"Listen up, I'm not going to repeat myself," Eva declared, her face darkening instantly. "The threat of the Téra has gotten out of hand. I've been running simulations reflecting their apparent ability to usurp my Terminals."
The crowd quietly gazed at her.
"There are two failing conditions for us. Firstly, if they manage to occupy the Main Terminals and turn down the System's defenses and isolation procedures to Meuro," she squinted. "I absolutely cannot allow that to happen. If it does, even our trump card, the Kind Demon, will not make it here in time."
"You must be talking about the Empress," Ulquiel spoke up flatly. The abnormally childish Pope's voice carried unexpectedly far. "I understand that one's Game Over. What's the other?"
Eva looked back at him. "…the 1000th Plateau cannot fall into their hands."
The boy blinked in surprise.
"I've already tried everything to stop the Téra from moving across Plateaus. But they still manage to travel with a method I don't understand," the overseer admitted with an upturned lip. "All I've managed to infer is that they can reach places one of their brethren also happens to be in."
"Which means we could rid them from a Plateau by killing all of those in it," a voice sounded from Eva's right. She rolled her eyes, glaring at Undertaker shuffling his Tarot cards.
"Yes, you troglodyte. You do that. Tell me how it goes."
He shrugged. "I was just making an observation. Also, you were much cuter before. Where's that little girl act you usually use?"
"Up your ass, Treiber."
"…okay, that's a bit…"
Eva disregarded him. "Now then. I'm sure many of you are curious about what is in the 1000th. But jokes on you, I have no idea either," she deadpanned. "Or, at least, I've never seen what it's like in there."
Juro smilingly raised her hand from the ceiling, "Then, why is it a lose condition?"
"Because it's the System's kernel. Everything is there. The servers, the admin terminal, all spiritual data that makes up your skills, and… the power source," she huffed. "Essentially, once they get in there, it'll have the same result as them getting all the Terminals, but worse."
"Great," Undertaker muttered sarcastically.
"You shut up," Eva growled and he raised his arms in surrender. "Obviously, the only way to reach it is by clearing the System's final Trials. And while Téra normally can't clear it, the problem is that they can bypass that rule in several ways now; thanks to those things called 'Grafted' and the Nine-Tailed bugs."
At the front of the crowd, the Monarch of Sorcery herself grumbled. "The Scorpions… I only have bad experiences with their lot," she said. "But while Afnil Albus is certainly deserving of his rank of 9th, we all know he's not strong enough to break through the last Trials right away."
Enya waved at Cain and Ensis. "Even these two monsters have been stuck at the 995th for a year and they're also the only two who managed to get there. And from what I've heard, these… Grafted, are rather weak too. Where's the risk?"
Before Eva could reply, Ensis raised his voice, "You are incorrect."
"Uh?"
"It's true that we've both stopped at the 995th for a while now," Cain was the one who spoke up to her exclamation. "But it's not because we can't clear it."
"…then what?"
"Five," the old warrior grunted out. "Five Hosts are required to trigger the Trial."
"…!" The sorceress' eyes widened in surprise and the many powerhouses around also raised their eyebrows at the new information. There had never been a Trial that required a party before.
"Tch, you should have revealed that earlier," Zialtra commented; her frown could be heard in her tone. "I would have hurried up there. There's plenty of us who have been taking our time."
But as her words resounded in the Forefront Plateau, nobody responded.
"Idiot." Eventually, Karvienth spoke up. The small dragon narrowed his eyes. "I am unable to take those Trials of yours, but even I can recognize the issue here."
Zialtra scowled at him.
"Aah…" Ulquiel sighed loudly and curled his lips, glancing at Ensis. "Old stump. You didn't say if it was about partying up or not," he accused with an annoyed expression.
"What else would it be then, you bra—" The Hunting Queen interrupted herself. "Oh."
Eva watched this exchange with a bored expression. "I can speed up your little drama if you want," she uttered mockingly. "Shortly said, the 995th Plateau's Trial is a Battle Royale. It's one of its kind. And what that old man said is not the 'required number of Hosts', but the minimum."
Everyone fell silent.
