“Master…”

It was Yingying who broke the silence. Caesar and Victor still seemed in shock as they stared at his hand where the dark fumes had risen from.

Keith took a deep breath and nodded to her.

“I am fine, Yingying.”

“Young Master, what was that?” Caesar quickly came forward and inspected him. Only after he was certain that everything was fine, did he heave a sigh of relief.

“It is nothing to worry about.” He lightly said and smiled at the Old Man. “Just something I was looking for.”

“Oh..” Caesar was still curious, but he decided to not ask Keith about it.

Recently, his Young Master had given him a little too many surprises, and the more he spent time with Keith, the more he felt that he still did not know him.

Keith knew that he had to make them stop questioning him about it. The knowledge of God Stones needed to be kept as quiet as possible. And so, he decided to pretend that it was something he was looking for.

Which would now make Caesar think that Keith was primarily here for this thing, and eliminate the thoughts that made him worried about his well-being.

“Master, you are an Esper?!” Victor exclaimed after he finally recovered from shock.

Keith really wanted to get up and give him a smack at the back of his head for brining up a new train of thought for Yingying and Caesar to mull over.

“No, I am not an Esper.” He straightforwardly said and stood up, presenting his hand to the little girl who was still wearing a surprised expression.

The little girl was taken aback at his seeing his hand appear in front of her eyes, but when she saw the amiable smile on his face, she presented her soft fleshy hand to him, allowing him to help her stand up.

And once she was up on her feet, her mind once more registered the cold, making her shiver under it.

Keith saw her struggling in the cold and carefully took off his tench coat, putting it on her.

The little girl lowered her head at the sweet gesture and bowed to him, which made him smile at her.

“Get away from her!” A hoarse voice sounded out all of a sudden, speaking in Japanese, and everyone except for the little girl turned to look towards its direction.

The boy in a tight black outfit, who looked to be around twenty years old, was riddled with cuts that dripped blood. He was panting heavily as he took an attacking stance, dual-wielding Ninjato in his hands. And his dark, almost black eyes, which were the same color as his hair, coldly looked at them, as if sentencing them to death.

“Uncle Caesar…” Keith lightly said, and the old man pulled out the sword that was resting on Yingying’s back before rushing at the boy before the latter could rush at them.

The little girl screamed when she saw the old man rush at her brother, intending to kill him, but Keith placed his hand on her shoulder and kept her in her place.

<He won’t harm your brother.> He conveyed to her through the sign language, but the little girl was still anxious. <I promise!> Only after he said that did she stop struggling, making Keith sigh at how innocent she was.

Keith returned his attention back to where the clanks of swords stemmed from, and he intently looked at the boy who was giving his all.

Ryouta was tired, both mentally and physically, yet his body kept moving, trying its best to survive.

Even Caesar was shocked when Ryouta refused to go down even after half an hour of an intense battle.

“Why are you fighting with me, boy?” Caesar finally spoke after he had tested the boy enough, as instructed by Keith.

The sudden question took the boy by surprise, and when Caesar backed away, giving him time to breathe, he finally scanned the surroundings and looked at the dead bodies of the Ninjas.

He eyes then found his little sister, who was worriedly looking at him, and by the looks of the things, she seemed unharmed.

Relief filled his heart and tears subconsciously poured out of his eyes, but as soon as he lowered his arms, all the tiredness that had been piling up, came crashing down on him.

“Then why are you fighting…” He fell to his knees before he could finish his words, and then crashed face first into the snow, falling unconcious.

<He’s fine.> Keith assured the little girl and made her look as Caesar picked up her brother carefully in his arms. <Let’s go> 𝓫𝓭𝓸𝓋𝓁．𝓬𝓸𝓂

He pulled the girl along with him as they started walking out of the harbour. The sky, that was still littered with dark clouds started brightening a little, but it was going to one dark morning in the city of Bastille.

“How can he fight which such injuries?” Victor frowned and asked as he looked at the boy who was peacefully sleeping in Caesar’s arms.

“He has a special Physique, a battle body. As long as he has the will to fight, he can fight.”

“Every body has a limit.” Caesar frowned and looked at the boy. He did not what a battle body was or knew if special Physiques existed, but he still felt that something can not simply be invincible without drawbacks.

“He has his limits too. Far higher than others. And even if he has the will to keep fighting, he can only fight until that limit is reached and his body breaks down, killing him.” Keith informed them. “I guess he won’t be waking up for a day or two after what he has gone through today.”

When they arrived at the place they were staying at, Caesar put Ryouta in a room, and arranged for an additional bedding for the little girl who did not want to leave the side of her brother.

Keith tended to the boy’s wounds and dressed them before inviting the girl to eat with them.

She was hesitant at first, but then ate a little. Her deep brown eyes, which were almost black were filled with worry, and she even choked a little on her food as she thought of all the injuries her brother had suffered. And when she was done eating, she immediately stood up on her feet.

<Thank you!> She cutely bowed to all of them and then ran back to look after her brother, making them smile at her care for her sibling.

After dinner, Keith went straight to his room to get some sleep.

Victor stayed on watch, and Yinying went to her room to get some sleep too. She was a little tired after the battle she had been through.

Caesar had a lot of work on his hands as he had to arrange things and get rid of all the bodies and evidence. But it was nothing he could not handle.

As soon as Keith lay on his bed, he closed his eyes and focused on the power coursing through him.

Even if there was no one to guide him, he knew how the God Stones worked, and soon he managed to make contact with the ring, letting floods of information submerge his mind.

A frown marred his handsome face when he found himself not facing any test, and straight up get the inheritance. It was not how things worked, or at least how Keith knew they worked.

He was quite curious which God Stone he had acquired. As far as he knew, he couldn’t have gotten the God Stone of Hades, as that was in possession of a Protagonist he would be up against years later. And that only left a few Legacies that could give him the power of darkness.

Imagine his surprise when he found out that he got the inheritance of the God of Darkness himself.

He saw flashes of different images, and learned that he was the sixth to inherit the Powers of the God of Darkness, and then came all the Knowledge he was really after.

He understood how to control his powers, what the side-effects were, and most importantly, he learned a Divine Language without any effort.

Keith immersed himself into all the knowledge and lost his consciousness after an unknown amount of time.

Unbeknownst to him, while he slept, wisps of darkness rose from his body. The Aura inside of him got purer and denser, eventually touching a bottleneck that shattered without any effort, allowing him to enter the Nascent Profound Realm.

And whilst all of this was happening, a few special existences in the world and beyond were wide awake as they sensed the Rings on their hands shiver, marking the birth of a new Mortal, who possessed the powers of a God.

“Who is it this time?” A middle-aged man with blonde hair and ocean blue eyes whispered to himself. “The dumb old Hades killed himself and new Hades took power a few weeks ago, and now this…” He frowned. “But all the Gods of Olympus already have their inheritors.”

Being one of the oldest people in this world, he knew how to control his powers better than the most, but no matter how much he tried to communicate with the new Mortal God, he failed to locate him.

The man sighed and turned to look at the bright full moon in the sky. And after watching it in melancholy, he sank back into the water of the ocean, descending to its depths…