Underworld was a lot smaller than Enforcer City. That city was practically like a paradise with how wide and open it was and streets filled with vendors. By comparison, Underworld was so much smaller that the moment one of the monsters dropped down into it, it was able to cause great destruction.
The beast was a dire wolf. They were like regular wolves but far bigger, with fur that could survive tank rounds and claws able to shred through steel. To make matters worse, there wasn't just one either. Four all landed, each one looking angry, mean, and very, very big!
The Underworld had a few Licht-Fulk guards, but they lacked the armor the royal guards up top had. Instead, they wore patched-together iron, stitched into leather, and carried makeshift weapons that also served as the farming tools they used to plow the cold, dead fields.
One brave soldier charged forward and swung his scythe, letting out a battle cry. The makeshift weapon bounced off the fur of the alpha dire wolf, which growled and slashed its claws in the man's direction. A normal mage would have been split in two, and indeed, this man would have died here in nearly every timeline but this one. The claws were suddenly halted and prevented when a knight in ebony armor appeared before him.
Davi lazily blocked the strike with his arm. "Yo. Get out of here." He pointed a thumb back at the guard, then at the rest. "Leave this to us."
"R-Right?"
The soldier watched in awe as the wolf clawed at Davi again but was then backhanded and sent flying. Dire wolves were bigger than even horses, so that feat alone was insane, but it got even more unbelievable when Max sprinted in and slammed his leg into the head of one of the beasts, kicking it into a third one.
The fourth wolf howled and jumped toward Max and Davi, but Susie suddenly appeared in front of them along with Sera. Susie created a golden orb, which she blasted out, and then Sera held her hand up and announced a spell!
"Row Size Alter!" Sera announced, and the golden orb suddenly swelled, growing bigger and bigger, until it was large enough to engulf the two monsters, frying them in an instant and reducing them to less than ash. Two tiny monster cores dropped to the ground, the only thing that was left.
The remaining two dire wolves shook their heads and growled at the two girls, but then suddenly a large shadow appeared over them, and before they could move, Davi came slamming down, ramming a massive, thick anchor into them and splattering both monsters. Just like the last two, a pair of cores popped out of the splattered monster corpses along with a wave of blood and gore.
"I love this anchor." Davi patted the metal and smiled. "I should really use it more often."
"Where did you even get that?" Max asked, bewildered.
"A fish guy had it, and I used it to flatten his skull after I stole it." Davi casually pointed at his head, which didn't have his helmet on, despite the fact that he was wearing his armor. "It was rad."
"You guys certainly get into a lot of adventures." Sera muttered.
"That's Arcane Knights for you." Susie snorted.
Sera shook her head. "No, no, even for Knights, Davi's group is just weird."
All the Licht-Fulk stared in awe as the four Knights casually bantered amongst each other after the monsters were slain. Mel also smiled and folded her arms. "Perhaps I was wrong. Your people seem to know what they're doing, High."
"I told you." High chuckled. "The four of them are amazing. If anyone can beat Himvel, it's them."
"Yes… You know, I'm sure you could also do it." Mel sighed.
"Maybe." High bent down and scooped up the four monster cores. "But I'm not a fighter. Not anymore." He held one of the cores up to his mask and peered at it. "I'm a scientist—someone who was born to create. Fighting, destroying things, making a difference, that's just not in my wheelhouse. It's not what 'she' entrusted me with either." He pocketed the cores and glanced at Davi. "I really hope he is the one 'she' meant."
"And if he isn't?"
"Then we'll wait another hundred years."
"We don't have a hundred years left."
"You're right. We don't."
"So, then what do we do?"
"We hope."
"High?"
Princess Ever glanced at the two of them and frowned. What on earth were they talking about? It seemed she wasn't the only one with a secret.
The people cheered for the four Knights, but that cheering quickly turned into horror when the sky opened another portal and a much bigger monster plunged down. This one looked like a giant ape, and when it crashed down, a wave of snow and ice lifted up and launched most people back. Davi stood his ground, resisting the force, and he picked his anchor up with one arm. Blue fire coated his body as his mana surged and he charged, ready to fight the beast. It roared and pulled its fist back as he swung his anchor.
The fight was over before the two even came to blows.
The ape's head was sliced clean off. Davi came to a sliding stop and threw his anchor out just in time to block the blade that tore into the monster and reduced it to chunks. It flowed like a whip, moving up and down, and severed the beast before it even had a chance to react. When it died, the whip-like blade twisted out of its corpse, and it exploded into a hail of blood that rained down.
