“Where is your dad going?” Philip asked Bin as they were carried through the city, buildings, trees, and people whistling by at speed.

  Bin wiped her eyes. “He’s going to see if there’s a big monster and if there is, he’s going to beat the shit out of it.”

  Philip gaped at that. “Your dad is so freaking cool, Bin! Dad, do you think you could do that?”

  “Uh, no, I most definitely am not able to do anything like that,” Philip Sr. snorted.

  “My dad is not cool!” Bin snarled, tears streaming down her cheeks again despite her best efforts to hold them back. “He is not cool! What if he dies today? I’m scared!”

  “Oh, sweetheart,” Ihasu said, stroking her daughter shoulder-length black hair gently as the green-skinned girl leaned her head on Grandpa Rasmus’ shoulder. “Dad is going to be just fine. He always is, isn’t he?”

  “But sometimes he gets hurt, and if he can get hurt, then worse stuff can happen,” she sobbed. “I just want my dad to come back!”

  “I’m sure he will,” Gul said, unexpectedly butting in to comfort his great granddaughter. “I know your father and I don’t always see eye to eye on things but if there is one thing I know about him, it is that he will never, ever leave you, your brother, or your mother. He will always come back, even if he has to come back as a ghost.”

  “But I don’t want him to come back as a ghost!” Bin howled, breaking down completely.

  "Grandpa…” Ihasu growled, glaring at Clan Leader Gul, her orange eyes practically shooting flames.

  The old man shrunk back, snapping shut his big pie hole and clearing his throat. “I apologize.”

  Andihar was barely listening to the conversation. They were heading to the estate of the house Dayarunar. The estate would provide a large, open space that was designed and constructed to be easily defensible where they could hunker down.

  The elf was donning his full, golden set of armor, his usually massive blade held in one hand in a small form for convenience during travel. Proving his continued membership of the royal court of the Monarch of Toxin, his shield was covered in thick, glittering blue crystal, reinforcing both the shield’s durability and regenerative capability many times over.

  Andihar had practiced diligently during even short periods of free time, doing what he could to become familiar with the abilities of his new shield. Tough spines could pierce surfaces such as the ground to support the holder against heavy attacks, and agile, powerful tentacles could grasp any bastard unfortunate enough to get too close and keep them practically glued to the shield while Andihar and any allies cut them to pieces.

  It was simple, really, but made for a massive increase to his potential nonetheless.

  Although it pained him greatly to admit it, even just to himself, Eik had surpassed Andihar for a frighteningly large margin.

  He could still remember the day they had first met. Eik had been no more than D-rank at the time, nearly pissing his pants upon realizing that he was facing an S-ranked Awakened—the first S-ranker of the young man’s life.

  Filled by gratitude after his daughter’s life had been saved twice and then learning of Eik’s struggle to support his fresh world against an unfortunate fate, Andihar had been overcome by the desire to aid the young man in any way he could.

  He had offered both money and support, and Eik had happily accepted it all. And since that day, every time they had met, it had felt like Eik had doubled either his wealth, his strength, the quality of his connections, or all three.

  And now… Now Andihar was but a guardian—enrolled as a Colossal Royal Guard of the Monarch of Toxin—tasked with keeping their families safe. A noble task, certainly, but also proof that he was not the best man to be sent to the battlefield anymore. It stung.

  With clenched teeth, Andihar hoped to be able to at least fulfill his role as guardian.

  This Colossal Royal Guard was ready to die to protect their loved ones while the Monarch fought.

  ***

  “Do you see it yet?” Eik shouted as they soared through the air, Chop following him with absolutely no effort.

  The old man was still finishing the dessert he had brought from the café and was barely paying attention to their surroundings. “No, can’t say I do. You?”

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  “No,” Eik growled, the old man’s carefree demeanor pissing him off. “My Profound Toxic beasts have already reached the scene of the attacks but whatever caused it appears to have already departed,” he said as his jaw grew tense. “It’s a bloodbath. Hundreds—No, thousands have died. This attack was carried out with frightening power. Well, one good piece of news is that the blue boys I sent to the Earth fracture confirmed that Forest is not under attack, so… Hey, Chop, are you listening to me?” Eik turned his head to glance at the old man as they maintained speed.

  “Huh? Howwy, whua?” The X-ranker asked through the final and by far largest mouthful. “Hig yoo hay homhing?”

  Eik spat. “Never mind, you useless piece of slop… But you better give a hand if this is the Lord of the Moon,” he muttered.

  Chop shot him a look of nonchalant indifference. Then he looked off to the side as if drawn by something. “Something’s happening over there,” he noted.

  Eik followed his gaze. “What are you talking ab—” Another boom ripped through the air, the wave of force hitting them first and followed moments later by the violent cacophony.

  “I said, something’s happening over there,” Chop repeated.

  “I can damn well see that now, you motherfucking jerk, dude!” Eik snarled and instantly corrected his course toward the new attack site, Chop following his lead with a smoothness and swiftness that made it seem like he had powers of premonition.