"When that minimal condition is fulfilled, a Global Missive will be sent to every Host. What it will say is simple; a battle for Eden is about to start, and if you want to participate, you have a week to reach the Plateau," she explained. "The winner gets to ascend. The losers will have to wait another year to try."
"Wait, what?" Undertaker blurted out. "A year of wait?"
"Yes."
"But that's insane! Hosts are constantly under the three-year time limit! That's the reason most of us are reluctant to ascend too fast. Nearly everyone here doesn't dare to go past the 940th because of the difficulty spike."
Both Locals and Wilden present kept their opinions to themselves at his outburst. After all, none of them were affected by the Hosts' obligations.
"He's right," Kryas chimed in. The usually lazy man was sitting on a chair he had brought himself into the Plateau. He tilted his head, his dim eyes peering into Eva. "Based on the intel contained in the Pavilion's database, I'm pretty sure at least 35 people can reach the 995th as of today. Most of them have been taking it slow, improving their skills above all."
Eva impassively looked back at him.
"Of course, barely five would be stupid enough to think they can win against Credo or Unsworth in a fight," the Pavilion President added. "But if it's a Battle Royale, it's different. I don't think there would be a rule against teaming up, would there?" He asked rhetorically. "And we can't forget that whoever wins will most likely be able to get the System's final reward first; whatever it may be."
Kryas sighed tiredly. "All of this to say… that sounds like an awfully divisive Trial."
As soon as he finished speaking, many others discussed amongst each other. Some raised concerns about what would even happen if the System was cleared, and others wondered if the Trial could be broken one way or another.
It was clear to see that everyone chosen by Eva for the Forefront was an expert. None of them had tantrums or panic fits. But in their midst, Rakna silently pondered. He didn't even care about the people he did or didn't know conversing around the place.
'This doesn't make any fucking sense,' he deadpanned internally.
"{Indeed. Not at all,}" Fray agreed with the seemingly unexpected statement.
'Shin-Woo said it clearly; Ensis and Cain went up to the 1000th when the System was breaking down in his timeline,' the therian thought. 'The entire Myth Council supposedly rushed the last Plateaus together. He would have mentioned something like a Battle Royale. Of course, since this place was never made in his time, Ensis didn't have a reason to reveal this so early. But either way, if what Eva is saying is true, a global message should have gone out.'
"{Then that begs the question; how did they ascend?}" Fray completed his reasoning.
'There are a lot more questions I have been putting off too,' Rakna frowned. 'Why did Eva decide to forgo the Forefront Plateau in that timeline? Did she panic after I died since 'he' didn't tell her about it? What about the Téra? The Empress? Shin-Woo didn't mention them either.'
"{Not to mention it was over the course of several years,}" Fray added. "{The people here are not saying it, but they all realized; Ensis and Cain are two years away from losing their power as per the System's rules. With that in mind, we can make some theories.}"
'Either they found a way to skip the Battle Royale or the System's 'death' created a malfunction,' the therian swiftly listed. 'Could be both, even,' he snorted to himself and glanced at someone standing in his vicinity; the top Host himself.
'Cain… something tells me he's hiding a lot too.'
"{Well, if I've learned something stuck in your head, it's that your guts are accurate,}" Fray let out a chuckle. He paused momentarily, "{…should we impart this information to everyone?}"
'…no. I need to talk to Shin-Woo first. And we need to find out why the Téra did not act in his version of things. He did say the Nine-Tailed Clan fell into internal strife… so the Scorpions moved differently too.'
"{…wait,}" the fabulist exclaimed from inside his library. "{Isn't that the same thing?}"
'What do you mean?'
"{The Scorpions allied with the Téra in our timeline... but if the latter for some reason decided to give up on their attack plan, would it also not cause the Scorpions to move differently?}"
'So, it goes back to the Téra is what you're saying. But why did my death stop them?'
Fray was silent for a moment. "{I have a hypothesis…}" He said hesitantly.
'Sure. Shoot.'
