Zach looked above the dead millipede plopped down making a loud thud as it's gigantic body crashed with the rocky surface.
"What the hell", Zach muttered under his breath.
Are you alright?
Zach flinched as a hand rested in his shoulder, he looked up to see the same cadet uniform he was wearing, but there was something on it.
• Cadet number six
Was written boldly on the cadet uniform.
Zach eyes widened..
"Princess..!", he exclaimed as he looked at the person's face, long scarlet red hair with dazzling red eyes like a blood drop, her red eyes skimmed around Zach body which was battered and bruised with a large gash on his stomach, a rotten stench also emanated from him, he was truly a gruesome sight.
Meanwhile on the other side of things, the princess was looking dazzling, her cadet suit clung to her body tightly as he held a brandished katana.
*Wait what l, the princess didn't join the 73rd bath to enter the astryx, how is she here?* Zach thought
Don't move from your position unless you want to open your wound more, she said as he looked at him coldy.
He could sense it from her, she had already reached the Earth rank.
*How! Reaching Earth rank requires you to at least have 20 runes, and to weave those rune into a unique aspect, you mean to tell me that the princess did all that in just 2 days?*
"This is absurd..", Zach mumbled.
Her aura was potent, Zach felt his body heat increase.
He couldn't believe that the 7th princess was currently standing in front of him.
Zach immediately snapped back to reality, realizing the situation, he pondered.
The princess looking at him with a cold gaze, took out a red pill from a side pouch and tossed it to him.
It'll help you heal faster she said.
Zach blinked..
Heal faster?, any pills that could make a person heal at all from this wound would be cost at least a million Phoenix dollars, and she causally threw one at him
*The royal family's wealth is simply in comprehensible* he thought. He didn't complain and immediately gulped the pill, the changes were felt in his body as a cooling feeling washed over him.
Zach eyes widened..
This pill didn't cost a million, it would have cost hundreds of millons, a healing pill that heals this fast, Zach had never imagined see something that expensive up close talking of ingesting it.
The wound had already closed and Zach was relieved.
"Thank you princess", Zach bowed.
The princess with her cold demeanor turned and started walking away.
*Wait is she going to leave me here!* Zach knew that if a monster like that millipede appears it was game over for him.
But if he was by the princesses side he could at least survive longer, the princess had to have scored a high survival rate in the qualification trial and he scored a 57% a vast difference, if he could team up with the princess then he could have a higher chance of surviving.
Zach understanding this grimaced.
The burnt charred remains of the centipede beast still smoldered, the acrid scent curling through the air. Zach sat on the ground, disoriented, clutching his head.
" I'm thanking you miss" Zach said as the princess continued walking away nonchalantly.
"Don't thank me" her cold blue eyes glanced at him, "I just dealt with a nuisance you where just a bonus. I didn't feel like leaving you like that so just shut up and be on your way", she said as she paused...
"Unfortunate.."
Zach hearing this groaned as he struggled to his feet. "Unfortunate? Lady, I just came back from the dead, escaped a giant bug, and now I'm standing here talking to a princess who seems allergic to basic decency. I'd say my luck's on a roll."
Her lips twitched ever so slightly. "You... this commoner call this luck?"
"Well, I'm not dead again, so yeah," Zach replied with a grin.
"Who are you" she asked..
"I'm Zach... the death evader, the bug magnet, and the weakest of the seventy third batch", Zach grinned as he extended his hands for a handshake.
The princess's brows furrowed, a faint hint of confusion slipping through her icy demeanor. "Seventy-third batch?"
"Uh, yeah," Zach said confidently, gesturing to the faded number stitched onto his uniform sleeve. "See? Seventy-three, right here. Proof that I'm part of the legendary—"
"It's currently the seventy-eighth batch," she interrupted, her voice sharp as her brow furrowed.
Zach blinked. "Wait, what?"
Zach pulled at his sleeve, squinting at the number. "No way. This says seventy-three! Look!"
She stepped closer, and for the first time, her mask of indifference cracked ever so slightly as her eyes widened. "That is the seventy-third insignia," she murmured, almost to herself.
Zach's confidence wavered. "Why do you look like you just saw a ghost? You're starting to freak me out."
Without a word, the princess extended her own arm, showing the number stitched onto her pristine sleeve: seventy-eight.
"The seventy third batch was deployed 5 years ago" she said confusion in her voice.
"That's impossible!" Zach exclaimed. "I remember everything perfectly! I was running from that Phoenix, fell into some weird… uh… place with all the spooky vibes, I got munched on by a few crabs and then—poof! I wake up here!"
"Time doesn't flow normally in The astryx but five years... that's way too much" she held her chin as she fell deep in thought.
Zach's face fell. "5 years? Do you know how much I could've stolen in 5 years?!"
The princess gave him a look of pure disdain. "You're concerned about thievery? You've been trapped in limbo for half a decade, and that's your priority?"
"Well, yeah," Zach shot back, throwing his hands up. "I had a whole system! Get rich quick, retire by thirty,l-uh live on a beach. Now I've got to catch up on 5 years of missed opportunities!"
"You are insufferable," she muttered, rubbing her temple.
"And you're oddly calm about this whole 'half a decade-long time jump' thing," Zach retorted. "But hey, if you're part of the seventy-eighth batch, then that means you're way ahead of me, right? What's it like? Do they still serve that weird gray sludge in the mess hall?"
Her cold gaze snapped to him. "You ask too many irrelevant questions. Focus on your current predicament or return to wherever you came from."
"Okay, okay, fine," Zach said, backing off. "But you have to admit, this whole 'batch mystery' thing is a little weird. I mean, doesn't it make you curious? Like, what if this means we're destined to work together?"
Zach had to make his move he could figure out how his meeting someone fron the 78th batch when the 73rd batch was deployed the day before yesterday.
"Destiny has no place in this conversation," she said icily. "You are a fool who wandered too far. I am merely someone who happened to be in the vicinity when you stumbled out of your grave."
"And yet," Zach said, stepping closer with a grin, "you're still talking to me. Admit it, Princess. You're intrigued."
"I am merely ensuring you don't wander into another disaster," she replied, but there was a flicker of uncertainty in her voice.
"See? That's destiny!" Zach declared, jabbing a thumb at himself. "You, me, teaming up to take down the monsters. It's fate."
Zach bit his lip *I hope this faith bull crap will help me push her mind on the right track* he thought.
"Fate," she repeated, her tone heavy with disdain. "I'd sooner believe the stars themselves fell from the sky."
"Well, you might have to believe that too," Zach muttered. "powerful monsters tend to be dramatic."
Zach was referring to the song of the Phoenix.
The princess sighed, exasperated. "If I agree to assist you, will you stop talking?"
"Absolutely not," Zach replied cheerfully. "But I'll talk slightly less."
She closed her eyes, clearly weighing her options. Finally, she let out a long breath. "Fine. I will accompany you. But only to ensure you don't cause more harm than good."
"Deal!" Zach said, grinning.
The princess walked ahead, her expression cold as ever. Zach followed, still marveling at the numbers on their uniforms.
It was odd meeting someone five years in the future, now that he thought of it, he was gifted the rune of rebirth and that was how he came back to life.
But why was he gifted the rebirth rune, some things don't just add up, could it be that his dead body had been lying there for 5 years?
"5 years," he muttered. "Man, I've got a lot of catching up to do."