Vollken and Rabuka laughed as they clinked their glasses together. Volken was wearing the crown of the King of Sephyrine, while the queen and the princess massaged his foot.

Rabuka was sitting on the queen’s seat but all alone, simply having the prince serve as her butler.

“You’re not going to act for some more service? You do know that they’re at our mercy now, right?” Volken asked.

“I am no longer an unbound spirit, unlike you. I have Pavone.” She said.

“Pfft. Pavone does not even care about anyone besides his master Maellan anymore. He’s like a dog that gets enthusiastic with every sight of him.”

Rabuka gritted her teeth. “He was just being grateful, but he look at what he’s up to right now. He’s after Ronin as we speak. He disabled the connection with Espinella so he doesn’t rat us out.”

“Yes, he will take out Ronin. But what about Maellan?” Volken said.

He then pushed his foot on the princess’ face. “Does your family never taught you to do anything right besides look pretty? Massage it harder or I’ll cut off your feet instead.”

“Y-Yes, Master…” The princess cried, her tears falling on his foot.

She quickly wiped it with her hair, and Volken sneered. “That does feel nice. Just do a good job and be a good girl, alright?”

He noticed how Rabuka still had not replied with anything, eyeing the princess with great anger.

Because the princess have blue skin. The Kingdom of Sephyrine have one of the largest Sapphire Noble population, as their god also have a Sapphire Heartstone.

“Magecia to Rabuka. What will you do if he still does not kill Maellan after killing Ronin?” Volken said.

Rabuka fumed. “Why ask me? What do you expect me to do?”

“Maellan would be a big problem, you know. He would obviously be angered by the death of his brother, and will eventually fight against us. And he have many new Daemons on his side.”

Rabuka scoffed. “Hah! Those pathetic newcomers can barely be called Daemons. It seems that his powers were limited, as the more he transforms people, the weaker they are.”

“Numbers can still win a war. Especially if it’s basically 2 of us against everyone else. Sordido is dead.” Volken said.

Rabuka took a sip, and said. “Pavone will team up with us and erase all their skills. Problem solved.”

But she sounded unsure.

And Volken could tell.

“Ah, Rabuka. You really think you could lie to me? You know very well in your cold black heart, Pavone would not side with us.”

Volken stood up, stomped on the queen’s hand as he did so.

“Ahhhhhh!!!!” The queen yelled as her bones were crushed by his foot that felt like it weighed tons.

The Silver Daemon just stretched his limbs. “He will chose the one that he admire and respect, not to mention the one with an advantage.”

“Pavone wouldn’t do that, he loves me. And I love him.”

Volken cackled. “We’re Daemons! Hahaha, you think ‘love’ will be enough reason for a Daemon to not harm someone?”

He went off to leave, shaking his head. “Ah, I’m filled with a bunch of delusional people… Sigh.”

Once he was out of the throne room, Rabuka sharp, claw-like fingers gripped at her glass tightly…..

And it broke as she screamed.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

The poor royal family left with her and got blown away, their ears bleeding. This killed the princess and the queen instantly, and the prince barely survived.

She grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up in the air. His ears bled and he was already deaf, but he struggled and begged for her to spare his life.

“Oh, I will spare your life. If you do well in bed, I will spare your life.” She continued to drag his bleeding body. “Just be do a good job and be a good boy, alright?”

———————————————-

“How much longer?” Kai complained as he looked out into the sea.

They were now traveling in the waters again to reach Sephyrine. But they need to make a quick stop to the island of Ogygia in case a certain Sun God was hiding there.

“Just a few more hours.” Ronin said while reading a book. “You can just teleport there if you want and wait for us to reach it.”

“Why can’t you use your Illusive Shift skill and just bring Cermin there?”

“I had carried him already so many times and used that skill just for him. He’s not a princess and I’m not some hero to save him.”

Kai shrugged. “It does feel that way sometimes.”

“And what are you supposed to be then?” Ronin closed his book. “Our new sidekick? The comedic relief? You’re not funny enough for that.”

Kai just stuck out his tongue. “I’m the voyeur to your ‘prince x villain’ story. Where you end up just forgetting everything and making out to live happily ever after. Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!”

Ronin ignored his teasing, and continued to focus on his book after saying. “You can be so childish sometimes.”

Kai scoffed. “Look who’s talking. At least I’m an actual child.”

Ronin did not hear the last sentence as he purposely spoke softly. And he noticed that he really can’t access the pesky system’s mind anymore ever since it joined them.

It was really strange. Only gods are naturally blocked off, and people with very high mental fortitude can block him at certain things with some amount of effort.

Or….

It could also be a glitch of sorts.

He remembered the numbers that he saw on the walls of the cave. This gave him a certain hypothesis…

But he was not sure if Kai would answer truthfully or not.

The system seemed to be enjoying staying as a human 24/7 now. It continued to watch everything with intense passion, like trying to see how certain things made him feel.

He went to befriend other people on the ship and ask them about their occupations. He went back to being interested in careers after all.

Most of the people on the ship were actually traveling to Sephyrine so they can reach the Edge, and move to the Elementia and Mecha realm.

There were a mix of Nobles that had taken all their possessions with them.

One of which was a painter named Riana. Riana became quite close with Kai who did not look a day after 14, and she too was about its age range.

They would often talk about painting, but it never felt like a blossoming romance. It felt more like a blossoming love between Kai and the idea of painting, as he continued to listen to her passion for it.

“There’s something fulfilling about knowing that every stroke I make would be a part of creating something. I could create an image of a person, or a place, with my own hands.”

Kai thought about it, and said. “Could you teach me sometime, then?”

And so, during this short boat ride, Kai had gained a new hobby.

Cermin went over Ronin’s side, watching the system happily make strokes on a canvas with his new friend.

“I never thought Kai would be that interested in something. Or that it could act so…..”

Ronin knew the word. ‘Human’.

This was his system, and yet it was now like a fully-live human in the flesh for him. Not only that, but he does not act just on Cermin’s whims anymore.

His life does not revolve on just him.

Ronin thought if Ou ever had something going on for him besides his friend that he died for.

He did have a vague feeling, that he had a conversation about aspirations with this friednd before.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Ou asked.

The faceless child smiled nervously. “Er….. I don’t know yet. Probably whatever my parents tell me to be.”

“Eh? Why?”

“It’s hard to choose. They choose everything for me eventually, I will gain the family business.”

They were laying on Ou’s bed, and Ou sighed.

“I wish you’d have your own dream. Because for me, it’s sad that you don’t.”

The friend asked. “What’s your dream, Ou?”

“I want to be a geologist. I’ve always been interested in rocks and minerals, I hope I discover new ones someday. The Earth is always changing and rocks are always transforming through metamorphosis.”

His friend made a face. “What? You want to study rocks your whole life? Wouldn’t that be boring?”

“Of course not! I get to travel a lot and explore caves and mountains and volcanoes….. It would be really cool, I promise! You should join me!”

His friend thought about it. “Hmm, I guess I won’t mind looking at some rocks with you. But why them in particular?”

“Well, rocks can change. And also, they can’t make fun of me.” Ou said. “I just find how fascinating it is that a piece of coal could be a diamond.”

“I wish I could be something like that. Change into something perfect, something people want to be around with.”

His friend then turned to him, and smiled.

“I will always want you around, gege.”