"{What if… just what if… the Empress lashed out when you died… and killed Roias.}"
'…'
"{She broke her subordinates' chain of command and defaulted to attacking the System. What if the System's 'death'… was being exacerbated by the attacks of a certain cosmic being? An angry lady who had her sole person of interest abruptly die…}"
'…'
Rakna's expression stiffened. He wanted to refute this scenario since she wouldn't have met him even once at that point, but as he mused on what he knew from Shin-Woo and how the Empress behaved… he did his best to not grimace.
"…there's no way she would do that… right?"
He couldn't help but mutter out loud, drawing confused looks from his peers.
"…right?"
Fray did not answer.
* * *
In the end, after several minutes of arguing, no one came up with a good solution. But regardless, many people like Zialtra said they would join Ensis and Cain in the 995th if needed; they would not allow the strongest Hosts to lose their power from something so pathetic.
In fact, Ulquiel talked about his brother probably being more than willing to go as well. That alone was a weighty statement. The wielder of Excalibur had never shown his full power before. Despite his rank being only 10th, there were many rumors that he was as strong as the top two. After all, the requirements for rank promotions were never strictly about strength.
Furthermore, Lux and Merlina, who were both part of the Top 10, would rush to the 995th even if it meant purposefully losing against Ensis; every member of Throne of Glory held their leader in the highest regard.
"Anyway, you get it, right?" Eva addressed the crowd again. "Those Grafted are weak, but they are considered Hosts by the System anyway, which means they can participate in the Trial. As for their ability to get there; they're half-Téras. If you've been paying attention, you'd understand."
"Then Afnil Albus has also become that much more dangerous…" Enya rubbed her temples. "That kind of person in an all-out battle… it's annoying just to think about it."
At that, someone unexpected raised their voice. "There's something I must clarify," Karyu, Head of the Nine-Tailed Foxes, uttered. "Afnil is incredibly dangerous, that's undeniably true. But he is not the one you should be most wary of amongst the Scorpions."
There was a small wave of confusion after his words, but someone did react agreeingly. "I am of the same mind," a goblin wearing an expensive suit and monocle spoke up. "I once had a contract with the Scorpions. It was about two decades ago. A particularly nasty group wanted to sabotage my business and was aided by two Hosts in the lower end of the Top 100."
The Goblin King was speaking as neutrally as ever. "The Head of their Branch personally came to me; Afnil Albus had yet to reach the Top 10 back then. Luzhe Noiprocs… he is the one we should fear the most."
"Luzhe…" Zialtra muttered. "Speaking of him; I tried to challenge the Heads of the Nine-Tailed Clan for a duel a while back. He's the only one I've never met."
Karyu's expression twitched at the memory. Of course, he remembered the day the Martial Saint knocked on their doors because she was bored and wanted to know how special the Nine-Tailed truly were.
"And that's because you did not find him in the Host Rankings, did you? You never bothered to ask him for a battle," Ratten inquired and she slowly nodded. "But you failed to notice a very important piece of information. Luzhe is absent from the Host Ranking… entirely."
"What…?" Zialtra swiftly opened the System to check and many mimicked her.
Rakna silently did the same thing and Eye of Symphony quickly confirmed it was true.
"There is only one reason why a Host would not appear on the Ranking," Ratten continued. "They are either dead… or have never gained 'experience'," he declared. "Based on several testimonies, it has been concluded long ago that those who come out of the Tutorial with an empty level bar do not appear on the Ranking until they gain at least one point."
The Goblin King glanced at Kryas. "This is something the Pavilion's data should be able to confirm without trouble," he remarked. "Thus, we can assume that by default, the System assigns a Rank from the moment you receive this resource we all know as 'Experience' from it."
"…just to make sure; you're trying to say that Luzhe Noiprocs is level fucking one?" Alcina uttered dumbfounded. "That guy reached the 500th Plateau; there's no way he's that weak!"
"And I have never implied weakness," Ratten scoffed at her.
Ulquiel groaned. "Of course…" He mumbled as if he had realized something. "The fact that he lived in the 500th is a hint in and of itself…"
"Uh? Why?" Alcina turned to her sort-of-friend. "Their stupid clan's base is there, no?"
A vein popped on Karyu's forehead at the stray jab.
