After seeing that creature, which looked like a giant cockroach, Anyael was frozen in shock and couldn't move. The girl quickly turned to him, giving him one of the coldest stares he'd ever received. Then she said:
—Get out of here, kid, and I'll spare your life.
The shock immediately wore off when he heard her voice, and he thought to himself: "Kid? We're the same age…"
The girl snapped back sharply—
—Seriously, you're not gonna say anything?? Ugh, damn backward humans. Fine, kid, come with me.
She extended her hand, and Anyael hesitated. Then he thought to himself—
"Guess there's no other option… it's this or end up like that thing… I mean, thing over there. Sometimes the words just slip out… haha, but why am I talking to myself? Maybe I'm going a little crazy."
When he stood up, the girl led him somewhere, but just before that, she noticed something: the weird monster was still alive and lunged at Anyael. She shouted—
—Hit the ground!
Without fully understanding what was happening, he dropped to the floor. But the creature unleashed a shockwave that sent the girl flying back about thirty meters.
—So it finally shows its beast will, that bastard… Unfortunately, I won't make it in time to save the boy. Too bad, I was starting to like him…
While the beast roared and closed in on Anyael, he thought this might be the end, and memories of his life flashed before him.
Ever since he was young, he'd been a genius—good at basically everything, extremely intelligent, but lazy and often feeling empty. He despised things like arrogance and ego, but he knew that after so many compliments, he had a bit of ego deep down, and sometimes he let it show.
So now, in this situation, he saw himself as a genius who wouldn't die like this. Though he knew the odds of surviving were about one percent, he also knew he was lucky. And he decided to unleash his Ego one last time. Chains in his soul broke, and for the first time, he felt his body could give 100%…
His soul screamed for him to speak the words: Bondage of Vainglory, Plague of the Ascended Monarch.
Knowing that his mind, body, and soul demanded it, he shouted at the top of his lungs—
—!!!PLAGUE OF THE ASCENDED MONARCH!!!
Suddenly, the girl felt a strange emotion. She looked at him and said—
—No way… is that… Ego?
Her sixth sense never failed, and indeed, it was Ego. The boy in front of her was a newly Ascended from the Sinners branch, and best of all, he possessed an extremely rare type of Bondage—the Bondage of Vainglory. A bright red glow emanated from him.
In his mind, a crown began to form with three circles—one near his head, another slightly further away and therefore bigger, and a third outlining the crown's edge. Between the first two circles, strange glyph-like shapes appeared, and from the center to the outside of the third circle, elongated spear-like forms emerged. A diadem similar to Sun Wukong's crown appeared on his forehead, and his eyes changed from jet black to deep blood red with slit pupils.
With a single punch, the creature shuddered and backed off, seemingly unsure where this new power had come from. But he wasn't the only one confused—Anyael himself had no idea what was happening…
"What the hell is happening to me? Why do I look like this? What is this strange feeling in my body… this new power?"
He snapped out of his thoughts thanks to the sound of metal slicing through chitin—it was exactly what he feared: the mysterious girl had cut the creature in half.
—Next time, and every time after that, I'll finish off all filthy beasts like you! DIDN'T YOU SEE WHAT YOU DID, BASTARD?! This outfit was new!
She glanced at the boy beside her, who wore a stunned expression.
—Well, kid… this is one hell of a plot twist, don't you think?
Instead of answering, Anyael fainted…
—God, I just hope you didn't die, bastard…