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“There’s a bright side, guys!” Bianca said. “We have a knight.” She waved at Gilbert. “And the prettiest, most powerful, and prettiest princess in all the lands.” Bianca combed her gauntlet-clad fingers through her long amber hair and stood proudly.

Gilbert tipped his hat up while sitting comfortably on Slip’s back. He glanced at Bianca before looking back toward the lake. It was another pretty morning, and it was obvious Gilbert wanted to fish more.

“Demon. Devil. Dragon. It doesn’t matter, right? We’ll have to climb our way up and deal with these forces of evil while spreading freedom,” Gilbert said, as a strangely familiar bird cried out in the background.

“You’re hiding something, Zarian,” Hannah called out flatly from on top of the rune cart. “There’s more going on than the possibility of Ariana being The Dragon. Because it doesn’t match up with the lore. Unless Ariana is not your younger sister and is actually much, much older.”

“So how much stronger do I have to be to spank her?” Naomi grumbled.

She was still suffering the debuff from Even Further Beyond, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. She looked like she was ready to get back to the grind.

Zarian took a moment to gather his thoughts as he reflected on everything from the moment his little sister appeared to the moment she left. Her transformation from a cute little girl to an immense and powerful monstress was still disturbing for him. It was like being subjected to the loss of innocence and trust all in one moment.

He told them the full truth with a grave solemnity that he felt as the older brother.

Ariana wasn’t merely The Dragon. That guy with an old and powerful lore was dead. Zarian’s little sister had killed the old dragon, ate his remains, and took his place as The Dragoness, the Ultimate Queen, the Greatest Destroyer.

She could sleep comfortably in hell because she was the biggest bad guy across the entire universe. Then once she woke up, she would go on a rampage and trillions would die for her own hunger and amusement, because nobody could truly stop her.

Gilbert took his hat off and held it to his chest. “Mother of God.”

“Comepinga,” Bianca cussed softly.

“You never taught me that one,” Gilbert mumbled.

“Maybe later. I keep some Cuban stuff reserved just for these moments,” Bianca said listlessly. She turned away, her shining metal skirt swaying with each haunted stride as she came to a stop near the edge of the lake. “Did she really transform like that in front of you?”

Zarian grimaced. He said yes.

Bianca took that the hardest. “I’m so sorry, Zarian. That must’ve been terrible.”

“Does that part really matter?” Gilbert asked.

“Did you ever have anyone adorable in your life? A little niece? A young baby cousin? No? How about you imagine it being your future daughter?” Bianca jabbed her finger at Gilbert.

The Knighted Healer held up his hands.

Bianca kept going, passionate. “Imagine someone who held you for years and was always cute and supportive. But then they become a monster right before your eyes. And with no modesty!”

Bianca looked at the wizard.

Zarian nodded solemnly.

Bianca looked back at Gilbert. “Think of how painful that stab to the heart would be. Lo entiendes?”

“Okay, yeah, I understand now,” Gilbert said.

“I asked to see her true self. I got to see it,” Zarian muttered, glancing over at Hannah and Naomi.

Zarian could see both women were stewing away on some intense thoughts, but in intensely different ways.

Zarian figured Naomi was focused on growing stronger and stronger to overcome Ariana. As for Hannah, Zarian predicted she was trying to overcome her insecurity and figure out a way to establish her own base of power that belonged to her, if she could survive long enough to reach that point.

A universe where the Darkruns ran supreme was a dangerous one. Truly, they were in a Dark Era.

“She won’t kill us,” Zarian said, trying to ease their concerns. “She won’t even aim to eat me. Just thinking that makes me sick, and Ariana feels the same way. Our familial bond will prevent that type of betrayal. But that’s about it. Ariana’s way out of our league, and everyone else is free game.”

“Is there a way to even get close to her without your Overwhelming Darkness?” Hannah asked. “That’s the only option, right? Once you’re able to control that power, you’ll be able to stop her. But until then, there is nothing we can do but let the Star System suffer Ariana’s tyranny, isn’t there?”

Zarian let out a big breath. “There is one other option one of you can take.”

“The Throne of the Adventurer King,” Hannah muttered.

“Or Adventurer Queen!” Bianca piped in.