"…the unique requirement…" A lethargic female voice spoke up in Ulquiel's stead. The source was a red-haired woman wearing an overly extravagant wedding dress. Her eyes were pure white, and beneath a thin veil, her lips were bright with a red glow that contrasted her pale skin.
She was incredibly beautiful, but the dark circles under her eyes, and the strange undulations of her dress' outline gave a disquieting aura.
"He couldn't… clear it…" She added, her words echoing slightly unnaturally. Though, nobody paid it any mind since they knew who she was; Spiritus Guild's leader and Ghost Queen, Llorona.
"Ah, I get it," someone else exclaimed blankly. A tall and thin man lying sideways on the ground as if it was a couch. He held his head up with one arm, his blue slit eyes looking nowhere in particular as a cat tail swished behind him and a pair of black ears twitched on his head.
"It was so forgettable, I forgot it existed," Felix Heartnet, the Cat King, huffed. "The 500th Plateau's Trial has a level requirement. You need to be Level 500 to clear it."
"And let me guess," Undertaker interjected with a hum, flipping a card around his fingers. "He was never seen in a higher one? But how did he escape the three-year sentence, if that's the case? Can we assume the two things are related?"
Karyu exhaled through his nose. "Yes. But the mystery of his status is irrelevant for now."
Ratten snickered. "Yes. I suppose I should finish my story," he said. "On the day we were supposed to meet and negotiate the terms of our contract, he broke into my office undetected with three decapitated heads skewered on his tails."
Some listeners flinched at the image.
"With no input from my part, Luzhe Noiprocs unilaterally solved my troubles without meeting me even once and then brought me those heads; the ringleader, as well as the two Hosts that had been hired. He smiled and candidly asked for his reward."
The goblin adjusted his monocle. "After that incident, I could not find even a single detail on how those three died. No signs of battle, no bodies ever found, and no witnesses. Personally, I would at least assign Luzhe Noiprocs the same threat level as Afnil Albus."
"…"
Seeing that nobody had anything to say, Eva took over. "We're good, I suppose? A few more pieces of intel will need to be shared, but that can wait. I'm sure you are curious about that up there," she said and pointed at the vertical tunnel above them.
"[Indeed.]" A disembodied voice echoed in response and the attendees briefly tensed. But a good portion of them also immediately recognized who it belonged to.
A flat, high-pitched sound buzzed, and cubic objects began to fly in from all corners. They steadily stuck to each other, building piece by piece a humanoid shape. What emerged was an elegant man in his sixties, wearing a colorful apparel with a white and blue coat over his shoulders. His half-gray hair was slicked back, and he sported a moustache the likes a cartoon villain would envy.
He smiled at everyone and bowed theatrically. "Hello, friends."
"…Tetra Kar," a deep voice boomed across the entire Plateau. The giant sitting in the center of the room had broken his silence; the sheer volume could hurt one's ears. His eyes shifted toward the newcomer with a glare.
"Ah, if it's not my dear friend Janus," the extravagant man looked up at the giant. "I almost missed you there." His statement sounded sarcastic, but his tone was strangely genuine.
The giant named Janus glared only more intensely. His eyes, hair, and beard glowed a dark red as a current of hot air began to billow in the Forefront Plateau.
Rakna looked at the titanic being for the first time proper. Although he usually preferred to hear answers from people with first-hand knowledge, he didn't need to ask the identity of everyone he saw. His Eye had plenty of data stored to peruse.
This giant was a Local from the 900th Plateau. Apparently, the giants were a predominant race in every Plateau starting from that number. Additionally, that particular range of Plateaus housed an immense number of natural resources, notably magical ore.
The giants were, by far, the wealthiest species in the entire System. From very long ago, they had been mining those ores and selling them to lower Plateaus.
Janus was not only a behemoth in size, but also in power and influence. He owned the entirety of the 950th, which was filled with the most precious mines of the System. And of course, he was the strongest of them all.
"Tetra Kar. So, he did come, after all," Rapture commented.
That peculiar man was the Host ranked 14th and the leader of Frag, the guild ranked 6th. But that was all Rakna knew about him.
