well… we're looking for them as well! Our friends, Lucia and Florian, are not in the North Continent anymore, and they were with Emerald and Christopher!"
"What?" Lucienne marched towards Dustina, slanting forward to see her eye-to-eye, "What the hell do you mean they aren't in the North Continent? And how do you know that?"
"W-Well… we've been texting them both to make sure they were okay since we're in a party together. When we checked their status, it said that they were no longer on this continent… but were in the South Continent instead!" Shouted Dustina.
"Yes, it's true! What Dustina says isn't a lie."
"Show me the proof." Proclaimed Kuma.
"O-Okay!"
After a few minutes of showing the Phantom Mutiny the messages, and location of Florian and Lucia, they concluded that the two were telling the truth. Kuma had his doubts, and so did Crimson, but Lucienne was quite ecstatic, happy to know that they had clues to their location.
"Damnit, only if we were in a party together!" Shouted Crimson, "That's the only way we can see the location of each other. Being in a guild doesn't give you the ability to check the location of each other, only a party does that stupid crap."
"Well, considering a guild can hold up to 100 players, I can see why it wouldn't give you the ability to check their locations. Traitors could exist, and murder every single guild member. However, forming parties is different; you can only have six party members, and your actions are always publicized for the whole party to see. If you kill a goblin, it pops up in the party chat. If you purchased food, it also pops up in party chat." Proclaimed Kuma.
"Yeah yeah, I see your point." Crimson glanced to the side, crossing his arms in annoyance, "It's just annoying!"
"So… what will you guys do?" Asked Wolfgang.
"I have an idea!" Lucienne raised her hand into the air, giddy as ever, "We pull up to the continent of the demon king and teach him a lesson! Let's start destroying his camps, ruining his economy, and sending his whole kingdom into poverty!"
"Wait just a second, why the hell are we doing that?!? We don't even know if the demon king is involved, you dumbass!" Yelled Kuma, pointing his finger in Lucienne's face.
"Well, he has to be involved! Isn't it obvious that they were captured? I mean think about it; Emerald and Christopher had a duty they had to fulfill, and now all of a sudden, they end up in the South Continent without letting us know! Doesn't that seem suspicious to you?!"
"Knowing those two, they could've just stopped by to purchase some banned food that only exists inside the South Continent." Muttered Crimson.
"Yeah, that's exactly what could've happened." Proclaimed Kuma.
"Well… we don't know until we see, right?" Said Mona.
"Tsk. Well, if you guys aren't gonna bother causing some mayhem, then leave it to me."
"Just a second, Lucienne." Kuma glanced at her, sighing, "You know this can lead to war, right? If they find out that a member of the Phantom Mutiny did this, then we're in serious trouble."
"Heh, well try to stop me!"
"What do you mean?!" Shouted Kuma.
"Extend Magic, Spatial Warp!" Lucienne suddenly vanished, leaving the North Continent in a hurry
"That dumbass! Is she really gonna do this?" Kuma turned to face Crimson, "Crimson, c'mon, we have to stop her!"
"I'm right behind you. Mona, make sure you don't let these two escape, we need them here, just in case they're lying."
"Right! I understand my task!"
"Good. Alright, let's go. Extend Magic, Spatial Warp!"
Both Kuma and Crimson vanished.