Hannah let out a mocking laugh. “I’m sorry if I’m being doubtful here, but based on the universal lore, none of the past Adventurer Kings or Queens could beat The Dragon of yesteryear. They either died or went off on some other adventure beyond the Star System. So, Zarian, can you tell me how that empty and unused throne is supposed to help anyone other than you?”

Zarian opened and closed his mouth and thought about it before saying, “It shouldn’t be me. It isn’t fair.”

“There’s no such thing as fairness in any of the situations we find ourselves in,” Hannah said, standing her ground. “Let’s be real, Zarian. Your little sister has taken the role of the most powerful evil force in this universe. There remains one way to overcome that, and nobody has ever used it to defeat the previous dragon. You are supposedly more powerful than Ariana once you can reach your full potential, but as of now, she has a huge head start while you still have to grow into your power. In fact, it’s almost fitting. This is like any classical story of how a young man rises to power as a king.”

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“We’re with a future king?” Bianca said in awe.

“Yes,” Hannah said firmly.

“No,” Zarian muttered.

“You were a Marine, Zarian. Regardless of what happened, you remembered what it’s like to have a sense of duty, right?” Gilbert asked, patting Slip between the ears. “Sometimes we don’t ask to bear the weight of responsibility, but when it comes, it’s better to be prepared than to let it blindside you.”

“There could be another.” Zarian tried not to glance at Naomi. He moved on quickly. “But if nobody else can do it … I’ll do it.”

He felt awful about that. There were a lot of things Zarian could accept as his birthright for being a massive beneficiary of nepotism.

But taking the Throne of the Adventurer King was a little too much, and Zarian wanted it to go to someone more deserving than him, man or woman.

Which was why he took a deep breath and looked back at his friends with a determined gaze. His eyes spiraled with small aura lights and void-like darkness.

Bianca turned sharply to face him. Gilbert shivered, and Slip stomped around in surprise. Hannah turned pale as she lost herself in Zarian’s darkened gaze. Naomi didn’t budge, move, or react whatsoever.

“I’m glad we’ve gotten some time off,” Zarian said coldly. “Because I’m going to need all of you to train even harder than ever before.”

He turned to look in the direction they were going. There was a trail they could take, which led out of the surrounding ring of castles, forts, and hills that bordered the beautiful and tranquil lake.

Zarian straightened up and said, “The next break will come when we reach the Blood Prairie Savages’ Stronghold. I’m going to busy myself with studying grimoires and training my aura to grow my Mysticism naturally. I’m letting Naomi do whatever she thinks is best to help you three.”

“Willpower,” Naomi said. “I think that’s the biggest weakness among you three, Bianca and Gilbert especially. We need to shore that up now before we get caught slipping.”

“My Strength is weaker, but I imagine my Willpower can use some raising,” Bianca said.

“I have my Unyielding Mentality trait and free for real +2,” Gilbert pointed out. “Bianca has free good +5 and that meditation trait of hers. I think we’re solid on the Willpower front.”

Naomi shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You all need more raw stat points in Willpower just in case. That can matter more than having extra points in Strength and Agility if we’re going to be facing down gods, angels, demons, and Ariana Darkrun.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Hannah said. “I need to do whatever it takes. I don’t want to get caught ‘slipping,’ as you say.”

Hearing that from Hannah, Bianca gave in right away. Gilbert grumbled for a while before swearing himself to fall fully under Naomi’s training regimen. Everyone knew how hard and crazy Naomi could get with training, so they were in for some pain.

“Let’s go. We have the gnolls to check on and Grimrock to conquer,” Zarian said, his mind rotating furiously on ways to become greater.

He felt Para’s eagerness to help. She also offered comfort through their mental link. She soothed Zarian’s heartache over the deplorable evilness of his little sister.

Zarian believed evil should be used as a tool.

But Ariana looked at evil as something fun and casual she could play with. It didn’t matter how many people she hurt as long as she reigned supreme. And because she had the most power and most control, that was unquestionable.

Not exactly, Para sent through Zarian’s head. Don’t forget that Ariana can’t break free from the Star System. She has immense power, but she’s not as powerful as the whole of you.

I see your point, Para, but I’m not concerned about what she can’t do, and more concerned that inside Infinita, Ariana can do a lot. We have to get stronger. We have to be better. We have to be the best, Zarian thought resolutely.

He almost wanted to smile. Zarian imagined the climb up to the top was going to be a more casual affair after Grimrock. But his little sister had given him one gift from this terrible revelation.