"I have nothing much on him. Why did you expect him not to come?" The therian asked.
"He's an eyesore," the automaton replied blankly. "He's disliked by most people here."
"Oh," Rakna blinked.
Cain smiled wryly. "Well, the Giants especially don't like him. You see, Frag is the guild with the most firepower in the System. And when I say that, I mean whenever they do something, expect them to blow up at least five continents worth of land."
"…"
"Some time ago, Tetra went to the 950th and stole quite literally a planet-sized chunk of ore, totally disregarding the owners. The excuse he gave afterward was that 'he needed it for a pet project'."
"I see. An insane person. We always need more of those," Rakna snarked.
"Hahaha…"
While they chatted, the tension between Janus and Tetra seemed close to bursting. But before this could lead to a cataclysmic brawl, a sword as big as the red-bearded giant himself suddenly fell from above. The weapon was so enormous, it was hard to appraise. But it was clearly made from marble and shaped like a ceremonial instrument.
The startled crowd looked up at where it came from and saw an equally large hand, sticking out of a System portal, gripping the handle. A pair of yellow eyes peered down from the depths of the dimensional gateway.
"I don't remember allowing you to fight in here," Eva's voice cut the tension like a sharp knife.
Tetra smiled innocently and Janus harrumphed.
"…that's the Judge," Cain quietly said whilst staring at the unknown sword. "It's the strongest class of Adjudicators Eva has. It's not as strong as Ensis or me, but not far from the Top 10 either. She is really taking the situation seriously. She rarely brings it out."
Rakna wordlessly took it in.
Not long after, the Judge pulled its sword back into whatever space it resided and disappeared. In its wake, Janus reluctantly looked away from Tetra.
"To continue what I was saying…" Eva muttered, clearly annoyed by the interruptions. "I call that tunnel Candy Road."
Immediately, many seemed ready to interject again. Ulquiel was about to open his mouth, but he stopped when he was glared at by Eva. Instead, he slowly raised his hand.
"Yes?" She smiled.
"…why?"
"Because the colors inside look like candy."
He quietly lowered his hand.
"Long story short, it's a shortcut," she resumed as if the dialogue never happened. "All of you here have the right to climb it. On the way, you'll find doors, arches, holes, or whatever else; they're a direct access to a Plateau in the System."
Eva waved her hand, and a hologram of the tunnel appeared above her. Each 'exit' began to light up one after the other until it stopped at 995.
"The Candy Road has two main objectives," she raised two fingers, ignoring the visible reactions to her naming sense. "The first is to allow any Host here who has yet to fulfil the prerequisites to enter higher Plateaus, and to give Wilden and Locals more flexibility."
She pointed at Rakna's group. "Certain people are simply too valuable not to deploy. I'm not going to wait months or years for them to come up to the 700th or potentially the 995th," she said whilst staring at both Rakna and Lanata. "The Candy Road is the solution. It's my way of bypassing some of the System's hardcoded rules. As long as you can reach the 'exit', you will be able to enter that Plateau without clearing any Trial."
Those words already gave quite a surprise.
"However!" Eva continued. "The Candy Road will try to push you down. You can't just waltz your way to the highest Plateaus without the necessary strength. Moreover, Locals and Wilden aside, anybody who reaches a Plateau which they normally don't have access to will not be able to take Quests, Trials, Ordeals, or use any System function like the Map, Transfer, or Terminals."
The little girl especially narrowed her eyes at that last part. "You get it? Especially you!" She glared at Rakna and Lanata. "You two! Don't try anything weird up there!" She then turned toward Ensis and Cain. "You guys as well! Don't mess with my Candy Road, okay?! Actually, why the hell are you four standing together, huh?! Are you taunting me?!""
In response to her frenzy, they respectively, sighed, blinked, grunted, and smiled.
"Ah, fuck them…" Eva cursed to herself and everyone sweatdropped. "Anyway, the second purpose of this Road is cross-Plateau summoning. Those who enter a Plateau through it can open a portal to summon their Guilds, or allied Guilds for that matter. Subordinates of Wilden and Locals will also be included as long as they have been assigned an affiliation by the System."
