POV Nathaniel

I land back on the ground with a disappointed sigh. "The triplets ran off. Those assholes removed my marks, and they had some kind of movement skill I couldn't disrupt in time. But I think I still got a few of their buddies."

Weslin turns to me with a snort. "You think you got some? The triplets escaped into the outpost, so it's good you didn't follow them there. We don’t want to pick a fight with the Black Tower’s master."

“How shameless, little shits,” I note.

“You would do the same if you thought you needed to.”

“Yup,” I confirm.

He looks at me for a while longer before asking, “Are you okay? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you this exhausted.”

I wave it off. “It’s fine. I tested some new stuff, it was more difficult to process than I expected, but I’ve already started making modifications. Next time things will go much smoother.”

He sits on the ground next to me, resting against the same boulder. “Nothing like testing new things in combat.”

“I was never a theory guy.”

“Me neither,” Weslin smiles. “Want me, as a void energy specialist, to point out a few weak points I noticed? There aren’t many. You’re better than me when it comes to dealing with mana, but I just might have seen something you missed.”

“You know I won’t say no to that. Just give me a few minutes to rest, I feel like I might throw up that nice steak I ate earlier. Also, your eyes are slightly red.”

Weslin reaches to touch his face, but his hand freezes midway before he puts it back down. After a few long breaths, his heartbeat calms, and the faint red hue in his eyes disappears.

He, like everyone, has his secrets. I’m just glad to be one of the people he trusts with them.

“Thanks, I seem to lose control more often lately,” he says.

“It happens. Were the triplets really that fast?”

“They used teleportation. I almost cut them off so you could finish them off, but they pulled out some weird shit that still confuses me, and used that opening to escape. It cost them, though, they had to drag one of the triplets into the city because he blacked out from the backlash.”

“Did they not even want a proper fight?”

“I don't think they were prepared for what you just showed them,” Weslin says with a clear note of mockery. “I think they’ll give it a lot more thought before messing with you again. Was that what you’ve been working on?”

I confirm with a nod. “There’s still a lot of work left, but it could turn into something truly great.”

“I can imagine. And you still plan to avoid increasing your constitution.”

“You know the answer. High risk, high reward.”

“And you know I’ve called you fucking dumb more than once. All that teasing bullshit aside, and all the jokes, I’d prefer not to see you die because of it.”

“I know.”

“And yet.”

“And yet,” I repeat with a nod.

“You said your pride tells you the winner is the one alive in the end. Doesn’t that clash with your approach?” he asks.

My body is already feeling better, the movement of my mana growing less erratic. It slides back into control as I use Mana Cycling to guide it through pathways and circuits, across my conductive body.

“There are things I value more than my life,” I answer.

“Nathaniel.”

“Yes?”

"This is the most fucking cliché thing I’ve ever heard from you. I’m cringing just listening to it."

“Fuck you, Weslin.”

“Fuck you too.” He snorts and looks toward the fake sky in the distance. “But I can’t say much. I’m just the same as you, I’m quite fucked up myself. As much as I think you’re dumb, you think I’m dumber.”

“That is very correct. Sorry to tell you, Weslin, but you are indeed very dumb.”

He glances at me and grins. Then he looks back upward. “In one thing, I think you are right. If your planet really is caught up in a Pairing, and it’s possible you face Champions or maybe even an Absolute, then you all need to become stronger and fast. Even if it’s only about protecting a few people at the cost of the entire planet.”

“I’m glad you specified that. Protecting an entire planet of people I have never met and will likely never meet? What am I, some kind of selfless fairy tale hero? I’d never do that.”

“But if you had the strength to do so easily, would you?”

“I mean, probably yeah. I’m an asshole, but if it were easy to do, even I wouldn’t just let billions of people die. At the very least, I’d want a good life without having to deal with the kind of mess a mass extinction would cause.”

Weslin nods. “I do agree with you on that, you are an asshole.”

“That is correct.”

“An asshole addicted to progress and the thrill of danger. An asshole who only digs himself in deeper every time someone tells him he’s being stupid. An asshole who believes he can push through impossible situations with nothing but sheer, obsessive dedication. A prideful, arrogant, infuriating little shit of an asshole.”

“Please carve that into my tombstone if I die.”

----------------------------------------

Night creeps closer, and there are no more attacks on our base. Still, we come to the conclusion that The Clown Brigade, or whatever they’re called, will likely strike again. As much as I believe them about having someone stronger than the triplets on their side, I doubt they want to rely on that person showing up sooner than Morwag.

But what can they really do? They can’t do much against me, and they don’t have the people to face Weslin either.

There has to be something they’re still holding back. I just can’t believe someone in the top seven would challenge Primordial Lunatics without at least a half-decent plan. Maybe they’re planning to pull something against us on the second floor? But we don’t have all that many people stationed there. So perhaps they’re planning something with a different outpost on the third.

The fourth floor feels like a stretch for them to mess with, especially since it’s so close to the fifth. One wrong move there and they would have Nyssa on them in an instant. So it’s just obvious they’d try some sneaky shit.

Just like now, as we return to the city with darkness already closing in. Monsters begin crawling onto the surface, their roars echoing in the distance. Several powerful signatures appear just as we reach the outpost.