A reason to hustle a little more and push further beyond.

And do some crazy, pedal-to-the-metal training.

Since Naomi was still physically debuffed, she relaxed on the rune cart mostly as they set out to go northwest. She put a lot of focus on Gilbert and Bianca since they had the lowest Willpower among the Floridians.

Hannah was given more grace so she could work on some of her projects, especially the one surrounding spatial enchantments and magic. However, that didn’t mean she was free from pressure.

“Hannah,” Zarian called, floating beside the cart.

“Yes,” Hannah said sharply.

“I want to include you in the Mysticism training,” Zarian said. “In fact, I think it’s about time you get an aura-based trait. Maybe I can help with that.”

Hannah readjusted her seat on the rune cart while having a spread of notes, journals, runic devices, and the Spatial Satchel in front of her. She looked intensely at Zarian before saying, “That’s going to be difficult when our Mysticism is among the highest in the party. It’s hard to grow it naturally. It’s also hard to gain new traits when we have so many already.”

“I hear you. I didn’t have many plans on how to train it. But recent events motivated me to figure it the fuck out. I realized I just haven’t been creative enough, and I shouldn’t have to wait on Ruvaria to tell me. Would you like to have a sample?” Zarian asked.

Hannah squinted. “I said I’ll do whatever it takes. I mean that.”

Zarian used pure Aura Mastery to crush down on Hannah’s aura.

The moment it happened, he felt Hannah using decent aura control to defend against his aura pressure. She made the most out of her Level 0 Summon Wizard Hat, her 222 Willpower, her 583 Mysticism, and her innate talent as a legendary Runic Engineer.

But Zarian was a legendary Madness Wizard, and he was better at controlling aura directly while having multiple high quality, high-level abilities that supported such. His crooked, conical wizard hat was Level 48, and Hannah’s hard wizard hat could barely match that.

The only thing that kept him from crushing Hannah down any further was her free for real +2 that prevented outright invasions. But that didn’t last long, because Zarian was also in the freedom alignment with free evil +4, and he was too dominant, too powerful.

Eventually, Zarian crashed through Hannah’s defenses, invaded her profile with his aura, and blocked her skills. He couldn’t affect the traits, since those were ingrained deeply with the soul. But the skills were his to affect once he put enough attention to them.

It was an invasive and uncomfortable experience for anyone to go through. Zarian didn’t hold back much, which shocked Hannah and set her tumbling onto her back.

Hannah curled up near the edge of the rune cart, panting and grunting like a beaten dog.

Zarian held back the other factors he could add while in this deep inside of Hannah. He could use a combination of The Dreaded One, Uncanny Valley Effect, and maybe even the Frenzy Zone with his Aura Mastery. He could throw Hannah into a horrible blender of confusion and domination.

But that would take things too far … on the first day.

“I can’t win against you,” Hannah said, gasping.

“A goddess doesn’t believe in the word ‘can’t,’ Hannah,” Zarian said. “You better remove that word from your vocabulary by the time you can hold a universe in your hand.”

Zarian was well aware of the type of person Hannah wanted to be in the end. If Naomi wanted to fight the gods, Hannah wanted to sit above gods and boss them around. Zarian would be happy to support that as long as Hannah would work hard for her dreams.

Hannah didn’t respond. She kept convulsing and shaking on top of the rune cart.

Zarian landed next to her. “Hannah, look at me. Look up and meet my eyes.”

She turned and looked up. She was crying. Her face was red and puffy, her brown hair a messy spool around her head. Hatred burned in her eyes. Zarian smiled softly and soaked in being the object of Hannah’s hatred.

As long as she grew stronger, Zarian would merrily bear the burden of Hannah’s spite. Maybe she would make an even worse artificial dungeon for him next time.

Zarian crouched down and spoke in a low tone. “I need you to push me out. Then I need you to withstand my pressure while you continue working on your projects.”

“Ugh,” Hannah grunted.

Zarian chuckled. “It won’t always be as bad as this, but I will be a constant pressure in your life for a while. I will ease back when Naomi has you under her care. Between me and Naomi, you will work on the foundations to be a badass goddess.”

Hannah nodded slowly.

“Also, happy birthday month. To you and Bianca. You got a flower. You got to fish. And you get to get your ass kicked,” Zarian sang. “Now push yourself.”