Eva paused to take a breather. "The Candy Road's previously listed limitations will apply, but the summoning itself will also act like a continuous skill. If the supplier dies or runs out of whatever statistic they're providing, the summoned forces will be forcefully transferred away."
The crowd remained solemnly silent. They were starting to grasp the fact that Eva was dead set on bringing tens of thousands of people into this conflict if necessary.
"Additionally, that portal can be used to call for backup from fellow members of the Forefront or simply retreat to this place, unless the enemy jams it. There will be no restriction on it; the transfer will be instantaneous and will not require you to be out of danger."
Even Rakna raised an eyebrow in surprise at that. Not because it wasn't a good idea, but because it was practically a cheat. Either Eva was staking everything on this or she was basically predicting it to be a necessity to even have a chance of winning.
"I have a question," Azheim, who stood at the front, spoke up after he assumed that she was over with her explanations.
"Oh, geezer?" Eva replied. "Sure. You're one of the few polite guys around these parts."
"I was wondering," he said. "You mentioned that those who used this, um… Candy Road… cannot take Trials." He cleared his throat. "If that is so, why is there any reason to believe the 'Grafted' or even Luzhe can participate in the 995th Trial after being transported there by the Téra?"
Eva sighed. "When I say Hosts cannot take them… it's my advice," she admitted. "I'm being serious here; no one should try to take a Trial after using the Candy Road. Trials were not coded to have a continuity; they are available to any Host who interacts with them and I can't disable it from your statuses. It's what comes after that's the problem."
"When 'unlocking' a Plateau, the servers essentially refresh a Host's status," she explained whilst kneading her temples. "And I have absolutely no way of predicting what may happen if there is a conflict of numbers there. Potentially… does anyone here wish to become some kind of glitch stuck in between Plateaus for all eternity?"
"…"
"Yeah, that's what I thought," she blustered. "My opinion is that the Grafted were in part made to counteract this issue. Their status is already corrupted so they could skirt the issue. And frankly, those things are so expendable that the Abyss Téra probably ran tests on them until it worked."
With that said, Eva relaxed her posture and gave one last look at the crowd. "I've said all I needed to. Soon, a Title will appear on your status to give you the Forefront privileges," she said and eyed Azheim. "Oh, and the geezer here will receive rights of arbitration."
The elderly man's face twitched nervously.
"The Myth Council's mediator should be pretty trusted, no?" Eva shrugged. "And since he's pretty smart, he can also be the strategist of operations. Now, bye! Don't die, everyone!"
"W-wait…!" Azheim tried to stop her, but she had already teleported away.
Silence fell in the Plateau and after a short moment, some people wordlessly left. Most of the Locals remained, but a good chunk of Hosts and Wilden left as if this didn't matter to them. Yet, the latter didn't leave as much as the former.
"Ah, typical," Juro cackled, weaving her web from above. "The Hosts are always the ones to ignore trouble the most. What a bunch of little, cowardly flies," she huffed whilst looking at the much less crowded place.
"Give us a break, spider girl," Undertaker chuckled. "You guys were born in the System, while we were pulled into it. Guys like these are rare," he waved at the Top 10, Tetra, or even Rakna. "I guess you could say only a third of Hosts are going to wholeheartedly fight for this."
"He's right," a man wearing a red coat raised his voice. He had long black hair, an arm missing, and a crimson-coated sword on his back. He was the leader of a Guild called Red Bane; Marek Velt. "At the end of the day, most Hosts have only one thought; 'what am I even doing here?'. They are going to weigh the situation before even thinking of putting resources into this fight."
"Doesn't sound much different from a coward," the Arachne harrumphed.
Marek exhaled resignedly.
Meanwhile, a certain pair flew up to the Candy Road first.
"Who told you to follow me?!" Ulquiel shouted at Alcina next to him.
"The hell are you talking about, shitty pope!? You're the one following me!"
Everyone watched blankly as the 'children' disappeared into the tunnel.
"Yeah… I suppose we should climb that thing as soon as possible," Undertaker grunted and stood up, dusting his clothes. "Here we go then," he casually tossed a Tarot card in the air.