With perfect timing, an array of mana stones I hadn’t detected, buried deep underground, suddenly activate, ripping through a mile of earth and shooting into the air above us after breaking through the surface. A web of arrays sparks alive, meant to hold us here until the monsters can finish the job.

This time, I don’t interfere. Instead, I watch as a monster appears on the cliff while Weslin’s primordial void energy flares to deal with the trap.

I step away from the others to face the monster and slow it if needed.

The creature towers on its spidery lower body, eight legs with far too many joints, each step clacking against the ground like knives on stone. Its upper body mimics human muscle but swells in grotesque proportions, cords of flesh and veins under armored hide gleaming as if it were drenched in oil. Where a face should be, a cluster of eyes sits blinking out of sync, black and wet, and beneath them opens a vertical maw lined with hooked teeth.

[Skreth - lvl ????]

“Weslin, I think you should hurry, like really hurry,” I say.

Something in my voice keeps him from asking questions, and in the next second, the barrier around us shatters, just as more monsters climb over the hill. They’re all twisted and broken like the first one, but instead of attacking, they stand still, watching in silence as we rush toward the city. Only when we finally cross into the safe zone do they turn back, retreating behind the hill as their screeches return.

In the distance, a sudden burst of fire lights up the night, flames shooting into the sky. Dozens of attacks detonate in rapid succession, explosions scattering across the horizon like a battlefield igniting all at once. I recognize the direction and already know what it means, yet Talon still confirms it from my side, his face set in a grim mask.

"That’s an outpost called Minefield. Or it was. It was set up for a thousand people," he says.

For a while longer, I watch the storm of attacks raging in the distance, bursts of fire and light tearing the night apart as defenders desperately try to hold the line or escape. The sky flashes again and again, each explosion marking another desperate stand. A part of me swears I can hear their faint screams being carried on the wind.

When I finally force myself to look away, the others head toward the guild branch, while Weslin and I make our way into the city, following the lit streets where a few people still wander. We don’t even speak, moving in sync as I track the faint remnants of the marks I left, gathering fragments of information from the air.

Following those traces, I find the triplets and enter a crowded restaurant with Weslin right behind me. The lumoran triplets sit there as expected, showing no sign of the fight earlier today, and daring as always. But someone else catches my eye. At the table near them, a tall thylarin with four arms seated beside a black-haired woman with green eyes.

I blink a few times at Sophie, who only shrugs and gestures a quick “later.”

Luan doesn’t even glance my way, continuing to enjoy his food. I know he noticed me, and Weslin, too, who stares at him longer than I do. I nudge my partner and head toward the triplets, sitting opposite them at the largest table in the center of the restaurant. Next to them is another empty seat: a massive chair with a plate already set, as if waiting for someone.

I open my mouth to say something, but a huge hand gently lands on my shoulder. Goosebumps rise across my skin. I hadn’t even felt the presence behind me, although I should have. Especially now, since my kinetic, thermal, and mana senses are running at all times. Yet somehow I missed her?

"Thank you for joining us," the woman says in a smooth, deep voice. She’s a velnar, tall like every other velnar I’ve ever met. She wears casual clothes, and I notice rings on eight of her ten fingers, each one a powerful item.

"Hela, don’t tell me you joined their guild," Weslin says next to my side, as the woman releases my shoulder and moves to sit near the triplets, towering over them. Her movements are smooth, nimble, and entirely unfitting for someone of her height.

Facing Weslin, she answers without apology, "They pay well."

"Enough for an S rank? Don’t you have better things to do?"

"They…"

Before she can continue, one of the male triplets interrupts, "Please, keep the details of our deal to yourself, Lady Hela."

The velnar woman tears her gaze from Weslin, then stares that triplet down for a solid ten seconds before turning back to him until the lumoran looks like he is about to collapse. "As I was about to say, they offered me an item from their treasury. My tutorial ends in a month, so why not take it?"

"You’ll never get it if you die."

"Was that a threat, Weslin?"

"A friendly warning. Nyssa sent Morwag."

"You are sweet, Weslin, but I considered all that. And I’ve already met Morwag. Assuming he doesn’t leave the Black Tower to fight the monsters that seem to be having such a great time out there, he should be joining us soon."

At that, Weslin sinks into his chair defensively, earning an understanding smile from the velnar.

And just as she said, the doors swing open and a tall figure enters.

The moment he steps inside, everyone in the restaurant turns to him. Not in admiration, but in that wary way one watches a ticking bomb when they have no idea how much time’s left on the clock.

Morwag, the most demon demon to ever demon, is muscular and very tall, as tall as Luan, although both remain shorter than Hela. From beneath his white, wavy hair, which reaches his shoulders, two thick black horns peek out. They’re not overly long, but they grow from the sides of his head near the ears, twisting forward in a dangerous curve.

His eyes burn redder than any demon’s I’ve ever seen.

Only after taking in the entire room does he start walking, his boots heavy against the floorboards. He moves between tables without haste, each step pulling every eye until he stops at the largest table in the center. Without asking, he drags out the empty chair over beside Weslin and drops into it, leaning back like the seat had been waiting for him all along.