  Another three blasts rocked the world, moving away. “No, you’re not!” Eik shouted, abandoning caution in favor of speed. By the time a fourth rang out, Eik spotted the creature. It was a quadruped but with that same creepy, humanoid face as the other spawn of the Lord of the Moon that he had encountered thus far.

  “So they’ve come here, huh?” Chop muttered. “Bold.”

  “Is the Lord of the Moon here as well?” Eik asked, then turned the question inward. “Hey, you, in there, can you sense your old rival anywhere here? Is he in Gimleh?”

  After a moment of silence, a mental shake of the head from Profound Toxin sent paradoxical emotions of both relief and disappointment jolting through him.

  “I take it that that was a no then?” Chop asked as they touched down.

  “Yeah. Let’s just take care of this thing and get back to the others.”

  A large part of an entire neighborhood had been virtually erased from the face of the earth, buildings, parks, and any other sort of structure leveled and left in scattered pieces. Corpses lay broken everywhere, annihilated before they had ever had a chance to escape.

  The senseless destruction set Eik’s blood boiling, filling him with rage.

  The horror that had caused it gazed at the two of them over its shoulder with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. Its eyes were a semi-transparent, milky white, only the slitted pupils colored in with a deep, pitch black.

  Blinking repeatedly, it seemed to prefer sensing them with its enormous nose rather than its eyes as the human-like nostrils flared vigorously, head bobbing gently in their direction.

  “If the Lord of the Moon isn’t here, then I’m taking a break. You can fight it. I’ll watch,” Chop said.

  “What?” The spawn of the Lord of the Moon leaped at Eik with deadly intent, baring razor-sharp fangs and claws sprouting from the tips of human fingers as it appeared in front of him in an instant. He was forced to erect a shell of crystalline toxin to block the first strike. It sent him hurtling through the air so far that he flew past the outer rim of the massive craters and crashed through several buildings.

  “You know our deal, Eik,” Chop shouted as the beast turned to him, growling menacingly. “If it’s not the Lord of the Moon himself, I’m not getting involved. If you think about it, I’m really doing you a favor here,” he added. The monster circled him, watching his every move. He looked back, the picture of boredom. “I would not do that if I were you.”

  Something rocketed through the air at unbelievable speed and vaporized the monster’s head, sending yellow mist—the apparent color of its blood—spraying skyward as its lifeless body tumbled to the rubble. Eik stepped out of a crumbling building, throwing a colossal rifle of crystal to the side.

  “And how the fuck could that be considered a favor?”

  The old geezer shrugged. “I’m giving you the opportunity to gain more practical battle experience. I can say from personal experience that practical experience is the best gift one can receive in the chase for power,” he clarified, looking at Eik as if expecting a gesture of gratitude.

  Eik narrowed his eyes with an expression of incredulity. “People—real people—are dying here today, Chop!”

  Chop arched an eyebrow and tapped his temple. “That’s what century upon century of fighting, death, and solitude will do to a person’s brain, my young friend. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m far from sane, even though I might appear to be a rational man day to day.”

  “Well, you’re certainly insane if you think you appear rational day to day,” Eik snorted humorlessly. “You’re dooming others to the same tragedy you suffered all those years ago when you thoughtlessly let their families perish. It’s evil.”

  That seemed to strike a nerve in the old X-ranker, shaking him on his feet. For a single, emotional moment, a killing intent unlike anything he had ever felt before slammed into Eik, rocking him where he stood.

  As if gravity had increased a thousand times over, Eik was crushed to his knees, completely unable to resist the pressure. Just like the first time they met, his breath was blocked utterly.

  And then the pressure vanished. Eik gasped and stood up.

  Chop was silent, his eyes far away. Eik didn’t have anything to say either.

  Suddenly, Profound Toxin pulled on Eik’s spirit. “What’s going on, boy?” he asked, Chop snapping back to reality at the sound of his voice. “It’s done. We killed it.”

  A blast like thunder cracked the air, a dust cloud billowing skyward at high speed. This one rose up from the outskirts of Gimleh. Profound Toxin was going crazy.

  A bone-chilling shiver ran down Eik’s spine as he realized what was over there. “N… No…” he breathed, almost soundlessly, the blood draining from his face.

  Chop saw the expression on the Earthling’s face and frowned. “What?”

  Eik barely heard him.

  He couldn’t speak, throat twisted shut. The direction of that blast was also the direction of the Dayarunar estate. The place to which he had sent his family and friends for safety.

  Instantly, power surged through him like a tidal wave as he released a dose equal to fifteen grade 6 Potions of Mighty Strength from his spiritual potion storage directly into his system. Backflow at full throttle and True Toxic Harmony followed, empowering him far beyond any limits he had operated under until then.

  Launching into the air with such force that it left a deep crater in his wake, his eyes blazed terribly with the flames of the Monarch’s undiluted fury.

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