The card disintegrated and with a roar, a chariot descended from empty space, pulled by a pair of sphinxes; one white and one black. Treiber mounted the vehicle. "Later," he saluted and rode the chariot as it took off with a thunderous noise, much faster than the two earlier.
As if that was the signal, many more went up, including Cura who had been quietly waiting in a corner of the Plateau. The shark man exchanged a nod with Rakna on the way up.
"What are your plans?" Cain curiously asked as he observed Janus stand up, and the large Wilden Kings fly off.
"Hm. I'm not going up there right now. I have a few things to do," Rakna answered.
"I'll tell you how it was later if you want!" Lanata beamed. "Rammy is excited to see it, so I'm going now, okay?" She said and her eyes immediately dilated, her pupils flattening into rectangles.
Rakna's group quietly stepped back as her horns let out a faint pink light. Her sword vibrated in sync with her Ki, and she kicked the ground. She appeared at the center of the Plateau, right below the Candy Road, as if she had teleported, and subsequently lowered her center of gravity.
Janus, who towered over her, paused his movements.
"Oh my…" Tetra Kar whispered. "My friends~" He addressed everyone above with his hand on the side of his mouth mimicking a megaphone. "I recommend you give way. Or you might die~!"
Then, a flash of pink energy quaked the Plateau. In the blink of an eye, dozens of System residents were pushed away and the ceiling rained dust as if it was about to crumble. It only lasted a second, but several people experienced a near-death experience.
"What a horrifying lass," Rapture commented with a burst of steam. "I'll be leaving as well," he added and began to be engulfed by the System's transfer. "I have no need for this 'Road'. I will not bring anyone into battle other than myself," he declared and disappeared.
Ensis silently stepped toward the tunnel. "Xiorra," he spoke up without turning around. "We will clear your Quest in two days. Be ready."
"Understood," Rakna nodded. "Same arrangements?"
The old warrior nodded and then simply vanished. Unlike Lanata, he was impossibly quiet. Only a perfectly straight cut was left on the ground he was standing on. Yet, something told the therian that he had been no slower than the sheep girl… not in the slightest.
{What an unfathomable warrior,} Bhumi broke his silence and Rakna only agreed.
"Well then…" Cain rubbed his neck. "I will abstain too. I have no group, so this Road has much less utility for me. I'll come back later. Otherwise, Kamiria is going to stab me… again."
Rakna blankly stared at him.
"Anyway, it was fun seeing you again," the top Host waved his hand. "It seems some people have business with you," he pointed at an approaching group with his chin. "Bye."
With that, Cain also left, and the therian turned to Azheim who was walking to him with two men following behind… one of which he happened to recognize.
"So, you are Rakna Xiorra," the unknown entity greeted him first. He was dressed like a royal, yet his outfit exhibited strangely dull colors. His physique was outstanding, standing at nearly three meters in height and boasting a substantial mass of muscles.
His skin was somewhere between gray and blue, and with black lines around his eyes and lips. His pupils were murky and white, and his hair entirely gray. As for his face as a whole, he looked like a man in his forties with a long story to tell.
Rakna looked him over and then narrowed his eyes at the man accompanying him; a very pale and much smaller attendant. "The Pale Ghoul…" Albeit the last time he saw this man was when he was posing as a butler in Plateau Zero, he could still recognize him. "Oslort, was it?"
The ghoul simply nodded, respectfully standing behind the larger man.
"Since you already seem to know Oslort, let me introduce you to His Majesty," Azheim came in and gestured toward the muscular man. "This is Temat, Ranked 20th, and the King of Ghouls."
Temat gazed at Rakna. "So, you are the one targeting Nesslyria, Stocslke, and I," he said as if talking to himself. "That persistent girl from the Nine-Tailed Wolves has tried a lot to convince me to help you. Supposedly, for a weapon against the Abyss Empress. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Hah," the ghoul let out a short laugh and crossed his arms. "All right, Beast Emperor. This is both our chances to meet, so let's not waste time," he stated. "Let's see how you convince me."
Rakna smiled brightly. "I won't."
"…huh?"