"Yes! More! More!" Behind where the monster was, a Licht-Fulk stood, bathing in the blood that rained down upon him. "Give me more blood!" Unlike the other soldiers, this Licht-Fulk wore the same armor Sunny had, but his was old and worn down. He had no helmet, revealing skin that was bathed in blood, and a grey beard covered his face. In both hands, he carried long, chain-like blades that could rip a person apart with absolute ease.
"Dominic." A new voice called out. "Did you already deal with the threat?" A person flashed into view, appearing next to the buff man. This Licht-Fulk was an elderly woman, her hair tied back into a bun, and she carried a heavy-duty rifle on her shoulder. "You didn't even savor the fight?"
"Why would I savor it, Minori?" The man, Dominic, licked his lips. "Battle is only for the strong. If it died that fast, then it didn't deserve to fight me. It was mere cattle, existing to be slaughtered by me."
The elderly woman, Minori, scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You savage brute. Combat is something to be treated like any good hunt. You whittle your prey down and ensure that it can't fight back, slowly filling it with terror, and only then do you kill it."
"Wrong." Dominic shook his head and gave a wicked grin. His eyes then lit up when he saw the staring crowd. "Well, well, well, look at you folks. Why aren't you busy working? You know the rules, don't you?" Dominic cracked his whips on the ground, and his grin grew larger. His mouth was twisted and full of jagged teeth. "Getting saved means you're getting taxed twice as much this month."
"B-But we don't even have half of the normal tax ready." One of the civilians cried out.
"That's too bad." Minori sneered. "The royal family up top has ordered it. Their word is law." Behind her and Dominic, several more soldiers appeared. These ones all wore armor slightly better than the Underworld guards, but still worse than the normal armor the soldiers in Enforcer City had. Those guards had looked like noble knights, but these ones all reeked of sin, looking more like bandits. A few golems also followed the men, each bigger than the ones Max had dueled earlier. "Disobeying is not an option," Minori announced, and she fired a shot into the air.
"Is that them?" Davi stood off to the side, watching the new duo, his lips formed into a thin line.
"Yeah." High nodded. "Those two are the five guardians that Mel told you about. Minori and Dominic. They both used to be part of the Royal Guard, the same rank as Sunny. There are three more, but they're not here. The other guys behind them are just low-ranking members of their gang, and the same goes for the golems. They don't matter anywhere near as much as the Royal Guards."
Davi hummed. "Okay. So I have three more after them?"
"You're actually going to fight them?" Mel hissed.
"If the others are willing." Davi turned to his fellow Knights.
"Of course," Max smirked and punched his fist into his open palm. "Let's fuck them up."
"It is the only way out of here." Susie shrugged. "If we have to beat them, so be it."
"Let's take them down." Sera gave a thumbs up.
"You guys are crazy." Mel shook her head.
"Of course we are," Davi said flatly. "We're Arcane Knights. Our job isn't the one for those that are of sane mind."
"I guess not…"
"Hey," Davi glanced at High. "So, if I'm understanding it correctly, five guardians, all ex-royal guards, and they're below Himvel, who is stronger than them?"
"Correct," High confirmed.
"And how much stronger is he compared to them?"
High tapped on his mask in thought. "Well, not all the royal guards are made equally. Sunny is stronger than four of the ex-guards, with the sole exception of Lucita, who is above him. Lucita is above both Dominic and Minori. I'd say she is probably worth four, maybe five Dominics. Himvel would then be about eight or nine Lucitas."
Davi nodded and looked down at his hand, trying to count. "Got it, so then that would mean Himvel is about nine times stronger than that Lucita person, and Lucita is five times above the big guy with the chains, so if I'm about forty-five times stronger than him, I should be able to fight Himvel. Cool."
"What sort of math are you doing?" Sera raised an eyebrow.
"Can we fight them now?" Max pleaded.
"Sure."
Over with Dominic and Minori, the two were glaring at an Underworld farmer who happened to say something neither of them liked. "Still having a hard time understanding the status quo?" Dominic pointed his chain blade toward the man. "Why don't we teach you a lesson?"
The guards behind him all snickered and surged forward, but they didn't even get five feet before Max and Davi casually slapped them all away. With lazy swipes of their hands, they sent the armored men flying.
Minori raised an eyebrow. "Okay, and who the hell are these two?"
"Four," Sera corrected. "Row Size Alter." The golems behind the two ex-royal guards shrank, getting smaller and smaller until they looked like mere toys.
"As for who we are," Susie grinned and pointed a thumb back at herself. "We're the good guys."
"Himvel is your leader, right?" Davi questioned. "Well, I'd like to meet him, so could you take us to him?"
Dominic sneered, as did Minori. "You think you have a right to see Himvel?" Dominic grinned and then jumped toward Davi. "Fine. You can meet him in a body bag!" He twisted on the heel of his foot and swung out with both his blades. They looked like normal long swords, but the edges snapped up and expanded, the blades growing and changing into twisting blades that wrapped around both of Davi's arms and waist. "I think you need to be taught a lesson!" Dominic kept twisting, and the blades dug into Davi's armor. The sudden momentum shift lifted him off his feet, and he was slammed through several buildings, being carried off by the elderly man who leaped away from the others.
"Davi!" Max called out. He gritted his teeth and was about to follow, but Susie grabbed his shoulder and shook her head. "What are you doing?"
"Relax. Davi can handle himself. Focus on the woman-" The sound of a gun going off echoed through the underground, and the kick of the bullet picked Susie up off the ground and carried her several meters away.
"Susie!" This time, it was Sera's turn to scream out in horror.
Minori laughed and aimed her rifle toward Max. "Your turn!" She fired, and Max used everything he had to twist out of the way of the bullet, still not covering himself in mana, which made it all more impressive since the ice and cold of the void had taken their toll on him. "Dance! Dance, you fools!" Minori fired shot after shot, and both Max and Sera tried to keep up with the bullets. The gun the woman had was no normal weapon, able to fire shots that could even slay monsters; her rifle was akin to an anti-tank arsenal, mixed with a machine gun.
Off to the side, Princess Ever watched the battle with growing worry. She glanced at Minori and then toward the direction where Davi had been carried off to. "I thought they could handle it?"
"I told you," Mel growled, glaring at High. "I told you that they couldn't hope to make a difference! The royal guard was the best of the best. Ex-guards or not, those five are Himvel's strongest soldiers. All you've done is gotten them killed! High, what the hell did you do?"
High calmly raised his hand. "Mel."
"What!"
"Just shut up and watch."
Minori kept laughing and firing her weapon, but her laughter was suddenly cut off when a golden orb of energy slammed into her stomach. It hit her hard enough to cause her to vomit up a wave of blood and bring her to her knees. Max and Sera both stopped mid-dodge and stared in shock.
The golden orb was still jammed into the old Licht-Fulk's gut, but it slowly pulled away and floated back over to the annoyed Susie, who stood back up. Smoke was rolling off the side of her head where a tiny bruise had formed from where she had been shot.
"You bitch. That kind of stung."
"Kind of stung?" Max asked in pure bewilderment. "How are you still alive?"
"After Captain Laerton tried to kill me for a full month, my defense stat was forced to level up," Susie explained.
"Your captain tried to kill you?" Sera made a face. "What the hell is wrong with the Phoenix Flight guild?"
Normally, it was considered a no-brainer that new members from any other guild would be far stronger than the Squires from the Phoenix Flight guild. This was because Phoenix Flight lacked the proper training equipment or funds for artificial pills that the other guilds had. Sera could tell that she had become at least ten times stronger than the version of herself that had taken the entrance exam, and this was all thanks to the training Pantheon put her through, and yet, for the first time ever, she was wondering if maybe people got it wrong, because Susie was definitely stronger than her.
'Huh? What sort of training did I put them through?' This question had been asked to Laerton a few times by concerned members of her guild and the press. 'Well, to be honest, I didn't really keep track. I just did my best to kill. I figured if they died, then I could deal with the consequences later, but thankfully, neither of them died, so I don't need to worry about it! Now, let's go out and get fucking drunk!'
Laerton's methods were beyond inhumane. In fact, it could be said that they were downright cruel. After all, she had basically beaten two young adults to an inch of their lives, every single day, for a full month. When they weren't being beaten, she would heal them, then beat them some more for slacking off—day in and day out. Not only did this raise all their stats and gain them new traits, but it also forced their cores, mana, and way of being to evolve and adapt.
Mere stats and traits weren't enough to tell how strong a person truly was. No. That factor came down to how much they truly wanted to live and reach whatever goal they had placed before them, and when it came to both Davi and Susie, they were two souls who ran out of reasons to give up.
All they had left was a path of anguish and hardship. A path they were sprinting down.
Over with Davi, he was slammed into the ground hard enough to crack it. Dominic laughed as he came falling from the sky feet first and smashed his body into the armored knight, shoving Davi in deeper into the dead soil.
"Die!" Dominic smashed his fist down into Davi's face. "Die, die, die, die, die, die, die!" Again and again, he punched, hitting as hard as he could, his energy rising higher and higher, nearly eclipsing his lust for blood. "Die, die, die, die, die, die, die-"
"Are you done yet?"
Dominic's eyes widened in shock, and he stared down at Davi, who boredly looked back up at him. Davi was fine. His nose wasn't broken, his lip wasn't busted, and his face hadn't been caved in. In fact, all the blood that now covered him wasn't even his. Pain flared through Dominic's hands, and he glanced down at his knuckles, which were broken and bleeding.
"W-What-" Dominic gagged suddenly as Davi lazily reached up and wrapped his fingers around the Licht-Fulk's throat.
Slowly, Davi stood back up, picking the Licht-Fulk off the ground and holding him in the air with one arm. "Damn it. I wanted a good test on how strong I was compared to you guys, but you're so weak that there isn't any point." He sighed and shrugged. "Oh well."
"W-Wait." Dominic gasped out, grabbing at the hand that was on his throat. "I-I can do what you wanted. I can take you to Himvel-"
"Nah, I'm good."
"T-The fuck you mean you're good!" Dominic's eyes bulged wider.
"I think I can find him on my own," Davi explained. "As for you, I have something I'd like to say. You must have felt like a pretty big fish swimming around this tiny pond, but never forget that any time you do something that puts people down, there's always the chance, no matter how slim, that someone stronger than you, with higher morals than you, will be passing by. So, let me introduce you to the ocean."
Davi tossed the stunned Licht-Fulk into the air and then twisted his body. As Dominic came crashing down, Davi kicked out as hard as he could, smashing his foot directly into the ex-guard's face, shattering his jaw and his nose. The force of the attack sent Dominic flying back, and he slammed into a building, falling unconscious.
Davi didn't get a chance to celebrate, however, as a second later a jagged shard of iron slammed into the ground where he had been standing but missed him at the last moment when his Danger Sense caused him to dodge the attack.
A woman stood where he had been. One in the same armor as Sunny, just as well-kept and clean as his had been. Blonde hair rained down her back, and her pointed ears twitched as she gazed at him with a blank expression on her face. In one arm, she carried a lance, just as mighty as Tori's. In her other arm, she had nothing, and in fact, that limb was gone entirely. She had only one arm.
"I take it you're Lucita?" Davi asked.
"That I am." The woman confirmed. "And you're a human, not from our place."
"Pretty much."
Lucita nodded and tore her lance out of the ground. Davi summoned Storymaker and got ready for a fight, but his arms dropped when the woman turned away from him and began to walk off.
"Where are you going?"
"To Himvel." Lucita glanced back at him. "Well? Are you coming? He's been looking forward to meeting you. You shouldn't keep an old man waiting."
***
Davi looked at himself in the mirror. The rest of the guild had stepped out of the hotel, leaving just him, but instead of getting ready for the game, he toyed around with his gums, watching as they began to bleed.
"You've always been odd, but playing with your mouth? That can't be healthy." Davi didn't flinch. Instead, his eyes looked up in the mirror, and he saw the face of High. "Hello, Rage."
"H-"
"High. Call me, High."
"Hmm. High." Rage, looking like Davi, turned around and folded his arms. "What are you doing here?"
"Am I not allowed to see an old friend?"
"After what you did, you're lucky I don't kill you here and now."
"Truly, you have restraint." High chuckled.
"What do you want?" Rage asked again.
"I've just come to make a deal."
"A deal?"
"Yes. See, you clearly want that Davi person dead, right?"
"Yes, and then you ruined my chances by stealing him away. Bring him to me, now."
High clicked his tongue. "I hate to break it to you, but you never would have killed him."
"You're wrong."
"I'm not." High shook his head. "I'm smarter than you. I've always been smarter than you." Rage growled. "Look. You saw what he did right? That surge of power? I'm not saying he would have beaten you, but you wouldn't have finished him off as fast as you thought you would have. His captain was also already on the way. She would have arrived, then that other captain would have shown up, plus all their vice captains, and the other knights, and most likely the Licht-Fulk would have sided with them. Not to mention, if you did kill him and the great beast in the core got out, we'd have a demon on our hands, and not even you can slay a demon."
"So what?" Rage hissed. "I must kill him."
"And you will, but first, why don't we make a deal?" High chuckled.
"What sort of deal?"
"You hold off on killing him for a bit, and instead do a few things I suggest, and then, I'll make sure Davi is weakened along with the captains. I'll also distribute them so they offer less help, and the cherry on top, I'll use Davi to get rid of our little demon problem. Then, all you have to do is leave and never come back, once you've dealt with him."
Rage thought about it. "So, you'll set up the win, and all you want is for me to leave you alone?"
"I just want my people to live." High held his hand out slowly. "You can relate to that, right?"
Rage stared at the hand. "Fine." He grunted. Then he shook his hand. "What do you need me to do?"